When There's Nothing to Give, Well How Can We Ask For More?

Here's why I read the Sports Guy.
(From a chat today on ESPN regarding the Nuggets v. Knicks brawl)

Mike (Garwood NJ): How much would you pay to see Stern ask Isiah...DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED?!?!?

Bill Simmons: At least 500 dollars.

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There are times when I honestly think that Ted Turner has ruined my family's Christmas traditions. No, Ted doesn't send unwanted Braves paraphernalia or Jane Fonda workout videos to our house. Instead, he took something that was "ours" and gave it to the masses. Let me explain...



By now, everyone has seen the movie A Christmas Story. If your house has cable and you are watching TV on Christmas day, the movie is ubiquitous. TNT runs for 24 hours straight beginning on Christmas Eve. We will usually watch the entire movie during that period, but it is never in one fell swoop. We'll watch Ralphie's mom tell him that he's going to shoot his eye out on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, we marvel at Ralphie's dad as he shows us the finer points of pronunciation (Fra-geee-lay, must be Italian). Later on, we commiserate with Ralphie as he drops the dreaded mother of all curse words.



This probably doesn't sound very different from Christmas in many houses across America, but in some way, I feel like it was a secret that we knew of before everyone else. It's as if I was one of those fortunate Liverpool citizens who saw the Beatles when they were still playing at the Cavern Club. I still remember when some of our family friends came over for Christmas in the early 90's and we all watched the movie on Christmas Eve. My parents probably played the movie up too much and as a result our friends could only respond with, "It's funny....I guess." Less than a ringing endorsement.



With that said, this year I will again share in Ralphie's quest for the Red Rider BB Gun, and hope that for once his brother Randy will not get stuck like a slug in the snow.