“Safety!” NFL End (Zone) Game for Scrooge NFL

Roger Goodell’s NFL  is for “sissies” or maybe my little sister (when she was “little”) and today he provided more evidence of this by postponing the Sunday night NBC game of the week between the Minnesota Vikings and host Philadelphia Eagles.  What a wimp and dangerous precedent!  Maybe it is another part of the curse of the Farve who stayed too long, because these days when the Vikings are involved, there is always some drama.  That is one reason I wanted to unwrap this game from among my Xmas presents.  Cheer denied.  I wanted to see Michael Vick, the human snowball!

Part of the charm of the NFL and football as a game is that there were never rain-outs nor any kind of postponement due to weather.  These guys get paid a king’s ransom and perform in any kind of weather – until Goodell took over as the “commissioner”.  I think he got off at the wrong exit on the way to his job interview; he was looking for the Nanny Fairy League offices.

So, thanks to their decision to postpone the game for not one, but two days because of a snow storm,  they shortened our holiday weekend considerably, and I personally was looking forward to relaxing on my futon, beverage in-hand, and milking the last few hours of the 2010 Christmas holiday weekend.  Many people are even off on Monday, yet Mr. Goodell is playing Ebenezer Scrooge and taking a gift of a game from under our Christmas tree. 

In October he had the players wearing pink accessories like ballerinas, and now he is telling them they are not tough enough nor the fans brave enough to play in the snow for the first time in my recollection of watching this sport which goes back to the 1960s.  This definitely is not “your father’s NFL”, nor now is it my NFL either!  I feel for the players who get themselves all practiced and psyched-up to play, traveling (in Minnesota’s case) to be  in-position to compete and win, only to have GODdell tell them they cannot at the last-minute.  Many of these guys played in the snow all through their amateur career in-preparation for the “pros”, and this decision is just ridiculous.  What do you think?  Do we need a nanny state in sports too?  I think Mr. Roger should resign, and all of those who cite “public safety” as a concern should be voted out of office.  We need a tough guy as the head of the National Football League; Pete Rozelle was in the background much more, and I love him for being that way. I nominate the NFL’s Roger Goodell and whatever co-conspirators in the city of Philadelphia who are also Nannies as 2010 Holiday Scrooge of the Year.  Stop protecting us from yourselves!

P.S. I never thought Michael Vick would make a blog post of mine. It just goes to show you, as my girlfriend overseas and I always say, “never say ‘never'”.

P.P.S.  Having watched the “game” this late Tuesday night I say this: As a NY Jets fan for decades,, GOD-ELL made a really bad call, which affected the outcome of the Philly/Minnesota game . In effect  he “fixed” the game in favor of Minnesota and should resign.  What a bad example to set as a Nanny!
You must know that Michael Vick would have juked the Viking defense all over the place in the snow, on Sunday night! Instead, Roger the Dodger and his cronies in Philly as co-conspirators, chose to impersonate Mother Nature and throw the game…A damned shame.

Neighborhoodness: Reasons Air should Still be Free at Every Gas Station

                              I remember the “Flying A” gas station within walking distance of my parent’s house in Queens, New York City, where the price per gallon was, like thirty-seven cents back then.

          It now kind of hurts to remember these things – or angers me.  I also remember and notice now that free air at a filling station is becoming increasingly rare here in this southeastern U.S. city that I currently reside in and maybe your town also.  This is another bad trend because, after all, it is freaking air dammit!  A dude from Egypt recently moved from his Tobacco/Beer/Lottery store and bought a Shell station here.  It was the only gas station left to have a free air hose like we above a certain age are accustomed to having,  and within two miles of my house.  Don’t tell me to “get over it” either!  If you say that, then you are part of the problem and not the solution.  Air for our tires should always be free.  Do you pay to breathe?

The Flying A became either Mobile or Getty or maybe both – I forget which, but it always had the free air hose like every other station did.  The air hose was more important than the gas to me earlier in life because I and all my boyhood mates rode our bicycles all over the place, and a flat was as major for us as running out of gas was for our parents in their automobiles.

I could hardly hold in my chagrin when my twentysomething adopted sister and secretary at Office Depot tried to recently convince me that we should pay for the air to inflate our tires upon the premise that “someone has to pay the cost for the compressor” or some such bull.  Since I like her expertise at saving me money on printer ink – a subject for another post – I held my tongue that wanted to unleash this historical lecture that you are reading.

Why are free air hoses at filling station going “bye-bye”?  Number one reason: greed.  In the case of the entrepreneur from Egypt: lack of historical perspective over here in the U.S.A.  Which speaks to the end of “neighborhoodness”; would you charge your next-door neighbor for the cup of sugar they rang your doorbell to borrow or a cup of milk?

Now my top  reasons air should still be free: 8- Because we all breathe air freely – it is a reflex; 7 – Just ask someone with respiratory issues like Asthma or Bronchitis if air is free; 6 – Because it is part of our atmosphere on Earth; 5 – Because air is like the ocean, rivers, stream and lakes – do we have to pay to enjoy them? 4 – Because it is just mean to charge for harnessing air into a hose; 3 – Because it is air and we pay too much for tires anyway; 2 – Because gasoline costs too much and we are too willing as a nation to pay high prices so it is just greedy not to give us something for  nothing at the gas station; and my #1 reason air must be free: Kids and adults (like me) who ride our bicycles don’t carry money and should be able to fill-up our tires with air, especially in cases of emergency, and ride off into the sunshine.

Feel free to add your own reasons should you be old/young enough to understand where I am comin’ from. TTYS

**PickHITT: Kudos to the stations in Bellerose, New York, Lacey Township, New Jersey, North Carolina, Nashville and Floral Park, New York that I noticed recently have free AIR! Comment here with your gas station location if you also have a free air pump for kids and grown-up tires alike! ~ October, 2013

**Check this site, FreeAirpump.com click “view map” to find stations in your area with FREE air!