Saturday, May 26, 2007

Friday, May 11, 2007

Hurry, College Football, hurry fast...

I'm attempting to post something everyday here because I think it'll actually help me improve my writing and increase visitors to the site. Also, I'm interested in increasing my chances for winning the Ladies… Hot Blogger bracket. However, my job makes that task very difficult. Since its quite hot (92 degrees) and I'm having a challenging day at work today, I wanted to briefly reflect upon my favorite sport: College Football.

5 Things I'm looking forward to for the '07-'08 Season

1. Heisman Race- No clear-cut early favorites for the Heisman this year. Even established players that returned to school all have serious question marks: Brohm (health?), Brennan (are stats enough?), McFadden (team in disarray?), Tebow (can he be the guy?), Hart/Henne (flashy?), Slaton/White (split votes?), Booty (how good is he without Jarrett/Smith?). This could be the year someone from outside the pack makes a serious run at the award. Could a defensive player win it?

2. Disagreements and arguments- This happens every year, but it's always enjoyable. I can't wait for the first BCS standings followed by the campaign for a playoff.

3. Helmet stickers- one of my favorite aspects of college football. Unfortunately, not every team does it. The NCAA needs to pass a rule that requires all teams to utilize helmet stickers. Does anyone else remember the "Buckeye!" College Gameday commercial?

4. The USC Marching Band- just a little bit of homerism here. Nothing in football beats walking into the Coliseum with the band playing on a sunny California afternoon.

5. Upset Saturday- I always enjoy the one Saturday every year where a few Top 25 teams get upset in the same day. And of course the ceremonial tearing down of the goal posts.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

RIP Diego Corrales

I was doing my normal blog-browsing and came across a piece on No Mas about the death of Diego Corrales. I thought it was an extremely insightful take on his passing. When athletes die, or any public figure for that matter, the mainstream media typically glosses over any negative aspects of their life. Maybe it's out of respect for the deceased and their family, but it's always seemed odd to me. Especially since many of the same people spend a lot of time criticizing and digging up dirt on the same people only days before. The folks over at No Mas did an excellent job here, please check it out.

Out of respect for what the man contributed in the ring, here are my personal Top 3 Boxing Matches:

1. Corrales-Castillo I: One that I'll tell my Grandkids about, if boxing is still around. It was like a Rocky movie more than a boxing match: a knock down, drag out slugfest that never failed to disappoint. This was exactly what everyone wants boxing to be. This wasn't about the money or the fame, it was about defeating your opponent.

2. De la Hoya-Chavez: I'll never forget the hype surrounding this one. I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles largely populated by first generation immigrants from Mexico, so this fight was a huge generational clash. The kids all rooted for "The Golden Boy" while their parents backed the iconic Julio Cesar Chavez. The fight didn't disappoint, for the youngsters at least. Probably De la Hoya's finest performance.

3. Tyson-Douglas: I truly don't think people that didn't live through it could possibly understand the Mike Tyson era in the ring. Rarely has an athlete, particularly a boxer, seemed as invincible as Tyson did in his prime. He was even unbeatable in video game form. To watch him knocked out was nearly incomprehensible to my young mind, particularly by someone I'd never heard of (if it was The Sandman or little Mac, I might've bought it). A truly memorable experience, as the image of Tyson blindly searching for his mouthpiece on the canvas is etched in my mind forever.

6 "Sick Day" Guilty Pleasures on TV

I'm home sick today, so I thought I'd put together a list.

1. Sesame Street- this show is genius. I haven't watched it in about 17 years so I forgot about how much I like it. I probably laughed more today than I did when I was a kid. The Cookie Monster always delivers. Now, I can appreciate it on another level since I work in education. They utilize nearly every possible learning style to teach kids academic and social lessons. They have a good chapter about it in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

2. The Golden Girls- sure, it's about Senior Citizen women and airs on Lifetime so a lot of guys might stay away, but not this guy. The comedy writing on this show is very good and worth watching simply for that. It's classic sitcom writing and it allows you to relate to a completely foreign situation. A bit of trivia: this was Mitchell "Arrested Development" Hurwitz's first gig as a writer.

3. NBA on ESPN Classic- no matter how often I tune in to watch a classic game, the shorts are always shocking.

4. Random movies- Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Fire Birds? Hmmm….

5. Champion's League Soccer- Getting a live Champion's League match is the equivalent of hitting the sick day lottery. In terms of pleasant surprises, it would be like stumbling across a live NFL Conference Championship game at 1am when you can't sleep.

6. The Game Show Network- Lingo is always fantastic and the Match Game always delivers the goods. Now, if I just figure out how to actually get on Lingo I'd be happy.