Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like being lucky. I am very fortunate. I have a wonderful wife that loves me and lots of great material items. I have everything I could ever need but I have never thought of myself as lucky. At least I don’t feel as if I am as lucky as other people. Well that all changed last Wednesday. Here’s a breakdown of my day:

* Got to represent my employer at a golf outing.
* Won a door prize at the golf outing.
* Won a closest-to-the-pin prize at the golf outing.
* Came home to find a voicemail from Timberline Golf Club explaining that I had won a free round of golf!

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my day! But if you’re keeping score at home, the luckiest day I ever had was the day I went on a blind date with Julie.

This week, I love Mint Condition. This book takes a broad view at the baseball card industry – from the early days of tobacco cards to today’s numerous and confusing card sets. I collected baseball cards during a time when it was thought that pieces of cardboard would fund your retirement. Mint Condition does a great job of explaining how baseball cards were transformed from something enjoyed by kids into a greedy industry. This industry gave us one of the best examples of how oversupplying can ruin a good time for everyone. Baseball cards have a long history that has been documented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Library of Congress. There is a definite point in this history when greed took over. Mint Condition helps me see this point and also understand why my own collection is now worthless.

This week, I don’t like LeBron James. This has been the best season for the NBA since the mid-1990s. The talent difference between teams is razor thin. And this great season is about to be tarnished because LeBron James is going to win his first championship. One of the last guys that was allowed to skip college, LeBron is now more famous for dumping Cleveland and his home state for a franchise that is buying a championship this year. LeBron is the 2nd best player in the league (see: Kobe Bryant) and he is an amazing athlete. But his on-court antics, chest pounding and “look at me” celebrations have turned a lot of fans against him. I will definitely be pulling for the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk is the anti-LeBron and one of the best players ever to come from Europe. Dirk even has an Auburn connection…what would be a highly illegal connection. But a connection nonetheless. Go Mavs!