Imagine you’re watching the Super Bowl this week.
Peyton Manning has led the Broncos to an incredible, hard-fought victory. The confetti is raining down. Fireworks are exploding. The team is gathering around as Manning hoists the Lombardi Trophy in the air.
An interviewer steps onto the podium and asks the legendary quarterback to give his thoughts on the game.
And instead of giving an emotional, tearjerking speech he says something like this: Continue reading
Last weekend I ran on the field after a Clemson football game.
You didn’t see it on the news. I wasn’t streaking or trying to tackle one of the players. It’s actually part of the tradition at Death Valley for students and fans to be able to run onto the field and celebrate with the home team after every victory.
We joined arms with the sweaty players who had just busted their tails for 4 quarters to secure a Tigers victory and sang the alma mater alongside them. We even got a selfie with Coach Dabo in the background. It was a fabulous end to a perfect day of tailgating and college football.
Now, I grew up a Tennessee fan and I never thought I’d see myself pulling for another shade of orange on Saturdays. But my wife’s family’s affection for Clemson is pretty infectious. The way the team treats it’s fans is a big part of that. Continue reading
I’m kind of done with football at this point.
Between deflated footballs and ridiculous press conferences and domestic violence and post-concussion syndrome, I’m honestly ready for this season to all be over with.
Yes, I’ll be watching the game on Sunday, just for the grand spectacle of it all. But I don’t really have the heart to write anything football related right now. (If you’d like to read something like that I have done it before.)
So instead of writing a piece on the big game, I’m going to focus on something far less upsetting: the Super Bowl Halftime show.
This year Katy Perry will perform in front of the biggest crowd of her life. Between the 70,000 or so in attendance at University of Phoenix stadium and what will likely be a record audience watching on television and online, the “Roar” singer will be placed on an incredible platform for arguably the most important 12 minutes of her career.
You might think it’s a pretty special award for Perry to be able to perform on the halftime stage. After all, she is one of the most recognizable pop stars in the world just 7 years after her breakthrough hit “I Kissed A Girl” placed her in the public eye.
But you would be wrong.
Performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show is not an award. It’s an audition. Continue reading
Be honest: have you already abandoned your resolutions for 2015?
On January 1st All things are possible in the new year. Just like every football team on the first day of the season has a chance of winning it all, every resolution seems possible on New Year’s Day.
Then reality hits like a linebacker coming across the middle. Your resolutions get sacked to the ground. And instead of jumping back into the huddle, most of your goals get carted off the field never to return again.
There seems to be more and more anti-resolution blog posts being written every year. Resolutions are out of style with this generation.
But I don’t think the problem is in our resolutions themselves. I think it’s our attitude towards them. Continue reading
Friday Night Lights was a well-respected, Emmy Award Winning drama series that ran for 5 years on NBC. But you might have completely missed it.
During it’s original run it was bumped around the schedule and nearly cancelled multiple times. The show was always a critical darling, but mainstream audiences were slow to catch on.
It’s become one of those shows everyone tells you that you should go binge watch ASAP, like Breaking Bad or The Wire. And rightfully so.
Friday Night Lights is far more than a football show. It’s a realistic drama about a Texas High School coach and the down-to-earth problems his family and team face over the course of a career. It’s gritty, it’s funny, it’s relatable. It’s a pretty great show.
Except for the 2nd Season. The 2nd Season of Friday Night Lights is downright awful. Continue reading
Let me tell you about the time I had dinner with Peyton Manning.
Ok. Well, the time I had dinner at the same table as Peyton Manning.
All right. The time I had dinner in the same restaurant as Peyton Manning.
My parents, graduates of The University of Tennessee, raised me as a big Volunteer fan. Growing up we would travel back to Knoxville about once a year for a home football game, especially in the years when Peyton Manning quarterbacked the team.
After the game we would sometimes go out to eat to one of our favorite restaurants: the legendary Ye Olde Steak House.
It was at Ye Olde Steak House, after a great Tennessee game, that my family noticed Peyton enjoying a post-game meal with his father Archie. Continue reading
You’ve just won the Super Bowl. The confetti is raining down. Teammates, friends, and family members are rushing to the field. The sideline reporter puts her microphone to your face and asks how you’re feeling:
“Well, I know we just won the Super Bowl and all, but boy was our defense terrible out there. There was pretty much no protection from our offensive line either. I could not believe the plays our coaches were calling. Punting on 4th and 1, are you serious? And the officials, don’t get me started on the officials. Worst officiating I’ve ever seen in a big game.”
Yeah, no.
No one complains after they win the Super Bowl. A winner might complain after any other game. There is always room to improve before the next game, even if you won.
But no one complains after they win the Super Bowl.
Mondays are pretty good for me.
On Mondays I wake up to a cup of coffee from Buona Caffe, take a long walk with my dog Roc, and plan out a week full of possibilities.
On Mondays I usually get a chance to go running and spend some time working on future blog posts.
On Mondays I gather with my closest friends and watch wrestling, something that a bunch of guys in their mid-twenties are probably too old to still do.
On Mondays the hopes of a new week are abloom. The problems of the week before have passed.
It’s Tuesdays that I hate.
nydailynews.com
Every Tuesday during the fall I wake up to dire news. Each Tuesday morning I open up my computer and start my day depressed. That’s because on Tuesdays I find out my Fantasy Football fate. Continue reading
Last year saw marks the launch of the SEC Network, the latest in a line of 24 hour sports networks. It joined the relatively new Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network as well as the already established ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, and about 100 other “all sports, all the time” channels.
Sports dominate the American culture like nothing else. You could say sports rule the day because of fantasy teams, or because of geographical rivalries, or because live sports are “DVR-proof”.
You might even say sports rule the day simply because of the thrill of victory. But I think it’s the opposite. Continue reading
Here’s a test to answer that looming question we all ask ourselves at one time or another – Am I crazy?:
Look in the mirror.
Do you see a reflection?
If yes, then you are crazy.
We’re all crazy in our own little ways. It’s just a matter of figuring out which type of crazy we are.
Silver Linings Playbook (the best movie I’ve seen from 2012) is a movie about mental illness, the different ways people cope with their craziness, and how they find the silver linings amidst all the negative turns life takes.
Everyone in the movie is unbalanced in their own special way. There’s Bradley Cooper’s bipolar divorcee, and Robert DeNiro’s obsessive-compulsive football fan, and Jennifer Lawrence’s unhinged widow. Even the psychiatrist waves his crazy flag as a face-painting Philadelphia Eagles fan.
I liked the movie so much because I think it’s pretty true to life. God didn’t make any person perfect. He created us all a little quirky. Continue reading
POP GOD 