Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind. – James Meredith
James Meredith was the first black to attend the University of Mississippi. As noted in today’s Daily Dose, he did this on this date in 1962. Whites did not take this well and there were the usual riots you’d expect from that place and time. While a complete recap of Meredith’s life is beyond scope of The Thought for the Day, Meredith would graduate from Ole Miss in 1963 with a political science degree and, still hale and hardy at 84, lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
We have never understood why today’s Thought is not on its way to living down the ages because it should be embraced by blacks, whites, reds and greens. It cuts right to the heart of what the American experience should be about: a society where the only identity that matters is that of American.
Should be about, but isn’t. America has always made everyone except white males work like hell for every gain. Even today, 152 years after the Civil War, we relegate non-whites to second-class citizenship by insisting that American identities be hyphenated.
This is wrong. Sure, all of us come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Personally, half of our blood is as Mexican as a siesta with the other half divvied up between English and German stock. We don’t think of ourselves as anything other than American. And unless you are directly descended from the Indians that originally patrolled these lands, you are descended from someone who came from somewhere else.
But we are all American. To oblige some to further identify themselves by hyphenating their American identity is insulting and until we stop degrading our fellow citizens like this we will always be a racist country.
It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind….
Friends, we rise as a society and we fall as a society. As long as we mandate people refer to themselves as African-Americans or Asian-Americans – or anything other than American – we will always relegate those so required to second-class citizenship.
And as long as we keep doing that we will always be a second-class nation.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
MORE LOW TAXES, FREE MARKETS CRAP: By any measure America is as divided as it’s ever been and one of those divisions is between the haves and have-nots. The Great Recession is as responsible for this as anything else. When the economy tanked in 2008 American business – as they’ve been doing since the Pilgrims first traded with the Indians – adapted and learn how to remain profitable. American workers, pleased to have hours no matter how few or irregular they were, took whatever employers chose to dole out – something they are still doing – and the American economy remains a difficult place for the average American to make a go of it.
Gaylon For Congress…Vote Early, Vote Often: In our last column, we said the best way to change that is to have an economy anchored in low taxes and only the regulations required to establish and maintain a free market. This is something we said every hour on the hour while campaigning for the United States Senate in 2014 and House of Representatives in 2016.
Running The Numbers: American companies paid $343.79 billion in taxes in 2015. This year they are estimated to pay $418 billion dollars in taxes. Some applaud this figure, but consider this:
This is $418 billion that is not being spent on innovation, expansion and employees. It is $418 billion dollars that are being sucked right out of the economy and given to the government so they can blow it.
USA! USA!: And because taxes are nothing more than expenses passed on to customers like you and me, another way to look at it is this is $418 billion in extra taxes that you and I are paying, $418 billion that you and I don’t have in our collective bank accounts.
Also popular to talk about is how jobs are being shipped overseas and how companies send money to offshore tax havens. Fair enough.
Dry, Technical Matter: They do this, however, because the American corporate tax rate is amongst the highest of any industrialized nation, so companies ship jobs overseas because that is where profits are higher and taxes are lower.
You can’t blame them for this; they are a commercial enterprise in business to make a profit. If their American tax burden were lessened, these jobs would remain in America and the billions of dollars sitting offshore would be returned to the American economy.
Profit Is Not A Four Letter Word: What would American businesses do with increased profits? Sure, some profits would be returned to owners and investors. It’s the way the free market is built: you take the risk, you get the reward. But to continue making a profit, businesses need to innovate and expand and increased profits would go to this, too.
Companies also need good employees to make all this work, and profitable businesses would hire more workers and – providing employees demand them – would pay better wages and salaries and provide better benefits.
The Bottom Line: Only an economy anchored in low taxes, free markets and minimal regulations will produce the flourishing economy this nation needs and deserves.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE! The Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles is bombed on this date in 1910 by John and James McNamara, brothers who were members of the Iron Workers Union. The bomb went off at 1:07 am, a busy time for a newspaper, and 21 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
Bombing was a major form of interaction back then, as the union tried to gain a foothold in LA. The McNamara brothers were arrested the following April and, after no small amount of negotiations, pled guilty with James sentenced to life imprisonment and John sentenced to 15 years.
