Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Why I Don't Post Sports Predictions Anymore

I saw this today, and just had to wonder how different my own predictions would have been had I, you know, posted them. As you might know, I stopped doing that a while ago, and this image to the left there probably indicates why.

I assume that I too would have picked all of the heavily-favored teams in the first round, because that is how it always is in the NBA Playoffs. Occasionally I'll pick an upset that I'm rooting for.

Such is the way it always worked. I either found a reason to support the commonly held belief or tried to think of reasons we would get a different outcome. I don't know, I guess I liked having all of my predictions recorded, but it just does not matter to me anymore.

As long as we're talking NBA Playoffs in this post, we might as well note that I have yet to watch a second of postseason basketball (hockey is on, after all). 

So what now will happen with this here blog?

That's an interesting question, and one I have not really decided any action on. Let us be honest, this blog pays nothing. It is done really only for me to share thoughts or whatever concerning my life that I guess I feel are important to commit to the internet.

I suppose that, if anything, I'd probably inclined to turn this blog into yet another vehicle to talk about my daughter, but pictures of her seem to be the sole purpose of my Instagram and Facebook accounts these days, so I don't want to feel like I'm overdoing it.

But what else am I supposed to be "blogging" about exactly? The struggles of being a freelance writer? Oh, I'm sure that would be thrilling. Guess it's on me to make that kind of shit funny.

Predictions always seemed to be the most fun when there was a variety of opinions to compare myself to, and looking at this little ESPN graphic I've included, it seems pretty evident that thrill no longer exists. Yeah, the NBA Playoffs typically don't have a lot of variety, but I still suspect many other sports have been like this. I guess I could compare this to hockey predictions, but I'm just not motivated to do that.

Look, I'm just trying to kill some time now before seeing my daughter because I'm tired of working today. That kind of thinking can't hold up because I need to keep working in order to make money. That's kind of how it works when you're a freelancer. Every minute of the day matters.

Well, kind of.

Freelancing does afford you certain freedoms. You can take days off in the middle of the week without it being too big of a deal. I sit here typing all of this now, and chances are that in a few days I will probably be regretting having not tried harder. Again, the hockey playoffs are on. I'm only human.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm typing now only to try to make the text match the length of the photo, and I know I'm going to be pissed because the way it actually displays will probably mean that the photo still extends past my text. 

Oh well. Whatever.

I wish there was some kind of random update I could throw in here about some kind of new development in my life, but the truth is that it is very quiet. There is no woman in my life, and I'm not even sure there is one who is interested in me or that I am interested in. Wait, retract that last part because I've clearly got one fantasy that I'm working on but not really ever expecting anything to come from. That should be fun.

As long as this post mentions predictions, I feel obligated to mention that my NHL bracket contest pick was the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup, and of course they got swept out of the first round last night. I also picked the Penguins, who got swept too last night. So I clearly would not have been performing too well.

Like I said, I don't really have many basketball thoughts. Of course the Warriors will win it. I guess they'll beat the Bucks. Maybe I'll start caring in the next round.

Again, I just don't see the need to post my predictions anymore, even though I did once enjoy uploading team graphics and making it feel like my thoughts carried some weight. Towards the end there though, I know I was struggling to think of what I really wanted to write. Most of the time, I didn't seem to have many thoughts.

My career drifted away from sports and towards the law several years ago, and I don't see myself drifting back. I like writing about the law, and I plan to keep doing it for the foreseeable future. Maybe that's what I should start blogging about.

Truth be told, I'm just not much of a blogger anymore. Like many, I've taken a liking to Twitter, which is a different sort of beast. But sharing random thoughts there kind of eliminates my need to post fuller stories here. Sorry.

I don't know. This blog's got a lot of miles on it, so I'm sure I'll think of something down the line that I can post here. For now though, I've got very little.