Sunday

Not a lot new on this end. Not an overly productive weekend for me.

AM's comment yesterday about the mouse was on point. I got one of those gadgets with my laptop and it works pretty slick. Even on the couch next to me while the laptop is on my lap. Kudos to the geeks.

4 gets in tonight for the holiday week. She had stayed in IC for yesterday's non-game at Kinnick, and for the b-ball game this afternoon at Carver Hawkeye. Chili tonight at Mom's. Beans? Or no beans?

The Irish survived Duke. That doesn't say a lot about Duke football. (In an extremely minor recess of trivia, I recalled today that Duke was ND's opponent at the first game I ever attended at ND Stadium. In the Fall of my junior year of HS when I visited campus with an ND graduate from Ottumwa. A big rout of Duke that day as well.)

I did my runs this weekend, two both days, without further calf problems. Slow. But I was primarily concerned about injury. I'm wondering if I have a shoe problem.

An interesting comment made by different announcers over the weekend was that a particular player, often the quarterback, had "the game slow down for him." This was meant in a complimentary manner to describe the skill of the player in handling the challenges of the game. ( In football, a good offensive line is usually the biggest contributor of a quarterback being able to work the game at his pace.) Nonetheless, I do think that different players have varying amounts of ability to handle the pressures presented in a game. Some of it is just natural ability. Some of it is experience.

This personal attribute is evident in most sports, and in most businesses. In whatever the field of endeavor, stars tend to find their way to the top. Innate skill. Harder work ethic. Generally, not much reliance on luck.

Ultimately, I think that skill wins out. As a college junior, I learned how to hit a good lefty's duece, but the guy who also had a good heater made me a "guess hitter." I was lucky to break the Mendoza line against a righty with the same pitches. The guys who make it to "The Show" see those pitches in slow motion.

Finally, the media has stories this weekend that suggest that Warren Buffet was/is responsible for keeping A-Rod a Yankee. I think that A-Rod found out that there weren't many GM's in line to bid on his services after his agent, Scott Boras, had him opt out of the last three years on his then current contract. The fact that A-Rod could give Buffet a call for advice is a bit of an indication of the economic circles A-Rod calls home. And some execs at Goldman Sachs were part of the game as well. Very interesting!

Short week ahead. Looking forward to time with the fam.

BCOT