GRIDIRON AFICIONADO

Football’s inner sanctum

KEPT

Sunday Letter · 11 October 2026

No. 005 · Vol. I

Four things. No noise.

01 / From the Desk

Not everything worth publishing arrives on the calendar. This week, I made room for Mike Ditka.

I did not know him personally. What interested me was the relationship at the center of The Last Man Halas Hired: a coach returning to the man who had traded him away, and a founder deciding who could carry his football forward. An unscheduled essay, for a man who earned one.

That is part of what I want the Essays room to be. A place to stop and look closely, even when the piece was not in the plan.

Alongside it is this week’s Notebook, “What the Ivy League Gets Right About College Football.” And before you finish the letter, a look at the people and the work coming together behind Issue I.

02 / From the Essays

Essays: the long room.

The Last Man Halas Hired (Mike Ditka)

An unscheduled essay, for a man who earned one.

Mike Ditka wrote a letter to the man who had traded him away. Years later, George Halas brought him home. My essay follows the relationship behind that decision: the fight, the forgiveness, and the kind of football identity a hiring process cannot manufacture.

He was hiring someone he had already coached, already fought and already forgiven. He was choosing a successor.

03 / From The Show

What the Ivy League Gets Right About College Football

As a young Minnesota Vikings fan, I remember being surprised that Ed Marinaro had come out of Cornell. That memory opens a larger question: what should a university want its football program to be?

Ryan Fitzpatrick is at the center of this Notebook. At Harvard, Tim Murphy gave him freedom to change plays at the line. Fitzpatrick carried more than football knowledge into the NFL: study habits, preparation, and an ability to work with different people. Football and education were reinforcing each other.

This is not an argument that every school should adopt the Ivy League’s rules. The circumstances are different, and the model has limits.

It is an argument for making an honest choice. If football is a commercial business, say so. If it is part of the education, that decision should show up in the daily work, not just the mission statement.

Approximately 19½ minutes. One question worth answering.

04 / From the Workbench

The People Behind the Pages

Jen Marlatt has officially joined Gridiron Aficionado as art director. Her experience with luxury brands brings an understanding of how design, materials, and restraint work together. That matters for the kind of magazine we are making.

We are working with Hemlock Printers in Vancouver, British Columbia, to bring Issue I into print. I think of it as a collector’s compendium: something that belongs on the coffee table, but earns its place by being read.

The interviews for our first issue have been underway for a couple of weeks. We will reveal the theme in a later letter. For now, I want you to know that the editorial work is moving alongside the design and printing work.

Last week, I invited you to subscribe. This week, I wanted to introduce the people helping turn that promise into a physical object.

That is what is on the workbench now: the people, the stories, and the pages that will hold them. The finished magazine has to justify the space you give it.

If this is your first Kept: one letter a week. Four things. No noise.

Thank you for being here at the beginning. I look forward to putting Issue I in your hands.

Manny Matsakis
Founder & Publisher
Gridiron Aficionado

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Kept · Sunday Letter · No. 005

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