Go Do Stuff II: Do More Stuff

(YouTube / Casey Neistat)

You hear it all the time.  Life's short. Life's short. Time goes faster the older you get. 

You're 30 before you know it. You're 65 and retiring before you know it. You're 100 if you're lucky. Heck, 65 if you're lucky. Steve Jobs, one of the most important people in contemporary culture, only made it 56 years.

Life's short. 

But I think I stumbled across a secret. I think you can make 56 years seem like 100 if you live 'em right. Sorry—I don't mean to sound cheesy or anything here.

And it is a little cheesy. That's OK. Cheese is delicious. It's kind of a problem. I snack on just chunks of cheddar cheese. All the time.

Anyway.

What do you mean, live 'em right? 

Instead of working to get more stuff, just try to do more stuff. Fill those ever-shortening days with living. I think all the time about the last-second trip Katie and I took from North Carolina to Boston back in January. For lots of reasons. But here's one of the most vivid things I remember: 

That weekend felt like a week. 

Because we were doing. Living. Experiencing.

Life flies by because here in America it's so easy to spend it experiencing others' experiences rather than creating our own. Watching movies. TV. Playing video games. Reading.

Don't get me wrong. I watch lots of TV. I love movies. Play lots of video games. All are good and wonderful, but be wary: They are something to consume, not something we create.

Unless you're actually creating them. In which case, rock on. 

Consuming is good. It fuels us. But use that fuel to make life more full.

Do stuff. 

Yeah. It's tough. It takes that other stuff, money, and sometimes the stuff we do is to make money so we can just survive. That's okay. You don't have to take crazy trips all the time or go on wild adventures or spend lots of money. 

It's only 10 a.m. and I feel like I've already lived a full day. Got to the gym at 5 this morning. Played basketball for two hours. Worked out. Made a good breakfast. Egg and cheese bagel with orange juice. Met my dad at Starbucks for coffee. Had great conversation. Spent an hour working on a great story. This is going to be a great, full day.

So yeah. Want a long life? Don't count the years. Count the experiences. Or don't count at all. Just do. 

The Gospels Are Not Your Alibi

Highlights from Charles Pierce's brilliant takedown of the high school that forfeited a state championship baseball game because it didn't want to play against a girl. 

In his invaluable What Jesus Meant, historian and author Garry Wills reminds us that, during his time as a thoroughgoing Galilean religious nuisance, Himself did not take the time to make priests, create a "Church," or, certainly, devise in his own memory an inflated medieval anachronism like the modern papacy. I have found this helpful to remember whenever "faith" is used as an excuse by elements of organized religion to treat other members of the human race as inferior. Find another excuse. The Gospels are not your alibi.

We had another little somethin'-somethin' in that regard this past week out in Arizona. The baseball team from Mesa Preparatory Academy made it all the way to the finals of the Arizona Charter Athletic Association's tournament, where the Monsoons — and how cool is that, by the way? — were scheduled to meet Our Lady of Sorrows, a Catholic charterschool from Phoenix that is run by the Society of St. Pius X, about which much, much more anon. As it happens, the Monsoons have a freshperson second baseperson named Paige Sultzbach, who is slick with the glove around the bag and who is also a female person. (Just for the record, Mesa's archery team is coed as well.) Paige was a softball player in junior high, but, because Mesa doesn't offer a girls' softball team, she tried out, and made, the boys' varsity baseball team, which is a formidable accomplishment for a 15-year-old. Her coaches and male teammates supported her, and good on them for doing that, too. This is the kind of story that makes celebrating the anniversary of Title IX worthwhile. Except that her opponents in the title game disagree, and they've dragged Jesus in as an accessory before the fact.

Despite the fact — or, the cynical heart would murmur, because of the fact — that Mesa and Ms. Sultzbach whacked them around twice this season, including an 11-3 pasting back on April 26, in their own ballpark, Our Lady of Sorrows forfeited the championship game rather than play against Paige Sultzbach, ace keystone-sacker and female person. (Being far classier than her opponents, Ms. Sultzbach sat out the two regular-season games at Our Lady of Sorrows in deference to her opponents.) Here is Our Lady of Sorrows's official excuse for not playing in the championship game.

"Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty," the statement read. "Our school aims to instill in our boys a profound respect for women and girls."

