Hello and welcome to the 89th edition of my Random Thoughts and the first one for calendar year 2011. I hope everybody is having a good new year so far. I have a lot to get to this time out, so let's get to it. Enjoy.
- There were a lot of subjects I could have started this blog off with today, but I think I'll start with this: In the short time since 2011 began, a lot has already happened. A homeless man in Columbus finds fame for his golden voice (something I'll get to a bit later) and a wacko shoots up a supermarket in Arizona aiming for a congresswoman, wounding her and killing six others including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl who just got elected to her student council (she was born on 9/11/01...freaky coincidence). I can't recall any new year that started off in such a busy yet intense fashion.
- The United Football League has decided to shut down the Florida Tuskers franchise as of yesterday and move it's coach and protected players to the Virginia expansion team. This team went to the UFL championship game twice and yet they decided to close up shop in Orlando after two years. The team no longer exists. Frankly, I am rather upset by this. In other words, this sucks. I made a conscious choice to support this team last year and enjoyed getting behind the Tuskers and cheering them on. I was proud of them and I cherished the time I got to support this team. I hate it when I get behind something and then something like this happens. It happened to the Cleveland Browns in 1995 and now the Tuskers this year. Talk about a punch to the gut. Anyway, from what I understand, the average attendance was around 9,500, which was the lowest in the league. I can possibly understand that, in the league's view, that's not sustainable in the long term. There were several factors that might have contributed to ending the franchise but from what I have gathered the low attendance figures were the fault of the league itself. From comments of other Tusker fans and from general chatter on the net, it appears the biggest reason the Tuskers no longer exist is that the league, who ran the team and sought an owner for it, did very little if any advertising or public relations in the Central Florida region. In an area rich with football fans, many in that area did not even know they had a team in their midst and a winning one at that. It seems like there were more people outside central Florida that knew about the Tuskers than those in the area itself. Even with the atrocious advertising and public relations efforts, they were still able to average under ten thousand in attendance. That should have counted for something, but not enough for the UFL. With the exception of the Magic in the NBA, Orlando itself hasn't had the best luck with professional sports franchises (and I'm hoping with this NBA contraction talk that they don't get screwed again). Many teams have come and gone and the Tuskers are simply the latest casualty. As upset as I am about this development, I really feel bad for my fellow Tuskers fans especially the ones in Orlando. They've been screwed with a lot over the years and don't deserve that. What gets me is that the UFL uses the slogan "Your Town, Your Team." Ulitmately, this team didn't belong to Orlando but to the league itself and that was evident yesterday. This development makes it clear that this slogan truly means nothing to the league. It has completely turned me off to the UFL and because of all this I can no longer support this league. Goodbye, UFL...you just lost a fan.
- Despite what has happened with the Tuskers, I am happy to report that the OSU Buckeyes have finally got the SEC monkey off their backs and won the Sugar Bowl, defeating Arkansas. It's odd that the impact players for Ohio State in the game were the ones who have been suspended for the first five games of next season, including the backup DE who clinched the game for the Bucks. I still feel that they should have been suspended from this game for what they did, but that time has passed. I guess I should be satisfied that all of the suspended players are coming back next year and are willingly serving their punishments (if their word is to be believed), but I still feel uneasy despite the win. This will probably pass when next season comes around.
- As far as my new beginning goes, some things have occurred that have me re-evaluating what steps and changes I need to make it more of a reality. I won't go into specifics but I did have to let go of some things and groups...not any people I'm associated with or close to, but general groups...that are either no longer part of the picture or are not going to be a part of my future. One thing that's recently happened that is influencing all this is the story of that homeless guy from Columbus, Ted Williams, whose fortunes changed in an instant. Even with his struggles with the fame and his demons, this story has given me hope that new beginnings can and do happen and has renewed my faith that good things can happen if we let them. I needed to be reminded of that.
- Speaking of a new beginning, as expected the Cleveland Browns fired Eric Mangini after a disappointing repeat of last season's record of 5-11. Up until the last few weeks of the season they actually had a shot at the NFL playoffs but those injuries and poor play-calling cost him his job. The front-runner for the HC position is Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. I've seen mixed reaction to the man but he has worked with president Mike Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert before and I trust their judgment in finding the right coach for the Browns. Personally, I think they should interview Chip Kelly, the head coach at the University of Oregon and recent participant in the BCS national championship game, for the HC position. Unlike recent past HCs I can't completely hate on Mangini. He did a lot of work to try and clean out the troublesome elements of the team and the losing culture that was there prior to his arrival, even if it meant losing some of the talent. He had the right general game plan regarding the direction of the organization which looks to be continued under the next HC. However, I think the writing was on the wall in that Mangini was not the person to take them to the promised land. Whoever the next coach is, I hope at least he gets them to a winning record and soon. Whether there will be a next season, that is another question altogether.
- The reason for the subtitle this time out, the "halfway" edition, is that near the middle of February I will have been using the name "DJ" for at least half my life. After that point, I can truly state that for a majority of my life I have been DJ. I did this right before I started college and it has been one of the most significant and best decisions I have ever made in my life. It coincides with fourth anniversary of me becoming a Christian, another significant decision. There looks to be a lot for me to celebrate around Valentiine's Day and I don't know what I might do to celebrate if I decide to do anything.
- If you look to the right of the blog entries you will see I have added permanent links to a couple of my regular freebie sites including a referral link from me to join Swagbucks. Like I said before I got one person onto Swagbucks and hope many of you might want to be a part of it as well. They are listed under "My Regular Freebie Sites," again to the right of the blog entries.
- Speaking of Valentine's Day, with the holiday approaching in a month (and me not knowing if I'm gonna have another blog up before then) I've decided that in light of the whining I've done and depressing tone of several entries in the blog over the past few months that I would wax philiosophical on something that I'm hopeful about and look forward to having again at some point, that being love and romance. I am going to go about this in a random, scattered, free-flowing, stream of consciousness way, so bear with me here. Many of you reading this have probably been in love or currently are. To those of you in relationships that currently have love in them, congratulations. Love is one of the most wonderful if confusing feelings in the world. I speak today of the romantic kind of love, the love you have with a potential or current significant other. I consider myself a romantic, someone who has had romantic feelings and infatuations for many girls and women since I was probably 10 years old...and I mean many. Off and on that has included several of my female friends. Now before there is any freaking out over this or any of my female friends start going "Does DJ like me like that?" or question how I "really" (put in quotes because that's how it gets thought of and is really overused in this instance) feel about them or get creeped out or intrigued by it or get uneasy being around me...let me say that this is a natural phenomenon and it happens with everyone at some point even if it is unsettling to talk about or read here. Many guys have felt or even feel that way toward female friends and vice versa with many girls liking their guy friends more then they let on. I couldn't tell you of any specific instances of that because right now I don't know of any...I've been keeping to myself a lot lately. Do I feel that way about anybody in particular now? Can't say and probably wouldn't even if I did...don't want anybody getting freaked out over it and I value my friendships too much to ruin things. Have I ever tried to take things farther with any of my female friends? On a couple of occasions I have...one of them we just stayed friends and the other cheated on my with a guy in a hot tub. Would I try again? Can't say...depends on the circumstances. I'm not as pursuant of relationships and love as many I know because as much as love and romance are wonderful things, they also scare the heck out of me. I've also had to put that stuff on the backburner as I've had to deal with all the other time-intrusive crap in my life. Having a girlfriend by my side as I deal with the crap would be a blessing, but it's not a luxury afforded to me right now. A couple more things before I end this blurb and completely creep many of you out. One, I always hear of love and trust being separate things, like "I love you but I don't trust you" or stuff along those lines. If you love somebody, doesn't that mean you trust them as well? I always thought that with love there is implicit trust and where there isn't trust there's only attraction and lust. Can anybody clear that up for me because that's always been confusing to me. And two, this may sound sort of strange and quirky, but I don't find myself attracted to women already in relationships, even if they may be extremely hot or attractive. Coveting a woman who already has a boyfriend or husband is a waste of time to me and I value the boundaries of relationships way too much to even think about getting in the middle of one. Also, back when I was in college and engaged, I had a roommate who coveted my fiance. That drove me nuts and once the engagement and relationship were over she hooked up with him. I wouldn't want what happened to me to happen to anybody else. Even with all the aspects, hang-ups, idiosyncrocies, and other stuff related to love and romance that I think about and sometimes deal with, I do envision myself having it in my life again. I just don't know when.
- In my ever-infinite search for wisdom I found this quote a while back from Oprah Winfrey that describes succinctly what I look for in any long-term relationship whether they be a friendship, a work relationship, or a romantic relationship: "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." Something to think about.
- My New Year's Eve was rather uneventful as I stayed home. The only thing of note was I was able to post "Happy New Year" on Facebook right when the clock struck midnight with impeccable timing. It may be possible that I had the first post for all of Facebook for 2011 with the timing I had. It may sound unlikely and entirely delusional, but hey, I was bored! I'm not even gonna make a prediction for what I might do next year on NYE, but I hope it's more exciting than what I've done two out of the last three years.
- Song on repeat: "More Than Anyone" by Gavin DeGraw. Now I know I isolate myself from the world at times, but recently I've been discovering music that in reality has been around for several years already or longer. I know that for the most part I was focused on hip-hop and R&B songs, but how out of it must I have been to not know about this other stuff until now? This song is about 8 or 9 years old and I only heard it for the first time recently. Other songs I've had recently as my song on repeat also fall into this category. I guess better late than never.
- SLP to the following: Cheryl, Katie, Aunt Susie, Holly, Uncle James, Jay, Aunt Sandy, Dave, Griff, Jennifer N., George, Michelle (happy b-day), Rahn (happy b-day), Josh L, Ernest, Joe M. (happy b-day), and Mr. Chaff (happy b-day).
Writing this particular blog today has been an interesting experience, to say the least. It felt a lot like an information dump, which hasn't happened in a very long time. I even used big words too. Anyway, that's it for this entry. It might be a while before I write again...then again, maybe not, but who can tell at this point. In any case, if I haven't disturbed you too much, I'll see you later. Until next time, folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
