I came to love Monday Night Football when it first started. I’d read an article about the short length of time of actual play. So, what better time to load ammo? Easily deprime and resize a case between each play. Finish off a batch. Reprime during halftime. I could weigh a powder charge between each play. Seating bullets goes very quickly.
And I got to watch my favorite sport yet not waste a hunting weekend by watching TV. What’s not to like? 🙂
Bostonbob
February 2, 2015 4:24 pm
I do not dedicate as much time watching and reading about sports as I did as a kid, but I am very pleased the Pats won. The display of the Seahawks players pretending to shit out a ball shows how much class they have. I rarely watch most of any game as I spend my spare time in the kitchen cooking, otherwise I am outside working in the yard or house with the game on the radio. I grew up listening to Gil Santos and Johnny Most so I prefer to be working while I listen to the games. In this day and age I can listen to the game, miss very little and watch the highlights without commercials at my leisure. I spent many hours reading about sports “heroes” Rocky Marciano, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente and others. It was not all wasted time, some of these people were true heroes, others flawed, imperfect people who reached the top of their game at a time when that was one of the few games to watch.
That being said that was was long ass game to watch that much football, I’m just glad the Pats won, it made my daughter happy, she is a big fan and one of the few people I will stop to watch the game with.
Bob.
Bostonbob
February 2, 2015 4:30 pm
Desertrat ,
My point exactly, while the game was on I made a batch of beef stew and chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce. I did not miss any of the game and wasted very little time. It may not be as useful for the zombie apocalypse, but it tastes great.
Bob.
Stucky
February 2, 2015 5:02 pm
Nothing personal, Bostonbob, but Bellycheck and your pretty-boy quarterback are a bunch of fucking cheaters. Cheating in most sports, professional and amateur, is rampantly out of control, and sadly, it’s the cheaters that often win.
NEP-ES.
Time wise, college basketball is almost as bad, Endless time-outs, free throws, and commercials. When it takes over two hours to play a 40 minute college game, something is very wrong. I’m quickly growing rather tired of the two remaining sports I enjoy watching (basketball and soccer).
Welshman
February 2, 2015 5:06 pm
Wife and I made 12 quarts of Dragon Breath Chili, missed very little of the game, and have 11 quarts in the freezer. I only watch four or five games a year, as football is a big waste of time.
IndenturedServant
February 2, 2015 5:13 pm
Went to work before the game started yesterday. Worked all night, came home, did a little reading, went to bed and got up at 12:30pm PDT. I perused a few blogs then hit a few sites to scan the news headlines. I’ve hit several sites including Fox and Drudge and not seen a single headline indicating who won the game. I’ve seen headlines about stupid bowl commercials, the halftime show and even a game ending fistfight but not one single headline celebrating the victorious team. Amazing!
Billions of fucking dollars spent by billions of sheep buying all the per-requisite stupid bowl merchandise and that does not even include the hundreds of billions spent by advertisers or the tens of millions spent on security etc and less than 24 hours after the scam………I mean game was played, not even a headline about the victors?
That red pill is one powerful SOB exceeded only by the power of the blue pill.
flash
February 2, 2015 5:18 pm
I can’t wait for the Corporatocracy to publish just how many billions per minute those precious 12 minutes of bread and circus cost the US Taxpayers.
NFL gets billions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers
National Football League is the most profitable pro sports league in the U.S
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) –
If you’re a U.S. taxpayer then you’re subsidizing the wildly profitable National Football League, regardless of whether you’re a fan.
The NFL is the most profitable pro sports league in the U.S., raking in an estimated $1 billion in profits on $10.5 billion in revenue last season, figures that are sure to increase this year.
Those massive profits are made possible in part by the billions of taxpayer dollars that local governments spend on teams, coupled with tax breaks worth hundreds of millions for the teams, the league, their sponsors and fans.
“I’ve been studying this for 15 years, and I still can not believe cities and states are lined up begging to give money to these very profitable [teams],” said Villanova professor Rick Eckstein, an expert on stadium finance.
Here’s a rundown:
Stadium construction: Twenty new NFL stadiums have opened since 1997 with the help of $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to an analysis by the advisory firm Conventions, Sports and Leisure. Local governments pony up to build these venues to attract or keep teams in their towns.
Two more stadiums now under construction in Minneapolis and Atlanta are being built with $700 million in government funds.
Taxpayers paid for most of the University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in 2006 and is home to this Sunday’s Super Bowl — to the tune of about $300 million.
Teams even get tax breaks on the money they actually do spend on construction. Most of that spending is financed with tax free municipal bonds, which were originally created by Congress to help fund roads and schools.
A 2012 analysis by Bloomberg showed that U.S. sports teams will save $4 billion over the life of those bonds, with the NFL being the largest beneficiary. The owners of the Arizona Cardinals saved an estimated $125 million on the bonds issued to build the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Hidden help: The league also gets a financial boost in a less obvious ways, said Eckstein. Elected officials vying for a team to come to their town often serve up discounted city services, such as utilities or police patrolling a stadium on game day.
Teams also often get big breaks on their property taxes.
“There is a shift going on from obvious brick and mortar subsidy to more hidden, subtle form of subsidy,” he said.
Tax breaks for the NFL’s biggest customer: Corporate America: NFL teams sell between $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of luxury and high-end club seats a year, according to Bill Dorsey, the chairman of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. A single suite can cost as much as $750,000 a season. Almost all suites and club tickets are bought by corporate clients, which write the cost off as a business entertainment expense.
Sponsors also spend about $190 million a year for the right to plaster a local venue with their logo, according to research firm IEG. Even when corporate names are hung on city-owned stadiums, the teams keep all those profits, not the cities. And companies can deduct all of those expenditures as marketing expenses.
Not for profit: The NFL’s not for profit status strikes critics as particularly unseemly, given its financial might. But it’s categorized that way because the league’s profits are distributed to each of the teams, rather than kept by the league itself.
The league probably only saves about $10 million a year as a non-profit, according to Richard Phillips, research analyst with Citizens for Tax Justice, which is a rounding error for a league as profitable as the NFL.
TE
February 2, 2015 5:34 pm
@Flash, yep, that is the EXACT reason why Illitch (of Little Caesers Pizza fame) is the richest bastard in Michigan. He has been gifted billions for two stadiums, plus for locating his HQ in Detroit.
Followed by Ford and the Lions, and throw in Quicken freaking Loans too.
Detroit, and the county it is located in (Wayne county headed for bankruptcy trying to pretend Detroit isn’t 75% of the land mass and nothing but a net tax taker on everything), are broke, yet they have come up with BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of “tax breaks,” that are really, “subsidize rich guys, sports for rich guys, and some free shit for the masses.”
Since 1998 we have built/opened the following, all on government abatements and investments and rich guys’ expanding pocketbooks:
FIVE casinos (three temporary, then two permanent, one temp was made permanent, other two opened and closed).
Comerica Park – tear down Tiger Stadium
Ford Field – leave Pontiac and the Silverdome out to dry
Now a new Red Wing Stadium, Illitch is spooging.
$1.5 billion on a jail that will NEVER be opened and is just sitting, rotting, and being stripped by the upstanding citizens of the city.
This doesn’t even count the Compuware build out (includes a Hard Rock Cafe!), nor the saving of the Detroit Institute of Arts, nor the saving of the Detroit Zoo, nor the dismantling and sale of the State Fairgrounds.
We are being used to waste resources, squander tax dollars, make rich guys richer, and after 15 solid years of that STILL ENDED UP IN BANKRUPTCY.
Now what?
Oh, i know, build moar prisons! That’ll fix us.
As for the game, I’ve always made game time my laundry time, but sports aren’t allowed on the big tv so I rarely bother anymore.
Years ago I worked for a guy that comes from old, like Citadel and Skull and Bones old, money. He mocked the sports worship and was known to state that “all these games are predetermined based on the flow of capital and human behavior.”
In other words, most of the times the games are played to make sure the largest group of people spend the most money on the game. Which probably explains why our bigger urban centers seem to always have the best, most winning, teams.
Whatever. Waste of time and effort, but contained to the “Untold Stories of the ER” that my hub was watching, at least the game was entertaining.
Westcoaster
February 2, 2015 7:22 pm
@TE: Everything’s a business model. That phrase belongs to George Ure, but he’s right. What other industry gets absolutely free advertising and buzz but football & sports in general. I did watch the game and enjoyed it, thought half-time was satanic, but the loose ball catch and the interception in the last seconds seemed to be “quantum mechanics” moments. As if an unseen force (not necessarily God) were at work.
Kill Bill
February 2, 2015 8:48 pm
Kinda watched it, thought the half-time show was something out of ‘Your Bleeped Up Brain’ but did record it because Seester and her Boyfriend flew to Phoenix to attend game.
Overall it was like sex with a hooker. Meaningless, expensive and short lived.
IaK
February 2, 2015 10:15 pm
Probably no one’s noticed, but I haven’t commented in the last three weeks or a month.
Why? Because all the TBP posts have been about bitch-bitch-bitch subjects that neither the Administrator, nor you, nor I, can do anything about nor even care about. How dull!
You followers know I’m right. TBP’s featured the usual crap: the economy, charts and graphs, plenty about B O, petty injustices, and the usual shit. Only Wal-Mart freaks and the Sunday funnies have been posts of slight interest.
Now, after a month of mush, JQ’s put up something all Americans can relate too. That’s the Super Bowl. What a game, huh! What a catch! What- a play call??? – dumb in my opinion – and What a controversy! Its been meaningful to all our lives.
