NBC Sports: MLB 1980-World Series-Game 6-Kansas City Royals @ Philadelphia Phillies: Full Game

Source:NBC Sports- Philadelphia Phillies closer Tug McGraw.

Source:The New Democrat

“Kansas City Royals 1 at Philadelphia Phillies 4, F — With the Phillies just one tantalizing out away from a Championship, Tug McGraw got ahead on Willie Wilson, then struck him out swinging at a 1-2 fastball. McGraw threw his arms up, his teammates jumped all over each other, and the franchise had its first baseball championship.”

From MLB Vault

1980 might have been the best Kansas Royals team that they ever had. They had a very good lineup offensively, good defense, good pitching both starting and in the bullpen, Jim Fry was their manager. Unlike the 85 team that was really just George Brett and Hal McRae offensively. Steve Balboni hit a lot of home runs for them, but drove in under ninety runs, which isn’t much for a guy who hits thirty-six home runs and also hit around 240 and struck out a lot. But the 80 Royals had balance offensively, defensively and in their pitching. But couldn’t even force the Phillies into a game 7.

The 1980 Phillies were just very good everywhere. Not a great lineup with a lot of great players, but very good hitters up and down the lineup. They were very good defensively and had excellent pitching. With Steve Carlton as their ace and Tug McGraw in the bullpen. Not a team with any clear weakness’ and they were just the best team in the National League throughout the 1980 season. And a team that finally put it all together after getting to the NL Playoffs in 76 and 78, but losing both NL Championships to the Los Angeles Dodgers. So 1980 was a year that the Phillies believed they had something to prove and came through.

CBS Sports: NBA 1975- Washington Wizards @ Buffalo Braves: Bob McAdoo's 50 Points

Source:CBS Sports- the Wizards and Braves in the 1975 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Source:The New Democrat  

"Bob McAdoo puts up one of the best playoffs scoring performances ever. He scores 50 points, despite the fact that the Bullets have a four defender rotation on Big Mac. McAdoo also crashed the boards as he had 10 in the 3rd quarter, I don't know how much he could have had for the whole game. A well-deserved standing ovation from the noisy Buffalo crowd, an out-of-his-mind Oscar Robertson screaming while announcing the game and the series tied at 2-2 after McAdoo's career game. April 18, 1975." 

From Lamar Matic

Anytime there’s a choice between having the player who scored the most points in a game and the team that scored the most points in a game, especially a playoff game I would always take the team. 

When one player scores fifty points and his team loses, it generally means he was doing most of the scoring for his team in that game. And that his teammates weren’t doing much damage to the other team. Classic example of Michael Jordan vs. the Boston Celtics in the 1986 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, where he scored sixty points in back-to-back games, but the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls in both games and beat them badly.

That is how you defended Bob McAdoo when he was with the Buffalo Braves. You guarded him tough and you tried to stop him. But not to the point where it would free up other Braves to beat you with open shots and layups. 

Now it so happens that the Braves won this game and Big Bob was able to put the Braves on his back. But the Bullets won this series, because they had a better team, even if the Braves had the better player in the series. 

Good teams, or in the Bullets case very good teams, if not great teams generally beat teams that have a great player, if that player doesn’t have a very good supporting cast around him. 

Mometrix Academy: What is Social Liberalism

Source:Mometrix Academy- Not socialism. 

Source:FRS FreeState

"Learn more about social liberalism and its roots. Know what social liberals believe and why. Make sure you are prepared for your exam.

Mometrix Academy is the world's most comprehensive test preparation company. This channel will provide you with videos that will help you learn about many different subjects."

Source:Monetrix Academy

In this post, I’m just going to get into what social liberalism is and what it isn’t. What it really is and what it really isn’t and I’m writing this especially this weekend when I hear people who are called ‘college Liberals’ who want to control speech they disagree with on campus. And have it eliminated, or outlawed as if these people are Liberals, or even Social Liberals. Because they want to eliminate speech that may offend people they want to protect. When the fact is for anyone who understands liberalism social, or otherwise knows that one of the key elements of liberalism is free speech and the right to free assembly.

