Day: July 20, 2024

I don’t have a lot to look forward this year when it comes to sports. On the professional end, I get to watch my favorite player play for my team’s rival. I am rooting for him, and as a result am rooting for them, but I wouldn’t call myself an Eagles fan. I’m starting to feel more like that sad Browns fan who shot the video outside of the stadium where he extolled the spot as a “Factory of Sadness”

To quote: We don’t expect you to be good, we expect you to be watchable. These Giants will not be watchable on offense, but the D might give me something to cheer about week to week.

Meanwhile in the High School ranks, Desert Vista is 5 for 5. That is they are on the fifth head coach in five years. This doesn’t bode well for the program. While they have a handful of promising freshman they also have a weak varsity roster. The O-line is good–young but good. The run game is good. The passing game is going to take some time to get together and the #1 WR is probably going to transfer out. The defense is questionable. That could mean my kid gets a lot of snaps and gets to grow into a starting role as a sophomore, but he hasn’t played a lot of football because he had growth plate issues last year. So, he’s going to need to cut his teeth in the JV ranks before the coaches really trust him to be their guy on Varsity. So, I’ll be watching more JV than Var and watching a JV team that actually disbanded last year because nobody wanted to show up… or play for the coach who is still the JV coach.

College football may be the lone bright spot. My FBS teams (Iowa State & Colorado) will surprise folks this season. Unfortunately, anything less than a BCS bid is going to be deemed a failure for the Buffs. The expectations way outstrip where the team is clearly at. Part of that is the high profile coach and his attitude of wanting to be and acting as if he is the best. Part of it is the hate that follows him. Regardless, I’m here for it.

I have an FCS team now. With my son wearing #31 for Drake University I am suddenly locked in on the Pioneer league and figuring out the chances for success. Drake took their first PFL conference championship last season and has the tools to do it again. The boy is good enough to play early, but there are 18 other DBs on that roster, so he has his work cut out for him. I have my watching cut out for me.

I’m still not back in the swing of writing these Friday stories. I know I need to get there. I know I need to be putting out more fiction on many levels. I’m not. I kind of got into that last post, but the real of it is I haven’t settled back into being here in the states, what that means, or how to function. I didn’t even settle into a rhythm overseas. Now that I am back I am totally messed up and feel my daily energy bleeding away. I don’t have time for anything and what little time I have I spend playing NCAA and listening to Adrian Tchaikovsky books on audio. For the record, he looks exactly like what people expect sci-fi guys to look like. I do not. This is not, of course, why he is winning. He’s working hard and he has good ideas. Two things I seem to lack at present. He is a few years older than me. He and Nnedi Okorafor are supposed to be my peer group in this thing and I am straight slipping and falling, falling, failing.

I say this not to make a proclamation, but to come to the realization that I am the one holding me back. Sad, but true. I can blame a lot of things, but the one true blame is me. I need to unlock that part of myself that is connected to more. I need to reaccess what has been closed off. Then I need to do the dang work.