Welcome Back!

Yep, that’s right, I’m welcoming myself back.

I feel like I’ve been on vacation except that I haven’t…

Anyway, I’m a few days late with this but remember how I mentioned that I’d tossed in $5 to be included in on of those March Madness bracket things?

While I may not have finished “in the money”, I’m quite proud of where I landed — out of 60 participants, I finished in 7th place — considering my chosen method of selecting who would win each game throughout the tournament.

For the early rounds, I picked teams that I had t-shirts for.

Yep, it’s true — it was as simple as that.

So that cheap ($7.50) Michigan State t-shirt that I bought on a whim at a Steve & Barry’s in, I’d guess, Michigan almost paid for itself 40 times over.

It’s actually too bad that I let my personal feelings towards the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team get in the way.

I have a UConn t-shirt in closet too. Had I chosen them to go further in the tournament (they reached the Final Four), I’d have won the whole darn pool…

Don’t worry Steve & Barry’s… I won’t hold it against you.

It was my fault.

I really miss that store.

Even the smell.

Posted on April 10th, 2009 at 8:01 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Current Events, Sports | No Comments »

March Madness… And I Still Haven’t Seen One Second of Basketball

Today was one of those weird semi-holidays at work. I’d estimate that 50% of the male employees took the day off — and then another 25% left at noon…

I’d bet that tomorrow is much the same.

It happens every year around this time.

To blame? NCAA basketball.

Everyone, it seems, is all interested in the first round of March Madness and then, by next week, all but the most diehard sports fans have had about enough of college basketball.

I fall into that latter category. I could care less — I worked a full day today and I have full intentions of doing the same tomorrow.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t fill out a bracket and kiss $5 goodbye this morning.

I don’t expect to win. I never do — especially when I’m betting on something I know very little about.

My final four has Louisville, Purdue, Duke, and North Carolina with North Carolina defeating Louisville in the final.

Now you might be wondering, hey, isn’t Brainy blogging from Connecticut? How come he didn’t choose the UConn Huskies, you know, the top seed in the West, to make an appearance in the Final Four?

Well, I didn’t pick the hometown UConn Huskies to go very far at all…

(In fact, I had them losing to BYU in the second round — an impossibility now that Texas A&M has already defeated BYU… D’oh!)

My reasoning is *mostly* personal.

It’s because I think their coach, Jim Calhoun, is an arrogant arsehole but also because it’s become apparent over the years that most of players on the team are nothing more than common criminals with little desire to actually graduate from the school I’m paying for them to attend for free.

Yeah — not a fan of UConn Men’s basketball, their rap sheet, or their 33% graduation rate.

They’re losers.

They don’t deserve to win.

- – - – - – -

Canadian Fun Fact: Like ice hockey, basketball was created by Canadian James Naismith. Unlike ice hockey, Canadians by-and-large have very little interest in the game.

Posted on March 19th, 2009 at 7:16 pm by Brainy Smurf
Cutting Costs, Rants, Sports | 3 Comments »

Brush with Fame

This past Sunday while doing some baby shopping I saw someone that I recognized instantly.

I’ve known that he lived nearby for years and years now but this was the first time that I actually saw him. That might not sound so unusual — there are millions of people “nearby” — but how many people are over seven and a half feet tall?

Yep, my wife and I walked right by Manute Bol.

Now I was never a basketball fan growing up but even I knew who he was — if only because of his height.

The minute we turned the corner and I saw his silhouette down the street I instantly knew it was him. My wife was just kinda, “Yeah, whatever…”

But that height was unmistakable.

Still quite a distance away, though there were no other people between us, my wife quietly asked me if I’d like to get my picture taken with him, you know, using her phone but I declined thinking he’d much prefer to be left alone — being a celebrity and all.

When I was a teenager I once passed by Wayne Gretzky on an escalator when the LA Kings were in town. I was going up, he was going down.

I made eye contact and without even saying anything, the look on his face said, “Please don’t make a scene, kid.”

I didn’t. But I also never forgot the experience.

In fact, I probably only remember it so well because I didn’t make a scene, or get his autograph, or even simply shake his hand. We just exchanged glances and went on our merry way.

So as we get closer, Manute is just standing there on the corner digging in his pockets apparently just enjoying the nice weather we’re finally having.

Then, as we got closer, he started to hobble towards us. Not towards us — as in approaching us directly, but he began heading in the direction we were coming from.

With my Gretzky experience in mind, I looked up and smiled a little closed mouth smile at him as we passed by like ordinary people.

As we turned another corner my wife said, “That’s really sad. He seemed like a lonely homeless man.”

