P.J. Not Elite

It never ceases to amaze me how certain coaches get these plum gigs calling games on Television or radio, Take P.J. Carlesimo, former coach at Seton Hall and in the NBA.

He used a ton of cliches today while calling the eastern regional final with Gary Cohen. He had one great run at Seton Hall and then coaches a few teams in the NBA and was known for the choking incident while coaching Latrell Spreewell at Golden State. In those days the warriors weren’t a good or sexy team. Anyway I’ve had it with Carlesimo and people should bring up his coaching record in the NBA and the Spreewell incident.

Why the Seattle Mariners are a lolcow

I have become a fan of a guy on YouTube who goes by the screen name of Urinating Tree. He regularly posts videos of why certain teams are laughingstocks and train wrecks. Most of his work centers around football and hockey but some come to baseball.

By announcing the signing of Ichiro Suzuki to a major league deal, the Mariners have proclaimed themselves to be lolcows. They signed a player because he was a star for them years ago and two of their top outfielders are hurt now and will miss some of the first month of the season.

Here are some of the choices besides Ichiro who could have made a difference.

Carlos Gonzalez, formerly of Colorado
Joey Bautista
Jon Jay
Melky Cabrera
Seth Smith

Ichiro Suzuki’s 2017 WAR -0.3
Carlos Gonzalez 2017 WAR -0.2
Jose Bautista 2017 WAR -1.7
Jon Jay 2017 WAR 1.1
Melky Cabrera 2017 WAR -0.1 (White Sox and Royals)
Seth Smith 2017 WAR 0.3

As you can see, there were other options available to Seattle besides Ichiro. They took the easy way out to “appease the fan base” or “sell tickets”.

Unfortunately a team that has never been to the World Series can’t pull this kind of move and have it work out for them.

Urinating Tree, I apologize for trashing you on Monday about your critical comments about the Edmonton Oilers. You were right, especially after this nostalgic move by Seattle which is a Boys club move if there ever were one.

Why do sports writers have virtual tenure

Recently in New York City the president of the basketball team got fired for doing a lousy job as president and with a large salary. Then after the Yankees lost to Houston in the ALCS, the manager wasn’t retained so he essentially was fired. Now the football coach got fired for going 2-10and benching the quarterback who is beloved by most of the fans.

However despite pedestrian writing by many of the sportswriters here they hold on to their jobs. My question is why? Don’t these sportswriters have performance evaluations? Steve Serby and Kevin Kernan should have been fired three years ago. The two hockey writers are a joke, as is hockey in New York City, which deserves its own topic.

It’s a job, not a college professorship or a Supreme Court appointment.

Response regarding about shutting down Coed Schools for Jews because of Sex Ed

Recently, a gentleman with a well known Jewish blog was writing about sex education in religious schools and how one Open Orthodox Rabbi wants sex education in modern orthodox schools the way that it is done in public schools. During the course of his post, he said that he is opposed to coed schools beyond 6th grade and especially high school. The reason is that once a child reaches puberty the sex drive kicks into high gear. Teenage boys think of little else when their minds are not being distracted by their studies.

I will grant that boys do think about girls a good deal. However, a number of students at coed high schools somehow during puberty managed to do exceptionally well in high school that they were admitted to Ivy League schools such as Columbia, Yale, Penn and Harvard. Additionally, what are the number of students from single gender high schools that are accepted to elite schools? They're probably single gender but modern such as MTA and Central High School for Girls, not the "Bais Yaakov" type schools.

My biggest problem is that he wants to shut down a whole section of schools because of a few incidents of premarital sex in high school. A number of these coed schools have been around for many years. They aren't going to just close shop or totally remake themselves into separate gender schools because of a few individuals succumbing to temptation.

Then this gentleman goes to to delineate appropriate interaction between the sexes such as Shabbat meals with teens of opposite gender, Kiddushim at synagogue and chaperoned activities such as Bnei Akiva and NCSY.

In case this gentleman is not aware, at a lot of these single gender high schools, the student and parents sign a contract with the school saying that they will not participate in mixed activity while they are enrolled in the school. How can one expect teachers at a Bet Yaakov or Yeshiva High School who enforce rules about boys not talking to girls magically chaperone the same group of teens on a joint out of school activity during vacation or Yom HaAtzmaut, etc.?

This type of condescension towards the Modern Orthodox is the kind of thing that hardens our hearts and makes us not want to cooperate with the Yeshiva world on other important issues such as rising tuition costs.

Dress Code for Journalists

I saw this from the University of Missouri School of Journalism website and thought it was interesting. It's why I believe that most of the women "journalists" at Fox News should not be journalists.

Stacey Woelfel’s KOMU-TV Dress Code

Dress Codes for KOMU Work

It’s important for our young staff to dress professionally while they are
representing the station—whether on the air or at the building where
visitors might see them. There are specific dress codes for the job you are doing at the station, but everyone needs to follow these major rules each time they are coming to the station:

DO NOT have bare legs. Women wearing dresses, skirts, or shorts must also wear some sort of hose
DO NOT wear sweatshirts or sweatpants
DO NOT wear t-shirts
DO NOT wear shirts that expose the shoulders or midriff
DO NOT wear flip-flops or ultra-casual sandals
DO NOT wear baseball caps or other hats
DO NOT wear clothing that exposes tattoos

Remember, these rules apply whether you are coming to spend the day, or just dropping in for ten minutes to make a dub.

These rules MUST be adhered to by any of these so-called "Conservative/Republican" women or they should be unwelcome.

Capital Punishment

The Washington Capitals had the best record in the regular season this past year. Yet they succumbed to the Pittsburgh Penguins (aka NBC Sports favorite team) in the second round.

Why is it that all of the Washington, DC teams never get to the Final round of one of the four major sports? Is it the "gridlock" in Washington? Are the coaches to blame? What about the stars (RG3, Ovechkin, Wall and Harper)?

Maybe it is the nature of Washington, DC which has a lot of people from elsewhere since it's the capital. Most Pittsburgh people are natives of Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania. They're invested in the team more than DC or Floridians are.

Good luck to the Sharks and Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday.

Enough with LGBT Issues

I have had it with the constant barrage of LGBT issues on if state X is hateful and should lose concerts, etc. Why can't the Gays leave us alone? We leave you alone, you leave us alone and be respectful like every other human, regardless of creed, color, etc.