Mini-Weekly Random Thoughts: 5/28/10

Just a short post this week:

1. I’m guest blogging for a friend’s site. Check it out at http://www.nychar.blogspot.com/.

It’s a great site that tells you about events happening in NYC; including free stuff, great deals, and other fun and exciting ways to spend your time.

2. Queensbridge. Say Queensbridge. (Bill Simmons beat me to using this).
But this was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in a sports interview.

Sidenote: Queensbridge Projects is the largest public housing development in North America. It is most known for its hip hop roots with many famous rappers calling it their home. From legends Marley Marl (who made the classic "The Bridge"), MC Shan, Roxanne Shante, and Craig G...to more recent names like Nas, Mobb Deep, and Capone-N-Noreaga. But thank you Ron Artest for bringing it to a whole 'nother level of recognition.

3. Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend everyone.

Thanks for reading this week.

- bypremier

You Don't Know Jack...

Welcome to my new column: You don’t know Jack.

(Sidenote: I was debating between Jack in the box, Jacked up, and Jack off; before going with ‘You don’t know Jack’. Because you don’t. He lives in Connecticut.)

Jack said...

Thank you for your insightful response. The truth is, many fans can't stand from an objective point of view. i.e. I hate Kobe, but I would never claim that he sucks simply because he doesn't. I can appreciate his talent, but I don't like his character.

A friend of mine was appalled and disgusted by Paul Pierce's comment and made it known on facebook. His facebook status now tallied over 60 comments and counting.

Within those comments, we touched on a subject that falls under a grayscale and I would be interested to see your point of view on this one.

Do you think an athlete should be judged by their athleticism alone, or does their moral character play a role? i.e. the Tiger Woods scandal.

bypremier responds...

Ah, the age old question…does character matter when we judge star athletes? It’s a tough question to answer, because the honest answer should be, “No, it shouldn’t”. Athletes are human just like anybody else. They are not perfect. They make mistakes. And in the famous words of Charles Barkley, “I am not your role model.”

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. As a society, we look up to our favorite athletes. We believe that with that god given talent and fortune, they have a greater responsibility to the world (or at least…to us fans, that root for them). They are supposed to play exceptionally well, carry themselves with a sense of dignity and sportsmanship, be charitable, respectful, save lives, rescue cats stuck in trees…basically they are expected to be perfect. Much like how we hold our Presidents to a higher standard (helloooooo, Bill Clinton). But then we find out that they cheat on their wives or girlfriends, take performance enhancing drugs, that they curse, spit, buy expensive things with their money instead of helping out the needy, drink, smoke, fight…basically all the bad things they teach you in church. And suddenly, it’s like they did these things to us. But is that fair? Who are we to judge? Most of us are no better and are guilty of the same things. So where does that leave us? Depends on which side you fall.

In one corner you have the athletes: The ones who never asked for that responsibility and just want to play sports.

Then you have the fans in the other corner: The ones who wished it was them that were on that court/field/ring. The ones who pay good money…hard earned money…to watch these athletes. Who bring their kids to watch them too. And they want their money’s worth and then some. And those kids…they want to believe that these athletes are everything their imagination leads them to believe.

So who is right? You’re not going to like my answer…but I say the athletes are. They should have the right to choose to do what they want and we have the right to like them or not. We should only judge them for their ability to play and perform at the highest level. We watch Tiger, so we can see greatness on the golf course. So what if he cheats. Statistics say a majority of people cheat as well. That makes a majority of us hypocrites. Is Tiger stupid…absolutely! Did he lie and ruin a good thing…sure. But who cares. It’s his life. He’ll still be considered one of the greatest golfers ever. Same goes with Kobe, Big Ben (although he belongs in jail…if he actually raped that woman), and all the other villains the media writes about everyday. If you don’t like it, then don’t be a fan of theirs and don’t buy their merchandise. And if you choose to turn off the TV or stop following them, well…all you risk if missing out on greatness. But at the end of the day, as the great NFL writer Peter King once said, “The criteria for the NFL Hall of Fame is for what they did on the field, not what they did off of it.”

