"Half the lies they tell about me aren't true." - Yogi Berra

The antibiotic is doing its work. I don't feel well, but much better than last night. I figure another 36 hours and this will all be in my rear view mirror. Maybe still some soreness in my mouth, but I can work around that.

We'll get a bunch of rain - an inch or more - over the next 48 hours, the first precipitation since December 20th. As you can imagine, it's big news on the local scene. The more so because NASCAR is in town and it's the first weekend of spring training games.

The NFL is discussing instituting a 15 yard penalty anytime an official hears a player use the N-word. This comes as one reaction to the bullying situation that played out Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins. Opposition to the proposed rule comes from some surprising corners, including Blacks like Michael Wilbon, a respected sports journalist with ESPN. He has said publicly (by using the word on his nationally syndicated show) that it's a term of endearment between Blacks who know each other well. Other Blacks, like Hall of Fame player Cris Carter, have argued passionately that the word has no place in anyone's vocabulary because of the word's historical use and the price Blacks paid to free themselves of the oppression the N-word represents. Those Blacks who use it simply either don't know or don't adequately appreciate that history.

As a White person I can't legitimately take a position either way. It would be worse than presumptuous for me to tell a Black person they should or shouldn't take offense at the N-word. But I do have a question. If the NFL decides the N-word is inappropriate under any circumstances and has no place in their work environment, what about the variety of gay slurs that are also common in locker rooms? If one is prohibited don't the others? 'cause you know the F-word is used often, and never as a term of endearment. How 'bout the R-word? That is now offensive when used regarding people who are mentally challenged. (Is that the correct term? I lose track.)

If I used any of those terms at Acme Widget Company I'd get called into HR and receive a talking-to, maybe disciplined or even fired. It wouldn't matter how the person I was talking to felt about it, "It has no place in our workplace conversations." Does the football field get a pass? Because theirs is a brutal sport do the rules of civil discourse not apply?

Talk among yourselves.