Last off season, Calvin Johnson retired from the NFL. Citing the recurring injuries to his knees and legs, he walked away. And more power to him. I read an interview with him and he said there were times when he could only shuffle around his house the day after a game because his legs and knees were in such bad shape. As a fan of the team he played for, the Detroit Lions, it brought flashbacks to the last great offensive athlete to wear the uniform. Barry Sanders also walked away with seemingly years left to play. We, as fans, have to respect the athletes' decisions as tough as they may be to deal with. Tomorrow your favorite athlete can make a retirement announcement and that is just something we have to deal with. Some fans get mad at these decisions, others just deal with it, and others worry about the future of the team. When Johnson retired, most people wondered what it would do to the team. How would the team look with him gone. And you know what, it seems to be just fine. At least the start of the season anyway.
Before I delve into this post, let us be clear: Calvin Johnson was a once in a generation talent, but was so humble and team oriented that he wasn't a diva. Not a Keyshawn Johnson. Not a Terrell Owens. Not a Chad Johnson. Not a Dez Bryant. You see some players that are so talented, but they are so self-centered that they distract from the team. Watching interviews with Johnson, he always seemed to focus on the team winning. It didn't matter if he had a three touchdown, one hundred fifty yard receiving game or a game where he caught one ball for five yards. He wanted to win. He wasn't always wanting the ball. He didn't want Matt Stafford to throw to him first and then maybe throw to someone else. Stafford would throw to him when he shouldn't have at times because Johnson had the ability to go up and catch balls that no one has the right to go up and get. The best ever was against the Bengals when he was triple (almost quadruple) covered and Stafford hit him for a fifty yard touchdown. Bananas. Look it up.
Because he was so talented, the team seemed to have a tendency to lean on him for clutch situations. When you do that, other teams know that and focus mainly on that. The Lions have won four games so far this season. In all those games, they were trailing near the end of the game. I'm not going to go through and look at all the details, but what I know is that Stafford is spreading the ball around at the end of the game. He is taking charge, finding different receivers, and putting the defense on their heels. In the past, they could focus on Calvin Johnson. Because that is who everyone in the universe knew Stafford was going to look for at the end of the game. Now that Johnson is gone, he has other options. And he did have other options in years past, but you lean on your talent.
After the grieving period of Calvin Johnson's retirement, I came to the realization that the Lions could be better off without him. That's not to say they're going to win eleven or twelve games (because they still aren't great), but it helps to develop other players. There were plays that they could take off because Calvin Johnson was such a focus for the team. Now they can focus more on spreading the ball around. It allows the team to be more fluid. It's almost like a team should be. Not just a quarterback looking for a singular player, but a quarterback that has options. More offensive weapons means more chances to win. Stafford has always had the ability to throw the ball to whomever and wherever he wanted, but with Johnson retiring, he could take the next step to becoming a top tier quarterback. So it's good for him as well.
The Lions are always going to be the Lions. Every year they win eight or nine games will be considered a successful year. If they win ten or eleven games will be outstanding. Will they ever win a Super Bowl? It seems unlikely, but then again, no one ever expected the Chicago Cubs to make it to the World Series yet here we are.
27 October 2016
20 October 2016
Historic Door
The house we bought was built in 1941. It predates America's involvement in World War II, the atomic bomb, and Reganomics. There are plenty of stories in this house that we will never know. That's kind of the beauty of older houses. They have stories. Whether you know the stories or not, you know there have been plenty of things that have happened. One thing that we do have is the door that leads down to the basement. Someone, at one time, thought that it would be great to document some stuff on it.
Documentation that people lived here. Families lived here. The majority of the stuff written on here is kids' names, age, height. Stuff like that. It's like stuff you see in Rockwell paintings. Hash marks and names. It's cute. The oldest date that we can find on here is from 1970. There's marks from every decade since the 1970s. It would have been awesome if there were dates older than 1970, but who knows, the door could have been replaced. It doesn't seem as old as the house. Most of the dates are in pen and will eventually fade over time. There are some in pencil that are almost gone. The smart people wrote in permanent marker. We talked with the previous owners and they said that this door was one of the best features because of all the documentation. There's another set of numbers of someone's pregnancy. Weeks along and the circumference of the woman's stomach. Sorry to use the word circumference, I don't know how to describe a woman's pregnant stomach without it sounding awkward.
