You Can't Always Get What You Want
I can only best describe yesterday as "well, I figured that would happen."
Ohio State won the national title and the hope the first Notre Dame drive gave me quickly dissipated in the first half. Thankfully, the Irish had more fight than I did and made a game of it in the second half.
While I hoped for a massive influx of celebratory donations, instead I find myself left with second guessing of cowardly field goals, a dropped fake punt, and a wild decision to leave the best receiver in the nation in single coverage when blitzes hadn't worked all game.
Things didn't go smoothly during this past weekend's College Football '25 tournament either. Thankfully we played only for seeding so I got good practice in. That too went about how I excepted...save for needing to cut the INT tax on day two from $5 per pick to $1 per pick so I didn't go broke.
By my count, I threw 29 picks over the weekend, with 25 of them coming in day one. Good news: I got better. Bad news: I only won two games. Either way, my $121 donation is in. Perhaps you'd like to join in too?
Next weekend, the games count. I will play six games in a Swiss Tournament. For those unaware of how this style works, it's actually rather simple: you play opponents with similar records to give you a fighting chance. So if I lose a game, I'm playing someone else that 0-1. If I'm 3-2 by game six, I'm matched with another 3-2.
The top 8 players move on to Sunday in a single-elimination bracket to determine the champ.
I need your support. Come cheer me on Saturday, January 25, during the following (approximate) times live on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook (all times CST):
- 11:00 AM
- 12:30 PM
- 2:00 PM
- 3:30 PM
- 5:00 PM
- 6:30 PM
Finally, I hear some big political things happened yesterday too. To put it lightly, the resulting fallout may not be great for some of the people you care about in your lives. To put it another way, an all-out overload blitz was dialed up.
It's impossible to block it all. There's more rushers coming than there are blockers. That also means someone is absolutely wide open down the field.
Yes, Ohio State showed us the way.
My advice: focus on what matters to you. Y'all know I'm beyond passionate about raising money to help the kids of Oklahoma fight cancer. It's more than just Aven's memory. The state of Oklahoma is underserved and the Children's Health Foundation runs the only freestanding children's hospital in the state and it just so happens to have a world-class cancer research team that your donations help fund.
Y'all will have all sorts of folks asking for your donations or your time. It will be impossible to hit every cause (again, you can't pick up every blitzer). Find the causes that matter to you the most. That's your hot route, the wide open receiver streaking downfield.
You can't complete that pass if you're worried about the other blitzers bearing down on you. In fact, the main purpose of any blitz is to create panic, forcing a bad decision or a rushed throw. Don't rush. Don't panic.
Take care of those you love and care about. Focus on what you can. If everyone does their job correctly, the blitz is easily busted.
And if you fail, take the sack. Dust yourself off. Be ready for the next play. Even if that play is months down the road.
Go Irish. Beat Hurricanes. Change Kids' Health.
