On Offensive NFL Team Names

In case you didn't hear, the Washington Redskins football team has been the center of a peculiar attack this year because of their "offensive" name.  The team has been in existence since 1932, and has come under attack for their name in the past, but this year, thanks to the Internet and politicians' eagerness to do anything but their jobs, the conversation has come to life again.

This isn't the first time a DC area team has changed its name because the name was too... whatever.  In 1997, the Washington Bullets (an NBA franchise) changed their name to the Washington Wizards because the name "Bullets" has somehow acquired a violent reputation over the years.  Hmmm... Bullets and violence?  Who'd a-thunk it?  Now, let's not even talk about the fact that the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan are referred to as Wizards, or that discussions of magic and the like might be detrimental to the minds of young children.

So I'm thinking... what other NFL teams have "offensive" monikers.  Here's my quick list...

THE AFC

AFC East

Buffalo Bills:  Named after "Buffalo" Bill Cody.  Cody purportedly killed over 4,000 American Bison (aka buffalo) in his life, and contributed mightily to the near-extinction of the breed.  Additionally, Cody was a well-known gunslinger.  It is obvious that this is far too violent a name, and the city of Buffalo should immediately begin a search for a new name for the team.  

Miami Dolphins:  Nothing is offensive about a dolphin, unless you consider that some wacko science types consider dolphins to be smarter than humans.  It would be unfair to suggest that a team was smarter than another, thus the name Dolphins should be abandoned.

New England Patriots:  Did you ever notice the word "riot" is part of the word Patriot?  That's right.  You can't have Patriots without riots.  We can't suggest to people that riots are a good thing.  Gotta go.

New York Jets:  The Jets were a street gang in the musical West Side Story.  A football team named after a street gang that bursts into song?  Oh, I think not!  Again, connotations of violence cannot be allowed.   Sorry Jets.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens: Oh, how cute, a literary reference.  We'll disregard the fact that Edgar Allan Poe was a drunk. But we can't ignore that the poem for which the team was named is a sweet little tale of a man slowly falling into madness while a raven says "nevermore".... over and over again.  Should a football team really be named in honor of madness?  Uh, no.  Begone raven!    

Cincinnati Bengals:  Bengals are a kind of tiger.  Tigers eat people.  Name = not good.  Must be changed.

Cleveland Browns:  Probably THE MOST offensive name in the NFL.  What the heck is a "brown" anyway?  Is it a reference to skin color (racist)?   Is it a reference to the color?  If so, it's not saying anything good about the city.  Or is it a scatological reference?  Yup.  We have a winner.  It's not nice to go around naming teams after poop.  What message does this send??

Pittsburgh Steelers:  Okay, so a steeler is in reference to all of the steel workers in Pittsburgh.  Pretty cool, right?  Well, it sounds a little close to "Stealer" for my tastes...  A stealer is one who steals aka a thief.   Unacceptable.

AFC South

Houston Texans:  Texas wasn't always a state.  It was once its own republic.  By having a team called  "Texans", it seems that the team owners are somehow maybe suggesting that perhaps the state of Texas should secede and become its own country again.  This will not do.

Indianapolis Colts:  Samuel Colt made guns.  Guns kill people.  Name = not good.  Oh. wait... you mean the name isn't referring to Samuel Colt, but is a reference to the horse?  Whatever.  If it helps you sleep at night, you go right ahead and think that, but I know better...

Jacksonville Jaguars:  I'm not picking on the Jaguars.  They're not going to be around long enough for it to matter anyway.  (But, you can always refer to the Bengals argument if you'd like).

Tennessee Titans: Titans were a group of deities in Greek mythology.  References to archaic pantheistic religious figures are obviously anti-Christian and must be eliminated.  (I would like to suggest they call team the Tennessee Tuxedos.  That would be too awesome.)

AFC West

Denver Broncos:  Broncos are basically feral horses. Do you really want your kids exposed to the idea of feral animals?  Uh, no.  Bad idea. Oh, and the whole rodeo thing.  Not cool.

