Shh, a few opinions that will get me in trouble

Some might say I’m opinionated. I like to think I’m wise. Tomayto, tomahto. I’ve noticed that some of my opinions put me in the minority. I don’t mind though. I know I’m right.

Here’s what I mean:

—The Beach Boys were blah. I love the water. I love the beach and I definitely love good music. The Beach Boys music, though, fell on deaf ears for me. I’m convinced that “Good Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and “Surfin U.S.A” are all the same song? They are, right? My favorite Beach Boys song sadly is their Christmas song, “Little Saint Nick.” Oh, I have to be missing something.

—Thanksgiving is the best holiday on the books. Many folks in the U.S. and across the globe point to Christmas. I’m convinced that Thanksgiving is easily the best. Why? People are happy and focus on being grateful and appreciating what they have. You see my point, right?

Image by Pixabay.

—The Beatles were great. And I love going “Old School” and pulling up their massive catalog of great songs. But here’s the shocker: If I’m alone on a deserted island and I’m limited to five bands/albums, I’m not choosing them. Right off the top of my head, I’m choosing the Eagles and U2. I would want to choose something country, most likely Johnny Cash, or even a modern day performer like Kenny Chesney. I would choose AC/DC and my last choice would be either Bob Marley or Jazz greats Miles Davis or John Coltrane. The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins and Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel, and Bon Jovi would get some consideration too.

I have good reasons for keeping The Beatles off my island. First, when I was a kid, I confused The Beatles with the Bay City Rollers. Don’t shoot me. I was just going off of what one of my brothers told me. I soon learned The Beatles name. However, outside of “Yesterday,” “Let it be,” and “In My Life,” their songs were never on my regular rotation. Second, in seventh-grade music class, our teacher played “Penny Lane.” We thought it was cool at first. But after listening to the song a few million times, it soon lost its coolness. Plus, the Beatles were always the band of the Boomers. We heard all the time about how great The Beatles were and how nothing from Generation X could compete. By the time we came into our own, we rarely heard The Beatles on the radio and they had been broken up for years.

Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees, The Who, and Aretha Franklin wouldn’t make my cut either. And shockingly, I would include Michael Jackson on my thumbs down list. The King of Pop was just never my cup of tea. Can we still be friends?

—I still don’t get the rules of Soccer. Ice hockey too. I can tell you right away when I see holding or pass interference in an National Football Game. But offsides in Soccer? Forget it.

—New York is nice. LA cool. I have an affinity for Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., but I’ll take the flyover communities any day of the week. Everyday people who will do anything for you.

—I don’t get the hoopla over Citizen Kane, Orson Welles’ masterpiece. Give me Casablanca. Give me The Godfather. Give me The Shawshenk Redemption — for my money, the best movie ever made. I would name 100 other movies before I even thought to mention Citizen Kane. It gets worse. I bet I would name Turner & Hooch or Marley & Me before I’d named Citizen Kane.

Image by Pexels.

—Pepsi is better than Coca-Cola. (I would pick Diet Pepsi over Diet Coke everyday of the week. I’ll drink water before I drink Diet Coke.) And I don’t get the interest in energy drinks! Blech!

—James Bond is a swell fellow. He’s gotta have something going on to last this long. I must admit though to wondering occasionally what the fuss is all about with him. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of 007 and his “shaken, not stirred” martini. However, I don’t think I’ve seen any of the Bond movies in an actual movie theater. I find them fun to watch. They’re like cotton candy, mindless fun, but I haven’t found them enjoyable enough to pay theater ticket prices.

Whether you’re a Bond groupie or not, movie lovers should check out John Rieber’s running review of the Bond franchise. He’s working his way from 1962’s Dr. No with Sean Connery to the 2021’s No Time to Die with Daniel Craig. Here’s his most recent review on Pierce Brosnan’s third 007 entry, The World Is Not Enough. As John points out, it’s interesting to see how the series has ebbed and flowed with the Bond actors.

—When Americans think about our Founding Fathers, they think of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. They also think of John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and a few others. In my opinion, though, Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton were cooler than George Washington and the rest of the founding fathers put together. And according to the musical “Hamilton,” Alexander wasn’t a bad hip-hop artist too.

Benjamin Franklin

—Music videos should make a comeback. I miss my original MTV. (Yes, I know they still exist in some form, but they’re not what they once were. Vinyl has made a comeback, I want my original MTV.)

—Ice cream should be served at every meal.

—I saw a car the other day. It had New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Cowboys stickers on the back. Has there ever been a bigger bandwagon jumper?

—Everyone likes to fight over who is the best National Basketball Association player of all time. Many point to Michael Jordan. Others point to Lebron James. Some crazies say Kobe. No, no, no, I go old school. Those three couldn’t carry the water jug for Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, or Dr. J (Julius Erving.) I would throw Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on that list as well. MJ and Lebron are great, but my choices played when the game was real.

—People need a license to have kids. You need a license to drive. Why not for having kids? Whoever let me have kids should’ve had their head examined. I had no clue what I was doing.

—Big pizza chains like Dominos, Pizza Hut, and Little Caesars have killed great tasting pizza. Mom and pop holes-in-wall are always better. Likewise, Starbucks and Dunkin have killed coffee.

Image by Pexels.

—Seinfeld was overrated. A show about nothing, c’mon? I love Seinfeld’s stand-up comedy, but his sit-com was not as good as people remember it. Cheers, Friends, MASH, Barney Miller, Taxi, Soap, All in the Family, The Simpsons, I Love Lucy, and The Office were all better.

—Dogs are better than cats. No convincing me otherwise. Of course, Nittany, our Lhasa Apsa – Bichon Frise, is lying quietly against my feet right now. By law, I’m forced to include her on my list.

—There’s no such thing as too many books. My pile of books is out of control, but that’s okay! There’s always room for one more.

I said what I said. You can disagree with me if you want, but I’m still right. At least that’s what my wife likes to tell me when I disagree with her. I’m telling you the same thing.