If there ever was a time to fly the American flag upside down, the time is now

 

The Democrat machine has failed this country.

The Republican machine had already capitulated to their own dangerous power grab lead by someone who has no idea what is the Constitution, much less able to defend it against all enemies from within or abroad. I could say quite a bit about that person, however today is not the day for name calling and mudslinging.

Today is sad, depressing, scary, and even worse we are in desperate times. We must rely on the Democrat machine to find a reasonable candidate who can actually be President and not come up with horrendous public policy and deal with serious foreign adversaries. Trump caters to our enemies and yet the monsters behind Project 2025 do not care. Heck I think their program even caters to our enemies.

The only other option standing right now is Robert Kennedy Jr. and no. I read his Fauci book and no. Granted he did make a couple of good points, but overall he is so far from mainstream thinking and with no proof for his wild conspiracies he is no better than the rank and file populace on social media drawing Trump in superman clothes and spewing some of the wildest fiction known to man.

Yes I have been saying for years we need new parties. And I know if I say anything right now it appears that I am gloating. Unfortunately for 2024 the ability to produce another major party or strong enough independent candidate may be too late. I hope not, but the 4^th of July is next week. This seems to be a weird time line to cross without a decent candidate.

Things are so desperate that I was thinking in my bed last night and it was late so maybe I was tired that the military should step in to protect us from the madness on the right and support an independent candidate. I had to write that down so the realization I am desperate would stick in my brain.

And yet maybe a few of Trump’s old Cabinet that is not supporting him might look good right now. Obviously Liz Cheney would garner some interest, but MAGA world would tear her up in such a horrid way it would be an injustice to put a human through that stupid madness.

There are a few names in the Democrat world that if they were to try and nominate them they guarantee Trump’s victory. Think 2016 for one example. I say just don’t. You have already lied to us enough with the Joe Biden debacle. Do not make things worse! And you know she is sitting on the sidelines just all up in herself to go.

Whoever let Joe Biden get this far should be arrested, not via the MAGA nonsense, but the actual fact they put our country in a precarious position on the international stage. We have too many people that want to see this country fail. You have got to think they are chomping at the bit to push us to the extreme. Some might.

I heard someone mention the 25^th Amendment last night. We are probably close to that being a reality, but before they do that they better get a new Vice President. I have nothing against Harris as a person nor as a qualified administrator, but as a politician in DC fighting against the MAGA world, the Freedom Caucus and the middle school class of Green and Getz et all our government would become a dystopian nightmare and then we are heading into whatever Trump and Project 2025 would bring us.

If there ever is a time to fly the flag upside down, now is the time to do it.

It is all phenomenal

 

in your head.

Writing is fun, however it is also work. I can think of a thousand stories and they run rampant inside my brain for hours, days, weeks, years, but putting them on paper can be difficult.

And I am not talking about the physical act of forcing myself to sit at a keyboard, which can be difficult too. I am talking about to make that phenomenal story work you have to make it realistic, believable, coherent (that helps), and a whole of host either points to be made, or keeps the readers attention, to keeping facts in line and drama that must be cohesive to create a story from start to finish.

I spent half a day doing research for a story I am writing. And then you start questioning how much research must be done. What is enough that a reader feels the information in the story is believable and based in some reality without boring them with details that have nothing to do with the story. And all this research only moved about half a chapter along.

And then no matter what, somehow somewhere someway you will still miss something. This is the intangible miss. What works for one reader, may only partially work or not work at all for another reader. What is too much, not just research, but story, description, dialogue or fiction? Yes, can you have too much fiction in a story. I think so. There are all these lines to be drawn, characters to be developed, stories within the story to get to where you, the author, thinks it should be. Yet again, not every reader is going to be on the same page as you.

With some physical work you know when you are successful. You can clean a window and look through it with a light behind it to see if you missed a spot or there is a streak or smudge. Everyone can see the window and pretty much come to the same conclusion it is clean or needs more work. With a story, that doesn’t happen.  Someone will be glad to tell you there is a smudge or mud spot or the edges are smeared in a story, but everyone sees it differently. And you do need to have someone or a few people point those out, but they didn’t write the story and their interpretation may not be how you want the story to be read.

