Where I've Been

Regular readers of this blog may be wondering where the daily analysis-filled posts have gone, and why I've replaced them with random videos, links, and minimal effort/commentary. Well, I suffer from a very specific form of Seasonal Affective Disorder. From December to March (roughly) I generally feel sluggish, uninspired, uncreative, and unmotivated. Even as I wrote that last sentence I had a really hard time coming up with simple words like "uninspired." It's more difficult for me to get out of bed, to go to class, to study, to finish my assignments, or do a lot of the things that are typically very easy for me. Every "B" I got in undergrad was during the Spring semester, due in part to this funk I find myself in every year.

My friends have come to affectionately call this my "off season." My symptoms, however, are not necessarily associated with cold weather or fewer hours of sunlight...I think. As strange as it sounds, my winter blues start at the end of baseball and college football, and I don't snap out of it until I can finally watch Peter Gammons, Steve Phillips, Karl Ravech, and John Kruk nightly on "Baseball Tonight." I know how crazy this sounds, but it's the honest-to-goodness truth.

This past year has been an especially exciting one, which makes this off-season an especially difficult one. Last Spring my father, my brother, and I drove down to Florida for Spring Training for the first time. I graduated from college in May and then got married a week after. On our honeymoon we saw Jon Lester's no-hitter against the Royals at Fenway. The Sox had a hell of a year and made it to game 7 of the ALCS despite a ton of injuries and some trades that should have significantly hurt our chances. Luckily, I was able to go straight from baseball to football this year without missing a step, as my Pirates started this year as strong as ever, being ranked as high as 14th in the country en route to a conference championship and a Liberty Bowl appearance. On top of all that, there was an election this year!

Maybe it's easy to see why this Winter has been especially low for me. Fear not, however, my faithful readers! Spring is coming, pitchers and catchers have started their workouts, "Baseball Tonight" episodes are being shown more regularly, and I think I see some sunshine outside!

Note to show how unoriginal I feel: This post took me about an hour and it's as boring as it is depressing...