New York Sports Fan In Search of New Teams

It is so hard being a New York sports fan. The Knicks haven't been good since the 99, when I was three. With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, do the Nets stand a chance once they've recovered from all of their injuries? Who's to say? I can't root for the Yankees on principle because I was raised a Mets fan. But the Mets are, the Mets. Except for 2015 when they made it to the World Series and haven't had much, if any, post season success since. Oh New York Giants, what went wrong. And I care so little about hockey that I thought the New York Islanders were really called the Long Islanders until a year ago. Also, no idea where the Islanders and Rangers stand in the league right now. 

So I'm in the market for new teams to root for. Suggestions welcome.

I will say that I think I'm becoming a Dodgers fan. The first baseball game I watched live and in full in years was Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, aka the longest game in series history. What a way to get back into baseball. I probably should root for the Rays, given that I lived in Tampa for most of my life. (Born on Long Island, hence the New York sports dilemma and the Islanders mixup.) A part of me will always root for them because they are actually my hometown team and the underdog nature of the team, but they haven't had much success in the postseason either. And after the Astros were revealed to be dirty cheaters, that made me want to root for the Dodgers even more.

Basketball, I usually follow whatever team has the best storyline that year. This season for me it was the Miami Heat. They were obviously not gonna win the Finals, but they fought every team and kicked ass all playoffs long, and I may have to check on them next season. And the narrative redemption of Jimmy Butler as a teammate and player was interesting to watch play out. Also, Florida team, so I don't feel like I'm completely selling out my two home states. 

Hockey is easy now that the Tampa Bay Lighting are Stanley Cup Champions. Usually when it comes to hockey, I just wait for the Stanley Cup final and pick a team just to have a dog in the fight. So it's nice to have a champion from a home state. And it's funny that Tampa's most successful sports franchise is a hockey team. Go figure. And sorry Bucs, I have never rooted for you. You've been bad since my family moved to Tampa and now that you have Tom Brady on your team, I really can't root for you.

I'm always gonna root for my New York teams, but it's nice to have to teams I genuinely care about and don't make me sad year in and year out. I forgot what that feels like.

journal, thoughts

My 24 Year Streak Without a Bee Sting Has Come to an End

 I was just chilling on my bed under my cozy zebra-print blanket, listening to some classic rock when all of sudden I felt a pain in my left foot. At first I thought it was a mini charley horse, but then a new spot started started to hurt behind my knee on my right leg. So I moved my blanket to investigate, and wouldn't ya know it, it's a bee crawling around stinging me. Thankfully, it was just those two spots and I managed to get rid of the bee before it could do more damage. 

They stings didn't hurt as much as I thought they would, but I wasn't putting any pressure on them. So I thought it'd be fine and I could just go to my medicine cabinet and get some hydrocortisone cream and chill. 

Except I didn't have any cream. 

I had to walk twenty minutes to the nearest CVS on a foot that was stung. It wasn't that bad, it just took longer than normal because at some points I would start walking on the opposite side of the sting on my foot to not have as much pressure on it. So a forty minute round trip and a total of ten flights of stairs to get one four dollar bottle of hydrocortisone cream. 

And now the pain is steady and I will be reapplying the cream every hour on the hour until it is not.

On the bright side I learned I don't have a bee allergy. 

journal

Earworm: "Finally" by CeCe Peniston

I just discovered this song in the last couple of months. It's just a blast of a disco inspired 90s jam, which is a combo I love.

I first head of the song in a Little Mix interview for a radio station in the UK. They were playing a song game or something and this came, and all four of them burst out into the chorus and I was like, "I need to find that song". And I did, and it's been in heavy rotation since.

earworm

Spooky Season is Growing on Me

I'm not the biggest Halloween person. My family's not and, while I like horror movies, they are not my go to selection for movie night. So spooky season was never really my thing. That is fast changing and I don't know why. 

Maybe my interest in all things spooky and creepy has increased. I've always had a fascination with witches, I was a witch for Halloween three years in a row. And in the last couple decades there's been a reclaiming of the witch and her power. From Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Craft, and Hermione Granger, witches are the heroines and anti-heroines, not the villains. 

It could be that we actually have a name for Halloween season now, and spooky season is probably the best name for it. There's some serious scares but it's all in good fun. 

journal