Saints at Falcons: The Georgia Dome Experience

As you're watching the New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons Monday Night Football game at The Georgia Dome, it's a good time to point out one thing: The Georgia Dome's an excellent place to watch a football game.

This blogger's watching the contest in Suburban Atlanta, but elected not to go to the game because of the ice patched streets. But the last Falcons home game, against the Green Bay Packers, I did attend and what an incredible experience. Here's the video:



As the video shows, the seats for my long time friend Keith Johnson and I were excellent and provided a great place to watch the Falcons win 20 to 17. (thanks to his wife for giving Keith his hall pass!) Section 129, row 33, seats 7 and 8. That's the north end zone corner.

What's great about watching football at the Georgia Dome is it's a theater for the game. Everything, from the seats to the structure, to the roof itself, focuses on the field of play. Of the seven Super Bowl's I've attended, the Georgia Dome was the second best stadium host to the game, with the best one being Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

A New Falcons Stadium?

Reports have it that Falcons owner Arthur Blank wants a new stadium so the team can move out of the 18-year-old Georgia Dome. The Georgia Dome itself should be that new stadium. It needs wider club level corridors, meeting rooms and second level "terrace club zones" to fill in the vast amounts of empty space between the curtain walls and the stadium seat structure, a large central entrance atrium, more and upgraded luxury boxes, and all-new giant screens.

Blank reportedly wants an outdoor stadium, but given his desire to gain more overall revenue, that's not a good idea. A dome stadium's ability to host more events means more money than a comparable outdoor stadium.

Keep the Georgia Dome. It's a winner. Like the Falcons.

Merry Christmas 2010: Atlanta (Snow!), San Francisco, and Justin Bieber

Wow. As long as it took Christmas 2010 to get here - 2010 seemed like two years instead of one year, considering all that has happened - it's almost over.

Hard to believe.

Here, in the vlog above, are some of the great times this blogger had with friends and family in Atlanta and in San Francisco.

A lot of food and drink was consumed by all.

And to end the Christmas day, it's started snowing here in Atlanta.  It's a rare happening here.  So much so that many churches are closed for Sunday.  And for churches to close in the South, you know conditions have to be bad.  

Temperatures have dropped from 55 degrees on Wednesday to below 20 as this is written: a 35 degree drop in just three days.

It makes me think twice about going to the Saints - Falcons Monday Night Football game at The Georgia Dome.  The comfort of the big screen is suddenly more desirable than the dome.

Not that I'm complaining about the snow.  What would Christmas be without it?

Well.  OK.  It would be a Christmas without snow.

Remember to take time to call friends and family this weekend. And remember that Christmas is the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, who eventually died in sacrifice for all of us.

And on that note, here's Justin Bieber wishing you a Merry Christmas:

Christmas snow in Atlanta Georgia

Atlanta Symphony and Chorus - And The Glory Of The Lord

NORAD Santa Tracker - Christmas Eve Santa Tracking

This year, 2010, once again this blogger is following (kinda) the Santa Tracker, but while tree trimming, wine drinking, and talking, and listening to Nat and Frank (Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra).

 But here's my NORAD Santa Tracker Video, because I just had to!



This business of going to the NORAD website to track Santa Claus' trip around the World is rather cool, but I'm in the middle of watching It's A Wonderful Life, so I decided to embed the tracker right here in my blog:



As of 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST, Santa Claus is , well, he's moving really fast! (If the embed doesn't work in your browser, click on the NORAD link.)

Merry Christmas!

Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song

Presenting the Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song, or The Santa Baby 99ers Song, on Christmas Eve.

Donalee King (in photo from Zennie62.com), who goes by Paladinette, at Zennie62.com, created this variation of the classic Christmas Song Santa Baby.

King, a blogger who also has her own blog called Jobless Unite,  is one of the so-called "99ers," those who's unemployment benefits have ran out after the 99-week limit, and seek an extension of benefits, or better yet, a job.

In seeking both, the San Diego resident has become a tireless advocate for the jobless. Her work on this song landed her notice by the LA Times.

The video is below, followed by the lyrics, which are graphic but worth reading and singing...if you dare!

(In fact, if you're in Oakland, California, print out the lyrics, take them down to The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue, present them to Rod Dibble at the piano, and ask he would accompany you in song. Santa Baby is a song he knows how to play.)




Lyrics to video song Santa Baby - 99ers Style 2010

Congress Baby, the 99ers need a tier 5......to survive

I know you’re HEARTLESS P@#*s But....so what?

My children need some dinner tonight!

