Today is one of the best days of the sports year. Early signing day makes real all the honest striving of high school football players and all the unsung sacrifices made by their parents. It’s tangible proof in a confused and confusing world that if you dedicate yourself to something, you can achieve it. It’s the best lesson an 18-year-old can live.
Today is one of the worst days of the sports year. Early signing day’s spot on the calendar causes coaches who preach loyalty to ditch their current players before their seasons are complete. It turns the concept of honesty on its head and gives young people reason to begin their adult lives with a big dose of cynicism. It also highlights the over-importance we place on athletics. There is no Signing Day for the National Merit Scholar who earns a full ride for academics.
So. . . what?
The whole situation is skewed further by the transfer portal, the high-stakes game of musical chairs that allows unhappy players to leave one school for another without consequence.
What results is a system that rewards coaches who leave Notre Dame in the metaphorical dead of night. Not putting it all on Brian Kelly, of course. There have been 28 coaching changes in college football this year; 16 happened before the end of the regular season.
But BK is pretty much the poster-guy for the phenomenon.
The current system creates battered feelings and massive cynicism. The portal leaves every coach scrambling. Do I spend more time recruiting new guys, or keeping the guys I have?
Early signing was created to spare kids and their families a few months of recruiting craziness. Let them sign in December, so they can enjoy the rest of their high school daze in peace. That’s a good thought. Its ramifications have not been so good.
Now, the American Football Coaches Association wants to move early signing to January and add a dead period during conference championship week, usually the first week of December. That would seem to lessen the number of coaches/mercenaries/job hoppers defecting from School A to School B. Brian Kelly might actually have to coach all those kids until their season is over. You know, the kids he professed to love limitlessly. It might kill him, but so what?
It’s a good idea. It delivers a good message to impressionable young adults: Finish what you start. Honor your commitments. Don’t be a jerk. The AFCA has presented a proposal to conference commissioners, but not yet to the NCAA Football Oversight Committee.
Let’s hope this finds momentum and gets passed. The law of unintended consequences remains in full effect now. That can change.
Now, then. . .
DON’T LOOK NOW, but COVID-19 is starting to affect the NFL’s competitive balance, even more than last season. How’d you like to play the Rams this week? They have 13 players in the protocol, including OBJ. The Browns have eight on the list, Carolina won’t have Christian McCaffrey this week.
Injuries already have tipped the scales. The Ravens have 17 players on injured reserve. COVID makes it even worse. It’s not always who has the better team, but rather who has the healthier one. That’s why the Bengals will kick themselves if they miss the playoffs.
On Tuesday, Sean McVay addressed his team’s plight:
"The scary thing about all this to me is every single person is vaccinated that we're talking about," McVay said. "That's the thing that's the most concerning about all of this is that everybody has done exactly what they could. I trusted these guys have taken the right precautionary measures ... Now you're adding a lot of layers to this situation that we thought we were past and that's the thing that I think is the most mind-numbing about it all for me."
Welcome to the real world, coach. The vaccine was never going to make anyone bullet-proof from the virus. It was going to offer some protection, lessen COVID’s punch, keep you out of the hospital and alive. The recurrence of the virus in people who’ve been vaxxed doesn’t mean the shots don’t work.
I LOVE BOARD GAMES. . . Specifically, football/baseball and war. After my birth mother died when I was 8, my dad and I had a lot of just-us time. We filled it playing ancient Avalon Hill games. Midway, Gettysburg and Bismarck were our favorites. I still have Midway and G-burg.
We also played AH’s baseball game, which wasn’t good at all.
I started playing Strat-O-Matic baseball in 6th grade. Last summer, I played the entire season of the ’71 Pirates. They won the pennant, Willie Stargell hit 52 home runs, then they lost the Series in 6 games to the Orioles.
Last spring, Marty Brennaman and I replayed the ’75 Series, using APBA baseball. Reds won in 6, I believe.
Over the years, I added a few other games. Sports Illustrated put out a golf game, featuring real pros and their stats. Augusta National was the course. I have no idea how SI got that one licensed, given Augusta’s iron-fisted rules on that sort of thing.
I also have Go For The Green, also by SI I believe. The “board’’ was a laminated rendition of 18 famous golf holes, on which you grease-penciled your shots. Very cool.
I played friends’ games over the years: Paydirt, S-O-M football (not as fun as baseball) and Pursue the Pennant.
Question for youse: Do you have any of these games? More importantly, do you have others you think are better? These games can be had via the Google-Amazon Road, but they can be pricey. Which would you spend your cash on now?
DAY TRIP REPORT. . . Spent a nice weather day yesterday cruising down 71 and across KY 127 to Buffalo Trace, on a bourbon run.
I got there at 3.
The guard said they’d run out of bourbon.
“Haha,’’ I said. Next you’ll tell me Vegas is out of sin.
No bourbon, he said. Apparently the gift shop gets a daily allotment. Once it’s gone, it’s not re-stocked until the next day. “Come back tomorrow,’’ he said. “But no Blanton’s.’’
‘Tis the season, I suppose, though not providing product to customers seems a bad idea, and more than a little arrogant. Obviously, they had the supply. Why hold it back from people who made the special effort to buy it at the source? I wonder how many other people from around here made the pilgrimage yesterday, two hours, only to be turned away.
Howevuh. . . Glenn’s Crossing is only 4 miles from Buff Trace, just down the country two-lane from Castle And Key. To the uninitiated, Glenn’s Crossing is a boutique distillery near Frankfort. The owners bought the defunct Old Crow distillery. They make wonderful brown. My favorite is a concoction they call Hamilton Dark, which incorporates a little cane sugar into the mash bill. It’s spectacular.
The owner and I were the only folks there. He had bourbon to sell me. He even autographed the bottle. And IMO, Ham Dark is right up there with EH Taylor, and better than the overrated Blanton’s.
AND IF I MIGHT ADD. . . I told the guy my name and what I did for work. He said he’d had several folks from Cincinnati in to buy some Ham Dark, after they’d read my glowing words on TML several months ago. So there is that. If you’re who he was talking about, lemme know what you thought of the stuff.
AND NOW. . .
The Event King is one of our three rotating Fun masters now. Here’s what he has for you this week:
There are 10 days until Christmas and Yule be sorry if you miss these events in the area this weekend.
The city of Loveland will be hosting its 2021 Christmas in Loveland! Running from 9:00am-8:00pm this Saturday, downtown Loveland will be bustling with activities all day long. In the morning, there will be free pictures with Santa and free hot chocolate on Karl Brown Way. Beginning at 4, there will be free live entertainment at the Fountain Green and most local businesses including The Works, Graeters, and Hometown Cafe will be giving out free food and beverages!
Elsewhere on Saturday, Findlay Market will be alive with holiday cheer as the calendar looks packed with a variety of events throughout the day. Mitch Klein will open the day with a live performance at Jane's, and then Pups and Pints will kick off at 3 (make sure you bring your dog and receive $1 off your drink!). Finally, guest bartender JonJon from Kiss107 will be hosting the Ugly Sweater Christmas Party with live music and special holiday cocktails from 5:00-9:00.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . My son-in-law, the estimable Ryan Mavriplis, likes country music. I forgave him for that awhile ago. Here’s one we used to sing in the car back in the day, when I’d chauffeur him and Jillian to school at NKU.
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