...so close

I really don't have the words right now.  The post below that I made somewhat secretly (really not publicizing it) is not irrelevant to those who were around this team as much and more than I was this season.

It was heartbreaking tonight...this team was something special to me and something special to the Gator Nation. Be proud and use this year as a stepping stone for that next level.

Go Gators...

For the Gators...

This is the year.

From where I sat for more than two thirds of the matches this season, I was privileged enough to witness a transformation.  I watched a team grow up right before my eyes and I do not think they know it just yet.  The message all season was to be better in December than in September.  Deep down, this team took that message to heart.

This is the year.

Sunday night was more bitter than sweet on many different levels.  While I personally realized that my 2011 radio campaign was in the books, the team I was fortunate enough to work found out they were going to be traveling for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.  In my experiences of watching collegiate athletics, I have never seen a team get bent over like this team was Sunday night.  The more I reflected, the more I knew it was not going to be an issue.  At this point it does not matter where the match is being played, this team will be there.

This is the year.

The last month of volleyball was one for the ages and I had a front row seat.  I saw seniors taking leadership roles on and off the court, motivating and willing their team to victory.  I saw something that had not been done in over ten years at this school.  I saw comeback after comeback, followed by sheer and utter domination of opponents.  By the time the regular season I ended, I saw a group ready for the next level.

This is the year.

What I hope this team realizes and my humble message to them is that no matter who the opponent, they have what it takes to win six in a row.  I have watched you all at your highest highs and lowest lows.  When you play with the intensity that you have over the last month, there is a fire that surrounds this team that nobody is going to be able to put out.  Go and play like the bad asses I know you are and show the country what Florida Volleyball is all about.  Do not focus on the possibility that each match could be the last but rather how each match is still making you better for the next.  Dig deep and remember how it felt in Baton Rouge to finally break through and win a match after dropping the first set.  Go even deeper and bring back the feelings of the insane comeback in Fayetteville.  Play with the intensity and drive that you brought back into the O'Connell Center for Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina. 

This is the year.

Not winning the SEC was the best thing to ever happen to this team.  You all started playing with more guts and determination once the focus was on being where you are right now.  While you travel to another team's campus and gym, remember that the Gator Nation is everywhere.  Summon the strength of those who walked onto the court before you and leave behind a legacy of memories for those that will follow you when your time at Florida is through. 

Six matches...this is the year.

What next?

For nearly five days, the media has run amok with the story out of State College and for five days, I have done my best to try and digest the information that has been brought forth.  I am sick.  I am not physically ill but I am emotionally drained over an event that I had no part in.  I have looked to humor to try and ease the pain felt inside but it has not done the same as it once did in the past.  It is just not funny anymore.  It was funny for a little while when Jim Tressel was caught lying about knowing his players were given tattoos for clothing and championship merchandise.  It was practically hilarious when Nevin Shapiro decided to own up to all of his misdoings at the University of Miami AFTER he was incarcerated.  But this is just not funny.  Lives have seriously been ruined over the cover up at State College and they are continuing to be ruined minute by minute as this story develops.  I will close the introduction to this by saying what has been said by many, including my own father, EVERYONE is to blame. 

They all knew about the incidents and they did nothing.  First and foremost, Jerry Sandusky, followed by the State of Pennsylvania and their legal teams, namely then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar for letting Sandusky off the hook after he promised not to shower with Victim 6 again, the janitors who kept silent for fear of losing their jobs in 2000, Mike McQueary, former Athtletic Director Tim Curley, former University VP Gary Schultz, whoever was appointed to run Second Mile and was running it when the 2002 incident was reported, (still current as of this writing) University President Graham Spanier, and Football Coach Joe Paterno are ALL to blame.   There is no punishment for this crime that could ever be worse than what the victims of Sandusky's predatory ways have to live with. 

Why was it hard to write that paragraph, especially the last name on the list?  It seems pretty cut and dry, right?  The names of the above are the names in the grand jury report and the timelines all over the internet today.  But it is that last name that leaves some with a gross feeling of betrayal. 

