Jump on the Bandwagon? No, I'm on the Fan-wagon

Let me start off by saying that someone paid me the nice compliment the other day of asking if I had been working out. I have been working out, but that isn’t the point. The point is that they noticed a change in my appearance due to this workout routine. I trust this person because they are not a close friend or anyone who would stand to gain from paying me a compliment. They are an acquaintance from class who knew me in the spring, didn’t see me over the summer, and is now in my consulting group this fall. So, I thanked them for noticing and then gave a conceited comment to reinforce my high feeling. Something along the lines of, “I look damn sexy; of course I’ve been working out.” I can’t help it. Sometimes that side of me, the overzealous, self-righteous, self-absorbed Aaron comes out for a bit to play. Mostly I am modest, self-controlled, and humble, which has worked for me so far, but doesn’t bring quick results. I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m not all “nice guy” Aaron who doesn’t ruffle feathers and isn’t conceited. Sometimes I’m “that guy” Aaron who knows from years of family reunions and boisterous family members that “it is hard to be humble when you’re a Hansen.”

I forgot exactly what I was going to talk about today. I have a list of topics I want to cover at one point or another, but I’m too lazy to pull that up right now. I had something lined up to talk about earlier this morning, but by the time I’ve gotten around to writing this…it is gone. Oh, I know what I can talk about. Something that is near and dear to my heart. If you know me, you know that my love for this runs as deep as my love for my family or a good beer. The Texas Rangers are my heart. If you have watched any sports related news or picked up a paper then you would know by now that the Rangers have made it to the postseason for the first time in over ten years. This has created a little bit of a Rangers fever in the DFW metroplex that has been compounded by them winning their first two playoff games. I was listening to sports talk radio on the way in to campus today and the “experts” on there are talking World Series berth. They’re debating who would be the best team to face in ALCS. They’re touting Rangers manager Ron Washington as manager of the year. It is all a little overwhelming for a true fan like me. The die-hards like me always talk like this at this time of year, when the rest of the sporting news is talking Cowboys, Stars, and Mavs. It is the first time I have seen a true bandwagon following for the Rangers.

I don’t believe in bandwagons. Ask my brother and he will tell you that he admires my commitment to my teams, rain or shine, without fail. With the Rangers, it goes deeper than that. The Rangers have been a part of my life since I could remember. Our folks would take us to Rangers games as kids. I had a poster of Nolan Ryan, dressed as an Old West sheriff, on my wall in my room. There’s never been a point in my life that I didn’t own a Rangers cap of some kind. Never a point in my life that I wouldn’t watch a Rangers game over another show. Never a point in my life that I didn’t dream of running out on the field at old Arlington Stadium or Rangers Ballpark to take the mound and throw an opening pitch. Needless to say, I love the Rangers.

So, it does bother me a little when the whole Rangers playoff bandwagon gets rolling. Nothing against extra fans, because the Rangers will need all the fan support they can get if they are going to face a national powerhouse team like the Yankees, but it does bother me that in six months these people won’t give two squirts about the Rangers. Sure, Opening Day is always packed, but that’s either because we’re playing some national following team like the Red Sox or people want a reason to skip work. Let me give you an anecdotal example of this bandwagon ridiculousness. I went to a game last week with a friend and my brother and sister-in-law. We are all Rangers fans. My brother and I had a mini-plan of tickets this year (can’t afford season tickets yet). My friend follows the Rangers and went to practically every game with me that my brother didn’t go to. We are real Rangers fans…they are our team. Sitting behind us was what appeared to be a couple from the area and some friends of theirs who were visiting from out of town. The man from here was stumbling and bumbling over facts about the team the whole game. He misidentified the order of first basemen we have had this year. He didn’t know who was traded in the Cliff Lee deal. He didn’t know the names of the base coaches. He was a hot mess of misinformation about the Rangers. Then he said something that got my ire. He said he was a fan and had been following the team all season. If he had, he would know that we started the season with Chris Davis at first base, then Justin Smoak, then Mitch Moreland, then Jorge Cantu, then to platooning Moreland and Cantu. If he had read any newspaper in DFW near the trade deadline he would know that we traded infielder Justin Smoak, pitchers Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke, and infielder Matt Lawson to the Mariners for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe and more than $2 million in cash. And if the dude had spent just one night in front of the TV watching a Rangers game, he would have learned that our first base coach is Gary Pettis (5-time Gold Glove winner) and our third base coach is Dave Anderson (member of Dodgers' 1988 World Championship). Fans, true fans know this stuff by heart. Bandwagoners have to guess or squint to see the names on jerseys. Sad.

