No One Knows What It's Like-Behind the Star

By Fidel Martinez * Other Fidel Martinez Posts

I was supposed to be working on something related to the importance of good television, pop culture, The Wire, and something or other. That's how I was supposed to come back to ATC after several independent projects forced me to take a long term hiatus. That was supposed to be my glorious return. Instead what brings me back today, faithful reader, is a beef and a nasty feeling of defeat I can't shake off. Yes, true believers, I make my-not-so-triumphant return by ranting on about the Dallas Cowboys, and I'm not particularly happy about this.

For those of you who have the unfortunate displeasure of knowing me personally, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, I have a confession to make: I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and have been since I can remember. It's not something that makes you popular outside of Texas. In fact, after college, I moved back to the safe confines of Austin, Texas to avoid persecution not unlike the tribe of Israel's mass exodus out of Egypt to find their own promised land . But back to the subject at hand, it becomes increasingly harder for me to stomach a Cowboys loss. It causes me great pain to watch my team lose, more so than having the nails torn out of my toes. For those of you who do not root for my team, I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me, nor do I expect you to. I really don't. Sure, you might equate my pain to that of the male, middle-class and white protagonist's in the Ben Folds Five song "Rockin' the Suburbs". Here's the thing, though. You all don't know what it's like. My pain is grander than yours. Sorry CL but being an almost dynasty doesn't compare to being a former one. Here's why.

Nothing is harder in sports than rooting for a team that was once great but can now no longer find the shadow of its former self. I feel particularly qualified to speak on this subject because I also grew up a Cubs fan. As someone who knows both kinds of defeat, having won a long time ago and falling from grace is much worse than being the perennial losers. The lovable losers do not know the sweet embrace of being in the promised land, whereas having once been champion, getting back there haunts every one of your dreams. Sure, the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, but hardly anyone ever remembers the Cubs as winning. In contrast, the Cowboys haven't won a Superbowl since the 1996 season, much less a playoff game since then. Think about that. I'm 24 now. The last Cowboys playoff victory came 13 years ago when I was a pre-teen.

Ask any true Yankees fan out there what the hardest thing about rooting for their team is and they'll tell you that it's not winning the World Series year after year. Everyone hates the Yankees, and no one knows this better than their fans. They know you hate them, but that doesn't bother them. What hurts a Yankees fan the most is losing. They expect to win year in and year out, and why shouldn't they? Theoretically they have the best overall talent, and the money to pay for that talent. Being a Cowboys fan is the same way. Everyone hates us, but that's okay because fuck those guys, they probably root for someone like the Chiefs. Rooting for a losing team is bad, but when your team is the team of Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, and the Triplets, then each loss is a god damn stomach punch. Hell, I hate the San Fransisco 49ers because of the 1990s rivalry with the Cowboys( see 1995 NFC Championship game), but I feel for them. Their pain is much like my own.

The Steve Bartman debacle is infamous in windy city sports, but if you ask any true Cubs fan out there, they'll tell you that in the back of their heads they knew something like that would end up happening. No doubt the North Siders had brought upon so much bad karma on themselves through the years (see, The Curse of the Billy Goat) that even so close to the World Series, the entire collective unconscious of the Wrigley faithful suspected that something bad was going to happen. Compare that to the 2006 NFC Wild Card Game against the Seattle Seahawks, otherwise known as the Tony Romo botched field goal. If you follow sports, you know exactly what game I'm talking about. It's one of the most gutwrenching Cowboys games in recent memory, and one of the most painful nights in my adult life. After spending the remainder of the 90s in the Dark Ages (see, The Quincy Carter Era, The Vinny Testaverde Era), the Cowboys decided to hand the reigns over to a young gunslinger named Tony Romo after having benched their middle aged quarterback Drew Bledsoe (who had earlier in his career also lost a starting gig to a then unknown Tom "Ow My Knee" Brady). While we went on to lose that game against the hated rival NY Giants, it seemed like we had finally found our savior. With Romo at the helm we made the playoffs in what seemed to be a lost season, and our once lost glory seemed to have been restored. Alas, the rest is history as shown by Youtube below . I remember that night sitting in my car outside of my parents house crying and taking comfort in a bottle of bourbon. No fan of a historically losing fan knows that pain. They expected it all along.

