I just don't get the infatuation with celebrities, and the utter shock and disbelief when they do something wrong. Lindsey Lohan was a crack addict bisexual, and now everyone is stunned that she's going to jail. Chris Brown beat the shit out of his girlfriend and he's back performing in front of people. Michael Jackson was a pedophile who is now put in an almost unparalleled iconic state now that he's dead. Jesse James was cheating on his wife with Nazi's. Mel Gibson might as well be a Nazi. Tiger Woods was in every hole he could find. So why do people continue to adore them, or more importantly why do these allegations affect their personal lives?
If I did any of the things I would lose half my friends. And these are my friends. People that I've shared memories and moments together that helped build our relationship. Lindsey Lohan was in a handful of movies. Jesse James built motorcylces. If it wasn't for that wedding youtube clip, I wouldn't know what Chris Brown did. So why do they continue to get the support. Any woman that purchases a ticket to a Chris Brown concert shouldn't be allowed to bitch about domestic violence. What about Michael Jackson. People can overlook the fact that he was an absolute creep, and alleged pedophile because he was a great musician 20 years ago?
Don't get me wrong I enjoy thumbing through US weekly, and TMZ is a great show to watch during commercials, but I can't believe it would ever affect my life. My favorite musician once was Kurt Cobain. He had more drugs in him than CVS. My favorite actor was Chris Farley, who was a obese heroin addict. When I found out each of them died, it didn't have an impact on my life one bit.
The reason I believe these people react to celebrity news with such emotion, is because they aren't social enough or interesting enough to have friends of their own. They are shocked that Lindsey Lohan is in trouble because they live vicariously through them. They've never experienced anything close to this in their lives. They don't have friends that have been in trouble, because they don't have friends at all. So maybe these people should cancel the subscription to US Weekly and People, spent a few days with no Internet, get some sun and talk to some real people with real problems.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Vikings Stadium
I don't understand the difficulty with getting a Vikings stadium built. I am not a political man, so maybe I'm missing something here, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Here are my reasons why I think the stadium should get built.
I heard Lester Bagley on KFAN the other day claiming that the since the Metrodome has been built the state of Minnesota has received nearly 300 million dollars in income tax. So that alone is reason enough to build a stadium to keep the Vikings here.
What about the supplemental revenue streams. What happens to the revenue from parking, and an extra 60,000 people downtown 10 times a year. This money goes to the state, or private business owners that benefit from having a professional football team in town. Look at what the Twins stadium has done for the warehouse district. It's completely revitalized it. Let the Vikings stadium do that for the other side of downtown. You're not just building a stadium anymore you're building a community. These stadiums create jobs. Not just in the building of the stadium, but throughout the entire area.
The proposed plan was strictly "user fees" meaning it didn't affect the average person one bit. So how can you be opposed to that? What I've heard is that the republicans won't allow any law to pass that raises taxes or adds a user fee regardless of what it's for. Well they didn't have a problem taxing tobacco did they?
What I think is we have a bunch of hypocrites in office that can't get anything done. What happens when the Vikings leave? We don't want to build a stadium for billionaires? That is how our country works, we all benefit from the rich. It's a free market so this is nothing new. We can simply build a racino and solve a handful of problems, but we don't want the tribes to cut off they're spending through lobbying and donations. Well tell them to build the damn stadium then, because for some reason such a small percentage of our population has such a big say in what we can and can't do.
I am going to write a letter to my representatives voicing my displeasure. I'm going to tell them that if the Viking leave they better come up with something that is going to have my complete attention 20 Sunday's a year.
I heard Lester Bagley on KFAN the other day claiming that the since the Metrodome has been built the state of Minnesota has received nearly 300 million dollars in income tax. So that alone is reason enough to build a stadium to keep the Vikings here.
What about the supplemental revenue streams. What happens to the revenue from parking, and an extra 60,000 people downtown 10 times a year. This money goes to the state, or private business owners that benefit from having a professional football team in town. Look at what the Twins stadium has done for the warehouse district. It's completely revitalized it. Let the Vikings stadium do that for the other side of downtown. You're not just building a stadium anymore you're building a community. These stadiums create jobs. Not just in the building of the stadium, but throughout the entire area.
The proposed plan was strictly "user fees" meaning it didn't affect the average person one bit. So how can you be opposed to that? What I've heard is that the republicans won't allow any law to pass that raises taxes or adds a user fee regardless of what it's for. Well they didn't have a problem taxing tobacco did they?
