March definitely turns the calendar in many ways:
*Outdoor track starts Monday. My saying with track is, once it starts, the next thing you know it's Memorial Day. One problem is that there is still almost a foot of snow on the track. We'll have to see how soon that goes away.
*The Olympics wrapped up. What a fun game between US and Canada. Apparently a lot of people are bummed that the US lost and are mad at Crosby for scoring the goal. Maybe just because I'm not a die-hard hockey fan, I enjoyed the game. My reaction of the overtime goal was, "Wow, Sid scored! That was a nice play and a good game." Then, I turned the TV off and Beth and I went out to dinner. Only when I listened to the radio and TV the next few days did I realize that so many people were upset about the US losing. Come on. Could these same people name three guys on the US team before the Olympics started? They were the 6-seed going in and won the silver medal. Sure, everyone wants the gold, but it was a great run.
*Spring training is in full swing and the Pirates had their first exhibition game today. They lost 6-3 to the Yankees. But, I always take spring training with a grain of salt. First, a lot of minor leaguers finish the games, so I always go back and look at what the score was at the end of the 5th inning. Second, I don't look too much at team results, but rather how did
My Pirates sleepers this season are Lastings Millege, Charlie Morton, and Akinori Iwamura. The flops I'm worried about are the shortstop position (fill in the blank), Zach Duke, and Jeff Clement. I'm encouraged that the bullpen looks stronger and I'm encouraged that there are legitimate prospects knocking on the door (Alvarez, Tabata, Lincoln) not just because the major league team has holes, but because they are actually good.
*March also means March Madness is right around the corner. I've kind of missed the entire season, especially with the Olympics. Davidson's tourney (Southern Conference) starts Thursday. They're the 5-seed, so we'll see how that turns out. The big conferences have one more weekend of conference play and then their conference tourneys next weekend. Penn State has won 3 of 4 (two against Northwestern), but finish with Purdue and Michigan State. Not too high of hopes for them. Arizona is 8-8 in the Pac-10 and tied for 4th. They play the LA schools this weekend and we'll see what happens in their conference tourney.
*Another new thing around here is that there is a new sports station on the air--93.7 The Fan. It's an FM all-sports 24-hr local programming station. I like it because I now have something to listen to when I'm driving down to school at 5:30am to go work out. They're hating on the Pirates already, so it gets me fired up and wakes me up on the drive in.
*I'm running a little 5k this weekend. We'll see how that goes. I'm in better shape than usual for this time of year, but it's all relative since it's still the middle of winter. I've been swimming at least once a week and hitting the treadmill twice a week before school plus the training with the track team and my training with Beth on the weekend. I did a 6x800 workout on the treadmill. That was pretty fun to crank up the treadmill.
Hoping that March provides warmer weather, no snow, and fun basketball and baseball!
2 comments:
Good luck in the 5k! I can't believe it was the snowiest winter ever in Pittsburgh--pretty rough.
The average American mentally seems to be that it's only good if it's gold. You make a good point about them being seeded 6th and getting silver which is great, but many people think, we're usa, we should win gold and are disapointed (for whatever reason) with anything less.
I totally agree with you on Hockey. I was amazed at how good they did. They beat the best team "on paper" once, and lost in overtime, on their turf. Great showing.
I hear you on Spring training games too. They really don't mean too much. I never thought of looking only til the 5th inning. That is smart. hmmmmmm. :)
Iwamura was a great pick up. I like him a lot, and SS can be a dead offensive position if the defense is good. As long as the "D" is good at short that is fine. (in my opinion)
Oh and good luck on your sports talk radio. If Pirate fans are anything like Chicago fans. Football season will be an extra caffeinated commute. Especially on Mondays. :)
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