The Homosexuals

Hey there!  It’s been far too long since I last posted to this blog.  Things have been crazy at work lately and I’ve apparently fallen off of the blogging horse for a bit.  I’ll be posting again soon, but in the meantime here’s an interesting clip I found after going on a short Mike Wallace TV clip binge.  It’s a recap version of a TV special he hosted in 1967 about homosexuals.  It was one of the first TV specials to ever seriously address the subject of homosexuality.

As far as social issues go, it often feels like this country is stuck in the past and our slow march toward a better connection to objective reality is agonizingly slow.  But, after watching this clip you can see just how far this country has come in the past few decades.  We still have a long way to go, but if you look at the long game, things are definitely moving in the right direction on many fronts.

The Final Four is Here!

I don’t normally blog about sports, but today is a special occasion.  For those of us who live in the United States and enjoy the game of basketball the Final Four is upon us!  For those outside the US, here in the states, college basketball teams have a huge end-of season tournament called March Madness where the best 64 teams (actually a few more if you count the ridiculous play-in games) compete in a single elimination tournament.  We are now down to the final four teams in the tournament: Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas, and Ohio State.

I lived in Kentucky for five years and I definitely caught the college basketball bug.  Some people just don’t get it and I understand that the late game stoppages can be annoying, but in the more dramatic late-season games of the college basketball season I often find myself on the edge of my seat.  There is always a chance to see some high-drama in these tournament games.  Occasionally a small school like Lehigh takes down a behemoth like Duke, and oh did that put a smile on my face.  This year’s tournament certainly did not disappoint and we’ll see if it has any surprises left in store.

I heard Jon Haidt recently say during a talk that “sports is to war as pornography is to sex.  It gives us a chance to exercise some ancient urges.”  I suppose that is true.  It feels like you are going to war with the other team to a certain degree and I really enjoyed the competitive nature of athletics when I was in high school and college as a participant and an observer.  In high school I actually got to play in a national tournament for small private school soccer teams.  Definitely one of the best experiences of my life.

What sporting events really get your blood going?  Please leave your comments below.

Oh yeah, and Go big blue!