To make an enemy, do someone a favor.
All posts by Jim
Tranquility
It is not like i am a dedicated and knowledgeable in meditation.
Oh, i’ve tried a couple of times, even bought a CD that supposedly guided me, with appropriate soothing music, of course, to that zone putting me touch with the…nether world?
i felt rather foolish lying there on my back on the living room rug with this guy, also with a smoothing voice, directing me to think of a special place that would connect me. He gave me breathing directions. Perhaps i was trying too hard. i think it was my favorite place being my briar patch: thank you, Uncle Remus.
Over two weeks, i tried numerous times.
Didn’t work.
The CD with its special cover and written instructions is somewhere in a cabinet somewhere in my garage.
About a year ago or so, i woke up one morning, ready to hop out of bed, although my hopping now is quite a bit slower and less joyous, more like labor. For some reason, i didn’t. i just laid there on my back. i closed my eyes with no intention of going back to sleep. i was thinking about friends and family. Then, i just quit thinking.
Calmness flowed over me. i felt like i was floating. i was at peace, although i wasn’t thinking about my peace nor my calmness nor my floating. i tried to maintain this wonderful feeling. Bad idea. It left. My best but still inadequate description of those moments is tranquility.
Over the year, the experience has recurred, usually not lasting as long as the first one. i told a psychologist about this. He told me that kind of stuff doesn’t happen lying in bed.
But it did.
i’m not trying to tell anyone to try it. Trying didn’t have anything to do with it. i’m not interpreting what it meant in any kind of religious sense. i just felt like telling some folks about the experience.
And i hope it happens again.
Sorry, ESPN
Dear ESPN, i apologize.
i will try from this point on, to refrain from my nasty comments about your programming and announcers (well, maybe just an itty bit). i am, at 82, a true, bona fide, no fooling curmudgeon. i finally realized my whining is useless. You, nor the general public will agree with me. i should not disparage what i don’t understand. i will try to be better, to fit in…no, not fit in: i will always be a pocket of resistance, a seeker of truth, a believer in common sense.
You see, once upon a time, in a place faraway, i was a sports writer and then sports editor. Albeit a short time, i think it gave me a perspective most folks don’t have, and you certainly have not displayed my perception of “sports” since your inception in 1979 and the early days when you focused your athletic events on many off the beaten path — Man, i loved watching Australian football.
i wish i could start a sports journal or a sports section is a good local newspaper somewhere (are there any truly “local” papers anymore?). — Hah, what kind of punctuation is that? Oh, it’s jim jewell punctuation…if he doesn’t edit it out.
This sports section/journal would be about sports. There would be no discussion of the moral turpitude of the players or the coaches. It would contain no mention of contracts, money, politics, and most of all betting and the odds. It would not go into the opinions about officiating good or bad. It would not suggest changing the rules to attract audiences or fit into the money making schemes.
It wouldn’t address the greed that has changed sport. The change in games because of required commercials lasting three times longer or more while the athletes in every sport twiddle their thumbs or listen to their spout intricate tactics hardly ever quite executed as planned.
it wouldn’t chastise the sports moguls for extending seasons beyond the safe zone for the athletes in order to gain more money with more games. Today, Sunday, January 25th, there were two games played in the NFL. One the AFC championship game in Denver in a snow storm. It was stupid football. Had it been played in New England, it would have been worse.
It will not even chastise the interference and control of coaches in the contests rather than let the athletes…you know, the ones on the field actually “playing” to make decisions in the “game.”
This “Sports” section/journal would not spend time disecting the chicanery and bribery involved in the NCAA’s “Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and transfer portals. And it certainly wouldn’t include stories about youngsters as young as four or five being trained to be career athlete at the expense of having a childhood.
And on and on and on.
But this dream of mine would report upon the beauty of sports, all sports; the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat; the phenomenal plays, the incredible physical ability of the players
It’s just a dream, and like Bill Veeck knew, if it became a reality, it would be bankrupt in about two months.
After all, it’s now all about money; it is not about sport or sportsmanship. It’s entertainment.
i think i’m going back to play mumblety-peg.
Pascal on Man
The more see of men, the better I like my dog.
A Good Eve
Two days after my 82nd birthday, i sit with my thoughts after a quiet day pursuing home tasks to complete. Today, was marvelous.
My favorite and most emotional moment came when my grandson, Sam Gander, sent me a text that would make any grandparent tear up. Talking to my two daughters, one in Las Vegas, one in Austin, Texas were real close to Sam’s text in my emotional moments.
A call from my Vandy running mate, Cy Fraser, from Orcas Island, Washington in the San Juan Islands took me back to wonderful times both back in Old Hickory, Nashville, and Lebanon, but our times together since then.
The birthday wishes on Facebook moved me enough to try and thank folks personally rather than sent out a generic thanks. i may have done just that but suspect i may have missed a few while i wrestled with the electronic world.
Maureen and i celebrated on the eve of the birthday. We went to the San Diego Symphony and had a light dinner afterward.
The San Diego Symphony presented Johannes Brahm’s Piano Concerto, No. 1 in D Minor, Opus 15, and Anton Dvorak’s Symphony #7 in D Minor.
Since Mrs. Gwaltney taught me piano for a couple of years, which i gave up after the eighth grade because i was devoted to football. i did go to Peabody College and participate in a recital, playing a classical piece i do not recall. i have been intrigued but not involved with classical music since then. Cy Fraser introduced me to Handel’s “Water Music” and Dvořák’s 9th , “The New World” Symphony while we were at Vanderbilt. They since have been constantly on my play lists, and i keep adding new found ones i enjoy. The two we heard on Sunday have been added.
While listening, i looked about the impressive hall. It was full, nearly all attendees were old, but there were younger folks in the audience. i wore a sports coat but chose not to wear a tie. It didn’t matter. All manner of dress, both men and women, were on display. There was one guy in tee shirt, Bermuda shorts, flip flops, and a baseball cap. i saw several in tuxedos.
Style of dress did not seem to make a difference. .
When the music begin to play, it was, as they say, quiet as a mouse. i compared the silence while the orchestra performed to what was going on in most of the television sets in the country: the NFL playoffs.
None of the symphony attendees were screaming, making weird gestures, and contorting faces. Of course, there were no visible cameras to egg them on. None were booing the the referees, the other team, nor their own team when they played poorly. Of course, the only team was the symphony orchestra, and there were no refs. No one in the orchestra made a play and then self-promoted with silly dances.
Since i was a sports reporter and editor, i’ve always wanted to watch a sports event where no one screamed, made an idiot of themselves, nor booed as if they expected to impact the outcome. That doesn’t happen.
Sitting there on Sunday, i was entranced by the complexity of the music and the flawless coordination of all of the musicians, especially the incredible pianist, Marc-Andrè Hamelin, the guest conductor, Thomas Guggies, and the orchestra.
If you have never been to a symphony performance, i suggest you try it if you can. i think you would enjoy it. And i am sure you would not get hoarse from screaming while listening.