We got things to catch up on here, and not a lot of time to do it. So here are a few quickies just to make me feel a little less guilty for leaving the blog so blank for so long. Sorry, blog. I’ll go longer on some of these later …

Politics

Clinton and Trump neck and neck now, they say? Maybe it’s a conspiracy by the Democrats to keep the electorate from getting too complacent. You know: “Trump’s coming. Don’t let up now!” Maybe it’s the same from the Republicans. (“Hillary for president? Nooooooo ….”) Maybe this country is going bat-guano crazy. Or maybe — I’m gonna say probably here — polls at this time of the election cycle don’t mean squat.

NPR — I know; left-leaning bastards — has a good take on it, I think, including this:

Fun fact: Statistically, we are coming up on what should be the point at which polls are farthest-off from the eventual Election Day outcome. That’s what Princeton University’s Sam Wang found in a recent analysis.

“Truly, now is the single worst time to be paying attention to fresh polling data,” the neuroscientist and polling expert wrote in a Sunday blog post.

With the election 169 days away, he added, we’re almost at the time of the year where polls tend to deviate most from the eventual general election outcomes.

And, not to crib too much from the fine work those liberal SOBs at NPR do, but almost anywhere you turn, you hear how unusual this election is (Trump’s presence being reason No. 1 for that). NPR has that angle, too:

Clinton and Trump are the most unpopular candidates on record. And because they’re such anomalies in that sense, [pollster Patrick] Murray explained, it’s hard to explain what polls are saying with much certainty.

“Because it’s such an unusual and unprecedented situation it’s hard to know what this will mean,” he said. “Usually if there is a wide gap in favorabilities between the two candidates, it’s no contest, but a small gap could go either way. But usually the small gap is with them both being positive, not negative.”

I’m not getting worked up just yet. But if I shake my head any more at what’s going on, it’s flying off.

NBA

The conference finals are on, and it’s becoming a little difficult to get a firm handle on what’s going on. Which, scarily, makes the NBA a little too much like politics.

But the Golden State Warriors, everybody’s darlings, got blown out Sunday night against Oklahoma City — and this after OKC already won on Golden State’s home court. So now, everybody is worrying about their darlings and we’re looking at a possible OKC-Cleveland NBA Finals.

Not that either end of that equation is assured. The Cleveland Cavs, after wiping out Atlanta with a rash of 3-pointers, are looking more and more as if they’re going to rely on LeBron James going all bowling-ball on the Toronto Raptors to advance to the finals. The Raps are trying to put more pins in James’ way, for sure, and I think that’s the only way you can play the Cavs. Make them make the 3-pointers. Because they’re good, but not a great 3-point shooting team. Atlanta just got unlucky.

Also: We The North. Awesome.

Golf

We went to Pawleys Island last weekend, my brothers and I. We played. We played as badly as ever. I stuck a 6-iron, I think it was, less than 3 feet from the pin on a par-4 island green. Missed the birdie putt. And I was OK with the par. That’s a bad thing.

Also: I didn’t have anything to worry about with golf, as far as being able to. I shoulda known. It’s golf.

Basketball

My next step on my road back, physically, is pickup hoop. Soon. It’s going to happen soon. Maybe two weeks, maybe three. But now that golf is behind me — I didn’t want to get hurt before golf. Noooooooo — I’m ready. Difference between golf and hoop among a bunch of frustrated 40+-year-olds? Contact. Lots and lots of contact. We’ll see.

Graduation

Luke’s done. It was a great weekend. The kid was recognized with his high school’s Mother Teresa award. It’s one of the biggies the school gives, and only two kids, one young woman and one young man, earn it. When it was announced, at baccalaureate on Friday night, I wanted to jump up and scream, “That’s my boy!” I didn’t. But, dammit, I wanted it bad.

Luke’s Nonna and Nonno and his Uncle Emil came down from Cincinnati for the festivities, which included a nice ceremony Saturday and a big party on Sunday with three of his buddies on an absolutely gorgeous May day in the ATL. Couldn’t have gone better.

Also: The GT countdown is on now. Hooo boy.