12 Decadal Highlights: Part 2

Click here for Part 1 and the explanation.

#9: Exercise

Not that I didn't exercise before this decade, but this was the first time I made sustained efforts simply to exercise, even if none of them stuck.  My motivation to get to the fitness center before 6AM in 2003 was to set the TV to Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns before the FoxNews/CNN guys showed up - maybe a little silly, but it worked as well as anything.  I did more walking, biking, racquetball, weightlifting, and basketball (at various times) than I'd ever done before.  Speaking of which...

#8: Played for an undefeated team

In the spring of 2005, I played in a church league on a team of 5 leftover players.  Fortunately two of them had played junior college ball, and the other two were far better than I was.  We went undefeated (including some great overtime games when we had no substitutes) all the way through a 10-game regular season and 4 playoff games.  I was unquestionably the fifth-best of five, but my presence kept us from forfeiting a few games, and I contributed more than that on some nights - you know it's a fun team to play on when the double teams leave the tallest guy open. :-)  But my favorite undefeated team was...

#7: 2005 National Champion UT Longhorns

If your team's ever won a title, you know what I mean.  The rest of my viewing party gave up at 6 minutes to go down 12, but I had faith (although the kind that left me nervous enough to pace the rest of the game).  We drove down by campus afterwards to briefly join the celebration and the feeling was just amazing.  USC's hype and Vince's historic magnificence enhanced the experience incredibly (and made sure it will always repeat on ESPN Classic!).

TOMORROW: So many places, so little time.

12 Decadal Highlights: Part 1

On December 19, I had this grand idea to start a Top 12 list for the decade*, and post each of the remaining twelve days of the decade.  Life intervened, but five days is plenty of time.

DISCLAIMERS:  The list is not ordered by significance.  Also, I will forget important moments - tell me if I'm missing something.

#12: Collected Classic Comics

As a kid, I collected Garfield books, but this decade I bought a few collections that will endure as classics.  Complete sets of Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes sit next to the first 20 years of Dilbert and best of Foxtrot.  I have enjoyed many hours of hilarity and tragic snowman corpses.

#11: Fantasy Became Cool**

3 Lord of the Rings movies, 7 Harry Potter movies, and I saw all but one at their midnight premiere.  There's nothing like the energy of a full theater of anticipation (we'll ignore the Orlando Bloom fangirls who talked through all non-Legolas scenes - I'm still trying to forgive and forget).  I'd waited 15 years for the LotR movies, and they lived up to expectations - Gollum's still the creepiest, most intriguing character who ever snarled on the big screen.

#10: Writing

I'm not putting myself on a level with real writers (even nonprofessional ones who apply themselves), but I made my first serious efforts at consistent writing, and even more dangerously in front of an audience on these blogs.  The story I put on the blog in September feels like the apex, but the hundreds of smaller posts mean just as much looking back.

TOMORROW: Who won a national title over a team that had already been crowned the greatest of all time?



* I opted for the decade because, while this year has had its moments (12 Days of Birthday, taking my cousin's son to see his first Harry Potter movie at the theater, among others), I will not remember 2010 fondly.
** As cool as it will ever get, at least.

My Aunt's Funeral

Yesterday my Aunt Sue's funeral included a long procession to the cemetery along Highway 29.  Along the way about half of the cars going the other way pulled over to the shoulder with their lights on.  We didn't need the room - it's just a tradition of respect for a funeral procession.  I don't know if it's a local tradition or a Texas thing, but I can't describe how much it touched me.  Reminded me of the scenes in Lion King where the animals kneel for Mufasa - not that this was homage to Aunt Sue, just respect for her and her mourners.  I'm not usually a fan of traditions, but I definitely saw the value here.

Sorry if this is a little incoherent.

Curmudgeonly Counting

I was listening to a pledge drive on the radio, and they had several "Challenge Grants" in which anonymous donors put up $5,000 or more if a certain number of callers make a minimum pledge.  Does anyone else calculate the ROI on these things?  One challenge offered $20,000 if 2,000 callers would pledge $360 in an hour.  That's a grant of 1/36, or 2.78%.  Aren't there bonds or CDs that would return more so you could just invest it and give the charity the total return?

I know these are mostly psychological ploys - each of the 2,000 donors can say their pledge was the key to $20,000 - but still.  Building up excitement with the fuzzy math seems even a little dishonest to me.  But I might just be being curmudgeonly.

The Best of Flicks, The Worst of Flicks

I saw a few movies worth mentioning while on hiatus.

The Social Network: Excellently written story about the beginning of Facebook.  No idea if it's true, don't care, loved the script and the characters.  Well-directed, too, to keep the viewer moving along in what's basically a story about nerds and lawsuits.  My wife got to give me the "yeah, that's you" look many times, although sadly not in the getting-rich scenes.

Catfish: People lie.  Even on Facebook.  Even about sex.  That doesn't make them interesting.  I just saved you 90 minutes of your life - use it well.

Never Let Me Go: I've never thought of a movie as haunting before.  Good acting and writing, solid if predictable story, it's affected me more as I've reflected on it than it did in the theater.  If you don't like sad movies, avoid it (not spoiling the ending - the story is just relentlessly grim).

Scalzi's Thinking

John Scalzi is an excellent writer, and demonstrated that skill on his blog today.  You might not agree with everything, but you should check it out: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/10/18/things-i-dont-have-to-think-about-today/

One bit of housekeeping: Sorry I've been gone so long, but thanks Joe for reminding me some of you needed reading material at lunchtime!  I'm planning on reviewing some books and movies, a personal exploration, some objective election information, and less-objective political thoughts.  If anyone has a preference, I'll try to get to that one first - just leave a comment.  Thanks for your patience!

Reperconcussions On My Mind

On Sunday, 5 head-shot tackles took out 6 professional football players, and that's just from the front-page bylines.  The carnage piled up until even the NFL has announced plans to increase penalties.  I hope the NFL is as concerned when a defensive player whines that the new penalties made him give up a game-winning touchdown.

The NCAA should be concerned.  Defensive tackle Eric LeGrand of Rutgers was paralyzed from the neck down after a special-teams hit on Saturday.  Penalties haven't been increased as these players volunteer for their schools and their teammates.  No guaranteed millions or ex-players' associations, although I believe (hope?) universities have a good track record of taking care of their own.

That's 7 people.  At least, in the headlines.  Even if that's all the injuries, a new study indicates damage at much lower thresholds.  Purdue University followed 21 high school football players, and while 4 had concussions, 4 other players with no evident symptoms suffered a greater decrease in cognitive function than the concussed players.  That's high school players with no symptoms.

"We've confirmed what a few other researchers have hinted at: There is something going on and it doesn't manifest itself with symptoms," said the article's co-author Larry Leverenz, a clinical professor in the department of health and kinesiology and an athletic trainer at Purdue. 

The study was too small for statistical significance, but doesn't it suggest we need significant studies?  If the Purdue study is off by an order of magnitude, that's still one in 30 players - 1-3 on each high school team, 3 on each college team, 2 on each NFL team.  And I don't think anyone thinks the effects are that rare.

I hope the NFL's new penalties work.  I hope they find a way to trickle down the effects to college and high school.  Until then, I hope people stop subjecting their children to these unquantified but KNOWN risks.