Sunday, December 13, 2009

A FINE WHINE!

It is Sunday, so I am allowed a non-tax topic.

All this ridiculous press about Tiger Woods infidelity has me thinking.

I have never understood the concept of a professional athlete, individually or as a member of a team, being a role model or “heroic”.

Why is one’s ability to catch, block, hit, or throw a ball considered heroic?

Is being highly proficient, or perhaps only lucky, in sports any more heroic, or worthy of adulation, than someone who is highly proficient as an architect, or carpenter, or firefighter, or secretary, or even tax preparer? Or a parent who works two jobs in order to support his/her family or to pay for a good education for his/her children?

If I had children I would much prefer that they emulate Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, or some of my friends who are proficient and ethical in their chosen non-celebrated profession and work hard to honor their responsibilities, than any golfer or tennis player or member of any professional sports team.

And while I am on a rant - Barbara Walters is getting senile! Including Kate Gosselin on a list of the “10 Most Fascinating People of 2009” is utterly ridiculous. Adam Lambert is bad enough.

Kate Gosselin in one of many, many self-absorbed idiots who sacrifice their self-respect, and in Gosselin’s case also her marriage and the future mental health of her children, for a totally unearned 15 minutes (unfortunately much more in Gosselin’s case) of fame as the subject of a “reality tv” show. Kate Gosselin craves attention, which is more important to her than her family. She is not fascinating – she is just sad!

I will never understand why the great unwashed masses watch such crap week after week. As I recently commented on a blog post related to the garbage known as MTV’s “The Jersey Shore” –

I wish someone would explain to me the entertainment value of a show about self-important people with no talent, no self-respect and minimal, if any, intelligence making complete fools of themselves on a regular basis.

So-called ‘reality tv’ shows have absolutely no ‘redeeming social value’.

MTV and VH1 started out being innovative. Now they just show poor soft-core porn.

As HL Mencken said – ‘Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public’!


It is a serious question that I ask – and wish someone would answer it for me.

TTFN