Anti-social

I'm back to this blog, partially because I am making a conscious effort to change the way I consume and participate in social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. The problem, especially on FB, is that more often than not, the content annoys me, bums me out, or in some way makes me less happy than before I read it, and that certainly isn't the point. I have several issues with it, ranging from minor annoyances to major things that bother me, and many of them are things that I have done myself. But the biggest problem is that, all too often, social media serves simply as a platform for someone to cyber-scream "THIS IS WHAT I THINK OR AGREE WITH AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT."

 That pisses me off.

I fully realized this during two recent "events" (I use that term loosely) that were beaten to death over social media: the Duck Dynasty guy situation, and the knee-jerk reactions to Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and his vitriolic post game "interview" with Erin Andrews after the NFC Championship game. What struck me as interesting in both cases, and ultimately problematic, is that there is no right or wrong view of either side of either issue, and yet everyone who strongly voiced an opinion ended up sounding like an ass. Let's cover the Duck Dynasty guy first. Were his comments ignorant, hateful, and stupid? Yup. Is he allowed to make those kind of comments? Of course he is. His supporters immediately and incorrectly invoked The First Amendment, which has absolutely nothing to do with his situation, since the government was not involved to any degree. Did the network have the right to suspend him? Of course they did. He made them look bad, and made them associated with a hateful bigot. Now, what can be debated is whether the brief sanctions were given only to generate publicity in hopes of juicing the ratings when he ultimately and inevitably returned to the airwaves, although thankfully that didn't happen.

My issue is that there was no wiggle room in anyone's stance. Everyone yelling and screaming on both sides felt they were ABSOLUTELY RIGHT and that there was no gray area, no possible other position. And there's tons of that kind of thing on Facebook and Twitter now. Much of it is entirely pointless. Nobody is going to change their religious, political, or sports team affiliations based on somebody else's posts. After the 2012 election I pledged to myself to just not post anything political anymore, because it is pointless. Most social media political posts are the internet equivalent of waving something around and shouting about it because you agree with it. Which doesn't do any good for anybody, other than generating completely hollow social media "likes" or "favorites." 

Richard Sherman's behavior was the most recent example of this kind of thing. Personally, I thought he was practically foaming at the mouth and came off like a dangerous person. I was legitimately fearful for Erin Andrews' safety as she tried to talk to him. His defenders immediately and vociferously jumped to his side, discussing how he was "in the heat of the moment" and how he must be smarter than most people because he was a communications major at Stanford. But doesn't this mean that he should have been smart enough to realize exactly how poorly he would be viewed by millions of people? Predictably, people far on the other side immediately resorted to racially-charged name calling and insults. I didn't like his act. I thought he came off like a pompous jerk. I'm also fairly certain that that was absolutely his intention. He is a pompous jerk, and he is building that brand for himself. His team is heading to the Super Bowl, and literally the only player on his squad that anyone seems to be talking about now is him. And that is exactly what he wanted. But nobody is discussing that, they are just fighting over whether what he did was acceptable or not.

So that's where I stand. I'm not talking or posting about politics or religion, and I'm even going to cut back on posting about sports, because all I'm doing is flag-waving for my teams. Sometimes I won't be able to help it, or I just won't care (WORLD CHAMPIONS!). But I'm going to try to get back to using social media for what it does best: sharing pictures and updates about people's kids, funny photos and videos of animals, and pretty Instagram shots of food.

Not-so-Super wrap up

The best thing about that Super Bowl was that I went 5-for-6 on my bets, losing only the first TD scorer wager (which clinched me another bet at the same time). The game was fairly decent for a while but it didn't seem especially memorable in any way. Of course I'm clearly biased now, as any non-Patriots Super Bowl feels that way. But didn't Peyton Manning seem less than enthused when it was all over? Dude, you just won the Super Bowl...enjoy it! Crack a smile, fist pump, yell, scream, show some emotion. That made me like him even less. Whatever. The Pats will be back in the Bowl next season.

Ten days until pitchers and catchers report. I can't wait for the annual Boston media coverage of the truck leaving town with the equipment.

Super Bowl XLI wagers

Thomas Jones OVER 87.5 combined rushing/receiving yards

Thomas Jones to score first TD (6-1)

There will be a defensive or special teams TD (3-2)

Rex Grossman OVER 17.5 completions

First offensive play of game will be more than 28.5 yards from goal line

TEASER: BEARS +14 and game total under 53.5

GO BEARS!

