A Visit to Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood

Let’s take a short break from our struggle to maintain the American way of life and consider a subject thoroughly irrelevant: the fortunes of the Green Bay Packers.

A glance at the NFL NFC Conference standings at the time this is typed shows that if the playoffs were to begin this weekend – a silly notion, but stick with me – Green Bay would hold the top seed in the NFC. Having seen the Green and Gold play a few times – not all of their games, mind you, but most – one thought immediately comes to mind: that if the playoffs did start this weekend, Green Bay would be the team that all the other playoff teams would most want to play. To say that the Packers have seemed less than a juggernaut thus far … well … sums it up.

I did watch (on tape delay, of course) Green Bay’s recent victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Looking at the Cardinals’ record and not being aware of their back story, one might assume that the narrowness of Green Bay’s victory underscores my case. Here, I would differ. Arizona has apparently had a bunch of close and tough losses, and the Cardinals played hard. They’re a significantly better team than their record, and the Packers can be proud of their victory. Arizona backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett had a truly impressive performance, but watching the game made me feel in one respect that it was déjà vu … all over again.

I have lamented more than once in these pages over the years that the Brett Favre Packers should have won more Super Bowls than the one they claimed, but they had a weak link that for years the Dallas Cowboys exploited: in the 1992 NFL Draft, then-Green Bay General Manager Ron Wolf drafted Cornerback Terrell Buckley out of Florida State University rather that Cornerback Troy Vincent out of the University of Wisconsin, and while Mr. Vincent went on to have a distinguished career, Mr. Buckley didn’t experience the success that the Packers had hoped for. In crunch time in big games between the Cowboys and the Packers, then-Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman would seemingly simply pass to whichever of his talented wide receivers Mr. Buckley was trying to cover. The results were predictable. The Green and Gold didn’t finally win a championship, despite having Mr. Favre, Reggie White, and a host of other talented players, until they drafted Craig Newsome, who took Mr. Buckley’s place.

And again: in 2010, although the season ended in the only Green Bay Championship in the Aaron Rodgers years, at midseason the team was going virtually nowhere; a primary reason was that a truly remarkable cornerback and classy guy – Charles Woodson – had reached the point that he no longer had elite corner cover skills. He was regularly being beaten. Out of desperation, the team moved him into the slot – where, with his football smarts, he proceeded to wreak havoc on opposing offenses – and threw the completely unheralded Sam Shields, who had been a wide receiver in college, into the corner spot. Mr. Shields unexpectedly proved to have truly elite cover corner skills. With their Aaron Rodgers offense and a Woodson-in-the-slot, Clay Mathews-led defense, Green Bay morphed from a marginal playoff contender into a World Champion.

Since I spend little time on Green Bay during the offseason even when we’re not struggling to save American democracy, I wasn’t sorry when I heard some time after the fact that the team had parted ways with its celebrated cornerback, Jaire Alexander. When healthy, Mr. Alexander is a premier corner, but he wasn’t healthy often enough. That said, Linebacker Micah Parsons’ entrance – Mr. Parsons has been truly impressive — and Mr. Alexander’s departure has flipped the script for the Packers’ defense; last year, the secondary was the team’s defensive strength, its pass rush its liability; this year, Mr. Parsons has galvanized the Packers’ “front seven” while the secondary has been less impressive. Against the Cardinals, Mr. Brissett went after Cornerback Nate Hobbs, whom the team signed to replace Mr. Alexander, with impunity. Perhaps he was just having a bad day – it happens, and I haven’t seen all of the Packers’ games – but Mr. Hobbs looked a lot more like Mr. Buckley than he did like Mr. Alexander.

All that said, let’s move on to Green Bay’s upcoming visit to Pittsburgh for its Sunday night matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Packer fans – y’all know where I’m goin’ with this😉.) While any game against the Steelers, given the team’s outstanding pedigree, is a formidable challenge, this one will be … different. We know now-Steeler Quarterback Mr. Rodgers. He’s a fr… well, we know him 😊. Although he left Green Bay under seemingly-less acrimonious conditions than did Mr. Favre before him, and has said that he holds no animosity toward Green Bay, that this Sunday’s game will not be “a revenge game” for him, we know that he gets up for particular challenges, and that he will be ready to go on Sunday evening. He’s now two years into the rehab of his Achilles injury. I haven’t seen him play a down this year, but don’t have to. I’m guessing that between his injury and his age, he’s not as mobile as when he was the most accurate passer on the run in NFL history, but I’ll venture that he can still move around under pressure when he has to. There is no savvier quarterback in the NFL. No matter what Mr. Rodgers says, I am confident that he well recalls that in his first matchup against Mr. Favre after Mr. Favre left Green Bay, Mr. Favre won.

