Fan Friendly Fridays - Dark Horse edition

With the MLB Playoffs beginning a couple days ago, I figured this week's FFF should be something related to the postseason.

A term you'll hear in almost any sports is dark horse. In most circumstances, this is a team that begins in relative obscurity and quickly rises to prominance.

Naturally, the term comes from the "sport" of horse racing where a horse that nobody knew much about would be entered into a race, making it difficult to bet on. According to our dear friends at Wikipedia, the first time the term was used occurred in 1831. In his novel The Young Duke, Benjamin Disraeli wrote,
A dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph.

Many mistakingly use this term to mean the same thing as an underdog. The difference lies in the "obscurity." Just because a team may not be favored to win doesn't mean they're a dark horse. Here are a couple examples:

• In the first round of the 2010 ALDS, the New York Yankees are facing the Minnesota Twins. Now let's say that...obviously hypothetically...the Twins are favored to win. For the simple fact that the Yankees are the Yankees, one of the most well-known brands in sports with a very high media following, I would argue that they can not and will never be able to be labeled as a dark horse. Everyone knows who the Yankees are and they they always have a chance to win.
  
• In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays, long time residents of AL East cellar successfully made it to the World Series with a roster devoid of "superstars" and came from a city many people forget even has an MLB team and had minimal media exposure. In my opinion, going into the playoffs that year, the Rays fit the definition of a dark horse.
  

Thankful Thursday

Let us give thanks.

• I am SO. THANKFUL. for a job. I'll be going in Saturday to fill out paperwork and resume working at Starbucks. No, it's not in sports, and I don't anticipate it being long-term. However as I am REALLY wanting to get into sports broadcast production but am having difficulty getting in the front door, I really needed to do something to bring in a paycheck. Plus, there's something that happens mentally when you sit at home and don't have a job, and it's not good. I had to get out of that and get busy.
• I am thankful for Men's Fraternity. MF is a weekly curriculum that focuses on helping men identify, learn about, develop, and maximize their God-given responsibilities. We started back up last week and its really been a blessing for me, and I hope that Sarah has benefitted from it too. If there is a church near you that is offering the program, I highly recommend looking into it.
• I am so thankful that the Braves were successful in returning to the playoffs after a 4-year hiatus. We didn't make it in pretty, but we're in and that's all that matters now. Obviously its a little extra sweet because of this being Bobby Cox' final year. The Braves are going to have it tough facing the Giants because both teams have great pitching and both teams struggle to score runs, but I am really hoping we can split the two games in SF to start the series. If we can do that, I like our chances of moving on.
• I am thankful for a new opportunity to serve as a "Trail Guide" in the NACofC Youth Group this year. Trail Guides is kind of like a mentoring program where I've been given 4 7th-grade young men to meet with each month and just be a positive influence in their lives. I met these young men this past Sunday and I can already tell I'll benefit from this as much, if not more than they will.
• I am thankful for our small group at church. Sarah and I were reading a humorous blogpost yesterday about small groups in general, and while we were laughing at some of the parts of the blogpost that applied directly to us, it yet again reminded us how thankful we are for ours.
• As always, I am constantly thankful for Sarah. She's really hung with me through the job issue and I know that she spends a lot of time helping me find job postings and helping me think of possible ways to get some editing training. She's the best!

Sorry I haven't been around much. Fan Friendly Fridays will return tomorrow.

Pinch Hitting: Sarah of I'm Just Saying

Editor's note: Last week I came up with the idea of bringing in some Pinch Hitters, so to speak. I've invited a couple friends and fellow bloggers to write posts for you, our loyal fans in the stands. Naturally, the honor of the first guest post should go to none other than my esteemed wife and author of the well-read blog, I'm Just Saying. I was going to introduce her post saying "I am thrilled to present our first guest columnist"...but then I read the first line of her post below. By the time Saturday gets here, I'll be able to support the Hogs in their efforts against Alabama, but I'm not there yet. So with what bitterness I am still carrying from my UGA Dawgs choking and handing the win over to the Hogs, I'll say...

*queue up "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake*

Now hitting: #41, the second baseman, Sarah.

Wooooooo PIG SOOIEEEE! Go Razorbacks! Hogs rule, Dawgs drool!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'll tell you why I'm here. This blog needs a feminine touch!

Tonight at 11:09pm, we enter the most glorious season of them all. It's FALL, y'all! Why do I love Fall so much? Oh, let me count the ways! Cooler temperatures (allegedly), jackets and long sleeves and sweaters, chili and soups, and college football. Now, I can blog with the best of 'em about my favorite Autumn clothing and I can share a darn good chili recipe, but Michael has asked me to write about my love of college football. And what better time to do that than right after my team mopped the floor with his team the beginning of Fall?

