Futurelawyer

So, You Want To Attend The Super Bowl In Person?

Get out the checkbook, grasshopper. Except, that most of us couldn't write a good check for $5,000. And, that is for the cheap seats. I have had season tickets for the Bucs since 1976, and, since Super Bowl XVIII was played in Tampa, we season ticket holders (season tix were $12 a game), got the opportunity to enter a lottery to buy Super Bowl tix. I remember how excited I was to win the lottery, and got nosebleed seats for $60 each (around $450 in today's money). As a bonus, my Redskins were in the game; but, got blown out by the Raiders 38 to 9. We had a great time, though, and I got plenty of great photos. Attending the game in person has become a rich man's sport, however, and I won't be going to any more in my lifetime. This is a big reason why the NFL is out of touch with the ordinary fan. 

Where Are You Going To Live Your Life?

I was reminded of this Teddy Roosevelt speech today by a quote published at Cultural Offering, which brought to mind the excellent series about Tom Brady, the GOAT, who has been "in the arena" all his life. I also thought of the brave souls who jump in every day, whether the arena of words, or other conflict, and who suffer the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". The critics, naysayers, and other human vermin who presume to judge the actual warriors are despicable. How are you going to live your life?

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

—Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

New Bucs jacket just arrived. No fair weather fans in Tampa Bay. Go Bucs!Wait til next year.

#TBT - Once Upon A Time, In A Galaxy Far Away.

Winning Stanley Cups seems old hat in Tampa Bay these days, after the Lightning won back to back a couple of years ago. But, before 2020, the Lightning won only one Stanley Cup, and, at the time, due to Jacquelyn's love of hockey, we were Season Ticket members in 2004, when they won their first cup. We had the opportunity to visit the Cup in Tampa for fifteen minutes, and this photo was taken. Everyone who has spent time with the Cup, and touched it, raise your hands. 

From The Washington Redskins (Chief Zee) To The Washington Commanders (A Pink Hog With A Helmet).

One of the oldest, and most storied NFL franchises has finally dropped off of a cliff of political correctness. I was a Skins fan from my youth, in Jacksonville, Florida, when the D.C. based Skins were televised in black and white to the entire Southeastern U.S. They were never champions; but, we loved them, and I grew up with them. When I reached adulthood, I flew into D.C. for games, and brought Jacquelyn and the kids to games. Their first exposure to the wonderful Capital city and the Smithsonian and its museums was on those weekends. The Redskins mascot, though unofficial, was Chief Zee, seen below, may he rest in peace. The logo was designed by a Native American, and it was a gesture of respect for Native Americans, until a vocal minority claimed they were "offended" by it. True to modern sensibilities, the NFL required the team to drop the name, and they were a No Name team until they became last year, the Commanders. Now, in the ultimate insult, the Hogs that symbolized the great offensive lines the Skins had in the Eighties and Nineties, has been caricatured into a smiling pink pig wearing a football helmet. All I can say is Thank God for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The symbolism on the big screen at Raymond James stadium is that of a pirate ship with murderous pirates, attacking and killing vessels filled with the opposing team in violent fury. That doesn't insult anyone, of course, unless you are a pirate in the Disney World ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, which removed the animatronic pirates chasing women around, from the ride, along with other politically incorrect images. This is virtue signaling run amok, and I refuse to play anymore. On a serious note, on the day after a tackle caused a player to almost die of a heart attack last night, and, in a sport in which players have developed serious brain injuries from constant violent hits in the head. perhaps the NFL should concentrate on the issue of player safety. Am I the only one who finds this a painful irony? 

You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me, Lucille.

No, really, Lucille. The Bowl games are coming soon. Then, it's the NFL playoffs. Then, the Super Bowl. Then, the Stanley Cup run. I'll be okay.

Not Your Father's NFL.

I have a modest proposal for the NFL. How about we tie pieces of cloth to the QBs' waist? Then, when a defensive player pulls the cloth out, the QB is deemed to be tackled at that spot. 

Litigation, Not Football, Is America's Favorite Sport.

Football, Baseball, Hockey, etc. Every sports fan thinks that theirs is the favorite sport of their fellow citizens. Sorry, Charley. I practice law, and we are the country's favorite sport. In fact, after the major sports leagues all instituted schemes for players and coaches to challenge some in game decisions by referees, it won't be long before each team gets to hire a lawyer to institute in game appeals. Each team gets a lawyer, and a Judge accessible by remote television, will hear the arguments. Some games will have to be postponed; but, hey, we want to get it right, don't we?

Professional Sports - The Last True Meritocracy.

As I watched my favorite NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, destroy my most hated team, the Dallas Cowboys, last night, it occurred to me to ask myself why I was so attracted, still, to the sport. I have been watching NFL football since I was a pre-teen. I have been a season ticket holder of the Bucs since 1976. I have spent hundreds of Sundays, and Thursdays, and Mondays watching the sport, and still marvel at the physical and mental skill exhibited by young men on the field of battle. The game appeals to me in ways that defy description; but, last night it occurred to me that I loved the game more in a time in which our culture seems to have forgotten what true competition is all about. We rose from the mud primeval through the principle of survival of the fittest. There were no participation trophies in the Stone Age. You survived or you died. Professional competition, in any sport, not only allows us to escape for a moment, the stresses and problems in our lives, and allows us to participate in a group activity that is larger than our selves; but, it meets a need for a pure, unpolluted, life, free from infection by political correctness. While the NFL pays lip service to the current cancel culture with messages on helmets, and pre game ceremonies, and so forth, the game itself is still won by the fastest, and strongest, and the team with the stronger will. For a few hours yesterday, I was in a world that made sense, a world in which the winner was determined by skill, effort, and ability. You can take the Redskins name off of the helmet. You can call the team any name you want. The only thing that matters is the score at the end of the game. As another famous sportscaster once said: "The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat". It's about human survival. 

 

 

Welcome To Tampa Bay, Skip Bayless.

Skip Bayless Retires His Dallas Jersey. Skip Bayless is one of my favorite sports journalists. He speaks plain. He is a fan. He is passionate about football. All things we share. But, he has a blind spot about his favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, just as I do about the Bucs. After the Bucs smothered the Cowboys last night in Game One, I found this cute video of Skip retiring his Cowboys jersey. As he would say, never bet against the GOAT.