America’s Trying Times; Chicago Crave’s Tryout Times

One of these days, this site will be back to the usual nonsense found in this space. Just not today. Oh, there will be some today but not as much as some of us might like. And it has nothing to do with the Chicago Bears losing to the Green Bay Packers 21-13 at Soldier Field. Even ardent Bears fans have to admit that defeat actually is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

When life intersects football: New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz honors one of the shooting victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

There is a football-related element to all this because it involves the “Sunday Night in America” game between the San Francisco 4ers and New England Patriots on NBC. Because President Barack Obama was speaking at a memorial service in Newtown, Conn., for the 26 persons killed — including 20 children — Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there was programming conflict: football vs. national tragedy.

Like the other major networks, NBC opted to show Obama’s remarks. The football game was made available on CNBC and NBC Sports Network during the Newtown coverage with NBC resuming its football telecast after Obama’s tribute to the dead.

Obama’s presence and football’s absence was the perfect combination for some cretins to take to Facebook and Twitter to post vile remarks. One such person was a walk-on long snapper for the University of North Alabama football team. A school official tweeted Sunday night that the person no longer was on the team.

And before any right-wing lunatics go shouting “First Amendment,” try reading the U.S. Constitution and assorted Supreme Court rulings and maybe you will discover a person does not have the freedom to say anything without having consequences attached to them. Deadspin.com posted a story with some of the comments from rather unenlightened types. Very distressing and depressing for any person with a scintilla of decency in his/her soul.

Slightly less depressing was Victor Cruz of the New York Giants. He was the favorite football player of one of the Sandy Hook hootings. Cruz wrote on his football shoes for Sunday’s game: “R.I.P. Jack Pinto,” “Jack Pinto, my hero” and “This one is for you.”

Cruz talked to the boy’s family by phone after he heard of the family’s plan to bury the child in a Cruz jersey.

“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” Cruz said. “There are no words that can describe the type of feeling that you get when a kid idolizes you so much that unfortunately they want to put him in the casket with your jersey on. I can’t even explain it.”

What the editorial staff at elliottharris.com cannot explain is how the President was able in his speech to mention each of the deceased children by their first name without breaking down. Anyone not touched by his words really ought to consider some form of counseling. There is no charge here for such expert advice.

And one friendly reminder — as seen elsewhere: Guns don’t kill people; people with guns do. Of course, not all people with guns do, and most rational people understand that. But the time has come — as President Obama mentioned in his tribute to the slain, innocent victims — to do something about stopping the killing.

Everybody in favor of stopping the killing, please raise your hand; everybody in favor of continuing the policies that allow the continuation of gun death, please crawl back under the rock that you came from.

Cruz after the Giants game:

Obama’s tribute:

Thankfully for some of us, things were much more enjoyable earlier in the day. Which meant some of us did not watch the Bears-Packers game. Instead, as promised, your humble correspondent attended the Chicago Crave tryouts for the new Bikini Basketball Association team. The tryouts — held at Lifetime Fitness in Orland Park, Ill. — ran smoothly and featured some reasonably good basketball talent (as well as reasonably good-looking prospects).

Crave owner Korie Kellogg was pleased with the turnout — and the talent — and plans on another tryout in the not-too-distant future. Have no fear, you will find the latest Crave news here.

On the bright side, there was time to take plenty of video. Some of it appears today. Some will appear another day or days:

Well, we can’t start off the week without some various video that some might deem gratuitous (although no one affiliated with this site would):

Advertising opportunities are available on ElliottHarris.com. For information and rates, contact sales@elliottharris.com.