Personally, I am HUGE sports fan of both individual and team sports (collegiate or professional). I've always been interested in the business of sports and honestly, I have no problem with professional athletes being paid the millions of dollars that the contracts of today command. The level of natural ability and commitment it takes to reach this level is truly deserving of top dollar pay in this country. Not only that, but the owners, TV stations, and athletic companies are all making much larger fortunes of their own and these guys deserve their fair shares.
However!! I'm still amazed at the level of irresponsibility of today's pro athlete. I've never "walked in their shoes," but it is very difficult for me to feel compassion for a guy (Plaxico Burress) who feels the need to carry an unlicensed firearm into a packed night club in NY and gets two years in prison for shooting himself in the leg (actually for carrying the unlicensed firearm). I believe this one example speaks to a much larger problem in sports. The guys are not professionals. They bring their baggage with them into their new lifestyle, and it ends up costing them the chance at a life most of us only dream of. Is it not enough to make enough money to make you wealthy playing a sport?? Do you still feel it necessary to carry a gun when you're surrounded by bodyguards? Is it worth the risk of fighting dogs, smoking weed, drinking and driving? For God's sake, the NFL has a FREE program so players and coaches just have to make one call and someone will come pick them up and drive them home if they've been drinking. How many of us can say that?
But then again, maybe I'm being too hard on them. They are people. People inherantly make aggregious errors in judgment. I've done it. You've done it. We all have. But, for us the stakes are much lower. We can wreck our personal lives and be left with basically our own misery. For the pro athlete, the entire country is watching every move. So, we judge them. We get our feelings hurt; we say we would do different if we were in their position. But perhaps that's exactly what makes them so great at their job. Maybe the wreckless, thrill-seeker makes a PERFECT linebacker. Maybe it's that mentality to risk it all for the sake of visceral reaction that delivers the high performance on the field over and over again. Maybe the rest of us who type blogs, and do accounting, and only spectate do these things for a reason also. Our lives are much more calculated, much safer. We hide in our cubicles and take limited risks and rarely reach fame and glory.
Every time you hear the story of the sports star gone off-track, the league mandated canned apology is sure to follow. But why be sorry? Forcing contrition for actions hardly makes up for the years of encouragement to live that way that we all gave them. Hey athlete, be dangerous, be virile, be aggressive. But, make sure you don't tell anybody we said that.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Kids vs No Kids
Until recently, I've been of the opinion that new parents and generally people with kids are a little smug. Ok, parents who read this, please don't jump all the way down my throat just yet. It's just that a lot of times people act like you can't have fully experienced life without knowing the love from a child. While I realize that this is a definite possibly, I don't feel the need to be reminded of it time and time again. I feel like living in the South, there's a lot of pressure to get married and have kids at the earliest possible time. I totally believe in the family unit and someday want that to be my life. But, at this time I'm focused on school, my wife and I are traveling often, and it's a lot of selfish fun. Sure all my cousins have kids and even one of their kids has one; but I don't quite see how that translates to my mom's constant badgering and the looks of surprise that I've been married for 3 WHOLE YEARS and don't have children yet. Having kids is like some exclusive country club, that keeps out all the lowly childless so that the members can sit hiiiiiigh on their pedastal and look down at the non-members. Or at least something similar.
HOWEVER, yesterday my brother and his wife had the first baby in my immediately family yesterday and it was pretty amazing. My brother has lived kind of a scattered life with some issues along the way, but it's amazing to me how immediately changed he became when his wife got pregnant. Not to mention the exponential leap when he saw the baby for the first time. I was lucky enough to be there when the family got to visit with them the first time and I was blown away. I say all this to say that I think I get it, and I feel myself as a new uncle maybe getting....a little smug myself. When I do have kids, I'll probably be the smuggest jerk new parent on the block.
HOWEVER, yesterday my brother and his wife had the first baby in my immediately family yesterday and it was pretty amazing. My brother has lived kind of a scattered life with some issues along the way, but it's amazing to me how immediately changed he became when his wife got pregnant. Not to mention the exponential leap when he saw the baby for the first time. I was lucky enough to be there when the family got to visit with them the first time and I was blown away. I say all this to say that I think I get it, and I feel myself as a new uncle maybe getting....a little smug myself. When I do have kids, I'll probably be the smuggest jerk new parent on the block.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Trappings of the Bored Mind
I'm generally of the belief that every day people have thousands of totally random thoughts that go uncatalogued but are thoroughly interesting and noteworthy. I've made a habit in recent years of trying to notice some of the particularly interesting thoughts that run through my head and recount them from time to time. The only ones I can remember now actually are the more embarrassing thoughts and impulses, but I'm convinced everyone has these moments but I'm the only one willing to admit them...or at least that's what I have to tell myself so that I feel better.
