And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... in life, they say, sometimes timing is everything.

I was thinking about starting this column when I noticed that the classic movie channel was going to show an hour long documentary featuring Robert Frost. The poet. I have been a fan of his poetry since college days, when I used to sneak up to a remote area of the university library and listen to recordings of Frost reading his own poetry.

That would have been in the mid-1950s. He was well into his 80s when he died in 1963, and his voice was old and raspy on the recordings. But his words were powerful then and remain so today to anyone who listens closely. For someone who has made his life writing words, it is humbling to be aware that there are writers, and then there are WRITERS!

With that as prelude, I begin this column, which I intended to be mostly about the Super Bowl.

I did not watch the game, thus keeping a resolution not to watch a single down of a professional football game during the season.

I always hesitated to make resolutions, fearing I was destined to break them. But this was easy to keep, because I have never been a fan of professional football.

I was not deprived of sporting activities that Sunday. I heard the second half of the radio broadcast of the Iowa wrestling team’s win, after church. And in the afternoon, listened to the radio broadcast of the basketball victory by the Iowa women over Minnesota. In between, I watched portions of the telecast of the Kitten Bowl.

Many of the kittens featured, we were told, were feral cats rescued from floods in financially challenged sections of large cities a few months ago. They appeared bright eyed and, at least tailed, if not bushy tailed.

It was hard for me not to make a comparison with some of the pro football players, who, by dint of athletic talent, were able to escape less than desirable living arrangements, received an all expenses paid scholarship to a college or university, then joined the list of multi-millionaires.

That’s why it was hard for me to understand how they could so graphically display their hate for the nation that provided them with all of that by refusing to properly respect the American flag and the National Anthem.

I’ll bet those kittens would have stood at attention and put their paws over their hearts if they could have!

I also missed the commercials, but did not expect much from them after the halftime strip act a few years ago and the more recent crotch cartoons. That was reinforced when I learned that the NFL would not approve a commercial offered by the AMVETS because it contained the plea to “stand up for America.”

I understand the players Sunday all stood for the National Anthem.

If that’s true, is it a lesson learned? Or maybe just a financial statement, given the loss of attendance.

Some folks who share my disgust had “Superb Owl” get-togethers during the game! No football talk allowed.