Category: Sports

  • ODDS and ENDS: Unexpected Conversation with My Kid, Other People’s Stuff, and Tottenham

    (It’s just another day)

    I tried to explain the “Juice Era” of baseball to my daughter this morning. Talk about a subject that I never thought I would have to get into with her. It all started when she asked me what I thought was the most important position in baseball, pitcher, followed by catcher. Then I told her some stories about Pudge Rodriguez, the greatest catcher of all time, and how I got to watch him play back in Texas. With all I was saying, I mentioned the “Juice Era” and that lead her to asking questions about cheating and players using steroids. You know, normal breakfast conversations.

    We might drive up the Hudson Valley this weekend and take a look at antique stores. It is Labor Day weekend, and getting out of the City seems like a good idea. Sometimes when we head up the Hudson with no real plan to do anything, that’s when we wander into some old antique store that is just crammed full of stuff. Most of it is pretty cool, and a little more expensive than we are willing to spend. But now and then, we do come across a gem of an odd piece of something. We have a wall mounted thermometer from Maine that’s in our kitchen, and the last time we headed out, my wife found some odd drawings of cats. I’m curious to find old vinyl to mount on the wall, and the wife would like a large piece of art to put up in the living room. It’s like treasure hunting for us.

    If they lose this weekend, Lord help us all. #COYS

  • ODDS and ENDS: Autumn Marketing in Summer, Theatre, and Tottenham Hotspur

    (Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…)

    It’s not done yet! I know it’s August still, and it’s hot, and the subway platforms are a swamp, and when I step outside, I just start sweating. I’m an old man and I can’t stop talking about the weather, and around this time of year, I want it to be Fall more than anything. But I’m going to throw the marketeers of America under the bus one this one. These Ad-Wizards starting running back-to-school commercials before the 4th of July. Halloween junk on sale at drug stores and Home Depot in August? Just yesterday, I got a catalog in the mail from L.L. Bean telling me that it’s time for Fall! I’m not crazy; they’re all jumping the gun here, right?

    The kid auditioned for a school play. This made me very excited and proud. Also, it put me on notice not to be a “Stage Dad.” See, the kid needed to have a one minute monologue memorized for her audition, and she came to me for help. You know; me, her dad, the guy who got a theatre degree, and did plays and puppet shows and physical theatre here in New York City. Me! She came to me for help, and I said yes! And then I had to tell myself that I cannot live through her, and her experiences in auditioning and doing this play. No! I am here to support, and give guidance when she asks for it. But, she didn’t know how to score a script, or what a beat was in reference to dialogue, so I had to fill her in a little. But no Stage Dad shit!

    This could be a rough season for Spurs. Just saying…

  • USA v Belgium (Trump Ruins Everything)

    Monday’s 4-1 USA loss to Belgium was an embarrassment. The USMNT looked scared and timed out there. They couldn’t complete a pass, they were hesitant, and completely got manhandled by mediocre Belgium team. In all honesty, the score could have easily been 6-1. The world Cup Round of 16 is no joke, and not for half ass teams. If you don’t believe me, look at the England v Mexico match, or what Argentina just pulled off on Egypt. In this round, you come to play and give it all to win.

    So, what happened to Team USA?

    In all honesty, I never picked USA to win it all. But what I had seen in the group stage, and how they play against Bosnia lead me to believe that Pochettino had put together a team, and got them into the right head space to not only compete, but to go out there and expect to win. And putting up a good showing is worth it in the World Cup. Telling the world, we came to play, and you need to take us seriously is also part of the exercise. It isn’t always about being the strongest, or the best player in the world. It’s about getting a team to believe that the deserve to be on this stage. Getting a group of players to focus, work as one with a common purpose, and step up with others faulter. It’s about confidence; Sometimes it takes months if not years to build it, but it only takes a second to destroy it.

    And that’s what Trump did to Team USA – his killed their confidence.

    Was the Red Card on Folarin Balogun bullshit? Yes, it was. It shouldn’t have been called. But that’s the game. Refs make the wrong call all the time. You can complain about it. You can protest, but at the end of the day, this is how the game works. All professional sports works this way. There will never be a game where everything is called perfect. The mistakes are part of the game. Overcoming a wrong call, and still winning is what gets you respect from your opponent.

    Trump whining to Gianni Infantino is true to Trump’s brand. He constantly feels like he’s being treated unfairly and complains. Infantino giving in to the complaint was egregious, and just proves how corrupt Gianni Infantino and all of FIFA’s administration is – they will do whatever to keep the money flowing to their pockets. So, shame on FIFA.

    For Belgium, this just added fuel to their fire to show how good they are. They played with a mission to humiliate the USA. To show that Trump’s and FIFA’s meddling was bluntly crass manipulation to engineer a result that was underserved. And that’s what Belgium did. And then they mocked Trump’s dance.

