Black Coach Choke (aka BCC)

I coined the phrase Black Coach Choke (BCC) several years ago, and have explained many times but never posted on the blog. What is the Black Coach Choke? The simplest explanation: It is the moment when a team is heavily favored going into a championship or major prime time game and they lose and the team has a Black Head Coach. Obviously, losing as a favorite is something that happens to coaches of all races. What I have seen in Black Coaches is that failure is not a result of them not being a good coach. What I have witnessed is that the failure seems to come out of a sense of loyalty. They simply expect their superstars to do what they always do and that will be enough. Almost an arrogance, if we play our game we will win. Problem is oftentimes superstars don't do what they always do under pressure. At that point it is the coach who needs to force the issue, not trust that things will work out. To be fair, I do not attribute this to every Black Coach that loses one of these games. When Mike Tomlin's Steelers lost to the Packers in the Super Bowl. I attributed that to the Packers having the better team. Plus Tomlin has won in that situation before. I think this started for me with Dusty Baker, back when he managed the Chicago Cubs team with Wood & Prior as the #1 & #2 pitchers and loss the World Series. Baker basically asserted if I get my 2 "aces" to pitch 4 games we will win. Dusty believed his superstars would come through. Problem is they failed. They failed because to accomplish this, he had to change the regular rotation and make them pitch on less rest than they had normally. Seemed to make sense as they were young and un-hittable, but on short rest they became very hittable. This continued with coaches like Tony Dungy. One has to ask how is it the team he coached in Tampa Bay was excellent perennially, but failed to make a Super Bowl. Then after he left someone else coaches the team and wins the Super Bowl. Another coach won with the team that Dungy built. It was the Black Coach Choke in its purest form. Jon Gruden (who replaced Dungy) basically came in and said we are going to protect ourselves from our potential weaknesses and not try to overcome them. Tony Dungy went on to the Indianapolis Colts and with one of the NFL's best QB's he continued to fail at the highest level. Fortunately for Dungy he made it into a Super Bowl and played against another Black Coach Lovie Smith for the Chicago Bears. The trust that Lovie Smith showed for his QB Rex Grossman is about the purest match to my explanation of the Black Coach Choke there ever could be. The fact that he could lead a team to a Super Bowl with a QB playing as poorly as Rex Grossman (nicknamed Train Rex) is a testament of how great a coach he is. His failure is only explainable by the Black Coach Choke. A sense of trust or arrogance that believed they could overcome those shortcomings or an unrealistic expectation that Train Rex could never meet. I still believe Tony Dungy would have never won a Super Bowl if he had not benefited himself from the BCC. Someone had to win! There is no argument that Dungy is one of the NFL's greatest coaches. His accomplishments are plentiful, he has even birthed a number of successful coaches out of his coaching system. The only logical (or maybe we should call it illogical) explanation for his lack of even greater achievement is the BCC? Read more!

Zimmerman

Interestingly, I wrote a blog post about the Zimmerman case and never mentioned race. The notion that this case is not about race is EXTREMELY disingenuous. For race not to be addressed as a contributing factor really makes the entire trial and the entire discussion dishonest. So essentially everybody is lying.

This case was completely about race. The problem in America is to admit that it was about race is to call someone a racist. When actually you should just call them an American. Our society has demonized the Black Male so badly they are viewed as criminals in the eyes of all Americans, not just by Whites.

A good illustration I see every day is riding the commuter rail to work. Our rail system requires you to purchase a pass before boarding. Then officials walk through the rail cars and ask riders to show their passes. Every day I witness someone explaining to the official why they do not have a pass. Without fail if the person is White they will generally not receive a citation, regardless of how poor of an explanation is stated. If the person is Black, particularly male, they most always receive a citation. This does not differ based on the race of the officer. Whether the officer is White, Black, or Brown consideration is made for the Whites and conviction is assessed to the Blacks.

