2012 World Series Prediction: The record of a predicted loser

The predictions tag is certainly the one used most often here. And with the occasional exception, the team that I pick to win whatever sports championship at the beginning of the year very rarely goes on to do so in any of the four major sports.

Curiously, the outcome that has turned out to occur far more frequently is my originally predicted runner-up emerging instead. In fact, there have been at least five times in the six-year history of this blog: last season's Miami Heat, both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Los Angeles Lakers of the 2008-09 seasons, and perhaps most lovingly hoped for, the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks. 

The fifth, final and furthest runner-up that instead won it all was the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. Coincidentally, that was also the same year of the last World Series appearance for the Detroit Tigers, the same team that I not only have picked to lose throughout this postseason, but also picked at the beginning of this year to be on the losing end of this final series of the year.

So it should be relatively clear what I'm really expecting to happen at this point. One of these years, I'll remember that everything that happened in baseball's regular season goes completely out the window at the start of the playoffs.

I should confess that I will likely miss a majority of this year's World Series, seeing as I'll be on my honeymoon. I may attempt to DVR it, although I can't really imagine that I'd actually watch entire games when I get home. Needless to say, I've obviously got plenty of other things on my mind right now—I mean, Jesus ... did you see how many winners and losers I forgot to color in for those years past?—so let me just get on with the inevitable and hope that if I catch any of these games, they're actually good ones.

The Bears' First Quarter: Better than expected ... again (record-wise, at least)

If that title's subhead sounds familiar, it's probably because I was saying the exact same thing at this point last year. Now, whereas a year ago the Bears had already beaten the team that would end up going on to win the Super Bowl, this season the team's current .500 record is still a game better than where I had anticipated their record being at. Perhaps the Falcons are not as good as some of us had thought they would be, but ultimately this still seems like the story Bears fans should be getting used to this season: A fight to get above .500.
 
On Monday night, the Bears will go up to currently undefeated Detroit. Jay Cutler has been sacked the second-most number of times in the league through four weeks and the defense has allowed the second-most number of total yards. Perhaps part of that is attributable to having played the past two Super Bowl Champions and an offense led by a rookie sensation in addition to Atlanta to start of the season, but at the end of the day, this year's Bears squad does not have the feel of a playoff team.
 
As the season progresses, I cannot rule out that Chicago's coaching staff does have a track record for turning around problem areas. But in a division that has the only two undefeated teams remaining in the league, that would mean that the Bears have to finish with a better record than every other second-place club in the NFC. Of course, the Broncos got off to a 6-0 start a few years back before missing the playoffs altogether, so maybe I shouldn't be counting the Lions in just yet. Still, it's hard for me not to count the Bears out. 

2011-12 NHL Predictions: I ♥ WGN

I missed getting this done before what was technically opening night, but forget all that for now. I had been fearing that with the beloved Blackhawks dropping the puck tonight, I might have to deal with no longer having the team's stellar radio broadcasts to listen to. We get WGN's TV station down here in Austin, so that assured me a few mmore televised games in addition to the national broadcasts. And I suppose tonight and tomorrow, with the Stars on the schedule, I can catch some more Chicago hockey on television thanks to the Dallas Fox Sports affiliate.

But I've got the sound off because as it turns out, WGN's Hawks broadcasts are not blacked out. Thankfully. Times a million. Seriously, everything's coming up roses these days. Work's going well. I'm engaged now. And I'll be able to listen to John and Troy this season. What else could I possibly want?

Oh, yeah: Another parade with the Stanley Cup in Chicago.

The Progress: In which persistence finally pays off

Friday began with a bit of bad news when I received an email informing me that the SEO Trainee position I was to be interviewing for on Monday had been filled. Sure, I could still interview on Monday if I wanted because there was the real possibility that another position could open within the next few weeks if the company landed the couple big bids it had going on.

