Some Things Never Change

I ran across this iconic cartoon today.  It's still one of my favorites.

Here we are.  Another football Sunday. Next to the last one for this season.  I, for one, am very happy to see it end.  I am not a college football fan.  Was one when I was in college at U of R and for a few years afterwards while Buster O'Brien was QB and Walker Gillette was his wide receiver. The year U of R was Southern Conference Champion and they went to the 1968 Tangerine Bowl, I was pregnant with my son and my dad thought I was going to have the baby that day, I was yelling so hard with every play.

Walker was drafted #15 in first round by the Chargers and went on to play for them, the Cardinals and the NY Giants.  He retired in 1976.  Buster was named MVP of that game -- a game he almost didn't play because the league officials first tried to say he was not eligible because he was a graduate student.  He was studying pre-law at U of R.  He never made it onto a regular roster with an NFL team and later went into politics.  Together the two guys were magic on the football field for U of R.

I have never felt that kind of excitement for any Richmond team since then, although I will say I followed them while Barty Smith was their fullback before being drafted and going on to be drafted in the first round by the Green Bay Packers in 1970 and played for them until he retired in 1976.

I have always been a pro football fan.  I began watching them as a pre-teen when we lived in Pittsburgh and I loved the Steelers.  Terry Bradshaw is still my favorite player of all time -- and favorite sports personality even now.  After we moved to Richmond, I became a Redskins fan.  My favorite of their players over the years was QB Billy Kilmer.  Couldn't stand...and still cannot abide Joe Theisman.

And since moving to Tampa Bay area, I have had a love-hate relationship where the Bucs are concerned.  Loved the Tony Dungy years, hated all the years since except for Gruden's first year.  I am hoping Lovie Smith and his coaching staff will make it the kind of team we can be proud of again -- not because of wins, though that would be nice.  But a team built of men of character like Derrick Brooks and John Lynch -- not the thugs that have recently populated the ranks of that team and so many others in the NFL -- and even college teams now.

So I'm looking forward to the Olympics.  We've even set up our laptops with our Aquos HD TV to stream events live in their entirety.  I love watching most of the winter Olympics, but especially the ski jumping, snow boarding,  toboggan events, and all the ice skating.  And after the end, we'll be into the NASCAR schedule (Jeff Gordon's my fav) and then the Tampa Bay Rays will begin another great baseball season.  First game of the regular season is on my birthday, March 31st.  I am hoping I will be there to watch our boys take the field!

That's my Sunday musings about sports.  And it all started with seeing that Peanuts cartoon and thinking about having to sit through an afternoon of football watching games between teams I care nothing about, picking up my laptop, and deciding it was more interesting than the TV this afternoon.