powder puffs and pleasantries

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When it comes to watching TV, I guess the reason I like watching sports now and then is that someone is actually doing something they alleged they would do. I can mute the commentators and the cheering and just watch athletes do what they promised to do -- play (U.S.) football or hockey or baseball to the best of their ability.

How I wish that news organizations could do the same. But news costs money and those with the money have decided to go a different route ... chattering, entertaining, and not spending the money it takes to gather and report the news that might inform an audience. Tits and ass and adjectives and ambulance chasing and medical press releases and the latest blood stain on a nearby sidewalk ... well, it's less expensive and makes room for opinions that issue from people whose opinions pander and placate. Joseph Goebbels would probably be delighted.

But on the field, there is no tom-foolery. Yes, there are outlandish paychecks and star-struck status in the background, but on the field ... well, there's no screwing around when a guy who weighs 300 pounds is trying to kick your ass.

I can only take so much sports, but I do like to see people making an honest effort. George Orwell once observed that without a full stomach, there is no philosophy. And I guess I admire those who have decided that a full stomach is not the be-all and end-all and instead put their money where their mouths are.

Oh well, I guess everyone decides how tired they are of their own commentary and analyses, adjectives and judgments -- how much they do or do not want to turn off their own TV's and confront the 300-pound ass-kicker in their own lives. Powder puffs and pleasantries can only reach so far. How far, however, varies by user.
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