Administrator, you finally picked a good topic.My hat’s off to you. Keep it up.
Frankly JQ, since you can’t influence US foreign or domestic policy, I think you should turn TBP into a spots blog and let my friends,the NeoCons, Paul, Doug, Zbigniew, Irving, Richard, Michael, and the others manage the the world, our country, and the economy. You and your few friends can’t do it and have no influence, the remnant is too small and too uninterested to organize, and the minor parties are feckless. The NeoCons who have the skill and have been in the saddle, should continue to ride and rule.
Support and follow Israel, America, the Empire, and the New World Order… that’s wha I say to you, Administrator and TBP readers. Give your life to sports, movies, videos, celebrities, sex, and being tuned in to everything exciting. Hedonism is the Good Life… it’s the best life.
Get with it, Administrator, get in step. George Carlin was right: the NeoCons control you… “They own you,” as George said, and America, and the world.
Forget that shit about, “To strive,to seek, and not to yield,” and forget about saving America,our Constiution and other lost causes. Get with the program. Games, sex, money, and physical pleasures… that’s the modern way, America’s way, and our future.
All you TBP posters, PornHubbers, YouTubers, and commenters agree, don’t you?
Stucky
February 2, 2015 10:32 pm
“Probably no one’s noticed, but I haven’t commented in the last three weeks or a month.” — IaK
Can you stay gone until next year’s Super Bowl?
IraK
February 2, 2015 10:42 pm
Stucky… FY and the HYRIOn.
Bea Lever
February 2, 2015 10:42 pm
That maroon thinks this is AOL or something lame like Huff-Poo.
Stucky
February 2, 2015 10:47 pm
Oh …. it YOU …. IraK !!
Your first post is under IaK, I didn’t make the connection.
Please disregard my comment @10:32
You da Man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
llpoh
February 2, 2015 10:54 pm
IraK – glad to see you! Now if that asshole Jackson would just post a bit, we could all rejoice.
Bea Lever
February 2, 2015 11:40 pm
Sorry Irak…….We have had a hard time with eco-tards today. What’s up?
Let me be clear
February 2, 2015 11:52 pm
I pissed all over your trader joe’s article. IraK, along with SAH, points out the reasons why. I mean they articulate my reptilian response much better than I ever could.
Steers are dull creatures. Thank God that bb – acting less like a rodeo clown and more like a banderillero in a bullfight – makes sure to incite the bull and goad him to anger and rage, inflaming his nutsack and igniting the soul of the beast.
Otherwise, TBPers can go on baking cookies while waiting for the apocalypse.
Americans are more outraged over Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll’s play calling during the Super Bowl than they are about President Obama, revealing that America is now a nation of “proles” obsessed with football, beer and gambling, just as the novel 1984 predicted.
Stucky,
Haters will hate your just jealous, because I am sure nothing underhanded or stretching of the rules has gone in college basketball. I think the Pats did a great job getting into the head of the media as well as many players. They got lucky at the end as the Giants did in previous years. That is often what it comes down to in these games. You can bash “pretty boy/man” Brady all you want but all he does is deliver the goods, six Super Bowls and four wins, along with the highest rated Super Bowl of all time. He’s making a lot of people rich besides himself, and I here his wife makes more than him. Not a bad life.
Bob.
Stucky
February 3, 2015 9:12 am
Bostonbob
You are probably correct. I certainly AM a hater. I hate more and more shit more and more every day. And I hate myself for it.
But, I am happy for you, truly, that the victory brought you and your family some joy. Really.
john coster
February 3, 2015 10:44 am
I wrote this for local consumption here in New England, not for my shit slinging monkey friends on TBP, but still, we have to have SOMETHING we can believe in. Besides, if I for a moment lost faith in the Patriots as representatives of true nobility, my girl friend would drive me out into the snow drifts with a hot poker. So much for a cozy evening by the wood stove. Besides, I know why all those yahoos out there are out to get the Patriots. They hate us for our freedom!
The Super Bowl and its odd media prologue, the collective scandal mongering by TV’s talking heads known as “deflate-gate”, illustrate much about this moment in America. With no real assessment of the facts, the press and public entered into an absurd debate about how the Patriots’ supposed ball tampering might tarnish the image of Tom Brady or confirm the notion of Coach Belichick as a devious genius who would resort to cheating. It almost seemed that many folks out there in what’s left of the great republic resented all those tricky plays that helped the Pats make it to Arizona. As if being that strategically smart were somehow unfair. More inquisitorial than inquisitive, many commentators spent little time considering what natural factors might have contributed to to a sleight decrease in ball pressure. Now it appears that the early reports about eleven balls out of 12 being significantly deflated were themselves inaccurate and that of those balls that were under pressure, only one was down a full 2 psi.