I fear that Mr. Hobbs might as well take off his normal Packer jersey and wear one with a big, red X on it. Given Mr. Parsons’ and the rest of the Packers’ pass rush, the Steelers will have to keep back additional pass protection, but that ball is going to come out quick (speaking fan-speak, rather than grammatically 😉 ) or be thrown away. You know it. I know it. I am confident that the Packer Defensive Braintrust and Mr. Hobbs know it.

Because of Mr. Rodgers, I will venture that this Sunday’s game, although the Steelers are in the AFC, will be as big a test for Mr. Love and the Packers as any they face this season. If there is any good to be gleaned from Green Bay’s performances against the Cleveland Browns and the Dallas Cowboys, it’s that the team must realize that it can’t afford to be overconfident. I’m not sure I accept the slim odds currently favoring the Pack.

We’ll see what happens. This one will be fun. If the Packers win, maybe they have something. If they don’t, I’m guessing that despite their current record, they probably don’t. (Since the game is in the evening, I’ll watch it live, perhaps even past my Medicare-aged bed time 😊 ).

Enjoy the weekend.

Congratulations to the Brewers

Although their pace slowed a bit in the last month of the season, as all who care are aware, the Milwaukee Brewers managed to maintain the top seed in this year’s National League playoff structure with the best record in Major League Baseball. A little later today, they host the Chicago Cubs in the first game of the second round of the National League playoffs. Preoccupied with the toxic state of our political environment, I haven’t seen an inning of Brewer baseball this season. Since old baseball fans are as superstitious as old baseball players, I don’t intend to start watching now. I venture no opinion as to how they’ll fare against superstar-laden, heavy-payrolled clubs in the playoffs. That said – and being well aware that more than a few diehard Cub fans read these notes – I think every baseball fan can agree that given its relatively limited resources, the Brewers’ performance this year has been mighty impressive. I don’t expect to add anything further here about Milwaukee’s fortunes unless the Brewers reach the World Series, and I will find it completely charming if they do. (But then I certainly won’t watch 😊).

Go Crew.

In September, Baseball is Hard

Since I have addressed the fortunes of the Milwaukee Brewers here a few times over the years, it should be noted that as of today, the team, which lost one of its primary contributors to free agency during the past offseason, nonetheless surprisingly – nay, stunningly – maintains the best record in baseball. Notwithstanding its loss to the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday, it has a credible 5 ½ game lead in the National League Central Division over the Chicago Cubs, and respective 4 ½ and 6 game leads over Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League’s best record; if Milwaukee finishes the season with a better record than Chicago and either the NL East or NL West Division winners, it will be entitled to a first-round playoff bye. Although one might have reservations about the team’s ability to prevail in the postseason against payroll-heavy, star-studded heavyweights like the Dodgers, the Brewers are a heartening example of the little guy getting ahead.

Even so, as all of us with knowledge of the game’s history are well aware – and as the Brewers were reminded yesterday – in September, baseball is hard. On September 2, 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers held a 5 game lead over the ultimate National League Champion New York Giants (although New York’s victory is tarnished by credible reporting that its late-season surge was aided by a sign stealing scheme); on September 2, 1964, the Philadelphia Phillies held a 7 ½ game lead in the National League over the ultimate World Champion St. Louis Cardinals; on September 2, 1969 (I know; this hurts) the Chicago Cubs held a 5 game lead in the National League East over the ultimate World Champion New York Mets; and on September 2, 1982, the Milwaukee Brewers held a 5 game lead in the American League East over the Baltimore Orioles [although this turned out happily for Brewer fans, it took two home runs by Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Famer Robin Yount off Baltimore Ace and future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer – plus a career catch at a crucial point by Leftfielder Ben Oglivie (not exactly known for his fielding) — in the last game of the season for Milwaukee to win the AL East].

You get the point. Although September 2 sounds like the playoffs are almost here, there is still a sixth of the season left to play. It remains to be seen whether this year’s Brewers have the grit and tenacity of the 1982 team.

