I'm an unnamed local celebrity!

[getut]

I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Heheh Boy oh boy... controversial little ole' me. I got home friday night after taking my wonderful bride out to eat, only to check the phone messages and find that I had about 25 calls from friends and family alerting me to an article that ran in that days newspaper (Click Here). I am the owner of the green Tacoma mentioned in the article.

Here is the magnet mentioned in the article. I had it made about a year and a half ago.

Boy, she really would have been white knuckled if she had seen the plate on the FRONT of my truck. (Click Here).

 

[getut]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Here is my "Letter to the Editor" defending my honor. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I'll let you all know if gets published, but I doubt it. Too bad it was limited to 250 words:

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am the owner of the Toyota truck and anti-soccer symbol mentioned in the February 18th article: “America Needs Healthier Kids, More Soccer”.
Emily makes many incorrect assumptions about someone like me. So I would like to answer a few of her questions and provide some reasoning for my anti-soccer stance. I am not anti-sport or anti-kid, I have two wonderful boys. I also am not anti-minivan or green grass and fresh air.

I am pro American football. I see soccer as an attempt by groups of people, mostly women, to teach boys that any aggression is wrong. They see football as too violent for their little Johnny to partake in. Football and soccer both are team sports but football IS violent. It is uniquely suited to be a constructive outlet for the testosterone induced rage of a teenage boy. It is almost as if in every facet of society that boys are being taught that “maleness” is wrong. Even dodge ball is under assault because it rewards physical prowess at the expense of others. There ARE innate differences between the sexes, and the assault on football is just one more minute way that our boys are being taught that being different than girls is bad. Properly fostered and controlled aggression and competitive instinct drive boys to be great men. It is the basis for leadership. There IS a pecking order, and boys need to learn to focus their aggression in a constructive way to excel and not be mediocre.)</font>

 

[willywildes]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Great sticker, I like your points. I am sure they will print your response. your the man, remember to run fast you only have 14 minutes left!
Keep them thinking.

 

[Killer_B]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Way to go, getut.

As a little league coach, I have to confess to being a little perturbed when 1/2 the players are late for games, miss practices, etc. to play soccer (the seasons overlap around here). I remember when the only exposure we had to soccer was in National Geographic. As kids, we figured that as the third world progressed, they would eventually adopt real (American) sports, like football and baseball. Maybe even hockey!

Turns out, it worked the other way around. Dang.

 

[rdln]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

That was cute.

In defense of soccer, its easier to learn, takes less investment (peewee football) for parents and cost less to build fields.

Still, I would rather have my boy play football too.

In fact he is taking his first step toward an NHL career tonight with his first skating lesson.

As you have found out, when you adorn your vehicle with these adhesive backed windows to your mind, you are making a statement that you may be called out on.

The only sticker I have is an NRA which replaces many other self-descriptive rearwindow blindspots.

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

My son (who is 34 years old, now) wanted to play Peewee football. That was fine with me. After a couple of practices, however, he said he wanted to quit. Said he wanted to play soccer, which is something I had never seen, and had barely heard of, at the time (remember, this was over 25 years ago).

We had a heart-to-heart talk about why he wanted to quit (I never let the kids quit anything they had started unless they gave it a fair chance or had a darn good reason). He said, "Dad, I like to play to win. I want to beat the other team. But, I don't want to hurt someone to do it. All the coach yells, is 'Kill!'" Soccer is more physical but less violent."

That was good enough for me. He wasn't quitting because he was lazy. I got him enrolled in the soccer league, and I started learning the basics of the game so I could understand what he was doing. First of all, I learned the sport is, indeed, more physical. I learned that he would need outstanding conditioning and endurance, running up and down the field with rare breaks, not a wussy couple of yards at a time with lots of unmanly group hugs called "huddles". Then, I learned that playing the game well called for thinking ahead and cunning, not brute force plowing into each other. I learned that every member on the team had to play like a team, cooperating with the others, not just smashing the guy in front of him into the ground (or getting smashed).

Then, I learned that when the inevitable happens and a couple of players do run into each other, the game often is not even stopped! The referee yells, "Play on!", and the game continues until the hurt player finally pulls himself together enough to get back in the game.

So, much as I respect your posts on most subjects, and as much as I think your car signs are "cute", I find your position sadly misinformed. By the way, my son (6' 4", 220#), continued to be competitive through high school and college soccer, and later turned his competitive urges to sports car racing. He is mild mannered and polite off the track, but is a determined bulldog when competing. He eventually did develop a "killer"instinct, but it turned out to be in poker...

 

[getut]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Hockey is a sport that, being from the South, I cannot follow because I have never played it. I do however, have TREMENDOUS respect for the sport. How many hockey players do you see pictures of where they have all their teeth? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Seriously, those are the toughest of the tough guys.

Its too bad I had to be so politically correct in my letter to the editor to even have a chance of being published. I usually counter the ever present statement of "those guys in soccer have to be in really good shape" with a good dose of "well, ballerinas are in good shape too". /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In all seriousness though, it does burn me up that they preach to children nowadays that it is just a game and it doesn't matter whether you win or lose. IT DOES!!!! They just need to learn that in life, each and every person has to learn to either deal with the loss in a good hearted way, and try harder next time. They need to learn that they can't be the best at everything, and how to handle that with grace, but NOT accept that loss is inevitable and is meaningless. Boys will encounter a pecking order in everyday life, they need to learn at an early age how to navigate that pecking order and how to exceedingly do well and progress. Teach the boys to be boys and the girls to be girls. Isolating them and artificially limiting physical abilities so that little Johnny is not picked last in kickball is wrong. Sure it's a cruel world, but it is a world then need to learn to deal with. That in itself is a learning experience. That same kid, who is picked last in kickball needs to learn that for that task, that is the expected pecking order. He might also find that he's at the top of the pecking order when it is time for grades to come out. Learn it and deal with it.

 

[getut]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Check the time stamp Don... I did not post that previous message in response to yours, It looks like we pulled the trigger almost at the same time although our posts do have polar opposite thoughts in them about the athleticism.

Some of my views drive women crazy, but I do hold that for VERY many young men, controlled, focused aggression is the thing that puts them over the edge. Moving them from mediocre to great at their specific ability. You state yourself that the killer instinct evolved in him for Poker playing. That is more often than not the truth. That killer instinct, the willingness to go the extra mile gives the great ones that extra "something" in whatever it is that they do.

***Edit: Teaching a boy to control that is key. Work like a maniac to be number one. Accept with grace if you don't quite make it, but never ever let someone tell you that you should "like" not being #1. Work harder next time.

 

[Alan L.]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Great letter. I, too, hate soccer. When my son started soccer sort of in between football and baseball as a kid I made some comment about the "cute" long socks and short pants. The sport is not so bad, not overly manly (after all, girls play soccer) but it has its place I guess, in other countries. But why is it necessary for boys to wear those femine looking shorts and long socks?

I never told my son to quit, but he did, and never played the sport again.

 

[jpr62902]

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

"not overly manly ....."

That's funny. Remember, soccer players don't wear pads or helmets, but they do wear spikes. In my soccer "career" many years ago, I saw dudes get their ankles snapped in half. Had a few heavy duty conks on the noggin myself -- explains why I went to law school and not engineering school.

Yeah, football's tough, but soccer players ain't exactly a bunch of pansies either.