I was an accidental Cop. I got a degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Corrections and Criminology. I THOUGHT I was going to go back and get an MSW (Me Social Worker), but I didn't get accepted in graduate school right out of college, so I went to work. Thinking I might try again later.
Well, you get married, you get a house and a mortgage, and a kid and, well, things change.
And you end up working for Corrections. Then you end up going to the Police Academy and the next thing you know? You are wearing bullet proof under ware and kicking in doors in meth labs on, "No Knock" search warrants.
And thinking, "How did I end up here? I wanted to save the world. Now? I'm kicking it's ass!"
So it goes.
I have no regrets. It gave me a good living, let me meet and marry my wife and now I'm retired and have a pension. We both do. I could have made a lot of worse decisions.
But I was just thinking about how people don't really understand what being a, "Cop" means. You can watch, COPS on Saturday and see the bad stuff, but they also edit out a LOT of bad stuff.
You don't see what happens with the kids when the Cop has to put the parents in jail. The Cop has to wait for hours for the DEA to come and clean up the meth lab, and DCFS to come and pick up the kids. And when they pick up the kids? It tears your heart out.
The parents put their kids in that position, but I put them in the hands of the state. I did the right thing, but it never feels right when you do it.
I had to put people in jail for shit that they should NOT have gone to jail for. Smoking pot? Really? Well, I took the oath, and it's against the law. I did my job. But it was not always the right thing to do.
You see the worst of the worst of people. The poor, the, "underclass" of America are the folks who come in contact with guys like me. The Cops.
In the 23 years I was doing probation and parole, I had ONE case of a guy who lived in Willow Creek.
The middle of the road folks were the worst ones to deal with. The privileged, Mormon, white, Republican families that live in Riverton, Herriman, and those areas thought they were above the law. They wouldn't even open the door for us sometimes. Pricks.
But most of the time, we dealt with folks most of you wouldn't know about. Associate with. Live around. And it's true when they talk about, "The thin blue line" between society and anarchy.
We kept the society from having to deal with the folks who would bring anarchy. If they could. Cause they wouldn't CHOOSE to live like they do. And yea, they WILL take your stuff if you leave it unlocked.
I'm not thin, but I was sure a part of that line. And I think I did a good job. But it did leave me a little fucked up.
I was retired six years before I could go into a restaurant before I could sit with my back to the front door.
I still carry a gun sometimes. I get nervous being downtown or in West Valley City or Magna when my son plays a soccer game out there. Because for about ten years, I was THE Parole Agent for everything south of 2100 to 4700, and west of 3600 to the mountains.
I'm much more relaxed now. But when my friend got married in Michigan a number of years ago, a guy pulled his truck in front of us while we were walking across a street in front of my wife's blind cane, and I kicked his truck! Probably wouldn't do that now. I'm not as tightly strung.
But after all those years of having to be in, "condition red", it took some time to wind down.
So when you encounter a Police Officer, be it for a traffic ticket or some other reason, please keep in mind that we/they live in a different world. One in which every encounter with a person could be a life or death situation.
After all, the van he/she pulls over for speeding could be mom, dad and the kids late for a soccer game, or a parole fugitive from out of state. And he won't know until he gets to the window. So give a guy a break. The Cop is not trying to be a prick, even if they come off as one.
They are just trying to be careful and cautious. You get treated with the respect you want, by the respect you give. Not to the Cop, but to the badge.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
That Is So GAY! And Armed
So the Fed's have decided, in the Courts, that it's not Constitutional for Utah (and that means any OTHER state) to deny marriage to Gay people.
Wow. That's great. But any of us who went to college, and understand how the country works, knew it was coming. It was inevitable. The Constitution was designed to protect the MINORITY from the tyranny of the MAJORITY!
After all, the folks who founded this country left England and fled to Holland to avoid being forced to join ONE religion. And live the way THEY told them to. And after that, risk their lives to sail to this continent to have even MORE freedom from religious oppression.
Now, admittedly, there were some bumps in the road. There were some Colonies that picked a religion. But once The Constitution was passed? That went away.
Except in Utah. 100 years later.
And it still exists.
Look, Governor Hebert, and the rest of you morons, you can NOT win if you take this fight further. It will just cost a lot of money. You remember the fight against cable TV in the 80's? No, you don't. Cause you spent a fortune on that and lost. But hey, you don't remember Prohibition, cause you didn't pay attention in history class, or you were home schooled.
Or in the Governor's case. You dropped out of college. Well out of byu. But that's not really a college.
You have to let it go. Marriage is a GOVERNMENT thing. Government grants those of us married, special rights that they don't grant to others. Tax breaks, inheritance laws, lots, and lots of other things. It's a GOVERNMENT thing, not a CHURCH thing. YOUR church will not ever, ever, not never, have to PERFORM a Gay Marriage! The Government can't MAKE you do it! So lighten up.
Under YOUR anti Gay thinking? My wife and I are NOT married? But we've been married for almost 29 years now. We get the tax breaks, etc. But our marriage was performed by a Judge.
So if you let MY marriage stand in Utah and, oh, I don't know? Lets say, Ohio's marriage stand in our state, but you don't let THEIR marriage stand in our state? Why would you let any other of their laws stand in our state.
We would not be members of the Interstate Compact on Probation and Parole. Extraditions. They would no longer have to come and get their fugitives who get caught here (and ours being held in theirs, we would NOT have to go get?). Do we really want that?
Do we want trucks that won't pass our standards of maintenance being allowed to drive on OUR highways?
This why we have a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, so we have a COUNTRY!
And this is a big one in Utah. Would you not want to let other states not honor our concealed weapon permit? But you expect to honor theirs?
So get over it, Republican, Mormon, Right Wing, folks. The Gays can be married. No one CHOSE to be Gay.
So let's spend the millions of dollars the state would spend wasting their time on trying to beat the odds, which they will lose, on public education!
And by the way, Gary? I you don't decide to take the Federal Money to expand Medicare to a lot more people, just to make you a Tea Party darling? You will be giving MILLIONS of dollars to other states that THIS state paid in taxes just cause you're a jerk.
But you're going to do it anyway, aren't you?
Republicans are pricks.
Wow. That's great. But any of us who went to college, and understand how the country works, knew it was coming. It was inevitable. The Constitution was designed to protect the MINORITY from the tyranny of the MAJORITY!
After all, the folks who founded this country left England and fled to Holland to avoid being forced to join ONE religion. And live the way THEY told them to. And after that, risk their lives to sail to this continent to have even MORE freedom from religious oppression.
Now, admittedly, there were some bumps in the road. There were some Colonies that picked a religion. But once The Constitution was passed? That went away.
Except in Utah. 100 years later.
And it still exists.
Look, Governor Hebert, and the rest of you morons, you can NOT win if you take this fight further. It will just cost a lot of money. You remember the fight against cable TV in the 80's? No, you don't. Cause you spent a fortune on that and lost. But hey, you don't remember Prohibition, cause you didn't pay attention in history class, or you were home schooled.
Or in the Governor's case. You dropped out of college. Well out of byu. But that's not really a college.
You have to let it go. Marriage is a GOVERNMENT thing. Government grants those of us married, special rights that they don't grant to others. Tax breaks, inheritance laws, lots, and lots of other things. It's a GOVERNMENT thing, not a CHURCH thing. YOUR church will not ever, ever, not never, have to PERFORM a Gay Marriage! The Government can't MAKE you do it! So lighten up.
Under YOUR anti Gay thinking? My wife and I are NOT married? But we've been married for almost 29 years now. We get the tax breaks, etc. But our marriage was performed by a Judge.
So if you let MY marriage stand in Utah and, oh, I don't know? Lets say, Ohio's marriage stand in our state, but you don't let THEIR marriage stand in our state? Why would you let any other of their laws stand in our state.
We would not be members of the Interstate Compact on Probation and Parole. Extraditions. They would no longer have to come and get their fugitives who get caught here (and ours being held in theirs, we would NOT have to go get?). Do we really want that?
