(sort of) Live Blogging the end of a season

(Don't forget to check Chris Goes Hoggin' and Bare Knuckle Writers for more [frequent] entertaining posts)

It's a sad time for me. The baseball season is nearing its end. (I'm writing during the 5th game, a damn great pitching match up so far, so this post could take a turn at any moment.) I think I'm going for the Giants, I love the city of San Francisco, and was there more recently than Arlington. I usually go for the American League when I don't have a dog in the fight, but in this one, I'm actually alright either way.

3-run shot by Edgar Renteria in the top of the 7th, this game is over.

I'm not ready for the baseball season to end. I remember watching the Yankees and Red Sox play the first game of the season back in April. While I only made it to a handful of Royals games, I watched many, many more on TV, and followed along in the office when I could.

I went to Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium, watched no-hitters, perfect games, an imperfect game, saw the National League win the All Star Game for the first time in almost 15 years and...

Solo home run by Nelson Cruz, maybe this isn't quite done.

Anyways. Royals didn't surprise anyone. Zack Greinke had a slight letdown from last season, but still showed brilliance. Billy Butler is still one of the best young hitters in the game, if he can keep maturing he'll be a freaking stallion. There's hope in the future. Moustakas, Hosmer, Montgomery, Duffy, et al. There were times when frustration came over me, and I was ready to give up on the team. Who was I kidding? I've been a fan of theirs for over 25 years. Mostly painful years, but still, I can't quit them. I've said it before, and I'll say it again here: I think the Royals can be in contention in 2012. They might not necessarily win the division, but they'll be close. Stuff like that gives me hope.

Going to the bottom of the 8th, still 3-1 Giants.

This will be the first season in probably close to a decade that I didn't go to a game anywhere other than Kansas City. And the first season in a few years that I didn't see the World Series champion play. Ah well, streaks are meant to end, I suppose.

I'm a sucker for those "look back" or "year in review" montages they always do. "One Shining Moment" always gets me, even when Iowa isn't anywhere near the NCAA tournament. I'm a sap like that sometimes.

Lincecum plows through the Rangers in the bottom of the 8th, heading to the 9th now.

It might be kind of obvious by now, I have no real direction to go for this. Didn't exactly want to do a live blog of the game, and didn't really want to make it a swan song for baseball. I know it'll be back, pitchers and catchers report in just over 3 months. It's sounding like I might be going to Spring Training. It'll be my first trip, I'm so so pumped for it.

Going to the bottom of the 9th. Rangers down 3-1. This has been a pretty excellent game (maybe helped by Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout).

One out left in the bottom of the 9th.... Nelson Cruz up to bat, I'm not sure there's anyone the Rangers would rather have up. Oh wait, Josh Hamilton struck out looking a couple of batters ago. They had the batters up, it just wasn't their night.

One strike away now for the Giants.

Full count, bottom of the 9th.

Strike out, game over, World Series over, season over. Congratulations to the Giants!

I can't wait for the Royals to return to the playoffs. I'll be there. I don't care where I am in the country/world, I'll be at the next playoff game to be played in Kansas City.

Stuff I know - Olympic Edition

1. I had a babysitter that could be Mike Phelps's brother. It's kind of uncanny how much they look alike. He was also a swimmer.
2. Shawn Johnson is from Iowa. She does gymnastics pretty well, I hear.
3. I have watched about 4 minutes of Olympic coverage, and most of that was a Chinese boxer, while I was working out. That's what happens when I don't get any tv stations. But I'm also staging an Olympic protest, since they're getting rid of baseball and softball. Those assholes. I mean, you've got 2 BMX events in there. Seriously. And the ridiculous rules that they've instituted for extra innings???? I am very bitter about this.
   
4. I heard the Opening Ceremonies were neat, but parts were faked?
   
5. Roger Federer lost. To James Blake! This seriously put me in a bad mood for a bit. Donald Young is the only American tennis player I can root for.
6. I was told Amanda Beard didn't make it out of the preliminary round. That's also disappointing to me. She and Cat Osterman are my Olympic crushes.
   

I believe in DeJesus

I just got back from probably the best baseball game I've ever attended. Not only was there a milestone hit, photo finish between running hot dog condiments, and a monumental finish to the game, but the ticket was cheap!

First, a big congratulations to Mark Grudzielanek (and yes, I did spell that without looking it up), who, on his second hit of the night, picked up his 2,000th career hit. Awesome thing to see in person, he got a nice standing ovation, and gave the crowd a wave and a tip of the cap from first. Way to go, he's always been one of my favorites (even if he played for the Cardinals, at least it was only one season), and to have him here in KC for the past few seasons has been great. A class-act guy all around. (I can also name all the teams he's played on, in order, without looking it up: Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Kansas City Royals. Here's to hoping he ends his career here.)

It was looking like that would be the highlite of the night for the Royals, after they blew a 3-run lead. The hot dog condiment race was little consolation, even if it was a close one. Here's a clip from a past game's race:



Awesome, I wish I would have been at that one

It got to be a 4-3 Mariners lead in the bottom of the ninth, so there would be no appearance by the best nickname in baseball, the All-Star, the Mexicutioner. When the first two batters got out, it was looking very bleak indeed. Billy Butler was put in as a pinch hitter, and drew 4 straight balls. When Bill "The Thrill" reached first, he we promptly replaced by the much (much much much) speedier Joey Gathright. Hope was not lost. David DeJesus stepped up to the plate, a home run would win it. Every kid's dream scenario.

Watch the video fast, before MLB pulls it down!

