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| Mojo and I both have professional reputations for cursing |
A few months back, Mojo taught us how to make crucial decision using military style decision making. A few weeks back, he and I were debating the best three consecutive months in the sports calendar as I lulled down the NJ turnpike. Henceforth, we decided to see if I learned anything from him and have me use the military style decision making to come to a conclusion. So wilst thy do us thine honor of studying thee pages that cometh? (Dead serious about that caption up there, apparently our f**ing awful language goes beyond our phone calls...)
On my kids life, I'm going to do this without looking back at the original post. Here are the guidelines, as I remember them (LB Note - I'm starting this post sober literally because I don't want to hear it from Mojo on how I f**ed this up royally... s**t, language! Ahhhhh!!!). I have broken down the three contenders, gleaned from said Turnpike conversation, into three columns. I then have seven categories in which to rate them. I rate each category with their assigned point values, add the totals, and then I have my decision. In the event of a tie, the commanding officer, Major Mojo here, breaks the tie, but is not allowed to change any ratings or give his rationale. Though in our case, he's going to give his analysis of both my choice, his preference, andthe inevitably long rambling I have to proofread and edit any other ramblings he chooses to add. The ratings are as follows:
+ = The category is an asset in the timeframe. Assigned 1 point.
# = The category is neutral. Assigned 0 points. We are going with the hashtag symbol because we are making a conscious effort to recruit more millennials to our blog so we can increase our advertising base and our profit margins.
- = The category is a drag in the timeframe. Assigned -1 point.
And here are the categories:
NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL/College Sports - Prevalence of said sports in that timeframe. I lumped college in to save space and because I had to copy/paste that table from Word like 5 times before I got it close because I kept forgetting s**t and couldn't figure out how to insert a table in Blogger... s**t, I can't stop swearing.
Other Sports - This is your golf majors, tennis majors, Olympics, etc. I'm sure to forget some, but I did not forget NASCAR because it's not actually a sport.
Titles - How many and which championships are awarded in the timeframe?
I considered an "other" category for other factors, e.g., weather, holidays, or fantasy football drafts, but decided that I was overcomplicating it and that I should try and keep this about the decision at hand, i.e., sports played. I'm not sure if the military would do things that way, but I went with discipline over creativity. Because, you know, sometimes people lack discipline.
On my kids life, I'm going to do this without looking back at the original post. Here are the guidelines, as I remember them (LB Note - I'm starting this post sober literally because I don't want to hear it from Mojo on how I f**ed this up royally... s**t, language! Ahhhhh!!!). I have broken down the three contenders, gleaned from said Turnpike conversation, into three columns. I then have seven categories in which to rate them. I rate each category with their assigned point values, add the totals, and then I have my decision. In the event of a tie, the commanding officer, Major Mojo here, breaks the tie, but is not allowed to change any ratings or give his rationale. Though in our case, he's going to give his analysis of both my choice, his preference, and
+ = The category is an asset in the timeframe. Assigned 1 point.
| Current LB profit margin |
- = The category is a drag in the timeframe. Assigned -1 point.
And here are the categories:
NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL/College Sports - Prevalence of said sports in that timeframe. I lumped college in to save space and because I had to copy/paste that table from Word like 5 times before I got it close because I kept forgetting s**t and couldn't figure out how to insert a table in Blogger... s**t, I can't stop swearing.
Other Sports - This is your golf majors, tennis majors, Olympics, etc. I'm sure to forget some, but I did not forget NASCAR because it's not actually a sport.
Titles - How many and which championships are awarded in the timeframe?
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| Adieu is at capacity |
And now, without any further adieu, here is my decision table:
#
|
+
|
+
|
|
+
|
+
|
-
|
|
+
|
#
|
#
|
|
+
|
#
|
#
|
|
#
|
+
|
||
Other Sports
|
+
|
#
|
#
|
+
|
#
|
+
|
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
A glimpse into my brain... warning, this is not a safe place...
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| Subtle attempt to attract sponsors |
December-February - This was our third choice on the phone, and not surprised to see it finish third here. It was tough to nail down the three month period here... if you go February-April, you miss Army/Navy, all of the NFL and college football playoffs, and the New Year's Day bowls, but you catch the Super Bowl, all of March Madness, the NFL draft, the Masters, and MLB Opening Day. Looking at that list, it just goes to show the power of the NFL playoffs, and in our case, Army/Navy. January-March, you sacrifice Army/Navy for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, but then you miss the Final Four. On the phone, I may or may not have used a very off-color analogy to describe that scenario which I will not repeat and probably just made Mojo laugh out loud. This group had our only - on the table, as MLB has its owners meetings and the occasional blockbuster deal, but only baseball nerds like me are paying attention to baseball in the winter. In a year you have the Winter Olympics, Other Sports goes to a +. Looking at it now, I think that the total goes to a 3 if I moved it to January-March if I'm rating for the general sports fan, but I personally prefer Army/Navy over MLB Opening Day.