In the Super Bowl itself, an exciting first half with a few sudden changes of momentum preceded the much touted halftime extravaganza featuring Katy Perry. Now I have nothing against Katy or Lenny Kravitz, but what was going on here? Why was Kravitz with his torn bluejeans and generic guitar shredding there in the first place? What had he to do with those fluffy pop songs and all those dancing robots. This whole dystopian circus maximus seemed an attempt to make reality imitate digital illusion, as if we don’t see enough of that already. And there was Katy riding on the back of some glittering giant beast or ascending on a shooting star, all very impressive looking spectacles except for the rod which secured her awkwardly to the set by her behind. I sure would have preferred some great bands doing some great songs or, if it’s a circus we want, some real circus acts. Bring on the elephants, lions and tigers and maybe the man on the flying trapeze. Surely this great national spectacle could have been improved by something a little less trite than a muti-million dollar display of bad metaphors. But maybe trite is what the corporate media demand. As if any art that could touch us deeply would be too akin to the kind of critical thinking that government officials and Wall Street bankers rightly fear.
But the game itself was magnificent. Skill and stamina, determination to do your best even when the odds of success are small, the ability to stay calm and think clearly under extreme pressure, truly essential virtues were displayed by these great teams. Tom Brady doesn’t have a press secretary to rewrite the history of a bad pass. The Gronk can’t drop the ball in the end zone and say “mission accomplished.” Professional athletes like these Patriots in particular can be truly inspiring. They operate in an arena where fakery and fraud are not really possible. Maybe this is why I find the media’s handling of the whole deflated balls issue so disturbing. Is there such pervasive cynicism in our corporate elite, that an unconscious impulse exists to lower the bar for ethical behavior by impugning public figures like Brady and Belichick?
When I look at many of the assumptions underlying accepted thinking in America, I see deception and repression. Russia “invaded” Ukraine even though Putin has, against the wishes of many Ukrainians, kept his forces out. The economic recovery proceeds and unemployment is down even though the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and an increasing % of working age Americans are “not in the labor force.” When I think about this year’s Super Bowl, I see intense competition on a level playing field. I see team mates of different races and backgrounds working together, giving it their best shot out in the open for all to see, demonstrating how a fair and open society should handle adversity or its own good fortune. This was an extraordinary game, one in which a young rookie and record setting quarterback demonstrated how fate turns upon those ever mysterious influences of character and luck which, regardless of any media spin or hidden agendas, still define human existence. Go Pats!
IraK, after several drinks and when I should have been reading the NYT financial pages,
February 3, 2015 9:26 pm
GOT MY NAME WRONG – I don’t know whether TBP’s blabbermeisters get me so worked up or two bottles of red get me confused, but I see that when I posted above I wrote my name wrong. JFC, what a shock. At that rate it won’t be long before my faculties are gone and this one of God’s Chosen People and a follower of Alan Dershowitz, descends to having to experience princely and ex-presidential pleasures on the d-v-d and not the b-e-d.
STUCKY – Here I am, back again to make a pest of myself and far before the next Super Bowl. Can you bear it? By the way, when are we going to see Europe’s Cathedrals from you? Your Castles got picked up on other internet sites and your cars posts were ones I passed along to I-used-to-own-a-classy-car friends. Both were widely enjoyed. Now , can you do Cathedrals, as I think you once promised?
llpoh – I communed with Jackson recently. Too much wine, not enough (of one woman), and only a bit of song have him deranged. Snow, blow (the wind), and temporary greens on the golf course are holding him back. Give Jackson some space. He’s commented on JQ’s posts since Raging Debate days and reads TBP daily. Tempus indicabit.
STUCKY, again. Sorry about the FY and the … comment. Mostly I enjoy your posts and comments. Now that I think about it, I look for them – in vino veritas.
Ah, I’ve been too candid tonight. Buenas tardes.
llpoh
February 3, 2015 9:52 pm
Irak – sorry to hear Jackson is only getting one of the big three. He really needs to work on getting more of the women and song – balance is everything in life.
But really good to see you back. Irak can get newbies who have not seen him before in quite a lather. Those are some of my favorite posts.
Econman
February 4, 2015 12:36 pm
Someone told me the Patriots game winning T-shirts say, “We’re all Patriots now”.
Uh, we’re all narcissistic cheating A-holes like Brady/Belichik that care nothing about real freedom?
Stucky
February 4, 2015 1:09 pm
“STUCKY, again. Sorry about the FY and the … comment. ” ——— IraK
Oh, stop it. No apologies necessary … although it took me several minutes to figure out what the fuck HYRIOn meant.
.
“By the way, when are we going to see Europe’s Cathedrals from you?” ——— IraK
Yeah, I know, that’s been an on/off project for me. It’s a very difficult piece to do. Finding the right pictures is time consuming, but easy. But … telling a story …. that’s difficult with this topic. I started one approach, got bogged down, didn’t like it, started over. The new approach, it’s hard not being “preachy” (we ARE talking about houses of worship.) So, I shelve it to do some other time …. whenever that might be.
But, a challenge is a challenge. I think I’ll open up that Word document and give it another shot.
I came to love Monday Night Football when it first started. I’d read an article about the short length of time of actual play. So, what better time to load ammo? Easily deprime and resize a case between each play. Finish off a batch. Reprime during halftime. I could weigh a powder charge between each play. Seating bullets goes very quickly.
And I got to watch my favorite sport yet not waste a hunting weekend by watching TV. What’s not to like? 🙂
I do not dedicate as much time watching and reading about sports as I did as a kid, but I am very pleased the Pats won. The display of the Seahawks players pretending to shit out a ball shows how much class they have. I rarely watch most of any game as I spend my spare time in the kitchen cooking, otherwise I am outside working in the yard or house with the game on the radio. I grew up listening to Gil Santos and Johnny Most so I prefer to be working while I listen to the games. In this day and age I can listen to the game, miss very little and watch the highlights without commercials at my leisure. I spent many hours reading about sports “heroes” Rocky Marciano, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente and others. It was not all wasted time, some of these people were true heroes, others flawed, imperfect people who reached the top of their game at a time when that was one of the few games to watch.
That being said that was was long ass game to watch that much football, I’m just glad the Pats won, it made my daughter happy, she is a big fan and one of the few people I will stop to watch the game with.
Bob.
Desertrat ,
My point exactly, while the game was on I made a batch of beef stew and chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce. I did not miss any of the game and wasted very little time. It may not be as useful for the zombie apocalypse, but it tastes great.
Bob.
Nothing personal, Bostonbob, but Bellycheck and your pretty-boy quarterback are a bunch of fucking cheaters. Cheating in most sports, professional and amateur, is rampantly out of control, and sadly, it’s the cheaters that often win.
NEP-ES.
Time wise, college basketball is almost as bad, Endless time-outs, free throws, and commercials. When it takes over two hours to play a 40 minute college game, something is very wrong. I’m quickly growing rather tired of the two remaining sports I enjoy watching (basketball and soccer).
Wife and I made 12 quarts of Dragon Breath Chili, missed very little of the game, and have 11 quarts in the freezer. I only watch four or five games a year, as football is a big waste of time.
Went to work before the game started yesterday. Worked all night, came home, did a little reading, went to bed and got up at 12:30pm PDT. I perused a few blogs then hit a few sites to scan the news headlines. I’ve hit several sites including Fox and Drudge and not seen a single headline indicating who won the game. I’ve seen headlines about stupid bowl commercials, the halftime show and even a game ending fistfight but not one single headline celebrating the victorious team. Amazing!
Billions of fucking dollars spent by billions of sheep buying all the per-requisite stupid bowl merchandise and that does not even include the hundreds of billions spent by advertisers or the tens of millions spent on security etc and less than 24 hours after the scam………I mean game was played, not even a headline about the victors?
That red pill is one powerful SOB exceeded only by the power of the blue pill.
I can’t wait for the Corporatocracy to publish just how many billions per minute those precious 12 minutes of bread and circus cost the US Taxpayers.
NFL gets billions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers
National Football League is the most profitable pro sports league in the U.S
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) –
If you’re a U.S. taxpayer then you’re subsidizing the wildly profitable National Football League, regardless of whether you’re a fan.
http://www.ktvz.com/news/money/nfl-gets-billions-in-subsidies-from-us-taxpayers/31008106
The NFL is the most profitable pro sports league in the U.S., raking in an estimated $1 billion in profits on $10.5 billion in revenue last season, figures that are sure to increase this year.
Those massive profits are made possible in part by the billions of taxpayer dollars that local governments spend on teams, coupled with tax breaks worth hundreds of millions for the teams, the league, their sponsors and fans.
“I’ve been studying this for 15 years, and I still can not believe cities and states are lined up begging to give money to these very profitable [teams],” said Villanova professor Rick Eckstein, an expert on stadium finance.
Here’s a rundown:
Stadium construction: Twenty new NFL stadiums have opened since 1997 with the help of $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to an analysis by the advisory firm Conventions, Sports and Leisure. Local governments pony up to build these venues to attract or keep teams in their towns.
Two more stadiums now under construction in Minneapolis and Atlanta are being built with $700 million in government funds.
Taxpayers paid for most of the University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in 2006 and is home to this Sunday’s Super Bowl — to the tune of about $300 million.
Teams even get tax breaks on the money they actually do spend on construction. Most of that spending is financed with tax free municipal bonds, which were originally created by Congress to help fund roads and schools.
