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Attack His Second Serve
I woke up today and it was really, really nice outside. Just a beautiful, crisp, warm afternoon. I have to admit, I was a little upset that I had to go to work. Neema called me and asked me if I wanted to go play some football. The thought of ditching my last week of work crossed my mind. But I just couldn’t do it. As much as I don’t like work, I do have a love/hate relationship with the job. I woke up early and headed off to the gym. I also hit up the gym on the way back from work.
Today’s AM workout: 60:00 on the elliptical.
Today’s PM workout: 45:00 on the elliptical.
I also made a real effort to drink a lot of water today. I brought a bottle of water with me to work and drank about 5 bottles.
When I got to work I was shocked to find out that one of my kids had gone AWOL. For about the past three months now I have driven to Olivehurst every Sunday to pick up one of the clients. It’s about an hour drive so we have had a lot of time to talk. A lot more then the other clients. I guess I kind of got close to this kid and I would have never guessed he would have left home. I am kind of bummed out because most likely he will have a warrant issued, and when he is caught will be back in juvenile hall. I feel both bad for him, and also a little sad that I will not get to say goodbye before I leave the country. You can usually guess what kids will get done with the program to go on and have a normal life, and what kids will be in and out of the system. I guess I thought this kid would have just moved on. It’s really a shame because for the most part the kids are in this situation because they had crappy parents and nobody ever taught them how to act right. I am so grateful to my parents for raising me well and I know when I have kids they will always come first.
After work I went to the gym and then came home and cooked dinner. I didn’t really want to because I was tired. I ended up cooking because I had already defrosted the chicken and I had no other food in the house. Drats to being lazy. I ended up just making some sort of stir fry. I put in some chicken, some spices, hot sauce, and frozen veggies. I had the dumb idea to put this frozen spinach that has been in the freezer for a while now. It ended up looking really weird, tasting decent, and making me feel really healthy. I have the uncanny ability to eat pretty much anything. I think this will help on my Korea adventure.
I had some laundry drying and when I took it out to fold it my housemates cat decided it would be the best possible place to lay down. I’m sure it was warm and soft, she is a smart cat.
I’m ending the night watching some tennis I recorded. Andy Murray vs Rodger Federer. I think it’s going to be a pretty epic match. I am rooting for Andy because Rodger is just too good. Whenever some person or team dominates for a long time, I tend to stop like them. I think if it was a team I originally rooted for then that might be different. Maybe some day I will know…… hehe. I love tennis and hope to play more soon. I played in highschool and had a blast. I think being on that tennis team is one of the main things that made me who I am today. I gained a lot of confidence and made some great friends.
Cheers!
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Wes Sims Does Not Look Like A Professional Fighter (Before, During or After the Fight)
Wes Sims could destroy me in a fight. He’d destroy me with one hand tied behind his back. That out of the way, Wes Sims is the worst looking professional MMA fighter I’ve ever seen in my life as a casual fan. From his body to his technique the man just looks awful. This video is from the Strikeforce: Miami event the other night.
As soon as the bout begins Sims, looking overweight and out of shape, is putting his hands up in the air, trying to goad his opponent Bobby Lashley. Then he’s dancing around with his left arm dangling like a spent wrecking ball. A few seconds later Sims is on his back while Lashley rains blows to his temple. Their positions change a couple times but what stays constant is Lashley waling away on Sims’s head. Fun fight to watch, but Sims just looked terrible.
After the fight Sims makes himself look even worse. He accuses Strikeforce of essentially rigging the fight, saying it was two-on-one and an early stoppage. If that’s not bad enough he proceeds to refer to Lashley a “juiced up monkey”. To his interviewer’s credit the reporter immediately asks “Do you want to take back the monkey comment?” How often do you see a reporter try to defuse a situation, instead of making a big story about it. Very classy. Here is that interview.
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Dwight Freeney’s Status In Question
Towards the end of Indy’s AFC title game victory of the Jets, Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney suffered a “sprained” ankle.
As it turns out, that injury might be far more serious than the Colts initially let on. Freeney’s attempts to play on Sunday will prove difficult. Reportedly, he is suffering from a torn ligament in his right ankle.
At this point if Freeney plays, will he be effective? The Saints would likely try to run at him. Then, how would the Colts counter? Put him in on passing downs? That doesn’t work either.
It’s not a shoulder injury where he could still be somewhat useful. This would be similar to a power hitter in baseball suffering a hip injury. If he can’t drive the ball using his hips, his best asset is gone.