Do we want trucks that won't pass our standards of maintenance being allowed to drive on OUR highways?
This why we have a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, so we have a COUNTRY!
And this is a big one in Utah. Would you not want to let other states not honor our concealed weapon permit? But you expect to honor theirs?
So get over it, Republican, Mormon, Right Wing, folks. The Gays can be married. No one CHOSE to be Gay.
So let's spend the millions of dollars the state would spend wasting their time on trying to beat the odds, which they will lose, on public education!
And by the way, Gary? I you don't decide to take the Federal Money to expand Medicare to a lot more people, just to make you a Tea Party darling? You will be giving MILLIONS of dollars to other states that THIS state paid in taxes just cause you're a jerk.
But you're going to do it anyway, aren't you?
Republicans are pricks.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
I Get A Lot Of Feedback On Pictures Of My Friend
- I just changed my Facebook picture to one of me with my friend, Lisa Landry, the Comedian, when she was here in SLC in April.
Lot's of people liked it.
When Deb and I met her, she was 60 pounds heavier. No one thought she was hot, but I thought she was pretty.
Then she loses all this weight. And when Phil and went to Las Vegas to see her in December of 2011. And he kept saying, only cause we had been drinking all day in my condo there, "You didn't tell me she was SO pretty!" I think he said it ten times.
Since Lisa, not even knowing Phil, came off the stage, and knowing me, and that I was there with a friend, walked right past ME and hugged and kissed Phil on the cheek. Kind of blew his mind.
I finally told him, "We didn't drive 600 miles to see her cause she's so pretty! We MARRIED pretty girls. We drove all this way cause she's so FUNNY! Get over it!"
Now, I posted a picture of me with Lisa, when she was here in SLC last April. Lots of comments on FB.
My son said it all when he said, after meeting Lisa at our house a few years ago, "Dad, your friend is HOT!"
OK, I get it. She's a really pretty girl. My best friend and my son thinks so. So I believe it.
But I don't see her that way. Pretty is just a bonus. She's the funniest comedian in America in my opinion, and I KNOW comedy!
I loved her work when she looked like a woman who had just had a baby!
I'll post some pictures, you decide.
You decide.
Listen to her album. If you think she's funny? Good. Does it matter that she's pretty? If you like comedy, it shouldn't.
End of story.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
I Never Thought I'd SAY This, But...
I might want a SMALLER car!
I know, you all that know me are calling bullshit. But I shit you not.
I thought the next stop for Debra Jo and I would be an Audi A8. Not a NEW one. That's foolish! They want $110K for one of those? I can get one a year old for about what I would pay for a new A6. With lots more trunk space. And a V8, or V10.
But today, I dropped off the A6 for some minor repairs at the dealer. Only because it required THEIR computer to figure it out. And they gave me a really, sweet loaner. Q5 2.0, black on black.
Drives great, has lots of room. So I did some research.
I could buy a six cylinder model of THIS car, with a TDI! That gets 31 MPG on the highway. Has 340 BHP and all the bells and whistles, for about $20K LESS than I paid for my A6. In 2006! And I don't feel like I would be losing ANYTHING in either luxury or performance!
I really thought my SUV days were over. Since it became VERY obvious, that taking a blind woman out in the woods, or the desert to tent camp when she would have to make her own way to the outhouse, if there WAS one, was just a bad idea.
But I could be comfortable in THIS car.
No, it's not A8 luxurious. It doesn't feel like a limo. But the truth be known? I don't NEED a limo? It's just Deb and I. Danny will be off in college next year, and Meagan, the Autistic is 25 years old and does not like to travel, so I'm not going to make her. She's grown up now, and can make her own decisions.
So, Strong Audi might have just undersold a good customer, by giving me a car I could love when it's not the one I thought I loved? Sounds like a country song.
My A6 is far from done. But I'm starting to heavily covet a Q5. And all our bills are paid. Maybe, Danny would LIKE the A6, we could sell the Focus, and he could....
OH STOP IT! I have to quit thinking like this.
Even when it's half the price of what I was GOING to buy? I don't need to buy it yet.
