Futurelawyer

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.

Why God Created The NFL Channel.

Hey, if we can have Xmas in July, why not football? Bucs fans are antsy.

 

Brady At 45. He Must Be About Done.

Brady Is Done. This image of Tom Brady working out in the front yard in preparation for his 23d NFL season this coming Fall has brought out a lot of the commentariat. One of my faves is the prediction that he is "just about done", which was mouthed by Max Kellerman 7 years ago. Mr. Kellerman actually gets paid to pontificate about pro football. One of the all time dumbest predictions of all time:

 

Well, This Was A Little Premature.

Thanks For The Memories Poster There are risks in trying to be first to the market. I suspect a steep price reduction coming. While I am thinking about retirement (Futurelawyer will never retire), does the $518,000 buyer of the "Last" Brady TD ball have a cause of action for rescission, due to misrepresentation? Just askin'.

Brady Is Back. We Can Escape Reality Again.

We all have guilty pleasures that allow us to find joy in a world populated by bad things and bad people. I try to avoid drugs and harmful addictions. One of my guilty pleasures is joy in watching football; which, even though played by millionaires for billionaires, and even though sometimes poisoned by injecting politics, remains a reminder of my carefree days of my youth, when I spent time playing baseball, and throwing footballs around in the yard. I do not apologize for my love of NFL football, nor try to explain it. I have been a season ticket holder for the Bucs since the beginning, in 1976, and the last two years have been a delight; primarily, because of one man, Tom Brady. He also appeals to my aging brain, showing that age is irrelevant even in a violent sport like football. I admire the discipline, and the ability, and the pure joy in playing the game that he, and his teammates bring. I remember John McKay, the first Bucs coach, on the topic of Lee Roy Selmon, one of the best linemen to ever play the game, saying: "When I want to feel good, I think about Lee Roy Selmon". I feel the same way about Brady, and I freely admit that I am a very happy fan today. We all need some joy in our lives. Thanks, Mr. Brady, for bringing a little into our team and fans the last two years.

A Letter To Fans From The Baseball Commissioner - Here Is A Reply.

A Letter To Baseball Fans. Thanks so much, Commissioner Manfred, for your kind letter explaining why a bunch of millionaire players, and some billionaire team owners, can't seem to agree how to split up the millions of dollars spent by the rest of us to watch baseball games in the Spring and Summer. You say that both sides have worked so hard to come to an agreement, Commissioner. In your letter, you say:

"I want to assure our fans that our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort on the part of either party. The Players came here for nine days, worked hard and tried to make a deal. I appreciate their effort.

Our committee of Club representatives committed to the process, offered compromise after compromise, and hung in past the deadline to exhaust all efforts to reach an agreement."

How kind of you to let us know that, through your diligent effort, at least the first several weeks of baseball season will be lost to history. 27 years ago, I, and many of my fellow fans, made a promise. We would rekindle our love of the game, even though it wasn't the same. We did, and we have been loyal ever since. But, I made a promise to myself that if you rich, entitled, arrogant keepers of the flame ever did it again, I would take my wallet, and my eyeballs, and point them elsewhere. Well, I see that the fans have no voice. We have no influence. But, guess what. We pay your salaries. We pay the taxes that fund your ballparks. We buy the jerseys with your logo on them. We buy tickets to watch the games. No more. I am done. I suspect that I am not the only fan who has had enough. I suppose we shall see. 

 

Removing Offensive Names From Sports Teams Has Consequences.

The Washington Commanders, formerly known as the Washington Redskins, under pressure from groups claiming the term cheerleader invokes female stereotypes, have agreed to rename the cheerleaders the Handmaids.

If Baseball Goes On Strike, What Then?

I remember that it took me a long time after the 1994 strike to want to see baseball again. It took a new team in my area, several years later, to get me going again; and, even then, my enthusiasm level was far below what I experienced as a boy playing the game. A World Series, and the opportunity to attend, fulfilled a life long dream, and I have enjoyed watching, in person, and on TV for over ten years since. But, I am really over players making millions, and owners worth billions, playing with my emotions and loyalty. In my area, the owners claim they can't make enough money in their current stadium. I say bull. Here's one take on what happens if there is another strike:

"It took years — and a spectacular race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to break Roger Maris' then-single season homerun record in 1998 — for fans to forgive the players and the owners and to return to the stadiums. But another strike would be the last straw, especially for those who believe that both the players and owners are nothing but a bunch of greedy millionaires who care more about the money than the game and its fans."

"I think the baseball fans are at the point now, they're just sick and tired of it. They're fed up with it," said ABC Sports' Johnny Holliday. "And the fans can have a say. They can say 'OK, you guys go out, we're never coming back.'"

I strongly suggest that baseball think long and hard about going out again.