Mike O'Connell | The Web home of Michael O'Connell

Championship night

Posted on April 2, 2018 by moc

Well, it’s not the final anyone wanted, but it’s still the finals of the NCAA Tournament and that drama rarely disappoints.

One of the things I love about it is that they do start the game so damn late. Nine-twenty Eastern is the tip time tonight. That’s great. Have the riffraff go to bed and let the real sports fans watch this one. As I’ve written before, this is #30 for me. The first NCAA Championship game I ever watched was in April of 1989, and featured these same Michigan Wolverines. Well, not the same Wolverines; the players tonight weren’t even born then. Look at the tape of that game some time and see how young Steve Fisher and P.J. Carlesimo look. Heck, I was young too.

I’d already gone to bed that evening and woke up only to see the overtime (won by Michigan, by the way). It’s one of the true bonding experiences I had with my father. Watching sports on TV late at night: classic.

Should I wake up my–nah, nevermind.

I will think about it though.

Is it too early to love this?

Posted on March 30, 2018 by moc

Did I just see newly-acquired Yankee slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit not one but two home runs in his first game as a Bronx Bomber?

Oh, yes. And it’s still March.

And this is going to be fun.

Twenty years later

Posted on March 28, 2018 by moc

It was a guilty pleasure last night, watching Roseanne on ABC, 20 years after the Conners left the small screen following a decade on the air. I’d looked forward to it for months, of course, as I do with everything that returns from my childhood. Most things are a total disappointment. This was not. Roseanne brought it, and viewers (and advertisers) did as well. All original cast members were back, and, thanks to the marvelous things plastic surgeons can do these days, everyone looks exactly the same. The writers, too, were clever about how to bring back two actresses who’d played the same character. (No spoilers here.)

The biggest noise concerning the episodes that aired last night was the Conner family’s politics. Dan and Roseanne are Trump supporters, while Aunt Jackie is decidedly not. I thought the best and most surprising part about the episode is that is was actually Jackie who was the butt of many of the political jokes (though she got in a few digs as well). We’ll see if this holds up through the rest of the season, nine episodes over the next two months.

I like the format of the new Roseanne, on broadcast TV but available immediately on demand. Nine episodes is just about right, too. I don’t need a full year’s worth anymore. The jokes are a little punchier and more than ever the show makes fun of itself. It’s basically the Fuller House model, and I am a big fan of Fuller House. Rumors abound of a thousand other ’90s-era TV show reboots, and I am in for every single one.

Final Four is set

Posted on March 26, 2018 by moc

From Twitter: @moconnelljr… If anyone asks about my bracket I’ll say I got half the teams in the Final Four. And leave it at that. #MarchMadness

That pretty much sums it up. For all the upsets and bracket chaos we still ended up with two number one seeds in the Final Four. One team that has absolutely no business being there, and another that will be America’s most hated team Saturday evening. (Sorry, Michigan. It’s true.)

The story, of course, is Loyola-Chicago, darlings of the Midwest, the nation, and the world. It’s not just that they’re an 11 seed. They’re an 11 seed that nobody had ever heard of, from a bottom-of-the-barrel conference, that somehow pulled off three squeaker victories before taking it to Kansas State this past Saturday.

Not since UNLV won it all in 1990 has a team from a “weak” conference won it all. And UNLV was a powerhouse team. The last time a nobody team from a nobody conference won the national championship? Probably these same Loyola Ramblers in 1963, though Texas Western pulled off the same feat three years later. The list of “bad conference” champions the past 50 years is exactly three names long. UNLV, Marquette (which wasn’t in a conference), and Louisville, who won two titles as a member of the “Metro Conference.”

Oh, this would be sweet to see Loyola-Chicago bring it home for the…

(Have you Googled it yet?)

… Missouri Valley Conference, home of basketball powerhouses Bradley, Drake, Evansville, and Southern Illinois, among others.

