So…College Basketball is upon us yet again. So far, there have been some great games. OSU made it interesting against UNC for the first half, but then UNC decided they should start playing defense and predictably crushed the buckeyes. Can’t wait for UNC v. Duke (two times this season, including the last game of the regular season). I root for Duke, even though UCONN is my team. Speaking of Duke, how great was it that they destroyed a completely over-ranked Wisconsin on primetime ESPN, from Cameron Court. The only thing I’ll find more amusing is when they face Michigan on 12/8, again at home. Though they face Clemson shortly after that.
UCONN has a strong team this year, but the starting 5 – all Sophomores – will probably graduate after this year into the NBA. Calhoun is a victim of his own success, as UCONN has the most active NBA players of any NCAA basketball program in the country. They’ll make the tournament this year, which they failed to do last year (much to my dismay), but they won’t reach the Elite 8.
Isaiah is still employed for some reason. Does Dolan even attend Knicks’ games anymore. Did anyone else catch Stephon Marbury’s recent quote:
"Don't get mad at me, because I'm telling you what's real. One plus one is two, all day long, and it's never gonna change. And that's factorial." Stephon Marbury in New York magazine
And people claim he’s not a capable scorer?.
The Rangers have returned to their old ways of playing great for about a week, and then believing they have the Stanley Cup in their pocket. At least fans go to the Garden for their games and cheer things other than “Fire Isaiah”.
I rather enjoy the TV writers being on strike – nobody seems to notice or care. In fact, if you watch Leno or Letterman at night, you’ll see episodes from the early 90s on. It becomes readily apparent just how far the quality of TV has slipped. Of course the fact that they are still showing Seinfeld episodes also indicates this trend.
Speaking of writers, I found this great article on the upcoming Mayweather v. Hatton fight, which is spot on:
http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/7503398
Ricky Hatton can save boxing. The only thing he has to do is beat the greatest fighter that ever lived, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to his trainer, uncle and resident psychopath, Roger Mayweather, is "more skilled than Ali."
Yeah, sure, maybe these days. There is plenty of crazy talk passing for press clippings as the fight between the 147-pound undefeateds draws near. The more I watch the Mayweather camp in action, the more I think I am watching an episode of "The Surreal Life." Seriously, what planet are these men on?
"Pretty Boy" spends most of the HBO documentary "24/7" showing the camera crew how much cash he has on him. He talks about how Ricky Hatton "should be grateful for the opportunity" to fight his highness.
I'm sure Hatton is indeed grateful, but not nearly as grateful as the rest of us will be when he knocks Floyd on his pretty ass. This will be no easy feat, of course. Floyd is, after all, pound-for-pound one of the true greats in boxing history.
Just ask him.
Better yet, ask Uncle Roger, who looks and acts like an actual homeless person. After watching Roger Mayweather "train" Floyd, one starts to realize that Floyd Mayweather Jr. might be the world's best fighter in spite of his trainers and handlers
What other boxing camp would let a six-time world champion fight and train when he feels like it? Can you imagine Emanuel Stewart, Freddie Roach or Teddy Atlas answering their cell phones at 2 a.m. because the champ wants to go for a run at 24-Hour Fitness?
Come to think of it, why is a six-time world champ training at 24-Hour Fitness? That's where my friends and I train! Take him to the batcave or a secret hideout or something. I shouldn't be on an elliptical machine next to a man that is "more skilled than Ali." I shouldn't be doing sit-ups next to a guy with $60 grand in his pocket.
No wonder Floyd Mayweather has such rock-hard abs. It must be a bitch doing crunches with the national debt in your fanny pack. Why does the baddest man on the planet have a fanny pack?
Ricky "Hitman" Hatton has been quietly going about his business of training for the biggest fight of his life. Floyd Mayweather is training like he is getting ready for his bachelor party with his buddies. Mayweather says that Hatton has fought "nobodies."
