Let’s talk about… um… nothing

With the NBA season ready to kick off tonight, it means one thing in Philadelphia…

It’s hot-stove baseball time!

Yes, the rumors, innuendo and conjecture is in a full-court press as suggestions for ways the Phillies can re-build their NL East-champion club before the 2008 season. And just where do the Phillies start?

Pitching?

Center field?

Third base?

Another power hitter?

Pitching?

How about some pitching?

Did anyone mention pitching?

So far the Phillies have started by holding an organizational meeting in Florida in order to outline the plan of attack this winter. No doubt it all started with a Power Point presentation featuring the themes listed above. Or maybe someone just broke out some poster board and a Sharpie and scotch taped it to the wall. Undoubtedly they wrote:

Pitching?

Center field?

Third base?

Another power hitter?

Pitching?

How about some pitching?

Did anyone mention pitching?

Anyway, what has happened now that the official Major League season has been over for three days? Well… nothing. What was supposed to happen? Sure, Aaron Rowand and a bunch of other guys have officially filed for free agency, but that’s just a formality. It’s like signing up to bring a bag of Pirate’s Booty or a spinach dip tucked into a bread bowl to the next weekend party or something. You do it, but is your heart really into it?

Nevertheless, the Phillies have exclusive negotiating rights with Rowand and guys like Antonio Alfonseca, Jon Lieber (the fat man walks alone!), Rod Barajas, Jose Mesa and J.C. Romero for two weeks. After that… it’s on! Any team can talk to any free agent and put some scratch behind all the blather, too.

Plus, during the next two weeks of exclusivity, the Phillies can talk to other free agents though they are not allowed to discuss money or contract terms[1]. So, say for instance the Phillies want to call up… let’s just pull a name out of the air here… Curt Schilling and broach the subject about whether or not he’d like to pitch for the Phillies in 2008, they can.

As long as they don’t talk about money. Which is weird, because what else would they talk to him about?

“Hi… Curt?”

“Yeah, who’s calling? My caller ID didn’t register properly.”

“It’s the Phillies!”

“Oh hi… what’s up?”

“Oh nothing, just calling to see how everything is going… what’s new?”

“Oh, you know, nothing much. I was just in that World Series thing with the Red Sox and we won in four straight games. Other than that I have EverQuest convention coming up…”

“A what coming up?”

“EverQuest. It’s a game. You play it on the computer. It’s kind of like Dungeons & Dragons, only geekier…”

“Dungeons and what?

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think you called to talk about that.”

“No, you’re right, we didn’t.”

“So what’s up?”

“Nothing, we’re just calling to see what’s up with you.”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, nothing really.”

“Nothing really?”

“Yeah, nothing really… what are you getting at?”

“Well, we don’t know how to say this so we’ll just come out and say it… we like you. We really like you.”

“Thanks…”

“… And if you like us as much as we like you, maybe we can work together next year?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

“Well, we can’t tell you how much we like you yet, but we will.”

“Maybe we can talk again then, right now I have Lord Doljonijiarnimorinar breathing down my neck and things are getting pretty tight. Why don’t you call me in a couple of weeks and we can pick this up then.”

“OK. How about in two weeks.”

“OK.”

“OK… we’ll talk to you in two weeks.”

“OK.”

“Talk to you then.”

“OK, bye.”

“Bye… Curt, we really li…”

click

---

[1] Yeah, like that really happens.

Khannouchi still chasing the Olympic dream

NEW YORK - It wasn’t too long ago that top American runner Khalid Khannouchi was blazing through the streets of Philadelphia in the prestigious Distance Run where it seemed like he was a threat to the World Record in the half marathon every time he toed the starting line.

It wasn’t just in Philadelphia or the half marathon, either. The citizens in London and Chicago also have seen Khannouchi torch the field in the full 26.2-mile marathon distance featuring some the best distance runners ever. Between October of 1999 and April of 2002, Khannouchi set both the World and American records in the marathon twice - once apiece in each city.

By the end of 2002, when he was just 31 years old and coming into his prime years as an endurance athlete, Khannouchi had the world in the palm of his hand. Newly naturalized as an American citizen in May of 2000, Khannouchi not only owned the most-coveted records in his event, but also had established himself as the greatest marathoner of all time by virtue of his five best times. He had run the fastest debut marathon ever; he was the first human to break 2:06 in the distance and added the 20K world best to his impressive resume, too.

