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| Winter Sunset Source |
As 2025 winds down I have to admit that, for me, it was a good year. I'm retired, no one to answer to as far as how I spend my time (well, other than The Missus Herself but she's not very demanding), no need to set some artificial corporate goal, no need to really do much of anything except stay alive.
Yesterday's post was gloomy, which should teach me to stay away from the MSM, which is hard to do when watching football. Oh well, I can ignore most of it but sometimes the "news" leaks in.
And yes, I still watch professional football, yup, it's got issues but for the most part I enjoy the competition and have since around 1965 when I first really started paying attention to such things.
Probably due to my paternal grandmother remarking that due to my size, I should play football. As my dear grandmother was four-foot-not-much wearing heels, everyone seemed big to her. But she mentioned it, I adored her (still do) so I decided to check it out.
Watched it ever since.
Now you may wonder who I rooted for back in that day. Well, this was back when the cognoscenti said that the five year old AFL sucked, the NFL was the "real thing" so one shouldn't bother with the upstart league. (Which eventually took off and then was absorbed by the NFL.)
The Patriots back then were the Boston Patriots and, as my father despised everything Boston, wasn't even an option. Besides, they were in the AFL.
So I must have rooted for the New York Giants right?
Nope.
Dad was a Yankees fan, Mom was (and still is) a Red Sox fan. Boston versus New York, the smart move was to avoid rooting for either city. So who was the best team back then?
The Green Bay Packers under Vince Lombardi. So I watched them as much as I could. As they were in the playoffs a lot back then, it was easy to follow them.
These days? Well, I still have my old love for Green Bay. As I lived in Denver during the Elway era, I like them as well. (As The Nuke was born in Aurora, right next door to Denver, she is still a Broncos fan, and will probably stay one.)
Retiring to New England I arrived just in time for the Brady/Belichick era. Now that was a wild ride and a lot of fun to experience. But now ...
Where was I?
Oh yeah, watching "the football" on TV and being exposed to the MSM. Anyhoo, I try not to let that affect me much, yesterday it did.
Sorry/not sorry.
But yes, 2026 is right around the corner, it's so close you can smell it. For me it's just a different number on the calendar. I don't do resolutions or any of that. Every time you wake up in the morning offers the opportunity to change, to start something new, you don't need to buy a new calendar to do that.
So the years march on, I'm still here, and until the Good Lord decides otherwise I shall remain.
Plans for 2026? Yup, visit kids and grandkids, same as it ever was ...
Same as it ever was.
Sports. As I was raised in San Diego County I've always been a fan of both the Padres and the Chargers (who have the best uniforms in the NFL with their powder blues) About 1967 i started really liking the Raiders. I liked their In Your Face, 2 inches from drawing a flag style of playing. Sure, lots of penalties, but they were smart penalties.
ReplyDeleteMy wife Didn't Like Baseball. Until the 2004 Sox v. Yankees playoffs. I'd been listening to a game on the way home from work and put it on the TV as soon as I got home. 6th or inning, and it didn't look good for the Sox. I got dinner in the oven and settled down to watch the game She got home, looked at the television, "Remember that there's a show I want to watch at 6." It's good, it's the start of the 8th, not looking good for the Sox. "That's fine, it's the 8th. Red Sox are down by 2. Should be over soon." "There's 9 innings?"(I told you that she Didn't Like Baseball). "Yep, 9 innings." Boston ties it up. After the 9th, she says, "Good. We can catch some news before my show " "Um....the games not over " "But you said 9 innings. That was 9 innings. " "It can't end in a tie." Baseball is one of those things that Everybody Knows How To Play. Except that her parents hadn't been baseball fans, she wasn't - and still isn't - into playing sports, so she never learned. 10th comes and goes. "Nine inning, huh?" she says glaring at me. So the top of the 11th I started doing my own commentary, making my guesses as to what the pitcher, the batter, and any runners would do and why. "You mean there's strategy? I thought they just threw the ball, hit the ball, and ran around." Nobody had ever explained the game to her. 11th ended, "Nine innings, huh?" In the 12th, she started asking questions. Started making her own guesses as to what would happen. Sox finally won in 14 innings. "Nine innings, huh?" That's been our running joke ever since. The next day, game 5, I got home, was just setting my stuff down in the kitchen when she go thome, "Why isn't the game on?!" "HEY! I just had time to set my stuff down, give me a break" I had created an monster. And a Red Sox fan.
