Coach Caldwell, English major
by cedillefan on Feb 2, 2010 3:46 PM EST
Email
Print
<!--StartFragment-->
As someone who teaches English, I’ve been fascinated by the fact the James Caldwell was an English literature major as an undergraduate. I’ve written an essay on the subject which is too long to post here but you can read it if you go to the website listed below. Basically what I argue is that Caldwell has a poetic understanding of language which he uses with great effectiveness—whether it involves using metaphors that inspire the players (“the hunter, not the hunted”) or compressing a lot of meaning into a few potent words that operate with talismanic power (and that the players keep secret from the rest of us). Caldwell also draws on literature to keep himself focused in the face of adversity, such as the poem “Invictus.”
Writing about Caldwell led me to view his decision to not go for a perfect season in terms of the Jorge Louis Borges short story “Death and the Compass.” Sometimes, Borges writes, the most difficult labyrinth to negotiate is the line from a to b, which in this case was from the regular season to the Super Bowl. Whatever one thinks of Caldwell’s decision—and by now it appears it was Caldwell’s call rather than Polian’s or Irsay’s—one has to be impressed with the dignity and conviction behind it. He preferred a simple and elegant straight line to a dramatic narrative.
I’m looking for stories of other literary works that Caldwell is drawn to. The essay I wrote on this subject can be found at www.betterlivingthroughbeowulf.com/?p=2424
Coming tomorrow: The insights that the epic Beowulf gives us into the fight between owners and players over the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
<!--EndFragment-->This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.
42 comments
|
6 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Awesome!
Thank you for posting this. I will definitely read it, and read several Borges stories when I was in high school… this will be a special treat.
I didn’t listen to Caldwell’s interviews early in the season, so only recently got to understand how articulate he is. The Colts – and by extension the fans – are blessed to have him!
How can you not love a team that does this?
'Blessed'
That’s a term i hear a lot from Colts players and coaches. Interesting.
Off Topic: Of the half-dozen Media Day isolation videos i listened to, I really enjoyed watching and listening to Jeff Saturday, He was articulate and straight forward. Really enjoyable.
English
Fewy, yucky. I prefer numbers, integrals, and derivatives. No offense towards you, I just hate writing.
Ah..
But if you don’t appreciate language, how are you going to appreciate the beautiful theories in Math and Science. I used to think like you too, until I attended lectures by Prof. Gilbert Strang and subsequently read his books on Calculus and Linear Algebra. Very eloquently written and surprisingly very few solved examples, yet makes concepts crystal clear.
"Winning is not everything;the desire to win is" - Vince Lombardi
"Lomu's the Brent Spar with attitude. A figure who inspires hero worship among even those who think a fly-half is a glass of beer consumed when 'er indoors is looking the other way." - Robert Philip Daily
Numbers and mathematical terminology is good enough for me
Why? Because math is its own language. n choose k is as clear as day for me.
by metal_militia on Feb 5, 2010 3:33 PM EST up reply actions
Literature and Football
A beautiful merging of two muses. A muse of poetry and, well, football provides much a-muse-ment.
It's awesome. I spent a few hours on it the other night.
It’s swoon worthy.
I deserve a Super Bowl because karma knows that I've suffered enough and that it is my fate and destiny and that I'm due on the 7th of February. I'm indeed naming him Lombardi.
yea the guy has great posts, just wish he would also start commenting
The Horses font feet have cleared the huddle and as time slows it is also time for the back feet to clear and for us to declare victory!!!!! GO COLTS!!!
previously known as (ANGELSFAITH)
by TheAngelsColts on Feb 3, 2010 11:12 AM EST up reply actions
ok well the rest of my comment still stands
The Horses font feet have cleared the huddle and as time slows it is also time for the back feet to clear and for us to declare victory!!!!! GO COLTS!!!
previously known as (ANGELSFAITH)
by TheAngelsColts on Feb 3, 2010 12:35 PM EST up reply actions
What!?
Just because a poster is intelligent, articulate, and sensitive to the finer details of personal communication, you assume it’s a SHE!???
Wait… give me a sec…
Ok. yeah, i can see how you’d reach that conclusion.
haha - exactly
that and I read her bio on her site and Google’d her in association with her university
I am a mad Googler.
How can you not love a team that does this?
cedillefan is male
Oh, and I am a man. But my wife is an equally ardent Colts fan.
If LB has been stalking, she needs more practice at it. :D
whoopsie
sorry, cedillefan!
I thought I read you were a proponent for women’s rights, and to me having a wife doesn’t automatically make you a man.
/Berkeley’d
How can you not love a team that does this?
thank you
Thanks for your wonderful encouragement and sorry about my silence. I’m new to this whole process (I barely know what texting is). But I have been reading you all for months now and love the passion and the insights.
I have a passage from Beowulf picked out for Monday after the Colts win that I think you will all like. But here’s a poem that I remember from my childhood that you may appreciate. It reminds us why we watch this game. It captures Peyton’s beauty. (Unfortunately it captures Brees’ beauty as well.)
"The Passer," by George Abbe
Dropping back with the ball ripe in my palm
grained and firm as the flesh of a living charm,
I taper and coil myself down, raise arm to fake,
running a little, seeing my targets emerge
like quail above a wheat field’s golden lake. . .
And as I run and weigh, measure and test,
the light kindles on helmets, the angry leap;
but secretly, coolly, as though stretching a hand to his chest,
I lay the ball in the arms of my planing end,
as true as metal, as deftly as surgeon’s wrist.
I figure that the the receive most like a plane on Sunday is Reggie Wayne.
Oh, and I am a man. But my wife is an equally ardent Colts fan.
Nothing is too long to post here.
Except for maybe Proust.
*bangs head*
I hate Proust. Or maybe I just got tired of my feminist philosophy professor talking about him even when it had little to do with the topics on hand. Now I feel obligated to read “In Search of Lost Time” to justify my hatred.
Thanks, linkish
I'm a dick like that.
I’ve got this copy of Leviathan on my shelf that’s been mocking me for years about how I’ll never get through it.
And I hate Kant, too! Reading Kant is the literary equivalent of being kicked in the nuts by a mountain goat wearing golf cleats. Really the biggest problem I had with Proust and Hobbes and Kant is (to borrow a quote from Family Guy) that they insist upon themselves. I’ll stick with my Greek and Roman classics, thanksverymuch.
Ooh.. I read the Leviathan for Modern Political Thought
years and years ago.
I am no fan of Kant either. I’ve a feeling Kant wouldn’t approve me staying up until 4 am on a blog. I wouldn’t be living up to my potential. I’ll stick with Aristotle really.
But I still hate you for the Proust thing.
We had to read Kant two semesters ago - hated it
and guess what, that cute professor is making us read Kant again =(
and Descartes and two other people I don’t know
Hobbes
Man in a state of nature lives a life that is “nasty, brutish and short.” Sounds like the average football career.
Hate on, brotha. Hate on.
Incidentally, what’s your all-time favourite epic?
Ugh, Kant
I was a philosophy major, and Kant made me regret my decision (although I still sprinkle a few of his theories into conversation when I feel like being pretentious). Interesting trivial fact: Kant died a virgin. Explains a lot, if you ask me.
Philosophy was my minor.
Kant also suffered from chronic constipation, which really explains a lot.
Perhaps Proust suffered from chronic diarrhea?
Because that would also explain a lot! :)
I can’t decide on my favorite epic yet. I shall spend a lot of time thinking about this. Also, because you use “favourite” instead of “favorite,” where are you from?
Indiana born and bred.
The reason I use British variant spelling is maybe a bit silly; you’ll have to decide for yourself. My love of the language originates (along with my parents) with an Englishman I knew in my youth, who taught me much in the way of linguistics, philosophy, and humanity. In the course of our long correspondence, I adopted his way of spelling, as something of an inside joke between the two of us…. When he died, I began to use it all the time as a way of honouring what he taught me, which has become an integral part of the person I am today.
So now, spelling things like I do is second nature to me. I thought to use the American way of spelling on message boards such as this, mostly to avoid confusion for others; try as I might, though, sometimes lapses in focus catch up to me. I think I may just discard the idea altogether.
Some think me pretentious for this, which doesn’t really bother me; this is not a story I tell very often. I just do what I do, I suppose.
Certainly.
I’m not much a fan of talking about myself, but at the same time, I’m kind of an open book. Life is autobiographical by nature, so I guess sometimes it can’t be avoided.
Thanks. That's a very sweet story not pretentious at all.
One of my good friends is English and in England, so we communicate a lot through email/chat/what not on almost daily basis. So I’m always ultra aware of the differences as we’ve discussed them often.
The Odyssey
has got great passages like the following one to the suitors. Imagine delivering it to the football team of your choice:
You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it home
from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder, twisted my maids to
serve your beds. You dared bid for my wife while I was still alive.
Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide heaven, contempt for
what men say of you hereafter. Your last hour has come. You die in blood."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
