Posts Tagged ‘spectator sports’
Never Simple
We hadn’t had a problem with the horse waterer in the paddocks freezing up on us again for enough days in a row that I stopped thinking about it. I still regularly glance toward it to see if there is liquid water in the pans, but I haven’t been lifting the cover to press the float and verify water flows. Temperatures were in the teens yesterday, but there was no direct sunshine.
During the afternoon feeding, I found the pans dry and immediately set about trying to warm the lines with my hands while Cyndie hustled back to the house to heat a kettle of water to pour over the tubing. It has worked simply enough to solve the problem each time it occurred the last times we’ve dealt with this. Of course, since it stopped happening, I didn’t pursue buying a new heat tape for that line. D’oh!
Since we weren’t prepared to be doing this, and our latest snowstorm was just getting underway, afternoon chores were suddenly getting complicated. While I was waiting at the waterer for Cyndie to return, Mia came down from her feed bucket looking to get a drink. It’s an awful feeling to disappoint a horse that just wants a drink of water.
When Cyndie popped out of the barn with the thermos, she was also bringing some water in a scoop she planned to use to clean the waterer. Mia stuck her snout in the scoop and guzzled what she could get out of it. I took the thermos, and Cyndie went in to fill another bucket with water for Mia. It didn’t take long at all for me to get the waterer flowing again.
If the horses keep drinking from it, the line is less likely to freeze at these relatively moderate temperatures simply because of the flowing water that refills it. If there is no flow, freezing occurs. We’ll be bringing hot water with us at the morning feeding.
Then I’ll start clearing snow. Just two days ago, I scraped the nuisance trace of snow off the pavement up by the house.
It’s all buried again now.
One more thing that’s not simple is the trick of prey surviving the threats of predators. We suspect that friendly pigeon we started calling “Plucky” may have fallen victim to a prowling cat or fox. There wasn’t a lot of evidence left, but the wing feathers were a dark color.
The predator got a meal for another day.
Life goes on. Cyndie and I are headed to a somewhat rare gathering of my Hays siblings today for an afternoon of catching up on each others’ stories. It’s my chance to tell them all the things I don’t write in this space.
Later tonight, I hope to take in a little sports spectating in the form of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament game between the USA and Canada. Hockey rivalry much? I have a feeling this one won’t simply be just any old tournament hockey game, given the current state of government affairs.
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Not Buying
Today, I am going to take great pleasure in not buying what the NFL and all of their corporate sponsors are selling. I have an undulating, on-again-off-again spectator relationship with America’s National Football League that started a little before the Minnesota Vikings first made it to the Super Bowl in 1969. Overall, I feel bad for what broadcasting the games on television has done to the sport, even though televised games have provided me with many benefits.
I’ve taken the good with the bad, but it has meant I’d rather stay home and watch than attend a game in person. While the athletes are standing around looking bored during commercial breaks, I can work on my jigsaw puzzle or entertain myself in other ways.
While still on my expedition to avoid news about the political disaster playing out, I saw a report that the NFL had chosen to remove an anti-racism message from the end zones of the field. That’s their prerogative. At one time, they chose to add such a message, and it is their right to stop or change it at any time. There is no requirement that they have to keep doing something forever after they have started.
However, the timing of this decision is something that triggered me and soured my opinion of the league once again. At a time of the kleptocrat-in-chief and all of the billionaires who support his bigoted money-grabbing ways wreaking havoc on society, I don’t want to catch myself chuckling at a creative multi-million dollar commercial during a broadcast on a network I abhor during a game that is hyped beyond reason to be the biggest thing the human race has ever accomplished.
I don’t want to buy the beer or pickup truck or sports gambling app or big pharma wonder drug or snack chips or energy drink or future crypto investment opportunity. I don’t want to know how many times the broadcast will insert a glimpse of Taylor Swift in a suite when Travis Kelce makes a big play.
I also hope to avoid learning which team’s fan base celebrations turn into a festival of drunken property damage.