I think the reason women can get into college football so easily is because we can relate it to our past. We can remember our high school days (and even younger) hanging out at the football game on a Friday night. I remember all of us girls worrying about dates to the Homecoming game, the VERY LARGE AND OBSCENE Homecoming corsages, playing in the band and marching at half-time, making fun of the cheerleaders cheering at the top of our lungs, dressing in school colors to show our spirit, and of course, checking out the hot football players. Good Friday night memories.

The excitement - for me - dropped off dramatically in college, because my alma mater didn't have that great of a team to speak of. I went to some games, but there was so much other fun stuff to do in college! Besides, our team mascot was gramatically incorrect. And that's just embarrassing.

But then.

In the late 90s, I went to work at a television station in Little Rock. It was there that I worked with The Voice of the Razorbacks, Mr. Paul Eells. How on earth could you not be excited about Razorback football when working with this man? I discovered my love for college football. There was so much excitement to be had! Calling the Hogs, tailgating, crazy fans, SEC rivalry games, wearing Razorback red, and of course, the hot football players. You just couldn't help but be excited...especially when some games went into seven-freaking-overtimes. Yep, I caught a serious case of college football fever.

And now, I live far from Razorback country. I married into the Georgia Bulldogs family. I have friends who are LSU Tigers fans, Tennessee Vols fans, Auburn Tigers fans, Ole Miss fans, and Alabama Crimson Tide fans. I even have a few friends who cheer for the Florida Gators...bless their hearts, they just don't know any better. I love them dearly, but I will always root for whatever team is playing the Florida Gators. Even surrounded by a melting pot of fans of other teams, I still call my Hogs on Saturdays. THIS is college football, readers. College football is the smack talk between rival teams, it's losing your voice from cheering, it's the car flags whipping in the wind, it's the tailgating with your friends and complete strangers, it's the heartbreak of a loss and the joy and gloating of a win. And for me, there's just something about hearing "TOUCHDOWN ARKANSAS!" that lets me know Fall is officially here, regardless of the date on the calendar.

It's just nostalgic.

That and it feels darn good when your team straight up rolls over your spouse's team.

~Sarah

Fan Friendly Fridays - Hokie edition

The other day, Sarah and I were discussing something related to college football and Virginia Tech came up. As you may or may not know, the athletic teams at VT are the "Hokies". But what is a "hokie?" Well, as I have struggled for blog ideas the past couple weeks, when Sarah and I discussed this very question the other day, I thought it would make for a good FFF post.

The following is a condensed version of the story behind "Hokie" as found on the Virginia Tech website.

Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 and was originally named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1896, the school's name changed to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnical Institute, which was so long that locals started referring to the school as "VPI".

With the chance in the official name of the school, the school cheer was no longer suitable and thus a contest was held for a new spirit yell. The contest was won by O. M. Stull, Class of 1896. The cheer, now known as The Old Hokie, goes:
Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
Rae, Ri, V.P.I.

Later on, Team! Team! Team! was added on to the end of the cheer.

Stull said that he made up the word "hoki" to be an attention grabber. However, due to the popularity of the cheer, "hokie" (with the e added later) has remained a part of the Virginia Tech tradition ever since. With the new school name and cheer, Virginia Tech changed its colors to the burnt orange and Chicago maroon worn to this day.

Be looking forward to next week as I am hoping to have my first guest columnists featured on Stepping Up.

Fan Friendly Fridays: Around the Horn

You may or may not have heard the baseball phrase "around the horn", but more than likely, you've seen it. Infield players throw the ball around the horn after an out is recorded and there are no runners on base. Although the practice is more tradition based than anything else, the line of thinking is that it helps infielders keep their arms warmed up and loose during the game.

Example: the hitter hits a ground ball to the 3rd baseman who then throws it to the 1st baseman for the out. The 1st baseman will then throw the ball to the 2nd baseman--2B to the Shortstop--SS to to the 3rd baseman who is usually the one to return the ball to the pitcher. That is the typical pattern, but some teams alter it slightly.

Catchers will also start the ball around the horn after a strikeout with no runners on base. Most commonly, the catcher will fire the ball to the 3B who begins the cycle 3B-2B-SS-3B and then back to the pitcher. Some catchers will pick which base they throw to based on the handedness of the hitter.

There's your 2nd edition of Fan Friendly Fridays. Have a good weekend everyone.

Fan Friendly Fridays: Redshirt edition

A request has been submitted by the listening audience that we here at Stepping Up think is a great idea. Each Friday, our hardworking research staff will demystify sports jargon commonly thrown around that may not be clear to the casual fan. As always, we welcome requests from the crowd.

Leading off this series is a term most commonly heard around college football: "redshirt", i.e., "Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett played the 2009 season as a 'redshirt sophomore' after transferring from Michigan."

In collegiate athletics, athletes are given four years of playing eligibility, based on [what used to be] the normal amount of time needed to complete a degree. If an athlete is given the redshirt label, it means that they can attend classes as well as associate with and practice with the team without using a year of their eligibility. They cannot, however, play in any form of game competition. If a football player plays just one down in a season game, that counts as one of the player's four years of eligibility.

