Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Shape It Up!

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

 

shape-ups

I have worked in retail for 30 years, that is a incredible amount of time to constantly be on ones feet and to be walking or running around. Buying department store bargain basement shoes does not make a very good case for healthy feet in a retail setting. About two months ago, out of the blue, my left heel started giving me sharp pains halfway into a work shift. The symptoms became more pronounced and predictable as each day wore on, wake up with a stiff foot, painful to walk on, after a few minutes it got bearable, later on in the day it got sore and uncomfortable. Anytime spent during the day off of the feet were welcome but getting up was painful. After some research, I determined that I had Plantar Fasciitis. I tried the various Dr Scholl’s padded insole inserts, which provided minimal relief, I went after those $48 Dr Scholl’s custom orthotics that we have seen advertised TV, where you go stand on a kiosk stand that recommends which orthotic to buy. At least I know I have low arches!! This orthotic helped a bit more, but I found something better, albeit pricier.

The Skechers Shape-Ups, see the picture above, is a excellent shoe for those of us with sore feet, legs and backs. I wont describe the shoes construction as you can research it yourself, but to walk in a pair, you feel as if you are walking on those thick gym mats you might recall from school, which were used for wrestling and tumbling. I have absolutely no foot and heel pain, no leg pain or other discomforts, the first day walking in them was like night versus day.

I recommend these shoes for anyone with foot, leg and back pain!

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OJ Simpson

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Was it pay back???

This past week, OJ Simpson was convicted in Las Vegas by a Jury for actions he took a year ago (2007) in some crazy attempt to reclaim sports memorabilia regarding his past NFL greatness.

In case you have just awoken from a coma, in 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered outside of her residence, brutally murdered by knife point. A mountain of evidence pointed towards OJ Simpson, in which he was later charged with the crimes. Actions he took leading up to his arrest, certainly didn’t speak well for the deeds of a innocent man, after seeing a nationally televised police chase of him and his friend AC Cowlings running around the LA freeways. Passport in hand and supposedly a gun on board. OJ Simpson managed to assemble a dream team of lawyers and the LAPD and district attorneys managed to assemble a nightmare team. In 1995, the case went to trial, dominating cable news coverage for weeks, in the end, OJ Simpson was acquitted by a Jury of his peers. He would later be sued for wrongful death by the victims families and he lost that case and was ordered to pay millions.

Following his acquittal, OJ vowed he would spend the rest of his life searching for the “real” killers of his ex-wife and her friend, no one really knows if that killer was hiding out on public or private gold courses, which is where OJ spent the majority of his visible time since.

The facts of the murder case supported a conviction and would have convicted a non-celebrity murderer in any other locality, with a more competent prosecuting team, regardless of the priciness of the defence team. This means that the case was the LA prosecutors case to lose, and they came through.

This case also revealed or reinforced the nations racial divide. In polls after the verdict, 85% of the black population agreed with the verdict while only 32% of whites agreed with it. The then US President, Bill Clinton, said that he was amazed about this divide the nation had considering that each demographic had the same set of facts to judge the case by.

The problem with the racial divide is that anytime a black person is a victim of a crime, the perpetrator will always be guilty of it, regardless of the facts, from the perspective of most blacks. Conversely if a black person is the perpetrator, the same demographic will argue that the perpetrator is not guilty, just couldn’t be guilty, s/he must have been framed by the establishment! This is indeed a unique phenomena, which I suppose originates from some need to make the establishment atone for the racial inequality that existed in this country for years. Some refer to it as the “black experience”, I call it a cop out. During the bad years, the racists set up a system that was supposedly “separate but equal”, what many blacks seek today, whether they realize it or not, is “equal and separate”. They cant use the system to make up for lost time, they can only demand that the system treat them equal. What I mean by all this, is that everything that is bad, unfortunate or even unfair that happens to this or any other minority is not necessarily the product of racism.

OJ Simpson was a tremendously talented and famous running back, with a storied football career with both the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers, fortunately for him, this part of his past can never be undone. He went on to star in various big and small screen movie productions, such as Capricorn One, Airplane. He became a pitch man for various products and services on TV commercials and he was a commentator for NBC sports coverage of NFL football games. This is the OJ simpson I thought I knew, we all knew, not knowing that in the background in his personal private life, some high drama was brewing.