I think I'll pick up my A6 tomorrow, and enjoy the ride home
I know, you all that know me are calling bullshit. But I shit you not.
I thought the next stop for Debra Jo and I would be an Audi A8. Not a NEW one. That's foolish! They want $110K for one of those? I can get one a year old for about what I would pay for a new A6. With lots more trunk space. And a V8, or V10.
But today, I dropped off the A6 for some minor repairs at the dealer. Only because it required THEIR computer to figure it out. And they gave me a really, sweet loaner. Q5 2.0, black on black.
Drives great, has lots of room. So I did some research.
I could buy a six cylinder model of THIS car, with a TDI! That gets 31 MPG on the highway. Has 340 BHP and all the bells and whistles, for about $20K LESS than I paid for my A6. In 2006! And I don't feel like I would be losing ANYTHING in either luxury or performance!
I really thought my SUV days were over. Since it became VERY obvious, that taking a blind woman out in the woods, or the desert to tent camp when she would have to make her own way to the outhouse, if there WAS one, was just a bad idea.
But I could be comfortable in THIS car.
No, it's not A8 luxurious. It doesn't feel like a limo. But the truth be known? I don't NEED a limo? It's just Deb and I. Danny will be off in college next year, and Meagan, the Autistic is 25 years old and does not like to travel, so I'm not going to make her. She's grown up now, and can make her own decisions.
So, Strong Audi might have just undersold a good customer, by giving me a car I could love when it's not the one I thought I loved? Sounds like a country song.
My A6 is far from done. But I'm starting to heavily covet a Q5. And all our bills are paid. Maybe, Danny would LIKE the A6, we could sell the Focus, and he could....
OH STOP IT! I have to quit thinking like this.
Even when it's half the price of what I was GOING to buy? I don't need to buy it yet.
I think I'll pick up my A6 tomorrow, and enjoy the ride home
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Traveling NOW, VS. Traveling THEN
When we were young, meaning my friends and I, well, and my wife too. We could travel at a moments notice.
You want to go to Southern Utah for the weekend? Break out the 98 quart cooler, fill it with food, beer, ice. Get the tent, the sleeping bags. Make a stop at the liquor store, fill the Isuzu with gas and off we go. Oh, don't forget food for the dog. Or the DOG for that matter!
We knew what we needed, knew where it was, and could throw that stuff together in a few minutes.
Now? Not so much.
I'm going to go to Denver this week with my friends, Phil and Al, to see my friend Lisa Landry the comedian, and I've been planning it for a MONTH!
Once we all decided that we were going to go, we had to all agree on what day we were going to leave. We had to decide WHICH show we wanted to go to. Well, if Phil can't get Thursday off, we have to leave on Friday, so we better book the late show on Friday night.
Then I had to find a hotel close to the show. Buy the tickets on line, print them off and make sure I have all this stuff in one place, so I won't forget it when we leave.
Then, starting last week, I had to get the car ready. Check the oil. Half a quart low. No sticker in the car telling me what my mechanic put in it, so I had to call him. Mobile One Synthetic, 5-30. Turns out I HAD a half a quart of that in the garage, cause it's what I use in the Camaro.
Fill the washer fluid. Check the tire pressure. Get the car washed, cause I at least want to START the trip with the car clean.
Check my prescriptions, make sure I have enough that I don't run out while I'm out of town! Never did THAT when I was young.
Spent today paying the bills that are due the first week of the month in case it snows in Wyoming on the way home, and we are stuck in Cheyenne for a week to ten days, turning our under ware inside out, that is if we can GET a motel room, so the mortgage doesn't get missed and BOA jumps all over us and by the time I get home, the house has been foreclosed, and Deb and the kids are living in my mom's empty condo with no furniture or cable and cursing my ass.
Tomorrow, I have to go fill the car with gas, pay any OTHER bills that have arrived, on line of course, just to be sure, and I hope I don't spend all night awake, worrying about what ever it is I forgot!
Man, might be easier to just stay home!
