I was a geek.
I AM a geek.
I programmed on an Atari 400; cassette tape drive and all.
My favorite thing in all the world for a very VERY long time was: Sepia Snake Sigil.
I suffered through very much humiliation as a young man in high school.
However, the hottest woman I’ve ever met married me.
TK.
#9.
Better drunk than sober.
Down by 1, 14 seconds and 80 yards.
But we had Ahmad.
By the way, how did the Vikings win the NFC central against the Browns?
What the what?
Son: Dad, wanna go outside and play some catch?
Me: Sure, get your shoes on.
Son: Dad, you can be thrower #7 –> The Viking’s new rookie QB Christian Ponder..
Me: Thanks! Who are you?
Son: Me? I’m Ahmad Rashad.
Me: Wiping away a tear.
Son: Daddy…? What’s wrong?
Me: Nothing son, nothing at all.
To say the least, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penn State football program. Joe Pa, one of the greatest coaches in any sport, was forced out in disgrace as reports became public of wide spread child abuse in the program.
But I’m not here to talk about Joe today. I wanna mention a guy with more wins and less attention. His name is John Gagliardi. And he coaches in Minnesota at St. John’s University located in Collegeville. He’s a legend:
At the age of 22, with six years of high school coaching, Gagliardi was hired at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. In four seasons as head coach at Carroll, Gagliardi compiled a 24–6–1 record, winning three Montana Collegiate Conference championships. After the 1952 season, Gagliardi left Carroll for the Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota
Did’ja get that? At the ripe old age of 22, John had 6 years of high school coaching under his belt.
John Gagliardi began coaching football in 1943 at the age of 16 when his high school coach was called into service during World War II. He was a player-coach his senior year of high school and continued to coach high school football while obtaining his college degree at Colorado College.
At 16 he is a player/coach in high school and continues to coach while attending college. This guy is a stud.
He is currently the head football coach at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, a position he has held since 1953. From 1949 to 1952, he was the head football coach at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. With a career record of 483–133–11, Gagliardi has the most wins of any coach in college football history. His Saint John’s Johnnies teams have won four national titles: the NAIA National Football Championship in 1963 and 1965, and the NCAA Division III National Football Championship in 1976 and 2003. Gagliardi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. With Chris Ault, he is one of two active coaches in the Hall of Fame.
John is the winningest coach in college history. Joe Pa sits at 409; 74 behind John. Seventy ‘effin four.
And he’s comin’ back for more:
St. John’s coach John Gagliardi — college football’s winningest coach — has decided to return for his 60th season directing the Johnnies. St. John’s finished 6-4 thanks to a season-ending four-game winning streak that helped convince Gagliardi to return.
“For awhile there, I thought maybe I had lost it,” Gagliardi told Frank Rajkowski of the St. Cloud Times. “But we came back and started playing good football. That helped a lot.”
John is 85 years old. He’s been coaching football for damn near 70 years. When asked what he’d do if he gave up the game?
“I don’t know anything else,” said Gagliardi, 85. “What else should I be doing? Am I going to take a trip to Italy or go climbing the Himalayas? I don’t want to do any of those things. There are days I don’t even like going into St. Cloud.”
Classic.
Mostly because I’m pissed at the Vikings and the way they played tonight, I’m posting this fun picture from this weekend:
He has done something that no other tight end has done since 2010.
Which is last year.
Damn.
When I was young, I was all about the macro brew. I was into Miller Genuine Draft. For years. Then I moved to Seattle and the world was tipped on it’s head. I’ve gone through the various stages beginning with the gentle hefeweizen, a soft unfiltered wheat beer. After that I moved into the Ambers and some of the Octoberfests. At each stage I was getting darker and a little bolder.
The next stage would have been the deep porters and stouts. But I never made it there. For some reason I stopped going darker and went towards the IPA.
And so it is that I find myself on a never ending quest for a better IPA. I try to rank ’em. Not so much against each other, but against a common standby. So, tonight I’ll introduce that standby and every now and then I’ll introduce a new favorite.
The IPA that I use as my measuring stick is Red Hook’s Long Hammer:
Here’s what Red Hook has to say:
The generous addition of hops both during and at the end of the fermentation process (dry-hopping) gives our India Pale Ale its characteristic bitterness and piney citrus aroma and flavor. The medium body, crisp finish, and moderate alcohol and IBU levels makes this one of America’s most drinkable and best-selling IPAs.
I don’t know what that means, really. All I know is that for an everyday back, Long Hammer is about as solid as you can get. And when looking for an everyday beer, I look for:
Long Hammer is exactly that. All of the above. It’s widely available tastes good.
There ya have it.
We are mostly a peaceful society. And in those cases where our nation does wage war, most of us have little danger of facing any chance at combat. The age of the “warrior” is mostly over.
I have always thought that it’s in our DNA to wage that war, however. I think that in our DNA is the warrior, the defender of our “tribe”. It’s what explains the “atic” in “fan”. It takes the mild and meek long haired dude in the office and turns him into the illogical screaming fool who lives and [mostly] dies with the Vikings and the Twins. It’s that thing within us that can only be explained by a long standing evolutionary thing.
And when humans reach into their inner nether regions to grasp and channel this “yawlp” it shouldn’t be a surprise when we find another, strangely similar concept:
God.
And so it is that I don’t understand the conflict:
Tim Tebow is an N.F.L. quarterback, and Tim Tebow is an outspoken Christian. And while quarterback controversies are almost as common as quarterbacks, who play perhaps the most scrutinized position in American sports, what has erupted around Tebow this season is altogether different.
At the intersection of faith and football, the fervor that surrounds both Tebow’s beliefs and his struggles in his second season for the Denver Broncos has escalated into a full-blown national debate over religion and its place in sports.
I guess I get the idea that the religious guys are the soft spoken gentle soul. Characteristics not usually associated with the battle that is sports. I remember when Gary Gaetti found God. He was never the same player again. So I get that aspect of it.
But I don’t understand the mockery of it all. If a players obtains his inspiration from God, or from a desire to be the best or from wanting to bang Jessica Simpson, who cares? In fact, the idea that warriors took to the field in defense of their god is a history as long as the history of war.
I don’t see religion and sports as contradictions. I see them as complimentary forces.
A few nights ago I struck a blow for the 100%.
With proper proportions and proper heat, these ingredients become a very stable solid’ish kinda goop.Armed with the knowledge that:
I had a most excellent day watching my birds happily eat their new treat while simultaneously watching my squirrels retreat in pain!
#OccupyMyBirdFeeder
There are few technologies that are resisted, yet when tried, turn out to be required. DVR is one of them.
However, I am finding that what DVR did was set off an “arms race”. It is no longer enough that I be able to pause TV to grab a beer or put the kids back to bed. No. It has now become too inconvenient to even fast-forward through the commercials only to not go fast enough and then hit play juuust too late. So you have to hit rewind a couple of times.
No. That won’t do.
Now I have to buy re-run TV on DVD.
But I can’t tell you the hit of joy I get when the show fades to black signifying a commercial and I can just sit back and watch. God how I love Boston Legal.
Life is good!
If you haven’t yet, go on over to Google.com
Cool Google draw today.