Nick's first (trip home/Jason Werth)

All right, this is how it goes.  Mike Allen (one third of three in the key; my basketball themed podcast, as well as a best bud) has been clamoring for us to write a blog.  He claims his whining directed at me is because I am an English major and need to write as much as possible in order to develop my craft (decent argument) and that we have interesting insights people would actually care about (no bloody chance).  The fact is everyone has a blog, and NO ONE CARES!  The only people who could possibly have any interest in reading this are:

A.    Mike and myself

B.     Our closest of relations we can guilt into it

C.     Young women facebook stalking us

D.    People who are trying to fall asleep.

(Ok, one of those is fake)

The point is no one cares.  No one cares that we have a blog, no one cares what we have to say, no one cares.  Mike knows this, and only wants documentation when we have a ridiculous argument that he ends up on the winning side of.  That is the one and only reason.  Anyway, Mike’s first argument, though purely self-serving, is extremely valid; I do need to write as often as possible in order to get better, and what better format to do that in then one in which no one will criticize me for (again, because no one is reading this). However, after writing a blog he pointed out it was too personal, and wanted purely insights that people might find interesting.  So I decided to start my own blog where I can combine stupid insights with personal garbage.  Enjoy!

Back Home Again

So I’m heading home for Christmas break this Friday and I’m very excited about it.  One controversial decision I’ve made is to go to church with the before mentioned Mike instead of my local single’s ward.  This will come to a surprise to some, and a disappointment to fewer, but I feel like justifying decision to anyone who cares (i.e. no one).

1.      Mike is one of my best friends and I’d love to spend time with him and Amy.  Seriously, if I got married tomorrow, he and Amy might be the only people on the groom’s side to enter the temple (Hannah, prepare for a mission so you can get your endowment to change that please).

2.      I am OVER the single’s ward scene in general.  I just am.  I am completely ready for a family ward.  I was baptized into a single’s ward so it’s all I know and I’m ready for the next stage in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, the single’s ward is a great phenomenon that everyone should experience for at least two years in their life.  But 10 years of it?  And again, it’s all I know.  Also, a main reason to go to a single’s ward is to meet attractive members of the opposite sex, and I already have a lovely girlfriend that I love very much. So there is very little to appeal to me.

3.      The majority of people I WOULD care to see at church are either gone, or going to the younger ward (Sorry at 27, halfway to 28 I just can’t rationalize the younger ward anymore, despite my overall lack of maturity).  Yes, there are certainly exceptions to that list, and I’m disappointed in not seeing these people at church, but that leads to the number one reason why I don’t want to go to my local single’s ward back home:

4.      People still look at me as the person I was, and not the person I am.  I’m sure a large part of this problem is on me.  When we visit home it’s so easy to fall into our old habits.  Despite being fully functioning and successful adults, our hometown friends and families have this amazing ability to time travel us back to high school.  It’s like this for me every year, and I’ve heard people in their 30s and 40s with high powered jobs and families of their own struggle through this same problem.  So I don’t blame anyone for this.  But the fact is, I don’t want to feel that way.  Some of my best friends, even my old bishop, are people who love and care for me so much more than I deserve, and I thank them for that.  But despite how much they care for me, they just can’t see that I’ve grown or changed, that I’m not the same person I used to be, that I don’t deserve to be looked down on.  Last summer when I visited home, I’ll admit I fell into some bad habits; I missed church a couple of weeks, I wasn’t as diligent in scripture study or by being productive, and why?  Because I FELT like that person, the person I used to be and thought I moved on from and grew past, and I’m not going to have it.  I’m a full time student at a university I’m proud of, I’m going to apply to grad school, I’m in an amazing mature relationship with a woman who pushes me to be a better person.  For the first time in my life, I don’t hate who I am, and I’m not going to risk losing that feeling.  So Redwood City 2^nd ward, (or whichever one you are in Mike) here I come!

Because this will probably be a sports related blog

Can someone explain to me the thought process behind a seven year deal for a thirty-one year-old athlete?  I am referring the ginormous contract given to Jason Werth this offseason, making him the single most overpaid baseball player outside of the Bay Area.  Here’s the thing I don’t get; he’s a 31 year-old power hitter with a history of injuries and borderline all-star ability going to a team that won’t contend for the playoffs: what is his motivation to play hard?  Monetarily, there is none.  When his contract ends he’ll be the bad side of 38 and probably recovering from three serious knee injuries over the past five seasons.  Even if by some miracle he has a Vlad Guerrero type season, the most anyone would possibly offer him is a one year deal for what would be the equivalent of like a 4 million dollar deal in today’s money.  Now 4 million dollars is nothing to sneeze at but when you have already made 150?  Let me ask you this: you have two choices, either

A.    Get paid 127 million dollars to spend the next seven years of your life BUSTING your butt at work in order for the option of working the next year for 4 million dollars.

B.     Get paids 127 million dollars to spend the next seven years loafing around at your job, showing up late, leaving early, never bringing your work home, taking every sick day, accidentally missing flights back from vacation, knowing that if your boss fired you for doing such a crappy job they’d have to pay your contract in full as long as you kept showing up to work and then retire.

Which option sounds better?  For 95% of people, its B of course!  Why work hard unless there is some kind of financial reason? 

            “What about for love of the game?” You may ask, poor naïve fool.

            Sure, if the team is winning, or at least has the potential to compete, that can get some competitive juices flowing.  I mean, if you have to play the game anyway it’s a lot more fun to win then lose.  Well the problem is the Nationals stink. Their best pitcher is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Werth is essentially replace their best power hitter who left for Chicago, making tens of millions less than Werth despite consistently hitting more home runs.  The other motivation for an athlete to give it his all is for personal glory.  If Kobe Bryant was forced to play the remainder of his career on losing team for 5k a year, he’d still be hooping until his limbs fell off in order to pad his stats and whatever “greatness points” he could accumulate.  Unless Werth starts having 75 homerun 200 rbi seasons he’s going to be a footnote on an appendix in the history of baseball.  It’s a sad time in sports, as fans we get excited when our teams DON’T make signings.

All right, that's it for this week, more to come later.