Better Future: Pirates or Nationals?

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and have lived in Northern Virginia for about two decades. So while the Pittsburgh Pirates have always been my favorite baseball team, I follow the Nationals closely too. Yes, following these two teams in 2022 has been challenging. At the all-star break, the teams are a combined 70-117 with the two worst run differentials in all of baseball. For weeks, I’ve considered writing a blog post about which team has the brighter future or even if either team has a bright future. Today is the day I finally did it.

Here’s a quick, quick summary of both teams:

Pittsburgh Pirates

* Signed Ke’Bryan Hayes, arguably the top defensive 3B in baseball, to an 8-year contract

* OF Bryan Reynolds was an all-star and MVP candidate in 2021.

* 5 minor leaguers (Henry Davis, Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Quinn Priester, and Liover Peguero) in the preseason Top 50 of the Top 100 prospects. “Unusually tall” for a SS Oneil Cruz and his incredible arm is now starting for the Pirates.

* Possibility that Roansy Contreras and/or Mitch Keller could become quality, top-end starting pitchers.

* Rookie OF Jack Suwinski had 13 home runs in May and June. Of course, he just got sent down to the minors after going 4 for 37 (.108) in July.

* One of the lowest payrolls in baseball and have traded away any decent player over the last few years.

 

Washington Nationals

*Juan Soto is only 23 and put up numbers in his first four seasons comparable to Mike Trout, Frank Robinson, and Ted Williams. In 2022, he’s having a “down” season batting only .250 though he still has 20 home runs and a .405 on-base percentage. More on him soon.

* Keibert Ruiz is already one of the best defensive catchers in baseball.

* 22 year-old SS Luis Garcia is starting nearly every day.

* 24 year-old Josiah Gray could become a top-tier starting pitcher.

* Only two top players (Cade Cavalli and Brady House) in the preseason minor league top 100 prospects. Cavalli started the season terribly but has pitched significantly better in AAA over the last few months.

* Traded away or failed to re-sign many top players over the last few years. Josh Bell will probably be gone soon too. The two big signings haven’t worked out well either. The team owes Patrick Corbin about $60 million for 2024 and 2025. Corbin is 4-12 with a 5.87 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in 100 innings this season. Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg has pitched 30.1 innings since winning the World Series MVP in 2019. His base salary is $140 million for 2023-2026 with a full no trade clause though there’s $80 million of deferred money for 2027-2029 in there somewhere.

* Team is for sale.

 

Even with the ownership uncertainty, the Nationals larger payroll and having a generational talent in Juan Soto gives the DC team a slight edge in my opinion. However, this changed after this past weekend. Earlier this season, Soto declined a 13-year, $350 million contract offer. While this is an incredible amount of money, everyone who follows baseball understood that Soto deserved more. The Nationals responded by offering Soto a 15-year, $440 million deal. Although the $29.3 million annual salary would rank 15^th among players based on their 2022 salaries, this would have been the largest contract in MLB history. Soto declined this offer too. Apparently, he feels like he could get more and/or he doesn’t want to play in DC. I don’t think the team will go higher, so with Soto set to be a free agent in 2024, it is being reported that the Nationals are open to trade offers. If Soto leaves, this would continue a trend of the Nationals letting free agents sign elsewhere (Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon) or trading away All-Stars (Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber). The Nationals would essentially turn into the Pirates but with a worse farm system though you’d think they would get a ransom for Soto. Without Soto, I'd take the Pirates.

 

What do you think?

Photo from the Colorado Rockies scoreboard by Brian of RTJR.

An Email From 2000

In January 2001, I was a full-time graduate student at The Ohio State University while also working multiple jobs. I was in the beginning of a long-distance relationship with my now wife, and I attended most of the home football games that fall. The team ended the season with an 8-4 record after a 6-6 record the season before, which was (and still is) unacceptable in Columbus. As a result, the school fired coach John Cooper. For no apparent reason, I was also sent the following email from Steve Snapp at the university’s Department of Athletics about the new coaching search:

FYI --  While the search for a new football coach is underway, I will be the primary contact for any of you who have questions. As you can imagine, both Andy Geiger and Archie Griffin are immersed in the search process and simply do not have time to respond to all the requests for interviews that they are receiving. I will make information available to you as it becomes available to me. All of us here understand that all of you have a job to do, but we are trying to get the best person available for the job and do not want to do anything that compromises the search process. Thanks for your understanding.

