That Football Thing

I'm not a football fan.  Especially the NFL, and it has nothing to do with the kneeling controversy.  I wasn't a fan for years before; I simply had better things to do on a Sunday afternoon.  But, it is impossible to not know that last week, a Brows player ripped the helmet off a Steelers player and smacked him with it.

And, the question becomes: Should he be criminally charged?  I think not, ad I'm happy to explain it.  It goes to something called implied consent and the Games People Play.

We can all pretty much agree that it's against the law to shoot someone, but if a bunch of folks get together to play paintball, it's good clean fun.  However, if you take that paintball gun into the Dollar General and light up the cashier, you can believe that the cops will be along soon to admonish you.  Consent is important.

Another example:  If I slip up behind my wife and kiss her on the neck, it's endearing.  But, if I try that with he clerk at the Dollar Store, the police will be along shortly.  It's all about Consent.

Laws vary from state to state, but pretty much everything that happens on a football field could be considered an assault, or a battery.  The simple act of suiting-up and stepping onto the field implies consent that you know you may  have the living-hell knocked out of you.  It's part of the game.  It has rules and it has penalties, and the players are disciplined for breaking the rules.

I don't watch much football, and especially not at the NFL level.  I believe that they are overpaid, pampered prima-donnas who generally spend too much time playing a child's game.   But, its a huge money-maker and I understand why some people like it.  I simply have better things to doon Sunday afternoon.

Absolute Silliness

I see that the city of Portland has banned urinals in a remodel of a town building.

The City of Portland has banned urinals in the $195 million remodel of the Portland Building, which houses administrative offices for the city. While urinals use less water than toilets, they are a relic of a bygone era when men and women were recognized as biologically different.

On reflection, Belle and I own four gender-neutral bathrooms.  One in the master suite, one in the hallway, on in the little pool house and one in the shop.  I built two of hose (pool house and shop) with my own hands, drawing inspiration from Belle's sense of style and function, but I don't own a single urinal.

Still, in public buildings, urinals save space and water.  They are efficient.  If the city of Portland wants to embrace inefficiency, that's on them.  They are the government, after all, and governments are not known for being efficient.

But, there are only two genders.  Men and women are different, and I applaud that difference every day.

The Big Question

SO, the big question around the water cooler is what Pete Rozelle... Roger Goodell is going to do about the horrible, terrible endings of the Saints game and the Rams game last weekend.

Folks are asking whether the NFL is a sports league, where we can reasonably expect the officials to enforce the rules, or whether the NFL is now pure entertainment, where games are rigged to fit a preferred narrative?  It's a good question.

Not that I care, but it is amusing to watch sports fans to debate the issue.  I have better things to do on a Sunday afternoon than to watch a bunch of  overpaid idiots keel before the flag.  The last Super Bowl I watched was the weekend I met my gal.  We met at a Super Bowl party the last weekend in January, 2001.   Nowadays, they don't play the Super Bowl until sometime in February, so Belle and I don't have a mini-anniversary at the Super Bowl.  It's in the wrong month. 

Now, Goodell doesn't care whether Belle and I have a mini-anniversary, and it's becoming clear that he doesn't care if there is a perception that not one, but two championship games were rigged.

Which is why I don't watch Championship Wrestling, either.

Finally PC

It seems that I'm finally politically correct.  After years of dumb, uneducated, deep South redneck hick, stubbornly clinging to my Bible and my guns, it seems that the language police have come around to my way of thinking.

I shit you not.  The southern second-person-plural "y'all" is now the gender neutral preferred term for indicating a group of people.  Yeah, really.

I’ve heard that people weirdly hesitate to use the word because they would feel like culture vultures, appropriating either black slang or the language of the South. And yet this is one of the only words where that kind of hesitation seems to hold any sway... If anybody gets defensive over white northerners using  y’all, it’s most likely because those same white northerners teased them for using it in the past.

So, look, I"m glad y'all are finally coming around to my way of thinking.  It's for us for generations.  You're welcome.

Utter Nonsense

I just saw this nonsense on the Book of Face.

I honestly don't give a damn.  I'm not boycotting them, I just don't care.  The last NFL game that I actually cared about was Super Bowl 2001, when I invited Belle to met me at the party.  She and I had never mt face-to-face (we were just messaging at the time) and I told her that I"d be at the party at JJs Lounge if she wanted to meet me face-to-face.

She showed up about halftime, and we had a couple of drinks, had a few laughs and she left before the game was over.  We went dancing the next weekend, and we've been together ever since.

Honestly, I don't give a shit what the NFL does.  It really doesn't matter to me.  They are a bunch of overpaid men, playing a junior-high game.

Take A Knee

I see that the NFL is revising it's "take a knee" policy, and the usual suspects are outraged.  Hot Air has a good round-up, and the whiney twits are coming out in force.  I say "twits" because they're twitter-ing.

It's racist, and it's all about the First Amendment.

Dude!  Spare me.  These overpaid employees can say whatever they want to say when they're off the clock, but the First Amendment doesn't has limits.  I know, for example, that I criticize my boss at my own peril.  And, I know that the things I say can rear up and bite me on the butt.

Of course, none of this really matters to me on a personal level.  I quit watching the NFL several years ago for reasons just such as the kneeling kerfluffle.  Personally, if someone won't stand for the American flag, I don't have much respect for them anyway. 

Friday Thoughts

I wonder how many NFL players are going to kneel this weekend.? Not that I care, just wondering.  I won't be watching.  It seems that one NFL player has told fans that if they're upset, just don't come to the game.  It will be interesting to see how many people take his advice.  Insty says that NFL ticket sales are down.  That sounds about right to me.

This week, the bullshit has been intense, but I'm an old hand at bureaucratic nonsense. Just let it slide off.  It's Friday and I get to go home, spend Happy Hour with my favorite gal, and watch the sun set.   As the old comedy show advised, "that was the week that was, it's over let it go."

Tomorrow, I plan to get into a gunfight, or at least practice at gunfighting.  The guns are cleaned, the ammo is loaded, and the weekend is upon me. 

Nonsensical

The big news this morning is the spreading NFL protest and the fans reaction to it.  Talks of boycotts and fans burning NFL memorabilia.  It's all quite controversial.

And, I admit that I'm a bit confused.  Evidently, it's about blacks being repressed, although I'm hard pressed to understand how overpaid, muiti-millionaires can say that they're being oppressed.  So, I did some Googling and found the article.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

That seems to be a nonsensical reason to take a knee during the national anthem.   It looks to me like it is protest for the sake of protest.  Some folks defend it as a First Amendment right.  I aslo note with some amusement that the guy who started it doesn't have a job this year.

The other players joining the protest should remember that.  Your protest might cost you your job.  When you start hurting the bottom line of your company, you're likely to find yourself protesting in the unemployment line.  I firmly stand with the players right to protest.  I also firmly stand with the owners right to run their sorry assess up the road.

I also stand my my right to laugh at the whole thing.  It's silliness, a protest without any real goals.  It's controversy for the sake of controversy.  No one expects anything to change, and I can't see that the players are taking any actions that would lead to change.  Yet, that's their right.  In America, you have the right to be nonsensical, but you don't have the right to expect me to take you seriously.

As for myself, I boycotted the NFL twenty years ago.  I had better things to do on a Sunday afternoon than watch a bunch of overpaid athletes screw up a good game.  I'm glad to see that more of America is taking up my boycott.

The .45 Smith and Wesson

One of the archaic cartridges from the late 19th century is the .45 Smith and Wesson.  Also called the Schofield, it was designed to fit the Smith and Wesson #3 American revolver.    Oh, heck, I'll let Wikipedia tell you about it.

The .45 Schofield or .45 Smith & Wesson is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson for their S&W Model 3 American top-break revolver. It is similar to the .45 Colt round though shorter and with a slightly larger rim, and will generally work in revolvers chambered for that cartridge. US government arsenals supplied .45 Schofield cartridges for the Schofield revolver and the Colt Army revolver to simplify their armament needs.[1] 45 Colt cartridges cannot be used in .45 Schofield firearms, since the .45 Colt is a longer cartridge.

