Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

Margaret Atwood Gets a Stamp of Approval – Book and Film Globe

Posted: February 9, 2022 at 1:22 am

The queen of CanLit is in the national spotlight. At the end of November, Canada Post issued a stamp with an image of writer and poet Margaret Atwood wearing a pensive expression against a background of lines from her poem Spelling. Atwoods admirers cheer this coronation, which seems perfectly timed. It lends added gravitas to the bold public stance that Atwood has taken in the last two weeks on the uprising of truckers that has convulsed Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and parts of Quebec and made headlines around the world.

The truckers of the Freedom Convoy object to Covid restrictions and to their governments high-handedness, and are sick of their concerns going ignored. They particularly object to vaccine mandates for cross-border travel, a measure that makes their lives even tougher. But Atwood, a writer known for her concern for marginalized members of society, wishes they would shut up and go home.

On February 4, Atwood let rip with a caustic tweet about the noise and chaos that the Freedom Convoy has brought to Ottawa, and compared being in the city in the midst of the protests to torture. Atwood also retweeted an article about a $9.8 million class-action lawsuit over the noise and disruptions and a story about an online petition calling for a tougher police response. Another tweet the next day called out alleged Trump interference in the furor over GoFundMes suspension of $9 million in donations meant for the truckers. Atwood also retweeted a positive comment about a counterprotest in Vancouver.

Atwoods snootiness toward the truckers, a bunch of hairy guys waving the Canadian flag, and her contempt for their concerns are of a piece with the reactions of many progressives. What makes her case interesting is that Atwood has lashed out at Americans in the past for their indifference to the duskier expressions of Canadian individuality and patriotism.

The United States does not think of its own nationalism as being anything out of the ordinary, but it has never cherished warm feelings for other peoples. Reaction to the current Canadian wave has ranged from anger, to squeeze plays of the If-you-dont-let-us-buy-you, we-wont-let-you-buy-us variety, to jocular condescension, Atwood states in her 1981 essay, originally written as a speech, Canadian-American Relations: Surviving the Eighties.

The essay was a slap in the face to those who disdained popular expressions of Canadian identity and yearning for freedom. Now, in the face of a sincere protest from working-class, patriotic Canadians who do a grueling job that keeps the nation running smoothly and makes Atwoods cozy life possible, Atwood indulges in some jocular condescension of her own. Those unwashed, flag-waving, beer-guzzling rubes who dare to question the policies laid down by the countrys rich technocratic elite should all turn their trucks right around and go home to their dusky little homes and trailer parks in parts of the country that rightly have no voice.

Americans experience themselves, individually, as small toads in the biggest and most powerful puddle in the world. Their sense of power comes from identifying with the puddle. Canadians as individuals may have more power within the puddle, since there are fewer toads in it; its the puddle thats seen as powerless, Atwood writes in the same essay.

Obviously, some of the toads dont feel this way and are clamoring for a redress of their lack of a voice. But who cares about a bunch of toads.

To be sure, many welcome Canada Posts recognition of a highbrow writer with popular appeal. Atwoods novels, stories, poetry, and literary criticism have engrossed readers and given the literati much to debate and argue about for well over fifty years now. Her most famous novel, The Handmaids Tale, presents a dystopia so richly imagined and ominous that it served as the springboard for a popular series. The decision to place Atwood on a stamp offers hope that not everyone today considers serious writers to be irrelevant and that more may come to take an interest in Atwood. It follows a decision in 2013 to honor in similar fashion the late Robertson Davies, a delightful novelist even more unabashedly literary and esoteric than Atwood.

So, bravo for Canada Post and Margaret Atwood and all her fans. Her talents and her contribution to CanLit are not in doubt. But in a society with a history as rich and complex as Canadas, you have to wonder whether the enshrinement of anyone can be wholly without controversy.

The furor over the upstart truckers is hardly the first occasion where Atwood has jumped into the political fray. Atwoods political correctness has been evident for years, but she is rather selective in her sympathies.

Some may think that Atwood is a writer of moral courage in this era of cancellation, where the woke continually redefine their own rights to the exclusion of the rights of others, and freedom of expression is so often the victim. Atwood did send out a tweet on October 19 to her more than two million followers with the header Why Cant We Say Woman Anymore? The headline was also the title of a Toronto Star op-ed piece by Rosie DiManno, linked in Atwoods tweet, in which DiManno bemoaned the woke fad du jour of finding more inclusive substitutes for woman.

But the tweet is not an example of a bold politically incorrect stance on Atwoods part. Again and again, Atwood has bent over backward to signal her endorsement of woke causes and progressive view of gender fluidity, notably by tweeting on October 23 a link to a Scientific American article whose claims include, Arguments about innate biological differences between the sexes have persisted long past the time they should have been put to rest. (If you think there are actually differences between mens and womens bodies, unlearn your prejudice fast.) Contemporary progressivism is a den of competing claims to ber-victimhood, and Atwoods retweet of the Toronto Star piece, and the vituperation that followed it, are just one of the latest circular semantic quarrels on the woke left.

