New Rule
In another installment of my Bill Maher “New Rules” imitation:
Guys should not email their buddies with congrats/condolences after the outcome of a game where said friend has an interest. This thought occurred to me twice in the past 24 hours. One buddy is a big Wisco fan. After seeing that the Badgers had been badgered (he,he) by the Florida St. Seminoles in their bowl game, I felt compelled to email my buddy with a punchy, “How ’bout them Badgers?”. The next day, I watched the Minnesota Vikings secure first place in the NFC North with a last second 50-yard field goal. Naturally, I felt compelled to email another buddy something to the effect of, “You love Ryan Longwell the way John Madden loves Brett Favre.” However, I stopped short of sending both notes because, in the age of TiVo, there is a nonzero chance that the games were recorded and will be watched later. As a diehard sports fan living in an entirely different timezone, I understand the frustration of waking up to an email that gives away the outcome to the game I’m looking forward to watching as I sip my coffee in the morning. The last thing any true sports fan would want to do is ruin the outcome of a game where his fellow sports fan has a meaningful emotional stake. Thusly, I propose a 36-hour moratorium on “outcome notes” following the conclusion of a game. Only after 36 hours have passed can one gloat or lament till their heart’s content. Violation of this rule is grounds for dismissal from all friendly email lists at the least, and dissolution of the relationship entirely after multiple violations.
Cosmic Irony
As you may recall, I posted an example of cosmic irony a little while back (kidnapping expert gets kidnapped in Mexico). This morning, I ran across two more examples while perusing the headlines:
- A reporter for NPR was unfortunately among the 64 employees recently let go by the station (after roughly thirty years of service, no less). The layoff came while she was completing a series on how Americans are coping with the increased number of layoffs in the current economic downturn.
- An Australian swimmer is believed to have been snatched by a great white shark while swimming off the coast of Perth. After some thrashing about in a pool of red and the discovery of the swimmer’s shredded wetsuit, the expectation is that the man was devoured completely by the shark. As it turns out, the poor guy was a defender of great white sharks, having campaigned for their protection over the course of many years.