A 2012 analysis by Bloomberg showed that U.S. sports teams will save $4 billion over the life of those bonds, with the NFL being the largest beneficiary. The owners of the Arizona Cardinals saved an estimated $125 million on the bonds issued to build the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Hidden help: The league also gets a financial boost in a less obvious ways, said Eckstein. Elected officials vying for a team to come to their town often serve up discounted city services, such as utilities or police patrolling a stadium on game day.
Teams also often get big breaks on their property taxes.
“There is a shift going on from obvious brick and mortar subsidy to more hidden, subtle form of subsidy,” he said.
Tax breaks for the NFL’s biggest customer: Corporate America: NFL teams sell between $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of luxury and high-end club seats a year, according to Bill Dorsey, the chairman of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. A single suite can cost as much as $750,000 a season. Almost all suites and club tickets are bought by corporate clients, which write the cost off as a business entertainment expense.
Sponsors also spend about $190 million a year for the right to plaster a local venue with their logo, according to research firm IEG. Even when corporate names are hung on city-owned stadiums, the teams keep all those profits, not the cities. And companies can deduct all of those expenditures as marketing expenses.
Not for profit: The NFL’s not for profit status strikes critics as particularly unseemly, given its financial might. But it’s categorized that way because the league’s profits are distributed to each of the teams, rather than kept by the league itself.
The league probably only saves about $10 million a year as a non-profit, according to Richard Phillips, research analyst with Citizens for Tax Justice, which is a rounding error for a league as profitable as the NFL.
@Flash, yep, that is the EXACT reason why Illitch (of Little Caesers Pizza fame) is the richest bastard in Michigan. He has been gifted billions for two stadiums, plus for locating his HQ in Detroit.
Followed by Ford and the Lions, and throw in Quicken freaking Loans too.
Detroit, and the county it is located in (Wayne county headed for bankruptcy trying to pretend Detroit isn’t 75% of the land mass and nothing but a net tax taker on everything), are broke, yet they have come up with BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of “tax breaks,” that are really, “subsidize rich guys, sports for rich guys, and some free shit for the masses.”
Since 1998 we have built/opened the following, all on government abatements and investments and rich guys’ expanding pocketbooks:
FIVE casinos (three temporary, then two permanent, one temp was made permanent, other two opened and closed).
Comerica Park – tear down Tiger Stadium
Ford Field – leave Pontiac and the Silverdome out to dry
Now a new Red Wing Stadium, Illitch is spooging.
$1.5 billion on a jail that will NEVER be opened and is just sitting, rotting, and being stripped by the upstanding citizens of the city.
This doesn’t even count the Compuware build out (includes a Hard Rock Cafe!), nor the saving of the Detroit Institute of Arts, nor the saving of the Detroit Zoo, nor the dismantling and sale of the State Fairgrounds.
We are being used to waste resources, squander tax dollars, make rich guys richer, and after 15 solid years of that STILL ENDED UP IN BANKRUPTCY.
Now what?
Oh, i know, build moar prisons! That’ll fix us.
As for the game, I’ve always made game time my laundry time, but sports aren’t allowed on the big tv so I rarely bother anymore.
Years ago I worked for a guy that comes from old, like Citadel and Skull and Bones old, money. He mocked the sports worship and was known to state that “all these games are predetermined based on the flow of capital and human behavior.”
In other words, most of the times the games are played to make sure the largest group of people spend the most money on the game. Which probably explains why our bigger urban centers seem to always have the best, most winning, teams.
Whatever. Waste of time and effort, but contained to the “Untold Stories of the ER” that my hub was watching, at least the game was entertaining.
@TE: Everything’s a business model. That phrase belongs to George Ure, but he’s right. What other industry gets absolutely free advertising and buzz but football & sports in general. I did watch the game and enjoyed it, thought half-time was satanic, but the loose ball catch and the interception in the last seconds seemed to be “quantum mechanics” moments. As if an unseen force (not necessarily God) were at work.
Kinda watched it, thought the half-time show was something out of ‘Your Bleeped Up Brain’ but did record it because Seester and her Boyfriend flew to Phoenix to attend game.
Overall it was like sex with a hooker. Meaningless, expensive and short lived.
Probably no one’s noticed, but I haven’t commented in the last three weeks or a month.
Why? Because all the TBP posts have been about bitch-bitch-bitch subjects that neither the Administrator, nor you, nor I, can do anything about nor even care about. How dull!
You followers know I’m right. TBP’s featured the usual crap: the economy, charts and graphs, plenty about B O, petty injustices, and the usual shit. Only Wal-Mart freaks and the Sunday funnies have been posts of slight interest.
Now, after a month of mush, JQ’s put up something all Americans can relate too. That’s the Super Bowl. What a game, huh! What a catch! What- a play call??? – dumb in my opinion – and What a controversy! Its been meaningful to all our lives.
