Hale Razor

Legends

Sitting in a sports bar, I just looked up at the TV and saw that the Dodgers are getting a shellacking, 7-1 at the hands of the Padres.  (yes, I happened to bring my laptop to a sports bar - you'd expect something different from a blogger?)

Anyway, I looked up and happened to glance at Vin Scully.  Wow. 

For the longest time, I'd see Vin Scully, and I'd think: "He looks exactly the same as he did twenty years ago."  He's ageless.  Like the jokes they used to make about Dick Clark.  Dick Clark before, a couple of years ago, he missed Rockin' New Year's Eve with some hip injury or whatever it was that old people get.  Those same "he never grows old" Dick Clark jokes applied to Vin Scully.   Or did.   Dick got old.

So did Vin.

I looked up and Vin - "Old Red" he'd say he used to call his mentor Red Barber -- Vin was still red.  It didn't look horribly bottled or anything.  I mean, the guy has to be 80.   But he was all red.  And, for the first time, he looked old. 

I say this in a respectful way. 

The way you think when you realize that something that you grew up with, a part of your childhood and assumed would just always be there, is there.  Vin has always been there, telling me a yarn, just me and him, telling me how the game was going, as if we were talking one-on-one at my porch.

I used to feel this way about Chick Hearn.  Not that he was more treasured to me.  It's just that he aged first. There were whispers, and little jokes that he'd get tongue-tied or mix up players' names. But hell, many NBA players shave their heads, and from "high up on the Western sideline" it's hard to tell one bald head from another. 

Then Chick died.  Fell off a ladder.

I looked up and Vin looked old.  And red.  Vin had become the mentor, but who was he mentoring?  Who is he mentoring?  No one?  Or everyone? 

He's the avuncular friend who's been there, teaching us how to tell a story, talking to us, not at us.  And with the lines on the face, the bags under the eyes, he seems to be entering his twilight. 

I don't know how he "sounds," as I haven't followed the Dodgers that closely since their last strike (I was the only person who said during the strike, "that's it!  as a fan, I'm going on strike and not returning!" and.. meant it).  I don't know if he's lost a step.  Or a syllable.  I don't know if he mixes up players the way Chick did.

I just know that I savor every moment that I can look up and see the Old Redhead there on the screen at the sports bar, in the checkered sports coat, comforting me that I'm not that old, since my friend Vin Scully has always been there, and, indeed, is still there.

Long live Vin Scully.

Mockery, Humor, and Stupid Things

From The Daily Gut

This idea that the Rutgers women's basketball team should be off-limits to mockery and criticism because they're wonderful specimens of humanity who are uplifting all females and so forth, and Oprah is proud to call herself a W-O-M-A-N because of them, and all this other horsecrap... PTUI!

For all of you Borat lovers who thought that Sasha Baron Cohen is soooooo funny in how the hero humiliates the unsuspecting rightwing-hick-conservative-rodeofan-redneck, how is that different than the pillars of society on the Rutgers team? Both sets of "targets" were unsuspecting, both were made to look really bad in the public arena. No uproar over Borat's treatment of them. Why is this different? I mean aside from the political beliefs/race/gender of the victim?

Isn't there an argument that the people who Borat picked on are more "scarred for life" than the bunch of anonymous players who placed second in a woman's basketball tournament? (seriously, which team placed second in last year's Super Bowl, or second in last year's World Series?)

Where is the rulebook about who you can ridicule and who you cannot?

Technorati Tags: media, politics, news

Duke charges dropped against lacrosse team

This just in!

ABC News: Duke Lacrosse Case Charges to Be Dropped

The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case.

Why did this take so long?  I saw the writing on the wall over a year ago.

However, the same mentality that was whipped into a racial frenzy back then is going strong with Don Imus in its sights in today's news.  A year from now it will be someone else.

Christian-Arab Predicts World Islam Takeover, Unless...

Christian-Arab Predicts World Islam Takeover - Unless...

Westerners realize that half-measures don't work with people who are willing to die by the thousands for Allah to achieve their goal? In their eyes the Western World is simply an abomination on earth that has to be wiped out.

