Learning Curve to Rock to.

While many people probably think this isn't true, I've learned something important in the past year of living with Hayley (in sin!). I've learned that we like to learn things in 2 very different ways. I like to try to figure things out with as little outside help as possible. She likes to have her questions answered so she doesn't have to figure things out.
I get this from my dad. Any time I had to ask him a question about something, he'd typically reply with something like "how do you think you should do it?", "how do you think it works?", and the like. He'd guide me along the way, but he really wanted to make sure I was using my brain to figure it out on my own. And I'm very thankful he did it. I learned quite a bit about how to figure things out and how to reason things. Probably the reason I became an engineer.
However, Hayley doesn't appreciate that. If she asks how something works, she wants to be told how it works. She doesn't want to spend time thinking it through and making guesses and what not. And no, she doesn't appreciate guessing incorrectly. (yes, I've officially crossed a line here and probably won't walk away unscathed at this point. So I might as well just finish the job...) My feeling is this comes from her desire to not be wrong. I'm not saying she's a no-it-all that always has to be right. Far from it. But she does enjoy being right and doesn't like being wrong. It's hard to get her to guess at anything for fear that she'll be horribly wrong in her estimation. Oh, she claims that's not the answer, but we both know it is.
Hmmm...I thought I had somewhere I was going with all of this. Learning...different styles... I don't know.
I've been giving the task of assembling the CDs to be used during our cocktail hour and the band's breaks. Hayley has given me some songs she wants to be on it, and does have veto power, but I feel I'm putting together one hell of a great set. I want to bring the rock for the cocktail hour, mellow it out during the breaks. No, that doesn't mean I'm bringing any metal to the party, although some Chimaira would really kick things up a notch. Some of my choices will seem a bit odd, but that's because I do have some random songs that I wanted to get in. Songs that are meaningful to me and I want played. I might be the only person who'll look up at the speaker and say "awesome" when they come on, and that's fine with me. It's my f'n wedding and I can do what I want to. Our wedding. It's ourwedding. My bad. And I've never been one to go with convention at any point in my life. Why should I stop just because I've been saddled with a ball & chain?! Pssshhh, that thing can't stop me; it can only hope to slow me down a little bit. And yes, I'll have copies available to anyone who'd like one.
Man, 12 days from right now I'll be married and partying down at the reception. At least I hope so!! I feel like I should be doing something more single-like than blogging and watching "Two and a Half Men". I have 12 days to go and I'm not putting it to any kind of good use. Kinda sad. Eh, whatever.
Oh right, I remember where the learning thing was going to go. I've also learned that we both fall prey to the game of "(S)he Said/(S)he Heard". Case in point...Friday afternoon I did something to my lower back, which is apparently made of some kind of cracker, and couldn't really walk so good all weekend. Yet the lawn really needed to be mowed. Hayley said, "Do you need me to mow the lawn for you?" I heard, "Would you like me to rip off your testicles and give them a quick spin in this food processor?" It hurt, but I mowed it. And then I laid down for a bit. Not cause it hurt alot, because I was tired. That's all. Just tired.
And no, I don't really want to know what Hayley is hearing as she's reading this. I should probably start working on an apology...

When 97 is Better than 117

I came to some good pondering yesterday while taking a shit and consoling myself after a brutal Cubs loss (12-7 to the Reds). I uttered to myself, “oh well, you can’t win ‘em all and it’s not like we’re going after 116.” 116 being the MLB records for wins in a season, set originally by the 1906 Cubs and tied by the 2001 Mariners. This then got me thinking about how those teams have done. I remember the Mariners getting bounced quickly by the Yankees in ’01 (4-1 after going to 5 games in round one vs. the Indians) and remember other teams in other sports get embarrassed in the play-offs after waltzing through the regular season. In fact, of the 14 best MLB season records of all time, only 5 ended up champions. So it would appear to be a detriment to walk through your regular season without any real challenges.

Even though at first that seems counter-intuitive, that makes perfect sense to me. I’m going through a similar thing right now with hockey. After not playing any live, competitive games for 11 months due to my surgery, it’s hard to stoke that competitive fire right away. It’s like you forget how to really focus and buckle down. In the case of baseball, when you’ve been a lock for the division for a month, you don’t really go balls-out in a losing game. Why risk hurting yourself when the only thing you’re chasing is a record that doesn’t mean much? So when you’ve got your back put against the wall suddenly in the play-offs, you struggle to really get moving and do something. You get sloppy and make mistakes. You get over-matched by players with ½ the talent.

In fact, you see a similar effect when teams have a long lay-off b/t playoff series. If you sweep in team in 4 games, then have to wait a week while the other guys go 7 games, teams are often noticeably sloppier in that first game. Some teams are affected more than others, but you can see it in pretty much everyone if you know to look for it.

On the flip side, you don’t want to have to scratch and claw your way into the playoffs right up until the last day. While your players are well versed in playing under pressure and finding ways to win, that’s a lot of stress on everyone and you start to wear down. In addition, you can’t take a week to get your pitching rotation. And that becomes very important in a 5-game series. If you have to use your ace in game 162 just to make the playoffs, you may only get to use him 1 time in your opening series. And all of your bullpen guys and position players are going to be tired and stressed from the race to the finish. Ideally you like to give your big guys a day or 2 off in that last week so they’re fresh. Not too many days, which should be obvious by now. (Re-read the previous paragraph if you don’t know why.) You want fresh arms, fresh legs, and fresh minds going into the playoffs. Fresh, but still knowing what it means to battle for a close game and win.

In case you’re wondering, as I was, how dominating the ’08 Cubs would need to be to tie their franchise’s own record…they’d have to go 61-9 the rest of the way to get to 116. So after winning at a 0.598 clip thus far (on pace for 97 wins), they’d have to jump to a .871 clip to tie their record. I don’t see that happening. Nor do I want that to happen. I want them to cruise to a comfortable NL-best record for the #1 seed, allowing them to give guys some needed rest, without losing their drive. I really don’t need a repeat of last year, and this year the playoffs won’t coincide with my sister’s wedding. That gave me a welcome distraction from the agony last year.

And everyone mark October 14 on their calendars. That’s the official 100 year anniversary of the last Cubs World Series Victory. I can’t give you an exact time yet, but I’m working on it. Seems they didn’t keep highly detailed box scores back in aught-8.