THE DEFINITIVE JOURNEY CHALLENGE

The Journey Challenge is a real thing.  We have all been participating in the Journey Challenge, we just were not aware of it.

The Journey Challenge became apparent when I was in a conversation with my friends Sarah, Klinger, and my brother, Chip.  We were discussing music and I blurted out, "Can we go one day without hearing a Journey song?", and the Journey Challenge was born.

So what is the Journey Challenge?  I am glad you asked.  I am going to explain it to you.  Here it is.  YOU CAN NOT GO ONE DAY OF YOUR LIFE WITHOUT HEARING A JOURNEY SONG.  

Why?  I don't know.  There are all types of songs from the 1980s that radio stations, terrestrial, satellite, and streaming, alike, can choose from, but every day they rely on a Journey song to get us through the day.

I don't remember Journey being this popular in the 1990s.  But Journey really hit a post-band popularity peak in the mid 2000s.  And I blame three things:

1.  The 2003 movie MONSTER, in which Charlize Theron won an Oscar for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos .  In the movie there is a roller skating scene with Theron and Christina Ricci and that scene is probably the only thing anyone remembers from that movie.  Unfortunately, when Theron says, "Oh man! I love this song," many people remembered that they loved that song, too.

2.  The 2005 Chicago White Sox.  "Don't Stop Believin'" was the theme song and motivation towards winning the World Series that year.  Here is the story behind that as told to me by my buddy, Parker:  Joe Crede and AJ Pierzynski were at a piano bar and they were all hammered.  Crede yelled at the piano player, "PLAY SOME FUCKING JOURNEY!"  The two of them thought it was hilarious and took it back to the clubhouse.  That night started it all for the Sox that year.

3.  The Sopranos Final Scene of the 2007 HBO series finale.

So now you are all part of #JourneyChallenge and if you click on that link you can see that it's history goes all the way back to 2012.  Feel free to @JAY_FOS me on Twitter with you #JourneyChallenge or write on my Facebook wall.

Before you go on this journey (pun intended), I will leave you with some frequently asked questions about the Journey Challenge.

F.A.Q. ABOUT THE JOURNEY CHALLENGE

• Jay.  Why do you hate Journey?  I don't hate Journey.  I actually do like Journey.  In 1989 my friend, Dusty Driever, and I listened to his sister's Journey Greatest Hits
  
  album at their house and I immediately went out and bought the cassette and rocked that album every night in my auto-reverse tape deck for about two years.  Every time I hear the song "Lights" I immediately think that "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" should be the next song played.  No matter where I am.  That is how much that album is etched in my head.  Plus, how can anyone hate Journey when "Separate Ways" was such a sweet video?  
• What if  I don't listen to radio? I only listen to podcasts.  So what.  Still doesn't make you immune to the Journey Challenge.  When you least expect it, you will get rocked by the power of Journey.  Background music is played everywhere you go and the challenge will win.  The dentist's office, Dick's Sporting Goods, the grocery store, KOHL's, the piano player at Von Maur are all of the best places for the challenge to get you.
• I only listen to 97X and they don't play that type of music.  Am I free from the Journey Challenge?  No you are not and the fuck they don't play Journey.  Not nearly as much as Mix 96 but they do play Journey.   I think they do it to mess with me.  Remember Klinger mentioned before?  He is a producer on Dwyer & Michaels in the morning and sometimes I think he has them play it to see if I am paying attention.  Say "Hi" to Klinger on Twitter.
• Are the people who ruin the Journey Challenge by playing the jukebox at bars as annoying as I think they are?  Yes.
• Any particular days I should be on the lookout for high amount of activity of Journey?  Good question.  Yes.  Tuesday.  "Two For Tuesday" will totally screw your Journey Challenge by 2:00.
• If Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" is playing, have I lost the Journey Challenge?  No.  You have not lost the Journey Challenge but the radio station is fucking with you.  They know what they are doing and they are just reminding you that they can end the Journey Challenge for that day at any moment.

