No respect

I always gave ESPN a little bit of leeway with NHL highlights on their show 'Sportscenter'.  I know that they offered to have a contract with the NHL to show their games on the ESPN family of networks and the NHL thumbed their nose at the offer and started their own network, Versus.  So, for the past couple of years, hockey highlights have been at the tail end of the show or just real quick blips and a few highlights of a goal or two.  And that's it.  However, as I was watching the show this morning, I was saddened at the fact that they glossed over the highlights for the NHL all star game that took place yesterday.  Hockey is sadly the fourth major sport in this country despite the fact that it is far more entertaining than basketball.  Therefore, you don't much focus on it except for during the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup finals.  Not the rest of the playoffs, but just the finals. 

NBC is taking it in the right direction by showing the game of the week on Sunday afternoons and the games they show are with decent teams and always entertaining.  The game last weekend was a close game, there was a great couple of fights, and in one instance, blood ended up on the glass.  How awesome is that?  Now, I don't expect there to be a ton of hockey games televised but it would be nice to see more than four a month without having to go to a sports bar. 

I went out Saturday evening with some friends to watch the Kansas/Kansas State basketball game.  I was more interested in hanging out with friends and drinking beer than I was in watching the game.  Before halftime of the game, it wasn't a game anymore.  KU is a far superior team and it was boring to watch.  Luckily, we were at an establishment with more than one television, and the NHL skills competition was on one of the t.v.s we were facing.  So I started watching that as opposed to the snoozefest I initially went there for.  It was amazing!  The breakaway competition (the hockey equivalent to the slam dunk [BORING] competition) was mind blowing.  From bouncing the puck on the stick to skating around in circles and backwards to shooting the puck with the shaft of the stick.  The talent these guys have and the hand-eye coordination they have is fun to watch.  Another competition that was on was the hardest shot.  The winner hit the puck at 105.9 miles and hour.  Oh yeah, you read that correctly. 

It's just disappointing that a sport that requires some of the most talent is overshadowed because it is a regional kind of sport.  You don't see kids in Kansas skating with hockey gear on at the age of three and four.  And it's because it isn't part of the culture down here.  Back home, completely different story.  My five year old nephew has been playing hockey for a couple of years now (granted it's like kids playing soccer, they all just swarm to the puck) but they are all very coordinated.  The coaches teach them the skills needed to play the game first and then they can focus on playing the game proficiently.  Same thing goes for the pros.  These guys have been playing this game for so long, that they make it look so easy, but it is insanely difficult.  I'm not saying that it is easy to throw a football fifty yards down the field and hit a person in the hands or that it is easy to throw a baseball in such a way that it appears to fall of the face of the earth, it's just that with hockey there is more to just one facet of the game.  It's both offense and defense and it's non-stop.  On the ice for a couple of minutes and then on the bench to catch your breath just in time to hop over the boards.

If you have never had much of an interest in the sport of hockey, give it a chance.  It can easily win you over with one single fight.   

One extreme to the next

This past Friday and Saturday, the weather hit seventy degrees.  Check your calendars people, it's January.  A few days before that it was in the sixties.  And today?  I went to work and it was nineteen degrees.  It's windy and cold and still below thirty.  Weird right?  But wait, it gets better (or worse).  Tomorrow and Tuesday it is suppose to snow.  And stay below thirty.  Granted, there have been numerous times this past winter when it was suppose to snow and it never came to fruition.  It snowed just two days this month and it wasn't much.  Other than that, this winter has been a let down for us.  I have a friend that lives in Manhattan, KS that has texted me a couple of times this past winter yelling at me to come get the snow that they have had because he hates it. 

These next couple of days, all I can hope for is just some snow to make me smile. 

Historic baseball

While watching 'The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg' I feel as though I have missed the greatest time for the sport of baseball.  I love my modern day Tigers (even my 2003, 119 lose Tigers), but I feel that I really missed out on the ground level of fandom.  Can I do anything about it?  Of course not.  But how great would it be to say, 'I watched Hank Greenberg play' or 'I remember when Al Kaline broke in.'  Saying something like 'I watched Denny McLain win thirty one games in '68.'?  It would make me feel really important.  Hell, I can't even say I watched Alan Trammell's first game, but at least I got to watch the majority of his career.  Come on, tell me a greater combo than Sweet Lou and Tram.  You can't. I suppose the one thing I have is watching Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello play their entire careers.  Those guys have talent, book it. 

But it's more than just wanting to see Tiger greats play.  As an overall feeling, I missed out on the greatest time in the sport.  The raw talent that some of these players had can top some of the modern day players.  There were still farm teams and systems that allowed players to develop, but there were players like Bob Feller who pitched his first game before the age of eighteen.  EIGHTEEN!  What were you doing when you were eighteen?  Not striking out professional baseball players that's what. 

I will forever love baseball over any other sport, just because I grew up watching it more than football or hockey.  Even with the steroids marring the image of the sport, I will stand tall for the sport.    I think that the one thing I want the game to get back to is playing for love of the game that the old timers had and still have.  It never will, but I can always hope.  I know that professional sports today is all about making the big bucks.  I don't care what any pro says.  You want to see an athlete play for the love of sport, go watch a minor league or an independent league game.  Most of those players know they will never play at Fenway or Wrigley or at the JLA or Madison Square Garden.  Then why continue to play?  Because they want to.  They play their sport they have played since childhood because they can and will. 

Worst invention ever

The worst thing ever to be invented is the snooze button.  Shake your head or yell about it all you want, you know it is true.  How many times have you had to rush around because the snooze button was hit one or two too many times?  I'll raise my hand and admit that I have been late a few times to work because I have overslept, but I have also been a little late or almost last because I hit that damned snooze button for just a few more minutes of sleep.  But to what benefit is the snooze button?  I know that when I hit it too many times and have to rush out the door, and more often than not not get my coffee which is just an awful situation, while I am getting through the day I think back to the morning and think to myself, 'did the alarm go off?' 

The simple solution to the situation is just go to bed earlier and get the sleep then as opposed to try and catch up on sleep in the morning when you should be up and getting ready for work, but let's be honest who wants to go to bed earlier than than usual?  I worked twice this week at four in the morning and I felt like an old man going to be around nine o'clock at night, but it was smarter than going to bed later and hitting the snooze button repeatedly.  Generally speaking, I set my morning alarm about an hour before I have to be at work.  It gives me time to drink a cup of coffee and officially wake up before having to be at work.  It also allows me to hit that damned snooze button.  Just in case I need more sleep.  Ten minutes at a time. 


I made the analogy to a coworker that the snooze button is like heroin for an addict.  You don't want to hit it, but when you do, it feels so great. 

Another cold snap

Out of nowhere, the weather took a huge dip yesterday and today.  I've been up for about fifteen minutes this morning and it has been hovering around fifteen degrees outside.  The high for today is around thirty.  If I can't have snow, I might as well enjoy the cold cold weather. 

Anyone who complains about it, move to Florida. 

Movie escape

Movies are meant to be a way to escape reality for a couple of hours.  Time to forget all about the world outside and enjoy yourself.  There are those movies that are nothing but fight scenes and explosions and they are great.  The ultimate escape.  They will never be an award winning movie or sneak into a top one hundred list of the year, but they are serving a purpose.  Entertainment.  And according to a good friend of mine, that is their purpose.  There are dramatic movies out there that draw you into a different time or different circumstances that you would never ever see and blow your mind.  Those are the award winners and the top one hundred movies of the year and they are around to make people think. 

And then there are documentaries.  I love love love documentaries.  Call me a nerd or a geek all you want but they are great.  I'm watching 'Imagine:  John Lennon' at the moment and, if anything, it is making me laugh.  He had such a nonchalant approach to life that it make me sad that he isn't around anymore.  He was socially aware of the goings on in the world as well.  He promoted peace and love in his adult life which is what makes him such a fascinating person.  But above all of that, he was a musical genius (and I try not to use that term [genius] very often). 

Documentaries are meant to make you aware of the world.  Of certain situations you may not know.  Or, if you want, to just learn about people.  Currently on my Netflix queue I have documentaries that range from the life of Hank Greenberg to the rise and collapse of Enron, to the struggles to find and reclaim European paintings the Nazis stole during the second world war.  So there are many different forms of documentaries and they are not all Michael Moore type documentaries, edited for the director's own agenda.  Those aren't documentaries.  Documentaries are meant to be objective, not meant to push an agenda.

I watched 'Taxi to the Dark Side' last night and if you need a reason to hate the George W. Bush administration even more, this documentary is for you.  It took a look at the escalation of 'enhanced interragation' and the death of a man suspected of being a terrorist.  The reason this man's death was so important is because he died from injuries he suffered while being beaten and left in stress positions for hours (and by hours, I'm talking twenty to thirty hours) on end.  It explored the blurring line between what is right and what is wrong and how the Bush administration abused their power. 

