Tag Archives: philosophy

Red's Ghost 6:09 pm on March 8, 2018
Tags: beans, cheese, mexican, philosophy,   

If Deadpool Made Vegetarian Enchiladas These Would Be IT

Before I share the recipe for a vegetarian red sauce and enchilada dish that was out of this world let me start by saying: being without power for an extended period of time is a nightmare.

I was one of the unfortunate many who live in the Northeast part of the United States that lost power thanks to Winter Storm Riley.  Though I’m definitely not thankful for the storm I am thankful for the men and women who came to the aid of the hundreds of thousands of folks like myself who were without power for up to five days – though some are still without it to this day.

I did some thinking during that time about what the people of Puerto Rico must be going through – and not to make a political statement but when you feel like your government abandons you who do you turn to?  I understand that feeling.  I lost my power on a Friday afternoon and according to my power company I was supposed to get it back on Sunday.  By Saturday night, my family was cold and eating whatever quick easy thing we could find in our cabinets.  Sunday came and went without a single hint of juice flowing through the lines outside my home.  The power company told us Monday and on we pressed with the single thought of staying positive even though we could see the writing on the wall – there were still tens of thousands of people without it in our county.

By Monday night the power company told us that the following night we would have it, and my hopes had all but faded.  At this point I was all but certain that we would not be getting it back anytime soon with another winter storm on the horizon.  Tuesday was the eve of a storm that promised at least 6-12 inches and the electric company again changed their tune by telling us they were not sure when we would get power.  At this point we lost all hope.

When the storm started on Wednesday we were certain the power would not come on. But the power company re-assured us they were working on it.  I reached out to our local state assemblywoman to plead for some sort of answer.  How long will we sit in the cold? By the middle of the afternoon the sounds of appliances clicked on throughout the house.  The refrigerator, full of spoiled frozen and warm food, suddenly sprang to life.  The mounds of laundry could suddenly be washed.  A life could return to normal.

But it wasn’t without a cost.  A realization that there are still people in the world struggling with the same issue.  I stopped a lineman who had come in from out of the county and told him I appreciated everything he did to get the power back on.  It was the least I could do.  If I knew where he would be next I would bake him bread or cook him a meal – but alas they were moving on.  There’s not much I can do thank them other than to speak the words.  What can we do to thank those that have helped us so much?  What can we do to help those who are in dire need without power like I was?  Those are the questions I ponder on a snowy March day.

On I press and I give you:

Red’s Enchilada Sauce

What you’ll need:

Olive Oil

3 Tbs. All-purpose Flour

2 Tbs. ground Chili powder (this is going to be a dark red sauce)

1 tsp. Cumin

1/2 tsp. garlic powder or a clove of garlic

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Tbs. cinnamon

2 Tbs. tomato paste

2 cups of vegetable broth

2 Tbs. of Fajita seasoning

Dash of rice vinegar

Dash of Lemon

salt and pepper to taste

  1. Start with heating a sauce pan to medium heat.
  2. Take enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Once the oil is hot and begins to give off a scent pour in the chili powder, flour, cumin, garlic, oregano, cinnamon and tomato paste.
  3. Continuously stir the ingredients around as the flavors all begin to get to know one another.
  4. After 2 minutes of stirring add the vegetable broth and turn the heat up to medium high.
  5. Once the broth begins to show signs of boiling and the tomato paste has begun to break down, drop the heat down to low adding the fajita seasoning, vinegar and lemon.
  6. Let the sauce simmer and thicken for at least 5 minutes or until you get the consistency that you are looking for.
  7. Taste – add salt and pepper.
  8. Drop the heat down and keep the sauce just warm enough to add to you enchiladas or you can turn it off and store for later.