Please feel free to include anymore Journey Challenge questions.  I will answer them all.  

Good luck out there.  Attack this challenge with Open Arms and remember everyday to Faithfully try to win the Journey Challenge.  If you choose not to participate and wish to go Separate Ways, that's cool.  I'll Be Alright Without You.  But when you come back, I'll ask you...  Who's Crying Now?

Thanks for reading looking forward to seeing your #JourneyChallenge!

And finally, Be Good To Yourself

MY APOLOGIES

I have to apologize.  I got a little lazy.  I haven't written anything in 2 months.  The first rule of a blog is to be consistent.  I slaughtered that rule.

My breaking point came in two ways.  One was multiple failed attempts at posting a February 29th "The Bachelor" transcript that some readers and I did on Facebook messenger.  I wrote a majority of the transcript out for the blog and then made a mistake during editing of erasing the whole thing.  My next failed attempt was to "screen snap" the transcript.  The over 30 screen snaps could not be applied to the blog.  Even after downloading Google photos.  Very annoying.

The other thing that led me to hold off writing about "The Bachelor" was the multiple comments I received about writing about the show.  I always replied that I never watched the show before, it was just something to watch with my wife and to write about.  I also explained that if you read my original entry about "The Bachelor" you would understand that.  Most people, who wanted to pull my "Man Card", did not even read the post.  They just saw the Facebook post about the subject of the blog.

In between my last post, I have spent a lot of time working on a podcast and now I am starting to see a similar response to the podcast I have been working on, Dap Or Crap Podcast.  The idea of the podcast was to take polarizing topics in pop culture, sports, media, etc. and talk about them.  We launched the show with FX's "The People V. OJ Simpson" and it was a hit.  Although, we talked about other topics in the beginning of the show, we became "The OJ podcast".  Talking with people who were familiar that I was involved with a podcast, they, too, pigeon holed the idea and began to refer it as "the OJ podcast".

 Dap Or Crap had a great run with the FX hit and we might find a new show to break down weekly but we will continue to talk about other things, all with a bar room conversation atmosphere.  This week we have a very polarizing topic about the band KISS.  The topic is: Is KISS a good band or not?  We will be live from PINTS tomorrow at 5:30 if you would like to give us you opinion.  

I plan to write more each week.  They will be about other things besides "The Bachelor".  I hate that I missed writing about Wrestlemania 32 or that I did not make a better effort at a 2016 MLB predictions blog.  Spoiler alert: I think it will be Cubs vs Orioles in the World Series.  Cubs in 6.  I will be posting soon about a fun topic that many of you have heard me talk about but never put it into text.  It is one of my favorite social media experiments.  Until then, I give you a quick "The Bachelor Final Rose Episode" post.

Nearly 9 million Americans watched "The Final Rose" episode.  According to social media, #TeamJoJo was trending in 90% of posts about the final episode.  My question is this: did anyone watch this show?  It was over the moment Ben and Lauren went into the hot tub in the middle of an town that resembled McClausland, Iowa.  I swear Ben stared at producers right then and asked, "Can we just quit the show now?"  There is no way that JoJo was going to win.  At best, she was in the "best friends with benefits zone".  I am glad that Ben choose Lauren.  He made the right choice.

ABC made the right choice in picking JoJo as the next "The Bachelorette".  Story is that Caila was their choice but ABC changed their mind the Sunday before the Final Rose episode. Can you imagine what Kaila went through?  She got dumped.  And I mean DUMPED on TV.  Then, ABC gets her hopes up and then the company dumps her, too!  I imagine Caila is still sitting in her folk's basement, talking to herself as if a camera was still on her and she was giving a confessional.

JoJo will be excellent.  She is smart, driven, and won't be fooled again.  But I won't watch.  I may check in on her every once in a while but I have zero desire to watch these shows ever again.  I would watch a show about Chris, though.

Thanks for reading!  I will be better at putting more content out there.  If you like listening to podcasts and want something a little different, please download or subscribe to Dap Or Crap on iTunes.