Just Showing Up Will Get You Halfway…
At what point in the past few years did we decide to look up from our brackets and office fantasy pools and realize that there really are no losers in college sports. It used to be that winning mattered; it separated the teams who either worked hard and played as a together from the teams that didn’t quite have what it took that year. Some moved on to the postseason and kept their season alive and others went home with a Delta-water taste in their mouth… and ideally used that as motivation for the next season.
Let’s get serious, college sports are starting to look like a bad Ladders commercial. Everyone gets a shot at something.
Thirty-four college bowl games this past season. 34?! That means 68 teams got to celebrate a postseason game… except for Marshall. They got shipped to Detroit for a bowl. When you think of a college bowl game you think, sun… beaches… parties. Not snow and crime. You know… you can decline.
Just looking down the list of teams is like a classroom lesson in mediocrity. Northern Illinois and Iowa State at 7-6? I understand Iowa State plays in a “power conference” like the Big 12 but Northern Illinois? They played teams like Eastern Michigan (0-12) and Miami of Ohio (1-11) to nudge out enough wins to make it to a bowl game. That’s not a cause for celebration. That’s fate!
Heck, Minnesota, Texas A&M and Michigan State didn’t even win as many games as they lost and they still got in. What’s that saying anymore? Just get your six wins and you’re bowl eligible… might as well just schedule Army, Navy and Sisters of the Poor College for Women, that’ll get you halfway there. Are you listening Notre Dame?
And as bad as the whole bowl game BCS fiasco has gotten, basketball has gotten even worse. I love the 64-team NCAA field. It’s perfect. You’ve always got some early round upsets but no one outside the top ten seeds has a snowballs chance in hell of winning anyways. The lowest ever being #8 Villanova in ’85.
So why were there talks of expanding the field to a possible 96 teams? That’s right, 96! Granted you’ll have some upsets like Northern Iowa over Kansas early but those are white rhino rare. We don’t need another 32-teams that couldn’t finish better than fifth in the local YMCA league cluttering up our brackets to begin with. Let me say this here and now, if you can’t win at least 20 games is there really any consolation in being a doormat for Kentucky.
Why all this parity? 64 teams in the NCAA tournament, then another 32 in the NIT and now we’ve got another 16 in this College Insiders Tournament. That’s 112 teams playing postseason basketball. That’s about 90 too many. We might as well just do away with any games leading up to conference play, cut off ten games and start a bracket with everyone in it three weeks into the season. Last teams still standing gets the big crystal ball.
Maybe this generation is just as soft as everyone over the age of 40 thinks it is. Mount St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown certainly doesn’t make a compelling argument against it.
“Everyone was excited about grabbing a postseason bid. It was great to our kid’s faces when they knew our season wasn’t over. They felt that all the hard work was rewarded by this bid. The College Insiders Tournament is great for basketball.”
Grabbing a bid? Hard work? You went 19-14!! Of course you got a bid. Damn near everyone got a bid. 14 losses in just over 30 games? The guy cleaning the stands worked harder than you guys did.
These college sports seasons are starting to last longer than the red-eye to New York between a fat guy and a baby. Shouldn’t we draw the line somewhere? What happened to “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”? Of course athletes today don’t work as hard as they used to, no one’s got a chip on their shoulder to win anything when just getting to .500 gets you in the gate.
You know .500 is in real life? Average. And where would we be if the benchmark became average for everything?
“Hey Doc, are you any good?”
“I’m about 50/50.”
“Go ahead, cut me open. I like those odds.”
I’m just saying maybe we shouldn’t be pushing out invites like it’s a sweet 16 party. Maybe we should have to work for something and get beyond average. Because you know what average gets you in real life?
That’s right.
Nowhere.
Well… maybe not nowhere. The world needs ditchdiggers too.
Now What If He DIDN’T Do It?
Let's clear something up before we get to the heart of this column. There isn't a worse crime than rape. They're the lowest of the low and there's nothing more despicable than forcing yourself on another human being. Rapists are slightly above a parasite and somewhere below whatever swims in the bottom of the delta... which, come to think of it, is exactly where they belong. But we need to be VERY careful about throwing that word around because once you hang that "rapist" tag on someone or even associate it with them it's a hard label to remove. Think about it. Quickly, what comes to your head when you hear the name "Duke lacrosse", "Kobe Bryant" or "Ben Roethlisberger"? To be fair Kobe's been able to remove that stigma but it took another championship and an MVP award for people to move something else to the front of their memory.
