Mind, Body, Soul

Thanks so much to all of you that have been reading my weekly posts; I really appreciate the support. One of the questions that I’ve been getting recently is, “why are you writing?” Or more specifically, “why are you writing, now?” First, I’m writing because I enjoy it. Second, and more importantly, I’m writing because there is not a lot to read out there that comes from my perspective. 

The author Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book out there that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” While there are certainly books out there that I’d like to read that haven’t been written yet, writing them at this point in my journey as a writer is not feasible.

This week I would like to share a few things that I am interested in. A few items that I’d appreciate scrolling through my own phone and reading about for a few minutes. Tools to feed your mind, body, and soul. I understand that you are all individuals with different interests, so if any of these topics don’t interest you - no worries! Skip and move on to the next. Hopefully at least one of them is up your alley.

Before we start, a funny….

Soul. 

I’m starting with Soul first because that’s what I needed this week. I know many of you were caught up in the election, some happy / some sad, and I get that. I was paying as much attention as I could while I lay prone in my bed with a 102 degree fever for three days. 

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite books. It is a tiny little work called, “The Way To Love,” The Last Meditations of Anthony De Mello. Contrary to what my wife thought when she first saw me reading this book, it is not a book on marital advice 😀  Although it certainly is applicable to that. To me, the book’s very short chapters are all individual reminders of what is important in life. What we should truly be focused on if we want to love our lives.

I found this book in between retiring from coaching and being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Both of those events really impressed upon me that whatever I was doing with my life I better damn well love. Because if not, what’s the point? 

This is a great book to keep in your nightstand and just pick up and read a bit from time to time. It’s also the perfect type of book to mark up and highlight. I opened it today with the idea of sharing with you the first highlighted section I found. Interestingly enough (given the week that just passed), it comes from a chapter titled, “Love Your Enemies”:

“When you are in love* you find yourself looking at everyone with new eyes; you become generous, forgiving, kindhearted, where you might have been hard and mean. Inevitably people begin reacting to you in the same way and soon you find yourself living in a loving world that you yourself have created.” 

(*He is not talking about romantic love here. Rather, he is speaking of love as more like a state of being.)

A  little later on in the same chapter, when writing about our interactions with a person we may not like….

“And here is a final truth for you to consider: Given the background, the life experience, and the unawareness of this person, he cannot help behaving the way he does. It has been so well said that to understand all is to forgive all. If you really understood this person you would see him as crippled and not blameworthy, and your irritation would instantly cease. And the next thing you know you will be treating him/her with love, and he/she is responding with love and you find yourself living in a loving world which you have yourself created.” 

Does that feel impossible at times? Absolutely. But sometimes striving for the impossible is a worthwhile expenditure of our time.

Mind.

OK, enough with the uplifting, let's get down to brass tacks. In the years since retiring from coaching, I’ve gotten pretty decent at betting on major college football games. If you want to make a little dough this weekend my picks are below. Full disclosure, if you use my advice and lose, please remember that I don’t give a f**k.  (These are all Moneyline (ML) bets. In the future I'll explain why I only ever bet the ML.)

• Tonight (Fri 11/8)

* 2 leg parlay: Iowa (-255) over UCLA and Memphis (-300) over Rice. A $23.36 bet will win you $20 (I'm weird like that). As the odds indicate neither of these games are slam dunks but the underdog winning in either would surprise me. Both favorites are on the road, but are definitively the better team. Travel this year in the Big10 has been an issue for some away teams but it is a reasonably short flight from Iowa City to LA. Rice got an upset win last week over Navy. However, that was most likely a post head coach firing bump as Rice's coach had just been fired that week. Very often when a coach gets fired in-season that team will play either particularly well that week, or terribly. Which is why you should never bet a game with a team like that. Either way, they usually revert to form the following week. (Except when they don’t.)

• Saturday 11/9

* 2 leg parlay: Start with Indiana (-675) over Michigan. IU is rolling and Michigan doesn’t have a QB. Add to this that IU is going to be ticked off about being ranked poorly in this week’s initial CFP rankings and this one might be a route. Worth paying for the -675 odds (in a parlay, not straight up). 

* I’m so confident about that pick that I’m going to use it as a part of 2 separate parlays. The two second games I will be adding to it are: Army (-150) over North Texas and Jacksonville State (-365) over Louisiana Tech. Army has been an efficiency machine this year that has showed no weakness in their game and absolutely no signs of slowing down. North Texas is having a decent season but defensively hasn’t been very good. Army will control the ball and the line of scrimmage all day. Former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has Jax State rolling. Winners of four in a row, they should have no troubles with struggling Louisiana Tech. (Indiana/Army parlay: $21.89 wins you $20; Indiana/Jax State parlay: $21.61 wins you $10)

(I do two, two-leg parlays in situations like this, instead of a three-leg parlay to mitigate risk)

An added benefit with these bets for my Wisconsin friends is that you get to bet against Michigan. Twice. I won’t tell all of you highfalutin coastal elites what the Midwest nice Wisconsinites call people from Ann Arbor…..at least for a few more sentences.

I am currently sitting at about a 70% win rate on games this fall. However, because I parlay almost everything, that doesn’t mean I win every bet. For what it’s worth, I place about 2-4 bets a weekend, usually $20 each, and am up roughly $200 for the season so far through 8 weeks (I don’t bet opening weekend). 

Body.

When it comes to the kitchen, I like to cook the way I like to drink. Simple, efficient, and delicious. Crown Royal with a splash of diet 7-up. The simple pasta dish below is perfect for busy folks that don’t want to spend a lot of time on dinner planning and prep but also would like to do something more than just box mac and cheese. 

Every ingredient listed is something we keep in our pantry and/or fridge at all times so this can be made whenever and with limited planning. It is also highly customizable. I don’t use fresh garlic or parsley. I always have minced garlic from Costco in the fridge and dried parsley in the spice rack. Neither are as good as fresh but this is my kitchen not Giada De Laurentiis’s. I also use whatever pasta we have, not just fettuccine. 

As you can see in my notes below, instead of two cups of chicken broth I use one of that and one of half and half (I always have half and half on hand for coffee). Lastly, this dish is easy to fix if you mess it up. If it is too runny when done cooking just add more parmesan cheese. If it is too thick, add more milk or half and half. You can also mess around with other seasonings. Red pepper flakes are great (if you don’t have a kid that turns their nose up on hot stuff). 

Bonus: Your kitchen will smell delicious during the entire process.

On the side we typically have one of the following: cut up fruit (we always have some fruit in the fridge), salad (we usually plan on serving salad at least once a week), and/or some type of frozen bread that I bake while the pasta cooks (we usually have Brazi Bites because they are gluten-free). 

30 minutes start to finish. Bon appetit!

If you enjoyed any or all of this please feel free to forward it to a like minded friend. If you disliked all of it please forward it to an enemy.