Ode to The Wire

It's been a while, but I had to take my Spring Break, work's been busy and St. Patrick's Day is what it is for folks of my heritage. Although The Wire ended its run more than three weeks ago, I find it fitting for a small and most likely insignificant tribute to perhaps the greatest television show ever created. While the last statement sounds quite hyperbolic, let me explain how I came to formulate such an opinion.

The Wire was one of the few television shows, or any form of media, to expose truth to its viewers on a weekly basis. Writers David Simon and Ed Burns lived a lot of what people saw each episode. They did not try to sugarcoat the actions of the stevedores' union nor the police department. Unlike a lot of the hip hop admiration that goes on in most media, The Wire in no way glamorized life in the street; making fast money selling drugs or hustlin' to get high. The show painted a disturbing and frustrating picture of young teenagers in a system that offers few options; a police department focused on politics and bureaucratic nonsense rather than keeping people safe, a school system trying its damnedest to do right by its students while consistently failing to societal conditions out of its control, and a city ruined by crony politics, the War on Drugs and neoliberalism.

To borrow a title from one of the last episodes, The Wire was closer to a five-season long novel by Dickens than a television show. It showed how the poorest of the poor scraped by on a daily basis to obtain the necessities: food, shelter and heroine. The show depicted how city hall politicians made decisions everyday based more on their own political benefit than for the good of Baltimore residents. Furthermore, the character development of unforgettable characters like McNulty, Omar, Bubbles, The Bunk, Herc, Carver, Cutty, Stringer Bell (just to name a few) is unparalleled in any television program I have ever seen. Even the immortal Tony Soprano was not as well-developed as Jimmy McNulty; few characters have the knot wrenching inner struggle of this alcoholic, cunning, brash "real police". There has never been a character like Omar. He was a violent stick up man with a huge shotgun who would stop at nothing to get revenge on anyone who crossed his path. Yet, at the same moment, he is the only character who never cursed and was openly gay (openly gay like waking up naked next to a cornrowed Puerto Rican man gay). Despite their usual homophobia, most NFL players labeled Omar as their favorite character. With Bubbles, The Wire bought a deeply troubled, yet lovable homeless drug addict into our lives.

Finally, and most importantly, The Wire was a show that explicitly and implicitly called for social change. It exposed us to the waste of the War on Drugs, the desperation of workers whose jobs have been outsourced to cheaper markets or to machines, the frustration of police officers trying to help people but bogged down by red tape and careerism. It showed how schools that only teach to the test not only do poorly on the tests but also fail the students in the long run. It painted a world of ambiguity where drug dealers gave money to kids for back to school supplies, a murderer had morals and a cop who broke all the rules actually made the city a safer place. The Wire was entertaining, but the reality it depicts is anything but. The real reason The Wire is the greatest television show ever created is that it makes us think about the world we live in, how fucked up it is, but also that there is hope. We are that hope and we can change the fucked up world in which we live.

JV Vietnam

If you are wondering where this picture is from, I'll tell you. Although it looks like something out of Platoon, this was an image taken last year in Iraq. It is one of the last pictures taken of an American casualty in Iraq. Rules implemented by military brass last year make it extremely difficult for photographers to publish pictures of wounded or killed soldiers. One of the rules stipulates that the photographer needs written permission from the casualty. It's really hard to get a signature from someone being taken to a battlefield hospital in a helicopter and it's even harder to get a signature from a dead man.

That aside, this picture's resemblance of a scene out of Vietnam bring me to my real topic. While all the candidates, as well as the vast majority of Americans ignore Iraq, many of our young men and women are coming back dead or wounded. Hawks point to the fact that there are far fewer deaths than there were in Vietnam. They fail to mention, however, that many of our soldiers are coming back without one or both limbs, other wounds, not to mention the psychological trauma of living through such horror. There have been, luckily I guess, 3,963 deaths in Iraq since the "war" began (it's not a war if it's not declared by Congress, but only the Constitution says that). There have also been 29,133 American wounded in Iraq. That's over 33,000 total casualties in this pointless war. That's far too high a number for the people who said the war would be a rollover victory.


In Vietnam, that war continued because the fear was if we pulled out, Communism would take over all of Asia and then the entire world. We stayed in Vietnam basically over ideology. So why are we staying in Iraq? Numerous reports have shown that not only did Saddam Hussein have no connection with the September 11th attacks, but also that al Qaeda has only grown in Iraq since we invaded the country. Iraq has diverted attention (what little there would be anyway) and resources from the forgotten war being fought in Afghanistan. By the way, bin Laden is still on the loose in Pakistan. We have no real ideological reason for being there. If we really wanted to end all dictatorships, we'd invade North Korea, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, and a dozen others. Furthermore, terrorism is rarely, if ever, state-sponsored. The thing that's so scary about terrorism is that all your need is pissed off young men, money and bomb-making materials. We went in to get Iraq's oil; we all wanted gas back at 50 cents a gallon.


