Tuesday

Between Saturday and the Revolutionary War

This is how my back feels. I carefully squatted down to pick up my mostly empty backpack. I put my mostly empty backpack on my home office chair. I slipped my laptop and my notebook inside. I zipped it up and carried it downstairs. Because I was being helpful, I went back upstairs I did the same for my lovely bride’s backpack. Same procedure, squat, chair, laptop, two notebooks, zipped it. I carried it downstairs. And there near the end of that little trip the muscles around my shoulder where this little incision suggested they might not like me to do that anymore.

So I did not.

How it works this semester is that we drive to one building, where she has her classes, and I drop her off. Then I drive over to the building where our office is, and where my classes are. There’s a parking deck right behind it. (We have, probably, the best parking arrangement on campus.) I go to whatever floor, park, and then walk down the stairs, around the side of the building and about half a block to the door. Up the elevator to the office, and so on. And about the time I got off the elevator, I didn’t want to carry my bag for a while.

Again, this is basically an intense pulled muscle sort of sensation. A “hey, you really shouldn’t” kind of thing. And I am fortunate in that I can obliged that feeling, follow the doctor’s advice and still do the things I need to.

Which, today, was class. In Criticism in Social Media we talked about this story which was OK enough to make two or three small points on. And we also talked about this story, which was worth a bit more dissection. Back with Dodgers, emotional Freddie Freeman details son’s health scare:

Max woke on July 22 with a slight limp and went into full paralysis four days later, prompting Freeman to rush home from a series at the Houston Astros. By Wednesday, doctors removed Max from his ventilator.

Five days after that, Freeman was back in the Dodgers’ lineup for the start of a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing first base and batting third. He finished 1-for-4 in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win and was greeted by a long standing ovation before his first at-bat. The Phillies joined the applause from their dugout. The pitch clock was stopped as he stepped out of the batter’s box, removed his helmet and waved to the crowd, before then touching his right hand to his chest.

“I was doing OK tipping my hat and then my dad was sitting first row with my stepmom, and he was — I don’t know if I could call it crying, but he was choked up and teary-eyed,” Freeman said. “That’s what really got me going.”

Max spent eight days in a pediatric intensive care unit before being discharged Saturday. The next day, he began physical therapy.

At my next opportunity, I’m going to have to pick a few stories that aren’t emotional stories, lest I give my class the wrong idea about this. And looking at some of the documentaries I’ve selected for later in the semester … I need to do that soon.

In Organizational Communication in Sports my normal slide deck theme gave away to egregious fandom. And since Auburn got ripped off Saturday — this was one of about four games I’ve watched in three years, and what a clown car the whole thing has become — I turned it into hating on fans. My hope was that it would make for a comedic, and memorable, conversation. So it started with this.

I rather like that shaker theme, though. So I put up all sorts of unflattering photos of Georgia fans — I won’t reproduce them here, but they’re out there — and talked through Social Identity Theory. There was one photo of a Georgia fan, in his best Georgia t-shirt (it only had three stains on it) proudly shaking hands with some klansmen. Then I said, “whereas my guys are good Christian boys.” And here’s a shot of a big chunk of the team praying in the end zone. “And patriotic?” Boy you’ve got no idea!” And then there’s a shot of them celebrating with some ROTC students. It just went on like this for a while, talking about the cognitive choices of Social Identity Theory, the purpose of it all, the In-Group / Out-Group nature of sports. Most of this we all inherently know, but some days you get to put a name and some scholastic explanation to things.

I pointed out that, of course this is unfair. I’m cherry picking these guys in outlandish ways to try to make a point. You can do this with any fan base if you want to. It’s just easier with some then others.

We talked about Presentation of Self, which let me show people dressed up all nice for something as silly as a football game. We talked about Goffman’s notions of front stage and back stage. We talked about social identity as our fandom extends beyond the venue. Look, I’m wearing this tie, and this tasteful lapel pin, and so on. And then we came around to highly identified fans, and I talked about the most highly identified fans I know. And that’s where I played clips of Bama fans.

I ended it with mascots. Here’s a shot of 11-time mascot of the year Aubie in a library. And here’s Rowan’s mascot, with the way the university describe’s Who R U on his own page: fierce, ready to attack, full of aspirations and expectations. I dug up a shot of Rowan’s next football opponent’s mascot, a big black bear that’s goofy in the appropriate sort of mascot ways. Pio is his name, and his site says this bear represents the values and attributes of their students: gritty, confident, persevering, fun-loving and the first in the family to attend college.