Uh, Floyd, do you mean "nobodies" like Luis Collazo, Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo? I wouldn't want to run into any of these "nobodies" in an alley. Floyd Mayweather Jr., by contrast, has beaten such luminaries as DeMarcus Corley and Henry Bruseles, and, of course, Oscar De La Hoya. Let me remind the casual fight fan that Oscar De La Hoya, a great guy and a great fighter, never beat another great fighter. All of the Golden Boy's megafights turned out to be losses. Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather all used Oscar as a punching bag filled with cash. De La Hoya happens to be promoting this fight through Golden Boy Promotions. So, in theory, if he beat Floyd, this fight never would have happened.
Back to "Team" Mayweather. Floyd's father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., is no longer in little Floyd's life. That is too bad for boxing fans. It would be nice to add his gummy grin and Predator-like hair into the mix of Floyd's posse.
I would love to overhear a conversation between Floyd Sr. and Roger Mayweather. If you closed your eyes you would think you were in line at a soup kitchen. Watch "24/7" if you think I am exaggerating or being too critical. Better yet, log on to Hatton's Web site and read the transcript from the trainer's conference call earlier this month. After Hatton's trainers explain Ricky's sluggish performance in one of his fights due to poor diet and high-fat foods after weigh in, Roger Mayweather interrupts by screaming into the phone, "What the (expletive) cereal got to do with winning fights?"
He continues by stating a salient point.
"Skills win fights. That's the only thing that do win fights, skill."
Wow. This guy actually makes me miss Don King. King may be a crook, but at least he can form a sentence, grammar and all.
I feel sorry for Floyd Mayweather Jr. (sort of). He seems to really be underestimating Hatton. He has called him a "high-profile club fighter." He has told us over and over again that Ricky Hatton is not in his league.
Hatton's response? "Who cares what he says?"
I agree. After watching "24/7" prior to Floyd's fight with De La Hoya, I was sure that "Pretty Boy" was going to annihilate Oscar.
He didn't.
The Mayweather-De La Hoya fight was a dud for everyone except the accountants. But the Mayweather camp keeps yelling and hollering. There's nothing sadder than a hype machine for a fighter that needs no hype.
I hope Ricky Hatton knocks out Floyd Mayweather. Then I hope he doesn't give him a rematch. I wish I could see Floyd, crumbled on the canvas rolling around looking for his money. Then I would love to see Tommy Como from Raging Bull lean to the guy next to him and say, "He ain't pretty no more."
Ricky Hatton: best of lucky,
jay mohr
Friday, November 30, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Parody
You hear that word tossed around a lot these days in sports media. It’s predominantly used to describe the sad and uninspiring state of the NFL. The general concept is all the teams are so similar in player rosters and their game plans, that it has become increasingly difficult for teams to stand out and have 10 or more wins a seasons. For example, look at this year, Indy has yet to win 10 games, and only Dallas, New England and Greenbay have reached that number. The rest of the league is either hovering around 7-4, 6-5, 5-6 or is putting out seasons like the Jets or Dolphins. This is of course in sharp contrast to the chaos unfolding in the college football world, where dynasties were toppled (USC and Michigan) and shoe-ins for the national title bowl were upended at the very end (LSU and Kansas). Does Parody really exist though?
Look at College football the last few years. Everyone picked OSU and Florida to meet, and they eventually did. Last year the NFL was at least more competitive than now, with teams like San Diego and the Eagles making it interesting. What’s changed in the NFL? For one, the playbooks for each coach are too similar. Too many teams are attempting to run modified West Coast offenses, similar to the scheme the Patriots employ, but these teams don’t have the players to execute the plays correctly. Case and Point, look at all of the aging veteran QBs hanging around – Vinny T, Jeff Garcia, Steve McNair, Kurt Wanrer – because the current crop of young QBs doesn’t have it. Look at Eli Manning’s performance this weekend, of the way Carson Palmer and Ryan Phillips have suffered this year, not to mention Grossman and Griese. Until head coaches become bolder in their play calling (like Green Bay has this year), and they stop coddling young QBs, the NFL will continue along the same path. So Parody at the coaching level, and among the young QB’s – in terms of their inability – does exist.
