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Final Four is set

Posted on April 1, 2019 by moc

I’m hardly the first person to point this out. As a matter of fact, the Internet was abuzz with this moments after Michigan State’s win over Duke yesterday evening. Ho-hum Final Four, they buzzed.

Buzzed, Tweeted, Instagrammed. There was no love for this quartet.

Yeah, it’s CBS’s worst nightmare: no Duke, no Carolina, no Villanova, not even Loyola-Chicago. The only number one seed to make it to this year’s Final Four? That would be the flagship university of my home state’s higher education system: the University of Virginia.

Who very few people care about outside the state of Virginia.

Some back-to-back it would be, though. To lose as a one seed one year then win the championship the next?

Stranger things have happened.

I can feel baseball in the air

Posted on March 29, 2019 by moc

They say the game is dominated by pitchers now.

Two of the best squared off yesterday at Nationals Park. That would be last year’s Cy Young winner, Jacob deGrom, and three-time Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer. Quite an Opening Day.

On the mound Mr. deGrom was just a little bit better than Mr. Scherzer, earning the win as the Mets beat my hometown Nationals, 2-0. Scherzer’s bugaboo, the home run, bit him in the first inning, as none other than newly-minted Met Robinson Cano connected for a first-inning blast. Cano’s presence in the Mets’ lineup and locker room is no doubt mostly to bring some gravitas and veteran leadership, though I’m sure the occasional game-winning home run doesn’t hurt either.

Cano’s 36 years old now, an old man playing a young man’s game. The first professional athlete I realized was younger than I was, Cano in fact is still younger than I am. Yesterday’s home run was the 312th of his career. One wonders how many more he has in him.

I’d say he was over the hill, but…

he’s younger than I am!

Plan your work, work your plan

Posted on March 27, 2019 by moc

Tomorrow’s plan: baseball all day, college basketball all night.

Setting goals is so important.

New excuses are always useful

Posted on March 25, 2019 by moc

Like everyone else in the world I am “tidying up” these days, attempting to spark joy in the process. Whether or not I’m achieving true enlightenment I’m not sure, but the Marie Kondo revolution has given me one benefit I hadn’t foreseen.

I used to have to justify keeping old, odd, or unusual objects through various exercises in stammering and muttering, but now, thanks to Marie, I’ve got a new, simple phrase:

It sparks joy.

Bowling trophy from 1989?

Sparks joy.

Mix tape I made in 1992?

Sparks joy.

Movie stub from 20 years ago?

You better believe that sparks joy.

The winning phrase, “Lawyered!” is now…

“Kondo-ed!”

Don’t B.S. the math teacher

Posted on March 22, 2019 by moc

I do my best to patronize the sponsors of things I appreciate. Things like… the NCAA Tournament, which consumes my life every March. Coca-Cola already got me on that new orange vanilla flavor (delicious, by the way), so I thought I’d go Pizza Hut next.

Plus I had a coupon.

My coupon was for a “one-topping large pizza.” When I was apprised of my total something seemed a bit off. I’d asked for half pineapple and half extra cheese. I was charged for an “extra topping.”

Whoa, whoa. Half plus half is one. Don’t tell the math teacher anything else. I nearly pulled the do-you-know-who-you’re-talking-to card.

Math expertise aside… how about my pizza credentials? Fourteen years in the industry. No stranger to “toppings.”

All this to show my support for a little basketball.

Heaven can wait

Posted on March 20, 2019 by moc

March Madness, baseball just around the corner, and a new product from our friends at Coca-Cola. Yes, they keep coming out with new items after 132 years.

Just in time for Spring: orange vanilla Coke. Yes, you read that correctly. Oh that my father could have lived to see this day.

I definitely appreciate that the Coke folk are putting out “sample”-sized versions of this new treat. My local Harris Teeter had single cans for 79 cents. Usually one has to buy a few gallons of the new stuff just to get a taste.

Now to go back and buy a few gallons.

After all, March Madness is upon us.

Everybody into the pool

Posted on March 18, 2019 by moc

At school I call it “March Mathness.”

Try to make the traditional office pool as unusual and complicated as possible, so that just picking who has the better mascot isn’t going to work.

Or maybe that’s what they want you to think.

Either way… it’s on.

The Madness has already begun

Posted on March 15, 2019 by moc

Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns?

Case Keenum to the ‘Skins?

Forget the Ides of March. This is the Twilight Zone.

And the Madness has already begun.

Pi Day Eve!

Posted on March 13, 2019 by moc

You know if we made our circles a little smaller we could be celebrating Pi Day today instead of tomorrow.

Or so it says on the Internet.

And you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

This I like

Posted on March 11, 2019 by moc

I’m not sure who’s setting the clocks or the temperature around here but I’m in favor of it.

Spring… is here.

Now somebody, please… March Madness and baseball… stat!