One night my friends and I were eating dinner on the porch at Cantina Laredo. I recall the air was sticky and muggy and it was particularly busy that night so the restaurant was bustling. When our server brought the check and we got ready to pay, we were sitting at the table and I was fumbling my wallet in my hands. Sitting in front of me was the glass of ice water that had long before melted into just water. I distinctly remember an AHA! moment when I had the most brilliant idea...which because of its ridiculous nature, I immediately ruled out. However, I did not miss the opportunity to recall the urge to my friends at the table...imagine the looks on their faces when I described to them my desire to "dip my wallet in my glass of water."
I didn't realize the number 10 could be so tricky; but, it's shiftier than I would have originally thought. One morning while in the shower, I was generally spending time doing nothing except enjoying the hot water and steam and noticed that my shampoo bottle was advertising to me how wonderful it is. Right there on the bottle, it told me that I could have 10X (10 times) stronger hair. However the first several times I read this, I had the hardest time figuring out what the HECK "iox stronger hair" was. Luckily, I resisted the urge to ask my wife (the hair care enthusiast) about IOX...the unknown shampoo miracle that must have been some fortifying vitamin complex about which I had not yet been made aware.
Being employed by a small community bank has its advantages, but "mandatory volunteer" work is NOT one of them. We had worked for weeks leading up to the local daffodil festival called the Jonquil Jubilee and I kept reading about what the brochure called "Mini-organ concerts." After my shift at the festival, I decided to take the tour for myself and experience all the beauty the area has to offer (which is limited). The first stop on the tour was a very old church where these concerts were taking place. As I walked into the vestibule, it became clear to me that I'd made a crucial error in my mind. It was only then that I realized that the concerts were MINI, not the ORGANS....which were obviously full-sized. People at work still have a hard time believing that I thought this but why would you say "mini-organ concerts," as opposed to what they actually were, "organ mini-concerts?" Semantics, seshmantics...that's confusing!
No one would have ever known these instances, but they all are just too funny to keep to myself. A little self-sacrifice for the sake of humor is a very small price to pay. I really am ok with the very possible fact that most people have not had these experiences. I'll just chalk it up to experience and hope someone gets at least a small kick out of it like I have so many times.
One night my friends and I were eating dinner on the porch at Cantina Laredo. I recall the air was sticky and muggy and it was particularly busy that night so the restaurant was bustling. When our server brought the check and we got ready to pay, we were sitting at the table and I was fumbling my wallet in my hands. Sitting in front of me was the glass of ice water that had long before melted into just water. I distinctly remember an AHA! moment when I had the most brilliant idea...which because of its ridiculous nature, I immediately ruled out. However, I did not miss the opportunity to recall the urge to my friends at the table...imagine the looks on their faces when I described to them my desire to "dip my wallet in my glass of water."
I didn't realize the number 10 could be so tricky; but, it's shiftier than I would have originally thought. One morning while in the shower, I was generally spending time doing nothing except enjoying the hot water and steam and noticed that my shampoo bottle was advertising to me how wonderful it is. Right there on the bottle, it told me that I could have 10X (10 times) stronger hair. However the first several times I read this, I had the hardest time figuring out what the HECK "iox stronger hair" was. Luckily, I resisted the urge to ask my wife (the hair care enthusiast) about IOX...the unknown shampoo miracle that must have been some fortifying vitamin complex about which I had not yet been made aware.
Being employed by a small community bank has its advantages, but "mandatory volunteer" work is NOT one of them. We had worked for weeks leading up to the local daffodil festival called the Jonquil Jubilee and I kept reading about what the brochure called "Mini-organ concerts." After my shift at the festival, I decided to take the tour for myself and experience all the beauty the area has to offer (which is limited). The first stop on the tour was a very old church where these concerts were taking place. As I walked into the vestibule, it became clear to me that I'd made a crucial error in my mind. It was only then that I realized that the concerts were MINI, not the ORGANS....which were obviously full-sized. People at work still have a hard time believing that I thought this but why would you say "mini-organ concerts," as opposed to what they actually were, "organ mini-concerts?" Semantics, seshmantics...that's confusing!
No one would have ever known these instances, but they all are just too funny to keep to myself. A little self-sacrifice for the sake of humor is a very small price to pay. I really am ok with the very possible fact that most people have not had these experiences. I'll just chalk it up to experience and hope someone gets at least a small kick out of it like I have so many times.
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