I like to put things off. No, I mean really put things off. Like this blog: it's three weeks late and I'm always all over my students about making deadline. So, to make up for that, this is going to count for three blogs. And not just because I said so.
It's not going to be three times as long as usual to make up for being three weeks late. It's just going to count for three because it's going to be three times as good.
By the way, this blog is dedicated to Vicki in Ohio.
So, anyway, instead of writing my blog the last three weeks, I was attending to other things. I graded papers (and blogs). Hey, I'm a college professor.
I recruited others to play in my longstanding rotisserie (i.e., fantasy) baseball league. We're down to the bare-bottom required number of participants. Yikes, I'll have to play on ESPN with all the supposed know-it-alls.
Hey, I'm a sportswriter (Frank Deford says it's one word and that's good enough for me).
I've been reading and distributing submissions to "Journal of Sports Media," outstanding research papers regarding the very topic the title infers. I'm the new editor. There's a lot more to editing an academic research journal than I thought.
But hey, I'm a sportswriter (one word)-turned-college professor of sports reporting, as you might suppose.
And I want to thank Vicki in Ohio for inspiring this column. Uh, blog...
I've also been vacationing, sort of. Hiking hills outside Phoenix, and mountains, getting a workout and finding some activity to replace my usual morning workouts back home. Following teams in spring training too. Most of the players can be found in the bars and clubs of Scottsdale at night, tracking down the college girls out there on spring break and the local 20-somethings looking for high-salaried ballplayers to finance their way of life. For life.
Married ballplayers are not a problem for them. As long as they have money. And they do.
So I've been discovering the best that greater Phoenix has to offer in dining, entertainment and recreation. Even ran into some old friends and the parents of old friends and made some new friends (Vicki in Ohio, my new muse). Found out an old friend watches FOX News Channel. FOX News! Egads! What ya' don't know about some people. I'm getting her a CNN T-shirt for Christmas. She deserves it.
I also trained myself this past week in accessing TV through the Internet. Which totally sucks. Twenty-seven moves later and I was watching the NCAA Regional semifinals Thursday night. I think. Logitech, huh? Logi-test, more like it. I also got to access years-old episodes of "The Closer," "Monk," Fairly Legal" and "Royal Pains." No, wait, "Fairly Legal" is brand new, not years old and "Royal Pains" was not available for access. Interesting, but not fun after 57 moves on the Logitech keyboard.
I did badly hook my first golf swing since my shoulder surgery last May. Gonna' be an interesting summer on the links. Especially since I don't like to practice at the range. Maybe I can do something Tiger Woods can't - get Butch Harmon to coach me.
By the way, the Top 10 (12, 14. 16...) reasons you're an ineffective blogger include:
- You procrastinate
- You put things off
- You can say all this in 140 characters on Twitter
- You're not as motivated as Vicki in Ohio
- You actually bothered to follow your now worthless NCAA bracket
- You spent a whole night unsuccessfully trying to access the Northwestern-Washington State NIT quarterfinal game on Google TV via Logitech
- You have a crush on Garcia on "Criminal Minds" and continually scan for reruns
- You have a crush on Robin Meade (who doesn't?)
- You procrastinate
- You put things off so you can procrastinate on other things
I'd say so long, everybody, but I'm putting that off. Sort of like the Cubs winning a World Series.
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Howard Schlossberg is editor of "Journal of Sports Media," a twice-annual compilation of the best of academia on the title topic. Send your submissions to him at hbssports@gmail.com. He's also an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where he teaches Sports Reporting, among other classes and his students produce an award-winning magazine (www.beyond-the-game.com). He likes to complain about other people breaking the rules and getting away with it. He loves his dog, Clio. And has a new muse in Ohio. He also writes sports for the Daily Herald (Paddock Publications), the largest suburban newspaper chain in Illinois and third-largest in the state.
