Bill Barnwell on revamping defensive penalties. Pass interference is tough business in the NFL. It’s one of the easiest calls to get wrong on the field (besides the myriad of missed holding calls), but the easiest to fix with a slow-motion camera. It’s too easy for both sides to game it as well. There’s some good ideas in here, but I think just making pass interference calls and non-calls is a simple first step.
Category Archives: Sports and manly things
But when pressed, he suggested one of the foundations of old-fashioned calisthenics: the burpee, in which you drop to the ground, kick your feet out behind you, pull your feet back in and leap up as high as you can. “It builds muscles. It builds endurance.” He paused. “But it’s hard to imagine most people enjoying” an all-burpees program, “or sticking with it for long.”
I’m having trouble deciding whether I should say good things about burpees. I only do a handful at a time, usually as part of a series of movements. They’re not so bad if you start with just a few and work up from there.
Burpees aside, it’s interesting to see opinions on what the most useful exercise movements are. I’m really glad I don’t need to start doing butterflies though.
Meditations on golf
We’re just wrapping up that nice time of the year in Texas. Technically, we get two nice parts of the year: the one after "winter" and the one after SUMMER. It’s nice in that you can sit outside with the dogs and just enjoy the air, the sounds and the fact you can sit idly without wishing you were in a climate-controlled environment.
This year I’m actually taking advantage of this part of the year by golfing. All the public courses are blooming: the fairways are green, the bunkers are as sandy as they’ll get and the greens are in peak condition.
My golf game is improving; a novel experience. I’m hitting some fairways, some greens and making the occasional nice putt. It’s like seeing an investment pay out. Hopefully I’ll finish the summer hitting under 100 on a regular basis.
Golf is nice, for me, because it’s as close as I get to meditation. I don’t think about code, politics, or finance. I just think about the previous shot and the next shot. In fact, the less I think, the better I do. Golf is my chance to attempt nihlism.
Golf is relaxing. It’s a little vacation. I sometimes see guys out with their wives. They’re doing it wrong. The point of golf is to spend some time away from everything. By this definition, professionals like Tiger Woods are doing it wrong too. Maybe I’m on to something here.
There’s a moment in my game, somewhere on the last three holes, where I realize I’m going to have to go back to being responsible. This moment is like hitting a bad shot; you think you can do better. On the other hand, it takes a long time to play eighteen holes, so getting back to responsibility is a good thing.
What would I do if I didn’t play golf? I don’t know. Golf, as lame as a lot of people think it is, does good things for my brain. Maybe that explains my obsession/addiction. Luckily, I’ve given up my Call of Duty 4 addition. This Old Republic game could prove troublesome though…
Great Nike ad
Beethoven’s Ninth and skippy video? You’ve got my attention.
Regarding the 2009 NFL playoffs
The announcers of the Pittsburgh/San Diego game went on and on about what good condition the field was in. I watched the game largely because there was snow on the ground. I *wanted* the field and weather to become part of the game. We get that so rarely in Dallas.
For some reason, I found myself hoping the Steelers would win said game. I’m not sure why; I’m chalking it up to a wacky world where the _Cardinals_ are going to the NFC championship.
If the outcomes had gone slightly different this past weekend, we could have had two interesting SuperBowl possibilities. First, Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, an all Pennsylvania match. Second, Kerry Collins vs. Kurt Warner, the geriatric match.
This is the extent to which I can write about professional sports without going into my vast conspiracy theories. One hundred words without mentioning officiating ain’t bad, right?
Golf fail
My golf game is hurting these days. Since I’ve become so familiar with my shots drifting off to the right, I figured I’d finally figure out the correct term for these sorts of shots. Thusly, an illustration to teach myself:
Handsome penance, isn’t it?
Three new rules on golf
Yesterday I decided to go off and play a little golf. Somehow, I had the most awesomest round of golf in my life. Luckily, Courtney came along and was there to document part of this now-legendary round of golf:
Really, I promise I’m not that guy who drags his wife to the golf course every weekend. But I might turn into that guy because today I played without her, like a mere mortal. Or maybe it was that I opted to walk 18 holes in the heat.
So now I have three new golf rules:
* No more walking 18 holes in June, July or August
* That’s no drainage ditch, its a sewage ditch
* Stop thinking
So there you go. My semi-annual post about golf!
