athletics
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Vol.1 Chronicle 41
(4:45AM DAD’S & A POOL & THE GOSPEL OF MARK, NOT SO) SHALLOW THOUGHTS FROM THE DEEP END WITH MISS JULIE’S POOL BOY: Miss Julie unlocked the pool gates at 4:45 this morning, not to fix the pool’s condition but… Continue reading
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Vol.1 Chronicle 40
DUCATS WITH DAD: This was intended to be a rant against overpaid & overhyped coaches, the NIL & Tennessee’s “10% talent fee” on next season’s ticket package. I spent yesterday banging the keyboard between my ears foraging for nouns &… Continue reading
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Vol.1 Chronicle 38: Farewell 9/2/2021
CHINSTRAPS & HEROES, A FAREWELL TO JIMMY: I wasn’t expecting to cry today. I especially wasn’t planning on one of those heaving cries that convulses down to the gut. I’d already been a little emotional in dreading next week, a… Continue reading
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Living dangerously…
SPORTS STORIES FROM THE STEPS, SEASON 1, GAME 1, IDOLS & LIVING DANGEROUS: “…Heroes I wish I’d never met, but he ain’t naming names…”~Kenny Chesney~ “If this bus could talk” As I get older, I realize that a lot of… Continue reading
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Vol.1, Chronicle 34
I ALMOST STAYED OUT THE HALLWAY: “Stay out the hallway” was written in black on 2” white athletic tape, advice on a gym door for students where me & Miss Julie voted last Tuesday. That advice in some form, has… Continue reading
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Vol.1, Chronicle 32
THE WEDNESDAY FOOTBALL FIX, 1974 WITH LOTTIE & JULIA: As days sometimes thunder by slowly & the years are greased lightning, I find myself recognizing deeds that went by without applause. I find the words in Maya Angelou’s “Continue” both… Continue reading
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Vol.1 Chronicle 29
(CITY MEET, FINISH WHAT YA STARTED)THOUGHTS FROM THE DEEP END WITH MISS JULIE’S POOL BOY: It’s pre sunrise, Friday 5:39AM, & Miss Julie’s Pool Boy pours his second 28 ounce cup of emotional support coffee. Miss Julie has long since… Continue reading
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Vol.1, Chronicle 27, TitleIX
STORIES FROM THE STEPS, VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 27, Title IX: No man need be a mediocrity if he accepts himself as God made him.” ~Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh~ I equate Miss Julie with this line. She answered her call long… Continue reading
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Father’s Day
VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 26, FATHER’S DAY 2024, ABSENT YET PRESENT: Sometimes I write, to paraphrase Maya Angelou, because it’s agony to bear an untold story in the soul or like today, I’m an empty penitent seeking a filling communion, seeking… Continue reading
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Vol.1, Chronicle 25: Streak of Love
STREAK OF LOVE: In Philadelphia, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, sits a legendary gymnasium named The Palestra. Outside that old barn’s front doors is a plaque that reads: “To win the game is great. To play the… Continue reading
Stories from the Steps 