Had a few random run-ins over the past few days that seemed funny enough to write about...
Those of you who have ever been in the Riverwind poker room know how crowded it is. For those who don't, I'll try to explain it.
The casino did a pretty good job of putting the poker room in an enclosed area, away from most of the cigarette smoke and noises of the slots and music. It's got lots of TVs and the dealers are pretty good. It's the perfect size for a 12-table room. Unfortunately, they crammed 17 tables in there. It's so tight that there are really no aisles between the tables; anyone coming or going inevitably puts a knee in the back of someone's chair as they pass by.
Last weekend they had me in one of the worst seats in the entire room. I was in the corner seat near the "aisle" at one of the front tables, which means that anyone going to any table on my half of the room had to go by me. That's about 45 people, and I got to enjoy a knee to my back every time any one of them went by.
Actually, a knee to the back is the best-case scenario. God forbid you ever want to eat or drink anything at the table. The guy next to me had an iced tea on a tray between our seats. Someone came by and knocked it all over his lap, partially onto his cell phone, and all over the floor. Fun.
Against my better judgment, I decided to take part in "60-cent wing night" at the casino. The same tea-stained gentleman next to me and I decided to split a dozen wings.
The ending to this story is pretty obvious. Before we even got them, I asked the table how long it would take for someone to knock them onto the ground, and sure enough someone knocked them onto the ground. Some of the sauce got on my jacket but we were otherwise unscathed.
The guy who did it was pretty funny. He took out his wallet and half-heartedly offered to buy us more wings. I told him not to worry about it, and he said "Thanks bro" and was out the door in about three seconds flat.
That night, the floor got a better meal than we did. Iced tea and wings...not bad!
The next day I went to Walgreens to fill a prescription. While I was standing in line at the pharmacy, I hear the following cell phone conversation behind me.
"No, I don't think they'll give me unemployment. They already warned me about it and then I did it again so they fired me."
I did the slow turn-around where you act like you're looking at the top of Aisle 14 but you're really trying to check out the lady who doesn't feel the need to use her inside voice while talking about getting fired. There was instant recognition. I've never seen this chick in my life, yet I've seen her a thousand times. You know, the ones who never shut up and think everyone cares about their lives as much as they do. And most of them look similar to this one, with the multi-colored hair, over-the-top lipstick and outfit that looks like it was put together by fourth graders in arts and crafts class. Pretty much looked like the actress from "Criminal Minds."
I don't know where she was working or what she did to get fired. From that job, anyway. After a brief pause, she continued.
"No, I think it's the same thing that happened when I worked at Hertz. At Hertz I kept not showing up for work, so they warned me and put it in my file. Then I didn't show up some more, so they fired me. And they used that file to deny my unemployment."
Who knew? Companies prefer it when you show up for work? Good thing this lady was standing right behind me at Walgreens, otherwise I wouldn't have been privy to this crucial inside information...
On Monday it was so beautiful outside that I decided last-second to take Addison to the zoo. While she was playing at the playground, a lady approached me and asked about my hat. I could spot the crazy from a mile away.
I have several Major League Baseball hats from a variety of teams, and on this day I was wearing my Philadelphia Phillies hat. I'm not a Phillies fan, but my favorite NFL team is the Philadelphia Eagles. So here's our conversation.
Crazy chick: Hey! Is that a Phillies hat?
Me: Yeah.
Crazy chick: So are you a Steelers fan?
(This really doesn't make any sense at all. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a different city and a different sport, but I guess being in the same state is all that counts).
Me: No, I'm actually an Eagles fan.
Crazy chick, shouting to her husband: Rob! We can't talk to this guy! He's an Eagles fan!
Me, thinking to myself: OK, too bad. I understand. See you later!
Crazy chick, talking to me now: Have you ever been to a game there?
Me: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Crazy chick: I lived there for seven years. Did you go to a game when it was the Eagles playing against the Steelers?
Me: No, but I bet that would be a lot of fun.
Crazy chick: Um, no it wouldn't! Did you hear where a couple of years ago there was an Eagles fan who shot a Steelers fan? It's crazy!! One time my family came over and all the Steelers fans were in the living room and all the Eagles fans stayed in the kitchen!
(I'm starting to envision a scenario where an Eagles fan shoots a Steelers fan...)
Crazy chick: So, aren't the Eagles not having a very good year so far?
Me: Well, the season ended four months ago, but the Eagles didn't make the playoffs so, yeah, it wasn't a very good year so far.
Crazy chick: So that really is a Phillies hat?
Me: Addie! Let's go look at the elephants!!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Press Box Shenanigans
I read something in Sports Illustrated the other day that had me absolutely cracking up for about 15 minutes.
It was about a soccer game in Europe, where a guy got knocked unconscious and, it turns out, cracked a couple of vertebrae in his neck or something. Evidently, the referee suspected that he was faking the injury, so he gave the guy a yellow card.
The player wasn't paralyzed or anything, but he was still unconscious and paramedics had to cart him off the field. That didn't stop the referee from doing his due diligence. Because the player had received a yellow card earlier in the match, the referee -- while this guy is being carted off the field -- gave the player a red card, which means he is ejected from the match.
Maybe it's just me and my weird sense of humor, but that story was just so ridiculous that I couldn't quit laughing, picturing the referee seriously giving a red card to an unconscious player on a cart.
That story reminded me of my own run-in with a referee, so it seems like a good excuse to re-tell it. Besides, my fellow Riverwind poker players (holla!) have been quite supportive of my blog lately, and they've probably never heard this story. So here goes.
I've pretty much been doing journalism my whole life. My first job, when I was 16, was doing sports stories for the old Moore American newspaper. It was a free weekly paper that was choc full of errors and probably not worth lining your bird cage with, but they paid me $10/hour and it was a pretty good experience for an aspiring sportswriter. (Does anyone know if that paper still exists, or has it been swallowed up by the Norman Transcript?)
Anyway, based on my clear mastery of the English language and complete grasp of the Westmoore High School sports universe, I got hired to do public address announcing for junior high and junior varsity football games in Moore.
It was a fun job, and I was basically just flying by the seat of my pants. It's not like they gave me any training or instruction whatsoever. They just handed me a mic and told me to announce the down, distance, and whatever happened on the previous play.
Sometimes my friend Kevin would go to the games with me and help me spot who made the tackle and what yard-line the ball was on, etc. The first few weeks I tried to be professional and whatnot, but a junior high game we did one night changed everything.
As always, we went down on the field before the game to get the rosters for both teams. Well, this night, one coach said, "I didn't bring one. Just make up the names. I don't care."
Of course, Kev and I went to town. We made up names for everyone on the team and used them over the PA throughout the game. We used a wide array of names, from celebrities (this was the 1990s, so I think Vanilla Ice was playing QB), to NFL players (Barry Sanders at RB), to the classic adolescent laugh-getters (starting at receiver, Ceymour Butts).
Nobody complained, and it was a heckuva a lot more fun than doing the job right.
My favorite games to work were the Westmoore JV games, because I was a junior at Westmoore and the team consisted of all my friends. Also, we had a really good JV football team which I think went undefeated.
One night, I was doing a JV game and we were beating the tar out of another hapless foe. I started taking a few liberties with the mic. "That's yet another touchdown for the mighty Jaguars." "Matt Fallwell slices through the defense like they're not even there." "Incomplete pass for Del City. What a shame." And so forth.
Late in the game, we had scored a TD to make the score 49-0, which was punctuated by another obnoxious call from the PA announcer. On the ensuing kickoff, Del City returned it for a touchdown but there was a penalty which negated the score. This was the call from the booth.
"Ohhhhh! The 15 Del City fans still in attendance are in a state of shock as their only chance to score has been wiped out by an illegal block in the back."
Then the ref threw another flag. I said, "It looks like there's another penalty on the play," and the ref starts pointing up at the press box, right at me actually. He signaled unsportsmanlike conduct on us and marked off 15 yards. I got a penalty from the press box!
On cue, one of our principals stormed into the booth and literally ripped the microphone plug from the wall, leaving me holding the useless stub. I was a little relieved to see our coaches in the next booth cracking up.
Fortunately, all my friends on the football team thought it was hilarious too. I was worried they might not be too pleased that a guy who never played a down of football in his life cost them 15 yards, but I guess the 49-0 score mitigated that.
