A Celestial Event. Bombs Away. Time for MBS.

Don’t StareThe B-1 Sorties.  Goodbye Bobby Dodd.

It has been thirty-eight years since it last happened.  As children, some of our smarter teachers took us outside and helped us experience this in a safe way as we wondered how we were seeing the Moon in broad daylight. On August 21 millions of people across the United States will see nature’s most wondrous spectacle — a total eclipse of the Sun. The event where the Moon completely blocks the Sun, daytime becomes a deep twilight, and the Sun shimmers in the darkened sky.  The eclipse swipes a path from the Pacific Northwest and sweeps southeast all the way to South Carolina.  For the northern Atlanta area, there may be a very short window somewhere around 2:35pm (I am sure our spot-on weather forecasters will update us as we get closer to August 21).  It will be a very quick peek as the shadow of the moon passes quickly at 1,800 miles per hour, twice the speed of sound.  Richie, as discussed, try not to observe this using your binoculars.

The moron North Korean ‘leader’, a.k.a. Kim Jong Un, is at it again with his launching of two ICBM’s last week.  I may be overthinking this but you would think that Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis has had about enough.  Yes, he has been told to stand down and let détente run it’s course, but something tells me that our SeCDef is ready to move forward with eliminating North Korea’s ability to even launch a bottle rocket.  He directed two U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers to fly over the North Korean peninsula….maybe as a warning or probably as a pre-emptive training run for what B-1’s will do to the North Korean landscape.  The B-1 carries the largest payload of guided munitions of any bomber, handles like a fighter jet, and has the ability to fly at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound.  The B-1’s advanced radar systems can track moving vehicles (think missile transport vehicles) and carries an incredible payload of 82 conventional bombs or 24 joint direct attack munitions, allowing the bombs to attack a specific target like a nuclear power plant.  Is it time to make this happen?

From one of America’s oldest sports stadiums to one of newest.  Yes, it is time for Atlanta United to move on the new Mercedes Benz stadium after going 6-2-1 at Bobby Dodd stadium.  Kudos to the Atlanta United staff, who had to pivot quickly when the Mercedes Benz stadium delays were announced.  Their efforts led to sellouts at all games and a loud and vociferous atmosphere that all us hope can be replicated at their new digs.  Let’s not forget Mr. Arthur Blank, who had the foresight to invest in a Major League Soccer franchise and just as importantly hire Darren Eales, who has used his experience and skill set to manage through the dynamics of starting a new franchise.  Unite and Conquer Atlanta United!

Adios and Have a Funday Sunday…..only four days until the first NFL preseason game!!

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Cynic.

A Change of Pace For JustMyTake.

It is reported that Sean Spicer’s sudden resignation has forced Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels to pay Donald Trump $5m to have Spicer return to the podium for the daily White House press briefing.  Michaels figures it will take that much money to hire new writers to find new content for Saturday Night Live.

The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, upon learning that O.J. Simpson is moving back to Florida to be near two of his kids living in the area, has announced that martial law will take effect October 1st, 2017. This is the day O.J. is to be released on parole from his 33-year sentence for armed robbery, kidnapping and eight other counts. Never mind his other crime of passion.

The announcement that Toyota and Volvo are going for the most part electric car by 2019 has forced all 7-11 gas stations to immediately replace all fuel pumps with electric plug-in kiosks.  They are not concerned that there are barely any suppliers of these types of kiosks and haven’t figured out how they are going to manage the queue and line of traffic backed up into the streets for the charging process.

It looks like a hostile takeover for Tesla is in the works led by Stephan Curry, John Wall, and Neymar.  Curry’s $40m per-year deal was trumped by Wall’s $42.5m per-year deal, only to be superseded yesterday by Paris St. Germain, who is paying Barcelona a $256m transfer fee for Neymar – whose salary will be $35m annually AFTER taxes.

It is reported that North Korean dictator Kim Jung un has decided to relocate to Palm Beach, Florida.  This is after being told that the new USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier, with capabilities to support ninety aircraft, would be parked off the coast of North Korea, only 100 miles from Pyongyang.  False news reports had him joining O.J. in St. Pete.

Adios and Have a Funday Sunday!!!

 

The Juice. Collision Update. Jet Blast. Sport.

