Category Archives: sports

Scab referees removed


NFL team owners, apparently rattled by public outrage over bad calls by scab referees during the first three weeks of professional football season, have agreed to let a little more of their enormous wealth trickle down to the referees union: … Continue reading

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NFL players paid to injure — shocking!


Like Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca, I’m shocked — shocked! — to hear National Football League players are being paid to injure players on opposing teams. From Steve Coll of the New Yorker: On Friday, the National Football League disclosed … Continue reading

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We love you, Joe Pa


Here we are again, wondering where to draw the line between fans and fanatics, admirers and cultists, loyalty and blind obedience to the great leader. The issue came up after hundreds of students rioted to protest the firing of long-time … Continue reading

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Frazier dies. Fight of the century continues.


You had to be there, I guess, to appreciate the significance of the first Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, on March 8, 1971. Not necessarily at ringside, but aware of the mood of the country. It was as if a civil … Continue reading

Posted in Great Recession, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, sports, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why it’s so easy to hate LeBron James


It’s not because he embraced the nickname King James and has “Chosen1” tattooed on his back. It’s because he’s too arrogant or stupid (same thing?) to resist taking verbal shots at basketball fans who rooted against him during the NBA … Continue reading

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Fergie and Fyodor do the Super Bowl


Yes, we shall set them to work, but in their leisure hours we shall make their life like a child’s game, with children’s songs and innocent dance. — from the Grand Inquisitor’s speech in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov And … Continue reading

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Fast Eddie’s casino freakout on 60 Minutes


I’m Fast Eddie Rendell, and I’m smarter than the rest of you guys, always have been. It took me years to make you understand that casino gambling is the solution to shuttered factories and tens of thousands of lost jobs. … Continue reading

Posted in casinos, economic collapse, livable cities, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, sports, taxes, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Martians land in Meadowlands!


There it was in big bold caps, the main headline on the front page of Monday’s Philadelphia Inquirer: BEYOND BELIEF. Had Obama created a jobs program? Had Martians landed in New Jersey, or among Florida’s frozen oranges? No, it was … Continue reading

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(Nearly) fatal distraction


How can a poor man stand such teams and live? “These days people want beer with their circuses, not bread.” – A contemporary South Philly descendant of the ancient Roman satirist Juvenal. The beer flowed Wednesday night but the circus, … Continue reading

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Fashion-conscious thugs prefer the Bronx Bombers


But you don’t have to be a hood to love corporate logos From the Sept. 15 New York Times: A curious phenomenon has emerged at the intersection of fashion, sports and crime: dozens of men and women who have robbed, … Continue reading

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