The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I was going to write about this earlier, but having read ESPN senior writer Ian O'Connor's recent article, it appears as if he took the words out of my mouth with regard to the Odell Beckham Jr. situation and I thought I'd share that. Having watched a good chunk of the Carolina Panthers/New York Giants game on Sunday, I was both befuddled and slightly irritated to hear so many sports analysts and columnists place the full blame on 2nd year Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for the, at times, ugly skirmishes during the Panthers' 38-35 victory. Granted, it appeared as if Beckham definitely lost his cool for a while, he was rightly flagged on three separate occasions, and deserved both a fine and a one-game suspension for his unruly and potentially dangerous behavior. Having said all that, though, let's not pretend Carolina Panthers' defensive backs Josh Norman and Cortland Finnegan were completely innocent here. Before the game even started, Norman allegedl...

In light of the new college football playoff rankings, ESPN staff writer Heather Dinich wrote an interesting article today, entitled, "College Football Playoff contenders judged differently according to committee's 'eye test'" (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14101809/college-football-playoff-selection-committee-making-clear-distinctions-teams-using-own-eye-test). In this article, Ms. Dinich contends that while the playoff committee still takes strength of schedule and quality wins into consideration while ranking teams, it appears as if the "eye test" may be the most important component of all, and I tend to agree with her. The problem with this is, though, as Brad Pitt said in the film Burn After Reading , "Appearances can be deceptive." While I've been on board with a playoff in college football for a number of years, I've tended to favor computers deciding the most deserving teams rather than people. The reason for ...

As long-time readers would know, I don't get personal very often, but in light of some recent headlines, events, and chatter, I felt the need to do so. More than any other, I think a majority of writers despise the following questions and comments:  - "Writing isn't a real job; anyone can write." - "When will you finally go out into the real world and get a real job?" No, I don't know what constitutes a real job from an imaginary one or what separates real work from fantasy work, but almost nothing riles a writer more than comments and questions like these.  Like most jobs, there are definite pros and cons to writing. A major pair of pros are convenience and flexibility. Most days, one can get out of bed, make a cup of coffee, and start working at the computer having not showered nor changed. Whether one is a morning or a night person, he or she can typically work during the time they feel most alert and productive (this of course vari...

I just read an article entitled, "If You Don't Like Criticism, Don't Put Your Stuff Online" by Jody Thompson, and felt the need to respond. No, I'm not really going to go the ironic route and criticize her column about being prepared to take criticism when posting stuff online, but felt the need to elaborate a bit on what she wrote. First off, nobody likes criticism. When asking a group of people what they enjoy (more than anything), you're never going to hear these people say this: Chuck Denardo: "I enjoy rafting in baby-pools." Lucy Pickens: "I like disco dancing on the interstate by myself." Frank Buckets: "Every now and again, I can't help but like to skinny-dip in puddles after a big storm." Sophia Ruiz: "There's nothing I like more than being criticized." Sorry, not going to happen... Granted, criticism kind of comes with the territory of, well, being alive. If one is working, one leaves thems...

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like if/when I release a book just prior to a weekend, after feeling a sense of relief, proud, and excited, I'm bummed the start of that next workweek. I wonder if this is common at all when dealing with big projects. While the book(s) themselves caused quite a bit of stress and I may have some more white hairs because of them, for me at least, writing is/was the easy part. After celebrating the finished projects over the weekend, I now have to focus on marketing the work - which, for me at least, has never been easy. While I'm not as introverted as I once was, I do refer to myself as an extroverted introvert - I may be introverted at my core, but am typically comfortable in most social settings. However, this doesn't typically include talking about myself - my work, in particular. I've always felt a tad strange when doing that. It also might be due to feeling slightly vulnerable and fearing criticism. While us writers ...

Not only has the new Coca-Cola commercial sparked outrage amongst conservatives due to "America the Beautiful" being sung by Americans in different languages, a gay couple featured in the commercial has also had a similar affect. Here are some of the tweets regarding this portion of the commercial: - "Apparently, Coke had a gay couple in their super bowl commercial too. Appeasement much?" - "Holy cow did I just see a gay couple in a commercial which also mentions god? Way to go coke" - "While tweeting my hate of #coke cause of the language thing, I missed the gay dads part. What, no time to show an abortion too? #dickheads" The ironic part about all of this is the fact that the writer of the song "America the Beautiful" is Katharine Lee Bates, who happened to live with Katharine Coman for 25 years. After Coman passed away, Bates published a collection of poems about her former "partner." That's right - the writer...

