tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361040384788811282024-03-19T06:22:19.015-04:00The Mark Rabinowitz Timesmarkrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-40154377870749165612024-01-25T11:57:00.000-05:002024-01-25T11:57:03.212-05:00Appendicitis Awareness DayOn this day two years ago, my appendix turned heel on me.<div><br /></div><div>Only thing is, I didn't know it at the time. No one in my immediate family ever had it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had just lifted up a TV--a Panasonic 43" plasma set, and you may know how heavy those are--when I felt that pain. I didn't give it much thought--I probably just took an Advil or a couple Tylenol. I thought I had just strained something, and the pain would go away soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>One night later, I felt a fever. But at that time, I figured I just needed to get plenty of rest and take plenty of fluids--that ought to work, right? The only worry I had was that maybe my luck with avoiding COVID-19 ran out; what if I got it from someone at my most recent food shopping trip?</div><div><br /></div><div>The next night, I had sweats and chills, and the pain in my abdomen also got worse, and for those reasons, I should have gone to the hospital. I still insisted in my mind that these would ultimately go away.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was another two days before I finally went to the hospital. At the time, I couldn't even keep down sips of water, so I thought maybe I had unknowingly given myself food poisoning from something I cooked at home. (As it turned out, not being able to keep down food or drink was caused by constipation, which was the result of all the rest I had taken.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Based on elevated white blood cell counts and a CT scan of my abdomen, my doctors came to the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Since the medical standard is to remove the appendix when appendicitis is present, I figured that I would have surgery in short order.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, the doctors informed me that due to the severity of the inflammation, it would not be wise to perform surgery right away, because with all the inflamed tissue, there was the risk that the surgeons might cut away some tissue that might ultimately be good tissue. In the meantime, I was fed intravenously, and I also received antibiotics through the IV.</div><div><br /></div><div>Long story short, I got sent home way too early due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. I had to go back to the hospital a few weeks later after a stabbing pain erupted in the area of the appendix, and I ended up finally getting appendectomy until March 9.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the nearly two years that have passed, I wonder how I could so easily forget how tough things were while I was sick, weak and hospitalized:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The time I had to walk around, just hours after my appendectomy, just to turn my bladder back on (and with the IV machine hooked up to my arm)</li><li>The times I had to walk around, even when I was in pain, to get my digestive system going again (also while tethered to the IV machine)</li><li>The pain from the gas the day after the surgery (especially in the shoulders)
Not being able to get a good night's sleep, much less be able to sleep on my side</li><li>Constantly waking up with sweat on the back of my head and my chest, the sweat smelled like bile</li><li>The stabbing pain on February 28--that was my appendix at its worst, and I was sure it had burst at that point</li><li>The inconvenience of showering while tethered to the IV machine</li><li>The frustration of putting my hospital gown back on after showering</li><li>The times I had to drink down that potassium--yuck!</li><li>Having to wear slip-on shoes and suspenders for the first two weeks after my surgery because it was impossible to wear a belt or tie shoes without feeling pain in the abdomen</li></ul></div><div>Why do I want to remember all this? Because I do not want to ever again feel so sick that I have to be hospitalized.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, if you ever feel pain above the belly button and it moves to the right lower abdomen, and the pain feels like someone hanged a plumb bob on your intestines, you probably have appendicitis and you need to get that looked at.</div>markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-43882736899155713162020-11-07T20:18:00.001-05:002020-11-07T20:18:47.882-05:00Volume 14, Number 1: Out With TrumpGood evening, my fellow Americans.<div><br /></div><div>Earlier today, former Vice-President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., was projected to win the state of Pennsylvania, and with that, become the 46th President of the United States. I for one feel greatly relieved. And I'll tell you why.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1976, Jimmy Carter, at that time the Democratic presidential nominee, running against incumbent President Gerald Ford, asked Americans a very simple question: <i>Are you better off today than you were four years ago?</i></div><div><br /></div><div>This year, Donald Trump, President of the United States since January 2017, did not ask that same question. It would have been a public relations gaffe for his re-election campaign if he had, because today, many Americans are not better off. More than 236,000 Americans have died from a virus that Trump said, back on January 22, was "<a href="https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses" target="_blank">one person coming in from China</a>." 10 million more Americans are out of work, due mainly to that very same coronavirus, as many businesses that greatly depend on interpersonal activity and/or large gatherings of people have suffered (e.g. bars, restaurants, movie theaters, tourism).</div><div><br /></div><div>Four years ago, a number of Americans thought that it might be time to give a non-politician a try. One thing Trump said at that time apparently resonated with a lot of them: Echoing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drain_the_swamp" target="_blank">a phrase used by politicians on both sides of the proverbial aisle since the 1980s</a>, he likened Washington, D.C. to a swamp infested with alligators, and he would drain the swamp. <i>(Note: Almost 63 million Americans voted for him in 2016, but it's not clear as to how many voted for him based on the party he represented, how many voted for him based on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/existential-anxiety-not-poverty-motivates-trump-support/558674/">feeling threatened by change</a>, and how many voted for him precisely because he was not a politician.)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>By voting for Trump, however, they ignored objective editorials from various newspapers and magazines endorsing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (according to Wikipedia, 500 endorsed her specifically, and another 30 said "anyone but Trump"; links to many, if not all, of these editorials can be found <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper_endorsements_in_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election" target="_blank">within this article</a>). He was, has been, and is everything you don't want in a President: He is simultaneously a con man, a liar, a bully, a coward, and a manchild.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Let's start with the <b>con man</b> part. Trump claims to be one of the most successful businessmen ever, yet he has left behind all sorts of short-lived business and bankruptcies. He claims to be an expert on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GqJna9hpTE">just about everything</a>. I am reminded of Gilderoy Lockhart, the character from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets who frequently bragged about his wizarding prowess, particularly in Defense Against the Dark Arts, yet could not prove any of it because all he ever did was take credit for what other witches and wizards had done. He <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/03/26/president-trump-coronavirus-guidelines-postcards-arrive-in-florida-did-you-get-one/" target="_blank">published a postcard of guidelines for COVID-19 that he claimed were his own</a>. (Incidentally, it has been reported that <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/14/coronavirus-trump-admin-usps-march-covid-19-postcard/5797364002/" target="_blank">the Trump Administration owes the United States Postal Service $28 million</a> for those postcards.) Like Lockhart, he wrote a dozen or so books boasting of his expertise, but I wonder how much of that is him claiming credit for what various financial experts, business owners and real estate moguls had done. Like Lockhart, too many people bought into his stories and blindly believe everything he says. Only difference is, once Lockhart realized he was in over his head and could not live up to the reputation he had built, he tried to leave his job in less than one year.</li><li><b>Liar</b> - Trump has claimed to be worth billions of dollars, but he <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tax-returns-new-york-times-debt-deutsche-bank-irs-1067422/" target="_blank">owes loads of money</a> next year (according to the New York Times). He claimed he could not disclose his taxes because he was being audited; that is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54323383" target="_blank">not a valid legal reason</a>. For weeks, he constantly downplayed the COVID-19 threat, first by understating its magnitude, then saying it would disappear soon. Then, once he recognized that COVID-19 was a pandemic, he claimed he knew it long before anyone else did. He knew that absentee voting would be primarily Democratic (since they understand science and medicine and thus would be less likely to risk exposing themselves to the coronavirus at the polling places on Election Day), so he unleashed a torrent of baseless claims that absentee voting would be fraudulent. Most recently, he has been spreading falsehoods about the American electoral process in an last-ditch effort to spread doubt about its outcome. It got me thinking of the 2019 HBO documentary Chernobyl, when Valery Legasov says in the final episode, <i>"Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid."</i> It got me thinking that the sooner we, as a country, realize our debt to the truth, and begin paying on it, the better. That debt to the truth, however deep it is now, would have become much worse with four more years of Trump boasting about how great and prosperous this country is.</li><li><b>Bully</b> - Trump's behavior during his first debate against former Vice President Joe Biden (Cleveland, September 29), constantly talking over his opponent and refusing to acknowledge that the time allotted to him was up, is the sort of crap bullies do. Bullies also resort to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection" target="_blank">projection</a>--they do things and then say, no it's the other person who's doing it. He calls the media "fake news" when they have fact-checked him more often than any President in the last four decades. Even Fox News, a network known for leaning heavily in favor of Republican poloticians, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-11-05/trump-campaign-attacks-fox-news-polling-expert-who-called-arizona-for-biden" target="_blank">has felt his wrath</a>. Another example of projection was when he claimed the Democrats were politicizing the coronavirus--on February 28, he said, "<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-coronavirus-democrats-new-hoax-n1145721" target="_blank">This is their new hoax</a>"--when what they were doing was warning people about it, and he was the one politicizing it.</li><li><b>Coward</b> - Chronically in denial, Trump <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/20200428/landgren-cartoon-see-n-blame-game" target="_blank">blames everyone but himself</a> when things go wrong--China, the media (even Fox News), former aides, former allies, and Democrats (especially the previous President, Barack Obama). To borrow from another Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), people have to choose between what is right and what is easy. Choosing what is right takes courage, and taking responsibility takes courage, no matter how difficult it may be to summon that courage. Instead, he and his yes men constantly choose to deny the truth over accepting it (e.g. not listening to scientists on climate change, not listening to medical experts on COVID-19, not denouncing racism, not rebuking acts of domestic terrorism). When the coronavirus reached this country, he did not take a leadership role, leaving the states' governors to fend for themselves to the point where they had to compete against each other for resources. At his numerous "yes man" rallies, he did nothing to rebuke, renounce or even discourage chants like "Send her back!" (July 22, regarding Rep. Rashida Tlaib of my home state of Michigan) or "Lock her up!" (October 18, regarding Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer). During the September 29 debate, when offered the opportunity to condemn actions by far-right, anti-immigrant white supremacist groups, he said of one such group, the Proud Boys, that they should "stand back and stand by." All of this shows a lack of courage.</li><li><b>Manchild</b> - Trump shows a lack of professionalism and maturity by resorting to petty insults (e.g. referring to the coronavirus as "the China virus," calling Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe"). You can find some more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump" target="_blank">here</a>. (As an aside, I thought he would have learned from the late George Herbert Walker Bush, who insulted the opposing ticket during his failed re-election campaign in 1992.) On April 23, after attending a U.S. Army biosecurity presentation that showed that the coronavirus could be neutralized on nonporous surfaces by disinfectants or prolonged exposure to sunlight, he gave a press conference in which he <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52399464">rambled on about a bunch of what-ifs</a>--what if this light can be introduced inside the body, what if disinfectants can be injected. It famously drew <a href="https://twitter.com/Daniel_Lewis3/status/1253482576699969537">this look of disbelief</a> from Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator. More to the point, the lack of clear guidance in that speech meant that manufacturers of disinfectants and bleach had to reiterate statements that such chemicals should not be used internally; still, a May survey taken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/05/cdc-misusing-bleach-try-kill-coronavirus/" target="_blank">Americans had been doing exactly that</a>. Five months later, when he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 (after failing to adhere to at least two of the COVID-19 guidelines that, back in March, he called his own), he stayed at Walter Reed Hospital for only a couple of days, then went right back to the White House. What kind of person puts himself at risk of giving other people the same virus? Let me give you a hint--when we were children, anytime our parents told us we were sick, a lot of us refused to believe it. Yep, sounds like a manchild to me. And finally, this past Tuesday night, he wanted the ballot-counting stopped while he was ahead in Georgia and Pennsylvania, refusing to acknowledge that due to the larger number of absentee ballots and the largest quantity of votes collected in any U.S. election, more time was needed to make sure that every legitimate vote counted.</li></ul></div><div>And all that is on top of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-embarrasing-gaffes-speeches-twitter-a9659916.html">all his other press conference gaffes</a>, the longest government shutdown in American history (which led to the infamous January 2019 fast food buffet, when <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/01/trump-white-house-clemson-fast-food-mcdonalds-wendys-burger-king-silver-platters-photos-reaction">he fed "hamberders" to the NCAA national football champion Clemson Tigers</a> (having them wait until the shutdown was over would have made much more sense, especially seeing as it ended less than two weeks later), the First Lady wearing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cf927d4412604313af8ac0d81b8c540f">that "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?" jacket</a> (June 2018), and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivanka-trumps-social-media-posts-goya-beans-provoke/story?id=71795732">that Goya product endorsement flap</a> (less than four months ago). Oh, and Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education.</div><div><br /></div><div>Simply put, the non-politician-as-President experiment backfired. Donald Trump was a bad choice--he demonstrated a lot of the very qualities all those editorials warned the country about four years ago. Contrary to one of the duties the President has (uniting his people, especially in times of crisis), he has exploited and aggravated the differences that Americans have had with one another for decades.</div><div><br /></div><div>Trump was so bad, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientific-american-endorses-joe-biden1/">Scientific American magazine endorsed a candidate for the first time ever</a> by endorsing Biden. A week later, the New England Journal of Medicine, which also had never published an editorial on a presidential election, <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812">urged its readers to not re-elect Trump</a>. Trump was so bad, at least three former Republican state governors (<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/03/rick-snyder-why-im-voting-joe-biden-even-republican-column/5696508002/">Rick Snyder</a>, Michigan 2011-19; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden-republicans-exclus/exclusive-biden-garners-more-republican-endorsements-this-time-from-ex-governors-idUSKBN25U1AK?il=0">Bill Weld</a>, Massachusetts 1991-97; and <a href="https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/09/27/former-pennsylvania-republican-gov-tom-ridge-endorses-joe-biden/">Tom Ridge</a>, Pennsylvania 1995-2001) publicly announced that they would vote for Biden. Trump was so bad, USA Today, which had never explicitly endorsed a presidential candidate in its 38 years of existence, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/todaysdebate/2020/10/20/elect-joe-biden-reject-donald-trump-editorials-debates/5919435002/">endorsed Biden</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thankfully, enough people across this country resolved to move on from this troubling chapter in our history. It's a shame that the Republicans, as a party, didn't.</div><div><br /></div><div>I understand that one man alone will not change the fortunes of the United States of America. A lot needs to be fixed. We're living in a country that has consumed more than it has produced for the better part of the last five decades, and whose chief legal exports today are sports and entertainment. Seemingly every issue has been politicized and generalized. This country needs better public education so more people learn math, science, and basic life skills, and learn about past mistakes in history (not just the good parts). This country needs to roll its environmental laws back to 2016. Corporations must stop outsourcing American jobs to other countries--not only manufacturing jobs, but customer service and technical support jobs, too (hello, General Motors--you're damn right I'm talking to you). As it is, the materials we collect for recycling every day, should be recycled here instead of being shipped off to the Far East.</div><div><br /></div><div>On top of that, there will be resistance, both in Congress that is split between the two main parties, and among the rank-and-file. Millions of American adults and their children will need to resolve and overcome any prejudices they may have, instead of blaming everyone from minorities and immigrants to entire other countries. In short, things may get rougher before they get better.</div><div><br /></div><div>But electing Biden as our new President is a start. I look forward to finding out whom he will nominate for his Cabinet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let us hope this country can reunite--if not right away, at least in the long term--and let us do what we can to make it so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div><br /></div><div>Mark D. Rabinowitz</div><div>November 7, 2020</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsipJJXiZ4hOXmqo-oJhyphenhyphenNRNDZywH_tSdpakxeaQ85sYyCMA5FhkGaL1GkQhzWtGB51AlLuB8zk5u3b7FKSZdrrG_NxKNaflffP4pEWLtPYvd8sc39wCJHwDU3W3Fgrlqx7bRSd_h_As/s507/Trump+Goes+Poof+Jan+20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="507" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsipJJXiZ4hOXmqo-oJhyphenhyphenNRNDZywH_tSdpakxeaQ85sYyCMA5FhkGaL1GkQhzWtGB51AlLuB8zk5u3b7FKSZdrrG_NxKNaflffP4pEWLtPYvd8sc39wCJHwDU3W3Fgrlqx7bRSd_h_As/s320/Trump+Goes+Poof+Jan+20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-38480553791896128432018-09-09T11:39:00.001-04:002018-09-09T11:39:19.511-04:00Volume 13, Number 1: Rachael ReynoldsFour years ago today, September 9, 2014, suicide hit as close to home for me as it ever has. Rachael Reynolds, a 19-year-old woman who had graduated from Farmington High School the year before, ended her life by jumping off a freeway overpass in Farmington Hills. Farmington High is just a couple miles southwest of my high school (Harrison High), and the freeway overpass in question is just a couple miles away from either school. From what I read on her Twitter page, she had dropped out of college and wasn't happy with her body, even though she certainly looked nice to me. Her final tweet: <a href="https://twitter.com/rachreynolds_/status/509219434045906944" target="_blank">"The worst and the last day."</a><br />
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It's particularly awful when it's someone so young, someone who does not have the life experience to understand when someone else--someone who just might have gone through a similar situation in their youth and recognizes the pain--says to them, "Don't give up--things are going to get better."<br />
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Take it from me--yeah, things can and do get better. Fifteen years ago, I was out of work and heavy in debt. And I had no way of knowing where my next job would come from. I was fearful of becoming a burden on my family, fearful that I would descend into a life of shame and destitution. It took support from my family, a few years of working dead-end jobs that barely made ends meet, and a little good luck*, but I got out of that mess. If, on the other hand, you take your life, you wipe out whatever chances you may have.<br />
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The real challenge is when the depression and anxiety becomes so severe that in an instant, you forget all the previous times things got better and the good times and how everybody goes through some kind of shit that nobody else does and how there just might be some good luck in the future to address the problems you have today.<br />
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Here's my perspective on asking for help. I've come to realize that it is not a sign of weakness or incompetence--an act of strength. It takes strength to overcome anxieties about how people may think of you as a person based on what you say, strength to ask questions when you don't have the answers, strength to persist in telling your story if the first person or the first two people or the first 100 people don't listen<br />
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Metro Detroiters, remember the Electrifying Mojo? He said, "If you ever feel like you're nearin' the end of your rope, tie a knot. Keep hangin', keep rememberin', that there ain't nobody bad like you."<br />
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In closing, I'd like to share a song about what a terrible option suicide is. Out of Control by Oingo Boingo. This lyric should always stay in my head: <i>"Don't you know / That everyone around you / Has felt the pain you feel today."</i> I wish everyone who has ever contemplated suicide would instantly hear this song, which Danny Elfman wrote in 1990.<br />
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*Luck--that could be another blog entry in itself. The two bits of good luck I needed to get out of the mess I had in 2003 didn't come until 2005 (when I got the help I needed to get out of that debt) and 2007 (when I landed the job I have now). Had I ended my life in 2003, I would have left behind loved ones wondering what they could have done or said to prevent it, denied myself the opportunity to prove I could overcome my problems; left behind still more people wondering if they inadvertently left a proverbial straw on the camel's back that proved to be one too many; and obviously, I would have missed out on what I have now.
markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-78545686648829058152017-08-13T16:33:00.002-04:002017-10-25T09:19:51.927-04:00Volume 12, Number 2: The Legends Fest FiascoAugust 13 marked the first anniversary of the Legends Fest fiasco in Dudley, Georgia.<br />
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If you don't know what Legends Fest was: In a nutshell, it was a pro wrestling event created by a man named Greg Greene, who, in a span of a little over two months, managed to get a mix of current independent wrestlers and superstars of days gone by (as listed in the poster shown below)--mostly the latter--to show up for the event. Thing is, he did not plan on paying them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r8Adq11Le6yxu-_4FvN5lvbqX52Oddv3Pos7MKBgpe74j6h1n2OtPmSmkohRdEvN86NnEq4Ypeq529hZ9L50azggw4vdH7N5Egx2qI8tXv0RSIV8vtck4mZp9nAWWpfF48evEURgorY/s1600/Legends+Fest+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r8Adq11Le6yxu-_4FvN5lvbqX52Oddv3Pos7MKBgpe74j6h1n2OtPmSmkohRdEvN86NnEq4Ypeq529hZ9L50azggw4vdH7N5Egx2qI8tXv0RSIV8vtck4mZp9nAWWpfF48evEURgorY/s320/Legends+Fest+Poster.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
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I wasn't there for this sham of an event, but it struck a nerve with me for two reasons:<br />
<ul>
<li>First, because I've followed WWE since 1987 and therefore am familiar with a lot of the names on the poster. Examples: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, who were two of the famous Four Horsemen in NWA/WCW, also worked as a tag team in the WWE called The Brain Busters (Bobby Heenan was their manager). Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, main-evented WrestleMania IV (losing to Randy "Macho Man" Savage for the then-vacant WWE Heavyweight Championship). Ronnie Garvin, I remember from that time he lost to Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in a retirement match, only to make Valentine's life miserable as a referee.</li>
<li>Second, and more importantly, I've had a number of situations in which my time and energy were wasted and I got next to nothing in return--a summer job from Hell in 1992 (it was supposed to be a research job but it ended up being door-to-door sales); the time in 1999 when I met with someone to buy a used car (they never got a cent from me, but they wasted a lot of my time), only to find that he didn't have a clear title; and a 2007 job interview with a company that claimed to be in marketing but ultimately was nothing but street peddling.</li>
</ul>
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OK, enough about me. Back to Legends Fest. A few dozen former wrestlers, plus a few young wrestlers currently working the independent circuits, went through all the trouble to get there.<br />
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The first red flag might have been raised on July 20, when Greene announced that the event was being moved from Dublin to the much smaller town of Dudley (or, as at least a few of the talent involved would put it, "the middle of nowhere"). His explanation: "Due to overwhelming responses we have found it would be necessary to hold Legends Fest in a more suitable location." I'd love to know what "overwhelming responses" and "suitable location" meant, knowing what we know now. Maybe the folks at the venue Greene wanted to use in Dublin <i>overwhelmed</i> him with messages saying they didn't want his sham of an event in their town. Maybe he didn't sell enough tickets to pay for the use of the Dublin location and decided a cheaper venue would be more <i>suitable</i> given the situation he put himself in.<br />
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Two days before the event, B. Brian Blair (one-half of The Killer Bees, a tag team that performed in WWE in the 1980s) noted that the talent Greene had listed on the poster was too expensive for the local demographic; when he called Greene, he responded by stating that they got the money from sponsorships--never mind that the poster mentioned no sponsors, and Greene probably never had any to begin with.<br />
<br />
Greene had booked rooms at two different hotels in Dublin (Quality Inn and La Quinta), but with a credit card that got declined.<br />
<br />
The building that Greene chose to hold the event in was an abandoned school (the Millville Alumni Association Complex, which, according to former WCW announcer Scott Hudson, had once been Millville High School). There were no signs outside the building to indicate that any kind of event was going on--or in any of the surrounding towns, for that matter. A number of the people listed on the poster (Garvin, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Davey Richards, Angelina Love) had already smelled a rat and did not show up.<br />
<br />
On top of all that, Greene didn't have the money to pay the talent, even though he claimed to have sold more than $10,000 worth of tickets. Greene said that he was expecting payment from the site through which he set up ticket sales for the event, Eventbrite, but that they e-mailed him at 4am on the morning of the event to tell him they would not wire him the money, at least not as he had expected. It is likely that Greene did not have a legal PayPal account, and that is why he did not receive the money from Eventbrite.<br />
<br />
Paul Eubanks (another promoter, who had been in the business since 1984, and had never met Greene before the event) said Greene asked him for a loan--first for $1,000, but this request was later increased to $5,000. Eubanks and Hudson also said the local sheriff threatened to shut down the show unless the talent was paid. Greene ended up writing a load of checks that bounced--many from his own mother's checkbook, which he had stolen. According to multiple witnesses, Greene was sweating and stuttering and had a dry mouth, and nobody knew that he had no money until he gave Anderson a chair to sit in, which broke, and a fuming Anderson--1/4 of the classic Four Horsemen of NWA/WCW--then said he should pay him $1,000 on top of what he was already owed.<br />
<br />
In spite of the money issues, the performers were determined to put on a show for the fans who came, even though they risked injury doing a job that wasn't going to pay anything. Eubanks and Francisco Ciatso (another indie wrestler; pronounced KEE-aht-soh) did what they could to make the show happen, even after Greene repeatedly threw Eubanks under the bus for his own screw-ups, even despite the fact that some of the talent booked in the matches either left or never showed up, meaning Ciatso had to book a few matches on the fly. Even then, things did not stop going wrong--the lights went out and the toilets backed up.<br />
<br />
Ciatso summed up Greene as a mark who wanted to rub elbows with wrestlers of the past and set up this sham of an event just for that purpose.<br />
<br />
On August 18, Greene was arrested in Virginia on multiple felony charges, including 23 counts of deposit account fraud, 15 counts of forgery, theft by deception, and making false statements.<br />
<br />
As of this time, I do not know if Greene has already stood trial on these counts.<br />
<br />
I've compiled a whole bunch of media related to the fiasco, mainly for you to peruse and enjoy, but also partly for me to refer back to at a later time. Some of these go into a lot more detail about what happened. Check 'em out.<br />
<br />
The first of two podcasts Sean David Hubbard did on the subject: <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prosperitywrestlingradio/2016/08/16/pwr-presents-rampage-rants-monday-night-mayhem-disaster-in-dudley">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prosperitywrestlingradio/2016/08/16/pwr-presents-rampage-rants-monday-night-mayhem-disaster-in-dudley</a><br />
The second of those two podcasts: <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prosperitywrestlingradio/2016/08/23/pwr-presents-rampage-rants-monday-night-mayhem-disaster-in-dudley-part-2">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prosperitywrestlingradio/2016/08/23/pwr-presents-rampage-rants-monday-night-mayhem-disaster-in-dudley-part-2</a><br />
Del Wilkes speaking about what happened a day or two afterwards: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U9bfS5gpCc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U9bfS5gpCc</a><br />
The Courier-Herald, a newspaper in Dublin, published a story about the event here: <a href="http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/654/assets/I70R_CH_8_16_16_WEBSITE.pdf">http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/654/assets/I70R_CH_8_16_16_WEBSITE.pdf</a><br />
Mallorie Bradley, the fiancée of "Dreamkiller" Eric Wayne (one of the independent wrestlers at the event), posted a couple videos showing herself and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff confronting Greene. Orndorff is the one in the blue shirt, guarding the door while Bradley chews him out: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mallabamaslam/videos/10208307875947671/">https://www.facebook.com/mallabamaslam/videos/10208307875947671/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/mallabamaslam/posts/10208313727853965">https://www.facebook.com/mallabamaslam/posts/10208313727853965</a><br />
Another video of Bradley and Orndorff confronting Greene, which I believe was originally recorded by Stormie Lee Sloane (another of the indie talent at the event): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz1tZeKEXKg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz1tZeKEXKg</a><br />
A Gerweck Report podcast, featuring an interview with former Smackdown GM Theodore R. Long: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEuRR2bOwc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEuRR2bOwc</a><br />
A Reddit thread on the subject: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4xmphl/promoter_stiffs_legends_local_indy_talent/">https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4xmphl/promoter_stiffs_legends_local_indy_talent/</a><br />
Scott Hudson's account of the whole thing: <a href="http://www.wrestlingepicenter.com/news/2014//473221113.shtml">http://www.wrestlingepicenter.com/news/2014//473221113.shtml</a><br />
<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/psp/2016/08/16/tipping-point-special-on-the-dudley-debacle">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/psp/2016/08/16/tipping-point-special-on-the-dudley-debacle</a><br />
(Francisco Ciatso and Stormie Lee Sloane interview)<br />
<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/psp/2016/08/19/peach-state-pandemonium">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/psp/2016/08/19/peach-state-pandemonium</a>markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-89596457823138264802017-04-24T08:02:00.000-04:002020-01-28T18:23:18.669-05:00Volume 12, Number 1: Holocaust Remembrance DayAt some point in the mid- to late-1980s, my father gave me a small paperback book. It was <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Victory-Abraham-Rothberg/dp/B005B3LS2K" target="_blank">Victory</a>--the fourth (and final) volume in The Eyewitness History of World War II, by Abraham Rothberg, which Bantam Books had originally published in the 1960s. A little over halfway through this volume is a passage about the Shoah* that resonated with me the first time I read it, and it still does today. I'd like to share it with you now, especially given the incredibly ignorant comments that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made less than two weeks ago.<br />
<br />
On April 14, 1945, Allied troops advancing into Germany saw firsthand the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Among those soldiers was R.W. Thompson, a captain in the British Army who would later become the war correspondent for the London Sunday Times. The following are excerpts from what he wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The blue smoke of many fires hangs thickly in the pine woods along the road from Winsen to Belsen. In the clearings the young corn is green and all the loveliness of spring, of budding life, is in the air, and the smouldering grasses of the pine woods bring a wonderful tang to the nostrils so that you expand your chest and feel your youth still in you, and are glad to be alive. <b><span style="color: #ffe599;">Then suddenly a new tang creeps into the odours of burning. It is the stench of death.</span> </b> It is the stench from the great charnel-house our armies have overrun so that all mankind shall now--and this time neither to balk nor forget--the appalling crime Hitler and the Nazis have done against humanity, against the very basis of life and faith itself. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I began the unforgettable walk that you must read about. At first it was little worse than a kind of enormous hutted camp with here and there the wooden towers where the guards had watched. The whole enormous area hidden in lovely pine woods divided into barbed-wire enclosures containing about thirty long huts to house, on military standards, less than fifty men. Here the inmates, men, women and children, were new, but recently brought in. For the first time for days there was water, and for the first time for weeks these people were washing themselves and their clothes. The only odd thing was that here and there men and women were excreting--just casually anywhere. There is no sanitation in this hell in the woods. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="color: #ffe599;">And now before my eyes was the slow destruction of human beings, stripped of all human dignity, forced down to the level of the beasts, and so to die in utter ruin.</span></b> </span> This thing, this hell far beyond the dreams of Dante, holds some 60,000 souls--souls! These are not souls, these tragic travesties of humanity that sit and rot in their own excrement, these things that were human once, reduced now to skeleton death by slow deliberate starvation, but first stripped of all remnants of human dignity so that in truth they are dead before they die. By the barbed wire lie the dead, some bits of clothing, others naked, men, women and children, almost unrecognizable as the remains of human kind, though they died but an hour since. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They lie down and they die. Now deep into the camp the dead lie in bundles, neat bundles, grotesque limbs in terrible positions. Here is a small cart loaded with a dozen corpses, the faces like parchment tight against the skulls. They are only just dead. A brown stocking is limply around a leg that a small black garter less than 4 centimeters in diameter cannot clasp. A shock of auburn hair crowns the dead face of this woman that stares sightless to the blue sky. The normal world of life is receding. Horror is not yet too deep for an individual to mean something. This woman had a life, a purpose, was beloved of someone. But now the dead are in hundreds, the dead, the living and the near-living. The dead in small bundles of threes or fours under the shadow of the pines, the dying in attitudes of sleep by the roadside, some dying peacefully, some suddenly sitting up chattering. Here a woman sits with eyes round in deep sockets, and a younger woman tries to quiet her babbling. She is babbling like a grotesque travesty of a child. If you did not know, she might be asking for a toy to play with, but she is asking for death. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And so slowly the Chaplain takes me to the great burial ground where our soldiers are scooping pits with bulldozers to accommodate all this dead and putrefying human wreckage, deliberately, slowly, brought to pass by Adolf Hitler and the so-called Aryan** race. Morning and night the heavy truck with its trailers brings its cargoes of bodies to the great pits. <b><span style="color: #ffe599;">Stand with me at this brink of this death pit. It is my job, your job, the world's job.</span> </b>It is about 30 feet deep, but you cannot see how deep because it is nearly filled now with human bodies, littered together in the embrace of death. Here are girls, boys, men, women, naked, half-naked, upside down, sideways, all ways, some staring up to the sky, others with their heads buried in human remains. So stare in silence and let this crime beyond expression sink in. Across the sandy clearing is the incinerator, but it ran out of petrol. A rough record by the chief burner of bodies records seventeen thousand burned last month. They say each body was roughly clubbed as it went in, for there is so little difference between the dead and the near-dead. There is no differences in the faces even. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I found it difficult to speak to Germans at all. I used to walk through crowds of them--civilians or prisoners--as though they weren't there, yet feeling a kind of flaming wall around me. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I am now a complete idealist. I have given up all the "isms." I believe in the human spirit above all things, and that only by a change of heart can civilization be saved. For although it is the Germans who have done this thing, it is not only the Germans who can do it. Prisoners of Germans did it to other prisoners. <b><span style="color: #ffe599;">Mankind can do this thing to mankind.</span></b></blockquote>
We <u><i>must</i></u> pass what we learned about the Shoah down from one generation to the next because every new generation, each being more distanced by time from the terrible events by time than the one before it, is more susceptible to being lied to. In particular, a man named Bradley R. Smith thought that my generation, a generation for which the vast majority of their parents were born well after the Second World War ended, would be vulnerable to lies (for example, he claimed that Allied bombings of railroads were to blame for the starvation of the prisoners). Smith published his lies in a number of student newspapers in 1991, including <a href="https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/midaily/mdp.39015071754878/548" target="_blank">a full-page ad in The Michigan Daily</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I was taught that humans, all things being equal, would be humane to one another. I didn't hear about the Shoah until I came to the United States. And when I did, I was rocked to my roots, because it seemed to deny everything I thought I had known about us humans!"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Prof. Ralph Williams, 9/21/2016</blockquote>
