Spiece, Part 2

The title of third best AAU team in the country is rather hard to come by. You truly have to be amazing to be considered nationally, but to be third, it’s hard for me to imagine. The team is Boo Williams from Virginia, and I believe that they deserve every bit of that ranking. So for us white kids from Iowa, we don’t have very much hope warming up across from 6 foot 10 inch monsters that are stronger than our whole team combined and have a 35 inch vertical. It’s intimidating to find out that their point guard is going to North Carolina to play. And it’s very intimidating to find out that he is not the only D1 player on the floor, or the bench for that matter.

But we held out own. It was the fourth game of the day for each team, so everybody on the floor was dead tired. This made it possible to scrap for baskets and stay in the game. It was nothing spectacular, but we managed to keep Boo Williams in reach throughout the first half. With about 1 minute left before halftime, we hit a three to put us up by 1, our only lead of the game. Then they made a basket right before the half, so we were only down by 1 at halftime. This is not bad (actually it’s great) for us. We were expecting to be down by 40 by halftime, so only 1 point was refreshing. But our fatigue, and their talent, took over in the third quarter and they got about a 15 point lead by the fourth. They didn’t expand it much after that, but there was no way that we were going to came back from any deficit.

So this team was pretty amazing. After the game, we were sitting around and our coach came over and started talking about them and what they were. He started to name off the kids and the schools they were going to. As I mentioned, the point guard is going to North Carolina, another guard is going to Duke. One of the big men is going to Wake Forrest, and another is going to Texas. All the others are getting recruited by ACC and SEC schools and will end up playing D1 basketball somewhere. My team, on the other hand, has a couple of good D2 players on it, a couple of guys going to college to play football, and a couple more that might not go play anywhere. So overall, we held our own, and I am proud that I can say we earned the respect of team Boo Williams, third ranked AAU team in the country.

Spiece, Part 1

This past weekend I was in Fort Wayne, Indiana for a basketball tournament. The tournament is called Spiece, and attracts teams from all over the nation. It’s a pretty cool experience and I think I was seen by a few college coaches, so that’s always a plus.

The Spiece field house is amazing in itself. It has eight full sized courts with shot clocks and the time on each backboard. But the courts are not what is so amazing. As you walk in to the field house, you go through a hall with memorabilia. There are signed pictures and posters hanging on every inch, from floor to ceiling of each wall. There are posters of Bobby Knight, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, and the 1986 Indiana National Champions. But my favorite is the signed picture of Bobby Knight throwing the chair across the floor. Once you get past this hallway, you go into this open area. This area has more posters on the walls (these are life size though), and it has jerseys hanging from the ceiling. Some jerseys are signed, but all are from people that are well known (to say the least). They have everything from Patrick Ewing’s Knicks jersey, to Kevin Garnett’s Timberwolves jersey, but my favorite is David Robinson’s Air Force jersey. Let’s just say that there are few places like this, and I enjoy it every time I go.

But the field house is not the reason that I go to Fort Wayne. I go to play basketball. This is some of the best AAU basketball, and a lot of these teams could beat D1 schools…easily. This year, there were about 20 pools of four teams each (just in the 17 and under division, there were equal, if not more, in the younger divisions). The three pool play games were on Friday night and Saturday morning. In our Friday night game, we won by forfeit because the team was too far away to wait for them to arrive. This game would have been difficult for us to win anyway, so it was probably good that we didn’t play. On Saturday morning, we lost our first game, but won the second easily, so we ended getting first in the pool, miraculously. Our third game of the day was the first of bracket play (its single elimination from here), but it was another very average team, so we won again. This put us into the round of 16 (not bad for us Iowans) going against the third ranked AAU team in the country. Let me tell you about the last game…tomorrow.

My Fun Summer

My summer is going to be busier than my school year. Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to summer just like everybody else, I can’t wait until I don’t have to come to school (to learn) everyday. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t be doing anything. I decided to give up baseball (I will talk about that I another post), but my summer will still be full. I am not a lazy couch potato, but every-so-often I will take my breaks.