For the record, Atwood has shown she is quite capable of venom toward the downtrodden as long as they are not people the woke left cares about. In Survival, her 1972 survey of themes in Canadian literature, Atwood explicitly acknowledges that both anglophones and francophones have had to fight to survive and to keep their customs and traditions alive in a land beset by harsh climes and political conflicts.

For all that, some of the portrayals of French Canadians in Atwoods work are decidedly harsh and border on caricature. You should go and read a novel that came out the very same year as Survival yet appears in places to be from the pen of a different author. That novel is Surfacing, Atwoods first-person account of a young woman, whose name we never learn, who sets out with her boyfriend and another couple into the wilds of northern Quebec one summer. The protagonist spent parts of her early youth there but has not been back in many years, and it is a shock for her to run into people whose first language is not English and who seem to look askance at outsiders.

When she enters a store in a remote rural area, the French-speakers there are not just different. Atwood renders them as provincial, faintly menacing rubes who retaliate for what they see at outsiders condescension by speaking a mangled, cartoonish English in a really in-your-face way, as if to say, This what you want? Are you happy now? Atwoods portrayal of these people is cruel, and she appears to want the reader to identify wholly with the protagonist, who cannot get away from the dumb rubes fast enough and lards later parts of her interior monologue with explicit distaste for the French, though she also hates Americans aplenty. If you think that the dueling banjos scene in Deliverance is cruel, check out Surfacing.

Lest anyone assume that such prejudice against French Canadians was a common tic or reflex among Anglo-Canadian authors of the time, consider the work of Montreal writer John Buell, whose career hit high gear in the 1960s and 1970s and whom literary critic Edmund Wilson praised for his excellent novels. Buells 1976 novel Playground has thematic and structural parallels with Surfacing, but the attitudes on display are notably different. In this expertly written novel, Montreal businessman Spence Morrison gets lost in the course of a solo trip to the wilds of northern Quebec, and comes close to starving to death and losing his mind as he wanders all alone in hope of finding someone, anyone.

At the end, when Morrison (spoiler alert!) at last comes upon a settlement, we feel his awe and relief at the sound of voices speaking in French, and its not just because he gets to live another day. The French are representatives of order, stability. In Buells debut novel from 1959, The Pyx, Anglo and French detectives in Montreal share a shopworn bonhomie. You can see this in even sharper relief in Harvey Harts outstanding (little-seen) 1973 screen adaptation of the novel, in which Christopher Plummers Sgt. Jim Henderson responds to a call about a woman having fallen from a tall building. Or did someone push her? On arriving at the scene, another detective is impressed to hear that Henderson now works with French-Canadian cop Pierre Paquette. Youre working with Paquette, the eager beaver? Why, do you know him? Henderson replies. Know him? Im surprised he didnt get to her before she hit the ground! the other rejoins.

Atwood departs from the spirit of such bonhomie in her mean-spirited portrayals. No one is likely to take Atwood to task over this, of course. With some exceptions, cancellation these days is for white male authors who have the temerity to think aloud or in print. But the second-class status of the French in Canada is a very real issue, and is not about to get any better as a result of anything Atwood has said or done.

In 2013, the year that Canada Post honored Robertson Davies, one of the most horrific events in Canadas modern history unfolded in the town of Lac-Mgantic in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. On the night of July 6, a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway freight train carrying loads of crude oil and parked on a hill above the town while its conductor slept in a hotel downtown unexpectedly rolled down the hill and derailed. The resulting blast killed 47 people and leveled much of Lac-Mgantic. A number of factors led to the brake failure, but the catastrophe would never have happened if, as per longstanding custom, the train had had a second conductor to assume oversight while the first one was off duty.

Bruce Campbells excellent The Lac-Mgantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied details the relaxation of safety rules and requirements that MMA, an American firm headquartered in Maine, demanded from Ottawa from the 1980s on. The Anglo-Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney was one of the most anti-regulation leaders in the nations history, and changes initiated under his watch and later stripped Transport Canada of the power to require companies to follow safety rules and protocols. Transport Canada had to resort to issuing toothless letters of concern. When MMA wanted to switch from two conductors to one conductor per freight train on the Lac-Mgantic and other routes to save money, there was little the regulatory body could do to stop it. Though this was not the only factor involved, forty-seven French Canadians died as a result. It is only one of the recent episodes in a long history of horrendous neglect and mistreatment of a people.

Margaret Atwood is a writer of substantial talent, but in todays parlance, she has othered French Canadians. If we are really to care about these things as much as the woke demand, then we might ask whether placing her on a postage stamp rubs salt into still fresh wounds.

The rest is here:

Margaret Atwood Gets a Stamp of Approval - Book and Film Globe

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on Margaret Atwood Gets a Stamp of Approval – Book and Film Globe

The Jazz Butcher: The Highest in the Land (Album Review) – PopMatters

Posted: at 1:22 am

The Highest in the Land is the Jazz Butchers (aka Pat Fish, ne Patrick Huntrods) first studio album since Last of the Gentleman Adventurers in 2012. Sadly, it is also his last. Fish died at home in October 2021. He was only 63, but on Time from the new record, he seems resigned to his fate: My hairs all wrong / My time aint long / Fishy go to Heaven, get along, get along. In a recent series of fan Q&A videos, Fish is hardly seen without a cigarette or a pint in hand. He did it his way, playing small club shows and, later, online sessions with his friends, staying classy, with no regrets.

