Inauguration Security

It is already being marked on the calendar of practically every American. January 20th, 2008. Inauguration Day. The day where an African American becomes the next President of the United States or the day where George W. Bush is no longer president. I guess you can look at it either way, depending on how much you love Obama or how much you hate Bush.

However, the most important person in America on January 20th, 2008 will not be Obama, instead it will be........Cathy Lanier.

Wait? Huh? You are definitely wondering who the hell Cathy Lanier is.

Cathy Lanier is the Police Chief in the District of Columbia. She will be responsible for making sure President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States without anything happening to him.

Let's face it. We may have elected an African American to become the next president, but there is still racism in our country. There are still people out there who absolutely hate Blacks and are livid over the fact that one will be their next president. This racism, as well as the fact that terrorists are still a powerful force, are the two main reasons why there is going to be the most security ever to patrol an event on Inauguration Day.

It will be the responsibility of Lanier to make sure her city is patrolled by as many officers as possible. Yes, the secret service and other people in Obama's administration will play a large role in making sure Obama is sworn in without any trouble, but Lanier is in charge of the city. Therefore, it is her responsibility to make sure nothing goes wrong.

The precautions that are being taken for Inauguration Day are amazing. According to CNN, "Precautions will range from the routine — magnetometers like those used at airports — to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols."

The fact that a sniper will be able to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away is pretty cool. Actually, it's amazing. This alone will make me think twice if I were one of those idiots planning on doing something to harm the 44th President.

Lanier is in charge of all 5,265 surveillance cameras in Washington D.C., and all of those cameras will be fed into a multi-agency command center.

In conclusion, the man of the day on January 20th will be Barack Obama, but the WO-man of the day will be Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

USC Gets Revenge

One word describes USC’s 45-23 victory over Stanford: Revenge. It was only one year ago when the Stanford Cardinal came to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as a 41 point underdog and destroyed the USC Trojans national championship dreams by beating the Trojans 24-23.

USC fans had to have been at the edge of their seats after the first half. The scoreboard read 17-17, meaning the blowout the Trojans fans were hoping for was looking more like a nail biter.

It was probably one of the worst halves of football the Trojans have played so far this year. The defense gave up over 200 yards and the offense couldn’t seem to be able to get anything going. Luckily, the special teams for the Trojans came to play. Ronald Johnson had a stellar kick return for 75 yards to set up a 37-yard field goal by David Buehler (Buehler is still not given enough credit for how much he has contributed to the Trojans this year). C.J. Gable also had a nice touchdown off a kick return. He displayed some of his great speed on that return, going virtually untouched for the score.

Pete Carroll must have said something during halftime in his speech that sparked a fire under the Trojans, because they came out looking like a completely different team in the second half. They had over 300 yards of offense in the second half, and only gave up 160 yards on defense.

Give credit to Stafon Johnson and the rest of the tailbacks, because they led the way in the second half. Johnson ended the game with 115 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns, while his partners in crime, C.J. Gable and Joe McKnight, combined for 157 yards and 1 touchdown.

Overall, it was two different teams that stepped onto the field in Palo Alto, California on Saturday evening. The first team was one that stooped down to the level of the Stanford Cardinal, while the second was the one that deserves to be ranked #6 in the BCS standings.

The Trojans now get a week off to rest and get healthy. Next on tap for the Trojans is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish visit the Coliseum on Nov. 29 and then the Trojans will head to Pasadena to face the UCLA Bruins on Dec. 6th, in what could be the first of two games in a row that the Trojans will play in Pasadena. Only time will tell what the future of this Trojans team will be, but after this week, Trojans fans will be rooting for the team that played the 2nd half against the Stanford Cardinal.

Fight on!

Pick Me, Pick Me!!

I know you want to be a part of the Obama administration. Well, you might want to think twice about it, because you are going to have to reveal every single thing about yourself.

An application to join Obama’s staff was released on Thursday and it includes questions such as, “Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career,” and “If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an e-mail, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe.”

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I would not want to disclose all the instant messages I have sent over the years. I am sure that sometime over the last five years, I have said something stupid that I would definitely regret.

In an age where technology has escalated dramatically and is a huge part of our lives today, Obama is making sure that no one he chooses has abused it.

When you first see the application, one of two things runs through your mind. First of all, you could be thinking Obama is a genius and a hard-ass and will make sure that no one enters his administration that doesn’t deserve to be there….or you could be thinking Obama is crazy for trying to invade people’s lives to an extent that is completely unnecessary.

I am going to go with the first option. Being the first African American president, as well as entering the oval office during one of the worst periods in American history, Obama cannot afford to make any mistakes. Hiring someone that has a sketchy past and did something that would hurt Obama’s credibility would be disastrous.

An example of surrounding yourself with the wrong people and paying the price would be George W. Bush’s presidency. If you saw the movie “W,” you saw the idiots that Bush surrounded himself with.

Bush is actually pretty smart and was capable of holding a position high up, but he killed any chance he had of succeeding by surrounding himself with absolute morons. The only person Bush had on his staff that knew what he was doing was Colin Powell. Powell was adamantly against the war from day one, but he was outnumbered by the morons.

Because of the poor guidance given to him, Bush became one of the worst presidents ever. Now, Obama wants to make sure he doesn’t follow in the footsteps of Bush, so he is making sure that everyone on his staff is right for the job and will help him succeed.

Although this application exposes a lot about you and invades your privacy, it’s necessary in order to make sure the next four years aren’t like the last eight.

In conclusion, I tip my hat off to you, Mr. Obama. Congratulations on being someone that cares about our country succeeding and will go to extreme lengths to ensure America’ success.

