Day: January 24, 2024

Let’s start off with a brief nod to Lamar Jackson. The much-maligned quarterback is fighting through a who lot of stereotyping (and borderline institutional racism) to become the guy who not only gets to the show, but wins the MVP. We exist in a world of comparisons, and unfortunately those comps tend to fall squarely along racial lines in the world of the NFL. The handful of articles I’ve read espousing these comps exist behind paywalls, so no links here. However, it is clear that the new crop of QBs for the 2024 draft are being given floors and ceilings compared to other QBs “like them” which basically means race. Take Jayden Daniels for example. His ceiling is the aforementioned Lamar Jackson. His floor is Tyrod Taylor, according to more than one article. However, if you really watch these players, Tyrod Taylor and Lamar don’t have similar games. Taylor has the ability to extend a play but he doesn’t have the same type of game as Jackson or Daniels. Feels like race plays a larger role than game here.

Back to Lamar and the Ravens. Dang, man. This team gives me vibes. I’ve been a Giants fan my entire life and I’m getting 2001 vibes when my G-Men caught a beating from a dominant Ravens team. Also feeling the 2013 rematch of the HarBowl minus one Har-Bro. Interesting if dude wins again the same year his bro is contemplating an NFL return.

The Chiefs? Oh they are very good. They have a great D and a QB who has that dog in him.. and no Wrs. So… Yeah.

I want to share two quotes from a past blog. I’m going back to 1426, which was published April 1st, 2014. Not your typical April Fool’s stuff, but it had a few things in there I think resonate for me even now.

This story is about understanding something I’ve only recently realized: Opportunities arrive throughout life. There is nothing that says we are hopeless and ruined if things don’t happen for us right away.

Talislegger 1426

This first quote (note: I figured out how to use quotes in this thing!) hits me now in a way that reminds me that I still possess patience. 2014 was a tough year on a number of levels. I won’t go into those details, but I was struggling with relationships and being a dad and trying to be a good teacher and a good coach and really shifting my focus to the things I felt I could control. Every once in a while a light would turn on and remind me that I still have people who respect and even appreciate my work. I still work for those people a decade later, producing solid fiction.

The job of a teacher cannot merely be to deliver content. A book can do that. The job of a teacher is to help the student interpret and apply content to their specific situation first and to a global perspective secondarily.

Talislegger 1426

I teach three days a week in person this semester and each class is severely different than the one that came before it. I stopped using textbooks. I don’t see the value in them just reading content and not being guided to understanding by me. I teach creative writing and english and game studies and mythology. I don’t teach memorization fields like science or the social sciences where the textbook is extremely needed. I try to turn my space into an enjoyable and memorable experience where the content is learned because they are engaged and want to learn en route to being successful.