A tale of two teams

What a game for the Patriots on Sunday. I almost felt bad for the Chargers, watching them give the game away in such painful fashion...until they started bitching about it like spoiled little children. Get over it. I love that they tried to accuse the Patriots of lacking class for making fun of a stupid sack dance that is absolutely classless in the first place. Merriman is a cheater and a punk and I'm glad that we got to shove it in his face a little bit. Meanwhile, Landanian Tomlinson is getting a pass on the whole thing because he is "a good guy" and "a class act." But is he really? Ladanian, you got beat. Get over it and get over yourself.

So we've got Pats-Colts again, and obviously the Patriots are going to win this one too. I feel a little bit bad for Peyton Mannning because the national media, and maybe even his own fans, are going to really crush the guy if he loses this week. This one should be another tight game, probably going down to the fourth quarter just like last week. I think that Brady will have a better game, the running game will be a little more successful, and the defense will do enough to contain the Colts offense, which just hasn't been as explosive lately. Pats win by six, sealing the game with an interception late in the fourth quarter.

As for the Super Bowl potential match ups, I'm torn. If the Pats were to lose then I definitely want the Saints to win. But if we do take care of business then I'd almost feel bad about having to beat New Orleans in the Super Bowl. We'd be the clear-cut villains in that scenario and it would be a little weird. So I almost hope that the Bears get in so we can just slap them around.

At the other end of the spectrum is the drama around the Arkansas Razorbacks, who lost their offensive coordinator and their freshman QB this week. It's absurd. Mitch Mustain was the best high school player in the country, a prospect so good that Arkansas wisely hired his old high school coach just to secure the guy. And the coach in question, Gus Malzahn, opened things up and finally gave Razorback fans something to get excited about. Mustain was 8-0 as a starter during the great run the Hogs had...and then somehow it all went wrong. Idiot head coach Houston Nutt benched Mustain and reigned in Malzahn's play-calling duties. WHY? I have no idea. Now Malzahn has bolted to Tulsa of all places, with Mustain probably following him out the door. I'm not really a Hogs fan yet but as somebody who has started to go to games and follow the team, this is simply tragic. Does this mean that 2007 will be a return to the completely predicatable offense that drove fans crazy before? My wife, a diehard Razorback fan, now hopes that everything falls apart next season just so the school will have to fire Nutt. It's a sad state of affairs but that might be the best thing that could happen. What a mess.

Olympics

That Super Bowl sure was terrible, wasn't it? No point in even discussing it at this point, although I do have to point out that I had very little rooting interest at all and I think it was some of the worst officiating I've ever seen in a big game. Just terrible.

So, apparently the Olympics start tonight. I can't rememeber less hype for this event...ever. I do have a question, though...when did "Turin" become "Torino," exactly? Is it just because the second one sounds cooler? Have we ever done this before? I don't think so. Nobody in America talked about the "Moskva" games in 1980, or the "Roma" games, or the recent bid by "Paree." Just weird. Other random Olympic thoughts: I don't think I could name ten US Olympians for these games, and that includes the hockey team...they say there's no such thing as bad publicity and I guess Bode Miller might exemplify that. He's been getting crushed in the press for one thing or another but at least I know who the guy is now, and even what sport he does...what exactly is the Skeleton? I'm guessing it involves some sort of a sled or a luge but honestly, I don't know...yeah, that's all I've got. I'll probably watch some stuff, simply because there's not much else on until spring training. But my interest isn't exactly huge.

Super Bowl Eve

Man, am I sick of the hype. Hey, where's Jerome Bettis from, anyway? And Joey Porter...give it a rest. I won't go into a lengthy analysis of everything because there are much better places to find such information. I'll just say that I think it will be a pretty tight and entertaining game and that I think most people are underrating the Seahawks quite a bit. So...on to the wagers.

Seahawks money line: +285 - one unit - this was my future bet made before the conference championship game. I thought the line seemed way too high then, so clearly I love it now.

Seahawks +4 - two units - my book had it at 3.5 all week until today, when it finally went up to four. That's when I jumped on it. I may press it up before kickoff.

PROP BETS

There were lots of goofy ones as always, but here are the only two I have taken so far:

Shaun Alexander's combined rushing and receiving yardage: 96.5 yards - OVER - one unit
Shaun Alexander's longest run of the game: 19.5 yards - OVER - one unit

The first number seems right about where it should be. Before any line was posted I said I'd take the over on anything around 100, so I did. As for the second one, the line seems a little low to me. Plus I always love having one bet that I can win instantly during the game, so here it is. Shaun could rip off a 30 yard jaunt on his first carry of the game and I'll have that one booked. Anyway, I really like his chances to break at least one 20 yard gainer.

Some that I did not take included parlaying the winner of the game with the gender of the eventual American Idol winner, Josh Brown's kicking points compared to Tiger Woods' number of holes better than birdie tomorrow, the game being tied at halftime and Jake Gyllenhall to win the Oscar for best supporting actor (20-1), or, in perhaps my favorite prop bet on the board, Joey Porter and Jerramy Stevens both to be ejected from the game (80-1)...on second thought, maybe I should throw a couple of bucks on that last one after all!

