Here at liveforthepage.com I pride myself on all content being honest to the best of the ability of those contributing. Partially as a way of counter-balancing the political onslaught of the next three months, and partially because I am playing way too much EA Sports College Football 25 I will be starting a new weekly post to talk about something related to college football this year. It’s natty championship or bust for our Ohio State Buckeyes this year, and I plan on busting open a few natty lights as well along the way.

I used to watch a ton of college football growing up, but my interest waned after high school, on and off getting into Buckeye runs when I moved to Columbus, and watching the playoff. First, because I want this to be something a person outside of Columbus would read, I am going to try my best to avoid being too much of a homer. Full disclosure: I graduated from the University of Toledo, and I work on Ohio State’s campus currently, I’m diving back into college football as an experience and I love the Buckeyes.

The scarlet and grey do not kickoff until next week, however I want to give a quick preview for week one matchup of Akron at home: it will be boring as hell. This has been one of my gripes with college football and why my attention to it faded, there are so many boring, meaningless, uncompetitive games. In terms of funding, size, athletic ability and coaching these two teams are barely playing the same sport. Buck nuts in the 614 and beyond will enjoy seeing the second and third string recruits early in the second half.

I stressed objectivity earlier, so allow me to say something nice about Michigan football, as it may be the last time all season. They have an ‘end of the third quarter’ pump up song similar to Wisconsin’s, “Jump Around.” Michigan plays, “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers, huge pop hit of my generation, and hearing 100,000 people sing it together is just one of those traditions that makes me smile. Piling on the objectivity front, I root for Michigan when they play Notre Dame.

I hope this will be a fun topic to come back to and that it will sufficiently dilute the political posts that are bound to come this election season. Our resident expert on all things Buckeyes and college football Zach will join me at some point for expert analysis, he is currently coaching all three of his kids in soccer and wasn’t available to breathe, let alone comment. Thanks for reading, and I hope this will be a classic college football season to watch with the new playoff format.

Since Manchester City are in Columbus this weekend for a preseason exhibition match against Chelsea, I thought I could extrapolate on a far better squad to come from the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. On this occasion I am not here to profess my Manchester United fandom, but my love for the best damn nineties band in the land: Oasis.

I want to go into the hypothetical here, because while they broke through in the United States with two big hit singles, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ they did not enjoy the same Oasis mania as they did in the United Kingdom. Their first two albums remain mainstays on best of the decade lists, but it was the cocaine fueled lunacy of the third album and band turmoil in general that kept them from the same success here.

Don’t get me wrong, ‘Be Here Now’ has some massive songs on it. However when you consider that just a year later in 1998 they released a collection of 14 b-sides from the era, I can’t help but wonder what might have been with a more coherent track list for the third album. This is nothing people haven’t discussed before about the band during that period, but here is why they would have owned America with a third salvo of Noel Gallagher gems.

I have never played, ‘Talk Tonight’ to someone who didn’t like it upon the first listen, and I have annoyed a lot of people in my time with Oasis propaganda. The guitar is in the same vein as, ‘Wonderwall’ and the lyrics are arguably more passionate which is like following a Super Bowl ring with another Super Bowl ring. The prolific nature of great songwriting during this time from Noel really shines on this one, and I’m only going to mention one other so you can enjoy the rest for yourself in your own way.

They recorded part of Be Here Now at Abbey Road Studios, before they got kicked out. Production value and string sections abound, and are beautiful and ascendant. For arrangements though, you haven’t heard a Noel Gallagher signature composition until you hear, ‘The Masterplan.’ ‘Take the time to make some sense of what you want to say, and cast your words away upon the waves.’ It goes on and on, getting bigger and bigger, and in a way it never ends for me.

Below is the album that could have been the third leg in the triumvirate, people would know Noel Gallagher in America like they know Simon Cowell. Any way that you slice it, that is so much more fucking palatable. Here is my pipe dream third album, it will make your day much more enchanting:

1. D’yer Know What I Mean

2. Acquiesce

3. Talk Tonight

4. Don’t Go Away

5. Stay Young

6. All Around the World

7. Rocking Chair

8. Half the World Away

9. Going Nowhere

10. Stand By Me

11. Fade Away

12. Magic Pie

13. (It’s Good) To Be Free

14. The Masterplan

Joe Biden has now told us that if, ‘God Almighty’ told him to step aside, that would be the bar for what it’s going to take. Since over 30% of millennials identify as atheist, I’m speaking directly to my godless brothers and sisters with this plea. Since god isn’t real, what if one of us cleverly disguised ourselves as white christian god and sent Bazooka Joe a personal note? I’d probably use e-mail, because I think he would understand that, for Gen Z, e-mail used to be how you got messages on the internet.

