NFL Blackouts - Coming Soon To A Team Near You?

I have read several reports that say that the number of blacked out NFL games will be on the rise this year. First for those who aren't familiar, a blackout means that the local fans cannot watch the game on TV - on the network broadcast or from Direct TV. I guess they do it by zipcode or something. The NFL does this if the game is not sold out.

Teams mentioned that are having problems this year include:

• Minnesota (even after acquiring their cash for clunkers QB)
• San Francisco
• Oakland
• Jacksonville
• San Diego
• Detroit
• St. Louis
• Cincy

Some pre-season games have already been blacked out.

In past years it wasn't too big of a deal for a local giant corporation to step up to the plate and scoop up the remaining tickets but those deals are much tougher in this economy.

To me, the blackout is the most effective way to get the general populus to be LESS interested in your product and your team. And lets be real - the gate is a nice bonus for each team, but the TV revenue is really where it is at for them. The blackout just seems like such an obsolete tool to use to get people to come to the game. Let me try to wrap my head around the thought process.

I am not able to watch my favorite team on TV, so this will motivate me to actually go to the game so others can enjoy the game in the comfort of their own homes.

Really, the blackout policy punishes those who may someday be interested in the team, and those who are less well to do, who might love to watch the game, but simply can't afford to go to the game.

If the game were on TV, the ad revenue stays there, as the eyeballs still sit through the ads...unless they can't watch the game due to a blackout, and they will be watching reruns of Hogan's Heroes instead.

Come to think of it, they might be further ahead.

The Ledge

The former Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) added a tourist attraction to their sky deck - "The Ledge". The Ledge protrudes out from the side of the building and has a clear floor so that you can walk out on it and look straight down.



In this photo you can see people also laying down on the ledge. That must be kind of spooky.

A Discussion Of Shape

Ann Althouse and Metafilter both picked up on a story in the Milwaukee Examiner. The story is about a plus sized model, Lizzie Miller. Glamour magazine published a nude photo of Ms. Miller in their magazine. Here it is.

The comments at all of the posts range from the stupid things like "I'd hit it" to long philosophical discussions about size and shape.

I would like to make a few observations on the photo. First off, her face is beautiful. The face is usually the first thing I notice on a woman (I won't go into what the subsequent things are). Her arms are hard to tell - I don't know if she has the dreaded underarm flap thing going on from the position she is sitting in.

It doesn't appear that she has a giant midsection, but she obviously has a paunch (again, the pose doesn't give me all the info I need). This isn't too alarming, as most women who have had children can identify with that (it looks like the loose skin paunch rather than a true gut). Her butt and legs have my claxons going off though as this looks like her premier fat repository on her body. I mean this is a posed photo and all and she really looks like she has a lot of junk in the trunk. On my body I store fat first in my gut, arse, chest and neck. Or I should say I used to...no more of that for me.

Her skin is quite nice though, all over her body - the lack of cellulite and other imperfections certainly gives her a more healthy glow than most people of her size and shape. The imperfections could have been airbrushed though.

So what to do? It is clear that if she stays on her current path that by the time she is 50 or 60 that she will be immense. But there may not be motivation for her to get her body together - if she makes a large chunk of her living being an over sized clothes model, it would probably be a not so sound financial decision to lose weight and tone up.

Many commenters say that there is nothing wrong with her size 12 dress. In and of itself, it isn't a big issue for me, but I think that if she is on the way to bloated oblivion that this is a giant problem. Diabetes, heart disease, and a whole host of other ailments are coming down the track in just a short time for her.

For her long term health I would like to see her lose the 50 or so pounds (maybe more). And frankly, with that face she could very well be a knockout if she lost the poundage.

Danny Davis Letter

When you see the tall buildings of Chicago and hear the history as a dynamic, leading center of industry and innovation, you'd expect that our local representative in the US House of Representatives would embrace measures to keep this sort of talent and engine of growth humming at high efficiency. But instead we get... Danny Davis, our 7th Congressional District representative (D).

Our Illinois districts have been completely gerrymandered so that the south side of Chicago and a slice of the suburbs going west, along with the loop and River North itself, fall into a single district. Here is a map link if you want to see a veritable "case study" in gerrymandering. Thus the representative, Danny Davis, treats the loop with its engines of economic growth as an afterthought and concentrates on the other constituents, mostly the poor, who reside in the rest of the district.

From the latest newsletter, discussing issues raised to Danny Davis:

They have been concerned about jobs, about the economy, about foreclosure, about education, about health care, about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about torture and Guantanamo, about our policies in Latin America, about immigration, about youth violence, about criminal justice reform, about taxes, about family assistance

While certainly these are valid issues to be raised by constituents, no where is mentioned the types of policies that would keep the Loop, THE DISTRICT HE REPRESENTS, a leading beacon of business. These items would likely include:

1) the fact that the United States has the most unfavorable corporate tax regime, with the highest rates, in the developed world?
2) the fact that Cook County has the highest sales tax rate in the United States, a major drag on local businesses (especially since virtually everything is available tax-free and with low cost or free shipping on the Internet)
3) corruption so prevalent that it has made Illinois a world wide joke with Blago, which is a dis-incentive for companies to locate or invest in Illinois
4) the fact that Chicago leads the nation in murders in an absolute sense, while having only a fraction of the population of New York, and that honest citizens have no formal right to bear arms while gangs terrorize the populace and shoot up the city
5) pending changes to regulation in the banking and financial services industry, since the Loop is home to many companies in this industry
6) scheduled raise on taxes from liquor to candy to everything else, which will continue to hurt local business activity
7) the super-high property taxes in Cook County, especially on businesses, which is a major burden on our already overbuilt commercial property sector
8) the fact that the state is virtually bankrupt, with pending income tax raises the likely "solution" rather than cutting our expense base which will make the city even less competitive or likely to attract talent

I do have respect for Danny Davis in that he doesn't even PRETEND to care about the above items - he represents his constituents, and the loop and River North just happened to be gerrymandered into his district as an afterthought (mostly likely just to make the district contiguous).

Cross posted at Chicago Boyz

Yes, Pat, The Big Ten Does Suck

Readers of this blog will remember with fondness when I tore Pat Forde to shreds the year that Illinois went to the Rose Bowl, which seems like eons ago. ESPN still has him on the payroll, it seems, and this latest piece of blather is worth discussing a bit.

As an aside, Pat Forde is hated by a lot of people, as a casual troll of the tubes will show you. I think that is maybe why he is retained by ESPN to put out these 10k word essays that don't really say much.

