Tag: MLB

The MLB App Pisses Me Off

When I’m working at home I like to stream audio from my iPad to the HomePods in my bedroom office via AirPlay. Podcasts, music, sometimes radio, whatever.

The exception is baseball games. The MLB app for iOS lets you stream radio broadcasts for every game from every team’s local broadcast. If I use the speakers in my iPad it generally works all right. If I stream it to the HomePods… Not so much.

I set the iPad to AirPlay to the HomePods, then I open the app and connect to the Red Sox, WEEI broadcast and it doesn’t stream. It plays through the iPad speakers. Why? It also screws up the user interface so that switching back to the iPad (even though it’s actually coming through the iPad speakers) isn’t easy to do. You have to do a couple of extra swipes and taps before you can reconnect to the actual device that is already working.

A few process kills and a reboot and some magic tricks and eventually I get the app playing through the HomePods. Except that it isn’t. Instead of the live radio broadcast, which was streaming fine a second ago, it is playing television highlights from NESN. When I switch to the Boston Spanish broadcast it’s fine. When I switch to the opposing team’s radio broadcast it seems fine, when I switch back to the WEEI stream it’s NESN again.

I switch from my iPad to my iPhone and everything works fine. Thanks a pant load, MLB.

Pre Game

Is everyone psyched up for the Bruins game #2 with the Islanders tonight? The NHL iOS app says that game time is 7:30pm so… 7:50ish maybe? I’m not sure how much, if any, of the game I’m going to be able to catch tonight, but guaranteed I’ll be keeping an eye on things.

I’m wearing one of my Bruins t-shirts. I wore it on the last two game days (yes, I washed it, sheesh) and they won both games. I’m not sure if that qualifies it as a “good luck shirt” but I ain’t taking any chances. I also haven’t shaved since before game five of the first round series. I don’t know if the idea of a playoff beard being good luck extends beyond the locker room, but why take the chance? Granted, there is no way in hell that I’ll keep the fascial hair as far out as game three. It’s doubtful that I’ll shave first thing in the morning tomorrow, but it’s also very likely that I will shave at some point tomorrow. The itchy… it’s just starting to drive me nuts. I’ll fight the urge tonight, purely in the interest of hanging on to the home ice advantage, but after that the team is very much on its own.

The plan tonight is to get out of Mom’s and get home as fast as humanly possible, thought I may not have enough gas to get there. We’ll have to see. Then once I am home we spark up the grill and sneak a Memorial Day cookout in at the last minute. Sunset is 8:15 and I don’t think it’s raining anymore. After that it’s time to start loading up the Mazda for the drive up and over to Vermont tomorrow. Tentatively, Jen will go up with Bellana in Bellana’s car, and I will follow by myself. Once we’re up there and the car is unloaded, we’ll head over to Target (the nearest big store) and pick up some last minute apartment supplies. When that’s all set Jen and I will head home together and I will see my depression level increase from “alarmingly depressed” to “fuck it, I’m not getting out of bed depressed.”

Go back to all of my posts from August 2019. Bellana going away to college messed me up. This is effectively the same scenario, but for some reason it is soooo much worse this time. I think part of it is just the word “apartment.” It’s an “apartment” instead of a “dorm room” and that makes a world of difference. The other part is that August 2019 will be literally repeated in August 2021 when Harry goes away to school. That’s not a partially empty nest, that’s the full boat.

Don’t get me wrong, I am prouder of both of them than I could ever express. I love them so much. I can’t imagine any parent loving their kids as much as I love my step kids, mostly because I love them so much I feel like I could explode and I can’t fathom someone actually surviving while feeling something more than that. I want the best for them, I want them to have it all, I want them to succeed, I want them to have the time of their lives in the prime of their lives. There’s just a part of me that selfishly wants them to stay home with us forever, that’s all.

Okay, calm down. It’s going to be okay, Rob. It’s going to be all right. Let’s just distract ourselves from the near future by watching the Red Sox. They are losing 4-0 to the Astros. Hey look, both teams that cheated their way to a recent world series are playing each other. Hardy har har. If the Red Sox lose today, does that mean that cosmically there is space available for the Bruins to win? The universe is so screwy.

