Dear James, Daniel and Emily,
Football Friday
CU Buffs
Well at least there is a chance to put poor Cody out of our misery this weekend. I know Coach says he still might play but I think it might be best for all concerned if he stopped playing at this point. We get a chance to see if Hansen is the answer this week against a Kansas team that barely won a shootout with Iowa State so there is a chance the offense might finally see a spark. And it will need it because the KU offense is not a pushover so our improving defense will have to keep improving this week. I'm not holding my breath, in fact I still think that a 3 win season is the most I can expect right now. But it's a home game and maybe some home cooking will inspire the team to new heights.
Ole Miss Rebels
Crap, what was a promising season has completely disintegrated behind a mess of an offensive line. Snead has no time and no chance with that sorry excuse for blocking in front of him. And there is no running game either. So as good as the Defense has been, it can't win all the games. Maybe they can get a breather and recoup this weekend against UAB, because they are going to need it if they want to get into a bowl, forget the SEC West, that's done.
Denver Broncos
Big Monday night game against the Chargers. Road game, first time really favored this season, maybe getting some expectations. All of that versus a Charger team playing what amounts to a Must win game (must win this early in the season at least). All of that indicates that the Broncos might be in for a let down. But I think that may not happen here. What are the Chargers biggest problems this year? Trouble stopping the run and protecting the QB. What have been the 2 big strengths for the Broncos this year: run game, pass rush. Add in the coaching edge and I think we just might pull this one off.
St. Louis Rams
When the only reason people talk about your team is because a radio celebrity is possibly involved in buying the team it not a good sign. How low can the Rams go? I don't know at this point. I still think a Herschel Walker like trade of Steven Jackson might be a good thing for the future of the franchise and his career. That being said, there is the Any Given Sunday point, and when you are playing a team that just lost 41-0, you never know... ah who am I kidding, chalk up another loss for the Same Old Sorry Rams.
Family Plan
The boys soccer ends this weekend. And there won't be any more activities until January at least. So that leaves me with having to fill Saturday mornings. I have been reading a very interesting book: Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf. Like the title says the book is an exploration of modern 'geek' culture. One of the things that struck me as I read the book was that while I have been known to wave my geek flag high I have not exactly been doing much to pass those things along to my kids. I know that James has developed a fascination with Star Wars, and Lego, but that's pretty much the standard for kids his age. I am talking about the real geek things: D&D, Warhammer, etc.
So I got it into my head that I might take some of this impending Saturday morning time to start educating James on these finder points of 'geekdom'. Then I thought about Daniel, would that be fair to him? Spending all that time focused on James. Then I remembered a fond memory from my childhood a practice my Dad termed 'free days'. Every year for our birthdays and/or Christmas Dad would grant each of us brothers a free day where we could do more or less whatever we wanted and he would foot the bill, drive etc.
Taking that as a guide my plan is to dedicate an hour to each boy (Emily just not being old enough to get much out of this) on Saturday mornings. For that hour the other kids will have to do their own thing (I'll try to focus the timing during nap time for Emily when possible). And the chosen kid will get an hour of my time to do what they want, within limits. I won't sit and watch cartoons for an hour or play computer or console games. But I will play other games, or teach them new games. It's a work in progress and we'll see how it goes, but I am actually kind of excited to see how it goes.
James is getting to the age where I can start teaching him lots of new games. So this could be a real learning experience for both of us. And to be honest it could be really good for me to spend an hour of time with Daniel doing something with him so we can both learn a little more about each other.
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