Spoiler: Ohio State hired Jim Tressel. The now late Snapp sent this email to dozens of radio, print, and television media members across the state of Ohio including Kirk Herbstreit, Dan Wetzel, Jim Lachey, and Tim Benz. Contacts at every major Ohio newspaper and television station received this email. I know this because every name and email address were listed in the “To” line. I didn’t receive any subsequent emails, but I saved this message apparently in case I wanted to contact Herbstreit to ask him about his thoughts on college football (and because I save everything).

Last week, I found this email and decided to send my own email to everyone on Snapp’s list. I was curious if any of the emails still worked 21 years later and if anyone would reply. I sent the message and then watched as undeliverable message after undeliverable message filled my inbox. The next day, I received a response from an individual who was the sports director at the OSU student radio. He shared his experiences and cool stories about his time at the radio station and mentioned that he later worked as a sportswriter for more than a decade. I’m amazed that I received a response and that someone (else) still has an email account from 20+ years ago.
 
Now, I’m curious if anyone else who worked in Ohio media in January 2001 still works in media and wants to reply. They can share their thoughts about the upcoming Ohio State football season, covering the Buckeyes in 2000-2001, the state of the Big Ten conference with the pending additions of USC and UCLA, or anything else.

Photo by Kirk Irwin

Update: Since Amy asked, here is the text that I sent to about 65 people:

My name is Sean [redacted], and I am a 2001 Ohio State graduate from the College of Education and Human Ecology. Over 20 years ago, the now late Steve Snapp of The Ohio State University's Department of Athletics accidentally copied me on an email to Ohio media members regarding the open football coach search. Spoiler: Ohio State hired Jim Tressel. That seemed to work out pretty well. 
 
For no apparent reason, I saved this email and now there might actually be a reason. I write a blog called Sean's Ramblings and thought I would try to make a post about Steve Snapp's email. Specifically, I'm curious to see how many of these email addresses still work. If you receive my email, thanks for making it this far. If you don't mind, please reply and let me know who this is and if you still work in media. Please feel free to share any thoughts about the upcoming Ohio State football season, the state of the Big Ten conference with the pending additions of USC and UCLA, or anything else.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Update

You might have noticed that I haven’t written many blog posts lately. Or maybe you haven’t noticed. This is definitely going to sound like a first-world problem, but I went on two vacations in last three weeks. Between preparing for being away, being away, and then trying to catch up on things after being away, I haven’t had much time to write lately.
 
I just wanted to share that I’m fine and still here. In the next few weeks, I plan on writing about parts of the vacation, an email from over 20 years ago, and my annual Pittsburgh Pirates draft recap. Maybe I’ll even get around to writing about my kids’ baseball seasons which have been over for more than a month now or share my thoughts about things I’m watching and reading. Maybe there will be a surprise or two too.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of Ziggy making sure that we can’t leave for vacation again!

Enough Already

Over the last few months, I receive at least 1-2 comments every day on a post I wrote over 11 years ago. And it's not even a good post. For several years in the late 00s and early teens, Jim Shearer, the former MTV and VH1 VJ, created a series of videos called Yinz Luv Da Stillers and Yinz Luv Da Guins during the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins playoff runs. Most of these videos are now private, so my January 2011 post now simply shows an unavailable video. This still doesn't stop presumably bots from commenting on this "well written," "marvelous," "awesome," and "amazing" post daily. I mean, most of my posts have these attributes, but I delete many of the comments if they're in Russian and/or include links I'm scared to click or share. Some comments (that I translate) ask if I'm interested in knowing what a three-circuit steel door means or they are for a company offering comprehensive services for legal support in obtaining temporary registration in Moscow. I'm going to pass.

I really don't want to delete any of my old posts since there's a reason why I wrote them when I did. Still, it's getting annoying receiving constant comments that I just have to delete or ignore.

Taughannock Falls

This might be the longest break between posts in the history of this blog, and the reason is because I went on vacation. Yes, my family of five took our first real vacation possibly ever. All of our trips consist of visiting family and/or returning to Pittsburgh, so I don't really count those as vacations. The last vacation I can remember was going to a wedding in New York City, and that was when The Moose was 1. He's going into 6th grade this fall! While I hope to write several posts about the trip to Niagara, Falls, Toronto, and upstate New York, this post is about Taughannock Falls.