Red’s Vegetarian Enchiladas

What you’ll need:

1 Red Onion (diced)

6 Cloves

2 Tbs. Olive oil

3 Tbs. of butter (optional if you are looking to reduce fat)

Dash of Cayenne pepper

2 Cups of Vegetable Broth

2 Cans of Black Beans (washed and drained)

1 Can of Medium Tomatoes and Chilies (such as Ro-Tel)

tsp. Cinnamon

tsp. Basil

Tbs. Cilantro

Bag of frozen corn

2 tsp. fajita seasoning

At least 6 Fajita wrappers for stuffing

9 x 13 Baking Dish

2 Bags of Mexican cheese (or whatever you cheese you prefer)

  1. Heat a skillet up on medium with the olive oil and butter (if using) until the butter is melted and oil is warm.  Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes then add the garlic be careful not to burn the garlic.  If it gets too close to burning drop the temperature.
  2. After the onion is translucent and the garlic is cooked add the dash of pepper, vegetable broth, black beans and tomatoes with chilies.
  3. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
  4. Turn up the heat until the broth begins to bubble then drop the heat down so it can simmer.
  5. While simmering, take out your fajita wrappers and line your 9 x 13 baking dish with fajitas.  You can overlap them and shove them in like sardines but keep in mind that hot veggies are coming in soon so be prepared.
  6. Once the broth is almost gone add the cinnamon, basil, cilantro, corn and fajita seasoning.
  7. Stir the mixture and simmer until the corn has warmed up, be careful not to burn your vegetables.
  8. Now you are going to stuff the fajitas with veggies.  Go down the line filling each one until you have put an equal amount in each.  Add cheese to each if you like, otherwise top them with your sauce but be liberal we will add more sauce again.
  9. Next throw some cheese on top, you can use one bag if you didn’t put them in the enchiladas already.
  10. Sauce!
  11. Cheese on top and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
  12. Depending on your oven you may want to adjust – you are looking for the cheese to melt but not burn.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Red

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Red's Ghost 2:51 am on February 7, 2018
Tags: jean-paul sartre, philosophy   

It’s Who We Are

In my latest blog post I asked questions about the world around us or to be much more general – the world around me.  What is real?  Is what I see the same thing that you see?  How would we ever know if that is true until it is completely over?

Those questions resonate at the heart of a lot of fear.  For someone who likes to know the answers I struggle with the unknown. Who was D.B. Cooper?  Is there a Yeti?  What was that object I saw over Roanoke in the fall of 1997?  Yeah, yeah go ahead and tell me there are no aliens but I know what I saw that afternoon was not of this world,

As a person who demands resolution, life proves to be a bane of my existence.  Can someone please tell me what our goal is?  Furthering society?  Making ourselves better?  Proving that we can destroy the planet?  Hell we don’t even know what happens when we die.  No one has ever been able to come back and supply us with a conclusion – well maybe that’s not the best word?  Do we truly want a conclusion to life?

There are many people who wish to spend hundreds if not thousands of years on this planet alive.  At the time that their bodies cease to give their brains oxygen, a service comes in to freeze and preserve those cells until such time that we can recreate that “life” in another form.  From what I understand baseball legend and hitter extraordinaire Ted Williams had his grey matter put into a vat until such time that it could be placed into a suitable life container.

What is Williams’ life state?  Is he currently experiencing a dream state?  Based upon what I know of our bodies I would think there is no brain waves in that organ so isn’t he technically dead?  Aren’t we trying to create an Igor without understanding how the mind works?

If I’m not mistaken our bodies are full of electric currents or parts that conduct that form of energy.  When we tell our feet to move as we are walking we are sending that signal in the form of a charge to the muscles to make them move.  When we dream and our body moves, our brain is still active and sending that wave to the part in question.  If you take a battery and put it the freezer you are just storing that energy until it can be used because it is not connected to a circuit or device asking for that signal.

So Williams’ brain is frozen and in a neutral state, somewhere that none of us know what it is going through or what will happen when it comes out of.  With that in mind there’s no way to know what the brain will “see” if it ever does get connected to a body or what it will even “remember.”  After all , these things are all a matter of perception.  What I perceive to be real, you most certainly may find to be fake.  Again it comes back to the state of reality.  How you describe the world around you verses how I describe it.  Is green the same shade of a color to you as me?  It can’t be – otherwise we would not have “color blind” people.

What does it all mean?  Are there any answers?  As far as I can tell it’s the same thing that smarter men and women before me have been asking for years and years.  What I have come to realize is that for every question and every answer the most important thing is to realize that we are human.

For every good thing we do we tend to screw up something else.  We can’t take ourselves too seriously.  We can get mad at something but we have to keep from taking it out on someone else.  We have to realize that the same material that makes up the stars makes up us.   One day the star that we call the “Sun” is going to burn out – that is a day we will never see but it will happen.  When that happens the world that we know, the real to us, will cease to exist.  Everything from America to Europe to Asia will suffer if it still exists.

