"A question for your sporting types" written by James on estrip.org

05/12/07 06:18 - 56ºF - ID#39253

A question for your sporting types

So,

I am walking the dog and the (e:Jim) (I finally can trust him off the leash) around 6 today and I notice every other person out and about is wearing a Sabers jersey. From this I have gleaned that there is a game tonight, probably in an hour or so: enough time to get drunk at the bar so you feel comfortable shaking your tits every time we score a goal.

But, my question, is wearing a jersey to a game or game related event equivalent to wearing a t-shirt of the band that you are going to see. So, for example, if one were to wear a GWAR shirt to a GWAR show you would become "that person". Does it stand to reason that someone wearing a Sabers jersey to a Sabers sporting event also becomes "that person"?

Certainly, it feels that way. By wearing said band shirt to show you are saying "Hey, not only do I like the band so much I would see them play but I would also wear their shirt. I am a bigger fan than you." The Jersey says the same thing, a nice trump card/marketing-gimick when you are in a town who chears with one mind, one voice, one car horn rhythm.

So, does it work, or are the fields of music and sports too different to have such similarities (with the obvious exception of Eye of the Tiger, which can be played at any sporting event according to Emily Post)

kisses,

-James

jason writes at 01:32:08 05/16/07 - Comment #18519: James, the two are just different in this respect. The "cultures" of the two activities are different enough where the answers to what is socially acceptable deviate greatly.

fellyconnelly writes at 12:42:33 05/14/07 - Comment #18427: ah yes... a hotly debated sports subject... i say its a bonding experience, but lauren would speak of 'group mentality'

metalpeter writes at 10:44:58 05/13/07 - Comment #18409: I think the thing with a jersey is that it is a way to support the team that you follow. But at the same time it can also be a statement about who you like and what team you support or maybe even a player. For example the sabres there are a lot of jerseys being worn but not all for the same player. Some people like miller or Peters or who ever there favorite player is. So when they wear that they are saying this is who i like on the team so they are making a statement about one of there favortie players. If it is the home team of the city you live in it can be sord of a way to conform. I think a lot of us just want to be part of something. But it can also be kinda a way to show support for someone not from the city that you like and maybe a way to rebel a little bit. For example My favorite Football Play was Jerry Rice and I have his jersey. I'm a 49ers fan but I also like the Raiders and was a big Marcus Allan (e or a I allways fuck that one up). For me to wear that kinda says that I'm in Buffalo but I'm a west coast guy. But to wear that at a Bills game when they are playing one of those teams would be traitors and might get dangerous. So If i thought the bills suck why not wear a Jersey of another team I like. I jersey is also a way to identify people like your self and in that you can feal like you belong to something bigger. The best example I can think of was on Saturday the National Lacrosse League had there championship game and it was in Arizona the sting lost to the rochester Knight Hawks. After the game was over they showed people in Knight Hawk Jerseys (that is one long trip to see a lacrosse game). My point is that all the knight hawk fans where united by seeing each other in those jerseys.

james writes at 10:22:43 05/13/07 - Comment #18403: I can't say what the motive behind jersey wearing is. I haven't been to a sporting event since I was too young to say no (sporting is a fine and lovely thing to go see, I am sure. I would just rather become a be thrown to a pit of werehogs.) I recall being dismissive about wearing of band shirts at band's show.

If wearing a jersey has some sort of transcendental quality about it, then awesome. I was hoping my hypothesis would be wrong.

mrmike writes at 08:39:17 05/13/07 - Comment #18400: I don't there is so much an "in your face" aspect of it. There are common threads in that tossing on the shirt or the jersey is just a way of participating. It's good for the soul to sometimes lose yourself in something bigger than any one person. Throwing on a garment of whatever variety is just an individual way of joining in a bigger thing.

james writes at 11:17:50 05/12/07 - Comment #18397: Peter:
"To me is just says that you have enough money to get a jersey"

lol, right on man.

