Day four of \u201cEastern Standard Time\u201d. I fell asleep before kick-off Monday night, waking when it was already 10-0 Miami. I\u2019m struggling with the concept of being an hour ahead of most of my coworkers (why aren\u2019t they in the office at 6:30 in KC when I turn the laptop on?). Also, finishing my workday around 5:00 local time and still getting calls for an hour is odd. I\u2019m sure my West Coast clients appreciate the voice mails I leave them at 5:00 AM their time. The rest of the world changes their clocks. In Indiana, you have to change your life.<\/p>\n
Anyone catch the NBC Nightly News last night? Some outstanding publicity for the state of Kansas. Our favorite wacko minister from Topeka (name purposely not used here, but we\u2019ll call him FP. E-mail me if you don\u2019t know whom I\u2019m referring to.) and his followers are back in Casper, WY trying to place a monument in a public park saying that Matthew Shepard \u201centered hell\u201d the day he died. \u201cWe\u2019re not preaching human hate, we\u2019re preaching God\u2019s hate. And God hates those who live lives of sin,\u201d a group member said. Casper is having trouble stopping them because, get this, they have a monument to the Ten Commandments in the same park. City lawyers say allowing that to stay put opens the doors to anyone else who wants to put a monument in the park. Ironic, isn\u2019t it? You might think to yourself, \u201cLet\u2019s see how Mr. First Amendment feels about this one.\u201d I think FP and his phollowers are all mentally ill, harboring more issues than we can ever imagine, but that doesn\u2019t mean that they can\u2019t spew their hatred. In fact, in this case, I think it\u2019s made a lot of people who wouldn\u2019t normally be protective of a gay man\u2019s legacy realize that it deserves preservation. Sometimes it takes people like FP, the Klan, and Louis Farrakhan to get the general public to understand that a fringe issue really isn\u2019t that fringe. I don\u2019t feel as strongly about religious monuments in parks, etc. as opposed to court rooms (Come on, it\u2019s a park. Your kid can still run around and play if the Ten Commandments are posted and you\u2019re an Atheist. Get over yourself.) but this is exactly the can of worms I was talking about. You can\u2019t selectively open the door to certain religious views and keep others out. FP may be living in a world that hasn\u2019t evolved in thousands of year, but he\u2019s still sharing what he believes to be his religious truth. The most horrible thing is Shepard\u2019s family has to relive his death again through all this.<\/p>\n
Tom Brokaw\u2019s reaction to the report was classic. Leading into a commercial, Tom said, \u201cWe\u2019ll be back in a moment,\u201d then let out a long, heavy sigh. Fair and balanced indeed!<\/p>\n
The Shaq-Kobe drama is absolutely awesome! I\u2019m loving every minute of it. I\u2019m not totally convinced it\u2019s all real. I have a hard time believing Phil Jackson would let it get to this point if it was 100% true. Two of the most media savvy players in the game today, a big off-court distraction, and I\u2019m supposed to believe they aren\u2019t somehow playing us? Fake or not, it\u2019s been fantastic to read\/watch. Two NBA superstars, and teammates no less, ripping each other up and down in the media. This is how people get killed in the hip-hop world (Another reason I\u2019m not convinced it\u2019s real. They sat next to each other on the bench last night.). In a time when loyalty is to contract and agent rather than team and city, when pre- and post-game get-togethers by opponents are commonplace, and where everyone tries to avoid bulletin board material, these exchanges are a throwback to the glory days of the 1970s when everyone hated everyone else. On TNT\u2019s always-brilliant studio show last night, Charles Barkley looked at his cohosts and said, \u201cIf any of you all ever call me fat, I\u2019m kicking all your asses.\u201d I want to see Shaq go after Kobe. Maybe toss him around the gym a little. Exclusive footage by a local reporter that just happened to still be in what was supposed to be a closed workout. Grainy, out-of-focus footage of Kobe slamming into some chairs as Karl Malone attempts to stop the Diesel from closing in to finish the job. Of course, we\u2019ll never actually see a punch or any other contact, so we\u2019ll never know what really happened. This needs to happen, and sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
Boo to everyone who gave Kobe standing ovations during the preseason. Innocent until proven guilty, yes. But there was nothing good that has come out of the early testimony, even if we ultimately learn it was a consensual encounter. I don\u2019t expect much out of anyone in the public eye, certainly not fidelity. But Kobe has held himself up to be different, better, more committed than others his entire career. He\u2019s benefited greatly from that image. I don\u2019t think you applaud the man for being just like everyone else. Worse than everyone else, really. I wonder how many of the people that applauded him had their kids next to them but were whining about, \u201cWhat will I tell my kids?