We are simply who we are.  We have the ability to make choices, or even the curse of making choices.  We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.  But choose we must.  We struggle to understand that this choice is ours and not something that has been granted to us our even pre-determined.  We would like to think that some higher power pushed us to a resolution or a conclusion just so we don’t wrestle with the problem of being in control of our lives.  But we are confined to this determinism.  It’s the reason that we turn to our friends and family and ask what we should choose, we sub-consciously struggle with making decisions.

One of the greatest minds of the 20th century, Jean-Paul Sartre, who ironically I didn’t understand when I took philosophy as a 19-year-old, said the following:

“Man is condemned to be; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.  It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

Once we start to realize that we have the curse and the blessing to make the choices that control our lives, the same lives that are short, we are the only ones who are in control of the short time that is our reality.  Or better yet, your reality, not mine.

Red's Ghost 3:31 am on January 31, 2018
Tags: philosophy   

Reality Buffet

Another year of my life has past and the more I think about it – the more I realize what I’m left with is memories of yesterday.  Thoughts of what happened in the years some – five, ten and even twenty years ago.  When I was able to run a mile without feeling like my back was going to fall apart or even the days of my youth.  The details are hazy but the picture is still there.

But the question becomes – “what is the past?”  Is it anything more than something that happened the day before?  As the days of a calendar go forward how do we even understand the past?  All we have are our memories and sometimes those can be deceiving.  Turning 40, I can remember all those times when the people who were older than me talked about that number like it was a “halfway point” or some kind of moment in life when their life would go downhill.

However, as I aged I stared into the face of time, memory and the future and asked the question – “what is reality?”  It’s a question I still can’t answer.  I still haven’t been able to come up with answers to questions that I’ve been asking since I was 19 years old and sitting in a philosophy class taught by a Roman Catholic priest.  Most importantly “who are we” and “why are we here?”  Those two questions pale in comparison to the major conundrum that I pose to the ether – “is what I see the same thing that every one else sees?”

To be fair I’ve spent the entire length of this webpage discussing sports issues with a human slant but I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something more?  With all the changes in the world and the growth as an individual I question the cosmos.  The same stars that have been shining for billions of years.  The same stars that may be already dead or they may be the home of a more intelligent life form (which is a completely different conversation).  Imagine the thought that thousands of years before us humans saw the light from stars that have already burned out – it is an incredible and scary emotion to me.

Is there a way to answer the question of why are we here?  I guess it depends on who you are and what you believe.  For me, I have spent the years since that philosophy class trying to figure out what we are.  Who we are.  We rule this planet and destroy this planet.  We enslave animals and control nature to an extent.  But at what cost?  What for?  Sure, when my reality is long gone they say the sun will burn out.  But how do I truly know that?  All I know is the now.  All I know is what is going on in the now.  All I know is what I can control in front of me.

While that is a very selfish position it is a position I can control.  I don’t know what you see when you look at a blade of grass.  It might be “green” to you – but what is “green?”  Green might look differently to me than you.  A square might not look the same to me as you.  I can describe it as four equal sides but we all know that things don’t always look the same to everyone, case in point is going to an art museum.  What I see as crap you might be influenced by.  Or even music.  I can describe a song differently than you.

So who are we really?  As individuals we stare into the abyss of death every day and brush back the clouds of doubt and fear of nothingness.  No matter what situation we are presented with we seem to overcome it.  Our minds put up barriers and somehow we seem to overcome them.  But why?  What is it that we are supposed to keep going for?

I’ve wondered at times if we aren’t an experiment – some alien race put us on this planet and is watching us from a distance.  Kind of like playing a computer simulation on a larger scale than our tiny brains can comprehend.  So what if we are an experiment?  I’m not the first to ask the question – I’ve heard a 12 year old ask the same question.  Are our memories and thoughts implanted to see how we react?  Who can truly tell me they are not?

We can try as hard as we want but we don’t know what will happen when our bodies die.  Is there something inside them?  Is there a soul?  Is it something more than the “life” that we go through every day?  No one has ever come back from the “dead” to tell us what is out there.

Ask yourselves – is there anything more than the current day?  The now.  Who knows what we are.  There are so many people in the world that have the ability to end the world as we know it – whether it is a dictator in foreign country with a nuclear weapon or the many weapons that can snuff out our lives.  But yet we keep going.

Why?  Is it the money?  Is it the promise of a better life?  Is it a guarantee of something more?  Or is it the human spirit?  A spirit that may or may not exist.  Something that we may just be making up in “our reality.”  A reality that is full of good and evil yet incomplete – because we can’t be sure it truly exists.

With all these questions being posed and no answers being presented I have nothing but a few sentences.  Live every day like it is your last.  For all I know, it’s already over.  It may be done and I’m just looking back on what’s been done.  Then again, I can’t remember a lot of what I’ve done – in many ways that’s a good thing.  Maybe there will be a time when I come to find peace – but then again as a work in progress I’m just another man.

Red's Ghost 6:39 am on December 17, 2017
Tags: , philosophy   

Missing The Ice

It’s been almost a year since the last time I laced up my Bauer skates and scratched some ice. My last experience left a lot to be desired however and I was determined that I was going to get better once 2017 came along. “After all ,” I thought,”this is one of my dreams and I’m doing something I always wanted to do.”

Then I hit one of those potholes in the road that someone forgot to patch up. Kinda like the department of transportation around here. I found myself staring down a bucket of onions and peppers. Tomatoes and avocados were on the other side. I heard pans and pots being moved, the unmistakable sounds of a professional chef chopping cilantro and a printer that seemed to never stop even when I thought there was nothing left.

Yeah, I’d seen Gordon Ramsey and other celebrity chefs on television who advertise their show is what restaurants are really like. But they are not what restaurants are really like. I thought I was good cook – I had no training and I went into the kitchen to learn from two culinary trained chefs (one C.I.A.). I had my pride handed back to me in the first hour. You can’t walk in a kitchen and know anything.

Honestly, some of the best things I learned from the chefs were to stay alert and be humble about your abilities. Be quick. Be prepared. Don’t do two things when you can do one. If you did something to a dish – own it. Don’t let it go out and come back. Don’t ever stop learning.

One of the biggest moments when I was learning was when I was struggling to fit in with one of the line cooks. He was very vocal to everyone. He yelled and made jokes about everything. Being the new guy it was my turn to face the wrath of him. He watched me like a hawk. No matter what chef said – this cook would take me to task whenever I did the slightest thing wrong.

“Move your ass,” he’d scream at me.

“Are you still chopping onions? You’ve had 20 minuets.”

Oh p.s. – nothing prepares you for the already hot kitchen with no breaks and no time to eat or drink until the rush is over. Just FYI.

It took me some time to realize that he was trying to push me and make me angry to do better. He saw that it was a button to push. By the end of my learning experience with the kitchen I considered him a friend and held no reservations for the way he treated me at the beginning even if I didn’t understand it. Keep pushing yourself even if you think you can’t.

Since that experience I wanted to try to get back on the ice and see how my willpower has changed. Life gets in the way. There’s no way to push aside the barricades that get thrown in your way sometimes. Mostly you have to do things you don’t want to. You have to suck up your pride, swallow your fear, look deep inside yourself and believe there’s something there that can push you forward. At least that’s the attitude I had when I started hockey. It’s something that translates to the kitchen too. It’s something we have to be reminded of from time to time. But it sure would be great to get back out there again.

Red's Ghost 3:01 am on August 23, 2017
Tags: , Kobe, philosophy   

Number 8 Will Always Be Number One To Me

There was a time when the NBA allowed high school basketball players to jump directly to the league without any college experience. There was no talk of “one and done” players joining University ranks before being drafted into the Millionaire Club.

One of the players who paved the way for the NBA of today came straight from Lower Merion High School outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A man who did exactly what I wanted to do, a player I admired for being the talent that everyone said he couldn’t be, a guy who created a legacy around one name: Kobe.

Say what you will about the 18 year old Kobe demanding to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe at times during his career he played with a swagger that certain fans did not like. His inauguration into professional basketball came at a time when Jordan was ruling the league. No one wanted to see the King dethroned – certainly not by some flashy teenager straight out of high school that could speak Italian fluently and signed with Jordan’s shoe rival Adidas.

But I did. I believed that 18 year old kid was just like me – wanting to live out a dream and I wanted to live out my dream of basketball through him. As much as I don’t like the Lakers I always wanted Kobe to win. When Kobe came out with shoes I got them – I’ll never forget the “spaceman” shoes – I still have them.

