Tag: Sports

Shipping

It’s weird but I actually have two packages that have been shipped out by me over the last couple of days. One is a passport renewal form that went out via Fed Ex last night and the other is seven rolls of 35mm film* that I sent out via USPS on Saturday. Which will arrive at its destination first? The race is on! In this post-pandemic era of online shopping it’s common to be following packages that are on their way to you, but less common to have to follow packages that are on their way from you. Maybe not. I don’t know. I have to write about something.

Apparently you can spend six months in Scotland without a visa. Who knew? Ireland only lets you stay for three months. England and Wales are also six months, so is that a UK thing in general? What about Australia? I’ve recently watched two television shows that took place in Australia so I feel like I practically live there already. Duck Duck Go (fuck you, Google) says you need to obtain an Australian visa before you arrive. Well that’s no fun. Kevin Garvey, Jr and Nora Durst must have already had a visa when they left Miracle, TX on The Leftovers. Kevin Garvey, Sr… well who knows what that whack job was doing. He sure as hell didn’t.

The Bruins season ended last night on another painful loss. Some teams still have a game left to play, but my team is done. Mercifully. The best they can finish is tied with Philly for last place in the Eastern Conference. The worst they can do is finish in last all by their lonesome. Unfortunately for the draft lottery, there are 4-5 teams out west that will finish with worse records. Not that we have a General Manager who knows how to draft for shit though. In other Boston sports news, the Red Sox actually won a game last night after getting humiliated on Monday night. Fun.

I’m in the office today and tomorrow so the pickin’s for photo a day will be slim. Not that it matters. They are all just pictures of cats anyway. This one for today made use of the iPhone’s low light feature. It works well.

228/365

*35mm film refers to the size of the negative… I think. 120 film does not refer to the size of the negative. I read somewhere that it refers to an old Kodak catalog product code. Mentioning 35mm and 120 film in the same sentence makes my ass itch. It’s like doing your physics homework and mixing up your units of measure. It’s like referring to velocity (measured in meters/seconds) and acceleration (measured in meters/seconds squared) as if they were the same thing. I believe the product code for 35mm is actually 135 (not too confusing there, Kodak) but I don’t know what the negative size for 120 film is. I can’t bring myself to call 35mm 135 so I guess I will continue to mix units and have an itchy ass. I could say medium format instead of 120 but that just feels like taking it all a step too far. I don’t know.

Lunch Break

I am just about to wrap up my lunch break on this fine Tuesday-in-the-office. I have a few minutes before the next thing starts so I figured I’d come here and write something… anything…

Unfortunately, I have zero inspiration for any topics at all. Way to have an empty brain, Robert. Ugh.

So… here’s a topic. If the Dodgers win tonight they will complete the sweep of the Yankees and win the World Series. I freakin’ hate The Dodgers with the passion and fury of a thousand burning suns. Fortunately I hate the Yankees even more (with the passion and fury of a million, million burning suns) so that’s actually a good thing. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, watching the Yankees lose is fun for me. Watching them get humiliated by their (former) cross town rivals, The Dodgers, is even more fun. The only thing better would be watching them lose in humiliating fashion to The Red Sox… like they did in 2004. ‘Member that? Yeah, I ‘member!

What else I can I write about… hmmm… oh, here’s a quick topic worth mentioning. My step son, Harry, has been trying to get me to watch Better Call Saul for months now. He’s actually taking a class on the show at UVM and has been rewatching and loving the hell out of it. I told him I would start it this week, and last night I did. One episode down. Who knows how many to go. I did not see the twist at the end of that first episode coming, but when it happened I was all shit-eatin’-grins. I have to work episodes in around the shows that are currently airing, though most of my watch list is ending in the next week. There’s Daryl Dixon (which has been a little disappointing this season but this week’s penultimate season two episode was good) and The Penguin (which is excellent) and Only Murders in the Building (which is always fun) and Agatha All Along (which took a couple of weeks to suck me in but has turned out to be really good) and What We Do in the Shadows (which kicked off with three episodes last week, all of which were excellent). That’s a lot of TV. I’ll get to it all, somehow.

What else, what else… the Bruins have been pretty mediocre to start the season. They play Philly at home tonight and Philly has been pretty bad. Here’s hoping the offense wakes up. Also the defense. Also the goaltending. Yeah, it’s been a long first nine games here in Bruins nation. The same cannot be said for my old school, UMass Lowell. I actually saw a poll last night (I think it was US College Hockey Online’s poll but I’m not sure) that had them break into the top 20 teams in the country. They are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Hockey East. The spanked Merrimack College last weekend (that’s my brother’s old school. Sorry, John). I should pay closer attention to my alma matter. Did I spell alma matter correctly? Google tells me I did not. It’s alma mater. There. Better.