I was reading the email on my cell phone at my current job while preparing for an afternoon function in which overly fussy Austin-area businesswomen were going to be getting a rather cheap lunch and talking about more efficient ways to use their Twitter and Facebook accounts (or something like that ... maybe I just heard both mentioned several times because, well, they were women and that's seemingly all they ever talk about anymore). As soon as I ran into my general manager, he informed me that he had received a complaint about me from one of the guests at one of the previous evening's events. Apparently I acted "rude" when she asked to have something wrapped up. I asked for something more specific since I didn't know what I could've done wrong and was only told "not to let it happen again."

I've been looking high and low for anything other than a restaurant job for years now, and while this new place that represents my first job since arriving in Texas has certainly become more profitable in recent weeks, at that moment it was beginning to feel as though even this job was now on shaky ground.

Fast-forward a couple hours to the middle of the event on Friday afternoon and another email has come in. This one is a reply from somebody I interviewed with almost two weeks ago for a writing job. Since I hadn't heard from her earlier in the week, by about Wednesday I was assuming they went with somebody else. Still, I opened the email and thought it began with the obligatory thank you for coming in the previous week. Familiar with how these rejections typically go, I was sure the next line would be some variation of either "we've decided to go with another candidate," or "we can not extend you an offer at this time."

The Adjustment: Has it been two months already?

There's the part of me that just wants to refer back to what I said a little over a year ago at this time when I recognized that there's typically a lull in posting during the summer. But even looking back on that post, it's hard to believe that I wasn't writing more often when I didn't have a regular job at that point. And perhaps most surprising would be that I still had no idea that what was going on between ™ and I would lead me to being here right now living with her in Austin. It's all still very incredible.

I've wanted to write about a number of things that have happened over the past couple months, like the short visit from my parents or the weekend her siblings spent here, but alas ... this is the first time I've had enough time to really sit with my laptop and pound out a few thoughts. Don't get me wrong; when I last wrote about life down here in Texas, I was stressing about finding a job. Of course, a few weeks later, I got one. And now it eats up a majority of my week. This is how life works, I'm told.

Final Thoughts on 2010-11 NBA Season: Where the best TEAM won

This past basketball season essentially began nearly one year ago, right around July 8 of last year. Perhaps you recall what happened that evening and presumably helped the NBA garner terrific television ratings throughout the entire season. The Miami Heat became Public Enemy No. 1, which is probably why their loss in this year's NBA Finals has ended up feeling like a victory for every one of us who is no fan of theirs. The celebratory, mocking memes were cranked out in a hurry. An Associated Press headline rubbed it in—although apparently not from this Miami newspaper. I even offered my own dig.

In the end, however, the credit really must be given to the team that ended up hoisting that trophy last night, a Dallas Mavericks team that had been continually underestimated and written off all year long. The boys from South Beach didn't give the series away so much as the veteran Mavs went out and took it.

I suppose once every great while we get this sort of encouraging result in the NBA where the lower-profile, close-knit group of underdogs ends up knocking off the talent-laden predominant favorite. But enough about that Lakers team and the embarrassment they suffered. Like I said, this year deserves to be remembered primarily as Dallas' accomplishment.

The Arrival: In which just getting here was an adventure

After ™ last flew up to Illinois to spend a long weekend with me between her birthday and my own, I reminded her at the airport that the following three weeks until I saw her again would go by pretty fast. I had been saying it primarily to comfort her that unlike, say, the more than two months before that visit when we'd last been able to see one another, this final step was going to arrive much faster. And sure enough, before I knew it—before I'd even remembered to formally change my address, before I'd been able to land a job to start when I arrived, before I'd finished packing ALL of my belongings—I was at O'Hare on May 18 boarding a one-way flight to Texas.

We first moved ™'s stuff from the Houston area to our new apartment in Austin, and then the following day began the roughly 19-hour drive back to St. Charles. While the original plan was to drive as much as we could on the first day and find a hotel when we got tired, we instead ended up stopping for a bite to eat in Memphis that evening and just staying on the road until we arrived at my parents' house early that Saturday morning. After catching some shuteye, we had some rather lackluster Pizza Hut for dinner that evening with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Later that night, we went out with a couple friends of mine in downtown St. Charles.

Over the course of those three weeks between ™'s visits, I kept waiting for the moment that the relocation was really going to hit me. But even as I reminded myself that certain visits I was making could be my last for quite some time, it still didn't seem real.

What stuck with me that last night in St. Charles had to be a moment outside one of the bars just after last call. ™ was hugging me and a girl I'd never met before but was was apparently a friend of one of my friends looked at us and wondered aloud to us why she couldn't have something like ™ and I had. The girl, probably somewhere in her mid-twenties, had just gotten out of a long-distance relationship.

When other friends and co-workers used words like "jealous" or such in response to learning my relocation plans, I had sort of downplayed it as them just being nice. But on that last night, something in that one girl's eyes finally made me feel lucky. After three or so years of convincing myself nobody else in their right mind would ever want to be in my shoes, I finally experienced a real moment of having somebody else saying they wanted what I had.

Ultimately, I was only beginning to realize how lucky I was.

NBA Playoff Confrence Finals Predictions: See, I toldja I loved my girlfriend ...

Lakers-Mavericks sounded like a can't miss proposition to some people, I suppose. I hate the Lakers and my girlfriend loves the Mavs. No-brainer, right?

Yeah, well ... of course we know what I ended up going with for last round's picks, but in my defense, nobody had Dallas. I didn't realize how poorly I'd attempted to articulate my logic until ™ posted a screencap of that pick and my drivel to her own blog, a post which she mercifully made "private" (whatever the hell that is), seeing as the Mavericks absolutely kicked the living shit out of the defending champions. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever seen Los Angeles get that embarrassed—and I'm not just talking about that dirty, thuggish thing Andrew Bynum did, although that certainly added to it.

Anyway, just like the second round of the NHL playoffs, the second round of the NBA postseason saw both my Finals teams being eliminated sooner than expected. The usual standings and screencaps of other experts' picks will be added to this post later, but per this blog's policy to attempt to post predictions before events actually occur (novel concept, I know), and seeing as there was this window of a few hours before the official end to the last round and the beginning of the next, I've conveniently already got my mind made up about how this thing's going to turn out.

Hooray: Another fantasy championship

I'm forgoing the usual "nobody cares" graphic that's typically gone along with these sorts of posts, but I don't plan on requiring a fold for this summary either. If you've actually been following the only fantasy team I've been running ever since football ended, you might recall that I was also responsible for running my girlfriend's basketball team this year too.

I was optimistic about her chances against the top-seeded ex-boyfriend of another friend who, like the four other teams in the league, stopped paying attention shortly after the season began.

Unfortunately, Steve Nash sat out a game and there were a few other unfortunate missed games from some of her players and the lady's team ultimately had to settle for easily taking a third place game.

While I didn't get the championship match with ™'s team that I'd been hoping for, it was pretty satisfying to essentially thump the only other guy who'd been signing in and, during most weeks, dominating the league every week. He resoundingly beat me the first two times we played during the year, although I took the third meeting and we both finished 18-3 on the year. I had far and away the most transactions in the league with 55 moves (my girlfriend's team had 38, and this year's runner-up had 20), with a huge amount coming in the final few days. While I ran out to an early lead in the championship and led by 1000+ points at the end of the week, the numbers kept going until the season ended on Wednesday. With no player on my team scheduled to play that Tuesday and four of his guys (including Kobe Bryant and the same Luol Deng I had dropped so early in an otherwise fabulous year for him), I scooped up seven guys for Tuesday and then replaced most of them for Wednesday.

The result is that I've now won fantasy titles in three of the four major sports, with only football (which admittedly is the only one that would be worth mentioning ever again ... maybe) eluding me.

Despite what I'd say is an otherwise respectable fantasy résumé,  I'd like to point out that my girlfriend is given the higher rating on overall performance:

Whatevs. Maybe they'll correct it when they put my latest trophy in the case.

Twice as meaningless: Successfully running your girlfriend's fantasy team

Your author is hard-pressed to think of something that can cause an immediate loss of interest quite like hearing about someone's fantasy team. Having friends and co-workers recite their rosters with no real purpose other than to gloat about conquering leagues you're not involved in seems quite banal and pointless, no?

That said, the author knows full well that you the dear reader probably also couldn't give two shits about whatever fantasy team he's gone and created after so many years of taking that road less traveled where non-participation seemed cooler. Now the author has multiple fantasy teams, and while he tries mightily not to bring those into the other posts here on BMC that you might actually read, every once in a while, if for no other purpose than to help him remember who he had on such teams in a given year, he likes to keep a recorded entry of how he's done.

This is one of those times. Your non-interest in the remainder of this post is understood.

The Countdown: Three becomes two

In this area, we've endured what I was told was a record amount of snow last month, but now nearly every last sign of white has all but disappeared and it's getting closer to being so comfortable outside that I can once again sit on the stoop in front of the house, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and complete a puzzle or two. It's now becoming more frequent for the morning to begin with me actually asking myself, "Do I need a coat for this?"

But the shift feels a little bit more substantial this particular spring at this particular time, and not just because it appears that the shovel's not going to be looked at again until Thanksgiving. I'd be more giddy about the prospect of sitting outside for a couple hours again to start the day if I were even able to stand still right now.

That's largely because more than three years after I was being arrested for another DUI, I had my probation terminated early last Thursday. And now without any more check-ins at the courthouse to essentially document that I've been staying out of trouble, I'm finally free to go do whatever I want.

It's still sinking in as to what that even feels like. After three years of being what I described as a "prisoner of the state," I've now got two months to take advantage of this newfound supposed freedom.

Things I made while offline: Dirk Nowitzki

Because this blog will be dominated by football-related content for the next five months, your author has decided to make an effort to regularly post pictures his lovely and talented sister took of some of his artwork. These posts will include a brief thought or two about when the piece was made. 

This week: A pencil & charcoal collage of images of Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki

Five Years Later: What's really changed?

What you see in the background of that image there is what I refer to as "my journal." I bought it at a Borders or some other bookstore back in 2004, primarily for class when I was back finally finishing college. When I bought that hardcover item, I imagined that I would fill it out quickly and rush to replace it—repeatedly.

And nearly seven full years later, despite the binding falling apart and giving the appearance that it's been opened with far greater frequency, I'd say I'm a little more than halfway through it. Journaling every single day, as it turns out, is a routine I just never could get into.

Of course, the excuse that I make for not writing my private thoughts down on a more regular basis is because over time, I've developed a number of other places to publicly record them. My Tumblr has occasionally become one such venue for me in the past couple of years, but this particular blog has been another for five years now, today.

While I've made a note of this anniversary on one previous occasion, I don't think the past three years on BMC have really allowed me to post another "greatest hits" sort of series of links. Still, I do think it's appropriate to kind of look back, briefly reflect on what's happened and then get back to moving forward.

"Holiday Break": The Sequel

You know what I need? Another break. And fuck if I didn't earn it this year, right?

Anyway, seeing as how well things went over Thanksgiving, ™ decided to actually come back and see me again. So the whole Week 16 recap, Week 17 preview, and whatever other posts I had in mind are all going to have to wait until 2011.

I know, there will be plenty more thoughts to expand on besides all the fuckin' football stuff that's pretty much been the majority of the content here in the last quarter of the year, but I'm looking forward to having another week off from work to give ™ a little more time in the actual downtown Chicago rather than just the one day we got there the last time she was here.