The atmosphere was like that of a college football game, everyone high-fiving, screaming their guts out, and chanting "Let's go Royals," all the way out to the parking lot. It was a hell of game, one that I won't forget. The second walk-off win I've seen in person for the Royals, but the first come-from-behind, game-winning, two-outs-in-the-bottom-of-the-ninth home run I've ever seen. It was incredible.

Happy "Opening Day!!"

Today marks the very first baseball game of the season, between the Boston Red Sox, defending World Series champions, and the Oakland Athletics, who could end being one of the worst teams in the Majors, in the Tokyo Dome. Sounds like a good game to me!

I was thinking of channeling my inner Bill Simmons and doing a running diary throughout the game, but decided against it, mostly because it's 5 in the morning, and I don't feel like typing constantly. I'm not going to miss the game, though. It's probably been almost 20 years since I've missed the very first pitch of the season, including the two times the season started overseas (Yankees/[Devil] Rays in 2004, Cubs/Mets in I think 2001?).

So get, grab a hot dog, root, root, root for the A's, and play ball!

5:20 AM Central - Eh, screw it, I'll do a running diary for a little while. Dice-K was off to a good start, his very first pitch was an out. The next three: ball, ball, the first home run of the season by Mark Ellis. Then, 6 of the next 7 pitches have been balls. (Right after Steve Phillips said Matsuzaka can throw 7 pitches for strikes at any time. And he wonders why he hasn't managed in 4 or 5 years.) All this after the Sox got a leadoff hit, then the next three went down in order. Awesome.

5:25 - Former Kansas City Royal Emil Brown is up to bat, after Jack Cust is hit by pitch, and surprise, surprise, first pitch ball. Now a wild pitch, advancing runners to second and third. Is it too early for ESPN to run stories about what's wrong with the Red Sox? Probably not.

Now is a good time, I guess to mention that another former Royal, Mike Sweeney, is now on the A's. Good for him, I hope he has a great season. I appreciate the time he spent in Kansas City, and wish things could've worked out better the last few years, but still, I will cheer him on all season.

Meanwhile, Dice-K walks Brown to load the bases.

5:35 - Brandon Moss gets the start because JD Drew has a "stiff back." Which I'm pretty sure is code for "he hit a grand slam in the post-season so he feels like he's made good on his contract and only has to show up when he wants." If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of his. As I'm typing, he grounds into a fielder's choice at second, and Jason Veritek grounded into a double play. I'm sure Dice-K is happy that he got about 4 minutes to rest after he got out of the bases loaded jam only giving up one run.

5:40 - I'm kicking myself, I thought I had some hot dogs, but apparently I don't. What the hell am I supposed to eat while watching the game?? I guess I'll have to settle for Waffle Crisp.

5:43 - Cedar Rapids, IA's own Ryan Sweeney is up to bat! I wasn't aware he went to the A's, last I knew he was on the White Sox. He just skied a ball about 350 feet, both in distance from the plate, and in height. Unfortunately for him, the outfield wall is about 380 feet away.

5:47 - Trivia: first stolen base of the 2008 goes to Kurt Suzuki. Another piece of trivia: I love what these ball boys and girls are wearing. It looks like they were extras in Tron or The Running Man. I'll see if I can find a picture. . .

5:52 - I love shots of the crowd, especially when it shows Red Sox fans shaking their head after their $100+ million pitcher walks another batter. Is it too early to be sick of "Red Sox Nation?" No? Good. Feel good Red Sox fans, you have Julian Tavares warming up in the bullpen.

5:53 - Bill Simmons may have actually set himself on fire this time.

6:03 - Matsuzaka got out of the inning on a questionable strike call with bases loaded. Damn.

One thing I don't like about this early Opening Day, both of these teams still have exhibition games to play when they come back to the States. Why make the game today and tomorrow part of the regular season? Make them exhibitions, and have the normal start date here.

6:09 - David Ortiz smokes a ball, right to the the 2nd baseman playing in shallow right field, who tosses to 1st for the final out. Gotta love the shift.

6:14 - Gary Thorne just explained that Bobby Crosby has never hit a home run against Boston. Next pitch - a little dribbler to the pitcher.

6:17 - I'm feeling a home run here for Kurt Suzuki.

6:18 - or a line-out to short to end the inning.

6:20 - Commercials in this break include some retirement planning company and an erectile-dysfunction pill. I guess that probably says something about who they think is watching. They got me pegged.

6:22 - I'm pretty sure commissioner Bud Selig just asked Steve Phillips on a date

6:25 - shower time for me. I figure if I go now, and Dice-K is still pitching in the top of the inning, I'll miss about 5 batters.

6:35 - Out of the shower, and I overestimated the batters I missed. I only missed 4. I'm awesome.

I also heard Charczuk's alarm go off for the first time, meaning he'll be up in half an hour. Yes, I heard it while I was in the shower.

6:39 - Bud just told Steve he'd see him at 2 in the morning. Awkward.

6:47 - A couple of uneventful evenings. Plus, I'm a little distracted, playing Scrabulous.

6:51 - The name "Kurt Suzuki" reminds me of the baseball game we used to play on the XBox like 7 years ago, where the names for new players were generated by putting a first and last name together, based on names already in the game. Most of the time it worked out, but there was the occasional Dmitri Hasegawa or Tadahito Martinez.

6:57 - I'm pretty sure David Ortiz's face has gotten bigger. It looks like a planet, orbiting the large mass of his body. How was his name not included in the Mitchell Report? Oh, that's right. George Mitchell is in the front office of the Boston Red Sox.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have taken the lead. Shit.

