Good Men Project: Pick Up Basketball Article

This is my latest article for the Sports Section of The Good Men Project.  It discusses a bit about pick-up basketball games and why we play.  Enjoy!

Good Men Project: Little League Baseball Article

Recently, I was offered a Sports Editor position at the Good Men Project, an online magazine that hopes to offer "a glimpse of what enlightened masculinity might look like in the 21st century" by "explor[ing] the world of men and manhood in a way that no media company ever has, tackling the issues and questions that are most relevant to men's lives."

I love the site's point of view, and I'm thrilled and honored to have this opportunity to write more and to contribute to the best "conversation that no one else is having."

This is my first article in their Sports Section: The Dog Days of Little League.

Games People Play - The Team Selfie Photo Scavenger Hunt - A New Game, I Think

This is a competitive team-selfie-photo- scavenger hunt. 

·        There is no need to leave the house.  So don’t.  Unless you want to freeze.

·        There is no prize.  Only glory.  And the winning team gets to post its pictures on Instagram and tag it as #winning #instacool #instascavengerhunt. 

·        Maybe we’ll give you some M&Ms.  But probably not. 

·        Hopefully, its fun.  That’s kind of the point.  #duh

The Five Rules

1.     The idea is that each team will use one camera or smartphone to take pictures of the following things within the amount of time we give you. 

2.     Every member of your team MUST be in every picture.

3.     Ties will broken depending on the goofiness and fun level of your pictures, as decided solely by me.  You want your pictures to ROCK.

4.     No cheating by listening in or following other teams around.

5.     No complaining about other teams cheating or pretty much anything.  We don’t want to hear it.

You Are Searching For The Following: 

1. A baby picture.

2. A piece of Impressionist art.

3. Something that comes from Japan.

4. Some piece of soccer gear.

5. A spicy food or sauce.

6. A dessert (not snacks like chocolate or chips)

7. Something that reminds you of or is about SCIENCE

8. A wonderful children’s storybook.

9. Exercise equipment or gear.

10. A stuffed animal, but not a bear or dog.

11. A real animal.

12. A musical instrument

13. The most terrifying thing you can find.

The Great Big Sub-Urban (Online) Dictionary 1.0

"Historigorical" - A blend of historical fact and allegory.

Herbert: Do you believe the Bible is real or made up?
Fred: Hmmm.  In truth, I think the Bible is historigorical.

"Democrapitalism" - Political and economic system based on democracy-tinged capitalism.

Barack: The banks got more money, with no oversight and no strings attached.  Too big to fail, I guess.
Stewart: It's the democrapitalisic way.

"High Prick-Through-Rate" - A description of an online post or article that is intentionally inflammatory or controversial for the express purpose of generating page views.

Cindy: Man, that article pissed me off.  So polarizing.  Misleading offensive title.  No supporting evidence. And the point of view smacks of generating controversy for the sake of controversy.
Biff: I agree.  High Prick-Through-Rate though.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving

Any number of ways to go here.

• Poke fun at ourselves for our gluttony and the watching of football.
•  Mock dysfunctional - except of course for mine - family dynamics.
•  Historical criticism of celebrating for the extermination of our neighbors (rather than being exterminated by them).
•  Rail against the commercial aspects of our holiday - the brutal consumer-on-consumer violence of the now-creeping-to-Thursday Black Friday.
•  Revel in homey warming foods and the smells of our kitchens.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. 

No matter the flawed historical roots and the commercialized holiday creepiness, its a feel good pause. The season, leafy colorful autumn. The smells from the kitchen. Surrounded by family. Going to the Parade with my son, warm cider thermoses in hand. Frying a Turkey with my brother. A buzzy noisy crowd around the table. Throwing a football around. Lounging.

And we are all sharing some variant of this together with our friends and families. 

So to all my friends, wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.

My Manly Horoscope: Outrageous, Inscrutable, Irrepressible Joy, With Just a Dash of Meekness

The Good Men Project has published a short piece I wrote on masculinity and horoscopes.  Sort of.

Laurenisms - Messing with Me

After I returned from a 10 day business trip to Singapore and Korea:

Me: "I really missed you a lot."

Lauren: "Me too. I was crying everyday."

Me: "Really?"

Lauren (smiling): "No. But I just said that to make you feel good and so you don't go away again."

Laurenisms - Wisdom

Said by my daughter to my son over lunch today:

"Just because you wear a men's size shirt doesn't make you a man."

Oh man. 
Oh snap.  

Truth.

Texting with the Kid (110720113)

Texting with the Kid:

(Allowing him to make my NFL picks for the week):

Me: pick wisely my son

JK: will do my dad. obe won canobi.

*   *   *

Me: if you win the week I'll give you five bucks

JK: $10

Me: don't push it kid

*   *   *

JK: $7 and we change the login from mikeykaz to jakeykaz

Me: dude. no.

JK: pretty please with a cherry on top

Inspiration from Paulo Coelho

"At every moment in our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss."-- Paulo Coelho