Editor’s note: After 11 years of daily commentaries on ������Ƶapp, Chris Core embraced retirement at the end of 2019.

You never know what’s gonna happen. You make your plans and you hear God laughing.” -Thomas Rhett, country music artist

On December 20, I announced my retirement on ������Ƶapp after more than fifty years of being on the radio.

It was strange to say goodbye, but I felt it was time. I had been planning retirement for years.

My wife and I knew we eventually wanted to live on or near a beach in Florida.

We had traveled around the state for a decade until we found the little beach town, called Pass-A-Grille, that felt like home.

We sold our house in the Maryland suburbs and became Floridians.

As we sat on the beach to watch the fireworks usher in 2020, we were sure that this would be one of the best years of our lives.

And it was for about ten weeks.

More Coronavirus News

• Sign up for news alerts from ������Ƶapp
• Coronavirus pandemic triggers some local little free libraries to adapt
• Record 16.8 million have sought US jobless aid since virus
• Farmers markets, fish markets disqualified as ‘essential’ in DC; store signs must tell shoppers to wear masks
• US economy unlikely to recover as rapidly as it collapsed
• Coronavirus test results in D.C., Maryland and Virginia
• Coronavirus FAQ: What you need to know

We had friends and family come to visit, went to spring training baseball games, ate at new and exciting restaurants and went for boat rides on the Gulf of Mexico.

My wife found a new job and I began to write for a local newspaper and became a docent at a museum.

It was all working out. Then came a new reality.

Yes, we still live half a block from one of the best beaches in the country, but we can’t use it — barricades order us to stay off.

Many of our newly discovered restaurants are shuttered and some of those may never reopen.

My wife was furloughed from her job. The museum is closed to the public for the foreseeable future. The local paper I was writing for is on pause, perhaps forever.

Like Washingtonians, we spend our days cautiously searching for basic essentials, such as toilet paper, milk and bread.

So far, we still have our health. But at age 71, I know I am considered at risk.

And yet, I can’t really complain.

Yes, my wife and I are confined to a small house, but we aren’t driving each other nuts (yet).

Yes, the dog has fleas but even he is cheerfully coping.

So we are among the lucky, weird as that may seem to us at times.

This is not the retirement I imagined and planned for.

It is, instead, a lesson in gratitude and humility.

A reminder that too often we take for granted the everyday conveniences and pleasures of our daily lives, even our routines.

And it’s a demonstration of how fragile life itself can be.

I hope we all learn from this when we finally come out the other side of this horrible pandemic.

Source

The public address announcer said: “Playing right field for Milwaukee, number 44, Hank A….”

Alas, the last part of that name was Allen, not Aaron (he fell only 749 home runs short of Mr. Aaron in his MLB career, which included a stint with the Senators). But his choosing the number of the future Hall of Famer, then still playing for the former Milwaukee Braves in Atlanta, was not a coincidence.

This is one of my first memories of the Brew Crew. The Brewers, in their first year in Milwaukee (1970), were awful. They finished at 65-92. Still, it was baseball in Wisconsin.

I was a student at the University of Wisconsin, so the Brewers became our home team. My roommate John Norquist and I drove from Madison to County Stadium, about 90 minutes away, to see games because, well, we loved baseball. In an amazing turn of events, many years later, Norquist was elected to four terms as Mayor of Milwaukee. As part of his Milwaukee renaissance plan, John helped Miller Park, the new home of the Brewers, to get built.

The Brewers began to get their act together in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s with future Hall of Famers like Paul Molitor and Robin Yount maturing into stars. But the postseason has not been kind to them. In 1981, they lost the Division playoff to the Yankees. In 1982, they made it to the World Series only to lose in seven games to the Cardinals. By 2008, the Brewers had been moved from the American to the National League, where they again lost the Division series, this time to the Phillies. And in 2011, their last postseason appearance before this year, they lost the Championship Series to the Cardinals.

This year could be different. The Brewers can hit. Led by outfielder and MVP candidate Christian Yelich, they can pound the ball with a batting order made up of names you probably know: Travis Shaw, Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain, Jonathan Schoop, Mike Moustakas, Curtis Granderson, and slugging first baseman Jesus Aguilar.

Where the Brewers are short in star power is pitching. Except, perhaps, for a guy named Gio Gonzalez whom they acquired Aug. 31. Hmmm, that name rings a bell. Still they managed a very respectable team ERA of 3.75, sixth-best in the majors. And their manager, Craig Counsell, will get strong consideration for Manager of the Year.

Milwaukee is a small market city, with its metro population only about a million and a half. But the fans are passionate, the beer is cold, and this team is good. It’s Brewer time at Miller Park!

MLB Postseason Previews

Boston Red Sox | Cleveland Indians | Houston Astros | NY Yankees | Oakland Athletics

Atlanta Braves | Chicago Cubs | Colorado Rockies | LA Dodgers | Milwaukee Brewers

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source