In its place, I am going to snack on chips and salsa just because I still can. I am going to think about the people who are suffering in the world and gaining nothing from the money being exchanged by corporate advertisers, the NFL, and the FOX broadcast network.
Speaking of snacking, check out the job some critter did on this dead tree:
It munched holes through the snag!
That’s what I plan to do to a bag of tortilla chips later today.
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Watchin’ Football
During halftime of the Orange Bowl college football semifinal playoff game last night, I switched to the weather channel and watched snow images in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were doing a feature listing all the ways people tend to get injured trying to clear snow.
They were telling kids in Memphis to be ready to make snowmen and have snowball fights in the morning. In a blink, they switched to a commercial warning about some moderate to severe affliction for which pharmacology wanted to sell solutions. That was my trigger to switch back to the football channel. There was a concert going on in the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
One fascinating feature of live team sports competitions is the aspect of momentum. It can be so easy to discern sometimes, especially when it really starts to roll. Oftentimes, it is the sudden shift in momentum from one team to another that causes it to stand out. The team that is on the wrong side of momentum appears helpless to stop the landslide of energy flowing against them.
As a fan, I feel frustrated when momentum goes against my team, and coaches, players, and fans all seem incapable of doing anything to interrupt it.
In last night’s football game between Notre Dame and Penn State, momentum swung around a couple of times. As one who watches games that don’t involve a team I support, I am inclined to multitask and rely heavily on instant replays to catch interesting action when announcers get riled up. That wasn’t working so well for me last night because the teams were running offensive plays so quickly that there was no time between downs for slow-motion replay.
I needed to start actually paying attention. I’m glad I did. That was one heck of a playoff game. Notre Dame fans enjoyed the ecstasy of victory in the end.
Cyndie received a quote on replacing the spoiler stolen from her car. They couldn’t find one from any of their scrap parts sources (which might explain why spoilers are a target), so they told her it would require painting, take a full day, and cost us almost $1000. It’s just so sad. The clips that held the spoiler in place broke when the thief pulled it off and will need to be replaced as well.
With the significance of the losses occurring for so many people in the California wildfires right now, the criminal damage we suffered is not something I should be whining about.
(In case you wondered, I threw in the picture of a window on the barn that I took yesterday for artistic effect. It doesn’t have anything to do with the football game, momentum, or the stolen CRV spoiler. The framing was just something that caught my eye.)
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Frozen Observations
Getting out of bed on mornings when the temperature outside is below zero and the first order of business involves walking a dog and tending to horses, takes an extra level of oomph that gets harder and harder to muster. Even Asher chose to stay in bed for an extra few minutes this morning after Cyndie opened the door of his crate.
But greet the day we must, and soon we found ourselves plodding along the North Loop trail on the snowless frozen tundra. I don’t know what depth the frost has reached at this point, but not very far beneath our land, the water table is still liquid. Hydrostatic pressure is pushing it up above ground where it freezes in slippery growing mounds on our trail.
Asher had no interest in lingering after the horses were taken care of because the pads of his feet were getting almost as cold as Cyndie’s fingers. The little black pigeon that I have taken to calling “Plucky,” must have been suffering from cold feet, too. After pecking away at the cracked grains beneath where Swings was eating and having spillage from Swings’ mouth shower its feathers, the fearless bird chose to perch on Light’s back.
To a bird’s feet, that must feel like standing on an electric blanket.
Our agenda for the day involves taking Asher up to the lake with us for a single overnight visit in order to meet a contractor tomorrow for a quote on carpentry work, both indoors and out. It’s tricky figuring out what to bring for such a short getaway that will still involve walking a dog in extremely cold temperatures.
We have horse duties covered for tonight and tomorrow morning, but that’s it, so we need to return by dinnertime tomorrow.
Tonight will be a big night for NFL fans as my Minnesota Vikings will be doing battle in Detroit against the Lions in a single-game competition that will determine Division Champion and playoff seeding. It is hard for my tiny mind to perceive that some people will be oblivious to the significance. It’s as if there might be other issues of greater importance in this world.
Not to the 8-year-old boy in me!
