Multiply 365 Day 9 - Beta testers

These are the days when I wish I didn't blog.  Not that there isn't stuff to talk about, rather there is, I just don't know if I want to talk about it.  In the age in which we live, far too many people wish to become early adopters, or beta testers to each and every issue that arises, the belief being that if their ploy doesn't work, perhaps they can tweak it and use it again in the future in a more modified, workable form.  Into that realm we have the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords from Arizona, who was shot through the head during a public appearance outside a grocery store in her district.  The story is pretty horrible, while addressing people gathered at an event outside a Safeway grocery store, a man (allegedly Jared Lee Loughner) runs up on the stage and shoots the congresswoman through the head from about 5 feet away, then proceeds to open fire on the rest of the crowd, killing 6 people and wounding 14 others.  Amazingly as of this writing, Rep.Giffords is still alive, despite having the bullet go through her head.  I will not speculate on the damage the bullet may or may not have done or any long term prognosis, I know so little about medicine or the damage the bullet caused that it would be completely irresponsible of me to do so.

Enter the early adopters, Every conceivable notion was given for why this shooting occurred, and almost all of them came from people with an ax to grind.  If you hated the Tea Party,  Giffords was a Democrat who ran against a Tea Party candidate in the last election, so Loughner became a Tea Party guy.  If your issue was evil white supremacists, Giffords was a Jew and supremacists hate Jews so maybe Loughner was one of them, if you were a gun control advocate, Loughner's access to a firearm became a talking point, if your peeve was liberals, a person in a band with Loughner tweeted that when she knew him she thought he was a liberal, so grab that ball and run with it.  It's all just too much noise.  The tragedy barely had a moment to unfold before it was overtaken by issues rather than reality, in hopes that what one projected onto the event would trump the event itself.

So I find myself in the unenviable position of talking about something that too many uninformed people, including myself, are talking about.  I would hope that maybe, just maybe, that a little more civility amongst those that disagree would be the ultimate result and that perhaps some good could come out of this tragedy, but I am not an optimist by nature, I expect nothing more than a brief hiatus followed by business as usual for those that make their way through such a rhetorical minefield.  There will be a pause to be sure amongst the talking head crowd, not so much out of respect for Rep. Giffords or those who lost their lives on this day, but because no one wants to be the first to say something uncouth, unless there is some gain in it for them, but once that first person breaks the silence, all bets are off and we return to our previously scheduled status quo, already in progress.

Thankfully that wasn't the only thing that happened yesterday, so I wasn't surrounded with the muck that accompanies that particular issue.  Rather there were some football games on TV, so I was quickly distracted.  The first was the Saints-Seahawks matchup, one that on paper would appear to be a mismatch, the Saints enter the playoffs as a wild card team, albeit with an 11-5 record, while the Seahwaks won the weak NFC West division with a 7-9 record, and all 9 losses were by double digit points.  When I first saw this was going to be the matchup last Sunday night, I commented on Facebook that I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints were favored by 10 points on the opening betting line.  Sure enough, the line was 10.5 to 11 points, depending on your betting venue, but the verdict was all the same, the Saints were overwhelming favorites.  Yet when the game was all said and done it was the Seahawks who came away with a 41-36 victory.  And we take a moment to pause for Tracy Porter, who got "postered" on the game clinching touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch.  Not that Porter was the only guilty party on that play, 8 different guys (out of a possible 11) missed tackles on the play, but it was Porter that will be "postered".  As for what "postering" actually is, it is when an athlete has a poster or trading card and in the picture it shows them beating another player on a given play.  So back in the day, when  an image of Michael Jordan dunking over a guy would be sold, the guy getting dunked on would be the one that was "postered'.  Such will be the case for Tracy Porter, for getting stiff armed by Marshawn Lynch and getting launched three yards out of the play in the process on the game clinching run (see the player who attempts the tackle around the 35 yard line for Tracy Porter's lowlight).



The late game was good in that it literally came down to the last play, a field goal by the NY Jets as time expired in a 17-16 win over Indianapolis, but it lacked the magic of the big upset that the earlier game provided.

Well, I would continue, but I didn't have my DeLuca's breakfast I had planned on, so my fuel tank is starting to run on empty here.  My aunt and I were planning on going, but we could never square away a time, and then we both ended up oversleeping anyway.  Not that sleep was bad, it was bitterly cold outside this morning, temps were in the single digits even without the windchill, so staying in and staying warm was an adequate alternative, though I did miss not being able to have my cheeseburger omelet as a good way to start the new week.  Oh well, there is always next week, or 6 or so blog entries from now.