Somehow it became the first week of November.
For many people the month promises the first bite of winter, the anticipation of Thanksgiving turkey, the time to pull sweaters out of storage and the like — nostalgic images of family gatherings and warming hearths.
The rest of us know that November brings the opening salvos from college football’s playoff committee.
That’s right, tonight we learn where a diverse panel of experts ranks some of our favorite teams. Everything is placed on hold until we find out if they’ve debunked Ohio State’s lofty standing, if they share our faith in Oklahoma State, Memphis or Toledo and so on.
Yes, I spend my Saturday’s in front of the television, at least through the fall and winter. I’m not sure how I survived those terrible days of yore — you know, when a turn of the dial brought Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom into your living room while the animals you truly wanted to see — Nittany Lions, Longhorns, Gators, maize and blue Wolverines, Tigers of many striped colors, Jayhawks — roamed more interesting landscapes.
Yeah, I know. The Jayhawk is not a bird. The University of Kansas borrowed the name given to free-state fighters from the state’s bloody pre-Civil War battles. Likewise the University of Missouri Tigers nickname honors an 1860s militia unit rather than the animal. But knowing there were missed clashes involving Trojans, Red Raiders, Seminoles and the like just deepened the pain.
Sometimes I wonder what guided decisions made in network boardrooms way back when. They forced a potentially captive young audience to seek other diversions. Imagine — their refusal to show dawn to dusk sports forced us outside, where we had to interact with neighborhood kids, ride bikes or play our own games.
And we wonder why kids back then were so fit and active.
But I digress.
I’m told the playoff system worked well last year. The committee selected four teams and Ohio State emerged from the skirmish to claim the national title. Of course, the fifth and six — and likely seventh, eighth and ninth — schools on the list were none too pleased.
So in my spare time I put together a 24-team playoff format, one emphasizing conference titles to discourage schools from padding their records with early season cupcake wins. It works well, includes the existing bowl venues and, of course, will never happen.
Why then even bother working through the details? Or, to put it another way, why did I waste so much of my valuable time?
Good question. Some might say I use televised sports as an excuse to avoid manual labor, tedious activities, shopping and such. There may even be some merit to such an assertion. But I would like to suggest that all of us tinker with problems.
Creating a better college football playoff system on paper is little different than someone piecing together a quilt or carving wood for a handmade chest. Around Lake County there are thousands of clever artists, craftspersons, anglers who learn the secrets of fishing the lake, mountain bikers willing to test a shuddering downhill ride, home brewers honing new recipes, and so on.
That’s a lot of talent. If we turned a portion of it toward solving some of the issues facing Lake County …
Well, some people are indeed putting their creativity to aiding the county’s long recovery from this summer’s fire season. A group of local organizations, along with individuals representing government agencies on various levels, formed the Lake County Valley Fire Recovery Task Force. The first meeting will take place tonight, as well, at 6 p.m. in the Twin Pines Casino Event Center.
When people actively try to solve problems, to find a better way forward, it reflects a sense of optimism — if we can tackle this, what can hold us back?
Yeah, that’s it. Being engaged in a hobby leads to other valuable exercises. That’s how I plan on justifying hour upon hour in front of the television.
