the nfl fails again

they started the season with ridiculous referees making ridiculous calls that decided the outcome of games... and they finished the season with questionable referees (how do they choose the officials - and was it done fairly and by the rules?... really?... how much was front office politics involved?... evidence suggests too much) influencing the outcome of the superbowl... if professional sports is to have any integrity at all, it is serious enough to repeat - questionable management of games should not decide games, no less directly influence the outcome of the superbowl... it is sad that an organization that earns billions a year cannot get it right...

Bias? Maybe. Inconsistency that influenced the outcome? Yes. Further loss of integrity and enjoyment of the game? Yes. Did the refs call the same fouls differently at different times? Yes. Did the 49ers coach make some poor calls that ultimately gave away opportunities to win? Yes. Did the refs ignore an offensive pass interference penalty that prevented an easy interception by SF? Yes. Did the referee leniency allow more interference with the offenses than it should have? Yes. Did that effect the ball possession? Yes. Did that effect the score? Probably. Did a Baltimore player push a referee during the game and have no penalty called? Yes.

Here's a question I will leave for further video review (and you) to answer... Was there a missed Baltimore facemask penalty before the first 49er fumble? I think so, but the CBS avoidance of controversy made sure that was not looked at. Media wimpiness and bias is just as sad as league of referee bias.

The fact is that poor play calling inside the 20 yard line cost the 49ers the superbowl - the bad calls would have made it easier to win, but SF blew it by calling the wrong plays at the wrong times... on at least two scoring series in the red zone during the game, the 49er coach made the wrong calls... ignoring the 49er strengths and wanting their inexperienced quarterback to suddenly make plays that veterans find challenging was the wrong call... fades to the same wide receiver over and over (is crabtree their only receiver?... no) when they did not have a dominant wide receiver who could make a spectacular catch and when their quarterback was only playing his seventh start was the wrong call... not going with a formation (pistol) and play set that was averaging 8 yards per play was the wrong call... the 49ers inexperience showed throughout the game but they could have overcome it with the right play calls...

on the other hand, the refs seemed baltimore biased most of the game... the most obvious example is that the same grabbing of a receiver called pass interference on the 49ers that lead to a ravens touchdown earlier in the game was overlooked when baltimore did it and the fact that one of those overlooks was a potential winning touchdown for the 49ers showed the bias of referees decided the game than the talent of the players... the fact is, the 49ers coach called the wrong plays and probably did not deserve to win based on the poor play calls in critical situations, especially then, and the poor execution in that situation (the pass was not well thrown, but it was a holding penalty that was not called... so the ravens win is tainted, the integrity of officials is tainted, the integrity of the nfl is tainted, and the integrity of the superbowl is tainted... and cbs is a joke when it comes to sports... the announcers defending the refs are wimps, but it's cbs, the worst sports broadcasters in the business (though nbc and fox are not far behind) and they typically do everything they can to spin the facts to avoid controversy and support the nfl even when the officials or nfl are/is obviously wrong...

once again, very disappointed by the supposedly professional sports...

on yet another hand, i won my fantasy survival football league because i picked baltimore to win the superbowl... so if you think my perspective is sour grapes, think again... the bad play calls by the 49er coach and the bias calls by the refs actually helped me win my game... my disappointment is not because i was rooting for the 49ers or against baltimore... my disappointment is because the referees showed bias at key moments in the game and their bias helped decide the game... san francisco might not have deserved to win based on mistakes and key bad play calls, but they did deserve a fair shake from the referees and they did not get that...

I would like to take the NFL more seriously and believe the best team always wins, but I don't. From my perspective it's a crap shoot with refs and politics influencing the outcomes of games as much as the players on the field.

Defensive holding was called inconsistently and it effected the outcome of the game. On the last series of the game specifically: Was it a bad play call by the coach? Yes. Was it a poorly executed play by the offense? Yes. But was it also a violation of the rules? Yes. Was it called? No. It was selective penalty calling.

Overall, I think SF play calling in the red zone (more than once) cost them the win but fair calling by the refs and they might have won in spite of the coaching. The sad aspect of of the politics choosing referees and inconsistent calls is that it diminishes the integrity of the game and the respect for the winner.

