The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Friday January 23, 2015
A splendid time is guaranteed for all this weekend.
All-star festivities
This weekend both the NFL and NHL have their all-star games (because the NFL has to be different they call it the all pro game – we’re happy for ya). There are two ways to approach these games: as boring, meaningless exhibitions or as fun celebrations. Why anyone would want to bog themselves down with the cynical first view is beyond me.
If you take all-star games for what they’re supposed to be – a fun gathering of the most talented players – you may not necessarily enjoy it but there’s no reason to talk down about it or call it stupid as many, especially in the Minnesota sports talk community, do. I’m not sure about the Pro Bowl, but all-star games in the other sports are more about the festivities around it than the game. It’s about fun for kids and families. It’s just a cute thing. Cynicism about it is unnecessary.
Good, old fashioned family fun
Another fun thing it’s easy to be cynical about is the Winter Carnival. There’s coronations for princes and princesses, kings and queens, and of course the inexplicable Vulcans.
Once again, though, why be cynical? It’s meant to be a fun thing. It’s almost like anything family-friendly is seen as boring or stupid. I’m sorry, not everything can have the unnecessarily gratuitous sex, violence, and bad language. Those things aren’t bad in themselves, necessarily, but how overdone they are all the time is easy and uncreative. It’s cheap.
Plus the Winter Carnival has two things nobody can hate: ice sculptures in Rice Park and the Beer Dabbler at the Fairgrounds. I’ll be covering the latter for the Minnesota culture blog I write for, Curious North.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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