So summer must be in full swing judging by the 12 days between my last posting and this masterpiece. Weather has been great and thus I've been doing many different things, mostly outdoors. In the last 12 days I've seen the movie The Hangover (very funny), almost wrapped up the Band of Brothers mini-series, had a roommate move out, mourned the death of The King of Pop, gone to a wine tasting seminar along with winery tour, visited w/ both step-bro's, (even the one from the UP of Michigan!), had a top 10 finish in an online poker event, and survived a marathon day of drinking on 6/27. It's been a fun 12 days!
The NBA draft also occurred in the past two weeks, so let's take a minute to reflect on this. The Pacers drafted Tyler Hansbrough, which I'm a big fan of, although I refuse to acknowledge his Psycho T nickname. The draft wasn't loaded w/ a bunch of superstars, so the Pacers weren't going to find a franchise savior with the 13th pick. They need a lot of pieces and Hansbrough does bring a physical presence and winning attitude along w/ his skills and bball intelligence. All in all, the team is a little better today then it was 2 weeks ago.
So the Cardinal Ritter HS Alumni golf outing was yesterday at West Chase golf course. Most of you know that I didn't go to high school at Ritter, however, I participate in many of their events that they put on, including the alumni basketball league, golf outing, and various fundraisers throughout the year. I think i've played in 7 of the last 8 golf outings and it's always fun. I normally play w/ the same foursome (Scott, Dave, Andy, and me). Unfortunately Dave couldn't play yesterday, so Matt Taylor, who has really never played golf before stepped in. Related to the golf outing comes one of the greatest mysterious of the 21st century....WHERE DID ANDY'S GOLF GAME DISAPPEAR TOO??? It has yet to be solved by any of us and we, along w/ Andy, have had to resort to humor to get through 18 holes of torture. Now Andy used to be a decent golfer. When I started playing golf w/ him 8-9 years ago, we both would shoot mid-low 90's consistently. Then about 5-6 years ago he just forgot how to hit a golf ball...it's like he has amnesia and had to learn how to play all over again, except that his brain cells related to golf no longer exist. I'm not sure it's possible, but I think he gets worse every time he plays. It's like watching a former great athlete try to make a comeback, except that the former athlete has no arms or legs and is still trying to compete....yeah, that about sums it up.
Now i'm sure you're thinking that i'm being mean here, but he'd be the first to admit it and i'm sure he won't mind me writing about it. After all, it is in all of our best interest to help him conquer his golf struggles in order to improve our Ritter foursome. We still shot 6 under and Andy did hit a decent putt or two. I eagled a hole by myself, so that was the golf highlight of my day. It also never ceases to amaze me the amount of beers that we can put down in 90-95 degree heat. The same thing happens at the Jimtown outing...ridiculous amounts of alcohol are consumed, but it's so hot that you just sweat it out...good times.
I'm looking forward to a good week this week, capped off by having Friday off for the 4th holiday. should be a great weekend!
And now a tribute in the only means I have....the other MJ. On a side note, I believe this is at least the 2nd time MJ has been featured in a video on my blog, which I believe puts him into legendary status for my blog video hall of fame, joining Peyton Manning.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The all sports posting...
This posting will be dedicated to many different sport topics, so there's your warning if sports isn't your thing. Also, I'll try to pick up the frequency of my posting. i've been slacking lately and going about 7-9 days w/o posting.
Topic #1 - Roger Federer.
Greatest Ever, hands down. He'll cement that by walking through Wimbledon and then capturing the US Open Crown in September. A friend of mine is actually going to Wimbledon this year, so i'll be looking forward to his random facebook updates and then hearing what he has to say when he returns.
