The USFL was already in trouble by 1984 financially with most if not all of their clubs losing money. And this really didn’t have anything to do with fan support. The fans were there for this league to still be in business as a spring/summer league today. But the league simply grew too fast with eighteen clubs by 1985. And most of these clubs being in established NFL markets. Like Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Denver and Los Angeles.
I’m not sure the old USFL could’ve been saved at this point, but moving their games to the fall which was the plan for 1986 was probably the thing that killed the league. Going up against the NFL in their markets in their territory the same time the NFL is playing. Perhaps the only thing that would’ve saved the old USFL at this point was going back to the old spring/fall schedule. And contraction or relocation of USFL clubs that were in NFL markets.
Chuck Noll the greatest NFL head coach of the 1970s and the creator of the Steel Curtain Dynasty. The man who built the Pittsburgh Steelers at least as far as it related to their football operations and football department. Art Rooney founded the Steelers and gave the City of Pittsburgh major league NFL football. The Steelers except for a handful of seasons under the great head coach Buddy Parkers were a losing franchise and for the most part never really in contention to be winners let alone contenders and champions. Chuck Noll made the Steelers franchise and what it is as one of the best franchises in professional sports not just the NFL that it is today.
Chuck Noll built the Steelers primarily through the draft as the Steelers head coach/general manager which meant who not only led the team on the field, but also was in charge of player personal for the club. And the Steelers under Noll invested heavily and well in scouting and the draft to see what the Steelers weren’t getting the players that other NFL clubs were getting over the years that kept the Steelers at the bottom of the NFL. And went to schools to get players that not many other NFL clubs were looking at. Which is how he drafted DT Joe Greene from a small southern school. Same thing with WR John Stallworth and MLB Jack Lambert from a small school in Ohio.
If there is just one NFL Draft that built an NFL Dynasty it was the 1974 NFL Draft. That is where the ‘Super Steelers’, or Steel Curtain Steelers was created. Before 1974 the Steelers were a solid NFL contender in the AFC under Chuck Noll making the AFC Playoffs in 1972 and 73. But the 1974 Draft is where they drafted four NFL Hall of Famers who all played their entire careers in Pittsburgh under Chuck Noll. WR’s John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, MLB Jack Lambert and center Mike Webster.
Chuck Noll was a great head coach because he knew how to draft, what kind of team he wanted and how to get the best out of the players he had and how to play them. And his basic message was very simple, “this is what I expect of you and what I need you to do and I wouldn’t ask it of you if you weren’t capable of it. And if you give me your best effort and execution, we’ll be champions together”. Or how Coach Noll called it Whatever it Takes. Which is “do whatever you can to win for the Steelers and we’ll go a long way together”. And it worked very well of the Steelers in the 1970s.
The Jordan Rules was a Detroit Pistons defense that was designed to stop the great Michael Jordan from the Chicago Bulls. It was created by the great Pistons point guard Isaiah Thomas and one of the Pistons assistant coaches. I believe Brendan Malone and this defense was designed to let anyone else beat the Pistons besides Michael Jordan. Which meant anyone else from the Bulls could beat them and have big games which of course didn’t happen pre-1991. Whether it was Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright whoever it might be.
This all came about because in the late 1980s the Pistons and Bulls, Detroit vs. Chicago which is a great sports rivalry because of those two big cities to begin with and that they are fairly close together and they met in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs four straight years from 1988-91. Two very physical and good defensive teams meeting in the playoffs to go to the NBA Finals. So these series always meant a lot and this was a time when the Pistons were looking to win their first NBA Championship after coming very close in 1987 and 88. With the Bulls looking to take their place and jump ahead of them.
The Jordan Rules itself were fairly simple. Again anyone but Jordan can beat them meaning anyone besides Michael can take open shots and get good looks at the basket. Now they still have to execute and take advantage of those opportunities. But when MJ has the ball at least two guys on him every time he tries to drive and keep him off of the wings where he got most of those incredible dunks. Force him into the lane and to go up against the Pistons big men where he would either take a hard foul. Or would just be stopped with the Pistons getting the ball back.
