Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Who's a wuss?


Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell calls us a nation of Wusses after the NFL canceled the football game in Philadelphia after a blizzard was predicted.
A couple of things here: First the governor isn't the one who does the driving he gets driven anywhere he wants to go.
Second the gov I guess didn't bother to read the advice from his own department of transportation:
"Anyone with travel plans should be aware that there is the potential for a major winter storm that could have a significant impact on all or parts of Pennsylvania this weekend," said PennDOT Secretary Allen D. Biehler, P.E. "It's essential for motorists to carefully monitor weather forecasts and check conditions along their entire route before traveling this weekend.

"If a winter storm does strike, our advice is to avoid traveling unless absolutely necessary – for your own safety. If you must travel, use common sense, pack an emergency kit, have realistic expectations of road conditions and remember that if winter precipitation is falling, roads will not be completely free of ice and snow."


Lastly this was, as it always seems to be, about money. By moving the game to Tuesday the NFL was able to have four games in five days thereby increasing their coffers. And would Eddy expect the folks from Swarthmore to trudge a couple dozen miles in knee deep snow to the stadium because you know most people from Chester can't afford tickets these days not after most of their jobs were shipped to China? And most of those Chinese would be walking because they can't afford the high speed rail tickets in their country. So yes I think not. The Swarthys wouldn't consider warming up the Mercedes even if it had all wheel drive.

Wusses? Wuss indeed.

9 comments:

BBC said...

Well, be wise and stay home and safe or prove you are not a wuss by going out and doing stupid shit.

Not that I'm above doing stupid shit at times, mind you. But I don't want to do it with twenty thousand other monkeys that are going to end up whining about it.

Shit happens, deal with it.

Jolly Roger said...

Oh, we're a nation of wusses. Just look at how the French reacted when shaving off their retirement was suggested. Or the Germans, when talk of putting up new nuke plants was raised? Or the Greeks, the Brits, the Irish.... I think you get what I mean.

Roger Owen Green said...

NBC must have loved it - Tuesday night football. Heck, I actually watched most of it, probably the second game all season.

jmsjoin said...

Regardless of why he said it, it was pretty stupid to say. Staying home and not risking your life to watch a game was the right thing to do. He said China would have had the game, well yeah?

Tom Harper said...

Jolly Roger makes an excellent point about America's passive citizenry, compared to how the French/Greeks/Irish have reacted.

The Pennsylvania governor is a perfect example of the chickenhawk mentality. He himself wouldn't dream of going out there in a blizzard to see a football game, even if he has his own personal driver, attendant, ass-wiper and ball-washer. But he wants thousands of other people to get out there and support the team.

S.W. Anderson said...

Tom, from what I understand, Rendell has a long history of going out to and commenting on the games — no matter what the weather is like.

Rendell has always struck me as a good guy, but he shot from the lip with this one. I don't think the public safety aspect of it occurred to him when he said it, just the notion people might not want to sit in open stands in inclement weather.

So, he gave himself a black eye PR wise. Few are those in public life who haven't put a foot in their mouth at least a time or two.

Ranch Chimp said...

Excellent analysis demeur, my compliment's ... thinking like you do is essential if you donr want to end up in soup kitchen's after forced prayer to et nutrition,heh, heh, heh, heh, heh ... I ddint know about his statement ... but I do agree that America overall is a bunch of frail pussies period. Nothing to do with challenging the element's/ weather though or anything physical for that matter ... pussies in the way they percieve and follow popular thought only ... and of course ... the rule's, law's and plitical correctness that put's folk's in fear as well. Your are absolutely correct here on every avenue. As a child around the agee of 8 ... I asked my dad .... "what is God?", my dad said that God is simply "nature" ... but ... the No#1 god of humanity is the "Almighty Dollar" ... I never seen any reseon though in the following 46 year's (I'm 54 now but will be 55 in less than a month).

Thanx Guy ... have a decent New Year's Eve ... and of course ... I will have a drink for all your reader's and you as well, and some other's. :)

BTW ... if I was younger and there wasnt a drug war going on, on the TexMex border ... I would spend NYE in Mexico ... freebase some cocaine to keep me up all night, get a bottle of tequila and pick up a couple of the bar gal's (hooker's) to indulge in some after hour's kink and sex and perverse practice's (that I wont/ dont do with my girlfriend's), which I would do regularly when I ran drug's part time year's back for profit up into the US. :)

Ranch Chimp said...

Sorry for all the type-O's, I clicked before I went back over everything.

Ranch Chimp said...

BBC: Thanx for the link Guy .... that was excellent! :)