Running Update

My running update is that I have not been running much. I did not exercise much while Monte was in town, and since then I have been riding my bike. Last week I rode with Greg and Peggie one night, by myself another (after which I figured out how to patch an inner tube) and then yesterday Greg and I went on a long ride. This afternoon I rode for about 2 hours.

I do want to keep up with the running. I think that doing a couple of runs and a couple of bike rides a week would be a nice balance.

Wizards v Real Salt Lake

Last night I attended my first Wizards' game at their temporary home in a minor league baseball park. While not ideal, it was a much better venue for soccer than Arrowhead Stadium. The weather was ideal, the result (1-0) was long overdue for the Wizards who had not won in 8 games, and the soccer was rather attractive. Both teams attacked agressively, if not effectively. The goal came off a Davey Arnuad free kick in the 90th minute and was deflected in off a Real Salt Lake defender's head. It still counts, though.

Davey Arnaud sets up the game winning free kick.

KC's Claudio Lopez, who played for Argentina's World Cup team in both 1998 and 2002, follows RSL's Kyle Beckerman, who has played for the US national team.

The rest of the pictures I took at the game can be found on flickr.

Random tidbits

I've been in a blogging slump recently. Here are a few things I should have written about more extensively.

1. It turns out that I like bikes. My friends Greg and Peggie are into mountain biking. They have told me on several occasions that they think I also would like mountain biking. While Greg was out of town this past weekend, I borrowed his bike. Because of the recent rain, the mountain biking trails at Shawnee Mission Park were closed, so we rode on paved trails. I liked it. Now I'm checking out craigslist to see if I can find a decent, cheap mountain bike of my own. I wish I had done this while I still lived in Washington. The logging roads near my house would have a perfect place for a beginner to ride.
2. Obama is still great. There is a reason why this politician with center-left policy proposals is attractive to conservatives. Here is what he had to say about Father's Day.
   
3. George Bush loses his third Supreme Court ruling in a row over his detainee policy in Boumediene v. Bush. While I do have some questions about how the Constitution should apply to non-US citizens, most of the criticism of this decision has been of the "now the bad guys are going to eat our children" variety. What the Supreme Court actually decided was the Bush Administration does have to show some just cause for holding the detainees. What those critics of this decision miss is how Guantanamo Bay not only is an example of extreme immorality on behalf of the US, but it also weakens our national security. The traditional conservative George Will wrote today about how the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the Supreme Court upheld in its decision, is so fundamental to our entire system of government. I frequently disagree with Will, but other than his crack about McCain-Feingold, I wholeheartedly agree with every word in his column.
   

   ...No state power is more fearsome than the power to imprison. Hence the habeas right has been at the heart of the centuries-long struggle to constrain governments, a struggle in which the greatest event was the writing of America's Constitution, which limits Congress's power to revoke habeas corpus to periods of rebellion or invasion. Is it, as McCain suggests, indefensible to conclude that Congress exceeded its authority when, with the Military Commissions Act (2006), it withdrew any federal court jurisdiction over the detainees' habeas claims?

   As the conservative and libertarian Cato Institute argued in its amicus brief in support of the petitioning detainees, habeas, in the context of U.S. constitutional law, "is a separation of powers principle" involving the judicial and executive branches. The latter cannot be the only judge of its own judgment...

4. The McClatchy newspapers, whose reporters have consistently provided the most thorough investigation of the Bush Adminstation's foreign policy since 9/11, is in the midst of a series about Guantanamo Bay.

   An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.

   It is depressing to read, but explains why the Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush is actually a step towards improving US national security. It is almost impossible to successfully wage a counter-insurgency operation in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al Qaead while we continue to hold and torture innocent Afghanis. If Bush has to respond to a writ of habeas corpus, then perhaps we would finally begin (after years!!) the process of sorting between the innocent and those who truly are terrorists and would be a continued threat if they were released.
   
   

Posnanaski's Greatest Day in Sportwriting

This post is what really convinced me that Posnanski is a great writer, even though he writes about baseball too much. It has everything; a historic event, multiple tangents, pop culture references.

So, this was at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. I mentioned here earlier that the Olympics are like nothing else in sports journalism. You become entirely and inexplicably consumed by the Games, especially at the Summer Olympics where there are always about twenty different things going on at once. It really is hard to explain the absurd enormity being in the middle of it all. From home, I always thought, the Olympics seemed pretty big. But when you are there, diving is like the World Series, water polo is like the Super Bowl, rhythmic gymnastics is like the Masters. Yes, from afar these are still diving, water polo and rhythmic gymnastics … but there, at the heart of it, you are blinded to perspective. You are bumping shoulders with reporters and fans from pretty much every country in the world. You are surrounded by sellout crowds, including many people who may have actually paid a scalper a lot of money to see that day’s beach volleyball match. You are talking only to athletes who have DEDICATED THEIR ENTIRE LIVES to be their for that one moment. You are also pretty much shut off from pennant races and NFL training camps and golf majors and presidential news and anything else that might be distracting. You are living, breathing, drinking, sleeping Olympics. It is everything.*

*I’ve always thought that after three weeks of Olympic immersion, reporters would blindly kill after being shown the Queen of Diamonds.