Oh yeah, A-Rod’s contract is now complete. Congratulations, he came crawling back once he realized 1.) he would be as hated as Barry Bonds if he went anywhere else and played for a team that would be unable to field any other quality players behind him, and 2.) no team would pay him what the Yankees were paying before HE decided to opt out during the World Series. Make no mistakes, it was A-Rod behind the announcement of that decision during the 7th inning of the World Series, not Boras. I know I wrote a long discourse on this in my previous blog, but this new idea that A-Rod is coming back because he “cares” about his legacy is completely ridiculous. This is all about money, and managing a miscalculation by his agent. All they needed to do for their desired bidding war, was to sit down with the Yankees (which they didn’t do) and then to go to the press. But once the Yankees stated they would not negotiate, all potential suitors lost the incentive to pay A-Rod what he wanted. Thus, his return to the Yankees. Has anyone else also noticed he has yet to have a productive post season?
On a completely unrelated note, I recently became obsessed with cleaning my apartment. So much so that I devote at least 30 minutes a night to the task, though right before I go out on a Friday or Saturday, I usually spend more than an hour. I use bleach to clean the surfaces in my kitchen and bathroom, and the apartment is so clean that even my parents (who pay cleaning people) commented that it was bordering on ridiculous. Good, but to be honest, I keep it clean for other reasons – mainly for entertaining people on the weekends and to keep myself occupied and not resorting to making cocktails and playing PS 3 or watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes during the week. However, I also have a habit of chewing hangnails on my thumbs. Over the last week, as I was repeatedly using bleach to clean, I noticed that skin around my thumbs was literally corroding off, thanks to my chewing them and exposing them to bleach. I didn’t really notice until my assistant at work actually said “gross,” which prompted me to assign her some meaningless spreadsheet that I didn’t need completed. But later I looked at them, and realized that’s not exactly something most girls would find appealing. Suffice to say, I invested in rubber gloves.
Look at College football the last few years. Everyone picked OSU and Florida to meet, and they eventually did. Last year the NFL was at least more competitive than now, with teams like San Diego and the Eagles making it interesting. What’s changed in the NFL? For one, the playbooks for each coach are too similar. Too many teams are attempting to run modified West Coast offenses, similar to the scheme the Patriots employ, but these teams don’t have the players to execute the plays correctly. Case and Point, look at all of the aging veteran QBs hanging around – Vinny T, Jeff Garcia, Steve McNair, Kurt Wanrer – because the current crop of young QBs doesn’t have it. Look at Eli Manning’s performance this weekend, of the way Carson Palmer and Ryan Phillips have suffered this year, not to mention Grossman and Griese. Until head coaches become bolder in their play calling (like Green Bay has this year), and they stop coddling young QBs, the NFL will continue along the same path. So Parody at the coaching level, and among the young QB’s – in terms of their inability – does exist.
Oh yeah, A-Rod’s contract is now complete. Congratulations, he came crawling back once he realized 1.) he would be as hated as Barry Bonds if he went anywhere else and played for a team that would be unable to field any other quality players behind him, and 2.) no team would pay him what the Yankees were paying before HE decided to opt out during the World Series. Make no mistakes, it was A-Rod behind the announcement of that decision during the 7th inning of the World Series, not Boras. I know I wrote a long discourse on this in my previous blog, but this new idea that A-Rod is coming back because he “cares” about his legacy is completely ridiculous. This is all about money, and managing a miscalculation by his agent. All they needed to do for their desired bidding war, was to sit down with the Yankees (which they didn’t do) and then to go to the press. But once the Yankees stated they would not negotiate, all potential suitors lost the incentive to pay A-Rod what he wanted. Thus, his return to the Yankees. Has anyone else also noticed he has yet to have a productive post season?
