I’ve had the argument many times about the best sporting month. I contend March is the best, mostly because college basketball is my favorite sport and the drama of the NCAA tournament is unmatched. I must admit, though, Saturday was a most excellent day here in Casa de DDB. There were about 1,000,000 college football games on. Between CBS, ABC, NBC, ESPN, the local Big 10 games, and then some bonus coverage I seem to be getting, I had an almost limitless supply of games to choose from.
I’m not sure if it was the lengthy, and frankly rather one-sided, discussion she had with her mother or the fact I took her looting with me after the KU game went final, but M. slept a full eight hours on Saturday night/Sunday morning. She damn near slept all day Sunday, too, so I wondered if a witch had put a spell on her or something. It is October, after all, so you never know.
Looks like I lost the bet on who would beat who first: KU beating K-State in football, or K-State beating KU in basketball. I always said it would be hoops since it’s easier to beat a better opponent in basketball, plus it takes a smaller infusion of talent to improve a bad hoops squad. I’m glad I was wrong!
Last night it was me and M. for an evening of baseball. I tried to get her to sleep downstairs so I could watch on the big screen and study, but I think she was too distracted and needed to be held the entire time rendering it impossible to hold a book. When she was due for her next bottle, we moved upstairs. After eating, burping, and getting changed, she chilled out in my arms for awhile.
You know, I’m getting sick of hearing about Yankee mystique. There’s nothing magical going on when you have $210 million at your disposal. It was maddening watching last night’s game knowing that each time the Twins worked their asses off to push a run across, the Yankees would immediately respond. Making things worse was Joe Morgan jumping all over the Yankees bandwagon in order to push his anti-Moneyball rant. Was I the only one who noticed how he all but said it was impossible for the Twins to win both games in Minnesota?
A little over a year ago I had my first South Bend football experience. It was a stunning day, one that I’ll never forget. Saturday I returned for the big Notre Dame - Purdue contest. I can’t say it was as glorious a day as my first trip, but it was still a fine way to spend a fall day. We departed from Indy around 6:30, and after two straight nights with less than five hours of sleep, I was dragging a little to say the least.
The first game has already started, but I need to slide in my predictions for the baseball playoffs. I went on record a couple weeks back with a St. Louis - Boston World Series, and a seven game Cardinal triumph. I hate to be lazy, but despite the challenges facing the Cardinals pitching staff, I’m not going to deviate from that end result.
NLDS: St. Louis over Los Angeles Houston over Atlanta
All joking aside you K-State and Mizzou fans, my football memories from college (and after) aren’t nearly as strong as my basketball memories. That’s not just because I went to a basketball school, although that’s a big reason. With college football, you have 4-6 home games vs. 15 in basketball. You’re generally playing all cupcakes outside the conference schedule as opposed to Kentucky, UConn, Indiana, and UCLA. Road games are less likely to be on TV.
I’ve got a few short posts lined up for this afternoon. Hopefully I can get everything cranked out around nap times. First off, I’ve been watching a lot of VH1 Classic this week. It’s always fun to see the video for a song you liked 20 years ago but now realize is total crap. Even better is when the video is God-awful. Two examples: Glenn Frey - “You Belong To The City”.
I just spent the last hour getting my ass kicked by some GRE math review. I understand the point of these sample sections is to beat you up a little so you’re ready for the real test, but when they actually do more to confuse you than help you relearn the concepts, I begin to wonder if I’ve spent my money wisely on materials. In the time between when S. left for work and a sister-in-law showed up to give me a few hours to study, M.
I know you’re all dying to hear what I think about the debate that’s been dominating discussion in this great land of ours. I shall not disappoint you: I think it was scandalous how Major League Baseball has treated the city and fans of Montreal over the past ten years. Make no mistake, Montreal in all honesty does not deserve to have an MLB team. However, the governing body of the game has done little over the years to make it easier for a team to succeed in the game’s oddest market (Different economy, different culture, different language).
I can’t say it was the most successful night ever, and I can’t say it was a complete disaster either. After almost a week of sleeping 5-7 hours a night, M. reverted to her every three hour schedule for waking up. Still suffering from the shots she received on Monday, nothing could placate her during the afternoon and evening other than laying across my legs on her belly. Sometimes even a bottle at the regular feeding time couldn’t do the trick.
S. just left for her first shift at work since July 23. Looks like I better have this parenting a newborn thing down for the next 20 hours. Check here for information on any disasters that occur.
We just returned from M’s two month checkup. Before the nurse placed her on the scales, we guessed her weight would be in the 10 1/2 pound range. Homegirl weighed in at 12.2 lbs! We need to switch her to Diet Similac or get her walking sooner than planned!
It’s clear there’s one big bonus to being unemployed: If Monday Night Football is exciting, I’ll be able to stay up and watch the entire game. At least until the rest of the world changes time, that is. Tonight, though, I persevered and made it through the entire Dallas-Washington game. A pretty amazing ending, if only for the way it got the hopes of Redskins fans up only to be dashed when there were no more timeouts.
It was a truly outstanding week in Kansas City in almost every way. I had the chance to spend time with many of you, which was tremendous. I got to show off my daughter. I got to eat a huge amount of great food. The Chiefs had a total meltdown which was fun for me. And there was actually a week of hope for the KU football program before it all came crashing down in the second half Saturday.
In over two years of traveling for work, I drastically improved my packing skills. I used to be the guy who took three bags for a three day trip. By this time last year, I was almost always traveling with a backpack that could stow away underneath the seat in front of me and a small suitcase that could be put into the overhead storage compartments. I still generally took far too much stuff with me, but at least I wasn’t checking anything.
One of the funniest things anyone said to me before I became a father came from the mother of one of S.’s best friends. In her unique way of offering to help us, she casually mentioned that she would be happy to come “sit in the waiting room with me” while S. was in the delivery room. What is this, 1950? We laughed a lot about that. One of the areas of potential danger for a prospective father is the dreaded passing out in the delivery room.
These kids, they grow up so fast! Why, it was just seven weeks ago I held a tiny little girl in my arms for the first time, wondering if she could make any sense of the sounds she heard or the occasional image she would let into her eyes. She remained largely silent, save for some crying around feeding time, choosing to spend 20 hours a day sleeping. She weighed less than a bag of groceries and it seemed as if I could curl her up in my arm and hide her entire body.
As the linked story relates, there was a small earthquake just south of Indianapolis yesterday. There’s nothing earth shattering in the article (get it, earth shattering???), but I had to share a nugget from the extensive coverage (slow news day) of the event on last night’s late local news. Contrary to what the IU geologist says in the Star article, another “expert” interviewed last night looked gravely at the camera and said, “It’s quite likely there will be a major earthquake in Indiana in the near future.