Big Pickles

What a game for the Texas Longhorns! I know there was some skepticism about whether their win over Oklahoma last week was a fluke, but they sure played like a #1 team tonight.

The highlight for me was when backup quarterback John Chiles threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Plus he picked up quite a few rushing yards. Chiles played for Mansfield Summit, but the announcers kept saying "Dallas." They were specific about where Missouri's quarterback is from--Southlake Carroll. (Maybe having been the highest ranked high school team in the nation has something to do with it.) Oh well, no love for Mansfield.

Labels: sports

You've probably heard about US Men's Volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon, who is taking leave from coaching the Olympic team because his wife's parents were attacked in China.

During my freshman year at BYU, McCutcheon was an assistant coach for the BYU Men's volleyball team, and I took a couple of his PE classes. I just wanted to say what an awesome teacher he was. That was some of the most fun I ever had in college, not to mention the best volleyball I ever played.

During a scrimmage late in the semester, this one hot shot on the opposing team spiked the ball hard in my direction. Through a combination of involuntary reflexes and blind luck, I was able to make the dig and keep the ball in play. After the point, McCutcheon walked over to me and told me that it was a great play, but he didn't like my attitude. After a dig like that, he said, I needed to get in the face of the hitter and let him know just how much I enjoyed denying him the satisfaction of a clean kill.

That's probably what I liked best about him. He enjoyed cutting the cocky guys down to size and giving the quieter players the recognition they weren't claiming for themselves.

Labels: sports

What do the 41-9 Boston Celtics and the 25-0 Memphis Tigers have in common?

The Dribble-Drive Motion offense.

Labels: sports

I guess they probably don't keep stats on things like this, but I'll bet it's never happened before.

It's one of those things that, given the number of at-bats in baseball history, was bound to happen sometime.

Labels: physics, sports

It's a sport where you throw a ball at someone's face.

It strikes me as an office-friendly version of Crotchball.

I've seen the flickr group before, but I didn't know they had such a slick website. Be sure to watch the instructional video.

Labels: fun, sports

Check out the new sport that's all the rage in Europe right now.

Parkour's founder and chief practitioner is David Belle. It supposedly stems from French military training during the Vietnam War era, which made extensive use of obstacle courses.

Free Running was started by Sebastien Foucan. He basically took Parkour and adapted it to a British audience.

While thy seem very similar on the surface, practitioners cite significant differences. Parkour is very similar to martial arts. It has the practical applications of escape and reach, and is also meant to be a kind of life philosophy. The goal in Parkour is to get from point A to point B in as fast and efficient a manner as possible, with an emphasis on problem solving and overcoming obstacles.

Free Running, on the other hand, is more like an extreme sport, with its emphasis on tricks and "going big." It lends itself more readily to commercialization and competition, and is more concerned with the beauty of a particular move than its usefulness or efficiency.

Parkour article in the New Yorker

Video of David Belle falling

Labels: sports, video

Pat Venditte of Creighton University is one of only a handful of ambidextrous pitchers to ever play the game. He uses a custom glove that fits on either hand so he can switch arms in the middle of an inning.

A switch-pitcher facing a switch-hitter could make a fine Abbott and Costello routine. Against Nebraska last year, a switch-hitter came to the plate right-handed, prompting Venditte to switch to his right arm, which caused the batter to move to the left-hand batter’s box, with Venditte switching his arm again. Umpires ultimately restored order, applying the rule (the same as that in the majors) that a pitcher must declare which arm he will use before throwing his first pitch and cannot change before the at-bat ends.

Scouts are considering him as a possible late-round pick in this year's draft.

Labels: sports

Yay, I won!

My brother-in-law Dan hosts a NCAA basketball bracket at CBS Sportsline each year, and this year I took first place out of 16 participants. (Although the tournament's not over yet, at this point no one can catch me.) I should clarify that there were only 14 serious participants, because two people picked BYU to go all the way.

Now, what makes this so fun for me is that Dan, my brother-in-law, is such a sports fanatic. And although his dad, Rick, actually hosts a sports radio show, his uncle Doug claims to know more about sports than either of them. So it's safe to say that these guys are all into it.

I, on the other hand, have not watched a single minute of college basketball this season. Ergo, these brackets are 100% luck.

Labels: sports