HIDE THE WOMEN & CHILDREN! Except from foul balls, save yourself...

"He held her tight and kissed her lips/In front of the picture show/Stranger came and pulled a gun/Grabbed her by the arm said "If you do what I tell you to, there won't be any harm"/And Johnny said "Take my money, take my wallet, take my credit cards/Here's the watch that my grandpa gave me/Here's the key to my car Mister give it a whirl/ But please don't take the girl" - Don't Take The Girl by Tim McGraw


So while perusing the internet yesterday, about to adjust my three fantasy baseball teams rosters for the day, I stumbled across this phenomenal video from the Houston Astros game on Tuesday night. “Bo the Bailer” has he has become affectionately dubbed in the media, was enjoying the first inning of the Astros 10-4 victory over Atlanta when all of a sudden a foul ball came screaming towards him and his girlfriend Sara. What ensued says a lot about the culture of relationships today.


As the ball comes rocketing down the left field line Bo jumps up to attempt and catch the souvenir. Instead, just before he gets his hand on it, Bo pulls a Neo Anderson and jumps out of the way allowing the ball to hit poor Sara right in the arm. (Check out the video here)

As if the lovely Sara didn’t have a bad start to the game already, when the TV reporter comes to talk to the couple, Bo says he “lost the ball in the lights”. Furthermore, Bo just sat there looking embarrassed and trying to laugh it off while a visible bruise was starting to form on his significant others right elbow. After watching this video numerous times, asking a few girls at the office how they would react, and reading some articles this is a painful notation of the way relationships are heading in our culture.

Now, I don’t know how long Bo and Sara have been together (or if they still are after that) and I don’t know what kind of girl Sarah is. For all we know, those two can laugh about for years and tell the story of how Dad got national “fame” for letting Mom get hit with a baseball. But what I do know is that Bo is a guy who really doesn’t know how to be a true man:

A) It’s a foul ball dude, c’mon make the catch! How many times have you been to a baseball game and when someone can’t catch the ball everyone boos and laughs at him? Seriously, you had to have played baseball at some point, get your hands on it. Besides, at any other stadium (because the Astros are atrocious) you don’t catch it, that ball ain’t yours.

B) First rule of getting the ball is to keep your body in front of it. Don’t jump out of the way, and if you are gonna dodge it, get IN FRONT OF THE GIRL! Let it hit a stranger; at least you won’t have to hear them complain in the car ride home.

Again, I don’t know how their relationship is or the type of people they are, but they look like a young couple, I’m guessing 17-22, and this culture has a love affair with ourselves. We are always concerned about me, myself, and I. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you I’m looking to make this the best for me, but when you are in a relationship you have to think of the other person too. Think of their well-being and their happiness. As I continuously look for jobs I wonder, what will this do for my current relationship? Where do I go that will make her happiest or keep her happy? Things like that.

However, as I read all the reaction to this incident I saw a post in which the writer declared that chivalry is dead. And to a point I agree. But I also feel that the idea of chivalry has been lost because of the cultural changes and may not even be needed anymore. The idea of chivalry goes back to 1950’s Pleasantville…not 21st Century Houston. Let me explain:

What has always been the cultural identity of men and women in relationships? Men are meant to provide and protect the family. Men go to work, bring home the money, and defend the household and those in it. Women have been meant to nurture and care for the family. They make the meals, they nurse the injuries and illnesses and they take care of the children. What Bo did, was not protect the family. He allowed his belle to get plunked with a potentially devastating weapon. But I can’t entirely blame him.

Again, we, the “millennia’s” as they have so adequately named us, are more focused on our personal well being and women in particular have debunked the old notion of being home makers which in turn has deterred some men away from the idea of being a provider and a protector.

I’m not trying to teach anyone how to be in a relationship, I know I’m not the best boyfriend in history but I know I make her happy and I know I’ll do what it takes to do that for as long as she’ll let me. But what I do know is I was raised to protect and provide for my family, whether that’s finding the best job to give her everything she wants and needs or getting rid of any threat to her I’m going to do it. And, as a former shortstop, you can be damn sure I’m getting in front of that ball.

But for others, like our beloved beau Bo, at least he won’t have a big ol’ bruise on his arm when going out to find his next date to a game…maybe just one across the face.

Honestly? Don’t You Have Enough To Worry About?

