Weak Nein

In Chinese:

阖闾

维基百科，自由的百科全书

阖闾（？—前496年），一作阖庐，姓姬名光。春秋时吴国第24任君主，前514年～前496年在位。吴王诸樊之子，夫差之父。阖闾重用孙武，伍子胥等人，成为春秋五霸之一。

前514年，公子光派专诸刺杀吳王僚，夺取吴国王位，改号“阖闾”。又使要离刺杀吳王僚之子庆忌，以绝后患。前506年，阖闾以孙武、伍子胥为将，联合唐、蔡二国攻楚，破楚國首都郢都（今湖北江陵北），伍子胥掘楚平王墓，鞭屍三百，楚國幾乎滅亡。前505年，越国趁吴军在楚，国内空虚，伐吴；秦国出兵救楚；阖闾弟夫概自立为王。阖闾退回吴国。前496年，阖闾攻越，战于槜李（今浙江嘉興西南），越軍採取偷襲戰術，阖闾中箭伤腳大姆指而卒，死前囑夫差勿忘殺父之仇。

In Japanese:

闔閭

出典: フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』

闔閭（こうりょ、？ - 紀元前496年）は中国春秋時代の呉の6代目王。諱は光。諸樊の子。名臣孫武、伍子胥などの助けを得て、呉を一大強国へと成長させ覇を唱えたが、越王句践に敗れ、子の夫差に復讐を誓わせて没した。春秋五覇の1人に数えられることがある。闔廬とも表記される。

略歴
光の父の諸樊は呉の初代王寿夢の長子であった。寿夢にはこれ以外に3人の子がおり、中でも末子の季札は賢人として名が高かった。父・寿夢もそれに期待して季札を王にしたいと願っていた。しかし季札は兄を差し置いて自分が王位に即くことに抵抗し、受けようとしなかった。そこでまず諸樊が王位を継ぎ、その後順に兄弟継承を続けて最後に季札に王位が回るようにした。しかし季札は第3子の余昧から王位を譲られようとした所で、これを拒否して逃亡してしまい、王位は結局、余昧の子である僚へと継承されることになった。
これに光は不満を抱いた。今まで兄弟の間で順番に王位を回してきたのだから季札が王になるのならともかく、季札が逃げ出した後は順番どおりに長子の子である自分が王位を継ぐべきではないかと。
その不満を隠しつつ僚に仕え、将軍として活躍していた。その折、楚より伍子胥が亡命してきて光の野望を察し、暗殺の実行犯に専諸を推薦した。専諸は僚の元へ魚料理を運び、魚の中に仕込んでいた匕首を持って僚を一突きにして殺し、自らもまた護衛に殺された。
光は即位して呉王・闔閭となり、伍子胥・孫武などを擁して超大国・楚と何度も対決し、紀元前506年には楚の首都・郢を陥落させる大戦果を挙げた。
しかし本国が越に攻め入られ、更に弟の夫概が王を名乗って呉を乗っ取ろうとしたため、郢より脱した楚王を追撃せずに慌てて本国へ戻りこれを平定した。
紀元前496年、10年前の恨みを晴らすために越へと攻め込む。しかし越の将軍・范蠡の奇策の前に敗れ、足の親指に矢傷を負い、これが元で死去した。末期の際、子の夫差に対して「勾践が父を殺したことを忘れるな」と遺言し、復讐を誓わせた。
寿夢・季札の逸話に関して、このような話は伯夷・叔斉や古公亶父・季歴など多くの類型が見られるが、これは兄弟相続・末子相続の風習を儒教的な美談に仕立て上げたものではないかと疑われる。

In times of trouble (such as Week 9 2007 NWE) I find myself turning to the Daoist articles on Chinese Wikipedia. It is easy to find, by looking up articles in English and then switching over to "zh". There is a Daoism "box" to use with lots of links. Useful articles include various lists of people, government agencies and concepts, with names like "The 5 Harsh Things", "Important Personalities of the Spring and Autumn Era" and "8 Immortals".

In this case, that of Week 9, I (we) find ourselves in a situation where "reet" people represented by Conan O'Brien and the Dallas 1920s guy; and "dependable" people represented by Elvis Costello and David Letterman, are now losing their religion as far as believing in the New England Patriots (organization) as an ideal, as a saving presence, as a paragon. Let's talk about Spygate and Running up the Score. ("Running up the score" has its own Wikipedia article, in case you didn't know.)

In unraveling this public relations event, one thread to follow involves commentary that seems to be somewhat disconnected from football itself. If I may explain, consider the Uneven Parallel Bars in women's gymnastics. One wonders: "How can they do that?" I went to a high school that won a lot of titles in this sport and I know, the answer is "It is easy to learn (if you love the sport)."

Contact sports are similar in that people wonder "How can anyone survive that tackle?" or "How can anyone be checked into the boards that violently and survive?" The answer is the same: "You learn how to do that, and you practice it, and you love the game."

More people are hurt performing ballet and gymnastics than in football or hockey. Or so I have read. It is possible to get hurt. You don't want to get hurt, one reason being that one would spend time standing around on the sidelines instead of playing.

Thesis:
It doesn't make sense to overidealize and paragonize football, as it's always just about football in the first place; maybe this is something John Madden would say. It feels good to try to understand one's personal universe in terms of football, to say "The New England Patriots are letting me down" doesn't make any football sense. The New England Patriots weren't trying to idolize themselves in the first place, and they are certainly not interested in making the fans feel bad now a days.

If people, teams, organizations, sports media people, can make some hay out of a good look, then that's just great. Let's all have a good time on Sunday.

Going to film school one learns a lot of everyday truths that play out on the national and international stage. It is different to be a film producer than it is to be a film actor. A producer knows something about the ill effects of producing something nice for people to enjoy. It's like when George turns Mr Steinbrenner on to the calzones, or like the drug arrakis from the science fiction movie Dune:

1. I need more of that.
2. I have separate unrelated problem(s) that I am assigning to you.
3. I don't expect this good feeling to ever change.

Believe me, the Pats organization is working in all common sense to continue
the surreal cleanliness,
the collegiate-type nature,
the refreshing coldness,
the "R.E.M. of the north" comfort food feeling,
the dynastic positivity,
the post-salary cap paritous utopian look,
the post-90s media look
the cleverness
the reasonableness

that we have.

But disillusionment?

There is no crying in baseball. There is no disillusionment in football.

Please don't lean to hard on the organization it would effect our performance on the field. It's true.

"""""""""""""""""""

Take a page from the playbook and just take it all too seriously.

And make sure to have a beer after work.

"""""""""""""""""""

All of which is easy to write after reflecting on the zh and ja articles copied above.