I hate when people take an announcement and turn it into the worst possible scenario. From Presidential elections to casting of people in certain roles, people verbally, and bloggers like myself leap to conclusions in expecting the worst.
But I am jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon when it comes to Walt Disney Co.’s purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.
We knew that Marvel was for sale; it’s the culmination of recovery from the 1990s bankruptcy based on bad business decisions from the former management in buying a toy maker, and more disastrously, trying to bring its distribution in house. Sony and other parties were reportedly interested, but Disney could bring the death knell to the printed word.
Notice how the acquisition was described on Chicago Tribune’s website: “.The acquisition hands Disney a treasure trove of popular characters that it can pump through its marketing machine, from movies to theme park attractions, through cable television shows, in video games and online communities.”
The article continues: “In recent years, a risk-averse Hollywood has become increasingly reliant upon comic book-based characters that appeal to an established, and heavily male, fan base and can be turned into cinematic sequels as well as inspire lines of video games, toys and television series. With Marvel, Disney gets the dominant creator of superhero characters in an industry in which there is a vast gulf between the leaders and other publishers… Marvel also boasts something most other studios cannot: a nearly unblemished track record of turning its ideas into box-office hits. In this regard, Marvel is akin to Pixar Animation Studios, (which) Disney acquired in 2006.”
Notice no comment about the comics. For decades, Disney has been out of the publishing business altogether, publishing Mickey and the kids characters through one publisher, but recently bringing the publishing of these characters and the Pixar stable of characters through a new company called Boom! Comics.
Will this mean that there will be less interest in publishing? Will the comics that are published under Disney be “dumbed-down” or worse, focused on teens and pre-teens which would alienate the core audience which skews as in their mid 40s and older? Finally, will we have the Fantastic Four played by Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers?
All kidding aside, if Marvel allows the publishing arm to continue to run autonomously; all this panic is for nothing. But if the “corporate suits” who lamely run the movie studios filling the multiplexes with rehashed sequels and lame comedies, try to bring their lack-of-editorial acumen to comics, Marvel, as a publisher will die, and if it dies, DC and the smaller publishers do not publish enough books to keep the direct market alive.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Some not very informed fans look at yesterday’s trade of Jim Thome and pitcher Jose Contreras as “white flag trade number 2” alluding to the famous “white flag trade” of 1997. But these comparisons are wrong.
The White Sox entered a crucial stretch over the past week needing to play well against the Red Sox, Yankees and Twins on the road to keep their division title hopes alive. But the team lost all but 1 game to the Red Sox; got swept by the Yankees over the weekend, and began by losing the first game in the Metrodome, a place where the Sox play like the Keystone Kops.
Seeing the writing on the wall, the Sox traded designated hitter Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Class A infielder Justin Fuller, 26, and dealt pitcher Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies for Triple-A pitcher Brandon Hynick, 24, who threw a seven-inning perfect game on June 30 for Colorado Springs. The Sox also sent cash to the Dodgers and Rockies in both deals.
For the players, they get a chance to play for a contender, even though it must be said that Contreras has been horrible since the All Star break and is probably finished (overall was 5-13 with a 5.42 ERA this season). Many White Sox fans were ready to hang Contreras in effigy if not literally after his most recent starts. And while Thome is a great teammate, he is 39 years old and at this point in his career, immobile.
Yes, it was nice to see Thome move up the all time home run list (currently 12th with 564) he is batting only .249 with 23 home runs and 74 RBIs. Plus, he couldn’t play first with Paul Konerko and Mark Kotsay who have better range anyway. So, Jermaine Dye can DH and still play outfield (if he shows signs of hitting in the final 30 games – if not, he’ll be gone before next season); a regular spot opens for Alex Rios, acquired not long ago from Toronto, and the team gets younger and faster almost automatically.
For those who don’t remember, the July 31, 1997 trade, the Sox traded three pitchers: Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernández in return for pitchers Keith Foulke, Bob Howry, Lorenzo Barcelo, and Ken Vining, along with shortstop Mike Caruso, and outfielder Brian Manning. At the time, the trade was maligned by the vast majority of White Sox fans as Jerry Reinsdorf giving up on the team, as they were only 3.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians for the American League Central Division lead. The Giants went on the win their division that year and the Indians won the AL Central (both ended up losing to the Florida Marlins), but Foulke and Howry were mainstays on the White Sox team that won the division in 2000 (but lost to the Mariners).
This is not in the same class as that trade. The current team is sinking the standings and the offense has been not existent (the Sox have scored six total runs in four consecutive losses, and since the All-Star break, Dye is batting .181 with seven extra base hits, and Thome is 1-for-15 in his last four games). Starting pitching except for Contreras has been solid (with the exception on Contreras and Mark Buehle since his perfect game) and with Jeff Peavy joining the staff next season, all GM Ken Williams has to do is shore up the bullpen.
This is not throwing in the towel; this is admitting that the “fat lady is singing” for this year – time to start getting ready for next year. No one wants to win more than Williams and so it had to pain him to admit that this isn’t our year, but he continues to hold up management’s side of the implicit pact with the fans – do whatever you can do within your budget to win.