Your Team Sucks! Sports, Fandom, and Schadenfreude

By Fidel Martinez * Other Fidel Martinez Posts

So, it turns out that Manny Ramirez is a big time cheater. That kind of makes me really happy. Actually, it makes me extraordinarily joyful. I'm not one who subscribes to the theory that the proliferation of steroid usage has desecrated the sanctity of baseball. Steroids is no worse a stain than the legacy of racism and exclusion in professional baseball. Truthfully, if given the chance to compete, there would be more than a handful of black players that would make Babe Ruth look like Chipper Jones, or whatever other white player has the appropriate stats to be inducted into the hall of fame but whose play was not particularly memorable. My point is that racism and steroids are both blemishes on a sport that has never been that pure to begin with. So why would the Ramirez revelation bring me so much jubilation if I don't agree with the idea that rampant steroid usage is ruining baseball? Quite frankly, because so many people out there do, particularly Dodger fans.

When I first read the news, the painful memory of the Dodgers sweeping the Cubs in last year's first round of the playoffs was completely erased. Sure, Manny Ramirez had a hell of a series, hitting everything that was thrown his way and wiping out what has been one of the best seasons in recent Cubs history, as well as making my favorite player Carlos "BIG Z" Zambrano cry like a little bitch. But, he's a cheater. He's also infertile. That makes it OK. That almost erases the image of BIG Z sitting in the bench looking sadder and mopier than anyone at a Morissey concert as he sings 'Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me" from my mind. Ramirez’s suspension is the ultimate trump card. LA fans can brag about beating us last year, but hey, at least none of our players are cheaters (that we know of yet). The only thing that would have made this story even better was if we had found out he was juicing in Boston. That would've been the icing to this wonderful cheating cake.

Bad news for teams/fan-bases you hate is always good news. When the A-Rod scandal broke, every fan in Boston rejoiced with a “wicked awesome” in that awful Southie accent. While I can't stand those Massholes, I certainly understand them. A curse on my enemy is my blessing. When Redskins player Sean Taylor was shot in the crotch and then passed away after a breaking and entering at his Florida home, I spent the following season reminding each and every Redskin fan I knew how their star player died. By being shot in the crotch. I even named my fantasy football team "I Shot Sean Taylor" because there was at least one Redskin fan in my league. Was this morally reprehensible? Probably. Ok, it was definitely a horrible thing to do, but I still slept wonderfully at night. I got my fair share of "oh come on man, that's not cool. That's over the line" from said Redskin fans. Was it going really going overboard, however?If they had found themselves to be in my position, would their behavior have been any different? I received a lot of heat when Tony Romo was sacked at the one yard line during that fateful NFC wild card playoff game against the Seahawks, and while I'm able to differentiate between losing a football game and someone losing their life, the intention of rejoicing in the misery of another fan remains the same.It was all done in the name of fandom, and under that guise, what is considered reprehensible by societal norm is justifiable.

That's what I love about sports and fandom. They provide the appropriate and necessary outlet for our most primordial desires. Rejoicing in the misery of others is a wonderful thing, and to deny yourself that pleasure is inhuman. The Germans even created the perfect word for it: Schadenfreude. In an utopian world, no one would ever derive pleasure from the misery and misfortunes of others. Unfortunately for us, we live in a place that's far from ideal. Much has been written about the nature of man and the prevalent conclusion (be it philosophical or theological) is that we as people are inherently evil. I don't necessarily subscribe to this outlook, but there's definitely a case to be made for it. Everyone enjoys seeing others suffer. If that weren't the case, things like the Fail Blog, fmylife.com or half the videos on Youtube would not exist. A 2002 New York Times article about Schadenfreude and the scientific studies it has inspired argues that the principle behind such "shameful joy" is inspired by Social Comparison Theory-- a theory in which we as individuals measure ourselves in comparison to our peers. If those around us suffer misfortunes it makes us feel better about ourselves even though their bad luck does not improve our particular situation.

Social Comparison Theory works wonderfully in the realm of sports. If I invest myself emotionally on a team that doesn't succeed, I can feel better about following a bad team if my opponents also suffer misfortune. It proves that I am not the only one who suffers at the hand of their team, and I'm able to sleep better at night. Sure, i am finding joy in the Manny Ramirez's woes, but at the end of the day he will still make millions of dollars by swinging a bat for our amusement. It becomes easier for me to laugh at him for using steroids (and for using a hormone predominantly used by women) instead of poking fun of some Joe Schmo who's having a really bad day. Plus, the douche made the Cubbies look bad.

Twitter-eee, Twitter-dumb

By Fidel Martinez * Other Fidel Martinez Posts

The future is here! 140 characters at a time, but still, it is here! What am I talking about, you ask? Well, Twitter of course! I have seen the future and it's micro-blogging! Twitter's rise to prominence has been meteoric and has yet to reach its apex.

