Random Ramblings

I have a lot of things on my mind, so it's time for a brand new random ramblings. 

* At Sunday's Grammys, the Philadelphia Orchestra won the Best Orchestral Performance award defeating the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra among others. Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 24th when the Pittsburgh Penguins travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. This is clearly a revenge game and bigger than hockey! If things aren't settled on the ice, look out for July 28-31 when the Pirates host the Phillies. I expect the entire city of Pittsburgh to rally around and support the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra against their foe across the state!

* My fantasy/rotisserie baseball league had its 32nd draft over the weekend. I wasn't in the league during the first year, but this is my 31st year in the league. It's amazing how much this league and the other people in the league have been a part of my life. And yes, I wrote about my two championships here and here and hope to write about another one in October.

 

* We're looking to go to Canada this summer, so I needed to renew my passport, and we had to get passports for the kids. Passports are really expensive! It's like the US government doesn't want you to leave! Since the kids' passports expire in 5 years, we are definitely going to go somewhere else internationally before then. I don't care where or when, but we need to get use out of these passports. Just for fun, here's a passport photo of me, probably around the time of when I started in the baseball league. What a shirt!

* Luigi had kindergarten orientation recently, and I have mixed reactions to this. While I can't believe that he's going to start kindergarten this fall, I am really looking forward to not paying for preschool anymore. The next day, I took The Moose and Pedro Tulo to the elementary school where they spent the day with the before and after-school staff during a teacher workday. Luigi was with me since I dropped off his brothers before taking him to preschool. He thought he was going to stay and continued to ask me where Pedro Tulo's former kindergarten teacher, who he met the day before, was. Unfortunately, he wasn't close to saying her name correctly, and I had no idea what he was talking about. A bit of a meltdown occurred as I got him back into the car and during the drive to preschool. He absolutely loves his preschool, but he's ready to go to school. And of course, he was completely fine when I dropped him off.

* If you couldn't get "Fancy Like" or the Cheers theme songs out of your head after hearing Applebee's commercials, I give you Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible" or "Simply Irresist-A-Bowls" 

Have a nice Opening Day!

Trivia Tuesday: 80s Baseball & The US-Canada Border

We haven't had Trivia Tuesday in a while, but I thought I would try it again. Today's questions are a mix of 1980s baseball trivia and items about the United States-Canada border. Good luck!

1. MLB personnel testifying at the famed 1985 drug trial of Curtis Strong included Dale Berra, Keith Hernandez, Vida Blue, and Kevin Koch. While not a player, Koch provided prominent professional players in Pennsylvania with cocaine while serving as what alliterative avian mascot?

2. The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is unusual in that the Canada-U.S. Border goes through the middle of the building. Name EITHER the Canadian province or the U.S. state that is home to this building. (Sean's Note: I just learned that this place existed and really want to go now.)

3. It is used for veterinary purposes as a hoof antiseptic and livestrong.com suggests that it can be used to treat eczema, psoriasis, and dandruff. But perhaps its most striking application was, in the words of author Mike McKenzie, briefly giving one future Hall of Famer "the ignominious distinction of hitting a game-losing home run" and another future Hall of Famer "a save by giving up a hit into the seats." Name this substance, now addressed in a comment to MLB Rule 3.02(c).

4. If you drive north over the entire length of Interstate 29 beginning in Kansas City, Missouri, you will enter Canada at the Emerson Port of Entry, which is located in what Canadian province?

5. He led the leader in batting average (1980), doubles (1981, 1983), and at bats (1982), but his name rarely evokes those things. Name this longtime left fielder/first baseman who is also not best remembered for being traded from the Chicago Cubs for Mike Brumley and Dennis Eckersley in 1984.

6. The border community of Warroad, Minnesota is perhaps best known for being the hometown of what American hockey player who scored four shootout goals, including the game winning goal, in a game against Russia at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics? This player played his first NHL game in 2008 for the St. Louis Blues, and currently plays for the Washington Capitals.

7. When completed, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will compete with what existing bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario?

8. He was the NL's DH for the first-ever AAA All-Star Game and reportedly the first minor leaguer to be kissed by the famed Morganna the Kissing Bandit. His brief MLB career with the Pirates and Astros was unmemorable, except that he remains, nearly 30 years later, the last left-handed thrower to play an MLB game at catcher. Name this player. (Sean's Note: This player has also been mentioned on this blog several times over the years. Actually, more than one person found my blog because they searched for "[Player Name] married" and discovered Sean's Ramblings.)

9. The only stadium to debut (and open) in the 1980s that remains an active MLB stadium is almost certainly the only stadium in the world that is 1,500 feet shorter than a building adjacent to it. Give either name for this stadium that, between 2008-13, experienced higher fan turnout for the NFL games it hosted than for its resident baseball club.


Please do not use the internet for assistance, and leave your answers in the comments section below.

These questions are from two recent LearnedLeague one-day specials. If you're interested in joining LearnedLeague, I have a referral for next season, so please contact me.

Canadian Road Trip

Let’s say that you are taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Where would you go in each of these cities? The reason for this post is because I am taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. What a coincidence!

I attended a wedding in Montreal almost 10 years ago, but don’t remember much about the city besides taking a river cruise and visiting the William Shatner Center at McGill University. I’ve never been to Ottawa, and figure that since I’m there, maybe I can be Prime Minister for the day. Toronto is one of my favorite places, and I plan on visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame on this trip since I’ve never been there before.

I’m heading to these cities as part of my third annual hockey road trip and will be attending NHL games in each place. Besides the hockey games, I’m looking for suggestions of things to do. Therefore, please feel free to add any suggestions about things to do and see in the comments section below. In addition, I’m also looking for ideas about places to eat/drink in each city, preferably near the arenas.

Thank you!