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Interesting Conditions
Here’s something I find interesting: The NFL team I have been a fan of for my entire life, the Minnesota Vikings, has exceeded most expectations to reach 14 wins in 16 games in 2024. We fans always wish for success like this, but I never expected such impressive results to happen this year.
Even more interesting is the fact that the Detroit Lions, who have been the better team for the last two years, are in the same Division as Minnesota, and the schedule has us facing each other next week in the last game of the regular season that will determine the Division champion and number one seed in the playoffs.
Very interesting.
Meanwhile, our weather continues to hover around the freezing point, causing the persistent fog to freeze on surfaces overnight and melt to merely wet during the day.
The way it froze on the driveway was really interesting. When I stepped out just an hour later, most of that had melted. Most being the keyword because there were still slippery spots every so often, invisibly hiding in plain sight.
I’m ever so grateful that there is nowhere we need to be driving in these conditions.
Walking to the barn in the mornings is hard enough.
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Time Out
Even though my home team didn’t play football yesterday, I watched games all afternoon and evening. The Vikings will play tonight. Might as well watch that one, too. There was a time when I wanted to be done with the NFL. I guess I’ve gotten over that.
I watch differently now, though. Outcomes are interesting but more meaningless for me. The fanaticism of some ticket buyers is almost scary by the looks featured in glimpses on the network broadcasts. I’ll wait until my team makes it to the Super Bowl to become fanatical.
If that were to actually come about somehow, win or lose, the results would still be meaningless.
Some NFL players have taken to wearing a puffy soft covering over their hard helmets. I hope it solves something for them enough to justify how silly they appear. It got me thinking: why don’t running backs wear soft outer padding over their torso? Entire uniforms could eventually start looking like the Michelin Man.
As a fan of spectator sports, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the NFL, but this year, I’ve been watching more games than ever. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s an attempt to reconnect with my youth. I grew up watching the games. I used to study the faces of the team roster in the gameday magazine programs and tear out the full-page portrait of featured players when I was a kid.
One of the things that annoys me about the present version of the NFL is the confusing variety of uniform variations for each team. Garish colors and hard-to-identify helmets disrupt continuity and mess with team identity in highlight reels. When it comes to team uniforms, I’m an old fuddy-duddy. One dark version and one light works just fine. Home and away colors. Leave it at that.
What I do appreciate about the games is that they provide a time-out from real life. It’s an escape for a few hours from things that matter. Like watching a movie or reading a good book, except it is happening live while I watch, and tens of thousands of other people are sharing the same experience simultaneously.
And sometimes, it can be a train wreck, yet I can’t get myself to look away. The NFL corporation has me under their spell despite my better judgment. And it’s because they hooked me when I was young.
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Felt Hot
Yesterday was day two in the 80s and combined with the drought we are experiencing, it felt rather unsatisfying around here. Admittedly, being unsatisfied with warmth in October isn’t something we usually express, but it’s because the warmth was actually annoyingly hot.
At least we enjoyed the benefit of having our windows open overnight, so the hoots of our forest owls were easy to hear.
If I was still tied to a day-job, I would have called in yesterday and claimed a mental health day. Instead, I just showed up for chores a few minutes late. Maybe it’s because it was a Monday, even though Mondays are no longer the dreaded burden like they were for 40-some years of my gainful employment.
Of course, for Sunday sports fans, football game losses and Championship WNBA game 5 losses can easily cast a pall of gloom that carries over into Mondays. That is something that doesn’t affect dogs, horses, or spouses who can take or leave team athletic competitions with zero residual impact.
“Honey, our unbeaten streak is over!”
“Oh? Can you unload the dishwasher for me?”
Asher just wanted to go outside and run after his favorite yard ball with a rope through the middle of it. That is a game in which he requires a person to act like they want possession of the ball more than he does.
Yesterday, I would have preferred to unload a dishwasher.
