football

football / Monday / Twitter — Comments Off on People overcoming things
4
Sep 17

People overcoming things

We’ve been in this weird debate off-and-on over much of the last year about whether there is anything redemptive in sports. I really think it started as the slight souring of one person’s opinion until that person saw it was getting a reaction out of people. And when you get a reaction, of course, you go all the way with it. So this conversation has morphed and twisted and disappeared and reappeared several times over the last year. And it has done so to the point where The Yankee and I will be watching some sporting event or reading some athlete’s story and she looks at me and says “SEE!?”

Like I’m the one that offered the offending opinion. I was not. Sports are silly, but there’s plenty of redemption in them. Redemption is sort of the theme of many sports, and one of my favorite humanistic themes in general. And while the following anecdotes, all from this glorious, long weekend, don’t really offer redemption, they do tell the tale of worth in sport. I commend them to you:

football / IU / photo / television / Thursday — Comments Off on That thing that everybody’s working for
31
Aug 17

That thing that everybody’s working for

There’s just something about today that makes it feel like Friday. Maybe it is that there is a three-day weekend ahead. Maybe because there is football tonight. There’s just something in the air to make it feel like today is the getaway day.

Maybe it is the little informal ceremony we had today. The Media School did a very low key thank you for Ed Spray. He’s an IU alum that has just had our television control room named in his honor. The studio is named after his classmate, Ken Beckley, who became quite successful on camera. Spray became a star off screen, and in media administration – Emmys in Chicago, management in Los Angeles, co-creator of HGTV and president of the Scripps Networks. Lovely gentleman, as unassuming as could be.

That’s the dean and Spray, on the left, in the control room. We decided that while there is a strict no food or drinks policy in the room, his name is on the door, so what can we do about it if he brings in a water bottle?

And then, this evening, I turned on the big screen, which usually shows off six different channels, to just the one for the big game. Thursday night football in 25-foot by 12-foot glory:

So, yeah, it seems like the weekend is already here.

But, then, there is always tomorrow.

cycling / football / history / IU / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off on Just some quick photos
18
Oct 16

Just some quick photos

USA Today’s little decorative badge is trying to capture the national mood. How do you think they’re fairing?

I pedaled my bike to campus this morning. Here’s a part of my route, a nice clean path with neat little trees and curves:

And the second part of the route, a slightly wider path, upon which you can go at least four wide:

I found this print today, the first Indiana football team:

They played one game, this week in 1887, in fact. They lost, to Franklin College. That was their season, a tournament to determine the state champion. IU was coached by Arthur Woodward, an economist. A future state attorney general was on the team. Six teams took part in what was the first version of something closely similar to modern football in the state. The Indianapolis Athletic Club invited Butler, DePauw, Franklin, Hanover, Indiana and Wabash to play the October and November series in Indy. Wabash won it all. You like to think some old men in the middle of the 20th century were still reminding each other how they got the job done back in the eighties.

adventures / football / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off on He watched football … in church (there was praying)
1
Oct 16

He watched football … in church (there was praying)

We are here:

It is a chapel on a small college campus in north Georgia. Also, a football game was celebrated on the front lawn, just after the bride and groom drove away. Before that, however:

Some 10,000 people have seen that on Twitter and it got picked up by a couple of those re-write sites. Every once in a while you get one that really takes off …

Anyway, he was watching the Georgia – Tennessee game. The hail mary one way, hail mary the other way game. He was quite pleased with the outcome.

(Edit: The guy in the picture saw it. Hah! Thankfully he has a good sense of humor about it.)

After that, the reception was lovely:

The groom was one of The Yankee’s former students, and we saw some other former students and friends there as well. A fine time, as they say, was had by all.

Alabama / Auburn / family / football / Monday / photo — Comments Off on The Iron Bowl
30
Nov 15

The Iron Bowl

So one of these guys is my second cousin. The guy on the left is his high school buddy. They play football together. The friend has been to big time football college football games before, SEC games even. This is my cousin’s first big game. And an Iron Bowl is not a bad way to start, young man.

They bought tickets from a friend of ours and their moms said they could come and the spent the weekend and had a grand time. Also, they saw Bo Jackson. Hey, Bo, how many Heisman trophy winners did we see this weekend?

Close. We actually saw three, and that’s a pretty good afternoon.

In the stadium, down at ground level. Pretty decent seats and the guys got on the big screen for a super long time. Their moms liked all the pictures I took of them.

I made a Boomerrang and turned that into a gif. This is no more or less psychedelic in any of those formats.

Alabama won, of course, but Auburn kept it close. They had a good time. I’m glad we were able to show it to them.

And just like that, that’s my last Iron Bowl, my last Auburn game. A pretty decent run, lasting 21 years, but it’s over.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →