Any decent university should sever all ties with big-time sports, cease to admit "students" who will be there for a year or so to fulfill the requirements of billion dollar sports businesses, cease to be minor league operations for those bussinesses, and cut out the cancer that is big-time NCAA athlletics with its attendant scandals and dodgy donors.
Re: Hazing in business. While businesses as institutions do not formally set up hazing practices (with all of the bureaucratic training and jargon), I think it does happen informally in subcultures within companies. At least milder forms of hazing that do not risk physical or psychological injury.
Back when people all came into the office were there things that rookie reporters in the news room had to endure that others did not?
It seems to me that hazing arises in many different contexts and has been around for a long time in many cultures. Firing a few people whenever there is an embarrassing news story is not going to change anything. Understanding why it happens and coming up with a sane alternative that meets the same need might help.
Rookie reporters almost never got plum assignments, naturally. Weather stories, Parade stories. Fires. Accidents. Suburban board meetings, etc. But at least in my day (the 80s) there was never any sense that this was unnecessarily abusive or deliberately humiliating. It was just part of how we moved up in the ranks, starting at or near the bottom. Maybe other businesses are different.
That's good. I once worked at a company where there was a group which put new entrants in the group under gratuitous stress, which intruded into their personal lives at times. My thought at the time was that it was deliberately an ordeal meant to seal the commitment to the group. It was not clearly hazing, but it could have been that. I have sometimes wondered how common that is.
EZ's comment made me think ... 40 years in white-collar work, no hazing, true.
Evolutionary theory would indeed echo the comment: it doesn't work.
Still .... in my work, there is often unplanned bonding - working late on a project to meet some deadline, collaborating heatedly to come up with some new solution to something - something to bond workers together. In my experience, it's happened a lot, but not in any planned way.
Working late happens sometimes, and it can be a bonding experience to "be in the trenches" with co-workers. However, working late is not typically put upon only the new people. In fact, everywhere I have worked, it has be the veterans who most often worked nights and weekends.
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
Several of the poll links aren’t working. I’m hoping the visual tweets one explains the one I don’t understand at all. I always feel stupid when I don’t even get the joke ( although I’ll maintain til my dying day that the “ dumb dog” tweet was a case of the author failing to understand that the supposedly stupid dog was looking at the yogurt container!)
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
I'm guessing it's the tweet showing a football official showing the distance to gain for a first down. An old joke is that no one (especially a woman) should ever make that gesture in front of a man, lest observers infer the distance displayed matches the man's limited endowment.
A political joke, to be sure. Only someone seriously out-of-touch would even suggest eating a Kit Kat bar in such a way. Considering some of its recent rulings, well, such a decision from SCOTUS might not be unfathomable.
The way that Kit Kat is bitten/eaten (across all the lengths/pieces rather than snapping off each length/piece and eating it individually) is an abomination. The healthy majority of this past term's SCOTUS opinions were also abominations that (generally) went 6-3 as well.
I'm sure Blago's Dec 2011 was made under pressure from a legal team that was equally complacent in his verdict. Had they been more adamant about bringing the truth to light - he wouldn't have had to read this statement under duress. Shouldn't Blago be retired down to AZ by now.
Have to quick hit reply to NW comments: 1. Agree "Most" coaching staff not all - since several are new to the team. 2. Schill/Gragg need to go for making a bad situation worse. 3. I don't have issue with Pat fighting for his personal piece of this vs making statements of condemnation. At this point, what he doesn't say does confirm he finds having acceptable. He hasn't said anything about the record break temps in AZ - but I don't think he's a climate change doubter. 4. Every college/university has some magical Latin motto. Estimating low - 98% don't live up to their own standards. 5. Yes - let's poll all the teams scheduled to play or not play NW this year. A football score certainly is a factor on how this is all settled. I'm sure the victims would appreciate the thoughts - maybe some prayers too. 6. The simple sarcastic commentor. 7. Winning coaches always get by - no PF would still have been gone. BONUS: The use of the word Neanderthal in reference to anything football related - is in itself a Neanderthal move.
I'm pretty tired of greatly overpaid coaches, CEOS, and the like claiming, "I didn't know," about things that go on in entities that are under their purview. As someone who got paid a lot less than Pat Fitzgerald once said, "The buck stops here." (And yeah, I'm thinking of you Joe Paterno and Jim Jordan)
Eric, your tone-deaf musings about how the traumatized NW football team could only get in the way of “your” team’s glory this year exposes why big-time college athletics is morally broken beyond repair.
Well, yes, but I do try to respond to what people ask me. Honestly, it was far from my mind how NU's woes would impact Michigan. Now if this had been Ohio State .... #MorallyBroken
Give credit to Patty Blagojevich. She got media attention and used it adeptly to appeal to Trump. I am guessing that she was the brains of the operation.
If I ever decide to be a corrupt politician, I would try to marry her first.
Interesting choice of words. So anyone can one day just decide to become a corrupt politician, but they also need to figure out who to marry. I’m out, too much work.
To be clear, I do not think that Patty had any involvement with the crimes of her husband. I have sympathy for her and her their kids. I am impressed with how she used media interest in her to get attention of the White House which led to the release of her husband. Patty's savvy with the press stands in stark contrast to the media skills of Rod.
In more ways than one. Trump's first impeachment struck me as a very strong case, very Blagovian. Trump was promising a public good in his capacity as president (arms to Ukraine) for a private benefit of value (dirt on a political opponent). That's the golden Senate seat and the Children's Hospital shakedown in a nutshell (public benefit, quid, for private benefit, campaign contributions, quo), and why they were wrong, and why they were illegal. My only problem is that I don't quite get why Trump isn't in prison along with his buddy for approximately the same sin. I'm even a lawyer, and I'm not sure why Trump couldn't be prosecuted for his "perfect call." (I say this as one who is skeptical of some of the cases or putative cases against Trump, e.g., the Georgia call, the Stormy Daniels case.) I guess such a prosecution would represent a stretch of existing federal law, though it's curious to me that I never heard anyone even arguing that this was a bona fide political corruption crime of the sort that lands mere governors in prison.
As you well know, impeachment is not a judicial prosecution, and given the DOJs “guideline “ to not prosecute a sitting president, that is all that could be done. Even so, I don’t think that legally, DOJ would have had a strong case to justify action. We all know they are both scumbags.
"In a news release, the Levin & Perconti firm stated that it expects MORE FORMER NORTHWESTERN PLAYERS to join the legal action, which is likely to expand with OTHER COLLEGE PROGRAMS."
"This is not a case about Coach Fitzgerald," Levin said. "This is a case about Northwestern as an institution. NORTHWESTERN ITSELF, based on an investigation that they commissioned, apparently felt that certain administrators at the university SHOULD HAVE KNOWN about what happened."
Plaintiffs, 892 other programs to investigate, and deep pockets. And so, it begins...
The door for plaintiffs is wide open if they are not required to even name one or more assailants. This is settlement nirvana for the law firm and plaintiffs as they can expect big payoffs without having to go to court to actually prove anything. I still fail to see the logic of a failure of institutional and professional oversight for incidents that are unproven, lack anyone directly responsible (assailants), and went unreported at the time.
Three different comments: (1) Conversely, wanton use of curse words renders them useless for conveying intimacy, a non-trivial loss in my opinion. (2) Speed limit business is, indeed, nuts. Needs more follow-up. (3) I am actually interested in discussion of appropriateness of "guys" but I didn't vote because there was no option that said: "I'm an old White guy who's used it that way for a long time, but since by any definition I am a 'guy', I have been steering away because I really don't know what women think about it..."
