Friday Night Football: A Special Memory

Between football games, marching band, soccer, and tennis matches, I have found myself in or near our high school football stadium quite a bit this fall.  My daughter is in band and plays tennis.  Her boyfriend plays on the varsity soccer team, and I just like watching football.  All of that, along with really nice weather this fall, has made it enjoyable to spend this time at the stadium.

This last Friday, I was sitting in the stands as our football team took the lead in the second quarter of the game when my mind shifted to thoughts of my dad.  I thought about how much my dad loved watching high school football.  He watched my older brother play for four years, then continued to go to football games for years and years after my brother, sister, and I graduated.  My dad played high school and college football, so it wasn't a surprise that he loved attending football games.  

I continued to think about him as I watched the game.  It occurred to me that this would be the weekend, 19 years ago, that my dad watched his last high school football game.  He had been fighting non-Hodgkin's leukemia for several years, but that didn't deter him from attending as many games as he could.  I wasn't there 19 years ago, but my mom told me that his friends took him to the game in a wheelchair as he didn't have the strength for all the walking, and none of them had any idea that this would be his final game.  By Sunday, his health started to fail, and he passed on Monday afternoon.  It went mercifully fast, but he had lived a wonderful life.  He had many friends, a good family, and all the sports he could ever want.    

As we punted to the opponent, I thought about the beautiful night.  The sky was dark, the stadium lights bright, the temperature was cool, the crowd was cheering along with the cheerleaders, and the game was close.   I know why my dad loved it.  It was easy to forget about life, easy to lose yourself in the excitement of the game.  He would sit with friends, laugh at their stories, and talk about the game.  The night would often end at the local tavern or VFW to relax and recap the game.  

I couldn't help but smile and let the night sink in.  Halftime came, and my daughter's marching band took the field.  I've seen the show a half dozen times, but that night it was especially spectacular.  The game ended with our team winning, but even better was spending the evening at a football game thinking about dad. 

The Coca-Cola Kids Baseball Club B Team: Season Reflection

The Coca-Cola Kids B-Team finished with a weak effort to end the season, falling to 8th place in the final week.  This put the Kids into the consolation bracket for the playoffs.  The Kids didn't necessarily play poorly; it just seemed that the other teams in the league were just better down the stretch.  

Here is a recap of the final weeks and playoffs along with the final roster for the B Team. 

Playoffs Week 1:  Coca-Cola Kids vs. Gourmet by Gorman

Here is a look at how the team finished the regular season: 

Week 24:  Coca-Cola Kids (178-179-66) vs. Splendid Splinters (204-141-69)  8-8  "Kids Draw Even with Splinters to End the Regular Season"  

Week 25 (Semifinal):  Coca-Cola Kids vs. Gourmet by Gorman  8-8 "Ditto" 

Week 26 (Final):  Coca-Cola Kids vs. Acuna Matada  15-3  "Kids Dominate in 7th Place Game"  

The Coca-Cola Kids B Team finished the 2026 season in 7th place with a record: 186-178-68

Final Roster: 

C: Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies

1B: Munetaka Murakami, Chicago White Sox

2B: Kody Clemens, Minnesota Twins

3B: Sam Antonacci, Chicago White Sox

SS: Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers

OF: Ronald Acuna Jr. Atlanta Braves

OF: Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves

OF: Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs

Util: Zach Neto, Los Angeles Angels

Bench:

1B: Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants

Pitchers:

SP: Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees 

SP: Freddie Peralta, New York Mets 

SP: Tyler Mahle, Atlanta Braves 

RP: Paul Sewald, Arizona Diamondbacks

RP: Jonathan Loaisiga, Arizona Diamondbacks

P: George Soriano, St. Louis Cardinals

P: Jonathan Bowlan, Philadelphia Phillies

P: Orion Kerkering, Philadelphia Phillies

Bench:

SP: Michael Wacha, St. Louis Cardinals 

SP: Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins 

SP: Hunter Brown, Houston Astros 

P: Landen Roupp, San Francisco Giants

IR:  Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles

IR: Robert Suarez, Atlanta Braves

I Received an F on My Fantasy Football Draft!

I rarely prepare for a fantasy sports draft, but I don't think I have ever received an F for a team I
drafted.  I get it; I'm no pro when it comes to fantasy sports.  I have won a few seasons.  I have been in the basement a few seasons, but most of the time I am competitive.  Below is my draft and my team.  What do you think?  Do you agree with the Yahoo wizards?

