Growing up I played football ... sandlot when I was a little guy, high school, a little bitty dab in college ... and I was always a big college and NFL fan from the word go, particularly a Hog fan, and for some reason, a New Orleans Saint and Chicago Bears fan. I still believe playing football did me more good than just about anything growing up; there's nothing like two-a-days in the heat (with no water in those days) to toughen you up and give you a little personal discipline.
But after middle son Kit's football high school career as a linebacker and running back at Gosnell ended, my interest in football gradually waned. I guess I was getting a little older and the violence of the game didn't appeal to me as much as it did when I was able to participate in it directly.
I used to hunt a lot -- 'til I was about 30 I'd kill just about anything that moved.
I don't do that any more, either.
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I just got to figuring ... Kit got out of high school in 1996, so that's 15 years of waning. Time enough to completely break the habit, I guess.
But I never quite broke it, not all the way. I at least still fast-forward through tapes of Hog games and the last five minutes or so of NFL games I was interested in, and of course the playoffs and bowl games have kept my attention to some extent.
I never have gotten involved with "fantasy football" or any of that kind of stuff; I just haven't made the time to mess with it.
I guess part of the reason I've lost enthusiasm for football is all the flim-flam recruiting stuff going on at the college level (and don't tell me they all don't do it), and the labor squabbles amongst owners and players having trouble dividing up $9 billion in revenues.
But now with what promises to be 10 years of labor/management peace in the NFL, maybe I can get back some of that lost interest in the pro game, at least.
Goodness knows, a body needs something to do around here in the wintertime.
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I still don't have anything other than rumors about the ongoing state audit of irregularities in the city finance and mayor's offices, from back when the standard payroll deduction payments to the Internal Revenue Service were not made (to the tune of more than $2 million) under the former Barrett Harrison administration.
One of those rumors is that the IRS is pressing the current city administration to sell Thunder Bayou Golf Links as farmland (I hear it would bring about half a million).
I don't know if this would be legal or not; I know most of the city's property on the old base is tied up in some kind of 99-year lease with the government, or something. But the golf course probably stands on its own.
Especially considering it cost well over $2 million to build, it would be a sad thing to lose the golf course, but the IRS wants its money; and a lot more than a golf course has been plowed asunder by the IRS over the years.
But what I still want to know is, who made the original decision not to pay the IRS on schedule, and where did that $2 million plus end up?
I just don't understand how the city could stay so far behind in its bill paying, with an extra $2 million plus floating around over budget requirements.
Maybe we're closer to an explanation now than before, but it won't come soon enough for me.
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Watching the Cardinals sweep the (formerly red-hot) Brewers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was pretty gratifying, even though they're still 7 1/2 back with 25 or so games left. It was a kind of deja vu all over again experience Thursday when I started watching the TiVO tape of that game when Furcal led off with a homer, then Pujols hit another one after the No. 2 hitter made an out ... the same start as Wednesday's game, except that Wednesday Furcal hit one right-handed and Thursday's was left-landed.
At first I thought I had clicked up Wednesday's game again by accident, 'til I figured out the right-hand, left-hand business.
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Everybody have a safe and fun-filled Labor Day Weekend. The best part of my weekend will be NOT playing in the club championship golf tournament, which requires five rounds in three days. Add that to the fact that I can't play a lick, and I'm a lot better off doing something else.
dtennyson@blythevillecourier.com