I was just listening to the Anita Marks show and she read the following article by Jason Whitlock from foxsports.com. I personally found it to be a pretty powerful article written by a black man about black-on-black crime, hip-hop’s involvement in spurring black-on-black crime, and the black culture’s indifference to education. After reading that, I went looking for what people were saying in response to the article and it was pretty mixed (here).

Now, I’m not an expert on the matter, so that’s already a reason why I probably shouldn’t say anything at all, but that article and the comments that followed really do get me thinking. Add to that the fact that I’m a white guy who grew up in a working middle class, single parent home for the most part, and my credentials for discussion probably drop even further. Regardless, I am a witness to all of this, and ever since I moved to Pittsburgh and opted to live close to this crime, my concerns and thoughts on the matter have constantly been on my mind. I live in the North Side of Pittsburgh, an area as infamous for it’s high crime rate as it is for it’s plethora of beautifully restored late-19th century homes. I love the area. It has character, close proximity to just about everything, and a great view of downtown Pittsburgh. Sadly, though, there have been nights where I’m standing in my bedroom taking in the beauty of the city from my window while hearing the gunshots going off somewhere below. Every time I hear that, I begin wondering if the perpetrator hit his target. I then wonder why murder was the only solve to whatever dispute that occurred. That snowballs into trying to figure out why this stuff goes down at all.

For whatever reason, it seems like the crime in my neighborhood has shot up since the summer began. It’s now coming out that most of this homicide is happening because there’s a drug war going on in the Mexican War Streets between rival gangs. First, a young black teenager was gunned down outside of his home – a supposed innocent bystander (I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt). In an almost predictable turn of events, revenge murders occur. The cycle hasn’t seemed to stop with the bullets still flying on a regular basis. It’s definitely depressing. The other sad reality is that the victims are all young black men or children.

I’m going to respond on what Mr. Whitlock discussed in his article because his views are worth discussing. He discusses the lack of emphasis on education in the black community. I have no idea about this first-hand, but when you see numbers flying around, like a 34-35% drop out rate, with nearly half of all black male students failing to graduate (view article), you begin to worry about your city’s future. Granted, Pittsburgh is considered average in those numbers for a large urban area, but the numbers are still pretty sad. Pittsburgh isn’t a city that’s booming by any means. It’s a city that’s still trying to recover from the economic dent left by a faltering steel industry. Although there are many jobs, it seems like the majority of those jobs seem to be for well-educated workers and focused on new technologies. I think it’s safe to say that companies like Google – which opened offices in Pittsburgh in the last year or two – aren’t searching for blue collar workers. Unfortunately, there’s still not enough of those companies to take in the large amount of graduating college students from the area’s high number of colleges and universities. Those student either make a go at creating their own company, fight for that small number of present jobs, study to end up in the Pittsburgh’s impressive medical industry, or leave. With Pittsburgh’s decline in population over the last 7 years (60,000 and counting since 2000 (article)), you have to assume that those in flight are the well-educated, right? If that happens to be the case, the 35% of students who drop out and fail to get jobs, combined with the large number of well-educated people that leave, would seem to eventually create a weird scenario of haves and have-nots. Of course, those who drop out aren’t always black, but in my neighborhood, the majority of the teenagers that I see out and about during the week when school’s in session are mostly black. I hate saying that, but Mr. Whitlock may have a point.

He also points to the hip-hop movement as a catalyst for the ongoing struggles of the black youth. Is he right? I don’t know. I, personally, love a lot of hip-hop music. One of my favorite hip-hop albums ever was The Infamous by Mobb Deep. It was full of bad-assed, gun toting, revenge seeking, life threatening, and drug dealing “gangsta” lyrics. It was beautiful…and still is. Yet, here I sit, at a great job in a great company, making good money, and living a pretty good life. I listened to tons of hip-hop and still do. The beats are infectious, the rhythmic delivery of words are genious, and I’ve encountered many highly intelligent lyrics. Even the delivery of a death threat in Mobb Deep’s music has been known to move me. Why is it that I didn’t become a threat to society? What made me stay away from slinging crack on the corner of North Avenue and Federal? I’ll tell you why. I had great parents – especially my father.

