While You Were Sleeping: Random Thoughts from Liz

Starring in the Role of Justin Morneau's Cosmic Killjoy - Corey Koskie??

2010-08-07T04:27:00.016-05:00

It has been many months since I last entered any thoughts in this blog. It's not for lack of things to write about; it's due to that pesky post-concussion stuff. When I choose to use the brain power to write in the blog, it tends to mean I'm not able to do other things I'd like to (or need to) do, so I dialed it back to rest the head, and now perhaps I can ease into it again, a little at a time. So I figured, what more appropriate subject to return with, than Justin Morneau's concussion!

Morneau has been working out again, trying to get back into shape after not playing in a game since suffering a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (the definition of a concussion is to have an mTBI) on July 7 in Toronto, and is hoping to do a rehab stint soon. I haven't read an update in awhile, so I checked out Joe Christensen's column in the Star Tribune on Saturday. It all sounded very good, but I'm struggling with one particular comment from a quote. Christensen mentions that Morneau has received advice from former Twin Corey Koskie, whose career was ended by concussions, and Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell, who missed half of last season with a concussion. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's comments about this are what bother me. "You talk to players that ended their careers with concussions -- I don't think you're going to get a lot of positives out of them, know what I mean? They have a lot of knowledge, but we go with what our doctors say. And our doctors say Justin Morneau will be the one to tell us [he's ready] and not anyone else."

Ok, so basically he thinks Koskie & Mitchell will tell Morneau that he's doomed, it won't heal, and don't play? I would be willing to bet my non-existent salary, that they are giving him advice to help ensure that he continues to have a long & successful career, rather than having his season or heaven forbid, his career, come to a close from the brain injury. Koskie & Mitchell both had multiple mismanaged concussions, which very likely contributed to their long-term issues. But I'm quite certain neither of them will be trying to keep Morneau from playing, or talk him into staying on the couch to watch soap operas, if he is feeling good and healed!

To clarify, it appears that both the Twins and Morneau have handled this concussion properly since it occured, so I have no complaint with the athletic training staff; my only issue is with the sentiment behind Gardy's comment. Since concussions don't show up on scans, blood tests, x-rays, etc. (the brain damage from concussions can be found in an autopsy, but that would seem to be a rather drastic step...), Gardy is correct that Justin is the only one who can truly tell the Twins when he's ready. Surveys recently have shown that in professional & college sports, however, players tend to be less than truthful about their symptoms, because they want to play, ignoring the potential long-term (and short-term) results. I'm guessing Koskie is telling him to be honest, and not to say he's fine if he's still having issues, but if he's doing well with the workouts, then keep going and get back on the field. What could be more encouraging to Justin, than to have someone who has seen the worst side of the concussion effects, tell him that based on him being symptom-free during his workouts, his brain is in a great place, and he won't need to worry about Koskie's situation happening to him?

With all the work Koskie has been doing with schools & organizations about concussions, his goal has been to help kids, parents & coaches get the young athletes back on the field in the right way, so once they return, they can stay active, and don't suffer further consequences. I'm quite certain Gardy doesn't want Morneau to come back simply because he is anxious to play, or "chomping at the bit" only to have a minor head hit on a play at 1st or whiplash while diving for a ball become a career-threatening injury. He wants him to come back at full strength, and to be able to stay back. However, just because Koskie's career ended due to concussions, doesn't mean he would tell Justin the same thing will happen to him, anymore than Gardy would tell players they'll never be able to become consistent .300 hitters, just because hitting is what he struggled with most in his pro career.

My life has been drastically changed because of my concussions, and I wish with everything in me that I had listened when my sister told me to stop working (& reading, writing, texting, analyzing etc.) until my symptoms were gone. Instead, I kept pushing through it for over a month, and got worse with each day. Had I listened right away, I may have only missed a few weeks of work and then been back to normal (though we'll never know for sure). That being said, if Morneau was asking me for advice (which seems about as likely as me winning the lottery), I wouldn't tell him to not play, or say that his life was going to be ruined now. I'd say to listen to what his body and brain are telling him. I'm guessing it's insulting to Koskie that Gardy seems to think he won't be positive about the situation. As someone who has dealt with that issue, I guarantee he would be thrilled to see a healthy Morneau back on the field, winning games for the Twins.

So if Justin Morneau still has headaches, or that "not right" feeling he described before, then he should wait until those are gone, no matter how boring it is. However, if he no longer has any of the concussion symptoms while working out, throwing, hitting in the cage & doing the regular stuff of life, then by all means, he should be on track to get to a rehab assignment soon, and join the team when he's in baseball shape & back up to speed!

Which Conferences are Doing the Best in March Madness So Far?/My Dream Final Four

2010-03-22T00:45:00.006-05:00

The original 65 teams from Selection Sunday have now been shaved down to just the Sweet 16. Which conferences have the most representatives and which ones are doing the most with what they have?

From the, um, mighty Big 6 "BCS" conferences:
Big Ten - 3 of their 5 NCAA teams are in the Sweet 16 (#5 seed Mich St., #2 seed Ohio St. & #4 seed Purdue), and people laughed when I said the Big Ten would look like the best overall conference in the tourney, though I was expecting Purdue to be out by now and Wisconsin to still be alive.
SEC - 2 of 4 (#6 Tennessee & #1 Kentucky)
Big 12 - 2 of 7 (#2 Kansas St & #3 Baylor)
Big East - 2 of 8 (#1 Syracuse & #2 West Virginia)...Anyone remember one week ago when the Big East was supposedly the most powerful conference of all? Those were the days!
Pac 10 - 1 of 2 (#11 Washington) - they were supposedly by far the worst conference, but look better than the "strong" ones since they advanced 50% of their entries and they had a much worse starting point for their two teams than the other big guys.
ACC - 1 of 6 (#1 Duke) - I bet my ACC-loving buddy Jeff Kelberg would not have imagined that the ACC would have the same number of Sweet 16 teams as the Valley, Horizon, Pac-10, A10, Ivy & WCC...

So the ACC has the worst percentage advancing to the 2nd weekend, but considering the Big East was touted as the best conference by far, they definitely look the worst!

Now for the "little" guys:
Missouri Valley - 1 of 1 (#9 Northern Iowa)
Horizon League - 1 of 1 (#5 Butler)
Ivy League - 1 of 1 (#12 Cornell - the "Cinderella" that looks more like a good team with a bad seed!)
West Coast Conference - 1 of 2 (#10 St. Mary's - never thought over the last 10+ years that if only 1 WCC team was in the Sweet 16, it wouldn't be Gonzaga!)
Atlantic 10 - 1 of 3 (#6 Xavier)

11 different conferences are represented in the Sweet 16, which I'm guessing has to be a record, but I can't say for sure. If it is though, I imagine we'll hear about a few times on ESPN & CBS in the next 5 days or so. Only other conferences with more than 1 bid that didn't have anyone advance are the Mountain West (0 for 4), Conference USA (0 for 2) and the WAC (0 for 2).

Three #1 seeds are still alive, as well as three #2s, but only one #3 seed and one #4 seed remain. If you are a fan of the underdog (as I am) you have to love this year!

Shockingly, my brackets are actually still in good shape, since I had Kansas, Villanova, Georgetown, New Mexico, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Maryland & Vandy losing between Round One and the Sweet 16 (except Kansas which I had losing in the Elite 8). So if I'm following my brackets, I'd want a Final Four of Ohio St., Kansas St., Kentucky and Baylor, with the Buckeyes beating the Kentucky version of the Wildcats for the championship.

However, since this is the tournament where anything can happen, this is my dream for the next two weekends:
Sweet 16 -
Northern Iowa def. Michigan St. (I like Tom Izzo, but I have to pick the cute little school that is just a few hours away)
Ohio St. def Tenn (gotta pick the Big Ten if neither one is a "mid-major" school)
Butler def. Syracuse (The Bulldogs #5 seed is the best seed of any the remaining small conference schools)
Xavier def. Kansas St. (Might as well support the Jesuit schools since my sister teaches at LMU & I love the Zags)
Cornell def. Kentucky (Perhaps the worst seeding of a tournament team in 10+ years)
Washington def. West Virginia (Both big conferences, but I'll take an #11 over a #2)
Purdue def. Duke (Considering many people, including myself, had the Boilermakers losing in the first round to Siena without Robbie Hummel, they are pretty much an underdog story; plus I hate Duke)
St. Mary's def. Baylor (even though many other Zags fans can't cheer for their big conference rival, I will, while wearing my St. Mary's sweatshirt which I only purchase a couple years ago because I was looking everywhere for the soft, comfy adidas 3-stripes on the arm hoody sweatshirts, and they had one, with colors that match all my Twins, Gonzaga & Loyola Marymount clothing!)

Elite 8 -
Northern Iowa def. Ohio St.
Butler def. Xavier (who wouldn't want to see Butler in the Final Four at home in Indianapolis? It could be a real life Hoosiers story!)
Cornell def. Washington
St. Mary's def. Purdue

Final 4 -
Northern Iowa def. Butler (I just said I wanted Butler in the Final Four; didn't say they needed to win it. Gotta cheer for the 2 Tartan High School Kids, Asst. Coach Ben Johnson formerly of the Gophers & DeLaSalle high school & North Dakota native Ben Jacobson, who could be a good choice for the Gophers if the unfortunate Tubby rumors come true).
St. Mary's def. Cornell (Cornell's Ryan Wittman is a Minnesota kid, but I pull for St. Mary's normally outside of West Coast Conference games, plus that's another excuse to wear the aforementioned sweatshirt)

Championship Game -
St. Mary's def. Northern Iowa (as Omar Samhan suddenly becomes a lottery draft pick in the NBA after not even being on most team's list of players to watch...and then Coach Randy Bennett likely leaves for the Oregon spot once Mark Few and Tubby Smith turn it down, causing the Aussies on the team to go back Down Under and St. Mary's fades into oblivion the year after their National Championship, kinda like that school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Not exactly realistic, but it would just be my dream picks from who is left, and who could have imagined everything that's happened so far? Either way, I think there will be another fun weekend of basketball starting Thursday night! Now I hopefully I have a few days to relieve my Tivo Stress...

Who is to Blame?

2010-02-24T05:35:00.005-06:00

Gerard Kemkers is not exactly a household name, perhaps even in his own home. I'm not sure many of the speed-skating fanatics in the Netherlands knew too mach about Kemkers, the coach of superstar Sven Kramer...at least how much they knew of him prior to Tuesday (2/23) afternoon in Vancouver.

While Sven Kramer glided his way to gold in the 5000m race last week, we got a glimpse of just how much the Netherlands love their speed skating. We learned that a power company offered a 50 euro discount on quarterly bills if Kramer won a gold medal. That makes America's love of football look like a mere childhood crush. Going into Tuesday's 10,000m race, it was clear the country would be glued to their TVs close to midnight in Amsterdam, to watch Kramer in the race he hasn't lost since 2007 (yes, there are places that show the Olympics live all day; come to think of it, that's basically everywhere but the US).

This distance once again looked like it should be named the "Sven Kramer Challenge" as the only real competition was for 2nd place. Kramer was skating in the last pair and had a solid 6 second lead with only a few laps left, when he came to the transition area where the skaters switch between the inside and outside lane on each lap. Kramer was heading for outside lane when he hesitated and suddenly jumped over the orange cone to the inside lane.

He proceeded to keep cruising around the ice, finishing 7.57 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. As the crowd went nuts, he flashed his winning smile and pumped his fist, until Coach Kemkers came up next to him to say something, and suddenly Sven was throwing his glasses, yelling & looking nothing like a man who had just claimed his 2nd gold medal of the Vancouver games.

The voice of the arena announcer began to explain some sort of issue, which the NBC commentators passed along to confused viewers like me. In a 25 lap race, the skater should not end in the same lane where he began, yet Kramer had started and ended on the inside lane. This means he missed a lane change and was automatically disqualified. Speed skating analyst (and former athlete bringing us heartbreak and then triumph) Dan Jansen said he had seen this happen before, but never by the top skaters, and never in the Olympics. I just sat on the couch wondering how a skater of his caliber could forget to make a lane change. I got my answer during NBC's primetime broadcast (I could've looked it up earlier online, but that would've lead to finding out who won the Men's Giant Slalom race that NBC wasn't showing until later, so I yet again avoided the Internet).

Video shows that as Sven Kramer was prepared to move to the outside lane, his coach Gerard Kemkers emphatically pointed toward the inside lane. Kramer had to decide in a split-second whether to go with his gut, or listen to his coach. Unfortunately, he made the wrong decision (and ultimately a costly decision, literally, with that medal being worth nearly $500,000 US dollars from his sponsors).

So whose fault is it? Some of the media and other athletes say the blame lies squarely on Sven Kramer's shoulders, since he is the world-class athlete, solely responsible for his performance on the ice. While this is technically true, I'd have to put the majority of the blame on the coach (who, as Bob Costas mentioned, might want to look into witness protection).

By this point in the race, Sven Kramer had been skating about as fast as I drive my car, for about 10 minutes. He thought he knew where he was supposed to go, but his coach, the man entrusted with making sure he did everything possible the last 4 years to prepare for these races, was telling him something different. Kramer is an amazing athlete, but even bionic men get tired, which can make the mind tired. Coach Kemkers had been on the sidelines watching, just skating back and forth a few times. Surely he wouldn't have a mental lapse in a moment as important as this, would he? As he watches Kramer move toward the outside lane, he wouldn't adamantly point inside unless he was 100% sure he was right, would he?

As both a former coach and athlete (albeit at the somewhat smaller stage of the high school level), I'd have to place the majority of the blame on Gerard Kemkers. The coach can't mislead his athlete like that, even if it is obviously unintentional. Certainly, he wasn't trying to sabotage Kramer's top event, and Kemkers definitely looked rather inconsolable later, but he was the one pointing his athlete toward the wrong lane.

Of course everybody makes mistakes, but regardless of magnitude and regret, they are still responsible. Yes, Kramer could've continued in the direction he was heading, and yes, he does have to take some responsibility as well, but every athlete is taught from day one to listen to their coaches and to follow their directions (which Kramer did quite literally in this case). Dan Jansen later added that while he had seen skaters forget to change lanes, he had never before seen a coach point his skater in the wrong direction, so it would've seemed improbable to Kramer that Kemkers could be giving him bad advice.

That being said, it would be honorable if Kramer would publicly put the blame on himself and apologize for his (understandable) tantrum after the race. Kemkers would still know he made a huge mistake, as would everyone else watching, but it would be a classy move by Kramer nonetheless, and show that he is also a champion off the ice, which could end up being meaning more to both of them in the long run.

Mass Failure of College Basketball Coaches Previously and Erroneously Thought to be Good

2010-02-18T06:12:00.007-06:00

Many college hoops fans & members of the media, especially those living in the Twin Cities, had high expectations for the Minnesota Golden Gopher Men’s Basketball Team. After all, they made the NCAA tournament last year with essentially the same line-up, and they’re led by National Championship winning Coach Tubby Smith. The fact that they are 5-7 in conference (14-10 overall) means those Tourney hopes are essentially out the window, barring 5 or 6 wins in the final 6 games (vs. Wisconsin, vs. Indiana, vs. Purdue, at Illinois, at Michigan, vs. Iowa) or a victory in the Big Ten Tournament which comes with an automatic bid. Stranger things have happened, but clearly this season has been a disappointment, and there’s no one to blame other than the coach, right? After all, good coaches are able to rally the troops even when the top two recruits never play a game and the best defensive player on the team/starting point guard is out for the 2nd half of the conference season due to grades, right? A coach with 1 National Championship, 3 Elite Eights and 5 Sweet Sixteens, who had a string of 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances with three different teams (Tulsa, Georgia & Kentucky) broken in his first year at Minnesota, clearly isn’t as good as his career record if he can’t get this team back to March Madness. If this is the case, as so many local writers & fans have said, there are a lot of bad coaches out there this season that used to masquerade as legends & leaders of the game!

UCLA is 11-13 this year, with a 6-6 record in the very “down” Pac-10 conference. They lost to Cal State Fullerton, to Dan Monson’s Long Beach St and were absolutely annihilated by Portland, who later lost by 30+ points to Idaho. Ben Howland used to be a good coach, back when UCLA went to 3 straight Final Fours in 2006-2008; or those two Sweet Sixteen trips for Pittsburgh, which landed him the Bruins job. Heck, he can’t win this year even though they only made Nikola Dragovic sit out a couple games when he was charged with felony assault. His trial has been pushed to March 15, and unlike the Gophers’ Trevor Mbakwe, Dragovic doesn’t have any witnesses saying he wasn’t even in the state where the assault occurred. UCLA clearly knew they were down on talent this year, due to multiple early entries into the NBA the past few seasons (Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday & Russell Westbrook, just to name a few) so little things like a felony assault didn’t bother them, but still they can’t seem to win. I guess Ben Howland just isn’t a good coach anymore.

Remember a few years ago, when the Florida Gators celebrated the first back-to-back men’s college basketball championships in nearly 15 years? Billy Donovan was a hot coach then, being offered the Orlando Magic NBA head coaching spot, accepting it, and then changing his mind & returning to Florida. His team is 17-8 this year, which sounds good, but is a bit deceiving. Their win over Michigan St is nice, but the loss to South Alabama and no other significant non-conference wins has them on the outside looking in for March Madness. Nick Calathes clearly left college a year or two early, and prior to that, it apparently hurts to lose all 5 starters from your National Championship team. If they fail to make a late run, this will be two years in a row in the NIT. I guess in Billy the Kid’s old age (he is at close to the nursing home entry level at the age of 44) he has forgotten how to coach, because we’ve heard around here that these things must be overcome by enthusiasm and leadership of the head coach. 3 Final Fours (2 championships & 1 runner-up) and a Sweet Sixteen just aren’t worth what they used to be…)

Jim Calhoun’s normally strong UConn team has really struggled this season. Their overall record is 15-11, but they are only 5-8 in the Big East conference, which won’t get them into the big dance. Connecticut has losses against strong teams like Duke, Kentucky, Georgetown & Syracuse, but has also struggled against weaker teams such as Michigan, Providence, and a suddenly down Louisville (come to think of it, Rick Pitino is another coach I could feature for this blog). Their only wins this season against likely tournament teams are vs. Texas, who has been free-falling for weeks, Villanova and…William & Mary. Pretty bad if William & Mary is one of your teams’ 3 marquee wins! But this one is really hard to figure; the Huskies troubles started with Jim Calhoun on the bench, but even when he took an extended medical leave, they weren’t able to bounce back from the clearly weak coaching they had been getting from the man with 2 National Championships, 1 other Final Four, 5 Elite Eights & 4 Sweet Sixteens (with a grand total of 21 NCAA tournament appearances as a head coach). It must be really bad leadership to continue to affect a team even when he wasn’t there anymore!