======Codeword Classified
Eyes Only: Joe Biden
Office of St. Peter
1 Pearly Gates Ct.
Heaven, Univ.

Joe,

This is your Heavenly Father responding to your thousands of requests. No, this isn’t about Amtrak, something far more important has come up. I want to start by saying you have represented the Catholic faith like a champion for over 7 decades, and that’s a lot to ask. I’m taking the time to look into your personal salvation for your service to me, and to your fellow man. St. Peter will greet you and Jill at the gates in a few years, you’re on the list.

Later in a persons life, one may ponder their influence on the world, yours has been an existence for the benefit of humanity. Your first term stacks up very well in terms of legislative accomplishments, weathering the storm, and your most important job: not allowing Donald Trump to win the presidency. I know I gave you people free will, but Jesus Christ how could anyone vote for that monster? Anyway, history will remember you fondly if you heed my word.

As some of your loved ones, and too few of your staff have probably disclosed to you by now, you need to step aside. This is new testament almighty God talking, I’m not going to ask you to kill your own son, and then just be like j/k rofl. No, Joe, I am simply asking you to give your delegates away to the party so that we can continue your work into the future. I’ve got some fabulous ideas for the rapture, and don’t worry you will be up here by then. We can watch together, and I’ll even give Hunter a pass if you comply.

Sincerely,
Catholic God

I have had more political discourse with people I love in the last 24 hours than I can remember, maybe, since we elected Barack Obama. People in my family and personal life that I have a lot of respect for, love, and care about deeply. Thursday night was the Nixon/Kennedy debate reincarnate. Our empathizer in chief Joe Biden, who I have the utmost respect for his life of service to this country, he is a big fucking deal. He also, is done, I don’t see how he recovers from this, but if he doesn’t decide to bow out we still have to vote for him.

Before the debate started, I had a very negative view of CNN as a news outlet. I like Anderson Cooper, especially when he gets drunk on air at the new year, but this was journalistic malpractice. Much like in 2016 when CNN aired full Trump rallies live, giving platform to the racist, xenophobic, self-centered rantings of a conman, in the debate their failure to stop him when he didn’t answer questions or fact check any of the sewage he spewed on their airwaves makes it clear to me that I will never trust them for anything ever again.

It will be interesting to see what comes of the first polls after the debate is baked in, but I am predicting catastrophe. Biden probably edges out Trump if the election is held this past Wednesday, but we are in a different place now. A two point slip in national polls would be a death sentence, and I think it will be worse than that. My thought of him winning rests upon victory in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where I have to assume progress was lost Thursday night.

The corporate owned Democratic Party could decide to take action and make a change at the convention, but my pessimism makes me believe that they won’t. I think that Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, and Josh Shapiro would all make much better candidates and all are capable of beating Trump in November. However with this Democratic Party, sadly, the song remains the same, vote in step against the orange man, and we are likely stuck with Biden in November.

Believers in sanity, the rule of law, free and fair elections, and the American experiment are at a crossroads right now. Joe Biden is not the answer, but the question is still, ‘How can we prevent Donald Trump from turning this country into a dictatorship?’ Unfortunately, right now Joe is still the last man in the trench, holding the line, and will I still vote for him? Absolutely. We can do so much better than this, however, and options should be considered like the world depends on it, because it does.

The lovely Emily joins the podcast along with standard bearer Zach and his wonderful lady MyKayla where we discuss the issues of our day. Zach speaks on the passing of his mother and we tell stories about the old call center days. Love this group!

It started for me with a new relationship with a wonderful woman named Emily, and I am proud to say this is my third WNBA season. It started with a Chicago Sky playoff run that landed just short, but as I watched more, I liked more. After the second game or so I was convinced that Candace Parker could get 2 points on any possession she had wind for. By the fourth game I had referred to Courtney Vandersloot as a, ‘video game player’ because if I was playing as her in 2K, I would hold sprint the whole time.

