We continue our annual look at the new fall season with Monday night’s offerings, another night that has nothing even halfway intriguing, a position that has held pretty steady since 2018.
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2025 New Fall Season – Sundays
It is time once again to start our annual dive in to the new fall lineups for the upcoming television season. As has become normal in the last couple of years, there is nothing interesting among the networks’ Sunday night offerings, which means I might have some time to work through some of the streaming shows I’ve let pile up. Or work through the growing backlog on my DVR.
Lonely At The Top
It took a while, but the Rockies finally won their 42nd game of the season last night, ensuring that the 2024 White Sox will continue to own the record for the most losses in a single season in the modern era of Major League Baseball. Moving forward, I propose that MLB officially declare this day, the day the final team wins their 42nd game of the season, Jerry Reinsdorf day in honor of his not-so-glorious achievement.
Back To The Playoffs
For the first time since 2020, the Cubs are heading back to the postseason. They clinched their spot in the playoffs yesterday, defeating the Pirates 8-4. While they are only the third NL team to qualify, they are still five games behind the Brewers in the NL Central and look like they will be the top Wild Card heading into October. If the season ended today, they would host the Padres in the Wild Card series at Wrigley Field.
Fitbit XI – Week 34
An off week that barley managed to extend my 30,000-step week streak to 18 weeks. Things got off to a strong start on Sunday as I needed just 7 additional steps to reach 4900. Going back to work after a week’s vacation on Monday saw me come within 39 steps of 4200. A small decrease on Tuesday left me 40 steps away from 4000. Another small drop on Wednesday needed 26 steps to get to 3900. Thursday was even worse, finishing with 3800 steps. A trip downtown for dinner and to see a Jeopardy! show at the Chicago Theatre pushed me up to 6400 steps on Friday. The week’s low point came on Saturday, ending the week with 3300 steps.
Total steps: 30,497
Daily average: 4356.7
Book 46 (of 52) – Sycamore Row
Sycamore Row – John Grisham
Three years after the trial of Carl Lee Hailey, Jake Brigance finds himself in another charged trial, arguing in favor of the estate of Seth Hubbard, who wrote a new will and mailed it to Jake the day of his suicide. In this will, Seth, whom Jake had never met, dis-inherits his children and grandchildren and leaves almost his entire estate, estimated at over $20 million, to his black housekeeper. Facing higher powered lawyers arguing in favor of the dead man’s children, Jake seems to be at the end of his rope. At least until his former boss tracks down the one man alive who can explain the reasoning Seth did what he did.
While only three years passed between the trials of Carl Lee Hailey and the Seth Hubbard’s estate, it has been 24 years between A Time to Kill, John Grisham’s debut novel, and Sycamore Row, which was published in 2013. It has been 31 years since I read A Time to Kill, so I have little to no recollection of the details, but it still feels good to revisit these old friends. This outing was much deeper in the legal minutia than having thrills, which also made it a little different from Grisham’s more recent work. At least that which I have read.
Prolific Authors – Six Books
It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years. Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years. We continue today with the four authors I’ve read six times, two more than two years ago.
Swan Song – Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand
The best-selling author of novels set on her home island of Nantucket added four new novels to my read shelf these past two years.
David Mack
All six of his entries come from Star Trek: The Next Generation works I’ve read on my Kindle.
Sarah Pekkanen
She has teamed up with Greer Hendricks for four novels but has branched out on her own again in recent years.
Break No Bones – Kathy Reichs
Kathy Reichs
The creator of the books that were the inspiration for Bones, she has been rising steadily as I’ve gained a newfound appreciation for the novel series.
Still The Worst
With their 4-2 victory over the Padres last night, the Rockies won their 41st game of the season, ensuring that, at worst, they will tie the 2024 White Sox for the most losses in the modern era of Major League Baseball. With two weeks to go in the season, it seems likely that they will win at least one additional game, leaving the 2024 White Sox to stand alone in disgrace.
Hanging Up His Platinum Glove
Former Cub Anthony Rizzo announced his retirement this morning after a fourteen-year career. A three-time All Star, Rizzo spent ten seasons with the Cubs, ranking sixth in franchise history with 242 home runs. He was also a four-time Gold Glove winner, winning Platinum Glove honors in 2016 as the league’s best defender. In 2017, Rizzo was bestowed with the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.
Rizzo, originally drafted by the Red Sox when Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were in their front office, was the duo’s first big acquisition when they reunited in Chicago, acquiring him from the Padres. Beginning the 2012 season in Triple A, he was recalled at the end of June and quickly became a mainstay of the lineup and a crowd favorite. As the Cubs were rebuilding around him, he signed a long-term contract extension in 2013. He cemented his position in Cubs lore by catching the final out of the 2016 World Series, ending the longest championship drought in American professional sports. However, as the Cubs struggled to repeat the team success of that season, Rizzo also struggled in later years, contributing to an offense that has severely regressed since 2016 and was one of the Cubs who refused to get the COVID vaccine, keeping the team below the 85% threshold for the 2021 season. At the trade deadline, he was traded to the Yankees.
After re-signing with the Yankees after the 2021 season, Rizzo spent three injury-marred seasons in New York, culminating in last fall’s World Series loss to the Dodgers. A free agent following the season, he went unsigned and sat out the 2025 season prior to today’s announcement. He will officially retire as a Cub and join the organization as a team ambassador.
Fitbit XI – Week 33
A strong week of vacation helped extend my 30,000-step week streak to 17 weeks. Things got off to a strong start on Sunday as I gathered 5600 steps thanks to a visit to Rate Field to see the White Sox battle the Yankees. Labor Day saw me come within 23 steps of 4600 on Monday. A small increase on Tuesday again left me 40 steps away from 4900. A Cubs game Wednesday night left me just 27 steps shy of 7300. Thursday saw a big drop-off, needing 13 more steps just to reach 4400. A doctor’s appointment on Friday put me 27 steps short of 5700. The week’s low point came on Saturday, ending the week just 24 steps shy of 3500.
Total steps: 35,857
Daily average: 5122.4