Reading the Coverage: The Giants' Draft

It’s been a good sports weekend thus far.  The Yankees have beaten the Orioles twice and have therefore taken sole command of the AL East, the Bluefish have to date split their series with the South Maryland Blue Crabs and are one game out of first place in the Atlantic League's Liberty Division, and oh yeah, we had the NFL draft.

I'm not sure what the Giants did qualifies as "good".

TV Talk Back: 13 Reasons Why

Netflix’s new series 13 Reasons Why is America’s latest obsession, and with good reason.  I read one review that described it as “a high school melodrama for adults who like watching high school melodramas.”  That’s a fair assessment save that 13 Reasons Why has a lot more to say than something like Party of Five or Riverdale ever will or did.  It’s got us talking in my house about teenaged angst and suicide but also about teenaged happiness in general, all of which are relevant topics as we prepare for our oldest to start her first year of high school this coming fall.  Our daughter is also named Hannah, and like the protagonist of 13 Reasons Why, she’s not an obvious cool kid, though like the show’s Hannah, she certainly has her share of friends.  How we navigate the coming storms together is a matter of acutely critical importance.

Spoilers ahead.

5 Things on a Friday: Move Over, Babe Ruth!

The Yankees are on a roll, the Giants took a pass-catching tight end, and the Bluefish open tonight at Harbor Yards.  

We’ve got a lot to talk about, folks.  Let’s get to it.

Learning Baseball: Early Season Thoughts

I’ve never been a big baseball fan.  But my first job in New York was as a construction supervisor in the Bronx, and that was enough to make me a casual fan of the New York Yankees at the tail end of their late-1990s heyday.  My wife Sally and I then started going to Bridgeport Bluefish games last year, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  One of the highlights of our sports year was renewing our wedding vows in front of the home crowd at the Ballpark at Harbor Yards, and in the months since, I’ve started to think of myself as an honest-to-God Bluefish Fan.  Which can be a frustrating experience in its own right, but the Bluefish at least have a top-flight beer garden right off the first base line.  

I try to keep my sports frustrations in perspective.

5 Things on a Friday: Friday Hair Metal Returns!

Happy Friday, folks.  Let’s get to it!

I read in the Times that the kids are all really
into unicorns.  I don't really get it, but whatever...

National Anthem Tryout

Hannah tried out to sing the National Anthem for the Bridgeport Bluefish this morning.  The tryout was out in from of Macy's at the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford.  They just set up the mike and let contestants sing, for better or worse.

Def Leppard, Poison, & Tesla: Pics & Thoughts from the Show

Sally and I saw Def Leppard, Poison, and Tesla last night at the Mohegan Sun Arena, and it was a blast.  This week has already been something of a blast from the past, and last night was a bit like being transported back in time, save that we're adults now and can pretty much do what we want.  That's no small change.

Rockin' out!

Still, we hemmed and hawed about going to last night's show.  I can remember when concert tickets didn't feel particularly expensive.  You could get decent seats for $25 or $30 when I was a kid, and it didn't necessarily feel like an investment.  One time in particular, I literally broke open my piggy bank to scrounge $25 worth of quarters, so my buddy and I could see Styx on the Edge of the Century tour.  Going was a last-minute decision, but that was a great show.  Last night was a great show, too, but why did they put Poison and Def Leppard on the bill when either could have filled an arena on their own?

Because our tickets were more than $150 apiece, and at that price point, just one of those bands might struggle.  Put both together, though, and it gives the event a much more epic, experiential feel.

Strolling thru Twitter

Fun deets in this Syria tic-toc lede: Trump asked for his daily briefings to include less words, more pictures. https://t.co/h56WmhNFEs pic.twitter.com/8ZZqv220Nh

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) April 8, 2017

5 Things on a Friday: The Battle for Number 2

This turned into an unexpectedly interesting week.  Let’s get to it, shall we?

Saturday Swim (4400 yards)

Had a good swim Saturday.  Andy wrote the basis for this workout, and I then bastardized it a bit for my own purposes.

Dear Julia,

I got your note yesterday requesting access to the PDF for The Fall of Cahokiantep.  There's nothing I can do to help you, unfortunately.  The PDF is already shared publicly at this link.  I put that link in my initial response to your email & then attached a copy of the PDF for good measure, and that was going to be that.  However, my response bounced.  The email administrators at your school have disabled all emails from outside or "unapproved" sources.