A Thursday Night Blog : Consequences and Expectations of Character

There are two things that are dominating my thoughts right now. The first one is the Saints NFC Championship game and the other is the New Orleans mayoral election. I have a lot to say about the mayor’s race but I will do that next week. I have something to say before the Saints take the field but that’s coming on Saturday. I have avoided all football related media this week. I’m still working on my energy and positive chi flow for the game. I’m using local hip hop artists and brandy to assist me. That means that whatever this post ends up being you need to deal with it because it might make sense and it might not. We will see when it’s over.

I believe that all human nature and tendencies are the same no matter what the environment or circumstances are. I am a very bias Charles Barkley fan. He was one of my favorite players growing up because he played much bigger than his height. Back when I could still play ball without medical attention I used to mimic his game. As much as I love Charles I have to admit that he’s kind of reckless. He’s been arrested for DUI. He threw a guy through a window. He damn near lost all of his money in Vegas. I am watching Lebron and Kobe on TNT right now. Despite that he’s still is hosting Inside the NBA and has been on commercials since this game started. Every time one of those commercials comes on I think about poor Tiger Woods in hiding at a sex rehab clinic and losing endorsements. Tiger and Charles hang out together and I am sure Tiger is sitting in his room at the rehab center shaking his head. Despite all the wild stories about him the fact is Tiger never told anyone he was a saint. He never told anyone anything. It really doesn’t matter. Charles can be wild and crazy while Tiger can’t because the consequences of your actions depend on other people’s expectations of you and your character.

It didn’t matter how many women came out after the first one. People expected him to be above that kind of behavior in general so even the idea that he was fooling around was a big deal. That’s how it is in the world. I know some of you have a sibling that gets away with all kinds of stuff that barely gets a whisper. You can get mad and say one cuss word that sparks a family meeting and sends your grandmother to the emergency room. I hate to put it this way but it’s much easier to be that guy that people expect to act crazy. I believe you should present yourself as a person above the foolishness but you have to understand that comes with a lot of pressure to keep up every day.

That’s the Democrats problem. People don’t really expect them to get in there and put up a fight. They are the gentle and caring party. They want to do things with dignity. They carry themselves like a pre-car crash Tiger. They are boxed in by the expectations for their behavior. The Republicans are like Charles Barkley. They are in your face with who they are. They say what’s on their mind and they don’t care who they offend. Since everyone is accustomed to them acting that way, they stretch the limits as far as they can go without much backlash. At this point they can’t do what their opposition does because if they do people will be looking around wondering what got into them and they would get some backlash. I think the Democrats need to do something to help them the way Tiger’s drama helped him. They need to pick a fight and carry on in a way that is so out of character that when it’s over no one will expect that soft ass behavior all the time. Maybe then can actually control the message when they present an idea they think is good for the country instead of sitting back and getting slapped around.