Because, ya know, he’s a bear, and not a lot of bears go on to higher education.

The Yankee came to see what that lecture turned into. She said it went well. Said she might steal some of that material the next time she teaches this class.

We left our building and went across the street for a special presentation. Some of the faculty here know the filmmaker Ken Burns, and he graciously allowed them to screen the first episode of his upcoming documentary.

Six episodes, starting next month. We were asked to not discuss it at length, and I’ll respect that. But I’ll say this. Episode one was quite good, I can’t wait for the rest. Also, the voiceover casting is just incredible.

One of the professors, who is a professional film critic, talked a bit. A history professor, a public historian who is a key figure in the ongoing work at a nearby Revolutionary War site also spoke. She’s the perfect kind of historian, in my view. She has such an enthusiasm for her work that it makes you want to be enthusiastic about it, too. Maybe all teachers should be that way. I try to be that way. Maybe it comes through. For Dr. Janofsky, though, it is obvious, and infectious.

She passed around this piece of shot that had recently been pulled from the ground. For 250 years this had been buried beneath the soil, and just before that, it was hurtling at an enemy with great urgency.

Janofsky did not say whose shot this was. I’m assuming they know. We also know a lot about the muzzle velocity of 18th century cannons, and we know there was a fair amount of variation between them having to do with a lot of different variables, the type of shot, the canon, the powder and so on. I’ll just go with a number that keeps popping up for British cannons of the era, 487 meters per second. That’s a bit over 1,000 miles an hour. No one wants to be standing downrange of that, in any century.

And then something controversial, that had nothing to do with work or the Revolutionary War happened. I’m running out of pixels today, so I’ll type about it tomorrow, when there will surely be more to know, anyway.

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7
Oct 25

I reference dramatic reality, undramatically

This is a reminder that this is a light week, because of working events. But Catober is here to amuse you. But there are about 800 words here and four photographs from yesterday’s bike ride. So, yeah, light week.

In my criticism in sport media class we examined two different kinds of stories. The students selected these. One of them was this incredible piece from CNN: ‘Harmed, outed, scrutinized’: How new sex testing rules affect athletes:

Just like Ajok and Imali, a raft of athletes will no longer be allowed to compete in the women’s category at the World Athletics Championships, which are currently taking place in Tokyo, Japan.

Track and field body WA announced earlier this year that beginning from September 1, anyone wanting to compete in the “female category” of its elite events would be required to take a “once-in-a-lifetime test” in the form of a cheek swab or blood test that will screen athletes’ genetic samples. This will determine whether they contain the SRY gene – or “a genetic surrogate for a Y chromosome” – according to the organization.

The decision comes following a World Athletics Council meeting where, along with a raft of other policy changes, the council agreed to adopt multiple recommended conditions of “eligibility in the female category,” WA confirmed in a press release.

The World Athletics Championships hosted something like 2,200 competitors from almost 200 countries and teams. Not everyone, of course, was subjected to this strict scrutiny. It’s an in-depth story that does a nice job explaining this process and some of the biological information to people who aren’t expected to be experts. I wish my lovely bride wasn’t teaching in another building at the same time as that class, because this subject has become one of her primary areas of research expertise. I am not an expert in this area, which meant I had to learn a lot the last few days. The class handled the conversation with interest and care. I was pleased to see what we got out of the story, from a critiquing point of view.

We also discussed this other story which didn’t offer us a lot. But I was able to get in several points about how all stories aren’t created in the same way, some of them aren’t going to have all of the features (or conspicuously lack them) when we’re doing a critique. I turned it into a criticism of Sports Illustrated in general. Because there’s always some context to understand, somewhere. And maybe that’s a note that will seep in over the course of the semester.

We started talking about storytelling in org comm today. Presumably I have a little expertise in this area. There were 14 or 15 slides to digest, getting into the different kinds of stories we receive from the media, our different levels of participation and sociality, fan-centered media messaging and the structures of dramatic reality storytelling. (The by-the-book version requires a story to have drama, adversity, crisis, mentors, persistence and a final reward to be a dramatic reality.)

Here’s a video I showed them that included all of those things and Da Coach O, in under four minutes.

The class will have to put some of that in to practice on Thursday, but they don’t know that yet. So don’t tell.

Here are a few shots from yesterday’s ride, which was a slow, 21-mile tour of some new roads, and some old roads. You can really see the passage of time here, which could be seasonal, or about an afternoon, depending on your meaning.

