Saturday, July 13, 2002

Vote Bird!

Fox Sports is running one of those hottest babe tournament brackets, which is not particularly exciting except that Sue Bird is in the Final Four and should win ... but she is going to need to come from behind in order for justice to be served.

Friday, July 5, 2002

The Splendid Splinter

Ted Williams passed away today at 83. 

He was the last .400 hitter, probably the greatest hitter ever to play the game (Bob Feller is on the air now attesting to the fact) -- he definitely had the sweetest swing. He was, by all accounts, a great fighter pilot who saw extensive combat in WWII and in Korea. He was active in supporting the Jimmy Fund.

Baseball and the Red Sox are a part of the New England identity; Ted Williams, moreso than any other Boston sports legend (Bird, Orr, Yaz...) was the living embodiment of that identity. Prickly, brash, reclusive, gifted, generous ... in some regards he's not an easy guy to warm up to the idea of, but the way he dreamed as a kid of being the greatest hitter ever, then applied himself wholeheartedly to that goal -- learning the science and mechanics of hitting, applying his mind and that wiry body of his to the task with single-minded devotion -- those qualities made him, in my imagination, the most fascinating figure in sports.

Thursday, July 4, 2002

Reco'nize!

Another thing I forgot to do before the golf tour of Zion ... thanks to The People's Republic of Seabrook for making us the Blog of the Day back on June 28th.

Utah Vacation

This Is Where I Was Earlier Today

My first words upon stepping outside of the terminal at Logan: "What is this f*cking humidity about? I hate it here. I want to go back." Utah is goregous. The weather while we were there was amazing. Nate was a brilliant host and tour guide. That was the best vacation I think I've ever had. My buddy Nhan and I arrived in Salt Lake City about 2pm or so and Nate had us on the golf course by 2:30. We played nine holes at Wingepointe watching planes fly in with the Wasatch mountains towering over SLC as a backdrop. From there we went into the city and toured the Temple Square, drove up into the mountains to get the lay of the land, then went out for dinner. Sunday we played a round at Oakridge Country Club, though it was hard to focus on anything other than the view of the mountains. I blooped my drive off the first tee over a line of trees into the driving range area and put my driver away for the rest of the trip. We crashed for a few hours that afternoon, then did some more sightseeing and went out to Nate's dad's place out in the country. Monday morning I was up at 6am, so I went out and sat in the front yard to read until the other guys woke up. The view of the mountains to the west was simply incredible. As the sun came up, I watched it light up the mountains from the top down. That half hour or so alone would've made the trip worthwhile. From 9am to about 5pm we were out on Nate's brother's boat learning how to wakeboard. I'm still sore today, but it was a freaking blast. Tuesday we changed venues and went out to Park City where we did the alpine slide and hung out on Main St. for a while before hitting the Mountain Course at Wasatch State Park. The other courses we played had great views of the mountains, this one was on a mountain. I was blown away by the scenery on the other courses and this took it to another level entirely. ( And, it only cost $34 with the cart! I played 45 holes of golf while I was out there and spent less than $60. That's one round at a decent course around here.) Today, we drove out the resort areas at Alta and took the tram up to the top of Snowbird (elevation 11,000 feet, with snow on the ground). I really hope the pictures come out. I'm too tired to really give a good idea of what the trip was like beyond "there were lots of mountains, we golfed a lot, and it was really cool," for which I'm sorry because it doesn't give credit to Nate and his family for being such gracious hosts and hostesses. I never would've been able to take a trip like that and do all that we did if they hadn't been kind enough to let us stay in their homes and plunder their cabinets for cereal and bagels, if Scott hadn't taken time off from work to drag us around behind his boat, if Chuck hadn't gotten us onto Oakridge on his tab, if John and Angie hadn't fed us like kings ... it goes on and on and I'm extremely grateful to all those guys for being so kind and gracious.
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