Chicago Tribune Cubs beat writer Paul Sullivan reported today that high priced free agent outfielder Milton Bradley said after Tuesday’s loss he’s “never” comfortable playing at Wrigley Field.
Bradley said “it’s hard to be comfortable when you don’t get a hit and get booed every time. When I go home and look in the mirror, I like what I see. My family is there I have people I can talk to who are very supportive, in spite of everything and all the adversity and the hatred you face on a daily basis. But I’ll be alright. I always have.”
It wasn’t Bradley’s fault that the Cubs lost 15-6 last night to the Washington Nationals, the team with the worst record in baseball; going 4-for-4 with a home run.
“I have no doubt in the guys we’ve got in here,” he said. “It’s solid, good nucleus… If everyone can just keep all the distractions and everything that comes with playing here and being a Cub out, and just focus on what you can do and what you can control, we’ll be fine.”
I saw this coming. To Bradley’s detriment, he was brought in as “the missing piece” from last year’s 97 win-swept in the first round of the playoffs Cub team, and he replaced good player-great teammate Mark DeRosa. But the Cubs were always at fault to believe that the immature-at-best-unhinged-at-worst Bradley would be the answer despite being a switch hitter. Bradley has had a number of run-ins with umpires, broadcasters, and other players over his career, and in the no-nonsense, pressure to end the championship draught, there was no question that Bradley and his $30 million salary would be under scrutiny, especially if he had a bad season, which so far, has occurred.
This is not to say that some Cub fans rain racial epithets down along with the boos to African-American players in the outfield. Most recently, Jacque Jones discussed the openly racist comments hurled in his direction during the 2007 season. Pitcher LaTroy Hawkins faced similar comments in 2005. Of course, Bradley, Jones and Hawkins all stunk up Wrigley field pretty badly. All were free agents who received considerable money and hoopla to come in and help the ball club. When they didn’t, the fans turned on them.
Still, there’s no excuse for racist comments, but considering the collective IQ of the frat boys that sit in the Bleachers, it probably isn’t surprising that they can’t think of anything more inventive than racial slurs to put down the Cubs.
So, a piece of advice to the Bleacher faithful – when in doubt, just boo!

This was just too good to pass up. Small, Los Angeles, California liberal arts Occidental College is offering a class called Stupidity 180. The course is reportedly devoted to a person’s lousy ability to understand or learn from experience.
Occidental’s course catalog describes the class as a “philosophical examination of those operations and technologies that we conduct in order to render ourselves uncomprehending.”
Further description of the class claims stupidity has returned to the postmodern world of self, nation and truth, and has become a major part of political life.
I suggest a litany of guest speakers for this course. Let’s see, the following should all have PhD’s in this topic: Pat Buchanan; Rev. Pat Robertson; Bill O’Reilly; Rep. Michele Bachmann; Rush Limbaugh; all of the people who helped the state of California into the financial mess it’s in now; and of course, the poster boy for stupidity in the 21st Century – the 43rd President of the United States, GW Bush.