Any one up for an impromptu trip to the southern Utah desert? Oh, never mind. I can't camp any more. I would have to plug my CPAP machine into a Current Bush or I might die in my sleep from Apnea.
Man, life changes when you're old. I finally understand why my mother liked Erma Bombeck books, and I never thought they were funny.
You want to go to Southern Utah for the weekend? Break out the 98 quart cooler, fill it with food, beer, ice. Get the tent, the sleeping bags. Make a stop at the liquor store, fill the Isuzu with gas and off we go. Oh, don't forget food for the dog. Or the DOG for that matter!
We knew what we needed, knew where it was, and could throw that stuff together in a few minutes.
Now? Not so much.
I'm going to go to Denver this week with my friends, Phil and Al, to see my friend Lisa Landry the comedian, and I've been planning it for a MONTH!
Once we all decided that we were going to go, we had to all agree on what day we were going to leave. We had to decide WHICH show we wanted to go to. Well, if Phil can't get Thursday off, we have to leave on Friday, so we better book the late show on Friday night.
Then I had to find a hotel close to the show. Buy the tickets on line, print them off and make sure I have all this stuff in one place, so I won't forget it when we leave.
Then, starting last week, I had to get the car ready. Check the oil. Half a quart low. No sticker in the car telling me what my mechanic put in it, so I had to call him. Mobile One Synthetic, 5-30. Turns out I HAD a half a quart of that in the garage, cause it's what I use in the Camaro.
Fill the washer fluid. Check the tire pressure. Get the car washed, cause I at least want to START the trip with the car clean.
Check my prescriptions, make sure I have enough that I don't run out while I'm out of town! Never did THAT when I was young.
Spent today paying the bills that are due the first week of the month in case it snows in Wyoming on the way home, and we are stuck in Cheyenne for a week to ten days, turning our under ware inside out, that is if we can GET a motel room, so the mortgage doesn't get missed and BOA jumps all over us and by the time I get home, the house has been foreclosed, and Deb and the kids are living in my mom's empty condo with no furniture or cable and cursing my ass.
Tomorrow, I have to go fill the car with gas, pay any OTHER bills that have arrived, on line of course, just to be sure, and I hope I don't spend all night awake, worrying about what ever it is I forgot!
Man, might be easier to just stay home!
Any one up for an impromptu trip to the southern Utah desert? Oh, never mind. I can't camp any more. I would have to plug my CPAP machine into a Current Bush or I might die in my sleep from Apnea.
Man, life changes when you're old. I finally understand why my mother liked Erma Bombeck books, and I never thought they were funny.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Time To Call, Bullshit!
I keep losing friends on Facebook because I tell the truth. Tonight, I got scalded by some friends mother, who kept kicking my ass and asking me questions, while blocking my response, and telling me, "You're as arrogant as Obama!" For having an opinion that is different from yours?
Why don't you just go ahead and call me, "An uppity Nigger" too?
Racists, jerks. I have booted all of the whole family off MY FB page. I don't want to live in that world.
I don't mind having friends who disagree with me on FB. I enjoy debate. And some of my closest friends, I disagree with totally in political matters. Chuck Markham, I'm talking about YOU!
But last week, we spent hours together playing pool with our friend, Al and we are still and always will be friends.
But I have a problem with people who just don't pay attention. If you work paycheck to paycheck, you don't have health insurance, and you don't have a pension coming from your job? And you vote for Republicans? You are not paying attention.
And if you are in THAT category and you are against, "Obamacare" cause you think it's socialism? Again, you are NOT paying attention. What are you going to do when you get old and sick? Rely on Medicare? THAT would be SOCIALISM!
I have to laugh at the Tea Baggers who were holding up signs that said, "Keep your GOVERNMENT hands OFF my MEDICARE!" WTF? Where do you think MEDICARE comes from? Dumb ass.
And this government shutdown is NOT the fault of BOTH parties. It is TOTALLY in the laps of the Republicans. They don't want to fund, "Obamacare" cause they are scared to death that it will WORK! So they are throwing a temper tantrum. Jerks.