To this day, I like to think that I'm the only person who's ever gotten penalized from the press box.
Somehow, my shenanigans didn't even end up costing me my job. I got lectured in the principal's office at school the next day and forced to sit in the booth at a varsity game so I could learn from the old fart who did the PA at those. I cleaned up my act after that, but it wasn't nearly as much fun.
It was about a soccer game in Europe, where a guy got knocked unconscious and, it turns out, cracked a couple of vertebrae in his neck or something. Evidently, the referee suspected that he was faking the injury, so he gave the guy a yellow card.
The player wasn't paralyzed or anything, but he was still unconscious and paramedics had to cart him off the field. That didn't stop the referee from doing his due diligence. Because the player had received a yellow card earlier in the match, the referee -- while this guy is being carted off the field -- gave the player a red card, which means he is ejected from the match.
Maybe it's just me and my weird sense of humor, but that story was just so ridiculous that I couldn't quit laughing, picturing the referee seriously giving a red card to an unconscious player on a cart.
That story reminded me of my own run-in with a referee, so it seems like a good excuse to re-tell it. Besides, my fellow Riverwind poker players (holla!) have been quite supportive of my blog lately, and they've probably never heard this story. So here goes.
I've pretty much been doing journalism my whole life. My first job, when I was 16, was doing sports stories for the old Moore American newspaper. It was a free weekly paper that was choc full of errors and probably not worth lining your bird cage with, but they paid me $10/hour and it was a pretty good experience for an aspiring sportswriter. (Does anyone know if that paper still exists, or has it been swallowed up by the Norman Transcript?)
Anyway, based on my clear mastery of the English language and complete grasp of the Westmoore High School sports universe, I got hired to do public address announcing for junior high and junior varsity football games in Moore.
It was a fun job, and I was basically just flying by the seat of my pants. It's not like they gave me any training or instruction whatsoever. They just handed me a mic and told me to announce the down, distance, and whatever happened on the previous play.
Sometimes my friend Kevin would go to the games with me and help me spot who made the tackle and what yard-line the ball was on, etc. The first few weeks I tried to be professional and whatnot, but a junior high game we did one night changed everything.
As always, we went down on the field before the game to get the rosters for both teams. Well, this night, one coach said, "I didn't bring one. Just make up the names. I don't care."
Of course, Kev and I went to town. We made up names for everyone on the team and used them over the PA throughout the game. We used a wide array of names, from celebrities (this was the 1990s, so I think Vanilla Ice was playing QB), to NFL players (Barry Sanders at RB), to the classic adolescent laugh-getters (starting at receiver, Ceymour Butts).
Nobody complained, and it was a heckuva a lot more fun than doing the job right.
My favorite games to work were the Westmoore JV games, because I was a junior at Westmoore and the team consisted of all my friends. Also, we had a really good JV football team which I think went undefeated.
One night, I was doing a JV game and we were beating the tar out of another hapless foe. I started taking a few liberties with the mic. "That's yet another touchdown for the mighty Jaguars." "Matt Fallwell slices through the defense like they're not even there." "Incomplete pass for Del City. What a shame." And so forth.
Late in the game, we had scored a TD to make the score 49-0, which was punctuated by another obnoxious call from the PA announcer. On the ensuing kickoff, Del City returned it for a touchdown but there was a penalty which negated the score. This was the call from the booth.
"Ohhhhh! The 15 Del City fans still in attendance are in a state of shock as their only chance to score has been wiped out by an illegal block in the back."
Then the ref threw another flag. I said, "It looks like there's another penalty on the play," and the ref starts pointing up at the press box, right at me actually. He signaled unsportsmanlike conduct on us and marked off 15 yards. I got a penalty from the press box!
On cue, one of our principals stormed into the booth and literally ripped the microphone plug from the wall, leaving me holding the useless stub. I was a little relieved to see our coaches in the next booth cracking up.
Fortunately, all my friends on the football team thought it was hilarious too. I was worried they might not be too pleased that a guy who never played a down of football in his life cost them 15 yards, but I guess the 49-0 score mitigated that.
To this day, I like to think that I'm the only person who's ever gotten penalized from the press box.
