PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime –

I am not the world’s greatest pro football fan, though I do watch games from time to time. On occasion, truth be told, I don’t make it through an entire game.

But now is an especially good time to watch as conference champions face off to decide who goes to the Super Bowl in February.

Why is it fun to watch now?

Sports columnist Jason Gay put it this way in the Wall Street Journal:

“It’s Yesterday vs. Tomorrow…Old Farts vs. The Future…Geezers vs. Generation Z…Flip Phones vs. iPhones…4:30 p.m. Dinners vs. 9:30 p.m. Dinners…Pickleball vs. Pokémon…DeLorean vs. Tesla…help me out here, gang…I need more hacky old-school clichés vs. hacky new-school clichés…”

“On one sideline, “Gay writes, “are two aging quarterbacks who remember what life was like way back in the olden days, when a human being woke up and walked down to the edge of the driveway to pick up a crude instrument of daily information known as a ‘print newspaper.’

“On the other sideline are two young, pre-ternatural quarterbacks who are never going to read this column, because it’s in a print newspaper.”

Gay’s reference, first, is to two old guy quarterbacks – Tom Brady for the New England Patriots and Drew Brees for the New Orleans Saints.

Second, Gay refers to two young quarterbacks who are making distinctive marks in their early seasons – Patrick Mahomes for the Kansas City Chiefs and Jared Goff for the Los Angeles Rams.

His metaphor about old guys with print newspapers and young guys without the same resonates with me. I have liked to get newsprint on my hands for my entire life, dating back to my days as a print journalist. However, of late I am forced to admit, I am tending to go more and more on line. Just shows that an old guy can learn new tricks.

As for the games this weekend, I hope Kansas City beats the Patriots (with all due respect to Brady) so we are able to see if Mahomes can reach and win the Super Bowl in his first year as a starting quarterback in the NFL – and add to his incredible total of 50 touchdown passes.

I also hope that Saints beat the Rams (with all due respect to Goff) so we can get a chance to watch Brees try to win another Super Bowl. He already has cemented his move to the NFL Hall of Fame, given his career-long, top-level performance.

Without the physical stature of some other quarterbacks, Brees has performed amazingly well.

So, go Mahomes. And go Brees.