January at the beach

*So, how am I liking LA so far, you ask? Let me put it this way. I had Friday off and I spent most of the afternoon at the beach. On January 6. It got up near 85 degrees. That night I had the windows open in my room and it felt like a midsummer night and I had a feeling like I should turn on the Sox game on the radio. Except, I turned on the TV and there were the Clippers.

*Speaking of, the Clippers are a lot of fun to watch, and this is coming from someone who generally does not enjoy the NBA in the slightest. They're a young team that plays energetic ball. Probably not a title contender, but they'll make some noise in the playoffs. Of course, they played just about their worst game of the season against the Celtics a couple weeks ago, so those reading this back home have seen zero evidence of this.

*And speaking of "back home," I couldn't help but read all the teeth-gnashing over Doug Flutie's drop kick and just shake my head in disbelief. Here's a little clue from someone who used to be in the Boston sports media bubble and now watches from afar: Outside of Boston, around the rest of the country, the near-unanimous opinion on the drop kick was "that was just about the coolest thing I have ever seen." Here's an idea: You are not required to manufacture controversy 365 days a year. Sometimes there simply is no controversy. And another idea: If you find yourself working yourself into a froth because Doug Flutie kicked a drop kick, you really should step away from your keyboard, shut off your radio, and take a couple days off.