Okay, folks. Time to go join a conference call or two. Hope you’re all having a good Tuesday afternoon. I hope you all had a good lunch. Hang in there, folks. Talk to you later.

Monday

Two thoughts on baseball. First, the Dodgers won the National League Pennant. Better the Dodgers (who aren’t from New York but used to be) than the Mets (who actually are from New York). When I was a kid there was a stretch of time where the World Series was the fucking Yankees vs the Dodgers over and over again. I just googled it and it was really only twice, 1978 and 1981. They met in 1977 too but that was before I started following the game. Whatever, it feels like the two teams have met in the World Series 10000 times.

Suffice to say that I am totally rooting for the Dodgers even though I really, really hate them. As much as I hate them, I don’t hate them nearly as much as I hate the fucking Yankees. There is no team in the sporting universe that I hate as much as I hate the fucking Yankees. My big question though is why the hell is Major League baseball waiting until Friday to start the series? The match up was set on Sunday and we’re not playing a game until Friday? Is the goal to make sure all of America forgets about baseball completely? Friday? Really?

Super subject change. It is October 21st. Early voting in Massachusetts started two days ago, on October 19th. I have not voted yet. I am hoping to get to it tomorrow (Tuesday). If not it will probably Thursday, or maybe over the weekend. If you live in Massachusetts, maybe you’ll join me in voting early. It’s fun and it takes some of the pressure off, even if the pressure doesn’t really exist and is only in your (my) head due to the whole fascist threat to democracy thing.

Vote.

Vote Blue.

Vote for Harris.

Game Day

Today is a big day.

The Royals beat the Yankees last night. How cool is that? The Padres beat the Dodgers the night before last. Also cool. All four MLB Division round series are tied at one game apiece. That is excellent. More games for everyone! Fantastic!

All of those things are good, but none of them are the reason for his little post. Nope.

This post is about hockey, my friends. The NHL season kicks off tonight! Huzzah! It’s opening night for the Boston Bruins! The Bruins are saying that Jeremy Swayman might actually start tonight. That seems unlikely to me given that he’s missed all of training camp and has had all of one practice with the team. The article mentions that he’s been training with Boston University… which is nice… but that hardly equates to an NHL camp. I think maybe we should give him a few days, don’t you?

Now there is also the possibility that the game won’t be played. Big chunks of Florida are still digging out from Hurricane Helene, and they are about to receive the second half of what could be a catastrophic one-two-punch when Hurricane Milton (category 5) hits. Last I heard the expected landfall was tomorrow and that the Miami area would be mostly missed. Is that true? I know the Tampa Bay Lightning canceled a pre-season game last night due to the impending storm, but that was pre-season on the other end of the state. We’ll have to see how things unfold today. I would be surprised if they play the game tonight, but Florida is kind of a fascist nightmare so they (meaning the government and the people who voted for the government) really don’t seem to give a shit about things like human life and public safety so maybe they will play. I don’t know. I love going to Disney World in Florida, but outside of that little chunk of the state I am pretty much grossed out by the place.

Whatever happens down in the Miami area (stay safe, everyone. Hang in there), today is NHL opening day. Let’s celebrate! Happy Game Day! Bring on the 2024/25 season!

Go Bruins!

I Want the Mets to Lose

I am from Boston. All New York sports teams are offensive to me. They burn my soul.

Yesterday I wrote a post listing off which teams I hate the most in each Wild Card round match up. Amazingly, the team in each series that I hate the most has lost in three of the four series. The only one left is the only series that didn’t end in a sweep. The Brewers and the Mets are playing game three right now. It’s scoreless in the third.

I hate the Mets. I probably don’t hate them as much as I hate the Yankees but I don’t hate anyone or anything in the universe as much as I hate the Yankees. The Montreal Canadians are close, but the Yankees are the root of all evil.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Brewers and the Mets. I hate the Mets. I don’t hate the Brewers. In fact, I have been to a Brewers home game. It was September 5, 2007. Jen and I had been dating for a few months and we were out in Wisconsin visiting Mike and Tammy and their baby daughter who is now a high school senior.

375

All the more reason to root against the friggin’ Mets.

Oh yeah, did I mention the Padres won their series yesterday? Bring on the Dodgers and the inevitable slaughter.

443

Pete Rose

Yes, I am sad that Pete Rose passed away. He was a legend and he was a great. I first remember him when he played in the 1980 World Series with the Phillies. When I was 11-12 years old I played on a Little League team called the Reds, and Rose earned his legendary status playing for the Cincinnati Reds. All of that. More hits than any player in history. Legend.