You really need to read the whole article.

Might as Well Say, "Hillary Kisses off South"

It's news when a Democrat attacks the Confederate flag to pander to their own base?

A Hunter's Dixie Chicks Moment

It all started when hunting columnist Jim Zumbo posited that AR rifles were overkill for hunting, and that people using them were like "terrorists."

I call them "assault" rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I'll go so far as to call them "terrorist" rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are "tackdrivers."

Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern. I've always been comfortable with the statement that hunters don't use assault rifles. We've always been proud of our "sporting firearms."

He then must have got a firestorm of responses, because next thing you know, he's apologizing, "BIG TIME."

I simply screwed up. And, to show that I'm sincere about this, I just talked to Ted Nugent, who everyone knows, and is a Board member of the NRA. Ted is extremely active with charities concerning our wounded military, and though he's known as a bowhunter, Ted has no problem with AR 15's and similar firearms. My sincerity stems from the fact that Ted and I are planning a hunt using AR 15's. I intend to learn all I can about them, and again, I'm sorry for inserting my foot in my mouth.

Next thing you know, Remington is pulling their sponsorship.

NOTICE: Remington is in the process of severing our sponsorships with Mr. Zumbo. Remington in no way shares or advocates any of the comments made by Mr. Zumbo on his blog site. A formal announcement will be released by noon today.

.... and the blog post where it all started is pulled.

Statement from Outdoor Life

Due to the controversy surrounding Jim Zumbo’s recent postings, Outdoor Life has decided to discontinue the “Hunting With Zumbo” blog for the time being. Outdoor Life has always been, and will always be, a steadfast supporter of our Second Amendment rights, which do not make distinctions based on the looks of the firearms we choose to own, shoot and take hunting. Please direct any comments you have to OLletters@time4.com.

February 19, 2007 in Hunting | Permalink

Is this the free market responding to freedom of speech, a la Dixie Chicks in reverse? Of course, they both involve incendiary remarks to right-wing audiences. However, the source of those comments is opposite. In the Chicks' case, it was from some liberals in the entertainment industry who just happened to have rednecks as fans. In Zumbo's case, he (giving him benefit of the doubt) was a Second Amendment advocate who just happened to have a sincere brain lapse.

The results of both people's comments was very damaging to their own cause.

With freedom comes responsibility... and consequences.

UPDATE: what's going on with this world when even a liberal like Marion Berry sees the advantages to an armed populace defending themselves, but a hunter doesn't?

Remarkable Customer Service

This is one of those things that goes without saying, but it has to be said loudly.. and often.

Remarkable customer service gets remarked upon.

Read these seven great pointers.

If Mellencamp Keeps Talking Like This, He May End Up As Barack Obama's VP

This explains why that America-hating Chevy Truck commercial was set to a Mellencamp song... until they decided to switch to something a little bit more, uh, Americana and Rockwellian. That wasn't the first impulse, though, was it, Johnny boy?

If Mellencamp Keeps Talking Like This, He May End Up As Barack Obama's VP.

Charlie Rose: If we knew where Osama Bin Laden was, to have bombed his hideout would have been inappropriate?

John Cougar Mellencamp: Yes.

The whole thing is a good read to understand the pacifist mindset.

Wow. Do we wait til they slit all of our infidel throats before we do something?

"Here's a little ditty, 'bout Jack and Diane, two American kids, doing the best that they can...until someone from Al Sadr's militia comes along and kills them behind their decadent Tastee Freeze (tm)"

Al Sadr Wusses to Iran

From the Captain's Quarters:

This couldn't have come at a better time. Congress has tied itself in knots trying to opine on what a disaster the surge will be, and before they can vote on a resolution scolding George Bush for wasting resources, he's already chased one of the worst actors out of Baghdad. Nancy Pelosi will be holding a debate to disapprove of a strategy that has already demonstrated success.

Maybe the surge is a good idea.  Maybe the Democrats should cheer.  Maybe Iran is meddling in Iraq. 

Wrong on climate change

You mean, the debate isn't over?