Saturday, August 24, 2019

Football Counter-Programming 2019: Week 1


First, let me apologize.
When I sat down to write last week's preseason post, I automatically and without thinking started looking for a marching band image. But once the post was up, I realized I had fallen down on the job and not gone far enough to set this new season of Football Counter-Programming apart from last.

And that is on me.

If I am not going to set a high standard for this bit of weekly nonsense, who else is? I know it isn't really accomplishing anything because college football continues on its merry way each and every week of the fall every trip around the sun. Everyone continues to expect Alabama to win and everyone puts The [c.] Ohio State University in the preseason Top 5. EVERY. YEAR it keeps on happening. And the boosters say inappropriate things and do semi-illegal things. And EVERY. YEAR your televisions fill up with oblong sports ball. And its always just a prelude to professional National Football and every year, every year, every single year!

So, no. I am under no delusions that my little blog experiment will make anything change ever.

Especially when, last week, I had a clear set of ideas for what I might write about on week 1. But tonight when I sat down to start typing, I quickly realized that I had no idea at all. (Which you should all be expecting by now . . . as that is my modus operandi.)

But yeah, I sat down to try and determine what my visual theme would be--since I wasn't going to duplicate last year's theme again this season. I'd already done "football + nerd" and "football + band", then "weird imagery", and then just straight-up "marching band".

So, I am going to try using the keywords "anti-football" as that is the spirit of my experiment. And wouldn't you know I get lots and lots of soccer. But I won't be leaning on soccer every week. And maybe I'll find a better keyword search at some other point when inspiration happens to strike. (And I guess it's not a violation of the theme if I am saying upfront that the theme might end up being "no theme?")

What else?

I haven't committed to start the Fall TV Preview posts yet. That may get done before September comes and goes. As I've said in the past, it is harder to craft a border around that idea now that TV has so thoroughly atomized itself into individual quarks of entertainment. Maybe I can be the Einstein that spends the rest of my fruitless life trying to craft the General Theory of Televised Entertainment? (Or maybe I come up with some half-baked science theme for this years Fall TV posts? If you have suggestions, I would appreciate a commented direction . . . if you are even reading down this far in the post.)

Anyway. I guess that is it for tonight. It's a lackluster start. Just like your alma mater's less than perfect performance against a mediocre opponent. But just remember, all that matters in the first part of the season is that you show up and don't screw up. Let muscle memory take over and help get you limbered up for when it really counts in Month 2.

Until next time!


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