Quick Update

Posted on December 8, 2023 by AverageAndy

Just a quick update (sitting at Starbucks enjoying a relaxing Friday morning (took the day off from work to get some things done around the house, and do some Christmas shopping)

Usually don’t binge watch a series in a few days, but I started and furnished both seasons of “Friends from College” on Netflix. Really enjoyed it and though all the actors did a great job. Likes the story lines and give the writers credit for showing the ups and downs of people as the navigate their lives. Was happy the way they ended season 2 and was upset to see that the show was cancelled and there would be no season 3. Was a fun ride

Really beginning to believed that “money is the roots to all evil” in the world of professional sports. I still believe that the majority of professional athletes play for the love of the game and the opportunity to compete with the best in the world. But as more and more players see opportunities to make more money (than the already crazy amounts they already make), it is beginning to turn me off. Weather its Jon Rahm jumping to LIV Golf, or NBA Players having to be bribed to actually play hard (dopy in-season tournament) or baseball free agents who will say one thing, but ultimately chose the team that gives them the most money (Playing for a winning team or organization be dammed)

Will be interesting to see where all this lands. How long before giant global corporations with unlimited money start there own leagues and offer players long term guarantied money to jump ship. While the TV Networks eventually cave and start covering these secondary leagues? Its has been tried before (Remember when the USFL gave Steve Young a fortune to plat for the Los Angeles Express. Sounded great at the time, but the league folded after 2 years and Young eventually ended up signing with the NFL.

The questions is will LIV and other leagues be profitable enough to continue. I think it depends if the fans of the sport care more about the players then the history of the sport. Will people run to watch LIV golf on smaller networks because they want to see the players the like, even if the competition and rule changes make it far lest dramatic and entertaining. Are fans going to be celebrating and the Pacers or Lakers going to have a parade this week after the NBA in season tournament crowns a winner.

I root for my teams and will continue to no mater if the players leave for more money. And while I like some of the rule changes that MLB made last season, I’m hoping that the professional leagues remember that its the sport that matters and not some gimmick.

That’s it for now

More to come

PEACE

AverageAndy

Posted in Baseball, Books, Football, Friends from College, Sports | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Survivor 👍 The Amazing Race 👍 NY Giants 👍

Posted on December 1, 2023 by AverageAndy

It has been a great season for both Survivor and The Amazing Race.

For Survivor, I like how they have mixed things up and added some new challenges. It’s fun to not as many puzzles or straight endurance challenges. It’s also interesting to see how the game has involved and going to a shorter season (26 days instead of 39). Seems to be much more scrambling as there is a lot less time to talk and strategize between tribal councils.

As far as the latest episode, why do people continue to not use idols and get voted off. As I have said many times, this is one of the big reasons I need to be a contestant on Survivor. I want to see for myself how difficult it actually is to determine who is an allie, who is an enemy, and who is lying and who is telling the truth. I wonder if I would ever feel 100% not to play an advantage if I had one. I could not believe that Bruce did not play his idol. He had to know that there was at least a chance he would be voted out. I think I would play an idol as soon as I found one. Gets me a day further where anything can happen. The next few tribals are going to be interesting with a lot of idols still in play. Also want to see Drew finally use his advantage. Should be fun

I am also enjoying this season of the Amazing Race. I actually like a 5 teams remaining (I am a week behind). It’s been interesting to see teams falling so far behind that Phil has to go meet them to let them know they are last. Haven’t seen this is a while. I also like to see the team’s reaction when they think they are last, only get told by Phil they are still racing. I actually got a little jealous when brothers Greg and John won a trip to New Zealand for coming in 1st Place. So they got to run on The Amazing Race, and go to New Zealand (2 items near the top of my Bucket List).

I really thought the NY Football Giants would pack it in against the Washing Commanders and continue on a path to be one of the worst teams ever. Of course they went on to win the game and then win again the following week against the New England Patriots to get to 4 – 8 on the season. What’s crazy is that even at 4 – 8 they still have a decent chance to make the playoffs as a wild card, as other than the Eagles, 49rs and Cowboys, nobody has separated themselves from the pack. Looking at the NFL schedule for the next 2 weeks, if things break correctly, the Giants / Green Bay Packers game on Monday Night Football after the Giants bye week this weekend could be a huge game.

