hell of a life

i type this as i listen to the new kanye west cd, which is AMAZING.  i know there's a lot of people who hate kanye because he's such a dick, but he's a genius.  plain and simple.

so anyway, the song i'm listening to is "hell of a life" and it got me to thinking how good my life is.  so here, in honor of thanksgiving, is my list of what i'm thankful for.  some are serious and some are silly, much like the dichotomy that is my life.

-the national league (the dh is stupid)
-my family.  i have the best wife and man could ask for.  and my kids are my entire world.
-america.  living in a country where i can say things are stupid is nice.
-my mom and dad.  for putting up with all my shenanigans for 17 years.  and then some.
-music.  i am consumed by it.  i breathe it.  it's like an extension of me.
-writing.  we're living in an age where every schmo has a blog.  but how many are actually worth reading?  other than this one and "the mighty rib", of course.  we take these things for granted and good writing is going by the wayside, my friends.
-aggie football.  it's nice to be able to say that again.
-texas a&m. i grew up there.  i learned what it is to be a man there.  i miss my 6 years there.  haha.
-good bourbon.  scotch can be so pretentious.  and bourbon is america's.  embrace it.
-my friends.  you guys make my life more fun.  it's awesome to share this world with y'all.

hit the road, jack

I’ve never really been one to want the plug pulled on a coach mid-season unless it’s clear to everyone that the situation would be markedly improved with said coach being removed from the equation.


However, the time has come for the Houston Texans to turn the page on the Gary Kubiak era and start fresh with a renewed focus on the defensive side of the ball. Professional football teams tend to take on the personality of their head coaches. By all accounts, Gary Kubiak is a fair, honest and decent man who is respected by his peers and his players. Heck, he’s an Aggie which normally would be enough for me.

But football coaches aren’t paid millions of dollars to be liked or to win popularity contests – they’re paid to win football games, plain and simple. And Kubiak definitely hasn’t done enough of that in the 4-plus years he’s been in charge in Houston.

Since he’s been the head man of the Texans, I can count on one hand the number of times this team has come out of the locker room with swagger and punched the other team in the mouth from the opening whistle. Sometimes a team has to play dirty to win. They have to be mean and they have to want their opponent to suffer. There are certainly some players like that on the Texans roster, but largely, players take their cues from their Head Coach. If the coach doesn’t get fired up and instill that “F you” attitude, then most likely the players won’t either.

And before you try the old argument of “the coaches aren’t the ones playing the games, the players are”, remember this – 1) you can’t fire all the players, and 2) Kubiak has said to lay the blame on him. Well okay, it’s on you. There’s the door, don’t let it hit you on the way out.

The next step is to write an open check to Bill Cowher, a coach who knows a little something about toughness and winning football games. He’s a player’s coach, a taskmaster and a disciplinarian. He has earned respect as a hard worker and a Super Bowl winner. If he hired a top notch Offensive Coordinator, the Texans would be in good shape.

They would learn how to fight. They would learn how to come out swinging. They wouldn’t take any BS. And most importantly, they would learn how to win and not fold like a cheap card table.

no myth

There’s something rotten in the state of America.  Yes, I know America is not a state.  But if you’re complaining about that first sentence, you’re obviously not a Shakespeare fan.

We have become a country of instant gratification.  We’re all guilty of it, yours truly included.  Nothing can ever happen soon enough; if change for the better isn’t here tomorrow, then we’ve got to do something about it.  Like vote everyone out of office.  To these people, I offer this advice – Rome (America) wasn’t built in a day.

Things take time to develop, like a fine wine or a good Scotch.  Can you imagine a distiller saying, “Screw it, I can’t wait anymore”, and selling a 2 year old batch of Scotch?  But that’s exactly where we’re at in this country.

I know I’m going to receive some comments, but Republicans refuse to believe that President Obama can do a good job and they are trying everything they can to tarnish his accomplishments.  Is it possible that they don’t like the idea of a black man succeeding in the ultimate position of power?

Look, some people are ignorant and many will believe what you tell them when they refuse to think for themselves.  Democrats are most certainly guilty of this, too.  Which is why I think the two party system is also largely to blame.  I’m a liberal, but I don’t need the Democratic party to tell me what to do.

We’ll seemingly never elect the right person as long as people vote along party lines and not for who deserves the job.  We have gotten too comfortable as a society and don’t challenge ourselves to try something new.  We tend to live where our parents live, we socialize with people who are similar to us and we tend to believe the same things our parents did.  Which often times leads us to vote as our parents did.

And we’ll never be truly united as a country as long as people buy into the “change is not coming soon enough, let’s try something else” mentality.

Many of my friends are Republicans.  I am not.  But for the most part we can have an intelligent discourse on what we think and why we think it.  And I respect them because they can articulate their opinions and support their opinions.  Too many people just go along because they are upset and don’t know what the answer is.

Well here’s a newsflash.  Most of us don’t know what the answers are.  But to think that wholesale changes are the answer every time something doesn’t happen as soon as we want it to is irresponsible. 

I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it again.  Please make informed decisions.  We urge everyone to use their right to vote, but I’m taking it a step further.  If you don’t understand what you’re voting for, then don’t do it.  You’re only adding fuel to the fire.

