Reality show special

So a couple weeks ago, myself and a friend were having, um, the type of conversation we normally have. You know, excessive tangents and usually quite crude analogies and such. We may or may not talk about women every now and then. But I feel like I should also say that he is a minority. Awkward silence after the PC term …

I mention that piece of it because, as a white guy, having a true friend who can just as soon make degrading comments about my heritage is something you can’t really compare anything to. I make Mexican jokes, he comes back with something revolving around kilts and potatoes. Two white guy friends could never do this. And yes, if you are a follower of this column, this is the same guy who has the bagpipe ring tone for me.

This particular conversation we somehow ended up on the topic of reality TV shows, something about just the general awfulness of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I have been sucked into a few myself over the years, but most of them are there solely to make fun of. Well, doing our racial joke routine yet again, we started thinking up reality shows with overtones … funny ones.

You tell me, what could be more realistic than taking a “typical” bar-scene-type white guy – decked out in his khaki shorts, t-shirt and flip flops – and dropping him in the middle of South Central L.A..? Think of the possibilities here people. Having a true wing man in the ghetto, he could be adopted by a small group and taught the ropes … with obvious tests along the way, hoping to gain street cred.

Similar scenario, take a middle age Mexican gentleman who doesn’t speak much English and toss him in the classic “cubical office” with mostly white guys and ladies. He would be a mid-level Account Rep type, having to go through several types of business meetings while trying to overcome all the stereotypes. And the catch could be that, his prior manual labor skills somehow save the day when the building endures a somewhat minor disaster. Eduardo comes through!

I could go on and on, but I really think it’s worth looking into. Somehow the producers could twist the teases and themes to revolve around “America finding its true identity” so that advertisers would flock to it. Viewers would come by the millions to see something they have never seen before. If anyone knows someone at the networks, feel free to pass along my name and they can thank me later.

Big Weekend

Anyone remember what I said about Butler on Monday? Maybe I was right about something. Yet again Thursday night, the ButDogs were nice to Wisconsin Green-Bay by not showing up for the first half, eventually pulling away 68-59. Its kind of like a cat who finds a mouse and gets him trapped, but just kinda plays with it for an hour before actually killing it.

I wasn’t at Hinkle last evening, but I sent a few texts with my free season ticket partner – one of them being about six minutes into the second half when every Butler fan knew exactly what was going on. My text read: “See what happens when your best three players are the only ones who shoot? Genius!”

The ButDogs now have a two-game cushion in the loss column in the current standings of the vaunted Horizon League. I’m willing to say that this one is over, folks. Even if Butler loses two conference games, there is no way anyone else is running the table. Try to argue otherwise.

Butler’s little stepbrother, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is scheduled to show up at Hinkle for a 2 p.m. tip tomorrow in a contest of the top two in the conference standings. There is only one important thing about this game: I was tipped off a few weeks ago by my buddy at the Horizon League Network that UWM features a JuCo transfer who goes by the name of “Big Thunder.” I expect a cheer for the fella. He’s listed at 6-7, 340 and apparently is pretty soft on his feet. And he even chucks 3s (22-59 on the season). Now this is going to be something to see. Photos to come on Monday, stay tuned.