It's interesting that back in those days, different manufacturers made small changes in cartridge dimensions to satisfy legal concerns.  This time was before SAAMI, and cartridges were proprietary. Still, a look at the drawings shows us the almost minuscule  differences between the two.

First the Colt.

Now, the Smith and Wesson

The Smith and Wesson is a fairly moribund cartridge today but the drawings still exist, and ammo is available, so we know that brass is available.

Proprietary cartridges were a problem in the late 1800s and they are a problem today.  Sometimes, contractual restrictions get in the way of real progress, so workarounds become necessary.  I realize that I'm being obtuse, but there are good reasons for that.  The question remains, though;  If we can't use .45 Colt brass, why can't we use Schofield brass?

This is a question that deserves an answer, and I'll have to look further into this.   Exit question:  Who besides Starline makes brass in the US and might be amenable to a fairly large custom order?

I'm going to leave this right here so that I can find it later.

Facebook, Again

I use the Book of Face to keep up (mainly) with the goings-on in the CFDA.  Every club has a Facebook page and the association has a Facebook page.  It's a good way to see what other clubs and friends are doing in the sport.  But, my news feed brings items of mirth sometimes and this morning had a doozy.

Right off the top of my head, there's Amarillo, Fort Worth, and Beaumont.  Getting down to smaller cities and towns, there is Kounze, Vidor, Midland, and Waco.  Then there's Tyler,   All this right off the top of my head without consulting an atlas, or doing a Google search.

The people who post these things must be idiots.

Non-Serious People

Lawmakers should be serious people.  Sure, there's a time for frivolity in everyone's life, but we should expect elected officials to be serious people.  Unlike this fellow:

California Sen. Toni Atkins (D) wants to clear away all the bureaucratic red tape that stands in the way of Sara Kelly Keenan getting a state ID and/or driver’s license that reflects what Keenan sees as her true gender identity: non-binary.

For official purposes, such as a government ID or driver's license, it really doesn't matter what you consider yourself to be; all that really matters is whether you have or don't have a Y chromosome.

For the record, I don't really care if you're L, B, G, T, or Q.  That simply doesn't matter.  I don't care how you dress or who you sleep with.  That doesn't matter to me one whit.  It wouldn't even bother me if the government didn't have a gender block on IDs.

But, regardless, you don't get to choose your gender.  Either you have a Y chromosome or you don't.  It's not about feelings, it's not about identity, it's simple science.  And, these folks don't want to be science deniers,do they?

Soak the Taxpayer

Would someone explain to me why taxpayers are expected to pony up money to pay for football stadiums that the NFL wants to use?  I know that the state of Louisiana built the Superdome for the Saints, and now it looks like the state of Nevada is considering a new stadium.

Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) on Wednesday said he will call the legislature into session to consider using state money for the new stadium, along with separate measures to deal with an expected budget shortfall and education funding.

It seems to me that if Nevada has a budget shortfall and education problems, iti should be pouring its money into those things before it builds a stadium.  Don't bother telling me that if the state builds the stadium, the stadium will bring in outside money in the form of hotel rooms, restaurant revenue..  If the NFL built the stadium with its own money, the hotels would still fill up, the restaurants would be busy.  The state doesn't need to get involved with that.  If the NFL's business model relys on public stadiums, then it is a poor business model.  Perhaps they should start paying the players less to create controversy.  I'm nust sayin'.

Personally, I don't watch much football.  I particularly don't give a crap about the NFL. Inn my mind, they're a bunch of overpaid prima-donnas playing a child's game.  I do like high school and college ball, and I may watch a part of tthe Super Bowl, but in the main, I believe NFL ball to be a big yawner.

And, I don't see why taxpayers should be involved in it at all.

