VeeJay says, "Talking Pro Football? Your talking John Madden."

Which would you rather have?
All of your favorite teams survivng past the Wildcard Weekend or John Boom-Boom Madden announcing every playoff game and of course, the SuperBowl? See how screwed up the NFL is? Everybody wants both. The dummies who run the NFL just don't get it. Amazing things; Shuji Nakamura gets $190 million backpay for the blue LED, the new Queen Mary cost $800 million, one stealth bomber cost $1,000 million, the dummies who run the NFL aren't smart enough to pay whatever it takes to make sure John Madden is announcing every SuperBowl.

2004. What a great year, if January is any indication.
Football fans in Japan, all 200,000 of us, have to wait till after Thanksgiving to see NFL football on satellite television. The bad part about it is that the NFL season is short; only about two and a half months. After which it's wall to wall Eki Den, soccer, motocross, Formula-one, and baseball. The good part about it is that that's when we find out who's on top. We don't have to chew our fingernails down to the nub hoping our favorite teams will come out on top. This year was a pleasant surprise. All of our favorite teams had either won their divisions or made it to Wildcard Week. And the very best announcer of them all, Big John Madden announced most of the games we saw, Colts vs Bucs, Pats vs Broncos, Eagles vs Dolphins. Some of the great games: Colts 41-10 over the Broncos. Cheeseheads 33-27 over the Seahawks. Carolina somethings 29-10 over Dallas. Don't you like to watch Payton Manning and Brett Farb? When they're hot, they're hot. When they're not, they're throwing interceptions. Their interceptions are usually heartbreakers. But VeeJay says it would be less unbearable as long as John Madden were there to put everything into perspective. Besides, at least one Manning made it to SuperBowl XXXVlll, Ricky Manning. He helped by catching some of those interceptions.

VeeJay says, "Big John Madden is a California guy. That's a plus, right?"
Yes, of course. Californians have an infectious enthusiasm for the things they enjoy. It is said that there are not 48 contiguous states but really only three states in America. New York, California, and "everything-else." New Yorkers, possibly due to a subtle Jewish inspired sophistication, have an all encompassing acceptance of and reverence for diversity of the human condition. Ironically New Yorkers are occassionally chided for this by those in the "everything-else" state. Californians on the other hand, often find themselves chided for being too enthusiastic about the things they enjoy. Excessive enthusiasm is often interpreted as childishness. This is pure fiddle-faddle, however. What is excessive? Call it ebullient. Those in the "everything else" state need to grow up. Learn to have fun. Every now and again say, "Boom!"

There is so much more to John Madden's expertise.
John Madden's perspective is all encompassing. Madden was a coach. He's used to tracking every action of 100 or so players, on both sides, and another twenty or so coordinators and referees, all at the same time, in real time. There is an automatic, innate ability he which he possesses that sets him way apart from the rest. In the past Madden used this special ability in helping each player to improve. Now he puts it to use in helping everybody to appreciate and understand the myriad skillion-and-one things that are happening on the field during each minute of play. You may recall one game where Marvin Harrison catches a pass from Payton Manning. He looks down. But Harrison gets up and scampers in for the Colts' first touchdown of the game. Huh? Hey, let's see that one again. Maybe the announcer will tell us what happened. A lot of people are still wondering about that call. It would have taken John Madden a few quick seconds to set everybody straight. But guess what jelly bean? John Madden wasn't announcing that game.

Safety, Linebacker, Center, Guard, Tackle, Tight End, Full Back, Half Back, Quarter Back, Wide Reciever, etc.

John Madden is fast.
Man, is he fast. His mind is running full ahead warp seven. What Big John thinks, so quickly and so clearly, he explains just as quickly and clearly.
Football is a very complex game.
Especially when you consider all the things that each of the 22 guys would do, could do, or do do between the time the ball is snapped and the whistle blows. Madden's mind is in each and every one of those places, all of the time. When you watch a game with Madden, your mind has the opportunity to be in skillions of places right along with his. Some people see plays that don't result in spectacular gains or losses and yawn when Madden isn't announcing. Ho hum, just another dogpile; just another dropped pass, right? Not when Madden is announcing. No huh-uh. You see exactly what type of play it was. Blitz. Play-action. Shotgun. How the executions had been intended. Which three or four players executed well and which player or players executed poorly or missed their assignments entirely. What they did. What they were supposed to have done. What else they could have done. Madden explains all these in rapid fire succession. Time after time.
John Madden never gets tired of Pro Football.
He never lets you lose interest either.

In the '70s it became popular to call Pro Footballers dumb.
Howard Cossell, Don Meredith, Frank Gifford and others countered such criticism with twenty-five cent words. Madden is a little different. He's super articulate while using regular language. Yet Big John doesn't snow the fans. Madden is both articulate and intelligent. He could use words like "nemesis" and "opprobrium." Instead, he provides openings for his co-announcer to do that.