In Freeney’s case, speed is his greatest asset. If the Colts don’t have that, they’ve got a problem on their hands for Super Bowl Sunday.
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Wilson Tour Update- Australian Open 2010
Roger Federer used his new Wilson Six One Tour BLX tennis racket to win his 16th Grand Slam title at the 2010 Australian Open
Wilson’s Tour Team started the new decade in style as Roger Federer took his 16th career Grand Slam title, Serena Williams won her 12th career Grand Slam title to tie Wilson Tennis legend Billie Jean King and Venus & Serena Williams continued their doubles success as they won their 11th Grand Slam Doubles titles.
For full results from this year’s Australian Open, click here to check out Wilson’s Tour Update.
If you would like to receive Wilson’s Tour Update by email, please email WilsonTour@wilson.com
Have a great week
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Session 1-31-10
Very cold today but I got the training area over the freezing point by the time we got together.
Started out looking like just Matt and I today… we did 2 rounds of shadow boxing then followed up with 10 rounds of boxing. After those many rounds we were both soaked with sweat…in the cold that is just no good but fools we are we kept on. Always feel good after that much boxing; for sure I will sleep good tonight.
We pulled out the messer wasters I made a few weeks back and started working through some plays and concepts. Justin came in late and we worked for about 40 minutes further on the messer.
We finished up the session by working through some of the material from the Cane and Footpad article…from 1905 showing the use of a shillelagh in self defense.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jimmy_fatwing/Western/wittman/wittman.htm
Very cold today but I got the training area over the freezing point by the time we got together.
Started out looking like just Matt and I today… we did 2 rounds of shadow boxing then followed up with 10 rounds of boxing. After those many rounds we were both soaked with sweat…in the cold that is just no good but fools we are we kept on. Always feel good after that much boxing; for sure I will sleep good tonight.
We pulled out the messer wasters I made a few weeks back and started working through some plays and concepts. Justin came in late and we worked for about 40 minutes further on the messer.
We finished up the session by working through some of the material from the Cane and Footpad article…from 1905 showing the use of a shillelagh in self defense.http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jimmy_fatwing/Western/wittman/wittman.htm
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“Football” Congressman Exposed: He’s a Big Annoying Meanie!
My friends at the libertarian Reddit recently informed me of the Department of Justice’s bizarre letter to Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) regarding restructuring of – not the economy, health care, or gay rights, no – college football. Specifically, CNN Political Ticker reports that Senator Hatch raised a complaint with the Obama administration about the lack of a national championship in college football, which he views as the result of violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act on the part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Perhaps that sounds a little strange, as if the government is taking the Sherman Act and using it to change the policies of the private sector in a manner only tangentially related to trust-busting. Indeed, it is exactly that, as Obama was actually quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying he would “throw [his] weight around a little bit” in college football in order to get a proper playoff system established. The claim that the government is throwing its weight around in private affairs is one I expect to hear Rush Limbaugh making on a slow news day, not Obama openly stating as a bragging point.
When I read about this atrocity, I had to wonder about Senator Hatch and his political ideology. Whereas the Republican platform claims to advocate a limited federal government and interference in private affairs only when it is necessary for the public security, it seems improbable that Hatch could believe the lack of a college football championship is a threat to anyone’s security. What I found surprised me perhaps more than it should have. Although the senator has a moderate amount of respect for fiscal responsibility, repeatedly voting against economic stimulus bills and advocating a balanced budget, his honest Republicanism and regard for the Constitution ends there. On the issues, Senator Hatch is a neocon, a theocrat, and a big fat bully. He has a history of arbitrarily doing just what Obama loves – throwing his weight around – whenever he sees something that he does not like.
The senator’s concept of rights and free speech is odd, to say the least: “…we must amend the Constitution to restore the historic right to protect the flag. … We are not interested in diminishing free speech. But, by restoring the traditional power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag, we are drawing the line between legitimate free speech and destructive conduct.” Democrats and Libertarians in the audience will wince at the idea of an amendment to prohibit flag-burning. But Republicans and all rational persons should writhe in agony at the use of the phrase “right to protect the flag”, which means, “right to use violent force to protect the flag” (as that is the only way the government can enforce any law), which means, “right to use violent force to stop other people from destroying property they created and own as a public statement.” Apparently Hatch believes that just after the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness comes the right to force other people not to destroy something they own if it runs contrary to customary social values.
