WHY?

WHY DO NFL, COLLEGE AND high school football teams continue to run the ball to the short side of the field? They rarely get much out of it. Are they trying to set something up, or are they wasting a play?

Why don't they have westerns on TV or in the movies? I love westerns, especially if they feature John Wayne, Randolph Scott, William Boyd, Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. Or the Cisco Kid. Or Robert Duvall.

Why does some idiot (me) take his dog to the dog park when it's freezing cold? We went today. I put down a bowl of water, and Lady went to drink about 20 minutes later. She had to use her nose to break a thin layer of ice to get to the water.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• Nearly 14 years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing