Obama said what he had to say last Wed. But of course there are no real coalitions out there. I have not heard anyone willing to put troops on the ground. So if NATO countries are not sending troops nor are Arab countries, then it is impossible to destroy ISIS. It will be a prolonged war of attrition.
Couple of years ago I considered Spain to be best sporting nation in the world. They were the world champions in soccer, second best in basketball and had Rafael Nadal and many other great tennis players. But since then, Spain has lost badly in the World Cup, lost in the quarter final in basketball as host country, and Rafael Nadal is injured and no longer number one. So fortunes can come and go quickly.
U.S. wins world championship in basketball by destroying all competition. This is a team without James, Durant, Paul, Howard, Anthony, Love, Griffin. Any other country would not field a decent team without seven of their best players. But the U.S. won easily. It was felt that since the original Dream Team, the gap had closed significantly between international teams and the U.S. But with this tournament it seems the gap had widened again.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
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I didn't bother to watch Obama's speech last week. I didn't think there would be much substance to it and I didn't read up on it much after because of all the disagreements that would surely follow.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see if other nations will rally with the US and UK. It seems that ISIS is only targeting US and UK hostages right now.
I don't know if there's a list of hostages that they have or if we are just finding out now that they are hostages when they are executed.
I heard that the Obama administration bullied the parents of one of the murdered hostages, because they wanted to negotiate with the terrorists. I don't doubt the story and I feel for the family involved. I don't know what I would do if I were in their shoes.
I didn't watch one minute of the World Cup basketball tournament. I was fully expecting the US team to lay an egg, but they impressed the whole way.
Maybe all the foreign NBA players are too tired after the long season to play their best for their countries.
Did the Gasol brothers play? I don't even remember who the US played in the final.
Speaking of finals, was the WNBA finals recently or are the playoffs going on? I haven't been paying attention to that too. Might be because Detroit doesn't have a team anymore so we don't pay attention to that league as much.
What I have been following are the Tigers. I can't believe they are in position to win the division after playing so poorly during parts of the season.
These next couple of weeks are huge. I have to think that the series in KC will determine who wins the division. Though that's probably really obvious.
-LBOAYM
I think ISIS is more of a threat to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and of course Iraq than the U.S. In fact it is more of a threat to the UK and France than to us. So while Obama has to show force, he has to make it known to others that we are not fighting alone on their behaves. In fact if we are fighting alone it will help ISIS recruit. When it is obvious that even Muslim countries are all against them, then the ability of ISIS to recruit will diminish. There are no military solution to terrorism if there are new recruits to replace ones we kill.
ReplyDeleteThe official line is that we don't negotiate with terrorists. But usually the government would look the other way if the family wants to negotiate. I don't think that negotiation with money in these cases would have worked. ISIS are not lacking in money, the publicity and the shear terror the beheadings created are much more important to them.
Pau did play and played well enough to be on the all tournament team. Marc did not play well. Neither did Rubio or Calderon. But Spain did beat France in group play but lost to them in the quarters. They also beat Serbia in group play but Serbia ended up in the finals. But in any case, all the U.S. players had long seasons and they had no problems although with their depth nobody had to play 30 plus minutes a game like those stars of other countries.
If you look at the talents on paper, the Tigers should be up by 10 games. But they have not played well. They are going to need especially Verlander to pitch a lot better down the stretch. I assume Sanchez is not coming back, right?
Who do you like in your favorite show, DWTS? I hardly know any "star" on the show. I would have thought Lolo Jones would be good. But I think she has a big hurdle to cross now!
Oh man, did you just "go there" with the Lolo reference?!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I did not watch DWTS (a show I normally don't watch anyway!) last night. I was watching Monday Night Football and the Tigers game. I have it recorded and will watch tonight.
But I just looked at the cast and don't know half the people. So my shot in the dark early prediction has to be whoever is matched with Derek Hough or I like the girl Valentin is matched up with. Keep in mind that I haven't seen any of them dance yet!
I can almost bet that Tommy Chong or Michael Waltrip or Randy Couture will be the first to go. My dark horse is Alfonso Ribiero because he was a good dancer as a kid. But he doesn't have a great partner and the last time I saw him, he was a little out of shape.
As far as ISIS goes, I agree with you. That's why I think we won't see much help from other countries until hostages from the other countries start getting murdered. Which is unfortunate, because the longer you let ISIS stay out there, the larger it'll become.
-LBOAM
You should be surprised to see that the 3 men you think would do badly didn't do badly. Chong was smoking the moment he got to the studio and he danced so well that he expected HIGH marks. Michael Waltrip was mediocre but at least he did not crash. Randy Couture was the big surprise. He did not look like a roughneck but looked like a leading man out there. But I would have guessed that he would have fought hard to get the ultimate victory.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that Lolo Jones got voted out. The old lady go a lower score (although she got a bad break). And I didn't think anyone would know who the old lady is. But I guess she got sympathy votes whereas Jones did perform badly.
I think that baseball managers are too mechanical in making their decisions. Tonight, the Twins pitcher was shutting out the Tigers, but their closer gave up the lead. Then Ausmus took out Porcello and Nathan promptly loses the game. In the old days the starters would have started the ninth regardless of pitch count and only taken out if they got into trouble. I don't see what is the difference between 110 pitches to 125.
The game of baseball has gotten to be too much about rules and using specialty players. I miss the old days when starters would go into the 9th and weren't babied. This is especially true when you have a poor bullpen (no matter how good it's been pitching recently).
ReplyDeleteI did watch DWTS (even though I normally don't watch this show) last night and I was totally surprised at how well Couture did. I really hope that Waltrip doesn't make it too far like his friend. I don't think he's that good of a dancer, though he's probably better than his friend at this point in the game. Plus, he'll get the NASCAR vote.
I thought Chong's performance was good, though the content was pretty simple.
I am not a fan of the bottom two, so I was glad to see Lolo go. She seems to have a poor attitude. I do hope the old lady gets the boot soon.
Well, my dark horse pick was better than I thought he would be. I'll put him at the top right now. Not sure who else is as good right now. All the teen girls are about the same.
Gotta think that Derek Hough will have his partner performing well. It'll depend on her dedication. I have a feeling her youtube fans will come out to vote.
-LBOAYM