Football leagues Jul 23, 2009
Mental Floss has an interesting post about secondary football leagues, mentioning, among others, the United Football League, which starts its inaugural season this October and has signed some former NFL players, and the Women's Football Alliance, which started this past spring and already has 36 teams. #sports
Hiking goals Jun 2, 2009
Two weekends in a row I've gone hiking.  Two weekends in a row I've read a map incorrectly or made some other navigational mistake, resulting in a hike much longer than originally planned.  What I should've learned after the first time was that a hike, like many things, should consist of specific, measurable goals, and that if such goals are not met by a certain time, a decision should be made, most likely to turn back.  For example, both recent hikes had certain waypoints, such as a trail crossing or a waterfall.  These things were supposed to appear after a certain number of miles.  We should've said from the outset that if we didn't see these waypoints by a certain time based on the slowest speed (2 mph on average, 1 mph being ridiculously slow), we should've turned back or at least taken a closer look at the map.  In both cases it would've cut the length of the misguided hike in half, and in one case would've saved a call to the state park police after following a trail for four times its stated length while carrying next to no gear and watching the sun quickly disappear. #sports
Switch-pitcher (4) May 11, 2009
I have absolutely no interest in the sport of baseball, but this guy Pat Venditte from the Yankees' minor league team sounds pretty interesting.  He's a switch-pitcher. 
"The righty has a 90 mph fastball, a curve and a nice change. The lefty comes sidearm and has a murderous slider and a change.

When his son was 3, Dad noticed Pat threw balls with both hands. So he fed it. He had him throw footballs both ways, punt both ways, kick field goals both ways. Pat was homeschooled by his mom, Jan, who had him write both ways and eat both ways."
What a cool idea.  Definitely better than the forceful alternative of "just pick a side and move on". 

And in what might be the most obvious double entendre of the century, the writer of the article says, "And best of all, the kid can relieve himself!"  Surely there's a better way to write that sentence.  Perhaps, "And best of all, the kid can be his own relief pitcher!"  For shame. #sports
Too many martial artists Feb 19, 2009
On a fairly regular basis I read a news headline that says something about a crime being prevented or stopped in mid-action by some sort of martial artist.  This one is about a jewelry thief in Germany who was stopped by a Judo black belt.  Maybe someday crime will cease to exist because too many people will know martial arts and whatever reward would have come from the crime just isn't worth the risk of getting attacked in self-defense or worse yet, being subdued until authorities arrest you. #sports
Snowboarding thoughts Feb 18, 2009
I went snowboarding on Monday, and here's a list of the thoughts that came to mind while riding the peaceful lift up the quiet mountain: 
  • Never, under any circumstances, wear pants that have zippers, buttons, or other hard objects near the ankles.  These will inevitably get squashed against your legs by your tight boots, and they will find a way to a bone or a nerve.
  • Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to mix with the rest of the people who visit a snow-covered mountain to enjoy the effects of gravity and low friction.  What with their snowball-throwing and their sitting in the middle of the hill without moving, they should all just be herded to a separate location where they're allowed to go all Lord-of-the-Flies on each other.  Thankfully, Mountain Creek in Vernon, NJ has a terrain park, which is where all the smelly, scummy teenagers hang out.  Once I figured that out, my happiness increased tenfold.
  • Granite Peak at Mountain Creek (that rhymes) is my favorite park of the park.  There's never anyone there, there are no lines for the lift, and the steep, wide slopes allow you to achieve maximum speed without knocking over any 6-year-olds.
  • I enjoy going fast.  I enjoy going fast much more than I enjoy being airborne, hence my desire for steep, wide slopes and my dislike for the terrain park.
Just to be clear, I don't hate all kids.  I always like seeing those little tiny humans passing me as they fly down the hill.  But when humans are that tiny, they're with their parents, which magically makes children less scummy and annoying.  As soon as they turn 13, they leave their parents, become jerks, and hang out at the terrain park.  It makes me feel like I never left high school. #sports
Sore loser Oct 8, 2008
I'm a sore loser.  Big time.  If I can't win, I don't want to play.  I've always been this way.  As a kid, I'd cry every time I lost.  People would say, "It's just a game, Dave.  Don't be such a sore loser."  And I would think, "I wouldn't be such a sore loser if I could just win a few times.  Jerk." 

Here I am, 26 damn years old, and I'm still a sore loser.  I thought I'd grow out of it.  I thought I'd finally realize that life isn't all about winning, it's how you play the game.  Or maybe I could come to the realization that there are winners and losers, and even the most famous winners have lost at some point in their lives.  Or maybe that a winning attitude is what it's all about. 

But all those stupid quips about winning and losing never helped.  It's all about winning.  If you can't win, don't play.  It's not how you play the game, it's about winning.  A winning attitude isn't worth squat if you lose in the end. 

This is obviously an issue for me. #sports
DVOA Oct 1, 2008
The current method of quantifying the performance of NFL quarterbacks is with the much-aligned Passer Rating.  It's calculated with typical quarterback stats, including completion percentage, yards per completion, touchdowns, etc.  However, it has two glaring downfalls:  (1) It ranges from 0 to an obscure 158.3, and (2) it consistently ranks bad quarterbacks quite highly. 

A new statistic called Defense-adjusted Value Over Average has been developed that seeks to avoid these pitfalls.  It's based on a percent scale, making it easy for normal people to understand what's good and bad.  If a quarterback's passer rating is 95, is that good?  Who knows?  With the DVOA, it's easy to see that a value of 100% is good while a value of 50% is not (although DVOA uses negative percentages, which to me seems to defeat the purpose of using percentages).  Also, a quarterback like Donovan McNabb, who traditionally has a high quarterback rating, is ranked lower with DVOA (sorry there's no proof for that; it was in a Popular Science magazine article). 

Personally, I'd like to develop my own rating system that takes into account whether the team won or lost.  Because when it comes down to it, the best quarterback on a losing team is still on a losing team. #sports
Dallas Cowboys franchise Sep 23, 2008
The Dallas Cowboys have quite a franchise. 
  1. Only the Cowboys imply that it's un-American to not like them, seeing as how they're "America's team".
  2. Only the Cowboys put out their own greatest hits DVDs.
  3. Only the Cowboys have completely broken any sort of geographical merchandising restrictions.  Cowboys gear is available in any state in America, right alongside merchandise from the local team.
Slightly related:  Only the Cowboys are part of a completely incorrect geographical group:  NFC East. #sports
Baseball numbers Sep 19, 2008
Baseball has some unusual numbers to measure success.  I heard in a movie that batters who hit the ball 2 out of 10 times are pretty good.  If they hit 3 out of 10, they're considered great.  What an odd concept.  Numbers in the range of 20-30% would amount to failure in pretty much every other aspect of life.  If you showed up to work 2 days in 2 weeks (10 working days), you'd be fired without a second thought.  If you stopped at 30% of the traffic lights you encountered, you'd lose your drivers license, assuming you didn't get killed first. 

Another number to consider is wins vs. losses.  A good team wins half its games.  A great team wins maybe 60% of its games.  That's ridiculous.  A football team that won half its games would be a failure (unless all the other teams in its division have even worse records, in which case it might clinch a wildcard playoff spot).  A great team in football can win 100% of its games.  Now that's a pretty good measure of success. #sports
Olympics on TV Sep 2, 2008
I have to say I was disappointed with the TV coverage of the 2008 Olympics.  I felt like the only things I actually saw were beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, and diving.  What about any of the other 28 sports?  Badminton?  Handball?  Shooting?  Taekwondo?  Why didn't I see any of these events?  Yes, I realize China is on the other side of the planet, so when it's morning here, it's tomorrow there.  But still, none of the coverage was live anyway.  If it's not live, they might as well have broadcast some of the unusual events.  I, for one, wouldn't have minded seeing a men's field hockey game, which in non-American cultures, is not considered girly. #sports