Mike O'Connell

Living where I do I make it a point to choke down The Washington Post every Sunday. Those of you so disposed would’ve found an amusing article yesterday in the magazine section. It was the “Date Lab” column, the weekly description of a D.C.-area blind date, written at about a fifth-grade level and appealing perhaps to same. 

The marvelous thing about this week’s column?

The date was bad.

Ha!

“Refreshing” is the word I’d use to describe the text, and surprisingly honest. Kudos, Washington Post.

Never though I’d say that.

It’s true you never really stop being a teacher, even when you’re off duty. Hence my grade list from Monday night.

NCAA Championship Game: A- (minus for ending with the Luther Vandross version of “One Shining Moment”)

NCAA Championship Game winner: C+. Obviously I wanted Wisconsin to win more than I wanted Duke. Coach K winning his fifth championship? Kind of cool. That brought it up from a failing grade.

Season finale of Better Call Saul: B-. It wasn’t as good as the season itself. There was no great aha moment, no cliffhanger, and although I usually enjoy the musical montages, Monday they were a bit overdone.

Sinatra: All or Nothing at All: A. This was the best of the lot. Good job, HBO, for entertaining a Sinatraphile (make that Sinatra snob) like me. The stories were well-worn but the rare and unusual still pictures and audio/video clips made the whole production top of the line. It really showed the man and his music and I can’t wait to watch it again. Well, a third time. I may have watched it again last night.

That is all.

Yup. April Fool’s.

It’s hard to fool people in the Internet era, let’s face it. Just like it’ll be hard for the NCAA to admit it’s not rooting for a Kentucky-Duke final to occur Monday night.

Well, screw may-the-best-man-win. I want basketball blue bloods going at it Monday. And the season premiere of Mad Men sandwiched in there? Heaven can wait.

Don’t let the fact that three number one seeds ended up making the Final Four fool you. This has been an exciting tournament (did you see Kentucky vs. Notre Dame?) and will continue to be so in its final three games.

And as the NBA and NHL regular seasons wind down we can taste baseball, sweet baseball, on our lips. But for now… commence Spring Break!

The question most asked of me as baseball season begins remains: How do you feel about the return of Alex Rodriguez?

Answer: Is it possible to feel differently and indifferently at the same time?

It’s true, I do feel differently about Alex Rodriguez this year than I have in previous years. For the past few seasons I’ve felt, as I think the Yankees did or do as well, that he would just somehow go away. Wouldn’t it be convenient if he just went away? (Known in some parts as “Clemensing.”) I didn’t really care if he ever appeared again in pinstripes or not.

This year, somehow, I feel different. Do I want A-Rod to succeed? Well, sort of. And not just because he’s a decent player on my favorite team. Perhaps I always want to see an underdog succeed, and somehow, incredibly, A-Rod’s now become the underdog.

The other half of my brain feels indifferently about Rodriguez’s return. A quiet “eh” is about the best I can muster. Truth is, I’ve cared less about baseball every season since 2009 (the Yankees’s last championship), and living outside New York now I spend more time watching my National League girlfriend (the Washington Nationals) than I do the Yankees anyway. My heart still resides in the Bronx though.

And unlike the Yankees, who didn’t even feel the need to tweet the news of A-Rod’s first spring training home run, I’ll be cheering for the guy in real life and cyberspace when the moment arrives.