I love a good sports book and a good book review--and a good gripe, for that matter. As for your sports gripes, if I was a jerk I'd say, try being from Cleveland. But then our Cavs have been pretty solid lately. On the subject of griping in general, thank you. Do we think it's a particularly Midwest thing, the celebration of the gripe? I tell my husband (who's not from the Midwest) all the time that griping is my love language. That goes over like a lead balloon, as you can imagine. But I'm serious. Griping is part of our makeup, I think. And it certainly makes me feel better to hear another do it, even celebrate it. Also, adorable cat.
Thanks, Rebecca! I'm not sure if gripes are particularly Midwestern (though I'd definitely be interested in reading someone's take on regional variants on complaints), but I do agree that they are (or at least can be) an expression of love. I only tend to gripe about the things I care about:) Glad the essay landed for you. Even as I was writing it, I knew that most of my readers probably don't care much (or at all) about sports, and even less would want to hear my curmudgeonly takes on them. And yet, the urge to air grievances is strong!
I’ll get going on Midwestern gripe scholarship. 🤣 Just one example I thought of: a good friend of mine, who is from California, married a man from Detroit. She always talked about how freeing it was to be with his family, who complained about things small and large. She felt like that was not as accepted in Northern California culture, where everything is beautiful enough that there is added pressure to be positive.
Honestly, I could gripe all day about my Cleveland Browns, but I won’t!
Another gripe to add to yours: access to games is so chopped up by service, so much more so than in the era of cable TV, that it costs more than it used to. I read that a Yankees fan will need to pay a total of something like $900 in various subscriptions to watch the full season.
Re: hockey ads, I guess I’ll just have to stick with Heated Rivalry…
Ha! And yeah - the costs involved are crazy. I grew up without cable, so a ton of sports were entirely inaccessible to me, so I try to be mindful of how it’s possible to see more games for less money than it used to be, but to see *all* the games is $$$$
I love a good sports book and a good book review--and a good gripe, for that matter. As for your sports gripes, if I was a jerk I'd say, try being from Cleveland. But then our Cavs have been pretty solid lately. On the subject of griping in general, thank you. Do we think it's a particularly Midwest thing, the celebration of the gripe? I tell my husband (who's not from the Midwest) all the time that griping is my love language. That goes over like a lead balloon, as you can imagine. But I'm serious. Griping is part of our makeup, I think. And it certainly makes me feel better to hear another do it, even celebrate it. Also, adorable cat.
Thanks, Rebecca! I'm not sure if gripes are particularly Midwestern (though I'd definitely be interested in reading someone's take on regional variants on complaints), but I do agree that they are (or at least can be) an expression of love. I only tend to gripe about the things I care about:) Glad the essay landed for you. Even as I was writing it, I knew that most of my readers probably don't care much (or at all) about sports, and even less would want to hear my curmudgeonly takes on them. And yet, the urge to air grievances is strong!
I’ll get going on Midwestern gripe scholarship. 🤣 Just one example I thought of: a good friend of mine, who is from California, married a man from Detroit. She always talked about how freeing it was to be with his family, who complained about things small and large. She felt like that was not as accepted in Northern California culture, where everything is beautiful enough that there is added pressure to be positive.
Honestly, I could gripe all day about my Cleveland Browns, but I won’t!
Another gripe to add to yours: access to games is so chopped up by service, so much more so than in the era of cable TV, that it costs more than it used to. I read that a Yankees fan will need to pay a total of something like $900 in various subscriptions to watch the full season.
Re: hockey ads, I guess I’ll just have to stick with Heated Rivalry…
Ha! And yeah - the costs involved are crazy. I grew up without cable, so a ton of sports were entirely inaccessible to me, so I try to be mindful of how it’s possible to see more games for less money than it used to be, but to see *all* the games is $$$$