What in Heaven’s name is going on with me?
I write an opinion column, but I can’t feel nuthin’!
Is it because I continue to reduce the time I used to give undivided attention to televised sports, series, and movies?
I already watch an NBA highlight show (Inside the NBA) instead of a full game. I don’t watch any more than 1 or 2 condensed replays on NFL+ about every two weeks. I watch little or no baseball.
College football is the sport I usually watch on television to its fullest length, and even then, I usually have it on WHILE I’m working in my home office.
I sleep less than 6 ½ hours per day.
I spend a lot of time working in my vocation. I love what I do, so that is not an issue. One of my manufacturing sites had a great 2024 while the other needs some sales growth and an accounting system as good as the site who did very well.
It seems these days, frankly, I find myself more interested in making the latter site better than watching a lot of television. The time spent – based on experience – literally has the biggest payoff.
In the world of live action sports, though, I’m announcing and attending more high school sports and some NAIA college basketball and volleyball events than I ever have, and the experience is very satisfying.
Furthermore, it’s Friday late afternoon, and Ohio State – my favorite university for college sports – is one win away from possibly being in a national title game against another storied football program, Notre Dame.
Guess what. I can’t feel a doggone thing!
When you have to spend time opining weekly, this can be a bit of a problem. It’s like getting the yips in baseball, softball, or golf. I have plenty to say about music, politics, PA announcing, but two of those three can be covered in other sections of the Times-Union among other folks aboard.
In the meantime, the final semifinal was last night for college football, Notre Dame will be in it so local interest is peaked. The NFL wild card round is underway today, and girls wrestling has already fielded its semi-state competitors last night after the regionals.
One thing I just felt this moment is hoping I wake up to another college football finale with two Northern teams facing off January 20 (Michigan beat Washington last year for the “natty”).
While I love to watch the SEC’s NFL-caliber defensive players, and I respect the quality of opposition they bring to college football, I love to hate them.
I hate the South, and I don’t miss seeing Alabama in the playoff, nor do I miss Clemson getting selected to the past final four format.
Oh my, I felt something. That… feels a little better.
I really hate the South for innumerable reasons. My current employer couldn’t pay me enough to relocate to any of its sites in the South.
I did not find alligators, giant cockroaches, red clay, nor did I see hurricane conditions on the horizon when I went outside to roll my empty garbage can up my snow-covered driveway. If my cats escape outside, it is likely there are not multiple species waiting within the perimeter of my yard to eat them the way they would encounter a worse fate in Florida.
I have paternal ancestors from the Northwest corner of Georgia, and most of my paternal relatives are still there (and they’re nice folks), but I still hate the South. I’m grudgingly traveling there for this spring my first Southern-based spring break in decades.
Holy smokes.
Although I felt something toward the end of today’s thoughts, most of the time among most of my recent weeks, I can’t feel nuthin’!
This has to change.