This is all my left eyebrow, of course, unless you consider breaking up a double play to be some kind of sexual thrill ride. (OK, I know some TV baseball analysts who … but never mind.) But to truly understand it, you have to understand what the Society of St. Pius X is all about, and to understand that, you have to understand a little about the dead pope after whom the society was named. Pius X, who reigned from 1903 to 1914, was a steadfast opponent of what was then called "modernism," and he accelerated the momentum of the Church toward conservative theology, a dynamic that did not exhaust itself finally until the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Which brings us to the society that bears his name, and which also sponsors Our Lady of Sorrows, which apparently thinks infield practice qualifies as foreplay.

Paige Sultzbach and her teammates deserved a chance to play for the championship. They were the only undefeated team in their league, and they'd already beaten Our Lady of Sorrows twice this season. They'd worked hard enough, and played well enough, to be allowed to win their championship on the field, and not have it handed to them because somebody hiding in a chapel somewhere decided not to give them the satisfaction. For all the theological dust they've thrown up to cover their cowardly retreat, Our Lady of Sorrows plainly and simply didn't want to lose to a girl.

This is an embarrassment to sport and to religion, the functional equivalent of bleeding statues and the face of Jesus on the side of the barn. This is the kind of thing of which Blessed John XXIII was trying to rid the Catholic Church when he called on the council to "throw open the windows" and release the stifling air of repression that had built up over the centuries. Our Lady of Sorrows doesn't want to play baseball against Paige Sultzbach because it's run by an organization that harbors an attitude toward women that differs very little from that of Bishop Williamson, its crackpot avatar. And, no, I don't have to "respect" the stand they took, or the beliefs that prompted it, unless I'm also prepared to "respect" the anti-Semitism and conspiracy-mongering that are at the heart of the beliefs in question. I'm not required to be as classy as Paige Sultzbach, state champion.

Go read the whole thing here at Grantland.

Do Good Feel Good

October 2011

It’s so early the sun’s not up. It’s cold. I'm on a military base and I’ve been running so long and hard that my legs ache and my feet are numb. I probably stop if I’m running alone. But I'm running with a group of six Special Forces guys, one of whom is the much-tweeted-and-Facebook-status-updated about Special Forces Guy from a forthcoming magazine story. You don't quit when you're with him. 

We'll just call The Captain for now, because he's soon coming to magazines near you and I can't risk wrecking the story with more details yet. (Trust me, they're more than worth the wait.) What I can tell you about him is that one of his colleagues has this sticky note in his wallet, a little perspective for harder days, and it says the guy's name and then the words "Don't Bitch."

“C’mon, man!” The Captain calls back, his voice light but firm. “Just another half-mile!”

Click to read more ...

Why Stories Are All That Matter

Stories are all that matter—not what we think or feel, but what we do. That's something that's really gotten into my heart lately, and it's working its way into every part of my life. So expect more stories around here, and less opinion. 

I've been moving that direction anyway, and I think yesterday did me in. I think it was taking in everyone's reactions to the whole Amendment One ordeal. I don't mind disagreement. It was the sheer volume of people who disagreed so disrespectfully on something that there is no clear black or white answer for. It just beat me down. So many people—not all, but a lot—care much less about hearing someone else's side of things than they do about voicing their own.

Getting mixed up in that sort of stuff is something I'd rather stay away from now. I'll always talk to people about their beliefs, because that's something that's intensely fascinating to me, something I'm deeply passionate about. But I don't care anymore whether they agree with me. I'd rather just love. I'd rather focus on discovering and telling good stories, because there's nothing more fun and fulfilling than a good story well told, whether it's a movie about a bunch of superheroes coming together to save the world from monstrous aliens, or a quiet little film about a college boy figuring out what he believes in life, or a cartoon about a daddy clownfish crossing oceans and battling sharks to find and save his boy. 

Stories take us somewhere else, somewhere away from the yelling and the fighting. Even in the same room. Ever been reading something and totally zone out? Ain't it grand? 

I'd rather focus on creating that than just being part the noise.

"This, too, is true: Stories can save us."

— Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

The Puppy And The Fawn

The puppy was just eating some grass and rolling on bugs when from the brush sprang the tiniest, weirdest-almost-dog-but-not-quite-looking thing he'd ever seen. And so for four minutes he and the fawn frolicked and it was just disgustingly cute and adorable and now I am sharing the video the puppy's—whose name is Dickens, apparently—owner shared on YouTube two years ago but which I just saw five minutes ago. 

Yeah, animals rock.