Hey, John's a team player.
Some announcers like stats. Some talk about what they were discussing with a player last week. Of course everyone needs to know what down it is, how many yards are left for a first down, and how many time outs each team still has. Madden gives all that and everything you ever dreamed of. He seamlessly bounces comments back and forth with his co-announcers. Sans effort, sans souci, sans ennui.

Who is the beneficiary of all this good kharma, charisma and expertise? The fans, of course. The fans.

Maybe Madden is too good.

Monday Night Football: John Madden
Biography of the announcer from the official Monday Night Football
"Madden started on both the offensive and defensive lines as a player for California Polytechnic College at San Luis Obispo in 1957 and 1958 and was voted to the All-Conference team. He was also a catcher on the school's baseball team. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 and a Master of Arts degree in 1961, both from Cal Poly. The Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the 21st round of the 1958 NFL draft, but a knee injury in his rookie season prematurely ended his career. "
espn.go.com/abcsports/mnf/columns/madden_john/bio.html

Football. American style football. In Japan. Huh? That's right, jelly bean. The Canadian League and the European League are not the only places outside of the USA where this fantastic sport is played. There was a pretty good game in Japan which was broadcast on or about January 4, 2004. The stadium was 85% filled with paying fans. That is in marked contrast to the turnout for many soccer games which usually draw about 25% of seating capacity.

Is emulation is a sincere form of flattery? This game turned out to be very flattering. Good execution. Good defensive and offensive coordination. Some exciting runs and some beautiful long pass completions.

Which teams played? There was a company team, the Onward Skylarks. Which company? Nobody we asked could pin down just exactly which company. Nor did anybody know whether the players were paid for their games or whether they were motivated by some other incentives. The other team was a university team, the Ritsu Mei Kan University Panthers. Who won? The Panthers won by a score of 28 to 16.

Here's an interesting seguey heard on NHK at the half of the Eagles vs Panthers playoff game,
"The Panthers fans are saying,
Nana tai san tou narimasu!"

Sasha Cohen
January 4, 2004
Sports. Tens of thousands of hours of repetitive actions. Over and over again and again and again and again and again. Living it, sleeping it, eating it. Talk about boring conversationalists. Can you say Shang Hai chinese noodle factory, nowhere, doing nothing? Then they fill up tens of thousands of television broadcasting hours with the stuff. Hey let's watch a marathon. Hey let's watch a soccer game. Tired of the same old same old? Most people are when it comes to ice skating. Funny how people can be conditioned to take something fun and transform it into dull, tedious, and boring. Drudgery. Pure ennui. That's what sports so often become when vocational imperatives or national vanity get into the mix. Speed skating for example. Men with thighs two or three times normal size and androgenous women, both of which are thrilled by wearing shiny smooth spandex in the name of national vanity. Or figure skating, which has largely been reduced to a triple jump followed by a double jump, without falling. Enter Sasha Cohen. The perfect blend of beauty, style and grace. You may wonder if you are watching classical ballet on ice. How utterly captivating. Wonderful moves. Sasha Cohen's performance is the epitome of graceful fluid artistry. What a marvelous breath of freshness.
Does anybody remember that brat whose boyfriends broke the leg of her competition in the olympics? Irritated by reporters needling, she could just as well have quoted a line Gregory Peck once quipped, "I don't care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right."

Dear Hope subscribers and friends
Passover Greetings from Jerusalem
April 02,2004, TheHope.org
The recent issue of Wired Magazine (1/2M subscribers and free Internet issue) features “The 2004 Rave Awards” for 20 innovators who are changing the world.
These include director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Ring) Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Steve Jobs (Apple, Pixar) and 10 other categories. Trailing them, starting on the very auspicious page number – 144 - is the issue’s major article “Apocalypse Now” with a 2-page picture of a holographic Temple of Light descending from heaven over the Dome of the Rock, then my own picture as sort of taking off above a horizon of 18 historical vignettes, going from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to 2000 CE when, “Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount, sparking second Intifada. Hayutman proposes holographic temple”.
In 6 full pages of text, Wired contributing editor Josh Davis skillfully discusses the Jerusalem Temple Mount – (quote: “Before coming here, I’d heard that the Mount was a “powder keg” and “ground zero for the apocalypse.” The reality is that the fuse is already burning”) - and he explores carefully and benevolently (in spite of the common immediate impulse to pooh-pooh) how my designs for a holographic Temple and for Virtual Realization of the Temple via “The Jerusalem Games System” can prevent the gory scenarios and usher a global new age of harmony. My recommendation – buy the magazine!
If you do not buy the magazine, you can download the article at
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.04/holyland.html (on 5 htm pages) for free. Same contents, same pictures (only smaller). If you want the plain text, it’s attached here <wiredApocalypse.doc>.
TheHope.org

