It has been nearly a week since we last checked in and I noticed the piles on my desk were growing so today will be the day I clear some things off. These are story ideas I had that won't fill an entire blog by themselves so I will wrap them all into one nice present for you.
Our friends in the NHL continue to make news for all the wrong reasons. This is what happens when you have the worst commissioner in the history of sports leading you. Let's start with the guy on the top left, above. He is Ivan Provorov and he plays for the Philadelphia Flyers. Like many teams today the Flyers held a pride night this past week where the players wore a special jersey, shown on the upper right above, for charity. After the game they would be auctioned and fans could purchase them with the money going to charities for the team.
The very average Mr. Provorov decided that he would not wear the jersey because it is against his religion. I'm pretty sure he meant the whole gay pride portion was against his religion, not wearing a jersey. In any case he would not warm up because of his objection and the team and the NHL said, what can we do, and they let him play the game anyway.
Luckily they have me to help them. First he should have been fined and suspended immediately. When you sign a professional contract you are obligated to do things for the team as they designate, even if you don't feel like it. This should have been a no brainer but of course the league and the team handled it like the clown car league they are.
Also, what kind of religion is worth belonging to when they allow and are proponents of bigotry? I just checked my calendar to be sure and in fact it is now 2023 and we sill have small minded people running around hating on people just because they are different than we are. This would be the most stupid thing in the NHL this week except for...
Governor Ron DeSantis and the NHL getting into a pissing contest over the "Pathway to Hockey Summit" scheduled for Florida. This is an event the NHL was hosting for minorities to help them learn about opportunities in the NHL and help them understand steps they need to take to go after these opportunities. A righteous cause, you would think.
The future losing GOP Presidential candidate, Governor Nutjob, decided that this in itself was racist because white people were not invited. Well actually they were invited they just weren't called out in the literature. Here is what the invite said.
"Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend."
In a statement, Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis, said that the event is discriminatory.
"Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida, and we do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic. We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity," Griffin said.
The NHL deleted the event posting from its LinkedIn account on Friday night.
In a further clarification, the spokesperson said the event is open to anyone ages 18 and older.
I'm not sure who is the bigger clown here the NHL or the Governor but I'll call it red neck and neck. It is time for pro sports leagues to stop coming to states like Florida, Arizona, and Texas, where the leadership is nuts and their politics are racist.
Speaking of Florida, the LPGA is holding their season opening event his weekend at Lake Nona G&CC outside Orlando and the tour that can't get out of its own way does it again. As you can see there will be 29 LPGA pros, 53 celebrities, a $1.5 million purse, and down in the fine print where you can't quite see it, no locker facilities for the golfers.
This is just unbelievable and unacceptable. The course has known they were coming for a year. I know they had flooding last fall, but how do you not have arrangements made for locker facilities for the golfers? Do you think the PGA tour would accept this? Hell no they wouldn't, yet the LPGA just shrugs their shoulders and says we'll try to work something out.
They finally brought in 36 temporary lockers but what an embarrassment for the tour which ended last season, as you will recall, not having one golfer show up to the season ending sponsors dinner in a stupendous PR blunder. Somebody needs to wake these people up.
Finally, lets talk electric cars. I have a friend, John Faulkner, who writes for cleanfleetreport.com, which covers the automobile industry extensively. If you get a chance to read him you'll see that he is very knowledgeable about this business, but I disagree with him on the future of BEV cars.
So that you are up to speed, in case you don't know like I didn't before writing this.
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine
HEV - Hybrid Electric Vehicle
PHEV = Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
BEV = Battery Electric Vehicle
Here are some of the feature differences between the various electric cars. Also, the average BEV car sells for $56,000, PHEV cars sell for $32,000, and the HEV cars sell for $25,000. There are plenty in each category that are more expensive and many that are less expensive. Don't shoot me if I'm off by a few thousand dollars.
John has written that the future of cars is BEV. Even the Governor of California agrees with him as he has signed an executive order stating that only BEV cars can be sold by 2035 in the state. As we found out in the past few years executive orders are as solid a tissue paper. Once the new guy gets in he/she can write a new order eliminating the old order so we'll see what happens here.
In any case my disagreement is that BEV cars are just not practical, or feasible, in the US for the foreseeable future. I believe that HEV or PHEV will eventually win the fight. Pricing is just one reason, even if you allow that eventually they will come down closer to the other types of cars. My reasons are as follows.
First, the driving range for a BEV is between 150-300 miles. the PHEV's get 450-550 miles and the HEV's get 550-700 miles. Most of us do not want to be on a trip and run out of juice 50 miles from a charging station. It will never happen that charging stations will be as available as gas stations. (BTW- an ICE engine car gets 350-450 miles)
Second, charging a BEV car takes up to 10 hours with a level 2 charger and if you only have a level 1 charger get ready to wait up to four days for your car to charge. With the PHEV's level 2 takes 1-3 hours and a level 1 charge takes 3-12 hours. The HEV charges while you are driving.
Finally, California is a leader in going all electric for everything including appliances and heating your home, yet, we don't have the infrastructure to handle the additional usage. What is the point of converting to all electric if the grid can't handle the additional use? If California is not ready imagine the time, cost, and mess in a state like Mississippi where they can't even figure out how to get clean water to people.
Most Americans will be more comfortable knowing that when the electricity runs out you have your good old gas engine to take over. While I respect the hell out of his knowledge I just don't see this EV craze lasting. In fact the leader is Tesla and they are struggling right now, although to drive around the Coachella Valley you would never believe it. Tesla's are like Ford's here they are so prevalent.
Thanks for letting me clear the deck on a few things.