About 3 years ago I made a New Year’s Resolution to complain less, which was very hard for me. I feel like I’ve accomplished that. I complain about some trivial things, but mostly in my life I’ve let go of the big things. I don’t complain about my job or my direction in life. I don’t complain about my personal relationships at all. This has been helped by my decision to stop reflecting on all my mistakes so much.

Today was different. Sitting in the brisk air and staring at a blue sky I felt so much more reflective. Mostly because of a great baseball season. What should be a starting point for this team has become a culmination of feelings for so many. In my mind I had my own little commencement speech I guess. The era of consecutive losing seasons is over. The playoff drought is over. The ridicule and derogatory remarks are over. There is still the casual fan that doesn’t quite understand what it all means. The long heartbreak. The inevitability of it all some years.

I sat and watched games that even the most ardent Pirates fans didn’t. I sat in a stadium that was less than full.

I watched the afternoon game during the G20 summit. Complete with protesters out front of the box office, and tanks on the bridge. I was interviewed for the news. When the game was over my bus was delayed because of the massive protests in the strip. I went to games when the Pens were winning playoff series at home. I’ve sat through extra innings in the rain. I sat through losing. Winning. Everything. Left work and money on the table to see a blow out. I argued with professors and missed exams to see Roger Clemens pitch against them. I’ve been to the largest crowd in PNC park history, and McKechnie Field history. And the smallest crowd in PNC park history.

And as the season ended today it all came rushing back. The things I missed to see a game. The things I enjoyed because I saw a game. How many games I went to with my dad. Taking him this year for Father’s Day to see Gerrit Cole pitch. Being rain delayed and just talking with him. Taking my girlfriend to her first ever MLB game and watching her enjoy sitting in the sun more than watching Johan Santana pitch (for the twins). Then handing her a playoff ticket 10 years later and to see her excitement as she had the time of he life. And of course, every awful game my best friend and I ever saw. Sitting in the rain to watch the DBacks and Pirates to extras in a game that never mattered. Sitting through 15 inning games when we both had to be up in 3-4 hours for work. Always optimistic (you got 4-5-6 next inning. You can’t go home now!). For some reason attending every game against the Marlins for 6 years (it feels like I’ve seen way too many Pirates vs Marlins games in my life). Having too many tickets (we use to get free seats from Season ticket holders. Sometimes ALL of them would deliver and we’d have 10 tickets for one game…usually against the Marlins). And then together watching the Pirates Win their wild card game and jumping on his back in celebration. We high fived every person we could. Sat at the bottom of the escalator and told everyone “we will see you Sunday.”

I don’t know why I love baseball so much. Maybe because it’s always been a part of my life. Maybe it was playing in the front yard pretending to be Tim Wakefield. Or it was listening to Rocco DeMaro do post games for a terrible team. I don’t know what caused it to happen. But all I know is that I take pride in being a baseball guy. I take pride in being a smart baseball fan in a town where it is easy to not care about the sport.

Pirate baseball fans are easily the best fans in the world. To stick by this team, no matter what, took a great amount of restraint. But when I look back I only see the fun I had. I only see the excitement every spring brought me. That excitement won’t end. I reflect today in a positive way. I reflect on the fun I had, and am excited for the fun to come. I may never see PNC park as desolate as it once was. But I will always remember being there when no one else wanted to be.

We had a vacation last summer where we just hung around Pittsburgh. We went and ate at some restaurants we love and even went camping for a day. But it really wasn’t a vacation. It was time off together, but we still had all the distractions of being at home. Laundry, cleaning the house, TV shows, friends and family, etc etc. So when we talked about taking a real vacation, the first thing we discussed is when and where.

The idea of Florida was easy for us. For about 3 years she has been wanting to go down to Universal Studios to see the giant Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction. For myself, I’ve been wanting to go to a Pirates Spring Training game for probably just as long. We both have our interests, and the other’s have some sort of mild entertainment value as well. I’ve watched some of the movies with her, and appreciate good cinema, and she’s been to baseball games with me and loves sitting in the warm weather and relaxing. So it was a pretty good fit.

