Mike O'Connell

Ah, November, chock full of holidays to every schoolchild’s delight. I’ll admit that when I was a kid I barely understood Veterans Day, confusing it with Memorial Day as so many do. At least Veterans Day never went the way of most holidays, moving to Monday for mere convenience, though it does still retain the problem of its questionable apostrophe. (I vote no.)

Luckily for us in 2014, Veterans Day honors only a small number of our citizens. That is, only a small percentage of our citizens have been required to serve in recent years and that must be recognized as a good thing. I suppose that means we can make our thank yous just a little bit bigger for those we do honor. And I promise to recognize the holiday more than just another day off from school.

New York–Paul Pierce and Garrett Temple each scored 17 points, and the Washington Wizards used a 32-15 third quarter to defeat the New York Knicks Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. In other news, the Republican Party regained control of the U.S. Senate and picked up major gains in Congress and statehouses across the country.

That’s how I felt last night watching Election Night “coverage” on several different channels, numbers rolling across the bottom of the screen with sports scores and the occasional pop culture tag. If politics is but a horserace to win, place, or show I’m going to start referring to it as such. I just wish I didn’t have to pay those idiots.

What does this mean? What does this mean? cries the media (I am now referring to this plural noun in the singular to reflect its single-mindedness). Answer: a different set of dopes with patronage jobs on Capitol Hill next year.

No doubt I would be pleased to see some actual policy changes and/or initiatives from Washington in the next two years, but I’m not holding my breath. These guys are comfortable being in the minority and they’re going to act as much even when they’re not.

At least we can all celebrate one victory last night. Goodbye, annoying mailers and TV commercials. This is the day the politicians begin to leave us alone for 10 minutes before the next election.

Update: 7:32 a.m. E-mail received encouraging me to purchase 2014 Republican victory souvenir t-shirt. Thanks for ruining my last point and validating everything that preceded it.

Is it too cliche to be Madison Bumgarner for Halloween this year? I’d like to think I could get away with it. After all, who called his Game Five performance something resembling Muhammad Ali? Well, Game Seven matched it. Remember, stars shine when the lights are brightest.

Today, of course, is Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. This is my son’s first, and my ninth without the master of all things Halloween. So here’s to Bart Simpson, Michael Myers, Roseanne Conner, Charlie Brown, and everyone who makes Halloween special..

And Joe.

Madison Bumgarner’s pitching performance in last night’s Game Five of the World Series deserves the word epic, an epithet used all too often by tweens and Tweeters in 2014, but completely apropos in its traditional meaning here.

Last night’s contest wasn’t exactly a rumble in the jungle (more like play by the bay), but the gutty performance did call to mind the work of a certain Mr. Ali, who 40 years ago this week defeated a certain Mr. Foreman in what some consider the greatest boxing match, nay, greatest sporting event of the 20th century.

On October 30, 1974 (at 4 a.m. local time to accommodate Western TV audiences), Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire: a nation that no longer exists on a continent known today only by the fact that some people there carry the Ebola virus. The match was a culmination of what turned out to be a month-long celebration of music, sports, and black culture that would be unrecognizable today. And entirely politically incorrect. Well, maybe.

For a nostalgic look at this event watch the Oscar-winning documentary When We Were Kings, now 18 years old but still relevant and still awesome today. You’ll thank me later.

The stage was set: two deserving teams from deserving cities, meeting at this most worthy park, denied of World Series glory for 29 years.

If Tuesday’s game was any indication, it’ll be 30.

Game One never really found the drama and intrigue found in nearly every other playoff game this year, and America’s new darlings, the Kansas City Royals, lost for the first time in weeks. Yup, those were the Royals I grew up with.

Kudos, though, for Fox’s coverage of the game. Even a bad game will sound good when called by Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds, and Tom Verducci. Yeah, those guys cane together, and unlike most modern broadcasts, the graphics weren’t overdone.

See y’all for Game Two!