My Music Journal 2025: September 9, 2025

 

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Time: 7:48 AM
Song: Circle the Drain
Artist: Katy Perry
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle on the way to work.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7s0YfJE6hNNYq9BV26iCw6?si=cf1f267cb0d8446f

Okay, I am in an abusive relationship.

The transgressor isn’t my wife, Jodi. No, it’s not any of my friends, my co-workers or my boss. It’s the football team I have chosen to support.

The Chicago Bears.

Last night was the first game of the 2025 season, and it left me wondering if I should bother watching anymore. I’ve seen this show before. Lead most of the game. Miss chances to extend the lead. Commit needless penalties. Challenge a play that clearly was called correctly to burn a timeout. Give up 21 points in the fourth quarter to lose. Repeat a similar script a few dozen times and you get the typical Bears game over the last, oh, 20 years or so. The only time it really changes is when they get completely blown out of the building, which usually happens twice a season, at least, and the four-to-six games where the opposing team is equally incompetent

Anyways, there were a couple other noteworthy things that caught my attention from football this weekend.

• The television announcers clearly have been instructor to refer to the quarterbacks by first name. While I’ve heard this done some in the past, it was pretty much every reference last night and in other games this weekend. Having played football where you are branded by your last name with tape on the first day of practice, I find it jarring. I know it’s likely some sort of branding magic that the NFL ad-Wizards have conjured, I am not sure I am on board with it.
• There seems to be a growing desire to have the quarterback pitch the ball to the running even with runs inside the tackle. The Bears almost exclusively did it, but I saw it frequently in other games I watched brief parts of this weekend. I see it, and think, that’s a fumble waiting to happen. I also think the backs are slowed down by having to watch the ball longer before moving their eyes up to find the hole. That certainly seemed to be the case with the Bears. I would prefer they scrap that and just have the quarterback take two steps and hand the ball off.