My Charles Gunn, Sports Fan

[dlgood]

As mentioned earlier, this entry has been percolating in my head for a long while. Following upon my previous My Angel the Football Fan post of September ‘06, and what with the NBA playoffs going, I figured it was time to finally present...

My Charles Gunn, Sports Fan (with links!)

• First and second, is a Los Angeles Lakers fan.
  


• chose Kobe over Shaq, because of the age and injuries. But wasn't happy about it.
  


• has never sat courtside next to Jack Nicholson, but really wants to.
  


• was not entirely joking when he suggested to Angel & Wesley that they hire Phil Jackson.
  


• on the playground, was always Michael Cooper or Byron Scott. He does not like the idea that he might be his friends' Kurt Rambis.
  


• does not actually consider NBA All-Star Weekend to be Black Thanksgiving - except for the year they had it in Vegas.
  


• Third, he's a Raiders fan. Even still. Oh, and that was a fumble.
  


• used to wonder if Bo Knows killing demons. Bo Jackson was the man.
  


• was never a big Dodgers fan. Even though he always liked Tommy LaSorda.
  


• doesn't care if Barry Bonds used performance enhancing drugs.
  


• read Moneyball. Absorbed it. Is still disappointed to have no one to discuss it with.
  


• will watch most any sports movie, unless it's about something stupid, like long distance running.
  


• will probably watch just about any sporting event, particularly if it's a playoff, and especially if it's in HDTV. Except soccer, fishing, or bowling.
  


• kind of likes the effect his casual disregard of soccer had on Wes and Spike. Even more, liked the effect that his disregard for soccer having on Wes and Spike had on Angel - or, really, the effect that had on Wesley and Spike.
  


• doesn't watch much tennis. Unless Venus or Serena are playing. They're his girls.
  


• will watch most any olympic sport, even synchronized swimming, and will do it without a girlfriend to hide behind.
  


• mocks Angel for liking Hockey, the whitest sport on earth
  


• but will watch a playoff game if it's on, because the action is intense. Doesn't know when hockey is on, although he assumes they still have a league.
  


• watches pro wrestling, but gave up on boxing in favor of Mixed Martial Arts.
  


• will watch televised poker.
  


• will gamble on almost anything. He's trying to control that.
  


• went with Fred to a race at Fontana Speedway, and would have gotten really into NASCAR if it didn't make him feel so out of place.
  


• is a USC football fan. This dates back to Rodney Peete, and only because he's too young to remember the glory days of Marcus Allen and Ronnie Lott.
  


• really likes watching USC whip up on Notre Dame. Especially when Angel's around.
  


• hopes someday, to have an excuse to ride a white horse while wearing armor and swiging a sword.
  


• thinks mascots are awesome. Except for the San Diego Chicken and the Tree. Actually, mascots are kind of creepy.
  


• loves the Rose Bowl. Loves marching bands. Would go to see Drumline again and again.
  


• hates UCLA, and most everyone who played there, except - strangely - the very hateable Reggie Miller. It's probably because of the Spike Lee thing.
  


• back in the day, was a big UNLV fan, and mostly thought the NCAA was out to get Tark.
  


• shaved off his high top fade, because Chris Webber and Jalen Rose made bald look cool.
  


• does not give a damn about the Yankees and the Sox. Or Duke vs. North Carolina. (See East Coast bias )
  


• can get very worked up over how bad ESPN is.
  


• dislikes golf - for mostly the same reasons George Carlin does. And also the institutional racism.
  


• considers that round of 18 holes with Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Colin Powell among the greatest corrupt job perks in the history of corporate selling-out.
  


• was not surprised to see Bud Selig in his office.
  


• did not like having David Stern as a client.
  


• is rooting for Laila Ali to win on Dancing with the Stars. Definitely had Emmitt Smith last year.
  


• was not nearly the basketball player he's led his white friends to believe. George and Rondell carried him in 3-on-3, and never let him forget it.
  


• on the other hand, was a pretty decent outfielder.
  


• went to a cross-town school to play football and baseball for a year, but dropped out because he couldn't stand leaving Alonna.
  


• never seriously wanted to be a pro athlete anyway.
  


• used to have pretty much encyclopedic knowledge of every pro athlete who grew up in LA county, and where they used to play.
  


• at the end of the day, knows the difference between games and reality. And never lets the giant foam finger come before more important things in life.

Subject to possible future adds/cuts/edits.

*Note: According to AtS 3.18, Gunn was probably born in 1978.
*Note 2: We’ll work under the assumption that he doesn't die at the end of NFA, because I don’t want to have to backdate to 2003

Comments

[anonymous_sibyl]

Tuck rule, Charles. Tuck rule.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

(expletive deleted)

[canadiangirl-86.livejournal.com]

That was lovely, Dave!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

You're welcome

[lettered.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask about the poker! When you said any sporting event. HA. Love the idea of Gunn as a gambler. He did after all sell his soul.

Even more, liked the effect that his disregard for soccer having on Wes and Spike had on Angel - or, really, the effect that had on Wesley and Spike.

I love Spike and Wes being upset at Gunn dissing their football, but I'm afraid I don't get what you mean by this part.

# went with Fred to a race at Fontana Speedway, and would have gotten really into NASCAR if it didn't make him feel so out of place.

Aww! Bet Fred loved that, too.

# really likes watching USC whip up on Notre Dame. Especially when Angel's around.

HEE. That's awesome.

# hopes someday, to have an excuse to ride a white horse while wearing armor and swiging a sword.

Love how you included this one. I believe it, too.

Loves marching bands.

GUNN IS MY NEW MAN. I love drum corps like whoa. Never saw the movie Drumline, though.

George and Rondell carried him in 3-on-3, and never let him forget it.

Omg, I love that. And it makes me strangely sad.

# but dropped out because he couldn't stand leaving Alonna.

And that. Oh, ouch.

# at the end of the day, knows the difference between games and reality. And never lets the giant foam finger come before more important things in life.

Eeeee!! This was awesome, really.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Even more, liked the effect that his disregard for soccer having on Wes and Spike had on Angel - or, really, the effect that had on Wesley and Spike.

I love Spike and Wes being upset at Gunn dissing their football, but I'm afraid I don't get what you mean by this part.

It's like this:

Gunn's notable disinterest in soccer irks Wesley and Spike. OTOH, it gratifies Angel, who has strong dislike. Seeing Angel get uppity because he thinks he's got soccer hating sports fan solidarity with Gunn irks Wesley and Spike far more than Gunn's actual disinterest in soccer.

And that really amuses Gunn.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

Oh, gotcha! Sorry, that's brilliant.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it's not so much me as Roenick (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117802/quotes) Gunn; he's good brilliant.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I agree Gunn is not a Dodger fan. Actually I see him as an Angels fan. They were certainly the underdog when he was growing up. Plus rooting for the suburban team was his big guilty secret that he kept from his crew!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Nah. Actually, I think Gunn would have been an A's fan because of Dave Stewart's intense glare, the Bash Brothers, and Rickey Henderson.

Gunn loves Rickey.

Well done!

[ann1962]

used to have pretty much encyclopedic knowledge of every pro athlete who grew up in LA county, and where they used to play.

This is a perfect example of my idea that Gunn only received info and an increase in his holding capacity rather than any gain in ability. I think he always had this ability to learn encyclopedic sorts of info. The so called upgrade just gave him more specific knowledge, and maybe a place to put it.

Re: Well done!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

I think most of us always thought Gunn was bright - and that what he'd lacked was the level of formal education. Or at least, I did...

[maquisleader.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming Gunn is not a believer of the Immaculate Reception either, and it has to irk him that NFL Films has decided it's the greatest play of all time. He's not old enough to remember it but it lives forever in reruns.

Sorry, guy, forward arm motion means no fumble. Which is bullshit.

