How to Pass Your Krav Maga Yellow Belt Test

Mar 17, 2008

Well, I feel like I was run over by a truck or two. But, after six hours of being pounded on during a sunny Sunday afternoon, I now have my Krav Maga yellow belt! The AIG and I have been taking Krav classes since October — first once a week, and now three mornings a week — and let me say we’re hooked. It’s great exercise, great fun, and a great chance to clobber some poor unsuspecting person. Read on… (plus 5 Comments)

Gah!

Dec 16, 2007

The 0-13 Dolphins are now 1-13 — they beat my hapless Ravens. And my Broncos, the most inconsistent team in the NFL (see Variance) got whomped again, this time by the heretofore-hapless Texans. Gah. Good thing, I guess, I rarely get Baltimore or Denver games here in LA! But the Dolphins? The Dolphins? That’s just embarrassing. Possibly good news that Troy Smith seems to have some level of competence at the Quarterback position, Read on…

The Longest Week

Sep 29, 2007

It’s fall, and that means that long weeks stretch from Monday evening to Saturday morning. No, it’s not work, it’s football, and there are four long days without it every week during the winter. With early evenings, darkness, and the cool autumn air, that leaves a profound longing. Read on…

For The Birds

Aug 22, 2007

I suppose it’s no secret that I haven’t followed the Orioles closely in years. And it’s no secret why — they don’t make it to Anaheim often, and Chavez Ravine even less; they’re almost never on TV over here; and, of course too many losses, too little in the way of positive changes. But the O’s1 are my team, and I love them. I love them even though they lost their last game 30-3, becoming the first team to give up 30 runs in 110 years. Actually, I think I love them even more now.
Read on…

At Least Eli Still Sucks

Feb 6, 2007

Darn. Well, the Colts won. Evil has triumphed in the world, not least because good appears to have been incompetent. What else is new? Thanks to the magic of gin and barbecue, I was able to make it through all three-and-some hours of depressing football, interspersed with remarkably mediocre ads1. It’ll be ok. Actually, the whole Super Bowl experience kind of showed me where I need to set my expectations and plans in life. Read on…

Go Bears!

Feb 4, 2007

Well, today’s the big day. We have the forces of evil against the forces of… Chicago. We all know what side I come down on! I’ll be rooting hard the whole game, and I believe that Da Bears! can win. I do! They’ve got the tough defense, and Manning crumbled against Baltimore’s D. They’ve also got the tough running attack, with a good up-the-middle runner and a competent edge runner too, which Baltimore didn’t have. It’ll be a tough game, but the Bears will win in the end. We all need to get on the bandwagon and root for good over evil, and I know just the thing to get you there: Read on…

Fuck.

Jan 21, 2007

The Colts won the AFC Championship. They’re going to the Super Bowl.

The Colts are going to the Super Bowl.

This is fucking awful. Goddamn it. Read on… (plus 7 Comments)

De-Feat! De-Feat!

Dec 2, 2006

So my Trojans just lost to our cross-town rival UCLA Bruins. And, you know what, I’m okay with that. Sure, call me a bad homer1, but sometimes there’s such a thing as a good loss.
Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

Just Go Ahead and Pay the Freakin Football Players!

Aug 10, 2006

College football season’s on its way, which means, naturally, that the sports pages are full of stories of NCAA violations. Some, such as Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar’s accepting money for a job he didn’t do are relatively serious. Others, such as USC reciever Dale Jarrett’s roommate’s father paying for a luxury apartment are simply a sign that the existing system, which effectively prohibits most Division I scholar-athletes from holding any useful job, is badly broken and needs to be fixed. Specifically, it needs to be possible for Division I schools to pay their athletes for playing sports. Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

2006 NFL Draft Recap

May 1, 2006

As everyone knows, the NFL draft is step 1 on the path to the really important football event of the year, the fantasy draft. Oh, and said draft makes a big difference as I watch my beloved Broncos and Ravens all season long. Will they win? Lose? And how will this year’s crop of Trojans perform? Read on… (plus 2 Comments)

Official Super Bowl XL Entry Sponsored by the NFL and Aspercreme

Feb 4, 2006

Like many Americans, I suffer from repetitive stress injuries, and it is only because of these that I’m not today a professional football coach or, with my stature, safety. However, also like many Americans, I certainly know as much about football as any coach or safety (although perhaps not as much as an offensive lineman), and therefore I plan to hold forth on exactly whom I pick to win tomorrow’s big game. Read on… (plus 2 Comments)

Well, That's a Relief.

Jan 15, 2006

I guess I can put that aside. I was all worried we’d get to see a third consecutive year of the Colts physically and morally dominating the Broncos; instead, the Steelers, who I’d completely written off (as had all the other handicappers), showed the Colts the door. So, next week, I get to root for the Brocs with no regrets, and, hey, if the Steelers win it, I can’t help but feel good for a bunch of 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust scrappers from a big industrial town back East.

Read on…

Serious Worries

Jan 14, 2006

I’m a Broncos fan from way back, so you’d think I’d be excited that they beat the Patriots in the playoffs today. No dice. It was a painful game to watch, really, not because it was bad — it wasn’t — but because my heart wanted my Broncs to win but my head knew only the Pats could beat the hated Indianapolis Colts. I fear seeing the Colts in the Super Bowl this year, because I believe they can win, and it would be just awful if the people who betrayed my beloved hometown in 1984 were to meet with any kind of Read on…

Back on Top

Oct 19, 2005

I got back on track tonight with a win in the cooking competition. My Thai Beef Noodles turned out tasty — I believe the flavor was described by one of my competitors as “very smooth.” Read on…

2-3, 2-3, and Now 3-1

Oct 13, 2005

I love to compete, so it’s no surprise that I’m in two Fantasy Football leagues and one weekly cooking competition; I like to win, too, which is why it’s a little bit surprising that I’m 2-3 in both leagues and, now, have dropped from 3-0 to 3-1 in the cooking competition. Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

Poor Terrell

Jul 26, 2005

The beauty of blogging is that, over a period of years, a dedicated writer can develop an audience of up to several, gain the trust of this audience, and thus have a stage upon which to stand when he shouts out that one absolutely, completely, and preposterously crazy truth that only he knows. Now is that time for me. Now is my time to say, I feel bad for Terrell Owens, I know where he’s coming from, I understand why he’s holding out and I’m down with it. Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

Superstar Workout

Feb 18, 2005

Yesterday, while doing 45° overhead presses with my trainer, NFL Hall-of-Famer Bubba Smith started barking advice my way. Keep my head down! Step forward with your right foot! Back straight as a board! It was intimidating. Read on…

The 15-Point Solution

Nov 23, 2004

As I mentioned, my fantasy football season has included a lot more getting my butt kicked than I had anticipated. Well, it’s one thing to lose, and it’s another thing to lose without a plan. And that’s what I was doing: losing without a plan! At least with a plan I’d have, ya know, at a minimum the plan itself.

So, what plan could I possibly have? Well, of the five games I lost, four were lost by more than 10 but less than 15 points (the other was lost by Read on…

At This Point, The Only Fantasy Left Is Winning

Nov 8, 2004

There’s two minutes to go, the evil Colts have the ball, and my only hope for a win is that the Vikings’ tight end Jermaine Wiggins scores two touchdowns. My fantasy Fantasy season has turned into a weekly sob story.

It’s not that I drafted badly; and given that I only had five minutes to prepare for my draft, that’s quite a surprise. It’s that I bench the wrong players. After a four-game winning streak, I’ve now lost five in a row. Four out of those five games, including this week’s, I’ve Read on…

Fantasy Football Mania

Sep 15, 2004

While there are many important and pressing political issues and I’m a very political individual with a lot of political views, this blog is, most of all, about things that are important to me. And, right now, Fantasy Football is inappropriately important to me. Scary important to me. Like, I get antsy in class if I haven’t checked some more stats to see if there’s another reciever I should pick up since the ones I drafted suck or are holding out. This is why I only played fantasy football once before! This is why I wasn’t Read on…

Ladies And Gentlemen... Your Baltimore Blast!

Aug 23, 2004

One afternoon I made the — apparently fairly serious — error of hanging out in the courtyard at Popovich (the b-school building here). Somehow I ended up participating in the draft for our local fantasy football league here. I drafted 6 of 12, so I got crappy picks but not so crappy I got to have two picks in a row like lucky 12. This was the smallest draft (ok, only of two) that I’d participated in, so I fear I drafted too much for value and too little for impact, but we’ll see. I feel good about a lot of my starters, Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

Now That's A Trade I Don't Care For At All

Jul 15, 2004

Shaq’s off to Miami. I don’t approve of that trade at all; it was an awful idea.

