Last night I was lucky enough to included in a family outing that I won't soon forget. I was tagging along with the Young family to a charity tennis event held in Adelaide. Due to baseball Ali and I arrived about and hour late. Just in time to watch the headliners play. I have never been one to watch Tennis; in fact I am usually upset with the fact the US Open or Wimbledon is playing on ESPN instead of a football or baseball game but to watch this event live was something special. The headliners for this event were Pat Cash, the famous Aussie tennis player and the legendary John McEnroe. McEnroe was my tennis equivalent of the Grand Canyon I've heard about him, seen pictures and video on TV but to see him play live was incredible. His temper and flare were still ever present.
At first I questioned if the antics were all just part of the show. I quickly realized, however, that although it may be part of the show he was very genuine in his temperament. That made the experience that much more awesome (awesome in the manner of inspiring awe). His serve still the contorting twist away from his opponent followed with the smooth overhand finish was exactly as I have seen in classic films of matches against Bjorn Borg.
The doubles matches that followed were equally impressive not for competitive skill or awe but for sheer comedy. The ability of each player was still on display however the ability for career pros to show their talent through executing near impossible shots. Some rallies turned to badminton matches where the ball did not touch the court for several returns. Often a player would swing and miss his attempt on the fly but turn only to return it on the bounce. One rally failed to involve the players at the net, but they solved the problem by retrieving an extra ball and volleying back and forth. It was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters of tennis. I thoroughly enjoyed this outing and as I mention- will not soon forget.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Best Baseball Movies of All Time (By Quotability)
So my last game was the best I've felt on the field in a long time. I was me. Constantly talking to my teammates having fun directing focus I dont know if this helps anyone else but if I constantly talk about whats going on I have no time to think; and like a very wise fictional catcher once said "Don't think... You can only hurt the ball club."
10)The Rookie- "You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball"
9) Bad News Bears "You can take your apology and your trophy, and stick it right up your ass"
8) The Natural- "Pick me out a winner Bobby"
7) A League of Their Own-"There's no crying in BasebAAAAALLLL"
6) Field of Dreams- "Hey Dad?.... Wanna have a catch?"
5) Major League II- "He's gonna walk Beck to get to Parkman, obviously he's thinkin... I don't know what the hell he's thinkin"
4) For Love of the Game - "Clear the Mechanism"
3) The Sandlot- "You're killin me Smalls"
2) Major League- "Look at this fuckin guy"
1) Bull Durham -"Dont think... You can only hurt the ball club"
10)The Rookie- "You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball"
9) Bad News Bears "You can take your apology and your trophy, and stick it right up your ass"
8) The Natural- "Pick me out a winner Bobby"
7) A League of Their Own-"There's no crying in BasebAAAAALLLL"
6) Field of Dreams- "Hey Dad?.... Wanna have a catch?"
5) Major League II- "He's gonna walk Beck to get to Parkman, obviously he's thinkin... I don't know what the hell he's thinkin"
4) For Love of the Game - "Clear the Mechanism"
3) The Sandlot- "You're killin me Smalls"
2) Major League- "Look at this fuckin guy"
1) Bull Durham -"Dont think... You can only hurt the ball club"
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Year in Review
JANUARY-
My weekly DJ Sessions in the weightroom with Jake began. Favorite tracks: Echo by Gorilla Zoe and La Camisa Negra by Juanes. Honorable Mention to Dysfunctional by Tech N9ne
Started my Monmouth bucket list, but only managed to start the tradition of driving up the Church St One-Way
"Don't Go Home Tonight, He's Going to Kill You...." Thanks for that debacle of a night Jake. Maybe we should have watched the Haiti telethon with your friends after all.
FEBRUARY-
Catalina wine mixer gets me out of my funk.
Melissa and I have heart to hearts over anything and everything. Thank God for great friends.
Find out that I'm overweight according to the Body Mass Index.
Internship starts at SMWW during the beginning of the draft season and retire from runing track
Spend Valentine's Day alone... Its too commercial anyway right?
Start weekly people watching with Jake.
MARCH-
March 1st at 12:00am broken glow stick juice, dance music, streamers, and Yao and Eric giving lapdances to anyone who sat down in the house. The funniest most insane birthday party ever for Rocky!
Some late night trips to WAL MART in Salem round out my WOU memories.
Go visit baby brother over Spring break
Very confusing month. Every aspect of my life. Family, Life, Baseball, Love, Who I Am.
APRIL-
The Mariner's Historic Season Begins....Historically embarrassing, the two most dominant pitchers in the league get no run support.
