Contact Sport

Last night, power soccer definitely became a contact sport. However, even though some of the hits might have been a little bit too hard, it is nice to see aggression. Rather let the ball roll by, people are beginning to attack the ball which is positive. The only difference is that if any of you remember when we played Syracuse, we barely got hit at all. They were able to take the ball off of us without hitting chairs. There's no way they would've ever gotten called for a foul because they never touched us, but when we run into each other, they could very possibly call a foul which could award a free kick. This is what we should shoot for. We need to not be afraid to hit while at the same time having a sense of when heading out there might not be beneficial or may even be detrimental like in the aforementioned case with the free kick. Although it may not seem like it, you can be incredibly aggressive without hitting anyone. The goal of the game is to hit the ball into the goal, so obviously you need to be aggressive in that sense, but make sure that you drive the ball down the field.

New Day, New Year

Exciting news of the day is that Ben & Jerry's is reopened at the University of Vermont! Okay maybe that's not the biggest news of the day. Maybe the biggest news is that we have power soccer tonight! We have that every week though. I guess we have to admit that the most important thing going on today is the first day of classes. Calculus to history of China and Japan to sports nutrition. Exciting... no, I'm just kidding. It will be fun however. Even though college is a lot of work, I do enjoy being productive. I think that it is important to stay busy and avoid boredom. I think I do a pretty good job on both of these accounts. And there is that little thing called the excitement of learning. I always do enjoy learning new things, and college is a great place to do that by expanding your horizons and taking a variety of classes that you would never necessarily have a reason to learn outside of the academic setting other than for the pure enjoyment of learning. So, think of me today as I begin my sophomore year and attempt to actually play power soccer safely tonight.
Photo by DanCentury on Flickr

Too Much of a Good Thing

Some people have a hard enough time getting one thing that they want. Imagine if you got everything you wanted and all of a sudden the two things that you wanted most in life conflicted with each other. That's exactly what happened to Ben Garland formerly of the Air Force Academy. When he was a young boy, he dreamed about going into the Air Force Academy and becoming a fighter pilot. However, he also fantasized about playing in the NFL for the Denver Broncos since he was from Colorado. Now you obviously see where I'm going with this. He went Air Force, and he played well throughout college. He was accepted to a pilot training school in Del Rio, Texas. However, the Denver Broncos also signed him as a free agent. So, there is a dilemma. Do you play for the team you always wanted to play for, or do you go into the Air Force like you always dreamed? If that were me, I would play football because I would not be brave enough to handle the Armed Forces. However, it is honorable that he wants to serve his country in a way that people like me appreciate. Whatever Ben chooses, I think he cannot really go wrong. He gets a great career either way, and he gets to do what most people will never do; he has a career he wants.
Photo by brykmantra on Flickr

True NFL Incomes

I think that it is interesting how people can tend to have quite a bit success, but then they quickly lose touch with the early success. I am still reading the book written by Drew Rosenhaus in regards to his career and how he became one of the most powerful agents in the NFL. I think I figured out the main thing, he flatters people. Flattery has gotten him places definitely. However, while he definitely needed to cater to his clients, he also needed to know how to play hardball. He could not just walk up to the negotiation table and be nice. He needed to buckle down and get what he felt his client deserved. There was an interesting note that I noticed however. In the NFL, careers often only last under five years. In 2007, the minimum salary for a rookie was $285,000. For the second through fifth years, the salaries increase from $360,000 to $435,000 to $510,000 to $595,000. Add that up and this hypothetical player who played five years at the minimum would have made $2.18 million. In 2009 I saw that the average per capita income was $39,138 according to the US Department of Commerce. Say you work at this average career for 45 years (20-65 years old). You will make $1.76 million which is pretty nice. It definitely seems ridiculous that in five years the worst player in the NFL could have made more than the average person in the United States. This wasn't really the fact that surprised me though. Living as an NFL player is much more expensive than the average life. If all the team goes out to an expensive restaurant, this player will go as well. I would bet that the $2,000,000 goes pretty quickly when you live that lifestyle. I guess that surprised me that this money will go quickly, and many ex-NFL players need to go back to work after their careers are complete. I guess I never really thought about that though. I thought all athletes had it made forever. I guess that only applies to the best of the best however.
Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr

Remember CJ Henry? I Do.

