Ahman Green and Gold; Oakland Raiders playoff bound????

There has been absolute comedy coming out of the NFL this week and I had to say something.

The first thing I want to mention is the bang-up job the Green Bay Packer organization is doing. They have clearly recognized the need to patch holes in the offensive line by going out and getting Ahman Green. Wait... what??! That can't be right...but... there it is.

Green has undoubtedly been a great player not just for the Pack but for the game itself. While with the Packers he was a great runner and competitor, but the Packers released him after a series of knee injuries and low productivity. He landed on the Texans roster, and the story was the same. He was released by the Texans in February.

No offense intended to a great player, but what could Green possibly do for the Packers this season. Even if he wasn't 32 and injury prone these days, how productive could he possibly be running behind a line that couldn't keep fans from rushing a concert stage? The offensive (pronounce that however you'd like) line ranks number one in sacks allowed with a whopping twenty-five. The Packers are also circling the bowl with a twenty-five rank in total rushing yards with a total of 506.

Now I hope, like all Packer fans who enjoyed watching him Green play for the Green and Gold, that I'm wrong. I hope he can come in and pick up the running game. However, unless he's put on about 75 pounds and learned how to block on the line, I don't see how much he can really do.

Now onto something I think is...well...for lack of a better word ludicrous. It came out that Richard Seymour of the Oakland Raiders was offended by some comments once made by New York Giants' linebacker Antonio Pierce. Pierce reportedly said the game against the Raiders in week 5 reminded him of a scrimmage. Seymour said the Giants got what they deserved after they were routed by the Saints last week.

Must Seymour be reminded what he said after the Giants allowed the Raiders to accompany them up and down the field to the end zone so many times? Well I'll do it anyway. He was quoted on ESPN.com:

"We couldn't stop anything. That's a bad feeling when you are out there and they are running whatever plays they want to. The third or fourth quarter I think they had their backups in the game and they were still doing whatever they wanted to offensively. There is no excuse for that and everybody has to look themselves in the mirror and say, 'I have to do a better job.'"

Remember that Richard? It sounds to me like Pierce may have been being gracious. Here's the link,http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=291011019. Your quote is in the last paragraph.

The Raiders are terrible! In their second win of the season over the Eagles (apparently miracles do happen) the Raiders managed thirteen points...thirteen. They have improved since the game last week when they pounded the Giants for seven points. Since the opening whistle of the 2009-2010 season, the Raiders have lit up their opponents for five touchdowns and accrued a whopping seventy-two first downs, while giving up 122. They've allowed opponents 872 yards on the ground and 1,321 through the air.

The Giants, in their only loss of the season to arguably the hottest team in the NFC, more than doubled the point total of the Raiders against a Philadelphia team which has been struggling with injuries for much of the season.

Seymour suggested Pierce should worry about his own defense rather than criticize the Raiders. I suggest Seymour worry about his entire team, rather than worry about what happened in previous weeks. Seymour also guaranteed a playoff appearance for the Raiders this season. To this my only reasonable response can be gut-wrenching, tear-jerking and suffocation-inducing laughter.

The representation of beauty

Dr.Wachanga mentioned the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" in reference to the point that there are many different beholders with different eyes and different thoughts on what beautiful means. I would like to suggest an alternate meaning to another familiar phrase: "Beauty comes from the inside." Some may look at that statement and ask what that has to do with anything, clearly that is just a statement used to make ugly people feel better, right? I propose that it relates to the question of what is beautiful because I believe that the idea of beauty is an internal, personal evaluation and not a social construct. We are given a base idea of what is beautiful by society, but in the end we determine what we feel is beautiful. Sometimes we say that an image or a particular piece of music is beautiful to fit into a group, but we may not actually think it is beautiful or even remotely like it. I remember when I was younger, there was a girl everyone thought was beautiful. I thought she was attractive, but not necessarily beautiful although I agreed to fit in with the crowd. Beauty is a personal perception that comes from inside the viewer of an object. Although, it could be argued that ill-fitting glasses or contact lenses could alter one's perception of beauty.

Response to Post Cartoon

The New York Post published a cartoon some time ago portraying the creator of the economic stimulus package as a monkey that had been shot by police. I found that to be in very poor taste given the racist connotation that image holds, especially when Pres. Obama, an African American, was heavily involved with drafting the stimulus package. I am also disappointed that the Post, one of the older and more reputed news publications in our country, would lower itself to printing something like that. It could be suggested that the use of the monkey was suggesting ineptitude on the part of the government as a whole and not directed specifically at Pres. Obama, however the Post is not an amateurish publication and therefore should have better oversight than to allow something like this to be published.

12 cows for America

The cows representative of feeling. They were described as handkerchiefs to wipe away the tears of Americans after 9/11. The Massai did not lightly decide to send 12 animals to America. They sent 12 sacred animals, animals that to them represent something far more than just a cow. In America of course we see cows as food and not much else. Although the idea of a sacred cow is foreign to us, if we stop to consider what the cow means to the Massai, the gift takes on new meaning. It could be compared to a small American community getting together and donating 12 cars to be sent to families in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cars are not sacred here, but they are a large part of our lifestyle and not always easy to obtain. This was an expensive meaningful gift on the part of the Massai.

Representation & the media w/ Stuart Hall

I like his statedment of politicians holding two positions. On one hand they stand by themselves, and on the other they are representations of those they represent. He also brought up the point that they don't always represent all of us well or at all. I know I have been in that position and it's very frustrating to me when a public figure I didn't vote for represents me poorly. If I didn't vote for the official, then I didn't see him as a representation of myself to begin with. It's frustrating at times but it's somehting we agree to live with in our society.