Nothing makes you feel stupider than taking that online Jeopardy! test. But you knew that, because you were following @moconnelljr, my new Twitter handle. Yep, I’ve entered the world of Twitter. (Seven or eight years after everyone else did.) I’ll still be posting here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but for your daily (or hourly) fix of all things MOC, check out this thing called the Twitter.
See ya there!
It’s that time of year. The day when I start out feeling pretty smart, then end it feeling not so much. No, not for my NCAA Tournament bracket… it’s time for the online Jeopardy! contestant test!
Why do I subject myself to this?
Well, you never know.
It’s not to late to sign up.. head here and join me tonight in feeling silly.
Last week we heard that Papa John’s pizza–the ubiquitous sponsor of NFL football–would no longer be affiliated with said sports league. Both parties seemed to agree the parting was mutual, and for once actually I believed that old line. Each entity has become too toxic to also carry the toxins of the other. Race, politics, head injuries, money… nobody wants to be involved with all that. First mistake made by John Schnatter (that’s “Papa”) was opening his mouth at all about the tenuous connection between NFL anthem protests and slumping pizza sales. (I think this exacerbated the situation and put Papa John’s in the undesirable position of unofficial pizza of Skinheads and, well, undesirables.)
It all started with slow pizza sales.
Anyone ever think that it might just be their pizza is bad?
The date March 2 means only one thing for me. This was the day, 12 years ago, that I lost my best friend for all eternity, Joe Sullivan, killed in an automobile accident at the age of 23. I’ve talked or written about this event a thousand times, and I’ve described how I’ve felt over the past dozen years just as many. I’ve often wondered (maybe you’ve wondered too) when I’d be able to say I’ve come to peace with it. Not over it, of course, for one could never be “over” such a thing… just at peace with it.
Nope. Never. I’m just as mad about it today as I was in 2006. More mad probably. I think of everything I would have told Joe or done with Joe. Ballgames, movies, life events. Nope. None of that. Missed every single one.
There’s a saying in the theatre that says the show must go on. Life goes on too. You know what else goes on? Silly ideas from politicians. I continue with this post, changing its macabre tone to a lighter one thinking this is what Joe would have wanted.
You are no doubt familiar with the controversy involving Delta Airlines and the State of Georgia. That the Georgia legislature would end its sweetheart with Delta if the airline stopped giving discount airfares to NRA members. (These things are never about politics or “gun rights” or anything like that… they’re about money.) Seems as though this has come to bear. Following public pressure upon Delta (and every single American business) to cut ties with the NRA or to stake out new, more anti-gun political stances (by the way I’m completely fine with this), the airline giant cut its affiliation with the NRA. What followed was the passing of a new tax measure ending the lucrative tax break Delta (and other airlines) were receiving from the state. (“Leveling the playing field” no doubt… ha!)
So with Delta at odds with the State of Georgia and faced with losing a big chunk of the estimated $38 million in yearly tax breaks airlines were once receiving, other states started chomping at the bit. My own governor, a certain Dr. Northam, tweeted at Delta (that’s how you do it these days): Hey @delta–Virginia is for lovers and airline hubs. You’re welcome here any time. Let me translate: We’ll give you some of our taxpayers’ money!!!
Come on, Doc. You don’t want to appear desperate.
With news like this, who needs fiction?
I’d love to talk to you about this one, Joe.
My hometown Washington Wizards keep rolling along (nice road win against the Bucks last night), though in my original hometown things don’t look so good. What else is new?
The 2017-2018 basketball season ended last night for the Binghamton Bearcats with a loss to instate rival Albany. The loss locked up a last-place finish in the America East Conference and closed the Bearcats out of the conference tournament. (There are nine teams and the top eight make it. Talk about insulting.)
For a further discussion… head here.
Talk around Washington these days centers on one question: Are the Wizards actually better off without John Wall?
It seems preposterous. Wall’s their best player. He’s an all-star. A Wall-star. The face of the franchise.
But he’s been out the past 12 games with an injured knee, during which time the Wiz are 9-3. That includes wins over Cleveland, OKC, and Toronto. (The Raptors, by the way, have the best record in the Eastern Conference.) One of those losses was an overtime loss to Boston, previous owners of the best record in the east. (I know, I know, it’s the Eastern Conference, but still.) The Wizards have found some February magic without their Wall-star, last night beating the Philadelphia 76ers, who’d come into the game winners of seven in a row. It would be a cliché to say they’re “playing like a team” without their star, but, well, yeah.
The Wizards have four of their next five games at home before a month-long final push to the playoffs. Sometime in there Wall is going to come back, and one hopes the magic is still there.
The phrase we’re using is “everybody eats.”
Grab a fork, John.
One of the world’s most well-known religious leaders died Wednesday at the age of 99. Calling Billy Graham a “preacher” hardly does his stature justice, the man who took his message to nearly 200 countries around the world and to more than 200 million people. He prayed with presidents and remained a constant force in spiritual matters from the days of old-time revivals to the days of radio, TV, and 21st-century media. A long and storied career and a life well lived, I suppose.
The thing is, I never listened to Billy Graham. I was too young or too modern or simply too unchurched to be part of his flock. My minister growing up? He was on TV too, and in fact this week marked 50 years since Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood first aired on public television. (Earlier incarnations of the show even preceded that.)
I’m not going to add anything to the Mr. Rogers mystique that hasn’t been glowingly referenced elsewhere. (And by the way, Fred Rogers really was an ordained minister.) He was my spiritual leader when I was a kid, as he was for many. When he died in 2003 I felt as though a part of me died as well. My childhood died that day. I was 20, about to finish college, and here was the great symbol of my childhood vanishing. None of my own grandparents had yet died (but for a grandfather who had died 16 years before and of whom I didn’t remember much), and I really felt as though Mr. Rogers was my first grandparent to go. There was a certain loss of innocence that February day in 2003. Hard to believe that this Tuesday it will have been 15 years.
To Fred Rogers and Billy Graham… rest in peace.
Wednesdays I usually like to write about politics. Here’s an oldie but a goody.
There’s a weekly paper in my community called the Loudoun Times-Mirror, usually good for a laugh or two. This past week there was a piece about tax breaks, etc. for “data centers” (and, presumably, other businesses), a favorite topic of mine.
Buddy Rizer, head of Loudoun County’s “economic development” office, trotted out the line of ultimate irony.
“You will not be competitive without this to somewhat level the playing field.”
Level the playing field?!
Ha!
The whole point is to make the playing field as unlevel as possible. Does the Russian Olympic team give its athletes steroids to “level the playing field”? Do any of us try to do anything in life to “level the playing field”?
Do something foolish, then spin it to something it’s not.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
If you watch sports long enough (I’m talking decades here) you’ll see that young’uns eventually become old-timers and heroes invariably become villains.
Both of those phenomena occurred for Shaun White this past week.
An “old man” in the snowboarding world at 31, Shaun White came through with an incredible gold medal-winning performance this past Tuesday to earn his third gold medal in a storied Olympic career going back to 2006 (when he was one of the young’uns).
I used to think White was sort of a punk. But, like A-Rod and LeBron before him, villains in old age have a way of becoming heroes. (See, it works the other way too.) So I got to savor that White victory last Tuesday…
For about 10 minutes.
Google Shaun White’s name and what comes up now?
Sexual harassment charges.
Ugh.
I think the #metoo movement should be relabeled the #youtoo? movement. As in, you too? Are there any men left out there not subject to such charges?
Obviously I fully support prosecution of harassment, sexual or otherwise. This case, though, seems far obvious. And furthermore it seems to have been settled in 2016. But with White back in the spotlight again the issue has become part of the news, marring an otherwise feel-good story.
You know, the one that makes us old guys feel like we can still compete with the young-uns.
Gong Hey Fat Choy, friends!
From the school of we celebrate everything comes this week’s third (or fourth) holiday… Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year was one of my favorite holidays growing up because, well, we made a big deal out of it. We celebrated everything.
According to the Chinese zodiac calendar (remember when they’d put that on menus in Chinese restaurants?) today begins the year of the dog. Why is this exciting for me? I’m a dog! Yeah, every 12 years “your” year comes around again and this is my year. This is only the third time, really, I get to experience such an honor (the ’82 dog I don’t remember too well), and I plan to make the most of it.
Yeah, this year is going to be for the dogs.
And I mean that in the nicest way possible.