Friday, December 7, 2012

Answering Your Questions - Part B

So, yeah. Questions! You asked them, I'm answering them.

Not many of you asked questions, so here goes.

Paul asks:  Nachos?

SW:  I will refer you to my upcoming monograph "Nachos!", due for print in 2014.

Randy asks: I have a deep fear that I like "Online Ryan", but not necessarily "Real Life Ryan" (as I've spent very little time with the carbon-based version.) How much alike are the two?

SW: I think what you're saying is "I probably wouldn't like you in real life", which... thanks, man. I needed that.

But, sure, I suppose there's a discrepancy between my online persona and "the real me".  There's also how I behave at work versus how I behave with my extended family versus how I behave with just Jamie versus what I do when I'm having cocktails with friends or buying eggs at the grocery store.

But, the differences:  I definitely swear a lot more in real life. I jump from topic to topic a lot more readily. I don't monologue any less, though.

I can say, I am probably more myself at The Signal Watch than I was at League of Melbotis, where I tended to feel the need to play gameshow host. There's a lot of freedom in not caring if you build a readership. I'd also say - I have the ability to slow down and think through an idea before writing it on the blog rather than the half-formed ideas I'll just say in real life, that seems to often lead to confusion by others.

So, I dunno.  I make no guarantees.

Jake asks: Would you rather see Mark Waid and Alex Ross doing a monthly Superman book OR see Texas beat its rivals (OU, TAM, TT) for the next ten years?

SW: Perhaps this is some Rorschach test I will fail, and despite what people think about UT's sports programs this may not jive, but I am not a fan of sports teams that win so consistently that they make the sport boring to watch. That's true in watching a single game, but it's also true in watching a season or five unfold.

To answer the actual question, I think I'd be a bit bored if UT won every game against our more challenging opponents.   The fun is not knowing or being able to readily anticipate a victory (or loss).  Even if I didn't know my magical wish was the reason we'd won every year, by year five, how much fun would it really be?   If our record against Rice is any indication - it would be pretty dull.

If I didn't know, and we won three in a row versus Oklahoma, that'd be pretty sweet.

As per Waid and Ross on Superman?  Well, yeah!  I think I'd pay good money for that.

Jake asks: What professional and/or college teams do you hate (disapprove of) the most?

SW: That's a tough one, and I'm going to just skip over discussing Penn State and their woes because that's on a scale I can't wrap my head around.

I don't follow sports radio or the various narratives around the NFL or in NCAA, so I don't tend to get wrapped up in the gossipy sports gossip too much.*  So "hate" for some of the reasons real sports fans might hate a team doesn't find its way onto my radar.

I get bored of the Yankees and Lakers for dominating conversation in their respective sports, but I don't hate them. I just think that they've bought a lot of talent that, say, the Twins or the Clippers can't afford, and it makes pro sports seem like a numbers game that reflects the economic supremacy of where their clubs are located.  It sort of dampens my enthusiasm for pro sports.

Truthfully, I don't really watch much but NCAA football anymore, and - as folks who followed my prior blog could attest -  I was a huge NBA fan not long ago, but that's fizzled.  But back when I did follow the NBA, I hated the Jazz, because, man, if you like the Jazz, you were born without a soul.

 I also think the Denver Nuggets have a stupid name, but that's not a reason to dislike them.

In college football, I don't see why USC has so many fans. They're sort of the guy in the movie who should be named "Kip" or "Ken" who picks on the John Cusack character. They're just oddly smug, and the fawning coverage by ESPN doesn't help.  I wasn't at all surprised that they got busted on NCAA violations. Of COURSE they were cheating in the regatta with daddy's yacht and cutting up the sails of the scrappy underdogs.  It is only fitting that they got their comeuppance.

See, USC is more or less "Roy Stalin" picking on ASU and Oregon State there

In the NFL, I will minimize my comments regarding The Cowboys out of respect for my father-in-law, but...  Jerry Jones and Tony Romo clearly signed a pact with one of the lesser hellspawn to ensure I would lose all respect for my once-favorite-franchise.  When I do watch the NFL, I like to watch the Texans, but I can never remember who is on the team.  I just want to make sure I am NOT watching the Cowboys.

Anyway, UT Football is something I enjoy, but in general, sports aren't something I make as much time for as I once did.

*I can tell you that what I hear sports-radio enthusiasts saying about The Longhorn Network makes them sound like raving conspiracy lunatics who don't get how people make money off of TV (and why the LHN was/ is good for ALL schools with a solid alumni base).


Paul Toohey said...

Online-Ryan is fine, but you need RealLofe-Ryan if you want to meet someone out on campus for BBQ taco lunches...

Jake Shore said...

Funny that your alma mater and my soon to be alma mater are meeting in San Antonio. I originally went to Oregon about years ago, but transferred when I met my wife, who lived in Corvallis. So I'm technically a Beaver who is a Duck fan. I root for the Beavs when they're not playing the Ducks, but when the OSU wins the Civil War, Beaver fans are intolerable. I live in Albany, which is about ten miles from Corvallis, but I go to school and church in Corvallis, where most of our friends live. Beaver fans are the definition of little brother in our state, and most of them hate the Ducks more than they love the Beavers. So even though I understand that rivalries only work when the other team wins once in a while, I am perfectly happy with Oregon's five straight Civil War wins.

Jake Shore said...

Most people out here on the west coast have a similar view of USC. There are a few teams I hate. I used to hate the Huskies, but it's hard to hate a team that you've beaten nine straight years. I generally don't like the Steelers. But no team have I hated more than the Lakers. Pretty much all Blazer fans despise the Lakers, their fair weather fans, and their entitled attitude. Oh yeah, I'd love for someone to either beat the SEC in the National Championship game or shut them out entirely.

The League said...

It's funny. The UT/ Texas A&M rivalry has always been a bit of the "little brother" business of A&M fans wanting to show up those rich folk from the city. It's left over from a culture that hasn't really existed at either school since A&M let women into the university decades ago. Having it in for UT seems (I say "seems, because I don't spend much time there) ingrained in the culture as something to do. UT thinks about A&M a little, but Oklahoma is considered the important game of the year - unless A&M manages to come along and ruin our bowl chances in our last regular season game.

I think the UT attitude has never been one of outright aggression. It's been more one of "what ARE those silly people doing over there? Burning an outhouse? Well, whatever gets them through the night." Apply that to 100 years of A&M feeling like a little brother trying to escape someone's shadow - and you get the SEC escape hatch. I'm thrilled they got Johnny Football and a winning season because it makes UT look all the better for beating them so many years before their defection.