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work if you refresh the page. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
Wish list: (1) The NFL's tax-exempt status is permanently revoked. (2) Division One sports teams become minor league teams of the NFL, with each team having an owner or ownership group, same as minor league baseball. (3) The NCAA gets back to focusing on STUDENT-athletes rather than (((student)))-ATHLETES. (4) The Tooth Fairy will start paying for implants--retroactively.
1. Sorry to hear about Judge Zagel. As for Blago, he is a loser who craves publicity. His tweet is constructed to get replies…any publicity is good publicity in Blago’s pea brain. So let’s all forget about this guy and move to better topics.
2. Hazing…well boot camp for me was one long hazing experience. Fraternities seem to enjoy having their hell week and related activities. Secret clubs (masons?), gangs, and medical internships seem to have a hazing attribute for their new members.
So I think hazing is fairly common in American life just not so much in the business world.
3. My two cents on college football - let’s require all colleges to have a medical plan, short and long term disability in place that will cover football injuries for life! We know about CTEs, knee, ankle, shoulder and many other issues that can become life long problems.
We all want these folks to play hard, pancake people and play hurt - let’s take care of them when they come up injured!
I considered the grueling nature of boot camp as an indoctrination that is required to recast the mental orientation of a civilian into a Marine (soldier, sailor, airman, guardian). A person graduates with basic skills and understands their role, status, and obligations to themselves, their fellows, and their unit. Graduates also pass a small test of the mental and physical toughness that may be required of them in a conflict. Hazing is a shabby, pathetic imitation without substance or merit. And that includes the hazing that has occurred in some military units.
Any decent university should sever all ties with big-time sports, cease to admit "students" who will be there for a year or so to fulfill the requirements of billion dollar sports businesses, cease to be minor league operations for those bussinesses, and cut out the cancer that is big-time NCAA athlletics with its attendant scandals and dodgy donors.
Re: Hazing in business. While businesses as institutions do not formally set up hazing practices (with all of the bureaucratic training and jargon), I think it does happen informally in subcultures within companies. At least milder forms of hazing that do not risk physical or psychological injury.
Back when people all came into the office were there things that rookie reporters in the news room had to endure that others did not?
It seems to me that hazing arises in many different contexts and has been around for a long time in many cultures. Firing a few people whenever there is an embarrassing news story is not going to change anything. Understanding why it happens and coming up with a sane alternative that meets the same need might help.
Ah, yes, the old "dry hump the reporter who misspelled the mayor's name" bit. Takes me back.
What a ridiculous comparison.
Rookie reporters almost never got plum assignments, naturally. Weather stories, Parade stories. Fires. Accidents. Suburban board meetings, etc. But at least in my day (the 80s) there was never any sense that this was unnecessarily abusive or deliberately humiliating. It was just part of how we moved up in the ranks, starting at or near the bottom. Maybe other businesses are different.
That's good. I once worked at a company where there was a group which put new entrants in the group under gratuitous stress, which intruded into their personal lives at times. My thought at the time was that it was deliberately an ordeal meant to seal the commitment to the group. It was not clearly hazing, but it could have been that. I have sometimes wondered how common that is.
EZ's comment made me think ... 40 years in white-collar work, no hazing, true.
Evolutionary theory would indeed echo the comment: it doesn't work.
Still .... in my work, there is often unplanned bonding - working late on a project to meet some deadline, collaborating heatedly to come up with some new solution to something - something to bond workers together. In my experience, it's happened a lot, but not in any planned way.
Working late happens sometimes, and it can be a bonding experience to "be in the trenches" with co-workers. However, working late is not typically put upon only the new people. In fact, everywhere I have worked, it has be the veterans who most often worked nights and weekends.
Oops, can’t vote for a tweet…
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
Several of the poll links aren’t working. I’m hoping the visual tweets one explains the one I don’t understand at all. I always feel stupid when I don’t even get the joke ( although I’ll maintain til my dying day that the “ dumb dog” tweet was a case of the author failing to understand that the supposedly stupid dog was looking at the yogurt container!)