Oh, the Vapors

Some folks tend to get the vapors about gun safety, and while gun safety is extremely important, it is also important to know how a rule is applied and what that rule really means.  Jeff Cooper promulgated the Four Rules, but meant to keep them simple, easy to remember, and applied with common sense.  As I recall, he continued to explain his rules up until the end of his life.

For example, his rule 2, which stated: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.  Obviously, this meant guns in use, or guns that you have not verified the condition.  For example, it is impossible for me to not point the muzzle of my gun at the inside top of my gun safe, or the ceiling of my gun room, or even the cushion of the chair in which I'm sitting right now with a holstered pistol.  Sometimes the muzzle of the gun will cover things that you're not willing to destroy.  Use common sense.

Which brings us to this little artifact, a shoe top barrel rest made by the Allen Company.

The Firearm Blog is up in the vapors about this little device.

So shooters get complacent and rest the barrel of the gun on their shoe. This accessory will help keep your shoe from getting dirty. Since the guns are single shot and typically left open they are rationalized as being safe to flag oneself. However this does violate one of the firearm safety rules. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Your foot is not a safe direction.

I admit I used to see these used quite a bit at high-end trap and skeet clubs.  Allen has sold thousands, if not tens of thousands of these over the years.  A high-end trap or skeet gun is normally either a double barrel or single barrel, and the gun is loaded only when the shooter steps to the line.  Now, a shotgun barrel is only a high-tech piece of pipe and you can see all the way down it.  If you can look into the breech of the gun and see grass out the other end, then we can be pretty certain that it's not loaded.

I first saw these things used at the McBride Rod and Gun Club back in the '60s and if Allen is still making them, I'm sure that someone is using them.

While we should all be safety conscious, we should also be sensible.  When people get the vapors about something like this, I ask them where they store their guns, and what they do about muzzle discipline?  Or, do they just leave their guns in a rack, outside, exposed to the clear blue sky?

Gunfighting

I was reminded this morning this morning in the pre-dawn darkness that I let an anniversary pass with no fanfare.  In April of 1981, I first put on a badge and strapped on a duty belt as a police officer.  Thirty five years as a peace officer.  I'm now in the autumn of my career, and it's been a good one.

What reminded me of the anniversary was a comment thread on The Book of Face talking about gun fights.  The guy posting said that they are generally short, fast, and lethal.  For years, gun fights fell into what we call the 3-3-3 rule, which meant that the majority of real-world gun fights happen in 3 seconds, with 3 shots, inside of 3 yards.  They're very fast, close and personal. You can google it yourself, and while some of the gun fights that make the news fall outside of those parameters, we compile data and we compare averages, and those hold up fairly well.

I've been in two real-world gunfights in my 35 years.  Neither one of them met the standard. In one, no shots were fired, in the other, only one side did any shooting.  Weird, but I consider them my closest to being in a gunfight.

The first, my partner and I were serving an arrest warrant at a home on the edge of town.  The house was a stick structure, an off-the-ground frame house.  We knocked on the door, we heard moving feet, a woman answered the door and, visibly distraught, told us that our perp had just run out the back door.  And that he had a gun.

I was first in the door, and saw the screen door on the back of the home, swing shut.  My partner bolted around the house and I went through the back door.   The only thing in the back yard was a clothesline and a small storage building, so I drew my revolver, saw my partner come around the side of the house and we closed on the storage building.

My partner gestured to me to look behind the building, so I started "cutting the pie" around the back of the building and saw my perp, looking toward where my partner was approaching.  I took a good sight picture on his spine between his shoulder blades and calmly told him that I was about to shoot him down if he didn't surrender.  I don't remember my exact words.  The perp surrendered.  We cuffed him and stuffed him, and I consider that my first gunfight.  I had cleared leather, identified a target, and he surrendered before I had to shoot him.  Everyone went home safe.  Except for the perp, who went to jail safe.  I still remember his name, and I'm pretty sure that he's through serving his sentence.

The second gunfight is more problematic. I didn't even realize I was in a gunfight until it was over.

