Memorable Moments in Sports and the Olympics

With the Olympics in full swing, Eric and I took some time to reflect on the impact that sports have played in our lives. Here we reminisce about some of our fondest sports memories. Feel free to share yours in the comments!

ERIC: Let’s talk about our favorite sports moments.

First-off, here’s my self-imposed guideline of selecting a moment: I had to have watched it live (in person or on TV) and have a good understanding and memory of it. For instance, I can't pick Joe Montana to John Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII because I was too young and really don't remember watching it. If there are any exceptions to this rule, I will let you know.

Second, a moment can range from a single play to a single game or series. In other words, a moment does not have to be narrowed to a few seconds.

I will begin with my favorite moments. Memorable moments will come at a later time. What's the difference? Memorable moments can also include unhappy ones.

I'll start off easily, using moments tied to my hometown teams as the foundation.

The San Francisco Giants 2010 World Series Championship. I know you're not a baseball fan so you might find this one difficult to relate to, but this was the first World Series championship since the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958. Their last championship victory was in 1954 as the New York Giants so that's about a 56 year drought. Until they won one, I always believed that if anything could go wrong, it would go wrong.

Instead, things fell into place. Giants caught lightning in a bottle and rode it to a championship. I remember right when they won the National League Championship (that's equivalent to the conference finals), I jumped up from the couch to cheer. Next day, my lower back started hurting. My brother still teases me that I hurt my back celebrating that victory.

After the World Series win, I got down on one knee and did a mini fist pump (don't know why) - like 50% of Tebowing, but this was before Tebowing came into existence. I hugged my brother and my mom, and a couple of friends a few days later. My only regret was not attending the parade because I was committed to my job, which I would get laid off from two months later.

(I can't rank Barry Bonds’ home run moments due to the steroids.)

San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl XXIX. Any championship victory will always be a favorite moment, but everyone expected the Niners to blow the Chargers out. So this isn't nearly exciting as my other favorite moments. There's not much to say other than the Niners did what they were expected to do. I miss the glory days.  

Owens! Owens! - The Catch II (1999 NFC Wild Card). The funny thing is, if instant replay were enacted back then, the Niners would have lost. Rice fumbled during the final drive, and the Packers recovered. The strange thing about this moment is that I remember it with the radio call, which I heard later because I watched the game on TV instead. You have to know that I also hated the Packers and Brett Favre as they kept beating the Niners near the end of the nineties.

Plus, who can forget Owens crying?

Vernon Post - The Catch III (2012 NFC Divisional Playoff). Oh, how I missed the 49ers in the playoffs. What made it special was that no one (including myself) expected them to get that far. If you predicted they would make the playoffs, you, sir, are a liar.

Great, exciting game. If you look back at it though, the Saints did make a major comeback in the first half. I think I looked so nervous throughout the end of the 4th quarter my mom asked if I was okay.  Afterwards, my family and I went out to dinner. Some cars driving around were honking and some folks here and there were outside their houses waving Niners shirts and flags. Great to see sports bring people together.

Golden State Warriors: We Believe (2007 Playoffs). You have to know the moment starts at the end of the 2007 season. The Warriors were in the running for the final spot, and I remember watching a Warriors home game in which they were on their way to winning. The fans started shouting, “Playoffs! *clap* *clap* Playoffs! *clap* *clap* Playoffs! *clap* *clap* Playoffs!”

I get kind of emotional reminiscing about that moment. Most teams are used to making the playoffs and clinching a berth early. In this situation, the chant for playoffs sounded more like a genuine desire and yearning. We all knew the history of the Warriors already - 13 years without making the playoffs. When they finally made the playoffs, it was the perfect storm for the following reasons:

1. It was the Warriors first appearance in the playoffs since 1994. Fans were definitely going to be pumped.
2. The Warriors' first round opponent was the Dallas Mavericks, whom the Warriors owned that season and in the previous one.
3. Dallas was the #1 seed and the Warriors were #8, which would make a series win a huge upset.

The rest is history. We Believe engulfs the Bay Area. The Oracle was effing rocking (best fans in the world). The Warriors win 4-2!


DRU: There's just something about sports that gets in your blood, isn't there? We identify with our teams. At this point in my life (29 years old, single, and living in my mom's basement), it's not an exaggeration that a couple dozen of the greatest moments of my entire life are related to sports in some way.

I'm with you on those football and basketball moments.

Vernon Post/The Catch III (and don't forget about Alex's epic TD run) really probably is the best thing I've experienced this whole year. It was so indescribably satisfying to see Alex Smith and Vernon Davis completely play out of their minds in the playoffs. After all these years of seeing them struggle (especially Alex), I was genuinely happy to see him succeed.

Honestly, I think Alex is just a normal quarterback. I never thought he was anything special, but I always had respect for him as a MAN. The way he's handled himself in public the past seven or eight years have just been classy. I don't recall him ever lashing out at the fans despite being constantly booed in his own stadium (and worse, hearing “We want Carr” chants - David Carr!!) and having to deal with the Bay Area fans and media constantly criticizing and crucifying him. Despite all that, he did re-up with the Niners and he said all the right things in public. I rooted for his success, even though I never expected him to actually succeed.

That whole game was so good. Justin Smith dominated down the stretch. I remember back in October, I was talking to a buddy about how Justin Smith was a top ten player in the NFL. He looked at me in disbelief and then we had a conversation about who's on the list of top ten current NFL players. He didn't think Smith belonged. But he watched that Saints game with me that day, and when we witnessed that play in the fourth quarter when Smith just bullrushed Jermon Bushrod and took down Brees with a one-handed grab, my friend stood up and said (completely unprompted), "I believe you. He's top ten player."

