Texas Fights Self-Determination, and How Sports Broadcasting is Destroying Sports

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The December 10th Weekly Three:

• We’re getting trains!!! The White House announced an $8.2 billion dollar investment in what will be the nations first high-speed rail (220 mph) lines between LA and Las Vegas, and LA and San Francisco.

• Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott apparently once gave a “motivational speech” to his team using the terrorist hijackers who carried out 9/11 as an example of how a team can work together to meet their goals. Yes this is actually real and no its not an Onion article.

• Democrats have out forth a bill that would ban hedge funds from investing in single family residences in an effort to combat the housing crisis facing the country.

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The State of Texas vs. Self-Determination

As of writing this, 31 year old Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant in the “free” state of Texas, is waiting to hear if she can legally have an abortion after learning that her fetus has a fatal anomaly that will not only kill the baby shortly after birth, but render Kate infertile and unable to have future children.

The condition the fetus has is called trisomy 18. Only about 50% of pregnancies with this condition successfully come to term, and over 90% of babies born with it die within the first year (and often within two weeks) all while suffering through severe respiratory illnesses along the way.

According to AP News, “Doctors have told Cox that if the baby’s heartbeat were to stop, inducing labor would carry a risk of a uterine rupture because of her prior cesareans sections, and that another C-section at full term would would endanger her ability to carry another child.”

Its the highest profile lawsuit on abortion access yet following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Just this past week, on December 8 after Kate Cox petitioned before the court, State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled in her favor, allowing her doctors to proceed with an abortion.

But quickly after, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately moved to not only block the ruling, but issued a letter to three Houston hospitals warning of dire legal and civil consequences against any doctor that moves forward with the procedure. Furthermore the Texas Supreme Court on Friday night put on hold the judge’s ruling, leaving Kate’s fate in limbo.

What I find so damning about this situation is that these right-wing, small-government-advocating politicians are attempting to stand behind this faux moral high-ground that abortion is murder, yet seem comfortable condemning a loving mother to one of the worst fates I can imagine: forcing her to give birth to a newborn, only to watch her baby suffer needlessly for several hours or days before finally passing, all while ensuring she will be infertile an unable to have another child.

Where is the moral righteousness in that? This staunch “pro-life” stance is completely irreconcilable with the reality woman now face due to strict abortion laws.

As Judge Gamble put it, “The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice.”

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I write a lot about abortion because I see reduction in access to abortion as one of the greatest modern transgressions against our civil liberties by US political figures.

If we in America collectively believe the importance of each individuals right to self-determination without interference from the state (which I think we all do), then at the most basic level we must agree that self-determination starts with our right to make decisions about our own body.

Sports Broadcasting Networks Are Destroying Sports

ESPN, who has for decades been the dominate US sports broadcasting and digital media network, is ironically destroying the integrity of the sports they cover, along with other sports broadcasting networks like Fox.

These network’s outsized financial impact through numerous TV deals with collegiate and professional sports means they literally have a seat at the table during these leagues’ biggest decisions.

Look at college football this year. Just last week outrage followed the College Football Playoff committee’s (CFP) erroneous decision to leave out undefeated Florida State University from the four-team playoff. Who did they select in their place? One loss Alabama, the golden child of the South Eastern Conference (SEC), and more importantly, a major draw for one of college football’s most engaged markets: the deep south.

ESPN, who has a $470 million TV deal to broadcast CFP games, of course desires matchups that will drive ratings, because that’s how ESPN makes money. On paper, the CFP committee is made up of an impartial group: athletic directors from universities across the country. The head of this committee is a man named Boo Corrigan, athletic director at NC State. He has a brother too, Tim Corrigan, who by a sheer but very striking coincidence is the VP of Production for ESPN. Hmm.

ESPN and Fox Sports have also been instrumental in obliterating the college football conference structure. My poor alma mater Oregon State, and Washington State Universities are currently stranded in the post-apocalyptic remains of the once great PAC-12, having been the only two programs not invited to the BIG 10 or BIG 12 conferences before the season began.

While the blame here is shared with other PAC-12 programs for agreeing to leave, driving those incentives was ESPN and Fox, with a shiny new TV deal and one caveat: we’re not going to pay for more schools than already agreed upon to join the BIG 12. Beavs and Cougs can just stay home!

It’s like a paradox. By attempting to maximize profit, ESPN and other networks are in fact degrading the very thing underlying its value: great sports games. Talk about biting your nose off to spite your face.