Why Such High (or Low) Expectations?

I usually like to share only calculated outbursts. Not this one. I'm disgusted!

Watching Skip Bayless tear apart the Canadian Women's Hockey Team this morning made me want to chop off his head more than I usually do. Now I bet Skip Bayless is a pretty good guy. I honestly believe that his shtick is to have an in-your-face on-screen personality, foment argument, and be abrasive. It gets your blood boiling and makes for more intriguing argument between his counterpart, because let's face it, when have you ever seen a Skip Bayless show where it isn't a point/counter-point format. The guy is like the Paul Begala/Tucker Carlson (take your pick) of sports anti-journalism.

This "controversey" about the Canadian celebration makes me want to tear my hair out. I'm not sure if this "controversey" is limited to the American media, but it must stop. Why have we become so damn righteous that we expect people to be nonhuman. These girls are probably dentists, and paralegals, and bank tellers, and college students, and who knows, oil well roughnecks during any other week. This week they are playing a hockey game for a gold medal in a 'border war' with the US. They win the gold. And heaven forbid, they have a few cigars, a few beers, and some champagne. Good on yah!



Last time that I checked, that is pretty normal behavior. In city softball leagues across the nation, there is beer in the dug out, during the game even. Unless its an 8am game, most times that I finish a soccer game with the boys, we drink some brews afterward. And yes, those softball leaguers and soccer players are dentists, and lawyers, and bank tellers, and ski bums. There are kids around. While there are no television broadcasters or AP photographers, I think we still act as role models in these situations. And most of the time, I think we do a pretty good job of that.

I would go so far as to say that a beer after a soccer game, or a gold medal hockey game for Christ's sake, is proper behavior. If you just went from office cubicle monkey to gold medal winner and didn't want to have beer with the rest of the we-just-went-from-average-to-something-and-tomorrow-we'll-be-average-again teammates, I would think you were f'ing insane.

Please to the "Tabloid, blue-light law, moralists", stop expecting so much of our 'role-models'. LET THEM BE HUMAN BEINGS!! That is more healthy than the alternative that you seem to advocate in stirring up controversy to sell papers and get website clicks. If you keep this up, the only achievement that we will reach is to become robots.

Never Seen That Side of You

It's good to see people in different lights, in varied settings, inside and outside 'their' element.

I got off the indoor soccer court tonight and what I would call an acquaintance said to me, "I've never seen that side of you." I'm not quite sure what that means. Did you think that I was a nice guy? a bad guy? a clumsy guy? a reserved guy? you didn't know I was competitive? that I desire precision? I don't want to read too much into it; it was probably nothing, just a small comment. We make them all the time, to our friends, parents, coworkers. I also know that when a comment is made, whether light-hearted or meant to cut deep, when it is a characterization of personality, I know that I take a minute or two or maybe more to think about what the comment means. I've thought before about the fact that those around me may know me better than I know myself. They see who I am. They see what pitfalls trap me, what things I say that are ridiculous, nerdy, wierd, silly, smart, insightful, blah, blah, blah. I just rattle around in my own head, making excuses for what I'm not doing, or why I'm not doing what. I post as my Facebook profile picture some strange photo of some celebrity that maybe has some resemblance to me because I barely even know what I really look like. I'm fat. I'm ugly. I'm handsome. I'm better looking with shorter hair. Really? I don't even have to look at myself most of the time.

Back to the comment after the soccer match:
I think it is great to see others in different settings. If you really care about getting to know or knowing the friend, or lover, or family member - go see them do something that you don't usually see. If you usually drink with that person, go build a trail with them. If you usually see that person in a business setting, go coach soccer together. If you ski together, talk politics every once in a while. Don't be surprised if you learn something about the person.

Maybe it's cool to make a comment like "I've never seen that side of you." Sure you are acknowledging the person, but you might also put them off. Better than stating your surprise, just take note. Put it in the back of your mind and realize you just got to know someone more fully - for better or for worse!

A Novel Idea

About 6 months ago, four lost kids made a mistake to try to take on Las Vegas.

That silly venture hatched an ambitious life plan to try to take on the American behemoth: for the remainder of life - visit a place where people want to go in the summer, and go see a place where no one wants to go in winter. There were no ground rules for the summer destination. There were rules for the winter location:
- No one could have been there before
- It had to be a second or third tier city
- It had to have a basketball team
- Preferably the weather had to be terrible

The Vegas Four grew back to the more righteous Group of Eight on an epic email chain that stretches into the hundreds of mailings and is still appropriately titled "Re: Vegas". It survives to this day as a virile and pungent reminder of youthful exuberance and wasteful indiscretion. What it also represents is a true spirit of wonder and adventure. Amid the frequent references to boobs and booze, our group of domestic explorers makes me proud. While we seek to indulge and enjoy, we also seek to understand this life.

In about three weeks, we will land in Detroit, Michigan. We will take in a Piston's game, see some music, indulge in libation, escape to Canada, and most importantly try to find out what the hell is going on in Detroit. I mean who wants to go to Detroit?!!? RIGHT?? Aren't we creative? Aren't we trail blazers?

Well.....

Maybe it's not such a refreshing idea...

From some research, it seems that Detroit has begun to attract those with our similar intentions. Urban spelunkers have been visiting abandoned warehouses for years, chronicling the death(or at least serious illness) that Detroit is experiencing and also being silly.



Journalists and photographers have been taking advantage of the scenes created by the degradation of a city. And Time Inc has gone a step further. About the same time we were hatching our plans, Time bought a house and "embedded" journalists in southeast Detroit. They have an extensive blog touching on all things Detroit, recognizing the historic and "American" value of the once great manufacturing center.

So while we may not be the tip of the arrow, at most, we can be part of Detroit's reemergence. And at least, we will leave some of our money and a good bit of our integrity.