The latest brain fart by Forde is a long, long winded explanation of why he feels the Big Ten sucks, while sucking up to the Ohio State University. How about this analysis from the article:

Michigan had its 3-9 train wreck last year, finishing 95th. Wisconsin threw in a 7-6 clunker last season against a soft schedule to finish 61st. Iowa was 79th in 2007. Penn State was 71st in 2003 and 63rd in '04. Purdue slid in its final years under Joe Tiller, finishing 62nd in 2006 and 78th last year. Michigan State had a couple of rough seasons under John L. Smith, ranking 66th in 2004 and 80th in '06. Minnesota cratered in 2007, winning one game and finishing 123rd. Northwestern is justifiably proud of earning three Big Ten titles since 1995, but it was No. 93 in the Sagarin ratings in 2006 and No. 86 in '07. Illinois has been higher than 68th only once in the past six years. And Indiana -- where they're now selling league home games to the highest bidder -- has failed to crack the top 70.

Oh give me a stinking break Pat, no need to hyperventilate. Anyone who knows just a little about college football knows that the Big Ten is on the outside looking in right now. That could change in the future, but it isn't too likely.

The interesting thing about the Big Ten is that it is sort of like the Cubs. People will still go to the games. If you look at last years attendance figures (pdf) you will see. The rank is for the entire Division One and the attendance figure is average attendance per game.

• 1. Michigan, 108,571
• 2. Penn State, 108,254
• 3. Ohio State, 104,976
• 15. Wisconsin, 81,088
• 20. Michigan State, 74,858
• 22. Iowa, 70,169
• 30. Illinois, 61,707
• 35. Purdue, 56,702
• 45. Minnesota, 48,958
• 72. Indiana, 31,782
• 79. Northwestern, 28,590

Look for Minnesota's attendance to skyrocket this year with their new stadium (very nice looking by the way) on campus instead of that dreary Metrodome with nothing to do around it.

That is a lot of fans who have been enjoying the mediocrity over the past several years. On top of that you should look at most of the Big Ten home games that are not conference games. They are literally ridiculous. I have ripped Wisconsin here before about their non conference schedule, but all the others are just as guilty. Illinois has at least a couple of decent teams in their non conference schedule this year, and we always have the game against Mizzou in there, and that has been a pretty good team over the past half decade or so.

From top to bottom I would rank the Big Ten as fourth or fifth best in the nation. Clearly the SEC, Big 12 and Pac 10 are superior in talent and perhaps the Mountain West or WAC in certain years. The key is that the Big Ten schools are absolutely enormous and will have fans for the product no matter what. I can't even imagine how many alumni a gigantic school like Wisconsin has all over the country.

But why can't the Big Ten put good football on the field like the SEC? Here is the short answer for Pat Forde. WINTER.

No kid playing football in Texas, Florida, or the deep south or west coast wants to make the commitment to come to the FROZEN Midwest and play football. I sure wouldn't.

Also, the talent pool is MUCH deeper than is used to be. The elite recruits all go to to the SEC and Texas and Oklahoma, but many great players are shunning Big Ten schools now to get assured playing time at MAC or other schools - and these schools are routinely beating Big Ten teams or losing close, controversial games. Just a few years ago up here Northern Illinois should have beaten Wisconsin at Camp Randall stadium, but due to a few (cough) bad calls lost the game right at the end.

Also, the fiasco of the Big Ten Network was most certainly used by other conferences' coaches in recruiting. There was a time when many Big Ten games were seen by hardly anyone. The BTN has ironed some of that out but they still have a lot of work to do on it. The damage to recruiting was immense, and the head coaches must have had a lot of nights drowning their sorrows in a river of booze over it. Speaking of head coaches, there are very few marquee names in the Big Ten.

There used to be a time when the Big Ten teams coming to town were feared and respected. Those days are long gone. Those days could come again, but the trend is certainly down for the forseeable future. Not saying that the Big Ten won't make money, as witnessed by the attendance figures above. But come bowl season, look for a repeat of last years dismal 1-6 performance, or close to it.

Chicago Weather Killing Us

On our balcony we have quite a little garden going there, with tomatoes, peppers, all kinds of flowers, lettuce and parsley. I am not the gardener in the family but a lot of effort has been put into this, I assure you.

And it is all going to hell in a hand basket because of this Chicago weather. It is supposed to get into the 40's tonight! In August! At the Bears (preseason) opener on August 22nd it was cold too.

Where's the Gorebal warming? Please?

Not So Secure

Now there is something you won't find often (ever?) on this site, Br1tney. Or any celebrity for that matter. But this post isn't about her. You're welcome.

Enlarge that photo by clicking on it and look at her security forces. There are two guys behind her with earpieces.
The guy on the right is completely out of shape - what a tub of sh1t! You would think if your job was security that you would be able to run at least a little bit, and be able to fight for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, this guy would be gassed after about 10 seconds from the look of him. If I was Br1t and that slob showed up to be my bodyguard I would send him home and get someone who was in reasonable shape. Then again, Br1t isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the marquee.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

The economy has not only hit average, every day Joes, but it has also hit professional and college football. Around here, the ads are flying fast and furious to try to get people to buy Badger tickets. I think they will eventually sell, but for some of their shoddy home games, they might not get their normal sellouts.

Today I read this from ESPN. Indiana is moving one of their home games for next year to FedEx field in Washington DC. They get $3m, although they have to guarantee the sale of 71k tickets. They should be able to do that easily for one reason and one reason only. I will let the head coach of Indiana explain why.

But I went into this with the calculus that there's going to be a lot of Penn State people there and this may end up looking a lot a Penn State home game. I took that into account and won't be surprised or regret that we went with the game if it ends up having a big Penn State crowd. It will be a big-time atmosphere, and that will be pretty exciting. (bold and italics mine)

You don't say? That quote had me howling out loud. Really, this might look like a Penn State home game? Well color me surprised. OF COURSE it will look like a Penn State home game, because unlike the Indiana football program, which is a perennial doormat, PSU has a decent program, charismatic head coach and oh yeah, one more thing...FANS.

From this document, Penn State averaged 108,254 fans per game last season, and Indiana averaged a measly 31,782. That is brutal. Even Illinois averaged 61,707. Northwwestern averaged 28,590 but gets a pass since nobody at that school gives a damn about football. By the way, NW is a pretty good place to watch a football game if I don't say so myself.

Digression: Big Ten teams held the top three spots in attendance last year. It pleases me greatly that Michigan had the number 1 spot, and all of those fans got to watch their team get their asses handed to them over and over and over, especially by us. Easily the highlight of our mediocre 5-7 year.

