Posts Tagged ‘spectator sports’
Green Progress
We finally got a hint yesterday that our growing season is nearing its end. A Frost Advisory that included our county was issued and the forecast was flashing expected low temperatures in the mid 30s°F. I notice that Cyndie has dug out her winter headband to cover her ears on our morning walks.
We’ve taken the driveway landscaping project as far as possible at this point. Thankfully, it appears the grass seeding we did has sprouted to varying degrees everywhere we spread it.
We have achieved a hint of green when viewed at a low angle down by the road.
I’m feeling a little green with envy for fans of American football teams that win big games. The Minnesota Gophers got trounced by the #2 Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. The Minnesota Vikings couldn’t hold onto the football enough to defeat the visiting Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs yesterday.
I’ve got that losing feeling. Feels like a Monday.
At least I had the Minnesota Twins making a decent showing of themselves in the ALDS in Houston against the Astros. Also, the MLS Loons saved themselves from playoff elimination by beating LA Galaxy, scoring FIVE goals in the process! In addition, I was able to see much of the Gopher Women’s Soccer team getting their first Big10 Conference win against Illinois.
As a sports spectator, it pays to have a variety of teams and sports from which to choose.
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Twins Win
Looks like I’m going to need to split my attention between two spectator sports this October. On Tuesday, the MLB Minnesota Twins snapped a record 18-game playoff losing streak with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Yesterday, the Twins sealed the deal with a second victory to sweep the series and earn a spot in the American League Division Series.
My attention this weekend will be bouncing between baseball and football. The UofMN Gophers will be up against the powerful second-ranked UofMI Wolverines on a national TV broadcast and the MN Vikings will face last year’s Superbowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs.
It does not escape my Minnesota-sports-fan sensibilities that all these high-profile events could end badly for us, making a potentially exciting weekend an opportunity for multiplied crushed hopes in the end.
One form of preserving a healthy attitude that I employ is to hope for nice surprises but prepare for the more likely outcome of each team getting embarrassed. It’s a perspective developed over a lifetime of experience as a Minnesota sports fan.
There is a lot of potential for good or bad outcomes this weekend. I’m looking forward to suffering through all of it. I may even take up the fine art of nail-biting.
Go, teams, Go!
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Moderately Disorienting
Just because we had July-like temperatures on the first day of October, it shouldn’t be all that disorienting. But over the weekend, both the college Gophers and NFL Vikings won their games and that knocked me for a loop. Not really, but I like to poke fun at the subject of local teams having a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Some things that make the summery heat and humidity disorienting at this time of year are the shorter hours of daylight, the lower angle of the sunlight, and the fall-colored leaves covering the ground.
Oh, and the hum of lawnmowers cutting on neighboring properties.
I got a small portion of mowing done between periods of throwing balls for Asher to chase. He is not a fan of heat and we needed to take frequent breaks inside where he likes to lay on the cool floor tiles.
Plenty of panting was included during his cool-down sessions.
We are expecting a visit from the farrier today to trim and shape horse hooves. We’ll have fans blowing under the overhang. The horses are growing their winter coats, so this kind of heat in October has got to be more uncomfortable for them than it is for us.
They may have been hot yesterday, but they didn’t look the least bit disoriented by it.
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Losing Lousy
It was an ugly weekend for my football teams with both the college Gophers and NFL Vikings losing games they could have/should have won. It’s a good thing I am mentally healthy enough to not let such trivial things spoil my outlook. Now, the embarrassing situation with our national government, in addition to the climate calamity being forced on the planet, are proving to be a little harder to shake.
Thankfully, I’m still feeling the lingering effects of joy and laughter from the overnight guests and biking adventure of the previous few days.
Also, I have the increasingly leaf-covered trails in our woods available for meandering while forest bathing. I’ll be alright.
There was one football victory worth noting. My old high school team, Eden Prairie, is now 3-0 after defeating Shakopee in EP’s Homecoming game on Friday. High school and our old community seem like such a world away to me now but allegiance to a winning football program is an easy thing to hold forever.
Here’s to not letting the lousy losses have a negative effect on us.
Happy last Monday of September! We are now on the fall side of the autumnal equinox. Enjoy!
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A Comparison
A thought experiment comparing the sports I watch on television with the shows Cyndie and I have been seeing lately:
First of all, I will admit to having a bit of an elitist attitude about the quality of scripts, casting, and acting for the dramas and drama/comedies we choose. One of our peeves is when an actor has to describe something like a crime scene to a colleague who would already know the information being shared. Presumably, this is done to inform the viewing audience but doing so by way of describing a legal detail to one’s partner detective who would already be aware of it just spoils the whole magic of imagining the scene was really happening.
It comes across as stupid and demeans the viewing audience.
Recently, we have been enjoying “Reservation Dogs.” At the same time, we happened to take in the first season of “Dark Winds,” because we are big fans of Zahn McClarnon who is acting in the role of Joe Leaphorn (in addition to “Big” in Reservation Dogs). “Dark Winds” started out strong but soon fell to some simplified storytelling that took away from the overall effect.
There was a scene where day inexplicably became night and the elapsed time is not justified in any way. It is a jolt that kicks us out of the drama on screen.
How does this compare to watching sports? I don’t know. But there are differing levels of drama in the team games I watch. Obviously, the players can easily be seen as parallel to actors in scripted shows. Speaking of scripts, there are designed plays that teams attempt to execute.
Some of the plays come across as brilliant, and plenty seem kind of stupid.
The coaches compare to directors. A well-coached team with good players who execute the designed scheme can perform a game that is a joy to watch and leaves me energized afterward. I noticed that my reaction was similar to the way we feel at the end of a great episode of “Reservation Dogs.” We want to talk about it after it ends and can’t wait to see the next episode when it becomes available.
Well, that is what happens with sports fans. After a good game (and sometimes the bad ones) we want to talk about what we saw, read news accounts of what happened, and immediately look forward to the next competition.
Sports teams have a bad game on occasion. A good television series can have a dud of an episode.
One big thing about sports that appeals to me is that the games are happening live while I watch. That easily compares to the added thrill of watching Saturday Night Live skits on television. You never know exactly what’s going to happen.
Even though I put this energy into selling the joys of watching sports by comparing it to Cyndie’s appreciation of good television series, she still does not want to watch games with me.
That’s okay. The exercise has given me a renewed zest for watching this season’s NFL games. Go Vikings! [currently 0-2]
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Fence Bit
Because I can, I turned on the US Open tennis tournament last night and caught a very entertaining first-round match between Coco Gauff and Laura Siegemund. It’s a treat to escape from thinking about what needs to be done around here for an hour or two and lose myself in a dramatic battle between two athletes.
I didn’t realize I would also find a ceremony honoring Billie Jean King on the 50th anniversary of her efforts to convince the US Open to give equal pay to women. It is easy to forget that I have lived through as many changes in the world as have occurred in my lifetime. Yet, it seems like there are still so many ways the human race falls short of ideals.
Asher is showing how to lose oneself in a nap.
Cyndie caught him in the landscape pond again. She said this time he went under her makeshift barrier and since she saw him going in, was able to stop him before he destroyed another intake filter. She also reported that he finally got shocked by the electric fence around the pasture.
He seemed pretty subdued to me the rest of the day. I hope he learns to avoid it from here on out.
Shortly after his fence incident, I had the power off while I weed-whipped around it. His timing was just a little off. I’m guessing he doesn’t sense the electric field like the horses can when the wires are “hot.”
I didn’t get bit by fence electricity but I walked into plenty of invisible spider webs yesterday.
Here is one of my phone camera shots where I couldn’t get it to jump to macro lens focus:
The web that wasn’t in focus is one of the few traps I was able to see and thus successfully avoid. The rest are all stuck to my clothes or peeled off my face.
It rained for a few seconds last night, despite the weather radar failing to depict any precipitation overhead. It was too brief to even get anything wet.
I called for an update on the schedule for getting our driveway shoulders professionally finished and was finally given a date.
“Wednesday,” he said.
I assumed he meant next week but, no, he told me it would be this week. I’m not going to hold my breath for that to actually happen.
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Congratulations Earned
I doff my hat to two football teams that have accomplished tournament wins in the last 24 hours. Congratulations to Inter Miami for their Leagues Cup championship and to Spain for the Women’s World Cup victory.
I was able to view both games even though we are on a stay-cation with our friends, the Wilkuses in Mound, MN, and the entertainment value was top-notch –both the football and hanging out with friends on Lake Minnetonka.
The high heat and lake atmosphere combined with the fabulous lunch offerings made for a quintessential picnic meal yesterday.
I’m a little sleep deprived this morning due to the late finish of the Leagues Cup match that went to penalties and went through all eleven players of each team and then the early start of the England v. Spain World Cup match.
It will be hard to top the excitement of the games and yesterday’s feasting and swimming but we’ll give it a decent effort today before returning to Wintervale tonight. I may try to talk Cyndie into driving so I can take a little snooze to the hum of tires speeding along the pavement.
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Evening Thunder
In that cabin 3 bedroom, just inches from the open window, the peals of rumbling thunder were an almost spiritual meditation lulling us into slumber last night.
After a brilliant day of pickleball and swimming followed by a nap and a fabulous dinner out, we finished the night with five of us around the table in the porch for a card game.
I had no inkling that a mellow thunderstorm was coming until a notice appeared on my phone. Cyndie had already made her way over to the little cabin and was almost asleep when I shuffled over before the rain arrived.
It didn’t show signs of getting windy so we left all the windows open wide and let the symphony of rain and thunder serenade us to sleep.
My Tour de France entertainment is over for another year, freeing up my morning hours for a return to normal routines, except for days when the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament games of primary interest happen in Australia and New Zealand during the wee hours of our local time.
Being a sports fan can be demanding sometimes. [play tiny fiddle of sympathy here.]
Company’s coming today! Our friends, Barb & Mike Wilkus are due to arrive this morning, launching a few days of added lake place bliss for us. Blessings abound and we humbly revel in the friends, family, and experiences we are able to enjoy this week.
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More Spectating
Different sport, similar passion. USMNT (U.S. men’s national soccer team) was up against Canada last night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament quarterfinals (The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football).
I watched the whole spectacle on television. The quality of the U.S. team’s play in the first half was rather embarrassing. The score was 0-0 at the break. Things picked up a bit in the second half and then got wild in the final minutes. 1-1 at the end of regulation.
2-2 at the end of overtime.
In the deciding penalty shootout, the U.S. goalkeeper, Matt Turner made two saves.
The final shot by Canada hit the crossbar and bounced out.
The U.S. won on penalties, 3-2.
Canada deserved better but I’ll take the win so I can watch the U.S. team play again in a couple of days.
Today, I get a break from watching sports. The Tour de France is on the first of two rest days so there is no racing. I will be driving home with Cyndie’s mom this morning and Cyndie and Asher will stay at the lake with friends for a few more days.
I suspect there are some compost piles that need to be turned and a few areas that could use some mowing after a week and a half away. I’m feeling ready to be back home, despite the time at the lake being nothing short of ideal.
Home is where I wanna be.
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Watching France
For the ninth day in a row, I find myself mesmerized by the broadcast of the Tour de France bicycle race and their excellent helicopter views of the greater countryside beyond the roads of the race. I am of the mind that the vantage point of watching the riders fly past from the side of the road can’t hold a candle to the ability to see the many angles provided by the camera operators riding on motorcycles.
Combined with the overhead views from helicopters, which pan across 13th-century architecture and fascinating chateaus, I am left feeling like I have not only been watching racers but I have been watching the fabulous scenes of the country of France.
This morning’s rockin’ climb finish with a (currently as I am writing this) breakaway group over 10 minutes ahead that appears to be threatening the yellow jersey-wearing Jonas Vingegaard’s chance at a stage win on the brutal final ascent.
Jonas was looking all business as they paced along the official car toward the approach of the starting point.
I’m going to stop writing and focus on today’s race excitement for the next hour…
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Relative Something 