Resolution

 Last night I crashed, early and fairly hard -- a whole seven hours of sleep.  I needed it, and more; I was not exactly chipper and alert today, but I have to admit that had I stayed up -- despte the pileup of links and articles and bookmarkes -- it would have been worse.  Monday I was up watching the Buckeyes lose and, in the waning stages of the game, going through all of Mom's stuff from the nursing home. (Let's just say they included everything, so in some ways it was a real joy.)  It was nice, in a way, to go through everything; what to do with some of it I do not know, but at least the pile is gone.

One thing that fascinated me was that some people were hoping for a train wreck regarding Ken Jennings' debut as guest host.  Much as I do not root against J! contestants, I don't root against guest hosts.  And you know what?  I think he nailed it.  The speeches at the start of the games on Monday and Tuesday were just right and truly heartfelt.  It's not quite the same, of course, but so far, I like what I see.  Now, I do like the idea of guest hosts (for now); no one can replace a legend, but one can succeed him, and a rotating series is a good way to do that (and certainly fun).  But I also suspect at the end of the day people watch to test their knowledge, and the host is...ancilliary?

Two broad observations about the OSU game.  One, the bend but don't break defense, to me, was...unwise?  Given Alabama's firepower, saying "march to the 20 and we will hold you" seems...well, admitting defeat.  Now, I would think that -- such as by how Wade played so far off the WRs -- this was plan... but I also don't think it was wise, as it just allowed them to march down the field, get rhythm, etc.  I didn't object to the overuse of LBs in the game.... to me, that was more of a strategic choice -- if you think that the DBs can't stop the WRs, then you use the bigger, stronger LBs to knock them around (Paul Zimmermann, the great SI football writer, said this was an underrated factor of the Wide Right Super Bowl; pretty good read, if I recall).  Now, that plan didn;t work, but I could see where it came from.

Which leads me to point two, which is that nothing OSU could have done would have stopped 'Bama, so... alas. Such happens in life.  Two football miracles were not on the agenda.

I stepped on the scale at the gym a couple of days ago...whoa.  I can feel it in my pants, but... I am now carrying about 8 more pounds than I normally do, and that is simply unacceptable!  Some of it is not beng outside on long walks, some of it Xmas excess, some of it is low blood sugar at night, but mainly I am snacking more, and that is not cool.  Hit the gym twice today and Monday and am pacing around more (to say nothing of cutting snacking)... I do not expect immediate improvement, but if this holds...