All that said, this year it has been difficult for me to pay much attention to the Brewers’ success; as I watch President Donald Trump and his MAGA cohort dismantle our republic, I can’t escape the notion that any enthusiasm I have for a team’s fortunes is akin to a Czech’s optimism in early 1938 about his nation’s chances in the 1940 Olympics. I am hopeful that the intensity of the upcoming NFL season will provide me with an occasional temporary distraction that baseball, with its daily, languid pace – traditionally, the core of its charm — has not.

But don’t listen to me. In early 1942, Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis asked President Franklin Roosevelt whether America’s Pastime should suspend its season in light of America’s entry into World War II. Mr. Roosevelt responded with his so-called “Green Light Letter,” in which he indicated, “I honestly feel it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. … [E]verybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.” Despite my much more attentive following of the Packers than the Brewers in recent years, if given a choice between a Brewer World Championship and a Green Bay Super Bowl title, I would, in memory of the 1982 Brewers, opt for the Brewer World Championship.

So heed Mr. Roosevelt’s long-ago sentiments. A pleasant distraction has its place. Go to the ballpark and have a hotdog and a beer (avoid elitist crap like sushi and canned fruity alcoholic concoctions 😉 ). The days of summer are waning. Cherish those that remain.

CHIEFS, TOO

[DISCLAIMER: In a rational world, it would be silly to add this, but in our current environment in which conspiracy theories spring from nowhere, I hereby declare that I do NOT think that the NFL is conspiring for the Chiefs or against the Eagles. 90% of the fictional memo set forth below wrote itself while I was on the treadmill yesterday. Although the Kelce brothers and Ms. Swift will never be aware of this post, I am confident that if they were, they would not be offended by the tongue-in-cheek effort set forth here.]

Memo to: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

From: League Super Bowl Coordinator

In re: Exploiting Revenue Opportunities Related to the Kansas City Chiefs

This year’s Super Bowl pits the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are an outstanding team. The League, of course, has a vested interest in a Chiefs victory. First, Taylor Swift is romantically involved with one of the Chiefs players, and we want to keep her fans happy so they continue to consume our product; second, and more importantly, the citizens of the states of Missouri and Kansas are both relatively much stauncher supporters of our new President, Donald Trump, than Pennsylvanians, so we want to keep Missourians and Kansans happy so that we can keep him happy. The Chiefs are only about a 1.5 point favorite – coincidentally, about the margin by which Mr. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris last November. These are the steps we plan to put in place to ensure a Chiefs victory:

We’ve dispatched League officials to the Eagles’ offices on the pretext of performing an audit, told all the front office staff to go home, cut off their payment system, and locked them out of the Eagles’ network.

As you’re aware, Eagle Running Back Saquon Barkley has had an extraordinary season this year, running for over 2,000 yards. Given Mr. Barkley’s obvious strategic value, the Chiefs are offering to buy Mr. Barkley. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet had the time to set up a structure under which either the Eagles can be forced to sell Mr. Barkley to the Chiefs, or to enable the Chiefs to simply take Mr. Barkley. Therefore, if Philadelphia ungratefully refuses to sell Mr. Barkley to the Chiefs, we have informed the Eagles that unless they pay at least 2% of their total revenue to the League, they will no longer get the coverage of the League’s TV package.

As you’re also aware, Ms. Swift’s boyfriend’s brother is a retired Eagle player who clearly loves and has provided tremendous support to the Philadelphia community over the years. We are exploring ways to put pressure on him to say that despite what he has stood for throughout his entire professional football career, he never really liked Philadelphia or the Eagles, that he actually always thought that Kansas City and the Chiefs were the best, and that he wants to come back to play for the Chiefs. Given the techniques we have seen successfully employed upon some of the President’s formerly most vociferous detractors who have since become among his most slavish supporters — such as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio – we have high hopes here.

We have made arrangements to remove all security for the Eagles at their hotel and when entering the stadium. They’re big boys; what could go wrong? 😉

We have fired every official who has ever made a call against the Chiefs. We have fired every official who has ever made a call favoring Philadelphia. We’ve fired every official who’s ever been to Philadelphia.