Better yet, he had set up his home base in New York’s Hudson Valley where he and his wife Sandra were knee deep in the American Dream. The only thing missing amidst the record times and the victories in major marathons was a chance to stand atop the podium in the Olympics as the “Star Spangled Banner” played.

As 2002 turned into 2003, the thought that Khannouchi would represent the U.S. in the Athens Games and win a medal was as solid a bet as one could make. In fact, the very notion seemed inevitable. Khannouchi had missed his shot at the Olympics in 2000 when his naturalization could not be expedited in time for him to compete in the Trials. Instead of travelling to Sydney to race in the Olympic Marathon, Khannouchi went to Chicago where he won that marathon for the third time in four years and shattered the American record with a 2:07:01.

Yes, by the time 2003 rolled around and Khannouchi had lowered that 2000 American record to a world best 2:05:38, it seemed as if there was nothing the man could not do.

But it never happened. Khannouchi did not get to the podium at the Olympics as most expected in 2004. Actually, he didn’t even make it to the starting line at the Trials. Since then, he’s been doing all he can to find an ounce of consistency to a career that was once as sure as the tides.

When the dreaded injury bug rears its head and bites it makes many athletes wonder about what could have been. Most athletes, that is, except for Khannouchi.

“I don’t regret anything. Injuries are a part of our game,” he said. “You have to be a man and accept what you get. I was happy I was able to get great times and win major marathons when I was in shape, but injuries are part of the game and you have to do the best you can to treat them and get back to running. That’s what I’ve tried to do though I might not be in the best of shape for the U.S. Olympic Trials.”

But these days, with the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials set for this Saturday, Khannouchi has to wonder if this is his last shot. Now quickly approaching his 36^th birthday with his fastest times seemingly behind him, Khannouchi might have just one more chance to get to the Olympic podium.

That is if he even makes the Olympic team for the Beijing Games in 2008.

This Saturday’s Olympic Trials that will take place over a challenging (read: undulating terrain) criterium-style course in New York City’s Central Park, is said by more than a few seasoned experts to be the deepest field for the race ever. First held in 1968, the Olympic team is determined by the top three finishers in the trials race. If an injury (or something else) knocks one of the top three out of the Olympics, the spot is filled by the fourth-place finisher (and so on) from the Trials. It’s quite an egalitarian - better yet - American way to select an Olympic team. With all three members of the last Olympic team slated to race (Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi and Dan Browne), along with a handful of the up-and-coming U.S. marathoners - including Ryan Hall, the 23-year old Californian who ran a 2:08 in London last April for the fastest debut ever by an American - Saturday’s field is stacked deep. As many as 10 runners have a legitimate shot to crack the top three to earn a spot to go to Beijing.

The race will be just as tough on the runners mentally as it will physically.

“There’s definitely a lot more depth and it will be a lot more challenging, and the course itself is challenging, so it’s tough,” said Keflezighi, who won the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Needless to say, Khannouchi, of course, is one of those contenders. He enters the race with the fastest qualifying time - a 2:07:04 in London in 2006 - but one would be hard pressed to find too many pundits penciling the Morocco native into their top three.

Why? Isn’t it a bit curious that the current American record holder and two-time world record holder is being written off in favor of guys like Hall, Keflezighi and young guns Abdi Abdirahman and Dathan Ritzenhein? How can the only guy in the field who has run slower than 2:07:19 just twice in his nine career races be considered a dark horse?

Does that make sense?

Well, kind of.

For one thing, Khannouchi has completed just two marathons since winning Chicago in 2:05:56 in 2002. For another, all of his marathons were run in Chicago and London, two courses (to be generous) known to be runner-friendly and where a sidewalk curb could be considered a gain in altitude.

And of course the biggest reason why Khannouchi isn’t as feared as he once was is those nagging injuries. It was the injuries that kept him from completing a single marathon during 2003, 2005 and, yes, even 2007. During Tuesday’s pre-race conference call, Khannouchi revealed that his training had been hampered by a neuroma between the second and third metatarsals on his right foot. He says even easy running causes him pain, though his sponsor, New Balance, has designed a special shoe to fit in a specially designed orthotic that has been wearing throughout his training during the past two months.