What I think is we have a bunch of hypocrites in office that can't get anything done. What happens when the Vikings leave? We don't want to build a stadium for billionaires? That is how our country works, we all benefit from the rich. It's a free market so this is nothing new. We can simply build a racino and solve a handful of problems, but we don't want the tribes to cut off they're spending through lobbying and donations. Well tell them to build the damn stadium then, because for some reason such a small percentage of our population has such a big say in what we can and can't do.
I am going to write a letter to my representatives voicing my displeasure. I'm going to tell them that if the Viking leave they better come up with something that is going to have my complete attention 20 Sunday's a year.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
NFL Draft
To me the NFL draft is the sports equivalent to blue balls. A lot of buildup and with no actual penetration. You've got guys like Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay who have full time jobs predicting this. If you go on the web, there has to be dozens of mock drafts. It's a growing phenomenon, that now will take 3 days to accomplish.
My problem with the draft is that you don't really know how things will turn out for at least two or three years.
Here are a couple of tidbits that bother me about the draft.
Tom Brady was taken in the sixth round. How do the experts and 32 NFL GM's paid to scout and study these players miss on him.
There is tape of Mel Kiper Jr. saying, "This pick was a mistake, this guy is not an NFL quarterback." This was right after the Miami Dolphins drafted Dan Marino. I think Kiper's credibility was lost that day.
Vikings fans were ready to riot when they took Troy Williamson over Mike Williams. As bad as Troy Williamson's career has been it is still better than Mike Williams.
The Houston Texans were mocked and ridiculed they day they selected Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. They made the right pick.
In the next few days we're going to see numerous grades. But how does anyone actually know how these players are going to perform throughout their careers. It is fun to watch and can be exciting if you're team takes guys like Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson, but for some of these teams like the Lions and Browns who seem to screw it up every year, I'm not sure how they get into it.
My problem with the draft is that you don't really know how things will turn out for at least two or three years.
Here are a couple of tidbits that bother me about the draft.
Tom Brady was taken in the sixth round. How do the experts and 32 NFL GM's paid to scout and study these players miss on him.
There is tape of Mel Kiper Jr. saying, "This pick was a mistake, this guy is not an NFL quarterback." This was right after the Miami Dolphins drafted Dan Marino. I think Kiper's credibility was lost that day.
Vikings fans were ready to riot when they took Troy Williamson over Mike Williams. As bad as Troy Williamson's career has been it is still better than Mike Williams.
The Houston Texans were mocked and ridiculed they day they selected Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. They made the right pick.
In the next few days we're going to see numerous grades. But how does anyone actually know how these players are going to perform throughout their careers. It is fun to watch and can be exciting if you're team takes guys like Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson, but for some of these teams like the Lions and Browns who seem to screw it up every year, I'm not sure how they get into it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Exploitation
My Wife like a lot of women, and even guys out there watches shows like "16 and pregnant", "Jon and Kate plus 8", "19 kids and counting", and all of those other shows that exploit these families. What do these shows say about our culture.
These shows are exploiting these families and the hardships they may go through. Let's look at the show 16 and under. They try and make these girls victims. When in all actuality they are immature kids, who made a bad decision and are either having to pay for it for the rest of their lives or are choosing to either give it up for adoption or abortion. Now who thinks it's an even better idea to stick a video camera in their homes and schools and sensationalize this major moment in their lives. Maybe instead of treating these girls like victims and rewarding them with a spot on a TV show, they should put programming on that educates young girls to the dangers of screwing.
"Jon and Kate plus 8", and "19 Kids and Counting" are very pathetic in their own right. These families are using showbiz to not necessarily help their families but market the parents. What kind of family would pimp out there kids to make a buck. Again does any sane thinking person actually think that having dozens of video cameras recording each and every moment in your families life is a good idea. These parents should all have their tubes tied.
Now I'm no idiot and I understand that these TV networks on putting these programs on because people are watching. So I'm calling out each person that watches these shows. They need to find a hobby, or invest more time in their own lives and care about that. Don't add fuel to the exploitation. And I'm also calling out the sponsors. They need to find a better avenue to spend their money. Lastly this falls on the TV networks. They pretend like their standards are so high and mighty anytime someone swears or cusses on their networks, but they jump all over any chance they get to stick a dozen video cameras in some families home. Look at the success rate of these families that put their lives on TV. The Hogans, Jon and Kate, and Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. They don't work. Did some TV exec, tell Jon and Kate this going into it? I highly doubt that.