7:08 - I'm pretty sure I hate the Progressive commercials with the "shopping center" place. They just showed two in a row.

7:13 - Oakland re-takes the lead on a MAMMOTH shot by Jack Hannahan. I love home runs. I can't think of one better event in sports.

7:27 - Mark Ellis just missed his 2nd home run. Darn.

Well, I'm going to start getting ready for work, so I'll have to stop the live updates. Unfortunate. Thanks for reading this far, it's been really fun! Maybe I'll do it again for something. Like if I ever have a date, I could bring a laptop and give continuous updates. Seems like a good idea to me. Although, by the time that happens, I'm sure laptops will be very very obsolete.

Stuff on a Thursday afternoon

I'm watching the Iowa/Michigan game in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. It's like watching a JV basketball game at this point. It's painful. Somehow, the Hawks are only down by 10. I'm hoping for a big Iowa run in the last 7 minutes of the game, and then a magical run through the rest of the tournament to steal a spot in the NCAA tournament. I can dream, right? Either way, however this season ends, I'm happy with Todd Lickliter as the coach, he's done better than I had expected for his first year, I was thinking maybe 10 wins, right now they're sitting at 13 I believe. And next year should be even better, most of the team is sticking around, and Lickliter will be bringing in his first recruiting class. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Anyways, posting might be kind of sparse over the next few days, maybe weeks. Tomorrow is my last full day in Iowa, then I'm leaving for the KC area on Saturday, hopefully around noon. I'll update things around here when I can, and hopefully soon there'll be a guest spot from my soon-to-be temporary roommate, Charczuk. So keep an eye out for that!

Well, the game is getting a little ridiculous now, I'm just hoping that the Hawks will score 40 points. Ugh.

I live for this

It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift.

-Roger Angell in his piece "Agincourt and After"

Spring training has started, the Royals won yesterday, beating the Padres 13-9 (I'm starting my "Hideo Nomo for Cy Young" campaign soon), after they lost their "spring opener" to the Rangers. Just seeing a baseball field on TV is enough to get me in better spirits, and almost bring a tear to my eye. My friend Bill is adding his own touch to the excitement and anticipation of Opening Day by sending out emails each day, leading up to the hallowed event, with baseball-related videos. I decided that more people need to get pumped up for this, and, with his permission, am going to share his videos. Now he's a couple of days into it, so I'll play catch-up today.

First was from 2 days ago



Then yesterday



And here's today's



I'm optimistic this year about the Royals. Of course, I am every year. But the young players are a year older, there's a new manager , Jose Guillen is a pretty big signing for them (even if he has to serve a 15-game suspension for steroid-related stuff), Luke Hochevar, a first-round pick from a few season ago, pitched two perfect innings the other day against some big-time hitters in the Rangers' lineup, and, as a Royals fan, I have to have hope. But it's not always a blind hope, this year, I have a good feeling about it!

Unburied, not in a ditch, ready to go

Eastern Iowa was pounded by a snowstorm for the past day or two, leaving upwards of 16 inches of snow. My brother's vehicular situation is not a good one at the moment (his car is in Iowa City with a bad transmission), so I've been giving him rides to work in the morning. Yesterday morning, that was not happening. We tried, but the snow was up to the doors, the streets were unplowed, and my car was handling like a brick. He decided he could do some work from home. Good choice.




Once the snow finally stopped, sometime in the afternoon, we got out the shovels and attacked before we got too lazy. We both realized how out of shape we are when we both felt like vomiting after about 10 minutes into the shoveling. We finished, but it took a lot of bitching, and a lot of breaks. The rest of the day was spent playing Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin on my DS. It's a freaking awesome game. Everyone should go buy it if they have a DS, if they don't have a DS, they should go buy one of those, and then buy the game.


In my last post, I had mentioned something about using the New York Giants' season as a metaphor for my year so far. You see, the Giants, like myself, had a rough start to their year, losing the first two games in spectacular fashion, and seemingly in total disarray. Much like the way my year has started out (I didn't lose any games per se, but still, I think an almost total disarray is pretty apt). Their third game was looking the same, down 17-3, but then they came back in the second half, and kept the Redskins out of the endzone when they had 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line. For me, things started to look bad (with the tire and all), but since then, I feel like they've turned around a little bit, I can feel the momentum shifting. From there, the Giants went on a 6-game winning streak, pulling them back into the playoff picture. That obviously means that I will get a great job and meet the love of my life and all will be well. Sure, there might be a rocky spot or two (the Giants were 4-4 over their last 8 regular season games, including a real stinker vs the Vikings), but that happens. And once that passes, it'll make things that much better. Although I think it means that I'll find eternal bliss with less than a minute remaining in 2008. But hey, it might be worth the wait.

Bust out the champagne -or- You got no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive

I just made it back to Cedar Rapids after a pretty intense drive from Davenport. I went to D-port to watch a football game with my dad, and while I was there, a blizzard sprung up and dumped about 6 inches of snow, 8 inches in Iowa City. So, I thought it'd be best if I stayed the night and left early enough the next morning to miss freezing rain that was supposed to come today. As luck would have it, I left just in time to be driving through the worst of it. Nothing like going 30 on the interstate during a thunderstorm, lightning and all, with rain, sleet, and snow falling concurrently. Falling very hard. Add in semis passing, doing about 70 and throwing even more shit onto the windshield, and you have an adventure. I understand that they're getting paid to get stuff to its destination on time, but when there's a nasty-ass storm, and EVERY CAR ON THE ROAD is going about 40 mph below the posted limit, I think you gotta be a little more mindful of others. Then there are the SUV drivers that think their vehicles can ignore the road conditions. It's strange how those types of vehicles were the ones I most frequently saw in the ditch (I counted around 34 cars in ditches. Although I gave 2 pointsfor a semi I saw, and another 2 points for watching an SUV that had just passed me go in). I made it, though, for all the troubles my car has given me, it's never had any problems in the

As some of you may have heard, there was a little bit of a football game last night. I may go as far as to say it was one of the greatest NFL games I've ever seen that didn't involve the 49ers (the All-Time #1 football game of any level for me is still, and always will be, Iowa's 30-25 victory over LSU in the 2005 Outback Bowl). The only way it would have been better is if I actually liked the Giants. But, my dislike of the Patriots was enough to overcome that.

