A hypothetical

Take 100 politically- and baseball-inclined people.

Ask them the following two questions:

1. Does torture work?
2. Do you believe the evidence provided in the Mitchell Report?

What are the odds that the answers to both questions would be the same?

(For those not baseball-inclined, the evidence provided in the Mitchell Report was provided after threat of jail time.)

Innocent until proven guilty...

...But not in the court of public opinion.

Once your name finds its way into a steroid allegation, you're screwed for life, unless you somehow dig up evidence to clear your name from the mud.

It's sad, but it's the way of life. And that's why I have no sympathy for the players named in the Mitchell Report. How does that make sense? Because a huge fraud was perpetrated here, by everyone involved: the players, first and foremost. The owners and other baseball employees who turned a blind eye, the commissioner (who somehow thinks he's exonerated now that the report was released), and the media. Everyone ignored it. And everyone must pay the price for keeping the ol' boys club circle closed to protect each other's bottom line.

I'm not saying the Mitchell Report is perfect. Far far from it. The only evidence in there is circumstantial and based on the words of two guys who are facing federal charges and two MLB players (Jason Giambi and Frank Thomas). But every time they encountered a new name, the committee called the player and gave him a chance to speak. Once these guys got the phone call, they knew that their names would appear in the report but they ignored it. They decided to protect each other instead of protecting themselves, their reputations, and their families. Of course they probably felt under attack and they probably didn't want to give the investigation any credence. But this is it. This will be how history remembers the Steroid Era of Baseball. Right or wrong.

Look at Jason Giambi- he was implicated, testified at a grand jury hearing, and publicly apologized. Did he want to do that? Of course not. But his reputation is in tact. He's seen as a guy who stood up, admitted his mistakes, and moved on. Do you hear anyone booing him anymore? No one cares about Giambi anymore. But we're still talking about Bonds. McGwire. Sosa. And the whispers about Roger Clemens will now be spoken out loud, simply because his name showed up in the report. No one is going to care whether or not the report is based in pure fact or conjecture. A future Hall-of-Famer was named and now he's guilty in the court of public opinion.

You're name is in this report and you feel you're innocent? Well then, open your mouth and say so. And confront your player colleagues and force them through public shaming and peer pressure to step up and take responsibility for their actions and for sullying the names of every player who played in this era. Wishful thinking, I know, but again, I have little sympathy.

Two Random Questions

Two random questions that have absolutely nothing to do with anything:

1. Why do most people not look at the person they are speaking with? I've had meetings with pretty high-up people in management and clients, and most just look down or away when they talk to you. Weird. Whatever happened to making a connection with your audience?
2. Why does toast always come buttered?

That's all. :-)

Good business decision of the day

This morning started off a bit slow for me, and I took some time to just browse Amazon.com. They usually have pretty interesting Gold Box surprises and other deals that are only available at specific times during the day. So I figured, hey, why not check it out?

Since we placed an order for a new TV, we've been waiting patiently for Frys to get a new shipment and honor the price they advertised right after Thanksgiving (they had it on backorder). At the same time, I've been tracking prices for the same set, just in case Frys didn't deliver on the order. Up until today, none of the prices were below $1050.

So as I was trolling the Amazon.com website, I saw a link advertising low prices on select HDTVs. I decided to click and take a look at what they had. And, lo and behold...Amazon had our TV, the Samsung HP-T4254, for $900 with free white glove shipping! Wait! It gets even better! They had the sets IN STOCK AND READY TO SHIP!!

There's more: With any purchase of a Samsung 40" or bigger flat panel, they are giving away a free Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote. (The Logitech's are awesome but not necessarily needed for HDTVs if you connect everything thru HDMI, but hey, it's free!) And, we get a $100 gift card to nflshop.com.

And, I realized that it gets just a tad better than that. Amazon sold out their stock and is now selling the same TV for $1069 through another vendor, and without the free shipping. Someone, who will remain nameless ;o), wanted to wait until tonight to figure out which to buy. (Amazon is selling HP-T4254's sister model, the HP-T4264 for $999. For those wondering, the ONLY differences between them is a USB port and ultra-ultra-ultra anti-glare, as opposed to ultra-ultra anti-glare.) Good thing I insisted on a purchase within the hour of the find!

Oh, and once the purchase was made, I called Frys to cancel our original order. No questions asked and no credit card charges.

So there you have it. Today's lessons:

1. It pays to waste time at work surfing the internet for amazing deals during the holiday season.
   
2. Amazon.com rocks on any given day.

I'm quite happy with myself. It's been a good day. :-)

Passed!

"Congratulations, you have passed the exam."

1 down, 2 to go.

CGFM

Boy is it hard shifting back into the studying gear. It's been four years since I took my last exam and for some reason, I've brought it back onto myself again. Oy.

Tomorrow I take exam 1 of 3. This one is the easiest; it's obvious why. I spent perhaps 2.5 hours a night studying (really, just reading the study guide) since Monday. I have no idea what I'll do for #2, considering the study guide was 3x the size of this one. I'm just so out of that mode at the moment. I may not even take the other two, we'll see. I really just feel very ambivalent about the whole thing, and if not for the fact that it makes me more marketable and attractive to my firm and clients, I probably wouldn't even take tomorrow' exam. Ugh.