We are going to replace the National Anthem with the theme of God Bless America, but with better lyrics. While still a work in progress, we envision a first verse along the lines, “God Bless the President, the man that we love; stand beside him, and prize him, through the night with the light from above,” while unfurling a flag at midfield with the President’s picture on it. (We’re still considering how it might be received if we add a depiction of Jesus with his hand on Mr. Trump’s shoulder.) It’ll be great.

Any player on either team seen kneeling during the … er … new National Anthem will be found during the coming offseason to have violated some League policy, and banned for life. (Unless it’s Ms. Swift’s boyfriend; we need him, so we’ll simply reprimand him, with quiet apologies to the President.)

For the coin flip, we will be using a coin with the Chiefs and Eagles’ logos and the Lombardi Trophy all crammed on one side, and a flattering depiction of President Trump on the other side. Of course, we will have commemorative bitcoins on sale during the game and thereafter, with proceeds split between the League and Trump Foundations.

As you are aware, for Super Bowls we normally display the name and colors of each team in one end zone. We have decided to change the name of the end zone assigned to the Eagles to, “CHIEFS, TOO,” with the Kansas City colors.

We have added a rule change for the game: the Official Pardon Power. Any official that sees a Chiefs player guilty of a vicious unsportsmanlike hit on an Eagle has the power to immediately pardon the Chief. The game will continue without penalty.

You have asked how we will deal with a distinct risk: that despite all the safeguards we put in place, the Eagles are so good that they still … win. We have opted for a simple course: no matter how much the Eagles might win by, we will simply declare that Kansas City won. We’ll immediately release the confetti with Kansas City colors. Although Kansas City Coach Andy Reid, Chief Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and Ms. Swift’s boyfriend will undoubtedly be shocked and wonder what is going on, we’ll simply haul them onto the victor’s podium (maybe he’ll propose to Ms. Swift on the platform — wouldn’t that be a coup?) and give them the Lombardi Trophy. (You’re concerned that the Eagles might object. Not to worry: remember, we aren’t giving them any security.)

Am sure you’re looking forward to the event! Since you’ll be presenting the trophy, you might want to consult Mr. Trump for his advice as to the best makeup!

[Enjoy the game. Hopefully, it will provide you a worthy distraction. (FYI: Travis Kelce hasn’t let me know whether he intends to propose to Ms. Swift if the Chiefs win. 😉 )]

On the Passing of Bob Uecker

Perhaps our most beloved Wisconsinite, the same man on- and off-air. Although the Brewers retired Number 50 in 2005 in honor of his then-50 years in baseball, he went on to actually broadcast Brewer games for over 50 years, through this past season – reporting in all but the first year that the team has been in existence. One of the few primarily “local” broadcasters – the Dodgers’ Vin Scully is only other who comes immediately to mind – known and loved nationwide. He has arguably been more important to the soul of the franchise than any single player. If the Brewers had a Mount Rushmore, his would be one of the images. For years to come and for generations of Brewer fans, listening to a Brewer broadcast won’t seem quite “right.”

You were always front row. You yourself never missed a tag. Rest in Peace.

Green Bay’s Championship Quest Begins

Although I have watched the vast majority of the Green Bay Packers’ games this season, my interest has been less avid than in past years given my preoccupation with our descent into political cataclysm. Since the Green and Gold clinched an NFL NFC wildcard playoff berth last week and the playoffs don’t actually begin for another couple of weeks, one might question why I have suggested above that its championship run begins today.

A sports organization’s expectations are based upon its tradition and experience. I suspect that the New York Yankees and their fans are dissatisfied with the team’s 2024 performance; given the team’s dozens of World Championships, its recent World Series loss probably rendered the season a failure in their eyes. On the other hand, had the Milwaukee Brewers rather than the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League pennant, Brewer fans would now be ecstatic with the team’s performance even if New York had swept the Brew Crew in the Fall Classic.

For the Packers, inasmuch as the franchise owns more pro football titles than any other, and given the consistent success the team has had since Brett Favre became the team’s quarterback in 1992, anything less than a championship leaves the Packer Faithful somewhat disappointed (notwithstanding the fact that the team has actually only made it to the Super Bowl three times, winning but twice, over that span). Even last year – which at the outset was considered by Packer fans a rebuilding year, with many, including me, wondering whether Quarterback Jordan Love had the right stuff – ended with Mr. Love and his young colleagues jelling at the right time and coming tantalizingly close to the making the NFC Championship game.