*I have referred to this event as the Holocaust, mainly because it was the most widely-used term growing up, and it is widely in use today. However, as Prof. Williams pointed out last year, that term is also used in the Bible to describe burnt offerings. He added that the person who first used that term regarding the persecution and murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis later regretted doing so.<br />
<br />
**The original wording from Mr. Thompson was "Adolf Hitler and the German race." I changed "German" to "so-called Aryan" because, while Germany as a country was the primary guilty party, not all Germans willingly participated in the Shoah; to the contrary, <a href="http://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous/people-opposed-hitler.html" target="_blank">a number of German-born people resisted in any way they could</a>, with the price often being their lives.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-16824027843358053202016-02-29T11:40:00.000-05:002016-12-09T14:45:20.726-05:00Volume 11, Number 4: My Thoughts on the YouTube Copyright Strike SystemOn February 26, after more than 3.5 years of being banned from YouTube for multiple copyright infringement violations, I finally got one of my three "copyright strikes" removed.¹ In short, I got my account back.<br />
<br />
For those of you who remember those uncensored Kitchen Nightmares videos I used to post to that account, I have bad news: You will never see them again because they are a big reason why my channel got taken down in June 2012. My copyright strikes were all based on legitimate complaints, each from a different copyright owner, and in each case, <u>none</u> of the content was my creation. I apologize to all three owners (Viacom, NBA Properties and ITV Studios Inc.) for sharing content that was not mine to share.<br />
<br />
I recognize that YouTube faces challenges on two fronts: It wants to be a major media platform, especially for new content creators, but at the same time, it has to fight against the piracy that plagued it during its early years.<br />
<br />
With that said, the way YouTube addresses copyrighted material has room for improvement. Earlier this month, Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) discussed a number of shortcomings in the current copyright claim/strike system in his Where's The Fair Use video, along with Alex of I Hate Everything (IHE) and Adam Johnston of Your Movie Sucks. These three YouTubers have a combined total of 1.3 million subscribers. The two biggest shortcomings are summarized below. For your convenience, Doug's video is embedded right below them.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Lack of fairness.</b> At present, claimants making false copyright claims have far more power than defendants who have evidence supporting their claims of fair use (a legal doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders). Johnston pointed out that claimants can make unlimited claims while defendants are limited to no more than three appeals. Walker added, "There are no penalties for companies creating false claims or strikes," and there should be. (UPDATE 3-2-16: Yesterday, two other critics, Bobsheaux and TheMysteriousMrEnter, posted videos about takedowns; the latter stated that he cannot appeal the claimant's takedown request until after the video is taken down on March 8, at which point he will be given a strike, and that is also not fair, seeing as the claimant didn't have a waiting period.)</li>
<li><b>Lack of human interaction.</b> YouTube is relying more on automated processes in its fight against piracy. This leads to a lot of videos automatically getting removed regardless of whether the claim is well-founded or not. The recent rash of copyright-related takedowns may have been the result of <a href="https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2016/02/02/explaining-the-chaos-on-youtube/">changes to an "abuse algorithm"</a> that went haywire and overstepped its bounds. Compounding matters further, when creators try to appeal claims and strikes, they are often met with useless auto-reply e-mails. Alex of IHE said, "The automated e-mails and forms seem designed in such a way that no human working at YouTube will ever actually see them. ... There was no one I could contact to fix a very, <i>very</i> simple problem."</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zVqFAMOtwaI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zVqFAMOtwaI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I like two other suggestions Doug Walker made, starting at the 11:39 mark of his video:</div>
<ul>
<li>The first is related to the ad revenue a video generates. Right now, when a copyright claim is made, the claimant can take and keep that revenue--<i>even if the claim is false.</i> Walker suggested that the money instead be put into an escrow account pending the resolution of any counterclaim (so that if the claim is not valid, the money would go back to the video's creator).</li>
<li>The second is having a grace period so that in the event that the user who posted the video has a counterclaim, they are not immediately penalized.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I'd like to add this gripe I have with the current system:</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Lack of consistency.</b> Users who receive a second copyright strike are made to watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InzDjH1-9Ns">the YouTube Copyright School video</a>, which takes more than 4.5 minutes to talk about how posting content you don't own is wrong. At the 1:37 mark, the narrator says, <i>"If YouTube receives a <span style="color: red;">valid</span> notification of alleged copyright infringement from a copyright holder for one of your videos, the video will be removed <span style="color: lime;">in accordance with the law</span>.</i>" Based on what's gone on recently, YouTube's automated processes are handing out claims and strikes without<span style="color: red;"> verifying the validity of the allegations behind them</span>, and without <span style="color: lime;">taking Fair Use into consideration (as they should per the Lenz v. Universal ruling last year)</span>. So what's going on now is not consistent with that Copyright School video statement (and the video itself needs to be updated anyway, since it was produced in 2011, more than four years before the Lenz v. Universal ruling). Another inconsistency I find is that there are still plenty of unauthorized postings of entire movies and albums on YouTube, yet critical reviews and parodies seem more likely to get hit with claims or strikes (even though the latter examples fall within fair use and the former examples don't).</li>
</ul>
<div>
YouTube should receive this message loud and clear: <b>Don't leave judgment calls to computers.</b> They wanted to make it easy to support new and independent creators while still keeping piracy at bay, but automated processes are not the be-all, end-all answer. Software engineers need people to test programs for errors and give feedback on functionality, sporting events need officials to make sure the game is being played fairly and cleanly, manufacturers test products for safety and functionality--I could go on and on. Point being, human intervention is still necessary. YouTube needs people to review and judge allegations because its software, while <i>efficient</i> at identifying non-original content, haven't been all that <i>effective</i> in distinguishing piracy from fair use.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What YouTube <u>doesn't</u> need, as Walker noted in his video, is people who "see change as too hard or too much work, not willing to put in the effort to do what they know is right." This reminds me what J.K. Rowling said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about the choice between what is right and what is easy. Sometimes doing what's right <i>isn't</i> easy, but that doesn't excuse you from putting in the extra effort. Above all, no one should ever place people's rights arbitrarily in the virtual hands of algorithms.<br />
<br />
One more thing I'd like for YouTube to consider is giving harsher penalties for large amounts of infringing content (like a whole movie or album). Most states in the United States assign varying amounts of points to driving violations (e.g. six for driving drunk, two for going 10 miles per hour or less over the speed limit). Giving the same one-strike penalty to someone who posts a scene from an old TV show as to someone who posts a recently-released feature-length movie doesn't seem right.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
In closing, I'd like to thank all the critics featured in the Where's The Fair Use video, especially Doug Walker and Alex, for fighting not only a good fight, but a very important one.<br />
<br />
And to you, the reader, thank you for your time in considering the issues discussed in that video and here in this blog entry.<br />
<div>
<br />
¹ In case you were wondering why it took me so long to get any of my strikes removed, here's what happened: In 2012, I had two strikes and was waiting on the second strike to expire when I got hit with strike #3, which led to my YouTube channel being shut down. That put me in a catch-22--I needed to make a successful counterclaim against any of my three strikes just to get my YouTube account back, but I needed my YouTube account in order to access the counterclaim webform. Recently, however, I learned that YouTube now allows you to make a counterclaim by using e-mail, as explained <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6005919">at this link</a>. This e-mail counterclaim method allowed me to bypass the run-around I had been getting in 2012, and I was able to get NBA Properties to remove my second copyright strike. Thank you, NBA Properties, for your understanding and cooperation; and thank you, YouTube, for getting rid of that damn catch-22.</div>
</div>
markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-39296129315175150142016-02-22T09:07:00.001-05:002016-02-22T09:07:14.529-05:00Volume 11, Number 3: To Infinity, and... Belleville?Before I start this entry, a story about a job lead gone bad, I want to follow up on an earlier blog entry about the logo/uniform concept I submitted for Paul Lukas' Uni Watch Redesign The Rams contest. It got published--well, part of it, but I'm still very happy about it. Read more about it <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14746942/uni-watch-contest-results-how-redesign-rams-return-los-angeles">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I was thinking back to what I was going through nine years ago today. I had been out of work for about three weeks, and my savings--already decimated from being out of work for five weeks the previous summer--had taken a big hit. I was desperate for work.<br />
<br />
Or, at least I thought I was desperate for work.<br />
<br />
I responded to an ad on careerbuilder.com posted by a company called Infinity Marketing Group. They said they were hiring for positions in marketing, business-to-business deliveries, and customer service.<br />
<ul>
<li>Marketing, in the traditional sense of the word, has a number of different departments, one of which is research, and that's the kind of job I was looking for (which is why I responded to the ad in the first place).</li>
<li>As for business-to-business deliveries, maybe it meant delivering products for test marketing to focus group facilities--that didn't sound like a skilled position, so it didn't interest me.</li>
<li>Customer service was my second choice--I imagined that it might involve fielding calls from the business expecting deliveries. Although it isn't the greatest kind of job in the world, it does require being organized, and once you've been working there for a while, having a good memory can help, too; above all, it would at least keep food on my table and gas in my car.</li>
</ul>
So I applied, and a few days later, went to their office in Roseville, Michigan, where I sat with a bunch of other people for a couple hours waiting for an interview. The guy I interviewed with asked me if I was self-motivated, if I was a go-getter, and while these are terms you hear a lot in the sales world, they could be used in any line of work. You have to be self-motivated in order to go to any job; you have to be a go-getter to do your job, I thought to myself, so I answered "yes" to those questions. When I got home, they called me back to say they wanted me in for a second interview, plus they'd even pay for my lunch. It sounded promising.<br />
<br />
Or, at least I thought it sounded promising.<br />
<br />
The next day, I put on my best suit and shoes, thinking that this was a bona fide interview for a bona fide job. When I arrived at the office in Roseville, though, I found out what a load of bullcrap I had walked into. A "manager" (Nick) and a "manager trainee" (Brandon) met with me and another man who had responded to the ad (Chris). They asked us to help them load some stuff into the back of Brandon's old Chevy Blazer--crappy radio/calculator things I wouldn't even buy at a dollar store (similar to the one pictured <a href="http://www.diytrade.com/china/pd/3153785/Magic_box_Calculator_Fm_Scan_Radio.html">here</a>), fuzzy velvet coloring sets (kind of like <a href="http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2013-new-velvet-fuzzy-coloring-posters_729892750.html?spm=a2700.7724857.29.55.MdNEQM">this one</a>), balloon animal kits, and Disney Pixar jigsaw puzzle books. The Blazer itself seemed like it would not be long for the world, judging by the faded paint, the sound of the engine, and the fact that the headliner was sagging and was held in place only by pins.<br />
<br />
I could have sworn Nick said we would be delivering stuff to businesses, but we didn't stop anywhere until we arrived in Belleville--more than 40 miles away from Roseville. During the drive, Nick talked about the company--facts like how one of its biggest clients was The Walt Disney Company, or how one of the company's owners was also a part-owner of the NBA's Toronto Raptors.<br />
<br />
When we arrived in Belleville, the first thing Brandon did was ask a pedestrian passing by, rather loudly, "Have you seen any of the new ones?" That struck a nerve with me. I was sure I heard something like that once, several years ago (I remember looking for a rummage sale in Canton or Wayne and had stopped to check the address), and it didn't make any sense--"new ones?" How the hell would I know what he meant by that? I certainly wouldn't know what the "old ones" were, that's for sure. Back then, I just got in my car and drove away, feeling so annoyed that I made no further effort to find the address I was looking for. Now, hearing Brandon ask that same question had me thinking that this situation was not what I had in mind.<br />
<br />
Let's consider the types of jobs that Infinity claimed they were filling:<br />
<ul>
<li>"Business-to-business deliveries," as it turned out, was a euphemism for, "We're going to barge into various places where people work and interrupt them and their customers and try to sell this crap to them." That alone turned me off. I had imagined it meant delivering stuff to business that they had already ordered; for example, delivering copies of a CD to a music store, or delivering knife sets to cooking stores or restaurants. I was not looking for any kind of sales job, and I most certainly did not want to sell anything the way Brandon and Nick were doing it. That is called street peddling, a form of sales I thought the Internet would render extinct (along with TV shopping networks). With the Internet, people can decide what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it--that's how I prefer to sell stuff anytime I need to. I would not expect someone to sell me crap while getting my hair cut, yet that's what I saw Nick do, selling those cheap calculator radios at 3 for $5 to people who had come to a local barber shop to get their hair cut.</li>
<li>Customer service? I didn't see anything like it--rather the opposite. At one point, I saw a piece fall out of one of the Disney Pixar puzzle books I was carrying, and I wanted to stop and find it and put it back. Nick didn't like that; he said it would slow everyone down. He said that not only did he not mind a piece being missing, but he could sell it like that, and furthermore, he even proceeded to throw one of his copies of the very same puzzle book into a nearby puddle and said that he could sell that as well. He asked if I wanted to bet him that he couldn't. I wisely did not--I would have lost. He had just established himself as one of the thickest-skinned sons of bitches I had ever met, and his ability to communicate and sell was unquestionable. He sold both the book with the missing puzzle piece and the one he threw in the puddle. His idea of customer service evidently wasn't anything like my idea of customer service.</li>
<li>Marketing? Only if you don't know the difference between marketing and street peddling. In his sales speech, Nick would keep referring to "test marketing" that was being done for "one day only." Here's why I would never call it test marketing: Proper test marketing is done at a research facility, not on the street (and especially not by interrupting people who are running errands). Furthermore, in proper test marketing, the test subjects don't pay for anything--they may keep the item in exchange for completing a survey about it. I tried explaining to Nick about what I had in mind--that marketing includes a few different types of jobs, like package design, advertisement design and research, and marketing research was what I was interested in--but either he didn't want to listen to what I had to say, or he didn't understand it to begin with. Obviously, we were wasting each other's time.</li>
</ul>
I wanted to go home as soon as it was evident that this was not something I would want to do in a million years. Problem is, as I said earlier, my car and I were 40 miles apart at this point. Nick and Brandon weren't about to drive me back to Roseville, and they also didn't want to spend any more time with someone who was no longer interested in the miserable existence they called a job. There were no buses, and a taxi would have cost me more than the money I had on me, so I had no choice but to "tough it out" by spending the rest of this obviously wasted day in the back seat of Brandon's beat-up old Blazer in Belleville.<br />