Was The Glove Too Tight? The Navy is Quiet.  It Is a Concrete Wall.  Sports Not.

It was twenty-two years ago and I remember exactly where.  A non-descript hotel lobby in San Francisco after a long flight from Atlanta and a quick meeting at Moscone Center.  I glanced up at a TV and there was a live ‘breaking’ news broadcast with a helicopter’s film crew peering down on a white Bronco.  With no sound, many other guests and I could only make out the text scrolling at the bottom of the screen.  The rest of the story and the subsequent 1995 trial is embedded in my mind, along with visions of O.J. Simpson running through and by defenders when he played at USC and with the Buffalo Bills. The subsequent acquittal is a story for another time.  What I really don’t recall is why O.J. is in prison now?  In September of 2007, O.J. learned that a good amount of his memorabilia was in a hotel room at the Palace Station in Las Vegas.  He decides to gather a posse, burst into the hotel room and at gunpoint, steal the memorabilia.  On October 3, 2008, exactly 13 years to the day after O.J. was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald Goldman – O.J. was found guilty on ten separate charges.  He was sentenced to 33 years with eligibility for parole starting this October.  Many think he will be granted parole which I find ridiculous based on the ten charges and a 33-year sentence.  If his name was John Simpson instead of O.J. Simpson would there even be a chance of parole after nine years?  No way.

Does anyone have an update on why the U.S. Navy ship and the Philippines tanker collided weeks ago resulting in seven U.S. sailors deaths?  The U.S. Navy has been very quiet on this one.

I am very fortunate that the father of a longtime friend had a home on St. Maarten.  I visited there a few times – a beautiful island that is split between the Dutch and the French.  We always found lots to do and see, usually stayed away from Orient Beach, and enjoyed the year-round sunshine and beaches. Bret’s father was nice enough to take us to restaurants, mostly on the French side, all of them way out of our budget – just a fantastic experience.  What I never understood, with the beauty and the beaches of the island, why many people hung out at the beach right next to the airport?  The fact that one of the runways was less than 200 feet from the beach always made me wonder why people picked the ‘runway’ beach to sunbathe.  His father once showed us why – people, unbelievably, would gather at the end of the runway and hang on to a pole to experience the jet blast from the aircraft take off.  Maybe my sense of adventure was limited but in no way did that look fun, never mind safe to me.  Over the years, there have been some reported injuries when the jet blast blew people off the pole backwards but never one resulting in death, until last week.  Any death, especially by accident, is never to be taken lightly, but what was a 57-year old woman (and her family) thinking when they decided to experience the jet blast?  Neglecting the posted warnings, the woman was blown off the pole backwards and slammed her head against the concrete barrier a short distance away.  Very sad and unfortunate for so many reasons and more importantly it is time for government officials to shut down that jet blast experience.

The Hawks and the Falcons are still dormant.  The Atlanta Braves are the Atlanta Braves, and Atlanta United is on a break until this Friday…..so much to the applause of many – no sports comments this week.  Well…maybe one:  kudos to Roger Federer for becoming an eight-time Wimbledon champion, his 19th major.

Adios and Have a Funday Sunday!!

 

 

 

 

 

A North Korea ICBM. Real Warriors. Hitting the KPI’s. The Other Football.

A Response to Kim Jong-un.   Cork the Whine.  In a Word:  Overachievement.  Have the Falcons Become Secondary to United?

Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s so-called supreme leader, sent the United States an alarming ‘gift’ for the 4th of July.  North Korea’s ballistic missile, fired off last Tuesday, flew seven times higher than the international space station.  Why is this significant?  Their intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) traveled a vertical distance of 1700 miles before falling back into the Sea of Japan (yes, it landed in the part of the Sea that is designated North Korean territory).  Analysts now say that on a flatter trajectory their ICBM would be capable of reaching as far as Alaska.  As the world responded with alarm, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, continued to convey that the U.S. would maintain diplomatic and economic strategies with the North Koreans.  It is obvious that any military strike against North Korea would severely affect South Korea and possibly China.  With all of that said, Mattis, in a press conference at the Pentagon, did admonish the North Koreans for their provocative actions and warned Kim Jong-un “that any effort by North Korea to start a war would lead to severe consequences”.  There are a few geo-political issues to deal with should the U.S. elect to strike and wipe out North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure, but let’s be clear that the deployment of U.S. B-2 bombers and up to 24 F-22 Raptors, followed by up to 300 Tomahawk missiles from our Ohio-class nuclear submarines would for the most part set North Korean nuclear proliferation back twenty years.   Godspeed.

