I watch the movie blue velvet often. I think it might be one of my favourite movies. Dean Stockwell in makeup swaying to Roy Orbison while Denis Hopper huffs god knows what out of a gas mask. Good clean fun in my humble opinion.
The characterization therein is what fascinates me about Blue Velvet. The sullied broken characters like Frank Booth that inhabit the movie are so clear, so vivid and the bland “good” characters so terse and unappealing. The whole thing brings David Lynch’s vision crashing home so very smoothly.
Characterization is also why I like football, most especially football coaches. These guys are the modern day equivalent of warrior monks. They spend all day week in week out living football. Many have spent their entire lives being bred and trained to be coaches. The Ryans & Belichick would be prime examples of men whose entire lives have been football. Whose fathers were coaches and they are coaches.
It is then that I sometimes question what this does to them as people. Rex Ryan’s foot fetish video, the Harbaugh and Fox brawl that almost was, Mike Shanahan in general. I think there may be something essentially wrong with the super ego of these men that makes them different to the rest of us. The rest of us when we flex our super ego we layer multiple things like ‘did I pay all my bills?’ or ‘did I bake those cookies for the PTA?’ and the more of these things we have achieved the better we feel… in general.
NFL coaches have one thing on the super ego list: “Did I win this week?”
If the answer to that question is yes then all is good with the world and they can focus on what they were bred to do, what they were designed to do; coach a football team. If, however, the answer is no, then their entire world starts to degrade and everything they are comes into question until the next win is achieved. For the true coach this is what happens in any case. I’m sure there are coaches in the NFL that actually can sleep at night if their team didn’t manage to beat the Saint Louis Rams that week, I just don’t think they last very long in the realm and age of Belichick.
This incredible stress leads to a colourful cast of characters. From the dignified but dressed down affectations of Bill Belichick to the ineffectual melt downs of Todd Haley to the poisonous curmudgeon that is Tom Coughlan. I love to watch coaches. The one coach I hate is Shanahan. He is the NFL’s answer to mayonnaise. I hate his attitude toward players I hate his lack of insight and I hate the fact that no one of the players on his team is ever a reliable play come fantasy football Sunday. I recently traded [in the auction league] for Ryan Torian and Tim Hightower as my backups for injuries to my two front runners Rashard Mendenhall and Fred Jackson (yeah it’s like that) and have been faced with the dilemma of being kind of left behind by Shanahan when I have to make that substitution (this week) and now I hate him even more.
So I said all that to say this: Shanahan Sucks.
That is all, best of luck this week everyone!
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