Again apologies for the long layoff. I must improve at finding time to write even in hectic times. At the outset I anticipate this being a shorter entry in to the annals of my blogging history, but things can change. Hopefully this will get back in the swing of things.
I can think of very few things in this world that are better than the sports mob. Some will say the birth of your child or getting married, but not me. Nothing beats the pure elation of the instant in which a sports mob occurs. It is the only situation I can think of where 15-50 men can pile on top of each other, hug, and scream like a bunch of girls who haven't seen each other for a month all while keeping their heterosexuality 100% intact. Perhaps the best thing about the celebratory sports mob is that it can happen after any outing it doesn't have to follow only the most important games. A walk off win on badly misplayed fly to right field on Jan 23 can give way to jubilation that gives me chills. I think every person who played sports growing up dreamed about having the chance to dogpile after winning a championship, and that moment of unadulterated joy.
I have been fortunate enough to experience some form of the sports mob a few times in different forms, and only one of those moments left me questioning gay or not gay. The one that sticks out in my mind the most right now was following a shoot out win in a rain soaked high school soccer game. The field was covered in so much water that puddles had formed to the point that they would stop the ball from rolling. Our team was down to our last shot before the ref was going to call the game, ending in a tie unless we scored. My brother buried a shot giving us the win. We all bum rushed the field enjoying a dogpile, and sliding head first on the water drenched field for what seemed like 30 yards spraying mud everywhere. After the on field celebration we all retreated to the locker room and group showered to get what mud we could off (in true high school form everyone left their uniform on except one ambitious soul). Funny thing about that, this incidence isn't even the one that makes me ask gay or not gay. I still get chills when I think about that game, and how much fun the celebration was, and I did absolutely nothing to influence the outcome. I sat for 120 plus very cold very wet minutes and that celebration will be with me forever.
Maybe I am alone in my feelings for the sports mob, but I doubt that I am. When a team that I cheer for wins something significant I long to be in that pile. I get sports choked up, and it is possible that after one of my teams finally made it to the world series I might have had a short sports cry. It might be why I spent close to 100 dollars on champagne in 2010 and didn't drink a drop, but instead celebrated the division title and the two play off series victories with the stickiest showers any one could ever love to have.
Having kids and getting married is pretty cool too.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Ahh Florida. The Sunshine State
Greetings from a slightly more farmer tanned David. Sorry for the long layoff of posts. (I doubt the apology is really necessary since no one, almost assuredly, suffered from any angst waiting for the next blog.) As promised the blog would not be 100% sports related, and here is an attempt to tackle something a little more light hearted and personal to the goings on of my life.
Recently my wife and I took the kids to visit their aunt and uncle in Florida. This trip had two main themes. Long car rides and going to the beach. The long car rides, predictably, were boring for the most part. Therefore, they will go uncovered except to say two things. I can't help but wonder if it annoyed my wife to stop at every baseball field between Dallas and Pensacola so I could add to my minor league hat collection (I know it annoyed Braden, because every time we stopped anywhere the phrase "please tell me this is not about a baseball hat" was muttered from the back seat). Also, the show swamp people has infested my family's minds. Vanessa, Braden, and I rated every creek, lake, river, and puddle from Louisiana all the way to Florida based on the likelihood of being able to catch a gator there. None of us will ever catch a gator anywhere thus making the exercise futile if not a decent way to pass time. That sums up the car trip, if you desire anymore coverage of that particular area email me and I'll forward you route directions and playlists.
