The impeachment trial and the Australian Open are going on simultaneously. They both make for riveting TV, though with the tennis you don't know how it will end.
Joe Burrow, in his Heisman Trophy speech, shed a light on the poverty in his home state of Ohio. Last night, in his MVP speech, he listed the people who were a part of the victory, and included the university’s food workers.
I'm giving up cereal for the rest of the year because I can't bear the thought of another bowl.
Congratulations to the World Series champion Washington Nationals. I'm already looking forward to the first Nats-Astros spring training game at their shared facility in West Palm Beach. In the meantime, I suspect we'll see an investigation by Malcolm Gladwell into the phenomenon of the away-field advantage.
I was very happy a few years ago when spring training baseball returned to South Florida. So I'm delighted that the two teams that share the facility in West Palm Beach - the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals - are both in the World Series.
I generally don’t believe in curses, but I make an exception for Marlins Park.
The financial scam that contributed to its construction doomed the stadium from the start. Opening day in 2012 – when Tropicana dancers accompanied players onto the field for their introductions, and then-owner Jeffrey Loria appeared in a golf cart with an ailing Muhammad Ali – didn’t help the art-filled ballpark in Little Havana. Within weeks the manager, Ozzie Guillén, was quoted in a magazine speaking highly of Fidel Castro.
The team’s most promising and charismatic player, pitcher José Fernández, was killed in a boating accident at the end of the 2016 season. Other top players were lost in trades, even – especially – after Derek Jeter became a co-owner. Jeter messed not only with the roster but with the art, moving Homer, Red Grooms’ whimsical home run sculpture, outside the stadium, despite a letter of protest from the artist. (Granted, Jeter had already traded the team’s biggest home run hitters.)
Since moving to their new home, the Marlins have not had a winning season. Attendance this year, for the second year in a row, should come in well under a million. And that’s with new $5 tickets and “improved” food options.
This week one of the traded players, Christian Yelich, returned with his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers. He promptly fouled a ball off his leg, fracturing his kneecap and ending his season and his MVP chances. It was a wrenching moment, and it demonstrated that even players who leave the Marlins aren’t immune to the curse.