I had stopped to help a fellow officer with some task (honestly, I don't recall, probably a traffic accident).  Several of us were standing nearby, when we heard a Pop, Pop, Pop. I heard a bullet whistle past, and we ducked.  Some jazzbo had decided to do a drive-by on the Po-Po. Another officer who was responding took him down about 100 yards away without incident.  I consider that my second shooting-related incident.  No one was hurt, and I don't even remember that guy's name.

In the intervening years, I've shot IPSC, USPSA, the standard police training. I've been on two SWAT teams.  Now I'm shooting Cowboy Fast Draw. It's a heck of a lot of fun, but don't confuse it with a real-world gunfight.  What you see in the movies, or on TV, isn't anything like the real world.

As far as I know, the 3-3-3 rule still applies.  Training is good, training is great, training keeps your skill-set sharp, but don't confuse it with the real world either.

Shows Cancelled

Okay, I've got to wonder about this.

Bruce Springsteen has cancelled a show in North Carolina over their new bathroom law.

Ringo Starr has cancelled a show in North Carolina over the new bathroom law.

I understand a host of other folks are cancelling shows over the bathroom law. Google it yourself.

Call me simple, call me stupid, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to know which bathroom you're supposed to use.  If you have a penis, for example, use the men's room.  It's really pretty simple.  We've been using this procedure for lots of years and it's fine.  Really it is.  Many places have unisex facilites, normally what we used to call a one-holer.  A small room with a single toilet and wash basin.  That works great too.  Go in, lock the door, they all work the same way.

The LGBT crowd is all up in outrage because they feel that the law discriminates, but I fail to see the discrimination.  I can't use the ladies room, because I'm not a female.  It's that penis thing again.  The law applies equally.

I understand that Mississippi is also working on a law, that if passed, will take the state "back to the stone age".  Not my words, their words.  Bryan Adams has cancelled a show at one of the Tunica casinos and I'm sure that both of his fans are disappointed.  The casino involved will probably not suffer a loss on the show, because now they don't have to comp any tickets.  The slot machines will not be affected.

For the record, I am not anti-LGBT.  Quite the contrary.  I'm also not easily outraged.  These laws seem to be balanced on the face, not discriminatory, and actually fairly reasonable.  If you have a penis, use the men's room.

Am I missing something here?

Cosmo Teams With Bloomberg

Cosmopolitan magazine is teaming with Bloomberg's Everytown to make gun control a thing among readers of Cosmopolitan.According to PJ EMedia:

Cosmopolitan announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety (I'm not going to link it) to push a gun control agenda.

I didn't know anyone read Cosmo anymore. Is it even available on newsstands?  Regardless, Bloomberg's message is falling on hard times, with millions of Americans endorsing gun ownership.  President Obama drives that, becoming the greatest gun salesman in modern times.  If he's looking for a legacy, he's found one right there. Over he last seven years, gun manufacturers have prospered beyond their wildest dreams, outperforming the Dow and the S&P500.  They're selling everything they can make.

But, Cosmo's continuing descent into irrelevance is comical.

The magazine will run a propaganda piece in the March issue called "Singled Out," warning single women they may be dating a man who is a firearms owner. And he may become "disgruntled."

If I was dating a woman who read Cosmo, I'd be disgruntled too.  Fortunately, even before I met Milady fifteen years ago, the women I dated were strong, determined women who knew about guns and probably owned several.  We didn't talk about it, unless the subject just happened to come up, but any southern woman dating a man should expect that he owns guns.  And vice-versa.There is no reason to bring up a subject that should be painfully obvious.  Of course I own guns.  Why do you ask.

Shortly after I met Milady, we were hanging around one Sunday afternoon and she asked me to look at a revolver she called a "Saturday Night Special".  I asked her to take it out and she showed me a pristine SW Model 28-2.  Decidedly not an inexpensive firearm.  Of course, as our relationship firmed up and deepened, shooting was a part of it.

Now, several years later, Milady is a seasoned competitive shooter in her own right.

Of course, if Cosmo wants to team with Bloomberg, that's okay.  It's a free country.  It must suck, though to be on thhe losing end of both business and history.