Officially leave Monmouth, but forget my computer and have to go back in less than a week. It helped with the growing pains a ton and was so glad I got to say goodbye to all my friends one more time.
MAY-
My birthday includes an impromptu drive to Ellensberg (everyone's dream destination for a birthday). Immediately get fined, but Kevin and I have an epic night of failures.
More baseball.
Set Up on some of the worst dates in my life. Why did they think I wanted to date girls 5 years younger than me?
JUNE-
Start work for American Legion
Decide to play in Australia and a team in Melbourne asks for my services.
Drive the NorthStars team truck on roadtrips and hang out with Coach Bert.
JULY-
Hey its baseball season
The Mariner's are officially the worst in the American League West... When do the Seahawks open camp?
AUGUST-
Living in Spokane is getting harder and the stress of dealing with my best friend's girl is weighing on me. Lets Get Married. I Dont Want to Be with You. Lets Move In. Lets Get Married. I Hate You... Ya that sounds stable
SEPTEMBER-
I accidentally mention my "Perfect Girl" to Jenn. One day later Jenn sets me up on a blind date-with Leslie.
The date goes well. But she leaves in 5 days. I'll never see her again.
I get a text from Leslie asking if I would like to go on another date; JetSkiing on Lake Couer D'Alene. Probably the most fun day of my year. The next day we went hiking, cliff jumping (which was hilarious because we're both moderately afraid of heights). The next day I had to say goodbye but luckily it wasn't for good.
I leave for Australia and get to see Leslie and Jermaine in the San Francisco airport.
A webcam was the most important purchase of the month.
OCTOBER-
I stay a week in Gawler, then in Nuriootpa while playing for the Gawler Rangers.
I have trouble with the new team and the lack of competition in the level of play.
I go to the Adelaide Bite tryout and get offered a spot on the practice squad.
Assistant Coach Craig Watts sees me at training and offers to arrange for me to be moved to the Sturt Saints.
I live on just off the beach in Glenelg with former NBL basketball player Martin Catalini.
I fix a hole in his wall, because I mean I'm staying with him for free.
I take the opportunity to cash in my good karma for a scratch in his $90,000 Audi
NOVEMBER-
Baseball at Sturt is great. Strangely I hit for way more power in this hemisphere. Maybe its from driving a car without power-steering.
Leslie books a flight to visit me.
I move to the Foothills and the Young family.
Great times, great people.
DECEMBER-
Watched Peiterson go Double century at my first cricket match at the Adelaide Oval.
Holidays away from home are hard but the people here are such hospitable hosts I still had a great time.
Moved to the Adelaide Hills for a stint and saw my first koala and kookabura.
Went fishing on the ocean.
My weekly DJ Sessions in the weightroom with Jake began. Favorite tracks: Echo by Gorilla Zoe and La Camisa Negra by Juanes. Honorable Mention to Dysfunctional by Tech N9ne
Started my Monmouth bucket list, but only managed to start the tradition of driving up the Church St One-Way
"Don't Go Home Tonight, He's Going to Kill You...." Thanks for that debacle of a night Jake. Maybe we should have watched the Haiti telethon with your friends after all.
FEBRUARY-
Catalina wine mixer gets me out of my funk.
Melissa and I have heart to hearts over anything and everything. Thank God for great friends.
Find out that I'm overweight according to the Body Mass Index.
Internship starts at SMWW during the beginning of the draft season and retire from runing track
Spend Valentine's Day alone... Its too commercial anyway right?
Start weekly people watching with Jake.
MARCH-
March 1st at 12:00am broken glow stick juice, dance music, streamers, and Yao and Eric giving lapdances to anyone who sat down in the house. The funniest most insane birthday party ever for Rocky!
Some late night trips to WAL MART in Salem round out my WOU memories.
Go visit baby brother over Spring break
Very confusing month. Every aspect of my life. Family, Life, Baseball, Love, Who I Am.
APRIL-
The Mariner's Historic Season Begins....Historically embarrassing, the two most dominant pitchers in the league get no run support.
Officially leave Monmouth, but forget my computer and have to go back in less than a week. It helped with the growing pains a ton and was so glad I got to say goodbye to all my friends one more time.
MAY-
My birthday includes an impromptu drive to Ellensberg (everyone's dream destination for a birthday). Immediately get fined, but Kevin and I have an epic night of failures.
More baseball.
Set Up on some of the worst dates in my life. Why did they think I wanted to date girls 5 years younger than me?
