Well, it’s always good to close out the Gregheorghian calendar before the end of January. Lord knows it doesn’t always happen. Last year I threw a bunch of lists at you to finish off this month and Gmas. It was silly. This year it’s the traditional just a single list. Sensible.
Although we all know that Lester trends Silly.
Marls recently commented on Day 8 that I am the “sentimentalist” of the G:TB masthead. When I inquired further, he explained, “Your appreciations post is one of my most looked forward to traditions, even if it sometimes arrives in March.”
Good News: It’s only January!
Bad News: I’m not doing my 12 Appreciations.
Sorry, buddy. The thing is, I went back and reviewed those appreciations from yesteryear, and there was so much redundancy that it essentially melded into one 15-years-long tradition of the reading of the same list.
To wit, I love and appreciate, in no particular order:
- My children
- My wife
- You people
- All my friends
- Not losing more friends
- Live music
- Good music
- New music
- Traveling the world
- Martha Wood
- The OBFT
- My job
- My sports teams fandom
- Good times
- Good people
- Goodness, this is all the same
Although… you know... one is new, and worth highlighting:
- My sports teams fandom
GTB readers followed along with us as rob and I chronicled the last quarter of the MLB season, and way off brand, Misery Loves Company saw a season-ending Sox slide… and a Mets surge!!
The National League Championship Series??? Even those of us who bleed blaze (NY Giant) orange and royal (Brooklyn Dodger) blue didn’t see that party bus comin’. Lindor, Alonso, OMG, and Grimace. What a fun ride. And although it ground to a halt in the penultimate series, we will remember that for years.
And now, against way, way, way longer odds, the Washington Commanders are still alive in the playoffs entering the last week of January!!
The National Football Conference Championship game??? Even those of us who have bled, and I mean bled out at times, burgundy and gold for 50 years didn’t see that crazy train rollin’ down the track. Even if we flame out before the big one like the Mets did, there will be nothin’ left to do but smile, smile, smile, as Jerry told us.
I only have to go back a year for the bad old days. Gmas 2023 Day 12 List #3:
New York Mets. And then... it all broke down. Old guys looked decrepit, young guys looked lost. Stink. Final Record: 75-87, 4th place
Washington Commanders. Oh how I root, root, root for the home team. If they don't win, it's the same. Disappointment. Final Record: 4-13, last place
But the same was true back 14 years ago, another appreciations list I recently re-perused.
New York Mets: 77-85, 4th place, ownership ineptitude, Madoff implications, one of the faces of the franchises defected to Miami, not getting better any time soon
Washington Redskins: at best they will meet my 6-10 prediction, ownership ineptitude, embarrassments galore, Rex Grossman, not getting better any time soon
It was the same appreciation or lack thereof most every year. While the Mets spiked in 2006 and 2015, there were doldrums and depths abound elsewhere. Fans of Washington footballers, meanwhile, were utterly starved out by their spineless leader for more than two decades. It seems like just yesterday, but it was only 18 months ago next week that that unlovable loser sold the franchise. And yet it also seems like 10 years, since the turnaround has been so extreme. And so very not coincidental. As rob recently fired off:
I really am quite enjoying the "fuck dan snyder" aspect of the Commanders' playoff run.
Amen, buddy. Amen.
[Of note as I write this: my marriage in May was new, and I sure as hell love and appreciate her. But the Commanders in the NFC Championship game???! Come on! It's insane!!]
Well, Day 12 is a-comin’ soon, fear not. But it won't be the same ol' same ol', Marls. It will be everything you ever wanted in a Gheorghemas post. And less. Way less.
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