<br />
At one point, I overheard Nick and Brandon bragging about making a killing on the cheap calculator radios. So much for Disney being such a big client--maybe their definition of "one of our biggest clients" was how big the client itself was, not how much business they did with them.<br />
<br />
The job posting was absolutely underhanded. This so-called "job" wasn't even worth putting on a button-down shirt and Dockers, let alone my best suit and dress shoes. Chris did help Nick and Brandon sell stuff, but only because he didn't want to be cheated out of a free lunch (whereas when I admitted before lunch that I did not want to do this, I ended up having to pay for my own lunch. Towards the end of this wasted day, Chris asked me if anyone had ever told me what Infinity was really up to. "N friggin' O," I said. "N to the mother-friggin' O," Chris agreed. He was the one who hit the nail on the head--this was not marketing, it was street peddling. We also talked about how Infinity was set up as a pyramid scheme (in which people had to recruit other people to sell stuff, and those other people had to recruit still more people, similar to Vector and their Cutco knives).<br />
<br />
When I got back home, after half a day walking through snow and mud carrying a bunch of crap and watching a thick-skinned man interrupt decent, mild-mannered people to sell it, and another half-day sitting in the back of a beat-up old SUV, I was tired as heck. But above all, I was relieved that I was done with them. Furthermore, I didn't get any mud on my suit or mess up my shoes.<br />
<br />
It was back to the drawing board as far as searching for work was concerned--I had reached the point where I even resorted to applying for jobs in other states. Fortunately, the opportunity for my current job presented itself less than two weeks later, and I haven't been out of work since.<br />
<br />
Looking back, there were signs that I should have taken to mean "get out before you waste any more of your time":<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Sitting in a room with 20 other people for a couple hours just to wait for an interview--that was something I had done once before, also with bad results (in 1992, when I was in college and looking for a summer job, and what sounded like educating people about the need for tougher recycling laws turned out to be door-to-door fundraising).</li>
<li>The questions about being self-motivated and a go-getter--I'll remember that these are signs that the company is looking for thick-skinned salesmen, and that's not me.</li>
<li>Ads that advertise for multiple types of positions--that's understandable for a chain of stores or restaurants that need people in multiple areas when they're opening a new location, but a marketing firm--a real marketing firm that understands words like "research" and "focus group" and "survey"--is more likely to advertise for one specific position. That is the one reason I should not have responded to that ad.</li>
</ul>
markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-18888811429255390392016-01-29T08:33:00.000-05:002018-06-02T22:45:23.365-04:00Volume 11, Number 2: Adventures in Doing the Laundry, RevisitedToday marks the tenth anniversary of that time I repaired my washing machine. Here's the story.<br />
<br />
I had a load of laundry to do, like I usually do every weekend. That would have been no big deal, except that a few minutes after I turned on my 10-year-old Whirlpool washing machine, I heard this ticking (or clicking) noise. I went back to the laundry room to find that the agitator stopped working. Also, when it got to the spin cycle, it wouldn't spin, either, which meant that not only was my laundry still dirty, but it was soaking wet as well.<br />
<br />
I called my mother about the problem. She suggested that the ticking noise might be a transmission problem and that I might have to get a new washer (since getting a transmission replaced usually costs more than it's worth).<br />
<br />
I was pissed off, because getting a new washing machine was not in my budget, which was tight at that time. I was working a job that barely made ends meet, and I didn't have much money saved up.<br />
<br />
Later on that day, I went to a couple different stores to search for a new washer. I thought I got a very good deal at the second store for an Estate by Whirlpool washer for $297, including taxes and delivery, after a talk with the store's manager about wanting to find something with a dent on either side (since the way my laundry room is set up, any dents would be easily hidden by the dryer to the left and the washtub to the right). According to the tag on the washer, its regular price was at $347.<br />
<br />
Once I got back home, I went on the web to get some information on the washer I just ordered. It didn't retail for anywhere near $347—according to Whirlpool's own web site, the MSRP was $279, so the deal I had wasn't the good deal I thought I was getting. I wasn't saving $50--I was being overcharged by $18.<br />
<br />
The idea that I might be getting ripped off gave me a newfound determination to see if that ticking sound was a transmission problem. The store manager had mentioned during our conversation that he had black goo leaking from a washing machine he had 25 years previously, as the result of a transmission problem, so I checked under my broken washing machine to see if there was any black or gray goo--nothing there. In retrospect, by telling that story, the salesman made a mistake that would work tremendously in my favor.<br />
<br />
Another web search--something along the order of "Whirlpool washer making ticking noises"--revealed that I was too hasty in jumping to any conclusions about the transmission. At least two sites said the problem was much simpler: a motor-to-transmission coupler. It consists of two plastic parts and one rubber part, and is designed to break down so that neither the motor nor the transmission does. Above all, replacing it would be much cheaper than buying a new washer. Why I didn't do a web search like that _before_ going to any appliance stores, I'll never know.<br />
<br />
I found a web site on <a href="http://www.applianceaid.com/direct-drive-washer-access-procedures.php">how to replace that coupler</a>, and armed with the pictures and instructions from that site, went back to the laundry room to take the washer apart. I had nothing to lose, after all--the washing machine was broken and would stay that way unless I did something about it. The process was much easier than I had expected--it didn't include any heavy lifting or disconnecting of hoses. Before long, I found the culprit--a broken motor-to-transmission coupler. I looked in amazement--I almost gave up on a washing machine over this over a small part like this?<br />
<br />
I spent $20.70 on the replacement coupler I needed. (I could have gotten it for less, except that I needed them urgently--I needed to find out if I could successfully install it so I could make a decision on whether to cancel the order for the new washing machine.) A successful replacement job would save me over $276 ($296.99 saved by cancelling the new washer purchase, minus $20.70 for the replacement part order. Until the new parts arrived, however, my washing machine was in a partially disassembled state, with parts scattered over half of my laundry room floor.<br />
<br />
Those new parts came on Wednesday, so that night, I went about the business of removing the broken coupler and installing the new one. It took me a while to everything back together (I had one part on backwards at one point, and later on, it took me three tries to put the exterior cabinet back on the machine), but after all that trial-and-error, I put in another load of laundry. The very task of doing the laundry had taken on the feel of an amusement park ride: The building anticipation as the washer filled up with water was somewhat like that you feel on a roller coaster slowing climbing that first uphill grade. Then the agitator kicked in--no ticking noises, no noises coming from the motor or the transmission sound just as good as they ever have, the agitator worked, and when it reached the first spin cycle, that was exhilarating. Imagine the relief of finding a long-lost item and the excitement of a roller coaster ride--I experienced both at the same time.<br />
<br />
20 years previously, at age 13, I would have simply said, "Let's just get a new one!" without giving any thought to fixing it or having any interest in how the old one worked. It was easier back when I wasn't the one spending the big bucks. But in 2006, I found myself doing the 180-degree opposite, doing what I could to keep the washing machine running and save money.<br />
<br />
The washing machine repair was successful, and I cancelled the order for the new washing machine.<br />
<br />
To this day, I still have and use that Whirlpool washing machine. It is now over 20 years old.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-81760196481092127802016-01-25T20:53:00.000-05:002016-02-10T19:45:38.757-05:00Volume 11, Number 1: Fanfare for the Common RamFor the first time in a few years, I'm participating in another of Uni Watch head honcho Paul Lukas' Redesign The... contests on ESPN.com. Earlier this month, he <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14562627/uni-watch-contest-redesign-rams-uniform-logo-their-move-los-angeles">invited Uni-Watch readers to submit new design concepts</a> for the newly-relocated Los Angeles Rams (who recently left St. Louis after 21 seasons there).<br />
<br />
Although the changes I've made are, I imagine, subtle compared to other designs submitted for this competition, they collectively make for a design that, in my estimation, stands out and can stand the test of time. Here it is (click on the images to see them in their original size--you'll especially need to do this to see the uniform set in more detail).<br />
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The changes I made are as follows:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Color scheme: "Millennium blue" stays, but "new century gold" is out</b> (replaced by yellow). Why? The contrast between the navy blue and the yellow is striking (then again, I would know because my alma mater wears maize and blue). Also, yellow is the color of the sun, so it makes more sense in sunny southern California.</li>
<li><b>The horns finally have ridges!</b> Rams' horns have ridges, and <a href="http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams">earlier LA Rams and Cleveland Rams logos had them</a> as well. When Fred Gehrke painted those horns on the team's helmets in 1948, it would have been too much to ask him to also paint all those little ridges. But here in the 21st century, there are no excuses--we don't use paint, we use decals; furthermore, we have the technology to put ridges on those horns without making a lot of extra work.</li>
<li><b>Back to the Futura</b> (as in Futura Display). Between 1972 and 1982, <a href="http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/867/Los_Angeles_Rams/1972/Wordmark_Logo">the Rams' wordmarks used the Futura Display font</a>. What's more, that font was popular in the 1940s, when the Rams moved to LA from Cleveland. Point being, it's a font you could say the Rams <i>own</i>. Why not use it for uniform numbers and NOBs? I could understand them not using it three decades ago when almost everybody used block numerals (the Chicago Bears were the lone exception at that time). But times have changed in an era where teams try to look more distinctive.</li>
<li><b>Tweaking the logo:</b> I decided to make changes to the logo the Rams have been using since their 2000 redesign instead of a whole new one. First, I changed the colors to match the navy blue/yellow color scheme (see #1 above). It was after I did this that I noticed something odd. At that point, the logo looked not so much like a ram as like a horse with no mane wearing a helmet with no facemask that had ram horns painted on it. So I thought I'd play around with the logo some more, starting with rotating it the horn by -15 degrees. I made a few other minor tweaks as well to the ram's face and the back of its neck. The final touch: Ridges on the horn, of course! The graphic under this list is meant to give you some idea of how my version of the logo "evolved" from the current version.</li>
<li><b>Get that Nikelace outta here!</b> In 2012, when Nike took over as the uniform maker for the NFL's teams, they introduced a new collar (officially called the Flywire collar, but hereafter referred to as <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/10578/new-uniforms-new-season-the-uni-watch-nfl-preview">"the Nikelace"</a>) that looked awful on teams whose jerseys have a different-colored collar. Five teams still use the "old" pre-2012 collars for that reason (Packers, Patriots, Falcons, Panthers, Eagles). The Rams should have followed their example. But instead, they went with the partially-colored Nikelace that some fans derisively call "the neck roll." I decided the old collar worked better.</li>
<li><b>No outlining on the numerals.</b> Although the Rams experimented with outlined numerals in the 1950s (they were among the first NFL teams to do so), and used outlined numerals in their current uni design (2000-present), they generally didn't use them during their first stint in LA, and they don't need to use them now. </li>
<li><b>No more white pants stripes.</b> They seemed out of place on the Color Rush unitards they wore against the Bucs, so I decided to go with one solid yellow stripe on the blue pants, and one solid blue stripe on the yellow pants.</li>
</ol>
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<br />
You'll also see a "RETURN TO LA" commemorative patch in my submission. I did it because one of the contest's requirements was that you had to create one. I'm cool with that, and I'm cool with what I slapped together--it's a take on the eponymous sign for the City of Beverly Hills (the extremely affluent LA suburb), but with the curlicues at the bottom replaced by ram's horns.<br />
<br />
This is the first time I've submitted an entry in an ESPN.com-sponsored Redesign The... contest since 2013 (Miami Dolphins). I didn't submit entries for more recent contests (Vikings, Hornets, Clippers, Blazers) because I simply couldn't come up with anything that I thought would be significantly better than what than whatever they had at that time.<br />
<br />
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-72253328993984269402015-09-18T10:41:00.000-04:002016-01-24T22:23:44.533-05:00Volume 10, Number 1: WhatIwouldadone, #2 in a series: The 49ers' Black AlternatesGosh, has it been over a year since my last blog entry?<br />
<br />
Wow. I've really been occupied for a while.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I wanted to do my own take on the black alternate unis that the San Francisco 49ers wore this past Monday night. Here's what they wore:<br />
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Three things I dislike about them:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Same color jersey and pants (I call them "unitards")</li>
<li>As Paul Lukas pointed out (see <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12798826/how-49ers-whiffed-new-alternate-uniform">point #4 in his article</a>), they should have more gold in them for two reasons (Super Bowl 50, and gold is one of the Niners' primary colors to begin with).</li>
<li>Finally, so long as you're going to use black, why not pay tribute to the <a href="http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1994_SanFrancisco.png">throwbacks the Niners used in 1994</a> (which, incidentally, is the last year they've won the Super Bowl)? They had some black in them (black stripes on the pants, and the numerals had black drop shadows).</li>
</ul>
<br />
To that end, I offer this take:<br />
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<br />
The drop-shadow numerals and the stripes on the jersey sleeves and socks are meant to be tributes to the '94 throwbacks.<br />
The pants are the same gold ones they wear all the time anyway--that's a few dozen less pairs of pants for the equipment manager to worry about.<br />
<br />
I seriously considered replacing the white stripes on the helmets and pants with black, I really did. I decided against this because it would cause confusion for players and equipment managers alike.<br />
<br />
I'm also aware that these may look a bit too much like the Oakland Raiders' and/or New Orleans Saints' unis. That was one more reason for the drop-shadows on the numerals and the stripes on the socks, not only as tributes to the '94 throwbacks, but to make them look a bit less like those other teams.<br />
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OK, that's all for now. See you next time!markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-4985598107937320802014-09-08T19:14:00.002-04:002014-09-13T01:06:44.289-04:00Volume 9, Number 4: Fun With Uniform Concepts, World Football League StyleHere we go again with another couple of uniform design concepts I made for a Uni-Watch contest. On August 21, Phil Hecken, Uni-Watch's Vice Grand Poobah, announced <a href="http://www.uni-watch.com/2014/08/21/next-uni-design-contest-the-wfl-today/">a uniform design contest</a> based on the following premise: <i>If the World Football League never folded and was still operating today, what would their uniforms look like?</i> (The WFL was a professional football league founded in 1974 whose aim was to place American football on a global stage, but many of its teams encountered financial and/or attendance problems--many teams either folded or relocated during the 1974 season, which was otherwise unheard-of in professional sports--and the league itself folded in the middle of the 1975 season.)<br />
<br />
Below is a series of questions I imagined you might ask me, and my answers.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Let's start with the Charlotte Hornets design. Why did you pick that team?</b><br />