For the record, I picked Baltimore to win and won my Survival Football league because Baltimore won the Superbowl. So this is not a SF fan's sour grapes. This is a football fan's disappointment with the loss of respect for the league and the loss of integrity of a win.

brighthouse continues to suck

so after a wonderful day out playing softball with friends and a wonderful evening home enjoying dinner with friends i decide to give up sleep tonight to watch something i was looking forward to for weeks, a 10 year reunion show for firefly and five minutes into the show for reasons only the intrusive people and computers at brighthouse know, the cable box turns off and goes into some sort of countdown followed by another countdown followed by a reboot and twenty minutes later i am still wondering why i don't just cancel this crap brighthouse service because the show will not go on...

so i will not get back the time or sleep i gave up tonight and i still do not get to watch the show i wanted to watch and brigthouse still charges more than they charged last year for service that gets worse every month... yes, besides exploring alternbative tv services and in spite of offers to help which do nothing to stop the deteriorating service and continuing service interruptions... in fact just it continues to get worse... i started keeping track and the current stats are:

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 12/14/12, still trending downward):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

0% of the time 0% of the time 90% of the time 10% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

brighthouse sucks, again

once again, in the middle of a program i am watching, the cable box is resetting on it's own... so i will miss ten or more minutes of the program i wanted to watch thanks to brighthouse sucks... they should just add the suck to their name... or put fail in their smiley face logo... i really do not want the horrible brighthouse service statistics i started keeping while waiting for service repairs to dominate this blog, in fact, i really don't want to be inspired to come to this blog in the first place, but i find that coming here and venting my immediate complaint, however meaningless, helps me deal with the frustration and anger i feel when my life and entertainment is interrupted or stopped by a corporate decision like right now... and it passes the time while i am waiting for the brighthouse service to return... i suppose it is just way too difficult (or simply a level of customer service that brighthouse does not wish to provide) to have a pop up on the screen ask me if this would be a good time to reboot the box or upgrade the software... especially since it also messes with my expensive plasma tv and the remote synch that is yet another frequent complaint... remotes could be so much more functional...

so the cable box is rebooting and the tv lost it's signal and is confused and thinks there was a power outage or hack attempt or virus or something as it went into emergency shut down mode... a smart tv knows when an unexpected shut down and signal change occurs, just like a computer does... but based on the poor service and products, it does not seem that the brighthouse people or software are up to speed with the latest tech... so the box is stuck on L-8 and has been since i started writing this comment... i mean, if the reboot reset upgrade or whatever is happening only took a minute, it would not be such a frustrating forget watching what you wanted to watch experience and probably wouldn't bring me to seek the distraction and venting of this complaint, but the box takes forever to do whatever it is doing without my consent... pathetic customer service...

almost any decent reliable software has a setting to "ask me before uploading updates" and "ask me before rebooting"... even microsoft in their all-powerful we-can-do-anything mindset finally understood that customer service... but not brighthouse...

not very bright, these people who make the big decisions at brighthouse...

and then of course when the box finally is rebooted, it defaults to off so i must turn it on which turns off the tv so i must get the tv remote to turn on the tv and of course the box returns to the start-up channel which comes on without sound as usual, just one more brighthouse fail i am ridiculously learning to live with... how much longer is getting shorter with each meaningless complaint (so maybe they are not as meaningless as they appear, aye?)...

and now i press the remote button to go to the next channel and i get a black screen partially burning into my plasma screen because it is a partial black screen and the box wants me to "please wait"... as if i have not waited enough...

no, i am not ready to spend a few hours and set up more appointments to try to fix things again... brighthouse wasted a lot of my time this year (and tonight( and giving them even more time just seems like getting screwed further... maybe next month...

UPDATE 3am = no, once was not enough tonight, another brighthouse interruption of service long enough to bring me here happens to ruin yet another hour of my viewing, that's three hours tonight of wasting my time paying for brighouse crappy service that is not providing what my contract says it will provide... and now the box decided to reboot yet again after another upgrade of some sort... so this is ridiculous... so yet another call to tech support to find out why my cable box is repeatingly rebooting tonight... one reboot ruining my viewing experience over two hours is not enough, another ruining a third show had to be done...

no warning, no prompt asking if this is a good time to shut down my tv enjoyment... just interrupt the shows and shut off the box after rebooting forcing me to deal with the crappy remote and the resetting of the sound because the box doesn't work right when it is turned on and resetting my tv and re-finding the channel i was watching... rub my nose in how crappy the brighthouse service really is...

it's ok, i can miss the first or last fifteen minutes of shows and still enjoy them... and adding insult to injury, the first thing i see is that bullshit brighthouse tv commercial... days are numbered for brighthouse getting my money if this keeps up...

instagram?

why would anyone give any app this much permission?

from the Google Play Instagram Permissions page:

THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING:
HARDWARE CONTROLS
TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS
Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This allows the app at any time to collect images the camera is seeing.
any time? so the app can collect images without my knowledge?

YOUR LOCATION
FINE (GPS) LOCATION
Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the tablet, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power. Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the phone, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power.
i can't turn it off when i don't want to use it?

NETWORK COMMUNICATION
FULL INTERNET ACCESS
Allows the app to create network sockets.
why and do what with them?

YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
READ CONTACT DATA
Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your tablet. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people. Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your phone. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people.
why do the makers of this app need my friends information?