When I was with Audra, we had so many wonderful conversations about how teachers are all too often made the scapegoats for a child’s struggles in school. She was only teaching 4th grade, but the blame game and larger picture were already becoming obvious to her, and she made me open my eyes to it as well. Poor students are the direct result of poor parenting. The same, in my opinion, can be said about crime. Crime is also the result of poor parenting. That’s where I think Jason Whitlock missed his message.

Yes, black-on-black crime is killing the majority of these young black males. Yes, mainstream hip-hop culture, if misinterpreted and not understood for what it is – image, not substance for the most part – may be a catalyst for the weak-minded, but those minds were weakened before any young black male nodded his head to a gangsta rap beat. I’m going to avoid stereotypes, but the simple fact is that these kids need to be raised to be intelligent and guarded individuals by their parents. If rap music influences your child to kill, you’re an awful parent. How hard is it to pay attention to your child and teach them about the difference between reality and perception? Rap music can be fun, beautiful, and inspiring just as much guns can help feed a hunter or be an innocently fun hobby. Both get a bad rap because of the irresponsible people that embrace them and/or manipulate their use. I’ve seen too many children out late at night to have confidence in the parents of a lot of these children. These kids are getting shot at midnight when they should be in the house sleeping, and resting their young minds for a new day of education. Where are the parents? I was never allowed out that late at night. My dad had a pretty firm grasp of me my whole life. He raised me to not make the mistakes that he made. He raised me to work hard, and to think intelligently about everything that I encountered. I’ve been around a lot of “bad seeds” in my life and I turned the corner and left them behind. I could’ve stayed, but I didn’t. Why? I had a wonderfully strong parent.

So while Mr. Whitlock makes some good observations, I think he needs to really focus on the one thing that is truly at the source of the problem: The parents and the lack of nurturing of their children within the black community. This is blame-game culture where no one likes to find fault in themselves. A child fails. Blame the school. A black child kills. Blame hip-hop. A white man’s job is gone. Blame the illegal immigrants. It’s over-the-top ridiculous. A parents’ only goal is raise a good kid. That’s it. It’s hard, but this blame game society almost makes not trying an easier out than doing the hard work. No one is accountable.

I’ve often thought about joining Big Brothers Big Sisters to help at least one kid, and my concern is growing to a point where I might just have to because I’m sickened by the future for these kids. I play soccer in the heart of the ghetto by myself a lot. I can’t count the amount of times a little black child will come up to me and ask to play. I always let him. These kids are so innocent and full of life. It’s really quite inspiring for that few minutes where they’re trying to kick a ball that’s practically up to their knee. They’re happy, optimistic, and seemingly unscathed by their surroundings. Willing to try anything. The parents have a chance to build a wall at that Y in the road and force these kids to choose their direction wisely, but with all the murders, it just doesn’t seem like those same parents are bringing the bricks required. Or maybe their not bringing the mortar. It’s all just sad. Really sad.

My hand hurts. Why? Well, because I can’t seem to beat “Green Grass and High Tides” by The Outlaws on expert guitar…no matter how many times I try.

Last week, I went to our local Game Stop and picked up the long-awaited Rock Band video game. At first I was overly annoyed at the whole process of putting the instruments together and getting everything to work (the microphone, in particular, since Davis and I are morons). The drums are a little non-responsive at times (a replacement is coming), but other than that the equipment is holding up better than expected. When I had played the guitar at the Best Buy demo booth, I was far from excited, but after playing the Stratocaster controller for the last week, I’ve really grown comfortable with it. Moving between the chords is a little easier since you can actually slide your fingers over the flush buttons as opposed to the Guitar Hero controller, where the buttons aren’t flush at all. The microphone seems pretty sturdy, and guitar is holding up well, but we take good care of our stuff so I don’t expect any malfunctions until Evans comes over and touches something. Ha ha.

The game is actually a lot of fun. Davis and I have taken turns on every instrument (drums, bass, guitar, vocals). The biggest challenge is probably the vocals. I don’t think they would be so challenging if I knew all of the words, but if you don’t know all of the songs, at least from a melodic and pitch perspective, you’re going to struggle a quite a bit…especially while playing guitar and singing. Of course, unfamiliarity is at the heart of most of the struggles for Scott and I. We can actually play our respective instruments pretty well (Me = vocals, guitar, Scott = drums), so that really helps us get through some of the unknowns, but when some of the later, higher difficulty songs come up, it becomes a little too difficult to wing it on expert.

