Category: Sports

  • Brackets

    It is almost Spring, which means that it’s time for everyone to make a bracket for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

    I don’t follow college basketball; I just need to get that out there first. But what I do follow is competition, and the chance to show old friends how good I am at something I know nothing about. That’s why I love making a bracket. I don’t know crap, but now and then, I will make better picks than my friends who spend hours researching, and working on their predictions.

    For my method of making picks. I just kind’a make up a story in my head about what I think will make a dramatic tournament. I have to have several huge upsets, and small schools beating powerhouses. I like to pick the Ivy League to win in the first round, just because a “brains” beating the “jocks” is a story that is always entertaining. And then, for no good reason at all, I’ll pick a #8 seed team to win the whole thing, in honor of the 1985 Villanova team.

    I downloaded the ESPN Tournament app on my phone, but as of writing this, I haven’t put a bracket together. I normally do three, because why the hell not. One is for my “real” picks, one is just random, and one is my best guess as to which team’s mascot would win in a fight against the other team’s mascot.

    The one development this year is that my daughter is interested in make a bracket. We will knock that out after school today, and I will let her pick whatever she likes. I won’t lie, I like the idea of watching the games with my kid. That feels like a wholesome father/daughter thing to do.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Tottenham, Valentines Day, and The Resistance

    (‘Cause she’s heart and soul…)

    I don’t think I am a fair-weather fan, but I have to admit that Tottenham Hotspur’s season is over. I wish it wasn’t, but it is time to throw in the towel. Nothing has gone right after the first month, and even with two wins over Man City, they still can’t seem to get their act together. This doesn’t mean that I will stop watching their matches – no, I will be there for every one – but this does mean that I will stop the believing in the hope that they will turn things around. Things will not be turned around. There will be no extra play next season, and if they don’t put on the brakes soon, they could slide right out of the league. They are only 10 points off from the bottom three, though I think relegation is unlikely for them, I also thought they’d finish in the top four this season. Shows you what I know. Hey’s to next season!

    We are not a big Valentines Day family. We get treats for the kid, but for me and the wife, it has never been an important date on our relationship calendar. But! We do get cards for each other. And we play a game where we wait to the last minute to buy the cards at a local drug store. The more picked over the card section the better. It’s fun to get a card that was meant for a grandmother, or one thanking you for your support in my time of need. Technically, these sentiments are not inncorrect.

    I didn’t have my money on the US Attorneys in the Southern District and Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section being the first lead actors in the Resistance, but I sure am glad they have integrity and a backbone.

  • The Super Bowl Happened

    For me, the biggest thing that happened on Sunday was that my daughter wanted to watch the game with me. I know part of it was to see Taylor Swift (she’s a huge fan of her) and part of it was the commercials, but I will take away that the kid wanted to hang out with me on the couch.

    The older I get, the less and less I enjoy the Super Bowl. The game, most of the time, is enjoyable to watch, mainly because it’s two very good teams competing, which inherently is a compelling dramatic spectacle to watch. But everything else, just reminds me that I and the rest of America, are nothing but consumers and marks for corporations. Which I guess does make it truly an American Holiday.

    That all having been said, I had my money on Kansas City winning. My public reason was that you cannot count out Mahomes, as I do think his is one of the best to play quarterback. My private reason was that I despise the Philadelphia Eagles. Yes, I am a Cowboys fan, and for that reason, I can never support the Eagles. Little did I know that no one on the Chiefs showed up to play. Mahomes wasn’t a factor – no one was a factor on KC – which made the game dull, boring, and my worst nightmare.

    Even the commercials, the last respite of a useless Super Bowl, were also dull and boring. The best thing I saw was the Nike women’s athlete ad, which had a good message, my daughter loved it, but I didn’t feel like it was breaking new ground so much as having to remind everyone that women’s sports are a force now and shouldn’t be underestimated. Yet, seriously, are there still people (men) out there who don’t know that?

    And that leaves Kendrick Lamar. I dug it, thought it was cool, and will also admit that I am very late to the Kendrick Lamar party. Thought it had a message, a point you know, he did the song everyone was expecting, and the American Flag chorography was spot on perfect. Can’t go wrong with Sam Jackson either.

    All in all, kind’a a letdown. But I got to experience it with my kid.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Goodbye Moustache, Super Bowl Prediction, and New Music

    (The best thing you’ve had has gone away…)

    On Monday, February 10th, at some time, I will shave off my moustache. It was a good run. The kid seemed to like it, and the wife didn’t mind. I even found myself twirling it as I contemplated things – like taking over the world. In the end, I think the moustache made me look older, and it defiantly made me look like my two uncle who also had moustaches. You know, as a balding man, it feels weird to not have whole lot of hair on my head, but have a very full amount of facial hair.

    I am picking the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. Not that I think they are the better team, but because I despise the Philadelphia Eagles. There! I said it, will say it again, and live by it!

    I’m really getting into the music of Khruangbin. I saw them on the Grammy’s and totally dig it.

  • Soccer Travel Team and Sports in General

    So, over the weekend, the kid got an invitation to tryout for a youth travel soccer team. This is something that she has wanted for some time, and was excited that the club had kept her in mind. I mean, who doesn’t like being asked to dance, right? There was a flurry in our home of making sure we had all the right equipment, and socks, and shin guards. Not that you need to have perfect equipment to be good at a sport, (Is it not the bad carpenter who complains about their tools?) but having the right stuff sure can boost your confidence.

    In my parenting philosophy, I believe that kids should play a sport, up to the age of sixteen. It was the way my parents raised me, and I have to say that it did me good. I played baseball up until twelve, and then I switched over to tennis. No real surprise here, but baseball taught me the importance of teamwork, and working toward a common goal. I loved tennis because, I was all on my own to make it happen; just me versus the other guy – which left no room to blame anyone for a mistake, other than yourself. Both sports don’t use a clock, which I guess is why I enjoy taking my time at things?

    I hope that the kid makes the team, but I also know that it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work out. There are plenty of other sports and teams in the City, so she will get the experience of being on a team and all the joy, excitement and disappointment that comes along with it.

    Because learning to lose and not giving up is the biggest lesson one can learn. And there is also something wonderful about being on a truly awful team. And still showing up week after week, hoping that this is the day that your fortunes change, and you win just one.

    Maybe that was my experience…