tom boys and affirmative action

For some strange reason, the sports television world is enamored with hiring sideline reporters who are tom boys or to put gently, women who wouldn't make the cut for homecoming queen. I understand that there are the Erin Andrews' of the world, but it seems like the tom boys rule the day. This is affirmative action in my humble opinion and should be discontinued.

People think that affirmative action is about giving blacks and Spanish speaking people an opportunity. Yes that is true, but we also see that women take advantage of it as well.

What is wrong with a tom boy such as Jenny working the Fox Sports Northwest Mariner game? Well, she put together a whole bunch of puff pieces like on the players' wives, the Mercer Island Little League team that made the Little League World Series throwing out the first pitch at the Mariner game, etc. Why someone who's more attractive such as Lisa Gangel of KING 5 or Nicole Zaloumis, who seems to have disappeared from Fox Sports Northwest, can't do these stories is beyond my conservative, male chauvinistic pig point of view. I must be re-oriented to think like a more sensitive male, even a metrosexual.

Stressful cities

Well, maybe it was a good thing that I left Chicago last year.

Read this story
http://http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/20/stress-unemployment-homes-lifestyle-real-estate-home-values-stressful-cities_slide_29.html
Top cities on the list, Chicago, LA, New York Cleveland and someone else. Seattle was 11th. Portland 14th. Miami 20th.

What is wrong with national sports media

I have a theory as to what's wrong with the National sports media. They are all Northeast people who want to see their favorite four or five teams win. For example, last September, how many people picked the Arizona Cardinals to go to the Super Bowl? Maybe a handful of people picked them to win the NFC West, but outside of the Valley of the Sun, I doubt that any "expert" picked the Cards to go to the Super Bowl. This week the Sports Illustrated annual NFL Preview issue came out and the geniuses there picked the Patriots to beat the Bears in the Super Bowl in Miami this February. Here are their picks
AFC East: New England, unholy/slavish devotion to Belichick and Brady
AFC North: Pittsburgh, defending champion get benefit of the doubt
AFC South: Houston, a surprise, for once, SI picks someone different. A safe pick would have been the Colts or the Titans.
AFC West: San Diego
Wild Card: Baltimore and Indy

NFC East: New York, what Northeast-centric writers pick, their default.
NFC North: Chicago, believe in Smith and Cutler
NFC South: Atlanta, decent pick
NFC West: Seattle, a surprise, for sure, only thought is a healthy Hasslebeck and the fact that Seattle made the playoffs for five straight years made them a safe pick. I would pick the 49ers. Singletary and a decent quarterback do it for me. I don't trust the Cardinals. Besides the 49ers have the biggest attraction or draw among teams in the NFC West because of their success in the 1980's and 1990's.

Wild Card: Minnesota and Green Bay, Minnesota is Favre worship. Can't explain the Packers pick as a wild card, except that they must hate Dallas.

These guys who work for SI are out of touch with the average sports fan. Fortunately, there are sites like www.fieldgulls.com, part of www.sbnation.com and www.bleacherreport.com to give one a different perspective. I won't even mention the Four letter word that starts with an E.

Good luck to all teams.

update

1) My sister-in-law in Teaneck had a boy last week. Congratulations to her, my brother and their family.

2) Seahawks are playing well in the preseason, going 3-0 after yesterday's win in Kansas City.

3) Jeff Clement will be called up to the Majors by the Pirates on Tuesday. Yeah for them.

Random sports thoughts

Things in the sports world that I have thought about, but haven't had time to dissect.

1) While the Mariners are an improved team from last year, I feel that they are too much of a "nice guy" team. They don't throw inside, argue with umpires or spike second basemen on double plays. We're in the major leagues, not in Little League. Act like Major Leaguers who actually want to win a title this century. Unfortunately, Don Wakamatsu, our manager, doesn't have the Ozzie or Lou mentality of fighting every so often for his guys. This isn't good.

2) If I were running the team, I would have cut Rob Johnson, traded Johjima and made Clement the catcher or DH and hit him fifth. I also would have cut Sweeney and Batista, two veterans, who need a new career.

3) The Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox are dirty scummy teams who need to be disciplined after their reprehensible brawl of two weeks ago. Rick Porcello, may be the most arrogant young schmuck in the game, he threw at Kevin Youkilis, after Youkilis was hit the game before. Who in the HOLY HELL is Rick Porcello to throw at anyone??? Go to the minors, Ricky. Jim Leyland is a phony and I never want to hear about how great of a manager he is and how he plays the game the right way, etc. A load of rubbish.

4) Can Fox Sports mount an effective challenge to the four letter entity that controls sports today. I can't tolerate their eastern-centric view of the world. That entity starts with an E and ends with an N. Go Fox and knock these people out.

Good news out of Seattle

For all of the wailing about the Obama administration and town-hall universal health care meetings, we have some good news out of Seattle, the Emerald City, and environs. First of all, we (Seattle) defeated the bag tax by a count of 58 percent to 42 percent (tree-huggers). So even in GREEN SEATTLE, there are enough sensible people to defeat a plastic bag tax. Secondly, we will have a new mayor, as the incumbent mayor, Greg Nickles, finished in third place in the primary on Tuesday. He officially conceded on Friday morning. Nickles is a WHITE Ray Nagin, ineffective mayor of New Orleans, who gained fame in the Hurricane Katrina debacle 4 years ago.

Lastly, Susan Hutchison, former KIRO TV anchor, got the most votes in the Primary for King County Executive. She will face off against KC Board member Dow Constantine, the most left-wing member of the KC Board. If Hutchison wins, Washington may be able to move from blue to purple in 2010 and 2012. For more information on the news in Seattle and King County, from a conservative perspective, go to www.kvi.com, www.susanhutchison.com and my blog, http://sewardparkinsights.blogspot.com as well as http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com

Seattle Times love affair with Gregoire continues

I hope that my friends at KVI and KTTH have commented on this.

http://nowewont.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pathetic-governor-angling-for

How come Christine Gregoire comes under such little scrutiny and maybe since she's too busy meeting with Obama's Cabinet members, she should be recalled.