So, I am leaving the grocery pushing my shopping cart to the car the other day, and I hear this voice behind me saying, “Hi young man.” Well, hearing the voice say (young man) immediately got me attention, as I needed to know who this person was referring too. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to snap up a greeting like that [see, I am 67], or certainly not wanting to come off as rude for not acknowledging the him if this greeting was meant for me, I turned around and said “hello.”
The person getting my attention was a brother who working at the grocery store and apparently was walking to the parking lot to retrieve empty shopping carts. He started the conversation by asking “did you see those playoff games this weekend?” I replied by saying, no, I do not watch professional football. He replied, “you don’t watch football?” Again, “I said no,” and I haven’t watched a professional football (except momentarily or in passing) game for more than 15 years.
I approached my car at this point, lifted the rear door and begun placing my groceries in the rear of the car. Problem is, I have this tendency to try to be nice to people when they come out of nowhere and proceed to strike up [small talk] conversations about things I am (really) not interested in – like football. You see, these types of approaches seem to almost, always be a waste of my time, as those conversations generally end up irritating me. This, because the person making the overture generally ends up saying something silly, like wanting to talk about something I could care less about, or they end up [seemingly] professing to be an expert at something I already know far more about than they do. These situations remind me of an old adage, that you never take financial advice from the bum standing on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store. But, me being me, being the nice guy that I am, I end up allowing them to engage me.
After a few exchanges about the game, particularly the one where the Vikings receiver caught that spectacular pass and went on to score a game winning touchdown because the opposing receiver missed the tackle. You see, I don’t have to sit in front a TV screen for hours upon hours watching men run up and down a 120 yards long by 53 yards wide field chasing each other, catching a ball and trying to afflict as much pain and hurt on the other guy as humanly possible, to know who won or lost. One can be aptly informed of the final results of sporting events by simply watching a thirty-second highlight of such events during news reports, and by doing so, can hold a fairly convincing conversation with anyone who has spent half a day, or night, watching every detail. You see, it’s the highlights, and who won, or loss are the only things that really matter. Those are the only things that will be intently and passionately discussed at the water cooler or in the break room the next day. That’s because, in the end, the highlights [other than who won or loss] are really all that matters. In the meantime, I can go with life and be reasonably versed in this subject as one who spends one hundred-fold more time being bound by watching it than I do.
Okay, back to the point of the story. The brother finally says, “the game was fixed.” “Fixed,” I said? He replies, “sure, both games were [fixed].” Really, bedazzled I asked again, following up with, how do you suppose that could be, with more than 100 players more than 50 coaches and other personnel from both teams combined, and not to mention the hundreds, if not thousands of other people involved in producing and televising the game. It’s common knowledge that throughout (sporting) history, there are mentioned cases http://www.cracked.com/article_16588_7-great-sports-moments-that-might-have-been-fixed.html of a (few) sporting events [that might have been fixed.] All these, for all practical measures, were conspiracy theories – as there is no concrete evidence that the sum of what a few of the individuals involved did, actually ended up {throwing} the event in question.
After a few more questions, one, was, “how can the game(s) be ‘fixed’ ” when there are hundreds of people (players, coaches, staff, etc.), that are involved the production of the game(s). The brother’s explanation of was that the officials were simply paid off. I said, “really? He then replied, “you’re older than I am, so you should know better.” He then proceeded to start doing what he should have been doing all along, and that was collecting those grocery carts. As he walked away, he was muttering something to the effect of, “I can’t talk you anymore.” Go figure! In the words of my mother – I was minding my own business when he approached me with that bullshit.
So, nothing has changed, and my theory is correct and remains intact – do not allow people like this, or the drunk on the street. You know, that brother at party who goes into the twilight zone explaining why the euro centrists neo disenfranchisement of the black man has caused the mesa un-enlightenment of our minds engage you in a conversation where rational thought is absent. Maybe greet them, but for God’s sake keep walking, just keep walking.
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