Big Ben's going through it right now. Was out partying a few weekends back at a club with some college girls and now it's alleged that he sexually assaulted a girl in the club's bathroom. All of sudden March Madness isn't leading off Sportscenter but rather "the latest on Roethlisberger". Every analyst from Pittsburgh to the western seaboard is chiming in on this one but leaving out one glaring details.
He hasn't been charged with anything!
Sure, this one could go either way but should we really drag a name through the mud until at least a crime's been charged? With iphones, internet and TMZ everyone's so charged up to get out information as quick as possible no one actually spends the time to verify what's actually newsworthy. Sure, the American public wants to know about Roethlisberger because the guy lead the Steelers to the Super Bowl and in this country more people turn out for that then the presidential election.
The point here is where do we draw the line? What's to stop every man, woman or child that comes into contact with anyone that this nation loosely describes as a celebrity from making an outrageous claim? Want your 15-minutes of fame... this is the best way to go about it. We spent a ton of time pointing fingers at the Duke lacrosse team for being a "bunch of spoiled college jocks" and we all know how that one turned out. Everyone from Carlos Mencia to Leno used that one for about four months because people got it so wrong. Kobe got thrown to the wolves for a rape charge a few years ago. Really? Kobe?! A half a billion dollars, model good looks and swagger coming out of his ears and he's got to force himself on someone? I didn't buy that one for a minute. It's no wonder why most professional athletes and celebrities aren't seen without a small security platoon - there really is safety in numbers.
True, if you get convicted of rape you should be dragged through the streets but if you didn't do it than where do we get to point the finger? The blames got to fall somewhere because there's nothing this country likes to do more than pass the buck. Shouldn't it be the girl? Shouldn't she have her facebook profile flagged with a big "liar" in 80-pt red font?
That'll weed 'em out. No more false accusations. No more positioning for airtime. And no more saying that "well, that's the price of fame, that's the price of celebrity." Just because a guy does things with a basketball that James Cameron couldn't do with a whole CGI department doesn't make him more of a man than anyone else. Or less than a victim himself...
His Way
What? Were you expecting something different from Tigers' press conference Friday? Perhaps a show of emotion or some unexpected twist like he was going to fly out to Arizona and jump into match play mid-tournament or maybe a statement that said he was embarking on a two-year hiatus from the game. C'mon... you're all smarter than that. You don't get to be the most dominating and controlling athlete in modern sports history, transcend the game and break down every border and shatter every record and then flip the script on your personality. If there's a hard-fast rule in sports it's this.
1. You create a public persona, image and way you handle yourself.
2. And if it ain't broke you don't fix it.
The guy is a straight-up assassin on the golf course and I don't care what he did off the course, that shouldn't have to change and I don't believe it ever will. I gotta believe he's earned the right to do what he wants, when he wants and how he wants. As he said, "everything else is a matter between himself and Elin."
Sure, we all hoped we'd find this great new revelation at Tigers' press conference but you shouldn't have expected it. That's not how the man approaches life, golf or for that matter certainly not business ventures. He gave a 13-minute speech that was perfectly Tiger in every way and to be honest I couldn't me more satisfied. He got up, apologized, took full responsibility and stared right through the camera when he said it.
If you're mad at Tiger or didn't think it was sincere that's not his problem. If you were mad at the answer then don't ask the questions. Face it, Tiger got caught in the trap but he still holds all the cards, that never changed. Just because society thinks he shoulda done "A" or acted like "B" doesn't matter to Tiger. Check your expectations at the door when talking about the man because he doesn't fit into the mold that everyone else is forced into. And isn't that what we've all loved about him anyways? He does it his way.
EXTRA! EXTRA! No One Wants To Read About It!
They say it's not all about what you know, it's who you know. And while that certainly rings true there's another adage quickly making it's way into the lexicon of popular culture. It's not the crime you commit, it's when you commit it.
It's amazing what's passing for a breaking news story theses days in the word of sports. Dogfighting, concealed weapons, extra-marital affairs. Go ahead and match up your favorite sports superstar with their transgression, Tiger, Vick and Arenas - not necessarily in that order. And now go ahead and match up the outcry that each of their "crimes" caused in the not only the sports world but at the forefront of popular culture and every day news. Vick went to jail for a year, Tiger's gone into seclusion and the NBA is doing everything they can to scrub Agent Zero from the record books.
