That’s all pretty true.

But today, I was reminded of one of the reasons that I did get out of TV sports in 1997.

While going through some old files and paperwork (still unpacking stuff at the new house), I came upon this:

That’s a bit hard to read, but it’s my last paystub from the TV sports job. And, as you can see from the red arrow, I was making a whopping $9.25 per hour.

Can you imagine??

Granted, this is a pretty small town as far as TV goes, but still … I was the Sports Director, the primary sports employee who anchored the 6 pm and 11 pm weeknight sportscasts for a CBS affiliated station.

There were several other reasons why I got out of TV, but salary was certainly a big one. We were four months away from having our first child and there was just no way I could support a family on that paycheck.

Heck, I don’t know how anyone can support him/herself now on that salary. The drive-thru guy at McDonald’s must be making more than that….

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

One Reason Why I Left TV Sports

So, here’s about 15 seconds of video shot last night with my iPhone. No tripods or anything like that, just a quick look at a gorgeous sunset.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

How About a Sunset Video?

Yawn. Boring. Dumb.

To clarify, I’m not talking about the word “cool” itself; if I see something on TV or online that’s interesting, I’ll still say, “Oh, that’s cool” or something similar. That’s not what this is about.

This is about the bigger version of “cool,” where people try to be something they’re not. (And usually fail miserably at it.)

The Problem With “Cool”

Cool doesn’t care. Cool is indifferent. Cool doesn’t think it has to try because … it’s not cool to try. Cool would rather fail than try, because trying isn’t cool. Trying implies caring. And caring isn’t cool.

Cool thinks it’s above everything else, better than everyone else.

Cool wants to fit in — as long as it fits in with other cool. Everything else is uncool, and to be ignored (at best) or just outright mocked.

None of My Heroes are/were Cool

I don’t know if you can ever learn anything from “cool” people. But I do know that you can learn a lot from uncool people. John Wooden was certainly uncool — maybe the most uncool coach in sports history.

How cool is it to demand that your players put their socks on in a certain way, so that they’re less likely to get blisters? How cool is it to write love letters to your wife every month for years after she’s died? He did that, too. (I happen to think that’s pretty cool; but if you’re “cool,” that kind of passion is the furthest thing from cool.)

You know who else isn’t cool?

U2.

They’ve never been cool. About anything. Since day one, they’ve cared and been passionate. I don’t always agree with the things they’re hot about, but I love that they’re hot about a lot of things.

In fact, here’s how Brian Eno described U2 and coolness in an article about the Achtung Baby recording sessions:

Cool, the definitive Eighties compliment, sums up just about everything that U2 isn’t. The band is positive where cool is cynical, involved where it is detached, open where it is evasive. When you think about it, in fact, cool isn’t a notion that you’d often apply to the Irish, a people who easily and brilliantly satirize, elaborate and haggle and generally make short stories very long but who rarely exhibit the appetite for cultivated disdain — deliberate noninvolvement — for which the English pride themselves.

(snip)

It is this reckless involvement that makes the Irish terminally uncool: Cool people stay ’round the edges and observe the mistakes and triumphs of uncool people (and then write about them).

I’ll take someone who’s “positive” and “involved” and “open” (those are Eno’s words) every time over someone who’s “cool.”

My kids are getting to the age where being “cool” is important. I’d much rather they be themselves, no matter what anyone else thinks or says.

That’s really the only way to be cool — to be yourself, 24/7. We’re all uncool. And the sooner the we all realize that … well, that will be a very cool day.

(Stock image via Shutterstock.com. Used under license.)

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Why I Hate “Cool”

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Sunset: Day 39

If you ever doubt the power of song, remember this video. Amazing.

I really do feel bad for people who don’t love music and appreciate what it can do.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Video: The Power of Song

This is good in some ways: We got to build on our first-choice lot with the great view, there’s a lot of open space, not much vehicle traffic, etc.

This is not good in other ways, mainly this: There’s a ton of new construction happening around us. As someone who works from home, I’m resigning myself to the fact that my daily soundtrack for the next several months will be the sound of hammers and heavy machinery. Ugh.

In fact, just a couple days ago, I took these photos as I noticed that there were four lots being worked on within 100 yards of our house. Yikes!

All of the construction also means a lot of nails on the road. On Monday I spent an hour at Les Schwab getting one of my tires repaired — it had two nails in it!

So, the real estate protip: New neighborhoods have pros and cons.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Real Estate Protip #2: New Construction & Neighborhoods

Here’s a protip from a non-real estate agent: Set your closing date for early in the month.

Why? It’ll be a nice money-saver when it comes to making mortgage payments.

For starters, mortgage payments are due on the 1st of each month, but every lender I’ve ever had to pay allows you a 15-day grace period. So, it makes sense to make your mortgage payment on the 15th of the month. (Let that money collect interest in your bank account for 15 extra days before you send it to their bank account.)

Second, when you buy a new house the first mortgage payment skips a month. You don’t start paying until the start of the second month after the purchase.

Example: When we bought our new house, our closing date was March 5th. We had not yet made the March payment on the old house. On March 5th, that loan was paid off and our loan for the new house began. But the first payment on that loan isn’t due until May 1st!

So, by closing in early March, we managed to avoid making a mortgage payment in both March and April. That’s pretty cool.

I don’t think that would’ve been the case if we’d closed in late February. But perhaps my wife will correct me on that. (?)

(Come to think of it … maybe I should’ve saved this for a guest article on her blog? Oh, well.)

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Real Estate Protip: Closing Date

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Sunset: Day 27

Back in 2009, when Yahoo and Microsoft announced their big search deal — where Bing results would power Yahoo search — both companies created a special website just for the occasion: www.choicevalueinnovation.com. Both Bing’s blog post and Yahoo’s blog post linked to it. Here’s the link at the end of ex-Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s post:

Get this: That domain now belongs to Press Control Services, an electrical manufacturing company in Lewisville, Texas!

I don’t know how or when they managed to score that domain, but can you imagine how many inbound links it has due to the Yahoo/MSFT history?? Wow. Talk about some good old-fashioned SEO. Well played, folks. Well played.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

How’s This for a Domain-name Fail by Yahoo and MSFT?

Four times since 2005, @U2 has conducted a massive survey of U2 fans around the world and we’re planning to do it again next month.

To get ready, the @U2 staff has been reviewing the 125 +/- questions that we typically ask — about 100 to 110 of them are the same each time, and the rest change depending on what’s going on with U2.

At some point along the way, we asked a couple questions about social media:

• Do you use Facebook?
• Do you use Twitter?
• Do you use MySpace?

The gang agreed that we don’t need to ask about MySpace this year — it’s just not relevant at this point.

The first suggested replacement question?

Do you use Pinterest?

That was suggested before “Do you use Google+?”

I know it’s not at all scientific, but it really struck me when my @U2 crew put Pinterest in with Facebook and Twitter as something we should be asking U2 fans around the world. Is it already that mainstream?

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Is Pinterest THAT Mainstream Already?