On a completely unrelated note, I recently became obsessed with cleaning my apartment. So much so that I devote at least 30 minutes a night to the task, though right before I go out on a Friday or Saturday, I usually spend more than an hour. I use bleach to clean the surfaces in my kitchen and bathroom, and the apartment is so clean that even my parents (who pay cleaning people) commented that it was bordering on ridiculous. Good, but to be honest, I keep it clean for other reasons – mainly for entertaining people on the weekends and to keep myself occupied and not resorting to making cocktails and playing PS 3 or watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes during the week. However, I also have a habit of chewing hangnails on my thumbs. Over the last week, as I was repeatedly using bleach to clean, I noticed that skin around my thumbs was literally corroding off, thanks to my chewing them and exposing them to bleach. I didn’t really notice until my assistant at work actually said “gross,” which prompted me to assign her some meaningless spreadsheet that I didn’t need completed. But later I looked at them, and realized that’s not exactly something most girls would find appealing. Suffice to say, I invested in rubber gloves.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Where To Begin
Let's see...Soccer, a sport near and dear to me. I play it quite a bit, and even found two leagues in New York to play outdoors in the winter in (I am pretty solid when it comes to playing). I'll remember to wear my Goretex. I love nothing more thant watching English Premier Soccer (along with South American and Italian soccer) around Noon, in a crowded Euro-crowd bar in the city. That being said, the qualifying round for Euro Cup 2008 is complete, and England failed to make it.
England? England!!! How could this happen, given their ridiculous payroll? Well for one, they choked against Russia last month - a game that I watched in Nevada Smiths. They were sluggish in Midfield, and they didn't control possession. Russian players, and their coach, then went on the boast to the media for weeks about how the England "playboy" team was lazy and didn't deserve to make the finals. This was followed by Russia inexplicably losing to Israel in Tel Aviv. Oops. All Russia had to do was beat the soccer powerhouse Israel (NOT), and they were in and Russia was out. Instead, England was given a second chance, where all they had to do was tie Croatia, and they advanced.
Now, they were playing croatia the day before Thanksgiving, and I got out of work to watch the second half. They were inexplicably down 2-0 at the half. David Beckham came on and set up both goals, but England's rookie goalkeeper, who the manager, Steve McClaren chose over the vetran starter, couldn't prevent Croatia's go-ahead goal. Needless to say, he was fired in less than 24 hours after the match ended.
The real reason why England, the birthplace of the game, failed to advance? They had the wrong players on the pitch, and all of the players they had available were exhausted. The first half of the premier league is over, and the Champions Cup and FA Cup are well along. Some players have played fifty 90-minute games now. You could see how slow they were moving. And don't forget, Rooney, Carrick, Terry, and Owen were all hurt, thanks to overuse along the way in the permiership. Still, not advancing, when given that second chance against Croatia, was completely unacceptable.
Keeping with Soccer, Manchester United inexplicably lost to Bolton on Saturday. Ouch. Perhaps that's because they only had one forward to play, instead of their normal two. Apparently Tevez was too tired from his two international games for Argentina, despite the fact he only played 23 minutes in the second game before receiving a red card for kicking a Columbian in the head. Oh well.
Too bad College Football is wrapping up, what with the NFL consisting of only four good teams (Indy, New England, Green Bay and Dallas) and a slew of mediocre and awful teams. Maybe they should adopt the relegation concept of Soccer, where the two worst teams are dropped. So Miami and the Jets would be gone. On second thought...
Apparently LSU lost to Arkansas in Quadrupple overtime. Too bad the game was played on a Friday at 3, when I was at work. I guess Les Miles was thinking about Michigan already, though I heard some Michigan boosters don't think he has the Michigan style. Does the Michigan style consist of loosing to OSU and blowing Rose Bowls? And of course there was Appalachian State too.
At least College Basketball is starting soon. Thank God, given that things are pretty baron in New York right now. I heard the Knicks still reside in MSG, which is too bad. Can someone explain to me why Isiah Thomas is still employed, given their record and his off court leisure activities. The Rangers might be worth watching, given they are in first place, but does anyone care about the NHL? (I love hockey, but admit the league has overexpanded - Columbus has a freaking team now).
Is anyone else alarmed the Yankees have built the exact same team as last year, which, by the way, again failed to advance beyond the first round. And what's more, the Red Sox are pursuing Santana. Great, I need to start drinking again.
