This story of some big tough football players showing their soft side for a young boy with some difficult challenges is blowing up in the news right now.

Check it out! Heartwarming. Say all you want about the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but what do you know about dreams? Cornhuskers are making them come true apparently.

So if you read these posts, you may remember me chiming in about the iconic hipster-esque, “I heard/saw about [blank] before you did.” This is another one of those moments. Being a graduate of Maryville High School, and a semi-proud Spoofhound, I could not respond to this video without mentioning… WE DID IT FIRST. 

The condensed story is that the Benton Cardinals were down by a couple of touchdowns with about fifteen seconds left of gameplay when the Benton coach asked the Maryville coach if they could let their player with Down Syndrome, Matt, score a touchdown. The rest is heartfelt history. 

Whoever started the ‘trend,’ keep it up. ESPN needs stories, and these special kid athletes need some well deserved excitement.

There’s been a song that has meant something special to me since I was about twelve years old. It was the song that my sister a chose to play as I filmed mock bar scenes with my brother Josh at my her house in Portland. It wasn’t until at least five years later when I actually heard the song again and had to find out who it was by. Rainbow, by Jack Johnson and G Love. This was perfect. By the time I found out that the song was by Jack Johnson, (G Love too, but I had not heard of him yet) I had already been playing Jack Johnson songs in my ‘repertoire’ for some time. Just three verses, with a repeat of the first at the end.

I don’t need to wake up to a rainbow every day to know that everything’s gonna be alright. I’m thankful that, for whatever reason, that idea has already been instilled in my mind. If it takes a God to tell you that, then so be it. Different strokes for different folks.

The second verse is the one that takes the most impact on me. I’ve had more surreal moments in my life than I could ever take the time to appreciate. I’ve met people I’m still waiting on meeting again. If I end up packing a guitar and hit the road to see them again, that sounds pretty damn surreal, doesn’t it? I’m feeling stoic just typing about this…

Anyway. I covered it. 

I changed the lyrics a bit, too. Watching myself play in this video makes me cringe. It was so nerve racking to think about trying to do the tune justice that I think I tried way too hard, and I did not get what I was going for. Anyway. Here’s a song with meaning. If it means anything to you too, le’mme know.

Fame is baller. It’s perfectly possible to be of famous renown and not be a jerk, and making music is just one way to get famous. If you’re picking up a guitar in hopes of becoming famous and awe inspiring, I would not tell you you couldn’t do it. It’s counter intuitive to squash that kind of initiative. What I would tell you is this; don’t quit your day job.

At this point in my life, I’m not one-hundred percent about anything. One of those being whether or not this hobby of mine can ever pay for itself. Fame and success are near synonymous in my eyes, and if I had to define success in this context, it would be making money from a hobby. Especially when it’s a hobby that costs money to start in the first place.

Back on the topic of fame; it’s kind of tricky if you ask me. When someone or something becomes famous, there will almost always be mixed reviews. For instance, I heard the Black Keys live at a festival before they were half as heard-of rockstars they are now. Same thing happened to me with Skrillex. I hadn’t heard of either of them before I saw them and when they hit it big I had no choice but to utter the iconic hipster-esque, “I heard them before they were cool…” 

Society has proved there is almost a completely separate business to being famous; reporting what happens in the lives of famous people simply because they are famous. Once again, there are lovers and haters. When I try and see it for what it is, I guess all I have to say about fame is don’t knock it ’til you try it.