I am assuming that last Sunday morning around 5:30 a.m., most of you were sound asleep in your beds. Well, if you are a weekly reader, you know that I was awake at that time wolfing down the necessary coffee and bagel bits.
You see, I had a half-marathon to run. It went well, but the best part was that I got an inside look – not the usual kind, either – at Lambeau Field.
Instead of the usual parking-the-car-then-walking-to-the-stadium-and-finding-my-seat routine for a Packers game, I took a different route. The finish of the race had all runners enter the stadium from the non-fan entrances, run under the stadium, and come out of the tunnel where the Packers come out on Sunday. Or Monday, or Saturday, or even Thursday.
One of the best parts about coming out of that tunnel? Back when Lambeau Field was renovated, Mike Sherman had concrete slabs that were in the old tunnel moved to the present tunnel. What’s so great about that?
Well, I got to run across the same concrete that all the Packer legends have trampled. There is actually a plaque on the left side coming out of the tunnel that mentions the legends and the 12 championships.
It was a great way to spend a Sunday with the family. Wake up, eat breakfast, run a half-marathon, get back all the calories I burned off with beer and brats at Lambeau and back on over to Sigma Phi Epsilon to read my genetics textbook.
Well, scratch that last part, if I’m listing fun stuff.
How great is it watching the Philadelphia Flyers? I actually wore my Philadelphia Marathon shirt yesterday to cheer them on in their quest to reach the Stanley Cup.
Two games into the conference finals, and they’re up 2-0 on the Canadiens. It makes it all the better that they were so close to being eliminated after the first four games of last round.
Speaking of being up 2-0, how ’bout those Celtics?
I was reading Sports Illustrated recently and there was an interesting article titled “Sports Genes” that discussed, along with many other things, how humans evolved to become athletes: running.
The evolution of muscles for head stability, narrow waists, joints and arched feet for spring-like action can all be attributed to our early ancestors running.
The articles brought up some great ideas that I have never thought of before as a biology student, so it was an interesting read. It is available in the SI Vault if you want to give it a gander.
Other than that, I am getting bored with the LeBron talk and tired of John Wall and the Wizards, but I am excited to see what Mikhail Prokhorov can do for the Nets in the near future.
They have the third pick in the draft and about $23 million in cap space. With the owner’s voluminous pockets, the cap space, a top-five pick and Devin Harris, the folks in New Jersey – and one Mr. Shawn Carter – should make some noise in the East as the NBA sees a lot of turnover this offseason.
Speaking of rappers, you know who else seems to be wrapping it up rather soon? Trevor Hoffman is not tossing the rawhide too well.
He has blown half his saves, and his recent mound visit against Cincinnati resulted in five batters faced, no outs recorded, and three runs given up to lose the game 5-4.
His ERA sits at 13.15 right now. We’ll see what happens to the guy on top of the hill for MLB career saves.
Speaking of saving, have you been keeping an eye on Chris Capuano? Since his two solid years – about five years ago – it has been a tough road back, but he pitched eight shutout innings last week at Triple-A while only giving up three hits. It looks like he may be making a run to return to the major leagues for the first time since 2007.
He has an economics degree from Duke University, so I am sure that if all else fails, he can dabble in that.
Heck, he could probably manage Jeff Suppan’s restaurant, Soup’s Sports Grill. Or he could get a couple of horses and do some show jumping with his Olympic modern pentathlete of a wife. Life sure is rough.
In other news, you should make sure to come over to Sigma Phi Epsilon on Friday night. Take part in our cookout and support our cause! I am sure there will be tasty treats, good eats and probably the basketball and hockey games on the television set.
Ramble on the roof
