We Get What We Want

As someone who used to be freakishly skinny and now has some chub to him, I hear a lot of people complain about getting fat. I also hear a lot of people complain that they don't get what they want in life. Nothing ever goes their way. It's like Bruce in Bruce Almighty:

Jennifer Aniston:  So God is picking on you, is that what you’re saying?

Bruce: No! He is ignoring me completely! He’s far too busy getting Evan everything he wants.

The truth is, though, that we really do get what we want in life. Take me for example. I'm like most overweight guys out there now. If only I could lose weight!! I really want to! I'd do anything to be skinny and have a great body!!

That anything doesn't include giving up the pop and chips right now, though. I want pop and chips. So really, I'm getting what I want. I think it's the same thing for a lot of people. The person that wants to graduate school will actually graduate school. The athlete who wants to become great will work hard to become great. The singer who wants to sing well will put in the practice. We get what we really want. The lazy guy will get out of practicing and eat junk food all day sitting on the sofa. That's what he wants.

So until we're willing to change what it is we really want outta life, we will continue to get what we want.

Regrets

One of the new trends in our society is to have no regrets about life. The thought is that you can't be happy with your life as it is and at the same time have regrets. This is a lie. I am very happy with my life but I still have regrets. Everyone should have regrets. If you really think about all the aspects that have made up your life, there's no way you can say I made every decision the right way and wouldn't change a thing in my life. You're lying to yourself if you do.

Before we go into specifics, let's define what a regret really is. It's as simple as wishing you would have done something differently. It doesn't have to be a huge deal. It could be wishing you had gotten the lobster instead of the chicken at the restaurant last week. It's a change in something you've done.

Now, let's see all the many ways, big and small, you would change something in.

School

Most of us have at least 13 years of school under our belts, so there's a lot to choose from. Switching a class, paying more attention in class, paying less attention in class, studying more/less, not being the school bully, being the school bully, turning in more homework than you did, playing a sport, being a cheerleader, joining a club, asking a girl out, not asking a girl out, going to a dance, going to a dance with someone else.. these are all examples. Plus I would think most of us have something embarassing that happened to us at some point in high school.

Work

On time everyday? Never been late or took a "sick" day? Ever not taken a "sick" day when you wanted to? Maybe it wouldn't have changed much long-term, but maybe it was worth it that one time. And I'm sure you entered in every single piece of information accurately. No times you wanted to tell your boss off and didn't? Maybe a client? Or maybe you did and you wished you hadn't. Wished you had a different job? There's a lot in this category to cover.

Personal

This is one that EVERYBODY is included in. Ever have a bad thought? Ever wanted to? Relationships? Money? Social life? Addictions? Movies? Cars? Tons of stuff.

Sports

I put this one here for everyone that's ever missed a shot, dropped a ball, or didn't quite finish the race in the time they wanted. I missed a game-tying shot the other night. I wish it would've went in: there's a regret.

Spiritual

Are you perfect? No, and you won't be in this life. Whether you believe in God or someone else, you probably strive to be the best person you can be. Return missionaries...talk to everyone you possibly could have during your mission? Probably not. Make mistakes? Of course you did. Those are regrets; you'd change them if you could.

So don't say you don't have any regrets in life. Yea, some of the wrong choices may have led you the way you wanted to go or maybe the way you eventually went and love, but there are a ton of smaller choices out there that you would change if you could. You shouldn't dwell on things, especially small things, that you did or didn't do. Most of the regrets you have are probably ones you COULD live with, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't change a thing or two if you could go back and do it again. It's like most things in life: if you don't fail at it at least once or twice, you're probably not giving it all that you have.

March Sanity

March sanity is here!! Well, kinda... Basically no one really pays attention to college basketball until the last week. Yea, maybe a few glances at the highlights on ESPN or checking out the standings to make sure their team has a shot at making the 68-team tournament. But aside from that, ratings & ticket sales have never been lower in the history of college basketball. Know why? There are a ton of games that really don't matter too much individually in the regular season. This is what a playoff will give you for those of you who declare yourselves as proud anti-BCS: a weak regular season with teams taking off at the end of the year. Think all the teams in the conference tournaments really go out to play? Yea right. The conference tournaments are for bubble teams to improve their chances of making the tournament, not for teams to change their seed from a 6 to a 5. 

So aside from the upsets, there is a mix between sanity & madness. I'm going to go through each of them to see if we can't change a few things to make the good things even better.

MADNESS

First up, a 96-team tournament. This is a joke. I can't believe anybody would want this! I've only heard 2 people back this & one of them is Charles Barkley. Really? That's a turrible idea, Chuck. Adding another 28 teams may seem like a good idea, but think about it for a NANO-SECOND....it'll come to ya. You're not getting 28 more Dukes, UNC's, OSU's, Pitt's, & Syracuses....you're getting more teams that consist of 4+ letters in their names. Have you seen the play-in games?! Can you honestly name any of these teams without looking them up? UTSA, ALST, UAB, VCU, UNCA, UALR, UCSB, UNCO. I'm guessing most of you can tell me what 1 of these acronyms means, maybe 2. You're diluting the tournament. You're making it less fun to watch because you have 28 more teams that suck. Yea, you'll get the 4 or 5 teams that are dubbed as "snubs" who should've gotten in the tournament. But after that, you get mediocre teams, most below .500 for the year. Do we really want that?

SANITY

If you're just unwilling to accept that only 68 teams needs to be in the tournament, then put in 4 more slots to make it a 72-team tournament. Just have the last 8 teams in play against each other. We don't need any formulas....ooh, their RPI is 12.5354 points higher so they should get in. No. We'll have 8 play-in games. By doing this, we make it harder to get a perfect tournament bracket as well as give the sports analysts less to debate. "How could Alabama get snubbed like that?!" Well, now there are less snubs. Though, being the media, they just go deeper to find a snub list. Think that will go away by just adding teams? Nope. Just like the BCS making an 8-team playoff, or a 12-team playoff: there will always be some teams who get "snubbed" out of the tournament and that's just how it is. Plus the more teams you add, the less impressive the already-pitiful NIT tournament gets.

MADNESS

Conference tournaments. Do we really need them? We can't just make the regular season winner the automatic berth? We need to have all the teams play each other in 3 days when it took 3 weeks to do during the year? The NFL & college football have figured out this principle: sometimes less is more. Conference tournaments make the regular season pointless, ESPECIALLY if you're a team from a smaller conference. Let's say you're a team from the Atlantic-10. Can anyone name me 3 teams from that conference without looking first of all? Didn't think so (but we LOVE underdogs, right?). There are 13 other teams in that conference and you play 16 regular season games. So it's very possible you play the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th-best teams only once during the year. Let's say you play your heart out, end up with a 15-1 record, and win your conference. However, the last game of the year, your star player goes down with an injury that will keep him sidelined for a week and a half. He misses the entire conference tournament. Now, instead of getting an automatic berth for working hard for 2 months, you likely don't get into the tournament because you didn't win your conference AND you're from a smaller conference so your strength of schedule isn't that impressive. UAB got lucky this year, but there's a lot of controversy surrounding them getting in. If NCAA basketball wasn't so down this year, UAB doesn't get in. Think this is fair? Ask a Long Beach State fan.

SANITY

Just get rid of the conference tournaments. Period. If you want a pre-tournament, maybe schedule some mini-tournaments pinning bubble teams against each other. Have a bubble tournament! Just no more conference tournaments and PLEASE no automatic berths to the winners of them. Leave it blank so teams can schedule more non-conference teams.


So let's change some things around so we can concentrate on the madness of the games and not the process by which teams are selected.