I got the first COVID-19 shot Sunday and now I feel like I have COVID-19 all over again. It was so much fun the first time, I decided to re-live it! I’m so happy! Can’t wait for Shot 2. I’m booking my sick days now.
I’M GUESSING that Pat Kelsey’s name is on lots of people’s minds this AM. I guess because I do not read fan pages, Twitter crapola or any of the assorted rumor sites. It keeps my heart rate reasonable. But Sunday, Kelsey’s Winthrop crew won the Big South for the 2nd year in a row and 3rd time since 2017.
Cincinnati takes care of its own, and no place in Cincinnati takes care of its own like Xavier. It’s pure conjecture to suggest how Travis Steele’s team fares in the next week might have a measure of sway on any developments on Victory Parkway.
That’s altogether unfair to Steele, whose team still can salvage a Madness bid with a nice showing at Madison Square Garden beginning Wednesday v. Butler. But that’s how it works. Kelsey’s team is 23-1, Kelsey is an X grad and favorite son from the Skip Prosser coaching tree that produced Chris Mack. Also Mark Schmidt, who’s the head coach at St. Bonaventure and another guy who’d be on the radar. Kelsey’s an Elder guy, for goodness sake.
For what it’s worth, Schmidt has been linked to the Boston College job. He’s a BC alum. In 14 years, Schmidt has led St. Bonaventure to four 20-win seasons and two tournament appearances. And if you’ve ever been to Olean, NY, you’ll know what an impressive feat that is.
I'm on record as wanting Steele to have another year at least. Freshmen Jones, Odom and Wilcher and sophmores Freemantle and Tandy make a decent nucleus.
What’s fascinating is, Xavier would be new to coaching roulette. Cutthroat coaching moves are routine in many places, but not on Victory Parkway. AD Greg Christopher and the collective Powers there will have to balance the sex appeal of reuniting with another successful alum with the commendable grace they’ve always shown their current coaches.
In some places, Steele already would be on cracking ice, just for not making the tournament for what could be a third straight year. Xavier isn’t some places.
Now, then. . .
ESPN HAS THIS HEADLINE on its site now:
Ranking which 2020 MLB playoff teams are least likely to return this October
It’s accompanied by a picture of Joey Votto. Wonder who the Worldwide Leader is referring to.
The doubt is legit. The Reds were a .500 team last year. Only the expanded playoffs saved them from being left out. Howevuh. . .
A case can be made they’re as good as any team in the Central. The Cubs crazily disassembled a team that with a few middling additions would be favored to win the division again. The Brewers just added Jackie Bradley Jr. It’s a measure of how average The Crew is that the media in Milwaukee damned near threw a praise party over that news. Bradley Jr. is a nice defensive player. He’s a career .239 hitter who strikes out once every four ABs.
St. Louis added Arenado but no pitching to a team that went 30-28 in the ’20 regular season. How many more starts can Adan Wainwright, who is 103 years old you could look it up, make before he’s eligible for Social Security? (We could ask the same of Yadier Molina.) Dakota Hudson is out for the year with TJ surgery. That leaves Jack Flaherty and a bunch of Maybes. Extend Looie’s Maybe List to include all its starting OFs.
And then there are the Pirates. Any team blessed to play in the same division with the Pirates can never be written off.
Not one of the Reds trumpeted new hitters played to his ball card last year. It’s reasonable to think that won’t happen again.
The Reds rotation compares favorably with any in the Central. The bullpen has enough good arms. If Moustakas/Castellanos/Suarez do what they expect of themselves, offense won't be a problem again?
The Club doesn’t have a big margin for error. Who does? They’re one big injury to Gray or Castillo from having their happy projections scrapped. They can finish anywhere from 4th to 1st and no one would be surprised.
IT EVEN MAKES 6-FOOT PUTTS. . . A pal of mine is edging close to retirement and so bought a house on a golf course in Tucson. He was pricing new golf carts, as riding a golf cart is the preferred means of getting around the development. He’s thinking of buying one for. . . for. . .
