I'm watching this video as we speak and can't even wait till the end to post this up. Here's a clip of the Rich Eisen show where the guys are discussing why Jason Bateman took Sean Hayes instead of Will Arnett to the Dodgers World Series game. (The real reason is, I believe, Arnett is in New York at the moment, thanks Smartless I know too much about you guys now.) Rich and co. speculate that it's because Arnett is a Jays fan and JB doesn't want to sit with a Jays fan, despite being best friends (or one of).
Then, a big loud debate erupts where Rich, Brockman and the sound effects guy all admonish TJ for saying he would go with his best friend even if they had directly opposite rooting interests, because they're best friends. The other three lose their minds at the thought of that! Like, the sound guy (sorry I keep forgetting his name, and remember I'm typing furiously because REACTION and I can't be bothered to check) wouldn't even go with his wife last night because she's a Jays fan and he's LA. Wow.
TJ is right, 100% could not be righter right: these guys do not have the same level of friendship as he has with his pal Ashton (Kutcher, for Tracy). And in sound guy's case, he doesn't have that level of friendship with his wife. This all just blows my mind. They're all three yelling at TJ at how insane he is to want to go to a championship once in a lifetime game with his best friend even though they will be rooting for opposing teams. All three would choose their team over their 'best' friend. I mean ... what?
One of my best friends, certainly my best friend when we lived together at the height, the HEIGHT of the 49ers Packers rivalry (late-90's), is - you guessed it - a diehard Packers fan. Every year it seemed like, we'd meet in the regular season and/or playoffs and of course, without question, we would watch that game together. What would be insane is if we did NOT watch that game together. (btw if it was regular season and anywhere remotely close to Halloween, the winner would get to put their team's hat on the pumpkin that was sitting on one of the speakers. This happened more than once.)
Tomorrow, or in the future, if one of us stumbled upon a pair of tickets to a Niners Packers playoff game, or the NFC Championship game - and asked the other to go? Uh, yeah, you can bet we'd be going. It's the event, the experience, and it's our friendship that is so much more important than whether one team or the other wins. Yeah it sucks for the loser, but only in the sense that the pride is beaten down and your team loses bragging rights, and the pumpkin has to wear the other hat for the next month or so.
It occurs to me that this is a microcosm of what politics has become in the States, and maybe worldwide too. If I'm on the right wing and you're on the left, we cannot be friends anymore and fuck I can't even stand to spend time with you, even if you invited me to ... uh, the presidential debate that you have tickets for and I've dreamt my whole life of seeing live? I mean, it's not an one-for-one analogy, and obviously politics have a more direct and immediate impact on daily life than sports, but it is still pretty much true. Some people value certain friendships over politics, and sports fandom, and some people just cannot get past the divide.
TJ, you have an actual best friendship in your life and I'm happy for you.
Also, fuck off with the Cowboys.
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