Hub Blog: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Not a bad gig if you can get it

Congratulations to William ‘Mo’ Cowan for getting appointed interim U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Besides apparently being well regarded by both Gov. Romney and Gov. Patrick, he’s A.) Talented. B.) African-American. B.) From out of state. D.) Not your typical born-and-bred Mass pol hack.*

From a purely competitive standpoint, the state economically needs more diversity and more out-of-state people from all backgrounds remaining here after college. Mo is a classic example of – not to mention a walking advertisement for -- what the state needs moving forward. And, well, to be able to be call yourself “Senator” for the rest of your life, I’m sure Mo is already getting a tongue-in-cheek hoot out of it. … Myself, Hub Blog briefly fantasized asking Gov. Patrick for the appointment, with a future memoir already in mind, “I, Senator.” Magnanimously, I decided not to follow through on the idea.

* Though he seems to be a quick learner.

Update - Surprisingly mixed reactions over at BMG. I see the negative aspects of this appointment. There would be negative aspects to any appointment. (Think: Barney Frank, interim U.S. senator.) But, c'mon, it's a temporary post. And who cares about the possible reactions of the anti-affirmative-action crowd? The positives outweigh the negatives.

¶ 10:41 AM

Monday, January 28, 2013

The ultimate ‘I’m starting to get worried’ moment: Rondo’s out for season

I gotta confess, I had two immediate reactions after learning Rondo is out for the season, one reaction immediately following the other: 1.) Complete shock, as I realized the season is probably over for the Celts. 2.) Strange calm, as I thought, "Hmm. This should be interesting."

The former reaction is obvious. The second reaction is, well … they did beat the Heat last night, without Rondo, and they have played well this season, without Rondo, and they had sucked the previous six games, with Rondo, and … I know, I know. I’d rather have Rondo. Period. But this team has simply been awful most of the season. I think Doc and Danny had similar mixed reactions, based on what I’ve read and what Reader No. 1 has flagged. From Reader No. 1: "Jackie McMullan probably thought she'd be writing a Ray Allen story today, but takes us there today for the unexpected backstory of an unexpected win. Keen to see how Doc's immediate reaction ('I still like our team') plays against Danny's ('...I'm worried about that test')."

Read Jackie’s story. It’s a great behind-the-scenes look at how news of Rondo’s injury spread through TD Garden last night.

¶ 8:54 AM

Saturday, January 26, 2013

OK, now I’m starting to get worried, Part III

Celts lose six in a row. … Is it reaching, or has it already reached, total meltdown stage? There’s something profoundly wrong with the chemistry of this team. They're almost as bad as the Sox were the past two seasons. Well, not that bad. But you know what I mean. ... Strangely, I have the feeling it has something to do with Rondo's leadership style, or lack thereof, and yet I'm also beginning to question the once unthinkable: Is it Doc? Oh, what the hell. Let's blame Trader Danny. He was the preferred punching bag of choice before the Big Three era.

¶ 4:59 AM

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

'This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen'

Gotta love it: Hillary is just throwing it back at Republicans over Benghazi. She was definitely a little too flippant in her answer. But her frustration is justified. This is a classic group-think/echo-chamber issue among Republicans. So much so, that Sen. Rand Paul could actually mutter the following to Clinton: "Ultimately, I think with your leaving, you accept culpability for the greatest tragedy since 9/11." ... The greatest tragedy since 9/11. ... Keep in mind Paul was an opponent of the Iraq War. You know, that other post-9/11 event in which thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died? Here's what Paul says about Iraq: "Unlike Afghanistan, I would not have voted to go to war with Iraq, not only because there was no link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, but because that country did not pose a threat to the United States." ... And we're supposed to take his Benghazi criticism seriously?

¶ 12:10 PM

OK, now I’m starting to get worried, Part II

The Celts have now lost four straight. The Avery Bradley bounce is most definitely over. … I was kind of counting on the Celts, post-Pats debacle, to carry me through the winter. Not going to happen. Oh, well. I can always get my sports-entertainment fix via Katie interviews (see post below).

¶ 9:10 AM

Manti Te’o and the College Sports Industrial Complex

A week or so ago, Hub Blog and a Notre Dame grad exchanged brief text messages about the Manti Te’o falling-in-cyber-love hoax/non-hoax controversy. Initially, I was a little sympathetic toward Te’o, figuring that he was only 21 and that I’ve seen my share of other weird sports sex stories over the years. I was willing to cut him some slack, even if his behavior was more than a little odd.

But here comes Te’o, getting the obligatory interview with Katie Couric (was Oprah too busy with Lance to handle a Te’o interview?) and … and I’m now a little less sympathetic toward the ND linebacker. He’s obviously a natural when it comes to playing football. But he’s also a natural when it come to PR and publicity and putting out sappy and embellished media narratives about his life, a talent that partially explains why he got in this mess in the first place and a talent he’s surely counting on now to salvage his reputation. I’m still willing to cut him a little slack. Hey, he’s only 21, and there are entire businesses built around cyber-dating, kinky telephone sex, blow-up rubber dolls, etc. But Te’o is obviously and fully committed to the entire ethos of the modern College Sports Industrial Complex, i.e. making lot of money via the “student athlete” combine, aka the NCAA, and its financial interaction with the all-important, bill-paying media. This time, Te’o knows what he’s doing.

