Vaccine, good and goof
I know it's not an available option for every state, but the Alaska opening its syringes to every citizen older than 16 is nothing short of great news.
Great, I say.
And yes, Alaska is especially an outlier with its spaced out and limited number of folks, as well as the need for centralized medical facilities for its spaced population numbers that have better served Alaskans during the pandemic.
Still, that the doors are opening to everyone who wants it is great news for Alaska. And hopefully, it will be great news that we all get to share in.
And while we are here, I hope you will get vaccinated. Truly I do.
This morning space and this world is better with you in it. (Well, Spy the jury's still out on you, but the rest - absolutely.)
If you're wondering how this overlaps sports, well, that's not necessarily a requirement around these parts, but it does fit on this issue in this moment.
The most famous team-sport athlete in our country and one of the central figures among Black stars in the conversation about Black rights has decided that the vaccine is the conversation in which LeBron James is going to shut up and dribble. (Well, this one and the avalanche of equality stomping China does, but China is a big partner with Nike and the NBA, so that's OK. Yeah, and the killing of police officers, too.)
During the cavalcade of interviews over the All-Star weekend, LeBron was asked directly about whether he would encourage others to get the vaccine. He declined any type of statement or stance, saying that it's a private matter.
I'm not saying LeBron's stance is . It is private. I know folks who have zero intention to get the vaccine. I even know folks who think there are microbes and microbots in the vaccine that will allow the government to control people. Seriously.
But that has not stopped me from trying to change their minds.
It is a personal choice and for a lot of folks wrestling with it, it is private. Plus, a decision like this should hinge on whether your favorite athlete or favorite local newspaper personality is or isn't going to get the shot.
But for a truly impactful public figure with a truly heard public voice be it on Black rights or causes to get former felons registered to vote who has sprinted to the front of almost every rights conversation not involving China over the last year, sitting this one out is dangerous, especially for a bona fide A-list superstar who said getting Donald Trump out of office was a matter of "life and death."
Uh, LeBron, hyperbole aside, the vaccine really is a matter of life and death - and one that affects the Black community is much larger numbers than most realize.
I am disappointed in LeBron. Terribly so, in fact.
Second chances
Man, it seems like it's a daily occurrence that someone in the public eye steps on their tongue in some way or another.
On Tuesday it was Miami Heat reserve Meyers Leonard who used an anti-Semitic slur while playing a video game. Side question: What is it with slurs and video games? Seriously. I have played a lot of video games in my time and never did I strike out on RBI Baseball or get knocked out by Glass Joe or what have you and in frustration offered, "Racial SLUR!" or "Religious INSULT."
Leonard was trending on Yahoo on Wednesday morning as I did my morning perusal. He was No. 6.
No. 1 was Gina Carano, the conservative actress who was fired from Disney off the super-popular Mandalorian for comparing being a conservative in this country to being Jewish in Germany in the 1930s. (While the Carano's incident and firing are old news, the Disney boss was asked about it on Tuesday. His quotes sound like cookie cutter P.R. and scripted sound bites.)
My question for the group is offered with the clear caveat that there is no-one-size fits all punishment for these social instances that range from clearly offensive to offering an opinion.
But is there any type of sliding scale? Is there any type of consistency, and is that even possible? We have debated the details and divide of cancel culture and consequence culture, and there are certainly both of those in our day and age.
But what is the remedy and is there a level of offenses, like say a cancel misdemeanor or a cancel felony?
Take this weekend's NASCAR winner Kyle Larson, who dropped the N-bomb playing video games (again, with the video games) about this time last year and was sent into a professional tailspin. He lost his ride and his sponsors and I was among the folks that thought he would never get another shot.
And while we're asking seemingly impossible questions, is what Leonard said (a slur against Jewish people that sounds like Pike) not as offensive as what Larson said?
Side question: Anyone have a guess how long Morgan Wallen will be in exile?
It also came to light that the new editor of Teen Vogue had some racist and homophobic Tweets in her history. Alexi McCammond, a Black female, made some anti-Asian and anti-gay Tweets a decade ago when she was a teenager.
Those mistakes made by teenagers navigating social media - not unlike some of the sports folks who have found similar hot water - are especially tough, because I know for sure that I made a slew of missteps and mistakes throughout the 1980s.
Maybe it's impossible to answer. Thoughts?
Bad look PGA
OK, I have written before that the ever-growing distance surge on the PGA Tour is a problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
To be clear, I am not anti-power. Power - speed x force - is a fundamental asset across all of sport, with the possible exception of Cornhole and cross country running.
Because if/when the PGA decides to curtail the distance of the game's best, it almost assuredly be through the ball or the clubs. So, if the Tour average is 300 off the tee right now, and Bryson DeChambeau is hitting it 330, he will still retain his power advantage. Think of it this way: If the clubs and balls are governed that the average is 250, Bryson will be hitting it 280, which is still a powerful edge.
And I am in favor of adjusting those rules. I know the players and the equipment manufacturers are against it because there is a lot of money at stake.
And of course there are going to be some folks who are just against change. But every sport, when faced with unforeseen dominance or details that threaten the competitive stakes and the entertainment value, has altered its rules.
Basketball widened the lane and added the 3 when big people became too big a factor and added the 24-second clock to address pace.
Baseball has changed the ball and in the 1960s adjust the height of the mound.
Football is not even recognizable compared to the 1970s, some ways better some ways not so much.
Golf needs to look hard at itself.
And I say all that because the Players Championship is this weekend, and while the ball and gear has been discussed, the course has panicked and overstepped in a rules way that highlights why distance, especially off the tee must be addressed. The tournament has said that DeChambeau can not play left of the lake on 18.
This is way worse than addressing the equipment with universal rules for all.
This is singling out a guy who has worked to add elite level power and now makes the obstacles of one of the most famous courses on Tour obsolete.
That's worse than not right. It's not fair, and in sports, that's about the worst thing a governing body can do.
This and that
- Andrew Cuomo, you're time's up sir. We are now at six women who have registered formal complaints of sexual harassment against the New York governor. And worse still, and as bad as that is, Cuomo's cover-ups of the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes in his state, which managed the pandemic about as poorly as any, is worse.
- So, it goes from 0 to 600 degrees in an instant, huh? KIA is recalling 380,000 vehicles because of a small defect that could cause the 2017-2021 Sportages and the 2017-19 Cadenza can spontaneously combust. Yeah, don't see 'compartment fire' high on the list of coveted extras in new rides. Side note: I looked at the headline "Park outside: Kia recalls nearly 380K vehicles for fire risk" and thought two things. Is it the car the Mrs. drives and please don't let it be a VW. It's not and it wasn't but gang to pretend our city's stable economy and growing nature is about the Gig or the river or the Southside is to ignore the obvious. Sure those tangents are great add-ons for a diverse collection of folks who make our area better. But the anchor for the last decade has been the thousands of direct and the thousands more ancillary jobs the German automaker brought to the Scenic City. As the great Wayne Newton once sang, "Danke Schoen"
- You know the rules. Here's David Paschall on the Vols new DC keeping his schematic cards close to his vest. Yeah, devoid as much talent as the Vols roster appears to be -m especially if Herny To'o To'o goes to Alabama - Tim Banks could be a Bobby Fischer-level strategist and I'm not sure it will matter much this fall.
- In preparation of the Madness, I watched a fair amount of Gonzaga last night. It was my first exposure to the Zags. Are they a 1? Sure, their resume is impressive. Last night, they looked beatable as all get out. And I'm not sure how I would feel if the Zags - in this craziest of all crazy years - became the first undefeated college hoops champs since Bobby Knight's bunch in the mid-1970s.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way:
Which video game is/was your all-time favorite? (Can be arcade or console, or even one of each.)
Which sport does power benefit you most and why?
Happy birthday Chuck Norris. He's 81. Which Chuck Norris joke is the best? Side note: Do you think you could whip an 81-year-old Chuck Norris?
And happy birthday to Sharon Stone.
On this day in 1876, A.G. Bell made the first phone call.
Rushmore of 'phone' and be creative.