The right idea was to keep waiting. Maybe, as the season got closer, some other players could have been shook loose for Shaq. Maybe Kobe could have been convinced that the ol’ purple and yellow would trade Shaq as soon as they got a fair offer that would put good players around the youngster. Maybe Rudy T. could reconcile Read on…

Kupchak Plays The Waiting Game

Jul 9, 2004

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has gotten a lot of heat in the press lately for doing nothing. But, sometimes, nothing is the best thing to do. Like, specifically, when your Most Dominant Ever center wants to leave, your superstar guard is about to leave, your future Hall-of-Fame lock power forward may retire, and you’ve not yet signed a contract with a new coach.

Waiting can lead to many good things:

  • Shaq is changeable; time may lead him to relent on his trade demand
  • Kobe may leave at any moment; if he runs to Read on…

    Obligatory Lakers Entry

    Jun 21, 2004

    As an Angeleno, if only transplanted, I feel obligated to say something about this whole break-up-the-Lakers thing. This entry will consider three things:

    • Whether the Lakers are being broken up in the right way, or, should Shaq or Kobe have gone?
    • What kind of long-term deals the Lakers should be looking for
    • What this means about basketball, Jerry West, and Mitch Kupchak

    Fortunately, as an occasional observer of Lakers basketball, primarily in its televised form, I am entirely and uniquely qualified Read on…

    Bill Belichick I Ain't

    Apr 25, 2004

    Apparently there’s a reason I’m not an NFL General Manager. My draft predictions were, well, worth every penny you paid for them.

    Denver took a linebacker in the first, then an RB and WR in the second, and a DB in the third. I had predicted a TE in the first, then a DB in the second, and WR in late second and third; reverse the DB and WR and I guess I wasn’t too far off.

    Baltimore took a tackle in the second and a WR in the third; Read on…

    Belated Draft Predictions

    Apr 24, 2004

    Now, I love football. And I have draft predictions! Now, I know the draft has already started, but I have been at the Marshall admitted student weekend and haven’t seen any of the news. So I’m in the dark as to draft picks at this point.

    I love football, but I really only care about two teams: Baltimore and Denver. OK, I care about Indianapolis too, but only that they lose. So here is my analysis of Baltimore and Denver picks.

    Denver Read on…

    Super Bowl XXXVIII: Not Too Far Off!

    Feb 1, 2004

    Well, at least I picked the winner.

    I honestly didn’t expect as many touchdowns; 26-20 only works with lots of field goals. I also didn’t expect New England to successfully run the ball, or the Panthers to be able to throw long passes. This is probably why I’m not an NFL coach.

    While it was nice that Tom Brady got another MVP award, the true MVPs were the Pats offensive linemen. For the QB to get out unsacked and Faulk Read on…

    Super Bowl XXXVIII Prediction: Pats Over Cats

    Jan 31, 2004

    I’m a football addict. Someday, my poor wife will have to deal with losing me for, oh, a good 12 Sundays every autumn and winter.

    It’s not that bad, though; I’m actually good at office football pools. I took my Wonderful Girlfriend out to a nice dinner after I won one a few weeks ago. If I can pick the scores weekly and win, or come close to it, every time, then I must be able to pick the Super Bowl winner, right? Right?

    Usually I like the underdog. I think that comes from being a Broncos fan through the ’80s Read on…

    Well, That Could Have Been Worse

    Oct 19, 2003

    I watched episode one of that World Series thing, and it wasn’t so bad. I mean, at least the Yankees lost a game, right? Means that, this year, they’ll give us a little hope before shooting us down with the inevitable Steinbrenner-financed victory.

    I have to admit, I was entirely crushed when the Marlins and Yanks ended up in this year’s Fall Classic. There was so much potential, and all lost! Who wouldn’t have loved a Cubs-Red Sox World Series? Americans are all about sentimental favorites. The ratings would’ve Read on…

    Rush Says Things That Are Entirely Not Surprising

    Oct 2, 2003

    Rush Limbaugh has quit ESPN over the flap caused by his controversial statements Sunday about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. There’s been a lot of talk this season about why the Eagles, who played in the NFC championship game last season (that’s one game away from the Super Bowl) lost their first two games this year quite badly. A lot of speculation has centered around the abilities of McNabb and if he’s really the great quarterback that’s long been held to be. Rush Read on… (plus 1 Comments)

    Oscar Wuz Robbed!

    Sep 15, 2003

    I watched the De La Hoya fight, I’ve seen many of the highlights on TV, I’ve read the commentators explaining why Sugar Shane got the belts, but I still think Oscar won.

    Maybe I watched a different fight from everybody else (or maybe I was taken in by the HBO commentators, who were all pro-De La Hoya, their money boy), but here’s what I saw:

    • Oscar dictated the pace of the fight for at least eight rounds
    • Oscar dictated the nature of the fight Read on… (plus 1 Comments)