Louie Anderson once asked in one of his early stand-up routines: "What are we gonna tell our kids?" This question was prompted by one of those classic parent stories about how they had walk up hill both ways in the snow to school. His answer was "I didn't get cable til I was 12." Louie proved to be a prophet in my case. I was actually 16 when the cable truck pulled up in his 12 to 6 time window and hooked us up. I remember the first thing I did was watch Sportscenter and then it was baseball and that night it was pro wrestling and for the first time I got to see what I had been missing out on. I loved cable and for the longest time I looked at like the realization of a dream. It showed that all the hard work and suffering my parents did to get somewhere in their careers and lives and started to pay off. We no longer were the poor white family at the end of the block....We had cable. Turns out I had it wrong. I manifested my dreams of becoming somebody with offers of "Free HBO" and old boxing matches on ESPN Classic. I forgot what it was to really dream. To really use my imagination and create something in my mind.
For example, I am a baseball fan. It was the first sport I ever took to. I remember it was cousin's favorite sport and at the time I thought he was just the coolest guy in the world. I wanted to be just like him so I took up baseball and spent hours listening to games and watching the Twins whenever they were on TV . There was always an over the air game on during the week. I planned my weeks around those games and often found myself watching the game on this small black and white TV which wasn't much but it got great reception. I'd watch the game and then go outside and throw a tennis ball against the side of my house and think I was pitching in that game. I would just throw and throw and picture staring down Ken Griffey Jr. and recall how he beat my Twins the night before on a bad belt high slider. It's funny to me now and even somewhat silly but Griffey for as great as he was, couldn't touch my 60 mph fastball.....not in my backyard he couldn't. It never stopped there for me. I'd watch basketball and create makeshift hoops in my basement watch pro wrestling for 3 hours on late Saturday nights and dream about how I could be more like Jake "The Snake" Roberts.In hindsight not having cable was the best thing for me as a kid. It allowed my brain to function is ways I never would have otherwise. It allowed me to think big and keep my mind open to all possibilities. It's a skill that has served me well in life and I owe it all to being poor.
However I feel sad for the kids today because that is just not an option anymore. The drive for dollars and revenue has taken away a muse for kids to dream. No more late night T-Wolves games on regular TV, No Pro-wrestling unless it's a documentary about how screwed up wrestling is. Jake "The Snake" is an old drunk and just recently the Twins announced that they will not carry games over the air anymore. The only way you can see the Twins is on cable. At first I thought nothing of it. I have cable so that's no problem but I then I thought about being 7 years old and throwing the ball against my house and planning my week around my one chance to watch Puckett and Hrbek and Gladden and now it's gone. Those days are over and I feel a little less innocent and a little more hardened. The race for revenue has taken the fun out of everything. I call it a "dream tax". People ask what's wrong with the kids today? The answer is nothing. The kids haven't changed. Kids still are born the same way and it's still our job to give them the outlets necessary to fill those brains with creative ideas and hopes and dreams. Problem is we have put the child proof blocks on the outlets. In fact, we have child-proofed the world, stuffing bad cartoons down their throats and forcing all their potential heroes to basic cable time slots. I wish we could change this pattern but we can't. The bell has already been rung and once we start on the road to progress, we can't just hang a U-turn and head back. We can only stop and take in what we have and remember the way it use to be and admire it's simplicity,it's innocence and it's integrity...yes integrity even in the case of Jake "The Snake". All I know is dreams are the fuel of life and there isn't a filling station in sight.
Shaking my Head at the Screen and My Fist at the Snow,
Tim
2 comments:
Tim, I love this. It's so true. My hero is Peyton Manning. :)
Why was it only poor "white trash" families that had to listen to games on the radio? When I was a youngster, there were lots of times when our TV would break or we couldn't get the game to come in and I would have to listen to the game on the radio, and I don't think we were a "white trash" family. I'm just saying you should be careful about how you throw words like that around, it could offend some people.
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