Expert Opinion

Now that the football season has concluded (congratulations to the New Orleans Saints) I would like to take a minute to address the so-called 'experts'.

I understand that sports are a tricky business and that assessing talent and the outcome of games can be very challenging.  It is for this reason that professional scouts are highly paid and face tremendous issues in job security.  It is for this reason that gambling on sporting events is possible - if outcomes were guaranteed there would be no vegas odds.

With that said, the so-called media experts (from this point on I'll refer to them as simply as 'experts' - for the sake of ease, despite the misnomer) should be held responsible for their words.  How often has an expert predicted the outcome of a game wrong?  Can we take the superbowl for example where the Indianapolis Colts were the heavy favorite of 'experts' everywhere? 

My issue of course is not with 'experts' predicting the outcome of singular games wrong.  No, my issue is much greater.  It's in the way they talk about players and teams and games and hold no responsibility for what they say. 

In the corporate world, if someone is off on their yearly forecast they have to answer to someone.  Why don't sports 'experts'?  Why are they not accountable? 

When the Houston Texans drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and Vince Young in the 2006 NFL Draft, the team was lamb-basted by the media.  The scouts, the coaches and the ownership were harshly ripped for not taking the flashy Reggie Bush or hometown favorite Vince Young, but instead taking a nobody named Mario Williams.  Yet, while Reggie Bush has failed to live up to his hype (he won a Super Bowl Championship last night, but I didn't see him do much), and Vince Young has already had a stint on suicide watch, Mario Williams has done nothing but been elected to the Pro Bowl twice and help sure up a previously abyssmal defense.

Still has anyone heard one of these 'experts' stand-up and admit they were wrong?  Apologize to the scouts of the Texans, to the ownership, to the fans who had to endure the mass ridicule? 

Do I expect 'experts' to really know everything?  Of course not.  Do I expect them to be right all of the time?  No.  But, I think when they are wrong they should be held accountable.  Maybe we should stop calling them 'experts' and start calling them what they are - 'highly paid commentators whose guesses are no better than the rest of us'.

Domestic Problems - Beautiful Girl

This song is just really beautiful (for lack of a better word) and seems so genuine that it can't help but get into my soul just a little. Let me know if you enjoy it.

(Disclaimer: I don't think this live version sounds as good as the album version, but I couldn't find that online to embed here.)

Lyrics | Domestic Problems lyrics - Beautiful Girl lyrics


Thanks to John F. for introducing me to Domestic Problems almost 10 years ago.

Friends with Talent - Writing

I like marketing.  I like sharing what I love with others.  I also like my friends. 

When my friends do cool things I want others to take note.  This is one of those times. 

http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org/MuchasSmooches.aspx

Dave Symonds is a good friend of mine and a very talented writer (who focuses on children's books, poems, and the like).  This is his first published piece. 
You will be seeing Dave's work on here from time to time, but I also suspect you'll see it on bookshelves in Barnes and Noble in not to long. 

* If anyone has any publishing connections or tips please send them my way.

(This is my 100th post - are you all still enjoying?)

FUNemployment

I didn't write it, but this is pretty interesting.  Especially for those of us wondering where our next paycheck is coming from.

5 Things More Likely Than You Having A Job

Supremely Questionable

If you watched all of the State of the Union Address on Wednesday, then maybe you are a better American than I.  I caught bits here and there, but by-and-large it was unwatchable.  Political party affiliations and personal beliefs aside, there is no denying that the speech was overly long, full of fluff and empty promises (Obama may very well believe in everything he says, and he may do his best to accomplish each goal, but the fact is that things just don't happen that way in government), and was just flat out hard to sit through - if only because of the ridiculous pauses every 10 seconds for unnecessary standing ovations.

At some point I may read the entire transcript and get into it a little more, but today I just want to touch on the newest Supreme Court Ruling.

On January 21st the Surpreme court overturned a ban on corporate spending on political campaigns.
If you want to know more, there are plenty of sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html.  I'm of course interested in the political/governmental effects, short-term and long-tem, and whether this was a prudent decision, but that's for the mass media to get into.

Instead, I'm wondering what it will do to the corporations themselves and their employees.

• If the company you worked for gave millions of dollars to a party you don't support, would you quit?  Would you speak up? 
• Would you pass on a job at a company that gives to a party you don't support?
• Would you stop buying products/using services made by a company that gives to a party that you don't support?
• Would you sell off your stock options?
• Can the act of a company giving to a political party set the company up for workplace discrimination lawsuits?  ('I support the other party and that's why I can't get promoted...')
• If corporations are involved more in the political process, what will it mean for Unemployment Insurance?  Cobra?  Unions?   
• Corporations obviously have a huge interest in health insurance costs.  How will that effect all this talk of nationalized health insurance?
• Can non-profit companies give money to political campaigns?
• How does the giving of money to a political campaign effect corporation profit sharing? stock dividends?  Who really donates to the campaign?  the company or its workers or its shareholders?

I guess I'm just wondering why this isn't a bigger issue and why it isn't being covered from all angles.

Philly, Philly

If this doesn't evoke some kind of response from my readers, I don't know what will.

http://egotvonline.com/2010/01/28/philadelphia-%E2%80%93-home-of-the-underdog/

Poop

As I assume most of you have noticed, on the bottom of each post are three little boxes - The Goods, Eh, and Poop.  If you click on one it tells me that some anonymous person (I have no way of knowing who) liked, didn't like or was indifferent to my post. It's great feedback for me. 

