4 Hard Downs: 2 Meals In 1, Week 0 is Here, Handling Double Parties
College football starts Saturday, what are we watching to see and how do you handle a boil, a fish fry plus 2 kid parties in a day?!?!?!
The season is here. So is the school year. On Saturday, Week 0, I have a parent, kid and popsicle morning hang and then I have a full afternoon of work.
Do I expect much out of Week 0?
No.
But it is a clear, “hey it is starting and at least you can have a soft open” to the football season. 2:30 start, last kick is 9pm, we are going to be okay. I do get to test my setup, get my family back into rhythm and work on myself. Especially since 2 days after, I have to start doing daily drop off for school.
With all that in mind, and frantic schedules, I decided to host a Low Country Boil and a Fish Fry, at the same damn time.
Good times. Great oldies. I won’t get to see my family on the weekends much so it was nice to see my mom, dad, brother, sister, niece and nephew. My kid had a ball. Here is my brother helping out with the fried shrimp:
It was a great time, now, it is work time…SPOT THE BALL!!!
1st Down: Combining 2 Big Meals, Makes Cleaning A Big Deal
Ain’t nothing better than when the Felders get together. Food. Drinks. Stories. Laughing. Roasting. Volume Constantly Escalating. Kids Dancing.
But let me tell you something, if you do a boil and a fry, you gonna be cleaning when everyone leaves.
So, shout out to my dad for the Bar Keepers Friend tip and how great that works when paired with a little extra action from the drill scrubbing attachments.
Game changer.
Works on that seasoning ring too:
Helps keep your stainless ready to go and between grease, fire, seasoning and spill, you’re gucci. 2 meals in 1 moment is a double cleaning and in the words of my dad, “I usually would have stayed to clean, but I didn’t.” And that’s fine, my mess, I cleaned it up, but he knew, this is going to be a cleaning feat.
2nd Down: Speaking of 2-for-1, 2 Birthday Parties in 1 Day
This is a real parenting conundrum. You get the invite to one party 5 days before the other party. Now you have to do the calculus of how far apart the parties are in both time and distance and it is all a flat circle.
A circle that basically screws you any which way:
-If you’re lucky enough to be very close friends with one of them they will understand you showing up late/leaving early to hit double duty for the parties. Hell, if the party is at the house, the family is happy that you’re hanging out later with them when everyone else leaves and that just goes from “kid party” to “two families hanging out” which is nice.
-If you decide one party over the other, the other family is probably offended and your kid is upset that they upset their friend. So even though you aren’t driving across town to try and make both parties work while also short changing your kid on both parties, you’re still wrong.
-You do both and you show up late to a Chuck E. Cheese or a trampoline park and they’ve already done the cake and you’re walking in like, “oh shit,” after you just drove 35 minutes across town.
You can’t win. You lose to your kid. You lose to your friends. You just lose.
And you have to be okay with that.
3rd Down: Chalk Is Going To Win Week Zero
Seven games, what upsets do you see?
None?
Yeah, me either.
Week 0 started as a way to get teams you’re not used to seeing into games against each other that are super competitive and make you watch football before the NFL gets going. Now, it is filled with games that buy teams an extra bye week , and/or an extra win, or just buy a win.
I’ll be watching but this is going to be a lot more about scheme than team and who has their shit together.
4th Down: So What Are We Watching To See?!
So, speaking of scheme…
Start with the headliner, USC, is the defense any good.
7 transfers in the 2-Deep but the same system so we’re going to find out. Here’s my thing about defense, more so than offense, it is an effort and comprehension thing. Notice, I did not say “Football IQ” or “intelligence” because there are guys who cannot read who can still play masterful defense. Like someone who can’t read music but can play the piano amazingly.
Effort is the most important thing in defense. If you’re loafing, you’re cheating the other 10 guys on the field, the other 90 on the sideline and the coaches. Plain and simple. Defense is about going 100% every play, and at the end of the game you should feel dead.
Now, here is where comprehension comes into play.
Making a mistake going slow, that’s a loaf and only you can fix that in yourself. Coach can yell at you until the cows come home but he can’t fix it unless the answer is simply taking your ass out of the game.
Making a mistake going 100 mph is a coachable problem that they will ask what you don’t understand and show you how to bridge the gap to be a player who understands what to do.
I don’t like using UGA or Alabama as examples. I love using Iowa, Wisconsin, Utah, Baylor, Oregon State type teams. They’re just guys out there. But they play with high effort and they comprehend what is being asked of them.
Let’s see if USC comprehends (sorry, I went all the way around my ass to get to my elbow but that’s my point on them. not personnel but understanding the assignment).
The other thing I’m looking for is Notre Dame working to become explosive in the passing game.
Thanks as always to my go to stat machine CFB Stats, will have to hit that donation button before we hit Week 0, because I live there. These are the two pressing things I’m curious about as we hit CFB’s soft open, Week 0.
I’m excited to get into the year after our father-daughter popsicle time to start the day. Vandy opening with Hawaii, we get to watch USC and see if the Spartans can test their defense that was awful a year ago. Close it up with FIU and LaTech figuring out what they are going to be this season. Let’s do it and then get to Thursday.
Cheers!!