Why so? Its our culture. We are trained to believe the White person is a hard-working and honest so his reasoning is valid. The Black person is a poor lying thug that shouldn’t even be on the commuter rail. So when we hear him speak our brain is processing anything he says as a lie. He is just a criminal, a bum that is up to no good.

I will be the first to argue that this notion is warranted, but it has been inflamed by the media. Local news, movies, national media coverage, conviction rates, and stereotypes all suggest that Blacks commit crimes at a rate disproportionate to our numbers in society. In reality, per FBI statistics annually almost 70% of arrests for crimes are committed by Whites. This does not even take into consideration that arrest rates for Blacks are higher than arrest rates for Whites even though both report similar rates of delinquency. That would require an entire separate post to discuss.

A simple argument would easily distill more crimes are committed by Whites because there are simply more White people. That argument is perfectly logical, what is not logical is the media coverage considering that fact. News broadcast show Blacks committing crimes in 90% of reports that are broadcast about crime although they make up 30% of crimes? The fact that crime consumes 7X more news time than any other news topic is an issue within itself considering how much information there is to be covered. That would require an entire separate post to discuss as well. I am not sure I am even ready to touch that one at all.

I say all this not to make a point that Blacks are misrepresented even if the facts support such. As my grandmother always said, “if those niggas were not out there doing it, they couldn’t put it on TV.”

My point was to say that this fear of the Black criminal is almost solely perpetuated by the media. Most people in the US have not been a victim of a crime, even less victims of a violent crime, even less had that crime committed to them by a Black male. So most people have not personally or even known anyone that has had a violent crime committed against them, but every time they see a Black person they suspect he will commit some criminal act? Which says to me if you have not experienced it personally then your viewpoint has been provided to you by an external source. Read more!

Trayvon

As sad as this story is, there are really only 2 things that bother me about this event. Neither of the obvious reasons: 1) A person would want to murder an innocent person they see walking down the street because the color of their skin makes them suspicious; or 2) that you can do this and not go to jail.

I expected the acquittal the day Zimmerman was charged with 2nd degree murder versus manslaughter. The evidence was too circumstantial especially considering the defense team that Zimmerman had at his disposal. The fact that the prosecution tried to offer manslaughter just prior to jury instructions is almost grounds for malpractice. In this case the prosecution played right into the hands of the defense attorneys. Selecting an all female jury expecting maternal empathy. Failing to realize people don't see Black male teenagers as children or some one's son. They see them as "THUGS." In addition, they argued semantics of the exchange between the two men, which effectively put Trayvon Martin on trial when he had done nothing wrong.

All that being said, none of that really bothers me. As one person put best on twitter, the jury in the Zimmerman case reminded Black Men of what they already knew to be true.

So.....What really bothers me is that there was such a dissenting opinion about the outcome of the trial. For some reason when I first heard the story I thought the outrage was universal. My naivety would not let me accept that people feel they have the right to just walk up and kill someone they find suspicious. When I consider the course of events, I empathize with Zimmerman, if I saw a guy walking in my neighborhood at night that I did not recognize. I would be suspicious, but its quite a leap to go from being suspicious to killing the guy.

I would call the Police like anyone else. At the end of the day no crime was being committed, and the Police even told him to stand down. His comments and reaction clearly show the intent he had when approaching Trayvon was not just a concerned neighbor.

I know many are claiming he was in his right to defend himself. I am just having a hard time determining how they arrive at that conclusion, and bypass that the person he attacked is dead, innocent, unarmed and committed no crimes and that Zimmerman pursued the victim. Not sure what type of reaction Trayvon is supposed to have when an armed man attacks him at night in the middle of the street.

Secondly, I became bothered again as I am reminded by the protests that began as a result of the verdict that there never would have been a trial had it not been for pressure through national media, social media, protests, and the DOJ. The fact that a tragedy like this can happen is chilling, the fact that this can happen and is acceptable without having to stand trial is horrifying. I am all for Zimmerman claiming he did this in self-defense. I would say the same thing if I killed someone, but I would fully expect that I would have to prove that action in court, not that an investigator is going to take my word for it. I would expect that much if I shot someone in my own house, even more so if I chased some guy down the street and killed him.