In fact, it was reported that the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has used this new form of social media to complain about poor officiating. That's quite an endorsement! You want Mark Cuban on your side and using your product to do what he does best. Other notable sports figures are embracing Twitter. Fellow Austinite Lance Armstrong let all of his fans know that he had broken his collar bone by uploading a picture of him on his twitter feed. That's devotion! No amount of pain or lack of testicle will prevent him from letting his twitter followers know what happens to him or his body. But neither Texan compares to Milwaukee Bucks's Charlie Villanueva. He truly takes the cake. Villanueva got himself in a bit of a tiff two weeks ago when he took a moment during half time to post the following 'tweet':

"In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

He was twittering in the middle of the game! That is HUGE! Do you realize what this means? In the near future, the winning dunk at the NBA slam dunk contest will be Nate Robinson dressed in kryptonite green jumping over a cape-clad Dwight Howard while twittering! Oh he so twittered all over him!

Be careful, though. Not everything is gravy with the Twitter train. Not everyone is embracing this life-altering technology. I'm talking about Jennifer Aniston, of course. She recently broke up with John Mayer because he spent too much time twittering instead of returning her phone calls. Now listen, Jen. You can't blame a guy for wanting to share what he had for lunch with his followers. If you can't understand that, then I guess your body isn't such a wonderland.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get away from this bloggity blog blog and reconvene with my family. It's my parents' 25th wedding anniversary and someone just handed me a gin and tonic. I shouldn't be spending my time on THIS. I'll just tweet about it. You can follow me at twitter.com/fidmart85.

A Nerd Manifesto

By Fidel Martinez * Other Fidel Martinez Posts

Television is evil. Not in the 'it turns your brain to mush' way as explained by Alec Baldwin in that Hulu commercial. The negative sociocultural effects it has had on the disintegration of family dynamics since the mass proliferation of the television set as talked about in Robert D. Putnam's Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is also not what makes it sinister. These are valid condemnations of television, but I'm not interested in how they affect society at large. I'm interested in the way it relates to me. This evil revealed itself to me over the weekend, and particularly last night during a bout of insomnia. Like any person who can't fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning, I decided I would watch TV online, particularly the entire first season of 'The Big Bang Theory'.

'The Big Bang Theory' centers around astrophysicist Leonard Hofstadter and his friends. A young blond woman named Penny moves in next door to Leonard and his roommate Sheldon. Immediately, Leonard is smitten. That's it. That's the whole show. Throughout the first season he strives to find a way to get Penny to notice him despite his nerdy and geeky ways. It contrasts Leonard & Co.'s intelligence but geeky and socially awkward demeanor with Penny's common sense and socially acceptable behavior. Hilarity ensues. Needless to say, as is the case with most geeksploitation shows , Leonard finally manages to get a date with Penny. That's the end of the first season.

It's a funny and clever show, and from my understanding it has quite a following. I don't blame them. I myself really like it and will now become a regular viewer. 'The Big Bang Theory' is one of a handful of shows that have seen an emergence in popularity and cultural relevance due to its portrayal of male geeks and nerds who eventually get the girl. All they have to do is be passive and wait for their respective apple of their eyes to learn from the errors of their ways. Eventually, once enough time has passed, through some slight moment of assertiveness on the nerd's behalf,they finally get what they want. This happened in 'The Big Bang Theory', in NBC's 'Chuck', in Judd Apatow's seriously underrated 'Undeclared', and in 'Family Matters’. We all remember how Urkel finally gets Laura Winslow. Great, right?

Far from it. This is wrong. The potential psychological damage that these shows could have on a generation of geeky, Weezer aficionados is kind of scary to think about. Yes, it is true that these characters are finally getting with the girl. The good guy finally wins, but at what cost? A quick comparison of all these characters would reveal that they are all chivalrous to the point where they become door mats. They'd do anything for them, and these girls realize it and in turn emasculate them. Sure, once in a while they'll stand up for themselves, as was the case with the character of Landry from Friday Night Lights (another great show) who was fed up with Tyra taking him for granted. He showed some cojones and stood up for himself, but in the end the testicular fortitude disappeared when Tyra threw him a bone and got his band a gig at a local bar. This kind of behavior, however, is more of an exception than a rule. Ultimately, these guys will do anything for these girls and everyone knows it.

