The $700B Bailout: it doesn’t matter what you think.

October 6, 2008 |

no whining about the $700B bailout billMy conference meeting for the upcoming NCAA basketball officiating season is tomorrow. That makes this one of my favorite times of year. The basketball season is just around the corner. . .

A funny thing has happened every year I have been officiating basketball. Every year, there are changes to the rules, and the powers that be have yet to ask me my opinion before they change the rules. 7 out of the last 7 seasons (now 8 of 8), the NFHS and the NCAA have made rule changes, and neither of them has ever asked me about it beforehand. NEVER. How messed up is that?

I mean, really. I’m a hard-working basketball referee. I know the rules. I should be asked before rule changes are made! My opinion matters! My voice should be heard!

Oh, wait, that’s not right.

Rules will change. Live with it.

One of the major components of every college conference officiating meeting is going over the new rule changes, and their interpretations and enforcement. The changes have already been made at this point. There is no room for debate, only a time to make sure that everyone is knows the new rules and how to enforce them. That’s it.

Last year, the rules said one thing. This year, they say something else. Deal with it.

What we think about the bailout doesn’t matter

The Congress passed the $700B dollar bailout bill recently. I won’t bother linking to any particular story about it, since you can plug it into Google and get millions of results. Seems that EVERYONE has an opinion on the bailout bill. It seems to me that I have read a blog post from just about every blogger in my RSS reader, real estate or not.

Funny thing is. . .none of them matter.

Really, they don’t. None of the bloggers or real estate agents (myself included), or pundits, or experts that I have read or heard on TV have an opinion that matters. None of them had a vote on the bill, and Congress didn’t consult any of them about the bill, either. I like most of them, I think they are smart, but their opinion doesn’t really matter.

What matters is what we do now

Basketball referees can sit around all day and talk about whether the rule changes for this year are good or bad. But the bottom line is, when the ball goes in the air for the first game of the season, the players are going to play, and we are going to officiate according to the new rules.

Real estate agents can talk or type until exhaustion about whether the bailout bill is going to make a positive or negative difference in the housing market. But now, none of that talk matters. The time for discussion and opinion has passed.

The rules have changed. It’s time to deal with the game the way it is today, not how we wished it might have been. The intellectual exercise has been fun, but the folks who get to make the decision have made it. Time to get back down to business.

photo courtesy Frotzed2 via Flickr Creative Commons search

Posted by Daniel Rothamel | Filed Under Blog, Blogging, Industry Issues, News, Officiating 

Comments

3 Responses to “The $700B Bailout: it doesn’t matter what you think.”

  1. Justin Williams on October 6th, 2008 12:03 pm

    Daniel Great Article, Spot On! I agree 100%, we have to stop worrying about things we can’t control and just worry about things we can control, 7 habits of highly effective people 101. Kudos!

    [Reply]

  2. Michael Adams on October 6th, 2008 12:46 pm

    “The rules have changed. It’s time to deal with the game the way it is today”

    I couldn’t agree more and this morning arrange to meet with my financial planner tomorrow. The American middle class got mugged by Congress with this bailout, but we are still standing. So, now we pick ourselves up and move forward.

    What’s my plan? Immediately, protect the assests, as best I can. Reduce all consumer debt to zero, as quickly as possible. Delay any major purchases. Bank as much as possible.

    New rules requires a new strategy.

    [Reply]

  3. John Maszka on October 6th, 2008 3:42 pm

    This bailout is just one more example of the indivisible handjob stroking irresponsible CEOs and CFOs with billions so that they can run the American economy even further into the ground. So much for Keynesian economics. If the goal is to stimulate the economy, why not give the money directly to the American taxpayer? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush administration.

    [Reply]

Got something to say?





Creative Commons License