Many of you may remember when the Phillies traded Bobby Abreu to the Yankees. If you remember this, you may remember that one of the important pieces of that trade was shortstop CJ Henry. A highly touted prospect from the Yankees, Henry sort of fizzled out in the minor leagues and eventually left baseball. Where did he go? He went to Kansas to play basketball with his brother Xavier Henry after a quick hiatus in Memphis where he redshirted for one year, but CJ did not have a scholarship. Again, his career died out there too, and he fell out of the news altogether... until today. According to breaking news, CJ Henry has now transferred to Southern Nazarene University, an NAIA school in Oklahoma City. Although the NAIA is definitely a step down from Kansas, Southern Nazarene is reporting that Henry is one of three Division I transfers were coming to campus for the season. I must say that that is pretty impressive for such a small name school. The benefits for Henry are also pretty obvious. Of course, he actually gets to play a significant role on a team again that he retains three years of eligibility for. Also, he won't have to play in the shadow of his brother Xavier who was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies this year. There were days when I dreamed of him being the eventual replacement for Jimmy Rollins when he turned 50 and wanted to retire. I guess that dream will just remain a dream.
Photo on http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/458438399_77cc447bb5.jpg?v=0

Season Extension

Rumor has it that the NFL owners are looking to expand to 18 week regular season. In order to do this, they intend to shorten the preseason to two weeks. As you might imagine, the players are not half as excited about this as the owners are. During the preseason, the starters normally get more breaks to relieve the wear and tear on the body as well as give the younger players a chance to get on the field. No matter what people think though, we all know the true reason behind any of this. As New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft said,

"There’s not a lot ways in this economic environment we can generate incremental revenues. That’s the best way."

Of course, it all has to do with money. There is a lot more money to be made on regular-season games than on the preseason. I wonder how wise this is however. I think that the injuries will increase quite a bit because by the end of the season with the current schedule, players are tired enough. Add two more weeks with the intensity of the regular season and I think you will have problems with fatigue. But I don't think that will slow down the owners, I think we will see more regular-season football in future seasons.
Photo by krisandapril on Flickr

What Would Johnny Do?

After your career had taken off in a city that even landed you a guest appearance on Arthur (one of the best children's series ever!), you would think you might want to go back to that city. Well, not necessarily. Johnny Damon blocked a waiver claim that would have shipped him up to Boston. He says that he really likes Detroit, and he didn't necessarily want to leave that. I totally understand where he's coming from, but when a team puts you on waivers, there is perhaps the idea that they don't want you anymore. The potential reason that Damon was a little bit concerned about the situation in Detroit was about playing time. Of course, at this point in the season, teams are bringing up young players, so it does make it seem like a veteran outfielder might be in the way. However, if he has no problem with it, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't stay with Detroit. He understands what is best for the team, so it make sense that that he'd be okay with Detroit. All in all, I hope it works out for him, but I cannot imagine how hard it must be to turn down a place where he was so loved.
Photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Money Talking Issues

There seems to be a trend lately. If something can leak, it has been. First, we had British Petroleum, then we had all of the Wiki Leaks, and now Major League Baseball has been hit. An investigation is underway to uncover who opened up documents that exposed the financial histories of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Seattle Mariners, the Florida Marlins, and the Pittsburgh Pirates according to the New York Times. Many teams are not publicly owned, so they do not need to release quarterly or annual reports to shareholders. They only need to give financial reports to the Commissioner's Office, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Ernst & Young, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. However, there is an interesting quote in this article from Vince Gennaro, a consultant to several major league baseball teams and author, said,

"If I were Major League Baseball, I'd be much more concerned if the Yankees' numbers were released. It would present a dramatic disparity and you'd begin to wonder how you can retain an economic structure that allows teams to earn such disparate amounts of money."