Somehow, my shenanigans didn't even end up costing me my job. I got lectured in the principal's office at school the next day and forced to sit in the booth at a varsity game so I could learn from the old fart who did the PA at those. I cleaned up my act after that, but it wasn't nearly as much fun.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Chick-Fil-Eh?
I have to start by saying I think Chick-Fil-A is by far the best-run fast-food restaurant in the world.
Despite the fact that the restaurant is always packed to the gills, it's clean, the employees are very friendly and the service is fast and generally accurate.
Today, the drive-thru line was wrapped all the way around the restaurant and the inside was totally full, and we were all the way through it with our correct order in 9 minutes.
I don't necessarily think they have the best food on the planet, but Addison certainly does so we eat there quite often.
Today, a couple of funny things happened that inspired this brief blog.
As we pulled in to the franchise on I-240 and Western, Addie said, "What does that sign say?" I said, "Chick-Fil-A." She said, "Then why is it a picture of a girl?"
I looked up and realized that she was asking about the sign for the gentleman's club right next door.
I doubt it was Chick-Fil-A's preference to be directly next to a strip club, and I'm sure I wasn't the first parent who had to point out an airplane in the sky so his daughter would forget about the strip club she just asked about. On the other hand, it sure hasn't seemed to hurt Chick-Fil-A's business, and it's probably "enchanced" the bottom line at the gentleman's club as well.
As we waited in the drive-thru, I noticed that the restaurant had a dude whose job was to carry an umbrella and walk people to and from their cars, for it was raining rather heavily. Just another example of Chick-Fil-A going the extra mile for its customers.
I did find it quite humorous, however, when I saw the dude standing by the driver's door of an SUV, waiting for the driver to get out. Out of the passenger's door came a lady who was about 7 months pregnant, and she stumbled around the car getting soaked before making to the driver's side. This umbrella dude either never saw her or just ignored her, because he waited while the chick's body-building husband got out of the driver's seat. Then he put the umbrella over that guy and walked him to the front while the preggo lady walked next to them getting wet.
Despite the fact that the restaurant is always packed to the gills, it's clean, the employees are very friendly and the service is fast and generally accurate.
Today, the drive-thru line was wrapped all the way around the restaurant and the inside was totally full, and we were all the way through it with our correct order in 9 minutes.
I don't necessarily think they have the best food on the planet, but Addison certainly does so we eat there quite often.
Today, a couple of funny things happened that inspired this brief blog.
As we pulled in to the franchise on I-240 and Western, Addie said, "What does that sign say?" I said, "Chick-Fil-A." She said, "Then why is it a picture of a girl?"
I looked up and realized that she was asking about the sign for the gentleman's club right next door.
I doubt it was Chick-Fil-A's preference to be directly next to a strip club, and I'm sure I wasn't the first parent who had to point out an airplane in the sky so his daughter would forget about the strip club she just asked about. On the other hand, it sure hasn't seemed to hurt Chick-Fil-A's business, and it's probably "enchanced" the bottom line at the gentleman's club as well.
As we waited in the drive-thru, I noticed that the restaurant had a dude whose job was to carry an umbrella and walk people to and from their cars, for it was raining rather heavily. Just another example of Chick-Fil-A going the extra mile for its customers.
I did find it quite humorous, however, when I saw the dude standing by the driver's door of an SUV, waiting for the driver to get out. Out of the passenger's door came a lady who was about 7 months pregnant, and she stumbled around the car getting soaked before making to the driver's side. This umbrella dude either never saw her or just ignored her, because he waited while the chick's body-building husband got out of the driver's seat. Then he put the umbrella over that guy and walked him to the front while the preggo lady walked next to them getting wet.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
These are a few of my favorite things
I felt like writing something tonight, but I didn't have the typical funny story or overly cynical take on an irrelevant sporting event. What started as a blogging brainstorm became a blessings basking. Nice alliteration, huh? The point is, I just started counting my blessings, thinking of some of the things in my life that make me smile.