This arbitrary and inexplicable concept of rights may explain why, in 2004, Senator Hatch tried to outlaw the internet. Being that he was irritated with the rampant copyright violation on the internet, and obviously had never committed this crime himself, Senator Hatch proposed the INDUCE Act, which would have changed copyright legislation so that anyone who deliberately facilitates copyright violation would be tried for the violation itself. The bill qualified ‘deliberate inducement’ of violation by “whether the activity relies on infringement for its commercial viability.” What websites and services rely on copyright infringement for their commercial viability? To put it simply, all of them – or at least all of the ones you and I visit on a daily basis. The internet is a highly competitive economy, and most high-traffic sites operate on a fairly low profit margin. Cut out ten percent of their gross revenue, and they become inviable. What percentage of the page views on sites like Google, Youtube, MP3Raid, MegaVideo, and even Wikipedia derive from searches for illegitimate material? Not all or even most, but enough. Even Facebook would be dragged into court, as a common use among teenagers for the site is the redistribution of photographs of friends, which (believe it or not) is in violation of international copyright law. The point to recognize here is that relying on copyright violation for economic viability does not mean dealing explicitly in illegal transactions – it simply means benefiting from them to a significant degree. The very same network effect that makes the internet such a valuable resource also makes it impossible to completely separate oneself from the crime committed on it.
Orrin Hatch also voted in favor of federally prohibiting homosexual marriage while attempting to prohibit it Constitutionally. When Stephen Colbert and the progressives complain about the angry-white Christian-right, Senator Hatch is the sort of man they target. His inconsistent principles and inappropriate use of the term ‘rights’ to describe bullying by the government give the freedom-loving conservatives a bad name. He hangs tightly along party lines on denouncing welfare and blocking excessive spending, but party lines are his only motivation – he cannot be construed to have a philosophical understanding of the failures of government while he still views it as a morally acceptable way to force his Christian values and personal whims on the population of the United States. As a pious Mormon, Senator Hatch ought to ask himself whether Jesus would use political power to change the game of football.
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A Beat down and Battered Sport
photo from: boxingdaily.co.uk
Boxing is a joke. This is clearly old news for casual and hardcore fans alike; but, it must be restated. Scandal and greed play an integral part of most highly publicized boxing events, and the latest turmoil surrounding the potential Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega fight was the final straw for me. After they cancelled their fight, I told myself I cannot watch boxing for a while.
The back and forth whining by the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps was ridiculous to me. The entire past year was culminating to a great bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao. And now it may never happen. These two great boxers calling of this fight is the equivalent of the NFL cancelling the Super Bowl because of bickering going on between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. The sport is already hurting, and this fight would have created a lot of positive buzz for the sport. Now, the sport is still dying a slow death.
I am boycotting boxing for the entire calendar year. Most people will question a boycott of a dying sport; however, my love for this ridiculous sport is the reason I am doing this in the first place. I believe change is needed in boxing, and it could happen if fans realized how powerful their voices are. If everyone decided to protest the unorganized mess which is boxing the promoters and commissions that control boxing would have no choice but to improve the sport.
The reason I care about any of this is because I had the privilege to experience Mike Tyson, “Sugar” Ray Leonard and Roy Jones, Jr. fight in their primes. They are my three favorite fighters, and sadly the way boxing is deteriorating, we may never see fighters like this ever again.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has kicked, punched and grappled its way past boxing as the most popular fighting sport in the United States. The reason for this is because MMA is ORGANIZED; it has structure and is promoted very well. MMA has a large following as a result, but I am not a part of that following. I am a boxing fan, and MMA is a little bit too much for me. MMA makes me feel like this is what basketball would look like if they allowed football rules: There’s just a lot unnecessary pummeling going on.
I hope there are a few people that feel the same way as me about the sport of boxing. It truly could be improved if anyone cared enough to try and improve it. Call this my small, feeble attempt to make even a hint of a difference to an otherwise great sport.
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End of the Year Awards Results
OvechkinA month back you guys all voted on the End of the Year Awards, now you have your results.
Brock Lesnar-Sports Star of the Year
Brock Lesnar
New York Yankees-Sports Team of the Year
New York Yankees
Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne-Power Duo of the Year
Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne
Tiger Woods-Bigges Fail of the Year
Tiger Woods
Velvet Sky-Rocky’s Next Girlfriend
Velvet Sky
Wrestling-Sport of the Yer
Wrestling
Kelly Kelly-Hottest Female Athlete
Kelly Kelly
John Cena-Hottest Male Athlete
John Cena
Randy Orton-Champion of the Year
Randy Orton
SmackDown def. Raw-Greatest Victory of the Year
SmackDown!