Now to the more interesting stuff. The beaches in Pensacola, and Destin. First of all, the white sand beaches are amazing. It shouldn't surprise anyone, but the Florida beaches beat the crap out of anything we have here in Texas (Sorry South Padre fans). Pensacola Beach, as described by my brother, is a party beach. This was extremely evident when we went on Saturday morning. The thing that stands out most in my mind is the guy who was to drunk to walk on sand, but he had the genius idea that walking in the ocean would be much easier. Had he actually drowned it wouldn't have been near as funny, but with each wave he took spectacular falls only to stand up a little more dazed, and a little more confused. When I offered a "hey buddy, are you good?" he had the witty retort of a slow turn of the head, a drunken stumble nearly leading to a fall on top of Braden (which would have lead to an ass beating of epic proportions) and the obvious inability to make actual words come out of his mouth. He later almost got his ass kicked for digging in the wrong backpack before passing out in a lawn chair which he hopefully awoke to a massive sunburn and throbbing headache. I had some other head scratching observations from that particular beach. Such as, is it really necessary to play beer pong at the beach? Could you not have just grabbed your 24 pack and got drunk as you want sitting in the waves, or do we need to make the beach more kick ass by adding beer pong? Idiocracy if you ask me. Also, you know your courting efforts of a young lady have gone awry when the following line is issued, "You are here with your grandparents? Wait, how old are you?" I had to bite my lip when I heard a guy say that on his way to a strike out equivalent to when the Mighty Casey was playing for the Mudville Nine. All that being said, it is truly amazing to me that beach bums can be so laid back and easy going when they have so much sand in so many cracks where it is never comfortable. The beach is a great place, but I am pretty sure there is a negative correlation between the number of kids you are responsible for and the amount of fun you can have at the beach. It became a tedious task unloading all the required equipment to make it possible to have a 6 year old and a 5 month old at the beach all morning. Then getting everyone heavily sunscreened (spf 110, we shun the sun). Then after swimming getting everyone rinsed off, towels and blankets shaken out, and buckets of sand dumped out.
I will leave you with this last short thought. On Sunday morning my brother and I snorkeled in Destin. Conditions were not great, but it was really fun. The current in the ocean was going so fast I could swim like Michael Phelps going with it (or inversely my brother, who is well on his way to being a Navy rescue swimmer, had to swim at full strength against it just to stay in one place), and schools of jellyfish two of which stung me pretty good, cut the day a little short, but that is something I definitely want to do again and highly recommend. (My old english teacher would have marked that last sentence up like crazy, that is a run on if I've ever seen one).
Recently my wife and I took the kids to visit their aunt and uncle in Florida. This trip had two main themes. Long car rides and going to the beach. The long car rides, predictably, were boring for the most part. Therefore, they will go uncovered except to say two things. I can't help but wonder if it annoyed my wife to stop at every baseball field between Dallas and Pensacola so I could add to my minor league hat collection (I know it annoyed Braden, because every time we stopped anywhere the phrase "please tell me this is not about a baseball hat" was muttered from the back seat). Also, the show swamp people has infested my family's minds. Vanessa, Braden, and I rated every creek, lake, river, and puddle from Louisiana all the way to Florida based on the likelihood of being able to catch a gator there. None of us will ever catch a gator anywhere thus making the exercise futile if not a decent way to pass time. That sums up the car trip, if you desire anymore coverage of that particular area email me and I'll forward you route directions and playlists.
Now to the more interesting stuff. The beaches in Pensacola, and Destin. First of all, the white sand beaches are amazing. It shouldn't surprise anyone, but the Florida beaches beat the crap out of anything we have here in Texas (Sorry South Padre fans). Pensacola Beach, as described by my brother, is a party beach. This was extremely evident when we went on Saturday morning. The thing that stands out most in my mind is the guy who was to drunk to walk on sand, but he had the genius idea that walking in the ocean would be much easier. Had he actually drowned it wouldn't have been near as funny, but with each wave he took spectacular falls only to stand up a little more dazed, and a little more confused. When I offered a "hey buddy, are you good?" he had the witty retort of a slow turn of the head, a drunken stumble nearly leading to a fall on top of Braden (which would have lead to an ass beating of epic proportions) and the obvious inability to make actual words come out of his mouth. He later almost got his ass kicked for digging in the wrong backpack before passing out in a lawn chair which he hopefully awoke to a massive sunburn and throbbing headache. I had some other head scratching observations from that particular beach. Such as, is it really necessary to play beer pong at the beach? Could you not have just grabbed your 24 pack and got drunk as you want sitting in the waves, or do we need to make the beach more kick ass by adding beer pong? Idiocracy if you ask me. Also, you know your courting efforts of a young lady have gone awry when the following line is issued, "You are here with your grandparents? Wait, how old are you?" I had to bite my lip when I heard a guy say that on his way to a strike out equivalent to when the Mighty Casey was playing for the Mudville Nine. All that being said, it is truly amazing to me that beach bums can be so laid back and easy going when they have so much sand in so many cracks where it is never comfortable. The beach is a great place, but I am pretty sure there is a negative correlation between the number of kids you are responsible for and the amount of fun you can have at the beach. It became a tedious task unloading all the required equipment to make it possible to have a 6 year old and a 5 month old at the beach all morning. Then getting everyone heavily sunscreened (spf 110, we shun the sun). Then after swimming getting everyone rinsed off, towels and blankets shaken out, and buckets of sand dumped out.