He also bet on baseball games. He claims he never threw a game and he only bet on his own team. He was banned from Major League Baseball for life and good riddance. He always came off to me as if he were an insufferable prick and I had no problem with the ban. No Hall of Fame for Charlie Hustle, even though he does hold the MLB record for hits.

Now that he’s passed, and it is sad that he’s passed for sure, the conversation is going to happen again. Should his ban be lifted and should he be allowed into the Hall of Fame.

I say no. As long as Shoeless Joe Jackson remains banned for betting on baseball, specifically as a member of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox team that threw the World Series (against the Cincinnati Reds, of course) then Pete Rose remains banned too. Rose was a brilliant player but by all accounts he wasn’t even close to as good as Jackson (who was a .400 hitter one season). Who knows what Joe could have accomplished if he’d been allowed to play out his full career. There is also very little evidence of him actually participating in rigging games. Hell, he had a great series in 1919 when his co-conspirators were clearly tanking.

If they lift the ban on Joe Jackson then we can talk about lifting the ban on Pete Rose. Before then? I don’t give a shit what anyone says about Rose. If Jackson remains out then Rose remains out. That’s how it needs to be.

I have spoken.

Tied at One After One

Happy Stanley Cup Final Game Seven day, everyone.

After one period of play, the Oilers and the Panthers are tied at one goal each.

40 minutes of regulation play remaining to find out if the Panthers can avoid the most pathetic collapse in professional sports history*, or if the Oilers can complete the greatest come back in pro sports history.

I’m rooting for the Oilers, but given how impossible it is to come back from down three games to none in a seven game series, my money (if I had any) would be on the Panthers… even though I friggin’ hate them.

Come on, Edmonton. Let’s do the impossible and bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada where it would belong if it didn’t actually belong in Boston.

*Sure, there have been a bunch of instances of teams winning a series after being down 0-3. It’s happened in Boston twice. The Bruins blew the three games to none lead against Philly in 2010 and I have still not recovered, even though they won the Cup one year later. In happier news, the only time it’s happened in Major League Baseball history is when the Red Sox came back from down 0-3 to take the American League Championship Series from the fucking Yankees.

Why is this the biggest come back ever? I think it’s happened five or six times in pro sports history, but I don’t think it’s ever happened in a championship round. Pretty sure this would be the first. All the more reason to consider it impossible.

It would be nice to see Florida blow it and lose in utterly humiliating fashion, but it still wouldn’t make up for them beating the Bruins two postseasons in a row. It’s a start though.

Bring On Game Seven

So I pick the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup. Then Florida wins the first three games easily and I give up on hope and declare that the Panthers have more or less already won. Then as soon as I stop caring, the Oilers turn around and win the next three games easily.

Damn it.

The Oilers won game six tonight by a score of 5-1. The series is now even at three games all. Game seven is Monday night because the NHL schedule is made by idiots who thought it fine to not have gave seven on a weekend. Come on, guys. It’s game effin’ seven. Have it on an effin’ weekend. What the hell is wrong with you jerks?

I’m still rooting for the Oilers. I’m also still convinced that the Panthers are not going to lose four games in a row. I guess we’ll see what happens on Monday then, right?

Two nights from now we’ll get the last game of the 2023-24 NHL season. That’s followed by three months of nuttin’ honey. Blah.

Hockey Tease

The Oilers lost the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final series to the Panthers, virtually guaranteeing the Cup will go to Florida.

Then in game four, the Oilers won in a blow out. Tonight, in game five, the Oilers are up 4-2 after two periods.

If you were wondering what the hockey equivalent of a dick tease felt like, then know that this is it.

Even if the Oilers win tonight, there is still virtually no chance of them coming all the way back to win the Stanley Cup. They are just trying to give me a little hope so that Florida can crush my dreams the way they did when the eliminated my Bruins, both this year’s playoffs and last year’s playoffs.

Sure, I am happy the Oilers are winning in game five. It’s just going to make it more painful when they eventually lose.

In other news, the Red Sox beat Toronto again tonight. That’s four wins in a row for my home town team. I’ll take that.

Champs

I live in greater Boston. I don’t follow the NBA or the NFL. I do follow the NHL and MLB.

While I don’t really care about the Boston Celtics, I am pleased that my city apparently just won another pro-sports championship. The Celtics just won it. Game five ended a few minutes ago and the Celtics won the game and the series. That’s 18 NBA Championships.

Congrats, Celtics. Now I just have to avoid sports radio for a couple of weeks as they aren’t going to cover anything other than the Celtics.

Oh well. Hey, the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays tonight too. That’s good, right?