MQR: What are we resolving in 2017?

Winter Break has always been a blessing and a curse for me.

The first half of it, even when I was in undergrad, was great. Sleeping all day, watching bowl games from dawn til dusk, and not changing my pants or venturing outside for days on end. Maybe traveling to a bowl game, maybe not. But lots of bad football.

After the last day of bowl games—not really a banner day for the Big Ten this year—there was never a ton to do. It’s about 1 degree outside in Minnesota today, there are no good sports on TV, and I’m waiting on edits on a chapter I’ve written. So what do I do? Read? Like some kind of nerd?

Oh. Right.

So I turned, at least a little, to blogging to keep me busy. That seems like a lot more fun than doing responsible things like preparing articles for publication, reading books three weeks in advance, or anything else professionally productive. That’s why as we hot-taekrs across the internet offer our spiciest reactions to the Big Ten’s performance in bowl season, I got a little amusement out of waking up to Colin Cowherd’s thoughts on the SEC’s bowl season:

The “get over yourselves” part of that is my favorite—like that’s ever going to happen. These fans are ones defended by Brent Musberger (only his second-worst take of the Sugar Bowl, you’ll remember) when Oklahoma fans chanted “S-E-C!” while (in Cowherd’s words) humiliating Auburn.

Will anything change in 2017? It’s a year of some change for me—I’m starting a couple research fellowships, hopefully moving back to Minnesota, and doing the more traditional resolution-y things like dropping a few pounds for a wedding in July, making time for Mass every week, and so on and so forth.

So maybe there’s some opportunity in the rest of this Winter Break to make those things happen. In the meantime, I’ll do a little blogging for fun and research planning for...well, it’s not profit, but it’s something.

As I did a little research for a “Where are Northwestern basketballers now?” piece [hint: not the NBA], I stumbled upon this:

Well, now my New Year’s resolutions feel super shitty and insignificant. But supporting Alex Olah’s at least feels like a start on doing better in 2017. Best of luck to a fantastic Wildcat and person as he tries to make the world around him a better place and give kids the opportunities he received.

Now to head to the gy—ooh, replayed matches from the Brisbane International are on!

Anyways, leave your mailbag questions in the comments. Happy 2017; here’s to it being a hell of a lot better than 2016!

-MNW for Townie