Football Counter-Programming 2025: Week 2--Wristwatch

It's been around six or seven years since Dad seemed something like himself. (Which was always a changing perception as he aged . . . which is--of course--true for all of us.)

It's been about four years since Dad gave me his Seiko wristwatch featuring the Pioneer company logo on the black watch face. I knew at the time that he was starting to give things away and begin the slow, symbolic process of saying goodbye.

It's been a little under three years since Dad entered a full time care facility and began slipping away.

It's been almost one year since Dad died. 

It's only been a couple of days since I looked at that the watch on my left arm and realized that I am now definitely past the age that I remember him wearing it every day.

That shocked me. 

We all age and I know when I look in the mirror that I'm no where at all who I was even five years ago, much less fifteen years ago. But to come to the realization that I'm now older than Dad was in my memory . . . when he seemed fully grown and adult and in charge. And I was just a young kid, starting to edge into college and couldn't even see where my life might someday go.

Sure . . . its very logical, since I've already got two adult kids of my own and the third is right on that edge of college where I was in my memory. But it still seems shocking. Because Dad (even when he was younger and especially when he was older and growing to be "less") . . . he was still . . . Dad.

My inner monologue just doesn't see myself as Dad. Even though I've been one for approaching thirty years now.

It just goes to show you that we are all masters at lying to ourselves.

So, don't lie to yourself this Saturday. 

Your participation in today's college football smorgasbord--whether in person or through television--matters not at all. You cannot affect the outcome and your presence in person or in spirit will not be registered by the teams at play.

So do not give it your time.

Do something today where you can tangible affect change.

Football Counter-Programming 2025: What Does Anything Mean?

Over the years, I've spent weekends trying to distract you from the hegemony of college football. And (so I'm told) one of the biggest games of the year is happening on week one.

So . . . what can I do against all of that?

Maybe nothing.

Maybe I join the hive mind and become part of the college football culture.

Maybe I give up the fight?

Or . . .

maybe . . .

not?

So, (sources say) that the "important game" this week is Texas versus Ohio State. And I happen to be near Ohio State, so maybe I can offer some relevant perspective? (But likely not.)

Maybe I'll lean somewhat into the mess and fight college football fire with randomly connected (?) facts?

For instance, did you know that the Texas starting quarterback is someone named Arch Manning? And were you further aware that he is the nephew/grandson of many famous Manning quarterbacks? Does that mean anything?

Did you know that he wears number 16 on his jersey?

What does that mean?

Well, like--I'm sure you do as well--when I hear the number 16 I immediately think of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. And he was born in Kentucky and famously lived in Ohio. So I guess Abraham Lincoln (a good midwesterner) would be a supporter of Ohio State against Texas--a known member of the Confederate States of America.

So, I guess, if you are going to root for college football today, you should do what Abe would do and root for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Maybe the fate of the nation truly depends on it?

But, in the end, remember that it doesn't matter who wins or loses today. And your alma mater only cares that you should know who the 16th American president was. So, give a healthy financial donation to your local college history department and support quality social studies education. Because that is something that the fate of this country may actually depend upon.

Go pick some apples and make apple cider or something. It might be a pretty day where you are!

Maarva's Posthumous Speech: Andor Season 1

. . . I always wanted to be lifted. I was always eager, always waiting to be inspired. 

I remember every time it happened, every time the dead lifted me . . . with their truth. And now I'm dead, and I yearn to lift you. Not because i want to shine or even be remembered. It's because i want you to go on. I want Ferrix to continue. 

In my waning hours, that's what comforts me most.

But I fear for you. 

We've been sleeping. 

We've had each other, and Ferrix. Our work, our days. 

We had each other and they left us alone. 

We kept the trade lanes open, and they left us alone. 

We took their money and ignored them. We kept their engine churning, and the moment they pulled away. we forgot them. 

Because we had each other. 

We had Ferrix. 

But we were sleeping. I've been sleeping. And I've been turning away from the truth I wanted not to face.

There is a wound that won't heal at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. 

We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here and it's not visiting anymore. 

It wants to stay.

The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness.

It is never more alive than when we asleep. 

It's easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it's true . . . maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it's too late. 

But I'll tell you this . . . if I could do it again, I'd wake up early and be fighting those bastards from the start! 

Fight the Empire!

Luthen's Monologue: Andor Season 1

When asked by Lonni . . . What do you sacrifice?

Calm. 

Kindness. 

Kinship. 

Love. 

I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. 

I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion, I’m damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet.

What is my sacrifice?

I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. 

I burn my decency for someone else’s future. 

I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. 

And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude.

So what do I sacrifice?

Everything!

Nemik's Manifesto: Andor, Season 1

 

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy.

Remember this.

Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. 

Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

And then remember this.

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. 

Remember that. 

And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing that will break the siege.

Remember this.

Try.