One thing that stood out for me, when looking at all the WFL's uniform designs, is the simplicity of <a href="http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt10/ADW7702/WFL%20Logos/wfl-cha-75b.png">the logo the Hornets used in '75</a>. You could draw the outline of the hornet by drawing one continuous line, meaning you can do so without lifting the writing instrument from the page. Not surprisingly, that logo is dated by today's standards. The hornet was too stiff and upright and showed no sign of aggression.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYjSrGhza4Voc5Zv3fP9DVY7IhsdzL2BRlgzqBV5ZAD0hixIW0yRuzoyPZe9jGPPJlXP5UZZYrmXdFbXxstfCLTv9kEN4ILaeQAtWJexw7wOLuR2wR2z3pBYXN6QkfN5y2MlPhaVSY680/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+Charlotte+Hornets+Unis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYjSrGhza4Voc5Zv3fP9DVY7IhsdzL2BRlgzqBV5ZAD0hixIW0yRuzoyPZe9jGPPJlXP5UZZYrmXdFbXxstfCLTv9kEN4ILaeQAtWJexw7wOLuR2wR2z3pBYXN6QkfN5y2MlPhaVSY680/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+Charlotte+Hornets+Unis.jpg" height="323" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2014 Charlotte Hornets (WFL) helmet and uniforms. Click on this picture to see it full size.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>2. Explain what you did to modernize the Hornets' logo.</b><br />
Time for a short history lesson. For the first 26 years of their existence, the NFL's Seattle Seahawks had a really glum-looking seahawk head logo on their helmets. Like the 1975 Hornets, the 1976 Seahawks' logo was modern for its time. By the turn of the 21st century, however, that franchise, which didn't have much to show for those 26 years, clearly needed a better logo. What amazed me was how simple the solution turned out to be--<a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1048653/new-seahawks.jpg">they gave it movement and aggression without making a lot of changes</a>. They made the face look mad and there's an indication of forward movement when you see the logo on the helmet. I thought the Hornets' logo would do well with a similar approach. I slanted the whole logo by 45 degrees to give it movement, changed the wing to make it look more like how a real hornet's wings look when it's flying, and changed the eye to make it look more aggressive. I tweaked the antenna to make it look more like it does in the real world, too--real antennae don't stick straight up like you see in the 1975 logo. I also made sure to make it so that you could still recreate the logo's outline with one continuous line (in order to stay true to the franchise's 1970s roots).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAugtjP8DKTXkDL6TUv97P7mSlkvfItov_MaiOEKv1SzCnFf_nz-cfHugQ-3c94tN2j27wi0z4lNPHl9tmWqRHoP7ms6_VMZSRiLNfVUoSqNleBCfPscdLIVIOwHPxNwuG3XP8gdAm-E/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+Charlotte+Hornets+Logo+Comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAugtjP8DKTXkDL6TUv97P7mSlkvfItov_MaiOEKv1SzCnFf_nz-cfHugQ-3c94tN2j27wi0z4lNPHl9tmWqRHoP7ms6_VMZSRiLNfVUoSqNleBCfPscdLIVIOwHPxNwuG3XP8gdAm-E/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+Charlotte+Hornets+Logo+Comparison.jpg" height="190" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A closer look at the modernized Hornets logo. Click on this picture to see it full size.</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>3. What's up with the pants on that alternate uni?</b><br />
Just hear me out: A hornet, like any other insect, has three distinct sections (a head, a thorax and an abdomen). A football uniform also has three main parts: the helmet, the jersey and the pants. Now, if you look at the Hornets' logo, you can imagine that the head and thorax are yellow, the abdomen is black, and where the thorax ends and the abdomen begins, you have four stripes--black, yellow, black, yellow. I had this idea of making a uniform that matched the logo--yellow helmet, yellow jersey, and black pants with a couple of yellow stripes. (I considered putting the stripes on the jersey, except that football players usually tuck their jerseys in--it's <i>hockey</i> players who <i>don't</i> tuck theirs in.) And besides, I had never seen _horizontal_ stripes on pants before. Pants have traditional vertical stripes, all sorts of swooshy (but still vertical) stripes, but not straight across.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Those numerals look familiar. Did you rip those off the Boston College Eagles and/or the old Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA?</b><br />
Yep--I ripped those off. After I finished modifying the hornet logo, the hornet's head reminded me of those numerals Boston College used ten years ago--the same combination of contours and sharp points as the reworked Hornets logo itself has. Finding the right font wasn't easy, but in the end, if you think it will help your design, it's always worth it to "go that extra mile.".<br />
<br />
<b>5. I see that you don't have any yellow-on-yellow or black-on-black sets.</b><br />
Correct. I hate unitards (the name I derisively give to any color-on-color football uniform). I'm proud of my Detroit Lions, along with a few other NFL teams, for never doing that, and I'm disappointed that <a href="http://counterkicks.com/2014/08/the-adidas-go-blue-uni-michigan-will-wear-against-penn-state-on-1011/">the Michigan Wolverines will be wearing blue-on-blue for their game against Penn State this fall</a>. When college teams like Oregon and Northwestern started doing that back in the '90s, it was a gimmick that I just assumed would be short-lived. Next thing you know, NFL teams are doing it--even the Chicago Bears, one of the NFL's oldest teams, are guilty of doing it (<a href="http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/images/2002_Chicago.png">2002</a>, <a href="http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/images/2006_Chicago.png">2006</a>). Talk about the tail wagging the dog.<br />
<br />
<b>6. Let's move on to the Detroit Wheels. Why did you pick this team?</b><br />
I picked them because they were my hometown team, and also in spite of the fact that they were arguably the worst team in WFL history (more details about the crap they went through can be found <a href="http://wfl.charlottehornetswfl.com/team_pages_1974/03.php">here</a>). Above all, I did this redesign for fun.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg74G6nQ6DDKCd9pZ7VUdvB20wWkwt7uyYNQlea7c8Exr7hn_4383_dXgop2_aKI42Q9hnPo9peXNygY2K5SQeHW3ovZCR-BMU4is8JDZ5K2lWZv6i1XiuMu8hPdHKmRAQ96tkBKGNjw8/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+REVISED+Detroit+Wheels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg74G6nQ6DDKCd9pZ7VUdvB20wWkwt7uyYNQlea7c8Exr7hn_4383_dXgop2_aKI42Q9hnPo9peXNygY2K5SQeHW3ovZCR-BMU4is8JDZ5K2lWZv6i1XiuMu8hPdHKmRAQ96tkBKGNjw8/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+-+REVISED+Detroit+Wheels.jpg" height="186" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Detroit Wheels design. Click on this picture to see it full size.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>7. Explain your Wheels design.</b><br />
I wanted freeway markings, signage and lettering to dominate this design, to pay tribute to the influence the automobile has had on our society over the last century or so. You'll see it on the striping (which is styled like two-lane highways), the font I used on the NOBs and numbers (<a href="http://www.dafont.com/freeway-gothic.font">Freeway Gothic</a>, a font you usually only see on freeway signs) and the uniform numbers inscribed in warning signs near the top of the pants stripes. I also wanted to change the color scheme--a few WFL teams wore black and gold (the New York Stars/Charlotte Hornets, the Wheels and the Jacksonville Express), and the Hawaiians were brown and gold. I went with red for two reasons: It was part of the Wheels' original color scheme, and I couldn't use green because a few other WFL teams (Portland Thunder, Chicago Winds, Shreveport Steamer) were already using that color. I replaced the black with a dark gray (for asphalt) and scaled the gold way back. One more thing--if the Wheels existed today, then next year, I'd love to change their name to the Cruisers (in tribute to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, in which more than 30,000 classic cars cruise up and down Woodward Avenue from Ferndale to Pontiac).<br />
<br />
<b>8. Where did you get that uniform template?</b><br />
I don't actually have a template. My football uniform designs are usually based on graphics I download from <a href="http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/">The Gridiron Uniform Database</a>. I download them and modify them as I see fit. The Hornets' home and road designs are based on the current home and road uniforms of the Green Bay Packers. The Wheels' concept has its roots in the Kansas City Chiefs' uniform. With all that said, I'd love to find out where Tim Brulia and Bill Schaefer (the guys who do the research for The Gridiron Uniform Database) got this template--it would be 100 times easier to use that instead of having to download one of their pictures and alter it. Making those "TV numbers" is a pain in the neck, too.<br />
<br />
<b>9. What software did you use? What you've got there looks kind of rough and primitive compared to what the "pros" churn out.</b><br />
Yep, I admit it, my work looks anything but "polished". I might be the only guy in all of the amateur uniform design community who uses Microsoft Windows Paint to do what I do. Just about all of my other work has been created that way--use a rigid, two-dimensional uniform graphic as the base and go from there (another example is my 2012 concept for the Houston Astros, which <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/4059/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-astros">got published on ESPN.com</a>). On one hand, it puts me ahead of where I'd be if I used pencils, markers and crayons. On the other, I'd love to learn how to use PhotoShop so I can use the more three-dimensional templates out there.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-74550021193858238212014-03-30T18:55:00.000-04:002017-10-25T08:52:28.510-04:00Volume 9, Number 3: An Open Letter to Dean Foods<b>To: </b>Dean Foods Customer Service Dept.<br />
<b>From: </b>Mark Rabinowitz<br />
<b>Subject: </b>Melody Farms<br />
<b>Date: </b>March 30, 2014<br />
<br />
To whom it may concern:<br />
<br />
What, exactly, did you do to Melody Farms?<br />
<br />
Melody Farms was a Michigan-owned company for over 50 years before Dean Foods bought it in 2003. I remember them from my childhood and thus considered it to be a brand I trusted for dairy products, especially milk and ice cream.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, I came across a special at a local grocery store for Melody Farms’ “frozen dairy dessert” for $1.25 for a 1.75-quart container. I decided that even though “frozen dairy dessert” is not the same as “ice cream,” I’ve bought products from other companies that had to be called “frozen dairy desserts” (e.g. Breyers), because, even they did not qualify as “ice cream,” I didn’t have any serious issues with them. Furthermore, Melody Farms, as I’ve said, is a brand I remember favorably from my childhood, so I felt that I couldn’t go wrong.<br />
<br />
I couldn’t have been more wrong. What I had was almost tasteless with no creamy texture. As a matter of fact, the “cookies & cream” variety had much more of a gritty texture.<br />
<br />
I wondered just what I had bought, at which point I did something I should have done way back at the store, which was read the ingredients.<br />
<br />
First ingredient: Not milk. WATER.<br />
<br />
I was shocked. Last time I checked, water was never a dairy product, and never will be.<br />
<br />
I realize that Dean Foods owns a number of different ice cream brands here in Michigan—Dean’s, Country Fresh, Stroh’s, and Sanders as well as Melody Farms. Having worked in market research in the past, I imagine that after acquiring Stroh’s, Sanders and Melody Farms, your marketing executives wanted to position each brand differently, and perhaps those executives decided that Melody Farms should be the brand for cheaper “frozen dairy desserts”. Even if my suppositions are wrong, at least they make sense.<br />
<br />
What I don’t get is what I had for dessert earlier today. A “frozen dairy dessert” whose first ingredient is not a dairy product—that doesn’t make sense. I would call that disappointing.<br />
<br />
In closing, I want you to re-evaluate the recipes you are using for all Melody Farms “frozen dairy desserts”. I would prefer that my last memory of Melody Farms be something better. I understand that there will be a market for people who wish to save money by buying a “frozen dairy dessert” instead of a more expensive ice cream. That does not give Dean Foods the right to serve anything that is extremely disrespectful to older Michigan consumers’ memories of—and trust in—Melody Farms products, and definitely not worthy of being called “frozen dairy desserts”.<br />
<br />
Thank you in advance for your time and due consideration.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Mark Rabinowitzmarkrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-76416547951015095902014-03-08T23:25:00.001-05:002014-03-08T23:25:48.031-05:00Volume 9, Number 2: Cold Car Crazy, RevisitedA few weeks ago, my 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix was driving me up the wall. With the problems listed below, which I did not mention in my previous blog entry, I was seriously considering buying a newer car. However, it turned out these problems were easy or cheap to fix (and three of them were more my fault than the car's).<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The windows kept getting frosted on the inside--turns out that the problem was never the weatherstripping; it was me tracking snow and other moisture into the car; that moisture would ultimately evaporate, only to be trapped inside the car. Removing the driver's side front floor mat and bringing it into the house to dry seems to have helped.</li>
<li>The driver's side window wasn't rolling down--that was related to the moisture problem (#2 above). The same moisture that was frosting up my windows on the inside, was also freezing the windows to the weatherstripping on the door. Using a blow dryer on the window worked, and I rubbed some de-icer on the edges of the window and on the weatherstripping in an effort to help prevent this problem from ever happening again.</li>
<li>On Super Bowl Sunday, I had trouble removing a burned-out bulb from one of my tail lights because--get this--tons of moisture had gotten into the tail light and turned to ice, so I had to resort to using a blow dryer to melt enough ice to get the bulb out. The cause is that the seal on that tail light had been compromised (it's a common problem with this car, from what I've read).</li>
<li>The washer fluid wasn't coming out when I needed it--that problem was also my fault. I had some cheap Slug-A-Bug washer fluid that froze up in 32° Fahrenheit or lower. Siphoning out that fluid (something that I could not do until temperatures got above 32°) and replacing it with a better fluid (the kind that works down to -30° F) seems to have done the trick.</li>
<li>On top of all that, my car was having trouble starting, but that was due to a battery that was four years old and was no longer holding a charge; replacing that was inexpensive and effective (not to mention a no-brainer).</li>
</ol>
<br />
Now that I've conquered these issues, I am no longer debating buying another car. On the contrary, I've re-dedicated myself to keeping my Grand Prix going as long as possible. I've already lined up a few repair projects that I'll tackle when the weather gets warmer:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The fuel filler door is being a real pain in the neck to open and close (this is another common problem with the 1997-2003 Grand Prix; I'd like to either fix the hinge on it, which is faulty, maybe because the hinge pins are rusted, or replace the door if it comes down to that)</li>
<li>The driver's side molding rail needs to be replaced (that's a piece of metal that supports the plastic molding that goes over the rocker panel; without it, the molding sags like a clothesline, and that's just what happens when the rail turns to rust). I've already had experience with this repair because I replaced the same rail on the passenger side four years ago.</li>
<li>I'm going to see if I can use some silicone adhesive to restore the seal on the right tail light so water doesn't get into it again. The way I see it, I've got nothing to lose in trying this--if it works, it'll save me from having to buy a replacement tail light on eBay or from a junkyard, and if it doesn't, at least I'll still have eBay and junkyards to fall back on.</li>
</ol>
markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-45438607164252122072014-02-10T10:49:00.001-05:002014-03-08T23:25:39.055-05:00Volume 9, Number 1: Cold Car CrazyI'm having a bit of a debate with myself right now. I wonder if it is a good idea to buy a newer car when I hardly drive my current car at all (I work out of my home 80% of the time these days, so I only drive about 5,000 miles a year)--it's not quite as extreme as buying a luxury car or a sports car just for trips to the supermarket, but it's as close as it gets to that extreme. At the same time, however, I am not sure if it is a good idea to spend good money to fix all of the problems I'm contending with in my current car (<a href="http://markrabo.blogspot.com/2010/01/volume-3-number-20-grand-prix-era.html">the same 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix I bought in 2008</a>), only to be met with other problems down the road. The main problem right now is that the weatherstripping is apparently not able to keep out moisture, so I occasionally have windows frosting up on the inside (and the windows aren't rolling down, either--moisture must have gotten between the windows and the seals, causing them to stick together).<br />
<br />
I'm always looking for new ways to save money. I know I already mentioned this on my Facebook timeline, but I have a portable jump-starter that I've had for 12 years (it's a Car Start 1000, similar to the one shown <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clore-CS1000-CarStart-Ultra-Portable-Flashlight/dp/B000F59VNC/">here</a>). However, when jump-start a dead battery with it last month, it didn't work because it wasn't holding a charge. I figured it was time to start looking for a new portable jump-starter. But then I realized... before I buy a new one, I've got nothing to lose by taking the old one apart to see if it's got an internal battery that I can replace myself. And lo and behold, I found out that it did (see the picture below--that dark gray block that the booster cables are bolted to is a 12-volt sealed lead acid battery).
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYZOJyPvJ8qg11KB4LH7nUzz6V6Dm2_3IBaINKxD_LrtnAFlu5OpRVl3KJaqeOWmdFoL3Ym7N1ZZOL5hTkDmW0vBFV6lnmUMiQ677PnlTxiuY2dzoSWhJXI5E0Hlm6JlTpEgpestuoU0/s1600/CS1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYZOJyPvJ8qg11KB4LH7nUzz6V6Dm2_3IBaINKxD_LrtnAFlu5OpRVl3KJaqeOWmdFoL3Ym7N1ZZOL5hTkDmW0vBFV6lnmUMiQ677PnlTxiuY2dzoSWhJXI5E0Hlm6JlTpEgpestuoU0/s320/CS1000.jpg" /></a></div>
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I managed to find a replacement battery (on eBay, your friend and mine). Last Wednesday, I successfully put in the new battery, giving my 12-year-old Car Start 1000 a few more years of useful life. I ended up spending $29 on that battery (by comparison, a brand new Car Start 1000 goes for $60 on Amazon.com). But I should let you know, replacing the battery in a portable jump-starter is not easy. In addition to the usual hazards associated with sealed lead acid batteries, putting the Car Start 1000 back together was not as easy as taking it apart was. In retrospect, maybe I should have looked into this project a few years ago... that kind of battery usually doesn't last much longer than a few years, let alone 12.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-33667787668683667162013-03-20T22:57:00.000-04:002013-03-20T22:57:46.157-04:00Volume 8, Number 5: Uni CulpaWhen I last wrote on this blog a week ago, I was ticked off about a blooper Paul Lukas had committed when he published the results of last month's Uni-Watch Redesign the Dolphins contest. He had said, "As everyone knows, the dolphin should be wearing a helmet with a dolphin wearing a helmet with a dolphin wearing a helmet with a dolphin, and so on. This is known as an infinite regression... it seemed reasonable to assume that at least a few people would find a way to solve this longstanding problem by incorporating an infinite regression into their design concepts. Incredibly, though, not a single reader did so."*
<br />
<br />
My entry did, and to the best of my knowledge, I was the only one who did put a dolphin on the helmet that the leaping dolphin is wearing (instead of the "M" that you've seen on the Dolphins' logo since their inception in 1966).
<br />
<br />
The good news is that, once Paul realized that he had goofed, he promised that he would "set the record straight", and today, <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/19839/adidas-fruit-stripe-unis-reveal-age-divide">he kept that promise</a>. I would have been happy with one paragraph with links to my graphics, but in my opinion, Paul exceeded my expectations. He also showed readers the entry I had submitted, and on top of that, he even quoted one of my e-mails on the subject, both of which went beyond what I had expected.
<br />
<br />
One more footnote about my contest entry: Daniel Gold, who also submitted an entry to the Dolphins contest (and whose modernized take on the Cleveland Browns' elf logo earned him an honorable mention in the <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/17865/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-browns">Redesign the Browns contest results</a>), noted that I made a blooper myself. He said that by stretching and skewing the sunburst, I had changed it into an impossible form, since the sun is, and always will be, a sphere. In short, what I had done with that sunburst was no better than the one in the leaked Dolphins' logo from last December, the one that implied that a sunburst could be underwater.
<br />
<br />
So, on his advice, I went about making a modified version of my logo, one with the sunburst restored to its usual round form. And son of a gun, it works. For the sake of comparison, in the image below, I have the logo from my submission on the left, and the modified version on the right. The graphic below that shows what the unis would look like with the modified logo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN2NAxE63In_bNbCy0d36xUksTLCn_HTdxIXRiOJT5-fggH-UARPy1AZMsc8azyNcL6lzQEpCVTkMiXETdGZMdprjDLreTJmmeFVIdWQY8l5osKUwBhRshR9NCMk2udRVDwagskQ5ypRg/s1600/SkewVsCircle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN2NAxE63In_bNbCy0d36xUksTLCn_HTdxIXRiOJT5-fggH-UARPy1AZMsc8azyNcL6lzQEpCVTkMiXETdGZMdprjDLreTJmmeFVIdWQY8l5osKUwBhRshR9NCMk2udRVDwagskQ5ypRg/s400/SkewVsCircle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGHRjGCElVCXlf6rHSwCEIa1TtaERF7VPnuRpVmrlZPe0wsXTp29yeoevxLvpYgLkGNbLsjdWMCgrVugHFSogV6eKT_kJ3JxloVfe-kujarz0IpGKAv6ac3xAWGM5hZjLNkFdmWSEyxc/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+Unis+Threevised+2013-03-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGHRjGCElVCXlf6rHSwCEIa1TtaERF7VPnuRpVmrlZPe0wsXTp29yeoevxLvpYgLkGNbLsjdWMCgrVugHFSogV6eKT_kJ3JxloVfe-kujarz0IpGKAv6ac3xAWGM5hZjLNkFdmWSEyxc/s400/Mark+Rabinowitz+Unis+Threevised+2013-03-18.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My only issue with the modified logo is that it looks even more unoriginal and derivative than it already did, as I can now say there are only three differences between that and the logo the Dolphins used from 1997 to 2012:<br />
<ul>
<li>The colors in the logo (changed the aqua and orange to the hues of aqua and orange the Dolphins used in the 1970s; replaced the navy blue parts in the logo with the deeper, bluer aqua the Dolphins used in 1997-2012)</li>
<li>I rotated the leaping dolphin by 15 degrees</li>
<li>The aforementioned "infinite regression"</li>
</ul>
<div>
That's OK with me, though. I've always liked the 1997-2012 logo, especially with the facial expression on the dolphin. The 1997-2012 logo and unis are fine as they are, really; I just can't stand the orange jerseys, and I also hate when the Dolphins wear aqua pants with aqua jerseys. But above all, I can't stand the leaked logo from December, which another Uni-Watch blog reader said looks like something Sea World would have commissioned.</div>
<ul>
</ul>
* Here is <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/19559/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-dolphins">last week's Uni-Watch column</a> announcing the results of the Redesign the Dolphins contest.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-33035326759011642472013-03-13T18:18:00.002-04:002013-03-13T18:18:15.829-04:00Volume 8, Number 4: No, This Is NOT a Fish TaleA funny thing happened this morning.<br />
<br />
Paul Lukas <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/19559/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-dolphins">published the results</a> of last month's Redesign The Dolphins contest. But no, that wasn't the funny thing.<br />
<br />
He opened with two paragraphs about how he didn't find any entries that had anything like an infinite regression*--which, in this case, is putting a logo on the helmet on the dolphin in the logo (rather than an "M" like in all the helmet logos the Dolphins have been using since their inception).<br />
<br />
Thing is, I did do that, as I explained in my entry last month. Maybe it was because the logo on the helmet in my submission was kind of small and hard to tell that it was a smaller version of the same logo, and not some messed-up-looking "M". In any case, supposing that I had made the logo too small, then gosh, I missed out on the "Best Infinite Regression" award. I brought the oversight to Paul's attention, and he both apologized for it and said he would mention my entry in his column next week. I'll keep you posted on that.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I went and made a much larger version of my Dolphins logo today. When you click on it to enlarge it, you should see that it has a logo on the helmet on the dolphin <i>on the logo on the helmet of the dolphin </i>(that's going one step further than in my February 22 submission).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouxnoTC-b3m6jlvYE-hibXLdKd74PJT6h36ZIcJDND06EFnQCDyUWft_VYQ7D1d2scGAUTOU3eLVR89M0XkbmzprJYdrgPGvdd8Uv8Izt4YCubTsVwc-FiwnA46q69CKQ52mi0pGSI4I/s1600/Really+Big+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouxnoTC-b3m6jlvYE-hibXLdKd74PJT6h36ZIcJDND06EFnQCDyUWft_VYQ7D1d2scGAUTOU3eLVR89M0XkbmzprJYdrgPGvdd8Uv8Izt4YCubTsVwc-FiwnA46q69CKQ52mi0pGSI4I/s400/Really+Big+Logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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* As an aside: My introduction to infinite regression came when I was very young--6 or 7 years old at the time. I was reading through my older brother's copy of Dynamite magazine--remember that, late '70s/early '80s kids?--and there was this comic strip depicting TV star Farrah Fawcett holding a copy of Dynamite with her on the cover, which featured her holding a copy of Dynamite with her on the cover, which featured her holding a copy of Dynamite with her on the cover, which featured her holding... you got the picture.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-21065458107973639432013-02-25T23:55:00.003-05:002013-02-26T00:01:15.893-05:00Volume 8, Number 3: WhatIwouldadone: The 2002 Buffalo BillsAs I write this, Uni-Watch honcho Paul Lukas is unwinding from his Daytona 500 trip, so I figure he'll need a couple more days to evaluate the several dozen entries he's received for the <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18237/uni-watch-says-redesign-the-dolphins">Redesign the Dolphins</a> contest. In the meantime, I've been working on a series of concepts. These concepts represent what I would have done if certain logo/uniform tweaks were left to me (hence the name, WhatIwouldadone). (Technically, you've already seen one example in the form of <a href="http://markrabo.blogspot.com/2012/06/volume-7-number-8-onward-and-upward-my.html">the Astros concept I did last year</a>; last November, the Astros went with uniforms that look like something a high school team could replicate from the Eastbay catalog.)<br />
<br />
<b>The year: </b>2002.<br />
<b>The place: </b>Buffalo, New York.<br />
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<b>Situation: </b>After 18 seasons with <a href="http://www.uniformdatabases.com/images/2001_Buffalo.png">the uniforms they had been using</a>, the Buffalo Bills decided it was time for a change. Never mind that they won four AFC championships in the middle of that 18-season run.<br />
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<b>Problem:</b> The unis they went with (and proceeded to use for nine long years) were <a href="http://www.uniformdatabases.com/images/2002_Buffalo.png">utter disasters</a> that looked like rejects from the Canadian Football League. Adding navy blue to the color scheme was bad enough. Cluttering the uniform with all sorts of bad design elements--royal blue piping on the jerseys, colored shoulders on the road jerseys, stripes on the sides of the jerseys that didn't match the stripes on the sides of the pants, and adding two stripes to an already stripe-laden helmet--made things far worse. The Bills, to their credit, ditched these duds in 2011, although they went back to using white helmets (which means back to QBs throwing INTs against other teams wearing white helmets--two of which are AFC East division rivals, the Jets and Dolphins).<br />
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<b>Solution:</b> I would have made tweaks to the 1984-2001 unis to correct issues I saw with that set. When the Bills switched to red helmets in 1984, they did little more than peel the helmet logo decals off the old white helmets and stick them on red helmets. If they were going to switch the helmet shells from white to red, they should have swapped the red and white elements on the helmet decals as well. That's what I did in my concept (below). The red streak on the charging buffalo didn't stand out much against the red background, so I made it white; I also got rid of the white outline. Another problem was that the Bills now had helmets that were a different color than the jerseys and the pants. It smacks of "cobbled together from garage sale leftovers." So I made the blue jerseys on the home unis red, and made the blue pants on the road unis red as well. (Consequently, I changed all red outlining to blue.) I figure that going from blue jerseys to red would have a possible added bonus: more appeal to Buffalo's Canadian fans (Canada's flag, after all, is red and white). As it happens, the Bills play a game in Toronto every now and then.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcS7HdOU8ptqHm2fP7Krg0Ry7NddAlryQhaynx5_XnI9_8t2W5S1SRUPVwIAAC-0nTcUPt-kmAcm-1ogVls-p-a22WoitYI-9qcJCHI5XikX-pXr8HnWHU3k-E88j2aNLRczROh9XHMN8/s1600/Buffalo+Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcS7HdOU8ptqHm2fP7Krg0Ry7NddAlryQhaynx5_XnI9_8t2W5S1SRUPVwIAAC-0nTcUPt-kmAcm-1ogVls-p-a22WoitYI-9qcJCHI5XikX-pXr8HnWHU3k-E88j2aNLRczROh9XHMN8/s400/Buffalo+Red.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The only misgiving anyone might have is that this concept looks more like what the Kansas City Chiefs have been using for nearly five decades, but hey, anytime the Bills and Chiefs play each other, they could always use 1960s "throwback" unis to skirt that issue.</div>
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And there you have it... a "WhatIwouldadone" concept. Other concepts I have in mind that you might be interested in: the Cincinnati Bengals, the New York Knicks, the Washington Wizards, the Houston Rockets, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Washington Nationals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Nashville Predators, and the Phoenix Coyotes.</div>
markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-79417913436485817892013-02-22T19:27:00.001-05:002013-03-12T12:56:51.630-04:00Volume 8, Number 2: Applying My Talents to South Beach: My Concept for the Miami Dolphins' Logo and UniformsA few weeks ago, I <a href="http://markrabo.blogspot.com/2013/01/volume-8-number-1-different-and.html">submitted an entry</a> to Uni-Watch's Redesign the Browns contest. My entry into that contest didn't get published on ESPN.com, but hey, you can't win them all.<br />
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Last week, they announced <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18237/uni-watch-says-redesign-the-dolphins">another contest</a>, this time to create a logo and uniform for the Miami Dolphins. The owner of that team, Stephen Ross, had announced that they would <a href="http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2013/01/07/stephen-ross-confirms-that-miami-dolphins-will-unveil-new-logo-before-nfl-draft/">unveil a new logo</a> before this year's NFL Draft.*<br />
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Anyway, what you see before you is my entry into the Redesign the Dolphins contest. (Click on the graphic below to see a larger version of it.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_358hV1h0KyvG8OD1dGRPrik1svZNsAtSkeyhXwSRYJdKZrxUMc3wUMmE57NjueHypzdTe0lB6RfLx_f7NpjaIRW_rJOQUv2jGovMLirwt3lAIt1HN_YdXSyJCwISZFI-hwT6hModZ2Q/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+Revised+2013-01-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_358hV1h0KyvG8OD1dGRPrik1svZNsAtSkeyhXwSRYJdKZrxUMc3wUMmE57NjueHypzdTe0lB6RfLx_f7NpjaIRW_rJOQUv2jGovMLirwt3lAIt1HN_YdXSyJCwISZFI-hwT6hModZ2Q/s400/Mark+Rabinowitz+Revised+2013-01-22.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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And now, please let me indulge in a detailed explanation of what I did and why I did it:<br />
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<b>The logo: </b>I made a number of tweaks to the current (1997-2012) logo, making it look fresh, yet still recognizable and consistent with previous Dolphins logos.<br />
<ul>
<li>I took the sunburst and stretched and skewed it (not to mention that I changed the colors to be consistent with the color scheme the Dolphins used in the 1970s).</li>
<li>I also rotated the leaping dolphin to make it look like it's at the height of its leap (and as a bonus, it now looks like it's charging like a speeding sports car).</li>
<li>I also tweaked a very small detail: Take a closer look at the helmet on my leaping dolphin. It has a repeat of the logo on it, not an "M". I've always thought the reason they went with that "M" in the 1960s was that, at that time, it was too darn difficult to draw a dolphin inside the helmet on the dolphin. I don't know of any Miami-based football teams that used an "M" on their helmets; otherwise, a historical context like that would have made a valid excuse. But with today's computer technology, there's no excuse for that cheesy "M". Bottom line, for the sake of solidarity, I want that dolphin wearing the same helmet that the players themselves wear.</li>
</ul>
Below is a graphic showing the current logo side by side with the one I ended up with.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzqAo3aCd1Curi_sOot6ih51J4X4dmY5mXi6R2zhybSASOwAZr1DD6_XJUI5rHFnZ045nmjmiMplRQ9XObsQtePI3Bdua7FeAo4nPDrY2Gv4nx6iWaJQt-fYCZFLlGG_AN0LVKyMIcME/s1600/Old+Vs+New.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzqAo3aCd1Curi_sOot6ih51J4X4dmY5mXi6R2zhybSASOwAZr1DD6_XJUI5rHFnZ045nmjmiMplRQ9XObsQtePI3Bdua7FeAo4nPDrY2Gv4nx6iWaJQt-fYCZFLlGG_AN0LVKyMIcME/s400/Old+Vs+New.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The color scheme: </b>I used the '70s aqua/orange color scheme (the hue of aqua in my design was also used in '91-96 when Jimmy Johnson was the Dolphins' head coach). Why? It goes back to the time of the team's greatest successes to date. In the 1970s, the Dolphins went to the playoffs seven times, including both of their Super Bowl victories. The 'Fins have not won a Super Bowl since 1973, and have not even been in the AFC Championship since 1992, so they might as well use the aqua they used at both those times. Also, navy blue is out. It should have been excised from the Dolphins' unis after their atrocious 2007 season--the one where they were a hashmark away from 0-16**. (I even took it out of the leaping dolphin--in its place is the darker aqua the Dolphins have been using in recent years, because I however much I wanted to ditch the navy blue, I still didn't want to lose any of the shading or the facial expression we have on the 1997-2012 leaping dolphin.)<br />
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<b>The wordmark/numerals:</b> Miami and Art Deco are so strongly associated with each other (especially in Miami Beach and South Beach), and yet no Miami-based major sports team uses Art Deco anywhere in their uniforms. I decided it was time to end that with this concept. The wordmark, numerals and NOBs have their roots in <a href="http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/jnlevine/aisle-seats/">this Art Deco-inspired font</a> that I found on myfonts.com. Besides, cursive wordmarks like the one the 'Fins*** have used <a href="http://content.sportslogos.net/logos/7/150/full/ufhswto3qgolq3zwwgn6acrec.gif">since 1997</a> are better suited for baseball anyway. Heck, <a href="http://content.sportslogos.net/logos/7/150/full/868.gif">the one they used in the '80s</a> looks like something from the Lingerie Football League.<br />
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<b>Other uniform changes:</b> The '70s aqua hue also returns to the pants (but the aqua pants are only part of an alternate set, and only then with white jerseys--I hate "unitards") and the facemasks. Both were last seen in 1991-96 (the final five years of the Don Shula era and the very first year under Jimmy Johnson). The striping on the helmets and pants is different in that there are three solid stripes with no gaps between the stripes. I took out the aqua "neck roll" that debuted on the Dolphins' 2012 white jerseys (because the Dolphins of the '70s didn't have different-colored collars). Finally, all uniform sets have orange belts. Why? Because the 1973 Dolphins--the last Miami team to win the Super Bowl--only wore orange belts.<br />
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And now to go over things I didn't mess with:<br />
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<b>The helmet is still white.</b> After the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, all of the AFC East's teams at that time (Colts, Dolphins, Bills, Jets, Patriots) used white helmets, leading to lots of intradivisional games where quarterbacks threw passes to the wrong receiver. The Jets switched to green helmets in 1978, the Bills to red in 1985, and the Patriots to silver in 1991. The Colts moved to the AFC South in the 2002 divisional realignment, leaving Miami as the only AFC East team that has never used colored helmets. In fact, out of the ten AFL teams that merged into the NFL in 1970, only the Dolphins have used white helmets throughout their entire history. I was not about to mess with that.****<br />
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<b>The jersey design is not radical</b>, like <a href="http://www.uniformdatabases.com/images/2012_Seattle.png">the design the Seattle Seahawks started using last year</a>, or the one the Patriots used in the '90s that <a href="http://www.uniformdatabases.com/images/1996_NewEngland.png">looked like something that belonged in the World League of American Football</a>. The Dolphins had very conservative jersey designs in the days of Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson, and I wanted to stick to that.<br />
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<b>No unusual striping on the helmets or the pants.</b> I'll confess, I briefly considered doing some Art Deco-styled striping (to go with the Art Deco numerals/wordmark/names on the back), or perhaps sunbursts down the side of the pants and the middle of the helmet, but in the end, I felt that stripes like those would stand out too much and detract from the overall design.
