Sunday Morning Random Thoughts, Rants And Grunts

.
Item #1. Oscar Awards.

Tonight is the telecast of the Oscar awards. Yaawwwwnn. I detest most Hollywood types and their shameless self-aggrandizement. For the past week media hype for this event has been unavoidable. It's obvious to me that watching this opulent and excessive display of limousine liberals preen for the cameras is for women and gays. None for me, thanks.


The last time I voluntarily set foot in a movie theater was when I took my young son to see the first Batman movie (whatever happened to Michael Keaton?). Movie theaters were never my kind of place. Sticky floors, the obnoxious overpowering odor of popcorn smothered in rendered and artificially flavored turkey fat, $5 candy bars, rude people and uncomfortable seats jammed way to close for my knees kept me away. Sure, there are now theaters with larger seats and more legroom but that’s not enough to get me in the door.

Movie theater loving people can go waste their money at the box office. Me? I am saving as much of mine as possible to buy more ammo and bugout box supplies. I can watch it when it comes on (somewhat) free cable. Hollywood sucks it.

Item # 2. The Tea Party Is Real

I’m mad as hell too, and I’m not going to take it anymore either.


Since I have been home a lot lately I have been watching a few TV programs daily. Opening Bell on CNBC is one, it airs between 8 and 9am daily along with Closing Bell between 2:30 to 3pm. Last week I was watching when Rick Santelli did his scheduled report from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. It was unusual to see something like this live on CNBC where the on air reporters are rarely this emotional and politically motivated as Santelli was that day. It got me fired up but never gave a thought that his brief moment of outrage would take on a life of it’s own. Santelli’s opinions are usually strong financially but now he’s going very political.

If you haven’t already heard, Santelli went into an all-out rant against Obummer’s socialist home mortgage bail-out plan before trading began. The content caused an immediate sh!tstorm throughout the media, the youtube link has gone viral on internet news sites and with right-thinking bloggers. Rick suggested hosting an event similar to the “Boston Tea Party” to protest and halt socialism, American-style. As lefty journalists would say, he is "reaching out" and "creating awareness". Heh. This is great!



Rick has become a folk hero overnight. Late Saturday I discovered that Rick has set up his own websites outlining plans to hold official Tea Party protests this summer. This is for real. Right now he is looking for folks to sign a pledge to attend, I already did and strongly urge anyone who is able to attend to do the same.

http://www.officialchicagoteaparty.com/

http://www.reteaparty.com/#mc_signup_form

Oh boy, a protest even I can finally get into! I don’t think what’s been going on lately and so quickly is what the “History Makers” had in mind when they voted for this overtly socialist tool last November but many of us knew all along. If “spread the wealth around” wasn’t a clue you were truly clueless.

Just the thought of socialism turns my stomach. A lot of damage can be done in the next two years. It’s time to get busy.

Read this only AFTER you have enjoyed your Sunday brunch and Bloody Mary:

http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=320027936229029

See you in Chicago on the Fourth Of July!

Item #3. Lacrosse

Last year in a Chicago bar I noticed a college lacrosse match being broadcast on ESPN2. It reminded me of my younger days when two friends were sent off to east coast prep schools. One went to Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island and the other to Cranwell Academy near Boston. Their parents had deep pockets. Face it, sending your teen off to be boarded at a prep school is nothing more than an excuse to boast at the office, cocktail parties and family get-togethers. There's one in every crowd.

When both of these guys came home for the summer each brought home their Lacrosse helmets and sticks. They would practice together in front of the rest of us. Lacrosse was originally played by early American Indians and is known as the oldest American team sport. Lacrosse is played at east coast Ivy League schools but of little interest to the majority of sports fans. Our collective interest was ho-hum. The rest of us went off to play baseball. Joe and Mike enjoyed showing off their newly acquired east-coast snobbery to us teenage Midwestern bumpkins. We weren’t impressed.

This morning a Sunday newspaper retail advertising insert for Dick’s (love that name) Sporting Goods caught my eye. It was an ad for Lacrosse equipment. I have never seen Lacrosse equipment being offered at a retail store or in retail advertising before. Could it be that Lacrosse is actually becoming popular nationwide?


Call me a skeptic but now it’s all beginning to gel in my mind. Lacrosse may become the new Ice Hockey. In the past decade ice hockey has become the snob appeal sport for yuppie parents with deep pockets looking for ways to separate themselves from the unwashed masses. I have a few..umm…acquaintences who send their boys to play ice hockey. One dad boasted to a few of us that he spends anywhere from $3-4,000 a year for each son to play hockey. This includes rink time, equipment (which a kid outgrows each year), league fees, and instruction. He refused to estimate how much he spent on transportation and lodging to attend weekend tournaments in remote hockey meccas like Minneapolis, Duluth, Rochester and even Vancouver. Guess it all depends on his bar tab.

Lacrosse is less expensive and in these hard economic times it is still more exotic than baseball or basketball. Less expense, more exotic, separates and provides yuppie parents with cocktail party and office boast material? Makes sense to me. Well, kind of.

Hey dad, are we having fun yet?

That is all.
.