Harvard: “Periods of full-sails expansion and of sails reefed to reboot the University’s operating system.”

Harvard Magazine: September-October, 201

The Pragmatist: Lawrence Bacon, The Twenty-ninth President

“In the past half century, Harvard has seen leaders with a spiritual bent or steeped in professional disciplines and in the humanities, periods of full-sails expansion and of sails reefed to reboot the University’s operation system. Now, amid challenges to Veritas and a polarized polity, it welcomes its twenty-ninth president, Lawrence S. Bacow, whose scholarship and leaderly seasoning have made him higher education’s preeminent visionary.  Harvard is about to find out, at this moment, what he thinks “needs to be done”—and “What works?”

This paragraph, the last in a nine page article about the new president of Harvard University, uses sailing metaphors to “reboot the system,” to address questions and possible changes to be made.

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Macron Urges Silicon Valley to Comply

French president asks tech firms to follow Europe’s regulations on taxes and privacy, by

Sam Schechner

PARIS—May 25, 2018

“French President Emmanuel Macron ratcheted up demands on U.S.  tech giants Thursday by calling on them to embrace European regulations, ranging from taxation to privacy to artificial intelligence, because Washington is failing to do so.

The U.S. model is no longer sustainable because there is no political accountablility,” Mr. Macron said at a technology conference in Paris just hours before Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg took the same stage…

Mr. Macron repeatedly complained that some big tech companies don’t pay enough income taxes by using legal structures to shift profits to lower-tax countries  He said he would to continue to fight for a French proposal that the European Union levy a tax on large tech companies’ digital revenue to level the playing field—even though the proposal has had trouble garnering the unanimity among EU nations that it would need to become law…”

The sports metaphor/idiom is level the playing field, or making the negotiations fairer to all.

To see a more extended discussion, please go to “www.sports idioms,” and write in the above idiom.

 

 

 

 

full court press: According to Mark Shield on PBS news on Friday, April 13, 2018, James Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty,” will have a full court press publicity. A full court press is a basketball term which is defined on www.sportsidioms.com.

 

 

 

Gorsuch Insists He Could Rule Against Trump

Gorsuch Insists He Could Rule Against Trump
The New York Times, Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Gorsuch Insists He Could Rule Against Trump if Law Required It, by Adam Liptak and Matt Flegenheimer

HAS MADE ‘NO PROMISES’

Expansive and Evasive in Sometimes Tense Questioning

Washington–“Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, sought to assure the Senate and the nation at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he would be a fair-minded and independent justice…

“He did not hesitate, for instance, when asked to declare his independence from Mr. Trump.”

In questions from Senators, including Senator Charles E. Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee about ruling against the president, Judge Gorsuch answered, “That’s a softball, Mr. Chairman. I have no difficulty ruling against of for any party, other than based on what the law and the facts and the particular case require.”

In other words, a softball question is easy to answer, versus a hardball question, which can be tough. There are softball leagues in baseball, but the hardball leagues are the Major Leagues.

Tags: softball

The New York Times, Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Gorsuch Insists He Could Rule Against Trump if Law Required It, by Adam Liptak and Matt Flegenheimer

HAS MADE ‘NO PROMISES’

Expansive and Evasive in Sometimes Tense Questioning

Washington–“Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, sought to assure the Senate and the nation at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he would be a fair-minded and independent justice…

“He did not hesitate, for instance, when asked to declare his independence from Mr. Trump.”

In questions from Senators, including Senator Charles E. Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee about ruling against the president, Judge Gorsuch answered, “That’s a softball, Mr. Chairman.  I have no difficulty ruling against of for any party, other than based on what the law and the facts and the particular case require.”

In other words, a softball question is easy to answer, versus a hardball question, which can be tough.  There are softball leagues in baseball, but the hardball leagues are the Major Leagues.

Megan Kelly is Off the Playing Field & On the Sidelines

The New York Times: BUSINESS, Wednesday, November 16, 2016,

A Fox News Anchor Crosses the Powerful and Emerges as a Brighter Star, by Jim Rutenberg

Megan Kelly states in the above article that, “Trump wanted to make me a story line in the race.  I was trying for nine months to get myself off of the playing field and onto the sidelines, where a reporter belongs.”

