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It doesn't happen often, but it did last year - I had an all-around good year in sports.

This didn't really hit me until the drive home from work today. All four of my teams at least put in a solid effort this year. Clearly, I haven't had the year a Boston fan did (World Series title, NBA title, Super Bowl runner-up, and hockey playoff team), but all things considered, I think I did alright. Let's consider:

Colorado Rockies (89-73), MLB - World Series runners-up. Considering the world of suckitude the Rockies have come from, this is a fantastic year for them. Factor in the monster winning streak they had at the end of the season and it was a pretty exciting year. Go Rockies.

Denver Broncos (7-9), NFL - Okay, so this wasn't quite as impressive. The Broncos had talent enough to do better than this, but ended up falling on their faces. Still, though, we nearly hit .500, and could have made the playoffs with another couple of wins. Not too shabby. Go Broncos.

Portland TrailBlazers (41-41), NBA - This was a surprisingly good year. The Blazers have been pretty awful for the last few years, but even worse is the fact that they were all pretty unlikable people, too. Management has started to bring in likable people (Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldrige, and Greg Oden), and go figure, but the team is doing better and people are coming to the games. Genuine. and I went to a Blazers game around Christmas, and it was legitimately exciting to be in the Rose Garden. Man, it was fun. Even better is the fact that we're just going to get better next year. (I spent a few hours at work today getting fired up for the 2008-09 season, which doesn't actually start until October.) For once in the history of the world, it's a good time to be a Portland fan. Go Blazers.

Colorado Avalanche (44-31-7), NHL - The Avs always seem to do the best when I'm not paying attention to them. This year, they came out of nowhere to get into the playoffs and knock off the heavily favored Minnesota Wild. Awesome. Granted, it's only because they brought back all of their old players who only have one decent season left in them, so they'll be terrible next year, but it was exciting while it lasted. Plus, their goalie's last name is Theodore. Rockin'. Go Avs.

And now, the much-anticipated answers to the AFL quiz:

San Jose Sabrecats (giovanni schwartz)
Arizona Rattlers (Austin, giovanni schwartz)
Los Angeles Avengers
Utah Blaze (thirdmango)
Chicago Rush (thirdmango)
Grand Rapids Rampage
Colorado Crush
Kansas City Brigade
Dallas Desperadoes
Philadelphia Soul (thirdmango)
Cleveland Gladiators
New York Dragons
Columbus Destroyers
Georgia Force (thirdmango)
Orlando Predators
New Orleans VooDoo
Tampa Bay Storm

Congratulations, thirdmango. You know the most about the AFL of all the readers of this blog who chose to submit comments. You should be honored. Really.

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My mom sent me a list of suggested anniversary gifts today. (Genuine. already had a copy of it, but we didn't know where it was, so this was serendipitous.) I'll reproduce it here:

1 year - milk
2 years - eggs
3 years - cheese
4 years - semi-gloss paint
5 years - pork rinds
6 years - cigarettes
7 years - chewing gum
8 years - heroin
9 years - olives
10 years - bits of eraser
11 years - cola
12 years - watermelon
13 years - honeybees
14 years - sweatpants
15 years - rap music
16 years - forks
17 years - fish 'n' chips
18 years - dental floss
19 years - granola
20 years - diamonds
21 years - mice
22 years - fruit leather
23 years - barnacles
24 years - gummi bears
25 years - dimes
30 years - fossils
35 years - magnets
40 years - bourbon
45 years - clam chowder
50 years - mousepads
60 years - lingerie
70 years - handguns
75 years - crickets

Both Genuine. and I agreed that we'd like to stick to this as much as possible.

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If pressed, I think the average person could correctly name five or six teams from the three major sports in America. For basketball, they might name teams like the Chicago Bulls, the Boston Celtics, or the L.A. Lakers. For football, they'd probably mention teams like the Miami Dolphins or the the Dallas Cowboys. And readers of this blog had better be able to name the Colorado Rockies as a baseball team. (Other examples include the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.) But here's a stumper for you: can you name any of the 17 Arena Football League teams? Here, I'll even give you the 17 locations they play in:

San Jose
Arizona
Los Angeles
Utah
Chicago
Grand Rapids
Colorado
Kansas City
Dallas
Philadelphia
Cleveland
New York
Columbus
Georgia
Orlando
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

Fame and glory go to anyone who can correctly name more than two of them. Honest, I couldn't, and I'm a pretty committed sports fan.

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I've gone through a phase where I've been playing old SNES sports games lately. Well, maybe "sports games" is an exaggeration - I've struggled with games like NBA Live '95, Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run, and the like, but I've done really well with cartoony games like Mega Man Soccer (23 goals in a game!!!) and NBA Jam. Jam is the one I've been playing a lot recently, considering the current Boston-L.A. NBA Finals. Which made a conversation yesterday between Genuine. and I all the more entertaining:

OPTIMISTIC.: So I thought I'd check the basketball score before we left.
GENUINE.: Oh?
OPTIMISTIC.: Boston was down by 24. It doesn't look good tonight.
GENUINE.: Oh, ha ha! I thought you were talking about your video game!
OPTIMISTIC.: Boy, that would make a pathetic loser, having to check on my own game's score before we left, wouldn't it?
GENUINE.: That's why I asked.

In case you're wondering, Boston came back from that 24-point deficit to win Game 4 and take a practically-insurmountable 3-1 series lead. And the 1993 Orlando Magic made short work of the Sacramento Kings with me at the helm, too. Gotta love that Scott Skiles.

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Fun with names for groups of animals!!!!!

a bask of alligators
a shrewdness of apes
a congress of baboons
a possi of beetles
a kaleidoscope of butterflies
a wake of buzzards
a quiver of cobras
a siege of cranes
a piteousness of doves
a memory of elephants (also parade)
a business of ferrets
a froggery of frogs (I wish I was making this up)
a horde of gerbils (also hamsters)
a smack/smuck of jellyfish
a loveliness of ladybugs
a puddling of mallards
a mongaggle of mongeese
a parcel of penguins
an unkindness/nevermore of ravens
an ubiquity of sparrows
a lump of toads
a squirm of worms

(courtesy of Wikipedia)

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And now, in honor of Game 1 of the NBA Finals (saints be praised for ESPN Radio), I present the NBA All-Ugly Team, which my dad and I have discussed for years.

PG Cassell, Sam (Boston Celtics)


SG Barbosa, Leandro (Phoenix Suns)


SF Morrison, Adam (Charlotte Bobcats)


PF Noah, Joakim (Chicago Bulls)


C Ewing, Patrick (New York Knicks)


I know Ewing isn't a current player, but he's such a stellar example of NBA-caliber ugliness that I had to put him in here. Enjoy.

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We have a refrigerator at work, like most other places. And like most other places, there's some really old food in there. Like the can of Pepsi I found commemorating the Colorado Rockies' trip to the World Series. Which was last October.

I know it's just sugar and water, so it probably won't go bad, but still. October. Yeesh.