- Starting every day by reading the newspaper and drinking a fruit/yogurt/protein shake
- Relaxing on the couch and watching a TV show with Missy
- Skype-ing with mom or my sister from Asia
- Seeing how much God has done with my little brother's life in the last 5 years
- Crushing online bridge tournaments with Francine
- When Addison puts one of her blankets on me while I'm laying on the couch and brings one of her books over and reads it to me while patting my shoulder
- The time I have to think and pray while running around the track at Earlywine
- The massaman curry chicken from Panang
- Covering a football game that won't end til 15 minutes after deadline and having it done on time anyway
- Tennis with Chad
- Making the right decision in a really tough spot in a poker game
- Wednesday nights with the awesome youth group at DPCC
- Getting yelled at by Addie for turning right on red because "Red means STOP, Daddy!!! You have to wait for GREEN!!! Green means GO!!!"
- Going for a walk with Missy, Addie and the Bailey dog
- Talking about life with Mike
- Seeing the crossword puzzle in the newspaper, because it reminds me of my Papa
- Getting a good needle in on one of my poker buddies
- Fantasy baseball
- Real baseball
- Letting Missy drag me to corners of the world I would never go to on my own
- Dominoes with Keefesus, Dub, Player and Gibby
- Seeing all the great people I met over 7 years in L-Town
- Making up half a song on the guitar
- Rocking Addie to sleep
- Writing something good
- Eating anything my wife makes
- Beating the flat-bellies at basketball without ever going inside the 3-point line
- The flutter in my heart when I read the Bible and God shows me something I've read 100 times but suddenly has new meaning or is clearly speaking to my life right now
- Memories of my dad randomly popping in my head. They usually make me sad, but only because they're great memories and I just plain miss him
Monday, January 30, 2012
I'd Rather Watch Them Actually Bowling
I was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment Sunday night.
I went to the casino to play some poker, and they sat me directly across from the 90-inch big screen TV projector.
The Pro Bowl was on, and I was forced against my will to watch it for three hours.
I've always thought the Pro Bowl was a joke, but I hadn't watched any of it in at least five years. After watching it, my opinion has gone from it being a joke to being an outrage.
It's a ridiculous waste of everyone's time. To even call it "football" or "a sport" is an insult to everyone from Vince Lombardi to John Daly. Yes, I'm saying that fat golfers display more athleticism than what is seen in the Pro Bowl. The WNBA would be a close call.
I was just casually watching the game between hands of poker, with no sound. Early on, there was a handoff to LeSean McCoy. Right after he got it, the offensive and defensive linemen kind of slowed up, and McCoy made a half-hearted jog right into them and flipped the ball to the ref.
I just assumed there was a false start or something, but then it said "2nd and 8" on the screen and I realized there was no penalty. That's a football play??? Not only was he never tackled, he was never even close to being "in the grasp."
Between the hideous uniforms, the lack of athleticism displayed and all the hugging, I felt like I was watching "The Biggest Loser."
Look, I get it. These guys don't want to get hurt, and the game is simply a symbolic reward for a good season.
That's fine, but putting it on national television and expecting people to watch it is an insult. The NFL probably figures, "Hey, these idiots will watch the 6th round of our boring draft and they'll watch Tulane play Western Michigan in the Kill Yourself Bowl, so we'll just tell them to watch this."
We've got to take a stand.
The other sports at least have something to offer. The NBA All-Star game is a farce, but they do some cool dunks and try for the final two minutes if the game is close. Baseball's ASG is the best, because the players try just as hard as they would in a real game. You don't see CC Sabathia lobbing balls underhanded to Ryan Howard and then hugging after Howard smashes one into the upper deck.
A couple of my Facebook friends had good suggestions to improve the Pro Bowl. One said to turn it into a skills competition and another said to have a flag football game where the winning team wins a bunch of money so they try harder. Both are good ideas.
There's absolutely no reason to continue to play an actual football game under the current setup. It's even worse now that they moved the Pro Bowl in front of the Super Bowl. Players from the best team in each conference don't even show up. If I'm gonna watch a quarterback shred fake defenses, I'd much rather it be Tom Brady than Ben Roethlisberger.
Just announce who made the team and save us from the embarrassment of actually playing it. Do the skills thing, the flag football thing, or nothing. Whatever. Give us something worth putting on TV, or don't put anything on at all.
I went to the casino to play some poker, and they sat me directly across from the 90-inch big screen TV projector.
The Pro Bowl was on, and I was forced against my will to watch it for three hours.