So you can see, even when Indiana has a home game in their home town NOBODY shows up. I am going to put out a guess and say that the stands in DC will be filled with about 95% Nifty Lion fans. Another interesting point is that FedEx field has been derided as one of the very worst gameday experiences in all of football so have fun with that Hoosier and JoPa fans. When I am locked up in Chicago traffic or freezing in the peasant non PSL seats at Soldier Field, at least I can always say to myself "at least I'm not at FedEx".

But frankly, I wish Illinois would have done this when we were in the depths of the Ron Turner era. But Ron isn't that smart or creative. A good ca$h infusion is great for the program and keeps the board of regents off the football and AD staffs back. And you never know, maybe Indiana can snag a recruit out of DC that would be the equivalent of an SEC practice dummy.

Hair Today Gone Tomorow

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A good friend of LITGM and frequent commenter, Annie, recently cut her long, red hair. I love long hair on women but for some reason when certain women reach a certain age (in their own minds) long hair no longer feels attractive to them. My wife went through that same phase a few years back. This was not Annie’s M.O. She regularly donates the hair to Locks Of Love.

Long hair or short, Annie would look great in a used wet burlap potato sack. She’s a real doll.

Now I have a confession. One month ago I suddenly decided to cut my hair. Out of the blue. My hair has been quite long (for a male) most of my life but for the past twenty years it has been as long as 2-3’ down my back.


To me, my genetically very straight hair was best suited either for a buzz cut (had one in the late 80’s) or long enough to tie it in a hair band. It seemed foolish to me (and still does) to spend more than one minute each morning fussing with my hair and all the paraphernalia such as brushes, combs, blow-dryers, mousse, sprays and all that commercial hair care crap. I never was nor would I ever be a metro-sexual. Having never been a slave to fashion I prefer the no-maintenance extremes.

My haircut frequency was once per year. The wife would snip off at about a fistful length or two and that was that. It would grow about 6” per year or more, slightly longer than the width of my fist. Saved me some money too.

Exactly one month ago for no reason whatsoever I walked into a local Great Clips and asked for a military buzz. It just hit me, I can’t explain why, just how and when. I stopped short (pun intended) of having my head shaved.

After being draped with a bib, I sat in the special chair while three different hair-dresser (young chicks) approached me and asked me to reconsider. They all told me they were jealous of my hair and that most women would kill for the quality of my locks. Snip away, I told them. Then be gone with you, wenches!


My hair was tied up with two bands that day. There were times when it was long enough for three bands in order to keep the wind from knotting up the stray hair while driving in the topless, doorless Jeep Wrangler, out on the boat streaking to a hot fishing spot or on a poker run with the Harley. The first thing my cutter did was clip off the tail for me to save. Should I will it to my children? Would I hang it on the wall like taxidermy? How would it look mounted to a piece of distressed knurled wood as a trophy? Heep big scalp, chief.

Years ago my daughter requested that if I ever cut my hair I should get it cut and styled into a “mullet”, just for fun photos, shits and giggles before having it buzzed. That’s was never gonna’ happen even if I am a huge Chicago White Sox fan.

Many asked me after the cut how it feels to have shed so much hair (for a guy). It makes no difference to me since 60% of the time it was tied up.


Annie is donating her cut hair to Locks of Love and I will do the same since its of no use to me.

I don’t think human hair can be used to tie homemade fishing flies. But if Johnny J. responds asking for some hair that would enhance his custom tied flies I would be happy to send him some.

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Millennium Park Photos

The Aqua Tower is a new building in Chicago that gets a lot of interest because of its unique contours. Per the Wikipedia page it is 82 stories and you can see a great view of it from Millennium park.



Here is a view of Millennium park during the day before dusk and you can see the stage and many prominent buildings.



This view is at dusk when they are beginning to turn on the lights for the stage.



This view is late at night. My new camera is much better at night - this photo would have been a blurry mess on my former camera.



Finally, here is a view of the Chicago River by night.

Bears Preseason Opener

The Bears preseason opener was a great game. The offense came to life with the whole first string out there (including Forte) and the stands were packed. It was actually kind of cold for an August evening, which is probably a dire portent since the Bears' home schedule has 1 game in September, 1 in October, and 3 in November and December each, with some night games to boot.



As promised, I used my new 12x optical zoom to get a great shot of the useless drum corps, our pathetic alternative to the long-defunct Honey Bears.



We are now tailgating near the Adler Planetarium which gives new views of Soldier Field. Soldier Field actually looks great from this angle between the columns and the new stadium, with boats in front.



At night the condo building behind the stadium turns on some sort of blue light. It is kind of eerie.




And finally, only the best beers were served at the game. Our friend Rick actually brought these 3 beer choices with no prompting and seemed curious that I would mention that perhaps they weren't the most awesome choices imaginable. His story did seem to make sense - he was cleaning out his fridge and hey, this is good for that.

Muay Thai on "No Reservations"

Recently I was watching an episode of "No Reservations" starring Anthony Bourdain when he went to Thailand. He happened to go there right in the midst of a mini-revolution, which was a distraction.

The interesting part is that he went there with a Muay Thai fighter who sent a video as part of a promotion to select a destination because he wanted to train in Thailand. Here is a link to the original video that the Muay Thai fighter sent in prior to filming the episode.

The fighter, a guy over 200 pounds, did end up spar with a fighter in Thailand (whom he met on facebook), and although he was much larger than his opponent, the little guy kicked his butt. The funny part was cutting between the US fighter in the corner between rounds (getting a massage) vs. the Thai fighter (sitting by himself, not looking too winded). Everyone was in good spirits. The Thai fighter said that he had been in over 160 fights.

Also briefly we saw how they trained and there was a pad holder who must be doing what Dan does every week. The Thai fighters were really kicking the snot out of that pad at an extremely fast pace - it looked like a lot of hard work, like Dan usually says on this blog.

If you like the show "No Reservations" I would recommend recording it on your DVR and looking out for this episode, it was very interesting.

One more Muay Thai item and I am exhausted - I was looking in the WSJ and they had a little caption about the UFC fight winners of all time and while MT fighters made up a small percentage of the total pool, they proportionally had a higher percentage of the champions. It is good to see the Wall Street Journal, of all papers, finally covering UFC.

That concludes my Muay Thai posting...

"Candy" Tax - or how not to raise taxes

Recently I wrote about incentives and how to review tax programs on these two criteria

- Effectiveness - does the tax program raise the revenue in a manner that is cost-effective and have the lowest level of harm and distortion to the overall economy?
- Incentives - if the tax program is designed to promote a certain type of activity or "deter" a different type of activity, do the incentives actually drive the behavior that the law is intended to achieve?