In 1995 a jury of his peers acquitted him.

In 2008 a jury of his peers convicted him.

One cannot help but to think that this recent verdict is some sort of attempt to get even for what many feel was a wrongful acquittal back in 1995. Perhaps it is..

I bet that many whom hailed the 1995 verdict as just, will condemn the 2008 verdict as unjust, translated they want to have their cake and eat it too!

If one used the 1995 verdict as a measure of ones guilt or innocence, then you have to use the 2008 verdict the same way, unfortunately many will not.

 

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NFL Referee – Ed Hochuli

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Anyone whom follows professional football, mainly the USA variety as provided by the National Football League, is well aware of the San Diego Charger/Denver Bronco game on Sunday September 14th. With less than 2 minutes to go in the game, the San Diego Chargers were leading 38–31 but Denver was driving and down inside the San Diego 10 yard line. Denver QB Jay Cutler takes the snap, drops back and loses the football as he was cocking his arm back to pass. A clear fumble which replay confirmed, the ball dropped to the ground on the 10 yard line, a San Diego defender picked up the ball but the play was whistled dead. Referee Ed Hochuli had inadvertently blown the play dead, NFL rules prevented him from awarding possession of the ball to San Diego, even with instant replay confirming it to be a fumble. The error here was blowing the whistle too quickly, but on the other hand the NFL has emphasised protecting players from injury, which is why I believe Ed Hochuli blew the play dead so quickly.

The best Ed Hochuli could do is spot the ball on the spot it hit the ground, the down counted but Denver maintained possession.

Anyway, Denver went onto score a touchdown and they went for a two-point conversion that allowed them to win the game by a final score of 39–38.

Obviously had Ed Hochuli not blown the whistle or had NFL rules not been structured to have the whistle be the end all be all, San Diego would have been awarded the ball and placed themselves in a position to have protected their lead by running the clock out.

Either way, NFL Ed Hochuli has been vilified by the sports media and San Diego fans for making a call that supposedly cost San Diego a victory.

NFL referee’s and crews are not full-time positions, they are part-time jobs, albeit probably well paid part time jobs. These guys usually have something else going on, in Ed Hochuli’s case, he is a Major partner in a  law firm.

This man admitted his mistake, was powerless to undo it at the time it was made, (see NFL rules) and has fielded vicious hate mail from San Diego Charger fans, and he has responded to them! This man has both honesty and character, imagine that, the horrors, oh the horrors!!!

NFL games are typically officiated by a 7–man crew, trying to keep up with the action of 22 hulking players running all over the field on any given play, I guess it doesn’t hurt to mention that these 7 men are human??

Those of you whom have watched NFL games for any length of time to understand the game, have seen bad calls made by referee;s, missed calls and in some cases it has changed the tempo of the game, even cost a team a victory or made a loss much worse? While it is true the call Ed Hochuli made in the game in question, allowed Denver to win, the call by itself is not the only factor to that Denver victory. After all, far more point production by the San Diego offence or far more point prevention by the San Diego defence, could have rendered this call a very moot point. Lets not forget that the San Diego defence could have stopped Denver from getting the touchdown or the 2–point conversion?

Ed Hochuli is one of the best NFL referee’s I have seen, since Jerry Markbreit, I do not find it fair that he is vilified for a mistake he could not undo, there is a reason why he and his crew have officiated Two Super Bowls, been named as an alternate for 3 others and officiated 5 conference championships.

Anyone can go out and see for themselves his record as a NFL referee, it speaks for itself.

I like him as a NFL referee because he thoroughly explains a call, especially the difficult ones involving instant replay or multiple fouls. I don’t mean to set him up higher than any other NFL referee, they all have difficult jobs to do for every game they officiate in front of tens of thousands of live fans, 106 players and millions of TV viewers. Of course every call against ones own team is always the incorrect call, right?

Referee’s don’t write the rule books, they only enforce what’s in it and like the players and coaches, are confined to what is in them. You want to second guess a game official, become one!

Ed Hochuli doesn’t deserve the vilification he has received, instead these people should be pressing the NFL, the owners and the competition committee to write rules that make sense.

Keep up the good work Ed!!

p.s. This site is maintained by his son and contains alot of info regarding him: http://www.nfl85.com

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