It was a defensive game, I loved seeing Tom "There's no Way We're Scoring Less Than 17 Points" Brady getting leveled time and time again, and then missing wide open receivers. But, what I liked even more was watching former ISU Cyclone defensive back Ellis Hobbs getting absolutely torched on the game-winning touchdown by a Big-10 player, Plaxico Burress, who had made a prediction that the Giants would win 23-17. Brady had laughed at that, saying that he wasn't giving the Patriots enough credit, that he should've said something like 45-42. Look who's laughing now! (I've always liked Plax, from when he basically single-handedly beat Florida in the Citrus Bowl, then I got him on my fantasy team his rookie season). Plus, it was great to see Eli Manning outplay Brady. His play on 3rd and 5 on the last drive will go down as one of the biggest plays in NFL history, and will probably have its own nickname (like The Immaculate Reception, The Catch, The Catch II, The Music City Miracle, and 4th and 26, to name a few). Maybe The Escape. That's what I'm going to push for. If you missed it, turn to ESPN any time this week, you'll probably see the play within 45 seconds.

I'm sorry Charczuk, I know this is all probably pretty painful for you. I wouldn't really know, since my team has never lost in a Super Bowl. And the year they went 18-1, they won the Super Bowl. I did think it was hilarious that in ESPN's crawl across the bottom of the screen, it said something like "Patriots - 3rd team in NFL history to finish 18-1 (49ers 1984, Bears 1985)." I wish it would've said something like "49ers and Bears both won the Super Bowl." Last night just proved my thinking that this year's Patriots weren't the best team in NFL history. I still give that to either of the other 18-1 teams, but I would say the 9ers team was the best. They lost one game (by 3) and DESTROYED the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. Plus, they had the real best-QB and best-WR ever, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.

One last quick thing, my interview went well this past week, I'll find out in the coming weeks if I'm hired or not. I'm excited about things, I even thought of a good metaphor using the Giants' season this year, but I'll save that for the next post. Until then, stay safe in this winter weather Midwesterners! And hey, why not everyone else stay safe, too!

Shed a tear for the baseball season

There's still time for people to join up in the Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange: Round 2! Leave a comment or email me if interested. And if anyone else out there with a blog wants to promote the exchange, feel free! I'll probably give it another week or so, then I'll contact everyone who responded.

Anyways, I've been in a little funk lately. I don't know why exactly. . . Things on the job front are coming along, I've had a few interviews, one offer, and a couple more prospects. So this time next week, at the latest, I will have a job. The weather has been damn near perfect, in the 70's with little to no wind, no clouds, just sunny, beautiful days to enjoy. I've been sitting outside and reading, but, unfortunately, I don't really have any destination to which I can walk. Unless I wanted to go to Joe's Crab Shack (which I will sometime, I've never been to one, but it can wait, I'm sure). I've made some friends, been hanging out with a couple of people, so that's going well. But there's still some sort of nagging feeling that just won't go away, not quite an unhappiness, but not exactly a contented feeling. I think I have a case of the blahs. Maybe it's from sleeping on an air mattress. I think that'll do it. I'm looking forward to going home for Christmas, mostly because I'll be able to sleep on a bed.

I've decided on a Halloween costume! It may be a little too late, a lot of people went out and hit the town in their costumes this past weekend, but I think the biggest night will be Wednesday. And I'm not really planning on going out and getting wild that night, but I may meet up with some friends just to people watch. And, if I hand out candy, it'd be fun to be in costume. I won't say here what I'll be yet, you'll have to wait for the pictures. . . I'll just say I picked up my main components today, a suit (from Goodwill) and some hairspray. Stay tuned.

I suppose I should mention something about the World Series. . . I was able to watch (most of) every game, keeping my streak of catching at least one inning of every Series game for as far back as I remember. I'm disappointed that the Rockies lost, more so that they were swept. Plus, I didn't want to see the Red Sox win again. The good news is that everyone in the country gets a free taco from Taco Bell. (Whether or not that is actually good news is debatable. I'm pretty sure that the "meat" they use is also used as an anti-tank weapon. But hey, from 2pm-5pm on the 30th, you can get one free taco! If you think I'm not going to eat one, you don't know me very well.) Then there was the not-so-subtle commercial for Taco Bell, in the Red Sox's dugout.



Why in the hell would Royce Clayton be miked-up? Was he being payed by Taco Bell to go around and talk to all the players about the deal? And why would he tell Ellsbury that he had to steal a base, and then he conveniently did in the next game. . . I'm sure there's some sort of conspiracy here, and I'll get to the bottom of it.