World Series-Most Important Matchup of the Year
World Series
Sheamus wins WWE Championship-Shocker of the Year
WWE Champion, Sheamus
Brett Favre Returns to Packer Land and UFC 100-The “I Wish I Was There” Moment of the Year
UFC 100
Favre
Drew Brees makes Franchise History-Most Inspiring Moment of the Year
Drew Brees
Henry’s Handball-Low Moment of the Year
Henry
Marian Gaborik in NY-Best Debut
Marian Gaborik
Ovechkin from multiple suspensions-Best Comeback
Alexander Ovechkin
Chris Jericho to SmackDown!-Best Trade/Acquirement
Chris Jericho
Allen Iverson to Memphis-Worst Trade/Acquirement of the Year
Allen Iverson
Chelsea for EPL Title and John Morrison for World Title-Destined for Big Things
Chelsea F.C.
John Morrison
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Big Fan Review
I have been waiting a while to see this movie. I’ll start off by saying that I am a fan of Patton Oswalt, which began from his time on The King of Queens as Spence. I also have watched his stand up comedy and he has had plenty of small time roles in some bigger named movies. He truly does deserve bigger roles in films and I was treated to that with his starring role in Big Fan.
Big Fan is about a sports fan. I don’t really need to indulge anymore into the description of the movie, because everything this guy does, is how a die hard sports fan is. Of course, he is at the deeper end of the spectrum with his fandom, but just a fan at the end of the day. Paul Aufiero (Oswalt) is a huge Quantrell Bishop fan, his favorite football player, think of him as a DeMarcus Ware type of player with dreadlocks. He is a bigger New York Giants fan, who Bishop plays for. He tailgates outside of the stadium with his best friend, well… his only friend, Sal (Kevin Corrigan). They have a television, food, and just sit outside watching the game next to where it is really going on at. At nights, Paul listens to sports radio and is a regular caller on The Sports Zone. The time frame in the film is getting towards the end of the NFL regular season, and Paul’s beloved Giants are slumping toward the finish line. The Philadelphia Eagles trailed the Giants by a few games as the season winded down, but with the G-Men tripping over themselves, the Eagles have a shot to take the division from them. A Philadelphia fan known as Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rappaport) has began calling in and heckling the Giants. So Paul from Staten Island as he is known by, calls in while his roommate, his mother, is trying to sleep. You know when people call in sports radio stations and sound like they have this written down script that their reading off of? That’s exactly what happens when Paul calls in, in fact, throughout the day, he is already writing what he will say at night.
So, Paul is just this big time Giants fan, that’s it, right? Well, one night, while out with Sal, he sees his favorite football player, Quantrell Bishop, at a gas station. They decide to follow him being the giddy fans that they are. They followed him and his crew to a house in a nearby neighborhood. After that, they ended up somewhere in Times Square at a bar/club, where they went in and paid ridiculous amounts of money for cover charge and beer. They decide to buy Bishop a drink, where he declined. He was already drunk with his friends, having women with them, in a VIP section. They got the courage to go up to him and Bishop and crew were friendly… at first. They found out that they followed them ALL THE WAY THERE, and Bishop took it out on Paul, beating him senseless, putting him in the hospital.
Bishop was suspended for a game and indefinite after that, pending the police investigation, leaving Paul in somewhat of a predicamate. The Giants begin losing more games and the Eagles winning theirs. Paul is starting to have bad headaches due to the beatdown he received, yet he doesn’t want his favorite football player on his favorite football team on basically the only thing he has going for him in his life, the Giants, to miss any more games. So he doesn’t want to admit what Bishop did was wrong, and is blind to see anything but his favorite football player. Without spoiling anything plotwise, as this entire write up thus far is basically just the understandings of what the film is about, the ending was a bit of ehh. Quite shocking, then unshocking, then feeling that it was a dumb way to end the movie. This dark comedy is engaging, especially if your a sports fan. Patton Oswalt portrays his character Paul as a lonely sole who only really has Sal and the Giants. He isn’t successful like his lawyer brother, his mother loathes him, and his favorite football player in the world beat the shit out of him. Yet, he still has the Giants and Sal at the end of the day.
I would absolutely recommend this movie to all movie viewers and it would get 4 Donovan McNabb Jerseys out of 5.
