Tag: Sports

I Don’t Hate It

The Gibson Theodore… a lot of people hate it. I… I guess I… I guess I don’t hate it. I sure don’t love it, but I don’t think I hate it. I almost think it’s cool.

I’ll embed a video below that goes into depth, but the deal is that a few years ago Gibson unearthed a guitar design that was unused back in the golden era of the 1950’s and did a short, very expensive, run out of their custom shop. Recently they released a standard production model that is also grossly expensive, but a whole lot less expensive than the original version.

Yeah the body shape is kinda dumb. I liked the custom shop’s use of P90 pickups rather than the USA version’s use of humbuckers. I like the four knobs on the custom shop over the two master controls on the USA. I very much greatly prefer the bridge on the USA version.

I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t love it but I don’t really hate it. Weird, huh?

Change of subject: unrelated, both the Bruins and the Red Sox won today. The Red Sox snapped a really ugly four game losing streak. The Bruins… I think… clinched the Atlantic Division title… I think… didn’t they? No… did they? I knew they needed a win over Pittsburgh tonight, but I can’t remember if it was a win OR a Florida Panthers loss would clinch things, or was it a win AND a Panthers loss? Also, did the Panthers need to lose, or lose in regulation? I don’t remember. The Bruins won in regulation and the Panthers won in overtime. I guess I’ll find out the answer to this question in the morning. Whatevs, both of my teams won today. Happiness.

Back to the main topic. Where does the Theodore sit on my Gibson Guitar I-Want-One list?

  • Les Paul Junior
  • Les Paul Standard 50’s with P90 pickups
  • Firebird, but not a studio. I want the Firebird mini-humbuckers, not standard humbuckers
  • Les Paul Deluxe
  • Insert the Theodore here? Maybe.
  • Les Paul Special, or SG Special, or SG Junior
  • ES-330

Damn… that’s a long list. It’s also an insanely expensive list. Come on, Gibson USA. Help a brother out. Bring those prices down. I don’t want to start thinking about Epiphones. I’m a Gibson snob after all.

Olympics

Daily writing prompt
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
View all responses

What is it about the Olympic Games that makes uninteresting sporting events so riveting that I can’t look away? Track and field events, figure skating, curling, and the queen mother of WTF athletic competitions, biathlon (the one with target shooting crossed with cross country skiing). Take uninteresting sporting competitions, wrap them in the Olympic flag and BAM, I can’t stop watching. Is it hypnosis? Is it some weird brain washing thing? Is it a form of nationalistic propaganda that our brains are hard wired to respond to?

Maybe… or it just might be fun.

There is one Olympic event that I follow pretty religiously. It’s not figure skating, though there was a time in the past where I had a family connection to that sport based on my cousin having dated a super famous US competitor. It’s not soccer either, though it might be in the future as I have a family connection that may or may not be involved with the Olympic development program and may at some point in the distant future end up playing goal for the USA. No, you can probably guess if you read through past posts on this blog. It’s hockey.

Hockey was always the best part of the Winter Olympics, but when the NHL players were allowed to participate, suddenly the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament became the ultimate international competition, featuring literally the best hockey players on Earth. Sure it took a couple of Olympics for the whole thing to start living up to it’s potential, but once it did. Damn, were those games ever fun. Best hockey tournament ever.

Generate an image of a male jedi knight playing ice hockey for team usa with a light saber…

Happy Opening Day, I Guess

Today is opening day for Major League Baseball (excluding two teams that played a game overseas somewhere? Do I have that info correct?).

Today should really be a national holiday in the United States, even though Boston Red Sox fans, like me, get royally screwed.

Game one for the Red Sox is in Seattle. The local start time in Seattle is 7:00pm. That’s fine for them, but Boston is on the opposite coast and there is a three hour time difference. Start time for us here in New England is 10:00pm. There is zero chance of me staying up to watch even one pitch of tonight’s game.

Thanks for nothing, MLB schedule makers. We don’t get a game at a watchable start time until Sunday. That’s game four for the season. Sunday is an afternoon game in Seattle, starting at 1:00pm Pacific time, which is 4:00pm Eastern time. That would be nice except that it’s also easter Sunday and we’re having dinner with my father at 4:30… so I won’t be watching that game either. What a pain in the ass?