Great Moments In Sentencing Nazis: 19 of the 22 Nazis tried in the Nuremberg Trials are sentenced on this date in 1946. Twelve were sentenced to death and the other seven were sentenced to terms ranging from ten years to life imprisonment. The death sentences would be carried out on October 16.
Dry, Technical Matter: The other three defendants had been acquitted.
This Is More Dry, Technical Matter, Isn’t It?: Two others who had been indicted by the International Military Tribunal ended up not being tried. One had been deemed too ill to be tried, though his charges remained filed in case he recovered, while another killed himself early in the proceedings.
The Long And Winding Road: James Meredith becomes the first black to attend the University of Mississippi registering for classes, under armed escort, on this date in 1962.
That’s The Spirit!: Of course, since the South was unable to let blacks so much as use crosswalks without burning crosses, a riot was involved. Two people were killed.
“I Am Immortal…I Am A Moment In History”: Meredith knew exactly what he was doing.
I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One. And my objective was to force the federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen
It worked. Though hounded and pestered from day one, Meredith would graduate with a political science degree in 1963 and would earn a law degree from Columbia University in 1968. Now 84, Meredith lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
The End Of An Era: The USS Blueback (SS-581) is decommissioned after nearly 31 years of service on this date in 1990, the last diesel submarine combat ship in the United States Navy.
A Warm, Personal Remembrance: We served on Blueback from 1984-87 receiving, among other things, a Masters degree in Swearing, with an emphasis on the Holy Trinity. Made mostly obsolete by the emergence of nuclear submarines, the only real advantage diesel submarines had was that they were quieter than their nuclear counterparts.
Quotebook:Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind. – James Meredith
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The previous trivia question is withdrawn. By coincidence, it was answered in the final On This Date item.
Today’s Stumper: Of the twelve Nazis sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal, two were not executed on October 16. Who were they? – Answer next time!
As we’ve noted here before, you never really know when or where you will find something of value.
Most of our Thoughts for the Day come from books or speeches or something else written. Some we were at when they were uttered. Today’s Thought for the Day comes from an interview of a convicted felon in a documentary about a triple-murder his son was convicted of participating in.
The man’s name is Delbert Burkett. Unlike another prisoner on the show, Burkett is not looking for sympathy or whining about he is getting screwed. He faces up to his failures and his appearance on the show is memorable and somewhat profound.
The Daily Dose returns, too. Today we chat about President Trump’s plan to overhaul the tax code. While we are on record as favoring tax reform and tax cuts, we do not see any merit in President Trump’s proposal.
The first downing of an aircraft from the ground and Babe Ruth are highlighted in On This Date and Georges Clemenceau has the selection from the quotebook.
I wish I could’ve been something they could’ve been. -Delbert Burkett
Delbert Burkett is a convicted felon currently serving a 40-year sentence in a geriatric prison facility in Texas. Today’s Thought came as he was being interviewed for a documentary about a triple-murder his son Jason was convicted of being involved in. Jason got life in prison while the other man convicted, Michael Perry, was executed in 2010.
Delbert has been in and out of prison his entire adult life. He said he had a scholarship offer to play football at the University of Texas, but he was able to drink and drug his way out of that. Family memories you and I might take for granted he has enjoyed only sparingly.
Burkett also shared a story about how he and Jason and another son who’s a convicted felon shared a Thanksgiving meal in prison one year. His sons thought it was nice to spend the holiday together but Delbert Burkett realized the tragedy of his wasted life and those of his sons and said the experience made him feel like a failure and like crap.
While far from the focal point of the documentary, Burkett’s appearance was genuine and poignant, a man looking back on a wasted life, a man who blew his opportunity to make his time serve him and was, literally, spending his time on this planet serving time. And he’s not blaming anyone for this, either. He knows he is the reason he is a felon who fathered two other felons.
I wish I could’ve been something…
Tragic words if ever there were any. Words each of us should do everything we can to not ever have to utter.
It’s easy and it’s not. It’s easy because every day we have 24 hours – the only commodity each of is issued in equal measure – to make something good happen for ourselves. All we have to do is take advantage of them by getting the most of the talents we were issued at birth.
On the other hand, it isn’t that easy because the temptations that distract us are as numerous as they are constant.
The choice whether to make our time serve us or merely serve time while on this planet is ours. We can take advantage of this opportunity or we can – literally or figuratively – spend our time in prison.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
USA! USA! Even before Donald Trump earned the White House we said he would be as embarrassing a president as he was as a candidate. We were right.
The only hope, we added, was that Trump – a Republican businessman – would recognize this country needed a low tax, low regulation environment if we are ever again going to have a flourishing economy.
It took long enough – he really should have had a plan before he declared his candidacy – but President Trump revealed his tax plan this week.
Uh-Oh: It’s not very good, honestly. Your average working American would see a modest cut. The very wealthy and some corporations would see a nice cut. It’s inconclusive for others and our tax code will continue to be incomprehensible even to the IRS, which issues incorrect information a quarter of the time.
Gaylon For Congress…Vote Early, Vote Often: We said this every hour on the hour on the campaign trail for the United States Senate (2014) and House of Representatives (2016): Low taxes and free markets are the only way to a flourishing American economy. We favored a flat tax of not more than ten percent on American incomes and profits.
Flip-Flopper: Then we modified this position. We were speaking before a group of business owners and one asked me why I favor a tax on businesses at all. I told him it wasn’t an unreasonable price to pay for the opportunity make a fortune in this country, not a completely unreasonable answer. He said all taxes – and whatever the cost of compliance was – were merely expenses to be passed along to his customers.
I thought about it and we discussed it some more and I was sold. The corporate tax rate should be zero. The personal income tax should be five percent for everyone. It’s our money, we should be able to keep it.
Fly In The Ointment: Low taxes are not popular right now, though. Over 40 percent of our citizens receive some sort of government aid to make a go of it and instead of decrying that number America has accepted it. Calls for the rich, individuals and businesses alike, to pay more in taxes are commonplace.
They are also misplaced. America will never have a flourishing economy until taxes are low and regulations minimal. Lower, or no, taxes will give consumers more money to spend and businesses more money to meet their growing needs. Profitable businesses expand and hire more people and lots of profitable businesses compete for labor, meaning wages and salaries go up.
This is not an easy sell. We have been taxed that it’s all we know. Also, we are so divided into the haves and have-nots that everyone wants to take more from the rich. A low tax economy is not something any of us can relate to.
But it’s what we need and what we deserve. Not only would we have more of our own money to spend, but the cost of complying with our tax code would drop to nothing because our taxes could be done on a postcard.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: Radoje Ljutovac, then a private in the Serbian army, becomes the first person to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air artillery fire on this date in 1915. Ljutovac used a modified Turkish cannon to shoot down a German fighter plane. Later, Ljutovac rode his horse into town, where he saluted the fallen plane and its pilot.
Going…Going…Gone: Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees becomes the first major league player to hit 60 home runs in a season on this date in 1927. Ruth’s two-run home run in the eighth inning gave the Yankees a 4-2 win over the Washington Senators.
The Post Game Show Is Brought To You By Old Style Beer: The Yankees hardly needed the win having clinched the American League pennant on September 13. The game, on the next-to-last-day of the regular season, also marked the final major league appearance of Walter Johnson. Johnson, who was batting .348 that year, flew out in the ninth inning, hitting for starting pitcher Tom Zachary. His last pitching appearance had been on September 22, when he went 3 ⅓ innings in a start against the St Louis Browns.
Somebody Get Me The Qualified Sock: The world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is commissioned in Groton, Connecticut on this date in 1954. It had been launched the previous January and would get underway for the first time the following January.
It’s first commanding officer was Commander Eugene Wilkinson and in 1958 Nautilus would conduct the first submerged transit of the North Pole. It was decommissioned in 1980 and still serves as a museum at Naval Submarine New London, Connecticut.
Quotebook:Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more. – Georges Clemenceau, prime minister of France (1906-09; 1917-20)
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: From the first Continental Congress through today the United States has had nine capital cities: Philadelphia, Lancaster and York, Pennsylvania; Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland; Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey; New York City and Washington, DC.
Today’s Stumper: When was the last diesel-powered submarine decommissioned by the United States Navy? – Answer next time!
