A Bold Olympic Prediction...

That looks shopped



Today at lunch, I was discussing the olympics with some of my coworkers and friends.  We started out talking about how Ryan Lochte dominated Michael Phelps in the IM then nemisised him again by preventing Phelps a gold medal in his second event with his shortcomings in the 400M relay.  And how ridiculous it is that Jordyn Wieber is eliminated from the gymnastics all-around because of a "questionable" rule that limits the amount of competitors in the finals to 2 from a single country.  And how the men's basketball team might be as dominant as the '92 dream team.  Then the conversation eventually made it to the opening ceremonies, the time when the host city comes onto the center stage and gets the opportunity to show off.  We compared the ceremony from the Beijing from 2008 to London's earlier this week.  The conversation eventually led one of my friends to comment "You know what would be a great city to host the Olympics?...Detroit." (Sarcasm)

This comment was clearly a cheap shot (Mayweather-Ortiz) directed at me, being a person who was born and lived 12 years in Grosse Pointe, a northern suburb of Detroit, from a New Yorker.  We all just kind of laughed this comment off (C'mon it's Detroit) and went back to work.  Later in the day, a friend sent me a Yahoo! link that listed Detroit as the number one Olympic snub because it applied, and was ultimately denied, to host the Olympics...guess how many times? GO! I think Lebron's got this.

WRONG AGAIN LEBRON.  The correct answer was, in fact, SEVEN times, the most recent being in 1972.

This got me thinking, why not Detroit?  Why can't Detroit host the Olympics say by 2040?   I predict they will.  Yes, Detroit is a city that is down.  It's dirty, crime ridden, corrupt, and in economic turmoil.  But behind all of the burned out, abandoned buildings, a beautiful skyline of a once thriving U.S. city exists.  Beneath every overgrown field is the once freshly cut grass of Tiger Stadium, where the Tigers won 2 World Series Titles.  And buried beneath every newspaper clipping headlining theft and murder are the great historical stories of the birth of the American auto industry in the "Motor City." 

Seriously? Why not Detroit?  As a country, have we not seen enough of our "joker" side?  The side that dyes their hair orange and shoots 70 innocent people in a movie theatre.  The side that sees a homeless man on the side of the road, and instead of helping them, beats them up and eats off 70% of their face. (Yes that actually happened).  When are we gonna see our "Batman" side?  The side that will do anything to save a once great city, no matter how much it seems like a lost cause or how much that city itself resists.  I mean imagine instead of Detroit standing up to America during the Super Bowl and saying "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do."  It's the United States of America standing up to the World during the Olympics and saying "This is Detroit, a city that hit rock bottom and we brought them back up to the top.  WE are the Motor City, and this is what WE do."  That would be pretty cool.

So can Detroit recover from being denied the Olympics 7 times, it's crime rates that are way above the national average, it's absolutely depressing look, it's corruption, and it's economic problems and the economic problems of the great state it in which it resides by 2040?

...Maybe we should give them until 2048.

Goodnight Cathy.

What's my name again?

STEVE HOLT!!

If I'm going to get to know you, maybe I should let you in on why people are calling me names other than Steve, my Saber Tooth Tiger and friends.

Nicknames. Nicknames, nicknames, nicknames.  They are an intriguing part of life, aren't they?  First you destest them, then you accept them, then, finally, you embrace them.  Anybody can call you a nickname, but only your real friends know why and how you got your nickname, and make sure they stick. Since you are all my friends, I will give you the low down on some of the more interesting and impactful nicknames I've had in my life.

First, we're going to go all the way back to middle school, when I had the nickname Stephenengland.  Yes, that's right, my full name was my nickname.  One day riding the bus (dude, the bus sucks) somebody decided that my first and last name flowed together so smoothly that he began calling me Stephenengland.  It stuck instantly.  Everybody started calling me by my full name at all times.  I was Stephen Gregory England and had the nickname Stephenengland.  That is, until high school and the absolutely memorable times on the high school football team.

Now, I was not the fastest person on my football team, or the biggest, or the strongest, or the...oh what the hell? Let's face it, I wasn't athletically gifted in any way imaginable.  However, to my teammates on the great H-Town Eagles, I will always be known as Gunz.  Oh Yes, welcome to the Gunz show.  I don't really remember the exact origin of this nickname, I think it was sometime during a weight room session I was lifting, and a coach walked by and said "C'mon Guns", or something like that.  But this name really stuck. First with my teammates, then all around school, even some of the teachers may have referred to me as Gunz one time or another.  Definitely the most funny, and ridiculously ironic nickname I've ever had.

In college, I got another nickname related to my real name.  I was introduced to somebody, now a friend of mine, who heard my name Steve England and said "What, like Steve Holt?"  To which I obviously responded to by raising my hands in the air and yelling "Steve Holt!" imitating everybody's favorite dumb jock from TV's Arrested Development.  To that group of friends, I am now forever known as Steve Holt!.  That name has been written on walls on bars all over East Lansing, and now when I return, there are multiple occasions when I show off my Steve Holt! impression.

Finally, we get to present times.  College and high school are over, but I still managed to be more familiarly known as a name that is not my own.  Today, I am known as Scott, Scotty, Scott Schwarzinger, or Schwarz.  It started months ago, when I was mistakenly called Scott during a presentation I gave at work.  Three friends were in attendance, and just looked at me and smiled when I was called Scott.  I instantly knew that my days being known as Steve were officially numbered.  I obtained a last nickname while golfing, involving a mispronounciation of the Slazenger brand golf ball.  But anyway, Scott has gotten way out of hand.  I now have to introduce myself as "Steve, but you may here people call me Scott" or "Nice to meet you too, my name is actually Steve though."  I am pretty sure there are some of my friends who have never called me by my real name.  It also started a trend where all newbies to the group were given new names, like Kyle or, of course, Cathy, my Saber Tooth Tiger.  (C'mon, you didn't think I would disclose the real name of my Saber Tooth Tiger, did you?)

Well, sorry for the long post, but I had way too much fun writing it. 

Goodnight Cathy.

Hello World

Haha, Python^

This is an introduction.  Hello Blogosphere, great to meet you.  This will be an absolutely amazing blog providing my thoughts, opinions, experiences, or whatever else I feel like writing about.  This blog will be anything I think my Saber Tooth Tiger would like to hear about before falling asleep.

Maybe I should give some information about myself, the author.  My name is Steve, well, it might be Scott, but we'll stick with Steve for now.  (I'm sure that will come up at some point.)  I am an electrical engineering graduate of Michigan State University, currently living in Fort Wayne, IN after living in MI my entire life.  By the way, Michigan is statistically the best state.  I love sports, I will post about sports, whether you or my Saber Tooth Tiger wants to read about it or not.  I like meeting new people, experiencing new experiences, and trying new beers, and I look forward to sharing about them all.  I could be anywhere, but I'm right here, and I'm living life right now, and I want YOU to know all about it. 

Well, that is all I have for my first post.  I hope you are as excited about this as I am.

Oh, and as for the awesomely unique name for this blog, I'm sure I'll eventually tell the story of how it came about.  But, I will hide it in a blog post and only allow the most dedicated readers learn where it came from.  You should want to hear it, it's a pretty funny and ridiculous story. 

Well, now that's it.

Goodnight Cathy.