Sports and Politics

It is tough to know where to start - or if to start -choosing to write a blog, that is.

This blog corner has been pretty quiet for a while - and for good reasons. Other matters have taken precedence.

Fortunately, the most important - the eyesight of my wife - seemingly has made a turn for the better, praise God, after several months of painful treatment and an accompanying fear for both of us that she might lose her sight in the right eye.

All other things that normally arouse this Irishman seem to pale in comparison to that of the need for good health as we become an aging commodity.

Sports and politics continue to remain an easy target with which to vent the kind of anger that has inspired many previous blogs.

But, the Pirates had a great season - until recently the Penquins have been playing well - and both Pitt and Penn State continue to field football teams - even if in a difference universe than teams from Alabama and Ohio - and my adopted Florida State football team makes most of us Floridians proud.

Probably best if you did not express that sentiment in a local bar down here as, like in Pennsylvania, the state football team rivalries are fierce.

The Steelers? Like this old guy, they are suffering from age creeping up on them, and draft picks that fail to achieve the early success level of stock picks from Warren Buffett - or even Jimmy Buffett, for that matter.

Politics?  I used to say about New Jersey and Philadelphia the best thing that could happen to this country would be if we discovered a huge eruptive fault line around both, causing them to drift mercifully out to sea.

I now include Texas in my quest to have this one proud state join the latter pair so as to provide all of us with reason, hope, and some signs of sanity.

Ted Cruz and The Tea Party - (not to be confused with one that had Mary Jane and Sniffles as attendees) has started to resemble your rude Uncle Cosmo, who at Thanksgiving dinner continued to ignore your pleadings to pass the mashed potatoes and stuffing.

But, none of the above has been the greatest impediment to my writing a blog recently.

There has been an increasing awareness on my part of the importance for the functioning of the apostrophe/quote key - which my keyboard currently lacks - and which also has given me pause about eating chips and sandwiches while I type. This simple tool of typing has suffered the same abuse from me as the quote, exclamation point - and dash keys.

That I have been able to write an entire blog without the presence of the former  is cause for celebration to this old guy who saw it as a challenge - not a calamity.

Now if I can just apply that same positive reasoning to the likes of subjects such as sports and politics - I may also be well be on the road to recovery.

See you soon.