Around the Horn, and a Question About Dinner

Good afternoon, everybody. Here's some fresh gheorghasbord with A. Whitney Blogger.

Baseball season starts Thursday. And there was much rejoicing. Expect a “green fields of the mind” kind of baseball preview post coming up any minute now. We have top men working on it. Top. Men.

In the meantime, from the Nerd Herd: For the past couple of months, rob and Marls and I have participated in a Strat-o-matic baseball league managing players from the 1980's on middling clubs we assembled. Will Clark is really all I've got, though Cliff Johnson has hit 36 taters in 360 AB's (you do the math). My Tidewater Tides are 67-86 with three 3-game-series to be played over the next three nights. Marls' Queens Kings has the same miserable record, except that I have made 32 transactions since the season started and he hasn't touched his crap team. Kong has 33 dongs. And then there's rob, leading his garbage division at a 76-77 clip. Cecil Cooper's 44 dingers and Jimmy Key have led the way for him.  Will he make the playoffs? Will he do so with a winning record? Will Marls or I finish worst in the league (as we are now)? All this and more. Stay tuned!

Vinny Green Balls

The NFL Draft is a month away, but that doesn't prevent daily headlines about it. From the Who Gives a Shit? file cabinet, we announce Whitney's suggested pick for the Washington Football Team: Christian Darrisaw, LT from Virginia Tech. B'more guy who did some time at Fork Union Military Academy prior to becoming a Hokie. FUMA, known for Vinny Testaverde and Don Majkowski and Mike Quick and Plaxico and Anthony Castonzo and Morgan Moses and a whole mess o' Buckeyes like Eddie George. And Mel Turpin. And Jerry Richardson and Kevin Plank and The Big Lebowski. And Weenie Reynolds, our fraternity buddy. 

It's also known to me as the school in the Virginia Prep League we'd play every fall. My junior year we lost to them at home, 10-7, on a last-second FG. So sad, as it would have meant we registered two wins instead of one that special season. A year later we bused up to FUMA, focused on revenge. We trailed at the half, 53-0. It didn't get better from there. The kids working the chains (the best part of life at FUMA, I'd gauge) got into the game against us in the 4th quarter. So sad, as it would have meant we registered two wins instead of one that special season. 

Back to the original point... I hope the WFT takes him at #19. Speaking of that stupid acronym, team president Jason Wright says “Washington Football Team under consideration as permanent name, cites fan sentiment.” This isn't even in the Top 10 Idiotic Things Daniel Snyder's Team Ever Did, but it's up there. Morons.

Happy Birthday to Maimonides (whb 886), Jethro Tull (280), Francisco Goya (whb 275), Vincent Van Gogh (whb 168), Sean O'Casey (whb 141), Sonny Boy Williamson (whb 107), John Astin (91), Eric Clapton (76), Warren Beatty (84), Paul Reiser (65), Charlie Weis (65), MC Hammer (59), Tracy Chapman (57), Ian Ziering (57), Piers Morgan (56), Celine Dion (53), Secretariat (whb 51), Norah Jones (42), Sergio Ramos (35), Richard Sherman (33), Brooke Bush (21), and, I'm guessing, lots of other people. You're having cocktails and a fine feast of food at your house for an extended evening of conversation and post-meal activities of your choice (anything from Uno to leg wrestling); which four (4) of these people are you inviting to join you? If you like, you can pick the version of them from any age/era of their lives.

Norfolk brewery to host adult-only Easter egg hunt. Did anyone else's mind go to a dirtier place than the reality is? It's beer tickets in the eggs. And candy and toys, which aren't that adult. I expect there should at least be some cussing. Maybe some drunks. Probably not nudity. I guess they just hate kids. Fair enough.

All the news that's fit to print tells us that “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of 'impending doom' from a potential fourth surge of the pandemic.” Keep it wrapped until you're vaxxed. Godspeed, good people.

That said, whenever our annual summit resumes being in-person, we have the sign at the door, ready to roll. 

Summit, Dammit

If the mountain wouldn't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad resolved to go to the mountain.

G:TB has one up on ol' Mo.

After repeatedly pledging to convene an actual summit of Gheorghies at CAA Men's Basketball Tournaments held in various locales, with mostly good intentions, and nearly always reneging on those pledges (there have been a couple of near-exceptions, where a couple of us made our way to Richmond, or Baltimore), the Colonial Athletic Association has seen the light.

The CAA needs more Gheorghies, and the league is moving its feature event in order to attract us.

Beginning with the 2020 CAA Tournament, the league will host the event in Washington, DC, at the nearly-completed St. Elizabeth's East Entertainment and Sports Arena (SEEESA - they're not using that acronym, but I'll find a way to add a W and make it work) in Southeast. The 4,200-seat home of the Mystics (and the Capital City Go Go) snagged the CAA deal as its first-ever collegiate event.

Setting aside my obvious personal geographical affinity for the move, it also makes a ton of sense for the league. D.C. is essentially smack dab in the middle of the CAA footprint, 438 miles from Boston (northernmost league member Northeastern) and 506 miles from Charleston. It's within a three-hour (ish) drive of half the league's teams, and a relatively easy day's journey for all ten schools.

The move is also an acknowledgement by the CAA of its status in the pecking order. Last year more than 8,000 fans showed up for the title game in Charleston, but rumor has it that the league gave away more than half of those tickets, even as the host team made it to the championship. In a 4,200-seat arena, the odds are much better that the league will have a full, vibrant venue for its games.

We'll do our part to make it so when the Tribe's in the house. 2020 will be Nathan Knight's senior season, and we'll be in the SEEESAW, riding a roller coaster of emotions as the Commodore leads our guys to the NCAA Tournament.

And hell, while we're dreaming, we've got one more year to get together in Charleston at the 2019 CAA Tournament. See y'all there.

Your Handy-Dandy Calendar of Rock & Roll

Last year was a bit challenging for me in a handful of ways. Family illness, divorce #2, got no jack, blah blah blah. There's no time to feel sorry for yourself in a world brimming with sad events and sorrow, but I probably did.

But music is solace, especially if you can emotionally compartmentalize like I can.  A good rock show cures what ails you for two to four hours at a time.  Festivals even moreso.  And against some odds, I did manage to make it to a boatload of good concerts last year.  As I recall, in order:

• Badfish
• Wilco
• Widespread Panic
• Pink Talking Fish
• Jimmy Buffett
• Pearl Jam
• Jason Isbell
• Violent Femmes
• The Wailers
• Avett Brothers
• Bruce Springsteen
• English Beat / Squeeze
• Old 97's
• The Cult
• Drive-By Truckers

Thus far this year I have caught three of those same bands once again, plus Ween, Green Day, Trombone Shorty, U2's Joshua Tree tour, Lionel Richie, the Australian Pink Floyd Show, and a ton of bands at JazzFest in New Orleans. Plus some local acts.  And the Random Idiots uncorked session in Norfolk pre-OBFT.  And drumming on my desk when I'm bored.

Seems like a lot.  But never enough, I guess, because there's more on the docket. Who's with me?

Okay, I'll be more specific.  I began to assemble a list of bands heading to the area over the next few months.  Then "the area" expanded, since we've journeyed far and wide for the right rock concert in the past.  And then I thought I'd have some fun with it and threw in my estimated percentage chance of attending each show. And some bands I likely will not see.  Ever.

Note... that percentage figure increases substantially if other gheorghies are going to go.  Some recall the mini-summit of 2013 in NJ for the Old 97's/DBT's show.  No fewer than 4 GTBers ganged up for that one.  Let's do this.  Apologies to Mark, Squeaky, and others geographically displaced from my town.  Though I will friggin travel for the right show.

Also... what is up with the explosion of music venues in DC now?  I leave town and they pop up like an outbreak of... whatever that is down there.  Used to be the Verizon Center for big acts, the 9:30 Club for mid-majors, and the Black Cat and such for the littl'uns.  Now: Rock & Roll Hotel, Hamilton Live, The Anthem, Hill Country Barbecue Market, U Street Music Hall, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (??), Lincoln Theatre, and a place near the old Bayou called Gypsy Sally's -- each of which have bands I listen to playing there.  Kind of awesome, kind of wtf.

Anywho... come join me for some musical shenanigans, won't you?

rob wants in on Filler Week

Tiny sent along this link for our afternoon amusement:

Wu Tang Nickname Generator

I got us started...when Gheorghe: The Summit takes place one year from now in New Orleans for Jazz Fest 2011 you can simply call me Sarkastik Desperado*.

*It's really quite sad that an internet meme like a Wu Tang nickname generator is able to peg me so easily.