Let The Rams Lead

Last Sunday as the St. Louis Rams entered on the field, five players entered with the symbolic "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gesture to show support for the Ferguson community. Since then there has been a host of controversy around the moment including a bizarre back and forth about the nature of apologies with the St Louis Police and the Rams ownership, football legend Mike Ditka chiming in, and others saying they thought it was offensive. Those people can say whatever they want, but the bottom line is what those Rams players did was amazing, courageous, and something that we need A LOT more of these days.

Perhaps my sense of history is skewed because I have hippie parents but it seems like back in the day more people in spotlight took a stand on the issues that counted. I'm talking about rockstars like John Lennon, the 1968 black panther Olympians, and actors like Paul Newman. These days there is a lot of action on twitter, but protest and standing up for your beliefs shouldn't be limited to 140 characters or less.

I commend the RAMS because it was a highly public display from the people who are on the stage. Through their actions, they're igniting conversation, shining light on key issues, and getting the public involved. We need big statements to get the general public engaged! With the Eric Garner verdict yesterday, the continued civil unrest in Ferguson, and wars in the Middle East ramping up now seems like as good as time as ever for musicians, athletes, and other celebrities in the public eye to step up and lead. I'm not saying what side they need to be on, hell Charles Barkely has a lot to say, and while you may not agree with him at least he's making a statement. 

When those five Rams five players came out of that tunnel with their hands up they took a risk. Already now they say they're getting death threats and I'm not surprised - When you take a stand, their are consequences. I just hope in the future it will be more than five players, it will be the whole team.

Seasons Greetings From Ferguson: Christmas, Second Chances, And A Fresh Start

I noticed the Neo Nazi tattoo while he was tying our Christmas tree to the car. It was right there on his muscular fore-arm: a huge Iron Eagle clutching onto a wreath, the actual swastika blurred out, as if it had tried to be forcefully removed. I was saddened and a little freaked out. How was this psycho allowed to sell Christmas trees?

He must have known I saw it because he turned to me and asked me if I knew about Delancey Street Foundation, the place we were buying our tree from. I told him I didn't and he explained that it is a foundation that helps "drug addicts, ex-convicts, homeless, and others who've hit rock bottom" get back on their feet. The guy told me he had made bad choices when he was teenager, just gotten out of prison, and was now working as hard as he could to make up for his past actions. He apologized if his tattoos scared me, said he's working to get them removed, wished me a merry Christmas, and walked back into the rows of Christmas tree leaning against the mesh wire fence of the make-shift tree compound.

I've been thinking about second chances recently, especially with all the rage swirling around the events of Ferguson. Here we have a strong community that has been ripped apart by the civil unrest surrounding the death of Mike Brown and I think everyone there deserves a second chance. Mike Brown and his family deserve someone new to look over the facts around his death. Officer Darren Wilson deserves a 2nd chance to show the world he's not a soulless racist bully with a gun. The people of Ferguson deserve a 2nd chance from the media to show the city isn't all looters and rioters - which seems to be how the media loves to portray it.  The community is primed to show the world all the powerful change it can bring.

I know all this talk about second chances and such is a little crazy, especially with many wounds involving Ferguson still very raw, but now in this holiday season is a good as time as any to plot a course towards a strong road ahead. Christmas means many things to different people but for me, it's a time to close out the year strong and prepare for the coming start of a fresh new year. I hope that around this holiday season the "Season Greetings" from Ferguson can be similar to the greetings message I received when I got my Christmas Tree from the guy from Delancey Street. That second chances are available even if it may be difficult. Now is a good time to be reborn and start anew.

My Fox News Experience

It's very rare that you actually witness a life changing e-mail arrive, but that is exactly what happened to me when it came to my appearance on Fox News. I was finishing my morning reflection and had just opened up my email when suddenly a message from a producer at Fox News Online appeared. It was an inquiry to see if I could  appear on Fox News online - a first for me (hopefully not the last). I said yes and she told me two time options to come to the studio: early and wicked early. 