Add in the fact that a bulk of Khannouchi’s training occurred during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where it is customary for followers to fast during daylight hours, and no one is really sure what to expect this Saturday.

“I really don’t know what kind of shape I’m in right now because I didn’t perform well in my races,” Khannouchi said, noting that he ran a less-than stellar 1:05:04 in the San Jose’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.

Meanwhile, Khannouchi notes that he wasn’t able to run his typical 130-miles per week, settling instead for a more modest 105. To accommodate his training, Khannouchi traveled from Ossining, N.Y. to Manhattan to do midnight runs over the Trials course in Central Park. That was followed by rising a few hours later to start the process all over again.

“I had to make some adjustments. I didn’t do as many miles as I usually do before a marathon,” Khannouchi explained. “This is the first time I had to train through Ramadan, in the past I would do easy runs and easy workouts. I think I did a pretty good job. If the race is a tactical race and I don’t have to run 2:07 to be on the podium [it will help].

“I would do my first run at 5 p.m., two hours after breaking the fast, and I would have to wait until midnight to do my second workout. My wife was with me all the time, every day. That’s the motivation and sacrifice you have to do if you want to achieve your dream.”

Could Khannouchi be playing possum? Is he using a little reverse psychology to make his competitors believe he isn’t quite as good as he once was?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

But the American dream still burns for Khannouchi, though maybe not as brightly as it once did. Finishing in the top three on Saturday would prove to be the topper to an epic career.

“Not as much as I did before,” Khannouchi said in response to a question about whether the Olympic dream still burns as hot as it once did. “But to be honest, I still have the drive and this is a very important dream for me.

“For me it’s a dream to represent my country in the Olympics and do the same [as Meb]. I’ve worked as hard as I can. I did the best I can and I feel I can do as well as everybody else.”

So how will it shake out on Saturday? Can Khannouchi battle the course and the competitors to finally get there? Does he have what it takes for one last hurrah?

“It’s tough to say because the marathon is always so unpredictable,” Khannouchi said. “To be honest, I don’t have a tactic that I’m going to use in the race. But we all assume that it will be a slow first half and then everything will be played in the last lap or two.

“This is not a race like a big city marathon that you have to win. But I think everyone wants to make the team. If you ask me if I want to work really hard and try to go for first place, or do you want to make the top three, I will say that I want to make it easy for myself and try to make the top three.”

From there, it’s off to chase the dream one more time.

More: Khannouchi still chasing the Olympic dream

Breaking Down the Trials… Sort Of 

Counting Down to the Trials 

The price of success

Here’s a question:

Did it matter that the Rockies had eight days off before facing the Red Sox in the World Series? Did it matter a little, a lot or not at all? Oh sure, the Rockies players will say that the vacation in between the NLCS and the World Series didn’t matter because they got beat by a better team, but that doesn’t really answer the question, does it?

Did it make a bit of difference?

Rockies’ manager Clint Hurdle told the Fox sideline boy after his team was broomed out of the World Series that there was no way to quantify how an eight-day layoff affected his team and kind of threw aside the question in order to give the Red Sox credit for winning the series.

But Hurdle did not say that the layoff didn’t have an effect on his team. Why not? Because it did.

Since Cactus League games began during the end of February, the Rockies played nearly every day. In fact, the Rockies, like every other Major League team played 162 regular-season games in 180 days, plus a wild-card playoff the day after the season, plus three games of the NLDS against the Phillies with just two days off, plus four games of the NLCS with just one day off.

That’s 170 games and the longest break some of the players on the team got was the three days for the All-Star Break. Though three days doesn’t seem like much to some, that break is like an oasis in the middle of a desert to guys who are used to going to work every single day of the week. And it’s not just baseball either. Research shows that runners and endurance athletes start to lose some fitness in as little as 48 hours of inactivity.

Some rest is good to help the body recover, but imagine taking eight days off after playing every game for a month as if it were do-or-die only to be given eight days off before being told to go out there to play in the biggest set of games in your life.

Good luck.