So, with that background, it was the day of the gold medal baseball game. Tommy Lasorda was manager of that team, you might recall. I wanted to go somewhere else. It wasn’t personal. We had someone going to the game, and I had already written about Lasorda and that team, and anyway — I don’t like baseball at the Olympics. I don’t like tennis at the Olympics. For a while they were trying to add golf — I’m glad they didn’t. I like it when the Olympics are CLEARLY the most important event in your sport.

So, I was looking for something cool to write about — this is a big thing at the Olympics.

You need to read the rest of his post to see what he found to write about.

Sports Night

The Posnanski column and blog postings about the Lester no-hitter reminds me of the pilot episode of Sports Night when Casey calls his son late at night to tell him turn on the TV. Sports Night is the story about a small, struggling cable sports show that faces constant pressure from the network to increase their ratings. In the pilot, a suit (J.J.) from the network gives the anchors (Dan and Casey) and producers (Dana and Natalie) notes on their upcoming broadcast and objects to one of their planned stories.

Dana rather pleasantly asks what J.J.'s concerns are. "Who is Ntozake Nelson?"

Natalie explains that Nelson is a South African distance runner, 15,000 meters. He led protests against the white majority.

J.J. says, "That's swell, but..."

but Natalie won't let him cut her off and says, "He was beaten up and thrown in jail. His legs were broken and the doctor said he'd never walk without a cane. He's 41 years old and guess what he's doing tonight," says Natalie.

"It doesn't matter since I've already changed the channel," says J.J.

The race takes places just before the broadcast. As Dan and Casey are preparing to go on the air, they are told to run into the newsroom.

On the monitors is the long-distance race -- there's one runner far ahead of the pack. Anyone want to guess who's winning? The entire staff is rapt, watching the screens. Lucky Dan showed up, because no one thought to turn on the audio until he screeched for it, while Casey starts saying, "That time can't be right!"

As the race enters the final moments, everyone starts cheering Nelson on. Casey looks around and runs to a phone and calls Charlie (who had to be woken up by Lisa -- I don't see this custody arrangement changing any time soon). Isaac looks over and spies Casey rushing into the meeting room where it's quieter.

"Charlie! It's Dad! Did you finish all your homework?" Wha? (To his credit, Casey makes a "why did I ask that?" gesture.) Casey tells Charlie to turn on the TV ("My channel," says Casey. I liked that). He tells Charlie who the runner is. "I'll call you tomorrow and tell you all about it, but for now you just watch him run. He's not doing much, he's just running faster than any man has ever run before."

He then tells Charlie he's going to be on air soon, and Charlie can stay up to watch the beginning of the show ("if Mom says it's okay") but when he gives Charlie the special signal (aw!), he has to turn off the TV. Casey's voice breaks a little as he says, "I love you too, Charlie."

(Quote is from the Television Without Pity recap)

I think that sports brings out my inner sap. Rewatching that episode, having come to "know" the character of Casey, my eyes start to water while he's on the phone with his son.

Why I'm a Sports Fan

One of the things that impresses me about Posnanski is that he captures what I love about sports, even when he's writing about something as boring as baseball (which he does way too much)

Last week, the Royals were involved in the losing end of a no-hitter. Here's a portion of the column Posnanski wrote following the game.

There are not many places in the world that are quieter than the losing clubhouse after a no-hitter. Everyone speaks in whispers. Televisions are dark. The stereo is mute. Kansas City’s Billy Butler, the 22-year-old kid from Florida who loves nothing more than talking and swinging bats at incoming fastballs, shakes his head.

“He didn’t make any mistakes,” he murmurs.

And to the next question: “He didn’t make any mistakes,” he murmurs again.

He is Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox, who on a cold and windy Monday night against the Royals became the first left-hander in more than 50 years to throw a no-hitter at Fenway Park. He also became the first pitcher to no-hit the Royals since 1973, when Nolan Ryan was young and threw 100 mph. He also sparked tears of joy through Fenway Park because just 19 months ago, Jon Lester was checked out by doctors because of some sharp back pain, and he was told that he had lymphoma. They told him it was treatable. They could not tell him that he would ever be a Major League pitcher again.

“God willing … we beat it, we got it under control, we’ll start thinking about baseball, back to pitching,” he told reporters then. “Until we do that, we’ve got a long road ahead.”