Kansas City Chiefs:  If Redskins isn't allowed, the Chiefs (who play in "Arrowhead Stadium") have to go too.  It's only fair.

Oakland Raiders:  Uh.  Yeah.  You know what a Raider is?  No?  Ok.  Well, it's not a good thing.  Think rape and pillage.  Not exactly family values material here.

San Diego Chargers:  Chargers?  Huh?  Are we talking about horses?  Are we talking about electrical chargers?  Phone chargers?  People who have problems with spending and tend to use credit cards a little too much?  Any way you look at it, this is a dumb name and should be changed regardless of whether or not it's offensive.

THE NFC

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys:  We gotta do something about this glorification of the wild west thing.  Cowboys?  Really?  You know what cowboys did?  They killed "Indians" (not real Indians, but Native Americans).  If "Redskins" is bad, "Cowboys" is worse!

New York Giants:  Giants were mythological characters too, you know.  They were the children of Gaia (that goddess that all those pagans and hippies like so much) who were conceived (get this!) when Gaia was impregnated by the blood of Uranus after he was castrated.  Yeah... That's what we want to name our football teams after.

Philadelphia Eagles:  Okay. So the name itself isn't offensive (actually, it is because the eagle is a bird of prey, but I'll talk more about that when I get to the NFC South). But the Eagles' fans are more offensive than any bird of prey.  These people booed Santa Claus.  SANTA CLAUS!  Just for that reason alone, the name should be changed.

Washington Redskins:  This whole stupid article is their fault.  They should change their name because this whole controversy prompted me to spend a good half hour writing all this crap.

NFC North

Chicago Bears:  Hm.  Nothing offensive here, except for the whole bears eat people argument, so I'll move on.  Actually, that whole Super Bowl Shuffle rap thing when they went to the Super Bowl in 1985 is reason enough to change the name of the team, burn the city to the ground, then send the ashes into outer space.

Detroit Lions:  (See Cincinnati Bengals)

Green Bay Packers:  What are they packing?  Heat?  Meat?  Luggage?  Doesn't matter.  That's not an appropriate name for a professional sports team.

Minnesota Vikings:  The vikings were some nasty folks.  The whole rape, pillage, plunder thing.... Not cool.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons:  Falcons are birds of prey.  They attack and kill and eat their prey.  That's so inappropriate.

Carolina Panthers:  The easy way out would be to say "see Cincinnati Bengals" again, but there's another way to look at this.  Think about the militant anti-capitalist, pro-Marxist, black nationalist revolutionary group founded in the 1960's... the Black Panthers.  You name a football team after them?  What?

New Orleans Saints:  Religious reference.  Gotta go.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Buccaneer is a fancy word for pirate.  Pirate = rape, pillage, etc.

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals:  Finally, a non-offensive team.  It's a bird.  A sweet little bird.  Chirp chirp.  Yeah, right.  I know what's really going on here.  It's a Catholic thing.  That's right!  I'm onto this little conspiracy.  The Catholic Church is trying to pollute the NFL now.  I won't stand for it!  OUT!

Saint Louis Rams:  First, the name of the city has to go.  Religious reference.  Can't have it.  Not politically correct.  Second, rams do this thing where they slam their heads into one another when they fight.  With the whole focus on head injuries, the NFL would certainly want to steer clear of having a team named after an animal for whom head injuries and concussions are a way of life.

San Francisco 49ers:  Yeah, let's celebrate the lifestyles of the gold rush folks.  Great idea.  Ever see Deadwood?  Okay, move that bunch of cut-throats to San Francisco, and you've got the 49ers.  Yeah, backstabbing, greedy, whore-mongering drunkards are exactly the kind of mascots the NFL needs.

Seattle Seahawks:  First, a seahawk isn't even a real thing.  If they're referring to the Osprey or the Skua, then we have to go back to the Atlanta Falcons argument.  Besides, the Indianapolis Colts already tried that name out when they were in Miami and it didn't work then (well, sorta... it's a long story).  OR, they could be talking about the character from the She Ra cartoons, but that would be ridiculous... oh, and Sea Hawk was a pirate, and pirate names are not acceptable (raping, pillaging, plundering, looting, etc.)

Here, I have proven that all 32 teams in the NFL can be considered to have offensive names.  As such, the NFL, and the Congress, and the President should call for the immediate changing of these monikers to something more appropriate.

Discouraged

Today, it's just been another one of those "down" days.  Things are steadily improving with my "UC", but the medication is still wreaking havoc on my body.  Thanks to the wonderful combination of medications, my sleep cycle is in complete chaos and even though I'm going off of the Prednisone in a couple of days, the side effects are still there.  Today, I got yet another side effect... Thrush.  My tongue feels like it's wearing a jacket made of white porcupine fur.  This one comes courtesy of my compromised immune system, and quite honestly, it's the last thing I needed.

This whole journey has been more difficult than I ever imagined it would be.  Every day or two, there seems to be another little issue... pain is still there and to combat the pain the doctor prescribes medication that makes me sick, the burning butt syndrome still occurs on a daily basis, now I've got thrush, what's next? Double vision?  Hearing loss?

But I complain too much.
Or I don't complain enough.
Or I don't complain to the right people.
Or something.

For my own edification, I need to do a little recap of the situation as it has unfolded.

1. I was having bloody diarrhea and severe stomach pain.
2. My wife called my GI doctor.
3. The GI doctor didn't have any appointments available for 2 weeks.  Instead of sending me to one the other doctors in his group or recommending another course of action, Without even seeing me or requesting labwork or samples of anything (blood, urine, stool, etc.), he just prescribed 2 antibiotics (Flagyl and Cipro). which I foolishly took as prescribed.
4. The doctor also told me to be on a clear liquid diet for 2 days, then transition to a fully liquid diet for two days, then move to a low-fiber diet.
5. The Flagyl and Cipro made me sicker.  In addition to the bloody diarrhea and severe stomach pain, I also had the added joys of of extreme fatigue and nausea.    
6. At some point, only a few days after the move to a low-fiber diet, I got a call from the doctor's office telling me to go on a high-fiber diet.
7. After 10 days, I finally saw the doctor.  He ordered no labs (no blood work, no stool samples, no nothing), he just gave me a quick exam and ordered a colonoscopy the following week. At this point, I took it upon myself to switch to a bland, anti-inflammatory diet.
8. I had a colonoscopy.  While I was in recovery from the procedure, the doctor came into the room and told me that I had C-Diff.  My wife asked how he knew it was C-Diff.  He said, "I saw it." and prescribed another round of Flagyl, Asacol, and a course of Prednisone (4 weeks, starting at 40mg/day working down to 10mg/day).
9. I did some research on C-Diff and learned that it is contagious.  Thousands of people pass through the halls of my workplace on a daily basis.  In an effort to avoid infecting others, I stayed out of work until it could be confirmed that I was not contagious. 
10. 4 days after my colonoscopy, my doctor finally ordered lab work: blood tests and a stool sample.
11. The stool sample was tested for C-Diff.  It came back negative.  So basically, I missed over a week of work because I thought I might be contagious and it turns out, I was never contagious to being with and could have at least worked half-days.  grrrrrr.....
12. The pain continued.  I saw the doctor again and he revised his diagnosis.  Instead of C-Diff, he said I have Ulcerative Colitis.  He told me to continue with the medication as prescribed and to take Vicodin up to twice a day for pain if needed.  Additionally, when I asked him about diet plans, he refused to give me any concrete answers. He said something to the effect of "some people have a high fiber diet, and some people have a low fiber diet, and some people avoid meat and some avoid vegetables and fruits".  Basically, without saying these words, he said "I'm not going to accept any responsibility for that.  So I'm not making any recommendations."
13. The pain continued, (and still does, although, admittedly, not with the severity and frequency it had before) but with the added fun of intense burning when I defecate. I contacted the doctor's office to request an ointment of some sort to aid with the burning and a refill of the Vicodin.
14. The doctor prescribed the ointment, but substituted Tramadol for the Vicodin.  But, I can't take Tramadol. I've been prescribed it before and it makes me terribly sick. I contacted the doctor and explained this, and was told that I would just have to deal with it.  I don't like Vicodin and I don't want to take it, but nothing else has worked. I delay my doses as long as possible and skip them if I can.  But sometimes, it's just too much and I break down and take one. 
15. I've continued with the course of treatment prescribed and have now developed thrush.  I was prescribed difulcan today and hope that this will address the issue, but diflucan has the wonderful side effect of stomach pain.  Yippee.
16. Oh, so there's one more thing.  The blood work they ordered?  Yeah.  Well, that was ordered after I'd been on the Prednisone for a few days.  So, whatever the bloodwork says is hardly indicative of my actual condition.  Based upon the results of these tests, the doctor wants me to get an ultrasound of my liver and have more bloodwork done.

