A Few Words on Aging Recklessly

A Few Words on Aging Recklessly

Generally speaking, you don’t need a gun to your head to do stupid things. Most of the time, you do stupid things because you want to and/or think it’s a good idea. As people age, that desire to do stupid things tends to subside, especially when you throw esoteric concepts like children and mortgages into the mix. So why did I think it was a good idea to eat nine hotdogs and drink nine beers in under two hours? At a St. Louis Cardinals game of all places!?!

The fast answer to the question is “I don’t know why I did it.” The long answer requires a bit of unpacking, a lot of reflection, and the constant gnawing need to catch up for lost time.

We can probably back track to when I was young. I definitely did not grow up popular. I definitely had trouble interacting with people. Most people just say i’m autistic, but I actually have an anxiety disorder that makes me hate public spaces. I hate crowds. I hate talking in front of crowds. I’ve never felt comfortable in my own skin. That lent heavily to my inability to be socialable and scratch out a level of popularity that would make me look back in high school in the kind of wistful way so many do. A million jokes are made about people who never quite got over high school. But getting as far away from those years as possible while still having a yearning desire to make those youthful mistakes is probably just as laughable, if not the specific reason I keep finding myself in the messes I get myself in.

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The FBC live blog of the MLB’s Hell Day

The FBC live blog of the MLB’s Hell Day

I have been looking forward to this day since it was announced. I wasn’t sure it would happen, but here we are. EIGHT PLAYOFF GAMES. It may never happen again, folks. So today, we’re going to do something stupid. A live blog from first pitch to last pitch of the eight game slate. Four teams, including two of our World Series champion picks… are on the chopping block. So, here is the plan, according to Indianapolis Coastal Time (aka Eastern time).

Game 1- Reds @ Braves 12pm
Game 2- Astros @ Twins 1pm
Game 1- Marlins @ Cubs 2pm
Game 2- White Sox @ Athletics 3pm
Game 2- Blue Jays @ Rays 4pm
Game 1- Cardinals @ Padres 5pm
Game 2- Yankees @ Indians 7pm
Game 1- Brewers @ Dodgers 10pm

And here… we… go…

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How the NHL Playoff System Works… or Doesn’t

Life is complicated enough right now. COVID is nowhere near slowing down, mostly thanks to the minions who believe it’s a hoax. There are more than 150,000 people who would love to debate those residents of Idiocracy if they could but they can’t, as they died.

Now we have sports making a comeback… of sorts. In a quick breeze let’s rush through what’s up before we get into the nitty gritty dirt band of details for the NHL playoff system.

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The MLB Playoffs… and Joe Maddon is not Mike Ditka

I’m going to sprint through the baseball playoffs and sprinkle some ‘Maddon Moments’ in to explain, in my mind, what happened to Maddon and the Cubs, while using Ditka like he used Bears fans.

By the time you read this, the wild card games – October 1 and October 2 – may be over, or at least started. It doesn’t really matter much. Those four teams can douse themselves in all the champagne they want, but it’s pretty much a cheap victory. Put it this way, it’s the same kind of victory you get when you visit your elderly grandmother at her assisted living facility and win their corn hole tournament.

But before we dig into the wild card teams, let’s just take a look at the 2016-2019 Cubs vs the 1984-1987 Bears. If you look at their timelines, they are a tad similar. And you can argue both Maddon and Ditka can only deal with the hands they are dealt. True. Think of this like Texas Holdem. Ditka was holding the king and queen of hearts and staring at the ten, jack and ace of hearts face up on the table… and threw out the king ‘aka’ Wilbur Marshall. Maddon’s hand, while good, was an ace and a ten. Still a potentially winning hand, but could have been better. Cubs management bet high on a good, but ultimately bad hand.

OK, now let’s place a hand on the wild card teams – The Rays, the A’s, the Brewers, the Nats.

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