Because TV is your life. Don't know if anyone has suggested Shrinking on Apple TV. Great writing and acting from Jason Segal and Harrison Ford. Checkitout. I binged it on Friday after watching some bad romcoms.
The Four Seasons. 1981 Alan Alda, Carol Burnett. It's a fun time capsule. A look at middle age relationships/friendships, coming to terms with diminishing sexual value, divorce, parenting, etc. It felt strange watching graying adults having so much fun simply for the sake of fun.
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World on TCM. No commercials cutting it up. It's a supernova of comedy talent, and it never gets old. If you put a gun to my head and made me answer who had the best performance, I would say Terry-Thomas.
After that ended TCM showed a classic old comedy, best picture at the 1938 Oscars, You Can't Take it With You. It was fascinating for so many reasons, and you can tell it was well received by a country coming out of the great depression. Today it would be considered subversive. If you ever wondered why we had McCarthyism, watch this movie and ask yourself how capital felt about it.
Growing up in the golden age of the Madness really was our generation’s version of our fathers sneaking transistor radios into class to listen to the daytime-only World Series games. (Lookitup, kids)
One of my favorite things was walking into a “cool” teachers classroom (you knew the ones already) one of the two afternoons immediately prior to spring break and seeing the TV cart sitting there. You knew then an “independent study” day of watching ‘ball lay ahead.
Mar 6, 2023·edited Mar 6, 2023Liked by Paul Daugherty
I didn't pay much attention to the tournament until 1990, as a seventh-grader. That was the magical first run to the Sweet 16 by the Musketeers of Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Jamal Walker and company. That was likely because it was the first tournament success I'd seen a local team have since my inception in 1977. I obviously became more engrossed by the '92 UC run to the Final Four, the '93 UC run to the Elite 8, and subsequent runs by both UC and X.
Come Tournament Thursday, I'll likely reinstall my Barstool Sports betting app, and put down a $25 10-team parlay. Will I expect anything to come of said parlay? Nah ... but it at least makes it a little more fun and interesting than just taking a lighter to my $25 worth of bills and watching them burn.
After that, I'll watch to see what X does -- and heck, even IU and Purdue -- but, if all three of those find themselves going home, unless there's a Cinderella (i.e. Wichita State, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, et. al.) making a run, I'll probably tune out until the Final Four.
And if that Final Four has Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Gonzaga or Michigan State, or some combination thereof, I'll go watch paint dry instead.
I used to enjoy watching March Madness just for the basketball, but I don't know if it is the quality of play, or the NIL madness (kids should get paid something, but come on), greedy Power conferences, or the predominance of sports betting...maybe even life itself intervening, but I really couldn't care less about the tournament this year. I haven't watched any sports since the Super Bowl, and I've not watched with interest since the AFC championship.
I laid down a couple dollars in The Post's '88 contest – and won $46. (I was a security guard in the lobby that year.) What haunts me a little: K-State (Class of '82) losing to KU in the Elite Eight that year because Scooter #$&(@$! Barry had the game of his life.
After K-State took down Kentucky in the 2018 Sweet 16, for about six months, every time I saw a UK fan I smiled and said, "61-58." It's the college memories I have that makes the "toonamint" special.
Mar 6, 2023·edited Mar 6, 2023Liked by Paul Daugherty
In the minority here, but the thrill of the tourney exceeds the thrill of bracketing. I will do one bracket - one, because a) I'm not a coward, but more importantly b) Gambling, sports betting, has a negative expected value (EV), and so I care nothing for it. As a middle-aged male, I am inundated with gambling solicitations from DraftKings, and all the other "daily fantasy," sites aiming for more reoccuring revenue - not from me. My friends can't wait to deposit more money so they can watch some Horizon League game CBB, womens tennis or NASCAR in hopes of hitting some 8-leg parlay or something stupid. Negative EV means the more you play, the more your chances of losing increase. So I know all my friends are loser gamblers, though they'll never admit it. Successful sports bettors - and they're out there, but they're rare - they have to use other peoples' accounts to place bets. Bookies will literally turn repeated winners away, legally, because they can. So if any site still accepts your money, it's because you're a loser. Not as a person,of course, but as a gambler. But for me, the NCAA tourney needs no help for being arguably the most entertaining time in sports.
Fantasy Baseball - Year 11 of a league I've run since college. 12 teams, H2H format, a comically large heavyweight championship belt and all. Fantasy Baseball, especially leagues where rosters don't lock weekly, enables that lovely daily maintenance for MONTHS (if you like, but most times you don't have to do anything). But I keep a super thin roster size, meaning the waiver wire is electric all year - championships are won and lost on the wire sometimes. Leagues suck when you get a ton of bench spots, allowing people to just hoard players and avoid tough decisions. And yes, there's money involved, but the winnings pale in comparison to the glory of holding the belt.
