Sunday Suds vs. Dirty Politics
Posted on October 9, 2003 at 3:59 pm | No Comments
Alright, so get this.
The age old and inexplicable “blue laws” that prohibit the sale of alcohol on Sundays have long-ago been tossed in out most New England states… but not Massachusetts. As the laws disappeared around us, it caused a weekend rush of beer runs over the border, and sucked lots of tax dollars and liquor store profits outta the state.
So what did our fair lawmakers decide to do about that? Abolish the law here, too? Nawwww… that makes too much sense. Instead, they made it ok for stores within 10 miles of the border to sell on Sundays. Forget the logic that asks “What about the store that is 11 miles away? What happens to them?”. Well, either move it or lose it, right?
The political masterminds didn’t stop there, though… it was also decided that it would be ok for all stores to sell on Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why then? Honestly, I have no idea. Your guess is just as good as, and probably better than, mine.
Well, the time has finally come to visit the issue again. A new bill was voted on yesterday that would have allowed towns to issue permits to businesses that wanted to open on Sunday. A perfectly reasonable measure, don’t you think? Let the towns, and business owners, decide what’s right for them. Join our neighbor states in doing away with a ban that no longer has any meaning.
But did logic prevail? Nooooo, of course not. And why did the measure fail? Let’s see…
“The House yesterday preserved the Commonwealth’s prohibition of Sunday alcohol sales in stores, with huge assistance from some lawmakers whose districts have already lifted the Sunday liquor ban.”
Now there’s a shocker. Seems the Reps from areas within that arbitrary 10 mile zone, the places that already allow sales on Sunday, banded together to defeat the newly proposed bill.
Shameful? Yeah. Despicable? Sure. Surprising? Nope.
Equally unsurprising are the religious nuts who oppose the bill because they want to keep a law that helps in “distinguishing Sunday from other days.” Let’s see… isn’t Sunday the day you have church services? Doesn’t that help the faithful flock remember what day it is? Let’s see, what else… oh yeah, the paper’s a lot thicker that day. Will that help? Sunday is also distinguished by the fact that it’s the only day that comes right after Saturday. Will that remind you to bring in the sheaves? Yeesh. I haven’t even mentioned football, but that’s only for five months of Sundays.
Waitaminute, what happens during the month-long holiday period where you actually can buy alcohol on Sundays? Do all the church-goers suddenly forget to show up? Do they ignore their ‘day of rest’? “Honey, I just went to the store and bought a six-pack… and I can’t for the life of me remember what day it is!” “I’m sorry I didn’t show up for work on Monday, boss… I bought a box of wine yesterday, got sloshed, and totally forgot about the start of the workweek. I blame the temporary suspension of our trusted blue laws!”
Alright, I’m done. My brain hurts.
The Obligatory Red Sox Post
Posted on October 9, 2003 at 10:40 am | No Comments
Alright, that’s it. I have to say something… I just can’t keep it in anymore. Non-sports-following types please indulge me for a moment here. I’ll try and make this quick (yeah, right).
My name is Brad and I am a Boston Sports Fan. There, I said it. It’s out in the open.
Growing up in Vermont, I loved baseball from a pretty young age. I followed the Blue Jays, the Reds (my dad was a die-hard Cincinnati fan), and the Expos… but the Red Sox were my team. Yaz, Pudge, Rice, Burlson, Dewey, Remy, Eck, Lynn… I felt like I knew them all. I was a little leaguer, a pretty ok pitcher, and a Topps baseball card collector right up until high school.
For some reason, as soon as I hit the 9th grade, I left that all behind. I traded the baseball cards for comics, focused on schoolwork and hanging out more with my non-jocky friends than trying out for any JV teams, and completely stopped following sports altogether. I did have a few friends that played football, baseball, and ran track… but it was just never my thing.
When I hit college and hooked up with the radio station kids, I couldn’t have been more sports-apathetic. I came close to buying into the whole ‘us vs. them’ mentality of the arty-types vs. the fratboy-jock-types, but my little league memories and sports-lovin’ friends kept me from going quite that deep. My post-college days were all about playing in bands, jumping from job to job, and playing a ton of video games. My sports-apathy even extended to console gaming… never once touched Madden or FIFA or High Heat or any of that stuff.
Everything changed when I moved to Boston. Blame my roommate (*cough* denny *cough*), blame my bandmates (*cough* chris *cough*) or blame this whole sports-crazy city… just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Their love of Boston sports was contagious, and even band practices would evolve into game-watchin’, pizza-orderin’ good times.
Then the Patriots won the superbowl and the crowd went wilder. There was so much enthusiasm around here … it was damn infectious. For the first time, I was working downtown, near the heart of the victory parade, at a job where most of my fellow employees were former-or-current jocks instead of former-or-current computer geeks. There’s so much sports talk in this office that my interest is almost a pre-requisite. Suffice it to say, I’m fitting in just fine. Working here even led to the fulfillment of a little-kid dream… I got to play a game on the Fenway field. A completely surreal and still-tangible experience. I’ll never,ever forget that afternoon.
And so here we are in the present (well, assuming you’re still reading… if so, you’re a trooper). It’s October, the Sox are playing the Yankees for the A.L. title, we’ve got brisk nights and beautiful fall days, it’s a near-perfect New England sports-fan scenario.
Here’s where I run into trouble, though. I may like watching Boston sports, but I can’t freakin’ stand your average Boston sports fans. The mob mentality, the posturing bullshit, the “your team sucks”, “no, your team sucks” crap. The testosterone overflow, the complete loss of perspective, the WEEIrdos on the radio, the howling monkeys mugging for the tv camera, the cell-phone morons wavin’ from the stands. Some of the players, too… the showboating, the cockiness, the “I’d like to thank my main man Jesus for helping me get that home run” idiocy. Being in the middle of all this madness makes me totally understand anyone who says, just as I used to, “Nah, I don’t follow sports. Couldn’t care less.”
That said, I’m enjoyin’ the hell out of this year’s playoffs. Even the most passive observer can’t deny that there have been some great moments, some killer games, some real nail-biting endings. Drama that you just couldn’t have scripted. The little leaguer in me is back in a big way, totally behind my team, a full-fledged Sox fan (which means that, yes, I’m hoping for the best and ready for the worst).
One win down, seven more ahead …
Go Red Sox!