I miss the show Friday Night Lights and how it showed football interwoven into the life of a small Texas town. Growing up, high school football was a big part of our fall. I can remember back to elementary school going to the games on Friday nights watching our high school heroes put on the Black and Gold and defend the honor of our town. In those days the teams weren't great, but excitement was always high. In my neighborhood we were lucky in that Gerald Turner, one of these very same heroes, lived around the corner. GT as he was known would quarterback our sandlot games. To a 10, 11, 12 year old kid this was cool beyond cool.
By the time we got to high school, our football fortunes had improved, no longer were we a 5-5 program. By my Junior year, we were a powerhouse. Not only that, but our marching band was marching 200 strong and was one of the best in the land. The combination made Fridays even more special. It all culminated in a State Championship in 1974. In those days Friday was the greatest night of the week.
Fall Friday nights still hold excitement for me. I love going to a high school game and watch the rituals I grew up with being played out communities all across America. It is a great feeling to watch young men you have known for years work hard and strive to be the best they can for the honor of their school and community. It is wonderful to know that a tradition continues and provides a thread that ties together generations and gives them all a touchstone.
So tomorrow night I will be out with 10,000+ of my friends and neighbors watching the renewal of our border rivalry. Between then and early December, I will see as many games in person as I can and watch others on TV. The bottom line for me is that high school football is part of the continuing renewal of America and the American spirit.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Music
This week two great song writers have passed away. Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford wrote from very different places and very different styles. Leiber was the New York songsmith and a master of the pop song. Ashford wrote great Motown classics with his wife Valery Simpson. The fact that I love Leiber's "Is That All There Is?" as sung by Miss Peggy Lee, and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell is just one of the things that strikes me about my ear for music.
I have never been one of those people who just listened to a single type of music. Now that I am part of the iPod generation, this diversity of interests jumps up anytime I am in shuffle mode. Today on the way to work and back I bounced from Owl City, to Pete Townsend, to Broken Bells, to The Clash in the space of 20 minutes. I feel sure anyone riding with me might suffer from musical whiplash.
Why I became this way is something I don't know. It seems it is always been that way. I can remember in high school listening to Michael Murphy, UFO, Black Sabbath, and Emmylou Harris. To me listening to music and explaining what I like is akin to trying to explain why we like certain kinds of food. Music feeds and nourishes me in different ways just like different foods appeal to us at different times. I can no more imagine listening to the same music all the time any more than I could imagine eating fried chicken every day.
I have never been one of those people who just listened to a single type of music. Now that I am part of the iPod generation, this diversity of interests jumps up anytime I am in shuffle mode. Today on the way to work and back I bounced from Owl City, to Pete Townsend, to Broken Bells, to The Clash in the space of 20 minutes. I feel sure anyone riding with me might suffer from musical whiplash.
Why I became this way is something I don't know. It seems it is always been that way. I can remember in high school listening to Michael Murphy, UFO, Black Sabbath, and Emmylou Harris. To me listening to music and explaining what I like is akin to trying to explain why we like certain kinds of food. Music feeds and nourishes me in different ways just like different foods appeal to us at different times. I can no more imagine listening to the same music all the time any more than I could imagine eating fried chicken every day.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Showtime
Let me preface this by saying that in another life I had a job where everything you did was part of a constant process. Many times you would never see the beginning of something, or stay around long enough to see things come to a conclusion. Work was a twelve month routine, and at times you would feel like it was Groundhog Day. Oh how my current career is different.
As a teacher, you work with a group of students for 180 days to achieve goals and make sure they are ready for their next step. There is a clear beginning and a clear end of your time with those kids. It is challenging, rewarding and on most days a blast. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a Pollyanna, and this profession like others has its pitfalls and downsides, but I am not here to discuss the merits of the total profession.
Tonight, I just want to share something about the excitement that is the first days of school. First, teachers have been doing things they don't like to just get ready. That means sitting in meetings. We have oriented, we hope, our 6th graders so they can get off to a fast start. These are the necessary evils of starting the year.
Today will be different. We will have the excitement, worry and dread that can come with a new year. The kids are excited to see their friends, find out who they have classes with, and which teachers they will be stuck with for the year. The 6th graders are also facing coming to a new school and meeting new kids from other schools and facing an entirely different world.
For me, I see the day through a different lens. I see it as the start of a journey for me and the kids. My goal is to get them off to a good start. This comes from a lifetime where I have been either the new kid at school, or the new man on the job. I know that starting something new can be a scary thing, so I try to make it less so.
