Run Forrest Run?

BudLiteGood morning, y’all. It looks like Spring is finally here. The March winds seem to have waited until April, but all other indications are on track for another record rise in global temperature. I’m hoping to get all of my landscaping squared away before it gets too hot to venture out. I even made a trip to the landfill to donate some items that Mulva felt were no longer worth hanging on to. I can visualize where some things can be pressed back into service with a couple of coats of paint, or a little elbow grease. Mulva seems to not share my vision. I think she figures that when you can buy new at Walmart for the same price as repair, you should buy new. I kind of like the challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I’ve spoken many times about how “challenged” I think the folks at Channel 11 are. Yes, I’m using the word in the politically correct sense that would have previously been filled by “retarded”. I’m not sure where or when the word “retarded” got outlawed, but I’m willing to follow along with the current politically correct useage. I looked up the definition, by the way,  and it says, “less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age.” The definition sounds like exactly the word I want to use, and doesn’t seem nearly as bad as folks make it out to be. I guess it’s all about perception and point of view.

Anyway, the reason for this particular rant is a piece done by Jeff Hullinger on the sports segment of the Channel 11 news last night. He had just rightly tore into the Braves management for putting a substandard team on the field. Hullinger was doing a really good job of it. The Braves are now 0 and 9 for the season, and Hullinger suggested half price tickets and concessions might be in order. I follow his logic. If the team is only putting forth half an effort, why should the fans pay full price? It was right of Hullinger to suggest that Brave’s management might be looking forward to next year. I’m sure all of the folks in Cobb County that have invested in the new Brave’s complex are really looking forward to all of the profits generated by fans following a team that has no pulse. Hullinger was spot on, and then he lost his mind.

A little blurb line appeared across the screen about Nick Chubb, and I sat down to watch the news. If you don’t know the story, Nick Chubb is the all world running back for the University of Georgia who was on track to beat every record ever made. He was a high school legend, and promised to continue his meteoric rise right through college into the Pros. Unfortunately he was hurt, and in a gruesome manner that is rarely seen. He tore the muscles and ligaments from the back side of his knee, which is almost unheard of. Whether he would ever return was a big concern for all Georgia football fans and the fans of Nick Chubb. I say fans of Nick Chubb because he is genuinely a good man and exemplifies all of the good qualities one would look for in a person. His hard work to recover and return to the team as soon as possible is but one example. It was the results of Chubb’s rehabilitation that Hullinger wanted to talk about.

Somewhere in the midst of showing tape of Chubb practicing without his knee brace, some “challenged” person at Channel 11 decided to show clips from the movie “Forrest Gump”. The specific clip was when Forrest was running from the bullies and ran so hard he broke free of his braces. In the movie, Forrest continued to run faster than anyone and garnered a scholarship to the University of Alabama, where he was allowed to play football until his eligibility ran out.

I guess the question I’ll be asking the folks at Channel 11 in my letter to them is, “are we supposed to think Forrest Gump and Nick Chubb are similar because they are both fast runners that attend Universities in the South, or because they are both mentally challenged white boys, or all of the above? It would be great to think that the folks at Channel 11 are “color blind” and didn’t notice the comparison between a fictionalized white boy and a real black man might be a little off kilter. The comparison to a mentally challenged white boy should have set off warning lights all over the station.

I guess I can go to Forrest’s Momma for the answer, “stupid is, as stupid does”.