    But it wouldn’t have been the 4-1 drumming if Team USA had just a tad bit of confidence. But how could they, after what Trump had done. There was no winning this game for USMNT. See, if they won the game, then the world would view it as a rigged result. And the team knew it. Everything they did out there was second guessed in the minds. The best example was Matt Freese’s muffed pass that was converted to a goal. You can see in his eyes he just wasn’t sure where to put the ball, which caused his foot to drag on the pitch.

    If Trump would have kept his mouth shut, even if Team USA lost the way they lost, a level of respect would have been earned. But with Trump getting involved, only a loss, an awful, sad, humiliating loss could have expunged the stink of favoritism off the team.

    See, Trump only cares about winning, because he sure as hell didn’t say anything positive or encouraging about Team USA after that match. No, he was nowhere to be seen.

    I want to add that Folarin Balogun didn’t deserve any of this. He showed a courage, grace, and professionalism in the face of unbelievable pressure. He put his head down and played. I would like to say to Folarin Balogun, sorry our President is such a dick and shit on your moment on the world stage that you worked so hard to achieve.

  • ODDS and ENDS: The Knicks Meme, USA v Australia, and I Can’t Believe This

    ODDS and ENDS: The Knicks Meme, USA v Australia, and I Can’t Believe This

    (This joint is jumping!)

    Knicks basketball team on a bus celebrating championship win with fans cheering
    (AI images still suck…)

    There’s been lots of celebrating in the City since the Knicks won, and if you have been walking around here in the past week, New York feels like one giant neighborhood. It’s best summed up by MD Ahnaf Hossain who said, “My mayor’s Muslim / My bagel’s Jewish / My Christian’s Dior / Knicks in four!” Or you could go with, “My mayor’s Muslim / My bagel’s Jewish / The Pope’s on our side / Knicks in five!”

    Gearing up for USA v Australia in about an hour, and I’m excited for this match. A win means that Team USA will move on to the knockout round. I hate to be one of those supporters, but it Team USA can win their first match in the knockout round, then this World Cup has been a success for them. I would love for them to go deep, hell, even win the whole thing. But, I feel like we are still twenty to thirty years from that. Having said that, I would like to see how far we can go in this thing. Might be awhile before the Cup in held in America again.

    I can’t believe I’m going to say this; I’m looking forward to working out each day. Not sure what changed this week, but there you go. I can learn new things.

  • Why is It The Older I Get, The More I Enjoy Sports?

    I have a very kind and understanding family.

    I say this because they aren’t complaining about the amount of time I have sat in one place on the couch watching the World Cup. As of this moment, I have watched some potion of each match. I’m not saying I’ve seen the entirety of every game, just at least five minutes. And I am having fun. I mean I hate FIFA, as they are a corrupt group of assholes who skim and steal everything. But the World Cup as an event is awesome.

    As I sit here in my apartment enjoying all of this sports competition, I have to wonder when I became such a sports fan?

    I didn’t use to be like this. When I was a kid and into my teens, I wasn’t a sports fan. Those were my brothers in my family. I was the arty theatre kid. I’ve always had a competitive streak in me, as everyone in my family does, but I wasn’t coordinated or talented enough to be on any team.

    But sports were always on the tv when I was growing up. My dad would watch football in the fall and winter, so that was on every Sunday and Monday night. My oldest brother was way into baseball, so the was on tv over the Summers. My other brother was way into college basketball, so we always watched the NCAA tournament. If I was going to spend time with my maternal Grandfather over the Summer up in Illinois, that meant I was going to watch the Cubs on WGN. All this inundation, but I never went out seeking to follow a sports team on my own.

    Then somewhere in my mid-twenties it all started to change. I started watching the Cowboys, and never missed a game if it was on TV. Got really into following the Cubs, and pretty much didn’t look back. And soccer has been the latest, especially with the World Cup and Tottenham.

    And I have noticed about other people my age who are in the creative fields. I swear twenty years ago, none of them would have spent any of their time watching a game from any sport. Now, they have become diehard baseball or basketball fans. And I’m not talking about the local teams starts winning, and they started following. I mean true dedication and loyalty to teams that, well, suck.

    Maybe it does have to do with getting older. My mother, over the last fifteen or so years of her life was a huge San Antonio Spurs fan, back when it was Pop, Tim Duncan and that whole gang. It was a little odd hearing her tell me stats about the team, or who was injured, or needed to step up their game. She religiously watched every one of their games over a season, and we had to adjust family plans to fit around the playoffs. She never cared about sports before, then all of a sudden, she was hooked.

    Maybe this is just how life goes; the older you get, the more you like watching competition.