CFDA - The Rules

Every game has rules, and those rules change over time.  The idea of a rule is to standardize a competition so that it proceeds in a predictable fashion.  The CFDA has a rule book that it available to everyone.  Occasionally, adendums are issued to promulgate changes to the rules.  Additionally, the director has set forth some tests that a rule must meet.  1) Safety, 2) Necessity, 3) Spirit and Integrity of the Game, and 4) Enforceability.

Under test #2 Necessity, the guidelines plainly state:

The second test of any rule, is the necessity of the rule itself. We could have a rulebook that is a foot thick, I’ve seen them and had to deal with them in other shooting sports. Yes, we do need a set of solid rules that govern, define and provide parameters for our sport. But if we don’t need a rule, let’s not have one to enforce.

That makes sense to me.  If you don't need a rule, then let's not have a rule.  Still, the rules change from time to time and in this month's Gunslinger's Gazette, we find a little leaflet with rules addendums.  One in particular has caused some consternation among the membership, and I'll reprint it in it's entirety for discussion.

Page 23. Technical Violations (Add)#17.DISCHARGING THE GUN WITH THE MUZZLE BEHIND THE HOLSTER IS NOT ALLOWED. It must be clearly obvious to the Line Judge that the front end of the barrel is in front of the outside of the holster pouch cut.
Note: Upon the first warning, the Range Master will assign a Line Judge who's decision will be final.

We got our Gazette last week, but life intruded and we didn't have time to study it.  On Saturday morning as we were walking out the door to the club shoot, Blue Eyed Belle found the addendum and I recommended that she read it to me as we drove to the club.  When she got to the new muzzle rule, I commented "Well, that will stir up some crap."

I was right.  By the time I got home that afternoon and sat down at the computer, the forums had exploded.  Lots of folks upset at the rule, so here's my thoughts on it.

1) I've been in several shooting sports over the years and it has always been my firm conviction that I wanted the muzzle of the gun past the line tangential to my belly button before I hit the bang switch. I do not want to ventilate myself with the handgun.  We use reduced power ammunition in the CFDA game, but that doesn't mean that you can't hurt yourself with it.  Safety First is our motto, as it rightfully should be.   This rule only requires us to have the muzzle forward of the holster.

2)  In the few hours I've spent with our Director, I believe him to have the best interest of the game at heart.  I don't think he'd do anything to hurt the game, or to diminish it in any way.  He may not have fully explained the reasoning behind the rule, but that will be forthcoming.  There is no reason to assign nefarious intent.  This rule may have been forced by liability, or insurance rules, or any number of outside factors.

3) Granted, some folks spend lots of time analyzing their draw, taking video, applying scientific methods and trying to reduce every extraneous movement.  They're competitive, I get it.  We all want to do well and they've spent hours, multiple hours over multiple months, practicing the draw, making changes, trying to be the very best that they can be.  Now, with this rule, they've got to make further adjustments.  This is a game of milliseconds, and every one of those milliseconds means something.
To those folks, I agree, it's tough.

4) Enforceability may be the biggest hurdle for this rule.  The hand judge is the front line of our safety efforts.  The hand judge is assigned to a particular shooter and the responsibilities of the hand judge are too numerous to go into in this post.  But at the moment of the SET command the hand judge is watching several things simultaneously.  She's watching the position of the gun in the holster, she's watching the timing of the light, she's looking for the shooter anticipating the light,   Additionally, she's positioned behind the strong side of the shooter and the angle of her vision may be such that she is unable to observe the precise position of the muzzle at the instant of firing.  This is a game of milliseconds and when the light illuminates, it's faster than the human eye can blink.  The enforceability of this rule will be based on the "clearly obvious" wording before a Line Judge is appointed to watch specifically for this violation.

In short, I think that this is a rule that will be widely understood and rarely invoked.

In summary, I think the rule makes sense.  Yes, it will cause the fastest shooters to make some adjustments and to those guys and gals, I empathize.  You've worked hard to get to the pinnacle of the game and now you've got to make changes.  I feel your pain.But, you'll survive, get stronger, and probably faster.  

**Update**  The Director of CFDA has put an explanation of the rule change on the CFDA Telegraph.  You can go there for the full explanation.  Go to the link for the full explanation, but the pertinent parts are here.

In the first two seasons following this decision, my first concern was that I noticed an increase in shooters that had shot the front cut of their holsters, which did bring up safety concerns. After all, this issue was originally classified under the 2004 Safety Rules.

In the past two seasons, my concerns have grown with the fact that shooters, including some youth and newer shooters are working very hard to practice the "Dump Draw". Dump Draws are made possible by being able to pull the six-gun straight back, while pushing the grips down, and discharging the gun with the front of the muzzle behind the front of the holster pouch. Some are even firing the gun with the front of the muzzle behind the back of the holster pouch. This very type of draw is in direct conflict with the original principles that CFDA was founded upon.

Again, you can go to the link for the whole explanation, but Cal's reasoning makes sense to me.

Beat Alabama

PawPaw doesn't post much about football, but I'm an LSU Tiger fan, and one thing has become increasingly clear.  LSU head coach Les Miles is totally unsuited to the job for the simple reason that he doesn't know how to beat Alabama.

There is no dishonor in losing a hard-fought football game.  There is dishonor, however, in going out on the field against a strong, tough opponent and being totally unprepared for the challenge ahead.  If you watched the game this past Saturday between LSU and Alabama, you know what I mean.  LSU's offense was not only outscored, they were demoralized, beaten, whipped.  It was disgusting to watch.

Military commanders understand the concept of Objective, and it's plain that Les Miles doesn't understand his one objective:  Beat Alabama.  In that he has failed, time and time again.  In the last nine games, LSU has overcome Alabama exactly twice, and haven't prevailed against them since 2011.  Personally, I would have fired Miles in the minutes after the disastrous 21-0 loss during the National Championship game in January, 2012.  For some reason, LSU decided to stay with Miles, but I would have sent his ass up the road.

Maybe it's time to re-write Les Miles' contract, with exactly one performance objective, and spell out the penalty for failing to meet that objective.  It should read something like this.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE: BEAT ALABAMA

The Head Coach, by accepting this contract, understands that his one performance objective is to beat Alabama.  Nothing else matters but the numbers on the board at the end of the game.  All rules of the NCAA and the SEC must be followed, but his job depends on that game. 

To that end, before kickoff of the LSU-Alabama game, the Head Coach will pack his personal belongings from his office, the locker room, and any other facility owned by LSU.  He will surrender his keys to an assistant coach of his choosing.  If, at the end of thell game, LSU has lost to Alabama, the Head Coach will be immediately escorted off the campus, never to return to LSU.  He will forfeit all pay, allowances, and perquisites.

I'm sure that the lawyers will do a better job of drafting that contract, but the basic idea is simple.  If he doesn't beat Alabama, he's not allowed back on campus. He's already packed his office, the assistant coach can put his boxes on UPS.

But, in the short term, it's simple.  It's time for Coach Miles to go.

Finally Friday

It's finally Friday, after a hellacious busy week, Nothing seemed to go right this week, but we turn our eyes now, thankfully, to the weekend.  Rain is predicted, so PawPaw will kick back and relax.  We have a meeting at the Thorn Valley range, a final coordination meeting to prepare for our Invitational Shoot next weekend.  We're hearing from lots of shooters and the extended forecast looks like it will be a nice weekend.  I'll be praying for sunny skies and cool temps.

But, in the near term, tomorrow is the LSU - Alabama game.  Our arch-nemesis, led by a traitor.  For those who don't follow such things, Nick Saban was the head coach at LSU before he jumped ship and went to Tuscaloosa.  His name is mud in Louisiana, and I don't think that Saban can even buy a honey-bun at a gas station in Louisiana.

So, tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m., we get a chance to beat some pachyderm butt.  Even though the game is in Tuscaloosa, and Milady's family is from Tuscaloosa, Milady was raised in Louisiana and she attended LSU.  She's rooting for the Tigers, as we all are.  PawPaw will be sure to get some munchies so that we can sit on the couch and watch the game from our electronic 50-yard line.