Overall, the game scores big for me on the fun factor. Does it get tiring playing the same songs over and over? Of course, but now you’ll know how real bands feel. If you get tired of playing in the world tour modes, you can always play tug of war, which is an different approach to a head-to-head challenge, or you can challenge friends or online opponents/bands in a traditional head-to-head challenge. My only advice would be to listen and learn all of the songs before you play it because it’ll be much easier.

My only, non-game play complaint is that the character personalization is pretty weak, but for a first release Rock Band is a great game.

This is why you have to love the NFL…and why you have to hate it. With the relatively even playing field that free agency and salary caps produce, every team is fully capable of beating any opponent. The parity also makes the little things that much bigger. A few injuries can pretty much set any team up for an sub .500 season. Take the Rams for example. A team loaded with talent, but one which has only seen all of it’s best skill position players on the field at the same time maybe twice this season. Or, look at the Saints. They’re struggling, but you have to wonder how much better they would be if Deuce was still running for them to compliment Bush. Tampa is hanging around, but if Cadillac was running, would they be even more dominant? We’ll see where Garcia’s injury leaves them after this week.

Basically, what I’m getting at is parity is tough to deal with. Before the season started, many people felt that the Ravens had a team that could compete for the Super Bowl, and a team that deserved to be mentioned in the NFL’s elite few. Well, 12 weeks in, and it looks like the experts were all amateurs. I’m always a little too much of a realist to think that the Ravens are going to be amazing each year, and frankly, after their playoff showing against the Colts, I really wasn’t sure about this season. That game scared me because it showed what this team could really do…and it wasn’t pretty.

Too many people looked at the Ravens record of 13-3 last season, and not enough looked much closer. Yeah, the defense was dominant, but the offense typically had a lead, which always makes defending easier. The Ravens also had some “luck” when they blocked what would’ve been a game-winning field goal by Tennessee. There’s also the reality that the Ravens scraped by some of their opponents. They just weren’t a dominant team as a whole, but they avoided injuries for the most part, and coasted through a weak schedule into a pathetic playoff loss.

This year, with basically the same team, those little things aren’t there. Injuries are out of control this season. Heap has barely played, McNair is a shell of the man he was most of last year after his injuries, Wilcox, Reed, McAlister, Rolle, Ogden, Flynn…all injured. I’m not sure if the Ravens have fielded the same starting eleven on either side of the ball for two consecutive games this year. That’s never going to help.

The other obvious issue is the offensive line. Most weeks it was a makeshift line of unpolished rookies, with other young players. Ogden has just recently returned, but he’s just not the same Ogden right now. The line crumbles so many times a game, I’m really not sure if any QB could do much better than our current crop. It’s amazing what Willis has done behind this inconsistent and inexperience group.

Add to all of this, an incomprehensible amount of turnovers, and you’ve mixed up a fresh batch of SUCK – which is exactly what the Ravens cooked up yesterday against the Chargers.

It was all there – the offensive line letting the rushers get to Boller all game, Boller not protecting the ball, a mishandled kickoff, a confused secondary that couldn’t keep their eye on the beast otherwise known as Antonio Gates, and a boring offense that seems to pride itself on 5 yard outs on 3rd and long.

It’s just annoying, but at least two things are possible with the way the team is currently playing. First, the Ravens would receive the “easy” schedule next year since they’re now sitting at last in the AFC North, and two, the worse the team does, the better the draft pick. Personally, though, I’d rather see them win out and go 9-7, but they’re just not playing well enough to deserve 9-7. There isn’t an easy game left on the schedule. The only win that looks promising on paper is the Miami game, but with this season going in it’s current direction, we may be the only team Miami “upsets” this year. I really hope that doesn’t happen.

At least the team has a lot of young talent. The potential salary cap splurge could see a lot of vets go, but hopefully that opens the door for a different look and team mentality going forward. At least the NFL more or less guarantees that that every team will have an up year sooner or later. I think the Ravens will be back sooner rather than later.

Go Ravens!

Well, thaaaaat was interesting, wasn’t it?

