For love of the game

It's rare these days to actually see players in professional sports actually play and conduct their careers with sportsmanship. I found the NBA's, or was it MLB's, ad campaign "I love this game" quite humorous, always feeling that "...if the money's right!" should be should be mumbled next under the player's breath.

With loyalty and sportmanship at an all-time low in sports, I am happy to see one player forget about the millions of dollars they are about to receive, and think about what's best for their team. The player I speak of is Chipper Jones. He has stated it throughout his career that he work cut his salary if the team needs more extra cash to make certain trades or deals, and now he is backing up his word by cutting a hole in his wallet. When I had first heard him make such claims a while back, I had always felt a little reserved, mostly because such loyalty is unheard of, this being the true test. "Oh sure, Right, well we will just have to wait and see about that.", figuring a few more years down the road might change his mind once he's making the big bucks, but no. He has stuck to his word and done what is best for the team.

It would be great if this trend spread throughout the league, and throughout all sports, unfortunately I believe it may be too late with the T.O./Rosenhaus generation of greed in full force. But regardless, I applaud Chipper's loyalty, and wish to see other players to follow suit.

"Grape! . . . or maybe Cherry, cause I like Cherry too, . . . but they're both favorites, only if I had to choose, I'd choose Grape, cause it's a little more favorite . . . but they're both good . . . they're both good!"

I've gone PRO

That's right, I put the PRO in Procrastination. In the midst of finals week, I managed to effectively finish one of my projects 20 min. before class started, but that's not the best part. The best part is that it was a class favorite. "Wow, that must have taken you a long time." What is bad is that I know this approval by others is subconsciously telling my brain that procrastination is OK, even when I know that it is not very good work ethic, and it only builds up more stress. But, apparently my best work is done at the last minute. It will catch up with me one day, and it won't be pretty.

This hasn't been my first feat of supreme procrastination this quarter. Nearly ever other project I have completed so far has been finished at the last moment. It started at 45 min. before class, then 25, then 10, today 20 min., and of then of course, my PR, 5 min. The thing I don't understand is that I am not really putting things off, yet it still comes down to the wire. I don't get it, I haven't even been playing any Xbox or watching TV or anything. Where does the time go?

Speaking of Xbox, the neighbor Jason has already purchased his wireless 360 controller. It put him out $50, ouch. I have been debating the idea of purchasing an Xbox 360. Actually, I've been debating when I'll purchase one. It's a given that I will have one eventually, then question is when. This next gen is going to put a hurting on the wallet. I am not looking forward to that, and right now I am having some reservations to buy as I am not entirely excited about the product. I'm having a hard time believing that the cost of the box is equivalent to the amount of happiness I receive from it. However, my feeling of want is trying to overcome my logic and reason. Want has won in the past, but I am actually going to resist and put up a fight this time. The neighbors are all purchasing their 360s day of release, that won't make it any easier. I'll fight it until I feel the product is worth the money, when want turns to need. Hopefully I won't have to wait to long to be convinced to buy.

Crew News:
Well, this last weekend was my first crew event. It was very hard, very strenuous, very tiring, and even a little bit fun. I don't even know how we placed. I'd say it's safe to say we finished in the middle of the pack or lower, as there were many larger, more experienced schools there, like Clemson, Bama, NC State, Ga Tech, etc. We competed better with the smaller schools, but unfortunately we still have to race the big dogs too.

We meet at the boathouse on Friday to winterize the boats and close things down for the winter. That means cleaning, painting, etc. Hopefully the day can be topped off with some sort of celebration.

I have some pictures from the race, but this stupid PictureTrail account is telling me to pay them money now for some reason, and that's probably not going to happen. So, I will have to find another way to post them for everyone to see. If you know of a better image hosting site, please let me know. Only requirement is that it is free.

Only 2 more projects to turn in before I am done with my first quarter here at SCAD. I've got until Tuesday to get it all done. Maybe I'll get them done early so I can relax this weekend. Right!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving, and the rest of my break. I will be heading back to ATL for some of the break to do some work at SFI, and make a little money, then I'll take the rest of the time off for Xmas and the wedding, then it's back to the grind in the Winter quarter. Sounds like a good plan to me. Hopefully I'll see you somewhere along the way. Take 'er easy.

