YEARNING FOR ASPHALT NATION ——— by Steve Nadis
Much was written in the 1990s–and I personally shoulder part of the blame–about the four million miles of public roads that cover our nation with asphalt. What a terrible thing, we all said. All those roads. All those damned roads…
But when I see TV ads today (not that I watch TV, and especially not the ads), it’s hard to find a car that actually follows a road. Instead, they’re all driving up mountainsides, or smashing their way through jungles, or splashing across wetlands, in a full-frontal, all-out assault on the environment. I used to think all those roads were a tragedy–cursing those poor chaps in the blacktop industry–but now I wish at least a few cars would stick to the pavement.
Posted by
at
04:52:32
This one makes even less sense than usual. If that’s possible. Do you watch TV or not? Do you hate roads or love them? And now a suggestion from your number one fan: Before you write next time, maybe you should make up your mind.
I admit it: I don’t know what I’m talking about. That’s why I write.
Burt makes a valid point. This can get pretty obscure at times. But I agree with Snake on this one. I’d like to keep cars on the streets. When I was a kid, a drunk neighbor smashed his car right into our living room!
See, I’m definitely against people driving cars through livingrooms. But we shouldn’t talk about this too much, because next thing you know, there’ll be ads showing SUVs kicking up clots of Persian carpet and 4-wheeling over love-seats. I can hear the background music now: "Ain’t no sofa high enough! Ain’t no ottoman low enough! Ain’t no wall-to-wall wide enough–to stop your HUMVEE 2!"
I’m glad you’ve taken a courageous stand against "driving through livingrooms." By the way, Gatemouth, have you changed your name, or are my eyes playing tricks with me?
Nope. No name change. Just a momentary mental lapse–I typed the first part of my email address instead of my screen name in the "Name" field. Damn! Now my cover’s blown.
Not to worry. I didn’t see a thing.
Dear Steve,
I’m a father of two volleyball players, boy of 18 en girl of 16. Both of them are palying at the highest level of my Nation’s volleyball competition. I’m from Suriname and trying to locate information on the inner game of volleyball which I want to submit to my kids’ coaches. Could you direct me to books, web-sites or any other information source. I saw that you beleive in the inner games of volleyball.
Thanks, Leon Brunings.
Dear Leon — Thanks for your note. I play volleyball but never at the level your son and daughter are playing at. I wrote a column about "The Inner Game of Volleyball" for Volleyball Monthly magazine years ago (almost 20 years ago, I believe), but that was a humorous column and offered nothing of practical value. Although I am interested in the inner game of volleyball, as there have been long stretches of time when I have not played because of injuries, I’m afraid I don’t know of any good articles or texts devoted to it. Maybe a book by Doug Beal, the coach of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic team, would be good. He wrote one for Sports Illustrated called "Volleyball Excellence." Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but best of luck to your two athletes.
Your blog have a good sense of humor,i guess so do you.