The photo above is from an excellent Chicago Tribune article about a change in the Cook County (Chicago) sales tax rules which mean that "candy" is taxed at the highest rate (10.25%) rather than as "food" which is at a significantly lower rate (2%).

This tax shows the "down the rabbit hole" elements of tax complexity when incentives and effectiveness go haywire.

From a complexity standpoint, this makes no sense. Lots of items contain flour and are thus counted as "food", but for the small shop owner, explaining this to staff and customers will be a difficult and time consuming process. For large retailers it likely won't be as big a deal because this is all calculated by the register.

From an incentive standpoint, this makes even less sense. Since sales taxes are highly regressive, which means that they sock the poor harder than the rich (since the poor consume almost all of their income, and pay a high percentage on food), you could understand how the state might want to exempt food. But the line between candy and food is now blurry and complicated.

And really... is it good public policy to tax kids more for candy bars? Come on.

Other taxes going into effect on September 1 include a rise in the liquor tax. At the local Binny's where I shop in River North they have signs telling everyone to stock up before the taxes go into effect. Per this bill (go to pages 117-118) you can see a very significant rise in the liquor tax rate - this blog called "thinking of drinking" made the following calculations:

Before the Increases
Here's where we stood before the increase on Illinois taxes (these are just for the state, not the feds):
Beer and Cider up to 7% Alcohol - $0.185 per gallon
Wine and others under 20% Alcohol - $0.73 per gallon
Spirits and anything else 20% Alcohol or more - $4.50 per gallon

Just for comparison, the state tax rate on spirits in neighboring states are:
Indiana: $2.68 per gallon
Missouri: $2.00 per gallon
Wisconsin: $3.25 per gallon

So we were already significantly higher than the three states near us with similar alcohol regulatory schemes.

After the Increases, Effective September 1, 2009
Here's where we stand after the increase:
Beer & Cider up to 7% Alcohol - $0.231 per gallon ($0.046, or 25% increase)
Wine & Others under 20% Alcohol - $1.39 per gallon ($0.66, or 90% increase)
Spirits & anything 20% Alcohol or more - $8.55 per gallon ($4.05, or 90% increase)

The blog did an excellent job of calculating the impact as well as showing our comparison to neighboring states, since many individuals have a choice of where to buy their liquor, especially "hard" liquor and wine that has a longer shelf life (you probably are almost always going to buy beer locally).

Raising the tax on liquor always seems to serve a public policy need (or can be relatively easily justified, as opposed to a tax on food). Taxing different levels of beer / wine / liquor makes less sense - is beer the best for society, then wine, then harder liquor? I don't know if I can follow that logic. I don't know if it is related, but the Sam's Liquors in the South Loop just closed; business was probably slow and they figured that this would just be a further burden.

The saddest part of all this is that in Illinois, at least, government remains unreformed, and raising taxes is the easiest way out for our current Democratic regime. While Chicago did symbolically "shut down" for a day recently, in general cuts to our government have been minimal and we haven't even started to roll back the featherbedding, high benefits, early retirements, and general ineptitude that marks most of our state government, not to mention the outright corruption that employs a mountain of FBI investigators.

Cross posted at Chicago Boyz

Enough

I don't typically post on political stuff, but Lex over at ChicagoBoyz posted this great video. Talk about pushback...I am loving seeing cap and tax go down in flames, as well as health care...er... health insurance reform also go down. Goverment get the F1CK out of my life.

Sox Game... and New Camera

I recently purchased a new camera - a Canon Power Shot SX200. It isn't an SLR but has 12x zoom (optical) which is great for a digital camera and I am pretty familiar with how the Canon works. I tried it out at the Sox game.



Here is our new White Sox outfielder, Alex Rios. These pictures turned out pretty well considering I was in the upper deck at maximum optical zoom (12x). Glad the Sox picked him up off waivers and it shows that management is committed to trying to win this year, along of course with Peavy.



It is like "old school" night as Freddy Garcia is back with the Sox. Freddy of course was a big part of our 2005 World Championship team, and then he pitched against us last year late in the season in kind of a bizarro turn as the Sox squeaked into the post season. Someone put a marriage proposal on the big screen and I joked that she should only accept if Freddy made it out of the 5th inning... he didn't, by the way, so they must be doomed.



Here is a picture at night - this camera does much better in low light than my former digital camera.



And here is a picture at dusk.



I had to get a picture of the winner of the round of Dan's crappy beer challenge - MGD! Go Miller products!

American Roadster

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Click any image to enlarge if you wish. I am such a sucker for the contrast of hot paint and chrome.


I cannot think of another American made automobile that has the huge dedicated following that the Chevrolet Corvette has. The 1932 Ford has a hefty following but most are customized hot rods like the ZZ Topp Eliminator featured on their albums and in the videos. I mean, just how exciting is a fully restored duce coupe? These guys do the best custom work in my opinion.


On Saturday I went with my friend and neighbor to the local Midwest Corvette Chevy Show at the Porter County Fairgrounds south of Valparaiso. He owns an original red ’67 Camaro SS convertible that is fully restored. What’s interesting to note is that he is the original owner. His friend, Don, came along. Don has owned a few Corvettes (and currently owns a 2005) and is an expert on identifying everything there is about Corvettes. I was with two true dedicated Chevy car buffs and learned a lot.


For instance, I did not know that the resale value of a classic muscle car is determined by color. They constantly referred to “resale red” paint jobs because red has more resale value. There is a wealthy cult of classic car collectors who buy and trade vehicles based on restored vs. original. An original is a car that has never been touched, absolutely no new paint or customization. All original means all equipment must be verified by certified experts (most of which are retired Chevy engineers) along with the paint. Just because red is a hot color, there's nothing wrong with this split-window 1963 coupe. 63 was the only year the Corvette Coupe came in the split window config.


Tires are an exception but you can purchase old-style bias-ply tires that are exact replicas.These autos bring the highest price. If you look at them closely they all have “original” scratches and dings. Many were bought by owners who only drove them in fair weather and some are owned by the original buyer.


There were about twenty originals in a building that had such little light I could not get a photo without a tripod and I hate using a flash. The very highest priced Corvettes are originals that were factory customized with special engines and suspensions. These were very limited production runs.

Most Corvettes at this show were restored or customized. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I took a few hundred photos but my favorite subject is focusing on close up detail work and emblems. Just adding more to my collection.

