Frenemies

So I told you guys last week I work with families for a living.  What I didn't mention is that I work primarily with teens, and that my wife teaches high school.  In other words, WAAAAAAY too much time with adolescents in our house.  When it came time to name this post, well... I got nothing but that.  And let's just say, it's been a long few weeks at work, and I think this post reflects it a bit.

Story time.  About three weeks ago, a co-worker asked me which Michigan school I went to. When I told them Michigan, they were like, "oh, gotta make sure I get that right, you hate Michigan State, right?"  I was like, "uh, no, a lot of my best friends went to State and I root for them, too."  That is my rehearsed, go to answer, but this time I must have sported some attitude, cause my co-worker seemed a bit surprised.

Friends!

Honestly, I have gotten that comment thousands of times, starting in undergrad, and still today, and it's never bothered me until now.  It actually stuck with me for a bit.  And it wasn't until Jason Collins announced he was gay that I think I figured out why...

An Ode to Parents and the MVPs of Your House

Family

My oldest friend in the world recently lost his father, a truly good and loving man whose personality and passion for the world stayed with him until the very end.  I will always treasure my last visit with him... a chance encounter while taking ARG for a walk where we got some pics of the family (his father was a professional photographer who probably loved his job more than anyone has ever loved their job).  At the time, ARG was still in her man-hater phase, but for some reason, she really liked him.  We have literally no explanation for that.  One of the few regrets I have in moving away from the D is that I can't be there for friends and family when something like this happens, and I hope that this post in some way makes up for that.

In real life, I work with families every day.  I get a lot of questions about how some of my clients end up the way they do.  And there are a lot of reasons, really.  But the biggest reason can be answered pretty easily...

Why We Cheer and Some Boston Love

I set out to write this post about two weeks ago, focusing a lot on the Michigan Final Four run and what we got from it, assuming we lost.  Laziness and a family stomach bug prevented it.  Now I'm starting it the same day as the bombing at the Boston Marathon, watching news coverage of all this, knowing that it is both an unfortunately believable tragedy in a city that the wife and I spent years in and still love, and fits perfectly into the post I set out to write.  We spent numerous Patriot's Days doing what the people there were doing, and that could have easily been us down there.  If you haven't been to Boston, it is a beautiful, vibrant, fun-loving, and friendly town.  I still miss it sometimes.

Thoughts and prayers

 The other irony, I suppose, is that I planned to lead into the old jump break with a quote from the movie Fever Pitch, which is based on the 2004 Red Sox breaking their World Series jinx (side note - we were in Boston at the time... and let's say I'm doing all I can to be in Chicago if the Cubs ever win).  This post is about why we cheer, aka, what sports can do for us.  And normalcy after tragedy is one of those things.  So in that vein, I'm pushing ahead, business mildly as usual, for the city of Boston.  Here's the quote, and the post, as intended.  We love you, Boston...

The D

Tourist Attraction, for reals

Over the past few weeks, Mojo and I have been exchanging texts and emails over a really remarkable book on the city of Detroit, "Detroit City is the Place to Be," by Mark Binelli.  Part way through this, Mojo emailed, "we need to get together, drink a few beers, and talk about this book."  We then realized there are very few things you could replace "talk about this book with" and not have this be an awesome idea.  But I digress...

I get a lot of questions in Philly about the D, what's it really like, are the pictures true, how did it get that bad... I imagine Mojo has gotten them in his worldly travels, too.  Mostly, these questions are out of sheer curiosity and sympathy for our city.  And I gotta give my Philly people a lot of credit, they have a lot of respect for our city.  I told a few people here they would get along with everyone in Detroit, since I think Philly and Detroit have a pretty similar culture.

One quote in the book really stood out to me, and I want to address it, both to inquire what my peeps in the D think, and to enlighten my Philly friends, too.  Mojo and Fah T were both gracious enough to offer their takes, too.  So if you want to skip through my dribble and get to people who can actually write, So we offer this instead of our usual MLB preview.  Though I threw my picks in, too, of course.  Here's the quote...

Tourney Time!

Cool

Olleh.  With all due respect to the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney is the best sporting event of the year.  Think of it this way... the Super Bowl is like the main course of a fine steak dinner.  The tourney is the whole thing and a bottle of red.  Three weeks versus one day.  Selection Sunday.  Conference tournaments.  Sure, you could argue the NFL playoffs are the equivalent, but then you'd have a good point have a different opinion than me, and that's just not cool.

In honor of the seeds and rankings, figured we'd bring some random lists to you, instead of the stereotypical tourney breakdown.  And, to be honest, I'm just to lazy to try and jam a whole post in between Selection Sunday and that Thursday tip.  And yes, it starts Thursday.

Suggestion Box

Just a seance away...

And... you're back.  I think everyone would admit that we can all do things a little better.  No matter how successful we are, we can always find ways to improve.  For instance, my 2 year old daughter, currently accepting her "quiet time" over napping, could improve her actually taking a nap for Mommy and Daddy, much like she does for anyone not named Mommy or Daddy.

The major sports leagues are always kicking around rule changes, some good, some bad.  Since I have an opinion on everything Allow me to share my personal takes on how our beloved professional leagues could improve upon their fine products.  (Kissing ass in search for credibility).

The Obligatory Te'o Takes and Super Bowl Pick

Hey, did you hear Monti Te’o got catfished??? Holy crap!

I'm gonna get you!

Wait, what does catfish mean?  Seriously, though, let me be the 2,432,209,891st person to tell you, this has got to be the weirdest story since... ever? How many sentences can I end in a question mark?

My personal favorite part of this story is that it’s distracting from Lance Armstrong (see also, Catholic, the Pope is) and the lame Super Bowl storylines about Ray Lewis (other than the unintentional comedy of his Jesus rants and the Harbaugh brothers.

Anyways, let’s just cut through the carp (hehehe), and just tell this Te’o thing like it is, because, as a mildly popular sports blogger, I’m required to weigh in on this one.