The Remembering 2011 series is a byproduct of my not wanting to do a final Dodger Cogs and Dogs rankings for 2011, because after Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, the whole exercise just seemed too tedious. Instead, I decided it would be more interesting to reflect on every player individually, be it Kemp and Kershaw or Eugenio Velez and Lance Cormier. In the past, I’ve dispensed with year-in-review reflections in one massive effort, such as last year’s online baseball cards, but this time I’m just kind of going all in. Hope you’re finding the posts worthwhile.

I’ve ducked in and out of the baseball playoffs. With the Dodgers eliminated and with no particular dog left in the postseason fight, it’s been a time for me to exhale as far as watching games on a nightly basis, but I do keep aware of what’s going on, and certainly there’s been enough drama where I’m going, “Man, what am I missing?” And I race to find a TV or radio. But again, the compensation for not having your team in the playoffs is the relief you get from not stressing over the outcome.

I’ve been trying to watch as much Stanford football as I can each weekend, since the Andrew Luck-led Cardinal is the best Stanford gridiron group in my lifetime and then some. It’s quite a change from watching the Dodgers – Stanford has won its past nine games by at least 25 points, and there I am, totally enjoying it – yet seeing all the flaws.  The team has given up zero points in the first quarter this season and only a total of six in six third quarters, yet I still see weakness in the defense that has me concerned for the Oregon game in November. The Dodgers should be so flawed.

I even made plans to watch a regular-season NFL game for the first time in ages. I got curious about San Francisco-Detroit because of them being two upstart teams, one of them coached by Stanford’s recent leader Jim Harbaugh. It was kind of fun, but at the same time, overflowing with penalties. Ultimately, I went to a family lunch at the end of the first half, and then, instead of watching the second half on my DVR, decided I shouldn’t sit on my butt any longer and worked on cleaning out the garage. It wasn’t until after dinner that I learned that Harbaugh is still Harbaugh.

Lunch today included Grandma Sue, who has passed the halfway point between 101 and 102. She is in a wheelchair, can’t hear anymore and doesn’t know who everyone is – only a few people closest to her seem able to converse with her. But she looked lovely, and she just keeps pushing along. At Jerry’s Deli, ate 1 1/2 hot dogs and some eggs – quite a meal.

My kids, as usual, have been alternately vexing and dazzling. And, predictably I suppose, in some ways it has gotten easier, but in some ways it has gotten harder.  It was around this time, with my youngest at 3 1/2 and my oldest at 9, that I thought there might be a window of relative ease – no toddlers or teenagers – but it hasn’t quite played out that way. Still Crazytown. But I hug ’em every night.

My blogging at Variety suffered for a two-month stretch as I focused on Emmy and Fall TV Preview duties, but I’ve recently been making a concerted effort to post every weekday. Hope you’ll check it out. At the same time, it’s also time for me to get knee-deep into the film scene as we rev up for Oscar season. The best picture I’ve seen since “Moneyball” was “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” an intense drama starring Elizabeth Olsen.  I still definitely spend too much of my time in front of screens – TV, movie, computer.

St. Louis center fielder John Jay just made a wild catch in center field with two out in the bottom of the ninth at Milwaukee.  That would have been a heck of a final out.

It’s so quiet on the Dodger front. I looked back at my posts from the past two non-playoff Octobers – 2010 and 2007 – and even though the Dodgers were sidelined, it seemed newsier. This month, other than some McCourtroom droppings, it’s really just been a waiting game for things to happen. I’m not complaining, but I do occasionally imagine a tumbleweed blowing from first base to third in Dodger Stadium some mornings.

Let me know how your offseason is going. No detail is too mundane tonight …