Share on facebook
Share on google
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin

New Year’s Day Bowl impressions:

Arkansas has it going on. The Hogs will be a handful in 2022. KJ Jefferson is a bad man. And a fun one to watch!

Please don’t tell me the Rose Bowl was a great football game. It was a good track meet. Especially the anchor leg of the sprint relay. I will concede that Buckeye receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (yes, we all need to learn to spell and pronounce his name) is an absolute freak.

That was bad, Notre Dame. You probably don’t yet even realize how bad it was. It was bad. I mean, really bad.  Honeymoon over, Marcus Freeman.

That was good, Okie State. Down 21. Thirty straight points. Still, the Cowboys came up inches short on the season.  No, not against the Irish. Against Baylor, in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Then there’s Baylor. The Bears are Sugar Bowl Champions. They are also still nasty. THEY NASTY! THEY ALWAYS BEEN NASTY! THEY REMAIN NASTY! THEY CAIN’T HEPP BEING NASTY!  THEY NASTY!

Ole Miss has only itself to blame. The Rebs have the best unis in college football. And they elected to go with an “alt” Louisiana Tech impression. That Bulldog won’t hunt.

Final Jan. 1 assessment? I had to have a booster shot of black-eyed peas. You can’t be too careful coming off 2021.

It’s the penultimate Sunday of the NFL regular season. I always use that word as a next-to-last resort.

Kirk Cousins is an idiot. And if I were a Viking teammate, I send him a concrete fruitcake.

Don’t you dare laugh, Carson Wentz. You just got lucky.

The Cowboys are not going to get the top seed and the bye in the NFC. But they still need to put the hammer down on Arizona today. The Cards backed into the playoffs last week, through no merit of their own, or their Pucker Factor could be off-the-charts.

“Must-see tv”? Chiefs-Bengals. Dolphins-Titans and Rams-Ravens work for me as well.

That hockey game last night looked cold, didn’t it?

Not quite as cold as taking Frankie out before dawn this morning…but still pretty cold.

I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna fully enjoy one more day of “The Holidays.” I hope you will, too!

Then tomorrow, like terrified and condemned high school football players all over The Great State of Texas, we will begin our Offseason Boot Camp.

INCOMING!!!!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

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.