Brian Williams has been suspended for 6 months by NBC for telling a false story of his helicopter being hit during the Iraq war.  Now more stories that he has put out there are under question.  It is a disturbing pattern with a person in such a powerful position when it comes to informing the public.  If it turns out he had lied about another story, then I think his career as an anchor and possibly as a serious journalist is over.

I never did like Brian Williams. I don't have problem with him going on lots of talk shows.  Even presidents do that.  But he tries to be the funny man whenever he goes to the shows.  And it is not just when he is outside of news coverage that he is trying to be funny.  In 1999 when the U.S. "accidentally" bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Williams said of the mistake "oops"".  When innocent people are killed, there is no room for jokes.  It showed an immature behavior for a person in such a serious profession.  Some people have joked or seriously mentioned that with Jon Stewart quitting the Daily Show, Williams should take over that role.  Frankly, if the accusations are accurate, Williams is too unrealistic for even fake news.   I think Jon Stewart has much more integrity as a comedian than Williams as an anchor of a network news organization.

Watched the third and fourth episodes of Fresh off the Boat.  I find these two episodes to be a lot better than the first two.  If it continues to be this funny, it deserve a renewal for next season..

I want to hear some opinions on the new sitcom Fresh off the Boat.  Since this is only the second Asian American sitcom after Margaret Cho's show, I am hoping it would be a success.  It is extremely difficult for a show like this to succeed. On the one hand, if the characters are portrayed like "average Americans" then what would be special about the show?  But if too much racial undertone is used then "average American" may not watch.  And if too much stereotype is used, then it would not serve Asian Americans well.  So all this is a fine line to walk on.  Add to that, you have to be funny.  So this is a high mountain to climb.  I just wish the show the best of luck.

I actually did not watch the Super Bowl last week.  Don't ask!  After hearing people say that Pete Carroll called the worst play in history of the Super Bowl, I looked at the highlights.  I didn't think that was such a bad call.  I mean, there was about 30 seconds left and one timeout.  If they ran the ball and failed, they would have had to use the timeout.  Then if they ran it again and failed, they may not have time to run a third time without a no huddle.  Sure, the chances are they would have scored on two tries running from the one.  But there have been times when NFL teams fail on 2-3 times running from the one.  And the odds are overwhelming that they can pass for one yard as well.  I suspect the odds of an interception from the one is not higher than a fumble from the one.  If the pass is incomplete, the next two plays can be run without a no huddle regardless of what happen.  So I don't think it was a gamble at all for Carroll.  On the other hand, why no criticism for Belicheck for not calling timeout after the first run?  Maybe by not watching the game itself, I missed something but that is my opinion from the highlights.

After Ole Miss. got clobbered by Arkansas yesterday, I am thinking that if Alabama, which is in first place in the playoff poll, deserves to be there since they lost to Ole Miss.  Alabama can claim first because they beat Miss. State which was first before last week.  But Miss. State's claim to first place was mostly based on beating Auburn which has proven to be not so tough lately.  Is FSU the best team then since it is undefeated?  I don't know.   They have been doing the great escape every week.  But until someone can beat them, they deserve to be in the playoff for sure.  I am thinking they should just make it an 8 team playoff.  The champion of each of the big 5 conferences are in and then 3 wild cards are given, with no more than 3 teams from any conference.  The top 6 bowls would host the quarterfinals and semifinals.  There will still be controversies but if you win one of the big 5 conferences, you deserve to be in.  Otherwise there is no basis for complaint.

DWTS is very close.  So I won't make my final judgment until after seeing their last dances tomorrow.

I am amazed by the power of this blog.  Last week I commented that Lee Nguyen is an MVP candidate for the New England Revolution of MLS.  I also wondered why he has not been selected to the U.S. national team.  Immediately, Jurgen Klinnsmann called up Nguyen and played him toward the end of the game against Colombia.  Nguyen came close to scoring, only a great save by the Colombia goalie stopped him from putting the U.S. ahead.  I think Nguyen and his teammate Jermaine Jones will be a great midfield duo for the U.S.  Hopefully he will get a chance to prove that in the future.

In DWTS Tommy Chong has to go tomorrow.  Despite my sympathy for his advanced age, he is by far the worse dancer left and it would be a travesty if he makes the finals.

Final four prediction:  Kansas, MSU, San Diego State, Michigan.  Kansas will be the champion.

DWTS:  Davis, White and Purdy the final three with White the champion.  Non athlete dark horse:  Danica McKellar.  Is it just me or does Erin Andrew sounds like a man?

Missed Jeopardy today and found out Arthur Chu lost!  I understand he lost big on the daily double.  So all the complaints about his strategy of getting the daily doubles are nonsense.  If you can't come up with the correct answer, then the strategy actually hurts you.  I understand that a graduate student from Ann Arbor beat him.  So Michigan may not win so much in football anymore but we dominate in ice dancing and jeopardy!

Chu said that the 12 games were taped over 3 days back in November.  So stamina and consistency are almost as important as knowledge and quickness.  It makes the absurd streak of, I think, 74 games by Ken Jennings so much more impressive!

Saw a program on PBS last night about Detroit called Detropia.  Things still look very bleak even with the auto companies making good profit now.  It talked about mayor Dave Bing is trying to consolidate the city's population to a smaller area and try to use the rest of the land to start urban farming.  The program did not really talk about how these two things can be accomplished.  It seems to me people are not going to willingly move to another part of the city unless there is a benefit, like a tax rebate.  As Bing said, the city is broke so how is it going to pay people to move?  And how is this urban farming to going to work?  What do they do with the land in the winter when things don't grow with snow on the ground?  Are these programs still on the agenda?  All I know is that I don't want to be in Bing's shoes!

This program made me think about the fires in Bangladesh factories recently.  There has been a lot of calling by activists to stop manufacturing in Bangladesh and other countries where safety violations are rampant.  While that is well meaning, I am sure the people of Bangladesh and other countries don't want the manufacturing to stop.  People who are starving are willing to take whatever safety risks to feed their children.  The Mexicans are willing to risk dying to cross over to the U.S. to find a job.  So the people of Bangladesh are willing to work in unsafe factories.  We should demand that companies from the U.S. do a much better job of policing the factories that make their products.  But in reality we are not doing the impoverish people any favor by taking away their jobs.

The truth is there are more and more people competing for limited manufacturing jobs all over the world.  Detroit will not get significant number of jobs back.  The city will have reinvent itself.  But with the poor public education system, I am not sure how they are going to be able to train the next generation in other types of work.  This will not be limited to Detroit but to rest of America as well.  I can see where the gap between the rich and poor will widen.  If you are not educated enough to get a professional job, you will be stuck in the service economy.  The middle class will shrink.  Having said that, I am not a pessimist for America as a whole.  Most of America can avoid what happened to Detroit and other old cities. Will talk about that in the future.

I think for the first time there is no surprising finalists for DWTS.  All four finalists are deserving.  I think anyone of the four can win.  A lot will depend on the performances Monday.  Based on consistency and how I think the fan voting will go, I predict the order of finish:  1.  Pickler. 2.  Jones.  3.  Raisman. 4.  Zendeya.   I would not be surprised if it was backwards!