It's Never 'Just A Game'

On the heels of the Lily Tomlin encounter last Friday (it was so cool to meet the Mark Twain Prize winner), today her name popped up in headlines as the 2008 recipient of the same honor, George Carlin, was celebrated posthumously in Washington this evening.

The are dozens of Carlin quotes I've memorized over the years, notable his monologue about the famous "Baby On Board" yellow car window signs of the late 1980s:

"... instead of 'Baby On Board,' how about an honest sign, like, 'Assh*le at the wheel!'? They could give those out free to people who drive Volvos and Saabs."

According to Wikiquotes, it turns out Carlin took on the legitimacy of a few Olympic sports, too. Given today's unfortunate incident involving a downtown Atlanta MARTA police team, Carlin's comments on boxing seem timely:

"Boxing is not a sport. Boxing is a way to beat the sh*t out of somebody. In that respect, boxing is a more sophisticated form of hockey. But beating the sh*t out of somebody isn't a sport, in spite of what the police think. When police brutality becomes an Olympic event, fine, then boxing can become a sport."

On sports, I think he punctuated his thoughts on competition with the notion that, "It's never 'just a game' when you're winning."

Just a few months ago, when George Carlin played a packed house at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, he did not really touch on sports and 'stuff' (unfortunately, his final 20 minute rant was a bit much).

But it was good to see him live, and it will be fun to search for recordings or video of more of his material, like this one my boomer blogger friend and colleague, Marilynn, might enjoy (all in good fun, though in this case, not clean).