We are all debating if Brady Cheated or if Billicheck knew or whatever but there is a more basic question....why are we asking this?

We football fans want to see the best football players in the world play at their best so why are we putting arbitrary rules on how the players are allowed to inflate a football?

If Brady likes the football at 11 PSI so what?
If Payton likes the ball at 9 PSI so what?
If Stafford likes the ball at 15 PSI so what?

If we want to see the best players in the world at their best,let them have at it.A ball at 11 PSI is supposed to be easier to grip so let them do it.A ball at 9 PSI will be even better...so what?

Remove the artificial rules and let the best players in the world play at their best

First off let me say I had an alcohol problem until about 18 months ago and finally got it under control.It was basically without help and was finally getting the willpower to get it together.

This truck driver I was talking to at the shop today was telling me about a program (I should say a group)he joined that helped him stop drinking after 30 years.Like me he had been busted for DUI and was court ordered into AA,and like me not only was court ordered AA not effective,it had the opposite effect.It made us both resentful and simply made us say screw this I'll show you and in my case just had me stopping at the nearest store after I left my AA meeting to get some beer.

Being told meeting after meeting what a failure you are and that you need to apologize to anyone you ever met and telling your story over and over was wholly ineffective for me and studies show forced AA simply doesn't work.

The program (group) this guy is in doesn't have meetings where you tell people how much you suck,they don't make you swear to a higher power.They only meet as a group once a month and then only to shoot the shit.There is no guilting or shaming or 12 step programs or anything like that.

This programs theory is that alcoholism is as much a habit as a disease.Alcoholism is a disease if you want to call it that...it does change body chemistry,but the theory is that drinking becomes a habit that becomes part of your daily life because that is simply what you get used to as the norm.It becomes habit that you pick up 12 or a fifth on the way to the golf course or on the way to the game or whatever,and the alcohol simply becomes part of your daily life until you don't think about it anymore and just drink as part of your life.

What these guys do is simply give you an avenue to continue your life uninterrupted ...without alcohol.
Their goal is to break the habit part of alcoholism without the preaching part.

They have a website(sorry...didn't get the website....was talking while working)and a meeting place where they have activity boards where you can continue to do the activities in your life that you enjoy with people who aren't drinking,breaking the non thinking habit of grabbing beer or whatever as you do your thing.They do have sponsors and a support group if you feel the need but it isn't required.

He said his local group has about 100 members and they get together to do all the things you have always done but now with other people who don't drink.They go golfing,they go bowling,they have movie nights,they have poker nights,,,they go on fishing outings....you get the idea
They have several members who have gaming rooms with multiple tv's and playstations where they get together and game.Whatever your thing they likely have a member or two who enjoys similar activities

The idea is to break the HABIT of drinking by giving you an avenue to do all the things you enjoy with people who aren't going to be drinking and help you to understand you don't need alcohol to have fun and enjoy life.He said they don't have any rules to follow or steps to take...it is simply a way to give people a network that will let them continue their life uninterrupted...just without alcohol.The idea is to make not drinking fun...not a job.

He says up front it doesn't work unless the person has already decided they want to quit and they can't help anyone who is so far gone they simply no longer function and just sit at home drinking but if the person is ready to quit they have a success rate of almost 50%....MUCH higher by orders of magnitude than forced AA.

Even though I have my drinking under control I'm going to check them out the next time I talk to him....he's one of our regular delivery people...I see him at least twice a week.
Sometimes it is hard keeping it under control when you go out with the buddies when you are the only one not drinking so this could be a nice avenue for me.

It's interesting and even though I have my drinking under control I will likely

my kids evil cat vs my wifes poor little dog round one
for those who dont remember we have a cat named Doc.We named him Doc because his hair on his face reminds us of Doc from back to the future.

Anywho

This cat is crazy.He has brought us TWO live snakes and spit them on the floor.....a fully grown adult rabbit.....perfectly healthy and unharmed.....two adult squirrels....again....both unharmed.....he once took on a bobcat in our yard and the bobcat yeilded.....in short this cat is a badass.

My wifes teacup maltese/pomeranian decided he wasn't such a badass and walked up to him and smacked him in the face......laughter ensued.

On edit:For those who remember...this is the cat who took pleasure in laying on top of our cabinets and divebombing Buddy Guy....a 200 plus pound St Bernard who lived in complete fear of this cat


The miniature poodle and the terrier and poor ole Junior the Newfie all made way.....they knew what was coming.They all literally jumped in my lap for protection against a 5 pound cat.

Sophie learned a lesson.....after ten minutes of running and chasing and sophie running for her life we ended it and grabbed Doc.

I wish I had video...one cat had four dogs scared for their lives and literally had sophie running for her life

Doc is the undisputed champion

Have a potato in the oven to cook for about four hours.....have the amazing hand picked ribeye marinating right now.

About five thirty I'm gonna have the kid take the wife a dinner to work....steak...baked potato...homemade salad....

I'm baking a triple chocolate cake that will be covered in a chocolate fudge cream of my own recipe.....sending a piece with dinner.

I will be ...umm....appreciated later.

I love my wife

it seems like a natural fit

we gave away my newfie this morning.We didn't have the room to let him run and he wasn't happy cooped up in a house so we gave him to a friend who has kept him at his house while we were away.

He is happy.He has tons of room to run and cattle to herd.

It hurts but I know it is best for him.

Now I have the toy dogs to deal with...little buggers......they steal socks and demand attention.

It won't be the same without any big dogs but Charlie and company keeps me busy so it's cool.

DAMN I miss Buddy Guy

I would safely say over 99% of the adherents of Islam are peace loving people who just want to raise their families and live their life...but that leaves that 1 or so % who are completely insane and with a religion of over one billion people thats a lot of nuts.At the same time over 99% of Christians are peaceful people who want to live their lives but the 1% leaves a lot of nuts

More killing obviously isn't the answer...50 years of fatwas vs our version of fatwas has just made things into a big mess.

I don't know the answer and I am not proposing one.Smarter people than me have failed this problem.I just know something has to give or we are going to see a new crusade.

I just don't know the answer but this shit is getting scary and if something doesn't give we are about to see a religious war

and we will lose.

We are fools