Over the Top Video: A Peak or a Path Forward?

Date: 21 Jan 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

About six months ago, I was quite bullish on advances in over-the-top (OTT) video making it easier for communities to build fiber networks because they would no longer have to deal with the challenges of securing and delivering traditional cable television channels. I explored these challenges in a recent post. OTT video includes Hulu, Netflix, Apple … Read More

We’re the NFL. We don’t have to care.

Date: 26 Sep 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Watching professional football these days reminds me of Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine the telephone operator on Saturday Night Live and her famous punch line, “We don’t care.  We don’t have to.  We’re the phone company.” Or in this case the National Football League.  For those who don’t follow football, let me bring you up to date.  In … Read More

Is the Super Bowl a Socialist Enterprise?

Date: 9 Jan 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Is the Super Bowl a socialist enterprise?  Yes the language is provocative but not, I believe, inappropriate.  After all Indiana, the site of the next Super Bowl,  is currently governed by those who insist government should play a minimal role and the word they, and their Republican counterparts around the country  use to describe those who … Read More

The Superbowl Is Over. Now The Real Battle Begins

Date: 11 Feb 2011 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 3 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Dear football fan, The Superbowl is over. But the real combat is just beginning.  This time it’s not Packers v. Steelers.  It’s Workers v. Bosses.  And for thousands of workers and millions of fans, this is the game that counts. In the game of football, the rules favor neither side.  And they are enforced.  Each team … Read More

Boundaries of democracy deserve deeper analysis

Date: 18 May 2006 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Boundaries of democracy deserve deeper analysis by David Morris Originally published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 18, 2006 In its May 16 editorial, “We count on legislators to strike a balance,” the Pioneer Press asked “when and why should we vote?” Its answer? In the case of a Hennepin County sales tax to fund … Read More

Gimme Shelter

Date: 17 Feb 2004 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Gimme Shelter by David Morris Originally published in The Minneapolis Observer, February 17, 2004 Politics involves making choices. This legislative session we’re making choices about how to spend some three quarters of a billion dollars.  The menu is largely restricted to constructing shelters(buildings) of one sort or another. It gladdens me to see how much our … Read More

Don’t Bribe ‘Em. Buy ‘Em: A strategic proposal on how New Yorkers can create–and control–a minor baseball league of their own

Inthe next two years, New Yorkers will spend nearly $50 million dollars to build two stadiums for minor league teams in order to lure away short-season, class A ball clubs from other communities. And in ten years? New Yorkers may well have to consider building bigger stadiums for those same teams so they don’t threaten to move as the Yankees are now doing. A better idea: For the same amount of taxpayer money, New Yorkers can create–and own–a minor league comprised of several good ball clubs and still have money left over to put toward stadiums. And New Yorkers can–for years to come–root for teams that are truly rooted in their own community.

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Rooting the Home Team: Why the Packers Won’t Leave — and Why the Browns Did

This article by David Morris and Daniel Kraker first appeared in The American Prospect magazine, September-October 1998

Onthe last Sunday in January, an elated John Elway stood on the gridiron where his Denver Broncos had just beaten the Green Bay Packers 31-24, and announced to millions of worldwide television viewers that the best part about finally winning the Super Bowl was how much it meant to his longtime fans, the people of Denver.

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