Goooooaaaaaal!

Ava had the last game of her second season of soccer today. In her "Dribblers" age group for Cincinnati Cardinals, it's 4v4 with no keepers. She has come a long way.

In the spring, Ava had a lot of fun, but her play consisted of running near the action and then jumping around in excitement. Every once in a while she would kick the ball if it hit her foot. Although she knew how to dribble and kick, the whole game concept was tough for her, being her first season. Hey, at least she didn't sit down and pick grass and dandelions - she was in the action the whole time!

In the fall, we upgraded coaches and got an official team name and uniform: the Tie-Dye Tigers. At first, Ava graduated from jumping in excitement to trailing the action and then sprinting back on defense and planting herself in the goal to block any shots. After much coaching from Dad, she realized that the concept of defense wasn't to just camp out in the goal. She also started to attack the ball and made some great plays. One cross to a teammate for a goal gave her the most beautiful assist of the season! Her coach even ran on the field and gave her a high five!

However, that first goal eluded her. We talked about it before games and she knew today was her last chance this season. So we provided the proper pump-up music before the game and Mom, Dad, Molly, Grandma and Grandpa set up on the sidelines to cheer her on. Early in the second half it came - a dribble through the other team near midfield for a breakaway! Just like her Dad used to do on a regular basis back in the day! The look on her face was priceless after it went in - kind of a mix of surprise and confusion. Probably because of the wild cheers from her fans! Of course, once the first one went in, she went right down and scored #2. Now she just wants to know when next season begins!

Done

After a soul-sucking loss to Navy and the predictable internet backlash against Brian Kelly that followed I'm doing to Notre Dame football what I did to ESPN.com - deleting from my bookmarks and habits all traces.

It's not that I'm planning to no longer follow Notre Dame football - I still plan on suffering through games every Saturday, living or dying by the Irish's performance - it's that in the process of keeping up-to-date throughout the week you inevitably get bombarded by the internet trolls and their retarded opinion pieces. I'd initially visit a handful of sites to get the information and scoop I couldn't find elsewhere. But after awhile (usually once the site gets a certain number of hits/day or has so many commenters) it inevitably turns to opinions and critiques - as if they could fix all that ails ND football - and the information and scoop goes by the wayside. And that is just too much for me these days.

Brian Kelly has been head coach at Notre Dame for less than a year and people are already calling for his head. The internet has no patience, and I have no patience for these idiots with no patience. I don't care what Ara did his first season. I don't care what Lou did his first season. It's irrelevant. The college football world of today is so radically different from the 60s and 80s that those comparisons hold no water. You know why Notre Dame will never have a "big name" coach again? Because every coach in the country sees all these idiots that are right now calling for Brian Kelly's head on a platter and says to himself, "F*** that noise! I don't need the hassle."

And for godsake, quit talking about the football program not living up to "Notre Dame standards". Since whenever Gerry Faust took over in the early 80s, Notre Dame has challenged for exactly 3 national championships - winning one, getting robbed once, and blowing it thanks to a converted 3rd and 47 at Miami. Every other season has been pretty abysmal. You want to talk about Notre Dame standards? Right now, our standard IS mediocrity.

Adult Dodgeball

Pretty good facsimile of me last night

So I got in a corporate dodgeball league last night with a bunch of co-workers at a local indoor sports place. Adult dodgeball, as I had been warned by people who have played in the past, is not what you remember from grade school. It's violent, extremely active, and overwhelmingly exhausting. You play as many games as you can in a 25-minute period (a match). In our first match, we lost 3-2, and in our second match we won 11-0.

Let me give you a few stories of our team from last night:

1) I warmed up, ran some wind-sprints, and threw pretty hard against a wall. It made no difference. I was throwing as hard as I could on my first throw, and my arm was jell-o by the end of the first match.

2) My boss (OK, he's about 6 levels above me), the Vice President for Internal Audit, was running out to the mid-line at the start of the match to get a ball. He and a girl reached for the same ball and knocked heads. She had to sit out the rest of the match with a golf-ball-sized lump on her forehead, by boss went right on playing.

3) The other team had 6 dodgeballs and they all decided to target me. Why, I don't know. I hadn't really been a threat, and I was smaller then the other guys on me time (read: smaller target). It didn't make any difference to them. I'm fairly certain I dodged at least three of the balls, but one managed to hit me in the butt as I ran away screaming "Not in the face!"

4) The girls have it rough on the dodgeball court. We would intentionally not target the opponents girls, hoping we could catch their throws and we could get a guy back and them out. I felt bad when the last person left was a girl, but I mercifully put her out of her misery.

This morning I'm as stiff and sore as I've ever been. My throwing hand still can't grip very well, I can almost lift my throwing arm above my head, and my back feels like I was squat-pressing a an AMC Pacer all night. I guess since I'm 30, the soreness will go away sometime next week - just in time for next Thursday's game! Yahoo!

Rock Band 3

Look out Thanksgiving - Rock Band 3 comes out October 26!

One of my highlights of 2009 was standing in the basement, completely hammered, playing Rock Band at 2am. I wasn't too drunk to recall looking at the dozens of empty beer bottles on the counter and hearing Dad swear, "You ran out of f$%ing beer?" Awesome!

So this year, everyone needs to start practicing up for the ultimate Rock Band session which will include warm-up sessions Wednesday evening, an opening gig Thursday night, and a full blown performance on Friday night! I would suggest buying (or renting) the new version because it will be awesome, but also to get ready for the new song list. I also mean EVERYONE needs to practice. 7 players will be able to perform together for the first time!!!

