Semi OT: Condi Rice for NFL Commissioner?

[1960Pats]

You cared enough to reply and make extra super sure that I know how little you care, so... that's something.

Actually I changed that because I didn't think it was a proper response.

Here's why I called him Moabama

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/189004/undefined

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

And no damn celebrity commissioners please! Let's get some dry as dust lawyer/accountant who's going to keep the wheels turning and let the criminal justice system deal with criminals.

Tagliabue would be so welcome right now.


So, you're saying the union should be stronger? I agree.


I have no idea what you're talking about. Is Kenbrell Thomkins on suspension for drugs?

No, it's an example of a negotiated policy. The policy could say Goodell can ban you forever for a substance abuse violation and a completely replaceable player would have little leverage. Brady or Manning could negotiate a policy that says they don't even take urinalysis.

I'm simply pointing out that the union uses valuable players to negotiate with leverage for less valuable players. Brady's not a good example of someone the union helps, Brady's a good example of someone helping the union.

 

[RayClay]

No, it's an example of a negotiated policy. The policy could say Goodell can ban you forever for a substance abuse violation and a completely replaceable player would have little leverage. Brady or Manning could negotiate a policy that says they don't even take urinalysis.

I'm simply pointing out that the union uses valuable players to negotiate with leverage for less valuable players. Brady's not a good example of someone the union helps, Brady's a good example of someone helping the union.

OK.

 

[PATS16N0]

What in the flying **** makes Condi Rice an ideal candidate for NFL commissioner? I don't get it.

It's like she wanted the job because of the cash, had her allies start floating to the media how she's in the running for it, and now we talk about it as if there's a reason beyond that.

Must be nice to have friends in high places.

I want to be NFL commissioner too

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

What in the flying **** makes Condi Rice an ideal candidate for NFL commissioner? I don't get it.

It's like she wanted the job because of the cash, had her allies start floating to the media how she's in the running for it, and now we talk about it as if there's a reason beyond that.

Must be nice to have friends in high places.

I want to be NFL commissioner too

You have my vote.

 

[1960Pats]

Based on how Brady won his case, having the CBA in place and the NFL disregarding it enabled him to win.

We can discuss for the next 8 months how Brady could have fought his case without citing CBA violations.

I'm glad we don't have to find out.

In my 43 years in the workforce, split evenly between a union and an employees association, I learned that all I really needed was a lawyer. And I'm pretty sure that the next NFL Commish will be one.

Goody the Jet (as horrible a job as he has done) isn't in a union and he can't be fired without being paid over 100 million. Players in the union can be dumped, even after an injury, and not get what they and the team signed for.

If the players decide to fight back in the next CBA I will be firmly on their side, union or not.

 

[1960Pats]

What in the flying **** makes Condi Rice an ideal candidate for NFL commissioner? I don't get it.

It's like she wanted the job because of the cash, had her allies start floating to the media how she's in the running for it, and now we talk about it as if there's a reason beyond that.

Must be nice to have friends in high places.

I want to be NFL commissioner too

I remember arguing with some folks who didn't believe that she was really interested, or as I remember it from way back when, considered it her dream job. That was early in GWBs first term.

I didn't know much about her when she was appointed SOS, but I made it a point to learn about her. I came away pretty impressed. She's clearly miles ahead of Goody Too Stupid, but then who isn't.

 

[RayClay]

In my 43 years in the workforce, split evenly between a union and an employees association, I learned that all I really needed was a lawyer. And I'm pretty sure that the next NFL Commish will be one.

Goody the Jet (as horrible a job as he has done) isn't in a union and he can't be fired without being paid over 100 million. Players in the union can be dumped, even after an injury, and not get what they and the team signed for.

If the players decide to fight back in the next CBA I will be firmly on their side, union or not.

So, we can all just apply for jobs as executive royalty? where do i sign up?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I've been dealing with HP off an on for 20 years and they have always been screwed up.

Yep.
For several decades I lived nearby HP's HQ and new a couple of HP workers.
Despite whatever one's political leanings, philosophy, whatever, the idea that Carly ruined what was once the HP paradise if almost silly. It's a political slogan not a well thought out statement.

It was so long ago the details are fuzzy, however, when HP ceased to be HP was, I think, about 2 decades ago when it spun into separate businesses. The major silicon valley staple/'many thing tech' company was no more. Then, at that point, anyone applying foresight should have known what laid ahead for a 'PC hardware company' when considering foreign competition and the mounting pressure toward razor thin margins.

That's just the nature of tech. Quickly evolving while once great names can fall by the wayside. It has happened, to some degree, to even the once untouchably mighty Microsoft. The company that almost every other tech company had to kowtow to at one time, even they've been forces by the quickly evolving industry to rethink/retool their strategy and philosophy. How well it will work long term as PC sales likely stagnate (Win on desktops being their bread and butter) or ebb while mobile devices running Droid or iOS continue to expand is TBA.

 

[RobertWeathers]

In my 43 years in the workforce, split evenly between a union and an employees association, I learned that all I really needed was a lawyer. And I'm pretty sure that the next NFL Commish will be one.

Goody the Jet (as horrible a job as he has done) isn't in a union and he can't be fired without being paid over 100 million. Players in the union can be dumped, even after an injury, and not get what they and the team signed for.

If the players decide to fight back in the next CBA I will be firmly on their side, union or not.

I respect your perspective and am not debating the value of a union either way. I really don't want to take the discussion in that direction.

My point is that because the NFLPA negotiated a CBA with the league and the league subsequently violating the provisions set forth within it, Brady was provided an apparent path and opportunity for reinstatement.

 

[Fencer]

I've been dealing with HP off an on for 20 years and they have always been screwed up.

It's well longer than that for me.

 

[Fencer]

It was so long ago the details are fuzzy, however, when HP ceased to be HP was, I think, about 2 decades ago when it spun into separate businesses. The major silicon valley staple/'many thing tech' company was no more. Then, at that point, anyone applying foresight should have known what laid ahead for a 'PC hardware company' when considering foreign competition and the mounting pressure toward razor thin margins.

I agree completely. But I think the Agilent spin-out was her doing. If I'm wrong about that -- it happened the year she was hired -- and she was hired to oversee just the computer business, then I'm being a bit unfair to her.

Separately, I do have more respect for IBM than HP in the generic computer business, but that's not really a fair comparison for HP.

 

[Hoodie]

Nah, my ignore list is only for people who openly troll, since ignoring them outright is the best way to deprive them of what they're looking for.

If someone's posting stuff that they actually believe for the purpose of having a discussion, it would be pretty lame to put them on ignore IMO, even if I disagree with every opinion they have.

Actually, I thank God for the ignore list.

 

[Gronkowski123]

would be amazing. the democrats heads would collectively explode.
so much for the war on women ( which doesnt exist btw )...a republican woman running the biggest sport in the country?? yes please!

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I agree completely. But I think the Agilent spin-out was her doing. If I'm wrong about that -- it happened the year she was hired -- and she was hired to oversee just the computer business, then I'm being a bit unfair to her.

Separately, I do have more respect for IBM than HP in the generic computer business, but that's not really a fair comparison for HP.

I could not recall the spin off -- thanks for pointing that out.
I also cannot recall if that was Fiorina who crafted the split. It was so long ago and it was right around the time I was completely occupied working for another Valley PC giant whose culture was changing due to the shift in the PC hardware market (the parties were gone but the layoffs were raging).

IMHO the split was good even though it changed HP's culture (whoever decided on the split). The PC and Peripheral hardware market was changing big time. Spinning it away from the other businesses kept the culture of one bleeding to the other as well as chaos on one not affecting the other.
For the Compaq merger it was the right general move. When margins are plummeting while competition(especially foreign) is getting bigger and more fierce, a move to cause less local competition while gaining their added volumes is a tried way to beat it, maybe (see the airline industry in the last few years). For her part as to whether the merger was executed well I don't really know. I really didn't follow it too much. I just know that the very best of the best could have helm-ed a US PC hardware company during that time and the culture/attitude was going to change, and unlikely for the better (unless more work for less/stagnating pay and benefits was going to go unnoticed). Plus moving most manufacturing as well as some design and IT overseas could not be avoided without going under. Pac Rim competition made it impossible to do most of that stuff onshore. So no way was a company's culture not going to change given tight margins and a dwindling local workforce -- an those kind of movies just cannot maintain a previous;y happier culture.