And here is our mark in the house. I took this picture the day we got the keys to this house. It was really the first thing we did here. We added 'our first house' under the date. We don't have kids to mark their heights. I suppose we could mark the height of the cat? It wouldn't change, but we still could. That would be absolutely terrific for whomever owns this house after us.
This is the last up close of the door. The last name is personal for me because it is a family name. It is my mom's maiden name. The funny thing is, my family is from Michigan. And who knows, we could be related to this person in some way, shape, or form. For those who believe in signs or fates or anything like that, if you saw a family name in a house that you were looking at, how could you not buy it? We were convinced that we were going to buy this house before we saw the names and dates, but if this wasn't a sign from whatever you believe in, I don't know what would be.
Documentation that people lived here. Families lived here. The majority of the stuff written on here is kids' names, age, height. Stuff like that. It's like stuff you see in Rockwell paintings. Hash marks and names. It's cute. The oldest date that we can find on here is from 1970. There's marks from every decade since the 1970s. It would have been awesome if there were dates older than 1970, but who knows, the door could have been replaced. It doesn't seem as old as the house. Most of the dates are in pen and will eventually fade over time. There are some in pencil that are almost gone. The smart people wrote in permanent marker. We talked with the previous owners and they said that this door was one of the best features because of all the documentation. There's another set of numbers of someone's pregnancy. Weeks along and the circumference of the woman's stomach. Sorry to use the word circumference, I don't know how to describe a woman's pregnant stomach without it sounding awkward.
And here is our mark in the house. I took this picture the day we got the keys to this house. It was really the first thing we did here. We added 'our first house' under the date. We don't have kids to mark their heights. I suppose we could mark the height of the cat? It wouldn't change, but we still could. That would be absolutely terrific for whomever owns this house after us.
This is the last up close of the door. The last name is personal for me because it is a family name. It is my mom's maiden name. The funny thing is, my family is from Michigan. And who knows, we could be related to this person in some way, shape, or form. For those who believe in signs or fates or anything like that, if you saw a family name in a house that you were looking at, how could you not buy it? We were convinced that we were going to buy this house before we saw the names and dates, but if this wasn't a sign from whatever you believe in, I don't know what would be.
19 October 2016
Housing Adventures
In the middle of June, my wife and I were faced with a dilemma. The same dilemma we faced the year before. Do we renew our rental lease or do we take the giant leap and look for a house of our own? After considering the pros and cons, we made the decision to look for a house to buy. It has been quite the adventure. Not always in a good way, but an adventure nonetheless. While we knew going in that it would take a while, and that it was not going to be as nice and tidy as they show on the HGTV network, it might have been just a little bit more than we originally thought.
There were several steps along the way. The first big one was where we would be looking for a house. Currently, my wife works about an hour south of the Twin Cities. I work in the southern central part of the metro. We live closer to her work than we do mine, but that was just where we moved because that is where we could find a place to live that wasn't the shitty apartment we found when we first moved to Minnesota. We thought about staying in the city we are in now. It is small enough that it reminds us of our hometown, but still close enough to the metro that you can get there in half an hour. The problem is that everyone else is aware of this and the houses on the market are either too expensive or look like flop houses. So we expanded our search in the hopes of finding somewhere near the middle to make our commutes similar. We also took into account the fact that we both may not stay at our current jobs forever, more so her than me, that if either of us were looking for new employment, it would be closer to the metro, so to move a little bit further north made the most sense.
After we determined the general area of where we wanted to live, it was just a matter of finding a house. Not just any house, not even the house. Just one that would suit us. It also had to fit into our budget, our wants for the house, you know stuff like that. In the course of our house search, and after we made an offer on the one we are going to buy, we thought back to all the houses we saw. To put it into context, we were driving about thirty minutes each way to go look at these houses, so we wanted to see three or four at a time just to make it worth our while. Including the open houses we went to on weekends, we figured we saw between thirty to thirty five houses. When we first started looking, we had a decent idea of what type of house we wanted, but weren't sure what we were looking for if that makes any sense. We knew we wanted a house that pretty much move in ready but we wouldn't turn away from one that had small projects or anything like that. The more we saw, the better idea of what we were looking for. Some houses we wanted to see because we were going to be up there.