It seems like only yesterday that everyone thought Roy Williams knew how to coach basketball, like, perhaps, last April, when he was celebrating a National Championship victory for North Carolina. Now, he is talking about his therapist visits to discuss his feelings about this season being a catastrophe, as the Tar Heels hold a 3-8 record in ACC games, and have conference losses this season to Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland & Duke including a stretch of 7 losses in 8 games. They also were witness to the College of Charleston fans rushing the court after an “upset” over UNC. At least Charleston is leading the Southern Conference now that Stephen Curry left Davidson to take his game to a higher level, so perhaps that isn’t a bad loss…but a team that started the season ranked #4 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, isn’t supposed to be miles away from even being on the bubble. Never mind the players they lost after last year’s championship; Roy Williams simply is not able to motivate this team to victory, as he has stated that the methods that worked with previous teams, just aren’t getting through to this team. Those methods clearly must be inadequate, as they only got him 2 National Championships & 5 other Final Four appearances between North Carolina & Kansas, plus 2 Elite Eights and 4 Sweet Sixteens.

If you haven’t yet caught the sarcasm dripping from these words, then I clearly am not doing any better with my writing than those 5 are with coaching, and I don’t even have any championships on my non-existent writing record. Perhaps, rather than jumping on the “Tubby is a bad coach this year” bandwagon, some other reasons for the disappointing (yet perhaps not underachieving) season should be considered, such as the missing recruits/players, struggles making shots in close games, an inability to get steals or make crisp & accurate passes without Al Nolen on the floor, a less impressive performance by the Top 10 team they beat a few games after Minnesota played them and numerous others that I may explore in future days if my brain cooperates.

Of course a coach has an impact on how a team is performing, and they have to take some responsibility even if they are doing everything “right” and it isn’t working, but to act as if Tubby has lost his touch, and start discussing if he can win & recruit here in the future, is almost as absurd as the Vikings naming Les Steckel as a head coach in the 80’s or Mike Lynn trading 321 draft picks for an aging Hershel Walker. Perhaps we have forgotten this team was 9-22 in 2006-07, that the ’07-08 NIT appearance was considered a “victory” for the program and that the ’08-09 team was never actually expected to be an NCAA tournament team until that big upset of Louisville.

I suspect this would be a much different season if Trevor Mbakwe & the 5 star top ranked recruit in the Big Ten, Royce White had ever stepped foot on the floor, even if Al Nolen still didn’t do his homework. But I guess that’s a scenario that is only happening in a parallel universe along with Brett Favre running for 4 yards and Ryan Longwell kicking a FG to go to the Super Bowl.

Nick Punto Day - Why I love Nick Punto!

2010-02-12T05:17:00.006-06:00

Today is Nick Punto Day for Twins bloggers, as created by Andrew Kneeland of the Twins Target blog. I have been looking forward to this day because Nick Punto is one of my favorite members of the Minnesota Twins. Seriously. No, I don’t think he’s one of the best players on the team, and I’m certainly not interested in debating his value with any Nick Punto haters. I know you’re out there, and I know you’d love to tell me why he shouldn’t ever play, but I don’t care, so feel free to write your own blog about why he doesn’t belong in the major leagues, but don’t rain on my parade. This is just me explaining why I love Nick Punto!

I wrote last year about why Punto played as often as he does if you want to look at statistics, but this blog is kind of like explaining why I love my big comfy soft Adidas sweatshirts or my perfect fitting Twins Enterprise Twins hats (Twins Enterprise has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins, but it’s only “fitting” that they make my favorite hats). Punto is obviously not the best player on the team, and my favorite clothing items are not straight off the fashion runways. I just really enjoy Nick Punto, just like I enjoy my most comfortable clothes! Punto isn’t my first choice for who I’d want to bat with the game on the line in the 9^th inning, just as I wouldn’t wear my favorite sweatshirt/cap combo to meet with a publisher about getting my new book into print (not that I have written a book, started a book or thought about starting a book…). Nicky is just a player that I know will make my evening more comfortable overall!

-Just to clarify, earlier tonight, long after I started writing this blog, I saw that Kbrobaseball had her Punto blog title comparing him to a “good ol’ pair of shoes.” I swear I did not steal her idea, as I had been planning this line of thought since hearing about Nick Punto Blog Day. Apparently this merely means that Punto has this kind of effect on some of his fans!-

Nobody hustles and goes all out quite like Punto does on every play, both on offense and defense. I am not at all a fan of him diving into first base, except in those rare occasions where it is necessary to avoid a tag. Even though physics says that’s not the fastest way to reach the base, he believes that it is until someone can prove him wrong. While he knows he’s putting himself at risk of injury, he does it because he wants to do whatever he can to get on base. His logic may be faulty in this case, but I still can’t be mad about the effort. He only has one gear: going all out all the time.

The Twins are always known for solid consistency on routine grounders, and the ability to make the spectacular plays as well. Of all the fantastic defenders the Twins have had in the last handful of years, I would put Nick Punto’s collection of Web Gems (even if they weren’t all on Baseball Tonight) up against anyone else on the team, or almost any other team for that matter. Torii Hunter has obviously had some of the most amazing catches in Twins history, so he would have to be at the top of that list, but I would still argue that Nick would be right there with him.

There are two Twins plays of the last 5 years that stand out in my mind above all others, in terms of the quality of the play (and I know once I write these, I will think of 30 other ones that should be at the top as well, but such is life). One was Torii Hunter in the 5^th inning (I think) of a game in which Johan Santana had a no-hitter going at the time. The ball was hit to left-center field, and seemed to be at a trajectory that would be impossible to even reach in time to cut off on a bounce, let alone to snatch out of the air. The cameras didn’t even show anyone in the area as the baseball shot out toward the direction of the fence. All of the sudden, there was Torii Hunter flying across the field turf, channeling his inner Usain Bolt (even if we didn’t know who Bolt was yet), propelling off the ground horizontally toward the ball and somehow capturing it in the leather pocket of his glove, followed by a good 2-3 somersault/rolls toward the warning track. I can still hear Twins television play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer saying the following lines as his excitement and volume level increased with each word: “He didn’t catch that did he?!?! He didn’t catch that did he?!?! He sure did!!” The catch itself may have been routine for Torii, but actually getting to the ball way out of his range combined with making the catch; that is what made it amazing.

The other play that is at the top of my own personal web gem list is what I titled The Nick Punto Superman play at 2^nd base, for my own personal DVD highlights. It was in Yankee Stadium a few years ago. I don’t remember if it was a bunt, or just a roller slowing up in the grass, but I know there was no chance it was going to be anything other than an infield hit. Punto got up to the ball, but the angle at which it was rolling vs. the direction he was coming from = no chance in the world of physics to get the ball to 1^st base accurately, let alone before the runner reached safely. He grabbed the ball barehanded, and had his whole body off the ground, almost as if he was lying down and had started levitating in a perfect Superman type pose. The fact that he was in the air should’ve eliminated any ability to put some torque on the toss, since the arm is only one component in getting power behind a throw. Yet somehow, he was able to take the energy from pushing his legs off the ground for the dive, and move it along to his arm, which was hanging below his body between his torso & the grass, to get something on the throw to first. As for accuracy, I have no idea how it got where it was supposed to go. Throwing across your body very rarely works out well for even the strongest and most accurate of arms (ask Brett Favre or Peyton Manning about that…), especially when you are suspended in the air. Yet little Nicky Punto got that throw to 1^st base in time for the out. The play continues to amaze me just thinking about. Even more amazing to me is that he made almost the identical play in 2009, in the exact same borough of New York, albeit on the opposite side of the street. The pretty much cemented that fact that it wasn’t a lucky play!

I would need to write that book I mentioned previously in order to describe all my favorite defensive plays from Nick Punto over the years (and I would need a Lord of the Rings size series to cover all the plays by every Twin that I’ve enjoyed through time), but that play at Yankee Stadium just embodies who he is out on the field. He never believes that a play is impossible and he will always give it his all. I’ve often wondered what would happen if the effort and attitude of players like Nick Punto & Mike Redmond was combined with the talent of a Milton Bradley. That would be one unstoppable ball player.

I still can’t quite understand why Punto only seems to be able to swing the bat well in even numbered years, but that means we should be in for a good season for him, regardless of what different position he heads out to each game. I just know I can rely on him to play hard, and to care about what he is doing, no matter what the situation. No one can control their talent; sure, they can work hard on skills and practice consistently, but talent is a gift. Effort and dedication is what can be controlled, and I think that must be why Nick Punto is one of my favorite Twins of the past decade. My favorite sweatshirts & cap certainly have been there for me repeatedly, never failing to be comfortable, even when they felt perhaps they needed a break. So as sappy & sugary as this superfluous post may be, this is why I love Nick Punto!

(1st Photo taken by Liz Strand, 09/21/07. 2nd Photo taken by Kathy Willens, 07/04/07)

The Vikings Must Win, for the Sake of My Mental Health

2010-01-24T06:25:00.002-06:00

I'm not exactly a happy (sports) camper right now. My Zags won their Thu & Sat games vs Pepperdine & Loyola Marymount, but completely forgot their defense on the team plane, after putting it to good use in Portland, Moraga & San Diego. Had they been playing any team with something resembling a winning record, they would've been tagged for a loss. I believe LMU had 5 key players injured, yet it was tied at the half, and close until the last 5 min or so. But hey, they got the wins, which gives them 8 in a row. Undoubtedly their RPI will fall, but they'll keep their spot in the top #10-12 in the rankings.

I was also disappointed by the Timberwolves ending on Friday night. Trailing by 3 with under 6 seconds left, rookie Jonny Flynn drove to the hoop, got the lay-up as well as a foul call. Flynn never gets foul calls! This is a frequent topic during the broadcasts. He calmy swished the FT, and the New Orleans Hornets called a timeout with 3 seconds remaining. As assistant coach Tim Floyd handed out money to college recruits and the two NBA teams took the floor for the pivotal last possession of regulation, Minneapolis local station KSTC-45 promptly cut to a furniture commercial.

I was not born for the Heidi game 40+ yrs ago, when the AFL championship between the Raiders & Jets was cut off for the start of the movie Heidi, with 65 seconds left and the Jets leading by 3 points, but I read all about it as kid wearing my purple Tommy Kramer jersey. While angry football fans flooded the network switchboards, only those in the stadium were able to watch Oakland somehow score 2 touchdowns in one minute, to win by 11! Not long after that, football television contracts included provisions that games would be broadcast in full, regardless of time.

Ok, so the Hornets-T-Wolves is not exactly the AFL Championship, and the number of viewers affected was slightly smaller, but it was still frustrating as I yelled at the TV screen, until the commercial ended and video of Hornets players celebrating appeared on my screen. Apparently they hit a shot...

My mother had the perfect response to this Hornets win though, stating that it was good that New Orleans won, since that was the only win that city would get this weekend. Atta girl mom!

In honor of today's annual Hockey Day Minnesota, where FSNorth shows wall-to-wall hockey games, including outdoor high school challenges, the Gopher men's hockey team made sure outstate Minnesota had more to cheer about. After a few winning weekends to get back on track, including a solid 3 pts (out of 4 possible) last weekend vs. North Dakota, Minnesota followed that up by letting St. Cloud sweep them in a home-and-home series, 4-3 in St. Cloud on Friday (the Huskies built leads of 3-0 & 4-1) and 4-1 on their home ice. Impressive...

Finally, Tubby's boys took the floor Saturday morning, for a huge game against #7 Michigan State. This was a "not quite a must win but pretty much a really need to win due to the pathetic loss at the currently not good Indiana Hoosiers" game that looked more difficult with the news that junior starting point guard Al Nolen would be out due to academic suspension, which could extend the rest of the season. Devoe Joseph started in his place, and he is a better offensive player, but Nolen definitely is the stronger defensive presence. Considering this, I just hoped the little yellow rodents could stay in the game. Maybe I should've wished for more...

Minnesota took control, with a commanding 8 point lead at the half, and 2nd half advantages of 13 or 14 points (I'm doing this insomniac blog without any stat sheets). Devoe Joseph filled in very nicely, as a scoring presence, and dishing out a good number of assists (I know he had 7 midway through the 2nd half). Unfortunately, Michigan St made the run every good team makes to try to get back in it, and that would've been a great time to have a stopper like Al Nolen on the floor, especially since he's one of the only guys quick enough to try to keep up with Spartans PG Kalin Lucas. Michigan St found a way to tie it late, and of course, Kalin Lucas was the gut who got open enough to hit a 3 pointer with 1:29 left to take a 3 point lead.

Senior Damian Johnson was able to cut it to 1 point, and the Gophers played shutdown defense to get the ball back with about 17 seconds left. Lawrence Westbrook took a shot with close to 5 ticks remaining (remember; no stat sheets), and even though CBS' Seth Davis tweeted that there sure was a lot of contact on his shot, it would've been rather surprising to hear a whistle at that point in a game, for better or worse. Westbrook's shot just sorta floated straight up, and a few Gophers tried to tip it to the net, but luck wasn't on their side and time expired with the scoreboard showing a Michigan State win.

In terms of sports losses, this hit me pretty hard. Knowing they had the game under control and lost it, keeping themselves on the outside of the NCAA tourney bubble with only a few more chances to beat a team "better" than they are, was quite a bummer.

So as you can clearly see, I am so due for a big win that sends me leaping off the couch for joy (that would be a roughly 1-1.5 inch leap), and I'm guessing many other Minnesota sports fans feel the same. So Dear Vikings, please take this opportunity to ensure that no one in purple & gold takes the field for the Pro Bowl next week, as you would be preparing for a much more important game in Miami! My mental health & well-being is counting on you! (Who knows...I might even fall asleep before morning if they win!)

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While You Were Sleeping...

2010-01-06T05:12:00.001-06:00

Anyone who follows me on Twitter or is my friend on Facebook, has likely noticed the odd hours during which I usually publish blog entries. My brain is still healing (very slowly) from a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (mtbi) from a couple years ago. This limits how much time I am able to read and write (or do things requiring analysis) in any given day. I still love to write though, so when my head allows, I like to jot down some thoughts about whatever is on my mind. This usually happens after midnight, and before 6 am. My best guess as to why, is that it's quiet at night. Anytime things are going on around me, my brain seems to work harder to separate everything, so when late night arrives, my creative side comes to light as most distractions have gone away, even though it is usually headaches keeping me awake that late. Go figure. I generally send out the link to the blog later in the day on Twitter too, since normal people are usually sleeping when I post my thoughts. On Tuesday, I just started that tweet with 'While You Were Sleeping:" and Amanda Rykoff suggested I should just go with that for the blog name. While I do hope that I can have something resembling a normal sleep schedule again in my near future, for now, "While You Were Sleeping: Random Thoughts from Liz" does seem like the perfect title!

Oddly enough, I am about to post this blurb while most of you are sleeping, or wishing that you were still sleeping while smacking the snooze button on your alarm. Goodnight from me, and good luck with your day!

Posted via web from trueliz's posterous

Random thoughts on Captain Sully Sullenberger, Boise St-TCU & the BCS, and the former GB QB

2010-01-05T03:23:00.001-06:00

As usual, I have a lot of sports-related things on my mind, but I’ll start with a hero; a real hero, not the kind of hero who hits a game-winning shot in the playoffs.

Sully

Captain “Sully” Sullenberger was the big hero last year, and has been able to start 2010 in the news, without any miraculous landings needed. As I watched a few of the 2009 retrospective type shows (yes, I’m a sucker for anything like that; could be why I was a History major), I continue to be amazed each time the story is told about him piloting U.S. Airways 1549 to safety in the river. I got to hear the discussion with the tower for the first time, I believe during the VH1 look at 2009. The tower tells everyone else that takeoffs & landings need to be stopped, since a plane has an emergency and needs to return. Sully comes on & says that he needs to land in the Hudson. Verbatim response from the tower “I’m sorry, say again?” I can only imagine what they must’ve been thinking when they heard that.

The camera phone type videos that have been shown of the landing (which I somehow hadn’t seen before) just solidify how amazing it was that everyone survived. That plane was still going fast! The line “brace for impact” isn’t usually followed by such a successful finish. As my mom & I were discussing this, she said looking at the video again in the last week, of the people standing on the wing of the plane in the water, she was suddenly more amazed. As a flight attendant, she had to do safety training that included going out on the wing, and the wing is slippery. It’s not exactly a stable place to stand. Yet in the water (which I’ve heard can make things more slippery), everybody was able to stay in place until the rafts & boats rescued them. I cannot even fathom that no one was lost, and to continue to have the presence of mind, and selflessness, of waiting until everyone else was off, and then going back to check the whole plane again, even as the back end inside the plane was dangerously full of water, just adds to the heroism of Sully Sullenberger.

The man has shown in the nearly 12 months since this happened, that he’s not big on getting a lot of attention, or taking a lot of credit; he was just doing his job, is what he keeps repeating. Yet, he also was wise enough to realize that if he didn’t acknowledge the praise people from the flight were giving him, that he was minimizing the fact that their lives were saved. I’m guessing he would like to have just started flying again quietly and continued his life, but of course news cameras & media followed his first day back on the job, so he is learning to somewhat embrace the position he’s including writing the book “Highest Duty” which I have on audio book, so I can hear him tell his story.

On January 1 of this new decade, Sully was the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses parade, along with his wife Lorrie, and had the honor of doing the coin toss for the Rose Bowl game between Ohio State & Oregon. On Monday (Jan. 4) he spoke to employees at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and was even able to speak to Astronauts (& Cosmonauts) on the International Space Station from mission control (video can be found here on NASA’s Featured Videos page: http://bit.ly/6nChxi ). I’m a little jealous that NASA employees in Houston get to see Astronaut Mike Massimino and now Sully Sullenberger, but I’ll make a New Year’s resolution to get over my envy!

Of course, you know you’ve made it when Harrison Ford is going to narrate your documentary, which will be shown on TLC (January 10, 9 EST/8CST) called, appropriately, “Brace for Impact.” My Tivo is already set!

I’m just pleased, that with all the end of year talk about Jon & Kate, Britney, K-Fed, Kanye, Rihanna’s horrifying abuse from Chris Brown (& his return to the music charts in less than a year), Spencer & Heidi, and White House party crashers, that discussion of a true inspirational hero could stand out as one of the great stories of the year. Thank you Captain Sullenberger!

BCS: Boise St. & TCU

Since I already expounded on this subject with both Facebook & Twitter, I’ll keep it brief here: I am about as irritated as I can get about something in sports (I can get more irritated about real life, but we’re just talking sports now) at the fact that the BCS matched up Boise St. & TCU in the Fiesta Bowl Game, played last night, 01/04/10. I’m glad they “admitted” two very worthy schools from non-BCS conferences, but they are robbing all of us the opportunity to see how they matched up against schools from the big, bad, “powerful” BCS conferences. All this does is guarantee that the little conference schools will be .500 in BCS bowls this year, and since there are no playoff games, so there is no advancing to the next round, we can’t see if they are Cinderella teams whose clock strikes midnight or if they are worthy applicants for the National Championship game. Let’s face it; they couldn’t look any worse than Cincinnati did in the first half vs. the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl, and if Nebraska had held on to beat Texas a month ago, Cincinnati would have been the #2 team in the BCS and would’ve been in that Championship game vs. Alabama. Computers should not be deciding championships.

Another thought stream that I put on Facebook the other day:

College football needs a playoff, because undefeated teams like Cincinnati, TCU & Boise St. deserve the chance to try to prove that they are the top team in the nation.

College football needs a playoff, because Cincinnati was only a few Nebraska plays away from competing for the National Championship, and clearly, they were not qualified.

Pro Bowl is not in Hawaii? And it’s before the Super Bowl?

