March Madness!!!

I love March Madness. Anyone who has spent an extended amount of time with me in the month of March knows my obsession with college basketball. It is by far my favorite sport (and yes, I do work in college football, and yes, I am obsessed with World Cup too). But college basketball is CRAZY, especially starting this week.

Despite my UCLA Bruins recent attempts to send John Wooden to his grave earlier than necessary with their complete disregard for fundamentals and brains, I am still loving this year's season. There are NO dominant teams, and I can't wait for the March Madness brackets to come out so I can start picking my upsets...


(*SPECIAL NOTE - If you're looking for an upset-special, take a look at University of Montana out of the Big Sky conference. They have a guy named Anthony Johnson that is an absolute stud, and is coming off a career-high - and Big Sky Championship record - 42 points on way to sending "The Grizz" to the Big Dance. If they get a decent matchup, they are my upset pick.)

I am taking next Thursday and Friday off for the first two days of the tournament. All basketball, all day (maybe with some beer and pizza and wings mixed in, too).

Want to know the sad part? I have been doing a bracket pool with my dad, brother, sister and step-mother for 15 years...and I have never won. Even my step-mother, who chooses teams based on a) how cute their mascot is, b) how their name rolls off her tongue, or c) if their coach is attractive, has won before. I have a ridiculous amount of basketball knowledge, from team info to statistics to coaching tendencies...and that is WHY I have never won. I try to incorporate logic into an absolutely unpredictable, pandemonium-stricken event. The event lives off upsets, last-second shots, Cinderella stories, and "who-da-thunk-it" moments? So what's my new plan for this year? No friggin clue.

I feel bad too, because every year I help Katharine (co-worker) with her picks, because she thinks I might know something about hoops. So inevitably our picks are very similar, and when you combine that with my aforementioned 0-15 in bracket pools...it just screws her over too!

Now I will make a couple predictions (and you can hold me to them later):
-Syracuse will NOT make the National Championship
-The Pac-10 will not get a team past the first round
-If San Diego State makes the tournament, they will win their opening round game



March Madness gets me so AMPED!

Finding Your Way Through Tragedy

As many of you are well aware, San Diego was rocked this past week with the news of the murder of young Chelsea King. The story penetrated the city like a dagger, deflating the spirits of optimists, scaring the daylights out of parents, and rocking the collective running community.

This is not a blog post about what's wrong with the judicial system, or even a social commentary on the event that transpired (I think we have all heard more than we can stomach). We have all felt helpless during this horrible time, and I felt the need to write (maybe as self-therapeutic means) about a different angle of all of this.

Like many, this event struck close to home for me. I have always been a vocal advocate of women running in daylight. I have always bugged my sister about it, and now that my girlfriend happens to be a running all-star, I'm more vocal than ever. That being said, I have had a unique perspective into all of this, both through my own eyes, as well as through the eyes of someone who was (understandably) shaken, but admirably strong as she coped with the undeniable parallels of the story and her own running routine.

I have found that there are two far ends of the spectrum in terms of coping with this tragic event, neither of which has a healthy effect on your own life:

1) People (mainly women in this instance) are naive enough to think that they are invincible, that this can't happen to them, or that they live in a safe area, so they can continue their routine without having to even THINK about this affecting their lives.

2) People become overly paranoid, let this isolated event control them, and totally alter their routine to the point that they stop running, or they check over their shoulder every six seconds, or, worst of all,they stop enjoying running.

Now first, let me say that these are both totally warranted, legitimate ways to respond to such a horrific story, especially for those whom this hits close to home. There is no right or wrong way to handle this, but I do think there are specific ways to address this that are pro-active, productive, and intelligent. I know I always error on the side of being overly objective, and I try to infuse rationality at a time where it is virtually impossible to not be subjectively emotional. But I do feel there is a smart option.

I am an avid proponent of people finding a healthy medium between these two extremes. I think we need to be cognizant of the dangers that exist, and we need to be adequately prepared for them. I also think we need to live our lives in a proactive, not reactive fashion.

I think female runners need to run in the daytime. If they are running at night, they certainly need to run with a partner. If they absolutely see the need to run at night, then they need to stay in relatively well-lit areas, not dark trails. I am a runner, I understand the desire to run on trails, to run alone, and enjoy my own time...but we all need to be aware of the dangers we open ourselves up to.

That being said, I have learned through Julie's passion how important running can be to one's well-being. I know how happy and energetic people can be because of running. I would never want any of my friends to lose that jolt of energy and vivacity that running infuses into their life. And I would never want my girlfriend running scared.