President Obama

Congratulations to Barack Obama for becoming the 44th President of the United States. He not only defeated John McCain, but he did it in a fashion that showed how liked he was across the country. With some states still needing to be finished counting, Obama has a commaning lead in the electoral vote and an overwhelming lead in the popular vote. Currently, Obama is up by approximately 6 million votes.

It was only a few months ago during the primaries when Barack Obama was running behind John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in the polls. Clinton was expected to not only win the Democratic nomination but do it in a landslide. However, Obama put up a fight against Clinton and then put up a fight in the general election against McCain. It was Obama's unwillingness to get knocked down and not give up that helped Obama become our President-elect.

One could say the tough battle Obama faced in the primary against Clinton really toughened him up. He worked hard in every aspect of the campaign, especially fundraising.

If it wasn't for Obama's incredible fundraising, we wouldn't be celebrating the 1st African American president. But thanks to Obama's campaign fundraisers, he was able to raise a record amount of money. This money was used for two main things that helped the campaign: Advertising and Ground Forces.

One item that had been talked about for a few weeks, especially among Democrats, was the Bradley Effect. Obama had huge leads in the polls, and even led in some traditionally red states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. Political experts were saying to be wary of these leads that Obama has, especially in the red states, because once people actually get to the polls, it will be hard for them to vote for an African American.

I guess it was all talk because Obama won all those states I mentioned above, assuming he holds the lead he has now in North Carolina. We can finally put the Bradley Effect to rest and celebrate the fact that our country is not as racist as we thought.

This is an amazing day for the people of the United States, because a democrat will take the oath for the oval office in January and the Democratic Party will have a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

More importantly, our country has elected an African American as President of the U.S. It's amazing to see what our country has gone through the past 100 years and where we stand today.

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK OBAMA!

Post-Partisanship with Proposition 11

With only three days until Election Day, all the attention is on Barack Obama and John McCain to see who will become the next President of the United States. Ads are being run on the airwaves, candidates are giving speeches, volunteers are hitting the streets and news channels are devoting as much coverage as possible to the most historical election ever. While all the attention might be on the presidential election, there is an extremely important proposition on the ballot in California, Proposition 11, that would have a very similar result as Barack Obama becoming president: post-partisanship.

Proposition 11 would change the way district lines are drawn in California. Currently, the re-drawing of the lines is done by the state legislature, but if this proposition is passed, a 14-member committee will draw the lines. The committee will consist of five Democrats, five Republicans and four of neither party. In order for the district line to be re-drawn, at least three democrats, three republicans and three of neither party must be agree to it.

By creating this committee, it will prevent state legislators from putting their self-interest ahead of the interest of the public. Moreover, if the legislators are stripped of the power and the committee takes over, it allows both parties to get involved and create post-partisanship. “Passing Proposition 11 will end partisan gridlock,” according to the California voter guide.

Currently, the Democratic Party is the beneficiary of the way the district lines are drawn. One of the main individuals in charge of drawing the district lines is Michael Berman. Michael is the brother of Rep. Howard Berman. The LA Times reported Democratic Congressional members “agreed” to each pay Berman $20,000 to draw a safe district. Now, if this isn’t the complete opposite of parties working together as one than I don’t know what is.

Furthermore, Berman can’t be blamed for accepting the money from the Democratic Congressional members, because you and I would probably do the same exact thing. However, by allowing this to happen, one party gains complete control over something that should be decided by both parties.

Some evidence to support partisanship can be seen in the 99 percent of incumbents being re-elected right now, as well as not one of the 120 seats changing party hands in the last two elections.

As a Democrat I should be thrilled to have more Democrats being elected and representing me, but I’m not content at all because of the way the Democrats are being elected. We live in a democratic society where every person deserves to have his or her voice heard, but that is taken away if members of the legislature are being paid off or influenced to draw the district lines to benefit one party.

The term gerrymandering means drawing district lines to benefit yourself or someone else instead of doing it for the interest of the public. Gerrymandering cases have been prominent over the last few decades because people believe gerrymandering violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment which states every person was created equal so he or she is entitled to the same equal rights. Gerrymandering proves partisanship because in most cases, the Democrats and Republicans are not equal. One party getting the benefit of the doubt over another case means everyone is not equal.

Barack Obama represents himself as being post-partisan, someone who is going to work across party lines and get our country back on track and working together to become a better nation; Proposition 11 is the ideal example of structural manifestation of post-partisanship. By passing Prop 11, both parties would have an equal say in how the district lines are drawn. Our state would be one that would have parties working together which is exactly what was meant to happen when democracy was created.

So on November 4th, vote Yes on Proposition 11, because a Yes vote means post-partisanship in California.

Obama Rally in Missouri

A source on the ground in Missouri has told me that Barack Obama will be holding a rally in Columbia, Missouri on Thursday. This information has not been released to the media or the public, so those readers of the "Press Box" are the first to find out.

The rally will take place in the Mizzou Stadium, home of the Missouri Tigers.....I wonder if Heisman hopeful Chase Daniel will throw a pass to Barack Obama at the rally. Now that would be a fun thing to watch.

Missouri is a pivotal state in this election that not many people are talking about. According to my source in Missouri, no candidate has won the presidency without winning Missouri, except for in 1914. Woodrow Wilson was the lucky one to win without Missouri.

Barack Obama could easily win the election without Missouri because of his popularity in the other battleground states, but if John McCain loses Missouri, he can watch his hopes of becoming the next President of the U.S. go straight out the window.

Two polls right now have the candidates in a tight race. In one poll, Barack Obama has a 1 point lead and in the other, John McCain has a 1 point lead.

This rally could be pivotal in swaying the undecided voters in Missouri. A good speech by Obama could mean winning the state of Missouri.

We are only 8 days away until we find out who will be our next president. On that note, GET OUT TO VOTE! Do not assume that Obama will win your state just because he is ahead. Polls don't mean anything. Actual votes do!


Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

Palin for President in 2012?

We are only 10 days away from our country selecting the next President of the United States. It will be either the unknown senator from Illinois turned celebrity named Barack Obama or it will be the veteran of the U.S. Senate, John McCain.

So our attention right now should fully be on these two candidates, right? Eh, not so fast. There is already talk about who is going to run in 2012 and you might be surprised to find out who is the most likely person to represent the Republican Party. It’s not Mitt Romney. It’s not Rudy Guiliani. It’s not Mike Huckabee. It’s the Tina Fey look-a-like….Sarah Palin. (this is the time you get out all of your expletives).

Yes, you heard me right the first time. The governor of Alaska may be positioning herself for a run at the presidency in 2012 if Obama is to win on November 4th. It seems completely ridiculous at first, but it actually does make a little bit of sense…not much, but a little bit.

Just look at the campaign thus far. Palin has been getting in the news for disagreeing with McCain on several issues. The first issue came up about a month ago when McCain said he was giving up on Michigan, a key battleground state. Palin came out the very next day in the media to say that she completely disagreed with the move.

One of the most recent issues that Palin has disagreed with McCain on has been the robo-calls that are hitting battleground states across the country. Palin was asked what she thought about the robo-calls and she said she would reach the voters in a different way; she said the campaign would be better off going door-to-door and talking to the voters face-to-face.

Now on the surface, it seems pretty ludicrous for the running mate of John McCain to publicly dispute moves by the McCain campaign, but if you look deeper, it makes complete sense. By disagreeing with McCain on some issues, Palin will be able to come out after November 4th and say it wasn’t her fault that McCain lost.

As hard as it is for me to say this….I completely agree with Palin’s decision. Sarah Palin is not the reason why McCain is behind in the polls. McCain is behind in the polls because the economy is in complete shambles. Voters may not be going to the polls on election day to choose the person they think will be the best person to lead the country; instead, they will be pushing the pen onto the ballot to select the candidate that they feel is best suited to get the economy in better shape. Sarah Palin has nothing to do with the economy.

If it weren’t for Sarah Palin, the evangelical Christians and the hardcore Republicans would not be too thrilled with Senator McCain. McCain chose Palin so she could excite the base. Palin didn’t do a good job of this…she did a GREAT job.

So, while people may say that Palin was good for the Republican ticket in the short-term and bad in the long-term, to Sarah Palin all that matters is that she continues to keep her celebrity status, because look what’s happening to a senator from Illinois.


Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

Ref Takes Out Quarterback

The Undecided Voter

It is a rare endangered species for 45 months and then with about three months before the election, it creates offspring in the form of attention-seeking animals, which dominate the political world. This specie is the undecided voter. Apparently, the undecided voter has been sent from the election heavens to decide this presidential election. However, political experts and the media are making too much of the undecided voter, because in actuality, the undecided voter most likely has made up his or her mind.

If you watched the last presidential debate on Wednesday night, you definitely know who ‘Joe the Plumber is.’ Even if you didn’t watch the debate, you have to have been locked up in a cage to have not heard anything about him. His name isn’t important, especially since his name isn’t even Joe…it’s Samuel. What is important is the candidate Joe is going to vote for. Right now, he is still undecided which puts him into the category of an undecided voter. Joe the Plumber is one of the people in our world who goes to bed every night not knowing who they are going to vote for.

The undecided voter has been a focus of the election, especially in the debates and polls. Some examples of it being on display is on CNN’s debate coverage with the line at the bottom of the screen that is based on positive or negative feedback from Ohio uncommitted voters, as well as the town hall format for the second debate where every audience member was supposedly undecided. There is also have the post-debate coverage from every station where they get together a group of these undecided voters and ask them if they have suddenly decided who to vote for after the past debate, as well as the polls released right after the debate where the people questioned are those infamous undecided voters.

It’s very hard to understand how someone can be 17 days away from the election and still not know who he or she is going to vote for, but the fact of the matter is that 8% of our nation, according to a recent LA Times poll, is undecided.

However, Barack Obama and John McCain may be wasting their precious time and money trying to sway the undecided voters. The poll put out by the LA Times may say that 8% of our nation is undecided, but Bertram Gawronski, PhD, of the University of Western Ontario, believes the voters just may not know that their decision has been made. "It's not that people are lying to the pollsters, it's that they may not consciously recognize the automatic associations that influence their decisions," said Gawronski.

An example of someone who says he is an undecided voter but when he talks about the issues and what he thinks about both candidates is the aforementioned ‘Joe the Plumber.’ He was interviewed after the debate and said he disagrees with Obama’s tax policy and feels McCain did the best job during the debate. Then, CNN came out with a story today saying McCain has invited Joe to campaign with him. If all of this evidence isn’t enough to sway you to believe Joe has already made his mind, then I don’t know what will.

So while Obama and McCain are spending money on ads being played in swing states and their time in these states, they really should be spending their time getting the 40-45% of the population that is their base to vote. If they spend their resources getting voters to the polls and getting people to register, they would be in much better shape.

So, when you turn on the television tonight or anytime in the next two weeks before the election, don’t be fooled when the media and political experts talk about the undecided voter and how critical he is to either candidate winning the election, because in reality, the undecided voter isn’t as undecided as he is made out to be. In conclusion, the undecided voter will rule the media for the next few weeks but after November 4th, it will become just another endangered specie until 2012.