From there — from a fight for his life — to here, Monday, raw night, packed stadium, harsh wind, everyone’s hearts in their throats. He threw 130 pitches, the last his fastest of the night, maybe the fastest of his life, a 96-mph fastball, high and away and rising. Kansas City’s Alberto Callaspo waved the bat helplessly.

That’s when the loudest sound that 37,000 or so people can make detonated, a World Series-clinching sound, a Secretariat thundering down the stretch sound, a birdie putt to win the Masters sound. Catcher Jason Varitek charged the mound to jump on Lester. Red Sox players rushed in from all directions. Fans all over the park unfolded their cell phones and called someone — anyone — to say they were here. They are still here. Outside the losing clubhouse, a half hour after the last pitch, they’re still talking into cell phones, still hugging and laughing and asking each other, “Can you believe it?”

The following is from his blog about the no-hitter.

One of the best parts about being a sports fan is that moment before the moment when you know something remarkable is about to happen. This feeling comes over you. It’s not something that you can easily explain, but you sense that someone is about to hit a home run, or you feel a game-winning touchdown drive is going to happen, or sense that this rush will lead to a spectacular goal, or you know even before the ball leaves the players’ hands that it will swish through.

I’m not talking here about the logical side of the brain at work — that’s different. Sure, a pitcher gets what appears to be the third out of the inning, a fielder drops the ball, you see the pitcher stomping around, you watch him mope his way to a 3-1 count against Papi or Albert or Thomenator, and yeah, it’s not hard to predict what very well might come next. You are a Cleveland Browns or Kansas City Chiefs fan or Denver Broncos fan or, well, really anyone, and John Elway gets the ball with the game on the line in the final minutes, yeah, that’s not not a hard prediction either.

No, here I’m talking about sensing something that isn’t logical, isn’t easily accessible, something that comes from a deeper place, that reservoir of all your feelings as a sports fan...

...And as I left Fenway Park, I thought again about that feeling I had, that feeling you get sometimes as a sports fan, that feeling that “Hey, I’m going to see something unforgettable.” Truth is, most of the time, the feeling dies inside you because unforgettable things don’t happen very often. Here’s the great thing, though. Sometimes, they do.

Lester's story is one of those inspiring things you come across in the sports world. Cancer survivor surrounded by doubts that he could ever play again who accomplishes something extraordinarily rare. In one simple game, you have the elements of good drama; interesting characters, conflict, internal and external obstacles, joy, and a resolution.

Sports Writing

When I wrote about Battlestar Galactica, I mentioned the idea that I don't care as much about the genre of a TV show as I do about whether or not the shows tells a good story. I feel the same way about writing in general. I'll read pretty much anything that Malcolm Gladwell writes, from articles about ketchup to IQ and race.

Joe Posnanski is a sports columnist for the Kansas City Star. While living in both Pittsburgh and in Washington, I routinely read the Star's sports coverage online as a way to keep up with the Chiefs and the Wizards. I had always enjoyed reading Posnanski's columns (he's won multiple awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors) but I really started to appreciate how good he is when I started reading his blog a couple of months ago. He's so good that occasionally even his posts about baseball are interesting.

When I first wrote this, it ended up being this really, really long post with multiple quotes about showing how Posnanski (and the show Sports Night) capture what I love about sports. I decided that it would be much easier to break it up into multiple posts.

Running Update

Well, I did my first organized run this morning. Despite the threat of thunderstorms, the weather wasn't too bad. There was some light sprinkles both before and after the run, but not during. I felt fine, and ran at pretty much my normal pace. After the first 200 yards or so, the crowd thinned out enough that I wasn't worried about running into anyone, or anyone running into me.

I noticed that about a third of the runners were wearing headphones. I had thought that was bad form for these kinds of races (the sign-up forms had everyone explicitly agree to not wear them) It didn't seem to be an issue, but I think the threat of poor weather held the turn-out down. Maybe it's a bigger deal with larger crowds?

Next up is a longer run with more hills. I have more work to do to get ready for that!

Soccer

When I lived in Pittsburgh, Karl, a friend from college, played on an adult indoor soccer team. One time when his team was shorthanded, he asked me and two other college buddies to play with them. I think I feel confident saying that all three of us overestimated our level of fitness. At the time I was playing basketball with teenagers a couple of times a week at work, so I thought I would be okay. I was wrong.

If you are not familiar with indoor soccer, it is played on a field the size of an ice hockey rink with each team fielding 5 players plus a goalie. Ideally each team has at least 10 field payers so that any one person is only on the field for a 4 or 5 minutes shift. You are basically sprinting the entire time you are on the field, so you need to take frequent breaks (unlike outdoor soccer whose larger field and greater number of players mean you are constantly jogging with the occasional sprint - allowing you to pace yourself much easier)

Even with the three of us joining Karl's team, there were only a couple of subs. It was brutal. Not only was the opponent in good shape, but they were all skilled players. Let's just say it was a good thing there was a large trash can right next to the field. There was puking and pulled muscles and generalized humiliation all around.

Fortunately, I had a much better experience tonight when I joined a pickup game at a nearby park. The vast majority of the players were between 25-35 year old, were in decent shape, and had obviously been playing quite a bit. I did fine. Any observer would not have needed much time to pick me out as the guy who had not played any soccer for several years, but the running I have been doing over past few months served me well.

My touch was way off, and I badly misjudged several balls in the air, but I did feel like I was able to "see" the game. There were a number of times when I could anticipate a play developing, and knew where I wanted to put the ball to make that happen, but my feet just couldn't execute what my mind told them to do. After an hour or so, I was able to make a few nice passes.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get back on a soccer field. I hope to make this a regular thing on Tuesdays, and would love to find another game to join on the weekend. I hope that by playing consistently I can regain some of my touch on the ball. I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow (running sideways, backwards, and the kicking all use different muscles than what are used by simply jogging) and I have a nice little bruise on my left heel. A significant part of my motivation for the jogging was so that I could play soccer again and enjoy it, and I've accomplished that!

One of the fun things about these pickup games is that the players are from all over the world. Of the 17 or 18 guys who showed up tonight, countries represented on the field included the UK, Jamaica, Turkey, and at least one Central American county.

Running Update

The Hospital Hill Run is less than a month away, so this afternoon I added hills to my run.








Hills suck.

Soccer

Ever wonder what it's like to play world class soccer? The perspective of a player working his way up through several teams and facing off against the world's best. From a Nike commercial.

Running Update

I'm still running, and I can tell that I'm slowly getting in better shape. Yesterday I did the 5K route near my house and only needed to stop to walk once. I think that I'm going to sign up to do the Hospital Hill 5K in six weeks. As it's name implies, there will be a lot more elevation gain on that run than what I'm currently doing. I could do a flat 5K without walking really soon, so doing Hospital Hill will provide a bit more of a challenge for my first official 5K. Since I hate the heat, I doubt I will add too many miles this summer, but I will find a 10K to do in the fall. I think having some events lined up will help my motivation to keep running.

I don't think I would start running barefoot, but this article in New York Magazine certainly has some food for thought. I've always liked to go barefoot as much as possible, and this article verifies my suspicion that it is healthy to do so. It's been years since I had a pair of Gazelles, but they weren't like this photo that accompanied the article.

Running Update

I took a few days off from running because I was starting to get worried about shin splints. Instead, I used my elliptical machine for a lower-impact way to exercise. I've done some reading the last couple of days about training to run 5K's and 10K's, and ways I can use my heart monitor to help my running. I think I've been over doing it. (That probably contributes to my shins starting to bother me)

I had been running for about 2 miles without walking. My heart rate would get up in the 190's. From what I've been reading, my heart rate should only get up above something like 175 for short intervals after I'm in much better shape than I am currently.

Today, I changed things up. I only ran until my heart rate got up to 175, and then I would walk until it dropped down to 140. When I was jogging, I went at what felt like an extremely slow pace (otherwise I would have spent almost as much time walking as running) Because I was doing some walking and was running more slowly, I added more distance. Tonight I drove the route, and it turns out that it was almost exactly a 5K.

I don't know why I should be surprised that one of the obstacles I need to overcome in this endeavor is my own stupid ego. My ego is why I was running too hard without stopping to walk. It felt wimpy to do otherwise. The results? The beginnings of shin splints and feeling rather miserable at the end of each run. Maybe if I literally pay attention to my heart, I can find a balance between love and hate (no matter what kind of shoes I wear) and avoid injury.

Thin Line Between Love and Hate

For the past couple of weeks, I have been running once again. Not a lot, about 2 miles every other day. While watching the NCAA basketball tournament, I've seen a New Balance ad that talks about "For every runner, there is a thin line between love and hate" (Of course, if you buy a pair of their shoes you will find the balance between love and hate) I've always leaned more to the hate side of things when it comes to running.

However, my cholesterol is high, I gained weight last summer while going through the divorce (since I don't drink much beer it does not seem right that I've developed the beginnings of a beer belly) and my dog needs to get more exercise. Therefore, I have started running again.

Basketball

I think that March is my favorite time of the year in the sports world. (The Editor - don't you say that every August during NFL training camp, and then every 4 years when the World Cup comes around? Yeah. So what?) The NCAA basketball tournament, particularly the first weekend when there are 48 games played over 4 days, is always full of great stories and usually includes several wonderful upsets. Fortunately for me, it also comes during the local schools' spring break. Things are always slow at work when school is out, so my boss and I have not had very many interruptions while watching the games so far today.

The team I follow most closely, Oklahoma State, didn't make it to the tournament this year, and then they lost in their first game of the NIT. So, now I'm a Pitt fan. At halftime of their opening game, they have almost double the score of their opponent, so things look good so far.