Musical Wanderer

I never cried reading a newspaper.  Until today. Last night we screamed when Howie Kendrik's home run clanged off the foul pole (I wonder how many people in DC will use that sound as their phone's ring tone.).  Robin and I kissed and hugged the cats and each other at the last out.  We fell asleep in bed saying "The Nats won the World Series." to each other in the dark as the cats made themselves comfortable on the bed. This morning I put on a Nationals cap and went out to buy a Washington Post and have a cup of coffee at Hype Cafe, the home of the best cup of coffee on Capitol Hill, perhaps in all of Washington, DC.  The woman serving the coffee and I smiled and laughed about the headline on the newspaper.  Then I sat down and started to read Thomas Boswell's column and other articles about the game. And I started to cry. I had watched all the games, so it wasn't as if anything in any of the articles was news to me.  Sure it's fun to relive the ...

This weekend we went to the 2019 US Gaelic Athletic Association Finals out in Leesburg, Virginia.  After traveling in Ireland last summer, Robin and our friends Kay and Florence were curious about the Gaelic sports after meeting someone in Belfast who actually came to Maryland to play Gaelic sports.  We found info for the championships held here last weekend and we drove out on Sunday, inviting a friend of mine from college who lived in Leesburg to join us.  We had no idea what to expect, though we were heartened to see Guinness would be served. WOW.  Hurling is my new favorite sport.  Gaelic football was fun too, but the hurling was really exciting and compelling, especially as we learned more about it. Starting the ball (called a sliotar) is a bit of a scramble as in hockey.  In hurling there are sticks (called a hurl or hurley) but no protection other than helmets unlike hockey (helmets have only been required in hurling since 2010).   Fol...

Though heartbreaking, it should be no surprise the Nationals were eliminated.  We had more wins than any other team in NL, BUT  against the best teams, the ones that are in the final pennant games, the Nats were  8-10. 5-2 w/Giants 2-5 w/Cardinals 1-3 w/Orioles (Didn't play KC, so we didn't lose to them) Against other teams that made playoffs, the Nats were 9-10.  4-3 w/Pirates 0-3 w/ As 4-2 w/Dodgers 1-2 w/Angels (Didn't play Detroit, so we didn't lose to them) It doesn't matter if you can beat the worst teams in baseball, everyone does, that's why they're the worst teams in baseball.  You gotta beat the best teams in baseball to succeed in the playoffs.  And the Nats don't.

Combine baseball with dogs.  Who can resist? Pups at the Park at Nats Stadium on Saturday, May 17. Can we go home yet? It's hard to be adorable Maybe I can catch that ball with an F on it When is the beer man coming again? I'm a cat at heart See, the other dog sat in his dad's lap Text a picture of me to the dogs at the dog park Hey, that collie over there is kinda hot. Can I have some of your hot dog? I get scared when Soriano comes out. This is great.  Can we come again?  Did the Nats load the bases with Mets again?  Go back to Shea Stadium, Mets Fan!    I can't watch Gio implode anymore, it's horrible.

A few months ago, I wrote about the most important unspoken baseball statistic, money.  Here we are at the end of the regular MLB season.  The division winners and wild card teams are listed below. Boston Red Sox (3) Detroit Tigers (13) Oakland Athletics (28) Atlanta Braves (15) St. Louis Cardinals (10) Los Angeles Dodgers (2) Tampa Bay Rays (30) Cleveland Indians (23) Pittsburgh Pirates (27) Cincinnati Reds (24) I was sorta sneaky.  I put numbers beside each team without telling the reader what they represent.  In the table below, I ranked teams by their value as estimated by Forbes Magazine at the beginning of the season.  The numbers above are the teams' rank in terms of team value, a combination of the team revenue, home city and market size , stadium , and management of its brand. A couple fun things to note, from above and below. Of the 10 teams above, THREE of them are among the TOP TEN most valuable teams. Of the 10 teams above,...

Baseball is all about statistics.  Hits, strikeouts, errors, on base percentage, earned run average.  These revealing numbers cause a fan to smell a beer, hot dog, and pretzel and feel the sun on their skin in a June afternoon in a ballpark.  But some statistics sooth owners: team value, revenue, profit. Forbes Magazine puts out a report of valuations of baseball teams every year before opening day.  As baseball has no real shareholders other than the owners, it is not as much data for the investor as fuel for those who consider baseball a greedy monopoly and enjoy getting up a good head of steam about it.  I suppose I'm one. The magazine estimates the value of every team based upon four basic categories: the value of the team's stadium: are there lots of ways to sell beer, hot dogs, and expensive seats? the value of the team's brand: how are the t-shirt sales? the value of the team's market: how much money do the locals have to blow on beer, t-shirts, ...