While I know you're all smart businessmen (people) and investing in a writer probably isn't the wisest of business moves, if any of you like what you've read in this blog (or elsewhere), are feeling extra generous, "ballsy," and awoke this morning with Christmas joy in the early part of February, please don't hesitate to contact me at CRozniecki@gmail.com. By the way, Mr. Warren Buffett, did I mention I was born and raised in Omaha?

Recently, I read an article by a writer at the Huffington Post who defended over-using the word "like," and it "like" made me want to scream. The writer is one Madeleine Crum and the title of the article is, "It's Totally Okay To Say 'Like.'" Yes, it just gets better from there... I'll focus on four paragraphs of Ms. Crum's article, all of which come toward the very end of it, where she starts by saying this: "'Like' can serve two important, or at least forgivable, functions. The first is to allow a certain tentativeness to a spoken thought. Extroverts, like 'Valley girls,' are prone to thinking while they speak rather than before they speak, which means their language is more likely to include filler words, used while thoughts are being formed." This is an "important," or at least "forgivable" function of the word "like?" For some reason, I'm not thinking public speaking...

I hate being so hard on ESPN writers, but over the past few months, I've been noticing wretched articles with increasing frequency. The latest one comes courtesy of Phil Sheridan, and is entitled, "Kelly gets first taste of Vick turnovers." The article came in light of the Philadelphia Eagles 26-16 defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs last night, where Michael Vick was picked off twice in the first half - his first two interceptions of the season (compared to 5 touchdowns). Sheridan started his article with this: "Now Chip Kelly knows. Since January, when he was hired to replace Andy Reid as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelly has dismissed his video record of quarterback Michael Vick's habit of throwing footballs to the other team. Kelly didn't know Vick's reads on the 24 interceptions he threw in his previous 23 games. He didn't know whether a receiver ran the wrong route or an offensive lineman missed an assignment. So h...

Andrew Martin of Yahoo! released an article today entitled, "New England Patriots: Tim Teobw is Helping Team Without Even Stepping on the Field." My reaction to that is, isn't that the only way Tebow can help the team? By not playing? Also, I can only imagine how it makes Tebow feel to read articles like this. Call me crazy, but professional athletes love to compete, and love to actually play their respective sports. It's not every day you hear a conversation like this one: Player: "Okay, coach. I'm ready! I trained really hard this off-season and think I'm going to be a great contributor to the team this year! Let's do this!" Coach: "I think you can contribute this year as well." Player: "Really, coach? That's great! Just great!" Coach: "You didn't let me finish. What I need out of you is some solid cheerleading off the bench. Come up with your own cheers - make them catchy, and be a positive force o...

ESPN is at it again with another awful article, this one written by Pat Yasinskas. It revolves around 2011 #1 draft pick Cam Newton - quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. In the article, Yasinskas writes the following gems: "...Yeah, I'll even step out on a limb and say he (Newton) has a better 2013 season than Wilson, Kaepernick, Luck and RG III. Why? Several reasons pop to mind, but let's start with this -- Newton has more all-around talent than any of those guys. Luck can pass nicely, but opposing defenses don't have to game plan for his running ability. Wilson, RG III and Kaepernick each have some throwing ability, but they aren't pure pocket passers, and their big 2012 seasons came largely because of their mobility. Newton is capable of more than any of those guys, because he's as mobile as RG III, Kaepernick and Wilson. At the same time, he's as good a pocket passer as Luck." and "But you can't overlook Newton and the Pa...

For whatever reason, I had a hymn stuck in my head upon waking this morning. No, I have not heard this song in probably 15 years, since I last went to church. When the song was playing in my head, however, I had to chuckle some. I thought to myself, "I wonder what would happen if those whom took all scriptures literally also took all hymns literally..." The chorus of this song goes as follows: "He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." Well, at least we now know where Jesus is - this writer's heart. I can just imagine this person going to the doctor for heart troubles, and hearing back regarding the test results. I imagine the conversation would go something like this: Doctor: "Well, I have here your test results..." Writer: "...and? What's the problem?" Do...