A player can be designated as a reshirt for a number of reasons. Three of the most popular reasons are:

1. A freshman coming in a position that is currently occupied by an upper classman. For example, if a college recruits a stud quarterback out of high school and currently has a QB in his last year of eligibility, they will likely redshirt the freshman his first year so that they can still potentially get 4 years of play with him. This also enables the redshirt freshman to get used to the college system and playbook so that he already has some experience when he starts competitive play.
2. An athlete coming out high school suffered a serious injury and so the school could redshirt that athlete to give them more time to recover and be active with the team outside of competition.
3. Whenever an athlete from a Division I school transfers to another D-I school, they are required by the NCAA to redshirt one year. This is to keep schools from trying to poach players from other schools. Going back to Mallett at Arkansas, he played for the University of Michigan in 2007. When Michigan hired a new coach, Mallett transferred to Arkansas and therefore had to redshirt the 2008 season. He then was referred to as a "redshirt sophomore" in 2009 because while he may have been a Junior in terms of academic standing, he was playing in only his second year of athletic eligibility.

On a related note, you will also hear the term "true freshman". As you might suspect, this is simply an athlete who is playing in his first year at that level of institution.

So I hope this has given you a better understanding of the term "redshirt." If you still have questions, just ask I'll be happy to find out the answer for you.

NCAA "redshirt" FAQs

Wikipedia

Feeding the addiction

Today was pretty exciting as I got my first information about becoming a stats reporter for STATS, LLC. STATS provides game data for clients all over the world including teams and news gathering agencies like Sports Illustrated. In short, after taking a few games to get used to the system, STATS will pay me to watch games and record the game events. I'll be starting off with baseball, pretty much focusing on the Braves but maybe every now and then I'll be able to do a game on a national broadcast. I'm also hoping to do some football and hockey in the Fall/Winter.

So what does that mean? I'll be able to honestly tell Sarah that I HAVE to watch the game...every husband's dream.

Pigs, gators, and stupidity

Yesterday a story broke that a reporter for The Hog Sports Radio was fired for wearing a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas Razorbacks press conference.

You can watch press conference here, with Razorback Head Coach Bobby Petrino commenting on reporter Renee Gork's hat at around 1:35 into the video. Judging by his eye movement, Gork is somewhere off to his left. Both Gork and The Hog Sports Radio GM, Dan Storrs, went on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday and gave their side of what happened. Here are some links for you to catch up on:

• Sports Illustrated
• ESPN
• ESPN College Football reporter Chris Low

Aside from her apparent lack of taste in teams to support, I have no problem with her owning and wearing a Gators hat. The problem was that she wore a hat of a rival team on the job. Point of clarification here - it's professionally regarded to be in bad taste to wear apparel in support of any team when covering sports. In this case, Gork was employed by a station that doesn't claim to be objective and therefore the problem lies in that she was wearing the hat of an occasional opponent that is generally disliked across the rest of the SEC.

 Does anyone who knows me really think that if I was sentenced to work for the Mets that I would get rid of my Braves jerseys and hats? Or if one I am working for the University of Florida that I would simply no longer be a Georgia fan? Of course not! But you better believe I would be ULTRA-judicious about how and when they get worn in public. Wearing a Gators hat to ANY other team's press conference would be like Sarah going in to work at C*N wearing a "Faux News rocks!" shirt. Simply bad taste...on multiple levels.

Short and simple: you have got to always be aware of your surroundings. You must clearly know who you are working for, what they are about, as well as who is LISTENING to you and what they are expecting. The Hog Sports Radio apparently does not try to be objective, which is fine. If you are going to work for a station that has a stated purpose of supporting-not just covering-a team or school, and that's what the listeners are tuning in for, you simply can't make mistakes like that. People are always listening, and if it is known that you have an affiliation with another entity, someone who is listening is going to link your words or actions to that entity, whether correct or not. Whether she intended to or not, she put her employer in a position where they had to go on the defense, and that usually doesn't go over well.

I can't fault Petrino or the school for being irritated at Gork's attire. I also believe her side of the story that it was an honest mistake and she meant no disrespect. But how many times have we heard or read a story where the outcome would be drastically different had the person involved taken just 10 more seconds to think about what they were doing?

Thankful Thursday - Graduation edition

Understandably, there's been a lot going on the past several weeks, and I'm constantly reminded that I have so much to be thankful for. Thus, this Graduation edition of "Thankful Thursday."

It finally arrived. I always have a fear of crossing the line between being proud of an accomplishment and bragging. In this area I know that I have nothing to brag about. However as Sarah and I discussed the other night, this was a BIG. DEAL. And not that I just graduated, but how I graduated - "with honors" (Cum Laude). I definitely get that in the big picture, honors or not isn't that big of a deal, but just that I graduated. But to me, I've always looked back at graduating from high school and feeling like I was the only one among my circle of friends who didn't graduate with honors. I was just happy to get out with a somewhat average GPA, and I expected the same when I headed off to college. Then in 2008 when I finally returned to college, I carried the same goal - just make it through and finish the degree. Well I did that, and to my own surprise, I did it in better fashion that I would have given myself credit for. I am so thankful that I graduated which leads into my second TT item...

Sarah
She was absolutely amazing through my time back in school. She was without question my biggest supporter and encourager. The number of sacrifices she made so that I could finish school are too many to count. I'll do my best though to make sure she never forgets how thankful I'll always be for that.

My family & friends
I have the best family and friends I could ever ask for. I've wanted for YEARS for my parents to see their son graduate from college and I finally gave them that opportunity. As added bonus, my grandfather was able to make it to the ceremony, making it that much sweeter. Both my parents and Sarah's have been nothing but supportive and encouraging, and I know her parents really wanted to be there. It was great to have her brother there though, and I kinda looked at it as he was there representing the whole family which meant a lot to me.

Fairly often, Sarah and I talk about moving out of Atlanta, just to see what life is like somewhere else. But the hardest thing about seriously looking at it is knowing who we would be leaving behind. I cannot say enough about our church family and small group. They're just awesome. Our small group gets together as often as we can. We have great Bible studies, and we have great fun. When Memorial Day or July 4 or other events come around, that's who we want to spend it with, and we always have a great time. Just like my family, they stood by me throughout going back to school with nothing but support and encouragement, and our dear friends Josh and Erin even came to my graduation. I love those guys and everyone in our church group.

Turner Sports
Simply put, without this internship, graduation wouldn't have happened. I am so thankful for the opportunity I've been blessed with to come work at NASCAR.COM. I held my first presentation yesterday and all feedback so far has been nothing but complimentary. Every day I walk in, I'm reminded of how lucky I am to be here, and that one of the biggest reasons I am here is because of the help of others. This has been a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to my final month here.

That'll conclude the Graduation Edition of Thankful Thursday, but that's not all I have. Check back later for the second part of Thankful Thursday.

The cake our NACofC Small Group presented me in celebration of graduating.

Take Out The Trash Day

I refer you to my earlier post about the concept behind "Take Out The Trash Day."

It's official, I am a full blown supporter of the use of instant replay in professional sports. I think the technology we posses today is too good to not utilize it. I don't believe that instant replay, if used correctly, will bastardize sports either. With the exception of U.S.A.'s elimination this past Saturday, I have been in World Cup heaven. That being said - the officiating has been absolutely AWFUL. While instant replay should not be brought in on fouls called by the referees, there is no reason for it to not be used on every goal scored...make that possibly scored as has been the case in this World Cup. The NHL does that, there's a lot more scoring in hockey, and yet it doesn't slow down the game. Heck, I don't know of any sporting event that has more "traditions" than the Championships Wimbledon, and they even use instant replay. Fanhouse.com has a good article on how the World Cup should use instant replay.

I have no problem at all with Stephen Strasburg pitching in this year's All-Star game, should he be selected. My motives here are 100%, unabashedly self-serving in this. I am sick of the American League winning. Even if it is only for one inning, that is most likely one less inning the AL will be able to score on us. (By "us" I am referring to the National League and all of us fans around the world who prefer REAL baseball.) I don't care that he hasn't served a lot of time in the league yet. I think in this case, it's an advantage, because most AL players haven't faced him yet. He's a weapon the NL has, and they would be well off if they used it.

Consider this my official joining of the Cincinnati Reds bandwagon. Every year, I look for a team that has been struggling but is able to use home-grown talent to try to turn their team around. In years past, I've been very impressed with the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and the Tampa Bay Rays. I love that the Reds are competing this year. The Reds hold a special place in my heart, because the first professional game I attended was the Cubs & Reds at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, back when Pete Rose was managing the Reds and Don Zimmer his counterpart with the Cubs.

As I mentioned the other day via twitter, I have decided that I will not read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows again before seeing both parts of the movie. When Sarah and I paid to see Half-Blood Prince in 3D IMAX, I left the theater pretty upset after the movie. WIth the increasing price of movie tickets, we've had to become more selective in what we see in the theater, and multiply that for IMAX. Yet only the first 15 minutes or so of the movie were in 3D. But to make it worse, the movie was, in my opinion, drastically different from the book...and Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book in the whole series. So in an effort to be able to enjoy the final movies as much as possible, I don't want to use the book as a reference and compare the two. I really want to enjoy it, so I hope this works.

"If you don't toot your own horn, who will?"

On May 28, 2010, I posted the following tweet: [@machaffin] is considering beginning a campaign to get the Marlins to dismiss Fredi Gonzalez so that he'd be available for the Braves to replace Cox.

And what happened yesterday? The Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez. Now while I didn't have anything to do with his dismissal, it does give me hope for next year.

