Baseball
One of the things I enjoy doing on vacation is going to baseball games, especially at stadiums I have previously never been to. I also like to visit new states so that I can add to my total list of lifetime states visited. Two weeks ago, I decided to take care of both things at once and add a new Major League Baseball stadium and a new state to my list. Here is a recap of my recent trip to Minnesota.
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Basketball
Let me start this off by acknowledging that I am posting this recap more than a month after the conclusion of the 2023 NCAA basketball tournament. I intended to post this soon after the NCAA championship game, which was played on April 3. Obviously, this did not happen. But as the saying goes, better late than never.
In my previous post, I previewed this year’s NCAA basketball tournament and outlined how the games might be different if the Elam Ending were used instead of the traditional method of playing games (usually with lots of fouls at the end) until the clock hits zero. This post here will serve as a brief analysis of what would have happened if the Elam Ending had been used in the tournament, as well as a recap of how my NCAA brackets turned out this year.
Read more “March Madness 2023: May Recap”
Basketball
It’s that time of year again. The 2023 NCAA basketball tournament brackets are out, and it’s time to enter a bracket contest and make your picks. While this will be the third consecutive year that I am posting something on this blog related to March Madness, I wanted to introduce a new concept here for you to think about when you are watching the games. While the format of college basketball games remains unchanged with two 20-minute halves, an idea regarding a new way to end basketball games in the future seems to be quietly gaining some traction. This alternative, known as the Elam Ending, has me wondering what would happen if the NCAA used this method at the end of the game.
Before I get into the Elam Ending, I would at least like to take a moment to mention my previous March Madness entries on this blog. My March Madness post from 2021 focuses on the long-standing tradition between my friend Brian and myself of picking winners based entirely on which school’s mascot would beat the other school’s mascot. (For example, who would win between a Wildcat and an Aggie?) And my March Madness post from 2022 provides other lessons on how to predict the winners (such as picking teams that wear blue, or picking the Peacocks to win on National Peacock Day). Feel free to re-visit these posts for general tips on how to fill out your 2023 bracket. But, after you fill out your bracket and the games actually start, here’s some more food for thought for when you are watching the end of one of the upcoming NCAA tournament games…
Read more “March Madness: The Elam Ending”
Games
The first time I ever played Wordle was one year ago tomorrow – January 22, 2022. I have played the official daily Wordle puzzle every day since then, for a grand total of 365 times. So, as of right now, on January 21, 2023, I have one full year’s worth of Wordle scores under my belt. In honor of the one-year mark, I thought I would take some time on here to share my progress and some Wordle memories from the past year.
In case you would like some additional background on Wordle before reading ahead, I have two previous Wordle-related posts on this blog. First, if you don’t know how Wordle works by now but you still want to learn how to play, you can check out my original Wordle post from February 5, 2022 in which I explain how Wordle works and provide my initial experience with the puzzle just two weeks after playing it for the first time. And I also have a follow-up post from May 1, 2022, in which I provide a recap of my first 100 days of playing it, as well as information regarding Nerdle (the math puzzle) and other Wordle parody games. This post will be a similar entry to the one from May, except this one will serve as a one-year update rather than just 100 days. Also, if you read all the way to the end of this one (or at least scroll to the bottom), I’ll have a new game to tell you about – the Wordle party game.
Read more “Wordle: One Year Update”
Football
Like millions of people around the country and even around the world, I participate in fantasy football. It adds a certain level of interest when I watch NFL games. Although my primary NFL rooting interest is for the Indianapolis Colts, playing fantasy football has gotten me to watch games between teams that I would otherwise not care about as I root for individual players from those games. Plus, it’s a fun competition that allows me to pretend that I own, operate, and coach my own football team. A few years ago, I joined a fantasy football league (appropriately named “Fantasy Football League”) including a few friends, with my team called the London Sillynannies. I wanted to take some time here to mention our league and my exploits regarding the recently completed 2022 Sillynannies season.
Read more “The 2022 London Sillynannies”
Better Than Facebook
This Christmas season, I wanted to take a few moments to write something on here with a Christmas theme. Admittedly, I had a difficult time coming up with many original thoughts for this post, but that’s okay. In celebration of the true meaning of Christmas, this post will mostly be an account of the Christmas story.
I do have just a few thoughts before we get into it. As I’m writing this, the temperature is below zero degrees outside, as much of the nation is being affected by a winter storm. At least with the snow we’re getting, there will be a White Christmas this year, which I like. Although, I would prefer my White Christmases to be 30 degrees, with just enough snow to cover the ground, and no wind, and no hazardous travel, and for the snow to immediately melt on December 26 for the rest of the winter. And absolutely no temperatures below zero, or even in the single digits. (Not that I’m picky or anything.) But given the winter storm, I hope everyone is staying safe and warm, and that the traveling mercies are in full force for anyone traveling, and that you are able to spend some time with family or friends for the holiday.
Also, in case you’d like to go back and re-visit my Christmas posts from previous years – in 2020, I provided my list of top ten favorite Christmas movies. And in 2021, I gave a 10-question Christmas quiz, mainly related to the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus and the very first Christmas. After reading this post here, feel free to go back to my quiz from last year and take it again if you’d like to. But in case you’d like to brush up first, I’ll include some Christmas material here for your reading pleasure.
In honor of Christmas, the following is the main portion of the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus, as taken from the New International Version of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew:
Read more “The Christmas Story”
Jeopardy
One of the shows I enjoy watching is the TV quiz show “Jeopardy.” I actually have a few previous Jeopardy-related posts on this blog, most notably my post from 2020 which explores Jeopardy math. Although the contestants on Jeopardy consistently know way more than I do, I like to test my own knowledge while watching the show – especially in categories in which I feel like I can do well – usually math, sports, U.S. history or geography, and categories on the Bible. After a recent Jeopardy tournament, and one Bible question in particular, has generated a lot of fan reaction and discussion, I thought I would provide my own thoughts on here on the topic.
The 2022 Jeopardy Tournament of Champions, which concluded this past week, was the culmination of a memorable season of super-champions. It was an interesting tournament with a different format and an exciting conclusion; however, a controversial finish to one of its games leaves a bit of a stain that I would like to see rectified. I am, of course, referring to the Romans-Hebrews debate from their November 16 episode.
Read more “Jeopardy: The Hebrews-Romans Question”
Baseball
Last year, I wrote about my experience of attending seven Major League Baseball games in six different stadiums across the Midwest in the span of eight days. (You can read more about my 2021 baseball vacation here.) This year, I had no interest in attempting anything nearly as ambitious, but I did attend a few games. Now with this year’s Major League Baseball season finally over, I thought I would take this opportunity to recap my baseball excursions in 2022, as well as a newly discovered ability. Read further to find out the answers to the following questions that people might be wondering about:
Top Ten Lists
In honor of Halloween this year, I thought I would take a few moments to make another top ten list – this one being of my favorite types of candy. This has been a topic of conversation I’ve had over the past several months about which candy is best. Much of this was sparked earlier this year when my office had a March Madness style “candy bracket”, in which co-workers would vote on different matchups of two different candies (for example, Skittles vs. Jolly Ranchers), with the candy receiving the most votes advancing in the bracket, until a champion candy was declared. However, the correct candy (or at least what I consider to be the correct candy) did not win, so I am here just in time for Halloween to set the record straight on which one is best.
Read more “Halloween Candy: A Top Ten List”
Football
Back when I was in high school during the mid-1990s, one of my hobbies during my spare time was playing Nintendo. Although few years (decades?) have passed since then, it was the popular video game system of my era. My favorite games to play during that time included Super Mario Bros, Tetris, and Tecmo Super Bowl.
During the fall of 2021, I learned of a site where we can go back and play some of these Nintendo games from that era. Ever since then, every so often, I have taken the opportunity to get re-acquainted with some of these games. Although I was not able to find Super Mario Bros on this site, I did find Tetris and Tecmo Super Bowl, as well as some of my other favorites, including Pac-Man, Frogger, Baseball Stars, and Pong – the 1972 arcade game that was one of the first of its kind. In case you’re interested in checking this out or even playing some of these games yourself, I’ll provide the link to the site at the bottom of this post.
For now, in honor of today’s start of the 2022 NFL season, I thought it I would take this opportunity to provide a recap of my experience with Tecmo Super Bowl. (I also plan to post a recap of my experience with some of these other Nintendo games in a future post.) Tecmo Super Bowl was a game that was originally launched on Nintendo in 1991, and features NFL gameplay using actual 1991 NFL rosters. After having played this game in the 90s, taking a break from it for more than 20 years, and re-discovering it last year, I’d like to document my some of my more recent gameplay accomplishments here.
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