When I took my Concealed Handgun License training, one of the lasting impressions the instructor made on me is that shooting someone should be the last resort. He was simply trying to reiterate that killing someone is a BIG DEAL and to carry a gun calls for great responsibility. I guess he forgot to mention unless you are shooting a Black person, then nobody really cares.... Read more!

America's Team

As a native of Dallas, TX I am a life long Dallas Cowboys fan. The moniker America's Team was given a couple years after I was born. So I have only known them as such. Interestingly, the name comes in part by the success on the field, but it was also as Bob Ryan (Vice President and editor-in-chief of NFL Films) coined the phrase, "I noticed then, and had noticed earlier, that wherever the Cowboys played, you saw people in the stands with Cowboys jerseys and hats and pennants. Plus, they were always the national game on television." I hear people call Dallas Cowboys fans bandwagon or fair-weather fans? Can that be true in 2013 when the team has won only 1 playoff game in 17 years? As Americans there is one simple fact that substantiates a teams true value and Forbes highlights that in there latest "The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams" list. The top 3 are European Soccer Teams, and then the New York Yankees. This is not a blog post on the Yankees, but considering that MLB only has 3-4 teams on the Top 50 list compared to the NFL with 30 of 32 teams making the list the Yankees appearing so high on the list is very impressive. Or maybe the counter-argument is true? They make the list because they have little competition for revenue. The Dallas Cowboys have been NFL's most valuable team since this list began. Interestingly, this is accomplished without some of the marketing tweaks of other leagues and teams. MLB allows teams to set up their own TV Networks, like the YES Network for the Yankees. For NFL, all TV revenue is negotiated and shared by the league. European Soccer teams sell naming rights to corporations on their jerseys which is worth hundreds of millions. Most teams across all leagues sell naming rights to their stadiums which is also worth hundreds of millions. Dallas plays in a $1B stadium simply named "Cowboys Stadium." Passing up almost another possible $1B in revenue the team still finds itself valued at $2.1B. This all goes back to the fan base. People will argue the Steelers are worthy of such a title, their valuation isn't even close. They have dozens of teams to pass before making that argument. So Cowboys fans if you are talking to some one that is challenging your team as "America's Team." Find out which team they claim as a fan. If they are a Patriots or Redskins fan have a fun discussion. It it is some chump that is a Rams or Jaguars fans (the only 2 NFL teams not to make the Top 50) tell them their fan base (and subsequent value) is too minuscule to even begin the debate. Lastly, I will touch on one of the counter-arguments I hear most. Just because you produce the most revenue, have the most nationally televised games, play in the biggest stadium, and have fans all across the world doesn't mean you are the most popular team. Its about more than just money...I know, slap me if I ever make points this weak to support an argument. Its very simple, where do you think the valuation comes from? The valuation is a summation of all these things. The reason you generate the most revenue is because you are the best at doing it in every category...attendance...sales...marketing...etc. Read more!

Cuban Checked Out

Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban's financial flexibility mantra is a farce. He checked out once he accomplished his goal of winning a NBA Championship. After years of spending irresponsibly he decided it was time be more responsible. The lawsuit about his annual losses as owner probably helped lead in that direction as well. Not necessarily going to fault a guy for trying to make a profit after spending at all costs to win, but we must recognize that is the goal. It was not earnestly to sign a high-priced superstar. Oftentimes the Celtics are cited as an example of what the Mavs would like to avoid, which may seem logical in 2013, but this comparison to the Celtics is tiring. The so called Celtics demise keeping the old guys after winning a championship, is making it to the Finals the following year and 3 Conference Finals. After 5 years this year they lost in the 1st round. I think any Mavs fan would be happy with that outcome, when you look at what the Mavs will be the 5 years following their championship. Read more!

