That's the way the game was played | Eastern North Carolina Now

   This is not a movie review, but I recently saw "For the Love of the Game" again and it dawned on me how close sports, entertainment and politics relate to each other. People play games because they love it. Like most people, I have been trying to come to terms with the changing Political environment. I am not too fond of the current trends, but upon reflection I came to the conclusion below which I felt obligated to throw up on the wall. Bobby Tony

That's the way the game was played


    Who are the most loyal fans in the world? Could it be the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, or the Green Bay Packers fans? I guess it all depends on how you measure loyalty. Sticking by a losing team is the hallmark of a Cub's fan. Going to a game in the freezing winter is the hallmark of a Green Bay fan. I can't explain anything about Cleveland Indian fans.

    Two other teams had a large fan base for many years. The Dallas Cowboys were touted as America's team. The Atlanta Braves were one of the most watched teams in MLB. I will not try to prove my opinions on this but I suspect Cheerleader costumes helped the first and Ted Turner's WTBS TV station helped the second.

    I have intentionally not mentioned College football because we all know that the fan base for any college team has nothing to do with their winning percentage, or their players, or their history. It has more to do with the geographical location of the fans in relationship to the team. I once thought it would be nice to count how many Death Valley stadiums there were in the USA. I never actually made an attempt to research it since I thought every home field was at one time or another referred to as 'DEATH VALLEY.'

    It appears that loyalty to Professional Sports Teams is based more on your wishes than actual performance.

    If you try to expand the loyal fan base beyond sports to... Oh let's say entertainment, you may find that the most popular entertainers are popular based on their last string of hits, movies, or TV season. Once those entertainers hit the big time in popularity, they enjoy the glow so much they try to keep the fire burning. It is just human nature to enjoy the spotlight.

    But alas as the flame burns out and is reduced to a glowing ember, more fuel or oxygen is required to reignite it. See my post about that here: - - - Another Bobby Tony Self Serving post.

    In the movie, "Patton", George C. Scott offered this observation at the end of the movie when referring to the glory of Notoriety.
    “For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.

    There is no proof that Patton uttered these words but he often referred to Glory in his writings and speeches. As a well educated man it is possible he was referring to the loose translation of the Latin "Sic transit gloria mundi", literally "Thus passes the glory of the world".

    One of the main rules of entertainment is you need an audience. Sometimes you do over the top things to attract attention to you shtick. Occasionally your antics cross the invisible line where even the most brain-numb followers say "Whoa, that was too much!" That was not a problem before entertainers entered the political endorsement field. They were just ignored until the next stunt for attention or the next commercial advertising Reverse Mortgages.
It appears that loyalty to Entertainers is based more on their performance.

    Turning to politics (you knew where this was heading right?) there has always been an unwritten understanding that the things you say about your opponents is "THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WAS PLAYED." You know the routine, Bash them over the head in public then have a quite drink and cigar in private. Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill played it well. Most politicians enjoyed the game. For over FORTY-YEARS it worked pretty well. As long as the Republicans in Congress were willing to play the role of "EXTRAS" in the "Democratic Stage Play of Government" everything was copacetic as they say.

    In 1994 a backbench-bomb-thrower named Newt Gingrich decided he wanted center stage. It was already crowded with any number of Lead Actors, but somehow he managed to steal the spotlight and the results were a forty-year reign of democratically controlled Congress evaporated.

Source Wikipedia

    I contend that was when "THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WAS PLAYED" began to end in politics. All of a sudden we have a new young upstart trying to steal the leading role in the play. For a while "THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WAS PLAYED" continued on as Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich performed their roles to each side of the audience. Bill was a practical politician playing by the old rules. I don't think Hillary was on board with that though.

    However, none of the other actors in the play enjoyed being upstaged by a Cracker from Georgia. The game eventually evolved into a grudge match which resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about the meaning of 'is' or something just a silly. Neither side was willing to follow the "THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WAS PLAYED" script anymore. Bill Clinton may have been the last Democrat who understood REALITY.

    The perfect storm began to form as entertainers realized that they could regain a glimmer of the spotlight by grandstanding in the political arena. Very few entertainers who were once playing leading roles relish the prospect of playing character roles. Each is looking for that next shooting star to bring them back to center stage.

    Politicians gladly participated in the charade by aligning themselves with various entertainers for political purposes. Probably one of the first signs of the alliance was when Jimmy Carter, arguable the most decent President and also the most hopelessly inept President, hosted numerous Pot Smoking, Iconoclastic, and Nihilist entertainers at the White House (Willie Nelson, Greg Allman) to beef up his image among the Common Folk. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of both Willie and Greg, I am just pointing out that the Rules were evolving on what was acceptable and what was not acceptable.

    "THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME WAS PLAYED" implied that you just played with the hand you were dealt. Those rules seem to work just fine up until 1994 when the public requested a "NEW DECK." To quote my old man "That is when all hell broke loose!" Ever since then we have been playing under a new set of evolving rules.

    Control of Congress

    Entertainers and politicians intermingled to the extent that it was hard to tell which was which. Social Media began to dominate the informational age as illustrated by several dates below:

  • Fox News 1996
  • Facebook 2004
  • Twitter 2006
  • MSNBC Return to hard news and alignment with NBC News: 2015
  • CNN Acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T 2016


    During the years since the lines have become almost invisible. The final merger became official on June 16, 2015:

The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, an American businessman, television personality, and author, was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump Announces Presidential Bid
   Today we are now engaged in the biggest spectacle of our political history due in part to the technology and the blurring of the lines. But fear not, our politics has always been a bit harsh, the difference now is that more people have access to the game and each of us has a forum to express our personal opinion. Does it strike you as strange that when the party represented by all the blue color above lost their power in numerous fair elections including the last one in November 2016, they all of a sudden find some nefarious reason to refuse to accept outcome of a Electoral College that has served this country since it inception?

   The rules may be changing but in the final analysis:

It appears that loyalty to Politicians is based more on who you hate than who or what you like.


   I hate to be so redundant but it I guess:

"THAT'S THE WAY THE GAME IS PLAYED"

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