Cinderella story… comin’ outta nowhere.

I’ve been doing this since 1989

Posted on March 23, 2018 by moc

Ah, the pitfalls of East Coast living… having to stay up late watching sports on school nights.

But totally worth it.

Been totally worth it for 30 years.

Spring is here?

Posted on March 21, 2018 by moc

Gotta love a snow day on the first full day of spring. Makes you think this theory might not be so crazy after all.

Nailed it.

This is why they call it March Madness

Posted on March 19, 2018 by moc

Were you surprised?

Did you watch any college basketball this season? It’s been chaos from the word go, and this weekend was no different. Living to see the day a 16 seed beat a one was good enough to call it a great weekend (especially when that 16 seed was from the America East conference!), but put a dozen other upsets and my old friends from Syracuse the mix, and the weekend hits epic status.

Still can’t get over the Orange, the team that didn’t even deserve to be in the tournament.

Bluebloods pulling off upsets is just par for the course anymore.

Tourney begins among other things

Posted on March 16, 2018 by moc

It’s always football season in D.C.

Even among March Madness, Spring Training, Champions League games, and cherry blossoms, it’s always football season here.

Yesterday D.C. fans were treated to the first public visit/commentary from Alex Smith, new quarterback of our local football team (that would be the politically-incorrectly-named Redskins). Other deals and signings dotted the news this week as well, making us forget that there’s, you know, Madness out there to see. (Upstate New York still going strong, by the way, with Buffalo’s upset win over Arizona last night.)

It’s not all seashells and balloons coming out of Ashburn, though, remember. Those balloons come with a price. A story in my local Loudoun Times-Mirror (a weekly rag I’m liking more and more) reminds us Loudouners of the price we pay for Skinsmania. The story points to the financial burdens placed upon the City of Richmond, hosts of Redskins training camp, and how it adversely affects Richmond taxpayers. Lest one think this is simply a Richmond problem… “Loudoun drinks burgundy-and-gold Kool-Aid too.”

Ouch.

“As part of an unusual eight-year marketing deal [signed] in 2012, Loudoun’s supervisors agreed to pay $2 million to the NFL team, which practices and has its headquarters in Ashburn. In exchange, the county received “marketing assets” (their italics) that brand Loudoun as the corporate home of the Redskins in on-air mentions, advertisements and news releases, and on the backdrop that appears behind speakers at the team’s news conferences.

“The county also received special access to events at Redskins’ practice facility in Ashburn, pregame field passes, club-level game tickets and the use, one game a year, of a FedEx Field premium suite, which county officials used to entertain business leaders and prospects.”

Must be nice.

And I’m still waiting for my invitation to the premium suite.

It’s (already) on

Posted on March 14, 2018 by moc

March Madness is already here. I used to think the play-in games were kind of a waste, but I’ve taken a greater liking to them in recent years. Last night I was treated to victories from teams (sort of) representing my new and old homes. Yeah, Redford isn’t really that close to where I am now and Olean, New York, isn’t that close to Binghamton, but you get the idea. Still felt good, especially, to see the Bonnies win. Let’s see if upstate New York can make it two for two tonight with a win from the Syracuse Orange.

Disclaimer: This blog does not condone Syracuse being in the tournament in the first place. But we’ll take it.

This is the new fad

Posted on March 12, 2018 by moc

You read it in The Washington Post. You read it in the Costco members magazine. You heard about it from @moconnelljr. The latest yuppie status. It’s not driving a Prius or drinking raw water.It’s chicken farming.

You know… chickens. Like, having chickens cooped up in your backyard. Literally cooped up in your yard. Or closet or whatever you can afford in the city.

According to the Post chicken men are ponying up big-city money for their hobby. Unlike farmers of yesterday or modern authentics, status farmers pamper their birds and don’t mind sharing what spend. Then put it on social media so everyone knows how hip you are.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to try to jump in on the next crazy fad.