I don't pretend to be a 'vette expert, just an admirer. So if you are inclined to correct any details published here, go for it.
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TGMPCBC, Part 6 - Region Three

For a long time now I have dreaded group three, nicknamed by me as the "group of death". There is only one beer that I have ever drank in this group, of course it is the MGD.

So we have:
Colt 45 vs. Keystone Light, winner plays the winner of Icehouse vs. MGD for a coveted spot in the final four.
First off, Colt 45 vs. Keystone Light. KL gets the nod for the fastest vanishing head of ALL of the beer so far. It was gone in about 5 seconds.

Colt 45 vs. Keystone Light:

The Colt 45 had an absolutely unidentifiable smell, and it was horrible. It almost smelled like spoiled fruit. The hops were all goofed up too.

KL had a metallic aftertaste and a sort of almost cornwater flavor. But it was a rancid type of deal.

The winner by default is Colt 45, although neither really deserved to win.

Icehouse vs. MGD:

The Icehouse had an almost flowery aroma, but literally no flavor. I mean zero. The MGD had a much stronger cornwater flavor and almost no aftertaste.

MGD got the win in this one.

Colt 45 vs. MGD:

No contest, MGD. The Miller products seem to be creeping into the finals, as now Miller Lite and MGD are in. As usual, all of these horrible beers went down the drain, but the winner of the group gets the photo with me.

Mercifully, only one group left to go, then the semifinals and finals.

Business Week Article on Stock Buybacks

A recent Business Week article titled "The Buyback Boondoggle" discusses stock repurchases.

As the unemployment rate hovers near 10%, the economic debate is focused on how the government should aid recovery... but it's business' task to get the economy back on track - by investing in innovation and job creation. And if the recent past is any guide, corporations may stall the recovery by investing instead in something else - stock buybacks.

This article is an example of poor journalism and populist reasoning right from the start. You can see the writer's view on business - that its purpose is somehow to create jobs - and that this should be the main goal of a business. Which, frankly, is a terrible assumption.

Businesses are created to make money. Businesses are (usually) run by smart people who want to invest their equity capital (raised from the stock market) in the place that will earn them the most money, and if they have a lot of equity capital outstanding (in the form of stock proceeds and retained earnings) they have to put this money to work on new projects that are at least as profitable as their current portfolio, or they are decreasing their company's profitability, which is severely disliked by investors.

And the United States nowadays is a poor place for new investment. Want to know which country in the developed world has the least friendly tax outlook? The good ol' USA. Per that highly recommended site "The Tax Foundation"

Currently, the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.3 percent, second among OECD countries to Japan's combined rate of 39.5 percent... Many states impose state corporate income taxes at rates above the national average of 6.6 percent. Iowa, for example, imposes the highest corporate tax rate of 12 percent, followed by Pennsylvania's 9.99 percent rate and Minnesota's 9.8 percent rate. When added to the federal rate, these states tax their businesses at rates far in excess of all other OECD countries.

The US also has a surplus of lawyers and a highly litigious culture that requires businesses to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for lawsuits of every sort. And if you want to build something, such as a manufacturing plant... you must be kidding, right? The environmentalists and regulators will tear you to shreds, with protests, forms, and a never-ending stream of bad publicity. And if you have unions, or are in a state loaded with unions (such as the Midwest, sadly enough) you have a militant work force demanding gold plated benefit plans and happy to walk out and crush your operations at a moment's notice.

It is true that compared to dictatorships and countries without the rule of law there are many advantages of investing in the United States, but this isn't an absolute comparison of the US vs. one of those countries, but a relative comparison given that a US corporation could choose to locate facilities anywhere around the world. And more insidiously, a US corporation wouldn't even raise capital here to build an overseas business - they would raise that money from the start in a tax haven or in a private corporation with a complex legal structure that wouldn't be in the USA.

Nowhere in this article does the author discuss how to make America's business climate more favorable to businesses, which would encourage them to invest more in the United States and start projects that would enable innovation and job creation. Our poor business climate is why businesses won't invest more here, and that is the issue that the author needs to tackle directly, not through jawboning and demanding that regulators and politicians review business practices, which will basically just yield us "more of the same".

Regardless of the provenance of this argument, I too agree that stock buy backs are a bad idea. A stock repurchase occurs when a company goes out and buys its own stock back from the market (there are many ways of doing this) which reduces the number of shares outstanding. Since companies are widely judged on a metric called "Earnings Per Share" or EPS, the fewer shares that you have outstanding, the better your earnings look.

A better idea would be to return these funds to shareholders through dividends. Dividends receive favorable tax treatment, although maybe not as favorable as stock buy backs, but more importantly they give this money directly to the share holders so that the share holders can determine what they want to do with it themselves, rather than essentially leveraging their existing investment in a corporation. Corporations do not like to raise dividends because it changes the expectations of share holders - once share holders receive dividends, they generally get angry and punish the stock price if those dividends are cut. Dividend cuts are public events, understandable by all share holders, while starting and stopping a corporate buy back is an opaque process generally not understood by everyone except for a few stock analysts.

Rather than focusing solely on EPS, companies could tout their stock price, future growth prospects, and dividend yield as a measure of why share holders should consider them a sound steward of the funds that they have been entrusted with. A strong payout sends a message that the business is committed to profitable operations and fiscal discipline, today and in the future.

Cross posted at Chicago Boyz

Chicago Air & Water Show

The Chicago Air and Water Show started today. The weather was HOT and the typical vast throngs came to see the events. From my vantage point I got a good look at all the boats too which is new because my usual view only has a sliver of lake view.

In one of the panels you can see the new Aqua building with the cool wavy decks.



Above is a link to a movie I made last year on the show.

Don’t Bear Down, Bear Up.

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Dan’s coverage of how the NFL solicits PSL’s and season ticket sales got me fired up. I am finally ready…to watch television!


The Bears open the pre-season tomorrow night in Buffalo. For decades the pre-season games were a reminder to me of the change of season to come. Summer to autumn. The days are getting suspiciously shorter with the crickets and cicadas getting louder each night (out here in the country at least).

Before I was married (over a century ago) some friends and I would go to a local bar called Al’s Tap located at the Indiana Illinois state line on US 30 to watch Bears pre-season games which usually took place on Saturday nights. Recently games are being played on any night of the week. Follow the money.

Over pitchers of Special Export or Augsburger beer we would talk about the upcoming season, stuff like if this rookie named Walter Payton would be what they claimed. How about that new quarterback from Maryland, Bob Avelini? Was Buffone too old? I liked the new defensive safety Doug Plank based on his Ohio State reputation. Watching the pre-season games enabled me to either get excited about the upcoming season or tone down my enthusiasm.