Now that the NBA has moved on from Kobe and my dream, the league is different. 20 years of Jellybean Bryant’s son and now he’s gone. Life moves on and as I watch Kobe as a man and not that 18 year old kid – I realize that I’ve grown too. I fight the feeling that I’m getting old, but seeing the years on Kobe’s face I realize we both have aged. It doesn’t matter to me about the championships or the awards or points. What matters is Kobe did the things I wanted to do at a time I wanted to do them. Kobe was me.

Red's Ghost 4:15 pm on August 1, 2017
Tags: , , philosophy   

A Cubs Fan Finally Gets His Championship Ring – And I’m Fine With It!

The Chicago Cubs are giving Steve Bartman a World Series ring this week for all the hell he's been through since that ill fated night in Wrigley Field 14 years ago. Bartman has led a sheltered and very secluded life after the death threats he received in the wake of the Cubs 2003 National League Championship Series loss. Cubs fans hit the radio waves to express discontent for the man they believed caused the team to never reach their destiny. A man who had to be escorted from the stadium after reaching for a foul ball.

Among many sports fans a debate has raged about whether the Cubs are breaking an unwritten rule of professional athletics by handing out a ring. Questions like Bartman didn't play with the team so why give him a ring? Or does doing this cheapen the accomplishment of the 2016 champs? What if the other clubs decided to just hand out rings to whomever? Should Bartman even accept the gesture in the first place?

For all the questions, the answers aren't as clear as one might think. No one can truly say but Bartman whether he should take the offer from the club. He is the one who has had to separate himself from the team he loved so dearly. Can you imagine your team winning after 107 years and not being able to be at the game to celebrate? Much less having the ability to show your face in public all because people thought you were the reason a team lost?

Teams can do whatever they want with their rings. If New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft can give one of his Super Bowl rings to Russian president Vladimir Putin how can we criticize a team giving one to a fan? A ring from a championship is merely a symbol of a win, something that most players simply lock up and put away in a safe only to come out at special events. A championship win by players builds bonds and families within a locker room that no piece of jewelry or banner can match. How is it any different than any other memorabilia that is sold after the playoffs? In fact, players sell them all the time.

I'm not sure if there is a team that doesn't do what it wants when it comes to victories. In 2016, the Denver Broncos took the Lombardi Trophy to a late fan's funeral. The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers gave rings to janitors and food vendors. Why is everyone getting so excited about the Cubs? Give Bartman some peace finally, he's been through hell.

Red's Ghost 4:19 pm on July 31, 2017
Tags: , , , , philosophy   

Last Chance U Part Deux: Buddy Stephens Revisited

When the first season of Netflix's football series "Last Chance U" ended we saw the JUCO program of Eastern Mississippi exiting the Mississippi state playoffs after getting into a brawl. Coach Buddy Stephens was berating his players as "thugs," much to the dismay of many of them.

The new season of the series promised more football and more drama. What I didn't count on was Stephens announcing that he was embarrassed watching the first season of the show and that he was going to be nicer to his players. Call me skeptical but I didn't buy it at the time and as the show went on, I was right.

The first couple of games he preached change, positivity and how he was a new man. His use of swear words in practice led to him having to drop down to crank out push-ups in front of the team. I was more stunned than impressed, he almost seemed to be embarrassing himself in front of the team.

As the wins mounted, so too did the immense pressure lofted onto Stephens' shoulders. Injuries hit star running back Isiah Wright. The defense struggled to stop anyone who ran right at them. When Coach would attempt to talk to a player it felt as if he was begging that person to say anything at all. One word and Stephens would snap.

I lost count the number of times he kicked Wright out of practice. As the defense struggled to find an identity he berated the Defensive Coordinator for not doing enough. When the refs asked Stephens to back up from the sidelines he freaked out on them.

"Don't touch me. I don't touch you." Stephens screamed at them. So much for the kinder, gentler coach.

Near the end of the season as the team played for the Mississippi state championship Stephens sent his offensive coordinator up to the press box. The same offensive coordinator that had been there for years. I thought that Stephens wanted to turn over a new leaf, but no.

Even though the team won the game and the state championship, Stephens had damaged his team in the process.

Team mother Brittany Wagner left Eastern Mississippi to form her own company to help students.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Wood stepped down from his duties after his interactions on the sidelines of that championship game.

Quarterbacks coach Clint Trickett left the program to work at Florida Atlantic University.