The next time you want to watch a movie, think about a documentary.  They can open your mind. 

We had a good run

I never really expect winter to hang around too long here in Wichita. This year, it was late and stuck around for a day and a half. It snowed for about thirty six hours off and on and left close to two inches on the ground. I was so happy for those two inches, it was everything you could hope for. Just enough snow to make it feel like winter and just enough snow to make people down here freak out about it.

The temperature really dipped this past week. I went to work several times this week and it was in the single digits (not including wind chill). One thing I always enjoy about winter weather is bundling up. Keeping warm any way possible. There is still snow on the ground, but the temperature rose into the twenties yesterday and the day before and it has started to melt. The grass is starting to poke through and you can expect nothing less with such a small amount of snow.

So, it was a good run of winter weather and temperature for about five days, but now the temperature gauge is rising a little at a time. The teens to the twenties and close to the thirties. A few more days and the only traces of any kind of winter we had will be in parking lots in the forms of snow piles.

The weatherman cometh

It has finally snowed in the city of Wichita. 9 January 2011. Finally, it feels like winter. It will be snowing the rest of today and suppose to be snowing all day tomorrow. The weatherman scared the hell out of a lot of people here. It was predicted earlier this week that it was going to snow on Saturday and there were weathermen on the local news that were telling people to go out and get their weekend groceries Saturday before the 'storm' came.

At any rate, it made for a busy few days at work, which is great. The way people react down here in Kansas, it makes me think that people want to look at the weatherman as the fifth horseman. So, when the end of the world comes, at least in Kansas, it will be death, famine, war, conquest, and......snow.




How sad or funny depending on your point of view.

Oh Jim Joyce...

Amy K. Nelson wrote a nice little article on ESPN.com about Jim Joyce and his dealing with his inability to call an out. As a Tigers fan I will always hold a nice little place of hatred in my heart for him, but as a human being, I will always feel bad for him because of what happened. He knows he completely screwed Armando Galarraga. The great thing is Galarraga's sportsmanship towards the whole situation. Everyone knows how he handled it and how Jim Joyce dealt with the situation, so lets move on.

The nice thing when reading the article is what was written on Joyce's baggage claim when he left the city. If there was anyplace where he was not wanted it was the city of Detroit. However, the tags for his suitcases held a special note from workers at the airport. It's a nice sign that people are willing to admit mistakes and that it is okay to do so.

As dark as the world seems at times it is good to know that there are people around to let you know that making mistakes is okay. Hey, who hasn't screwed up a call at their daily job every once in a while.

Don't call this a resolution

When the new year starts, countless numbers of people make a resolution. However, the worldwide joke is that resolution. Sure, most people can keep it up for a month or two, but I would like to talk to the people that make a resolution going into the new year and keeping it. Last year, I made a mental deal with myself to buy less beer. One case a month, certain situations such as visiting family, parties, etc. garnered more beer. I thought I did alright with it. It, however, was not a resolution. I don't think anyway.

So I thought to myself while I couldn't sleep last night, what can I do this year that is simple to maintain and doesn't need a ton of attention. Think of exercising or weight loss as a resolution. That takes a lot of time and dedication. It also takes planning. Planning on when you are going to go, where you are going to go, what kind of food you will be eating to lose the weight, when is it okay to eat a little more, etc. It's too much effort. I thought about saving money (much like last year's trial of less beer buying). The easiest way to save money is to not buy lunch at work, or at least scale back on the amount of money and days I buy lunch at work.

It's so convenient working somewhere that has a deli and a bakery and an entire grocery store from which to choose lunch. Convenient and pricey at times depending on what you feel like eating for lunch. My goal for a month of work is to only buy lunch four times in a month. That is less than one work week spaced out over the course of thirty days.

It sounds simple enough, but it could be difficult at the beginning of the year. I think that once I get into the groove of bringing lunch to work, it will be easier. Much like last year, I am going to keep tabs here. I'll be tagging an entry '2011' at the end of the month to keep track of when I buy lunch. I figure that if this plan gets out into the open and can be read by others, it will hold me more accountable for the year.

So here's to a new year and a new plan. Don't call this a resolution my friends, this is a plan of action.