Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 54° under partly-cloudy skies. The sun rose today @ 7:16 a.m. and it will set later @ 8:07 p.m. Today's high temperature of 70° will also be under partly-cloudy skies. There exists a 50% chance for rain on Tuesday.

Yesterday was Adam's 45th birthday. We have it on good authority that he had a great day with his wife and friends. It seems like only yesterday when he and I would travel about when I had the day off and Mary needed to sleep.

Speaking of birthday's, today is our niece's birthday. Amanda is younger than Adam by a few years, but I am sure she will have an equally great day.

Children grow up so fast. One day they are in baby-shoes and the next they are independent adults.

Sports news yesterday was not good in baseball.

The now 76 - 85, 3rd place in the NL Central Cubs, dropped a game to the 3rd place Brewers, 2 - 3. In addition, the Cubs learned that SS Javier "El Mago" Baez has a fractured thumb and will be out of action for an unknown amount of time. The Cubs will miss his defense and his hitting as they go down the stretch of this long season.

In addition, the 1st place Cardinals crushed the last place Pirates yesterday, 10 - 1 to maintain a 3.5 game lead over the Cubs. It is going to be a long winter if the Cubs can't replace Baez's bat and fielding and if they can't get better pitching from their bullpen. Surprisingly, starting pitcher, Yu Darvish, returned to the field yesterday and recorded seven strikeouts, three hits, and one walk over his five innings of work.

Speaking of starters, today's game will be played @ 2:10 p.m. when Jon Lester tries to salvage the series against the Brewers.

My beloved, 76 - 66, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox, lost again to the 1st place Yankees, 1 - 5. Some pitcher I've never heard of took the loss. The X-Man, Xander Bogaerts, recorded his 1,000th career hit, the only highlight from this game. Tonight's game @ 8:10 p.m. features Rick Porcello versus the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka.

The 42 - 99 Tigers found yet another way to lose a ball game, dropping another one to the 83 - 59, 2nd place in the AL West As, 2 - 10, as starting-pitcher Jordan Zimmerman couldn't get the job done. Oh well, this afternoon's game @ 4:05 p.m. will allow Dan Norris to give it a try.

College football news yesterday was a bit better, as the Wolverines of Michigan, eked out a 24 - 21 win over the Black Knights of Army in double-overtime.  It should not have been close, but the Wolverines seemed determined to lose as they turned over the ball numerous times before a highly partisan crowd at "The Big House" in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines next game is @ Wisconsin against the Badgers on September 21.

On the other hand, the Spartans of MSU crushed the Broncos of Western Michigan  last night, 51 - 17. We still don't know if the Spartans are for real this year, but a win is a win! The Spartans next opponents are the Sun Devils of Arizona State University in Spartan Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14 @ 4:00 p.m.

Sadly, the NIU Huskies traveled to Utah to face the Utes and found themselves on the losing end of a 17 - 35 score. The Huskies next opponents are the Cornhuskers of Nebraska who fell to the Buffaloes of Colorado, 31 - 34 yesterday. Will the loss to the Utes be enough to motivate the Huskies? Will the loss to the Buffaloes be enough to do the same for the Huskers? Find out next week @ 8:00 p.m.

Otherwise, we had a great day yesterday. We watched the Wolverines try to lose, before we made it to the grocery store and the big-box arts and crafts store. Then it was time for a quick stop at Stan's and then home for a dinner of pizza that featured more of our homegrown tomatoes and my vegan pepperoni atop Mary's secret dough recipe and special sauce. I think it was her best effort to date.

Today, not much is happening and that's fine with me. I have no need to watch the ineptitude of the Lions and the Bears have already lost this week, so... Ciao.