Baseball has been one of my passions since I was about 5 or 6 years old. I clearly remember anxiously awaiting my Dad to bring home the Stars and Stripes from the base in Spain so that I could read the box scores and keep up with the Red Sox. My father, and his father, are from Boston. I was born a Red Sox fan. I remember the agony of 1975, Bucky Fucking Dent, Bill Buckner, Aaron Fucking Boone, and of course the pure, unadulterated joy that was the 2004 post-season. I still have 5000+ baseball cards from about 1975 through about 1982 in boxes in my closet. Until this season, I re-watched Keeping The Faith every Spring just prior to Opening Day. I cried as I watched it every Spring, just to prior to Opening Day. I never got around to my annual re-watch this year because I was too busy obsessively keeping up with the English Premier League, but we will get to that in a minute.

Although never an obsession, my interest in the NFL has been waning over the last several years too. I’ve been thinking a lot about why that is. What could have changed that caused a 48 year old dude to suddenly become a passionate EPL fan while drifting away from the two sports that he grew up with? I think several things are at play here, some external to me, and one issue that is all about me.

The problems with MLB and NFL have been well documented so I probably don’t need to rehash them here. There is a lot going on with the major professional sports to cause a thinking person to lose interest. However, I want to focus on the personal side of this, what happened to me to cause me to drift from my one true sports love.

I think it all goes back to 2004. I grew up a passionate Red Sox fan through the 70s and 80s, and continued on as an adult through the 90s. Even with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and Foulke on the mound in Saint Louis 1 out away from a World Series sweep, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, because the other shoe always dropped on the Red Sox. Of course it didn’t that year, and that changed everything. A few years later the Red Sox were up against Colorado and I wasn’t even worried. I was totally relaxed through the World Series, not that the Rockies ever seriously threatened.

My love affair with the Patriots is similar. They were pretty much the laughing stock of the NFL when I was a kid. While all my friends in junior high had their Cowboys and Steelers logo jackets from Sears (remember those?) I had a Patriots jacket. I took a lot of abuse for that jacket, but it never occurred to me to jump on a bandwagon and follow a popular or winning team. It took character to stick with the Red Sox and Patriots back then. I was proud of that character, and in a way I was a character in the story of the ever suffering Boston sports fan. Let’s face it, the Patriots are the bad guys today. They win, the push the envelope on the rules, and their coach is kind of a dick.

And that, I think, is the crux of the change. It doesn’t take character to be a Red Sox or Patriots fan these days. Hell, we’ve become the very thing we used to hate; the big money, well run teams that are always in the running. (Ignore the last two years for the Red Sox). The story of the Red Sox and Patriots that I loved ran its course. That book is completed. It’s on the shelf. I can pick it up and remember it fondly as I thumb through the pages, but I never experience the joy of reading it for the first time again. The story of those teams now is the story of big money well run franchises. Where is the fun in that?

I’m always the first person up on Saturday morning, when soccer is on here in the US. At first it was just background noise while I messed around online, read, or whatever in those quiet hours I had to myself on Saturday mornings. However over the course of last fall I found myself watching with more and more interest, starting to understand and appreciate the game of soccer. Then I started looking forward to Saturday and Sunday mornings, so I could drink tea and watch soccer. After a while I started thinking about finding a favorite team. I did some research and immediately ruled out the big money teams that always win, so no Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United or Manchester City. I thought I would be a Liverpool fan because of the Red Sox connection, but actually that seemed to turn me off. I decided to just relax and try to watch every team and see what happened. What happened is that I started seeking out the Southampton Saints each week. So I did some research on their background.

Their story is that as a smaller city on the South Coast of England they will never have the money of the London based teams, so they put together one of the premier youth development programs to make their own talent. They went bankrupt a few years back and got bounced all the way down to League 1. New management put a 5 year plan in place to get back to the Premier League, they did it in 3. Now after 4 straight years in the EPL, they’ve finished higher every season, this year finishing 6th, only 3 point from a Champions League slot. It’s a team that lives on the edge, having to sell off players before they get too expensive and reinvest in younger players. They are basically the Tampa Bay Rays of EPL, and I fell for them hard.

And that is when I made the connection between the Red Sox, Patriots, Saints, and Purdue. I’m a tortured sports fan. Sure, tribalism and regional pride play a role in the teams we choose to love, but for me it’s the story arc. Apparently I like tragedies, and the Red Sox and Patriots are no longer tragedies. Getting to know some Southampton fans on Twitter it feels like the comments section at Soxaholix pre-2004. Sure they are having a great year, wonder how they’ll screw it up? We had a great season, wonder who they will trade away in the off-season? It all sounds very familiar. It sounds like home, metaphorically speaking, in a sports sense.

So what happens if Southampton pulls a Leister and wins it all next year? Well, we all know that won’t happen, and even if it does I’ll always have Purdue. They can always be counted on to break my heart.

Note: I have not abandoned the Red Sox. I have my MLB.TV subscription and I’m quite enjoying this season, with Ortiz retiring and two minimum wagers in Holt and Travis in the starting lineup. But then, the Ortiz retiring story is kind of a tragedy, right? But it’s not the same. The passion is gone. I don’t expect it to ever come back.

I’ve survived another M3 Rock Festival. This year I skipped Friday because the line up didn’t seem to be worth the effort of getting up there in Friday traffic. Based on the Facebook comments about Vince Neil’s performance, I probably made the right call.

The Friday lineup.

• Kix
• Vince Neil (using Slaughter’s band)
• Lynch Mob
• Britny Fox
• Enuff Z Nuff
• Gabbie Rae
• 86 Bullets

We made it to the pre-show tailgate party at about 10:30 AM on Saturday. The grills were grilling and the drinks were already flowing.

This cool and crazy group of folks that appreciate the music have formed around a Facebook group and we meetup at whatever shows we are attending, with M3 being the high holy days of 80s rock. We missed the first three sets because I was more interested in beer and food at 11 AM than music. So we didn’t see Every Mother’s Nightmare, Heaven’s Edge, or Faster Pussycat.

So the first band we heard was Steelheart. I remember their name from back in the day, but they were never one of my favorites. They sounded good though, and the performance vibe was of a band happy to be playing, so yay Steelheart.

Adler was up next. They played one Adler tune, which sounded like something Marilyn Manson would have recorded, and 5 off of Appetite for Destruction. Adler has had his challenges with addiction so that the fact he is playing music for money in 2016 is a success in a lot of ways. It just sounded like a very competent hard rock band covering GnR. There was nothing wrong with any of it, but not particularly noteworthy either.

Next up was Firehouse. I was never a Firehouse fan back in the day, but damn those guys come to play. I’ve seen them twice now at M3 and both times they killed it. So props to Firehouse for still playing like it’s 1987.

In the worst scheduling decision of the night, Y&T got a short 1:30 PM set. Seriously? Who made that decision? They of course sounded fantastic and acted like they were headlining a major arena, which is exactly what you want out of a band you are paying to see. I need to see them do a proper headlining show before they call it a career.

Next up was Quiet Riot. I still think they should be touring as something other than just “Quiet Riot” but there is no criticizing the performance. They were tight.

Following QR was Stephen Pearcy. I would have rather seen a Ratt tribute band. They at least would have appreciated the audience. Pearcy seemed to radiate a complete lack of interest in what he was doing, and almost some self-loathing that his career has come to this – playing the songs he wrote in the early 80s. His set list was 100% off of Out Of The Cellar. I saw Ratt headline a small club in 1998, and he wasn’t good then either. So I guess I can’t ignore the possibility that he was like that in 1986, at their peak.

FWIW, Out Of The Cellar is a fabulous record and an achievement 99% of all musicians will never reach. If that is his legacy he has nothing to be ashamed of.

Slaughter was up next. Slaughter’s band was awesome. His drummer Zolton Chaney is a maniac. Slaugher’s vocals were way off though. I don’t know of it was the sound man or him, but a lot of the set just sounded like somebody screeching over a kick ass rhythm section.

Now we get into the final four of the night.

Night Ranger was first. Night Ranger was my first show way back in 1984, and they are still a fantastic live band. Even though the must have more than enough cash to retire and take it easy, they play like they still have something to prove. I hope they have a headlining show nearby this summer as I would love to hear them do their full set.