Sure, they're mistakes and they were all in the wrong but let's load up on a couple hundred cc's of reality here people - they're all about as victimless crimes as you can get and each got slightly more ink than David Beckham's left arm. To be fair Tigers' the only dude on the list that didn't commit a crime - as least in the court of law. It's pretty apparent that he liked his women; skinny, enhanced and more often than not serving cocktails. Granted he screwed up but that's been dominating the news since just after people were packing away second of pumpkin pie. And lo and behold but Tiger's been no where to be seen. Of course not! Word is the first picture of Tiger Woods is set to rake in more than $100,000. His autograph used to only be worth a tenth of that.
But is anyone scared by this phenomenon? That pretty much anything TMZ decides to report on INSTANTLY gets pushed to the front of the pile. Not so much are news stories spectacular because of the actual story but solely because of the amount of reporting given to it. It was late in December and the two front page stories on the aforementioned "news" site was that a pool guy had shown up at Tiger's house for two hours and left and that someone had made a prank call to social services about Tiger's kids. Of course that story was picked up and actually made some national news.
But Eldrick ain't the only one here. How about Vick and Arenas? Mike was the best player in the NFL! Yeah, MVP! He went to jail for a year for fighting dogs. Now I love dogs as much as the next person... but this is the most classic over-pressed story I've ever heard since the first time I penned my byline in the Trojan Warrior as a snot-nosed sophomore in high school.
Another round of reality here please - we're desperately low
He didn't hurt a single person, not one. And meanwhile I'm sure there were at least a FEW murders and rapes thats failed to make even a ripple in the news compared to the tsunami that Vick caused by these allegations. Dogs are mans best friends but if I gotta make a choice between Rover and my actual best friend... well that's not even close. But don't tell that to the people at PETA.
And Gilbert Arenas. One of the must fan-friendly players in the NBA, a bone-a-fide superstar. Guy brought a couple handguns into the Wizards locker-room one afternoon and by all accounts showed them off. Granted nothing says "gun control" like capitol hill but the guy just signed a $110 million dollar contract. I wouldn't be just bring guns. I'd bring armed personnel!
He didn't fire them at anyone. He didn't threaten. By all accounts they might not have even been loaded! And what's he getting? An indefinite suspension from the league. While no one wants another Plexico incident isn't this a little bit overkill?
This IS the culture that we live in, or that they were raised in or that permeates through certain circles in the United States. In the Midwest they hunt, in the South they fight dogs, in the tough neighborhoods you come armed. This isn't trying to pigeonhole cultures - this is just how it is. And last time I looked that was part of what made America great, embracing the different cultures. But now apparently what makes America great is anything that the most major celebrity just did last and mostly for some of the most minor reasons.
This past week there were two MAJOR news stories. One was about a former major league baseball player that has been retired for A DECADE and how he finally admitted something that everyone had known for a DECADE. The second was about a catastrophic earthquake that killed nearly a half of a million people.
Guess who got the front page.
Why Don’t We All Want To Be The Best?
I realize it’s a little bit of a cop-out and kind of rhetorical to start a column off with a question that I’m inevitably going to answer on my own but in this case it’s a question that needs to be answered and there really is no better way to go about it than to just ask.
When did not being the best become the thing that everyone wants?
It’s true. It’s like at some point in the last few years I tuned clicked off SportsCenter to watch a few episodes of Entourage and before I could get back everyone was jockeying for the “underdog” label like guys trying to get to the front of the ropes at the President’s Cup. Since when did being the best some with such a stigma? Isn’t that why we play the games? To be the best and win the most? And if we do that shouldn’t be embrace being the best?
Apparently not because if you’ve watched anything leading up to the national championship game last month you’ll know that the word of the day wasn’t “strategy” or “confidence”. It was “underdog”. Everyone from the Texas lineman to Nick Saban talked about how they were the “underdog” and they were the ones coming in with something to prove. Granted in this day and age someone is always going to be labeled the favorite and someone in turn has got to be the underdog; I get that; there’s gotta be something for the bookies to go on. But when did that “second-best” slot get more attractive than Tigers’ girls numbers one through four?
And it’s not just college football. Or the NBA. Or even college golf. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an athlete talking about how “they’re the ones that have to be the insurmountable odds.” Can’t we just get ONE person to stand up anymore and say, “hey, we’re the best. And we’re going to back that shit up!”
