So, I have been on this forum either following it or providing my opinions for a little over 5-6 years now. As I was reading the current littany of subjects on the high school forum I had an epiphany (now those of you that know me, you know I had to get help on that word...ha!)....

This forum serves a useful purpose......it is the modern day, old guys coffeeshop. You know, where all of us old, beat up, broken guys go to relive our glory days, offer our sage wisdom and advice whether it is wanted or not, and most importantly engage in heated debate about some not so important subjects that mean the world to all of us!

I really love coming to this coffeeshop everyday and seeing all of you. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Can't wait to see you at the wrestling tournaments in 2012 and most importantly....I look forward to us solving the problems of the world in 2012 (well at least the wrestling world...is there any other?)!

Shawn Budke

This is the best analogy I have seen for this forum yet.

Amen.

YEP!

Everyone at my work thinks you hit the nail on the head, but after further review I must disagree. I am not old and broken down. Its all in the comparison. If I compare myself to my son, you would be correct. If I compare myself to my Dad, I am correct!

Please understand that I do wholeheartedly agree with your post. However, the old guys at the coffee shop always had someone to disagree. I was only trying to stir things up. And on another line of thought, does it mean that I am broken-down when I am balding in some areas, growing hair in other areas, knees hurt, can't remember anything, overweight, and I can't for the life of me ever remember losing a match in my entire wrestling career! I must have been phenomenal.

Pretty close...the guys at the coffee shop, usually wise with age, and steeped in experience, might not always agree, but they have to be polite, tolerant, and listen to one another because they'll be back tomorrow. And there's only so many chairs at the table. If one started pounding on the table, calling the others names, jumping up on a soapbox, and declaring himself King of the Cafe, he'd be thrown out on his head by the others. Here, you aren't face to face, so the civility of the coffee shop, unfortunately, doesn't always shine through. Disagreeing, without being disagreeable, is what gets you a good seat at the table.

Firehawk,

No way does all that stuff mean you are old and broken down...it just proves that whoever came up with the following quote was absolutely correct.....

"The older I get, the better I was!"

Good stuff!

Whenever I go into the coffee shop I always refer to the table of BS-ers as "the daily meeting of the liars club"....gets 'em riled up. I can definitely see the parallels with this board, but if you really want to rival the coffee shop gang you're going to have to include more discussion about politics.

I like comparing it to the barber shop scene in Gran Torino, calling each other names, but not really meaning anything by it....except for Coach Craig, he is a no good SOB, no joking.