It’s at this time I should mention that the trip wasn’t meant to be some sort of romantic getaway for the two of us. We are pretty simple people, and the whole trip was less about going away together and more about going away. So the entire time, while nice to be together and enjoy the vacation atmosphere, there was never a thought for a dress up and dine with rose petals and wine type moment. We just wanted to be together and have fun. We wanted to relax in casual clothes and laugh more than stare in each others eyes over dinner.

So waking up on Saturday we packed and got ready to fly down. Everything was pretty easy. Beckah had a 6 page list of all we she needed. We picked up my buddy Sam so that he could take the car back to his house so we didn’t have to pay for parking. Of course Beckah assumed that we would be late to the airport. Made it to the airport no problem, checked in and past security very fast and we were at our gate in no time. We check in and walk around and then promptly make about 100 Louis CK jokes.

Now, I have a bit of a superstition. Which, frankly is odd for me, since I’m very anti superstition. But before every flight I like to drink one beer. It calms my nerves, and if you’re going to risk your life in a flying box, you might as well drink one before you go. So this is where I make a critical error and judged the flight time, as our boarding time. So while I assume we have 20 more minutes, the rest of the plane is boarding. Needless to say I noticed (After an old man yelled out to his friend “Hey! We’re boarding!”) that we may, in fact be boarding the flight. So I tell Beckah, which immediately makes her think “We’re going to miss our flight,” which is not the case. So I scarf down my sandwich (getting Jack Daniels sauce on my hoodie [Sidenote: God dammit]) and get hers wrapped up and head to the plane.

The flight was pretty booked obviously and we were nearly the last on, so we had to sit separately. Which isn’t bad. I was planning on reading anyway, so it worked out. Beckah meanwhile had been trying to rent Wreck It Ralph to watch on the plane. Unfortunately it couldn’t download in time, so she spent $5 to not download it. I happen to sit next to a couple in their mid twenties. I had the aisle, so no big deal. We take off and I hear the gentleman say to his adult girlfriend “Hey, you know all those skyscrapers we saw on our drive in, well there they are now. Look at how small they look.” To which she replied “wow!”

So after that we landed and got our rental car. They were out of the economy size, so they asked if we were fine with a free upgrade. I said sure. Why wouldn’t you want that? Well Beckah was not happy. She immediately assumed that they were bringing around an SUV for her to drive around Florida in. Well, they didn’t. We got an Altima. Worst case scenario Spangler strikes again.

The drive wasn’t bad. We get in and are on the highway. I’m trying to navigate when Beckah asks why the car is making such a high pitched noise, and that the rpm’s are way too high. It’s at that moment I realize she has it in sports mode and is still in first gear. She moves it back to automatic and immediately see the difference. We laughed about that for the rest of the drive. Neither one of us noticed it for about a mile. Then we hit about 3 toll booths. Luckily I had cash on me, but at the end we got to a booth with no attendant and a cash only for 75 cents. Well we had no change on us. This happened to me about 5 years prior in Orlando, and we just drove off. Beckah refused to because she didnt want to be arrested. Finally I convinced her to leave. We didnt pay the toll, and they took a picture of her car. She immediately began to freak out. Worst case…scenario. (I later looked up that nothing happens. I believe they just add the toll to the total for the rental. Florida has a database of rental cars specifically for this)

We get to our destination, and pull in to check out the hotel/condo room. We got a great deal on a time share room through Beckah’s friend Tammy from work. She told us the one draw back is they were going to try to sell us on a time share, but to just ignore them and hold fast and we’d be fine. Check in wasn’t bad, the line was just long. And full of people ALREADY complaining about being there and they should be upgraded and so on and so forth. We move through the line and head over to get our parking pass. They ask us if we are there for “Spring Break” which we both laugh at. (Side note: Just a couple weeks earlier Beckah got hit on by a college aged “fat kid” as she put it, who asked her if she went to Pitt. To which she laughed and responded “No, I’m a teacher.”) Then he asked if we were newlyweds. That was even funnier. So he starts moving towards his pitch, and then asks us if we make more than $50,000 a year. We both immediate way no. End of pitch. We actually never heard another word from them the entire trip.

So we park and head up to the room. I’m immediately pretty happy with it.

This was our full kitchen. Beckah was very happy to have a dishwasher. So we decided to go buy some food over at the grocery store since we had a place to prepare stuff. Now, we were only there for a week, so shopping was a bit a challenge as you had to plan meals with the minimum amount of ingredients as to not waste anything. Little things like cooking spray became too big as we weren’t taking anything home. I also wanted coffee for the morning, but apparently since everyone in Orlando is 80 they all get up at 5 am no problems, so the coffee selection was terrible. We also noted we should get dishwashing soap. Well they only sell that in 90 gallon containers (I’m exaggerating), but they are like $2 a bottle. So we bought some to notice that we already had some in the room. We decided to take it back the next day and left it by the door. (Side note: We never took it back) Eventually we bought enough food to sustain us, and went home.

This was our little dinning area off the kitchen. We made frozen pizza and ate there the first night. Through out the vacation it was a nice little spot. It also played a nice catch all for my stuff.

The living room was nice, but being used to a 60″
TV, I had a hard time adjusting to the smaller one we had. But it was a nice area to relax in. The couch was not as comfortable as it looked, as it seemed to be almost plastic in nature. Probably making it easier to clean. But you felt like you wanted to slide all the way off. Also, it was square to the TV. Anyone who plays The Sims knows you square off the TV and couch.

We’ve never had two sinks. We’ve always had to fight around each other to get ready. So this was really nice. We had a stand alone shower as well, with a subpar shower head. Plus the water was a bit hard. Came out a little to sneaky when done. I didn’t take a picture of the toilet, because quite frankly, who does that? (On closer inspection, you can see it in the mirror) But it was awkwardly in the corner. It felt lonely over there. Also, there were two doors to the bathroom you had to remember to close. (side note: Beckah and I do not go to the bathroom in front of each other. If you do, whatever. We don’t.)

Ah, the jacuzzi tub. This connected the bathroom to the bedroom. There wasn’t one night Beckah wasn’t in this thing by 8 pm sharp. This was her favorite part of the trip. It made up for there being no ice machine for her to go to. (Once we went on a getaway to Philadelphia. A valentines day getaway. I asked what she was most excited about, she said getting ice at the hotel. I knew where I stood at that moment)

And finally our bedroom. It was kind of small, but with a king sized bed its hard to have a lot of room. The nice part was sleeping and spreading out with out being touched. I don’t like contact when sleeping; so this was a joy.

We did have a balcony, but we will get to that next time. This was just day one of a week long trip. As some of you know from my college radio days, one sit down is not enough to explain an entire trip. So more will be forthcoming in the future.

It’s not that I have nothing to say. I do. I have so much to tell everyone, it is more that I’ve come to a place in my life where I understand that you dot particularly care. A blog is more about the person writing its ego and less about the subject matter. I’ve always understood that I can sit here and preach about politics or religion or money and some would read it and agree or laugh or whatever, but no ones mind would be changed. The entire process is about my ego.

Art is ego. Art is pretentious. Art is thinking you have something so important to say that people have to hear it. What I’m doing now is so much more about me then it is about you reading it. And I understand that, and embrace it.

The problem with being a private person is that having a blog is quite useless. I won’t talk about person problems or moments, I won’t talk about my relationship, and I won’t talk about my personal beliefs and struggles. So what is left is a mismatch of things I like or things I do, or sports arguments. Which is fine, it just isn’t very interesting.

So where do we go? Well I might perhaps open the flood gates a bit. Like a loch, I might let in a little water at a time and slowly bring you to the next level. That of course won’t bring you to your final destination, but it will let you see more of the scenery that is my personality.

