How To Be A Sports Fan: Lesson 4
This guest post is brought to you by a new Twitter friend, Ben Zajdel. Ben is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, works in a Christian bookstore, watches entirely too much basketball (PERFECTLY okay with me), and has written a few short books you might enjoy. You can keep up with him at his website, or on Twitter, @benzajdel.
Before I start this article on superstition, you need to know a little about me. I have a degree in Historical Studies, which means I learned how to fact check old documents and make sure they’re legitimate. I am also currently pursuing a degree in Environmental Science, so you can probably guess that I don’t like approximations and guesses. I’m also a Christian, so I don’t believe in magic and voodoo and curses. I openly mock those who think magnets can heal you, and I dismiss most natural remedies.
That being said, how to be superstitious is one of the most important things a sports fan can learn. Read More…
How To Be A Sports Fan: Lesson 3
Alas! I have made my return to the GBOAT. I am making my contribution to the “How To Be a Sports Fan” series based on years of experience and observation. Also, as a shameless plug, I am undertaking a once-a-week, year long blogging endeavor over at my blog, The Ramblings of a Wayward Son. - Chandler
I have been around sports for years. I’m 28 now, and I remember waaaaaaay back when as a little kid playing T-Ball. I don’t know when that was, but it was a long time ago. I was never good at sports, but I have played, and probably more importantly, watched them for years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of these years, it’s this:
In order to be a sports fan, you must overreact to everything.
This manifests itself in many different ways. Fans do it, announcers do it, and talking heads do it. And then after you overreact to everything, you have to get mad at ESPN for creating a culture in which we overreact to everything, essentially absolving yourself of any and all blame.
Make sense? No? Good. Let’s look at it more specifically. Read More…
Waiting on a Hurricane
Waiting on a hurricane is a weird thing.
There’s this big, slow moving, dark cloud hanging over you. The wind is blowing, the air feels…well…for lack of a better word, weird, and your pets are going nuts. They can sense something isn’t quite right.
You keep hearing stories farther south of wind, rain, and the storm surge.
You check the weather, then the list of school closings, then the weather again, then school closings again, then…well, you get the idea. And the whole time you’re hoping the news will have been updated in the last 30 seconds.
It’s like a nightmare you just can’t wake up from. All you can do is wait. Read More…
Musical Guilty Pleasures – Guest Post by Jason Bruce
Today’s post comes from my close friend Jason Bruce. Jason makes music for a living, and is now only the third “real life” friend I’ve had who has written something for me. Amongst the things Jason enjoys: Cracked.com, Dr. Pepper with NO ice in it, and passing out on my couch every Sunday afternoon.
Enjoy Jason’s words on guilty pleasures, then be sure to check out his Musical Facebook page here and also follow Jason Bruce Music on Twitter.
We’ve all got things we enjoy that we’re absolutely positive that no one else even remotely cares for. In the privacy and comfort of our own home, we engage these things, whether they be music, TV shows, films, books, food, hobbies, weird habits. We feel the rush of dopamine to our brain. We sit and revel in the sheer, child-like pleasure and gratification that we receive, which is quickly followed with the sobering thought of, “Yeah, I’m not gonna tell anyone about this.”
I’m just gonna throw this out there. I love Rihanna (67 out of 100 average career score, according to Metacritic). I have all of her albums. Katy Perry (49)? Love her. Flo Rida(59)? I play his stuff all the time when I DJ parties. “Domino” by Jessie J (51) is an incredible pop song, with it’s disco beat and Earth, Wind, and Fire chord changes. My favorite new group: Karmin. Google them. I’ll wait….
…I know, right? The other day, I had the sugary-sweet pop song “Call Me Maybe” by Justin Beiber (62) protege Carly Rae Jepsen (ironically, a 4 out of 5 rating on iTunes)stuck in my head, and instead of attempting to wash it out with some Andrew Bird or Editors, I proceeded to quietly sing it to myself ALL DAY.
5:26 pm
Mr. Heinlein’s Lunch – Guest Post by Randomly Chad
Today, The GBOAT is welcoming Chad Jones, of Randomly Chad. Chad is a husband, father, and occasionally admits to working in IT, so be sure to ask him all of your technology questions now. Sometimes, Chad is goofy, whereas sometimes (like this post yesterday, or this one on introversion) Chad is serious.
Be sure to visit Chad’s site, follow him on Twitter, and also thank him for popping in at The GBOAT today.
Robert Heinlein: MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
The late Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is known as one grandmasters of the golden era of Science Fiction (he is usually mentioned alongside Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke). His contributions to the field, his soaring imagination, and his obsession with sex in his later years are undisputed (Don’t believe me? Pick up To Sail Beyond the Sunset–which begins with a gynecological exam. Better yet, don’t pick it up–you’ll thank me).
Among Heinlein’s groundbreaking works, are: Read More…
Baseball Is NOT the Greatest Sport of All-Time (Part 2)
Today features part two of a series on baseball written by Sir Thomas Mark Zuniga (TMZ). Be sure to check out part one here, and also TMZ’s site here.
I recently guest-posted at The GBOAT, proclaiming baseball as the greatest sport of all-time.
Absurd. What was in my chewing tobacco that day?
I only cried twice as a kid, and both times involved baseball. In my last post I explained this statement was actually false, but once again I’ll lie for dramatization purposes. Like Manny Ramirez and an outfield door at Fenway.
By 8 years old, I’d asserted there was simply nothing better than baseball. Remember how God said “it is good” after creating dolphins and puppies, and then “it is very good” after creating man? Pretty sure He also employed the “very” after creating baseball on the third day—the same day He created perfectly patterned outfield grass.
HOW DO THEY DO IT?
