How we don’t have our own Wiki at this point is astounding. Not a Wikipedia mention, but I imagine we’d be fighting in edits over the proper spelling of SHAN’KHOR vs. SHAN’KLOR vs. where the apostrophe goes. (Remember to follow the source material.)

I am actually not starting with violin rep, as much as I’d like to, because I don’t have enough time to wax poetic about the violin equivalent of the Bible. So instead, let’s start with other notable firsts. So… first opera?

L’Orfeo it is! This piece by Baroque composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is the first major opera. I’ll be honest, there are some things I’ll do program note-like things, and this isn’t one of them.

Also because sometimes WordPress doesn’t want to embed nice. Let’s find out! (Nope. Fine, here is the overture. I don’t need to go too far with the plot, because we know the Orpheus myth and it’s the Orpheus myth.) Anyway, feel free to listen to some music, and maybe listen to the whole opera if you want!

Okay, what about news:

-Cooper Kupp not on IR, but RAMMIT places J G Jonah Jackson and S John Johnson III on IR instead.

-Justin Herbert has an ankle owie. He’s doing better, but it’s unknown whether he’ll play Week 3.

–DT Jordan Phillips to IR (wrist).

And what’s on tonight?

Pennant Race Action:
Wild Card Action!
Holy shit the Tigers? vs. Bobby Witt’s Triple Crown nullification journey (DET vs. KC, 7:40, MLBN)

Playoff clinch alerts!
Currently (N1) vs. Currently (N3) (PHI vs. MIL, 7:40, MLBN) (PHI clinches playoffs w/ win and ATL loss; MIL has clinched the NL Central)
Love Going Boom With Their Bats vs. You Had ONE Job, Mariners! (NYY vs. SEA, 9:40, Prime) (NYY clinches playoffs w/ win)

Speaking of the “MIL has clinched the NL Central” news, I’m going to be a young man yelling at clouds at the following:

When did we start putting the clinch letter after the team? The iPhone app has it as “MIL-y” and this is incorrect. Also incorrect:

When did ESPN start using x for division winners? This is all wrong and violates decades of playoff nomenclature, which is the following:

x-Denotes team has clinched playoff spot. Does not quantify playoff spot, but can be used for non-division winning teams.

y-Denotes team has clinched division.

z-Denotes team has clinched best record in conference/league. Now, this one here has also undergone some change because now, thanks to the MLB having two byes they now may use this for clinching a Wild Card Series bye.

*-Denotes team has clinched best record in the sport (previously only used to mark President’s Trophy winner, but can be used for clinching home field throughout playoffs including the championship). Now, does this claim best record in the league and ** for all the sport?

Now you see w being used for wild card teams, which I’m fine with, but that leads to the second part, which is that this is used before the name in the standings, not after. This is in uniformity and formatting purposes.

Jesus, do I have to write a guide book and send it to professional sports, who’ve forgotten it thanks to print media mostly dying out? It’s not this hard, people. I love proper footnoting! (Also because with proper footnoting you can artificially inflate the size of your paper and steal a half-page.) Thank goodness I don’t have to give out a proper paper for my class or I may have a conniption. A friend of mine is teaching a writing-intensive class and I mentioned I’d have to internally go sbemail on them if I were to ever teach one. Oh, we gon’ RED PEN, chuh chuh.

Anyway, go comment in the comments, where I won’t go sbemail on them! (We’re normally okay!)