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In a recent internet dust-up I had with some neanderthals regarding the behavior of some of our boys in Afghanistan my critique was finally met with the comment: "until you've been shot at you have no right to say anything." To which I say - bullshit. I've been told I can't say things about black people because I've never been black. I've been told I can't criticize moves baseball teams make because I've never played the game at the professional level. If you say something negative about Israel's policies you're suddenly an anti-Semite (even if Palestinians are also Semites!). But I don't see where it says, in the First Amendment, where there are all these conditions about the voicing of opinions. And if that kind of personal participation is a prerequisite to opinion, then no one can say anything against what I think unless they've been born in 1953 and saw and thought everything I saw and thought up to this time. Because unless they've seen things from my perspective for all this time they should just STFU or something. That's ridiculous. And I continue to say - even though I now make it a point to pointedly ridicule our over-macho'd sunshine patriots and their chicken hawk fandom - that the American flag itself should be enough of a symbol to strike fear into the hearts of the unjust. But I doubt that's what it means anymore in the world anyway. Because we're a bunch of vengeful, malicious, meddlesome cavemen now and have no ownership of justice or truth by any stretch of the imagination. Ugga bugga anythehellway.
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I still can't fathom how grown men can slobber and fawn over professional athlete heroes. We have a TV in our break room at work and - since we work overnight - there is often ESPN or such similar programming on at all times. And, of course, athlete interviews are the ultimate absurdity...
"We just need to just go out there and take care of business."
"I want to just contribute for the good of the team."
"If we play like we're capable of..."
"Go out there..."
"One day at a time."
"Out there."
And then there's these guys who want desperately to believe in some kind of ultimate goodness. Sitting around the break room stuffing our faces with sandwiches and chili and all, some guys seem to always be the ones saying "oh he's a good guy." or "He does a lot of charity work you know." Or "he's a real down to Earth guy." Really... who cares what these guys do, and how "good" they are? For God's sake they're millionaires who don't really give two shits about us watching them when all is said and done. The whole worship-thing is just as bad as the opposite. "I don't watch basketball because they all wear chains and have their baseball caps on sideways." Seriously? They all do? Oh yeah? Wow.
I purposely avoid athlete interviews because they are useless in the first place. And I seriously don't care about their personal lives or what they do in their spare time or who their girlfriend is nowadays. The same goes for the big game, pre-game hype sessions. Hell I even avoid the national anthem. The whole hand-over-heart crap and suddenly the word "brave" has 47 syllables is a bunch of tripe.
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But here's something I don't reject at all...
Yep. There's Charlize again dammit. She just can't stay away it seems.Also? I turned off the capcha codes on the comments. Or at least I think I have. What a stupid ass idea THAT was. Who came up with that? I can't even read the friggin things.
5 comments:
Once you've seen Crash Davis explain athlete interviews to Nuke LaLoosh, you realize you never need to watch another one again. Even Nuke thought they were meaningless. And he may have had a million-dollar arm, but he also had a five-cent head.
Derek Jeter actually has it down to an art or a science or something. He says nothing, but he does it in a way that lets everyone know that they are in on the joke. He never brings up Jesus or his personal life either. And he generally includes a good-natured dig on either the interviewer, himself or one of his teammates. He's about the only athlete I can stand being interviewed on the field.
Then there's Alex Rodriguez...
Oh, hai Charlize!
Pajamas are one of my favorite gifts ALWAYS. good job, RW!
I could care less about any athlete and their opinions on most anything. That goes for anyone famous, minus politicians. And even then, I don't care what their opinions are on a lot of things that don't directly affect me. BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT ME.
The captchas are out of frigging hand! The new ones really do suck, too - I can barely read them, too! They're awful.
Charlize is bustin' out in that pic.
:)
Earl - Yep. I just can't believe the guys who sit there, rapt, and hang on every word.
sybil - They were rose-colored silk pajamas. Next I'm getting her white silk pajamas.
avitable - Oh my God I'm sure Charlize is absolutely devastated to hear that.
je ne regrette rien.
et je vous aime.
White silk - definitely!
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