Tom Keifer was up next, and IMHO he won the night. I’ve seen him 3 times in the last year and I thought he was on in every way possible tonight. He hit some screams I haven’t heard since Cinderella, and he did Purple Rain to honor Prince. Now he needs to get a new album out!

Queensryche was the first headliner to play. What is there to say? They had the most involved stage show, with coordinated video for the entire set. It did seem to me that Todd wasn’t quite hitting the high notes like he usually does. He seemed to be holding back a bit – maybe due to the damn chilly weather, or maybe he is fighting a cold or something. Of course, Queensryche on an off night is still very, very good, and the set rocked. They pulled out Screaming in Digital for the encore, a song I’d never seen live before.

Tesla closed down the show. There is some chatter among friends that were there last night that Tesla seemed off. I didn’t notice it, but by then I had been standing on concrete in damp chilly weather for 10+ hours, I was tired, and I was starting to think about the bed at the hotel. So I wasn’t paying close attention. By off, what I mean is some hardcore Tesla fans perceived a lack of interaction among the band, and a general vibe of them not being super happy to be there. Anybody can have an off night, so who knows? Maybe they were fighting with the promoter over money 10 minutes before they went on. Hopefully all is fine because we need more new music from Tesla.

So a general success, but I feel like M3 needs to shake it up a bit. Kix headlining every Friday night, Tesla headlining 2 of the last 3 years, it’s all getting a bit predictable. I could see not being super excited to go next year just on the merits of the show. Now if some far flung 80s metal friends want to make a weekend of it, I’m all in. Roger? Tim? James?

via Flickr

My buddy Hart Brachen just came back to daily writing after taking a year off from the Internet. Of course, he was returning from the award winning cartoon blog Soxaholix. I don’t have quite that kind of track record. However, I have written at least weekly more or less on average since 2001, until this year. As I type this I’ve got one blog post up in 2016. Kind of sad, eh?

Hart’s return has sort of motivated me though. I am writing this blog post after all! I am feeling the itch to start creating again. My media consumption to media creation ratio is way off this year. The challenge I’m having is deciding what to write about. The stuff this blog has generally been about just isn’t scratching the itch.

Homeschooling: I’m done – over it. One kid graduating from college in a couple of weeks, another killing it as a sophomore. I’m a retired homeschool activist, and nobody wants to hear me yelling at the young homeschooling parents to get off my lawn.

Sports: Well, my one blog post this year is about soccer. Mostly though, with so much sports content on the Internet, I don’t really have that much to add. I think I’m lacking the passion needed to really write about sports. My relationship with the Red Sox has settled into a comfortable middle-age marriage where neither side is ever surprised anymore. I’ve grown bored with the NFL and barely pay attention. I’m in an abusive relationship with Purdue Sports, but that schtick is done much better elsewhere on the Internet. The only team I’m really fired up about these days is the Southampton Saints, but the goofy American learning soccer blog idea just doesn’t sound like it has legs.

Politics: My son writes about it on Facebook, so I don’t have to.

Music: Does the Internet need another 80s music blog? I will say though that you should totally check out The Defiants. It’s the most 80s thing you’ll hear all week, and I mean that as an extreme compliment.

Technology: It’s my job, so writing it about over a beer in the evenings doesn’t get me excited either.

It’s not just writing either. With two adult kids my picture taking is down to selfies when I’m out with my wife, or odd stuff I may see on my commute. I doubt I have 50 photos in the 2016 photo folder.

So how do I get my creative mojo back? Waiting for inspiration isn’t working, it probably never does. Do I just start writing regularly again, and hope that over time the quality follows? I do think there is something to the idea that if you want to be a writer, or photographer, or web designer, or whatever, you need to just do on a regular basis, and that the inspiration will follow.

Back in the day I had ideas and opinions, and damn it, I was going to share them. Today, I’m much more meh about, well, everything. What I haven’t figured out is if that is just aging, or not writing leads to not caring. If I start writing again, will I start caring again?

I guess there is only one way to find out.

Back before Christmas I realized that I was regularly spending my weekend mornings watching the Premier League. Yep, without trying or even noticing, I had became a soccer fan. So of course at some point I need to pick a team to follow. I have, of cour…