So I’m hoping to give you a tad more or the old stuff. The reviews or books and movies and video games, but I also want to give you more of me the person and my feelings on pop culture, science, faith, politics and things to anger people.

Let me first address something about Tebow- he and fundamentally disagree on personal issues. But that has nothing to do with article. This is about factual data about the Denver Broncos.

First and foremost the biggest change in Denver has been the vastly improved defense. In the first five games this year Denver was averaging 28 points against per game. Since the bye week in a six game swing the defense has allowed 20 points per game. That’s a full touchdown better than they were. At first glance it is very impressive, but when you look at their schedule things become clearer.

Denver Schedule since Tebow OFF Rank. Record
Miami 21 3-8
Detroit 9 7-4
Oakland 12 7-4
Kansas City 27 4-7
Jets 24 6-5
San Diego 7 4-7

Denver has faced teams with a 24-31 combined record with Tebow under near center. And the offensive rankings aren’t great either. They played two top ten offenses, one they lost to badly, and they other is the 4-7 Chargers who have just been awful recently. So the defense has had some teams to beat up on. Meanwhile their first five games paint a different picture.

Oakland. 12. 7-4
Cincy. 18. 7-4
Titians. 20. 6-5
Green Bay. 4. 11-0
San Diego. 7. 4-7

In the first five games they played no offense worse than 20. In their last six games they have played 3 teams worse than 20. So scheduling has played a big part, but the defense has stepped up as well. Now, an argument can be made that Tebow’s 5.8 yards per rush is keeping the defense off the field and rested.

Certainly the rush has become a big part of their winning ways. In the first five games Denver’s offense averaged 21 points per game. In the last six games they average 19.3 points per game. That is a very negligible difference. The big 38-24 win against Oakland inflates his numbers a tad, (minus that game they average 15.6 points per game) but you can not just subtract games. The offense dominated that game and they deserve credit. Now let’s look at their first five games with defensive rankings.

Oakland. 27.
Cincy. 5
Titans. 17
Green Bay. 30
San Diego. 13

Their first five games they faced some average defenses. I will say that Cincy is high due to scheduling. I don’t think they deserve that ranking, but Denver did win that game under Orton. Meanwhile Green Bay being 30th is misleading. These rankings are by Yards Per Game, and a lot of teams put up meaningless yards up at the end of games against Green Bay. They are an aberration. I almost want to eliminate them from all of this due to them being perfect. Let’s look at their last six under Tebow

Miami. 16
Detroit. 10
Oakland. 27
Kansas City. 20
Jets. 8
San Diego. 13

The surprise here (other than San Diego being a ok defense and good offense and being 4-7. Wow) is that Tebow has faced some good defenses in Detroit and the Jets. Those game Denver scored 10 and 17 points respectively though. Other than those games the defensive opposition hasn’t been great.

So how have the Broncos been this good and won 5 or their last 6 games? Great scheduling, and putting a big wrinkle in their offense against bad defenses. John Fox has to be credited with great game plans against these teams. It will be interesting to see what he has in store for New England, a great team with a terrible pass defense.

Do we give Tebow credit? Of course. He is the quarterback of a 6-5 team that has won five of six. He is apart of that team and deserves credit. But as I’ve said before, quarterbacks get way too much credit for wins. I also do NOT believe in “intangibles” that make teams better. I think talent and work ethic make teams better. Tebow’s faith in his team mates will not make them run faster or catch more passes. And his faith in god is even more foolish of a reason. Tebow has done certain things well, he doesn’t fumble and doesn’t throw interceptions which have given his defense longer fields. His rushing has kept the clock moving and kept the opposing defense out on the field (even with a 23% third down rate his running and Mcgahee’s 4.1 per rush have given them a better offense and wore down the defense). So for what he is being ask to do, he is successful.

But soon Denver will have to do more. Remember the wildcat? Miami ran through teams until the league adjusted and now teams only run it every once in a while. Offenses like this are great in the short term, but long term the great teams will adjust and destroy it. You may be able to option on the 27th best defense in the NFL (Oakland) for nearly 300 yards rushing, but they won’t do that against Pittsburgh or Baltimore (and I don’t even think agains New England or Houston either). So time will tell what Denver can do. The sample size is still quite small.