When I read this, what I think Gennaro might be referring to is the necessity for a salary cap. I definitely have mixed feelings about this. While I do think that the salary level is ridiculous, I also know that if the players aren't making the money, the owners are going to pocket more. Again, I do not have a problem with the owners making money because that is why they bought the business. However, what would ideally happen is that with less salary to pay because of the cap, ticket and merchandise prices might be able to drop to make baseball much more affordable for the average fan. I do not think that this would happen because as long as people are willing to pay for the tickets, the prices will not drop. However, I do not think that the owners would adopt the lower prices because when there's profit to be made, they will make it. So, I don't think that there should be a salary cap, because the intended effect to make the game more affordable for the fans due to fewer expenses would not happen.
Photo by daveynin on Flickr

Tom Brady Must Be a Shark

Maybe the Patriots should be renamed the Sharks because they have as much love of Jets as the Westside Story rivals. Many of you have probably heard of the HBO TV series "Hard Knocks" that goes inside the Jets' training camp. I even bet that many of you enjoy it (I do not have HBO, so I have no opinion on the show). Guess who doesn't love it? Earlier today, Tom Brady went on WEEI radio in Boston and said the following as quoted from an article by Howard Ulman of the Associated Press regarding the TV show.

"Honestly, I haven't turned it on. I hate the Jets, so I refused to support that show."

Pretty strong words coming from one of the biggest sports figures in New England. Granted, we all probably throw the word hate around way too much and too casually for the degree of intensity that that word conveys. However, it is one thing to say them that you hate something in the backyard talking to friends while it is another thing to be on the radio broadcasting to most of New England. Given his previous track record, I don't really think that Tom Brady meant much by this comment. It's not like he is going to try to hunt them down. However, maybe a bit more caution with word choice could be used when you know that the media, such as myself, just love to pick apart everything they say.
Photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Say What You Mean

I think that is interesting how well some people know how to talk. However, it is even more interesting how some people can say a lot without ever saying anything. I think about the press conferences with professional athletes apologizing for some problem they had with the law or the media or the family. There's always the same script about being sorry and apologizing to the fans, the organization, the coaches, and pretty much everyone in America or the world. They really never say anything about the event, but they seem to say a lot about being sorry. Granted, they should be sorry for what they have done, but I honestly think that it sounds too scripted which leads me to doubt the sincerity. Tell me that I'm reading into it much, and I probably am, but still when everybody says the same thing, I really wonder how many of them thought about it before they wrote it. Also, I admit that I'm not much for prewritten speeches, so that might be my bias as well. However, next time you see someone on TV apologizing for some miscellaneous offense, I bet you will be able to predict exactly what they're going to say before they say it.
Photo by rick on Flickr

TO Bias

I think that it is interesting reading a story from a different perspective. Many of you remember that little situation that arose between Terrell Owens and the Philadelphia Eagles. Owens was upset because he had had a great season and been the hero in the playoffs, but he never got the raise he wanted. Of course, I think that it is a little bit ridiculous to complain about making $3,000,000 a year to play a game, but whatever, we have to move beyond that. To make a long story short, Owens held out, eventually rejoined the team, got hurt, and eventually got himself suspended for the end of the season. Now, think about your perception of Owens. Now, I want you to go to the Dollar Tree in Berlin, Vermont and pick up the book Next Question. You may recognize the author, Drew Rosenhaus, who is better known as the agent of Owens among many other NFL players over the years. Here you will see a different perception of what went down. I have to admit that I think that Rosenhaus is incredibly biased in his account of the fallout, but now I am influencing you. Anyway, for a dollar, it is an interesting read so far. I had never read a book by an agent before, but I feel like he is trying to get me to sign on to a contract with Owens. I'll let you know once I break down the dollars and cents whether I would sign my name on the dotted line.
Photo by Navin75 on Flickr

Media Circus

Today is Friday, so here comes a fictional fragment from my mind.