The other exciting thing for me is a get to meet and get to know 80 or so kids in class, and 170+ in all. It means learning likes and dislike, and finding ways to help them grow and develop as both students and people.
So in 8 hours, it is showtime and I am pumped for a new adventure. Maybe I should get some sleep.
As a teacher, you work with a group of students for 180 days to achieve goals and make sure they are ready for their next step. There is a clear beginning and a clear end of your time with those kids. It is challenging, rewarding and on most days a blast. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a Pollyanna, and this profession like others has its pitfalls and downsides, but I am not here to discuss the merits of the total profession.
Tonight, I just want to share something about the excitement that is the first days of school. First, teachers have been doing things they don't like to just get ready. That means sitting in meetings. We have oriented, we hope, our 6th graders so they can get off to a fast start. These are the necessary evils of starting the year.
Today will be different. We will have the excitement, worry and dread that can come with a new year. The kids are excited to see their friends, find out who they have classes with, and which teachers they will be stuck with for the year. The 6th graders are also facing coming to a new school and meeting new kids from other schools and facing an entirely different world.
For me, I see the day through a different lens. I see it as the start of a journey for me and the kids. My goal is to get them off to a good start. This comes from a lifetime where I have been either the new kid at school, or the new man on the job. I know that starting something new can be a scary thing, so I try to make it less so.
The other exciting thing for me is a get to meet and get to know 80 or so kids in class, and 170+ in all. It means learning likes and dislike, and finding ways to help them grow and develop as both students and people.
So in 8 hours, it is showtime and I am pumped for a new adventure. Maybe I should get some sleep.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Man Up Golfers
Maybe I am just being the crotchety old guy, but I am getting tired of hearing highly paid golfers complain about the courses in major championships. This week it seems that the sand in the bunkers is too soft and the lies make it tough to spin the ball. Now let me see if I have this right, these guys are the best in the world at what they do, major championships are supposed to test their skill and complete mastery of their profession, and everyone of them is playing the same course under fairly similar conditions. This begs the question; what is the big deal.
Most of us have faced or know someone who has face inequitable conditions in the workplace. In the real world that means someone does not have the same conditions, or opportunities to prove the abilities as others. This is not the case for pro golfers.
These guys need to just suck it up and accept that if they expect to win a major, then it will be a complete test of their physical and mental make up. If it was easy, they would not be so highly prized, and any pro could win. Majors test the mettle of the best.
Most of us have faced or know someone who has face inequitable conditions in the workplace. In the real world that means someone does not have the same conditions, or opportunities to prove the abilities as others. This is not the case for pro golfers.
These guys need to just suck it up and accept that if they expect to win a major, then it will be a complete test of their physical and mental make up. If it was easy, they would not be so highly prized, and any pro could win. Majors test the mettle of the best.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
A Timing Thing
A friend told me years ago that love is a timing thing. As time has passed, I have learned that most everything is a timing thing. The Bible says that things happen in the "fullness of time."
Think back on you own life and think about relationships that didn't work due to poor timing. Think about jobs you thought you were perfect for that just didn't work out. All of those things that didn't work out have a way of sneaking into our minds in those quiet moments when we are having doubts.
We are best off it we don't dwell, on what could have been, yet never was. The path may look idyllic in hindsight, yet it could have led to pits and traps that would have dramatically altered you and your life.
Think back on you own life and think about relationships that didn't work due to poor timing. Think about jobs you thought you were perfect for that just didn't work out. All of those things that didn't work out have a way of sneaking into our minds in those quiet moments when we are having doubts.
We are best off it we don't dwell, on what could have been, yet never was. The path may look idyllic in hindsight, yet it could have led to pits and traps that would have dramatically altered you and your life.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Congressional Vacation
Should Congress long recesses for vacations and campaigning? I know that many are of the school of thought that they should be like the rest of America and get two weeks paid vacation every year. The rest of the time they should be hard at work cleaning up the train wreck that they have created.
My personal opinion is that any time they are not in session is time when they can not do any more harm. That is probably the best thing they can do for America.
My personal opinion is that any time they are not in session is time when they can not do any more harm. That is probably the best thing they can do for America.
Old Guy Stuff
Shall we wax nostalgic. You know life has this way of sneaking up on you and then boom all of a sudden you're remembering things that happened a long time ago. Well this has been a week for that kind of thing for me.