In the meantime, dear readers, I hope you've enjoyed your own holidays and that you have a happy and safe New Year's Eve as well as 2011. I've already got a great number of things to look forward to in the coming year, but again, that's stuff that I'll expand on when I get back.

This 2010 certainly had its highs and lows just like every year seems to, but during this time away from BMC, I'm guessing it's going to go out on quite the high note and hopefully have me entering 2011 more optimistic than any other year in the past.

See you all in January.

"Holiday Break" follow-up: It's a long story (but a happy one)

I had always felt that people who claimed to find love on the internet were creating a sort of forced romance. Of the few people I knew personally who met significant others over the web, it was almost always through an online dating service. And my very first impression of those kind of those kinds of sites was forged by a former co-worker of mine, a nice enough fellow who had been engaged at one time but had things fall apart when his fiancee turned out to be something of a psycho. As a result, he seemed determined not just to seek a new girlfriend, but most certainly find a future bride.

When he spoke openly about testing the waters of online dating, his profile was public, and so of course, other co-workers and I had to check it out. What struck me most after viewing it was the overall sense of desperation that was conveyed in his "preferences." Height? Any. Religion? Any. Nationality? Any.

To me, the whole thing reinforced the notion that this entire approach equated to begging to get laid. It always seemed that a romantic interest was something you discovered unexpectedly, hence the joy of explaining how you met. Using a dating service not only seemed to encourage some dishonesty to make yourself sound more appealing, but forced you to probably place more pressure on yourself to make any potential match work.

So my conclusion based upon the few examples I knew personally—since I was determined never to try it myself—was that romance and the internet were two entirely different things. Any attempt to combine the two was manufacturing an emotion that's best enjoyed when it occurs naturally.

Gimme a moment: Holiday Break

I realize I still haven't even updated my picks from Week 11 (I went 11-5, for the record) and this would be about the time the Power Rankings would be getting posted while I rushed to get Week 12 Picks ready for three games on Thanksgiving and ... oh, well, you know what? All of that's going to have to wait, I'm afraid.

See, now that I've been working again for a whole, oh, four months now, I've decided I'm going to use the upcoming holiday for a little mini-vacation of sorts. I really earned it, of course. And by vacation, I mean I'll be taking the rest of the week off starting tomorrow to help someone pretty darn special see Chicago for the very first time.

Needless to say, I have no intention of taking away from that time just to post my picks to this blog before the deadline. Sorry.

But fear not, for I have screencapped all the results from last week and will post the belated picks after the fact next week when I'm back to the normal schedule. Oh, and hopefully I'll elaborate a little more on what I actually do this week.

In the meantime, enjoy your Thanksgiving, dear readers.

Just a thought (or two): Summer Disclaimer

As you may have noticed, we're nearing a month since my last post here at BMC. Oh sure, I've got plenty of stuff I've been meaning to put up here, but as the old saying goes, "The road to the Cell is paved with good intentions."

I feel that before I get back to posting the usual blathering and just adding in a bunch of repetitive apologies, I could just admit right now that summertime has not been a peak time for posting since the inaugural year of this blog for a variety of reasons—first and foremost being that, well, it's the fucking summer and I should be getting out of the house.

That's not to say there's been a real bevy of memorable activity this summer, as—keeping with another fine recurring BMC theme—I've been spending most of my time frantically searching for work since losing my job some time around Valentine's Day. I suppose I could get excited about certain interviews or whine about calls not being returned, but in all honesty, I just don't see the point. There's been some progress and signs of hope in recent weeks, and we'll leave it at that until there's actually an offer.

And as you can probably guess, having no job (as well as no driver's license—not to mention that this is all while living in your parents' basement) effectively translates to no interest* from the ladies either my current disbelief about some very good fortune as well as not wanting to jinx my chances with the one girl I'm interested in and am still awestruck would be interested in me*. So cue my theme song, I guess.

