A Nice Halloween Gift

I did not watch a single pitch of the World Series this year. Why would I watch a series played between two teams that I loath? Nope. Not a single pitch.

I did check the scores each day to see if the team I hate more than the other team I hate lost. Last night before I went to bed I checked the score and the team I hate the most was winning again. Shit.

Today is Halloween. Happy Halloween!

As I was getting ready to start my morning routine I checked the score again. The Dodgers came back and took the lead in the eighth inning and won the game and won the World Series! I hate the Dodgers, but they are practically family compared the the fucking Yankees.

The Yankees lost!
The Yankees lost!
Happy Halloween everybody, the Yankees lost!

The Horror

Last night the Bruins lost to a team that has been playing pretty bad this season so far. They got shut out.

In the World Series, the fucking Yankees, who were trailing 3-0 in the series, beat the Dodgers to stay alive.

Basically, it was the worst pro-sports night imaginable for me.

The horror… the horror… the horror…

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.

World Series Blues

It’s bad enough that the Bruins have lost three games in a row and can’t play defense and can’t play offense, but we’re a few minutes away from the start of the World Series and no matter how it turns out a team that I royally hate is going to win. The question is, will it be a team that a hate with a burning passion, or will it be the team that I hate more than all other teams I hate combined?

Some times I just think that pro sports can just bite me, you know?

On the upside, we’re going to Vermont tomorrow and we’re going to see the kids. That’s some first class, grade A good news right there. It’s the weekend and it is a kids weekend. Just like the old days, right?

Happy Friday, oh my brothers and sisters and only friends.

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.

Saturday Morning

I slept late today. I didn’t get up until almost 8:00am. The temperature outside at that time? 31 degrees. Shit. Winter is here.

I did my morning exercise before breakfast today. Over the last couple of weeks I have been walking in place for a bit then running in place for a bit and alternating until I hit about 5k in simulated distance. Yesterday I just ran the whole thing About 32 minutes, I think. Today I did the same except I actually used the indoor run workout in the workout app instead of the indoor walk setting. I went a little over my distance goal so that I could get up to 700 calories. I ended up at four miles (simulated). My feet and my calves are hurting, but I feel like I accomplished something.

The plan for today is another small kitchen improvement project, a visit to my mother, and a visit to my father. Beyond that, I don’t know for sure. Guitar, I hope. Bond movies, I assume. I want to watch yesterday’s That Pedal Show but the topic is a Boss pedal and I don’t really like Boss pedals, generally speaking.

I just stumbled over the new clock app in the new MacOS. I opened the clock on my phone and it came up on the laptop as a handoff. Sweet. Now I can track my time between bites on my computer instead of my phone.

I started a Bond movie while doing my faux running today. A View to a Kill. The last Roger Moore. It’s better than I remembered it, but it’s not very good. Christopher Walken as the bad guy. Can he play the bad guy in every Bond movie going forward? That would be fun.

I haven’t done my pick for the World Series post yet. Game one was last night. No spoilers on my pick, but the Phillies won and I am happy. I’ll do the real post later today. The UMass Lowell Riverhawks won too, and the Bruins are off to their best start in 10000 years at 8-1-0 after another win last night. I failed to watch/listen to either game, but I followed the scores as best I could. It was the first time I didn’t listen to at least a few minutes of either team’s game. Oh well.

Last night Jen and I both threw our names into the hat to be beta testers for Jack Dorsey’s new social network, Bluesky Social. Over the last year or so this page has been the only sort of social networking service that I’ve really been using. Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate. I stopped using Facebook and I’ve nearly stopped using Twitter, but I still use Flickr and lately I’ve been using the Flickr Groups more than normal and all of that counts as a social network. I have no idea what Bluesky Social is going to entail, but if it lets me thumb my nose at Musk and Twitter a little then sign me up.

Okay, time to wrap this post up. Bond and Tanya Roberts just stole a fire engine and jumped a draw bridge and that’s not cartoonish at all, right?

World Series… Someday

The matchup for the World Series is set and I am both happy and sad.