Remember the ‘85 Bears? The Lakers? Larry Legend in the 3-point contest? Every remember one of those guys saying how the competition was that much better than them and how they had to beat the odds? Of course not! They didn’t make excuses. Claiming the underdog tag is simply a built in excuse in case you don’t win; in case you don’t perform or in case you don’t show up that day. I know that America loves the underdog second only to financial debt and an all-you-can-eat yogurt shop but let the media or the outsiders label you the underdog. That’s what Michael Wilbon and the rest of the crew at ESPN are for.
No one used to even think underdog unless they actually were and the one guy that started the whole thing went against the grain and predicted a WIN!
Ironically there’s only one guy I can think of that stands up to the plate and has taken that path every single time. Tiger Woods. Granted, Tigers’ had a rough road the last couple of months and I’m not going to defend his off-course choices but lets not try to mix the two halves. That’s something that sports fans and athletes in general do better than anyone else. They compartmentalize an athlete’s superior skill and on-court performance from any off-court transgression he may be involved in.
Kobe was accused of rape, Ray Lewis accused of murder…BILL CLINTON got a little oval-office benefits and those three turned out very well.
Let’s just all keep everything in perspective when we look at athletics from now on. Tiger may have stepped out…ok, he stepped out a few times but I admire the hell out of the guy and he is still a role model for one undeniable reason. There are so few like him. He’s the rare athlete that has never made an excuse or claimed to not be the favorite. He’s held himself accountable. And I don’t care what he does off the course. If I want to win I’ll take him every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Let’s just hope he’ll be there...
Why So Soft?
Apparently this time it’s Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach who’s on the hot seat for mistreatment of one of his players. The player was injured at the time and sources are saying that Leach had the student-athlete put in an equipment room as some sort of timeout. Now while this is all very unofficial and all and the true story may be far more implicating or far different from what we’ve heard that certainly didn’t stop Texas Tech from suspending Leech from coaching duties; a punishment that also involves him not being able to coach the Red Raiders’ bowl game this weekend.
I don’t think we should advocate corporal punishment but, hey, sometimes you need a little smack on the head to get the message though. Growing up my favorite people were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and coaches like my dad and the guys he looked up to like Bob Knight and John Wooden. Now they’re people like Tiger Woods and they’re still Bob Knight. Look at all those people and what’s the one thing they have in common more than anything else? They’re all winners. And they’re all men of principle who did things how they needed to be done. They didn’t care about protocol or regulations or if you should or shouldn’t smack a kid on the head to get the message through. These men never put a teammate or player in harm’s way… and… it worked out pretty good for them!
The landscape of the player-coach-parent-team relationship lately is softer than your average stay-puft. To have control these days you have “great lines of communication”. You have to “give a little to get a little” and you have to give them what they way. No, I’m not talking about the players. I’m talking about the coaches. Bob Knight won more than 800 games in his career by doing whatever the hell Bob Knight wanted. True, that ruffled feathers but he had enough discipline to do whatever he wanted, stand by that and move forward. He also had people above him in administration that understood the price of winning. Knight was a great coach. He cared about his players. He would help them. But for some reason I can’t see the 10th guy on the bench stopping down at his office unannounced and questioning how come practice ran so long or that he couldn’t make the road trip because his girlfriend was in town. I guess he could say it… but it’d be the last thing he DID say.
My problem is that everyone’s gotten weaker than a cup of truck-stop decaf. And it goes all the way down the line. Players think they should have rights and powers before they prove a single thing on the court. Parents go to pieces if anyone should lay a hand on their little Johnny. Coaches can’t do their jobs because of repercussions that could be handed down from administration if the parents or the boosters sniff in their direction. There’s no question that athletics are controlled by money, scholarship and ratings all the way down the line but the big question is, why do we have to be so soft in doing so.
I can’t believe I’m saying this as a former athlete and coach myself but I wish I would have gotten smacked around a little more when I was a player and I wish the times I did I was tough enough and smart enough to realize why my coaches did it. There used to be a great day when people simply let their performances do the talking for them. If you didn’t start a game you didn’t call your parents and your parents didn’t call the administrators and the administrators didn’t call a meeting with everyone and the coach to hash it out. You simply worked harder.
I’m not applauding Coach Leach for sitting a player in the equipment room because I wasn’t there, I don’t know him and I don’t know the whole story and premised behind it but I have heard enough stories and situations like this to instantly recognize a raw deal.
Wooden’s damn near 100, Tiger’s dad has passed on, Jordan’s retired and they handcuffed Knight too many times for him to continue.
