Author: dgf2099

For Season 13, the first Amtrak series, we will feature the first of four “mish-mosh” editions, this one is a general edition, this one features some sports and non sports memorabilia.

Union College in Schenectady, New York has a football tradition that extends back to 1886. The Union College Dutchman have been playing football for 126 seasons. They did not play in 1906 due to the death of Harold Moore. It was this moment, in a game against New York University in late 1905 that Moore died, due to a kick in the head. That kick created a cerebral hemorrhage, which killed him. As fate would have it, Teddy Roosevelt was already actively campaigning for changes in rules in football due to his son playing at Harvard. After Moore’s death, Roosevelt helped create the NCAA, which implemented many rule changes, and has saved countless lives over the years.

10 years before the series of events which would change the game of football forever, the Union College Dutchmen were coached by E.M. Church, and their captain was J.G. Beckwith. They played a total of 9 games, and were 4-4-1. In preparation for the season, Beckwith and Church laid out the plays, and created a series of hand gestures that would be used to communicate the play from the coach to the player. This document is fascinating for many reasons. I love stuff like this, that makes sense to the people who create it, but is designed to be nonsensical to anyone else. This is also an example of how simple sports really were back then.First off, I love really old handwriting. My hand writing is awful, and the handwriting from the late 19th century looks astounding. For a document that is as old as it is, it is in great shape. It’s also interesting because if you look at it carefully, it is designed to make sense only to the people who are looking at it. To me, the words are written in such a way that if someone who isn’t a football player is reading it, they won’t understand.

By David G. Firestone

The 2015 Sprint Unlimited is behind us, Matt Kenseth won the event, and it was a great race. Something I’m disappointed about is that there aren’t more special schemes for the Sprint Unlimited. There were 25 teams in the Sprint Unlimited, only Danica Patrick ran a special scheme this year. I would love to see every driver have some kind of special scheme for the Sprint Unlimited and the All-Star Race.

Paint schemes aside, I love the Sprint Unlimited. As it does every year, the format changes, and this year, the eligibility changes as well. I do like the 25 car format, and it did lead to some great pack racing. The racing was great, and what I love about the Sprint Unlimited is that it starts around the same time as Truck Days in baseball, which means spring is around the corner.

It’s a great day to stay inside, drink tea, and write. I live in Chicago, and as of right now, 8:11 am, it’s 9 degrees outside, and there is a fresh coating of snow. Winter sucks! It’s cold, waiting for a bus is horrible, and there isn’t much to do anyways. Chicago has a lot of great things to do, especially on a holiday, but if it’s too cold to go outside, you can’t do them. So I’m gonna spend this day off writing, doing laundry, playing with the cats, and drinking tea.

I’d like to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while. We all encounter certain design aspects in life that have explanations, but those explanations are not readily available. One of these examples is why are Italian restaurants always dimly lit?

Chain restaurants aside, every Italian restaurant I have ever eaten at was dimly lit. Normally, the way it works is that the more expensive the restaurant, the dimmer it is. I have yet to eat at a dimly lit McDonald’s. But every Italian restaurant, from the cheap ones to the high end ones is dimly lit. Every one is dimly lit…Why? What I’d like to know is why. I have to believe there is a reason every Italian restaurant across the country that I have eaten is is dimly lit, but why is it that way?