Sports
Words can hardly describe my affection towards Michael Jordan. Jordan the basketball player, not the person. I often wonder how my kids (future tense) will view him. Will they study him and watch old games with their dad on NBA TV or will they view him the same way I view Ernie Banks, a great player but I don't know how good outside of the stats. A better question might be how will technology affect their view of the greatest balla eva? How will highlights on YouTube affect his legend. Of course, Jordan's legend continues to grows due to...
Being a Chicago Cubs fan March and April are the most optimistic months of the year. For obvious reasons, the rest of the year pales in comparison. Last year was a bit different though, the Cubs actually put it together in September and gave us something to cheer about in the fall. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't even get a win in the playoffs. Our pitching couldn't hold up and we couldn't buy a hit during the Diamondback series. But here we are a day before the season starts with the same optimism that we saw in 1985,...
One of the editors from 1up.com was recently on DL.TV and spoke very highly of NCAA Football 2007 for the XBox 360. So I decided to Google a bit and see if I can find a preview of the game. Of course Google knows all and IGN has an excellent write up on the new version of my favorite football game. According to the article, EA sent a team of people to photograph and measure seventy different stadiums. They also used satellites to capture the sun position to add photorealistic detail to the game. EA has also done away...
Monday started with breakfast again at Mimi’s. Like I said, it’s the best AM restaurant in Mesa. We headed over to the park with football in hand ready to kill an hour or two before the game started. Of course this was the game we changed our plans for. We usually are in Mesa for Thursday – Sunday stay but since the Cubs were playing the world champion White Sox (damn, that’s really hard to write) we decided to stay Saturday – Tuesday. As we parked the car we noticed something was different. There was a ton of Sox fans....
Our second day in Mesa started early, well at least for me. I’m still on Alexa Marie time so I woke up at 5:30 AM and decided to go for a run. It was about fifty degrees outside and Mesa isn’t exactly the most interesting place to run. Everything here is dusty and brown; welcome to the desert. Luckily for me the hotel has an exercise room with a treadmill, a nice one at that. Sixty-five minutes and six miles later I returned to the room ready for a nice big breakfast. Our breakfast was supplied by Mimi’s Café the...
We landed in Phoenix on Saturday at 12:30 PM. This was perfect since we had tickets to see the Cubs split squad at Ho Ho Kam Park at 1:00 PM. But for some reason Hertz (linked with nofollow, no Google juice for you) didn't want to get us there on time. Over two months ago my Dad placed reservations for a yellow Mustang convertible to be ready for us. Of course it wasn't. We settled for a red Mustang and they assured us it would be ready in ten minutes. Forty minutes later we were in a half-washed red Mustang convertible with...
Tomorrow, my Dad and I are off to Phoenix once again to catch our beloved Cubs in three spring training exhibitions. Of course I’m looking forward to seeing the team in Ho-Ho-Kam Park but I’m really looking forward to wind down and get some sleep. It seems that sleep has been in a short supply recently with the baby and all. She’s doing much better, she’s asleep by 6:30PM and only waking up once during the night. And I’m still training. Today, I got up at 4:15 AM to get in an eight mile run. And yes I’m crazy. Nonetheless,...
This Sunday was the first time in nine months that I've bowled. Of course I didn't just open bowl, I entered in to the Dade County All Stars monthly tournament. This month was a match play singles tournament at Homestead. After my first few practice shots I wasn't too sure how I'd fare. My elbow was killing me and I had almost no power in my swing. Add all of that and I faced my Dad in the first match. It ended up that my fears were unfounded. I beat my Dad and shot 236. The rest of qualifying went just as well...
Another Tuesday night, another ball game. I played tonight’s game much like the past two good D, poor O. I was 0-3 from the floor with one block, four assists and three rebounds. This week we played one of the best teams in the league. They’ve got four really good guards and run up and down the court better than most college teams. They’ve got one guy who has the complete game; inside, outside, post, whatever. He scored at will. In the second quarter, we were able to tie the game at eight. Then, we didn’t score the rest...
I’m happy to report that my participation in the Miami Half-Marathon was a complete success. No dehydration. No light headiness. No passing out. No hospitals. My official time was 2:29:18 and my net time was 2:25:16. I’m pleased with my time especially since my target time was 2:30. After the race I felt great, a bit drained and hungry, but great. I’ve got to hand it to the event organizers the course was phenomenal. We ran by the Port of Miami, which was loaded with large cruise ships. I got really excited running down Ocean Drive. Collegiate memories started pouring into...