The reason people started giving a shit about Vietnam is that the government instituted the draft. Once that happened, all the people on college campuses said, "Hold on, man. I'm not going over there to fight your war dude." They got pissed and, in time, we completely pulled out of Vietnam. Sure, many Vietnamese people got killed and that's a terrible thing. The blood is on our hands. If we leave Iraq many, perhaps millions of Iraqis are going to be slaughtered. The real question is how many Americans are we willing to sacrifice in the process? We are going to have to leave eventually, so why delay the inevitable? Why not get out while we can still save some American lives and limbs? We won't be leaving Iraq any time soon. Most Americans don't give a shit and the Democrats in Congress (who got elected to end the war) are a bunch of bed-wetting sissies. As long as they continue to give President Bush billions of dollars to fight this war, the war will continue. Congress needs to read the Constitution, realize that they control federal spending, and turn off the faucet.


I was once told by a professor, "Politics is the most deadly profession in the world." If you want to be in politics, you need to have the fortitude to make decisions that will cause people to die. Nobody wants to do it, but leaders HAVE to do it. Our political leaders now do not have the guts to do so. It is sad that we won't leave because we value Iraqi lives over American ones.

A Hope for America

Oddly, this post will probably not be the only time I go on for a while about a 72-year-old former gynecologist. Amidst all the talk about Hillary and Obama, McCain, Huckabee and Romney (people finally woke up to realize that Rudy doesn't know anything about how to run the country), one man is forgotten. It is this man to the left. Congressman Ron Paul (R) from Texas, if you didn't know, is running for President. He has crazy ideas about things like personal freedom, constitutionalism, smaller government and ending the war in Iraq just to name a few. Of the five remaining candidates in the Republican race, Ron Paul is the only true Republican remaining. Republicans, traditionally, have stood for smaller federal government, more states' rights and more personal freedom.

Perhaps most importantly, of all the candidates both Democratic and Republican, Ron Paul is the only one who is for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi soil. Yes folks, even the beloved Barack would not bring our boys home from Muslim lands. His logic for this is simple: we did the same thing in Vietnam and Vietnam did not fall apart as hawks claim Iraq will. It is simple really, millions of people are going to die in Iraq because of the instability that has plagued that country since the British ended colonial rule in the 1920s. The question is how many Americans do we want to be part of those millions of dead? My answer and Paul's answer is, as few as possible and the easiest way to do so would simply be to leave right now. bin Laden and other terrorists hate us because we are over on their soil. Leaving Iraq would not guarantee that we would never be attacked again, but it would certainly tilt the odds in our favor. Iraq, for the other candidates, is not even a topic of conversation at the debates (to which Paul is usually not even invited despite his rather large following and fundraising capabilities), which is frightening.

Speaking of frightening, I think fear is the reason why more people and the media do not want anything to do with this man, sometimes labelled a "radical". People in this country are too afraid of freedom or they simply don't care that they have none. We think we are all free because we can buy whatever we want or watch whatever we want on television, but this is only freedom to consume. Where is our true freedom, our freedom to live in peace? I shouldn't have to worry about my emails being read or my phone being tapped. I simply want to be left alone. I'll pay my taxes when I'm asked to, but other than that, just let me live. I don't need the government to tell me what to eat, what drugs are bad for me or that cigarettes are bad. I can figure out what is good or bad for me on my own; and even if something is bad for me, it's my choice to be an idiot and do it anyway.

I guess the whole point of this diatribe is that the thing that makes America the greatest country on earth, freedom, is the same thing for which Ron Paul stands. I may not agree with all his policies, but I agree with more of his than do I Hillary's or Huckabee's. America is supposed to be the land of the free. That statement has come into question in recent years. I truly believe that Ron Paul can make America free again.

Mitch the Snitch

For all the big fans of the Quikstop Blog, I apologize for my sporadic blogging since the beginning of the school year. 12 credits of graduate work plus an overseer of a boss. Furthermore, there really hasn't been much that I've felt I needed to write about. That being said, the release last week of the much-anticipated Mitchell Report really grinded my gears.

Former United States Senator and Northern Ireland peace broker George Mitchell released his report last Thursday. The report stated that steroid use in baseball was wide-spread and that the League and the Commissioner should take immediate action. Furthermore, the report named dozens of current and former baseball players accused of using steroids and/or HGH.

Who cares?

