Marking Out a New Approach to Sports, Life
April 7, 2008 on 6:58 pm | In Uncategorized |“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief. “Theres too much confusion, I can’t get no relief. Businessmen, they drink my wine, plow men dig my earth. None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.”–Bob Dylan “All Along the Watchtower”
Unfortunately, I have reached a point where there is certainly TOO MUCH CONFUSION here, and I am going to try and invent my own relief. Bob Dylan’s introductory words to “Watchtower”, which have been referenced often, are as pertinent today as they have ever been, in my eyes.
I am going to attempt to strip the harsh veneer of negativity and anger than has infected my blog in recent months, since the world around us is, in itself, overflowing with so much vitriol and anxious ambivalence.
The Lions are obviously the most poorly managed franchise in all of sports. The Detroit Tigers, who I have recently regarded with unabated hope, are an admittedly, early 0-6 failure that have strutted around the field like a bunch of flatulent, punch-less, and self-entitled fat cats.
At my alma mater, Michigan State, during a time of near interminable war and festering economic turmoil, 4000 students “riot” at an annual party. Most of them wouldn’t choose to walk across the street to protest (or support, for that matter) the aforementioned prolonged disaster of a war, yet they can find the time to irresponsibly gather “en masse” to joyously celebrate their own collective stupidity.
Not only that, but you can wager that had 4000 minority students (any assorted underprivileged groups) gathered in the same uncontrolled manner, as the overflowing crowd of well-heeled undergrads who reveled at “Cedar Fest on Saturday night did, I am certain that bullets would have been fired, not tear gas.
I am talking about a crisis in consciousness, people. I realize that this blog will not save the world, or even the lowly Lions, but it is a time for awareness’ to be altered and perspectives to be changed, in my opinion.
So I am going to be blindly optimistic about the Lions off-season signings and their upcoming draft picks. Hopefully, things will finally take a turn for the better.
4 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^
Steve,
I’ve been RSSing this blog for a long time and appreciate your view on football, sports, and the sorry Lions in general. While you are entitled your own beliefs and certainly entitled to airing them on your own blog, I was a little surprised and taken aback by some of the politics you interjected into this post.
First, while I’m not defending the idiots at my alma mater (I remember Gunson!) and their idiotism this weekend, I don’t understand why you would chastise them for wasting their time partying instead of protesting the war in Iraq. Maybe you disagree with the war and its handling of it, but many people do believe we should stay there despite the bad decision to go in, in order to avoid genocide and chaos when we leave and in order to not have to send our troops back in again later. Besides, 4000 ignorant and naive college students aren’t exactly the types of experts or opinion providers that I’m going to turn to on the war. If anything hasn’t helped the anti-war movement, it’s exactly these type of people and their emotional outbursts. I think you are better off having them as far from any anti-war march as possible as they aren’t exactly versed in history nor in foreign policy as the people who should be calling the shots on our behalf.
Secondly, I strongly disagree with this comment:
“Not only that, but you can wager that had 4000 minority students gathered in the same uncontrolled manner, as the overflowing crowd of well-heeled undergrads who reveled at “Cedar Fest on Saturday night did, I am certain that bullets would have been fired, not tear gas.”
I wouldn’t wager on that myself. America has certainly come a long way in race relations and there were many minorities present in the riots as I saw from the Youtube footage. Real riots, like the ones in LA and after Katrina didn’t result in the type of outcome you envisioned, even though they were primarily minority based. I really don’t think you have any evidence to suggest such a wild supposition and it really makes me question whether or not you subscribe to a certain kind of pessimistic bias that we see in today’s race baited Democratic primaries currently underway.
I guess I thought this was a sports blog. I certainly appreciate your opinion and your freedom of speech, but in today’s internet and blogosphere, having a non-political place to go for sports (which should remain apolitical IMO) is always nice. I hope this blog stays that way. Thanks for allowing me my two cents.
Comment by Alex — April 8, 2008 #
Alex–
First off, thanks for your thoughts and for RSSing my blog. I apologize this entry admittedly was a little bit irresponsible on my part.
However, I don’t retract, or apologize, for my comments. I will say this, these are my comments, albeit a bit exaggerated. My premise is admittedly flimsy. I was attempting to make a connection between organizational dysfunction at various levels of society and criticize the “rioters” overall callousness, which was poorly executed.
If it makes you feel better, you can change my comments to students not crossing the street to support the troops, either assertion applies. I also think that my comments on race, were unfounded and unsubstantiated, but if you change my statement to include both minorities and the economically underprivileged of all races and backgrounds, these comments may have more validity.
My point is, that those students were given a free pass that night, and likely will be given one for their entire lives.
You won’t see any more politics here, I really didn’t intend this to be a political manifesto of sorts, it was more of a comment on the various streams of dysfunction and ineptitude that we have had to observe of late at all levels of society. No offense intended.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and informed comments. I was serious about putting my head in the sand in regards to the Lions, though. Hope and optimism, no matter how misguided, is all that Lions fans truly have left.
Comment by Steve — April 9, 2008 #
I share your unhappiness regarding the behavior of the Michigan State Students. I don’t know if you can remember the LSJ article in ‘04 or ‘05 where a similar event happened and the students compared it to Kent State. It is embarrassing to alumni. That said, it is my opinion that most people who show up at protests are of a similar vein–middle to upper class “intellectuals” with no clue as to what they are doing or why they are there(other than they are following the herd). They are all jackasses of the same vein. I would love to see more protest–just a bit more honest and a little less smug.
That brings me to sports. The vaunted Tigers lineup reminds me more of the ‘03 Tigers than the ‘27 Yankees. I am so pissed off about this I cannot say more without soiling your blog with obscenities. That brings me to the Lions . . . nope–not a word for the same reason I just cited.
Comment by Angry Lions Fan f/k/a Hondo — April 9, 2008 #
Steve,
Thanks for providing more info. Based on your explanation I completely agree with you. I never intended for you to apologize nor retract anything. It’s your blog and your opinions are as valid as anyone else’s. Keep on writing and I’ll keep on reading!
Comment by Alex — April 9, 2008 #