$12,000.
Four days later, Johnny Thinwallet is still recuperating from that bit of news. I was 45 years old before I paid that much for a car. You could hire a caddie and use him every day for a couple years and maybe not spend $12,000. After he toted your bag, you could send him to the mini-mart for some prune juice and a dozen eggs. Yeah?
AS FOR THE COVID-19 SHOT. . . It could not have gone more smoothly. Almost as soon as Mike DeWine declared me eligible last Thursday, I got a notice on MyChart to sign up. I did and instantly had a place in Norwood on Sunday morning. I’m pissed I’m sick right now, but that doesn’t change how grateful I am, on so many levels, to have gotten vaccinated so quickly. Joe Biden’s people have done an amazing job exceeding all expectations for the virus rollout.
Remember when some scoffed at Biden’s plan to deliever a million vaccines a day? We’re doing 2 million. I thought it’d be late spring before my time arrived.
I pondered writing a column on my gratitude, along with yet another plea for mask wearing. I didn’t. But here’s what I posted Friday on FB:
I'm getting Shot 1 Sunday, just four days after Gov. DeWine announced my age group was eligible. I feel incredibly fortunate on many levels. While others have waited weeks for an opening, I secured an appointment almost immediately.
On an existential level, I'm humbled and grateful for the science that has allowed for a vaccine and for the scientists and researchers who expedited its availability so amazingly fast. Thanks, too, for the doctors and nurses, heroes all, who have steadfastly patrolled the front lines of the pandemic, at great personal risk and cost. The best way to pay back my gratitude is to continue to wear a mask, socially distance and practice good hygiene.
I do not understand why after one year, 29 million cases and 520,000 deaths, we cannot come together as a country on this. I do not understand or accept the logic being used in states such as Texas and 16 others. I'll never understand folks who think they're smarter than science. I don't know why this is still a political issue.
If you choose for whatever reason not to get vaccinated, fine. That's your choice. If you get sick, I'd hope you'd have the decency not to take up a hospital bed.
The anger against mask wearing is unfathomable to me. Those who cite their "freedom'' and their "rights'' as reasons for not wearing a mask apparently have forgotten that with rights comes responsibility. And that ignoring protocols is a slap in the face to every man and woman who has been on the front lines every day for the past 13 months.
Re-opening schools and businesses is everyone's goal, but until we kill the virus that won't be possible. Have we learned nothing in the past year?
Texas' decision to open entirely proves what, exactly? Not that they're smarter down there. Not that they're more patriotic or compassionate. Just more stubborn, and proud of it. That's nothing to be proud of. It's deadly. It'd be great if the country pulled together and collectively we put aside our politics and our selfish, spoiled whining and took on the virus with a unified sense of purpose. Regardless, I feel lucky. I'd feel a whole lot luckier (and prouder) if Americans acted as one.
STICK TO SPORTS. . .
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump sent letters on Friday to the Republican National Committee and the other leading GOP organizations ordering them to stop using his name and image on fundraising emails and merchandise without his express permission.
The cease and desist notices were also sent to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senate Committee, Politico first reported. The startling demand from a former president to his own party
Sources told Politico that Trump has to be more generous if he hopes to increase his party’s power — but that seems to be less of a concern for Trump than bolstering his own image. (Huffington Post)
Wow. Trump caring about no one but himself? Knock me over with a feather. If you’re a Trump Republican, how does this make you feel? He seems to be crippling his own party’s money-raising efforts. That OK with youse?
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Son and I were debating favorite Led Zep tunes. He came up with Traveling Riverside Blues. I said that was not meat and potatoes enough for me. Gimme John and Jimmy, thumping skins and bangin’ chords. Like this, IMO the quintessential Zep tune. Skip to the :50 mark to avoid the silly opening.
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