There are also some people upset at Alex Rodriguez for announcing that he'll opt out of his contract with the Yankees during the World Series, but I really don't blame him. I blame his jerkass of an agent Scott Boras. Boras is a major contributing factor to the problems in Major League Baseball. I can't blame a player for taking a $30 million a year deal. I'd do it in a second. It's a business, after all. But I think that agents like Boras are driving the salaries up. The other side of the problem is that the owners are willing to pay the price. It should make for an interesting off-season, though. Especially with the Mitchell Report looming. . . (for those who may not know, that is the report that supposedly names a huge number of players implicated for using steroids or HGH. Honestly, I don't think it will do too much. Sure, it'll be huge in the beginning, but by the time the season rolls around, it will have died down. It'll be interesting, though, to see how people react. I can't wait for all of the people who have publicly slammed Barry Bonds to try to backtrack and defend their favorite player. Or to see if people think that the World Series titles won by the Red Sox should have an asterisk next to them if someone like David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez appears on the list. Or the Cardinals with Pujols.)

Man, I just thought of something. My 3 least-favorite teams have all won the last 4 World Series - Red Sox (twice), Cardinals, and the White Sox. damn

Well, that's enough of a rant from me! I should be heading to bed anyways. Of course, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep, I may be too excited about getting that taco!

A weekend of long goodbyes

My last weekend as a resident of Iowa was an excellent one. Between great food, great fun, and great friends, I couldn't have had a much better time. Marin made it into town on Thursday, Jim and Haley on Friday, and Bill eventually made it (after some car issues) on Saturday, as well as Jeff, who made the trip all the way from northwest Cedar Rapids. After some drinking and Wii playing at my brother's place Friday night, Saturday was spent in Iowa City, taking in some of my favorite restaurants and sites one last time before I left. And oh yeah, there was a football game. For those of you who may not have noticed, the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Syracuse Orange 35-0 in front of 70,585 (mostly gold-clad) fans in Kinnick Stadium, in only the 3rd-ever night game hosted in the historic stadium. The first couple of pictures were taken from where Marin and I sat for part of the game, the last one was where everyone else was seated. We weren't able to get 6 tickets together, but it went alright with 4 together and 2 others. (I'm pretty proud of the pics, since my camera is broken and all)




The weather was beautiful, the Hawkeyes looked great (it could be that Syracuse looked terrible, but either way, I'm happy with the result), and I think a good time was had by all.

Of course, I had to forget my phone charger at my brother's place this weekend, so my phone died midway through the day on Saturday, and I wasn't able to get in contact with a lot of the people I wanted to, and made things more difficult overall, but we pulled it off pretty well. And it may have been for the best that I wasn't able to get a hold of a lot of people, because then I would've probably been stressed with trying to get everywhere to see everyone. As it was, it was a rather relaxing time with some good friends. We ate at all of the places I needed to hit one last time: Oyama for sushi with Marin, Oasis for one last falafel, Hamburg Inn for breakfast Sunday morning with everyone, The Pit to have some excellent Iowa BBQ (before I get some Texas BBQ, which may be even more excellent), and Whitey's for some wonderful ice cream. (For those of you not from Eastern Iowa/Western Illinois, yes, there is an ice cream chain around here known as "Whitey's". It's delicious ice cream.) Then yesterday I hung out with Travis for a little while before I had to go, then dinner with my dad and step-mom.

There were a few times where I think the air was rather dusty, it made my eyes water up a little. I don't know what the deal with that was. . . But I was so glad for how things went, and for my friends that were here that read this, I hope you all know how grateful I was for you guys to come down and hang out with me on my last weekend in town. For my friends that read this that weren't able to make it, no worries, we'll have more opportunities to get together. Everyone is welcome down in Austin, any time! Just give me a little warning.

Now today is going to be spent washing clothes, packing, getting my oil changed, buying some new sandals (Kenna ate mine last night), and watching a little bit of the 49ers game tonight with KP. I promise I will post one last time before I go, and will post more pictures from this past weekend as I get them from the various people that took them.

My kind of town

This past weekend was a blast! A huge weekend in sports, and a fun trip for the Flenker(s)!

My dad and I started for the Second City early Friday morning, so we could make it in time to take a shuttle to the Cubs game. All along the way, we saw cars full of Hawkeye fans making the trip east for the weekend, a sign of things to come. If you were in Chicago this past weekend, there was a very good chance that you saw black and gold all over the place. Like in this photo I took at Wrigley Field on Friday:

(click to get a better view!)

The game was fun, Hunter Pence was a one-man scoring machine on this day. He hit 2 homers, drove in 5 of the Astros' 6 runs, and the other run he scored. The highlight for me may have been BJ Armstrong singing the 7th-inning stretch, and the fans saying "Root, root, root for the Hawkeyes" instead of Cubbies. It was great. Another great thing? The Royals winning 9-4 over the Twins in the first game of the doubleheader! (I'll get to the second game in a bit.) I had to put this picture up there for H. I'm sure she will appreciate it. . .


After the game, my dad and I headed to our hotel, just in time for the nightly serving of freshly baked cookies. These may have been the best chocolate chip cookies I've had in a long, long while. I wish I had had my camera with me to take photos of my dad and me stuffing our faces. If the cookies weren't enough, we hit up a Lou Malnati's for some Chicago-style pizza. Delicious stuff!

We made it back to the hotel in time to see the end of the Syracuse game get interrupted since a pitcher was throwing a perfect game through 8 innings. A Twins pitcher. Against the Royals. Now I'm a fan of baseball, I would always root for a no-hitter to be thrown, let alone a perfect game. But not when it comes to the expense of the Royals. So when the lead-off man in the 9th was walked, I was cheering. When Mike Sweeney came up to bat for the first time in nearly 2 months and promptly hit a laser into left-center field, I almost jumped off of the bed for joy. Sorry Twin fans, I just couldn't see my team be a part of history.

