Monday, August 5, 2013

Take It Like a Man, Kid!

I really hate to be trendy. Sort of makes my teeth itch as my old squad car partner used to say. But these two stories just seem to be yanking the commentary out of me today.

Consider. A twelve-year-old boy on "Kids" week of that venerable show, Jeopardy, bets $3,000 of his $9,600 in winnings on his answer to: "Abraham Lincoln called this document, which took effect in 1863, "a fit and necessary war measure." His answer, spelled the way he spelled it, was "Emanciptation Proclamation."

It's spelled wrong, right? So the show busts his wallet. He winds up in second place...where he would have been anyway because the winner had amassed $66G.

But the kid hollers about it. And the media, and social media, pick it up. His father calls the show's producers and host Alex Trebek "smug" and says the poor child "hung his head," and "was barely holding it together..."

Tough beans, little guy. If you can't stand to lose, you shouldn't have gone on the show.

Though your teachers and parents may give you a pass, though it's not important on Twitter and Facebook and in texts and wherever else nowadays, spelling counts on Jeopardy. It's in the rules.

Your dad may help you whine about it, but here's the lesson. Just because you're a kid and came close,  suck it up. Sure we all knew what you meant.

That's not good enough.

Also not good enough...A-Rod's suspension from baseball for doping. Yeah, he's suspended but he's in the lineup tonight here in Chicago.

"Yes, kiddies, we've told you taking drugs is bad...unless a baseball team and league is depending on you to make money for them...then it's okay."

End of rants.

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