Signs of the Times, Issue No. 150 - 03/29/11

In the next three minutes, we're gonna work hard, work out, and get you "Fit to Fly"!

Greetings to one and all. Today we take on the toughest topics of all. Topics to be discussed: a funeral for a friend, my racist life, more reasons why Twitter is king, and at least one reason why you're glad you flew with Air New Zealand. But first, I defend Jimmer Fredette yet again. On we go!

**QUESTION TIME!!**

Q. "Hey A-Town,

Are you a big Rick Reilly fan?  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705369492/Really-Rick-Reilly-Jabs-at-Jimmer.html"

Just wondering,

- A Loyal Subscriber

A. I usually enjoy reading Rick Reilly's articles, yes. ESPN's opinion writer has had some funny articles in the past. I wasn't impressed with Reilly's latest rant centered around recently dismissed BYU star, Jimmer Fredette. (See Reilly's article here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6257636) Don't get me wrong - I'm not the biggest Jimmermaniac in the world. I think he doesn't even try on defense. I think he can be a sloppy ballhandler. I think he stands around off-the-ball on offense until he gets the ball passed back to him. But you don't see me comparing him to Moses and blaming his turnovers on his Bible study, do you? Do I think Jimmer is better than Pete Maravich? No. Do I think he's better than Danny Ainge? I don't know. It always bothered me when people said Max Hall was the best quarterback in the history of BYU (still makes me gag). But hey, Hall broke Detmer and Young's records, Jimmer broke Ainge's records... That's got to stand for something, I guess. As a journalist, DJ, and writer, I'm used to speaking my mind every week. But I've learned that there are ways to voice your opinion and present criticism without coming off like a complete jerk. (Obviously, I'm still working on perfecting that art.) Rick Reilly was rude, insensitive (especially to the Mormon religion), bitter, biased, and at times just plain contradictory. I'm not entirely sure what made Mr. Reilly so upset when it comes to the BYU Cougars, but I just hope that he'll rip UConn's Kemba Walker in a similar fashion if/when the Huskies lose. (Not going to happen.) Dan Patrick was pretty accurate when he categorized BYU's sharpshooter not as overhyped or overrated, but overcovered by the media. I agree! I have nothing personal against Jimmer. I think he's the player of the year in college basketball... but hearing about Jimmer day in and day out, via telephone on Sportscenter before and after many of his games, and on three of four status updates from each and every BYU student, no matter how sports-savvy, I got annoyed by Jimmermania after a few weeks. Ugh. But anyway, Reilly is a moron and I was sickened by his unnecessary commentary last week. Oh, and I'm sure all you angry BYU fans would like me to put Rick Reilly in theBoo Box, right? Well, to make up for all the times that I've offended you people, here you go. Everybody together now - BOOOOOO!! And remember this date - March 29, 2011 - as the day that I, the Utes fan, defended Jimmer Fredette yet again. What will really be shocking is the day when you Cougars ever defend the University of Utah. Hmmph!!

Jimmer just got Jimmered by Rick Reilly and he's not happy about it.

If you have a Question for the Newsletter, let us know. We'd happily answer your inquiries.

While we're talking about sports, this would be the appropriate time to eulogize the long-debated Utah Jazz. The Jazz fell to a new low last night, losing to the lowly Washington Wizards in Salt Lake City. Washington, one of the worst teams in the NBA had only won a single game on the road all season going into last night's game, which I knew meant they had an extremely good chance of beating the Jazz. Bad things always seem to happen to my teams - the worst things, in fact. Last night's overtime loss completed the Wizards' sweep of the Jazz this year, pushed the Jazz further below .500, and (as if the last two or three losses hadn't already) solidified the fact that the Jazz's season is over. No playoffs, no more wins this season, and, thankfully, no more stress. I'm done watching the Jazz this year. We still have to play the Lakers twice, the Spurs, the Nuggets, the Hornets, and a couple other teams that are absolutely going to beat our injury-ridden squad into the dirt and I don't see a point in spending three hours of my time watching that. Call me a fair-weather fan, call me disloyal, whatever. That means nothing to me. I love the Jazz, I always will, and, perhaps most importantly, I love them enough to know when to move on. There is more to life than sports and when things get this bad, I'm smart enough to know when enough is enough. Like I said, bash me if you want, quote my Newsletter and post it on Facebook again if you really want, try to portray me as a disloyal fan, but if you really think the Jazz still have a shot at the playoffs, open your eyes, people. One more win by Memphis and one more loss by the Jazz and you'll have to accept the truth for yourselves.

