You libs are too blinded by your hatred of AMERICA to see that the it's the hard-working farmers and wrestling coaches in the heartland who made this country great! Why not just admit it: if it weren't for the sacrifices of our brave men and women in unitards, you wouldn't have the freedom to sip your lattes while you read your "books" and worry about your "health"!!! You leftie snobs should try being gratefule!

Ah, yes. The wrestling coach. Salt of the earth. Favorite subject of Norman Rockwell and Will Rogers alike.

You're awesome, Gratefule Live. You have officially made a parody of yourself. Thanks for that.

While you're sneering at us progressive liberals for our supposed elitism, maybe ask yourself why we're always trying to get a better deal for working people. Why we care about little things like a living wage, affordable health care, decent public schools, pollution controls, mine safety, the whole middle class, etc., etc., etc. No answer? Keep listening -- maybe Hannity will give you one.

Oh, and one more thing: We have wrestling coaches in San Francisco, too, genius -- GAY ones!!

Sweet dreams...

Oh, shove it, T Totaler.

Champers, that was awesome!

I grew up in Canada, too, but way, way out in the boonies (northern B.C.). Played Cowboys and Indians with real horses and pellet guns; fished where we wanted and ate what we caught; threw knives and jumped bikes; thought it made good sense to use a pile of scrap lumber to break our fall when we jumped off the roof of the barn (What? We put a sheet of plywood on top!). In short, we were dumb as posts and tough as nails and so very free and happy. I never broke a major bone and my only stitches came from logging work and hockey, so those don't count.

Now I live in L.A. with two little boys and a wife who's a city girl, and I'm trying to find a balance between keeping my kids safe and giving them a childhood that makes the world seem thrilling. I want them to surprise themselves with what they're capable of, and to know the joy of getting away with leaping before you look. Just sometimes. I'm trying to raise good, strong little men in the least complicated way possible. So far, I've got it down to "You can cry if you're sad, but not if you're hurt."

What that has to do with drinking and smoking, I'm not sure, but I do miss the hell out of smoking, and it would be nice to get loaded like the old days, just sometimes.

Sigh...

Great letters, everybody. Thanks.

That godawful moronic star puppet sidekick they recently introduced is more offensive by far than anything Melanie might have done in her past. How lame.

Gawd, I wanna smash Dworkin's and brightstar's bitter whining faces into the ice, then fuck my wife's brilliant brains out and take my beautiful kids to the park. That is all.

You guys are such pussies, Hulk's brain gets confused. Fight, or fuck? Or fight? Aarrgghh!

Seriously, though, it just drives me nuts how two or three crybaby permavictims continually color every one of these debates on salon. I know that cuts across gender lines, but you so-called "men" are the worst of the bunch by far. Jesus, where's the self-respect? I mean, are you so lost that you don't know women are people too? Some are good, some are bad, some will fuck you over, some will save your neck, some are fun to hang out with and some must be avoided at all costs. They're not ALL opportunistic gold-diggers looking to steal your seed and drain your wallet. Pull yourself together, man. That's lesson number one.

Back to the original topic, how to be a man, here's what I've boiled it down to. The simplest possible terms, by which I'm trying to raise two little boys to be good and strong men:

You can cry if you're sad, but not if you're hurt. (Works for girls, too.)

BTW, good post back there, Canuckistan Bob. Thanks for that.

Those guesses are as good as any, but seriously, where do these guys live? Friggin' Deadwood?! I mean, outside of the penal (ha ha! he said penile!) system, the opportunities to be exposed to the differently gendered are limitless, so who are these guys NOT learning from? Their mothers. Their sisters. Their teachers. The lady at the bank. The nurse at the hospital. Their coworkers. I think it's the same phenomenon you see with racists, where they'll filter a few isolated bad experiences through preexisting biases to form antagonistic relationships with a whole category of people they haven't even met yet.

You might be onto something with your second theory, that guys (I won't say "men") like this are subconsciously drawn to shitty women, and I say, "Good!" Let the lame of both genders distract themselves with each other. It's just disorienting and depressing to come into these discussions and see there's still a whole swath of humanity operating under such sad, misguided ideas.

Or maybe dick and his ilk just need to get better at sex so they have some bargaining power now that the chicks got the vote and the paycheck and all that.

Anyway, you're rockin' this thread. Keep it up!

Wow, what a great line! Thank you for that! Nicely played, sir.