A Very Thin Slice Of Fantasy Victory Cake

by Kevin Burton    One, point, zero, four. That’s all.    Late Monday I got a sixth team (out of eight) into the fantasy football playoffs by a margin of 1.04 fantasy points.    But I didn’t win a game by that margin, I won a season, or at least made the playoffs, by that …

Fantasy Playoffs: Happiness Is A Warm Kicker

by Kevin Burton    The beginning of week 14 of fantasy football saw me in a (rare) good mood.  I love it when a plan works out!    Most of the fantasy world pays scant attention to kickers. In fact, some leagues have eliminated kickers from their scoring. This must be a macho thing. Kickers …

Rise Of The Road Dogs, A Perseverance Tale

by Kevin Burton    I was so sure it was going to happen, I had the headline written: “Bad Dogs! Cellar Dwelling Fantasy Team.”    That was two weeks ago. My K&J Road Dogs, in 9th place at 2-4, were playing the last place team, which was 1-5.  If The Dogs lost, the teams would …

What’s Playing At The Movies This Weekend?

by Kevin Burton    “Do you want to see a movie?” my wife Jeannette will ask me, thinking of  a fun diversion. “What’s playing?” I will ask.    “I don’t know,” she will say, exasperated.    “If I don’t know what’s playing, how do I know if I want to go?” I will say, as …

Goalball Gives Blind Players Community

by Todd Strain KNSD TV7 San Diego    If you were looking at the Stagecoach gym floor in Carlsbad during a recent Sunday, you’d see athletic shoes, knee pads, goals and balls — just like your average sporting event. The only difference is no one on the court that day could see.    This was …

Hard Lessons In Death And Unforgiveness

by Kevin Burton     This bit of Burton family lore started small, sprung up unexpected.    We had a maid named Mrs. Long. This was before the basement at my father’s house in Yellow Springs, Ohio  was finished, when you could still practice hockey on roller skates and shoot a plastic puck into a 4-by-6 …

Quibbles And Bits: Cats, Beatles, Fantasy

by Kevin Burton    Our younger cat Lakin is a great leaper, has a good set of lungs and is eager to communicate.    And she’s wild about exercise. I should be so wild about exercise.    You share your living space with two cats, you find out a few things.    Like on a …

Words People Say From Games People Play

by Dictionary Scoop    Since most board games and card games are composed of rules and repeated actions, it is only natural that certain phrases are repeated throughout the gameplay.     The metaphorical potential of some of these phrases has led to them becoming part of our everyday language. Surely you use some of these: 1-Close, …

That’s More Like It!, Real Scrabble Strategy

by Kevin Burton    My mom and I have played a lot of Scrabble over the years. Neither of us pursued victory by waiting around for jawbreaker words such as the one ones featured in yesterday’s Scrabble post.    Muzjiks? Bezique? Quetzal?  Let me know when you get those sets of letters on your rack! …

Interesting But Hard-To-Play Scrabble Words

by Kevin Burton     As usual, Dictionary Scoop has an interesting list today. But this one has next to no value.    It’s a list of the biggest, bangiest Scrabble words. The words that if successfully deployed, would bring the highest scores.    But your chances of ever having these exact letters on your board …