Saturday morning we got up and headed downtown, towards Soldier Field, and the first game of the Hawkeye's football season. And again, the sea of gold was prevalent. This was the view of the south parking lot, full of gold flags and thousands of drinking Iowans.


And this was the scene inside the stadium, for what was supposed to be a "home game" for Northern Illinois. Unfortunately for them, they were outnumbered by at least 2-to-1 by Iowa fans.

(Their fans are in red. Everyone else was cheering for Iowa!)

Also, this was the view from our seats, not too shabby, even if they were in the second-to-last row. This is one of my favorite moments of any Iowa game, when the team comes out as a group, with the "IOWA" flags out in front of them!


And, one last picture, this time of the mass of people trying to get out after the game had ended.


This was an awesome weekend, I'm extremely glad I was able to go, especially since it was my dad's first time at both Wrigley and Soldier Fields.

This coming weekend should be even more exciting, as Iowa plays their first home game of the season, the reason why I'm still here, why I waited to move. I needed to say one last goodbye to Kinnick as a resident of Iowa. And, I needed a good time to have some people in town and have a good old time. So if you're in the area, you're more than welcome to stop by Iowa City and join in any fun, there should be plenty to go around! But for now, I'm exhausted, enjoy the pictures!

Sweet home Chicago

Well, I'm leaving for the next few days, I'll be going to Chicago to catch a Cubs/Astros game tomorrow, and then watch the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Northern Illinois Huskies at Soldier Field! I'm pretty excited about it, my dad and I have been looking forward to this ever since they announced it. And after the past week that we've had, we could use a little vacation, especially after spending nearly all day yesterday moving him and his wife into their new place, a super nice condo in the Quad Cities. So more about that later, I need to pack and hit the road! I'll be back Sunday, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Congratulations Barry!

Tonight, Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking the record and becoming baseball's all-time leader. I know I'm in the minority here, but I've been a fan of his for years, since I saw him play in a game when I was visiting San Francisco in '93.

I'm glad that espn2 was showing the game, and that I was home to watch. As soon as the ball hit the bat I started jumping up and down and cheering to myself. I'm a dork like that. And I thought it was a very nice gesture by Hank Aaron to have pre-recorded the video.

Anyways, congrats to Barry, here's to a few more, and maybe reaching the 3,000 hit mark.

Greetings from the East Coast

This is my last day out in the DC area! Right now I have a little free time while I'm waiting for a friend to call, so I thought I'd write something in the meantime.

First off, a pretty monumental weekend in baseball, with Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th home run, Barry Bonds getting his 755th, and Tom Glavine picking up with 300th win. Congratulations to all, we won't see another 300-game winner in a long time, and it'll be a few years before A-Rod catches up to Bonds, if he's able.

Speaking of baseball, I made it out to a couple of Washington Nationals games, seeing them win twice against the Cardinals! Awesome! The Friday game started with a nice diving catch by Nats' centerfielder Nook Logan, and Austin Kearns made an impressive diving catch on Sunday to end that game. Ryan Zimmerman is a stud, a Cardinal-killer. He had a large weekend at the plate, hitting a walk-off single on Friday night, then 2 HR's on Saturday, and then driving in the tie-breaking run in the 8th on Sunday, going 3-for-5 in the two games that we saw.

Here are a few pictures from the games:

it was "Negro Leagues Tribute Night" at RFK on Friday, so the teams went by old Negro League names and wore the corresponding jerseys. This makes my 2nd Negro Leagues tribute game this season!


The view from our seats on Friday (this was still during batting practice, the place filled up more)


It was nice that the Cardinals let a 14-year-old play shortstop for them.


The Nats have the presidents from Mt. Rushmore race and dance. Fun, but not quite as entertaining as Milwaukee's sausage race. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared to take a picture of the president race on either day.


Our view for Sunday's game


Poo-Holes


My favorite picture from the games, this is a broken-bat single by Nook Logan. You can see the barrel of the bat, and the ball in the air and everything! I should become a professional.


Chico was the starting picture for Washington. This made my day.

There were other activities, including a trip to the National American Indian Museum and some delicious food, but that'll wait until I'm back home.

Shoot it Like Stephon?

Stephon Marbury is saying that he's going to play basketball in Italy when his current contract is up in 2 years. He says "It's like a [David] Beckham thing." He is, of course, referring to the English soccer superstar David Beckham coming to lay in the US, Los Angeles specifically. (sorry, I don't know the team name. Honestly, I wasn't sure if there were still soccer teams in the US. I will admit that I probably wouldn't have heard of Beckham if it weren't for that "Bend it Like Beckham" movie, and I still don't quite know what that phrase means. But I promise I will not turn this into a soccer-bashing post. I'll save that for when I'm a little drunk and feeling rowdy.) I think Stephon's got it a little wrong, though. I mean, Beckham was an icon in England, known by probably the whole country, and throughout the world. Marbury is a good basketball player, he's got some shoes named after him, basketball fans know him well, casual fans have heard of him, but probably don't know what position he plays or for which team he plays. He's most likely not world-famous, at least nowhere near as much as Beckham. (There was never a movie called "Cross-Over Like Marbury.") He would be leaving a sport that is probably 3rd-most popular in the country to play somewhere that it is more popular. The leagues in Italy are already well-established. David Beckham is leaving a continent that lives and breathes soccer to come to a country where relatively few people over the age of 15 care about it. And I don't know if his star power can bring more Americans out to the games. (His wife could, though.) Besides, isn't Beckham past his prime, getting old, and that's why he's no longer playing in England? He couldn't make the grade there, so he thought he'd come to a place where he could school mostly everyone, or am I wrong?