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
I'm guessing it's the tweet showing a football official showing the distance to gain for a first down. An old joke is that no one (especially a woman) should ever make that gesture in front of a man, lest observers infer the distance displayed matches the man's limited endowment.
Since you were able to shed light about the referee tweet, what about the Kit Kat bar?
A political joke, to be sure. Only someone seriously out-of-touch would even suggest eating a Kit Kat bar in such a way. Considering some of its recent rulings, well, such a decision from SCOTUS might not be unfathomable.
The way that Kit Kat is bitten/eaten (across all the lengths/pieces rather than snapping off each length/piece and eating it individually) is an abomination. The healthy majority of this past term's SCOTUS opinions were also abominations that (generally) went 6-3 as well.
I'm sure Blago's Dec 2011 was made under pressure from a legal team that was equally complacent in his verdict. Had they been more adamant about bringing the truth to light - he wouldn't have had to read this statement under duress. Shouldn't Blago be retired down to AZ by now.
Have to quick hit reply to NW comments: 1. Agree "Most" coaching staff not all - since several are new to the team. 2. Schill/Gragg need to go for making a bad situation worse. 3. I don't have issue with Pat fighting for his personal piece of this vs making statements of condemnation. At this point, what he doesn't say does confirm he finds having acceptable. He hasn't said anything about the record break temps in AZ - but I don't think he's a climate change doubter. 4. Every college/university has some magical Latin motto. Estimating low - 98% don't live up to their own standards. 5. Yes - let's poll all the teams scheduled to play or not play NW this year. A football score certainly is a factor on how this is all settled. I'm sure the victims would appreciate the thoughts - maybe some prayers too. 6. The simple sarcastic commentor. 7. Winning coaches always get by - no PF would still have been gone. BONUS: The use of the word Neanderthal in reference to anything football related - is in itself a Neanderthal move.
I'm pretty tired of greatly overpaid coaches, CEOS, and the like claiming, "I didn't know," about things that go on in entities that are under their purview. As someone who got paid a lot less than Pat Fitzgerald once said, "The buck stops here." (And yeah, I'm thinking of you Joe Paterno and Jim Jordan)
Thanks for the Blago slapdown. What a slime.
Eric, your tone-deaf musings about how the traumatized NW football team could only get in the way of “your” team’s glory this year exposes why big-time college athletics is morally broken beyond repair.
Well, yes, but I do try to respond to what people ask me. Honestly, it was far from my mind how NU's woes would impact Michigan. Now if this had been Ohio State .... #MorallyBroken
BLAGO is a disgraceful person, Trump basically pardoned his clone.
Give credit to Patty Blagojevich. She got media attention and used it adeptly to appeal to Trump. I am guessing that she was the brains of the operation.
If I ever decide to be a corrupt politician, I would try to marry her first.
Despite his two Ivy League degrees, I think mayhaps Casey DeSantis falls into the Patti Blagojevich "brains of the operation" classification.
Interesting choice of words. So anyone can one day just decide to become a corrupt politician, but they also need to figure out who to marry. I’m out, too much work.
To be clear, I do not think that Patty had any involvement with the crimes of her husband. I have sympathy for her and her their kids. I am impressed with how she used media interest in her to get attention of the White House which led to the release of her husband. Patty's savvy with the press stands in stark contrast to the media skills of Rod.
In more ways than one. Trump's first impeachment struck me as a very strong case, very Blagovian. Trump was promising a public good in his capacity as president (arms to Ukraine) for a private benefit of value (dirt on a political opponent). That's the golden Senate seat and the Children's Hospital shakedown in a nutshell (public benefit, quid, for private benefit, campaign contributions, quo), and why they were wrong, and why they were illegal. My only problem is that I don't quite get why Trump isn't in prison along with his buddy for approximately the same sin. I'm even a lawyer, and I'm not sure why Trump couldn't be prosecuted for his "perfect call." (I say this as one who is skeptical of some of the cases or putative cases against Trump, e.g., the Georgia call, the Stormy Daniels case.) I guess such a prosecution would represent a stretch of existing federal law, though it's curious to me that I never heard anyone even arguing that this was a bona fide political corruption crime of the sort that lands mere governors in prison.
