Why the Sequel... Why Not?!?!

Why do you have to wait so long at the Emergency Room?  Why is the Miz the new WWE Champion?  Why aren't more people reading the Tales of Nicholas Nobody?  Why is Scrooged not running 24/7 on at least one network?  Why am I not typing this bullet style?  Why is Barrack Obama talking to Barbara Walters about Sarah Palin?  Why did Jerry Jones have to ruin the fun and fire Wade Phillips?  Why do the San Diego Chargers tease their fans with a late season run that will only inevitably end badly?  Why do my aunts still pretend to not know how to get to my house?  Why did some punk ass kid take an entire high school class hostage in Wisconsin?  Why hasn't A Little Bit of Mojo gotten a little caption on the Thread's website? (See above)  Why is it that births and funerals make us forget the reasons we stopped talking to certain people?  Why don't people quote Fight Club more often?  And for that matter, why can't I talk about Fight Club? Why are the Yankees jerking everyone around by pretending that they don't care if they sign Derek Jeter?  Why did Alan Burke rob Eric Cyphers of his first good play ever by invoking the 'arm going forward rule' at Bourbon Bowl?  Why can't Smallville be as awesome as Superman Earth One?  Why do the New York Jets and the New York Giants play in New Jersey?  Why is anyone surprised that the Miami Heat haven't lived up the hype?  Why did Boise State drop out of the top 10 in the BCS with one loss while there are two teams in the top 10 with two losses?  Why did my father in law tell me that Holy Cross beat Lehigh when in fact the opposite occurred?  Why don't fat people get asked to cook as often as big people get asked to help move stuff?  Why haven't Ben and Jenny Barrett moved back to the US yet?  Why was Aliens the only movie I could find to watch in the delivery room?  Why does everything PQ told me while I was in the Marine Corps make so much sense now?  Why do Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson act like they weren't prima donnas?  Why does my friend Otis still surprise me with his escapades?  Why hasn't Charlie Sheen just gotten it over with and killed a call girl yet?  Why does Congress get a vacation?  Why don't more people know how talented Terry Dolan is?  Why does the Catholic Church still pretend that requiring priests to be celibate is a good idea?  Why do I say I'm so happy that my son doesn't look like me when in reality he looks a lot like me?      Why am I suddenly so sorry for every nasty thing I've ever said to my father?  Why are Karissa and I so blessed with such amazing friends and families?  Why don't more people watch the League?  Why did that idiot in Wisconsin shoot his TV when Bristol Palin wasn't eliminated on DWTS?  Why don't more people watch The Soup?  Why don't Bill Maher, Dennis Miller and Jon Stewart run against eachother for President?  Why does Mike Long think everything is 20 minutes away?  Why does Suff pretend that he understands the concept of punctuality? Why do I still get up at 6 am when I haven't had a job since June?  Why did Richard Seymour only punch out Ben Roethlisberger?  Why did I wait till the end of this blog to tell my wife Karissa and newborn son Brayden how much I love them?

Well if you are still reading this then you obviously have as much time on your hands as I do and if that's the case then you have my sympathies.

A Misguided Idea?

If you have been following this blog then you are aware that I am a bit of a scatterbrained, sports-crazed geek.  If you haven't been reading and this is the first time that you have stumbled onto A Little Bit of Mojo... don't worry, it won't take you long to discover that I'm quite possibly insane.  I'm not looking for validation through this blog.  Quite frankly I'm amazed anyone reads it.  But I have had an idea running around in my head for almost seven years and I don't know what to do with it.  Four of my friends have a podcast that they are quite good at and has amassed a following.  I don't think the idea I have would fly in that format.  A guy I went to high school with has created an alter ego and has developed a website and video blog where he waxes poetic as a disgruntled Boston sports fan.  His name is Nick Stevens, but you might have heard of his alias Paul "Fitzy" Fitzgerald.  Fitzy's video blog is great, and because I acknowledge outright that any attempt by me to video blog couldn't hold a candle to him pretty much rules out this medium.  So I'm left wondering what to do with this idea.  I could try writing a book, but there is an awful lot of material.  I could try writing a script, but I don't know if I want to cut it all down to fit into a chapter or a "pilot" that will never go anywhere.  Well...  now that I've been babbling about how great my friends are and how not worthy I am for most of this paragraph it's probably time to share the idea.

If we haven't met then you are unaware that I spent a little over four years as one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children.  That's a United States Marine to the uninitiated.  Now why do I call my time in the finest fighting force the world has ever seen the Misguided Children?  Hmm...  well that's the idea that I have been kicking around.  You see the Marine Corps has marketed itself as The Few and The Proud and rightly so, but there is something left out here.  If you haven't noticed, the best and the brightest of our high schools and our colleges don't join the military.  Our best high school students go to college.  Our best college graduates become scientists, executives, doctors, lawyers and politicians.  So who is left to join the military?  We no longer have a draft, so there is almost no chance of getting any of the aforementioned into the fray.  What is left is the people who for lack of a better description are those who either don't have another option or have a deep seeded patriotism.  So what is my point?  Somehow despite being what society unfairly calls the bottom of the barrel, the men and women who put on the uniform have taken on the monumental task of defending this nation and have done a hell of a job.

What I can't get over is some of the characters I met in the service.  When I tell stories about my time on active duty most people think I am making it up.  They don't want to believe that there could be so many completely crazy and/or completely stupid people in the Marines.  The sad truth is there are.  Unfortunately I fall into the top of the list.  I graduated from UMass Dartmouth in June 1999 with a BA in English.  After graduation I enlisted (that's right, I ENLISTED) in the Misguided Children.  I wasn't an officer, I was just a lowly Private First Class making less money per month than my college loan payments who at times had to answer to kids that were lucky to graduate from high school!?!? (Still not convinced that all of them did) Was this a crazy move or a stupid move?  No need to answer.  It was a rhetorical question.

So...  here it is..  Is there any interest in hearing about or possibly seeing the comically sad and unfortunately true tails of some of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children?  Don't worry I will change the names to protect the not so innocent and myself from any defamation lawsuits.

Well, if you are still reading this then you obviously have as much time on your hands as I do and if that's the case then you have my sympathies.

Why?

Why are people enthralled with Sarah Palin?  Why are people still angry at Michael Vick?  Why is the show Teen Mom on TV?  Why is Tony Dungy allowed to do commentary on Sunday Night Football?  Why do we cling to the idiotic theory that if we elect Democrats over Republicans or vice versa that somehow things are going to get better?  Why does anyone listen to Kanye West?  Why is there even a discussion about Kobe Bryant being better than Michael Jordan?  Why is the WNBA still around?  Why do people call wrestling fans idiots then vote without knowing anything about what they are voting for?  Why is Michael Cole announcing on Monday Night Raw instead of Jim Ross?  Why is the NCAA lying to everyone about caring about the integrity of college athletics?  Why didn't we vote to lower the sales tax?  Why are parents the only ones who aren't to blame for children's lack of the following: ethics, intelligence, morality, empathy, and compassion?  Why are people who oppose war playing Call of Duty?  Why is serving this country in the armed forces considered a waste for our best and brightest?  Why do we seem to prefer to be protected by the lowest common denominator?  Why is it that our leaders don't like answering questions?  Why do people care what Tom Brady's hair looks like?  Why isn't Bill Belichick wearing his evil genius hoodie?  Why does any care about Prince William or any of the Royal Family for that matter?  Why hasn't my friend Sean Carpenter decided to run for Mayor of Quincy yet?  Why is my friend Terry Dolan not writing best selling novels?  Why don't you know how talented Jesse The Machine Green is?  Why aren't you all listening to The Thread?  Why is my friend Suff still calling Scott a douche when all it does is backfire on him?  Why is the news hell bent on making us feel like shit?  Why are Dennis and Callahan on NESN in the morning? Why hasn't Eric Borden sailed around the world yet? Why didn't Mississippi St pay Cam Newton instead of bitching that he wanted money?  Why don't the Patriots play the 49ers so that my bro Mark could go see them in Foxboro?  Why do good people slowly die of cancer while good for nothing, scum bags like my uncle seem to live forever?  Why hasn't Clark Kent become Superman on Smallville yet?!?  When is John Cena going to turn heel?  Why doesn't anyone care that Sylvester Stallone has been taking steroids for three decades and breaking box office records?  Why were Christmas decorations up at the mall before Halloween?  Why haven't they announced who the AL and NL MVPs are yet?  Why haven't my friends Mike and Michelle moved back to the South Shore yet?  Why hasn't Floyd Mayweather Jr. been in the news complaining about the PED problem in boxing lately?  Why did Puffy cut a youtube video about McDonalds?  Why is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows two separate movies?  Why isn't Rick Lavoie the Superintendent of Saugus Public Schools yet?   Better yet..  Why isn't he the Mayor of Saugus yet?  Why does the Parent Council care what the stars of Glee are doing when they obviously couldn't care less what their kids are doing?  Why haven't you tried Smokin' Hoggz BBQ yet?  Why doesn't Shawn Holter have Chevalier? Why is MySpace still online?  Why aren't you following my friend on Scott on Twitter or Facebook?  Why doesn't my wife know how beautiful and amazing she is?  Why does that damn black cloud haunt the penguin?  Why do we cheer in disaster movies when the dog jumps to safety as hundreds of people die?    Why am I certain that someone reading this is trying to answer these questions?

Well, if you're still reading this then you obviously have as much time on your hands as I do and if that's the case then you have my sympathies.

I hope..

No excuses.  I haven't posted in a while.  My wife and I are expecting our first child any day now.  I've had a hard time focusing on miniscule events like sports and TV with such a monumental event approaching.  I find myself wondering if I'm going to be a good father.  I can be short-tempered, hot-headed, long-winded, overbearing and outright mean at times.  My son will learn how to be a man from me.  I was watching Superman The Movie and Jor-El says one of the most profound things I have ever heard about life.  Before launching his son into space and facing his own death Jor-El says "You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you... even in the face of our death. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel... all this, and more, I... I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you, all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son. This is all I... all I can send you, Kal-El." I hope in the years to come that I can become a better man, and that my son Brayden will make my strength his own.  I hope he will shed my weaknesses.  I hope that he will always see the world as full of possibilities and opportunities.  I hope that I can learn to once again see the world with a sense of wonder as he will. I hope that he knows without questions that I love him and will do anything for him.  I hope he grows up without a chip on his shoulder like his dad did...  There are so many more things I could say here.. but for now I will end this relatively short post with this last thought...  I hope he gets here soon.