There are great players today and great coaches. I won’t argue against that. But when you hear about a player who works out harder than anyone else or a coach that has a distinct overpowering style there’s one word applied to it. Old school. Why do we call it old school? Just because that’s the way it used to be? Call it discipline or call it honor.
Because sometimes it’s not old school.
It’s just called the right way to do things.
Vegas or Bust…
Sin City, America’s Playground or just simply Vegas. Go ahead and call it anything you like, just remember there’s a reason they call the City of Lights what they do. Las Vegas has been glorified in hundred of movies, most notably one of the greatest comedies of all-time in The Hangover just this past year but I realized one very important thing standing in the Southwest line at the airport this morning – it still doesn’t do it justice until you’ve actually done the entire thing yourself. This is probably something that should have occured to me soon after my first Vegas trip but they say all good things are only appreciated with some reflection. Ok… so I’ve never heard that before but I’m sure someone’s said something like that.
“We’re f*ckin’ doin’ Vegas bro!” I turned around to find a plaid-shirted guy who clearly hasn’t waited for the on-flight refreshment to get his morning started. In fact, it might have just been carried over from the night before.
“Sorry man,” says his buddy, also clad in a plaid shirt and white sunglasses. “Dude’s telling EVERYONE!”
I would discover, whether I wanted to or not, that he was 21, as of that morning; they were heading to Vegas; and if you’re drunk and your friend is drunk it’s very important to have at least one guy in the group that has more control than a 4-year old with a nervous bladder. Obnoxious. Yes. Loud. Yes. Within an utterance of “bomb” from being arrested. Definetly. But I had to admire the guys and if nothing else wish them luck because it was in fact their first Vegas trip and one things’ for sure. If you haven’t gone. You must. And if you have… it’ll never be as good as the first time.
Now you don’t have to go all-Bradley Cooper with a villa at the Ceasar but it’s also important that you’re not bunked down in a Motel 6, 15 miles off the strip. It’s important to balance that fine line with prepareation because if you know anything about Vegas, all that planning is going to probably go right out the window in the first hour of hitting the desert. And you know what? That’s ok.
Take plenty of money but if you’re a little weak on the willpower or self-control leave the credit cards in the hotel room. As a matter of fact, leave the cell phone too. Why do you need it? Everything’s on the strip and you’re certainly not going to get a number from anyone you’re going to see later. Let’s be honest, if you lose track of a girl. She’s gone. It’s Vegas, not an afternoon in the park.
Two, you have to simply not care about plans and what might happen. Like the lemmings before you need to follow the masses and get caught up in anything and everything. Hell, the city was built on people doing things out of characteristic and most defeinlty things they wouldn’t be caught dead doing in their hometowns. Embrace it.
Lastly, splurge on at least one big thing while you’re there. No, not a limo. And certainly not a girl. But make sure you VIP it at top club at least once or get right to the front of the line at somewhere you shouldn’t even be allowed within earshot of. It’s gonna cost you. Probably big, but hey, the rewards are well worth it.
I don’t wanna speak from massive experience because I don’t have a lot of it but one time in Vegas I met John Daly at a gas station and talked him into buying a bottle of Patron with me. Another time I danced in a mosh-pit that included Shaquille O’Neal. I’ve also gone to Vegas with a bachelor party of 20 and joined in, in spending nearly $15,000 at a pool. BEFORE 4 PM. And of course I’ve got my Vegas story that includes a beautiful woman, a lot of partying and a lot of things that can’t be spoken of in this column.
I wish those boys all that luck in the world because if they’re half as jacked up as they were in that security line then they’ll only add to the lore of Sin City and have a great time their first time. I did. Because everything in that previous paragraph… Yep, it happened in about 24 hours…
Southwest. Where the Price is Right.
Sell Your Soul? Sure. You really gotta hand it to the folks from Southwest. In the year of the recession… excuse me… decade… they figured out how to come off looking great and giving everyone an opportunity. At least for the right price. Southwest has long hailed itself as a “budget” airline with those cute “$69 One-Way” fares and no baggage fees while everyone else just jockeys for position and hopes for the overflow.
