Workout notes: weights only; about .5 miles of walk/jog to loosen the knees for knee stretches. Backed off of squats (kept it VERY light due to light soreness.
rotator cuff, pull ups (5 sets of 10, 1 set of 5, good quality), 10 x 135 bench, 10 x 135 incline, 7 x 170 decline, military (standing) dumbbell: 10 x 50, 10 x 45, 15 x 40. rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110 machine. Plank, crow, headstand..all went ok.
Those Fan Experience surveys that rate stadiums on how well they cater to the average fan are missing the point: Nobody cares about the average fan. Industry estimates show that 70 to 80 percent of ticket revenue comes from the first 15 to 20 rows, and the industry trend is to limit capacity in order to maximize the money from the premium spots.The rich dudes (and they’re almost always dudes, of course) down low are where the real money is made.
The new Los Angeles football stadium is selling its most exclusive stadium-seat licenses for $100,000 a seat, which gives you access to your own clubhouse that no one else in the stadium can even see inside. The University of Georgia just announced that it will sell alcohol at its football games … but only to fans who give the university $25,000. (Even with that, you can only drink the booze in a specific section that does not have views of the field.) Yankee Stadium was constructed with a concrete moat built in to separate the fat cats from the outer-borough riffraff; the only way to get from the upper deck to those lower-level seats is to jump. The industry term is “social gathering space.”
The incident that generated the article is the one in which a rich fan actually SHOVED an NBA player who was going after a loose ball (we are not talking about a defensive action but someone who was well away from him). This was “entitlement” personified.
And ..this is why the Bears aren’t going to care about the super crowded concourses or the “impossible to get to bathrooms” that those in non-luxury boxes have to use. And no, “United Club/Media Deck” is not “premium” …not bad seats and not bad amenities and I like ’em, but..well, those are NOT “rich people” seats.
Disclaimer: I think that the Colts do a good job catering to the “average fan”; Lucas Oil Stadium offers plenty of bathrooms, concessions, good access…better place to watch a game, I think.
And..this is one reason I love going to Peoria Chiefs games. Yes, it is the minors. Yes, there is no snob appeal anywhere, at all. You get a good view of decent quality baseball ..ok, food options are limited and a bit pricey for this level, but needless to say, I have a good time at their games.
I can recommend minor league games without reservation.
First about the workout: 6 am yoga, followed by 53:43 “run” (shuffle really) The calculator gets this as 12:15 mpm but I honestly believe that I was faster than that. No, I was NOT fast. At all. Weight: 189. And..I AM feeling better; much better. I had a cold last week.
Joe Biden: now that he is the clear front runner, he is drawing attention and fire. And this is an interesting take:
Joe Biden is selling something to Democratic primary voters that he can’t possibly believe. Either that, or he has somehow deluded himself into believing it. You decide which is the better alternative.
At an event in Washington on Monday night, the former vice president took aim at his 2020 Democratic opponents who have accused him of being, in his words, “stuck in the past” by talking about working with congressional Republicans.
“With Trump gone, you’re going to begin to see things change,” Biden assured. “Because these folks know better. They know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing.”
That quote alone will cause many Democratic activists to begin throwing things. But then there’s what he said next. To drive home his argument that Republicans would work with him as president, he pointed to none other than . . . Merrick Garland.
Biden backed up the claim by recalling when he called 12 of his former Republican colleagues after Merrick Garland’s SCOTUS nomination was blocked by McConnell and they all expressed external concerns, he said.
Biden will continue to argue Tuesday that congressional Republicans are aware they are engaged in something that’s wrong. He’s set to echo the “know better” during a speech in Iowa bashing Trump. “He is deliberately and completely ignoring the legitimate authority of the Congress,” Biden will say, according to prepared remarks, “and he’s doing it with the full complicity of the Republicans in Congress, who know better.”
And yes, President Obama ran on “let’s get together” campaign and he DID reach out to Republicans only to see them reject him. That is undeniably true, and yes, Sen. McConnell is all about legislative “victories” and not about advancing policies that help people.
But there might be something else going on.
I am reading Joe Biden’s book Promises to Keep and he warns against assuming evil motives in others. AND, McConnell’s book is interesting in what he says about Obama AND Biden (in his chapter “Professor Obama”: he implies that Biden was a better negotiator as he knows to NOT try to, say, turn a conservative into a liberal by argument. He is a “ok, what might you be able to live with” type of negotiator.
So, yes, Joe Biden MIGHT be stuck in a past time..that DOES happen…or maybe he is onto something?
Ok, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a link to this article (which, while not perfect, at least addresses some of the nuances)
And, of course, it is NOT politically correct to admit that it might be reasonable to feel discomfort. Note: “uncomfortable” does not mean “not going to do it.” Many times, progress requires pushing through at least some discomfort.
And Rep. Ocasio-Cortez gave a super PC answer: OF COURSE, this is men finding it hard to “not be creepy.”
There is really quite a bit going on and it might well involve a female that really DID get sexually harassed by someone else. Example: sometimes senior people might offer, say, a lunch or outing (ball game?) with a more junior one as a way of saying “welcome”…that dynamic would be more difficult with a female. Even the conversation might be different. Example: once a more senior engineer asked me how much I could bench press…he noticed by body. That was sort of a “hey, you are enough of a team member to be noticed” type remark..never in 1,000,000 years would I let a junior female know that I noticed her body.
Things DO have to change a bit, and change can be uncomfortable, even to a reasonable person.
But oh no; AOC and the woke simpletons just reduce it to male creepiness.
Workout notes: weights then a walk to and from Dozer Park (where the Chiefs play); about 3 miles total.
Weights: rotator cuff, pull ups 5 sets of 10..quality sets, one of 5, bench: 10 x 135, 2 x 185 (strong), 6 x 170, incline 10 x 135, military: 7 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated, 10 x 45 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 each arm, 10 x 110 machine. Goblet squats (as recovery) 2 sets of 6 x 25 deep, 6 x 30, 6 x 40, 6 x 50 (legs got sore), crow, plank, side plank, headstand, knee stretch.
Chiefs game
Well, it was 1-0 Chiefs after 2; the starting pitcher was going well. Then came the 3’rd. A botched double play attempt (ball hit to the pitcher who made a bad throw to 2’nd..ball hit the bag) was followed by…a 3 run home run. Ugh. Then in the 4’th, two more home runs back to back (in the picnic table area) and it was 7-1..and it never got better.
The outstanding outfield play that we saw over the past few games was nowhere to be found; one time an outfielder tripped over himself when tracking a fly; another time a bloop single got past the fielder on the ground.
At times, it appeared as if the team was distracted.
This was “Splash Day” and I got squirted. 🙂 Temperature: it was sunny with some wind; it was downright chilly in the shade (needed sleeves) but warm in the sun.
Workout notes: Saturday’s run stated late (for heat conditioning ) and ended when I conked out at mile 7.2…got dehydrated and the run became a super struggle, left knee hurt, etc. So I just walked it in; the first 6.5 miles were fine. Sunday: walked an easy 5 at about at 15 minute pace.
I do have a cold; my burning nose turned out to be a cold. I feel better now but am draining all over the place (TMI)
Baseball: bonus game against Cedar Rapids Kernels on Saturday night as Hostage took her great grand kids to the circus. And an interesting game it was:
At first, the game zipped along and the Chiefs got no hitting. The kernels lead 2-0 and could have lead 3-0, but on a medium length fly ball with 1 out, the Kernels runner at 3’rd base just jogged it home and didn’t slide and was thrown out!
Bottom of the 8’th: nice rally by the Chiefs (ok, some control problems from the Kernels pitcher)
A sacrifice fly and hit brought in 4 runs and the Chiefs lead 4-2 after 8.
Then came the top of the 9’th; the Kernels got 1 run but there were two outs..more walks..but the bases were loaded..2 strikes…crowd clapping….
GRAND SLAM. Now the Chiefs trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the 9’th.
2 outs..walk, hit..another runner….then a triple to clear the bases and it was tied!
2 tuns total through 7.5 innings..then 12 runs in 1.5 innings. Game now well over 3 hours.
Chiefs lost in the extra inning when the Kernels got their “ghost runner” home; Chiefs did not.
Double header Sunday
First game: bad pitching, no hitting. 7-1 loss. Game took over 3 hours though it was only 7 innings. Chiefs pitchers could NOT throw strikes, etc.
So just when I lamented the Chiefs pitching and thought about skipping the second game…Chiefs starter throws an excellent game: 6 innings, scattered 5 hits, WALKED NO ONE, and allowed one solo home run. That’s it.THAT was fine pitching. Reliever comes in..gets the job done..Chiefs win 2-1.
So where does this leave me: realistically, Klobuchar, as much as I like her, is barely out of “Margin of Error” territory. She needs to gain some traction.
What about Joe Biden: well, to be honest, this newfound “wokeness” to the newer, less moderate Democrats is really turning me off. This started with the railroading of Al Franken. If nothing else, Biden is not a part of that clown show.
I was somewhat sleepy today; weird given that I’ve slept quite a bit. Allergies?
Still, the weight workout went fine: pull ups (15-15-10-10-5), rotator cuff, bench: 10 x 135, 1 x 185, 1 x 190, 7 x 160, military: 10 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated, supported, 10 x 45 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 single arm, 10 x 110 machine, 10 x 70 (each arm) decline machine, 4 x 70 (each arm) incline machine, head stand, crow, plank (some leg up) goblet squats 8 x 30 deep, 6 x 35 deep, leg press: 10 x 210, knee stretches.
I admit it: seeing old people in the doctor’s office inspired me to lift hard. Weight: 187.5
Video: about 41 second into it…you can see me stretching.
Chiefs: they played their 3’rd “road” game vs. Quad Cities and I picked it up in the bottom of the 1’st. It was 0-0 going into the bottom of the 9’th; there weren’t THAT many strikeouts but batters were hitting it straight to fielders and the outfield on both sides were catching EVERYTHING. Finally, in the bottom of the 9’th, a walk followed by an “off the wall” double won the game for QC. It was 1-0, but the game was much more exciting than that might indicate: lots of double plays and spectacular catches.
I expect his opponents to go after him for that but…IF he becomes the nominee, I doubt if any of it will hurt him against Trump.
Now of course, the “woke left” is howling about him being the front runner.
I should add: Biden nostalgia is fundamentally Obama nostalgia as well. Not just thinking about a long past, but the near past too. Obama is a powerful image and motivator for core Democrats, and Biden has been very open about mining that. I mean he was Obama's veep…
The challenge is that Bidenism, like Trumpism, longs for a time in America that didn't really exist. Biden also appeals to voters (many black voters included) who after Trump's election frankly no longer trust in the racial / gender progressivism of their neighbors. 2/2
I am not saying that Mr. Bunch is wrong, but I am not sold on his hypothesis either.
I like Klobuchar (gave her money) based on her “get things done” record and her attitude. This “identity politics, all the time” from the others turns me off for many reasons, one of which I will get to at the end of this post.
I think that it is POSSIBLE that many of us “non-twitter-liberal” Democrats are tired of the woke left and blame them, in part, for our loss in 2016. I’ll explain MY reasoning at the end of this post. But assuming that there is a niche for such a candidate and that Joe Biden is leading mainly on the strength of voters in this niche, the following two articles are interesing:
Let’s say you are a presidential candidate with an impressive record and a belief that you are the electable choice who can bring people together across party lines. And let’s say, further, that your name is not Joe Biden.
How do you make yourself noticed in a field of 23 Democratic contenders?
If you are John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado and mayor of Denver, the answer is to stand before several thousand of the Democratic party’s most liberal activists and say things that are guaranteed to get you booed.
Things such as “socialism is not the answer.” And that most people don’t want to give up their private health insurance for a government-run system. And that “we shouldn’t try to tackle climate change by guaranteeing every American a government job,” which was an unmistakable dig at the Green New Deal.
“You know,” Hickenlooper said over waves of jeering at last weekend’s California Democratic Party Convention here, “if we’re not careful, we’re going to end up reelecting the worst president in American history.”
Note: Joe Biden didn’t even bother to show up. (LOL)
It’s no secret that older Democrats are more moderate than younger ones. Relatedly, older Democrats put more emphasis on electability. Last month’s Monmouth University New Hampshire poll asked Democrats whether they’d prefer a “Democrat [they] agree with on most issues but would have a hard time beating Donald Trump or a Democrat [they] do not agree with on most issues but would be a stronger candidate against Trump.” Among Democrats 65 or older, only 13 percent wanted the candidate they agreed with if the candidate would have a hard time beating Trump. But among Democrats younger than 50, 42 percent were willing to take a chance on the less electable candidate.
Share of New Hampshire Democrats who would prioritize issue agreement with a candidate vs. a candidate’s ability to beat Trump, according to a May 2-7 poll
The cause and effect is difficult to sort out. Maybe younger voters deemphasize electability because they’re more liberal and think the concept is being used to prop up more moderate, establishment friendly candidates like Biden.
But it’s at least possible that some of the causality runs the other way: Younger voters are more liberal because their lived experience gives them less reason to think there’s an electoral penalty for liberalism.
Consider the experience of 27-year-old voters. As they were coming of age, they’d have seen George W. Bush’s popularity fall to pieces and a guy named Barack Hussein Obama upend the Hillary Clinton juggernaut and win in a landslide against John McCain. Then they’d have seen the supposedly cautious and “electable” Clinton lose to Trump.
This is a reasonable analysis. But I’ll say this: remember that Obama campaigned on healing the divisions in our country!
THAT, plus his charisma and skill as a campaigner..plus the economic disaster under George W. Bush, is what got him elected. He did not campaign as a socialist or as an especially “woke” candidate. He was actually less liberal than Hillary Clinton.
So people might claim that the last two Democrats to win the presidency were “bold” choices, in terms of policies, they were quite moderate and they ran on at least a type of unity.
Note: he sought out cooperation with Republicans:
And consider those fresh out of college, where, well, “wokeness” is seen as a big virtue. Imagine a professor or administrator acting like Trump. They’d get fired, tenured or not. But in reality, almost half the electorate was either ok with it, or at least didn’t see it as disqualifying.
One problem with identity politics In my opinion, there are many problems with identity politics. Here is one of the biggest ones (again, in my opinion): the “other side” can also play that game!
Tomi Lahren’s back with a brand new over-the-top rant and this time it's in support of the straight pride parade: "Don’t forget, it is open season on straight white men in this country and y’all aren’t allowed to celebrate your straightness!" https://t.co/bcqYyx2Zvj
Now “the woke” will howl about this. They will cry out “straight white men do not NEED a parade”. And true, there is no social penalty for being white (not in larger society anyway, and even in the university committee, not being white often means getting stuck with more “inclusion committee” work). No, there is no social penalty for being straight.. (note: the “kiss cam” at games always uses male/female couples..and yes, I’ve been on it with a female friend).
So, yes, intellectually speaking, “the woke” are correct.
But “the woke” seem to think that they can fight this by getting indignant and wagging the finger….”I’m not interested in making straight white men comfortable” they will say.
But…what happens at the voting booth? Sanctimonious finger wagging will not get votes and it will change neither hearts nor minds.
But hey, when your side loses…AGAIN, you get to feel really smug and get to throw some cool temper tantrums.
Another undisciplined morning: 5.1 miles in 54:29 (out was 10:54 at the park entrance, 27:12 half way..which is net downhill). I meant to go out easier but it was 74 F, 70 percent and I am not quite used to the humidity. I walked 3 more (about 49 minutes by “time of day”) just for the extra heat conditioning.
This Saturday: 7:30 am 5K, 8 am 10K or a 15k slow run on my own…I think that the latter would be better for my 15K race as a “last long one”. Get up early, keep the pace under control and see what happens.
Last night: saw a second “road” game: Quad Cities hosting a road game at Peoria due to flooding. The Chiefs won 6-2, behind 13 hits and some excellent play in the outfield. The game went on for about 3:20; for some reason the last few games have lasted a long time.
Still, there was plenty of action including excellent catches made by the Chiefs outfield. And we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
Unfortunately, the Quad Cities area has been hurt by flooding, and that means that the Quad Cities River Bandits have to play their games on the road; their beautiful stadium is right on the river.
This was from a month ago.
So, on a moment’s notice, the planned series with Peoria was moved to Peoria with the Bandits being the “home team”. The late announcement meant that few fans showed up.
I, of course, went. And, at first, it appeared that the strong Bandit team was going to blow away the Chiefs.
In the first inning, they loaded the bases and went up 3-0.
Note the shift.
But the Chiefs starter settled down and pitched well for several more innings. And the Chiefs bats came alive; for 4 in the second and 3 in the third. They had 3 home runs (2 by one person..both 425 + shots to left field, though the Bandits also had a long home run to right field). 13 hits, 12 runs and a 12-5 win in a game that took 3:16 to play. They claimed 716 were there, but my guess is that included the season ticket holders. I doubt that there were much over 100 actual people at the game.
Fun: Linda from yoga was there
Workout notes: weights only this morning (another doctor’s appointment for B). rotator cuff, 10-10-10-10-10-5 pull ups, bench 10 x 135, incline 7 x 145, decline 7 x 165 (reps limited for left shoulder reasons) military: 7 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated, supported, 10 x 45 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 single arm. plank, crow, headstand, etc.
The calculator gets this as 12:15 mpm but I honestly believe that I was faster than that. No, I was NOT fast. At all. Weight: 189. And..I AM feeling better; much better. I had a cold last week.
Life of an old goat 