R.L. Dane    🍵 Sep 6, 2025

The place of #sports (particularly #American #Football) in US culture is really insane.

Take my favorite show*, The Good Place. The character Jason uses "Bortles!" as a sort of war cry throughout the show, referring to [Blake Bortles], who was the quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2014-18, a span of five years.

* (well, solidly top-10, probably top-3 among my favorites that I can think of at this moment)

FIVE YEARS. That might be a long span of time in terms of American Football quarterbacks, I don't know. But to me, at least at my current age, that's not a very long time span, and yet it's practically an essential part of Jason's identity. And while he's certainly a caricature, it's really not too far off the mark. I've met many people who talk like that (especially when I was younger), who talk and think about football personalities like they're Greek gods or Bible characters.

I try not to be too judgemental, but this is just so stinking weird to me.

Blake Bortles - Wikipedia

Show threadNantucket LitSep 6, 2025
@rl_dane Five years is a short tenure... for a Pope. For an NFL quarterback, that's a pretty long time in the game.
Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 

@nantucketlit

The only other QB I ever followed somewhat closely was Joe Montana, was was QB for the 49ers from 1979-1992. ;)

I literally hard-stopped watching US football when my stepdad passed away. He was the only one who ever gave me the slightest interest in the sport, because he (*cough* forgive me) didn't speak like a raving moron when he talked about it. XD

#JoeMontana #Football #49ers

Sep 6, 2025 at 2:48amWeb
Show threadNantucket LitSep 6, 2025
@rl_dane One of my complaints about American culture, (though I imagine something similar is true everywhere), is that people don't seem to care if you're a good person; they only care how well you play *fuh-buhl*!!!
Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Sep 6, 2025

@nantucketlit

It feels like American "culture" has about the same amount of depth as the backstory of an alien race was written in for a single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation to be mentioned exactly once.

I feel like I know more about the [Talarians] than Americans. XD
(And that there is more to know) XD

#StarTrek #STTNG

Talarian

The Talarians were a warp-capable humanoid species. (TNG: "Suddenly Human") The Talarian homeworld was located in the Talar system in the Alpha Quadrant and was the capital planet of the Talarian Republic. (PIC: "Maps and Legends"; SNW: "Strange New Worlds") Talarians were characterized by a distinctive hairless enlargement of the coronal area of the skull extending in two lobes to the back of the head. Talarian blood was red, and Talarians were susceptible to radiation burns and respiratory...

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