We found a house finally. We put in an offer a few days after seeing it and the hard part was waiting. It had just come on the market a few days before we saw it. With the sellers waiting a few days to accept or negotiate or offer we figured they were waiting to see if they got any other offers. Either they didn't or they thought our offer was good enough to deal with. We negotiated a few times on the price and they accepted our second offer. I figured negotiating the price was going to be the hardest part. After our offer was accepted, the house inspection came next and of course there were many thing that came up. We compiled a list of things that needed to be fixed. What our realtor told us was to ask for them to fix as much as possible, they'll come back with what they'll fix, and you compromise on the list. This was the most annoying part of the purchase, I thought. We finally came to an agreement on what they would fix and what we would eventually take on.
After we came to an agreement, it was just a waiting game. We had a closing date. We had a last walk through date selected. Our mortgage went to underwriting which was the worst part. It was the worst because we weren't really involved in it. We sent all our paperwork in and all the work was being done by people we hadn't ever met. It was all very distant. We'd get random emails from our mortgage person saying they needed a piece of paper from this or that. Or we'd need to send them something else. It was all repetitive and tedious. And downright annoying. They would need every single page, even if it was a line that just said one thing on it.
And finally, we were homeowners! The grand adventure was over. At least the first chapter was over and another was just beginning.
There were several steps along the way. The first big one was where we would be looking for a house. Currently, my wife works about an hour south of the Twin Cities. I work in the southern central part of the metro. We live closer to her work than we do mine, but that was just where we moved because that is where we could find a place to live that wasn't the shitty apartment we found when we first moved to Minnesota. We thought about staying in the city we are in now. It is small enough that it reminds us of our hometown, but still close enough to the metro that you can get there in half an hour. The problem is that everyone else is aware of this and the houses on the market are either too expensive or look like flop houses. So we expanded our search in the hopes of finding somewhere near the middle to make our commutes similar. We also took into account the fact that we both may not stay at our current jobs forever, more so her than me, that if either of us were looking for new employment, it would be closer to the metro, so to move a little bit further north made the most sense.
After we determined the general area of where we wanted to live, it was just a matter of finding a house. Not just any house, not even the house. Just one that would suit us. It also had to fit into our budget, our wants for the house, you know stuff like that. In the course of our house search, and after we made an offer on the one we are going to buy, we thought back to all the houses we saw. To put it into context, we were driving about thirty minutes each way to go look at these houses, so we wanted to see three or four at a time just to make it worth our while. Including the open houses we went to on weekends, we figured we saw between thirty to thirty five houses. When we first started looking, we had a decent idea of what type of house we wanted, but weren't sure what we were looking for if that makes any sense. We knew we wanted a house that pretty much move in ready but we wouldn't turn away from one that had small projects or anything like that. The more we saw, the better idea of what we were looking for. Some houses we wanted to see because we were going to be up there.
We found a house finally. We put in an offer a few days after seeing it and the hard part was waiting. It had just come on the market a few days before we saw it. With the sellers waiting a few days to accept or negotiate or offer we figured they were waiting to see if they got any other offers. Either they didn't or they thought our offer was good enough to deal with. We negotiated a few times on the price and they accepted our second offer. I figured negotiating the price was going to be the hardest part. After our offer was accepted, the house inspection came next and of course there were many thing that came up. We compiled a list of things that needed to be fixed. What our realtor told us was to ask for them to fix as much as possible, they'll come back with what they'll fix, and you compromise on the list. This was the most annoying part of the purchase, I thought. We finally came to an agreement on what they would fix and what we would eventually take on.
After we came to an agreement, it was just a waiting game. We had a closing date. We had a last walk through date selected. Our mortgage went to underwriting which was the worst part. It was the worst because we weren't really involved in it. We sent all our paperwork in and all the work was being done by people we hadn't ever met. It was all very distant. We'd get random emails from our mortgage person saying they needed a piece of paper from this or that. Or we'd need to send them something else. It was all repetitive and tedious. And downright annoying. They would need every single page, even if it was a line that just said one thing on it.
