Fly On, Sky Turtle
On College and Chaos Week 12
It was a rainy day some time last week. I drove to town to get some work done. I put on the only album I could think of when the world feels empty and crumbling. I tried my best to blow out the speakers. I parked on the road and put on my rain jacket and backpack and walked to the coffee shop in the rain. I sat on the covered porch with my coffee and my laptop like I might get anything done other than looking busy. Raindrops tapped on the corrugated metal roof, punctuated by the occasional loud crack of an acorn knocked loose from the big oak tree in the yard. The rusty metal gate and scrap metal grasshopper sculpture are still there in the raised stone circle planter surrounding the big tree. Worse for wear but still there.
The acorns over my head kept popping like gunshots and the coffee only heightened my jitters. But I needed to be somewhere. Somewhere out in the world. Because where the hell else is there.
So I finished the last sweet dregs at the bottom of my cup, pulled my hood up, and walked back down the road in the pelting rain. Going somewhere.
Fri 11/15/2024
I’m hoping for a day soon to hike one of my local mountains before the leaves are gone, and ideally cooler than 70 degrees. We’ll have to see.
UCLA played at Washington, the Big 10 confined to the west coast for a short while on a lonely Friday night.
Sat 11/16/2024
Utah at #17 Colorado. Utah was down bad, as they get without Cam Rising for most of recent memory. Colorado played well but the cardinal rule of Utah holds that you can’t beat them without getting beaten up. The Utes started a comeback but couldn’t get closer than 11 points before the game slipped away again. Still, they have to check the final score several times because even winning against Utah doesn’t feel like it. 49-24 Buffaloes, the most Colorado points since 2019. Just double-checked it.
Earlier this week I messed up my schedule and landed in town with an extra hour to kill in the afternoon. So I walked, but everything felt off. A mid-November walk in shorts and a t-shirt. I forgot the coffee shop is closed on Mondays, so I kept walking. Around and through and across the square, then down to the park. I stood on the wooden deck overlooking the pond. There were about 15 turtles piled on the rock in the middle and another one swimming out from under me. Clouds reflected in the mirror-still water like the turtle was flying through the sky. The sun started coming out, just barely, over the trees. I watched the turtle make its way to the turtle island for several minutes before I turned around and walked back. It was a nice walk, just too damn hot for November.
#3 Texas at Arkansas. The Hogs made a big show of reviving the long-dead rivalry in its new conference home. They fought the Longhorns close and came within 3 points before giving up a touchdown and a fumble in the 4th quarter. Longhorns 20-10.
#20 Clemson at Pitt. Pitt kicked a field goal for the lead with under 2 minutes. All they had to do was hold on a little longer. What happened instead was Cade Klubnik breaking loose and running 50 yards for a touchdown to take back the lead for Clemson. Pitt’s last-second play from the 25 got intercepted near the goal line. Clemson 24-20. How do you Pitt people live like this?
Undefeated #6 BYU lost to Kansas, 17-13.
#22 LSU wandered into the swamp and got death-rolled by Florida, 27-16. Florida had comparable rushing and passing yards but only 18 minutes of possession. And seven sacks.
LSU is generally a fun team and an exciting entity to watch, which makes it so jarring to see Brian Kelly on the sideline trying to be a fun stepdad fooling absolutely no one.
Kelly convinced himself all he was missing was SEC talent to win a title. He looked at the LSU opening and said that's as good a place as any. The last three guys won one, how hard can it be.
Well. Nick Saban knew more about football than anyone in a generation, even if the nation at large didn't realize it yet. Les Miles knew nothing about anything except how to please the chaos gods and other minor sprites and spirits that live on a football field. He knew the secret of tasting the grass to sense their moods. Ed Orgeron knew literally nothing about literally anything except Louisiana. The man recruited with a grill in the back of his car and coached with a bottle of hot sauce in his back pocket. And Kelly thought he could just slide right into that legacy because he can turn his face purple? It will never not be funny to see Kelly infuriated that no one respects him enough to play football better by getting screamed at. We need more players screaming back at the coach. Our nation will never know true peace until we can reliably and consistently bully millionaire tyrants into quitting. The top search result for “LSU coach” is “what is Brian Kelly’s buyout.” Keep screaming.
