Traveling for work can be either a perk or a hassle—depending on your job and where you have to go. For me, traveling with professional sports teams is definitely a perk. Flying charter is one of life’s cool little luxuries, especially when someone else is paying for it.
However, there are a couple of drawbacks to staying on the go. For one, my wife misses me while I’m gone--at least that’s what she tells me. And even if she’s only saying that to stroke my ego, who am I to stop her?
Another issue with constant travel is losing track of the days of the week and dates of the month. I don’t know about you, but when I travel, I have a hard time keeping up with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m much more in touch with yesterday, today and tomorrow.
And don’t even think about trying to ask me for the date. If it’s not my birthday or a major holiday (my wife’s birthday falls into this category, by the way), I would have a better shot of telling you the numeric value for pi than the day’s date. Thankfully, for me however, my iPhone has a handy dandy calendar feature. So I may not know the answer, but I can quickly look it up.
I raise this last issue with work travel because I recently realized I haven’t posted a blog lately. When you can’t keep up with the days of the week, it’s a lot harder to realize how much time has gone by from one moment to the next.
So to make up for lost time, I thought it might be best to share some of my random thoughts, questions and musings from the past several days.
* Did you know that no Phil Jackson-coached championship team has ever lost 4 games in a row?
* Following the Clippers win over San Antonio Wednesday, LA held a 3-9 record over teams currently sporting a record over .500. While Miami carried only a 1-7 mark over winning teams.
* With players such as Blake Griffin, Shannon Brown, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Derrick Rose roaming the court today, I believe we are witnessing the most athletic era the NBA has ever seen.
* Speaking of Blake Griffin, can you ever remember someone getting so many standing ovations on missed dunks and shots?
* You have to give Dodgers owner Frank McCourt credit for staying true to his word. He has said throughout his divorce proceedings, that his personal matters would not affect the team’s willingness and desire to bolster the roster. And the recent off-season acquisitions definitely support his earlier statement.
* I realize the BCS is a crock and bowl games are only concerned about selling the most tickets, but if Stanford doesn’t get to play in the Rose Bowl, it would be nothing short of a travesty.
* Karl Dorrell’s record after his third season at UCLA was 22-15 overall and 14-10 in the PAC-10. Rick Neuheisel currently stands at 15-21 overall and 8-18 in conference. So does that mean next season will be Neuheisel’s last if he doesn’t rally for double-digits wins?
* I heard that some USC fans are a bit upset because the NCAA didn’t punish Auburn and Cam Newton after discovering that Newton’s father soliciting money from schools trying to sign this year’s Heisman Trophy front-runner. But remember this, Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo knowingly accepted cash and other benefits directly. There’s no evidence that Newton has done the same or even knew about his father’s attempts to secure money. It may not be apples and oranges, but it’s definitely apples and pears.
* And finally, I heard that Dancing With The Stars is considering adding Todd Palin to the show’s next lineup of contestants. No offense to Sarah Palin’s husband or her daughter, Bristol, for that matter, but if they are going to continue to feature such “stars” (and that goes for “The Situation” too), then they should change the name of the show to Dancing With People Who Aren’t Really Stars But Can Still Bring In Big Ratings.