¶ 8:50 AM

Monday, January 21, 2013

‘For the masochists among us …’

Reader No. 1 on the Pats devastating loss yesterday to the Ravens:

For the masochists among us, here's Football Outsiders' realtime digest of yesterday's debacle. And just to top it off, the detailed box score at ESPN, which includes these gems:
- Longest Patriot rush: 9 yards (Yes, I know Baltimore's longest was 14, that's not the point)

- Ray Lewis: 14 tackles, 6 solo. Vince Wilfork: 1 solo tackle

What happened to the Patriots' energy and purpose? The no-huddle had no urgency throughout the game. The body language on and off the sidelines was dreadful from mid-third quarter onwards, as if the team had collectively realized it couldn't win. Credit to Reader No. 1's #1 for this observation. Credit to the Ravens... time to go ice-fishing here.

What I had a hard time believing was the open remarks by the TV people that: A.) The Ravens had cracked the Pats’ audible codes and therefore B.) they were very confident going into the game that they could contain the Pats’ no-huddle offense. And they certainly did contain it. Did I hear that right? Does anyone know if they really cracked the audible codes? Is that widely known and accepted within sports-media circles? Looking at the article below, it seems the Pats' hurry-up edge is completely nullified if the defense can out-communicate Brady et gang. And I seem to have read in the past that teams have broken the Pats' audible codes before. Jeez.

¶ 9:55 AM

Friday, January 18, 2013

Is Deval Patrick already running for president?

Putting aside the policy merits (and/or demerits) of Gov. Patrick's call for $1.9 billion in tax increases, doesn't it strike you that there’s something else at work here? The word “legacy” keeps popping up in in many press accounts of Patrick’s tax plan, i.e., the governor apparently yearns to leave a liberal “legacy” after his second and final term ends in two years. But there’s also persistent reports he’s eyeing a run for president in 2016, as delusional as that may seem to some, and this overall tax plan sure looks like a big sop to the Democratic primary base, especially the $500 million boost in education funding. Teachers love the plan and teachers are … Well, you know where that’s going.

The transportation part of his plan I get, and sort of agree with in broad policy terms, though I despise the idea of raising Turnpike tolls to now effectively and openly pay for transportation projects across the state. Saddling Turnpike users with huge toll increases to pay for the Big Dig was bad enough. Now Turnpike users are going to pay even more for other projects? It’s time to force others to start paying a similar share of the burden. Yet, despite that genuine concern, there’s little doubt our transportation infrastructure is in awful shape and needs more revenue to fix it.

But the education component of Patrick’s tax plan has seemingly come out of the blue. It looks very suspicious as a result – and it reminds me of Mitt Romney lurching away from the political center when he was eyeing a run for president while governor last decade. Deval is merely lurching in the opposite political direction. He’s pursuing a “legacy” all right. It might also be described as “laying the groundwork” at the same time.

¶ 7:03 AM

The mesmerizing complexity of the Pats' offense

Here's probably the best article you'll ever read on how the Pats' offense works under Tom Brady. I recall someone once briefly, patiently and clearly explaining to me Einstein's Theory of Relativity -- and me almost getting it. I was pretty proud of myself. It's the same thing here. I almost get it. ... I now have a little more sympathy for what Chad Ochocinco went through with the Pats. Just a little. ... Grantland article via Reader No. 1.

¶ 6:00 AM

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Government at its worst: ignorance and punitive public policy

So a government council in Britain is thinking of tracking and punishing obese and other “unhealthy people” who fail to exercise enough and take other steps to reduce their weight.

It’s government at its worst: Ignorance and arrogance driven by the lust for money, in this case government agencies scrambling to maintain their public funding levels, and not an ounce of humility accompanying the policies.

Maybe the good health-care nannies of the UK (coming soon to the US) might pause to consider that we really don’t have a firm handle yet on what causes obesity and that many experts believe that exercise in combating obesity simply doesn’t work. Maybe they ought to pause and read Good Calories, Bad Calories, a book that helps demolish many of the conventional wisdoms that unfortunately drive these punitive and ultimately mean-spirited public policies.*

But, of course, this isn’t entirely about health care. It’s also about, as I said, money. And they call capitalists greedy. Yikes.

* Hub Blog read Good Calories, Bad Calories at the start of 2012 – and proceeded to lose 30 pounds over the course of the year following its general findings. No massive exercise program. No starvation diet. No vegan transformation. Just knowing roughly what’s good and not good for the human body -- and applying a little common-sense discipline to that knowledge.

Next up: Twenty more pounds in 2013. All without truly obnoxious and misguided government hectoring.

P.S. – Here’s some more cold water on the nannies’ views on obesity and health care.

¶ 8:24 AM