First I took my mother to the funeral of one of her dearest friends who passed away at 92. I knew the lady from my youth. At church service prior to the afternoon funeral, one of her grandsons came up to speak and asked me if I was my brother. As I do when that happens I said "I'm the older, smarter, better looking one." On the way home, I realized that I had not spoken to him or his wife in over 30 years.
Driving back to Virginia, I commented to my wife that during the visit at my mother's that I realized that my father had been dead for 30 years. Up until then, it had not occurred to me it had been that long. Time has a way of doing that to you.
I am not one who lives in the past, but reading the posts on Facebook reminiscing about things growing up where I did have served to remind me of what a great place Murray KY was to grow up and get an education. I know just like each grandchild at the funeral on Sunday said "I had the best grandmother," many of us would say that about our hometowns. Yes we look back on our youths fondly and gloss over the unpleasant things that happened, but we can never really leave that place behind.
Since our life experiences are part and parcel of who we are; our hometown is in many ways the foundation of who and what we become. I have said in the past that playing baseball as a kid is a core part of me. In those leagues on those hot summer afternoons, we learned how to play a game that required teamwork, thinking and athletic ability. We forged relationships with guys from different parts of the community and worked toward a common goal. Just like in the "Bad News Bears," in the end everyone on the team played a role.
Schools serve the same purpose. I still clearly recall a basketball game my freshman year in high school that taught me a great life lesson. Murray was playing our arch rivals Calloway. The schools are less than two miles apart physically but in those days light years apart culturally. Murray is the city school in a university town, and Calloway was the county school in a predominantly farming community. This particular year, Murray had the weaker team and Calloway was led by the 6'8" James Wells, who went on to play D-1 basketball at Hawaii. Murray's coach chose to start Joe Resig a 6'1" senior and give him the assignment of guarding Wells. This drama played out in front of 2,000+ people in Murray's cracker box of a gym. At the end of the night, Resig had held Wells below his average and Murray pulled off a huge upset. The lesson I learned that night was that if you worked hard and as a team you could pull off miracles.
For all of the ups and downs involved in growing up where and when I did, I would not trade it for the world. My hometown, no matter how much it has changed, or the fact that many have moved away will always hold a special place in my life.
First I took my mother to the funeral of one of her dearest friends who passed away at 92. I knew the lady from my youth. At church service prior to the afternoon funeral, one of her grandsons came up to speak and asked me if I was my brother. As I do when that happens I said "I'm the older, smarter, better looking one." On the way home, I realized that I had not spoken to him or his wife in over 30 years.
Driving back to Virginia, I commented to my wife that during the visit at my mother's that I realized that my father had been dead for 30 years. Up until then, it had not occurred to me it had been that long. Time has a way of doing that to you.
I am not one who lives in the past, but reading the posts on Facebook reminiscing about things growing up where I did have served to remind me of what a great place Murray KY was to grow up and get an education. I know just like each grandchild at the funeral on Sunday said "I had the best grandmother," many of us would say that about our hometowns. Yes we look back on our youths fondly and gloss over the unpleasant things that happened, but we can never really leave that place behind.
Since our life experiences are part and parcel of who we are; our hometown is in many ways the foundation of who and what we become. I have said in the past that playing baseball as a kid is a core part of me. In those leagues on those hot summer afternoons, we learned how to play a game that required teamwork, thinking and athletic ability. We forged relationships with guys from different parts of the community and worked toward a common goal. Just like in the "Bad News Bears," in the end everyone on the team played a role.
Schools serve the same purpose. I still clearly recall a basketball game my freshman year in high school that taught me a great life lesson. Murray was playing our arch rivals Calloway. The schools are less than two miles apart physically but in those days light years apart culturally. Murray is the city school in a university town, and Calloway was the county school in a predominantly farming community. This particular year, Murray had the weaker team and Calloway was led by the 6'8" James Wells, who went on to play D-1 basketball at Hawaii. Murray's coach chose to start Joe Resig a 6'1" senior and give him the assignment of guarding Wells. This drama played out in front of 2,000+ people in Murray's cracker box of a gym. At the end of the night, Resig had held Wells below his average and Murray pulled off a huge upset. The lesson I learned that night was that if you worked hard and as a team you could pull off miracles.
For all of the ups and downs involved in growing up where and when I did, I would not trade it for the world. My hometown, no matter how much it has changed, or the fact that many have moved away will always hold a special place in my life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)