I don't have to worry. I have a bunch of money. I have a pension paid by the state. Cause I EARNED it! My wife and daughter are both getting SS disability, so even if they don't get paid? They still have Medicare. Which they should.
But there are a lot of folks out there that are going to be hurt by this.
And my friends mother, who was hating on Obama and blaming HIM for the government shut down, was saying that she was OK with it as long as her medical insurance was in tact and she got her Social Security check in the middle of the month.
When I pointed out that she was hating the government, but counting on her benefits? I was a total jerk, and, "as arrogant as Obama."
I'm the uppity nigger now? That can be the ONLY explanation for THAT kind of response.
These right wing, Tea Bagger, nut ball idiots are SO racists, and dumb about how the world works that this county is fucked unless we slap them down. And hard.
If you think the Democrats are responsible for this bullshit? You just don't pay attention. And if you think it's OK the Republicans are doing this to prove a point? Don't complain when your Social Security Check doesn't arrive. You voted for the jerks.
Why don't you just go ahead and call me, "An uppity Nigger" too?
Racists, jerks. I have booted all of the whole family off MY FB page. I don't want to live in that world.
I don't mind having friends who disagree with me on FB. I enjoy debate. And some of my closest friends, I disagree with totally in political matters. Chuck Markham, I'm talking about YOU!
But last week, we spent hours together playing pool with our friend, Al and we are still and always will be friends.
But I have a problem with people who just don't pay attention. If you work paycheck to paycheck, you don't have health insurance, and you don't have a pension coming from your job? And you vote for Republicans? You are not paying attention.
And if you are in THAT category and you are against, "Obamacare" cause you think it's socialism? Again, you are NOT paying attention. What are you going to do when you get old and sick? Rely on Medicare? THAT would be SOCIALISM!
I have to laugh at the Tea Baggers who were holding up signs that said, "Keep your GOVERNMENT hands OFF my MEDICARE!" WTF? Where do you think MEDICARE comes from? Dumb ass.
And this government shutdown is NOT the fault of BOTH parties. It is TOTALLY in the laps of the Republicans. They don't want to fund, "Obamacare" cause they are scared to death that it will WORK! So they are throwing a temper tantrum. Jerks.
I don't have to worry. I have a bunch of money. I have a pension paid by the state. Cause I EARNED it! My wife and daughter are both getting SS disability, so even if they don't get paid? They still have Medicare. Which they should.
But there are a lot of folks out there that are going to be hurt by this.
And my friends mother, who was hating on Obama and blaming HIM for the government shut down, was saying that she was OK with it as long as her medical insurance was in tact and she got her Social Security check in the middle of the month.
When I pointed out that she was hating the government, but counting on her benefits? I was a total jerk, and, "as arrogant as Obama."
I'm the uppity nigger now? That can be the ONLY explanation for THAT kind of response.
These right wing, Tea Bagger, nut ball idiots are SO racists, and dumb about how the world works that this county is fucked unless we slap them down. And hard.
If you think the Democrats are responsible for this bullshit? You just don't pay attention. And if you think it's OK the Republicans are doing this to prove a point? Don't complain when your Social Security Check doesn't arrive. You voted for the jerks.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
It's The Most WONDERFUL Time Of The Year...
I know I'm going to get a hard time for this. But so be it. I'm going to put myself out there and say that college football is the greatest game in the world. Yeah, yeah, I know. I love hockey. At all levels. I've even been known to enjoy a soccer game my son IS NOT playing in.
But college football is the best.
I know, America's Pastime is, or was Baseball. Let's face it. The NFL rules now. Even NASCAR, which used to be only limited to people from the south who actually KNEW where, "Moonshine" came from, cared about that sport. Now, you have stadiums of 200K Rednecks, watching a bunch of other Rednecks in fast cars make 1500 left turns in an afternoon, and waiting for someone you are NOT rooting for to crash into a bunch of other guys you're not rooting for so the guy you ARE rooting for, can win!
I understand the attraction to the NFL. It's pretty glamorous. But there are problems with it. It's pretty, "mercenary" any more. When I was a kid, a guy would spend his whole career with one team. Now? Not so much. You get drafted out of college, you spend three or four years with a team and have a great career. Even win a, Super Bowl! Little kids in town are buying your replica jerseys! They clamor for your autograph! You are a local hero! How could life get any better?