Everything you read here comes from the heart. There is no other reason for a writer to ply his trade. If a writer does not believe in every word he commits to paper he is not writing, he is typing. I would be wasting your time and spinning my wheels. So the end results you read here are always something I am pleased with, otherwise, I wouldn’t offer it to you.
But sometimes the finished product is a bit better than usual. So it is with the Week 5 NFL Bottom Ten, which was a joy to write and is one of my all-time favorites. We’ll see if you like it.
Longtime readers, and I mean those of you go back ten years to when the Daily Dose first started at the old Writer’s Shack, might well remember when that feature usually discussed couple-three items before diving into the treasured On This Date, Trivia and Quotebook segments. Eventually, it evolved into the crap you enjoy today, where the first half of the column is devoted to one issue.
Totally by chance, we return to those roots today, as there were no less than five items we found interesting, everything from black hockey players to the pope. It was one of those rarities where several things caught our eye but not enough to devote a full column toward.
The Bottom Ten/NFL Week 5 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Much like cancer treatment, there are waypoints on the road to The Dan Henning Trophy – symbolic of NFL Bottom Ten supremacy. One is the Week 5 survey when the league’s very worst start to assert themselves with 0-3 marks. It is such a barometer that Bottom Ten pollsters are “pretty sure” that it’s “like, rare, dude” for a team to start 0-3 and not make the final survey.
And the 2017 crop of 0-3’s has not failed it impress Bottom Ten fan(s) everywhere, with a strong mix of returning retreads and a fresh, new face showing interest in Bottom Ten glory.
And there is no rest for the weary this week, either, as Bottom Ten fan(s) have yet another showdown game this week, as #1 Cincinnati sashays into Cleveland to visit the #2 Browns.
This week’s mess, as the nags approach the clubhouse turn:
1. Cincinnati Bengals (0-3; lost to Green Bay 27-24 OT) – Bengals blow late lead, coming through with huge overtime road loss for coach who earlier in week had said next job to be lost would be his if team blew chance at first B-10 title…Next Loss: at Cleveland
2. Cleveland Browns (0-3; lost to Indianapolis 31-28) – Last year’s trial by fire expected to serve Browns well as brutal, early 2017 schedule has defending B-10 champs set to play in second consecutive B-10 Game of the Week…..Next Loss: Cincinnati
3. San Diego Whoops Los Angeles Chargers (0-3; lost to Kansas City 24-10) – Chargers impressing skeptical LA fans with early B-10 medal stand berth…Already worst franchise relocation in American sports history, Chargers so bad San Diego doesn’t even want them back…Next Loss: Philadelphia
4. Cincinnati at Cleveland – Expectations for this Sunday’s game so high B-10 staffers have already completed B-10 Game of the Year nomination form with B-10 fan(s) everywhere limbering up for festivities with chants of “instant classic…instant classic”.
5. AFC North (4-8) – Proving that on any Sunday any division can go 0-4, AFC North easy choice for weekly Pete Rozelle Award, issued to league’s worst division…Sure, Bengals, Browns combined 0-6, but Steelers make noise after snapping Bears seven-game losing skid…Next Loss: Following tradition of European soccer, division expected to be relegated to NCAA Division III Ohio Athletic Conference for 2018.
6. San Francisco 49ers (0-3; lost to Los Angeles Rams 41-39) – Niners showing they can lose whether they sit, stand or pick their nose during national anthem…Niner offense both giveth and taketh away, getting two (2) late touchdowns, but show B-10 mettle by refusing to capitalize on recovered onside kick…Next Loss: at Arizona
7. New York Giants (0-3; lost to Philadelphia 27-24) – Surprise team of season following 2016’s playoff berth, Giants showing they can lose close ones after losing first two games by combined 30 points…Thinking game was being played under experimental Score-Most-Points-In-Fourth-Quarter-Win-Game rule, Giants score all points in final 15 minutes…Next Loss: at Tampa Bay
8. NFL – Will league-be-around-in-a-generation conversation picking up steam, as quality of play, TV ratings continue to deteriorate while players continue to protest national anthem because there is a lot to protest in America …Next Loss: Entire fan base as average Americans grow weary of lousy games, concussion debate, anthem protests.