I will leave you with this last short thought. On Sunday morning my brother and I snorkeled in Destin. Conditions were not great, but it was really fun. The current in the ocean was going so fast I could swim like Michael Phelps going with it (or inversely my brother, who is well on his way to being a Navy rescue swimmer, had to swim at full strength against it just to stay in one place), and schools of jellyfish two of which stung me pretty good, cut the day a little short, but that is something I definitely want to do again and highly recommend. (My old english teacher would have marked that last sentence up like crazy, that is a run on if I've ever seen one).
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Over Rated
I am probably coming late to the party, but since my blog is still in its first week of existence you’ll have to excuse the tardiness of this topic, and hopefully still find it interesting. Rick Carlisle made a claim that Dirk Nowitzki is a top ten player of all time. When we heard that most of us, even the most ardent of Mavs homers, probably thought something along the lines of “tap the brakes their buddy.” I took special exception to his claim, because I am fervent in my belief that Dirk is one of the most overrated players in NBA history.
Quick (Or maybe not so quick) tangent. This post will probably upset some people for a few reasons. First, people will interpret overrated to mean bad. I do not believe Dirk is a bad player (I might repeat that a few times) more on this later. Second, people who know me will say “you just don’t like the Mavs”, which is half true. I don’t like the Mavs, but they do employ former Gator great and 2 time NCAA champion Corey Brewer so I don’t dislike the Mavs (and please, given the timing of the post do not make this a Mavs - Heat thing, because it is not). Third, and probably the most legitimate reason to write this off, I am not an NBA fan. Not in the current iteration anyways. I began to type out the reasons why, but perhaps in the spirit of brevity I will save that for another day.
Onwards, upwards, and back to the task at hand. Dirk is not a top ten all time player, probably not a top 50 all time player and possibly not a top 100 all time player. To begin I will list my top ten, in no particular order. I will save that for another day too (I believe in the industry that is called a tease). Keep in mind that any list like this can’t be perfect, there will be players whom I can only go off what I have read and heard about them, because I am way too young to have seen them play. My top ten includes: Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant. This list might be a little heavy on more contemporary players, but in general I lean towards athletes these days being bigger stronger and faster than those of yester years. Thus, it take a true one of a kind player from “the old days” to crack this list.
Here is my major complaint with Dirk. He is a one way player. He is a great shooter, and he has made huge leaps forward in his post play and overall toughness. However, to be one of the true elites you need to start great and get better. He started as a good shooter, and developed in to a more complete offensive threat. He is still merely and adequate rebounder and a subpar defender, if not an outright defensive liability. The all time greats get it done in all three phases. They play offense they rebound (relative to their position) and play good defense.
There is still a lot to be played out in the career of many active players in the NBA. Of the current players, I can think of at least 10 whom I’d project rather have career wise than Dirk Nowitzki. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Pau
Friday, June 10, 2011
Turning over a new leaf
For the most part I like area based teams. I am a huge Rangers fan; sometimes I have been accused of taking that fandom to the outer edges of what is appropriate for an adult to invest emotionally into a sports team. That accusation doesn't bother me one bit, mostly because it is probably true. My hockey allegiance will always lay with the Dallas Stars, and I was raised a Cowboy fan. (There was a period of my life where I cheered for the Jets, but after becoming disenfranchised with their front office decisions I came back home, like the prodigal son, and I promise to never leave God's team again).
However there is a local team that has been omitted. Yooooooouuuuur DALlas MAVERICKS!!!!! (Hopefully, when you read this you were able to channel the PA announcer booming that through the AA center). In the past I have been accused of being a Mav hater. I believe one person even used the term anit-MFFL. This is not true. I do not hate the Mavs. Just the same as I don't hate the fly trying to land on my plate at the picnic. I view them only as a simple annoyance. An irrelevance that people for some reason want to talk about all the time. My NBA team of choice is the Los Angeles Lakers, our "rivals" are the Celtics, because we play them to win championships. We don't worry about the Mavericks who are good but not great. My two biggest gripes about the Mavericks are 1) Dirk is over rated, but people love hyping him up to be more than he is (My next post will delve deeply into this) 2) They take time on my favorite local talk radio station 1310 the ticket that could be used on one of the teams that I do like or on something else that would entertain me. Granted #2 is extremely self centered and selfish to expect differently, but these are MY gripes so I get to neglect the popular majority in this instance.