Despite the respectful commentary that Green Bay is currently receiving from national sports pundits, if one looks at the team’s season in its entirety, it hasn’t been as good as its record indicates. To date, it has only beaten two teams with good records, and its four losses have been administered by three of the teams that have higher playoff rankings than it does. At the same time, one of the Packers’ two “quality wins” came against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle two weeks ago, and the squad convincingly polished off a bad New Orleans Saints team at home this past week – the kind of thrashing a good team should administer to a wanting one.

So I will venture that today, Packer fans will find out whether this year’s team has championship potential. If Green Bay beats Minnesota in Minnesota, we may have something. If it doesn’t, we probably don’t. I’m hoping for the best; a long January playoff run will provide a pleasant distraction. 🙂

Pre-Election Notions

As all who care are aware, over the weekend the highly respected Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released results of its last Iowa poll taken October 28-31, which showed Vice President Kamala Harris – who in all of the organization’s previous polls since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee had trailed former President Donald Trump in a state he won in both 2016 and 2020 – had edged 3 points ahead of the former president. Even more intriguing was the poll’s finding that Ms. Harris’ strongest Iowa demographic group was women 65 and older, in which she held a whopping 2:1 lead over Mr. Trump. I find the results particularly noteworthy since there are a lot of Evangelicals in Iowa.

To start with the most glaringly obvious: winning a presidential election is a matter of math — how many votes a candidate gets, and where the candidate gets them. Although I’m confident that Ms. Harris would like to claim Iowa’s 6 Electoral College (EC) votes, the poll may be more important for what it indicates might happen elsewhere.

Although it will take some states, such as Georgia, days to reach a final vote tally – and thus, during those days, the outcome of the election could remain uncertain – I would suggest if we knew definitively on Election night the final results of all states east of the Mississippi River, we’d probably have a pretty good idea who our next president will be. I’ll even go so far as to venture that if we definitively knew the results along the Atlantic seaboard, those alone might provide us a fairly firm indication as to the final outcome.

Take Ms. Harris first. Commentators – including me 😉 – have gone on ad nauseam about her surest path to an Electoral College victory being the “Blue Wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. However, this presupposes that Ms. Harris claims all of the states carried by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020. Since the “Blue Wall” path gets her to exactly the necessary majority of 270 Electoral College votes, if she unexpectedly loses even a pretty tiny New England EC state, such as New Hampshire or Maine, she’ll need to win one of the swing states now seemingly favoring Mr. Trump to reach 270, even if the Blue Wall comes in for her.

Conversely, as to Mr. Trump: since the 2000 Bush-Gore electoral debacle, I understand that Florida has sharpened its electoral processes such that it can now report its results reasonably promptly. As of the time this is typed, 538 has Mr. Trump leading Ms. Harris by a comfortable 6.7 points, but there are a lot of women over 65 and Latinos (remember the Trump Madison Square Garden rally) in Florida. Although Mr. Trump’s path to the presidency becomes significantly narrower if he is somehow loses Florida, perhaps more realistic Election Night scenarios from which Ms. Harris might draw reassurance would be if prognosticators consider the Florida race too close to call for an extended period, or if Mr. Trump’s margin of Florida victory is significantly smaller than now forecast. Either of these scenarios might well be an early indicator that Ms. Harris will do well in the Blue Wall states and have a better chance than now anticipated to claim either North Carolina or Georgia. As I’ve also noted here repeatedly, if she does eke out either North Carolina or Georgia, she can afford to lose either Michigan or Wisconsin and still win the presidency.

I understand that the Trump Campaign and the alt-right media silo have been constantly spreading the message that Mr. Trump’s victory is overwhelmingly likely. Let me join those observing that such is a transparent tactic to condition MAGAs to blindly accept the Trump team’s claims of voter fraud that will inevitably begin immediately if the former president loses the election. Likewise, Mr. Trump has recently ranted on his social media site about election fraud in Pennsylvania. Let me also join the chorus who have observed that such is a clear indicator that Mr. Trump is worried that Pennsylvanians are trending toward Ms. Harris.