I enjoyed my working assignment at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.  As part of the Olympic broadcast production team, I worked the football (soccer) competition at the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium.  As the Games were about to close I was offered to stay on and work the Paralympic Games, which turned out to be way more enjoyable than working the ‘regular’ games.  From that day forward I have had the upmost respect for the athlete who performs at levels we can only dream about, with disabilities that we cannot comprehend.  I have the same respect for all of the participants of the Warrior Games, held last week in Chicago and honoring close to 265 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans from the Army, Marine Corp, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and U.S. Special Operations Command.  This year, the Warrior Games also invited the United Kingdom Armed Forces as well as the Australian Defense Force to participate.  Call me ignorant (my friends Samir and Richie do all the time), but I had no idea the Warrior Games started back in 2010 as a way to enhance the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded warriors and to expose them to adaptive sports. Teams include active-duty service members and veterans with upper-body, lower-body, and spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairment; serious illnesses; and post-traumatic stress.  As I watched some of the competition last week, I quickly remembered how much I enjoyed the camaraderie and competitive spirit of the athletes participating in the Paralympic Games.  To say the least, way more rewarding than working the regular Olympic Games competition.  Next time you are ‘hurting’ participating in your sporting activities think about the athletes of the Warrior Games and just ‘cork the whine’.

To Darren Eales and his Atlanta United staff:  a job well done at the mid-season break.  A 9-7-3 record, 4th place in the eastern division, a league-leading 39 goals scored, sellout crowds at Bobby Dodd, and a game-in-hand against fifth place Orlando City and sixth place Columbus.  I assume that the tension fabric covers for the upper deck sections of Mercedes Benz stadium are no longer applicable?  I will go with 60,000 fans for the September 10 match against league-leaders FC Dallas.  I can’t wait to see how the video operator handles the massive LED screen way before the 3:30pm start time……the Falcons play at Chicago starting at 1pm!!  Maybe Major League Soccer can push the Atlanta United start time to 4:30pm?  No matter, that September Sunday will be great fun for the city of Atlanta.

Speaking of the Falcons and the National Football League, we are only a  27 days away from the first exhibition game and less than eight weeks away from the NFL regular season.  The Fall should be great fun.

Adios and have a Funday Sunday!!

 

Let’s Not Ever Forget. NFL. Sandy Springs. AtlUtd. Boxing Robbery.

Independence Day.   Short Takes.

A very happy 4th of July to you and yours.  I hope that no one takes our Independence with a grain of salt, especially in light of some of the chaos and terrorism related to non-sovereign countries.  I was surprised that Independence Day was only declared a federal holiday in 1941, considering the United States is celebrating our 241st birthday.  On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence and two days later, on July 4, delegates from the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted by the one and only Thomas Jefferson.  If you have a flag, fly it.  If you don’t have one, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware have flag kits for under $15.00.  Buy a flag and fly it proudly.  To the north:  hoping all  Canadians enjoy and celebrate your 150th birthday!

Short takes:

Only thirty-two days to the 1st NFL preseason game!  Come on you Falcons!

Have you had the “opportunity” to drive north on Roswell Road north of I-285?  Amazing development, a mass amount of concrete and it looks like no end in site.  I have limited knowledge of zoning but something seems a bit sideways with the amount of density in that short distance between I-285 and Mt. Vernon Road.

Last night’s road win puts Atlanta United in fifth place.  After Tuesday night’s home game United has a seventeen-day break as Major League Soccer takes some time off for the Gold Cup tournament.  This will bode well for the Five Stripes as they get ready for a tough late August and September schedule.  Tuesday night’s game is another sellout.  Anyone want to give me a guess for the expected attendance at United’s first game at Mercedes Benz Stadium on September 10th?   I will go with 60,000+.

Manny Pacquiao got robbed.  Unanimous decision?  No way.

Adios.  Have a Funday Sunday and a great 4th of July.