I’m writing this at 11pm in bed and I don’t know how much I really have to say at this point in the night. I spent the day with my partner hanging out in the woods and that was wonderful. It was followed by the standard back and forth driving that comes with having kids of a certain age. Now, it’s super late and I’m ready to turn in. But I need ten minutes on the blog first.
I’m not sure what to say.
this is what comes of not planning these things out in advance. When spontaneity strikes it can be a wonder thing, but what about when it doesn’t. That scenario happens more often than not lately. As we see here.
so, I suppose I’ll just turn to…
Some Thoughts:
I’m the worst at typing on a phone. Everything is fat fingers missing keys.
That time went a lot faster than I thought it would
The youth football thing can be all consuming. My partner describes it as a cancer in our lives–one that keeps eating away at my time and energy in a fashion that is anything but positive. She’s partially right, at least. It does cloy. It does tear at me and create this need to know that cannot be filled because the information, at least in our league, is rarely there and available. There is a lot to think about in this last season. Does the kid do All Stars? If so, what does that actually look like? I’ve long exclaimed that I would not travel across the country for football. He’s already gone to Texas with his mom and aunt. Florida is where all stars happens and is rather expensive (to say the least). This is not something myself and my partner really want to or need to try to afford, and the mom isn’t likely to go with him–leaving me to go and pay all by myself. So, no. That is not the strategy for us.
So, it ends with the Championship (hopefully)? Sounds like a yes to me. Sure, I’m holding on to some thin hope that there is a local thing within the timeframe that can be a final achievement, but it seems unlikely. So, the focus falls back to what does the league look like? Well, here are the numbers:
Team
Win
Loss
Ties
Power Points
PF
PA
Mustangs
2
2
149
47
71
Liberty Lions
4
0
148
150
19
Raiders
5
0
138
118
34
Irish
4
0
138
104
6
Argos
3
0
128
134
6
Dragons
2
3
119
75
67
Jr Eagles
2
2
99
36
72
Mesa Toros
0
3
50
0
55
Peoria Panthers
2
2
31.2
74
56
Spartans
2
1
31.2
47
24
Yuma Coyotes
2
2
31.2
21
53
Jr Huskies
2
1
31.2
49
8
Force Football
1
2
15.6
39
53
Ridge Army
1
3
15.6
26
95
Outlaws
1
2
15.6
41
61
Devilbacks
0
2
0
0
70
Looks odd, right? Why are the Mustangs the #1 team? Well, that is a result of sorting by power points. Turns out the Mustangs have played the toughest schedule in the league and still only lost to undefeated teams. By Power rankings that makes the #1. The Power ranking formula is a bit wacky. Here is how it is described by PhoenixAYF:
The Phoenix AYF Power Point System has been utilized for over 8 years to determine the top teams for post season play primarily on strength of schedule of common opponents. This is the Phoenix AYF Approved 2018 system. This is based on the original Arizona Interscholastic Association High School (AIA) football formula and weighted to fit our 7 week conference schedule, the final formula is calculated as follows:
· 78 points for a win (VP – Victory Points/) or 39 for Tie
· 10 points for an opponent win (OW – Opponent Victory Points) or 5 for Tie
· .015 points for an opponent’s-opponent win (OOW – Opponents Opponents Victory Points) or .0075 for Tie
o Adding in the OOW helps eliminate the ties.
The simplified formula is as follows:
Power Points = (VP + OW + OOW) / Games played (excluding Kickoff week one)
The detailed formula is as follows:
Power Points = (Phoenix AYF Wins x 78 + Phoenix AYF Ties x 39) + (Phoenix AYF Wins by Opponents x 10 + Phoenix AYF Ties by Opponents x 5) + (Phoenix AYF Wins by Other Opponents x .015 + Phoenix AYF Ties by Other Opponents x. 0075) / # of Phoenix AYF Official Conference Games Played. Any non-conference games are not calculated or included.
This leaves us in a strange mathematical connundrum. I did not include OOW, but I don’t think it changes the fact that the Mustangs rule. We were supposed to play the mustangs this weekend, but a last minute change puts us against the Mesa Toros. They haven’t scored all season. That means they won’t help our Power Rank. However, I think the league will use Wins and the lead indicator and Points Scored as the tie breaker. Here we are by that measure:
Team
Win
Loss
Ties
Power Points
PF
PA
Raiders
5
0
138
118
34
Liberty Lions
4
0
148
150
19
Irish
4
0
138
104
6
Argos
3
0
128
134
6
Mustangs
2
2
149
47
71
Dragons
2
3
119
75
67
Jr Eagles
2
2
99
36
72
Peoria Panthers
2
2
31.2
74
56
Spartans
2
1
31.2
47
24
Yuma Coyotes
2
2
31.2
21
53
Jr Huskies
2
1
31.2
49
8
Force Football
1
2
15.6
39
53
Ridge Army
1
3
15.6
26
95
Outlaws
1
2
15.6
41
61
Mesa Toros
0
3
50
0
55
Devilbacks
0
2
0
0
70
Top 4 make it to the D1 playoffs. That means we get the 2-3 matchup as things stand. Great. I’m curious if the Argos are even in the conversation. Are they going to go to the Florida show or stay here and play local? Only time (and information) will tell…
I don’t know about other teams, but the Giants are in a world of bad luck. To lose your star QB, WR, and RB all in one game is just wack. The Giants will try to fight on, but dang, it is going to be a struggle. At the very least, I think there is hope moving forward. The line is getting better on both sides and playmakers are evolving. A little more help from free agency in the off season and we will have something to really work with next year,
This year? Nah, that is over. I want to watch us win a few more games but there won’t be too many more to watch at this rate.
Some Thoughts:
If left to my own devices, those devices tend to be joystcks.
New Superman is bisexual. Bandwagon much? I mean if it wasn’t a big deal then it wouldn’t be a big deal, but to make if focal… Might as well make him asian. No, that’s the boyfriend. It pains me to see stories try to force issues that are not at all related to the story. Of course, when I like it I like it. I thought black Nick Fury was great because of Samuel L Jackson. Had it been anyone else I would’ve been like everyone else and called CAP–the way even I did when they chose to make Robin black/asian in the new Titans show. Using race and sexuality as a coloring for characters just to make them different is not the strategy I feel is good for anyone. It furthers the idea that we need to change existing characters to take away the history of what they were as opposed to making new heroes that reflect our updated and evolved way of thinking.
My war on crickets in underway. I found a mound of the awful-sounding pests and doused them in the Sevin poison. We’ll see how that goes. This was the first mound but it is not the only one. As I begin to peel back the layers of overgrowth I am finding more and more of these hideouts. Today I even spotted what I believe to be a hawk circling my backyard, which argues there may be mice nearby.
Why are there field hawks in the desert? No clue. I have no idea about their habitat. What I do know is my habitat is jacked. I’ve done a terrible job of maintaining the backyard and front yard and as a result the place looks all sorts of junky. I don’t want to live this way and I don’t want to teach the kids the live this way. That is why I am so focused on turning this around quickly and having them pitch in to get the work done. My eldest has a partially torn ACL (again) and is using this as an excuse to not do yardwork. As a result he’s been doing more of the inside jobs while the others are tasked with helping me on the outside. It is a lot of work that needs to be done, and I am trying to get a little bit more done every day. I still don’t have all the tools put together the way I need–I’ll need to work on the new cutter tomorrow. Once all is setup properly it should be an easy matter to tear through the grass. With a little effort I might be able to get two cutters running and be able to halve the work. Maybe even three!
There is so much to be done just to make this place look livable from the outside. It makes me wonder how I managed to let it fall so far.
I’m taking a few days to reset and reload myself. I’m looking forward to getting out of the desert for a couple of those days. The real key is to give myself mental time, physical time, and emotional time away from the grind. The daily can wear on me. When I was younger I really did think the idea of wear and tear was a joke–something old folks and idiots used as an excuse for downshifts in effort. Now that I am on that grind it makes all the sense in the world. The blog ought to be proof that my energy stores are depleted and the brain juice ain’t what it ought to be.
Physically, I need to figure out a plan to take advantage of the excellent weather. I need to be out and moving about every day. I have not done such as of late and it shows. The fat isn’t fading.
Some Thoughts:
I’m going to use Sevin as my first attempt to quell the cricket problem. If that doesn’t show results, I will go to the poison store (yeah, that is actually a thing) and get it moving.
My son’s cat is all cuddled up beside me. Don’t know what that is about. She’s usually cuddled up like five feet away with a clear line of demarcation. Now she is insisting on head rubs. There is a simple comfort in petting a cat.
