The Burrow

(I wrote this last Thursday before noticing that it would be published on 9/11... and I had a post for that.) The 49'ers flew all the way to Australia to open their season.  Since the boys have been looking forward to this with great anticipation, you can guess what is on the television. Wanting to be close to my sweetie, I am on the couch, typing to you.  I can't say that the football is front and center in my mind, but some piece of my consciousness is registering the highs and lows, the kicks and the picks, TBG's groans and shouted advice. I usually take out my hearing aids when football is on the screen; it's white noise that way.  But tonight is the Congressional debate for my district.  It's streaming on PBS and I'm listening and watching on my phone.   Or, at least, that was the plan.   The moderator is delightful.  The candidates are not.  Neither has a voice worthy of settling in next to my brain.  In fact, they are both an...

Jean Knows Cars links you to previews of the commercials car companies will be running during the game.  I recognize that adding that link at the beginning of this post may lose you all to teary, nearly-maudlin, smile-through-the-sighs, advertisements, but I'm willing to take the risk. The 6 minute, extended version of Toyota's tribute to good fathering is worth every second.  "All that love stuff"..... "What kind of father do you want to be?"  "THIS KIND" (as he pats his dad's shoulder).... not a puppy in sight, and I was still gob-smacked. ***** It's true that the commercials are usually the best part of the game.  By the time the hoopla has died down and the players have taken the field, the game itself is anti-climactic. I was in Chicago for the 1985 Bears, and in the Bay Area for the 49'er's reign, but since then there's been no real rooting interest firing in my breast. This year, I'm stuck between cheaters and ...

We live our lives out loud. For years, social scientists wondered how to extract personal data from the general public; it never occurred to them that their subjects would volunteer that information if only given the chance.  Even private communications can be widely disseminated.  There's no need for history to comb through stacks of legal papers to recall Adrian Peterson describing his son's wounds; the texts are sent 'round the world with the click of a button. I'm still reeling .  Both Steven A Smith and Skip Bayless, morning ESPN commentators who normally make my skin crawl, said this morning that they each were beaten with belts and switches by their fathers.  Neither one of them thought it was appropriate discipline - then or now. I found myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with those I usually abhor. Sunday NFL Countdown is a collection of older and wiser talking heads.  Except for Mike Ditka, who was, as usual, clueless, t...

Big Cuter is appalled.  He's having a hard time justifying his love affair with professional football in America.  His Sunday-on-the-phone-talking-football-with-Dad call was tinged with sadness.  The Carolina Panthers allowed Greg Hardy to practice with the team this week, after a judge found him guilty of domestic violence, Sure, he's appealing, but right now he's a convicted felon... how can they let him play? How can his 49'ers allow Ray McDonald to take the field when there are pictures of his pregnant fiancée's bruised arms and neck all over the internet?  "Pay him and sit him out, but don't put him out there....." There was pain in his voice. Sports aren't supposed to showcase the ugly underbelly of society this way.  Not in such a concentrated period of time, with such abhorrent, visually revolting, morally repellent actions. Adrian Peterson's abs have been the source of much sighing. The notion of him standing over a screaming 4...

It's bad form to give the conclusion at the start of an essay, but I can't help myself. Hold that title in your brain as you come with me through the warped world of the Miami Dolphin's offensive line's locker room. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the background, Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito were players on the Miami o-line. Their relationship is a public mixture of crude texts and racial and sexual slurs made aloud and in front of others. Neither player is still with the team; Martin walked out and Incognito was suspended. The team requested an investigation by the NFL; everyone involved is said to have cooperated fully.  No pressure was exerted on the outcome.  All parties knew that the intent was to release the report and its conclusions to the general public. I choose to believe that Ted Wells, an African-American, Harvard educated, lawyer, who has represented both Eliot Spitzer and Scooter Libby, is not an easy man to deceive.  I choose to beli...

