FANTASY SPORTS

              From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

    DAY   USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142      15512        1151        189      712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194

April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37

May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59 

June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug     4         656    10120        1118        532      423 

Sept   22      2228      9326          839       279     124

Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59

Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23

Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140

Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175

Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 

Apr     1         439      4056         290         52        12

May    5         225      2404        151            ?        64 

June    2        216      1413          130          10        31 

July    7         320       1958        297          38         9 

Aug   4         311        2138          258          70         ? 

         11         290       1994         173          49         ?

        18          264      1950         202           ?         ?

        25          245      1909         197          68        ?

        31          403      1989         115           37        ? 

Sep    1          272       1732          39            ?         ? 

          8          287       1676          99          13        ? 

        15          249        1418          79          23       17

        21          375        1330         87          26        ? 

        22          222        1219         69          20        ?

        28          370        1220         48          27        ? 

        29          226        1218         49          18       16 

Oct    5          350        1210       109          12        9 

          6          281         1305       119           9         ?

Summary:

• Well, that pattern is holding:  the U.S. new deaths for Wednesday are always 100 or so higher than on Tuesdays.  Why?  Don't know.
• The cases/day for the World seems to now be INCREASING.
• Germany was #1 in new cases yesterday, by a wide margin, with 174,112.
• #2 was France with 65,537
• #3 was Taiwan with 46,430
• #4  Italy  44,849
• #5  Japan  33,,440
• #6  USA  30,873
• #7  South Korea  28,603
• #8  Russia  23,045
• #9  Austria  15,068
• #10  UK  8,917
• Note the dominance of European countries.
• While the USA was #1 in new deaths yesterday, our new case count is dropping.  With the more recent temporary incursion of Japan, we have almost always been #1 in new cases and deaths for 2.5 years.

Sometime soon one of my postings will be on existential threats, that is, the end of human existence.  President Joe Biden said yesterday that the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" is the highest it has been since Cuban Missile Crisis.  The end of the Cold War thirty years ago reduced that potential, but has returned today with the anxiety about the stability of Vladimir Putin.  To me the end of humanity begins with my demise, for I don't have the assurance many have about a future heaven.

Ah, that was no way to end the week, so let me segue into fantasy...fantasy sports.  I had four ESPN Major League Baseball teams this year.  The regular season ended on Wednesday.  I won two leagues, on the final day did well enough to tie for first for the third team, and barely lost a playoff for first with the fourth.

What a season!  Congrats champ, you won your league!

Two of my three ESPN National Football League teams are presently undefeated, and the third has one loss.  My three NCAA football teams, Hawaii, LSU and Stanford, are having poor seasons.  I went to one game where Hawaii beat Duquesne, but that will be our final victory this year.

Which leads to fantasy basketball.  I have not had any fantasy teams for at least a decade.  However, I found myself with some time one afternoon this week and drafted three ESPN National Basketball Association teams.  You too can by clicking on THIS.  

• Click on Join a Public League.
• For most of you, click on Beginner.
• There are two types of competition.
• Roto, where you compete agains other teams by stat category.
• H2H or head-to-head, where you weekly compete against a team in your league.
• Doesn't matter which one you pick.  Would make sense to make two teams of one each.
• There are two types of draft.  Salary Cap is more difficult, so click on Snake, which means the computer assigns who picks first, second, etc., after which time the tenth team has two choices and the draft reverts back to eventually #1, then snake along until your team is completed.    You don't need to worry, for the computer tells you who is next best players available and which ones are injured to be avoided.
• Then click on Draft Now, or a later time more convenient for you.
• Next, click on Join a League.
• You will be assigned to a league.
• When the time comes, the computer will ask you to join the draft.
• You will draft, or select, 13 players.
• All the stats will be kept by ESPN, and every NBA game you watch will be meaningful, for if your players are not playing, you don't want them to do well.  If one of your players is, then you root for him.  
• This game takes time, for you need to adjust your roster daily.  The season will tip off on Tuesday, October 18 and conclude on Sunday, April 9, 2023.  Almost seven months.
• All the above is FREE!  But if you win your league, you win nothing but personal pride.

I'll end my posting today with the three photos I submitted to our 15 Craigside Photo Club, where my theme was food.  The first one is a photo of Bob and me at our Thursday night table where we celebrated our combined 176th birthday.  We were born one day apart in September, and are both dragons, so you can calculate our ages.

Above I mentioned that I went to a University of Hawaii football game.  We now play on our Manoa Campus and my office is short walk to an elevator that leads to the stadium.  So we had the following Chinese tailgate of scallop soup, deviled eggs, roast pork, Peking Duck and chow fun.  Plus a lot of alcohol.

Finally, the ultimate in Japanese cuisine, Chu-Toro and O-Toro Blue Fin tuna and Japanese Wagyu beef.  Notice that the beef is the cheapest at $76.50/pound, while the fattiest tuna is at $90/pound.  Have you ever paid that much for fish?

-