4 Hard Downs: Outside Snacks, Tempo As An Equalizer & Destruction & Don't Whale Watch
This is basically a summer blog, we got snacks plus digging deeper into tempo as an equalizer and a destructive force
I had to go swap out my router, thanks Spectrum. Spectrum does suck, usually, but Saturday they were absolutely amazing. Viv on the phone was great realizing my router issues were not on me, including being able to pull up outages vs resets and realizing it wasn’t the modem, it was the router.
Then in the store, because Viv put a note in my account, just walking in and having someone take my faulty router and hand me a new one, no questions asked. It took me 15 minutes from my door to store back to door.
Lovely.
I was mentally planning to eat lunch out while I waited. Instead, nope. In and out and done. I could have gone to the Dollar Store and really tried to figure out if it is the $1.25 store that people are referencing on IG.
But alas, I am back on the internet and ready to go. Which is great because “Inside Football” goes 5 days a week starting today. NFL and CFB and recruiting all in one place. Love doing the show and love that we get a bit deeper into football than just “this guy signed here.”
Including a Deion Sanders discussion that lasted 2 episodes because Joshua Perry and I saw things a little different and one segment wasn’t enough. So, check that out everyday at 1et, live and I wear cool t-shirts.
So, since you’re here, let’s….SPOT THE BALL
1st Down: Offensive Tempo Is Meek Mill
We hit on it a little with the TCU vs Michigan in the playoff talk, Michigan not using tempo or urgency. What was amplified for me is the double edged sword that is being wielded in CFB:
-Teams with okay rosters can use tempo to beat better rosters.
-Teams with great rosters can slow tempo down to grind the not as good as them rosters into bone meal.
-Teams with great rosters can use tempo to absolutely destroy people.
-Teams with just okay rosters can slow tempo, be heavy and play good defense to shorten the game.
Truly the list, when you add in scheme to tempo, can go on and on. Weird teams can play tempo and be good. Or banal teams can slow down tempo and be good. Teams can put all their best players on defense and barf on themselves on offense and still be good.
To put it in better context, using the same four examples from above:
-Texas Tech and Kentucky in the highest levels of the Air Raid
-Alabama against A&M and Texas this past season.
-Florida with Spurrier and Meyer.
-Wisconsin, Stanford and Iowa when they’re very good.
And we aren’t even talking scheme or playcalling. This is just plays per game with respect to tempo. It is such a weapon that can ruin you, or elevate you.
2nd Down: Whale Watching Is The Opposite Of Tempo
I went to Maine in 2016 with my good friend, Martin Rickman. He has his own newsletter that is Progressive Isn’t Linear, which is awesome, and just got married. A trip we planned and wanted and couldn’t make because somehow they canceled the flight.
Everyone who made it had fun, we’re so happy for them.
However the point of this 2nd down is the pool is open and this weekend my wife was getting the beach bag ready and found this:
Whale Watching Sucks Shit.
You spend money. You don’t see whales. They say that some ripple in the water is a harbor seal and then give you a voucher that is good for one year to a place you’re never going back to.
Tremendous racket.
An hour to get to where they think there are whales. An hour looking for whales that you never see. Another hour to come back. 3 hours of your vacation evaporated while you take dramamine which also snows the back half of your day. Everyone needs a nap after nothing because of the medicine and the sun.
Don’t do it.
Watch whales on youtube.
The best part of the whale watching was getting Cheez-Its.
3rd Down: Summer Outside Snacks Are A Go
That last sentence was not a joke. The best part of Whale Watching was truly going to the snack bar.
Now, at home we got a snack bar. Since we have neighborhood kids coming over, I have created two spaces where kids get snacks, but are nowhere near my office (and all my equipment and things that cost money, besides my very dangerous tools that I guess I should also put away?!).
Goldfish. Cheez-Its. Chips & Salsa. Waters. Lemonade. Sierra Mist.
Plus little snack pails as containers, solo cups and Ziploc bags.
As I said before, SUMMER SHOULD BE FUN, and I’m here to be the facilitator!
4th Down: Tune Into The Show At 1pm Everyday
I know it is a repeat but seriously, watch the show over at Stadium.
If you have a Samsung Smart TV, check this out:
If you don’t have that, go here and check it out, I really am finding a new enjoyment of football via the NFL and hope folks will go on that journey with me.
Summer is gonna be a fun one. Can’t nobody hold us down, oh no, we got to keep on moving.
Thanks for reading, tell a friend
Cheers!!