Apology
On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots [team stats]' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.
Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams' walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.
The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots [team stats]' owners, players, employees and fans for our error.
Seriously, can we move on with things now? I think that the damage has been done when they lost. Having that hanging over their head with the potential of a congressional investigation most likely distracted them enough were they lost the big game. They lost a draft pick & the big game, that's punishment enough. So they taped the lousy Bills, Browns, Chargers, Chargers [Cheerleaders] and Jets. They really gained a competive advantage from checking out hotties from SoCal do leg kicks.
I just love how these tools on Sports Talk Radio are calling in saying that it is an NFL Conspiracy to protect their product and hence bottom line. These must be the losers that sleep with aluminum foil helmets at night so the government won't read their thoughts. Better yet the egos of former players or fans that just can't stomach that someone is better, smarter and more wealthier than they are. So they attempt to rationalize it through some crazy conspiracy theory.
Personally I am not a Pats fan. I really don't care about them personally. All I wonder is what would have these overweight slobs be saying if say Dick Jouron was caught doing something & the Bills 1st round pick was taken away by the league? The whole "The world is trying to F**k Buffalo" paranoia that overtakes this area would just be freaking insane.
In the end maybe it's just me and my ego isn't out of whack. There are people in this world that are better, smarter, stronger and richer than I am. If someone went to an Ivy league school, drives a BMW, has a hot 6' 100 lb blonde trophy S.O. and a ton of $; I don't secretly begrudge him. I am honest happy for him or her given the circumstances. But for the typical male where status is the measuring standard and everything, you can get his kind of poisonous envy that just has taken a life of it's own for the last 6 years.
that's one piece of advice my grandfather gave my dad years ago... if you can't afford to buy it in cash, don't buy it. I use credit cards, but I pay them in full every month. My insane student loans are enough debt- I don't need another 10K at 18% interest or whatever.
But of course you're right janelle... there are always emergencies that can mess everything up.
jon: You make things sound so simple. It's just as easy as being responsible and living within your means. There are plenty of people who do just that and then find themselves seriously ill, out of work, and wracked with medical bills. You can't get a loan to pay off medical bills, so what do you turn to...the credit card! What happens the second you make a small mistake and forget to pay your bill just once....the interest rate SKY rockets!
I hate debt too. We pay cash for everything too. We faithfully set aside the maximum amount we can in our Roth IRAs almost every month. We even use the envelope system. If the money isn't in the envelope, we don't buy it. But I'm not so arrogant as to believe that it's just about financial responsibility. It may well be that Drew and I are faced with financial insecurity in the future due to any a number of things that just happen in life.
Oh, I wanted to add, yeaah, I saw that film before too. People's lives are being torn up by debt, but still they are the ones signing the dotted line.
Getting out of debt (or not getting in) is all about personal financial responsibility. And reading the fine print.
On a personal level though, I hate debt. Using cash for purchasing cars, fixing the house, appliances, etc has been my standard for a long time now. And I don't regret it.
I'm not going to pretend to have an answer for the national debt. I don't, and I don't think people like Greenspan or various executives of banks do either. It is a new status-quo which is deeply disturbing, at least to me.
However, I can say as an individual, I learned a long time ago that living below my means is the only way to be financially secure. As a result, I haven't paid a single cent of interest on my credit cards in years. I don't know what the debt figure is for the average American, but I can guarantee it won't ever apply to me.
I see it as taking part of recycling. I do my part.
I saw that film. It's a amazing how people are encouraged to wreck themselves, and how they go along with it.
(e:janelle) and I, on the other hand, were frugal before it was cool.