As that season ended we were then treated to the first Caitlin Clark Iowa run. The next year I went to a Chicago Sky game with my season ticket holder girlfriend. Following that, the next Caitlin Clark Iowa run, and by then people were talking about what Emily and I were talking about. This year, Caitlin Clark elevates a sport, like Tiger, like Serena, like LeBron. I count myself among the grateful for those I mentioned, and for what Caitlin is going to do with her career.

It hasn’t been all gravy however, the influx of new fans to a league they have no experience with has led to a lot of bad takes. I’ll get this out of the way, many view Caitlin as another great white hope in a league that is predominantly African American. Many have viewed her treatment so far as some kind of bullying, and racial animus abounds in these conversations. This league plays hard defense, and the NBA should take note of it. I also think it would just remind her of her last time in Columbus when she almost got knocked out leaving the floor. O-H.

Caitlin can take it, this is the same hazing that goes on in every professional sports league on the planet. It is possibly more exacerbated by the fact that she is on a really bad team, and is constantly double teamed. For the nay sayers, I have her on my fantasy team, and she’s doing just fine. That’s right, our family did a WNBA fantasy league this year, not because we’re degenerates but quite the opposite. Emily is crushing us of course, but the point is we are watching.

As I watched the most viewed WNBA draft of all time, I was so happy that Angel Reese went to Emily’s beloved Sky. She is a fantastic player, and I honestly believe there could be a remake of the Magic/Bird rivalry in the next decade. For all of you LeBron haters who pine for the glory days of the NBA in the 90’s, watch a WNBA game now. It is the most physical game of basketball this side of Pistons/Bulls with the ‘Jordan Rules’ era. Now for the challenge: don’t be afraid to love that women are doing it.

Emily is going to a Sky game and a Red Stars game today, a Chi-town delight. Although I disagree with their hot dog toppings and pizza depth, Chicago is a great sports town with great women’s teams. Columbus, I am lobbying you to demand NWSL and WNBA franchises! Everyone should celebrate the renaissance of the WNBA and not just use women’s sports as a political prop for anti-trans legislation. Like Ted Lasso says, ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.’

Bill Maher has been one of the most prominent voices in political commentary for my entire adult lifetime, and most of the time I have been defending his positions to the cringed faces that responded to them. He has always championed himself as a ‘classical liberal’ who lives and dies by free speech and the first amendment, and has spearheaded discussion in this country many times for the better. However, over the past year and change he has changed, despite his constant claims that the world has moved and he has been the calm center of it all.

His podcast, ‘club random’, which with his stature gets great guests has become a platforming tool for some of the lunatics he has on it to pander and watch him get fucked up. I’m going to give two examples, Jordan Peterson was the first one that really made me say why is a Cornell educated person giving this idiot time, and him chumming up with Robert F Kennedy Jr on vaccines was the last straw for me. As much as the Seth Macfarlane and Quinten Tarantino episodes were fun, the other two were a disgrace.

This is a guy I lionized as a budding atheist, sprouting from failed catholicism. He was just like me, raised catholic and then said, what the fuck? Just like I did. His 2008 documentary ‘Religulous’ is still candy to me, and a great place to start from for anyone questioning their faith, but he has strayed so far from that ‘seek truth’ mentality that history majors are supposed to live by. He was spot on in so many of those scenes pointing out the absurdities of religion and the American right in this country, and now it appears to me that the rich part of his brain has overtaken the liberal one.

I saw him do stand up at The Palace Theater here in Columbus with my parents and even got a selfie with him. It was a highlight of my year back then, but this is where I am going to put my foot in the ground and make a cut, he is no longer a voice of reason. He will still have a job, and I will still watch, because there is such limited real speech in American political discourse, but he’s officially done to me. Too many weeks of supporting the genocide in Gaza, too many weeks of marginalizing trans people, too many weeks of having fluff guests on like this week where there was no counterpoint to the genocide.

‘Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste.’ Bill Maher was that 5 years ago, now he’s just wealthy and bitchy. If I have to hear about his permits for his solar panel on an outhouse in his backyard one more time I’m going to vomit. His panel segments used to be the peak of political talk in this country, and this week it was reduced to pandering on a level I don’t understand unless the goal is attracting bloodthirsty viewers. One history major to another, et tu Bill Maher?