This intimate, comfortable mood translates to The Highest in the Land. The sultry, woozy, 1920s-style shuffle of Melanie Hargreaves Fathers Jaguar sets the tone, sounding like it is wafting in from the smoky backroom of a bygone speakeasy. The appearance of longtime foil Max Eider on guitar adds to the vintage feel.

Within this cozy milieu, The Highest in the Land is typically eclectic, touching on several styles that Fish is fond ofpop, rock, rockabilly, blues, and, of course, jazz. All of it is grounded in pleasingly jangly hollow body guitar. The one exception to the overall feel, and the one musical surprise, is the instrumental Amalfi Coast May 1963. The track sounds exactly like its title, referencing an Italian coastal village. The gently shuffling rhythm and odd time signature lead to swooning, widescreen strings, and a melody that suggests drama, but not enough to disturb the cocktail in ones hand. Its a retro easy-listening treat that would be equally at home on Bert Kaempfert or Saint Etienne records, one that reveals a musical sophistication that is easy to overlook given Fishs pop smarts.

By the time they reach their later careers, some artists reach the point where the music is primarily a means to experience their lyrics, wisdom, and general gravitas. Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Lou Reed come to mind. Is the Butcher worthy of such company? Surely. Although he did not reach the same level of critical attention or even commercial success, Fish was as keen, witty, insightful, and, when necessary, as ruthless.

The Highest in the Land provides plenty of evidence. While the album is missing the manic discontent that often made its way into earlier work, the relative restfulness of the music belies Fishs disillusion and frustration with the current state of affairs.

When writing about any Jazz Butcher release, the temptation is to list off all the great vignettes, images, and one-liners, and The Highest in the Land is no different.Lemmy and Bowie and Princeall gone, Fish laments on Running on Fumes. The lesson? People like us cant have nice things. The track is a takedown of those who instill fear and struggle for their own gain: Is there anything as cheap as chasing profit from despair? he asks. Though he leaves the listener to fill in the blanks, it seems he must be speaking of politicians, global elites, and, quite possibly, corporations. Any moment now somebodys going to say Toxic, thats assured, he predicts toward the end of the song. He may be older, but Fish is still pretty quick on his feet. The music, too, is jaunty skiffle, an album standout.

That isnt the only place where Fish offers some vitriol for todays social media-obsessed, cancel-happy culture. On Sebastians Medication, he calls it political correctness gone mad. His assessment is astute and eloquently worded enough to preclude any suspicion he is acting the curmudgeon: [Everybody] screaming on the laptop in the basement / Store all the hate up and wait for it to burst out / I cant believe youre such an architect of your own destruction. Again, the Stonesy music follows suit with a drawn-out, multi-tempo, distorted guitar solo. Its not quite the incendiary noise of some past Butcher tracks, but it is easily the albums most energized moment.

Those who know Fishs music will know he was also an unrepentant romantic. Thus, The Highest in the Land features a couple of his earnestly pretty ballads in Never Give Up and the poignantly-titled closing track Goodnight Sweetheart. Even here, though, the edge remains sharp. Never give up, Fish declares on the former, until you want to. His way, indeed.

Throughout, Fishs distinctive tenor is still boyish but also wizened and strangely comforting. Though it is certainly not a major release in what amounts to an incredible, 40-year canon, The Highest in the Land takes on particular importance because of its posthumous nature, rendering its creators premature death even more saddening. While the Butcher may have had nothing left to prove, he certainly had much more to say.

The rest is here:

The Jazz Butcher: The Highest in the Land (Album Review) - PopMatters

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on The Jazz Butcher: The Highest in the Land (Album Review) – PopMatters

The inflationary risk markets are ignoring, but shouldnt – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 1:21 am

This article first appeared in the Morning Brief. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Geopolitics are pushing oil toward $100, and thats a problem for inflation

Ukraine and OPEC have become inflation risks of sorts.

And Wall Street, preoccupied as it has become with a host of other issues like interest rates, earnings and economic growth, has yet to fully appreciate why they matter.

Investors havent been paying much attention to the crisis in Eastern Europe, which is just one of several geopolitical flash points menacing a world thats still in the clutches of COVID-19. However, oil is emerging as a barometer of concerns like a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, and an oil cartel thats burned through spare capacity.

As if we needed any more sources of price pressure, crude is inching closer and closer to $100 per barrel and analysts are warning the balance of risks will make it very easy to breach that psychological barrier, Yahoo Finances Ines Ferre reported on Monday.

Regarding Ukraine, the biggest fear is that an incursion by Russia will force the hand of the United States, raising the specter that a cold war with Moscow could easily turn hot.

"The U.S. wants to make it clear that Washington and its allies are absolutely prepared if it comes to a major military escalation, Eurasia Group senior analyst Zachary Witlin told Yahoo Finance Live in a recent interview.

At least for now, that remains a low probability. However, the potential for other spillover effects like an energy supply crunch that dents Europes recovery, to an armed conflict that disrupts the operations of multinational companies remains a very real and present danger. With energy prices already elevated, the Russia scenario could easily add to upward pressure that would translate into higher prices, and at the worst possible time.

Last week, Mondelez Internationals CFO told Yahoo Finances Brooke DiPalma that the company was concerned about its employees in the region. Russia may account for an estimated 10% to 11% of Mondelez's European Union (EU) segment, and approximately 3% of its total sales in 2022, Piper Sandler recently estimated.

Story continues

"As long as the Russians are threatening to move into Ukraine, [the crude oil] market's going to stay bid," Bob Yawger, Mizuho Americas executive director, told Yahoo Finance Live recently. If Russias oil is "sanctioned or there's trouble moving barrels... that's going to be a major problem"

And we havent even begun to scratch the surface of whats happening in the Middle East and OPEC, whose meetings used to be the source of much market angst but have retreated into background noise in an era dominated by the pandemic.

Bank of America noted that a surprising decline in spare capacity among the oil cartels members has helped fuel crudes recent gains, adding to tight supply conditions in the context of surging demand.

And its not just OPEC, either, with Iran emerging as an immediate concern amid grudging progress between Tehran and the West on a nuclear deal. Currently Middle East watchers see a low probability of a deal being reached, and talks could easily hit the skids.

Beyond the oil cartel, we see four additional elements that could lead to higher oil price volatility through March, Goldman Sachs analysts recently noted, and on Monday predicted crude would hit $105 per barrel.

Force multipliers include the U.S. possibly releasing more supply from its strategic petroleum reserve (a move the Biden administration has already deployed, to little avail), the migration from gas to oil as winter wraps up, and negative Iran headlines.

Its the latter that has the biggest potential to boost prices, with Goldman warning that an increase in bearish headlines on Iran deal progress would likely hit sentiment in a market desperate for spare capacity.

In other words, no rest for an inflation-weary public.

By Javier E. David, editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him at @Teflongeek

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn

The rest is here:

The inflationary risk markets are ignoring, but shouldnt - Yahoo Finance

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on The inflationary risk markets are ignoring, but shouldnt – Yahoo Finance

Who’s out of the first round of 2022 fantasy football drafts? – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

Its the second week of February. We dont even have an NFL champion yet. But fantasy football discussion is a year-long pursuit.

Todays assignment is to look at name-brand players who were previously first-rounders but likely to move out of that exclusive club next season. The arrow is moving in the wrong direction. Heck, in some cases, maybe the cheese has gone bad.

Everything here is written in pencil, of course. Although I am a staunch advocate that high-volume Best Ball drafting is the best way to prepare for the next fantasy year, I wont start my portfolio until after the NFL Draft. Well be ironing things out for a while.

Preamble to the side, here are 2021 first-rounders that I likely will rank outside the first round for next season.

Although I love Chubbs game and it hurts me to move him down, this is one of the easiest calls of the exercise. Early round running backs need to be tied to winning teams and usually need a reliable pass-catching role. I cant guarantee you the 2022 Browns will be a good team, and although Chubb seems like a reasonable receiver to my eyes, Cleveland does not throw the ball to him much.

Staying on the field has been a problem Barkley has missed 21 games in three years. And when he was on the field in 2021, it wasnt a treat a piddly 3.7 YPC, just four total touchdowns. Barkleys PPR value was buoyed by 41 catches, even as his yards per target dipped to a meager 4.6. New head coach Brian Daboll is an exciting hire and the Giants have interesting skill talent on offense, but Barkleys medical file pushes him out of first-round consideration.

[Play in Yahoo Fantasy's NFL $1 Million Big Game Baller]

Although Zeke played hurt much of the year, he did get into all 17 games. But his efficiency has been ordinary for a while, especially in the passing game, where his yards per target have fallen five straight years. Elliott steps into his seventh NFL season thats old for a running back and the Cowboys have a younger, fresher alternative to consider in Tony Pollard. This could be close to a 50-50 timeshare next year, even considering Elliotts gigantic contract.

Story continues

Ezekiel Elliott is likely off Scott Pianowski's 2022 fantasy football first-round board. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)

Its possible the Aaron Rodgers breakup is finally here, and no one wants to imagine the Packers offense with Jordan Love at the controls. Jones also has to deal with A.J. Dillon, a threat for goal-line work and a more capable receiver than anyone expected. If Rodgers isnt here, I dont see Green Bay making the 2022 playoffs. And Jones isn't going to be a bell cow unless Dillon gets hurt.

This is a nit-picky inclusion for two reasons: Diggs was a borderline first-round pick last year, and I would likely consider him around the 18-24 range for a 2022 draft. But despite his outstanding volume in three of the past four years, hes only been good in the touchdown area, not dominant a high of 10 spikes, and 33 over four years. I understand that touchdown rates have randomness to them, but much like BABIP with a baseball pitcher, I dont consider a touchdown rate to be completely random; the player has to own some of it. If I cant assume 10 Diggs touchdowns in August, I cant draft him in the first round.

Hard to pick on a guy whos ranked TE1, TE2, TE1, TE1, TE1, and TE2 in the past six seasons. But Kelce moves into his age-33 season, and Im trying to draft younger with my premium fantasy picks. Kelce didnt have bad efficiency numbers in 2021, but his YPC was at a six-year low, and his yards per target was a personal worst. His yards per game also dropped by 24 yards. No one expects a down season for Kelce next year, but Id prefer to draft an ascending talent, not someone whos obviously on the back nine even if were talking about a walk-in Hall of Famer.

[So many reasons to play Yahoo DFS: Learn more now and get in on the fun]

If hes still with Aaron Rodgers, hes a first-rounder to me, maybe even a top-six pick. If Adams runs with Jordan Love, I cant do it. And if Adams links up with a plus quarterback other than Rodgers, Ill re-open the case. The fan in me hopes Rodgers and Adams stay together; since Jerry Rice retired, no QB/WR combination has shown the chemistry of the Green Bay connection.

I still dont know what to do with him; I might slide him back with the big tickets when the bell rings. The Panthers might be screwed at quarterback, but McCaffrey has produced with lesser QBs before. His physical build doesnt have to be a problem if the team continues to use him as a hybrid; the 287 carries back in 2018 were probably a mistake, but McCaffreys 2018 usage would get him back into the first round. You want McCaffrey being tackled by the lighter defenders.

Bottom line, Im human; I have a hard time writing a check for someone whos been hurt and a major fantasy loss for two years running.

He steps into his sixth season after a messy fifth one 3.7 YPC, and his worst yards-per-target figure. The Saints have a new coaching staff and uncertainty at quarterback. Kamara is also dealing with an unclear personal future after last weeks arrest on a battery charge. Well have to revisit this one.

More:

Who's out of the first round of 2022 fantasy football drafts? - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on Who’s out of the first round of 2022 fantasy football drafts? – Yahoo Sports

Rob Gronkowski sounds stoked on the idea of playing with Joe Burrow – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

With Tom Brady retired, Rob Gronkowski's widely expected to follow suit.

The four-time Super Bowl champion tight end has played his entire 11-season career catching passes from Brady and already called it quits once. The only thing that could lure him out of retirement in 2020? The chance to play with Brady again in Tampa Bay.

But it turns out Gronkowski's not strictly married to playing with Brady now that Brady's retired, of course. And he's got his eyes on one quarterback in particular if he does keep playing. His choice shouldn't come as a surprise.

I kinda like this young buck quarterback,"Gronkowski said at a promotional appearance on Tuesday, per MassLive. "Hes in the Super Bowl now. Its Joe Burrow, man.

I watched him in college. I just love the way he presents himself out on the football field. In the pocket hes just so calm and he just slings it out on the field."

Rob Gronkowski is a fan of Joe Burrow. Who isn't? (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Of course Gronkowski's drawn to Burrow. Who isn't? Even Super Bowl opponent Odell Beckham Jr. couldn't help but gush about the second-year Bengals quarterback who's taken the NFL by storm with his play and his style. The latter's not lost on Gronk, who's generally scoring style points of his own.

I just love his swag, too," Gronkowski continued. "If I had to pick a quarterback, itd be the young buck Joe Burrow. Hes killing it right now in the game.

[Join Yahoo's free Big Game prop quiz for a chance to win up to $10K]

Burrow's early career trajectory isn't entirely unlike Brady's other that whole being drafted No. 1 overall thing. But like Brady, he's led his team on an unexpected run to the Super Bowl against a high-powered Rams team in his second season in the league. Gronk joining him at the tail end of his career would make a compelling storyline. But is it realistic?

Gronkowski's slated to be an unrestricted free agent. As is Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah. If Uzomah leaves and Gronkowski wants in, the Bengals would surely pick up the phone. This all, of course, depends on Gronkowski continuing to play football. For now, that's far from a given.

Visit link:

Rob Gronkowski sounds stoked on the idea of playing with Joe Burrow - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on Rob Gronkowski sounds stoked on the idea of playing with Joe Burrow – Yahoo Sports

How many misdeeds can the NFL weather? Wealthy team owners seem intent on finding out – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

In a just world, the NFL being exposed for its racist hiring practices and sexist inner workings would be a major stain.

Advertisers would pull commercials and end partnerships. Large numbers of fans would tune out. Players would help shine the light on how poisonous it all really is.

There would be accountability. There would be a true reckoning.

At the moment, unfortunately, those things all feel like pipe dreams. Cash has always ruled everything around us, but the wealthy in this country have accumulated such a disgusting amount of power that they abuse us and then make us feel like it's our fault.

The NFL is just a microcosm. Take the past several days:

Roger Goodell commits some kind of performative dance of feigned distress as a league statement that Brian Flores' lawsuit is "without merit" becomes an internal memo decrying the lack of non-white head coaches and front-office executives, and then Goodell meets with some Black leaders for a few hours on Monday to nod his head and likely offer empty words about how he wants to see change.

There are some who believe Goodell actually cares about this particular issue, and if that's true, it only underscores how performative Monday's meeting actually was, because he isn't the one who needs to sit down with civil rights leaders. It's the team owners.

As noted recently by attorney Cyrus Mehri, a co-creator of the Rooney Rule, it is Goodell's inaction a few years ago that likely led to team owners believing the rule can be flouted, as we see so often. When Mark Davis hired Jon Gruden to be Raiders head coach in 2018, then held a few transparently box-checking interviews with Black candidates, and Goodell didn't bother to sanction Davis in any way, the signal went out: Just pretend you care and are fulfilling the rule.

That's how you get a situation like last week, on the same day Flores filed his lawsuit, when media dutifully tweeted that the Minnesota Vikings spent nine hours with Patrick Graham, a Black man, for their head coaching opening, and were welcoming Jim Harbaugh the next day with the expectation that Harbaugh would get the job.

Story continues

In addition to the years he has spent coaching, Graham spent hours preparing for the interview and traveling to Minneapolis for a full day with the Vikings' brass. And no sooner had the car pulled away from the curb to bring him back to the airport, a reporter for the league's in-house media arm tacitly reveals that it was all a sham.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is presiding over a Super Bowl shrouded in scandal, but that's becoming the norm. The league keeps making money. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, The New York Times published a thorough, damning story on the atmosphere within NFL offices themselves, the ones we've been told are a beacon for diversity and inclusivity. Numerous women went on the record to offer their experiences working for the league's corporate offices, and all a league spokesman offered in rebuttal to many of the claims was more gaslighting and obfuscation.

Allegations of bias and being passed over for promotions are there. A Black woman who went to human resources with a concern that her supervisor was biased and promptly got an exit package to leave. One woman who expressed concern over the video of Kareem Hunt shoving a woman and then kicking her only to be told it was "not as bad as Ray Rice [who punched his then-fiancee unconscious in an elevator]." One woman who was involved with the Super Bowl halftime show said she was shoved by a male colleague during an argument and afterward the colleague was removed from the show and made to undergo anger management but he still holds his title and an NFL spokesman says he didn't shove the woman.

In recent months, Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder lets the NFL take over the investigation into the pervasive, abhorrent culture of harassing women in his team offices with the caveat that the investigation's findings never see the light of day. Snyder never faces questions, his wife goes on the friendliest podcast she can find to whine about how terrible it has all been for her, and the scores of women who were victimized are told by a sitting U.S. congressman that he's sorry they suffered but their suffering isn't important enough to spend his time on.

The fallout from that investigation, such as there was any? Gruden resigned from his head-coach-for-life position with the Raiders after his racist, sexist, anti-gay, xenophobic old emails came to light.

The league's top attorney, Jeff Pash, also had offensive emails leaked, mocking the league's diversity efforts and joking with a former team president about callously cutting a player. Crickets from the league. Pash still has a job.

There was the use of vile race norming to deny retired Black players full concussion settlement money, or any money at all. And a $790 billion settlement with the city of St. Louis after Rams owner Stan Kroenke left it high and dry, breaking the NFL's own relocation rules. The payday was a surprise, but once a judge ruled the city's lawsuit had merit, the league couldn't risk discovery.

This is what the NFL is. All of it.

And yet on Wednesday, Goodell will stand in front of media for his annual Super Bowl news conference and use his late-night-quiet-storm-radio-DJ voice to say absolutely nothing of substance and protect the men and women who pay his salary at all costs. All of their gross misdeeds swept under the rug.

The sad thing is, far too many of the reporters in attendance will mistake his air of gravitas for substance.

On Sunday, the league will run its in-house commercial about racial inequities in things like access and salaries and expect to fool the audience into believing it actually cares when its actions show the opposite.

Millions will be tuned into the Super Bowl, and that means millions for Goodell and the franchise owners. The racism, the misogyny, the gaslighting, the way anything that bubbles to the surface is covered up or never acknowledged ... money means you don't have to be accountable.

As former league employee Alissa Leeds told The New York Times, "Everything's excused in the name of football."

Link:

How many misdeeds can the NFL weather? Wealthy team owners seem intent on finding out - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on How many misdeeds can the NFL weather? Wealthy team owners seem intent on finding out – Yahoo Sports

China’s Zhu Yi leaves ice in tears after falling again in team competition – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

China's Zhu Yi left Olympic ice in tears after falling twice in Monday's free skate during team competition.

The U.S.-born skater competing for China was previously the subject of online vitriol on Chinese social media platform Weibo after falling in Sunday's short program. Her finish in the short program saw host nation China fall from third place to fifth. "Zhu Yi has fallen" trended on Weibo late Sunday after she crashed to the ice and missed another jump later in her performance.

According to CNN, the hashtag gained roughly 200 million views, with some of the online criticism questioning why China selected a U.S.-born athlete for the figure skating team. She was born in Los Angeles to parents who immigrated from China and relinquished her U.S. citizenship in 2018 in order to compete for her parents' home country.

China's Zhu Yi left the Olympic ice in tears on Monday. (Photo by Wang Zhao / AFP)

The 19-year-old was visibly upset after her short program.

Im upset and a little embarrassed, she told reporters on Sunday. I guess I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do but unfortunately I didnt."

A day later, Zhu was back on the ice for the women's free skate, the final event in the team competition. She landed her first two jumps, but fell to the ice on her third, a triple-flip. She fell again on her next jump.

When she completed her free skate, she broke down in tears on the ice. China finished in fifth place, while the Russian Olympic Committee secured gold. The United States won silver and Japan won bronze.

