Sports Fan Reflection

I need to be stopped.

I seem to be on the verge of becoming one of "those" fans. I have always been a loyal supporter of the Washington Redskins, my favorite team in any sport since I was a kid. Buying a coat, or a hat, or some sweats with a Redskin logo on them here or there never got out of hand. I'd always had more UM or even Lions gear than Redskins gear....but that seems to be changing.

Last year, after LaRon Landry got drafted by the Skins I found a great deal on an official Landry jersey and bought my first non-Lions (I was a season ticket holder for many years) football jersey. My Redskins gear as of now consists of that jersey, a hat, and a pair of workout shorts I basically just wear around the house. Still, not that bad.

Today, while looking to see what deals I could find on Amazon I came across a Redskins garden gnome. I don't have a garden, but I am still considering it. Other deals I found and considered, or am still considering, include an ugly mousemat that just happened to have a Redskin logo (I do need a new mousemat after all), a garden flag to go along with Mr garden gnome, and a magnetic helmet decal for my car (pictured above). The browser tabs to these items are still open, even though I haven't added any of them to my cart yet....but I am still browsing.

My hope with this post is that I can use it to gain a little perspective while doing my online shopping. At a time where I am cutting my spending in as many areas of my budget as possible, I sit here and can somehow justify spending money on useless items I'd never look at if they didn't have a Redskins logo. Hopefully I can get through this with minimal checkbook damage, but we shall see.

Red Meat Reduction

It's not as if I eat red meat on a regular basis, but I probably eat a lot more than I should so this is my next food to cut from my meal rotation.

The other two foods I've cut back on have seen mixed results so far. I still haven't had even a sniff of bacon since I stopped eating it more than two weeks ago, but I did break down this week and had some chocolate chip cookies. It's been a lot harder avoiding chocolate than I really expected, with Haloween less than a week ago and my birthday being today, but after today I should be able to keep away from chocolate for the rest of the year. Although, I still reserve the right while in DC to suspend the chocolate ban if need be.

It would be irresponsible of me not to say something about the election yesterday. I am happy to see that Obama did in fact win, as I was worried that our voters would somehow botch this election too. What I am happiest to see is that Prop 2 in Michigan (expanding stem cell research) looks to have passed. I was worried the terribly misleading ads being run by the religious right leading up to election day would dissuade many voters.

There are a ton of moral issues on state ballots across the country this year that I am interested in, and will be checking throughout the day to see which ones passed and which ones failed. It's amazing how cut and dry many of these things seem to me, yet how unlikely they are to be resolved in the way I think is right. Sometimes I feel as if our country is slipping back into the dark ages, hopefully some of these states can prove that false as I read the results today.