In some ways writers and authors who stick to a genre can find an audience and that audience can understand a clearer picture of what you are trying to say. And yes they may have some research to do, but with sticking to this genre they know exactly how much glass cleaner to put on to clear up the spots. And over time their research is already built in to what they are doing. For example Tom Clancy became very adept in writing stories like “Hunt for Red October”. He had very specific research he could do to flesh out his story and make it very realistic for his readers. And then there is authors like Stephen King, hard to say what kind of research he did to write “The Shining”. Did he visit old hotels, study mental illness or what? I am suspecting he did some of both and much more to make “The Shining” so impactful. And he can fall back on years of writing in one genre every time he writes a new book. Somewhere early on though he had to break through that invisible barrier to find the ability to make sure his window was clean for his readers.

And professional writers have the same problem in a different way. Their audience knows the topic. They have to research in great detail and cannot have gaps or glaring errors. And then there are people who have to write for one person. Much of what attorneys write is for a judge. And each judge has their own personality. Do successful attorneys study not only the law, but also the judge?

I enjoy writing. Even after spending half a day researching it was a joy to flesh out the story with the details I included. Once I got started it was two hours later before I knew it. Yet for the life of me I have no idea what people are going to see. Or most likely people may never even see the window. And if they do, can they see my complete picture? Or what points or thoughts are covered up by inconsistencies or incorrect research or is just boring. I cannot see that because in my mind it is all phenomenal.

 

And switching gears I am struggling with the upcoming debate on Thursday. I do not like expressing negative thoughts or desires for people to fail. Yet I am hoping that my prediction that both Trump and Biden are going to come across as two old farts that cannot keep it together come true so the Republicans and Democrats are forced to do the right thing and give us two new candidates. I still won’t vote for either, but since so many of my fellow countrymen and women are stuck in the duopoly’s rut I can at least hope for better choices for the people that will vote Democrat or Republican until they come to their senses and realize we need new major parties. Who knows maybe the MAGA/GOP fissure may end up creating a center right party that comes up with some practical public policy, especially in regards to our economic situation. We need to cut spending, shake up the tax code, build in better protections for consumers since corporations are overly focused on stock price, not their actual business and customer. And as you know I could go on. Anyway I bet most of you aren’t going to watch anyway, but even though I hate being negative I hope this event is one big eye opening failure.

Cheers

Left, right it doesn’t matter

 

Nowadays it is hard to find true commentary, well I say that and I read some frequently. It seems so different though. When I was young, you could read multiple columnists either syndicated through your local paper or weekly either in Time, Newsweek, U S News and World Report and more.

Political commentary was an art form. It was a joy to read and so much so that a friend and I tried to create a column similar in style to Evans and Novak for our campus newspaper. He did the leg work so I do not know what happened, however it was never approved. He said it was because of the name we choose, yet I think it was something more. We were definitely conservatives on a liberal campus. Our two first names when combined create the name of someone famous. Our plan was to separate the names by a comma. We were pre social media instigators by playing off another famous celebrity to get our names out there.  Again he said they balked at our wanting to use this trick, however we both would have changed if it allowed us to write. Apparently they didn’t offer for us to change our name.

We were two different conservatives, he was a true Reagan conservative and I was still in my infancy of being a conservative and already had what I now call contrarian conservative opinions, yet they are conservative through and through. Our goal was to tackle the same issue and expand a broader conservative viewpoint. We had hoped to break some new ground. Don’t have regrets in life, however I wonder if we were given the chance would I have taken more courses to improve my writing to help us out. That would certainly help me currently.

Nowadays though you just do not have the same feel and with social media it is more about the clicks than the content. And try talking about public policy, no one even knows what is liberal or conservative policy. Okay, you can label a few policy initiatives as liberal or conservative, but not as many as you might think in my humble opinion. With so many politicians trying to stay relevant in social media or on the national news outlets they do not break down what they are trying to actually accomplish.

Previously columnists would tear apart even their own side’s public policy to try and affect what was being done. They worked hard to dissect what the government was doing or influence public opinion with well thought out arguments. Today, sheesh not so much.

And people label themselves, yet the label is more about being on a side than understanding exactly what their side stands for. And unfortunately the current crop of columnists even at their best have a limited audience compared to what is going on in social media.

George Will was a must read for all conservatives, now him saying he isn’t voting or isn’t voting for Trump or Biden was something I heard completely by accident. If you want deep content you have to know where to go. It is not at your fingertips. His relevance or lack thereof was completed by the rise of Trumpism. And Trumpism isn’t conservative policy at all, just so many people got to label it as such so here you are. A few items touch on conservatism, but true or historic conservatism, nope just noise.

Anyway it is 2024 and the closest we have to true liberal or conservative viewpoints and politicians are Elizabeth Warren and AOC on the left and I cannot figure out who on the right since they have all attached themselves like remora fish to a shark to Trump.

I don’t think not taxing tips is the same historic lower taxes of the Republican party mythology. And actually some of the tax bills the Republicans have passed are not really conservative policy by truly lowering the tax burden of the country, but shell game bills to benefit the rich, this is where my contrarian thinking comes into play; supporting big business is not true conservatism, it is just supporting big business. If the liberals had done it, would it be liberal policy?, both realistically and figuratively no, yet it is not what should be conservative policy. Fox News just finished the sell job to their masses. Grover Norquist may have had his tax pledge that the nominal rate should be reduced for all Americans yet never got truly put into play as much as for wealthy Americans. I just never bought into what he was selling would actual come into fruition for the whole of the country.

Even Obamacare was not health care reform and actually could have been a conservative action if done correctly, but it ended up being more insurance nonsense than actual changes to our healthcare expenses. He just got more people insured which kept health care costs artificially high since there were now more people that had access to funds to pay. It was supposed to force changes in costs and I think you know the answer to what happened. And it was a liberal policy because Obama championed it. Honestly if you could overall health care in America you don’t need to be liberal or conservative you just have to do it and most people will give you all sorts of likes on social media.

So it goes, you have people telling us they are liberal and conservative and will be glad to shout at you about it. Do they actually do something as a liberal or conservative? Uh, no.

And as mentioned in a previous post, what happens if both candidates come off as old as dirt in the upcoming debate? It won’t matter squat about liberal or conservative at all, you have two parties scrambling to prop up their disaster until one blinks and does the right thing and nominates someone fresh. We can hope.

As always we need new parties and candidates.

Are we really doing this, they are just two old farts.

 

I am beyond exasperated. And I try to stay positive, try not to name call or be denigrative or rude, yet, it is what it is, Trump and Biden are two old farts. They can barely walk or talk anymore.

I sent a “X” or whatever the other day to try asking what happens if both candidates show the world neither one can be President.  And I am asking here.

What happens when both candidates bomb the debate so bad that it is painfully obvious we are in dire straits with these two? The only good news is this debate is before both conventions. Hopefully the pain of watching this will be so bad that both parties wake up and nominate someone else.

It still won’t get me to vote for a Democrat or Republican, but I will at least feel better about how bad they are screwing up this country. If Biden and Trump make November, I just cannot imagine how insane things will become. There is even the odd chance that one or both could die of old age before November.

I have been convinced for decades that neither party has the best interest of us and the country. Now this is for different reasons, yet right now they have fallen so far down it is no longer about bad or unproductive public policy, it is complete blindness to what they are doing. How can either party think their candidate represents the best they can do? I know there is a MAGA problem, but somewhere deep some of the rest of the Republican party has got to be thinking what are we doing?

Anyway the first debate is this week and I hope enough of the country watches (which may be a problem since summer and no one cares) they realize HOLY SHIT! and start calling people or whatever is needed to stop this madness.

Summer starts at 4:51 pm Eastern time on June 20, 2024 which is the longest day of the year, the debate is the evening of the 21^st. I hope that this being at the end of the longest day doesn’t portend something horrible coming up.

Please watch and then please get active.

As always we need new parties and candidates.

Does anyone say Happy Father’s Day to God?

 

And Happy Father’s Day to all you readers with little ones under feet or who have flown the coup.

It seems the more we learn in science the more we realize how little we can comprehend the scope of our Creator.

There is an episode of Young Sheldon where he and his Mother are sitting on their front porch and I cannot remember the exact details, but he is explaining to his Mom that if somethings were just a bit off life would not have been created on Earth. It goes on and he eventually says that all he knows is that his Mom is the perfect Mom for him. Yes, it was a touching moment.

The point though is the more we learn the less we know of God. You have to imagine how powerful is creation that at the moment of light all life comes forth. I am a believer of the Big Bang theory or whatever will be found to be the full story behind the singular event. And then what happens, the universe forms and elements are created and then those elements combine and eventually life slowly develops until we find mankind. And then for mankind to exist there are so many factors involved how could anyone feel this is an accident or fluke.

I didn’t find God because some Jesus freak gave me a flower, I found God sitting in a science class and had the harsh realization we are lucky to be alive. I moved on to many other endeavors including going to Church, but it was the stark realization that live is so precious and so fragile and so complicated that we had to be created. And when you think about it, can you even begin to imagine who created us? Too many people try to fit God into a box they can explain. That is their first mistake.

Mankind inherently knows we were created or we wouldn’t have spent so much of our history trying to find creation. And also that moral imprint on our heart kind of thing.

So no matter what you believe, go a thousand miles from nowhere (love that song Dwight) and stare up at the night sky and just contemplate life. You might scare yourself.

Why is it so damn hard to get what we want and yes they make it so

First about 25-33% of the country is die hard Trump fans, about the same percent are oh God we need to vote for Biden and somewhere close to 40-50 percent of the country doesn’t want either but will hold their nose and vote for one or the other. There is a chance a small percentage of those of the original 25-33 percent may also be persuaded to change their vote if someone came along that they could buy into.

So if half of the country would vote for someone else why on God’s green earth isn’t there someone else? Seriously?!?!?!?!?

And on another note, if I had millions or billions to throw around I would hire attorneys to challenge every state’s laws that make it harder for independents to get on the ballot than the Democrats or Republicans. Somehow some way that has got to be unconstitutional or should be adjudicated to that point. And I would throw all sorts of money into injunctions against elections being held until those laws are changed. With how polarized our country is right now and Congress isn’t getting anything done at the moment, why not? A new Congress unless somehow one party was to achieve a 2/3 majority and completely dominate isn’t going to make any changes that will positively affect us.

The duopoly of Republicans and Democrats have survived way past any usefulness they may have had and it is time we, the people started forcing our will back upon our government. This also means we are going to have to find ways to push past the left and right media biases so a message can get out to everyone in this country who wants something new, but doesn’t understand how to achieve this goal.

Doing what is right has never been easy, yet it needs to be done. Anyone know anyone in the one percent who is willing to do the right thing. Have them email me. lol

Dear MAGA, what happens next?

 

Sooner or later Donald Trump is going to pass away. He may live until 90 or 100 or 79 who knows. Yet it is inevitable, we all pass away.

And when he does, what happens next?

Sad to say probably not much or way too much. What most people outside the MAGA world realize is this is a cult of personality. There will not be an immediate successor. And different people will try to jump in and claim the leader of MAGA mantle, but sadly it will be very sad moments for quite a few people. Don Jr. may get some play, there are a few Senators and Representatives having sold their soul to Trump will try to claim a leadership role. Overall though the people who follow Trump will move on, to what is a bit scary, but they will move on.

Trump is a dynamic personality and no one will be able to duplicate what he has going on. This will leave us in quite a strange world. Think about Russia for a moment if you will. Putin rose to power as a young person. He took over Russia and has had years to consolidate whatever it is he has consolidated. Trump is not young. Even if he wins a second term most likely there will not be much of a life afterwards.

Sure Biden is barely making it through coffee much less a campaign and every Democrat needs to figure something out by the Convention, yet the Trump world is staring down something completely different and hence the future of the Republican Party.

MAGA’s every waking moment is an obsession of Trump. So much so they cannot realize there is a world beyond theirs and that there are people who just don’t like Trump. In some ways they have an argument when they say 80 million people didn’t vote for Biden, yet what they don’t realize is that Biden received 80 million votes because quite a few people don’t like Trump. They cannot comprehend this reality. There is a slight difference between voting for someone or against someone. To this day I say Trump won in 2016 because quite a few people voted against H. Clinton. I think there are quite a few people that agree with that conclusion, but that is water under the bridge as is 2020. Unfortunately Trump convinced MAGA world that bridge never existed and he won.

Since the Republican Party has pretty much gone all in on Trump, what happens next for the Party? Sure Christie and Halley tried to separate themselves possibly for a post Trump world, who knows. Too many Republicans though cannot see beyond the tip of their noses to realize there will be a world without Donald Trump someday or more likely have chosen to ignore this fact to survive in the current environment.

Going back to 2016 I was thinking the Republicans were in better shape than the Democrats, they had quite a few candidates vying for the Presidency, many were relatively young, all had Republican bona fides, and I presumed this was going to be a tough bunch to crack for the Democrats. The Democrats didn’t have any strong candidates and what was worse they seemed bound to fulfill a self destructive course by nominating Clinton. It goes back to them being clueless elitist liberals. They are still in that same predicament. Biden is just a place holder for now. They do not have a strong developing leadership core that I have noticed like I thought the Republicans had in 2016. Then Trump ran roughshod all over them and proved they were all weak. This weakness has become even more obvious with the massive acquiescence of the party leadership towards Trump.

We are in quite the pickle as they say since post Trump the Republican Party may go into different directions with some type of hard right party with quite a few people vying to be the dear leader and some moderates trying to put back the pieces of some traditional Republican nonsense. As mentioned before the Democrats do not have outstanding people waiting in the wing so what happens next?

It is a bit bleak by the above description, yet sometimes when things get a bit wacky someone comes along and rallies the troops. Or we are going to see quite a period of uncertainty and our leadership on the world stage is going to come under serious attack from Russia China Iran and a few other countries.  And our allies will suffer a bit by our floundering around internally.

The 1 percent will try and consolidate more money and power in the possible leadership vacuum, but their power grab will not be productive for our country, our allies, and the world overall so hopefully someone with some values will find a way to pull us back to a more constructive course. I do not run around with blinders on that we will find a savior who will keep all the wolves at bay. Reigning in the madness we have let take over will take a concerted effort by quite a few people, yet those people do exist. Will they be given the chance?

Yet for today, the question is what does MAGA world do post Trump?

Stand up to social media bullying to it’s face!

Sounds wonderful, some kind of righteous fight against injustice except how do you stand up to social media bullying to it’s face when much social media especially bullying is anonymous.

As stated by thousands of articles, people and just what you read, social media bullying is a real problem. And what could it even mean standing up to it’s face?

Social media bullying at a basic level has people telling you how wrong you are, you know nothing, you belong to the wrong side, your side is evil, comments about your appearance, etc.

And do not get me wrong, if you wanted to give me constructive criticism of my writing I welcome it. Yet nowadays you cannot receive constructive criticism. It is all negative to true hate of you just because you expressed an opinion. Opinions of opinions can be good if well thought out, or even based on some underlying principles. Today though speak your mind and the flood gates of hades will open. And worse too many responses are just hate. Very few people even try to address your point or make a counter point.

“X” what use to be Twitter is a cesspool some of the time or it is people only posting to their followers to get more likes. You can say anything no matter the facts because if you are popular enough people will still click that little heart.

And then there is the real bullying. Where for some reason someone is attacked by a few people to a multitude. And this goes beyond the political realm where certain politicians are denigrated by the other side to the point of stupidity and madness. No one says anything except how _______ is that person. I am talking about where someone takes their own live or tries.

If we could find a way to stand up to that type of bullying it would be wonderful. Yet how? Again it is mostly anonymous. And with teenagers can we even track it down and worse if you have any knowledge of who it ends up being after the fact most of the time. And this is especially true since most social media bullying is around something embarrassing or perceived to be embarrassing so people don’t want to report it

Could you legislate something? Maybe but what? Hold people accountable if their bullying leads to harm, maybe manslaughter, but again how and what. And since many legislators are more interested in being popular than legislating or holding onto to their self perceived power a person cannot expect anything anytime soon.

