Morning Rant (re: Ohio truck drivers)

Since this was the source of a thread, I'll toss in my two cents and with them, maybe a load off the chest.

From the first time I heard Bob Ufer (whose 'casts I otherwise adored) exclaim, "We're here at Ohio Stadium
[circa late 60s] for the annual grudge match...to be played in front of 90,000. That's 4,000 Michigan fans
and 86,000 truck drivers!", I was rubbed---hard---the wrong way.

Hey---Bucknut, Toilet Bowl, Skunk-bears, weasels, all fine and dandy---it's fandom (so long as only words,
not weapons, are wielded). But hearing any profession denigrated is problematic to me. Whether people earn an honest, wholesome living driving big rigs, cleaning rest rooms, writing internet applets, serving in the military, or name 1,000 other lines of work...it's one helluva lot more honorable than the way many others secure their income (note that I can't use any form of the word "earn" for thieves, drug dealers, extortionists, et al).

Without truckers, America stops; without janitors/garbagemen, America stinks; without soldiers, America goes by a different name (and form of government)...and on and on.

Point made. Thanks/sorry. Load off chest.

michmike wrote:

Since this was the source of a thread, I'll toss in my two cents and with them, maybe a load off the chest.

From the first time I heard Bob Ufer (whose 'casts I otherwise adored) exclaim, "We're here at Ohio Stadium
[circa late 60s] for the annual grudge match...to be played in front of 90,000. That's 4,000 Michigan fans
and 86,000 truck drivers!", I was rubbed---hard---the wrong way.

Hey---Bucknut, Toilet Bowl, Skunk-bears, weasels, all fine and dandy---it's fandom (so long as only words,
not weapons, are wielded). But hearing any profession denigrated is problematic to me. Whether people earn an honest, wholesome living driving big rigs, cleaning rest rooms, writing internet applets, serving in the military, or name 1,000 other lines of work...it's one helluva lot more honorable than the way many others secure their income (note that I can't use any form of the word "earn" for thieves, drug dealers, extortionists, et al).

Without truckers, America stops; without janitors/garbagemen, America stinks; without soldiers, America goes by a different name (and form of government)...and on and on.

Point made. Thanks/sorry. Load off chest.

Well said, mike! I was in logistics for 10 years, before my current position, and we had a saying: "If you bought it, a truck brought it!" I don't think 2ndcoming was being malicious towards the profession but more of using the stereotype of truck drivers being knuckle-dragging fat slobs. Not much originality, IMO. But also harmless, IMO.

pretty rational point...i must say ive been guilty of using the stereotype.

the best business men have relationships with people from all walks of life, and if their business is dependent on trucking, they definitely don't view truckers the way Bob Ufer did.

Can't say that I argue with your point mike, it is a very good one. However, I think that what Mr. Ufer was implying is that ohio degrees are nothing special and very simplistic. Anyone that knows how to drive a car can become a truck-driver and that is all an education from ohio will get you. A job driving a truck, not that there's anything wrong with that, but why pay for 4 years of college tuition not to improve your career possibilities. Michigan creates doctors, lawyers, executives, and other well trained professionals. ohio produces truck drivers...

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Can't say that I argue with your point mike, it is a very good one. However, I think that what Mr. Ufer was implying is that ohio degrees are nothing special and very simplistic. Anyone that knows how to drive a car can become a truck-driver and that is all an education from ohio will get you. A job driving a truck, not that there's anything wrong with that, but why pay for 4 years of college tuition not to improve your career possibilities. Michigan creates doctors, lawyers, executives, and other well trained professionals. ohio produces truck drivers...

2nd has just been promoted to Captain. Captain Stereotype ha ha!

All I can say is WOW.

I'm embarrassed.

THEstjoemfan wrote:

All I can say is WOW.

I'm embarrassed.

Don't be, Joe---applies to your profession, too...both your actual and your wannabe/amateur.
Without landscapers/foresters, America's a desert (and can't build a dollhouse, let alone humans'
dwellings). Without farmers and food processors, America starves (along with 90% of the world).

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Can't say that I argue with your point mike, it is a very good one. However, I think that what Mr. Ufer was implying is that ohio degrees are nothing special and very simplistic. Anyone that knows how to drive a car can become a truck-driver and that is all an education from ohio will get you. A job driving a truck, not that there's anything wrong with that, but why pay for 4 years of college tuition not to improve your career possibilities. Michigan creates doctors, lawyers, executives, and other well trained professionals. ohio produces truck drivers...

So, all OSU grads become truck drivers? Got it. LMAO!

So mike, without michigan state there would be no home delivery of pizzas?

DVCS- It was an overgeneralization by Mr. Ufer in an attempt to be entertaining to his specfic audience.

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

So mike, without michigan state there would be no home delivery of pizzas?

DVCS- It was an overgeneralization by Mr. Ufer in an attempt to be entertaining to his specfic audience.

Got it! I was about to ask you to cite your source on the OSU/truck driver degrees. Never mind.

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Michigan creates doctors, lawyers, executives, and other well trained professionals. ohio produces truck drivers...

Whatever academic comparisons are annually drawn by Time Magazine, US News, Forbes, etc. between the two schools, even while under the influence of infuriation over a loss to our hated archrival, I still (at least once my rationalism has been restored) forebear from hurling academically-oriented insults---and I know a few---at that School Down South. No, nothing to do with my age-related "softening" or wisdom...but rather, recalling how I got a very needed and wanted software contract (prior to my current position).

My agent said the interviewer had just declined a candidate with cred's similar to my own, noting "He is not a good fit for us...tech skills v.good, but project leadership acumen lacking."

Figuring I'd better not fall into the same trap, I Googled up beaucoup pieces on project managment. Settled
on one, read it beginning to end, and not till the end did I see the source: The Ohio State University. Arrrgggghhh...I thought...until I was awared the contract on the spot following my interview...!!!

True story...apologies for any offense taken...or boredom engendered.

DVCS- You are more than allowed to ask for citations in debates. I actually encourage it, brings me back to college a litle. 'sniff, 'sniff