Sunday Potpourri No. 46

Saturday Scoreboard

"White Out" at Beaver Stadium

It was another rocky Saturday with regard to college football outcomes for my rooting interests.

Army lost at home to North Texas, Air Force lost at home to Hawaii in two overtimes, and Boston College lost at home to Syracuse.

One big bright spot was my best friend Skip's Penn State Nittany Lions upsetting No. 2 Ohio State
in a "White Out" game.

It was the first time an unranked PSU team had beaten a Top 2 opponent since 1964. They're now No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25, the first time they've been ranked since 2011.

Among my own rooting interests, only Navy was victorious, moving to 5-1 after a win 
at home against Memphis. Iowa State and Notre Dame had the week off.

"So, did Skip's head explode?"

It was a close call, but he survived...although his pessimistic side took a beating...

Drought Relief

The 2016 World Series is now set, and will feature a team which hasn't won a championship since 1948 (Cleveland Indians) facing a team that hasn't won a title since 1908 (Chicago Cubs). One way or another, a long drought will come to an end, and baseball fans everywhere can cheer for that.

In Game 6 of the NLCS we had
a rematch of the pitchers from Game 2 (won by the Dodgers 1-0). This time it was the Cubs' turn to win by shutout, as they scored early and often against Clayton Kershaw while Kyle Hendricks was virtually unhittable.

With their 5-0 win the Cubs took the NLCS four games to two and reached the World Series for the first time since 1948.

Virtually every Cubs fan hung around Wrigley Field for the post-game celebration, of course, and cheered wildly as the team posed for the ultimate selfie...

"And you'll be rooting for...?"

The Indians, of course...American League guy, first and foremost...

Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast Update

"Miss me?"

When I got home from Mass this morning, I noticed a visitor to the B&B whom I hadn't seen in a few months.

According to Audubon, the blue jay is not migratory in this part of the country, so I really don't know why I haven't seen one for so long.




All are welcome at the B&B, of course, but the blue jay's return makes me hopeful of seeing my other "baseball bird" (whom I also haven't seen for months) one of these days as well.

Time of the Season

Autumn isn't just pumpkin spice season and Halloween candy season. This time of year there are all sorts of other goodies released as part of the run-up to the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.

One of my favorite such products is Sprite Cranberry Zero, a tart twist on the refreshing lemon-lime soda.

Trump Self-Destructs

From the insightful pen of Michael Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

One of the most familiar sights and sounds in all of baseball is the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field. Is there a baseball fan alive, for instance, who has not seen/heard longtime Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray singing it?

Original 1908 sheet music

In one of those baseball coincidences that I just love, the song was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer in 1908, the last year in which the Cubs won the World Series.

The other interesting tidbit about the song, which I have mentioned before when featuring it in this space, is that neither Norworth nor Von Tilzer had ever actually been to a baseball game when they wrote the sport's best-loved and most-performed song.




Today's send-off is a live performance of the fan favorite by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Riccardo Muti. It was filmed on October 17 as a way
of showing support for the Cubs as they headed to Los Angeles. Enjoy...