July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
It could be a long season
Back in the Saddle
It could be the longest football season in Indiana history.
Just ask any Colts fan.
And on top of Peyton Manning’s neck problems, add last minute losses for IU, Purdue, and Notre Dame, not to mention a loss by Ball State on Saturday.
It was a rough weekend on the gridiron for Hoosiers all around.
So what do you do when faced with a Peyton-less NFL opener?
I washed the cars.
Knowing what lay ahead, I started about an hour before game time. I washed my wife’s car first, taking my time and giving it a shine. Then I washed mine, again taking my time.
But by the time I came in for a late lunch, the Colts were already behind by 10.
So a dreary afternoon stretched before us, in spite of the sunshine, and memories of the pre-Peyton era of “Lord, help our Colts” came flooding back.
The game was on, but our hearts weren’t in it.
I picked up the Nook I received for Father’s Day and started reading.
(For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I’ve undertaken to make my way through “War and Peace.” I’m about halfway through, but when faced with the struggles of the Colts in Houston, Napoleon’s ill-fated march to Moscow in 1812 took on fresh appeal.)
At halftime, I made my usual call to our daughter Sally in Bloomington to talk about the game. I told her — facetiously — that her mother was on the roof in a state of despair and needed to be talked down before she jumped. Sally felt like jumping too. We all did.
Connie moved out to the garden in the second half to do some weeding.
Occasionally, she’d hear a shout or a moan from me through the window as passes were dropped and the Texans’ running game cut through the Indianapolis defense like a knife through butter.
Once or twice, I went out to give her an update on the score. But since I wasn’t delivering good news, she wasn’t much interested in hearing from me.
Later, after gardening and Tolstoy failed to provide adequate distraction, we focused our attention on plans for Thanksgiving dinner, which promises to be a very busy event. As of the latest count, there will be 14 of us. And at our house, that’s a lot of people to seat around a table.
We rejected the idea of having people seated in two rooms, because we know everyone wants to be in the same room as the baby.
Eventually, as a further distraction, we actually moved furniture around in the family room and brought in the kitchen table, proving to ourselves that the November dinner could work.
Anything to avoid watching the game.
In the end, we made it through a 34-7 afternoon. But it’s going to be a long season, and the Colts play a tough schedule this year.
Maybe I should just open a car wash and be done with the NFL.[[In-content Ad]]
Just ask any Colts fan.
And on top of Peyton Manning’s neck problems, add last minute losses for IU, Purdue, and Notre Dame, not to mention a loss by Ball State on Saturday.
It was a rough weekend on the gridiron for Hoosiers all around.
So what do you do when faced with a Peyton-less NFL opener?
I washed the cars.
Knowing what lay ahead, I started about an hour before game time. I washed my wife’s car first, taking my time and giving it a shine. Then I washed mine, again taking my time.
But by the time I came in for a late lunch, the Colts were already behind by 10.
So a dreary afternoon stretched before us, in spite of the sunshine, and memories of the pre-Peyton era of “Lord, help our Colts” came flooding back.
The game was on, but our hearts weren’t in it.
I picked up the Nook I received for Father’s Day and started reading.
(For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I’ve undertaken to make my way through “War and Peace.” I’m about halfway through, but when faced with the struggles of the Colts in Houston, Napoleon’s ill-fated march to Moscow in 1812 took on fresh appeal.)
At halftime, I made my usual call to our daughter Sally in Bloomington to talk about the game. I told her — facetiously — that her mother was on the roof in a state of despair and needed to be talked down before she jumped. Sally felt like jumping too. We all did.
Connie moved out to the garden in the second half to do some weeding.
Occasionally, she’d hear a shout or a moan from me through the window as passes were dropped and the Texans’ running game cut through the Indianapolis defense like a knife through butter.
Once or twice, I went out to give her an update on the score. But since I wasn’t delivering good news, she wasn’t much interested in hearing from me.
Later, after gardening and Tolstoy failed to provide adequate distraction, we focused our attention on plans for Thanksgiving dinner, which promises to be a very busy event. As of the latest count, there will be 14 of us. And at our house, that’s a lot of people to seat around a table.
We rejected the idea of having people seated in two rooms, because we know everyone wants to be in the same room as the baby.
Eventually, as a further distraction, we actually moved furniture around in the family room and brought in the kitchen table, proving to ourselves that the November dinner could work.
Anything to avoid watching the game.
In the end, we made it through a 34-7 afternoon. But it’s going to be a long season, and the Colts play a tough schedule this year.
Maybe I should just open a car wash and be done with the NFL.[[In-content Ad]]
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