All that, to get to this. I have decided to cheer for the Mavs to win the finals. I know that you might read this and think," how convenient to decide that when they are up 3-2 against the Heat", and that is valid. However, I want to point out they have been up 2-0 and managed to lose 4 straight, so losing 2 straight is not that outlandish. Also I do't want you thinking that I am jumping onto the Mav bandwagon. I am not. They still annoy me. I am cheering for them for three reasons and three reasons only. Reason A: I have lots of friends who are huge Mav fans, and in the past I have enjoyed playing the role of the contrarian, but as the title suggests, I am turning over a new leaf. I am supporting my friends in their fandom, and I want them to enjoy a championship celebration. Reason B) Corey Brewer is one of my all time favorite former Gator greats, and I want him to get an NBA ring to match his two NCAA ones. Reason C) after the Rangers huge run to the World Series everyone jumped on their bandwagon. Thus it became much harder to get a cheap ticket and made every slap dick think they were a Ranger expert. Hopefully if the Mavs win they'll distract from the Rangers bandwagon just enough so I can find my comfort zone again with my favorite team in sports. (I had to be selfish with at least one reason)
However there is a local team that has been omitted. Yooooooouuuuur DALlas MAVERICKS!!!!! (Hopefully, when you read this you were able to channel the PA announcer booming that through the AA center). In the past I have been accused of being a Mav hater. I believe one person even used the term anit-MFFL. This is not true. I do not hate the Mavs. Just the same as I don't hate the fly trying to land on my plate at the picnic. I view them only as a simple annoyance. An irrelevance that people for some reason want to talk about all the time. My NBA team of choice is the Los Angeles Lakers, our "rivals" are the Celtics, because we play them to win championships. We don't worry about the Mavericks who are good but not great. My two biggest gripes about the Mavericks are 1) Dirk is over rated, but people love hyping him up to be more than he is (My next post will delve deeply into this) 2) They take time on my favorite local talk radio station 1310 the ticket that could be used on one of the teams that I do like or on something else that would entertain me. Granted #2 is extremely self centered and selfish to expect differently, but these are MY gripes so I get to neglect the popular majority in this instance.
All that, to get to this. I have decided to cheer for the Mavs to win the finals. I know that you might read this and think," how convenient to decide that when they are up 3-2 against the Heat", and that is valid. However, I want to point out they have been up 2-0 and managed to lose 4 straight, so losing 2 straight is not that outlandish. Also I do't want you thinking that I am jumping onto the Mav bandwagon. I am not. They still annoy me. I am cheering for them for three reasons and three reasons only. Reason A: I have lots of friends who are huge Mav fans, and in the past I have enjoyed playing the role of the contrarian, but as the title suggests, I am turning over a new leaf. I am supporting my friends in their fandom, and I want them to enjoy a championship celebration. Reason B) Corey Brewer is one of my all time favorite former Gator greats, and I want him to get an NBA ring to match his two NCAA ones. Reason C) after the Rangers huge run to the World Series everyone jumped on their bandwagon. Thus it became much harder to get a cheap ticket and made every slap dick think they were a Ranger expert. Hopefully if the Mavs win they'll distract from the Rangers bandwagon just enough so I can find my comfort zone again with my favorite team in sports. (I had to be selfish with at least one reason)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Choice...
I decided since we have a communist president I might as well start to be a fan of a communist sport. (I kid about the communist president, I would have voted for him if my Dad’s presidential candidacy didn’t rely entirely on my write in vote). And since I am already a Dallas Stars fan the only communist sport left is soccer. To be fair I was already a fringe soccer fan. I can name some players and some teams. Every four years I become a hardcore soccer addict (this cycle coincidentally aligns with the World Cup cycle, funny huh? Ethnocentrism anybody?) After some mild internet research and some brief viewing of fox soccer net I am nearing a team to follow, but the first task before ever picking a team is picking a league to follow.. As I see it there are three possible choices for me: La Liga, The EPL, and the MLS.
