2015: The Year of Tim Riggins

Classic Riggins

This is a celebration of the greatest television character of the 21^st Century.

A man who drank and fucked his way through high school, taking down his middle aged neighbor, Wonder Woman and his paralyzed best friend’s fiancé in the process.

This man of course is Timmy fucking Riggins.

If you saw box office disasters such as Battleship, John Carter or even Xmen Origins: Wolvering, you were probably thinking to yourself, how the fuck does Taylor Kitsch have a career?

I mean this guy was in John Tucker Must Die and was maybe the third most attractive (Dan Humphrey, John Tucker) male, he played second fiddle to two Gossip Girl characters in much maligned teen supernatural thriller The Covenant.

So one can only ask…how does a man with zero hits to his name theatrically, keep getting chances?

Because Taylor Kitsch played the aforementioned Timmy fucking Riggins in the grossly under appreciated Friday Night Lights for 68 glorious episodes from 2006-2011.

To say this character gave zero fucks would be a gross understatement. In the first season, Tim appears drunk about 90% of the time and attends school and/or football practice maybe once weekly.

Let’s just stroll through the pilot. We open on Tim Riggins. He is hungover. What a rockstar. Tim’s older brother, who acts as his legal guardian, passive aggressively bitches at Timmy to get to football practice. Tim decides against it. Later, after banging out his girlfriend, Tim dumps her for flirting with the minority running back. The next night at  a bonfire, Tim drunkenly proclaims that he aspires to do nothing with his life. His QB best friend, Jason Street, will give Time 1% of his NFL contract in order for Tim to own and operate a brothel for the two of them in Dillon, Texas. TEXAS FOREVER.

Of course at the end of the pilot, Jason Street throws an interception and becomes paralyzed while making a tackle. The second string QB comes in and leads a game winning drive down the field and the Panthers win. Tim celebrates the win and his best friend’s paralysis by having sex with said friend’s girlfriend.

Smash to black.

That is in the FIRST episode, and his apathy only grows from there. He makes a fucking underclassmen read Of Mice and Men aloud to him and then summarize it in a book report. And that is probably the least ridiculous thing he does in Season 1.

To be honest,  I’m only through half way through Season 2 of Friday Night Lights. But the 30 or so episodes of Tim Riggins I have seen so far, have bought Taylor Kitsch a lifetime of good will. In the last episode I saw, Timmy was stumbling down a street in Mexico with a beer and literally threw a handful of money in a Federale’s face. Even for someone that doesn’t care about his future, that is a ballsy move. He of course goes to jail, smirking all the way.

I bring up Timmy because he represents an ideal that I think more people should strive for., we have become a overly sensitive society to the point of lunacy. Having an opinion about an issue used to mean something, if you took a stand against some injustice it meant someone personally slighted you or a loved one. Maybe a guy fucked your mom or stole your car. Outside of this, people minded their business. But now, if a certain movie doesn’t get an award or a TV show doesn’t showcase enough diversity EVERYONE IS A FUCKING RACIST AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Internet leftist culture has grown to such a roar that we have basically regressed as a society to the pre civil rights movement. All men hate women of course and casually displaying indifference to race issues makes one a coward. It was on display this year with #OscarsSoWhite #YesAllWomen among other whiny social media campaigns.

It seemed that both sides have become increasingly more radical over the past few years coming to a head with a Rolling Stone article that accused frat boys of gang raping a Freshman at a party.

The feminists had won.

ALL FRAT BOYS ARE FUCKING RAPIST MONSTERS.

All Greek Life at UVA was suspended and it looked increasingly like Greek Life nation wide was going to be re-evaluated as an institution.

Then the unthinkable happened, it turned out the story was a hoax. Frat boys rejoiced.

GIRLS WHO CRY RAPE ARE FUCKING LYING SLUTS, #FREEJAMEIS

It was a devastating blow for the feminist agenda. Greek life resumed in Charlottesville and collectives such as Jezebel hung their heads in mourning.

When Tim Riggins was reached for comment, he simply said “I dunno.”

Wait, what do you mean, “I don’t know.”

“Look, I wasn’t there man.”

You mean you don’t have an opinion one way or the other Tim?

“Honestly, the state of the Greek system is not of concern to me. I’m sure there are good and bad guys in frats. Similarly I think there are both real and fabricated sexual assaults. Can someone hand me a beer? Texas Forever.”

Could it be that this simpleton in his apathy has discovered a joyous middle ground? This fullback who did the same amount of his own school work as Derrick Rose figured out social politics?

That just may be the case.

According to trendcasters 2015 is the year when people finally stop giving a shit. No more scorching hot takes on the internet, no more faux outrage and soapbox culture. People are tired. It is exhausting to educate oneself JUUUUST enough to shit talk someone in a forum and crusade for social justice.

People have their own problems man, 2015 is the year of you doing you.

Ayn Rand is applauding from the grave.

There will be a void. Sure, trolling comment boards and picking internet fights is a time consuming activity. But I dunno, maybe people will watch videos of other people playing video games on Twitch or some shit.

Maybe people will actually try to DO something that contributes to society. Or at least just create some shit that they are into. This blog doesn’t affect positive change in the world, but it’s fun for me and I like it.

Everyone should have shit that they are into. Make 2015 the year you create that thing. If you have always wanted to paint, fucking paint. If you want to write, FADE THE FUCK IN. If you want to learn an instrument or sing a song, record a shitty bootleg. Some random black man I follow on Twitter said “More n*ggas gonna drop mix tapes this year than graduate high school.” GOOD FOR THEM. Fucking make something man, throw it out there. All a high school degree is going to get you is enough cynicism to put other people down.

Haters gonna (hate*4)

Tim Riggins taught us this. Not giving a shit is a powerful tool if used properly. Don’t worry about what other people think, or do, or certainly what they think ABOUT the shit that you do.

Me personally? I’ll spend 2015 writing a spin-off called Texas Forever, a show about Timmy fucking Riggins 5 years after the series finale of Friday Night Lights.

I actually have no idea how the series ended, he might be dead. People keep telling me that I will cry. Why? Because Julie hooked up with the Swede and it’s so heartbreaking? Because Coach and Tami Taylor fight sometimes? I foresee death. Maybe something angsty like teen suicide or a fatal drunk driving crash. Nothing is more melodramatic than a car accident. Did you see Charlie St. Cloud? Real laugh riot.

But in any event, I declare 2015 the year of Tim Riggins. The year of not giving a fuck…the year of focusing on exactly what it is that you want to do. UNLEASH YOUR INNER RIGGINS! I’m making 2015 MY year, and you should aspire to make it the year of you. 

...and if there is REALLY nothing that you want to create but you have 60 or so odd hours to kill, why don't you give FNL a binge. I think you will agree that it is a flawless show. In fact, if I was a needy junior exec DYING to give a note to Jason Katims and Pete Berg, I could sum it up in 3 easy words. Needs more Riggins.