Worse it’s kind of rude… the Rockies got all worked up and became the biggest story in baseball by winning 21 of 22 games. But then, because the Indians nor Red Sox could figure things out, Hurdle and the guys were left to wait. It was like… vasocongestion. Yeah, that’s what it was. After a heroic and historic run, the Rockies could never shake the lingering sensation of heaviness, aching, or discomfort when the Series finally came around like an old man trying to figure out what to order in a deli.

It just wasn’t fair.

With the aid of hindsight, there’s no question that the Rockies this season and the Tigers in 2006 were penalized for doing their jobs too efficiently. I’m not saying the Tigers or the Rockies would have beaten the Cardinals or the Red Sox to win the World Series, but the fact that both clubs breezed through their respective league playoffs so easily proved to be a determent while the winners of the last two World Series were aided by playing seven-game series in the league championships.

The Tigers in ‘06 and the Rockies in ‘07 were penalized for being too successful.

How can this be fixed? Is there anything Bud Selig and his gang can do to make it so teams that win with ease can have a fair shot in the World Series? I don’t know. It seems as if the baseball playoffs are full of imperfections and everyone seems to appreciate the quirkiness for it. In other words, the Rockies and Tigers just have to take their beatings and enjoy them.

But how about this:

In the instance where a team like the Rockies and Tigers rip through the league championship only to wait a week or more for their future opponent to take care of business, allow the team that’s waiting for it all to be sorted out to get home-field advantage in the World Series. I don’t know if it will solve anything, but it’s better than giving the home-field advantage to the league that wins a meaningless, midseason exhibition that features players that will be at a Sandals resort when the playoffs roll around.

No, having the last at-bat in the first two games of the Series won’t be significant - after all, it didn’t help the Tigers too much last year - but at least it’s a gesture or a reward. It might not be much, but if a team has to sit around like the rest of us and listen to those dudes from Fox, they ought to get something out of it.

***
The latest issue of The New Yorker features a very riveting story on Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez. It’s written by Ben McGrath and is another sprawling, erudite pieces that the magazine always seems to run, but it’s definitely worth the time and effort.

The Extortionist: Scott Boras, the Yankees’ bête noire, has changed baseball forever.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Peter Gammons calls out Boras and A-Rod for the timing of the announcement that they had chosen to opt out of the deal with the Yankees:

The new dynasty?

So we live in a world where the Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series. Meanwhile, the White Sox, a club that had not won the Series since 1917, took the one of those titles during the Red Sox current “dynasty.”

What’s next? Will the Cubs finally win a World Series?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

Anyway, two out of the last four counts for a pretty good dynasty these days. Though Major League Baseball does not have parity like the anti-American NFL, generally any team can win the World Series if they follow the Sox and Yankees’ formula. Since the institution of the Division Series in 1995, three teams have won the World Series more than once (the Yankees; the Marlins; and the Red Sox). That means any team can do it at least once… or at least get there. Only four teams (all of them expansion) haven’t won a pennant: the Mariners, Devil Rays, Rangers and the Nationals.

Of that four, one team clearly is not interested in winning.

The Red Sox second World Series title since 2004 makes one wonder what the hell they were doing for the 86 seasons between 1918 and 2004. No, there was no curse and people who believe in curses and jinxes in sports should put on their pink hat, untuck their jersey, sit down quietly in the club box seat, ask the waitress for another “Lite” beer and wait for the wave to come around again.

The real reason it took the Red Sox 86 seasons to win the World Series? They were stupid.

What’s the Phillies’ excuse? It approaching three decades since the Phillies’ last (and only) title, which would be worrisome if the Pirates had won since 1979, the Giants since 1954, the Indians since 1948, and, of course, the Cubs since ‘08.

Ty Cobb was in his second full big-league season when the Cubs last won the World Series.

So how can the Phillies do what the Red Sox have done? Do they have to clean house of all the old-time thinking and get some new, fresh ideas like the Red Sox did? Do have to continue to build the team around their offense and the uber-cozy confines of their home ballpark? Hey, if the Rockies can win with good pitching at Coors Field, why can’t the Phillies do the same thing at Coors East?

Or do they need a manager like that Terry Francona who seems to always push the right buttons for the Red Sox over the last four seasons? Why can’t the Phillies ever get a guy like that?

***
As the World Series entered the late innings last night, whipper-snapper sideline dude, Ken Rosenthal, announced that Alex Rodriguez had opted out of his contract with the Yankees and will become a free agent.