I love these yellowing cover crops.

On a road I think I’ve been on just once or twice before, we have a discovery for the Barns By Bike catalog.

And on a nearby stretch of road, which I think was entirely new to me, another.

I found myself up a hill, over some bumps, around a bend and taking a left turn. I figured I would just ride that a certain amount and then turnaround. The easy part is getting lost. The difficult part is retracing my steps if there are too many turns. So as I pedaled along some scenic, tree covered roads dotted by a cemetery here and a neighborhood there, I was trying to play the map out in my head: I’m going, roughly, east and this should dump me out … where?

Eventually I got to a stop sign and, considering the amount of daylight I had left, and what I wanted to do with it, decided to turn around and start my hustle for home. It was delightful. Three empty roads and one of them wide open with fields on either side and the only sound was the sound of my tires on the road. I got back to a little crossroads community I know well, turned right and started racing home.

As I got close, this was one of my last views.

I made it in just before dark, and hopeful I can go out again soon. Maybe for some more old roads, maybe for some new ones.

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30
Sep 25

2ENI6S

We went to see a big field hockey game tonight. It was senior night for my god-niece-in-law (just go with it.) My in-laws came down to see their god-granddaughter. (I guess that’s how it works? The field hockey player is the daughter of their goddaughter. This would get confusing pretty quickly after that.) So we all went to her high school together. Her sister is on the junior varsity team, and they played first. The younger Jaguars won their game, and fans trickled in all night. By the time they dragged out the balloon arch for the senior night festivities both sets of her grandparents, her god-grandparents, her god-aunt-and-uncle and a bunch of her friends were there. They made signs and posters and had big Fathead-style faces. It was all quite cute.

She was, I think, the third athlete through the balloon arch. The guy on the PA introduces her and her parents and her little sister. He read off her career highlights, which at this point is something like 10-plus years of field hockey. He had a little sentence or two from the player thanking her family, and a note about what’s next, where she’s going to school, what she’s planning to study.

The sun was going down about that time.

And then, when all the seniors were introduced they went out there and played a game against the Lions. And the seniors went out in style, winning 5-0.

The cool thing was, after dinner, she said she got a piece of the ball on the last goal, though it was credited to one of her teammates. But she was glad for that. The other player hadn’t yet scored this year.

She’s always been a thoughtful girl; she’s going to be a pretty spectacular woman.

Though I guess we’ll do this again during softball season. How many senior nights do you need?

All of them, if you’re the senior.

I mentioned this the last time we went to see her play, but they host their home games on the high school’s football field, which is actually a multipurpose field. They also play their soccer there, and some of their track and field events are held there, too. If you’re sitting on the home side you see the high school in the background. And off to your left is a little building that is probably a field house. The side that faces the parking lot is painted red, and right in the center is the word:

2ENI6S

The graduating class all signed their names in a bit a of condoned graffiti. Though I wonder how the teachers feel about that treatment of the word. And how the class of 2027 will mangle it.

I visited the concession stand tonight and bought a handful of things for various members of our section of fans, a sandwich, three drinks, two pretzels. The students staffing the concession stand could not calculate the price. (It was $16 I told them.)

All of this gives me a great deal of material. So I pointed at this new construction in the western corner of the sports field.

“I hope it is a learning center!”

It is, of course, a new field house. Athletics first, and at all cost. Even at a good school — and their school scores in the top four percent of the state. But still, 2ENI6S, simple math.

We all went to the star players’ for dinner and family revelry. It was a wonderful evening.

In class today we discussed The Concussion Files:

The Post reviewed more than 15,000 pages of documents relating to efforts by more than 100 former players to qualify for settlement benefits, including thousands of pages of confidential medical and legal records. The Post also interviewed more than 100 people involved with the settlement — including players, widows, lawyers and doctors — as well as 10 board-certified neurologists and neuropsychologists for their expertise on how dementia is typically diagnosed.

Among The Post’s findings:

The settlement’s definition for dementia requires more impairment than the standard definition used in the United States. Several doctors who have evaluated players told The Post that if they used the settlement’s definition in regular care, they would routinely fail to diagnose dementia in ailing patients. “I assumed this was written this way, on purpose, just to save the NFL money,” said Carmela Tartaglia, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Toronto.

At least 14 players have, like Cross, failed to qualify for settlement money or medical care and then died, only to have CTE confirmed via autopsy. Eight of these players were diagnosed in life with dementia or a related memory disorder but still failed to qualify for settlement benefits.

In more than 70 cases reviewed by The Post, players were diagnosed with dementia by board-certified doctors, only to see their claims denied by the administrative law firm that oversees the settlement. While the NFL has often blamed denied claims on fraud, none of the denials reviewed by The Post contained allegations of fraud. Instead, records show, settlement review doctors simply overruled physicians who actually evaluated players, often blaming dementia symptoms on other health problems also linked to concussions, including depression and sleep apnea.

The NFL’s network of settlement doctors has been beset by systemic administrative breakdowns since its inception. Former players suffering from dementia wait, on average, more than 15 months just to see doctors and get the records they need to file a claim. Maynard was one of two players The Post found who waited more than two years to get paperwork and died before they could get paid.

In total, court records show, the settlement has approved about 900 dementia claims since it opened in 2017. It has denied nearly 1,100, including almost 300 involving players who were diagnosed by the settlement’s own doctors.

It’s an aggravating story, and it should annoy readers. And some of my students were aggravated by what they read — which leaves some questions about a few other students.

We also talked about this story.

On the face of it, playing chess and competing in the NBA couldn’t be further apart.

One requires monk-like levels of silent concentration – particularly in classical chess – while the other demands physical dominance, peak athleticism and the ability to stay composed in a frenzied atmosphere.

But it seems there is more that links the two sports than initially meets the eye – just ask NBA legend Derrick Rose.

The 2011 NBA MVP has been leading a new and unlikely collaboration between the worlds of chess and professional basketball.

That story didn’t seem to connect, but for different reasons.

Those were in my criticism class, of course. In org comm class we wrapped up the unit on branding. The students broke up into their fantasy football franchise groups and had to do an assignment which asked them to assess the sort of star power that each of their players possess. Then they had to pick three players from their team which would be the most likely pitchmen, and then assign them products or brands they would advertise for. It went well, and it all just goes on the now large stack of things I need to grade.

And that starts tomorrow. I am able to devote an entire day to pecking away at the computer and I am weirdly looking forward to it.

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23
Sep 25

The Good Time Blimp

It was a long day and a long night on campus. About 10 hours, in total, I think. I had two classes, of course. We talked about sports stories in the criticism class, of course. And in org comm we discussed branding, of course, which we’ll do for another two days, of course. When classes were over it was back to the office, where I did some work. And then we went over to one of the auditoriums for … well, you can see for yourself.

We were sitting some distance away, but in reserved VIP seats. Very Important Professors. The good seats went to our students, as it should be. Charles Barkley hasn’t played in the NBA in their lifetimes, but he’s still a hugely important sports figure locally, and nationally. Being on Inside the NBA doesn’t hurt that, nor does his huge personality.

The guy up there with him is one of of our faculty members, and an institution in local sports media. They go way back, and from time to time Barkley comes to share his wisdom and good humor. He was very generous with his time tonight. They started taking questions from two microphones on either side of the stage, this went on for a good long while, with young people nervously reading their questions from their phones for some reason. There was still no way that they were going to answer all of the questions, almost all of which is stuff Barkley probably fields a dozen times a week, but still, some of them were good, and the man has a way of making everyone feel welcome around him. As the time was drawing late, they said, we’ll just take one more, and Charles said, no no, how about we take three more questions from each side of the room, and that was another 20 or 25 minutes.

After that, there was the after-party, where you feel a bit like a hanger-on between the tables and the gladhanders and the oddly lit photo room and bar, and the more-than-reasonable food spread. Charles Barkley stood there and took pictures with everyone who wanted one. It’s not work, and he knows it, but they love him and he knows that, too. So it is work, and he’s gracious about it all. Tomorrow, he said, he has to fly to Atlanta to finally find out what his broadcast schedule will be for the upcoming season.

Anyway, I wrote some notes from his talk.

Sir Charles!

[image or embed]

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:15 PM

Says Inside the NBA will be different on the new platform, “for sure.”

Talks about post-game to studio pitches.

(The new format seems like a very in progress effort to Charles Barkley.)

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:17 PM

Says probably 200 Inside the NBA crew made the job. Keeping jobs in TV is a huge win.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM

Charles is bringing a blue collar work ethic to load management-oriented players.

He has thoughts on where the games will be aired and streamed, how fans are being left to figure that out.

He’s taking an adamant pro-fan stance,and is critical of these early days on the new platform, schedule-wise.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM

We’ve spent a lot, A LOT, of time on the showering-in-my-jersey story. One of the longtime Sixers guys is here and he confirmed the story.

