DEUCES WILD !!🏈🏈

A Closer Look

Date: 2/2/2022 – Deuces Wild!!

🏈This month’s topic: the NFL, its owners, and its ways 🏈

So, it finally happened. Just yesterday, as NFL football fans began digesting the results of the playoffs, we ran into some serious image headwinds for the league and its owners.

The “Circus”

Brian Flores, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins (via Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots organization), has filed a class action lawsuit against the league and three of its teams. This ranges everything from bribery (see Stephen Ross, the Dolphins’ team owner) to interview sabotage (against John Elway & Co. with the Denver Broncos).

What else?

It also includes a “preemptive filling of a head coach position” he hadn’t yet interviewed for (with the New York Giants) that was discovered by virtue of a botched congratulatory text intended for a different Brian (new NYG head coach, Brian Daboll, from the Buffalo Bills)! We couldn’t write a fable for television as intriguing as this is already turning out to be.

What does this all add up to?

As I’ve been told by elders during my childhood while playing ball and breaking a few windows, it’s not good … at all. We are talking about a league that is extremely image-conscious, has certain “rules” in place that are clearly ignored, and is run by owners who tend to pay attention only to issues that which will enrich them further as opposed to addressing difficult topics that would make things better for everyone in the long run.

The real problem

Call it what you’d like, but I’m going to say what I’ve always said, and that is there is very little “willingness to change” the way the NFL (and its teams) operate today. Sure, there is a “Rooney Rule” in place, and the majority of the league’s players and starters are Black. However, there is but one (1) head coach (Mike Tomlin) who reflects the number (and type?) of players who are the helm of the sport and league’s success currently.

I ask you to look away from the NFL for a moment and towards the National Hockey League (NHL). Ask yourself: what would it seem like if the supermajority of players were coached and owned by some other (i.e., non-White) group of people? Would anyone notice or would nearly everyone notice? That, my friends, is the real problem. The issues stemming from this area are byproducts of the real problem.

Find a solution

Now that the proverbial “cat is (entirely) out of the bag,” we should ask ourselves the hardest questions of all: What is to be done about this? How and who should be compensated for their loss(es), and what will it take to move forward from this and ensure that real change is implemented, and we never see this happen again?

Any ideas?

See you next month (after most of you guys thaw out!)

-A.N.

Profile

Anthony Newcombe is a 4-time entrepreneur, author, and narrator. He can be reached for appearances through our Contact Page.

Hello 2022 …

Will you be better than 2021 ?

A Closer Look …

with Anthony Newcombe

Date: January 6, 2021

This month’s topic:

Hello 2022 … how is it different than 2021?

2020’s #NYE thought: “Wow, if we can just get to 2021, all will be fine!” And then, chaos on Capitol Hill. This, followed by the Delta variant incurring its wrath. Now it’s Omicron. “Wow, if we can just get to 2022, all will be just fine!” Well, what the h*ll are we supposed to do NOW?!

Last fall, others simply fretted over whether they would be able to exchange gifts over the holidays. Remember the shipping container fiasco? Will that holiday gift arrive on time? If so, when and how much more will it cost? Should I go onto Amazon.com like almost everyone else who used to shop in the brick-and-mortar retail stores? We better hope and pray these guys never need a government bailout!

Now, we’re in 2022 (exhale)

Factoid: we just tallied over 1 million new U.S. infections in one day earlier this week. Some Americans are having to wait in line for hours for COVID tests or pay up to $75 per testing kit at a local pharmacy. All this simply to determine whether or not they can return to work or send their kid(s) back to school for the new year. Worse yet, it looks like the few checks sent last year for childcare are instead being diverted to pay for overpriced groceries, gasoline, school supplies, medications – just to name a few.

So, with all this, one would think 2022 would bring about a “fix” for our problems. Well, with just a few days into the new year it doesn’t seem so, does it? Interest rate hikes are looming (and expected to rise beginning EOQ1 2022), gas prices are forecasted to hit $4.00/gallon (or more) in many states, which translates to practically $6.00/ gallon in some spots like California. Home prices are skyrocketing still, but let’s face it: who can really afford to move anywhere “cheaper” in the country?

Any ideas?

See you next month (at the gas station)

-A.N.

PROFILE

Anthony Newcombe is a 4-time entrepreneur, published author & narrator, and full-stack web developer. He can be reached for appearance requests via our Contact Page.

Rise of the Robots – by Martin Ford

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Rise of the Robots

by – Martin Ford, 286 pgs.

What I found most amazing about this book

The most amazing thing about this book is the stark realization that many forms of human labor as we know it is on the tail end of its very existence. It’s no accident that corporations have seized on both the efficiency and profitability that robots – when built and operated properly – can offer them. Unlike humans, there are no sick days, vacations, health insurance, etc. that otherwise “inconvenience” the 24/7/365 profit machine mindset.

That may seem fine in a money-making sense, but it far from solves every potential problem. In fact, it may prove to create some brand new ones. Unless new methods are derived to figure out how all of the millions (up to even tens of millions) of displaced workers are going to miraculously afford to buy those state-of –the-art, robotically-built products and services, then we may come to regret outsmarting ourselves in our technological prowess.

It is something to keep in mind in our quest for perfection. In fact, the author proposes a few interesting options with respect to how we could compensate those of us who may pay the ultimate price in this process – that of losing our careers to robots. As one pretty insightful scientist (Isaac Newton) once put it, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Let’s hope that we’re mindful of our actions as we move to the next generation.

What I DIDN’T like about this book

I thought this book was the most eye-opening I’ve read in several years. As advanced as the concepts are, the author did a fantastic job in wording it in a way that even a very young person could relate to. It is a game changer, a disrupter, and it will most certainly be cited often in the coming years.

Whom would I recommend to read this book

This book is (like it or not) a “must-read” for all working adults who may not even realize how close they are to being replaced in their occupation. Yes, yours! I would also strongly recommend it to all college students who are at the point of declaring majors and career-planning for the next stage of their lives.

Any thoughts?

-A.N.