I admit to looking at Sports Illustrated’s website SI.com frequently and I often read some of the lead stories. Some time ago, the writers put together a list of “25 Things They (the writers) Miss” in sports. I read the initial story, which was interesting, but today they published “25 More Things They Miss” and lo and behold, at number 12 of the 25 one of the writers, Richard Deitsch, listed The Sportswriters on TV. (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/specials/remember-when/more-sports/25things-more.html)
For those of you who don’t know, I put together short synopses of the top stories of each week and gave my opinion on the stories for the show’s producer, John Roach. From that and the panel’s ideas, JR would put together the list of stories for that week’s show. One of the show’s strengths was it’s low key, no hype, no yelling format. This was because this was a low budget show, which explains why I didn’t get paid for this work, just a “Production Assistant,” later “Research” credit at the end of the show.
Why was I needed? According to Roach, the writers (Bill Gleason, Rick Telander, and Bill Jauss, and later Lester Munson and Mike Mulligan) had the local scene covered, but we were syndicated throughout the US, first over the SportsChannel network, then over Fox Sports, and so, the show couldn’t just cover Chicago stories. I also think that with all of the African-Americans in sport; the show needed a minority voice on the show, even if it’s just in the background.
I wrote for the show from 1990 until its demise (Fox Sports switched its money from local shows to a network format, hiring Keith Olbermann from ESPN and spawned the creation of the excretal “Best Damn Sports Show,” which, as we know, didn’t work). From it I also wrote for another John Roach show “The Back Table with Chet Coppock.” I hoped to make it into sports media from all of this, but it never occurred, even before the current recession in media. I had a few interviews, but I wasn’t going to work for $50/week like the kids coming out of journalism school.
In 2004, when I was unemployed, I approached Roach about bringing the show back. I knew that he didn’t want to travel in from Madison, Wis. every week like he had done from most of the show’s run. I had seen enough of the shows, that I felt I could produce the show and he could executive produce. All I needed were his contacts and his sales experience, and I would plan the show. One of the cameramen working in Chicago sports still has the card table around which the men sat in his basement and he was all for it. I contacted the writers, and some of them were game. I even contacted our old director, Bob Albrecht and he was interested. Roach and I even planned a dinner at Chris Ruth’s Steakhouse to discuss it. But eventually, Roach (who owns ½ of the show) didn’t want to go back in time. He had done his time with the Sportswriters and wanted nothing more to do with it. (Also, there was a disagreement with the other partner, Gleason, which had something to do with it.) So, our show, The Sportswriters on TV is a memory. But some of the panel appear together occasionally on local Chicago shows and Telander and Munson make appearances on ESPN and elsewhere.
It did light a fire under me, which is why I’m here blogging today, and I have autographed pictures from the show on my desk at work. I know that I miss the show, but it is nice to know that something that I had a small part in the production of, is fondly remembered by others as well.

Before I left on vacation, I posted a rant against the lies being perpetrated trying to derail health care reform. I received several comments, one from a former coworker and arch conservative (bu) and a friend of mine, Tom Watson (not the golfer). Several people told me personally, that Tom provided one of the best analyses on the issue that they had seen, so I will give you the comments:

bu: Government takeover of health care is not the answer. Why are the President, his family, his staff, Members of Congress and their families EXEMPT? Why the rush to approve this? How are we going to pay for this? The President believes that government efficiencies are going to pay for a majority of this. I can not thing of anything that the government does efficiently, except waste money.
The leading cause of the increase in medical care over the last ten years is the cost of malpractice insurance. Why are there no caps on medical malpractice? Is it becasue the trial lawyers are the largest campaign contributor to the democrats? Will those of us that pay taxes liable?
A one-payer system leads to a financial black hole and rationing. Look at the Canada.
Why isn’t food a right? Why don’t we take over the farms, like we have the banking and auto industries?
Socialism has NEVER worked ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!
This is far too important an issue to rush into something that cannot be reversed.