No surprise there.

Some say the Phillies could take a big step at building a World Series contender by signing Alex Rodriguez as the team’s new third baseman. In theory, this is a nice idea, but for one season of A-Rod, the Phillies would likely have to pay him 30 times what they paid Ryan Howard in 2007. Besides, if I had to bet, A-Rod will not be playing third base in 2008… he’ll be playing shortstop for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox third baseman will likely remain Mike Lowell, who priced himself out of the Phillies’ budget last night by being named MVP of the World Series. If I had to guess, the Red Sox other free agent on the Phillies’ radar, Curt Schilling, will likely return to Boston for one more run, too.

Schilling and Lowell would (could?) fit in nicely with the Phillies, but maybe Joe Crede could fit in nicely at third base as well? As far as starting pitchers go, free agents Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon and Carlos Silva will cost more than $10 million per season. Is that out of the Phillies’ budget? If it is, perhaps Randy Wolf would be a bargain at $8 million or so?

Better yet, maybe the Phillies can work on a trade.

Next: The Trials are four days away, which means we will have all sorts of running stuff coming this week.

This past weekend I watched the Centennial Conference cross-country championships, which (damn-near literally) took place in my back yard. If there were such a thing as a cross country video game, the designers should have pixelized Baker Field. That’s because the rain on Friday and Saturday morning turned the course into the quintessential mess, featuring standing water, slippery mounds and mud so deep in spots that when I ran the course on Saturday afternoon, my foot was buried up to my calf.

Though the World Series is over and the baseball season has come to an end until the middle of February, we will continue to write about baseball here. I’d write about sports outside of my realm (baseball, running, cycling, etc.), but I’m not so interested and I’m not good at faking it.

Starting over again

Week of October 22-28
(23 weeks to the National Marathon - March 29, 200

Monday
10 miles in 69:05
OK. It’s time to start it up again. In a sense I’m starting from scratch, which is fine. The idea is to build a big base until there are 14 weeks to go and then I’m going to crank it up. I don’t think I can push super hard for 23 weeks or so anymore… oh sure, I could have, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Anyway, I started with a 10-miler that was a bit difficult. For one thing it was more than 80 degrees outside. Plus, I have a cold that made it tough to breathe. On top of that, my legs and lungs were weak, which made the running a big test.

Either way, I ran a solid pace the entire time.

splits:
1st 5 - 34:36
2nd 5 - 34:29

Tuesday
Goose egg
Took a zero because I couldn’t feel my legs or breathe. It seems as if the cold I have is kicking my ass… not fun.

Wednesday
10 miles in 68:25
Felt good after taking a beating from the cold I had/have. My legs are still kind of weak and my lungs aren’t there (yet) but the 10 miles a day seems reasonable at this point.

splits:
1st 5 - 34:21
2nd 5 - 34:04

Thursday
7.2 miles in 48:05
Ran a loop with Jeff Kirchner, who was doing a LT, and it kicked my ass. I went 1.8 miles in 10:37, which is the fastest I’ve run since the baby was born, and… wow! I felt it in my lungs and legs from the first couple of strides. I’m definitely not in shape, but it was good to do it even though it hurt a little bit.

But it felt good…

I also ran back in the Brick Yards and came face-to-face with a wild, red fox. This is the fourth or fifth time in the past year I’ve come across a fox, and when I use the word “fox” I’m not using slang. Anyway, as I was leaving the normal loop around F&M’s Baker Field for the trails along the Little Conestoga Creek near the abandoned brick yards, I came within 10 yards of the fox after rounding a bend of trees in a wooded covey. There, after I came to a sudden stop midstride, casually sat the fox in the middle of the trail — and he wasn’t budging.

Now I’ve encountered a fox or two in the past, and like deer, ducks, monkeys, bighorn sheep, snakes and elk, they always skedaddle into the brush or far into the trees. Like deer, a fox can jump like a sonofabitch… it’s almost like they have springs on their legs. But this sly fella eyed me up and down and wasn’t moving.

Scanning the files in my head of what to do in case of a fox attack while slowly backing away, I figured I’d get out of view behind the trees and then make a run for it. At the same time, I thought that I should make myself appear large and make a lot of noise, but then realized that’s what you do when being stalked by a mountain lion. Then I thought I should climb up on something elevated and try to be cool, but that’s what you do in the event of a bear attack, I think.

