Doesn’t matter where we go…

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I always shake my head a bit, like a grumpy old man, when my son describes his favorite part of a live sporting event. Invariably it’s some overpriced item from the concession stand.

Yesterday, while too cold for sports, we partook in a little culture, visiting the National Museum of Natural History, right there on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

We saw fossils, we saw dinosaurs, we saw meteorites. We saw the freakin’ Hope Diamond!

My son’s favorite part?

Mac ‘n’ cheese from the food court.

Well, it was pretty damn good.

Another holiday upon us!

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Someday I’m going to write my autobiography, and I think the appropriate subtitle would be something to the effect of how I got to a bunch of random projects while maintaining completely unrelated employment for the state. The title, of course, will be Snow Days and Jewish Holidays.

I suppose you can add Lunar New Year to that list as well.

This one Hurts

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Seeing my hometown NFL team–that would be the Washington Commanders–play in the NFC Championship game yesterday was kind of a thrill… until about 18 seconds after their opponents touched the ball. Philadelphia’s early score may have been a sign of things to come, though I didn’t really expect the thrashing to be as thorough as it was. True that we have seen worse, if one remembers a game from 1940. That one involved the Commanders too (by their previous name), and people do still talk about it 85 years later.

At least I didn’t take the hat trick on championship game losses. It could have been worse had I watched the Yankees, Notre Dame, and the Commanders all lose in championship games. Still, I would have liked to see the chance, risky as it may have been.

Wait ’til next year.

No silver medal for second place

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Monday night’s College Football Playoff finale didn’t exactly work out as I had hoped, though I suppose it sort of did work out exactly as I’d suspected. Over the past 35 years I’ve gotten used to Notre Dame’s football team being pretty good, not a champion however.

I could say the same thing for my beloved New York Yankees the past 15 years: pretty good, not a champion. And with them it’s even more embarrassing because they spend so much more money.

Actually I’m not sure whether the Yankees or the University of Notre Dame spends more money on their near misses; I just know I’ve seen two silver medals in a row.

Thanks for great seasons, guys, but if the Commanders lose in the Super Bowl I’m launching an investigation.

Gonna keep these good vibes goin’

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At the beginning of this NFL season I probably could have told you three of the four teams competing in this coming weekend’s conference championships. Chiefs, Bills, Eagles… the usual suspects.

The team I never would have guessed is my local team (that would be the Washington Commanders), who’ve managed to surprise everyone inside the DMV and out, now sitting one game away from the Super Bowl.

And still that’s number three among things to gloat about this morning.

You may have heard about a college football game and a presidential inauguration today, and unlike last fall I plan for today to be a sweep. One of them’s pretty much a guarantee (that’s Trump), and the other I’m thinking we can make happen… with a little luck of the Irish.

No town’s perfect

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With a 3-0 shutout win yesterday my hometown NHL team (that would be the Washington Capitals) now sit half a dozen points against the next best team in the Eastern Conference. (That would be the New Jersey Devils, who’ve played two more games than the Caps.)

I’m feeling a bit spoiled these days, with football and hockey success, the recent four snow days in a row, and only a handful of days left in the Biden administration.

If the Wizards didn’t have the worst record in the NBA I’d actually be a little worried.

Calendar says winter but this is still football season

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Doink.

It was the most beautiful sound I’ve heard in quite some time, the pleasant clang of a football careening off a goalpost, just right, to bring happiness to the nation’s capital.

My hometown NFL team (that would be the Washington Commanders) survived an incredible back-and-forth game last night in Tampa Bay, Washington’s first playoff win in 19 years.

We’ll call this one the luck of the uprights, following the luck of the Irish I witnessed last Thursday night as the college football team of my youth and beyond (that would be the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame) secured a spot in the finals of this year’s College Football Playoff.

Everything’s comin’ up Mikey!