TW: I hesitate to comment because I do not know who bu is but feel the necessity to correct a few things:
The US has the 37th best health care in the world according to the WHO, and has the #1 cost per capita. Therein lies the problem that we need to fix. We either need to have the 37th costs or the #1 performance. #1 in the world is France, that has a hybrid single-payer (single payer means government run for you mouth readers out there) and private system. Their costs are considerably less than ours as well.
The much maligned Canada’s was ranked 30th, but again at much less cost than ours. Btw, I work for a Canadian company for the last 10 years and spend 1 week of 4 in Canada. In my 100+ trips to Canada, I often talk to people about their health care. I have never met anyone who has a complaint. This boogeyman about rationing is a lie. They say if you need an MRI for a sports injury or cosmetic surgery there is a small wait, but no wait for serious things.

As far as some of the items in the email response of bu:

The government employees program is exempt because they already have a single payer insurance program. Some of the versions of bills in Congress proposed that we just add everyone to that program, but of course that was deemed Socialism or government run health care and was killed in committee. So is it good or is it bad, bu? You can’t say a single payer program is bad and then ask why the government gets to keep theirs?
As far as government efficiency goes you need to consider some things: the first 15% of government inefficiency vs private insurance is free because there is no profit. In addition, the private insurance companies spend 30% of their costs on admin and 70% on what they call medical related losses (aka health care). Medicare spends a few percent on admin vs the 30% at the insurance companies because they spend no money denying care or ferreting out pre-existing conditions. They take everybody and pay everything, and don’t spend that 30%. They do have a 10% fraud rate because of this (something we could try and fix to gain efficiencies), so maybe they are really only 20% more efficient. So the government would have to waist 35 cents on every dollar to tie the inefficiency we currently have with private insurance. In addition, for something supposedly so bad, these folks sure are getting upset about losing their Medicare. If government run insurance is so bad, how come everyone over 65 is so eager to keep it, and how come only the people who don’t realize that Medicare is government insurance get on TV? Apparently ignorant is the new telegenic?
I do agree we need tort reform as long as we can accommodate the needs of poor people, who have been injured, to sue. There are some interesting proposals out there about creating judicial panels that judge the merits of lawsuits and require lawyers who sue wrongfully to forfeit bonds that should be considered.
Food is a right. That is why we have food stamps. From a social justice point of view it is a decent thing to do. From a selfish point of view sharing keeps down on the riots. Marie Antoinette learned that the hard way.
I agree that socialism has never worked anywhere, except in many western countries that also represent the only places we all might live if we couldn’t live here. Everyone of the G8 does healthcare differently than we do, and most of them would be called socialist if we cloned their system here.
In addition health insurance tied to work, and paid by employees, is a just an historical accident. When there were wage and price controls after WWII, employees attracted employees by “fringe benefits” and this morphed into our current system. It is why no one does it like this anywhere in the world. It is also one of the reasons why our manufacturing is unable to compete. The #1 cost of a US car is steel, and the #2 cost is retiree health and pensions. GM may make stupid decisions and make bad cars, but Toyota doesn’t have to pay for the #2 cost of a GM car. And when they do, when they make cars in the US, they make much less money per car.

PS I have no hidden interest in this issue. I don’t work for the medical community, drug industry, insurance industry; am one of the fortunate few that have good health insurance (although the claims process and in or out of network benefits are complicated and inefficient). I do care that everyone has insurance not only because it is the decent thing to do but because at this point those uninsured people cost us insured people money; they prolong care so that when they do go it is more serious and therefore more expensive; they use the most expensive care possible (the ER) when they do go. I also care because health costs make our businesses uncompetitive around the world; I care because we need to do spend more money on wellness and prevention, because it makes financial sense.
I am sure the 1000 pages of these health bills contain lost of stupid things, as all things created by committee often do. And I am sure there are better ways to skin the cat if we had the will. But we have 40 folks in the Senate that will say no to every suggestion, and not profer their own alternative, and at least 10 more so afraid of the mouth breathers that they don’t know what to do. So it is what it is. And if the insurance companies are against it I am for it sight unseen.

bu: My friends in the UK tell a far different story about rationing. That is how the government saves money.