Confessions of a Wannabe Truck Driver

Alright…so I spent a splendid weekend in Missouri. All of you out there are now thinking, “how do you have a splendid weekend in Missouri?” Well, first of all, you have to realize how long you’ve been in your home town without leaving it. This should depress you enough to make you want to leave town and go anywhere…it won’t matter where, just anywhere. Then you have to weigh your options of where to go. Financially, the places you absolutely want to go will probably be out of your reach. Let’s say I wanted to go to Hawaii…I can’t afford to go to Hawaii and pay my bills for the month. So you whittle it down to where you can go. Finally, you wait for a friend to ask you to go with them to said place. Once you have the backup of someone going with you, you are set. You are away from your home town, not spending yourself poor, and with a friend(s)…splendid.

Seriously, I went with my best friend Jon and his wife to Missouri to see his little brother play some college football. Let me see if I can some it up in a few sentences. It was an eight and a half hour drive and we took my increasingly unreliable truck (smart). We stayed in the Quality Inn which is not as bad as it sounds, but not much better than you think. My room was relatively nice…apparently Jon and Bekah’s was not. We went to dinner at a not terribly good, but terribly bad Mexican restaurant (you don’t realize how good you have it living in the melting pot of Texas until you dine out in other states). Got to see Jon’s little brother’s place, which was awfully nice. Got up the next day and had the free continental breakfast. Went to the college bookstore to get some game day gear, which was interesting but not terribly noteworthy. The game was not great (they lost), but it was fun to see unpretentious college football. The weather was weird, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. We had a little tailgate after the game. Then we went over to Michael’s for game night and a night cap. Other points of interest: we went to Wal-Mart twice while we were there; I had a mini-fridge in my room that served to keep the beer cold for a day; Missouri is actually a really pretty state; my truck made it all the way there and back without incident.

Ok, now what you really come to my blog for…pointless interesting thoughts from me. I realized something while making the entire drive there and back myself. I didn’t have to; it was more of a choice than a requirement. I didn’t want Jon to drive my truck (I really don’t like anyone driving my truck but me). And, when Jon and I made the trip to ATL earlier this summer, he drove the whole way there and back, so I was repaying him for his diligence with my own. All of that is not what I realized, though. I realized that if I would have had less ambition in life (or more, depending on how you look at it) I could have been a truck driver. Being behind the wheel for hours at end doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t have a regular sleep schedule (or a sleep schedule at all). I kept thinking the whole time driving there that I would have loved to have a CB radio. I mean, truck driving would be the way to go, if I hadn’t spent so much money on a college education. Jon even pointed out a couple of truck driving schools and companies with “drivers wanted” signs out front. I just don’t know if the trucker lifestyle would work for me in the long haul (pun).

Another thing that struck me during this epic drive was the obtuse amount of adult video stores along the interstate in Missouri. Interstate 44, which runs the length of Missouri across the southern portion, has a section running from Springfield to St. Louis called “Main Street U.S.A.” This sounds quaint and fun doesn’t it? It gained this claim to fame because it is the part of I-44 that runs almost parallel to Route 66. It is an amazing drive through the foothills of Missouri passing nice little towns with lots of tourist traps. Well, apparently “Main Street U.S.A.” has porn stores every 50 miles. These range from broken down shack type places to the more swanky joints with 24-7 video arcades (if I have to explain what an arcade in an adult video store is, then you don’t need to know). This wasn’t as astonishing as the fact that once “Main Street U.S.A.” ends going west on I-44 past Springfield there are adult video stores every ten miles. Really, how many adult video stores do you need on one piece of interstate? I guess if I was a truck driver, I would know.