Monday, May 21, 2007
Apparently you just run, for an extended period of time...
I've never enjoyed running, except in short bursts. Breakaway layups, Turkey Bowl post patterns, legging out a triple (going first to third is for pussies), those I'm all cool with. Running 26.2 miles is something I just don't understand. If it involves anything over 70 or 80 yards, I'm really not interested. I barely know why I'm doing it, and just wonder how the hell do people enjoy it? Trail running is ok, but this is pavement. In Minneapolis. In October. It's going to be a cold start to the morning.
I've already been "training" for the past few weeks and still struggle running 40-45 minutes without slowing to a walk. It's been said that while hiking the Appalachian Trail, "When you're carrying 45 pounds on your back, you don't forget that, not even for a second." While I'm running, it never escapes my mind that I have barely done a fraction of what I'm expected to do in one day. I'm still at a stage where running is boring. At this point, I'm really just doing it to get better. I keep hearing about this "runners high". Whatever it is, count me in.
The World Record Holder in a marathon finished in 2:04:55 (fun fact: the 2nd fastest time ever is only one second longer! Too bad they happened in the same race. Sept 28, 2003 in Berlin.) So yea, the World Record is impressive, but how much worse can I be than him? The Twin Cities Marathon (from here on "TCM") allows a participant 6 hours to finish and I'm going to need every second of that. Have to average 13:44 per mile to make it in time or they pick you up off the route in buses; their permit only allows for limited time. I just want to finish the damn thing, that's my goal..
The toughest part of training so far? My diet. My fridge is filled with water, mango/berries/pineapple, half a beet (nothing like thinking you're peeing blood until you remember eating a beet a couple hours earlier), rice, beans, kale, spinach, asparagus, parsley, carrots, soy milk/soy ice cream and tortilla shells. Doesn't help that I gave up meat again when I moved to Minneapolis. My lunch today actually included a juice which contained, among other things, beet & carrot. I literally thought I was going to throw up. Ever drank wheat grass juice? Want to know what that tastes like? Grass. And not the fun kind.
Yea, but the best part of the training? My running partner. She's an accomplished runner, having participated recently in an adventure race (sort of a cooler triathlon - running, biking, kayaking - except with a team), she's cute and she's a Swedish masseuse who's actually Swedish. To answer your questions: No, yes and hell yea. We get to go running and biking along the banks of the Mississippi River. That just blows my mind. By car, eh, maybe 10-15 minutes to the longest river this side of, well, never mind...
I guess that's it for now, but if anything happens that's worth mentioning, I'll bring it up again.
Friday, May 18, 2007
See? This is why...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (May 18) - A 400-pound gorilla escaped from his enclosure and ran amok in a Rotterdam zoo Friday, biting one woman, dragging her around, and causing panic among dozens of visitors before he was finally subdued, officials and a witness said.
Hell freaking yea! Wait, there's more...
"He got over the moat, which in itself is remarkable, because gorillas can't swim," Dorrestijn said. "He got onto a path for visitors and started running and went at full speed through tables and diners at the Oranje restaurant."
Holy crap is that great! Some snooty broad sitting at the table ordering, "Yes, I'll have the Roast Duck with a side of GUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It's not over yet!
People tried to hide inside the restaurant and were trying to bar the door, but fled as the gorilla approached, De Jonge said. Bokito then punched through the glass door and ran inside.
Picture that. The gorilla finds the door locked, so he punches the friggin' thing and (hopefully) reaches through, unlocks it and runs right into the place. That's one smart ape.
Don't forget, this is Amsterdam. How many stoners just sat there smoking J's and turned to their neighbor to ask, "Yo, did a gorilla just run through here?"
So to recap, this gorilla broke out of his pen, SWAM ACROSS A MOAT, barrelled through a restaurant, punched out a window to break into a bar then proceeded to cap off his day by biting a woman's arm and dragging her around. Oh yea, he's 400 pounds.
What happens with a 700lb gorilla? Does he rape the woman after destroying the zoo with the Fighter Plane he built out of feces? This is why they shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
BLOGGING BETRAYAL
There are some things I need to comment on. First, the WV Power are playing well and that has taken up most of my time. Following these guys all over the South Atlantic League is a busy job. Its good though. This is a great team and I’ve enjoyed following them so far. If you get a chance. Go to http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/multimedia/audio.jsp and find the WV Power, click on WSWW and you’ll get to listen to my games.
It’s a little late to comment on the draft, but I’ll throw my two cent in here. My Packers did OK, but certainly not great. I like Harrell, he’ll be a solid D-Tackle who can help that defense out right away, as long as his bicep stays attached. They failed miserably to get Randy Moss, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the story of their draft. Two things went wrong, #1 was Moss, and #2, they didn’t get Marshawn Lynch, the guy they wanted desperately.
They had the chance to get Moss, but Ted Thompson decided to lower his bid, so the Moss camp, and the Raiders said the hell with it, and traded him to the Patriots instead. Moss and Favre have a good relationship, and they would have worked out very well. As wide open as that division is right now, a guy like Moss could have made a HUGE impact. They had the chance to land him, and they blew it.
As for the Browns, I’m glad for the Browns that they picked Joe Thomas, its about friggin’ time they picked an offensive tackle with their first pick. Thomas will be a top five tackle for a long time. That offensive line is at least formidable now. McKinney, Bentley, Thomas, Steinbach, and then either Tucker or Schaeffer at right tackle, that’s not a five man front. They at least have a chance to win the war in the trenches now.
I’ve never been a fan of Brady Quinn. I don’t think he’ll be a great pro quarterback, but he’s a decent value pick in the middle of the first round. My question on that pick is this….this guy projects to be solid, not special. So why do you give up a high second round pick and your first rounder next year for a solid, not special player? I’ll stop there.
The Browns altogether displayed some urgency, and at least for the fans of Cleveland, you have reasons to be excited going into the season.
Other things I’d like to comment on……..minor league baseball. This is my fifth year doing this, and I really wish that buck nights or Thirsty Thursdays were around when I was growing up.
Its an incredible value. Baseball in its purest form where you can get close to the action and enjoy it at an unbelievable price. A dollar to get in, a dollar to drink, a dollar for hot dogs, its an incredible value.
This is a feeble attempt at trying to get back into blogging, but hey, it’s a start. Check out my other blog at www.blogginwithbull.blogspot.com I’ll have some posts on the road trips on there.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
A Night At The Ballpark
For those who didn't watch it, the top half of the third inning ended with Miguela Tejada being doubled off first base following an outstanding diving catch by Grady Sizemore. Nick Markakis was on third base during the at bat, tagged up and crossed the plate before the throw was received at first base. There's no doubt that Markakis made it home in time, but, as I saw with my own eyes, the home plate umpire did not signal that the run would count, rather, he did quite the opposite.
In a case like this, the signal for the run scoring is something along the lines of a basketball ref signalling a made basket following a foul - he points at the plate the show the run counts. Last night, ump Marvin (Hirsch) Hudson crossed and uncrossed his arms in front of him a couple of times - like making the "safe" sign over and over, this is what reports indicate when saying "He waved off the run". I'm willing to concede that he may have simply confused himself, though it's possible he didn't have the rule correct. The run wasn't put up on the scoreboard until innings later and fans at the park got no explanation for the added run for at least a full inning after that. Most probably hadn't even realized it happened.
When the PA announcer finally did express what was happening, he introduced it as such, "...due to baseball's Rule 2..." Rule 2? What the hell is Rule 1? It wasn't even Rule 2.01(b), no, just "Rule 2".
Correctly so, Eric Wedge announced he was playing the rest of the game under protest, shocking me that he understood that if he hadn't made that decision during the game, then he couldn't do it. Wedge's reasoning for protesting the game is where he lost me. I know it's the only thing that he could say, but for me to believe that he'd have managed the game differently depends upon me believing that he knows how to manage a game in the first place. Without having the "Diff" on the scoreboard at the Jake, how does he even know who's winning?
He and the reporters could blame the decision to put one run one the scoreboard 3 innings late for the loss, but that's neglecting that in the 8th and 9th innings the Tribe bullpen surrendered 2 out, 2 run doubles after having 2 strikes on the batters.
As for action off the field, the bleachers on a Saturday night are a great place to pick up girls. That is, if you're into high school girls. Plus just keep in mind that there's no separation between seats in the bleachers, so those who find conventional seats to restricting (see: too small for their obesity) make their way to the cheap seats. Wonderful.
Peyton Manning got the weapon he needed
Slipping to the 5th round as a result of having no discernible skills (though bearing a striking resemblence to one Matthew Edward Gullatta), Roy Hall was scooped up by the Colts in a move to tighten the OSU Buckeye-Indy Colt bond. Mike Doss a couple years ago, Quinn Pitcock, Anthony Gonzalez, and now Hall all drafted by the Colts. Really, outside of Ohio, had anyone heard of him before he rolled over Ted Ginn's leg? Hell of a career move there, for both guys actually.
Ginn couldn't stagger through routes for scouts, thus fooling the Dolphins into believing he's worth a Top 10 pick and Hall made a name for himself. These are the things they teach you at big time college programs. Championships, who needs them?
Draft: Day One Review
Joe Thomas (3)- Solid Left Tackle, that's all I can really say. He's not Orlando Pace, but who is. And I hope he's not Robert Gallery. Here's what bothers me about Big 10 left tackles, they don't face the type of edge rusher that they will face in the Pros. I will say that he only gave up one sack his senior year. And that sack came against the Powerhouse Bowling Green State University Falcons.