Taughannock Falls and the Taughannock Falls State Park are in central New York about 10-15 minutes away from Ithaca. I went to the state park several times in college, particularly to show friends and family that visited from out of town. The falls are 215-feet high, and I spent way too much time unsuccessfully searching online for the largest waterfalls in the continental United States. According to one source on WikiPedia, Taughannock Falls has the largest drop for any waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains. This includes Niagara Falls (188 feet), which I'll come back to monetarily.

As part of our vacation, I thought we would go to the park, walk the 3/4 trail to the bottom of the falls, and then visit Ithaca. That all happened, but before the hike, we went to the scenic overlook, which I had never seen before. How did I not know about this? It's an awesome view of the falls with barely any walk, and they had bathrooms! Amazing!

Overall, Taughannock Falls was a great as I remember even though I hadn't been there in probably 20 years. If you ever go with kids, make sure you visit BEFORE going to Niagara Falls about 3 hours away. Despite being taller, the kids weren't very impressed with Taughannock Falls after seeing the vast size and huge mist of Niagara Falls.

Oh, we saw some circling vultures too!

Coldplay Plays Mary Land

I was one of the first people to discover Coldplay. This obviously isn't true, but it feels this way. I was in England in the summer of 2000 and heard Coldplay's "Yellow" well before the song debuted in the United States. While I've followed the band over the last two decades and like many of their songs, I don't think I ever bought any of their music. Still, when I saw that they were coming to the Washington DC area, I was definitely interested in seeing the show.

Here are my thoughts about the Coldplay concert:

* Is it bad that I can't name any Coldplay band member other than Chris Martin? For a band so big internationally, it seems odd that (at least to me) no other members are recognizable. Maybe I'm completely off here and everyone knows, um, The Edge, Flea, Mike Dirnt, and (the late) Taylor Hawkins. 

* It's not exactly shocking that a band as successful as Coldplay that have played together for over 20 years put on an amazing show. Chris Martin commands the stage, and Coldplay has a really deep catalog so even casual fans know most of the songs they performed. Add in really cool bracelet light things (technical term), giant balloons, and multiple stages and you have a fantastic concert. This is a sample:

* Coldplay's first number #1 song since 2008's "Viva la Vida" is the recent collaboration with BTS titled "My Universe." I think it's fair to say that BTS is currently the biggest musical group in the world. The day before the Coldplay concert, BTS visited the White House and met with President Joe Biden. This got me thinking that maybe BTS would stick around and join Coldplay on stage. While this didn't happen, Chris Martin ate dinner with BTS, and they all went bowling along with H.E.R.

* H.E.R. opened for Coldplay, and it's not exactly breaking news that she is extremely talented. She has an incredible voice, can really play the guitar, and even played drums at one point during the set. H.E.R. turns 25 later this month and already has a Grammy and Oscar. I think she's 1-2 huge songs away from being a superstar. 

* Instead of BTS, H.E.R., or any other special guest performing with Coldplay during the show, we got a Muppet. Actually, we got a Masked Singer character on screen singing alongside Martin. I think bizarre is a good word to describe this.

* You might be curious about the post title. Twice during the show, including around the 8:30 mark of the video below, Martin referred to Maryland as Mary Land. This made me smile. After saying Mary Land, Coldplay performed a song about one of their first big performances which took place in Washington DC. It's a cool little song that the band has played exactly once on stage. Oh, the video and song are NSFW due to language.

* Although I don't think they were announced to be on the bill, the band Shaed performed before H.E.R. It's possible that you know their song "Trampoline" from a few years ago. I'm bringing up Shaed because even Chris Martin pronounced their name incorrectly (at the 6:45 mark of the video above). They need a manager to change the name from Shaed to Shade like Tom Hanks did for the Onedors.

* Finally, Coldplay pledged to make the tour sustainable and low-carbon and had people ride bikes to create power. Seems like some people paid a lot of money for floor seats only to ride a stationary bike in 85-90 degree temperatures. Anyway, good for Coldplay for supporting initiatives like reforestation, ocean clean-up, reducing emissions, and building a park for dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. 

Joe Haden and Roger Federer

Although Joe Haden is a free agent and not currently a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think he qualifies for a brand new edition of PAWRA! If you're not familiar with PAWRA (and why would you since I haven't had a PAWRA post in over 3 years), PAWRA is Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes, just another of my many popular series (serieses?). Joe Haden is in Paris and apparently ran into Roger Federer, only one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

I reached out to Haden to see how and where he met Federer (presumably at the French Open or at an event associated with the French Open), but he's on vacation and surprisingly did not respond to my random question on Twitter. I don't know the identity of the person on the left in this picture.