These days are much different than when I started to play. In those days, the reporters talked about the game, not about the drama. Now, as a member of the media, I knew that we're looking for the story behind the story. It isn't enough to write that a pitcher had a bad day. There has to be a reason. Is he hurt? Is he having family problems? Is it the manager's fault? Is he too secure with that nice new contract with all of the guaranteed money? It can never be as simple as he made a few bad pitches and got burned. And as a journalist, I had to be there to ask the questions. I had to know why even if somewhere in my mind I knew that it was just a bad day. Drama sells papers, not pat answers about feeling a little bit off that day or about the excellent effort from the opposing team. Even if the pat answers are the truth, people want more. And as long as the public wanted more, the media had to dig.
Photo by Valeriana Solaris on Flickr

Some Comedy in the News

I have been surprised before. I admit, I am not usually a good guesser. However, there have been a few surprises in the sports world lately that have caught me off guard.
• Number one, Roger Clemens had just been indicted for perjury. You know, you'd think that after years of keeping hitters honest, he might've picked up some tips. I guess steroids affect more than just muscles (although people always talk about exercising the brain, it is not a muscle).
• Number two, Brett Farve is coming back. I guess I understand not wanting to end your career on an interception. However, I'd rather leave it on that than when I need to use my Medicare to pay for my latest injury. There is always an end even if it is not a desirable one, and I think that Brett should Pack up his Viking ship and Jet into the Hall of Fame where a player of his greatness belongs.
• Finally, apparently Fresno State and Nevada are being "selfish" for wanting to leave the WAC to join the Mountain West according to the commissioner of the WAC. So who loses out if these schools leave? Everybody else gets picked up by a different conference, but all of the jobs fall out of the conference. Does somebody want to keep his job maybe? I know I wouldn't want to go job hunting in this economy.
These are a few items that caught me off guard in the media. Kind of ironic I thought.
Photo from http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-clemensindicted081910

Spin Kicking in a New Way

So, I took my new chair out again to play power soccer today. What I discovered was that once you figure out how to spin kick correctly, it really is much easier in a rear wheel than a mid-wheel. In order for me to get even decent power on a spin kick in my mid-wheel, I would need to take a full 360° spin and even that wasn't too accurate. However, now if I'm able to back into the ball and swing, I can nail the ball pretty well. It is actually a lot easier to back straight up and swing than it was to make that full swing that I often backed into the ball with. However, I definitely still need to practice, but I think that I will be able to learn it pretty quickly. An important note to remember though is to make sure that you have support when you're spinning because that chair (or at least my chair) spins very quickly (or at least much more quickly than I am used to). Even though it is a new drive setup, I used to drive rear wheel for about 10 years, and the power I gained in this chair is much more valuable to my game.

Developing a Team!

This is really late, but I am very excited about the fact that we had eight people come out for power soccer last night! I think that now what we need to do is begin to gel as a team. Once we are able to anticipate how each other attacks or defends, we will be able to capitalize on each others' strengths and cover for each other's weaknesses. For example, my teammates Scott and Nate have nice spin kicks. Therefore, we need to use them in a way that makes them best use the abilities that they have. However, that is only one aspect of each of their games. They each have other strengths and weaknesses that we haven't discovered yet, but as we play together more, we will learn and help each other develop into a much more solid team. I think that we have the potential to become a very good team, but I think that we need experience playing on the team and as a team to rise to the level where we can become competitive. We are practicing weekly, so now with the ability to scrimmage with a full four-on-four game, we will develop this teamwork and become a good team!

