Football

Yesterday I heard on NPR's All Things Considered that NFL players are confused about the league's decision to actually enforce the existing rule against dangerous hits. 

I don’t think I want to get into why the players – who, God knows, have suffered many injuries, and seen enough serious injuries, and serious after-effects, among their peers – might be confused.

What upsets me are these player statements:

From an AP article posted on NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130672660 ): 

"The guys who have had the knack to lay somebody out, I consider it a talent in itself," Broncos safety David Bruton said. "I feel as though these deterrents would be depriving them of the chance to showcase their abilities."

On the subject of head-to-head hits, Miami linebacker Channing Crowder said the only way of preventing helmet-to-helmet hits is to eliminate the helmet. "If I get a chance to knock somebody out, I'm going to knock them out and take what they give me," Crowder said. "They give me a helmet, I'm going to use it."

From an NPR-produced piece by Tom Goldman (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130757477 )

Lawyer Milloy, a defensive back for the Seattle Seahawks, said "You know, going into a game, am I thinking about it? I'd be lying by saying that I wasn't, you know. How do I tackle this guy? You know, can I have the woo hits like, you know, Ronnie Lott used to talk about? Theyre really taking that out of the game, and that's a shame." (Tom Goldman explained that to listeners: "The woo hits were what Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott called the violent hits that made the entire stadium go woo.")

It's appalling.

I stopped following pro hockey in the 1970s, because the Philadelphia Flyers, then an NHL expansion team, put their Goon Squad on the ice. The Goon Squad's job was to win games for their team by intimidating opponents, starting fights (or escalating them) and making hits with the express purpose of putting opposing players out of the game. The team and the press called them "The Broad Street Bullies." They were thugs, pure and simple.

The NFL players who think that “laying someone out” is a valuable talent, who will “knock somebody out” at any opportunity, and who believe that a big "woo” factor is a good thing, are thugs. The more of them that are suspended, fined or dismissed from football, the better.

A day in Boston and a mission accomplished

In early September my BWFF (Best Work Friend Forever) Sophia said "You haven't gone on vacation and you still have vacation money left.  Spend some going to see "Wicked" in Boston."  I love the sound track, so I decided to do it.

Despite the fact that there's a restaurant on the street level, the Opera House building must be behind the restaurant and above it, because you walk in the Opera House door and up a few steps, and turn right and lo! You're in the Opera House lobby, and many stairs later, you find your seat in the front row of the balcony.  I think that must be behind the top row of windows.  But maybe not.  I don't know.

There are no bad seats in the Boston Opera House. They say it, and it's true. On the other hand the sound doesn't carry through the house evenly.  But I do love the sound track, so almost all of it was familiar.  It's a good story (the Oz prequel, by someone else, not L. Frank Baum, about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West) and the singing by the two female leads is out of this world. There are many homages to The Wizard of Oz, and the story (and show) ending is unexpected.  The staging is terrific - Les Mis and Lion King raised the bar on staging and visual effects, and there are neat stage things galore. A good show!

Boston is a good 3 hours from Brookfield (assuming no traffic problems) but I only had to drive an hour each way.  Knitting friends told me about the Dartmouth Coach, a bus service from Dartmouth College to Boston.  Getting there and back cost a little more than $60 - $15 for all-day parking in Hanover NH (where Dartmouth is), $45 for a same-day round trip, and a couple of subway fares on the Boston MBTA.  The hour of driving is to and from Dartmouth.

I left at 7:45 am, caught the 9:00 bus, was in Boston by 11:30, ate a food court lunch, and wandered up and down Washington Street (big downtown shopping street) in Boston, and then took in the Boston Common.  It was a glorious and very windy day. I got one picture (above) and then the batteries died, and although I'd brought knitting I forgot about camera batteries.  In Boston Common there were men in colonial garb leading walks and talking about life in Boston during the Revolutionary times. The two I heard were either actors or re-enactors, because they were playing their roles to the hilt.  Boston also has handsome police horses (Metropolitan Mounted Patrol), but no batteries, no pictures ...

The show ran from 2pm to 5pm. Afterward I went to a restaurant in Chinatown for dinner, then back to the bus terminal for some serious knitting (what else to do from 5:45 until the bus came at 7:15??). The bus left at 7:30 pm, arrived in Hanover at 10 and I was home by 11. The bus provides single-serving bags of pretzels, bottles of water, wireless, music, and a movie ("Invictus" on the way down and "Date Night" on the way back).  I didn't do the movies: I knit all the way down and slept most of the way back, which is why I'm still awake at 12:40 am Sunday.

Not having to drive to Boston and back in one day made the entire excursion worthwhile. I  might think about doing it again sometime, for tourist purposes.  My only other trip to Boston was in 7th or 8th grade, with a church youth group, and I don't remember anything except that it rained the whole time. 

Mission Accomplished

Now it's 6:25 pm.  I finally got the wood stacked.  I just told myself to go out there and do it. 4 hours of serious work.  This wood is a pain in the neck. 

Tim's Fall Foliage pictures

Tim came to Vermont at exactly the right time.  The fall colors literally came and went over that weekend. Tim arrived on Thursday night, just as the color became evident. The peak color was Friday and Saturday, and began to fade (dramatically) on Sunday.  He got the good "fall color" pictures, and should put them on Facebook so everyone can see them.

Rochester Hollow Road, Braintree

 Rochester Hollow Pond

Thayer Brook Road, Braintree

Churchill pasture trees

Gorgeous golden tree

And let us not forget Ernie

Thanks, Tim!!

more fall colors

From midway down Daley Hill, looking toward Killington

Fall colors

Daley Hill (West St approaching Churchill Rd)

Just in time ...

It's been a dry August and September. When we were working in the gardens, Tim remarked about how dry the soil was. The brook was one step above a trickle.  I could walk in the brook without having the water come over my garden shoes.

Remember the stream bed recovery project?  The one just finished? The rain coming up from the south finally arrived on Thursday and Friday.  Mostly Friday.  The water in the creek rose by more than a foot.

and then spread out into the new, wider, deeper channel.