Before I start sounding like a cry baby, I should first say that it’s cool that the Browns didn’t get screwed yesterday. The fact is that their game-tying field goal was actually good, and they deserved to go to overtime. There are some things that are just undeniable. One, Josh Cribbs is a beast. He single-handedly gained over 300 yards in return yardage for the Browns, which put his team in good field position all game. Second, if you don’t want the other team to tie the game with 26 seconds left, stopping the obvious pass would be advisable. Finally, Kyle Boller is actually a decent QB when the protection is there (aren’t most QBs at this stage). The fact that the Ravens actually scored 30 points is a good sign that this team has something left in the tank. Mistakes aside, Boller played very well. He was hot in the second half and helped bring the Ravens back into a game that they had tried so desperately to give away in the first half. There’s always next week…

Whatever, let’s get to the good stuff – the controversial end of the game, or rather, regulation. From where I was sitting in the stadium (around the 20 yard line on the side of the field goal in question), I couldn’t tell what had happened. I saw the ball kiss off of the inside of the left upright, fall, then bounce into the endzone. The closest end judge, made the no-good sign. The other end judge, although a little confused looking, made the same signal. The Ravens celebrated, the fans celebrated, and end of game rituals proceeded as usual. For me, I had no idea that the ball hit the arm of the field goal, so I just went on the no-good signal that BOTH end judges gave – as I’m sure most of the people there did.

Well, as the players are leaving the field, a few Browns players, and the main referee and the end judges are seen discussing the field goal. I decided to stick around, but I really didn’t think anything could come of it. The game was over, right? I mean, no one ever called the teams back out for anything other than to run out a second or two on the clock, right? Wrong. Make that an Asian-sized-continent wrong.

The ref ran over to the review booth (he didn’t actually go and look in the booth), put the headset on, returned to the field, and reversed the on-field call. Hmm. Okay. This is interesting.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m glad to see a team get a fair shake, but in this situation, all of a sudden, the Ravens were obviously screwed. 5 minutes had passed since the missed field goal signals were shown. During post game radio interviews, we come to find out that players were celebrating the win in the locker room. Jarrett Johnson had his shoes off, Ray Lewis was taking off his ankle tape, and Brian Billick was sitting in his office working on his post-game notes when the security guy came in and told the Ravens that the game wasn’t over.

That’s just super. You expect a team to regroup NOW? I know we should be able to say, “They’re professional football players. These guys shouldn’t have an excuse for not coming out fired up”, but I knew, and I’m sure just about everyone else knew that we were screwed if the Browns got the ball. Well, the Browns did get the ball, and the Ravens were, well, screwed. The Browns picked apart the defense after yet another Cribbs runback on the kickoff, and eventually kicked the completely uncontroversial game-winning field goal to win the game.

I understand that the Ravens may have been a little premature in accepting the call, and that the Brown deserved a shot at OT, but when BOTH refs actually make the no-good signal, that’s the call. Right or wrong, that’s the call. I’ve seen a ton of games have shit calls go down and those were never righted. Never. It’s great to see the right call get made, but the refs blew the game, not just the call. They made a huge mistake in signaling before conversing. If you have a doubt, discuss it, then make the call. Instead they created a momentum shift that very few teams would overcome. If your ONLY job is to watch the ball, keep your damn eyes on the ball. Neither ref watched the ball the whole time. Watch the clip. It hits the post and both refs look at each other. The call gets made when the ball hits the ground in the endzone. I’m not mad that the Browns got the correct call, but that the inept referees allowed the teams to leave the field before reversing the call. I don’t know if the defense would’ve been able to stop the Browns anyway, but they had no chance once the celebrations were on. Oh well. It’s that kind of year.

I’m really happy for the Browns. With a weak schedule, the Steelers being exposed, and a lot of confidence, the Browns should be able to make a run for the playoffs. I wish them the best of luck. That’s a town, and fan base, that needs something to look forward to. Me, I’m just wishing for 6-game win streak that will miraculously pull the Ravens into the playoff hunt at the end of the year. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You never know. Go Ravens!

Calling all bandwagon thinkers! Calling all bandwagon thinkers! Kyle Boller is the starter for the Ravens…per your request and Steve McNair’s fragility.