What does the future hold for America?  I’d be a fool to say I know.  But I am still hopeful because, what’s the alternative?  I won’t get angry, but I am largely disappointed in how quick we are to give up on things.  I am hopeful that one day we can say we live in the United States of America and be able to mean it.

supermassive black hole

so, the title of this post is a muse song.  today's entry is "monday musings".  do ya get it?

-Hit the jackpot at lunch the other day – saw “Soul Patch” guy AND “I Wear My Sunglasses Inside” guy.  Sitting together, no less.  Quite impressive…

-Quoting Major League never gets old.

                  

                   ~This guy’s dead.

               ~Cross him off, then!

-My second favorite holiday is coming up.  Christmas will always be #1 for me, Thanksgiving is #2, New Year’s is #3 and Halloween is #4.  I think Halloween is a little overrated, especially now that I’m older.  I really think the candy companies are in collusion to keep this thing going, much like the greeting card industry keeps Valentine’s Day going.  But back to Halloween – the thing I like the most is all the horror movies and assorted paranormal programming that’s on.

-I’m turning 33 in 6 days (or as I call it, “my Larry Bird”; next year will be my “Hakeem Olajuwon”). If I didn’t have kids to remind me every day that I’m a grown up (some people will argue that I’m still not a grown up), I would feel like a kid playing house…

-Football is the greatest sport ever invented.  And it’s not even close.  If you were to think of my favorite sports as a pie, football would represent roughly 50% of that pie.  Following football would be soccer and basketball, tied at about 15% each. Then golf and baseball follow, tied at 10% each.  Hockey?  I couldn’t care less.

funny the way it is

i am a huge college football fan.  one of the things i can't stand is a t-shirt fan (like most texas fans), people who didn't go to school there, couldn't get in if they tried, and talk more trash than anyone else.  it maddens me to no end that someone picked a popular team to follow for no real reason other than the fact that they're good, then proceeds to dog my team every chance they get.

my biggest rule for trash talking is this - if you went to school there, you're allowed to do it.  if you didn't, support your team but keep your mouth shut.

well, a while back i called someone out on a situation on facebook and they didn't like it.

let me start by saying this person is a texas fan.  texas plays in the big 12 south.  this person was openly rooting for oklahoma state.  oklahoma state is in the big 12 south.  there's issue #1.

oklahoma state was playing texas a&m.  i went to texas a&m.  there's issue #2.  i called this person out and told them it was kind of contradictory to be a texas fan and root for oklahoma state, since they're technically rivals and all.

let me also say that this person has routinely talked trash to me about how good their football team is.  the football team of the school they didn't go to.  in the state they're not from.

needless to say, i was not happy.  since i have to deal with this fairly regularly, i decided to put an end to it on my side.  i removed this person as a friend on facebook.  we probably never should have been friends anyway, because in any social setting i likely wouldn't be friends with this person.  childish?  maybe.  do i feel better about not having to deal with it anymore?  more than you'll know.

the funny thing is, as soon as it happened this person went to facebook to discuss being "unfriended" due to football.  which is a part of it.  but the bigger picture is that this person annoys me, plain and simple.  the fact that they had to go to facebook to get some reassurance from their friends that i was silly and immature for doing it just made me feel even better about my decision.

i'm not perfect.  but i won't apologize for not wanting to deal with this when i don't have to.

patience

there are some people in this world that, for whatever reason, just know how to and enjoy pushing your buttons.  i try my best to not let it get to me, but sometimes it really hard to just let it go.

the best way i've found to combat it is to just not associate with them.  i refuse to let other people make me feel miserable when i don't want to feel that way.

patience...it's more than a virtue.  it's a gift and sometimes it's not given to us when we need it or would like it.  so when you have it, use it.  you never know when you're gonna get some again.

one

so this post is bound to turn some people away.  but it's something i believe in and i write this for myself as well as my (6) readers.

tolerance.  look, we've all been bigoted in some form or another in our lives whether it be racial prejudice, homophobia, sexual discrimination, religious persecution, etc.  i'm guilty of it, too.  but i also like to think that i've grown enough as a person over time to know that we're one, though we're not the same. (thanks, paul hewson.  don't know who paul hewson is?  look it up.)

anyway, back to my point.  a friend of mine posed the question on facebook today (indirectly through a linked article), what would you do if your son wanted to be a princess?  it got me to thinking - i know a scary proposition.  but what i came up with surprised me a little, and i'm not afraid to admit that.  the bottom line is i just want my kids to be happy.  and if being a princess made my son happy, then i'll be happy too.

10 years ago, i wouldn't have felt that way.  and even if i did, i would never have admitted it.  in my eyes, you were less of a man if you were gay.  in a society where masculinity is predicated on how strong we are, how many animals we kill and what our sports iq is, it is easy to buy into that notion. but what really defines us as men more than how we treat our families?

i really am comfortable enough to know that it's okay.  my wife loves me and i love her.  my kids love me and i love them.  to me, that's really all i need.

a few weeks ago, we were asked in our church group by our pastor what we wanted our church to be known for and what we should strive to be.  i simply wrote, "love everybody".  it really is that simple.  people who hate us still deserve for someone to love them.  and at some point in their life, somebody did love them.  maybe they went astray when that love was taken away.

just something to think about.  try a little tolerance (or tenderness...thanks, otis).