President Joe Biden was asked some time ago whether he thought our election processes were fair and accurate, and whether he thought violence might ensue in the election’s wake. He replied that he was confident that our election processes would be fair and accurate, but he wouldn’t offer a firm opinion as to whether violence might result as the results were announced. I obviously agree with the President as to the integrity of our electoral processes – only the willingly gullible can think otherwise – and time will tell whether or not there will be violence after the winner is declared. I would offer that if Ms. Harris is declared the winner after all legal votes are tallied, Mr. Trump’s supporters might be less likely to riot than in 2020 because they will be acutely aware that unlike 2020, Mr. Biden is the Commander in Chief in charge of the National Guard and the U.S. Military.

At the same time, I consider the likelihood of election interference by swing state Republican officials, now fully immersed in MAGA election propaganda, at least a great a risk to Ms. Harris’ presidential bid as losing the vote. Taking Wisconsin as an example: If Ms. Harris wins the state’s popular vote after the initial tally, I do not consider it beyond if the state’s rabid MAGA-controlled legislature to adopt some rationale to disallow a significant number of votes in a Harris stronghold such as Dane County (Madison), in an attempt to award Mr. Trump Wisconsin’s 10 EC votes. (To be fair: I have no fears about Georgia. GA Gov. Brian Kemp and GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger proved their mettle the last time, and they must each privately personally detest Mr. Trump. If they declare that Mr. Trump won Georgia, I’ll believe it. 🙂 )

I have commented in different earlier posts that no matter what I might think about other aspects of former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney’s and Mike Pence’s respective conduct of their Vice Presidencies, I will always mentally qualify my assessments of them by noting that on the most important issue of their and our time, each got it right. On the other hand, last week former Green Bay Quarterback and Hall of Famer Brett Favre spoke at a Trump rally in Wisconsin. It is the latest of a series of disreputable incidents in which he has been involved since the end of his Packer playing days. I will always have a bifurcated view Mr. Favre – the division between the truly incredible athlete and competitor … and the person he has shown himself to be.

I mentioned in an earlier note that Ms. Harris had been looking tired. In the last couple of weeks – perhaps from the adrenaline she’s felt from being electorally on the upswing – she has looked revitalized, vibrant. On the other hand, it is now Mr. Trump that seems spent – perhaps not unexpected given his 78 years. Although I thought that Mr. Trump would fade away if he was defeated in 2020, I do not think it is unreasonable to suppose that if Mr. Trump is defeated this time, we will dispense with him personally, although the MAGA movement has now unfortunately grown deep-enough roots that it will survive him. Another MAGA Messiah will emerge, although I haven’t yet seen a potential successor with the former president’s animal charisma.

In a couple of previous posts, I have likened this campaign to an NFL game. In recent days, a different image has entered my mind, perhaps arising from what I consider Ms. Harris’ and Democrats’ Herculean efforts on behalf of our democracy. It is from one of our daughter’s high school swim meets. (This is, mind you, a distant memory; our daughter has been a practicing psychologist for over 15 years 🙂 ). In that meet’s last event, a relay, a teammate of our daughter swimming one of the first “legs” had difficulty such that by the time the relay got to the last leg – always swum by a team’s “anchor,” the strongest swimmer of a team’s relay quartet — the other team’s anchor was half a lap ahead – a quarter of the leg’s entire distance — by the time our team’s anchor even hit the water. Although the other swimmer’s lead looked insurmountable, our anchor was an extraordinary swimmer and competitor; she launched in, and took off. With every stroke, she closed the gap. We spectators, starting to collect our things to depart, at first called out support in moderate tones for what appeared an obvious lost cause; but then, as the gap closed — as the two swimmers hit the turn, and started back, one ahead, then the other, steadily closing — we stood, and started yelling; by the end – as what was initially a yawning chasm between the two young women unbelievably narrowed, and narrowed, and narrowed, as they strove to reach the pool wall, the impossible suddenly seeming possible — all were screaming and jumping. It wasn’t clear until the last yard – the last second – who would win.

We’ll see what happens. If I post at all tomorrow – and I appreciate your bearing with me if you have waded through this series of lengthy missives as we passed these many days to our election outcome — it will be from a different perspective. That said, all who read these pages are aware that I am a West Wing fanatic. My Twitter feed recently included a reference to a recent book event at which Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet in the television series, spoke. The video is poor, but stay with this clip. As the link indicates, Mr. Sheen, as undoubtedly was planned, first reads an assortment of snippets of Bartlet dialog crafted by series creator Aaron Sorkin over the years; but at the end, Mr. Sheen closes the binder and for a golden minute, he again is Bartlet. As we look with hope at an uncertain electoral outcome, it seems fitting to conclude with inspiration from our greatest fictional president.

