Cedric the (Not So) Entertainer

The Chicago Bears, both Sinickal and my favorite team, decided to release talented but ultimately unproductive running back Cedric Benson this week after his second arrest in one month for drunken operation of heavy mechanized vehicles. Although he maintains his innocence, the first instance stemming from a stop on a lake outside Austin, Texas in his boat and the second after being stopped leaving a social meeting with some friends after "a couple of drinks", the Bears ultimately felt that these distractions, along with his Shaun Alexander-like ability to go down after gaining 3 yards upon first contact, would be detrimental to the team.

Now, this leaves the Bears with a serious dearth of running backs on the roster, and no running backs with any real starting experience. (The do have Matt Lawrence, P.J. Pope and Garrett Wolfe, along with Adrian Peterson who just underwent an appendectomy). This means that the Bears hope for a running game rests upon the 44th pick in the NFL Draft, Matt Forte from Tulane, as well as a much improved (I hope) offensive line. Couple this with the much publicized QB troubles, and the Bears seem to be starting the 2008 NFL campaign on a much less than offensive foot. (Except for Robbie Gould's - his is gold).

However, I welcome the release of Cedric Benson. He simply wasn't tough enough to be the type of running back that would live up to the expectations of being the fourth pick in the 2005 draft. In fact, Robert Guillaume may have been a tougher Benson.

When did I come to this conclusion? How about the instant that the Bears selected Cedric Benson - IN APRIL 2005 WHEN HE CRIED AFTER HIS NAME WAS CALLED AT THE NFL DRAFT!!! THAT'S RIGHT, CRIED!!!.

Now, perhaps I can understand that some people would show emotion at realizing their life-long dream of playing in the NFL. Nah, never mind. I CAN'T!!! Especially not when it was a foregone conclusion that Benson was going to be drafted no worse than 5th that year, and had the possibility of being drafted second or third. He knew that he was not only going to be drafted by the NFL, but drafted incredibly high. What on earth was there to cry about? Dumbass!

It is for instances like these where the NFL needs to institute a rule where the team that drafts a player has 10 minutes to observe that player after making the pick in order to determine if they want to keep their pick or select somebody else. It would be akin to the rule that gives you 72 hours to rescind a real estate contract or a contract for pest control services. Had this rule been in effect at the time of the 2005 draft, the Bears definitely would have considered Benson a vermin and drafted someone else, perhaps sixth pick Adam Jones, the Cornerback from West Virginia.

No way HE would have given the Bears any problems.

Voting Rights

I know that this may be off our general topic of sports, but I felt that this was important enough to address in writing to, at least, get these thoughts off my chest. And although this post will touch on politics, it is not meant to start a Democrat-Republican, McCain-Obama or even a Clinton-Obama feud. It is about what is supposed to be the most important, and easiest, right that we possess, voting.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a Republican, but not a card carrying one, as I vote for almost as many Dems. as Reps., depending upon the candidates and the office. That being said, the most important disclosure I feel compelled to make is that I live in Palm Beach County, Florida. Yes, that Palm Beach County, Florida.

You may have heard or read about the time, long ago in 2000, when we had a little voting fiasco in Palm Beach County. Something about a butterfly ballot and hanging chads or something (see below). I think HBO just released a movie about it. I looked outside of my office at the county building 1 1/2 blocks away and saw the protesters following election day. I still have my "I demand a revote now" sign, even though I knew no re-vote could ever occur. (I actually just thought it would be interesting to have for posterity). In that election, I (am reasonably sure that I) voted for Al Gore, primarily because he played wiffle ball with my friends and I in October of 1991 (which actually occurred). OK, maybe it was because I thought he was smarter than his opponent, since I am not a fan of stupid. AT ALL. PERIOD.


Now, this led me to my opposition of the protesters and lawsuits that followed. If any problem existed with the ballot in Palm Beach County, it was simply that some idiots didn't pay attention or couldn't read. Basically, they were too stupid to vote for the guy for which they apparently wanted to vote. And as mentioned earlier, I do not like stupid. (Ironically, this meant that some of the more vocal opponents of then Gov. Bush for being stupid, were themselves too stupid to vote against him, at least in Palm Beach County).

The long and the short of the above history - some Floridians felt that they did not get the chance to vote, or that their votes were either discounted or not counted at all. (Not technically true, as all the votes were counted, it was the re-counts that were stopped by the Courts). I have a whole rant on how the Florida Supreme Court's opinion overstepped its bounds so much that it basically handed the overrule to the Supreme Court on a platter, whereas a simple, short opinion by the Florida Supreme Court would have, and could have, actually allowed for a different result in the U.S. Supreme Court, but that is for another day.

Now, my Democratic brethren in Florida are again in a position where their votes do not count (or at least they don't count in full).

A brief recap of the facts that led to this current scenario. The Democratic Party has a rule that their primary calendar must be followed by all states, or else any offending states would lose at least half of their delegation to the convention. The Republican Party has a similar rule, but that never came to importance because McCain locked up the Republican nomination a long time ago, with or without the Florida delegation.

Now, the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate (headed by Republicans who have an overwhelming majority in both houses) passed a voting reform bill, which basically targeted ballot machines with a paper trail for possible recounts, but also included a move of Florida's primary up to January 29, which offended the Democratic calendar. This move was to make Florida's vote more important, since most party nominations were decided well-before Florida's traditional March "Super Tuesday" primary. Who knew that later would have been more important this year given the closeness of the race between Obama and Clinton? Anyway, the bill was controlled by Republicans, but virtually all of the Democrats in the two state houses voted in favor of it as well.

All of the Democratic candidates refused to campaign in Florida, but all candidates placed their names on the ballot. A record 1.7 million Democrats turned out to vote in the primary, which Clinton won handily. 1.7 MILLION. Prior to the primary, the Democratic Party had previously voted to strip Florida of all of its delegates for its violation.

Over the weekend, the Rules and By-Laws Committee (or whatever its official name was), voted to seat all of Florida's delegates at the national convention, but each delegate could only use 1/2 of their vote. The Democratic Party has told each Florida voter that they only count 1/2 of everybody else.

Ultimately, this most likely would not have had an effect on the nomination, although if each delegate received a full share, (and Michigan's "uncommitted" delegates were not awarded to Obama), then Obama would not have clinched 50% + 1 of the delegates after yesterday's Montana and South Dakota primaries. He most likely would clinch when the rush of the uncommitted super delegates flooded his way beginning today.

Nevertheless, the Democratic Party, who most likely need Florida to win, has just alienated the Democratic voters in the largest and most populous swing state in the country. In addition, after 8 years of chanting "count every vote" or some similar tune because of what happened in Florida in 2000, many party leaders have acquiesced to the "compromise" of counting every vote except for those from Florida, which count 1/2.

If the Democrats on that committee had any principles whatsoever, they would have voted to stick to the ban on Florida for breaking the party's rules, or they would have voted to reinstate all of Florida's delegates with full voting rights. Whichever of these two arguments has the most votes on the committee wins. A compromise on this issue is not a compromise, it's a sellout. PERIOD!

All I know is that people always have said that they don't think their vote means anything. Come November, I am REALLY not 100% sure whether my vote will even count, much less mean anything.

Now, hopefully soon, we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming, and I apologize for the interruption.