Saturday, January 2, 2010

BUCKEYES AND BACK TO SCHOOL



Last night I watched my Ohio State Buckeyes dismember the Oregon Ducks. To hear the pundits tell it, almost without exception, the Bucks were going down in a big way. Oregon's offense was fastbreak football at its best and the big, slow, plodding Big Ten representative was going to get shellacked by the mighty Ducks. Terelle Pryor hadn't lived up to his unlimited potential, Jim Tressel was too conservative in his play calling and quite simply the Bucks couldn't win the "BIG ONE".

Honestly, I had some of these criticisms myself, but I've been a loyal Buckeye fan my whole life as was my dad. My aunt told me that my dad was a great athlete playing for the high school at the orphanage where he and his brothers and sisters were raised. She said he had an offer to go to Ohio State to play football, but he thought he would have to pay for school. He saw no way to do that, so he went into the navy. The sad thing is he had no guidance from adults that would have told him they were offering to let him go to school on a scholarship. No one from their school had ever been that good before, so no one knew what to tell him.

My dad never expressed any bitterness over the situation and he rooted loudly and vehemently for the Buckeyes my whole youth. We spent many hours listening and watching the Bucks on TV and radio sharing that interest as father and son. Sports was always something my dad and I shared and enjoyed together. Some of my best memories are intertwined with our mutual love for sports teams such as the Reds, the Dayton Flyers, the Browns, and then the Bengals. I know he would have loved the game last night and I am confident he did enjoy it. Go Bucks.

I have spent the last few days preparing lesson plans for Monday when we return to school. As I did my research for class, made outlines and chapter packets, I thought about my grandfather. We are starting the First World War and I take that opportunity to give a history lesson about my family as my grandfather fought in the Great War. I don't do it to brag, but to educate my students about the human cost of war. The Great War is my favorite subject to teach and I look forward to the lesson on Monday and the coming days.

I am fortunate to be a teacher, I love doing it and I look forward to everyday in class. It is the best job I've ever had. I love talking to the students I've had in class as they return from college. The week before Christmas is a good time for the students to return to the school and see teachers again. I love talking to them and finding out what they're up to and where their life is going. What a great job!

7 comments:

Oso said...

To me one lesson from the Great War is how treaties and pacts can end up dragging everybody into a conflict.

I'm hoping BSU can take TCU in the Fiesta Bowl Monday.

Law and Order Teacher said...

Oso,
That might be the overriding lesson of the Great War. I teach it as the MAIN causes of the Great War. Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. A lot to learn from this experience for sure. Thanks for the visit.

Leslie Parsley said...

I'm delighted you enjoy your teaching so much. God knows, the education system needs more like you. My oldest daughter teaches and doesn't want to do anything else; she loves it.

Law and Order Teacher said...

LP,
We do need more dedicated teachers. I'm glad your daughter loves her job. I hope she stays with it. Statistics aren't in favor of new teachers. Encourage her to stay.

Debbies Choice said...

I constantly see you on a few of the popular liberal blogs and I have no problem with that please believe me.. But I just wanted to tell you how I feel about that. Rather than thinking about issues and discussing, debateing, or converse about the intracacies of policy, the masses would much rather regurgitate the generalities, platitudes and idiotic soundbites they hear from the pundits. They'd rather spend their time crafting ridiculous nicknames for their political foes than they would on establishing any sort of moral base or employing any sort of objectivity. The petty name calling that Truth101 does on the home page of his blogs is deplorable. I'm sure that an astute person like you are can see that. That is the reason why I stay away from there and I encourage all MY readers to do the same. By the way, I find the exact same thing at Shaw's blog.
They both are despicable human beings.

Leslie Parsley said...

"They both are despicable human beings."

Isn't this statement the very kind of thing you are complaining about?
I personally don't care for the name calling and realy, really foul language, but I have been guilty of both from time to time. If you point one finger, you have three coming back at you. I just stay away from or ignore what offends me.

Leslie Parsley said...

Additional thoughts:

In defense of Truth: More often than not, I have seen him defend conservative visitors, whether they agree with him or not - as long as they present a good case for their "side of the equation." It takes a whole lot to push his button. I think I'd get pretty upset if a blog owner went to another blog and ripped me to shreds behind my back.

I think there's plenty of blame for this kind of thing on both sides. I went to a conservative's blog where she was chewed up and cussed out by other conservatives.
It was nasty, rude, ugly and totally uncalled for.

On my side of the fence, I posted something recently and the responses were vile, ugly and very personal. Out of nearly 50 comments I had to delete all but about ten. I have young members of my family and they don't need to be reading the true definition of Tea Baggers. Truth has far more patience than I do.

What I'm trying to say - nicely - is that we could all work on our cicility, our manners and our netiquette.