Lehigh Football fell to Lafayette by a score of 49-21. The team never found their groove this season under 1st year head coach Kevin Cahill. Hopefully this was a learning year and they can be more competitive next season

Lehigh Basketball is also off to a slow start this season. Hopefully Coach Brett Reed can get the team ready for Patriot League Conference Play which starts in January.

Went and saw the The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and thought it was really good. I had read the book when it came out and really enjoyed it as well. Watching the move felt a bit like when I watched the Harry Potter movies after reading the books. There are parts in the movies where things happen quickly or are not really explained but are like 3 – 4 chapters in the books, going into deeper details. Still, the movie was good, and maybe Suzanne Collins will write another Hunger Games book in the future.

Books I plan to read

Holly by Stephen King

The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham

The Corsican Shadow by Dirk Cussler

Today is December 1st — For me its a couple of weeks of down time before the Christmas Season kicks into full gear. (The day after Thanksgiving is a bit to early; Crazy that Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer has already been on CBS)

More to come before the new year

PEACE

Average Andy

Posted in Amazing Race, Books, Clive Cussler - Dirk Pitt, Dalton Ross, Football, Jeff Probst, John Grisham, Lehigh, Lehigh University, Movies, NY Giants, Phil Keoghan, Reality Shows, Sports, Stephen King, Survivor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Survivor 👍 Giants 👎

Posted on November 17, 2023 by AverageAndy

Survivor has been outstanding this season. After a slow start with 2 contestants quitting the game, the pace and the players strategy has really picked up. I am not the biggest fan of having many advantages floating around, as it makes the game a bit more random than it should. The skill of getting along and communicating with other players should not be diminished because somebody got lucky and was given or found an advantage. My two favorites (Drew and Emily) are still there and are holding their own. It’s interesting to see Emily’s transformation from somebody who seemed totally clueless around people (so much that she would have been voted off if Hannah had not begged to leave) to somebody who is really playing a great game. It’s kind of the same with Drew. At first, he seemed awkward, but he has become a very smart player.

I was a bit surprised that the women didn’t think more seriously about forming an all women alliance at least for a little bit. With a 6 – 4 advantage, they could have picked off the guys one by one. I know there are other alliances and friendships that make things tough, but they had a path to the final 6 and should have taken it. This is one of the reasons I want to be a contestant. I constantly wonder what I would do in these situations. Could I remove any feelings and thought and strictly treat this Survivor as a game to be won, or would the human element creep in, and make me make decisions that ultimately cost me a shot at winning. Its fascinating to watch.

Like how the producers brought back the auction but switched things up a bit. Its crazy how people seem to study things and figure out the best strategy before they make it to the show, forcing Jeff Probst and the producers to make changes to keep people guessing. That’s another aspect of the show that I really like, and would love to experience (as long as I don’t have to eat giant fish eyes)

As for the NY Football Giants. They are not just bad. They are historically bad. And for some reason there awfulnes seems to be flying under the radar. They have a -148 point differential which is 51 points worse then the New England Patriots -97. They have been blown out in most of their games and there 2 wins are against the Arizona Cardinals (who somehow managed to blow a 20-0 half time lead, and a average Washington Commanders Team who will probably take out their frustration against the Giants on Sunday. I am not a big fan of excuses, and the Giants seem to come up with them one after another. QB Hurt, No Offensive Line, Defense Players injured, etc.. When things are hard and get tough, that is when the best rise up and take control. To my Brian Dabol and his staff have basically thrown in the towel for this year. I thought of this a while back, and now it seems to be picking up some traction – The idea of the Giants making a trade for Josh Allen of the Bills to reunite with Dabol. Not a big fan as this feels the same as when Pat Shurmer benched Eli Maning for Daniel Jones as kind of a hail mary move to buy him some more time with the excuse of changing QBs. Dabol will do the same thing if they do make this trade.

The team is a mess, they have no identity or direction, but I will still watch them play every week. The Joys of being a diehard football fan

A few random things

Mets hired Carlos Mendoze as their new manager heading into 2024

I finished reading “Harold” by Steven Wright – Really enjoyed it and recommend it highly

Lehigh / Lafayette play on Saturday; At 159 games, its the most played rivalry in College Football

Started watching “Murder at the End of the World” on Hulu — Got me hooked so far

As we head into the Holidays, want to wish everybody a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Put your cell phones down and find time to talk to friends and family while hopefully enjoying a home cooked meal.