TW: According to the WHO, the UK is ranked around 10th in overall health at a fraction of our costs, so theirs is still a more economical model. It may not be what we want, because we may want to pay more and have better care, but is better than our cost-benefit situation currently.

Sure, I go away for a few days and of course, a lot happens. Let’s catch up…

First, we should have known that Brett Favre was coming back. His second “retirement” was half assed at best, and when he had the shoulder surgery it sure wasn’t to help him run the tractor on the farm in Kiln, Mississippi. What I don’t understand is what happened between July 30th when he told the Vikings he would stay retired and last week when he signed for not one, but two years? Did Tavares Jackson stink that badly? Is Sage Rosenfeld a wasted pick-up?
What about the Vikings? They have let Favre play them like violins, refusing to sign, keeping them hanging for months, and then get them to take a chance on a soon-to-be-40-year-old QB who played poorly late last season. Furthermore, while every player in the NFL is one play away from a career-ending injury, Favre and his partially torn Rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder, could be one hit from retirement.
What was funny though was how badly Favre played in last weekend’s preseason game against Kansas City. He looked worst than rusty, he looked bad. But I will agree with one of the announcers on the NFL Network that I watched over the weekend (I don’t remember which, they’re all pretty interchangeable), if Favre comes back and allows himself to fit into the scheme, and allowing Adrian Peterson and the rest of the team to help lead the team and win, the Vikings will do well. (Much like John Elway did in his last two seasons, championship seasons with the Broncos.) If he tries to be a gunslinger as he was in his youth, he frankly doesn’t have the tools anymore for that.

I don’t know if John Calipari is dirtier than any other college basketball coach, but he does tend to get caught. Calipari is the only coach to have Final Four appearances vacated by the NCAA for violations at TWO separate schools. First, improprieties forced University of Massachusetts to vacate its 1997 Final Four Appearance. By then however, Calipari didn’t have to face any saction since he had moved on to the NBA by that time, so, UMass was penalized while Calipari made millions of dollars.
Last week, the NCAA ruled that the University of Memphis had to vacate its 2005 Final Four appearance as a “freshman” was ruled to have had someone take his SAT for him. In addition, a brother of said freshman traveled with the team paid for by the school. For starters, of course, Calipari won’t have to suffer along with Memphis, he has already taken a huge salary to coach at Kentucky, and of course, Kentucky doesn’t care – the Governor of the state has said that he isn’t concerned about Calipari’s reputation. Of course he isn’t – he doesn’t have to worry about whether the athletes learn anything at the state school – just as long as they win basketball games.
Stepping back a moment, the only player on the Memphis squad who fit the description of the “freshman” was Chicago native and now Bulls star Derrick Rose. Stories about improprieties about Rose, his tests and his grades have been circulating around for quite a while now, but since he is now a pro player, they don’t seem to matter other than selling newspapers.
But this whole story is just another case of the shady world of high school/college sports. Again, I can’t say that John Calipari breaks NCAA rules than any other successful college coach, but it certainly appears that rules mean little to the very rich, very slick little coach. And what about the people running the Chicago high schools who let someone take the test for Rose?
Overall, this is yet another case of hypocrisy started at the highest level – the NBA. The league’s stupid “age limit” which prohibits high schoolers from coming directly into the league forces a kid like Derrick Rose to cheat so that he can go to a big time school instead of “wasting” a year at junior college (presumably) improving their grades so that they can make it to a “prestigious” (basketball) university. Play one year, and then you’re old enough to come to the NBA young man! The colleges are willing to have the player fill up the seats for one year until he leaves; the high school gets money between the cracks in the form of free shoes for the players and payola to the coaches and hangers on.
The parents aren’t innocent in this, and neither are the players. In fact, this seems to be a situation in which everyone in it is exploiting each other. It sticks to high heaven and nothing can or will be done because fans/boosters/television networks want to see these kids play. It’s too bad no one takes any concern about whether the kid knows a damn thing.