It\u2019s almost over with, and not a minute too soon. The NFL gets its slime on enough without adding a soup\u00e7on of inconvenience, and this has been a rough week for the train and the traffic and everything else. I just came from two hours of additional walking patrol to be eyes and ears for the cops so that nothing untoward happens, and the road closures are bad enough without the fact the light rail has been commandeered for stadium travel only. If you normally take the VTA train, you\u2019re on a bus bridge today, and good luck finding it.<\/p>\n
And for all of this, I still have a rooting interest, despite my determination not to watch a minute of the game – I want Denver to lose, partly because of residual venom when I backed them only for them to shit the bed against the Niners, but largely because I don\u2019t want to have to put up with the avalanche of Peyton Manning fellatio if he falls ass-backward into another ring through no fault of his own. One more loss in the championship should shut that down quickly, and offer the added attraction of the hidebound NFL and its media apologists losing their shit over Cam Newton.<\/p>\n
Which is its own problem – I love what Cam Newton does for the league, or to it, but I resent the fact that he\u2019s the living breathing incarnation of why Vanderbilt\u2019s ceiling is nine wins once a century or so. Which is one of the things that made Vandy football so difficult to watch last year and this, and why I largely punched out on college football. \u00a0Now I find myself doing the same thing with basketball – partly because Kevin Stallings is past his sell-by date as head coach and excels at making a nickel out of twenty-five cents, but largely because the SEC cares about one thing and basketball isn\u2019t it – and the caliber of officiating and decision-making reflects that, especially when the ref show blows for 52 fouls in a 40 minute game.<\/p>\n
So what does that leave me with? At least we\u2019re competitive in baseball. Plus, there are a handful of teams and sports that I can engage in and root for without being emotionally over-involved. \u00a0Baseball is at the top of the list, just because you can\u2019t get too high or too low when you have a hundred and sixty-something games to get through in six months. The expectations for the Oakland A\u2019s are about right too; with the Giants having three World Series wins in five seasons, it\u2019s starting to feel a bit like rooting for the house. But the San Jose Giants are immense fun to go watch in person, as are the San Jose Earthquakes. As is the English Premier League, for that matter, and despite all these years of trying I still don\u2019t have a team I\u2019d rather pull for than Fulham, so I don\u2019t have to be too too stuck into any particular result.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the Warriors, Golden State and Santa Cruz alike. That\u2019s a pretty easy lift when they\u2019re defending champs and Golden State is on course to set records for season victories and home winning streak and Steph Curry is the most electrifying man in sports, but I\u2019m not under any illusion that\u2019ll last forever\u2026so just enjoy it while it does. Sadly, though, the featured sports of college athletics are pretty much a no-go zone these days. It\u2019s unfortunate, but it\u2019s what self-care and mental health require.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s almost over with, and not a minute too soon. The NFL gets its slime on enough without adding a soup\u00e7on of inconvenience, and this has been a rough week for the train and the traffic and everything else. I just came from two hours of additional walking patrol to be eyes and ears for … <\/p>\n