Wow its been January since I last posted

I can't believe January was the last blog I posted.

While there are a lot of things that have made me very angry lately, I've decided to go in a positive direction and post about sports. 

The NBA and NHL seasons have concluded with results I was pleased with. I had the Carolina Hurricanes to root for in the NHL playoffs for a while,  but I was kinda turned off by their trying to prevent New York Rangers fans from buying tickets. I thought it was very poor sportsmanship much like a few years ago when the Tampa Bay Lightning tried to prevent opposing fans from wearing their teams color or jerseys. I'm glad the Colorado Avalanche won though I have no real connection to the team or city. No former Gamecocks to root for in the NHL.

Similarly in the NBA, one player for the Washington Wizards played his freshman year at South Carolina then transferred to Virginia. I'm a big fan of Warriors couch Steve Kerr as I love his passion and activism. Steph Curry is also kinda cute in my opinion. So I was happy they won.

In baseball I was a college baseball fan long before I paid much attention to MLB. When former Gamecock Jackie Bradley Jr. was called up to the Boston Red Sox,  I declared myself a Red Sox fan in a Facebook post. The fact that the Greenville Drive in the minor league are a Red Sox affiliate also factored in to that decision. JBJ was traded to the Brewers last year but is now back in Boston but there's a dilemma. Two former Gamecocks are on the New York Yankees pitching staff and the Yankees are having a very good season. As a southerner, I didn't grow up with any inset hatred for the Yankees. One big mistake MLB made in restructuring MiLB was separating the Greenville Drive and Charleston Riverdogs (Greenville is now High-A and Charleston is Low-A). They also changed the Riverdogs affiliation to the Tampa Bay Rays, so the Palmetto State no longer has its own slice of the Red Sox- Yankees rivalry.

So perhaps if the Yankees continue their winning ways I'll pull for them in the MLB playoffs.  I also love Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals but I don't think they are doing very well. I also keep an eye on other former Gamecocks.

Tonight I am also beginning making TBS' Tuesday night game regular viewing and probably Sunday night baseball on ESPN as well. At least until football season which also has many former Gamecocks to keep an eye on in the NFL.

National Championship thoughts

I have some thoughts on tonight's national championship I wanted to share.

I have been somewhat angered by posts on Twitter saying Gamecock fans shouldn't pull for Georgia either because of former Gamecock coach Will Muschamp or some rivalry that only really existed in the 70s and 80s. Things are so one-sided between South Carolina and Georgia apart from a fluke win by the Gamecocks a few years ago. 

I have a high school classmate who is a UGA grad. I wasn't in many classes with him in high school and we didn't really hang around in the same circles but as we're both openly gay now our friendship has blossomed in recent years although I haven't heard from him much lately.  I tease him because while I pull for them against Clemson, he won't return the favor and pull for us because his family are Clemson fans.

My main reason in pulling for Georgia, however, is my father's side of the family which  consists of huge Georgia Bulldog fans. As my father was in the Gamecock Club and we had season tickets in Columbia,  we would also attend when the Gamecocks played at Sanford stadium.  We would usually visit family during the trip (one year we didn't and someone saw my father at the game and told on us...at least that's the story I recall from my father). My family in Georgia also consists of tons of "double cousins".

Now don't get the wrong idea. My great uncle, who I called "Daddy Bill" and my great Aunt "Mama Sue" were only related by marriage. There was no Incest, it's Georgia we're talking about not Alabama. Daddy Bill was the brother of my grandmother on my father's side. I sadly never knew my paternal grandparents as they were killed in a car accident when my father was 16. Mama Sue was my great Aunt by marriage but also my 3rd cousin by blood. I don't think I ever loved any two people more than Daddy Bill and Mama Sue and I don't think any two people loved me any more than they did. Their visit every August when they brought my sister Katie and I our birthday presents are the highlights of my childhood. 

