Housing joke

This kind of bizarre Obama administration support for miscreant banks who flouted title and mortgage laws is why the left no longer trusts Obama. More to the point, this is exactly the kind of crony capitalism for which Republicans are known for, and now, Obama too. Not exactly the change we believed in. Not only that, but the underlying rationale for why the settlement is good for homeowners is flawed to boot.

A West Chester Man

Civil rights pioneer and West Chester, Pa. native Bayard Rustin gets a lengthy profile in the Washington Post as part of the March on Washington anniversary recognition. Rustin was an out of the closet gay back then, which caused quite a controversy in the '60s. Sad to say but it also caused a stir in the 2000s when the West Chester Area School District named its new high school "Bayard Rustin."

Terrelle Pryor

The NCAA is already a joke and now the NFL is following in its footsteps with the disciplinary action against Ohio State star Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor's unique situation has put the NFL in a tough spot and once again commissioner Roger Goodell has ham-handedly tried to split the difference.

The NFL has ruled Pryor eligible for the supplemental draft (which it postponed for several days while trying to figure out how to deal with Pryor), but has imposed a bizarre and probably illegal five game suspension on the former Buckeye QB 1.

The convoluted and illogical rationale for the NFL's decision is that the league is merely copying the NCAA's disciplinary action against Pryor (five games beginning this fall for illegally selling memorabilia) and didn't want to reward the QB for evading NCAA "justice." With his pending draft status, Pryor has had to meekly accept the punishment and not raise any objections to its blatant unfairness lest he jeopardize his appeal to teams by being deemed "difficult." His situation really does hearken to a time when the labor was supposed to obey the master's every command submissively and without complaint.

A couple of points and questions regarding the NFL's punishment:

1) The NFLPA, the NFL and others have taken pains to say that Pryor's punishment is in no way a precedent. But with or without this blessing, the action does indeed set a precedent whether it is intended or not. The bar has been set, and in the famous legal maxim, you can't unring the bell.

2) For what violations is Pryor being punished? The original "crime" of selling memorabilia or the larger institutional violations that force the resignation of head coach Jim Tressel? If it is the latter, than that investigation is still ongoing and hasn't been concluded. If it is the former, then it is disproportionate to the infraction. The whole reason Pryor got the 5 game suspension was to put a better face on the fact that OSU and the NCAA allowed Pryor to play in the Sugar Bowl after the problems came to light. Pryor was willing to forgo half of his senior season to play in the game (as was Tressel, OSU, the NCAA and the BCS). Unfortunately for Pryor and OSU, Tressel was running a very unclean program and forced to resign between the Sugar Bowl win and the 2011 season, prompting Pryor to reconsider his commitment to play for a team in 2011 which was under NCAA investigation, would have a new coach, and for which Pryor would miss half the season. There seems little doubt that had Pryor know in December 2010 that Tressel would not be back and the Buckeyes would be facing significant sanctions moving forward that Pryor would have taken the Sugar Bowl suspension in lieu of the 5 games the following season (and declared his eligibility for the 2011 draft).

3) The idea that the NFL is now committed to enforcing NCAA discipline on players who evade college punishment is laughable. Reggie Bush just returned his Heisman Trophy and USC forfeited wins and the 2004 national championship, but Bush never missed a minute of playing time. If the NFL is serious about its newfound interest in holding college players to account, doesn't it have to suspend Bush for several games as well? And the burgeoning scandal at the U. would, by the same logic, imperil the playing status of former U players and current NFL stars like Vilma, Beason and who knows who else (Reggie Wayne? Antrell Rolle? McGahee? Kellen Winslow? Ed Reed? Vernon Carey? DJ Williams?) for accepting cash, prostitutes, and other illegal activities for which they were never held to account by the college rulemesiters.

4) Shouldn't the NFL be similarly concerned with disciplining wayward college coaches for their illicit doings? Pete Carroll jumped ship from USC when an NCAA investigation uncovered widespread institutional wrongdoing, resulting in forfeited wins, loss of scholarships, and a ban on post-season play. Based on Pryor's NFL punishment, shouldn't Carroll be sanctioned by the NFL?

The new collective bargaining agreement was supposed to end such arbitrary disciplinary decisions by Roger Goodell. His Terrelle Pryor decision shows that not only is that not the case, but that unequal punishment is still alive and well in the NFL.

Eagles Stats

So I was looking at the Eagles' all-time stats to see where Brian Westbrook ranked after seeing that the team gave #36 out to a player this year and wondering if B. Westbrook was worthy of having his number retired.

In looking at the numbers a couple other things jumped out at me.

To wit, are the Eagles the only NFL team with two QBs who are in the team's all-time top 10 in rushing yards (Randall at #5 and Donovan at #9)?

Also, Lesean McCoy is already #23 on the Eagles' career rushing yards with 1717, which probably says a lot more about the quality of the team's running backs through the years than it does about McCoy. I mean, Michael Haddix is #28 on the list, and he was a fullback, and Mike Hogan (!) is #21.

Anyway, with a 1000 yards rushing this year McCoy could catapult himself to about #12 on the all-time Eagles list, surpassing such notables as Correll Buckhalter (#17), Charlie Garner (16), Anthony Toney (15!!), Herschel Walker (14), and Keith Byars (12 with 2672 yards rushing).

No rest for #36

I can't believe the Eagles assigned #36 to a player this year (Ronnie Brown). I guess they won't be retiring Brian Westbrook's number.

Then again, B. Westbrook is only the #2 leading rusher in Eagles' history. And the Eagles haven't retired the number of the all-time ground gainer, Wibert Montgomery, either.

Complete Bozos

Well Halladay blew the game in the 9th trying go for another complete game.

At this point in the season, why does Charlie even allow this? Especially in mid-August with a one run lead. Sure, Halladay was right around the 100 pitch count, but why not bring a fresh arm in to lock down the win in the 9th? This was reminiscent of Francona's inability to stand up to Schilling back in the day, though, to be fair, that lousy bullpen back then blew a lot of leads/wins for Schilling in relief.

Halladay, Lee, and Hamels are 1,2,3 in innings pitched so far this year and now Hamels has a balky shoulder.

I've seen some reports of them going to a 6 man rotation in September to give them an extra days rest. What I'd also like to see is them only going 6-7 innings and then letting the bullpen take over.

Down on the Farm

it's getting ever harder to distinguish between pig and man, I mean Republican and Democrat. For instance, Republicans want to verify the immigration status of farmworkers, while Democrats oppose the plan and want to continue the financial exploitation of farmworkers because of their questionable immigration status.

"Bipartisan Compromise"

That is the wording the White House is using to describe the deal to increase the debt ceiling, a deal which includes no tax revenues and $1 trillion in spending cuts. What's worse: Obama covering up his negotiating incompetence by trying to couch fiscal surrender as a "bipartisan compromise" or if he actually believes getting metaphorically raped is a consensual act. 

Crazy

The Eagles have always been active in free agency, signing Kearse, Owens, Samuels, etc.

And now comes 2011, in which they've signed 3 of the top 6 free agents, according to Peter King's ranking: Nnamdi, Jenkins, and Babin.

1 Last Piece

Last item from Jayson Stark's column (and maybe why the kick in was needed):

 The Phillies took on so little (just $200,000) of Pence's salary that they have flexibility to deal for a low-budget bullpen arm or a home run threat off the bench. They continue to talk to Colorado about Jason Giambi. And they even asked the Twins about Jim Thome, but the Twins would like to hang onto Thome until he hits his 600th homer.

Why Hunter Pence

Aside from starting RF for the Phillies in 2012, here's perhaps one of the best reasons for the the Phillies' trade. from Jayson Stark:

It's going to be a fascinating 24 hours in the life of the Astros. By trading away Pence for no one who figures to play in the big leagues before 2014,

Pence Trade

Always good when you trade for the best player on another major league trade. Cossert or Singleton may be all-stars at some point but since both are under 21, that won't be for at least 3-4 years.

Lt. Kendrick?

Mitch Williams thinks Kyle Kendrick is going to be one of the 2 players to be named later in the Hunter Pence trade.

Brown to AAA?

So now that Hunter Pence has been traded for and penciled in at RF, do the Phils send Dom Brown back down to AAA for seasoning and playing time with the intent to bring him back up in September and for the playoffs or do they keep him on the major league roster for spot starts and pinch hitting?

The Exit Door

Everyone is expecting Kolb to be traded, but were any of you (I wasn't) expecting the wholesale turnover of the roster?

Akers and Mikell were already gone, but letting go of Stewart Bradley, Nick Cole, Max Jean-Gillies, Omar Gaither, Akeem Jordan and Sav Rocca?!

I think giving up on Bradley is a huge mistake. In fact, I thought he would definitely return to pro bowl form in the second year back from the ACL tear. Oh well.

I heard again the Redskins beat reporter say on the Washington sports radio station down the other day that he has a source who is a close friend to Andy Reid who says that Reid is getting close to retiring and is ready to make a big super bowl push because he wants to get that monkey off his back before he leaves the Eagles. 

DRC Jersey Rumor

Word has it that the Eagles' website had Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie's Eagles' jersey for sale earlier today but that it has since been taken down. Not sure whether it is true or not - or whether a deal to trade Kolb for DRC will even happen, but it does highlight that in the big business of professional football it's usually the marketing guys that are the first to know.

Lunacy

The usually stellar Phil Sheridan has lost his ever loving mind in suggesting that the Phillies trade Vance Worley or Dominic Brown (!) to rent Carlos Beltran from the hated Mets for the next four months.

I'm all for giving up minor league prospects, many of who don't necessarily pan out. But the point of trading for a Beltran is to exchange future talent for immediate playability. Trading Worley or Brown right now are not prospects they are actual talent that is helping the team with the best record in baseball win. Trading them is an even swap at best and likely actually weakens the team this season.

Not Players but Future Players

This point in the NYTimes story about the pending settlement of the NFL lockout caught my eye since it is so obviously wrong.

A new rookie wage system in which even the top picks in the 2011 draft could sign contracts worth about half of what the top picks signed for in 2010, a concession by players.

A rookie wage scale is not a concession by the players but a concession to prospective players. Indeed, such individuals aren't even in the NFL much less part of the union yet. It reminds me of a legal analysis of possible challenges to the draft. The weak point isn't the league's anti-trust exemption, it's the union's rule imposed upon individuals that aren't actually part of the union. 

President Romney

NYTimes' Nate Silver has two recent analysis that should give the Obama White House pause as it dismantles the New Deal legacy by slashing funding for the poor and elderly in ongoing debt ceiling negotiations with congressional Republicans. 

As Silver points out, the "deal" Obama has proposed to the GOP is significantly to the right of the average Republican voter. This remarkable fact is likely owed to the Obamaites obsession with moderate and independent voters and the 2012 election. Put aside the remarkable fact that a Democratic President has signed off on fiscal plan that is more austere to social programs than even average Republican voters want as a betrayal of the Democratic party.

But Obama's focus on out Reaganing Ronald Reagan could put his re-election in jeopardy...the exact opposite of the intended outcome.

For now comes Nate Silver's newest analysis that indicates Obama would be in a toss up election if the GOP nominee were Mitt Romney. Romney, of course, is the former moderate governor of Massachusetts who realized health care coverage for all the citizens in his state but who has now taken a hard right turn to appeal to the hard core conservative base that makes up the bulk of GOP primary voters.

Surely if Romney were to win the nomination, he would begin walking back to his moderate positions not only to appeal to centrist voters but also because that is where his true positions lie. 

If Obama continues on his bizarre right wing deficit cutting mission, it is entirely possible that Mitt Romney could be considered the more liberal candidate in the general election. Thus, the cynical assumption by Obama campaign operatives that liberals and progressives will have to support Obama because there is no alternative would not be accurate. Liberals and progressives may come to the realization that a President Romney will be more favorable, or at least more receptive, to their concerns than the Democratic incumbent. Strange times indeed.

Obama winning...thus on verge of surrender

New public opinion surveys show that Democrats and Obama are starting to win the debt ceiling debate. (Or is it merely that Republicans are losing it?)

Either way, momentum has shifted to the President, which is why, in inimitable Obama fashion he is now much more likely to cut a deal with his reeling opponents - a deal that will no doubt be very favorable to Republicans and their fat cat base at the expense of significant cuts to government programs that aid the poor and elderly.

All of which raises the question. Is Obama a crypto-conservative, or just an incompetent negotiator?