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind putting the Pro Bowl the week before the Super Bowl? Aside from the fact that players don’t want to go to play; they want to go to Hawaii with their families, it makes no sense! Generally the two teams in the Super Bowl will have some talented players on their roster, and likely a number of them will have already been named to the Pro Bowl. But this guarantees that fans won’t get to see those players participate, as they obviously won’t be playing an exhibition the week before the big game.

The Legacy of Brett Favre

Speaking of Pro Bowlers…Brett Favre. I recall stories all summer on any network that carried sports, discussing that Brett Favre was likely ruining his legacy with his waffling about retirement, and would certainly ruin his legacy by trying to play this year, after ending last year on the down month (never mind that pesky injury he had). While the Vikings lost some games they should’ve won and we don’t yet know what will happen in the playoffs, it would be hard to argue that these numbers will bring him down: 12 wins, 33 touchdowns while the gunslinger only tossed 7 interceptions, 4200 yards (his 3^rd highest total) and a career best 107.2 QB rating (which is not my favorite stat to compare quarterbacks, but can be valuable to compare seasons of any one quarterback). He completed 68.4% of his passes, which is his personal high. Only Drew Brees (70.6) & Peyton Manning (68.8) had better completion percentages, and they had better completion percentages to the opposing teams as well, throwing 11 & 16 interceptions, respectively.

Just to clarify about Brett Favre, I did not jump on this bandwagon, or do a 180 on cheering for a player I hated. I never hated Brett Favre. I have recently learned this was rare among Minnesota Vikings fans. Of course I hated the Packers, and wanted to see Favre throw to the team in purple, and wanted John Randle to slam him into the icy turf at Lambeau & concrete floor in the Dome, but I always enjoyed watching Favre play. While I never quite understood why his interceptions were because he was “just trying to make a play” while Dante Culpepper (back when he was actually good) would be making “a dumb decision,” I still thought he was fun to watch, and thought he showed how football showed be played. I just wanted him to lose every time he was on the field against the Vikings, or in any game that would affect the Vikings.

Once there was a shot at the Hall of Famer coming to Minnesota, I was on board for that, though I certainly could’ve done without nightly reports about him, when nothing new had happened; just tell me when there’s something I need to know! Now I can only hope that Favre can help lead the Vikings to somewhere they have never been: the winner’s circle of the Super Bowl! If that should happen, all those meaningless reports of him on high school football fields, or false sightings of his wife shopping in Minnesota, will be nothing but a distant memory!

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My Thoughts on the Vikings - One of the best seasons in 30+ years, impact of injuries, my wish list for the coming weeks & how one gutsy call would’ve guaranteed no overtime vs. the Bears

2009-12-29T03:23:00.001-06:00

These are my thoughts, and you have no obligation to agree, but even if you disagree, they will still be my thoughts…

Once Brett Favre was on board, before this season started, I predicted a 12-4 record for the Minnesota Vikings, assuming no major injuries. They are currently 11-4, so a win vs. the Giants in the friendly confines of the Metrodome (I’m not saying Mall of America Field) would give them that record, and they have had some major injuries, which would put them ahead of what I would’ve expected.

Antoine Winfield’s foot issues have been huge, both due to all the games he missed, and while playing the past 2 weeks, when he clearly has been far below 100% (or even 70%). The loss of EJ Henderson has been very mentally painful to fans, while quite physically painful to him. The Arizona game was already decided when he was injured, but in the 3 games without Henderson, the team is 1-2. Plus there have been all of the week to week injuries, which are commonplace in the NFL, but exist nonetheless.

Everyone knows that injuries are a part of the game in football (or any sport for that matter), but I think these two injuries have made the defense much more vulnerable, and while I wouldn’t have predicted the offensive issues for 10 of the last 16 quarters, it will take adjusting to play w/o Henderson, and Winfield needs to figure out if he is hurting the team in 1-on-1 coverage if he is not healthy enough now. Pittsburgh Steelers are a great example of what can happen when a great defensive player is out. For the season, the Steelers are 8-7 and are one of a handful of AFC teams with a shot at one of the last 2 playoff spots. Troy Polamalu has only played in 4 full games this season (playing only the opening series vs. the Bengals before being injured again doesn’t really count). In those 4 games, the Steelers are 4-0, including the win over the Vikings. This makes them 4-7 without him. Talk about a huge impact on the team!

The Vikings have only had 5 games this season with both Antoine Winfield & EJ Henderson playing for the whole game. In those 5 games, the Vikings are 5-0. In all games with EJ Henderson, Vikings are 10-2, and in games with a healthy Antoine Winfield (last two weeks seemed to show he was not healthy, and he went out halfway through the Ravens win, after which QB Joe Flacco ripped through the MN pass defense & nearly led his team to a win), the Vikings are 6-0. So while teams need to adjust to injury losses, there are solid stats showing what that has done to the team.

That being said, EJ Henderson will not be returning this season, and with the looming possibility of no bye week in the playoffs, Antoine Winfield has no extra time coming up to heal, so if the Vikings want to make an impact in the postseason, they need to play around these injuries…and even if both were suddenly & magically healed, they don’t play on the offensive line or in special teams.

However, with all this gloom & doom, the Vikings are going to finish the season 12-4 or at worst, 11-5, which would be their best record since being 11-5 in 2000, or 15-1 in 1998. If they do beat the Giants and get that 12-4 record, the last time they had 4 or fewer losses other than 1998, was 1976 when they finished 11-2-1 (back when the seasons were still 14 games, before the switch to 16 in 1978). 12-4 would be their 2^nd best record in the 32 seasons of a 16-game schedule, and 11-5 would be 2^nd as well, but tied with 2000, 1992 & 1988. Everyone would love to be finishing the season on a higher note, but the 2^nd best record in 32 years would be a solid accomplishment regardless.

The back-to-back division championships are something special for the Vikings too. ESPN analyst/former Super Bowl Winning Coach Jon Gruden pointed out before Monday Night Football that this was the first time the Vikings had pulled that off in over 30 years. They had that solid era in the 70’s, where they won the division each year from 1973-1978 (and they won 11 of 13 division titles from 1968-1980), but in modern history, that just hasn’t happened. Prior to last year’s NFC North title, their last one had been back in 2000, when they were still in the Central division, so even standalone titles had been rare lately.

While 3 of the last 4 weeks have been less than pretty on the field (minus the 2^nd half of this Bears game…only the 1^st half & OT were ugly), this is still a regular season that will go down as one of the best since the reign of the Purple People Eaters. I have only been able to enjoy that wining era through books, since it took place before I was born, up until I was starting preschool. Hence, I am going to try to look at this season as a whole, rather than just the last month. If the Vikings go on to the Super Bowl, no one will care how they did in December. On the other hand, if they had won all these December games & lost early in the playoffs, all the talk would be about why they didn’t rest their players. I’ll cross my fingers that these “learning experiences” will carry over to the post-season, as a reminder of what they need to do to win those games when it counts!

My hope for the weeks ahead, aside from the obvious wish for the Vikings to win any other games they play, includes the following things:

A Cowboys win over the Eagles (along with the Vikings win), to get the Vikings that first round bye. The bye honestly doesn’t matter to me; in recent Super Bowls, it has not increased the odds of winning it all, but this team clearly plays better indoors, and that would guarantee starting off with a home game.
If the Eagles win next week, and get the #2 spot, then I will be cheering for them to lose so Minnesota could avoid playing there. Preferable locations to play of the teams in the playoffs, in my opinion, in order (this is based on the location alone, not the team) – Dome, New Orleans, Dallas, Arizona, Green Bay & Philadelphia
The defensive secondary covering the receivers like TMZ covers Tiger Woods’ other women.
Offensive line playing a complete game, with pass protection & run blocking. Of course no game can ever be perfect, but if they protect for Favre, he’s shown repeatedly (and in the 2^nd half vs. the Bears) that he will find open receivers. Plus, I couldn’t write about the Vikings without mentioning that Favre is 40 years old, so they need to keep him from being plowed onto his backside repeatedly; he is almost old enough to be at risk for breaking a hip with each fall. As for run blocking, look at what Adrian Peterson did vs. the Bears once he got past the line of scrimmage. It seemed like if he could get ½ yard, he was getting at least 6 yards.
Peterson should go ahead & give up that one last yard in exchange for holding on to the ball (though a facemask call would’ve been nice, as the neck swiveling might make it harder to hold on), but I wouldn’t harp on that play too much. Sure, the Bears won the game after that, but a better hold by Kluwe on the extra point, a better punt by Kluwe early on, a catch by Berrian early in the 2^nd half when the ball hit him on the hands, 1 or 2 interceptions by Ben Leber when the throw was to him (though 1 can be canceled out by the Bears dropped INT) or a tackle on multiple kick returns, would’ve eliminated the need for that OT altogether. AD drops the ball too often, but he also has that special explosive game that no one wants to take away, and sometimes that risk-taking & reward goes hand-in-hand. Go check out Walter Payton’s first 3 years in the league, and you just might discover that he fumbled even more often than Peterson. The point here though, is to make the plays that are right there for you. Hold the ball, catch the ball, turn the ball the right direction, kick the ball or hit the runner with the ball.
Jared Allen and Kevin Williams’ (and Ray Edwards for that matter) pictures being removed from milk boxes. It seems like, in terms of a pass rush, that they have been non-existent. The Bears have had a shaky o-line this season, yet they looked Pro Bowl worthy for much of Monday night. That’s a problem, considering the talent that was lined up against them.
Special Teams tackling. Defensive tackling.
Brett Favre running the offense. No, I don’t think I’m a coach, and I don’t have a better plan than Childress does, but maybe Favre does…it seemed like in the 2^nd half, when Favre was allowed to open up and play his style of game, things moved along much nicer in the offense. And this didn’t mean that the run was abandoned; it just worked better, as the pass opened it up more. Old school football knowledge says you run to open up the pass, but this season, when the Vikings have been successful, they’ve passed to open up the run.

That’s almost all for now; congratulations if you’ve managed to make it this far! One final head-scratching thought: if Brad Childress wanted to take a chance that if they lost, would’ve taken the heat off his team and moved it all to him, or could’ve made him a hero if they won, he could’ve gone for two after Sidney Rice’s TD catch with under 20 seconds left. If they were successful and came out with the win, the talk would’ve been about how gutsy he was, and what a tremendous comeback was led by #4. If they had failed, the talk would’ve been about what a dumb decision he made, and how it ruined the great comeback by #4, rather than focusing on all the other issues the Vikings had throughout the game. Just an interesting option to ponder after the fact…

Posted via web from trueliz's posterous

Perhaps I should've waited a day

2009-12-27T17:09:00.001-06:00

I was quite proud of myself for managing to write the Urban Meyer blog just hours after the news, but now it just becomes a tribute of sorts to a current coach, who happens to be on a leave of absence. At least I enjoyed writing it!

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Urban Meyer...

2009-12-27T05:40:00.001-06:00

I was sitting with my parents & aunt on Saturday night, discussing all the knee-jerk reactions the airline industry was already having to the attempted terrorist attack on the NWA flight in Detroit (which deserves a complete post of its own), when I looked to my phone & saw a new AP news alert text message out of Gainesville, FL "Urban Meyer is stepping down as coach of the University of Florida football team." I did a double, or possibly quadruple take on this text, and quickly switched to my ESPN text feed, to see that they had already posted two messages about Coach Meyer's decision. I'm only slightly exaggerating when I say that I would’ve been less surprised to see a leprechaun next to a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

I have always been a fan of both Florida St. & Florida football. I realize if I lived in Florida, that this could get me killed, but as a Minnesota resident, I felt I had the right to cheer for both (behind my favorite hometown Gophers, of course). Florida St. was usually my favorite of the two, especially when former Cretin Derham Hall QB Chris Weinke was there, even though the Gators were my favorite basketball team of the two (still bummed that Teddy Dupay & company did not pull out the 2000 Championship over Michigan St., but just reaching the finals helped me win multiple March Madness pools). That shifted when Urban Meyer arrived in Gainesville. Being a fan of the underdog, I was quite excited about Utah’s big BCS win (see the next paragraph), which somehow led to me becoming a big fan of a dynasty. Go figure. Tim Tebow’s arrival merely cemented the Gators position as 2^nd on my list of teams, ahead of the Seminoles, but Urban Meyer is why they would stay in the spot for me next year & beyond.

This is the same Urban Meyer, who brought an undefeated Utah Utes team to a BCS bowl game, in his 4^th year of being a head coach of college football (2^nd year at Utah following 2 years at Bowling Green). Utah is in the Mountain West conference, which makes them an outsider in the BCS conference party. Lead by QB Alex Smith & Meyer’s spread offense, the Utes pounded the Pitt Panthers (out of the BCS member Big East conference) to win the Fiesta Bowl & finish their season with no losses on their record, becoming the first non-BCS team to win one of these bowls. They joined Auburn & Boise St. as three teams undefeated before the bowl games that had no chance to compete for a National Championship, but that would take a few books to write about, not just a blog entry. (USC ended the 2004 season as the “National Champion” with their crushing of Oklahoma, and Boise St. lose their bowl game, leaving Utah, Auburn & USC as the only teams with no blemishes/e)

The once feared Florida Gators had been stumbling (especially by their standards) since legendary Coach Steve Spurrier had stepped down (and been humbled in the NFL), being replaced by Ron Zook, whose qualifications included something like being a high school gym teacher, if I remember correctly. The Gators parted ways with Zook after the end of the 2004 bowl season (which is actually in early 2005, which sometimes gets confusing), and courted the hot young Urban Meyer to move east to Gainesville. Meyer was barely 41 yrs old by the time he coached his first Gator football game, but he showed that age was not what mattered for coaching success, nor was a lot of time as a Division I head coach. The Gators finished 9-3 in his first season there, ranked #12 in the AP poll. This still isn’t a successful season in the eyes of Florida fans, but after not even being in the AP poll at the end of the 2004 season (and falling behind rivals Georgia & Florida St., as well as in-state school Miami), this was a leap in the right direction.

The 2006 season showed everyone why Florida President Dr. Bernie Machen had wanted Urban Meyer at Florida (Dr. Machen was the Utah president from 1998-2003, so he was very familiar with Meyer already). Behind the solid, but not superstar, senior quarterback Chris Leak, the 12-1 Florida Gators became a surprise contestant in the BCS National Championship game vs. Ohio St. Many thought that the 12-1 Buckeyes should’ve been playing Louisville (12-1), LSU (11-2), USC (11-2), Michigan (12-1, but their only loss had been weeks earlier to Ohio St.) or even the underdog Boise St. Broncos, who once again stood at 13-0 before the bowls, but the BCS computers chose Florida. Oh, I forgot to mention that besides that senior QB Leak, there was a highly recruited freshman out of Nease High School’s football team (he was home schooled for classes), Tim Tebow, who came in to play QB for some plays, including goal-line situations where he could plow through the line, or try one of his never-seen-before jump passes. Tebow would go on to be a decent QB after Leak’s eligibility was exhausted.

9 ½ out of every 10 “experts” predicted that Ohio St. would crush the “overrated” Gators. Perhaps Boise St. set the stage for Florida the week before. In the Fiesta Bowl, taking place in the same Glendale, AZ stadium where the National Championship would soon be played, the Broncos somehow found a way to beat the mighty Oklahoma Sooners, who even had the return of their injured running back, Adrian Peterson. Boise outplayed the Sooners, then fell behind late, before some of the most incredible plays in college football led them to an improbable win. Many sports fans would agree that was one of the most fun games (in any sport) that they had ever witnessed. Perhaps it was not merely a coincidence that the underdog wearing blue & orange uniforms pulled out the win.

I was lucky enough to be in Florida for a work trip for that National Championship, wearing my blue Gators sweatshirt as I watched the game with my co-workers from our hotel bar. If I believed in gambling of any sort, I might have placed a $5 online bet for the Gators to win, which might have paid out a whopping $20…if I’d ever done that sort of thing. After all the talk about if Florida even belonged in this game, they left everybody with the impression that perhaps Ohio St. didn’t belong in that game. As I recall, Buckeyes kick returner/wr Ted Ginn ran the opening kickoff back for a TD (and injured his foot in the celebration), but Florida didn’t blink, and just set out from there to win the game & finish #1. As a side note, this championship was sandwiched nicely between Billy Donovan’s men’s basketball team winning back-to-back National Championships. It certainly was good to be a Gator!

To avoid turning this into a full book, I’ll skip the play-by-play of the following seasons, but Urban Meyer definitely made his mark in college football. Sophomore QB Tim Tebow won the 2007 Heisman Trophy, becoming the first sophomore to win the award, and later became the first player to finish in the top 5 in Heisman voting in 3 different seasons. Urban Meyer has just had a standing flight to New York every year lately for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. They only finished the 2007 season as the #13 team, but they bounced back rather nicely in 2008, winning the National Championship over Oklahoma. This championship was part of an amazing 22-game win streak, started after Tim Tebow’s “Promise” following the loss to Ole Miss (“I’m sorry…I promise you one thing…you will never see a team play harder than we will play the rest of this season. God bless.”) Along with being a fantastic Head Coach & Quarterback combination, Urban Meyer & Tim Tebow had possibly the best bromance in the country! Perhaps this could be explored in a later blog as well.

Unfortunately for Gator fans, that 22-game win streak came to an end a few weeks ago in the SEC championship game vs. Alabama, relegating the Gators to the Sugar Bowl, rather than the storybook ending of Tim Tebow riding off into the sunset after a 3^rd National Championship. But while everyone knew that the Sugar Bowl would be the send-off of Tebow, no one thought it would be the last college football game for Urban Meyer. Sure, there were people who thought Urban (named for Pope Urban) would take the Notre Dame job, but he’d turned it down once before, and I had no concerns about that. I had no doubt that the Gators would re-load again next year, even if Coach Meyer was going through Tebow withdrawal (something I am trying to prepare for as well).

We have heard that Meyer has health issues, and wants to spend more time with his family, and while it is not life-threatening, the 27 hr a day/8 day a week head coach of football job, is one that provides enough stress to continually put his health at risk. So the man with 2 National Champions (& 3 BCS bowl game wins, hopefully 4 soon), winner of 6 different National Coach of the year awards in 2003 & 2004, and just named Sporting News Magazine’s Coach of the Decade, will be retiring now, at age 45. After the shock has gone away, I will just miss Urban Meyer being a part of college football. I am glad to see him putting his health, faith & family first though, as all too often, we sacrifice all of the above for the job, and somehow the job never shows the same dedication to us when the situation changes. His college-student daughter has already commented that she will be happy to get her daddy back. I wish him & his family nothing but the best, as he goes through this healing process, which will be both physically & mentally difficult. I have a feeling his players might be a little extra inspired for his final game on January 1, against the Cincinnati Bearcats, who already lost their head coach to Notre Dame. Go Gators!

Posted via web from trueliz's posterous

"Strandom" Thoughts - College Basketball edition: WCC, Zags, Trey Thompkins, Wesleyan School & more

2009-12-20T02:40:00.007-06:00

I (once again) have neglected this blog for awhile, so I am just going to jot down some college basketball thoughts that are on my mind, just to get back into the swing of it!