So how do you balance them?

You do exactly what Julie is doing. You cover your bases. You sign yourself up for a self-defense class, so if God-forbid you need it, you know how to carry yourself. You encourage your friends to do the same. You are smart about where and when you run. You respect yourself, and you make decisions that make you comfortable. You respect the past and remember the lessons that were taught, and you use them to make you stronger as you run and live in the moment.

And most of all, you always remember why you love running, and never lose sight of that.

San Diego Sockers - The American Pastime?

A brief follow-up from a unique experience last weekend...

As mentioned in an earlier post, I went to the San Diego Sockers game at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Friday night with Tom, Joel and Chris. The arena is in the main parking lot of the fairgrounds, on the right side. They have a full indoor arena set up there, and tickets ran from $7.00-$19.50. We decided to be the high-rollers of the evening, so we splurged for the high-end "Field Box" seats. These are the seats right at the wall of the field.

CAPTION: If you look in the bottom right hand corner, there are two people in black standing up right above the yellow guard-rail. I am the one on the right. Random photo taken by a friend I didn't even know was there (nor did he know I was there when he took this photo).

Now, let me just tell you...the San Diego Sockers don't exactly attract your "ordinary" sports crowd. Some of the highlights from the game:

-I saw an 80-year old woman get kicked out of the game, who then proceeded to hit the Elite Security guard in the shin with her cane. Apparently they asked her twice not to use her air-horn, and she did not acquiesce, so they escorted her (or "evicted", as the extremely intelligent security guard put it) off the premises, which is when the said shin-bashing occurred (more on this later).

-The halftime show was comprised of the following: 4 people, a soccer ball, and a bike rack. They divided into two teams, put the bike rack between them, and then proceeded to play volleyball, only using their feet instead of their hands. I'm not anyone else in the ARENA knew it was going on either.

-After the aforementioned shin-bashing granny was booted from her box seats next to us, we promptly took those seats. I mean hey, they were in the box next to the Tijuana Revolucion bench, with no barrier, and our view to the field was no longer separated by a plexiglass wall (like hockey). So to that shin-bashing, security-abusing granny out there...thank you.

-The third/fourth quarter break introduced an interactive fan element. If you wanted, before the game you could buy a small yellow frisbee for $1.00 (proceeds of which went to Haiti relief). You were then, during the 3rd/4th quarter break, to toss this frisbee from your seats into a tire set up at midfield. If you got it in, you win half the money donated (which I found weird they were raising money for Haiti, but giving half of it to a frisbee extraordinaire). Anyway, let's just say nobody got CLOSE (including yours truly, despite my frisbee expertise), and I'm sure plenty of people got smashed in the face during the onslaught of yellow frisbee rain.

-After every goal scored by the Sockers, the team kicks a soccer ball into the crowd, which of course then instigates a huge melee where everyone fights for the ball. Luckily, our night the Sockers scored 12 times, so we had plenty of soccer balls to go around.

-At one point, a player kicked a ball into the stands, hit a woman in her hands, she dropped it...and it went 30 rows away where a little kid grabbed it and had a huge smile on his face. Then all of a sudden, the woman whose hands it hit came running down, said something to the boy, and took the ball! Poor kid was devastated. The whole place booed the lady, and she couldn't care less. So being the knights in shining armor that we are, we got the kid a frisbee.

-Towards the end of the game, the fans across from us were starting to feel the effects of their red-bull and vodka (just a guess). They had been heckling all game long, and as the game was well out of reach for the team from TJ, and the Sockers kept scoring, it got a little bizarre. When we scored our 12th and final goal, one of the fans jumped over the wall and did a little dance, and then jumped back over into his seats...without the referee ever seeing! The TJ head coach saw it and went ballistic, telling the referee it shouldn't be tolerated, and the ref gave him the sheepish shrug of the shoulders intimating "Whadya want me to do?"

All in all, definitely glad I went. Would I go again? Different question. If I did, I'd probably want to sit with the granny, or I better start practicing my frisbee skills.

"Oh Crap" Moments

So there are many moments in life where things don't go as we want, or are outside of our control, but nonetheless, are completely frustrating and/or scary. We are rendered almost completely helpless in these situations, and yet we are often times responsible for putting ourselves in that predicament. It is for these reasons I like to refer to these instances as...

"Oh Crap" Moments

1) While driving, all of a sudden you feel a sneeze coming on that is not capable of being stifled. You get super anxious until that ridiculously scary moment where you have to close your eyes and sneeze, the whole time just praying that you don't lose total control of all motor function...and that a big rig doesn't swerve in front of you (this is especially precarious when on the freeway between two cars, say, a Hummer and an Escalade).