Again I do not know if Fiorina handled that hard position to be in as good as could be expected. I will say this though, I am a bit surprised HP is still as big as it is. Except Apple, they're a different animal, I expected American PC hardware makers to go the same way as American Television makers. (though unlike TV makers, I think PC hardware companies understand the guts of the product and its assembly can be bought from the same place that Pac Rim companies buy it from).

 

[lamafist]

No, it's an example of a negotiated policy. The policy could say Goodell can ban you forever for a substance abuse violation and a completely replaceable player would have little leverage. Brady or Manning could negotiate a policy that says they don't even take urinalysis.

I'm simply pointing out that the union uses valuable players to negotiate with leverage for less valuable players. Brady's not a good example of someone the union helps, Brady's a good example of someone helping the union.

Actually, it was only after the NFLPA's major victories in the early 90's that won the right to unfettered free agency, that star players like Brady were able to leverage their relative value to a franchise into the multi-million dollar contracts we take for granted these days.

Since at the same time, they also secured a guaranteed percentage of the NFL's annual revenue for the players, the league's veteran minimums have also enjoyed previously unprecedented growth since then. (Before the 90's, the owners enjoyed the lion's share of the NFL's revenue. Since the '93 CBA, the players have never received less than half.)

So while it's true that the union has been very good to guys like Thompkins, it's been undeniably much, much, much more profitable for guys like Brady.

 

[RobertWeathers]

It's well longer than that for me.

Wow! Lifer?

 

[BTTA]

In this thread, we are making the same mistake with the NFL Commish that we make every four years with the Presidential election. We seek an individual hero to solve the problems that result from a broken system, rather than sucking it up and recognizing that we need to find the courage and discipline to fix the system. Then, we persecute the individual for not being super human and solving everything.

It isn't about replacing Goodell and calling it a day. It is about changing the structure of the job and then hiring a competent executive, based on a broad search, not on a "who can I think of" brainstorming session (that always ends with a bigger than life celebrity who is largely a paper tiger).

Until that's done, the NFL administrative processes will be highly vulnerable and thin, regardless of who is running it. And as I've said in a prior thread, no competent executive is going to want this job now, due to the absolute power in the job description. It is a set up to be a fall guy, and smart people don't want that kind of power because they recognize their own human frailty.

 

[Fencer]

Wow! Lifer?

I've been involved with the tech industry since 1981. Some of the first companies I dealt with were full of HP people. I just checked, and the first prominent female tech CEO, Sandy Kurtzig, wasn't actually out of HP -- but an HP deal helped launch her company, and I think Bob Riopel actually was from HP. Janelle Bedke and the other Software Publishing Corp folks certainly were from HP. (I actually knew the male founders better, but never mind that part. ) Tandem Computers was founded by an HP guy. And right there you have some poster companies for the nice/fun culture in early 1980s Silicon Valley.

And the computing side of HP, not the most dynamic of businesses at most times, redeemed itself in my eyes by leading the quasi-mainframe transition to UNIX.

 

[Triumph]

Yep.
That's just the nature of tech. Quickly evolving while once great names can fall by the wayside. It has happened, to some degree, to even the once untouchably mighty Microsoft. The company that almost every other tech company had to kowtow to at one time, even they've been forces by the quickly evolving industry to rethink/retool their strategy and philosophy. How well it will work long term as PC sales likely stagnate (Win on desktops being their bread and butter) or ebb while mobile devices running Droid or iOS continue to expand is TBA.

Gateway, Wang, Digital, IBM, Compaq.

HP used to make decent pcs, but ASUS and Toshiba what I would buy today.