So there's my tale of woe, in a nutshell, minus all of the Prednisone-induced hyperbole and off-topic rants. 

I feel like I've been lied to by my doctor, misdiagnosed and treated poorly overall.

Now I'm still sick, on a shitload of medication, and I don't know who to trust.

On the shutdown

In sickness and health

I posted the following to Facebook yesterday, but thought I'd share it here as well.  It sort of sums up my thoughts on the whole political stuff these days....

Hey everybody. I realize that the vast majority of my posts over the past few days have been overtly political and/or religious in nature and some of them may be considered a bit harsh. If I've offended you, I apologize. This is gonna ramble for a bit, but I feel the need to share this and hopefully clearly explain my position once and for all. Please. Take a moment and read on....

I've been really sick lately. I missed 9 days of work, visited several doctors, had multiple lab tests done, had a colonoscopy (which involved anesthesia), and been prescribed a slew of medications.

By my estimates, the costs associated with this illness run somewhere near $20,000 so far. Add to that the follow-up visits, the cost of medication for the forseeable future (one med runs about $900 for a 30 day supply) and we're looking at a lot of money.

Two years ago, my wife had a heart attack and was out of work for a year. The ER visit, hospital stay, catheterization, follow-up visits, and continued medication would total roughly $100,000. Add to that the lost wages and you've got a hefty sum of money.

Thanks to my employer, my wife and I have good health insurance. This insurance is part of the compensation I receive from my employer for the work I do. This insurance has allowed our family to maintain a reasonable standard of living and not have to worry about how we were going to pay for what would otherwise have been astronomical medical bills. In fact, we've been able to keep our home, our automobiles, and keep our bills payed pretty much on time (for the most part), although we have seen our fair share of struggle and lean times and had to make some sacrifices.

I am an American. I am a PROUD American. As luck would have it, I'm also southerner, so I'm double lucky. I was brought up to believe in the Bible, in Jesus Christ, and in the principles of love which are at the heart of the Christian faith. In my life, I have veered off course and done terrible things of which I am not proud, but the God I serve is loving and forgiving, although many of the actions I have taken are not worthy of forgiveness.

I was brought up to believe that we are one nation under God. To me, that means that the principles upon which this country was founded were the same principles I learned in church. I always felt like I fit in America.

I was taught that Jesus loved everyone equally and took mercy upon the poor, the hungry and the sick. I was also taught that it was my duty as a Christian to emulate Christ and to do the same. It stands to reason that if my country is based in these principles, then my country also has a duty to do this as well.

The God I serve does not discriminate based upon job or luck of the draw. The God I serve came to earth as man, healed the sick, fed the hungry, chastised the greedy and taught us to love the Lord God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

The same God gave us the wisdom to develop medical techniques and tools which can preserve and prolong life. This gift did not come with strings attached. This gift was not given to us so that we might share it only with those who are fortunate enough to work for an organization that provides the right insurance coverage.

