Tuning Out

"According to my watch the time is now

The past is dead and gone

Don’t try to shake it just nod your head

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On"

-Jimmy Buffett

About to fly into a two hour Zoom hearing followed by a two hour expert deposition followed by two witness prep sessions with other experts. Some aggressive scheduling there.

It's been a weekend of seething and despair and disbelief at the daily insults to the Republic inflicted by Dear Leader. Then a rage settles in at the thought that most of the people around us here at the farm voted for this, are okay with it, maybe better than okay.

So, what to do? This is going to ruin a whole season of life that might otherwise be okay. A smarter blogger than me suggested in a post overnight that we should follow the advice of his brother, an academic, and just tune out. Don't read Drudge. Don't wallow in the horror of the political moment. His brother only reads posts about football.

Very well, then.

How about those Bills?

Last night on the national stage from Buffalo, the Bills took on the Baltimore Ravens, picked by a lot of folks to make the Super Bowl this year. And boy did they look like all that for the first 56 minutes of the game, pounding the Bills on the ground and in the air to take a 40-25 lead into the final four minutes.

And then, a miracle.

A popular t-shirt in western New York features a Bills logo and the word "Billieve". As on "Bill" mashed up with "believe". You get the idea.

I have to admit I didn't, maybe part of the current crisis of faith I've been enduring on a lot of topics. So Peg and I crawled into the hot tub to loosen up those creaky old joints, then to bed.

When I awoke, the Bills had staged an amazing comeback, and beaten the Ravens 41-40.

I caused that, of course. In my way of magical thinking miracle comebacks only happen when I call it a night with the team losing. Most famously, I caused the Braves to beat the Pirates in the 1991 NLCS by going to bed before Sid Bream famously lumbered into a home run slide that gave the Braves their first championship in decades.

The same happened last night. We all know that if I'd hung in there instead of hitting the sheets the Bills' comeback would have faltered, Derrick Henry wouldn't have fumbled with three minutes to go to give Buffalo a chance to get the ball three times in four minutes. With me safely out of the TV room, the magic could happen.

Let's Go Buffalo. And let's not think about that other stuff.