4 Hard Downs: Playground Gear, Survival, Mistakes and Thanksgiving Is Coming

There is a big day before Christmas folks, get ready for it. Plus Playground Starter Pack and Mistakes Change Games

Went to the playground on Sunday morning after we lost an hour and obviously no kid, or in some of your cases, pets, understand. Got to see, in the wild, one of the things we’ve joked about on Hand In The Dirt:

Mismatched brands all over. If I had to create a “Sunday morning playground” starter pack it would be:

Sure moms in Hokas and On Clouds too. But the big jeans or the yoga pant with the phone pocket are undeniable.

More importantly, notice the arms crossed dad.

T-shirt, relatively short shorts, cap (granted no one was rocking an FoG but me [caps but make them fashion]).

That is and was absolutely me. I use the bezel ring on my watch to see how long we are there. Not because I don’t want to be there, but because without any friends and just going up and down a slide, how long is she going to stay here before she wants lunch, water, iPad or books.

30 minutes. That’s how long. 10 minutes to warm up mentally to get on the slide. 15 minutes of sliding and waiting to use the slide behind little kids whose dads have to lift them up to get on the slide. 5 minutes of “just one more” before we leave and she wants water and to be home.

With wanting water and to be home, teams are making that decision for themselves by losing games with respect to the playoff, so SPOT THE BALL!!!

1st Down: Weekend Of Survival

Let’s start with the end, who did not survive:

-Pitt
-Clemson
-Texas A&M
-Penn State
-Kansas State
-Iowa State

Who did survive:

-Tennessee
-Georgia
-Miami
-Ohio State

A few of these teams, Iowa State, Penn State, Pitt and even A&M are still alive because they are only 1-league loss teams. However, as we get to tomorrow, the rankings, how this weekend treated them is going to matter. SMU beat the wheels off Pitt. Iowa State and Kansas State lost to teams in Texas Tech and Houston respectively that no one believes in. Penn State’s loss is “respectable,” I guess.

Survival matters.

For college football there is 1 number, with few exceptions (LSU 2007, FSU 2023) that matter and it is the number under the L in the W-L column. Tomorrow is going to be bananas.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

2nd Down: Mistakes Are Terrifying

Speaking of bananas, had to pick some up today because we made banana bread muffins, which used all our current super ripe bananas. What was really bananas was the Cocktail Party.

Two sides to this coin, speaking to The Cocktail Party. Carson Beck made mistakes, as did his pass catchers and he and that team looked mortified for about 42 minutes of football. Then Florida makes a mistake after flexing their nuts all game:

Thanks Disney. This shit look like Benny Hill. The Gators have a bad snap on a play where they can take the lead with 18 minutes to play. The rest is history by way of a 34-20 UGA win.

That’s all it takes to turn a monumental moment into severe trauma. Beck was bad all game. Georgia’s offense was bad almost all game. Yet, when Florida had a shot to feel good about themselves they dribbled down their leg and then panic set in and that terror was real. We could see it on their faces, including Billy Napier’s.

3rd Down: I Am Fine With The Touchback Rule

Nothing epitomizes the protagonist vs antagonist relationship between offense and defense like the touchback rule. Most folks think the offense shouldn’t be punished for committing a Cardinal Sin of football, fumbling. Basically, “Well what if we didn’t punish them for fumbling the ball, we just gave it to them where they made a huge mistake and let them keep trying to score.”

To me, that’s a joke. “What if we didn’t make a coverage bust?” or, “What if we didn’t miss that tackle?” let’s just bring the ball back to where we did a very bad thing and don’t reward the offense with the yardage or the points.

Thanks Fox

Obviously, that didn’t bite Will Howard too hard, because they still won. However, why do people feel sympathetic and empathetic about offense so much so that they think he should get to keep the ball where he lost it?

Why, more importantly, should we not reward the defense, and the team in general, for a tremendous effort out of Zakee Wheatley? This is a very clear reason of why I feel how I feel about the protagonist and antagonist situation defenders are up against on a week-to-week basis.

4th Down: Take Your Steps To Thanksgiving

This weekend I checked a few boxes, started with making a turkey stock that I will freeze:

I also made some cornbread to be frozen, first round for stuffing and will make another one closer that I leave out over a few nights:

Champions are built in the offseason and given how Christmas decorations are already going up for people, seems like most folks don’t think Thanksgiving is even a season.

Just an afterthought.

So if you come out and absolutely crush it on Turkey Day, you’re gonna be a hero, and that’s the goal.

Basically, if you show up to someone’s house with a banger turkey, amazing stuffing, incredible mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, great greens or an amazing sweet potato pie; while they have an inflatable santa in their yard, you win.

Cheers!!!