So I read today that pop princess Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, is “embarrassed” by her photo spread in Vanity Fair Magazine. Memo to Cyrus and her handlers: what did you expect? Vanity Fair is most certainly a magazine with an adult-focused audience. I know because I read it. It is not geared toward teenagers. Why do you think she was asked to pose in the magazine in the first place? To sell more magazines to horny men passing by the news stand! Look, she took the money so I don’t want to hear about how she feels betrayed and exploited. She has no business being in that magazine other than to show skin. If Miley, her father and all the rest didn’t have a clue about that then they all deserve to be exploited. Annie Leibovitz, who did the photo shoot, is a regular magazine contributor whose style of work is well known. The Cyrus clan knew what they were dealing with. If they didn’t think that these photos would be used to titillate then they really are a bunch of hillbillys. I mean, come on, do you think anyone really cares about the career track this girl is on? Unless you are under 15 I’d say no. Based on this fiasco it looks like she is on the way to Lindsay Lohan-land if she is not handled correctly. Before long we’ll start hearing reports about how Miley is partying it up, posing on the cover of Maxim and thinking about doing a nude spread in Playboy. That’s the system. That’s how it works. If you are a young girl with good looks you are at risk of being exploited by the American media machine. Sex sells. That’s been the message for many years so get over your shock. Like it or not that’s the deal Miley made with the devil when she took the money from Vanity Fair. That’s the adult lesson here. Don’t piss and moan at Vanity Fair for doing what they do. I’m not saying it’s right to exploit a 15-year-old but they do have a magazine to run and they’ve run it that way long before Miley Cyrus came along. Miley’s people can’t be naive enough to think that it could never happen to them, could they? After all, this is the real world- wake up! Miley’s handlers should have been smart enough to see this coming. The fact that they didn’t or are saying they didn’t is a joke and I find it hard to have sympathy for them. If they were so worried about the negative press, they should have considered the source and just said no.

Has anyone out there ever read the Nielsen TV ratings? For some odd reason, I noticed them today in the USA Today newspaper and after reading them it reaffirmed something for me. I have long believed that the overall value of network television today is worthless. Why, you ask? Because all everybody is interested in is reality television. Of the top six rated programs last week five were reality shows. (Two episodes of American Idol at 1-2; two episodes of Dancing With the Stars at 3-4 and Survivor at #6. Only “Two and Half Men” at #5 made the list as a fictional show. I guess I’ve always known these were the ratings but I never really paid much attention to them. It’s just one of those things that when you actually see it in print makes you go “wow!” You know, for me reality shows are the biggest waste of time. Who in their right mind wants to watch the “real-life” exploits of people on television in order to be entertained? (Oh, wait- I guess America does. After all the proof is in the ratings) All I have to do is walk out my door or stick my head out the window to see reality everyday. I don’t really need to see it in my down time. It’s pure overload.  What does it say about America when everybody is so busy wondering who will be crowned the next American Idol instead of getting a life? Reality TV is the big joke perpetrated on America by the television industry. The networks love that people eat this stuff up. It allows them to make money hand over fist. It’s cheap to produce and takes no imagination or skilled writing. (OK, there is some writing, after all cheesy drama has to hold some interest) I just don’t get the fascination. It’s simply mindless TV. I am a product of TV in the 70’s and 80’s. Shows like “All in the Family,” “Hill Street Blues,” and Mary Tyler Moore.” “One Day at a Time,” The Jeffersons,” “Starsky and Hutch,” and “Family Ties.” These were shows that gave us life’s situations but put them in the hands of fictional characters so we all knew where the boundaries between reality and fiction were. Nowadays that line is blurred and it speaks to why we are so screwed up as a society.   Everyone thinks they can be the next big thing and that’s all that matters.  Anyone that likes this crap needs to watch the 1976 movie “Network.” It will really open your eyes.  (Or will it?)  The film is a satire on the direction TV was heading in the future after 1976. Well, guess what? The joke really is on us. Many of the things satirized in the film are actually on TV right now or have been in the past. The main character, Howard Beale, was right to be “mad as hell and not able to take it anymore. ” All everybody wants now is to get rich quick and be the next star. Nothing else matters, and TV says it’s easy to do. I’m all for getting rich but not at the expense of ignoring everything else in life. I think American Idol is the worst thing to ever happen to America because for every season winner they have, thousands walk away disappointed and wondering “why not me?” All it does is give people unrealistic expectations and takes their focus away from the reality of their situations. Real self improvement is sacrificed for a pipe dream that is not likely to happen. There are more subtle ways to make a lot of money and get famous. Auditioning for and religiously watching American Idol isn’t one of them. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that and until they do we will continue to see the same garbage on network TV until it doesn’t sell anymore. From the look of things that could be a very long time. I think I’ll continue to stay off that band wagon.  The only reality TV I’ll be viewing are documentaries and news shows like 60 Minutes. That’s all the reality I need.  Check out the Nielsens sometime.  It will answer a lot of your questions, I guarantee it.

I just got done watching a story on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” about the wives of former NFL players and what their lives are like after their husbands are forced to retire from the NFL due to injuries. It is a heartbreaking piece and very sobering to those of us who love the NFL but don’t give the lasting injuries caused by the sport much thought during a Sunday afternoon. It is a very humanizing piece and it puts the plight of these so called “warriors” into proper perspective. Of course, I have heard in the last several months about how the NFL Players Association fails to take care of its disabled players and how guys like Mike Ditka are fighting tooth and nail to change the process. But it never really hit me as to how severe the problem really is until I saw the story of Autumn and Brian DeMarco on Real Sports. Brian DeMarco was a 6′7″ 320 lb. offensive lineman in the NFL from 1995-99 with Jacksonville and Cincinnati. He had to retire after the ‘99 season due to a spinal cord injury. Today, Brian is 35 and disabled. He is nearly penniless, has been reduced to hocking his valuables just to eat and is forced to beg the NFL for help. The NFL basically doesn’t know he exists. His primary caregiver is his wife, Autumn. Every day she helps him to get dressed, eat, take his pills and even use the bathroom. It is tough to watch what Brian DeMarco has been reduced to due to his crippling injuries. He simply cannot get around without his wife’s help and even has trouble putting his medication into his own mouth. But Autumn doesn’t care even though she never thought NFL stardom would bring her to where she is today. She is the true hero of this story. She loves her husband and does anything for him. The DeMarco’s have children and often don’t know where their next meal is coming from. They often worry where they will be living next month. They once had to live in a storage facility with their kids. Maybe it’s because Brian DeMarco is a player I am familiar with and watched play in recent years but this story really brought into focus for me how bad this problem really is. It is a tragic story and one that every football fan should be aware of. If you are a football fan and have HBO, take the time during this Super Bowl week to watch this story. It will sober you up to what the NFL is really like behind the scenes- a real horror show. But the shining light in all this is Autumn. Not all NFL wives are capable of doing what she does everyday but she is to be commended for the love and dedication she shows her family. She is truly a remarkable woman.

So the Christmas shopping season began in earnest yesterday with Black Friday-  the day many Americans lose their minds and line up outside retail stores across the country in search of the best bargains.  I’ve always thought that this was a symbol of why the rest of the world hates America and as I watched my local news late Thursday night I wasn’t disappointed.  There they were- lines of people standing out in the wind and freezing cold of the northeast ready to pounce when the stores opened at 5AM.  They even interviewed a girl and her father outside a Best Buy who said that standing outside a store at night equalled the quality time spent with family at Thanksgiving in that they spent time during Thanksgiving clipping coupons and planning on what they would buy together.  Now they got to be together in the cold of night.  Yep, sounds like family bonding to me!  The scary part is that both were serious when they made those comments.  I mean the whole thing is just a complete circus every year and retailers have taken advantage.  You’ll notice that this year the stores were opening an hour earlier at 4AM.  I’m sure next year it will be 3AM and so on.  But I don’t blame the retailers.  They are in business to make money, so if people are stupid enough to stand outside all night, more power to the stores.  As for what it says about us?  Well, it’s pretty obvious.  Some of us are willing to make complete asses of ourselves so we can save a buck or two while the rest of us look on with wonderment at how ridiculous the “bargain hunters” really are.  Again, we wonder why the world looks at America as full of itself.  Black Friday is example number one.

I saw a story on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday about Millenials and their relationship to the current workforce.  The Millenials are defined as the age group born between 1980-1995.  The story talked about how this group of people grew up never experiencing failure, always being told yes and constantly being coddled by their parents.  Now that they are entering the workforce or are on the edge of entering it they are taking the attitude of “if you don’t like me or my work or my personality I’ll just go somewhere else with my talents.”  The story struck a nerve with me because I see this attitude pervade this age group everyday and didn’t think anyone else noticed it until seeing this story.  I am a member of Generation X, the preceding group born roughly between 1965-1975, and I have to say that the attitude of the Millenials is a joke.  However, it’s not really their fault because their parents were scared into raising a generation of kids by a bunch of TV experts who said coddle rather than discipline or teach success and failure.  It’s not surprising that these people think the world owes them a favor because that’s how they were brought up.  In their childhood, these kids didn’t have winners and losers in, say, little league.  Instead it was about the experience of playing the game.  How this teaches kids disappointment and how to deal with it is beyond me.  How do they possibly function in society?  We all know examples of people in this age group who have a sense of entitlement around them and who feel they are untouchable.  If you tell them no they just flip you off and say I don’t have to deal with you because they don’t know how to take criticism or direction.  They just want to move on to the next thing.  The story went on to say that many companies have brought in different experts to help their human resource departments deal with and understand these people.  Are they kidding?  Whatever happened to the days of if you don’t like this job then quit? The attitude of this latest generational group just represents how society is slowly eroding from what it used to be.  Nobody thinks they have to answer for themselves anymore.  This is in turn leads to a lack of accountability and responsibility and you get to where we are in society today.  And it’s slowly becoming a not so good place.  It’s all about coddling.  The Milleneials aren’t all to blame but if they represent the long term future that is truly scary.