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Friday, September 27, 2013

WHITT'S END: 9.27.13

      Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End

   *Rangers' manager Ron Washington is taking a lot of heat for another September swoon, but he gets credit for picking the right pinch-hitter Thursday night. Needing a runner to start a rally in a must-win game to cling to hope in the AL Wild Card, Wash inserted Jurickson Profar over Lance Berkman. It was the right call, and probably also an easy one. Berkman hasn't had a hit since July 3. And Profar rewarded his manager with a dramatic homer. Profar, by the way, is only the second player in baseball history with a pinch-hit, walk-off home run before turning 21. The other? Jimmie Foxx back in 19 and 28. Needing to make up one game with three to play, the Rangers are embarking on a fun weekend.

   *The rarest of all jerseys in the NFL are the Cowboys' blue roadies. They'll wear them Sunday in San Diego for the only time this year. They've worn them only seven times in the past five seasons. Probably a good thing, because in their 54-year history the Cowboys have only one - that's one, singular - playoff win in blue. Is there really a jinx? I detail the myth over at NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.

   *Took a lot of grief in comments Thursday for being happy about $2.99 gas in Fort Worth and saying that the ominous predictions of President Obama's incompetency pushing gas to $5 were simply wrong. I got called a "flaming liberal" and warned that - as a small business owner starting up Pizza Buzz - Obamacare was going to doom me and my dream. Fine, y'all be Old Man Potter in It's A Wonderful Life. I'm content as George Bailey. If I'm ever lucky enough to have 50+ employees I'll gladly provide health insurance for my peeps. To me that would be a privilege, not a burden. Because when I sit in a rocking chair on the porch of my golden years, I'm going to reflect not on how many dollars I saved but rather how many lives I touched. You go ahead and protect your money. That's your right and I'll never criticize you for it. But me? I'll continue to donate my time and assets to Make-A-Wish and DFWRescueMe and the fight against Alzheimer's. In fact, I'm walking Saturday morning in Allen at Celebration Park for my good buddy Trey Lee, whose father is fighting the horrible disease. See you - or at least your money - there?

   *In a game we thought we were destined to remember for the epic four-error inning, the RangErs instead erased the mistakes with a fourth consecutive walk-off  homer against the Angels and Josh Hamilton's beard. Going back to late July, that's back-to-back-to-back-to-back walk-off homers at home for the Rangers over Anaheim. Gotta be some kind of record. I'd look it up, but it's gorgeous outside today and it's been a long week. Let me know what you find out.

   *Not trying to mist on your parade plans, but the Cowboys' two wins are against teams with a combined record of 1-6. And if you watched Frank Gore shred the Rams' defense for 153 yards last night you're a little less impressed by DeMarco Murray's 175 from last Sunday. On the other hand, Dallas' only loss is by one point, on the road, to an undefeated team. So maybe your glass is more than half-full?

   *Yeah, I get it. Mariano Rivera is baseball's all-time saves leader and a class guy. His retirement is noteworthy, but to me - a life-long Yankees' hater - not the least bit sad. I'll be about as "sad" when Tim Duncan retires. But, seriously now, has any player in the history of baseball had a more out-of-whack send-off? For a player who was on the field only a half-inning per game and never appeared on more than three consecutive days, didn't his farewell go a tad overboard? And you get the feeling we'll get more of it over the weekend when New York travels to Houston.

   *Hot.

   *Not.

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54 comments:

  1. Keep up the daily Whitt's End. It's become a routine for me in the mornings at work to read Whitt's End while drinking my Monster.

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  2. Keep it daily best read every morning thank you

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  3. Its reading is on my daily to do list. But in full disclosure, I was a regular reader before the change as well. Prefer the daily version but maybe with a different name Mon-Thurs

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  4. Richie, Whitt's End is great. Please keep it up. I have not missed one post since your blog went live. It is a must stop down on a daily basis. You are a really gifted writer. Once again, please keep up the fine work and the daily Whitt's End.

    Take care buddy, Jory King

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  5. Thanks for the kind words/feedback. I love writing this blog, but makes it more rewarding if other folks like it as well.

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  6. I am conflicted. Whitt's End only shows up once a day. The other would sometimes make 2-3 appearances daily. If I vote OTHER, do I get to see multiple posts? If not, I kinda like the Whitt's End..

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  7. The only reason the relationship is platonic is she isn't into you. You can't tell me you haven't been trying to hit that for the last 21 years

    Does she still work at that Sport Clips because I'm about to fire mine and hire a new one?

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  8. Congrats to Lovell and Baby Dolls huh??? As you said yesterday it's a committee of one big deal. Right RW?????

    Storm

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  9. -I like the Whitt's end format, scrunching it all into one post. Can you add some things to the forum like unique logins and notifications? I'd like to be able to "follow" some of the crazy posters instead of checking back. I think even the hungry hugger had that on his failed blog.

    -Hey Lisa! Happy Birthday to your....butt. How many kids? If she has any, wow.