Tomorrow, I will once again trek thirteen point one miles but instead of Disney I'll be running the Miami Half-Marathon. Of course I've got the usual pre-race jitters but I'm looking for a personal record. At Disney last year, my last half-marathon, I completed it in 2:44:51 and was dehydrated. I expect to avoid that tomorrow. I'm going to take it slow out the chute and speed up towards the end. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
We were back on the court last night playing our second game. There was some confusion about the game start time and I arrived at six for a nine o’clock tip. Meanwhile, the rest of my squad showed up at 7:30 and three of my team members was picked up on another squad since they had a forfeit. So when our game started we had three tired guys and three fresh ones. The opposing squad had at least ten guys and was substituting players at every dead ball. At the beginning of the game we jumped out to a...
Our church basketball league has started up once again. I’m not a captain this year due to the wonderful bundle of joy but I did get on a squad. The league has moved from an indoor gym to the outdoor courts at Christ Fellowship. The baskets we’re using are double rims so to say they are unforgiving is an understatement. But the court is wider and longer then the ones we played on last year and that’s a good thing. I haven’t touched a basketball since the season ended last year so I was pretty rusty during our first game....
The funniest sports writer on the planet, Bill Simmons, had this random thought on Chad Johnson in his column today. Random thought: Imagine if the Bengals somehow made the Super Bowl? Would that be the greatest two weeks of Chad Johnson's life or what? Would he ever sleep? Would Vegas even take odds on his guaranteeing a Cincy Super Bowl win? Would he show up for Media Day like 12 hours early? He could become the first athlete ever fined for refusing to leave Media Day. Sure, I'd love to give an exclusive 10-minute interview to a newspaper in...
On the way home a few days ago I heard Dan LeBatard interview Michael Irvin on 790 The Ticket. In this interview Irvin describes the motivational speech he gave to the UM players before the FSU game. I was highly impressed by not only the context of his speech but also his delivery. This was surprising considering he was reenacting his speech. They have also have a mixed version of his speech with Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight (Ray Lewis favorite song for inspiration). Also, don't miss the parody of Irvin's speech given by Fake Howard Schnellenberger.
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I've jumped into the melee. I'm now producing a podcast. The podcast is focused on our fantasy football league, Cane Crazy. Co-host Jason Christman and I plan to have every manager on the show as well as talk about the NFL and our beloved Hurricanes. Our first show was riddled with technical issues. We were using Skype and receiving loads of delayed audio. We also had issues with recording. I used the Skypecasting method but it was cumbersome and clunky. I'm researching other methods of recording. All in all I think we did alright for a first show. Let me...
Finally, ESPN got something right. They predict that the Hurricanes could challenge USC’s crown. They highlight UM’s defense as one of the reasons they will contend. Of course the Hurricanes will contend. They are loaded not only on defense but their O-line is very talented and if their wide outs can avoid the dropsies they will be a force as well. I believe Wright will be just fine under center and will follow in the proud tradition of Kelly, Kosar, Testaverde. Bring on the Seminoles, er, Tallahassee!
“Larry Coker's team is not being mentioned among the nation's elite heading into the 2005...
The best second baseman to ever play the game was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday. Ryne Sandberg played the game without chest thumping, without long glares of his towering shots and without glamour. All he did play the game it’s supposed to be played, with respect, everyday. CubsNet.com has made his induction speech online. It’s fitting that my favorite ball player as a kid is now enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I can’t imagine him anywhere else. Via CubsNet.
ESPN.com is reporting that the Cubs are interested in obtaining Juan Pierre for minor league prospects. C’mon Jim! Pull the trigger! Juan could be just the spark the Cubs need for a second half run. Imagine someone actually being on base when Derrick Lee comes to bat!
Last week, EA Sports released NCAA 06 its latest effort in the college football gaming arena. After playing a few games I must say that it is quite good. I only wish that they updated the in-game commentary. Hearing Corso and Kirk say the same banter over and over is a bit tedious. (I suggest that you input the rosters of your favorite team(s) before starting a dynasty or a Hiesman race.) The release of the game harkens the beginning of a new college football season. And that means excitement all over the country for fans. In Miami, this means...
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