And I don’t want to create a police state on social media either. Yet this problem shows deeper rooted issues with our society since it happens enough to make the news. So how do you balance privacy and certain privileges with the need to protect people and identify people harming others with their attacks on social media. A libertarian’s nightmare to say the least, even though I am not that much of one.

How does our society empower victims to alleviate this problem? By the fact that this is a much written topic and keeps happening shows we have a long way to go.

I might offer some way for people that receive social media posts directly or about them be able to find out who is behind the posts. It would be a more enhanced version of being able to have caller ID. Which by the way is a joke. Go back and put some teeth in that people who are the receiver of a call have every right to know who is calling. Telemarketers and others shouldn’t be allowed to call indiscriminately. Whatever technology to toughen that legislation up could be used to help with the social media problem. Or at least that is a start. And maybe a way to report offending posts anonymously to authorities if desired. This way someone can address the poster without any embarrassment to the bullied individual. This might help teenagers obtain the help they need in combatting an attack for some perceived slight or whatever.

Anyway just a thought, but something needs to be done. It is so scary to read about someone taking their life just because someone can take advantage of them anonymously or through some scam. How many times must we read stories about people being scammed for money over something embarrassing or not thinking and then a threat of a picture being posted online? Sure common sense would help prevent some of these problems, but a person shouldn’t be put into such distress that you harm yourself over these matters.

I cannot fathom what type of world my grandchildren are living in that I would have to worry about this for them, yet as a parent or grandparent it is a real concern. I just hope we, as the elders, communicate with them well enough that they can come to us when needed. Unfortunately you may never know until it is too late.

The problem with inspiration,

 

Is you can’t be inspired just because.

I have been trying to make an honest effort to really write or at least think I am writing. I have tried writing some actual short stories and many moons ago I use to just start a short story in this blog and just write on it each time I did a blog post. There are a couple of those stories I am trying to make real.

Also I think I want to go back and write improv short stories for this blog. Actually I probably should. At least maybe I can come up with something workable. Who knows?

The problem is ideas.

I sent some short stories to some publications, yet no go so far. There was one publication that wanted short stories based around a topic they choose. I sent one, yet I probably shouldn’t have. It was way too forced, but I tried. As part of their information they said it would be three months before anyone hears back. I don’t think it has been three weeks yet. At least I tried and that is the gist of it all. You have to try.

I do have ideas for full length novels and some have actual pages written. One I even wrote small blurbs on the characters so I could reference as I went along. Some I just write when I have an idea to hopefully incorporate what was written into the long form eventually. Or basically I have a few half baked chapters that are not chronologically tied together yet.

I can sit and think about the stories all day long, but actually sitting down is another problem. Yep discipline is another tool writers need. Sometimes life does get in the way and sometimes being lazy gets in the way. And that is one reason I have been concentrating on short stories. I have a few that are written start to finish and need more editing work than writing work right now.

Which brings me to the next problem and which is the lead in to this blog. Editors are worth their weight in gold. And it is hard to find someone that can truly edit. I do have friends who have taken a crack at reading through my stories and making editing suggestions, but I cannot find someone to sit down and give me honest feedback as to what I am doing. Grammar is important, but also does the story make sense to another reader is what a good editor can bring out from you. Yet you know how sensitive us artists are, we do not want to hear it. Ha ha ha

So today no politics, no sports, (cause the Mavs are killing me) no social commentary, no good advice, just random rambling about how I want to take a leap forward with what I do, but have no direction to buckle down and get it done. The one good thing is I have three stories I am waiting to hear something back on. Yet if anything like the past submissions all I get is try again or this isn’t what we are wanting at this time.

Yet like the man pushing the boulder uphill hoping to get to the top before it tumbles back down on him I keep sort of trying. Right now it would probably help if I quit taking breaks by the side of the road.

So if you read one of my future posts and all of a sudden it breaks out into a story remember, it is improvised as I go along. At least it can be fun.

Cheers

Here’s to Larry

 

If you are a Dallas Cowboy fan, you have probably heard the news. My prayers go out for his soul and to his family that they be supported in their grief.

