The Rally to Restore Sanity - The National Mall - Washington, D.C.

I wish I could say Fear the Beard and not hate myself on the inside for baseball related reasons.

Instead fear the goatee!  I think it's to blame for the increased level of foul language that may have exited my mouth Saturday afternoon and possibly the need to drink an excessive amount of scotch Saturday night.  That goatee don't take shit from no one.


It may even be able to do a Triple Lindy if not for the 230 lbs of dude attached to it.  Triple Lindy's and goatees aside, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff ventured down to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
Leading up to the event, no one knew what it was about.  Don't look for a recap here.  It was hard to define just what the point of the rally was before going there and experiencing it.  Some journalists went as far as to predict it could be this generation's Woodstock or some grand defining moment.  Would it be just a series of insults to the major media outlets especially Fox News but without ignoring CNN, MSNBC, and the others of their ilk?  It's hard to define an event whose basic message seemed to be moderation.  John Stewart is obviously a proponent of the left and Stephen Colbert is a clear parody of the right, was the intention to be 3 hours of comedy for them to poke fun at the Tea Party, the GOP and the rest of the far right. 
In a brief sober moment on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff, our generation's defining moment happened on a sunny Tuesday in September 10 years ago.  In this age of limited attention spans, there will never be a person who will forget just what they saw that day.  Some rally held by a cable network's fake news anchors/pundits is never going to change that.  No matter how many clever signs the participants produced.

This is among my favorites.

This one is also among my favorites.  Thank you, South Park.

On a related note holding up a sign comparing anyone but Hitler to Hitler is not only a slap in the face to the people who suffered through the atrocities committed by Hitler, a slap into the face of the brave people who fought and lost their lives stopping Hitler, but it also makes all of us look fucking stupid.   

So what was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear?  It was about showing that the majority of Americans are not the nut jobs on either extreme.  The extremes make for good news.  The extremes on both sides are also what make us Americans look like a bunch of assholes.  John Stewart called the 80 % of us not on either extreme a silent majority.  Are we?  I don't know.  The initial impression I most often give people based mostly on where I came from, I usually get confused for being conservative.  With my more conservative friends, I'm the closest thing some of them will ever see to a liberal.  I do not want to fit into either of those boxes.  And that's what the 80 % is.  Nobody fits completely into either of those boxes. 

Did the rally accomplish anything?  

I don't know.  We did the wave.

A co-ed wave...

..and women only wave...

...and a men only wave. 

So what was this other than a chance to do the wave with 150,000 of my closest friends?  No idea.  Hopefully, it will be a chance for the majority to actually gain a voice.  Then again, a calm soothing voice doesn't sell ads.  At the very least, it was a nice day and a good time.

2010 Playoff Beard Watch - Beard-pocalypse

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Philly — Ryan Howard watched the last strike fly by him in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6 of the NLCS.

And that's the last playoff beard update you'll see in 2010.  Despite Roy Halladay outpitching Tim Lincecum in Game 5, the Phillies season ends in disappointment.  I watched the game in Louisville, KY with some Phillies Phans who just happened to wander into the same sports bar (Champions) as me.  A number of large glasses of the Bluegrass Brewing Company Brown Ale helped to dull the pain, but I know when I get back to Pics of Me in Front of Stuff Manor, the beard, at least most of it, will be gone.  I was hoping to parlay the abundance of facial hair into another Halloween costume. 

I was thinking something along these lines.

Thanks for the image.

Alas, my beard was never meant to last that long.  Just like the Cubs always say, we'll get em' next year!

Playoff Beard Watch 2010 - NLCS

NLCS Game 1 Saturday Night: Cody Ross (Ssor ydoC backwards) pounds two of Roy Halladay's pitches into the LF seats at CBP.  Pat Burrell adds a two run double and Tim Lincecum only gives up three runs. 

Sad Beard Face.

NLCS Game 2 Sunday Night: Roy Oswalt (anyone else find it bizarre that Chase Utley is in Roy Oswalt's Wikipedia picture?) gives up another homerun 5th inning...to Ross...to left field...on what may have been the exact same pitch on which Halladay gave up a tater.  However, in the 7th inning this Roy led off an inning with a hit, ran through a stop-sign thrown up by Sam Perlozzo for an insurance run and the Phils cruised the rest of the way to a 6-1 victory. 

Happy Beard Face!

Unfortunately, both images are merely dramatizations of what the Beardface could have looked like at Pics of Me in Front of Stuff Manor.  Thanks to Fox and Cablevision's little spat the NFL and NLCS are not appearing in large portions of the tri-state area which forced me off of my comfy couch and onto a barstool.  I sent the Official Favorite Uncle of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff the following text message: I had to go to a bar to watch the game.  Guess I'll have to drink some beer.   Luckily, the Bartner was available for some sports watching and beer drinking during Game 1.  We were at Big Shots on Saturday night.  The well-endowed, lasciviously dressed waitresses and bartenders were a bonus, but of three times I've gone to watch the Phillies in the playoffs there they've lost twice.  You're on your last chance Big Shots!. I flew solo to the only Damon's in New Jersey on Sunday night.  While lacking the T and A, the Phils are undefeated in two visits to the bar for playoff games.  You're ahead by a nose, Damon's.  So even though Fox and Cablevision tried to deprive me, the playoff beard, and Pics of Me in Front of Stuff of the NLCS Playoff Beard Watch 2010 Continues!

  

GO PHILS!