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Been a minute since we checked in.
Jamie's Birthday
It was Jamie's birthday. We have done nothing for it. We're 51 now. It is not exciting. We'll have dinner with the parents tonight, and dinner with Steanso's family on Tuesday.
Baseball Starts
It's opening weekend for Major League Baseball. Cubs have a really good lineup, and despite Opening Day jitters and a loss to the Nationals, I'm enthusiastic about our chances - especially as we bounced back and beat them 10-2 in the second game. Bats are looking good, fielding shouldn't be a problem, and then it's up to the pitcher rotation.
It looks like The Cubs org is also not being weird, and went ahead and locked up two favorites with 6 year contracts - Centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and 2nd Baseman Nico Hoerner. Both produce on defense and at-bat, and are fan favorites, so its nice to not worry about contract nonsense through the season on two key players.
I expect Happ will also retire a Cub one way or another, and I'd love to see Suzuki remain a Cub as long as he's playing the US.
In addition to baseball, it's good to have my imaginary friends back for the post-game show. Cliff, Elise and Cole. And Anthony Rizzo seems to be living part time in Chicago, so I imagine he'll be on with other analysts like Dexter Fowler and Ryan Dempster.
Texas Basketball
Both Longhorn Basketball squads made it into the tournament this year! Hooray!
The men's team played really well, but lost to Purdue after a close game, going down by two points in the last seconds. No shame at all. I'm excited about UT men's basketball for the first time since high school.
UT Women, however, have progressed to the Elite 8. So far they beat Missouri State 87-45, Oregon 100-58 and Kentucky (who I thought of as a really good team this season) 76-54.
This team is really, really good - and what's nuts is that as good as our seniors are, things look equally (or more) bright for next year based on our lower classmen and recruits.
While we have our stars in Rori Harmon, Madison Booker, Kyla Oldacre, et al... Sarah Graves is UT's secret weapon as someone who doesn't just ride the pine. She's maybe the most enthusiastic player and has become an avatar of the positive vibes of the UT team - leading the bench in enthusiasm for her teammates. Plus, when she comes off the bench it's a sign from coach Schaefer we have this locked up. To top it off, Graves has scored multiple times in the tournament after coming in.
WNBA
Sounds like the Connecticut Sun has been purchased as an organization and is headed to Houston. Houston did have a team years ago, and it sounds like the Sun will reclaim that old team name - The Houston Comets. No other word on what this means, but I am excited as the trip to Houston is easier than heading to Dallas.
The contract negotiations are done, the players and WNBA both getting something, and I think it looks like the WNBA players will finally have real pro-athlete pay. It's now tough to look back at the women who played in the league the past 30 years and know what they did so all of this was possible, but looking forward, it's going to be better for both players and the league. And maybe mean a longer season.
