As a native Houstonian, my sports life has been pretty rough lately. Two of my teams, the Texans and the Astros, have the number one overall pick in their respective drafts this year, and my third team, the Rockets, is stunningly mediocre.
(There is a fourth team, the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League, but they are a minor league team that plays a minor league sport, so are doubly not worth mentioning. Seriously, if hockey disappeared off the face of the earth, do you think you would notice? Maybe three years later you would say to yourself, “Wait a minute, I have not seen Barry Melrose on SportsCenter for a while,” but that is about it.)
The point is, my life is rough. And everyone knows that the best thing to do when your life is rough is to irrationally place the blame on someone else’s shoulders and direct all of your hatred towards them.
Someone such as Wade Phillips, the former defensive coordinator for my beloved Texans – the Texans organization vented some of their anger by firing him, and it seems only logical that I follow their lead and use him as a receptacle for my frustration and anger.
But in spite of the utterly compelling logic of this argument, I cannot bring myself to hate Wade Phillips. Instead, my heart goes out to him. Why?
Because of the stunningly moving account of his job search on his Twitter feed.
There is a time and a place for a eloquent, insightful and definitive commentary on the role of social media and the limits and possibilities created by 140 characters or less and the potential downsides to living out your life in the public arena. This is probably the place (where better than the sports page of theWheel?) but now is not the time. Mainly because Wade’s tweets are just so darn funny, but also because I have only 140 more words left in my allotment for this week.
Fired on Jan. 5, by Jan. 7 Wade had already gained some degree of perspective on the matter, realizing that there are more important things in life than a job. “They can take away your job but they can not take away your twitter friends – thanks for all the support #TFF,” he tweeted.
(After consultation with our Arts and Entertainment Editor, Emelia Fredlick, I have determined that TFF stands for Twitter Friends Forever.)
The next day, however, Wade’s thoughts turned darker. “Just looking for the Light,” he tweeted.
Several weeks later, Wade had moved through all the stages of grief, from anger to acceptance to the irrational hope that the future will be better. And he remembers the people to whom he should truly be grateful.
“Thanks for the support I have had on Twitter. Next yr someone will need a better defense,” he tweeted.
Wade, I hope someone does. But if they do not, please consider applying for the On Fire internship.
Rumor has it that you might get to hang out with Jennifer Lawrence at Maggie’s.
– By Bennett Ostdiek
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