The name of Joe Paterno was revered in the state of Pennsylvania and among the college football world.  Growing up I can remember that the second college football game I ever attended was the University of Southern California vs. Penn State in 1992. It was Penn State's first year in the Big Ten and it was my first trip to Happy Valley.  I got to see an amazing campus, visit the Creamery, and then watch the great Joe Paterno pace the sidelines against then USC coach John Robinson.  The final score that day was 21-20 in favor of the Nittany Lions and I was immediately hooked on college football.  Two years later, we moved to Gainesville, Florida and I was introduced to another kind of legend and a different brand of football.  Steve Spurrier was the coach who came back to his Alma Mater and at the time he was in the process of revolutionizing not only college football at the University of Florida but throughout the Southeastern Conference as well.  It was not hard to take what I experienced at Beaver Stadium and transition it to being a fan sitting in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. 

Living in Gainesville and hearing the stories eventually start to grow regarding coaching contracts, I was always drawn back to the stories of my grandfather and my father about Joe Paterno.  I knew the number was low, but I checked to see and Paterno made just over half a million dollars a year for the first time in 2007.  2007?!?  The man was a head coach for 41 years before he cleared half a million dollars.  Well he must have kept all of that money for himself all those years, right? 

Anyone who knows anything about Joe Paterno knows that he is one of the biggest philanthropists and believers in college athletics throughout the NCAA.  He has donated over $4 million to Penn State over the years. If you watched the video that aired last night where Paterno emerged from his house like Willy Wonka from the Chocolate Factory, you saw that he does not live a lavish lifestyle.  It has been publicized for years that the man loves college football and he loves being a coach.  To me, Joe Paterno was what was good about college football and collegiate athletics.  In a world where winning is the only answer, Paterno stood the test of time and rode the highs and lows with dignity and class. 

The legacy of Joe Paterno remains to be known but everything stated previously about the man happened.  It happened and because of a major misjudgement of what he thought was right, it has all gone away.  It saddens me beyond words to say that but Joe Paterno was someone to look up to in the game of college football.  He was someone to look up to if you have ever coached anything.  That is no longer the case.  When the children of our society are not being protected from the predators, the number of accolades you have accomplished are all meaningless.  No matter what Joe Paterno can say from here on out, it does not erase the fact that his name is right there in the grand jury report saying that he knew about the events that took place in his locker room showers and that he WAITED to tell someone.

Again, this is not just on Joe Paterno.  A piece of this caliber can and probably will be written about everyone involved at some point if it has not been already.  It is almost a sure bet that Law and Order: SVU is paying someone to write the script for this two hour season finale.  The media will not and they should not let this story go.  It does not end with Joe Paterno.  He will ride off into a jaded sunset as one of the greatest coaches the game of college football will ever see.  He is no longer the greatest.  What we do in our lives outside of the professions we carry has to come into play.  Nobody is absolved because of their status. 

The hurt that is felt for me is all in the letdown.  If you asked me to write a list of people whom I admired, my parents would be at the top for following their dreams, taking the chances they did, and for always supporting my sister and I in whatever we chose to do.  Beyond that I could name a handful of historical figures whom I have researched their stories and admire the way they dealt with adversity.  Abraham Lincoln is near the top of that list.  It is hard to imagine taking on the task of keeping a country together amidst the differing opinions of those around you while still standing up for what you believe in.  The Carter family, Mississippi sharecroppers who became the first black family to send their children into an all-white school district in Drew, Mississippi in 1964 are another set of people whom I admire.  They stood for what they believed in and paved the way for generations after (see the book Silver Rights by Constance Curry for their story). 

Out of the folks still alive, Joe Paterno was one of those people I admired for a long time.  I knew it was going to be a sad day when he left college football. No fan in their right mind could  have ever imagined this would be the way he made his exit.  Which finally leads me to the title of this blog entry: What next?  Who do we have to look up to besides our parents (and not everyone has parents good enough to look up to)?  

