Weekend Digest: The NFL In Hot Water Edition

ANALYZING THE GOVERNOR DEBATE
This Sunday on Talk Business & Politics, we’ll analyze the big Arkansas Governor’s debate between Republican Asa Hutchinson and Democrat Mike Ross.

What issues were discussed? Who scored political points? And were any undecided voters persuaded?

Republican strategist Clint Reed with Impact Management Group and Democratic strategist and blogger Michael Cook offer their perspectives and analysis. Talk Business & Politics Roby Brock and KATV’s Janelle Lilley join in.

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics Sunday 9 a.m. on KATV Channel 7.

For our weekend business and political readers:

NFL SPONSOR BACKLASH
In the wake of how the NFL has handled the domestic abuse cases involving players, the league is hearing “harsh words from some of the sponsors that provide billions in revenue each year.”

“I think that team owners and the league are taking notice,” said Mark Conrad, professor of sports business at Fordham University.

“The displeasure is the first significant event on their pocketbooks,” he said.

What companies have voiced concern and disappointment, and what action should the NFL take in lieu of its tarnished image?

Go to this link for the complete story. Plus, here is a wrap-up of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s public apology and outline for moving forward on his handling of the recent negative publicity.

A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP MAY BE YOUR BEST INVESTMENT
Think you can get be productive and sharp on very little sleep? Think again.

A growing body of research is finding that, on the contrary, those who get a good night’s sleep are usually more productive at work. They think more clearly, quickly and creatively than those trying to get by on a few hours’ rest and a gallon of caffeine.

That’s because sleep doesn’t just rest the brain, say medical specialists. It allows the brain to perform vital maintenance and restoration tasks. Brains that get too little sleep simply cannot perform as well as those that are rested.

“Investors take heed,” says The Wall Street Journal. “Numerous studies have found that those running on too little sleep tend to make poorer investment decisions and take needless risks as well.”

For a look at the research on how your bottom line can drastically improve with more z’s, click on this link.

LESSONS LEARNED IF YOU COULD GO BACK
Do you ever daydream about what you would tell your younger self if you could go back in time?  Inc. asked seven millionaires that same question.

Follow this link for “7 Life Lessons Millionaires Would Tell their Younger Selves.”

HAS THE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT DISAPPEARED?
A Forbes writer says it has. Really.

The U.S. Treasury announced last Thursday that the federal deficit was $128.7 billion in August. That’s 13 percent lower than it was during the same month last year.

Washington typically records a budget surplus in September and $80 billion or so in black ink is in fact projected for next month. If that occurs as expected, the deficit for all of 2014 will be about $500 billion. That will be more than 26 percent below 2013 and the smallest federal deficit by far since 2008.

If that is the case, then why haven’t you heard anything? You know trumpets blaring from the administration or just something from anybody.

Find out at this link.

WHAT DEMOCRAT CAN PUT UP A PRIMARY FIGHT AGAINST HILLARY?
If Hillary Clinton runs for president who might her Democratic challengers be and would it be a real fight? Is there such a candidate?

And much of the party’s apparatus is already rallying around her while also sending an unsubtle signal to Vice-President Biden and other potential contenders that it’s Clinton’s turn.

But will she actually be the candidate?

For the complete story and analysis, click on this link from NBC News.

BUT WAIT, MAYBE THERE IS A CLINTON CHALLENGER
His name is Jim Webb, a former Democratic Senator from Virginia, who MarketWatch reports “is starting to get more buzz inside the Beltway after his visit last month to Iowa.”

In press encounters there, including a lengthy interview with a local PBS station, Webb did not deny he might be running for president after first raising the possibility in May when his memoir, “I Heard My Country Calling,” came out.

Webb is something of an anomaly — a veteran who opposes U.S. military intervention, a Democrat who supports gun rights, a prima facie redneck who was concerned about economic inequality long before it was fashionable.

And MarketWatch says, “Unlike many Washington insiders who try to portray themselves as outsiders, Webb is the genuine article — a real outsider.”

Go to this link to learn more about Webb and a surprising choice who he could potentially pair up with.

THE MAKING OF A CONSERVATIVE SUPER STAR
The Atlantic says “Tom Cotton is the ultimate product of today’s hard-edged, ideologically driven Republican Party.” But asks, “Is that what Arkansas voters want?”

Focused, intense, and serious, Tom impressed adults with his discipline and maturity. He worked hard, studied diligently, and seemed to have little appetite for frivolity.

Early in his high-school career, friends say, he decided he would go to Harvard. He pursued the goal with single-minded passion. When he arrived in Cambridge in 1995, he was one of two rural Arkansans in his class.

Now this rural, conservative wants to be a U.S. Senator from Arkansas.

For an in-depth feature look at Cotton and how at Harvard he discovered “political philosophy as a way of life,” go to this link.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID’S ‘TRAP’
POLITICO reports, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes Republicans have walked into his trap.”

As he’s tightened his grip on the Senate and protected vulnerable Democrats from casting politically tough votes, furious Republicans have made the mantra “fire Reid” a rallying cry and major fundraising push ahead of the midterm elections.

But in Reid’s mind, Republicans are training all their fire on a guy most voters barely even know.

“I’m meaningless,” Reid, a three-decade Hill veteran and the most powerful Democrat in Congress, told POLITICO Thursday. “People in red states don’t even know who I am.”

So what’s his trap?

Follow this link to find out.

HYPNOTIC KINETIC WALL OF CLOCKS
It’s called A Million Times, and Fast Company reports, “The hands of 288 analog clocks dance and twirl, animating themselves into a digital watch face.”

Some things are just meant to be seen in motion. That’s certainly the case with A Million Times, a whirring board of almost 300 analogue clocks that exist in such a beautiful harmony with one another that they can segue from a pattern of rhythmically undulating waves to a full-functional digital watchface. A static image doesn’t do it justice.

So who created this digital masterpiece and what controls it?

You’ll be amazed how it works, at this link.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE WAL-MART COMPLAINT
The world’s largest retailer gets lots of complaints, but this one to authorities in Mexico is a real doozy.

It allegedly happened in the city of Boca del Rio, and WalMex could be facing big fines if it is true.

Bloomberg has the story at this link.