My Favorite Baseball Plays

As I was watching the Phillies beat the Mets last night, there was one play in particular that stuck out in my mind. Kyle Kendrick slapped the ball into right field, but he was thrown out by Angel Pagan at first for a rare 9-3 put out. Luckily, this play did not affect the outcome of the game, but it did get me thinking about some of my favorite plays on the diamond. So, I thought today I would list a few of them.
• Who doesn't love a perfectly executed 6-4-3 double play or one of another variety?
• Scaling the outfield wall to rob a home run (unless of course it was going to be a Phillies home run)
• Striking out the side
• The walkoff homerun
• A great knuckleball
• A snow cone catch preferably by an outfielder right near the wall
• Ken Griffey Junior's swing
• Submarine pitchers
• The catcher taking a hit at home plate but holding onto the ball
• Vicente Padilla's insanely slow curveball
• The Phillies Liberty Bell ringing after a homerun
Do you have a favorite play that I am forgetting? Comment here or shoot me an e-mail!

My New Chair

I think that it is interesting how a rear wheel drive wheelchair can make so much of a difference in hitting the power soccer ball. We unwrapped my new chair today, and even though it wasn't perfectly suited for me yet, we could put my sister in it to hit the ball around. It's pretty amazing how even at about half speed it was able to hit the ball just as hard as I can at full speed in my mid-wheel. Again, as I've mentioned in previous posts, it all comes back to physics and the idea that a longer turn radius allows for more angular velocity which conveys more force to the ball and therefore hits the ball harder. I wasn't really that much of a believer however until we played CNY United last month. I had watched videos on the Internet, but I was not sure how hard the ball was really hit simply because sometimes videos can distort reality slightly because of angle or lighting. I had two different games between the Circle City Rollers and the Atlanta Synergy, but it looked like in one of the games they were hitting the ball so much harder simply because of the low angle of the camera. Anyway, I'll try out my new chair hopefully tomorrow night at power soccer practice, and I hope I remember how to drive rear-wheel.I think that it is interesting how a rear wheel drive wheelchair can make so much of a difference in hitting the power soccer ball. We unwrapped my new chair today, and even though it wasn't perfectly suited for me yet, we could put my sister in it to hit the ball around. It's pretty amazing how even at about half speed it was able to hit the ball just as hard as I can at full speed in my mid-wheel. Again, as I've mentioned in previous posts, it all comes back to physics and the idea that a longer turn radius allows for more angular velocity which conveys more force to the ball and therefore hits the ball harder. I wasn't really that much of a believer however until we played CNY United last month. I had watched videos on the Internet, but I was not sure how hard the ball was really hit simply because sometimes videos can distort reality slightly because of angle or lighting. I had two different games between the Circle City Rollers and the Atlanta Synergy, but it looked like in one of the games they were hitting the ball so much harder simply because of the low angle of the camera. Anyway, I'll try out my new chair hopefully tomorrow night at power soccer practice, and I hope I remember how to drive rear-wheel.
Photo Courtesy of Power Soccer Shop

You Any Good At Marbles?

This post is slightly delayed because I probably should have written it yesterday, but it was Fiction Friday, so I had to write that. However, as we were on the boardwalk in New Jersey, I was trying to look for some type of sport to write about. I wanted to go beyond the hoop shooting carnival game if I possibly could. Luckily, I was able to find a few interesting sports on the boardwalk. For one thing, this is one of the only places I have ever seen public bocce courts. However, I walked by them all day, and nobody was ever on them. According to a sign posted outside the courts, they're only open to public use from eight to 11 PM. My question is what do they do for the rest of the day? Kind of inefficient, but kind of cool nonetheless. The best part was that apparently Wildwood is one of hot spots for competitive marble playing. At one point, there are about 10 actual wooden platforms built for the National Marbles Championship. So if you get really good at this childhood game, you will end up in New Jersey to take on the best at the sport.

Passed By

Since today is Friday, and it is Friday the 13th, it is nevertheless Fiction Friday. So, let's get going.