So it's come to this...

Here's another exciting adventure in my life that you people may enjoy: I was accused of being racist last week. Like, seriously, seriously accused. By an African-American. Wow. That's P.M.U.!! Racist?? Really?? Apparently this disgruntled K-UTE DJ had grown a little irritated with the K-UTE staff (which I'm notactually a part of anymore) over the past year or so and he decided for some reason to take his frustrations out on me, the former Program Director. He emailed me to discuss a few things he was not happy about with our website, which is currently being cleaned up and revamped. He then further vented his anger by asking his family and friends on Facebook to let him know what he should do about his "racist boss." He mentioned my name and told his friends how they could find me. Luckily, I have my profile set to private so only my friends can see my information. I received one friend request from one of his buddies, but other than that, it was all right. My favorite part was when one of his friends apparently went to my profile to see whether or not I was racist then commented on the DJ's status: "I didn't see anything [offensive]." Heh! After further conversation, I believe we've reconciled our differences (or his differences, I should say), and I think I've been cleared of any charges of racism... which is good because the last time I checked I definitely wasn't a racist. Not entirely sure where all this came from. Glad it's over. It was stressful.

Twitter continues to be better than Facebook. Waaaay too much drama on Facebook. Obviously. Twitter is great - probably because I only have 72 followers and I only know like 10 of them. I kind of hope it stays that way. People get offended way too easily and I've found it very difficult to offend Twitter-ers like @UofU_Events, @2kSports, and this brother that just followed me, @YouRockGuitar (whoever that might be - and for whatever reason he is following me... no idea...). I feel like people don't care about 99% of the things I say, but that's kind of nice, and, quite frankly, ok with me, compared to Facebook, where people will call you out on the tiniest of offenses. What does this teach us? A) That people love to find fault in and worrying about others and B) that people spend way too much time on Facebook. On a somewhat-unrelated note, I kind of wish I had a fake Twitter account. I think you could probably be hysterical if you had a fake account. (And when I say "fake," I mean satirical, not intentionally falsified.) I'd create an account for a fake pro wrestler and then tweet about his frustrations, struggles, and comical adventures in the squared circle. I've found a couple sarcastic accounts for Darth Vader that are pretty funny. Take these tweets, for instance: "I always felt like I had a shot with Lois Lane, she seems to like guys with capes and special powers." "This phone I am tweeting from is not the Droid you are looking for." (@DepressedDarth) That's some good stuff. When all of you leave your dumb Facebook profiles behind and join Twitter (which you eventually all will), feel free to follow me - @atownmania - but I reserve the right to block (and never unblock) any of you if you choose to be offended by anything I tweet. My tweets are not offensive, so the mere fact that you may actually be offended by them would be quite the accomplishment. And yet, some of you manage to do it anyway. Good thing it's not Utah football season anymore. Am I right or am I right?

Darth is depressed.

Have you people heard about Richard Simmons' latest cameo? Air New Zealand's newest pre-flight safety video features our favorite bedazzled fitness guru and a dozen of other neon-clad helpers showing flyers what to do in case of emergency. Check it out: http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/richard-simmons-stars-in-creepy-new-airline-safety-video--2621?nc What do you think? I think it's hilarious! At the bottom of that article is the stereotypical pre-flight video (courtesy of Delta) and it's BORING!! The Simmons instructions are a little strange, yes, but I would seriously laugh out loud if I hopped on a plane and that came on. That is awesome! Fans of "The Amazing Race" will enjoy a short, hilarious cameo by Phil Keoghan, as well. I just hope airlines don't get carried away and have any Charlie Sheen instructional videos. I'm not sure I could handle that.

Hilarious.

The Shoutout of the Week goes to....................... my brother Cody, who I inadvertently hit with a tennis ball from point-blank range the other day. Sorry about that, man. I only wish you'd have kept the camera rolling. That would have been classic.

That's about it for this week, folks. Seems like the Newsletters keep getting shorter and shorter. Maybe I should get out more. Hmmmm... Well, have a lovely General Conference week and I'll catch you peeps next Tuesday. There are exciting times yet to be had.

Until next Time,

Move It. Sell It. And Leave the Door Open.

Aaron