Thinking about it, she was right.

I began to wonder if I *should* have asked to have my picture taken with him.

I’ll be honest — in this specific neighborhood, just being a black guy is enough to get some unusual stares. Being over seven feet tall would likely get you that much more though I’d imagine when you’re that tall, you’d receive some odd stares pretty much anywhere.

Most people on the street that day probably thought he was some sort of freak.

And that has me second guessing myself days later, you know, maybe he would have taken some pleasure in the fact that I knew who he was and that I’d really appreciate having my picture taken with him.

Not because he’s a wicked tall freak of nature but because he’s Manute Bol.

That dude used to be famous.

Posted on March 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pm by Brainy Smurf
Life, Retro, Sports | 2 Comments »

Super Sunday Plans?

Being that I’m not a fan of either team or even NFL football in general, you might think that this Sunday would be just like any other Sunday during the year.

Well, you’d be wrong.

First off, I haven’t missed a Super Bowl in 23 years… dating back to when my Chicago Bears thumped the hometown New England Patriots.

Yep, 1986 was a good year to be a Bears fan in New England.

Since then, though, I can’t really say I’ve been all that interested in the end result of the game itself.

Yeah, I had high hopes a couple of years ago when the Bears made it to the Super Bowl — even wore a Bears jersey to watch the game — but when it became apparent that Peyton Manning and the Colts were the dominant team, I tuned the game out and focused more on the commercials.

Yep, I’m one of those people who actually watches the game for the commercials. Everyone hears about people like me. A lot even claim to watch strictly for the commercials. I actually do it.

This year, as we’ve done for the last three or four years, we’ll go to our local sports bar, pick up a bucket of wings, bring them home, and settle in to watch Puppy Bowl V on Animal Planet.

That’s our Super Sunday tradition.

It’s not about the football.

It’s about the food, the puppies, and the commercials.

Anyhow, in the real game, I’ll rooting for the Cardinals…

The used to hail from Chicago.

Oh, and for the record, this is my favorite Super Bowl commercial of all time:

Posted on January 28th, 2009 at 8:13 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Food, Sports | 2 Comments »

Photo of the Week: Starting Over

It’s been a trying week at work, so I haven’t been posting much. This post will probably disappoint. Hey, just warning you…

I’d guess you’d have to be a hockey fan of the 1980′s and early 1990′s to truly appreciate this photo.

This is 4-time Stanley Cup Winner Claude Lemiuex and he all but retired after the 2002-03 season when no one offered him a contract.

Until last month.

He’s now 43 years old and playing in the minor leagues working towards a comeback.

I’m pretty certain he’s realistic about his prospects, I mean, he’s made millions of dollars as a professional athlete and can’t possibly need the money — but he’s chosen to sign a contract with a team that will having him riding a bus (rather than a chartered plane) to cities like Rochester, Syracuse, Bridgeport, and Norfolk.

Not exactly major league cities.

Not exactly major league accommodations either.

If he reaches the NHL again, and I think he might, this will most certainly be his final season.

There isn’t a lot left in the tank (though he’s skating circles around players half his age), he knows that, but I think he just wants to go out on his own terms — and not be forced out due to his age.

Shaking hands with Lemieux is former NHL defenseman J.J. Daigneault. The two were briefly teammates on the Montreal Canadiens, oh, roughly 18 years ago.

Daigneault is now a coach, he’s in the shirt and tie, while Lemieux is still a player — playing with kids who weren’t even born when these two played together.

Anyway, this just shows how important it is to network. Lemieux undoubtedly used his contacts to get this job and, along the way, I’m sure he’s making new contacts with today’s crop of players.

It isn’t often these days that the old timer isn’t pushed aside — in sports or in the office — in favor of the fresh face.

I’ve seen it firsthand — friends getting blindsided — and I’ve got to admit, it weighs on my mind a bit. Okay…a lot.

But I’d really prefer to leave on my own terms someday.

Claude’s making sure that happens.

Posted on December 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Retro, Sports | No Comments »

Photo of the Week: Thanksgiving Football

As we did last year, we attended the local high school football game on Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately I don’t have any exciting stories about picking up a dropped nickel.

Trust me, I was looking too…

Tickets were $6 each; a twenty percent increase over last year.

Being cheap, I found that to be a little excessive considering all of the moaning about the economy.

But the crowd didn’t seem to mind — it was a packed house as it always is. It’s crazy when you hear the roar of the crowd rival an NFL game when all they’re there to see is a high school game. Three weeks ago, the crowd would have been maybe 50 people — if it was warm out.

Thanksgiving? A couple thousand. The place is a mob scene. Parking. Nightmare.

I’d bet the kids on the field love it, though.

I mean, each year, it has that pro feel — I don’t ever remember feeling that in high school.

Like a pro game, the game is on television (public access, but still…) with real announcers from the local affiliates. They even had a sideline reporter?! The end zone was dotted with photographers with HUGE lenses, like me. The stadium even has souvenir stands — and they were open!?

Basically, it’s an event even if you’re not on the field and that’s why we go each year.

I guess you could call it the SuperBowl of our town. Seems that everybody goes — though I strangely didn’t recognize anyone there.

On the downside, going to the game also means that we miss the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade each year. My wife is not happy about that.

And for the record, the team in white won the game. Woo-hoo! They represent our side of town!

Posted on November 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Sports | No Comments »

Photo of the Week: Who doesn’t like a good hockey fight?

I took in my first pro game of the season as a member of the media this week, making my return to the type of photography that I’m good at and snapped this shot – one of my favorites of the night.

It’s kinda sad that Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL, has been trying to outlaw fighting during his tenure.

True, in a civilized society, it’s ludicrous for two grown men to beat the snot out of one another over an essentially meaningless game, but it’s one of the few things that can still get the crowd on their feet. And isn’t that the point of professional sports?

What most people don’t realize, hockey fans included, is that it’s very rare for a player to get hurt during a fight — it really is all for show.

Not like WWE wrestling — hockey fights aren’t fake, but they’re not really trying to seriously hurt one another either — though it may look like that…

In fact, considering it’s a game where a rock hard piece of rubber flies around over 100mph, players run into walls at 30 mph, fighting is part of the game, all of the players carry long sticks, and don’t forget that everyone out on the ice has knives strapped to their feet, well, it’s pretty shocking that a tame game like baseball has more injuries.

Hard to believe… Must be a side effect of all of the steroids in baseball…

Anyway, at the conclusion of this specific fight — neither player went down, so technically nobody won — they essentially shook hands and thanked one another for the opportunity as they were escorted to the penalty box.

Yes, they exchanged pleasantries. After a fight.

Must be a Canadian thing…

Posted on October 25th, 2008 at 5:46 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Sports | 1 Comment »

Game One in the Books

Well, last night I took in the first game of the season. The seats I picked out, sight unseen, for my season tickets are awesome. I’m very happy with the selection — though being right next to the student section and seeing many of them in shirts that said “Class of 2012″ made me feel very, very, very old…

It was the first NCAA women’s game I’d ever been to and I was pretty excited at the start, though, as it was my first game, everyone on the ice was essentially an anonymous nobody.

The size of crowd wasn’t all that great, respectable, but not that great. Probably because it was women’s game, which is kinda sad.

True, the hitting isn’t like it is in the men’s game, but the passing, well, the women set-up plays like the men used to in the 1980′s before all that mattered was the size of the player. It’s like a throwback to the best years of the NHL.

I should probably also mention that the home team, my “new” team, lost 7-0. Ouch. On opening night. Double ouch.

When I was young, I had a friend that was originally from Boston. The Red Sox were his team. He even had Red Sox curtains in his room and his gerbils were named “Dwight” and “Evans”. I’m pretty sure his brother’s middle name was even “Fisk”. Yeah, they were die hard.

I remember being at his house over the summer pretty regularly and his dad would seemingly always be on the couch watching the game, probably a Red Sox game, and his mom would shout from the kitchen, “Are we winning?” with genuine interest.

I always thought that was kind of silly.

See, at my house, if we happened to be watching a sporting event (a rare occasion), we’d say something like, “Are they winning?”

Notice the difference?

See, we didn’t have a team at my house. The whole concept of referring to the team as if we were actually a part of it was completely foreign to me. Dare I say, it almost seemed stupid?

Then, after University, I latched on to our local professional hockey team. I was even earning a paycheck from them. I mean, in that instance, I really was a part of the team — it would be understandable to refer to the team as if I was on it — yeah, we won tonight.

But for probably 10 seasons, that never happened. It was only this past season that I found myself saying, “Yeah, we’re gonna make the playoffs…” The funny part about it is that I wasn’t even on the team anymore but I felt more connected. Go figure?

Either way, I kinda liked it. Yeah, they’re “my” team.

So now, I’ve moved on to this new team and, as I said, last night was the first game.

Twenty three seconds in, “my” team was losing. Great start.

As the first period wore on, and my team fell deeper and deeper into a hole (the other team wiped the floor with them all night), I started to familiarize myself with the names on their backs, you know, to try to feel moreconnected to all of these anonymous nobodies so I could root for them.

I mean, I think the only reason I started calling the last team “mine” was because I was familiar with everyone on the team.

Everyone.

Not in a personal way, but in a sort of I-know-you-but-you-don’t-know-me sort of way. In my mind, we were on a first name basis. To non-sports fans, I’m sure that makes no sense. It may even sound creepy.

College sports, though, are tough to get behind if you’re not alumni because there is so much turn around on the rosters. At best, a player will only be there for four seasons.

On the men’s side of things, basketball specifically, you may only get one or two years out a player before they go pro, fail out, get expelled, or go to prison. What is it with these top level NCAA basketball programs? Seriously…

Anyway, it’s tough to make a connection when your favorite player could be gone next season. Every season. Just a rotating door of anonymous nobodies. What fun is that? There isn’t any connection to be made, other than to the logo on the front of the jersey…

That’s why I was happy to notice that the three players that stood out the most for me last night were all freshman — Jordan Elkins, Kate Wheeler, and Chelsea Illchuck — they gave it their all, down 7 goals, right to the final horn.

Injuries and interests aside, they’ll be on the team for another three years — maybe I can get into this…

Their next game is this afternoon, against the same team, so hopefully they fare a little better and I learn a few more player names.

Posted on October 4th, 2008 at 8:03 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Retro, Sports | No Comments »

Winter Entertainment Budget Set and Spent

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned that my wife and I often go to professional sporting events.

It’s not that we’re the type that gets all dressed up and excited for our team. We hardly even follow sports.

We certainly don’t want sports on television much, if at all.

I mean, we’ll watch the Super Bowl in it’s entirety every year, but I’m not sure we’ve seen another complete game on tv, well, at least since we’ve been married.

We’re also not the type that have our bumpers littered with team logo stickers. In fact, if you looked at us (or our vehicles), you’d hardly guess that we’re the type to attend well over 50 events per year.

Now, why on earth would a non-sports fan attend so many events? Isn’t that an awfully expensive thing to do if you don’t really really enjoy it?

Well, it was part of a job. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it didn’t cost us a thing. In fact, we made a lot of money doing it!

That’s not really true — it was actually a bit of a perk, we made the money doing other things — but we still had to be there.

Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the way it was.

Anyway, with all of our professional sports projects in the past now, we found that our nights and weekends will be free all winter long.

Too free.

So late last week I ordered season tickets for a local university hockey team. Men’s and women’s.

Though it’s two teams instead of one, it’s not nearly as rigorous as the pro schedule we’re accustomed to (and tired of).

On the downside, though, we won’t be making money while we sit in the stands — a negative cash flow, all the way…

But it will give us something to do on weekly basis all the way through March 2009.

And that sure beats the, “Wanna do anything tonight?” routine we’ve found ourselves in all summer long…

Total cost was $527.

Now, that sounds like a lot, but it’s only a quarter of the cost that our usual comp’ed seats would run us. Not that we ever paid a dime for them…

This is a definite change for us.

Here’s to hoping it’s an enjoyable season… and a decent value…

First game is Friday night…

Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 8:00 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Finance, Life, Sports | 2 Comments »

Photo of the Week: Mite Hockey

With the weather being not so nice this weekend, we decided to take a week off from attending an agricultural fair.

I dunno, there’s just something about the combination of livestock and rain that I don’t find terribly appealing…

But of any week, this was the one to skip — the best entertainment around was Peter Noone and I’ve seen him at least three times in the past…

He’s alright, but once you’ve seen him once, well, let’s just say it’s as if he’s been doing the same show for the past two decades…

Instead, on an unseasonably balmy day, I went to our local arena to take in my first hockey game of the season.

The temperature (and humidity) difference once I entered the building was enough to fog up my glasses. I love when that happens.

Sure, the players aren’t not pro. They’re probably not even 4-feet tall (in skates), but they try their hardest and put on a pretty good show.

The hits these kids throw, well, let’s just say it’s as good as anything you’ll see in the NHL. Okay, maybe they’re not that great… but there’s nothing quite like the sound of two face cages colliding at full speed. That’s something you don’t hear at the pro level.

Best of all, it’s free.

The funny part about last night was that the league that the players play in tried to hire me — on the spot?!

“Hey, who do you shoot for?”

“Freelance — I usually shoot pro…”

“Cool, do you hire out?”

“Nah, sorry, I’m not really looking for work right now…”

That’s too bad, we’ve got a showcase coming up in a few weeks and we’re looking for an action photographer…

Weird how when you’re not interested in making extra money, it practically falls at your feet, but when you’re wondering how you’ll make the next mortgage payment, any extra income is impossible to find…

Posted on September 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Sports | No Comments »

Dropping the Baton at the Olympics

Earlier today I made reference to the fact that both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s 4×100 meter relay team dropped the baton in the Olympics this week, thereby eliminating themselves from the finals.

Last night I also noticed that in the men’s semi-final that Great Britain, the favorite in the race, made their exchange outside the zone. Stupid. That can’t happen. Especially at this level and in a preliminary race?!

It took NBC at least 5 minutes to make mention of that fact because they were so busy giving us super close up shots of the Americans who didn’t even cross the finish line. I’m not even sure that they made mention of who won the heat. Poor Tyson Gay…

NBC’s over-Americanized presentation aside, I couldn’t help but laugh at every single heat. Nearly half the field in each race was disqualified for either dropping the baton or making the exchange outside the zone.

On top of that, when an exchange was made successfully, it was poorly executed EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I ran track in high school. I wasn’t a sprinter, but being a middle distance runner, I did run the 4×400 and 4×800 relay on occasion.

Sure, being that those races aren’t as short as the 4×100, the baton exchanges aren’t quite as important, but you know what? We practiced them. A lot.

No, we weren’t world class in the relay. But our handoffs, well, based on last night’s performance by at least 8 different countries, were, in fact, world class. We would have qualified for the finals just because we would have finished the race. How sad is that?

I feel bad for the US. Individually, they don’t have the best sprinters in the world, not even close (though NBC would have you think otherwise) but they do have the most depth.

While a guaranteed gold medal in the relay may have been a lofty expectation, the US relay teams were basically guaranteed a medal. Guaranteed.

But they didn’t practice the team part. That much was obvious. Hey, the article even mentions that point — though I’m not sure it even had to. It was *that* obvious.

As a result, they didn’t even make the final.

On a personal note, I thought it was disgusting that the NBC commentators essentially blamed Darvis Patton on the men’s side seemingly because he isn’t the household name Tyson Gay is. I’m sorry, but that missed exchange was 100% Tyson Gay’s fault. 100 percent. The anchor dropped the ball.

For the women, it was rinse and repeat. NBC again laid blame on the wrong runner. Lauryn Williams, I’m looking at you.

Posted on August 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 am by Brainy Smurf
Running, Sports | 1 Comment »

Stay-cation? Not this year…

With all of the doom and gloom reporting of $5/gallon gas coast-to-coast arriving by the fourth of July, CNBC has been recycling the following paragraph in their articles for nearly a month now:

Instead of visiting theme parks and ballgames, they’ll be more inclined to find fun things to do at home–”stay-cation” has quickly embedded itself in the American lexicon–and will cook burgers and hotdogs on the grill before heading out to a fancy restaurant.

We’re bucking the trend.

In just over a week from now, we’ll be hitting a few theme parks.

Even a couple of ball games.

I’ll even go out on a limb and say we’ll eat at a fancy restaurant too during our 2k mile trek.

Yep — been there, done that on the “stay-cation” front. That’s what all of my “cheap weekend” posts here, here, here, here, here, and here have been about.

This time, we’re setting sail and taking a real 10-day/9-night vacation.

Day one will be mostly spent in the car — course set for…Cleveland.

I know, who will sit in the car for nine or ten hours straight to go to Cleveland?

We will.

We don’t have any planned stops along the way, but if we leave early enough in the morning, there’s nothing to stop us from making a few unexpected adventures off of the interstate…

Upon arrival, we’ll be taking in our first ever Cleveland Indians game at Jacobs Field. Sorry, I won’t call it “Progressive Field“. Corporate sponsorship has gotten out of control…

Apparently, the field (why don’t they call it a stadium?) was recently ranked as the best ballpark in some Sports Illustrated poll. That’s not the reason we’re going though. We’re not fans of baseball or even the Tribe, though they do have a pretty cool looking logo.

Thinking about it, I don’t think I can name a single player on the Indians…

Sandy Alomar played there. I only know that because his brother Roberto played for the Blue Jays back when they were actually good. Then he spit on an umpire or something. What a jerk.

I’m pretty sure Bob Feller played in Cleveland too. I had no idea who he was, Hall of Famer apparently, when I got his autograph as a kid at a minor league baseball game in the 1980′s… He didn’t seem real happy to be doing the minor league ballpark thing, if I recall correctly…

Anyway, it’s just something to do, outside the car, on the first night of our activity-packed vacation. I just hope it doesn’t rain…

Posted on June 18th, 2008 at 8:51 am by Brainy Smurf
Sports, Vacation | 1 Comment »