Eventually, despite the heat, I managed to drag myself down by the road to do battle in some of our thickest undergrowth to eradicate more buckthorn shoots that had sprouted from stumps I had cut the year before. I coerced Cyndie into coming along to help point out locations because when I get in the middle of things, I tend to overlook opportunities that are often right behind me or practically underfoot.
After lunch, I made my way down along the fence line on the far side of the hay field with the pole chainsaw trimmer to clear out low-hanging box elder tree branches that were beginning to droop too close to the top wire. My desire to have those branches cut down has increased every day that I’ve walked Asher along that pathway for the last few months.
It feels so great to have them finally dispatched that I find I no longer care about what happened in Sunday’s sports competitions.
Although, carrying the heavy pole saw all the way back from the far side of the field in the high heat kept me from feeling too much in the way of jubilance.
The first thought I had when I eventually returned to the house was that it was too hot to be wearing socks. I’m hoping the local meteorologist’s claim that yesterday would be the last time we reach 80 this year proves accurate.
I am very ready for some weather that deserves warm socks.
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Olympic Entertainment
Some people are faster than others. Some jump higher, shoot straighter, paddle harder, pedal stronger, and swim like fish. Some work better as a team, some as individuals. They are all impressive to watch. Their muscle is inspirational to see. I think the functional strength of gymnasts is the pinnacle of achievement.
There are so many more competitors than the few who earn medals and they’ve all trained to such a level worlds above and beyond the average person. It’s been suggested that the Olympics should include one average person in each individual event to provide a reference for the achievements of the elite performers. That would be something to see.
Too often, the difference between competitors who get medals and those who don’t is tenths or hundredths of seconds or points. That’s gotta be a mental challenge for those who’ve trained so hard and long yet missed out on a podium spot.
The collection of competitors from all over the world amp up the entertainment value of watching the Games in every way.
With these Games of 2024 in Paris, we’ve got the added treat of Snoop Dogg showing up on the NBC broadcasts as a super cheerleader at almost every event. Last night we caught a glimpse of him in the crowd during highlights of the Men’s Street skateboard competition.
These are no longer my father’s Olympics, that’s for sure.
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Making Sense
One of the reasons I like writing poetry is because it allows for free-association thinking and lyrical syllable play without the constraints of forming logical grammatical sentences. When moved by global events, I aspire to communicate my visionary perspectives in as positive a light as possible. To achieve such a lofty goal, it helps if I feel I can actually make sense of what is going on.
It seems like it is getting harder and harder for me to comprehend global current events. As a result, you get a lot more posts about our weather, the horses, our dog, Asher, or how the grass mowing is coming along. The craziness in the greater reaches beyond my little world that does make sense to me lately is sports-related, as might be obvious from recent posts.
Results for my spectating yesterday didn’t go my way, except for one:
- Wimbledon: I was happy seeing Carlos Alcaraz claim his second straight title.
- Tour de France, Stage 15: I’m a big fan of Tadej Pogacar but I wanted Jonas Vingegaard to gain some time on him.
- Euro 2024: I was pulling for England.
- WNBA Lynx vs Fever: I wanted the Lynx to win.
- Copa America: I wanted the match to start on time.
I’ll be down to just one week left of Le Tour with the tournaments now completed.
At least there will still be weather to write about.
Not that I’m able to make any sense of the weather these days. At least it can be pretty to look at.
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Sports Galore
It’s an embarrassment of riches in the spectator sports department this morning. Thankfully, it gives me a break from the wave of dramatic news of yesterday’s assassination attempt at a rally for the Republican candidate for President in the 2024 US election.
It’s hard to do justice to both the Men’s final in Wimbledon and the end of the mountain Stage 15 in the Tour de France while trying to complete today’s blog post. 🙄
This afternoon brings England vs Spain in the final Euro 2024 Championship match and the evening offers Argentina vs Columbia for the title of Copa America. Between those, I might be able to catch a glimpse of Caitlin Clark playing for the WNBA Fever against the MN Lynx.
I will justify not being outside mowing because last night’s rollicking deluge of a thunderstorm has saturated the grounds once again. There is standing water in the low spots.
Couch potato is me for a day.
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Relative Something 