My first year playing basketball was the Magic-Bird final in 1979, so I was glued. I was in high school when it changed to the perfection that is a 64-team bracket. In college, we had what was known as The Dollar Bandwagon - every sheet was a buck and the pool paid out five places. Half to the winner, quarter to runner up, 10 percent to third, etc. Last place got their buck back. Some guys would use their wings/beer money and filled out many multiples - which was good for the pot - and we had people all over the neighborhood coming by with money and sheets. Purse got close to $1,000 one year, but was usually in $500-600 range. The day of the THE UK-Duke game (which was in Philly), I was in Rupp covering the OSU-(Fab Five)Michigan regional final. Was in a bar in Richmond afterward trying to watch the Reds-Indians Ohio Cup game with my photographer, but got a little distracted by Laettner stepping on Timberlake and all that followed. Still play in a pool or two with some friends and family, but never won one with more than five people. Never cared. It's just too fun.
My love with March Madness began in grade school when X beat Gtown and we watched it during class. Senior year in college I got to attend the ACC tourney as a guest of the Maryland boosters. For as cool as it is to be at bars, etc. on those first days, it's really cool to be at the actual games. Never forget walking into Rupp at noon on that Thursday and being struck with the sights, sounds, and crowd--realizing that I had a feast of hoops as my appetizer before watching XU take the court in 9+ hours. Of course, the brackets are a major part of it (it is the only form of gambling that my mother practices religiously every year), but the event itself is amazing on its own. By the time we're watching the One Shining Moment montage on or about Opening Day, those highlights from early in the tourney will seem like they happened last year. Sports are ultimately stories filled with heroes, villains and drama. The tourney is so sprawling that it allows for plenty of all of it.
I've played roto ball for about 20 years. I've won the league once but typically don't cash. It is fun but it is tough for me to stay engaged enough to fill a competent roster. Just like following an actual team, fantasy baseball is great if you're competitive.
FYC was a solid group. No need to marginalize them at all.
UVa Cavalier Jeff Lamp's sidekick Lee Raker's big sister was kind of everybody's big sister to my freshman dorm crowd at UK's venerable (decrepit) Boyd Hall (Hell, we called it) back in the day, as she dated the head RA there while herself being the head RA at neighboring Patterson Hall. Also of that same resident ilk as i were Gregg Fields, whom I believe was a featured columnist for the Post, Jim McNair, the Q's former business reporter and frequent City Beat contributor and Terry Meiners, the drivetime DJ for WHAS in Louisville. Meiners began his career in radio minding the overnight hours album side feature play on WKQQ FM and becoming semi-famous for falling asleep and letting the end of album skip for hours. 'Leonard', as we knew Gregg, had the day old Enquirer delivered to his door down the hall from mine, which he'd let me read sitting on the floor outside his door each day around 1o when I'd get back from my morning classes and before he ever got up, usually a little past noon. So you would have been covering Sampson & Co while attending that university? 🤔
I play fantasy baseball but in a Vietnam-era creation called Statball. Our League - and another just like it that uses the same format - has existed for 37 years (I've only been it in for 21) and for many years was headquartered out of a local tavern owned by one of our players. He retired a few years ago so we don't have as convenient a gathering spot any longer but the beat goes on. We use month long line-ups ... young guys we've tried to recruit don't like it because they can't fiddle with their roster every day. Legend has it the format was started in Vietnam by soldiers who used box scores from "Stars and Stripes" every day to calculate the points, so the League basically ran two weeks behind due to the newspapers having to be mailed overseas. I'll be 60 in August and am one of the younger players. It's been a great source of fun for a long, long time.
I'm also a college hoops junkie so I watch all season, but you are correct that the "Tooornimint" (as the east coasters call it) produces all makes and models of basketball fans. I like hearing everyone crow about the one upset they picked while neglecting to mention the five they missed ... but that's just the tournament and it's fun. But you're right that office productivity grinds to a halt on the first Thursday/Friday of action - but there are plenty of three hour "business" lunches on those days. :-)
I worked with statistics my whole career so I seldom gamble. The probabilities are always in favor of the house or more knowledgeable sports people. I'm also a thin wallet and hate wasting money. The only time I bet is a small wager against a team that I want to win. That lessens the pain of losing perhaps contributes to my team winning.
Guys who can play baseball-well, they play baseball. Guys who can't- they play fantasy baseball.
Reality baseball? Yes. Fantasy baseball? No. Nada. Negatory. Nyet. Unh-unhh. I hope I have managed to express myself clearly on the matter.
The only place fantasy works for me in life is when privately dreaming about vacations, golf courses, and/or certain members of the opposite sex.