2) After using the restroom, you reach over to grab the toilet paper, only to realize there is none. Pardon the pun, but this is most certainly an "Oh Crap" moment.




3) When paddling out surfing, you get "caught inside", and you can't paddle quick enough to get over the top of the wave, but you can't lay back long enough to let it crash in front of you. This is when, especially on a bigger day, you kiss your board, stretch your back, take a deep breath...and prepare to do the underwater hokey-pokey.

4) For all you cooks out there - You finish preparing dinner, and you finally sit down to eat it. And then about midway to three-quarters of the way through the meal, you realize that you left the bread in the oven, the salad in the refrigerator, or some other pre-prepared side dish feeling neglected. This is especially embarrassing when cooking for guests.

5) While traveling on a long vacation, you realized that you packed everything...except your phone charger and/or a belt. Not life or death, but this kills me.

6) For those of us old-school-flip-phone users - When you finish typing a text message using either the "T9" or "Word" function, and then you hit SEND right as you see that the damn phone inserted the word "of" instead of "me", and "good" instead of "home"...so instead of telling your friend "Follow me home", you get "Follow of good". After desperately (and ultimately unsuccessfully) hitting the END button trying to cancel the message before it sends, you can then almost certainly expect the inevitable, confused response of "Huh?"

7) For all you runners - You go out for a run of any distance, and then at your first split that you want to check your time, you realize you, a) didn't hit the stopwatch button hard enough, or b) hit it twice, so it sits idle displaying a time of 0.7 seconds. This is more of an "Ah Crap", not an "Oh Crap" (in my warped mind, "Ah Crap" sounds like a lighter, annoyed lead-in, whereas "Oh Crap" is way more intense).

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Why doesn't my computer or keyboard have a universal "Un-Caps-Lock" function? I want to be able to just select the text that is currently in all CAPS, and then hit a keyboard button that then lower cases everything. How hard is this?

Crazy Random Week

Man do I love Monday nights. They always seem to be the one night I KNOW I'm not doing anything. Tonight I went for a run, went to the grocery store, and watched some basketball. Nice, relaxing evening.

As for the rest of this week? Wow.

TUESDAY
-Golf at Carmel Mountain Ranch w/ boss
-Bowling at East Village Tavern w/ Julie & Jeralin

WEDNESDAY
-Wine Steals w/ Suzie

THURSDAY
-Dinner w/ Julie, then Swingset Committee concert in North Park (if you're free, you should check these guys out!)

FRIDAY
-San Diego Sockers @ Del Mar Fairgrounds w/ Tom Bishar (why not?)

SATURDAY
-Golf at San Diego Country Club w/ Dad

March, Where Are You?!

Man, January and February have been jam-packed! I love being busy and going on trips, but I am REALLY looking forward to March when I have no set trips!

That being said, I've had a great past few weeks (hence the lack of frequent posting on the blog). Julie and I have made our way to wine tasting in Kenwood (Sonoma), friend's birthday in Orange County, UCLA basketball in Los Angeles, engagement party in San Francisco, and this weekend on our way to Palm Desert for annual Board of Directors retreat! Not to mention a ton of stuff locally in San Diego!

A few random events/thoughts from the past few weeks:

1) While in S.F. for 2 days, Julie and I ran into 3 people (on 3 different occasions) we knew from our past. Only in S.F....so bizarre.

2) I can no longer rip on my sister for not being able to cook. She cooked us dinner Sunday night, and I did not die.

3) If you are looking for a really awesome, unique new band to to get behind and support, look up Swingset Committee. This is my buddy Andrew's band, and I REALLY like their style. When I asked him how to classify their genre, Andrew said "If I had to say, I guess it would be electronic-Indy." Don't let that jade you. I would say they are a unique fusion of Postal Service and MGMT. I give them 2 thumbs up (and not cuz I know them).

4) Started the local bowling league again through VAVi at East Village Tavern. If you are ever looking for a cool, non-threatening way to meet new people your age, but not awkward, I highly recommend VAVi bowling. Great venue, fun leagues, good service, and definitely a cool vibe of seeing the same people every week (6-10 teams of 6 bowlers each). Do it with some friends, but allow some open spots so you can have some random "free agents" join up with you)! Am I biased because I met my girlfriend this way? NOT AT ALL.....

5) Going hiking this weekend at Indian Canyons in Palm Desert. Looks like they have some pretty sweet trails/streams/waterfalls...anybody familiar with the area?


Oh yeah, and how awesome is the weather?!

UCLA - The Aftermath

After last post, I figured you might like a summary of sorts covering my trek back to UCLA and Pauley Pavilion. It was very much "as expected"...

Drove up to L.A. in some drizzly weather on Saturday morning. As soon as we got to Interstate 10, it all came flooding back to me....the horrendous traffic, that is. I quickly remembered why I hated driving in that town (and was glad my buddy Peter decided to drive us up). By L.A. standards, traffic was very light on way to our exit.

Getting off on Wilshire is always a nostalgic experience for me. Once east-bound on Wilshire, you immediately notice two things: 1) the ridiculous merging to get over to the far left, and 2) the gigantic movie poster on the tall building advertising whatever movie is about to come out in theaters (which in this instance, was Alice in Wonderland, with the freaky-ass likeness of Johnny Depp as the Madd Hatter on the poster).

Parking was not bad, and after picking up our tickets at good ol' CTO (UCLA Central Ticket Office for those of you not familiar with the days of waiting in line), we headed in. Now let me just say that I was with my girlfriend and two other friends, one of which went to UCLA with me. I could tell Peter was waiting to see my reaction when I walked in (cuz he had the wonderful pleasure of seeing me in all my glory back in the day). And although Julie never went to UCLA or saw my blue-dyed pirate monkey act (which I think she's glad), she knew it had been a long time since I had been in there, so I think she was kinda aware of this moment as well. So the four of us walked in and...

It was f***ing weird.

We walked in the top level (even though Peter scored us sweet tickets in 5th row in recruit section on the floor next to the hoop), and within seconds I was taken back to my days as a student again. I recognized every security guard, The Dirt from The Den was on every student seat, the band was playing some Beyonce song they always play, the players were warming up, and there was the distinct odor of popcorn, bathroom hand soap and hardwood floors (interesting sensation I know). I won't bore you with all the intricate details of who was there and what I saw (but for those of you Den people reading this, we gotta talk), but suffice to say, not much has changed.

Except the team. I know no one on that team other than Michael Roll (two redshirt years later) and Nikola Dragovic (who recently seems to be more concerned with beating his girlfriend than playing hoops). Beyond that, the team is comprised of kids I do not know. The fans were people I did not know. And more than anything else, this team is NOTHING like the teams during my brief tenure at UCLA. They are undisciplined, horrendous passers, and play "ok" defense. Not exactly a staple of a Ben Howland basketball team.

*A couple random things:
1) They have a corporate sponsor for everything...in-game contests, timeouts, water bottles...
2) They still play the damn helmet shuffle.
3) The dance team is still ogled over by the alumni.
4) 8-claps are still too fast

The students went through all of the pre-game ritual cheers, and I was thoroughly unimpressed. I don't blame the students though. The team is NOT good, the arena was NOT full, and they don't have much help from other fans in the place. The upper level student section was entirely empty...no one in it. For a game that would put UCLA in first place in the Pac-10 by themselves (at a less than stellar 7-4 conference record).

In all honesty, I was just kinda sad for the program. Sad that the team wasn't what it once was. Sad that the place wasn't rockin. Sad that I brought my girlfriend to a game/place I had talked up for a while, only to show up and have the arena be quiet and not so exciting. And sad because my UCLA friends weren't there with me. I missed Budak's bear-hat. I missed Branden telling me to put my camera down and enjoy the game. I missed Jenn yelling "Go Bruins." I missed Charlie putting a hand on my shoulder as he hoisted himself on the seats to yell "1-2-3, Play Ball!". I missed Comstock holding the signs. I missed Rookie plugging his ears during helmet shuffle.

But, oddly enough, I had fun. I was there in a new chapter of my life. I have to learn how to root for a team I'm not personally connected to. I'm excited for the renovations on Pauley Pavilion. I'm glad Julie got to come up with me and see the place I used to spend so much time in (although at one point in the game, she got virtually speechless after she asked "you just went to basketball and football games, right?" and I responded with "Ummm, no...volleyball, baseball, water polo, soccer and gymnastics"). I think gymnastics was the kicker....

I will go back, and I will have more fun. I got this one under my belt. It is easy just to watch hoops and be a fan, even when it's your alma mater. I'm glad I had the company I did at the game, and I hope next time she can come when I get some old UCLA friends there with me, to hear some of the ridiculous stories we have, from campouts to cheers to close games to funny memories.

It brought back good memories. I still heart U-C-L-A.