England? England!!! How could this happen, given their ridiculous payroll? Well for one, they choked against Russia last month - a game that I watched in Nevada Smiths. They were sluggish in Midfield, and they didn't control possession. Russian players, and their coach, then went on the boast to the media for weeks about how the England "playboy" team was lazy and didn't deserve to make the finals. This was followed by Russia inexplicably losing to Israel in Tel Aviv. Oops. All Russia had to do was beat the soccer powerhouse Israel (NOT), and they were in and Russia was out. Instead, England was given a second chance, where all they had to do was tie Croatia, and they advanced.
Now, they were playing croatia the day before Thanksgiving, and I got out of work to watch the second half. They were inexplicably down 2-0 at the half. David Beckham came on and set up both goals, but England's rookie goalkeeper, who the manager, Steve McClaren chose over the vetran starter, couldn't prevent Croatia's go-ahead goal. Needless to say, he was fired in less than 24 hours after the match ended.
The real reason why England, the birthplace of the game, failed to advance? They had the wrong players on the pitch, and all of the players they had available were exhausted. The first half of the premier league is over, and the Champions Cup and FA Cup are well along. Some players have played fifty 90-minute games now. You could see how slow they were moving. And don't forget, Rooney, Carrick, Terry, and Owen were all hurt, thanks to overuse along the way in the permiership. Still, not advancing, when given that second chance against Croatia, was completely unacceptable.
Keeping with Soccer, Manchester United inexplicably lost to Bolton on Saturday. Ouch. Perhaps that's because they only had one forward to play, instead of their normal two. Apparently Tevez was too tired from his two international games for Argentina, despite the fact he only played 23 minutes in the second game before receiving a red card for kicking a Columbian in the head. Oh well.
Too bad College Football is wrapping up, what with the NFL consisting of only four good teams (Indy, New England, Green Bay and Dallas) and a slew of mediocre and awful teams. Maybe they should adopt the relegation concept of Soccer, where the two worst teams are dropped. So Miami and the Jets would be gone. On second thought...
Apparently LSU lost to Arkansas in Quadrupple overtime. Too bad the game was played on a Friday at 3, when I was at work. I guess Les Miles was thinking about Michigan already, though I heard some Michigan boosters don't think he has the Michigan style. Does the Michigan style consist of loosing to OSU and blowing Rose Bowls? And of course there was Appalachian State too.
At least College Basketball is starting soon. Thank God, given that things are pretty baron in New York right now. I heard the Knicks still reside in MSG, which is too bad. Can someone explain to me why Isiah Thomas is still employed, given their record and his off court leisure activities. The Rangers might be worth watching, given they are in first place, but does anyone care about the NHL? (I love hockey, but admit the league has overexpanded - Columbus has a freaking team now).
Is anyone else alarmed the Yankees have built the exact same team as last year, which, by the way, again failed to advance beyond the first round. And what's more, the Red Sox are pursuing Santana. Great, I need to start drinking again.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Vuelva a Algo
So it is that I decided to start fresh with this whole blog concept. However, before I detail what I will be covering here, I owe an explanation or two.
I had a pretty well established blog previously, but had to take it down for two reasons. First, my best friend, who was also an ex-girlfriend, decided we could never ever talk again or be friends – despite a whole lot of promises, and a past as friends that was pretty profound. And when I became understandably upset, though never in person, her response actions were so diabolical and calculating, so incredibly treacherous, that they killed any feelings I ever had for her as a friend. The whole thing is so maddening, so utterly indescribable, I honestly don’t have the words to write about it; I don't even have the words to think about it (at least in detail). "Disgust" is probably the one description I would choose, but again, I simply do not have any words. All the posts where I recounted various dealings with her were rendered meaningless, and I simply wanted them erased for good. And that’s all I care to say about any of this ever again.
However, as I said, there are two reasons. As I was considering deleting my blog, I begin to notice something. The majority of my postings fit in with two phenomena I have noticed recently about society in general. First, I saw how I was justifying almost anything under the sun as being not only acceptable, but as something I’m entitled to. You can see this is everywhere in society, people justifying being an asshole or completely selfish. For instance, when I was out at a bar with my friend DK (all names will remain anonymous)the night before Thanksgiving, at a crowded lounge on the Lower East Side, we asked a group twenty-something year old Europeans to move so we could get by and sit down in a booth, next to a few girls we were hoping to talk to. Their response? "Make us." Now, my friend and I were polite and courteous, and that’s the response they thought to give us. As I tried to move by, the guy pushed me back on my shoulder and was smiling as he asked, "What?" Nothing came of it, and a few minutes later we eventually made my way to the desired booth. However, this person and his friends felt they were entitled to give that response, and they were so completely arrogant in how they went about it. It didn't matter I was a head taller, and that I had on nicer, more expensive clothing; their hipster appearance, complete with tribal tattoos and pre-pubescent facial hair (I'm being sarcastic, but accurate) supposedly made them cool enough to act like that - far cooler than me.
There were shades of that exact attitude throughout my old blog: instances where I was sounding like a complete asshole, and that I was entitled to be that way because I was better than everyone else. I didn’t intend for my writings to turn into that, but they did. You see this everywhere in society, especially on peoples’ blogs, but also in mainstream media. Talk show hosts being completely out of line, yet justifying it through ridiculous arguments about what is “decent,” and what society “accepts.” All the while, people are out there justifying buying $300,000 cars or multi-million dollar apartments using inheritance to do so. People are justifying having no money, because they spent it all on indulgences, but insisting they are quality people. The flip side of course is for one to say I have no right to judge people, that I’m being self-righteous. Yet that’s just someone justifying their own self-righteousness at the expense of someone else doing the same thing. I could go on forever, but the sad part is I had multiple forms of this justifying-asshole-behavior-and-thinking spread around my blog. It’s not surprising, given how prevalent it is in society.
Coupled with this phenomenon is the idea of Karma: what goes around comes around. This is everywhere in society too, and it’s so people can feel more secure with the first phenomenon I described. Its so people can live with the idea that people who act in a completely selfish and ridiculous manner, will end up somehow paying for their actions. However, this is not true, it's just not the way the world works.
On a broad level, did Holocaust victims or Baghdad residents get what they deserved? No, and the same can be said for a lot of tragedies in the world. But then, why do criminals and cheats always seem to get caught? Because most people are not smart enough to get away with it. But look closer: Mexico’s most infamous Drug Baron, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, amassed a $28 billion fortune flooding the US with drugs, and was never once arrested in the US or Mexico. He died under mysterious circumstances during a plastic surgery procedure, and it’s widely rumored his corpse was not his. He probably got away with it and is still alive, and if he died, he definitely got away with it (just Wikipedia his name). And for every person caught in a Wall Street insider-trading scam, ten are never caught – just look at the option activity of a stock for a company three days before a merger is announced – millions of questionable trades, right?
Simply put, this idea appears true, but its not. I was using it to justify things I saw as unfair in the world – that people who cheat or lie will simply “get what they deserve." Most of the time they do, but that’s because they are stupid, and they don’t think enough before they act. The truly smart usually can do whatever they want, and never suffer repercussions.
I was espousing both ideas in my blog, in connection with nearly everything I discussed. I was shocked, but realized I had not been careful enough in my writings to weed these traits out. Obviously you can’t write anything that is completely unbiased or objective, especially on a blog, but you can write pieces that are void of these two prevailing traits. Also, my writings were too concerned with my personal life, which I allowed to happen; despite saying I didn’t want that to happen.
So, after this opening post, the vast majority of my blog will be concerned with Sports (with which I’m hopelessly obsessed about), media-coverage of news, and random, hilarious events that befall me. Hopefully it’s entertaining to those that stumble across whatever I write.
I had a pretty well established blog previously, but had to take it down for two reasons. First, my best friend, who was also an ex-girlfriend, decided we could never ever talk again or be friends – despite a whole lot of promises, and a past as friends that was pretty profound. And when I became understandably upset, though never in person, her response actions were so diabolical and calculating, so incredibly treacherous, that they killed any feelings I ever had for her as a friend. The whole thing is so maddening, so utterly indescribable, I honestly don’t have the words to write about it; I don't even have the words to think about it (at least in detail). "Disgust" is probably the one description I would choose, but again, I simply do not have any words. All the posts where I recounted various dealings with her were rendered meaningless, and I simply wanted them erased for good. And that’s all I care to say about any of this ever again.
