American Sniper

We might have been the last people in Texas, but we finally got around to watching American Sniper last night. 

I didn’t feel like this was a film I would want to see in a theater, but we did record it as soon as it became available on pay-per-view.  Then we just held on to it, waiting for the right time.

We knew it was going to be well done.  In spite of being snubbed at the Oscars, it was the American Film Institute’s Film of the Year for 2014.  It did get five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor, but only got the award for Best Sound Editing. In case you’ve forgotten, the Academy’s Best Picture award went to Birdman, and the Best Actor award to Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

We also knew that it was an important film, and one that would be difficult to watch.  We were right on all counts.

Just in case we weren’t the last people to see this film, I strongly recommend it.  I can’t guarantee that you’ll enjoy it, but it is one you need to see.

Practice Squad

This weekend, all NFL teams had to reduce their rosters to no more than 53 players, and later today, teams will begin to sign players to the Practice Squad.

If you follow professional football, you’ve hear the term Practice Squad for years, and know in a general sense what it  is, but the actual logistics of who is eligible and how they get there is pretty complicated.

The original Practice Squad was in Cleveland, where Browns coach Paul Brown invented the "taxi squad," a group of promising players who did not make the roster but were kept on reserve. Team owner Mickey McBride put them on the payroll of his taxi company, although they did not drive cabs 

First off, under current rules, teams can sign up to ten players to the squad.  Players must be paid a minimum of $6,600 per week, but a team can (and often does) pay more.  All Practice Squad salaries  are applied to the the team’s over-all salary cap.

In order to qualify for the Practice Squad, players must meet at least one of the following requirements:

• Have no prior Accrued Seasons in the NFL (An accrued season is six or more games on the active roster).
• Have one prior Accrued Season in which the player was on the 45-man active roster for no more than 8 games.
• Each club will be permitted to sign a maximum of 2 Practice Squad players who have earned no more than 2 accrued seasons of free agency credit.
• If served two seasons on a practice squad, are eligible for a third season only if the team has at least 53 players on its active/inactive list for the duration of that player's employment.
• A player has served one season on the practice squad if he is on the practice squad for at least 6 games. The rule previously required 3 games on the practice squad roster.

A Practice Squad player has the right to sign with another team's 53-man roster. The one exception to this is that the player may not sign a contract with his team's next opponent after 1 p.m. six days preceding the game (10 days preceding in bye weeks). A player cannot sign a practice squad contract with one team and then leave to sign a practice squad contract with another team, unless the first team has released him.

If a player signs with another team's 53-man roster, or is promoted to his own team's 53-man roster, the player must be paid at least the league minimum salary for at least three weeks. They can be released before the 3 weeks is up, but they still have to be paid.

There is one exception, the Contagious Disease Addendum, which was first added in June 2010 in a side letter agreement. This states that if a player is promoted from the practice squad for a game because a club was given a roster exemption due to confirmed or suspected cases of contagious disease among its players, the player remains on his practice squad contract, but will be paid 1/17 of the league minimum salary. After the game he can be returned to the practice squad without having to clear waivers.

Just Quit

The news this week has been full of stories about people who have refused to perform the duties outlined in their job description on moral grounds.  There is Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who is currently in jail for contempt of court – she refuses to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples.  And then there is Charee Stanley, a Muslim flight attendant currently suing ExpressJet Airlines – she was put on administrative leave after refusing to serve alcoholic drinks to passengers.

In Davis’s case, issuing licenses to gays was not part of the job when she took office, but Stanley must have known that serving drinks was  part of the job when she applied. 

In either case, the solution is simple – just resign.  There are plenty of other jobs out there that would not require them to violate their religious or moral convictions.

Sofia

A friend noted on Facebook that his wife referred to TV actress Sofia Vergara as Sofia Viagra. 

Freudian slip or just an innocent malapropism, that was funny.

I’ve never watched her show, but you can’t escape seeing her in commercials.  What with her ads for Pepsi, Cover Girl, and now her own furniture line, she’s everywhere.  While others take offense at being considered a sex object, Vergara is laughing all the way to the bank.  With an estimated net worth of well over $100 million, she may be the richest Colombian who is not in the cocaine business.

Don’t Save Bambi

It is the time of year when well-meaning animal lovers often try to rescue “abandoned” fawns.  In fact, that is about the worst thing for them to do.

Does will often leave their babies alone for two or three hours while they go graze, but they will return several times a day to let them nurse.  The odds are that the fawn you found is just fine, and the best thing you can do is leave it alone. It’s OK to look, even take a picture, but you should quietly and quickly move away.

Wildlife experts say you should never try to rescue a fawn unless it is injured or with a dead doe.

Graybird

I’ve mentioned several times over the last year or so that we have a Cardinal that almost looks like a charcoal sketch of one.  It has been a source of frustration that I never seemed to have my camera available when our “Charcoal Cardinal” was around. 

Now, I finally have a picture – not a great picture, but perhaps good enough for you to see what I meant. The bird is one of this summer’s hatchlings, and the red in its tail and wing tips has just shown up over the past week or two. 

It’s not the only one.  We see at least two and probably three birds in varying shades of gray. 

Some Men Just Deserve It

A Facebook friend whose opinions I usually agree with (and always respect) posted yesterday that he no longer believes in the death penalty, but that the murder of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth as he pumped gas into his patrol car made him question his decision.

Sometimes, no other response is appropriate.  This is clearly one of those times.