YOU COACH TO THE TEAMS ON YOUR SCHEDULE


Since Nebraska will be playing in the Big Ten for the first time this season, the locals are mixed on how well the football team will do this season. Many football fans think even with a down Michigan and a wounded Ohio State that the Huskers are in for a rude awakening when the conference season starts. A lot of the negative talk about the football team rests on the perceived lack of depth in the old Big 12 (which is down to 10 teams) conference compared the perceived strength of the Big 10 (which now has 12 teams!) conference and its teams. Personally, I think they both were about even in that regard. But there are differences between the way that football is played between them.


The old Big 12 were (and those that remain still are) a bunch of finesse, spread offense teams, running similar styles and recruiting personnel on both offense and defense, to compete with the other teams in the conference. Also, other than the ‘cream of the crop’ at the top of the conference (Oklahoma and Texas, along with Nebraska), the rest of the teams are not known for playing good football (and if we were talking basketball, we’d only be talking about Kansas and K-State!).


On the other hand the conference that Nebraska is moving into is a conference filled with storied programs, competitive teams (eliminate Minnesota and Indiana football… Northwestern and Penn State in basketball) and a style in both sports that does not bode well for the Huskers on the field of play or the courts! A lot of it is due to reputation and because there are distinct differences in how the games are played.


Sticking with football, the Huskers run a spread offense that has consistently had middling success in the Big Ten. The Huskers not only are built to run that style of offense but set to defend that kind of offense as well. That makes up a lot of the rationale behind why some in Omaha are thinking that a lot of Nebraska fans are in due for a rude awakening comes September, when football season starts.


When speaking about relationships I will occasionally note whether or not a behaviour is an endemic trait to black women, maybe giving the appearance of being racist and sexist. I would wholeheartedly disagree, but like Chris Rock said in an old stand up routine, if you thought otherwise ‘I would… understand’!


The section header is what I have to offer for those who would ask questions of me and why my rambles may slip into misogyny and sterotype. See, sports (as well as military service) is an institution that is as close as it comes to a merit system that possesses the qualities of the utopian equality that would make ascribing a character trait to ethnicity or sex, passé.


In a locker room as in the barracks, the niceties of political correctness normally are overlooked. Results are all that matters and between being a former athlete and a former soldier, how I get to the best result matters a lot less than a stepped on toe. Since non-black women make up less than 3% of the women on my ‘hit list’, white women accounting for less than 1%, and with differences culturally, I don’t think that my denoting the race is anything but a tool to make clear from where I am coming from. Perhaps there are other ways to express my points, but I think that it would take away from the trending of my entry. Rest assured, it IS NOT because I have an aversion to dating outside of my race!


When it comes to prospective partners, a.k.a, a ‘new Miss What’s Happenin’, I did write and send an email that gave the woman who scoped me out at the coffee shop last weekend (or the weekend before that… I don’t really remember), a note to give her a strong idea of what she may be getting into. Like I’ve said before, it isn’t like I misrepresent who I am or what I am about to the women that I meet.


…COULD YOU STOP THE NOISE I’M TRYIN’ TO GET SOME REST…


Had an appointment at Metro College on Monday and it was a relief to talk with the disability counselor, confirming that I only have to find money for books and school supplies. And it was a relief to speak to someone who ‘gets it’ when I talk about my struggles with my ‘new normal’.


Sunday night was sleepless and I did not sleep well last night either. I have anxiety issues… episodes that while not rising to the level of an attack, are clearly due to my condition. It isn’t something that happens frequently but I am wondering if I still qualify for my ‘Never nervous, Pervis’ card (see, there was a basketball player from the University of Louisville that… aw, nevermind!).



I have been grinding through my days, making the computer classes and all my appointments to where I have got appointments. It makes me smile because I am getting the chance to find out what I am made of.


Anywho… enjoy the song, a neat compilation of ‘OK Computer’ off the Radiohead album that rocketed the band into the level of ‘supergroup’. I think each individual leaves an imprint of themselves in their snippets, making the emotional catharsis experienced listening to the song an act of purification. It somehow elevates the song from a merely good rock tune to the level of artistry.