I've always thought the Pro Bowl was a joke, but I hadn't watched any of it in at least five years. After watching it, my opinion has gone from it being a joke to being an outrage.
It's a ridiculous waste of everyone's time. To even call it "football" or "a sport" is an insult to everyone from Vince Lombardi to John Daly. Yes, I'm saying that fat golfers display more athleticism than what is seen in the Pro Bowl. The WNBA would be a close call.
I was just casually watching the game between hands of poker, with no sound. Early on, there was a handoff to LeSean McCoy. Right after he got it, the offensive and defensive linemen kind of slowed up, and McCoy made a half-hearted jog right into them and flipped the ball to the ref.
I just assumed there was a false start or something, but then it said "2nd and 8" on the screen and I realized there was no penalty. That's a football play??? Not only was he never tackled, he was never even close to being "in the grasp."
Between the hideous uniforms, the lack of athleticism displayed and all the hugging, I felt like I was watching "The Biggest Loser."
Look, I get it. These guys don't want to get hurt, and the game is simply a symbolic reward for a good season.
That's fine, but putting it on national television and expecting people to watch it is an insult. The NFL probably figures, "Hey, these idiots will watch the 6th round of our boring draft and they'll watch Tulane play Western Michigan in the Kill Yourself Bowl, so we'll just tell them to watch this."
We've got to take a stand.
The other sports at least have something to offer. The NBA All-Star game is a farce, but they do some cool dunks and try for the final two minutes if the game is close. Baseball's ASG is the best, because the players try just as hard as they would in a real game. You don't see CC Sabathia lobbing balls underhanded to Ryan Howard and then hugging after Howard smashes one into the upper deck.
A couple of my Facebook friends had good suggestions to improve the Pro Bowl. One said to turn it into a skills competition and another said to have a flag football game where the winning team wins a bunch of money so they try harder. Both are good ideas.
There's absolutely no reason to continue to play an actual football game under the current setup. It's even worse now that they moved the Pro Bowl in front of the Super Bowl. Players from the best team in each conference don't even show up. If I'm gonna watch a quarterback shred fake defenses, I'd much rather it be Tom Brady than Ben Roethlisberger.
Just announce who made the team and save us from the embarrassment of actually playing it. Do the skills thing, the flag football thing, or nothing. Whatever. Give us something worth putting on TV, or don't put anything on at all.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Growing Up in the Dark Ages
Allow me to apologize for the long delay between blogs. During football season, I was doing a bunch of freelance newspaper writing, and I decided that getting paid to write about football games was slightly more important than doing a blog for my own kicks and giggles.
Then we went to Thailand for two weeks for Christmas, which was AWESOME. It was me, Missy and Addison, my brother, my mom, my sister, her husband and three kids. Her kids are ages four, two-and-a-half, and nine months. Addie turned three while we were over there. They loved playing together and of course it was a great and rare opportunity for the Franklins to all be together in a beautiful country. I posted some pics on Facebook.
Anyway, what I was going to write about was the fact that for two weeks, we had virtually no access to those staples of American culture, phones and internet. Our phones didn't work at all, and we didn't bring our laptop. There was a community computer at the resort we stayed at, but I only got on it twice in two weeks.
It was really nice to be free from those things, they can definitely bind you and take over your life if you let them. I know I spend way too much time on them.
While we were in Thailand, I got to thinking about how much different our lives were before those things. Many of you may not be old enough to have experienced this, but when I was in high school (graduated in 1998) I didn't have a cell phone and our computer was so slow that all I'd ever do on it was check my e-mail.
Growing up, if I wanted to call a friend I had to pick up the house phone and call their house. Usually a mom or dad would answer and then I had to ask for my friend. If they were there and available, we could talk.
Many times, just picking up the phone in our house was a chore. Between my parents and little brother and sister, it was in use quite a bit. And since our internet was dial-up, if anyone was on the computer it tied up the phone line as well. Picking up the phone when someone was on the computer was a big no-no, as it booted them off the internet and they had to start all over (not a swift process back then).
Texting would have really come in handy for me back then, since I was a typical teenage dude who didn't really want to chat up his friends but just wanted to see if I could get a game of basketball or Super Nintendo going.
Overall, I'd say the advances in technology are a very good thing. Many a fight in the Franklin household would have been avoided by all of us having our own phone line. Also, it seems odd now that when I was in high school, I could go out with my friends and my parents would have basically no way to get ahold of me. I ran with some really good guys so we were never drinking or doing anything too stupid, but not everyone is that lucky.
Of course, everything must be done in moderation, and there's definitely an epidemic in society now with kids who can't carry on a real conversation and spend all their time on their phones and laptops. It's something we'll be handling with Addison not too long from now. (I know I sound like an old man).
It's really funny to think back to the days of having to wait for my sister to get off the phone so I could call someone. Or when I was convinced my girlfriend was calling but my brother probably wouldn't even switch over on the call waiting. Or of waiting literally several minutes for a web page to load, and this was before the days of Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. I don't even remember what web pages I ever went to, other than AOL to check my e-mail and ESPN to get sports scores.
I'd be ripping my hair out if I had to do those things now. If a web page takes 10 seconds to load, I'm muttering under my breath.
Anyway, I found a hilarious video on YouTube that sums it up pretty good.
Then we went to Thailand for two weeks for Christmas, which was AWESOME. It was me, Missy and Addison, my brother, my mom, my sister, her husband and three kids. Her kids are ages four, two-and-a-half, and nine months. Addie turned three while we were over there. They loved playing together and of course it was a great and rare opportunity for the Franklins to all be together in a beautiful country. I posted some pics on Facebook.
Anyway, what I was going to write about was the fact that for two weeks, we had virtually no access to those staples of American culture, phones and internet. Our phones didn't work at all, and we didn't bring our laptop. There was a community computer at the resort we stayed at, but I only got on it twice in two weeks.
It was really nice to be free from those things, they can definitely bind you and take over your life if you let them. I know I spend way too much time on them.
While we were in Thailand, I got to thinking about how much different our lives were before those things. Many of you may not be old enough to have experienced this, but when I was in high school (graduated in 1998) I didn't have a cell phone and our computer was so slow that all I'd ever do on it was check my e-mail.
Growing up, if I wanted to call a friend I had to pick up the house phone and call their house. Usually a mom or dad would answer and then I had to ask for my friend. If they were there and available, we could talk.
Many times, just picking up the phone in our house was a chore. Between my parents and little brother and sister, it was in use quite a bit. And since our internet was dial-up, if anyone was on the computer it tied up the phone line as well. Picking up the phone when someone was on the computer was a big no-no, as it booted them off the internet and they had to start all over (not a swift process back then).
Texting would have really come in handy for me back then, since I was a typical teenage dude who didn't really want to chat up his friends but just wanted to see if I could get a game of basketball or Super Nintendo going.
Overall, I'd say the advances in technology are a very good thing. Many a fight in the Franklin household would have been avoided by all of us having our own phone line. Also, it seems odd now that when I was in high school, I could go out with my friends and my parents would have basically no way to get ahold of me. I ran with some really good guys so we were never drinking or doing anything too stupid, but not everyone is that lucky.
Of course, everything must be done in moderation, and there's definitely an epidemic in society now with kids who can't carry on a real conversation and spend all their time on their phones and laptops. It's something we'll be handling with Addison not too long from now. (I know I sound like an old man).
It's really funny to think back to the days of having to wait for my sister to get off the phone so I could call someone. Or when I was convinced my girlfriend was calling but my brother probably wouldn't even switch over on the call waiting. Or of waiting literally several minutes for a web page to load, and this was before the days of Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. I don't even remember what web pages I ever went to, other than AOL to check my e-mail and ESPN to get sports scores.
I'd be ripping my hair out if I had to do those things now. If a web page takes 10 seconds to load, I'm muttering under my breath.
Anyway, I found a hilarious video on YouTube that sums it up pretty good.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Video Game Memories
Recently my buddy Travis purchased a used Super Nintendo, and I played Street Fighter for the first time in who knows how many years.
I've grown past the video game stage of my life. I sold my PlayStation 2 and all my games at our garage sale because I never play it anymore. With work and a family, it's just not a high enough priority.
Every once in awhile I'll go over to my buddy Jason's and play college football on his PlayStation 3, and I still enjoy it.
But after playing that old school Super Nintendo, I did some comparing and contrasting on the old systems versus the new systems.