Even the most casual of baseball fans knows that plenty of ball players have been juicing for years. Why wouldn't they? Hitting 40 homers with 120 RBIs in a season means millions for these guys with few other skills. How many among us wouldn't inject ourselves with something if it meant the chance of financial security for ourselves and our families for the rest of our lives? Professional sports are just that, a profession. The whole point of a profession is to make money. Begging, stealing and cheating are all part of the game. Hell, it's the American way. No one ever called Rockefeller or Carnegie a cheater. The Mitchell Report, through evidence which is hearsay at best, has told baseball fans nothing knew and muddied the good names of current and former baseball players. David Justice, "Mr. Playoffs" was named in the report and all he did is inquire about how to get steroids; he never took them. Regardless, his career achievements are brought into question just because a locker room attendant was trying to avoid jail time for selling steroids.

All sorts of baseball writers and commentators always talk about baseball as part of America and its history. Then why are we, as Americans and as baseball fans, so shocked when scandal arises? Scandal, cheating and corruption have always existed in American life, so why should America's sport be any different from the rest of American society? 100 years from now, the steroid era will be nothing but a minor period in baseball and America's history. It is arrogant of us to think that this is the biggest scandal ever to hit baseball simply because it is in our time. Individual players may have gained an unfair advantage but umpires weren't fixing games or anything like that (i.e. soccer in Italy).

Considering that the major focus of Mitchell's report was to "move forward and look towards the future", it is pointless and damaging that he has ruined the reputations of many a good player in an effort to tell Major League Baseball, its owners, players and fans nothing they didn't already know. Did we really need to spend $20 million to learn that Roger Clemens took steroids? Umm, no. I would have done the same thing for a pair of bleacher seats and a hot dog at a Yankees v. Royals game. The whole report is just pointless. I'm going to watch baseball next year no matter what. The whole point of people watching baseball is for entertainment. Watching baseball makes us forget about all the other crap going on in our lives for a few hours. If nothing else, steroids made the game more entertaining. We must all ask ourselves as Maximus the Gladiator asked us, "Are you not entertained?!" We were all entertained in 1998 with the McGwire/Sosa chase for 61; they were both on steroids. To condemn all these players to baseball hell is hypocritical and un-American. I am still going to love and follow baseball with a deep passion. Derek Jeter is still the man and I still hate the Red Sox (but god dammit do I respect them). Those things will never change. Sen. Mitchell, thanks for peace in Northern Ireland and thanks for wasting my time.

Shitty Wok

The media has made much of the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Beijing. Finally, this Communist country will be opening it self up to Western democratic nations. China will be putting its incredible mix of capitalism and communism on display for all the world. China has indeed made an astronomic leap in the past few years to become a world economic and military superpower. Many people say "Hooray for China!" These Olympics will be the final step in China opening up its borders to unlimited Free Trade from the West. I mean a market of one billion people who all have jobs should give even the most amateur economist a reason to wake up in the morning.

No country, however, can make such an economic and military jump forward without buckets of blood. China is the biggest importer of Sudanese oil. china is the biggest financial supporter of the corrupt and oppressive Burmese government. China is a supporter of Kim Jong Il in North Korea for they want peace on all their borders Chinese products sold in the United States and around the world have proven to be toxic at best and lethal at worst. China's government is very beneficial to the very small urban population of the country, but keeps the vast majority of its rural population in medieval times. An estimated 900 million Chinese are rural farmers; their number more than doubles that of those living in the cities (an estimated 400 million).

Perhaps worst of all, however, is China's support, whether explicitly or tacitly of the corrupt and oppressive governments of Burma and Sudan. The guns used for genocide in Dar Fur on are bought from China and the Sudanese government makes millions and is legitimized by selling most of its oil to China. China will do nothing to oust government in Burma that said results of a democratic election in 1988 were not valid. It has, by extension, supported a government that forces its own citizens into slavery with rape, imprisonment and death as the only alternatives to a life of enslavement.

So, what is to be done? I have a fairly simple solution. Since no one watches the Olympics anymore anyways, I suggest that we all boycott the Beijing Olympics. China has done nothing to earn the Olympics and sowing millions into an already corrupt country will only reap more corruption. American athletes should not go. American athletes have nothing to prove; we know we can destroy everybody in basketball, track and field, etc. If America truly wants to take a stand against a totalitarian and corrupt regime, it will not sponsor of send athletes of Beijing in August. If there is one things human beings are good at, it is repeating mistakes. Supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be repeating the mistake of supporting Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics. Let's not have blood on our hands again in the name of sporting competition.