We live in a world where information is flying by faster than we can read it.  Within seconds of someone famous dying, they have become a trending topic on Twitter.  The second any information of any value to anyone is available, millions of people are on it.  It was not long ago, 2002 to pinpoint a date of validity, when people still picked up the phone to call one another to share their information. Now, information is sent with a push of the button and within seconds, the court of public opinion INSTANTLY renders a verdict..  Jerry Sandusky did not rape these kids yesterday, but on November 5 when the grand jury report was released to the public and the spread was worse than any wildfire, he was guilty along with everyone else who failed to report his behaviors.  He can claim his innocence until he is blue in the face.  He might even walk away from this if the court of law does not find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  It has happened all too often before.  Casey Anthony was guilty...nope.  OJ was guilty...nope.  Bill Clinton was guilty...nope.  Would it honestly surprise anyone if they read this a year from now and Jerry Sandusky was a free man? 

What does not go away, whether Sandusky is guilty or not guilty, is the fact still that there is no court of law for the people like Joe Paterno.  And sometimes, the moral guilt one has to live with can far outweigh a guilty conviction within the legal system.  I hope that society learns from this horrific set of incidents if only to prevent anything like this from EVER happening again.

The Pyramid of Comedic Tolerance

Comedy, like most things in life, is subjective and everyone's idea of what is funny or not varies from person to person. As an adult, I have become quite cynical and have lost faith in society, especially when it comes to things that comedians say that either get taken out of context or blown out of proportion. Most recently, Hank Williams Jr. says some things that most did not understand when he compared a golf match to Hitler and the Nazis and he loses his weekly shot at people remembering he is still alive.

This incident, along with some conversations with friends over the past week, got me thinking about what is tolerable anymore. The simplest way to break it down is to imagine a pyramid. Comedy can be broken up into levels and while the first amendment should protect everything the comedy world encompasses, society still answers to a corporate master who does not want to offend anyone causing them not to buy their products. Case in point, to this day and going forward, you will never see Leno, Letterman or Kimmel do any material related to 9/11. That statement should tell you that for me, nothing is off limits. If you are trying to make a point or tell a joke, funny is funny, even when it is "wrong."

Onto the pyramid...Each level will be based on a great comedy movie. Once again, great is subjective and all my own personal opinion.

Level 1: The bottom level of the pyramid: The Truman Show

These jokes are the innocent of the innocent. They are as naive as Truman Burbank and unaware of anything that may or may not be harmful to the human psyche. Unfortunately, a little bit of awareness can lead to the upper levels of the pyramid. Typical jokes in this level are knock-knock jokes, blonde jokes, and jokes involving the bathing habits of farm animals.




Level 2: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
This level still roams in the area of PG material but tends to add onto the jokes in level one. British humor generally is fairly innocent and the jokes consist of tongue-in-cheek material, unless of course you watch a Jim Jeffries special (I know he's Australian but wow, that guy has a level all to himself). Level 2 starts to get into political material similar to the conversation in the movie about who "voted" for Arthur to be King. Typical jokes in the second level are political and religious based (not including catholic pedophilia).


Level 3: Dumb and Dumber

Again, as you climb up the pyramid, you continue to combine the lower levels but start to add some more choice material. The third level includes the naivety of the first level with minor touches of the second but begins to add just STUPIDITY to the comedy world. All I can think of with respect to this is Jim Carrey walking out of the bar and thinking we just landed on the moon. As you can see in the picture, toilet humor is now in play.


Level 4: National Lampoon's Animal House

Level 4 shows almost a graduation from high school to college, but not quite. Just like the naive freshman of Delta House, the collegiate mind still can find the humor in situations they are not necessarily familiar with. I chose Animal House because it was a movie that exposed race as another tool for humorists and comedians. Race is touchy but if it is done in a way where it is not malicious, it can be really funny. Louis C.K. has a line where he "loathes the people who use 'The N-Word', not Nigger, actually saying 'The N-Word.' Because now everyone knows what you meant." (I paraphrased but the point gets across. I think white guilt plays into some people's fear of telling racially motivated jokes but, again, if it is done in a way similar to Otter recognizing an all black bar and saying "We are going to die," then the comedy comes through and people are laughing at the situation more than anything.