So when people call Coldplay sellouts, I never got it. Coldplay embraced the casual fan and Top 40 fans and made a lot of money. They were easily THE band of the last decade. But why is that bad? The Beatles wrote some intentionally catchy songs to get AirPlay and make money.

I first heard Coldplay around 2001 with Yellow, and at first listen I wasn’t blown away. But after about 6-7 listens I started to really like the song and got their album Parachutes. I actually can still go back and listen to this album. It was a great first start, and a great look into who they would become. Stand outs for me were Don’t Panic and Trouble. It was so good that I was excited for Rush of Blood To the Head. A great sophomore record and between God Put A Smile Upon Your Face and The Scientist, it may be their best effort.

But then came Clocks. Let me say right now that there may not be a catchier song in the last decade than Clocks. Great piano rift to open the song, great song all around. It’s instantly recognizable. But boy was it everywhere. You couldn’t escape it, and I grew a little tired of it. So I took a break and avoided them before X & Y.

When Speed of Sound came out, I kind of lost interest. It felt like the same old thing. And after sitting down with X&Y I really wasn’t impressed. It’s been ever since then that my strange relationship with the band has begun.

X&Y turned me away because it felt more like Coldplay wanted to capitalize on their success than create a new vibrant album. It was not long after that Keane released Under the Iron Sea and changed their sound dramatically, something that appealed to me. I was not in the mood for Rush of Blood Part 2. So the album wasn’t for me. And that’s ok, not all music should be.

But flash foreword, I see them on SNL and I start to get over it again. Viva La Vida (a rival to Clocks for the catchiest song ever) was a cool step for them with the Sgt. Pepper look and the whole revolution feel. But it felt more like a theme that they picked to be marketable. And now on SNL they are doing a tribal glow in the dark theme. Which is cool, but now they have their spiderweb logo on all their jackets and the intentional glow paint smears on their hands or faces. It just feels like something some think-tank marketing department came up with to sell more albums. It’s insists upon itself.

Then you hear Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall and Paradise, and you’re caught in the same trap. Man are those well written songs. Catchy, well written, good songs. And here we sit again, stuck between a rock and a hard place again.

I really want to like Coldplay, I am desperate to be a fan of theirs. It’s not their fault that their concerts are full of frat boy weirdos that just want to hear the hits. And it’s not their fault that they are finding the right formula to make money on quality work. It’s my problem. But I’m still allowed to have it.

Here in Pittsburgh, there is always a debate about “elite” quarterbacks. Fans get upset that Ben is never high enough on lists, or he is cut from some. Fans feel he’s the best in the game, and when guys like Rodgers or Breese are listed as better it angers them. The typical response is that Ben “won two super bowls” or that he’s just a winner.

Regularly football analysts call guys out for being clutch. Tebow is considered a winner. He finds ways to win games. Same with Brady. There is a growing group of people who call out Peyton Manning for not winning enough big games.

I thought about this a lot. The argument that always bothered me was that Terry Bradshaw was a better quarterback than Archie Manning just because he won 4 Super Bowls. Manning never had the real teams around him, and people freely admit that. But wins are wins, and a QB is expected to win no matter what. But when I looked at baseball, wins for a starting pitcher have become more or less meaningless in the sabermetrics community.

When we judge a starting pitcher, we understand there are things he can’t control in the game. The offensive output for his team, the strikezone, errors, bad defense…hell he can’t even control what the ball does off the bat. So to pin him with a loss or praise him for a win, is a little outlandish. But it got me to thinking, how much of the game does a quarterback ACTUALLY control?

A QB at first glance controls his offense. The defense is separate from him, so even if he was perfect, a terrible defense can saddle him with losses. But how much of the offense does be control? So little is out of his hands. The officiating can call games tight or lose, he doesn’t control the play calling- when to run or pass is not entirely in his hands even. While he gets audibles and makes reads the plays are still called to him. The receivers the. Have to run the correct routes, and they have to catch the ball. So on any given play the QB controls very little.