Queen Leigh 🥥🌴 on X: “Martin Sheen concluding 6th & I West Wing event with a sort of Bartlet pastiche of Sorkin speeches—and then he closes the book and *becomes* Jed Bartlet, speaking from the heart. It’s pretty cool. https://t.co/JZzl9TTXzU” / X

Wisconsin May Be Ground Zero … Again: a Postscript

After the last post – in which I indicated that today’s Packers/Lions game would provide us in Wisconsin a brief respite from election obsession — a very close friend of over 50 years – a Chicago Bear fan, to boot – pointed out to me the error in my thinking: “This game is providing probably the most compelling political turf during the final minutes of this nail-biter election. The NFL ad space between two of the NFL’s hottest teams will provide not just an audience in two of the critically contested states with a great demographic (politically) but a great national audience as well.”

He is of course right (sigh 😉 ). Although I record Packer games, and may well record this one, my conscience as a citizen won’t allow me to fast-forward through the commercials, as I normally do; indeed, if – perish the thought – Green Bay loses, I’ll probably fast-forward through the game, and only watch the political commercials 🙂 .

Our friend also wondered what I thought the respective campaigns’ ad themes might be for today’s game. We’ll soon know; their choices will obviously be data driven, intended to micro-target specific voter segments. I’m guessing that the Trump team will pound inflation and immigration, weighting the former over the latter. [The MAGAs already have all of the votes of all of the Midwest citizens who are truly worried that the illegals are coming to take them away (Ha-Haa 😉 ). It may well feel that it needs to make a final pitch to young women on tight budgets who find former President Donald Trump personally repellent]. Without the benefit of data, if advising the Harris Campaign my instinct would be to target women and young males of color. Although Vice President Kamala Harris prefers an uplifting message, negative ads have for decades been proven the most effective, and we’re now down to the figurative final minutes of the campaign. I’d recommend that the Harris team pound the loss of women’s reproductive rights wrought by Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court appointments (and raise the augur of the likelihood of further MAGA reproductive restrictions if he is re-elected), use “permission” ads aimed at the moderately conservative women repulsed by Mr. Trump (my favorite is in the link below), and an ad depicting a montage of last weekend’s Trump Rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, with the so-called comedian at referring to Puerto Rico as floating garbage and referencing watermelon with an African American and Mr. Trump’s reported reference to American citizens as the “enemy within.” [I’d like to include an ad combining clips of Mr. Trump declaring on January 6, 2021, that his supporters had to “fight like hell” or they wouldn’t have a country any more together with clips of the ensuing Capitol riot, but I would guess that the case against Mr. Trump on this issue has already been established with citizens (like me) most motivated by these appeals.]

An ad I’d make room for:

Lebron James’ recent Twitter endorsement of Ms. Harris. The link is below.

https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1852093996350275595

An Ad I would like to see:

Clips of Mr. Trump calling immigrants vermin, mocking the handicapped, and telling his supporters to beat up demonstrators at his rallies, followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who has endorsed Ms. Harris) talking into the camera: “Bullies are not strong. They are weak. I’m voting for Kamala Harris. You should, too.”

An ad that I wish existed, and would run repeatedly if it existed (but if there was any prospect it was coming, the story would be too big; we’d already know about it):

Former President George W. Bush – who, shamefully, hasn’t endorsed Ms. Harris despite the fact that all are aware that he detests Mr. Trump – talking into the camera:

“When you elected me I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. My oath didn’t end when I left the oval office. Country over party. I’ve voting for Kamala Harris, and you should too.”

The latest game odds I saw favor the Lions by 2.5 points over the Packers. I would have thought that Detroit would be favored by more, even in Lambeau Field. To win, the Green and Gold need to play close to error-free football – which has not been starting Quarterback Jordan Love’s tendency this season – and win the turnover battle by at least two. That said, I am confident that even the most diehard of Packer fans will agree that today’s game is not the most important contest we’ll witness this week. There has never been a time in our lifetimes in which it has been clearer that our most important colors are Red, White and Blue.

Here’s to You, Brew Crew

In the middle of the battle for our democracy, let’s take a moment to toast what I consider a notable achievement: the Milwaukee Brewers’ championship in the 2024 National League Central Division.

