Jaylor

Why I think 'Tuesdays with Morrie' will change my life.

2010-04-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

As a Michigan boy and an avid sports fan, I have long been familiar with the work of author and sports writer Mitch Albom. I had of course heard about his famous work Tuesdays with Morrie but never considered actually reading it. It wasn't until my grandfather read it and gave it to me that I gave it a shot. And oh man, am I ever glad I did.

It's about Mitch's old college professor; Morrie Schwartz; from the '70s. Mitch was very close with him as he went through college, but after graduating he gets consumed by work and sort of forgets about him. He learns that Morrie has contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and then starts visiting with him every Tuesday, and they tackle all the difficult subjects of life, as the terrible disease slowly consumes him. It's a heart-tugging, beautiful, happy, and sad story all at the same time.

There are 10 lifetimes worth of useful information to take away from this book. Morrie had such a higher understanding of the world around him; he was not a fan of America's materialistic ways, and I can only guess he wouldn't be too fond of how America has changed for the worst over the last 15 years. Materialistic wants and needs have swallowed our culture and society; it's all that drives us. So many of us feel our only purpose is to land a high-paying job, buy a big-house, settle down and have kids. Buy that new fancy cell-phone. That new big-screen TV. That new sports car. There's nothing inherently wrong about this, it's just so damn selfish. People in America's modern society are molded to only care about their own desires. But how can they not when the news embeds the belief that every stranger wants to murder and molest our children? We don't trust one another enough anymore. With that said, I'd like to share some of my favorite quotes from Mitch Albom's book:

"People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does. That's what our economy does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god." - Morrie Schwartz

"Here's what I mean by building your own little subculture: I don't mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don't go around naked, for example. I don't run through red lights. The little things, I can obey. But the big things; how we think, what we value; those you must choose yourself." - Morrie Schwartz

"Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I'm telling you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have." - Morrie Schwartz.

This book will undoubtedly change my life, so I would suggest to anyone who hasn't read it that they do so. Because chances are, it will do the same for you.

Why I think the MLB needs a salary cap.

2010-04-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

I think the MLB should institute a salary cap ASAP. And no, it's not because I'm a Yankee-hater; although I despise the Yankees with every fiber of my being; it's because the lack of a salary cap is straight up bad for baseball. It allows for teams like the Yankees and Red Sox to buy up the best free agents every year and for a more talented roster. It gives them the ability to compete every year for a World Series, whereas other teams like the poor Pittsburgh Pirates might get a good team once a generation if they're lucky.

To me, this is a hands down argument, but I understand what the opposing viewpoints could be, so I'll address a couple of them.

Opposing viewpoint 1: "The Yankees and Red Sox have better owners and their fan bases generate the most money, so of course they should be able to have the largest salaries."

Hm, that's a very good point Opposing viewpoint 1, except it's really not at all. For starters, many teams have fantastic owners, they just don't have the capability to bring in talent like the Yankees or Red Sox do. And secondly, of course they're going to have good fan bases, after all, they can buy up the most talent.

Opposing viewpoint 2: "There is no need for a salary cap, the Tampa Bay Rays proved it's possible to win with one of the lowest salary caps in baseball."

Wow, now that you mention it; no. Yes, the Rays proved it was possible but with that success they're going to probably have to trade away most of their talent out of necessity in the near future. Much like the Cleveland Indians had to get rid of their dynamic pitching duo of Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia over the past couple years. It isn't fair that so many teams can't afford to hold on to talent and build around it. The baseball salary issue seems to vary so much for each team and it depends so much on the ownership and management. In my eyes, every team should be able to build up and grow around talent. They should never be forced into trading big time players for prospects in the hope that they themselves will become big time players.

In summary, I think Major League Baseball needs to even the playing field once and for all. There should be a salary cap so every team can realistically compete for the World Series year in and year out. I'm no baseball economics master, but this seems like a no-hitter; er, no-brainer to me.

Why I think 'Fox News' contributes nothing to anything...or, everything?

2010-04-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, we all find ourselves flashing there every now and then. Some may do it to shed the sticky, dirty feeling they get from the so-called liberal media. Others, like me, do it to piss themselves off. I'm talking of course about Fox News. And over the next few paragraphs I will explain how I believe it contributes nothing to our country and is composed entirely of misinformed nincompoops.

Exhibit A; Glenn Beck:

I can see through Glenn Beck like a clean window; he is one of the most fake people I have ever seen. Whether it's one of his patented, teary-eyed "I love this country" rambles, or his chalkboard scribblings that...somehow lead his faithful watchers to believe Obama is a tyrant whose life goal is to conquer the world, like some comic book villain or something, Beck angers me one minute, then makes me laugh the next.

In fact, when I happened to flip to his program for the first time, I thought I was watching a special episode of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, because his views struck me as so far-right, that they are actually left. I giggled for the first few minutes, before realizing he was serious, which leads me to my final point on Glenn Beck; he cannot be serious.

No, he just can't be serious. Please, tell me he isn't serious. I shudder to think that his views are not only being bombarded on innocent victims like my grandparents, but that people actually believe the illogical garbage that spews from his mouth on a daily basis. But alas, it is Fox News I'm talking about.

Exhibit B; Sean Hannity:

Read my views on Glenn Beck again, above. Because Hannity is in the same boat.

Exhibit C; The rest of Fox News:

The rest of Fox News isn't much better, I'm afraid. Their prevailing agenda is to stir hatred up for our President (not ALL of Fox News is like this, there is a tiny fraction of programming that is logical). Now, believe me, I can hear any Republican reading this already saying "But all the media did was make fun of George W. Bush!" Yes, Jon Stewart and other liberals did make fun of George Bush. A lot. But here's the kicker: they had reasons to. Bush did and said a lot of stupid things. That is an undeniable fact. But Fox News beats the hell out of every piece of news it can to make it look bad for Obama (see the recent revelations about those 2 idiot kids who made the "undercover" ACORN video that made it look as if the workers were catering to child sex-trafficking, where in reality every ACORN worker in the video called the police to report it, but it didn't stop them from getting fired. No, they got fired because Fox News continually looped the heavily-edited clips of these ACORN workers, and treated these 2 aforementioned idiot kids like heroes).

In summary, it is my belief that Fox News contributes nothing to this country. I believe this because I think we have an incredibly intelligent, well-educated and progressive-thinking family man in the White House, and all they do is try to run his reputation into the ground with blind hatred and zero logic.

Welcome to my Blog

2010-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, after much inner-debate; about 3 minutes worth; I've decided to create my own blog. Why, you ask, did I do this? The answer is because I have a lot of strong opinions, some of them controversial, some of them facts, others somewhere in between. These opinions cover all bases from politics, to religion, to sports, to entertainment.

I like to think of myself as a rationalist. I take a big step back and look at the world around me. When you look at the world from this wider perspective, you tend to really change your opinions on things, or at the very least reconsider them. This is my goal, not to cram my opinion down your throat, but to simply explain my views and why I believe them to be true.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy my blog. Wow, that's a sentence I never seen myself typing...