I watched the game with a bunch of people from church, and after Vernon made the catch, I cried right along with him, but I don't think anyone else in the room noticed.

The We Believe team was also one of the best moments of my life, definitely in the top five. It was certainly the greatest spring of my life. You already described the context accurately, and I definitely agree that the buildup to get to the playoffs was an unforgettable experience. One of my favorite memories is listening to a late season game when the Dubs went to Sacramento. We were winning and I could hear the crowd chanting, "Let's go, Warriors!" After so many years of having to deal with uppity Kings fans making the drive to Oakland and practically drowning out our home crowd, it was just poetic justice to have the tables turned. That moment almost moved me to tears, just to see and hear the Warriors fans taking over Arco Arena for one night during a meaningful (for us) game. I relished that so much.

When we finally clinched that playoff spot at the end of the season with an easy win over a vulnerable Blazers team, I was so proud. I don't think there's ever been a period in my life when I prayed so consistently and so hard just for one sports team.

The Mavs series was great, too. We had a lot of great times watching those games, didn't we? Barbecues at Justin Travis' old bachelor pad... Remember how we would all lock our arms together during the fourth quarter, as though we were bench players on a college team during the NCAA tournament? Sounds ridiculous to talk about now, but at the time it felt so normal.

Like I said, it was the greatest spring of my life. I pretty much knew we would win, too. We owned the Mavs for like a three year period. The matchups were all in our favor, Baron was playing the best ball of his life, and there was that whole subplot with Nellie exacting vengeance on Mark Cuban.

When we finally won Game 6, I cried tears of joy for like two straight days. I was happy just to make the playoffs, but to win round one? I was overjoyed. In my mind, that's one of the top five greatest upsets in sports, right up there with the 18-1 Patriots, Miracle on Ice, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting.

I was a little pissed the way we lost those close games in Utah, but we'll always have The Dunk. The Dunk pretty much sums up the entire We Believe era. The Dunk is emblematic of one of the greatest moments of my life. I doubt I could be happier on my own wedding day.

Other greatest moments of my life? My eighth grade basketball championship, any time I watched Nnamdi in a Raiders jersey, the day we got Baron, watching Sky High with some of my Davis friends WHILE the Lakers were beating the Magic for the championship (what made it great was that one of the guys is a Lakers fan, so he completely missed the clinching game), rejoicing in the schadenfreude of Kings fans when KG's T'Wolves beat them in a Round 2 Game 7 (Webber missed a game-tying three at the buzzer. The next day, Jon Ma and I printed out copies of the box score and highlighted Webber's 3PT stat: 0-1 and showed it to all the Kings fans we knew.)...

ERIC: Bill Simmons, in his latest article captures how I feel about sports: "You get older and older, and older, and suddenly, the Summer Olympics become a series of four-year checkpoints for your life. This only happens to people who remember just about everything through the lens of sports. We shouldn't care about sports this much … but we do, and that's just the way it is."

Okay, so maybe I don't care as much as some people do. I've learned to control my emotions a little better. In 2002, when the Giants choked away the World Series, I was sad for a few days. When the Niners lost the NFC Championship game this year, I was probably disappointed just for the night. Actually, every time the Kyle Williams fumbles are shown on TV, I change the channel with disgust.

Sports can mean something different to different people around the world. For some, sports can be hope, joy, or something to feel good about. I remember the 2006 World Cup even temporarily stopped a civil war. Taken from Wikipedia (The One True Source of All Knowledge): "The qualification of the Côte d'Ivoire national football team even brought about a temporary peace agreement during the First Ivorian Civil War. The team helped to secure a truce in 2006 when they qualified, bringing warring parties together, and convinced President Laurent Gbagbo to restart peace talks."

One of the more interesting parts for me to watch during the Olympics Opening Ceremony is the Parade of Nations. It can be boring, but there are a lot of small, poor nations that send maybe just a handful of athletes. I could be wrong, but I always think these athletes of these countries are just happy to be there - that having the opportunity to compete is very significant, and that they are truly representing their countries. We know how sports can lift communities, cities, and nations (like the Miracle on Ice - though I wasn't alive, so I'm just making an assumption).  

We also know the love of sports can be dangerous, too. I love the passion fans around the world have for soccer (or “football” in their terms), but it goes way overboard too many times - riots, hooliganism.  Shoot, we see uncontrolled emotion here in America too - fans getting beat up, death threats. But what happens when sports become too big? Well, things like the Penn St. scandal happen. This is another topic in itself.

DRU: I probably do care about sports way too much. I mean, you started this conversation discussing your favorite sports moments, and I was the one who equated that with "greatest moments of my life."

Maybe I just need a better life.

It's weird how we're so invested in the teams we identify with, though. I know all about that feeling of deflation when your team loses a big one. There's a part of me that knows that it's just a game, that the players don't care if I cry or not, but... I just can't help it. I get devastated.

I think my first moment of devastation was right after Chris Webber's rookie year. Once he forced his way out, everything went downhill for 13 years, but I distinctly remember how when I was a kid, I just didn't understand why he would want to leave in the first place. It blew my young mind away. That was the first time I felt pain from sports. I actually idolized Webber during that one season. Who can forget that behind the back dunk over Barkley? They made a commercial of it! But after he left, I really didn't like Webber anymore. That was a big reason I could never root for the Kings during their glory era.

