Current Events

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browns

I am a football fan.  I love my hometown team which is the Cleveland Browns.  The Browns are the laughing stock of the NFL.  Even those that aren’t football fans like to make jokes about my team and that’s okay.  I cheer for them every week and never miss a game.  I also laugh very hard during those three hours as they resemble a Stooge routine minus a pie fight.

Anyone can cheer for a winner but I believe a real winner cheers for a loser.  The Patriots are always in the play offs and probably will win the Super Bowl again this year.  That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me.  How can winning a championship be fun when it happens all the time?  Every week the Browns find a new way to lose.  Every week we have a new quarterback.  Every week we have a player get hurt.  Every other week a player gets arrested or goes to rehab.  If the Browns season were made into a Hollywood script no one would buy it because no one would believe it.  They say misery loves company and that company is the Cleveland Browns.

The journey of life is full of disappointments.  The life of a Browns fan is nothing but a disappointment with a side dish of frustration and I love it.  I know that every Monday my hometown will do two things:  bitch and moan.  Being a Browns fan is a great way to relieve stress.  Anything that goes wrong during your week will never match the disgrace that you witness on the football field every Sunday.

The Super Bowl is the ultimate game of the year.  The Browns have never been to the Super Bowl.  I hope, in my lifetime, I will witness the Browns win the Super Bowl but you have to be careful what you wish for.  We would be world champions.  The struggle and disappointment would be over.  There wouldn’t be a reason to bitch and moan.  There would be a parade downtown.  Thousands of people would faint from disbelief.  The four horsemen would appear and the seven seals would begin to open.  Our coach would hoist the trophy in front of the world and I assume he would drop it.  I don’t think I would ever be properly prepared for that day because I would have to be happy.  I don’t want to be a champion and that’s why I am a Browns fan.

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yeller

I used to be a yeller.  I would yell at just about everyone and everything.  Someone would disagree with me and I would raise my voice.  Someone would yell at me and I would be sure to yell back.  Someone would cut me off in traffic and I would be sure to yell in anger (now I just flip them off).  Recently I had an epiphany:  yelling really affects your credibility.

There are three good reasons not to yell:

  • It takes too much energy.  I look at energy as fuel in your tank and yelling just burns too much gas.
  • If someone yells at you and you take a deep breath, pause and respond with “I’m sorry I didn’t realize what you were saying because you were yelling.” That makes them look like what they truly are; an asshole.
  • Yelling leads to anger. Think of all the times you made bad decisions in your life.  Chances are it was preceded by you yelling and then followed by making a bad judgment.  The only exception I can think of is years ago doing too many shots of patron and waking up to see two female tundra twins making ham sandwiches in my kitchen while passing a crack pipe.

When is the last time that yelling lead to a positive result?  Yelling at a loved one makes you feel bad afterwards.  Yelling at your spouse or better half usually leads to a slap in the face or at the very least a slamming of a door.  Yelling at a cop will never get you out of a ticket and yelling at a water park while making balloon animals and wearing clown makeup will get you arrested.  Perhaps the latter was not the best example.

Life is too short.  Realize there are a lot of stupid people in this world and try laughing at them instead of yelling at them.  I may not be the smartest person in the world but it’s amazing how people will suddenly view you as a superior intellectual just because you don’t react to adversity by raising your voice.  So this week try to remain calm, cool and collected or I may just have to yell at you.

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charlotte

So I’m sitting here watching the chaos in Charlotte, North Carolina and I think I have it figured out.  Don’t judge the many by the actions of a few.  I understand the frustration that people have regarding excessive force but black cop shooting black guy doesn’t equate to “beat the shit out of white people.”

Did the cop use excessive force?  I don’t know I wasn’t there.  Will an investigation determine who was at fault?  I don’t know as I don’t fully trust “investigations.”  What I do know is this:  there are two kinds of people in this world, good and bad.  The conversation should start and end there.  Apply that belief to any situation and it takes race and ethnicity out of the conversation.  Is there racism in our society?  Yes.  It’s permeated by those that are bad.  Is there corruption in law enforcement in this country?  Yes.  Again these would be the bad people.  See how easy this is?  Let’s continue.  Is there corruption in any business in this country?  Yes.  Once again my theory applies.

This should not be about race this should be about stopping the bad and promoting the good.  If something bad happens and you react in a bad way then you become part of the problem and not the solution.  We all have experienced frustration.  When we let frustration turn into anger we usually make bad decisions and we then become part of the bad.  Bad also affects the credibility of your cause.  If you want to fight the bad then you need to be part of the good otherwise your desired solution is clouded by your bad reaction.

The sun will go down tonight in Charlotte and people will have the chance to make a decision.  Will it be bad or good?  Only time will tell but at this point I think we are moving backward instead of forward; and that’s very bad.

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Kap

One of the things I have learned in life (besides not asking for a phone number at last call) is that your first reaction is not necessarily the right reaction.  Colin Kaepernick is a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and he is the talk of the country this morning.  It’s not because of what he did on the football field it’s because of what he did, or actually didn’t do, off the football field.

On Friday night he sat on the bench and refused to stand for the National Anthem prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers.  My initial reaction was one of outrage as I believe, or have been conditioned, to stand, place my hand over my heart and remove my cap when the aforementioned anthem is played.  Kaepernick refused to stand and he makes millions of dollars playing a “game” in a country of freedom.  What was his reason behind this refusal?  “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”  Hmmmm.  My initial reaction was “what a dick.”  (Trent Richardson, former Browns first round pick does the same thing but it’s at his house, on the couch with 15 family members running around like bulls in Mexico but that’s because he sucks and can’t find a team that wants him to put on a helmet).

After I thought about it (translation:  Having a martini and trolling on Plenty of Fish) I realize the very fact that he can do what he did is what this country was built upon.  Freedom of speech.  Do I agree?  No.  That’s not the point.  We can’t let our hearts rule our mind.  We need to concentrate on the first Amendment to our Constitution.  If you are like me then you never paid attention in American History and instead looked at the blossoming breasts of your fellow female classmates (am I being TOO honest?).  Let me refresh your mammary:  Freedom of speech is the right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship.

Although I do not agree with his decision I have to respect his right to do so.  The irony is that many Americans have fought, and given their lives, for his right to sit on his ass during the playing of our National Anthem.  Football players are tough.  I challenge Mr. Kaepernick to do this in front of a veteran as I believe those are our true heroes and their dedication and sacrifice has nothing to do with three hours on sixteen Sundays out of the year.