Thursday, January 24, 2013

Don Draper, Manti Te'o and Me

  • Before I really begin (or start to cook, as they like to say in basketball) I should tell you I originally wanted to label this post "Return of the Mack", partially because it's my first post in an incredibly long time but mostly so I would have an excuse to link to one of my favorite '90's jams. I then realized it would be an awfully pretentious title to a post on a blog that hardly anyone read to begin with, few people realized had been gone, and no one really cares that it's back. That said, screw it:


  • Now that we have that out of the way, I want to take a brief amount of time on the Manti Te'o saga. I, as I'm sure everyone else is, am tired of the story. The thing is, every layer that gets peeled back is worse and worse. Kind of like a bad onion...although I don't care much for onions anyway, so I guess it would be like all onions to me...except for onion rings, which are a delight...or Bloomin' Onions! It's like we go to Outback for the Bloomin' Onions and stay for the steaks, amirite?!?!...wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Te'o. You know what, I got my onion joke in, so I think I will leave this story alone.
  • As for why it's been so long since I've posted, I'm not quite sure. It could be that I used up all of my good ideas (I use that term incredibly loosely) the first few years I had this bad boy. Another theory would be I'm not as creative as I once was, but saying this thing was ever real creative is quite the stretch. The last possibility is that I'm happier that I was during much of my time at the helm of this starship. That much is true. Let's face it, some of my posts were pretty dark. Make no mistake, my best way of getting out of a funk was then and always will be talking to my family and all those close to me. That said, I often used my tiny corner of the internet as a way to vent and complain. Now, I have a great girlfriend, a puppy and am employed, all things that couldn't be said for much of the existence of Shefonomics/Brews and Balls (Who remembers that?!). Even though things aren't perfect, I am very happy, and maybe that slowed me down here, too. It's no coincidence so many comedians (please believe me; I'm not calling myself one by any means) are miserable in real life. Honestly, I think it's a combination of all of these factors. This is getting too serious. 1xv3x_medium That's better.
  • Finally, I just found out "Mad Men" is coming back April 7. I'm sure a great many of you great few don't care, but dammit, I do. It's been my favorite show for years now. Don Draper is clearly the star of the show, and what has always interested me is why I, and basically everyone else, always roots for him, even though he really isn't a very good person. He is a lousy dad and a worse husband. I guess for me, part of it is I always root for him to turn the corner and be a better person...except that I really don't. It would be temporarily satisfying, yet would probably mark the end of the show, which is certainly not what I want. Probably the more accurate answer is that he came from nothing and used his smarts and charm to make it in Manhattan. It's a cool pair of dress shoes to put yourself into, even if you would never be the charlatan he is in his personal life (which I wouldn't).
  • Welp, that's about all I've got for you for now, until next time, leave a message at the beep.