Allegedly anti-drug campaigns, and Bruins-induced depression

While driving from the Kansas City airport to where I was staying in Kansas, I missed the opportunity to get a picture of perhaps the worst anti-drug billboard I’ve ever seen. The slogan?

Weed: The More You Smoke, The Less You Care

Seriously. I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that anti-drug ads should actually discourage you from wanting to use the drug. I must admit, all I could think when I read the sign was: "Sweet! Great idea!". I have to think that that isn't the response they were going for.

In any case, I didn’t get a picture, because I didn’t know the professor who was hosting me that well, and I’m not sure that asking him to pull over on a busy highway so I could get a picture of a billboard which appeared to encourage drug use would have been the best way to make a first impression. Looking back, I regret that.

Later in the week, I went on a lunchtime pilgrimage to Arthur Bryant’s with a couple of the members of the lab I was visiting. On the way back the University we tried to find the billboard on the freeway, but didn’t have any luck. The undergrad lab assistant who was driving was familiar with it though, and reassured me that I had read it correctly. I am not just imagining things.

If anyone does manage to get a picture of that sign (if it’s still up – I have to think that eventually someone would point out how counterproductive it might be), I’d be eternally grateful for an image of it.

In other news, while I was on my way to KC, my team was finishing up the season without me, winning the finals of the HBS Women’s B-School Tournament (no, we’re not a B-School, but we get the invite anyway) 7-0, and finishing the season 15-8-1. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to get into more of the games, but right now my rehab isn't going as well as it might. More on that later.

I don’t have a lot to say about the upcoming NHL playoffs – I don’t have cable, so I rarely get to see any games, and it's easier for me to cope with being injured if I just ignore the game altogether right now anyway. On top of that, the Bruins just make me sad these days.

To better illustrate how the Bruins make me feel, I'll post the large version of my profile picture, taken the night after they traded Joe Thornton:



That’s me in the front row, with the mouth full of nachos, looking concerned. My goalie coach is the one next to me, looking like he’s trying hard not to cry. (Since a few people have asked, the guy on his left we didn't know, but he did actually look like he was in disguise when you saw him in person; it isn't just the photo.) Collectively, we looked cheerful enough for the picture to make sports sections all over Canada (it was taken by a wire service photographer), and even appeared in the Sunday NY Times. You'd think the sight of such despondent fans would have given Bruins management pause, but no, they didn't stop there. The Bruins represent one extreme of nightmarish pro-sports management, and as luck would have it, my NBA team, the Portland Trailblazers, are on the other end. The Bruins won't pay anyone anything no matter how good they are, and the Blazers will clearly pay anyone anything, no matter how badly they suck.

Gah. It's been a rough year.

I wish all of you with teams still in the hunt the best of luck. I'll be here, praying for a long-term contract extension for Patrice Bergeron. If they can't hang on to him, I may be shopping for a new team to support. Suggestions are welcome...