JUST MY TAKE

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Mid-Year Review.   Hawks Making a Statement.  Answers Please.

Atlanta United.  An expansion team.   Our manager has a great pedigree and CV and has coached at the highest levels. We are 7-7-3 and 5-2 at home. Those are facts – and here are some suggestions/assumptions:

– At any level, in any league, if you have won only seven times in 16 games it is time to take some risk and change it up.  Our manager, Gerardo (Tata) Martinez, will do so with Josef Martinez now at 100% and the pending congestion with the match schedule (U.S. Open Cup & September).  The U.S. Open Cup American player requirements will also dictate that Tata dial up more rotation.
– Last night was a bit different, especially since Colorado decided to sit back the entire game, but some of the teams we have played get stronger as the match goes on and sometimes we lose our legs. Is this a result of Tata’s demand for high pressure or a bit of over-training?
– Is the manager forcing the tactics even if he does not have the type or quality of players to successfully pull off the high pressure system?  When the high pressure works it is great to watch and it would be interesting to see what percentage of United’s goals to date have resulted from turnovers due to their high pressure tactics?
– Michael Parkhurst is the captain, and the mainstay of the team……or is he?  I think he is and yes, he sometimes is physically over-matched but his experience and tactical awareness outweigh any of his shortcomings. Remember, he has fellow center back Leandro Gonzalez Pirez to manage and keep in check.
– Tyrone Mears’ decision-making, lack of man-marking, and poor service is systemic. Last night’s change to Anton Walkes was necessary but it was not a good test for Walkes as Colorado’s attack was measured.
– The July transfer window – it may be necessary to change out one or two and bring in two new players to get us through the match schedule and keep us in the playoff hunt.
– We are obviously much better at home than away so the second half schedule should bode well for us.

With all that said, the second half of the season, including the pending move to Mercedes Benz Stadium, should be fun to watch.  Go United!

When you walk through The Battery at the new SunTrust Park, you wonder if the baseball game is a secondary objective?  Shops, restaurants and bars, and living and working spaces basically dominate the perimeter of the ballpark.  This was the reason the Atlanta Braves bolted from downtown Atlanta to the perimeter of Atlanta.  It is a real estate play with Braves baseball being a piece of the revenue stream instead of the only source of income.  It now looks like the Atlanta Hawks, led by CEO Steve Koonin, will make a play to develop downtown’s Philips Arena area into a spectacular live, work and play hotspot.  If you are from Atlanta, think The Avalon in downtown Atlanta, with it’s never-ending bars, restaurants and shops of all kinds.  A massive uptick for downtown Atlanta – if anyone can pull it off it is Steve Koonin.

As a follow up to last week’s questions regarding the USS Fitzgerald’s collision, can anyone help explain how and why this happened?  Maybe I missed it but has the Navy swept the cause under the rug?  I hope not, especially for the family and friends of the seven sailors who lost their lives due to the collision.

Adios and Have a Funday Sunday!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon’s Grocery Play.  How Does This Happen?  Ag Illiterate.  Random Thoughts.

If you take the metropolitan area of Atlanta, it is very difficult to drive a mile in any direction and not see a Kroger or a Publix grocery store, not to mention Trader Joes, Fresh Market, Sprouts, Aldi, and Whole Foods.  Speaking of Whole Foods, they now have a parent company who a long time ago was only known for selling books online.  Amazon has now purchased Whole Foods for $14 billion and will leverage the stores to broaden their web business and boost online ordering.  Amazon’s thinking is that they just did not buy a grocery chain – they bought 431 upper-income, prime location distribution hubs for all of Amazon’s offerings.  Publix and Kroger have recently implemented “click and pick up” services at most of their stores but Amazon’s unprecedented forethought and technology should turn the grocery world upside down.

I have been on the bridge of both a Navy ship and cruise ship and had crew members explain the advanced technological tools at the disposal of the captain and crew.  Though I understood about 20% of what they were talking about, it was quite clear that the bridge of these vessels uses technology to run every aspect of navigation.  So….how, with all of this technology and collision avoidance electronics does a U.S. warship collide with another vessel?  Friday night, off the coast of Japan, the USS Fitzgerald, a U.S. Navy Destroyer, collided with a merchant container ship.  I realize that navigating a huge vessel is difficult in crowded seas, and that human error with no “air traffic control” sometimes happens, but I just can’t imagine, with all the available technology, how ships collide in the open sea.  It is bad enough that the ships collided in the first place with a tremendous amount of damage to the Navy ship, but last night divers found the bodies of seven USS Fitzgerald crew members in the flooded compartments of the ship.  Very sad.

Agriculture and food processing and distribution.  Not exactly top of mind for most people as they walk the aisles of a grocery store picking and choosing their food and drink of choice.  Agriculture and farming don’t always make it into the core curriculum of colleges around the world so is anyone surprised that 7% of ALL American adults, over 16 million people, do not know that chocolate milk is made from milk, cocoa, and sugar?  Many answered that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.  Maybe it is time for agriculture to be included in all school grades just to give us an understanding of harvest, distribution, packaging, and merchandising so at a minimum most of us know how food is grown and what it takes to get food to grocery stores. Just sayin’.

Random Thoughts – North Korea finally releases a U.S. citizen who was charged with taking down a political banner.  So nice of the North Koreans to send him back after he has been in a coma for over a year.  North Korea, your time is coming and it is going to be ugly.  We have not heard from Secretary of Defense, General Mattis, lately and for good reason. No one should be surprised when he orders airstrikes on this maniacal country.  Last night, after a poorly played first half, Atlanta United beat the Columbus Crew in front of another sold out Bobby Dodd Stadium.  The win and three points pushes United into sixth place with another match at D.C. United this Wednesday night.   The jury at the Bill Cosby trial, after a marathon of deliberation, could not come to agreement on a verdict.  Does the prosecution retry the case?  Father’s Day, in some aspect, can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the celebration of fatherhood was brought to America by the Spanish and Portuguese.  President Richard Nixon signed a proclamation in 1972 making Father’s day a permanent national holiday in the United States.  I wish a trip to Seattle was on my agenda.  Not to see the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer or the Seahawks of the NFL, but to take a look at the brand new Jimi Hendrix Park.  Hendrix, widely acclaimed to be the greatest rock guitarist of all time, died in 1970 at the age of 27.

Have a Funday Sunday and happy Father’s Day!!

The Greatest Television Dad.  Maybe The U.S.A. Gets the World Cup After All.   The War at Azteca.  Let’s Go to a 7th Game.  Not Roswell.

From the old days of Fat Albert to the sitcom called The Cosby Show, worldwide fans of Bill Cosby admired his wit and humor.  He was an incredibly funny standup comic with his ability to bring stories to life. As the patriarch of The Cosby Show, his portrayal of a loving and caring father, blended with his great supporting cast, was a must watch.  He now is going through a very alarming trial, charged with raping a former Temple University employee.  He says that any sexual encounters were consensual and admits providing Quaaludes to women as they were the ‘flavor of the month’ party drug back in the day.  Serious charges and conviction will see him live out his last years of life in prison.  Hopefully, the truth comes out very soon and at this point whether he is found innocent or guilty, this is a very sad time for a man who was both respected and admired.

It is downtown Atlanta 2010 and a watch party is being held for the announcement of what countries are awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.  Most of us are convinced that the U.S. is a slam dunk for the 2022 tournament until the announcement is made that Qatar, one of the tiny Gulf State countries, has beat out the U.S. and has been awarded the tournament.  We are all stunned and shocked and then over the last few years the debacle of soccer’s organizing body, FIFA, plays out that there was plenty of money exchanging hands to persuade FIFA’s members to choose Qatar.  The choice of Qatar as World Cup host was not only controversial…even in 2010 it was a big risk.  FIFA inspectors warned of the tremendous heat risk to players and fans which forced FIFA to move the tournament from the usual summertime to the late fall of 2022.  Security analysts categorized Qatar as a high security risk and this was before we had heard of ISIS.  So blend the new boycott from neighboring Arab states, the risk assessment now including ISIS, and the fact that the tournament has to be moved to the fall…..does this add up to the U.S.A. hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994?

The Patriots at Foxboro, The Yankees at (the old) Yankee Stadium, and the old New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.  The dynamics of having home field (court) advantage comes in all shapes and sizes.  From the number of fans to the noise level some teams use their home-field advantage way better than others.  Later tonight, in a World Cup qualifier, the United States takes on their arch-rival, Mexico, in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.  Always a daunting task for any team visiting the Azteca, the U.S. will try to improve on their qualifying matches at this hallowed stadium, having played twelve qualifying matches there and winning only once.  The Azteca, built back in 1966, holds more than 100,000 fanatical fans who show up two hours before game time to cheer their national team with special, but not so friendly taunting, of the Americans.  The stadium, even at 8:30pm EDT tonight, will be warm and due to Azteca being completing enclosed, has little circulation.  Dovetail that with the stadium’s altitude at 7,200 feet and you understand why the Mexicans, in World Cup qualifying games, have lost only twice in the Azteca in 49 games.  Whether you watch soccer or not, take a look in to what usually is a very competitive war.

