For the first time in my adult life, I have a work schedule that gives me full weekends off. Every week. It kind of landed in my lap unexpectedly.

I’m just a couple weeks into it – and it may only last six months or so – but I like it. It’s been jarring to move parallel with the masses. I’m so used to the zig when everyone else is going zag, but I’ll take it.

My lack of a normal life is exposed when I get home from work on Friday afternoon but I think I’m gonna try to take it all in and enjoy it.

I went to a college football game last Saturday. Columbia played Harvard at their really nice off-campus field in Inwood. I took the train up there and sat on the Harvard side of the field. It was ten bucks to get in. Ivy League football isn’t the SEC but it’s a good brand of game. Columbia has been an Ivy doormat in football for forever but apparently wants to change that given its hire of the all-time winningest coach in FCS history. Columbia somehow enticed former Penn coach Al Bagnoli out of retirement. This is year #1 for Bagnoli who was said to receive a five-year deal from Columbia with the attached promise the football budget would go up at least 50-percent.

Harvard was undefeated going in and won by eight but Columbia was competitive on both sides of the ball, especially on defense. Bagnoli is the real deal although Columbia inexplicably followed up its stout effort against Harvard with a dud in Ithaca getting shut out by a lousy Cornell team 3-nil.

If you want a true college football experience and never thought you’d find it in the five boroughs, I’d recommend hitting a Columbia game. It’s easy to reach and cheap to get in. Concession prices are low. Dinosaur Barbeque has a stand there. The game program is free. You can basically sit wherever you want but there is some atmosphere. I really got a kick out of Harvard’s band. They filled gaps in play with unique sounds. They were having fun throughout and it rubbed off on those around them.

Let’s see if Bagnoli can complete a full turnaround. It’s not at the top of the university’s mission but it’s a fun time to follow Columbia and the Ivy League.

The second Saturday in my new routine was yesterday. I ordered pizza, watched Bama/Miss St and then went out to see LVL UP at Baby’s All Right. I had a couple at East River Bar and then went to the rock venue. The guy working the door said it was “sold out” but then added “I can sell one more.” Admission was $15. The headliner was Dilly Dally but I have a hard time watching anyone play after LVL UP given how great they are. So I didn’t dilly dally. I left after LVL UP’s awesome 35 minute set. They opened with a couple new ones which were awesome. The sound at Baby’s is almost always spot on. There was no mention by the band about Paris – nor did security at the door do anything obviously different on the way in.

-On Mizzou, my alma mater: I’m not there nor do I have a full handle on day-to-day doings on campus but I started paying attention to the story when the hunger striker launched his effort and would not have predicted the dominoes to fall as they did. When Mizzou’s President cited Psalms in his resignation speech, any compassion I had for the guy left me. My main reaction to the story and the subplots is that the only way to truly address racism at any institution whether it’s a school or workplace or neighborhood is to populate it with diversity. When I went to Mizzou, less than 1 in 10 students were black. That ratio remains much the same all these years later. It’s out of whack. The one in 10 or 11 is always gonna feel isolated. The white majority in that scenario will not benefit from the rewarding knowledge and understanding that comes with the melting pot. The incidents cited by those upset with the climate at Mizzou would not fester or find space in a community that is more broadly represented by the way our world looks. That you have administrators in a university setting acting tone deaf is something worthy of highlighting. But the real fight and focus here ought to be on the enrollment, the cost of higher ed and how we make our student body more diverse.