A few days ago, I spent 20 minutes with a fellow attorney in a different town who told me that he was taking a two week vacation to a place I'd never heard of to "find himself". I laughed, I couldn't help it. I told him that he didn't need to take a vacation to "find himself". I told him that he was in Oklahoma and that when he went to the place I'd never heard of, he'd be there at that time. The phrase "find myself" is a fraudulent term used to to imply that the trip was necessary or that his very mental health depended on it. Nobody needs to "find themselves". Unless you are clinically insane, or you're lost in a place where you can't get directions, you know exactly where you are.
I left the conversation with that attorney convinced that he knew exactly where he was and that he was unhappy with his place in life. I was equally convinced that he was actually telling me, I want a vacation, but I am unable to sack up and tell people that I am going to take one so I must assign it more importance than was due.
What a pussy.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
An Open Letter to the Good People of Seattle
I’ve spent the past few hours reading stories, analysis and rants from the good folks in Seattle, WA about their “beloved” Supersonics. I could accurately guess what the sentiment, and the content would be before I started reading. At first, the masses expressed disappointment, shock and sadness. It degenerated into immature name calling and finally, less than 24 hours later, into whining. The former is expected, they should be sad, they should be angry and they should definitely be disappointed, but there is never an excuse to whine. Seattle has no one to blame for their loss other than themselves. They had the chance to keep a team by paying more money, but chose not to do so. They had the opportunity build a new arena, or renovate the old one, but they flatly refused. They thought they were too cool for the original sport franchise in their city. They thought that they could continue to enjoy the economic benefits the team brought to their area while simultaneously treating them like dirt. That way of thinking doesn’t make them cool, it makes them freeloaders. Don’t preach to me that the Sonics’ owners should have “done the right thing” while the Seattle people utterly failed to do their part. Every opportunity is a two way street and must make sense to both parties. The opportunity didn’t make sense to the Sonics anymore.
And while we’re at it, Seattle didn’t really lose all that much. They still have the opportunity to lure an existing NBA franchise or an expansion one, but the current problem must be solved first, an upgraded arena, or a new one. The city gets to keep the name, the colors and the history of their team.
Finally, the attitude of some of the people in the Pacific Northwest astounds me. While there were plenty of intelligent people who articulated the real reason that Seattle no longer had an NBA team, there were more than a few that launched personal attacks against my State. Some said that they felt sorry for the players who had to move to Oklahoma because we didn’t have anything here except cows and teepees. Some attacked my people as backward, illiterate rednecks. Some used the words “white trash trailer park people” as a sweeping indictment of the entire Oklahoma populace. I could attribute these attacks to anger or frustration, but I can’t help but think of an earlier time when some of the people of Washington did the same thing. When my beloved Sooners played Washington State in the Rose Bowl, the newspapers and some Washington citizenry brought out the same tired rhetoric they did yesterday. The tone and message were exactly the same, we’re better than you dolts down there on the prairie. We are the more cultured and cool members of the American family and you all are the ignorant uncle who shows up drunk to the family reunion.
To be clear, we do have trailer parks here, we do have rednecks here and we do have cows. I’ve even seen a teepee or two in a museum. I’ve had the pleasure to travel all over this country and I’ve yet to see a state that is free of rednecks, trailer parks and people who don’t think before they speak. So deal with it Seattle, as you sit in your empty arena from the 1970s and drink your latte and discuss the abstract ideas of what might be or could’ve been, just remember that your ignorant uncle from the prairie out bid, out flanked and out smarted you. And most importantly... Quit whining! Meanwhile, I’ll be at the basketball game, watching MY team. Lets play ball!
From the Great State of Oklahoma
Trialdawg.
And while we’re at it, Seattle didn’t really lose all that much. They still have the opportunity to lure an existing NBA franchise or an expansion one, but the current problem must be solved first, an upgraded arena, or a new one. The city gets to keep the name, the colors and the history of their team.
Finally, the attitude of some of the people in the Pacific Northwest astounds me. While there were plenty of intelligent people who articulated the real reason that Seattle no longer had an NBA team, there were more than a few that launched personal attacks against my State. Some said that they felt sorry for the players who had to move to Oklahoma because we didn’t have anything here except cows and teepees. Some attacked my people as backward, illiterate rednecks. Some used the words “white trash trailer park people” as a sweeping indictment of the entire Oklahoma populace. I could attribute these attacks to anger or frustration, but I can’t help but think of an earlier time when some of the people of Washington did the same thing. When my beloved Sooners played Washington State in the Rose Bowl, the newspapers and some Washington citizenry brought out the same tired rhetoric they did yesterday. The tone and message were exactly the same, we’re better than you dolts down there on the prairie. We are the more cultured and cool members of the American family and you all are the ignorant uncle who shows up drunk to the family reunion.
To be clear, we do have trailer parks here, we do have rednecks here and we do have cows. I’ve even seen a teepee or two in a museum. I’ve had the pleasure to travel all over this country and I’ve yet to see a state that is free of rednecks, trailer parks and people who don’t think before they speak. So deal with it Seattle, as you sit in your empty arena from the 1970s and drink your latte and discuss the abstract ideas of what might be or could’ve been, just remember that your ignorant uncle from the prairie out bid, out flanked and out smarted you. And most importantly... Quit whining! Meanwhile, I’ll be at the basketball game, watching MY team. Lets play ball!
From the Great State of Oklahoma
Trialdawg.
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