Topic #2 - NHL
It's back!!! For those of you who did not get into the NHL playoffs, you missed some great sporting moments. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals had the highest rating for an NHL Final in 36 years...and it was on a Friday night, historically the worst night for TV. Hopefully for the NHL's sake, ESPN gets back in the game and is able work out a deal w/ NBC/Versus to carry some of the playoffs next year. That will help it continue to garner support/attention from the casual sports fan. On a random note, I made a woman who I met for the first time during Game 6 despise my existence because I told her I was rooting for a Game 7 and not her beloved Red Wings to close it out in 6. She was actually disgusted w/ me that I was sitting at the same table as her and blamed me for their loss. This was about an hour after I got rear-ended by a woman who didn't have insurance. However, not all was lost....my pitcher of beer that I consumed during Game 6 was only $5. Beer - it's cheaper then gas.
Topic #3 - NBA Finals / Kobe Bryant
OK, the NBA playoffs were pretty solid overall, but the finals sucked. I blame some of that on all media by basically instilling in everyone's mind that a Cavs/Lakers finals was inevitable. I was happy to see Kobe get his 4th title though. I'm not a Kobe hater, in fact, I find myself normally rooting for him. Not sure what Kobe ever did to make people either love him or hate him. And this goes deeper than his Colorado incident w/ the hotel employee. I couldn't care less about that. But he's obviously one of the Top 10 players of all time, and probably the 2nd best shooting guard ever behind Jordan. I grew up in Jordan's prime and I just don't remember people hating MJ. Now, to be fair, a lot has changed since the 90's. Thanks to this wonderful invention none as the "Internet" information is easily accessible and you can read/hear/view so many different avenues of info/video/articles/blogs, etc... So obviously there is more coverage today and you naturally hear more opinions. With that being said, I still just don't think MJ would have been villified as much as Kobe has even if he had played in today's era. It just seemed like everyone loved and rooted for him. Now maybe it's because I grew up relatively close to Chicago (~2 hours), so naturally most articles I read in the paper were "pro-Chicago." Jordan had plenty of his own vices, including gambling, women, alienating teammates, etc... Many of these flaws can be attributed to Kobe as well. Just not sure where/when the public decided to turn on Kobe, arguably the best player over the past 7-8 years.
#4 - US Open / Bethpage Black
Very excited for the US Open this week/weekend. So much so that when Dave asked if I wanted to take Friday afternoon off and go to a bar to watch it, my response basically was, "Which bar..." An intriguing storyline for you to keep your eye on during the first two rounds is the IU sophomore, 19 year-old David Erdy, who just got in as an alternate after one of the Japanese players dropped out. He's not even the best golfer on IU's team.... So we'll see how he does at one of the toughest courses in the US. I'm guessing he shoots around 10-15 over par for the two rounds... One thing i'm not looking forward too is the constant media coverage that is going to be around Phil Mickelson, playing so shortly after he took a leave from the Tour after his wife was diagnosed w/ breast cancer. Obviously it's a feel good story and we all hope that his wife fights and beats the disease, but I just don't want to hear about it 300 times over the tourney's 96 hours. There is a such a thing as beating a dead horse, and I think this may start to qualify. After all, it's his wife who has cancer, not him. Don't take it as me being insensitive. I have plenty of family members and friends that have fought or are currently fighting cancer, but I think you can get what i'm saying. Frickin Tiger won last year's US Open on a broken leg and a torn ACL.... Phil's battle will be more mental as he obviously will be playing w/ some heavy emotion on his sleeves. Which brings up another question...every time he walks by the gallery he's gonna here some sort of comment about his wife's health and that people are wishing her well. Do you think this will help him? If anything, I think it may hurt him as he definitely needs to keep his mind focused on his game if he has any chance of winning.... my prediction is that the winner of the tourney shoots Even par for the tourney.
Topic #5 - my own tennis game
So both of my summer leagues have started. I'm 2-0 at #1 doubles in my 4.5 Summer league on Wednesday nights. In the Indianapolis Draft League on sundays, i'm basically playing guys that are a little better than me. I'm currently 1-2, but have played decent for the most part. No shame in losing to guys that played Division I college tennis. I'm having fun, meeting some new guys, playing well, and also may get some business out of it, so that would be nice!
