The Return of Football Season, or Why Football Should Be Replaced By Futbol

Well, football season is upon us again.  Though if you watch ESPN or any other major sports network/website/blog you'd think it never left us.  But for some reason, or many reasons, I do not seem to care that much this year.  It is Aggie game day, and while I plan to watch the game, I am not as pumped as I was in years past.  What is going on?

A big part, I know, is because of how well the Astros are doing. 

For the first time in a long time, they are sitting atop the division into September.  Just last night I attend the game - a thrilling 8-0 spanking of the Twins that included a monstrous home run by Colby Rasmus, a grand slam by Hank Conger, and most importantly the return of George Springer since before the All-Star Game. 

It was exciting, fairly well attended after people made their way through traffic, and, for something different, relatively painless since the Astros took the lead early and never looked to give it up.  But baseball has always been clearly #1 for me, so I would say that is a marginal difference.

Another big part of it is simply being in the seminary.  I do not have as much (or any) free time as I did before to spend on sports.  What free time I do have is much more consumed by baseball and other things.  I can say with a fairly free conscience that I know only a handful of starters for the Aggie football team, have no expectations for them, and am about the same way for the Texans and Packers. 

A final large contributing factor is that soccer is clearly my second favorite sport now.  I started watching with the 2010 World Cup. 

Before then I was the typical American: "every game ends 0-0, how boring!  Nothing happens."  When I actually started watching and learning the game, I realized that mentality could not be further from the truth.  There is a reason it is the world's game!  Unlike football, which over 4 hours has only about 10 minutes of actual action, soccer has roughly 80 minutes of action in a 90 minute match.  You cannot take your eyes off of it or you will miss something.  Football? Call me when they're in the red zone (that's why about four years ago I started watching the red zone network and now that's about the only way I can stomach an NFL Sunday any more).  My love for the beautiful game has not diminished just because I am in the seminary and the Astros are doing well.  So maybe this is the biggest reason?  I no longer am interested in watching huge hulks of men stand around in committee meetings (as George Will says) for endless stretches of time for between 20 seconds of actual game play.

One of the great things about soccer is that it is so easy now to watch it in the States.  For the past few years NBC has owned rights to the English Premier League, and they have assured that every game is televised and easily accessible online.  In fact, Americans can watch more EPL than Englanders!  If the EPL is not your thing (and really it should be) Fox Sports just picked up the Bundesliga, or you can always hunt down La Liga or Serie A. 

I suppose this is as good a time as any to give my soccer testimonial.  So yes, I started watching with the 2010 World Cup.  I still not know much about the game when I went on my dissertation research trip to Europe that fall.  While over there, I started to sense the love of the game and made the decision while in Florence (city of my dreams) to start following Fiorentina. 

Back then it was easier to do so when I returned to the States because ESPN owned the rights and I could usually catch their matches.  I soon realized I need to pick an English team, for language reasons if nothing else.  As a good historian, I started to do my research.  All I knew was I would never pick Manchester United, the Yankees of England. 

I started watching as many matches as possible to see as many different clubs as possible.  I quickly came down to three possibilities.  1. Manchester City: I loved their style of play and they had a lot of exciting young players, but they were kind of the in-thing at that time and it kind of felt like all the Red Sox bandwagon fans in the mid-00s. 

2. Stoke City: they played a completely different style and had a couple of Americans.  Plus, how could you not love the gangly 6'7" Peter Crouch?  

3. Everton: they had the great American hero Tim Howard in goal and were one of those small market clubs that always fought to the end - for baseball fans think Billy Beane's Oakland A's.  Soon, they clinched it by agreeing to loan the great American Landon Donovan.  Howard and Donovan on the same club?  SOLD! 

Since then, I have been a Toffee through-and-through.  Ups and downs, goods signings and bad, the departure of Moyes and the excitement of Martinez followed by his disappointment.  As a mid table club you have the fun of challenging the big clubs with the excruciating reality that they will steal, or try to steal, your best players.  I found that out early on when my favorite non-American Marouane Fellaini was sold to that hated Man U.  But I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'd rather live and die with a fun mid level team than get tired of winning all the time with a front runner.  I guess that is the Revolutionary American, or perhaps the Pole, in me.