Then a couple years after getting rid of Webber and gutting most of the team, we hit rock bottom when Spree choked Carlesimo. Spree was the first player I genuinely hated and rooted against with all my heart. (My mind was blown the year the Kings faced off against KG's and Spree's T'Wolves in the playoffs - didn’t know whom to root against.)

As for as the 2012 NFC Championship, I've just decided that whenever I hear the name "Kyle Williams," I am gonna think of the defensive tackle on the Buffalo Bills.

I don't think I'll ever be fanatical about sports to the point where I'll join a mob of hooligans or start a fight at a stadium, though. You mention Penn State as something that's a result of our culture's idolization of sports - I feel like we could devote a whole lot of time to that topic. It's a whole 'nother can of worms.

ERIC: Yeah. We can leave that alone for now. However, with the Olympics upon us, here are my favorite memories of the Olympics:

1992 Barcelona. I don't remember anything about this Olympics. The only two memories I have are: 1) A diver messing up and falling sideways into the pool, and 2) Michael Jordan doing a behind the back pass in the air as the ball was about to go out of bounds. This might have happened either in the Olympics or a pre-Olympics exhibition game. After I saw that, I tried to be like Mike.Tried to emulate what he did. Failed.


DRU: The main thing I remember from the Barcelona Olympics was the Dream Team, obviously. I loved basketball at a young age and just having all these legends assembled on one team blew my mind away. I was buying all these basketball cards and then I got confused at one point - I was like, "Huh? Who the heck is Christian Laettner?"

I remember watching some games but I can't really remember any specific moments, because we know it was all USA domination. I do remember the medal ceremony being interesting because MJ (and some other players, I think) covered up the Reebok logo on his jumpsuit because he was a Nike dude.

Also, I don't remember this from the time, but years later I discovered the Derek Redmond story. To me, that's one of the most powerful and moving stories of a father's love for his son.

ERIC: I almost forgot about the Derek Redmond story. Like you, I learned about it years later. A very moving and emotional moment.  I thought he and his dad should have been the final torch bearers, running together and lighting the Olympic Cauldron at the London Opening Ceremony. Instead, the honor went to a bunch of random teenagers.

1996 Atlanta. It helps that this Olympics was in the US. My favorite memory from this Olympics was Michael Johnson winning the 200m in world-record breaking fashion. The distance between him and the second place runner in the last 100 meters was incredible. He smoked the field. No one could catch him.

I also remember Kerri Strug performing the vault and making the landing with an injured ankle, but I don't think I understood the significance of the moment at the time. There's, of course, Muhammad Ali lighting the cauldron in the Opening Ceremony. I was too young to understand though how great this moment was, as I didn't know how big of sports figure Ali was.

DRU: Yeah, Michael Johnson was definitely an inspiration. Right around that time was when I thought I could be a sprinter, too. That Olympics was right after my seventh grade track meet, where I set a record for my age group in the 100m. (Probably one of the top twenty moments of my life, and I was what, 12? I think I peaked early in life.)

And like you said, Ali lighting the cauldron was a big deal, but I didn't really comprehend the magnitude of it at the time, either.

The Magnificent Seven was great, too. That was a fantastic age for me to follow women's gymnastics. I felt like I could have a crush on anyone and it wouldn't have been creepy. Dominique Dawes, Dominique  Moceanu, Shannon Miller... Ooooh wee. Mmm mmm mmm. Oh, and Kerri Strug for toughing it out. I would have wanted to meet any or all of those girls at the time.

The other thing I remember was the bombing. That was pretty harrowing to see on the news. I didn't enjoy that. At all.

ERIC: I sort of  forgot about the 1996 bombing. It doesn't seem to get much press nowadays. I remember they went after the wrong guy. If there was a bombing in London, would NBC tape delay the coverage of that too? (Too inappropriate?)

It's funny you mention women's gymnastics. I had a crush on the Magnificent Seven - actually maybe two or three of them. From the 2008 team, I only remember Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Alicia Sacramone. They were quite the lookers. Nastia and Alicia were legally adults by the Olympics, but Shawn Johnson was only 16, I think. Okay, I feel like a creep. I think the women's gymnastics team tends to get marketed as America's sweethearts or darlings.

But moving on...really...next subject...

2000 Sydney. I don't remember anything from these Olympics.  Let's move on.

DRU: I don't remember anything besides Vince Carter's dunk. That was probably his finest moment ever. We can move on.

ERIC: 2004 Athens. The only thing I remember is USA Basketball losing to Puerto Rico in the first game and ending up with a bronze medal in the end. Larry Brown threw the team under the bus! Allen Iverson, though, carried himself with more class, saying how it was an honor for him to represent his country and how much it meant to him given his roots (if my memory serves me right).

DRU: I don't really remember too much of this Olympics, either, other than being stunned at our basketball team losing. (I'm pretty selfish with my sports. Even though we're basically saturated with basketball all the time, I still can't get enough of it during the Olympics.) I think I was taking summer school classes at UC Davis at this time. I can't really remember why I didn't watch more of the Olympics; it would have been a good time in my life to spend all my free time plopped in front of a TV. There wasn't a whole lot going on in my life back then that I can remember.

ERIC: Wait, I just remembered another big moment that happened in 2004: Liu Xiang of China winning the gold medal in the 110m hurdles. An Asian guy won a track & field event. How rare is that? I think that was the first time ever. Of course Liu Xiang pretty much didn't race in the 2008 or 2012 Olympics. (I just remembered the moment after reading about him crashing out of competition today.)