Topic #6 - Jetskis
I forgot how awesome they are. I spent last Saturday up at Morse Resevior in Noblesville/Cicero at a friend's lake house. It had been a few years since i'd actually rode one...man it was fun to get back on and cut loose on the water.
I feel like i'm rambling, so I'm cutting this posting off now. Don't be this guy....kids, don't play w/ power lines
Topic #1 - Roger Federer.
Greatest Ever, hands down. He'll cement that by walking through Wimbledon and then capturing the US Open Crown in September. A friend of mine is actually going to Wimbledon this year, so i'll be looking forward to his random facebook updates and then hearing what he has to say when he returns.
Topic #2 - NHL
It's back!!! For those of you who did not get into the NHL playoffs, you missed some great sporting moments. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals had the highest rating for an NHL Final in 36 years...and it was on a Friday night, historically the worst night for TV. Hopefully for the NHL's sake, ESPN gets back in the game and is able work out a deal w/ NBC/Versus to carry some of the playoffs next year. That will help it continue to garner support/attention from the casual sports fan. On a random note, I made a woman who I met for the first time during Game 6 despise my existence because I told her I was rooting for a Game 7 and not her beloved Red Wings to close it out in 6. She was actually disgusted w/ me that I was sitting at the same table as her and blamed me for their loss. This was about an hour after I got rear-ended by a woman who didn't have insurance. However, not all was lost....my pitcher of beer that I consumed during Game 6 was only $5. Beer - it's cheaper then gas.
Topic #3 - NBA Finals / Kobe Bryant
OK, the NBA playoffs were pretty solid overall, but the finals sucked. I blame some of that on all media by basically instilling in everyone's mind that a Cavs/Lakers finals was inevitable. I was happy to see Kobe get his 4th title though. I'm not a Kobe hater, in fact, I find myself normally rooting for him. Not sure what Kobe ever did to make people either love him or hate him. And this goes deeper than his Colorado incident w/ the hotel employee. I couldn't care less about that. But he's obviously one of the Top 10 players of all time, and probably the 2nd best shooting guard ever behind Jordan. I grew up in Jordan's prime and I just don't remember people hating MJ. Now, to be fair, a lot has changed since the 90's. Thanks to this wonderful invention none as the "Internet" information is easily accessible and you can read/hear/view so many different avenues of info/video/articles/blogs, etc... So obviously there is more coverage today and you naturally hear more opinions. With that being said, I still just don't think MJ would have been villified as much as Kobe has even if he had played in today's era. It just seemed like everyone loved and rooted for him. Now maybe it's because I grew up relatively close to Chicago (~2 hours), so naturally most articles I read in the paper were "pro-Chicago." Jordan had plenty of his own vices, including gambling, women, alienating teammates, etc... Many of these flaws can be attributed to Kobe as well. Just not sure where/when the public decided to turn on Kobe, arguably the best player over the past 7-8 years.
#4 - US Open / Bethpage Black
Very excited for the US Open this week/weekend. So much so that when Dave asked if I wanted to take Friday afternoon off and go to a bar to watch it, my response basically was, "Which bar..." An intriguing storyline for you to keep your eye on during the first two rounds is the IU sophomore, 19 year-old David Erdy, who just got in as an alternate after one of the Japanese players dropped out. He's not even the best golfer on IU's team.... So we'll see how he does at one of the toughest courses in the US. I'm guessing he shoots around 10-15 over par for the two rounds... One thing i'm not looking forward too is the constant media coverage that is going to be around Phil Mickelson, playing so shortly after he took a leave from the Tour after his wife was diagnosed w/ breast cancer. Obviously it's a feel good story and we all hope that his wife fights and beats the disease, but I just don't want to hear about it 300 times over the tourney's 96 hours. There is a such a thing as beating a dead horse, and I think this may start to qualify. After all, it's his wife who has cancer, not him. Don't take it as me being insensitive. I have plenty of family members and friends that have fought or are currently fighting cancer, but I think you can get what i'm saying. Frickin Tiger won last year's US Open on a broken leg and a torn ACL.... Phil's battle will be more mental as he obviously will be playing w/ some heavy emotion on his sleeves. Which brings up another question...every time he walks by the gallery he's gonna here some sort of comment about his wife's health and that people are wishing her well. Do you think this will help him? If anything, I think it may hurt him as he definitely needs to keep his mind focused on his game if he has any chance of winning.... my prediction is that the winner of the tourney shoots Even par for the tourney.