What makes 'The Big Bang Theory' the worst offender is the lack of strong male characters in the show. Leonard, as described, will do anything for Penny. His two friends, Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali are no different. Howard is the geeky pervert kid who tries to seduce women but in the end still lives with his mother despite being in his mid 20s and an accomplished aerospace mechanical engineer. Rajesh is even worse. His pathos is so damaged that he is literally rendered speechless around the presence of any girl who's halfway decent. The only respectable character is Sheldon but even he has his flaws. He's such a genius that he only functions in logic and has no real sense or need for social norms, rendering him asexual. Spock-like, if you will.

So what can we deduce from all of this? Well, the first thing is that I watch too much television and have too much free time to think about these things. The second is that we need to fight back. To borrow somewhat from Morrissey and the Smiths, nerds of the world unite and take over. Otherwise, you, my esteemed reader, will just be another casualty who'll end up holding the girl's hair as she pukes into the toilet bowl thinking to yourself that one day this will all be worth it. I got news for you sunshine, it won't.

Contributor Bio: Fidel Martinez

Fidel Martinez is a freewheelin' ramblin' and gamblin' man. He hails from the great state of Texas, with a couple of stints in Chicago and Oshkosh, Wisconsin (yes, the town of Oshkosh B'gosh'). He's got everything he needs, he's an artist, he don't look back. Interests include writing fictions and elaborate stories that make you forget they're not real.

When We Was Young, Oh Man Did We Have Fun...

By Fidel Martinez * Other Fidel Martinez Posts

I like The Strokes. Is that even a cool thing to say anymore? Or was it ever even cool to say? I feel like The Strokes brought in the 'cool' millenial era in music (eg, see The White Stripes, Interpol,etc) , and yet before you could say 'hipster sock hop party' , BAM their coolness just disappeared. It evaporated like good times spent at a dive-looking bar that's not really that much of a dive, save for the fact that they sell dollar tall boys of Pabst Blue Ribbon and have pretty much everything you own on iTunes (and then some) on their digitized jukebox. Their initial hipster appeal disappeared with their overexposure, and they were discarded for something newer and more obscure.

But no, this isn't about the hipsters and their tastes, because really, are they really worth talking or musing about? Isch don't think so. Nor is this an exploration on the inherent nature of cool, because simply talking about cool makes it…well, uncool. No, this is about something else. This is about finding that one album that kind of changes your perspective of things, and it does so during a particularly impressionable era in your life. Hands down, The Strokes' debut album, 'Is This It', is the musical definition and representation of that coming of age period for this generation--for anyone who was in high school or in college (or just recently out of college) between 2001 and now. Sure there were albums released during that period that are held in higher regard (Radiohead's 'OK Computer, Wilco's 'Summerteeth' or 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'), but none of these are debut albums, nor are they really characteristic of the Gen-Y generation.

What makes 'Is This It' culturally relevant is partially due to its place in time-- its place in time being post-9/11. Inevitably, when the planes crashed into those towers, a new chapter in our history was started; confusion, insecurity, and a loss of a sense of self was the tone this tragedy set. Personally, when I saw the news, my first initial thought was 'what will become of us, what's going to happen?' These sentiments became part of the cultural consciousness and it permeated every aspect of daily life.

This confusion is manifested sonically in this album. The song lyrics are somewhat nonsensical, striving to find some level of meaning, and they sometimes come off as trying too hard, but there's a certain kernel of truth behind it. As Julian Casablancas sings in 'Alone Together',"Things, they have changed/In such a permanent way/Life seems unreal." Additionally, the actual sound reflects this disorientation. Both the vocals and guitars are distorted and dissonant, making you feel somewhat out of place, out of sorts.

Despite its somber place in history, the most significant part of the album is not an existential crisis, but instead the overall theme of good times, drunken stupors, and avoiding—while being fully aware—of the inevitable hangover that will follow. The songs (and some of the music videos for that matter) allude to this often with lyrics like 'When we was young/oh man did we have fun" (Off of 'Someday"), 'Well I am too young and they are too old" ('Hard to Explain'), and " Oh you drink too much/Makes me drink just the same" ("Alone Together"). This is particularly fitting; being young is about drinking in excess , staying up later than you should ,and doing things that you'll definitely regret. 'Is This It' is the musical landscape to our sense of arrested development and somewhat narcissistic tendencies. It's why for me, despite being a couple of years older, this album is still relevant.Adult responsibilities naturally set in, but they're not all I am. I'm still too young. At the end of the day, I know that I have to think of what I will do next. Will I go to grad school, what career path will I take? These are important questions, yes. But ultimately, what's important to me most right now is ' will I find enough buddies to go to a bar with me on Tuesday?'.

Someday-The strokes

Oh yeah, and the music itself is kind of kick ass. That's important too.