All the best

PEACE

AverageAndy

Posted in Baseball, Books, Dalton Ross, Dan Gheesling, Football, Friends, Holiday Weekend, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Lehigh, Lehigh University, NY Giants, NY Mets, Reality Shows, Sports, Steven Wright - Harold | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Good, the Bad (and the Ugly)

Posted on October 30, 2023 by AverageAndy

Very sad to see the passing of Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing from Friends). Growing up, Friends was one of those shows that everybody watched each week, and then discussed it with friends and co-workers. It then found a second life with the next generation through re-runs, DVDs, and streaming. To this day it still stands up as relevant (along with Seinfeld) and makes me laugh as though it was new. I know Matthew Perry had lots of daemons and lived a life of drugs and alcohol, but it looked as though he was doing well in recovery. I do think its sad how a lot of people go straight to “Well, he did live a messed up life, so not surprising” when learning about his passing. I think we need to look at the GOOD he brought to millions of fans through Friends (and other shows and movies), and not focus on the BAD and shrugging off his death as just another example of famous people throwing away their life.

RIP Mathew Perry (Chandler Bing) — You will be missed.

Also BAD was the details coming out about the shooting in Lewiston MA. Seems the man responsible had a troubled past, as well as issues with his hearing. Four of the eight people killed in the bowling alley were hard of hearing and part of group outing. There were red flags regarding his mental health, and if he should be allowed to have a gun (I did see that he tried buying a silencer months earlier, but was denied by the shop owner due to his mental health record). Not sure that this tragedy could have been completely avoided, but there were signs that should have been looked into. Even though the shooter took the easy way out, and killed himself, hopefully we can learn things from this about what goes through peoples minds and what sets them off.

The ugly was the Giants / Jets game on Sunday. Both teams played a really bad game, but the Giants were able to play just a bit worse and lose a game they should have won. With a 4th and 1 on the Jets 19 yard with 24 seconds remaining, coach Daboll opted for a FG to try and close out the game. Forgetting the fact that the Giants’ game plan all day was to run the ball (and they had been doing a good job of it), and that a 1st down ends the game, he showed no trust in his offense, and trough out all the good will he had last year due to playing aggressive, and took the easy way out. Granted, if Graham Gano makes the field goal the Jets would need to go the length of the field an score a Touchdown (for the wind). But why even put that option on the table. Run the ball, get a yard and end the game. But even if they stopped, the Jets would still need to go 40+ yards to get into Field goal range just tie (and they would have played for that, and not tried to score a TD for the win) And I feel that missing the field goal did way more in switched all the momentum to the Jets, then if the Giants had gone for it on 4th down and Jets had stuffed them.

Then to make things worse, Wink Martindale, who everyone continuously states that he is the best at blitzing and getting after the QB, and they had been pressuring Zach Wilson all day, decides to back off and play prevent defense, only rushing 3 guys, and allowing Wilson to have time and complete back to back 29 yard passes to put the Jets in FG range to tie the game

Then to put a cherry on top of this historic collapse, after winning the toss, and receiving the ball to start overtime, in your home stadium, they get a holding penalty on 1st down. And then Dabol just throws in the towel. Doing his best Joe Judge impersonation, he basically said I have absolutely no confidence in my offense to do anything (should not matter that the Giants were on their 3rd string QB, its still professional football) runs 3 screens for -1 yard and punts to the Jets. The Jets seize the opportunity, throw down the field, get a pass interference penalty, and kick a FG to win. Just brutal.

Now at 2 – 6 with by far the worst offense in the NFL (historically bad) its looks like we are in for another disaster of a season, and possibly firing another coach after 2 years and starting over again.

For perspective — NFL Teams Lowest Scoring Season

PEACE and HAPPINESS to all

AverageAndy

Posted in Football, NY Giants, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thoughts

Posted on October 27, 2023 by AverageAndy

I have lots of thoughts throughout the day and really need to write some of them down on this blog. Most of my writing is done on a desktop / laptop and by the time I have some time, I forget about what I was going write about. Going to work on jotting down some things, and then finding more time to write them here.