DRU: Come on, son! Asian people can be fast! Even I beat some black guys when I ran track  in high school.

ERIC: 2008 Beijing. This Olympics will always stand out the most for me since I was there in person. After going, I'm more into the Olympics... and USA Basketball. Here are a few of my favorite moments from those Olympics.

First, there was the opening ceremony. It probably set the standard for all opening ceremonies to follow.

USA vs. China Basketball. The crowd was electric, as all Asian peoples love basketball. The game ended up being a blowout, but it felt like a momentous occasion. I even saw George W. Bush there. In other words, the only time I ever saw the President of the United States in person was at a basketball game in China.

Additionally, there's nothing like hearing our National Anthem in another country. We might be desensitized to it here at our sports games, but it's another feeling when it's played in a foreign country with many foreigners among the crowd.

USA Basketball Gold Medal Game. Stayed up late watching this game. A close game for the U.S., but one of the greatest games I've ever watched. Redeem Team for sure.

There's Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, but I didn't get a chance to really see them as I was still over in China while they were making history. So they don’t rank up there for me as a memory.

DRU: The thing I remember most about the 2008 Olympics is that picture of you with Tyson Gay. And that souvenir pen you brought back for me. I still have it. I try not to use it that much, so as to preserve the ink.

ERIC: Yup, being able to take a picture with Tyson Gay was a highlight. Too bad he doesn't have a medal. I read how he wept after this year's 100m. He gave it his all, but three other guys were just better. In Usain Bolt's case, he's just a legend in his own right. I went over to my brother's place just to watch the 100m race live over the internet. It's pretty amazing how a lot of us are captivated by just 10 seconds (or less).

DRU: I was unemployed that summer, so this is the Olympics that I watched religiously. My whole life for three weeks centered around the TV. I watched every event that was on normal NBC. Watched all of Phelps' races and Usain Bolt's. Those were obviously two of the most major happenings.

I watched a lot of track and field events. I will always remember Shanahan Sanitoa of American Samoa, who came in dead last in his qualifying heat in the 100m. He ran like a 12.60. HOWEVER, that was one of the greatest moments of my life because when I was in high school, I ran the 100m at about 11.67. So that was the day I learned I had Olympic-caliber speed.

This Olympics was also the first time I started feeling slightly creepy for ogling the women's gymnastics team. (Especially since most of them probably, legally, should have been considered "girls.") (I haven't really watched a whole lot of gymnastics this year, even though the Olympics is basically a showcase for that sport as well as swimming and track and field, which hardly ever get any love in between Olympics.) (By the way, did you know Alicia Sacramone is dating Brady Quinn? I found that information on The One True Source of All Knowledge, so you know it’s legit.)

And, of course, USA Basketball. The Redeem Team. I stayed up late to watch that gold medal game against Spain. My dad stayed up to watch it, too, and he always goes to sleep early. But I think that's how committed we were in watching that game. We just HAD to watch it live. There was no waiting for tape delay or news replays. Out of everything in the 2008 Olympics, I think this game left the deepest impact on me. I was getting nervous near the end when it seemed like Spain might pull off a miracle comeback, but when Kobe took over it looked pretty obvious we were gonna win.

Honestly, that game was the one time in my whole life I ever rooted for Kobe Bean Bryant. I remember after he hit a clutch three, both my dad and I jumped up and started cheering in the living room. There was this shot of Kobe turning to the stands and puffing the "USA" on the front of his jersey and my dad and I started giving each other high fives. My dad usually doesn't get excited while watching sports. Usually he just complains about the refs and comments on conspiracy theories when his teams don't win. (Or he complains about how the stupid owners/upper management undermine coaches and players from the get-go.)

It was definitely memorable to have that moment with my dad... Quality father-son bonding time while watching international basketball at like 2 a.m. I know you’ve been consistent about keeping this discussion limited to greatest sports moments (and greatest Olympic moments) but that night probably was one of the greatest moments of my life thanks to my dad. It's the only time I can remember we ever rooted for the same team during the same game, to such a high degree of emotional investment.

Funny thing is, we've never mentioned that night ever since. I believe there's a part of us that is a little ashamed to have rooted so hard for Kobe Bean Bryant.

ERIC: Great of you to share a great moment with your dad. It's not about the names on the back of the jerseys, but the three letters in the front: USA.

Then again, it's Kobe Bean Bryant.

A Meandering Conversation That Begins with Comic Books and Ends with Gordon Bombay

This is the first in what we envision to be a recurring series of posts, where my dude Eric Ling and I exchange emails and shoot the breeze on whatever topic we feel like. First up, a subject near and dear to my heart: comic books.

We earnestly expect you be entertained, enlightened, elucidated, etc. by our email exchange.

ERIC: I was having dinner with my cousins the other day, and my cousin's four-year old son was wearing a shirt with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and the Flash on it. So that led to me to ask his dad (my cousin) if he (the four-year old) wanted to see The Avengers. My cousin said his son wanted to see it, but he wouldn’t take him since there's violence and scary moments - at least for a four-year old. I then brought up the notion that Marvel and DC do market their characters/superheroes and toys to kids. Yet they all deal with violence in one form of capacity or another. How does a parent handle that? For instance, my cousin's son got a Thor hammer as a gift. It's a toy, but it's also a fake weapon.

My cousin didn't really answer the question of how he handles the violence with comic book characters in regards to his son, but just said he didn't like it too much. I just found it interesting that Marvel and DC sell their superhero products to kids. However, there's violence. Yes, fantasy violence, but still. I'm not a parent, so I don't know how I would handle the situation. I'm just intrigued by the topic.