Steve and The Cat

On a conference call one weekday afternoon, members of the CRE Technical Support team were assembled to passionately discuss important business matters. Most members had joined the meeting via conference call and after a long time the team took a short break. Upon returning from break Tobey Nealy the team Director tried to bring the meeting back to order. As he was attempting to do so, over the phone you could hear a person doing what sounded like talking to a little baby saying “look at you, you are so cute, ooh aren’t you just a Lil precious” followed by what I will refer to as “gaga goo goo” noises for almost a minute. Finally, the team realizes who the person is in the room with the baby and Tobey yells out, “Steve, Steve, is that you?” You could hear all kinds of crashing and shuffling noises as Steve reacts quickly to pick up the phone. Upon answering, Steve says, “could ya’ll hear that? I thought I had my phone on mute.” Finally, at that moment the awkward silence by the folks in the meeting is replaced by an outburst of people rolling on the floor laughing out loud. One of the team members ask, “Who’s baby is that you were playing with?” Steve says, it was his little baby kitten Bitsy. The laughter in the room got louder as Tobey says, “You mean to tell me you raised all that commotion over a cat?” Read more!

How will your team do? Check the Schedule

One thing that has become obvious to me following the NFL is that it is fairly easy to determine what teams are going to be in the playoff hunt based on their schedule. There are a few elite teams like the Patriots, Steelers, Colts (with Manning), and we have to add the Packers, that can win enough games to get into the playoffs no matter their schedule. But the rest of the NFL teams success are based on their schedule. There are a lot of teams in the middle.

Scheduling explains why teams like the Chiefs and Falcons can win their division one season and barely be in contention for the playoffs the following season. On the flip side why a teams like the 49ers and Bengals can contend for the division title after being at the bottom of the league last season.

I actually wrote my Playoff Predictions a few weeks ago and even with some major injuries I post them today and not much has changed:

NFC:

Packers, 49ers, and Saints will win there divisions will be in.

The NFC East will be decided by 2 remaining games between Giants and Cowboys, if they split those games the Cowboys will get in with a better division and conference record. The Giants are a better team, but they had a much rougher schedule and will need to sweep the Cowboys to get in. Neither team has much chance for a Wild Card.

The 2 Wild Cards are between Lions, Falcons, and Bears. This is where my prediction has changed as the Bears had a soft schedule, so soft even without Cutler I would have gave them a shot to make the playoffs, but after losing Forte its pretty bleak. I am going to have to pick Falcons and Lions.

AFC

Patriots and Texans (even w/ 3rd string QB) are running away with their divisions.

Ravens have already beat the Steelers twice and have a soft schedule so they will likely win the AFC North.

Here is the other change in my original prediction. I had the Raiders winning AFC West at 9-7, which they may be, but I think the Broncos will win the AFC West at 10-6. Yes I have joined Team Tebow I will blog on that another day.

Steelers are easily a Wild Card Team, the last spot is between the Jets and Bengals who I believe will have the same record at 10-6. The Tie Breaking Procedures are way too long to analyze here, but the Bengals have a great shot at going 11-5 if they can beat the Texans (w/ a 3rd string QB) on the road and save us from that discussion. The AFC North is the best division in the AFC so lets go with the Bengals.

Playoff Predicitions

Pretty simple, in the NFC no one is going up to Green Bay to beat the Packers, so they will be in the Super Bowl, but I am looking forward to the re-match from Week 1 against the Saints. This game will be to offense what the Bama-LSU rematch will be to defense.

In the AFC, by far the best division is the AFC North, so they will produce the Super Bowl contender. Getting 3 teams from 1 division in the playoffs is exceptional!

So it will be the Ravens or Steelers going to face a Packers team that is even better than the team that won the Super Bowl last season. Read more!