And finally, we were homeowners! The grand adventure was over. At least the first chapter was over and another was just beginning.
07 October 2016
Diversified Baseball
After the Kansas City Royals were eliminated from playoff contention in late September, it was guaranteed that the sport would have it's fifteen different champion in as many years. To me, that is a great thing. Whether or not the team you routinely cheer for has made it into the post season, if you're a fan of the sport, you should enjoy this fact. It's good for the sport because it brings in fans from cities and states that might not always be watching baseball in October. Or watching it at all.
With all that said, that does not mean that all the teams that are in the post season this year aren't there all the time, or on a consistent basis. What it means is that you don't see repeat winners. The closest the sport has had to back to back champions are the Royals who won it all last year and lost to San Fransisco the year before. It's great to see teams like the Cubs and Indians make it to the playoffs because for some of the players, it's their first trip. They get really excited about it. Even if it is just for one series, even if they don't get to the World Series. It gives them that experience they dreamt about as kids. Anyone that played baseball as a kid had that dream about hitting a game winning home run in the playoffs or World Series. This diversity that we see with all kinds of different teams making it to the playoffs let them relive that dream. Kind of.
Watching a team repeat as champions is the worst for fans of the game that are fans of the team. Whenever the team that I root for, regardless of the sport, doesn't make it to the playoffs, I like to find the team that shouldn't be there. The team that has had a surprising season or a team that has struggled for so long that you feel great for them just for making it to the playoffs. It's like when a low seeded basketball team makes a deep run in the college basketball tournament. You find yourself wanting them to knock off the big time teams. It's the same with baseball. You don't like seeing teams year after year winning the World Series (unless you root for them). I like to see diversified post seasons. Granted, it would be nice to see the Tigers in it every year, but with them out it does make it less stressful to watch.
If a team makes it to the post season year after year, that does not always guarantee that they'll have a successful run. One year they could be eliminated in the wild card game only to come back the following year and win it all. And yes, it's nice to see that. But I like seeing different teams win it every year. It makes it that much more exciting. If you think back to the late 90s and early 2000s, the Yankees were winning seemingly every year. And weren't we all rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001? Let's all be honest. And it wasn't all because it was the Yankees (okay, maybe it was), but wasn't it because we all wanted to see a different team win? If it had been the Pittsburgh Pirates that were winning year after year, wouldn't you want to see someone else win?
With all that said, that does not mean that all the teams that are in the post season this year aren't there all the time, or on a consistent basis. What it means is that you don't see repeat winners. The closest the sport has had to back to back champions are the Royals who won it all last year and lost to San Fransisco the year before. It's great to see teams like the Cubs and Indians make it to the playoffs because for some of the players, it's their first trip. They get really excited about it. Even if it is just for one series, even if they don't get to the World Series. It gives them that experience they dreamt about as kids. Anyone that played baseball as a kid had that dream about hitting a game winning home run in the playoffs or World Series. This diversity that we see with all kinds of different teams making it to the playoffs let them relive that dream. Kind of.
Watching a team repeat as champions is the worst for fans of the game that are fans of the team. Whenever the team that I root for, regardless of the sport, doesn't make it to the playoffs, I like to find the team that shouldn't be there. The team that has had a surprising season or a team that has struggled for so long that you feel great for them just for making it to the playoffs. It's like when a low seeded basketball team makes a deep run in the college basketball tournament. You find yourself wanting them to knock off the big time teams. It's the same with baseball. You don't like seeing teams year after year winning the World Series (unless you root for them). I like to see diversified post seasons. Granted, it would be nice to see the Tigers in it every year, but with them out it does make it less stressful to watch.
If a team makes it to the post season year after year, that does not always guarantee that they'll have a successful run. One year they could be eliminated in the wild card game only to come back the following year and win it all. And yes, it's nice to see that. But I like seeing different teams win it every year. It makes it that much more exciting. If you think back to the late 90s and early 2000s, the Yankees were winning seemingly every year. And weren't we all rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001? Let's all be honest. And it wasn't all because it was the Yankees (okay, maybe it was), but wasn't it because we all wanted to see a different team win? If it had been the Pittsburgh Pirates that were winning year after year, wouldn't you want to see someone else win?
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