STORAGE
MODIFY/DELETE USB STORAGE CONTENTS MODIFY/DELETE SD CARD CONTENTS
Allows the app to write to the USB storage. Allows the app to write to the SD card.
seems almost reasonable

SYSTEM TOOLS
PREVENT TABLET FROM SLEEPING PREVENT PHONE FROM SLEEPING
Allows the app to prevent the tablet from going to sleep. Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.
sleep is necessary to conserve battery - seems this app wants way too much control

RETRIEVE RUNNING APPS
Allows the app to retrieve information about currently and recently running tasks. Malicious apps may discover private information about other apps.
Hide
this is ridiculous

NETWORK COMMUNICATION
RECEIVE DATA FROM INTERNET
Allows apps to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app's service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious apps could cause excess data usage.
this app wants way too much control, can destroy a battery, make the phone useless, cost money in phone data charges, and violates privacy way too much - definitely something fishy about google wanting all this power in every phone they can get...

refs 2, boston 0

the game is tied 105-105 and rondo drives for a lay-up... a flagrant foul, a hard blow to the head knocking his head back hard, knocking him to the ground, slow to get up... no call... no call giving miami a fast break and a two point lead... how do you miss such an obvious foul under the basket?... you don't, not if you are good at your job,,, you don't, not unless you are are incompetent - or you have an agenda...

one minute left... so a four point swing for miami with less than 90 seconds and the next series, a clear offensive foul, a kick with the foot to knock the defensive player back, but it's miami so it is allowed and worse, the foul is called on boston... no foul call against miami on a blow to the head which by rule is flagrant, no foul call against miami on an obvious offensive kick, foul called against boston to a slap to the arm after getting kicked out of the way... five point lead under a minute...

seven fouls for boston, zero fouls for miami in the first 7 minutes of the game... fifteen more fouls against boston than against miami... similar to game one... it's no coincidence... a key star for boston fouls out again just like the first game... it's no coincidence... it is such a sad shame that the refs dominate the play leaning to one side so much...

all game the refs made miami calls giving miami a lopsided advantage in foul shots and still, game tied in overtime... and then, one minute left, tie game, and a blown flagrant foul call gives miami a bogus lead... you can't beat a team with the refs on their side and that was clear tonight...

ridiculous win for the refs and miami... they needed the refs just to get the game tied and sent to overtime... no team can win a close game when the refs are so clearly biased to pne side... anyone who respects this miami win did not watch the game, especially not the last 90 seconds when the refs took over and game the game to miami...

it's professional sports... the refs calls in the last two minutes should not be one of the subjects discussed by objective sportscasters in the post game shows... the refs calls should not be a topic of discussion after the game two games in a row... boston is getting a raw deal... two ridiculous technical fouls in the first game had sports commentators raging and wondering if the refs have a specific agenda... are the refs getting told what to do by the nba management?... so it seems to the professionals watching, so it seems to this sports fan...

but the fact is, it would be very bad for business for the nba for the spoiled and arrogant golden boys of miami to not make it to the finals... due to their own immaturity and boasts, they'd be a laughing stock if they don't win a championship soon... so they can get away with much more... the refs bias may be ignored after the obvious immediate commentary points it out... but for anyone really watching, really paying attention, really looking for sportmanship, it cheapens the game of basketball...

whatever...

pain in the neck, but that's beside the point

yeah, i have a pain in the neck and it's nagging and getting worse over time, but what i really came here to complain about is you, that is, people in general... people are so pathetically stupid... and maybe it's just time passing in this life (getting old?) but i have less and less patience for people with each passing year... it took me many years to fit in (and i don't really, but i definitely do many stupid things regularly and often just like most people)... it's the daily choice to commit suicide in little actions, poisons, laziness, ignoring obvious dangers, cruelty, and becoming so insensitive you don't know when you are being insensitive, which is just about all the time... yes, that's just about all people and sadly i can now include myself...

i am most disappointing in younger people... i thought that even as one generation grew older and stupider, younger generations would not buy into the conformity of insensitivity and suicidal behaviors and might find hope for life, but more and more i see kids buying into the death traps of modern humanity... whatever happened to the hippie mentality?... not that hi[ppies were all that smart, but the hope of living in a loving world where people could learn to not grow insensitive and suicidal, where did that hope and mindset go?...

it sure wasn't passed on to subsequent generations...

so sad...

truly meaningless complaint

if you are a taxpayer in the usa, you owe $119,913 to private banks and other countries... rich bankers in this country and others living in obscene luxury by are milking you dry while you struggle to pay your bills and taxes...

and children, what are children learning?... it is ok to go into debt for a few times your annual income and have nothing to show for it?...

anybody want to loan me $119,913 today?

everybody has a price

and i am looking for someone who does not, so i must not believe the title, though it becomes more and more challenging to not believe the title with each passing year as i see person after person bought off by the holy dollar...

i wish that was not so...