\u201d during the Clinton impeachment. I finally have a tangible reason to dislike Kobe. I was never sure why I didn\u2019t like him, but now I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Day four of \u201cEastern Standard Time\u201d. I fell asleep before kick-off Monday night, waking when it was already 10-0 Miami. I\u2019m struggling with the concept of being an hour ahead of most of my coworkers (why aren\u2019t they in the office at 6:30 in KC when I turn the laptop on?). Also, finishing my workday around 5:00 local time and still getting calls for an hour is odd. I\u2019m sure my West Coast clients appreciate the voice mails I leave them at 5:00 AM their time. The rest of the world changes their clocks. In Indiana, you have to change your life. Anyone catch the NBC Nightly News last night? Some outstanding publicity for the state of Kansas. Our favorite wacko minister from Topeka (name purposely not used here, but we\u2019ll call him FP. E-mail me if you don\u2019t know whom I\u2019m referring to.) and his followers are back in Casper, WY trying to place a monument in a public park saying that Matthew Shepard \u201centered hell\u201d the day he died. \u201cWe\u2019re not preaching human hate, we\u2019re preaching God\u2019s hate. And God hates those who live lives of sin,\u201d a group member said. Casper is having trouble stopping them because, get this, they have a monument to the Ten Commandments in the same park. City lawyers say allowing that to stay put opens the doors to anyone else who wants to put a monument in the park. Ironic, isn\u2019t it? You might think to yourself, \u201cLet\u2019s see how Mr. First Amendment feels about this one.\u201d I think FP and his phollowers are all mentally ill, harboring more issues than we can ever imagine, but that doesn\u2019t mean that they can\u2019t spew their hatred. In fact, in this case, I think it\u2019s made a lot of people who wouldn\u2019t normally be protective of a gay man\u2019s legacy realize that it deserves preservation. Sometimes it takes people like FP, the Klan, and Louis Farrakhan to get the general public to understand that a fringe issue really isn\u2019t that fringe. I don\u2019t feel as strongly about religious monuments in parks, etc. as opposed to court rooms (Come on, it\u2019s a park. Your kid can still run around and play if the Ten Commandments are posted and you\u2019re an Atheist. Get over yourself.) but this is exactly the can of worms I was talking about. You can\u2019t selectively open the door to certain religious views and keep others out. FP may be living in a world that hasn\u2019t evolved in thousands of year, but he\u2019s still sharing what he believes to be his religious truth. The most horrible thing is Shepard\u2019s family has to relive his death again through all this. Tom Brokaw\u2019s reaction to the report was classic. Leading into a commercial, Tom said, \u201cWe\u2019ll be back in a moment,\u201d then let out a long, heavy sigh. Fair and balanced indeed! The Shaq-Kobe drama is absolutely awesome! I\u2019m loving every minute of it. I\u2019m not totally convinced it\u2019s all real. I have a hard time believing Phil Jackson would let it get to this point if it was 100% true. Two of the most media savvy players in the game today, a big off-court distraction, and I\u2019m supposed to believe they aren\u2019t somehow playing us? Fake or not, it\u2019s been fantastic to read\/watch. Two NBA superstars, and teammates no less, ripping each other up and down in the media. This is how people get killed in the hip-hop world (Another reason I\u2019m not convinced it\u2019s real. They sat next to each other on the bench last night.). In a time when loyalty is to contract and agent rather than team and city, when pre- and post-game get-togethers by opponents are commonplace, and where everyone tries to avoid bulletin board material, these exchanges are a throwback to the glory days of the 1970s when everyone hated everyone else. On TNT\u2019s always-brilliant studio show last night, Charles Barkley looked at his cohosts and said, \u201cIf any of you all ever call me fat, I\u2019m kicking all your asses.\u201d I want to see Shaq go after Kobe. Maybe toss him around the gym a little. Exclusive footage by a local reporter that just happened to still be in what was supposed to be a closed workout. Grainy, out-of-focus footage of Kobe slamming into some chairs as Karl Malone attempts to stop the Diesel from closing in to finish the job. Of course, we\u2019ll never actually see a punch or any other contact, so we\u2019ll never know what really happened. This needs to happen, and sooner rather than later. Boo to everyone who gave Kobe standing ovations during the preseason. Innocent until proven guilty, yes. But there was nothing good that has come out of the early testimony, even if we ultimately learn it was a consensual encounter. I don\u2019t expect much out of anyone in the public eye, certainly not fidelity. But Kobe has held himself up to be different, better, more committed than others his entire career. He\u2019s benefited greatly from that image. I don\u2019t think you applaud the man for being just like everyone else. Worse than everyone else, really. I wonder how many of the people that applauded him had their kids next to them but were whining about, \u201cWhat will I tell my kids?\u201d during the Clinton impeachment. I finally have a tangible reason to dislike Kobe. I was never sure why I didn\u2019t like him, but now I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,74,36,129],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-indianapolis","tag-nba","tag-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15732,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/15732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}