The problem I'm having is with the 'Poop' selection.  Hey, I know not everything I write is genius and honestly, sometimes I force it just to get a post up, so, 'poop' is a totally valid option from time to time.  But, if you think something I've written is poop, please leave a comment or send an e-mail and let me know why.  Is it that you disagree with what I'm saying, or is it that it's just boring, etc.  The feedback helps me not only create better posts in the future, but if you have a different point of view, or information to add, my readers and I can all benefit from it.

So, please, continue to let me know what you think.  But maybe elaborate a little for me going forward?.

For the Ladies - When That Bill Comes

Hello again my loyal lady readers.  The information provided by 'Small Wonder' in her riveting 'expose' hit on a lot of good points, but one that specifically caught my attention and one that I think often gets overlooked:

What to do when the bill comes after that first dinner date. 

On those first few dates, when two people are getting to know each other, everything has meaning and everything can be interpreted and/or over-analyzed.  Fortunately in our society one of these 'things' has already been figured out for us (previously an unwritten rule, I'm going to put it in writing for you).

As a woman, it is ALWAYS appropriate to offer to pay for your half of the meal on the first few dates.
BUT
If you have interest in pursuing a further relationship you should NEVER actually pay.

Offering to pay shows that you are a genuine person and that you aren't just out for a free meal.  It is a great gesture. 
If the guy allows you to pay, however, it means one of two things.  A) He isn't looking for a second date, or B) he's cheap.  Either way, this is a bad news.

In the same regards, if you insist on paying then it signals to the guy that you are not interested in a second date - you 'feel bad' making him pay because you know this isn't going anywhere and you aren't going to reciprocate down the line. 

To sum up:  Offering to pay on a first date is classy.  Actually paying says there will be no second.

Laws With Flaws

Check it out...

http://egotvonline.com/2010/01/20/laws-with-flaws/

Online Dating Part 2

So my friend "The Gift" asked me if I could write a post about online dating since he has had requests for such a post but no firsthand experience with the subject. I myself am a huge proponent of online dating. When I was in my prime online dating years I even thought about writing a book about it. I was going to call it “E-Wiggle’s Guide to iSkanks”, but then I realized that was a very bad idea - I don’t want everyone to know my secrets. On a more serious note, online dating can and does “work”: meaning that you meet “real people”, not just “sketchy online people”, and you go on real dates with these real people. Online dating helped me meet my current girlfriend of nearly four years and some of my friends even met their wives this way as well. Some of those friends said they’d go back online to find their second wives too (just kidding wives!). So why online dating?

• I did not grow up around where I currently live and I didn’t know many people when I first got here. And, those that I knew were of the male persuasion. No I did NOT go to high school with so and so…
• I work in an (nearly) all male field ergo, no chances of meeting lovely unattached young women at work. Besides, you shouldn’t poo where you eat…
• My mom is over 300 miles away and a goy, and therefore a terrible matchmaker. No mom, I would NOT like to meet another nice Catholic girl (apologies to nice Catholic girls)…
• Meeting women in bars is extraordinarily difficult.
• They serve alcohol in bars.
• A drink or two is the social lubricant. It makes it easier to talk to lovely unattached young women
• But, after pounding drinks with the boys all night waiting for elusive unattached young women to show up drinking has turned our hero into a buffoon.
• Bars are typically loud ergo, difficult to woo lovely unattached young women with conversation skills.
• Bars that are not loud are filled with geezers and mad pricks and therefore zero lovely unattached young women.
• The phenomenon known as the “ladies night out” is far more difficult to split than the atom.
• Ladies go out with their lady friends because they want to spend time with their lady friends, not sketchy dudes hanging out at the bar.
• Singular lovely unattached young women at the bar may or may not be “professionals”. This depends on your neighborhood and how they are dressed. They may just be really into the game or the band. This probably means they are not into you.
• Believe it or not there are some people (both women and men) who did not get enough attention from mom or dad growing up so they like to play a game and see how many digits they can get just for the fun of it. They secretly loathe themselves and will never call back because they feel unworthy of your attention (just like mom or dad). Or, it could be they are already deeply involved in a co-dependent relationship with a like-minded individual.

So, conventional plans to meet lovely unattached young women are for the birds, or perhaps for people too, just not people like me. So, for me, online dating was a real no-brainer. The one thing that everyone on an online dating site has in common is they are there because they are looking to meet someone: unlike in a bar or club as outline above. Women have realized the shortcomings of the bar scene as well and are flocking to online dating sites like the salmon returning to Capistrano. Sure you will have to weed through some crazies, but that is the same situation you have everywhere. Also, rejecting people online and dealing with online rejection are considerably easier than the “real thing”. Just don’t break up with someone you have actually dated via email. A faux pas fo sho.

I will close with a couple of important points for the gentlemen who may now be interested in online dating: Make sure you have a darn good picture (no professional head-shots though, that is weird and creepy), and make sure your profile doesn’t scream “desperate loner / potential axe murderer”. Online dating is like anything else in life. You get out of it what you put into it. It is particularly ironic and illustrative that Ms. Right initially rejected my online advances a couple years before we first got together. The reason for rejection? Crappy pictures and profile verbiage. Everyone, especially lovely, unattached young women, likes a little intrigue. There is no need to put your whole pathetic life story up there. Please, pretty please, just don’t do it. OK? Less is more. For these and other great tips please buy my upcoming book, “E-Wiggle’s Guide to iSkanks”.

Written by: E-Wiggle



Thank you to my guest writers.  You've been very informative.

I know many of my readers have done the online thing.  Tell us about your experiences - successes, ridiculous stories, other websites you've tried and recommend or don't, etc.. Let us all learn from you.

If anyone else has a topic they want me to discuss or look into send me a message and let me know.