1st round: Caleb Williams (9th pick); 2nd Round: Joe Burrow (12th pick); 3rd Round: Cam Skattebo (29th pick); 4th pick: Zay Flowers (32nd pick); 5th round: D.J. Moore (49th pick); 6th round: Rome Odunze (52nd pick); 7th round: Isaiah Likely (69th pick); 8th round: Jadarian Price (72nd pick); 9th round: Tuo Tagovailoa (89th pick); 10th round: Carnell Tate (92nd pick); 11th round: Texans Defense (109th pick); 12th round: Matthew Golden (112th pick); 13th round: Tyler Allgeier (129th pick); 14th round: Wan'Dale Robinson (132nd pick); 15th round: Jason Myers (149th pick); 16th round: Keaton Mitchell (152nd pick);  17th round: Terrance Ferguson (169th pick)

Here is what the Week 1 starting lineup looked like: 

QB: Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears

RB: Cam Skattebo, New York Giants

RB: Jadarian Price, Seattle Seahawks

WR: Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens

WR: D.J. Moore, Buffalo Bills

TE: Isaiah Likely, New York Giants

W/R/T: Matthew Golden, Green Bay Packers

Q/W/R/T: Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

As Week 1 ends, I get some validation about my F Draft Grade.  The Coca-Cola Kids scored 213.90 points, and the Kids head into Week 1 with a 1-0 record and 3rd place in the league.  

Top Point Earner: Caleb Williams 50.76

Best Surprise:  Isaiah Likely 25.20

Defense:  12.58

Top Scoring Bench Warmer:  Brenton Strange, Jacksonville, Jaguars 9.73

300

This is the 300th post of Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy, originally titled: My Supposedly Interesting Thoughts!  Thanks for joining me for the stories, top 5s, statistics, digital trading cards, fantasy sports,
and more!  

The number 300 stands out to me in several ways, so bear with me on this tangent with the number 300.  First, it makes me think of bowling.  In college, I took a bowling course for 1 credit hour; I became a decent bowler as my average moved to 207.  Not bad, but it was far from the perfect bowling game score of 300.  

For the last several years, I have taken my summer reading group to a local summer camp where they have a paintball field.  Most of us had never played paintball let alone ever considered shooting anything at someone, but there we were, firing paintballs across a wooded battlefield.  Our paintball rate was quite slow at about 150 feet per second to reduce the pain and whelts that would appear on the skin after getting marked.  The universally accepted maximum safety velocity limit for paintball, however, is 300 feet per second. 

In 480 BC, a massive Persian army bottlenecked at Thermopylae, where brave Spartan soldiers, greatly outnumbered, held the pass.  The number of Spartan soldiers who held the pass was 300.  

An abundant number that is the sum of its proper divisor (568) is greater than the number itself is the number 300.  (I admit that I have no idea what any of that means and I hope I paraphrased the mathmatical rule properly.  But you get the idea)

Personally, the number 300 sits covetously in my mind. It is the issue number of the Amazing Spider-Man comic book that is THE bucket list issue for my collection.  I love the cover!  Spidey swings through a wall of "300s" in his black Spidey suite.  Tons of fun!  This book introduces a new villian who has become one of the most popular anti-heroes in Marvel lore, Venom.  The Amazing Spider-Man 300 is written by David Michelinie and Pencil and Inked by Todd McFarlane.  That combo says enough about the success of this milestone issue, but again, I want it for the unique, fun cover.  

Thank you for joining me for post 300 and my musings on the number 300.  Here is to another 300 posts and maybe it won't take almost 20 years.  Hey, after 300 posts, consider subscribing to Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  I wouldn't want you to miss another post!  

Return to the World of Minecraft

I slid open the cabinet door that our main family room television sits upon and saw our X-box sitting there in the dark. No one has turned that on in recent memory. My daughter and her friends like to hang out in the basement where we also have a sizeable television, so I thought they may like to play the X-box if I put it down there.

I unhooked it from the family room and moved it to the basement without much fanfare. I thought I might like to see if they notice it down there and do some exploring. The X-box is where my daughters and I would huddle around to play Minecraft several years ago. My kids are older now (college and high school), so I didn’t think Minecraft would appeal to them anymore, but we have other games they and their friends might like to play.

A weird thing happened. I got the system all plugged in, connected to wifi, and updated the system and games. Then I stopped to look at that Minecraft login. A bit about Minecraft. My girls and I have created in Minecraft for roughly 10 years. We goofed around with several different worlds and play styles, but we kept going back to a world called “Dad’s World.” I played countless hours with them and by myself building in my Dad’s World. If you start with the character in the original spawn point and walk in any particular path to the end of the road we built, it takes roughly 40 minutes for that to happen. All along that “paved path” you will encounter dungeons, towers, houses, boat rides, and villages that we all built. They even secretly built a mall to surprise me.

Like opening the wardrobe that leads to Narnia, I clicked on the Minecraft login and returned to “Dad’s World” for another visit. Memories, tasks, locations came rushing back to me, and yes, I have returned as the adventurer and builder that I am. In a matter of two hours of exploration and road building I discovered a villager/pirate village, a ruin with a broken portal, and I found a massive underground cavern while mining for resources. The absolute joy, creativity, and excitement returned. My girls and even my wife, will indulge me and look at some of the things that I have built recently. But, my mind came alive, and I have played many hours this summer. There is no Mr. Tumnus or Winter Queen or Aslan, but it is a magical world that I want to keep visiting. 