So what's your take on Booth? *evil grin*

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

He gets the story of the The immaculate reception, but it's too far before his time for him to get worked up. To his mind, the greatest play of all time is Bo Jackson blowing up Brian Bosworth. Or all those highlights of Jim Brown dragging dudes all over the field.

So what's your take on Booth? *evil grin*

I don't really watch Bones or get into it enough to have any meta. Sorry.

[yseultdb.livejournal.com]

shaved off his high top fade, because Chris Webber and Jalen Rose made bald look cool.

Can I still scream "Go Blue" in spite of the sanctions?

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

If you can forgive them, I can forgive them. And regardless of what happened with their careers after the Carolina game -- those dudes were awesomely cool.

[markeyisapunk.livejournal.com]

this is so cool! you don't see much sports talk in fanfiction--it's like some unspoken rule that (with few exceptions, racing in star wars and quidditch in HP) you don't see sports in sci-fi/fantasy. btw is the guy bonding thing with angel a little bit of homoerotic subtext? ... awwh... seriously, you shouldn't have!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

It's somewhat ironic. Despite the fact that sports fans can be just as dorky as sci-fi fans, and that many people are dorkily fans of both sports and sci-fi... whereas it does seem like our most major sci-fi/fantasy writers aren't and probably assume their fans aren't either.

Which, I think, is why we don't see as much sportstalk on the shows anyway - and consequently in the fanfiction.

As to the homoerotic subtext - presumably, you can just extrapolate from the existing subtext already in sports and suchlike...

[markeyisapunk.livejournal.com]

yeah to all of that. and reading this reminds me of that first gunn episode. later gunn was co-opted into that sci-fi/fantasy tradition of trading swords and fighting for sports, but that early gunn was clearly a sports fan, and I like that your ... story gave that back to him.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Now, granted during a week we only see on TV a small fraction of characters' lives and I'm sure there's lots of down time when Gunn and Angel are just chilling with a game on...

Whereas Gunn must have been tremendously vexed with Connor when trying to relate with him through sports over the summer between S3 and S4. I am picturing Fred deciding they should all go to a Dodgers game, and Gunn not having a lot of joy with a very contrary Connor telling him "this game is stupid..."

[markeyisapunk.livejournal.com]

well yeah, but whiny and annoying as he was, you have to admit that compared to growing up in a hell dimension american sports seem slightly less rugged and manly...

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Of course. Modern sports, for a number of people, is a means to engage - within a safer structure - the sort of baseline warmaking instinct. You know?

And plus, the point isn't so much how annoying one finds Connor on an objective level, but rather how hilarious it would be to observe Connor annoying Gunn at a baseball game.

Because the type of kid who grows up fighting viciously to survive is probably going to find baseball a little dull. Those monsters don't let you call time out to scratch your jock, y'know?

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm here to entertain. Let me know if you have any questions.

[makd.livejournal.com]

Here via the SU-Herald.

Delightful. and I love assumption No. 2. :-)

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Well thanks - as noted, meta like this is easier if I make that assumption. It's sort of hard to mentally to try to figure out Current events of four years ago upon which to base my thoughts.

Beyond which, Gunn's sporting/cultural awareness would have to fluctuate based upon time in life. Like say, somewhere in S1-2, he's very wrapped up in monster fighting and his self-destructive risk taking and not going to be on the couch so much. But in AtS3-5, he's set up nicer and will have the time and inclination to do that.

And I can also give a better picture of what he would have cared about in between 1985 and 1994 (age 7-16) because those are the real formative ages as a fan. Gunn would be two years younger than me, so the biggest challenge for me to judge his tastes would be geographic - someone who grows up on the West Coast has a different sports sensibility than an East Coaster like myself - because the 3-hour time difference creates an immense gulf.

Plus I'd have preferred him to live as well.

[lynnenne]

mocks Angel for liking Hockey, the whitest sport on earth

Hahahahahaha! He so would. Awesome.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

In fact, he did in one of the S3 episodes with BabyConnor. THat said, if he could ice skate, he'd play. But he's not about to admit he's afraid to skate.