17

 And another week has begun, and my final semester is flying along. As I think I said last week, I'm not feeling too nostalgic and the passing moments don't feel too bittersweet so far. Again, maybe when I'm down to the final two weeks, and the CFL player jerseys are below five, I'll feel differently.  My officemate Erik proposed yesterday that I seemed very much at peace with the end, which he took to be reflective of the fact that I had an rich life planned out (living in Sicily, learning Italian, writing books) and thus it was less of an ending and more of a transition. As usual, I suspect he's right.

Thanks to Khari Jones for loaning me his number 17 for today's commemoration. I didn't know until recently that Jones is a fellow Hoosier, born in Hammond, Indiana. After attending college at UC Davis, he played briefly for the Albany Firebirds (Arena Football League) and Scottish Claymores (World League of American Football/NFL Europe) before heading north of the border. Over his ten years career he was a member of the BC Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was voted the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2001 and led the Blue Bombers to the Grey Cup, although they lost to Calgary. The next year he threw for over 5300 yards and 46 TDs (which is the third most that any CFL QB has ever thrown in a season). Shoulder issues impacted his later career. After retirement he was Offense Coordinator for several teams, and also served as Head Coach of the Montreal Alouettes for four years.