Little Bit

Originally Published 11/12/2008

Have you noticed how the phrase “Little Bit” has crept all throughout the vernacular of athletes? For instance, a team loses 36 -3, and they asked a losing player what went wrong – his answer: “Well, we just didn’t tackle very well, a little bit.” Or a pitcher gives up a grand slam: “I just missed inside a little bit. We have to get after it a little bit more. The hustle was there but we need a little bit more.”

Little bit? This phrase needs to stop being used in situations where it grossly does not apply. Little bit should be mentioned when talking about pouring sugar into coffee, not on the playing field. Consider yourself enlightened and now when you see, read, or hear an athlete abusing this term you can think of me and give a little “grr”.

Meet and Greet with Joe the Plumber

 

(Originally Published on 11/5/2008)

Are we human?
Or are we dancer?
My sign is vital
My hands are cold
And I’m on my knees
Looking for the answer
Are we human?
Or are we dancer?

–  Killers Human

I have been battling with these lyrics for about a week now. Dancer? Isn’t there an ‘s’ missing? The strict grammartarian in me was cringing. What are these guys thinking? I ended up seeking out PDE advice, and what I found blew my mind. You see, we can’t think of human as a noun, but as an archetype, and so is Dancer. Are we human or are we dancer is like saying are we American or are we Russian. Do we belong to just the base human, or are we dancer, transcending to a new form. Dancer is not a subset of human, no, not at all. However, there Venn diagrams do interact and go beyond. Dancer is what we should be, not what we are. So cut cord, be Dancer.

Now, amidst the euphoria and glory of the recent Phillies championship, other great events in sports have been happening. I speak of College football, a topic long debated among members of Brier Nation. So far we have an excellent season shaping up.

Consider:

  1. GaTech beat FSU for the first time in Bowden era
  2. PSU won in OSU for the first time in 30 years
  3. Michigan lost to Toledo.
  4. Michigan blew the second longest winning season streak in history. #1 you ask? PSU of course. Better luck in 2059.
  5. PSU beat Michigan for the first is like forever.
  6. First losing season in like forever for Michigan.
  7. First none bowl appearance for Michigan is 34 years.
  8. Michigan lost to… well I think you get the picture. A good strength and conditioning coach does not make up for no talent. Who knew?

As all members can agree, these are all excellent events. I am still trepidatious about the over rated Big 12 stealing another chance for JoePa to play for a title, so I won’t linger to long there, but instead will focus the truly unexpected: Ga Tech.

How can they be winning (In first place of the Coastal division) when:

  1. They have the ugliest uniforms in football. What happened? We used to have great classy uniforms. Where have you gone Rudy? Now.. yuck.
  2. They are running the wishbone. Call it the triple whatever, I will go with BobbyB – It’s the bone.

These things make me sad for my great and mighty alma mater, and go against everything I believe about football, (yes I believe good looking uniforms are a pre req for winning and you need throw the ball.) but the wins? They somehow mask this. I guess I feel like a feminist did when Bill stained Monica’s dress.

Just win baby.

Note: Amazing how a BCS game and years of consistent winning can change your views on Paul Johnson. I am still not convinced this offense is versatile enough to win a national championship, but it fun to watch. (We also fixed the uniforms.)