Some kooky fan art I found. Pretty goofy, and oddly-PC, in that "empowering" kind-of way. Or not. Send all hate mail to www.shaddap.orgI'll re-visit the football picks tomorrow, after tonight's scintillating Saint-49ers game. I'm sure it'll be a classic. My picks? Equally classic.
Everyone's got a favorite dance partner when it comes to one's sports teams. Sure, you might have several teams you like or you'll follow because you're interested by them - but your first is always....first.
For me, it's the Washington Redskins. My grandfather was a huge fan, spending over 40 years of Sundays on his couch yelling at the TV. He was rewarded in 1982 with a championship, and passed away only 5 weeks prior to the out-of-nowhere Super Bowl win after the 1987 season.
I guess I was in 5th grade when the 'Skins nabbed my little heart. Their first Super Bowl win vs. Miami that season was icing on the cake, I was hooked. That was the Theissman-Riggins-Monk team after the strike. Good times.
After that, burgundy and gold. Yes, I've written here about your New England Patriots, and I like them too. But they're the 2nd wife. The Redskins lose on a Sunday and I'm instantly existential and morose - why am I here what am I doing and WHY do I do this to myself on a weekly basis. Pats lose......crap, that sucks. Baseball or Hockey? Not even close. I might get a little downbeat but it's never a biggie.
Not so the Skins. I've never cried - I reserve crying for Lions and Browns fans (really, it's not fair), but I get moody, argumentative, and all around am a cruddy person to be around.
SO IT IS that yesterday, my team lost a heartbreaker in OT to a better Houston team. They were in that one, up by alot going into the 4th quarter and yet Houston's more-talented players pulled out a win. Seriously, Andre Johnson could not ever be covered by Reed Doughty - never should've happened. The 'Skins could not run, but kept a very-spry looking Donnie Mac upright almost the entire game. I am diggin' on the yellow pants, too. There's retro-suck and retro-cool....this is retro-kinda cool. Gano hits what could've been the winner...I'm on Olympus. Oops. Rackers actually does hit it, 5 minutes later....I'm on Mt. Trashmore.
But my team's performance allowed me to be an optimist. The QB play was phenomenal, I've not seen anything like it in DC since Brad Johnson's great 1999 season. The 'Skins defense has 3 or 4 true talents (Landry, Orakpo, Fletcher, and MAYBE Hall), and the rest is being done with schemes..smoke and mirrors. The team hung in there against ....HELLO?.....a Texans team who defeated the high-n-mighty Colts last weekend. What I'd like to see, from here on, is this Redskin team take their clubs out and destroy lesser teams on their schedule. Then, perhaps, I'll believe.
Moving on, the Pope's visit to England was non-momentous - in terms of a news story it ended up nil. I want to add to my comments, inasmuch as the church is not the perfect institution some might think it is. I think that it does not accept change easily, and (again, as an institution) for far too long the church fathers exercised an extreme amount of self-preservation and face-saving techniques instead of addressing very real problems facing it. Again, cowardly. The pope is attempting to demonstrate that, at the very least, he's no coward.
There are some, I fear, who are seeking to use this as an opportunity to effectuate change in the church's structure simply because they smell blood in the water. There may be a day when the Catholic church allows female clergy to minister, but to use these victims as a way to elbow an issue like that into the abuse scandal is appalling. Yes, the church is slow to change. No, I see no reason why women could not be priests. Not my call to make.
Ever heard the term "cafeteria Catholics?" It's a derogatory term used most often by self-righteous conservative prigs who've decided that they live and bleed the Catholic faith through their faithful observance of it. It means, for example, that a Catholic who voted Obama isn't as good a Catholic as they are. Or, a Catholic who does not attend Mass weekly is not as good as them. It's a value-based judgment, and name-calling does little to help anyone. One of the best things about Catholicism is it's "Big Tent," there are liberals and conservatives but first and foremost we are united by faith. That unity, in the American church anyway, seems frayed. It's my wish, maybe a silly dream, that this Pope's example wakes us all up a bit.
Hmmm... what else. Nothin' much. Not feeling much like railing against Tea Parties (Republicans in libertarians' clothing - or nutcases?), or Frat Parties, or Tupperware Parties. G'night, folks.
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