RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Sweeping Leaves Off the Floor Of My Garage, Then Calming Down My Neighbor Al On a Crazy Football Saturday In November


By RON MALY

I don't get much work done around the house on Saturdays in the fall because I'm either attending a football game, watching several of them on TV or listening to a couple of them on the radio.


Occasionally, all of the above.

I had already seen parts of several games on the tube today, and I listened to some of Iowa's shocking 51-14 loss at Minnesota on the radio, then saw some other stuff on TV when I decided to sweep out the garage.

There were lots of leaves on the floor, courtesy of my neighbor's silver maple tree.

No, not the silver maple belonging to My Neighbor Al, the Health Nut.
Silver Maple Leaves

My neighbor across the street with the biggest silver maple in the neighborhood.

Speaking of Al, it was while I was in the final stages of sweeping that he noticed my garage door was open and the light was on.

After all, it starts getting dark at about 5 o'clock now that Daylight Savings Time has ended.

"Hey, big guy, did you keep track of the scores today? " Al asked.

"The important ones, yes," I answered. "It was a crazy day in collegiate football. I heard on the radio that Iowa got blitzed, I saw Oklahoma get clobbered by Baylor on TV,  I saw on my iPad that Notre Dame was beaten by Arizona State, and I'm planning to watch the Michigan State Ohio State game on TV tonight."

[The Buckeyes upset the Spartans, 49-37].

I purposely didn't mention that I knew Northern Iowa, Al's favorite team, ended North Dakota State's 33-game winning streak, 23-3, at Cedar Falls.

But after a minute or two, I told Al I was happy his Panthers won.

"What a game that was!" Al said. "I listened to it on the radio, and I couldn't be prouder  of my Panthers."


Notice that now they're Al's Panthers, not just the UNI Panthers.

After a few more minutes of talk about UNI, Al said, "What did you think of the  Iowa State game?"

"I didn't get a score," I said, "but I'm assuming the Cyclones won big.  They were playing Kansas, one of the worst teams in the nation."

"Guess again," Al said.  "The Clones got hammered at Kansas, 34-14. Now they still haven't won a Big 12 game this season.  Paul Rhoads is one of my favorite coaches, and I sure hope he's not in any jeopardy of losing his job.

"As far as that goes, I'm worried about Wally Burnham, too. He's the Clones' defensive coordinator, but every team on Iowa State's schedule seems to be running up the score on Wally's boys this season. I sure hope old Wally isn't in any trouble."

"Calm down, Al," I said.  "I read in the paper that Rhoads isn't on the hot seat, and won't be on the hot seat."

"What paper was that in?" Al asked.

"The paper here, I'm pretty sure," I said.  "I read a lot of papers on my computer and my iPad every day, and I'm sometimes too busy to bother with the paper that's on my doorstep in the morning. 

"But I get the idea the people at the paper here like Rhoads personally, and they're convinced he's not on the hot seat. 

"As for Wally Burnham, I'm not so sure. I think the reporters like him, too. I know the TV people like him. He gets lot of air time during Iowa State's games."

"Well, you made me feel better," Al said. "I sure don't want the athletic council up there in Ames to be calling any meetings in the near-future to discuss firing Rhoads."

"Glad I could help you out, Al," I said. "Are you ready for a cup of Italian Dark Roast?"