This is a pretty good weekend, if you like football.  If you don't, perhaps you want to come back tomorrow.  Harp Fusion  might appeal to you. ***** "Since we're going to be home all afternoon, would it be okay to ask if you want to make cookies?" The fact that Brenda Starr and I had pancakes at IHOP an hour ago did not deter me. ***** The boys think this first game, Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady, is boring.  Watching between stirring and weighing and scooping cookie dough, it looks no different than usual to me.  I watch different colors run up and down the field, and sometimes I am even able to figure out which team is on offense before CBS superimposes an arrow on the field. Think about that arrow.  It's not really there, yet it is. It's the same thing with the blue line of scrimmage  and the yellow first down marker. How do they appear on the field, under the feet of the players?  It's a mystery... the kind of place my mind wande...

Thursday, late afternoon.  His joy is permeating the house. He is more than a little disappointed that The Tweety Birds, aka the Arizona Cardinals, will preempt the Forty-Niners on Sunday afternoon, forcing him to leave the house and watch them play Green Bay at a sports bar.  I suggested that we join Miss Margo at the place up the road; she watches the Packers there every Sunday. "A Packers' Bar???????" We'll be searching for another venue. ***** NBC has a countdown, marking the minutes, now the seconds, until the NFL season begins.  Every second has a different man smiling at the camera. Mine is sitting on the couch, relaxed and energized at the same time. It's a comfort to us both.  He watches and I read. He plots plays and I peruse plots (sorry, I couldn't resist) and life is good. We can be together, doing exactly what we want to be doing, enjoying the other's company without really participating in an activity that is of marginal interest. ...

The phone rings and TBG jumps up.  "I'll get it," is out of his mouth as his feet hit the floor.  It's Big Cuter.  There must've been an amazing play.With The Red Zone automatically presenting the most fascinating sequences from all the games currently being contested, there is little if any down time.  There's always something to watch.  I used to enjoy sitting on Douglas with TBG, the game a droning hum of testosterone until the fans erupted and I could look up from my book or my crossword puzzle or my Sudoku and enjoy the replay.  We could chat during commercials, or as the refs were reviewing the play; I was part of the experience. Now, when there is always something wonderful to see; when the screen is split into three or four segments, when the announcers direct your eyes to the upper right corner, there is little time for wifely chatter.  I'm welcome to stay..... if I want to watch.  September 9, 2012   2pm Hence, I am in t...

Allow myself to introduce… myself. (and let that be a lesson to ANYONE who uses “myself” erroneously. When in doubt, use a different pronoun). I am known around these parts as “the big cuter”. I go by a nick-name in the real world, so, given the tendency towards pseudonyms in this blog I’ll comfortably hide behind that moniker. As an aside, Ashleigh has done a good job of discussing her thoughts on pen names, and if I’m ever called on again for a guest post I’ll happily share mine. Until that time, myself’s (wink, wink) name will be “the big cuter”. A little bit about me, at least as is relevant to this post: I’m an avid, nay, rabid football fan. I care way too much about the success of my beloved San Francisco 49 ers . I jokingly, but with far too much seriousness, state that half of my t-shirts are 9 ers (the other half are Georgetown). I’ ve created detailed booklets** explaining the basics and not-so-basics of football to initiate the uninitiated into the game. I’m currently ret...

SILVER LINING DEPARTMENT:  Because it took Mine That Bird's trainer so long to crutch to the winners' circle, the jockey got to trip around the track, high fiving his big smile red coated escort and bumping fists with the guys in the blue Visa logo jackets while the crowd roared its approval.  The announcers were silent as Calvin Borel shared his joy - a perfect tv moment. ************************************** Why was Pizza Hut (via Yum Brands) the lead advertiser for The Derby when Louisville is Papa John's corporate backyard ? *************************************** Charles Barkley is becoming much less interesting as we both get older. ****************************************** I liked Jack Kemp - he wasn't as annoying as most Republicans are.  RIP, Congressman. ************************************************ TBG used the foliage surrounding the course at Quail Hollow to deduce that it wasn't in California and so couldn't be where we'd vacationed with T...