As you well know, impeachment is not a judicial prosecution, and given the DOJs “guideline “ to not prosecute a sitting president, that is all that could be done. Even so, I don’t think that legally, DOJ would have had a strong case to justify action. We all know they are both scumbags.
"In a news release, the Levin & Perconti firm stated that it expects MORE FORMER NORTHWESTERN PLAYERS to join the legal action, which is likely to expand with OTHER COLLEGE PROGRAMS."
"This is not a case about Coach Fitzgerald," Levin said. "This is a case about Northwestern as an institution. NORTHWESTERN ITSELF, based on an investigation that they commissioned, apparently felt that certain administrators at the university SHOULD HAVE KNOWN about what happened."
Plaintiffs, 892 other programs to investigate, and deep pockets. And so, it begins...
The door for plaintiffs is wide open if they are not required to even name one or more assailants. This is settlement nirvana for the law firm and plaintiffs as they can expect big payoffs without having to go to court to actually prove anything. I still fail to see the logic of a failure of institutional and professional oversight for incidents that are unproven, lack anyone directly responsible (assailants), and went unreported at the time.
Three different comments: (1) Conversely, wanton use of curse words renders them useless for conveying intimacy, a non-trivial loss in my opinion. (2) Speed limit business is, indeed, nuts. Needs more follow-up. (3) I am actually interested in discussion of appropriateness of "guys" but I didn't vote because there was no option that said: "I'm an old White guy who's used it that way for a long time, but since by any definition I am a 'guy', I have been steering away because I really don't know what women think about it..."
Something is wrong that prevents me from voting on this unusually excellent visual tweets poll. Can you fix it?
Both tech glitches in the polls today were not my fault BUT I have edited the above newsletter so they now work if you refresh the page. https://poll.fm/12535828 is the tweets poll. https://poll.fm/12534451 is the poll for the word "guys" to address women.
Yes, excellent group of visual tweets this week!
Liked all the visual tweets this week. Beagle side-eye absolutely being the best.
Wish list: (1) The NFL's tax-exempt status is permanently revoked. (2) Division One sports teams become minor league teams of the NFL, with each team having an owner or ownership group, same as minor league baseball. (3) The NCAA gets back to focusing on STUDENT-athletes rather than (((student)))-ATHLETES. (4) The Tooth Fairy will start paying for implants--retroactively.
Some points:
1. Sorry to hear about Judge Zagel. As for Blago, he is a loser who craves publicity. His tweet is constructed to get replies…any publicity is good publicity in Blago’s pea brain. So let’s all forget about this guy and move to better topics.
2. Hazing…well boot camp for me was one long hazing experience. Fraternities seem to enjoy having their hell week and related activities. Secret clubs (masons?), gangs, and medical internships seem to have a hazing attribute for their new members.
So I think hazing is fairly common in American life just not so much in the business world.
3. My two cents on college football - let’s require all colleges to have a medical plan, short and long term disability in place that will cover football injuries for life! We know about CTEs, knee, ankle, shoulder and many other issues that can become life long problems.
We all want these folks to play hard, pancake people and play hurt - let’s take care of them when they come up injured!
I considered the grueling nature of boot camp as an indoctrination that is required to recast the mental orientation of a civilian into a Marine (soldier, sailor, airman, guardian). A person graduates with basic skills and understands their role, status, and obligations to themselves, their fellows, and their unit. Graduates also pass a small test of the mental and physical toughness that may be required of them in a conflict. Hazing is a shabby, pathetic imitation without substance or merit. And that includes the hazing that has occurred in some military units.