1. Well, good for you ...
A nighttime U-16 girls' soccer game in Royal Oak, Mich., circa 1996. Thea's team is playing two players short and without any subs; the other team's coach, however, has elected to field a full 10-player team—versus eight—and send in four or five substitutes at a time. We are getting shellacked, of course, and with every goal scored by the opposing side, the opposing side's parents and supporters scream like maniacs and stomp their feet and applaud wildly, just loving the way their girls are kicking our girls' fatigued and outnumbered asses up and down the field. It gets to where I can't take the psychotic demonstrating any longer, and make some audible critical comment about the lack of sportsmanship I'm witnessing, on and off the field. This raises the ire of a woman sitting near me, who turns and snarls, "You'd play it the same way if you were coach!" And I snap back something to the effect that I sure as hell would not, to which she mockingly replies, "Well, good for you—you have principles."
2. That wouldn't be fair ...
Mid 1980s. I'm looking to buy a used car. I find a clean subcompact at a Ford dealership about six miles from home. I take the car for a test drive and detect an intermittent clunking noise that sounds like it's coming from the rear axle. I stop by the house and fish through the glovebox, where I find the previous owner's name and telephone number on one of the documents there. I call the previous owner and tell him I'm thinking of buying this car but am concerned about a noise I'm hearing in the rear end. Could he tell me anything about that? Had he had any problems with the car? He refuses to answer any of my questions, saying it wouldn't be fair to the used car dealer. I guess that man had principles.
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What the hell is up with people??? This is why I have such a hard time understanding others. I would have told you every problem I had the vehicle had it been mine. Plus whats up with the chick at the soccer game?? Parents that get that into their kids sports to the point they are unfair are rediculous. Ahhh people are so confusing.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it wouldn't have been unfair had that coach played only eight players and still subbed freely; all the kids on his team deserved a chance to play. Better still, he could have loaned our team a few players -- it was just a recreational league, after all. But no, he chose to use his advantage to maximum advantage, and I'll never understand not only that lack of sportsmanship (horrible example for the girls on his team) but the lunatic parents and fans who were loving the slaughter and feeling somehow superior for it. It was like parents standing around and cheering while a 12-year-old bully beat up a first-grader. Just utterly sick. As for that former car owner, I was flabbergasted that he felt honor-bound to protect the used car dealer's right to screw me.
ReplyDeleteit's part of the syndrome that proliferates the clique/frathouse philosophy that allows any one group to reign superior over another simply by virtue of "mob mentality". It's also the same attitude that allows one church to vilify another simply because they believe differently. Same justification that the wealthy feel when they take advantage of loopholes out of reach of those who barely scrape by, and hide behind the theory that if the government says it's ok, then it's their right to do so. It's the "you'd cheat too if you thought you could get away with it" mindset. The car owner probably patted himself on the back when he dumped the troubled car on the car dealer, and now he'll defend the car dealer's right to dump it on you. It's called no accountability. Our society thrives on it. It's why bullfights are still legal, and it's why people still go to watch. We are a barbaric lot - on the whole
ReplyDeleteThat's why one day I'll move to Africa and live with the elephants...
ReplyDeleteand it's why I prefer owls and cats to people, no contest
ReplyDelete