(Sunday Paper, Volume II, Issue 37)

If we've learned nothing else from this past year-plus of Sunday Papers, it is that I am a creature of habit.

I like my routine.

And since it's the Sunday after Labor Day routine tells me that it's time to sit around for the next four months of Sundays and watch the NFL.

I know for a lot of people that's a routine they've been breaking out of.

I can't say I'm there yet.

I hate to begin another sports season on kind of a negative note, but I don't want to ignore the reality: I'm not sure I should be supporting the NFL (or football in general, I suppose) right now.

Between player safety and player behavior - it's not something I can be unaware of anymore, the way I watched when I was younger.

But I still really enjoy watching the game and analyzing the game and talking about the game.

And I'm a part of the problem in that I also like participating in pools where I stand to gain a little something from the sacrifices these players are making. (But, if I'm being honest, I'm not usually gaining anything.)

This - opening weekend - is always an exciting weekend for me.

Since the Patriots played on Thursday night, the Jets will be on the local CBS channel. From 1pm until 11pm I can watch anywhere from 3 to 4 games and then there are a couple more on Monday. (And I can also tune in a couple of pennant-chase baseball games on the computer, but that's besides the point.)

It's a time of year I always look forward to.

And it's a routine I'm not likely to break - at least for the 2017 season.

But it's certainly something I've been thinking about.

And I guess that's as good a start as any.

Writing

*Settling into the new routine - looks like I'll be working from home on the usual stuff Monday and Tuesday and then putting some time in outside the house for some hours Wednesday through Friday. I like having a more defined schedule - so far, so good. We'll see how crazy things get this week with the girls starting their afternoon activities.

Comedy

*Quiet week on the comedy front - had a show Friday night at Stone Church in Newmarket, New Hampshire. That place is pretty great - I've been there once before, looking forward to getting up there more often. Hoping to get out a few more times this week.

*If you're looking for a show to come check out sometime soon I would suggest this one, at the end of the month in Cambridge. It's funny - recently I was in the area and walked by the venue - Meadhall - and thought to myself, "that looks like a place that would be good for a comedy show," and then shortly after that Kristin and Kathleen announced they were starting this show. It's the second one, and it'll happen monthly. It should be great - I like the people I'm performing with...and can you beat that poster artwork? I love that flyer.

September 25th, 7:30pm. See you there?

What I've Been Enjoying

*OK, let's see. In addition to that poster artwork I guess what I've enjoyed most about this past week is Fenway Park. I had tickets to Tuesday night's game and Saturday night's game that I had almost forgotten about. Tuesday night I ended up taking my oldest daughter and then Saturday night Kathy and I went together. First of all, even though I'm not a Red Sox fan, I love going to Fenway Park. Secondly, I'll go to any baseball game I can - doesn't matter who's playing or where it is. Thirdly, Saturday night Chris Sale was pitching and I was looking forward to seeing him in person. And lastly, my daughters LOVE baseball. I promise you, other than being exposed to baseball because it's essentially my favorite TV show and it's on every night in the summer, this is not something I've forced upon them. They chose to immerse themselves in it. They watch 'Quick Pitch' - the MLB Network recap show of the games from the night before - every morning on their own in the summer and sometimes during the school year. They know a lot about baseball. It's a joy to take them to the games. And Kathy - she doesn't know as much as she used to (last night as we walked to Fenway: "Who are they playing tonight?"), but she's still a pleasure to be around. So I would have had a good week of baseball games no matter what this week - but to go with two of my favorite people was pretty great.

Notes

*You'll remember baseball season started out on a downer as well...I have been thinking about this promise all year but don't have official tallies. I'll do that in a couple of weeks when the season is over. It's worth noting, though, that Familia missed most of the season with an injury and Reyes, besides stinking it up for a couple of months, also missed some time. So at least they didn't have huge years...which is a positive and a negative in this case. And, as I mentioned briefly last week, nothing abut the Mets was fun to root for this year.

*If you're keeping score at home I started a new container of Vitamin D recently. It was a big one.- like 300 capsules. Which means that one should last until just about my birthday, which is kind of incredible.

*My mom is a loyal reader and I know she reads these all the way through but even if she didn't I know she would put a 'like' on this post no matter what the Sunday Paper was about just because of that picture of me and my brother.

*That picture, by the way, was from back when we had Jets season tickets ("we" meaning "my dad"...and we got rid of them a few years back and haven't regretted it at all) and I would actually drive down on more than one occasion each year to watch the Jets disappoint me in person. (I've had some sad drives over the years over the George Washington Bridge.) I don't remember exactly how many years ago that picture was but it was recent enough that it was in the new stadium and long ago enough that it was before selfies were so common that I wasn't uncomfortable asking the woman behind us to take that picture.