And the other thing being make MJ work on defense. Whoever he is guarding in the Pistons backcourt. Or if he’s guarding Mark Aguirre the Pistons small forward. Make MJ run through a lot of hard screens from either Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, James Edwards or Dennis Rodman. And give Jordan’s man a lot of shots and good looks at the basket. So MJ doesn’t have anytime to rest on the court. And pre-1991 before Scottie Pippen became the great player that he became the Jordan Rules was the only successful defense against Michael Jordan.
I posted this a few days ago on this blog about then Senator Joe Biden proposing back in 2007-08 to partition Iraq which of course the Iraqi people would have to approve themselves. And how that may of seem radical then and even a few months ago when Iraq still look fairly stable. But now with the chaos going on in Iraq that 3-4 state solution inside of a Federal Republic of Iraq with a federalist system. Which each state having autonomy over their own domestic affairs now looks like a very reasonable approach.
It wouldn’t make much sense to propose that now especially in an ongoing civil war in Iraq. Some level of security would have to be retained first that leaves the country as one. Without the North breaking away from Baghdad and the South and West remaining part of the Federal Republic as well. But assuming the Federal Government and Iraq with their military can regain control of the country at least to the point that the country is still officially one country, then maybe the partition idea would make a lot of sense.
The partition idea would have to have a responsible government in the Province of Baghdad where Baghdad City is also located which in the Central West of the country. A responsible government in the West where the Sunnis would govern. A responsible government in the North where the Kurds would govern. And a responsible government in the South where the Shia would government. Meaning the terrorists in each of these areas would have to be defeated first. Which is no small order considering the current Federal Government in Iraq.
One of the advantages of being able to talk about solutions and issues and offer ideas to solve those issues when you know you don’t have a shot in hell in being successful is that you can offer and write any plan you want and just wing it. Why not because you know it won’t pass anyway, so what do you have to lose. Which is how I’m going to focus on infrastructure investment because even though the Democratic Senate may reach some compromise before the end of this Congress. The Republican House is not interested in really passing anything now and only interested in trying to investigate the Obama Administration.
Back in the day (and yes I’m old enough to remember this) when cooler and smarter heads were running Congress the House would pass their infrastructure bill every year with the funding to pay for it. And then send it over to the Senate which was already working on their own bill. And they would either take the House bill or add an amendment to it like something to do with how to fund the bill. Or adding new infrastructure projects to it. Because back then members of Congress especially the leadership knew the importance of infrastructure for the economy. Plus they wanted to get reelected and wanted to give their constituents reasons to reelect them. “Hey I got us this new road or bridge” etc.
Take the Tea Party out of the House of Representatives and that is how Congress would still be operating today. Either under the old Republican Leadership in the House or under Democratic Leadership. And they would work with the Senate from either party and we wouldn’t have this one-trillion-dollar debt or more according to the U.S. Core of Engineers. (hardly socialist radicals) Because Congress would’ve kept up with the construction and repairs of our current roads, bridges, airports etc. As well as funding new projects that the country needed.
Funding infrastructure investment in America from a practical and even political point of view with a majority of the country is fairly simple. These projects are generally funded through gas taxes. If there isn’t enough money in the transportation fund to pay for them. Then you can either raise those taxes. Pass a tax on oil, tax alcohol, increase tobacco taxes to pay for these projects. You can tax things that wouldn’t hurt people especially alcohol and tobacco things that people don’t have to have. In order to pay for the infrastructure. This would be my plan to finance infrastructure investment in a partisan climate where there’s probably a better chance of watching sharks fly then for this plan to become law.
I’m not an Atheist or a believer, but an Agnostic who is also a Liberal Constitutionalist who believes in the United States Constitution which is what my liberalism is based on and what liberalism in general at least in the classical sense and I would argue today’s sense as well is based on. So even if I as an individual don’t exercise every single individual right given to me as an individual, I still believe that rights that others practice should be enforced just as strongly and equally with the rights that I take advantage of.
Freedom of Religion under the First Amendment in the United States Constitution is a perfect example of that. I do not practice religion myself, but for those who do they clearly have that right in the United States as they should and I support their right to practice their religion whatever religion that is. I also support Atheists free speech rights to speak out against religion and other Agnostics right to be neutral when it comes to religion. And these rights should be enforced equally with the Freedom of Religion.
So if a conservative Christian lets say which is different from a political Conservative, but if conservative Christians believe that homosexuality is a threat to the country and everything good that we stand for and everything else, they obviously have that right to believe that and speak out against homosexuality under the First Amendment. And Christian preachers obviously have the right to tell their followers about what they think about homosexuality as well.
