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 to 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 my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Consider these recent developments:

1. Oregon State University:  The Beavers, without several of their key players who either transferred or opted not to play – not to mention their coach who left the university hanging by high-tailing it to Michigan – got plastered 40-8 by Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl.  The fact that so many were missing contributed to the lopsided loss.

• Georgia and Florida State:  The latter also was missing a boatload of players, so lost to Georgia by a score of 63-3.

The New York Times wrote this:

“Georgia coach Kirby Smart doesn’t often get on a soapbox and usually tries to avoid making headlines.  This was uncharacteristic.  But it was clear that, as happy as he was about how his team played, he also felt pity for what Florida State coach Mike Norvell and his remaining players had to endure.

“The Seminoles were down more than two dozen players who finished the season with the team, including six starters who opted out to prepare for the 2024 NFL Draft.”

• The University of Oregon:  The Ducks opted for a different approach by emphasizing the importance of the Fiesta Bowl.  And they won by a wide margin – 45-6 against outmanned Liberty University.

What was important about this game was several-fold:  (a) U of O coach Dan Lanning said it was important to finish strong; (b) two players who didn’t have to play – Bo Nix and Bucky Irving – went out strong, even as both head toward pro football careers; (c) and Nix came across as the solid human being he is by giving God credit for his performance as his parents watched from the stands decked out in their U of O regalia.

Good for Nix and the U of O. 

• And, how about this?  The worst football coaching decision this year, if not longer, belongs to Miami head coach Mario Cristobal.

Here is how the Washington Post described the Cristobal mess under this headline:  “Miami declines to take a knee against Georgia Tech.”

“All the Miami football team had to do to defeat Georgia Tech on October 7 was take a knee.  The Hurricanes had a three-point lead with 35 seconds remaining, and the Yellow Jackets were out of timeouts.  One kneel-down would end the game.  Instead, Miami called for a handoff to running back Donald Chaney Jr.  The result:  Calamity.

“Georgia Tech recovered Chaney’s fumble and embarked on a 74-yard drive that took all of 24 seconds.  It ended with quarterback Haynes King completing a 44-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Christian Leary with one second remaining, giving Georgia Tech a 23-20 victory.

“’Not going to make an excuse for it, say we should’ve done this or that,’ Coach Mario Cristobal said of his decision. ‘That’s it.  We should’ve done it.  Sometimes you get carried away with, just, finish the game and run it.  I should’ve stepped in and said, ‘Hey, just take a knee.’”

I don’t have much respect for Cristobal, given the way he exited the University of Oregon head coaching position several years ago, leaving after exclaiming loudly hat he would not do so.  Defenders might say he was leaving to go home to Florida, but the dishonest way he departed reminds me of what Jonathan Smith just did to Oregon State University.

Perhaps given Cristobal’s football acumen – now in question – better that he left the U of O.

So, on to 2024, when the college athletic scene, especially in football, will undergo even more changes.  The betting is that I won’t like most of them, as if my view matters.