All You Win, Really, is Respect.

I'd like to apologize to my regular readers.  I'm going to talk about some obscure rules from the CFDA, and sportsmanship, and governing bodies.  Trivia, actually, about the rules of the game.

There's a discussion going on in the CFDA right now about sportsmanship, time limits, and recovery shots.  As I understand the rules today, recovery shots are allowed, but a competitor can only fire once per lit target.  The problem comes in when a competitor "slips" the hammer.  This is an unintentional mistake when the thumb slips and the revolver isn't fully cocked.  The current rules allow the shooter to fully cock the revolver and fire his shot.

However, ours is a game of speed.  If we have two competitors on the line and they're going fast, and one competitor fires his shot  but misses, the other competitor can take his time, aim at the target and hit it for a win.  Some claim that this is poor sportsmanship, that a competitor should not take advantage of another shooter's missed shot.

When you're going fast, you're going to miss.  We should all strive to hit the target, and that's the only way to get a score.  Still, mistakes happen, and occasionally some of us will slip-cock a hammer.  It happens.

We have Marshals in our sport, and occasionally they get together and talk about the rules and changes to the rules.  One of the items on the agenda is entitled Should There Be a Time Limit For a Recorded Hit? - Discussion (CFDA).  This discussion should be spirited, and although I'm not a Marshal, I have a forum.   Some are recommending a 1.25 or 1.5 second limit for a recorded shot.  Here's my two cents worth.

The goal of the game is to hit the target and to hit the target faster than the competitor next to you.  The match system that we use tends to bring the faster shooters to the top of the rankings, but sometimes weird things happen.  I was at a club shoot in Texas last June, and was privileged to be shooting with some great shooters.  At one stage of the match, one very fast adult shooter was paired with a brand-new 12-year-old.  As the individual match progressed, the sub-4s adult shooter was beaten handily by the 1.5 second youth shooter, simply because the kid was hitting the target.  There were no trophies on the line, just two shooters of wildly differing ability standing on the line.  The kid won that little match, and afterwards they talked about the game and the intricacies of drawing a Colt revolver.  Respect, really, is all we win.

At a large match in Odessa in July, I collected my Xs early and sat to watch the show.  I saw two nationally ranked shooters on the line and one of them slipped his hammer, then took his recovery.  He won that shot with a 1.8.  No one accused him of unsportsmanlike conduct.  It was a fair shot, fairly taken within the rules.  Yet, under the proposed rule, his shot would not have counted.

Many of our shooters are slow by championship standards.  I'm abysmally slow, shooting in the 7s, but I try to hit every target. Some of the youth and female shooters are slower than I.  Yet, even those slow shooters like the sport, and sometimes the sun shines on them, like this little clip from that shoot in Odessa where my lady won her minor prize, shooting against a noted champion.  Hitting counts.



Her shot, if you listen to the audio, was a 1.271.  It was also her fastest shot of the day.  She's slow, but she hits.  Her opposing shooter, who I won't name, will be recognized by the organization as a very big name in the game.  We talked later, and she told Calamity that she decided to shoot her draw, to play the game wide  open and let the timers tell the tale.  I have enormous respect for that lady, and I cheer for her every time she comes on the line.  All we win, really, is respect, and I respect her for her accomplishments, and for her sense of sportsmanship.

The tale may be apocryphal, but Wyatt Earp is widely quoted as saying "Speed is fine, but Accuracy is final."  While the spirit of the game is to go fast, the timers only record a hit.  Our goal should be to hit the target.  The association may set a time limit on a recorded shot, but should be careful to not set the limit so fast that we exclude shooters who love the game but are slow.  Lots of folks who love this game never intend to win a prize, but when they do, it is all the sweeter.

Let's take a moment to realize that we're not all championship shooters.  The match format will  normally drive the faster shooters forward.  Remember the several thousand of us out there who are slow, but still  love to play the game.

All that you win, really, is respect.