Stories' Stories: Mike Sager on His Esquire Profile 'Ugly'

"Someone once said I would have found something loveable about Hitler. And to that I say, well, Eva Braun must have loved him, right?" —Mike Sager

National Magazine Award winner Mike Sager (2011, "The Man Who Never Was," Esquire) profiled an ugly dude in Hollywood for the latest issue of Esquire. That sounds kind of mean until you read the piece, which turns out kind of beautiful. The level of intimacy he gets to with such a character is just astounding. It's a must-read for journalists both accomplished and aspiring. Probably a must-read-thrice, just to appreciate how much Sager learned about this guy.

"Ugly" by Mike Sager - Esquire, May 2012

As you'll see below, it took a heck of an effort, but in true Sager form, the man pulls it off remarkably. It's not a pretty story or a feel-good story, but it's a true story, and more and more these days I've come to appreciate the simple power of truth in a world gone mad with spin. 

So without further rambles, ladies, gentlemen, and others, I give you Mike Sager. 

Click to read more ...

American Idol Winner Scotty McCreery Sets Career High For Single-Game Strikeouts

Obviously inspired by my interview with him coming out in that week's issue of ESPN The Magazine, American Idol winner Scotty McCreery Friday night struck out a career-high eight batters in his Senior Night start for Garner Magnet High School against Southeast Raleigh. 

I already rambled about Scotty in a previous blog post, and I swear, I'm not just going on about the kid because he's famous. I really love the fact that he's made time to play baseball this year. He's never going to get to do it again. I mean, yeah, he'll probably get to throw around some if he wants, but he'll never play on an organized team after this season's over. He recognized that, and forced it into his schedule. That's love of the game, man. Some weekends he's touring with the biggest names in country music—heck, he's becoming one of the biggest names in country music—but for a few months, he's also just been a kid on a ballclub, out there raking dirt, tamping the mound, wearing the exact same uniform as a dozen other guys, just being a kid.

There's something just impossibly romantic about that to me. This country music star, clinging to his youth in the form of a kid's game. 

I know, sorry, I'm getting way too saccharine right now. Sue me. I just thought it was awesome, and sometimes that makes me ramble. 

Let's flip this. Turn it on you. What would you do if you could McCreery yourself? What I mean is, what's something from your youth you'd do more of if you could? If you can't, why not? And if you can—why ain'tcha? 

Go.

Extras: The Scotty McCreery Interview

"Baseball’s a huge part of my life and I do expect it to get into my music more at some point."

Practically every story or interview in a magazine has had something left out. Sometimes that's because some stuff just ain't all that interesting. But often it's just because there's not enough space. Hence, "Extras." 

I interviewed American Idol winner Scotty McCreery for this week's issue of ESPN The Magazine. Scotty's also a senior at and a pitcher for Garner Magnet High School in North Carolina. Make sure to read the mag's version of the interview here. Below there are the extras, the stuff that got left out. Scotty breaks down what he throws—turns out the dude has a great mind for attacking batters—and he talks about why he chose to enroll at North Carolina State University next fall and what he'll study there. He also talks about what he prays before he pitches, how he got into baseball in the first place and how much it means to him, its impact on his music, and much more. 

Quick thought about Scotty: He had a few pre-packaged answers like any other celebrity—which is totally fine; in today's world, with certain blogs and sites just dying to pounce on a misconstrued phrase, which can totally ruin your rep, you gotta be super careful—but once we got  going about baseball, it was just a couple ballplayers talking the game. The kid really loves it. I mean, he's touring with Brad Paisley, finishing high school, and writing new music. And he still carves out time for baseball. 

And he's good enough to be 2-0 with a 1.03 ERA right now. Rock on, McCreery. 

Anyway. I know you care more about what Scotty has to say than me, so here's the interview. Enjoy.

Click to read more ...

Casey Neistat's "Bike Lanes" is the Funniest Thing Ever

If there's one thing I like as much and maybe a little more than animal humor (see previous post) it's physical humor. When you mix that with totally mocking jerk cops? Pure gold. 

Brought to you by the same filmmaker who inspired you last week to Go Do Stuff. Me and this Casey Neistat guy, we'd get along famously. 

(And yes, I'm clearly behind on this because since Casey posted it last July, it's been viewed more than 5 million times. Sue me.) 

Take us away, Casey. 

A Lion Tried To Eat a Kid That Looked Like a Zebra

Animals are just the best. 

And the most hilarious. 

And the most terrifying.

So if you're gonna dress your kid up like a little zebra, and then take him around lions, make sure there's a super thick glass pane between them. And then you'll have Internet home video gold. 

Enjoy: