First Log Cabin Democrat column!

http://www.thecabin.net/stories/061608/opi_0616080018.shtml

Here is my debut column for The Log Cabin Democrat newspaper, which gives me money every two weeks or so. Enjoy!

The Worst Thing You'll Read All Week
Thank you for reading. I guess this is my cue to start talking.

Or writing, although I do read these out loud to myself, and to my mother, who is probably thrilled that her baby boy has a real newspaper article in The Log Cabin Democrat.

Up above the headline is my picture, and if you have glasses, I apologize that my smiling, extremely unattractive face just shattered the lens. Hopefully next time you'll look away from the most grotesque thing ever seen in a newspaper (with the exception of Eli Manning and the Giants winning the Super Bowl).

I am a big sports fan. I tend to cheer for teams from Boston, although I will admit to you in print that for the longest time, I was New York Yankees fan. Once I realized that my terrible choices could be passed along to my children, I got smart and made the switch, and now I cheer for every Boston team, even the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.

But perhaps my favorite sports team, above all others, is the Boston Celtics basketball team. As I type this, the Celtics are getting ready for game five Sunday night against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, and after suffering through years of terrible Celtics basketball, a chance to defeat the Lakers for the team's first championship since 1986 is something I will cherish.

I have other interests aside from sports. I attend St. Joseph in Conway, and am very passionate about my Catholicism. The faith is especially interesting, as I am in the process of converting (by attending classes called Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults...more on that in another column) to the church after 24 years of attending Baptist churches. I love to cook, especially blackened fish with Red Beans and rice, and in my free time, a cold Samuel Adams with Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' on the record player is the perfect way to relax.

I know, this is starting to sound like a personal ad. The main question I should be answering is, what will I write about each week? What does this column have in store for you?

I'll be honest: it might be the worst thing you read in the newspaper each week. It might be the best thing, although if you do pick up the newspaper each week just to read my words, I feel for you.

Just kidding! All jokes aside, I hope that each week, I can spend some time talking to you, having fun, having a few laughs, and sharing life's perils, pitfalls and promises.

Because that is what makes getting through life a little easier: talking out the difficulties you face each day, laughing about the silly things that come up, and crying when the most terrible possibility in life rears its ugly head.

My favorite writers always made it seem like people went through the same junk each day that the reader goes through. When I was a child, authors like Beverly Cleary wrote stories about everyday kids who dealt with the same problems I did (I was really happy when Henry Huggins got to take over the paper route for Scooter in "Henry and the Paper Route"), and that made her books some of my favorites. And maybe by presenting the normal ups and downs of my life to you in this newspaper, these columns will be of interest to you.

I hope to provide some sort of entertainment to you, be it through sports (how the Celtics dismantled the Lakers for their 17th championship), through life's pitfalls (running out of gas on the way to work), faith (Catholics are Christians too!), or anything else that comes to mind.

All in all, I'm just glad that you are reading. It will make my mother proud.

Dustin Faber is an avid Boston Celtics fan and a page designer for The Log Cabin Democrat. His email address is dustin.faber@thecabin.net

8:23 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

My lucky Brady jersey
Current mood: amused

Here is the column, unedited, that was published in The Sentinel-Record. I post it because the newspaper's website does not allow non-subscribers to the newspaper to read it. Why? I have no idea. Enjoy!


What started as an unremarkable display of fandom ended up becoming a necessity, an unalterable truth in my life.

I'm speaking of my white No. 12 Tom Brady jersey, bought this summer, and worn during every game in the New England Patriot's 18-0 (so far) season.

It was on during spygate, that non-issue involving a camera in the Patriot's week one victory over the New York Jets. It was worn during the Patriot's convincing victories over San Diego, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. Name a top team, and New England, with or without the help of the Brady jersey, has rolled through them. And thank God I dressed accordingly.

Superstition in sports is not uncommon. When a pitcher is throwing a perfect game, nobody talks to him for fear of 'jinxing' his performance. Many football players believe that taking a new number when arriving to a new team will bring bad luck. Even Michael Jordan, the Wayne Gretzky of basketball, wore his North Carolina basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform to bring him luck. Six NBA championships for Jordan's Bulls makes superstition a worthy asset to have in a career. And it makes my jersey obsession even more valid.

According to sports psychologist Richard Lustberg, in a story on psychologyofsports.com, says it's the confidence that makes a difference.

"All of a sudden, you're successful," Lustberg said in the Orlando-Sentinel story. "It's not what batting glove you're wearing ... it's the belief that you will succeed."

It's a belief I've held all season, although even the most die-hard Patriots fan couldn't have predicted an undefeated season until New England's first win.

And now, with the Super Bowl game against the Giants coming up, the Brady jersey will get one more appearance, just one more storyline to add to a Boston-New York (or Foxborough-New Jersey, to be exact) championship game. Personally, a Green Bay-Patriots Super Bowl would have been the best possible game, but Giants-Patriots will be good (almost as good as food from Chris and Robin at the local Waffle House).

There's Brady versus Manning (Eli, who will no doubt have older brother Peyton in tow for a pre-Super Bowl priceless pep talk). There will be talk of a dynasty adding another piece of history, and surely talk of 19-0, the undefeated NFL season.

And how can you avoid the undefeated talk?. Sure, ESPN will pound the talk into the ground, until the constant talk will cause you to root for a cancelled Super Bowl. But when Brady can throw a record-50 touchdowns in a season, a record 23 to Randy Moss, and when the defense seems like it can shut down any opponent, the appropriate talk seems like it foreshadows the inevitable.

I think that if these were the Seattle Seahawks going into the Super Bowl at 18-0, nobody would have the same expectations due to the lack of Super Bowl victories for the Seahawks over the last few seasons (the Patriots have three, and Seattle would have won Super Bowl XL if they didn't have to play the referees). But New England has the proven track record of success, and to bet against that would seem like a foolish thing to do.

Much like betting on Aikman's Cowboys, Montana's 49ers, or Otto Graham's Browns, picking these New England Patriots to win their fourth championship is a forecast anyone with common sense would make.

One more victory (and rest assured, the Giants WILL, as my Brady-loving friend Jacklynn put it, lose miserably) would make them the greatest NFL team in the history of football. Not the 1985 Chicago Bears, who won Super Bowl XX in convincing fashion over the Patriots. Not the 1972 Dolphins, whose undefeated 17-0 season no doubt was a phenomenal feat.

No, 19-0 will be the greatest sports accomplishment this side of the 1980 U.S. Hockey team's win over Russia. An undefeated year in the NFL earns that kind of honor.

And after framing Brady's lucky jersey, it will earn a trip to Foot Locker. You know, to get ready for an undefeated 2008 season.

11:25 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment