Former NFL Star Loses Job Over Solicitation Arrest

Retired NFL star Warren Sapp was arrested for soliciting a prostitute and misdemeanor assault in Phoenix after covering the Super Bowl for the NFL Network:

Ex-NFL Star Arrested on Prostitution Charge

Prostitution should be legal. Two consenting adults exchanging money for a service should not be illegal. It’s an absurd waste of taxpayer money and police resources. Prostitution should be legal, regulated, taxed and zoned. Critics say prostitution is demeaning work so it should be illegal. But cleaning toilets is demeaning work but it’s legal. Trafficking is bad, which is why the work should be regulated and licensed. Agency should not be taken from adults to choose a line of work they desire. There would be less violence and sexual assult if prostitution were legal as men would then have a legal and safe way to release their pent-up sexual angst and aggression. The misdemeanor assault charge against Sapp is troubling, but it sounds like a minor scuffle, and not an NFL style tackles. And he denies it any case. The NFL Network is cowardly to fire him before the courts pronounce a verdict. Presumably Sapp was doing fine in his job, having worked for the network since 2008. It’s easy to fire an employee immediately upon any minor transgression. It would be brave if they stood by him in this difficult situation to ascertain what really happened through due process. Unfortunately, with the glare of the mass media spotlight, companies fire first and ditch due process. So much for the admonition about being the first to cast stones…

Originally posted: http://www.mccarthyism.com/2015/20150205.htm

Super Display of Passivity Day

As the media drills into us, today is Super Bowl Sunday, the television event that draws the largest audience of the year in the United States. Personally haven’t watched it in years for a number of reasons:

1)Football got boring to watch. There is hardly any action left on the field, and it is continually stopped by the referees for penalties.

2) There are too many injuries as the players have become such hulking behemoths crashing around like titans destroying each others’ bodies. Mean Joe Greene would be a puny guy today.

3) Not allowing celebrations after a good play has taken the gusto and fun out of the game. Gastineau’s silly quarterback tackle dances were fun to watch.

4) The announcers and commentators, particularly when Fox took over, became so over the top with theatrics and shouting along with swooshing graphics and music that it became unbearable to watch. Give me the class of Madden and Summerall back.

The game just wasn’t much fun to watch anymore. And then you start to question why I am sitting on a couch watching a game that used to be fun to play actively. Get together with some guys (and gals) and have a game in the sand, snow, grass, etc. Play tag if you don’t trust others to tackle gently. Sitting down and watching others play is the road to a passive existence of witnessing a spectacle on the viewscreen. Instead of watching others play the game, play the game yourself. It’s more fun, healthier and interactive. Stop living a passive life and leave behind spectator sports to live your own life’s narrative actively, not vicariously through a imagined viewscreen.

Originally posted: http://www.mccarthyism.com/2015/20150201.htm