Sports Blog: 10/01/21 – Radically Rational

Sports Blog: 10/01/21

The good news? It’s October. My favorite month of the year.

The bad news? By the time we wake up Saturday morning, the high school football regular season will be 60 percent over.

I love football best when everybody is playing. All the high schools. All the colleges. All the pros. Everybody.

We have four more weeks of that. Four weeks. Don’t ever tell me the football season is too long. It’s a blink.

And, as Ms. Raitt once said, “Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.”

I admit it. I love tweaking NFL haters. Anything that pisses them off makes me happy. They have invented false reasons to hate the league, because they love portraying themselves as persecuted victims. They have been insufferably prissy about it. I hate prissy.

So gag on this, haters. The Shield has never looked better. The NFL is in great shape, and is set up for unprecedented success for at least the next decade.

That was evident last night in Cincinnati. A Thursday night game between the low-profile Bengals and the bottom-feeding Jaguars. And it was great. It had it all. Cincy came back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to win 24-21 on a 36-yard FG as time expired.

It’s a quarterback-driven sport. And we got a glimpse of the future. Joe Burrow has budding superstar written all over him. (Did you see his last TD throw to Uzomah? Holy crap!)

Yes, Trevor Lawrence has struggled, but there is no doubt about his talent. Sunshine will be just fine.

Those two guys will go at it for years. As will Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. How good was THAT last Sunday?

NFL haters? I’ll take a knee for you, losers.

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Paul's Bio

I clearly have the attention span of your median fruit fly.Look! Airplane!

Sorry. I’m back.

It’s both a curse and a blessing. I’ve never bought this stuff about, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” But I do think that a wide range of life experiences helps us grow as people, and helps us better relate to other people. I’ve been fortunate. And I am beyond grateful.

I show up on time. I go like hell. I’m a good listener. I hold myself accountable. I own my mistakes. And I have a natural and an insatiable curiosity. I’m never afraid to say, “I don’t know,” when I don’t. But then I try to find out.

The flip side is I’m a lousy ballroom dancer and my clothes sometimes fit me funny.

Stuff matters to me. I care. But while I take that stuff seriously, I try hard to never take myself seriously. As a result, I have sometimes been told, “Paul, it’s hard to tell when you’re serious and when you’re just having some fun. Which is it? Serious or fun?”

My answer is “yes.” But I think that is a legitimate criticism. I promise I’m going to work on that.

This has been the quickest and strangest half-century I’ve ever experienced. During that period, I’ve been afforded amazing opportunities in news and sports journalism across all platforms. I have taught wonderful students at the high school and collegiate level. Always, I learned more from them than they did from me. I’ve been a high school administrator. I spent ten seasons as a high school varsity football coach. I’ve been an advertising executive. I’ve hosted nationally syndicated television entertainment shows. In maybe the biggest honor I ever received, I was selected by NASA to be “Chet The Astronaut” for the “Land The Shuttle” simulator at Space Center Houston. (All I can say there, is “Do as I say, not as I do.” I put that thing in the Everglades more often than not.) Most recently, I just wrapped up a decade as a television news director, during which time our teams distinguished themselves in holding the powerful accountable, achieving both critical and ratings success.

What does all that mean? It means I am profoundly grateful. It also means I’m ready for “next.” So here we are. Radically Rational. It’s an idea I woke up with in 2017. I scribbled “Radically Rational” on a piece of notebook paper and used a magnet to stick it on our refrigerator. I saw it every day, and it just would not leave me alone.

I am second in charge at Radically Rational, LLC. My wife, Jo (also known as BB), is the president. Clearly, I have failed in my attempt to sleep my way to the top of this organization.

I hope you will learn that I’m loyal as a Labrador. But I will admit that this doggie can bite every now and then. My promise to you? I will show up on time. I will go like hell. I will listen to you earnestly and attentively. I will hold myself accountable. I will never be the least bit hesitant to say, “I don’t know,” when I don’t.

But then I’ll try to find out. Let’s do it.