The Way I See It

In this Way I See It, I take a look at the Bills’ Ken Dorsey displaying his leadership qualities, actor/wrestler John Cena setting a Guinness World Record, and the parity that seems to permeate fantasy football these days.

Losin’ It

Libertarians tend to avoid large groups. We do so because we generally hate the idea of being part of a crowd. We hate crowds because crowds tend to follow leaders. Libertarians believe in associating with individuals, not crowds.

Of course, our disdain for crowds doesn’t mean there aren’t folks we admire, people we can turn to for voluntary guidance. Unlike Democrats and Republicans, nationalists and other collectivists– we don’t follow “leaders” based on a desire to be part of a dominant faction. To the extent we “follow” anyone, it’s because they’ve displayed qualities we find desirable in people with which we choose to associate. In my case, that would be guys like Milton Friedman— thoughtful men who value individuals over crowds.

One of Freidman’s greatest qualities was his ability to keep a level head in incredibly antagonistic environments. Freidman would venture into arenas where he knew the crowd would be hostile towards him. Yet he never lost his cool, choosing instead to respond with logic and reason. A great man from whom we could all learn a thing or two.

Enter Ken Dorsey

Compare “cool and logical” with the qualities displayed by Bills’ offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey at the conclusion of the Buffalo-Miami game. While some would excuse Dorsey’s behavior as being “in the heat of the moment”, I view it differently. Dorsey showed me he is not someone I would choose to follow. With that outburst, Dorsey showed that he can’t be counted on for clear thinking amid a crisis.

I’m not just babbling here. I was caught in the middle of both World Trade Center terror attacks (in ’93 and ’01). When shit went down, two things happened: some people looked to me, and I looked to the guys I knew to be cool and reasoned. Nobody followed the EVPs who had a reputation for screaming and yelling every time we had a bad quarter.

Be cool and reasoned. Avoid being part of a crowd.

Wishful Thinking

I’m a big fan of pro wrestling. Always have been, since the days when Superstar Billy Graham won the WWWF World Title from Bruno Sammartino. At one point, I had the opportunity to work with Sgt. Slaughter to bring the game Matwars to market, and with Big John Studd to produce his eponymous comic book. Get it? I’ve always enjoyed being involved with pro wrestling.

Consequently, a smile hit my curmudgeonly mug this week when I learned of John Cena’s record-setting performance. Cena has long worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and it was announced that he has granted 650 wishes since 2002. No one else has granted more than 200 wishes.

As wonderful and heart-warming a story as this is, there’s still idiots out there who found a way to make it a bad thing. One such idiot made his way onto our Gab feed. His opinion was that Make-A-Wish was a “P.O.S. organization”, because if a kid wanted to meet Donald Trump as his wish, Make-A-Wish would deny it. Do you see the problem with this identity politics asshole? He puts forth a baseless assertion (Make-A-Wish is a “P.O.S. organization”), then justifies it with a hypothetical scenario (like there’s a bunch of distraught kids whose only desire in life is to meet a geriatric politician) and outcome (they’d deny such a request out of hand).

I mention that idiot to illustrate what’s wrong with a great many people in the world today: they can’t accept genuine kindness. It is such an anathema to their world view that they create shitty scenarios in their head– and accept them as fact.

Good work John Cena. You are a far better man than I.

Parity Play

It should come as no surprise that I still play fantasy football. After all, it’s hard to drop a near 40 year habit. This week, however, provided me with a weird result. In one of my Experts leagues, a 12-team league, four of the six games were basically decided by a point.

While this was the most dramatic example of fantasy football parity, it wasn’t unique. Several fantasy players are complaining of depressed scoring, which correlates to the decreased scoring in the NFL. What’s going on?

One reason is probably related the slow starts of several major stars– Davante Adams and Justin Jefferson come readily to mind. Another reason, perhaps less noticed, is horrible coaching. One need only look at Nathaniel Hackett in Denver or Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas. Two relatively young head coaches who seem to feel the need to eschew traditional methods for the sake of displaying their innovative genius.

Stop it. On 4th-and-5, you don’t bleed the clock for a 60+ yard FG attempt; you let Russell Wilson try to make a play. You don’t make a blockbuster trade for Davante Adams and target him on shallow routes (his yards per target is 5.6 compared to his career 8.0 ).

Damn uppity kids. Get off my fantasy football lawn!