The most noticeable difference is that the new systems are insanely realistic. The graphics are amazing. I remember thinking Street Fighter was awesome in that regard when I was 11, but compared to the new games it looks about as modern as Pong on the Atari.
But what I miss about the old games was their imperfections. The unrealistic stuff made the games more fun. For example, on the old Madden NFL games, you could hit a guy 5 or 6 times after a play was over. Both players would immediately bounce right back up, and you could nail the guy again. Usually this would not result in a penalty, but you could occasionally injure an opposing player on a 4th or 5th hit. Regardless of whether there was an injury, each hit would result in the "hoooah....HOOOAH" rumbling sound of the players colliding.
Nowadays, when Jason gets a lucky play on me for a touchdown, I can't even fly in and take out his kicker on the extra point. As soon as a play is over, it either cuts to a replay or just moves on to the next play. They've made the games more realistic, but they've taken some of the fun out in the process.
Here are a few of my favorite old Nintendo/Super Nintendo games, and what I liked most about them.
I've grown past the video game stage of my life. I sold my PlayStation 2 and all my games at our garage sale because I never play it anymore. With work and a family, it's just not a high enough priority.
Every once in awhile I'll go over to my buddy Jason's and play college football on his PlayStation 3, and I still enjoy it.
But after playing that old school Super Nintendo, I did some comparing and contrasting on the old systems versus the new systems.
The most noticeable difference is that the new systems are insanely realistic. The graphics are amazing. I remember thinking Street Fighter was awesome in that regard when I was 11, but compared to the new games it looks about as modern as Pong on the Atari.
But what I miss about the old games was their imperfections. The unrealistic stuff made the games more fun. For example, on the old Madden NFL games, you could hit a guy 5 or 6 times after a play was over. Both players would immediately bounce right back up, and you could nail the guy again. Usually this would not result in a penalty, but you could occasionally injure an opposing player on a 4th or 5th hit. Regardless of whether there was an injury, each hit would result in the "hoooah....HOOOAH" rumbling sound of the players colliding.
Nowadays, when Jason gets a lucky play on me for a touchdown, I can't even fly in and take out his kicker on the extra point. As soon as a play is over, it either cuts to a replay or just moves on to the next play. They've made the games more realistic, but they've taken some of the fun out in the process.
Here are a few of my favorite old Nintendo/Super Nintendo games, and what I liked most about them.
Tecmo Super Bowl
This game was AWESOME back in the day. I had some epic battles with my next door neighbor growing up. However, if you can do this, it's obviously not the most realistic game of all time.
RBI Baseball
The original was always the best. The players were fat, the balls flew a mile out of the stadium, and if you hit one right down the line, it would get stuck in the corner to where the fat outfielder couldn't get it and you'd get an inside-the-park home run. I found this YouTube re-creation of the 1986 World Series on RBI, and it's flippin' awesome. (If you just want to see the famous Buckner play, start watching about 7:30 into the video).
I also liked RBI 2 and RBI 3. They made the players skinnier and the gameplay more realistic, plus they had every team in the majors.
Madden Football
The best part about the old Madden games wasn't the late hits, it was what happened after a player was injured. Here's a reminder. How come they can't put that on these new football games?
In high school, I got one of the new Madden games right before our family went on vacation. I didn't even get a chance to play it. I let my friend Kevin borrow the game, and when I got back he had set every record possible. He ran the ball back to the 1-yard line so that his 99-yard pass and 99-yard rush would forever be the record for the game. He also kicked long punts and field goals and racked up 999 yards of offense or whatever the maximum was that the game would count. Then, when you went to the records page, it said "KEVIN WINS" as the user for every category. Well played, Ashman!
Super Mario Kart
My brother Andrew and I both got really good at this game, and we had more than a few tightly-contested races. It also caused more than a few fights, but the good memories definitely outweigh the bad.
Street Fighter
I was never any kind of expert at the fighting games. I always preferred the sports games. But it was fun giving them another crack after probably 18 years.
And it gave me the idea for this blog. Please leave a comment either here or on my Facebook page with your favorite old video game memories. There's probably enough stuff for two or three blogs on this topic, but just like mom used to say to me back in the day
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