Topic #5 - my own tennis game
So both of my summer leagues have started. I'm 2-0 at #1 doubles in my 4.5 Summer league on Wednesday nights. In the Indianapolis Draft League on sundays, i'm basically playing guys that are a little better than me. I'm currently 1-2, but have played decent for the most part. No shame in losing to guys that played Division I college tennis. I'm having fun, meeting some new guys, playing well, and also may get some business out of it, so that would be nice!
Topic #6 - Jetskis
I forgot how awesome they are. I spent last Saturday up at Morse Resevior in Noblesville/Cicero at a friend's lake house. It had been a few years since i'd actually rode one...man it was fun to get back on and cut loose on the water.
I feel like i'm rambling, so I'm cutting this posting off now. Don't be this guy....kids, don't play w/ power lines
Monday, June 8, 2009
Music to my ears
So the Coldplay concert last Friday night was frickin awesome. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the term 'auditory orgasm' should about sum it up. Just an absolutely amazing show...they were already my favorite band of the past 3-5 years, so finally seeing them live was a real treat. As Scott, Sara, and I sat in my car waiting to leave after the show, it got me thinking what my all-time favorite concerts were. So, here's my list....
#1 Live (summer 2002) - so Live was the headliner of the first (and last, i think) Indy Summer Stage concerts downtown at Military Park. Indy Summer Stages was to be an annual music festival downtown. I believe it was held right after the 4th of July over a 3 day span. Live was the headliner on the final night. This whole event was just one awesome weekend and Live topped it off Sunday night. Matt and I went to all 3 days, all day, every day. Our Lady Peace headlined Friday night, which was sweet and then Lit headlined on Saturday night. Lit is where Gaddis and I got to sing the chorus to My Own Worst Enemy w/ their lead singer...pretty awesome. Other notable bands at this festival were: Seven Mary Three, Foreigner (before I recognized how awesome they were), Ted Nugent, Better Than Ezra, The Roots, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Sugar Ray, along w/ about 30 other bands. It was a damn good weekend.
(sidenote: can't wait till Entourage sixth season starts in July)
#2 Coldplay (June 2009) - Like I said above, it was awesome. Here is a video of their final song...wish I could have been this close to the stage! The crowd of approximately 25,000 people was electric. and just because Youtube is awesome, here is part of Clocks. My desire to pick back up my piano skills has never been higher....
#3 Neil Diamond (1991 or 1992) - enough said...the rest of you are jealous that you have never seen Neil. This was my first concert ever...Dad took me to Indy to see them at the old Market Square Arena. I'm pretty sure I knew every word to all of his songs thanks to DC spinning Neil's vinyls (yes, records) all the time when I was a kid.
#4 Aerosmith (1993 and 1998) - So many great songs and Steven Tyler is a maniac on stage. Don't remember too many details from the concerts except for the amount of awesomeness that they brought. The one in 1993 was at Verizon (Deer Creek at that time) and I remember it poured down rain the whole time, which sucked during the show, but looking back now it seems pretty cool.
#5 Journey (2006 or 2007) - I've seen Journey twice. Granted, Steve Perry was no longer singing for them, but their new singer at the time sounded just like him. the first time we saw them, they kinda sucked...played too much new stuff. However, the 2nd time i saw them was w/ Adam, Dave, Craig, and Diddy (i think), and it was 2 1/2 hours of nothing but their classic hits...pretty good show.
