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You are here: Home / Sports / College Football Open Thread

College Football Open Thread

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I’m trying to wean myself from football — as I’ve mentioned here before.

Not great success so far, but the goal this year is at least to cut (substantially) the time I spend watching supremely fit young men maul themselves for my entertaintment.

Fortunately, college football just doesn’t work for me and hasn’t for decades, so all I’ve got to do is keep my eyes off the pigskin on Sundays, Monday evenings and the odd Thursday.

Isaac_van_Ostade_002

Failed there on the day before yesterday, but I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Still, I understand that lots here have serious skin in the games our institutions of higher learning (remember that, Scott Walker?) are engaging in right now…so here’s your thread.

Image:  Isaac van Ostade, The Splayed Pig,  [Das gespaltete Schwein], c. 1640-45.  As near as I could get to an illustration of a pre-inflated/deflated oblate spheroid. ;-)

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    I think they use only the skin to make the football. The most intense American football experience I’ve ever had was attending the Lotus Superb Owl party in 1997 at Disney World. As I recall, it was more like being at a picnic than being at a sports event. There was food, food and more food. (And beer, but I don’t do that.) The football seemed kind of an afterthought.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    Wow, the officials just ejected a GA player. On replay it does look like helmet to helmet hit that could have been prevented.

  4. 4.

    Germy Shoemangler

    1912-1916 Buzzer the Studio Cat

    Arnold Genthe, a Berlin-born photographer, worked a New York portrait studio. He sought to capture the human essence of his subjects, to go beyond a “commonplace record of clothes and a photographic mask.” He used an unobtrusive camera and would not tell the subject when he was going to make the exposure.

    He photographed many famous and prominent figures of the time, including Sarah Bernhardt, Jack London, Anna Pavlova and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, even Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

    His cat Buzzer appears in many of his portraits of women. Apparently he offered the cat to his subjects as a prop to put them at ease and produce more natural, unposed images.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    As it’s labeled Open Thread, looky what happened down Mr. Cole’s way.

    Teaching evolution in public schools does not violate the First Amendment, a federal court has reaffirmed.
     
    The ruling settles a curious case brought by a man named Kenneth Smith of Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Smith, representing himself, had filed suit against the Jefferson County Board of Education, the State Superintendent, the National Institutes of Health (and its director, Francis Collins) and the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the his religious freedom rights had somehow been violated because his child learns about evolution in public school. Source

  19. 19.

    phantomist

    What’s with that new hexagonal shape on the front crown of some helmets? Is it purely a design feature or is it a safety feature?

  20. 20.

    PhoenixRising

    Open Thread for Complaints, right?

    Some scuzball stole my kid’s bike out of my open garage, after I unloaded it from tire replacement trip and while I was getting a cool beverage.

    So my local PD, who have a terrible habit of using citizens for target practice, refuse to take a report.

    Because I don’t have the serial number of the (rainbow striped, custom modded) bike. They really just don’t know how to do any fucking thing, do they? Can’t take a report on a stolen bike. Can’t stop moving violators without violating them further. Can’t solve assaults unless the perpetrator is standing over the body explaining why s/he needed killing. Incompetence.

  21. 21.

    PhoenixRising

    @efgoldman:

    the lawyer who brought it ought to be required to copy out all of Dover by hand, ten times.

    What is your suggested punishment for the Liberty Counsel, who keep counseling their clients to defy federal court orders on behalf of Jesus?

    I’d like to see…disbarred from SCOTUS, at a minimum. But some copying by hand couldn’t hurt.

  25. 25.

    Cacti

    Auburn dodged a bullet.

    Jacksonville St. should have won that game, but gagged at the end of regulation. A 16-yard punt?

    Damn kickers.

  26. 26.

    Cacti

    @PhoenixRising:

    What is your suggested punishment for the Liberty Counsel, who keep counseling their clients to defy federal court orders on behalf of Jesus?

    Bar complaints.

  27. 27.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: Just teach the kid what the parent wants, and put one of those StupidStickers* (currently seen in parts of TX and AZ) on the young ‘un’s future college or job applications.

    *Too lazy to link, but they go on the cover, or over some pages, of textbooks that mention evolution or anthropogenic climate change.

  28. 28.

    Origuy

    @efgoldman:

    And the lawyer who brought it ought to be required to copy out all of Dover by hand, ten times.

    The complainant was representing himself, no surprise. Even for a creationist, he’s way out there.

    This is not Smith’s first legal rodeo. Yesterday’s decision noted that he had filed a similar lawsuit in 2007, arguing that the Jefferson County schools had “violated federal law” because they did not include his much-vaunted “mathematical system” in the curriculum.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    My neighbors lawn and landscaping could be on the cover of Better Homes. The husband is now out with the blower and the wife with a broom. They are not the first people that I’ve seen with scissors at the curb edging, but who sweeps their lawn? That’s a little much.

  31. 31.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: A few years back, I noticed leaves on their lawn for three straight days, I almost called to see if they were okay. lol

    I just don’t think that the readers of this blog sweep their lawn.
    I could be wrong though.

  32. 32.

    JPL

    RAVEN, Next time you check in, why do the Vandy fans look like they work in a coal mine. Is their an alternative definition for the Commodores?

  34. 34.

    raven

    @JPL: The “Dores”. My suspicion is that Vandy students are smart and they have better things to do that watch this team. You do notice from the air shots that there are way more Dawgs there?

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    As part of their series about the book “Five Came Back,” TCM showed John Huston’s long-banned documentary about treating returning veterans for PTSD after WWII:

    Let There Be Light (1946)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038687/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

    A lot of the techniques and terminology are outdated (no one talks about “neurosis” anymore) but it’s still quite compelling and sad, but hopeful. Knowing what I do about the history of race relations in this country, I can’t help but wonder if part of the banning was because the film includes the stories of several black soldiers, who are shown sitting in the same rooms as white soldiers and being treated equally.

    It has already aired on TCM, but it’s available to stream via the WatchTCM App through the end of the month.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @raven:

    I don’t think they use a specific term in the movie to explain it — it’s more of a generalized these are men whose wounds are mental rather than physical type of explanation. They do some weird stuff with sodium pentathol and hypnosis, but it seems to help some of the patients.

    According to the book, Huston had some pretty serious PTSD when he came back and would wander around Central Park at night with a gun hoping someone would try to mug him. And George Stevens never really recovered, in part because he was unlucky enough to get the assignment to film the liberation of the concentration camps.

  40. 40.

    KathyinBlueBell

    @JPL: Wow, things have really changed at Vandy since I went there in the ’80’s. Football games required a date and you attended wearing a cocktail dress and your date wore a coat and tie. Drinking started with you date at 11:00 AM. What could possibly go wrong? Probably just as well that tradition is waning.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): A good friend’s dad graduated from West Point and retired Army. He transferred to West Point from Dartmouth because you couldn’t be drafted for WWII. He ended up with a long distinguished career though. Anyway he brought down a video of one of his birthday celebrations a few decades back. Most of the video had to do with his friends talking about that era when they would travel across country and stay in campgrounds. There were not motels and hotels that would let blacks stay in. Tomorrow he turns ninety.
    He is no longer able to travel but I’ve enjoyed many X-mas eves entertaining her family.

  46. 46.

    raven

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): There is a great book called “Remembering Heaven’s Face: A Story of Rescue in Wartime Vietnam” Paperback
    by John Balaban . He so hated the war in general, and McNamara specifically, that he went to Vietnam in an organization that sought to bring badly burned kids to the states for treatment. He writes about coming home and having someone blast their car horn at him. There next thing he knew he had the guy by the throat. He realized that the trauma of the war impacted him as much as anyone else.

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:

    As I recall, it was more like being at a picnic than being at a sports event. There was food, food and more food. (And beer, but I don’t do that.) The football seemed kind of an afterthought.

    Based on this experience you [almost completely] understand American handegg.

    Today was back to pitchside for fall futbol. I need a bigger hard drive, or something. All these pics are killing my computer.

  49. 49.

    JPL

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): That was interesting. Mainly they were talking about when they were transferred to another base. I now wonder if the Army helped them find places to stay. The conversation turned to where they had taken their last vacation and how different it was.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    @PhoenixRising:
    That sucks. Bikes are very personal items, one you love becomes an extension of you. Just Thursday I hit commute day 150 of 2015 on my city bike.

    Our city PD actually takes bike theft seriously. They have on-line bike registration and put out bait bikes in the high theft areas of town. Catch a LOT of bike thieves, many of whom are repeat customers. Bikes still get taken, of course.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @raven:

    Huston had a pretty macho facade, so he didn’t really admit to having problems, but he wrote to friends about it. The Harris book is really good — turns out that making movies in a war zone can fuck you up almost as bad as fighting in it.

    I have The Warmth of Other Suns on my reading list (and my Kindle), but I haven’t gotten to it yet.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Thanks for the head’s up re the Huston film. Will try to catch it online.

    You looking forward to American Masters this Monday and Tuesday? (NYTimes: Review: PBS’s ‘Walt Disney’ Explores a Complex Legacy)

    And big article on him in the business section too. Walt Disney, a Visionary Who Was Crazy Like a Mouse

    Here is something that might surprise you: Walt Disney, that icon of American ingenuity, was in financial straits through most of his career. You probably thought he would have been a business genius — a model for others to study. But Disney was an atrocious businessman, constantly running his company into the ground. At the same time, though, he was a corporate visionary whose aversion to typical business practices led to the colossus that the Walt Disney Company became.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: What a good life, that saw a lot of change.

    Only heard about the Green Book when saw a children’s book about it in a library a few years ago.

    OT: sitting out on the deck with a rum and tonic. It stopped raining midafternoon; even got in a walk (on sidewalks).

  60. 60.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @gene108: Let me guess it was VA, using the Prevent Defense and Notre Dame took advantage. Islamic law for coaches who use the Prevent Defense!

  62. 62.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    So I guess Bob Stoops will be a College Football Analyst next year this time unless the Sooners run the table to a championship.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    Watching OK-TN out of solidarity with a Vol friend, doing look-ins on other games. Mizzou is on the Ocho ESPN3 tonight, so I’m not motivated at this point in the season to track that down. So Oregon-Michigan State it is at 8:00.

  65. 65.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @raven: Somebody ought to tell Coach Bielema maybe concentrating on football instead of bitching about Ohio State. Way to go Rockets!!!

  68. 68.

    qwerty42

    … Fortunately, college football just doesn’t work for me and hasn’t for decades …

    Just the opposite for me. The pros are great, but aside from the occasional (Packer) game, I don’t watch. Collich football otoh can be incredibly exciting. But, no matter. I understand the concern. We may be seeing the end, it just isn’t obvious yet. I will miss it, the game is exciting. But I like BB too and if your team is winning in that, you cannot imagine what it is like (especially if they have been awful for longer than you can remember).

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Elizabelle:

    A lot of people don’t realize that it started as the Disney Brothers Studio until Roy Disney (Walt’s brother) shrewdly realized that Walt was the visionary and should be the face of the whole thing. Walt could tell the story about what he wanted and Roy could talk the bankers into backing it. Like so many Hollywood success stories, it was a partnership, not a “lone genius” doing his own thing.

    And, yes, we already have it on our TiVo schedule. ;-). They did a lot of filming with the Walt Disney Archives, where I do NOT work but know some of the people.

  72. 72.

    ellennellee

    wow, tom; i sincerely appreciate your effort here, but clearly, from the posts dutifully following the command to open thread for the games and focusing completely on them, it fell on deaf ears. and blind eyes, and numb minds? did anyone address your efforts to curb your habit? i didn’t have the patience to wade thru all the game trivia to check.

    still, i do wish you the best of luck in your efforts. perhaps it would help to remind yourself of the following whenever you feel the craving to witness the modern gladiators perform combat for your pleasure:
    1. concussions are real, and dementia pugilistica is awful. i’d list the victims, but mohammed is the most famous. (i know, he boxed and did not play football; but boxing is just the more obviously brutal and barbaric version of the same inhumane impulse we see played out in football.)
    2. consider the gazillions of dollars going into rich fat cat pockets for this spectacle at the expense of these young men’s health. that’s how your TV tuned to that game gets translated. try to think of your efforts as refusing to smoke to keep that money out of the pockets of those sleazy tobacco maggots.
    3. consider the mob mentality of the team competition that is replicated in our political campaign process. there are ways to have respectful competitions that do not devolve into immoral and destructive behaviors, like deflated balls and riots and stampedes, and everything in between.
    4. the entire enterprise of american football has ‘normalized’ misogyny (cheerleaders? really???) and domestic violence to pathetic depths, reducing punishments to sitting out games and paltry financial fines. these things get justified and perpetuated all by and for the game.
    5. i’m all for entertainment but american football has become insane. when i’ve mentioned these things here before, i was smacked down for missing the complexity and strategy of the game. hey, i attended high school in AL when joe namath was at bama; i cut my teeth on that stuff. but that line of argument can be translated to the war level, as well; can we agree that this does not erase or absolve the destruction involved in either arena? not to mention that it’s kind of horrifying to take that angle of fascination with the strategy etc. while ignoring the many levels of destruction?

    i watch not the games, but how folks get so swept up in the whole thing they lose sight what is truly valuable, even beyond those issues listed. too often people don’t realize they’re being taken over by such massive destructive forces. it may seem they’re innocuous, but the parallels with mob rule and ‘us v. them’ are just too creepy.

    on this site, which i love, there is always the appropriate hue and cry against the concussions and the domestic violence and the misogyny and the corruption and exploitation, etc. ad nauseam ad infinitum, but once the season roles around, poof! all those sentiments fly out the window. moreover, there is the sadly predictable resistance when confronted with these contradictions.

    i love the posts, but virtually never comment; just do not have the time. still, this point strikes me as so obvious, yet the pattern persists. i don’t expect any different today, but i do wish tom the best in his efforts to break the habit, no matter his reasoning.

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