The Buffs Head to Autzen, Hand-delivered Season Tickets, Making Your Soul Grow, and More
Friday, September 22, 2023
Happy Friday everyone!
Here are 10 things I found interesting from the last week or so.
The Buffs Head to Autzen
To kick off this week’s newsletter, the first thing I’d like to share is the Colorado Buffaloes are officially 3-0 to start the season. The hype is real. Last week, they beat the Colorado State Rams 43-35 in double-overtime. 9.3 million people tuned in, making it the most-watched late-night college football game ever to air on ESPN. It was an incredible game. The Buffs have now sold out the rest of their home games for the season.
But the Buffs now go up against the Oregon Ducks tomorrow as 21+ point underdogs. With Travis Hunter out now after last week’s injury, it’s going to be a close game. My prediction: Buffs win, 34-31.
Heat-activated, Color-changing Cleats
Beyond the game, tomorrow’s match-up is going to have some cool uniform kits. Colorado has been stepping up their jersey game recently a little bit. Still, Oregon has been known for its uniform design for years, and now, this week, they are revealing something new again: heat-activated, color-changing cleats, also known as the Nike Vapor Edge KF Dunks. KF refers to Oregon’s Equipment Administrator, Kenny Far, who came up with the idea.
They do look pretty cool, but they also don’t really seem to do anything. Hopefully they don’t start changing colors because Oregon puts up 50+.
Saigon Heat Up 2-0 in VBA Finals
The Saigon Heat won back-to-back games vs. the Nha Trang Dolphins this past week. So far, Kentrell Barkley has led both teams in scoring with 63 points in total. Game 3 will be on September 24th, when the Heat will attempt to close out the VBA Finals with a sweep!
Atlanta Falcon’s Bijan Robinson Highlight
This beautiful highlight and camera angle from the Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson—perfectly done.
Pittsburg Penguins Hand-delivers Season Tickets
I didn’t know about this until this week. But, the Pittsburg Penguins have had a tradition since 2007 of players going out on the road to hand-deliver season tickets to fans. Imagine Sidney Crosby showing up at your house! I think this is an awesome thing for players and fans, and I would love to see more professional sports teams follow this tradition.
Portland Gear Creates A Comic Book
A few weeks ago, I mentioned the company Portland Gear in Oregon, and it’s recent collaboration with Oregon’s universities. Last week, they did another thing I thought was really cool: create their own comic book with a superhero centered around Portland and Portland Gear. They even put some of the employees into the story. The book looks amazing and is right in time for Rose City Comic Con this weekend. Well done!
Hayao Miyazaki Is Not Retiring Still
Retirement. Hanging up the cleats. Calling it in. This is something Studio Ghibli’s Miyazaki has alluded to before, but after the latest film, The Boy and the Heron, it seems he’s not thinking about any of that at all. Thankfully, he’s already thinking about his next film.
September by Earth Wind and Fire
In case you missed the unofficial holiday on September 21st and the rightful playing of Earth, Wind and Fire, here’s the song one time. Also, here’s an interesting article that I came across on why the group picked that date!
Lyle McGraw X Olderbrother
Big shout out to my friend Lyle McGraw and his collaboration with Olderbrother! The collection is on display until Sunday, September 24th, at 51 Orchard St, NY, NY. If you're in NYC, go check it out!
Making Your Soul Grow
To end this week's newsletter, I want to share a video my sister sent me on Kurt Vonnegut's 2006 letter in response to a group of English students at Xavier High School in New York City requesting his visit to the school. Here's the text, too. It's worth reading.
“I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.”
God bless you all!
Enjoy the weekend and see you next Friday.
-Garrett