Dr. Weil, The Human Body, Basketball, Academy Awards
The human body is a great work of art and somewhat confusing machine. Yesterday, after laying off of exercising for a week and a half because of a brown recluse spider bite, I did a bicycle ride on 50 miles of the Buffalo Springs 70.3 course. It was not a normal day, buy any means, with 25-30 mph due South winds, at 68 degrees with overcast skies. I was riding with a friend who is training for Ironman AZ, his first Ironman distance race, so we stayed in his heart rate zone(I don't wear one of those things) and cruised the course. Since this is starting my 29th year of training in these canyons I have seen some tough days out amongst the road kill and live varmits, but without a doubt this was the toughest. It was the kind of day that makes you appreciate a really good day, but also makes you feel real tough, when it is over. The amazing thing about it is that with no training for 10 days I felt really good and was able to actually walk afterwards and open my own beer. Oh, I forgot to mention that my partner is nearly 20 years younger and really focused on doing this stuff. Marti stayed on the indoor Powercranks trainer and says her workout was even harder than our outdoor venture. My real point here is that the human body is simply amazing, especially when I see the world as a whole abusing it to the utmost. While many of my friends do exercise and take care of themselves, since I chose to exercise it would only be natural that "my friends category" would be about somewhat healthy people. But, then I see the eat, drink, smoke, chew, abuse the body all you can bunch and I am dismayed. Why in the hell don't they just konk over after one of those majestic all you can eat food orgies at their favorite eateries? There have been times at the Golden Corral that I have watched people attack those food aisles like there is no tomorrow and the only thing that slowed them getting there was their big gut hanging out in front, paving the way for more food. At this time I would like to encourage my readers, again, to consult with the writings of Dr. Weil. His daily health tips come into my e-mail every morning and they are priceless. Please add it to you daily reading.
The city of Lubbock is a very unique place, its' slogan is "The Giant Side of Texas." For you readers not from Texas what that really means in Greerman terms is that the I-35 corridor of cities, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, that make fun of our little ole city in the middle of the Llano Estacado plains(there really is a middle of nowhere place)is staking the claim of not only the Giant, but the Best of Texas. Actually I appreciate the whole state since it supports our races in big numbers and they can call us what they want, as long as they come to the races at Buffalo Springs. Back to my point, Lubbock is unique in one way in that we are the only city in the USA that I know of that has two Hall Of Fame, major university, Basketball coaches. Coach Marsh Sharp for the women's teams, and Coach Bobby Knight(sorry Coach, women first) for the women's team. Both are big winners and have won National Championships. Now, to add to the uniqueness they are both having very challenging years, meaning they are not winning like they are accustomed to. It appears as of today that neither will go to the NCAA tourney and will retire their sneekers for this year, in just a few days. Coach Knight is 14-16 for the year, his first losing season since his last season at Army, and will enter the Big 12 tourney with little chance of surviving. On the other hand Coach Sharp is 14-13, plus has announced her retirement from coaching, and will have to win the Big 12 tourney to advance in the NCAA tourney. So,the big and spacious 15,000 seat United Spirit Arena on the Texas Tech campus will sit idle until next season. What a waste, maybe we could do an indoor triathlon in it, with ITU style racing or something silly like that. Other tidbits about the coaches: Coach Sharp is a home grown West Texas lady, too short to play the game but about 8' tall in coaching the game. She is and has been a class act for many years, her 97% graduation rate of her players is one of the highest and their fan attendance at games is in the top three in the nation. On the other hand we need no introduction for Coach Bobby Knight, first at Army, then his legendary coaching style at Indiana University. He has been an outstanding asset to Texas Tech and Lubbock, no matter his style. He is unique and certainly not liked by all, but all should respect him for he is who he is and offers no apologies for that. I was not a basketball person until he came to town and after watching his coaching during workouts I began to gain an understanding for the game. He is truly a great student, teacher, and coach of the game of basketball. I now have a better understanding of it, and since his tenure as coach there is a huge Tech library fund and his players go to class, or they go elsewhere. Just in off of the Sports Illustrated press, a college basketball players poll, "Team with the most respect for its coach-" Texas Tech(Coach Knight), "Opposing Coach you'd most like to play for-" Coach Bobby Knight, "Opposing Coach you'd least like to play for-" Coach Bobby Knight." Trivia outside of Lubbock basketball, Wyoming State University has a starting line up of ALL-White players, with a black coach, as reported in Sports Illustrated. On top of that they were 14 wins 5 losses as of time. The coach said he couldn't recruit black players to that part of the country, so he did what was considered second best, he recruited players that wanted to play basketball and win some games. Bottom line is that they just happened to be all white. Guess white boys can jump after all!!
