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Things on my mind...

Things on my mind while waiting for the Season Premiere of “LOST”…

Yeah, I’m a “LOST” freak. And I’m proud of it. I really do love the show – got hooked after Episode 1 and never looked back. So tonight, when the show returns after far too long off for the “winter break”, (their last episode, new or rerun, aired November 11^th, 2006. Four months is just a little bit too long for a show to take off – just look at “The Sopranos”…) I’ll be glued to my TV, thoroughly enjoying the return of one of my favorite TV Shows.

As for the rest of the things on my mind today…

n Got a lot of feedback from my little rant about the Las Vegas Gray Line Shuttle and their lack of customer service. Of course, by “a lot of feedback”, I mean about ten e-mails/phone calls, and a comment on the post itself.

n As for the other topic of that post – you know, Super Bowl XLI… yeah, so my reasoning was sound, but the argument itself was flawed. I completely forgot to account for the fact that A) Rex Grossman is the Bears’ starting quarterback, B) Rex Grossman is absolutely horrible, and C) Rex Grossman has a history of not focusing on big games if he has other things to do… Suppose I should have known better.

n Although, it seems that I’m not the only person to have made that argument. In fact, I’d like to direct you to the reasons listed for the pick on that page, especially numbers 5 & 6. I’ll explain more later…

n There’s less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, and I really can’t wait. The basketball and hockey teams I follow are both awful this season, with the Celtics having a legitimate shot to be historically awful. As of 9PM tonight, the C’s had lost 15 straight games. The record is 24, set by the Cleveland Cavs fifteen years ago. Not exactly a team I can get behind right now. I’m just waiting to hear those sweet little words: “With the first pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select…”

n So, back to baseball. I’m just now catching up on some transactions that happened back in January, when my mind was elsewhere. I’m actually looking forward to this season for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that I think the Red Sox have done a hell of a job rebuilding their team (lack of a closer not withstanding). There are a lot of different plots to follow in the Major Leagues this year. I’ll save that analysis for a different day.

n Finally, the Pro Bowl on Sunday… yeah, never mind.

So about the Super Bowl pick and the ESPN page I linked to above… I hope it’s nothing more than a coincidence, and if so, then it’s a surprising one (and one that has happened multiple times in the past few years).

I like Bill Simmons’ writing on ESPN.com. I have been reading him since the old BostonSportsGuy days. I respect his work, and I enjoy reading most of it. As with most writers, some days he’s great, some days he’s off.

And apparently, we both have the same train of thought. Many times. This past week was the third time I can remember that I posted something on my page, and within 24 hours there was a post on his page that contained either extremely similar wording, or an obscure analogy that I had already made, whatever.

For example – read my Super Bowl pick again – skip all the Gray Line ranting. Now, like I said above, read Reasons 5 & 6 from Simmons’ pick (bottom of the page). Not exactly the same, but awful close.

Or this post from my Wild Card Round picks – focus on the Eagles/Giants game. And here was Simmons’ own post, with his picks, up on ESPN.com not even 24 hours later.

There have been other examples, but I honestly can’t remember them anymore. I just remember that when they happened, I had a lot of friends accusing me of ripping off his columns even though I had posted mine at least a day earlier.

The point is this – I don’t know if I’m being copied. I honestly hope not. I take great pride in this little blog (even more pride in the fact that it is something I’ve stuck with for almost three and a half years now), and I don’t appreciate the fact that my ideas might be being poached to fill space in a nationally (or is it internationally now?) known columnists weekly page.

If it’s a coincidence, then it’s just weird. Maybe great minds just think alike. If it’s anything else, it needs to stop, or I need to be offered a position writing for ESPN.

Either one works for me.

Use the comment space below or the e-mail link above to let me know if I’ve got a legitimate gripe or if I’m just a little paranoid. I’ve already enlisted the help of a few well respected writers and bloggers alike, but I’d like to hear from the rest of you as well.

I’ll be back soon – LOST starts in a couple minutes, so this needs to be done now – though I don’t know how many times I’ll post before my annual MLB Preview goes up. Usually late February and early March are the slowest times of year for me to post, and this year I may be doing some traveling for work. So I’ll get back here as soon as I can.

Lata.

Labels: Bill Simmons, LOST, quick thoughts, Rex Grossman, Super Bowl XLI, things on my mind

posted by Big D @ 9:03 PM