You can take the boy out of Britain. But can you take Britain out of the boy?
1/14/2004, Somewhere in the south of France
Complaining about Britain seems to be a national pastime for Brits. Especially when Tony Blair tries his best Neocon impersonation of those "same old Tories." He won't go so far as to re-impose a Thatcheresque Poll Tax. That's where each individual who wishes to vote has to first pay a Poll Tax of $1,000 or so. Neat idea, huh? Those old Tories actually did that. However much Blair likes to make life difficult for those who perform labour, he wouldn't go that far, would he? What about a "Council Tax"? Yesiree! What else? An added tax on those convicted of crimes might just be politically doable.
Anyway, erstwhile British correspondent Andrew McKillop has picked up and moved to greener pastures in the south of France. Complaining all the way, presumably. Once there he noted rather matter-of-factly the following:
On the Nymex price bidding "due to cold weather" has cranked NG spot price levels to USD 12/Million BTU. At an energy equivalence of 5.8 Million BTU per barrel of oil we get an energy equivalent price of USD 69.60 per barrel. Apart from the tightening supply picture, the demand side was hit by what he called "demand shock."

So naturally we started thinking about oil. Then Iraq and the Mid-East. Then bombers. Here's how you could stop some of the nonsense in Iraq. There are some really big athletic guys over there in the Mid-East, right? The NFL could send some recruiters over there to sign them up. Hey, why blow yourself up when you can become an NFL hero? Yeah but they are promised riches and 72 virgins. 72 Virgins? Virgin schmirgin. Virgins are ridiculously over rated. NFL heroes can swim in a sea of girls. And cash. All they have to do is win games. How can you get them to understand that simple fact of life? It would be a hell of a lot easier for them to understand with game videos. And of course, John Madden's lucid explanations.

IN GOTTES NAMEN
Samstag, 13. März 2004
Die Rekruten des Heiligen Krieges
Wie denken Selbstmordattentäter, die ihr Leben für ein vermeintlich höheres Ziel opfern? Schahids, Märtyrer des Dschihad, werden sie genannt. Sie sind überzeugt, mit dem Töten im Dienste Allahs die Tiefe ihres Glaubens zu bezeugen. SPIEGEL TV hat einen Blick in Schulen, Moscheen und Wohnzimmer der Gotteskrieger geworfen.
mehr...
spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,444,00.html
spiegel.de/sptv/0,1518,fotostrecken,00.html
spiegel.de/sptv/

VeeJay says, "Talking Pro Football? Your talking John Madden."

VeeJay says, "What about Delhomme?
Right. We almost forgot. The European league cinderella quarter back made it to America unexpectedly. Then after finally being given the chance to show his stuff leads his team straight to SuperBowl XXXVlll. A plus for 2004. A super plus for European Pro Football.

"Delhomme has gotten more and more confident as the playoffs have gone on. That's the beauty of winning -- as players start to win they start to gain the confidence necessary to continue to win."
- John Madden on Carolina QB Jake Delhomme
http://www.allmadden.com

VeeJay says, "What about Tommy Maddox?
Oh, yeah, the come back kid, Tommy Maddox. That turned out to be an interesting story. As much for what should have been done as what should never be done. Egos can really muck things up sometimes. But, hey, what about Tommy?
Tommy Maddox lead the Steelers to a 6 and 10 season. That places the Steelers in the middle of the pack. But that's not the whole story by a long shot. Some say that he's no Tom Brady. Maybe Maybe not. But that's really beside the point, isn't it? What doesn't compare is the Steelers' offensive line and the offensive line of the Patriots. What's a guy to do when the offensive line is virtually porous? 38 third down sacks. Not 38 third downs missed. That's 38 THIRD DOWN SACKS. You'd have to give a guy a lot of credit for pulling out a 6 win season with an offensive front line that lazy. But wait it gets better. Not only were most of the wins come-from-behind, most of the second half stats were also come-from-behind scenarios, where Tommy had to make up for his lazy front line. That accounts for his low QB rating. So Tommy had to pass. Long passes. And pass he did, resulting in a respectable 3,414 total yards.

Some advice for the Steeler coaching staff.
Don't cut your nose off to spite your face. You know what we're talking about. Bruener and Bettis. Give them the ball.
And - DUH
Start them next year.
Save on salary caps by cutting Zereoue but keep Bettis - if he'll stay. To go or to stay is really moot if you don't give him the ball, exept you'd be all those millions in the hole.
Get an offensive line in front of Maddox.
And for goodness sakes, triple Tommy's salary. At least triple. What a bargain he'd be at $2 million. Remember, everybody else saw what happened this season. If you don't pay him what he's worth...
Well, you get our drift.