Game One Loss

I listened to the first period on the radio and I watched the overtime. The Bruins lost to the Capitals in game one of their best of seven first round play off series.

I fear that the reason they lost a game where the higher seed’s #1 goalie left injured in the first period might have had something to do with me wearing a Red Sox t-shirt instead of a Bruins t-shirt. It’s possible on some cosmic level that I messed things up. The Red Sox beat the Angels 9-0 so maybe I accidentally sent all of my super powerful red head vibes to the Red Sox when I meant to send them to the Bruins?

I’ll do better for game #2 tomorrow night.

Go Bruins.

Lunch Break

I’m a little late with my lunch time musings today. I’ll keep it shortish.

My step daughter is heading into final exams soon. I remember college finals. I don’t remember them as happy experiences. Good luck, Bellana. We’re going up to Vermont next week to help her move out of the dorm. I should exercise before we go. I’m going to need all the prep I can get.

My step son is taking an Advanced Placement (AP) test today. I never took an AP class in high school. You know what AP is, right? You take an advanced class in high school, then at the end of the year you take a standardized test on the subject. If you score high enough, the class credits count toward your college degree. Cool. He took an AP Physics test last week that lasted four hours. Can you imagine? I think he has three more, counting today’s. Here’s hoping it’s less grueling than last week. Yikes. He graduates from high school in a month. That sound you hear is me bursting with pride.

My mother has had the TV on all day. She watched a little of the Red Sox game on NESN last night and hasn’t changed the channel. They just aired a documentary on my first baseball hero, Carl Yastrzemski. Triple Crown in 1967… three batting titles… 400 career home runs… 3,000 career hits… first ballot hall of famer… and zero World Series titles. He had two cracks at it and lost in seven games each time. 1967 against the Cardinals. 1975 against the Reds. If only we could turn back the clock and get him that ring. Of course, if we could do that we would have to do it for Ted Williams too. Sometimes the universe just drops the ball.

Okay. It’s 2:00. I just gave my mother her meds. Time to wrap this up. Talk to you later, folks.

Am I Bad Luck?

I’m watching the Red Sox on an actual TV for the first time this year instead of listening to the radio or streaming the NESN broadcast on a computer.

They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, but here we are in the top of the first against Chicago and we are losing 2-0.

Is it me? Am I bad luck?

A Winning Record?

The Red Sox opened their season with three losses to the Orioles. That was more or less expected. They followed that with three wins against the Rays and a win against the Orioles.

Do the math there. They have four wins and three losses. Let it sink in……

…..I know it’s only one week into the season, but your Boston Red Sox have a winning record.

A. Winning. Record.

Opening Day: Take Two

Which title is funnier:

  • Opening Day: Take Two
  • Opening Day: The Next Generation
  • Opening Day 2: Electric Boogaloo

You’re right… none of them are funny.

The forecast for our second attempt at an opening day calls for partly cloudy skies and temps in the high 30’s with a moderate to high chance of fans catching Covid-19.

Play Ball!

Also…

They can’t be any worse than last season!

Go Red Sox!

Hank Aaron

I just read that Hank Aaron died. Hammerin’ Hank. He might not have had a problem with a steroid user breaking his home run record, but I do. Hank is still the king in my book.

He played in the south in the early 70’s and he was chasing after a revered record that belonged to a revered white guy. Racist America made his life pretty miserable but he stood tall and did his job like the hero he was. Our world is a lesser place without him in it.

I did a book report on him when I was in elementary school. The only thing I remember from that kids book I read 40 some odd years ago was a story from when he was in his first season in the minor leagues. He was running the bases and his helmet fell off… so he stopped to pick it up and put it back on. How his coach was able to find the self control to not tear his head from his neck, I’ll never know. I was still playing youth baseball at that time. Needless to say I never stopped running (as slow as I was) when my helmet came off. Hank got in huge trouble when he did it, I wasn’t going to fall into the same trap. No way.

Rest in peace, King.