Baseball is that sport that takes up the most time. So I worked out some numbers here (baseball is all about numbers, most of the coaches are math teachers): In one day, we spend more time doing baseball related activities then we would at school. We spend 1 hour lifting, 2 hours at batting practice, 4 hours (or more) playing a double header, then 1 hour with after game running and field cleanup- totaling 7 hours of baseball in one day. The school day is only 6.75 hours, with almost an hour of that going to lunch and passing time.

So with all of this extra time, I don’t know what to do with myself. Actually that is a complete lie. I will wake up at 6:15 every weekday to get to school for 6:30 football lifting and running. Then I will go straight to basketball workouts at 8:30, and then stay after it’s over to get extra shots up. Then after that I will go home and take a nap, only to be woken up by my dad who either wants me to mow the lawn or go on a bike ride with him, so I begrudgingly do either (actually I enjoy bike rides, but I loath mowing the lawn, so it balances out). Fun day right?

To me it is. I will enjoy my summer if everyday is like that. But the sad thing is that everyday is not a weekday. I think that every weekend I have a basketball tournament. Literally every weekend. If I don’t have one with my school team, my AAU team fills in the gap. My AAU team also takes up two weeks with two separate week long tournaments. I am also going to lose a weekend going to San Antonio for a family reunion (this will be the most fun time of the summer, whoooooo!!!! 6 Flags!). Along with football camps that I would like to go to, this is going to be a full summer, even without baseball.

The Drake Relays

Today I am leaving to go to the Drake Relays. The Drake Relays are a world renowned track competition, and I am running in the 100th year anniversary. I am also running in an event that is in its first year at Drake, the shuttle hurdle relay. This is completely awe inspiring.

This shuttle hurdle relay is a very new event in Iowa. Its first year in the state was only 3 years ago, when I was a freshman. It is obvious that it is brand new because whenever I tell someone that I run it, they always look at me with an odd look, and ask what I’m talking about. Everybody knows the 4x100, the 4x400, and the distance medley, but nobody knows the shuttle hurdle. So let me explain to you, like I explain to everybody else, what the shuttle hurdle relay is.

The relay team consists of four runners, just like every other relay, but instead of using the whole track to run, all we need is the front stretch. Each team has two lanes, with hurdles facing opposite ways in each. The first and third runners start at the finish line and come straight at the second and fourth runners. When the runner coming at you goes over the last hurdle, you have to be set in your blocks and cannot be moving. Then, when that runner hits the break line, the next runner can go. The total race is 440 meters, with each runner running 110 meters and jumping over 10 hurdles.

So that is the shuttle hurdle relay, running back and forth on the front straight. Right now, my shuttle hurdle team is seeded third. Let me rephrase that: we have the third fastest time out of any school in the state right now. Drake is not like state where you run against teams in your class; Drake is everybody has an equal shot and the top times qualify, no matter how big your school is. Our goal is to run a faster time then what we have now. There is nothing else we can do if we improve, so we have to let the cards fall where they may. The ultimate goal is to get past the prelims and be in the top 8 (there are only 16 teams and 8 go to finals), then in the finals run a sub 59 second time and hope for the best. I have never been to Drake, but I am told that this is a very fast track (meaning you feel faster on this track compared to normal) and our time should drop and we should at least place at the Drake Relays.

The Final Four

The Final Four killed my brackets. If anybody chose this exact Final Four, they are completely amazing, and completely lucky. I don’t think it is possible to be this good at predicting upsets and wins.

When Louisville lost, I knew that my bracket was down the drain. It began with the fact that I had Kansas beating Michigan St. in the first place. So when Michigan St. went two further games than what I predicted, I lost. I was confident that Louisville would at least get out of the region, but at least I didn’t have them winning it all. I didn’t think that Michigan St. had it in them. They are coming from one of the easiest conferences in the nation, the Big 10, and they had to play some good teams just to get to the Elite 8. This is why I thought Kansas would pull one off; I think Sherron Collins is the one of the best guards in the nation, but Kevin Lucas proved why he was the Big 10 player of the year. At least I’m not some crazy TV analyst who chose Louisville to win it all and told everybody that there was no way they could lose.

