Michael Vick & Other Stuff

So the Eagles signed Michael Vick. I knew someone would. Didn't think the Eagles would. In fact, no matter how I look at it, the deal makes no sense to me. Let's ignore for the moment the whole PR disaster that could result from it. Let's look at the football part of it. To begin with, Vick may not even be able to play until almost halfway through the season but will take up a roster spot until then. The idea is that Vick can run the "Wildcat" formation for the Eagles. But that's a limited formation that bad offenses use because defenses struggle to prepare for it. Of course, the reason defenses struggle with it is because it's not a base offense and is essentially a trick play. And it's value goes down the more you use it. I'm not sure Vick running the offense will be that effective because the Wildcat is essentially a running back with the ability to make a decent throw playing quarterback. Which is basically what Vick was in Atlanta. An inaccurate passer who could tuck it and run. What's worse is the Eagles apparently didn't even try him out before they signed him. He looked chunkier than before. Who knows if he's even going to have his game breaking speed anymore.

And the Eagles didn't have a bad offense overall last year. They were the fifth highest scoring team in the regular season and made the NFC title game. Will a few boosts really make that much of a difference? Especially at the expense of team chemistry? Sure everyone says the right things. Donovan McNabb insists he pushed for it. But behind the scenes, that doesn't sound true. And why would anyone think McNabb is for it? He was unhappy when the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb in the second round. Why would he suddenly be happy that they signed a quarterback who was once a star? And as Jaws says, Vick is a threat to McNabb. Philly has a passionate fanbase, but they've never been accused of being very smart about the game itself. They'll be screaming for Vick if McNabb has a bad series. That could be a problem for McNabb who is overly sensitive.

Then there is the whole PR problem surrounding why Vick was out of football for two years. Sure, America's village idiot, Jesse Jackson, actually claimed the NFL was colluding to keep Vick out and he deserves a second chance. Sure, he may deserve a second chance, but that doesn't mean an NFL team has to give it to him. Playing pro football is a privilege, not a right. He can go dig ditches for all I care. Teams have to measure how he'll impact their win/loss record plus their image which affects the bottom line. The Eagles' owner is already taking a hit to his reputation by signing Vick after saying a couple of years back that he'd never have a dog fighter on his team. And let's remember that Vick was doing more than fighting dogs. He was pretty much torturing ones that didn't pan out. Does this mean I don't believe him when he says he was remorseful about the "horrible mistake" he made while engaged in it? Of course I don't believe him. They were hanging dogs to kill them. I refuse to believe he thought he was doing something wrong but couldn't at least switch to shooting the dogs to make it quicker. He's only remorseful that he got caught. The Eagles are going to have a distraction of people very unhappy with this signing and they're stupid if they didn't know it was coming. This writer hits the nail on the head. Why are so many people out there risking their reputation to support Michael Vick?

But let's get to some stories that I've been saving for quite some time:
Let's start with England. A few months back, I mentioned a story where some 12 year old boy supposedly knocked up his girlfriend. Well, he wasn't the father. So soul-searching in England will now have to shift to asking why a 14 year old girl has so many people claiming to have fathered her baby.

Speaking of teen sex, we have another story of a cougar sleeping with teen boys. Except she has a novel excuse. This woman wanted to keep predatory boys from messing with her girls. By sleeping with those predatory boys. Oh, and because it made her feel young and attractive. But it was really about protecting her daughters. If my "she-was-warming-her-hands-in-pants" excuse didn't fly, this one shouldn't.

Ah China. A man is feeling suicidal and climbs a bridge to jump off. Another man decides he's tired of people trying to get attention by pretending they are going to kill themselves. Which seemed an accurate idea in this case since the guy was only 26 feet up. So, the passerby pushes him off the bridge. Problem solved.

I find this story from Britain more concerning than the one about 14 year old sluts. Pringles will now be taxed under their VAT because it has too much "potatoness". Something not quite right in taxing Pringles as a non-food because of too much food content. Also something very wrong with a 17% sales tax on potato chips.

Nice to see Yale is training their students to come up with big ideas. Even if they are incredibly dumb. One student decided to live in a "sustainable house". She calls it sustainable because she's able to power it with solar cells. Well, her definition of sustainable seems to include things that my definition wouldn't. Like being the size of a dorm room. And being built with donated material. And having a neighbor let you use their bathroom because this house doesn't have one. This is ridiculous to think she's proven anything. She essentially is living in a solar powered garden shed. Does anyone really think that this is a realistic model for future dwellings?

Interesting marketing plan by Cheap Trick. They're going to release an album on 8 track. Not necessarily a way to get younger fans who won't even know what an 8 track is. As someone whose first stereo was a hand-me-down that included an 8 track player, I wouldn't be real thrilled to go back to that format. Cassette tapes replaced 8 tracks for little reasons like being more portable, cheaper and the ability to rewind. Oh, and cassettes didn't have the wonderful "8 Track Click" that would often happen when you were in the middle of a song. Certain irony for me with this story. I didn't have very many 8 track cartridges (the stereo also had a record player and 8 tracks weren't readily available anymore), but one that I found at a garage sale was In Color by Cheap Trick.

How about some hooker stories. Here's one about your government at work. Well, if you're in Amsterdam. The city council is very concerned about the ability of whores to get bank loans. I have no idea why banks might think hookers are bad credit risks and not want to give them money.

In Mexico, two midget wrestlers were killed by female robbers pretending to be hookers. Damned shame when little people have to worry about their whores not really being whores.

And finally, I stumbled across this video from Thunder Over Louisville Air Show this year. It's two Chinook helicopters dipping themselves in the Ohio River while putting on their show. My brother was flying one of them.