So all those people saying we should root for Georgia tonight just don't know what they're talking about.  Alabama has won way too many national championships it's time someone else did. As for which broadcast I'll watch while I enjoyed the Alabama and Georgia hometown radio broadcasts in the semifinals, I really like Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. In the past I enjoyed the "Sounds of the Game" broadcast with no announcers but ESPN no longer does that one...I guess I'm too much of an Iconoclast and not many other people watched that one. Traditional broadcast will be my choice tonight while probably breaking for the halftime performances on ESPN3. 

Fortunately I don't work until 11:00 AM tomorrow so I shouldn't be too bleary eyed on Tuesday. Only thing left to say is Go Dawgs! Sic 'Em! Woof!Woof!Woof!Woof! Woof! 

Happy 2022 sorry it's been a while

I haven't blogged in months, mainly due to getting a lot of hours at work and also not having anything to really blog about. As I usually do one around new years and my new years included two of my favorite things, plus I'm up early on January 2nd, here goes. 

I was scheduled 7:00-4:00 on New Years Eve, which worked out great as the college football playoffs got underway at 3:30. My original plan was to tune to "ABC News Live" to watch the ball drop. At around 9:45 however,  towards the end of the 4th quarter I realized I wasn't going to make it to midnight. I planned to celebrate at midnight Atlantic time and was hoping ABC News Live would have coverage from somewhere in the Atlantic time zone. I stopped watching the game around 10:54 and went to ABC News Live on Sling. Unfortunately when they came back from commercial before 11:00, they were in Times Square interviewing NYCFC of MLS. I scrambled to find something on YouTube and settled on the London fireworks for a bit. Took me a long time to open my bottle of Andre and I had a glass or two and went to bed.

New Years Day started with my usual pomegranate mimosas, a tradition I started a few years ago. I watched some football then walked up to my parents house for our traditional collard greens, black-eyed peas, ham and cornbread. We also had mashed sweet potatoes. I watched a little more football before walking home, watched even more football with pomegranate mimosas. Originally I had planned to go to bed after the Rose Bowl and get up early to watch the 3:35am replay of the Doctor Who's New Years special. Around 6:30 though I got very sleepy,  probably from eating 3 helpings at dinner so I went to bed. After sleeping very soundly for about 90 minutes I woke up in time for the end.of the Rose Bowl and I also watched the Sugar Bowl. I think went to bed again and woke up around 2:30 without any of my alarms set for 3:00 going off. After some web surfing I put my Sling app on BBC America and got ready for the special. 

Perhaps this is a 'woke' thing to notice but in the opening credits I noticed that both the producer and director of "Eve of the Daleks" were women. Unlike the "Flux" 6 part series a few weeks earlier,  which was confusing and just not very  satisfying,  I throughly enjoyed "Eve of the  Daleks". Don't want to spoil anything for those that haven't seen it yet, but I think most doctor who fans will be pleased.

So that was my New Years. Only thing to say now is

GO DAWGS! SICK 'EM! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

(I have a lot of family in Georgia and they are big bulldog fans.)

The State of Doctor Who

It's been a long time since I've blogged so I thought I would do a series on the states of the various interests in my life starting with my #1 interest Doctor Who. 

News has broken now that 2022 will see Jodie Whittaker depart as the 13th Doctor and Chris Chibnell is leaving as show runner. It's certainly been a controversial run for Chibnell as show runner with the elephant in the room being the Timeless Child retcon.

As far as I'm concerned,  on It's own merits, as far as storytelling goes, I'm ok with it, however I don't like the implication that William Hartnell's Doctor wasn't the first, etc.

So much of classic and even new series Doctor Who is based on the Timelords having 12 regenerations. Clara's begging the Timelords to give the 11th Doctor (who by counting the War Doctor and the 10ths regeneration without changing bodies was out of lives) for another regeneration is now pointless. I'm hoping it gets resolved in the next series which will be 6 episodes with 3 specials. 

Speaking of which, I normally stay away from rumors and leaks but have found myself paying more attention to those this time.

Word is we will not get a 60th Anniversary special in 2023 but instead a centenary special in 2022 for the 100th Anniversary of the BBC. 