As a comic book connoisseur, I'm sure you would want to pass on your love for comics to your kids. At what age do you begin, though? How do you get them interested in these superheroes, but make sure they don't get influenced by the "violence" that's related to these characters?

DRU: The funny thing is (or sad thing, if you're a big comics fan) is that most of Marvel’s and DC’s comics today aren't really suitable for kids. Hell, most of them aren't suitable for adults or discerning readers of any age, either. Wokka wokka wokka.

I hate to make such a blanket statement; however, it's really the parents' job to monitor what their kids are consuming, and I would certainly be hesitant to hand over any random current Marvel/DC book to a four-year old without reading through it first. When I was a kid, I knew about Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, the X-Men, and those guys, but my parents didn't allow me to own a comic book until I was seven years old, in the second grade. They bought me an issue of X-Men Classic at the old Waldenbooks at Stonestown. Remember bookstores? Remember when bookstores used to sell individual comic book issues? Man, we're aging.

But really, I don't see much harm in just exposing little kids to Marvel/DC stuff. I mean, kids today watch cartoons and play videogames (or tablet/smartphone games) with plenty of violence, of varying degrees of realism. I don't see a point in trying to shield a kid from society and culture as a whole. Giving a kid a toy Mjolnir isn't really the worse thing you could do, as a parent. There are certainly worse things kids can be exposed to on television and on the Internet.

When I worked at the elementary school, I definitely shared my love of comics to the kids. I had a range of kids from first through fifth grade. I'd give comics out as prizes occasionally, and I had a stockpile of comics in our little afterschool program "library." The thing was, I'd read each comic before bringing it to school. I definitely was very conscious about ensuring the kid-friendliness of whatever I brought to share with them. I didn't bring anything that was overly violent or featured much blood. I didn't bring anything that had any curse words, not even a single "damn." And I avoided anything where the female characters had super large bazooms. Still, I think what I did bring was enough to get the kids interested in reading. I brought stuff that wasn't Marvel/DC, like Owly or Calvin and Hobbes or Bone. There's a variety of comics out there that can work as "gateway drugs," so to speak.

Superhero comic books shaped me as a youth. I learned a lot about justice, the law, and right and wrong from reading comics. I learned a lot about power and responsibility. Superhero comic books really can teach a young mind those things.There is value in those for children. (There's also a lot of rubbish out there that can rot a child's mind just as badly as any lousy TV show or cheap portable videogame.) But if I ever get married and have a kid, I'd definitely teach her to appreciate the joys of comic books. I feel like I'd have an advantage since I'm already pretty knowledgeable about comics and that world. My parents had no idea what the hell they were buying me when I was a kid.

But I turned out fine, didn't I?

ERIC: Kids these days won't even know what a bookstore is when they grow up. Will they even know what a book is?

You're right. There's pretty much a degree of violence in everything these days. Even Looney Tunes had violence, I think. It's just part of life, but again it is the parents' job to monitor what their kids are consuming. (But were the parents of your afterschool kids able to monitor the comics you were giving to their kids?) I guess it takes a lot of faith from parents when their kids are away - a bit of trust in others.  All this, though, touches on nature/nurture and psychology or child development issues.  

Let's get back to comics. Maybe you can do a list of comic recommendations for certain age groups, demographics, or even personalities. What comic book or characters would you recommend for young boys? Or even young girls? I would want to empower young girls by showing them Elektra: Assassin, but I think it would be too violent or even hard to understand. It is one of the greatest comic books of all time, and probably the G.O.A.T. of storylines centered on a female protagonist.

DRU: Even though print is dying, I think we're still a couple of generations away from seeing it disappear altogether. Kids in the future might not know what a real bookstore is, but they'll probably have Amazon or iTunes or some other virtual bookstore at their fingertips. One would hope that in the future, when every kid in elementary school is equipped with a tablet that contains the entire summation of human knowledge, one of their world history apps will teach them that in the old days, people actually used paper to print physical books.

I doubt the parents of my elementary school kids really paid much attention to the comics I was feeding the kids. I think part of it was a matter of trust, and part of it was a matter of apathy. Maybe in some cases, it was cultural. But I never had anyone complain to me. If anything, parents thanked me for providing their kids with literary material that kept 'em busy for hours. I gave this one kid a Dark Horse Indiana Jones Omnibus (those things are thick!) and his mom was so grateful to me for giving it to him. The kid was kind of a boisterous type (to put it generously) and I think that comic kept him calm for hours. I remember when I was his age, I got massive mileage out of a simple 22-page issue, so I can only imagine how much entertainment he got from that 300+ page behemoth.

I feel like I always get caught with my pants down whenever someone asks me for comic book recommendations. I never know where to start. I guess when it comes to comics for kids, the main thing I remember from when I was a kid is how much I disdained comics that were aimed at kids, especially watered-down superhero comics. Kids, when they reach a certain age, don't want stuff that talks down to them. There's a lot of quality comics out there that are rightfully appropriate for all audiences. I could easily come up with a giant list, but for now I'll just recommend Jeff Smith's magnum opus, Bone. Go read it, Eric! All the cool kids have read it.