9. NFL – Fabulous…Players exercising Constitutional rights to protest in pissing match with commander-in-chief responsible for protecting and defending those rights…Entire league expected to wipe asses at midfield before this week’s games, though plans to hold fists up during Tenny Awards – the annual B-10 awards show – still under construction.
10. Donald Trump – Cannot ever, under any circumstances, keep his mouth/Twitter account shut…Predictions in other loser Gaylon column that he would be same misfit embarrassment as president that he was as candidate, private citizen, proving true as entire nation eagerly awaiting to see if country will collapse due to nuclear war or internal anarchy.
Game of the Week: Cincinnati at Cleveland This Is Don Criqui Reporting: Cincinnati at Cleveland
LEADING OFF: Usually this feature focuses on one item for the first half, before diving in with your treasured On This Date, Trivia and Quotebook features. Today though, we have a few things to cover.
ITEM NUMBER ONE: For the third time the GOP-controlled United States Senate tried to muster the votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For the third time, they failed.
Good. The spite and disregard that went into these attempts – not to mention the GOP’s utter lack of anything else to offer – was shameful. Led by a president whose only real talent is drawing attention to himself, they are completely unable to govern and every member should be hanging their head in shame.
ITEM NUMBER TWO: Joel Ward, who plays for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, said he might take a knee during the national anthem at an upcoming game. He would be the first NHL player to do do.
Ward is black, one of 30 or so blacks that will play in the NHL this season and we are on record as supporting high profile black athletes want to use the only podium they have to protest some of the many things America has worth protesting. Knock yourselves out.
Fly In The Ointment: Ward, however, is also Canadian and this is not his lookout. American players do not take a knee during O Canada to protest the fact your football fields have two 50-yard lines, so please don’t protest during national anthem.
ITEM NUMBER THREE: The only real surprise was that Tuesday’s indictments and arrests of ten people in a college basketball bribery scandal didn’t happen sooner. NCAA revenue sports have been a cesspool for an awfully long time.
None of this should be surprised that coaches and shoe company officials are charged with bribing families so their kids would go to certain schools and coaches are alleged to have taken bribes to steer players towards certain agents, financial advisors and – get this – tailors.
Tailors!
This, of course, is not going to be the end of it. There will be more because the investigation is being conducted by, among others, the FBI and not the hapless oafs at the NCAA. That sound you hear is basketball coaches and shoe executives from sea to shining sea holding their breaths waiting for the other indictment to drop. Because it will.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR: NFL television ratings continue to slide, with 2017’s numbers down eleven from percent so far from 2016’s numbers. And 2016’s numbers were down eight percent from 2015. All of this means that in 2017 about two million fewer people are watching an average NFL game than in 2015.
Hut, Hut, Hike: We’ve said this before: between kids no longer playing football and fans no longer watching it, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the National Football League.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE: Pope Francis was recently accused of heresy. In a letter delivered to the pope in August, several dozen Roman Catholics – ranging from priests to theologians to other rather dull academics – advised Francis they found him guilty of promulgating seven heretical positions, mostly concerning marriage.
It was the first time a pope had been so corrected since Pope John XXII in 1333. Not even regular readers of this crap my know that Pope John XXII had had the nerve to say the dead see heaven – known as the beatic vision – on Judgement Day and not before. This was in variance to the then-current view that the saved saw heaven before judgment day. John apparently held this view as a theologian, so it wasn’t official papal doctrine, and he later recanted this view, allowing mankind to live in a state of grace ever since. Further research into this matter did not interest us all that much.
Dry, Technical Matter: We’re more or less heathens here at The Daily Dose but we did have 13 years of rather pleasant Lutheran schooling and we’re of the opinion that once you die Judgement Day would happen immediately because there is no sense of time when you’re dead.
TOKEN ON THIS DATE ACTION: Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the capital of the United States on this date in 1777, meeting in the courthouse there after the Second Continental Congress had hightailed it out of Philadelphia because of the invading British army.
We Are Outta Here: Some research shows that Congress last met in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 18. Their journal states that after conducting the day’s business and adjourning for the day, Congress had received a letter from an aide to General George Washington advising of:
…the necessity of Congress removing immediately from Philadelphia.
As it turned out, Lancaster wasn’t even safe. Congress would flee the following day and next meeting in York, Pennsylvania on September 30, where it would stay until the following June.