It’s true. Boller now has a chance to make believers out of all of us Baltimore Ravens fans. I’ve been down on Boller for a long time. It’s not that I didn’t think he had talent. I mean, the scouts at The Castle must’ve known something when bringing Kyle to the Ravens, and Billick must’ve seen something to keep playing him all of these years. Sadly, though, all that us fans saw was an inconsistent, nervous kid, who spent the first 3 years of his career keeping fans on the edge of their seat awaiting the next unprovoked fumble, dropped snap, and silly interception.

Did I give up on him? Yes…and no. Before Steve McNair was signed for last season’s improbable 13-3 season, I definitely had my doubts, but there was always that little bit of excellence that he could pull out at any moment. Whenever we thought, “man, he’s just awful”, Kyle would throw a great game. Then everyone would raise their brows, think they had something in their QB, then immediately go back to drinking their beers and talking about the good old days…of the 2000 Ravens or the Johnny U-led Baltimore Colts. Why? Because with Boller, Ravens fans were never able to go into a game with a lot of confidence. We were always a dropped snap, fumbled handoff, or fumble off of Kyle’s knee away from losing. If things hadn’t changed, I would’ve been looking forward to NFL Films DVD titled “Kyle Boller’s Official Bloopers! – Fumbling Your Way to Early Retirement”.

Fortunately, the Ravens may have done something amazing. They signed Steve McNair before last season…and benched Boller. For the first time, he was able to experience a real rookie season – the rookie season he never had. He was able to experience what Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, and Tom Brady lived through. He spent some time second in the depth chart. He sat, watched, and learned how good quarterbacks play the game. He learned about preparation, patience, calmness, leadership, and technique from a QB who has seen it all. I’m also hoping that he’s learned that the ball is like a girl. If you’re good to her and you treat her well, she’ll be good to you. You’ll even have a good chance to score. If not, she’ll go home with other guy(s) just to piss you off.

Anyway, now Kyle gets a chance to step into his unofficial second season. He should now understand how decent QB play can take a team to a winning record. All the knowledge is there. There’s the knowledge of past mistakes, and the knowledge of how to correct them. He’s been a witness to what it takes to be a winner and should’ve learned how he’s supposed to lead as a QB. He has 7 games to show if the Ravens front office provided this once-shaky QB with the right mentor. The rookie season is out of the way, so the excuses about throwing him in too early are gone. There’s arguably more talent around him than any other time in his brief career, so that excuse is null.

Maybe the O-line is struggling and maybe it’s true that Brian Billick’s play calling makes playing QB for the Ravens seem similar to when a dog is on a leash and some kid moves his food bowl just out of reach, but the excuses are gone. When I drive down to Baltimore on Sunday, I expect a win from Kyle and the team. I expect 2 touchdowns from Boller. I expect one from Willis once the passing game opens up the run game. The Browns are much improved from last year, but the Ravens personnel has no excuse for losing this game, and neither does Kyle. If Kyle Boller finds a way to lead this team to 6-1 to finish the season, I’ll believe that we have the QB of our future. Anything less and we’re looking at a career backup QB.

Is that too much to ask? Of course it is, but we can all hope, right? I’m putting my faith in him. I’m believing that he’s better than everyone thinks. He just needs the confidence to get on a roll. He needs the team, the coach’s and most importantly, the fans to believe he can do it. Maybe his old nickname “Jesus in Cleats” is drawn from the fact that without enough believers, he’s just another guy. We’ll know more about how delirious I am around 4pm on Sunday.

I’m going to go out on a sapling here, and predicting a 24-10 victory for the Ravens. Go Ravens!

This is getting pretty ridiculous. On Monday, the Ravens could chalk their mistakes up to the weather and a hard hitting Steelers defense. Yesterday, though? There are no excuses. Absolutely none. The 6 turnovers resulted in 15 of the Bengals 21 points. The defense played as excellent as possible against such a dominant offense. Without their number 1, 2, AND 3 cornerbacks, the Ravens D held Cincy to 7 field goals. That doesn’t sound amazing, but if you saw where the Cincy drives began, you’d at least give them a lot of credit for that meager accomplishment.