And they’ve got it down to a science because you CAN take a flight for pretty damn cheap but if you want ANY perks at all here comes the billing. I thought I’d give it a shot both ways. Flight #1. Sacramento to Orange County. We’re pulling out all the stops here. Forget the non-refundable $69 fare, I’m going with the $148 regular one-way fare down to LA and then the paying $208 to return three days later. Ok, works picking up the tab on this one so why not! Right away I’m got great convenience, I can switch airline times up to an hour before boarding. There’s no additional cost because I’m chosen the “business select”. This also let’s me go ahead and get in that A seating line. Ten bucks more and I can have priority seating – which basically means I can check in more than 24-hours before all the peons in the back can check in and clamor for that A-seating.
Just to recap I’ve yet to board the flight and I’m already $190 up on what I could have spent plus another $10 for that priority boarding. Board the flight and lo and behold it’s a WiFi flight which means for a cool $8 I can check all the Facebook I want on the 85 minute flight. Sure. Bill it. Then the drink cart makes its first appeared about 20 minutes into the flight. I go with some top-shelf tequila.Because god forbid I didn’t throw one back at ten a.m. I’ve got my choice of seating in the exit row, my internet and my tequila, I’m a happy camper but it still begs the question… should someone in charge of the exit row by half soused and looking up pictures of old flames as we cruise over the Pacific coastline?
Flight #2 Sacramento to Denver. We’re going straight economy here in the truest sense of the word. I’m ready for that “$69” fare here but what they conveniently forget to include is that it may get the flight out for a song but it’ll cost you big time on the way back. “$69” to get there… “”$197” on the way back. Thanks Southwest.
No priority seating for me so I’ve got to log in precisely at 12:30 pm the day before to get the earliest possible seating. B24. Looks like it’s between Aunt Millie and some guy who could fill in the aisle, let alone the seat next to me. Budget flight here so I opt for an 8 oz diet coke that’s flatter than 300-miles of Nebraska. No internet on this flight so I reach for the nearest SkyMall magazine. Depressing. Filled with items only available for those priority seating personnel. But lo and behold both flights make it to their destination, both at the appointed times and both with all passengers and bags intact. So pick your poison the next time you’re searching up flights for a weekend away from the grind. They say you can’t buy happiness. I disagree. It’s about $175… plus eight for a second margarita.
Discovering Yourself
Let’s be honest… who doesn’t enjoy a nice vacation? Be it a drink on the beach or time away in a cabin snowed in with nothing but a fireplace, a loved one and plenty of good movies… That’s all well and good and I appreciate that as much as the next person but what do you do when that’s not what gets you going in life? Not that it’s not something to look forward to but the times that really get me going and bring out the scary-movie-type adrenaline are the times when multitasking is at a premium – when everyone wants something done and then need it done in five minutes.
I don’t love the stress or the scheduling or the time away from loved ones… But I do love delivering. There are precious few things that I enjoy more than grinding hard at something, producing above and beyond and standing back and admiring the work. Granted those precious few things are head and heels above and some of them are also ones that I’m going to refrain from naming here but the point remains the same – that they get me going. Designing, writing, working out… my golf game… I don’t care what it is but it’s the greatest feeling in the world to take something on, easy or difficult and do work on it. More often than not that’s a cause for concern with people closest to me that I have a hard time just kicking back, relaxing and not thinking about things but when you’re not at the place yet where you want to be than you can’t afford to not be on.
Especially in a field that I enjoy so much. So go ahead, throw me on an island or a suite in Vegas or a cabin in Tahoe (does this kinda sound like a T-Pain song?) and I’ll have a great time. Just make sure I’m connected to what I want to do because we can all go out and party till early in the morning but don’t expect me to sleep in… you never know when you’re going to get hit by inspiration. And when the bell tolls….
The Genesis
Every great piece of writing must have a beginning and an end – the end is usually unknown so we won’t focus on something that may not come to a conclusion for years to come but rather lets start this project with a great opening. This blog only because such because of the great urging of someone very close to me; reach out in numerous media outlets from magazine to video and even Twitter I thought I had covered my bases saying all that I needed or might want to say. But I guess when you’re trying to become a voice in a very noisy world than there’s no such this as too much.
Far from Perez Hilton or ESPN’s Page 2 this blog’s theme has no theme. Sports, travel, growing up in the Midwest and living in California – I simply cannot corner myself into one theme. So if you were looking for something deep and profound for my first blog than I’ve very sorry to disappoint. But don’t worry… it’s my first one, it’ll get better. Wait, I’m not going to apologize for something that may not ever get read. This is simply going to be my thoughts and emotions poured out through cyberspace for anyone to read and comment on. What you see is what you get and the one thing I simply cannot do is be apologetic for myself. Hey…. I gotta… be…. me.
