Aug
8
heat advisory for dodgeball
Filed under sports, weather at 5:24 pm | Leave a Comment
Only well-trained athletes should attempt any type of physical competition in weather like this …
Even so, Easy Targets will be playing a couple dodgeball games tonight.
It’s comforting that the locals think this is hot weather, too, in spite of their insistence that it’s been a mild summer.
Jul
26
child’s play
Filed under sports at 8:49 pm | 5 Comments
Though it’s no longer PC, many of us grew up playing dodgeball in school. I’m guessing that was the last time I played … until last night. As Jay so subtly mentioned, I’m playing on a dodgeball team comprised of other skilled athletes from our group at work. I feel I’m at least partly to blame, as the dodgeball league is at the same facility where I play indoor soccer. However, clearly there is another who is the driving force behind getting a team together.
Our first couple games last night were incredibly fun, which is a good thing considering the pain we’re all in today. My biggest problem is my throwing arm. The league uses a type of nerf ball that’s small enough to grip and throw with one hand. Unfortunately, that means it’s incredibly hard to throw with any velocity, at least for us rank amateurs. (It was painfully obvious that some of our opponents last night do not consider this child’s play, and have learned how to hurl these nerf balls in punishing fashion.) I need to know how they do it, without rendering their throwing arm useless for the duration of the season.
Any tips on how to throw a nerf ball without dislocating shoulders and elbows?
Jun
25
changing seasons
Filed under sports, soccer, tv at 9:31 pm | 5 Comments
Another season of TV shows has passed without too much fanfare, while the NHL and the NBA have crowned their champions for another year.
While my favorite teams had good seasons by most measures, they once again disappointed all of us spoiled Detroit fans that have come to expect nothing but winning it all. (Then again, isn’t that the point of professional sports?)
The soccer season is now in full swing. Unfortunately, most televised games are on ESPN2, a station we don’t currently get. As such, the games I usually end up being able to watch are on Univision. (My lack of Spanish knowledge is only one of the things that makes watching that station amusing.) Sunday’s USA vs. Mexico match for the CONCACAF Gold Cup was such a game. At the conclusion of USA’s come-from-behind victory, a Univision reporter did a brief interview with Landon Donovan, the captain of the US team. To my amazement, the entire interview was done in Spanish, and from what I could tell, he didn’t miss a beat, responding in fluent Spanish. Impressive. Then again, he did grow up in MexiCalifornia. I have no doubt knowing Spanish comes in handy in many of their international games …
As for TV, both 24 and Lost wrapped up with barely memorable finales, though the seasons were certainly enjoyable. We were sad to say good-bye to King of Queens. While it lasted longer than most sitcoms, it never tried to take itself too seriously. Thanks for the laughs, Doug and Carrie.
With the summer lull having begun, we’ve once again renewed our Netflix membership. This is the third summer where we’ve used the membership to fill the gap. Hopefully the year-round Netflixers don’t view us seasonal members as lesser folk. I don’t think we’re alone in using the subscription only during the summer. While we enjoy catching up on some movies here and there, we seem to use the membership mostly for watching TV shows. It so nice being able to burn through a season without the time off between episodes or commercials (not that we watch those with current shows anymore, either). Previous summers have been used to start watching Alias and 24. We’ll see what this summer brings.