Here In My Car I Feel Safest Of All
I, like most people, enjoy driving fast. So far I've been smart enough to know in which situations to slow it down. This weekend I got stuck behind three different vehicles on three separate occasions that were going at least 5 miles below the speed limit. In each case, there was no way to pass them. This, by itself, was a tad frustrating. There was something that made it worse though. Each vehicle had some sort of NASCAR sticker on it. I believe it was an "8" and two "3's", but I can't be certain on that. (I do know that the "3's" did not have wings attached to them. I would have remembered that.) Anyway, I don't enjoy NASCAR. I'm a big sports fan though. I just don't think NASCAR is a sport. It's a competition. I have a strict way of classifying the wide world of sports entertainment. (To find out the specifics, click on the comments tag at the end of this post.) After my experiences this weekend, I propose a new traffic law: If you are caught going under the speed limit, regardless of whether there is a posted minimum speed limit, and you have any NASCAR paraphernalia on your vehicle then you will be pulled over. Upon approaching your vehicle, the cop will state the reason for pulling you over and then ask you to explain the concept of irony. If this can not be accomplished to the police person's satisfaction, you will be ticketed and forced to pay a minimum of a $200 fine. Sure it sounds harsh and will never happen, but it made me feel better just typing it.
posted by James @ 11:28 PM
4 comments
American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation - Jon Meacham 
Firewall / The Good Thief / Munich 
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists / One More Drifter in the Snow - Aimee Mann / Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards - Tom Waits 
30 Rock / Boston Legal / Gilmore Girls / Heroes / Lost / My Name Is Earl / The Office / Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
4 Comments:
Sport
Sports would be baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey, and the like. The Sports are team games played by a strict set of rules with clear ways to score, win, loose, or tie. Each Sport has leagues and a system of determining championships. The Sports, when going right, are pure and the very nature of fairness.
Games
This would be golf, tennis, bowling, etc. The main thing separating Games from Sports is the team aspect. Sure the Games can have teams, but the essence of the Game is to reach a score that will not only earn a win, but also prove personal prowess. Games are also much more fun to play yourself than to watch others participate.
Competitions
This is car racing, track & field, etc. Competitions are things you could just do own your own with little or no planning and effort; nor with any prior knowledge about the rules of the Competition. Competitions essentially come down to "I bet you I can [blank] blank-er than you can." (This, by the way, reminds me of a really funny episode of The Match Game.)
Just Showing Off
This would be figure skating, snowboarding, gymnastics, and any thing where the winner is declared by judges giving arbitrary scores. I don't enjoy Just Showing Off at all.
I've been waiting for someone else to comment first, but why isn't your sport definition an actual post instead of just a hidden comment? I probably would have ignored it unless Scott directed to it. I'm often disgusted by what new "Just Showing Off" activity is elevated to so-called "Sport" status. Another difference I've noticed: playing pro sports allows you the income to do lots of drugs and women (depending how you swing); just showing off is something to do when not masturbating, playing D&D in your parents' basement or trying to scrounge to buy the smallest amount of weed to get stoned on.
Mike,
I've used these loose definitions on the different levels of "sport" entertianment for a long time. They just weren't new enough to me to warrant a separate post. When I first went in to create the post, I originally had it all as one post. I wasn't fond of the length. (I already hated the length of the posts for the speech commentary.) So I just quickly cut out the part with the definitions and pasted them into a comment.
I'm glad to hear someone shares my disgust with Showing Off. Nothing irritates me more than the level of hype arround the X Games and how seriously it is treated by ESPN.
Btw, do you have a take on the popularity of poker on television? I've been meaning to write something about that, but haven't found the right inspiration yet.
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow,
James
James,
I've been meaning to coment on the poker popularity. Card games fall under activites that are more fun to play than to observe for more than a few minutes. I don't even think these guys in the world series of poker thing are even playing with their own money, so there's no real competition. How can you invest interest in something where you really can't root for or against somebody? There isn't even any chance of gunplay or a Kenny Rogers appearance.
Thank's for finally posting your newest vocabulary improvement. I've been waiting to use it until you did. I hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag too soon about hearing that Bill wrote the entire FABLES album.
Mike
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