I don’t know why but the latest shooting in Lewiston ME hit me pretty hard. While all these shootings over the past 20 years are awful, and I feel sad every time I see another one pop up in the news, I think I was more upset about this one because it just feels to common. Looking back, when these mass shootings in the late 1900s and early 2000s, started, they would take over the news cycle for days, and people from all sides were angry and upset. But as time has gone by, the shootings have become more and more of a platform for political parties to taut there views, and less and less about the hundreds of victims and their families / relatives / friends whose lives are forever changed. And the fact that there are still people out there (both professional and normal citizens) who continue to use their platform and social media to promote that these shootings are fake and staged by the Democrats really makes me sad. I am sad that there are so many people out there who have been sucked in by politicians and social media to believe that everyone is bad, that everything is bad, and that the world is out to get them. As a Country we do a horrible job of promoting the great things society has accomplished, the great advancements in technology, science and medicine that have made things better for everybody. Instead of celebrating achievements, we complain about everybody and everything.

We all need to smile more, spend more time with family and friends, and just enjoy life to the fullest

Switching gears. After watching Survivor since the beginning, it still fascinates me to see how some people are natural leaders with high levels of charisma and drive to do their best and win at all costs, while others are natural followers and content with their place in line and not that passionate about winning. Usually, the more charismatic players go further in the game.

Looking back over the past 45 Seasons and the over 650 contestants, there is a small group of players that are highly memorable (For numerous reasons). For the rest, they just tend to blend together and are pretty forgettable. I have always wondered why this is. What is it that makes some people more memorable than others. Was wondering if there is a way to measure memorability

One of my ideas would be to have a table with 10 average people as judges. Then in groups of 100, people walk by and introduce themselves and shake hands with each judge. After each group is done, the judges write down the names of the people they remember and the 5 people with the most votes move on. The 1st round would be open to everybody and can be done in different cities (like the early rounds of American Idol) The next rounds would consist of the people who were remembered walking by a new group of judges. You would continue until you find the most rememberable person.

Ordered a binder for Rittenhouse Archives “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” card set. One I get my binder I will open the sealed box I picked up at the Philly Non-Sport Card Show a few weeks back and will post pictures of the cards I got. Been a while since I purchased a box of cards – Boxes of Cards use to be around $60.00, but are now going for around $125.00, so need to pick and choose more carefully. Even at the higher cost, I still enjoy opening a box of cards and being surprised on what I get, more then simply buying individual cards on E-Bay.

Hopefully the NY Giants can continue there whining ways against the NY Jets this weekend. Hard to believe that even how bad they have played, a win would put then in the play-off hunt at the 1/2 way point of the season. GO BIG Blue

G is for the G in New York Giants
I is for the I in New York Giants
A is for the A in New York Giants
N is for the N in New York Giants
T is for the T in New York Giants
S is for the S in New York Giants

Average Andy

Posted in Football, Non-Sports Cards, NY Giants, Philly Non Sports Card Show, Reality Shows, Sports, Survivor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, and NY Giants

Posted on October 23, 2023 by AverageAndy

The Rolling Stones released there 31st studio album Hackney Diamonds and it is really good. I am not the biggest Rolling Stones fan, but have to give them credit for what they do and how long they have been doing it. Out of curiosity, I gave the new album a listen, and was really surprised how much I liked it. Have been humming the 1st 2 singles, “Angry” and “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” (With Lady Gaga singing and Stevie Wonder playing the Keys) for the past week. Its a great song and sounds like the classic stones of the past. In true Rolling Stones fashion, they played a small gig in New Your City for 700 or so fans, and played some of the new songs. Job well done, and I really needed this to boost my spirits.


In other classic rock news, was really great to see that the great Robert Plant sang “Stairway to Heaven” for the 1st time in 16 years, and the 1st time ever solo at a special charity event. Still one of the all time great songs, and was awesome to see

As far as Football goes, the awful NY Giants managed to hold on and defeat the awful Washing Commanders 14 -7 in a very ugly (but entertaining game). The Giants had numerous times to put the game away (an easy missed interception that would have been a pick six, to fumbling on the Washington 5 yard line where even a FG would have iced the game. As the Commanders were marching down the field for a tying score – I know all Giants fans were thinking what will be worse, have Washington score to tie the game, and the Giants then lose in 17-14 in over-time, or even worse, having Washington score and then go for two and win the game 14-15 in regulation.