Photo from Joe Haden's Twitter page.

Change Must Happen

As I’m sure you’re aware, there was another mass shooting on Tuesday. This time it was at a Texas elementary school. Yes, thoughts and prayers are needed for the families and friends of the victims and the entire Uvalde community. I can't imagine what the parents of kids that were killed at school are going through. But thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. We’ve decided as a country (or at least our country’s leadership has decided) that gun violence and mass shootings are acceptable. Just look at your own life. Unless you live in Uvalde, you're probably reading this post from home or work like a normal day. No sporting events or concerts or trivia nights were cancelled last night because of a national tragedy. We just acknowledge that there is another mass shooting and watch the NBA or NHL playoffs or the series finale of This Is Us. 

There was a shooting in my high school when I was a senior. This was 30 years ago this fall well before Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. This was a big story in Pittsburgh for a few days, but no one died and only one person was wounded (and returned to school several days later), so I don’t believe it was reported elsewhere and was out of the news rather quickly. Metal detectors were installed pretty quickly but was a logistical nightmare for starting the day on time. There were other problems too, but that's not the point of this post. 

Whenever there is another school shooting, I wonder what would have happened if the shooting at Woodland Hills High School was worse. How would my life have been different? Would there have been any type of changes to national policy? At least for the second question, based on the last 30 years, the answer seems to be no. We have mass shootings at schools, nightclubs, concerts, colleges, places of worship, grocery stores, and workplaces. Basically, everywhere. They happen in red states and blue states and purple states. There were even mass shootings at a Congressional softball practice and at a meet-and-greet event for a member of Congress and nothing changes. Hell, I wrote a similar post after the Tree of Life shootings a few years ago.

So what are the solutions? I'm not a policy-maker and have no idea what could work. Background checks and firearm registration seem like a start. But how about we fucking try SOMETHING. Anything that can help stop gun violence. I know that some people will say that if criminals want to get guns, they will get guns. So does that mean that we don't try to make it more difficult to get guns? If people are going to ignore any law, why even have them, right? How about we try doing something and see how it works?

What other suggestions are out there? Arm teachers? Some of the same people who are scared about critical race theory being taught in schools and established anonymous tip lines to report teachers now want these same teachers to have guns? Seems like a bad idea. I'd be worried about kids getting access to guns not properly stored. Besides, I'd guess that the vast majority of teachers aren't comfortable with weapons in the classroom. Just let them teach. You want more security in schools, fine. Find a way. However, if murderers like the ones in Buffalo and Uvalde have body armor, I'm not sure how that will help. Actually, maybe make body armor illegal. There's nothing in the second amendment about that.  

I guess the bottom line is this: How can we say we live in the best country in the world when kids can get killed at schools? We can't. And things have to change. 

New Trivia Tuesday

I don't think I've done a Trivia Tuesday in years, but today is a special day. It's time for the return of Trivia Tuesday (at least for one week)! Your challenge is to name that band based on the "and the" name. For example, if I wrote The Pips, you would hopefully know the answer is Gladys Knight. If I wrote The E Street Band, you would answer Bruce Springsteen. I think you understand. 

1. The Machine

2. The News

3. The Tantrums

4. The Scene

5. The Night Sweats

6. The Furious Five

7. The Dominos

8. The Funky Bunch

9. The Vandellas

10. The Waves

11. The Range

Please leave your answers in the comments below and don't use the internet to cheat. Phoning/texting a friend is accepted. Good luck!

Life Updates

This is basically a Random Ramblings post, but I wanted to call it something different.

Wednesday was the 25th anniversary of my college graduation. Even though there have been notices about a 25-year college reunion and I know that 2022 is 25 years after 1997, this still came as a bit of a shock and surprise to me.

I might be a little addicted to online games. My 65-day streak on Wordle ended earlier this week when I couldn't solve DELVE. My favorite game might be Quordle where you have 9 guesses to solve 4 puzzles. I just reached a top streak of 24. Worldle, where you try to identify a country, is really difficult. My winning percentage is just over 50%. Finally, Heardle, in which you have 6 guesses to name a song in about 15 seconds, was made just for me. I'm at 83%, though I think that it counts as incorrect if I don't play on a given day.

If the Penguins held on to win against the Rangers on Sunday night and went on to make a deep run in the playoffs, this Jake Guentzel goal would be remembered as one of the best in team history. Oh well.

  

I'm friends on Facebook with someone I was friends with in junior high and high school. While he has always been a Republican to my knowledge, he seems to have turned into a big Qanon and conspiracy theory guy. After the recent hateful and racist mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, he wrote a post with pictures of over 250 people accused of conducting mass shootings in 2021. Many of the people pictured are not white. His point seemed to be that the media doesn't cover all mass shootings equally and that money and political power drives the narrative. At least that's what I think his point was. I replied that maybe he should be more concerned with the unreal number of mass shootings instead of the media coverage and asked if he thought guns could be a problem. He has not replied.

My life is all about kids baseball these days. The Moose and Pedro Tulo have games or practices three days a week often at the same time and in different places. It's a lot of running around. 

TMI Thursday: Karma

I shared a story over a decade ago about how I moved into a new home, immediately clogged the toilet, and had to go out and buy a plunger. That plunger had an amazingly long run of over 17 years but needed to be replaced. We now are proud owners of a brand new Korky Beehive Max Toilet Plunger. This thing is nice and easier to use...especially for a certain 11 year-old who seems to need a plunger at least once a week. 

We spend way too much time worrying about #2s in my house. Between the oldest masculine child clogging toilets, the middle masculine child having some stomach issues recently, and the youngest masculine child still not mastering the entire process, this is clearly karma from years of my own toilet adventures. 

This is a short blog post, but I felt the need to share this!

The End of Celebrate Fairfax

The Celebrate Fairfax! Festival is not happening in June, and it doesn't seem like it's coming back. The Celebrate Fairfax, Inc. (CFI) organization posted this message on Facebook last month:

Similar to many other organizations we are embracing change as we evolve. Along those lines, we will not be hosting the traditional Celebrate Fairfax! Festival at the Government Center. Instead, we will be focusing more broadly on Fairfax County as a whole, by bringing a part of the festival into each of the County districts. This approach allows us to focus more intently on our mission and our ability to truly celebrate the 1.2 million citizens of Fairfax County!

With the CFI organization pivoting to other events, I think it's safe to assume that the formerly annual festival is over. 2019 marked the 38th year of the festival and my 18th year being involved with the event. The festival didn't take place in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, and it's difficult to see how the festival can resume after a 4-year layoff. It would basically be starting over since many attendees, sponsors, and volunteers have moved on. More importantly, Fairfax County transferred a portion of the Government Center parking lot to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority to potentially develop affordable housing. I'm not going to criticize the county for this decision. The Government Center campus has a lot of unused space for 11+ months of the year. Plus, affordable housing is certainly challenging in Northern Virginia. Although there hasn't been any development on the site yet, and I can't seem to find any information about the status of the project, the housing will take up a significant portion of the festival site. 

So what is CFI doing instead of the festival? The organization created "shop local" market events with exhibitors in the Tysons areas and is planning on hosting an event for dogs (and their people). All of these events and a few others on the schedule are on a much smaller scale than the Celebrate Fairfax! festival or even the Fall for Fairfax children's festival. I understand that the organization is doing what it has to do to survive, but I'm going to miss the festival. I really enjoyed seeing the same volunteers, staff, and vendors each year. I looked forward to taking my kids to the event and watching them experience different parts of the festival as they got older. Plus, it was the only place where you could see national musical acts along with entertaining up-and-coming acts for under $15. This is a huge loss to the Northern Virginia community. There just aren't any other events on this scale in the area.

I wrote dozens of posts about Celebrate Fairfax over the years, and if you have nothing to do for the next 1-30 minutes or so, please check them out here. Some "highlights" from reading these posts are remembering when Flavor Flav provided commentary to fireworks, taking Pedro Tulo to the first-aid tent and subsequently in an ambulance ride to the emergency room for a burned hand, and saying hi to Pat Benatar's husband, Neil Giraldo, in a restroom.

2022 Steelers Draft Recap: The Missed Picks

The 2022 National Football League draft took place last week, and the Steelers used their first two selections on QB Kenny Pickett from the University of Pittsburgh and WR George Pickens from the University of Georgia. With no disrespect to the remaining draft picks of Demarvin Leal, Calvin Austin III, Connor Heyward, Mark Robinson, and Chris Oladokun, the Steelers missed an opportunity for a truly historic draft. Here are just some of the people the Steelers could have "picked" instead.

Wilson Pickett - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer best known for his songs Land of 1,000 Dances, Mustang Sally, and In the Midnight Hour. No one will get the Steelers energized like Wilson Pickett! Seriously, go to 1:50 of this video and try not to nod your head or tap your feet. It's impossible.

By the way, Pickett's WikiPedia page might feature the best thing I've seen in a long time. Are there a lot of people who confuse Wilson Pickett and Wilson Phillips? I'll "Hold On" while you get back to me.

T. Boone Pickens - Billionaire oil magnate and hedge fund manager. While I'm sure the Rooney family is doing just fine financially, this selection would infuse some money into the organization. 

Jean-Luc Picard - Captain of the USS Enterprise. There was no better leader available in the 2022 draft!

Kellie Pickler - She's more than an American Idol contestant. Sure, she can sing, but Pickler can also write, act, host, and dance as evidenced by her Dancing With the Stars win. She's a 5-tool player!

Tobias Picker - Grammy-award winning composer and current Artistic Director of the Tulsa Opera. He's versatile and looks to have a long career!  

Andrew Pickens - American Revolution militia leader and member of the US House of Representative. If you want a fighter and someone in the trenches, Pickens is your guy. Unfortunately, he's undraftable because he was a slave owner 

Joe Picker - He's an Australian rugby player. Those guys are tough. He would have fit right into the Steelers culture and locker room.

Tommy Pickles - Rugrats character. He's very young (and a cartoon), but Tommy has a good motor and a high upside.

Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz - While the guys from "American Pickers" aren't ready to play in the NFL, they'll be huge additions to the scouting team. They will be such an asset to film study and finding things others might miss.

Ben Johns - He's the #1 pickleball player in the world and just won the US Open Pickleball championship. Proven winner!

Overall, the Steelers draft seems fine and could become great, but there were definitely some missed opportunities here.

T. Boone Pickens photo by Sue Ogrocki/AP. Joe Picker photo by Anthony Johnson in the "Sydney Morning Herald."

Sheffield Wednesday's Keys To Victory Over Fleetwood Town

When I previewed Sheffield Wednesday's schedule last June, I had some fun with the teams in League One. This is the third division of English soccer/football, so while die-hard fans may know of teams like Wigan and Sunderland from their time in the Premier League, casual fans outside the UK probably never heard of Gillingham, Accrington Stanley, or other clubs. I mention this because the regular season ends on Saturday. The top two teams gain automatic promotion to the EFL Championship Division while teams 3-6 enter a 4-team playoff with the winner joining the top two. This is the current table/standings:

Sheffield Wednesday is just outside of the playoffs though the team has two matches to play compared to just one for Plymouth Argyle and Wycombe who both sit one point ahead in the standings. That makes Tuesday's match against Fleetwood Town crucial. Here are my keys for Sheffield Wednesday:

1. The Landslide Will Bring Fleetwood Down

Score multiple goals early. I'm looking at you Lee Gregory and Saido Berahino. Fleetwood won't be able to come back from being down 2 or 3 goals in the first half.

2. You Would Never Break The Chain

In this case, the chain is the goal. Wednesday's defense and goalie Bailey Peacock-Farrell can't and won't allow any Fleetwood goals.

3. It's Only Right That You Should Play The Way You Feel

Feel good. Play good!

(How does this reporter not know that Mick Fleetwood is the band's drummer? Do 10 seconds of research!)

4. Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

After hopefully getting a win against Fleetwood, start thinking and preparing for Portsmouth. Two wins in these last two games guarantees a spot in the playoffs.

5. You Can Go Your Own Way

All I think about when I see this line is Pedro Tulo playing soccer last year with other 1st and 2nd graders. Despite trying to teach positioning, they just bunched up together. So, um, Sheffield Wednesday needs to play with good positional awareness.

6. Tusk

This is of no help.

WAWAW! 

We Need New State Birds

One of Luigi’s favorite “books” right now is the Beginner’s United States Atlas from National Geographic Kids. He’s four. The book goes through each state with a map, pictures of places, events, and/or wildlife, and fun facts. While I can look at maps for hours, Luigi loves seeing the names and pictures of each state bird. After going through the book several dozen times, I’ve come to the conclusion that our nation’s states have done a terrible job in identifying and naming state birds. While some states like Minnesota (common loon), Alaska (willow ptarmigan), Oklahoma (scissor-tailed flycatcher), South Dakota (ring necked pheasant), and New Mexico (roadrunner) deserve credit for originality, many other states missed the assignment here. 

