Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Legion Field
Sunday
October 9, 2011
"Sometimes we can see beyond our history"
-Beth Orton "Paris Train"
"No, I can't close my eyes anymore"
-Ween "Baby Bitch"
My normally razor-sharp sense of time is a bit out of whack as I write this, in large part because of the quick turnaround from doing color commentary for Friday night's Father Ryan/John Paul II high school football game for ATW Sportscast and then getting up at 5:45 a.m. CDT to go to Birmingham with my brother Matt for the Mississippi State/UAB college football game yesterday.
Today felt like a blur, with the NFL out of the gate, a family trust meeting this evening, and then trying to cram in watching The Amazing Race, last week's Breaking Bad and then tonight's Breaking Bad season finale before Stacy had to get to sleep.
If you haven't seen Breaking Bad, you're missing out on one of the truly great shows on television today. It all ends in season five, which is slated to begin next summer, so catch up if you can when/if AMC reruns seasons one-four or via Hulu or Netflix or whatever source(s) might have it available. Believe the hype.
The trip to Birmingham yesterday was a quick trip but a fun time. Legion Field, for all that it is built up to be in some circles, isn't exactly the nicest facility around. Between its metal bleachers and antiquated scoreboard, it pales in comparison to other nearby college football stadiums. But for Alabama-Birmingham the facility is actually pretty decent, at least by Conference USA standards, and the tradition associated with it balances out its location in a rough section of Birmingham. There are projects literally across the street from the stadium on one side and a row of boarded-up houses on another.
It was fun to see my friends Carla and Michael for the first time since their wedding. Carla is loyal to Mississippi State, and while Michael is an LSU fan, he knows how to play ball and pull for State in situations where the Bulldogs aren't up against the Tigers. I'd say that State was probably 50/50 with UAB as far as fan support, and it had the feel of a high school game with UAB's fans mostly on the north side and the State fans mostly on the south end.
|  | Chad Bumphis (#1 on the right) stood on the MSU team bench to gain a better view of the field.
|
Hilariously, we were able to pretty much pick our own seats despite entering the stadium roughly ten minutes before gametime. The tickets weren't general admission, but it many ways they might as well have been. We ended up with a spot in the sixth row near the 45 yard line, which allowed us to be close enough to the action to actually hear State coach Dan Mullen yelling at his offensive line at one point during the Bulldogs' anemic first half offensive performance.
Unlike most sporting events, the first few rows of seats at football games are actually less desirable in many ways because the players and coaches on the sidelines obscure your view of the action at several points. That's where having a jumbotron can be nice to see action that is outside of your direct view, but I compared Legion Field's unimpressive video board to a dinky TV at a dive motel. It's not unlike the TV we had last weekend at the motel we stayed at in Athens, GA.
If that wasn't bad enough, they had what Matt and I joked about as being "technical difficulties" where their video boards went out during the first half. At one point they came back up briefly, but the video seemed out of synch, like trying to watch HBO or Skinamax circa 1991 with a scrambled signal. I know, I know, cue up a smug-looking dog (or Jose Baez) and have some sunglasses ready to fall and prepare to tell me to deal with it (h/t to LSUfreek).
On the topic of having to "deal with it", thanks for nothing to the New York Giants for inexplicably losing at home today to the Seattle Seahawks, a team that had no business going into New Jersey and beating the Giants, much less doing so with their starting quarterback knocked out of the game. That ousted me from the Tampa NFL knockout pool that I was in, much as it did to many, many people in knockout pools all across the country.
Overall the trip was a fun time, and while spending roughly seven hours driving in one day can be tiring, I'm glad that I was able to make the trip there and back with Matt. And, besides a one-inch or so wide area near my left elbow that I missed with my sunscreen spray, which sustained a moderate sunburn, I made it there and back unscathed.
The weather has, thankfully, finally begun to drop from the above-average temperature range that plagued the Nashville area. Some people like hot weather, but I'm not one of those people. I have to have the air conditioning cooler than many like it; my choices are lowering the AC temp level or breaking out into sweat.
My parents' place is the worst for this, as they tend to keep it warmer than I like, plus when I'm over there generally the house has a decent-sized crowd of people inside, driving up the indoor temps. I often brazenly adjust the thermostat when I go over there. The nice thing is that, if anyone was to give me static over it (and no one does), I'd abruptly say goodbye and leave. That's a nice trump card to have, and it works for a whole host of situations.
The catch: you have to actually be willing to leave if someone calls your bluff. But if you consistently allow yourself to be subjugated to the whims of others, you will likely get what you deserve. Those unwilling or unable to stand up for themselves usually end up being plowed over in both the short and long term.
I've reflected on how quick life moves by, speeding up more and more the older you get. I've already had enough friends of mine die to learn that life is often far too short. If you're not doing what you want, or if you're not on your way to that point, then you really owe it to yourself to adjust things accordingly.
This is not to say that life is not about compromises, and keep in mind that you will take a certain ration of static when you opt for making your own way. Believe me, with the bizarro job market out there, it's been a real catch-as-catch-can situation for me trying to hustle to make everything work as best as I can. But I'm writing about and analyzing and broadcasting sports along with doing radio-related things and, in general, angling toward building things professionally all with the idea of working toward certain goals I have.
So, while I do my best to work toward something lucrative for the long-term, I have to deal with the occasional rude question of: "Have you found a job yet?" Like me writing and broadcasting and publishing and promoting and selling insurance and finding real estate investment opportunities all somehow don't count as work. I try to be amiable in such situations, but it's typically a phony façade -- underneath I'm usually raging. But sometimes you have to pick your battles carefully.
Finally, there's this: a video clip from the PS3 version of NCAA Football 12 where Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill demonstrates why throwing a lob pass across the field can be a very, very bad idea. Try it in real life and you'll probably see similar results.
|
