Tag: holidays

[Business Day One] Ho Ho Ho!

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I’m still sad from the weekend. I’m not delirious with rage, or throwing darts at a picture of John Swofford or lamenting a broken system with stunning poetry. I’m just sad. Oh well, at least my Boston College Eagles will get to relax in sunny Orlando over the holidays. I need to take whatever I can get.

Hey Look, It's Santa!Anyway, I’m not here to write about this. I don’t want anyone here to see me cry at my desk. Instead, I want to talk about Christmas.

We all still believe in magic, especially around this time of year. Even the most steadfastly secular and reasonable among us can still be overwhelmed by heart-quickening memories of holidays past. We can recall the excitement of seeing presents that appeared (out of nowhere!) under the tree, and that feeling we got when we were certain we heard reindeer on our roof. We have that specific moment when we were first told that Santa wasn’t real inked in our mind, right alongside the memory of us absolutely insisting that he was to the foolish non-believer.

Sure we’re grown-ups now. And we know there isn’t a toy factory on the North Pole or Rudolph with his nose so bright. But one thing I learned as a grown-up is that Santa is real. I’m serious. He exists in the harried expression of a parent trying to figure out what video game to get. He exists in a doting grandma’s car as she circles the mall looking for parking. He exists when dad gets up in the middle of the night to eat the carrots his daughter left out so she thinks that Dasher and Dancer did. So yes. Santa exists. But what doesn’t exist is free magic. Grown-ups know this. In fact, I think that’s the big difference between children and grown-ups. The adults among us know that miracles cost money. That video game wasn’t cobbled by elves, it was bought by your mom. That your stocking wasn’t stuffed by St. Nick in your living room, it was stuffed at Walgreen’s. And that no one is going to magically jump down your chimney and give your team Johan Santana for free. It’s going to cost you. Read More

Happy Fourth of July

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Girl at soccer game showing boobs and backwards flagIt’s the Fourth of July and we all know what that means: fireworks and competitive eating. Today is the highly anticipated match-up of Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. Why is this anticipated? Well, you might know that Kobayashi has won every year since his first contest in 2000 (in 2000 he set a record of 50 dogs, the previous record was 28). Kobayashi has during his 6 year run at the top upped the record for delicious Nathan’s Hot Dogs eaten in 12 minutes to 53.75. That brings us to the challenger, Joey Chestnut. Chestnut is a competitive eater who eats everything. He has world records in waffles, grilled cheese, pork ribs, pulled pork, wings, and asparagus to name a few.

Triplets wearing only American flag body paint - Only in AmericaWhat makes this a great match-up is that in a preliminary round for this years contest, Chestnut broke the hot dog record. The new world record is 59.5 dogs. That’s almost 6 dogs more that Kobayashi. So that is what you can look forward to today for shoving hot dogs into mouths. Kobayashi weighed in Tuesday at 154 pounds; Chestnut at 215 pounds.

You can also fill your day with baseball (which starts early with Cubs v. Nationals game at 11:00am), fireworks, and beer – just as Washington and Jefferson would have wanted. Also when you’re eating hot dogs and watching the game, count the number of hot dogs you ate during the whole day and imagine eating them all during what amounts to one half-inning of baseball.

A hot dogI’m hungry just thinking about all this food, so enjoy your holiday and eat some hot dogs.