I have a feeling that the top two candidates to replace Braves manager Bobby Cox are going to be Gonzalez and current hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

Consider yours truly part of the Gonzalez supporters. I have nothing against TP, I've met him and I think he's a great guy and could do a good job. But while he has interviewed multiple times for a managerial position and even withdrawn his name from consideration once, and has been a coach in the Braves organization for a long time in addition to his playing career, he lacks the most important part of a resume that Gonzalez has: experience.

Gonzalez took the Marlins manager job and turned out to be the winningest manager in team history, according to MLB.com. (see linked story above) Under his leadership, the Marlins went from finishing 5th in the NL East in 2007 to 2nd in 2009, albeit with a minimal payroll.

If the Braves decide to go with Pendleton, I won't hold it against them. But if he's still available next season, I think Gonzalez would be way to go.

You were doing so well...where'd you go?

Yeah, I had a really good month of May in posting regularly, but the past couple weeks have been very different in "life-scheduling" so there's been an adjustment curve taking place.

On June 7, I began my internship at Turner Sports, working in Business Ops with NASCAR.com. It's already been a challenging two and a half weeks, but I'm VERY happy to be here. My first week I got a crash course (pun halfway intended there) in website SEO and helped construct an HTML sitemap for NASCAR.com. What's the point? To make NASCAR.com come up at the top of the list whenever someone performs a NASCAR-related search with Google, Yahoo!, Bing, or any other search engine.

Then last week, I missed a couple days as Sarah and I travelled to Tennessee for a funeral. The rest of the week I spent researching International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports Inc. These are the two companies that own and operate the various racetracks that host NASCAR events. I also spent a good deal of time learning about Bristol Motor Speedway, and it looks like I'll have the opportunity to go to BMS for the August "Night Race." I'm pretty excited about that.

For the first time in a very long time, I am working normal business hours, but I'm starting to get used to it. As you might have read on my dear wife's blog, we're also in the process of trying to paint the inside of our house.

I really enjoyed getting back into the blogging routine and am happy to get back at it. With the World Cup in full swing, I'm looking forward to pulling some material from that, as well as my Braves are in the midst of putting together a pretty darn good season.

The Perfect Game

Anyone who has had the fortune of watching a professional pitcher throw a perfect game got to witness one of the rarest occurrences in sports. According to Baseball-Reference.com, 37,279 players have pitched in a professional baseball game dating back to 1871. Of that number, only 20 have successfully pitched nine innings and faced 27 batters without allowing one of them to reach base. To put it another way, only 1 out of 1,864 pitchers will throw a perfect game, statistically speaking.

That is what makes the fact that two pitchers have accomplished the feat within the last month, and that fact that we saw a third get taken away last night absolutely astonishing, even moreso if you agree with me that the hitters are given every advantage possible over the pitchers.

I'm a big baseball fan. I'm not the biggest baseball fan by any means, I'm not even the biggest fan I know. But I'm a big fan. I consider myself a baseball "purist." I like day games. I hate the designated hitter. I don't like Interleague play and the only times the National League and American League should play each other are the All-Star Game and the World Series. The All-Star game shouldn't have any bearing whatsoever on home-field advantage in the World Series. I like the "human element" of umpires making the call on the field.

But even though I consider myself a "purist", I think Major League Baseball was victimized last night by its decision to lag behind on the use of instant replay.

I don't fault umpire Jim Joyce for blowing the call last night, and keeping Armando Galarraga from becoming the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game. Umpires are human and they will make mistakes. Everyone involved last night knows this and acknowledged it. Galarraga, Tigers Manger Jim Leyland, and Joyce himself all handled last night's unfortunate events with utmost class and professionalism. But the whole experience could have been avoided if the tool of instant replay had been available for Joyce to utilize.

As of today, instant replay is used by MLB for home runs only - whether they are in fair or foul territory, and if the ball actually left the playing field or was interfered with.

Every ballpark in the league has the equipment in place to make instant replay a viable resource on a questionable play. Instant replay should never be involved in calling balls and strikes, and in every play, the umpire on the field should have the final say. But I think there's a good chance that if he had the option of doing so, Joyce would have welcomed the chance to make sure he got the call right on the field by checking himself with instant replay. I have to think that anyone who takes pride in their work, whatever it may be, wants to utilize every resource available to do their job the best it can be done.

Commissioner Selig, it's time to make the resource of instant replay available...REALLY available.

Who Stepped Up? (May 28, 2010)

For the second installment of my weekly "Who Stepped Up?" post, the winner is Jordan Romero.

At just 13 years old, Jordan became the youngest person ever to summit Mt. Everest this past Saturday. According to his website, Jordan and his family are on a quest to knock off the 7 Summits, and now that they have checked off Everest, all that remains is Antarctica's Mt. Vinson.

Everest as long been a fascination of mine, the high point being when I was introduced to Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air. One day, I hope to have the opportunity to hike to Mt. Everest's base camp, but I have no grand illusions about attempting to climb it. Nonetheless, mad props to Jordan and his family for such an impressive feat.

If you are of the opinion, however, that the idea of letting a 13-year-old climb a mountain like Everest, you're not alone.

Take Out The Trash Day

If anyone who reads this is familiar with the show The West Wing, you might recognize the title of the post. "Take Out The Trash Day" was an episode title from Season 1 where the staff would use one day to throw a lot stories at the press in an attempt to overwhelm them and prevent the press from being able to focus on one.

This post is of that spirit in that I'm going to just fire a few quick, unrelated items at you, but not devote a blogpost to each one.

Leading off - the idea of the Atlanta Falcons getting a new open-air stadium. I cannot describe in full detail how against this I am, but I'm VERY against it - if it involves just 1 cent of public money. This comes from some columns I recently read on AJC.com. The Falcons play in the Georgia Dome which opened in 1992, also knows as the year I moved to Atlanta. Out of 31 NFL stadiums, 29 are younger than the Georgia Dome. I can understand looking around and seeing the majority of the league with new stadiums and not wanting to fall behind, but the Falcons are fine with what they've got. The GA Dome is in good shape, even surviving a tornado, and yeah it may not be brand new, but it's not like we're talking about Shea Stadium, the old home of the NY Mets. By and large, I really appreciate what Falcons' owner Arthur Blank has done for the franchise and the city as a whole. But there can be no justification for asking for taxpayer dollars for a new stadium when Fulton County just axed 400+ teachers and is hacking school programs left and right, including elementary music and orchestra. The Falcons have a good home that will likely be paid off in the next few years. They need to be happy with that.

Unless you're living in a cave, I have to believe you've heard SOMETHING about Arizona's new immigration laws. Well in the previous round of the NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns decided to make a political statement in opposition by wearing jerseys that had "Los Suns" on them. This idea did not come from the players, but rather the owner. That is what blows my mind, and is what bothers me. The only thing for him to gain by doing this was dividing his fan base, alienating those fans who didn't object. It's a political matter and he should have kept the team - as a business - out of it. If players want to act on their own and on their own time, I'm OK with that. But it is not the responsibility of a professional franchise to dictate political policy and force its fans to decide wether they will continue to be a fan because of a public political stance. One other note on that - if the leagues are going to allows their teams to act in that manner, then they cannot go to Capital Hill and and tell the government what they do and don't need to legislate.

Let's end on a positive note. I came across another sportsmanship gem this past week, thanks this time to ESPN's Rick Reilly. The short version: Marshall Community's JV Softball team was playing its first ever game against Roncalli, a school riding a two-and-a-half year winning streak. Marshall barely had enough equipment for its team, and questions asked by the players before the game included "Which one is first base?" and "How do I hold this bat?" After just an inning and a half, Roncalli would offer to forfeit the game so that they could spend that time working with, helping, and teaching the Marshall players. Roncalli's team didn't stop there, and I hope that you will click here and read the rest of this wonderful story.

Write the Future

Found this short by Nike Football.com this morning. It's not an official World Cup ad, but but I love the mix of soccer and pop culture. Very well done in my opinion.

Who Stepped Up? (May 21, 2010)

My goal for every Friday going forward is to pick someone who I think "stepped up." I can't believe it took me almost 24 hours to think of who would be the first one I posted, but it just hit me. Without further adieu...

Brooks Conrad, backup Infielder for the Atlanta Braves

Things were not looking good yesterday for my hometown Atlanta Braves. Our starting pitcher, Tommy Hanson, had the worst start of his career, giving up 8 runs to the Cincinnati Reds and failing to finish the 2nd inning. The Braves bullpen would allow just one more run, and the Braves offense nibbled away at the Reds' lead, going into the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 9-3. With the help of some poor defense on the Reds part, the Braves would make the score 9-6 when the pitchers' spot in the lineup came up. Manager Bobby Cox called on Conrad to pinch hit...

Chip Caray and Joe Simpson with the call on FOX Sports South:

Please Pardon the Mess

I must ask that you forgive the header image not being aligned with the rest of the page. I went into the HTML area and adjusted the width of the posts, and then adjusted the size of the header image to match. However, in the process, I did not account for the possibility of the image not aligning properly, and so I am still trying to figure that part out.

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Jason Heyward seems to be a pretty special guy. I'm glad the Braves have him. This clip is from ESPN's E:60, Buster Olney reporting.

Calling it for what it is

Two posts ago, I talked about how the universal question in sports is "Who will step up when it matters and come out on top?" As I was gathering my thoughts for this post, I decided that that question lends a blog title that I like better than "Living Above the Line"...at least until I think of a new title.

Over the course of my student career at KSU, I participated in several discussions on the topic of sportsmanship. One can probably spend days just trying to come up with a good definition of it. I think it is fair to say that true sportsmanship must be based on a mindset and not actions. Just because teams line up to "shake" hands before or after a game doesn't mean that they are showing good sportsmanship.

Probably the best display of sportsmanship I've heard of in recent years took place in April of 2008 during a collegiate softball game between Western Oregon and Central Washington. I encourage you to click this link and read the full story, but in short, a senior for Western Oregon hit the only home run of her career in her final game. While rounding first, it's believed she tore her ACL. Being an active player on offense, if any of the coaches touched her, she would be ruled out and wouldn't get credit for the home run. Instead, two players for Central Washington VOLUNTEERED to carry the injured opponent around the basepaths, lowering her to touch each base, ensuring that she got credit for the home run that would essentially cost their team the game. Click here to watch a video on this story. Be warned, if you're like me, it'll move you.

Unfortunately, I also came across a story that reminds us that even if we do step up when called upon, we aren't assured victory. In this story I found on Sports Illustrated.com, a female track & field athlete has the opportunity to win the state title for her high school if she successfully completes a pole vault attempt. After an aborted attempt, she restarts and successfully completes the jump, and her school wins state...until the opposing coach, Mike Knowles of Monrovia high, calls notice to her wrist where she is wearing one of those friendship bracelets made of thread. He cites the rule book where it says athletes cannot wear any "jewelry." The girl is disqualified and her school loses the state title.

Can you be "unsportsmanlike" when at the same time you are ensuring that a rule is followed? Did this guy do something wrong with his actions? My heart says yes. My head says no. Another question: had he said nothing, would he have wronged his employer knowing that a rule had been "broken"? Can any of the athletes on that team go home really feeling like they won?

There is nothing that feels good about this story. I cannot say he was wrong in what he did. I wish he didn't do it. In my heart, I wish he saw the situation for what it was, that his team had been defeated without any question of impropriety.

The only thing I can say definitively is that his team/school did not win state. They didn't win anything. They were defeated in the course of competition. Rather, they were awarded the state title. This isn't like athletes who use performance enhancing drugs or masking agents. That bracelet offered no competitive advantage, and she would have won that state title based solely on merit.

It's not the story that's made for movies where the winner always comes out on top. I can only hope that Robin Laird's coach at South Pasadena High School and that the rest of her school were able to convince her that she is a winner, even if she didn't get the hardware.

Referring to the aforementioned story, the girls at Central Washington would not have broken any rules had they let the injured athlete's coaches put in a pinch runner, and I'm not sure you can even say that had they not helped, that it would have been unsportsmanlike. What separates them, in my opinion, from Mr. Knowles, was their underlying respect for their opponent and competition.

One step closer to Cooperstown

Today was a great day for several reasons, but for this post I'm focusing on just one.

For those of us who got to experience the Braves' dominance of the 90's and early part of the 2000's, this season is a sentimental one. Veteran manager Bobby Cox is hanging the spikes up after this season, but to me, there's one item higher on the scale of importance.

Anyone who knows me well knows that Tom Glavine is my all-time favorite baseball player. As upset as I was with the way he was dismissed last year, I could not be happier that the Braves have announced that they will retire his number - 47 - on August 6. Today, Sarah got our tickets to that game. There is no way I will miss that game. I had the opportunity to watch the festivities last season when the Braves retired Greg Maddux' number and I can't wait to see the same for Glavine.

I love watching pitchers in baseball. (You know, I think that's a good topic for a future post.) I will always maintain that the majority of Braves fans didn't know how good they had it with Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. I think I did though. I had so many opportunities to go watch them pitch, and I never passed one up.

Looking down the road, 2014 is going to be amazing when Maddux and Glavine go into the Hall of Fame together. Mark my words, I'll be there.

What the Olympics, NFL, and NCAA Basketball have in common over the other leagues.

Yes, you read correctly, I just said that football and BASKETBALL have something better than baseball. I'll get to that...

Yesterday, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver concluded in high-fashion, and I haven't even watched the closing ceremonies yet. I'm talking about the USA/Canada hockey game for the gold medal. The game was almost everything you would want out of a "championship" event. There was the neighboring nations rivalry, there was the "home" team on its home soil (even though technically Canada was the "Away" team), there were normally teammates now opponents, and you had a clear favorite in Canada's all-star team vs. a clear underdog in USA's very young team. I almost forgot to mention the previous upset where Team USA stood up to the favored Canada and dominated them just one week earlier.

What made this game so exciting though, was that it was a true case of the popular saying, "Win or go home." For the loser, there was no chance to tie the series up the next day. There was only one simple question going into yesterday's game: Who will step up when it matters and come out on top?

That is the fundamental questions of sports, and, when it gets boiled down, is why most of us watch. The particular sport has no bearing on the question because that question is universal. Ice hockey, ice skating, luge, skiing, track & field, gymnastics, baseball, football, swimming, and yes, curling all come out with an answer to that question.

