I started this blog way back in April of 2011. I was just under three years out of Wabash. I was in a job I was pretty miserable at and just looking for a way to fill my time there without going absolutely crazy. Then that job went away, and I threw myself into this blog for almost a year as my primary responsibility. The job listings don't change all that much from day to day, you know? So it didn't take me too long to spread my resume to stuff I'd be qualified for every day. Then I was in another job that allowed me enough time and gave me enough boredom to keep this blog up. Then came 2014. I was starting to tire from the daily schedule, and I found myself wanting to do more "iterary things." So I abruptly wrapped up this blog and said "See you later!" Without ever actually saying that. Since the end of 2014, a lot of life has happened. My daughter was born in August of 2015, so she'll turn four later this year. That obviously has taken a huge chunk of my time. I had started a new job at Purdue a few months before the original "end" of this blog. That job has come and gone, and I've moved into a different Purdue IT job. And I'm generally happy here. I like the people I'm around and I like what I'm doing well enough. I started a Master's Degree in September of 2018. I should finish it this coming March, so just under a year. I did pop up here for a handful of posts in January of 2016, but they are clearly of a different vein than the rest of the blog. I just had some thoughts in my head and knew I had a forum where I could get them out easily. I'm sure we all felt like we had a lot to think about around that time. So, life has been good enough to me in the . . . um . . . five year hiatus. But, between all the life updates and career advancement and new academic endeavors, there has still be a creative itch that I just can't seem to scratch. As far as my focusing on fiction, well, I wrote one book that didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. I've started editing it in fits, but I don't know if I'll ever really get it in a shape that I consider publishable. Maybe some time after I've finished this degree. So, here we are. AP Baseball 2.0, I guess. The weather is getting warmer, change is in the air, so it feels like it's time to get my voice back out there, too. I think it's healthy for me, and now the people around me maybe won't have to hear me ranting about this and that because I'll be able to get it off my chest here. We're going to aim for a Monday through Friday schedule again, but we'll see about it. I launched this blog without a schedule in mind, and it became a pretty solid five times a week thing for almost four years. So let's see where it goes this time. I've also got some other ideas about some other media ventures I might undertake under this branding and host here in this space. I don't know if they will ever come to fruition, but, especially once I don't have classes to worry about at night, I feel like I'm at a place in life where I can be a little ambitious with things without either putting myself in some sort of financial oblivion or derailing my career. So, if you'll have me back, I plan on sticking around for a while this time. In sporty things, in almost exactly three hours at the time of writing this sentence, the Columbus Blue Jackets will go for a sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning. And that is just incredible. Tampa Bay won 62 games, tied for most ever. If there was ever a team in cruise control, this was it. Cruise control can be a dangerous thing in the world of sports, though. I made it to two NHL games this year. I went to St. Louis with my brother to watch the Blues just get destroyed by the Penguins. At the time, the Blues I think were last in the NHL, or at least last in the Western Conference. They looked listless and just totally overmatched for 60 full minutes. Since that game, the Blues took off like a rocket and damn near won the division. The other game we made it to was a bigger outing to Columbus. My sister-in-law had never been to an NHL game and said she wanted to go, and nobody has to twist my arm very hard to go to a hockey game. So I asked my brother if he and his wife wanted to come along and have some adult time, and they were in. So off the five of us went to Ohio.* I had been totally sleeping on the Eastern Conference up to that point. For one, I'm typically asleep on the East in the best of years. For two, it sure as hell didn't look like the Blackhawks were going to make me have to care about who came out of the East. So about all I really knew about this year's squad was they had Artemi Panarin and I really, really wished he was still a Blackhawk. *The other time we went to a Blue Jackets game was also a big group outing with a bunch of my brother's friends. Leann was at that one, too, but we found out she had very little memory of that trip for some reason. When I went to get tickets, I was a bit shocked to find out the Blue Jackets were not only in solid playoff shape, but threatening to maybe even win the division. We went to a game against the Sharks, because I knew they were also good. And Columbus just made them look silly. And, Google being what it is, I suddenly started to get bombarded by stories about the Blue Jackets, so I knew they were hot going into that game. In a total reversal from the Blues, though, our presence started a hard cold streak for Columbus, and they found themselves fighting for the last spot down to the final day. I'll admit I became invested in the Blue Jackets after that Saturday afternoon, so I've been excitingly waiting for this playoff series. Going into it, I knew Columbus could make it interesting. Based on their performance most of the season, I knew they were better than the typical last team in, and I realized how many really solid to very good players they have on the roster after watching them in person. I still wouldn't have bet on them beating Tampa Bay, but I thought they could have beaten anybody else in the East. Turns out, I really should have bet on them, because Columbus is beating Tampa Bay and doing it pretty handily. Game one was an incredible comeback on the Blue Jackets' part. When they got down three-zip to start the game, I switched over to the Blues. But Columbus has been dominant since those three goals. Columbus scored four in a row to win that game. Games two and three were not even close. And now it's game four in Ohio, with a crowd that is going to be as raucous as any you've heard in hockey, a cannon they love to fire off, and a Tampa Bay team that has to be wondering just where the hell everything has gone wrong. Even to this point, it has been easy to dismiss Columbus as cannon fodder (pun only slightly intended). I think many fans still see them as a bit of an expansion team, even twenty years later. They've only made a couple other trips to the playoffs, and they've never really threatened in any of those series. This year's Blue Jackets have as many playoffs wins as the franchise as a whole up to this point. And what a statement. It's not over yet, of course. We're down to closer to two hours to puck drop now, and you can bet I'll be watching. The Blue Jackets have become my adopted team this year. I won't say I expect them to win tonight. Tampa Bay didn't win 62 games (again, in an 82 game season) out of nowhere. I imagine they are going to start fighting at some point. But don't color me shocked if Columbus can hang on tonight. There is a lot of talent here, and teams can catch fire in the playoffs. Remember the Rockies in 2007? I still think they would have won a World Series if they hadn't had to sit around for a week waiting on the Red Sox to finish up their side of the playoffs. The Blue Jackets may very well have that sort of magic in them, and I'm so excited to see it play out. Comments are closed.
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