Sep 14th, 2010 | education, Fun, life, Sporty, St Louis | 12 Comments
New readers may not know that I play kickball for Team Awesome, a motley crew of Busch-swilling hardcore fans and the various people associated with them, including most of my St Louis girlfriends at one point or another. We used to be pretty good, but we’re old now. We even have team members who have kids and bring strollers and such to games. We’re losing our edge, I tell you, although there’s still plenty of mid-game smoking, boss tunes as at-bat anthems, and jorts-wearing. One dude wears manpris. We won’t discuss it. In any event, I know it’s a lame hipster whatever, but we have a good time and I fool myself into thinking it’s exercise. Except it becomes exercise sometimes. → continue reading
Jul 9th, 2010 | education, life, MamaPop, Sporty, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
So I’m a procrastinator anyway, and I had allotted all day yesterday to crank out a paper that is due today. That’s how I do it. I got a system. Long story short, about 45 minutes after sitting down at a local coffee establishment to get cracking, my two-year-old MacBook freezes, and when I restart, I get the blinking file icon of death. I know what this means. I know that I’m fucked. I also know that I haven’t backed up in a while. SO GO BACK UP, KIDS.
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Jun 25th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, Draft Day Suit, MamaPop, Sporty | 1 Comment
I’m writing this from high above the Midwest, on my way to Minneapolis to talk about Antonio Gramsci for two days while missing the U.S.’s second round World Cup game. Sorry, professor. I will either be streaming or keeping ESPN open during the match. It’s the people’s game, man!
Speaking of the World Cup, check out my Draft Day Suit post on why you should be watching the World Cup. It’s been one hell of a tournament for the Yanks, and none of us fans mind if y’all hop on the bandwagon for the game against Ghana. Then check out today’s MamaPop post, where you can watch Woody Harrelson’s soccer skills in the Soccer Aid game. Also this week, I wrote about the Real World heading back to New Orleans, and you should read that, too.
The heat broke yesterday and only yesterday, and I was able to get out in our garden and do work I’ve been meaning to do alongside Chris, for whom the heat is not a deterrent. We’ve had a relative bumper crop of high-quality chamomile that while tedious to harvest, smells heavenly; thanks to Justin for the very prolific plant that will provide us with calming tea to go along with our mint. Tomatoes and tomatillos are on the vine, and we’ve been steadily eating lettuce, swiss chard, collards, and tatsoi for weeks. The garlic will be harvested Sunday or Monday. Our blackberries are slowly ripening and we’ve started to enjoy the first plump, juicy specimens.
We’ve got potatoes, onion, carrots, and beans all coming along splendidly, and even a few corn plans. The beans are starting to ripen a bit on the vine, and I can’t wait to photograph the different varieties. Peppers are slow; they’re my achilles heel as a gardener and I never have much success. We’re going to plant winter squash in the spaces opening up by the departing greens and a few other experiments, as well.
I’d carry on towards something more profound, but I have but a few hours to finish my class readings and grab something to eat before class. Don’t forget, support the U.S. tomorrow against Ghana.
Jun 15th, 2010 | Fun, Sporty | 4 Comments
I really, really love the World Cup. Of course, I love soccer. Duh. I love that it gets showcased on a global level, I love the excitement and fervor surrounding it. I love picking teams to cheer for. I love the spectacle. I love the fans and, critics be damned, I even love the vuvuzelas. I love being in a bar surrounded by people cheering for the United States. I love going to bars in the middle of the day. Wait, I mean, I love going to bars in the middle of the day when lots of people are doing the same. Most of all, I love soccer on the television for eight hours a day a for a few weeks. It’s like March Madness for the rest of the world.
But, damn it, every four years, the World Cup’s emergence onto the American cultural radar means I get annoyed by the following things: → continue reading
Apr 27th, 2010 | Fun, life, Sporty | 1 Comment
I made a return to Kirksville for our annual Truman Soccer alumni weekend. During this weekend, former players and hanger-ons get together, scrimmage the current varsity team, drink beer, and make fun of how old we are. It is always a good time.
This year we had a record turnout of almost 50 women alums. We also had SIX All-Americans back in town. These two things combine to mean two important things: one, the old ladies won the game for the first time since ’05; two, there were so many damn young ‘uns and all-out ballers that I felt no need to even step foot on the field. I deemed myself Chief Shit Talker and Unflattering Photographer and parked my expanded-since-’01 ass on the bench with my old teammates, some of which I hadn’t seen in years and years. Apparently the cool thing to do is to continue to work out and play soccer after you graduate, even nine years after the end of your career. I vow as soon as I turn 30 and can be in masters’ leagues, I will embark on a second career the likes of which has never been seen in former Iowan/Div II players who insist on only playing half-field. But seriously, some ladies had babies and were looking fierce on the pitch. I will say, however, that my shit-talking hasn’t really lost its game. Sorry, current squad, but you just lost to people with 401ks and visible panty lines. Better step up the off-season training. → continue reading
Mar 23rd, 2010 | Fun, Sporty, St Louis | 2 Comments
Last year I joined one of Chris’s fake baseball leagues and deemed the exercise worthy of repetition this season. I will participate in the same league with Chris’s friends and some of their ladies, and I put together my own league made up of all friends from Twitter. Last year, my draft strategy was pick hot dudes, Iowans, and people with interesting names or stories, and I did pretty well. This year, I paid attention to stats because I wanted to have a balanced team and last year I had no speed. I GOT SPEED NOW, BITCHES. Stolen bases err’where. My only other strategies were to try to pick up people who did well for me last year, get at least one Cardinal (Carp), keep my boy Dan Haren, and avoid Cubs (wasn’t able to). → continue reading
New readers may not know that I play kickball for Team Awesome, a motley crew of Busch-swilling hardcore fans and the various people associated with them, including most of my St Louis girlfriends at one point or another. We used to be pretty good, but we’re old now. We even have team members who have kids and bring strollers and such to games. We’re losing our edge, I tell you, although there’s still plenty of mid-game smoking, boss tunes as at-bat anthems, and jorts-wearing. One dude wears manpris. We won’t discuss it. In any event, I know it’s a lame hipster whatever, but we have a good time and I fool myself into thinking it’s exercise. Except it becomes exercise sometimes. → continue reading