In my opinion these shows exploit the sanctity of marriage, and the try's and tribulations of parenthood. And everyone associated with it should be ashamed that they support it or watch it.
These shows are exploiting these families and the hardships they may go through. Let's look at the show 16 and under. They try and make these girls victims. When in all actuality they are immature kids, who made a bad decision and are either having to pay for it for the rest of their lives or are choosing to either give it up for adoption or abortion. Now who thinks it's an even better idea to stick a video camera in their homes and schools and sensationalize this major moment in their lives. Maybe instead of treating these girls like victims and rewarding them with a spot on a TV show, they should put programming on that educates young girls to the dangers of screwing.
"Jon and Kate plus 8", and "19 Kids and Counting" are very pathetic in their own right. These families are using showbiz to not necessarily help their families but market the parents. What kind of family would pimp out there kids to make a buck. Again does any sane thinking person actually think that having dozens of video cameras recording each and every moment in your families life is a good idea. These parents should all have their tubes tied.
Now I'm no idiot and I understand that these TV networks on putting these programs on because people are watching. So I'm calling out each person that watches these shows. They need to find a hobby, or invest more time in their own lives and care about that. Don't add fuel to the exploitation. And I'm also calling out the sponsors. They need to find a better avenue to spend their money. Lastly this falls on the TV networks. They pretend like their standards are so high and mighty anytime someone swears or cusses on their networks, but they jump all over any chance they get to stick a dozen video cameras in some families home. Look at the success rate of these families that put their lives on TV. The Hogans, Jon and Kate, and Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. They don't work. Did some TV exec, tell Jon and Kate this going into it? I highly doubt that.
In my opinion these shows exploit the sanctity of marriage, and the try's and tribulations of parenthood. And everyone associated with it should be ashamed that they support it or watch it.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Very Classy
I'm as hard on the home teams as anyone. I'm always complaining about the lack of championships, or even playoff wins. But the Minnesota Wild along with the fans showed how classy they are.
Mike Modano started his career in Minnesota breaking through with the Minnesota North Stars he was a fan favorite then, and I think most fans checked the boxscores to see what he was doing down in Dallas after the North Stars left and became the Dallas Stars. He came into town tonight with the Stars to face the Minnesota Wild in the season finale. While the game had no impact whatsoever on any postseason seedings. Both teams finished outside of the playoffs. But rumors are that tonight's game was going to be Mike Modano's last game. So it came full circle with Mike Modano ending his career in Minnesota, the same place it started. Mike Modano is the most prolific U.S. born NHL player of all time. He is the all time leading scorer for U.S. born players too.
The Minnesota Wild played a video tribute to Modano during the game which lead to a standing ovation from the home team for a visiting player during the game. Which I'm guessing doesn't happen to often. Then after the game when the announced the three stars of the game, the Wild name Modano the first star of the game. Modano came out of the tunnel in his Minnesota North Stars jersey, and skated a few laps saluting the Minnesota fans.
So congratulations to Mike Modano on a successful career that will surely put him in the hall of fame. He also won a Stanley Cup with Dallas. And thank you Minnesota Wild for showing so much class. It was a special moment for hockey fans, and sports fans.
Mike Modano started his career in Minnesota breaking through with the Minnesota North Stars he was a fan favorite then, and I think most fans checked the boxscores to see what he was doing down in Dallas after the North Stars left and became the Dallas Stars. He came into town tonight with the Stars to face the Minnesota Wild in the season finale. While the game had no impact whatsoever on any postseason seedings. Both teams finished outside of the playoffs. But rumors are that tonight's game was going to be Mike Modano's last game. So it came full circle with Mike Modano ending his career in Minnesota, the same place it started. Mike Modano is the most prolific U.S. born NHL player of all time. He is the all time leading scorer for U.S. born players too.
The Minnesota Wild played a video tribute to Modano during the game which lead to a standing ovation from the home team for a visiting player during the game. Which I'm guessing doesn't happen to often. Then after the game when the announced the three stars of the game, the Wild name Modano the first star of the game. Modano came out of the tunnel in his Minnesota North Stars jersey, and skated a few laps saluting the Minnesota fans.
So congratulations to Mike Modano on a successful career that will surely put him in the hall of fame. He also won a Stanley Cup with Dallas. And thank you Minnesota Wild for showing so much class. It was a special moment for hockey fans, and sports fans.
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