I'm askin', can you see?

Been a bit busy the last couple of days. On Monday, I only got four hours of sleep, took care of some things in the morning, then napped in the afternoon before work. Tuesday, I was out of the house all day, then did the same on Wednesday, when my wife, a friend from work and I drove to Philadelphia for the Mitchell & Ness sale. (I went in without a wish list, figuring I'd see what was available, and came away with three jerseys, three hats and a pennant of the Colorado Rockies -- not the baseball team, but the hockey team that would one day become the New Jersey Devils. One of the jerseys is right up there. I never really considered it, having only seen it online, because I have a current road jersey featuring David Wright's name and number and figured that filled the need. But seeing this one in person -- the blue and orange of the "NEW YORK," sans drop shadow, standing out so nicely from the gray flannel -- had me hooked. Then I went onto eBay and bought the home version of the Tom Seaver for $100, shipping included. I even saw the strangely numbered Tug McGraw, but had no desire for it.)

Anyway, I have three of the next four days off from work, so I hope to catch up on some posts, both timely as the news of the days warrant, and others I've saved drafts of with the intention of filling them out eventually. That list of drafts has gotten a little long for my tastes.

So we'll get to that, soon. For now, MLB.com columnist Mike Bauman seems to have decided that if MLB is going to try to speed up the pace of games from the first pitch to the final out, why not try to pick up the pace on the national anthem, too. Really? That's the column you felt had to be written? I find some anthem singers grating, too, but it's not the cause I'd choose if I had that kind of a platform.