Journalism Over the Years

A major story doesn’t find itself, but rather it takes a man or woman with motivation and determination to go out and share with the world what he or she has found. This is a job journalists take on each and every day. It doesn’t matter if it is a reporter for the local Fox station in Los Angeles, a newspaper writer for the Washington Post or a radio talk show host in Chicago, all three have to find something that would interest the public; over the years these findings have been called news. However, the news that is delivered to the public is a lot different than it used to be. Over time, Journalism started to change from one kind of news based on actual news stories, such as World War II, the Holocaust and the civil rights movement to another type of news based on stories such as Paris Hilton going to rehab or Britney Spears losing custody of her child to Kevin Federline. There are a number of dates in history that experts can point to as the turning point of journalism, but one event that undoubtedly shifted the change in the type of news desired by the people was Watergate. Pre-1974, there wasn’t a lot of pressure amongst newspapers or television stations to find and deliver the “big story,” but Watergate changed all of this. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post first broke the story of Richard Nixon and his aides conspiring to bug the headquarters of the Democratic Party in Washington D.C. It was "the single most spectacular act of serious journalism [of the 20th] century," said media critic Ben Bagdikian (American Journalism Review). This may have been a true example of serious journalism, but it was also a turning point of journalism. Because of Woodward and Bernstein, other newspapers and television stations were being pressured to first report the next big story, which has led to an increase in sensational journalism and in turn, journalism that is no longer based on its straight facts and validity, but instead on its timeliness and intrigue to the national public.

Once Woodward and Bernstein broke the story of Watergate, every network set out to find something new about Watergate that hadn’t been released. It didn’t matter if the information found had a credible source or even no source at all, it just mattered that the network find the information and be the first one to do so. Competition arose amongst the networks and managers started to realize that news could become highly profitable; this is when journalism turns into networks feeding rumors to the public. After the Congress and the courts started to expose the unlawful acts going on in the White House, the media started finding whatever it could. For example, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite “falsely implicated White House aide Patrick Buchanan in money-laundering” (American Journalism Review). A writer for the New York Times, Jeff Gerth, “claimed that Nixon’s supposed financial ties to Mafia financier Meyer Lansky and Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa meant that ‘organized crime…put its own man in the White House’”(American Journalism Review). Both of these examples show how the validity of the reporting is not as important as being the first to get the information out to the public.

In today’s era, it is much harder to report news that hasn’t been verified because if you are wrong, a lawsuit could arise, and in the case of a television station, it could lose its license. However, while it may be risky to release information to the public that hasn’t been verified, if the news is something that wouldn’t harm the network to a large degree, attract a lot of viewers and get ratings, it will be released. The drive for ratings has changed the type of journalism we see in today’s world. Because of the fear of lawsuits, networks are no longer focused on stories such as Watergate, but instead on stories that have more leeway in terms of their validity. For example, accusing George W. Bush of cheating on his wife and being wrong could ruin a network and bring it to the ground, but accusing Britney Spears of the same charge wouldn’t harm the network. This is why celebrities have become the focal point of today’s news. News executives are no longer focused on finding the “hard-hitting” story, but instead on getting a story that is interesting in the public’s eye.

One of the main reasons why the “hard-hitting” story is no longer as popular in today’s news is because of the way our society has changed as a whole from one that is willing to wait for the “big story” to one that wants the news instantly. “Who, today, is willing to wait a month for breaking news? We want our news now” (Nieman Reports). Whether it is text messages with the latest sports scores of your favorite team to one push of a button on your Blackberry to get on the Internet, people want the latest news as soon as possible. I even became a victim of this myself last week when waiting for the O.J. Simpson verdict. I watched the verdict being read live but I wanted to see how long it would take for CNN.com to post the verdict. It took three minutes before the page had updated. Twenty years ago, someone would have laughed at the idea of news on the Internet only three minutes after it had occurred. However, our world has changed so much over the past two decades that it would reflect negatively on the network if the breaking news weren’t updated immediately. This need for news right away has brought about the concept of a 24-hour news cycle, which has introduced “the fact that there is no deadline, or that every second is a deadline” (American Journalism Review). News channels such as CNN and Fox News were created for the sole purpose of giving news every minute of every day. It is impossible to find a new story to report every hour, so stories that would have the potential to last longer and be talked about for weeks or months became prominent in news. A few examples of this happening were the O.J. Simpson murder case and the Elian Gonzalez story (The Columbia Journalism Review). These cases may not be about health care, the economy or other huge issues in the world today, but they do have a spectacle to them. The Boston Globe put it perfectly when saying, “The past few decades have also seen a shift from stories with in-depth coverage to those with “speed and spectacle” (Boston Globe). It takes time for a big story such as Watergate to develop, but it takes five minutes for someone to see Paris Hilton on her way back from rehab, call the news station and then send a helicopter to the scene to follow her. As unfortunate as it is, the desire of people wanting news immediately has led journalists to become more like the paparazzi than a Pulitzer winner.

While timeliness has become one of the key factors in the type of news being covered, another factor is the intrigue of the news itself. An expert in health care may be thoroughly fascinated by the subject, but he or she doesn’t want to hear about it for thirty minutes. However, a story like Hurricane Katrina or the Dow Jones dropping below 10,000 for the first time in over four years is something that all people are interested in. There is one story that is found on “both the front-page and the evening news: a human-interest story” (Columbia Journalism Review). Human-interest stories may be something as important to our lives such as a hurricane or the economy, but it also could include stories such as a man having the ability to become pregnant. This exact story was on the cover of People Magazine last April. Now, while this story may not be as hard-hitting as other stories, it is intriguing in the public’s eye. The fact that it was on the cover of People Magazine, a magazine with its own website that had 51.7 million hits on the day after the Oscars in 2007, proves that the editors of the magazine felt like it would attract enough people to read it. It has the shock and startle factor that is interesting and makes people want to know more. Moreover, while the timeliness of a story is crucial in getting people’s attention, it also has to have the human-interest aspect.