So, Gig 'em Ags.  BTHO Arizona State.  But mostly, COYB!

Who do you think you are, and what do you think you are doing?

I figured I should probably explain what I intend with this little blog.  I meant to post this earlier but my first week of second Pre-Theology was wicked busy.

Let me start with me.  I am an introvert, which does not mean what you think it means.  In fact probably the opposite.  I actually have a lot to say, because I think about things a lot.  I basically live in my head, constantly analyzing things around me, categorizing, researching.  Since I am an introvert, I rarely ever talk about these things, I just keep them to myself.  Or sometimes I write them down so I do not forget about them.  That's kind of what I think this will be.  All of my little musings I have in my head, but this time down on paper, or on the internet, or whatever, so I don't have to hold on to them.  And perhaps someone will find them interesting.

I also like to organize things, just not my room.  I have all kinds of lists of things, movies, baseball players, music, etc, that I have made to help myself organize my thoughts.  I guess this comes from having a mathematical, analytical brain.  Instead of just keeping these to myself, sometimes I might want to share them with others to see what they think.  And since I generally don't talk about them, again this might be a good vehicle.

Also, I am a writer.  Maybe not a good one, but still.  It's a gift and a curse.  I speak much more thoughtfully and, I think, more eloquently through the written word.  So, again, this.

What do I want to write about?  All kinds of things that interest me.  Or things that I observe.  Or things that happen to me.  What kinds of things interest me?  Some of the usual: sports, particularly baseball, movies, movie scores, other music, the Catholic faith, etc.  But perhaps you already know that since you probably know me a little if you are taking the time to read this.  But maybe some day I will just have a thought, say about traveling, or cooking, or something much less exciting like driving in Houston traffic.  Maybe I will write about that too.  We will see.

Who am I? I guess that goes back to the first point.  Let me end with me.  That way I am the first and last word, kind of like how Houston was the first and (almost) last word spoken on the moon.  Well right now I am a seminarian in the second year of Pre-Theology for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.  What that means is, at some point I received a Bachelor's in something but now I need two years of philosophy before I can study theology.  But maybe you already knew that.  What is my degree in?  History.  In fact I have a PhD in History.  The History of Technology, specifically focused on Spaceflight History.  And I taught for a few years.  But maybe you already knew that.  I went to Texas A&M University for my undergraduate years, so I am a die-hard Aggie.  But maybe you already knew that.  I was born in Houston, but we moved to Massachusetts for five years before moving back to College Station, Texas, during my freshman year of high school.  But maybe you already knew that.  I am also a sports nut.  Since I can remember I have loved baseball.  My mom loves to tell the story that I learned how to read by placing the sports page on the floor of the living room every morning and reading all the box scores.  This was before I went to kindergarten.  I used to like basketball, but grew out of that when I went to high school, was all of a sudden too short to play, and Hakeem Olajuwon was nearly done.  Then football became my second sport.  I started watching the Packers because my mom is from up there and I liked Brett Favre (the traitor).  Then the Texans came.  But I have slowly lost interest in football, coinciding with my newfound love of futbol.  I started watching soccer during the 2010 World Cup, then decided to follow an English Premier League club.  I had no idea who to follow, just not Manchester United.  After a few months, I decided on Everton for reasons I may get into in a future post.  Soccer is now by far my second favorite sport. 

If you already knew all of that about me, then stop stalking me.  It's kind of creepy.  I need some space.  But really, hopefully you will find something in my writing here that will be of interest.  Feel free to ask questions.  Feel free to propose topics.  Feel free to argue with me.  Just please do not do those things face to face.  I despise human interaction.

(I find it necessary to interject, in case my sarcasm did not come across, that I do not actually despise human interaction.  In fact in many ways I hate that computers and the internet are dehumanizing us so strongly and making it even more difficult to carry on conversations.  It took a lot for me to embrace the idea of a blog because it goes against some of my beliefs.  In short, this whole thing is an experiment, and may blow up in my face or deflate like a balloon.  Note to my note: yes I intentionally did not make a Tom Brady deflate joke because I think that whole thing is stupidly blown out of proportion.  Thanks ESPN.)

NP: Mission: Impossible - The Television Scores (3/5 stars)