Administrator, you finally picked a good topic.My hat’s off to you. Keep it up.
Frankly JQ, since you can’t influence US foreign or domestic policy, I think you should turn TBP into a spots blog and let my friends,the NeoCons, Paul, Doug, Zbigniew, Irving, Richard, Michael, and the others manage the the world, our country, and the economy. You and your few friends can’t do it and have no influence, the remnant is too small and too uninterested to organize, and the minor parties are feckless. The NeoCons who have the skill and have been in the saddle, should continue to ride and rule.
Support and follow Israel, America, the Empire, and the New World Order… that’s wha I say to you, Administrator and TBP readers. Give your life to sports, movies, videos, celebrities, sex, and being tuned in to everything exciting. Hedonism is the Good Life… it’s the best life.
Get with it, Administrator, get in step. George Carlin was right: the NeoCons control you… “They own you,” as George said, and America, and the world.
Forget that shit about, “To strive,to seek, and not to yield,” and forget about saving America,our Constiution and other lost causes. Get with the program. Games, sex, money, and physical pleasures… that’s the modern way, America’s way, and our future.
All you TBP posters, PornHubbers, YouTubers, and commenters agree, don’t you?
“Probably no one’s noticed, but I haven’t commented in the last three weeks or a month.” — IaK
Can you stay gone until next year’s Super Bowl?
Stucky… FY and the HYRIOn.
That maroon thinks this is AOL or something lame like Huff-Poo.
Oh …. it YOU …. IraK !!
Your first post is under IaK, I didn’t make the connection.
Please disregard my comment @10:32
You da Man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IraK – glad to see you! Now if that asshole Jackson would just post a bit, we could all rejoice.
Sorry Irak…….We have had a hard time with eco-tards today. What’s up?
I pissed all over your trader joe’s article. IraK, along with SAH, points out the reasons why. I mean they articulate my reptilian response much better than I ever could.
Steers are dull creatures. Thank God that bb – acting less like a rodeo clown and more like a banderillero in a bullfight – makes sure to incite the bull and goad him to anger and rage, inflaming his nutsack and igniting the soul of the beast.
Otherwise, TBPers can go on baking cookies while waiting for the apocalypse.
a banderillero’s job is to coolly get the bull to charge him, run with the bull, meet him head on and coolly withdraw from the encounter. sounds like bb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-hOaOq_1lDs
yep, a nation of dumb-ass proles.
Americans are more outraged over Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll’s play calling during the Super Bowl than they are about President Obama, revealing that America is now a nation of “proles” obsessed with football, beer and gambling, just as the novel 1984 predicted.
http://www.infowars.com/1984-was-right-america-now-a-nation-of-proles-obsessed-with-super-bowl/
Stucky,
Haters will hate your just jealous, because I am sure nothing underhanded or stretching of the rules has gone in college basketball. I think the Pats did a great job getting into the head of the media as well as many players. They got lucky at the end as the Giants did in previous years. That is often what it comes down to in these games. You can bash “pretty boy/man” Brady all you want but all he does is deliver the goods, six Super Bowls and four wins, along with the highest rated Super Bowl of all time. He’s making a lot of people rich besides himself, and I here his wife makes more than him. Not a bad life.
Bob.
Bostonbob
You are probably correct. I certainly AM a hater. I hate more and more shit more and more every day. And I hate myself for it.
But, I am happy for you, truly, that the victory brought you and your family some joy. Really.
I wrote this for local consumption here in New England, not for my shit slinging monkey friends on TBP, but still, we have to have SOMETHING we can believe in. Besides, if I for a moment lost faith in the Patriots as representatives of true nobility, my girl friend would drive me out into the snow drifts with a hot poker. So much for a cozy evening by the wood stove. Besides, I know why all those yahoos out there are out to get the Patriots. They hate us for our freedom!
The Super Bowl and its odd media prologue, the collective scandal mongering by TV’s talking heads known as “deflate-gate”, illustrate much about this moment in America. With no real assessment of the facts, the press and public entered into an absurd debate about how the Patriots’ supposed ball tampering might tarnish the image of Tom Brady or confirm the notion of Coach Belichick as a devious genius who would resort to cheating. It almost seemed that many folks out there in what’s left of the great republic resented all those tricky plays that helped the Pats make it to Arizona. As if being that strategically smart were somehow unfair. More inquisitorial than inquisitive, many commentators spent little time considering what natural factors might have contributed to to a sleight decrease in ball pressure. Now it appears that the early reports about eleven balls out of 12 being significantly deflated were themselves inaccurate and that of those balls that were under pressure, only one was down a full 2 psi.