Level 5: Superbad

Level 5 does a great job of combining the previous two levels and taking things to an even further level. Underage drinking and the teenage quest to provide booze for a party proves to be a highly humorous situation. Now, is underage drinking funny? No, of course not, but most are guilty of it at some point or another. Some of the areas where level 5 expands on the previous levels are in the sheer treatment of human beings. Out and out sexist humor, coupled with a neglect for anyone's feelings is where we start to see the pyramid start to divide itself in two. The upper three levels of humor are those that take no prisoners. It all just depends on how far you are willing to go and who you are making fun of in the process.

Level 6: Clerks

Ahhh yes, Clerks. Who will ever forget the classic Kevin Smith line, "Try not to suck any dicks on your way through the parking lot." The entire movie begins to draw lines with the sole purpose of crossing them and that is what level 6 is all about. Level 6 is the intentional laugh. Draw the line of cultural acceptance as the setup, and then cross it with the punchline. Very little is off limits in this level, but there are still some boundaries that are not crossed. It is hard to define level 6 from level 7, but the line is there.

Level 7: THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID: The Aristocrats

This is 100% no holds barred. In the smallest of levels and with the greatest chance of offending someone, you can talk about anything and everything. This encompasses all six levels below it and expounds on the unthinkable. Draw the line, pour gasoline on it, set it on fire and then jump over the motherfucker as fast as you can because once you reach level 7, there is no turning back. Allowing yourself to see the humor in the some of the most outlandish of situations can do permanent damage. Trust me. I have never been the same after seeing Gilbert Gottfried perform this joke live at The Gotham Comedy Club shortly after Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette started filming the feature film. Incest, Rape, Bestiality, and S&M are just the tip of the iceberg. I'll say it again, absolutely nothing is off limits in this realm of comedic material.

I wrote this in two sittings and I hope that it comes across making as much sense as it did in my head when I started it. I loved to be challenged when it comes to humor and I love to challenge others to think outside the box and to try and see the humor in most situations. One line that always sticks in my head when it comes to comedy and lines that get crossed belongs to none other than the late, great George Carlin: "They'll say, "you can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny." I say, "fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?" I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd." Carlin challenged the status quo and to me created a partial generation of free thinkers who are capable of finding humor in most of the 7 levels of the comedic period. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Insomnia

I really don't have much to say and probably won't be posting this for people to read right away but if you happen to stumble upon it, you are reading what I am writing in the midst of another bout with insomnia.

I've had a really hard time sleeping on a normal schedule lately and I refuse to resort to vices such as alcohol to aide in the process. I know they work because I was able to sleep on the road this past weekend after I drank for awhile. It was nice to sleep but not a habit I want to get into.

My mind races when I am awake. I literally am jumping all over the place trying to come up with something. I am bored most of the day and have been fortunate enough to plug myself into local sports deals that keep me surrounded by good people. And I have great people at home who understand that this whole situation is not easy and that I may not be the most pleasant person to be around.

I have gone to the extreme lately. I was told that I take certain situations and I cross the line. It's been fun but I also recognize that this could be volatile. One little slip in the wrong crowd and someone might misunderstand my sick sense of humor. To me it is all about context and without giving people my life story, I wish people understood that you'll know when I am being serious. It's rare, but I am capable. One of the few things I have left is my sense of humor and I need to laugh. It keeps me sane...

Professional Failure

Whenever I think about who today's kids look up to, I always am drawn back to Charles Barkley's quote: "I'm not a role model...just because I can dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."  While Sir Charles hit the nail on the head, the fact of the matter is that the modern day athlete is a role model whether they like it or not.  And whether parents like it or not, the responsibility of raising a child still belongs in the hands of the parent and not a celebrity, let alone a professional athlete.

I was looking for something to blog about and last night I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 film, Catching Hell. The film told the tale of two events in sports history, the Bill Buckner play in the 1986 World Series and the Steve Bartman incident during the 2003 NLCS.  One of the underlying questions that never really was addressed is that while either incident may or may not have swung the momentum of their games, they were both in a game 6 situation and had a chance to win in game 7.  Not once in the two hour documentary is it brought up that the blame was NEVER placed on the professional athletes who either underperformed or choked themselves when it all was on the line. Instead, it focused on single, solitary incidents that the media and the fans place blame on instead of ruining the fragile images of their idols, their heroes, the professional athletes. 

