Option 1: Cake
If you chose this option, expect immediate gratification. Cake, both the band and the food, are coming out with a new album seven years in the making. (ok . . . not the food.) They didn’t put me up to this, but I thought it would be appropriate to tell my reader(s) that the new album Showroom of Compassion releases on Tuesday, January 11th. That’s this coming Tuesday. You can buy it then, or you can preorder it at a number of sites.
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/showroom-of-compassion/id398246534
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Showroom-Compassion-Cake/dp/B0049JPU9Y
or the Cake Music website: http://cake.hasawebstore.com/
If you buy it, I can almost guarantee you will like it. If you don’t, then I was wrong…but I won’t apologize.
Option 2: Death
If you’re having trouble deciding, I would recommend going with your gut instinct on this one and NOT CHOOSE DEATH. If you hate Cake and Football THEY ARE STILL BETTER THAN DEATH. I don’t think you should have read this far, to be honest. Next time this is an option, just skip this section altogether. You’re not missing anything.
Option 3: Football
This would be my choice. I’m an avid football fan, as I’ve mentioned to most of you before. I’m considering reposting my original “Ode to Football” blog, so it’s not necessary for me to repeat all the reasons why I like it so much. But most fans can relate to the feelings I have toward the sport.
Most.
Where we agree is the loyalty we have for our teams. Where we differ is how far we take that loyalty.
I’m not going to lie. For the longest time, I have struggled with my feelings toward a certain football team. I have learned that it is in fact OK for me to cheer for this football team even though I didn’t go to the school and neither did anyone from my family. I was worried that support for this particular school would compromise the family loyalties I had not to mention loyalty to my Alma Mater. I guess I have this small hope in my heart that one day the school in question and the school I attended will take the field and engage in a contest to prove supremacy in the state. It’s a far off dream I know, but I’m an optimist.
Yes, yes, I’m talking about the Arkansas Razorbacks. This past season has been exciting for die-hard fans and fair-weather fans alike because they made it to a BCS game. That’s a pretty big deal. It’s like making the playoffs in professional football . . . but only playing one game that has nothing to do with the championship. I mean, it’s televised and stuff. (For real, though, don’t ask. It will only make your brain hurt.) Anyhoo, so Arkansas made the “playoffs” and made a good game of it. Now, I thought it was cool, and so did many other people. However, there is not a clause or amendment in the Arkansas constitution that says you have to think it’s cool if the Razorbacks make it to a big bowl game. There isn’t even a rule or law that states you have to like the Razorbacks. So then why do fans flip out when someone says something negative or is not supportive of the team? Is it so hard to believe that there are LSU, Alabama, and (dare I say it) Texas fans living in this state. Well, I’ve seen them. They live among us just as normally as anyone else would. And they have a right to their opinion. That’s what makes football interesting. Rivalry. Trash talk. The occasional respectful observation on sports radio from a person with a different perspective and tactful presentation (haven’t heard one of those yet, but again, I’m an optimist).
Speaking of trash talk, if you’re gonna dish it out, you better learn to take it. I’ve taken my fair share of jabs at the Razorbacks, but it was all in good fun. And the payback has come this past month. My friends say things like: “Are we watching the Ducks lose at your house or mine?” or “Who is that team that Auburn is playing against? You know, the one they’re going to beat.” It’s all in good fun. If you want to root for Auburn, be my guest. Everyone can at least admit that this should be one of the better match-ups for the title since the epic Rose Bowl of 2006.
And one more thing. What is with this conference loyalty crap? People say that they are for Auburn in the national championship because they are in the SEC, the best conference. OK. But then they ask me why I am not doing the same. They think I should root for Auburn and Not Oregon because Auburn is in the SEC with Arkansas. I don’t get it. People tell me that a win for the conference makes it look good. True, but why does that mean I need to root for Auburn? If they are a good enough team, they will win the game whether I picked them or not. Somebody said that (and I’m quoting him) it’s kinda like how you may not like your little/big brother, but you still root for them in a fight. I told him I respectfully disagree, and I say again that if you can show me a Bama fan that’s shouting “War Eagle” on Monday night (or ever for that matter) I can show you a Unicorn and a Sasquatch that are happily married. These teams have their own fans. There are people who actually go to these schools and are rooting for them anyway. I say let them, and let me continue to hate and cheer against schools in the Southeastern Conference. Were it not for Oregon, it would still be wrong for me to support Auburn seeing as how I am an honorary member of the Bryant family.
And before any of you say it, yes, I agree that the SEC is the best conference. Kids grow up playing football, we recruit them, and they play on Saturdays in their home town. It’s the south, people. How could the SEC not be the best. It’s just about where my loyalty is. When I first became a college football fan, my dad lived in Oregon. So, I chose to follow them, and I became a fan. It just happened that way. I would be rooting for Oregon in this game even if I knew that they did not deserve to be playing in it. As it so happens, though, they do. I would be rooting for Oregon if they were playing Arkansas. I will not, however, root for any team that plays my Alma Mater. I may wear green and yellow, but I bleed purple and gray . . . if it’s possible to bleed two colors. I suppose it has to do with oxygen and where I’m bleeding and all that.
YKR
IKW
Blog-sterpiece Theater 