Yanks’ Young Slugger Faces a Bar He Set High

The New York Times Sports Thursday, March 2, 2017

BASEBALL

Yanks’ Young Slugger Faces a Bar He Set High, by Tyler Kepner

Tampa, Fla.–Big expectations after a 19-homer outburst in a short stretch of last season. 

Gary Sanchez: “Everything seems positioned for Sanchez to be the next great Yankee.” He hit 20 home runs in 52 career games for the Yankees.  However, he set the bar so high, it may be difficult for him to reach the heights again.

The metaphors, a high bar, a low bar are from track and field sports: bars set low are easier than the ones set high.

 

“With the Playing Field Leveled, Getting the Right Coach Is Key”

The New York Times, Monday, November 28, 2016, by Marc Tracy

ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL

With the Playing Field Leveled, Getting the Right Coach Is Key

…”College coaches are, to their teams, what the head coach and the general manager, combined, are to an N.F.L. team.  For everything to work, the university needs a competent president and athletic director, but success begins and pretty much ends with the head coach…

This season, in Coach Jim Harbaugh’s second year, Michigan is 10-2 and ranked fifth.  Hint: it’s not because of the maize and blue uniform.”

A Late Curveball for Obama’s Legacy

The New York Times: THE ARTS

Historians Look at Obama’s Legacy, With a Late Curveball

It’s the “First Historical Assessment” of His Presidency. But given Trump’s Rise, How Much Should Be Revised? by Jennifer Shuessler

Princeton, N.J.–“Journalism may be the first draft of history.  But on Friday, a group of scholars gathered here for what might be the second.

The occasion was a small conference with the uncolorful title: The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment.  While it had been planned more than a year ago, the election had forced more than a few participants to look at the papers they submitted in late October–some of which referred to Donald J. Trump confidently in the last tense…”

You may go to http://www.sportsidioms, click on curveball to see the definition.  In this case, the conference recipients did not expect Mr. Trump to win and may need rewrites.

Can Anxiety Beat Depression in November?

Wall Street Journal, Saturday/Sunday, September 3-4, 2016

OPINION

Can Anxiety Beat Depression in November? by Peggy Noonan

” …Everyone knows what they think; everyone knows their impression of Mrs. Clinton and Donald Trump.” Ms. Noonan points out in this article that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been famous for a quarter-century.    “But not everyone knows how they will vote.”

Ms. Noonan further writes that the presidential contest will come down to a battle between depression and anxiety.

“Mrs. Clinton is depression in this race: You know exactly who she is, what trouble she brings–she always brings that sack full  of scandal–and she won’t make anything better.  Mr. Trump is anxiety: If you back him you know you’re throwing the long ball, a real Hail Mary pass to the casino developer and reality TV star who may or may not know how to catch the ball when catching the ball means everything…” 

This football metaphor/idiom is explained fully in the website http://www.sportsidioms.com.  Basically, it is a  long pass thrown by the quarterback in a desperate situation.

Rio Olympics: American Women are Pre-eminent

Tuesday, January 23, 2016

In Top Effort by U.S., American Women Are Pre-eminent

By Jere Longman

Rio De Janeiro–“…The size and depth of the American States team resulted in the most gold (46), silver (37) and bronze (38) medals of any nation…

Most striking was the performance by the American women.  The American men won 18 gold medals, the same as Britain.  But the American women were dominant with 27 (not including a gold in mixed doubles tennis).  Had the women competed as a separate country, they would have ranked third in the overall medal count…

There are two primary reasons for this pre-eminance.  The United States is one of the few countries to embed sports within the public education system. And equal access to sports for women comes with legal protections, gained with the education amendment known as Title IX in 1972 and the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act in 1978.

About one of every two American girls participates in sports in high school, according to the U.S.O.C., nearly 85 percent participated in university-funded sports…

‘A level playing field benefits all athletes and helps our medal chances,’ said Jill Geer, a spokes woman for U.S.A. Track & Field.”

A level field includes not only the field itself, but the protections for women instituted in 1972 and 1978 at both the high school and the university levels.  When I was at U.C. Berkely before these laws there was no such protection and money was allocated to men first.  Women were on the U.C. tennis team,  but no women’s U.C. swim team.  I organized a intra-residence and sorority women’s group to compete: there was a butterfly-breast Olympic gold winner competing in our little group weekly, as well as other young women winning medals, one a silver medal in the back stroke and a gold in the relay.  And the young women in a local synchronized swim team had won national titles, but not for U.C.  This changed in the ’70s.