Guest Posts, HTBASF, Sportz, Useless Observation

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. Continue reading “How To Be A Sports Fan: Lesson 4”

Real Talk, Useless Observation

Infallible/Inspired

I believe the Bible to be special. I believe it to be infallible and inspired by the Author of All. Maybe you share this view.

It’s a bit of a strange concept to think about. After all, we’re talking about documents that were passed down for many generations before ever being written down, and even after that, they had to be translated into language that we understand. So there’s all kinds of crazy stuff that doesn’t necessarily make sense to us in the age we live in. There are a lot of cultural differences that make things really, really difficult for us to understand.

But that’s where our viewpoint of the Bible itself comes into play. Because if we just think of it as some other book, we can disregard all the things that don’t interest us. However, if we view it as being infallible and being inspired, than we have no choice but to look at the content as being something entirely different.

We have to acknowledge that the content is in there for a reason. Continue reading “Infallible/Inspired”

Guest Posts, HTBASF, Sportz, The GBROAT

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. Continue reading “How To Be A Sports Fan: Lesson 3”

Misplaced Mississippian, Real Talk, Useless Observation

The Long Fall

“Is it safe?”

I often find myself longing for this two-week period of my life from back in 2009. It was right after graduating from college, and I spent my time driving around throughout the Southeast listening to a lot of CDs cause I didn’t own an iPod.

It was exactly what I needed just out of school: time away from everything. I was coming off a particularly rough 2008 and figured that since my problems at this point in time were dealing with a couple of girls I found attractive and finding a part time job to pay my cheap rent, life was going alright. The future was wide open for me, which was exhilarating but also terrifying.

It is that free feeling that I keep coming back to as the years go by. Not the fear or the wandering or the confusion about cute girls. It is the feeling of freedom.

Yet I can’t help but think that the more I long for that period of time, I do it for the wrong reasons. Continue reading “The Long Fall”

Real Talk, Useless Observation

Apologizing For Myself

Last week, a very rare thing happened to me: somebody complimented me.

I won’t bore you with a post about nice things somebody said to me. You deserve better than that. But what you should know is that they basically said I was an okay person. This isn’t notable, I know this. It only stood out to me because I know this person’s history, and I know how often they have written off other people. I knew their history of being hurt by other people, and their response of hating other people.

It made me wonder if they realized that I was no different. No different than them. No different than the people they hated. No different than the people they had been hurt by. Continue reading “Apologizing For Myself”

Real Talk

Paradox of Opinions

I can’t sing.

I mean, I’m not going to make people cover their ears and run out of the room screaming or anything. But I’m also not going to warm up the pipes and make ladies swoon. I’m capable enough to do what I need to do and comfortable enough to know it’s not exactly my spiritual gift.

But don’t you dare tell me that I can’t sing, because I will get livid, and I will get indignant. Continue reading “Paradox of Opinions”