See the original post:

China's Zhu Yi leaves ice in tears after falling again in team competition - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on China’s Zhu Yi leaves ice in tears after falling again in team competition – Yahoo Sports

Joe Judge reportedly lands back with Patriots after getting fired by Giants – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

Joe Judge is reportedly going back to the place where he made his name. Judge will reportedly re-join the New England Patriots after he was fired by the New York Giants, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

Judge should be plenty familiar with the Patriots. Prior to joining the Giants, Judge spent eight seasons in New England. Judge served as a special teams assistant, special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach with the team.

When he returns, Judge will assume a new role. He'll reportedly be an offensive assistant in his second stint in New England. The Patriots are in need of help on offense after long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left to be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. McDaniels reportedly pursued Judge to be the Raiders' next special teams coach.

Joe Judge is reportedly heading back to New England. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Judge will reportedly return to New England after two difficult seasons with the Giants. New York went 10-23 under Judge. The team's offense ranked 31st in points scored in both of Judge's seasons. After a strong defensive showing in 2020, the Giants' defense gave up the most points in the NFL on a per-game basis in 2021.

Things really fell apart at the end of the 2021 season. Following a loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 17, Judge went on a lengthy rant explaining why fans should continue supporting the team. The situation escalated the following week, when Judge ran a quarterback sneak on third-and-9 to get better field position for a punt.

Giants co-owner John Mara classified the end of the Judge era as "rock bottom," saying the team somehow "got a little worse" each week. Mara also expressed confidence Judge could eventually be a good coach. He'll get the opportunity to rebuild his coaching reputation with the Patriots.

More:

Joe Judge reportedly lands back with Patriots after getting fired by Giants - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on Joe Judge reportedly lands back with Patriots after getting fired by Giants – Yahoo Sports

Olympic ski jumping event marred by controversy over outfits – Yahoo News

Posted: at 1:21 am

Another day, another event, another controversy in Beijing.

Mondays mixed team ski jump event, making its Olympic debut this year, saw a total of five jumpers disqualified for violations regarding their suits.

Athletes from Austria, Japan, Norway and Germany, all of whom are women, were judged to have worn loose-fitting attire that apparently gives jumpers an advantage as they soar through the air.

Katharina Althaus did not mince words after being disqualified from the mixed team ski jumping event at the Olympics. (Photo by Tom Weller/VOIGT/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

German jumper Katharina Althaus was visibly upset following her dismissal from the event and wasn't shy in voicing her displeasure.

The [International Ski Federation] destroyed everything with this operation. I think they have destroyed womens ski jumping, Althaus said, per German sports agency SID. I have been checked so many times in 11 years of ski jumping, and I have never been disqualified once. I know my suit was compliant.

Her coach, Stefan Horngacher, also shared in his athletes disappointment with the controversial outcome.

It is just strange that they have been using the same suits yesterday and there was no problem, Horngacher said. It is annoying that this happens at the Winter Olympic Games. This should all be cleared before.

Norwegian ski jumping chief of sports Clas Brede Braathen called the situation a "dark day" for the sport.

"I am sorry on behalf of ski jumping," he said via Yahoo Sports Australia. "This is something we should have cleaned up in before the Olympics. The sport of ski jumping has experienced one of its darker days today.

"I'm lost for words, really. This is very painful for the athletes. I'm in pain on behalf of our sport. We were going to introduce a new event. The girls were to get a new event in the Olympics, and that's how it ends. And why are only girls being disqualified?"

With numerous contenders out of the running, Slovenia took home the gold medal, with Russia snatching silver and Canada taking bronze. The surprise trip to the podium marked Canada's first-ever Olympic medal in ski jumping.

Despite the inspiring stories and emotional triumphs already celebrated only a few days into these Olympics, the Games have had their fair share of controversial moments so far, ranging from sketchy judgement in skating races to complaints about the poor standards of certain athlete accommodations within the Olympic Village.

More from Yahoo Sports

Visit link:

Olympic ski jumping event marred by controversy over outfits - Yahoo News

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on Olympic ski jumping event marred by controversy over outfits – Yahoo News

Joe Cooler: How Burrow gets people to buy in like Brady with a crossover appeal he could never match – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 1:21 am

"If you look up 'cool' in the dictionary theres a picture of him in some Cartier shades. This guys smooth. You cant help but like this guy, hes going to be one of the greats I feel like. I truly believe that.

Joe Burrow, yes, definitely cool, fo' sho', Odell Beckham Jr. said Monday during Super Bowl LVIs Opening Night.

Beckham aint never lied.

Burrow is preternaturally cool. Cool under pressure. Cool at the podium. Cool when hes celebrating with a victory cigar. Cool when hes rocking a massive diamond pendant with his own initials over a black turtleneck, cocooned in a heart-printed jacket. Cool walking on the tarmac in a windowpane suit with a SpongeBob Squarepants pocket square.

Swag has become overused, but damn if Burrow doesnt have swag. On some people, it seems forced. On Burrow it seems effortless.

The truth is, you cant be an effective leader and be fake. People see through it.

Given what the Cincinnati Bengals have done in 29 games with 2020s No. 1 draft pick on the roster, youd be hard-pressed to doubt that what we see isnt him.