I have been a Yankee fan my entire life and I cannot think of a single worst sports moment in my life than the ALCS in 2004.  The Yankees had a 3-0 lead and were poised for a sweep of their arch enemies. It was perfect.  The Yankees were leading 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth and Mariano Rivera, the game's greatest closer and the best closer in postseason play, was coming into the game.  I can remember vividly watching the FOX telecast and Joe Buck saying "The New York Yankees are 6 outs from the World Series."  I immediately flashed back to the previous fall and hearing something similar in game 6 between the Cubs and Marlins.  Shortly after that, Bartman happened.  But in 2004, there was no Bartman, there was no Buckner.  It was just Mariano.  Did I have a strange feeling when Joe Buck said that?  Sure, but I was also a mature enough fan to understand that the players play the game, and it all falls on them at the end of the day.  Mariano blew the save in the 9th, Ortiz hit the walk off in the 12th and the rest is history.  Game 5 went 14 and at that point I had a feeling, as a fan, that the Red Sox were about to do something that had never been done before in sports.  Two games later, they did.  At the time, 26 World Series Championships did not make up for the sting that was felt by the let down from athletes that I admired.  It felt like someone had stood me up and was repeatedly punching me in the gut.  For a fleeting moment, I knew what it felt like to be a Boston Red Sox fan.  The only difference was that I was not going to be the asshole and blame one individual for something that falls on the entire team.  Mariano blew the save, but the Yankees blew the series.

So much blame gets placed on a single play or an individual when something happens in sports and there is hardly any responsibility shouldered by an entire team anymore.  The media is in part to blame for this because they make stories out of nothing in order to fill their multiple channels during the 24 hour news cycle.  Nothing makes ESPN happier than non-news.  Whether it be Brett Favre not coming out of retirement, or the landscape of college football not going through the extreme turmoil of conference realignment, ESPN stirs up the emotions of fans and spectators by making something out of nothing.    Being fair, I mention ESPN because they are the 24/7 network of anything and everything sports and poker.  However, local media is not off the hook on this one.  One of the most disgusting revelations of Catching Hell was the media covering Steve Bartman instead of the Cubs collapsing as a team. 


Why as fans do people want to blame anyone BUT the athletes on the field?  There is one sport where it is accepted to blame the individual and that is golf (sorry tennis, no one is watching unless Serena Williams is choking out the umpire).  Tiger is to blame for Tiger's downfall.  It's not his wife's fault. It's not his kids' fault. It's not his caddy's fault. It's his fault, his and his alone.  He is the one swinging the club. He is the one having sex on Ambien and getting girls so into him that they need to call him when he is around his wife so she goes crazy and tries to cut his penis off with a 3 iron causing him to lose sponsorships and the respect of the game.  It all falls on Tiger.  Golf is the only case where this is permissible.  You cannot blame the individual in baseball, football, basketball, or hockey.  And you most certainly may never blame individuals in a college sport.  College athletes are not supposed to be getting paid, therefore they are not supposed to have to put up with the criticism from Uncle Rico. We all know you could have been something, but you weren't.  Stop heckling a teenager.  They are not even allowed to go and legally drink away the depression you have caused them.

Which brings me to the professional athlete and their subsequent let down to society.  Professional athletes have become puppets for the corporations that sign their checks.  They are no longer individuals but more tools for promoting the agendas of their bosses.  Professional baseball players have to hide the fact that they, grown men, are making the choice to use smokeless tobacco during games because of the image it creates.  I say, if you want to chew tobacco during a game, enjoy the mouth and throat cancer. Go right ahead and keep on chewing. It is not your place to parent the children who are looking up to you.  It is the parent's job to educate children and just because your parent's did a terrible job informing you of the risks surrounded by smokeless tobacco does not mean that you should feel guilty for enjoying your habit. 