Defensive coordinator Ed Holly left to coach high school football in Florida.

Who else?

To paraphrase Isiah Wright, he said "I can tell when someone cares for me and when they want something from me." The former running back of Eastern Mississippi couldn't have been more painfully clear about the situation in Scooba, MS. It also becomes obvious less than halfway through the season that the head coach's driving factor is to win football games.

The series visits former players and examines their current situation. My favorite is Ronald Ollie who looked happy to have left Eastern Mississippi for Nicholls State. Even former quarterback John Franklin III smiles for the camera while explaining his situation as a backup quarterback at Auburn University. Their lives are drastic comparisons to what the athletes are experiencing back at the junior college.

Eastern Mississippi's defense shows a disconnect because of the malaise that starts at the top. The offense runs well only because former offensive coordinator Wood cares about his kids and sheltered them from Stephens' negativity.

By the end of the season even he can't keep away the drama and is swallowed up by it. I believe Stephens' lack of self control is ultimately going to be his downfall. Even if he wins football games, his lack of compassion guarantees he will never grow as a person. I feel bad that he never gets to understand the kids the way Wagner and Wood did but one day he'll realize that humanity is more important than wins.

Red's Ghost 5:32 pm on July 25, 2017
Tags: Dallas Cowboys, lucky Whitehead, , philosophy   

Losing Faith Or Sports Is So Screwed

Apparently the Dallas Cowboys are so worried about a man named Lucky Whitehead supposedly getting arrested for misdemeanor shoplifting from Wawa in suburban Virginia that they cut him from the team. The same Cowboys team that has fielded players charged with domestic violence, gun charges, drug charges and DWI incidents. I'm guessing that as a Cowboy you are held to a higher standard- no shoplifting but plenty of beating, drinking, drugs and poor decisions.

I feel for Whitehead because the police now admit that it wasn't him who they arrested for shoplifting. All that drama from the Cowboys and it turns out he wasn't even there, imagine that. Jerry Jones is going to do what he's going to do. In fact Jerry's son, Stephen said that it was a "culmination of things over a period of time." You mean he missed a practice or skipped a meeting or claimed his dog got kidnapped? Sure, he's probably a knucklehead but he DIDN'T break the law.

The starting running back was questioned for domestic abuse charges. A linebacker was charged was assault for hitting someone with a truck. Another player was charged with DWI. In 2015 they fielded a player who was a repeat drug offender. Of course they signed Greg Hardy.

They are hardly the only team to put questionable people on the field. The NFL is full of players that are on the edge of falling off the cliff. The problem is that the league is all about money. When the only reason guys are on the field is because they can play a sport and normal people would be in jail it's because of power, money and influence.

I have a huge problem with the fact that a guy like Whitehead lost his gig over some arrest that never happened. He doesn't even have the ability to sue the Cowboys over wrongful termination because of the way NFL contracts are written.

I wonder what the arresting officers must feel today knowing they helped contribute to the man's loss of employment. Did they just say "hey he said his name was Lucky Whitehead and he had his information so we aren't going to look at his mugshot?" Isn't this a statement on its own? Lucky Whitehead's picture is easily found on the internet- is there no due diligence? If someone was arrested with my information would they verify that it truly was me? I'm scared for this world.

Red's Ghost 4:48 pm on July 20, 2017
Tags: , , , philosophy,   

Uncle Mike Vick’s Cabin 

I recently saw a shirt that says : 

We march, y’all mad, We sit down, y’all mad, We speak up, y’all mad, We die, y’all silent.

Let those words sink in for a bit before you pass judgement on what they are saying.  

I’m not going to wade into the political world but this shirt reminded me of Colin Kaepernick and what he’s been going through with NFL free agency.  Whether you agree with him or not his actions have caused people to talk, something that is necessary in this country.

Unfortunately there are people like Mike Vick who went on FS1’s “Speak For Yourself,” and said that the reason why Kaepernick doesn’t have a job is because he is still sporting an afro.  Really Mike?  Vick went on to say it’s really not about his hair but about his last two years of play.  If he cuts his hair and goes back to the NFL with hat on hand and keeps on line, Vick thinks all will be forgiven.  Much like after he was forgiven for his dog fighting charges.  Vick reminded us all “it’s not about selling out.”