Honorable mention - Hootie & the Blowfish, Def Leppard, and May Day 2001 (Staind, Oleander, Nickelback...before Nickelback was big). Diddy claims that Tom Petty a few years ago would have cracked my Top 5, but I couldn't go w/ him as I had my last final for my MBA. He claims if I already had my MBA, I would have been smart enough to realize to skip it and go to the concert...maybe.
So after three grueling years on the Colts season ticket wait list, Dave and I got our 4 tickets. You can find us in Section 404 (club level), Row 9, seats 11-14. Now I have 3 tickets for next year..if you remember, Adam came through for two tickets earlier this year (Section 435, Row 7). Ummm, anyone want to buy tickets for face value?? let me know!!
Alright, it's getting late and i'm tired of typing. Hope you all liked my Top 5 concert listing...I assume all of you have yours as well, please share!
#1 Live (summer 2002) - so Live was the headliner of the first (and last, i think) Indy Summer Stage concerts downtown at Military Park. Indy Summer Stages was to be an annual music festival downtown. I believe it was held right after the 4th of July over a 3 day span. Live was the headliner on the final night. This whole event was just one awesome weekend and Live topped it off Sunday night. Matt and I went to all 3 days, all day, every day. Our Lady Peace headlined Friday night, which was sweet and then Lit headlined on Saturday night. Lit is where Gaddis and I got to sing the chorus to My Own Worst Enemy w/ their lead singer...pretty awesome. Other notable bands at this festival were: Seven Mary Three, Foreigner (before I recognized how awesome they were), Ted Nugent, Better Than Ezra, The Roots, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Sugar Ray, along w/ about 30 other bands. It was a damn good weekend.
(sidenote: can't wait till Entourage sixth season starts in July)
#2 Coldplay (June 2009) - Like I said above, it was awesome. Here is a video of their final song...wish I could have been this close to the stage! The crowd of approximately 25,000 people was electric. and just because Youtube is awesome, here is part of Clocks. My desire to pick back up my piano skills has never been higher....
#3 Neil Diamond (1991 or 1992) - enough said...the rest of you are jealous that you have never seen Neil. This was my first concert ever...Dad took me to Indy to see them at the old Market Square Arena. I'm pretty sure I knew every word to all of his songs thanks to DC spinning Neil's vinyls (yes, records) all the time when I was a kid.
#4 Aerosmith (1993 and 1998) - So many great songs and Steven Tyler is a maniac on stage. Don't remember too many details from the concerts except for the amount of awesomeness that they brought. The one in 1993 was at Verizon (Deer Creek at that time) and I remember it poured down rain the whole time, which sucked during the show, but looking back now it seems pretty cool.
#5 Journey (2006 or 2007) - I've seen Journey twice. Granted, Steve Perry was no longer singing for them, but their new singer at the time sounded just like him. the first time we saw them, they kinda sucked...played too much new stuff. However, the 2nd time i saw them was w/ Adam, Dave, Craig, and Diddy (i think), and it was 2 1/2 hours of nothing but their classic hits...pretty good show.
Honorable mention - Hootie & the Blowfish, Def Leppard, and May Day 2001 (Staind, Oleander, Nickelback...before Nickelback was big). Diddy claims that Tom Petty a few years ago would have cracked my Top 5, but I couldn't go w/ him as I had my last final for my MBA. He claims if I already had my MBA, I would have been smart enough to realize to skip it and go to the concert...maybe.
So after three grueling years on the Colts season ticket wait list, Dave and I got our 4 tickets. You can find us in Section 404 (club level), Row 9, seats 11-14. Now I have 3 tickets for next year..if you remember, Adam came through for two tickets earlier this year (Section 435, Row 7). Ummm, anyone want to buy tickets for face value?? let me know!!
Alright, it's getting late and i'm tired of typing. Hope you all liked my Top 5 concert listing...I assume all of you have yours as well, please share!
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