About 5 years ago we both realized that we were also starting to like the Giants (for me that was hard, because even though for the last 40+ years I've been in Sonoma County, San Francisco has always been a malediction) and the Niners.
So, Happy New Year.
The Missus Herself used to be a big sports fan. Too many years of watching our team not win the big one burned her out.
DeleteSo it's mostly just me, unless the kids are home.
I'm still mad at the Chargers for leaving San Diego.
Yeah, I'm not thrilled with the move, but they did start off in Los Angeles.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/aR9iQI9yiTc?si=ekhgc0CG6DzArHoI
How about these images!
https://x.com/originalone1960/status/1749941936436486641/photo/4
I did not know that!
DeleteI haven't really watched much since they left. But the problems with the NFL are more of the reason why I don't watch much. I think the betting outlets are having a negative influence on the players, fair play, and even the NFL seemingly making calls to affect an outcome.
DeleteYup, legalized gambling taints the league.
DeleteWas a football fan from the early teenage years until I moved out of state in late 1977, watching four Super Bowl losses was...uh...tough. Resumed rooting for the locals when I returned to my birth state in 1986 until 2016 when the kneeling started. Players can express their views but bring them into the game? Lost me as fan permanently. Well there was always college football but wait.....NIL....#$%&! Now the FOX station is broadcasting the PWHL games of the local team.......hmmm. As to 2026? Had five inches of the white stuff Monday. Enjoy that Family Time Sarge!
ReplyDeleteFour Super Bowl losses can really burn up your enthusiasm.
DeleteSarge, I could have written that post. I agree with all your likes and dislikes as I had them all when I was younger. The only one I would have added was the Cowboys. Couldn’t stand them even though Dad was assigned to Webb AFB Big Spring Tx. Needless to say, that was a source of controversy between me and my male age group members. (While I don’t watch much football any more, still dislike them.)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to 2026, get to visit (read Spoil) 2/3 of my grandkids as often as I want after a 10 minute drive ( on a bad traffic day). Looking forward to that!
Happy New Year to you and The Missus as well as all you Chanters out there!
juvat
My mother has an unbelievable (and somewhat irrational) dislike for the Dallas Cowboys. Mostly because JFK was assassinated in Dallas, I tried pointing out that the team had nothing to do with that event, but ...
DeleteOnce she gets a dislike for something, ain't no shifting it.
LOL! Sounds like my mom...she was mad at Dallas about that until the day she died.
DeleteThe Cowboys are the NY Yankees of football...the team most of America loves to hate.
I believe the Patriots were that hated during the Brady/Belichick era.
DeleteAh, another new year, pretty much like last year (since I retired long before Sarge) and I look forward to doing pretty much as I please or my spouse demands. Life is grand, and filled with more opportunities than I can seize.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to All!
A little peace on earth would be nice, but even incremental steps are nice.
JB
Life is grand ...
DeleteSure would be nice having some of that Peace on Earth. Might happen someday, we'll see.
Peace on Earth doesn't seem to be the norm in the macro sense. Our species isn't really designed for it.
DeletePeace on Earth in a micro sense IS achievable; children and grandchildren, family of all sorts and viable work ( NOT a "job") all contribute to that peace.
Boat Guy
I live in the micro world, so peace there will do.
DeleteSarge, I have never been much of football fan. TB The Elder was a Dallas Cowboys fan from the days of Tom Landry (would that coaches could dress like professionals again).
ReplyDeleteLike you, I found 2025 to be a pretty good year this year - unexpected perhaps, but good.
Thanks to you and all the fine authors here for the daily dose of writing. It is inevitably the first or second place I park myself in the morning.
A very wonderful New Year to all The Chanters!
Same to you TB, I'm hoping for a great 2026. We'll see if the world can go along with that.
DeleteAll things considered, it was a pretty good year. OTOH, I don't follow sports at all and never have. That may be because, like you, a military wandering kind of life as a kid and also a disdain for football and baseball after playing them in school. Admittedly that might have been because didn't know I was half blind until I was in the 10th grade.....My grandparents were great fans that really loathed each other's teams and they would retire to separate rooms in the house to listen on the radio to their teams play.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a happy and joyful new year.
Same to you and yours, Cap'n!
Delete