So that’s settled.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM

He’s taking student questions. The first is about pushing through hard times.

“You have to make sure you just keep grinding. It ain’t good all the time, but it ain’t bad all the time … it’s always going to get better.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM

After a Shaq story he repeats the best advice he’s received.

You can’t make everyone happy. Says you’d go crazy trying.

And then cites a lesson he learned from football coach Herm Edwards: my last name is not my name; it’s my family’s name.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:55 PM

Can we get a Michael Jordan story?

{long pause}

“Michael Jordan’s nuts.”

Tells a 36-holes-of-golf story during the Dream Team run. MJ says he was covering the point guard.

Says he was sticking on him like it’s Game 7, screaming at the PG.

“He is going to win at all cost, no matter what.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:55 PM

A player asks for some on-court advice.

“Rebounding. Rebounding got me to college and the NBA.”

The coach is here, and the coach approved of that answer.

“People ask me what’s important — or offense or defense? I say, ‘Probably the ball.’”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Talking about team chemistry. Says maybe five of his teams had great chemistry, because there are many agendas.

“Getting chemistry on a team is really hard. Same thing in the studio … we have to work with each other. It’s the same way on a team.”

Quotes Pat Riley: voluntary cooperation.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM

Gets asked if franchise segments from the old show will be on the new version.

He doesn’t know yet. (Production meetings are forthcoming, which is a good thing considering the season is rapidly approaching.)

Said they found about the fate of the show while golfing with some of the crew.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM

Charles talks about teachers, which is one of his favorite subjects. And he’s now naming his grade school teachers.

It’s a pretty special thing to be remember all those years later, I’d bet.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:11 PM

He does a riff about college, opportunity, cost and how we limit some people by design. I’d honestly rather get more of that than the next question about some famous funny bit from a chat he had on Inside the NBA. Where would you rather be?

(Yes, he drags Galveston. And then picks San Antonio.)

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:17 PM

“I love sports because sports has given me every single thing I have in my life.”

He lists his bucket list, sitting on the green monster, football at Notre Dame, Michigan … tells a story about playing two days of golf at Augusta National.

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM

He gets asked about players being able to speak their minds — team and league policies, etc.

Charles: “Free speech is not free … Players have to be smart … I just feel a sadness.” He goes in on political leaders.

“I believe we’ve got more good people than bad people. They’re just louder.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:29 PM

Says Kevin McHale is the best player he played against.

Fanbases: “Philly, New York and Boston, they’re different. When they talk about your mama, they mean it.”

“I think east coast fans are most intense.”

— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM

At the after-party, surrounded by brilliant scholars and talented educators, I talked volleyball and ChatGPT with our new dean. It felt just as natural as you’d imagine.

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16
Sep 25

Cats and adverbs, and verbs

The cats insisted they go first today, since they got bumped for space yesterday. They triggered a key part of their contract, which is that I’m getting claws in my face until we make it happen here. And these cats need their need their nails trimmed.

This week they’re also executing their soft focus clause. Phoebe, you can see, was very excited about that.

She’s sitting my lap as I type this. Just jumped up, in fact. She insisted on the “very” above. She likes her adverbs.

Poseidon does not approve. It is unclear if he disapproves of adverbs, or of Phoebe getting lap time.

They are competitive and jealous.

Phoebe says very.

So the cats are doing well, and looking forward to Catober. We’re just two weeks from all cats all the time around here.

Today, in my Criticism class, I tried to lead the class through a discussion of two stories. We’re reading a lot of sport media and I’m asking them to start reading these things critically, hence the title of the class. It’s a process, and this is our first week of doing this. (Week one was getting to know you. Week two was about criticism. Now we are beginning to practice the craft. We’ll do this throughout the term and before long they’ll get a feel for it.)

One of the stories was a piece from the Philadelphia Inquirer about one of their recent pitchers.

It’s such an incredible story that ESPN produced a package on it the next spring, and they were able to add a crucial and necessary update. And here’s that piece.

My next task will be to convince them that the criticism doesn’t have to just be about the stories with huge emotional tolls.

In org comm, we talked about communication, what it was, and why it is … no wait, that’s not right. Communication, what it is, and why we will look at it in these particular ways. This is a slowdown from the first two weeks of getting to know you and then group work. Next week, that class will be 19 percent more interesting. We just had to get through today and Thursday. But then we can talk about things like branding, storytelling and audiences, all of which will carry us through mid-October at least. But first, we must slog through this week.

I will be slogging.