Quotebook:I work harder than anyone who has ever lived. I am not well and worn out with this stupendous labor, and yet I am patient to achieve the desired end. – Michelangelo, Letter to Brother, while painting Sistine Chapel
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Howard K Smith was the moderator of the first Nixon/Kennedy presidential debate. It was held in Chicago on September 26, 1960.
Today’s Stumper: From the First Continental Congress through today, how many capital cities has the United States had? – Answer next time!
The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 5 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Next loser up.
It happens every year in the race for the ESPN Cup: one team wins and drops while another teams takes advantage and moves up with a loss. With last week’s #2 East Carolina up and winning their first game of the season, Charlotte took advantage and lost to move into the runner-up spot.
And while dropping from #2 completely out of the survey is rare, Bottom Ten pollsters – in a tender and candid moment – admitted they were actually glad to see East Carolina drop from the survey because they were running out of East Carolina statehood jokes.
This week’s triumph:
1. UMess (0-5; lost to Tennessee 17-13) Mitigating Factors: Minutemen in rare dogfight with Power 5 school, dangerously close to blowing B-10 top spot after trailing only 17-13 at end of three periods…UMess shows type of mettle that leads straight to B-10 glory, though, taking charge late and retaining top spot with scoreless fourth quarter…Current eight (8) game losing skid nation’s best. WTF?: While offense does its part by punting ten (10) times, stubborn defense getting frowns on playbooks for forcing eight (8) punts and a fumble. Next Loss: Ohio
2. Charlotte (0-4; lost to Georgia State 28-0) Mitigating Factors: Offense showing the way in quest for first B-10 title, setting strong early tone with punts on first six (6) possessions…Defense getting frowns on playbooks for only allowing seven (7) points off the three (3) turnovers their offense worked hard to produce….49ers have lost seven (7) straight and are an impressive 6-22 since starting major division football in 2015. Bottom Ten Alumni Association: Charlotte hoping to get blessing for 2017 B-10 run with loss to once and probably future B-10 power Florida International this week. Next Loss: at Florida International
3. UTEP (0-4; lost to New Mexico State 41-14) Mitigating Factors: After clawing back to tie game 7-7 in first quarter, Miners send regrets for remainder of game…UTEP a statistical juggernaut, ranking Dead Last in Total Offense and Rushing Offense and 123rd in Total Defense…Miners have lost four (4) straight and are off to best start since 2003 squad started 0-4 and are looking for first 0-5 start since 1992 squad started 0-6. There Is No “I “ In Bottom Ten: Total team effort on both sides of the ball has Miners losing games by an average score of 47.8-to-12.8 Next Loss: at Army
4. Bowling Green (0-4; lost to Middle Tennessee 24-13) Mitigating Factors: Never in this one, Falcons not completely out of it until offense clinches it with punts on final four possessions…Another team that values consistency on both sides of the ball, Falcons rank 125th in Total “Defense” (549 ypg) and 107th in Total Offense (330 ypg)…Probably because they get so much practice, Falcons do rank 5th in Net Punting (44.53 ypk), however. FunFact: Though Falcon fan(s) cautiously optimistic about B-10 title chances, they realize team must avoid three (3) and seven (7) game winning streaks that have plagued B-10 chances over the years. Next Loss: Akron
5. Silver Convention (1-6; UNLV: lost to Ohio State 54-21; Nevada: lost to Washington State 45-7) Mitigating Factors: Silver State’s two major universities combine for first hilarious joint entry…UNLV comes back strong after bye week with obligatory loss to national power while Wolf Pack joins logjam of 0-4 teams with fourth straight loss…Both teams impressing B-10 pollsters with losses to lower level teams and Nov 25 meeting could be for B-10 medal stand berth. Get Out Your History Books: B-10 pollsters “pretty sure” this is first time two teams from gambling states have formed joint entry since Tijuana Tech and Monte Carlo A&M joined forces in 1960’s Next Losses: UNLV: San Jose State; Nevada: at Fresno State
6. Baylor (0-4; lost to Oklahoma 49-41) Mitigating Factors: Under the radar Bears making first appearance in 2017 survey as B-10 pollsters have classic a-ha “Look, Baylor’s 0-4” moment…Bears constructing classic B-10 run, with losses to lower level school, team that didn’t even exist at start of decade, B-10 Team of the Decade for Double Aughts and traditional national power. Book’em Dano: B-10 pollsters taking waiting-and-see attitude, ranking Bears in lower half of survey until B-10 staffers decide whether or not school’s sex abuse scandal warrant suspension from survey on morals charges. Next Loss: at Kansas State
7. Simon Fraser (0-4; lost to Azusa Pacific 83-7) Mitigating Factors: With Earlham taking week off, Clan earn Interim Continental Cup – issued to team with longest all-division losing streak in NATO that actually played a game – with 27th straight loss…Though B-10 pollsters strongly suspect school is located in Canada, Simon Fraser plays in NCAA Division II. Insert Own Funny Line Here: Mascot is McFogg the Dog, a Scottish terrier that wears a kilt. We are not making that up. Next Loss: Central
8. Louisiana – Famous Dead Person (2-5; UL-Lafayette: lost to UL-Monroe 56-50, 2OT; UL-Monroe: defeated UL-Lafayette 56-50, 2OT) Mitigating Factors: Wow…B-10 fan(s) everywhere, well in some places, at least, will be talking about UL-Lafayette’s classic loss for Billy Cannon Certificate – symbolic of Cajun football lousiness – for days, maybe weeks…UL-L recovers from tying game on final play of regulation to blow field goal in second overtime, leading to UL-M’s game-winning touchdown. Running The Numbers: Though B-10 staffers anticipated loser of this game would get own B-10 entry, UL-Monroe’s strength of schedule points for beating lousy UL-L team enough to keep joint entry in survey. Next Losses: UL-Lafayette: at Idaho (10/7) ; UL-Monroe: Coastal
9. Florida Atlantic (1-3; lost to Buffalo 34-31) Mitigating Factors: Owls hiring of name coach paying off dividends, as Lane Kiffin delivering on promise to “contend for B-10 medal stand, goddammit”…Owls impress with ability to defy odds, losing to lousy Buffalo team despite gaining 262 yards rushing and turning ball over only once. We Are Outta Here: Efficient offense produces seven (7) droves of less than two (2) minutes with none longer than 3:24. Next Loss: Middle Tennessee
10. Conference USA Mitigating Factors: Despite tight race, C-USA gets coveted B-10 Conference of the Week for second straight week, thanks to having 40 percent of nation’s 0-4 teams…40 percent of Week 5 survey is either conference teams or conference itself…In improvement from last week, C-USA now has ten (10) of 16 teams without winning records. The New Material Budget Remains $0.00 I See: Despite .294 winning percentage in non-conference action, conference still heroically managing .500 record in conference play.
This Week’s Clash of the Titans: Nevada at Fresno State Up Next On ESPN793: Akron at Bowling Green
It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness. -Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, among other things the founder of the University of Virginia and the third president of the United States, is an interesting animal. Or. rather, his legacy is an interesting animal. Jefferson, as he should, will live down the ages as the author of the Declaration of Independence, one of our species most significant written works.He served his country honorably and well for many years, even when he would rather have been at home.
On the other hand, he owned slaves. Not only that, Jefferson was an innovative slave owner, one of the first to use his slaves as collateral and to teach them trades, further cementing their bondage. Even modest reading into Jefferson’s life shows the author of the line “All men are created equal” never did much of anything to end slavery either in his country or on his plantation.
We decline to let this diminish our admiration for Jefferson’s written works, and today’s Thought cuts right to the heart of our human experience.
It is neither wealth nor splendor…
Wealth and splendor are outside influences and, as we’ve discussed here before, we can’t spend our lives answering to outside influences. Outside influences are superfluous and have no bearing on who we are and what we were meant to do with our lives.
But tranquility and occupation…
One of the earliest lessons we can remember learning at school was that every one of us can do something well. All of us were born with different talents and ambitions and our lives – and this planet – work best when we are on our path and answering to them. Wealth and splendor may come the way of people on their path. Good for them. Or bad for them because they can be demanding masters.
But if they don’t, that’s OK, too. For the person on their path, the peace that comes from getting the most out of their talents, of living the life they were meant to live and making their time serve them transcends wealth and splendor.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
