I might in fact be making blog history here. This is a blog entry that uses the terms "red" and "blue" in the title, and has almost nothing to do with politics!
If you keep up with football, you may have heard about the Arizona Cardinals' epic collapse against the Chicago Bears during Monday Night Football a week ago. They had a substantial lead against a team universally regarded as the better of the two, and lost it in the fourth quarter. It was pretty bad, and a tough loss, and you'd expect their coach, Dennis Green, to be upset about it.
But the media not only didn't give him that latitude, they downright laid into him for showing his anger at the post-game microphone. His words?
"Fucking-A right."
For 43 minutes in that game, the Cardinals shut the Bears down. Completely. As in they only allowed three points. And then they let down their guard. They lost concentration. What do you want Green to call it? They let the Bears off the hook.
Denny Green is probably going to be out of job after this season, if not sooner (like, if the Cardinals get blown out by my Packers this coming weekend). But it better not be for lack of trying, or of passion, because I haven't heard many post-game press conferences in which frustration and passion were so exactly, so agonizingly, so accurately expressed.
And this is where my politics-free streak ends. Because I think that Denny Green's passion mirrors pretty closely the passion of the American Left right now. We know that the partisans on the right misused fear and petty bigotry as get-out-the-vote measures. We know they lied about the pre-war intelligence. We know they've done a thousand things in plain view that they justified by appealing to America's lesser demons and the lowest common denominator. And in 2002 and 2004, we let them off the hook. They're going to stay on that hook next month, wriggling and out of tricks.
Lastly, for what it's worth, I think that a certain Madisonian would make a great fit in Arizona cardinal-and-white, and he's already got the wardrobe:
From that angle, you could almost mistake the Wisconsin 'W' for the Arizona cardinal-head logo.
If you keep up with football, you may have heard about the Arizona Cardinals' epic collapse against the Chicago Bears during Monday Night Football a week ago. They had a substantial lead against a team universally regarded as the better of the two, and lost it in the fourth quarter. It was pretty bad, and a tough loss, and you'd expect their coach, Dennis Green, to be upset about it.
But the media not only didn't give him that latitude, they downright laid into him for showing his anger at the post-game microphone. His words?
"The Bears are what we thought they were! What we thought they were. We played them in the preseason. Who the hell plays the third game in the preseason like it's bullshit? Bullshit! Everybody played three quarters. ... The Bears are who we thought they were! That's why we took the damn field. If you want to crown 'em, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were! And we let 'em off the hook!"In the press, the peanut gallery, and the blogs, you heard the words: "meltdown," "blowout," "rant," "tirade," "breakdown." My words for his comments?
"Fucking-A right."
For 43 minutes in that game, the Cardinals shut the Bears down. Completely. As in they only allowed three points. And then they let down their guard. They lost concentration. What do you want Green to call it? They let the Bears off the hook.
Denny Green is probably going to be out of job after this season, if not sooner (like, if the Cardinals get blown out by my Packers this coming weekend). But it better not be for lack of trying, or of passion, because I haven't heard many post-game press conferences in which frustration and passion were so exactly, so agonizingly, so accurately expressed.
And this is where my politics-free streak ends. Because I think that Denny Green's passion mirrors pretty closely the passion of the American Left right now. We know that the partisans on the right misused fear and petty bigotry as get-out-the-vote measures. We know they lied about the pre-war intelligence. We know they've done a thousand things in plain view that they justified by appealing to America's lesser demons and the lowest common denominator. And in 2002 and 2004, we let them off the hook. They're going to stay on that hook next month, wriggling and out of tricks.
Lastly, for what it's worth, I think that a certain Madisonian would make a great fit in Arizona cardinal-and-white, and he's already got the wardrobe:
From that angle, you could almost mistake the Wisconsin 'W' for the Arizona cardinal-head logo.
