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What my musings are all about...

Blogging might well be the 21st century's form of journaling. As a writing teacher, I have always advised my students to keep a daily journal as a way of organizing their thoughts for future writing projects, a discipline I have unfortunately never consistently practiced myself. By blogging, I might finally be able to follow my own good advice.

The difference between journaling and blogging is that the blogger opens his or her writing to the public, something journal- writers are usually reluctant to do. I am not so reticent.

The trick for me will be to avoid cluttering the internet with more blather, something none of us need more of. If I stick to subjects I know: sports and literature, I believe I can avoid that pitfall. I can't promise that I'll not stray from time to time to comment on ancillary subjects, but I will make every attempt to be interesting and perhaps even insightful.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

How About Some Christmas Cheer for NFL and NBA Dance Teams?

Here we are in the Holiday Season, Christmas presents unwrapped, all of us looking forward to New Year's Eve and 2018. So how come there's nothing in the stockings of pro dance teams dancers, except tired legs for all the hard work they put in?

Hey pro owners, I'm talking NFL towel boys get get $50 grand contracts, NBA and NFL mascots get $25 to $50 grand per year, and what do the dance team ladies get? CHUMP CHANGE!

SHAME!

Here are few figures to ponder: NFL Cowboys pay their cheerleaders $150 dollars per home game and no pay for rehearsals. NBA Lakers pay their dance team $130.dollars per home game,which amounts to $5,460 thou per season, not counting playoffs and an hourly rate ($100 per hr) for other appearances. Really proud of those numbers, are you? The Indiana Pacers pay their dance team a shameful $60 bucks per home games.

As it stands now, based on what I can find out on the Internet, you're all Grinches. Straighten up and fly right. These women work their legs off. Their routines are high energy and require great physical coordination and exertion. And, although I've been critical at times about their routines, they are indeed an important part of your showtime.

If I'm wrong, owners and administrators, and you're more generous, and I hope you are, please clue me in. I'll be happy to print a retraction. 

It's the holiday and flatlanders are in the mountains skiing or snowboarding. Here's a small poem I wrote about why I don't ski

Why I Don't Ski   by Tom Meschery

There's way too much to do before the fun:
consider the clothes you've to to zipper into
and gloves like furry animals that weigh a ton
boots that weigh more than most first-born do,
and goggles that turn the snow to black,
and if you're smart, there's a helmet to don
in case you fall, which is inevitable
as there are snowboarders on the run
who'll cut in front of you and cheer
and less you regret, don't forget the tree
that appears out of nowhere just 
as you lose control, that has your name
written on its bark like a grave stone. 

2 comments:

DTB-56 said...

Really good poem, especially the ending.

Joe Perdue said...

I have been reading your blog for several years now and thoroughly enjoy it. My dad was the sports editor at the Bremerton Sun in the late 1960's, and I had the pleasure of watching you play for the Sonics for several years. You always would sign my autograph book (Bob Rule was the only guy on the team that wouldn't sign!). That was a big deal to an 8-year-old kid. I still have those autographs. I hope life is treating you well Mr. Meschery.