Radio Free Tobias

Monday, November 17, 2008

Phil Dawson? Or the Incredible Hulk? You decide.


Ever since Mark Price was traded to the Bullets, I have lacked a favorite player. I mean, Terrell Brandon and Kenny Lofton filled the role for awhile, they got traded, too. Then, the Browns got shipped off to the Dirty South (technically one of the middle colonies but who's keeping score?)

Anyway, LeBron James is an obvious candidate, but perhaps that's exactly what's wrong -- it's kind of like rooting for the Yankees. I mean I'll take the wins and the unbelievable performances, but the guy's dominated every level since 8th grade. The guy could dunk a Holstein. Boring.

That brings me to my point. Phil Dawson. The original (new) Brown. Rivals only Matt Stover for length of tenure with a former or current Browns franchise. Dawson is a steady, underrated, under-appreciated player who has never been known for his leg strength as much as his level-headedness, accuracy and consistency. In an industrial town like Cleveland, you'd figure those attributes would be worth a lot.

However, he's kicked field goals of 54, 52, and 56 yards in the past three games, stroking the last one just minutes ago with the game on the line. Surprising? Yes. Especailly considering that before three weeks ago, Dawson had only kicked 3 50+ field goals since 2004.

Could LeBron kick a 56 yard field goal? To wit: no!

Is Phil Dawson juiced? Maybe some sort of supplement? Where is this leg strength coming from? A deal with the devil? New workout routine?

Or has the ever-elusive key to the Browns being successful this whole time just been that Romeo needed to cut Dawson loose and sic him on the other team? Maybe he's just now running free and wild. He's listed as 205, but he's gotta be tipping the scales at 210, 212 at least. I think Romeo needs to start lining Dawson up 60, 70 yards.

Special teams, beware. You'll notice that Marcus Stroud almost blocked the 56 yarder, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe he was afraid of losing a digit to Cleveland's leg cannon.

Just look at the photo -- Dawson's a maniac! Roid rage? Or just raw, unbridled masculinity? You be the judge.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Obama and the McCain smear touchstones

I'm watching the presidential debate. I'm not going to do a point by point analysis of this thing, but I'm observing McCain doing a much better job. He's speaking in a more level tone with a softer tenor to his voice. I think he did a good job of making Obama miss the mark on some of his GOP talking point associations, particularly ACORN.

Obama took time to address a question about Ayers and then about ACORN stating he sat on an education board 10 years ago with Ayers, and served as a lawyer for ACORN in a 1995 suit against the State of Illinois.

Obama probably is keeping it brief in regards to "his association with Ayers" because I would imagine, in his estimation, speaking more and more about the topic, even in an effort to set the record straight, would lend more credence to the McCain campaign's claims than perhaps they deserve.

Obama didn't mention the extent of the other associations, however innocuous, the two share -- my understanding from reading Chicago newspaper articles is the two were notable Chicago liberals. I have also read Obama reviewed one of Ayers' books in the Tribune, but I haven't been able to substantiate this with a primary source.

Regardless, his whole thing smacks of a smear campaign with racist subtext and is such a non-issue it's almost absurd. McCain's comment that "he doesn't care about some washed-up terrorist" clashes right against Palin's rhetoric of "pallin' around with terrorist." Big surprise.

More importantly, he did not mention that his campaign gave ACORN $800,000 and then amended an FEC report to reflect why they did it. I don't know enough about ACORN at this point to know if the alleged voter fraud is endemic, but by not disclosing this obviously relevant piece of information, it erodes his credibility.

As an Obama supporter and an Ohio voter, I'm frustrated at his lack of response to the ACORN issue. My assumption is the politically expedient decision is for him to sweep it under the rug and hope swing voters don't notice.

One thing is for sure, Ohio voters are going to be hearing quite a bit about voter fraud.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Cordray says contribution, contract not related



Look, Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray is really smart. Really smart.

So smart, in fact, that I bet he would realize that when a maximum $10,000 contribution shows up from an twentysomething individual donor whose stepdad happens to be Wachovia bonds salesman, maybe he should question it.

The Dayton Daily News really nailed this one -- in the article, Daily News reporter Laura A. Bischoff observes Wachovia gained about 37 percent of the state's investment portfolio's total bonds after Cordray took office.

I think a "common sense" test would shoot some holes in Cordray's claim that the money was unrelated to the assignment of increased contracts with Wachovia -- at the very least, the appearance of impropriety is pretty obvious here. This sounds like a dirty trick for it to be leaked to the media -- likely how the Daily News ended up with it -- so late in the election season.

Wonder what this will do for Michael Crites' campaign. Cordray has said he returned the contribution, although, as Crites pointed out, after he was caught "red-handed."

Cordray sends out more press releases than every other Ohio office combined (a slight, but not complete exageration), and while I don't know him, this would lead me to believe he's media-savvy. It's no secret that state-level Democrats' credibility has already taken a beating in many Ohioans' eyes. If I were him, I would be worried about how this will play.

If this takes hold, it could means curtains for Corday. (ooh! alliteration!)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jack Thompson disbarred


Some may know that I am interested in the American far-right.

Especially if you've read this article I wrote for my college paper -- quick sidebar, seems like such a long time ago, especially now that I write for such a classy rag.

Anyway, it appears Jack Thompson done got himself disbarred.

As Google would just so have it, he's sort of a causes célèbres for the video game crowd. As the internet is overwhelmingly populated by geeks, the story is making the rounds on video game websites. It's even giving a few geeks a reason to celebrate.

Read this PDF version of the ruling for a few laughs.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Democratic National Convention


So I was planning on watching this on my apartment's rabbit ears TV... (it's a bit of dichotomy... you see, I have a rather fancy LCD HDTV -- whose manufacturer, coincidently, filed chapter 11 not too long ago -- but no cable)

But American political conventions always remind me a bit of the Triumph of the Will, except it's a "talkie" -- unfortunately.

This picture, courtesy of BBC, speaks for itself. May God, our merciful and just God, help us all.

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Sunday, June 08, 2008

Two BBC journalists shot dead in last 48 hours

This is what makes me nervous when friends travel to dangerous places to cover stories.

Afghani BBC correspondent Abdul Samad Rohani was kidnapped on Saturday. His body was found earlier today, according to the BBC.

Likewise, Nasteh Dahir Farah, the vice-president of the National Union of Somali Journalists (a partner organization of Reporters Without Borders) was killed yesterday as he returned home from work. Farah also worked for the Associated Press. According to Reporters Without Borders, Somalia is the deadliest country for journalists.

Eighty-six journalists and 20 media assistants were killed in 2007, including eight in Somalia, according to Reporters Without Borders.

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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

A public service announcement from Radio Free Tobias

Just reminding everyone to keep it real.

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Another WTF moment

Ok, so I noticed this awhile ago but never actually took the initiative to blog about it.


I aspire for very few things in life, but a notable aspiration is that I will never be a big enough tool that I would willfully and knowingly purchase and/or wear a shirt like this. Even irony has its limits.

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