Scattershooting – which requires one to wonder who now carries the banner for the greater athleticism of one-platoon football
… Election season kicked off Monday, so I’ll try to get some summer observations off the plate
…Did you see where Melania Trump’s “chain-migrant” parents became U.S. citizens? Remember, too, that Ms. Knauss worked while on a tourist visa on her first trip over here
… Serena Williams was still going strong in the U.S. Open Tuesday morning. She had to defeat sister – and best friend – Venus over the weekend to continue playing. The Williams Sisters have been the stars of American tennis for more than 15 years, our girls/women against the world. I’ve often wished that father Richard would have turned his talented daughters toward golf, where they could play the course and not each other
… Wrecking the farm economy with his ego-driven trade war (where he is a non-combatant), the president has begun doling out the first of his promised $12 Billion in bailout payments to the affected farmers. Isn’t it a constant accusation of the GOP that Democrats try to buy votes with welfare payments? “Mirror, Mirror.” … Trump’s own EPA estimates between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths yearly by 2030 under its new coal pollution rules
… A bunch of Republicans in our Lege who voted against funding education lost in their own primary and runoff. Calling yourself pro-education but refusing to fund it is hypocritical at best – and part of the GOP playbook
… Any other Good Morning America viewers think it ridiculous for GMA to kill its news scroll every time the weather comes on? I’m capable of watching Ginger Zee and reading the news at the same time
… Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of Anti-Semitism. Labour is Britain’s liberal party though not its Liberal Party
… With the fragility of pitchers reaching startling proportions, you have to wonder why someone doesn’t investigate the methods of Dr. Mike Marshall, whose durability is still mind-boggling. In 1974, he pitched in 106 games, finished 83 of them (more than half of the Dodgers’ schedule) and logged more than 200 innings as a relief pitcher. He had other wonder years as well – and developed his training regimen to compensate for the broken back he received in a car wreck when he was a child. There should be something of value in his approach
… Did you see where Hope Hicks flew off to an Ohio campaign rally on Air Force One? A reminder of that creepy White House farewell
… Tain’t funny, Fox, to keep referring to “Trump’s economic recovery” without acknowledging that said recovery began within months of President Obama taking office
… The inexorable warming of the planet will also prolong the lives of crop-eating insects so they can eat more crops … OU and OSU elevens opened their seasons with big wins over small schools. Even though such scheduling is derided beforehand, Okla-homer sports pundits will brag about the outcomes and treat those inflated stats as legitimate by mid-season – sooner, it turns out
… Our president was notably absent from the John McCain funeral activities. Aside from the enmity between a bona fide hero and the guy’s whose “personal Vietnam” was avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, we have the obvious inability of Donald Trump to either prepare a coherent address (maybe he didn’t escape the 90’s unscathed) or to focus his attention for more than 20 seconds on anything but himself
… Then he reminded us what a petty, little man he is … For anyone wondering about my possible kinship to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson, my research indicates that most Edmondsons, Edmonsons and Edmundsons in the U.S. are traceable back to Maryland and the far north of England. The earliest close connection between our sides of the family – if it exists – would likely be near Knoxville, Tenn., about 230 years ago.
(Gary Edmondson is Stephens County Democratic Party Chair.)
FYI: Scattershooting was the Sunday catch-all column for Dallas sportswriter Blackie Sherrod. He’d always start by “wondering whatever happened to” some once-famous person. HE was the last true advocate for one-platoon football. Think about it: in most team sports, athletes play both offense and defense — football and the DH/pitcher in the AL being the exceptions. TMI, I’m sure.