I’m not sure I buy that.  While it may not be that Kaepernick is getting black balled from getting a job in the NFL because of his beliefs, he’s causing questions to be asked of the culture and mentality of those that are in charge of signing players.  He’s reaffirmed my opinion that football is about money and the image of what is on the field.  Look at some of the white players who have long hair and long beards, why is that okay?  Is what Vick saying that Kaepernick’s hair cut reminds fans of the 70s and Black Power activists?  Mike Vick reminds me of a dog killer.  There are players in the NFL with weapons charges.  There are players in the NFL who have beat and abused domestic partners.  There have been players in the NFL that have killed others and still been able to come back.  You are going to tell me someone should cut their hair Mike?  Give me a break.  All Kaepernick did these past two years is express his right to protest.  He didn’t break a law and he didn’t break an NFL rule.  He can grow an afro and he can kneel for the anthem.  However you can’t kill or beat a human much less defenseless animals.

I have a real problems with the fact that it’s okay with guys like Rex Ryan to attend and even announce guys like Donald Trump at political rallies without their teams saying a word.  Meanwhile Kaepernick doesn’t say a word on the field but keeps to himself.  Each man expressed his right to protest or display his view only one of them has been chastised for it – I wonder why?

Red's Ghost 1:48 am on July 19, 2017
Tags: , , , philosophy   

A League Full Of Losers

In the NFL, 31 teams go home at the end of the season as losers.  If you think about it that’s 97 percent of the league that doesn’t accomplish the ultimate goal every single year.  It doesn’t matter if your favorite team won their division if they didn’t win the Super Bowl, they still came up short.

As previously stated in earlier blogs, football is a business and owners do whatever it takes to make their product earn.  Unfortunately there are times when the monster eats itself or some teams just don’t have the structure in place internally.  Many times what’s seen on the field reflects that lack of planning by General Managers or Owners but at the end of the year when the results are in, the coach takes the fall.  

The coach may not be able to win with the lack of depth they were given or maybe the GM didn’t give them players that fit their system.  Too bad, the coach is the one to go.  Think about all the different parts of a football team and the number of players that have to do their job.  If one player doesn’t perform their assignment the whole chain will snap.  Many times the players don’t realize that the average career of an NFL player is less than 4 years.  Players see guys like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning that have longevity in a rough and tumble league.  However, because of the violent collisions injuries are common and career threatening.  

When these players drop their end of the rope, coaches have to scramble to find someone else to pick it up.  It’s what many refer to as a “next man up” mentality.  The problem is there are guys who aren’t able to deal with the pressure or the pace and they too fall.  Even though most players in the NFL are close to the same skill set in most areas, it’s the mental aspect that makes guys great.  It’s up to coaches to push men to find that.

But what happens when guys tune that out?  Or what happens when some guys don’t have the ability to push through that final wall?  Scouting players isn’t a science, as is evident by the many busts in the NFL draft.  These players can become what is known as “coach killers” contributing to the average length of a coaching career being less than 5 years.  Think about that player who was drafted and fizzled out within his first 4 years in the league even though the first year coach relied so heavy on him.  Now the coach might have one more year to prove himself, but more than likely that coach is already out the door.

When we watch football very few of us think of those guys that walk up and down the sidelines.  Not just the main guys like Bill Belichick or Mike Tomlin.  There are those men behind them, the ones that give their all to coach the wide receivers or the defensive backs that rarely have their names in the paper or the news.  When a defense plays lights out it’s normally the defensive coordinator who gets the credit even though that defensive backs coach gave up his free time and his life to be there researching and preparing too.  When the coach gets fired guess who is going to go too?  All those coaches.  Maybe some of them will never get another job in football even though they were great at what they did.  The problem is no one knew them except for that coach and now he can’t find another job.  But the players who let go of the rope, they might get another shot.  That General Manager who didn’t bring in enough players that were good enough to cover for injuries?  You can bet he’s still there.  

I understand that coaches watch film and prepare a game plan.  They call the plays and try to put the players in the right position to win however sometimes it isn’t the coach’s fault that a team loses.  Sometimes there truly are bad teams based upon the roster they’ve been given. Sure it’s up to them to make the best of hands they are dealt but I think many times fans, executives and the media expect way too much of coaches instead of realizing that players have to be held accountable too.  Coaches aren’t miracle workers, they are human and can only do so much- it’s time to stop blaming them for everything and start praising them.