In the first month of this men's college basketball season, there was a lot of talk about the West Coast Conference (WCC) possibly sending more teams to the NCAA tourney than the Pac-10, due to all the solid wins from the conference, including Gonzaga winning the Maui Invitational, San Diego over Stanford & Oklahoma, Portland over Oregon, UCLA & Minnesota, St. Mary's over Oregon (& crushing San Diego St.), and even last year's 3 total wins team, Loyola Marymount, winning at USC (& now at Notre Dame just a few days ago). Even though Portland cooled off after Anaheim with some weak losses, the WCC has still looked strong. My favorite conference might want to erase today from the calendars though...Gonzaga played the 2nd worst game I've seen them play (@Virginia a few yrs ago was the worst in my opinion even though the point totals made today's the worst in over 20 years) in Madison Square Garden vs. Duke, losing 41-76 while shooting 28% overall, 10% on 3's & even a pathetic 48% on free throws. The Portland Pilots were taking on Washington in the evening, with a chance to redeem the conference, a yr after knocking off Washington in Oregon. The Huskies annihilated them though, 89-54 (both Zags & Pilots only had 17 1st half points). University of San Francisco lost the green & gold "USF' battle vs University of South Florida by 20 pts. San Diego lost a lead vs. Southern Illinois to fall by 2 points...but at least Loyola Marymount gave the conference one win for the day (and already their 5th on the season) over Cal State Baskersfield. Yikes.
Speaking of the Zags & Duke...I am trying to find something redeeming out of the absolutely pathetic game they played in almost all aspects (they actually weren't terrible on defense for much of the game). Here's all I can come up with: They have made a habit of falling behind early this season, and coming back to win (or having a chance to win, such as their 2 pt loss vs. Wake Forest). Perhaps this absolute butt-kicking will hammer home the message that falling behind by double digits & coming back is not the way to have a successful season. It's good to be able to do that, but it's not a best practice to try to make a habit. To keep myself sane, I'm just comparing this game to the Vikings vs. Cardinals 2 weeks ago. Gonzaga just wasn't "there," but hopefully they will show in their next few games that it was an aberration, and not a sign of things to come.
One final WCC related thought: When Notre Dame looked at their schedule earlier this year and saw they were playing two Los Angeles teams in one week, if you had told them they would be 1-1 in those games, I'm guessing the entire team (& 98% of fans) would've assumed a win over Loyola Marymount & a loss vs. UCLA. Again, this is the LMU team that was one of the worst in the country last year, with those three wins, during the season in which they got a new head coach, who took a medical leave a few wks into the season, quit 2 months later w/o ever returning from that medical leave and then took a Portland Trailblazers asst job the very next week. Yet when the final buzzer sounded in South Bend, Indiana last Saturday night (12/12), the final score was Lions 87, Fighting Irish 85, thanks to a Notre Dame 5-second violation and a game-winning 3 by Jarred DuBois. I was very happy (and surprised) to see LMU get that win, and was even more disappointed that it was not televised anywhere on my 100 DirecTV sports channels, than I had been when I discovered that before the game...yet somehow, I could find a game like Northern Iowa at North Dakota in Grand Forks today (not the North Dakota St. team from Fargo that was in the NCAA tourney last season, the UND team that regularly loses by 40 points in their slow process of acclimating to D1 basketball). Go figure.
I figure the job of the analyst in a college basketball game is to research stuff about the teams/players, and be able to speak quasi-intelligently about that throughout the game. I realize this often doesn't happen, but the ESPNU team for Saturday's Illinois at Georgia game were selling a local school a little short. Georgia's leading scorer is sophomore F Trey Thompkins (given name Howard Thompkins III, hence "Trey"). Analyst/Former Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried, twice mentioned that Thompkins had gone to high school at Oak Hill Academy (the basketball "factory" school in Virginia that has a long list of former players including Carmelo Anthony, Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant, Brandon Jennings & Rajon Rondo, to name a few), and that Thompkins wanted to be closer to home, so he chose Georgia. While it is true that he went to Oak Hill & he chose Georgia, he skipped a step. Trey had been a student at the Wesleyan School in Norcross, GA, before transferring to Oak Hill for his junior year. After one year in VA, he came back to Wesleyan for his senior year, where he, along with Clemson sophomore G Tanner Smith, led their team to a Class A Georgia State championship. This game was even being played in Duluth, GA rather than on campus in Athens. Duluth is just a few minutes from Norcross (and Duluth is also where Gophers Soph Ralph Sampson III is from, but I digress...). Since my aunt Margaret works at Wesleyan, I know how much fun it is for the school (employees & students) when this is mentioned! Heck, it's fun for me when this is mentioned.
While on the subject of Norcross, and the Wesleyan School, one other note is on Al-Farouq Aminu, the Soph star for Wake Forest/future NBA lottery picks. Aminu graduated from Norcross High School, immediately across the street from Wesleyan, where he won two 5A state titles. But before he transferred to Norcross his sophomore year of high school, he too was at Wesleyan. So if you look at the freshman on the basketball team in '04-'05 , one is a starter at an SEC school, and two others at ACC schools. Not bad for the little Christian school with barely over 1000 total students, K-12. They also have had many other athletes playing division one sports including former Air Force star RB/WR/KR Chad Hall, Georgia women's basketball player Anna Marie Armstrong & Colorado St. basketball player Chantel Kennedy, just to name a few. When Aunt Margaret told me a few years back that they had some really good basketball players, I was thinking of my high school, which was about the same size, who during my years had some D3 basketball players, and one D1 walk-on player. I soon realized that when she said they were really good, she meant D1 college star athlete type good!

That's all for now. I have many more thoughts stored away on subjects other than college basketball, but it is time to rest the brain once again!

The Future of Tim Brewster plus Strandom Thoughts: Baby Zags, Andre Agassi, T-Wolves & Greinke

2009-11-19T23:11:00.006-06:00

I had very good intentions of trying to write some each day, but unfortunately, after using my brain for things I had to accomplish, it just didn't happen. But I'm here now, so I'll take advantage of that!

Tim Brewster has been a popular topic the past two weeks. Between the Minnesota Gophers football team losing at home to (currently) lowly Illinois, and barely squeezing out a win against I-AA team South Dakota State, spirits are not exactly soaring among the Gopher faithful (yes, I know I-AA doesn't exist anymore, but I'm ignoring that just like I ignore the BCS was of deciding champions). I certainly can't say that I am happy with how the team has performed this year, and I definitely can't figure out why the switch was made to running a pro style offense while keeping Adam Weber behind center. He was very good as a spread quarterback. Pro style has lowered his overall numbers, while putting a magnifying glass to his already pesky interception rate. I like Weber, but I don't think he is being put in a position to succeed.

As for the call to fire Tim Brewster, I'm not quite on board with that yet. He was hired because of his recruitment skills. There are some questions as to whether or not he has recruited up to the reputation, but regardless, a coach who is put in position because of recruiting, needs 4 to 5 seasons in place to really see the whole picture. If the Gophers fare worse next year than this year, then it will be time to move on, but if they show any actual signs of taking steps forward, then a 5th year would be warranted. I know this position isn't popular among many Gopher fans, but they have been Bowl eligible the past two years. Bowls are pathetic now compared to what they used to be, but it's not as if Glen Mason brought the team to January Bowl during his way too long tenure.

Give Brewster another year, and if they don't come out with a winning Big Ten record, start looking for the next coach, now that there is a nice new stadium & wonderful facilities to use to entice the big names that have turned Minnesota down in the past. Maybe Brewster is a good recruiter, but doesn't know what to do with the players once he gets them. All the more reason to keep him a 4th yr - give the new coach great freshman - senior players to turn into a winning team.

Now for the Strandom thoughts:

Andre Agassi has taken a lot of heat from many different walks of life, about the revelations in his new autobiography "Open" but the thoughts from Martina Navratilova have been puzzling. She compared Agassi to Roger Clemens, for using the drugs & not coming clean when given the chance. Ok, where to start...Roger Clemens is accused of using performance enhancing drugs; ones that give people a competitive edge over other athletes. Andre Agassi used Crystal Meth, a drug that is an advantage only if one wants to join Oasis' Noel Gallagher in trying to break the world record for consecutive hours awake without sleeping. As for Andre not telling the truth, he is well aware that it was not right for him to react the way he did then, writing the letter to the ATP tour & lying about how ingested the drug, but he's telling the truth now. He is a very private person, but he is not just hiding behind the book now, he is going out & doing the interviews and facing people. Perhaps Roger Clemens could learn something from Andre Agassi about how a star athlete should respond to their past transgressions.
The Timberwolves are bad right now; worse than any of us could've imagined. For the first 2 weeks or so, they were hanging in the games, giving it a good fight the whole way. Now they seem to be outmatched as soon as they step on the floor. I think it's just a wee bit too early to start jumping to conclusions though. I believe Kurt Rambis will be an excellent coach, and I believe the Wolves have a few of the pieces that will get them where they want to be down the road. But I also believe that (like most everyone else) that they have a long way to go in terms of needing more talent on the team. I don't want to see them abandon the offense Rambis is trying to teach, just so they can win a few more games this year (and to appease young players who are in no position to be complaining about what systems the coach is using). I would prefer to see them learn it for the future, while in the meantime, increasing their odds for a #1 pick and hoping that just once, the ping pong balls will drop their way. They can't be cursed forever...can they?
Gonzaga at Michigan St. on Tuesday night showed me a lot of things about the young Bulldogs team that will be calling the "Baby Zags" or the "Bullpups" during this season. After losing 5 seniors (Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs, Ira Brown & fan favorite Andrew Sorenson) as well as sophomore Austin Daye departing for the NBA, the Baby Zags have 9 freshman on their roster. They decided to redshirt David Stockton (you may have heard of his dad John) and Sam Dower, out of Osseo High School right here in Minnesota. Thanks to the leadership of Matt Bouldin, and the strong inside play of redshirt sophomore Rob Sacre (who missed all last year with an injury) and freshman Elias Harris, this already looks like the toughest Zags team I can remember in many years, if not ever. It looked like a Big Ten game out there, and I mean that as a compliment. The "finesse" style Gonzaga had last year was fun to watch, but Heytvelt & Daye had no interest in getting bruises inside the paint; their strengths were in outside shooting. So while I went into that game just hoping the #2 ranked Spartans wouldn't blast the Zags out of the gym, I ended the evening bummed that GU couldn't hold on for a win, and feeling very optimistic for the season up ahead. Still a lot of freshman, which will lead to a lot of growing pains, but on their good days, there could be a whole lot of excitement too.
I am very glad that Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young award. No pitcher was more dominating this season than Greinke. He should not have been punished just because he played for the hard luck Kansas City Royals, and thankfully, the voters looked past the win-loss record. Wins should just be taken out of the equation, as this is for the best pitcher, not the most valuable pitcher.

I have more thoughts, but I'm going to give the brain a break and stop writing for today!

Carlos Gomez - Which Side of My Brain Wins?

2009-11-09T03:40:00.008-06:00

Throughout my schooling & work life, I was frequently given the opportunity to take various personality tests, many of which would establish whether I was dominant in my left or right brain. All that was actually established is that I clearly have no idea. Sometimes I was barely left, sometimes barely right, and almost anytime the middle was an option, I seemed to fall right there (no pun intended). This makes sense for many reasons: I write & eat left handed, yet am right handed in any athletic activities, and text message right handed as well. I was a teaching assistant for a Logic class in college, yet I spent my younger years writing stories, telling myself stories when I was bored, thinking up imaginary worlds, etc. (no, I didn't think I was in those imaginary worlds, so I wasn't completely nuts). Just like all those personality tests, the trade of Minnesota Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy leaves me right in the middle.

Since Americans always lean toward the right first (when two paths appear, we veer right; in retail stores, we go right first...sometime go ahead and compare the right & left sides of a Best Buy store), I will start with the left. I like this trade. Carlos Gomez is a coveted "5 tool" player, but at times he seems to have left most of the tools in the box at home (for those who don't know, a 5 tool player is considered to be excellent in speed, hitting power, hitting average, fielding ability & throwing ability). We all know Gomez had speed & combined with his great glove, he could make some amazing plays. However, his strong arm had a tendency to throw about 15 feet to the side of his intended target, his power numbers are barely above little Nicky Punto, and his batting average is, well, average.

Then there is that small issue of a crowded outfield. Denard Span has shown that he needs to be an everyday player, and now he will be the Centerfielder, and not the utility outfielder. Michael Cuddyer had a phenomenal year, and with Justin Morneau taking back 1st base, Cuddy will return to right field. Delmon Young used late August & September to give us a glimpse of why he was drafted #1 overall by the Tampa Bay (then) Devil Rays. He is still the most awkward runner I have ever seen, but apparently has some speed if you can get past the complete lack of style. GM Billy Smith said Delmon had become a better teammate as well, which is important. Now if only Jose Mijares could get someone to hit him more often, since that really fired him up,so he could knock out 50 homers a year...and finally, Jason Kubel.

Kubel should be the everyday DH, but he likes to play in the field, so every so often Gardy will throw him out there in right or left. When he gets to the ball, he actually is a much better fielder than people give him credit for, but the key phrase is "when he gets to the ball." I'm not sure who would win a foot race between Kubel and nearly 40-yr old Mike Redmond. So the outfield is full, and Gomez was spending most games on the bench, until being inserted late as a defensive replacement. His tendency to swing out of his shoes at any count, in any game situation, which put him at a disadvantage against most pitchers in the league. Plus, speed on the bases is only good if you know how to use it. He seemed to think he could outrun the ball on throws to second, which led to way too many "caught stealing" box score entries.

Finally, the Twins need a shortstop. Smith had already talked to Orlando Cabrera's agent the morning before the trade, and he said OC was going to be looking in a different direction, so going after Hardy was a logical choice. He had the worst year of his career in 2009 (though the numbers overall looked better than Gomez's), but he was an All-Star in 2007, and he's still only 27 years old, with 2 years left on his contract. Usually it seems the Twins wait until late February to try to fill these holes, but this time they took advantage of the opportunity right away, and can now decide what they want to do with 2nd, 3rd & various pitching possibilities.

Well, that was the logical side, which usually takes up more space as it requires analyzing & supporting arguments. Now for the more passionate right side of the brain.

I love Carlos Gomez!! How can you not love a kid who is always smiling & having fun, who can fly around the bases and the outfield like a cheetah and who has really fun hair? Go-Go would always bring the energy. Even when he would swing out of his shoes, you always knew he was trying as hard as he could, even if he wasn't thinking enough. After losing perennial Gold Glove centerfielder Torii Hunter, it was a lift to have Gomez racing around the same territory as Torii & Kirby before him, chasing down everything in sight. He was the top outfielder in Baseball Tonight's Web Gems, even though he was rarely a starter this season.

If he could've slowed down a little bit, he would've had even more Web Gems, but when you're that fast, you're able to get to balls while still on your feet, that others could only dream of catching. Racing a ball down and staying on your feet will never make Web Gems. What Twins fan didn't feel secure with Gomez in CF & Span in RF late in a game? The Twins probably don't make the playoffs without this line-up, as Span chased down a sure run-scoring extra-base hit in right during the final game in Detroit, in which a Tigers win could've ended the season 5 days earlier than the eventual conclusion.

Speaking of making the playoffs, Carlos Gomez may have come off the bench, but how crucial was he in Game 163 in the last Twins win ever at the Metrodome? Getting that big 12th inning hit, and then that speed...as soon as Alexi Casilla singled the ball between 1st & 2nd, there was no question that Go-Go could race from 2nd to home with time to spare, to clinch the American League Central Division title. That old baggy roof stadium went nuts as he crossed the plate & then flew up in the air like a young Michael Jordan after the game winning shot over Craig Ehlo.

Who could forget that night on the southside of Chicago in 2008, when Gomez managed to become the first Twin to hit for the cycle since Kirby Puckett in 1986. Hitting for the cycle requires many of those 5 tools - power for the homerun, average to get that single & double, and speed to get the triple (unless hell freezes over like it did this year, when Jason Kubel managed to get a cycle). Seeing the joy on his face as he crossed first base to complete the cycle just gave me the chills!

Sure, the kid made mistakes & played like he wasn't always sure what game he was in, but the key word there is "kid." He's only 23 years old. Justin Morneau was 24 in his first full season in the majors, and his .239 average did not exactly scream out "MVP" (he'd have to hit the ripe old age of 25 for that to happen). It seems awfully early to give up on the only member of the Johan Santana trade who had shown any real potential in the last 2 seasons. And most importantly, I just liked Go-Go. There's a reason his jersey was so popular with Twins fans and it had nothing to do with his stats on the field; he has charisma & excitement, which is contagious for anyone who is able to see him, in person or on TV. We will miss Gomez!

There, I clearly solved that issue. Obviously the right side of my brain won...wait, what? Oh, the left side is claiming victory now. Hmm...I guess only time will tell!

I Have a Man's Brain, and I Want My Brain Back!

2009-11-04T03:35:00.005-06:00

That's what my dad told me last night...that I have a male brain now, and he may have a point. No, it's not because I am a sports fanatic; he's much too evolved to think something like that! And no, I have not suddenly become interested in looking at women in skimpy little swimsuits. Nor do I have the need to always be right and I don't have an aversion to asking for directions. So why do I agree?

Let's take a step back first. After my concussion/mild traumatic brain injury in 2007, I noticed a lot of things changing, including the way I cognitively processed things. I had lost the ability that women have, to truly multi-task effectively. I always used to work on the computer while watching TV and taking work phone calls, and was able to focus on all activities at once (had I not been able to do this, it's possible I never would've had time for any TV shows, or heaven forbid, sports!) Suddenly, I was having trouble doing just one of those activities at a time, let alone more than one. Unfortunately, I had not gained the skill men have, to completely hone in on something and be able to ignore everything around them (like we all know men can do when their wives are asking them to take out the garbage). So I have been sort of stuck in limbo.

However, without me realizing it, I had acquired another "talent" that men seem to have, which I hadn't realized until dad said I had a man's brain now. When I focus on some thought specifically, I don't seem to see that other things around it that would normally make sense. Now I realize I am making no sense either and I may be confusing my brain too much to finish this blog, so let me try another way of explaining it.

Since the day Brett Favre signed with the Vikings, if you had asked me "What date do the Vikings play at Lambeau field?" I would've been able to answer "November 1st" without much thinking required. However, if you had said to me, "Is anything happening on November 1st?" I would've had no idea. (According to the neuropsych tests I had to take, this has to do with being able to recall, but not retrieve, but a blog about a female having a man's brain sounds more interesting than one about recall vs. retrieval...) So if I am focused on a specific thing, I can explain it, but I often can't get that information from wherever it is hiding in my brain, if that is not what is being discussed. Another example would be when I am asked what things I have trouble with cognitively since the brain injury. It is hard for me to list things out; I can never think of things (other than remembering the fact that I have a problem when I need to think of things). But if I am asked specific questions such as "Do you have problems processing information?" or "Do you have loss of long term memory?" I could answer yes & no respectively.

This brings me to the overall point of this whole boring and chaotic stream of thought. Yesterday, I was discussing sports, and was giving the countdown to College Basketball's March Madness & Selection Sunday, knowing that March Madness started on Thursday, March 18, and Selection Sunday would always be four days earlier. But my dumb (male?) brain didn't associate anything else that I knew was happening during that same time, because that was not what I was specifically writing/thinking about. So if you were to ask me what day my sister is getting married, I could tell you it's March 14, but if I am thinking about college basketball events during that week, I don't think of anything else that is at the same time (like cousin Nate's birthday on March 15). This is what my dad said was like a male brain; the ability to focus on something singular like that, without seeing other things nearby, which are not directly connected to my original thought. While I didn't get the male ability to focus enough to block out people talking, or a TV in the background, apparently I now have that kind of focus within my thoughts.

So let's try this portion of yesterday's blog again...Speaking of countdowns, it is 134 days until the beginning of March Madness, which means it is 130 days until Selection Sunday, the present-opening "Christmas" of sports, and more importantly, 130 days until my little sister is getting married, when I will have the honor of standing next to her to show my support and love! (And all of this is indication that she'll need that support since she is marrying someone with a biologically male brain...)

Disclaimer: No men were injured in the writing of this blog. If you are a man and feel that this represents you, it is purely coincidence, and if you are a man and feel this is false and disparaging of you, blame my dad, since thankfully, I don't really have a man's brain, so I had to take his word on this! Now this damaged (and worn out) brain of mine needs to go rest for a long time.

"Strandom" Thoughts of the Night: Timberwolves, NBA Refs, Gophers, Zags & Damages

2009-11-03T04:16:00.008-06:00

I had a suggestion tonight from @olearychris on Twitter to call my blog Strandom Thoughts. I like it. I'm not going to change the blog name (yet), but I will use Strandom Thoughts as the title whenever I'm going to be jotting disjointed ideas, rather than writing about one subject. So here goes the debut of Strandom Thoughts:

The Timberwolves are only 1-3 so far this season, but for some reason, they seem to be much more fun to watch than last year. GM David Kahn did promise me in the security line at the airport, that I would enjoy watching them play, so I had expectations, and so far they have been met. Obviously this is not a playoff year for the Timberpups, and they will likely have twice as many losses as wins, but learning the new system under Kurt Rambis, acclimating new players to the line-up, missing Kevin Love due to injury & having Al Jefferson & Corey Brewer returning after long injury rehabs, all indicate that it is a growing year for the team. But they are showing that "growing" does not need to be brutal to watch.
Speaking of Corey Brewer...he is by far the most improved player on the team so far. I have been a fan of Florida Gators basketball for awhile; not ahead of the Gophers or Zags, but I've enjoyed watching them since the days when Teddy Dupay was running point (and apparently learning how to run bets at the same time). So I was excited for Corey Brewer to be on the Woofies. His rookie year was obviously a learning experience (and what the heck was with Randy Wittman not allowing rookies to wear headbands; Brewer had always worn one & felt like you & I might feel if we left the house without wearing shoes). Then last year, he was showing some huge strides defensively before that knee injury. This year, he is finally showing the whole package out there. After his career high of 19 points on Sunday night, he had 14 pts on Monday, plus 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and most impressively, 5 steals (with only 1 turnover). Now he just needs to get that shooting percentage up a little higher, but with his 2010-11 option picked up, he will have the opportunity to continue to improve his game.
Final Timberwolves thought, about Monday's game in L.A. vs. the Clippers. When Ryan Hollins had a very athletic dunk to cut the Clippers lead to one point with under 20 seconds left, he was very clearly fouled, yet no call was made. This allowed the Clips to just hit their free throws & ride out the rest of the game. I'm not sure if the NBA refs spent their work stoppage time last month watching MLB umpires or SEC football refereeing crews, but they might want to wipe those images from their minds now...
It is almost time for my attention to be focused on "real" basketball, as the college season is just around the corner. While I will always cheer for the Timberwolves, the overall NBA game is not my thing; too many isolation plays & not enough teamwork out there. College ball just makes me smile. The countdown numbers are almost in single digits now: 10 days until the University of Minnesota Men's Basketball team takes on Tennessee Tech, although it's only available to watch online (Fri. Nov. 13 at 7:00pm CST). Gonzaga Bulldogs kick off their season in 11 days vs Mississippi Valley St., which I can watch on FS Northwest thanks to the DirecTV sports pack (Sat. Nov. 14 at 7:00pm CST). Finally, it is 12 days until the Gopher women get started vs. Lamar, which is unfortunately, like most of their non-conference schedule, not available to watch on TV (Sun. Nov. 15 at 2:00pm CST).
This leads to the other important countdown atop my list: 135 days until March Madness begins (meaning 131 days until the Christmas day of the sports year; Selection Sunday).
Speaking of Gonzaga & Minnesota, they are once again linked, and this time it has nothing to do with Dan Monson. Osseo alum Sam Dower is a freshman at Gonzaga this season. As far as I know, he is the first Minnesota native to play for the Zags. He had a great game on Monday night in the exhibition vs. Alberta, getting 15 points & 5 boards. I'm not sure yet if he will be red-shirted for the season, but I'm looking forward to watching him play again. I enjoyed seeing him (along with current Gopher/Hopkins alum Royce White) during the MN State tournament a few months back.
My writing time is up for the evening, so I will conclude with one non-sports thought. Find Season 1 of FX's show "Damages" (starring Glenn Close & Tate Donovan, my favorite former Space Camper accidentally launched into orbit) on iTunes or Netflix. I enjoyed the new USA Network show Royal Pains this summer, and got to like Campbell Scott, who played the millionaire Boris on that show. Upon reading that he would be in Damages Season 3, I decided to check out the first episode from Season 1, just to get an idea of what the show was, so I would have a clue of what was going on in Season 3. All it took was one episode for me to be completely hooked in this serial law thriller, with more twists than Chubby Checker (wow, that was way too cheesy). I just finished Season 1 and am ready to kickoff on Season 2 soon. Ted Danson was a main figure in this season, but the real scene-stealer was Zeljko Ivanek (who has also played Emile Danko on Heroes, JJ on Big Love, Governor Delvin on Oz & Andre Drazen on 24, as well as one episode guest appearances in about every hour-long drama on television in the last decade. Visit his IMDB page at http://bit.ly/4AgMkl if you want to count how many shows you've seen him on over the years). The Slovenian actor convincingly played a lawyer with a down south accent, and he managed to grab the spotlight from the bigger name stars in the show. I promise you won't regret checking this out (unless you find yourself missing your bedtime because you want to watch just one more episode before sleeping.)

I am Addicted to Brett Favre

2009-11-02T02:46:00.005-06:00

I like Brett Favre. Of course, this is not an uncommon sentiment in Minnesota these days, as he has led the Vikings to a 7-1 record, which without him would be, in my opinion, 3-5 or 4-4. So it's only natural that as a lifelong Vikings fan, I would like Brett Favre now...but this is nothing new for me. I have always liked Brett Favre. Now before I get booted out of the state for being a heretic, I do not like the Green Bay Packers. I admit to cheering for them in the Super Bowl in the 90's, but other than that, I love it when the Packers lose, especially at the hands of my Vikings. But I still have always liked the guy from Mississippi whose last name isn't spelled or pronounced correctly.

I've heard all the arguments against him over the years, but they never convinced me before, and they certainly won't convince me now that he is wearing purple. As someone who has thoroughly enjoyed sports since I was old enough start throwing a ball in my crib, I cannot dislike an athlete who clearly enjoys playing football. I've never seen a player that looks like they are having more fun on the field. And now he is on my football team.

Now if someone could explain to me why I am supposed to give another "second chance" to the guy who drowned, strangled & electrocuted dogs for fun, but I am supposed to dislike Favre because he "only thinks about himself" and had problems deciding whether to retire or keep playing, I would appreciate it. My concussed brain gets confused sometimes...but I digress.

I can promise you that I haven't seen my mom this excited about watching the Vikings since the Randall Cunningham/Randy Moss/Cris Carter days (but I'd like to stop thinking about that now before the memory returns of me lying on the floor staring at the TV in January of 1999, wondering how that possibly could've happened). There is something simply joyful about watching a person having so much fun, and being so good at it too. I believe my former employer's (Best Buy) motto of "Have Fun While Being the Best" would apply in this case. Running down the field to throw a block may be stupid for any quarterback, especially a 40-yr old one, but it's just fun to watch. Seeing him smirk to fight back a smile while boos were encompassing him on the field where he played & set records for nearly two decades, was fun to watch. And witnessing him racing down the field to tackle & hug one of his receivers after a touchdown or a big play, is fun to watch.

This being said, I didn't enjoy the 24-hour Favre network on Channel 206 on DirecTV, nor did I care to read a daily update about his thoughts about retirement. I didn't enjoy the announcers gushing over him (like I am now) all those years when he was on the other team either. Besides, he isn't Derek Jeter & didn't play in New York (until last year) so he certainly wouldn't deserve the praise normally only given to players from the top few TV markets in the country. What I do enjoy, is watching him on the field, and it's a bonus to be able to watch him wearing purple, rather than green. Now I just hope I'll be watching him lead the Vikings all the way to their first ever Super Bowl Championship!

(I will now do my best to stop drooling over Brett Favre as the Minnesota Vikings quarterback, but in my defense, we're talking about a team in which Gus Frerotte was better than the coaches' chosen quarterback of the future; a team that considered career back-up Sage Rosenfels to be the guy who could lead them to the promised land. We deserve an opportunity to drool a little bit...)

10 Minutes a Day of Writing

2009-11-01T05:29:00.004-06:00

I love writing. I always have, ever since I was a little kid, writing Christmas plays to be performed by my family members. Sometimes I "acted" in them as well, but often I just did the writing and directing. I was probably about 6 or 7 years old when I started this tradition (which has long since ended.) I used to write my own stories about another world, called "Archenland." Never mind that my favorite books were C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, which included a neighboring country called Archland. I never published those stories, so I think I'm safe from lawsuits. I chose Advanced Composition as an elective my senior year of high school, and I was one of the only people excited about College Writing class my freshman year of college. I then decided I wanted to get a minor in Creative Writing, and signed up for a class with Bethel professor Mary Ellen Ashcroft. Unfortunately, Mono took over & eliminated a semester of school for me, so I had to settle for the double-major of Social Studies Secondary Ed/History & minor of Philosophy, losing the Coaching Minor & Creative Writing minor I wanted to add to my original goal of a Triple Major. I think I'm tired just thinking about all that

But I still love writing. And yes, I know sentences don't begin with "but" or "and." This is my blog though, not a term paper, so I'll write the same way my thoughts go, rather than following what the English books say is the proper way to form a sentence. I already took my ACTs & scored extemely high on the two sections about English & writing, so I have nothing further to prove. Now I can just write for me.

About 2 1/2 years ago, I got a concussion, giving me between 6 & 10 concussions, by my best attempt at a count, not to mention a few hundred sub-concussive head hits on the metal bar from my lofted bed my sophomore year of college. This concussion was different than the rest though. This messed up my brain cognitively, and while there have been improvements, it's still messed up. I used to read a book a day while on vacation. Now I read a book total in 2 weeks of vacation. I used to read 1-5 books a month at home. Now I have read 2 books in the past year. Writing is much more difficult as well. It takes a lot out of me to write simple things like this, which used to happen with ease. I have suddenly developed new spelling issues, and find myself writing the wrong versions of "you're" & "your" or writing a word that is similar to what I meant to write, yet isn't at all the correct word (taught instead of thought is one example). I know what is correct if I proofread it, but the wires are somehow messed up inside my brain now. Yet, I still love to write. The writing perfectionist in me has kept me from creating many blot posts, because I never feel like they are good enough. I'm going to overcome that now.

I am going to do my best to write 10 minutes a day for this blog, whether or not anyone else reads it. There are some days when my still healing brain won't allow that, but on most days, if I properly ration my cognitive endeavors, I should be able to write for 10 minutes. Who knows what I'll write about, and if it will be any good, but I want to do it, even if just to remind myself that I still enjoy writing, and that someday, when my brain is all healed, I want to make sure I write as much and as often as possible.

Today surpassed 10 minutes, but I will sleep soon to let my head gets some rest. My brain works much better when I don't have to analyze things or figure things out. Just spitting out words like this is much easier than even answering a simple question about how my head is going these days. However, I didn't say much of anything in this post, but the point is that I wrote something, and that means at this moment, no matter how many things I feel like I've failed to accomplish since the brain injury, I have successfully achieved one goal today, and that means more to me than I could ever express with written words.

A few random thoughts about Space Shuttle Families, Minnesota Twins, Tennis & more, sponsored by Insomnia

2009-09-11T03:35:00.008-05:00

STS-128, Space Shuttle Discovery, was scheduled to arrive back at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night. They were only 8 minutes from the de-orbit burn, meaning they'd been in those super comfy orange suits for quite awhile & were all strapped down for landing, when weather made it a "no-go" for the night. These crew members had a few experiences sitting out on the launch pad in these same comfy suits (plus being stuck on their backs with gravity) for many hours before being scrubbed for lift-off due to weather. I asked STS-127 Commander Mark Polanksy, via twitter (@Astro_127), if it was mentally draining to not know when you are going to be able to take off, and I'm assuming his answer would apply to not knowing when you will be able to land as well. " Mentally, it's not bad. You know that you'll go-just not sure which day. It's harder on families." Somehow, while watching all that in the past, it never occurred to me how the families feel, not knowing if their wives/husbands/fathers/mothers/daughters/sons/brothers/sisters are going to be heading to space that day or returning home when scheduled. At least the astronauts have the excitement of a launch to think about at one end, and the amazing view of earth to watch while orbiting at the other end. So for the sake of the families waiting at home (especially Tim Kopra's in this case, as he has been on the Space Station for nearly 2 months), I hope Commander CJ Sturckow is given the "go" to land Discovery at KSC or Edwards Air Force Base for Friday afternoon/evening!
The Kansas City Royals continue to show that regardless of how bad their team is, they can always come up big in the "spoiler" role in September. After the Tampa Bay Rays, who were desperate for wins to stay in the race, were swept by Detroit, the Royals went ahead and swept the AL Central leading Tigers. This could've been a huge boost to the Twins, who were 7 games back as of last weekend, as the Twins were in Toronto playing the long ago eliminated (at least in their minds) Blue Jays, but all they could muster up was a split, so they are still 5 1/2 games back. They are 3-4 in their last 7 games, against two teams between a .430 & .450 winning percentage. So thank you again to the Royals for helping out against the Tigers, but the Twins seem to be determined to be a .500 team.
Roger Federer. 22 straight Grand Slam Semifinals. Previous record was 10 straight by Ivan Lendl. 22 straight. Nothing else needs to be said other than "22 straight Grand Slam Semifinals." Can he make it 6 straight US Open Championships?
ABC's "Defying Gravity" does not appear in the listings after this Sunday night's episode, which is unfortunate, because what it lacks in reality, it makes up for with stories fun enough (or at least fun enough to rip on) to make it enjoyable to watch each week, especially when communicating with other people who love Space. If you are on Twitter, and have watched the show, make sure to check out the hashtag search of #defyinggravity on Sunday night. It seems to have had no publicity, so I'm not surprised the ratings are low. I watch ESPN & ESPN2 very regularly (sometimes 'round the clock), and have seen ads for many shows from their sister station ABC, but have never once seen an ad for Defying Gravity. That means ABC is slacking almost as much as Ron Livingston's much-loved character in Office Space! (Plus if it goes off the air, how will we ever find out how "beta" is making all these decisions, and if Maddux Donner & Zoe will end up together?)

I think I will now (again) attempt to get some sleep!

Random Thoughts about Joe Mauer, a Space Travel TV Show & the guy whose name is spelled wrong a lot

2009-08-19T01:45:00.010-05:00

I've always felt that the MVP in a sport, in this case Major League Baseball, should come from a contending team, because how can one be the most valuable player if their team has no value in September? Hence, I was never terribly happy about Alex Rodriguez winning it with the Rangers during a down year for the team. However, watching Joe Mauer this year, as his numbers are rising this month (which should not be possible for a catcher in August), I might have to change my opinion. The Twins are still technically "in it" but they need to get more than 1 good start every 7 days if they'd like to cut into Detroit's lead. What Mauer is doing now though, is enough to transcend wins & losses.

He's leading the world in hitting, up to .383 after Tuesday's win over the Rangers, a team he has historically struggled against until this week (Ichiro is at .365, and Hanley Ramirez leads the NL at .359). He's on top of the MLB on base percentage list at .448; yes, he is currently ahead of the machine, Albert Pujols (.441). His Slugging percentage (.653) is behind Pujols, but is nearly 80 points ahead of the next AL competitor. If you had told anyone in baseball back in April that he'd be leading in BA & OBP now, they wouldn't bat an eye, but slugging? Naturally, his On Base + Slugging (OPS) numbers lead the AL at 1.101, just behind Pujols for MLB lead.

His 25 homeruns are tied for 17th in baseball, ahead of traditional sluggers Miguel Cabrera, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome & Alex Rodriguez. He's also tied for 11th in the AL for number of hits for the season, even though he missed an entire month! He's 8th in the AL for total bases - did I mention he missed one of the 5 months played? 20% of the season to this point?

I could keep talking about him for hours, but I'll spare you the pain of that. I'm sure in his spare time he's also rescued a baby from a burning fire and stopped a runaway train, but the media is too busy looking at his stats to have time to check out his activities outside of baseball. I just might be convinced that an MVP can come from a non-contender, though I hope the Twins make another late season push to make that a moot argument!

Now for the random thoughts:

NASA and the Space Program is essentially an obsession for me right now, which my family & friends know all too well. I adored it as a kid, then sort of forgot that these missions were going on in outer space, and now, thanks to Mike Massimino being on Twitter, and Apollo 11's 40th Anniversary, I am catching up on everything I'd missed, before & after I was born. However, as I have watched 3 of the first 4 episodes of ABC's "Defying Gravity" about missions through the solar system 40+ years in the future, I pray that our real astronauts aren't like the "Grey's Anatomy in space" characters on this show. There seems to be a lot of, um, extra-curricular activity among these fictional astronauts. It is fairly entertaining so far though, so I think I'll stick with it, even if it's just to support a show about space travel. Plus I need to start watching it as it's shown, so I can see some of the hilarious comments on Twitter that occur under the hashtag #defyinggravity on Sunday evenings.
Because we have all been bombarded by him today (and for months prior to that) I'll keep my Brett Favre thoughts to a minimum. I am on the side that is happy to see him in purple, as I feel like the Minnesota Vikings would once again fall short at the quarterback position, allowing defenses to stack the box to stifle Adrian Peterson. I don't expect #4 to be a savior, just to complete some passes to help open up the running game, which in turn opens up the opportunity for some fun long bombs to Bernard Berrian & Sidney Rice that we'd all enjoy seeing. Plus, anyone who can get on Twitter's trending topics list twice at the same time, is pretty impressive, even if it's due to half the country spelling his name correctly & the other half phonetically sounding out "Farve."
University of Minnesota Football & Baseball player, Eric Decker, continues to make decisions & behave in ways that impress those around him. Now it's the Minnesota Twins, appreciating his honesty during their efforts to sign him (he was a 27th round pick of the Twins): http://bit.ly/uWtee I'm curious to see which sport he'll be in 5 years down the road, but I think he'll be successful in whatever he does.

That's all for now. Nothing too deep - just some random thoughts!

Why is Nick Punto playing?

2009-07-21T02:25:00.003-05:00

While I must disclose that I am personally am a fan of Twins SS/2B Nick Punto because of his fielding, hustle & tenacity, I can’t quite understand why he’s seen so much playing time when he’s batting a paltry .209. Being a fan of someone does not mean I’m blind to numbers like that, so I did about 8 minutes of research. I was somewhat surprised what I found.

