I was dreaming of a Knicks-Lakers final and a first New York championship since 1973, but hey, the Celtics are kind of due too.
Maybe a Boston-LA final?
They ever have one of those?
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It was one of the most pivotal days in Amercian history: May 14, 1998.
Can you name the three monumental events that occurred?
Tune in to Math and Musings to reminisce.
Neither the Heat nor the Lakers followed the script Monday night, but damned if they didn’t put up some entertaining games in victory.
I think it’s probably too early to call another Lakers-Dodgers double for 2023, but if it happens you heard it here first.
Nuggets and Celtics apparently got the message: lie down and let these series even up so we can put a few more games on TV.
Nice.
Your move, Miami. Your move, LA.
Today on the 101st episode of Math and Musings it’s two of my favorite subjects: sports and politics.
Don’t worry, it’s mostly sports.
I’ve just finished my latest read, Alexandra Robbins’ The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession. With a subtitle like that you know it’s got to be good, right? And just look at those celebrity blurbs on the back!
This is the problem with teachers. Er, The Teachers. I thought it was good… until I read it. Think every blurb writer read this piece of garbage?
Let’s hope not.
Teachers begins with the premise that the titular profession is under attack, and so are the players themselves. Sometimes literally.
Ms. Robbins intends to show this. And she does. No doubt with some hard-hitting research, like doing a Google search of “sensational news stories about teachers.”
Brilliant.
Actually, there’s a great lesson here. English class lesson. Vocab word: self-fulfilling prophecy. I want to prove a certain thing, so I will open one eye and find examples to fit my hypothesis. And after I’ve found enough news articles, I go out and make a few of my own, going “undercover” with my biases in mind. It’s the teacher equivalent of Nickel and Dimed.
Want to make teaching look hard and its brethren suffering? Take the most wild examples you can find from the news and cobble them together under a fancy book jacket. Use some tearjerker anecdotes to string the narrative along and you’ve got a bestseller.
It is worth noting that many of the tearjerker anecdotes involve teachers being “underpaid,” or some similar description. Potential remedies for such include things like, well, finding money on trees I guess. To those who’ve taken Econ 101, that’s just as laughable as “underpaid.” Nobody’s underpaid for a job with a voluntary contract. Are we drafting teachers these days like conscripts of ancient wars? Public school teacher is not a gig one accepts under duress. Like every government job, there’s a line out the door with people clamoring for it.
So yeah, read Alexandra Robbins’ The Teachers if you’re looking for a little escapism or to pat yourself on the back a bit more because you gave 50 bucks to some charitable cause at your kids’ school.
Be nice to your kids’ teachers, sure. But it’s not anything to write a book about.
Why it took them 55 years to come up with this I’ll never know, but the folks at McDonald’s have done the possible and started offering Big Mac sauce a la carte. Like, you just want the sauce on the side.
The sauce is what makes the Big Mac, let’s face it, and now through the magic of capitalism one can enjoy it with or without the meat, bread, and cheese. (Not to mention the lettuce, pickles, onions, and sesame seeds.)
Forget the politics and international intrigue today, this is page one.
I’m always one for celebrations, and today’s is a good one: the 100th episode of Math and Musings.
Today’s story takes place in the old country, Binghamton, New York.
There’s danger, heartbreak, chivalry, intrigue, and a plot twist you won’t want to miss.
The show’s the story of my life 15 minutes at a time, and this quarter hour is a particularly good one.
Front-page headline of Loudoun County Virginia’s paper of record (that would be the Loudoun Times-Mirror) this week reads: “If They Build It…”
This is a reference to the aforementioned stadium project (potential one, anyway) in my backyard, potentially the potential home of the organization formerly known as the Washington Redskins.
If they build it. Like some mysterious Field of Dreams-like spirits are coming to Loudoun County and building the stadium themselves.
As alluded to Monday I have no doubt this project would include a heavy burden on Joe Q. Taxpayer, whom I suppose politicians would rather refer to as “they.”
Sounds so much nicer than “your wallet.”
I leave for a few days and I figure by the time I get back somebody else will own my local NFL team. (That would be the Washington Commanders.)
We’ve been hearing about a potential sale for years, though this past week it really seemed imminent, as even folks outside the DMV were expecting this thing to happen. (News has even reached Binghamton, New York.)
More interesting for me, of course, is the issue of a potential new stadium. Like, new stadium possibly in my backyard.
And it’s the classic thing-I-want versus thing-I-believe-in, as my personal desire to see that stadium built (no doubt at taxpayer expense) conflicts with my political principles that say such things are borderline criminal.
Hmm.
This real-life event reminds me of something I saw on television not long ago. (Actually it was very long ago.)
If you’ve never had the pleasure, do yourself a favor and watch the final episode of the BBC’s Yes, Minister from 1982. This “football”-themed episode was Ted Lasso before there was Ted Lasso, and damned if it isn’t still relevant today.
Though I really don’t think something from 1982 should be considered old.