Just look at the First Amendment which is one of the most liberal things ever written. Paraphrase- Congress shall make no law that fringes on free speech in America. So when talking about liberalism social, or otherwise, or studying it, make sure you are actually talking about liberalism and not fascism. Like these politically correct speech codes by the Far-Left in America that want to eliminate speech in America that they find offensive. Because these people aren’t Liberals, but Fascists, or leftist statists. Which is a bit different.

So free speech is a big part of social liberalism, but it is certainly not the only part. And when Americans tend to think of social liberalism, they tend to think of people are pro-choice on abortion and other women’s healthcare issues. And that even the state meaning government in general should have to fund these things for women who can’t afford them in general. As well as being pro-women’s rights in general and pro-gay rights and pro-minority rights. And that none of these groups should be discriminated against at all. When the fact is these things aren’t true. Liberals, are pro-individual rights which is different.

That we are all created equal with certain basic fundamental rights that can’t be taken away from us unless we hurt other people’s freedom. And being pro-individual rights covers everything from abortion to homosexuality. But also things like marijuana. But also gambling and pornography. And again free speech which even covers an individual’s right to quite frankly be an asshole and say and do offensive things. And that everyone is treated equally under law. And are not denied things based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality or sexuality.

A good way to think of social liberalism, or a Social Liberal is someone whose pro-choice. Literally pro-choice across the board regardless of the issue. As long as people aren’t hurting innocent people with the choices that they are making. That people should have the right to make their own bed in life and make their own way. But then are also responsible for sleeping in their own beds. In other words, individual freedom and responsibility. And not being able to force others to pay for one’s bad choices in life.

As for what the women in this video had to say about social liberalism, who will go nameless simply, because she didn’t give out her name and I don’t personally know her, or know of her. She nailed the definition of liberalism in the broader context. And perfectly laid out how liberalism, or how she called it social liberalism is different from libertarianism, or what is called classical liberalism. Or even democratic socialism, even though she didn’t mention that. That liberalism, is about individual liberty and individual rights. But that those rights are for everybody and that where government in is not to manage our lives for us. But to help people in need be able to get by in the short-term and help them be able to live in freedom as well. And not need to be taken care of.

NBC Sports: MLB 1984- St. Louis Cardinals @ Chicago Cubs: Game of The Week

Source:NBC Sports with the MLB Game of The Week.

Source:The Daily Press

“MLB 1984 06 23 84 Cardinals at Cubs”

From Larry's Classic Sports

The baseball game that seemed like it would never end. A classic game in this great Cardinals-Cubs rivalry, great rivalry even though the Cardinals are traditional winners and champions. And the Cubs generally are not only losers, but tend to finish way out of contention.

This was a great game, if you hate pitching and perhaps see pitching as an inconvenience to slugfests and perhaps as a necessary evil that is necessary so that baseball games actually come to conclusion at some point.

This game was essentially a home run derby where the team that could find away to get more outs and scored last was going to win. But not a great game in the sense that it was a great all around played game with good pitching, defense, and with timely hitting, that went down to last outs and into the ninth inning not knowing who was going to win at the end.

Foreign Affairs: Francis Fukuyama: ‘The Future of History: Can Liberal Democracy Survive the Decline of the Middle Class’

Source:Foreign Affairs- welcome to Washington.

Source:FRS FreeState

“Something strange is going on in the world today. The global financial crisis that began in 2008 and the ongoing crisis of the euro are both products of the model of lightly regulated financial capitalism that emerged over the past three decades. Yet despite widespread anger at Wall Street bailouts, there has been no great upsurge of left-wing American populism in response. It is conceivable that the Occupy Wall Street movement will gain traction, but the most dynamic recent populist movement to date has been the right-wing Tea Party, whose main target is the regulatory state that seeks to protect ordinary people from financial speculators. Something similar is true in Europe as well, where the left is anemic and right-wing populist parties are on the move.”

From Foreign Affairs

I saw a blog post last night on The Dish with Andrew Sullivan which is also on WordPress (if you are interested in The Dish) and Sullivan’s piece was called: “Why hasn’t there been a Liberal version of the Tea Party” I’m paraphrasing, but that is pretty close to the title of it. Referring to groups like Occupy Wall Street (As if these are liberal groups)

When I see writers even intelligent columnists and bloggers like Andrew Sullivan refer to left-wing, especially Far-Left groups like Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, the Green Party, the so-called Progressive Caucus, as liberal groups, to me that’s just another example of how ignorant the so-called mainstream media (which Andrew Sullivan is a member of) is when it comes to Liberals and liberalism. They view Liberals and liberalism as leftist, when the fact is they’re really talking about Socialists (or Social Democrats, if you prefer) but the s-words scares the hell out of them.

