Over The Pylon

Every morning I have a digital routine that I do that usually involves checking texts, checking Twitter, and checking Facebook for the various stories and comments that I think might require additional examination on this site. This morning, I was surprised to see a growing outrage over an adults only party at a kids party place (think: Chuck E. Cheese) in Long Island, NY. To be clear, there were no children present, it was adults only, and from as far as I can tell it was more nightie’s and pj’s than Caligula-style horse orgies.

I’ll own the fact that I don’t have children, but I would like to think that if I did, it wouldn’t stop my ability to be somewhat rational about all this. I’m neither a scientist nor a child psychologist, but I’d hypothesize that just because a bouncy castle or a Dance Dance Revolution machine had someone in a nightgown play on it doesn’t make it or its users bound for eternal damnation because OH MY GOD SKIN!!!! And if the concern is your children being in a place where adult activities may have occurred, I might suggest to you to never let your children leave the house. Oh wait… they were born so they can’t stay there either.

Whether or not your delicate sensibilities were offended isn’t really the issue. You can choose whether or not to engage in naked skeeball, and even I would take a pass on that. It’s hard to look sexy when you’re rolling for four straight 50s with laser-like focus. But let’s pump the brakes on acting like this is the worst possible thing that could happen or that some law was broken. Poor taste? Perhaps. Though I would argue that’s a matter of internal measure. But to act like the mere presence of lewdness in an area where children may be TEN HOURS LATER somehow destroys their innocence is beyond stupidity.

Your kids are going to find nudity and adult themes in myriad places like the internet, television, movies, their friends, in their friends’ dad’s game room in the third cabinet from the left, etc. Perhaps all that energy you spend complaining about things like this would be better spent educating your children on how to live in a society where this is a thing (right or wrong) and pursue responsible decisions around it. Because acting like the whole nature of sexuality and/or adult type things is EVILEVILEVIL KILL IT is only going to make little Johnny or little Suzie that much more persistent to try it to see what all the fuss is about.

And for the record, if you’re one of those people who are outraged about the possibility of your child being in a location where people were perhaps thinking impure thoughts or engaging in activities that would make their parents blush and you live in southern Indiana, I’d go ahead and steer clear of the Dairy Queen in Floyds Knobs. Just, uh… go ahead and take Uncle Alan’s word on that one. On to your Cardinals news and notes…

• The Cardinals football recruiting class that was signed, sealed, and delivered on Wednesday ranks anywhere between 3rd and 7th in the MAC depending on what service you look at. One thing to keep in mind is that the rankings are often impacted by the number of people in the class. It’s a cumulative point system that benefits those who sign massive classes. For BSU to land there with only 19 signees is a great sign about the quality of this class and the players within it.
• And while the rankings are flawed, OTP did a little research and found that our preferred recruiting service (Scout.com) has kept rankings back since 2002. This 2014 class is the highest ranked Cardinal recruiting class ever. Even with only 19 signees. So be excited for that.
• If you aren’t up on Ball State softball, you need to be. ESPNW certainly is, as they write a stellar profile on senior pitcher/outfielder Jenny Gilbert, calling her the best-kept secret in the college game. (via)
• In not so great athletics news, the men’s and women’s basketball teams had a not so good week as the Lady Cards turned in two losses (@Kent and CMU) and the men one (@Buffalo). The men stand at 4-16 and the women at 9-12. It’s going to take a miracle for either squad to reach any form of postseason play at this point, but that’s no reason to stop supporting them. The men play at home on Saturday at 2 against Toledo and the ladies go on the road Sunday to Northern Illinois.
• If you’re somewhere close to the nation’s capital, BSU men’s volleyball will be at George Mason this weekend to defend their newly minted #15 national ranking. If you’re near Princeton on Saturday, you can catch them also. Both matches start at 7.
• No Ball State Tweet of the Week this week because most were either lauding a white trash party kegger or complaining about the snow. We have certain hurdles of classy here that we have to clear. (NOTE: We do not. This post started with lingerie skeeball parties)

The Olympic opening ceremonies are taking place as I write this, but because the suits at NBC are cramming a delayed broadcast down our throats, there is no way in America to watch them live. I, for one, welcome our new delayed television overlords. At any rate, stay warm this weekend, Cards fans. And make sure you disinfect your skeeballs. Hit the comments with your thoughts on whether you’re #TeamLingerie or #TeamPurity.

Filed under: BallStateFootball, Basketball, News and Notes, Softball, Volleyball |