The USWNT won their 4th women’s World Cup beating the Netherlands 2-0 in the finals in Lyon, France today. Megan Rapinoe (PK) and Rose Lavelle scored in the mid second half, eight minutes apart to settle the match.
Rapinoe who plays professionally for the Seattle Reign FC won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer & the Golden Ball as its top player. Alex Morgan (below) of the Orlando Pride won the Silver Boot.
There have now been 8 women’s World Cup events since its inception in 1991. The US has won four times (1991, 1999, 2015 & 2019), Germany twice (2003 & 2007), Norway (1995) & Japan (2011) once.
There were many new trends in this tournament worth discussing from a sporting & social perspective. First, was former women’s players being allowed to dominate the broadcasts, lead discussion of rules disputes, and provide needed commentary where required. Most of it was spot-on, and much better than the hysterics & apologetics we get regularly in men’s FIFA. A pleasant eye-opener.
The women’s WC 2019 was also another advance for sports science, in that Video Assisted Replay (VAR) was given a chance, competently managed, and used effectively. There were issues early-on, for sure, but the women stuck with it and learned from their mistakes. They needed to, because there were a lot of blown calls by officials & lines-women in WC 2019.
The stat at the beginning of the Fox broadcast was 32 VAR’s as a tournament total before the finals, with 28 resulting overturned calls, and only 4 confirmed. As we can see, VAR certainly helped make up for really bad officiating, which is endemic in the women’s game, because it’s so much newer than men’s competition. To their credit, it takes courage to stand in the middle of the pitch, with headphones tuned-in to a replay booth and being overturned repeatedly, but that’s what it took for this tournament to be legitimate.
In the end, the best team won on their merits, and there is no controversy about a blown call costing a team a critical match. When the officials get overturned over & over, they review those mistakes, and learn from them. That’s what I saw in the end. As the final match began, there were a few seconds when a second ball was in the field-of-play, and the official & lines-woman didn’t blow their whistles– until it got embarrassing.
It was in the midfield, and it didn’t affect the match, but it’s worth noting the competence level of even the best women’s officials. There’s definitely room for improvement, and VAR can be helpful as a training & accountability tool. It always helps to get the call right, and that’s what VAR can do, so there are no more “Hand of God” goals ever again. That is the main takeaway in the women’s World Cup 2019 for men’s fútbol.
In the US_Netherlands finals, the woman official was excellent. There was a hard foul early-to-mid first half, which was immediately whistled and correctly yellow-carded. Making that correct call, at the correct, time gave the referee control of the match from there on. The players respect that call, and from there on she’s essentially coaching both sides equally to play the game fairly & competitively.
Lots of flops weren’t whistled, leaving wanna-be’s & fakers on the turf looking foolish, as they should. It was under control on both sides, which is the point of officiating. VAR got them there, with a steep learning curve. You have to respect that.
Here’s another one. The 23 players on the USWNT consider themselves to be a family, and stick up for each other. Their motivation was to win back-to-back World Cups– the right way. This isn’t a brutal hacking or flopping USWNT team. They probably take more than the give but they have to, being the overwhelming favorites going in, that’s what you have to deal with.
By the end, the USWNT was clearly the best, but with the caveat that the world has very much caught up. The US-England semi-final was a 2-1 squeaker without their captain & playmaker Megan Rapinoe. Only a blown penalty kick prevented that from being 2-2, and likely OT. With that said, championship teams need to be able to handle injuries & adversity, and they did it without coming off arrogant in the end. They respected their opponents & the game.
The USWNT did a fantastic job of pulling themselves back, especially after their perceived over-exuberance in their 13-0 thrashing of Thailand in their opening match. They apparently learned that winning is important, only if you do it in a way that lets people like you when it’s over. No one likes loudmouth showboats, no matter how good they are.
No one like cowards either, so when Donald Trump tried to inject himself into the narrative and grab himself some glory he doesn’t deserve, Megan Rapinoe spoke for the USWNT and took the media heat without backing down. She didn’t sing a word of the US national anthem as it was played before the finals, and she wasn’t alone on the US team. I respect that. The USWNT will not be visiting the White House for a ceremony, photo-ops & congratulations from the US President.
Rapinoe who is lesbian, has already said she will visit House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. My thoughts on that? When people back up their confident talk, then you have to give them their stage & let them speak, even if you don’t like what they’re going to say. The US has a president who doesn’t acknowledge that it is his sworn duty to defend the Constitution, whose First Amendment is free speech. The USWNT winning the 2019 World Cup the way they did, is a blow to Trump’s brand of fascism.
Bitcoin just collapsed this morning at ~10:00 AM EDT, falling to ~$26 from over $13,000 just a few days ago. By 11:00 AM it had re-inflated itself to above $10,000. This leads to three important questions: 1) What just happened?, 2) How did it happen?, and 3) Who are the people responsible?
What just happened with Bitcoin was a total collapse– meaning bankruptcy. It almost instantly lost 99+% of its value. So why didn’t it go under? What kept Bitcoin from busting for good is so much big money invested in the cryptocurrency market. This priceless screenshot above shows the $26 mark to be a trough, meaning there was a built-in “failsafe” to keep Bitcoin from going to $0. This algorithm is what gave them time to “recover.”
Bitcoin has to be kept afloat, because it’s the industry leader. And it is bankrupt, like every other capitalist institution that is existing on endless free money from above. Fake economics 101.
Hedge funds investors, stock & bond markets, big tech, and the deep state all have a huge stake in crypto-currency, which means Bitcoin is now “too big to fail.” They just got bailed out by someone, and those deep inside the industry know who, but they won’t be telling the public what happened or who is responsible.
Edit ~1:00 PM EDT: To illustrate this point on fake media, below is a screenshot of a recent Google search for “Bitcoin drops to $26,” and nothing current shows up. The powers-that-be want this story ignored, as it exposes their corruption, duplicity & bankruptcy. Therefore, it is the duty of every concerned global citizen to discover the facts and report them honestly.
Crypto-currency is fake money with no lasting value, because there is nothing of worth behind it. The financial meltdown in crypto-currency that just happened this morning is more evidence which proves this thesis. Only the policymakers & beneficiaries of such an extremely manipulative monetary policy would count this electronic garbage as an asset.
Tue 02 Jul 2019 2:30 PM EDT
Afternoon Edit:This piece was reported & published in real time, and may be a watershed moment in the coming global financial crash. I just happened to check the Bitcoin index, which I do every day I’m online– and there it was. I immediately started taking screenshots. This piece was re-titled in editing, and any other edits are noted in italics.
Please note that all the screenshots are raw file coded, and those are very hard to fake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiSCSafHxM
Tue 02 Jul 2019 05:30 PM EDT
I’m adding this final screenshot below to give the reader a scale of how fast all this happened, just a few hours ago. At 9:53 AM EDT, bitcoin plunged through the $10,000 barrier– valuing at $9.937.95. Seven minutes later at 10:00 AM EDT, bitcoin was at $26.40– as shown in an earlier screenshot. All this has been erased & electroned over by the financial manipulators who run this cryptocurrency scam. That’s why these screenshots matter.
Tue 02 Jul 2019 8:26 PM EDT
Here’s a screenshot just taken of Coindesk valuing bitcoin at $9,925.48 at 10:00 AM EDT this morning. Call it “fake blockchain accounting.” Also notice how the 24-hour low is now $9,676.56 instead of $26.30. This is ~10 hours after the event. This Bitcoin event data was erased in the early afternoon by Coindesk. Only these screenshots survive as proof.
Wed 03 Jul 2019 11:33 AM EDT
Summary, the day after: Yesterday, on the morning of July 2, 2019 at 10:00 AM EDT, Bitcoin fell to $26.40 according to Coindesk, the official online tracker of cryptocurrency, and was dead in the water. Less than an hour later BTC was resuscitated by a massive injection of fake money, and was pushed back above $10,000 again.
These screenshots provided above are irrefutable proof of this bankruptcy & malfeasance, which has been erased & covered-up by Bitcoin, Coindesk & their blockchain technology. This story of Bitcoin’s instant collapse & revival has been ignored & buried by the entire fake media, which indicates their complicity.
With this fortuitous piece of investigative journalism, I have busted Bitcoin & all crypto-currencies down to the lint in their pockets. Screenshots don’t lie. Searching for “Bitcoin drops to $26” still produces nothing in the search engines, only further proving the point of massive censorship by high tech & the US intelligence deep state. If you are current on this chimera known as crypto-currency & Bitcoin, while also passionate about the truth, then please share this article as widely as possible to counter-attack this state-sponsored censorship & repression of inconvenient truths.
Thu 04 Jul 2019 01:52 PM EDT
Final Screenshots
Here are the last remaining screenshots that shed light on this momentous financial event, which has been covered up in all official media. I have the exclusive on this story, and have never been censored so harshly online. Everything I posted on Fakebook, particularly these screenshots, has been erased. The same everywhere else including Google and all other search engines.
This above screenshot taken at 11:27 AM shows the steep drop to near zero for Bitcoin on its official tracker Coindesk at 10:00 AM on July 2, 2019.
This above screenshot taken a few seconds later shows the one-week high for Bitcoin to be $13,844.77, on June 26 just before 4:00 PM EDT.
This final screenshot taken a minute later is a real beauty, showing Bitcoin to be at $26.41 at 10:01 AM EDT on July 2, 2019. Notice by scale that this is roughly the midpoint in the $26-trough, which means this event only lasted 2-3 minutes total. The point is: I was REALLY lucky to have seen this at all, despite the fact that my coverage of Bitcoin has been diligent. A few hours later, all this data was completely erased by Coindesk, with a normal curve pasted over this event.
Thu 04 Jul 2019 02:45 PM EDT
Final Timeline of Bitcoin’s Bankruptcy & Bailout
At 9:53 AM EDT on Tuesday July 2, 2019 Bitcoin plunged under $10,000, and within seven minutes was spinning idly at the $26-mark for 2-3 minutes. Its official low was $26.30. Then at 10:03-10:04 AM EDT, Bitcoin instantly shot up again to over $10,000 where it still stays as of this final update.
It was all over by 10:05 EDT. Within this twelve-minute time-frame, Bitcoin was apparently transmogrified not once, but twice. In the first seven minutes of this event, the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme industry leader collapsed and went bankrupt. Only a designed failsafe algorithm prevented Bitcoin from hitting $0.00. Bitcoin bankrupting in seven minutes was the first cataclysmic change.
The second transmogrification was in the last five minutes from 10:00 to 10:05 AM EDT, when Bitcoin was rescued by some unknown black hand. Unless anyone can refute this narrative by addressing the facts & screenshots presented above, this event happened. Therefore, Bitcoin has officially became another “too-big-to-jail” zombie built on fake money, like all the rest. The question is, “Where did the money come from, and how much?”
All this happened in twelve-minutes time, just two days ago. This is an exclusive story because I have the screenshots, I know the issues & history, and I was lucky to be on-the-spot when Bitcoin hit $26. This is one of the biggest financial scandals ever, and the truth is being ruthlessly suppressed by state & corporate power.
The bottom line is when Bitcoin loses 99.75% of $200B in market capitalization in less than 10 minutes– the Black Hand isn’t going to allow THAT to happen, even though I have screenshots which prove it did.
Please download these screenshots & share!!
Over & Out
Addendum: CoinDesk’s Validity
Headquartered in NYC, CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index was launched in September 2013. The Bitcoin Price Index is an average of Bitcoin prices across bitcoin exchanges, and began by using price data from Bitstamp, BTC-e and CampBX. The index also added Bitfinex price data in March 2014, after dumping Mt. Gox a month earlier. Publications which have referenced the Bitcoin Price Index data or price include: the BBC, WSJ, Reuters, NY Times, CNBC and Bloomberg.
Google “official bitcoin tracker,” and Coindesk comes up first. CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index is an industry standard measure for crypto-currency. Only those deeply vested in Bitcoin attempt to discredit the validity of the screenshots I’ve presented on my site, as being from an “unreliable index.” My point has always been that NOTHING connected to crypto-currency is reliable, and a screenshot of Bitcoin at $26.38 on July 2 2019 at 10:00 AM EDT at Coindesk is proof positive of that. My professional opinion of CoinDesk’s “reliability,” is they should remove the ‘i’ from their name.
The fact is that many Bitcoin owners who track its value in real-time, use CoinDesk. This is a democratic argument from the “Bitcoin community” against elitist naysayers who claim CoinDesk is less than industry standard. Officially in cryptocurrency, CoinDesk is considered the industry standard, and the premier Bitcoin composite-index tracker. The flipside here is that the entire cryptocurrency industry is fake, so defining “industry standard” gets vague & shifty in practice.
So here are my questions to all the naysayers with their heads in the sand and no hard evidence to counter. How did this event happen? Was it just a glitch, or an actual bankruptcy– and how do you know which? Since Bitcoin is nothing more than what’s on your computer screen, a “glitch” to $26 means bankruptcy, right? Was it a cyber-attack on CoinDesk? Why the cover-up by Coindesk? Can we really trust blockchain technology, after my screenshots show data being removed & altered after-the-fact? Why has there been such strict censorship in the media over this event?
These are very significant & troubling questions which the naysayers can’t answer. Thus, their attempts to cast dispersion and discredit my data & analysis.
This is the 1-year anniversary of ESPN.com shutting down all its comment boards due to my posts, and this serial is the proof. Before this event, there was never any indication to anyone that the ESPN forum boards for every sport, and all their articles would no longer display or allow reader comments. ESPN has never made a public explanation for this policy change.
The background here is that Wimbledon was obviously fixed on the Women’s side, so I blew up the ESPN/tennis comments section– and people got angry on all sides. I believe the Serena Williams camp forced ESPN to shut down all ESPN website comments because she was looking really bad in the discussions among tennis fans. I was leading those discussions, but very soon I didn’t have to. Serena Williams’ apologists were being shouted down with calm reason, objective facts & countless unanswered questions by many fans.
I mistakenly thought this censorship was a targeted ban (just me) at the time, but it was universal– to my great surprise. I shouldn’t have been, as I did the same thing to MLB.com during the “Shohei Ohtani Affair,” and the collapse of the free-agency market due to MLBPA ignorance & duplicity. The MLB online comments board which had existed for years have disappeared. They connected thousands of MLB fans with their favorite teams, and created many new friendships. All that is now gone, because of MLB censorship.
No “outsider” criticism of MLB or ESPN can be tolerated in online boards, by the powers that be. Who do these neo-fascist censors think maintains the game? Answer: it’s the interest of the fans that pays for everything. When MLB & ESPN cut fans off from each other due to politics, fans lose interest because the game has been stolen from them.
When this occurs, there is little interest for me to report its internal news anymore. Eventually others feel the same and the bottom-line suffers, which is bad business. The big issues here are clear & unambiguous. Is MLB to be run by a cartel of powerful east coast owners who dominate the commissioner & executive offices? If malfeasance is suspected and evidence shown against MLB (and/or its favored franchises), then what?
These questions cut to the heart of the game, deciding who gets the best players and who does not. When a team that is not a “traditional power” thinks & acts outside-the-box to gain a competitive edge, they are reined in with suspensions & the threat of sanctions by this MLB cartel.
