Considering current player salaries - $1.9 million as of 2010 (http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeye…) that sounds reasonable. But this settlement covers players from much leaner times, who may not have had the same resources...
1990 - $356,000 (still probably enough to put aside some cash for insurance later in life)
1985 - $217,000 (perhaps cutting it tight, given an average career of 4-5 years at peak earning potential)
1980 - $79,000 (no way you're set for life after a few years at that pay grade)
And it gets significantly worse from there. This also factors in the big-money contracts of star players, boosting the "average" a lot higher than most players were making at any given point in time.
I think this is certainly a deserved jab at the outrageous cost of medicine in this country as compared to any other nation in the world. But it's just as effective as an object to shame the NFL for a paltry (by any measure) investment in the well-being of its players. — September 7, 2013 3:19 p.m.
New lawsuit filed to block Jamul casino
Ouch, misquoting my own story, even though I linked to it in the text...thanks for the catch and correction, jmtcw!— September 23, 2013 6:58 p.m.
Blockbuster Video goes bust in North Park
About as useful these days as my Paladin membership...— September 21, 2013 9:19 a.m.
Chula Vista parents protest switch to Common Core State Standards
Wholeheartedly agree on the reading thing - it's been a struggle at times but my daughter is finally starting to come around in the last month to where "30 minutes reading time" is a voluntary hour rather than "Am I done yet?" after 20... It's served me fairly well too - I halfheartedly skated through high school, aced jr. college classes I found interesting and bombed the rest (once I'd completed all the interesting ones relevant to graduating it was all over), but an early-rooted love of consuming as many written words as possible (see my twitter feed to scratch the surface of that) has pretty much gotten me by in life. Add to that the fact that reading a variety of material exposes one to a wide variety of writing styles and expands one's own skill set by osmosis - finding someone my age or younger who can effectively communicate in writing is becoming so rare it's almost a guarantee of securing gainful employment that doesn't involve counting pickle chips.— September 20, 2013 8:51 p.m.
Blockbuster Video goes bust in North Park
Three stores? Wow...at the height of the first wave home video boom when I was a kid there were three Blockbusters within a 15 minute bike ride of my house in a suburban nowhere between El Cajon and La Mesa...— September 20, 2013 7:52 p.m.
Chula Vista parents protest switch to Common Core State Standards
I've apparently been living under a rock, as I was just introduced to Common Core earlier this week at a talk given by the principal at my daughter's middle school. One thing he came back to repeatedly is echoed by eastlaker - he said he's been bombarded pretty much nonstop with pitches from content providers looking to sell the CC material. I also heard the same thing as Susan regarding an expected dip - "this is to be expected when we switch to a new testing standard, so don't be alarmed" or something to that effect. I see a lot of comments here about math - personally I noticed last year (4th grade) a shift away from a "right way" of solving a problem and moving onto the next skill set and the implementation of three or four different approaches to arrive at the same solution - my daughter just looked at me funny when I tried to re-teach a skill in the only way I knew how. "I know how to do it *that way* Dad, we learned it two weeks ago. I'm supposed to solve it *this way* now." I'm just left wondering why she needs *this way* if she was reaching the right solutions using *that way*. Some of the sample CC curriculum, including an example math problem I got at my meeting, seems intriguing - but it also seems needlessly complex, given the reduced base skill set kids seem to be acquiring due to re-learning a process in multiple methods. I've been hesitant to knock this practice before because what works for some kids may baffle others, but I'm really debating the slowdown of general progress these methods entail. Thanks, Susan, for your timely articles that always inspire a great conversation. Even though I mostly watch from the sidelines, they're quite informative. -dr— September 19, 2013 10:57 p.m.
American households ailing; Wall Street rejoices
Concerning: after all these years of cheap money effectively fueling the housing recovery, if (when) rates return to normal a new real estate crash is pretty much guaranteed.— September 18, 2013 9:50 p.m.
Spring Valley man fights police officers, loses
I thought your last sentence, given the "reached for an officer's gun" allegation, was really the noteworthy part of this story.— September 17, 2013 2:09 p.m.
Mitt Romney's La Jolla mansion not a done deal
Romney's people appear to be going off a standard version of "riparian rights" as generally recognized in real estate law. However, if the City's laws are more stringent than generally applied as concerns beach frontage, that could be one argument against expansion. Even the general principle has a "reasonableness of use" clause, which can be fairly broadly interpreted...it'll be interesting to see how this plays out, to say the least.— September 10, 2013 10:01 p.m.
Peter Pan in San Diego
Not that I'm buying into your generalizations entirely, but I certainly appreciate your "young drunk PB chick" perspective (which pretty much sums up how I've always generalized PB people, contradicting my statement 10 words ago) here and in your other feature earlier this year...glad to see you're catching a lot less flak in the comments on this one. Good luck with the book deal! - 31 year-old OB guy raised in East County with a stable relationship and school-age daughter— September 7, 2013 4:48 p.m.
The NFL’s paltry concussion settlement
Considering current player salaries - $1.9 million as of 2010 (http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeye…) that sounds reasonable. But this settlement covers players from much leaner times, who may not have had the same resources... 1990 - $356,000 (still probably enough to put aside some cash for insurance later in life) 1985 - $217,000 (perhaps cutting it tight, given an average career of 4-5 years at peak earning potential) 1980 - $79,000 (no way you're set for life after a few years at that pay grade) And it gets significantly worse from there. This also factors in the big-money contracts of star players, boosting the "average" a lot higher than most players were making at any given point in time. I think this is certainly a deserved jab at the outrageous cost of medicine in this country as compared to any other nation in the world. But it's just as effective as an object to shame the NFL for a paltry (by any measure) investment in the well-being of its players.— September 7, 2013 3:19 p.m.