Tuesday

Testimony to my lack of interest in TV programming these days is the victory last night by Arizona in the College World Series.  The couple innings of that game that I watched were the first two innings of the entire tournament that I took the time to view.  The new stadium in Omaha looks like the real deal. 

I was in a discussion the other night with a friend and the topic drifted over to the future of currency in everyday usage.  Coinage and paper dollars.  I actually use more cash than many folks as I tend to pay for groceries and small personal/household items in cash.  At Hy Vee, it appears to me that a majority of the folks in front of me in line use a credit or debit card for their purchases.  That is also definitely the case at the gas station as well (where most people pay at the pump with a card).

Coffee shops heavily market their own credit cards or the use of "app's" on the cell phone display that can act like a credit card.  It seems obvious to me that it's just a matter of time before the technology and security for the use of an app on the cell phone will be a primary form of payment for goods and services at virtually all retail establishments.  Just like the credit card readers progressed from the old imprint device to the modern data-scanner, merchants will eventually migrate to an even more efficient reader system.

One of the by-products of the shrinking use of currency is the impact on people who have historically depended on cash receipts/donations.  I always wonder if the tip jar at the coffee shop will go away with the expansion of electronic payments.  And the homeless people in the cities who pepper the street corners.  The Salvation Army. 

Today was a weekend day two years ago and 2 and I were visiting 4 in Lincoln.

I have no more than a minor amount of interest in the discussions that have been in the news this week about the future of the college football championship package.  From what little I have read, the proposal now on the table is one with a four-team play-off, keeping the bowl structure somewhat in place, but taking the "top" teams to the the playoff scenario.  I'm guessing that it will take about one year to have the first controversy between that fourth and fifth team.

Let's face it.  Its all about the money. 

In a somewhat similar vein, the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Association has elected to add a fifth class to the divisions for playoff purposes.  Effectively, the State Tournament in girls' sports will now have a total of 40 teams getting "to state".  The local fishwrap had a long story in the Sunday edition about this expansion.  Some people were quoted as being concerned with the "watering down" of state-level accomplishments, and others agreed with the change as benefiting more kids.  I don't know.  While there is truth to the watering-down argument, when stories are told 30 and 40 years later about a team making it to state, I doubt that the first thought to the listener of that story will be, "Yeah, but really, how many teams were in the field?"

What the expansion does mean is that there will be at least eight more state tournament games for gate revenue, concessions, parking and miscellaneous other fees.  A case could be made here too that, its all about the money.

All for now.

BCOT