Reser Ramblings

I get positive feedback from my readers about my multiple topic blog posts so I don’t feel as guilty as I used to about writing them. You see, they are easier to compose and take less time to write than one of my normal posts. Because of this, I felt that I was subtly screwing over my readers as I dashed through a few topics, posted my ramblings to my blog, and then enjoyed the extra time that I had saved. But because of the reassurance from my loyalists that they don’t take my condensed blog posts as a slap in the face, I will still try to feature one a week. Tonight is that “one” of the week so let’s get started.

Week Two of Community Service with Griz Basketball Team: Last week I went along with the Griz basketball team as they ate pizza and played with kids from a local children’s center. Tonight I joined them at the Montana Food Bank Network where they volunteered for a couple hours. After getting a tour of the facility that holds 8 million pounds of food we went into a room where the players and coaches (Coach Rupp and Coach Jono made the outing this time) packaged macaroni. Two team members scooped macaroni out of what seemed like a bottomless bin, two other team members then weighed it (it had to weigh in at two pounds), and then two other members sealed the bags using a pretty sophisticated machine. Even with doing a somewhat mundane task the team seemed to have a blast doing it. Both Coach Rupp and Coach Jono are hilarious guys and they had a great time serving along with their players.

Players and coaches from the Griz basketball team volunteered tonight at the Montana Food Bank Network.

Players and coaches from the Griz basketball team volunteered tonight at the Montana Food Bank Network.

Lists Made for Facebook: You can’t scroll down your newsfeed these days without seeing numerous lists with random numbers covering certain conditional topics. You know what I am talking about, right? Lists such as “29 signs you know you were born in the 1980’s” or “34 characteristics of true hipsters” or “24 crazy facts about Disney World that you didn’t know”. Sure, many of them are farfetched and many are just a ploy to get you to click on the link so you can be treated to an onslaught of advertising but I don’t sweat them too much.

In my opinion, I find other past Facebook trends much more bothersome such as quotes smashed into hideous box graphics or “share this to show support for…” images/statuses. Mostly though, I am just thankful that now I am seeing more links for “22 ways to know if you and Taylor Swift would be best friends” as opposed to the drawn out “____ things about me” statuses that seemed to have a good two week Facebook run last month. I can tolerate lists that I have the choice of clicking on but I start to get a little annoyed when I constantly read about how many tattoos someone has or what their name would have been if they were born the opposite sex.

Colin Kaepernick Hatred: Okay, I admit it, the way Seahawks fans and the media in general have portrayed Russell Wilson as a saint and Colin Kaepernick as the anti-christ has gotten a little out of hand. Although Kaepernick looked absolutely ridiculous sporting his backwards-sideways hat and headphones during his postgame interview on Sunday, he pays his dues in the community. Although not as publicized as Wilson’s involvement, anyone can find documentation of Kaepernick’s good works past the football field. I think the guy deserves a little more slack than what he has received. Anyway, what I am trying to say is if you need to unleash more aggression on the 49ers please give Kaepernick a break and just send it Jim Harbaugh’s way.

Kaepernick puts his work in while not playing football.

Kaepernick puts his work in while not playing football.

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It seems like the flu is going around so I hope everyone is staying healthy or on the fast track to a speedy recovery. Have a great rest of the week and thank you for reading my blog. Don’t Blink.

ESPN Ombudsman and Collin Kaepernick

I was delighted to find out this evening that espn.com is once again running a column that I thoroughly enjoy. Some people might find it as a surprise that the almighty and humongous ESPN actually has an ombudsman, or, for those who are not familiar with what an ombudsman is, a person within the company who keeps the organization honest. Of course there is much more to it. An ombudsman responds to reader’s complaints, investigates shady or careless displays of journalism, and offers up opinions that are many times critical of the company.

For a long time my favorite piece on espn.com was the ESPN Ombudsman. About every month or so I could expect that a new column would pop up, fresh with finger pointing and mud-slinging about the network’s recent coverage. All of ESPN’s different outlets came under fire from TV to radio to print. All employees came under the gun as well from Colin Cowherd to Skip Bayless to Stephen A. Smith to Jeremy Schapp to Rachel Nichols. And of course all the issues that ESPN covered from Tebow to Favre to ARod were dissected and scrutinized. I love ESPN and most likely could not live without it but I appreciate the fact that someone is watching over them and offering a well-written, well-reasoned critique.

However, something disturbing occurred over the past year or so. There was no ESPN Ombudsman. I could not understand. Had the enterprise become so big and so entitled that they felt they no longer needed to take on a little bit of heat? Well, who knows but thankfully the column is now back with a brand new ombudsman (his name is Robert Lipsyte, most recently of the New York Times). In his first column he took on ESPN’s coverage of Jason Collins and then just today he reviewed the constant Dwight Howard free agent escapade. I encourage you to follow the link and read a little bit. Make sure to go back in the archives and see what the other Ombudsmen did, especially Don Ohlmeyer (my favorite).

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On July 4, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick wore a Miami Dolphins hat to a Fourth of July party. As is the case anywhere these days, a fan spotted him with the hat on, snapped a picture, and posted it to Twitter. Outrage ensued inside of 49ers Nation and Kaepernick was brutalized by the media.

I thought this initial act was a poor decision on his part. I am not going to take the broad approach that everyone seemed to take by comparing it on a larger scale (i.e. it is like wearing a Coke hat when working for Pepsi….like wearing a Progressive shirt when working for Geico…like wearing a Google pin when you work for Bing…etc. etc.) because I don’t think it needs to be compared on a larger scale to deem it ill advised. Rather, when playing or working for a certain team or school, it is just simply wrong to wear the apparel of a rival team/school…especially when your certain team is paying you millions of dollars. But for this instance, even though I disagree, I cut Kaepernick a little bit of slack because he was just chilling at a party and because a paparazzi fan took the photo.

HOWEVER, what he did next can be described as nothing but immature. Angered by critics and fans who called him out, Kaepernick took a picture of him holding the Miami Dolphins hat, wrote out a hostile and condescending message complete with classless hash tags, and then posted it to Instagram. Dumb. Stupid. Careless. Not only did he totally miss the opportunity to offer a quick apology, not only did he mock his fanbase, and not only did he make a face worse than any duck face I have ever seen, but he brought out the Miami Dolphins hat once again AND posted it on his OWN social media account.

Yesterday he posted another Instagram photo of him with a San Francisco 49ers hat. Some are considering it a half apology…I definitely wouldn’t go that far. Don’t Blink.