I thought that it was funny how the situation worked out. I guess funny isn't quite the right word, but I guess ironic would be better. I had turned the kid on to baseball, but now he was the reason I was turned off. Maybe I better backup. A few years ago, Joe hadn't even wanted to touch a baseball. He simply had no interest in it, but, being his friend, I thought it would do him good to have something to do. With much convincing on my part, he finally caved in and came out to play. All of a sudden, it was like I couldn't keep him away from the game, and the problem was that he kept getting better. Soon, I that he would pass me by, and for some reason, even though he was my friend, I couldn't stand it. I knew that I was going to lose playing time to him, and I would even lose my starting position because he kept getting better. So in a way, I kind of knocked myself off the starting lineup, but of course you can't blame yourself, then only way I could give blame was by giving it to him.
Photo by Unhindered by Talent on Flickr

Trophy Error

Ironically, the day after we are in Philadelphia, they manage to win. Well, what are you going to do?

However, I have a somewhat funnier story than that. Do you think that it would be possible for a major sports trophy to accidentally be engraved with the wrong team? I would have answered in the negative, but I would have been wrong. I don't know a lot about NHL trophies, but apparently the Prince of Wales Trophy is given to the winner of the Eastern conference every year. Those of you might remember, the Philadelphia Flyers won the Eastern conference last year. However, look at that photo I borrowed from Yahoo. That's right; the title was given to the Washington Capitals. However, the story gets better. Nobody would believe him, and the Hall of Fame said that the pictures were somehow contrived with Photoshop. It seemed like no other media outlets were picking up this story, but finally one blog picked it up and finally the Hall of Fame admitted that it had made a mistake. This is kind of a big mistake to make however, and as I have learned from the Phillies game, I doubt that Flyer fans will be any more forgiving. The trophy has been corrected though, so hopefully the Hall of Fame will move on.

Trophy Error

Ironically, the day after we are in Philadelphia, they manage to win. Well, what are you going to do?

However, I have a somewhat funnier story than that. Do you think that it would be possible for a major sports trophy to accidentally be engraved with the wrong team? I would have answered in the negative, but I would have been wrong. I don't know a lot about NHL trophies, but apparently the Prince of Wales Trophy is given to the winner of the Eastern conference every year. Those of you might remember, the Philadelphia Flyers won the Eastern conference last year. However, look at that photo here on Yahoo. That's right; the title was given to the Washington Capitals. However, the story gets better. Nobody would believe him, and the Hall of Fame said that the pictures were somehow contrived with Photoshop. It seemed like no other media outlets were picking up this story, but finally one blog picked it up and finally the Hall of Fame admitted that it had made a mistake. This is kind of a big mistake to make however, and as I have learned from the Phillies game, I doubt that Flyer fans will be any more forgiving. The trophy has been corrected though, so hopefully the Hall of Fame will move on.

Dodgers Outslug Phils 15-9

Well, any of you who have watched the news this morning will know that last night's game was less than desirable for a Phillies fan. The Dodgers knocked off the Phillies 15-9. I always thought that nine runs would be enough to win a baseball game, but there is a problem when the bullpen gives up nine earned runs by itself in 5 2/3 innings. Kyle Kendrick did not pitch well by any means, but if the bullpen could have locked down after the six runs (five earned) that Kendrick allowed, this could have been a win. However, not all was lost. For one thing, I saw Domenic Brown's first career home run, so he becomes as good as everyone says he will be, this could be an interesting story. Also, Ross Gload hit two more home runs which is excellent, and he and Brown drove in eight of our nine runs with Placido Polanco driving in the ninth. On the Dodgers side, Andre Ethier went four for four with three RBIs, four runs, a walk, and was hit by a pitch in the ninth. Every starter on the Dodgers reached base including pitcher Vicente Padilla courtesy of an error. The kind of depressing parts involved watching JC Romero walk George Sherrill, a bullpen pitcher who had not seen one pitch this season, in the ninth. However, with the game on the line with two outs in the ninth, Cole Hamels had to pinch hit for Chad Durbin because the Phillies were out of pinch hitters. Either way, it was a very enjoyable game despite the slightly depressing outcome.

Camden Yards

Again, we are hitting the road for Phillies game tonight as they play the Dodgers. I would wait and write after that since I am betting it will be a Phillies victory to write about, but I'm not especially up to writing at midnight. So, that will be tomorrow. However, today we are going to talk about baseball in Baltimore.