So, he doesn’t control the play, the scheme, the gameplan, the running back, the offensive protection, the receivers running the routes, the receivers catching the ball, some interceptions (tipped balls, receivers running wrong timing routes), the entire running game, the entire defensive side of the ball, and the officiating. So, how much does be control?

Football is often called “The Ultimate Team Game” yet one position is judged entirely by wins and losses. So is Rivers better than Big Ben? I don’t think so, but If you think he isnt because Rivers doesn’t “win”, then you are on the wrong side of the argument.

But today I wanted to write about something, which for this blog is very different. I have tried very hard to keep my social media clean of controversial material. Through twitter and Facebook I keep my political, religious, and personal beliefs to myself. It is my view that I have nothing to add to those topics. If you agree with me great, and if you don’t, you never will. Those topics I love to discuss in person and not through text on the Internet. This blog has been free of that, as well as the podcast. My one slip is my love of evolution has stepped on some toes, but no one is perfect.

But today is National Coming Out Day. And I wanted to write something to show my support for the LGBT community. There are very few things that I feel absolute about, I believe everything is debatable. It is my love of science that makes any topic susceptible to scrutiny and experimentation. But where I stand strong is civil rights and support for all humans.

I don’t tell many personal stories, but this one today, needs to be told. The influences in my life have always been important to me. My Uncle Bob stands very tall in that list. He was a man who gave me part of my sarcastic sense of humor, and a man who taught me that life is a long joke and to laugh every day at it. My uncle was a gay man, and according to my family was always that way. He and his partner use to take me to the fair every year and treated my sister and I line we were his children. His influence showed me at the youngest age that LGBT are nothing but members of our families.

When my Uncle got very sick and close to death, it was only through the love of my family did his partner get to be a viable part of the decision process. If my mother and aunts and uncles had been less accepting, this wonderful man would have been left on the outside while he watched his love pass away. Nobody knew my uncle’s wishes better than his partner, and it was a shame to me that IF my family had not been as accepting his wishes would not have been met.

It is important to me that any gay person to stand out and let this around them know who they are and to accepted on who they are. It was only through my uncle that I got to see inside the heart of a gay man and see it no different than any other family member I had. It made me more aware of the injustice they go through. He was a wonderful person first and I am proud of my uncle. Gay or not.

There are Very few political views that I hold stedfast to. Tax laws are open for debate by experts. But I hold two close to my heart. I will not vote for any man or woman that does not believe in evolution, and I will not vote for anybody that doesn’t support FULL rights for LGBT. People can quote bible verse at me or some discredited study but I don’t care. I have tried so very hard in my life to not let subjective experiences shape objective decisions. But on this topic there is too much emotion. My uncle deserved every right that I am afforded today. My uncle deserved to have his wishes met at his death.

Please stand up in your life. Teach your children that LGBT members are not just people, but they are part of our families. And don’t let people get away with hyperbole about their lives.

Let’s start with this. If you are under 18, sexting is not acceptable in any way shape or form. It is dumb, and is incredibly easy for that to come back to haunt you. I don’t care how “in love” you are, underage sexting is bad.

Ok, for adults now. There is an idea of privacy that needs to be established here. In the age of the Internet, you have less privacy. It’s sad, but not only have we willing given away most of our privacy with Facebook, twitter and blogs (whoops), but also we have lost our privacy in the form of voyeur sites. Paparazzi culture has created a voyeur subset of pop culture. This cause regular people who want to be famous, to play into that culture and exhibit themselves. There is real pressure on girls in this respect. And as I said yesterday, it’s incredibly wrong to pressure young girls into a sex presence at a young age.

Here is where I divert in a strange way. If you are someone who wants to send a photo to a significant other, you are welcome to. It’s really not that big of a deal. There are just things to weigh. Is this person trust worthy? Will they exploit this if we break up? Is it worth it? Those are easy to answer. If you aren’t worried about those type of things, send away. If you are, you need to think long and hard about what you are about to do.