The United States of America is the result of an incredible experiment. We have this crazy history of saying one thing and doing another. We say "All men are created equal" yet we don't treat them equally. We've come a long way from the days where that "All men are created equal" actually meant "All land-owning heterosexual males of European descent are created somewhat equal". A lot of good people sacrificed their very lives so that we may reach this point where there is a greater amount of equality than ever before.

I believe in equality. I believe "God don't make no junk". I believe that the same God that created me created you and you ain't no better than me and I ain't no better than you.

It is only by the grace of God (or luck) that my family is not facing foreclosure because of our medical bills. Why should I be treated any differently than anyone else? My life is of no greater value than anyone else's. The amount of material wealth a person possesses should not dictate the value of their life, nor should it dictate the manner in which they are treated or the amount and quality of health care they receive.

If this country is truly rooted in Christian principles and values, then we must keep up the fight for equality for all Americans. But if that's not the case and it really is all about the money and the only thing that matters is the bottom line (which is what I'm hearing from more and more people who claim to be Christians) then never mind. I was mistaken and I'm heartbroken. We have the opportunity to help, but instead, the people who claim to be followers of Christ are trying to slam the door in the face of the poorest among us... again.

Okay. I'll stop now.

Lost Time is Not Found Again

---Odds and ends---

Wow.  Time flies when you're suddenly productive.  The good news is that my health has improved enough that I was able to go back to work last week.  Since then, I've been plugging along, one day at a time.  Some days have been awesome, others... well... not so much.    But overall, I'm steadily improving and feeling much healthier.

I'm adjusting to a new way of life and making changes which can significantly improve the quality of my life.

My diet has been simplified.  I no longer eat spicy foods.  I no longer drink coffee (big sacrifice).  I drink tea instead.  I don't drink soda (often).  I drink lots more water (mostly seltzer or Pellegrino).  I avoid processed foods.  I avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs.  I avoid red meat (I only just re-introduced chicken into my diet over the weekend).  I drink Aloe Vera juice mixed with Papaya juice.  I tried red cabbage juice, but can't stomach it.  I take probiotics.  I make my lunch and carry it to work every day.  Above all, I keep it simple and try to keep it balanced.  I'm having more carbs than I'd like right now, but I'm still healing, and the carbs (rice and potatoes in particular) are proving quite helpful.  I'll introduce more foods as time goes on, but for now, I'm trying to let myself heal.

Seasonal Allergies reared their ugly head last Thursday (September 26, 2013) I woke up with a scratchy throat and knew what was coming.  I don't have bad allergies, but I do have allergies and need to treat the symptoms.  But for now, I'm not able to take the OTC medications I usually take when allergies strike.  For example, I usually take a combination of Sudafed, Mucinex, and nasal spray to treat the allergy symptoms.  But that little trifecta (especially the Sudafed part) probably isn't a great idea with my current medications, so I'm just dealing with the discomfort.  The symptoms only lasted a day or two and will probably continue to come and go for the next few weeks.  Nothing I can't handle.

---The Direction of this Blog---

So I've really enjoyed blogging.  I think the experiment has helped me cope with my sickness and also given me the chance to put my thoughts out there for the world to see (or ignore).  I've maintained a professional blog for a couple of years, but I want to keep that separate from this.  This blog is for me (and you) and is going to contain things that I care about.  It's gonna be a journal.  It's gonna be a little bit of everything... and why not?

So the title of the blog has changed from C-Different (although that is still the URL) to New Eyes.  We'll see how long that sticks.  I could change it to something completely different in another week or so and to something else a week or two after that.

Whatever.

I've got a few things I really want to write about.  Some autobiographical stuff, some music stuff, some sports stuff (I'm a big-time baseball fan), some spirituality stuff, some political stuff, and some general lifestyle stuff.  I've written some pretty large screeds on Facebook which I am going to copy here as blog posts over the coming days just so they get a different audience.

And I guess I'm going to have to categorize my posts a little better now, huh??

So all this means that the initial vision I had for this blog has shifted, and that's okay with me...
Stay tuned.  It could get interesting around here.
If nothing else, it'll let you know a little bit about what goes on in the mind of one human being...