Punto’s on base percentage is .326. Who is above him? Mauer (.432), Morneau (.399), Kubel (.385), Span (.370), Cuddyer (.354), & another .209 hitter, Brian Buscher (.347; no wonder he pinch hits so often). If the top two spots in the batting order should go to guys with some speed, who get on base, then considering Kubel, Morneau & Cuddy are middle of the line-up guys (and have no speed anyway), it actually makes numerical sense for Punto to be at the spot, as much as he is struggling with hitting this year, unless the Twins wanted to move everyone up again to have Mauer batting 2nd. The goal is to get on base for the guys that come next. He didn’t have a good showing there in game 1 in Oakland (his 0 for night is what led me to look into why Gardy plays him so much), but even with those numbers from tonight, in terms of getting on base, he may actually be a better option than the other choices currently on the roster.

Since these numbers are for the whole season, and I think more recent play is always important when looking at stats, I also looked at his June & July numbers. Turns out in the past month & a half, he is batting .250 with a .369 on base percentage (which is just below Span’s .370 OBP for the season). Walks (logically) seem to be the key. While he’s only had 17 hits in that span (no pun intended), he has 16 walks as well.

Then I thought I’d see how the Twins do when he plays in the games, as winning would be the top goal. Since he has often been a late inning replacement in games where the Twins are leading, I only looked at games in which he had 3 or more plate appearances. This season, the Twins are one game above .500 overall, barely sneaking in with a .505 winning percentage. However, when Punto plays the majority of the, the Twins are 4 games above .500, with a .534 winning percentage. Huh. That doesn’t seem like a big difference, but game 163 last year showed the importance of each and every win. Maybe this Ron Gardenhire guy actually does know what he is doing.

Even as a Punto fan though, I would like to see him start getting some extra base hits again, as he only has 6 of those, and 0 triples. But if he can keep increasing his batting average and on base percentage throughout the year, and is batting in front of Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Cuddyer, and/or Crede, he should start scoring a lot more runs, which would make everybody in Twins Territory happy!

As for the pitching debacle & less than shining defense in Oakland, topped off with a pathetic call on the game tying run for the Twins by an out of position umpire, well, I just don’t want to think about that game anymore.

Nick Punto Photo taken by me, Liz Strand, 05/03/07 at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

What is Wrong with the Women's Tennis Ranking System?

2009-07-05T02:25:00.003-05:00

Serena Williams just took her sister Venus out in straight sets, to win the Wimbledon Championship. She now holds 3 of the last 4 majors (US Open, Australian & Wimbledon), yet come Monday morning, Russia's Dinara Safina will still be in the #1 spot. This is the same Dinara Safina that Venus Williams demolished in the semis in straight sets, only letting Safina win 1 game! World #1 player only wins 1 game in a match, and she stays #1? On top of that, she has yet to win a Grand Slam championship. Is anyone else as confused as I am?

Tennis rankings for both men & women are a rolling system for the last 12 months. If you do better in a tournament than you did the year before, you'll gain extra points. If you do the same, you simply "defend" your points. If you do worse, you lose points. I'm not even going to get into how many points are awarded at each stage of each tournament, but if during those 12 months, one woman wins 3 of the 4 Grand Slams (and makes it to the QF of the other slam, losing to the eventual champion 6-7, 7-5, 5-7), something is very wrong with that system!

This is not to say that Safina has not had a good year; she has done well. She's made it further in slams, and won a few titles, including Rome & Madrid, but no one following tennis could look at that right now and say that she deserves to be #1. Just check out the transcript from Serena's post-match press conference for her thoughts about this: http://bit.ly/Zkmxh (scroll toward the end). She had the room laughing at the absurdity of it all.

The problem is that Serena and Venus don't play some of the other smaller tournaments throughout the year, as they have other interests & hobbies, which may be why they are still playing after so many women's players have burned out before hitting 25 years of age, but that is a subject for another time. However, there is no way you can convince me that the point system is weighted correctly when Serena Williams will not be #1 after winning 3 of the last 4 majors and getting to the quarterfinals of the 4th...there is no rationale or explanation that will satisfy me! The system is broken, just like Safina's serve was against Venus on Thursday, and it needs to be repaired.

Very Random Sports Thoughts: Manny playing early, Timberwolves trading & drafting, and my Twins

2009-06-24T22:19:00.009-05:00

I have so many thoughts on my little iPod "Notes" app, of things I want to write about in the blog, but getting my healing brain to cooperate seems to be the issue. So I am going to put those notes aside, and just cover some current sports things on my mind, since they don't take a lot of deep & analytical thinking!

I already complained about this on Twitter, but why does suspended Dodger Manny Ramirez get to have "rehab" games in the minor leagues before his 50 game suspension is up? He shouldn't be allowed to play anywhere higher than American Legion ball until the suspension is done. MLB says he can't talk to the media from the Dodgers clubhouse, but he's allowed to go get his swing back in the minors? If a player is tossed from a game, the player replacing him doesn't even get a warm-up throw, catch, etc (and it's not even the fault of the replacement player), but Manny can play AA ball? This is a suspension for failing a drug test, not a DL trip for a torn ligament. If he needs rehab games, it should happen after the suspension. Someone please explain to me how this makes sense.

The Timberwolves are currently trying to make up for all their lost draft picks from the Joe Smith debacle in this one year (just to clarify, I liked & still like Joe Smith, but he is not the kind of player that one should risk a lengthy punishment to try to sign him early...), by picking up their 4th pick of the 1st round. The latest trade, sending Randy Foye & Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards for 3 players & the #5 pick, is ok with me, if that actually matters to anyone. I plan to write an expanded blog about Randy Foye's time with the Wolves, and the impossible situation he was in through no fault of his own, but I think it would help him to be somewhere where is not continually compared to Brandon Roy. Mike Miller just seemed to lose the shooting touch he'd always shown against the Wolves, once he was actually on his childhood favorite team. My personal opinion is that his "man bob" haircut was the reason he was struggling, since not many Minnesotan men wear headbands, but I have no scientific backing on that thought! Now the question is what the Wolves will do with these picks, which leads me to...

Please don't package picks to get Hasheem Thabeet. I have nothing against Thabeet, and he seems like a nice enough kid. I just think the odds of him being a complete dud in the pros is larger than the odds of him being a star. This is based on watching him play against the Zags twice in the last 2 years, as well as watching a large number of Big East games during his tenure at UConn. He has some defensive presence, but I feel that in the NBA, that will be overshadowed by his lack of offensive skills. I think Stephen Curry, with his size issue, is a much better risk than Thabeet. Having said that, I'd be ok with the T-Wolves taking Thabeet at #5 or #6 if he is still there, as there is a shortage of big men in this draft, just not with them giving up picks to move up to #2 or #3 for him.

Which draft picks would I love to see on the T-Wolves when it's all said and done? I'm not even going to include Oklahama stud Blake Griffin, as he will be gone, and I think the Wolves have a couple good building blocks at his position, in Kevin Love & Al Jefferson. I will be showing a bit of a bias here with a couple of them, but I'd love for them to get any of the following:
Spain's PG Ricky Rubio - I think he is overrated, but should still be a solid player, with the potential to have some Steve Nash passing ability...though potential is not a guarantee. Ndude Ebi had potential too.
Davidson's SG/PG Stephen Curry -small, but that shot is something that Wolves haven't had in...well...ever. Closest they came was the year Freddie Hoiberg was hitting 50% on 3's, but he wasn't as good at creating his shot.
Syracuse PG Jonny Flynn - I rank him above Jrue Holiday & Tyreke Evans
Duke SG Gerald Henderson which pains me to say, due to my anti-Duke stance, and memories of Christian Laettner, Cherokee Parks & Will Avery.
Gonzaga SF Austin Daye - but this is primarily because of my Zags love. I think Daye needs a few more years & a whole lot more bulk due to his position.
St. Mary's PG Patty Mills - I've seen him play in person 3 times, and even when he wasn't shooting well, his quickness blew me away. Plus, unlike every other college player in this draft, Mills has played against NBA All-Stars in the Olympics, when he played for Australia, and he more than held his own. How often do teams get a chance like that to see how a kid does when he is up against the best?
Gonzaga PF Josh Heytvelt - No, this is not just because of my afore-mentioned bias...Heytvelt is more like Kevin Garnett than Al Jefferson (not in skill level, but style of play). He likes to play face-up to the basket. Plus he has a long range jump shot that becomes a match-up issue as a 6'11" player. Wolves could throw out an interesting Jefferson/Love/Heytvelt mix, and see if the opponent has enough big men to follow them all.
Now for what wouldn't make me happy...Hasheem Thabeet before the #5 spot, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, Dejuan Blair or BJ Mullens.

And now for my Twins...disappointing loss in Milwaukee, after a bad relay throw home allowed the game to be tied, and a bad decision by Pitcher Nick Blackburn allowing the go-ahead run to score. But the way Nick Blackburn has been pitching for most of this season, is something very fun to see! After surprising most of us in Game 163 at the Chicago White Sox (due to an absurd coin flip) with an almost perfect performance, he just seemed to pick up where he left off, trusting his stuff, and trusting his fielders. I love it!

Everyone noticed that this was the first Milwaukee-Twins series to not be on a weekend, seemingly since Milwaukee was in the AL. Naturally the Milwaukee at Minnesota series was on the weekend, but I am convinced that Bud Selig was tired of seeing the Twins fans showing up at Miller Park, so he switched it to a mid-week series to make it a little tougher on the fans, so there wouldn't be so many Twins chants during the games. I think he's still bitter that he was unable to contract the Twins, and then they've "owned" his team ever since then. (Ok, perhaps I'm not really convinced of all this, but I like the theory anyway!)

Finally, in what was a perfect birthday present for me, the Twins got rid of Luis Ayala on June 22. It's as if they granted me the wish when I blew out my candles! I just couldn't handle him as a pitcher (and admit that I did not have an open mind when he came to the Twins due to his play for the Mets last season), but to find out he was asking to be traded because he wanted to be the set-up guy and was mad he wasn't getting the 8th inning, and that wouldn't help for his contract for next year? Aside from the fact that Gardy wouldn't stand for that no matter what, why would the Twins give the 8th inning to a pitcher who let batters hit .353 with runners in scoring position (.306 overall), especially considering his 1st batter faced BA had to be over .500 (but I can't seem to find that stat anywhere) which increases the odds that a player will get into scoring position. Oh well. I no longer need to debate this, as it is all over now! Thank you Twins!

Why Federer's 14th Grand Slam win isn't Tarnished Just Because He Didn't Play Nadal (or his 13th, for that matter...)

2009-06-07T18:30:00.013-05:00

I've already heard many media outlets asking if Federer's accomplishment means as much, as he's beaten people other than Nadal for the last 2 wins. It isn't Federer's fault that Nadal couldn't find his way to the Final for the 2009 French Open & 2008 US Open. Federer just keeps showing up, and will take on whoever is there to met him. In my personal (albeit not too important) opinion, this makes what he has accomplished even more impressive!

Roger Federer has now played in 20 straight Grand Slam semifinals. 20!!! The previous record was 10, set by Ivan Lendl. He has doubled this record, and could still add on to it. The ability to be that consistent is unbelievable, and I don't find too many things to be unbelievable. He made the semis of the 2008 Australian Open while battling Mononucleosis. I was curled up in bed doing nothing but eating whole Baker's Square Cookies n' Cream pies when I had mono (yet kept losing weight...could I get that again please?) . I took a semester off of college & my parents put a mattress on the pull-out couch upstairs, because I felt too weak to go up and down the stairs to my bedroom. He "struggled" his way to a Grand Slam semifinal match, where Novak Djokovic was able to send him back home. That ended his streak of 10 straight Grand Slam Finals. He had as many Finals in a row as Lendl had Semis in a row!

As mentioned earlier, this historic 14th Grand Slam is being discounted by some because it was not against Nadal. Nadal couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament he had cruised through 4 years in a row, let along win it a 5th time. To me, this shows exactly how "otherworldly" Federer has been for the last 5-6 years. Athletes get injured, they get sick and they have "off" days mentally. It happens to everyone. Yet it never seems to happen to Federer when it matters most; or if it does happen, he is able to overcome and keep pushing.

Nadal has pulled out of next week's Queen's Club grass court tournament, in which he is the defending champion. Did knee pain keep him from defeating Robin Soderling last week? Perhaps, but nothing has kept Federer from being there in every Grand Slam Semifinal since mid-2004, and 15 of the last 16 Finals. In my mind, this flat out makes him better than anyone else currently playing (and perhaps anyone else ever...perhaps.)

Much has been made of the fact that Federer cannot be the greatest of all time if he has a losing record vs rival Nadal. Nadal has defeated Federer in 62% of their matches, so he must be better. Of course, James Blake has won 60% of his matches vs Rafa Nadal - does this mean Blake is better overall than Nadal? While James Blake is, and has been my favorite men's tennis player since Agassi retired, I would be silly to argue that he is better than Nadal. The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series for the 1st time in their history after winning 60% of their regular season games, yet they were 2-5 against the .500 Cleveland Indians. Know anyone (other than Indians fans) who would argue that Cleveland was the better team in '07? In these situations, we look at the big picture.

And this is the big picture: Roger Federer has tied Pete Sampras for the all-time record of 14 Grand Slams won. Unfortunately for stars from prior generations, like Rod Laver, who were pros when the Slams were for amateurs only, we'll never know how many titles they could have acquired. All we know is that no one has more Slams than Pete & Roger. Federer now has a Career Grand Slam, having won each major at least once. Only 6 men in tennis history have achieved this feat. Andre Agassi was the last one to do it, in 1999. Prior to Agassi, it hadn't happened since 1964. While Federer could not join Agassi in a so-called "Career Golden Slam" by adding an Olympic singles gold medal to the mix, he was able to win the doubles gold medal in 2008 in Beijing, with fellow Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka.

I'm not arguing that Federer is the best ever - I don't feel I'm qualified enough to say that, because my knowledge of tennis history before my birth is not as strong as I would like it to be. Perhaps someday I will get Bud Collins' Tennis Encyclopedia and read it, and then decide who is the best ever, but even then, it would still be impossible to truly decide. I'm merely arguing that Federer's place in history, and the significance of his 13th & 14th Grand Slam victories, should not be minimized just because they were against someone other than Rafa Nadal. It's not as if Rafa stayed home and played poker instead of competing in those tournaments. He lost matches before getting to the final. He didn't make it, and Federer did!

As a fan of tennis, I would love to have seen another Nadal-Federer battle, so in terms of entertainment value, we as fans were cheated by the Federer over Murray and Federer over Soderling victories. But the value of these victories doesn't change. Find me a Boston Red Sox fan (or any baseball fan) who thinks their 2004 World Series victory was not as important because it was a not-so-entertaining sweep. Or a golf fan (or any sports fan) who thinks Tiger Woods' 2008 US Open playoff win was less significant because he was battling Rocco Mediate rather than Phil Mickelson or Sergio Garcia. You can only play the hand that's dealt to you...

Bonus: Plus he had some crazy fan run on the court toward him and it didn't seem to affect his play at all. We're talking about the sport where a "fan" of Steffi Graf ran on court during a changeover and stabbed Steffi's rival Monica Seles in the back, changing the course of Seles' career forever, so there is a precedent for this not turning out well. He had a clear moment of fear before realizing that guy was just stupid, but not psychotic, and didn't even bother taking a moment to sit down and collect his thoughts. He is that focused on the task at hand, that he could immediately flip the switch back to championship tennis.

(As a full disclosure, though I was wearing my navy blue Nike Roger Federer hybrid hat while watching the match on Tivo a few hours after it's completion, I have not been a long-time Federer fan. Only when he appeared human in early 2008, did I feel that tug to start pulling for him. I'm a sucker for underdogs. It was the same with Pete Sampras. I liked him, but he was never my favorite player, until the last few years of his career, when I even found myself cheering for him a few times over Agassi, who had always been my favorite; though I always did love his Wimbledon serve & volley, probably because I grew up loving Stefan Edberg & Boris Becker.)

Bipolar Twins & other Random Thoughts

2009-06-05T04:28:00.007-05:00

I have been absolutely pathetic about blogging lately, and even if I have good reasons/excuses, I don't like it. So, I am just going to put some random thoughts together here, to make myself feel better, even if no one reads them!

Is there any sort of bipolar medication available for baseball teams? The Twins are about to head out on the road for a 10 game road trip. They have a league leading 21 wins at home (with 12 losses), but also have the basement all to themselves for road games, winning only 6 & losing 16. Only the NL Washington Nationals are worse on the road, but they are just as bad when they play at home. For people who like numbers, the Twins have won 64% of their games at home, and just 27% on the road. I thought perhaps they are just scared of playing outside (which they'd need to get over by next year), but they only claimed 1 of the 3 indoor games at Tampa Bay last weekend, so that's not it either.

I dug a little deeper into the stats (but only about as deep as I could dig in my old sandbox...which wasn't too deep), and still remain confused. Twins pitchers have a 4.59 ERA at home and a 5.16 ERA on the road. That half a run or so is not a huge disparity considering the staggering difference in the final results. Twins pitchers do give up many more walks on the road than at home (3.3/gm on the road, 2.4/gm at the Dome), but that hasn't translated into more earned runs. Opponents hit .275 against Twins pitchers at the Dome, and .272 in their own parks. Huh? No issue there. As for the Twins hitters, they bat .278 under the white baggy roof, and .263 when exposed to the outdoor elements (or the St. Pete catwalks & sting rays in the outfield).

So how can the team essentially have the same overall hitting no matter where they play, but have seemingly no clutch hitting when away from the friendly confines of home? (No, I don't actually expect that anyone will have the answer, but if you think you do, feel free to share!)

And now for the random thoughts:

First thought is something I shared on Twitter a few days back, but I wanted more than 140 characters to elaborate. When it comes to the actual flavor of the food, I have always preferred Burger King to McDonald's, for burgers or breakfast options (although not for the fries). However, I so deeply despise their last few years worth of ads, that I might just decide to never eat there again. Guys dressed up as a burger & a chicken sandwich going after McDonald's, Wendy's & Subway? And while Ronald McDonald inspires smiles & thoughts of "his" charity work and the Ronald McDonald Houses, the Burger King King is, well, creepy at best!

How does Serena Williams keep matching up with "cheaters" on the red clay of Roland Garros (otherwise known as the French Open, but they want to be cool like Wimbledon, which is not known as the British or English Open). In most sports, players will try to get away with whatever they can. NBA players act as if they have never fouled anyone...ever, when they know it was their elbow in someone else's gut. NFL offensive lineman try to hold their defensive match without the refs noticing. MLB fielders are happy to act as if they caught the ball on the fly, when they know it has grass stains on it from the short-hop it took before finding their glove. Golf & Tennis are different. In golf, players keep their own scorecard and have to be honest. In tennis, if the ball hits your arm rather than your racquet, and ends up being a winner, and the ump doesn't notice, you admit it, you don't turn away, smirk, and claim the point. Sort of like what Serena ran into with Justine Henin a few back, when Justine asked for "time" and Serena saw this and held up on her serving motion hitting the ball out. The Ump did not see this, and ruled it as being out, and Justine never said a word, even though replay clearly showed her hand asking Serena to wait (which Serena did not need to do, as the game is supposed to move at the server's pace, but she was being the good sport that tennis players are supposed to be on the court). The worst example may have been in men's tennis though, in last year's Olympics, the event built on good sportsmanship, when James Blake hit a shot to Fernando Gonzalez, which nicked the top of his racquet before flying past the baseline, which should've made it Blake's point. Once again, the ump didn't see it, and Gonzo just kept his mouth shut, which disturbed Blake, one of the nicest guys in sports - it takes a lot to irritate him!

Is it my imagination, or have the Minnesota Twins had an awful lot of great games on days they aren't televised? I am quite thankful for the FS North Squeeze Play, so I can at least see those hits & runs, and add them to my little highlight videos that I keep for myself (because I listen to Bert's announcement each game about what I can't disseminate), but in this day & age, I should be able to catch every game on TV. I have MLB Extra Innings. If the local station doesn't want to show it, then the Cleveland broadcast shouldn't be a blackout! I also technically live far away enough from the Dome that it shouldn't be a blackout anyway, but because parts of my city are close enough, I fall under that blanket. But I digress...my point was that they've had some great games not on TV! Kubel's two 3-run homers in the first 2 innings today, Twins big comeback after Scott Baker collapsed in the 6th vs. the Tigers, Game 1 of the absurdly high scoring doubleheader in Chicago 2 years ago (which didn't even have a Squeeze Play!!), and these are just the ones off the top of my head.

On Wednesday (June 3), Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee yet again jawed at Carlos Gomez for bunting. I like what Jim Souhan said during the FS North broadcast; something along the lines of "Telling Carlos Gomez to not bunt is like telling Johan Santana not to throw a change-up." Why is there an appropriate & inappropriate time to bunt? Considering the Indians came back from a 10-run deficit earlier this season, they should know better than any team that no lead is safe, and when there is no clock, no team is ever out of a game. So why is there a time that bunting is not ok? (Well, other than with 2 strikes, when you haven't done it successfully ever, or almost ever). Then after the game, Lee says he doesn't want to discuss it with the media. If you don't want to talk about it after the game, how about not running your mouth about it during the game either? Just a thought...

Last week, thanks to DirecTV, I could watch live French Open tennis matches from 6 different courts. As long as my favorite players were not relegated to an obscure court with no cameras, I could watch the match of my choice at any time. However, if I wanted to watch Rafael Nadal battling Robin Soderling in the 4th round, eventually losing for the first time ever on Paris' red clay, I had to wait until the match had been over a couple hours, before being allowed to watch it on NBC. Now, as I write this, it is just a few hours until the Men's semifinal matches begin, but they are not available to watch live either, because NBC couldn't possibly shorten or cancel the Today show for a day. If they don't think the tennis ratings will outweigh the Today show, then why don't they let the real tennis fans watch it live on the Tennis Channel, and then they can show the replay to people who don't care if they know the results before watching the match. In the age of the internet, text messages, twittering, etc., having the semifinal of one of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments available only on tape delay, is simply unacceptable. Imagine how football fans would revolt if the NFL did that with a Saturday playoff game. Don't buy the exclusive rights to the match if you don't intend to show it live. (Thank you to ESPN2 for pushing ESPN First Take back a few hours on Thursday, so the Women's semis could actually be seen live!) Of course, those of you on the Pacific Coast (and perhaps the Mountain time zone too) experienced this frustration last year with each and every Michael Phelps "live" race from China, as NBC couldn't be bothered with showing it before prime time...except that by the time his races started, it actually was prime time on the West Coast too. Also unacceptable...and also NBC...but I'm guessing they don't care about my opinion!

That's all for now. Hopefully I will not leave so much time between my random thought sharing in the future!

5 TV Shows Liz thinks you should watch!

2009-05-16T18:04:00.005-05:00

Anyone who has interacted with me lately on Twitter or Facebook, knows that I am on a kick to save the NBC TV Show "Chuck" and that I watch a lot of MTV reality shows. I am, however, going to make a list here of shows to watch, that do not include either Chuck or MTV reality. These are my Top 5 shows that I'd love to see other people watch too; shows that are either currently in the middle of a season, or have already been renewed for a future season (hence, Chuck is eliminated under those guidelines as Season 2 just ended, and no word yet on Season 3. I still think you should buy Season 1's DVD and then pre-order Season 2 somewhere like Amazon...

I'm not going to give you the synopsis of the shows that you could get anywhere else on the internet. I originally started writing it that way back in April, but that's really boring. This is just what I love about them!

Liz's Top 5 Current TV Shows (in alphabetical order - I couldn't actually rank them!):

Burn Notice - Thursdays on USA Network, Season 3 coming this June. This show is a fantastic mix of action, drama & comedy, and is sort of a MacGyver meets Magnum P.I. Lead character Michael Westen & his friends Fiona & Sam help people who are in need in the Miami area (the Magnum P.I. connection) while Michael comes up with the coolest devices created from household items (the MacGyver connection). I get hooked very easily on shows that really make you laugh without actually being comedies! After you watch it, you will be wondering why you don't have a friend like Sam & an ex-girlfriend/current friend like Fiona (you might also be happy that Sharon Gless' character isn't your mother!). If you haven't watched it yet, Seasons 1 & 2 are available on iTunes, Season 1 is on DVD and USA Network keeps playing little marathons of it too. (If you are wondering where you saw Jeffrey Donovan before, I actually decided to check out Burn Notice because of his recurring guest appearance on Crossing Jordan as the investigator that Jordan thought was digging stuff up on her).

Friday Night Lights - DirecTV in the Fall, re-shown on NBC in the spring, with a deal through 2011. This show had all the love from critics, and a passionate fan base, but not high ratings, so NBC signed a deal with DirecTV to split costs, and DirecTV subscribers get first crack at watching the episodes in the fall, with no commercial breaks (there's a nice Vaseline ad before each episode, and every time I see that ad now I think of FNL). Then NBC & iTunes start over again in the late winter/early spring. Kyle Chandler (of Early Edition fame) plays the football coach Eric Taylor, and many people think this is a football show, but its really just about life. Story lines about Coach Taylor's wife & daughter, as well as other members of the community, are more prevalent than ones about football. The characters are all well written, and played very well, and seem more realistic than a lot of reality shows. The teens don't have all these witty, grown-up lines like on "The O.C." or "90210." They are like teenagers...except for the part that they're all played by people in their mid-20's. But they act more like normal teenagers than the real teens did on "Laguna Beach." (As a disclosure, I do watch 90210, and I did watch The O.C. & Laguna Beach, and enjoyed them, but did not find them to be "realistic."). If you watch this show, you will become attached to the characters in it, I promise. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Lie To Me - Wednesdays on FOX. This show stars Tim Roth & Kelli Williams (The Practice) as part of a firm that uses the science of facial expressions to figure out when people are lying, and they are hired by different people, companies, etc., to establish who is telling the truth. I heard about the show before it came out, from some surveys that Fox sent about advertisements for it, but it honestly didn't appeal to me. My mom started watching it though, and told me how much she loved it, so I decided to check out the first couple episodes on iTunes. I was hooked! So much fun! Only caution is that I find myself analyzing people's facial expressions on everything else that I watch, even though I have no training in this field, and start coming to conclusions without any actual expertise. But it is fun!

The Mentalist - Tuesdays on CBS. This show's season finale is Tue, May 19, so there's not much time left, but I feel like they'll be showing re-runs throughout the summer for anyone who hadn't checked it out. Hopefully, because unlike most CBS shows, its not available on iTunes! Aussie Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, a former "psychic" who admitted he was a phony & just has great observational skills. He is a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). As a side note, without TV, if NCIS or perhaps MBI (I'm assuming Minnesota has a bureau of investigation too) came to my door, I would've had no idea they were real organizations...but I digress. This is also a fantastic mix of comedy & drama. Simon Baker has had a lot of shows in the US, and only The Guardian had any longevity, but he's a household name now thanks to the Mentalist (and also allegedly the only man to make Barbara Walters blush on The View). I originally saw the premise of the show & thought...doesn't Psych do that already? But its completely different from Psych (which I also enjoy). The cast all meshes really well together, so it's easy to understand why it is the #1 new show of the year, and toward the top of the rankings for any shows. If you've missed it, find a way to check it out. I promise you'll love it, or you get your money back for the purchase of this blog...

Southland - Thursdays on NBC. This was a mid-season replacement, taking up ER's spot, and that is the perfect place for it. I'm not even going to bother explaining a lot about the show - just consider it to be the ER of a Cop show! It takes place in South LA (hence the title) and goes with the same large ensemble cast format like ER, and has the same quick moving action. Also available on iTunes.

So there you have it! The 5 TV shows that are still going now or already renewed for their next season that I think anyone with a TV & satellite dish/cable should check out!

Updated: Twitter...Help!

2009-05-09T16:53:00.005-05:00

05/10 Update: Twittelator Pro iPhone/iPod Touch App "Subgroups" lets me add people and shows all their posts for days! This solves my problem completely. Thank you Twittelator! (Plus Twittelator Pro has "Add to Read it Later" as an option, which I find to be far preferable to Instapaper.)

05/09 Blog:
I'm doing something a little different with this short blog...I'm asking for help!

I have become addicted to Twitter in the past month or so since I joined it. I follow a gazillion people, and there's no way I will read even half their updates, and that's ok. I'll read some now and then. There are a number of people's updates that I want to make sure I don't miss though, and so far, I've only found a couple of ways to do that:

Get sms alerts on my mobile device (Get a text message everytime they "tweet"). This would be neat, except for the fact that I don't need to wake up to 200 new text messages...
Have a list of those people, and manually check their messages on Twitter...which takes roughly the same amount of time as a meeting of MLB with Congress trying to find all the names of players who used steroids in the past.

I use Tweetdeck, and thought that would fix my problem, by creating a column for those favorites...but that is only valuable when my computer is on & Tweetdeck is running. For reasons I can't understand, when I sign on to Tweetdeck (or Tweetstack on the iPod), it only goes about 2 hours back in time. This doesn't work for me. I have odd sleeping hours (as anyone who follows me on Twitter or is my friend in Facebook already knows). So I will, in theory, miss half the messages from people I want to really follow.

So here's my question: Is anyone aware of a Twitter app for the iPod touch, or something for the computer, that would let me to track my 50 to 100 or so "favorite" tweeters, allowing me to easily access their tweets without being signed on near the time that they send them (either by saving their tweets, or just saving their names in one spot)? Or do I need to stick with the text messages or manual checks?

Thanks for helping a Twitter addict in need...I need this solved so I can give back valuable time to Facebook, where I interact with people that I actually know in real life, which is understandably more important!

Life on Mars and Other Random Thoughts

2009-04-16T00:01:00.018-05:00

I finally finished watching ABC's version of Life on Mars and I'm not quite sure what to think yet! But let me give it a try...

The ending, well...I appreciate that there was an ending. Too many shows to list have let down fans by just stopping & never tying up loose ends (first ones coming to my mind are Las Vegas, The Nine & The Agency, two of which were also on ABC, one also starring Jason O'Mara). So ABC does deserve credit for finishing it, but that was the ending? ...(stop reading this paragraph if you haven't finished the show yet & come back another time)...A space trip to Mars with neurostimulated brain scenarios? The idea of it is somewhat fascinating in and of itself, but its an "empty" end to what was a pretty good show.

Which leads me to why it was canceled - I thought the Pilot was fantastic, then week 2 or 3 seemed to be a little too far out there, and it continued along like that for a few months. I know a number of people who gave up on the show during this time, as it was harder to follow, and had twists that just didn't make sense. In my non-TV critic opinion though, the February & March episodes knocked it out of the park. They had crisp story lines with "plausible" twists, while still being quirky enough to stand apart from other cop shows. Unfortunately, too many people had already given up on the show by then, and its fate was already sealed.

If you were one of the people who gave up on it, but liked it to start the season, I suggest going to iTunes & picking up the Feb & March eps. to see how it all came together - http://tiny.cc/iTunesLifeonMarsABC. It could be interesting to go back and watch again now that I know the ending too...I'm just wondering if the writers had decided what the ending would be from the very beginning.

Now on to the random thoughts:

The Minnesota Timberwolves finished the season tonight with a loss to the Sacramento Kings, making their final record 24-58. As bad as this record feels, it is only the 7th worst record the team has had, though I wouldn't start bragging about that! The Wolves were 8 point favorites at home tonight, but even with some extra crowd support, they couldn't hang with the worst team in the league, who only has 17 total wins, with this being their 6th win on the road. Uff da (which is Norwegian speak for "good grief," or the equivalent of a really big sighing noise/exhale). Maybe having Senior Night (starting the 5 oldest players) backfired, but then they seemed to do better than the young guys. At least former Gopher basketball star Bobby Jackson, who never played for the 1997 Final Four team that never existed, had a nice night in the Twin Cities (14 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast & 4 stls)! The Wolves also only finished as the 6th worst team in the league, so they'll need some lottery ball help, which has never happened before. That means they are due, right? I have more thoughts about this T-Wolves season, but I'll save those for another day.

Along the same lines, I'm wondering what teams think when they get rid of coaches who just couldn't "win the big game" only to find out without that coach, that they no longer get anywhere near playing in the big game! The T-Wolves experienced this with the still regrettable firing of Flip Saunders in 2005. All those first round losses in the playoffs look really nice compared to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs while people still have ornaments up on the Christmas trees! Phoenix Suns may be going through that same feeling now. They didn't actually fire Coach Mike D'Antoni, but there was a lot of grumbling from fans, the media, etc., and the team allowed him to talk to other teams about jobs, which is not exactly the same vote of confidence as say, a contract extension. D'Antoni made the Suns so much fun to watch, but they just couldn't get over the hump and win that big game. In the previous 4 years, they lost in the 1st round once, the Conference Semis once & the Conference Finals twice. This year, the NBA Live 2009 video game is the only way this roster will even be playing any first round games. D'Antoni's New York Knicks aren't going to be in the playoffs either, but considering the mess he inherited there, even the prickly New York fans are not bickering...too much! A first or second round loss would sound mighty good to Suns fans right about now!

To update my short text blog yesterday about Minnesota Twins reliever Luis Ayala...well, it got worse. If you need a reminder, I wondered why the Twins signed Mets free agent relief pitcher Luis Ayala to fill the Neshek/Reyes void, when I had consistently watched Johan Santana leave Mets games with the team holding a lead, only to have every member of their bullpen collapse to send the team on their way to a loss. Yesterday I wasn't happy that Ayala's ERA was around 7. Silly me. After tonight's appearance vs. the Blue Jays, his ERA is a nice round 9.00 (for those of you who don't follow baseball stats, this means that if he were to pitch 9 innings, the length of a game, he'd average giving up 1 earned run per inning/9 runs for the game - which wouldn't include any unearned runs, generated with the help of things such as errors). His WHIP (Walks & Hits per innings pitched) is 2.17. The goal is to be around 1.00. Opponents are batting .429 against him. Even a healthy Joe Mauer can't hit .429...unless he got to bat against Ayala. The majority of Twins games are played at night, and on turf...his ERA on turf is 10.80 & at night is 11.25. The Twins won't be winning games when he appears. In fact, the Twins have only won 1 of the 6 games that he pitched in, a 6-5 win over Seattle in which he was the winning pitcher after they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Of course, if he hadn't given up a run in the top of the 9th inning, the Twins would only have needed 2 runs to win. Yet the writers of the stats rules say he's the winning pitcher, because he was the last guy on the mound before they made their comback. I am rarely the critical fan about players, and usually give them the benefit of the doubt too much (I'm still sad that Juan Rincon is gone, even though I had gotten to the point that I no longer wanted to see him in games, but I still had a hard time saying anything bad about him!), but Ayala is not a long-term Twin that I'm pulling for out of loyalty. So far he just looks like a bad free agent signing!

Finally, speaking of relievers, why did the Twins let Bobby Korecky get away on waivers? I thought he was back on the Triple A Rochester Red Wings, until I saw stats from him pitching for Arizona, suddenly appearing on my phone. During the time that he failed to clear waivers, I had a personal family issue going on, and wasn't paying much attention to those details, so I was surprised to learn that today. Korecky did much better than Ayala in his first attempts at pitching in the big leagues when he came up with the Twins a few times last year! I was really hoping that the multiple time Triple A All-Star closer could get a spot in the Twins bullpen for the long term, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least I was there at the Dome when he got his first major league hit last year, in what should stand as the one and only hit recorded by a pitcher in an MLB game at the Metrodome! That was pretty fun. He pitched pretty well too in that extra inning game, coming in to a very tight situation & shutting down the Rangers, picking up his first MLB win the same night he got that first hit, all of which allowed the Twins to have the celebration pictured below! I'll miss you Bobby! http://tiny.cc/BobbyKoreckyNight

2009-04-15T03:19:00.001-05:00

I watched the 2008 Mets bullpen consistently blow leads handed to them by ace Johan Santana. So exactly why did the Twins go after Mets reliever Luis Ayala???

My Top Priorities While I Have no Income

2009-04-08T17:48:00.010-05:00

Like many others around me, I am currently unemployed. Mine is a result of post-concussion syndrome/Mild traumatic brain injury issues, not the economy (as my job is still being held and performed well by the person who replaced me!), but regardless, I am in that position that many are familiar with right now. I decided to think about what my top priorities are for the $ I do have. Thank heavens for that 201k...I mean 401k, that I could siphon some $ from now!

The obvious things are paying for health insurance, car insurance, family related things, etc., but that's boring. Yes, I will be doing all that, but my list of top priorities does not include those obvious things, just like your to-do list for the day likely doesn't include "Brush My Teeth," "Take out the dog before leaving for work" or "Visit the bathroom if the need arrives rather than investing in Depends." So that being said, here are my top priorities while I have no income (in no particular order):

Keep my Minnesota Twins Season tickets. When I've mentioned this to people, some have said something about "keeping my priorities straight." Yep, I am. And as you can now see, this is a top priority! I decided to join the season ticket family, a dream I have had since I was a little kid wearing my Twins spring/fall weather jacket, on the same day that I punched myself to start this whole concussion adventure. It was when I tried to read the benefits of being a season ticket holder, that I noticed that all the words were fuzzy. But nonetheless, I joined up! I want to be in that new stadium, enjoying outdoor baseball (on opening day and then in May, June, July & early September...I might pass on cold April & hot August, but I hope October is part of the package!), no matter what it takes. Even if I need to walk out the door of my temporary home at Mary's Place across the street, I will be a season ticket holder next year (when I do have an income again though, I will be sending donations Mary's way, even if I never need to use her services!) Twins have proven to me the past few years how much they care about and appreciate their fans, and it is an honor to be a season ticket holder for my favorite team among all the sports teams that I love a lot!