My 2010 Oscar Ballot: Nicolas Chartier wouldn't complain (too much)

After my initial snobbery at the idea of now having 10 films nominated for Best Picture, this past year actually is the first time I can say I've seen all the nominated films since the last time Sandra Bullock's embracing of minorities won Oscar gold. So really, who was I crapping by pretending that doubling the nominees would make it less likely I'd see every film? Actually, I'll attribute it to having spent more time with a gay friend interested in such movies than a girlfriend who only wants to drag me to see things like this. So what I lacked in getting laid this Oscar season, I figure I made up with being enlightened.

Additionally, I think my biggest surprise has to be that I had favorable opinions of nine out of the 10 films—although I would say that really just three earned the sort of enthusiastic endorsements from me that I feel will still hold up many years down the road.

Anyway, even though the Oscars were handed out nearly two months ago and I'm not an actual voting member of the Academy, here for the sake of posterity is how I would have filled out my ballot had I been given one and some brief final thoughts until I hopefully do this again next year:

Just a thought (or two): On, like, why I've been quiet and shit

Holy shit! Are we really halfway through April all ready? Is it "all ready" or "already" that's grammatically correct? And why have I only now started to wonder about that?

I blame it all on what I just told another friend has been a "severe case of writer's block"—which is, of course, total and utter horse shit. It usually is. I am physically capable of writing something, I'm just not particularly as passionate about any of my ideas at the moment to put the time into any sort of creative project like, say, a screenplay or (if you're one of three married women I know) a book.

No, especially not as of late when baseball season's started back up and between radio broadcasts of that or hockey, I've actually been far more satisfied—artistically speaking—spending time at the sketch pad instead of the keyboard. I sent out a couple of well-received projects for birthday gifts this month and am currently working on a somewhat more ambitious piece that I ... well, I don't know what I'll do with it quite yet.
 
Originally I intended to make it another gift for more of an IRL acquaintance I only met recently that has a personal anniversary date coming up, but I ... am just so confused, I guess. I've been spending too much time in recent weeks waiting for the phone to ring. That's not just with hopes that one of the four places I've got applications in at and are supposedly hiring will finally bring me on and get me out of this unemployment rut, but I also found myself taken aback by meeting one girl who actually asked for my number, asked if she could call me one weekend ... and still hasn't.

And so, like I've been putting it most of the week when I'm trying to downplay how much it actually bothers me, the girl I want to call me isn't and the girl I don't want to call me (READ: The ex—that one, for the record) is.

I suppose that might make for some interesting developments as we head into the summer, but there'll be posts aplenty coming before this month closes out—what with the NBA and NHL post-seasons kicking off. Last year, I deliberately posted nothing but my predictions during those months when the playoffs were going on, such that by the time they were over, the entire front page of my blog was the four rounds of predictions and the final thoughts for both seasons. But this year, I'll make the mistake of announcing my intentions to make sure that there's something between those rounds of predictions.

It'll be something hopefully more, you know, "inspired." I know, I know. I can hardly wait to get on that already/all ready.

NCAA Tournament Predictions: To care or not to care?

Again, I'm far from being a real die-hard about any collegiate sport. I mentioned this last year in that lone post I had for the month of March (I'm guessing that "climax to one story" involved me dumping my girlfriend, which I ended up doing in May—and then letting get dragged out until ... it wasn't that great of a story, I guess is the point). I'm not going to repeat myself, but I did wake up early this morning and while checking to see how I was doing in those other fantasy endeavors, I inevitably had to see if I could do better than Obama. I immediately realized how much I hated the idea of ending up with all four top seeds in my Final Four, and so this is my supposed version of "playing it safe." The title for my set of picks, by the way, refers to my all-time favorite NBA player and an odd page that came up when searching for an image of that goofy bastard for my avatar. Whatevs. I like it. Updates will be forthcoming, I assume, but I don't even know who I want to root for.

Another fantasy trophy would be sweet though.