After a year's absence, it's back!

The coronavirus pandemic scuttled the 2020 edition...and so, with college football playing a more-unified schedule for 2021, here's what our "shoulda-woulda-coulda" Division 1-A football playoff field would've looked like (won-lost records don't include bowl games):

1. Cincinnati (13-0; AAC champ)/2. Michigan (12-1; Big Ten champ)/3. Alabama (12-1; SEC champ)/4. Georgia (12-1; SEC at-large)/5. Louisiana-Lafayette (12-1; Sun Belt champ)/6. UTSA (12-1; Conference USA champ)/7. Notre Dame (11-1; independent at-large)/8. Oklahoma State (11-2; Big 12 at-large)

9. San Diego State (11-2; Mountain West at-large)/10. Baylor (11-2; Big 12 champ)/11. Pittsburgh (11-2; ACC champ)/12. Houston (11-2; AAC at-large)/13. Ohio State (10-2; Big Ten at-large)/14. Mississippi (10-2; SEC at-large)/15. Michigan State (10-2; Big Ten at-large)/16. BYU (10-2; independent at-large)

17. Oklahoma (10-2; Big 12 at-large)/18. Coastal Carolina (10-2; Sun Belt at-large)/19. Utah (10-3; Pac-12 champ)/20. Iowa (10-3; Big Ten at-large)/21. Appalachian State (10-3; Sun Belt at-large)/22. Oregon (10-3; Pac-12 at-large)/23. Utah State (10-3; Mountain West champ)/24. Northern Illinois (9-4; MAC champ)

Two first-time playoff entries: Coastal Carolina and UTSA (the latter's the third different C-USA champ in as many seasons, not counting 2020). And Iowa's back in these playoffs for the first time since winning it all in 2015.

Only two ties needed breaking as far as seeding went: San Diego State and Baylor totaled 405 quality points each...but the Aztecs got the nod over the Bears because SDSU's Division 1-A opponents won 72 games in 2021, while Baylor's D-1-A foes got 63 victories. And Michigan State nosed out BYU after the Spartans' 1-A opponents earned 71 wins...two more W's than all the 1-A teams that faced the Cougars. (BYU and Michigan State amassed 360 quality points apiece.)

Well, I'm off to play these games, using Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football...and I'll post the results as soon as possible. (Can't wait!)

Age ain't nothing but a number

He signed into law the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, the $1 trillion (or so) bipartisan infrastructure bill, and the 2022 climate-and-health spending bill.

He got an albeit modest gun-safety law on the books...one that expanded background checks (if not universally), made it easier to prosecute illegal gun trafficking, and provided federal money for red-flag laws. (Still, a modest gun-safety law is better than no gun-safety legislation if you've been tired of all the mass shootings going on here in the US...let alone years of inaction at the top.)

And he ended the Afghanistan War...America's longest-running military conflict.

The CHIPS Act (hiking stateside production of semiconductors), the passage of a long-awaited postal-reform bill, much-needed military aid for Ukraine, and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act all happened under his watch. So did executive orders to forgive student loans and to pardon folks who were busted for possession of marijuana.

He's nominated federal judges at a breakneck pace...breakneck according to historical standards. Plus, he nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to this country's Supreme Court...and made some more history in the process.

COVID has claimed 400 American lives a day since this past April...far below previous rates of 2,000-3,000 dead per day. The United States has rejoined the Paris Agreement and has done away with that (fill in your favorite expletive) Muslim travel ban.

Speaking of travel...the Environmental Protection Agency has established new, higher fuel-efficiency standards for 2023-2026 vehicles. Service members have now been given a much-needed pay increase. We've now got legislation addressing acts of violence against Asian Americans partly by expanding access to the reporting of hate crimes and expediting the review of COVID-related hate crimes. And at long last, Juneteenth is a federal holiday...and at long last, lynching is a federal hate crime.

All if this under the watch of a man who turned 80 years old on 11-20-2022.

Still, some of his fellow Democrats are asking him not to go after a second term of office in 2024. (They want somebody younger to be the Donkeys' standardbearer.) The way I see it, though: Even with a lot more stuff needing to be done to get the US beyond the shadow of where it was on 1-6-2021, I'd love to see Joe Biden run for a second term in the White House.

How about you?

It's all over...it's all over

On Wednesday, 10-5-2022, during the 12:00 Noon hour, I made a phone call to the human resources department at the company I joined on Monday, 1-26-2004. And I told the department: "I've decided to retire, effective today."

Eighteen years, eight months, one week, and two days at the same plastics factory here in Omaha. Bottom line: My body and my mind just couldn't take the rigors anymore.

I'll be 67 on 11-11-2022.

Got tired of the traffic hassles...parking hassles...hassles due to lower product standards...increasing pressures at the factory.

Since calling it quits at the plastics plant, I've been devoting more time to my screenwriting/TV writing efforts. (I can now read whole screenplays in one fell swoop...one sitting. Previously, working in that factory forced me to read ten pages at a time...and confined my own writing to weekends.)

Got some hobbies I want to get back to...such as playing computer sports games more often than in recent years (in addition to stepping up efforts to digitize my vinyl albums).

Plus: As long as things work out, I can get "Boston's Blog" back to once-a-month status.

To top it all off: I feel a lot better since making my retirement official.

Now it's your turn: If you've recently called it quits, how do YOU feel?

Finally..."Geaux Tigers!"

Two years after I announced I'd do it, I got it done at last. Had to take care of two years' worth of life issues...but I got this project done, once and for all.

I'm talking about the 2019 edition of the "shoulda/coulda/woulda" NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs.

Using Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football, here's how the 24-team field fared:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Oregon (9) 37, Miami (OH) (24) 14/Alabama (17) 38, Air Force (16) 14/Penn State (13) 38, Cincinnati (20) 17/Wisconsin (21) 24, Notre Dame (12) 10/Florida (19) 39, SMU (14) 14/Utah (11) 35, Florida Atlantic (22) 6/Minnesota (18) 38, Navy (15) 17/Louisiana-Lafayette (23) 32, Baylor (10) 13

SECOND ROUND: Ohio State (1) 47, Oregon 14/Alabama 31, Georgia (8) 20/Memphis (5) 52, Penn State 48/Wisconsin 24, Boise State (4) 10/Florida 31, Oklahoma (6) 13/Clemson (3) 28, Utah 7/Minnesota 38, Appalachian State (7) 10/Louisiana State (2) 52, Louisiana-Lafayette 31

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Ohio State 26, Alabama 14/Wisconsin 28, Memphis 17/Florida 30, Clemson 27 (1 OT)/Louisiana State 38, Minnesota 35

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Wisconsin 33, Ohio State 21/Louisiana State 31, Florida 28

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Louisiana State 41, Wisconsin 17

Playoff MVP: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.

Hey! We've been here before!

Have you been following either or both of this season's NCAA Division 1 basketball tournaments?

I was disappointed at both Iowa basketball teams, pleased at how far both Iowa State hoops squads did, but...I wasn't surprised at how the season ended for Nebraska's women, Creighton's men, and Creighton's women.

Now each tourney is down to four clubs...and here's how I think it'll all end:

WOMEN: South Carolina over Louisville, Stanford over Connecticut (although I smell a win for the Huskies against the Cardinal), and South Carolina ending Stanford's reign.

MEN: Villanova over Kansas, Duke over North Carolina, and Duke sending Mike Krzyzewski into retirement in style by stopping Villanova.

There you are: Eight teams that've already been to the Final Four before...seven of them have won it all before. (Only Louisville's women have yet to be the last to cut down the nets.)

Well, let's just sit back this weekend and see what REALLY happens.

The countdown is over

I needed to let you know that, due to a bunch of personal issues (most of them job-related, some related to finances, some even church-related), I've decided to stop holding the Ragtime to Riches Festival. The continuing pandemic sure hasn't helped, as it wiped out what would've been the 2020 and 2021 R to R events. Still...I'm thankful for everyone who attended the festival since its 2005 inception, and I'm thankful for every performer who did the festival. Haven't dropped music for good, because I'm still going to the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, IA to perform on the last Sunday of the month. (Hope to see you there!)

He helped make theater organ fun!

He passed away at age eighty on 12-30-2021...and he was the very first person I saw play a theater pipe organ in person.

His name was Jack Moelmann. In November 1984, he did a concert at Nebraska's Bellevue Little Theater, a playhouse that, at the time, had a two-manual, five-rank Wurlitzer theater organ. After the concert, I was invited to what turned out to be an organizational meeting of the River City Theatre Organ Society. I've been a member of RCTOS ever since. And Jack was one of the biggest reasons I joined the club.

At the time I met Jack, he was an Air Force colonel who was stationed at Bellevue's Offutt Air Force Base. He'd been in the Air Force since 1965, the year he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University.

Chicago-born Jack got started in music in 1949, the year he turned eight years old (he not only took to the piano, he also sang in the church choir). He was hooked for the rest of his life, thanks to the many gigs he played in high school and college. Theater organ fans around here were very fortunate that Jack lived here in the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area during 1984-85, a time when RCTOS was in its infancy. This highly-accomplished (both in the Air Force and in the world's concert halls and movie palaces) man helped make those early meetings fun, due to his vast repertoire AND his trademark humor.

Jack joined the American Theatre Organ Society in 1967; in 1983, he launched a 23-year period where he served on the ATOS board of directors in one capacity or another. From 1985 to 1988, he ran ATOS...then became its secretary in 1993, keeping that gig until 2006. Two years before becoming ATOS secretary, Jack retired from the US Armed Forces. All the time he was in the USAF, Jack earned hardware such as the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. Jack eventually left the Omaha Metro and moved to the St. Louis area...where he turned everything up a bunch of notches. He became a lifetime member of ATOS in 1994, an inductee into the organization's Hall of Fame in 2008, and ATOS Organist of the Year in 2018.

The crowning touch (well, I like to think so!) came in August 2008...when he headlined at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. (If I can find that on YouTube, well...)

Jack, I'm glad to have been a part of your life.

I'm glad you were a part of mine.