The 14u is going pretty well for our team. I’m curious and excited about what to do moving forward with closing out the youth experience for my kid. The best outcome would be that ring for the 14u championship as a 12 yr old knowing he was a vital part of the squad. We have a chance to compete. Here’s the standing thus far:
Team
Win
Loss
Ties
PF
PA
Raiders
5
0
118
34
Liberty Lions
4
0
150
19
Irish
4
0
104
6
Argos
3
0
134
6
Mustangs
2
2
47
71
Jr Eagles
2
2
36
72
Dragons
2
3
75
67
Peoria Panthers
2
2
74
56
Spartans
2
1
47
24
Yuma Coyotes
2
2
21
53
Jr Huskies
2
1
49
8
Force Football
1
2
39
53
Ridge Army
1
3
26
95
Outlaws
1
2
41
61
Elite Reapers
0
3
0
105
Devilbacks
0
2
0
70
Mesa Toros
0
3
0
55
Still haven’t gotten to the Opponents Win and Opponents Opponents Win. Those categories matter statistically. It gives a sense of who these teams really are. With 16 it looks like the best 8 are going to be considered D1 and the second 8 go D2. Ideally we want the 1 seed but the two works just as well. 3 gets wonky, but 4 is not where we want to be. The 3-6 game–if the season ended today–is an interesting matchup for us. I still don’t know who the Eagles are based on who they played. They lost to the Ridge Army and the Liberty Lions. This, coupled with a lack of offense tells me they might be pretenders. I feel like the Ridge Army will be able to elevate their play to make D1. I’d love to play them as well as one of the other undefeated in the next three weeks of the season. We probably get 7 games. I’d love to see 8, but I am guessing the guaranteed 8th is the playoff game.
We expect more than 8. We expect to be last team standing.
As a sci-fi writer I spend a great deal of time looking forward into the near future. I’ve been a terrible futurist as I have rarely looked beyond the next 100 years. This has been on my mind lately as I’ve been watching the future shaped by Asimov’s Foundation and other far flung sci-fi epics. More and more as I try to look forward I find myself wanting to know how we got here. I want to look backwards and explore the beginnings. In essence, I think I want a do over.
I enjoy the simplicity of fantasy. Often people assume a love for fantasy is a love for the magic. For me it is the mythology and the swordplay. I dig magic–don’t get me wrong–but that is not the source of my need to write in that genre. I have a desire to build old worlds and create the mythos that can be carried forward a thousand generations. Perhaps it is my god complex or minecraft or whatever you call the need to create (other than being a writer). This is a thing I want to do and feel like I can do successfully. At least I’ll give it the good ol college try.
I am presently dealing with a cricket infestation. More to the point I am presently not dealing with a cricket infestation. I don’t really know what to do about the situation. All I hear is the chirping all night and during quite a bit of the morning time. I’ve failed at controlling the yard and made an environment in which they thrive. So, step one is to clean up the space. Step 2 is to spray the crap out of all that I can. I will likely need to lock up the cat for a few days while I do this. Step three: repeat. I need to get this handled because I am tired of living in a trashy environment. I am really tired of living like this and even worse, no one beyond my partner actually seems to care.
As time drift forward so does the blog and so does the purpose of the blog. I don’t know that I’d call it an evolution over time. It has seen better days and has seen a few worse ones. I will say the blog feels stagnant, which is inline with my drained soul and emptiness of the idea well. I need to get rejuvenated, and I don’t actually have a clue how to do that.
I do know what doesn’t work: bad TV. Overworked mind doesn’t help much. Emotional distress? That’s a big distraction. All of these things tend to define my daily experience and that makes for bad writing.
my partner suggested I try to write some short stories to fall back in love with my crazy craft. Having knocked out this novel I feel like the time is right for it.
perhaps it will make the blog better—re-energize the thing. It needs it. I need it. One thing remains true. I started this ten minute rule as a daily touchstone. There is a great difference between a touchstone and a chore. This blog has begun to feel like the latter.
this must change in order for me to find a better way of being.
I now have at least one win in all of my leagues! I am also 1-3 in all of my leagues, which doesn’t bode well for playoff chances. It isn’t that my team sucks. It’s a little of that In At least two leagues, but the key issue is matchups. So, starting this week I’m researching schedule and building for the playoffs.
What does that mean? Well, it means I need to focus on who plays who and when. I need to predict how tight the race will be and who will be out and who will be so locked in that they rest players. Contentious divisions are the best. I need divisions where first and fourth are down to a few games at the end of the season. I also need those players who will be on the field and stepping up.
Nfc teams fit that description. West and east divisions are the prime candidates. NFC east is famous for only the leader making the playoffs and the margin is often razor thin. I’m going to need giants players out there. The west is tough because up to 3 teams will be in the playoffs and it will be a battle for those spots.
The AFC feels settled already. We know the teams so seeding is the real issue. I have been burned by the AFC before. It may be smart to trade off players like Mahomes before it’s too late.