But speech and beliefs are different from actions especially when you are in public. You want to believe Gays are fags and Lesbians are dykes and call them those things, you have that right. But to deny them access to things you offer the rest of the public because of your religious beliefs is where Freedom of Religion stops. And where equal access and protection comes in once you declare you are open for the public. You don’t want to have involvement with homosexuals, that is your right. As long as you do not declare open to business to the public. And you can live in your own private world with people who look at things just the way you do.
Christians at least the people I have come across and dealt with are as good and decent Americans as Americans and people come. And really do live under the Ten Commandments like treating people the way you want to be treated and live and let live. And are generally the first people to treat the needy and volunteer their time and money to good charitable causes. It is in the fringe in their community the bigots that give Christianity a bad name especially with the non-fundamentalists among us whether they are religious or not. But Christianity itself shouldn’t be seen a religion of hate and discrimination when most Christians are good decent tolerant people.
I’m in favor of lifting the American embargo on Cuba all together conditionally. And that means getting certain things from the Castro Regime in Cuba first.
That they allow their people to share the same benefits of trade that they allow their tourists and allow their people the same access to the country as they allow their tourists. And they allow their people to mingle with the tourists. Instead of trying to showcase Cuba as this beautiful paradise where people can live freely. As they are holding eleven-million Cubans prisoners and showing them the prison of a communist state.
That the Castro Regime in Cuba doesn’t tax away most of the benefits from trading with America and pockets to bankroll its regime. That the money from trading with America goes to the Cuban people themselves with the government still being able to tax those benefits. Just not being able to pocket most of them. Similar to how trade tariffs work where trading between two countries goes to the people in the economy. But the governments get some, but not most of that back in taxes.
That normal travel would resume between Cuba and America. Americans would be free to travel to Cuba and go through Cuban customs. And Cubans would be allowed to travel to America and go through American customs. Or be able to leave Cuba freely from any other country instead of being held prisoner in their own country.
Cuba releases all current political prisoners not terrorists that they are currently holding. They release people that are simply being held for protesting the Castro Regime and stop arresting political prisoners in the future.
Why I take these positions? Because Cuba is the only country in the Americas that we do not trade with and that costs Americans money. Because every other country in the Americas, as well as Europe, Arabia and Asia all trade with Cuba. Money that could go to American companies and American workers for things that we would otherwise sell to Cubans.
Also the hypocrisy in the Cuban Trade Embargo because they are an authoritarian state. Well guess what we still trade with China which is still a Communist Republic. We traded with Russia when they were a Communist Republic. The Soviet Union back in the day a country of four-hundred-million people. More people than what the United States has today by the way. The People’s Republic of China a country of over a billion people. What makes Cuba so special a third-world country of eleven-million people that doesn’t represent any military threat to America even just ninety miles way.
You trade with authoritarian states and what happens is that people in those states get to see what your country is about and what it has to offer. How your people live and what they are about and what they are missing which is freedom. What it is like to not be a prisoner in your own country. And I agree it is not the Cuban Trade Embargo that wrecked the Cuban economy. The Communist Regime did that, but the trade embargo does not help the Cuban people which should be our number one concern when it comes to helping this country. And we can do something to help the Cuban people and give them a taste of freedom.
Freedom vs. equality which I guess has been an ongoing debate between Progressives and Libertarians perhaps for an indefinite time now. And this whole discussion is really relates to what is called income inequality. And the Progressives concerns with it and Libertarians there to say that “people should be allowed to keep the fruits of their labor. And even if they make a lot more money than their fellow Americans because they earned that success”. With Progressives there to counter that “if we don’t look out for struggling Americans then that affects everyone because of the lost purchasing power. But also because the social costs that come from it”. But also because they believe society has a role to essentially take care of the less-fortunate among us.
As the great libertarian Economist Milton Friedman said “without freedom there isn’t any equality”. Why because if people don’t have the freedom to do as much for themselves as they can and have the ability to take care of themselves as much as possible, than they won’t. So yeah if you encourage people not to be successful by taxing most of their money way from them to take care of others you may reach equality. A country that has a lot of struggling people in it where most of the country struggles. And very few Americans having much if any freedom at all. But that is not the society that most Americans want.