There’s really not much else to say. I loved the crowd in our section (537). They were passionate fans and a lot of them actually stuck around till the end. I can’t imagine McNair ever playing football again. It’s so hard to believe that this was the same guy that led this Ravens team to a 13-3 record last season. He’s looking to become the next Elvis Grbac – the next QB booed out of his career. I felt horrible for the guy yesterday, but he was awful. His one fumble came from simply not protecting the football while he was running. Isn’t that QB101 stuff? If I wanted to watch my QB fumble on the run, I would’ve just started Boller all year. McNair’s other fumble was just hilarious. The ball simply fell out of his hand as he raised his arm to throw. Toss in there a McGahee fumble, and a botched handling of a kickoff return, and you pretty much have a summary of the year thus far for the Ravens.

With this loss, I’m expecting some changes in the organization, but who knows. I’m curious how Steve Bisciotti will handle all of this. He’s never really been a fan of Billick’s, so I’m guessing there’s a nice buyout clause in the head coach’s 4-year contract extension. Billick’s definitely won a lot of games, but this defense can’t be any better with an offense that throws them to the lions every time they walk out onto the field…which happens to be every other down. It looks like it’s time for a change.

On a side note, I’ve been fortunate enough to find out what’s been wrong with Samari Rolle. I won’t say what it is, but it’s very unfortunate that he may not ever be able to play again. I hope people out there who were joking about how he has AIDS, etc., just stop being idiots. His condition has nothing to do with anything preventable like that. It’s just an unfortunate situation that could happen to anyone. I wish him the best.

My night was divided into four parts. I saw Hoover and Sheila, I watched the Ravens suck, I almost killed a Steelers fan, and I watched someone get jumped in the park on my way home. I’m going to summarize out of order, but whatever.

First. Um. The Ravens were dreadful tonight. Absolutely dreadful. When you give the Steelers a short field every possession because you obviously have never practiced in the rain, you will lose. In this game, the battle of field possession was everything…oh, and the fact that no one in the NFL has hands strong enough to tackle Ben Roethlisberger. Every damn TD was the result of a busted play where Ben escaped like he was coated in PAM and the superior Steelers receivers easily got open against our piss-poor backup corners. Would we have won with McAlister and Rolle? Not if you can’t hold onto the ball when it’s your turn to handle it. The season’s not over yet, but I’ve been saying that all season. I’m pulling for my team, but damn, they make it hard.

What I took away from the game:
1) Steve McNair is done. I loved him last year, but mistakes are putting the defense in positions that they just can’t overcome this year. You can’t back your defense up against the wall and expect miracles every time.
2) Our defense is still a very good rushing defense…at the expense of our passing defense. Willie Overrated Parker ran for a whopping 42 yards on 23 carries. He can obviously only run on horrible teams, but since the Ravens allow average QBs to light them up in the secondary, a great run defense doesn’t matter at all.
3) Brian Billick must be harder on the team and take control of it. I’m firmly believing that his soft approach in training camp and his reluctance to step on the toes of the “leaders” of the team is ruining the bite of this once big dog of a team. You’re the damn coach, not the “leaders” in the locker room.
4) McGahee is still the bright spot on this team. Yeah, he ran for 50 yards, but at least he is showing heart and leaving it all on the field. I the way he stiff arms defenders like it’s as easy as tying his shoes.
5) The Steelers 75th Anniversary half-time show was cool. I might not enjoy being around Steelers fans, but the players that were on the field at half-time really are worth cheering for.  It was the first time that I really understood how shitty is was that the Colts left Baltimore. It absolutely blows that Baltimore can’t celebrate in the same fashion that the Steelers did tonight. The Colts were a great team and had such a good past. Fuck you, Irsay, for taking that away from the town, and now me. I’ll be dead by the time the Ravens hit their 75th year, and with the way modern football is set up, I doubt they ever get the opportunity to win a respectable amount of Super Bowls to establish the franchise as one of the best. That’s a really sad concept for a sports fan.

Next…I almost threw down tonight against one of the assholes in my post on the Seahawks/Steelers game a while back. I knew that I was going to be stuck next to him, but I really thought that I had the patience and cool to deal with someone that I knew was an asshole. I knew the Ravens weren’t going to win, and I knew he was a prick, but the minute he yelled in my ear, I snapped. I absolutely snapped in a way that I think I scared the whole section shitless. I’m not proud of it, but I wasn’t going to let this guy be an asshole for another minute…at least not to me. I stood up, and told him to “get out of my face… NOW, you piece of shit”, or something like to that effect. We snapped back and forth, with me pointing out to him that every other fan around us was cool, but he had to be a loud-mouthed prick and yell in my face. I really thought it was going to come down to someone’s blood on the yellow seats. His friends kept us apart, but I’m telling you, I saw red in a way that I never had. It had nothing to do with the game going bad…I just hate assholes. Note to self. Avoid situations that you know have a high probability of going poorly. He was possibly scared of me the rest of the night because he kept looking at me and tried to make small talk, but I just ignored him. He calmed down a little, but the three stooges (him and his two toolbag friends) are clearly the biggest assholes in the whole section. Do not ever sit in section 507, row T, seat 23…unless you are looking to be annoyed to a new level.

