Oh Danny Boy

The word spread across one smart phone after another:

 

Danny Werfel appointed by President Barack Obama as the new Acting IRS Chief.

 

“The Quarterback?”

“From Florida!”

“Yeah he went into Politics!”

It’s amazing to me how so many “in the know” guys were saying this yesterday afternoon!
The news spread like wild fire!

As for the women, well, most were saying, “Who?” Yes this could be viewed as slightly sexist, but it was true non the less.

As for me, I thought it was hard to belief when I heard it, and for a moment almost got suckered into the internet spawned and he said she said rumor, until , that is, – I looked at my smart phone news feed.

No, my smart phone is not “smarter” than anybody elses. I just thought to my self, Hmmm I thought he spelled his name with a “u”.

Sure enough, Danny Wuerffel was “The University of Florida QB” who won the Heisman Trophy and was drafted by the Saints and would eventually end up playing for the good all “ball coach”, Steve Spurrier, and the Washington Redskins.

He did NOT go into politics but rather began work with Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans and eventually wrote a book called Tales From the Gator Swamp.

Danny Werfel did not play professional sports but rather became a lawyer and played for the Justice Department eventually starting as the controller for the Office of Management and Budget in 2009.

Both Danny’s however, were good for a chuckle and, for a brief moment in internet history, brought together by an unlikely news feed.

And a bunch of guys.

The NFL Referee Lockout – Failing The Taste Test

Remember when Coca-Cola changed their formula?

Years ago the Coca-Cola Company changed their soft drink formula and started marketing the “new Coke.”   The sweeter formula, their research showed, was just the thing the American people wanted. However, the change practically started a revolt.   Across the country protest groups formed in an effort to change the company’s decision.   Petition signing campaigns were instigated in most cities.   It was urged that those that were dissatisfied call the company to protest their change.   Hundreds of thousands of telephone calls were made.  After all the furor was over, the Coca-Cola Company caved in and brought back the old Coke.

By allowing the NFL Referee Lockout and hiring replacement referees, the NFL failed to realize how vitally important the professional referees are to the integrity of the game, player safety, and fan enjoyment.   In essence, they changed the winning formula of the NFL.

Obviously they need to change the formula, bring back the real referees and end the lockout.

But what exactly is the lockout about anyway and why did the NFL go in the direction they did?

Raise your hand if any of the following sounds familiar:

• Unions and their workers want to keep their pensions.
• Local Governments and Corporations want to do away with costly guaranteed pension plans.
• People don’t think they are adequately compensated for their work and amount of time required to do their jobs.
• Corporations and Governments want to move to a pay per performance review scale.
• Folks worry about job security.
• The Rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Well, that is exactly what the NFL Referee Lockout is all about.

Pension vs. no Pension.

Shift from a pension plan – yes part time professional referees get a full pension – .  The NFL wants to move away from this costly guarantee to a more industry standard 401K format and put the burden of maintaining it on the employee.

Current Salary vs. Peers and wanting more money.

The NFL actually offered up an extra 20% on average salary increase.  Of course they attached some strings to this condition.  The Union does not think this is fare based on historical events.

Job security vs. performance reviews.

The NFL wants more officiating crews.  This means expanded talent pool, ability to weed out the poorer performing ones and have more alternates waiting on the sidelines should they be needed.  In a pay per play environment, this is good for the NFL, bad for the refs.

Full time vs. Part time. 

The league wants to hire seven full time referees (one for each position) as recruiters, trainers and leaders.   The league argues that the sacrifices each current referee makes regarding years of study and training just to be eligible to work the games equates to more of a full time job and therefore a full time compensation plan.  The Union is not directly opposed to the seven full time employees but believes the compensation being offered up by the NFL is not adequate.

 

This lockout is between the haves and the have-nots and is not all that different than what we all are witnessing and experiencing in American politics, the economy and society today.  What makes this lockout and the use of replacement referees even more newsworthy is this skirmish is being played out on national television with millions of people watching.

And when millions of people watch, a bunch of money is being made.

The NFL has lucrative TV contracts, ticket sales, merchandising plans and even a pretty good PR / Marketing department.  All this adds up to a $9 Billion dollar industry that is growing stronger and bigger year after year.

The players union argued that even though hundreds of millions of public money and personal (owners) capital had been invested into the NFL to help make it what it is today, that they played an equally important role in the NFL’s success.   So they negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement last year – yes there was a lockout for that too – and as a result; the rich keep getting richer and the NFL juggernaut keeps making money and we get professional football back.

Or, so we all thought.

Along came the NFL Officials Union and their attempt to negotiate a new deal.

The big difference here is that officials are not multi-millionaire athletes.  They are not full time employees and even though on principle, their demands were significant to them, in reality they were not significant to the NFL.

This is the NFL’s version of the 1% vs. the 99% as well as the upcoming election and the Rich vs. the Middle Class.

Don’t believe me?

Consider this.  The total yearly difference – cost – to the NFL was about $4.5 million.

I don’t know about you, but when I divide 4 million by 9 billion I come up with – well – practically nothing.

In other words the true financial impact to the NFL was nothing.  So from their point of view, why would they be compelled to meet with the union and hammer out a new deal when they can get replacement refs to do the same job and keep making more money?

What has become painfully clear to everyone over the past 3 weeks is that the officials are a vital ingredient to the success of the NFL.

The NFL changed their formula and the replacement referees have failed the taste test!

 

Inspirational reading for this post was contributed by:

THE EXAMINER

OPPOSINGVIEWS

THE CSMONITOR

NFL and Fantasy Football Thoughts – Week 1

Rex and the Jets lose the Circus Label

 

Are the Jets really that good and is Rex really that smart to have duped us all with their pre-season performance – or lack thereof?

 

 

 

 

Have the Redskins started the next QB-ing MEME?  Griffining!

Griffining !!!

 

I take my hat off to Mike and Kyle Shanahan!  

They game planned around Robert Griffin and his talents. 

The result was a stunning win and performance by the whole team. 

They should get the game ball this week. 

 

 

 

 

It seems even the Democrat Party and Bill Clinton want to catch some of that Kevin Ogletree popularity. 

His fantasy stock ownership has risen from a paltry .4% to well over 21% in less than one week!

 

• Guess I should have picked AP over CJ in the draft.  Sorry I doubted your recovery time dude.
• All the experts were putting McFadden right up there with the rest of the best.  OK, well not quite the best, but still a lot higher than he should have been.  There are a lot of really upset McFadden owners out there today.
• Tampa learned how to tackle!
• Miami still Sucks!
• Matt Forte is still pissed.

Oh and speaking of hate and discontent. 

• With lots of Fantasy Leagues (including mine) with bonuses kicking in at 300 yds per game for QB’s . . . Flacco’s Stats: 21/29 for 299 yards.  Seriously dude, you couldn’t get 1 more yard?  Really!  Sheesh.

Want Real Financial and Political Change?

Put a woman in charge.

According to a research report by Barclays Wealth and Ledbury Research, women make money from financial markets and they tend to be better at running corporations too!
Why?

 

• Because they take fewer risks and hold on to investments longer.

The study found that although both men and women often feel a certain lack of confidence when it comes to investing, women react differently by exhibiting a greater level of discipline and self control.  Men, on the other hand, tend to panic and trade more often – up to 45% more often.
Interestingly enough, an earlier study, from the University of California, found that married men tend to take less risk and trade less often than single men. (insert sexist joke here)
That study found net returns of women are reliably higher by an average of 1.1 percent annually than men.
So, if women are so much better than men at this, how come the financial world, and even the political world for that matter, doesn’t have more women running the show?
Perhaps we should elect more women to positions of power, appoint them to run more corporate boards , or better yet, put one in charge of the Federal Reserve!

I’m serious!

At least for me, it would leave more time for sports and playing fantasy football!

But honey, just be sure to leave some gambling investment money for me because I just know RG3 is destined for a break out rookie year and I’m drafting him in the first round and my fantasy team is destined to win the championship and I promise not to run to the waiver wire at the slightest sign of trouble . . .

😉

BTW, Ben Bernanke is married. So if you believe the research, he’s done better than most.