|
|
 |
|
FESTIVAL of NITPICKING |
|
Bucky's 2004 predictions:
He wins some, loses some
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
The Red Sox and Redbirds bailed me out.
Just when my predictions had me red-faced, Boston and St. Louis did me proud. In my last column, I wrote that the World Series would be a replay of 1967. And here we are: Sox vs. Cardinals.
Boy, did I need that. Because my other calls struck out.
I had both Los Angeles teams missing the playoffs. The Dodgers and Angels proved their mettle by winning their divisions.
I had the Texas Rangers winning the American League West. They made a surprising run all season, but finished third.
And the worst pick: the San Francisco 49ers making the playoffs. They could be the lousiest team in the NFL.
Now what? I see the Red Sox winning it all for the first time since 1918. Their bats are too hard for the Cards’ soft pitching.
Crowded: While watching that super Sox-Yankee series, I realized why their stadiums buzz. They pack in men, pure and simple. They’re serious fans. What a difference from La-La Dodger Stadium, which doubles as a day-care center. The families there are too busy with cotton candy and beach balls to bother with balls and strikes.
Kudos to Kerry: The senator shocked me by calling Bush "Mr. President" in the debates. Good to see a Democrat display such dignity. Especially after the way Bill Clinton dismissed the president by calling him Mr. Bush in the '92 face-off. I predicted Kerry would also lower himself, but he proved bigger than that.
Down: A couple of years ago, Kobe Bryant was the NBA's version of Derek Jeter. Pure class. Then came the rape charge and his selfish push of Shaq and Phil Jackson out of Los Angeles. When Kobe laughs these days, he looks as phony as when he lauds teamwork.
Drag: As soon as I heard about that Army unit that refused
to deliver fuel to fellow soldiers in Iraq, my reaction was:
had to be women involved. Now we hear the outfit's commander,
a woman, was relieved of her duties.
Stephanie Gutmann tells it like it is in her book "The Kinder,
Gentler Military: How Political Correctness Affects our Ability
to Win Wars":
"Women do demilitarize the culture," she writes. "That's
one of the basic sex differences. Women are less warlike and
men can behave better or more civilized when women are around.
Men tend to clean up their act. But you don't really want men
to be civilized. That's the role of the officer corps, to be
cerebral. What you want from your enlisted men in combat units
are guys who can be turned on and off like faucets, who have
free-flowing aggression. Combat is primal; no matter how high
tech it gets, the impulses behind it are not civilized."
Laggards: Remember the Showtime Lakers? Get ready for Blowtime. They're faster than last year, but that makes it easier for them to go nowhere fast. Caught their act in the exhibition season. Wasn't pretty. This bunch could tack behind the Clippers.
Another Elliott Ness: The way Eliot Spitzer hammers companies, the president should sic him on terrorists. He'd put al-Qaida out of business.
Get the old out of Arnold: Our California governor needs a backbone. While on Larry Elder's radio show, Schwarzenegger had to strain to praise President Bush's stud standing in the third debate. Quit the girly-man pose, guv. Get out and put muscle in the campaign.
Speaking of girly men: What's with this push to make Bush admit mistakes? Who do reporters and the rest think he is, Dr. Phil on a couch? He's the president. He makes tough calls. He doesn't look back and turn into salt. Can you imagine asking Lincoln about sweating over Cold Harbor? Or bugging FDR about fumbling the Battle of the Bulge? No. Quit with the Oprah questions already.
Hot: Just when ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" looked flat, it rose to the tastiest show in the morning. How? By showcasing Woody Paige and Skip Bayless. Their daily "1st and 10" debates draw you in for seconds and thirds.
Cold: The National Hockey League is on strike. Wake me when you care. That's the danger. When fans forget a sport, it can melt away. Look at tennis after Connors and McEnroe. Without their net appeal, the sport has hardly been a smash with the masses.
The Jewish vote: Note to American Jews: Grow up. The buck doesn't stop at Harry Truman anymore. This knee-jerk vote for the party of Farrakhan and Michael Moore makes as much sense as praising France. That trio blames Israel for everything--poverty, Iraq, bad sitcoms. Then there's President Bush. His feet are firmly on the ground when it comes to morals, fighting inflation, backing Israel to the hilt. Anne Bayesfky is spot on in National Review: "So the question for American Jews deciding whether to vote for a Republican president, in Hillel's words, is, ‘If not now when?’ If the answer for most American Jews is never, then make no mistake about it: No Democratic president will ever feel that protecting the state of Israel is necessary to win Jewish votes--and no future Republican president will ever take the heat as President Bush has done."
Bust: Quit this gutless reference to "substance abuse" whenever an athlete gets caught. Call it what it is: drug use.
The last pick: I wrote last time that President Bush
will win 42 states on Nov. 2. I’m sticking with that.
©2004 by Bucky Fox. Sen. John Kerry is unaware his face
is being used in a Bucky Fox column. Let's keep it that way,
folks!
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Bucky Fox . To send an email,
click here: talkback@thecolumnists.com
| Home | About Us | Archives | Talkback | Shopping Mall |