28 years in retrospect, 3 Things I’ve failed to accomplish so far

I turned 28 yesterday. It’s a weird age because for me it starts to feel a whole lot closer to 30 and 40 than 16 and 25. Not that I have some fear of getting older but I definitely feel more like the 16 year old than a potential 30 year old. I spent some time thinking about the path I’ve take to this point, and wanted to run through some of things I thought I’d have accomplished at this point.

1st. Liking Coffee

Adults drink coffee. They live for it, they have memes, drink it black, can’t wait for the after lunch coffee, can’t function in the morning without it. I thought this would just come with time but in reality I don’t think I’m ever going to get there. I drink coffee, usually iced, and usually with some sort of cancer causing flavor added in for the taste. I like the caffeine rush and the digestive aid, but I’ve never woken up dreaming of my morning coffee. By 28 I should be there. I’m sure when I have kids I will develop a crippling reliance on the dirt water but I’m not there yet.

2. Winning a Super Bowl

I wrote in my 5th grade yearbook that when I grow up I would win a Super Bowl. Remind yourself at that point I was the best linebacker in the AJFL B team circuit. In the next two years I stopped growing and realized 5’8 180 pounds wasn’t the linebacker build meant for NFL Greatness. I was a lackluster quarterback in 8th grade and the Freshman football team outside of my QB Sneak prowess that led to my only offensive touchdowns of my life. The dream probably fizzled around then.

My next closest thing would be the Cowboys winning a Super Bowl. Their last Super Bowl was January 28, 1996. Just under 4 months before I was born. That’s a joke. I know it’s fun to laugh and make fun of the Cowboys but that’s legitimately the biggest failure of all time. Jerry Jones should be ashamed. The Rangers, Mavericks, and the Stars should be laughing their asses off. Its really not that hard to win a championship. My top sports take that I truly believe in is that if an owner goes 20 years without winning a title they should have to sell their team. There are only so many Pro teams to own and there are plenty of billionaires who would love to own a team. If you are a team like the Cowboys, Lions, Bears, R-Words, Jets, 49ers, you should be able to at least get a new owner to shock up your organization every 20 or 25 years. If any of these owners were a coach or a quarterback they would be out of town in 5 years max. Pro Sports should be about winning and only winning, particularly in the NFL where you only need to win 3 games, sometimes 2 to reach the Super Bowl, you have to be able to do that ONE TIME in 30 years.

You can buy a Championship. The Rams did. The 49ers have gotten damn close. The Patriots did by adding veterans to fill their holes during their incredible run.

I wrote an article in the Eagle Tribune a few years back about my Cowboys fandom, and one of my main end thoughts was that all of my friends kids are going to be me. Growing up hearing how great the Patriots used to be and convincing themselves that one year will be the year. Its a cruel existence that I only wish for slightly for my friends that grew up at a parade every year.

And sure I’ve had some wins. OSU in 14 The Bruins in 2011, the Red Sox in 04, 07, 13, and 18. The Celtics this year and in 2008. (Yes the Celtics are beating the Mavericks). But if you’re offering me the trade. I’d give you all of them for a Super Bowl. Without thinking. I’d trade all of those wins, and the OSU one would be hard to give up, but with their dominance over their little brother up north (10 out of last 13 meetings, 11 if you count the FORFEIT in 2020), I can live with it, OSU is gonna win once every decade. I could wait until 2025 for that one.

3. Being able to sing/play guitar

This is a half win. Thanks to Covid, I can finally play the guitar. Not going to wow anybody with my skills, but if there’s enough beer at the campfire I can get through some songs without pissing everyone off. That’s a win. It was something I always wanted to do, and in High School I tried, but the teacher quit because I was the only student paying every week, not great business on his end but I only had a month or two of lessons. When I picked it up again in 2019 I was starting from scratch and now in 2024 I can pick up a stray guitar and play a few songs.

The singing has a long way to go evidence provided below (thanks Dunney). I thought singing would be easy but my voice is basically just my broadcasting voice in a whisper. I tried the app but I don’t understand Music Keys and don’t think I want to sing the ABC’s until I have some fake idea of how to sing. I want to sing Adele, Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, and I think I’m just gonna keep skewering those songs until I have enough kids and grandkids that don’t know any better.

There’s a long list of things I’ve yet to accomplish but there are things I have to this point. I’ve gotten married and moved into a home that we will eventually bring our family into. I’ve called 100s of games and seen some of the best stadiums and environments college football has to offer, I’ve sat on the radio in the Dallas Cowboys broadcast booth and met dozens of incredible people that I’ve looked up to for a long time. I finally figured out how to hit a golf ball decently far and make putts with money on the line. I have great friends who are there whenever I need them. I have a great job that I enjoy after years of working at startups that had zero direction or potential. God willing, I have plenty of time to figure the rest out, and if I ever get around to liking coffee, those tasks might get easier as well, but what’s the point of getting old if you still feel like a kid.

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Til next week,

TT