Also, even though we know your talk about Elektra: Assassin is all bull, you're surprisingly accurate. I can't really think of a whole lot of genuinely great superhero comics that feature a female title character. The ones that come to mind immediately are Alias (not at all related to that Jennifer Garner show), Promethea, and this pair of Black Widow miniseries written by Richard K. Morgan. (None of which, by the way, would be appropriate for a nine-year old girl.) Talk to Albert and I bet he'll complain about how there's never been a good extended run on Wonder Woman.

ERIC: Now that I think about it, at least you were getting your elementary school kids to read in the first place.  Maybe I was just being too cynical.

I was pondering why there are a lack of female protagonists in comic books. Look, maybe there need to be more positive, strong female superheroes for girls. Actually, let me rephrase that. Maybe the ones that already exist need to be marketed more. As we know, everything is mainly about money these days. As Method Man once rapped, "Cash rules everything around me." 

My Spider-sense tells me most comic book readers are male. So trying to target girls with positive female superheroes might sound great, but is it going to make money? How many girls would go and read comics if there were more female leads? Would guys read more comics with strong female leads?

This artistic medium is one of many male-dominated ones. Heck, even when a strong female character is placed at the forefront, there's usually a sexual element involved (think Lara Croft, Tomb Raider). As I do not read comics religiously, I could be terribly wrong about this. Overall, though, we just live in a society where men are usually cast in the leading role.

I better stop myself before I make remarks I will regret.

Speaking of female comic book readers, why do I feel most of them are probably also cosplayers? 

DRU: You mean you don’t regret that last question about cosplay?

Yeah, I developed my reading skills through comics, so I figured the kids could do a whole lot worse than the stuff I was handing out to 'em. Funny thing is, a lot of the girls were just as into the superhero comics as the boys were. And I don't think I really had a whole lot of comics with female leads.

I think part of it had to do with the age they were at. Most of them didn't really think about social implications or anything like that; they just wanted something entertaining and fun. Of course, like you said, the majority of comics readers are male, and comics tend to marketed towards males. That's why you see all these female characters drawn with big boobs and round butts, wearing skimpy clothes and everything.

I don't personally know any women our age who read comics, but I'd imagine one reason they tend to stay away is because of how unappealing it is to look at hypersexualized artwork like you'd find in any random Top Cow book.

ERIC: As long as it's interesting and entertaining, I guess kids - boys or girls - will dig it. You make a good point, though. At such a young age, the girls probably didn't think of social implications. In fact, I'm the one who assumed they wouldn't like comics, superhero comics. In a way, I'm perpetuating gender stereotypes. I hate myself.

Do girls suddenly realize at a certain age, "Hey, I shouldn't really be into comics?"  Who do we blame? The media?

By the way, I should add Sue Storm (the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four) as another strong female comic book character.

Of course, one of the biggest cosplay festivals is happening now: Comic-con. Whether it's girls or guys, I find cosplay funny. Actually, cosplay is one of those things that defines a comic book convention. It makes Comic-con more than just an actual comic book convention (besides all the movie panels, Hollywood hype, and videogame companies).

But if one is going to do cosplay, he or she has to go all out. Nothing that would make people shudder.  Well, some costumes are so bad they’re funny (like the Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme). 

I always look forward to your annual "Yet another reason why I am not down with cosplay. At all." exhibits.

DRU: Hey, ideally, as long as something is interesting and entertaining (and, hopefully, GOOD), I would hope that anyone - boy, girl, man, or woman - would be able to enjoy it.

Here's the thing. If I'm a parent and I want to brainwash my daughter into loving comics, I wouldn't start with something that just happens to have a female lead. It'd have to be good, first and foremost. That's more important. I wouldn’t give her a Witchblade comic.

And hey now, let's not compare Street Fighter: The Movie to cosplay. That movie is just good. There's nothing bad about it! "Bah-sone! Ah'm gonna keeck chor ass SO hard... that the next Bison whannabe... isgonnaFEELit."

Also: "Have you lost your mind?" "No, but choove lost chor balls."

C'mon, man, even if those lines are unintentionally comedic, they're still comedic. There's something to be appreciated about things that can make you laugh. Cosplay doesn't make laugh. It makes me fear for our future.

ERIC: I may need to rewatch Street Fighter. There is no movie quite like it. Unintentional comedy at its finest, with JCVD still near his prime. If I see the movie again, I just might laugh at every part because I feel like I’d have to.

On another note, a commenter on the Grantland Mighty Ducks USA Basketball comparison made a good point. I never thought about it before: How did the team get away with replacing their Team USA jerseys with Ducks jerseys? They're representing the country! Seems like an unpatriotic move to me.  "Yeah, we're losing and let's put on these Ducks jerseys because this Team USA thing isn't working for us!”

WTF?  Did I miss something in that movie? What would justify the move? If any American athlete had the audacity to pull the same stunt to win a gold medal, they still would be crucified.  

Regardless, I still love The Mighty Ducks 2. I learned Greenland was ice and Iceland was green.

DRU: You have to love any piece of fiction that teaches you practical, applicable, real-world knowledge.

An Excursion

[I've double-posted this on my comics blog, This Ain't Kansas., because this is personal and about comics.]

A couple of months ago, a few friends and I joined forces to be vendors at a local sports card/memorabilia convention. It's long been my dude Allan's (a big time sports card collector) dream to sell cards from a table at a convention, and I thought it'd be fun to share the cost of paying for the table (only $30 for a six-foot table, way cheaper than your average show) and pool together our cards and comics. Albert (aka Raging Bert) had a box of comics he was looking to unload, so he and a couple of other people joined Allan and me on this little excursion. We had a bunch of sports cards (basketball, baseball, football, hockey, golf, etc.) and quite a few comics to sell.