All in all this is a safe choice that immediately helps the team, and addresses a need that hasn't been addressed in the first three rounds of the draft since 1979.
Brady Quinn (22)- Here is a hot button topic. Quinn's precipitous fall from top five selection to the end of the first round played out dramatically on ESPN (until the commish ranked him out of the green room). A lot of people love this move a lot hate it. What in essence they gave up was next year's First Round pick to move up from the second round.
That's a lot to give up, especially when it might be a top five pick. Here's why I don't think its that big of a deal. If they Browns are going to pick in the top five next year they had another atrocious year this year. And Charlie Frye sure isn't the answer at QB. So they would most likely be looking at drafting a QB. By making this trade they give the QB a year jump on development and they save a ton a cap space by picking at 22 and not in the top 5.
I'm not worried that 21 other teams passed on him. Most of the teams that passed had more pressing needs than taking a QB. In picks from 10-22 only one offensive player was taken (Marshawn Lynch to the Bills) In fact the only team that really passed on Quinn after the Browns at #3 was the Miami Dolphins at #9. There's a reason the Dolphins haven't won since 1973. And has anyone seen the list of QB's that have started since Dan Marino retired, its about 12 deep and includes such stalwarts as Cleo Lemon and Joey Harrington. So lets not be surprised that the Dolphins made a mistake in passing up a potential franchise QB for a glorified kick returner.
Alright lets tackle whether or not Brady is going to be a good QB. Quinn is a four year starter at Notre Dame, the last two under coach Charlie Weiss. His numbers in those last two years are better than anyone else in this draft. Near 62% completion percentage, if that's average accuracy then that's fine. I'll take it over the below accuracy of Charlie Frye and Derrick Anderson. He has an above average arm, maybe the second or third best in this draft and he can make all of the throws. He physically has what it takes to be a top notch NFL QB.
Mentally, he makes good decisions (only 14 interceptions the last two years), and played under the biggest spotlight in college football. There are few positions in the NFL that are under more scrutiny than Quarterback at Notre Dame. He does however hesitate to make throws, which is a source of most of his inaccuracy. This is a timing issue and is not the most difficult thing to work out.
The biggest knock on Quinn is his performance in big games. Sure he never beat USC or won a bowl game, but he beat Michigan (wait who doesn't beat Michigan these days) and was an uncalled Reggie Bush penalty from beating USC two years ago. Lets be honest there wasn't a ton of talent on these Notre Dame teams. I've been hearing for the last couple of years how "overrated" ND was. Well you can't have it both ways, either they were a good team and didn't perform in big games or Quinn was the only real talent on a team that got out manned in every big game they played in. Judging by the amount Domers taken on the first day I'll go with the latter. If the biggest knock on a guy is that he didn't win big games in college I'm alright with that. Peyton Manning didn't win big games in college and he turned out alright.
Finally, I'll let the good folks at Football Outsiders (who do wonderful sabrmetric type stuff with football) tackle the QB depth in this Draft. According to David Lewin at FO, the best indicators of NFL success among college stats are games started and completion percentage. Here's what he had to say about Quinn:
In my opinion, Quinn’s college stats match up pretty well with his scouting profile. He completed 58.0 percent of his passes in college and started 46 games. This projects Quinn as a good pro quarterback, but not a great one. Here is the complete list of players drafted in first two rounds over the past ten years who started at least 35 games and completed at least 57 percent of their passes: Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Jason Campbell, Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler.
Are there any bad players on that list? The worst according to my numbers is Eli Manning, and he’s been decent (maybe not up to expectations, but decent). I would be happy to spend a top ten pick on most of those players.http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2007/04/17/ramblings/nfl-draft/5082/
Eric Wright (53)- First Round talent with a bunch of baggage that caused him to transfer from USC to UNLV. Kept his nose clean for two years while in Vegas. To me that deserves a second chance.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Indians' fans have "character issues"
Is anyone else impressed by Grady's Ladies? Sizemore's fan club is setting the bar pretty high for would-be groupies. How many pro athletes have so many followers openly willing to go to bed with the player? Scariest part - the number of young, sometimes really young, girls proclaiming their love and adoration of the guy. Next time someone's up in arms about men sleeping with a number of women, just point to how many women are willing to do the deed. It's a two way street.
If I weren't using the last existing dial-up internet connection, I'd have all kinds of pictures up here of Grady's Ladies. The best I can do is point you to The Grady's Ladies Sisterhood. Look, the guy's a hell of a player, one of the best in the game today, but the legions of women openly begging to whore it up for this guy freak me out. Again, it's not so much the legal aged drunks, but the underage girls looking for the next heartthrob. Is Tiger Beat still in circulation?