Archive for the ‘business’ Category

Drake May, Robert Kraft and the Lack of the Connie Mack Option

Posted: October 21, 2024 by datechguy in business, nfl, Sports
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Riddle: What’s the best way to make a small fortune?

Answer: Start with a large one.

One of the things that a lot of people forget about pro-team owners is that many of them begin as businessmen who have been successful in an industry, Robert Kraft is no exception having done very well in his Kraft Group of business holdings and even better with the Patriots with a lot of help from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Right now however that investment in the New England Patriots does not seem all that grand as he has a team that is 1-6 and likely to finish so bad as to end up with, at worst a top 5 draft pick for the 2nd consecutive year which will be the first time since before he owned the team.

Given that eventuality there have been those who have questioned putting Rookie Quarterback Drake May on the field with an offensive line that is below average at best and a receiving corps that is almost as bad if not worse. After all while the playing time may be of use you are risking a prime asset without the prospect of a return in wins.

The problem of course is that with a team that has managed only a single win he doesn’t have the luxury that Connie Mack the owner/manager of the Philadelphia A’s for 50 years did.

The A’s were Mack’s business and his goal was to make a profit. On that subject he would say that in terms of business the best result for him would be a team that started strong but finished 4th (in a 8 team league with no wild cards). He explained why saying:

A team like that will draw well enough during the first part of the season to show a profit for the year, and you don’t have to give the players raises when they don’t win.

Alas for Mr. Kraft his team has started so badly that the danger of fans deciding it was not worth the price of tickets or the price of the parking. And with no stars of any note, that also meant no shirt sales and all the other gear with the Pats logo that they get a cut out of.

So what do you to keep the butts in the seats and the eyes on the screen. You give them a reason to watch and right now the only reason to do so is a young Quarterback by the name of Drake May.

No he’s going to win you many games with this team and yes you are going to have to risk your valuable 3rd round pick getting himself pummeled.

In the end however this is a business and the only way you’re going to hold the public’s interest long enough so they will still be there when there is a product worth paying for on the field is to give them hope and right now Drake Maye who has proved that he can produce some offense for a team that can’t win, is that hope.

Five Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora: Curry Nails it but it’s a matter of time, Will the Dem Ticket be the Same? Ukraine Jackson, Stewart or Bragg? Will Maduro Stay or Go? The Money Keeps Coming

Posted: August 12, 2024 by datechguy in business, election 2024, nba, under the fedora, war
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Stephan Curry’s impossible three point shot was the talk of twitter as team USA won gold again in basketball and is rightly considered a huge moment for the team in the Olympics.

But the real story is European basketball has progressed so far since the days of the original dream team of Bird, Jordan, Magic and Barkley that both France and Serbia are making these games, GAMES.

I may live to see another country win the Gold vs a dream team.

Between Walz’s issues with Stolen Valor and Kamala’s fake crowds I’m really wondering if the Democrats won’t be changing one or more horses in next week’s convention.

Given the coup against Biden it’s very possible. I think they just should have done the 25th Amendment but they don’t want to risk a 50-50 senate for the next 100 days or more.

Eventually reality wins out and the reality of the same Kamala that the were saying was a weakness for Biden remains.

The real question in Russia right now is what will the Ukrainians do with the initiative they have seized.

Will they like Stonewall Jackson in the valley use this initiative to try to turn Russian forces out of the Donbas region or will this like Jeb Stewart try to wreak havoc on a wider area or will they like Braxton Bragg that Lookout Mountain await the Russian response.

This decision might decide the war or at least as much of the war that takes place before the election.

In Venezuela Maduro fresh from stealing an election is getting all kinds of offers for amnesty if he leaves the country rather than continuing his crackdown to suppress the people after the steal.

What it really comes down to is does he want to spend his stolen money there or somewhere else? Of course if he leaves a lot of those folks who are doing the grunt work of Murder and oppression will have their days numbers so even if he wants to go they might not allow it.

I’m sure there are more than a few Democrats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin watching what happens there.

Finally can someone explain to me how Boeing gets a new giant defense contract given their massive problems lately?

I don’t know how much they’re paying their lobbyists in DC but apparently they’re worth every penny and more.