Its colossally unfair to put Burrow in the same sentence with Tom Brady, but I had a front-row seat to Brady with the Patriots for a decade. This all feels familiar.

Their paths to the NFL were similar, Brady at one point was buried on the quarterback depth chart at Michigan, and Burrow transferred from Ohio State to LSU to get his chance to start. Their arrivals to the pros, however, were very different. The recently retired Brady was taken 199th overall in his draft or 198 spots behind Burrow.

Thats immaterial here. Were talking about it. The intangible, hard to describe, you-know-it-when-you-feel-it thing that some people have that draws people to them, that allows them to connect with anyone, that makes people want to follow them, that gives them the belief that they can achieve just about anything, obstacles be damned.

Brady has it. Burrow does too.

Story continues

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has style that prompts praise even from opponents and an impact that prompts a comparison to Tom Brady. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

When Brady took over as New Englands quarterback early in the 2001 season, it was for a perpetually mediocre franchise. In a city that had seen incredible success from the Celtics and incredible heartbreak from the Red Sox, the Patriots were third fiddle. Maybe fourth if the Bruins were playing well. And the Patriots didnt even play in the city; they played 20 miles southwest of it, in a terrible old stadium with metal bleacher seating.

There were signs of life on occasion: the Squish the Fish squad from 1985 that was embarrassed by Chicago in Super Bowl XX, the Bill Parcells team in 1996 that was humbled by the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. But overall there werent a lot of high points.

And then Brady started playing and everything started to change, and theres an entire generation of Patriots fans who dont remember anything but conference championships and Super Bowl wins. Brady's fashion choices were also frequent fodder, though his straight-from-GQ aesthetic is a little different than Burrow's, who clearly embraces Black culture and style.

This isnt to say Burrow is going to carry Cincinnati to nine Super Bowls as Brady did in New England. What it is to say, to borrow from A Knights Tale, is that a man can change his stars. Or the stars of a football franchise.

Hes got ice in his veins, Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah said Monday. The utmost confidence. We have him in the huddle, we have his mind and his ability to analyze defenses and just be a leader. Just a presence. Ice-cold-blooded killer out there dissecting defenses. Its great.

Its why I call him Franchise he is a franchise player, he can turn an organization around. Its not one person, its a team game, but he is a vital part of why we are where we are. Hes the man, dude. I love Joe.

Hes built for this stage, Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said. Hes played for state championships, national championship, now hes playing for a Super Bowl. I think thats been his expectation all along. Hes not surprised by it; he rises to these occasions.

It probably helps that while the stages get bigger and the stakes higher, Burrow's approach remains the same.

"Obviously the players get better and the scheme gets better but at the end of the day your mindset stays the same," he said Monday. "When I played in the state championship in high school, it feels the same as playing in the Super Bowl does now. At that moment in my life that was the biggest game I had ever played in. Everything feels the same, but I have more reps in those situations now so I'm probably even a little calmer."

Like Brady, Burrow is quick to compliment the team. At turns on Monday, he credited the Bengals' organization for drafting and signing the best players to fit into the locker room, the coaching staff, and his teammates for the team getting to this point. Knowing the defense will pick him up if he makes a mistake allows him to play freely, he said, and the defense knows the offense will be there if it has a slip-up.

They're young, he said, and never talk about the historical significance of what they're doing for the franchise and the city they represent. They're just out there playing football and getting better.

(Yahoo Sports)

For a stretch, the Bengals were asking why not us? when it came to having playoff success, and Burrow wanted everyone to quit.

It is us, he insisted.

"Anytime that youve got a quarterback that can take you to these heights ... when you believe that your quarterback can take you the distance, it allows everybody to play that one percent better because they know on the other side that trigger man is capable of doing some really special things," Taylor said.

"We have a lot of confidence in him, he has a lot of confidence in himself. Its special to be part of."

Burrow admits he's always been confident as a player, though it waned at times. It might be higher than it's ever been now.

"I feel like I've proven to myself that I can play at a high level, at this level of football," he said. "At Ohio State I was confident, but not as confident maybe as I had been in the past and would be in the future. I wasn't playing and those are the times you really learn a lot about yourself as a player and a person, and keeping confidence high in those situations is tough.

"As a quarterback, it's really important to exude that confidence not only in yourself but in all of your teammates and I think the quarterback sets the tone for the culture in the locker room and I try to be that person for everybody here."

Over the past few weeks, as he has led the Bengals further than they've been in decades, other Ohio-bred stars have reached out, from LeBron James to musician Kid Cudi, one of Burrow's idols. That's the thing that's "crazy" to him, not the football success.

If he does the once-seemingly impossible bring a Super Bowl title to Cincinnati everything will get crazy for Burrow.

That picture of cool, the one of Burrow in some Cartier shades, will be celebrated and copied everywhere.

Read more from the original source:

Joe Cooler: How Burrow gets people to buy in like Brady with a crossover appeal he could never match - Yahoo Sports

Posted in Yahoo | Comments Off on Joe Cooler: How Burrow gets people to buy in like Brady with a crossover appeal he could never match – Yahoo Sports