Americans tend to want to be as successful as they can and you accomplish that by making sure people have the freedom and tools so they can do that. It is not a freedom vs. equality issue for me as a Liberal. But how you get to a society and an economy where as many people as possibly can have the tools to get the freedom they need to be successful in society and not need public assistance to financially survive. And to get there instead of having government take so much from the successful and people who live in freedom we empower as many people as possible who want to work and be successful in life to get themselves the tools to be able to accomplish that for themselves.
Which means things like expanding education and job training for low-income adults whether they are working or not. And making those opportunities for anyone who needs it. And having an education system that produces more high-skilled students and workers. The question for me at least is not freedom vs. equality. To that is a false choice like choosing between food or water.
To me it is how you produce a society where many people as possible that is people who want to live in freedom and would work hard for it, how are they able to accomplish that for themselves which is living in freedom. And then allow them to enjoy the fruits of their labor or at least the most of it so they are encouraged to be successful in the future as well. That is how you have a society that is both free and equal. Not take from the very successful to take care of the rest of the country.
There really isn’t any plan that would fix our U.S. Congress that is so unpopular that only its members, family and staff for the members and perhaps some mental patients approve of the job that it is doing. First of all which might seem foreign to Europeans and social democrats in America is that we have a bicameral Congress with a House and Senate. That is right we do not have a Congress and a Senate which some on the Left (MSNBC comes to mind and others) do not seem to understand. And they are independent of each other and have to work with each other to pass laws out of Congress.
Which means the House would have to fix itself and the Senate the same for Congress to be fixed. And in the future this blog may propose to plan to do both. But what Congress can do together is pass laws regulating how its members are elected.
Like taking the responsibility away from state legislatures in how House districts are drawn. Not taking the power away from the states or the legislatures completely. But giving state elections commissions to the authority to draw up districts. And not draw them up to favor any political party. But draw them up that represents the state . So Republicans or Democrats wouldn’t have more House districts because their party controls the state house and the legislature. Because now those seats would be drawn based on party membership of the state. Not based on which party currently controls the state. These commissions would make their suggestions. The legislature and governor would have to approve them to become law. And then the Federal Election Commission would have to approve them as well to make sure they are consistent with party registration of the states.
Another idea would be full-disclosure that would cover all political contributions. Whether they are given to incumbents, candidates or third-party groups. All contributions would have to be fully-disclosed the amount of money that is given, plus by which individual or group gave the money.
These are some of the things that Congress the House and Senate could do working together could do to fix Congress. Because their members would be less willing to take money from groups that are controversial and feel the need to hide. But also less willing to be associated with them in third-party groups like when one of these groups runs an ad against their opponent. But House districts would now be drawn in a way where they are less partisan. And where the representative would be representing a more diverse population without the ability to take such partisan stances on issues. Because it could cost them politically.
I was waiting to read from Mike Konczal in his piece some call for nationalizing private charity and completely nationalizing private charity all together and giving the Federal Government complete control over the charity system in the United States. He stopped short of that and instead proposed to nationalize the retirement system and completely turning Social Security into the sole source when it comes to retirement in this country. As well as call for nationalizing Medicaid, which is another bad idea. But that is a different topic. But apparently there are even limits that the most socialist among us put on government.
A problem that Socialists have in America is that they are collectivists living in a very individualistic society. And they don’t trust people to do the right things when it comes to their own lives. Especially from an economic point of view and charity would be one example of that. But even to a certain extent a personal point of view as it relates to their prohibitionist policies as it relates to what Americans should be able to eat and drink.
The fact is Americans donate a lot of money to charity every year. And every time there is some humanitarian crisis in the world the rest of the world tends to look at America first. And we always respond both with our government assistance. As well as our private charities stepping up and individuals either volunteering their time, or money and sometimes both to help people in need either in this country, or in another country. Private charity has worked very well in America and if anything should be expanded and encouraged even more. Not messed with by government.
Not making the argument that private charity would be a suitable replacement to public assistance. Just making the case that we need to do both. One to encourage Americans to do what they can for struggling Americans. Because there actually is a big limit to what can government can do well for the people. But there is also a limit to what Americans can do for each other especially in a struggling economy that shrunk in the last quarter. And you need government to step in and try to make up the difference.
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