Remember the Honey Bears? Back in those days my boss’s daughter was a Honey Bear. She was a very hot redhead with great personalities and came, cough, to the office frequently.


As a mature (but feisty) middle-aged fan I don’t go out to bars on weekend nights, or any other night either. Like George Thorogood, I drink alone. But I plan on having a late afternoon private backyard tailgate cookout with grilled 1 ½” Ditka-style pork chops, fresh sweet corn on the cob and then settling back to watch the Bears pre-season spectacle at 6pm tomorrow evening.

The expectations of the media are high this year because of the surprise off season acquisition of Jay Cutler from Denver. I like him too because he’s from Indiana and comes with a pedigree. But I have doubts he will generate a new age passing game for the Bears this year. He has no receivers to catch his passes. Early on I predicted tight end Greg Olson and running back Matt Forte would have the most receiving yards in 2009. Training camp reports prove I may be correct. It will take a season or two for the Bears to draft or sign some pro-quality wide receivers. Unless Hester sells his soul to the devil this season could look just like the last one come playoff time.

Today in the Chi-Trib there was a gushing report about the mystical passes Cutler is capable of throwing.


Since the Bears haven’t had “golden arm” in decades who can blame the female reporter’s awestruck report complete with a (“how in the hell does he do this amazing thing?) graphic.


From the article:

“Some say it's a zip. Others call it a zing or a whoosh or a whisper. Still others claim it's a whistle.

A hum, anyone? Do we have a hum in the house?” Note: This IS a female reporter.

And this gem:

“That's because an athlete such as Cutler has a magical arm. "A rare arm -- very, very rare, a God-given gift," said Bears general manager Jerry Angelo during training camp last week in Bourbonnais as Cutler's tight spirals split the air with whip-crack speed.”

Angelo should be promoting the new arm, acquiring Cutler is his last ditch attempt to return the Bears to the playoffs, and retain his job. After the loss to Indianapolis in the Super Bowl it’s been all downhill. But for now I am looking forward to see if Cutler can find receivers better than Jerry Angelo can.

For now, I am on the Bears bandwagon for this season even if I am sitting on the tailgate ready for a quick, early escape.

In other NFL news...

Ex-convict, felon and dog murder Michael Vick signed with the Eagles last night. Will fans bring milk bones to toss when Vick straps it up and takes to the field during road games? I sure hope so. This heartless ass tortured dogs in ways that...well...you google it. He's a sicko and has no business being paid 1.x million to play the game this season. He's dead to me. I prefer dogs to heartless thugs. Call me old school.

If road game opponents are smart they will play this during every Eagles time out on stadium sound systems at full volume.

And crank it up!

Wisconsin Scalping Laws For Badger Games

Below are simply my opinions are are not to be taken as the rule of law. If you ticket scalp, do your own homework first.

I had a conversation with a friend the other day and the subject of the legality of ticket scalping came up. I consider scalping to be selling the ticket for any amount over face value. Selling tickets up to the face value is absolutely legal and fine. Lets troll the tubes and see what we can find. For this piece I will focus on UW football tickets.

Huh, not much in the Wisconsin State Statutes besides a law that says you are allowed to sell the tickets for less than face. They do specifically prohibit scalping tickets to the Wisconsin State Fair. Must be a local issue then for the rest, I am assuming.

On the back of my UW Football tickets there is one sentence that says "Ticket scalping is prohibited". Pretty open ended if you ask me.

This is an interesting article from 2003. Theres this:

The UW System administrative code outlaws the resale of Wisconsin event tickets for more than face value, and the sale of any item is illegal in the city of Madison without a permit.

Well, the part about the sale of any item is clearly false, as the laws of the state of Wisconsin clearly state that you can sell your tickets for anything under face. I suppose the city of Madison could get snotty about arresting folks if they don't have a permit, but that would draw a lot of ire and I would think that the cops really don't want all that paperwork every football Saturday.

This article is interesting, but doesn't really get into the meat of the laws. Seems people are upset about the students scalping their tickets.

Aha! I did find in the UW system bylaws this sentence, wihch is bylaw 18.08(12)(b) - "No person may buy or sell a ticket or other evidence of the right of entry for more than the price printed upon the face of the ticket". But there aren't any penalties listed. And who can arrest you (if you are caught in the act)? UW Police? Lots of empty space there.

So scalping UW football tix looks to be illegal, but the teeth are missing from the equation. But this brings me to the Wisconsin Athletic Football Ticket Marketplace. If you go here, you can buy Wisconsin football tickets for face value. But the people who are selling the tickets only get 85% of the money, the UW keeping the other 15%. I know this because since I am a season ticket holder, I received an email from the UW Athletic Department that said that if I was a "donor" of at least $50 per year to the athletic department I could participate.

Isn't this scalping though? The UW already got full face value for the tickets, and now will be getting another 15% vig from these sales? At the very least, shouldn't anyone now be able to sell their tickets for 15% over face? As a side note, just wait for a week or two and look at the available tickets for the Wofford game - they will be raining from the sky and there is NO WAY that anyone will get face value for those. The email I received states that they will also be setting up marketplaces for men's hoops and pucks. Nothing for women's sports, but nobody goes to those events anyway - but that is a different subject for a different post.

This type of "marketplace" is typical though, as NFL teams have been scalping their own tickets for a long time through Stubhub. In the most reckless and bold self scalping escapade, the Cubs withheld many of their prime tickets, to be sold by a ticket agency they themselves set up.

It's OK for me, but not for thee, as I like to say.

Giants Select

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I have mentioned before that in a past life I subscribed to many (iirc, it was almost all) NFL team season ticket waiting lists. Some season tickets I was able to purchase right away, some I waited a few years for and some I will never get. I actually did purchase some of the season tickets, but the majority I ended up passing on - but an interesting experiment nonetheless. The real entertaining part of all of this is that I still get lots of junk mail from the respective teams. I think the most entertaining one had to be the recent Reskins piece claiming a season ticket waiting list that has something like a quarter of a million names on it, to sit in what is universally known as one of the worst places in all of the USA to watch a pro football game, FedEx Stadium.

Look at this flashy one I just got from the Giants. "An historic opportunity", eh? Lets look inside.

Club seats for the new Giants Stadium. I can't remember if they are sharing this new stadium with the Jets or not, like they are doing currently at the Meadowlands.

*upon doing a little research, they are indeed sharing the stadium with the Jets, enabling the company to double dip on PSL's. Nice gig if you can get it.

Club seats get you admission to the bar area in the concourse behind the seats. You also get a "private" entrance so you don't have to bump shoulders with the peasants, as well as admission to the 50,000 square foot, climate controlled Mezzanine Club with upscale food and beverage options. And extra wide cushioned seats and extra leg room for your fat ass after you have stuffed your piehole with that upscale chow. The Bears have something similar on the lake side of Soldier Field.

Oh but you know you are going to pay for this, don't you? So just exactly how much?

These seats are in the mezzanine, indicated by the purple, yellow, blue and red coloring. Pricing:

• Purple - $250 ticket per game per seat, $7500 PSL per seat
• Yellow - $400 ticket per game per seat, $7500 PSL per seat
• Blue - $500 ticket per game per seat, $12,500 PSL per seat
• Red - $700 ticket per game per seat, $20,000 PSL per seat

Holy schmolies I like football and everything but DAMN that is big bucks! Of course I will never pay any PSL for any game ever, so the amount of the PSL is somewhat of a moot point for me.

This document was pretty funny to read. I couldn't understand some parts of it and literally had to read through it four or five times to understand what the heck they were trying to say.

This section is the money:

As of this date, all Terrace and Mezzanine seats, as well as approximately 60 percent of the field level seats, have been installed. We now have the opportunity to review our pricing based on real seat locations/views. After literally sitting in many of the seats, we have decided to reduce the ticket price of the outer two sections in all four Mezzanine Club B corner areas from $400 to $250 per game. The PSL price for these seats will remain $7,500 and they will have access to the club areas. A total of 1,570 seats, which is roughly 40 percent of the remaining available seats in the new building (but only 1.9% of the total stadium's seating capacity) are impacted by this decision and will form the new Mezzanine Club C.

The English translation of this poorly written paragraph is that they created the purple section C out of the ends of the yellow section B because THOSE SEATS SUCK. You will note that ALL of those seats in the new section C are completely out of the end zone. Boy would I be pissed if I was in the yellow, across the aisle from the blue and knew I was paying $150 per game more than that drunkard.

Oh well, nobody ever said this stuff had to make sense, and I continue to be entertained by the stuff I get from these NFL teams.

Lollapalooza Days Two & Three 2009

The highlights of Day One at Lollapalooza at Grant Park in 2009 were Depeche Mode and the rain. The weather turned much hotter for Saturday and Sunday so I went later in the day to avoid melting entirely because there isn't much shade when you are sitting out on the field.

For day 2 I got out there in time to see the Arctic Monkeys, which were a much tighter band than the lager lads I would have anticipated from England. Odd to see a band like that playing early in the day in bright sunshine. The part of the collage where the guy is facing opposite the stage and texting was from that show. Rise Against put on an energy-filled show that got the crowd moving but indie bands Glasvegas and Animal Collective were a complete snooze. Finally it was the end of the night and Tool came on... they started serving beer in plastic cups I guess to avoid projectiles. Tool did a great show and played Anemia (which they didn't play the last time I saw them) but we hung back a bit because I am a bit old to get all banged up in a mosh pit.

Day 3 was scorching so I got there in time for Snoop's show. Snoop put on a heck of a show and really got the crowd moving. Apparently everyone loves Snoop, although there were a lot of smaller kids there which seemed a bit inappropriate to me given Snoop's typical topics. Then the Silversun Pickups played - they are a good band on record but were straining a bit with some of the high vocals, although they seemed very appreciative to be at Lolla. Finally The Killers came on and put on a heck of a show that everyone seemed to like, but if I had to bet I'd guess that Snoop had a bigger crowd.

So, What Does It Take?

We are in the midst of a 12 week "camp" for the fighters. That doesn't mean a lot to many people, so let me explain a bit.

At our gym it is typically a three month or 12 week brutal course for any fighter. Our gym may not win every fight, but we will always represent.

During the 12 weeks, potential fighters are expected to be at the gym at least three times a week for sparring, conditioning, and whatever else.

Let me run down for you what last night looked like.

4 - 2 minute rounds sparring.

2 - 2 minute rounds sparring the system (I called different ranges - pot shotting, combo, pocket, clinch)

4 - 2 minute rounds on thai pads

2 - 2 minute rounds HARD on heavy bag

2 - 2 minute rounds jump rope

1 - 5 minute round different ab exercises

stretch

I ran this particular class last night, and in my opinion it was one of the toughest our fighters have faced in quite some time. I needed to to get in a few people's faces to get them through it, during the summer heat, but they all made it. They hate me now, but they will love me when their arm is raised after their fights in a few weeks.

Fighters from our gym need to be there, that is all there is to it, or they are not allowed to represent our gym in the ring. It is tough, but I respect the fighters so much. I enjoy working with them, honing their skills, and can't wait until I get to see them "fight by proxy". I call it that since I am too old and have too much responsibility to get in the ring...my mission is to train hardcore bad a$$es to get in the ring and destroy. I can't wait to see it soon.

These fighter classes are always after the Muay Thai curriculum classes, so they are staying true to the art, on top of being cut into insane, well conditioned fighting machines. And many times MT class is nothing to sneeze at - those workouts can be pretty tough, and THEN the fighters do their thing. I typically lose 3-4 pounds of water weight on a night where I do strength training, MT class and then fighter class.

I step in and spar with the fighters if there is an odd number (and always hold pads for them) and that makes for long nights. But I love it and they do too. I love my extended dysfunctional family, and they love Mick - or at least they will love me later. Right now, not so much.

So you want to be a fighter? Time to train, sucka. And next time you are watching the UFC or some other fight on TV, remember that it takes years for them to hone their skills, and months of prep work for each fight.

Goodyear Blimp

Click any photo for larger.

As I was driving home last night I caught a glimpse of a blimp in the distance. This is the second time I have seen a blimp flying low around Madison in the 15 years I have lived here.
When I got closer it was indeed the Goodyear Blimp.

Judging from the direction it was going it was headed up toward Minneapolis. But I had another theory. I think maybe it was just staying overnight in Madison on its way to the Packer pre season game Saturday night. There isn't a football game in Minneapolis this weekend.

There is a small airport on the edge of town that might have been the tethering spot for the night for the blimp. Just guessing.

The Goodyear Blimp has it's own website, and a blog, which, alas, hasn't been updated since May 7. The website is pretty informational. I love blimps.

The Economist on Britain's Electricity Situation

The Economist recently wrote an editorial called "How Long Till the Lights Go Out?" describing the electricity situation in Britain. The byline was

Thanks to its posturing politicians, Britain will soon start to run out of electricity. What should it do?