Because I didn't want to be late to work I chose the wicked early time of 6:30AM in the morning, but that was the easy part - there was preparation work to do. I worked extensively with my buddy Dale Vaughn from NextGent to talking points, my lovely fiancee even went out and got me a special shirt, and did my research on Lauren Green who was to be interviewing me. Overall the total time between confirming I would attend and being at the studio was about 14 hours - real quick!

The studio where we would be recording ended up being real close to our apartment so I could have slept later, but Ben would have wanted me up early so it was all good. I put on my suit (gotta look fresh for Fox News!) and my fiance and I headed out the door. Right away at the studio I was thrown off because A) it was early B) there was no one there to interview me. I had prepared for a face to face interview, and what I got was a face to camera interview. Well technically I was looking at this smiley face on top of the camera, either way if I appear discombobulated at the start, that's why. They also gave me one of those awesome ear microphones which made me feel extremely cool. I got into a groove as it went on and when I was done after a pretty long 7 minutes - I went straight to Dunkin Donuts (the only one in LA) and got butternut donuts and a laaaarge turbo coffee!

Everyone at Fox from the crew guys to Lauren Green was super nice to me and the whole thing was a magical experience. If you're curious about when the book comes out, stay tuned, I'm working on it now. 

25 Signs You're Getting Old, Bro

1. Your cookie preference switches from late-night oreos to post dinner Pepperidge Farm Mint Milanos or Chessmen. Depends how you get down.

2. Going to Jimmy Buffet Shows is something you’re seriously considering.

3. You’ve bought a solar powered radio and couldn’t be more excited to get a crank powered flashlight.

4. Winwood. That would be Steve Winwood. You’re into it. 

5. Coffee becomes an art form (you’re still using a French press bro?) and not a tool to recover from Hangovers.

6. Diets are no longer something your parents did, but now something that you do so that you can prevent yourself from wearing stretchy pants down the line.

7. You’ve actually said “Is this what the kids are listening to these days?”

8. You are rationalizing getting a belt clip for your cell phone. I mean it’s just so convenient!

9. Speaking of convenience, “convenient” is slowly replacing “cool” in terms of how you value something. As in -”I’m going to install this wall mounted key holder this Saturday. It’s going to make our lives so much easier.” 

10. Your memory is fading in the slightest of ways and you don’t know if it’s age or the echoes of all the Phish shows you’ve been to.

11. Any strategy to contain your Dunlaps Disease is failing. What’s Dunlaps disease? It’s when your gut DUN-LAPPED over your belt. I think that’s an old man saying, but isn’t it great?

12. Facebook becomes more of a nostalgia machine than a way to keep up with friends.

13. Beer Pong tournaments are getting replaced with baby showers.

14. Socks. You’re spending money on high quality socks and you don’t know why. I’m not talking about athletic socks, I’m talking ARGYLE. Or stripes.

15. Buying a boat.

16. Suddenly the books you’re reading are garguantuan non-fiction books that are called tomes. What the hell is a tome? It doesn’t matter, but you say it.

17. Gardening is fastly becoming a really enjoyable hobby of yours and you’re not growing marijuana either, just a nice, quaint tomato crop. Maybe some basil for some mid-summer pesto.

18. You’ve seen all the original versions of the movies that are now getting rebooted. You can remember who you saw them with.

19. Desserts become an epic treat and not a regular occurrence.  Note this point is connected to #11, #6, and #1.

20. You can still rage but now it takes two weeks of preparing and another two weeks of recovery.

21. Anything to do with decks, patios, and lawn furniture.

22. The excitement you get from your Universal Remote is way more than you ever anticipated.

23. Bachelor Party weekends are put on a pedestal.

24. Instead of letting dishes stay in the sink for a week you now let them stay for 3 days before just saying “this is filthy, I’ll wash them.”