I'm OK with this because the centenary Special is rumored to feature past Doctors,  David  Tennant is the main rumor with rumors also circulating of Paul McCain getting a long overdue main screen appearance as the 8th Doctor.  If the centenary Special is going to be a multi-Doctor affair,  then I see no reason to turn around and do a 60th Anniversary special in 2023. 60 is not a big milestone and I think it would be overkill. 

The other big rumor going is that we are in for a big change, much along the lines of differentiating between classic Doctor Who and the new series. 

I've seen fans on Twitter debate over whether or not Doctor Who needs to "rest" for a bit with many saying we already wait long enough between series.

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing is a move away from a "series" and more towards 3 or 4 specials a year. Make them really good, gives us something to look forward to. What I don't want to see is a whole series being "dropped" at once on a streaming service, I'd miss the communal discussion of a new episode every week,  although I imagine it would still be broadcast in that way.

The other issue is there is so much Doctor Who content out there already that I don't think a pause would be the worst thing to happen. 

Classic Doctor Who airs M-F at 8:00 & 8:30 on retro TV here in the states with occasionally episodes at 9:00 & 9:30 on Thursday and Friday (usually to "even out" a story with an odd number of episodes). It also airs Saturday and Sunday from 6:00-8:00. There's Pluto TV which airs a collection of classic episodes, although it's a limited run. The classic series is also on Britbox with the new series on HBO Max. Not to mention all the novels I bought and never read. 

I think if we are going to see a big change in production,  certainly we can do with a pause. We Whovians have had our share of long pauses between new televised stories what's one more?

The Great Sling Experiment

Several months ago I canceled my YouTube TV subscription because $64,99/month was just too much for live TV. I listened to many sporting events on the radio or over the internet and watched what I could over the air, mainly the NCAA basketball tournament. 

Several weeks ago I decided to try Sling TV. I opted for the Orange package, which includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 (ESPN's online content that is only available on the ESPN app). $35/month is about what I'm willing to pay for live sports, however I am not willing to pay the extra $11/month for SEC Network, ACC Network or ESPNU. 

Here's the thing about the "conference" networks. I only really ever watched SEC Network when the Gamecocks were playing (I dislike Paul Firebaum immensely). Football, Men's basketball and most baseball games are on the radio locally. Women's basketball and the few early season baseball games that don't get on the radio are on internet audio through either the "Gamecocks" app or iheartradio through 107.5 "The Game"... the Gamecocks flagship radio station in Columbia. I don't ever remember watching ACC Network, but if I did it was only when Clemson played...the same radio "rules" apply there. Also USC and USC Upstate often play around the same time, so I can listen to the Gamecocks on the radio and watch the Spartans on my tablet via ESPN+. I had a wonderful Friday last week when forecasted inclement weather on a Saturday meant that USC Upstate played a doubleheader on ESPN+ while the Gamecocks also played a doubleheader that Friday and I was not scheduled at work. 

By only having ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 i will have access to most "championship" events, the women's basketball tournament, College World Series, bowl games and playoffs, etc.

The Orange package also gives me access to TBS and TNT, so I'm covered for the later rounds on the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm not concerned about TruTV because only the "first four" and first and second rounds are on that channel which I never watched any other time of the year. I also didn't watch much of the first two rounds this year. It also gives me AEW Dynamite on TNT, which I had learned to live without but I still missed. USA Network is only available on the Blue package, but I have access to RAW, NXT and Miz and Mrs., etc. on Hulu. Smackdown is a problem because I typically listen to Gamecock baseball games on Friday nights and Smackdown typically isn't uploaded on Hulu until Sunday afternoon. I also get AXS TV, which shows impact wrestling on Thursday night, but the few times I've watched it recently I didn't enjoy it. I am enjoying A&E's Biography, which is currently airing a series on WWE wrestlers. And whenever the new series of Doctor Who debuts, I'll have BBC America. 