On the way home, I think I was literally 50 yards away from being the victim of a mugging. Walking through the park near the Mexican War Streets, I saw some people horsing around up ahead, but I just thought it was people messing around. I didn’t realize that 4 people had just mugged 2 old dudes (probably about 50 years old). I felt bad for the dudes. The kids ran off before I knew what had happened. Not the I could’ve really done anything. The guys seemed okay, but a little shaken up considering they were jumped. Definitely scary. With the anger that was built up in me from the game, I’m very thankful that it wasn’t me, because I don’t think it would’ve ended as simply as it did. I’m not saying that I’m glad those guys got jumped in any way, but the simple fact is that I was in no mindset to deal with someone messing with me. I would’ve probably been murdered because there would’ve been a lot more fight in me than two 50-year-olds could’ve had…and a lot more than the Ravens did tonight. One of them would’ve lost, but the other three would’ve ended me…unless I found some Walker Texas Ranger in me. Ha ha.

I don’t really believe in fate, but that walk home, and the way my fortunes turned out, I can say that I’m thankful for something…whatever that is.

Go Ravens!

Maybe the following could be written about any team’s fans, but since I live in Pittsburgh, I have to highlight the shortcomings that I witness every day. Sorry Steelers fans. Prove me wrong. Anyway…

This is going to be a long weekend leading up to the Monday Night Football game between the Steelers and Ravens. It’s a purely internal struggle, but it seems to really get to me for some reason. So much so that I really don’t even look forward to going to the game sometimes. I just can’t stand the fans out here. They’re mostly nice people…until anything Steelers gets involved.

Living in Pittsburgh is rough for football fans of any other team, especially a hated rival. Why? I have no idea. The people in Pittsburgh are incredibly nice for the most part, which makes me think that there is a busload of assholes that get dropped off at the stadium for every home game. I’ve been to quite a few Steelers games for not being a Steelers fan. I was there to see the Steelers run through the Bears to get their Super Bowl run started in 2005. I saw the Saints throw a game away last year at Heinz Field, then went to the Ravens game and watched a surprising destruction of the Steelers. This year, I was at the Eagles preseason game and the Seahawks game at Heinz. I like football, so going to the games is always pretty fun, but I’ve yet to survive one game at Heinz without encountering countless assholes that make me really dislike the fans. Read previous blog entries for some examples if you have nothing better to do. I’ve experienced my fair share of fans, and none of them, en masse, have acted the way the Steelers fans do.

I just don’t understand why football fans, especially Steelers fans make such a big deal out of something that is supposed to be entertainment. Where is this hatred for other fans coming from? It’s not from the teams themselves. The players could care less who is put in front of them week-to-week. They just play to win and collect their paychecks. The only thing on the line for them is pride. Our disposable society has bred fans that are so fickle with the players and teams that it’s no wonder the players chase the only thing that can be loyal to them…money. So why must fans get so rabid towards each other? Hell, here in Pittsburgh, people dumped garbage all over Tommy Maddux’s yard because he was underperforming. That’s threatening to the man and his family. There’s no need to enter a man’s property and life like that.

Why can’t people just say, “hey, good luck, man. It should be a good game tonight”. Why? Because they’re all fucking idiots. These are the same people that decide it’s time to shoot somebody at Boyz in the Hood because they’re pumped from a stupid movie (Boyz was a really good movie, btw). It’s a game…and a game that none of us are actually competing in, so why be such a fanatic? Last year a Baltimore fan was tripped down the steps in the bleacher section of the stadium. When the fan went and brought security up, the fans denied it. It’s as if the whole section was made up of heartless morons that think hurting another person because they happen to cheer for another team is okay. Um, you know what? FUCK YOU and bus you came in on.