No orange jerseys, either. The Dolphins never wore orange jerseys under Shula or Johnson.<br />
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* A possible new logo was <a href="http://www.dolfansnyc.com/2012/12/23/is-this-the-new-miami-dolphins-logo/">leaked</a> two months ago, and Uni-Watch founder Paul Lukas <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/16327/whats-the-deal-with-new-dolphins-logo-2">found one major fault with it</a>: The dolphin appears to be swimming underwater, which by itself isn't a problem... until you consider that it's superimposed on the sunburst. And as Paul says, "You can't have a sunburst underwater, guys!" On top of that, the person who leaked the logo in the first place thought the dolphin looked too much like a whale (just take the fin off its back, and it really looks like a whale). Also, there's no facial expression or helmet on this dolphin logo.<br />
** The Dolphins beat the Ravens in overtime in 2007. The Ravens could have won that game if they had their kicker, Matt Stover, kick from the right hashmark instead of from the left (because Stover is right-footed and kicking soccer-style right-footed from the left hashmark is more likely to result in a missed field goal, just like Gary Anderson with the Vikings in the '98 NFC Championship game). Curiously, Brian Billick, the Ravens' head coach, was the offensive coordinator with the '98 Vikes--you'd think he would have known better, and directed the Ravens' offense to stay away from the left side of the field when they got into field goal range.<br />
** I <b><i>never</i></b> call the Miami Dolphins "the Fish". As you know, dolphins aren't fish, they’re mammals!<br />
*** As an aside, I think the Bills should go back to using red helmets, and the Jets should go back to green helmets. That way, each AFC East team would have a different-colored helmet.<br />
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I want to add that as with ESPN.com/Uni-Watch's previous "Redesign the..." contests, this is not sponsored by any sports team or sports apparel maker; it's just for fun. From what I read, Dolphins chief executive officer Mike Dee has already shown a new logo to three ex-Dolphin legends, although it is not known if that logo is the one that was leaked or if it is one that nobody else will see until the Draft. Nevertheless, Paul Lukas has said that in addition to publishing his five best entries on ESPN.com, he will also send them to the Dolphins for their consideration (he didn't specify whether it would be the ownership, front office, marketing, or the equipment manager, just "the Dolphins").<br />
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Which is all the more reason I look forward to finding out how my submission fares in the eyes of the Uni-Watch universe.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-61141301248542955752013-01-31T14:10:00.001-05:002013-02-01T23:08:25.953-05:00Volume 8, Number 1: Different and Distinctive, Yet Traditional: My Concept for the Cleveland Browns' UniformsRecently, Paul Lukas (sports uniform/logo enthusiast extraordinaire) announced another create-your-own uniform design contest, <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/17112/uni-watch-contest-redesign-the-browns">this time for the Cleveland Browns</a>, whose owner, Jimmy Haslam, said that <a href="http://espncleveland.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=10881">he wanted his team to have new unis in 2014</a>.<br />
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You may recall that the last time Lukas put together a contest like that, for the Houston Astros, my entry <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/visuals/post/_/id/3999/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-astros">finished in the top five</a>.<br />
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But in my estimation, doing a Browns concept was more difficult because the uniforms they have now are fine (in contrast to the Cincinnati Bengals, whose unis are a horrible mess). The Browns been around for over 60 years, long enough that tinkering with their uniforms is about as risky as, say, tinkering with the formula for Coca-Cola.<br />
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The challenge for me was to do something that was fresh, distinctive and different, while still looking "classic". That meant, above all, that I would not want the Browns to go the way of, say, the Oregon Ducks--turning a football program into a part-time fashion show.<br />
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I turned in my concept to Paul just last night, about 12 hours before the deadline. Without further ado, here it is (click on the image for a larger view):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_8Ip-696RvurbSi-YZy6h8FWUTa0LHy6tNWO9vvgsAItAMAvrWDKxW1Ariw4BQFKZK51zwDmLvnjzRA4Nohv2htQGuehV_YlF8MZVej81LtTlsCf5Ja05g77VsB9aLCkenteD3EJkYs/s1600/Rabinowitz+2014_Cleveland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_8Ip-696RvurbSi-YZy6h8FWUTa0LHy6tNWO9vvgsAItAMAvrWDKxW1Ariw4BQFKZK51zwDmLvnjzRA4Nohv2htQGuehV_YlF8MZVej81LtTlsCf5Ja05g77VsB9aLCkenteD3EJkYs/s640/Rabinowitz+2014_Cleveland.jpg" width="529" /></a></div>
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So, what’s different from what they wore in 2012? Five things, plus one minor difference:<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Orange pants are back again.</b> When it comes to football uniforms, I am a stickler for having the color of the helmet match either the jersey or the pants (but certainly not <i>both</i>—I hate “unitards”). So, for example, I don’t like it when teams with colored helmets wear white jerseys and white pants on the road. Or when the helmet, jersey and pants are each a different color—it screams out “cobbled together from garage sale castoffs” to me. When I began watching NFL football in 1980, at that time, the Browns had it right—orange pants to match the orange helmets, all the time. I didn't like it when the Browns ditched the orange pants years ago. </li>
<li><b>The bulldog face on the sleeves.</b> It’s about time the Browns paid a tribute to the Dawg Pound, die-hard fans who helped keep the team’s colors and history in Cleveland when Art Modell threatened to take them (along with his players) to Baltimore in 1996.</li>
<li><b>Hold on... the home jersey has stripes on the sleeves but the road jersey doesn't The road jersey has a “neck roll” but the home jersey doesn't? What gives??? </b> That story begins and ends with the aforementioned bulldog logo. It rocks when placed on the white-and-orange stripes on the home jersey. However, it didn't stand out much at all when I put it on the brown-and-orange stripes you see on the sleeves of the team’s current road jersey. So, I decided to take the stripes off that road jersey. You may say, “Well, that’s inconsistent.” So what? The Cowboys’ blue jersey doesn't match too well with their regular white one. On the Vikings’ road jerseys, the “neck roll” and stripes are all the same color; on the home jerseys, the neck roll is yellow while the stripes are white. Who says there has to be such a great degree of consistency? (Besides, there is one consistent element that my concept has that the Browns' current unis don't have: the stripes on the pants match those on the helmet.)</li>
<li><b>An orange drop-shadow on all numerals. </b> Did I mention that orange was Paul Brown’s favorite color? I wanted to add something that would be both traditional and distinctive, and no NFL team presently uses a drop shadow with block numerals. (Let me clarify: The Falcons, Ravens and Eagles do use drop shadows, but their numerals are NOT the traditional “block numerals” like you see on the Browns, Packers, Raiders, Jets, et al.) Also, this drop shadow is slightly detached from the numeral (in other words, a little white between the brown numerals and the orange drop-shadow on the road jersey, and a little brown between the white numerals and the orange drop-shadow on the home jersey). I also applied the drop-shadow to the wordmark. </li>
<li><b>A tribute to ‘64.</b> The stripes on the sleeves and socks on the home unis are meant to match those that you see on the <a href="http://uniformdatabases.com/images/1964_Cleveland.png">1964 Browns</a>, the last Browns team to win the NFL Championship. Besides, 2014 will mark the 50th anniversary of that championship team. </li>
<li>The minor difference—<b>seal brown is back!</b> This is the exact hue of brown the Browns used from 1975 to 1995, <a href="http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad347/ColorWerx/Football_Outdoor/NationalFootballLeague/Colors/Solid/ClevelandBrowns_FRC_1995_SCC_SRGB.png">according to ColorWerx</a> (the artists formerly known as the Society for Sports Uniforms Research).</li>
</ol>
So there you have it. I’m excited to see what other designers come up with. And thank you for viewing the concept and/or your feedback on it.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-86023535740604360082012-09-05T16:16:00.002-04:002012-09-05T16:16:18.648-04:00Volume 7, Number 11: Another Asterisk: A Brief History of 2,000-yard Rushers in the NFL<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoDHrgYdlxjLrtGvdG_LWsHQfK27C85_dYlJqj2d15r6gJUuXSjSrXn-NFtB0ZqXjpu88j7tNXOMttnkWN6bWhaktjVW_3d9UyIvMbIRM9VbAlyGB-0NQ0yqXDLZYOcTmbrMtnQFt3H0/s1600/EricDickerson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoDHrgYdlxjLrtGvdG_LWsHQfK27C85_dYlJqj2d15r6gJUuXSjSrXn-NFtB0ZqXjpu88j7tNXOMttnkWN6bWhaktjVW_3d9UyIvMbIRM9VbAlyGB-0NQ0yqXDLZYOcTmbrMtnQFt3H0/s1600/EricDickerson.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
28 years ago, Eric Dickerson smashed O.J. Simpson's record for rushing yards in a season, gaining 2,105, a record that stands to this day.<br />
<br />
Here's the thing, though: Dickerson needed 16 games to break that record. When Simpson set the record by running for 2,003 yards in 1973, the regular season in the NFL was 14 games. (The NFL began playing the 16-game schedule in 1978.)<br />
<br />
Furthermore, if you look at <a href="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DickEr00/gamelog/1984/">Dickerson's game log from that season</a>, he did not hit 2,000 in a 14-game span.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Games 1-14: 1,792 yards</li>
<li>Games 2-15: 1,869 yards</li>
<li>Games 3-16: 1,865 yards</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Since then, four other running backs have rushed for 2,000 yards in a season:<br />
<ul>
<li>Barry Sanders: <a href="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SandBa00/gamelog/1997/">2,053 yards in 1997</a></li>
<li>Terrell Davis: <a href="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DaviTe00/gamelog/1998/">2,008 yards in 1998</a></li>
<li>Jamal Lewis: <a href="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LewiJa00/gamelog/2003/">2,066 yards in 2003</a></li>
<li>Chris Johnson: <a href="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JohnCh04/gamelog/2009/">2,006 yards in 2009</a></li>
</ul>
So, did these backs break 2,000 in 14 games (instead of needing 16 to do so)?<br />
<ul>
<li>Sanders only had 52 rushing yards after Week 2, and rushed for 2,001 in the final 14 games. So Sanders became the second back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a 14-game span.</li>
<li>Davis needed 16 games. He barely made it over 2,000 as it was; he did not even get to 1,800 in any 14-game span.</li>
<li>Lewis also needed 16 games. He ran for 1,883 in games 2-15; that was as close as he got.</li>
<li>Finally, CJ2K's 2009 season was also the result of the 16-game schedule. He only had 468 yards after 5 games.</li>
</ul>
In conclusion, the next time you see a list for who had the most yards in a season, like <a href="http://www.sportscity.com/nfl/210584-nfl-single-season-rushing-yards-leaders/">this one</a>, put an asterisk next to Simpson and Sanders. They broke 2,000 the hard way--in 14 games instead of 16. Just as Roger Maris may hold the American League record for most home runs in a season, but with an asterisk (because Babe Ruth hit 60 homers in 154 games, but Maris needed 162 games to hit 61), so should Dickerson's record be recognized with such a disclaimer.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-34090774625676022362012-07-14T10:22:00.000-04:002012-07-14T16:24:20.345-04:00Volume 7, Number 10: Misplaced Priorities, Lies and Ruined LivesJust under six months ago, when former Penn State University head football coach Joe Paterno died, just two months after being fired, I expressed sympathy for a man who said he wished he could have done more regarding the monstrous behavior of Gerald Sandusky, his defensive coordinator. In particular, he said he had told athletic director Tim Curley about what assistant coach Mike McQueary had seen involving Victim #2, and had expected things to go up the "chain of command." I said something about how tragic it was to lose your dream job, get sick and die in such a short span of time.**<br />
<br />
However, in light of <a href="http://thefreehreportonpsu.com/">the report released two days ago by ex-FBI director Louis Freeh</a> following his law firm's investigation of Penn State's handling of Sandusky, I now see that Paterno's fall from grace was no Greek tragedy. Far from it. He <a href="http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8160430/college-football-joe-paterno-enabled-jerry-sandusky-lying-remaining-silent">lied</a>
– lied behind the victims' backs, lied to a grand jury, lied to the media and lied to the public
– regarding his role in the whole affair. He <i>did</i> do more than report about Victim #2... but it was the bad kind of "more"; he took an active role, working with Curley, vice-president Gary Schultz (who, incidentally, was once in charge of overseeing PSU's police department) and president Graham Spanier in covering up Sandusky's wrongdoing, and worse, allowing him continued contact with young boys. Based on the evidence presented in the Freeh Report, all four men cared more about controlling damage to their university, and especially its football program, than about controlling damage to innocent young lives.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSiKlO74MFvVrAmQJKQNVs-SXWsvZOv07I3Z08EbQ6ioybtQZSyHsqwXz_t-BdRGo5u0c9qeEDnOZ1bs7sSbMXEz1smpV1Lnv6ah8Jwy5ANycbaH_PVhlHxOVKrRJ0yuSbqI7fUaeDhk/s1600/93626699-joe-paterno-legacy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSiKlO74MFvVrAmQJKQNVs-SXWsvZOv07I3Z08EbQ6ioybtQZSyHsqwXz_t-BdRGo5u0c9qeEDnOZ1bs7sSbMXEz1smpV1Lnv6ah8Jwy5ANycbaH_PVhlHxOVKrRJ0yuSbqI7fUaeDhk/s320/93626699-joe-paterno-legacy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There are questions about where to proceed from here, such as what to do with the bronze statue of Joe Paterno (some say to remove it; other suggest turning it around so he faces backward; I personally liked the suggestion that since he was part of the cover-up, that his statue should be covered up as well). In particular, the debate has already begun on the matter of how the NCAA should punish Penn State. A few people have said that the football program should stay up and running because the people presently associated with it were neither child molesters nor part of the cover-up; furthermore, shutting down the program theoretically could cause economic damage to the surrounding community.<br />
<br />
I disagree.