[Allan's written a pretty straight-faced account of the day at his blog here: Real Men Collect Baseball Cards. Me, I figured I'd give you the street's eye view of the event and the experience.]

Lynn took a bunch of photos to document the special day, seeing as how being a vendor at a collectibles show was on Allan's bucket list. Lynnsanity is a true pro, having photographed dozens of weddings. [See Lynn's website here: http://iamlkc.com/.] Even when we were getting ready to go to the show (which was held in the gymnasium at John O'Connell High School here in San Francisco), Lynn was taking pictures of us surveying our inventory at Allan's house. I felt like a bridesmaid getting all made up for my buddy's big day.

Surveying our inventory before heading out.

Getting ready to pack everything up.

Like I said, Allan's got a tidy overview of our day over at his blog, and some more of Lynnsanity's pictures to boot. It was a long day, but I felt it went by pretty quickly. I had a bunch of basketball and some football cards (stuff I collected when I was young) that I just dumped in Allan's boxes, and he was pretty much in charge of selling those.

He even helped me sell my autographed Will Clark baseball that I've had sitting in a box (not even openly displayed) since I was in elementary school. I'm not a baseball fan, so I had no regrets. Did a part of me feel a little twinge of regret for selling that piece of memorabilia? It was something I'd owned for most of my life... A friend of my father's gave it to me for my birthday or Christmas or something when I was but a whippersnapper. I guess in a way, I had a small amount of sentimental attachment to that baseball. And I got what, like five or ten bucks from that? I guess a part of me did die with that sale. (But it was reborn when I used those earnings and got some Batman comics a couple weeks later. No regrets.)

Likewise, Allan had a bunch of comics from his youth that were just taking up space. Between the two of us (regular joes who have never run an actual store), we had a pretty respectable amount of stock. Throw Albert's stuff into the mix and we actually had a good combination of quantity and quality comics for sale.

Our table was in the corner of the school gym. Here, Albert and I review some of our stock.

I think the most entertaining things about being a vendor at a show like this are the strangers you encounter, the things they pick up and consider buying (and sometimes actually end up buying), and observing them as they go about examining your wares.

It's probably no secret I can be kind of a comics elitist. I have pretty strong opinions on a lot of comics, including stuff I haven't really read before. Most of the stuff we were selling was stuff I had already read at least once, though, and even the stuff I hadn't really read was stuff I was still generally familiar with, like most of Allan's '90s Image and Valiant comics. Still, even though we were selling a fair amount of stuff I didn't really like or respect, I was able to be a pretty good salesman overall.

Like Allan said in his recap, we somehow turned a profit. This was despite the fact that this show was the first of its kind at John O'Connell and possibly could have been publicized a bit better. Plus, it rained hard all day long, which I'm sure kept crowds at bay. Most of the visitors at the show were John O'Connell high school students.

Checking in for the day.

There was a  dealer next to us who was selling sports cards embedded into plaques that were like 20 or 30 bucks each. He had a few tables to display all his stuff and I honestly don't think he made a single sale the entire day. I chatted briefly with a couple other vendors around us and I got the impression that they had bad days and regretted coming.

Therefore, it helped that our prices were so low. We had an entire longbox filled to the brim with random singles. We were selling 'em six for a buck. We easily could have gone five for a buck, or even just kept it at 25 cents a pop, but I had no problem being generous. There were a couple of other tables in the gym selling comics, but I looked around during the day and I can honestly say that we had the most appealing stock in terms of comics that are actually worth reading.

There was this one guy right next to us who completely blew us away in terms of stock: he had probably a dozen or more longboxes filled with comics, and he also had some Silver Age stuff for sale. Still, his bread and butter longbox comics were priced at 50 cents a pop... Totally not a deal compared to 6 for a buck.

At one point, I saw two teenagers at his table browsing his stock. It didn't look like they were gonna buy anything because they'd put back whatever they pulled out to check out. Then one of them turned his head, looked over at our table, and saw our "6 for $1" sign on our longbox. Those two guys spent at least a solid 90 minutes perusing our comics. I was able to engage them and we talked comics as they browsed. It was kinda cool because I didn't feel like I was just trying to push stuff on them to buy, but they did ask me for recommendations. I guess we built up a decent amount of customer/vendor rapport and they bought a few stacks of comics. I think one of them even came back an hour or two later to buy some more stuff.

Two of our best customers. No one else was selling a complete run of Morrison and Quitely's All-Star Superman.

There was also this one kid who came to our table like four times throughout the day. Each time he left, he'd say, "I'll be back later. I just need to get more money." I think this was a day when my typically useless comic book savant knowledge actually paid off (literally). I remembered he bought a couple issues of Wolverine on one of his earlier trips, and when he came back I had the next sequential issue, which I remembered we had in one of our boxes, ready for him.

"You remember those issues you got earlier? This is the next one... Buy this and you can find out how the story ends," I said to him.

"You've convinced me. Thanks," he replied, handing me a quarter with no hesitation or forethought whatsoever.

By the end of the day, at his final trip to our table, he was scrounging his pants for loose change in a desperate attempt to buy more comics. I didn't even have to really try to sell him anything at that point. He just walked up, thrust a couple dollars in my hand, and asked me to pick some comics for him. I didn't do him no wrong, either. I gave him the Frank Miller/John Romita, Jr. Daredevil: Man Without Fear complete miniseries. C'mon, for less than a buck, that is just an amazing deal! I was envious of his bargain-hunting powers at that point. It was the least I could do for our best and most loyal customer.