Well, if they offer you more money to play in Cleveland? THAT could be better. I don't like that.
And guys who have no reason to like the Miami Dolphins, or Dallas Cowboys (ESPECIALLY, the Dallas Cowboys) LOVE those teams! They live and die with the Pittsburgh Steeler's, but they have never been east of Denver? WFT? That isn't loyalty. That's trying to always pick a winner.
I find that folks who are college football fans are so, because they WENT to that college. And that instills some loyalty, even when your team sucks. I know a guy who lives in Utah and still has season tickets to Maryland, and flies back every week in the fall to watch his team with his brother who also went there. Because that was his school and he PLAYED college football there.
That last part is NOT required to fanatical. But I'm sure it helps.
How much do you have to love your college when they suck as much as Maryland, or Indiana, or Duke, or Vanderbilt, or Kentucky, the list is endless, to do stuff like that?
Now, THIS kind of loyalty is not always the case. Notre Dame fans who did NOT go to Notre Dame, and BYU fans who did not GO TO BYU are the WORST kind of college football fans!
Yes, Jerry and Todd, I'm talking about YOU! Just live with it.
If you live in Provo and all you know is BYU football? OK. If you live in Chicago and all you know is Notre Dame? OK. Hell, I was born in West Virginia, so I root for them. But BOTH of my parents went to school there! So I have a reason.
But blind loyalty to a religious school is, in my humble opinion, misguided. If not totally wrong.
I know somewhere there is a college with a football team called, Presbyterian. I was raised one, but I wouldn't root for them. Even if I knew where they were! Seems silly.
OK, I told you all THAT to tell you THIS.
My wife asked me tonight, what I was going to watch. And I told her I was going to watch, Florida Atlantic @ Eastern Carolina. Then later, on the PAC 12 Network, I was going to watch Sacramento State @ Arizona State. And she said, "Why?"
I told her... no I didn't, I just thought it for a few seconds, but I THOUGHT about saying it. Then moving out: "Cause it's college football. And I love college football, you know this. How many trips have we taken over the last 30 years to places you wanted to see, because there was a Utah game there?" Would you have EVER wanted to see Ann Arbor Michigan if the Utes didn't play there? New Orleans? Tucson? Ft. Collin's, Colorado? Laramie, "FREAKING" Wyoming? Corvallis, Oregon? Eugene, Oregon?.......
The list is endless.
What I really said was, "I like college football!"
Then she said, (and she REALLY said this. I shit you not...), "I can't imagine anything more irrelevant to my life than teams from Florida Atlantic and Easter Carolina playing football! And you watch this all fall!"
To which I replied, "Says the woman who spends 40 hours a week watching re-runs of, NCIS, CSI: Panguich, Las Vegas, New York and Provo, The Mentalist, The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, Hawaii Five-O and any show about finding serial killers and child kidnappers, like you didn't get enough of ALL of that at WORK for 20 years?!"
Her reply was, "NO I DON'T!" and to walk into the bedroom and turn on the TV.
College Football one, network gibberish zero.
So, I'm in the dog house (what else is new?) But it doesn't matter. It's college football season, and it's great.
Saturday night, I told her I was enjoying having all the college football so much, that I might just order the NHL Center Ice package again, since I loved watching all the Redwings games with the local guys doing the game.
She said, "So, you're telling me you're not leaving the house until June?" Pretty much.
Oh, we'll go to Belize and Mexico. As long as it's after the Bowl Game are over, and they have ESPN on the, "dish" down there.
Is there a college game on Friday this week? Just asking...
But college football is the best.
I know, America's Pastime is, or was Baseball. Let's face it. The NFL rules now. Even NASCAR, which used to be only limited to people from the south who actually KNEW where, "Moonshine" came from, cared about that sport. Now, you have stadiums of 200K Rednecks, watching a bunch of other Rednecks in fast cars make 1500 left turns in an afternoon, and waiting for someone you are NOT rooting for to crash into a bunch of other guys you're not rooting for so the guy you ARE rooting for, can win!
