Even an empty glass is full of air. Even an empty glass holds the promise of holding cool refreshment, blessed oblivion, healing conversation or a soothing hour with a smooth, silky merlot. An empty glass can be a refuge, an escape, or a weapon of progressive self-destruction. Never underestimate anything you can hold, or has a hold on you.
The penalty phase of the Josh Huff story hasn’t been announced, and may not be. Like a lot of things on a team dictated and controlled by a singular vision, we’ll know when we know. We’ll know when Rob Moseley and Aaron Fentress tell us, and when they ask the question they may or may not get a useful answer. It’s part of the schtick. The walls around the program are the not only the price of success but part of the reason for it. It’s a clarity of purpose and a fierceness that sets it apart. Things are different at Oregon than they’ve ever been. We can be nostalgic for the old days and open practices, but the results are a whole new era of excellence. Often Chip Kelly’s bulldog intensity and clipped answers are a code for one thing: “you want to win? This is how we do it. My way. No explanations. Limited access. We’ll let you know. Or maybe we won’t.”
At Oregon, the glass is full of resolve and the smooth, silky taste of victory. You only hope the NCAA won’t convene a press conference in a few weeks or months and empty out the bar. They too will let us know, but it comes to this: if they avoid a bowl ban, everything’s good. There’s some room under the cap in terms of available scholarships. There’s plenty of seed corn in the silo. A resolution would lift the cloud and cut the legs out from under the negative recruiting and innuendo, open wide some doors that are now just tentatively cracked.
In my dim, distant, dismal past, I always chased the hot chicks, and usually the crazy hot chicks. It’s exhilarating to find something simple and good instead. Thursday night Vicki and I are going on our third date, just a walk along the greenway and a good talk. We laugh over the simplest things. I’ll bring one of those recycled shopping bags with a bottle of wine and some good crusty bread and cheese. This time, I might even kiss her. I’m enjoying the wait. The kiss will happen when it’s exactly the right time and not a second sooner. She’ll let me know.
And as juju is my witness, she’ll be a Duck fan by October. Probably bring her down for a tailgate and sit 20 yard line, twelfth row. I’ll seduce her with the magic of Autzen, and when De’Anthony Thomas breaks into the clear on one of his magical dashes into legend, she’ll be on her feet like everyone else, green and yellow for life.
It’s good to fill the glass, and savor it. It’s good to know what you’re drinking and why.
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