It's 9AM
Did They Just Jump the Shark?
If you’ve picked up a copy of the BATTLEFIELD Z series, you know I’m a big fan of The Walking Dead.
Which means I gave Fear the Walking Dead a try.
I didn’t like it at first.
I watched it on television for the first two episodes and decided it wasn’t for me.
Boring.
But when it hit Hulu with two seasons, I binged it.
It’s still not my favorite, at least until they introduced John Dorie.
Still, I enjoy the show now and like the crossovers with The Walking Dead.
Especially since they killed off all the main characters from the original FEAR series (except 2) and brought in a lot of new people AND made if feel like just a storyline in The Walking Dead.
They have Showrunners who do this, and that’s why a lot of stories FEEL the same. They are the same, or the producers fall in love with an actor and want to GIVE them more screen time. (Hello Morgan, can we chew any more scenery on how tortured we are?!?)
Last episode, they committed a cardinal sin.
They jumped the shark.
Way back in the heyday of sitcom television, a little show called HAPPY DAYS was number one.
The actor Ron Howard wanted to spread his wings into directing so producers took fan favorite The Fonz and made him the star of the show.
In what has been voted the worst thirty minutes in television, at the end of one season, The Fonz water-ski’s over a shark trapped in a big circle net.
I remember they froze the shot with him flying over the water…
And you had to wait until the Fall premiere to see if he made it.
As a young kid at the time, I was pre-occupied with getting Lost in Space and how I would escape all the quicksand traps out there waiting for me on my adventures.
I was preparing for flight school to fight cylons and mad that I was a smuggler and not an X-wing Jedi pilot.
I wondered if the Fonz was going to make it for about five minutes, then built tree forts, and chased lightning bugs and built campfires in the backyard playing tag in the dark.
This week, Fear The Walking Dead jumped a shark, I think.
They painted their characters into an impossible corner where ANYONE who survives is going to die. Slow and sick and painful.
Now I’d like to see how the Showrunners get out of it.
But I feel like they painted themselves into a corner, and whatever they come up with is going to induce a groan.
Or worse, a click to a new show.
A double death blow for the show which seemed to be getting better, but kept making small mistakes that just might kill it.
We’ll see.
I won’t get to see television this weekend. We’re headed to Fort Smith for a tournament.
Plenty of baseball, we hope.
We are playing up an age bracket and our record against 11 year olds isn’t always pretty.
I try to remind #10 that even when they don’t win, if he learns something, it’s good.
But getting beat over and over again can have some lasting impact on a 9 year old mind.
Which is why we try to highlight all the little things the team did right and remind him that this game is just a game.
Good losers set an example for others.
At the tournament last weekend, we stayed to watch some teams play after we were eliminated.
One team lost by one run on a call at the plate.
The winning team came out and tipped their hats, the losing team didn’t acknowledge them at all. Just packed their bags and complained.
They blamed the Ump for a bad call, yelled at the kids, snapped and bitched and moaned.
Not a single word about how maybe they should have coached the players better to avoid getting in that position.
Sore losers.
The winning coach walked over to their dugout and told the boys good game, and earned a good cussing from the parents and coaches who said he was being smug.
Then ripped and shot and spit words even as they were walking out, despite the fact that 22 pairs of eyes were on them all.
Watching the “adults” on how they were supposed to act when they lose.
It was shameful and graceless, and tipped me almost to the boiling point.
Because I know what’s happening.
I’m not going to bitch about a bunch of participation trophy kids growing up into everybody gets a ribbon coaches, but I am going to say something about an ass beating.
A lot of adults need to be slapped.
They need to have their ass handed to them, with bloody noses and swollen lips.
Because a good beat down will teach a lesson no amount of talking can cure.
It’s hard to be an asshole when you are humble.
Losing a fight will make you a better person nine times out of ten. It will teach you that losing anything isn’t the end of the world.
I blame my Generation for the participation trophies though. Because a lot of kids my age didn’t make the team, didn’t make the cut and hated the way it made them feel.
They wanted to make sure their kids never felt like that.
And I can’t say it’s all that bad. I don’t want my kids hurt, physically or even their feelings.
It’s a catch -22.
I think what bothered me most about the poor sportsman on the losing team was two fold.
It wasn’t the first time they had acted out- two tournaments ago they refused to leave a dugout when they lost, causing a half hour delay to the next game.
And I wondered what they thought they could accomplish.
Was the Ump going to come out and say, “You know what, you lost, but here are your rings because we just want you to leave.”
Or “You’re right and the rules are wrong, sorry, our bad.”
Whatever happened to losing gracefully?
I can’t control the other teams. I can’t control the epidemic of ass-holery in this world, people crying out for a good slap across the face.
Hell, I imagine if I slapped someone who earned it, they would grab their gun and go on a killing spree.
So no slapping.
What’s the recourse then?
What can you do? What should you do?
Stay home and watch TV?
Not when the sun is shining, and the boys are ready to swing some for the fences and go for the W. Maybe learn a thing or two.
Maybe I could learn by watching them.
Because while we were watching the championship game, a couple of kids played cup ball in the grass behind us. The bases were made up, and uneven lines.
The ages were 4 or 5 all the way to 11. There were kids from different teams with their younger siblings. #10 was in the middle of it all.
They made up a game and played it right beside the real one going on.
And there were kids from the Blazers (losers) and the BallHawgs (winners) in the mix too.
Their coaches could probably learn a lot from watching them.
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You are so right! It seems that the adults act like spoilt brats and the kids are looking at them are thinking that's how they should behave or are ashamed.
At the end of the day - it's a game and to some more than a game but it should be played in the spirit of friendship and " good game but we'll get you next time" vibe.