Monday, March 28, 2011

Basketball jones

My sword-wielding friend Xavier Onassis is a huge college basketball fan... not1.

I only mildly disagree with the point, though the form betrays lack of gravitas that tends to undermine the very point being made.

I guess one could argue that college basketball (and other college sports) provides a funding mechanism to educate thousands of student athletes who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford an education. So XO's statement above essentially puts a value of zero on education. Which is a shame. I personally think education is one of the more important investments we can make in our own futures.

But actually, when I hear/read people make statements like "nothing is less important than…" or "nothing is worse than…" I really just think that those people suffer from a lack of imagination.

I mean, I suspect that without too much effort I could come up with at least five things that are less important than college basketball2.

What?! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Let's see, let me start with… that bunch of cackling mother hens on The View, Lady Gaga, autotune, any autotuned song, the British Royal Family, any wedding among and/or within the British Royal Family, Renaissance Festivals, those weirdos who dress up for Renaissance Festivals, hippie drum circles, poetry slams, comedy jams, fashion week, fashion models, fashion magazines and anything even remotely associated with the fashion industry, steampunks and their steampunk accouterments, Dancing with the Stars Hasbeens, that lame-ass Thor God of Thunder (puhleeze!) movie, my stock options, foodies and the sport they make of eating, 99.9999999999999999 percent of the content of Twitter…

Whew… I guess I got a little carried away there.



1) Hello 1990s vernacular!

2) Of course I realize that this precariously places one upon a nihilistic slippery slope. I mean, if we accept XO's position that people are just semi-intelligent animals and that human life has no particular meaning, then how can we say that anything within life is any more or less meaningful or important than anything else. Just sayin...

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5 comments:

  1. Love it. Methinks XO may miss the point.

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  2. dude - look, i fixed my footnote system, okay? so you can now turn off the weird feature you're using...first time i had been 'blogger-rolled'.

    oh. and for your list? anything sarah palin might utter.

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  3. 'not' is so NOT 90's. Or else, you were very behind the curve. But, maybe since my sister made it up, I got it a little sooner. (Just try to tell me that this is not relevant or meaningful...)

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  4. The question is, "why does he care what anybody else thinks of any given diversion?" Having fun, laughing, enjoying competition is what makes us human. Sure, I suppose we could all spend our weekends in March worrying about famine victims, Tsunamis, the deficit and lord knows what else, but you know what? That stuff will still be there on April 3. Frankly, I wish these scolds would just shut up and let us enjoy what we want, without bothering me with obscenity-laced moral pontificating.

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