However, as I said, there are two reasons. As I was considering deleting my blog, I begin to notice something. The majority of my postings fit in with two phenomena I have noticed recently about society in general. First, I saw how I was justifying almost anything under the sun as being not only acceptable, but as something I’m entitled to. You can see this is everywhere in society, people justifying being an asshole or completely selfish. For instance, when I was out at a bar with my friend DK (all names will remain anonymous)the night before Thanksgiving, at a crowded lounge on the Lower East Side, we asked a group twenty-something year old Europeans to move so we could get by and sit down in a booth, next to a few girls we were hoping to talk to. Their response? "Make us." Now, my friend and I were polite and courteous, and that’s the response they thought to give us. As I tried to move by, the guy pushed me back on my shoulder and was smiling as he asked, "What?" Nothing came of it, and a few minutes later we eventually made my way to the desired booth. However, this person and his friends felt they were entitled to give that response, and they were so completely arrogant in how they went about it. It didn't matter I was a head taller, and that I had on nicer, more expensive clothing; their hipster appearance, complete with tribal tattoos and pre-pubescent facial hair (I'm being sarcastic, but accurate) supposedly made them cool enough to act like that - far cooler than me.
There were shades of that exact attitude throughout my old blog: instances where I was sounding like a complete asshole, and that I was entitled to be that way because I was better than everyone else. I didn’t intend for my writings to turn into that, but they did. You see this everywhere in society, especially on peoples’ blogs, but also in mainstream media. Talk show hosts being completely out of line, yet justifying it through ridiculous arguments about what is “decent,” and what society “accepts.” All the while, people are out there justifying buying $300,000 cars or multi-million dollar apartments using inheritance to do so. People are justifying having no money, because they spent it all on indulgences, but insisting they are quality people. The flip side of course is for one to say I have no right to judge people, that I’m being self-righteous. Yet that’s just someone justifying their own self-righteousness at the expense of someone else doing the same thing. I could go on forever, but the sad part is I had multiple forms of this justifying-asshole-behavior-and-thinking spread around my blog. It’s not surprising, given how prevalent it is in society.
Coupled with this phenomenon is the idea of Karma: what goes around comes around. This is everywhere in society too, and it’s so people can feel more secure with the first phenomenon I described. Its so people can live with the idea that people who act in a completely selfish and ridiculous manner, will end up somehow paying for their actions. However, this is not true, it's just not the way the world works.
On a broad level, did Holocaust victims or Baghdad residents get what they deserved? No, and the same can be said for a lot of tragedies in the world. But then, why do criminals and cheats always seem to get caught? Because most people are not smart enough to get away with it. But look closer: Mexico’s most infamous Drug Baron, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, amassed a $28 billion fortune flooding the US with drugs, and was never once arrested in the US or Mexico. He died under mysterious circumstances during a plastic surgery procedure, and it’s widely rumored his corpse was not his. He probably got away with it and is still alive, and if he died, he definitely got away with it (just Wikipedia his name). And for every person caught in a Wall Street insider-trading scam, ten are never caught – just look at the option activity of a stock for a company three days before a merger is announced – millions of questionable trades, right?
Simply put, this idea appears true, but its not. I was using it to justify things I saw as unfair in the world – that people who cheat or lie will simply “get what they deserve." Most of the time they do, but that’s because they are stupid, and they don’t think enough before they act. The truly smart usually can do whatever they want, and never suffer repercussions.
I was espousing both ideas in my blog, in connection with nearly everything I discussed. I was shocked, but realized I had not been careful enough in my writings to weed these traits out. Obviously you can’t write anything that is completely unbiased or objective, especially on a blog, but you can write pieces that are void of these two prevailing traits. Also, my writings were too concerned with my personal life, which I allowed to happen; despite saying I didn’t want that to happen.
So, after this opening post, the vast majority of my blog will be concerned with Sports (with which I’m hopelessly obsessed about), media-coverage of news, and random, hilarious events that befall me. Hopefully it’s entertaining to those that stumble across whatever I write.
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