Football Woes

One of my constants has been completing an afghan or other project during football season. Three hours a week, listening to the game on the radio, watching on television while knitting, crocheting, embroidering or doing the handwork on a sewn garmet has given a structure to one of my weekend days since my early 20s when I lived in the Salvation Army Residence for Women. In those days it was Monday Night Football. All the knitters and crocheters would congregate in one of the television rooms with our snacks and sodas and hooks, needles and fingers would work away while we chatted, commented on the game commentary only to finally stagger away sometime after eleven to our respective rooms. It was during this time that my nascent knitting skills really took off. But ever after starting with the preseason, I start or pick up a wip.

The Washington Redskins are my local team. It’s been evident for the last ten years but this season the something is wrong with this organization has gone from a suspicion to a conviction. For fifteen or so years, we watched the team never quite make it, never be quite the serious contender they were in the 70’s and 80’s. We’ve watched players who’ve struggled to succeed go to other teams to not only survive but to thrive.

After today’s game the post mortem by commentator’s and fans has been brutal and rightly so. The team isn’t scoring touchdowns, the play calling is mystifying and relations between the team and the press are at a nadir. The only good thing that can be said is there doesn’t seem to be any fractures in the team itself. But there are clearly issues in the coaching and management staff.

I’m not one of those fans that require a win to be happy. What makes me happiest is the effort. And what in the last couple of years has made me a less than enthusiastic supporter of the team is there doesn’t appear to be “effort”. So today instead of curling up with a wip, I stayed at the computer and did some work for work and listened to the game on the radio. I’ll save my knitting time for tonight’s instalment of Inspector Lewis on PBS.

Tricycle Magazine Book Club is reading Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind starting tomorrow. This was one of the first books on Buddhism I read. Can’t remember if I finished it, but I’m taking the book club read and discussion as an opportunity to get reacquainted.

On Friday night instead of cozying up to watch the two-hour line up of PBS public affairs shows, I watched a baseball game. Took me a bit of time (and a check on the Internet) to figure out that the World Series hadn’t started; but while I’ve never been really interested in the “game” itself, the play calling has always had a liturgical rhythm to me.