A few good reads to jumpstart your short week.
These are pretty funny. Although are we sure Pearl Jam is a sad dad band? I do shake my head at the word “crypto,” though, so they may be onto something.
What Your Favorite Sad Dad Band Says About You
Kevin Clark’s summary of the CFP National Title game was terrific. I loved this section, in particular, about Kelee Ringo’s pick-six that iced the game and title for Georgia.
You can go to a lot of games but you rarely get a moment like this. The type of moment that will not just be remembered—there are all sorts of memorable moments in title games—but a moment whose image will be painted on the side of random sports bars. Fans will look up the play on YouTube when there’s nothing to do after they’ve had two beers. People will get tattoos of the play and it won’t be considered that weird. Thatsort of play.
Sports are full of wonderfully ridiculous moments like this. I really didn’t care who won but was swept up in the moment, letting out a yell as Ringo raced up the field.
Every sports fan has moments like this. Most of the time they happen in games that aren’t for a championship of any kind. So they don’t get forgotten – most of us lunatics can talk about way too many random moments from 35-year-old Big 8 games – but they certainly have a pretty niche audience.
But for a moment like that to happen on the game’s biggest stage is pretty special. Georgia fans are going to talk about it forever, even ones not old enough to remember it. And the rest of us will, too. I’m lucky that I have one of those moments in my personal sports history. Slightly different context, but still a play that will never be forgotten.
A really good piece about the impact that John Madden had. I love the stuff about how he changed the way football was broadcast.
Madden’s genius was how he taught football. Those booms, that unbuttoned aura of regular guy-dom—all of that was an invitation. It made Madden’s classroom feel like a safe place, where you’d get a little smarter and the professor would never act like he was smarter than you.
When we visited Nashville in October, Jason Isbell was in the midst of his annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium. HIs band’s gear was on stage when we took our tour. This piece came out of that time. I don’t always love Isbell’s music, but I greatly admire his point-of-view and his efforts to make change.
Jason Isbell Is Tired Of Country’s Love Affair With White Nostalgia
I never had a Stretch Armstrong, but I played with my share back in the 1970’s. This hits right in my Gen X heart.
An Oral History of Stretch Armstrong’s Delightful Destructibility