25.  Excessive grilling

24 Points About 24: 10PM-11AM

1. Audrey has been tortured by Cheng in the past, she should know her dying Chinese friend isn't going to make it out alive. By the way she seems awfully composed for that situation.

2. Really enjoyed Jack's elbow drop to find the phone. It's the simple things folks.

3. Did President Heller go to the C.I.A. headquarters because they had more flat-screens?

4. When Chloe was walking down that road and the music was playing I really thought she was going to get picked up by the Knight's Bus. Chloe at Hogwarts, can you imagine?

5. The Russian sea-captain is one of the most hilariously stereotypical characters the show has ever done. Can't believe he didn't have pipe.

6. Chloe says "she's the only the friend Jack has left" in the most subdued voice possible. Not entirely true, he's got Under Armor and Kate!

7. Honestly the whole day is pretty much Chloe's fault.  If she hadn't fallen in with that hacker collective then...

8. Way back a couple of hours ago I called that Jack would end up in a shootout in a shipping yard and now here we are.

9. Finally Jack gets an assault rifle worthy of his talents, poor guy has been using pistols almost all season.

10. Cheng's sniper seems pretty on it when it comes to monitoring Audrey so I'm surprised he lets her answer/look at her phone. What's he think she's doing, doing 24 points looming death? Zinggg. 

11. Jack and Belcheck work so well together it got me nostalgic for the arm cutting days of Jack and Chase.

12. Marat and Pavel are the names of two of the goons that Jack destroyed at the shipping yard. Do those actors get credited and entries in the 24 wikia?

13. Kate and Audrey just having a leisurely walk in the park after an international hostage crisis, no wonder they got ambushed. Get your act together Kate.

14. Here is a 24 analogy for you SAT junkies out there. The Death of Audrey : Kate Morgan as The Death of Terri: Jack Bauer. 

15. RIP Audrey- you earned that silent clock. Welcome to a small but select part of 24 lore.

16. Give it up for Kiefer's acting chops when he receives the news about Audrey. That's why he's the legend.

17. Finally we get a completely unnecessary but awesome butcher knife to the face kill courtesy of Jack's rage mode.

18. Every 24 point I have written this entire season about Jack not getting enough kills is now mute. He just executed Cheng with a samurai sword. This sets an entirely new precedent for kills on the show. What's next? Crossbows? Axes? Light Sabers? Bring it on.

19. President Heller's rationale about how Audrey couldn't be dead because she was surrounded by secret service, reflects that of the entire audience.

20. Jack's rage mode killing spree on the ship including a very violent knife stab into a human shield into a violent shooting into a karate fight with a arch nemesis into a pre-execution one liner about staying dead. That's the stuff we are going to tell our kids about.

21. Never thought I would see that "12 hours later" on the screen in 24 but jumping time formats means that the show gets another season then I'm on board.

22. I kind of feel bad for Tate Tots, I gave him a lot of shit, but I understood where he was coming from. Not as a jealous pyscho husband but as a dude protecting the President.

23. President Heller's "I won't remember anything that happens today" is a brutal and strangely meta commentary on the nature of TV viewing and memory.

24. So 24 choses to follow in the footsteps of it's legendary season one and season five ending's and have Jack in a VERY rough place at the end. Going off to see the Russian's huh. At least the goodbye with Chloe was touching. This ending gives me hope for another season because there is no way that is the end of the character, he'll be back in another season or movie in no time. If this really was the end they would have killed him.

25. I'll give you one more point because you deserve it and Jack killed Cheng with a samurai sword. Let's talk about that last scene:

 - Chloe definetly passed something off to Jack, not sure what it is, but maybe a tracking device that she hastily made in the communications bunker?

- Silent clock at the end, but I don't think Jack is dead, it was just for an emotional moment

- Jack has never had a problem with Russians. He will handle the Russians.

All in all just a fantastic season from start to finish. There is NOTHING on TV like this show and the format is just so effective at building suspense and tension. I really hope it comes back for another season and that we get the return of the character that we all truly deserve: