It’s still unclear to me whether it was to celebrate an anniversary or April Fools’ Day, but yesterday’s MLB Immaculate Grid was the greatest I had ever seen. Completing it, honestly, was the most fun I’ve had since before Covid.
Each category? Someone who played in the Major Leagues.
Anyone.
Ever.
Over 23,000 correct answers in each square.
That’s just brilliant.
My grid is reproduced below. Each row has a theme. Can you guess?
And after all that the Final Four is all the number-one seeds?
Pfft! I coulda done that with my eyes closed.
Oh, well. At least I can say I guessed a few of them correctly. Exceptions being the ones I actually tried to guess.
So March Madness ends today.
April Madness starts tomorrow.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I are celebrating a bit, toasting MAM’s 200th episode. We talk a little basketball, a little unusual food items… the staples of O’Connell living.
Enjoy.
Pardon me if I’m a bit like a kid at Christmas today. Tomorrow not only begins the next round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, but the Major League Baseball season as well.
Does having Opening Day at the end of March annoy the baseball purist in me?
Not in the slightest.
As Mae West once said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”
It happens in quick succession every year: bracket made, bracket busted.
But damn it’s still fun to watch, no?
As an added bonus this year I got to see some of this action in person… okay it was the NIT, not the big dance, but same thing: college basketball in March just hits different.
Tune in Friday to Math and Musings to hear more about my adventures actual and vicarious, highlighted by that “boss mode” on my screen and a stash of Reese’s products.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss this year’s NCAA Tournament, among other things speaking at great length about a team… that’s no longer in it.
This is the madness of March.
It didn’t take long for this year’s NCAA Tournament to live up to its standard nickname. That’s the alliterative one containing the tournament’s month, describing the surprising action that seems to accompany each game. And it started with the first.
Honestly, I live for this, though I wish things had turned out better for my St. Francis Red Flash, somehow the only tournament team this year I’d actually seen play in person.
And this year I’m happy to say that I did procure a copy of yesterday’s USA Today, complete with “coverage” of said tournament. It’s a little light, sure, but hey, at least I found the thing. And if I need more stats, there is this thing called the Internet. I’ll be scouring it over the next three weeks.
It’s sad, of course, not to see a John Feinstein byline on any of these pieces. Feinstein’s been the gold standard of college basketball writing for 40 years, though as of last week is now reporting from that great press box in the sky.
R.I.P. John Feinstein, but the Madness… marches on.
When your name is Michael O’Connell, you don’t need to wear green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Green is for amateurs.
I could have used the luck of the Irish, though, yesterday, for my “hometown” college–that would be the George Mason University–the only school I know with nickname “Patriots” that uses green in its colors. The “Patriots” could have locked up an NCAA Tournament bid with a win yesterday against VCU, though fell a bit short in that quest. Mason ended the year 26-8 but was denied an at-large birth from the selection committee, who saw fit to include 14 teams from the SEC but one from the Atlantic 10.
Cue up Rodney Dangerfield because these Patriots get no respect.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss the most overrated day of the math year: Pi Day.
Actually we spend much of the day talking about pie, not the Greek letter or mathematical constant, and that’s much more our speed.
Ben Orlin has expressed perfectly my thoughts about Pi Day (sort of a rebuttal), and at the risk of violating some copyright law, here‘s what Ben had to say.
I do still love pie though.
Five years ago today the world, well, the world shut down. Remember that one?
Among other things I remember thinking, hmm, if this really is the end, I guess I lived a pretty good life.
Five years later I’ve had five more years of pretty good times. I guess it’s all just a bonus from the day we’re born, right? This is all one big mysterious bonus round.
I’d say I’ve gotten more philosophical as I’ve gotten older but really I think I’ve gotten less philosophical.
I don’t know why we’re here, I don’t know how long we have, and I don’t have an idea of really what we’re supposed to do with our lives.
As I often find myself saying… enjoy!