"I walked around my good intentions
And found that there were none"

Eve

Well, it's the night before my first official crew event, The Head of the South in Augusta, GA. I am feeling some old, but familiar butterfly feelings, again from the CC days. But if my memory is correct, it turns into an awesome feeling right before the gun sounds. Then in the first few 100 yds (or meters in this case) the butterflies are let go, and it's all good.

It turns out that I will be rowing two races tomorrow. One with the Novice 8 that I have been practicing with the whole time, and then another 5k on a Mixed 8 boat (coed w/ novice & varsity). I am stroke on both boats. The boat with the varsity is obviously making me slightly more nervous, but at least that race is first to get the nerves out of the way for the Novice 8 race a couple hours later.

The bus is leaving for Augusta at 3:30 AM from the boathouse, so it will be an early morning to a long, long day. But the parents and bro will be meeting me there, so it should be fun. I believe I have everything prepared, and ready to go, so on that note, I think it's time for bed. Good night.

"And how can we expect anyone to listen if we are using the same old voice? We need new noise - new art for the real people.
...Can I scream?"

Stroke

Latest Crew News

That's me, Stroke. 8 seat. First to row, last in the boat (minus the coxswain).

I like my current position in the boat. It's a little more responsibility than most of the other seats, since everyone is following my move. "Do exactly what Zach is doing, even if it's wrong." - Coach Steve. Haha, nice. Follow me then as I jump off this bridge. No? Fine then, follow me as I move to 32 strokes a min. With 7 people depending on my perfection, it gets a bit tense sometimes, because if I fail, the boat fails. No pressure.

Our first competition, I believe they are called 'regattas', or maybe 'meets', is going to be next weekend (Nov. 12) in Augusta, GA. Currently, I am bit worried we may not be prepared in time. We may just run out of time, as we have not yet moved to rowing with all 8 rowers at the same time. That's important. We have made it up to 6 w/o having too much of a problem. With less than 8 rowing, those stationary keep the boat keel (level, stable) while the rest row. With all 8, the only thing keeping us keel is a bunch of rowing oars, a lot less stable. The more the boat rolls from side to side, the harder it is to row due to inconsistencies in the height your oar's blade is off the water. So...hopefully we can move up to all 8 soon, since we won't come close to competing at all with only 6 going at it. Today we did a 5k on the ERGs (rowing machines). That was a blast. It brought back feelings I haven't felt in a long, long time, not since my CC days. The feeling in your body that is essentially a lack of feeling. Your body is moving, but all you are really doing is telling your brain to go faster, no longer telling it where to put arms and legs. It's a high that is hard to cherish at the time. We need to keep out 500m splits as low as possible. Today the lowest I could get was 1:42 @ 30spm, but not everyone was in 'sync behind me, so it really meant nothing. Some guys in the back of the boat (actually, the bow of the boat) are having a hard time with endurance, not so much their Power endurance, but their Form's endurance. When your form breaks down, everything else is for not. Form, comes before Power, a new concept for some. I fear some will just drop out half-way through our 5k next Saturday. That would be a total embarrassment. We've worked to hard to fail now. I am hopeful that it will all come together in time. This next week we will just have some long, hard practices to get it all down. Since this is the Novice's only race of the fall season, it's feeling pretty big. After Saturday the fall season is pretty much over, resuming when we get back from winter break, I believe, for the spring season.

I will post the results of the regatta, good or bad, when we get back. Maybe even some pictures of us in our spandex unis as well (uni has two meanings here, not just uni as in uniform, but also uni as is one piece). Spandex brings out the 'dead sexy-ness' in all of us, not to mention the previously unknown level of 'cool' that we will bumped up too. w00t, I can't wait.

"Is it raining? Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing,
So the danger must be growing.
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing,
For the rowers keep on rowing,
And they're certainly not showing,
Any signs that they are slowing!"