Juice

Here we are again. A report is out today that claims Manny and Big Papi tested positive for PED's in 03.

Sports are about being better. Better than the guy who is sitting on the bench waiting to take your spot. Better than the athletes who came before you. Better than what is expected of you to keep your role on a team.

Each athlete struggles. Especially in baseball which has more than 6 levels of play before the major league level, an athlete struggles to get better. Hit the ball harder. Hit it more often. Catch the ball and make the plays. Move up a level in the minors and start your process all over again. The percentage of players who make it to the majors from the minors is extremely small. It's a nearly impossible struggle to get to the majors.

Can you blame a player for taking a PED? You tell them there is a pill or injection they can take, and be better than the other guy and expect them not to want it? A drug that makes their workouts more beneficial. Or returns them to the sport faster after injury. Why wouldn't they want it?

Babe Ruth was swinging a tree at the plate. In the era when so many records were set, the players would go back to the clubhouse and have a drink and cigar in between innings. The sport has progressed, become more diverse and more competitive. Instead of just being better then white men in America, now you have to be better than up and comers from Japan, the Dominican Republic, and a variety of other places. As the sport progresses, the means to be better progress as well.

I don't know what's right. I don't know if it's cheating because it makes you better, faster. I can't blame any one of these men though, in a sport and country that is so competitive. You have to be better, or you aren't anyone.

Loud

"No reason at all to play it quiet" -Marv, Sin City

Loud music is an excellent form of quiet. When you can't hear the dog barking because of the guitar solo in your ear. Someone nagging is drowned out by the bass line in your head. Nothing else resonates besides the shrieking words of a tortured soul.

That urge to crank it up to eleven is a desire that transcends age. Just as she said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go blasts out of a twenty-somethings car stereo, so too did I ain't wastin no more time, here I go again scream off a vinyl. Our generation isn't the first to jump around their room playing air guitar. Years down the road kids will still be slamming out a beat on their steering wheels.

My father is hard of hearing. Years of concerts, radio, and blasting out to rock have taken their toll. Can you blame him? If I had the chance to hear Led Zeppelin the first time it was on the radio I'd crank it up. Go to a Lynard Skynard concert where Gary Rossington went on a 20 minute guitar solo? Yes please. With the music progression that occurred during his young adult life, I'm surprised he can hear at all.

So crank it up, turn your brain down, and tune out.

To anyone who will listen

Our generation is connected. Everyone has a cell phone, an email address, an account on a social networking site. People can be contacted thru countless means, and no one is out of reach for long. We don't realize that this works both ways. If you want to share something about yourself, all those people are also there to hear it.

Livejournal was an originator. When you wrote a post you could denote if you were "depressed" or "chipper". Any variety of prewritten emotions, could be attached to your rant about physics class. Myspace was guilty too with bulletins. Facebook statuses. Now Twitter is the worst offender. The ability to text an update for everyone to read is a dangerous temptation.

When you broadcast your feelings, you don't get to decide who hears it. The beauty and curse of the internet is that anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, can read about your sudden wave of depression. These same broadcasters then get upset and claim "it's none of your business!" when someone asks about it.

Really it isn't our business, you're right. You know how people are though, and when you open your life to the world the questions will stream in.

So stop sharing. If you don't want questions, if you don't want people to know, why are you telling us everyday?