Sure, you can say that Canada played defensive yesterday for the majority of the game, but so what? In the end, they have a gold medal and Team USA has the silver. Canada won, USA didn't - end. of. story. I love it. There are no questions about the outcome.

I know why MLB, NBA, and the NHL use the series system in their championships. The idea is that they help prevent flukes, and maybe they do to an extent. All you have to do, however, is go back to the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series to question how much they really prevent a weak team from winning. The real problem with the series format is that there is really no drama until at least game 4, and usually not even then. A team can have a bad day, and still have a chance.

In the Super Bowl, if you have a bad day, you're probably going to lose. Same in NCAA Basketball. Same in the Olympics. The question is, can you step up, and not let that happen? That's the question I love about sports.

C25K

Going back to one of my new year resolutions, I have started making progress on my resolution to run a race this year. Last week my wife wrote a post about the running plan she has started and I have decided to undertake the same plan.

Couch to 5K

I'm big on researching before buying/starting anything. I was all ready to go with the "Nike+ Walk to Run" program on NikeRunning.com. It seemed like a pretty good plan to get started. Sarah, on the other hand, started on the C25K program and as she was telling me about it, I realized that the C25K plan would probably have me ready to run a 5K race MUCH sooner. By the Nike plan, it would take me about 24 weeks to be ready for a 5K. Maybe that's good for some people, but I'd like to progress a little faster. C35K's 9 week plan sounds much better to me.

A popular question is always, what gear are you using?

The shoes: Asics Nimbus 11

One of the perks of working for Hibbett Sports is that I get a pretty nice discount, which I must say I've taken pretty good advantage of. Another perk of the job is that I get to spend a LOT of time trying on different kinds of shoes so that I can know how to describe them to customers, while at the same time learning which ones I prefer. It came down between the Nimbus and the Mizuno Wave Creation. The Nimbus is probably the most comfortable shoe I have ever put on. I've now been running twice and have had no trouble with shin splints. That's a big deal for me.

Under Armour

I just can't justify UA's standard prices, so yep, there's my employee discount being used again. However, being that the temperature has been in the low-40s both times I have gone running, these two items have been life-savers. I'll be straight up with you - I don't like skin-tight clothing. At. All. But I have to admit, these work. I'll have you know, though, that I am mindful of the general public and wear a t-shirt and shorts over both.

For those of you keeping score at home, I've added a box on the right where you can track my progress and times. Call it a way for you to keep me held accountable.

As for my next run which is schedule for Friday, I'm looking at anywhere from 98-100% chance of rain. All. Day. This ought to be fun.

Perception and reality

A few weeks ago, I was in a bible study where another guy talked about how Tiger Woods had become his object lesson in why it's best to not put his faith in other people - moreover, celebrities/professional athletes. I knew exactly how he was feeling.

The events leading up to my lesson started during the Summer/Fall of 1998.

Mark McGwire.

I've pulled for the Cubs ever since my childhood, but that summer, "Big Mac" won me over, albeit competing with Cubs slugger, Sammy Sosa for the single season home run record.

I remember the early rumblings about McGwire and steroid use, but I wrote them off as people just trying to create a story. I had read about his use of androstenedione, but since it wasn't banned by MLB at the time, I didn't care. Someone had likened "andro" to creatine to me, and so I didn't dwell on it.

I believed in Mark McGwire. He was the next Cal Ripken Jr. He was one of the good guys. He helped save baseball. Screw Jose Canseco and his stupid book. No educated person would take anything he had to say seriously...right? He was just a washed up, broke, former player trying to make a buck by publishing a sensational book...right?

I banged the drum for Mark McGwire for years, well after most people had come to believe that it obvious that he had been "doping," I was reminding whoever would listen that without a confirmed failed drug test, you have to extend the benefit of the doubt.

Then, on March 17, 2005, I learned my lesson. I was actually excited leading up to that day. Congress had called a hearing in which current and former players would be asked, under oath, about steroid use in professional baseball. McGwire would finally shut everyone up who had been talking trash about him.

But he didn't.

He didn't want to "talk about the past." I put down the drumstick. By saying nothing, he said everything. I sat in a hotel room that day, watching that subcommittee hearing feeling numb, like someone had punched me in the gut and knocked the air out of me.

I didn't give a crap what anyone else said at that hearing. To me, that hearing was about McGwire having a chance to silence his critics with "the truth." I learned that day, however, that the "truth" didn't exist as I imagined it.

Today, we learned, definitively, that where his critics smelled smoke on that day in 2005, and after the 1998 season, and apparently back to the early 1990s - there was indeed fire.

I wish I could say that after the level of disappointment I felt on that day in 2005, I'm not that fazed about McGwire's confession today. For most of this evening, I believed it. But as I finish writing this, remembering how badly I wanted McGwire to be what I wanted him to be, the reality is that it sucks now, just like it did then.