Fall, although the season itself is outstanding, has a tendency to make me fret and make my mind roam.
The weather can be awesome, especially for camping. The foliage in our neck of the woods can be vibrant. But I can’t help thinking about what’s on the way: winter. Ugh. Brisk temperatures I can handle, but too long in the newspaper business has made me dread any form of wintry precipitation. Like the mail, newspapering goes on come rain, sleet, snow, hell or high water.
My mind wanders at all the approaching possibilities, and it won’t stay on a subject for long. So …
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In California, Gov. Jerry Brown this month signed a law allowing terminally ill people to go through a process at the end of which they can take medication to end their own lives. California joins four other states — Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont — in allowing those with terminal illnesses to administer drugs to expedite their earthly departure.
Contrast that to the state of Arkansas’ efforts to put murderers to death for the crimes they have committed. Opponents of the death penalty continue to attack the state’s method, hoping to show it’s cruel and unusual because, as the inmates suggest, there’s a high risk of severe pain in the process.
Not many Arkansans probably care too much whether Don Davis, who executed 62-year-old Jane Daniels of Rogers by gunfire during a burglary in 1990, is overly comfortable as the penalty recommended by a jury of his peers is carried out all these years after his crime. But government has a responsibility to go beyond the standards of a murderer as it imposes this most daunting of punishments.
Still, if society and science can develop a government-embraced protocol to end the lives of those whose bodies have been afflicted with fatal disease or conditions, if that has become a humane procedure that helps end their pain, how can these inmates argue there is no humane way to end their lives when they’ve done everything they can to ensure they deserve such a punishment?
Medical science can achieve death without pain. It’s not that we lack the means. We lack the backbone to carry out punishments.
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Last Thursday, the front page of the newspaper included a photograph of a huge new video scoreboard going up above center court at Bud Walton Arena, home of the basketball Razorbacks.
Back in August, the athletic department notified season ticket holders of its plans to upgrade the video and audio system in what was once known as the Basketball Palace of Mid-America. The cost: $4 million.
Officials said the new systems will allow for more efficient audio distribution with enhanced volume and clarity. In English, that means fans might be able to make out what people are saying during the between-hoops advertisements, promotions and player dance videos. Maybe it will also mean any live courtside segments will actually be able to match up lip movement to the words coming out of the speaker.
I remember how exciting it was back in 2003 when the UA last upgraded its scoreboard at Bud Walton. I thought it would enhance the experience of watching and cheering for the team. It didn’t.
Fans should resist any temptation to believe the UA administration is primarily interested in making sure the folks in the highest seats (in terms of altitude, not price) have a good view of the game. One doesn’t spend $4 million to give a warm-fuzzy to that ticket-holder. No, expanding one’s audio and visual capabilities is about the most important aspect of college sports — money.
Fans have witnessed the evolution of marketing at all sporting events on campus. Where once upon a time a break in the action meant a quick performance by the band or pom squad, perhaps with a band director racing around the arena to get fans pumped up, nowadays every on-field or on-court pause is an opportunity to (1) parade some advertiser onto the field/court so their images can be shown on high-definition scoreboards (sometimes with oversized checks or signs) or (2) assault the fans with a prepackaged advertisement or, excruciatingly, a live sideline or weather report paid for by whatever television station is trying to gin up more viewers.
The balancing act UA athletic administrators and advertisers attempt involves packing as much marketing into a game as possible short of becoming an incessant irritant to the ticket-buying audience.
I started to say “captive” audience, but the description is off the mark. Irritate them enough and the concept of the home tailgate and watch party becomes more and more attractive.
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Greg Harton is editorial page editor for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Contact him by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAGreg.