So this week I want to talk about three separate topics. The first two are related because they're about football, but that's about it. All three are related in some way to my weekend, but other than that they're just random thoughts. Enough foreplay, here goes.
1) I don't know how many people caught this, but on Sunday Miami hosted the Giants in London. Nope, not a town called London, Florida, the original London across the ocean. Did your brain just fart? Yeah, an American NFL team hosted another American NFL team in England. Makes perfect sense right? Exactly. What the hell kind of alcoholic on a bender decided this was a good idea? Ostensibly, the reasoning behind this idiocy was to promote American football to the "regular football" loving Europeans. There are so many reasons this is stupid that I won't go into it for fear of running out of room, but I do have a couple of thoughts. First of all, if we wanted to engage a prospective audience, why did we provide them with a game that was certain to be about as entertaining as Dragon Wars? The awful Dolphins against the mediocre Giants? Perhaps they moved the game there because they knew nobody in the USA gave a shit. And if promoting football internationally was the concern, might I suggest EPSN 7: The Euro promoting the game through a well conceived strategy that introduces the uninitiated to the game and makes it appear exciting. I don't know, something other than carting USA teams across the Atlantic to play a decidedly American game in front of 90,000 drunk Englishman. It's just stupid. Did they even invite us or were we the kid who shows up at the party after everyone made sure not to tell him about it? The only thing worse might be them showing up over here to educate us on the beauty of cricket in Gillette Stadium.
2) I am a fan of the New England Patriots. This is in no small part because I live in New England, but also because they're f-ing amazing. So amazing in fact, that their games lately have turned into embarrassingly one sided massacres. These spankings are causing an outcry by opposing coaches and players, as well as ESPN talking faces that nobody cares about. They're saying that the Patriots are purposely scoring as many points per game as they can. GASP! No way! You mean a professional football team is trying its hardest to succeed at the main objective of the game they're playing? This controversy is pissing me off so much that I hope the Pats continue to decimate opponents all over the country. Various people are saying that the magnitude of the deficits between the Patriots and their opponents scores are unsportsmanlike and disrespectful. One of the players on the Redskins commented that their epic loss to the Patriots by 45 points was "disrespectful to the game". How is playing the game to the best of their ability disrespectful to the game? Wouldn't it be more disrespectful to play half-hearted, or to stop playing it entirely? How is it the Patriots fault that they are so much better than their competitors? Perhaps they should move up to...oh wait, that's right, they're already in the highest league for football on the planet. So perhaps these other professional football teams, who are in the league supposedly representing the highest level of play and competition in the world, could tell me where the Patriots can go to play to their full potential. Suck it up, they're better than you. If they are the best team in football and want to break records, they should be allowed to play as hard as they want for as long as they want to accomplish that and prove their dominance. Besides, you know damn well that the Dolphins or the Redskins or whoever else would be doing exactly the same thing if the roles were reversed.
3) So I was driving home the other day and I approached a red-light, only to glance in my rearview mirror and notice a woman talking on a cell phone, with her hands flying all over the car to emphasize what I can only imagine was a very valid point. This made me chuckle and ask myself a question: Why do people feel the need to speak with their hands while on the telephone? I see it all the time, hell my dad does it and always has. But...why? The person sure as hell doesn't know you're doing it, casual observers notice that you look like a moron trying to show emphasis with hand motions using a device that only allows sounds to be transmitted, and you're simply wasting energy. Now that I think of it, I can barely stand it when people do this in person. A few simple movements of the hand are one thing, but I'm talking about those people who throw their hands in the air and keep them moving around out their in front of them for no good reason at all for the entirety of a conversation. On a phone the stupidity just quadruples. So if you do this sometimes, don't anymore. It's kind of like giving the finger to a blind person: I guess it might make you feel better, but what's the point?
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Ya know Mr. Taylor, I can't help but chuckle about your third topic. I have heard it first hand come out of your mouth, about people talking with their hands; I may or may not be one of these people. I would just like to make it clear that I am currently at the in-between stage where my hands don't fly, they just move about here and there amongst obviously very important conversations.Quite frankly, my point of conversation that would be taken place during these hand movements, would surely not be as emphasized, or taken as seriously, without them. :)
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