Gen Con 2026: Photo Journal

Gen Con 2026 was one to remember.  It broke attendance records, brought over 83 million dollars to downtown Indianapolis, and featured a tornado warning about 30 minutes before the vendor hall closed on Saturday.   In reflection of the convention, it is probably my favorite of the five Gen Cons I have attended.  Here are some of my favorite images of my experience: 

Checking out the board at the D&D Tower

Indy Gets Behind Gen Con

Fourth Wing dragon art

Gen Con is always magical

Time for adventure!

Adventure Over!

My favorite new game at Gen Con

No detail missed at the Witchlight Carnival

The Dungeon Masters stage

The destruction of Cardhalla

Farewell Gen Con, until next time!

Gen Con Days 3 and 4 Reflection

The rain fell on the city, but that didn't stop the gamers from descending on downtown Indianapolis for the last two days of Gen Con. It was more than just rain and gamers who descended upon Indy on Saturday, as severe thunderstorms erupted, bringing heavy rain and a tornado warning was issued about 45 minutes before the vendor hall closed. The rain subsided soon after 6:30, leaving cloudy to partly cloudy skies for the remainder of Saturday and Sunday.

Gaming did not stop; shopping continued; seminars and sessions were held; drinks and dinners with friends were enjoyed. Gen Con is always a unique experience filled with fun and games. Here are my top 5 moments of days 3 and 4:

5. Halcyon Daze documentary at the Gen Con Film Fest

I have never attended the Gen Con Film Fest before, but I stumbled across a title that I couldn’t pass up. Halcyon Daze: The Final Voyages of Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Cruiser. Here is a summary of the documentary from IMdb:

A journey from casual interest to full-on obsession with Disney's short-lived, award-winning interactive attraction. Experience adventure, colorful characters, and the surprisingly profound feelings of its cast and fan community. IMdb Halcyon Daze

Having taken the journey in June of 2023, the second-to-last voyage, this film connected to me in a personal way, with a walk down memory lane, but the film went further as it dove into how community is found through the experience. I am not sure I experienced the profound connections the people in the documentary did, but I can certainly relate to them and see how they would find these powerful connections. I appreciated the research and science discussed in this film that answer the question of how the Halcyon experience has such a life-changing effect on people.

4. Nighttime Walks

A tradition that started when our group began securing hotels that are connected to the convention center is walking the convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium after hours. As if we don’t get enough walking around during the day, it is enjoyable to stroll the convention center and see pick-up games all around in the Play Hall. There are hundreds of empty tables where people have found a place to settle down with their new game purchases and play with friends. It isn’t packed, but this year, it was notably busier into the night than past years. I’m not sure what the difference is, but there are more people playing late into the night than before. The same is true for the field level in Lucas Oil Stadium. Many more games are going late into the night in that space as well. One favorite tradition is seeing the social deduction games underway in the main hallway of the convention center outside the play hall. Blood on the Clocktower and Werewolf, among other games, are played in group after group as we walk down the hall. It is great to see the diverse groupings all working together or against one another in each game.

3. Generosity of Vendors

Over the years, I have encountered generous vendors who have supported my game club with products or large discounts on products. This year was no different. I had two vendors offer free products for my students and teachers to use in the club or in classrooms. I know for some it is a write-off and for some they have the financial ability to do that. When they talk to me about the club and ask questions about the students and how the club works, I appreciate their interest and their belief in what we are doing in our school.

2. D&D Carnival at the D&D Tower

I didn’t know what to expect from the D&D Tower, but what I discovered was a ton of fun! We entered the tower on the seventh floor and were given a ticket that stated what character class we were. I was a Ranger. Then we discovered that the Witchlight Carnival had appeared! Legend has it that the carnival appears from another plane every eight years and disappears almost as quickly as it came. Visitors got to play games that tested each of our abilities: Dexterity, Charisma, Wisdom, Intelligence, Constitution, and Strength. We received rewards (stickers) for completing the test of our abilities. The carnival, complete with NPCs, had carriages, tents, signs, and more. There was a cyclops that we had to stare down to test our constitution. We had to test our charisma by convincing an NPC which cup we poisoned. After an hour and a half of participating in the fun, we received prizes for our time at the Witchlight Carnival, and we headed out to the convention.

1. The Dungeon Masters Live Play at the D&D Tower

This may be my favorite activity for the entire convention. I joined several hundred D&D fans in the Indiana Repertory Theater to watch the recently created live play group The Dungeon Masters (DMs) official D&D Live Play campaign. The cast is amazingly talented, all led by The DM, Jasmine Bhuller, with players Mayanna Berrin, Christian Navarro, Neil Newbon, Devora Wilde, and special guest Theo Solomon. We laughed, cheered, gasped, and sat on the edges of our seats as we watched this compelling storyline unfold. It was a ton of fun, and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend this Saturday night at Gen Con any other way.