The way I see it, a more fitting comparison would be if Jerry Rice were to go play for NFL Europe (RIP, oh NFL Europe, I hardly knew ye!). An aging superstar at one of the most popular sports in the nation that a lot of people know (my mom knew him, probably because he's one of my favorite players, but still, I would almost guarantee that she hasn't heard of Stephon Marbury), considered the best-ever at his position, if not in his sport altogether. Fading skills, but still the desire to play, even if it means playing in a place where no one really follows the sport. That's more like a [David] Beckham thing.

Flenker has some new shoes!

I am now the proud owner of a new pair of shoes, the adidas Viper Cushion. I feel that these shoes are the right ones for me, and will make me run much faster for the Bix 7, coming up in 2 weeks. I should probably start training. Now that I have the shoes in which I will be running, I can start breaking them in while training. I even bought a couple of pairs of socks that are supposed to provide air flow for the foot, while wicking away sweat. Neato!

My trip to Arkansas was a success, my grandpa got moved up to the Quad-Cities! Although his stuff will remain in Mountain Home, AR, for the time being. There was a little snag in the plan for getting a moving van, but really, it worked out for the best, we didn't have to worry about moving everything, which allowed for a quicker trip. His stuff is being delivered sometime next week, in the meantime he's staying in a furnished apartment at Lighthouse in Silvis. It's a super nice place, with a bunch of really nice people. He seemed to like it from the start, hopefully that'll continue.

This past week and the future months will be a busy time for the Flenkers on the move. My brother just had his offer accepted for a house in Cedar Rapids, so he will be moving in August to his new home. Very exciting for him, he'll be graduating in a few weeks, then moving and starting his full-time job. Then, I found out tonight that my dad and step-mom may be getting a condo in Davenport, IA, the town in which I was born and the city my dad lived in for most of his life. So that's pretty awesome, it sounds like an amazing place, hopefully it'll all work out for them, getting their current house sold and whatnot. Then of course, I'll be making the move to Austin in September.

Much to my relief, I was able to watch almost all of the All-Star Game on Tuesday night! We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, and made it to the room in the 4th inning. Which means I was able to see Ichiro's historic inside-the-park home run (the first homer of the sort in an All-Star game), saw the NL's attempt to come back, and best of all, saw Eric Byrnes' dog swim out to sea. For those of you who missed it, have no fear, it is all captured on youtube! At least two of the three things mentioned are in this video, so check it out. It's seriously worth it, just for the dog.


Watching this happen live was hilarious, even my mom was cracking up. Just ignore the commentating (especially the stuff about 300), Joe Buck and Tim McCarver shouldn't be allowed near microphones.

Also, I'm starting to think Tony LaRussa shouldn't be allowed near a baseball field anymore, the Cardinals are sinking and he threw away his chance at winning this game. Why would he not pinch-hit Poo-Holes in the bottom of the ninth? And that's just the most obvious mistake (I think) he made. Maybe he realized that the outcome of the game (home-field advantage for the Wold Series) won't have anything at all to do with him, since the Cardinals won't be anywhere near the post season.

One last thing, it has been decided that the Flenker Bros Going Away/Graduation party will be taking place in Iowa City on July 21. Anyone and everyone is invited, and more than welcome to come to the festivities. I'm pretty excited for it, now I just need to get the night off for work. . .

This is strangely involuntary!

A few sports-related notes:

Tomorrow I'll be missing the All-Star game for the first time ever. I'm going to be going to Arkansas with my mom and step-dad to help my grandpa move up to the Quad-City area. (For those of you unfamiliar with the QCA, it's on the border of Iowa and Illinois, made up of Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, and Moline. At least that's the way I see it. Some people throw in East Moline. Whatever. Anyways, it's about 30 minutes from my mom in Muscatine, so he'll be a little bit closer than the 8-hour drive to Arkansas). Oooh, wait, I'll just get someone to tape the game for me. Or I guess maybe TiVo or DVR. Does anyone even "tape" stuff anymore?

Also, Tyler Smith has been allowed to play next season at Tennessee, the NCAA ruled. He won't have to sit out the customary year for transfers, since he moved home to be closer to his dad, who is fighting an advanced stage of lung cancer. Like I've said before, I don't hold a grudge against Tyler for transferring, and will cheer for him in Tennessee. His addition should make an already good team immediately better. So right now, I'm making them my (very very) early pick to win the title next season. Don't let me down Tyler.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to a showing of Ratatouille, at the suggestion of Marin. I was a big fan of The Incredibles, and love cooking, so this seemed like a good movie for me. And it was, I thought it was very clever, and though it had a couple of cheesy parts (get it, because of the rats!), it definitely had me smiling and laughing out loud. The animation was beautiful, and it has Will Arnett from Arrested Development (TV show, not the rap group) as a voice, both pluses. It also had some good lines in it, like the one I used to title this here post, and the line "She believed in heaven, so she's covered... after-life speaking." I would highly recommend seeing this movie, especially if you like other Pixar films. I'm giving it 4 Flenker Thumbs-Up!

Sunday's Big Ups

First and foremost, Big Ups to Roger Federer for winning his incredible 5th-straight Wimbledon title. The maddest of mad props to him. We are witnessing the prime of (in my opinion) the greatest men's tennis player ever. Federer won his 11th Grand Slam title, tying him with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg for 3rd on the all-time list. That's kind of good company. And he's not even 26. (It kind of depressed me the first time that I found out I was 7 months older than Roger Federer. I've come to accept it now.) If he keeps up his dominance, he could have the most Grand Slam titles in a year. Most impressive.

