Previously posted on my Facebook Page.
Yahoo Sports: “A $184 U.S. Open lunch shows just how expensive sports fandom has become.” Not really so surprising to me. Pro sports is business. And as athletes get more (globally) popular, enhanced by their commercial endorsements and internet presence, you’d see them “influencing” stuff outside the playing court. Then fans come to see them compete.
A recent example is the so-called “Alex Eala Effect,” fueled by the Filipino diaspora wherever the 21-year old star plays. Resale ticket prices for Ms Eala's US Open prime-time match at Louis Armstrong Stadium surged by 132 percent to 134 percent within 12 to 24 hours of the schedule announcement. The lowest available secondary market "get-in" price shot up from under $200 (starting around $146–$180) to nearly $400 (peaking around $464) almost immediately after her first-round matchup against Mary Stoiana was confirmed. The interesting fact is, Filipino fans pay hard-earned cash just to see Alex, never mind that many don't really know tennis as a sport.
Meanwhile, who wants to see Naomi Osaka’s next pre-game costume? Serena and Venus may still play, not for wins (nothing to prove anymore) but the Williams sisters generate fan turnout. I just hope the WNBA focuses on the game over partisan politics or culture war, which only turns off followers of women basketball. (Cartoons: Reddit.) 🏀💲🏈
Basketball talk. Apparently, the derogatory line “white men can’t jump” doesn’t apply. Whites have been “out-dunking” blacks in recent years. In last month’s inaugural “Dunkman World Championship,” founded by Shaquille O’Neal, a white 21-year old high-leaper from Texas, Cam Hazzard, won the event.
Cam won over not against a black dunker, but an old Chinese, Dengxing Chen from Hangzhou, China. The 40-year old journeyman beat the popular Mac McClung, who has won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest three times. Mac is the only player in NBA history to win the competition three consecutive times (a three-peat), taking home the title in 2023, 2024, and 2025. He is white. Jordan Southerland, a black kid, won 3rd in Dunkman. ⛹️🏀⛹️
GMA: “Military turns to immigrant recruits as ICE detains some troops’ relatives.” Left-wing media is indeed hot and high on angling their “news reports” as an “influencing” brainwash as though readership per se is gullible, stupid, or clueless. Historically, immigrants have always been recruited to the U.S military. You may ask my (Filipino) kin who are U.S. soldiers, past and present. They may have different reasons but not the “...ICE details some troops’ relatives” rationale or media narrative.
Let’s take the case of Puerto Rico, which became an “unincorporated U.S. territory” (from Spain) under the Treaty of Paris in 1898. Hence, Puerto Ricans were automatically U.S. nationals, but not full citizens. They only became American citizens through an act of Congress just weeks before the U.S. entered World War I. Or after President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act (1917). The U.S. entered the war on April 6, 1917, and soon passed the Selective Service Act, which made thousands of newly minted Puerto Rican citizens eligible for the military draft.
I can discuss more, as an immigrant relative of ex-U.S. Marine Filipinos. But none of the reasons fall under whatever immigration program ICE imposes on undocumented migrants. That is an entirely different issue from military recruitment. But as I said, this requires a longer discussion. (Photo: Reserve & National Guard.) 🗽🏃♀️🏃
BBC: “Saudi Arabia shuts key oil pipeline after drone attack launched from Iraq.” / Reuters: “Houthi advance in Yemen puts U.S. in a new bind.” How’d a POTUS forward a peace-focused policy in the Middle East, the most conflicted region on Planet Earth? Or how would a President of the U.S. be able to evade a war or continue it?
Jimmy Carter is frequently cited by public opinion polls and historians as one of America's most dovish modern presidents. Yet he has the blood of 1979’s Operation Cyclone in his hands. That program prolonged Afghanistan as America’s longest war. Barack Obama is frequently written as the most dovish modern U.S. president alongside Mr Carter. I don’t think so. During his two terms in office, Mr Obama was the first two-term POTUS to have the nation at war under his command for his entire eight years in tenure.
Obviously the anti-NATO Donald Trump, who favors trade over military in his foreign affairs playbook, isn’t seen that way. That’d be regardless of his peace overtures in Ukraine and relatively cordial relations with traditional rivals China and Russia. And I insist that his hand was forced on Iran, and with bogeyman Israel in Middle East tempests, it is historically near-impossible to impose a generally dovish tact in ME. ☮️☮️☮️
USA Today: “Some police departments reconsidering Flock after report uncovers alleged misuse.” Flock cameras are automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems that capture and log vehicle details for public safety. To me, that is improved law enforcement SOP; Flock helps solve crimes, period. Critics got issues, of course. Expectedly, the ACLU raised concerns about mass tracking without warrants. Incidents involving police or personnel “misusing” the data have triggered national pushback and vandalism against the hardware.
My take: Police surveillance is a fact of life. Haven’t you dealt with that, already? “Persons of interest,” especially those with “records,” invite more prying eyes from cops and detectives. Is that new at all? I don’t think so. More so, cellphone cams (by everybody) are hugely "misused" and abused.
Whatever that is “clicked/saved” is posted online or on Social Media, for whatever reason. Not necessarily to document a “crime,” but mostly for a juvenile shenanigan or other individually-conjugated mischief that seeks Social Media presence or “hits.” So again, I ask, what’s the big deal with Flock? 📷👀📸
