Tony Dungy on the Super Bowl

NBA Threatens Tar Heel State with Progressive Hoops to Host All Star Game

Reacting the North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R-NC) signing HB2 "The Bathroom Bill", the National Basketball Association has threatened the Tar Heel State that Charlotte is in jeopardy because the law discriminates against transgendered persons from using whatever bathroom they feel like visiting at that time.

Other sports leagues have threatened to boycott places to pressure governments to change their laws, like the NCAA's 15 year ban on South Carolina hosting sporting events over the Confederate battle flag flying on state capitol grounds in Columbia, or the NFL threatening to move a Super Bowl from Arizona over the state enforcing federal law on illegal immigration.

It is curious to see how the NBA is going to great lengths to protest this "discrimination" of people having different genitalia using separate waste evacuation facilities which has been in place for generations and is rife for confusion and abuse. 

This sort of progressive pressure again demonstrates that sports has been politicized by the tyranny of liberal fascism.

Obama Tosses a Pick When Greeting Patriots on the White House South Lawn

President Obama, fresh off a Florida photo-op in the Everglades for Earth Day, resumed his role as Celebrity in Chief by greeting the New England Patriots on the White House South Lawn in honor of their Super Bowl victory.  Mr. Obama must have been warming up for the Nerd Prom (a.k.a. the White House correspondence dinner) as he tried a few jokes that fell flat.  

It certainly is friendly banter to wish that Beantown would allow the Windy City to win a championship or two.  Joking that Gronk should keep his shirt on seemed like a hip towel snap. But making a Deflate-gate joke falls flat.  This photo op was supposed to honor the victory of the Patriots, yet Mr. Obama threw a pick and forced his guests to react nervously.

Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show in August.  Perhaps Mr. Obama ought to audition for that role.  At least he might get better writers. But doing the Daily Show might be difficult for President Obama  to squeeze in between rounds of golf.

Seattle Socialist Councilwoman's Silly Scheme for Seahawks Seats

Defending Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks have been successful on an off the field.  Civic pride for the Seahawks in Seattle is legendary, as their fans are considered the 12th man, giving the team a tremendous home field advantage.  Seahawk fans are so loud that their boisterous cheers caused two measurable earthquakes.

However, in the run up to the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers, Socialist Alternative Councilwoman Kshama Sawant railed against the restrictiveness nature of Seattle Seahawk season tickets preventing many unprivileged WeHawk fans from seeing the game in person.

Sawant organized some street theater to illustrate the divide between the Seahawk fans have and have nots with a "13th Man Initiative". The socialist rally on Capitol Hill gathered hundreds of blue and lime clad workers chanting "No justice, no beast".  During their march to Pioneer Square, protesters carried signs reading "We are the 13" and "12th Man, aka Bequeathed Mode".  

Sawant's solution to the Seahawk ticket situation is to share seats among the metro Seattle residents.  According to Sawant: 

“With 3 million people in the Seattle metro area, that’s about 44 people per seat. After this weekend, the Hawks will have played 10 home games, or 41 quarters (remember the overtime versus the Broncos). If you subtract infants and Sounders fans, that comes out almost perfectly to one quarter per person."

Right. And Sawant is supposedly an economics professor.  Perhaps it should be noted that Washington state has legalized the recreation use of marijuana.  College campuses may have been a bit ahead of the pot legalization initiative.

Some claim that this 13th man initiative is just satire.  Where you stand is where you sit.  Street theater might be a lark for an Occupy rally.  As an elected official, such satire is unseemly, especially without denoting that it was allegedly illustrating a point.  If so, what was the point?

The 13th Man ticket sharing idea is about as idiotic as the living wage initiative which Sawant championed to raise the Emerald City's minimum wage to $15 an hour.  Seattle's City Council unanimously passed the $15 minimum wage and chose to fully implement it in April 2015, even though liberally minded restaurant owners warn that the drastic wage increase will decrease labor and threaten small business survival in the city.

Sawant gained notoriety for her involvement in the Occupy  Wall Street movement.  It seems like the "13th Man Initiative" is ersatz opposition which injects  class strife and partisan politics into sports successes.  The NFL has been plagued with politically correct controversies which are peripheral to football, like political pressure and  Obama Administrations machinations to force the Washington Redskins to change their name and football players engaging in the "Hands up don't shoot" meme ala Ferguson.

It is a pity that rabble rousers and progressive political animals continue to use sports as a platform for forcing their politics into sports rather than allowing the teams to build unity among the community. Alas the 13th man initiative is the odd men as the are people who can not root  for their team without playing victim (for not having tickets), "raising consciences" and politically dividing the Seahawks fan base.

Namath's Unorthodox Super Bowl Coin Toss Draws Fire as well as Salutes

Former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath was selected to perform the ceremonial coin toss for Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey.

Some animal rights activists chortled at a perceived fashion fumble as Broadway Joe's dared to wear a fur jacket.

A more pressing issue, however, was the rapidity that "Joe Willie" performed his ceremonial toss. Namath threw the coin before the Seattle Seahawks called their preference as the visiting team.

  

The presiding referee intercepted the toss and things ran smoothly the second time.  Thus it can be said that Joe Namath threw the first interception of Super Bowl 48.

While the kerfluffle over Namath's sartorial styling and his pre-mature tossing were unfortunate distractions from the Super Bowl pageantry, at least it gave a second look to Namath.  Prior to the big game, Joe Namath posted a Twitter picture of a remembrance bracelet he was wearing.  Namath sported a Chris Kyle bracelet in honor of the American Sniper, the Navy SEAL who was America's deadliest sniper who was killed a year ago while helping a fellow former soldier with PTSD. 

Obama's Super Ego on Super Bowl Sunday

Two weeks ago, The New Yorker published an extensive article about President Barack Obama.  During this wide ranging interview, Mr. Obama was quoted as saying:

"I would not let my son play pro football … These guys [NFL Players], they know what they're doing. They know what they're buying into. It is no longer a secret. It's sort of the feeling I have about smokers, you know?" 

Not exactly a hardy endorsement of the sport, especially as there is a war on football.

Yet on Super Bowl Sunday, the Obama White House has the temerity to post this picture on Twitter

It is bad enough to have a politician being duplicitous.  But why does Mr. Obama feel compelled to insert himself  into every facet of popular American culture.   And we get to watch his interview with Fox New's Bill O'Reilly at 4:33 pm as part of the pre-game.

There is a name for a person who seems himself reflected everywhere.  It even has a mythological flare. 

The Metamorphisis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali (1937)