“So let's forget about the hatin/ And the way the bulls are playin/ Without Jordan on the team/ And the high price of gasoline” – “Love Train” by Big & Rich

So I’m sitting here watching this whole discussion on Proposition 8 in California, for those who don’t know that’s the gay marriage bill, and I can’t help thinking to myself: What the hell does it matter? This is something I think every time a story like this makes the news. People come out in droves to protest things they feel threaten the norm: segregation, Irish immigrants, Mexican immigrants, homosexuality, etc. Don’t these people have enough going in their own lives to focus on? Apparently not. Apparently, these people are rolling in dough, have great jobs, live on pure solar energy, drink from a golden water fountain, kids have straight A’s and their bills are always paid and it’s always 78 degrees and sunny outside their house (I need to move to that neighborhood) that all they have to do in their lives is go out and prevent everyday Americans from having a basic right to spend the rest of their life with the one they love.

Now it’s no secret which side of the political aisle I fall on, but this is one topic where I willingly go the other way. What’s the opposition to letting gays and lesbians get married? Don’t they have the right to be just as miserable as every other married couple? Seriously though people there is no reason why gays can’t get married. Let’s go through every possible “excuse” why they can’t:

Gay Parents = Gay Children

Just like alcoholic, abusive parents equal 13 year old wife beating drunks, right? How many have you have turned out to be the exact same person as your father or mother? Sure, you may have the same tendencies, like the same foods, have the same haircut, but nobody, NOBODY turns out the exact same way. My father is a military man, and while I’ve thought about joining, I wouldn’t; it’s not my thing. Think of something your parents did that you don’t like, you can easily decide not too; free will, remember that thing?

“I Don’t Want To See Them Like That In Public”

Like what? Affectionate? You don’t want to see two pain in the tail teenagers necking with one another at a mall so those two people cannot get married! Here’s an idea, I don’t want to see you in plaid like that in public. What they do behind closed doors is their business, what the hell do you care? I’m willing to bet that you do some things at home that you don’t do in public. Just let them be, they are in a relationship. When you were first dating, you were the same way. Maybe you just don’t like Public Display of Affection, not gays or lesbians showing PDA. Just maybe.

Being Gay is a Choice You Make

This one is just absurd. Being gay is not a choice, if you are gay your are attracted to the person of the same sex. Does that mean being straight is a choice? Straight men and women, do me a favor: look at the guy or girl next to you at a bar and choose to be attracted to them and sleep with them. I’m willing to bet you can’t, just like a homosexual person cannot choose to be attracted to a person of the opposite sex. Saying you can choose whether or not to be gay is quite possibly the dumbest thing since the “Twinkie Defense.”

It’s In The Bible

This is my favorite. I’m a Catholic, I go to Church and I pray that one day I may reach the Golden Gates and walk side by side with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but no offense, Catholicism is quite possibly the most contradictory religion there is. God’s Ten Commandments for example: though shalt not kill: Christianity is responsible for the most murders in the history of mankind. Though shalt not commit adultery: why are we not phased anymore if Jude Law finds a new nanny? Though shalt not steal: what is our primal instinct when things do not go well (looting). If we lived every day just like the Bible, no bad would ever happen. That’s not to say that Homosexuals are bad, but I believe firmly that just because it’s in the Bible does not automatically condemn you. We are all going to be judged one day by Him and how we live while we are here is going to be the basis of that judgment. Remember what else is in the bible: “Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself”. Would you like to have them tell you you can’t get married?

While writing this I’ve been trying to figure out a legitimate logical reason to not allow the LGBT community to get married and I can’t. I honestly do not see the other side of this argument. Some people want to change the definition of marriage…why? There are already TEN DEFINITIONS of the word: Marriage. It’s like segregation (yes it is, don’t argue with me). Just because they are “different” does not mean they are bad for our culture.

Besides, aren’t there more things to worry about in this country? Don’t we have a horrible economy, two wars, immigration crisis, recovering Gulf & people faking cancer? Why are we spending our precious time worrying about this? I mean honestly people, there are more things going on in the world that mean something and aren’t discriminatory. What makes this country great is an opportunity for all people to have the same chances to be happy and if marrying the one they love does that, shouldn’t, as Americans, they be able to?

I applaud the Governator for doing this and wanting to speed it through and I’m proud of California for passing it. What I’m not proud of, is that it took a state not run by an American born citizen to make it happen (but that’s a minor detail).