To Browns Fans, With Love

It’s been awhile….you guys miss me? Working the night shift so I can pay student loans isn’t what I call living the dream…you know what I would rather be doing?

(this is where you say ‘what would you rather be doing bryan’)

…I’m glad you asked. I wish, like a lot of other collegiate athletes, that I could have graduated from college and played the sport I love professionally. Who doesn’t, right? Whether it be futbol, football, baseball, basketball, etc down the line. It’s the dream of nearly every collegiate athlete to go pro (unless you played at my college…couple kids just wanted drinking buddies) Everyone always asks, “IF you could play for one team who would it be?”

To me, that’s the easiest question in the world. The Cleveland Browns, right? A team I grew up watching as a young kid in Eastlake, OH (represent 440 whaaaat..ahem sorry). But lately, as I look around me I see things I never saw as a kid. As a kid I watched with my uncle Greg as the Cleveland Browns would play their hearts out to the fans who cheered their hearts out…..but back then…. I was blind, or deaf, to the voice of the disgruntled Cleveland Browns fan.

What Ever Happened to Free Speech?

AH

On October 3, 2011, Hank Williams, Jr. appeared on the daily morning talk show, Fox and Friends. He was asked how he felt about the upcoming election and who he preferred in the GOP race. Williams, Jr. then, with what seemed like a Herculean effort, blurted, “Nobody.” He then went on to allegorically  associated a golf game between political party leaders with the likeness of Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. (For those of you not certain who Netanyahu is; Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel.)

Williams, Jr. continued by shouting, “OBAMA!”, in response to a request to explain whom he was referring to as the enemy. He made perfectly clear that the aforementioned golf game was the biggest political blunder, “ever.” Furthermore, Williams, Jr. reiterated time after time how against bipartisanship he was.

Today, October 5, 2011, Monday Night Football (product of ESPN, ultimately controlled by Disney), whom Hank had been the “voice and face” of since 1991,  essentially announced that they gave Ol’ Hank a corporation sized cowboy boot to the curb. Williams, Jr. has responded in anger declaring a violation of his 1st amendment rights (Free Speech), saying he himself has decided to leave. It seemed like a mutual departure. Regardless, when the story broke, a majority of the masses shared Williams, Jr.’s outrage. Their arguments also hinge on the value and more importantly the RIGHT of Free Speech.

Great books: The Making of a Counter Culture

One of the best stores in Kent is Last Exit Books, a used book store with prices so cheap it makes me wonder how they can make a profit. They have a bunch of old books on sale at either 50 cents or a dollar.

In August, I picked up a handful of those books for a couple of bucks. What a great investment. I am currently in the middle of The Making of a Counter Culture by Theodore Roszak, which was originally published in 1969, but it is still extremely relevant in today’s world. It gives so much insight on culture in the United States: young people, rebellion, society, angst. It’s just a great read. When I came across this passage 16 pages in, I was hooked:

Life Coach pt2

Feedback from my part 1 of the “Life Coach” blog series was mostly positive. My mom asked, “don’t you think that’s a little intense?” You’d think after twenty-three years she’d realize intensity is my happiness. Ah well.

First I want to thank everyone for the feedback on my writing. I am very self conscious of putting my feelings out there and how I feel. Writing is one of the most revealing things you can do to put yourself out there—so I feel pretty vulnerable every time I click “post” on wordpress.com. I normally read my entries three times the day OF posting just to make sure everything sounds right. I was the same way with school papers….normally because I did those at the last second though.

So….without further ADO…. Part 2 of the Life Coach Blog Series…..if you have any comments, both positive and negative, feel free to email me at boggs.bryan.r@gmail.com and I will post your comments and reply to them next Wednesday in part 3. Enjoy.

The most interesting cartoon ever printed

I was drunk at a bar in Montana not long before midnight last Sunday. For some reason, somebody in my group picked up the Sunday comics section of the local newspaper. It had the usual Dilbert, Garfield, Zits, Beetle Baily, and so on. But what was truly special was the large cartoon at the bottom of the colorful page.

The big one-panel cartoon (the size of two rows of three standard panels), was the most interesting thing I’ve ever seen in a comics section. Perhaps it was the most interesting thing I’ve witnessed with my two eyes. It had everybody squirting tears of uncontrollable laughter — there at the bar, on the cab ride to the house, and the following days. Still, about five days later, I can’t get it out of my mind. It has me laughing, thinking, guessing, questioning, contemplating about the illustrator’s intent.

PC = BS

So I will only say this once—if you are easily offended do not read this. Skip it and laugh at the next one I write/read andys guitar thing again or something. If you do read it and would like to debate me via facebook or twitter….well forget you read it because I don’t need to debate. Now that we got that out of the way…..prepare to be offended….I hope.

Who Killed the…Guitar Gods?

AH

Blog #1 of a 5 part series

With the 30th anniversary of the launch of MTV just around the corner, I couldn’t help but think about the classic footage we all saw when we were young: The space shuttle launching, the multicolored MTV flag, the iconic, “Ladies and Gentleman, Rock and Roll”, the whole nine yards. Music was alive, disco was dead (or at least on life support), and finally it seemed as if a symbolic mouthpiece of the younger generation had been installed. I believe it is safe to say that this sentiment actually lasted for some time. I remember being twelve years old, a little over 19 years after the initial broadcast, and watching Limp Bizkit win the award for Best Rock Video. Suddenly, the band I originally had thought was amazing was shocked by a member of the audience storming the stage and climbing the thirty-plus foot tall set. After a few moments we all learned it was Tim Commerford, the bassist of Rage Against the Machine. Sparked I immediate sought out RATM and thus began my passion for music, all thanks to MTV.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: I survived a full hour watching HLN. Barely.

D.B.

It’s 11:57am on Friday, July 22, and I’m about to embark on the challenge of a lifetime: watching Headline News (HLN) for a full hour for an in-depth analysis of television news. According to the “LIVE” icon in the corner, looks like it’s not taped. Let’s see what is going on in the world. The following will be the time each new story starts, the subject and my my descriptions of the story that I will write as it is being showed.

Hey, Kids Its Me…Koko/Who’s This Casey Anthony Character?

AH

Hey guys, I guess I’m on board now. I’m going to be blunt when I say this but, having a window into my mind may be a new experience for most of you. I have no boundaries and I usually say whatever I believe to be the “right” thing to say. Basically this is going to be similar to when you were seven and your parents sat you down and told you were going to have a little brother or sister. Be honest, no one was pumped at first but hopefully all your younger siblings have grown on you. I hope I can too. My real names Andy, but for the sake of this blog you can call me Koko. Now let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of this hot mess. It’s a topic that’s been really chapping my ass as of late and even though I am certain I’ll receive several death threats after this is read….

Pop Goes My Blog Cherry

B.B.

My first blog, I feel so “empowered” I mean that’s what these are for right? So everyone has an opinion and instead of just putting up on facebook or twitter for their 100 followers they put it in a blog. At least that’s what I was told how it works.

So, before I begin to write I will say this. MY opinion is MY opinion and mine alone. It has not been shaped from anyone or anything else and it does not mean that’s what Mr. Brown my tag team partner thinks either.