It's Hard out Here for a Coupon

This past weekend I went to the dry cleaners and wanted to stop in at Wal-mart right next to it. It just so happens I have 3 Wal-mart stores in about a 3.5 mile radius of my home and with this location being off a major freeway I felt it was a little "hood". So I drove 4 miles up the street to the one in a "more affluent" area (yes I know saying affluent and Wal-mart is an oxymoron).

So as I am shopping I have a bunch of coupons I am using to buy groceries. I have them in my cart, and as I get the item I put the coupon in my pocket. Nearing the end of my shopping list, I stepped away from my shopping cart and back-tracked to get an item that I forgot. When I returned to my shopping cart my coupons were gone. Natural assumption is that they fell out of the cart somewhere. So I begin to re-trace my steps and look for the missing coupons. After a few minutes I realize the coupons somehow fell out of the cart, but my shopping list had not moved? Then I looked at the cart and realized there really wasn't anyway that a coupon could have fell out.

SOMEBODY STOLE MY DAMN COUPONS!!! I came out of my way to come to the NICE Wal-mart and somebody stole my coupons. It is real out here in these streets folks, you have to treat these coupons like REAL $$$. Fortunately, I had most of my coupons in my pocket, one was actually for $5 off. I am not sure what would have happened if they had got that one... Read more!

Can you be Over-Prepared for an Interview?

I had a 2 hour interview last week. Prior to the interview I wanted to jot down some thoughts to prepare for the most common interview questions. So I went to google.com and 5 pages later I had typed out responses to 25 questions.

The crazy part is evidently he did the same thing because 16 of the 20 questions he asked were almost identical to the list I found on Google. The interview went longer than planned due to my well thought out answers and that I tended to lump some of my responses together assuming he wasn't going to ask me all 25 questions I found on Google. I thought he would ask 5-7, worst case 10!

In some ways you couldn't ask for a better scenario, there wasn't one thing I walked out of the interview thinking I wish I would have said, but the ironic thing is in my preparation I think I tended to over-explain how I met the qualifications of the job without having "all the necessary" experience. I think that really only served to highlight the fact that I didn't have experience!

So we shall see.... Read more!

5 Thoughts on Dallas Cowboys Preseason Game 1

It didn't take long to recall that I was watching a game between 6-10 and 4-12 teams. Particularly considering that neither team made any significant personnel upgrades in the off-season.

1) The first thing I noticed is that there are not 53 guys on the current roster that should make this team. Even if you accept this is a bad team they are going to have to pick up some guys off the waiver wire to fill out a 53-man roster.

2) Rob Ryan's defense has a lot of work to do. There was a lot of talk about guys not knowing the system and still learning how to communicate, but this defense only has 2 new guys and for the most part the Broncos were running right up the middle so not sure how that relates to poor communication. Looked like guys were just getting pushed back to me!

3) Time to go young. At WR there is no one that has claimed the 3-5 spots. The way I see it Dwayne Harris becomes the slot guy, Ogletree is not a slot guy so he cant be the #3, make him the #4 so he can play on the outside. For the last spot they should pick the best special teams players or bring in a veteran that could potentially be the #3 guy. At LB there are a lot of young guys. Its time to give significant playing time to the players like Sean Lee and Victor Butler. Plus take a shot on a guy like Orie Lemon and Kerwin Cummings and hope Bruce Carter is ready to play after he joins the team from injury. If Garrett is going to hold true his mantra of putting the best players on the field it's time to lessen the role of Bradie James and Keith Brooking.

4) The Cowboys are going to be playing in a lot of close games. This just seems to be the nature of Jason Garrett as a coach. He can develop competitive game plans, but seems to be unable to make key adjustments for his team to close out games. Not making any predictions yet, but I just feel games this season against good and bad teams will be close.

5) Finally, lack of depth is going to be a big issue this season almost across every position except LB, TE, and QB. None will be a bigger concern than at RB. I actually feel good about the talent at RB with Felix Jones, Tashard Choice, and Demarco Murray, but I just wonder if they will be healthy. They all have history of injuries and even if they are on the field if they are battling injuries they will be ineffective. It would be great if they could package all 3 and go get a guy like Chris Johnson who the Titans refuse to pay!

I know you have to be thinking how can I not make any comments on the OL? I didn't see enough in this game to weigh in on that yet. I will look forward to the next few preseason games to get a better idea of how this team will shape up for 2011.

Read more!

President Obama has a Midwest Problem

After the 2010 Midterm elections the pundits had just about predicted all Democrats would be out of office by 2012. Some acknowledged that these trends followed typical midterm election results and not any specific referendum, but I think the most telling referendum in today's electorate is that they will vote out the incumbent no matter who it is.

After careful analysis of the election results it became very apparent to me that in spite of the 2010 election results, President Obama's 2012 electability is still quite strong and that is without even taking into consideration the weak field of GOP Presidential candidates.

The biggest shake-up was in the House with the Democrats losing a whopping 63 seats, but electoral votes are allocated statewide not in House Districts so one would be hard-pressed to extrapolate those results to statewide election results in 2012. The better barometer would be the statewide races for the Senate and for Governor. Which on the surface considering the Democrats lost 6 seats in each race you would think would reflect a similar result as the outcome of the House races, but there are a few things to consider.

When you examine the states that flipped from Democrats to GOP you will see a trend. In the Senate race it was ND, AR, WI, IL, IN, PA, and AR. In the Gubernatorial race it was WY, NM, KS, OK, TN, OH, PA, ME, IA, WI, and MI.

So the first thing you notice is...that is a lot of losses!!! Then you look state by state and you will quickly realize many of these are states that President Obama didn't win in the landslide victory in 2008. So if you consider what is really at risk in 2012 are the states that he won that flipped from the Democrats to GOP which leaves NM, IA, WI, MI, OH, PA, and ME.

If you look at this collection of states and you stayed awake in Geography class you will now understand the title of my blog post. Democrats had big losses in the traditionally Democratic Midwest. This will be the key battleground for President Obama in the 2012 election campaign. Democrats need to get laser focused on the issues that are concerning the Midwest and make sure it is clear that the GOP candidates are not campaigning to fix these issues, but rather to usher in a political ideology of failed policies. We have seen the results of this in states like WI, so voters are already seeing the error of their ways... I notice the Presidential Bus Tour is focused on the Midwest so this concern has not been lost by the Campaign. Read more!

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face!

That great American pugilist Mike Tyson was once asked about whether it worried him that his opponent was training hard and seemed to have developed a fight plan against him. Tyson respond with something to the effect of "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face".

So true. Once you get knocked back on your heals, everything changes, with your plans often getting scrapped in the process. Read more!

Republicans now hold 41-59 majority in the Senate!

The results of the MA Senate race resulting in a win for the Republicans is said to be a referendum on health care? I say that it a small part of a number of problems.

I mean Coakley obviously ran a poor campaign. She called Curt Schilling a Yankee fan, spelled her own state incorrectly, and took an actual vacation after the primaries? In today's media cycle these type gaffes get more talked about; not the issues. The Schilling comment alone got her labeled as "out of touch" and "moronic" by much of the MA electorate. Coakley squandered what was an almost 30 pt lead in the polls in 30 days.

But as I initially stated there was more to this that was beyond her control. The lack of real progress in the Democratic-controlled Congress cannot be ignored. Congress has been debating the Health Care issue for about a year now and the bill still hasn't been passed. If a bill had been passed it takes the Health Care issue off the table. Instead Brown was able to Champion himself as the hero that could save them from "government take-over of health care."

Congress has accomplished little even with the so called "super-majority." I think people are angry that nothing is getting done and many took their anger out on Coakley by either not voting at all or voting for Brown.

The Democrats unfortunately have stalled on an issue that is virtually split in support across the country. 50% are against the health care plan, while 50% support it and probably half of each side is rather indifferent to see any change made at all.

