IN THIS LEAGUE

1) I was watching a couple of commentators on the NFL Network talking about the Dallas Cowboys woes. One of them, Michael Irvin said, “In this league, you can’t win if you can’t run the ball and stop the other team.” The other commentator, Steve Mariucci, agreed. It seems to me that the Cowboys have only one choice. They have to switch to a league where you can win when you can’t run the ball or stop the other team.

2)  The Notre Dame- Michigan State was exciting. Michigan State had the great trick play at the end. Kelly has Notre Dame playing with more enthusiasm than Weis ever did. Charlie never understood that football is still fun at the college level. (In this league, you also have to run the ball and stop the other team if you want to win.)

3) The Steelers won despite racking up less than 150 yards of total offense. Donovan McNabb threw for 426 yards, but was once again snake bitten. McNabb had a great career going until he was Limbaughed. You remember when Rush accused the mainstream media of building up Donovan because it wanted a black QB to be successful. The mainstream media acted with outrage and then started to reevaluate McNabb downward, falling for Rush’s nonsense. In 11 years, Donovan led the Eagles to 4 NFC championship games and 1 Super Bowl. During those years, the Eagles had a shortage of blue chippers at skill positions. His passing percentage could be higher, but McNabb is an elite QB. He has a unique ability to keep a play alive.

4)  I’ve been slow in posting this week, because I’ve been mourning Martin Lukes. As the FINANCIAL TIMES put it, Martin was the thought guru’s thought guru. He was that good. Everything that I know about business, I pretty much learned from Martin. Mistakes- he made a few, but….. RIP Martin Lukes. It’s sad to think you are 480% dead.

5) Bruce Springsteen turns 61 this week. Next week, the list will return as I debate Ben Mankiewicz on the Boss’s 25 best songs. I expect to win the debate since Ben doesn’t know about it.

LINKS:

This week, Mike Speidel brought Michael Lewis’s insightful article on Greek Bonds to my attention.  Robert Fisk’s essay in the Independent about 9/11 is controversial, but thought provoking.  There were some notable deaths this week. I met Edwin Newman in the mid 70s when he autographed STRICTLY SPEAKING for me. He was a civilized journalist in a more civilized time. Kevin McCarthy had an illustrious acting career, but is best known for INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. You probably already know about them. I’ve included the obituary of Dodge Morgan, who accomplished a remarkable feat. Finally, I’ve included a piece on English country pubs. What could be a better destination on an autumn Saturday?

http://www.slate.com/id/2266750

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-nine-years-two-wars-hundreds-of-thousands-dead-ndash-and-nothing-learnt-2076450.html

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/09/20/100920taco_talk_wright

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305307.html

http://tinyurl.com/2wkyeur

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cae051d6-c1bb-11df-9d90-00144feab49a.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/sports/18morgan.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/489f84ce-c1ea-11df-9d90-00144feab49a.html

OPEN THOUGHTS

1) I can’t imagine what it was like to spend hundreds of dollars for a ticket to the Women’s Finals to see Zvonarva not show up. Clijsters was awesome, but I was hoping for a better match.

I’ve never seen Federer make more unforced forehand errors. It was painful. I’m an enormous Fed fan, but Djokovic clearly deserved to win. I’m sort of glad the Federer lost. Nadal would have crushed him in the finals if they’d both played the way they played today.

I don’t think that Federer is done, but his days of domination are over. Rafa is the best player in the world now. Their games are dramatically different. Nadal constantly hustles, finding surprising power on the move. Federer is a great strategic player. He finds amazing angles and usually controls the pace of a point. Federer and Nadal have a forced rivalry. Sampras and Agassi were a year apart. Their rivalry lasted almost 15 years, maybe longer if you count juniors. Federer is 5 years older than Rafa- a generation in tennis terms. No one in Fed’s generation came close to touching him. So far, none of Rafa’s contemporaries have stepped up to challenge Rafa. Perhaps Djokovic will in the final, or Murray down the road, but right now, Rafa’s only real rival just turned 29.

2) PSYCH and MAD MEN had great episodes last week. PSYCH is fluff, but literate fluff. The mysteries aren’t much to write about, but the dialog is witty and the show is fun. James Roday and Dule Hill have great chemistry; and the supporting cast play off each other effortlessly. This has been a particularly creative season, with episodes about tap dancing and one that introduced an even bigger fraud than Shawn. In this week’s episode, Maggie Lawson showed her acting chops as she contemplates her relationship with Shawn.

MAD MEN works on a much larger canvas. During MAD MEN’s first season, each episode was like a John Cheever short story. Now, it’s more like a long John Updike Novel, with characters coming and going. This was an intimate episode, with Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss providing remarkable performances. Their characters- Don Drapper and Peggy Olson- are undergoing messy transformations. The episode was funny, poignant, and horrifying. A lot like life. MAD MEN gets the dynamic of the work place, better than any show this side of the British OFFICE. It’s not just about the work, it’s also about the camaraderie, the desire for approval, and the countless hours spent wasting time talking about things like the Liston- Clay fight. As Peggy pointed out, the only real times in her life are spent at the agency working. It’s something that Dr. Lyle Evans would ponder.

3) I finally saw THE PROPOSAL. (My mother has asked me if I’ve seen it for about 50 straight weeks.) It was a cute movie, but had several plot holes. First, does anyone believe that the United States wants to deport anyone from Canada? Second, does anyone believe that an immigration official would spend thousands of dollars and travel cross country to track down one Canadian? Third, does anyone believe that a major American publishing company would trust Sandra Bullock to read books? I’ve just put more thought into the movie than the screenwriter and director did. By the way, catch the Ryan Reynolds short on You Tube about THE PROPOSAL with Betty White and Sandra Bullock. It’s much funnier than the movie.

4) Links: Here are links to the best articles that I read this week. Two of them involve 9/11 and the third concerns the economy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090904735.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/opinion/10krugman.html?ref=paulkrugman

5) The List: Finally this week, Suzanne McAuliffe asked people to name the 15 albums that you’ve heard that always stick with you. You had to put your list together in 15 minutes. I limited it to rock albums, because Suzanne is a rocker. Here are my selections.

Bruce Springsteen- BORN TO RUN

The Talking Heads- STOP MAKING SENSE

Otis Redding- LIVE IN EUROPE

Joe Jackson- BLAZE OF GLORY

Warren Zevon- EXCITABLE BOY

Van Morrison- MOON DANCE

Dylan and The Band- THE BASEMENT TAPES

Sly and The Family Stone- STAND

John Fogerty- CENTERFIELD

Roxy Music- SIREN

Ry Cooder- PARADISE AND LUNCH

The Beatles- THE WHITE ALBUM

REM- OUT OF TIME

The Rolling Stones- EXILE ON MAIN STREET

The Clash- LONDON CALLING