There are many differences between our world today and the world we lived in thirty years ago and this clearly shows in the field of journalism. The introduction of the Internet and cable news has forced the journalism industry to adjust in order to keep people interested. News stories used to sell themselves and some still do today, but because of the way our society has changed over the past few decades, the media has to do more to sell its product. Whether it is making the news released to the public timelier or adding a human-interest aspect to it, it definitely takes something extra today to get people interested. Twenty years from now, the journalism industry definitely won’t be the same and there will be something new and exciting that gets people interested. Someone living twenty years ago would have balked at the idea of news alerts via text message or Internet on a cell phone, but this just shows how journalism is continuing to change. As we reflect back, journalists were defined as reporters who delivered solely factual news, while today many of them are viewed simply as sensationalists whose intent is to provide news with dramatic and artistic expression, while the question arises as to what the future of journalism will hold and how it will be defined.

Post Season Baseball and an Early Look at the Clippers

After enjoying some bagels and cream cheese, some kugel and some dessert, I sat down to watch the end of the Dodgers-Phillies game. I was extremely excited by the end result: a 3-2 win by the Phillies. It took almost six innings for the Phillies to get to Derek Lowe. A huge error by Rafael Furcal was followed by a huge home run by Chase "Mr. April" Utley. It was only Utley's 2nd home run in 38 games but it came at a perfect time. Two batters later, Pat Burrell hit a solo shot to put the Phillies up for good.

Besides for Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers looked awful. The rest of the team will be happy to know that they won't be seeing Cole Hamels again until Game 5. Give credit to the Phillies fans for sticking in there and rooting on their team for more than one inning. I don't think there is any way Chad Billingsley loses tomorrow afternoon to Brett Myers, so I am predicting a 5-2 Dodgers victory. As my friend Jason says, "Billingsley will have a very similar run as Josh Beckett when he was a Florida Marlin."

After I watched the Phillies win, I decided to watch my Los Angeles Clippers against the Los Angeles Lakers in a pre-season game. I only caught the end, but I have a few thoughts on what I saw in a short time period from the Clippers rookies.
1. The Clippers draft picks from this year are going to end up being VERY good. I didn't get a chance to see Eric Gordon play but I have heard good things and I think his shooting will be a very valuable asset to this squad.
2. Also, DeAndre Jordan is for real. This kid looks good. He somehow ended up slipping to the Clippers in the 2nd round even though he was one of the top 25 guys in the draft. He is 6 foot 11 but he has a huge wingspan and will be very similar to another Clipper player...Marcus Camby. Both are long, athletic rebounders. Jordan should learn from Camby this year, which will help Jordan and the Clippers a lot. I expect big things from this kid.
3. The Clippers got a kid by the name of Mike Taylor in the late 2nd round. The Clippers got the pick from the Houston Rockets and it might be one of the best quiet moves the Clippers have ever made. The Clippers will need a point guard after Davis leaves town and hopefully Taylor is the guy. He definitely impressed today by making 9 of 12 shots for 20 points. He did have five turnovers but I will turn my head on that one and give the rookie a break.
4. Baron Davis looks great in a Clippers uniform.....FINE, he's not a rookie but he still looks like he belongs in the red and blue.

I will be blogging all year on the Clippers so look forward to it!

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

VP Debate

It was touted as a must-see debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. It was the only debate between the two Vice Presidential candidates that the nation was going to see. One could call it David vs. Goliath. Click here to see the debate.

Sarah Palin, aka David, came in to this debate well-liked by conservatives and hated by liberals. The pundits said she was going to get the floor wiped by Joe Biden. Biden, aka Goliath, has been in the Senate ever since Palin was in 2nd grade. He has proven he knows how to debate....and he showed the nation why he is ready to become VP. Palin also showed the nation why it is a freaking scary thought to think she is a heart beat away from the presidency.

One of the main reasons why I thought Palin didn't do a good job on Thursday was because of the way she debated. Every time she talked, it seemed very scripted. We all know she had spent the past few days in debate camp and it absolutely showed.

Just a quick thought...Does this mean that if Palin were to become Vice President she would need to take a 'How to Be a Vice President' tutorial?

Joe Biden didn't need any debate camp. He knew his stuff and shined. He knew what he wanted to talk about when it pertained to every issue, unlike Palin who pivoted to discuss the issues she wanted to talk about. At one point, Biden even called Palin out by saying how Palin didn't even answer the question. Palin responded by saying she may not say what the moderator or Biden wants to hear, and she only cares about informing the American people of the issues they need to be concerned about. (In a nutshell, this mean Palin will only discuss the few issues that 'Debate Camp' taught her.)

Let's be real here...Joe Biden could have made Palin look awful and attacked her on foreign policy, her experience, etc...but instead, Biden concentrated on attacking McCain. The nation, especially the undecided voters, don't want to hear how bad of a vice president Palin would be, but instead why they should vote for Barack Obama over John McCain. Biden accomplished just this, because he attacked McCain at every moment possible, which meant Palin couldn't go after Obama because she had to spend her time defending McCain.

Therefore, I give Biden an A in this debate and Sarah Palin a C. She exceeded expectations because she didn't say anything moronic, but she told lies and wasn't able to attack Obama at all. Next up....Presidential Debate #2 on Tuesday. Should be a great one.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

Debate #1

The first debate is in the past, which means it's time for the Press Box to offer its opinion on one of the most historical debates ever. If you weren't aware, the debate took place on the campus of Ole Miss in Mississippi which is extremely significant because of the racism that existed only 40 years ago.

Anyways, back to the actual debate. I predicted a few days ago that this debate would be a tie. One would figure McCain would get the edge going in because it was a debate on foreign policy; however, with the current economy, I knew the economy would get discussed which means an edge towards Obama.

This is exactly what I think happened. Barack Obama sounded much more comfortable talking about the economy than John McCain, but McCain sounded better when discussing foreign policy.

First, let's discuss the economy part of the debate. Two things that Obama needed to do during this part of the debate were to hammer McCain for being so out of touch and secondly, ensure the American people that the economy will improve. He definitely did the first part, but I wasn't sold on the second. McCain didn't have any memorable moment from the economy part, so I give the edge to Obama.

Now, let's talk about foreign policy. Obama did a great job reminding Americans that he was the one that opposed the Iraq war from the start. Obama did one thing during this portion of the debate that was memorable...At one point in the debate, there was a question about foreign policy that Obama couldn't defend so he borrowed Joe Biden's biographic credibility. If you took any political science class, you would know that if you don't have the credibility yourself, then borrow it.

One man that doesn't need to borrow any biographic credibility when it comes to foreign policy is John McCain. He won the foreign policy debate because of two key moments...The first moment came when he was discussing Afghanistan. He hammered Obama for being a head of a co-committee and not going to Afghanistan. I completely agreed with McCain during this part of the debate. Obama should have gone to Afghanistan so he could have first hand knowledge of the subject at hand. Secondly, McCain had the clear edge when he discussed Israel. He kept repeating the fact that he wants to protect Israel. I have watched a lot of Obama speeches and am yet to hear any discussion about Israel. Interestingly enough, I don't know many Jewish people that are bringing this up. Anyways, the edge goes to McCain on the foreign policy part of the debate.

There were a couple comical moments in the debate that stuck out in my mind. The first one came during the economy discussion when Obama was attacking McCain for saying ten days ago that the fundamentals of the economy are sound. Right afterwards, moderator Jim Lehrer told Obama to look at McCain when he was talking, and McCain jokingly said "Are you afraid I couldn't hear him?" Well, actually John...I think he was afraid you couldn't hear him. I mean you are getting pretty old there pal.

Secondly, one can't forget the story McCain gave about the bracelet he was given by a mother who made him promise his son's death wasn't in vain, to which Obama exclaimed that he was given a bracelet as well. I listened to this part on the radio and when I heard McCain's story, I actually felt for him...but that was shortlived because Obama stomped on McCain's parade.

It is now time to get ready for Thursday's debate that will pit Joe Biden in one corner and Sarah Palin in the other. My prediction on this one: Palin will sound very convincing and strong but there will be a few moments where she doesn't know what she is talking about which is why I will give Joe Biden the edge.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

The Dark Bailout

McCain Puts Campaign on Hold

In one of the biggest political moves I have seen in a while, John McCain decided to suspend his campaign while he heads to Washington D.C. to deal with the economic crisis. I am not quite sure what he thinks he will be able to help with considering he has been campaigning this whole time so he can't possibly have a plan to get us out of this current funk. Yet, he is still putting his campaign on hold so he can help.

I'm sorry but I don't believe any of that for one second. There is no way McCain is doing this because he is some good person and is doing it in good conscience. After McCain's selection of Sarah Palin, his popularity went up dramatically and he started taking the lead in polls. Well, that little phase has since worn down, meaning that it is Obama's time to shine with the economy in shambles. It is well-known that a Democrat is better at helping the economy, while a Republican is better at dealing with foreign policy issues. Therefore, it makes complete sense that with Obama starting to take the lead in many polls that McCain would do something as drastic as this.

McCain and Obama were both in Washington D.C. today to meet with President Bush. Hmmm, I wonder what McCain and Obama could have possibly said that actually helped Congress and the President reach a deal. Maybe, McCain said "Guys, how about we just ask Sarah? She is pretty good at this kind of stuff. She helped save me from having to go a retirement home. Maybe she can help save the economy. I mean come on, she can see Russia from her backyard!" I am guessing Obama responded by saying, "John, just stop talking. You really aren't helping. Oh, by the way, are you still on for our debate tomorrow or are you going to bail out of that just like you bailed out of your campaign?"

Speaking of which, I am guessing John McCain and Barack Obama both show up in Mississippi tomorrow to debate about foreign policy, considering it would be foolish of McCain to not show up, especially since a bailout agreement has been reached. I am also going to predict that there is no clear winner tomorrow and that the next debate will be the one that wins over the undecided voters. I will be back this weekend to give my impressions on the debate.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

Biden Goes After Ohio State

I have been waiting and waiting for the perfect story to come up that combines both sports and politics. Finally, that story came about this morning when Joe Biden was speaking in Delaware. Normally, when the Democratic Vice President nominee speaks, it really isn’t that big of a deal....until today. Biden made a comment that could prove costly come election time.

We all know that Ohio is a battleground state, and that a Republican has never won the White House bid without taking Ohio in an election. So, it would make sense for Obama and Biden to be on their best behavior when they visit or talk about Ohio.

Today, Biden was at his alma mater, the University of Delaware, where he took some time to speak to the football team. He told the team that he was in Ohio recently and he told the people there…“we’d kick Ohio State’s ass.”

Now, that might not have been the smartest thing to do for two reasons. First of all, like I said earlier, Ohio is a battleground state, so you don’t want to piss anyone off there. Secondly, I guarantee you that there are people in Ohio who live and breathe Buckeye football. I’ve witnessed this die-hard fandom first hand. At the USC- Ohio State game, I met Mr. Buckeye… An obsessed fan covered head to toe in OSU gear, with a giant Buckeye flag as a cape and a red mustache to boot. Biden’s comment could make Mr. Buckeye and his friends vote for the McCain-Palin ticket. A recent poll showed Obama up by 1% in Ohio. You have to believe that 1% of the people voting for Obama are those crazy Buckeye fans.

You might be at your computer right now thinking I am absolutely nuts for thinking that a little comment about a football team could piss of a voter. The reality is, we live in a not so brilliant society where not everyone is as smart as you and me. You must remember, we are the country that reelected Bush in 2004. The informed and intelligent voter would realize that this was probably just Joe Biden being nice to his alma mater, but the uninformed voter might take it the wrong way.

Immediately after word spread about Biden’s comment, the Republican ticket started attacking. According to CNN, GOP State chair Bob Bennett said. "Barack Obama and Joe Biden must really think they can win this election without Ohio, because they're doing their best to lose it with stupid comments like these. Keep talking, Joe."

Of course the Democrats have to put in the last word, so Biden’s spokesman said, “I think this episode explains exactly why we’ll win Ohio: Joe Biden is loyal to his home team, and John McCain is loyal to President Bush." Man, have the Democrats been pounding that message in every single opportunity they have.

I find Bennett’s comment comical considering the fact that it was a few days ago when John McCain had the nerve to say that our economy wasn’t in bad shape. I am pretty sure the market went down 500 points on Monday and then went down another 449 points on Wednesday. I guess McCain was right…our economy isn’t in bad shape, it’s in ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE shape.

This brings me to the point of this whole rant, which is; every word someone says shouldn’t be counted against him or her. These candidates have to speak to the public and the media every single day. You have to believe that they are going to say something stupid every once in a while. Both Obama and McCain have been campaigning their asses off the past month, and this is the first week where you can tell that both candidates are wearing down.

Unfortunately for Obama and McCain, they still have 43 more days until the election which means they have 43 more days of hell. Even worse for the two, they have to defend their flip flopping and their recent comments in a debate next Friday. Here’s my bold prediction…Whoever wins this debate will win the election.

I will definitely post my opinion of the first debate next Friday.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

Josh Howard Insults the National Anthem

Now this might be one of the dumbest things I have seen someone do in a while. Josh Howard was invited to Allen Iverson's flag-football game and during the national anthem he says something along the lines of "The Star-Spangled Banner is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

The Public Intellectual

What is a public intellectual? Better yet, who is a public intellectual? Is it a man or woman who graduated from Harvard with a law degree and then went to graduate school at Princeton? Maybe. Oh wait, maybe it’s the law professor who has written ten novels and received a Pulitzer Prize. Or just maybe it’s the science nerd who sat next to you in high school biology who has now won two Nobel Prizes.

It can be argued for years as to what a public intellectual is and who qualifies as a public intellectual. Stephen Mack put it perfectly in his essay The Decline of Public Intellectuals, when saying that “we need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do, irrespective of who happens to be doing it.”

Now, you may be wondering why I decided to bring up that particular sentence from Mack’s essay. The reason is simple. I am a die-hard sports fan and I wanted to look into this large world of sports to see if there were any public intellectuals. Honestly, I am sick and tired about hearing how great all these philosophers and novelists are, while sports writers are getting absolutely no credit besides for inside the sports world. This is why I found a sports writer who put his heart and soul into his work.

George Plimpton is not your common household name, but then again what sports writer is? Plimpton passed away in 2003, but not before he put together a miraculous career. He was one of the most influential sports journalists because of his unique and insightful commentary about the sports world.

Plimpton spent most of his career as a writer for Sports Illustrated. However, he wasn’t just a writer who would simply report his observations from sporting events. Plimpton wanted to understand the sports he reported about, so he decided to start playing every sport he could. The journalist played football, baseball, boxing, and golf so that he could understand the psychological mindset that the athletes were experiencing, giving readers an intimate look into the world of professional sports.

One of the first books that Plimpton wrote was called Out of My League. This book was published in 1961 and talked about Plimpton pitching in an exhibition game prior to the 1960 All-Star game. Plimpton was so out of shape that he couldn’t even finish an inning; his goal was to face both lineups, but he was only able to face the National League.

Even though it may seem like he failed, he was able to experience the pressure, physical strength, and mental awareness it requires to be a professional baseball player. Many sports journalists spend their careers criticizing the abilities of athletes. If Kobe Bryant has a bad game, it is automatically assumed that he gave up and purposely performed poorly. So even though Plimpton may not have been able to finish an inning, he accomplished something that not many other people have ever done: experienced what it was like to be a major league pitcher. He did something that the common journalist could not do, and because of that I am thoroughly impressed.

After reading Out of My League, Ernest Hemingway said it was “beautifully observed and incredibly conceived, his account of a self-imposed ordeal that has the chilling quality of a true nightmare. It is the dark side of the moon of Walter Mitty.''

Wait. Did Ernest Hemingway actually comment on a sports novel? What in the world is going on? I thought poets and other so-called public intellectuals were supposed to be separated from the “boring sports writer.” Well, it turns out that the two knew each other because Plimpton interviewed Hemingway while he was writing for the Paris Review. This definitely builds on Mack’s point that it’s not who does the work, but what the work actually is, because although Plimpton wasn’t well known in the world of the elites, he still did work worthy of commentary from those intellectual elites. Plimpton was a smart man who not only wrote books but was also a managing editor of one of the most prestigious magazines in the world, the Paris Review. Public Intellectual anyone?

The book that Plimpton is most famous for is entitled Paper Lion. In Paper Lion, Plimpton does something that I have never seen any sportswriter do; he attempts to join a professional team. He tried out to be the third-string quarterback for the Detroit Lions. He didn’t make the team, but he did play in a scrimmage in 1963 where he lost about 30 yards.

Plimpton tried his hand at many other sports whether it was getting beat by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in a round of golf, being a goalie for the Boston Bruins for part of a game or getting a bloody nose in the boxing ring courtesy of Archie Moore.

The point is that Plimpton didn’t just write about sports. He experienced sports. He was not just reporting, but instead he was going much deeper. He was actually getting involved. I guarantee you that you can count on one hand the number of sportswriters that actually stepped onto the playing field to learn about the sport, so they knew what the hell they were talking about. Plimpton’s decision to go deeper than just writing about a sport and actually experiencing it is one reason why I believe he is a public intellectual.

Now, the question might arise that asks whether a journalist should or should not be involved in the story he or she is writing about. This is a very valid question, because one would think that becoming physically involved in a story would create bias and not give the full picture.

I can make a case for both sides. In the case of George Plimpton, he successfully battled the best in almost every major professional sport (one has to wonder why he didn’t try to play Wilt Chamberlain in a game of H-O-R-S-E). It’s not the fact that Plimpton played these sports, it’s that he actually wrote about these experiences in numerous amounts of books. He was able to share his newfound knowledge with the public and he did it in a completely non-biased way.

He wrote about the challenges he faced and he made the reader want to know more and wish he or she was there with him while he was in the hockey rink or on the baseball field. This is true journalism: getting the reader engaged and interested.

Now there are definitely reasons why journalists shouldn’t be involved in the story they are covering. The main reason of course is bias. To give a modern example, you just have to look at Lou Holtz of ESPN. Every word out of the guy’s mouth is about how good Notre Dame football is. The reason why he is so biased towards Notre Dame is because he was a coach there. Just go to 2:50 in this clip and you will understand what I am talking about. By the way, Notre Dame ended up with a 3-9 record and the worst scoring offense in the nation. This year, Lou Holtz believes the Fighting Irish have 11 winnable games and could get into a BCS game. Ha, now that’s a funny joke. The point is: Lou Holtz should not be allowed to talk about Notre Dame football because he is biased and doesn’t give the full picture.

One article that Plimpton will always be remembered for is the one he wrote for the April 1, 1985 edition of Sports Illustrated. Plimpton was asked to write an article for the April Fool’s edition and he created a fictional story about a pitcher named Sidd Finch, who threw a 168 mile per hour fastball. Readers loved the article, and due to popular demand, Plimpton wrote a book based upon Sidd Finch.

I started off this essay questioning what it takes to be a public intellectual and the truth of the matter is that all of those people that I listed can probably have a case made for them to be a public intellectual. However, the true lesson that should be learned is that while the Nobel Prize winner or the Pulitzer Prize winner might be a more popular choice to be classified as a public intellectual, there are others out there that are working their asses off to do something that goes above and beyond the norm. It’s about time we start acknowledging those who are public intellectuals and aren’t given credit for being one.

Palin Comes Out Firing

It was only five days ago when Senator John McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate, and the media still hasn't stopped talking about her. After tonight's speech, the media is going to have a lot more to talk about.

The "pit-bull with lip stick" was an absolute attack dog tonight. My initial reaction to Palin's speech was that she sounded extremely cruel in her attacks of Barack Obama, but after thinking about it for a while, I have decided that Palin did the job she was set out to do. She was picked by McCain to get the conservatives excited about voting for McCain and by the look of things that was exactly what she did. Republicans inside the arena in St.Paul, Minnesota were cheering loud, chanting and just seemed flat-out excited.

Palin gives the McCain-Palin ticket energy that John McCain can't provide. She had a certain spark tonight that is sure to excite Republicans, especially the Conservatives. Articles all over the place were being written about McCain not connecting with the Conservatives because of his tendency to lean towards the middle, but Palin is getting the group excited about the McCain-Palin ticket.

Now, let's get back to the actual speech delivered by Palin. She didn't waste any time in insulting Obama, but some insults were just unnecessary. First of all, she made fun of the Greek columns behind Obama during his acceptance speech. REALLY, are you serious Sarah? Does that make you feel better about yourself? Congratulations, you made fun of large pillars.

Secondly, she had the nerve to go after Obama's lack of experience, when Palin has very little experience herself. Barack Obama is one of the most respected men in the Senate and you don't get the respect he has gotten over the past few years, because you are a good orator. Obama has earned the respect, and Palin has no right going after Obama's experience. Oh and also, McCain lost his experience argument last Friday when he picked Sarah Palin as his VP.

By the way, you have to love how CNN showed Palin's daughter, Piper, licking her hand and running it through her little brother's hair. That's just classic. You also can't help but notice Bristol Palin holding her boyfriend's hand during the entire speech and when the family appeared on stage. That guy must have gotten a nice, long talk from McCain's advisers.

The last thought from the press box tonight is about Palin's past. No, I am not about to talk about her time as mayor or any of her political positions (even though it would take me about two seconds to describe her experience), but instead I want to applaud Sarah Palin for her expertise in sports anchoring. She was pretty impressive, well except for her hair. Someone should have told her she looked like she just got electrocuted.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.