With regards to incidents like Buckner or Bartman, it is time for the professional athlete to take responsibility for their actions on the field.  If Ochocinco wants to worry more about how many followers he has on Twitter instead of the plays in the Patriot's playbook, then so be it.  However, he should also be held to a standard like any other individual in business.  His tweets are not putting butts in the seats of the stadiums he plays in, the play of his team and his teammates are.  In business, if I were to sit in meetings and tweet my feelings during the workday, I would likely be fired for not doing what I was supposed to.  I only hope that the same could start ringing true in professional sports.  If the athlete is not doing what the athlete is supposed to be doing, they better hope they did not leave college early so they can put their free degree to use pursuing other avenues. 

It is my distant memory and dream that professional sports start treating their blue collar fans with the respect they deserve for paying their hard earned money to sit in the stands. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen as long as their is money to be made and nobody is willing to hold them accountable.

What Happened to Parents Like Mine?

I feel like I need to give a little background on myself for the sake of the reader who does not know who I am.  The short story is, I graduated from high school, got married at 20 (because I knew better than EVERYONE around me), divorced at 24 (because it turns out that everyone around me was right), graduated from the University of South Florida at 29 with a Bachelor's in History and for the past two years I was teaching the current generation of middle school students.  For the stellar work I put in and the positive reviews I received for two years, I am currently on the outside looking in.  I am doing my best not to let this keep me down, but rest assured; it is all not negative for me.  The things that I have seen in the past two years would make any sane, intelligent individual's head spin.  

I will also disclose that I have no children of my own and that this, like most legitimate arguments, does not apply to everyone but it does apply to the majority.

I realize that it is the job of the older generations to look back to the younger generations and complain and say their music is terrible and that they are being afforded opportunities they are taking for granted that their parents never had.  Well, being 31 (and not drastically removed from my youth), I feel that it is safe to say that this current generation of the youth of America are some of the most mindless, sheepish, programmable citizens this country has ever produced and I am placing blame solely on one other group of citizens, their parents. 

Parents of today's youth have instilled upon their children a sense of entitlement that would make any member of The Greatest Generation cringe. The youth of America feel that they should not have to work for anything and they do not plan on starting to anytime soon.  One of the grossest examples of this occurs every day and every year in the current public school system.  It is my hope that not every school district operates this way but given my limited experience, it is all I know, and it goes too far. 

Here is the scenario:  Johnny goes to school almost every day.  There is the occasional time when Johnny's Mom had to sleep one off and she could not get him to the bus on time, nor did she even bother to bring him to school late.  Johnny's Dad may or may not be around, he really does not know because he spends most of his time locked in his room playing XBOX360 and downloading shitty YouTube videos or sending pictures of his pre-pubescent crotch to all his friends in hope that someone will return the favor.

When Johnny is able to take a break from sexting and get to school, he sits in class.  That is it.  He sits in class and does absolutely nothing for 180 days a year.  Johnny turns in no work, contributes very little to the conversation except for the random smart ass remark, which the teachers appreciate on a whole new level because they realize Johnny has a pulse, and he is for all intents and purposes failing.  He is failing every teacher's class throughout the school with percentages that equal scores I have written on a scorecard for a par 5 at the local golf club.

About three-quarters of the way through the year, after countless attempts at contacting Mom while she is sober and comatose, she schedules a parent-teacher conference to find out why Johnny is not doing well in school.  If your head is not spinning just yet, keep reading. 

Mom schedules a conference that she subsequently reschedules three more times because she "forgot" or "could not make it" for whatever reason.  When the conference does take place, she is one of two people.  She is either the deer in headlights, totally caught off guard that Johnny is the student he is, or she is the angry, wild turkey bobbing her head and strutting around placing blame on all of the teachers instead of herself.  Because after all, if Johnny is failing EVERY class, the teachers have it in for him.  Sitting in on this meeting is an administrative figure of some sort that may or may not back up the teacher's position on Johnny's behavior.  They really do not know because they are too busy worrying about the kids that get sent out of class every day for telling the teachers to go fuck themselves.  Discipline in the school system is another topic for another day that is equally astounding.