This was the case with San Diego Padres GM AJ Preller, who was suspended for one dull month in August 2016 by MLB for “undisclosed anti-inflammatories” in the LHP Drew Pomeranz trade. The top-prospect the Padres received in return RHP Anderson Espinoza, has just undergone his 2nd Tommy John surgery, and will probably never reach the majors. Yet many in the Red Sox media still whine on this false narrative pushed by MLB.
The actual reason AJ Preller was suspended by MLB is because it was perceived the Padres won that trade by getting the Red Sox to overpay for a 4th-starter (Pomeranz), whom the Red Sox foolishly thought was a #2. Even though Preller lost the deal in the end, the Padres are still vilified because he made a big-wheel GM (Dave Dombrowski) look bad in his valuing of MLB talent. That is a contentious truth for Red Sox Nation, believe me.
AJ Preller was also targeted in winter 2017 when Buster Olney acted as Boston Red Sox hatchet-man using his ESPN media clout to threaten sanctions on the Padres if they didn’t give up their pursuit of prized Japanese free-agent pitcher & hitter Shohei Ohtani. That was a clear case of the Red Sox tampering to prevent a hated rival (Padres) from getting a free-agent prize. Preller had to kick Ohtani to his buddy Billy Eppler, Angels GM, to avoid the wrath of MLB.
No one at MLB.com or ESPN ever explained how Ohtani became an Angel, when it looked like the San Diego Padres had him for sure. Here was my real-time serial which is mostly wrong (in that Shohei Ohtani will not become a Padre), until it reveals a greater (& nastier) truth at the end, which is the MLB Black Hand in action.
Coincidentally, this is when MLB.com went black on it’s comment boards for a day or so, and then reset everybody anew with no old content available for viewing. A year later the comments were all gone everywhere on the MLB site, and remain so as of this publication.
INTRO: Basketball is not an easy game to play well. It takes a long time to develop ambidextrous dribbling, passing & shooting skills that can hold up with & against real ballers. Beyond that, skills without-the-ball are elite, and enable the baller to help his team win, even when his “teammates” aren’t sharing the ball. It is very rare to find five players with ability, playing together and sharing the work needed to win. The ones who understand and do the work consistently are the ballers. The rest are basketball wanna-be’s & bums.
Here’s some basic basketball theory. If everyone is sharing the ball equally on offense, you will have the ball 20% of the time you are on the floor. This is ideal, but rarely occurs anywhere– even in the NBA. But the other half of the game is defense, which means you have the ball only 10% of your minutes played– in the best of circumstances.
Even the worst pick-up game ballhogs are without the ball for two-thirds of the game. As a player, what are they doing during this majority of the game to help their team win? Most guys who strut onto the court don’t even think about this stuff, yet it is the essence of winning basketball. Those are the basketball bums.
The truth is most guys walk onto the court in a full-blown ego trip. They think they’re a superstar, and nothing can refute that narrative in their head. So when reality bites, and their bad play inevitably starts to show up as a losing score, these basketball bums turn into bitches.
For example: the basketball bum make a bad pass, so he blames a teammate they don’t like for not being there to catch it. On defense, bums let their man blow-by for a clear path to the basket & easy lay-up. The next time this happens, the baller anticipates & slides over to cut that off, but the penetrator kicks to your man left open for an easy 3– which he nails.
The bum tries to blame you for leaving the shooter open, so the baller replies, “Play some ‘D’ and quit letting your man blow-by for easy lay-ups, and I’ll stick with my man.” That handles the bum for the moment, but he’ll be back soon enough with more trash, unless the baller gets some help. If it’s all bums, then it’s hopeless after a game or two, and best to walk away, even mid-game.
Ballers don’t let the bums drag them down. If you’re done with their nonsense before the game is over, just look for someone waiting to play and call them in to take your spot. Since these bums never gave any effort, no need to explain anything nor apologize to them– just leave quietly. This is where patience meets experience, saving you harsh words that bruise tender egos. Ballers don’t pander to that, nor do they leave the court with any personal negativity.
You really have to know the game to handle trash-talking in hoops, because there is a whole lot of stupidity on most courts. This article is about pick-up basketball, either in a gym or outdoors, because that’s the level most people play. I don’t need to tell the pros this stuff, because they already know, it’s just that I’m a better writer.
The first thing to notice is that the game of basketball moves quickly, and it’s the players who responds first & most appropriately that always win the trash-talking battle. That’s the baller in a game filled with bums.
In pick-up/playground basketball, the shooting percentages tend to equalize on both sides, and are low– due to too many bad shoots taken by bad shooters. As in real basketball, it’s the team that rebounds, limits turnovers, and gets the most easy baskets which wins. In most pick-up games which I’ve witnessed and/or participated, there are at least 7-8 bums on the court. This makes the game a lot more work for the ballers, and it’s the main reason why I don’t run much anymore.
Bums won’t pass the ball to a baller, because he will score easily– where the bums can’t. Dicks immediately shrink, and then there’s issues… Every bum bitches about not getting the ball enough. The worst ones are the “big guys,” who won’t defend in the paint– nor rebound. They want to play point guard & shoot 3’s all day. When they don’t get enough of that, these bums become completely toxic, and that “team” basically can’t beat anybody.
You must control your defensive boards, or you have no chance to win, and that’s up to the big guys. Too many tall kids want to play like Steph Curry or James Harden. A lot of bum teams seemingly have 3-4 point guards– at least. Much of the hardcourt pick-up action can’t even rightfully be called basketball, as it’s mostly guys playing with themselves & their buddies.
Bums break down on defense, then blame others to deflect their lack of effort, basketball intelligence & skills. On a real court, with real ballers, these bums are given a swift kick in the ass about stupid turnovers, bad shots, and not defending/rebounding. If they don’t turn it around, they get sent off the court by the big guy, and replaced with someone waiting to play who is willing to do the job. I’ve been one of those guys picked to replace a bum by a real baller on a real court, and it feels great to be chosen.
In the game of basketball, one guy can break down an entire defense on every possession, if the opposition is smart & can play. If this isn’t accounted for, it really sucks for the other four guys, and it isn’t fair to those who are giving an honest effort. Running up & down the court is a lot of work, and no one likes their efforts to be wasted.
Baller rule: Kick the bums off the court, mid-game if needed. In real basketball, no bums & bitches are allowed. That goes for the girls & women too. You know what I mean.
Big guys have to play big, and everyone should try to play above their size. This means “little guys” have low-post skills & can finish around the basket, and everybody rebounds on both ends as needed. Big guys have to control the paint & rebound, otherwise they are basketball bums.
Little guys have to pressure the ball to prevent penetration and easy low-post feeds, while keeping their man in front of them and not giving up easy 3’s. If you can force steals, and limit the turnovers, then congratulations [!] you are a winning basketball player, even though you are out-sized.
It’s a big man’s game, and size rules in basketball. The cliché goes: you can’t teach 7’0″. The fact is the closer you are to the goal, the better you can attack & defend it. Little guys can influence the action without-the-ball even when they are being frozen out, by running (when necessary) to create movement within the offense.
Another elite without-the-ball skill is spacing. Move to the side of the floor opposite the ball, and stay there. This will at least draw your man away from the basket, and create needed space for others to drive. How long you want to do this without receiving a pass is up to you. Keep making yourself available on that side and when you’ve had enough, quit the game as instructed above.
I see all kinds of games where all 10 players are on the same side of the court, or everyone is standing behind the 3-point line. Bums take their turns jacking up bad shots from downtown, and it’s one low-percentage give-away possession after another. Proper spacing, intelligent movement & effective screening are non-existent in a game filled with bums. Good players rarely get the ball here, and have nowhere to go when they do, as “teammates” are literally obstacles.