I understand the attraction to the NFL. It's pretty glamorous. But there are problems with it. It's pretty, "mercenary" any more. When I was a kid, a guy would spend his whole career with one team. Now? Not so much. You get drafted out of college, you spend three or four years with a team and have a great career. Even win a, Super Bowl! Little kids in town are buying your replica jerseys! They clamor for your autograph! You are a local hero! How could life get any better?
Well, if they offer you more money to play in Cleveland? THAT could be better. I don't like that.
And guys who have no reason to like the Miami Dolphins, or Dallas Cowboys (ESPECIALLY, the Dallas Cowboys) LOVE those teams! They live and die with the Pittsburgh Steeler's, but they have never been east of Denver? WFT? That isn't loyalty. That's trying to always pick a winner.
I find that folks who are college football fans are so, because they WENT to that college. And that instills some loyalty, even when your team sucks. I know a guy who lives in Utah and still has season tickets to Maryland, and flies back every week in the fall to watch his team with his brother who also went there. Because that was his school and he PLAYED college football there.
That last part is NOT required to fanatical. But I'm sure it helps.
How much do you have to love your college when they suck as much as Maryland, or Indiana, or Duke, or Vanderbilt, or Kentucky, the list is endless, to do stuff like that?
Now, THIS kind of loyalty is not always the case. Notre Dame fans who did NOT go to Notre Dame, and BYU fans who did not GO TO BYU are the WORST kind of college football fans!
Yes, Jerry and Todd, I'm talking about YOU! Just live with it.
If you live in Provo and all you know is BYU football? OK. If you live in Chicago and all you know is Notre Dame? OK. Hell, I was born in West Virginia, so I root for them. But BOTH of my parents went to school there! So I have a reason.
But blind loyalty to a religious school is, in my humble opinion, misguided. If not totally wrong.
I know somewhere there is a college with a football team called, Presbyterian. I was raised one, but I wouldn't root for them. Even if I knew where they were! Seems silly.
OK, I told you all THAT to tell you THIS.
My wife asked me tonight, what I was going to watch. And I told her I was going to watch, Florida Atlantic @ Eastern Carolina. Then later, on the PAC 12 Network, I was going to watch Sacramento State @ Arizona State. And she said, "Why?"
I told her... no I didn't, I just thought it for a few seconds, but I THOUGHT about saying it. Then moving out: "Cause it's college football. And I love college football, you know this. How many trips have we taken over the last 30 years to places you wanted to see, because there was a Utah game there?" Would you have EVER wanted to see Ann Arbor Michigan if the Utes didn't play there? New Orleans? Tucson? Ft. Collin's, Colorado? Laramie, "FREAKING" Wyoming? Corvallis, Oregon? Eugene, Oregon?.......
The list is endless.
What I really said was, "I like college football!"
Then she said, (and she REALLY said this. I shit you not...), "I can't imagine anything more irrelevant to my life than teams from Florida Atlantic and Easter Carolina playing football! And you watch this all fall!"
To which I replied, "Says the woman who spends 40 hours a week watching re-runs of, NCIS, CSI: Panguich, Las Vegas, New York and Provo, The Mentalist, The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, Hawaii Five-O and any show about finding serial killers and child kidnappers, like you didn't get enough of ALL of that at WORK for 20 years?!"
Her reply was, "NO I DON'T!" and to walk into the bedroom and turn on the TV.
College Football one, network gibberish zero.
So, I'm in the dog house (what else is new?) But it doesn't matter. It's college football season, and it's great.
Saturday night, I told her I was enjoying having all the college football so much, that I might just order the NHL Center Ice package again, since I loved watching all the Redwings games with the local guys doing the game.
She said, "So, you're telling me you're not leaving the house until June?" Pretty much.
Oh, we'll go to Belize and Mexico. As long as it's after the Bowl Game are over, and they have ESPN on the, "dish" down there.
Is there a college game on Friday this week? Just asking...
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