Top-5 Mac Musings – September 9, 2025

NOTHING LIKE AN NFL OVERREACTION!
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a short column on checking in on people important to you. With Week One of the NFL season in the books, it is now time to revisit that conversation. There is nothing like the opening week of the season. You’ve spent months wanting football back in your life and have convinced yourself that your team has made all the right moves. Everyone is 0-0… the promise of a bright future lies ahead.

Everything goes great until your team loses. Sometimes the loss is agonizingly close – witness the Jets, Cowboys, Falcons, Browns and Ravens. Sometimes it is an epic blowout: see the Lions, Giants and Panthers. And sometimes one team just refuses to show up… we’re looking at you, Dolphins. 

Having been a Lions fan for quite some time, I am almost unfamiliar with winning consistently, so the week one debacle in Green Bay (27-13) did not sting as much as it could have. Awww, screw that noise. It hurt a lot. I had talked myself into believing that despite losing both coordinators and a bunch of assistant coaches everything was going to be fine. Just fine.

Here is where I break into the sports vault for this treasured cliche: “It’s still way too early to panic”. Unless you’re a Browns fan. Or Jets. Either way, the panic button is right over here.

STORY TIME
I was a slightly above average athlete in one of the most undistinguished eras in my high school’s sports history. My freshman year of playing football, we started the season on a tear. We beat all the teams we were supposed to and eked out a win or two we maybe shouldn’t have. Everything was building up to our big game against our most hated rival: Castle Rock.

The Rockets during that era cheated. Every. Single. Year. They worked the system to stay in the State Class A athletic league when by numbers they should have been AA or even AAA. Their graduating class was twice as big and every freshman had facial hair and a criminal record. Since they had a lot more talent to draw from – a pool of 320 students is almost always going to be much deeper than 160 – they were able to get the best athletes on parole available on the field. Sometimes this required an ankle monitor or a bag of cash.

So the mighty Chinooks make the trip to Castle Rock to play the unbeaten Rockets. It became obvious stepping on the field that this was going to be a long night. There were 30 Chinooks dressed for the game. There were approximately 85 Rockets warming up, which could only mean that several had received parole for senior night.

Let me stress that we only entered the game with 30 dressed for action. The procession of hurt and injured Kalama players began almost immediately. Within a quarter we were down a starting quarterback (pulverized knee) and right after halftime our backup quarterback was nearly decapitated on an ill-fated bootleg.

With the game out of reach and healthy bodies on the sideline dwindling I began looking for the exit. At the time I was 6-1 and weighed 160 pounds while carrying my backpack. I was a lineman which meant I was not trusted to catch the forward pass. Soon enough I heard my name bellowed. It was time for me to take the field. 

Wayne Gretzky would often talk about his approach to hockey fights. He freely admitted that his intent was to find the smallest guy on the ice and try to wrap him up. I was considering a similar approach until I realized every last one of Castle Rock’s third string was (much) bigger than I was. Not only bigger, but all of them had longer rap sheets and child support payments to make.  

I have very little recollection of what happened once I took the field. I played a couple series on offense and defense. I know I got hit. I know I delivered a hit or two. I know we gave up multiple touchdowns, but we were all in survival mode at that point. Fortunately for all involved, no video footage exists for which I give thanks.

We lived to fight another day. We did not necessarily fight well – we lost three of four to finish the year – but we fought nonetheless. 

I would like to say we beat Castle Rock the next year. We did not.

Mac Musings for Tuesday, September 9.

1. If you have a Jets or Browns fan in your life and have not done a wellness check yet it is time to reach out to them. They need the lift.
2. If you are a Dolphins fan, I really have no idea what to say to you right now. 
3. So fun to watch Pete Carroll direct the Raiders to a 1-0 start with a 20-13 win at New England. Carroll had more fun in that one game than Bill Belichick has experienced since taking over at UNC.
4. Carroll is the oldest coach in the league, but he is second only to Dan Campbell in raw enthusiasm on the sidelines.
5. I am a Lions fan. If you haven’t called me for a wellness check over whatever that was on Sunday against the Packers, operators are standing by.

Now Watching: The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle

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QUOTABLE

“If you want to win forever, you’ve got to ALWAYS COMPETE.”
Pete Carroll, coach