Tonight is Oscar night and with my passion for going to the movies, I will throw in my two cents. First, on the new host Jon Stewart. While many are predicting he will flop I don't agree. While I loved Billy Crystal, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, etc. I predict Mr. Stewart will do great. He is simply too smart to fail, even though this group is hard to please. Mr. Crystal would have been great is some comical film clips spinning off of "Brokeback Mountain" material, but I bet Mr. Stewart will do it well. Now for the predicted winners: Best Film-"Brokeback Mountain" is favored by most and I will put my vote there also. The other films are great but I believe the coverage,hype, original approach to a subject, and the balls to do it, will gather the win. Second choice would be, "Capote." Best Director-Again, Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain,", Second-"Good Night and Good Luck," George Clooney. Best Animated Film-"Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit."(not much interest here on my part, not an animated film watcher, so I stuck with our local critic), Best Actor-"Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix, who in heavens name could actually pick a guitar,learn to play and sing, for the first time, and play the part of one of the truly icons of the country and western business, no one I know? But that is what happened here. This role is what acting is all about and Joaquin did it. Second, "Capote", Philip Seymour Hoffman(a great actor coming into his own). Best Actress-"Walk the Line,"-Reese Witherspoon(again, she learned how to do her own singing and acting for this part, no more dumb blonde things for this gal), Second-"North Country,"-Charlize Theron(a distant second but great acting). Best Supporting Actor-"Cinderella Man,"-Paul Giamatti(a very good actor who gained attention from "Sideways"). Best Supporting Actress-"Brokeback Mountain,"-Michelle Williams(this story is more than just about men on men). Second-"Capote", Catherine Keener. Some trivia here, George Clooney has never attended an Academy Awards show before, even though he has been invited. His reasoning was that he wanted to earn the right to be there, which he has this year for earning three nominations for the big trophy. Reminds me of people who say they won't take a lottery slot to the big show in Kona, they want to earn it. From Greerman-go see "3 Burials" and "16 Blocks", both great movies out now on the big screen. Duh, that's all folks!!
Got some time for humor and wisdom: "Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway"-John Wayne, "Great minds have purposes: others have wishes."-Washington Irving, " Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."-Winston Churchill, "Success is the ability to hang on after all others have let go." Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."-Will Rogers "I never met a man I didn't like,"-Elizabeth Taylor(gotcha, you thought it was Will Rogers), " Many people spend their health for wealth and then try to spend their wealth for health." George Carlin says, "Somebody said to me, "I can't believe Jerry Garcia is dead." And I thought, doesn't this guy know? Everybody's dead. It's all a matter of degree." I was looking in the mirror the other day and I realized I haven't changed much since I was in my twenties. The only difference is I look a whole lot older now." I don't own any stocks and bonds, all my money is tied up in debt." Couldn't sign off without some Bushisms, the book is getting bigger every time he opens his mouth. "I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans." or "We don't want to discourage the innovators and those who take risks because they're afraid of getting sued by a lawsuit." or " There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep though of all....I can't think of anything more deep than that right." or "I think the American people--I hope the American--I don't think, let me--I hope the American people trust me." Now folks that has to conclude my blog for today, "if not I may get confused and consider myself something serious, or at least humorous"--an original greerism.
Next on the agenda, the American presidents, some thoughts and a question: Which American President would be thought of when entering the mind set of "Brokeback Mountain?"
The greerman, for the day, going out on another big ride in those beautiful Llano Estacado canyons!
The city of Lubbock is a very unique place, its' slogan is "The Giant Side of Texas." For you readers not from Texas what that really means in Greerman terms is that the I-35 corridor of cities, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, that make fun of our little ole city in the middle of the Llano Estacado plains(there really is a middle of nowhere place)is staking the claim of not only the Giant, but the Best of Texas. Actually I appreciate the whole state since it supports our races in big numbers and they can call us what they want, as long as they come to the races at Buffalo Springs. Back to my point, Lubbock is unique in one way in that we are the only city in the USA that I know of that has two Hall Of Fame, major university, Basketball coaches. Coach Marsh Sharp for the women's teams, and Coach Bobby Knight(sorry Coach, women first) for the women's team. Both are big winners and have won National Championships. Now, to add to the uniqueness they are both having very challenging years, meaning they are not winning like they are accustomed to. It appears as of today that neither will go to the NCAA tourney and will retire their sneekers for this year, in just a few days. Coach Knight is 14-16 for the year, his first losing season since his last season at Army, and will enter the Big 12 tourney with little chance of surviving. On the other hand Coach Sharp is 14-13, plus has announced her retirement from coaching, and will have to win the Big 12 tourney to advance in the NCAA tourney. So,the big and spacious 15,000 seat United Spirit Arena on the Texas Tech campus will sit idle until next season. What a waste, maybe we could do an indoor triathlon in it, with ITU style racing or something silly like that. Other tidbits about the coaches: Coach Sharp is a home grown West Texas lady, too short to play the game but about 8' tall in coaching the game. She is and has been a class act for many years, her 97% graduation rate of her players is one of the highest and their fan attendance at games is in the top three in the nation. On the other hand we need no introduction for Coach Bobby Knight, first at Army, then his legendary coaching style at Indiana University. He has been an outstanding asset to Texas Tech and Lubbock, no matter his style. He is unique and certainly not liked by all, but all should respect him for he is who he is and offers no apologies for that. I was not a basketball person until he came to town and after watching his coaching during workouts I began to gain an understanding for the game. He is truly a great student, teacher, and coach of the game of basketball. I now have a better understanding of it, and since his tenure as coach there is a huge Tech library fund and his players go to class, or they go elsewhere. Just in off of the Sports Illustrated press, a college basketball players poll, "Team with the most respect for its coach-" Texas Tech(Coach Knight), "Opposing Coach you'd most like to play for-" Coach Bobby Knight, "Opposing Coach you'd least like to play for-" Coach Bobby Knight." Trivia outside of Lubbock basketball, Wyoming State University has a starting line up of ALL-White players, with a black coach, as reported in Sports Illustrated. On top of that they were 14 wins 5 losses as of time. The coach said he couldn't recruit black players to that part of the country, so he did what was considered second best, he recruited players that wanted to play basketball and win some games. Bottom line is that they just happened to be all white. Guess white boys can jump after all!!