Some highlights of Rock Band 3:

• All old Rock Band songs and DLC will be importable - with the exception of The Beatles. That's one mega playlist!!!
• 3 microphone harmonies on all new songs
• New keyboard instrument (uh, oh - Dad may never put it down)
• Much improved graphics and overall gameplay

I took a quick look at the new 83 song playlist, and just started laughing! I see some mega fun with some of the favs below:

• China Grove (definitely a late night Dad favorite)
• The Power of Love (first wedding video song to be on Rock Band)
• Need You Tonight/Mediate (awesome)
• Free Bird (really, somebody can yell "play Freebird" and we can)
• Sister Christian (I will get whipper snappers to complete the mood)
• Bohemian Rhapsody (just ridiculous)

So everybody get ready. I'll have the rechargeable batteries ready to go for all the controllers, and am considering a keg (maybe 2 half kegs for variety). We can have some fun when the kiddies are in bed.

History

Don't know if anyone else watched the Reds last night, but history was made. For only the second time in baseball post-season history, a pitcher threw a no-hitter. Roy Halladay was about as good as Don Larsen, but not quite perfect. Jay Bruce drew a walk in the fifth inning to break up the perfect game, but that was the only base-runner of the night for the Reds.

Halladay was extremely impressive. He threw a lot of good pitches, but nothing that couldn't have been hit. However, what he did was utterly confuse the Reds hitters. You could see it when Votto and Phillips, and even the sagacious veteran, Scott Rolen, came to the plate. They had no idea what Halladay was going to throw. When the announcers noted Halladay throwing 1st-pitch strikes, the Reds did too. So they went up swinging. And Halladay would throw a clear ball.

If Halladay's control and guile was the story of the night, Edison Volquez not making it out of the second inning was the second story. Volquez had good stuff, but he simply could not locate the strike zone. And he was often throwing pitches away due to his lack of control. The fact of the matter is that any other pitcher the Reds put out there would have lost. Halladay made the question of whom the Reds should start on the mound totally moot. No run support means the Reds were destined to lose.

I do have to give credit to Logan Ondrusek and Trevor Wood. These guys came in and pitched long relief innings of shutout baseball after the meltdown by Volquez. Unfortunately, they may not be as rested for the next few games, but at least the Reds showed that their pitching can shut down the Phillies.

I'm still hopeful for the Reds. I always say Game 1 means nothing, it's all about Game 2. If the Phillies take a 2-0 series lead, it's all over. But if the Reds can get a win at Philly, they are poised to take two at home and win the series. Granted, they'll have to face Halladay again, but I sincerely doubt he'll pitch back-to-back no hitters. I think in the end, the Reds will have to count on beating the non-Halladay Phillies pitchers, because Doc seemed to outmatch the Reds hitters.

A Long Time Coming

BRUUUUUUUUUCE!

Things are starting to look up in the sports world. Notre Dame is 1-3, the Bengals have the worst offense in football, and for the first time in 15 years the Reds are in the playoffs. Finally, I can enjoy October baseball. And by "enjoy" I mean agonize over every pitch in every game the Reds play until my frustration builds to rage and I turn off the TV in a fog of anger and kick the dog. I love sports! Go Reds!

(By the way - Baseball Tonight spent 9 minutes talking about the Rays making the playoffs and 2 minutes talking about the Reds, even though nobody cares about Tampa (including their own city) and the team will be blown up in 3 months because the owners are too cheap. Oh, and with multiple teams clinching playoff spots last night the flagship EsPN channel was showing a poker tournament. Poker. Just two more reasons I hate EsPN.)

An Entertaining Gallery

Today I stumbled across what must be the most awesome unintentionally hilarious photo gallery of all time. The gallery is courtesy of si.com, and is titled "NASCAR Fans at Dover". Enjoy some of the choicest cuts, with my commentary, after the fold...

A Question

And a very simple one at that - does anyone read this fucking blog anymore?

You know what differentiates a good blog from espn.com? Interaction. (Well, interaction and no Sports Guy. Durr! Boston! Durr!) There's a give and take here, people. Somebody writes something. You read that something. You comment on that something. The author of that something receives encouragement from your comments. Something else gets written.

It's the circle of life. Simba dies if you don't leave comments.

I've tried to write quite a few things the past few weeks soliciting comments. I've even explicitly solicited comments by writing, "...post [...] comments". Where's the love?

When someone posts something, write a comment. Even if that comment just says, "Kevin smells". It's a small validation for those of us trying to keep this thing moving, and will hopefully ensure its survival until my Telepathic Blogging Brain Cap™ patent gets approved and makes these things obsolete.

UPDATE: Now commenting is even easier because I've turned off that lame-ass word verification. Who loves you?

Pubic School

If you didn't read the article, here's a link to it. The article talks about a sign put up in South Bend, IN in regards to their spectacular "pubic" school systems. Coincidentally, teen pregnancy rates are also up.

A Hypothetical Situation Requiring Your Input

I'm going into the biodome for 12 months and, to conserve space, can only take three (3) CDs with me (Also, imagine it's 1998 and they haven't yet invented portable music players that would allow you to take 1000 full albums on a device the size of a business card). After much reflection, these are those 3 CDs...

1. The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
2. The Joshua Tree by U2
3. Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age

I'm not saying these are the three best albums of all time, just that these are good enough and diverse enough that I could listen to them, and only them, for one year without getting tired of them. 

As an aside, what does it say for the current state of music that the most recent album on that list was released in 2002? And that only narrowly beat out Appetite for Destruction, which would've put the most recent album at 1994! I'll tell you what it says - new music, for the most part, sucks.

Post your three in the comments!