The cardinal is the state bird for 7 states. 6 states have the western meadowlark for their bird. (I'm counting Wyoming in this group with the non-directional meadowlark.) Then there are 5 with mockingbirds and 3 robins. When you throw in the chickadee, bluebird, and a few other duplicates, this means that more than half the states share their state bird with another state. 

It's time to make some changes. Sorry Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Kentucky was the first to have the cardinal as its state bird, so you need to choose a new bird. Actually, Indiana should celebrate this by naming "Larry" as its state bird! 

Florida gets to keep mockingbird, though maybe the Sunshine State should consider the ibis or manatee instead. I know that you're thinking that a manatee isn't a bird, but the Florida legislature is doing some wild things right now. You're also thinking that this might be a waste of time. Who cares about state birds? I don't have a good reply to this other than originality and civic pride and engagement. I'm sure that states can find birdwatchers in each state or contact the National Audubon Society for suggestions. From there, have some fun. Open it up to a vote from everyday citizens! Of course, I have a feeling that we'll have 38 states with the new state bird of Birdy McBirdface. 

Referee Stories

I became a certified soccer referee in 1990. It was a fantastic way to make money in high school since I worked a lot of games on weekends, but it didn't interrupt school activities or homework during the week. I continued to work games in college during breaks, but I stopped after college and for most of my 20s. While I don't remember if it was because I was looking for something to do, seeking some extra income, needing to get more exercise, or some combination of all of these, I started working as a referee again around when I turned 30. I still continue to work games when I can, but it's significantly less now than at any other time over the last 30 years. It's just too hard with all of the kids' activities and just spending time with them on the weekends. 

I mention all this because during all of my kids' soccer, basketball, and baseball games, I make sure to thank the officials and never criticize any call. I also tell my kids not to argue with the referees or umpires. I'm at the point where I get upset when coaches, parents, and players yell at the officials (see what happened in February). If a coach disagrees with a call in a calm manner, that's fine. However, these are youth sports, so I expect coaches to set good examples and parents to do the same.

I mention all this because as a soccer ref, I've certainly noticed worse behavior from everyone involved compared to when I worked games when I was younger. I've never felt physically threatened, but I don't like this trend. Over just the last two weeks, a baseball umpire was attacked in Texas, a basketball referee was attacked in Georgia, and a softball umpire was attacked in Mississippi. What is wrong with these people?

It's people like those in the articles which make it unappealing for more people to become officials or continue officiating. 

I'll give one positive though. I worked as a soccer referee for an under-16 boys game a few weeks ago. This was the first season for one of the assistant referees. He's 71! He played soccer for decades, and now that he's retired, he decided to become a certified ref. While I talked to him at halftime and after the game about positioning (where to stand on a corner kick and penalty kick) and some mechanics (keeping the flag raised on an offsides call) like I would do with other first-year refs, he did a nice job and was excited to be there. So maybe there is some hope.

A Debbie Gibson AARP Concert

Debbie Gibson was one of my first celebrity crushes, and I wrote all about her in a TMI Thursday post several years ago. I follow her on Facebook and Twitter too. It was from this that I learned about her upcoming virtual concert...for AARP. Apparently, I'm now in AARP's target demographic. I don't think a new version of "Electric Youth" titled "Electric Middle Age" will work as well. Bottom line: I'm old!

And yes, I registered for the concert. I haven't seen a Debbie Gibson concert in 35 years, so why not?

You Make the Call: Birthday Party Edition

Let's say that you organize a small birthday party for your child since he hasn't had one since 2019. You invite several kids from the class and send an Evite to the parents about 3 weeks before the event. Through Evite, you can see not only who responds but also who has viewed the invitation. After several days, you email the parents who have not viewed the invitation to let them know about the party. You get no response from one of the parents. Then, about 36 hours before the party, the parent responds with a simple yes on the Evite that the child will attend.

I need a ruling here. Is this cool or not cool? Does the fact that there was no specific RSVP date on the Evite impact your decision? You make the call!

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!

Friday Video: Numb Little Bug

Today's video is "Numb Little Bug" by Em Beihold. I get a strong Sara Bareillis vibe here. I like it.