Because TV is your life. Don't know if anyone has suggested Shrinking on Apple TV. Great writing and acting from Jason Segal and Harrison Ford. Checkitout. I binged it on Friday after watching some bad romcoms.
I saw 3 strong movies this weekend.
The Four Seasons. 1981 Alan Alda, Carol Burnett. It's a fun time capsule. A look at middle age relationships/friendships, coming to terms with diminishing sexual value, divorce, parenting, etc. It felt strange watching graying adults having so much fun simply for the sake of fun.
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World on TCM. No commercials cutting it up. It's a supernova of comedy talent, and it never gets old. If you put a gun to my head and made me answer who had the best performance, I would say Terry-Thomas.
After that ended TCM showed a classic old comedy, best picture at the 1938 Oscars, You Can't Take it With You. It was fascinating for so many reasons, and you can tell it was well received by a country coming out of the great depression. Today it would be considered subversive. If you ever wondered why we had McCarthyism, watch this movie and ask yourself how capital felt about it.
Growing up in the golden age of the Madness really was our generation’s version of our fathers sneaking transistor radios into class to listen to the daytime-only World Series games. (Lookitup, kids)
One of my favorite things was walking into a “cool” teachers classroom (you knew the ones already) one of the two afternoons immediately prior to spring break and seeing the TV cart sitting there. You knew then an “independent study” day of watching ‘ball lay ahead.
I didn't pay much attention to the tournament until 1990, as a seventh-grader. That was the magical first run to the Sweet 16 by the Musketeers of Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Jamal Walker and company. That was likely because it was the first tournament success I'd seen a local team have since my inception in 1977. I obviously became more engrossed by the '92 UC run to the Final Four, the '93 UC run to the Elite 8, and subsequent runs by both UC and X.
Come Tournament Thursday, I'll likely reinstall my Barstool Sports betting app, and put down a $25 10-team parlay. Will I expect anything to come of said parlay? Nah ... but it at least makes it a little more fun and interesting than just taking a lighter to my $25 worth of bills and watching them burn.
After that, I'll watch to see what X does -- and heck, even IU and Purdue -- but, if all three of those find themselves going home, unless there's a Cinderella (i.e. Wichita State, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, et. al.) making a run, I'll probably tune out until the Final Four.
And if that Final Four has Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Gonzaga or Michigan State, or some combination thereof, I'll go watch paint dry instead.
I used to enjoy watching March Madness just for the basketball, but I don't know if it is the quality of play, or the NIL madness (kids should get paid something, but come on), greedy Power conferences, or the predominance of sports betting...maybe even life itself intervening, but I really couldn't care less about the tournament this year. I haven't watched any sports since the Super Bowl, and I've not watched with interest since the AFC championship.
I laid down a couple dollars in The Post's '88 contest – and won $46. (I was a security guard in the lobby that year.) What haunts me a little: K-State (Class of '82) losing to KU in the Elite Eight that year because Scooter #$&(@$! Barry had the game of his life.
After K-State took down Kentucky in the 2018 Sweet 16, for about six months, every time I saw a UK fan I smiled and said, "61-58." It's the college memories I have that makes the "toonamint" special.
In the minority here, but the thrill of the tourney exceeds the thrill of bracketing. I will do one bracket - one, because a) I'm not a coward, but more importantly b) Gambling, sports betting, has a negative expected value (EV), and so I care nothing for it. As a middle-aged male, I am inundated with gambling solicitations from DraftKings, and all the other "daily fantasy," sites aiming for more reoccuring revenue - not from me. My friends can't wait to deposit more money so they can watch some Horizon League game CBB, womens tennis or NASCAR in hopes of hitting some 8-leg parlay or something stupid. Negative EV means the more you play, the more your chances of losing increase. So I know all my friends are loser gamblers, though they'll never admit it. Successful sports bettors - and they're out there, but they're rare - they have to use other peoples' accounts to place bets. Bookies will literally turn repeated winners away, legally, because they can. So if any site still accepts your money, it's because you're a loser. Not as a person,of course, but as a gambler. But for me, the NCAA tourney needs no help for being arguably the most entertaining time in sports.
Fantasy Baseball - Year 11 of a league I've run since college. 12 teams, H2H format, a comically large heavyweight championship belt and all. Fantasy Baseball, especially leagues where rosters don't lock weekly, enables that lovely daily maintenance for MONTHS (if you like, but most times you don't have to do anything). But I keep a super thin roster size, meaning the waiver wire is electric all year - championships are won and lost on the wire sometimes. Leagues suck when you get a ton of bench spots, allowing people to just hoard players and avoid tough decisions. And yes, there's money involved, but the winnings pale in comparison to the glory of holding the belt.
