Weekend Wrap-up 6-2-2006

Holy lip gloss, Batman! She's a lipstick lesbian!
Some of you may not remember that there once was a Batwoman. Well, she's back, and she's gay. Actually, she's not the first gay superhero. I can think of at least three or four that have already come out, so I don't know why this is necessarily news. The attached article stated DC Comics' desire to provide diversity in the types of characters that it presents. However, it also mentions some comments that if diversity is indeed being sought, then why not have a fat, ugly superhero? I agree. Can't a fat, ugly person still be heroic, rather than as "comic relief" as they're usually portrayed? And while we're on the issue of diversity in superheroes, I have never seen a prolife superhero. This push for diversity in the superhero biz still needs some work.

Boston College prof quits over Rice's appearance
Steve Almond, an adjunct professor at Boston College, has resigned in protest over the appearance of Dr. Condolezza Rice speaking at the school's graduation ceremony. While he's entitled to his views on Dr. Rice and the war in Iraq, his resignation is simply foolish. Does he make his statement? Yes, he does. Well, she's spoken, and she's still Secretary of State, and the war in Iraq still goes on. But now, he's not working at Boston College anymore. It was a foolish act, because now he is not present to continue making his stands and statements there. This is not how to discuss and debate the issues. Walking out only means that you are no longer there to help with the defense of your side of the issues. Even worse, it makes you look like a sore loser who can't take debate and discussion unless everyone agrees with you. Now the students at Boston College have one less defender for those in opposition of the war in Iraq. Way to go, Steve-o.

This makes me realize that there's a certain pattern that often happens when issues of importance are discussed. Sometimes a speaker will dominate the debate by being loud and vitriolic. If a given speaker of a given side can't dominate a debate with his (or her) loud and vitriolic words and behavior, then he's likey to either be escorted out, or he'll storm off on his own. In either instance, it's good for a debate for such a person to be taken out of the debate, for if he is allowed to continue this behavior, then nothing will be discussed other than what that person wants discussed.

Debating has become a lost art that needs to be recovered, and Steve Almond's action above is not the way to recover that much needed skill. While he didn't try to dominate the issue of Rice's appearance at Boston College, he still chose to remove himself from the debate --which in essence, is a virtual admission from him that he had no counterargument for Rice's views, so he chose to excuse himself from the scene instead by using this "walking out in protest" cover. If the anti-war supporters want their views heard, then they need to keep their butts planted where they need to be, and stop any more of these silly, self-serving "look at me!" displays.

Sports
After an exciting win in Game 5 (including a 50-point performance from Dirk Nowitzki), the Dallas Mavericks need to go ahead and finish off the Phoenix Suns tonight, because the Miami Heat have already won their series. If the Mavs lose this one and go to a Game 7, then that gives the Heat additional time to rest before the NBA Finals begin. With Shaq not being his old self, the last thing we would want is to give him additional time to rest. Let's keep him playing fatigued! Of course, the Suns won't just lie down and die for the Mavs, but the last game showed what the Mighty Mavs can do to the Suns if they wanted to. It also showed what they can do to any team if they wanted to. It's enough to win this series tonight, and it's also enough to win a championship, if they really wanted it to.

While the playoffs are going on with the Mavs, the Texas Rangers have been relegated to the "In other news" portion of the local sports scene. So far, the Rangers have stayed on top of the AL West --mainly because they are the only team in the division above the .500 mark. At this point, we gotta take what we can get, so this will have to do. But they need to work more on consistency, because while our current level of play may be enough to keep us on top of a poor division, this will do nothing to prepare us for the opponents that we face in the post season --should we be so fortunate to make it there. While it's good that we're barely winning more than we're losing, we still need to strive to be better than that. Let's stretch that 5 game lead into 10 games, then 15, and then as much as possible. Let's pad that lead as much as we can, because who in the world believes that the rest of the teams in our division are happy to be where they're at? They don't want to stay where they're at, they want to be where the Rangers are: at the top of the division! All the more reason why the Rangers need to work on not just winning enough, but winning more than that.

And speaking of baseball, Texas Christian University's baseball team has shocked its opponent, Oklahoma University, with a come-from-behind win in the first round of the college baseball playoffs. Just as a reminder, the TCU football team also shocked the OU football team by defeating them at the start of the last season. OU must be getting pretty tired of us, eh? ;-)

Have a great weekend, folks!