The guy on the right was our best customer. Look at him fiending for comics. That's great.

It's nice to have repeat customers. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing you've got 'em hooked, a particular comfort in knowing you can depend on someone's addiction to bring them back over and over, and a dizzying sense of power in knowing that only you can satiate their hunger. I'm not saying that I felt like a drug dealer selling junk to helpless fools, but... Hurm. I felt more like... like a comic book pimp.

There was also this guy who came by early in the show and pulled out some of those X-Book Fatal Attractions hologram cover issues, as well as a variety of other holografx and foil and gimmick cover issues. It was like he was going through all our boxes specifically looking to score those. There was a moment when I saw him pull out a series of gimmick covers and Albert and I just made eye contact. I wanted to laugh, but I didn't wanna lose a sale. After he bought those comics, I looked at Albert and said, "You know what they say: A sucker is born every minute." Or maybe Albert said that to me. I don't know. I just thought it was extremely funny that someone would actively seek to buy the poop comics that were just trying to get rid off, stuff that was just taking up space in our lives that we probably would have just given away for free eventually. There were other people who bought a some of our crappy, worthless, useless '90s comics. I took their money every time, but a part of me unkindly kept thinking of them as chumps.

Saw this guy pick up that holografx Web of Spider-Man issue and I could barely suppress a smirk.

The other main thing I remember from the show was this one older, tall dude. He really, really needed a friend badly. He first came up to our table and we made some pleasant conversation. I think that might have been a mistake on my part. Usually at these kinda shows, vendors don't say crap to you unless you ask them something, like politeness is a sign of weakness or something. (It's somewhat true... Check out Allan's post and see Point #2 about being soft. Being soft isn't really a problem, I think. It's that most vendors at these shows are jerks trying to prey on the innocent-hearted. If I had known that guy in Allan's story was just buying Allan's beanie babies to resell them at his own table, I would have given his daughter a free copy of Todd McFarlane's Spawn.)

Anyway, I was too polite to the tall guy. He was browsing my trade paperbacks and hardcovers as we spoke, so I didn't mind, really, and he did end up buying my Breakdowns hardcover (a collection of early work by the Pulitzer-winning Art Spiegelman, creator of Maus) as well as Water Baby by Ross Campbell (although the cynical part of me thinks he bought Water Baby because of Campbell's ability to draw interesting-looking chicks). The problem was that even after he bought the stuff, he stood in front of our table and kept on talking to me.

I kept trying to be polite, but it's hard when someone has no social awareness and doesn't understand that a one-sided conversation isn't very interesting to the person on the receiving end. He kept telling me about his experiences with tennis players over the years and how he was a semi-pro and how he didn't want to play basketball because "Shaq would throw [him] around like a rag doll." Keep in mind that this guy probably had a solid 20 years of age on Shaq. Like an idiot, I kept on smiling and nodding at his comments, even asking him a question here and there to elaborate on some of his points. (Another one of my big mistakes.) The guy didn't stop talking. I guess he didn't have a real strong sense of social awareness.

I have a fake smile because he'd been talking to me for 15 minutes at this point. Allan's got a genuine smile because he thinks it's funny.

Albert basically saved me from purgatory after like 20 minutes of this by saying, "I'm going to walk around and check out some of the tables." That gave me the opening I needed to excuse myself because, you know, I had to check out the other tables, too. Unfortunately, that meant Allan was stuck listening to him. Sorry, buddy! I just felt like I'd done my time.

Oh, ho. Not so funny now, eh?

Later that day, I actually saw him doing the same thing to another vendor on the other side of the gym. Only it was worse. The tall guy was actually lounging on the floor right in front of the guy's table. The vendor looked pretty helpless and impotent. He didn't have a partner so he had no escape hatch. I felt sorry for him, but I thought that if I tried to help, I'd just get stuck with the tall guy again.

Yeah. He really just needed a friend. Unfortunately, we weren't selling friendship at our table.

[A couple weeks ago, I actually saw him again! I had just gone to a karaoke joint in Japantown with some friends, and as we walked out, he walked past us on the street! He was carrying a tennis racket and he was humming to himself rather loudly. Actually, humming might not be the best word... It was more like he was buzzing like a fridge. I don't know why. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice me as he walked past us, but the incident definitely made me feel like he still really just needs a friend.]

Profile pic!

At the end of the show, the comic book vendor next to us, the one with a bunch of longboxes, wanted to buy us out. He made us a lowball offer, which I didn't consider. The other thing was that I didn't want to just sell our comics to a guy who was just gonna try and resell 'em at a higher price. I mean, throughout the day, I know that other vendors came and checked out some of our stuff, and bought some. Those sales weren't the ones that mattered to me.

It was far more satisfying to sell comics to people that were actually gonna, you know, read them and hopefully enjoy them. That's why I liked selling a stack of cheap comics to kids. I remember when I was at that age and just starved for reading material and entertainment. I'd like to be a vendor again one day, and it's nice to know we still have substantial inventory.

Ultimately, that's what I enjoyed about doing the show. I liked being able to point people to good, cheap comics. It was fun to shoot the breeze with people who were interested in the things I'm interested in. Even the show organizer (John O'Connell's athletic director, who organized the show as a fundraiser for the athletics department) came by our table and said he appreciated that our crew was probably one of the least-shady vendors. He was also a big Spider-Man fan, and I was able to hand him some stuff he hadn't discovered before.

The show was fun. I'm looking forward to next year.

And the saga continues...