I only watch hockey during the Stanley Cup finals.  I have always been a Penguins fan but I am hoping the Nashville Predators prevail tonight and send the finals to a seventh and deciding game.

Have you been to downtown Alpharetta lately?  The area is exploding with both commercial and residential construction and it looks like Alpharetta’s chieftains got this right with controlled covenants, plenty of parking, and the right mix of development.  It is NOT Canton Street in downtown Roswell and that is a good thing.

Adios, have a Funday Sunday and all the best to the USA tonight in Mexico City!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Start Off the Sixth Month of 2017.

Note to any and all readers:  I appreciate all the comments and feedback.  As a reminder I will not comment on the topics of religion or politics.  Gary

Launching satellites from the ground may no longer be the norm.  Though there have been some deployments of satellites from aircraft over the last twenty years, Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft and current owner of the Seattle Seahawks has gone a step further….or maybe ten steps further.  Check out his ‘aircraft’ named the Stratolaunch, with a wingspan of 385 feet and weighing in, before fuel, at 500,000 pounds.  I am the wrong guy to ask or explain how this aircraft can leave the ground at a fueled weight, with cargo, as high as 1.3 million pounds.

Kathy Griffin and your handlers:  just stop and go away.  Really, does anyone watch CNN’s New Year’s Eve show anyway?

The ladies decided to play mah jong Thursday night which gave me the opportunity to watch game one of the NBA finals.  As the game was a blowout early on I wore out the TV remote trying to find something/anything interesting to watch.  Luckily I found the live telecast of the National Spelling Bee and was amazed by the two finalists’ ability to spell words that I cannot pronounce.  Rohan, 14, finally missed a word and Ananya, 12, correctly spelled the word ‘marocain’ to win the competition.  Don’t ask me how but a five-year old qualified for the event.

Fire Island, across the bay from Long Island = beautiful.

Yesterday’s Champions League final, won by Real Madrid, was watched by more than 350 million people, more than twice the television viewing audience of this past February’s Super Bowl.  No wonder Turner Sports paid a huge sum of money to win the U.S. broadcast rights for the Champions League starting in 2018.

Another terrorist attack in London yesterday.  As mentioned last week I do not have the answers on how to stop these senseless, random attacks.  Is London to the point of placing soldiers on every street corner?

Atlanta United lost yesterday in Vancouver……thankfully the last of their cross-country road games.  The MLS did United no favors with their inaugural season schedule. Tata Martino has some decisions to make with United’s starting eleven with the pending fitness of Josef Martinez.

New York City, with all it’s people and noise and buildings is still a great place to visit.

Adios and have a Funday Sunday!

 

 

 

Random Thoughts from Kismet on Fire Island.

For a few reasons, tomorrow is the most important Holiday in the United States.  Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May and was formerly known as Decoration Day.  Memorial Day commemorates all men and women who have died in military service for the United States.  If you have a flag, please honor our fallen veterans and fly your flag; if you don’t have one please go buy one.

Another home match for Atlanta United later today.  Player personnel decisions come into play soon as Josef Martinez will return from injury and Brad Guzan joins United in July.  It is going to be interesting to see what starter gets benched and what Tata Martino and Carlos Bocanegra decide to do with starting goalkeeper Alec Kann.

A big dilemma for all of us.  Public venues around the world spend millions of dollars on security to ensure their customers and fans are protected during an event.  Pat-downs and metal detectors, as well as bag checks are now common place.  So while the interior of a stadium or arena may be relatively safe, the exterior of these types of venues are vulnerable to the sick bastards who think they are representing ISIS or other terrorist groups.  I don’t have an answer for this problem but I hope that the world’s security specialists can figure this out soon.

Last week I paid tribute to one of my favorite guitarists, Jimi Hendrix.  Similar to Hendrix, Gregg Allman’s magical keyboard mixed his influential music with blues and rock, along with the ‘jam-band’ sound (think Widespread Panic).  Along with his brother, Duane, and awesome guitarist Dickie Betts, Gregg Allman made The Allman Brothers great.  He will be missed.

Some soccer pundits lambasted Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho for electing to dial down his team’s efforts to stay atop the Premier League standings.  He instead decided to focus his team’s resources on the Europa competition, and for good reason.  He figured out, based on the remaining league matches, that ManU would only have a nominal chance of securing a fourth-place finish.  So he threw down the dice and decided that the better path to qualifying for the Champions League was to win the Europa League.  Wednesday night in Stockholm, ManU beat Ajax and Mourinho’s goal was achieved.  You may not like his arrogant personality but you have to respect his decision-making.  To ManU, the affect of not making next year’s Champions League may have resulted in revenue shortfalls of up to $40m.