The car got repo’d and the rent is awfully late...but wait

You only care for the rich that’s a B*@#H

there’s millions of us dying out here

We can’t afford a Christmas tree

While you’re all buying Cartier at Tiffany

You bailed out banks Greece and Haiti too

I think it’s time the 99ers heard from you

Obama baby, just help the 99ers please

and... don’t tease

Been a really tough year

Out here

I Hope Your change is comin’ tonight

Obama honey, you sold 99ers flat out

no doubt

and now it’s snowing out,

My stomach’s growling

I need some food and shelter tonight

Sherrod honey, Schumer and that Stabenow too

Were through we all trusted you

but senate baby your lies have left us hurtn’ out here

We’re not rich - guess we don’t count

The dirty little secret you won’t talk about

There’ll be no jobs again next Year

It’s time you kicked your senate’s butts into high gear

Congress baby just pretend to care for us poor

once more - come on it’s just a check - so what the heck?

there’s millions of us dying out here!

That’s right I’d rather work than fight

Hurry Congress there’s 99ers dying TONIGHT

Merry Christmas!

Festivus 2010: No Mediaite Festivus? What Gives?

Festivus, that annual celebration for the rest of us, is upon us, once again. But in 2010 Festivus just don't feel like, well, Festivus.

The idea was first introduced in Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld's long-running television comedy, as an alternative to what some perceive as the commericialization of Christmas.

But this time, Festivus doesn't feel like Festivus, and maybe that's because the idea was started by a long-cancelled TV show, rather than a religious event?

At any rate, I know Festivus isn't as huge this year, because Mediaite's not mentioning it at all. Last year, the online media watchdog publication had a Mediaite Festivus of the top 50 media influencers in 2009, and that I talked about in my vlog here:



This year, zip.  Nada.

And while Festivus is a Google Trend, some of the blogs and articles don't seem to be focused on it in the title heading.  Festivus is more the day that, say, an NFL football game is being played.

I think AOL's David Knowles got it right when he observed that Festivus lived on, although Seinfeld reruns were "dated."  I think Festivus is headed in the same direction.  But there's still Christmas, and always will be.

Now, for this blogger, Christmas is about giving, not necessarily buying. It's also a celebration of the time of Christ's birth.

That's forgotten.

An aside.

For some reason there are people who just want to be mean. They want to be mean 24 and 7, and so they hate Christmas. Can't stand it. Those people are sad sacks. There's nothing wrong with being nice to people and giving to them in honor of the birth of Christ, and because it's just a plain nice thing to do.

As I said to someone who explained the common rationale for not celebrating Christmas, in other words, it's commericialized, "Christmas is something you do with society. Why does it have to be about you?"

Don't be selfish. Get into the sprit. Give of yourself.

Happy Festivus and Merry Christmas!

Cam Newton for The Heisman Trophy

Suburban Atlanta - This blog post is complicated because the motivation for writing it was because, first, of my good friend Oakland Tribune Sports Columnist Monte Poole's passive agressive Heisman Trophy take. Second, my current proximity to Cam Newton's College Park residence, just outside Atlanta, Georgia.  Third, seeing Newton and Stanford Quarterback Andrew Luck (who Poole picked for the Heisman) play, and finally Southern Culture and the fact that I can't sleep.  Blogging should knock me out.

Cam Newton is quite simply the best quarterback talent I've ever seen and should be the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner.

The main difference between Newton and Luck, is that for all of his accomplishments, Luck is a product of an offensive system formed by Cardinal Offensive Coordinator David Shaw, who gets little credit for his work. Cam's success has little to do with a particular offensive scheme, but his god-like talent. Consider this is Newton's first year in Auburn's system, and his third system in three years, where Luck has played in the same system for the three year span.

We've seen Cam do things, like score six touchdowns in the SEC Championship, that even the most rabid college football fans only dream of.  And all in his first year in a new system with new players and at a new school.  That's wild.

Cam's only problem is he's in an area of the country known for scams. To one from the San Francisco Bay Area (I go back and forth to help my Mom, who's here) it seems an inordinate number of people have their hands out, selling this or that. Robocalls are rampant. Newton's only hell has been growing up black, male, and physically gifted in football-crazed, dollar-sign-driven Georgia.

Frankly, I find the young man impressive. He handled himself extremely well when being questioned by CBS Sideline Reporter Tracy Wolfson.  He never broke his winning smile, and came off quite charming.  He certainly passed the Mom test, as mine was sold on his presentation at the SEC Championship.