So MLB, how about a rule that says all opening day series must be played in both teams’ local time zones. You know, so the fans can actually watch the friggin’ games. Not that MLB gives the faintest shit about the fans. Just look at the start times for playoff games. They all start too late for normal people to watch the whole game, and heaven forbid a kid should want to watch a playoff game. No way.

Thanks for nothing, assholes.

Curling

I just asked the wordpress.com A.I. Assistant this question: Why is curling a thing?

Curling has a rich history dating back to the 16th century in Scotland, where it originated as a popular pastime during the long winter months. The sport involves players sliding stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area, while teammates use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the stone to control its speed and direction. Over time, curling has evolved into a highly strategic and competitive sport, with a dedicated global following. Its appeal lies in the skillful combination of precision, strategy, teamwork, and the unique dynamic of the game being played on ice. Additionally, the social aspects of the sport, including camaraderie and sportsmanship, contribute to its enduring popularity.

This whole post is an inside joke kinda thing, but apparently there are people who play the sport of Curling in Georgia… a place that doesn’t have ice. Who knew? Atlanta has twice had an NHL team. The first one booked it out of town and ended up in Calgary, where there is a lot of ice. The other booked it out of town and ended up in Winnipeg, where there is also a lot of ice.

So yeah… curling… in Georgia. Who knew?

This isn’t meant to bad mouth Curling. During every Winter Olympics, whenever I stumble across Curling I find myself completely fascinated with it, even though I have zero knowledge of anything that’s happening. It’s kinda weird and almost creepy. Still, come February 2026, when we have the next Winter Olympics, you can bet your bottom (Canadian) dollar that I’ll find myself glued to the TV.

Speaking of the NHL, the Bruins got spanked by the Blues last night. It made me sad. I need the Bruins to go on a nice win streak. Granted, I’d rather they play crappy for a while now than have them do it in the playoffs like they did last year.

Hockey is Stressful for Me

I knew the Boston Bruins had a game today but I didn’t realize until the last possible moment that it was a 1:00 game. I took a vacation day today without realizing that it was an actual holiday (not one that I get off, but still a holiday) and the Bruins often play day games on holidays. Nice!

I watched the first period while eating my lunch. The period ended with the score tied at one. As the second period was starting I was going to write a quick post about how the Bruins have been bad since the all star break and they didn’t look all that great today. They haven’t been bad, it’s just Dallas has been better. Right as I was opening my laptop to write the post Dallas scored to take a 2-1 lead. Damn it! I don’t want to write a hockey post now. Blah. Just as I had made that decision, Boston scored to tie the game at two. WOOHOO! Go Bruins!

The mood swings I feel while watching hockey are unprecedented in human existence. I have similar mood swings when I watch baseball games, but the nature of the game is different and they are much less intense. The playoffs are close, but the chances of the Red Sox making the playoffs any time soon are too slim for that to be a consideration.

Let’s go, Bruins. Let’s get back to those pre-all star break winning ways, shall we? M’kay?

Grow Up

Daily writing prompt
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
View all responses

I don’t think this is a terribly interesting question, but I do think it’s a good writing prompt. Why? Because I would never ask myself this question. Does that make sense? Okay, that is the end of my philosophical discussion on writing prompts. Now let us answer the dumb sucker.

When I was a kid I used to play with Star Wars toys, virtually around the clock. I was probably 10 or 11 years old when I outgrew that activity.

I used to play baseball as much as humanly possible. If I wasn’t playing Little League I was playing wiffle ball with the other kids in the neighborhood. If I wasn’t playing wiffle ball I was just hanging out in the back yard hitting the wiffle ball out of my hand and then chasing it down. Sometimes I even used one of those pitch back things that let you play catch with yourself by throwing a ball off of it and then instead of catching it, I would hit it. I spent a lot of time tracking down wiffle balls or tennis balls in the back yard. I was done with all of that when I aged out of the town Little League when I was 15 years old. 

On my 15th birthday my Uncle Johnny gave me a guitar. I have yet to outgrow that one.

Those are the first two kid-level activities that I can think of that were incredibly important to the little guy version of me that, as I grew up, stopped being important.

Hey Google Bard (it’s not Bard anymore, apparently it is Gemini now… okay, whatever) generate an image of a Jedi Knight playing baseball…

My Favorite Sports

Bloganuary writing prompt
What are your favorite sports to watch and play?
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There was a time…

There was a time when my social life more or less consisted of watching sports. I’d say 50-60% of what I did with my free time involved watching sports. There was a period in my life where I had a partial season ticket package (10 games) for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, a full season ticket package (40 games) for the Lowell Lock Monsters of the American Hockey League, and then during the summer we split a full season ticket package for the Lowell Spinners of the New York Penn baseball league (I think it was about 50 games and we went to half of them). At the same time I used to follow the Lock Monsters on road games because there were six AHL teams in New England. I would go to road games in three of the other five locations. Along with all of that, there were playoff games for the Bruins and the Monsters. One AHL season saw me go to maybe 50-55 games. Crazy.

Now? I still follow hockey and baseball closely, but I rarely go to games in person, and I have a tough time fitting actually sitting and watching games on television, or listening on the radio, into my busy schedule. I still hang on every goal and every run, but I miss tons and tons of every season. 

So the answer to the question, what are my favorite sports to watch? Hockey and Baseball. The Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, and the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Those are my favorite teams. I also follow some NCAA hockey but my old school, UMass Lowell, is seriously crappy this year so they are tough to follow. There is a minor league baseball team in Manchester New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who are in the Toronto Blue Jays system, but I haven’t been to a game there since 2007. This year I am hoping to get to a game and maybe follow them on the radio a little bit. We will see.

No Call Part 2
Boston Bruins vs Calgary Flames, October 19, 2006
352
Boston Red Sox vs Texas Rangers, June 30, 2007

Fun Things

Bloganuary writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
View all responses

Five things I do for fun… I can do that, I think…

  • Spend time with my family. Jen, Bellana, and Harry. My wife and my two step kids. Anything any of us do together is more fun than I know how to describe. Even if we are just sitting around doing nothing, I love every second of it. I don’t think this needs any more detail. I love them and I love being with them.
  • Music. Playing it, listening to it, writing it, recording it, sharing it with other people, going to concerts, performing in concert. All of it. I love it. I always have. Guitar, saxophone, once for a year or so trumpet. It has more or less defined me since I was about 10 years old. Maybe even younger. 
  • Photography. I don’t call myself a photographer. I call myself an amateur hack who takes lots of pictures. Digital, film, iPhone, you name it. Even video, sometimes. I like going out and taking pictures. I like being home taking pictures. I like taking pictures.
  • Travel. Road trips, longer plane trips. Anything and anywhere. Going to different places and seeing new things is so much fun. Me, Jen, the kids if they are available. Let’s just hop in the car and go somewhere. 
  • One more… You can do this, Robert… Lately it’s been binge watching TV. We can throw watching movies into this too. Lately I have been diving head first into science fiction TV. What’s the deal, AppleTV? They just keep dropping excellent sci-fi on us and I am here for it. We can include watching sports here too. Hockey and baseball are the games for me. Harry and I went to a hockey game in person a few weeks ago and it’s reminded me how much I enjoy being in the room where a game happens. I used to have season tickets for minor league hockey and baseball teams and I used to go to NHL and MLB games multiple times a year. I forgot how much I missed it. 

Okay, there you go. Five things that I do for fun. Sweet.

Olympic Bummer

Last night Jen and I watched a bunch of Olympic highlights on YouTube. One of the things we saw was a 15 year old Russian kid landing the first ever quadruple jump in Olympic Women’s Figure Skating history. When we were kids, quad jumps were myths. No one, male or female, had ever done one in competition before. Now we have this 15 year old kid (who looks like she weighs 90 pounds soaking wet, but who could probably kick my ass with just her pinky finger so bad she’d break every bone in my body) landing two of them in one routine. Super Human, literally.

I mentioned to Jen that I had heard something about a skater failing a PED test. I hadn’t heard anything more than that. I didn’t know who how why what where when.

It was that 15 year old Russian kid.

Well doesn’t that just friggin’ blow.

My New Favorite Thing in the Whole Wide World

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Jen sent me a John Oliver video today that was talking about how professional sports fit into this weird quarantined world.  He mentioned something that is officially the greatest thing that has every happened to the quarantined universe.

Jelle’s Marble Runs.

If you’re missing professional sports, this is what you need to fill that hole in your life.

Marble racing.

OMG this is amazing!