Doubting Thomas Blog

Archive for the ‘sports’ Category

I’m hoping for a longer winter, because I’ve only had one chance to go skiing so far this season.

Instead of making resolutions, I’m writing down plans…well, not plans exactly, but stuff that I want to do.

I think most of these ideas are feasible. What do you think?

1. Finish the house we started in 2009. I’d like to incorporate green technology, but we’ll see.
2. Get back to running my favorite seasonal business, The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co.
3. Go to more pro baseball games than we did in 2009. I’d like to see my first major league game. In Toronto. I know what you’re saying…someone my age has never seen the MLB in person? Nope.
4. This one is related to #2 above. I will lose a little weight and continue to improve my cardiovascular health. Riding The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co, it would be nearly impossible to gain weight.
5. Do more writing, even if it just more-frequent posts on this blog. I do want to get back to real writing, though.
6. I’d like to learn to speak another language. I studied French in high school and college, so I remember some of that, but “Quiero aprender a hablar español de este año.” (Without having to use Google Translate.)
7. I have a bunch of audio cassettes that I want to convert into digital files, so that I can actually listen to that music. (Younger readers may want to ask their parents if they have any audio cassettes in the basement that they could look at.)
8. I say this every year, but this year is different (partly because of the divorce). I want to spend more time with old friends. I have not ever visited my friends Jesse, Rich, Craig, or Greg at their houses.
9. I’d like to buy an electric car. A Tesla Roadster would be nice, but I would “settle” for a a hybrid Fusion.
10. We live near a lot of water, so I’d like to make sure we get the canoe wet a lot this summer. The Buffalo River is a lot more scenic than you’d expect.
11. Another thing I’ve wanted to do for years, but somehow haven’t found the time to do, is ride my bicycle across New York State. The Erie Canal is a great way to go.
12. I want to take the boys camping, somewhere that they’ll never forget. I think the Adirondacks would be great.
13. We’ve been attending church more regularly, but this year, I would like to make it such a standard part of our life that the boys don’t resist going, when they are at my house on a Sunday. But here’s a problem I haven’t figured out how to resolve: I like three different churches, but I can’t go to all three on the same Sunday morning. Ultimately, I think it will be better if I am more actively involved with one of those three churches, doing things besides just attending morning church services.
14. Many of these things can be done, and some should be done, with family. Baseball, bicycling, and church, for example. This year, I would like to have time to visit my family members at their houses, but also to make the house we’re working on large enough for everyone to gather here for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

What about you? Will you be doing any of these activities?

Statistically speaking, the Buffalo Bisons are the worst team in the league right now. They have lost 47 of the 73 games they have played so far, which gives them an average of .356, which is 15.5 games behind the best team in the North division leader, the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees.

I have a proposal for sports teams. Instead of charging fans the same price for admission to every game, modify it up or down, according to how far above or below .500 the team’s record is so far this season.

For example, at today’s home game, every ticket is $7.00, no matter where you sit. The team is .144 below .500, so the price of each ticket is reduced by a factor of .144. Tonight’s tickets would therefore be $5.99 each. Tomorrow night, the most expensive ticket in the ballpark is $11.00. (I know! Isn’t that a deal?!?) If their record doesn’t change tonight (for example, they get rained out again), the ticket price would be adjusted to $9.42.

If the Bisons had the S/WB Yankees’ record of .568, the ticket price would be adjusted up by a factor of .068 to $11.75.

This provides a financial incentive for teams to play better and win more, and gives fans more incentive to come see teams that stink.

Go Bisons! Boo Yankees!

Normally about this time of year, I’ve already brought the bike taxi out of its winter hibernation, dusted it off, checked the brakes, tires, axles and everything, and brought it downtown to give people rides, but so far this year, I haven’t done that. NOT having a Sabres post-season (AGAIN!) has a little to do with that, but in general, I feel like April FLEW by this year.

At least we made it to one Bisons game so far, which last year… I hate to admit it!… but we didn’t get to a game all summer! And yes, it was a beautiful day, and despite the sunburn I got on my arms, my new tattoos, and my knees, and despite the Bisons LOST again! we had a great day.

I’d like to make it to at least one game every month this summer, but you know how it goes, when you’ve got your work schedule, the boys both have different baseball schedules, etc., it makes it hard. Plus we need to plan in a weekend to visit my parents out-of-state, go see my brother, my older sister, and my younger sister, none of whom have the common sense or kindness to move to Buffalo so that I don’t have to do all that driving!

Here comes May!

My wife’s cousin ran her first marathon this week, and came in with a “respectable” time. Respectable is such a relative term. Respectable for you and me might be two completely different things. Respectable for me is “finished without dying first” because I am not a runner. I would rather ride a bicycle for 100 miles than run 26.2 miles.

BTW, congratulations, Julie!