Continuing the annual tradition of going to Sarasota, FL every August (hence the word "annual") to the timeshare my parents bought back in 1979. The maintenance fees cost enough to make a down payment on a cabin in Northern Minnesota, but this is about memories and having a very special place that feels like home, except the Gulf of Mexico is right in front of me when I sit on the lanai & stare out the ceiling to floor windows. My sister hasn't been able to go there as much lately due to her job, which is very disappointing, but I'm hoping she can get there some this year, and I'm hoping when she gives me nieces & nephews down the road, that I can take them down to the beach if she has to stay home and work (with the full-time babysitter that she'll obviously be sending along with them, as I would just be there for the fun parts!) There is no other place that has been in my life for that long. My childhood house was sold when I was a senior in high school, grandparents moved from their house where we spent so many holidays, and even my high school/middle school is finishing up a long process of upgrading & improving to the point that I would not even recognize it if not for the "Minnehaha Academy" signs outside on the lawn. Sarasota Sands is that one constant, a place where I can completely relax as soon as I walk through the doors & throw down my bags. A place where I know the options of where to eat and shop, even better than I know those same things in most of the Minneapolis suburbs. The only place where I am fine with showing off my white Minnesotan legs by wearing shorts all the time.

Dingo bones. If you have a dog, and haven't discovered these yet, please do your dog a favor and go to http://www.dingobrand.com/ and order some treats! They are rawhide bones that have real meat (with a rawhide like texture) mixed in them. They are like crack for my dog, Cookie. My sister's dog Keesha loves them too, so whenever I got money for whatever reason, I always place an order on their website to be shipped to my house & my sister's place. Taking care of the dogs is extremely important! My only suggestion might be to invest in a gas mask. Sometimes, well, as the dog is digesting it all, it doesn't smell so good, but that's a small price to pay for their extreme happiness!!

DirecTV w/sports pack & Tivo service...I keep hearing that getting rid of cable or satellite will save money, and that sounds great, but its not happening. I'll go for the pity factor. I used to be an extremely avid reader. After reading an average of 10-12 hrs a day at work, I would read at least another 2-5 hours at home. Books, magazines, web sites, emails, etc. I love reading. Unfortunately, that aforementioned head trauma thing has affected that. I am up to being able to read an average of 2 hours a day, spread out at different times. On a really good day, I might hit 4 hours, but then I tend to pay for it with reduced cognitive function a few days after that. So if I can't read like I'd like to do something other than stare at the walls and slowly move toward complete insanity...TV is definitely a necessity! The Sports pack is required because Gonzaga's regular channel for their games is Fox Sports NW (Seattle), which is part of the Sports Pack. I believe I only missed one game all year on TV, only because it was shown on delay on FSNW. Every other game was on FSNW (or one I caught on FS Pittsburgh), or one of the three ESPN options. I would say Gonzaga games fall under the "need" rather than "want" category! : ) Then, without DirecTV (or crappy cable) I wouldn't get 90% of the Twins games, or any of the Gopher basketball games. Yeah, we're keeping the TV!

Internet/Cell Phone - Gotta get on the web...I don't see people often away from the house anymore, but I get to stay connected with friends through Facebook, text messages, etc. Plus I get to post tons of photos for people to laugh at, which serves an important purpose of enriching people's lives and improving their mental health & inner balance! Oh, and how could I write this blog without my DSL or unlimited data plan on the cell phone?? Case closed.

I'm not sure what would go first if I got to a place where I had to start eliminating them, but there is no question that the #1 priority would always be to take care of the little 4-legged princesses in my life, so Dingo Bones top the list! Now I need to start googling to find that gas mask...

Random Thoughts for a Friday night/Saturday morning

2009-04-04T04:43:00.012-05:00

Here are a few thoughts that crossed my mind recently:

Due to injuries, Minnesota Wild Forward Marian Gaborik has only played in 13 of the teams’ 78 games to date. He has 9 goals & 5 assists in those 13 games, for a total of 14 points. The 9 goals make him 10th on the team, even though he’s only played in 17% of the games. He’s one of only 5 members of the team to have a positive +/- number for the year (and two of the other guys have spent half the year in the minors). His 1.08 points per game far surpasses anyone else on the team (Captain Mikko Koivu is 2nd with 0.84 points per game). The Wild as a team are currently on the outside looking in for the Western Conference playoff race, needing to probably win 3 or 4 of their final 4 games, and get help from some other teams, in order to sneak in to the post-season. They’ve won 47% of their games this year, and had 9 games where they earned 1 of a possible 2 points with an overtime loss (22% of their losses were OT losses). With Gaby in the line-up, they’ve won 62% of the time, and 40% of their losses were OT losses where they earned that 1 point and didn’t go home completely empty-handed. Basically what all of this stats mumbo-jumbo is saying (and the numbers are a lot simpler than they may look!), is that if Marian Gaborik had stayed healthy this year, the Wild would be trying to play for home advantage in the playoffs right now, rather than crossing their fingers & hoping that enough other teams lose for them to slide in to the second season. What I don’t know, is if that’s an argument for the team to try to hold on to him whatever it takes, or an argument for the team to cut ties, and try to find a difference maker who might be on the ice a little more often than the frequently injured Czech all-star. Wild fans saw what happened last year though, when he stayed on the ice for the essentially the whole season – the team won its first Northwest Division Championship. Hmm…

Life on Mars on ABC. Poor Jason O’Mara never seems to get a show that lasts long. He was in The Agency, In Justice & now Life on Mars. The Agency lasted the longest at 22 episodes. In Justice was 13 & Life on Mars has been canceled after 17 eps. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641816/) I have watched Life on Mars all season (but don’t tell me how it ends since I am 3 episodes behind on my iPod), and haven’t been sure what to think. I thought the first couple episodes were great, and they hooked me in, but then the next one was just odd, and it seemed to alternate between a fun & different cop show, to too bizarre to really watch. All the ones from February have, in my opinion, really clicked and demonstrated what the show could be, but it had already lost too many viewers by that point, and was canceled. I loved the concept of the guy being stuck in 1973 & not knowing if it was a dream, a coma, time travel, etc., but they just experimented with making it too many different kinds of shows early on. Disappointing. Good thing Burn Notice comes back in June for Season 3 (and I’m following @jeffrey_donovan on Twitter in the meantime- he plays Michael Westen - as gives little updates on the filming & even some fun photos from the set).

My latest sports rant is about slam dunk contests. They need to change. I think after years of stagnant, boring type competitions, the dunks have gotten much creative again, from the high school level, to college, to the pros, but the judging needs to change. One, get judges that have a clue. Jon Secada doing the high school one? Calvin Johnson (Detroit Lions wide receiver) doing the college one, and giving a 7 on a dunk when everyone else gave it a 10 might show that he didn’t really know what defines a good dunk. Two, let them use video replay in their voting! With some of the creative dunks that kids come up with these days, its sometimes hard to catch all of what they did when watching it in real time as it happens. Some dunks don’t look quite so impressive until you see the replay, and then I often find myself thinking “How on earth did they do that?” I realize this is not quite as important as improving the economy & establishing world peace, but this has a much easier fix too!

Congrats to Gonzaga basketball seniors who had some fun this week in Detroit. While it wasn't for the Final Four, as they would've wished, they made their presence felt in the College All-Star competitions. Jeremy Pargo & Micah Downs were two of the eight participants in the slam dunk contest. They each had some of the best dunks in the first round, and advanced to the semis, but failed to get their dunks down in the Semis, so hence, didn't advance to the finals. One of Pargo's dunks made the Sportscenter highlights though: http://tiny.cc/2009CollegeDunk and one You Tube site showed all the 1st round dunks http://tiny.cc/09DunkRd1 and here are a couple other good Pargo dunks from real Gonzaga games: http://tiny.cc/PargoatSMC, http://tiny.cc/Pargo360, http://tiny.cc/PargoAkron. Unfortunately, even though Micah Downs had one of the best game dunks I've seen last year, which was #1 Top Play on Sportscenter, I can't find a video of it online, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but I did find one little dunk video I took last year, which is at the end of this post. I haven't figured out how to edit videos yet, so after Micah's dunk there is a lot of nothing, and then a fairly routine Ira Brown dunk, so just watch the beginning! Then in the Hershey's All-Star Basketball Game, big man Josh Heytvelt played a big role in team Reese's coming back to win, as he hit a go-ahead 3 pointer late in the game, finishing with 17 pts & 11 rebounds, in another opportunity for him to show off to the scouts his ability to play inside & outside. http://tiny.cc/HeytveltReeses

Jeremy Pargo also did his part earlier this year to help promote the "Coaches vs. Cancer" fight for the Spokane area chapter. Zags coach Mark Few has had many fundraisers, which have made him the #2 money raising coach nationwide for Coaches vs. Cancer. Pretty impressive for the smaller school in a very small media market! Here's a video that Jeremy Pargo did, and yes, this text number is still applicable to make $5 donations to the cause! http://tiny.cc/PargoCVC

Finally, those of you reading this on Facebook, you should take a look at what will be a continuing series of a photo diary, where Sleepy (as in the 7 Dwarfs) shares the picture story of his life, traveling with me for work trips & vacations, including his thoughts and comments. He got started yesterday, but I'm only letting him do a few pictures at a time, so you'll have to keep checking in on him! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67181&id=533074373&l=26b89ea2fd.

NCAA Basketball - why aren't coaches & players treated the same when "transferring"?

2009-03-31T02:59:00.012-05:00

NCAA coaches & players have totally different rules, and something isn't right about that. Washington St. men's basketball coach Tony Bennett is taking the open head coaching spot at the University of Virginia (read about it at http://tiny.cc/wEQya). I have no issue with him switching jobs, and going to the ACC school with the state of the art basketball facilities that UVA alum Jeff Kelberg keeps mentioning when he says they can't settle for mediocrity. He will be able to start coaching the team right away, and will be sitting on the Cavaliers bench all next season. (As the article shows, this also was a big surprise, because Bennett turned down the Indiana coaching spot last year, which led everyone to believe he probably planned to stay at Wazzu for a long time).

Meanwhile, the Cougars have players like soon to be sophomore Klay Thompson, the son of former Minnesota Gophers/Portland Trailblazers/L.A. Lakers great Mychal Thompson. Klay got upset and according to his father, wanted to go somewhere else, but dad calmed him down and reminded him that he'd have to sit out a year if he transferred to another school (a talk he likely had with oldest son Mychel last year, when Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg resigned mid-season). Why should Klay have to sit out though, if he wants to do the same thing his coach is doing?

I believe if the head coach of a school quits/is fired/goes to another school, kids from that team should be allowed to transfer with no penalty of sitting out a year, and kids who want to transfer to that team should be allowed to play right away as well. It wouldn't penalize kids who made this huge college decision based on a coach who is no longer going to be there, and it might give some other kids a chance to get more playing time, simply because kids who were recruited by the original coach want to go elsewhere.

That's really the only "fair" option, because heaven knows the NCAA would never make the coaches sit out a year, nor would that really make sense to anyone. Just even it out for the kids. Those Washington St. players are the ones who put the wins up on the board that made Tony Bennett desirable to a team on the other side of the country!

Meanwhile, the Washington St. head coaching spot is open now. According to the Seattle Times article by Bud Withers (the link found earlier in this blog), all 4 leading candidates have some sort of connection to my Gonzaga Bulldogs:

Portland St. coach Ken Boone might not have coached with the Zags, but he holds the rare honor of having coached a team to victory at Gonzaga in the 2nd version of the "Kennel," the McCarthey athletic center. Since the new Kennel opened in the fall of 2004, the only opposing teams to win there have been Santa Clara, the aforementioned Washington St. (coached by Tony Bennett) and Portland St. this season.
Ray Giacoletti just finished his 2nd year as an assistant coach for the Zags, after being the head coach at Utah and prior to that Eastern Washington, which is in the same general vicinity as Gonzaga & Washington St. He took a Gonzaga team known for being all offense and no defense, and turned them into the team that finished with the 2nd best opponent field goal shooting % in the country this season (after being #1 up until the last week of the season, when Memphis took over...speaking of schools where the head coach is about to take another job).
Billy Grier, San Diego Toreros head coach. Prior to his last two years in the sunshine, and the 2008 NCAA tournament upset of UConn, Bill Grier spent 16 years as an assistant to Mark Few, Dan Monson & Dan Fitzgerald when they took their turns as head coaches of the Zags.
Dan Monson, Long Beach St. head coach. He is, of course, the Gonzaga coach that started the string of 11 straight NCAA tournament appearances, and the only one to lead them to an Elite 8 (with both Mark Few & Billy Grier on his staff). Then he decided to take the money and head for the "greener pastures" of the Big Ten, and the sanction riddled Minnesota Gophers. Unfortunately, someone forgot to water the grass in those pastures, and he endured a long, bumpy, probably not all that fun ride in Minneapolis, but as a Gopher fan, I appreciate that he got the team out from under the weight of the scandal, and got the players back into class again! They didn't win enough though, so he was given the opportunity to resign before they were going to show him out the door if he didn't.

Odds are, one of these men will be named the new Washington St. Cougars head coach. I hope its someone that young sharpshooter Klay Thompson enjoys playing for over the next 3 years!

Tonight's Random Thoughts/Tidbits

2009-03-29T01:47:00.012-05:00

After I told my mom that I would probably write a lot about sports in my blog, she said she hoped I'd do more than that, because I have such deep thoughts that I could write. I can see it now - "Deep Thoughts with Liz Strand" but for some reason, that "Deep Thoughts" title sounds familiar already. Hmmm.

I'm in the mood for shorter tidbit thoughts, so here goes:

I get how the 5-hour Energy drink/shot could be effective, as it does include the amount of caffeine that is in a premium coffee, which ranges from 100-200 mg, depending on where you get it. Apparently brewing at home is closer to 100 mg, while Starbucks is closer to 200 mg. What I don't get, however, is how the Decaf 5-hour Energy works. Caffeine doesn't always work for me. Sometimes it actually makes me more tired, among the other odd ways I react to it, so I thought I'd try the Decaf version (only 5 mg of caffeine), and it actually worked, making me feel more energized and lively for a few hours. My question is, was that 100% psychological, because I believed that it would work, or does the "Energy Blend" in it, plus a few other vitamins, actually make a difference?
Back to sports (sorry mom, but at least I had one non-sports thought there). The #4 seed Vanderbilt women's basketball team definitely gave #1 seed Maryland quite a scare today, before falling short at the end. It reminded me of the #3 seed Gonzaga men vs. the #2 seed UCLA team back in 2006 (picture Adam Morrison crying on the court and it will all come back to you). Vandy led by 18 in the 1st half; Zags led by 17. Vandy led by 9 with about 5 min left in the game; Zags led by 10 with about 5 min left in the game. Vandy only scored 3 points the rest of the game; Zags only scored 2 points the rest of the game. I have a friend who is a Vanderbilt fan, so I was pulling for them to win, plus I have a healthy "sports-related bitterness" feeling toward Maryland coach Brenda Frese, after she used the University of Minnesota women's team as a stepping stone/group of girls to walk all over on a very brief stop as the head coach of the Gophers. Bummer. Thankfully, the Vanderbilt loss won't enter my nightmares like the Gonzaga-UCLA loss did for many days after it happened. (I'd say those nightmares were still happening now, but that might lead some people to question my sanity, so I'm sticking by my story that they only lasted a few days).
I admit that I did not participate in Earth Hour tonight, as I was watching the Hopkins-Osseo Boy's Basketball MN State tournament game between 8:30 and 9:30, although I didn't actually have a light on, as I always watch TV in the dark in my basement. I was a bit curious though, since my sister is in Las Vegas celebrating her 30th Birthday right now - exactly how would Vegas go about turning off the lights for an hour? That would be bad for tourism, but could really up the overtime hours for those crime lab stars on CSI:!
I'm wondering if it is possible to have an addiction to something that technically has no addictive qualities. In honor of Sarah's 30th birthday, while she is celebrating in Vegas, I ordered a Cookies by Design frosted pan cookie for me to share with the parents (I did order her a cookie package that she got in Vegas too). I cannot resist it. Its a large pizza size chocolate chip cookie with a lot of frosting on it. I have to continually fight the urge to eat it. I also love chocolate, but as people may recall from back in the day when I had the candy jar on my desk (and had the extra candy locked up to protect it from Newman & other candyaholics who would stoop to theft in order to get their fix), I had no problem ignoring that and not eating it...although the same cannot be said for some people who walked past my desk a lot! So why do the frosting covered cookies have a pull on me that I feel I am powerless to resist?

On that note, I'm going to let my tired little brain get some much needed rest, and hope it has some energy tomorrow!

How Zags could've beaten North Carolina

2009-03-28T20:13:00.005-05:00

I have a few thoughts in my mind, which must be what kept me awake until 6:20am today. Just to clarify, I in no way think I know more than Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few, nor am I questioning anything he did. I'm just expressing what I observed about the game.

The turnovers were a huge issue, and leaving jump shooters open was a problem, but I think if Gonzaga had taken good shots, they could've beaten North Carolina. Rick Pitino, head coach of #1 overall seed Louisville, said after their win over Arizona yesterday "That's the great myth for us. People say you're not a good shooting team. We're not when we take challenged shots. When we pass, we're a great shooting team. Our press feeds off the passing and the scoring." ( http://tiny.cc/RickPitino ) That was a major issue for the Zags, and I believe it stems from how they played against "lesser" teams all year. They took way too many long jump shots without ever passing the ball inside, or driving the ball inside first. On Friday, those shots usually didn't go in, and North Carolina was able to get the long rebound and run down in transition to score. Over, and over, and over.

Gonzaga was able to get away with doing this all season long against teams that were not as good, but by getting in those bad habits, it kept coming out on Friday night against a much tougher opponent. When the Zags drove inside first, or passed inside first, good things happened! Heytvelt scored or was fouled, Bouldin took a smaller defensive player to the hoop, or it was passed out for an easier jump shot for someone like Gray. I'd been arguing this point to my family watching the game with me, the whole night. Clark Kellogg started to say the same things on CBS all throughout the 2nd half (I'm fairly certain I never thought that Billy Packer and I were on the same page in the past!).

I completely believe that UNC is the best overall team in the tourney this year, and as Mark Few also said "It's just -- and I've said all along, if all 16 of us, if we all play at the top of our game, North Carolina wins the national championship. I just feel like, when they're playing at their highest end, they're better than the rest of us. " (http://tiny.cc/LL5nY ) I also believe that North Carolina didn't necessarily play their very best, but had a chance to show off their best skills because of offensive mistakes made by Gonzaga .

Alas, we'll never know. Thanks to Jeremy Pargo for 4 years of intense dedication and fun moments; to Josh Heytvelt for showing everyone how a tough experience can make a person better overall, both on and off the court; to Micah Downs for taking on the true "Zag" role this year, as the biggest hustler & scrapper on the team, combined with a very high talent level; to Ira Brown for showing fans some special athleticism and energy off the bench; and to Andrew Sorenson for always being fun to cheer for, for always being the first off the bench to great teammates, and for making us all smile with the 15 pts on senior day!

Liz's First Blog Post

2009-03-28T02:57:00.002-05:00

I have always done a lot of writing in the past, and I started text messaging before it was the cool thing to do (way back in 2000...). I gave in to peer pressure and joined Facebook, and write too many thoughts there, and I started the microblogging on Twitter, but I've never done an actual blog. I'm guessing no one will be standing in line to read my blogs, but I figure this is a good way for me to get some of my thoughts "on paper" and express them, because I've always found that things make more sense when I write them down. Even if no one else reads them!

This blog won't have one special subject matter or focus, but it will just be whatever is on my mind. Of course, most of the time, that would be something related to sports! But some Disney thoughts might creep in as well, or just random things that come to mind. I just want to get myself writing again, and see if that inspires me to do more writing!