I have to admit that I am, indeed, reluctant to keep this blog “automobile dominant.” (A play on the medical phrase “autosomal dominant.”) The surge in views since mid-August has coincided, maybe coincidentally, with a de-emphasis on automotive content.
I also think that the seemingly never-ending saga with the Z06 has sapped some of my interest in cars. This situation is now in its 21st week and is certain to reach its 22nd week, at least. While life is filled with obstacles that have to be overcome, I think everyone’s emotional, mental and physical energies are finite.
A shout-out to my most active commenters: you are a prime example that life is not about doing as little as possible. While I don’t really know all of you in the sense that we have ever met face-to-face or spoken voice-to-voice, from the glimpses you have provided, your lives are robust. For those commenters I do know, I know that is true, without question. I salute Photo By Johnbo, Dirty Dingus McGee, Philip Maynard, Mark, David Banner (not his real name) and “Bill Babowsky.”
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This weekend I watched virtually all of two college football games: West Virginia-Pitt and Ohio State-Notre Dame. Contrary to what a former friend of mine used to believe (he was wrong a lot although he never acknowledged being wrong at all), I enjoyed the first game even though I had no interest in which team won.
I don’t know if Friday’s unanimous vote by the College Football Playoff’s board of managers to expand the playoff to 12 teams starting in 2026 played a role in my watching more college football. (Yes, West Virginia-Pitt was actually played on Thursday, but word had broken about the board meeting and likely outcome.) Of course, if the “petty commissioners” (as the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum called them) could have reached a unanimous vote nine months ago, then it is likely the 12-team playoff would start earlier. It is also true that the playoff’s board of managers, consisting of presidents and chancellors, could have seized the initiative earlier.
Like the sport in which I worked for 20+ years, college football moves slowly. To borrow a phrase from Bill James, it moves like a scout crawling on his knees, trying to avoid upheavals and revolutions. Well, sometimes we don’t get to make choices, choices are thrust upon us.
It is obvious that football players at schools with significant football revenues will be paid, sooner rather than later. As I have written before, if universities can pay their head football coaches $10,000,000+ a year, as Alabama and Georgia do, then they can provide the players $1 million a year to be divided among them. If that means the end of men’s cross country or women’s field hockey, so be it. No one has a right to be able to play their sport at the intercollegiate level.
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Today is a significant anniversary in the automotive world. It was 100 years ago today that William Lyons and William Walmsley founded the Swallow Sidecar Company. That company is now known as Jaguar, which–ironically–is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors. Sadly, as far as I am concerned, it appears that Jaguar has swallowed the Kool-Aid (see what I did there) and will stop producing ICE-powered vehicles perhaps as soon as 2025.
The name Jaguar was first seen after Lyons had sold his interest in Swallow Sidecar to Walmsley and formed S.S. Cars Limited in 1934. The next year, the name SS Jaguar appeared on a sports saloon, or sedan as we would call it in the US. In 1945, the name of the company was changed to Jaguar Cars Limited.
Mark’s most recent post is about the book British Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design. We have a bit of a running comment dialogue in which I offer that Jaguar and Aston Martin have made the best-looking cars ever, especially when one considers the entire history of automobile makes. Below are a couple of relevant photos.
The top photo is, of course, a picture of a Jaguar F-Type Convertible, a member of my Ultimate Garage 3.0. The bottom pic is an Aston Martin DB11 in Kermit Green. Yes, that is the official name of the color. The DB11 was also a member of Ultimate Garage 3.0.
As always, I welcome thoughtful comments on this or any other relevant topic. Thanks.
#12TeamsAfterAll
#Jaguar
#somanyCARSjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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I thought more about the smaller and female sports that might go away in your scenario. I spent time on the college newspaper staff covering golf, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball and others beside the major sports. A loss of the smaller sports would have had a negative effect on me.
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Your experience was good for you. However, no one has a RIGHT to the job they want and no one has a RIGHT to be able to keep their job as long as they want, regardless of external forces or job performance. The only constant in the world is change. In the future, aspiring sports journalists will have to find ways to be involved with covering major sports.
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“never-ending saga with the Z06 has sapped some of my interest in cars.” 😦
Hopefully once the saga is over, you will get something that will rekindle your interest. Get something fun, interesting, maybe not the fastest but something that will make you, or others, smile. I guess I’m fortunate that if one vehicle irritates me for some reason, I can park it for a bit and concentrate on a different one. Then once I’ve cleared my head, I can go back to it and see about resolving the problem. With all the vehicles I’ve owned over the years, it’s happened more than once, or even more than eleventeen times.
As I’ve read somewhere; so many cars, just one…….
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Many thanks, DDM. Wish I could see the end of the saga from here. You are smart enough to know what I would have done next even if I hadn’t revealed the aborted deal for the Supra. The problem is that used Supras that meet my requirements are not common. A bird in the hand…
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The NCAA has killed the goose that laid the golden egg. By not paying players before NIL was approved and allowing super conferences, basically you now have a pro college league of thirty schools with a minor league of other colleges as feeder schools. Schools like Maryland will be the “Washington Generals” of the NCAA, with no real shot of being in a playoff much less vying for the Dr. Pepper Bowl.
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Thanks, Doc. Your sentiments have been expressed by many of those who cover college sports and those in it. The NCAA has been the definition of reactionary and that unwillingness to see the future will lead to its demise. What happens in the Wild Wild West that college sports becomes is unclear. I think the Big Two, the SEC and the Big Ten, will expand to 20 schools each and control the future of major college football. Basketball is another story altogether, one I do not know well nor care about very much.
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The AAU pretty much prepares young men/cannon fodder for the pros in basketball. The “One and done” rule is a joke as most kids with a hope of playing professional bball start at age 8 now.
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Thanks, Doc. It’s too bad that these sports organizations don’t really let kids know what a longshot it is to play pro sports.
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Thanks so much for the shout out. I’m surprised I’m still among the top commenters really. Working overnight and continuing to do some graphic design work has really cut into my reading time… both blog- and book-wise. I try to catch up on the blogs during breaks in my shift, but doesn’t leave much time to comment.
I have caught myself up on the Z06 saga… simply amazing how things have turned out. I have never experienced such a thing myself, but a couple weekends back I had a 2 day street festival that we ran the car show for. The evening of the first day, I found the alternator belt had shredded and I was forced to leave the Grand Prix home for the second day… and I know how disappointed I was with that so I can only imagine what you’ve been feeling.
That said, I like the Mustang purchase. Frankly I have preferred the Mustang styling to the Camaro and Challenger. And while I now work for a Ford competitor, and am not really close to a new vehicle purchase, I periodically muse about Mustang as my next daily driver.
I wish you the best in a) finalizing the vehicle swap and b) many years of happy motoring with the pony.
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Good to “hear” from you, Mark. I can only imagine how a full-time job AND working some on the side impacts your life. Frankly, that is not a path that would suit me well, but different strokes for different folks.
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