Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sinatra, suburbia, old school jocks, reel mowers


Feeling lousy early afternoon, had to get moving to fight the feeling, not up to yard work so grabbed the dog to go for a drive. The jazz station had a tribute to Sinatra. Been a while since I've listened to a lot of him -- it's so easy to take genius for granted -- but, man, did I remember in a hurry why he's called the Chairman of the Board. Incredible tone and phrasing. He really knows how to communicate a song without putting histrionics in the way. Less is more.

We ended up driving streets we've never been on and ended up on roads outside of town, lost, half the purpose, then twisting our way back to recognizable places. Incredible all the housing and condos that have gone up outside of the city.

Came home in time to see the 4th quarter of a replay of the infamous Cal-Oregon 2007 football game. This is the one where a "new school" Oregon jock blew it by reaching out with the ball instead of protecting it (old v new school), losing it, causing a touchback and giving Cal the game. The gesture perfectly matches the egomania of too many of today's jocks, however, me first instead of protecting the ball for the good of the team. If he had, he'd have been out of bounds on the one foot line and they could have scored the next play.

Feeling a little better on our return, I pushed the mower around a small section of the yard. But maybe even this was too much because now I feel like shit again. The circle is complete.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Between this post and your previous one, my wife's mother was killed in a car accident. We just got back from Tucson last night. It's been a very difficult time. However, I hope you're well. You inspired me to categorise my complaints with Shakespeare in Love. Half are related to historical accuracy, but the other half are not. To be fair, the awful performances can't be blamed on the screenwriter.