Salute our veterans and have a Funday Sunday.  

 

Let Jimi Take Over.  I Don’t Usually Rant.

Bi-partisan is the best way to explain it.  My neighborhood was diverse and very sports-minded with music always being the equalizer.  Outside my home my neighborhood friends always had music playing, mostly pop/Top 10 with occasional Latin or Caribbean tunes in the background.  At home was a different story as my brother thought our 9′ x 10′ bedroom was actually Red Rocks with the Marantz stereo on volume level 9 of 10.  His music was not pop or top ten.   Think Ten Years After, Ravi Shankar, the Stones, Uriah Heep, Traffic, and Jimi Hendrix.   It was always interesting to leave my bedroom tone deaf only to go outside and hang out with my neighborhood friends listening and dancing to The Jackson Five.  Speaking of Jimi Hendrix, I watched the 2013 movie, All Is By My Side,  the other night.  The movie walks you through Hendrix’s life after he goes to London in 1966 and is discovered playing in small clubs by Keith Richards’ girlfriend.  His guitar playing was different as he strung his Stratocaster backwards and played left-handed.  Talented and bold, Hendrix passed away from a drug overdose in 1970 at the age of 27.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as “the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”.   With all due respect to Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Joe Satriani, and David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix, in my opinion, was the most talented and influential guitarists, with the uncanny ability to create and execute incredibly difficult stereophonic sounds using feedback, distortion, and the infamous wah-wah pedal. If you have no recollection of Hendrix, YouTube the version of the National Anthem he performed at Woodstock in 1969….it is incredible.  No telling what his career would have been like if, like many others, drugs did not get in his way.

Random Thoughts:

As expected, the delays in opening Mercedes Benz Stadium places Atlanta United in a tough spot as they will now play seven games in the month of September.  It is what it is, so Tata Martino will have his hands full staying in the playoff race with so many games in a very short period of time.  Master of the obvious:  depth throughout the summer heading into September is paramount to United’s success.  BTW:  last night’s win at a sold out Bobby Dodd Stadium was excellent.  We all like when Miguel Almiron imposes his will.

I realize China uses North Korea as leverage but enough is enough.  It is time to send Kim Jong-un a strong message as again he authorized the firing of a ballistic missile.  C’mon man!!

This is Marietta-concentric but has anyone driven up Johnson Ferry Road lately?  Are there no covenants and restrictions for commercial construction and the way buildings look on this ridiculously congested corridor?  No need for me to call out the businesses I am referring to but there is some ugly stuff just south and further north of Lower Roswell Road.  Shameful.

I have received some feedback lately regarding content.  While I appreciate and read all comments, I will repeat that my blog will not cover or comment on the topics of politics and religion.  There are many blogs that cover these topics. Not mine.

Adios and Have a Funday Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Laptop Checked? Music and Art on the Waterfront.  Always Ready.

It looks like international flights back into the U.S. will get a bit more quiet with many airlines starting to restrict what devices can be brought on board.  The days of using your laptop on those long trips back to the States may be over as all devices other than a mobile phone will need to be checked.  Maybe this will open up a market for very large mobile phones and foldable keyboards that can sync with your mobile?  The damage claims for luggage will increase as there are bound to be thousands of laptops broken and busted while bouncing around in your luggage.  Like most people I always carry on my bags but this new rule, after a long flight back to the States, will again put many of us at baggage claim to collect our bag with our laptop.  Not good but I hope this security measure has very positive results.

As a Florida native I never considered downtown West Palm Beach as a fun destination spot.  Not when you can have a night out in Ft. Lauderdale, Delray Beach or St. Petersburg.  My mindset quickly changed last weekend as I took in SunFest 2017, Florida’s largest waterfront music and art festival.  I was there for three days of the five-day festival which is located  in downtown West Palm Beach.  Set up along a waterfront park, the three stages allowed for 50 bands with a wide variety of music…including Ziggy Marley, Widespread Panic, Blink 182, Flo Rida and Steve Winwood.  Like many coastal cities in Florida, West Palm Beach is on fire with new mixed-use developments and fun restaurant/bars.  Great experience so take a look at SunFest 2018 for a great long weekend.