In the Super Bowl itself, an exciting first half with a few sudden changes of momentum preceded the much touted halftime extravaganza featuring Katy Perry. Now I have nothing against Katy or Lenny Kravitz, but what was going on here? Why was Kravitz with his torn bluejeans and generic guitar shredding there in the first place? What had he to do with those fluffy pop songs and all those dancing robots. This whole dystopian circus maximus seemed an attempt to make reality imitate digital illusion, as if we don’t see enough of that already. And there was Katy riding on the back of some glittering giant beast or ascending on a shooting star, all very impressive looking spectacles except for the rod which secured her awkwardly to the set by her behind. I sure would have preferred some great bands doing some great songs or, if it’s a circus we want, some real circus acts. Bring on the elephants, lions and tigers and maybe the man on the flying trapeze. Surely this great national spectacle could have been improved by something a little less trite than a muti-million dollar display of bad metaphors. But maybe trite is what the corporate media demand. As if any art that could touch us deeply would be too akin to the kind of critical thinking that government officials and Wall Street bankers rightly fear.
But the game itself was magnificent. Skill and stamina, determination to do your best even when the odds of success are small, the ability to stay calm and think clearly under extreme pressure, truly essential virtues were displayed by these great teams. Tom Brady doesn’t have a press secretary to rewrite the history of a bad pass. The Gronk can’t drop the ball in the end zone and say “mission accomplished.” Professional athletes like these Patriots in particular can be truly inspiring. They operate in an arena where fakery and fraud are not really possible. Maybe this is why I find the media’s handling of the whole deflated balls issue so disturbing. Is there such pervasive cynicism in our corporate elite, that an unconscious impulse exists to lower the bar for ethical behavior by impugning public figures like Brady and Belichick?
When I look at many of the assumptions underlying accepted thinking in America, I see deception and repression. Russia “invaded” Ukraine even though Putin has, against the wishes of many Ukrainians, kept his forces out. The economic recovery proceeds and unemployment is down even though the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and an increasing % of working age Americans are “not in the labor force.” When I think about this year’s Super Bowl, I see intense competition on a level playing field. I see team mates of different races and backgrounds working together, giving it their best shot out in the open for all to see, demonstrating how a fair and open society should handle adversity or its own good fortune. This was an extraordinary game, one in which a young rookie and record setting quarterback demonstrated how fate turns upon those ever mysterious influences of character and luck which, regardless of any media spin or hidden agendas, still define human existence. Go Pats!
GOT MY NAME WRONG – I don’t know whether TBP’s blabbermeisters get me so worked up or two bottles of red get me confused, but I see that when I posted above I wrote my name wrong. JFC, what a shock. At that rate it won’t be long before my faculties are gone and this one of God’s Chosen People and a follower of Alan Dershowitz, descends to having to experience princely and ex-presidential pleasures on the d-v-d and not the b-e-d.
STUCKY – Here I am, back again to make a pest of myself and far before the next Super Bowl. Can you bear it? By the way, when are we going to see Europe’s Cathedrals from you? Your Castles got picked up on other internet sites and your cars posts were ones I passed along to I-used-to-own-a-classy-car friends. Both were widely enjoyed. Now , can you do Cathedrals, as I think you once promised?
llpoh – I communed with Jackson recently. Too much wine, not enough (of one woman), and only a bit of song have him deranged. Snow, blow (the wind), and temporary greens on the golf course are holding him back. Give Jackson some space. He’s commented on JQ’s posts since Raging Debate days and reads TBP daily. Tempus indicabit.
STUCKY, again. Sorry about the FY and the … comment. Mostly I enjoy your posts and comments. Now that I think about it, I look for them – in vino veritas.
Ah, I’ve been too candid tonight. Buenas tardes.
Irak – sorry to hear Jackson is only getting one of the big three. He really needs to work on getting more of the women and song – balance is everything in life.
But really good to see you back. Irak can get newbies who have not seen him before in quite a lather. Those are some of my favorite posts.
Someone told me the Patriots game winning T-shirts say, “We’re all Patriots now”.
Uh, we’re all narcissistic cheating A-holes like Brady/Belichik that care nothing about real freedom?
“STUCKY, again. Sorry about the FY and the … comment. ” ——— IraK
Oh, stop it. No apologies necessary … although it took me several minutes to figure out what the fuck HYRIOn meant.
.
“By the way, when are we going to see Europe’s Cathedrals from you?” ——— IraK
Yeah, I know, that’s been an on/off project for me. It’s a very difficult piece to do. Finding the right pictures is time consuming, but easy. But … telling a story …. that’s difficult with this topic. I started one approach, got bogged down, didn’t like it, started over. The new approach, it’s hard not being “preachy” (we ARE talking about houses of worship.) So, I shelve it to do some other time …. whenever that might be.
But, a challenge is a challenge. I think I’ll open up that Word document and give it another shot.