I have been to Camden Yards three times before. There is a certain charm with the warehouse in right field that I remember something about Ken Griffey Junior busting a very high window in the Home Run Derby. Too bad I don't remember more than that, but it was nevertheless a giant homerun. The rest of the ballpark bears a striking resemblance to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Also, if my memory serves me, some of the people in the design process worked on both ballparks. If there is a bad seat, I was unable to find it as most seats have excellent sight lines to all areas of the field. Of course there are certain blind spots present at certain seats, but really they're very good most of the time. So, I guess I would say that if you're in Baltimore, you might as well stop by. It's one of the nicer parks I have ever been to.
Photo by Shoshanah on Flickr

End of an ESPN Era

I was very upset to discover that the ESPN Zone in Baltimore is no longer with us. We rounded the corner, and I found a bunch of boarded up doors and windows. What's up with that? Luckily, I'm trying to kick in all that researching knowledge I learned in college to find out what happened to this restaurant.

I am Googling...

Okay, okay, I know that you are all desperately wondering what happened to this landmark in the Inner Harbor. According to an article in the Baltimore Sun in June, Walt Disney Co. made the decision in June to shut down five ESPN Zones including the one in Baltimore. However, what made this one special was the fact that it was the original ESPN Zone. According to this article, this ESPN Zone had been open for 12 years. It was started more as an experiment by Disney, but it ended up eventually falling apart due to increased competition and the fact that the restaurant became more of a tourist attraction as opposed to a regular everyday restaurant. Personally, being a tourist, I enjoyed it, and I thought the food was very good. However, apparently Baltimore didn't worry about it enough, and it is the end of an era.

Will Brett Return?

Okay, first of all, I was a little bit premature on Scott leaving for Minnesota. I thought he left yesterday, but he is leaving today, so all of that stuff still applies. I was just a little bit early. On to the talk for today though. Is Brett Farve going to come back? We have asked this question every year, and every time I think that he is finally done, he proceeds to come back and have an amazing year that seems to defy age. However, I am going to predict again that he is finally done. I just wonder how long his body can hold up to the NFL. I know that NFL only plays a fraction of the games that all the other major sports leagues do, but I would daresay that football is the roughest sport on your body. Not only that, but he played football before the NFL. His body has been getting hit for a majority of his life, so he has to be wearing down. I have been known to be wrong though when it comes to predictions, so we will see, but right now all I know is that he is coming back if he is healthy.
Photo by GMO66 on Flickr

Tutorial

It is pretty ridiculous that the Phillies finally lost, but what are you going to do? They're just saving that win for when we are there in a few days. However, enough with the tangents. Thinking of my teammate Scott who is at power soccer camp right now, I'm struck by how important it is to know people who know things. What would make Scott travel to Minnesota to play power soccer? He is there so that he can learn more about power soccer to help all of us improve. How is he going to do that? He is going to learn things from people who know things. I think that this can apply in many areas of life, not exclusively to power soccer. If I need help with a calculus problem, it is definitely beneficial to know a professor who knows things about how to solve the problem. So, that is why business especially is all about networking. None of us know everything, but if you know a lot of people who know something, you will probably be able to find an answer you're looking for from at least one person. Hopefully, Scott will come back and enlighten us!

Loss of a Star

Today is Friday, so here comes some fiction!

The game sped along quickly as the Jaguars and Falcons did battle. These two giants of Florida basketball were squaring off for the first time ever as the Falcons were from the Miami area whereas the Jaguars were from the Panhandle. Fate had never brought them together until this night in March. Both teams ran a high-octane offense so there was little time for even the spectators to catch their breath. This night was a little bit different for the Falcons though. As much as their coach, Dan Smith, tried to run a very balanced offense, he was blessed or perhaps cursed by having the best player in Florida on his team who ran the offense most of the time. The blessing is how he led his team to an undefeated year while playing as good as any player in recent Florida history, but the curse comes when your team doesn't know how to run without him, and he happens to be hurt during the most important game of the year. Nothing throws off a team's balance like dropping the anchor of the team. But they had to play, they had to bring their A game tonight, or this season was over.
Photo by aturkus on Flickr

See and Do

Some people learn by watching, and some people learn by doing. I'm trying my hand at both. I know that often times coaches will watch game film to see how a team performs. While rather than learn about my own team from the film, I have started watching several power soccer films that are available on the Internet to learn new strategy and better technique while I play. I know that it is definitely one thing to talk about and know how to do something than it is to actually be able to do it. As my old statistics teacher Mr. Beard used to say, "I know how to dunk a basketball, but I can't actually do it." That is why I now need to take what I have been seeing in these videos and turn it into production on the court. However, that is also easier said than done. I know what I need to do, but speeding up my reaction time and overall awareness is what I definitely need to improve in order to raise my game to a new level. You need to start by watching, but then you need to work on turning the head knowledge into usable knowledge.

Better Writing than Mine!

As I have done before, I have something else that I want you to do tonight instead of reading my writing. Tonight, I want you to go and read this article that was in Seven Days today about our power soccer clinic as well as watch this video which was also produced by Seven Days. This was such an exciting event for all of us, hype it up!

Team Chemistry

When I think about our power soccer team, I realize that what we really need to work on is our communication, but there are definite signs of improvement. Last night, I was very encouraged as we were actually calling out when a defender was in the box rather than tripping into a three in the box call and giving up a free kick. For those of you who don't know, there can only be one defender and goalkeeper in the goal box at once. The offense does not have a limit though, so it is important for someone to be in the box to support the goalkeeper. However, I think that communication goes both ways, on offense as well as defense. Communication does not necessarily need to be verbal because often times verbalization well give away a wide open weak side cut. However, sometimes something as simple as eye contact can be enough if the team chemistry is there. I do realize that some of us, like myself, have some issues physically rotating our bodies, but we all have cues that we as teammates will learn to read and react accordingly. I am hoping to be able to pick these up from my teammates better so that we all can function as a better team.

Call To Action

I just got back from power soccer practice, and I am all of a sudden inspired to write even though I wasn't all day. So, here's what I'm thinking. I was talking with my teammate Scott about how we could start playing more games. We talked about various ideas of how we could coordinate with all of the other local teams to play more often if you define local as being within six hours. Okay, so I guess that isn't really local, but it is the best we can do right now with power soccer in the Northeast. It got me thinking about what is the simplest solution to this dilemma. You know I came up with? We need more teams! Wow, that was a huge revelation that is much easier to say than do I totally understand. However, I also know that every player who has played power soccer with us has come back. Even if you're not particularly into sports, the competitive aspect is definitely addicting. So this is my version of a call to action. If there is anyone in Vermont who wants to play but is too far away from Burlington to drive for practice, get in touch with me. We are looking to spread the word about this sport, and I'd be happy to tell you what we are up to as far as organization. Playing wise, I am far from an expert, but I am learning and any of you can learn too. All you need is four people to play. So get out there and do it, we would love to see more competition and learn from each other!

Swinging Momentum

It was somewhat disappointing as the Phillies choked last night, but I think that really shouldn't have happened. I thought that the Phillies leaving seven runners on base in the first four innings was pretty bad. It seems as if wasting those types of opportunities always comes back to haunt a team. It's like the football team who can't execute on third down or the hockey team that blows the power play. Even though the walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman probably had very little to do with leaving all those runners on, I think that is very often a "coincidence" that early mistakes cause late losses. If the Phillies could have brought in two or more of those runs, the Zimmerman home run would not have been a walk off. However, it might have even been more important than that. A few more early runs would have swung the momentum the Phillies way earlier which could have messed with the Nationals. No one should doubt the importance of getting out to an early lead. Once you get a few runs, it seems as if the rest of the game flows much better and the team is able to execute on a higher level.
Photo by pacomexico on Flickr