What Cam knew or did not know, does not matter. Spend a little time down here and you don't have to be a genius to know that someone made Cam the focus of their sell / scam efforts. That's not Cam Newton's fault, yet it's being held against him.

Look, let's be honest with each other.  What we're tired of is yet another example of the African American male student who's great on the sports field, but has questions about his character off of it.  The Reggie Bush Heisman give-back has left a bad taste in the mouths of many.   But Cam Newton is not Reggie Bush.   Cam's not the smart, militant, chip-on-shoulder guy that Mr. Bush can be at times.  Cam Newton is an innocent kid with King Kong talent.   And like Kong, Newton can't help how society responds to him.

The question is, did Cam do well on and off the field this year in Auburn?  Yes.  He did.  And what Newton did on the field was jaw-dropping amazing.

Cam Newton for The Heisman.  

Bank Of America, Fayetteville GA Service Issue - Big Problem!!

As this blogger wrote over at Zennie62.com, the Bank of America in Fayetteville, Georgia, and more specifically one teller who for some reason didn't want me to be helped or was too much of something, did not allow me to deposit, not cash, a check that had my name and my company name on it, with my address. They said I needed a business account! That's nuts, and wrong.

The Bank of America branch, according to Bank of America's own on-the-phone customer service representatives, wasn't suppose to do that. They were suppose to deposit my check.

To show this problem and what B of A's own phone people said, I created the video above. Was it racism? I don't know. The same problem happens to different people. But given that the bank seems to think it's "discretionary," how do I know it's not race-related, even when the business is black-on-black?

The bottom line is the Bank of America's own customer service representatives said they should have deposited the check in my account.

Bank of America must stop this bad service from its branches, and tellers who act like they run the bank, with the managers there for window-dressing.

Suppose I needed that money because I had to make an emergency trip for my mother and was without cash? What then?

The B of A people were not helpful, when they could have been. There's no excuse for that.

None.

The full post is here at Zennie62.com.

Megan Avalon at Zennie62

Megan Avalon at Zennie62
Originally uploaded by zennie62

This is the Zennie62.com T-Shirt as modeled by Professional Bodybuilder and Trainer Megan Avalon. For news, pop-culture, politics, sports, and tech, visit Zennie62.com

Happy Rosh Hashanah : President Obama's Wish, Stephen Hawking's Error

President Obama is joined by this blogger in wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Here's Obama's video from yesterday:

Prof. Stephen Hawking

Come to think of it, since Stephen Hawking elected to introduce his book The Grand Design and declare that God did not create the Universe, it's fair to say that for him, Rosh Hashanah's not good, eh?

You'd think Hawking would show some respect for Jews by not releasing his book just a day before Rosh Hashanah, right? Talk about flunking his performance review. Geesh.

This blogger still can't understand why Stephen Hawking would write a book trying to debunk the existence of God, but not The Devil. Makes you wonder if his book itself's the Work of The Devil.

From this vantage point, Stephen Hawking looks just like the religious zealots he and his fans rightly criticize. Two sides of the same coin.

I prefer the edge. It rolls, if you know what I mean.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

Restoring Honor: The I Have A Dream Speech Anniversary

We can't allow crackpot talk show hosts to glen or for that matter to beck America into forgetting that Saturday, August 28th was the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech. This blog post is a small action of "Restoring Honor" to that day in 1963.

The ten minute speech was given on Saturday, August 28th 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; the event drew over 200,000 people. The address is ranked as the top speech in history.

What is forgotten in all of the silliness of yesterday's faked emotionalism, aside from the fact that Dr. King's greatest moment was nearly glen becked by the media, was the actual speech of 1963 came at a time in this blogger's life (I was born in 1962) when white America's view toward blacks in America was largely screwed up.

(It's not accurate to say "America's view" because it implies either that blacks were also treating other blacks the same way, which wasn't the case, and that blacks and other minorities had the same levels of freedoms that whites in America enjoyed in 1963; not so.  Truth, painful as it is to deal with, is the truth. Skin color was the issue.  You could claim to be a black conservative at the time, and that would not save you from racism.)

Blacks and whites could not marry and even something as simple as going to the bathroom was segregated by race. Many of the freedoms younger African Americans are used now to weren't even allowed then. And beatings and lynchings of blacks, particularly in the South, were all too common.

It's always said that one must know history, if only to avoid repeating it. That's what "Restoring Honor" really means.

For those of you who have not seen the I Have A Dream Speech, the video of it is below, followed by the text of what Dr. King actually said.



Here's the text of the speech from MLKOnline.net:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"