Thought – Post-Birthday Rant

So I took the weekend off for my birthday, but now I’m back.  It was a great couple days; checked out the new Hollywood Casino, pretty awesome, and had a very relaxing birthday party complete with Reese’s Cups s’mores, very nice.  To me, my birthday signifies the beginning of fall even more than football does, and now I am ready for fall leaves, apple cider, hoodies, and Halloween candy.

I turned 29 this year.  I don’t FEEL almost 30, and I don’t think much will change when I officially become old next year, but I’m dreading it all the same.  I already have a wife, a house, and two kids, so I really can’t get any older, but something about that number three in front of my age really frightens me.  I think I’ll stay 29 for a while.

Speaking of October and football, let me rant about the NFL’s pink sports equipment; it’s ugly, stupid & pointless.  First, I understand it’s to raise awareness for breast cancer.  You know how you could do that even better?  Announce in the stadium and on TV before every game, “BE AWARE OF BREAST CANCER! If you are a woman over the age of 40 please get a mammogram once a year!  Thank you for listening!”  I mean, doesn’t actually saying that say it better than pink referee hats?  Are you kidding me?  Is a pink elbow band going to make anyone’s mom go get her boob squeezed in a machine?  And secondly, why is breast cancer awareness the only cause so strongly advertised by the NFL? The leading cause of death in the US is heart disease.  Why not wear red nasal strips and tell people that they’re overweight?  Breast cancer isn’t even the most common type of cancer!  That would be prostate cancer.  Wear a brown towel in your belt and give free exams on the sidelines.  And how about non-medical causes?  Gay rights, a free Tibet, global genocide, the production of American goods by child slaves?  No, but a treatable form of cancer that almost exclusively effects people who don’t watch football games and therefor won’t see your hot pink mouth piece, that’s a cause worthy of an entire month of constant TV advertising & ridiculously colored uniforms.  Asinine.