Also getting Big Ups from me today are the Kansas City Royals. In their last 13 games (starting from, coincidentally, the game after I saw them in Milwaukee), they are 9-4, putting up 12 or more runs three times, including a 17-3 beatdown of Seattle and today's 12-4 win against Tampa Bay as they go into the All-Star Break. While I don't necessarily agree with Gil Meche being their representative in the game (I was leaning more towards David DeJesus or John Buck), I wish him the best, I hope he'll get some decent playing time.

That's it for today. I'm going to get ready to catch a showing of Ratatouille. So look for a new edition of the Flenker Thumbs-Up soon!

A trip to Cedar Rapids!

I went to a Cedar Rapids Kernels game last night with Jeff, a newer friend of mine. I met him through H and Bill. They actually met each other (H and B) through Jeff. Jeff met his (now) ex-wife through H. I think Haley got the better end of the deal so far, out of that group. Overall, I got the better end, because I met them all. (Aww Chris, you're such a sweetheart, you're too nice, blah blah blah. I know. I'm awesome.)

Anyways, Jeff and I hit up CiCi's Pizza, a buffet that was cheap and pretty good. They had a macaroni and cheese pizza!! I had to get a slice. It tasted like macaroni and cheese on top of a slice of pizza (there wasn't tomato sauce, I think it was an alfredo-esque sauce). Kind of different, but worth trying. The desserts were the best thing on the buffet: cinnamon rolls, dessert pizza (always a favorite of mine), and brownies. Yum!

After stuffed myself silly, we headed to the game. There was some sort of mix-up with the tickets that Jeff had purchased ahead of time, so we had to stand at the Will-Call desk for a few minutes while the people working tried to figure it out. For those of you not in the Midwest, it's been warm here (mid- to upper-90's), with a ridiculous humidity (80-plus percent). While we were waiting, we were standing directly in the sun at the same time as being sheltered from the breeze. Nothing like sweating profusely while standing still. Eventually it all got sorted out, we found our seats, and thankfully they were in the shade. Still sheltered from the breeze, but out of the blazing sun.

The game went well, the Peoria Chiefs were in town, managed by former Chicago Cub Ryne Sandberg. To us, it seemed like the Kernels should have been getting pounded, the Chiefs were hitting pretty well and getting walked, but a few good plays defensively kept Cedar Rapids in the game. The final score ended up being 4-1 with the Chiefs winning, but it didn't feel that close. It was a fun game, the Kernels' 2nd baseman made a few really nice plays, including throwing a runner out at the plate with a perfectly-thrown ball. It was beautiful. The rest of the team, however, wasn't really making great plays. There was one inning in which two runs were scored without a hit, on a walk and a couple of errors. Single-A baseball, you gotta love it! There was a pretty solid fireworks display after the game, so that was pretty awesome.

Jeff and I had a good time, it was a bonding experience, sharing stories and whatnot. Earlier in the day we had talked about maybe hitting the town and stopping at a bar or two, but we were both too worn out from the day to do too much. I had been up since about 5:45 and worked most of the day, so I really wasn't feeling it. I know, I know, that's weak, I should've drank like a champion. I just didn't have it in me. Besides, I had to save myself for tonight, it's a friend's birthday. Nothing says summer like drinking on a Sunday night!

You will thank me for having the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day

So going out and drinking with Captain Crab last night was a blast. Unfortunately, it left me a little brain-mushed today. Not hungover, just unable to think. It was most likely the second vodka martini. Or the second carafe of sake. Or the big beer. Or the Jack and Coke followed by the fruity drink, I don't even remember what it was now. Either way, there were some epic amounts of alcohol drank by a couple of piratin' fools. We even fit sushi in. It was delicious. The Crab told many stories, none of which I could do justice trying to tell myself. He needs to write more often over there at H's blog. Or create his own! I'd read it.

I had a great, great time last night, even if I went undrafted. I'm really happy for Adam Haluska, maybe I'll try to catch a Hornets/Spurs game when I'm in Texas. I'm definitely going to try to go to a Sonics/Spurs game, to see Kevin Durant. Although, that may be the hardest ticket to find, seeing as how Durant was a stud at Texas, I'm sure plenty of people would like to go see him play. I'll have to use my talents at getting into places.

The end of this post is sponsored by Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy, writer at espn.com, on Page 2. This week, his articles have been outta the park, seriously funny stuff. Starting off with a running diary of the NHL Draft, then a chat on Tuesday, and ending with last night's NBA Draft running diary. Anyways, I was reading the chat, and Simmons and the readers sending in questions had an ongoing thing where they tried to come up with the worst possible song to watch a stripper dance/get a lapdance to. Funny enough in itself, right? Some of the songs suggested were great. But my favorite part of the whole chat is as follows:

Mike (Chicago): I would like a lap dance to Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up".

Bill Simmons: I'm glad you brought this up. When I was in college, we used to go to Papa Gino's for All You Can Eat Pasta night, which was fantastic. Anyway, right when we got there one night, I put $5 into the jukebox and just selected that same Rick Astley song over and over again so that it would play for the entire time we were there. The reactions from the diners were priceless. Every time the song ended, you could see people praying that it wouldn't start again, and then it would. I miss college.

That made me laugh out loud, really hard. Of course I had to look up the video. And so, to finish up, here is the wonderfully amazing video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Enjoy.