The innards of Major League Baseball flowed through my viscera from about the time I was 10 – when in that much gentler era, my friends and I would ride our bikes to the Evanston, IL, El station, take the train to Wrigley Field, and sit in the bleachers (in the early ‘60s, there was nobody there 😉 ) for $2 – until well into my 40s. The imprinting of those decades stays with me – in the same way as I recall [and so frequently (and I suspect, sometimes somewhat so tiringly) refer to here] long-ago policy and political happenings — although I have little regard for (indeed, find fairly boring) the money-ball, technology-and percentages-driven, “strikeout or homerun,” “just throw as hard as you can for as long as you can” strategies that now dominate the game.

Given the juggling of our television packages in recent years, we don’t have regular access to Brewer games, so I’ve only seen them play a few times. It is a team of overachievers, led by a Medicare-eligible manager. I find the team impressive because of what it has achieved without imposing talent; its lineup not only pales in comparison to the 1970s-1980s Brewers of Robin Yount and Paul Molitor; I don’t think it stands up well against the 2000s Brewer teams of Ryan Braun (with or without steroids 😉 ) and Prince Fielder.

They say … You Can Never Tell in Baseball. They say … Anything Can Happen in a Short Series. They say … A Team That Gets Hot At the Right Time Can Win It All. They say … The Best Team Doesn’t Always Win. All true. We’ve all seen it. And yet, having seen the lineups and pitching staffs that the NL East Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers field, it’s hard for me to see how, even assuming that Milwaukee prevails in its initial playoff series against the New York Mets beginning this afternoon, the scrappy Brew Crew can beat either, much less both, of the other NL Division Champions powerhouses to reach the World Series.

I’ve previously noted in these pages that Hall of Fame New York Yankee Manager Casey Stengel, who won seven World Championships and ten pennants in his twelve seasons with the Yankees, was once asked what strategies made him so effective. He wryly replied, “There were many, but the three most important were DiMaggio, Mantle, and Berra.” Milwaukee has gotten this far despite having no such advantages. No matter what happens from hereon, this seems like an appropriate time to toast the team for a job well done.

Here’s to You, Brew Crew.

On the Green and Gold: 2024

Given my preoccupation with the contest for our democracy – taken together with my belief that the NFL preseason reveals absolutely nothing about how one’s team will fare when the real games start – I have very little idea how the Packers will perform this season as they enter their first real game tonight against the Philadelphia Eagles in Arena Corinthians in São Paolo, Brazil. That said:

The one piece of news during the NFL offseason that did embed with me was Green Bay’s decision to let Running Back Aaron Jones depart (he ended up going to Minnesota, of all places!), and instead sign Josh Jacobs as the team’s primary back. I will be happy to be proven wrong – it’s a natural law that when an NFL running back goes downhill, he goes downhill fast; Mr. Jacobs is four years younger than Mr. Jones, has led the NFL in rushing, and I understand has spent less time on injured reserve over his career than Mr. Jones, all positive notes – but I have significant reservations about the move. Mr. Jones brought an explosiveness to the Green Bay running game that I consider matched in the Favre-Rodgers-Love era only by Ahman Green, if at all. While acknowledging Quarterback Jordan Love’s bravura performance down the stretch last season, during that string of victories the Packers’ opponents’ defenses were clearly acutely aware that they had to account for Mr. Jones, which took some pressure off the young starting quarterback. We have yet to see whether Mr. Love can maintain an elite level – as his predecessors, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, could – if the Green Bay running game sputters.

Hopefully, Mr. Jacobs will not sputter. I admit that I do not remember having seen him perform – opposing players rarely register with me, unless I’ve seen them a lot — and I am clearly of the “Go with the guy that’s produced for you” philosophy. We’ll see what happens. (We might also need to be ready to hide under our sofas when Mr. Jones starts carrying the ball against us for Minnesota – in two games. As someone – who I didn’t know; Packer fans readily exchange perspectives — recently confided to me: “When we play the Vikings, it could get ugly.”)

As many are aware, we have family members who live in Brazil, including one who has been a Packer fan from birth and has since leaving college seen a lot of Green Bay games on TV in faraway places (and at what were for him, unusual times 🙂 ) from Southeast Asia to South America. He and other extended family members, diehard Packer fans who happen to be visiting Brazil, will be in the stands tonight. May the Green and Gold make them proud!