Sunday, May 24, 2020

News elsewhere

There are two names in the news (as well as a lot of others).

Ryan Leaf and Madison Bell.  The latter is the better story.

First, former phenom Leaf.  Sometimes I enjoy reading comments on news stories like his but not this time.  Precious little is known about the domestic battery incident so there are no new facts to be gleaned.  Comments like "arrested again" or "he'll never learn" are meaningless. 

What is known is that his fiancee of three years with whom he has a child is the victim (this has not been reported per se, but I am assuming it is fact).  There are civil and family problems and there are criminal ones; they don't arrest you in your home and put you in jail unless there is evidence.  Someone has to be in danger.  This is a breaking point and an indication that it has happened before and that it is not a blissful situation.

Two, you cannot have a network sports announcer with this kind of thing in the news.  When it happens again the past is fair game, and Leaf's is not a pleasant one to review.  It means an end to the resurgence of his career.  As for the unmarried wife and family (she is an independent producer whose career may be tied to his), that may take a hit too.

I don't know if Leaf is an entertaining or capable football analyst.  There are strong hints that his career was propped-up by "football legends," ex-football players, and a public university Leaf played for long ago.  The very public stories about his rebirth, rejuvenation, wisdom, honesty, rebirth, or whatever you want to call it are nauseating.  It is like a cult religious group.  It is more like proselytizing than anything worth paying attention to.

The only real reason to follow the Ryan Leaf story at the is point is epicaricacy, better known in German as schadenfreude.


Madison Bell is the eighteen year-old Highland County, OH woman who went missing for a week.  She left the keys in the ignition of her car in a church parking lot with her phone.  She had gone to a tanning salon and her high school graduation was in a few hours when she disappeared.

She did not tell anyone.  Her mother and boyfriend -- I swear I read her "live-in boyfriend of five years" -- are pictured above.  

Now it is reported that she left to start a new life.  

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