Vive la difference!

Great to see some different teams than the usual ones win regionals in this season's NCAA Division 1 men's and women's basketball tournaments.

No Number One seeds left at the moment in the NCAA D-1 men's tourney (Alabama, Purdue, Houston, and defending champion Kansas all went down before the regional finals)...and two remaining in the NCAA D-1 women's tourney (Virginia Tech and last season's champ, still-unbeaten South Carolina).

The Hokies and Gamecocks spearhead a women's D-1 Final Four that includes a Louisiana State team that hadn't won a regional final since 2008...and an Iowa squad making just its second trip to the women's D-1 Final Four. (The first happened in 1993.)

Now...how about the D-1 men's side? Three teams in the men's D-1 Final Four for the first time ever!

Two of those first-time teams (Florida Atlantic and San Diego State) taste it up tomorrow...when Miami (FL) takes on one of its old rival from its Big East days, Connecticut. That's right...a University of Connecticut basketball team made the Final Four after all.

Dan Hurley's...not Geno Auriemma's. So...2022-23 is the first season the Huskies' men's team got to a Final Four since 2014 and the first campaign where the Huskies' women's squad got left out of a Final Four since 2007. And, here in 2022-23, not a single Number One seed among the men's D-1 regional semifinalists...a first. All right...I'm going to try some predictions about the last team standing in each D-1 NCAA tourney this season. WOMEN: Louisiana State over Virginia Tech, South Carolina over Iowa...and then on Sunday, an all-SEC final in which Dawn Staley's Gamecocks make it back-to-back titles.

MEN: Florida Atlantic over San Diego State, Connecticut over Miami (FL)...with Hurley's squad cutting down the nets late Monday night for its first title since 2011.

The watchdogs chalk it all up to the transfer portal...something that's redistributed the talent in both women's and men's Division 1 hoops. (You know what I say? Right on for the portal!)

I'm going to be watching...hope you'll be watching, too.

Tomorrow's the day!

This could've taken place in January 2017...except the need to replace the transmission on the car I had at the time (a 2006 Ford Taurus SEL that I bought in June 2007) came first.

Instead, it's going to happen tomorrow at 9:15 AM at the Miracle Hills Surgery Center (11819 Miracle Hills Dr., Suite 201, Omaha, NE 68154).

The mission: To remove the cataract from my left eye.

Quite a few things during the intervening six years and two months delayed the surgery...from the need to continue building a retirement fund to 2020's successful enrollment in Medicare to my having to buy a replacement car in April 2021 to retiring from my factory job in October 2022. But now, I'm ready for Dr. Matthew Brumm to come after that cataract.

A followup will ensue this coming Tuesday at 8:30 AM at Brumm Eye Center's north office (6751 N. 72nd St., Building 2, Suite 105, Omaha, NE 68122).

After all this...who knows? All I want is to see better...so that I can, among other things, drive at night again.

Now...it's your turn. Have you faced cataract surgery (or surgeries) in the past? What was it like? How'd you fare?

Thanks for reading "Boston's Blog!"

Scratching the five-year itch

The results are finally in for the 2021 edition of the "shoulda-coulda-woulda" NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs...and for the first time since 2016, the champion came from a league other than the Southeatern Conference. Well...without further ado, here goes:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): San Diego State (9) 45, Northern Illinois (24) 38/BYU (16) 50, Oklahoma (17) 47 (3 OT)/Iowa (20) 28, Ohio State (13) 27/Appalachian State (21) 19, Houston (12) 10/Utah (19) 52, Mississippi (14) 31/Pittsburgh (11) 20, Oregon (22) 16/Michigan State (15) 31, Coastal Carolina (18) 30/Baylor (10) 24, Utah State (23) 17

SECOND ROUND: Cincinnati (1) 28, San Diego State 7/Oklahoma State (8) 35, BYU 14/Louisiana-Lafayette (5) 31, Iowa 17/Georgia (4) 45, Appalachian State 9/Utah 24, UTSA (6) 22/Alabama (3) 38, Pittsburgh 26/Michigan State 34, Notre Dame (7) 31/Michigan (2) 14, Baylor 7

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Cincinnati 24, Oklahoma State 0/Georgia 24, Louisiana-Lafayette 3/Alabama 35, Utah 3/Michigan 52, Michigan State 14

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Georgia 24, Cincinnati 7/Michigan 17, Alabama 10

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Michigan 27, Georgia 17

MVP: Michigan RB Blake Corum

The last time a team other than one from the SEC went all the way in these playoffs, Penn State took down Washington, 29-13...the second straight year a Big Ten team ruled the roost. What's more, the Wolverines picked up their second D-1-A playoff title. The first one came in 1983 (just the second year of these "shoulda-coulda-woulda" playoffs), when Michigan stopped Texas, 30-17.

Now to figure out which teams would've made the 2022 edition...

Dear Rozanne:

It's been eleven days since you passed away...and I still think about you. We had some great, great times together in the twenty-five years since we first met at the church you joined when you were little. Man, you touched bunches and bunches of lives...not just at church, but also during the years where you delivered flowers and all the years you brought "Omaha World-Heralds." You really brought the enthusiasm...especially at those concerts we attended. Didn't matter if they were RCTOS events or GPRS ones...or the times it was just you and me at the Pink Poodle Steakhouse. Rozanne, you set one heck of an example for the rest of us to follow. You stood tough. And I'm going to keep trying my best to live up to that example. So doggone glad for the privilege of being a part of your life...and I'm so doggone glad you were (and still are!) a part of my life. Thanks so much for everything! Sincerely, Jim

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?