There hasn’t been too much in detail yet and unfortunately there will probably be some eventually. I am not one to read obituaries or comb the news looking for excessive facts about a person or celebrity’s death so I will just wait and see if I run across the morbid details.

What is really important is a very important person has died and not just a VIP because of a sport, but more importantly because of who he was to his family and friends. I did not know him, but the people who did are speaking very highly of who he was to them.

I do not write about the Cowboys as much as I did nor even talk about them as much with friends and family. They are one frustrating team even as of late. Sure they started making the playoffs again year after year, but watching them come out flat at the start of playoff games and lose year after year is just mind boggling. And I am not writing to talk about that.

One play early on in Larry Allen’s career said so much to me about what type of player and teammate he must have been. I cannot remember all the details, but I do remember the Cowboys were playing New Orleans and were not doing well in that game and maybe even the year. He was a rookie or second year player. There was a turnover, cannot remember if a fumble or interception, however the New Orleans player had the ball and had one heck of a head start, yet Larry Allen chased the player down and tackled him. And this wasn’t a turn around and catch the opposing player, no this was a full fledge sprint for tens of yards down the field to tackle him. He was already out of the play by the time the New Orleans player was sprinting down the field, but Larry didn’t give up and caught him. Truly an inspiration to watch.

He was a great offensive lineman no doubt, but that play above for some strange reason stuck in my head. I can still vaguely see him running across my television set and make the tackle.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys this era has long ended. Yes we would like it back, yet for now no such luck.

This also reminds me how fleeting for a fan when your team wins a championship. As a player, winning the ultimate prize stays with you for life, no matter what else happens or at what level of your championship. For many people the camaraderie, the memories, the friendships the ultimate sense of accomplishment stay with you for life. For a fan it comes and goes leaving you wanting more. Living it vicariously is wonderful, but once it has come and gone you are left with the desire to have it happen again. Like a drug fix, it doesn’t truly satisfy like actually winning that trophy.

I did not play professional sports, no where near in fact, but I did win I was young and to this day I can still remember defining plays in my head. The lights of night games shine bright in the recesses of memory. I have seen the Cowboys win all their championships, and their losses in the Super Bowls, I stayed up until God knows what hour when the Stars won a Stanley Cup and watched with awe as the Mavericks beat the LeBron lead Heat to win the NBA finals. And of course there was the oh thank God moment last fall when the Texas Rangers won the World Series. All of those moments come with nerve wracking evenings hoping beyond hope.  Yet the details of those games fade over time and I cling like all fans to the hope of the next Championship. On a side note what is funny I do remember the time a pass bounced off Jackie Smith in the end zone against Pittsburgh or the infamous tip or no tip pass against Baltimore in those two losing championship games or the ice bowl against Green Bay and watching Bart Starr cross the goal line with about 20 seconds left. Funny how those moments stick with me as a fan. I do not know why, but I digress.

And Larry Allen was an integral part of the Cowboys for years and contributed greatly to their last shining moment in the 1990’s, yet for some reason that one play mentioned above is the one I most remember.  He played past the prime of the 90’s teams and only had one ring, but I am sure that game meant more to him than I can even begin to relate. The best I remember from that game is that the defensive back, Larry Brown won the MVP for the game due to multiple interceptions. I looked up his name just to be sure, thankfully my memory is working.

I still remember when my favorite Dallas Cowboy passed away, yet he had long since decided to live a quiet life after living a very public life. I was sad, yet it was easy to accept. Don Meredith definitely lived a full life, unfortunately Mr. Allen had a bit more of life in him.

So to all the Cowboy fans, well all sports fans everywhere enjoy when your team wins, try a bit harder to ingrain into your memory those moments because they are as fleeting as life. Larry Allen will be missed by his family and friends and a whole slew of Cowboy fans even though we did not know him personally. Let us hope we ingrain who he was as a player in our heads and who he was as a person in our hearts.

These championships we yearn for are won by individuals who have dedicated their lives to being the best at their sport and position they can be. Unfortunately, we lost a very young man for whatever reason who did climb that mountain and he will be missed. Let’s hope we remember the man as much as the player.