Five Jodi Whitaker as the Doctor to Big Finish Thoughts Under the Fedora, The Baker Irony, The Clue, The Business Decision, Bait and Switch and the Answer to an Intriguing Question

Posted: July 13, 2024 by datechguy in business, doctor who
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Today I noticed Tom Baker Trending on Twitter and after confirming he was not dead went over to take a look and found this among the tweets there:

It speaks volumes that on the day this is announced Tom Baker is trending on twitter and not her.

I had a horrible feeling this was coming because I had purchased a Bundle for the 60’s anniversary called Once and Future which was a series of stories featuring full stories for all the doctors who do big finish: Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Christopher Eccleston, (the late David Warner who has played an alternative universe doctor for decades) David Tennant and Paul McGann along with smaller parts for actors who are playing the 1st – 3rd doctors & 11 & 12).

The series was all released last year except for one which was held out even though the continuing plot was completed with absolutely no details about the episode or cast released. I had a nasty suspicion that the reason why was Whitaker and they that there were plenty of folks like me who would have given the bundle a miss if they knew that was the case.

I was close they’ve just announced today the final part will feature Jo Martin as the fugitive doctor.

I don’t have a problem with Big Finish doing Jo Martin stories or even Jodie Whitaker Stories, if there is a market that will support those produces there is no reason why Big Finish should not take advantage of that market.

They had already announced one Joe Martin set and recently announced a 2nd which means the pre-orders justified such a move so there is definitely a customer base that wants it. I suspect that drove the decision to sign Whitaker and if they can make a profit with them more power to them that’s how business works.

And if the Jodie Whitaker episodes prove profitable and sell well then Big Finish would be foolish to not take advantage of it. That’s Business

What’s not business however was the decision to play the bait and switch.

The reason why Doctor Who’s TV ratings are tanking worse that in the Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy years is the BBC chased a lot of customers away who had not only been fans but passed that fandom to another generation. Big finish was a refuge for such fans who would enjoy the old series and didn’t want William Hartnell as the first doctor thrown under the bus.

Even with Whitaker and Martin signed it wouldn’t be a problem for us old timers. We would have had the choice not to support these changes. Those who wanted to could buy them and any cross over produces while those of us who didn’t could avoid them. All the customers are served & happy.

By not telling their loyal customers that buying the Once and Future Bundle meant supporting the re-write of Doctor Who’s origin they conned me and I suspect others into buying a product we would have passed on otherwise. The worst part is every single time I go to my account’s download page that will be on top awaiting the download that will never come and reminding me that I’ve been played.

It’s odd how priorities can change. This weekend I’ve been bouncing back and forth between buying the latest 9th doctor bundle (12 hours $120 or so) or just the River Song episodes (3 hours $30). Was going to decide on Sunday but as of today I think we’ll go with none of the above.

Oddly enough I also find that Crossover DeathWorld featuring the the no longer1st, no longer 2nd and no longer 3rd Doctor which came out this month along with the sequel to Susan’s War just doesn’t seem as attractive a purchase to me as it did a day ago.

I think I’ll confine the remainder of the my big finish purchases to the few Tom Baker episodes I still don’t have and when Tom finally goes off into the sunset so will my big finish days.

Penny wise pound foolish.

Whatever my feelings on the bait and switch none of that reflects on the quality of their productions. Big finish has a 25 year record of producing high quality stories with excellent writing and solid post production that has only improved with age and that brings up a very intriguing aspect to Whitaker signing on.

While I religiously avoided the Whitaker era my oldest son watched it and pronounced it the absolute worst era of the show saying that only about three episodes were recognizably Doctor Who. Ironically he thought that the Jo Martin Character was more recognizable as the Doctor than Whitaker was. He blamed the writing which he thought was the most abysmal in the history of the series bar none.

He has told me the stories were so bad that Whitaker didn’t really get a fair shot and has wondered aloud to me if the Whitaker era might have been different with better writing and plots.

The BBC could get away with shit writing and woke scripts because they are state sponsored and even the tanking ratings for Ncuti Gatwa (actually most of them decent stories with a gem or two there) don’t matter because they’re paid for by Disney money.

But Big Finish is not the BBC. They are an actual business that has to attract actual paying customers on the merit of the quality of cast, writing and production values. If they don’t produce a quality product there is no license fee or big corporation to make up the difference. In fact they have to pay the BBC to license Doctor Who so there is an extra base cost right up front.

