A quick (and heartfelt) Merry Christmas to you

Christmas Day is one of the most special days of the year in our family. For many of the people who read this blog, I'm sure the same is true.

Which is why I'm not going to bother you today with any of my regular blabbering. It is Wednesday, however, and as the masthead at the top of the blog says, we provide new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

So I'll simply say this, and I mean it: Whether you're a consistent visitor to this site or just someone who stops by every once in a while (or maybe this is even your first time), thank you.

Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, thank you for throwing a 'like' or two my way every once in a while, and thank you for supporting an endeavor that has now lasted – off and on – for 13 years. I genuinely appreciate it, and I appreciate you.

Have a wonderful Christmas, a safe and happy final week of the year, and a blessed 2025.

If I had to do it all over again...

Back in November 2015, I wrote about some things in my life I might have done differently if given the chance to go back. I'm not a person who has many regrets, but as Frank Sinatra once sang, I've had a few.

In addition to the ones I mentioned in that post of 17 months ago, I can think of a few others:

1. I should have taken piano lessons.
2. I would have learned to program in machine language on my Commodore 64 computer instead of just playing a series of pirated software games.
3. I would have lost weight after my senior season of football so that my last year of high school track wasn't such a..."disappointment" isn't the word, but 190-pound me simply couldn't long jump or run as fast as 170-pound me.
4. I would been a much better class officer, speaking of high school. (Apologies to Brian Fabo, who shouldered much of the load and rightly pointed out that I wasn't shouldering mine.)
5. I shouldn't have quit after one night of washing dishes at The Bright Spot restaurant in order to take a job at Wendy's that paid me a dime per hour more. (Hey, I was 16, had a girlfriend and needed the money. Those dimes really did count! But still...)
6. I should have treated college as something more than just an academic formality that had to be completed before I could become a sports writer and, of course, stay in the business for 40 years covering Cleveland professional teams until my retirement.
7. I wouldn't have been such a smart aleck from, oh, 6th grade through...well, now. Remind me to stop doing that.
8. I would have taken our dog Jesse for more walks. He was such a good boy.
9. I would have made sure my shorts (and their contents) were secure before sliding down that rope in 6th-grade gym class. Yikes.
10. I should have made a point of telling my coaches and teachers how much I learned from them and how much I appreciated them. The list is too long, but apologies to the likes of Mrs. Schwarzenberg, Mrs. Grabner, Mrs. Feltham, Miss Yeager, Mr. Thomas, Mrs. Crow, Mrs. Coil, Ms. Capasso, Mr. Kondrich, Mr. Duricy, Mr. Kendra, Mr. Ranallo, Mr. Mazer, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Bezjak, Madame Whitehorn, Mr. Elias, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Kowalski, and Coaches Benz, Magill, Knapp, Rosneck, Nackley, Smith, Wolfgram, Kowalski (again), D'Amore, and countless others I've neglected to mention. You were all wonderfully patient with me and incredibly influential in my life. Thank you.