When the Giants stopped the Commanders on 4th down, and after a brief pause to make sure there was no penalty flag flown, you could hear the relief and realization that the Giants would actually win this game.

Next up is the huge Giants / Jets game next Sunday. Both team really need the win, and it should be an exiting matchup

Just to try and brings some good karma for the Giants, I give you this

Happy Monday and hope everybody has a great week.

AverageAndy

Posted in Football, Music, NY Giants, Robert Plant, Rolling Stones, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Updates on Survivor, The Viper, NY Giants Football and more

Posted on October 20, 2023 by AverageAndy

I have to say, I am really enjoying Season 45 of Survivor. I know a lot of people are upset about 2 of the first 4 sent home basically quit the game at tribal council (I could relate to Hannah, but am a little confused about Sean). Wonder if they will adjust their casting procedure going forward, although not sure how you can really tell how a person will react while on an island with 16 strangers. As far as the other contestants, looks like they hit a home run with Emily. She is the type of contestant that makes great television, as well as showcasing great game play. Reminds me of John Cochran and Christian Hubicki — Both who were almost to smart for the show at the beginning, but were able to change and adapt there ways. Makes for a great watch, rather than somebody who is super athletic, or super confident, but doesn’t adapt or make any changes and just blends in to Survivor oblivion (ex – Alex Bell, Jeff Wilson, Stacy Kimball – I just some players randomly). Another person I am rooting for this season is Drew. Am I the only one who thinks of Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite every time I see him?

Looking forward to how things progress this season. Hope that some of the idols and rewards get played the way they should (big moves and blindsides) this season

I’m a week behind on “The Amazing Race” but should be caught up this week and get back on schedule

Still watching Big Brother although can start to feel that the season is a bit long (100 days compared to 84)

Really enjoying the new John Verdon book – The Viper (Dave Gurney, #8) – Have read them all and it is one of my favorite series of books. Each story has just the right amount of craziness in an otherwise normal setting (Update New York). Love how John Verdon adds suttleies into the speech of the characters. Makes you really feel there emotions. If you haven’t read any of his books, start with Think of a Number (Dave Gurney, #1) and work your way through. Solid Stuff

Had some time the other day, and went to a Barnes & Noble. Could spend hours just browsing the new books. Realized I could scan the barcode on a book with my phone and it would then allow me to add it to my Amazon Wish List without having to type anything. Added a few books I want to read so keep a lookout (I am a slow reader, but hopefully will be able to find some time and get to a few more books before the end of the year

Had a whirlwind of a day on Sunday. First headed to Pennsylvania for the 79th Philly-Non Sports Card Show Had a great time seeing some fellow collectors and talking about what’s new with trading cards. Picked up a Promo Pack of “Legend of the NJ Devil” by artist Ted Dastick Jr. Also picked up a box of the new “Star Trek Strange New World” cards from Rittenhouse Archives and a bunch of Inkworks promos I needed. Great time

From there, I headed up the New Jersey Turnpike and attend the New York Jets / Philadelphia Eagles game. Got invited to a suite by Veritas and had a great time at the game with free food and drink. Really appreciated the invite. By a miracle the Jets came back and actually won the game.

From there I headed home to catch the 2nd quarter of the NY Giants / Buffalo Bills Sunday Night game. Even though the Giants are not a good team, they held the score close, and had a chance to win on the final play. Things didn’t work out, but maybe, just maybe this will give the team some confidence going into this weekends game with the Washington Commanders. A win would make next weeks Giants / Jets game an must watch. A loss and I will be able to get things done around the house on Sundays (like raking the leaves that are now covering my lawn)

More to come

AverageAndy (@AverageAndy2)

Posted in Books, Card Collecting, Christian Hubicki, Football, Fun and Games, John Cochran, John Verdon - John Verdon, Non-Sports Cards, NY Giants, Philly Non Sports Card Show, Reality Shows, Sports, Star Trek, Star Wars, Survivor | Tagged | Leave a comment

Survivor and things

Posted on October 9, 2023 by AverageAndy

Really enjoyed the first episode of Survivor 45. It looks to be an interesting cast with a good mix of players (although I again noticed the lack on older players (more on this below). I know a lot of fans were upset with Hannah for quitting the game. My feeling is that if she really didn’t want to be there, and wanted to leave, that is her decision and nobody elses. Everybody has been in a situation where things feel or play-out differently then you expected. Some people are scared of heights and will freeze up on things like waterslides or suspension bridges. Others are scared of confined spaces and will not get on an elevator. I have no problem with Hannah deciding that Survivor was not for her and walking away.

