After watching the first few days of Olympic coverage, I’m reminded why I only watch NBC during the Olympics. I really don’t think it’s necessary to show the death of an athlete over and over. This sensationalism that has overtaken nearly every aspect of media has gotten beyond out of hand and needs to stop. And I’m not the only one that thinks this way. Other bloggers and media watchdog groups have constantly sought out ways to end this incessant garbage that we’re plagued with.

Getting back to my gripe about NBC. As I’ve been watching the Olympics I’ve been treated to commercials for their upcoming shows and I see I’ve missed nothing. “The Marriage Ref”? Really? Celebrities giving advice on marriage? Why not just have Sarah Palin become a geography teacher? 

If NBC‘s destruction of normal programming isn't enough, they've driven my beloved Weather Channel into the iceberg as well. There is more non-weather programming on then ever before. It’s THE WEATHER CHANNEL! Not the traffic/news/sports channel, yet every morning we have to deal with Al Roker, who is the most piss poor excuse for a weather forecaster that I’ve ever seen. I want my Weather Channel back NBC.

Moving on and up the channel dial from 4 to 5...if you’re a New Yorker, after watching yesterday’s Daytona 500, I’m reminded why I don’t watch a lot of NASCAR anymore. Part of it is NASCAR itself, Part of it is sports in general, and part of it is FOX. See, I’m not afraid to admit that I used to be a huge NASCAR fan. I supported my driver, Kyle Petty, for 20 years, even though when he retired, he hadn’t won a race in over a decade.

Both He and his family owned team were essentially pushed out. This team was to NASCAR what the Yankees are to baseball. But they became swallowed up by a greedy sport who cared more about the dollar then ever before, which is saying a lot for a sport that relies on sponsors more then any other. It is a shell of it’s former self. The pointless attempts at, “going back to it’s roots” have proven futile. The whole idea of NASCAR is to have racing done with STOCK cars, they used to go by the philosophy of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” How can you use that philosophy if even the seat belts aren’t stock? The cars they race now are boxes on wheels.

Yesterdays race was delayed for more then 2 ½ hours because of a freaking pothole. If the NYC department of transportation actually moved their asses once in a while, that thing would have been patched up in 3 minutes. Dale Earnhardt Jr. even said “why don’t they throw a cone down and we’ll race around it.” Not a bad idea, especially considering the sports roots came from racing on hard, rough sand at the beaches a few short blocks from the track itself. But oh no, not on today’s $150,000+ cars. That’s right, $150,000 plus. You could buy 9 of my car with that kinda cash. This from a sport that used to have its competitors drive the car the raced to the track and in most cases, those drivers used it as their families car Monday-Saturday.

And to have the idiots at FOX praise NASCAR and the owners of the track was insulting. Of course they don’t have a problem with the situation. They have multi million dollar tour buses and luxury suites to hide in an occupy their time with, all the while fans in the track and on TV are left twiddling their thumbs. And not for one minute do I believe that no one left the track disgusted. But will FOX sports ever criticize anything? Of course not. For those who say I’m “whining”, let me ask you, do you remember Alan Kulwicki? Do you remember the “Dale and Dale” show? Do you remember when pit crew members held the sign for their driver to stop instead of using a pole? No. You don’t remember how good sports in general used to be. I should have realized it sooner, like during their second or third broadcast when their idiotic color commentators were “jokingly” broadcasting from, I kid you not, a hot-tub. How is one supposed to take a sport seriously at that point?

FOX has ruined sports We want to see sports. We don’t want to see the "Viagra crotch cam sponsored by Maxim." We want to see the score, not Optimus Primes neighbor transforming into the scoreboard. We want to see thoughtful interviews with a athletes, not some moron with in a bow-tie asking Derek Jeter the same question 324 times, yet trying to phrase it differently in some vain attempt to try and fool the him into answering it with something more provocative for ratings. Whatever happened to good journalism?

Journalism used to mean something. It used to be people like Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. They made us think, made us feel and delivered real news, cut, and to the point. Now all we see is pointless drivel. I don’t care about the latest Britney Spears meltdown. I care about things THAT ACTUALLY AFFECT ME. It seems reporters care more about contracts and pleasing the fat cats then real news. There are very few real journalists nowadays and it’s disturbing. What the hell happened to our values? When did we become so consumed by what other people are doing that it became more important then our own lives?

Why is it that the world comes to a stop when a former musician/full time freak show/part time child molester finally croaks, but no one gives a damn when a solider or a firefighter or a police officer or a teacher dies. I know for a fact that those people have done far more for modern society then anyone on MTV or whatever network it is that turns people into drones nowadays.

I like Aerosmith. Have they changed my life? Absolutely not. I can however think of some firefighters on Richmond road here on Staten Island that have. I’m a fan of KT Tunstall. Has she greatly impacted me? Not nearly as much as my cousin, who’s proudly serving in the Navy. I think Tom Hanks is a great actor, but not nearly as great a teacher as some of the English teachers I had in high school. Sure Larry the Cable Guy is entertaining and funny, but I think my friends kids are more enjoyable and definitely more funny. 

Modern society is falling apart quicker then the track surface at Daytona. We’ve become far too consumed by technology and over-indulgence. This is not to say I’m not a little bit guilty of it myself, but no where near the level of what some are facing. Why is it we all have to be connected at every point in our day? Why can’t we just stare at the clouds anymore?

Michael J. Fox said it best in his book,(remember those? Blocky shaped things with pieces of paper and words on em’?) “Always looking up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist” about one of his daughters, Esme`; “The trick she’s mastered, or maybe it’s more of a facility than a trick, is moving effortlessly between the boundless world of her imagination and the everyday world the rest of us occupy. She’s not an escapist; she just holds two passports and travels often. I always warn babysitters, teachers, visiting relativities, or anyone else looking to occupy her with one activity or another, if you come upon her lying flat on her back on the sofa, on a rug, or in a tree branch with her eyes staring into space, she’s not doing nothing. She’s busy. Let it go.”

That’s one of the most intelligent thing’s I've read in ages. I miss that child-like sense of imagination and wonder we all had. Why the hell did everyone have to become cynical and snobby?

Look, I’m not saying we all need to become 5 year olds again, I’m not. All I’m saying is that sometimes, instead of becoming critical of everything, enjoy the simple things. I have a page from a coloring book that was colored by a very close friend’s little kid, it’s hanging up on my fridge, and y’know what, I will without any doubt proudly say it’s better then anything hanging in a museum. Why? Because when he colored it, he wasn’t trying to impress a damn soul. He was doing something that made him happy.

Maybe I’m getting retrospective again. I suppose that happens more as you get older. A great friend of mine recently purchased a home. Not an apartment, but a house, one bigger then the one I currently live in. A few years ago I might have joked at him, but for some reason I find myself overwhelmingly proud of him. Another turned 20 this week and she’s going into the military in a few weeks. She’s doing way more with her life then I am, and she’s happy.

Maybe that’s it. Yesterday was Singles awareness day and I’m never happy then. I need more people to be around. People make me happy. That and Fries. I really like fries.