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Saturday, January 6, 2018

The Writer's Life 1/6 - Football & More

Is anyone on planet Earth luckier than Jon Gruden, who is about to sign a $100 million dollar contract to coach the talent-rich Oakland Raiders, who underachieved mightily in 2017? The former wunderkind, now 54, led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory in 2003. He was fired after the 2008 season when the team collapsed down the stretch. In 2009 he became the analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football. His work was frequently cited as weak by NY Post sports' media columnist Phil Mushnick. I didn't catch many of the games he covered. In those I did, his commentary was ordinary. His record as a pro coach, which includes a prior stint with the Raiders when they were in Oakland, is a decent 100-85. It will probably improve, although expectations and the pressure to fulfill them immediately will be high.


Here's why I can't get excited about the college football playoffs. Alabama and Georgia suffered only one defeat each - to Auburn. Auburn lost to undefeated University of Central Florida in the Peach Bowl. I know that comparing schedules is not a full-proof method of evaluation, and it's highly doubtful UCF would have won every game had they played in a conference like the SEC, but it seems their self-declaration of a national championship has validity, and reinforces the criticism that a four-team playoff is not enough. The field should be increased to at least eight, and the playoffs should begin in mid December using minor bowl games that now host teams that finish .500, sometimes below.

Since mail delivery has been affected by the Cyclone Bomb, I didn't receive a DVD from Netflix this week, so last night I gave a couple of TV series a shot. The Macgyver reboot was more annoying than entertaining, strained camaraderie, much political correctness. 9-1-1, which debuted a few nights ago, was reprised. The opening scene was terrific, a young woman threatening to jump to her death. Soon, another featured a young fireman driving a truck solo, chasing down a beautiful woman in a fancy car. They had sex in the truck and parted. As stupid as that was, I told myself to give it a chance. Halfway, a married dad of two came out as gay at the breakfast table. Bye bye.

It was colder today than yesterday. I spent less than an hour doing chores, which included more shoveling. The toes of my left foot were numb by the time I got back to the apartment. If the forecast is correct, there will be one more day of extreme cold, then a wintry mix on Monday and, finally, temperatures in the 40's on Tuesday. Saturday is usually laundry day, but parking is even tougher than usual at present, so I stayed put. Moving the old Hyundai most likely would have led to even more shoveling upon my return home.

As expected, the proof copy of Present and Past was not delivered yesterday. In fact, I didn't get any mail the past two days. I've been doing a lot of reading and a difficult crossword puzzle each day. I've also completed the first sweep of next year's novel, Inside Out, eliminating the most obvious errors. There were plenty, at least one per page. The manuscript was done on a typewriter which, of course, did not have the awesome corrective functions now at our disposal on a PC. I scanned it into the first computer I owned. Everything has gotten easier for writers except getting a book accepted by a big publishing firm, and making a decent living at the craft. Those do not mean much to me anymore.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
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