My casual boat ride on a very fast boat on the intracoastal waterway was unexpectedly delayed last week.  Why?  The U.S. Coast Guard, in one of their incredibly quick fast-boats, decided to board our boat.  You are familiar with their boat, the same one we always watched on Baywatch, with it’s aluminum and raft-type structure, 800 hp engines (two) and the two imposing .50 caliber machine guns.  In peacetime, the Coast Guard is under the guise of Homeland Security so many of their stop and boards are done to look for illegal drugs and weapons.  These guys had it easy last week with beautiful weather and calm seas but their job changes quickly in pursuit of drug runners or on a search and rescue mission.  Though it was a bit weird that of all boats they stopped us, it made me think how important their service is to protecting us and our boarders.  Semper Paratus is the Coast Guard’s slogan and for very good reasons.

To all of you moms:  Have a Great Mother’s Day!!  Adios and Have a Funday Sunday!!

 

 

 

 

Updates and Thoughts For The Start of Month Five 2017.

North Korea now is warning China to back off.  China is posturing and uses the North Korea dilemma to leverage trade and tariffs with the United States.  With that said, China has the world’s largest military, estimated at 2.3 million.  China borders North Korea so maybe we will all live long enough to see China turn North Korea into Southeast China?

Word has it that more than one worldwide sports agency is already preparing offers to sign Serena’s baby to a contract.

I received feedback regarding last week’s comments about parents and their children using their tablets and phones at restaurants.  Some feedback was positive so I will also add that the same holds true for parents who let their children leave the table to ‘play’ and run around the restaurant as if they were in a playground.  And again, you know exactly what I am referring to…..absolutely unacceptable.

Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue last week regarding his newborn son was an unreal watch.  Heartfelt and touching to say the least.

Racism unfortunately affects us all and with social media is well- publicized when it happens at worldwide sporting events.  Now we get more of it last week at Boston’s Fenway Park with a few fans yelling racial slurs at a Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder.  Sick racial behavior should be dealt with by prohibiting those spectators from attending any future games…..forever.  Time to send a message of no tolerance.

I mentioned ‘cord-cutters’ many blogs ago.  Last week, Dish reported a loss of 143,000 subscribers during the 1st quarter of 2017…..compared to a decline of 23,000 in Q1 of 2016.  Cord-cutting, who would have thought?

A duty to Queen and Country:  Prince Philip, the 95-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, will step back from his royal duties.  Yes, he is 95 and now has decided to dial it back a bit.  We know who the sheriff is in that palace.

Adios and have a Funday Sunday!!

 

 

 

 

 

Détente, Maybe Not.  Thirteen Is Not Enough.  ATL UTD and the Hawks.

Carrier Strike Group 1 (CSG1) was deployed to the Korean peninsula last week to start joint naval exercises with Japan and South Korea.  On Friday, after North Korea test-fired another missile, CSG1 entered the Korean Strait.  CSG1 is the support group that includes the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class nuclear powered aircraft carrier with a crew of 5,700.  The firepower of the USS Vinson consists of surface-to-air missiles and various anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.  Along with this onboard armament, the Carl Vinson has 90 aircraft that can be deployed on demand. The support group responsible for the safety of the $8B aircraft carrier includes a nuclear-powered attack submarine and various destroyers and frigates.  It is inevitable that North Korea’s very young ‘leader’ will challenge the presence of CSG1 and continue to provoke and threaten the U.S. naval forces now parked within striking distance of Pyongyang.  China, of all countries, is trying to play peacemaker between North Korea and our pacific rim allies but if Kim Jong Un continues his nuclear threats China will need to back off when the combined forces of the U.S., South Korea, and Japan strike North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure.  It is time to send a message.  Bombs away.

Always the supportive one (no coughing please), I agreed to binge watch a Netflix program on a rainy night in Blue Ridge.  Thirteen Reasons Why is not exactly the programming I fancy but I got stuck in on the couch to take in a very provocative thirteen-part series.  My takeaways:  social media never relents and keeps our youth informed 24/7 with the good, the bad and the ugly; school bullying has taken on a different tact with the use of twitter, text messaging, instagram and snapchat; parents are or can be very ‘disengaged’ with their kids for many reasons.   I will not suggest that you watch Thirteen Reasons Why but if you have kids that attend middle or high school it might be a good idea to watch this Netflix series.  More specifically, I strongly recommend you watch the series if you are the parents who take your kids to a restaurant and allow them to use their phones or tablets at the table.  And you know exactly what I am referring to.

They are back!  Atlanta United, after four weeks on the road, play later today at Bobby Dodd Stadium.  The game is sold out and the crowd should be crazy and loud after not seeing The Five Stripes for the last month.

The Hawks ended their season last night with a playoff loss to Washington.  There are some great pieces to the Hawks’ player pool but look for some big changes for next season.

Have a Funday Sunday!!!