TV Timeout

I have officially had it with ESPN. Here's why: As I always do on Sunday evenings, I check out the 7 o'clock edition of Baseball Tonight on ESPN to see all the highlights of a Sunday of baseball. Today's show had a theme. Bar and bat mitzvahs have themes, proms have themes, Sweet 16s have themes; not Baseball Tonight. The theme was cards, as in playing cards. Considering all the great pitchers pitching today, they talked about which aces were pitching and then which team had an ace up their sleeve heading into the last 6 weeks of the season and then to top it off, the top 3 Cardinals home runs of all time. To make matters even worse, Steve Berthiaume of SNY, the Mets network (Yankee fans will understand the implied disrespect), fame was host. Why in God's name does Baseball Tonight need a theme? Anybody who watches the show just wants to see nothing but baseball highlights. The whole point of the program was to cut out all the bullshit of SportsCenter and get right to what SC is actually supposed to show: highlights.

The whole episode is emblematic of the problem with ESPN. ESPN, for some reason or another, panders to the casual sports fan with their "Who's Now" (newsflash: every athlete still playing is now, they aren't "later" or "in a while") bracket and their Chris Connelly and Bob Holtzman human interest stories about retarded kids with one eye, one leg and AIDS who shoot a 120 at the local golf course. Worst of all is the ESPY Awards. Its a chance for Stuart "Looking At The Camera And The Coffee Machine" Scott, Dana "Too Tall" Jacobson, Trey "For Real Man, What's Your Real Name?" Wingo to feel important as they interview Nelly and Peyton Manning one after the other and feel like ESPN actually matters for something.

ESPN is to sports what MTV is to music. You can watch either for hours and hours and see neither sports nor music. Poker is not a sport. The Real World is not music. ESPN is an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. I would be very entertained if SportsCenter would simply show a baseball, football or (God forbid) hockey higlight in its entirety and then show complete stats, not just two lines next to the score. ESPN used to do this, but it no longer can because actual games are less important than knowing about a drug addict who runs marathons high on meth (how inspiring!).

SportsCenter, and now unfortunately Baseball Tonight have lost touch with their original purposes: to show all the days sports highlights. There is no reason for themes or popularity votes or in depth stories about steroids and dog fighting. As an avid sports fan, I just want to see highlights. If I were a casual sports fan, I would just think ESPN was lame. I know this whole thing is hypocritical as I am watching ESPN as I write this, but hypocritical does not mean incorrect. ESPN needs to take a timeout. Just go off the air for like a month or so and then realize how far away they are from being a true sports network. There are baseball, basketball and or hockey games played virtually every night, yet ESPN shows only a few (in hockey's case none) a week. It is sad and pathetic that ESPN has more time slots devoted to poker than to real sports. Sports fans only need sports and casual fans can only get into sports by actually watching them. Take a timeout ESPN, get pumped and show some full highlights.

756 Doesn't Get You 1

Congratulation to Barry Bonds for breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record last night with homer #756. Regardless of the rampant accusations of steroid and HGH use, the man still hit the ball over the fence a lot of times. In addition to that, Barry Bonds, with or without steroids would still finish his career as one of the best all-around baseball players of all time. This brings me to my point for this blog: Bonds' legacy. Sure Bonds is top in a multiple of offensive and defensive. I mean 7 MVPs, 13 All-Star selections and 6 Gold Gloves is pretty impressive even with steroids. But there is one number Bonds possesses that few seem to mention in his chase for 756. That number is 0; as in the number of World Series rings Bonds has.

Can you really consider an individual player in a team sport the greatest of all time if he has not done what it takes to help his team win a championship? Q certainly does not think so. Bonds can have all the offensive records he wants, but honestly, what difference does it make if you don't have a ring? Barry Bonds will go down in history as the Dan Marino of MLB (or I sincerely hope so). Sports fans forever will say, "Yea, he was awesome in the regular season, but he couldn't and didn't do shit when it actually mattered." In my opinion, that is the single greatest insult to be placed on a "great" player. I mean, Joe Montana doesn't have to do Nutrisystem commericials, but Dan Marino does. The difference? Championships. The same will be for Bonds. In the end, what is really the point of individual accomplishments in a team sport especially when your team doesn't win?

Q's two favorite baseball players are Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill. You won't find either one at the top of any offensive list, except maybe batting average, but they have 4 and 5 rings respectively. Why? Because they are team players. They know/knew what it takes to win as and with a team. Sure, people will always remember Bonds 73rd and 756th home runs, but no one can legitimately call him the greatest of all time because he has not fulfilled the one thing all baseball players are paid to do: win. Bonds has great individual regular season numbers, but he also has a .245 post season batting average and 0 rings. A great player, absolutely. The greatest of all time, absolutely not.