September-November - Mojo's original pick was August-October, then he agreed moving it down one month captured more and that sacrificing August wasn't a big deal. College football sometimes kicks off in August, but the best games are typically Labor Day weekend. The Summer Olympics were in August this year, but they are typically earlier in the summer. This was also his chosen favorite timeframe on the phone. He loves the opening football games and the fall season in general. November captures the end of the World Series plus Thanksgiving Day NFL games. I'm a fan of the U.S. Open tennis tourney, most of which is played in September. The Ryder Cup falls in here every other year. NBA, NHL, and NCAA hoops all start in this period. There is a real lack of titles in this timeframe, though. The only playoffs you get are MLB. Hence, the plethora of #s here. It probably gets to 4 in Ryder Cup years or any year the World Cup or some other random event creeps into September.
April-June - The winner was my initial and never-wavering pick, which has been my favorite sports time for a long time, so I'll acknowledge a little bias. So many highlights in this time: NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, Final Four, the Masters, and US Open golf all crown champions; NFL and NBA drafts; MLB Opening Days (almost all of them). Spring practice and spring games for college football. Summer Olympics and/or World Cup are possibilities for June. Indy 500 and the horse racing Triple Crown fall in here. I could probably make the argument to add a point for the Final Four, but Mojo noted that the 1st and 2nd rounds are a lot of peoples favorite part of the tourney, and I usually consider the bracket reveals a second Christmas. However, if you push back to March, you lose the NBA, NHL, and US Open crowning champions. So as much as I love March Madness, I think most people would take June over March. If you make me pick only one for the rest of my life, it would be really tough for me to choose March or June... I'm going June right now, but if you ask me in March, I'd probably say March. Maybe the closest two months to pick between, actually.
Well, I'm pretty happy with how that went and confident in my thought process. I'm also in good physical shape at the moment, so I'm fairly certain I would only cost my own life and not anyone else in my unit at this point. I've been texting pics to Mojo to convince him I'm gonna finally be there for AOR this year. We'll let him be the final arbiter on my decision and how I would have done as a soldier. Mojo, I yield the floor... and strangely, he didn't have much to say. Here's our email exchange:
Mojo - I made not many comments, but the only big thing is if you want to separate college sports into football/basketball, I think they should be separate due to the viewing numbers and the fact that some like one and not the other. Also, the other sports category can get confusing. If the readers all know about golf, tennis, nascar and such then maybe not, but I think 4 major sports and two college is enough, but no emotional attachment by any means. It makes it easier to debate/piss off folks and generate comments if they can clearly go against one sport and not one of many in a category. My ten cents, my two cents is free.
LB - Wait, does that mean I would have been a good soldier? And by "good" I mean would I have only put my own life in imminent danger and not the lives of everyone else in my unit?
Mojo - Means you would have made a good staff person (aka: soldiers who want to be soldiers but have to be staff guys supporting real soldiers.
LB - Anything that wasn't, "I wouldn't trust you to order a package of pens" is a win for me. Hooah!!!
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| Turned on? |
April-June - The winner was my initial and never-wavering pick, which has been my favorite sports time for a long time, so I'll acknowledge a little bias. So many highlights in this time: NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, Final Four, the Masters, and US Open golf all crown champions; NFL and NBA drafts; MLB Opening Days (almost all of them). Spring practice and spring games for college football. Summer Olympics and/or World Cup are possibilities for June. Indy 500 and the horse racing Triple Crown fall in here. I could probably make the argument to add a point for the Final Four, but Mojo noted that the 1st and 2nd rounds are a lot of peoples favorite part of the tourney, and I usually consider the bracket reveals a second Christmas. However, if you push back to March, you lose the NBA, NHL, and US Open crowning champions. So as much as I love March Madness, I think most people would take June over March. If you make me pick only one for the rest of my life, it would be really tough for me to choose March or June... I'm going June right now, but if you ask me in March, I'd probably say March. Maybe the closest two months to pick between, actually.
Well, I'm pretty happy with how that went and confident in my thought process. I'm also in good physical shape at the moment, so I'm fairly certain I would only cost my own life and not anyone else in my unit at this point. I've been texting pics to Mojo to convince him I'm gonna finally be there for AOR this year. We'll let him be the final arbiter on my decision and how I would have done as a soldier. Mojo, I yield the floor... and strangely, he didn't have much to say. Here's our email exchange:
| Mr. Mojo Risin! |
LB - Wait, does that mean I would have been a good soldier? And by "good" I mean would I have only put my own life in imminent danger and not the lives of everyone else in my unit?
Mojo - Means you would have made a good staff person (aka: soldiers who want to be soldiers but have to be staff guys supporting real soldiers.
LB - Anything that wasn't, "I wouldn't trust you to order a package of pens" is a win for me. Hooah!!!
Well, the next time you hear from us will be the week before Army/Navy. We were kicking around live blogging that, but I think I might just randomly post some pics on there so you all can see how truly awesome this event is. From our families to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Isn't Thanksgiving the very definition of a holiday, by the way... football, food, booze, no pressure to buy gifts/see every single person on the planet? Sounds great to me. Seems appropriate that Ben Folds Five send us to the doors this week. Oh, and don't forget to follow me and Mojo on Twitter. Hasta.
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