Baller notes on ’21’ Twenty-one is often a scam pick-up game, and this is how it works. A group of guys who know each other, call you over to play 21. The game’s objective is to get exactly 21 points before anyone else, in a half-court setting. This can be a fun version of basketball when everyone is playing equally. But in the common scenario I’ve presumed, it turns into an unwinnable game of one-against-the-rest. The outsider has to fight for every rebound & score, against a gang of buddies taking turns letting each other get easy shots. Since you can’t defend everybody, you just wear yourself out when you try.
It’s Mission Impossible to win, so focus on improving your skills instead. If you’re going to play this bastardized version of ’21’, my best advice is to get straight on the rules with everybody before you start. Everything from scoring, to takes-backs for steals & airballs, etc. The ones who want to cheat are those who are confused about the rules, and hamper discussing them.
I’ve played against chumps who declare they can win ’21’ on 22. The rule of ’21’ has always been if you land on 20 points, you go back to 15 or whatever lower score you agree on. That’s because the next bucket get you to 22. It’s like blackjack when you bust. The basketball version of ’21’ was developed & widely-played long before the advent of the 3-point shot. Today, that means if you have 19 points and then make a 3-pointer, you drop back to 15. As a rules side note, the dumb shooter still gets his free throws (today @ 3-point line), because he did make the shot. Only chumps think they win on weak stuff like that, because ballers aren’t defending a 3-point attempt in that situation.
Basketball is a beautiful game when played right. In my life I can recall only a handful of times where everything was right with my game & teammates. But when it happens it is magical in its effortlessness & efficacy. When the work load is shared by 5 ballers, no one gets tired & worn out. Everyone is working in synergy to shut down the opponent, no easy looks & no second shots.
Transition to offense begins with boxing-out and securing the rebound, which is immediately outletted to a good ball-handler & pushed up-court for a fast break opportunity. Everyone gets their looks, and the rule is to finish– no excuses.
Very few see the work that goes into making it appear so easy when done right, and even fewer are willing to do that work to become a baller. What I’ve described here is what it takes. Players as true teammates energize each other at this level, allowing elite maintenance with little fatigue & maximum fun.
In pick-up ball, an organized team of ballers can steamroll every opponent for hours on end because of this. The few times I’ve been a part of such an experience are what makes the game an addicting elation. This is where creativity & skill blend, and the game of basketball become as much an art form as a sport.
Money printing by every central bank in the world has now ballooned stock, bond, derivatives & real estate markets to record highs, which has been a bonanza for those wealthy enough own these assets. The problem for them is that most of these “assets” are worthless, measured in the hundreds of trillions of dollars globally, and widely conceded to total over a quadrillion US dollars in fake value. No one really knows the amount, because little-to-no data is published or made publicly available, as economic policies that affect everybody & everything are discussed, agreed upon & implemented behind closed doors & kept secret.
In official politics, everything is kept classified in the interest of national insecurity. In establishment economics, an undercurrent of paranoia is now running rampant through every market, as anyone with their eyes open can see what’s about to happen to the global economy. Deutsche Bank just unloaded €50bn in worthless derivatives known as long-dated interest rate swaps onto the taxpayers, who are the lender of last resort for a bank considered “too big to fail.” This event has to be kept quiet on MSM, because this could be the next Lehman Brothers collapse which triggers financial Armageddon.
No government has the ammunition to hold off this inevitable crash much longer, much less handle it when it arrives. Money printing for the rich will eventually manifest into hyper-inflation of currency for all. Meanwhile on every inhabited continent, austerity & corporate tax cuts have wiped out national tax bases– the primary source of all government revenue. The other bullet which has been spent is interest rates, which can’t go much lower and in many countries is negative– so that can no longer be used as a palliative. Hence militarization, nationalism, and the drive to war led by the US.
What this means is that the next financial crash will create a revolutionary situation globally, due to the bankruptcy of every central bank & government, who have exhausted their limits on bad debt & interest rate cuts. But the corporate banks, hedge fund firms, brokerage houses, etc, have so much more junk they need to unload! This is the conundrum these parasitic financial criminals are now facing, and when it all breaks down, “Who will pay the piper?” becomes the quadrillion dollar question.
Crypto vs Gold: Part X
Consider this. If cryptocurrency became backed by gold, it would collapse every fiat currency– which are all debt-ridden by money printing & austerity. But here’s the virtual rub. Where can the owners of cryptocurrency store their gold while remaining anonymous? That is the unsolvable paradox of cryptocurrency.
Eventually the governments of the world will use their police, intelligence & military apparatus to find & seize that gold. The deep state of any nation also controls the electrical grid & internet– which means bitcoin becomes unusable under such political conditions. This is no longer hypothetical, as there have been multiple electrical blackouts across South America recently, either due to decaying infrastructure or malware attacks by the US deep state.
It was Venezuela a few months back, as part of the failed US-instigated coup attempt to overthrow Nicolás Maduro and install its puppet Juan Guaidó as president. Last weekend it was announced that Russia’s grid had been attacked by US military-intelligence. This proud US government provocation of war against Russia was barely noted or commented upon in the fake news media.
What is to become of the digital energy waster known as crypto-currency when the working masses & youth of the world unite under the banner of international socialism and march on the centers of power in every nation? After an international workers’ revolution, bitcoin & all other forms of crypto-currency will no longer be allowed to contribute to global warming. Humanity needs solutions which don’t cause greater problems, as is allowed under capitalism.
There is more than enough wealth being produced to provide for everyone’s needs while making reparations to our planet and all its inhabitants. This makes the need for money superfluous in a socialist society, but not under capitalism which is leading humanity towards disaster.
Every day Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and there rest of that fascist White House cabal are in power, the greater the threat of thermo-nuclear incineration to our planet. It is really sick that things get pushed this close to the edge of extinction by delusional & psychotic tendencies. But that’s “maximum pressure” under capitalism, and it’s how the rich & powerful maintain their privileges in a rigged game.
Those of us who have been socialists for a long time, know that we are the most suppressed, censored & blacklisted political tendency. Trotskyism of the Fourth International is real socialism, and we are always the first targets of the corporate censors & deep state sponsored fascism. Fake media of every variant always portray Trotskyism as “left-wing extremism,” and brand them as “terrorist,” but not officially because they are blacklisted– which means they aren’t acknowledged. This combines the murky world of US intelligence with the anti-socialist ideology of the ruling class.
Notice that no mainstream media ever covers the World Socialist Web Site, the modern daily organ of Trotskyism. Any attempts by “leftists” to politicize the WSWS become silly & hateful, as these fake intellectuals never approach anything from a historical or materialist perspective. Everything from pseudo-intellectual liberals is thinly-veiled class interest wrapped up in the irrationality of post-modernism– where all is subjective & anything goes. What remains of liberalism is comparable (as a class) to a degenerative disorder, incapable of controlling itself and getting worse by the day.
The fake left lose the battle of rationality & facts against the Trotskyists every time. Trotskyists are always strictly censored under capitalism & Stalinism, because we are recognized as their most formidable & intractable enemy. Capitalism & Stalinism (socialism in one country) have the same common goal: to subordinate their nation’s working masses to obey & carry out ruling class directives.
Trotskyists are the only political tendency that seeks to unite workers & youth internationally under the banner of revolutionary socialism. This must be achieved to avert an all-destructive Third World War. Capitalism keeps doubling down on its failures, which is only leading to more catastrophes. There is no tendency in mainstream media or official politics that opposes this suicidal trajectory for human civilization. Political power must be removed from these criminal ruling classes of all nations.
Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning must be set free and protected by the workers & youth of the world, against these ruthless & tyrannical global networks of US-UK sponsored terrorists. Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning are courageous heroes for what they have done, and for the political stance they maintain– by not capitulating to US deep state coercion, suppression & criminality. Their fate is humanity’s fate. It’s up to those who are conscious and willing to fight for equality & democratic rights to unite for the purpose of freeing them, and revering those who reveal hard truths & ask important questions.
The “economic miracle” of China began with a US President & the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) embracing each other in the early 1970’s for their own reasons. Richard Nixon in 1972 signed the Shanghai Communique, which set up Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) in southern China– open to foreign investment & capitalist exploitation. In return, the US withdrew its troops from Taiwan in 1979, tacitly recognizing “One China,” while economically integrating the SEZ’s into US “sphere of influence.”
Partnering with China was seen in American politics as an open-minded & wise deterrent to the Soviet Union, and was well-received domestically. Richard Nixon’s meeting with Mao Tse Tung in February 1972 got him re-elected that November, by neutralizing the liberal Democrats– which was his overriding objective in all this. The global economic implications of Nixon’s signature trade agreement have lasted much longer, and reverberate with great force today. No one in bourgeois politics at the time anticipated this would start China on the road to becoming a 21st-century economic superpower.
From 1949 when Mao Tse Tung took power to 1972, mainland China did not exist in US diplomacy. Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan after the revolution, and was still recognized as the leader of China by the US until he died in 1975. In his 1972 trip, Nixon was also seeking leverage for ending the Vietnam War “victoriously & honorably,” by forging closer relations in order to create a rift between China & Vietnam, whom the CCP were supplying with matériel. This part of Nixon’s plan was completely misguided, and ended in 1973 with full US troop withdrawal from Indochina, then Watergate & resignation.
Chinese Communist leaders including Deng Xiaoping (below w/ Jimmy Carter) were eager to liquidate state ownership and re-introduce capitalism for themselves, as their Stalinist regime was in crisis and needed economic growth to stay in power. Those were the circumstances that led to US-Sino rapprochement in the 1970’s, which established China’s SEZ’s as “the world’s sweatshop.”
This “economic miracle” discarded the iron rice bowl social pact under Maoism, and condemned hundreds of millions of peasants to become super-exploited industrial workers. They and their families live a life of poverty & servitude. China’s SEZ’s have been turned into environmental wastelands– fouling land, air & water. Where’s the benefit, except for a few billionaires & a buffer-layer of bureaucrats?
The trade issues now being discussed by talking heads globally are all from the perspective of those in political power. For example, Huwawei and its monopoly of new 5G technology is the primary issue of importance to the US military-intelligence apparatus, meaning all of official American politics & the media. If the US no longer has its military advantage, due to outdated technology, then it loses its primary geo-political weapon– its military clout. The American workers & youth have no interest in CIA & Pentagon hegemony. In fact, we oppose the criminality of these institutions, and seek their exposure & dismantling.
Several hundred of 200,000 pro-democracy student protesters face to face with policemen outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square 22 April 1989 in Beijing as they take part in the funeral ceremony of former Chinese Communist Party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang during an unauthorized demonstration to mourn his death. Hu Yaobang’s death in April triggered an unprecedented wave of pro-democracy demonstrations. The April-June 1989 movement was crushed by Chinese troops in June when army tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square 04 June.
In the same terms, the Chinese workers gain no benefit when their corrupt leaders & super-exploitative corporations become more powerful. In this “grand chessboard” of global politics, the workers of all nations are always the pawns who are sacrificed first, so the flag of royalty & nationality can live on through its glorious leaders. Occasionally, a lucky pawn can make it all the way to the other side and become something better, but usually not.
Strict censorship and ruthless police state measures are the rule-of-law in China. The Tiananmen Square massacre, 30 years earlier is a bloody historical reminder to the working class of the barbaric measures the ruling elite will impose, in order to stay in power. This reactionary filth must be met with fierce organized resistance from the working masses in overwhelming numbers. That is the only way the workers of China & America can prevent a trade war from become a world war.
A report on Pentagon pollution just released, shows the US military to be the global leader in greenhouse gas emissions.
Fact: we have global warming due to human industrialization, and it’s getting worse by the minute.
So… if American workers & youth immediately downsized & eventually eliminated the US military, we’d begin to curb global warming. That sounds like a plan that will work for the silenced majority.
It’s time for workers & youth to organize & take action, as Trump-administration fascists are hell-bent on starting World War 3, with no opposition from the Democrats. Trump’s re-election chances appear to be diminishing by the day, as this conman has failed to live up to his campaign boasts of prosperity for Republican-voting workers. You remember…. “Make America great again,” good-paying jobs, and so forth…
The rationale for worker insurrection is correct and legal according to international human rights standards. The two-party system has failed in its sworn oath to protect & defend the US Constitution. Top Democrats & Republicans have illegally started wars across the globe, ruined billions of lives, persecuted Julian Assange for revealing the truth, fouled the planet, etc– therefore they must be removed from power by the great majority who oppose this fascist barbarism.
The Real Donald J Trump on Twitter
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally 146K 4:30 PM – Nov 27, 2016
Donald Trump has made tweets & comments about staying in power for another 10-14 years, which can only be possible through dictatorial measures. At this point, US Congress can’t even get Trump to release his tax returns, much less anything else they request or subpoena; so it is already a de-facto dictatorship in the White House. It has been since November 9, 2016.
The Trump team always finds an end-run or loophole which the Democrats allow to pass muster, no matter how blatantly unconstitutional & illegal it is. These canards are always billed as a “one-time” maneuver. Until (of course), the next time Trump & Co. want something they’re not supposed to have.
They did this with funding Trump’s Mexican border wall, and also for supplying advanced weaponry & logistical support for the House of Saud in their genocidal war against the people of Yemen. Fudging US census questionnaires in order to discriminate against Hispanics (who largely vote Democrat) appears to be their current operation along these lines.
Trump now holds a permanent 5-4 right-wing majority on the Supreme Court, with the despicable confirmation of arch-reactionary Brett Kavanaugh last year. The Republicans hold a Senate majority, which has few reasons to betray Trump, and many reasons to support him. The Democrats now holding the House of Representatives & Senate minority are either 1) impotent (AOC, Bernie Sanders, etc), or 2) Blue Republicans (Nancy Pelosi, Mark Warner, etc) in terms of real power in Washington.
US politics has now ossified into massive gridlock, which is unbreakable under the two-party system. The US media hysterically spins every Trump tweet, while the entire American constitutional structure including separation of power & democratic rights, along with international law gets thrown out the window. Democrats never discuss that as grounds for impeachment, so it’s never mentioned on CNN, NBC or CBS either.
Only through the revolutionary intervention of the working masses can this entire parasitic bureaucracy be smashed. The laboring masses need to be politically armed with a Trotskyist program of international revolution– in permanence.
Every other strain of “socialism” is reactionary; from the DSA, to the corrupt labor union bureaucracies, to the Greens & Libertarians, and academia with its pseudo-science intelligentsia. All these groups support either one or both US capitalist parties of Republicans & Democrats. All throw poison in the eyes of the people whom they betray, in order to sustain their own privileges.
This photo above of the torpedo attack on a fuel tanker in the Gulf of Oman earlier today has all the hallmarks of a US false-flag operation. The timing, the history leading up to it, and the intended consequences as spun by media propaganda afterwards reveals who benefits. This appears to be a US Naval submarine attack, coordinated with CIA & Israeli Mossad. The objective is to create a US pretext for attacking Iran, by blaming them for the attack. The Big Lie Technique in action, again.