For the second episode, I took the trip from New Jersey to New York to attend the Rob Has A Pod Cast live taping at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. It was crazy to watch the episode in a packed auditorium. Hearing people react to different people and cheering the team during the challenges was a cool thing to experience (Most of the time its just me on the couch watching). After the episode was over there was a live Q&A and Rob brought a bunch of past contestants on stage to discuss the episode and Survivor in general. Was interesting to see the contestants in person and you could tell they still really loved the show and the game. As for the choice to vote out Brandon instead of Emily, I would have went the same way. Loyalty is important, but you need to win and feel good about things early, and the tribe has a much better chance to win with Emily over Brandon. We will see if they made the right move

I remember the first time Yul Kwon played, he found an hidden immunity idol, told everybody and basically dared them to vote him out. I know this was early and hidden immunity idols were new and really the only advantage available, but by showing his hand, Yul was able to gain some trust as well as keep the votes off of himself. I know its not the same, but when Drew returned from the journey and told his tribe the truth of what happened, and the advantage he won, I felt he made the right move. To many time, people try to lie about things that will come out due to multiple people being involved (rather than if you found a hidden advantage by your self and nobody else new). I know if I was playing I would make sure to talk to everybody who goes on a journey what actually happened, and then compare notes. Note: I was wondering how surprised the tribes actually were when Jeff said “No getting your 1st glance of the LuLu Tribe, Hannah voted out” I would thing both Drew and Bruce would have asked Brandon who was voted off at tribal. I doubt he would refuse and tell them “You will have to wait and see”. I do like that the Beware Advantage is different for each tribe (which was also mentioned by the former contestants at the RHOPC.

As motioned earlier, Survivor has not cast many older people (like myself) and I feel they are missing out on some hidden gems. CBS, like all the major networks, skew towards an older demo and should take that into account (Just look at the popularity of “The Golden Bachelor”. At some point the older audience will have trouble relating to a bunch of 20 to 30 year old’s. Adding some older players would be better relatable to the audience, as well set up some great dynamics between the different generations. Was great to see when somebody like Mike Gables (age 51) was able to relate to players half his age to eventually become the sole survivor.

Check Out #NeverToOldForSurvivor and #GiveMeAChange

Will get my update on the Amazing Race soon (Lot of stuff going on, so be patient)

Not much to say about the New York Football Giants. As a life long fan, it is actually painful to watch them as they are so bad. I have to put most of the blame on the coach and his staff. All they seem to do is make excuses (without actually coming out and say it). “We need to be better” “Its on me” “We need to be Better” “Its on me” is all we here from Coach Dabol game after game. I wonder if the coach and he staff (Both Offensive and Defensive Coordinator) are to arrogant or stubborn to the players. Reminds me of when I was in college (Shout out the #LehighUniversity) when I had a physics teacher who wrote the book we used for the class. They guy was a genius, but could not relate to how everybody else did not understand physics to the level he did. He would become frustrated and mad when people asked questions. Not saying this is what’s going on with the Giants, but sometimes you need to read the room, and adjust to them instead of getting angry when they don’t adjust to you.

Took a break after reading the first 2 books of the “Wealth of time Series”. Really enjoyed them but need to mix things up a bit. Now reading “The Viper”, the 8th book in the Dave Gurney Series buy #JohnVerdon. Have really enjoyed all of the previous books and this one has me hooked already. Do yourself a favor and check out “Think Of A Number”, the 1st book of the series if your interested. Maybe you’ll get hooked like me

Thanks for reading and let me know if there are things you want to know more about

Average Andy

Posted in Andre Gonzalez - Wealth of Time, Books, Football, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, John Verdon - John Verdon, Lehigh University, Mark Burnett, Mike Gabler, NY Giants, Reality Shows, Sports, Survivor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Almost time for Survivor / The Amazing Race

Posted on September 25, 2023 by AverageAndy

Both Survivor and The Amazing Race return on Wednesday with 90 minute episodes. Looking forwarded to see what they do with the extra time. Do they just give extended coverage of challenges and tribal council, or do they change up the format by adding new things?