Finally I decided to pick up a bunch of rocks to throw if the bleeper made a move on me.

Needless to say, everything turned out OK. I slinked away without incident and finished the run, while the fox continued to do whatever it is foxes do.

Next week: the story about how I beat the bleep out of a guy with my bike helmet after he flipped me off, jumped out of his car and then took a few swings at me.

Friday
9.3 miles in 65:11
Got out at 6 p.m. after procrastinating all day. Basically, I didn’t want to run in the rain, but I ended up going out when it was coming down in sheets.

Nonetheless, because it was raining so hard all day, I ran a few loops on the F&M cross-country course where they will be holding the Centennial Conference championships tomorrow. The course is in decent shape despite the fact that it will be as soggy as a bog for the race.

Saturday
11 miles in 1:16:07
Started out by running over the cross-country course, which was a muddy, soggy mess. There was water everywhere and the mud was deep. While running up a hill back in the Brick Yards, I stepped down and my foot sank into the earth up to my ankle.

It was kind of cool.

But it wasn’t something I wanted to do for too long. I did one loop through the course and hit the roads. It feels as if I’m beginning to get my legs back, but my lungs and speed aren’t even close.

Sunday
7 miles in 48:12
I felt good on this one. When I started running I didn’t feel tight or tired and I felt as if I had some lungs, too. In fact, I ran the last 10 minutes at 6-minute pace and it didn’t feel difficult at all.

Perhaps I’m getting it back?

Fenway photos

From time to time I like to snap photos, though I am hardly a good photographer. Nevertheless, since I like to post pictures on this site, I thought it would be fun to share a few I took one Saturday afternoon in June of 2004 after the Phillies had beaten the Red Sox at Fenway. After the park had cleared out and I was finally finished with my work, I meandered around the place and snapped up these:

Retired numbers

The left-field foul pole

Pesky’s pole

The view from the left-field corner

The Monster from center field

From home

Looking at the Monster from home

First base

The Triangle from center field

The view from the Red Sox dugout

The view from the Red Sox bullpen

310

I have more snapshots from different ballparks, like The Vet, that I will post someday soon. In the meantime, if anyone would like to use these photos for a web site or a blog or any other non-commercial enterprise, please, be my guest. If you feel up to it, throw me a note or a link to let me know where they are because I’m interested in that sort of thing.

Anyway, there’s Fenway.

Picking at nits

Sometimes I feel like an old man. When I wake up in the morning my legs are tight, which causes me to limp around until the first jolt of caffeine from my breakfast of coffee and a Clif Bar, as well as the sting from hot water from the shower limbers me up. My friend Mike says he was the same way until he started his strict daily yoga regiment, but I think there are other factors involved.

Mike is actually Batman. He sleeps upside down swinging from a pair of parallel bars. I hope I didn’t reveal too much.

Plus, my ankle has been really cranky lately. I don’t think yoga can fix a twisted ankle all banged up from running too much.

Anyway, here’s another reason why I feel like an old man: my big plans for Friday night are to load up the kids and my old lady (I was just listening to Muddy Waters… I think he’s having problems with his old lady) and head to a local high school football game. Weather permitting of course. It’s pretty rainy and damp right now - baking weather, my old lady calls it.

Back to the game…

Playing in the game are two schools that are both 7-1 and neither of which I am an alum. Oh, I have ties to each of the schools and even attended one for the ninth grade before quickly transferring to the far superior J.P. McCaskey High School where I received a real education.

I didn’t get much of an education at the school I briefly attended and will be rooting against this evening[1]. Actually, that’s not true. I learned a lot at that school, such as I was better off not going there any longer than I had to. As such, I’m rooting against them because of the way things went for me at that school, which is to say it was a rough year and I think I’m still holding a grudge for how things went more than two decades ago with people, places and things that really have no significance in my life at all. I suppose I’m funny that way. But now that I think about it, perhaps those perceived slights motivated me? Well, motivated might be the wrong word. Maybe I was just prompted to a certain action.