Tonight is Oscar night and with my passion for going to the movies, I will throw in my two cents. First, on the new host Jon Stewart. While many are predicting he will flop I don't agree. While I loved Billy Crystal, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, etc. I predict Mr. Stewart will do great. He is simply too smart to fail, even though this group is hard to please. Mr. Crystal would have been great is some comical film clips spinning off of "Brokeback Mountain" material, but I bet Mr. Stewart will do it well. Now for the predicted winners: Best Film-"Brokeback Mountain" is favored by most and I will put my vote there also. The other films are great but I believe the coverage,hype, original approach to a subject, and the balls to do it, will gather the win. Second choice would be, "Capote." Best Director-Again, Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain,", Second-"Good Night and Good Luck," George Clooney. Best Animated Film-"Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit."(not much interest here on my part, not an animated film watcher, so I stuck with our local critic), Best Actor-"Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix, who in heavens name could actually pick a guitar,learn to play and sing, for the first time, and play the part of one of the truly icons of the country and western business, no one I know? But that is what happened here. This role is what acting is all about and Joaquin did it. Second, "Capote", Philip Seymour Hoffman(a great actor coming into his own). Best Actress-"Walk the Line,"-Reese Witherspoon(again, she learned how to do her own singing and acting for this part, no more dumb blonde things for this gal), Second-"North Country,"-Charlize Theron(a distant second but great acting). Best Supporting Actor-"Cinderella Man,"-Paul Giamatti(a very good actor who gained attention from "Sideways"). Best Supporting Actress-"Brokeback Mountain,"-Michelle Williams(this story is more than just about men on men). Second-"Capote", Catherine Keener. Some trivia here, George Clooney has never attended an Academy Awards show before, even though he has been invited. His reasoning was that he wanted to earn the right to be there, which he has this year for earning three nominations for the big trophy. Reminds me of people who say they won't take a lottery slot to the big show in Kona, they want to earn it. From Greerman-go see "3 Burials" and "16 Blocks", both great movies out now on the big screen. Duh, that's all folks!!
Got some time for humor and wisdom: "Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway"-John Wayne, "Great minds have purposes: others have wishes."-Washington Irving, " Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."-Winston Churchill, "Success is the ability to hang on after all others have let go." Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."-Will Rogers "I never met a man I didn't like,"-Elizabeth Taylor(gotcha, you thought it was Will Rogers), " Many people spend their health for wealth and then try to spend their wealth for health." George Carlin says, "Somebody said to me, "I can't believe Jerry Garcia is dead." And I thought, doesn't this guy know? Everybody's dead. It's all a matter of degree." I was looking in the mirror the other day and I realized I haven't changed much since I was in my twenties. The only difference is I look a whole lot older now." I don't own any stocks and bonds, all my money is tied up in debt." Couldn't sign off without some Bushisms, the book is getting bigger every time he opens his mouth. "I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans." or "We don't want to discourage the innovators and those who take risks because they're afraid of getting sued by a lawsuit." or " There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep though of all....I can't think of anything more deep than that right." or "I think the American people--I hope the American--I don't think, let me--I hope the American people trust me." Now folks that has to conclude my blog for today, "if not I may get confused and consider myself something serious, or at least humorous"--an original greerism.
Next on the agenda, the American presidents, some thoughts and a question: Which American President would be thought of when entering the mind set of "Brokeback Mountain?"
The greerman, for the day, going out on another big ride in those beautiful Llano Estacado canyons!
posted by Fast Twitch Mind at 6:54 AM
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