Liberalism is based off of liberal democracy, which today is called classical liberalism, but the real liberalism is based off of liberal democracy, which includes all sorts of individual rights and freedoms that all Americans and is the basis for our form of government.

Free speech, free press, freedom of religion or freedom from religion, freedom of choice, limited but responsible government, federalism, property rights, equal rights, equal justice, judging people by the content  of their character, not by the color of their skin (to paraphrase the great Reverend Martin L. King) these are the real liberal values in America.

The reason why leftists (Socialists-Social Democrats and Communists) get called Liberals, is because the mainstream media identifies them as Liberals and we still have a lot of trapped in the closet Socialists in America, because of how terrified Americans are of the words socialist and socialism, because they automatically think of Soviet Russia and the totalitarianism that came from that Communist State. And leftists in America generally don’t want to be associated with Communists.

So perhaps Andrew Sullivan’s blog post should’ve been titled something to the effect: “How come there hasn’t been a left version of the Tea Party” because liberal and left are not the same things and never have been.

Jack Scalia: Torch Song (1993) Starring Jack Scalia & Raquel Welch

Source:Jack Scalia- Hollywood Goddess Raquel Welch and Jack Scalia, in Torch Song from ABC.

Source:The Daily Press

"Paula Eastman (Raquel Welch) with an alcohol problem goes into rehab where she meets a fireman, Mike Lanahan (Jack Scalia) with similar problems.  Visit Jack Scalia's official facebook page at:Facebook."

From Jack Scalia

I’ll be the first to admit, Torch Song is not a great movie. It was probably one of the last made for network TV movies, which were all but gone by the late 1990s. But Raquel Welch and Jack Scalia are great in this movie and I believe Alicia Silverstone is as well.

Raquel plays an alcoholic actress whose career is now suffering as a result. The last straw with her alcoholism and what gets her to admit it, is that her daughter not only catches her drunk one night, but catches her drunk on video tape and shows her. That is what gets Raquel’s character in alcoholic rehab where she meets a man there another alcoholic played by Jack Scalia. And they start a relationship.

Even drunk Raquel is still a hot baby-face goddess who is also pretty funny.

The NBA History: NBA 1979-Christmas Day-Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks: Highlights

Source:NBA History- the 76ers and Knicks from 1978.

Source:The Daily Press 

“Dr. J, Henry Bibby, ”Jellybean” Bryant and Doug Collins took the floor against Earl ”The Pearl” and the Knicks.” 

From The NBA History

Philadelphia-New York, is a great rivalry in any sport. Eagles-Giants in the NFL, which is probably the best one. Flyers-Rangers, in the NHL, Phillies-Mets in MLB and yes the 76ers-Knicks in the NBA. Which today is not nearly the rivalry it was twenty-five or thirty years ago. But it was a big deal in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But now both franchises, especially in the 76ers case, haven’t been very good for a long time. The 76ers, have only been to the Conference Finals twice since winning their last NBA Finals in 1983. And the Knicks have struggled just to make the Eastern Conference Playoffs for the last ten years or so.

As far as this game, the 76ers were still one of the best teams in the NBA at this point. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1978 and got to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1979.

Dr. J Julius Erving, certainly the best forward in basketball at this point and arguably the best all around player in the NBA as well at this point. Trying to lead the 76ers under head coach Billy Cunningham back to the NBA Finals. This was a bit of a homecoming for The Doctor who played for the Nets on Long Island. And the fact that he now played for the 76ers in this game was on Christmas Day, 1978 and they Sixers won big, made this game much more special.

What is also interesting about this game, is that Bob McAdoo, one of the top power forwards in the NBA in the 1970s was playing for the Knicks in this game. That were a pretty bad team in the late 70s. After leaving Buffalo in like 1976, he ends up playing for like three teams in four years. Here’s one of the best players in the NBA at this point getting shipped around from bad team to bad team in the late 70s. Before finally finding a home where he could finish his career with in Los Angeles with the Lakers in 1982.

There was a lot of talent on both teams in this game, especially for the 76ers, but they were clearly the better team.