With both Survivor and The Amazing Race running for 90 minutes, it removes the Wednesday edition of Big Brother 25. Wonder if they will add another day, of just go with Sunday (Which is being pushed back by Football and Yellowstone) and Thursday. I’m sure its all out on the web but I have been avoiding things until Wednesday to not see any spoilers or contestant information (I am old school and like to be surprised when watching Survivor or The Amazing Race)

Its Official — Both the NY Mets and NY Yankees have been eliminated from the baseball playoffs with a week to go in the season. Was a disappointing season for the Mets. They dug themselves a hole that was just to big to climb out of. Time to revaluate things for next year. Number one on the list is they need to get some solid starting pitching. They will get Edwin Diaz back next season, and hopefully he brings back the excitement that seemed to be missing this year. There offense is solid – Just need to figure out 3rd base, and get themselves a good solid outfielder.

As far as the local NFL Teams – Both head coaches have got to so some soul searching and figure out a way to get the best out of there players. The Giants need to look at how they played the 2nd half against the Cardinals. They played aggressively and through the ball down the field. Not sure why the reverted back to their old boring dump off offence against the 49rs. Let Danial Jones throw the ball and see what happens. As for the Jets — They just need to avoid getting blown out by the Chiefs on Sunday night.

Having issues with my Xfinity X1 Cable Box (Will not allow me to access any streaming services). Was on a chat and call with Xfinity support, and it appears that this is a major issue along the east coast. Hopefully they can figure out what’s going on and get everybody effected back up and running (They already gave me a credit for this, so they must be aware of the outage).

More soon on Books / TV / Music as well as updates on Big Brother

AverageAndy

Posted in Amazing Race, Baseball, Big Brother, Football, NY Giants, NY Mets, Phil Keoghan, Reality Shows, Sports, Survivor, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just some updates as it been a long few weeks

Posted on September 15, 2023 by AverageAndy

Been busy the past few weeks, so here are some updates of things I have been reading / watching / listening to

I attended the Bruce Springsteen Concert a few weeks back at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey . Had a great time with my wife, daughter and here boy friend tailgating before the show and then seeing Bruce perform. I am not a super fan, but enjoy his music and he played a lot of great songs (Including “Jungleland”, “Atlantic City”, and his cover of “Nightshift” by the Commodores). Was lucky to catch him, as he has had to cancel the rest of his current tour do to health issues. Wishing him a speedy recovery, and hope he can continue touring next year.

As great as the Springsteen Show was, the New York Football Giants were awful during there opening game against the Dallas Cowboys. They were un competitive and had the look of a team that wasn’t ready to compete. This points to a disconnect somewhere between the players and the coaches. Head Coach Brian Daboll should read this article about what former Head Coach Tom Coughlin did after his team started to look lifeless. The job of a Head Coach (or any leader) is read his team / audience be able to make some changes within yourself to get the best out of them. They have a test this week against the Arizona Cardinals — Lets see what Daboll is able to do off of last week, and which way the season goes. Hoping for the best

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I had written a bunch more, but lost network connection, and was unable to autosave. Tried going back to drafts, and this was as much of what was saved

So to briefly summarize:

Survivor and Big Brother are back starting Wednesday, October 27th with 90 min episodes

Submitted my Survivor Application in August, and may submit a small follow-up

Past Survivor Winner Adam Klein is hosting a Group Workshop on Wednesday, September 20th

Really enjoying the Wealth of Time books by Andre Gonzalez

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are 1 – 1 and take on Cornell tomorrow

The Mets hired David Stearns as their new President of Baseball Operations

PEACE

Andy

Posted in Adam Klein, Amazing Race, Andre Gonzalez - Wealth of Time, Baseball, Big Brother, Books, Bruce Springsteen, Football, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Lehigh, Lehigh University, Mark Burnett, Music, NY Giants, NY Mets, Reality Shows, Sports, Survivor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment