Annals of the Homestarmy - Sports

Racquetball

nospam@example.com (Ancient of Days) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:14:54 -0600

This was a long post detailing the games, but I clicked the wrong button and lost it all, and I don't have the heart to type it again. Summary: Lost, Lost, Lost. Went home.

Some Clarifications

nospam@example.com (Ancient of Days) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:01:21 -0600

Since I've entered the Utah County Corporate Games in Racquetball, I decided to brush up on the OFFICIAL rules. Here are some that we don't all play consistently:

Ball Hits Opponent. When an opponent is hit by a return shot in flight, it is a replay hinder. If the opponent is struck by a ball that obviously did not have the velocity or direction to reach the front wall, it is not a hinder, and the player who hit the ball will lose the rally. A player who has been hit by the ball can stop play and make the call though the call must be made immediately

[Note: There's no special provision for being hit while in the service box after server - this is a normal reserve.]

During play, a player loses the rally if any one of the following occurs:

1. The ball bounces on the floor more than once before being struck.
2. The ball does not reach the front wall on the fly.
3. The ball flies into the spectator's gallery or wall opening or strikes an out-of-bounds surface above the court's normal playing area [cf. Rule 2.1(a)].[7]
4. A slow ball with neither the velocity nor direction needed to strike the front wall strikes another player.
5. A ball struck by a player hits that player or that player's partner.
6. A penalized hindrance [cf. Rule 3.15].
7. Switching racquet hands during a rally.
8. Not using a racquet wrist-safety cord.
9. Touching the ball with either the body or uniform.
10. Carrying or slinging the ball with the racquet.

I'll up the ante on Odd.

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:05:52 -0600

The Lakers are a negative half game behind the Hornets.

Math!

Snowshoeing - the second expedition

nospam@example.com (Radar) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:53:37 -0700

So this weekend I went on my second snowshoeing trip of 2008. We decided to head up to Emigration Canyon and hiked around on Little Mountain. It was not by any means a scenic area, but it was fun to tromp around through the snow with friends. Sorry, no moose were seen on this trip. Special thanks to Emily Hodson for letting me borrow her snowshoes and her dad's snow pants; Emily Utt for the use of her gators and planning the trip.

I have put together a gallery of some of the pictures we took during the day. You can see them here. But here are a couple I thought were worth posting here:

Continue reading "Snowshoeing - the second expedition"

The best smelling gloves ever

nospam@example.com (Radar) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:48:00 -0700

As all of you probably know, I love soccer. I love playing, watching, and talking soccer. I recently had a soccer game and due to limited players, was forced to play as our goalkeeper. Luckily my friend Jeff was there and I was able to borrow his gloves. I had them on for a good 45 minutes.

They worked great and I was able to have a shutout and so our team won. When I finally pulled the gloves off I instinctively smelled my hands to see how bad they were. I was pleasantly surprised. Any of you who have ever stood near a goalie can tell you that a keepers gloves are one of the foulest smelling things in the world. Jeff's gloves smelled great. I don't know what he did to keep them smelling so well, but I am extremely grateful. It was to say the least, a breath of fresh air!

Here are what the aforementioned gloves looked like in case you want to buy very your own non-foul-smelling-soccer-gloves.

NBA Trades

nospam@example.com (The Mad Giggler) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:32:00 -0700

Is it just me or are NBA GMs always about 5 years behind the times? Seriously, who cares about Shaquille O'Neal?

Also, Pau Gasol to the Lakers for. . .nothing? Is this really addition by subtraction Grizzlies?

"What are they (expletive) thinking?" one Western Conference executive blurted late Tuesday night.

Update: Regarding the Suns trade

Reverse Voodoo Works

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:24:12 -0700

I Happily admit I was wrong. I'm just happy that all that Reverse Jinxing I threw into last Weeks TVftC worked.

Tough break MG. I feel for you know what it's like.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am thrilled at the outcome and the Patriots having the big chokejob.

Impressed

nospam@example.com (Radar) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:23:35 -0700

When I heard that Tom Petty was going to be the halftime show at the superbowl, I was a little disappointed. I thought that they could have gotten someone a little better (Bon Jovi, The Who, or Metallica). I don't know about you guys, but I would have to say that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rocked.

The View from the Crossbar

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:19:00 -0700

Well we are almost there. That magical last game, that pits the NFC best vs. the AFC best. The AFC squad looks tough and hard to beat, but the NFC squad seems to be a bit more scrappy. At least the losing team though will get to enjoy a weekend in Hawaii.

What? Oh wait you mean the game everyone is looking forward to is the Super Bowl? Well, I guess we can talk about that game as well, but before we do let's review a couple things that were shown during conference championship weekend.
Continue reading "The View from the Crossbar"

Good news for AoD

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:23:09 -0700

He'll be back.

Super Bowl or Super Bore

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:25:59 -0700

Well the two teams are determined the Patriots (No Suprise) will play the New York Giants (Big Surprise) in Super Bowl XLII.

Though the Game will probably be bad (I'm betting Vegas sets the line at 20), we'll be having our yearly Super Bowl Party at my Dad's on Sunday February 3, starting at about 3:00.

All are invited as the Patriots become the first team in NFL history to go 19-0. Though it would still be fun to be in Zona in two weeks.

Colts Fans Stupidity = Good Pub for Pats

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:16:29 -0700

Well the Colt's fans' absolute stupidity and classlessness over the past weekend has allowed their biggest Rival to claim the spotlight (as if the Pats really needed it), and get good publicity for this weekend.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the team will honor 14-year-old Anna Grant before Sunday's game. Grant, a high school freshman from Stratham, N.H., was the team's representative in a Punt, Pass & Kick competition in her age group, and when she was introduced at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis before the fourth quarter Sunday, she was the only one booed. "Why should a champion be booed?" Kraft said. "She won an intensive competition. She's supposed to be honored. We will recognize her as the winner on the field. Our fans will know." Grant said, "It really didn't bother me at all. People at the game came up to me afterward and said, 'It's not you. It's your jersey.' "

Now We Have Time to Worry

nospam@example.com (Ancient of Days) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:20:21 -0700

Now that football is over for the season, Colts fans have time to look around the league and wonder who on earth would replace Tony Dungy as head coach if he decides to retire - which he has been threating to do for 2-3 years now. Any suggestions on who might be out there? It seems a rather bleak picture to me...I think Irsay should tell Tony "You don't get to retire until you train your successor."

Most critically, I'm also worried about both Howard Mudd (one of the best O-Line coaches in the league) and Tom Moore (the only Offensive Coordinator Peyton has ever known in his NFL career). I'm concerned that they might both consider breaking in a new Head Coach to be one step more than they want to take. I mean, think about this: Tom Moore was on Chuck Noll's coaching staff at the Pittsburgh Steelers while Tony Dungy was PLAYING for the Steelers!

That is NOT Being a Fan

nospam@example.com (Ancient of Days) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:42:36 -0700

Between the 3rd and 4th quarters of the SD/IND game, they presented the awards for the NFL "Punt, Pass, and Kick" awards. Each kid was "representing" a professional NFL team. The winner in the 14-15 year old category was representing the New England Patriots, and the Colts "fans" booed her. That is ridiculous behaviour by grown men and women. To the credit of the young woman, she laughed it off, but I was so disappointed in the Colts fans that I spent the next offensive series writing this instead of watching the game. Don't be surprised if the football gods punish the Colts for this.

Gotta love the mess that is NCAA Football

nospam@example.com (Sideshow) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:43:38 -0700

Since it's inception the BCS proponents have always feared 3 worst case scenarios. The least tragic of these was that the BCS Champion was unconvincing enough, and a team left out of the BCS Championship was convincing enough to cause a split national championship, which the BCS claimed it would eliminate since the championship was "decided on the field".

More critical though were the following two scenarios:

1. More than two undefeated teams at the end of the regular season, which meant an undefeated team would not get a chance to play in the BCS Championship game.

and

2. No major (a.k.a. BCS Conference) undefeated team, and a jumbled mess where really isn't a clear cut obvious pick for the National Championship, possibly causing a 2 loss team to get in over a 1 loss team.

Continue reading "Gotta love the mess that is NCAA Football"