We have been given the ability to connect on a level that we never have before. Between massively fast Internet connection, cell phones, and cameras becoming radically cheap, we have the ability to close any gap. As someone who bad a long distance relationship, these devices make it so much easier. Skype and texting and social media make it easier than ever before to connect with someone. And this ability will lead to an increase in sending of provocative information. It isn’t new, sexy photos were sent through the mail or left for people on their porch or in their mailboxes. The idea that “someone else” may see them makes some people like it more. This is the same reason people have public sex or dress in a way to get a certain look. Sexual kinks are not the issue, it’s the convenience to transmit the information that drives it up. Before cameras, women would leave behind something, send a provocative letter laced with her perfume, or give a man her underwear.

So why are we attacking a celebrity for taking a private photo? She should know better? That is sickeningly stupid. Should Erin Andrews have known better than to do her hair naked in her locked hotel room? Scarlet Johansson had her phone hacked. She didn’t leak the photos. And there is no proof she ever sent the photos, is a woman in America open to ridiculed because she had some naked photos on her phone? I read an attack on her today that says she wants it both ways, her privacy and to be a superstar. That there are enough provocative photos out there that she shouldn’t be upset that her phone was hacked. What a load of garbage. She deserves the privacy that we all enjoy, that in our locked homes, and especially in our bedrooms, we are afforded the right to be who we please. She didn’t post photos on Facebook or twitter, she took photos of herself for whatever reason. They are her personal property, and the THEFT of those is no different than someone breaking into her home and stealing her thong.

Of corse she knew the consequences of the activity she was involved in, but it does not give justification to what happened to her. There are consequences to all actions, not all of those are deserved. The consequences for an attractive woman to wear overalls at night is a possibility of a man abducting her, cutting the straps easily and raping her (side note: Police say that skirts and overalls are the worst outfits to wear because of easy ability for men to access a woman’s private area). Did she deserve the rape because of her fashion choice? Do I deserved to be mugged if I carry large bills in my wallet? Does a fan wearing the wrong jersey deserve to be killed?

There are consequences to every act you partake in. And you and you alone should understand those before you take part in those acts. But if you do, know that your privacy is still your right. Sexting is an adult practice, and as an adult it is your right to do what you want to do.

This was an idea I had for the podcast, and it might be worth exploring, but this is mostly about what I have heard and seen from countless women who think they are empowered or whatever they want to call it.

I have seen “women’s power” transform over the last fifteen years. And I can’t say I’ve liked it. From a males point of view there is no doubt that I enjoy the benefits of being a male, and I like male culture. This isn’t to say I don’t like female culture, but there is going to be a natural bias in my life.

I have never been against women making equal pay, equal rights or having the same jobs when qualified. I don’t even mind the Spice Girls “Girl Power” campaign either. I think young girls do need to know that they can achieve anything they want to work for. What has changed is that female power has become “Sex Power” and I don’t like that. Sluts aren’t empowered. Kim Cattrall’s character in Sex and the City was seen as the empowered woman, taking what she wants. But no one ever focused on her character flaws, and when the show stopped focusing on them it became terrible.

Here’s a tip from a male. Slutty isn’t what guys want. Sure, guys like to see a slutty girl because they know she will put out, but men looking for a relationship don’t want slutty. I have been with the same girl for 8 years because she is a well rounded and classy, dignified person. She is sexy, and fun and yadda yadda yadda. She likes to cook and clean and be feminine, but she likes to be a well rounded person first. I don’t want to marry a slut, and I don’t want a slut raising my children. Slutty girls find slutty men, and good for them. There is nothing wrong with being young and having an appetite for sex, but broadcasting it makes you look classless and frankly disgusting.

