Sports for Houswives

Once again life has been getting in the way of blogging lately. I think the crazy work week that I've had has resulted in me not wanting to be anywhere near a computer when I don't have to be.

- My first lunch box was of Mork and Mindy. It was metal and not that crappy plastic material. The upside of having this be my first lunch carrier is that next to Pam Dawber all other women in my life would appear to be really, really busty.

- The Olympics is really sports for housewives.

I know that sounds terrible but it is true. The great thing about sports is the natural drama that is created by the competition itself. If I could point to one thing that women generally do not get about sports, it would be that. Instead of letting the drama happen, we have to have made-up drama spoon fed to us. This is no different than some of the other blogs that I've written recently. For example, this dumbed-down presentation of sports is the same as having the stupid music beds playing underneath network dramas. Rather than letting the dialog and the acting carry the day, we're told by the producer that we're too stupid to get that it is an intense or sad moment.

So instead of getting a feel for the competition itself, we're forced to sit through vignette after vignette on the athletes themselves. I don't care that their dog died or that Uncle Johnny is irregular. I want to see the competition itself. Isn't that why they train so hard? Can't winning or losing carry the day?

As a side note, Bob Costas can stop trying to over-romanticize every event that he works. Everything goes back to our childhood - we get it.

- I've said it before and I'll say it again - when adults talk about their kids it is really just an opportunity for each one to talk about their own kid. Make statement, bide time until you can talk about your kid some more, make another statement about your kid. Surely there must be something better to talk about.

- We just started watching Ken Burns latest documentary on America's National Parks ("America's Best Idea"). The special hasn't talked about it thus far but our national parks system is probably the singular most unique idea that we have had as a country. I know that some of you are asking "what about our government"? Our government was a compilation of several existing democracies that have came and went over the centuries. Ours might be important because it was the one that stuck. I would argue that the Declaration of Independence might be more unique than our idea of government.

Think about it. For the first time in the history of man, we set aside land that was not to be manipulated by the government or the rich. That is really amazing. Then again, it didn't prevent Niagara Falls from being an absolute train wreck.

- I was jogging after work yesterday and happen to catch the top stories on the news. One of them was about Charles Barkley saying that he didn't know Terrell Owens was still alive because he spent the year here. We're not a desperate town because Barkley made the statement, we're a desperate town because it was at the top of our newscast accompanied by comments from the station's website. Ugh.

- I've been reading George Carlin's autobiography and it is an absolutely fantastic read. I plan on writing a bit more about him and others like him in an upcoming blog. It was interesting to hear him describe how he became politically aware as he entered his 40's and 50's. One thing that I read last night is that he knew early on that he hated the orthodoxy of the right. However, his experiences showed him that the orthodoxy of the left was different but no better. I think this is an important lesson for all of us to learn. At the end of the day political parties and ideology will only hurt us.

- How cool is it that three of the greatest liberators of all time have their birthdays in the same week? Charles Darwin, Abe Lincoln (both born on the same day in the same year!) and Susan B. Anthony. I find it all the more interesting that their struggles were somewhat intertwined.

Charles Darwin was the first to discover the natural law of evolution. Even though Darwin was a devout Christian, he knew that his discovery would refute much of the Old Testament. Thus, he sat on his discovery for about 20 years because he understood the consequences of going public.

Both women and blacks were considered to be possessions for much of our history. Much of the justification for this are the mysoginystic and racist passages that litter the Bible (I swear, I'm not trying to turn this into a "bag on religion" thread. Elizabeth Cady Stanton had to come up with a revised Bible that stripped away these passages). As these groups struggled to gain the rights that all Americans are (supposedly) guaranteed, it became clear that the two groups were tripping over each other. Anthony agreed to a compromise with Frederick Douglass that allowed blacks the right to vote. Women would have to wait several more years for the same right.

Anyway... I know it was a stretch but I thought it was kind of interesting.

- How did we miss this? Top Gun might have been the most homeerotic mainstream movie of all time and none of us realized it. Tarantino rules.