Seriously, Everybody Calm Down

If you could lower your nose long enough to read this link, I'd appreciate it.

Sometimes I wonder if I should do something like this for a few years just to get rid of all my unnecessary belongings.

This is the email that Bruce Levenson sent that is the basis for his selling his stake in the Atlanta Hawks.  Do you think he should resign?

The Washington Post is doing a long-form expose on the abuse of civil asset forfeiture.  Here are all three installments.

These stories rarely get old for me.

A lot of these articles talk about what the NFL should have done and when it should have done it regarding Ray Rice.  Here's what I think the NFL (and more specifically, the Ravens) should have done:
1. Counseling for Rice and his wife, both individually and separately.  Counseling should be the first step because they need to know whether this is a marital problem or a violence problem, and the Ravens have a vested interest in keeping one of their star players out of jail so he can play.
2. Paid leave.  This is not a problem that will just go away for Rice and his wife - they need to spend real time on it, and they know that.  It's hard for professional athletes to make time for things like this during the season.  In any case, it couldn't hurt because the Ravens are going to have to pay Rice for the season anyway since he had a contract.  And the money is important because a Ray Rice with no job and no prospects is a much more dangerous Ray Rice than one who still has a glimmer of hope at fulfilling his career dreams.
3. A clear pathway to return to the team.  I get that the Ravens don't want a player on their team who might end up in jail.  I also get that the Ravens want a player who can control himself on the field and in public.  But they should take advantage of his strong desire to play in the NFL (anyone who willingly takes the kind of punishment necessary to play in the NFL desperately wants to be there) by giving him a way to return that isn't fraught with uncertainty or PR concerns.
4. Medical testing.  There is plenty of evidence that brain damage from concussions has resulted in numerous psychological or physiological symptoms, some of them violent in nature.  This is underway for many retired players, but maybe it should start earlier.
5. Make a statement about domestic violence and efforts to help while remaining compassionate.  The NFL does a lot for charitable causes, and that's good.  The NFL can donate to charity, sponsor PSAs, hold workshops for players and staff, provide counseling, etc.  And those efforts would be worthwhile.  But I don't understand how not firing Ray Rice means you condone or tolerate domestic violence.  The Ravens could have made a statement that they are supporting Rice and his wife while they deal with this ordeal and follow through with 1-4 above, and that while they don't condone what he did and think it deplorable, they want to take steps to make sure that he doesn't do it again.  This would be a perfect opportunity to announce Rice's participation in the above-mentioned PSAs and workshops.

Responses:

1. It's crazy that those numbers are so high.  That's crazy.  I'm going to try to read one new book every month for the rest of the year.  (I was on that pace, but the wheels came off.)

2. I can't wait for them to come to NYC.

3. I don't know if this place just didn't exist when I lived in DC, but I've never heard of it until now.

4. Do you remember the TED Talk about how envisioning stress as a positive makes stress good for you?  That's how I'm going to think about football.  I'll also eat fewer wings maybe.

5. Yes.  It's too bad political correctness is now getting in the way of science (see also the obesity epidemic).

6. How does that make sense?

7. I want to go!

8. What is the mix?  I experienced this on occasion growing up.  I got made fun of for reading a book once.  It didn't make me feel bad, though - the idea that doing something so fundamental to becoming a smarter, better person was bad made so little sense to me that I just laughed it off and (mentally) wished them well on their way to jail or an early grave.  (I was not an especially compassionate middle schooler.)

R2R2R:

8. But other than all of those many things you named...?

R2R2R2R:

3. They should find talented bears and bring them into the fold!  I know some great free agents.

BftP (from "Hey Look! It's North Korea!, January 29, 2013):

This apparently is an exercise we should do every day.

B