America has watched the Democrats trip over themselves to see a bill that satisfies the wishes of pretty much no one, while facing unilateral opposition from the minority party. Not a single Republican is evaluating the details of the bill considering what they like and dislike, they are instead leading a unified effort to stifle any progress. While democrats are arguing with one another like teenage siblings. As Dr. King stated, "genuine leaders are not searchers for consensus but molders of consensus."

Democrats barked up the wrong tree making Health Care the #1 issue with support being rather lukewarm across the country. They would have been better served pursuing aggressive regulation of the financial institutions that received huge bailouts and are still passing out bonuses. There is unified support among all Americans to see action and if the Republicans were forced to show public opposition to attempts to clean up Wall Street the Democrats could have buried them for decades!

Instead we will sit and watch them trip over each other into a 2010 mid-term election slaughter and see the perpetual cycle of legislative ineffectiveness continue to blossom... Read more!

Curse Bush or Thank Obama?

As my 401K portfolio is finally equal to the value it was before the 2008 economic crisis. Should I continue to curse Bush or should I just be thankful for Obama?

It amazes me that "Economics" in America is still an open dialogue. Listening to Republican and Conservative opinion in regards to any fiscal matters would be equivalent to me accepting financial advice from my drunk uncle who works every day, lives with his mother, drives a 25 year old Buick, and borrows $20 from me every time he stops by. Not to mention that once his mother dies he will lose her house because he is too irresponsible to pay the taxes every year. This is basically the state that Conservatives Economic Policy has left this country.

Did we forget the economy was losing jobs at a rate of close to 700,000 jobs a month, credit markets were functioning poorly, the GDP was in a free fall, and a second Great Depression was imminent? Now instead of being in the middle of Depression we are talking about a recovery!


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka Stimulus Bill), which the President signed less than a month after taking office was unpopular to many, but has undoubtedly helped to stabilize our Economy. We must recognize the "economy" is 50% about real numbers, and 50% just about how people feel or think things are going.

The GDP, in a free fall for three quarters, barely fell in the second quarter of 2009, rose in the third and will see larger growth in the fourth quarter.

Job loss, which averaged 691,000 jobs a month is the first quarter of 2009, averaged 69,000 in the fourth quarter.

The Dow Jones, sitting at a disastrous 6500 points 30 days into the Obama Presidency and everybody blamed his failed policies. Now that Obama's policies are actually fueling the economy the Dow is over 10,700 points and it's in "real" money not the "Madoff" money we had during the Bush years.

With the economy still losing jobs and unemployment at 10 %, the economy is obviously far from healthy, but stabilizing the economy is just not enough. The problems that led to the crisis were years in the making.

We need to complete efforts like financial regulatory that protect the economy from actions that could threaten financial and economic stability, and protect our financial system from the abuse of powerful financial institutions like AIG. Conservatives mock these attempts to reform???

You can say the Obama administration isn't doing everything right, but what they are doing is working!!! As I am continually frustrated by the rhetoric, as always one of the "David's" from Obama's Campaign laid out the facts more eloquently than I ever could. That is why Obama won so overwhelmingly because of his brain trust1 Enjoy this article by David Axelrod. Read more!

Not out of the woods yet!

After the Dallas Cowboys surprised us all and won the NFC East Division in a season where even the most adamant fans were predicting 9-7. There is a notion that Wade Phillips should return as coach for the Dallas Cowboys. I say he is not out of the woods yet, but not ready to send him out to pasture either.

Although, he gets credit for having outperformed expectations, the bar is still the same for him to return next season.

WIN A PLAYOFF GAME!!!

Considering the scenario it isn't much to ask. You have one of the hottest teams in the NFL, playing at home, against a team that you have already beaten twice of which one game you held them scoreless. To not win a playoff game at this point would unfortunately enhance support for his firing as he would have squandered a great opportunity for he 2nd time. Although it may not materialize, it would be more than logical to believe the right guy could come in and get this team over the hump.