You can blame the media, or whatever you want. But it falls squarely on parenting. Too many women want to be their daughter’s best friend and not their mom. And too many women have downplayed the importance of being a mom first. Professional women have made the house wife some sort of curse word. Nothing was more important in making myself and my sister upstanding, honest, knowledgable and good people than my mom staying at home with us. My mom raised us in the early years by herself mostly as my father worked a lot in order for her to stay home. I was potty trained (without wetting the bed) by 16 months, I was able to read at a second grade level by 5, and could water ski by 3. All thanks to what my mom did for me. Her job was important, more important than any job she could have got. My parents sacrificed for my sister and I because that’s how you raise good children. Now if my mom would have had the job, and my Dad stayed home…things would not have been the same but close. The value of having a house “parent” is important. But many parents value career over their home life.

Feminism to me always was about being seen as an equal, but women today focus on controlling men through sex. Which is garbage. Equality isn’t lowering yourself to base emotions to get an upper hand for a night. Equality is being respected, and I can’t respect a woman that doesn’t respect herself. When I see a girl broadcast her sexual nature and talk about going down on guys publicly, and saying it regularly, I don’t see her as anything more then an insecure little girl who thinks this is how people are going to like her. Appetite is one thing, gluttony is another.

If you like sex, great join the club. If you want to dress up to feel pretty, good for you. But to constantly bang the drum (no pun intended) of you desire to give head and bang any guy makes you just as insecure and laughable as the frat boy parody or the Jersey Shore character, or any of the other male figures that are seen as stupid and petty. That’s not going to get you equality, it won’t get you respect.

Yet my problem remains with the pop notion of Robin. I grew up with Batman. The old Adam West Batman was on everyday after school, and due to my mother influence of ramming anything cultured down my childlike throat (which made me a better person and am indebted to her forever) I would watch the episodes with her. I liked them so much that she bought me maybe the greatest gift ever. She found for me, at a church picnic, a book that was a collection of the old Batman newspaper comic strips from the 40’s and 50’s. I read that book until the binding fell apart and I lost most of the pages. It was there that my Bat-love started, but more importantly my love for Robin.

As a kid you gravitate towards the sidekick because it feels like it could be you. But for me Dick Grayson became cooler as he got older. He was fearless, high flying, and funny. What drew most to guys like Spiderman and The Human Torch is what really drew me to Dick. He talked and wise cracked and beat the snot out of gangsters. When Dick left to become Nightwing, I stayed with him. And while my love for Tim Drake and Jason Todd and even Stephanie was there, it wasn’t the same (though I am growing to love Damien Wayne much the same).

The important factor here is what Robin (any of them) brings to the story. Batman is a rage filled man, and his vow often brings him to the brink of his own self destruction. Batman has always been portrayed as a man, emotionally fragile as any man. Though strong willed (check out the Elseworlds In Darkest Knight to see him wield the willpower of the Green Lantern ring, awesome) he can have the same flaws. When he approaches the line, it is the innocence and stability that Robin brings that keeps his head level. Without Robin, Batman may cross the line and kill. The vow that can not be broken, the most important of any hero. One he is criticized for by modern readers who don’t understand the moral implications of that vow.

What Robin brings is perspective to Bruce’s dark world. Robin is the light that counteracts the dark rage inside Bruce. What Robin brings is more than a partner, he is the symbol of hope brought on by youth. He has the vulnerability that Batman does not. Dick Grayson made Bruce see the world in a new way. The are father and son.

The end of Nightwing was a sad day for me. He was a great character, and what Chuck Dixon did to start off in Volume 2 in Bludhaven was magical. When Grayson returned to be Batman and take on Damien Wayne as the new Robin, I bought in. I always buy in to Grant Morrison’s work, and I wasn’t disappointed again. The new Batman & Robin comic has been fantastic, and Dick has emerged as one of DC’s best heroes. Damien has become a new darker Robin to counter Dick’s new lighter Batman (he even smiles) and the dynamic is perfect.

While most think of him as hokey kid, Robin is more than that. Robin is the light barer of hope for Gotham City. He is the small glimmer of fun and brevity inside Batman’s heart. Robin is what we all want to be.