Thoughts of a Common Man

Listen, I'm a baseball fan...probably one of the more passionate baseball fans in the world, but man, this made me cringe: In Calgary, a man died early Sunday because he disagreed with another man about the Blue Jays' pitching staff. According to the Calgary Herald, Brian Ludwig was arguing with another man about the Blue Jays' pitchers. The two decided to "take it outside" and as their fight was winding down, a third person came in and threw what witnesses called a "sucker punch." Ludwig was hit on the back of the head and taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the report. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma. Scott Robert Hooser, 27, has been charged with manslaughter. Alcohol, of course, was involved. You see, I have a healthy give and take with a bunch of Red Sux fans, a couple of clueless Mets fans, and even fans of the hapless Phillies, and oh yeah, don't forget the World Series...

Every once in awhile a story truly horrifies, doesn't it? Have you seen the photo of the little girl from Niagara Falls who was presumed murdered by two teenagers? It makes you not even want to pick up the paper or turn on the news. "They should have shot those kids on the spot," someone said. "They need to be killed immediately!!!" Someone else shouted on Facebook. Is that the way to go with this? I'm asking. Because we don't seem to have much of a handle on violence in this country. When it happens in our community...it's even more difficult to handle. Still. "Violence begets violence," an old college professor once told me. "If we solve violence through violent means we are celebrating the very act committed by those we are trying to stop." That really made sense to me. When I was an idealistic kid. But man, I was rocked yesterday by the photo of that pretty little girl. I almost agreed with those on F...

I've been at this blog since November 12, 2007. At least one post a day...sometimes two. As my college buddy Rosie described my writing career: "Blah, blah, blah, blah, freaking blah." When I wanted to be a writer a friend of mine, Zane, said: "Shut-up and write." I listened to him. So many words. And the thing about it is that I'm trying to condense the words I'd written into a few hundred so that we can make a book about Thoughts of a Common Man . I thought it would be fun. It's not. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, freaking blah." Yet there are certainly a few realizations. I had never re-read anything. Write it, hit the button, let it out there. Re-reading your own stuff is weird. But truth be told, I've laughed at a few lines. I recruited a few friends to pick out some of their favorites - Thank you Barb - and then I set in to reading. --- It's weird to watch the kids grow up during the time set aside for the bl...

I've never been to the West African country of Togo but there are times when I feel like I could live there. The women of Togo are banding together. They are planning to withhold sex from their men until they get what they want. Come on, now...women don't do that...do they? Yet I find it interesting because I am certain that if women could get their act together they would certainly rule the world. A woman president, you ask? Yep, there would be one. All she would have to do is to convince the other women of the world to do what they're doing in Togo. "Vote for me or else." Come on, men...who would you vote for? You think having gun rights is important? Just wait until the other rights are infringed upon. I'd be interested to see how it all works out as well. The women of Togo are banding together for civil rights. Will all of them be able to abstain? I can almost imagine the scene. "There's a woman on the west side of town who...

My Dad once told me, and I figure that I was about 17 or 18 years old at the time, that 90% of the people "you meet as you walk through life are blatant assholes who are out only for themselves." There are days when I think that Dad's estimate was too low. There are days when I imagine that he was being a bit cynical. Yet on Friday night I read a post from Matt on Facebook as he praised Lance Armstrong. We all know what I think of dear d-bag Lance, right? I've been his biggest critic since about 2000. I saw through him from day one. Sorry. He fit directly into the group of people that my Dad was talking about, and while I didn't have any proof, I just felt it in my heart. He seemed to me to have built his foundation on shaky ground. He struck me as a fraud, a cheat, and in that blatant category. I still might be wrong, mind you, I never met the man, but there's evidence pointing in the direction. But an argument ensued. "He's done so m...

Don't you wish we could use that button from time-to-time in our real lives? Got drunk and made an ass of yourself? CTRL-ALT-DELETE How about that bad relationship? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Grave mistake at work? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Nasty word to someone you love? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Cheat while you were winning 7 Tour De France Competitions? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Then lied about cheating? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Drowned dogs that didn't fight well for you? CTRL-ALT-DELETE Murdered your ex-wife and her companion the waiter? CTRL-ALT-DELETE It would be nice, but life just doesn't work like that. Unfortunately self-knowledge usually appears at the precise moment after you've seriously f-ed something up. It's too bad we can't immediately place our fingers on the exact right buttons to eliminate the mistake. Of course, I've always heard that hitting the CTRL-ALT-DELETE buttons too many times does something to the internal workings of the computer. I w...

Perhaps there should be an expiration date on wedded bliss. I was absolutely flabbergasted by the story of the 70-year-old woman who banged her 80-year old husband over the head with a coffee mug and then allegedly used a piece of the broken mug to slit his freaking throat! Are you kidding me? Is this my future? What the hell did the guy do? Put the creamer bowl down in the wrong spot? And sometimes that's all it takes in a long-term arrangement. I know a bunch of couples who've been together for a long, long time. If you didn't know better you'd think they were mortal enemies instead of partners for life. A few weeks back we were at church and part of the ceremony was to honor a couple that was together for 50 years. Everyone was oohing and ahhing. Except for me. I turned to my Wonderful Aunt Rosalie who is into her 80's and certainly misses my Uncle Herb. "That poor bastard," I whispered. I know, I know...it was church! Yet we w...