tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48503015734065930622026-06-24T15:26:54.743+02:00Random ramblings on the rights and wrongs 'round the worldShanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-72072462494521957052020-02-02T20:48:00.000+01:002020-02-02T20:54:15.585+01:00

When the Philadelphia Eagles faced the New England Patriots a couple of years ago in the Super Bowl, I, as an Eagles-divisional-rival-Cowboys fan and a non-Bostonian, living, breathing human being was faced with a conundrum: do I cheer for the hated Eagles or the nefarious Patriots? Well, imagine being an Oakland resident Raiders fan this year as the Kansas City Chiefs line up against the San

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-2978185934536307322019-02-02T14:08:00.000+01:002019-02-02T14:08:23.039+01:00

It seems the old adage holds up, the more things change, the more they stay the same. A new post on this blog can only mean one thing: the Super Bowl is upon us once again. Nearly as predictably, this year's game once again features the New England Patriots, facing off this time against the Los Angeles Rams, a near-repeat of Super Bowl XXXVI, also held in Atlanta. I say near as last time

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-57051279113745253252018-02-01T01:56:00.000+01:002018-02-01T13:15:28.878+01:00

Just ten years ago, if I had told you that Vin Diesel would be the highest grossing actor at the box office, the President of the United States would be Donald Trump and running the country by doing something called tweeting while taking a dump and that the NFL would be losing popularity because a few players chose to kneel during the national anthem you would have looked at me as though I'd

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-52706089002378627232017-09-10T18:29:00.002+02:002018-01-01T15:36:16.103+01:00

Ok, here's a quick league to league run down for the upcoming 2017 NFL season. AFC East Starts and ends with the New England Patriots as the favorite team of any good fascist mostly got better since winning the Super Bowl after spotting the Falcons a 28-3 lead. Sure, they lost Julian Edelman and don't have an edge rusher but they added speedy wideout Brandin Cooks and another white guy, RB

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-29463379679862536062017-02-02T13:16:00.000+01:002017-02-02T13:16:28.736+01:00

It was 'post-truth' if you're an Oxford Dictionary type, 'xenophobia' if you're more into dictionary.com, 'surreal' got a shout out from Meriam-Webster, but it took the American Dialect Society to get 2016 right by naming 'dumpster fire' their word of the year. Well, at least for the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers who battled to the bottom for right to the #1 draft pick. And Hillary

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-83505111447000193542016-11-09T13:08:00.000+01:002016-11-09T17:06:47.690+01:00

I'd best begin with a confession. Upon waking to Donald Trump's victory speech my first reaction was to smirk and giggle. It wasn't shock. It wasn't fear. It was really happening. The United States of America had chosen a parasitic clown over the TPTB's(*) chosen one. Yes, America, and by extension, the rest of the world had gotten what they deserved; there could be no more appropriate personae

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-69389897151848091202016-09-08T21:19:00.000+02:002016-09-09T00:34:38.148+02:00

It happens every year, such is the bane of a teacher, one who chooses to take full advantage of his three months holiday by doing as little as possible. With Septembers entrance and the idea of October becoming increasingly real come the howling fantods, a David Foster Wallace coined term for what the urban dictionary defines as 'a stage 4 case of the heebie jeebies'. The intense feeling of both

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-20014584970610973122016-02-07T20:13:00.001+01:002016-02-07T20:13:58.966+01:00

Yeah, it's L, I don't care what the NFL says. Super Bowl L and that's what I'm going to call it! Anyway, no time for a long post unfortunately, instead, you get a podcast. Yep, and for all of you you tl:dr types in the past who are instead tl:dl (too long didn't listen?), I'm looking to extend my unblemished Super Bowl blogging predictions record and taking the Panthers straight up and against

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-23375800296242204442015-09-13T17:02:00.000+02:002015-09-13T17:22:46.446+02:00

Fittingly, the NFL season kicked off on Thursday night in Foxborough, home of the New England Patriots. Not so much because it featured the defending Super Bowl champions but because a national audience watched Tom Brady celebrate his victory over NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as he first fist-pumped triumphantly onto the stage and then masterfully led his team to victory in front of fans

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-66496240973458932952015-03-18T17:02:00.000+01:002015-03-18T17:02:09.519+01:00

There I was on Sunday skimming the latest from the New York Times when my eyes alighted upon the headline Poland Steels for Battle, Seeing Echoes of Cold War in Ukraine Crisis accompanied by, what else, a picture of camouflaged women crawling on what appeared to be a soccer field. Curiosity about what my hitherto believed to be apathetic hosts were up to naturally drew me in. Now, living in

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-43244288650414150232015-03-06T13:52:00.000+01:002015-03-07T21:51:46.983+01:00

Somewhat inexplicably, last week my Facebook wall, along with much of the western press, was hijacked by a dress. Seems no one could agree what color it was; some saw white and gold while others adamantly insisted it was blue and black. Now, I haven't clicked on a single headline nor have I expanded any of the pictures, yet I somehow know that there's a controversy without knowing, let alone

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-5153969466250163912015-02-26T18:18:00.002+01:002015-02-28T15:25:27.963+01:00

A suffocating debt load, unable to raise money in the market and an economy in a death spiral on the verge of collapse. Sure, an apt description of the situation in Greece but one that would also apply to West Germany in 1953. February 27th of that year saw the signing of the London Agreement on German External Debts which forgave half of the German foreign debt and stretched the repayment of the

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-81328746406672892202015-01-18T00:33:00.000+01:002015-02-01T16:20:32.529+01:00

The NFL's money men are already drooling over the prospect of next year's game. Not only will dropping the Roman numeral L in favor of the Arabic number 50 have been a boon to the marketing campaign revolving around gold (golden anniversary played in the Golden State at the home of the gold mining 49ers) and the power of technology to enhance, nay, perfect the football experience, but the game

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-9359036938057975112014-09-02T21:08:00.000+02:002014-09-03T11:23:23.439+02:00

Give a drunk monkey darts and ask him to throw them at a wall plastered with teams and win/loss records and you'll get similarly reliable results to the average NFL prognosticator. Still, going through the league team by team proves to be a therapeutic exercise in building up an illusion of knowledge about the upcoming year. Sure, there's a few givens: the Seahawks will contend to repeat, the

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-50231685731080583442014-01-30T14:48:00.002+01:002014-02-03T13:26:56.521+01:00

In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the Sports and Pastimes most generally prevalent among them.               Joseph Strutt - Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801) There's no game that better embodies Strutt's theory than American football nor an event that

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-67875673823259055942013-09-23T15:07:00.000+02:002013-09-23T19:28:15.004+02:00

Chances are you forgot to buy a present again this year, after all, anniversaries are hard to remember. What with the aftermath of that whole another former Disney girl goes off the rails thing, the release of another copy of a phone that'll make your life better and the anticipation of another brown people massacre, you could be forgiven for forgetting given the buzz surrounding Miley's strange

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-52298258684742012962013-09-05T12:34:00.000+02:002014-01-03T23:47:59.008+01:00

Since fleeing North America more than a decade ago I've lost touch with most everything back home, from friends and family to TV and celebrity culture to Kraft Dinner and maple syrup. Sure, there's Facebook and Skype, the odd movie and cartoon as well as the occasional Big Mac and peanut butter sandwich, but the most solid connection that's kept me plugged into the rhythm of American life is

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-41361037699484699612013-08-02T15:47:00.000+02:002013-08-02T15:47:01.336+02:00

Chapter 9 Mile Detroit is bankrupt. Or not. Or it is. Regardless, the city that provided the American Dream's 20th century engine has fallen victim to the 21st century version. By now you've likely heard most of the stats: it was the 5th most populous city in America in 1950 with over 1.8 million (and only a couple hundred thousand short of 3rd), today only about 700,000 remain, nearly a quarter

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-49832133396320612452013-07-13T21:43:00.000+02:002013-07-15T00:48:00.477+02:00

Yossarian was cold, too, and shivering uncontrollably. He felt goose pimples clacking all over him as he gazed down despondently at the grim secret Snowden had spilled all over the messy floor. It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot, like other kinds

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-716908788563576042013-05-02T13:39:00.002+02:002013-05-03T11:55:35.269+02:00

My mistake was not waiting to light my cigarette until after I'd passed the pawn shop. The lombard, as they call them here, opened only a few months ago but it's quickly become a favorite hangout for young and old alike. Bizarrely, you're just as likely to see a group of old fogies as a gang of kids ogling the phones in the window, dreaming of the day when they can afford to light up the screens

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-29538298555588419022013-02-02T17:14:00.000+01:002013-09-01T21:33:24.338+02:00

After falling one game short last year, the Harbaugh brothers will become the first brothers to coach against each other in the Super Bowl. Jim's San Francisco 49ers will take on John's Baltimore Ravens in the Superdome in New Orleans February 3rd, 2013 so the game has been given various monickers on the theme: the Har Bowl, Harbaugh Bowl and the Super Baugh. Having grown up in Canada I was

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-73091378261521418542012-12-29T15:30:00.000+01:002013-01-22T10:05:41.667+01:00

Whether by rapture, nature, or computer there have been countless predictions of the end of the world over the past three millennia. These harbingers of doom have had many sources, from scripture to soothsayers, but all have been shown to be nothing but conjecture as the world has continued to revolve, the sun to shine and man to (de)evolve. Unless you've been living under a rock, don't get out

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-65889817570514309782012-11-03T00:26:00.000+01:002012-11-06T00:12:48.649+01:00

There's a million and one reasons Willard Mitt 'Mittens' Romney shouldn't be elected the 45th President of the United States November 6th, but only one reason he won't when looking at the presidencies of the past 20 years. Unfortunately, being a flip-flopping liar who will shapeshift into anything the polls say will help curry favor with a few voters won't hinder him as Obama has proven. Being a

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-15063003023203956222012-10-01T16:38:00.000+02:002012-10-01T17:11:06.735+02:00

Editor's note: The writer understands the irony of writing this, and of your reading some but not all of it, thanks to the technology he is ranting about. Oh, and you can follow him on Twitter, like or share the post and enjoy listening to him read it by clicking just below to the left thanks to all these marvelous machines as well. "Not here/Not here the darkness, in this twittering world.”

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4850301573406593062.post-11546580076205797162012-09-03T16:01:00.000+02:002012-09-04T22:29:00.118+02:00

It's hard to believe that once upon a time, over fourteen years ago (also hard to believe), there was a controversy about which quarterback the Indianapolis Colts should take with their #1 draft choice: Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. Both were Heisman finalists the previous year finishing second and third respectively, Leaf led his Washington State Cougars to the Pac-10 championship, ending the

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07529417541951066343noreply@blogger.com1