Locally, I’ve been hearing a lot of anti-Patriots stuff like, “I hope someone takes a cheap shot at Tom Brady”. Why? Would you like me to walk up and hit you over your hands with a 2×4 because you’re a better programmer than me? Would you deserve it for simply being better? If you’re a better carpenter than me, does that justify me shooting you in the head with a nail gun while you’re eating your lunch? No. Anyone who truly wishes ill will on someone else because they’re on a better football team and they’re outperforming your team’s players is a complete asshole who shouldn’t be too surprised when karma rears it’s inevitable face. Joking is one thing, but a lot of these people aren’t joking. It’s sad, really.

Sport is entertainment. Period. I get pumped just as much as the next guy. I love seeing my team win, but the reason that I love to watch the Steelers lose is because the fans keep proving to me over and over that they’re over-the-top delusional. They feel like they’re better fans than other fans, they think that their team is full of nothing but well-rounded, upstanding players who do no wrong. It’s so shortsighted that it’s funny. A lot of them seem to enjoy talking about how bad the City of Baltimore is. Have you been there? It’s actually just like Pittsburgh, except bigger. Is there more crime. Yep. More disease? Yep. More problems? That’s debatable. That’s what happens when your population expands instead of decreases. People in Pittsburgh can only wish for the days that all of Baltimore’s issues come here because that means that there’s actually a lot of employment and prosperity to be had. Hell, maybe that’s why the fans here live and die by the Steelers. It’s the only thing that has consistently brought optimism to this town, so they cling to it like a malnourished baby to a mother’s tit.

Anyway, all of our teams have assholes on them. All of our teams have good and bad fans. And in modern football, dynasties are few and far between, so don’t get too comfortable at the top because down years are inevitable. Be a fan, and enjoy it because that’s the point of it all. Just act civil and don’t fucking touch me, scream in my ear, or talk to me unless you’re willing to have a rationale conversation about the game in front of us.

The fact is that football fans actually make Darwin’s theory of evolution seem like an idea that’s as far-fetched as me being able to shit money like an infinitely filled ATM machine…because they’ve hardly evolved at all.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an affinity for Pearl Jam. When the bandwagon had to cut down on the amount of passengers it could hold back in the No Code era of 1996, I decided I wanted to jump on…and jump on I did.

I have been riding with the current wave of PJ fans for about 10 years or so. I guess I was always a fan since I had Ten on cassette and my second CD ever was Vs., but around 1994, I began listening to more reggae, ska, and hip-hop, and really sort of ignored the whole grunge thing for the most part. Then when I was about 17, after wearing out all of my other CDs, I decided to listen to something that I hadn’t listened to in a long time – Vs. It was amazing. The lyrics were great, the emotion, everything. It blew my mind. I then started getting everything I could listen to by the band because I didn’t want to think that I missed everything if it was this good…which, for the most part, it was.

I went to my first PJ show in 2000 in Virginia Beach. Since then, I’ve traveling to Cleveland, London (ON), Kitchener (ON), Boston, Houston, Virginia, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Reading, Camden, Hershey, East Rutherford, State College, and Chicago, blowing my money on gas, lodging, and the must-have tour posters – limited number, well-designed, unique, screen-printed, and specific to each show. That’s not too crazy since I’ve met far more insane fans, but the simple fact is that they’re the one band that I’ve really put any effort into seeing and supporting over the years. I’m cool with it, too, because I feel like they’ve continually provided me with great music since the beginning, but I’m just starting to hate them. Not really, but they always seem to find a way to get my money with neat stuff.

Just today, I logged into MySpace and saw that they now have a book of their tour posters for sale. As a designer, I had to buy it for the fact that within that book contained immeasurable amounts of inspiration. As a fan, well, it’s a must-have as much as the posters themselves. Considering that so many fans stand in line for hours just to rush the merch stand when the gates open to get their hands on a single poster, and that the posters go for ridiculously high prices online, a book commemorating all of these great posters seems like a great idea for PJ to make another killing from us fans. Damn you, you capitalist f*cks. Ha.

At the end of the day, they got me for the signed/numbered copy. I love you guys for being a great rock band, but I do hate you for taking all of my money. At least my stock pile of merchandise pales in comparison to Mundis’.

Now I can’t wait to get that damn book.