#23 Missouri at #21 South Carolina in one of the Columbias, I think the south one. The Gamecocks rolled and rumbled and clobbered their way to a 21-6 halftime lead. Missouri stormed back with 16 straight points before settling into a back-and-forth. Then Rocket Sanders broke through eight guys for the game-winning touchdown. Carolina 34-30. You never know what you’re going to get but you know it’s going to make you sore.
Please locate the status your football team and/or current project on the following ternary diagram.
I haven’t been sleeping great. The dreams haven’t been horrendous, but generally not great. In the most recent good one, I back in college, on a field work trip hiking through marshy woods, climbing high rocky cliffs, driving winding canyon roads with views of dramatic waterfalls. Yes, I take lots of pictures in my dreams too. Then we got dropped off an elementary school where I was stranded late at night waiting for a ride. I eventually tagged along with a friend who got off of work late, and he could drop me off at the high school closer to home. We drove off into the night with the windows down.
#1 Oregon escaped Wisconsin with a field goal, getting dragged down into the Big 10 November muck with a final score of 16-13. But they did escape.
#2 Ohio State and #4 Penn State did the other Big 10 thing and beat up on Northwestern and Purdue, respectively.
I'm going to start exercising. For real. Walks, weights, jumping jacks, whatever. It turns out push-ups are a lot harder than they used to be. I know hyper-dosing the news and stewing all day is counterproductive. I can at least make my body healthier instead. I can feel an old familiar dread creeping in. The ubiquitous knot in my chest, the nameless background anxiety that I've done so well to control this last year. 2020 started off feeling like a good year too, before the rest of 2020 happened. A milestone of obstacles tackled and a smoother road ahead. Well here we are again, the road keeps getting longer, which is expected, but getting rougher is the hard part. The everyday journey getting more arduous. This summer felt like a turning point for me, so at least it's better to be starting from a better place this time around. Most importantly, I can't help anyone if I can't help myself, so I need my strength. The weights will stay by my desk.
Keep going. Slow and steady.
#7 Tennessee at #12 Georgia. Oh so there’s another streak on the line: Georgia has won its last 28 home games. This is fine, we’re all fine here.
For a while I could only half-watch. Even the good games are slow to get going, I told myself over and over. The Aussie rugby punter made a good tackle. You need small victories on the way to larger ones. Carson Beck ran for a 1st down, then a 38-yard pass, then an Oscar Delp touchdown. Then another Delp touchdown. Just like a puppy, Beck needs to get the zoomies out to calm down. 17-17 halftime.
It was puppy time for Beck again on a 14-yard touchdown run. The O-line pulled itself together masterfully in the last week, zero sacks, zero interceptions. The defense fed off the energy masterfully for a 2nd half shutout. See, football is easy, you just flip the switch from “broken” to “fixed.”
Late in the game, the first sack of Nico Iamaleava was followed immediately by the second sack with a fumble, followed by kneel-downs for the win. 31-17. That’s now eight in a row against Tennessee, including Tennessee’s resurgence to a consistently good team. And tack on Georgia’s 29th consecutive home win. Let the dogs run loose in the yard for a while.
I've been listening to Funkadelic and R.E.M. and Charles Mingus and The Meters and Townes Van Zandt. I am all over the place.
We've got the sky to talk about
And the world to lie upon
It's not mid-November chilly, but it's slowly sliding into not-as-hot. The sun makes pretty colors pop when it shoots at low angles through the trees. Small victories are important, especially when it feels like small ones are the only ones allowed. A big bowl of soup feels nice anyway.
Stay hydrated. Look up. And keep going.
Thanks for reading, whoever, whenever.
-The Dad Rock