Sub 4 Minute Miler Visits The Emerald City

Sub 4 Minute Miler, Clay Schwabe, took some much needed time off from his busy work schedule and took a quick flight up to Seattle from San Francisco to visit with us this weekend. We had a short, but great weekend. In the 30 hours Clay was here we managed to drink $80 worth of booze, watch a track meet at UW, eat pizzer, and Clay even managed to fall in love. We also were able to catch up on some old times with Jeff Matson, who graduated a few years before us Whesssst Phooooint.

WHY ESPN SUCKS...

Anyone who has had any contact with me probably knows that I am a big sports fan. I have an appreciation for pretty much any sport and league you could possibly imagine (with the exception of the NBA and college football). To illustrate this point I can tell you that in one week I have watched a full college basketball game, listened to the NFC championship game on the radio (at my wife’s tennis match), and I even watched a full set of the Martina Hingis/Kim Clijsters tennis match last night (not to mention I made sure to check the Anchorage Daily News Sports section to see who won the match). One would logically assume that I must watch an inordinate amount of ESPN and Sportscenter. However, that is not the case. I can proudly tell you that in the last week even though I have only watched American Idol for 20 minutes, that is more than I have watched ESPN in the last month.*
Like most men my age that have a working penis I was raised watching Sportscenter. I can remember summer nights in high school staying up until 2 am watching a Sportscenter rerun for the third time in a day. Even back when I was 12 I knew that Keith Olbermann (see video below) was the coolest dude around (little did I know that he would only get cooler over time). In the last few years ESPN began to change. It wasn’t overnight and it wasn’t obvious, but it was changing. Below are my reasons why ESPN/Sportscenter suck:
• ESPN is owned by Disney. Disney is fine for making cartoons and roller coasters, but for running a sports network? How far will Disney’s tentacles reach out? Will Dick Viatle be announcing games with Donald Duck in the booth? Obviously that is a far stretch, but when you look at some of the other cartoon characters that ESPN has put on their shows (Steven A. Smith, Skip Bayless, Jay Mariotti) it isn’t that far off an idea.
• Terrible Original Programming: ESPN’s daytime lineup is very similar to the other major networks anymore with shows that are very similar to Soap Operas and women’s gossip talkshows. Cold Pizza, Around the Horn, and Pardon the Interruption are basically the same thing as The View, but for men. In fact, I think Rosie O’donnell might have more sports credentials than most of the talentless hacks that hose shows on ESPN. After all at least she has played the role of a professional athlete in a movie (A League of Their Own) , which is more than most of the dudes on ESPN can boast.
• Finally, I don’t care about Terrell Owens, Barry Bonds, any Boston sports team, or the Yankees. These are the topics that ESPN seems to cover 97% of the time.
For those of you that have read the above and still don't believe me that ESPN is terrible and has "sold out" long ago, just watch this video of a Cold Pizza episode. Man oh man:


*I don't count the amount of time I watch actual sporting events on ESPN, b/c it's not my fault a game or match is shown only on ESPN.

Discovery Park Run/ Tiger Mountain Hike

Tiger Mountain:
Today Jayron and I took advantage of the sun and went for a hike up Tiger Mountain. Here are some nice pics from the trip:





Discovery Park:
I rarely take my camera with me on my runs b/c I never feel like lugging it with me. However, most of the time while running I usually wish I had a camera with me b/c I see so many cool sights. I have run all over the world in places like Alaska and Iceland to Iraq and Missouri (Iraq was actually more scenic than Missouri) but I don't have any pictures of any of these places. Well, yesterday I decided to take my camera with me to Discovery Park here in Seattle. I got some great pics that once again prove Seattle is one of the most beautiful places in America! Enjoy:

Now I Know How Cheney Feels...

Last night I had a situation with my wife that closely resembled our current situation in Iraq. I felt like Dick Cheney trying to sell a troop surge to the American public (in this case which restaurant I thought we should eat at). My wife (John "jack" Murtha) had plenty of criticism of my plan, but no real solution of her own on where to eat. Our conversation went like this:


"Honey, I think we should go to eat at Palomino's..."


"That is a terrible idea!!"

"Ok, well how about we go to eat at Duke's Chowder House?"

"You have never had a good plan for our dinner!"

"You do realize the importance of eating dinner tonight to our future as a civilization? We MUST eat dinner tonight and we must be successful at it for our future generations. Why don't you come up with a plan of your own instead of criticizing everything I say."

"Why do you feel we must send ourselves out to restaurants...I think we must do take out so that we can better protect ourselves here at home in case something happens!"


Unlike these two dudes above, my wife and I were able to come up with a good compromise that we both agreed on!

I'm lazy for now so this is all I will post this morning:

THIS JUST IN: THE EARTH IS 14,000 YEARS OLD

I have just found out that a man in Federal Way, named Frosty Hardison, thinks that the Earth is 14,000 years old. Suprisingly, he also thinks that schools shouldn't be shown Al Gore's "An Inconvient Truth." Here is a gem of a quote from Frosty:

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

First of all, Al Gore is a schoolteacher (at Columbia) and second of all how could I ever listen to a man named "Frosty" about global warming.

Here is the link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/299253_inconvenient11.html

This was how I spent my New Years Day morning. I dragged my mom, dad, and wife out to watch me run 3 miles and then jump in a cold lake. You were probably either still sleeping or puking off your hangover.