Whatever it was, the thing I remember so crystal clearly is my ninth grade English teacher scoffing at the notion that I would ever consider a future as someone who wrote sentences as part of a job. Seriously, she scoffed. I was scoffed at in such a manner that even as a ninth grader I thought to myself, “Wait… is she scoffing at me? Does she think it’s funny - as in a rude joke about midgets and donkeys told at the dinner table with grandmothers and long-lost chaste aunts present? Man, I guess I suck as a writer even though I’m just 14.”

Hey, I know I’m not the best writer in the world (maybe not even the best writer in my house), but what the hell? And where does a ninth-grade English teacher at a private school get off telling a student that he would probably be better off considering a career where he could dress shabbily and walk around someone’s house, scratch his ass and then proclaim, “Yeah, I think youse need a router…”?

I thought I wanted (want) to write. Was that so wrong? Fortunately I transferred to McCaskey where Dennis Schmid cultivated the skills I came with and taught me how to compose a sentence or two. There were other teachers at McCaskey, too, who were/are ridiculously good at their jobs. Folks like John Valori, Ken Barrett, Pete Horn, Ann Pinsker, Donna Couy to name just a few off the top of my head, should have received paychecks like the one “sources” are saying Aaron Rowand is after.

Then again, after digging deeper into the pages archived on this site I might be doing those folks an injustice. The fact is I came with my own ideas and they tried to set me straight. For that I am grateful.

And I hope Columbia High wins tonight.

---

[1] Let me clarify: I will not be rooting against the kids on the team, because they are just kids playing a game. In fact, I find it hard to root against any team of any kind. A team is just laundry, after all. However, if given a choice I’d like to see certain teams with certain players perform well. It’s personal, I suppose… and I am an idiot that way.

Breaking down the Trials field… sort of

For some reason ESPN the Magazine is delivered to my house every two weeks. I don’t know why this is because I never ordered it and I don’t really think I particularly want it, either. In fact, I even called a number I found inside of the magazine to ask them to stop sending it to me and they politely yet forcefully told me, “No.”

So I continue to get the ESPN the Magazine.

Occasionally I even look at it because I have a few friends who work there and I like to keep up with them.

That’s just the way I am… I am a supporter.

Supporter or not, I think I am pleased that the magazine comes to my house because there was a quarter-page capsule/preview for the Olympic Trials Marathon, which is quickly approaching on Nov. 3 in Manhattan. Written by Alyssa Roenigk (she has a cool web site), the preview outlines the chances five of the top runners have to make the Olympic team for the 2008 games in Beijing.

It was nice marathoning in an ESPN sponsored publication.

However, there were a few glaring omissions within the five top runners previewed. Included are Abdi Abdirahman, Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Khalid Khannouchi and Brian Sell, which is good and correct. Any top three could (should?) include at least two of that bunch.

But how did Dathan Ritzenhein get on the pay-no-mind list? Or what did defending Trials champion and current national cross-country champ Alan Culpepper do to be excluded? Excluding Ritz and Culpepper is kind of like having a baseball season without the Yankees or Red Sox. Sure, they can be beaten, but chances are they will be with near the top of the standings at the very end.

Meanwhile, some of the capsules on the runners explain how some might miss the top three because of the hilly nature of the course. Two of these runners who don’t like such terrain are 2:08 marathoners. Now I don’t know much about anything, but I know that 2:08 marathoners are rare in America. In fact, in the history of running, only six American men have run 2:08. That’s six, as in one more than five. Of those six, only three - Hall, Dick Beardsley and Bob Kempainen - were born in the United States. The other three - Abdirahman, Khannouchi and Alberto Salazar - were born elsewhere. That doesn’t make them any less American, but the point is, 2:08 American marathoners are not common and they won’t be bothered by the rolling course.

Anyway, with a little more than a week to go before the big race, here’s my top 3, which I am liable to change in the days leading up to the race.

The Top 3:

1.) Ryan Hall
2.) Dathan Ritzenhein
3.) Abdi Abdirahman

Watch out for Sell. ESPN says “he loves hills and will push the pace, keeping opponents honest from Mile 1.” But in Boston in ‘06 where he ran his 2:10:47 PR, Sell ran an even pace and surged during the final 10k where he picked off faltering runners (including Culpepper) to finish fourth. Sell is a brute and a tank and he runs smart.

PSA for Red Sox fans