The Mammon Philosophy

Steve Crisp spoke to reporters today about the foundation being instituted in his son’s name to help underprivileged kids play minor sports.

Steve Crisp said his son was a hockey goalie, but stopped after his size became a factor. He said he believes children should be allowed to play whatever sports they want to.

“He got to a point where he was a little shorter than the other kids, and, you know, his position was kind of moved off the team, and we decided to quit minor sports at that point,” he said.

It frankly outrages me that this is the first we’ve heard of this particular detail. Every news report up until now repeated the same mantra about Brandon quitting sports due to his “addiction” to Call of Duty 4. Being removed from your chosen sport is a different matter altogether, and may even have been the event that drove Brandon to gaming in the first place. When you’re on a sports team, a number of things are set in place: the routine of practising, the excitement of competition, the camaraderie of your teammates. If you’re yanked off the team, all of those things go away, and they leave a void. If something new comes in and fills the void in a destructive way, it is not the new element’s fault. Don’t go telling me that he unequivocally had to quit because he was too short to play in goal. In that case, you move the kid to defense or forward. You do not simply walk away from the organization. That’s just shameful.

In the wake of the discovery of Brandon Crisp’s body, Future Shop decided to cancel two midnight launch parties for Gears Of War 2 in Toronto and Vancouver. And the National Post seems to think that it singlehandedly saved us from these parties.

“The Post called Future Shop on Thursday to ask whether it was appropriate, in light of Brandon’s death, for the store to hold a festive launch planned for last night across Canada for the new Xbox game, Gears of War 2. In the game, participants are embroiled in a genocidal war with subterranean locusts. On Thursday night the chain cancelled the parties outside its stores in Toronto and Vancouver.”

Emphasis mine to highlight another example of underinformed reporting — they make it sound like you just run around snuffing bugs, which is a slight understatement to say the least.

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So today, I almost decided not to play any video games for a week. Allow me to explain: the latest Brandon Crisp story at GamePolitics invited the attention of “Yawheh,” the wife of one of the professional search-and-rescue workers who was in the Barrie area. She issued this peculiar query:

Tell me something! what do you folks get out of gaming.

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I wrote this literally 20 minutes before the news broke that Brandon’s body was found. Once again, my heart goes out to the family.

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Spotted this first on CTV.ca, then followed it around the horn. First off, let me say my thoughts are with this family, and I hope they find Brandon soon. Anyone with information should contact the Barrie police.

However, I thought this bit from the Star story was interesting:

“Steve suspects the 5-foot-3, 100-pound boy was on his way to meet some friends in Oro-Medonte Township. His three best buddies from school were also members of his “Call of Duty Clan.” Steve has since learned from these friends that Brandon may be part of another clan, but the friends have no idea who those members are. He fears the boy was lured into meeting someone from that clan and is now being held against his will.”

Or your kid is holed up in Oro-Medonte with his pals, Steve. It’s not hard to hide in the basement while your friends lie to the authorities.

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