This has really driven the quality of the writing at big finish which is in my opinion some of the best writing you will fine anywhere. Good writing tends to bring out the best in the cast. In the 16 or so years since I discovered them I can count the number of really bad stories I’d heard on the fingers of one hand with fingers left over.

If the BBC produced episodes with the script and production values of Big Finish during either the Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy years I submit and suggest that the entire history of the series would be have been re-written. To give you an idea Colin Baker is my youngest son’s favorite Doctor based solely on Big Finish audios which he heard as a teen before he ever saw a single one of his TV episodes.

Jodie Whitaker will now be playing The Doctor supported by a set of quality writers producing quality stories for her with the goal of getting paying customers to buy them. I would be a liar if I didn’t say I’m very curious if given that environment she can pull it off. In fact given the quality of Big Finish I’d actually be surprised if she didn’t.

Under the Fedora: Jonah Goldberg and the New Rules, Pride Month Savings on Sports, The annual Business ritual, More Utilitarian Candidates, What Bread of Life Discourses?

Posted: June 3, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Trump, business, catholic, culture, election 2024, elections, politics, Sports, under the fedora
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This weekend Jonah Goldberg noted that a lot of people on the right were comparing Trump to Christ and weren’t taking into account the idea that he cheated on his wife with a porn star.

Well there are two things I’d like to say to that. While Jonah is of course free do disagree on the merits of either verdict the fact is we compare Trump to Christ because Trump we believe both were found guilty unjustly, not of sleeping around but of a completely made up bookkeeping felony, so like Christ he was unjustly found guilty. Nobody (with the possible exception of Laura Loomer) on the right compares Trump to Christ’s divinity.

Second while I do in fact find it plausible that a really rich guy decided to bang a porn star and tried to keep it quiet (frankly I’d hate to have my performance in bed judged by a professional) folks like me who under the old rules thought such things should be disqualifying were massively outvoted on said rules so until the left decides to go back to said rules we aren’t either.

We’re in the middle of a baseball season where the Redsox have a great crop of young players and at the end of a basketball season where the Celtics are in the finals with a solid shot of winning and least we forget the Pats have a new 1st round QB and an old Brady era vet to mentor him. All these things are strong temptations to have me pony up for one of various sports packages from NESN to MLB to NBA etc etc etc…

…and then June roles around and all the professional teams go out of their way to remind me that they are not on my side in the culture wars and suddenly radio and hitting a local bar/restaurant to watch a game rather then giving these guys my money becomes an attractive alternative.

My thanks to various leagues for helping me appreciate the joy of free sports.

Oh and the annual ritual of business shoving gay pride down our throats in the west while making it a point to avoid the same in the middle east continues as always, with BMW actually admitting what we all know that it’s all about the risk and reward of the mob.

Of course in a new years the Ghastly Tom Hagan math will catch up with the west and when it does the west will drop their pride campaigns faster than the Democrats dropped Israel

Speaking of a lack of principles there are quite a few GOP candidates who had been pushing their pro-life credentials in the past who suddenly find themselves willing to compromise on life to gain higher office.

Now there are no shortage of Democrats who run as republicans in red states or republican who run as dems in blue states to get power nor is there a shortage in either party of people whose primary principle is to advance their political power. And the reality is that given the number of honest men & women in politics you likely can’t get a majority without these sorts.

So when there is no other choice by all means elect them but keep such folks away from the true levers of party power because people willing to sell out their principles or their God will have little trouble selling you.

Finally episode one of the Chosen is available free and those who expected to see the aftermath of the feeding of the 5000 and the calming of the waters which closed last season might have been shocked to see they went back to Luke Chapter 1 to the Visitation as their lead.

Granted they decided to knock off John the Baptist in episode one but if there is one thing you could always be sure of in any protestant movie about Christ skips the 6th chapter of John once it reaches verse 26 the beginning of the bread to life discourses. The only exception being word for word adaptions of Gospel.

Given that The Chosen is a TV series rather than a movie there would have been more than enough time to include them but as Catholic as Jonathan Roumie is, he does not have creative control so the bread of life discourses had to go.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good episode and I liked the juxtaposition of the Canticle of Zachariah (the Morning Prayer of the Catholic Church) with the scenes of John’s end and the reaction to it but some things never change, and if you were expecting to see The Chosen break that mold you will be mistaken.

Oh and I’d watch it via the youtube live stream because the loading time of the app seems to be very slow likely due to the sheer number of people trying to watch it there.

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