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  10. RW,

    I say keep the Whitt's End. Much to my surprise, chocolate cake for every meal is really good. Keep up the fine work sir. Love the freakin' Rican!!

    Sincerely,
    40 year old white guy

    aka NTDSLARS

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    Replies
    1. Chocolate cake every day was my fear. Glad it's going down smooth. What?

      Delete
  11. I'm with you on the failure to flush thing. I work in a professional government building and I walk into that a few times a week! For the life of me, I don't understand why someone doesn't flush.

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  12. Damn! Lisa Santos should have been your *HOT today

    Keep Whitt's End - It's my daily news source

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  13. I enjoy your blog Richie...as to your opinions on most non-sports related topics....not so much. As far as those opinions are concerned, I continue to believe that you WANT a certain amount of disagreement with you because it makes your blog more interesting.... If all people did was show up and kiss your ass and tell you how awesome you were then your blog would suck. So keep pissing people off and throwing out the troll bait Mr. Whitt....and whether it is right or wrong....you are definately doing something.

    Dave

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  14. Look forward to Whitt's End every day now! Agree... more Lisa Santos!

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  15. I would in no way question your altruism or intent since I've seen the many charitible causes you have helped over the years, but on your willingness to lose money on politcal principle I'm calling BS.

    As you will soon find out, margins in the pizza business are slim and competition fierce. It's one thing to say you would lose money to provide health insurance to your employees, and another to offer your partners up for it. While you may be independently wealthy, there's a very distinct possibility your partners may want a return on their investment.

    On another note, as you're going to the bank to withdraw another $500/mo to cover your business that is losing money because you have a huge expense your competitors don't, and you can't raise prices to cover it, if there's demand for your product enough to expand, and assuming your business is only unprofitable because you have a higher expense structure than your competitors, are you willing to expand the money losing business and provide more jobs? My guess is you wouldn't be, and your partners would crucify you if you suggested it. Are you being more altruistic providing livelihoods (jobs), or health insurance? In that particular case, you probably wouldn't be able to do both.

    Are you sure you've thought this small business thing all the way through?

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    1. Rooster, let him crow "values". We'll never know the dollars and cents. The one thing he will get to know soon: disgruntled/non-productive employees, dissatisfied customers, the impact of variable costs (gas, food product, etc.), piss poor margins, the wrath of competition, and the big one...the tax man, at the local, state and federal levels. This on top of the investors/partners, as you say, who will dictate just how altruistic Whitt gets to be.

      Good thing he has a blog for his employees to report back to the masses, huh? Even better thing he has someone to blame when he can't put the ACA into place.

      Remember:
      positive working capital ratio
      free cash flow
      operating margins
      pay your taxes...on time

      Good luck.

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    2. Losing money? $500 a month? Partner(s)? Piss poor margins? You guys have no idea of what's happening here do you?

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    3. Sounds like they know more about running a business than you do, Richie.

      Why not provide health insurance to your employees immediately? Why wait until 50+ when the government forces you to? Put your money where your mouth is. You won't because of the reasons listed above...should taken a business class before going into business. Just my opinion.

      Delete
  16. I like the daily Whitt's End, since it touches on many subjects. I'm more interested in reading something with a variety of content like that, than 2-3 singular posts that maybe you'd have to force to be longer on their own. Keep up the good writing. As I've always said, don't always agree, but I enjoy the entertainment.

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  17. Love the Whitt's end, it's the highlight of my day, and used to be the highlight of my radio week. Don't stop the deeper articles, though; you have a gift that I want to keep benefiting from!

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    1. That's something I definitely plan to dig back into. It's my favorite writing as well. Thanks.

      Delete
  18. I like the Whitt's End.

    I don't have a problem with the way the Yankees are treating Rivera's retirement. His total innings pitched don't equal one full season of play. But, in the day of the closer, it's not his fault. Being around for 19 years with one team and as dominate as he was, it's good to see him appreciated.

    What I don't understand, is why do other teams have ceremonies and give gifts to a guy who has always been the opposition? I remember teams did this with Ripken too. I think baseball is the only sport that has these "victory lap" last seasons and every club seems to think they need to pay homage to a player who they were privileged to watch come to their stadium and defeat the home team. Give him a laurel, and hardy handshake and lock the door when he leaves.

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  19. Today's "Hot" = Top 3 for the Month! Awesome!! Daily blog is greatness. Going to disagree with your assessment of the Pasta Man. My Southern Baptist baseline sez he is 100% correct in his beliefs. He & his company will be blessed and will do wonderful. I'm going to leave it at that.

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    1. Just wondering how Chick-Fil-A sales have been. I'm assuming pretty good.

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  20. RW...daily reader and somewhat regular poster. Question is...why can't we have both regarding Whitt's end and deeper articles? Barilla pasta guy is perfectly within his rights to say and do as he pleases. However, as the Dixie Chicks found out, there is often a price to be paid for freedom of expression. But what do I know...it may turn out for him the way it did for Chick-fil-A. When Kareem retired, there was a similar "victory" tour for him... gifts, etc.

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  21. Test comment post from iPhone

    -webmaster

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  22. RW: I've always loved your writing and I honestly gave your radio show a shot. Sadly the Greggo experiment didn't work out and I preferred the Hardline. If you could get a show in the Whitt's End format, possibly 2 hours, it would be radio gold.


    As for the daily Whitt's End, you turned something I looked forward to every Friday, into something I look forward to reading every day. I vote for keeping the daily format. It is the 1st sports article/info I read online every day.

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    1. You know you just hit on something there. I think I would even give that a listen.
      I bash Whit a lot but I have to give him credit for saying if he is lucky enough to have 50 employees one he would provide health insurance for them. Call me a flaming liberal or whatever but I think every American should have the opportunity for healthcare. I will also say this if not for the presidents healthcare plan my mother would be in an extremely bad situation right now. Again call me what you will but I don't not give my business to companies that do not provide their employees healthcare, Papa Johns among many others. Is this hurting there business no not at all but I sleep better at night. I don't trade with Chic-Fil-A because the people that run the company are bigots.
      Don't get me wrong I will still say Whit is a hypocrite because he could have at the time used his position as a radio personality to make a stand on gun control by not attending the NRA 500 at TMS but chose not to and "take the money" instead.
      If Whitt would just get over himself and use some more humility from time to time he would be an ok dude.

      Storm

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    2. It must be nice to be so simple-minded and self-absorbed. Please stay out of the way so men can get work done.

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    3. It's ok why don't you take your gun out out and get your conservative shoot on fuck face. Poor little Anon 9:53 got his wittle freeling hurt:(

      Storm

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    4. Or maybe he just pointed out you couldn't possibly be more clueless?...

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  23. I dont agree with you on much and every day i swear its the last time i check out your blog....but i always come back. Thanks for keeping it interesting.

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  24. I think the daily Whitt's End works well, but I also like to see fully realized ideas, which can't be done in single paragraphs. Sometimes you touch on a substantive issue but the Whitt's End format prevents elaboration. It would be nice to see you drop 1,200 words or so on important sports topics...or gun control.

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    1. +1 - Maybe have two options: 1) Make Whitt's End a Monday, Wednesday, Friday thing and fill in with in-depth pieces on Tuesday and Thursday;

      or 2) keep it as-is but always have the option to replace Whitt's End at any time with an in-depth article as breaking news dictates (i.e. Josh Brent, practice facility falling down, etc.)

      Option 2 is the one I am leaning towards. And for the record, I don't regard the few things I have read at the Blue Star Blog being in-depth or hard-hitting. And I don't know the ramifications of posting an extensive piece here and a short piece on the Blue Star Blog.

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  25. I just spent half an hour catching up on this week. Great stuff. I like your style. As for the over Republicans, that's just Texas man. People are Republican because their parents and pastor are, with no real original ideas or solutions to problems...just negativity. Liberals are guitly too. True intelligence lies somewhere in the middle.

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  26. Daily Whitts End: overall good, but perhaps overexposed. As you've run out of substance, you've given more and more room to your uninformed and overly simplistic political whipping boys. Dilutes the content and, in the long run, won't be good for business (perfect example, suggesting that you'd pay for healthcare for your employees as somehow a support for obamacare; if employers had your view, there wouldn't be the need for obamacare, so you're not arguing for the point you think you are). Good writer, but smart to have a bit more fun and a bit less sound-bite party-line political sermonizing. I've been a daily visitor to your blog since day 1 but find myself less inclined to get hit over the head with the same soap boxes of late. Food for thought...

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    1. Well aren't you just a brillant champion for the masses...barf.

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  27. Richie, why wait until you have 50+ employees before providing health insurance. Be right, moral and compassionate and provide health insurance for all employees from day 1. You would set a great example for all your critics.

    Lloyd Bonafide



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  28. I'm shocked someone hasn't brought this up... who the fuck are you to need an assistant to do your Facebook page!!!! How high and fucking mighty are you Richie Twit!

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    1. Dude, I don't understand this at all. If I could get this Santos chick to do anything for me, believe me, she would be doing it. (And maybe get a little of the that hot massage oil a little to the right.)

      Anon - choose a name just so we know who you are. You can still be anonymous but at least we can know your histor.

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    2. She loves Facebook. I don't. The end.

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  29. Thoroughly enjoying the daily Whitt's End posts. Keep it up.

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  30. Keep up the great work with Whitt's End. I get to read it before I put on my diamond earing & Affliction shirt & get into my Camaro to go to the Strip Club. Thank God for the $3 a gallon gas & Obamacare.

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    1. Not a diamond earring or Affliction shirt or Camaro, but you get the point. Thanks.

      Delete
  31. Ha ha ! Lloyde Bonafide! Man, I miss Phil Hendrie on 1190. I listened everynite.

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  32. Daily W.E. = Answer Key. If there were a miracle for every incident, then they wouldn't be miracles, would they, RW?

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    1. Nope, but our un-miracled lives sure would be a lot better.

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