I wanted to take the opportunity to praise 5 people of my lifetime who have made it better. Great people inspire and make the world a better place. Isn’t it amazing that so few of them overall are Republicans? My rebuttal is FDR, Kennedy, Obama, I await your response.

Barack Obama

As the first person to receive my vote for president he was always going to be on this list. Inheriting a financial crisis and 2 wars of his predecessor it was as if the deck was stacked against him like so many African Americans in this country. Hope, the infectious positivity of this eloquent speaker and the healthcare plan that he started made me believe. Yes We Can! I’m waiting with baited breath for the next political figure who can move hearts and minds for the better like he did.

Tiger Woods

I followed him from the early days at Stanford where Arnold Palmer was buying him dinners and it was an NCAA violation, unbelievable in this NIL era. Walking and winning a US Open on a broken leg, there are just sports moments that inspire you to do your regular day job a little better having seen that. Tiger made an entire generation of people love golf who wouldn’t have otherwise, and broke down the racial barriers to the sport in a way that only greatness can. To quote a Nike campaign, ‘I am Tiger Woods.’

LeBron James

The Chosen One. The man who married his high school sweetheart and made 8 straight NBA finals. The man who came back to Cleveland and won a title. The block, the shot, the stop, and that championship comeback from down 3-1 should shut the mouths of every feeble minded asshole that burned his jersey when he went to Miami. In stark contrast to the previous person on this list, no scandals in the social media era should be a lionization in its own respect.

John Mayer

As a guitarist, I had to include one on the list. Most know him as the pop star with the ladies, and most Swifties get this look on their face when you mention his name, but I want to talk about the music. The pop acoustic stuff to start was fantastic, but the Continuum album and the guitar work with the John Mayer Trio during that period was sublime. The gold standard as a guitarist to me is being able to cover Hendrix, and if you look up John’s cover of Voodoo Child, you will have no more questions.

Dee and Jimmy Haslam

I don’t know how the 30 for 30 hasn’t been made yet on ‘Save the Crew.’ But in a miracle that was hard worked for by so many in central Ohio, the Browns ownership struck a deal to keep the Crew in Columbus. Symbolically to right a wrong that had taken place in Ohio within my lifetime, with the Browns moving to Baltimore, they are my Flying J capitalist heroes. It means we get to still have the Nordecke, we get to still have the greatest team the world has ever seen. Glory to Columbus.

I have to begin this by saying how difficult it is to honestly talk about it, but we need to talk about it. I am going to label it as a genocide because that is what it is, and that is what the United Nations has been openly discussing the prevention of. Because of the likelihood that you have already tuned out based on that statement, please allow me to say a couple of true things. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and it was horrific. The government of Israel does not represent Jewish people as a theocracy, and criticism of the government is not anti-semitic.

Terrorist attacks do not come out of nowhere. With that statement I am in no way justifying the actions of Hamas, merely stating a fact that there are causes. The US support of the Abraham Accords under Trump, the apartheid state that Israel has been responsible for for decades, I know why the caged bird sings. Terrorism is not justifiable in any way, but to deny the causes is to bury one’s head in the sand and prepare for another prolonged Middle Eastern war.

The actions of Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the attack and hostage crisis have been homicidal. The indiscriminate killing of civilians in response is a war crime. The collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population through starvation and bombing is a war crime. There isn’t much coverage of it, but there are significant protests going on in Israel now for a cease fire to get the hostages back. Remember way back when it was about getting the hostages back?

Over 30,000 civilians have been killed in this ‘surgical’ military campaign in Gaza, and the United States is complicit in it. We provide 4 Billion dollars a year in aid to Israel to fund this atrocity. To be clear, I am not against the recent aid package because the aid to Ukraine was absolutely necessary and it had to pass the batshit House of Representatives. That does not mean we can’t move to right our wrong and force a cease fire.

The college kids are saying it for the rest of us that have to work day jobs. The unrest on campuses across the country should be waking up ‘Sleepy Joe’ to his responsibility as our empathizer in chief. I very badly don’t want to see this country turn into a dictatorship, and Biden ignoring this for another week, another month just isn’t going to work. Joe Biden your 4th alarm is going off on your phone this morning, wake the fuck up.