As a long time writer on electricity and energy, I was pleased that The Economist at least hit on the core of the issue:

In 2009 Britain's electricity demand peaked at 59 GW. Just over 45% of that came from power plants fuelled by gas from the North Sea. A further 35% or so came from coal, less than 15% from nuclear power and the rest from a hotch-potch of other sources. By 2015, assuming that modest economic growth resumes, a reasonable guess is that Britain will need around 64 GW... where will that come from?

This is the HEART of the issue. Electricity has to be generated from somewhere, and traditional sources of generation are 1) Coal 2) Gas 3) Nuclear 4) Hydroelectric 5) everything else (generally insignificant).

For environmental reasons, no new hydroelectric will be sited anywhere in a Western country of any significance ever - due to the fact that this floods areas and alters streams and rivers - it just isn't happening.

There won't be any significant new capacity coming on for nuclear power in any Western country - don't let the press releases fool you - and the current capacity is getting old and winding down.

Coal has a bad environmental rap and it is hard to imagine any new coal plants being built in any Western countries (but they are throwing them up as fast as they can in China, and since we all have the same atmosphere, what is the difference? But that is grist for another post).

Thus you are essentially down to natural gas. The economy of Britain has been floated by the fact that the UK has north sea resources so this can be tapped and used to fuel power plants without causing adverse effects on national finances (since Britain can tax the natural gas and the money flows within the country as opposed to going overseas to dubious regimes, although in this case it would be Norway).

After hitting the nail right on the head by focusing on generation as the true issue, then The Economist opens up on what is likely to occur next, which is the deterioration of service, as in "when the lights go out". The longer companion piece to the editorial discusses South Africa, where frequent blackouts left home owners security systems down leading to criminal attacks until a crash building scheme alleviated the issue. This is what is also occurring today in London and parts of the United States, as a lack of generation results in more frequent blackouts, outages and power curtailments that are only going to get worse as the fleet ages and there is nothing in the pipeline to replace the equipment.

There are three issues that The Economist doesn't hit hard enough:

1) the fact that when the UK and the US rely heavily on natural gas, and the gas isn't sourced locally within the borders, this will start to significantly erode the public finances of the our countries the same way sending large amounts of dollars for gas and oil (mainly to Arab countries, dictatorships like Nigeria and Venezuela, and also Russia) has done, while propping up many of the most odious and troublesome governments. We easily have the ability to source power within our borders using local fuel if we use other sources, such as coal, or use a modest amount of natural gas
2) even if you are a big believer in environmental issues, "pinching" the US and British economies by starving it of reasonably priced and reliable electricity does nothing in the grander scheme to slow global warming because China is adding 100 GW / year of power capacity, 2/3 of which is coal fired (with little environmental equipment, by Western standards), as much as the entire generating capacity of Britain. It is like we are focusing on a match in the corner while an entire forest burns over to our right, completely pointless
3) businesses are being hit by the unreliability of generation today, in that they have to buy expensive backup capacity and make many other decisions based on the fact that electricity is unreliable and the situation is about to get significantly worse in the future. Plants / buildings / data centers are planned based upon the availability of power, which is mostly an historical artifact of decisions made decades ago or lack of residential growth in a specific area, and this is distorting to our economy
4) China is building a powerhouse economy, powered by cheap and reliable electricity, while we are starving ours of power and investing little or nothing in base load capacity. This may not be a good omen for the future. Western pushing on human rights recently gained nothing in Tibet, where China cracked down with impunity (sorry, Beastie Boys, those sit-ins didn't do the trick)

Cross posted at Chicago Boyz

Out Of The Tree Of Life...

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...I Just Picked Me A Plum.

Her name is Dottie, she’s a well-papered English Setter and a high-tail pup with two field trial champion bloodlines in her background. Most important, she’s a real sweetie too.


We picked Dottie up last Saturday. My son was home on the weekend for my dad’s 80th birthday dinner along with his own 28th birthday celebration. Saturday was a whirlwind tour for Dottie the pup. At 7am we drove an hour each way to Renselear IN and back to bring home our 6-week old pup. After a few hours of outdoor play here at home we packed her into a kennel in the back of the Ford Exploder and drove 45 minutes to the bro’s bunker at 3pm. From there we left the pup in a kennel in his kitchen while we wined and dined at a new restaurant in Cedar Lake IN called the Lighthouse.

It’s a nice new restaurant right on the lake. I had the 8oz tenderloin but overdosed on crusty bread and appetizers. Feeling like a bloated yak, I along with the other family members drove back to the bro’s place for dessert and aperitifs about 6pm. Dottie was the center of attention for the next few hours. She didn’t chew any woodwork or poop in a corner. Dottie licked everyone who picked her up so she was a hit. We were on the way back to Valpo by 10pm. It was a long day for a new pup in unfamiliar surroundings.

She squealed all Saturday night long, nothing new for a young puppy. Fortunately I am a very heavy sleeper, the other half is not. Oh well. After spending all her short life in the company of mom and littermates it’s all a part of the weaning process. This will go on for about a week. I know from experience.


I almost forgot. There’s puppy poop. Experience tells me that a pup must be taken outdoors as soon as she wakes up, which is about five times daily. If not then we have a stack of old Chi Tribs and paper towel rolls on hand. Young puppies are on their own schedule, sleep two hours, play two hours, eat, repeat.

We wanted an affectionate house pet and Dottie overdoses on affection. She follows us around and wants to be held. Some dogs for whatever reason don’t like to be touched too much and definitely don’t like to be held. Not this one. That’s one reason I prefer getting my bird dogs from professional breeders.

A pro breeder can tell a dog’s personality even at a very early stage. By observing the interaction of the litter they can determine which are aggressive and which are passive. You can explain to a reputable breeder what you’re looking for in a dog and they will deliver most of the time. Since they rely on word of mouth endorsement, under delivering is bad for business.

Chewing is another puppy hazard. If planned for properly it isn’t a problem but there will be those incidents. We have a place for her kennel in the laundry room and a couple of chew toys to distract her from chairs and table legs in the kitchen. She really likes chewing the rope toy.


If the parents are of good stock chances are all of the offspring will be just fine. For those who keep their bird dogs outside aggressive is good. Those of us who want a house pet with a good nose, solid obedience in recreational field activities and aren’t interested in aggressive field trial competition, a more laid back pup works just fine. But in this case laid-back is a term used loosely.

For the first week we are allowing Dottie to be a pup without any discipline, puppies should be treated like babies. We owe it to her to bond and acclimate herself to a new family and surroundings.

Obedience training begins at about six months old. I think she’ll like a Midwestern January here in the Indiana lake-effect snow belt.

The best...is yet to come.


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