I’ve obviously been a little remiss of late. We’re going through some phase changes here, and you know how phase changes can throw me. Throw in a few days with decent weather* and I’ve not been attending to my blogging responsibilities. So some random stuff to get us back on track.
(Our weather has been mostly shitty, though.)
Despite the news leaking Monday morning that Aldrich and Collins would probably be returning to KU, I was still a little shocked when it A) came down and B) both said they never asked for information from the NBA on where they might go in the draft. Hmmm.
I’m really surprised Cole is staying. Not many kids in his position can resist the lure. To his credit, he seems to understand he has work to do to be prepared to play professionally. And while Collins’ talk about getting a degree and having his senior night may just be spin on his part, I like the way he’s thinking.
Catching up on the Royals, the weekend was kind of crappy. Watched almost all of the Friday and Saturday games. Shitty defense and no hitting are the quick summaries there. First base is going to be a problem. But we knew that.* I watched and listened to parts of Sunday’s game, but when they fell behind in the late innings, I figured it was over and fell asleep on the couch with L.. I was thrilled and surprised with the comeback that salvaged one game from the Yankees.
(As I’m writing this, Billy Butler let a moderately difficult grounder go off his glove. It was almost Jeter-esque. Speaking of Jeter, I don’t watch a ton of Yankees’ games, so I just enjoy all the stat-geek slamming of his defense without having the background to truly comment. But Saturday I finally saw a classic Jeter No Ranger get through the hole. The ball was hit crisply, but not too hard, to Jeter’s right. He took one step and then “dove” as the ball bounced one step away. He truly has no range. Did you know he has a higher career BA than George Brett, though? Wow.)
From what I saw, the refurbished stadium looks pretty great. I was thinking I might not make it to a game this year, but after seeing it on TV, I’ve been working to make sure I can make a quick trip back at some point. I’m very excited to see it in person, and hope the Royals aren’t 10 games out of first when I get there.
Props: Kyle Farnsworth has looked filthy his last two times out. Not sure if it really was a mechanical adjustment, or that he just hasn’t faced a slugging lefty with the game on the line. But he’s looked awesome. Makes me feel bad that he got booed on Opening Day.
I’m still kind of giddy over the technological advances that allow me to watch games. For several years I subscribed to MLB Audio. When I started, I was tied to one computer, since the house wasn’t wireless at the time. When I added a wifi network, I could move around a little, but the stream tended to rebuffer a lot if you got too far away from your base station. Now, I’m streaming video on an 802.11n network and it remains at HD quality through most of the house. And just for fun, I can fire up the iPhone and listen in, too. Sunday I mowed the yard and, while watching the girls play after I finished up, I pulled up MLB At Bat on the phone and listened to Bob and Denny. Technology is fun.
Am a little bummed out by high school classmates on Facebook who are talking about their high school kids being on spring break, or visiting colleges, etc. I can’t imagine having an 18-year-old right now. Which is weird because when my mom was 37, she had an 18-year-old who was going off to college.
Another Facebook annoyance: People I didn’t even know in high school who keep sending me requests to put their damn birthday on my calendar. Why?
New least favorite exercise our trainer has us doing: push ups using a medicine ball. Start in a normal push-up position, but put one hand on a medicine ball. Do one push-up. Roll the ball to the opposite hand. And repeat until failure, which sadly is much sooner than I would like to admit. It does wonders for your confidence to see a pregnant woman doing a more intense workout than you are.
I’ve been stocking up on the links, too, so I may need to unload a bunch of those in a single post as well.