Current Events Rant #2

There has been a lot going on in the world lately, so I thought I'd take a chance to give my take on these events, in what I refer to as a "Current Events Rant."

• During one of President Trump's many feuds with countless people (more on that in a minute), Senator Bob Corker referred to the White House as an "adult day care."  It was a funny comment that was pretty much on target.  However, I think that the better analogy is that the White House has basically turned into a bad reality show.  It's like "Big Brother, Pennsylvania Avenue Edition."  We all know that Trump's previous job was as the star of a reality TV program, "The Apprentice." At times, his campaign for president smacked of a reality TV program (or perhaps one of those hidden camera shows) where it almost seemed like it was too crazily scripted to be real.  Like many people, I hoped that - once he was inaugurated and grasped the gravity of his new job - Trump would start acting more presidential and less like a reality star who would do or say anything for ratings.  Unfortunately, it appears that those hopes were for naught.  He continues to be as petty and childish and inappropriate as ever.  Even worse, he treats the highest office in the land like it's a reality show.  It's like he feels that he has to manufacture drama and have backstabbing and cliffhangers in order for things to be successful.  He routinely creates feuds and disagreements over silly things, often undercutting the very people who report to him.  For example, while his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is attempting to negotiate with and resolve things diplomatically with North Korea (which is what a Secretary of State is supposed to do), Trump is calling Kim Jong-un names and saying that Tillerson shouldn't waste his time.  Likewise, he picks fights with the NFL and stages a blatant (not to mention costly) publicity stunt with his Vice President at a recent Indianapolis Colts game.
• Is Trump the most insecure person in the country?  I think you can definitely make the case that he is.  He is constantly firing back at people who criticize him, rather than just taking the high road and, you know, acting presidential.  He is constantly patting himself on the back via tweets and in press conferences.  He constantly whines about what he perceives to be unfair treatment by others, rather than realizing that is part of the gig and that every president before him has been criticized on a routine basis.  To me, one of the most egregious things that Trump inexplicably continues to do is to hold campaign pep rally style meetings, during which his followers fawn over him while he typically says incendiary things.  Apparently, he needs that validation; he needs to have people telling him how wonderful he is, while forgetting that he is the president of ALL Americans rather than just those folks who support him.  Recently, he's even challenged his aforementioned Secretary of State to an IQ test challenge after the latter called him a moron.  Way to be a mature adult, Mr. President.
• Think about it: Trump is wealthy. He's married to a model. He's the proverbial "leader of the free world," but apparently that's not enough to make him feel good about himself.  Instead, he behaves like a spoiled child who throws a temper tantrum whenever he doesn't get his way or when someone tries to give him constructive feedback.  Although, I suppose it shouldn't surprise us, considering this is a man who has spent his whole life slapping his name on everything in sight, similar to a dog trying to mark his territory by peeing on all of the trees in a neighborhood. He has this incessant need for validation that is a telltale sign of rampant insecurity.
• In a somewhat related topic, one of the big news items in the past month has revolved around the National Anthem protests made by athletes, especially in the NFL.  What was a relatively infrequent issue became a full blown trend following (you guessed it) some tweets from President Trump condemning the kneeling players.  Trump called on NFL owners to fire or suspend players who refused to stand for the National Anthem, something that I found highly disturbing.  The government should NEVER be in the position of telling private business owners how they should handle their, shall we say, personnel issues.  How do you think Trump would have handled it if, say, George W. Bush had told him that he had to fire or suspend some of his employees?  I'm pretty sure he would have talked about government overreach, but yet it's apparently okay if he is the one saying it.
• As for the anthem protests themselves, I really don't have a problem with them.  The Constitution guarantees us the right to exercise our freedom of speech.  If a player decides that he does not want to stand for the anthem, that's his right to do so.  I can understand why people would find it disrespectful, but those who died in defense of the flag did so to maintain the freedoms that we enjoy - including the right to NOT stand for the National Anthem.  I will personally always stand for it, with my hand over my heart, but I will also defend the rights of those who choose not to do so.  It is all part of living in a free society - you have to take the good with the bad.
• Speaking of football and the NFL, the league has a big problem....a California-sized problem.....and it's one caused by the league's incessant greed.  All 4 of the California-based teams are dealing with fan unrest and upheaval.  A few years ago, in search of more money, the 49ers moved their home games out of Candlestick Park in San Francisco to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, about 40 miles south.  Since doing that, their attendance has cratered, to the point where they often play the 2nd half of games in front of a stadium that is 2/3 empty.  In the name of greed, they moved further away from their fan base and the result hasn't been pretty.  Across the Bay, the Raiders are playing out the string in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas in 2019 or 2020.  The reason for the move?  Yep, more money.  Who cares about the fans? That brings us to Los Angeles.  For 20 years, the nation's 2nd largest city was without an NFL team and it was the leverage that owners would hold over their city's heads to try to get new stadiums built.  Then, last year, the league decided to move the Rams (one of the most poorly run franchises in the league) back to LA, where the city shrugged it's collective shoulders and the team promptly played in a half-empty stadium.  To make matters worse, the league also moved the Chargers out of San Diego and to Los Angeles as well.  The Chargers temporarily play in a 27,000 soccer stadium and they can't even fill that!  LA goes from 0 teams to 2 teams in a span of two years, but it almost seems like the people in LA could not care less.  During the past 20 years, they apparently found better things to do with their Sunday afternoon. Four franchises all moving in an attempt to make obscenely wealthy people even more wealthy with little regard whatsoever for the football fans they are leaving behind.
• On the college football front, it's been a brutal season so far.  My beloved Baylor Bears are 0-5, while the Mizzou Tigers aren't much better at 1-4.  But, from where I sit, the two programs are in vastly different places.  Baylor is down because of the Art Briles scandal and the loss of almost two complete recruiting classes.  As such, they are being forced to play far more underclassmen than you would normally see.  But I believe that their new coach, Matt Rhule, was a very good hire and I fully expect the Bears to be making regular bowl game appearances within a few years.  He has a history of a taking a program that was down and turning it around while instilling discipline on the program and that's exactly the kind of person Baylor needed to hire.  I believe he will turn Baylor back into a winner and do so without the garbage that happened during Briles's watch.  Mizzou, on the other hand, replaced it's winningest coach ever with a guy who'd never been a head coach at any level before.  I want Barry Odom to do well because he's a Mizzou guy, but I think he may be in over his head as a first time head coach in the SEC.  Most successful college football colleges work their way up to those Power 5 conference jobs, establishing winning programs at smaller schools before ascending to the SECs and Big 10s of the world.  Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are two good examples. Saban got his head coaching start at Toledo, while Meyer coached at Bowling Green and Utah before moving to the SEC.  Mizzou might be better served to find an up and coming coach and handing the reins to him.  All I can say is "Is it basketball season yet?"
• Hockey season is underway and the Blues are 4-0.  Could this be the year they finally win Lord Stanley's Cup? Probably not, but we can only hope!

OK, that's enough of a rant for now.  Thanks for reading!