At this point the Defense is playing as good as any Cowboys defense has ever played. For that reason we would all be sad to see Wade Phillips go. We would hope to at least keep him around as our Defensive Coordinator. Don't get me wrong, I am rooting for you Wade. Not because I like you, just because I always wish success for the Cowboys and if you can lead us I am in your corner. Read more!

Can't get it out of my face!

I had never heard of her prior to this night, but it has been almost 2 months and I still can't shake the hook "Sweet Ass in yo face", sang by Olivia Munn from Attack of the Show on the Jimmy Fallon show. She said her show was geared to the "idiocracy." I guess I am guilty as charged... Here is the video from the show, the song is about 1/2 way into the video

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

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NFL Scheduling Formula

I believe I figured out the NFL scheduling formula, and thus figured out the 2010 Schedule for the Dallas Cowboys.

Here is the Formula:
Play each team in Division Twice – Eagles, Giants, Redskins (since Cowboys play in NFC East)

Play each team from another NFC Division – next year this will be the NFC North (because Cowboys played South – 2009, and West – 2008)

Play each team from an AFC Division – next year this will be the AFC South (because Cowboys played West – 2009, North – 2008, and East – 2007)

Play NFC teams that had like finish in their respective divisions – this would be the other NFC Division leaders (since Cowboys won the division)

So here is the schedule:

Home Games
Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Bears, Jaguars, Titans, Saints, Lions

Away Games
Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Colts, Texans, Packers, Cardinals

For most opponents I determined home/away based on where the last game was played. A couple of the teams we have played for various reasons outside of the rotational cycle so there is some flexibility for those opponents.

As for pre-season I haven’t determined a pattern yet, we’ll see if I got this one right and then go from there. Give it a shot for your favorite NFL team.

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Obama has done "Nothing", PT. 5

When I started this series I worried the fact that I don't blog regularly would make this ineffective. That is part of the problem, what I didn't appreciate is that he would actually accomplish so much on a daily basis. I end up in this paralysis of trying to decide what to post I end up not having enough time to decide which story to run with and post the details on the blog.

Today on the anniversary of the historic election of the 44th President of the United States Mr. Barack H. Obama, I get to reflect on the entire experience and the emotion I felt through the campaign culminating with the victory on Election Day. Don't worry by reflecting I don't mean I am going to type out all of my thoughts from the first day I learned of Barack Obama until now. Fortunately there are 2 resources that chronicle this in a way far superior than anything I can ever dream of doing:

1. The HBO Documentary BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA which premiered last night. I think what the Obama Campaign did in Iowa is a movie all by itself coming from obscurity against a Goliath candidate and coming out victorious, but the entire story just might have you in tears... Watching this movie is watching history, but for the first time I can reflect what I was doing, what I was thinking, how I felt, and how I was involved!
2. Obama's Campaign manager David Plouffe wrote a blog post on Huffington Post in response to Ariana Huffington (as the Humanity Critic so elegantly stated her elaborate plot to have people take her hamfistedly clumsy articles seriously). DAVID PLOUFFE: No Difference Between President Obama and Candidate Obama. This article is a masterpiece chronicling the administration that already has made a significant down payment on the change so many fought for last year.

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Obama has done "Nothing", PT. 4

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which overruled the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which I wrote about in a previous blog post.

The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.

A first bill to amend the statutory limitations period and supersede the Ledbetter decision was introduced in Congress but was never enacted, as after having been passed by the House it failed to survive in the Senate due to the opposition of most of the Republican Senators.

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, ensures that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay. Read more!

alildabwilldoya on Twitter

I failed to post a note on the blog that I am on Twitter now. I can be found at http://twitter.com/alildabwilldoya.

Forget what you heard Twitter is a good resource for news, information, commentaries from the pundits of your choice, and keeping up with the happenings and thoughts of your bff's! What makes it really great is that it does all that in only 140 characters per tweet.

Perfect for someone that tends to drag on their thoughts like me........ Read more!