The only drawback is Sling only works well on my Amazon fire stick when I have high speed internet at the beginning of the month, but I have gotten where I only watch my streaming services on my tablet anyway. My TV is used mainly for local OTA channels, classic Doctor Who on retro TV for example and to watch DVDs, although through watching my DVDs of the new Doctor Who series, I've discovered many are corrupted and have skips and freezes. I'm using a Doctor Who fan website called "The Randomizer" to select episodes and instead of my DVDs I'm watching on HBO Max.

I believe I am going to stay with Sling Orange for the foreseeable future. As I said $35/month is what I'm willing to pay, but not $46/month to get "sports extra". I'm hoping for the day when YouTube TV comes up with a new plan, say pick 10 channels for $35/month. If anyone could do that, it's YouTube TV/Google. 

Royals it was always going to be you.

Going to bed at 9:00 PM has backfired on me and I'm now awake at 1:00 AM with baseball and the upcoming season on my mind.

I added a subscription to ESPN+ today (yearly then canceled immediately to avoid surprise charges on my debit card.) My plans to attend a baseball game at USC Upstate on Tuesday have taken a badbturn due to weather. While the game could still be played (rain ends mid afternoon as of the last time I checked) i will probably take advantage of ESPN+ and stay in the comfort of home.

I'm also not completely sure I will be able to make it to a Greenville Drive game with capacity restrictions and not really wanting a season ticket, even the one on Thursdays, my day off, was too much baseball, not to mention my admittedly prudish nature regarding "$1 Drink Night".

As I also mentioned in a previous blog, Jackie Bradley, Jr. exiting the Red Sox organization has me rethinking my loyalties. It's occurred to me tonight thought it shouldn't be that difficult of a decision. 

I am also a fan of the Kansas City Royals primarily because of former Gamecock Whit Merrifield. The Columbia Fireflies are also now a Royals affiliate. And for some reason,  perhaps because of an early childhood premonition, I used to always look at the standings in the sports page and see how the Royals were doing. I wasn't even a baseball fan then.

Perhaps I'll wait and post this on Facebook on Opening Day April 1st.  It would be fitting as years ago I did the same declaring myself a Red Sox fan. 

Slugger and Texas on my mind

Ever since the upcoming baseball series between South Carolina and Texas was announced,  I have been flooded with memories from 2002, the year the South Carolina and Texas met in the championship game of the College World Series. 

That was the final year that the championship was a single game, the next year saw the beginning of the 3 game series for the championship. Myself and other Gamecock fans have long argued that if 2002 had been a 3 game series, the Gamecocks would have come back and won the championship. Things worked out in the long run, as South Carolina won the final Championship contented in Rosenblatt Stadium in 2010 and won the following year in the first CWS at TD Ameritrade Park. Also if memory serves me correctly,  we came into the 2002 championship game with 1 loss in the tournament while Texas was unbeaten which would have called into question our worthiness had we won in 2002.

2002 also brings happy memories of when my "Big Ole Baby" Slugger adopted me.

Long before South Carolina and Clemson played a 3 game series annually, the rivalry consisted of two game home and home on a Saturday and Sunday in March and consecutive Wednesdays in April, also home and home. I believe it was the final game on a Wednesday in April and as it was a nice evening I turned up my radio which was then hooked up to an old stereo system, opened my front door and raised the window on my screen door and went to listen to the game on my front porch swing. Right when the game was about to start I saw what at the time was a little black puppy staring at me from my fence by the edge of the road.

I went over to him and he started to run away but I called to him and held out my hand. He sniffed and licked me through the fence and I walked around the edge to my gate in my driveway. He followed me and I let him in and we walked to my front porch. 

I held him and noticed a sore on his neck. I worked in the kennels at an animal hospital at the time so there was no doubt I would bring him in the next day. While I was holding him, the Gamecocks hit their first home run of the game and I looked at him and said something to the effect of "you're a little slugger aren't you?". The Gamecocks went on to win that evening and it was obvious that he was to become part of my family. 

I introduced Slugger to Andy that night (Andy knew something was up) and they were instant buddies. Andy may have been the smaller of the two, but he was the boss when it came to "chase".

Sadly Andy and Slugger died within about 2 weeks of each other many years ago. But I have happy memories that have been awakened by a baseball series.