The NCAA needs to send a loud and clear message to all its members about what happens when higher-ups try to cover up a mess. Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spanier were so concerned about their football program and its image that they allowed–and enabled–Sandusky to continue molesting young boys. The message I hope NCAA sends should be something like:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>“If you put your football program so far above everything else that you’re willing to sacrifice your morals, or ignore the cries of innocent people, then you should spend some time without said program so you can re-evaluate your priorities.”</b></i></blockquote>
Not to be comparing this scandal to the one that SMU had – their problem was money, not molestation – but seeing as both SMU and PSU allowed wrongdoing to go on repeatedly over an extended period of time, and covered it up as best as they could, maybe PSU should be shut down for two years (as SMU was in 1987-88). Or at the very least, no home games for two years – if PSU wants to play football, it would have to do so on the road.<br />
<br />
**As an aside, one of my Facebook friends said Paterno was evil, and in particular, that he covered up a crime (which I refused to believe) and that anyone who expressed sympathies like that was evil as well. He then un-friended me. (No big loss
– calling me evil was superficial, immature and uncalled-for, and as Obi-Wan Kenobi said, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes.")markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-13884167783892630642012-06-16T11:20:00.002-04:002012-06-16T11:20:56.218-04:00Volume 7, Number 9: Onward and Upward, Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchibFcLKG8CJrrzAU300joMGAxDD-hvnKDmxBKPp2pfqTpYjhsJwOJj1Q8BucP6H6T_BRileceWoANHy0fxx7udFNYpffiz8KRCdSSnYuOr9aWvLhZwscB79ttQ2vSjKISn1R_lHjuBk/s1600/H-Star+Logo+on+Blue.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchibFcLKG8CJrrzAU300joMGAxDD-hvnKDmxBKPp2pfqTpYjhsJwOJj1Q8BucP6H6T_BRileceWoANHy0fxx7udFNYpffiz8KRCdSSnYuOr9aWvLhZwscB79ttQ2vSjKISn1R_lHjuBk/s200/H-Star+Logo+on+Blue.bmp" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Holy crap!<br />
<br />
I had thought that there would be some sort of poll set up to determine favorite entries in the recent Astros Uniform Design Contest first, but actually, Paul Lukas (head of <a href="http://www.uni-watch.com/">Uni-Watch</a>) picked his "five best" entries--out of about eight dozen--earlier this week and posted them <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/4059/uni-watch-readers-redesign-the-astros">here</a> on June 14.<br />
<br />
I was absolutely stunned. I knew deep down that my design kicked ass, but didn't know just how much ass it would kick. To get such a distinction from such a longtime uniform connoisseur as Paul, that is a heck of an honor.<br />
<br />
Here's what Paul had to say about my entry:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Most of the design submissions included some version of the Astros' old tequila sunrise rainbow striping, but only Rabinowitz came up with the idea of restricting it to piping and trim. It's a clever approach, and it totally works -- a good visual reference to the team's past without being a slavish re-creation. The rainbow-outlined star logo is nice, too. <b>Let's hope the team's real uniform for next year turns out to be half this good.</b>"</i></blockquote>
It got me thinking... I need to design more unis in my spare time, just to build a reputation for what I stand for in my designs... a balance of tradition and progress... clean, structured, clutter-free designs... and most of all, when I design something, I want something that will stand the test of time--I couldn't care less about what's "in" at the moment--so that when there's a change in the team's ownership or management, they won't be as interested in overhauling the uniforms as they should be in fixing the team.<br />
<br />
(Note: The entries were listed in the alphabetical order of the designer's first name, so my being #3 doesn't mean I was Paul's third choice, just that "Mark" is third in that particular order.)markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-13459491174197947942012-06-11T12:50:00.004-04:002012-06-11T12:50:42.807-04:00Volume 7, Number 8: Onward and Upward:My Concept for the Houston Astros' Logo and UniformsRecently, the Houston Astros announced that <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/32677866">they will move to the American League next season</a>, and to go with their new league, they would also get <a href="http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120226&content_id=26868562&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou">new uniforms</a>.
With that in mind, Paul Lukas, ESPN.com's writer for all things related to sports logos and uniforms, <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/3400/uni-watch-baseballs-throwback-bonanza">announced on May 31</a> that <a href="http://www.uni-watch.com/">Uni-Watch</a> (a sort of online community obsessed with sports logos and uniforms) would hold an Astros uniform design contest.
<br />
<br />
It's not an official contest; for all I know, the Astros' ownership and management may not consider any of the over 100 submissions that have come in for this contest. The point is, I had been waiting with baited breath for ages for such a contest, because all this time, I've had a design in mind that incorporates a number of elements from past uniforms, yet keeps in mind the spirit of astronauts--exploration, experimentation, "pushing the envelope," looking to the future.
<br />
<br />
The seed for the design was planted when the Astros unveiled their current unis over 10 years ago. I hated that design, but only because it looked better-suited for a team whose theme was "the Old West," not "astronauts."<br />
<br />
You may recall that I've entered in a Uni-Watch contest before; my <a href="http://markrabo.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-concept-for-detroit-tigers-road.html">Tigers road jersey concept</a> ended up finishing 13th out of 94 entries in a 2010 contest.
<br />
<br />
Without further ado, I give you my design concept. Click on the picture below to see it in full size. Further down this blog entry is an explanation of various details in my concept.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHz5p7_UCJcKJYHNwkIVY_ZvAUTXySurcqolYiyla0038Bq2dXKFNV_y-M4ew2R0qoSJTqnF86pr_c2Sx1ryqWw3WWg0Hj1QQmZaydkKOFUEVnnKKPD5osGCngayAoyw0WPnhcURRvoM/s1600/Mark+Rabinowitz+Astros+Design+REVISED+2012-06-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHz5p7_UCJcKJYHNwkIVY_ZvAUTXySurcqolYiyla0038Bq2dXKFNV_y-M4ew2R0qoSJTqnF86pr_c2Sx1ryqWw3WWg0Hj1QQmZaydkKOFUEVnnKKPD5osGCngayAoyw0WPnhcURRvoM/s400/Mark+Rabinowitz+Astros+Design+REVISED+2012-06-11.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Cap logo:</b> I've liked the star with the two sides missing since it debuted in 1995, but the first two renditions (1995-99, 2000-present) missed the mark. The first one looked way too much like the logo <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AcBUSVxs82w/TSlKm32QFSI/AAAAAAAAkUQ/d2Sd7wVDQ_w/s1600/Lockheed_Martin.jpg">Lockheed Martin</a> was using. The second, well, it didn't look too distinctive at all. And both were missing the all-important "H" for Houston that the 1965-1994 Astros had on their caps--such an omission would be fine if it was a team that was looking to move elsewhere, but the Astros, obviously, aren't. I wanted to bring that "H" back. I also wanted a star that was flying upwards like a rocket to match the "onward and upward" future-minded spirit of the space program. I hope that the upwards-shooting star doesn't remind anyone too strongly of <a href="http://matchstic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/the_more_you_know1.jpg">a certain series of NBC public service announcements</a>. Heck, the far left side of that upwards-shooting star may even remind some of the left end of the airfoil you see in the classic (and current) NASA logo.<br />
<br />
<b>Wordmarks/numerals:</b> The font is derived from a font you have already seen from <a href="http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-poster.jpg">Close Encounters of the Third Kind</a> (1977), Pepsi (late 1980s) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-99). (That font definitely enhances the future-minded look I wanted to capture). I added some blocky serifs to it to give it a "Texas accent," and it may even remind you of the "HOUSTON" wordmark that the Astros once used on their road jerseys (1965-74). The wordmarks on the home and road jerseys swoop upwards--kind of like the Planet Hollywood logo or the logo the Seattle Sonics used in the 1990s--to match the upwards-shooting star and enhance that "onward and upward" spirit.
<br />
<br />
<b>The proof is in the piping:</b> You knew that the "tip of the cap" to the <a href="http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/001/171/265/NolanRyan_display_image.jpg?1312910389">"tequila sunrise" jerseys</a> had to come in somewhere. I never considered using the 1975 "tequila sunrise" design as a base for my design; still, those orange-and-yellow stripes are a part of Astros' history and I wanted to incorporate them some way. So after much deliberation, I decided to give that tribute in the form of piping--namely, three-striped piping (similar to the blue-red-blue piping you see on the Atlanta Braves' jerseys) made from the Astros' new colors: Navy blue, bronze and gold.
<br />
<br />
<b>But wait, Mark, did you say "bronze and gold"?</b> I didn't want to use orange and yellow; not when their metallic equivalents are available here in the 21st century. Bronze and gold go so well with navy blue and they shine like the stars (OK, maybe that last part sounded corny). Besides, metals are tough and yellow is a color you often find on bruises. The upwards-shooting star is also bronze and gold to add to that aforementioned "tequila sunrise" tribute.
<br />
<br />
So there you have it. I'd love to see these unis become solid reality next year, but as I said, it's not an official contest. For all I know, the Astros may have already shelled out mucho dinero for some sports marketing firm to come out with turkeys like the ones they brought out 12 years ago. I wonder why sports franchises even bother. The Uni-Watch community is so much smarter and could provide a whole slate of design concepts.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-18923014932792015862012-05-23T10:26:00.000-04:002012-05-23T10:26:42.218-04:00Volume 7, Number 7: Ramen Noodles — The End of an EraLike most people, I discovered ramen noodles when I was young and didn't know better. They appealed to two of my core values:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Self-reliance: I loved the idea of making my own hot lunches without having to hassle my mother (so I was willing to try anything that had easy-to-follow microwave directions on the package), and</li>
<li>Frugality: I also loved the idea that you could get a hot lunch for less than the price of a postage stamp</li>
</ul>
<br />
I don't know what appealed to me the most about them—the texture of the noodles, the taste, or the price—but whatever it was, after trying and liking them, I was determined to try every flavor there was (except "mushroom", because I hate mushrooms), and when I started living on my own, I had them at least once every week (usually on Saturday; during my college years, I'd often find myself watching college football and eating ramen at the same time, so ramen wound up being a Saturday tradition). I even <a href="http://markrabo.blogspot.com/2010/10/volume-5-number-28-ramen-ramblings.html">pined for different flavors that don't presently exist</a>.<br />
<br />
But ramen noodles have a few problems:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Like most cheap foods on the market today, they're not very substantial. They're almost 60% carbohydrates, which leads to one of two undesirable results: One, if you take in more carbs than your body can burn, the excess carbs get converted into fat; or two, your body does burn them but you end up feeling hungry a lot sooner than if you had taken something more substantial.</li>
<li>They have some fat in them, too. For example, the Lime Shrimp flavor has 7 grams of fat per serving (so roughly 16% of that serving is fat).</li>
<li>And there's a lot of salt in that flavor packet.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I was ignorant of those drawbacks up until recently. I realized that I had successfully lost weight by cutting way back on carbohydrate-heavy junk foods and switching from regular soda to diet, and late last year, I began cutting way back on pre-sweetened cereals. But even then, I had stuck with ramen every Saturday.<br />
<br />
Until last Saturday. The last package of ramen I had was my undisputed favorite flavor, Maruchan's Lime Shrimp.<br />
<br />
So long, ramen. I may have you again when you come out in some new flavor (like "pizza" or "barbecue chicken" or "pepper steak" or "prawn cocktail"). Just so I can have the comfort of having tried that flavor. But besides that scenario, that's it. There are plenty of cash-strapped college students the world over to enjoy you anyway.<br />
<br />
Next on the list to be phased out are these other high-carbohydrate, high-sodium soups that I happen to have in my house:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Campbell's condensed soups</li>
<li>Mrs. Weiss' Kluski Noodle Soup (another childhood favorite)</li>
<li>Lipton Noodle soups (yet another childhood favorite)</li>
</ul>markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2236104038478881128.post-91460405992818083362012-05-18T13:18:00.000-04:002012-05-18T13:18:54.111-04:00Volume 7, Number 6: A Quick Take on Interleague Play in BaseballI liked interleague play better when it wasn't always NL East vs. AL East, NL West vs. AL West and NL Central vs. AL Central. When Major League Baseball introduced it in '97, I thought there would be a rotation where, for example, the AL Central would play NL Central teams one year, NL East teams the next, and NL West teams the year after that. The lack of such a rotation is why the "novelty" of interleague play has been wearing off. Did you know...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>that Johan Santana has not pitched in Minnesota since the Twins traded him to the Mets?</li>
<li>Or that Cole Hamels has NEVER pitched at Comerica Park?</li>
</ul>
<br />
The aforementioned divisional rotation would have kept the novelty element alive.<br />
<br />
Take my Detroit Tigers, for example. They get to take on the Reds, Pirates, Brewers, Astros, Cardinals and Cubs. And this ho-hum arrangement goes on year... after year... after year. (Occasionally the Tigers will swap a series against the Astros with the Texas Rangers, so that the Astros and Rangers could meet each other in an all-Texas interleague series while the Tigers face some NL West club that otherwise would have faced the Rangers, but that's about it. And even the prospect of the Tigers facing that one NL West club will die away when the Astros move to the American League next year.)<br />
<br />
So, Bud Selig, could you please bring that divisional rotation back to interleague play? Thanks.markrabohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340363604339144843noreply@blogger.com0