This fine Saturday’s headlines:
DSK: the prosecution of the former head of the IMF for rape is going badly. DSK was released from house arrest yesterday due to revelations about his accuser’s credibility.
The recession: over. I mean, sorry, the recovery is in full swing. Or rather the recession is over and there might be a recovery sometime soon. Fuck it. It’s still a recession.
Minnesota’s government shutdown: ongoing. The state government’s shutdown began when Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republicans in the legislature were unable to agree on a deal for the state’s budget. Dayton wanted to raise taxes on high earners and Republicans rejected higher taxes.
Creepy area ex-cop: arrested on suspicion of murdering a seven year old girl in 1957, when he was a youth growing up in the Chicago area. Police based their theory on the discovery of a train ticket in the victim’s property.
Village Voice Media: under scrutiny from many, including Ashton Kutcher and Mike McGinn, for allowing the advertisement of child prostitutes on its website. The company owns the Seattle Weekly.
Revolt in Syria: ongoing. The governor of a restive province was fired by President Bashar al-Assad today. Voice of America alleges that 1,400 Syrians have been killed by their government since the revolt started in March.
NBA players: locked out by the league’s club owners. NBA owners apparently lost a lot of money last year and want to reign in player salaries. Players want to increase their salaries, of course, so here we are with a nice lockout and the chance of a shortened or cancelled NBA season next year.
Lion’s Club International: holding a convention Downtown with a march on Tuesday. People who regularly volunteer their time for the betterment of their communities will block traffic and force bus detours in our community Tuesday afternoon. Jerks.
Now stop learning about what’s going on in the world and watch NBA players dunk. You won’t be able to see them do it in real life next year, after all.
Why don’t major league players strike for cheaper tickets for the fans?
Yeah, right. Do you work? Why don’t you go on strike for cheaper prices for your customers.
Pretty dumb question there.
Homophone pet peeve (and this is all over the Internet):
When you are trying to curb a particular behavior, the metaphor you are using is to slow down a galloping horse, i.e. rein in salaries, (because you’re using reins, get it?).
“Reigning” is something kings and queens regnant do.
Gay Pride Downtown with a march on Tuesday! People who regularly buttfuck strangers in bathouses and give each other AIDS will block traffic and force bus detours in our community Tuesday afternoon. Jerks.
Re 1,
Why doesn’t the PNB go on strike to lower ticket prices.
Why doesn’t Seattle Opera go on strike to lower ticket prices.
Why doesn’t the Seattle Sounders . . .
When people do not show up then the ticket prices drop (and have). NBA entertainment isn’t different in that way.
DSK was released from house arrest yesterday due to revelations about his accuser’s credibility.
How can this be? He was accused of rape so it must be true because women never make false accusations of rape.
A shorter NBA season? Hopefully that means the playoffs won’t run for two straight months.
Who’d a thunk we’d get “Ashton Kutcher”, “Demi Moore”, and “Mike McGinn” showing up in the same sentence in media around the country?
Kutcher was damn smart to counter the Village Voice’s slam on the inflated stats he promotes, not by responding about the science but by igniting a Twitterstorm redirecting attention at the Voice’s ad policy. Then to draw a quick mayoral press conference to back him, making no mention of the concerns raised by the scientists the Voice contacted? Kutcher must be grinning ear to ear right now.
Heck yeah, VVM has to tighten its policy. It cannot win on that one – one prostitot is one too many. But I do hope VVM’s hurt pride over Kutcher’s masterful PR counterstroke doesn’t lead it to resist so much that it winds up disgustedly taking down its entire adult-services section. Remember, that’s what Craigslist chose to do in the original campaign on this.
But it probably will. VVM’s Backpage site doesn’t charge for listings like the Stranger’s does. That’s why Backpage has hundreds of new listings every day and the Stranger’s Naughty NW has maybe a dozen paid perma-listings. It’ll be Craigslist all over again, Backpage will remove its sex-worker section, adult sex workers lose another revenue source, Kutcher and McGinn and Linda Smith declare victory.
But hey, on the bright side for Village Voice writers, they did avoid that strike that was looming yesterday. Good for them.
The creepy cop’s train ticket was found in an ex-girlfriends belongings. So there’s that.
(P.S. how wrong am I – backpage ads DO cost – I just tried to place a test ad as a middle-aged gay hooker and it asked me for $15! The nerve.
I bet VVM must be deciding if the overhead cost of requiring in-person ID checks, and the volume diminution they’ll face for doing that, will make continuing its adult-services site pencil out. I hope they give it a go.)
@7
Somehow the NCAA can get 65 teams down to one in a month, and make a boatload of money, off the backs of free-ish labor.
There shouldn’t be more than one day of rest between games and far more back-to-back games, regular season and playoffs.
They should contract 2 teams disperse both of the talented players within the 30 from those teams, two 14-team conferences and four 7-team divisions within each conference. The top 16 are in the playoffs, the bottom 12 are lottery (non-weight lottery drawing, any of those 12 could have the #1 pick).
16 teams, best of 3, best of 5, best of 7, best of 7 done in 30 days.
World class athletes, if all of them are, then would have to play more than the same 7 players for two months.
You seem to be laboring under the illusion that shorter playoffs are better. The league makes a serious chunk of money off of those playoff games – significantly more than from regular season games. There is certainly no incentive to shorten the playoffs.
The whole damned NBA could disappear, and the world would be a better place.
Reign means to rule, the word you want is “rein”. Yes, they sound the same, and are spelt with only one letter difference; but they do not mean the same thing. To slow a horse down you “rein it in”, pull on the reins. The phrase is then used to mean slowing down something large and powerful, so you could rein in the player’s salaries.
Perhaps you could reign in the player’s salaries in some economists’ version of Flatland, where mathematical entities frolick and play. That makes my brain hurt right now though.
If I have made errors, likely as my brain’s been sluggish for a few days now; some kind person will point those out too, and we can all learn.
@9, Damn pack-rats!
I don’t think that “reign” is correct here; I think you meant, “rain.”
Yeah 5280, playoffs generate revenue short-term. But I think the point @11 is making (and it’s on e I couldn’t any more vehemently agree w/, except I’m pretty drunk right now and don’t know how many people are even gonna see this post and I really shouldn’t expend too much effort on this except I just agree w/ him so fucking much) is that their longer term interests and/or brand, would likely be served so much better by re-formatting the playoffs.
NCAA basketball really does have the most exciting post season in all sports, owing to the frantic nature of the first two weeks of their tourney. NBA does the opposite w/ their 2 & 3 day layoffs b/t games. Their incentive to shorten the playoff marathon wouldn’t be short term revenue gain, it’s be longer term brand value, intensified rivalries, blah, blah, blah… Gosh I’ve got a lot to say on this topic, but I’m just too drunk to put the thought & effort into it. Mother fuckin’ fuck.
Well, Mike, you’re wrong. Somebody read your post.
You’re right about shorter playoffs being better for the fans, too. But, um, since when have the fans mattered to any professional sports team? It’s about the money, baby.
Hope you’re not too hung-over this morning.