Happy Super Sunday, everyone.

Second draft

The second draft of the screenplay is in and things continue to go well. We received a list of short, specific notes from our producer and it won't be too tough to put the changes in. He also asked that the scenes be numbered in the next draft--a sure sign of a subsequent production draft down the road. The word around the producer's office is that we are "a go picture" and that the association with the group I referred to earlier is "a slam dunk." I'm still taking a wait-and-see approach, but it's all very encouraging news.

The NFL conference championship games went just as I expected they would, which is nice since I had bets on both games. Before last week's action, I also placed a future bet on the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl, so now I have them as a no-spread money line bet in the big game at nearly 3-to-1 odds. I believe that the opening line has Pittsburgh favored by 3.5, which is right about where everyone thought it would be. They have played great and they should be the favorites, although it's a little odd to see the #6 seed in the AFC giving points to the #1 team in the NFC. Just goes to show how great the conference really is. Right now I like Seattle plus the points, although I think the line may get even higher before kick-off. I always love the goofy prop bets that come out for every Super Bowl so I'll make some bets and post those before the game. Some people think they are sucker bets but I've always managed to find great value plays there.

The script is alive and well

Johnny and I have been working hard on our screenplay this week. Before the holidays we got a round of solid, positive feedback from our producer and we've been doing our best to incorporate most or all of his notes. The script is definitely running long (currently 135 pages) but we've decided it's not our place to cut anything until they ask us to. We're turning in our second draft next week.

We got some great news about it this week, although it's hush-hush and unofficial at this point...but one of the guys that works at the production company called to let us know that our producer has already tabbed him to direct our movie. This is fantastic news for two reasons: one, Johnny is friends with the guy, so working with him will be much easier than dealing with some director we've never met, who might just immediately brush us off to the side. But this guy in question has already confirmed that he wants to work with us when the time comes. Secondly, and more importantly,the naming of a director clearly means that the producer is seriously looking ahead to production, which means we'd get a nice check as well as actually see the movie get produced. All of that is wonderful news, but there's another potential rumor that would be really great as well. Unfortunately, I probably shouldn't say what it is, but it has to do with a certain organization/group getting involved with the movie. Can't add much more than that, I'm afraid, but it would be super-cool if it ever comes to pass.

Steve, I'll give you my Super Bowl picks when the time is right, but if you need them now (blatant homer alert), I'll say Patriots-Seahawks. The Pats should handle the Jags Saturday night, and then the toughest test will come the week after that, whether it's a trip to Denver or Indy. As for the NFC, I just think Seattle will be too tough to beat at home, and their offense is clearly the class of the conference. A Pats-Bears 20th anniversary Super Bowl match would be pretty interesting too.

Bored

I have absolutely nothing going on but I figured I was due for an update anyway. Poker has been frustrating the last few days because I'm just not catching any cards. I played in a tourney with about 100 people today and came in 15th, but they only paid out to the final nine. I saw less than 20 flops the whole time and still managed to last that long so I think I played all right but still had nothing to show for it. At one point early on I was down to less than half my stack but managed a rally. I'm already dreading what it will be like if I get close to the bubble at the WSOP--the "bubble" being the cut-off for payments out to winners. I suspect that with so many people expected, they'll pay out around 500-600 spots, since last year they paid 225 with about 2500 players. Now, for most people, just finishing "in the money" won't be a big deal because it means that the people at the bottom just break even by getting their $10,000 back. But for me, that's all profit! And it goes without saying that I could really use ten grand right now. But if it gets close, how do I play? Super tight just to finish in the money? Some experts advocate getting very aggressive then, specifically because people tighten up their play just to cash and it's a great time to pick up chips. Who knows, but it's something I hope I'll have to think about sometime down the road.

I booked all of my travel plans. I'm arriving on the morning of July 5 and I have a flight scheduled to leave on Monday, July 11. I say "scheduled" because I really hope I have to change it because I'm still alive in the tournament after day two. But if I do bust out early, I figure at least I'll have the rest of the weekend in Vegas to drown my sorrows. Mom and Dad were kind enough to kick me some of their frequent flier miles, so that's awesome. I'll be staying at the Flamingo--it's got a great central location and, much more importantly, is home to Margaritaville. I guess it's also fair to say that the Flamingo has been lucky for me before, because that's where we stayed for my bachelor party when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl. Let's hope my gambling is anywhere near as successful this time around.

The other "highlight of the week" for me is definitely my lightsaber spoon. This thing rules! I'm using it for my Frosted Flakes every morning. Yes, it's true...I have no life.