First, the bad news. I told Jen we were going to go to San Diego to see a World Series game if the Padres won the pennant. They did not win the pennant. Can we still go to San Diego? Please? I friggin’ love that city. The Phillies beat them in five games (I think… it was five games, wasn’t it?).

Now the good news. THE YANKEES WERE SWEPT AND IT IS AWESOME!!!!! The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. Let me say that again… The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. They beat Seattle in three games and the Yankees in four. I picked them to win, but only because they are not the Yankees.

Now for the World Series. The Phillies vs the Astros. Who should I back? Who should I root for? On the one hand, I don’t particularly care for the Astros after they eliminated my Red Sox last year, though I am very happy for the way they crushed the Yankees. I could go either way, I guess. I have been a Phillies fan in the past, though I know nothing about this year’s team and I am pissed at them for cancelling our San Diego trip. I could go either way with them as well. Does the possibility of the Astros running the table make me want to back them? Naw, I’m going to be a Phillies fan. Screw the Astros and their trash can crap*.

The only question that remains… why the hell are they waiting until Friday to start the series? Is the goal to stretch it out until Christmas? What the hell? The series is set, let’s play the friggin’ games!

Go Phillies.


*Yes, I know the Red Sox did the trash can shit too. Leave me alone.

Major League Baseball Post Season Wrap Up

The Dodgers are World Series champions.

I have mixed feelings. First, I was hoping they would end up being the new breed of eternal losers. Now that the Red Sox (and the Cubs, I guess) have ended their futility streaks, it was time to replace them with a new team that consistently comes close but never wins… well. So much for that.

On the other hand, Mookie Betts. I want Mookie to win it over and over again. I want the Red Sox to constantly be reminded of how they screwed up by letting one of the best players in the game go. I don’t want the Dodgers to be a dynasty, but if that’s the price I have to pay to see Mookie be a dynasty then so be it.

Anyway, there is the coin flip predictions to wrap up. The coins picked seven out of 14 series leading up to the World Series. Exactly 50% correct. With an odd number of picks to make it was never going to finish off at 50%. It was either going to be one above or one below.

How’d it turn out?

One below. A final record of 7/8. The coin picked the (Devil) Rays and they lost. That leaves the final success rate at 47%. Good job, totally random coin flips. You did exactly what you were supposed to.

Major League Baseball World Series Prediction

It’s coin flip time again. The League Championships are over and the pennants have been won and there were lots of sick comebacks, both successful and otherwise.

So how did I do? First, let’s recap. The coin flip predictions in the first round were even at 4-4. The second round was a slaughter at 1-3. That’s 5-7 on the playoffs so far. Now let’s see the third round results, shall we?

Astros vs Rays: The coin picked the Rays, which was nice because the Astros are cheating pricks (so are my Red Sox, but let’s not talk about that today). Who won? The Rays won! The coin was right!

Braves vs Dodgers: The coin picked The Dodgers. The Dodgers should win it all, right? They are awesome. Still… they’ve blown it in the playoffs in each of the last 4000 years, so how’d they do this round? They didn’t blow it! They won! The coin was right again!

I was 2-0 in the Championship round, which puts the coins at… 7-7! Exactly 50% correct! Which is what a coin should do! How cool is that? Now there is an odd number of series in the post season, so it’s impossible to finish at 50/50, but whatever happens in the World Series, I will be as close to 50/50 has mathematically possible.

Let’s let the coin pick one more time. Heads for American League champ, tails for National League champ…..

Rays vs Dodgers: It’s Heads, babie! The Rays, whom I loathe, unfortunately, will bring the World Series to the American League East yet again, and the Dodgers will blow it in the big show once more!

There you have it, boys and girls. The Tampa Bay (devil) Rays will win the World Series!

The Royals Win

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Kansas City Royals for making me look smart. I picked them, they won. Unlike last year, I got it right!

That’s seven correct predictions out of nine series. I would say that’s a pretty good score for a red head who didn’t watch a whole lot of baseball this year. Maybe I should fill out a March Madness bracket (I won’t… unless that billion dollar thing is happening again).

Congratulations to the World Series Champion Kansas City Royals! May the Boston Red Sox make you look like garbage next season!

Go Bruins!