Burning Questions: If this does turn out to be yet another US military-intelligence dirty-tricks provocation, then what? You don’t think the Democrats, or the media will investigate and take action, do you? What would you do?
Here’s a Kevin Durant status blurb before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, in which he did not play.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said early in the series that he did not want to play Durant without first going through a full practice. Kerr told reporters on Wednesday that he thought Durant would scrimmage on Thursday [June 5], a meaningful step in returning to action. Yet Warriors trainers did not feel Durant should scrimmage. Kerr said Durant had not had a setback.
The Golden State Warriors announced before Game 5 [June 10] of the NBA Finals that Kevin Durant was cleared to play, with “no possibility of injuring his right Achilles tendon”– their only concern was a “tweak” of his injured calf (gastronemius) muscle. This is what the ABC announcers relayed to their viewers just before tip-off.
Well, the Warriors won 106-105 to extend the series another game, but Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon during the game. This was nothing less than a medically irresponsible decision. No one in the organization has seriously stepped up to take the blame they deserve for this potentially career-ending injury to one of the game’s greatest stars.
As in any other industry under capitalism, it’s only defeating the competition that matters in business. The Golden State Warriors are a successful pro basketball franchise, winning three NBA titles in the last four seasons. Their overwhelming desire to win another one was the primary factor in pushing Kevin Durant back onto the court, when he clearly wasn’t ready to play.
Anyone watching the 1st quarter of Game 5 could see that Kevin Durant was not moving well from the start, even when he made his first three 3-point attempts. The first time he tried to make a real basketball move, his Achilles tendon ruptured, and he fell to the floor in pain. Evidentially, there were at least a few trainers from the Warriors who didn’t want Durant to play, but they were overruled by management.
Golden State general manager Bob Myers said after Monday’s game, “It’s an Achilles injury. I don’t know the extent of it. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow . Prior to coming back, he went through four weeks with a medical team, and it was thorough, and it was experts and multiple MRI’s and multiple doctors, and we felt good about the process. He was cleared to play tonight. That was a collaborative decision. I don’t believe there’s anybody to blame.
“If you have to, you can blame me. I run our basketball operations department. And to tell you something about Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant loves to play basketball, and the people that questioned whether he wanted to get back to this team were wrong.
“He’s one of the most misunderstood people. He’s a good teammate, he’s a good person. It’s not fair. I’m lucky to know him. I don’t know — I don’t have all the information on what really the extent of what it all means until we get an MRI, but the people that worked with him and cleared him are good people. They’re good people.”
This is shameful deflection, apologetics & self-pity from a GM, meant to misdirect responsibility for coercing a star player into playing when he shouldn’t have been cleared medically. Doctors need to have final say when it comes to clearing an athlete, with no organizational or corporate interference. Otherwise this avoidable tragedy will continue to play out in professional sports.
As Charles Barkley points out in the video above, players always want to play. That’s their nature. It’s the responsibility of management (with all its resources) to protect its players, for the good of the game.
If this means sacrificing the 2019 NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors — so be it. Players are assets in a business sense, to be exploited for maximum advantage in competition. But they are also human beings with physical limitations, and this should always be a primary consideration. It wasn’t here, and the culprits are all-too-obvious.
Everything Charles Barkley says about the Golden State Warriors being negligent is correct. How do we know they were negligent? Because Kevin Durant immediately got hurt again. That doesn’t happen to an elite athlete who is healthy & rehabilitated.
The talk around the league now centers around how this will affect the rest of the NBA Finals, and even more importantly– free agency this summer. Kevin Durant was set to be the top prize this off-season, along with Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors.
Now Durant will not play in 2019-20, so he’ll exercise his $31.5M option to stay with Golden State. He’s fortunate in that sense that he has that option. The question remains: what will Kevin Durant be like if/when he returns? Achilles tears are a difficult rehabilitation, and often the athlete is never the same again. All this could have been avoided, if the Warriors had taken a human & medical interest in Kevin Durant, instead of rushing the basketball star back onto the court in a desperate attempt to win another NBA title.
Winners don’t make short-sighted decisions like the Warriors made before Game 5. Blame GM Bob Myers first & foremost, then head coach Steve Kerr, and then every member of management & their medical staff that pushed Kevin Durant into playing, or underplayed the injury risk.
Team owner(s) sign the paychecks and can be a bullying force too. Was that the case here? That’s a lot of investigating & accountability. I don’t expect much of this to be done by the NBA. So how can blame be properly assigned? That’s why I (and many others) don’t watch much of this game anymore.
As far as the media goes, ESPN has major broadcast deals with the NFL (first & foremost), college football second, and then the NBA. Therefore ESPN, the “world sports leader” will report no dirt that hurts on this matter. Honest in-house reporting would cut across ESPN corporate interests. Only independent journalists will uncover the names & facts here, and I leave it to them to do it– if they care.
The goal in management under our current economic set-up is to always avoid blame, and transfer the responsibility for mistakes to others in a lesser position of power. Therefore there will (most likely) be no long-term consequences for anyone, except Durant. No one will get fired or punished for negligence & incompetence, and all NBA franchises retain the right to coerce their players into getting hurt– for the good of the team.
The most relevant comparable example of this nefarious manipulation is the Curt Schilling “bloody sock” game (photo above) in the 2004 ALCS against the NY Yankees. The Boston Red Sox needed Schilling to pitch, despite a torn Achilles tendon, otherwise they would be eliminated. Schilling pitched gruesomely & brilliantly, as they won. He pitched one more game in the World Series, as the Red Sox ended “The Curse.”
These heroics forever glorified the athlete who is willing to do anything to help his team win. What gets left behind is that Curt Schilling was never the same pitcher again, because of this injury abuse. Look at the numbers for proof. Schilling probably doesn’t regret any of this, because that’s the competitor he is, helping his team win when they needed him most.
For those of us who say that sports are about much more than winning, the precedent he set with his “heroics” was a bad one. No athlete should have to risk their health & career for his or her team. The fans who cheer during the game, quickly forget about the players when it’s over. Very few in their lust for victory question the heroic approach. It’s the injured athletes who have to live with the lifetime consequences of being treated as disposable commodities. Where’s the glory in that?
Thur 13 Jun 2019 ~9:30 AM EDT
Final wrap-up: Kevin Durant had surgery on Wednesday, June 12 for his ruptured Achilles tendon. ESPN & the NBA have gone into overdrive trying to spin this foolish catastrophe caused by misguided ambition for basketball glory into a glorifying moment of team fandom.
It’s clear that even Durant himself has been made to “play ball,” and quietly accept his fate. That’s what his $31.5M option buys for the Golden State Warriors, since Durant can’t play anymore. He’s a team player, and who can refuse THAT money? I don’t blame him.
The official narrative is that everyone in the Warriors organization was “on the same page” with allowing Kevin Durant to play hurt, which (by that logic) makes their disastrous & careless decision okay. As long as they were all wrong together, the main thing is team unity!
This is ignorant group-think & media apologetics after-the-fact. Expect nothing else from ESPN, ABC & the NBA. All this garbage must be rejected with contempt by any rational & thinking sports fan, otherwise these senseless injuries, driven by corporate greed, will continue.
In the bigger picture, if this can happen to one of the NBA’s greatest stars, then it’s clear we all have become disposable to our paymasters. If a player with Durant’s stature & clout can’t resist the corporate pressure to conform, and sacrifice his right Achilles tendon for a lost cause, then what chance does an ordinary worker have in rejecting unreasonable demands from their bosses?
Fri 14 Jun 2019 12:57 AM EDT
Game 6 final score:Raptors 114 Warriors 110. Raptors win the series 4-2 and are the 2019 NBA Champions. The refs did everything they could to bring us a Game 7, but the Warriors sustained another injury to a key player in Klay Thompson, and the Raptors are just a better team at this point.
When this series was set to begin, the Warriors were already being christened a NBA dynasty, about to win their 4th title in 5 seasons. Yes, they had lost Kevin Durant to a severe calf strain already, but they still managed to handle their biggest rival, the Houston Rockets before sweeping the Portland Trailblazers in the conference finals. All this without their best player, Kevin Durant.
The path that lay ahead seemed clear: win the NBA Finals, then resign Durant and win a few more titles. Two weeks later, everything is in ruins for the Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant is now gone from basketball, pending a long & painful rehabilitation. Just getting back on the court again will be an accomplishment for him. In my legal opinion, the Golden State Warriors & NBA owe him hundreds of millions of dollars in lost wages.
Klay Thompson was seen leaving Oracle Arena on crutches, from a knee injury he sustained late in the game. All that’s left is Steph Curry who is still great, but not enough to win it all. This franchise went from league darling, to crashing itself into a mountain during this fateful NBA Finals.
I’ve never witnessed anything like this in sports before. If the Warriors had not played Kevin Durant in Game 5, they would have lost this series 4-1. Now that it’s over, the question forever remains: Was the sacrifice of Kevin Durant’s career worth it?
Every great player needs a theme song. This kid (age 20) is going to be a great player.
So here’s my “Weird Al” Yankovic version of “Fernando,” the ABBA melodramatic classic…
Note: There’s only the opening two verses in my version, because he’s still a rookie.
“Fernando (Tatis, Jr)”
Can you hear the drums Fernando? I remember long ago another starry night like this In the firelight Fernando You were traded from the White Sox, by an owner who had no clue We saw the Padres future at shortstop And waited patiently through the minors just for you
Now you’re in MLB, Fernando Every hour, every minute seems to last eternally I was so afraid Fernando When you tore your hamstring on a painful stretching try And I’m not ashamed to say That gruesome injury almost made me cry…
There was something in the air that night The stars were bright, Fernando They were shining there for you & me, Padres victory, Fernando Though we never thought we’d dump James Shields– there’s no regret If we had to make that trade again We would, my friend, Fernando If we had to make that trade again We would, my friend, Fernando
[Listen to ABBA original 3rd verse in solemn silence for his father; then repeat chorus & fade out..]
Preface: Of all the impressions I have from going back and re-watching these cartoon classics on the internet, it’s my memories of the time that affect me most. Cartoons & teen programming stays with us, because it’s what we chose to like when we had a choice. As kids of Generation X, we were honest in our selections in all media. We had choices, and either liked it or didn’t. Our reaction was swift & merciless. We were smart, so if you sucked, you got yanked off-the-air quickly, because there was little room for that with the networks & sponsors. These corporate stiffs had no clue, and always used Generation X kids as a barometer for what was cool– in all mass media.
Back in the 1970’s, this was the best time of the week for kids. Television had saturated America, but there was no programming for kids until this time slot was developed. This was pre-cable TV, where viewing options were CBS, NBC, ABC or PBS– roughly in that order. Every other time slot was for adults.
Weekday mornings were always 2-hour news show such as Today & Good Morning America. Then it went into game shows until around noon. Then three-to-four hours of soap operas. Evenings were for adults too, and then many stations went off-the-air from midnight to 6 AM. There was maybe an hour (or two) of kids after-school programming per day during the week, which was mostly syndicated 1960’s & 1970’s sit-coms & Star Trek (1966-69).
Syndicated cartoons were often ancient, with too much lameness such as Woody Woodpecker and Tom & Jerry. Mel Blanc’s Merrie Melodies were in rotation, but you couldn’t get enough of them. Beyond Hanna-Barbera & Bugs Bunny, the best 1960’s cartoons were Underdog (1964-67) and Rocky & Bullwinkle (1959-64), but they were also hard for kids to find.
Hence the need to create a Saturday morning cartoon time slot. As a kid, it felt great to wake up and know there was no school, just fun TV watching ahead. Sunday mornings were exclusively religious programming, and the rest of the daytime weekend was sports, so this was it for cartoons.
Non-animated fare for children was PBS’s Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and The Electric Company. More adventurously for kids, ABC ran a variety of Sid & Marty Krofft series, most prominently: Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, the Bugaloos & H.R. Pufnstuf.
Krofft Productions is difficult is explain (or even justify) to those who weren’t there, but here it goes. The lack of competition during this era really stifled innovation, as the boardrooms of the three major networks made every decision regarding what television audiences would see. Hanna-Barbera had taken the lead in kids programming, and they were making money for their affiliates on all three networks. Hanna-Barbera owned 80% of the Saturday morning market. The problem was, by the middle of the decade Hanna-Barbera cartoons were either old, or looked old. We’ll return to this point later.
Sid & Marty Krofft had worked for Hanna-Barbera in the late 1960’s. They left to move in their own direction, creating live action series for kids. During the 1970’s, Sid & Marty Krofft created dozens of new series, many lasting just a few episodes, that constantly ran on Saturday morning & after school.
Each Sid & Marty Krofft creation seemed to have the same strengths & weaknesses, which made them delightful & maddening at the same time. Land of the Lost (1974-76) was their flagship series, running three seasons. It was a stretch making it that far, as the acting is really bad, and there is too-little inspired writing. Every plotline seemingly stagnates into inaction, as characters endlessly talk about what to do, or whatever else.
Land of the Lost is a great concept, with a great theme song (and rockin’ closing song), with some semi-cool dinosaur animation. The sleestack is a great monster idea. Fun fact: a young Bill Laimbeer (C/PF Detroit Pistons, NBA) was a sleestack. No one knew who he was at the time, but watching this show in retrospect, one can always tell which sleestack is Bill Laimbeer. It’s the biggest and most-aggressive one.
Sleestack were a far-out idea, but kinda lame too. Typical example: multiple sleestack closing in on Will & Holly, who are trapped in a stryofoam cavern, just about to be caught. Then it’s— cut to a commercial for messages from McDonald’s, Trix, Captain Crunch, Eggo, Hershey’s, Coca-Cola, Light Brite & Coco Puffs. After that it’s back to the “action,” where the sleestack have been moved back ten feet. Holly will then cry out in fright, “They’re getting closer!,” as the entire sequence plays out again– until Will & Holly escape.
Land of the Lost also had a usable vehicle with its time machine and the solitary friendly sleestack named Enik, who aids the castaways. They shuffle different-colored boulder marbles around a stone board– and things happen. Cool concept, but only a few stories actually hold up, which really hurts the overall plotline.
I’m neutral on Chaka. As I mentioned, this is the BEST show from the Krofft brothers, and it has serious flaws. It’s considered to be a low-budget version of Gilligan’s Island by those who watched.
The original desert island castaways had Tina Louise & Dawn Wells going for them, which is nice. The rest were too inept to find a way off, for all the reasons we know. That’s how Hollywood goes two hit seasons with that concept & budget.
Both shows hooked viewers with a terrific opening title sequence & catchy song (& outro version). Land of the Lost had a fascinating concept beyond that, which made it a cult hit with GenX.
Second place for cool in the Krofft series probably goes to Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, a live action series from 1976. It ran 16 episodes in a single season as part of the Krofft Supershow (1976-79). Electra Woman & Dyna Girl was dropped during it’s second season, along with Dr. Shrinker. Electra Woman & Dyna Girl ran in syndication on Saturday mornings & after school, and was well-received by the kids. So, what happened?
Once again, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl is a great idea, two super-hero babes with a hooky title song– which ALWAYS helps. All the mainstream had in that genre at the time was Wonder Woman (1975-79), and a limited amount of Batgirl. Competition was needed, and Krofft Productions recognized this. But once again, there was no money put into this series, as the episodes were stretched thin, with too many lulls. You need writers to sustain a series.
Sid & Marty Krofft were good at knowing what the kids wanted, and deserve credit for that. But too often they axed ideas which had more potential in them, because they didn’t have the resources to develop them properly. It was cheaper & easier to move onto something else, and that’s what they mostly did.
Everyone knows that Land of the Lost was brought back for a bad movie in 2009. Few know that Electra Woman & Dyna Girl was brought back as a pilot for television in 2001, with Electra Woman played by Markie Post. This is hilarious stuff, as it nails the original concept perfectly while updating it. It should have gone to series– but Warner Brothers killed it. Idiots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5M1IB5URJw
Back to Sid & Marty Krofft, as Dr. Shrinker is the last original series I’ll mention specifically. It’s the same deal here as the rest, as this show barely made it through its only season, yet lives on in so many memories of GenX-ers, because of its theme song.
Dr. Shrinker is a case of the title song being the best part of the show. For the record, this also happened with Barney Miller (1975-82). Dr. Shrinker held up for a few episodes, until one realized this was a constant loop of capture & escape, with no resolution in sight. One or two episodes of Dr. Shrinker could be maddeningly hilarious in its time, and still is in retrospect. Anything more is suicidal lunacy. The title song sticks in your head forever.
The collective works of Sid & Marty Krofft are a mixed bag of interesting & crazy ideas, marred by lack of execution. In so many ways their concepts influenced GenX, while most viewers were smart enough to recognize their limitations. This is why just about all of their series only ran one season, but the impression they made remains deep in the memory banks of those who watched.
When kids tuned in to whatever version of Krofft productions was on at the time, we were looking for ideas & creativity. Sid & Marty Krofft thought outside-the-box, and took chances. This was low budget and it showed, but they found ways to make it work for years, and when you’re discussing the kids TV demographic, that’s saying something. In terms of the popular influence of Krofft productions, and the advertising money they created for their network– it was huge on all sides.
In the 1970’s, Hanna-Barbera had become a behemoth, nearly monopolizing Saturday morning cartoons. At first this was for the better with Scooby Doo, and everything they built around that iconic great dane. The great Hanna-Barbera cartoons of this era included: Harlem Globetrotters, The Scooby-Doo Show, The Yogi Bear Show, Hong Kong Phooey, Laff-A-Lympics & Challenge of the Super Friends.
Eventually, as with any monopoly, lack of innovation became their downfall, as their legendary stable of iconic cartoon characters, going all the way back to Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear & the Flintstones had become dated. Hanna-Barbera cut corners in animation, using the same scrolling backgrounds over & over, which eventually caught up with them.
By the time cable TV & Nickelodeon came along in the 1980’s, Hanna-Barbera quickly became an industry relic, which Ted Turner bought up and used to launch the Cartoon Network in 1992. For straight boys who cut their teeth on sugar-coated cereals during 1970’s, The Smurfs were the jumping-off point for Hanna-Barbera.
As a side note, The runaway success of The Smurfs cartoon spawned a video game which was platformed exclusively on ColecoVision. The dominant home console platform of the day was the Atari 2600, and newly introduced Atari 5200– in late 1982. With such exclusive licensing, Atari console owners couldn’t play the Smurfs video game because it wasn’t allowed to be available on any other platform.
This was a major salvo in the infamous “video game wars” that eventually crashed the video game industry in 1983-84. Atari and all the rest went bankrupt, with Japan’s Nintendo capturing the market with its NES & Super Mario in 1985. Nintendo had been huge in video games since Donkey Kong in 1981, which was also exclusively licensed by ColecoVision as their original pack-in game.
The best of the rest on Saturday morning included the following:
Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975) was an action animated series based upon the novel Planet of the Apes (1963) by Pierre Boulle. It ran 13 half-hour episodes, and is better than any of the movies or other adaptations. Return to the Planet of the Apes is animation that approaches art, with it’s minimalist storyboarding & intelligent themes.
The plot moves along quickly with purpose, and the scoring is outstanding. Ethical issues such as imprisonment, intolerance, sympathy, science, and love are explored in creative & subliminal ways. This remains a first-rate cartoon, easily one of the best ever.
The Pink Panther Show aired on NBC in all kinds of versions during the decade. Great cartoon characters included the Ant & the Aardvark– one of my all-time favorites. This cartoon has serious durability, used in the Blake Edwards’ Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers back in the day, it remains funny & engaging up to today. Classics never die.
Filmation became a big cartoon production competitor to Hanna-Barbera in the 1970’s. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ran for most of the decade, and was their biggest hit. No matter what became of Bill Cosby and his sexual predations, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids still has an undeniable charm & reach towards kids. It ranks with The Cosby Show as his greatest artistic achievement, and in many ways outstrips that blockbuster 1980’s sit-com which came after.
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle was a half-hour action cartoon that ran four seasons, from 1976–1980 on CBS. It’s probably the best version of Tarzan on any screen, as it portrays the title character as not only strong, but also intelligent & caring towards all. A great way to strengthen your voice (and irritate your parents) is to imitate his call of the jungle.
The New Adventures of Batman was successfully brought back as an animated series that aired on CBS. The was another Filmation production, featuring the DC Comics superheroes Batman & Robin with Batgirl, and it was terrific. All the kids watched it, along with Hanna-Barbera’s SuperFriends series.
It’s natural for kids to identify with superheroes. It’s also natural for teens & adults to outgrow this phenomenon. With that said, the best version of Flash Gordon was the 1979 animated series, shown as a Saturday morning cartoon. It had excellent animation for its time, and took major influence from Star Wars— in its Empire Strikes Back (1980) era.
Now re-titled as The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979), Season 1 is sixteen chapters, and is all you need to see. Season 2 (1982) is domesticated & silly in comparison. This series had a major influence on Japanimation as an art form with commercial possibilities. Peter Chung’s Æon Flux (1991-95) is a good example of this.
Conclusion: Cartoons aren’t mindless entertainment, as so many “responsible” parents insisted back in these days. It’s what kids are interested in, therefore it becomes a competitive market. Generation X was the “Saturday morning cartoons” generation. Along with video games, MTV, and early home computers, their embracing of these innovations would change popular culture forever.
The most divisive line between modern and old popular culture is Generation X. Like it or not, most kids today consider the Beatles to be old, and they’re right. That’s hurtful to an older generation of baby boomers & classic rockers who have been left behind culturally & intellectually.
Generation X doesn’t think that way. They understand the Beatles were geniuses in their time, but rock music & art has long since modernized past their influence. Hip-hop & rap, along with the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, and electronica have more influence today.
The first adult animation feature film for Generation X was Heavy Metal (1981), a sex-up space conquest fantasy trip, with a R-rating. It features a killer double album soundtrack– an essential record for any rock fan. Play it loud!!
Æon Flux was an animated action series of shorts, and eventually half-hour episodes featured on MTV, the same network that broadcast Beavis & Butthead. This, along with The Simpsons is late teen & young adult cartoon content for Generation X.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is the adult version of cartoons, with their puppeteering & incisive hilarity. Content on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon & the Cartoon Network of this era slanted younger, meaning Generation Y. The same became true with video games, music & computers.
As we can see, cartoons can be stimulant for a young imagination. They will never go away, because people don’t want to get old. Cartoons can be a fantasy that takes you away on an adventure, and that has value– if it’s creative & well done. Cartoons make people laugh, and remind them of when they were young. Nothing is more valuable than that.
