Doubling Down to the Future

The last correspondence of the week.

To: Doble Deuce
From: Chigga What
RE: Ba(ra)ck to the Future
My Native American compadre,

I need to first start by noting that you just had a less distracted blast to explain Male/ Female salaries. I feel that subject might need to be explored a tad bit more, but who knows I'm just the neighborhood feminist. I agree with your assessment about if we had less distractions they would just fill up our day a tad bit more, but wouldn't that be a good thing? Isn't that similar to the concept of specialization? Maybe it's just me but while I acknowledge that the practice of being well rounded is a good thing, I rather people focus the majority of their efforts on a couple of things they know really well. But that's just me.

As for baseball/ girlfriend comment I would like to say god we love gay guys and I completely agree with your girlfriend. I didn't understand baseball until the playoffs last year. People love baseball BECAUSE it's boring. I have heard people talk about the "pace" of the game as a primary reason for the enjoyment but that's really just code for lack of action. Baseball is the only sport in which can be used as white noise. Background music to our lives, we value it because other more important human interactions/ work can be done without missing the beauty of the game. While I still hate the game, I get it and that's all that matters.

As for your sell out theory about advertising, I agree that is a problem but I think it was always a problem. We just didn't notice it before because we were younger. Ultimately I believe that even given less constrictions we would become bored with all forms of media because it's just too darn hard to remain fresh.

As for the Gladwell piece I think the majority of people that we deal with do not have the life experience to understand what he is talking about. He is commenting on the superstars of the world. The Buffets, Trumps, Cubans etc of the world. He concedes that for the borderline individuals and minorities the signaling effect does help but what does that really tell us? Roots my friend Roots.

As for the West, I can only really see three teams coming out of it. The Suns, the Spurs and the Lakers. Basically all of the teams where the stars of the team have championship experience. Experience matters and that's what I think is ultimately going to be the deciding factor. I also think that Kidd going to the Mavs make them worst and Yao's injury makes the rockets better. But then again that's just me.

The east? Does anyone watch that? Well again Ill give you the top 3, Cavs, Pistons, Celtics. I think the cavs take it and have been betting accordingly. Anyone who can do what Lebron did to the Raptors will not be stopped unless he runs into a much better team or another superstar who has the ability to match wits with him. LBJ beat the pistons single handily last year and he's better this year. As for the Celtics, doc rivers nuff said.

San Fran Culture? Does that city really have any culture outside of La Roccas? I think not, but who knows. It is different though because San Fran prides itself on not being LA. The weather is not as good and therefore the population is made up with tons of different people. In fact San Fran is one of the more diverse cities in the US so it's really difficult to pinpoint one overarching theme. Going from the Mission to the Marina one would more likely assume they left states than they are within the city. The gay thing is what you are famous for but I think it's just a small part of the melting pot that is the Bay.

Speaking of Cuban he thinks that the MMA will pass Boxing in our lifetime, why can't you just get on the freight train? Also with the new GF, I am sure you have noticed some differences between the two of you, what are your thoughts on how that translates to all male/female interactions?

Doubling down on your Indian ass,

To: Chi-Town Zie
From: I can't believe the musician from Road House Died
RE: Seriously, he was only 41

What's up Vanilla Face,

You are entirely correct to point out my dunderheadedness when it comes to female salaries though I have to say that I made that comment in jest. Women aren't paid as much as men because their brains are 1/3 the size of ours. Everyone knows that. It's science.

To your next point, in general, the world is better when people have a focus. If we still had to go out and forage for food, I'm sure no one would have come up with this series of tubes we call the internet. And even more tangentially, I don't think the internet would have boomed like it has if it weren't for internet porn. Suddenly, men didn't have to worry about looking like a douchebag at some store, sandwiching a porno magazine between two other magazines that they didn't really want just to get their rocks off. Now, there's this technology that allows us to do this from our desks at home. You can't tell me that the prospect of less ridicule isn't one of the things that led the pinheads who came up with this shit to keep innovating and making the internet better. Suddenly, those guys who could never get a girl's pants off didn't have to worry about it. They could just go to her website and tell her what to do. Gross.

I've told you many times that I love baseball because it's a background sport. But I still think you're missing the point just a little bit. The static nature of baseball means that, at any point, everything could change. So, when the count is two and two in the ninth inning of a tie game, the next pitch could end the game or not. There's so much drama inherent in static enterprises because when they finally move, each move can carry a ton of significance or none at all and the drama stems from that. That said, there is very little drama in a July game of a season that lasts 162 games. Also, you also forgot to mention that it's the perfect sport to drink beer to. This cannot be understated.

I understand that MMA is all the ('roid) rage. And it's awesome and the fights are awesome and the fighters are incredible and they (apparently) do not feel any pain. But I will always be a boxing apologist. Often, I've said that I love boxing because the heavyweight champion of the world is the guy who could beat up anyone else in the world (this is also the reason I like the 100 meter dash). At this point, this might not be true anymore, however, boxing will always hold that place for me because I grew up watching replays of the "Thrilla' in Manila" and the "Rumble in the Jungle" and all the rest. My father showed me tapes of Ali-Frazier III, 15 years after it happened and I was riveted. I couldn't (and still can’t) believe that had Frazier been able to rise for the 15th round, Ali might have died from internal bleeding. That's what pugilism is supposed to be about. Who the fuck is tougher? Those guys would have fought in an alley over a girl, it just so happened they were in a ring. Isn't that what we want? None of that could have happened had they not been in the ring for 15 grueling rounds. I love boxing because of what it used to represent, and I hate that it’s lost its verve, but I remain eternally hopeful in what it could once again represent; pugilistic purity.

It used to, and I hope once again will, represent something that Mixed Martial Arts never can because in MMA the clash in styles is always more important than the central question in boxing which is, who is the tougher motherfucker. Boxing is two people playing the exact same sport and seeing who can do it better for longer. That's as close to perfection as I can hope for.

Finally, I'm a terrible person to ask about the male-female dynamic.

Are males supposed to care about their careers more or less than females? Because the truth is, I barely care about a career. I have no idea what I do or why I do it the way that I do. There's no focus and no vision, probably because this isn't the job I want to be doing in three years. On the other hand, she legitimately cares about her job and will probably be beating up the world within two years if she decides that that is what she wants to do.

I mean, she thinks that I'm smarter than her, but that’s certainly not true. I’m not smarter, though I do get other people to do my work more often. Perhaps, this is a difference in the sexes or perhaps it's a difference in our individual relationship. I can't know for sure. Maybe it means I've mastered the corporate American art of outsourcing. Who knows? I probably worry less about the future, care less about money and care more about reading. But these seem more like individual differences than overarching male-female themes. It's probably also a reason why people like working with me. I'm always goofing off so there can't be any time to get nervous, which in turn means they'll do things for me.

Another difference is that she has boobs and I do not.

Till next time,

Mister Marshburn’s Wild Ride