MK:

I went to see a portugese band Moonspell once. They were opening for this horrendous band Cradle of Filth. Good lord. Had I owned a Moonspell shirt I totaly would have worn it to show a little support for a much more talented band.

mk writes at 07:21:42 05/12/07 - Comment #18396: it's a good point. i personally hate when people wear the t-shirt of the band they are seeing. i don't really know why, i just always have. i always thought it was cooler to have a shirt of the possibly lesser-known opening band. anyway i think it is better to wear a jersey to a game. seems like its just a way of showing your spirit, and i would not look down on people wearing jerseys the same way i would of people wearing band t-shirts to a concert.

metalpeter writes at 07:12:52 05/12/07 - Comment #18395: Good thinking I like how you compare sports to music. Firstly having a jersey doesn't say that you are more of a fan than someone else. To me it just says that you have enough money to get a Jersey. I wanted to get and old style (blue and gold) Ryan Miller Jersey but never got one. I did however get a Bandits Jersey (being a season ticket and former season ticket holder years ago) I needed a New One anyways. I have to admit that I do have a couple Hockey Jerseys that aren't the sabres. But I also have to admit my second favorite team is The Penguins and I have none of there Jerseys. The only Jersey I have with a Name on it is Gretkzy or how ever you spell it. I wish I could have found his with the Statue of Liberty but I couldn't find that one.

The thing with wearing shirts of a band you like is a little different. Yes you can go to Spencers or Hot Topic or a music store and find the shirt of a band you like. But what if that band you like you don't support them really. What if you use lime wire and just download all there music and they don't get a dime from ya? Are you really a bigger fan then the guy like me who Buys the CD then goes to see them when they are in town and then buys merch and takes pictures on his camera phone at the show.

Now in terms of a concert shirt then that just means you have seen the band before. I think it is good to profess your band. I guess a good example of this is my self and (e:ladycroft) . I like 30 seconds to mars and have the shirt you see in the user picture. But she in my opinion is a much bigger fan of the band then I am. I went to EDGEFEST to see them and a bunch of other bands she just went to see them. I know she has also traveled to see them and I never have. I know she went to see there acustic set out at the mall and I kinda forgot about going. So just because you have the shirt doesn't mean you think are a bigger fan.

I hope others chime in on this, it is a good compairison to look deeper into.

Permalink: A_question_for_your_sporting_types.html
Words: 253
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/10/07 12:21 - 65ºF - ID#39223

School is fucking out

Yesterday I took my last final, handed in a butt load of papers, and schmoozed with a soon to be beloved professor.

This summer I have no classes to take or school reading to get ahead with. With only work planned I have so much free time.

So what have I done so far?

Since the week started I have had a lot of wine, several martinis and a beer.

This does not bode well.

Last night I took it easy. I sat at my computer. With no paper to write, no information to look up, no school's library website to curse at like a wounded sailor I just... stared...at...the...screen...*drool*

I researched video games I could play.

Is that it for me?

Come home from work, stir a martini up, and rot my brains into consumer submission?

If you don't hear from me it is because I am in some alcoholic stupor near an overheated Wii.

Permalink: School_is_fucking_out.html
Words: 160
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/07/07 10:58 - 61ºF - ID#39197

I was the turkey all along

Jim and i have been watching Invader Zim from netflix. When this show was on TV i was usually drunk or stoned and couldn't quite comprehend it's delights. This was one of my favorite moments and I would love to share it with you in all its VHS ripped glory.

Permalink: I_was_the_turkey_all_along.html
Words: 58
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/07/07 03:05 - 65ºF - ID#39191

And me without my camera

Riding up Delaware Ave to drop (e:Jim) off at work the car in front of us had a rainbow flag sticker with a bear paw on it. I made some joke about a bear sighting then notice his license plate. A Virginia plate reading XXXPUP.

How fucking awesome is that?

typing his licence plate number into google yeilded this first hit

mystery solved.

fellyconnelly writes at 01:46:46 05/11/07 - Comment #18360: homosinuality is an awesome word... i'm going to have to remember that!

james writes at 11:24:36 05/10/07 - Comment #18350: And I was going to blaim a catholic bishop for your soul's fall into homosinuality.

paul writes at 10:36:13 05/10/07 - Comment #18345: I took this communciations class in college where we had to pick a fringe group and do a report. I ended up writing mine on bears. This was sometime in 1996 and it was way radical for the class I was in. I had a fun chatting with them on online. In fact I think it was my first experience chatting with a gay person online. Oh where that has lead.

fellyconnelly writes at 09:44:57 05/10/07 - Comment #18344: big hairy xxxpup man!

i agree... awesome thread..

and i definetly think that more people die in that manner than we think - i think it is more often classified as suicide for the sanity of the family/friends...

james writes at 07:14:35 05/10/07 - Comment #18338: Felly:

Ya, big hairy men works just fine as a definition. Smelly is just for zest.

Ya, the INXS fella did die from strangling himself while pounding one out. That doesn't really fall under the BDSM category, though strangling and breath-play definitely does. It is tough to say what he got off on, the enhanced orgasm from strangling, or the being strangled part. I can't say what got him off so I don't know how to categorize it.

This comment thread has been awesome by the way. Thank you everyone for participating.

fellyconnelly writes at 06:55:09 05/10/07 - Comment #18335: I always just saw bears as big hairy men. thats all.

also - didn't the guy from INXS die from auto erotic asphyxiation?
if so i don't think that would be BDSM but just Bondage. BDSM involves two persons in a submission/domination type of setting.

and james - i love your explanation of tops/bottoms.. very blunt and to the point! also your description of a bar full of hairy bears!

james writes at 09:33:28 05/10/07 - Comment #18304: Jenks: I could make a joke about profetional experience with XXX, but I won't. ^_~

Joshua: Well, we can extrapolate from below mentioned study that hets don't. Which isn't so bad in a heteronormative world for the straight individual I guess. But whether someone likes to be spanked, peed on, or just plain vanilla fun, it is just sex and what an anxious age we live in if we have academic studies on what gets us off.

The people who like to be smelly/hairy and be treated like dogs, that is swell and I tip my hat to you. To everyone who enjoys good ol' fasioned crotch slamin' sex, mazeltov. It is just sex, enjoy it.

joshua writes at 10:43:33 05/09/07 - Comment #18298: I'm happy with my sexual identity but I don't really think about it too much... it makes me wonder if heteros such as myself just don't consider it as much as the gay fellas do.

To hell with that BDSM stuff - that got that guy from INXS killed! Call me crazy, but I like the original, old school, sweaty, all-out bonin'. Having a little kink is cool, but I'm not about to drink piss out of a bowl. That ain't sex, man!

jenks writes at 09:43:17 05/08/07 - Comment #18271: Cool. Thanks. I had an idea about the other terms, but pup is a new one to me. (I DID manage to figure out the XXX part all by myself, though. ;) )

james writes at 08:31:43 05/08/07 - Comment #18268: well, we already covered tops/bottoms, doms/subs, and shiney primped gay boys/bears.

Another subculture in the sexual pantheon of homos are the pups. It is a dom/sub play thing where you treat the sub like a dog, or pup. You know, give them a leash, make them drink from a bowl on the floor (I wont go into what they might be drinking, but for pleasnatries sake let's just say it is a single malt scotch) make them sleep in a cage, all that good stuff.

Interestingly enough, a study was conducted in Australia recently that said that gay men and lesbians are more likely to engage in BDSM than their hetero counterparts and that they were more happy with their sexual identity as well. They also there was no difference between either group (BDSM and vanilla) in terms of experiencing abuse.

jenks writes at 08:20:05 05/08/07 - Comment #18267: ok, I have a different question. What does XXXPUP mean? Am I missing a joke there? Or is it just random?

james writes at 05:13:44 05/08/07 - Comment #18266: Jason: You know those queer eye for the straight guy folks? Bears are the opposite. They are manly gay men. They are hairy, smelly, and don't give a damn about pomade or wainscotting. However, the number of bears I have known have some secret overtly homosexual asthetic, like owning a cher CD or really liking Bett Midler in Yenta. People are individuals ultimatly but they love their labels.

Joshua: that is a damn awesome idea.

Peter: Basicly Tops like to stick their dicks in butts. Bottoms like to have dicks and other assorted things stuck in their butt. Power, domination, and all that other good stuff is optional. So you could be a dominate bottom and shove your butt on some guys shlong. A hetero version would be a woman who spanks her male friend and calls him a baby for not fucking her hard enough.

Sex is a many faced and confusing subject. I mean, what sort of catagory does the guy who gets off from smelling fresh q-tips fit into? I don't know, but a sexual world full of variety is a wonderous one we should all romp through now and again.

metalpeter writes at 04:23:29 05/08/07 - Comment #18262: Not being gay by self I'm not sure if I can explain it right. My understanding is the top is the aggresser or the one who starts things going sexualy. They are the ones in control and who like to control things. Supposidly two tops won't get along because they will both try to control the sexaul situation. Bottoms like to be controlled. I Have no idea if tops and bottoms have anything to do with what sexual position is used or not. Even though you can have gay S&M if guess it would be like if the top where was the dom and bottom was the submissive. When I have heard the term "bear" I all ways thought of someone who was furry like a bear, but also is kinda built like one also in terms of being wide and maybe short and heavy. Lumbjacks are tall and have a completely different build. Again I'm not gay so I could be completely wrong about this.

joshua writes at 04:18:04 05/08/07 - Comment #18261: Forget top/bottom - I think sports euphemisms are far better!

jason writes at 04:09:38 05/08/07 - Comment #18260: I'm serious man, what is a "Bear" compared to a normal gay guy? The lumberjack types? I didn't peruse too much but most of the guys looked big framed, lots of hair (face and body).

james writes at 04:00:10 05/08/07 - Comment #18259: Joshua:
That famous sexual cosmonaut and social critique Gore Vidal rejects the idea of gender roles but totally believes in Tops and Bottoms. I don't get it. People should spend more time doing what they like rather than penning themselves in a neat little roll. What confusing people.

Felly: I worked in a middle of no where gay bar that was somewhat notorious for running a New York beat weekend. Where all the NYC bears would come up to conneticut, drink and do drugs in this bar and then go camping and have lots of sex.

The ammount of fur in that bar would clog an armada of vacuums. *shiver*

joshua writes at 03:14:15 05/08/07 - Comment #18257: The gay lingo I really, really don't get. I understand why this guy might be referred to as a "bear" but the top/bottom thing is something different.

I think somebody a while back made a post about this lingo that would probably shed some light on this.

fellyconnelly writes at 10:22:29 05/08/07 - Comment #18253: wow... that is one hairy bear!

james writes at 05:18:15 05/07/07 - Comment #18228: You know, I think there is something to your terminology. Never again will I think of the lumberjack as exclusie terain of Lesbians.

jason writes at 05:00:34 05/07/07 - Comment #18227: Is Bear411 strictly for lumberjack gays?

Permalink: And_me_without_my_camera.html
Words: 64
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/05/07 09:08 - 57ºF - ID#39169

Choke this down with your mint julip

giggle snort*

a horse in the Kentucky Derby is named Scat Daddy

that is all

snort giggle*

Permalink: Choke_this_down_with_your_mint_julip.html
Words: 17
Location: Buffalo, NY

05/04/07 09:05 - 61ºF - ID#39156

Bubble Mother Fucking Tea, mother fucker

I am pleased as punch

The sort of punch distilled from a child's smile ground of their face and mixed with scotch. Oh yes, it was indeed a happy moment.

I had heard of bubble tea a few years ago, and it sounded bizarrely exotic. Buffalo seems to culinary be insular. We have great food here. But I the thai places are blah, I have yet to have good Chinese food, and most good restaurants seem to work on that American/French fusion formula "Large piece of meat and braised veggies". That is great and all but not the best place to expand your palate.

But while waiting for photos to be developed at Color tech Jim and I had a snack/dinner at Bao Bakery and Teahouse. Holy crap it was wonderful. It is a little Chinese bakery and offers a huge list of bubble teas and other drinks. I have been looking for a chinese bakery since I moved here. Even in tiny little Albany there was one filled with amazing baked goods.

If you don't know what is up with Chinese baking, it works like this. You take this croissant like crumbly pastry and fill it with anything, teriyaki chicken, BBQ pork, tofu and veggies. And oh man, these were do good and only 85 cents a bun. Two buns will satisfy anyone when hungry.

The bubble tea was so much better/weirder than I thought it would be. I had lychee flavor. 12 oz of lychee tea was so much more than I could drink. Gnawing on black pearls of tapioca is magically weird. It is, like Guinness, a meal in a can/cup.

So, if you are ever near Thunderdome/The Boulevard Mall please stop by and drink/eat until you are giddy from all the super tasty treats.

love

Permalink: Bubble_Mother_Fucking_Tea_mother_fucker.html
Words: 303
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/30/07 09:05 - 61ºF - ID#39109

For U Buffalo H8tahs

I found this article while looking for a picture of the Hutchinson house which is now the leveled parking lot of the Saturn club.

Here is an excerpt:

There is a fine line between something and nothing and Buffalo manages to walk it straight despite the large quantities of alcohol it consumed in hopes of blurring that line just a little wider. Unlike other cities, where it's easy to sink into the flow of everything's fine, in Buffalo, you must be a prophet or drown in utter mediocrity. Buffalo demands existential authenticity, and the rock we push up the hill (only to have it roll back down over us time and time again) is our only salvation. Like Rimbaud in the gutters and back-alleys of Paris, in Buffalo, you have no choice but to remake life; there's no bullshit left to buy, no palace gates to hide behind (I endure Siddhartha Gautama's 4 passing sights whenever I walk out my front door). Buffalo is the most advanced city in America; we progressed beyond progress.

And the full deal is here

enjoy kittens

Permalink: For_U_Buffalo_H8tahs.html
Words: 181
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/29/07 08:11 - 49ºF - ID#39088

Saving a dead whale for supper.

Damn, I am good.

I don't say this to pat myself on the back. For I am pliable enough to do that myself and I am sitting down now anyway and the patting would be uncomfortable for the both of us.

But we are moving in a month, and over the two years we have lived here I have become my mother. This is not to say I have at any point lactated or made someone believe baby Jesus cries when you touch yourself; rather I have collected enough food to stock a bomb shelter for however long the half-life of Plutonium is.

I have no intention of moving several thousand pounds of adzuki beans, a metric ton of brown rice, an drum of olive oil, and enough canned tomatoes to bomb Drezden to the ground. So, it is up to me to use this cyclopian collection of foods up.

It was easy enough at first, there were palatable connections to make among the items. But over the last few weeks the options have become less enjoyable. Tonight I had a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, some half and half about to expire, stale abarito rice, and various fresh foods. I should mention that out of concern for using all these staples, I have been ignoring all the veggies which are in various stages of rotting.

Well, creamy tomato risotto with chicken sausage and crimany mushrooms actually came out well. But I am affraid i am running out of possibilities. What do you do with a pound of freeze dried shitaki mushrooms, cannelloni beans and lasagna noodles? And if you say shitaki bean lasagna I wont hear of it. I wont make another culinary abortion like that.

But, just three more weeks until the moving van is here and life can resume to normal. And I can begin creating another future crisis of too much food that doesn't go together.

Permalink: Saving_a_dead_whale_for_supper_.html
Words: 320
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/26/07 02:56 - 58ºF - ID#39056

My Silly Phobia

Hi folks,

If anyone is planning on using this information to torture/murder me I must warn you, it wont be easy.

I have a phobia, and it is really weird. Do you know anyone else that has this, because it is starting to make me think I am too weird for my own good; moving from charmingly eccentric to fucking psychotic.

I get really freaked out by gas giant planets. Jupiter is alright, but Neptune and Uranus boarder on bowel loosening terror. Recently, the discovery of this earth like planet were cause of panic. The planet itself is sufficiently earth like to be fine, but it's sun is much smaller and cooler than ours and looms 5x larger in the sky than our sun does. That was close enough to a gas giant to really let me get nervous. Imagine, the very life giving sun above your head is the source of your terror? What a hellish planet. I nearly spent the remander of the day under the bed sheets, shivering.

So, does anyone else suffer from this malady? Know anyone? Or am I stranded in this neurosis alone?

help.

james writes at 11:29:35 04/28/07 - Comment #17926: Josh: It is experienced in weird ways in the imagination. Like reading about the below mentioned planet. But, you are right, it is pretty easy to handle.

THe gasbag planets might have a solid of liquid core, but none that you would want trapse around on. Well, I wouldn't at least. The wikipedia article on Jupiter has some interesting stuff about its core as well as it being too small to be a star. An interesting if not horrifying Lovecraftian read.

joshua writes at 10:58:23 04/28/07 - Comment #17922: Well, one thing about this particular phobia is nice - you'll never actually experience it for real.

I do find it weird to think of a planet that has no land mass to speak of. They say Jupiter was a star that never got big or hot enough to ignite.

james writes at 03:03:59 04/27/07 - Comment #17899: Nice try Jason. I am cool with noxious gasses. Just not so much noxious gas that you get a whole huge ass planet.

jason writes at 02:48:49 04/27/07 - Comment #17895: Mmmm! Ammonia and Hydrogen Sulfide! Get two lungs full!

james writes at 02:17:05 04/27/07 - Comment #17893: theecarey: red suns are fine by me. Some of the other colored ones sound awesome. Like Blue! Or those half-dead brown ones. I mean, a brown star? That joke practicaly writes itself!

Josh: Dude you are seriously freaking me out. Thankfully I find this whole phobia really funny. So my cold sweat and terror are making me giggle.

Jenks: right on!

jenks writes at 01:17:11 04/27/07 - Comment #17892: heh, low blow joshy!!

joshua writes at 11:26:43 04/27/07 - Comment #17891: Can you imagine travelling through Jupiter if you could? You'd basically fall straight through layers of gas that eventually turn into liquefied metallic hydrogen and your body would get crushed far before you'd ever arrive.

theecarey writes at 10:37:24 04/26/07 - Comment #17878: Ah see, thats why your post made me think of Goldilocks then ;)

imagine staring up at a red sun?!

james writes at 10:28:52 04/26/07 - Comment #17877: oh ya, I mentioned that planet above. It the hell out of me. And for the record only the hell was scared out of me.

theecarey writes at 10:22:25 04/26/07 - Comment #17876: No bowel loosening intentions here, but I can appreciate a good fear inducing borderline neurosis (babies, spider monkeys and clowns for me). I'm not sure how gaseous she is, but I think 'Goldilocks' may send you crying. Similar to Earth, the planet has just one sun, but its a big ole bright red one. Also possibly inhabited :) read on..

:::link:::

Permalink: My_Silly_Phobia.html
Words: 193
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/25/07 03:52 - 45ºF - ID#39039

What happened?

Dear me,

What ever happened to the hardened alcoholic I fell in love with all those years ago? I used to watch you, in an existential sort of way, do a shot of grain alcohol and chase it with plastic jug popov vodka and smile. Oh, you would smile. For you were getting drunk, way too drunk to tell the difference between alcohol and laundry soap. But he's dead now. The self I fell in love with is dead to us all now.

So,

I thought I would take a nostalgic drink down memory lane and picked up a bottle of Seagrams lime infused gin. Last time I had a bottle of this particular gin I was atop a mountain in Pennsylvania along the Appalachian trail, tripping my face off with about eight other people. It was crisp and delicious, the way anything can be while on drugs if you convince yourself enough of it.

Man, while cultivating a certain refinement I didn't think my appreciation for the shittier things in life would wane. But wane they have. I have become spoiled by good wine and beer, leaving my love for cheap but plentiful hard liquor behind. And sad to say my first alcohol soaked love, gin, went first. But I thought I would be safe. I could still drink my cheap brand x whiskey. But that sweet, sweet taste of Jamison makes me wonder why I don't shack up with him.

For the first time in my life I can't help but to think that life would have been better had I been born in a prison. That way I could have raised my palate on toilet hooch. And now, among men of the free world, I would be wide eyed in wonderment that a drink doesn't cause throat scaring. That people have liquor cabinets and bars, not storing them in plastic bags in a toilet tank.

Truly, it would be a wonderful world.