La Liga- This is the Spanish league. It is home to such powers as Barcelona
The EPL (English Premiere League) – Has some of the most recognizable names in soccer. Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool . It is also highly touted as some of the most exciting soccer in the world. When most people in America Europe to catch a game isn’t really an option. Which leads to the one down side, if/when I do go to Europe to catch a game I think I would enjoy visiting Spain
MLS- They don’t really stand a chance. I can appreciate what they are trying to do, and I do support a situation that will help develop American born players into (hopefully) top world talents some day (More ethnocentrism. Hooray!!!) It just feels like I would be saying, “I want to be a football fan, but the NFL isn’t my style. Which Canadian Football team would be best for me?” Just doesn’t work. Maybe in time, but not right now.
So the winner is the EPL. Mostly for name recognition and availability on television. Starting off there are 20 possibilities, and to whittle them down to onewe will ask the important questions that need to be asked and answered…
1) Will this team be relegated in the foreseeable future? In order for me to be a fan of a team the answer to this question must be No. In the EPL the 3 worst teams in a season get sent down to a lower league and the top 3 teams from the lower league get called up. If the team I follow gets relegated it would be like trying to follow an AAA baseball team in Japan Chelsea , Man City , Arsenal, Liverpool , Everton, Fullham.
2) Who has players that I a) recognize and b) like or at least am neutral towards?
By the #’s Man U had 8 players I recognized, Chelsea 3, Man City, Everton, and Fullham all had 2, and Liverpool and Arsenal both had 1. I will knock the last two out of the running. The overwhelming number of players I recognize should put Man U over the top, but I hate Wayne Rooney (Don’t really know why either, he seems like he might be a whiner) and that makes them in the middle of the pack. We are now down to Man U, Chelsea, Man City
3) Will they consistently compete for championships? Some people would say that is similar to if someone from England
4) Is it ever ok to pick a team based on colors? In short that seems bi-curious at best and full blown Liberace at worst (note: by full blown Liberace I am not referring to homosexuality in so much as a blatant disregard for any form of masculinity. Thus in future post might be referred to as the “Bob and Dan” gay ). Also Jerry Seinfeld does a famous bit about if you cheer for a team no matter who plays for them you are basically just cheering for laundry. In the spirit of full disclosure why not celebrate the fact that the uniform is playing a significant role in deciding who I cheer for. After all, I might one day find myself wearing the kit of my chosen team, and I want to be suited up in what I like best. I tend to be a bigger fan of the Classic Chelsea blue than the red of Man U.
So the Winner is Chelsea
Captain's Log 6/7/2011
Welcome to my first foray into the blogosphere. Congratulations, you have just got a ticket to the worst lottery ever. There are two possible outcomes, and I'm not sure which one makes you a bigger winner... this could become a train wreck in verbal form, or it might be some mildly entertaining musings mostly centered around the wide world of sports (hence the title writing bout balls). I will also occasionally delve into other topics such as movies, tv, annoying things and what makes my friend Leman a shitbag. I consider these to be mostly male-centric type topics (hence the double entendre portion of the blog title "writing bout balls"). Hopefully this will give you some insight into my life, or at the very least the crazy things my wife has to deal with on a nearly daily basis. I anticipate being able to post many comical quotes from my 6 year old son who has been classically trained in comedy, and if by some strange miracle this lasts long enough for my 5 month old to get funny I'll post that too. For the most part I intend for this to be family friendly good old fashioned writing (I'll save most of the dirtier stuff for my stand up routine). I can't promise however that I won't suffer from verbal diarrhea when in the middle of intense sports musings. If you choose to continue to follow this blog I appreciate it, please always feel free to let me know what you think. If you like it feel free to pass it along to friends.
One last thing to whet your appetite for more(or the first stop to jump off the train before it all crashes and burns)...My next post will begin to look at my approach to EPL fandom. I will work on picking a team to follow and become a rabid fan of. The post is sure to address such important topics as ... Is it ever okay for a man to pick a team based largely on colors? More to come in the next edition.
One last thing to whet your appetite for more(or the first stop to jump off the train before it all crashes and burns)...My next post will begin to look at my approach to EPL fandom. I will work on picking a team to follow and become a rabid fan of. The post is sure to address such important topics as ... Is it ever okay for a man to pick a team based largely on colors? More to come in the next edition.
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