The conclusion of the meeting is simple.  It is the conclusion that has been put in place to make sure that "No Child is Left Behind."  Johnny will stay after school a couple days a week and be given a packet of work for every class that he is failing in order to make up the credit for all of the work he did not do in the first place.  Johnny must successfully complete the packet and earn no less than a 70% in order to be given credit for the course.  Johnny shows up sporadically to the after school sessions, goofs around because he has just spent the entire day doing nothing and he has pent up energy, and the due date quickly approaches.  Johnny asks for an extension and is given one.  He eventually turns in a half-assed effort and imagine to all of the teacher's surprise when Johnny earns above a 70% on every single packet (wink-wink, nudge-nudge...do not ask any questions because your questions do not matter).  Johnny's mother is ecstatic because her baby is going to graduate 8TH GRADE!!!  She is SO happy because this will likely be the last time her child graduates anything short of being promoted from working the fry-o-lator to assistant manager at McDonald's.

The aforementioned story is in no way embellished and in no way fabricated.  It is merely an amalgamation of several occurrences during my time in the public school system that most people are unaware of.  These students exist and more importantly; these parents exist.   I pushed it to the extreme cases, but the parents of this generation are guilty of, what the late great George Carlin called, "Child Worship" and it is ruining this country right before our very eyes.

At about 3:00 of this video, the most frustrating aspect of today's society rears it's ugly head.  "In today's America, no child ever loses. There are no losers anymore.  Everyone's a winner. No matter what the game or sport or competition, everyone wins. Everybody wins. Everybody gets a trophy."

What I am thankful for is having parents who instilled in me a sense of individual thought and respect.  To know the proper time and place to question authority is lost on this current generation.  The amount of disrespect among the youth in this country is growing faster than the national debt.  Human decency and kindness are a thing of the past and it is creating angry individuals like me who feel the need to blog about it in the hopes that people read it and say, "you know, the angry asshole has a point."  My hope is that this does not create more anger and frustration but merely serves as a wake-up call to the parents and future parents out there.  Not a week goes by that people I graduated high school with are posting that they are pregnant.  Face it, people having sex and having children is not going anywhere.  It is my hope and sincere request that you become more like my parents and hopefully your parents and not like Johnny's parents.  Teach your kids to think for themselves and respectfully question things they find askew in the universe.  Teach them that not everyone is lucky to have parents like you and not like Johnny's.  Teach them to care about something other than what their friends are telling them to care about.  And for the sake of future society, please talk to your children and not let this instant gratification of a digital age raise another generation of mindless disrespectful sheep. 

And so it begins...

I have been toying around with the idea of starting up a blog but I did not want it to be like every other blog out there.  The most important thing that I wanted to make sure was good was the title for the blog.  The title sets the tone. It gives readers an idea of just what they are in for when they click on the link to a particular post.  It is for this reason that I settled on Reprehensible Harm.

For those who may be unclear, you may have heard the word but reprehensible is defined as "worthy of or deserving blame or condemnation."  The two word term, reprehensible harm, is often used when describing the tobacco industry in the United States.  People want to damn the tobacco industry for causing reprehensible harm to the people who get cancer from smoking cigarettes.  Those same people say nothing about the millions who WILLINGLY go and buy cigarettes knowing full well the effects of smoking.  It can't be their fault, can it?  NOOOO...it is the tobacco industry and their catchy little ads.  Personally, I blame it on Mad Men.  Those guys have made smoking and drinking before noon cool again.  Do they get chastised in the media?  No, they get Emmy's.  (note: there will be plenty of sarcasm laced throughout my posts...try to keep up.)

For the past few years I have noticed a downturn in the way we handle things in society. Individual blame has gone out the window and it is always anybody's fault but their own.  It is the fast food industry's fault that we are an obese society; not that we are a society driven on this "go go go" philosophy leaving people little time or energy to actually cook a home cooked meal.  It is Hollywood's fault that parents and their children do not have much of a relationship; not that the parents could only care about what interests them and instead of trying to connect with their kids, they just buy them flat screen TV's and PS3's and cars that have DVD players built in so a parent can go through their child's life without ever having to speak to them.

My aim with this blog is not to come across angry at society but merely open a few eyes to some of the everyday problems that are right in front of us.  I plan on covering current events and offering my humble commentary.  I hope you give it a chance and follow along.  Let's have some fun!!