Ask Grandstander

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

In a larger sense, had the Coyote ever actually caught and eaten the Road Runner, what would be the meaning of his life after that?

It is also possible that the Acme products were being comped, compensation for the warranty failures of all previous Acme products which the Coyote purchased. Perhaps Coyote had paid orginally for the rocket skates which malfunctioned and rather than replacing them, Acme provided a jet back pack or a few cases of dynamite, and when those didn't work properly, Coyote then received a free fake female Road Runner dummy or a few cans of that paint for making ersatz cliffside tunnels.

[skrable]

why did GrandStanderLand's outfits for the opening ceremonies of the olympics cause such a commotion?

[LongtimeBravesFan]

Why do the Olympics get so much attention when nobody cares about track, swimming or gymnastics any other time?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

why did GrandStanderLand's outfits for the opening ceremonies of the olympics cause such a commotion?

I thinbk it was the surprise when they found out that those were actually heads, not helmets. Now they are demanding all this drug re-testing.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by LongtimeBravesFan

Why do the Olympics get so much attention when nobody cares about track, swimming or gymnastics any other time?

Oh, they don't, what they like is all the little mini dramas that tv creates for the events. Tv has figured out a pat method for turning every event into "Rocky" where all these themes of redemption through achievement get milked, it's sopa opera by the time it hits our living rooms.

Now, ordinarily, you do not give a ding dang diddly about which human being on the planet can throw a shot put the furthest, but before you see the event, you've been treated to one of those mini movie profiles of the American competitor...."Spring comes late to the small Montana town of Flynn's Creek, and mornings remain quite frosty through April. Still, rising every morning at 4 am to......etc etc etc." We still don't give a damn about shot putting, but now we give a damn about Sammy Soandso, the American underdog, who overcame....cancer, polio, drug addiction, the loss of both of his parents in a tragic snowmobile accident, just pick from the list. He's dedicated his upcoming victory to his dying coach or his dead coach or his little brother who has Downs Syndrome, like that.

So, there are the Olympics, and there is what gets broadcast. What gets broadcast is little different from what would have been on anyway...soap opera, Oprah, boring sports you don't normally watch

[phenweigh]

Is Becky Hammon a traitor?

Background from wikipedia:

After getting the impression that she would once again fail to make the U.S. Women's National Basketball Team, Hammon announced she would try to claim a roster slot on the Russian basketball team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China[3]. Coach Anne Donovan, one of the most decorated figures in women's basketball and coach of the 2008 United States Women's Olympic Basketball team said concerning Hammon's decision, "If you play in this country, live in this country and you grow up in the heartland - and you put on a Russian uniform - you are not a patriotic person, in my mind."[4] This has fueled controversy in which Hammon has been labeled a traitor for choosing to directly compete against her country in an event long predicated on nationalistic pride.[5]

Hammon became a Russian citizen earlier in 2008. The coach of Russia's team, Igor Grudin, is also the sports director of the CSKA team that Hammon plays for in Moscow during the WNBA off-season. The announcement that she would participate in camps for the Russian national team came the same day that it was also announced that national team player (and CSKA teammate of Hammon's) Olga Arteshina had become pregnant. Hammon also signed a three-year extension with the CSKA team at around the same time she was named as a prospect for the national team.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

Is Becky Hammon a traitor?

Traitor to what? The US team didn't want her, why shouldn't she play for another team? Ths isn't national security or state secrets, it's playing sports. This is also some psychological Cold War relic dynamic, Russia isn't our enemy, if Hammon announced that she would be playing for the team from Chile or Australia, no one would be saying anything.

[Simp]

I bought what I thought was a push-broom at one of those big "home center" stores, to use around the yard - only to find it works better when I pull it. What gives?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Simp

I bought what I thought was a push-broom at one of those big "home center" stores, to use around the yard - only to find it works better when I pull it. What gives?

Your mistake was going to one of those home center stores instead of making your first stop at the GrandStore where we are now offering the absolute latest in high tech pushbrooms, the "GrandSweep DirtMaster 5000" which comes with more than 20 different efficiency settings so that you may sweep away a thin layer of dust, or bulldoze entire structures. Most pushbrooms force you to stop sweeping and pause while you shift furniture around in order to reach those otherwise untouched spots. With the GrandSweep DirtMaster 5000, no need for those time consuming steps, it knocks aside chairs, lampstands, tables, major appliances and home entertainment centers, making every inch of your home accessible.

[heyterry]

GS, is Simp just looking for another reason to justify "pulling it"?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by heyterry

GS, is Simp just looking for another reason to justify "pulling it"?

He said it works better for him and he's in the best postition to know.

[Zen653]

Why haven't we seen more one-term presidents seek non-sequential re-election? Other than Grover Cleveland who successfully pulled off the feat, Theodore Roosevelt is the only other one-term president to have tried it (I think.)

Also, why didn't any president until Franklin Roosevelt attempt to serve for three or more terms? I know there was a two term tradition established by George Washington, I'm just curious as to whether there were other factors at play that discouraged pursuit of a third term. Surely we had some post-Founding Father, pre-FDR presidents who could have been elected three or more times: Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland come to mind.

[perfectstormhits]

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

Why haven't we seen more one-term presidents seek non-sequential re-election? Other than Grover Cleveland who successfully pulled off the feat, Theodore Roosevelt is the only other one-term president to have tried it (I think.)

Also, why didn't any president until Franklin Roosevelt attempt to serve for three or more terms? I know there was a two term tradition established by George Washington, I'm just curious as to whether there were other factors at play that discouraged pursuit of a third term. Surely we had some post-Founding Father, pre-FDR presidents who could have been elected three or more times: Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland come to mind.

If rejected by their party for renomination, or the voters for reelection, such one term presidents seldom improve in personal standing or youthful vigor while waiting out the next four years. That only Cleveland has pulled it off suggests that it isn't easy and circumstances have to fall just right.

As for why no third terms other than FDR, case by case: Among the two terms, Jefferson was sick of the office and wanted out, his first term had gone well, his second had not. Madison was 65 and in poor personal finanicial shape when he left office, he felt the need to attend to his private life. Monroe was 66 and ready to retire. Jackson had determined in advance that two terms would be it for him, he would be 70 and he personally groomed Martin Van Buren to replace him and sustain his policies. Lincoln was too dead to go for a third term.

Now Grant, he did do it. In his last two years, scandals were breaking out all around him, the GOP had lost the majority in Congress and was in shambles. They did not want Grant back, so he sat out the 1876 contest and embarked on a two year world tour after his term expired. In 1880, Grant's former behind the scenes master, Senator Roscoe Conkling, threw the weight of the Stalwart wing of the GOP behind Grant and a third term. Grant was cooperative. However, the nation was getting fed up with the champions of corrupt patronage and the Stalwarts suffered defeat, reformer James Garfield got the nod and went to win and then be shot by a sore loser Stalwart. Anyway..there is one who at least tried.

Teddy R., in a moment of hubris that he regretted, celebrated his 1904 relection by promising not to run for a third term. He really wanted to stick around and was only fifty years old, but he felt that he had to keep his public pledge and he made way for his hand picked replacement, Taft. And of course, as you noted, he did take a shot at a third term, but like Grant, fired and fell back.

Wilson was too ill to serve a third term. Truman's popularity was in Turd City in 1952 thanks to the Korean War and MacArthur's cult. Ike was of course the first to be covered by the new constitutional restriction, but probably wouldn't have run had he been elligible. He was 70 years old and experienced a heart attack while in office.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by perfectstormhits

The next Geico ad.