SportsHoncho

The bitter-sweet-bitter-bitter start of College Football

Bitter - I was anxious all day yesterday and had butterflies start swimming about 4 hours before gametime.  I was so anxious I went to my brother-in-laws house a half hour sooner than I told him, cause I was going crazy trying to watch the LSU vs. Mississippi State game.

Sweet - At kickoff I was still nervous and apparently so were the Ute's, as they went 3 and out with no positive yards on the first drive.  Then our defense held the Beavers to a punt and both sides then settled and started to play a defensive game.  After a few back-and-forth possessions for both teams, ending in punts, I felt at ease, and liked our chances against this higher ranked Oregon State team.  College football had started and I was watching my Ute's.

Bitter - With 4 minutes left in the first half, our starting running back, Asiata, breaks his leg.  He had only 4 carries, but looked good and showed some potential.  With 3 minutes left in the half, our starting quarterback, Johnson, separates his shoulder.  Before these injuries, the teams were evenly matched, and went into halftime tied.

Bitter - Our backup quarterback, Tommy Grady, did not take the opportunity given to shine, so the Ute's offense did nothing in the second half and the Beavers' offense simply wore us down.  I like Grady and have seen some good things out of him, but the package the Ute's have in place for Brian Johnson is not suited to Grady.  Grady cannot run, he is an under-the-center-drop-back-passer kind of quarterback.

I can't imagine a worse start to a college football season.  With that said, I can't wait for the home opener next Saturday against Air Force.

Who wants to watch a 59-year-old play College Football?

That's right a 59-year-old is going to play college football this fall!  I admit it, I am interested in seeing him play.  I want to see what happens when he hits someone.  I want to see him put the smack-down on someone and than watch as that humiliated player makes it back to the bench.  He is going to take no end of teasing from his teammates for letting the old man get the best of him.

Also, I want to see someone put this near-senior-citizen on his back with a vicious (legal) blind hit and try to make it back to his bench.  His mom will come out of the stands and yell "That man is as old as your father, you better apologize after the game!"

I hope Mike Flynt does well and most of all I hope he doesn't get hurt.  For those of you who want to see one of his games, here is the Sul Ross State University's football schedule, as published by ZipCodeSports.com.  (Yes, I realize that it is mean to publish this, when the site is not running yet, but I thought I would show you a little of what to expect.)

High School... now I remember why I hated it

The Family went to 'our' high school (Woods Cross) football game on Friday night, to see different things.  I went to watch football and our nephew who is on the team and my wife went to watch our niece dance at halftime, our boys went cause there was football, family, dancing and candy.

The game was fun, but like most high school games, pretty sloppy.  There were more flags than good plays, but our nephew had a couple of good defensive stops.  The halftime dance was really good and of course our niece did the best.

I haven't attended a game at a high school in a long time.  The pompous class officers, the fake girls and guys trying to maintain their image and EVERYONE trying to impress someone else, to name a few of the flash backs I experienced.  Reading that sentence, makes it sound like I was a nerdy kid that got picked on a lot in high school.   That wasn't really the case, but I really didn't care what anyone thought of me and was annoyed at the weird persona's people tried to maintain.

Maybe I just need some therapy.

Do's and Don'ts of Sporting Events

Inspired by the guy who failed while proposing to his girlfriend at the Houston Astros game the other night, a local radio station decided to discuss appropriate behavior at sporting events.  Most callers discussed bringing wife/girlfriend, the kids, people who stand (and conversely, people who sit and yell at those who stand), and various other items.  Here are a few thoughts I had while listening.

Kids...  I love my boys to death, but they have no interest in the game, beyond the first two minutes and watching every movement of the mascots.  I get intense when watching sports, at the game or at home, and the questions and desires of the kids, do not usually mesh with my intenseness.  I really can't wait to take them to the games when they are interested in the game and ask inquisitive questions about it, but until then, I vote to leave them at home.

Wife...  I love when my wife comes to the games, for a couple of reasons; 1) When we don't bring the kids, she watches and gets into the action of the event and we have fun.  (She probably doesn't find that fun, but I thinks she at least enjoys it.  Also, she does complain that I don't talk much, but I remind her, that I'm "watching a game!")  2) If we decide to bring the kids, she distracts them and ends up taking them to get the snow cones, hot dogs, pretzel, candy, popcorn, etc...

Standing/sitting at the games...  I really think you have to go with the crowd.  I can be just as intense while sitting and can jump up for the big plays... or I can stand and cheer for the entire game.  If you are going against the majority you will be shouted at... better just to follow the crowd.

A couple of years ago, we were about 20 minutes early to a Utah football game, and a guy came in about 5 rows beneath us with a "date."  He thought he would be funny and impress her, so he turned to the people above him, with his arms wide open, and yelled, "Section this is Heather, Heather this is my section."  It was straight out of Fever Pitch, before Fever Pitch was made, and a few people yelled "Hello!" back.  I quickly yelled "What happened to Jamie?...  I liked her!"  That got laughter out of most the people around, and Random Guy and Heather stared at me then each other for a couple of awkward seconds, then sat down.  They were talking when they sat down and I like to think she was cross-examining him.

I personally thought it was cute and impressive, but if you do something like that, be prepared for some responses that will cause you to feel embarrassed or awkward.

HUGE NEWS!!!....ZipCodeSports.com is moving to dedicated server

Thats right, the testing has been completed on the demo server and the migration process has begun, (move the application to the dedicated server).  This should be completed in a couple of days, with a couple of more days needed to enter all the gathered information for teams, leagues and schedules. 

We will be listing the NFL schedule and the entire football schedule of the NCAA, ALL divisions.  The remaining baseball schedules will be available for MLB and many of the minor leagues.  There will be over 30,000 sporting events listed on the site at launch, with more to come quickly with basketball season right around the corner.

We find the game, you find the seat... and enjoy!

The cynicism of non-soccer fans...

Not that I can bash on cynics, since I can be very cynical.  I am just pointing out, that non-soccer fans can be very adamant that they cannot fathom why anyone would watch the sport.  I understand, sure..., there are sports that I don't get, like cricket.

Here are some real comments from family and friends about me watching and following soccer:

"What are they cheering about?  Nothing happened!" (This occurred when Real SL made an early match cross that just missed the goal.)

"How many people are there, besides you and your family?"

"Go to the game with you?, um..... I have a sock drawer to organize."

I really think it comes down to what you grow up with.  I didn't grow up playing or watching cricket, hence I don't get it or like it.  I didn't grow up watching soccer (since there were no games on) but I did play little league soccer.  I was a fan of US soccer when it was shown, so when Real SL came to Salt Lake City, I became a fan and enjoy the games, even when they lose, which they did again last night.

I have no problem with non-soccer fans, mostly cause they are naive and unsophisticated Neanderthals, who can't appreciate "The Beautiful Game."

P.S. - It was unbelievable how many fans were at the Real SL game last night to watch Blanco.  There were more fans for Cuauhtemoc Blanco than Real SL.  He is a Mexican national team hero and did well, 1 goal and 1 assist.

Wiffleball.... now thats throwback

I found this blog, by Shaun Breen on wiffleball.  Here is the comment I made to his blog:

Aaaaah… wiffleball. That takes me back to the days of jumping fences, fighting the strike calls, fighting the opposing team, throwing at people for the out and slipping in dog crap.

We played wiffleball all the time growing up. We never played regular baseball anywhere, it was always wiffleball. We had a few cool things about the field.

1. The neighbors fence had to be hopped multiple times, especially when playing 2 on 2. The outfielder basically had to stand on the near side of the fence until the hit, and if it was hit over they tried to hurry over the fence to catch it.
2. The fence was 4 feet high and when we were little that was a tall barrier, and half of the fence length was lined with 10′ tall bushes.
3. The shed awning jutted out slightly into the outfield, which made for a few good collisions with the support posts.
4. We both had dogs, so you conducted the ‘clean up’ before the game, but always missed one or two, and then found it diving for a catch.

Even though I haven’t played wiffleball since junior high school, I would love to play a game or two, even though I hate playing softball or baseball.

Thanks for the website and the jaunt down memory lane.

Great, funny site.  I really would love to play another wiffleball game, and it would have to be in my parents backyard and with the original players; Trent, Greg, Matt, Brian, Colin, Gavin, and the others that moved in and out of the neighborhood.

Of course, it wouldn't be the same and not nearly as much fun as I remember.  Oh well, good to day dream, at least once a day.

Back and I should be posting more consistently now.

Due to several things (family issues, vacations, work and the website development) I have not paid much attention to the Sports Honcho blog.  Well, I am back and wanted to make a quick note that I will start posting more consistently now, especially with college football starting in a few short weeks.

The website...ZipCodeSports.com is almost complete and with only 2 issues remaining (from the original 150+) we are set to go very quickly.  We will migrate to the dedicated server and start running, by the end of next week, at the latest.  I've been wrong before, but we are really close now.

I have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of Dan Patrick (see here).  He is the only talk show that I try to listen to and the only one I consistently enjoy.  Unfortunately he is leaving ESPN this week, however there is a silver lining.  It seems that he is setup to start a new radio show sometime in September, which I am now anxiously awaiting.  Here is Dan's new blog and website, which is pretty cool. 

Real, back on track?

Real SL won a game last night and its their first in a long, ....long time.  They played well, fought off the Houston attack and a 'Tim Donaghy' reffing performance (more below).

Back on track?  Well it really depends on what 'track' you are referring to.  Real has struggled mightily this year, however not since the beginning of the season have they been horrible.  The last 4-5 games have been exciting to watch and Real SL has played well, but were just unable to pull out the win.  Last night they pulled out a win against the best team in their conference.  So I wouldn't say they are back on track, but at least this will give them some confidence. 

They have made several trades, including my favorite player Mehdi Ballouchy, and created a team that seems to be meshing and playing well.  In return for Mehdi, Real SL got Kyle Beckerman, and I now have a new favorite player.  He is one of those Kreis like guys who will run for 90 minutes and always seems to be in the middle of the action.

After the 5th blown/bad call against Real SL, my brother-in-law made the 'Tim Donaghy' reference to this referee's performance.  This guy missed 3 hand balls by Houston and missed 2 calls that should have been Real SL corner kicks.  The point is, I think the 'Tim Donaghy' comments will start flowing quickly and really pick up when the NBA starts up again.

It felt good to get a win and even better to have something to pay attention to, unless of course you wanted to stay home and watch Bar'roid' Bonds hit another home run.