Sure, there are exceptions. Some people relish that responsibility and do good deeds with their fortune and fame. Think of the Tim Tebows of the world. But then again, a lot of it is media created. The 24/7 news cycle forces people to create an image and try to maintain some sort of privacy in their lives. But this part is a whole nother argument for another day.

Jack, hopefully that answered your question. And I hope you don’t mind me shamefully using you as material for my blog.

In closing I would like to say…WTF??? 60 comments? I wish I could get 60 comments to something I write. Heck, I’d settle for 6.

How to Run a Successful Yard Sale:

“Your trash is my treasure.”

- Nick Serrano

I never fully understood that phrase until two weekends ago.

Yes, that's right readers...yours truly experienced his first ever yard sale. And I’m still trying to figure out what happened.

Did you know that almost everything you ever thought of throwing out or donating, someone else will pay money for? Not a lot of money. But they will pay. Ohhhhh, they’ll pay. But only if you do it right. And I’m going to tell you how with these five easy steps:

1. You ever see “Glenngarry Glen Ross”? Great movie. One of the best lines in the movie is when Alec Baldwin says, “A-B-C, A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing.” Well you need one of these sellers. Fortunately for us, we had one: My girlfriend’s sister - Janet. She could sell a water bottle to someone already drinking out of one. She could sell you size 24 jeans if you could barely squeeze into size 36’s. You got kids? Well you need a used stuffed animal. You got hardwood floors? Here are some nasty, used slippers for those cold winter nights. What’s that?? Your boy needs a new shirt? Take this “Beer is Best” t-shirt. Sure your boy is only twelve, but the shirt fits him perfectly. The lesson here…Always Be Closing. No matter what.
2. You think people are above stealing from a yard sale? You are wrong. They will steal from a homeless man if they can get away with it. That’s why you need security. And I’m not talking about the bouncer types sitting outside your favorite clubs or the bodyguards protecting the most famous celebs. All you need is a guy standing by the sidewalk with his feet shoulder width apart and arms crossed. That’s it. If he has on dark sunglasses, that’ll provide added fear.
3. Do a group yard sale. Everyone has crap to get rid of. Better yet; everyone has different, random stuff (this adds to variety of inventory). Split up the tables and the yard and no matter what, your yard sale will look packed. For example, our yard sale was shared between three different groups consisting of eight people. That meant at anytime, there were at least eight people standing around. And that’s HUGE...because people will feel awkward stopping by a yard sale if they are the only ones there. It’s like walking into one of those local shops on any popular tourist area (Times Square, Canal St., etc) but you’re the only one there. You’re more prone to leave without buying anything. Because just like those local shops that you find on every corner, there is a yard sale on every other block. There were at least three yard sales that we knew of in a ten block radius. But those were empty and the people selling were bored out of their mind. Why? Because it looked like a ghost town. If you can’t get other people to do the yard sale with you, or are just selfish and don’t like to share, then at least get friends to stop by and hang out. That gives off the same appearance.
4. Bring a dog. Doesn't even have to be yours. Dogs attract crowds. Once the crowd comes, you go into seller mode and drop step #1 on them. See how I brought that back full circle.
5. Offer free stuff. People love free stuff. You know how many people will wait outside in the freezing cold for free movie tickets…hundreds of people. You know how many people will wait to get into the MOMA for free on Fridays? Put it this way, don’t even bother to go unless you plan on getting there very early. You want to hold a training session or a conference at work? Just offer free food and the people will come. It really is that simple. You don’t even need anything fancy…just some homemade lemonade or iced tea and some munchkins. And like Field of Dreams, “The people will come.”
   (Sidenote: I was thinking of pulling a Crazy Eddie's and parking my car in the front and offering to sell it too. Even joking that if you bought enough merchandise, you get the car for free. Of course, I didn't. Instead I offered my friends house if you bought enough jewelry. Heck, it wasn't my house...)

So there you go. Five easy steps and you’ll be raking in more singles than Kraft. Bad joke? Well someone sell me that bad joke book you got as a gift a long time ago. Boom…lesson #1.