Friday 9/20/24
As impressive as your blank profile is, I'm afraid I'll have to pass.
AI thinks I should write about "Character exploration in the works of John Steinbeck," "Evolution of horror radio," or "Literary discussions of M.R. James."
Thanks as always, AI. How's your takeover going? No resistance, you say? That's nice.
A somewhat surly four-year-old buddy called me on FaceTime for my birthday on Tuesday. She was in the car going to school. She held the phone in front of her face while her mother said, "Say happy birthday," but, alas, she wouldn't. Eventually she hung up on me and later my sister texted me to say, "That's just her style." I know it is.
I received a video text from a friend's ten-year-old daughter. They live in Maryland and she was wearing a Boston sweatshirt and said, "Happy birthday, C-Dawg!" Her fourteen-year-old sister texted me to say that she thinks videos are stupid but she wished me a happy birthday. I also heard from my mom, my Maryland friend's wife, my cousin, two uncles, and the Admiral and the Captain. My other niece and nephew were going to call as well but Lilah took a spill jumping off a chair and did a header into the carpet which resulted in a rug burn on her face and a lot of crying so that nixed that. Poor Lilah. I checked in on her yesterday and she seemed to be doing better. There had been several trips to the nurse's office on Wednesday for ice packs.
The Patriots lost 24-3 to the Jets last night. Can you have a worse offense than what the Patriots have sported the last two seasons? I guess you could but it's tough to see how. Drake Maye played some. It's clear they won't be competitive with Jacoby Brissett and if he's the quarterback you're back at the top of the draft. So this is what you're doing until January? Doubt results would improve much with Maye, though. Rookie quarterbacks struggle and there's no reason for him to be any different. You're looking at a bad team going nowhere with, in my view, not much of a plan save to be bad and draft high.
Shohei Ohtani might have had the best game a hitter has ever had last night. If that was't it, it was close. He went 6-for-6 with three home runs, two doubles, seventeen total bases, ten RBI, and two stolen bases. The homers and the stolen bases brought him over the 50-mark for each on the season making him the first player in the sport's history to have a 50-50 campaign. If you have a four-home run game and nothing else that's sixteen total bases. How many guys have hit four homers in a game and had more than four hits? How about without making an out? Stealing bases is easier than it's been in a long time, if not ever. Rickey Henderson could swipe 150 bags right now if if he wanted to. So I look at 50 steals as what 35 once was. But that game last night was impressive as all get-up in any era. There will be a lot of excitement to having Ohtani in the playoffs and you could get his Dodgers v. Judge's Yankees in the World Series. But it could also be the Brewers v. the Royals because the playoffs now tend to be more about who gets hot at the right time than who the best teams are.
The Red Sox dipped below .500 then they surged back to .500 and now they're a game under .500 again. So exciting.
The Tigers are now tied for the final Wild Card spot. Remember a little while ago when the Sox went to Detroit and I said the Tigers have come up from behind? Most of the season, not a threat. Then a bit of a run and you're right there. It's easy to make the final Wild Card spot. There's no excuse for a serious, big market team not to at least do that. The Tigers are seven games over .500.
You used to have to win the division to make the playoffs. Here's some perspective: If that had continuously been the requirement, the Red Sox, this century, would have qualified in 2007, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018. Five times. Does that seem good to you? Should that be how this franchise fares? Five division titles in a quarter of a century, just about? Now consider from 1975 to 2000. The Red Sox won the division in 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995. Five times.
Has the franchise really gotten so much better this century or has the playoff format just made it that much easier to win titles? True, I'm hard-pressed to find many Red Sox teams that didn't make the playoffs in the last twenty-five years of the past century that I think could have won it all if there'd been a different system in place. And it's not like those division winners won. What I am saying, though, is no one thought of those twenty-five years as this great time for the Red Sox, and going by division titles, anyway, they did no worse than the Red Sox of this century.
On Monday I ran 3000 stairs at City Hall taking them two-at-a-time, walked five miles, and did 100 push-ups and three planks. On Tuesday I did 100 push-ups and ran 5000 stairs at City Hall, also taking them two-at-a-time. My fitness is getting better. A few months ago, I'd be breathing somewhat harder if I did ten or fifteen sets of stairs two-at-a-time, but now when I do fifty like that in a row my breathing is basically the same as if I was sitting down. It's because of all of the effort in the Monument, where I did five circuits of stairs each of the last two days, in addition to 100 more push-ups and three miles walked on both of those days and three planks yesterday. I haven't felt spry or anything in the Monument thus far this week and I had intentions of doing more circuits than I have but the five circuits are getting done anyway.
I went to the MFA Monday I wrote a piece and spent my time with the American folk art and in the European wing. There is this Navajo blanket that I find transfixing. The Winslow Homer maritime paintings weren't on display. They must be on loan for some exhibit.
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