The other Final Four team that I missed was Villanova. Wow I did not see this one coming. In my mind, there were two possible teams that could come out of that bracket, Pitt or Duke. There was no way that the Elite 8 game could be anything but that. I guess I was wrong. But when a team only shoots four for a thousand from the field, they are most likely going to lose. But ok, Villanova beat Duke, big deal, there was no way they were going to beat Pitt. Pitt was just too good. But once again, I guess I was wrong. I don’t know how they did it, I thought Pitt played fairly well, but Villanova pulled off the upset by 2. I can’t tell you how surprised I was.

So the only way that my bracket could have any dignity left will be if UNC and UConn win and UNC wins it all. But I really don’t know anymore. I have basically given up on my basketball predicting skills. But I don’t think I’m alone, I have not heard of anybody who chose this Final Four, so I’m in good company.

Sport vs. Non-sport

There is a problem in the world. It is unjust and wrong. People, many of whom do not play sports, consider certain things a sport when it is very clearly not. This is one of the things that bothers me most. I can’t stand it when somebody calls something a sport when it is not. So here is what I believe…

The true definition of sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.” The first part of this definition I completely agree with, sports require physical skill that not all people have the ability to perform. The second part I also agree with, sports are rather competitive. But the third part I have some problems with, I don’t think that some of the examples given are sports. Let me go into further detail.

My definition of sport is any strenuous, physical activity that takes skill to perform and cannot be preformed well by the common public. This means that you have to be able to use your body, hand-eye coordination, and more to do a physical activity. I’m not sure if this makes complete sense, so here are some examples. NASCAR is not a sport. I do not care how many people think it is. It is glorified driving, and the last time I checked, anybody (even 85 year old grandmas) can drive. Yes, I understand that it takes a toll on the driver’s body, but any goof can do it. Fishing is not a sport. It is an activity. Once again, anybody can go out on a boat and catch a fish. Some people may not have much success, but they can do what this so called “sport” requires it participants to do. But the biggest NOT A SPORT that some people call a sport is cheerleading. Wow. The first time I heard this called a sport I almost fell over laughing, but the person was completely serious. I am not going to say what I really am thinking about this, because it would be offensive to some people (cheerleaders in particular).

So overall, in case you missed it, here is a list of NOT SPORTS that some people consider a sport (I will most likely miss a few, so don’t consider this a complete list):
NASCAR, motocross, fishing, bowling, curling, cheerleading/dancing, darts, chess, hunting, baton twirling (from the Olympics), video games, croquet, and synchronized swimming.

Answering a Question

I often find myself faced with the question, “what is your favorite sport?” Or sometimes they ask, “what do you like better, football or basketball?” depending on the person asking. I will always tell the truth, but most times my answer just avoids the question. This is because I truly don’t know yet. I don’t know if I want to play a sport in college, and if I do, I don’t know what sport. So I have three definite answers to either of the questions. 1-I don’t know. 2- Whatever I am playing/ whatever is in season. 3- Ping-pong.

I don’t know. This is my answer if I just want to avoid the subject all together and start talking about something else. Its true that I’m not sure yet, so I’m not lying, but I’m also not answering any question. This is also my answer to people who I would rather not talk to, maybe because they annoy me or maybe because they are fairly dumb, because it is easy to understand and it is straight to the point. There are really no follow up questions that can be asked after this response, so that is also a plus.

Whatever I am playing/ whatever is in season. This answer I give to people who are serious and who deserve an answer. This is the closest to the truth, and most times needs an explanation. The sport that I am playing when this question is asked is most likely the sport that I am enjoying most. I like the sport I am playing because I am totally engulfed in it and I devote my time to it. Another reason why it is closest to the truth is that I like all sports that I play equally. No one sport (except ping-pong) is a clear favorite in my mind.

Ping-pong. This is the answer that is dealt if I feel like the person asking the question doesn’t really need a serious answer and I feel like joking around. But not joking here, ping-pong may actually be my favorite sport. It is amazingly fun, and I seem to be fairly good at it, which helps. I love to challenge someone in ping-pong and I have only found a couple of people who can beat me. But even if I don’t win, I love to play the sport, it just won’t take me anywhere in life.

Track

Track started for me yesterday. I have already posted about how absurdly early the track season starts, but now it seems like track season. It feels like we should be running outside, enjoying the nice warm weather and bright sunny days. But no, my first day of track practice was held in the gym, because it was too cold.

When I think of track, I think of running in shorts and a tee shirt around a track that is nice and warm. I don’t think of myself needing to wear tights and sweatpants and four long sleeve shirts just to begin to feel warm. I don’t think of running on a track that is covered in ice, and I don’t think of running by the still snow covered ground. This whole weather thing put a damper on my outlook of track.

But since I am running now, I am yearning for spring to fully arrive. I can’t wait until its 65 degrees and sunny on a regular basis only interrupted by a little rain. Rain in March I can deal with, but snow and ice is a different story. These long Iowa winters start to take their toll when it comes to decent weather.

I like running track. I know that may sound odd to some people, why would you want to just run? How could running be fun? But to be honest, I really don’t run all that much in track. I am a high jumper and hurdler. This means that the farthest I have to run at any meet is 110 meters plus whatever the approach to the high jump is. So I don’t go out and run, I go out and have fun because I’m around all these people who are running while I don’t really have to. If I said this to my coach though, that would not be pretty, but it is the truth. I like track because it is not as demanding as football or basketball, but I have fun nonetheless. I don’t have to spend three hours every night practicing and track practices are laid back and not very intense. So overall, I have to work hard at track, but I don’t have to devote my whole life into it like I do for football and basketball.

Track Already

Track starts Monday, February 16th. Wow. That is my first reaction. If we had not have had consecutive days of unusually warm weather at the beginning of the month, there would still be a foot of snow on the ground. The last time I checked, it’s hard to run in the snow. But nonetheless, practice starts Monday.

I will not be attending this first practice, or the first couple of weeks of practice for that matter. This is because basketball is still going on. The state tournament for basketball gets over in mid-March, by then there have already been a couple of indoor track meets. I don’t like how sports overlap like this. Give me a week off at least before I have to commit to the everyday running of track. This same problem occurred during the fall. Football goes into November if a team makes it to the playoffs, but basketball practice starts in mid-November as well. I think that if my football team would have made it to the state semifinals and lost, I would have had the weekend off before basketball started. If we would have made it to the championship, I think I would have missed some basketball.

This is wrong. Sports have their own season and should not drag on, or start up early. Track is a spring sport, the last time I checked, February in Iowa is the farthest away from spring you can get. Also, overlapping of sports gives the athletes no breaks. Coaches are always saying how you need to be in good condition and how you need to be well rested and ready to go. But when I have no break between sports, I never get the chance to rest. It’s always full go. It’s everyday, with no exceptions. I don’t like how coaches expect players to instantly switch from one sport to the next. I feel that it takes at least a week for me to transition out of one sport, and into another. But I know that if I want to make it to state in track, I won’t be able to take a week off, I will have to start right away, just like always.

The Bowl Season

I have not posted on my blog in a while. As in, this is my first post of the year. This is because I took a break from all school work. Over Christmas break I did absolutely no homework. I’m not saying that I did absolutely nothing; I just didn’t do any school work. I was busy every day with basketball practices and scrimmages, and a full schedule of naps.

So now to what I’m to write about. I haven’t really thought much about it, but the first thing that comes to mind is football. Specifically, the bowl games. This is the silliest thing that I know of. The bowl system could be one of the most over rated and over talked about things in all of sports. Anytime during the Christmas break when I actually had my eyes open to watch TV, all that was on was bowl game analysis and predictions. The bowl games weren’t actually on; they were just talking about them. They are so hyped up that they actually are a let down when it comes to the game itself. In part because people are expecting so much from the games, and because the players have so much practice time, it’s hard for them to get back into the game mode.

This brings up the question of why the games are held at the end of December and into January, when the regular season ends at the beginning of December. Once again, the only halfway logical explanation in money. More time to advertise, so more people know about it, so apparently, more people watch. Money is the only reason that bowl games still exist. Money is the only reason the BCS standings still exist. Money is the only reason an undefeated team in a “lesser” conference doesn’t get to play for the national championship.

In my opinion, the BCS system should be thrown out and never thought of again. It is to make money, not to see who the best team in is. The only way to find out who the best team is, is to have a playoff. Every other NCAA sport and division has one. Basketball, baseball, even division II football has a playoff. So why not division I (I’m sorry FBS)? Money. The easiest and most successful way to determine who the best is, never takes place in DI because the people who run the show are too greedy and always want more money.

Sports Movies

Sports and movies. Those are the two topics that I said I would try to be consistent on writing about on my blog. These are two topics that I know a little about and that I am fairly interested in. So why not combine the two, and write about sports movies? Good idea, right?

Sports movies may be one of the hardest genres of movies to make. It is difficult to make them realistic, intriguing, and not cheesy. Most sports movies are feel good movies with the underdog winning in the end. There are a few good movies like that (Hoosiers most notability), but most are just follow the generic template of setting up the underdog story then showing them win. A lot of these feel good sports movies come from Disney. So when I sit down to watch a sports movie and I see the Disney castle come to the screen, I already have a biased view before the movie even starts.

Even with some of the most average or worst movies having the sports theme, some of the best movies ever produced revolve around sports. Sometimes these movies are feel good, they just have a different way of getting to that point, and some of the time these movies do not end with the “good guy” or main character coming out on top. These movies are especially moving because we are so used to seeing the underdog win, that when he doesn’t, it is unexpected and, I feel, appreciated more.

The two sports movies that stick out in my mind where the main character (or team) doesn’t win are Friday Night Lights and Raging Bull. Friday Night Lights is a good football movie that is fairly realistic for southern high school football. They main team gets to the championship but they fail to score a final touchdown and their season ends. I thought that this was a good movie and I was pleased when I walked away.

Raging Bull is one of the best overall films ever made. It is a tragic story of Jake LaMatta, the middle weight champion boxer of the 1940’s and 50’s. The movie is the struggles he faces in his life and in the end he basically loses everything. The end is dark because you had seen this champion on the top of his game with a great life in the beginning of the movie, but you see him as a bum with nothing, not even his champion belt, in the end.

So I have been talking about some of the best sports movies, but I have not mentioned all of them. So here are my favorite movies by sport:
Football- Remember the Titans
Basketball- Hoosiers
Baseball- Tie between Bull Durham and Field of Dreams
Golf- Caddyshack
Boxing- Raging Bull

Sports Just Keep Dragging On

Football is my favorite sport right now. There is no doubt. Either playing or watching, it doesn’t matter, it is really fun and exciting. Having the ability to run around and hit people as hard as you possible can is not a chance you get everyday, unless, of course, you play football. But even if you don’t play football, it can still be enjoyable. Sitting on you r couch on a Saturday afternoon, what else do you watch other then college football? Even if you don’t care about either team playing, if it’s a close game, you have to stay around and watch it.

But just like any other sport, football drags on too long. 16 weeks of football, bowl games 3 weeks after the regular season is over, and the Super Bowl in February. If I played football for a living, I would just get tired of playing after a while. I think the high school season is just right. As of right now, at the beginning of the last week of the regular season, I’m thinking, “ok I’m starting to get tired of playing, but I can go for one more week.” Then comes sub-state and the playoffs, which rejuvenates everybody all over again because we all want to go out and prove that this season was not just a waste of time. Playing in the playoffs just gives you a good feeling because you can say you are better then over half the teams in the state. Winning in the playoffs gives and even better feeling, but I’m not going to go there until we actually do win.

Now I have been talking about football dragging on, but it is not even the worst. It is not even the second worst at dragging on. The worst is easily baseball, then comes basketball. Baseball is still going on right now on October 19. I thought baseball was a summer sport, but they start in the spring and play until the end of fall. I’m not interested in baseball, no matter if it’s the World Series or not, during week 9 of football. Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculously large number of 162 games played in the regular season. That’s just too much, I don’t care who you are.

Then basketball. I just saw a preseason game the other day, once again during week 9 of football. I thought basketball was supposed to be a winter sport. But they start in the fall and play into the spring, right during the time baseball starts. Its all so much, so many games played, so many practices, so many road trips. After a while, it just doesn’t seem like a game anymore.