JUNE-
Start work for American Legion
Decide to play in Australia and a team in Melbourne asks for my services.
Drive the NorthStars team truck on roadtrips and hang out with Coach Bert.
JULY-
Hey its baseball season
The Mariner's are officially the worst in the American League West... When do the Seahawks open camp?
AUGUST-
Living in Spokane is getting harder and the stress of dealing with my best friend's girl is weighing on me. Lets Get Married. I Dont Want to Be with You. Lets Move In. Lets Get Married. I Hate You... Ya that sounds stable
SEPTEMBER-
I accidentally mention my "Perfect Girl" to Jenn. One day later Jenn sets me up on a blind date-with Leslie.
The date goes well. But she leaves in 5 days. I'll never see her again.
I get a text from Leslie asking if I would like to go on another date; JetSkiing on Lake Couer D'Alene. Probably the most fun day of my year. The next day we went hiking, cliff jumping (which was hilarious because we're both moderately afraid of heights). The next day I had to say goodbye but luckily it wasn't for good.
I leave for Australia and get to see Leslie and Jermaine in the San Francisco airport.
A webcam was the most important purchase of the month.
OCTOBER-
I stay a week in Gawler, then in Nuriootpa while playing for the Gawler Rangers.
I have trouble with the new team and the lack of competition in the level of play.
I go to the Adelaide Bite tryout and get offered a spot on the practice squad.
Assistant Coach Craig Watts sees me at training and offers to arrange for me to be moved to the Sturt Saints.
I live on just off the beach in Glenelg with former NBL basketball player Martin Catalini.
I fix a hole in his wall, because I mean I'm staying with him for free.
I take the opportunity to cash in my good karma for a scratch in his $90,000 Audi
NOVEMBER-
Baseball at Sturt is great. Strangely I hit for way more power in this hemisphere. Maybe its from driving a car without power-steering.
Leslie books a flight to visit me.
I move to the Foothills and the Young family.
Great times, great people.
DECEMBER-
Watched Peiterson go Double century at my first cricket match at the Adelaide Oval.
Holidays away from home are hard but the people here are such hospitable hosts I still had a great time.
Moved to the Adelaide Hills for a stint and saw my first koala and kookabura.
Went fishing on the ocean.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Kinda Boring... BUT kinda important
Julian Assange is an Australian Journalist/Publisher/Activist/alleged cyber terrorist/media proclaimed whistle-blower. He is in some hot water with the US for allegedly stealing and leaking government secrets. I haven't done enough research on him to know what I believe yet. All I have decided is he has the resume and appearance of a Bond villain.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Why?
I feel I should explain the reasoning behind my issues with posting Music on Mondays. I don't get to listen to all that much new music as there is no access to Pandora outside the US. I guess it recognizes the foreign IP address and Pandora veto's any chance I could listen there.
My car radio would be the simplest option... had it not been stolen a few weeks back. Actually, I should rephrase that. The faceplate to my car's CD deck was stolen. Apparently some jackass felt they could use it to hold down they're papers at work or maybe hold their door open in the summer heat. The point is they didn't steal the rest of my deck just the faceplate which one piece without the other is pretty much worthless. So congrats to the new owner of a blue doorstop.
I should also mention my car issues don't stop there. I've had to be rescued several times from 'flat' batteries. First was my first day of work at FreshWater Systems and well lets say I was slightly late. The second time was after the conclusion of the opening series at Norwood Oval where the Bite games are held. Luckily one pitcher had jumper 'leads' to get me 'boosted'. The last time was after work I went to head home after a long day and again my engine wouldn't even attempt to turn over. This time once I was rescued, we tried to push start it. I pushed my car 4 laps down a backstreet while Dave Nicholas a friend teammate and coworker tried to start it but we got no more than a dissatisfying "A-rrrerrr". Then we tried towing it, to no avail. Just when we had given up a guy from across a fence called over to us "You need some jumper leads?" Turns out the guy is a mechanic... And we had stopped in front of his shop. Pretty convenient actually.
Lastly
Q: An Asian, an American, and an Aussie get out and look at their cars. Who's fault is it?
A: MINE!
Sitting at a red light listening to the breeze from my dysfunctional air conditioner and pray my car wouldn't overheat while idling (it does that too but I still love her) I started to daydream a little. The light turns green. Cars go. I glance off. Cars stop. Bump. Well thats just how anyone wants to finish up their day of Christmas shopping. We make the first left-- yes left is easiest here, try to follow along with the story. The middle aged Aussie get out of his black Holden and says "Ah Just a slow one Heh?" the Asian looks at his front and back bumper and shrugs. I get out and look at my radiator and no, I didn't pop the hood first. So the Aussie says "Lucky for me and drives off" the Asian looks at the one small scuff on the front bumper and tells me its not a problem and drives off. I stand on the sidewalk look at the intersection where the bump happens and watch the traffic crush my grill-plate into smaller and smaller bits. Looks like I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas.
My car radio would be the simplest option... had it not been stolen a few weeks back. Actually, I should rephrase that. The faceplate to my car's CD deck was stolen. Apparently some jackass felt they could use it to hold down they're papers at work or maybe hold their door open in the summer heat. The point is they didn't steal the rest of my deck just the faceplate which one piece without the other is pretty much worthless. So congrats to the new owner of a blue doorstop.
I should also mention my car issues don't stop there. I've had to be rescued several times from 'flat' batteries. First was my first day of work at FreshWater Systems and well lets say I was slightly late. The second time was after the conclusion of the opening series at Norwood Oval where the Bite games are held. Luckily one pitcher had jumper 'leads' to get me 'boosted'. The last time was after work I went to head home after a long day and again my engine wouldn't even attempt to turn over. This time once I was rescued, we tried to push start it. I pushed my car 4 laps down a backstreet while Dave Nicholas a friend teammate and coworker tried to start it but we got no more than a dissatisfying "A-rrrerrr". Then we tried towing it, to no avail. Just when we had given up a guy from across a fence called over to us "You need some jumper leads?" Turns out the guy is a mechanic... And we had stopped in front of his shop. Pretty convenient actually.
Lastly
Q: An Asian, an American, and an Aussie get out and look at their cars. Who's fault is it?
A: MINE!
Sitting at a red light listening to the breeze from my dysfunctional air conditioner and pray my car wouldn't overheat while idling (it does that too but I still love her) I started to daydream a little. The light turns green. Cars go. I glance off. Cars stop. Bump. Well thats just how anyone wants to finish up their day of Christmas shopping. We make the first left-- yes left is easiest here, try to follow along with the story. The middle aged Aussie get out of his black Holden and says "Ah Just a slow one Heh?" the Asian looks at his front and back bumper and shrugs. I get out and look at my radiator and no, I didn't pop the hood first. So the Aussie says "Lucky for me and drives off" the Asian looks at the one small scuff on the front bumper and tells me its not a problem and drives off. I stand on the sidewalk look at the intersection where the bump happens and watch the traffic crush my grill-plate into smaller and smaller bits. Looks like I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas.
Aussie Music Monday #3
During one of my first weeks here I heard a lot about a band on their farewell tour. This band was regarded as an Australian treasure and I heard nothing but good things about the sound and feel. But I never heard they're songs. I didn't make it to the concert but now that I've heard them I really wish I had the chance.
The band is Powderfinger which in itself is a good start to have a dark albeit simple band name. Equally impressive is that by simply typing 'POW' into Google(.com.au) the autofill suggests Powderfinger. I've chosen a few songs but I really don't think its enough. The last few songs are featured on myspace page.
Band Name: Powderfinger
Origin: Brisbane
Genre: Rock
Score: 9 Kangaroos and 6 Billbies and 1 King Brown
Burn Your Name
The band is Powderfinger which in itself is a good start to have a dark albeit simple band name. Equally impressive is that by simply typing 'POW' into Google(.com.au) the autofill suggests Powderfinger. I've chosen a few songs but I really don't think its enough. The last few songs are featured on myspace page.
Band Name: Powderfinger
Origin: Brisbane
Genre: Rock
Score: 9 Kangaroos and 6 Billbies and 1 King Brown
Burn Your Name
Sunsets
Sail The Wildest Stretch
Burn Your Name
All The Dreamers
A Fight About Money
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Aussie Music Monday #2
This song by Birds of Tokyo has been great for me this week. For anyone thinking, “Hey isn’t it Wednesday” might I recommend Cee Lo Green for you this week. Ok ok, just joking, th reason I am behind is because I have been worked pretty hard this week polishing concrete in random, however scenic, areas outside Adelaide. Birds of Tokyo and their song Plans is just mellow enough to keep me sane after working 9 hours in the 90 plus degree heat we’re having here.
Band: Birds of Tokyo
Origin: Perth, West Australia
Genre: Alternative
Sounds Like: Snow Patrol, Plain White Tees,Dashboard Confessional
Score: Five Kangaroos
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