(Sunday Paper, Volume I, Issue 21)

I know - I didn't expect to be back with another edition of 'Silly Mind Games' so soon either.

But as I was consulting my 'team matchups' checklist I thought maybe I should write about this.

So here we are.

Wait, what's that? You don't have a 'team matchups' checklist?

Oh.

Then allow me to explain.

Some of you may already know this about me - for the rest of you, prepare to learn more than you want to know. (That's what this 'Silly Mind Games' series is all about, after all.)

As we've previously established, I've spent most of my life as a sports fan without one of my teams playing in the post-season. As a result, I've needed to manufacture a rooting interest in the most exciting time of the season.

For some years I picked a better team to root for. (Like when the Jets were absolutely awful I rooted for the Houston Oilers in the AFC and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC. I guess further evidence that I like baseball more than football lies in the fact that I never picked a backup baseball team; I just watched for the love of the game after the inevitable Mets elimination from contention.)

But the one thing I always wanted to see was a new matchup in the championship game. It's a bonus when it happens in the NBA or NHL, but I really focus my energies on the World Series and the Super Bowl. I made a checklist for the matchups in those two sports. (Don't worry - I didn't include the NBA and NHL. I mean, that would be.....crazy, right?)

Anyway, each year in the playoffs as the teams narrow down I start rooting not necessarily for the matchup of the most entertaining teams, but the matchups that haven't happened before. Recent years have resulted in some disappointments - Patriots-Giants twice? Ugh. Red Sox-Cardinals for the third and fourth times in history? Come on.

Somewhere in the back of my weird brain I can console myself about last year's Mets loss in the World Series by saying, "Well...at least Mets-Royals was a new matchup."

This year? Well, the Dodgers played Cleveland in the World Series back in 1920. (They were the Brooklyn Robins then, but it counts.) And the Cubs have never played Cleveland in the Fall Classic.

But just to be safe, I think we'll be rooting for the Blue Jays in the AL so we can guarantee a new matchup.

Writing

*Can not begin to tell you how happy I am we'll be back in a normal Monday through Friday routine this week. The Jewish holidays the past two weeks meant a 3-day school week followed by a 2-day school week. On the one hand I was super-productive on Thursday and Friday once the girls went back to school...but on the other hand I was not productive at all every day that they were home.

Comedy

*Hosted Speakers in Marlboro for a small crowd on Thursday night, which was a pretty good challenge. One of the other comedians called the crowd "few but mighty" which was a description I liked. Small crowds aren't bad. It looks weird when the room is mostly empty, but those people came to see a comedy show, and they're supportive. And it makes you feel good when you can get laughs out of people who can't hide in a big crowd. And as a host, it's a good muscle to work out to warm up a small crowd and keep them engaged. It was a good experience for me and I think I did OK.

*All I've got coming up this week is Saturday night at The Comedy Studio. Which is pretty great.

What I've Been Enjoying

*I meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about proudly owning and using a paper calendar: I also like going to the bank. It's one of my favorite things. Mostly that's because it means I got paid for my work...but I really appreciate it in a different way than just getting paid. For years when I was teaching, and even before that in the latter stage of my TV career, I used direct deposit. Most places, I think, make you do direct deposit now. And there's certainly an element of direct deposit that is super-convenient, but it's less convenient for freelance work. And with receiving an actual physical check, for me at least, there's something a little more tangible about the money I'm making and managing that isn't there when the money is transferred electronically. I used to love when I was a kid and had a passbook and would see my balance printed out after a trip to the bank. I'm experiencing that a little bit with the girls as they've started their own bank accounts. But I'm also getting a little bit of that thrill again each time I submit an invoice and get a check back in the mail.

Notes

*As I've said over the past couple of weeks, work's been busy - both on the comedy and writing ends. And I can still get those things done with the kids home - just not as much. The one thing I find very hard to squeeze in when I have the kids around is exercise - I've fallen way off on that. I need to figure out a way to get back in some kind of exercise routine. (Good thing I've been eating very unhealthfully also!)

*I am having trouble coming to grips with the fact that we're halfway through October. I feel like things that happened at the very beginning of 2016 were not all that long ago...and here we are with just over two months to go until 2017. I like that though...I have big plans for 2017 and I think it is going to be a very good year.

*If you came to the Sunday Paper some other way than through Facebook, would you mind going to the John Sucich writing page and giving that a 'Like'? I really appreciate it. And if you did come through Facebook, hey, tell your friends!

*Appreciate you reading. Thanks for the support.