NFL Controversy

My take on what the NFL really thinks about the officiating “problem”. Funny, but yet could easily be eerily true.

Dear NFL fan,

We have heard your complaints and understand the concerns you have about the current state of NFL officiating. Throughout the contract negotiating period with the NFL Referees Association, we will continue to strive to ensure that games are called fairly and constantly with NFL rules and guidelines. We agree with you the fan that we must maintain the integrity of game play in the NFL, while ensuring player safety.

We acknowledge that there have been some mistakes by our substitute officials during the first few weeks of the season. But mark my words, things are improving. On the matter of official intimidation, we have sent a stern memo to all organizations warning them about avoiding coercion and intimidation of the field referees. We have also put our new officiating crews through more thorough background checks, and have made the weekly film training sessions more intense. We do hope that this alleviates the concerns of you, the NFL fan. The NFL cares about nothing more than the integrity of the product we put on the field. 

On second thought, we could care less about what you think. You pay tens of thousands of dollars for personal seat licenses to have the right to buy tickets to our games. You buy Sunday Ticket subscriptions, and spend hundreds of dollars on jersey’s that cost us $10 to make, not to mention the millions we rake in from team related knickknacks and decor. You throw football parties for friends and family, upping our overall viewership to further increase the dollars we get from sponsors. You will keep watching, keep making us money, and while you will complain, you are not going anywhere. We, the NFL, own you.

To prove this, we will now hire peewee league football and MLS soccer referees as a way to "flip you the bird". You will do nothing but spend your precious time and money making us, the NFL, more wealthy than you could even hope to be. To further cut costs, we are looking at the possibility of letting the players officiate themselves, but unfortunately the training of the players to use the instant replay booths will not be completed in time to be used this season.

Thank you for your support of the NFL. Please continue to pour your hard earned money into our various revenue generating products and we promise you that you will continue to have an excuse to watch TV on Thursday evenings, Sunday's, and Monday nights, from September through January. 

Sincerely,

Roger Goodell

Commissioner, National Football League.

P.S. Thanks for the new yacht!

Updates and Ditherings

This summer has been filled with loads of work and play, writing and research. Ok, more research than writing. I have been reaching out to many other enthusiasts of the time period and events that my book is set in this summer, and have received fantastic responses.

It is amazing at how others who have a passion for a topic will reach out to those that have an interest in learning more about that topic. Those that have leant their guidance and wisdom have come from no fewer than 22 states in the U.S. and 11 countries outside of the U.S.

Also, I distributed the opening chapter to a handful of trusted readers, from which I received good feedback. I am definitely on the right track with this project given how everything is falling into place. I have a ton of research left to do on the book topic, but this will only serve to better the authenticity of the setting, the characters, and the plot. The character sketches are completed, as is the general outline of the book. This winter will be full speed ahead!

On some other topics, the “Hike for Play” (http://www.hikeforplay.com) redesign is going well, and I am planning on launching the new version of this site for the holidays. My next article in “Wisconsin Natural Resources” magazine (http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/) is slated for either the February 2013 or April 2013 issue, editor article selection pending.  I haven’t had much to post on “Raising Our Humans” (http://www.raisingourhumans.com) or “Sports Profiles” (http://sportprofiles.wordpress.com/), but updates and new articles are in the works for this and should be out by mid to late fall.

This has been a great summer, despite the heat and the drought. We have spent a lot of time at farmer’s markets in the area, and joined a CSA that has been a great experience. I highly recommend a CSA for anyone that is into good quality food. Our CSA costs us about $20 a week for a bushel full of organic goodness. When we compare what we get in our basket at the local grocery stores, we’re seeing an average of a $55 for the same items we get for $20. The food we get from both the farmer’s markets and the CSA lasts 3-4 times as long as the food at the supermarkets. This is something everyone should look into doing. In our area, there are a handful of winter farmer’s markets to fill in the gap until next spring. These markets have tons of choices, lots of cellar storable veggies, as well as greenhouse thriving foods. Just a suggestion…