Author Archives: Jonathan

Football Coach’s Words Inspire Small School to Lone Section Championship A pregame speech from head coach Buck Roggeman was a sermon from a football god. A grown man with traps that stretched neck-to-shoulders and a chest that looked as if it could press a car, his words sailed on scripts from ancient times. He toldContinue reading “Old Boys Become Young Men”

It was dark and cold and we were groggy when the bus pulled up to the hotel. “What time is it?” asked Big Tim, his red beard and cowboy boots. “Four-thirty,” said Emory, brown eyes under a large hoody looking at his phone. ”In the fucking morning.” * The Manchester Wolves we were, an ArenaContinue reading “We All Just Wanna Be Big Rockstars”

I was quarterback of the football team, valedictorian of the class. You found my name in the yearbook under ‘most likely to succeed.’ And, looking back now with white hairs in my beard, I still don’t know what that word means. * I’ve never made more than $47,000 a year. I am not married, neverContinue reading “All-American Boy”

All we have is Now. Future is a made-up concept. For when we get there, it will be Now. The same holds true with Past. When we were there, it was Now. Anxiety at what will come tomorrow robs us of today just as regret at what happened yesterday robs us of today. Today isContinue reading “Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday”

A new year has turned old and soon it will end so another can begin. We have learned. We have done. We are the same as we were or we are different or we are some combination of the two. Maybe we’ve grown taller. Maybe we’ve grown wiser. Grown a belly or a mustache orContinue reading “Ends to Beginnings and Beginnings to Ends, On End”

When we were kids, the day would never come—always hanging in the distance like some red and green rainbow of presents wrapped with bows and cookies covered in frosting. It was ‘the most wonderful time of the year.’ Can it be again? The past few years I’ve heard a lot of people down on Christmas.Continue reading “And so it is Christmas”

When I boarded a plane to play American Football in Finland—letting go of the NFL dream after seasons of toil in the Canadian and Arena Football Leagues—the door of life opened wide for me.       For, by boarding that plane, I chose to use my athletic talent for freedom, travel, and adventure—and enough money—rather than the anxietyContinue reading “Freedom Found”

Mike the mustached ski bum lives the good life in his mountain village of Snow Valley, but times are changing. Old Arlo Sweetwater is dead and SkiCorp — led by evil Valeman — has weaved its web into the valley. With help from wise Miss Minerva and that mystical foreigner known as the samurai, MikeContinue reading “Snow Valley: Last of the Ski Bums”