I love you, Paul, but that Song Of The Day is terrible. :-) (Said in the spirit of different musical tastes but we can still be friends.)
My first year playing basketball was the Magic-Bird final in 1979, so I was glued. I was in high school when it changed to the perfection that is a 64-team bracket. In college, we had what was known as The Dollar Bandwagon - every sheet was a buck and the pool paid out five places. Half to the winner, quarter to runner up, 10 percent to third, etc. Last place got their buck back. Some guys would use their wings/beer money and filled out many multiples - which was good for the pot - and we had people all over the neighborhood coming by with money and sheets. Purse got close to $1,000 one year, but was usually in $500-600 range. The day of the THE UK-Duke game (which was in Philly), I was in Rupp covering the OSU-(Fab Five)Michigan regional final. Was in a bar in Richmond afterward trying to watch the Reds-Indians Ohio Cup game with my photographer, but got a little distracted by Laettner stepping on Timberlake and all that followed. Still play in a pool or two with some friends and family, but never won one with more than five people. Never cared. It's just too fun.
My love with March Madness began in grade school when X beat Gtown and we watched it during class. Senior year in college I got to attend the ACC tourney as a guest of the Maryland boosters. For as cool as it is to be at bars, etc. on those first days, it's really cool to be at the actual games. Never forget walking into Rupp at noon on that Thursday and being struck with the sights, sounds, and crowd--realizing that I had a feast of hoops as my appetizer before watching XU take the court in 9+ hours. Of course, the brackets are a major part of it (it is the only form of gambling that my mother practices religiously every year), but the event itself is amazing on its own. By the time we're watching the One Shining Moment montage on or about Opening Day, those highlights from early in the tourney will seem like they happened last year. Sports are ultimately stories filled with heroes, villains and drama. The tourney is so sprawling that it allows for plenty of all of it.
I've played roto ball for about 20 years. I've won the league once but typically don't cash. It is fun but it is tough for me to stay engaged enough to fill a competent roster. Just like following an actual team, fantasy baseball is great if you're competitive.
FYC was a solid group. No need to marginalize them at all.
UVa Cavalier Jeff Lamp's sidekick Lee Raker's big sister was kind of everybody's big sister to my freshman dorm crowd at UK's venerable (decrepit) Boyd Hall (Hell, we called it) back in the day, as she dated the head RA there while herself being the head RA at neighboring Patterson Hall. Also of that same resident ilk as i were Gregg Fields, whom I believe was a featured columnist for the Post, Jim McNair, the Q's former business reporter and frequent City Beat contributor and Terry Meiners, the drivetime DJ for WHAS in Louisville. Meiners began his career in radio minding the overnight hours album side feature play on WKQQ FM and becoming semi-famous for falling asleep and letting the end of album skip for hours. 'Leonard', as we knew Gregg, had the day old Enquirer delivered to his door down the hall from mine, which he'd let me read sitting on the floor outside his door each day around 1o when I'd get back from my morning classes and before he ever got up, usually a little past noon. So you would have been covering Sampson & Co while attending that university? 🤔
I play fantasy baseball but in a Vietnam-era creation called Statball. Our League - and another just like it that uses the same format - has existed for 37 years (I've only been it in for 21) and for many years was headquartered out of a local tavern owned by one of our players. He retired a few years ago so we don't have as convenient a gathering spot any longer but the beat goes on. We use month long line-ups ... young guys we've tried to recruit don't like it because they can't fiddle with their roster every day. Legend has it the format was started in Vietnam by soldiers who used box scores from "Stars and Stripes" every day to calculate the points, so the League basically ran two weeks behind due to the newspapers having to be mailed overseas. I'll be 60 in August and am one of the younger players. It's been a great source of fun for a long, long time.
I'm also a college hoops junkie so I watch all season, but you are correct that the "Tooornimint" (as the east coasters call it) produces all makes and models of basketball fans. I like hearing everyone crow about the one upset they picked while neglecting to mention the five they missed ... but that's just the tournament and it's fun. But you're right that office productivity grinds to a halt on the first Thursday/Friday of action - but there are plenty of three hour "business" lunches on those days. :-)
Big Blue fans cringe as March Madness begins ... having to watch endless replays of Christian Laettner’s shot. 😢Meanwhile KY haters shout with glee!
Nothing lame about Fine Young Cannibals. Great song made even better in a club scene in "Tin Men."
BTW, cool name, not lame. Named after a 1960 Robert Wagner/Natalie Wood film.
Technically an 80's band.
I worked with statistics my whole career so I seldom gamble. The probabilities are always in favor of the house or more knowledgeable sports people. I'm also a thin wallet and hate wasting money. The only time I bet is a small wager against a team that I want to win. That lessens the pain of losing perhaps contributes to my team winning.