Briefly.
Sometimes, I lie awake in bed wondering, why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?
I would rate these trivia questions as fairly difficult. When you buy me a beer this afternoon, let me know how you did.
Trivia #1: For you Puttheads, what are the names for each hole (16, 17, 18) that makes up the “snake pit” at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, site for this weekend’s PGA Valspar Championship?
Trivia #2: On Opening Day, 1980, what was ironic about the victory for the Seattle Mariners’ starting pitcher Mike Parrott?
Trivia #3: On Opening Day in 1976, which pitcher started for the Philadelphia Phillies? It was the only opener between 1972 and 1986 in which Steve Carlton was not on the mound for the team.
“Puttheads”, I just made that up. See: “Puckheads” for reference.
On this date: March 20, 141, 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
March 20, 1774, The British parliament passes first of the Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston harbor until colonists would pay for damages following the Boston Tea Party
March 20, 1819, London’s famous Burlington Arcade opens as the world’s first shopping arcade
March 20, 1854, Boston Public Library opens in Boston, Massachusetts as the first large free municipal library in the US
March, 20, 1917, After the sinking of 3 more American merchant ships, US President Woodrow Wilson meets with cabinet, who agree that war is inevitable
March 20, 1958, 50 inches of snow falls across the Mason–Dixon line
March 20, 1992, Manuel Noriega’s wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses (Really)
March 20, 1997, US tobacco company Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive
March 20, 2024, French mathematician Michel Talagrand awarded 2024 Abel prize for his work on probability theory and describing randomness (“probability” and “randomness” – doesn’t sound like math to me!)
Speaking of dates, what a great time of year! This past week, the greatest sports tournament of the year got under way. Think about it, counting the four play-in games, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is 67 game 7’s! Madness, I tell you! Today is the first day of spring, Opening Day is next week and then April with the Masters.
So Opening Day is next Thursday. Let’s take a closer look at the Red Sox schedule, shall we?
They do not have a divisional game until game #23! (Seems a little late considering about 33% of their games are divisional games.)
They then have 9 divisional games in a row.
Their longest road trip is in early July, 9 games in 10 days, followed by the All-Star break, followed by their longest homestand of the season, 9 games in 10 days.
They don’t have a terribly long west coast swing, as they usually do. They play in Seattle and Colorado in June and come home only to go back out to LA (Angels) 8 days later. At the end of July, they play 7 games in a row in Oakland and LA (Dodgers).
Go Sox!
They said it; “There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow. The 2 o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will leave at 5 o’clock.”
— Dave Bristol, Milwaukee Brewers manager, 1972
Useless information supposed to fire my imagination: Rory McIlroy has revealed his menu for the Masters Club dinner on Tuesday before the tournament. (What do I care what other people are eating?)
Good news: Well, not to rub it in but, U.S.A. beat Canada once again! This time in the World Baseball Classic, again in front of the world. BTW, the WBC title game between Venezuela and the US was the most watched WBC game ever, up 128% over the 2023 title game.
Article I’ll skip: 3-time Masters champ Phil Mickelson reveals which GOP candidate ‘can save California’
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, you’re doing it wrong – A Kentucky woman is dead after she was dragged under a float and crushed in front of crowds of revelers during a local St. Patrick’s Day parade (Louisville) this past weekend. A preliminary investigation revealed the woman, identified as 50-year-old Joan Pannuti, was walking next to a float when her foot became caught, causing her to fall to the ground and get stuck under the vehicle.
This week’s sign of the apocalypse: Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue fell 11% year over year, from $840,093,428 in January 2025 to $747,655,527 in January 2026. Nevada’s nonrestricted gaming licensees reported a total gaming win of roughly $1.35 billion in January of this year, dropping 6.55% compared to the same month last year. There were 38,545,700 people who visited Sin City — down 7.5% from 2024. Said one; “Now nearly everyone under 40 who bets seems to do it online. I don’t know one person under age 40 who goes to Vegas regularly to bet or play slots.” – Damn kids!
“Ed”itorial: The four NCAA play-in games are stupid. Don’t try explaining it to me. Two games between #16 seeds and two between #11 seeds. The East bracket had zero play-in games. Stupid.
Trivia #1 answer: For you Puttheads, what are the names for each hole (16, 17, 18) that makes up the “snake pit” at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, site for this weekend’s PGA Valspar Championship? – Moccasin (16), Rattler (17) and Copperhead (18)
Trivia #2 answer: On Opening Day, 1980, what was ironic about the victory for the Seattle Mariners’ starting pitcher Mike Parrott? – He didn’t win another game that season, finishing 1-16.
Trivia #3 answer: On Opening Day in 1976, which pitcher started for the Philadelphia Phillies? It was the only opener between 1972 and 1986 in which Steve Carlton was not on the mound for the team. – Jim Kaat
Life’s been good to me… so far.
Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.
Be careful out there. (It’s a jungle!)
Happy National Ravioli Day!
I am not bartending this afternoon but I will be downtown watching college hoops. Come… join me.
The best pickup line this time of year; “Hey, how’s your bracket?”
Remember, when you’re dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others. The same applies when you are stupid.
“You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign
Cruel to be kind means that I love you, baby
(You’ve gotta be cruel)
You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind”
Nick Lowe (Cruel To Be Kind)
‘Tis the season!
Ed's Head On Friday 