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Miami Sports Flash 3/23
Took a couple days off there- not much time left to do so before baseball season kicks off. Here's a look at the last couple days in the 305.
- The Miami Dolphins extended by a year the contract of head coach Joe Philbin- without doing so, he would only be under contract to coach the team for this coming season. Now with a new deal in hand…he's honestly still just under contract to coach this season; it's playoffs or bust for Joe.
- The Miami Heat got sufficiently bulldozed by the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday night, 93-75. They still sit in 7th place however, just a game and a half back of the Milwaukee Bucks for 6th, and just two games ahead of the Celtics in 9th. Those same teams would just happen to be the Heat's next two opponents.
- The Florida Panthers beat Boston 2-1 in a shootout Saturday night, gaining some critical ground in a tight race for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cats now sit 4 points back of Boston, and 3 of Ottawa.
- The Marlins officially signed Christian Yelich to his 7-year deal Sunday, with a club option for an 8th. On the field, they have dropped three spring games in a row, but even this afternoon's 13-2 clobbering by the Mets can't dull the optimism the Yelich move should bring.
- The Marlins also were the subject of some idle trade speculation this weekend as a possible solution to the Texas Rangers' rotation issues (Brad Hand being the player discussed) but that seems to have fizzled out.
- Today in Sports: Planetary alignment seems to favor the people of Louisville, KY this day of the calendar year. This date saw Muhammad Ali reclaim his title in 1975 with a knockout of Chuck Wepner, and five years later, the Louisville Cardinals would beat UCLA for the NCAA men's title.
- Today in the 305: In the spirit of March Madness, thought we'd give FGCU a shout out. It was two years ago today that they became the first 15 seed to make the Sweet 16.
Strong Start a Must For Fish
Early Schedule Demands Spring Out of Spring
By Sean Millerick
With only 15 games remaining until the start of the 2015 season, and with bracket selections and fantasy drafts now behind me, the time seems right to size up the schedule awaiting the Miami Marlins when they break camp. And that schedule, suffice it to say, should give every friend of the Fish considerable pause. Some would argue the season doesn't really start until the summer, with April numbers often being all but dismissed. Others rejoin that every game counts, while both sides tout out the timeless cliché that the season is a marathon, and not a sprint to make their case. But if this year's squad wants to meet any of their well-deserved expectations, the schedule makers might well have denied them the luxury of an early stumble out of the gates.
It's not that it's an exceptionally difficult start to the year. The Marlins don't play a team expected to finish above .500 in their first nine games, in fact taking on an April slate with a 12-10 split in favor of teams projected to finish far worse than them in the standings. The wrinkle is who those opponents are, as they would be almost exclusively division rivals. The split between NL East and not sits at a stunning 19-3, the exception being a three game set against the Rays (who ironically enough for you geography fans are also an Eastern division team). Every team in the division is faced, with a breakdown of Mets 7, Braves 6, Phillies and Nationals 3. The first seven games of May are no different by the way, resulting in a stretch of twenty-two consecutive games against the division following that Tampa series. That's a 25-3 mark to start the year, meaning that the Marlins will have played nearly 33% of their total division slate for the season by the time they've completed barely 17% of the schedule overall. If the Marlins truly mean to challenge the Nats for the NL East crown, a strong April is a must.
That is particularly the case given what awaits the club in May. Including that first week, May holds 13 intra-division matchups, once more providing a taste of all four NL East teams. What May also adds however is a schedule weighted 19-10 towards teams projected to finish over .500. More to the point, all but three of those .500 plus matchups are against teams that made the playoffs last year. In fact, out of the season's first fifty-one games, only ten are against teams that aren't either a division rival or expected to be a fellow NL wild card challenger. And of the ten, three are against the Orioles- a contender for a Junior Circuit wild-card berth, if not the AL East itself. The final seven would be the aforementioned Rays and the lowly Diamondbacks- all seven of which will be played at Marlins Park. The overall home-away split for all of this excitement is 25-26, with a doozy of 10 game Nats-Giants-Dodgers road trip tucked within it.
So there it is- quite the opener to the season. Some variety will follow though. The Marlins will close May exactly the same way they'll close April- against the Mets. Following that series, they next play an NL East opponent….on July 17th , after the All-Star break. By that point they will also have completed their season series against the Dodgers, Giants, and Cubs by the way- meaning that the best chance to gain an upper-hand in the post season race would definitely be on the front nine. Again, one could object that a lot could happen in 162 games. In fact, on first glance, a fairly obvious example of a slow start not mattering comes from our own history- just look to 2003. That team- the one that played well enough to get their manager fired at the 16-22 point, and dropped as low as 19-29 before truly righting the ship-played 20 straight games against their division in April, and would eventually go on to win the World Series. But that club was just a tick under .500 in April, and actually reached it May 1st before going on a cheery 4-14 slide. So they at least didn't blow April(9-11 against the East), and didn't face the Braves or Phillies again until the last day of June, by which point they'd rounded into form. A lot of similarities have been thrown around between that '03 squad and this '15 model. It would be in this year's squad's best interest not to make an early hole one of them. There's a reason 2003 was remarkable after all.
Miami Sports Flash 3/20
Admittedly going through the motions here folks, as I am in crunch mode for my fantasy draft. But a few tidbits to report for you from this Friday.
- The Heat won their third in a row Friday night, topping the Nuggets 108-91. The Heat now actually sit just 1.5 games out of sixth place, not bad for a team that was flirting with missing the playoffs entirely not that long ago.
- The Miami Marlins notched a Spring Training win against the Braves 5-1, with Martin Prado delivering a key hit and Dan Haren scattering a run and four hits across five innings.
- The Miami Dolphins resigned Matt Moore and Louis Delmas- moves that should by no means be sneezed at. No word as of yet on Michael Crabtree's decision.
- Today in Sports: In 1934, Babe Didrickson pitched a hitless inning for the A's against the Dodgers in an exhibition game.
- Today in the 305: Happy Birthday Pat Riley. Really all that needs to be said.
Miami Sports Flash 3/19
Alright, alright, alright sports fans- let's get to it:
- The Buffalo Bills officially signed Charles Clay this afternoon, the Dolphins opting to let him walk rather than resign him. Long term, likely the right move. For 2015, it would seem the team made a mistake in not using the franchise tag- the difference in salary was only a million dollars. You'll be happy Clay is gone in 2016- but likely not before that.
- Jaromir Jagr moved into 5th place all time in goals scored, as the future Hall of Famer and a finally-back-on-the-ice Roberto Luongo led the Panthers to a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Florida now sits 3pts back of Ottawa and 5pts behind Boston in the race for the 8th and final playoff slot with just 11 games left to play. Every game counts for a team that has only won three in a row four times in the last three seasons, but on the bright side, Florida has three games left against Boston and one against Ottawa. Boston lost tonight- to Ottawa- and plays the Panthers Saturday.
- The Marlins lost 6-3 today to the Braves in the first of a two game series that is actually being televised. Tom Koehler allowed six hits and three runs in four innings, which is not terrible for a spring start by any means. What might be terrible for Koehler is that one of his chief competitors for the final spot in the rotation- David Phelps- was not charged with a run during the next three innings. Then again, they both balked, so both might want to put the day behind them.
- Iowa State lost their NCAA tournament opener- this matters because it means my top competition in my bracket pool just totally blew it. Then again I had Iowa State and Ole Miss making it to the Sweet 16, so not exactly in first place after day one either.
- Today in Sports: On March 19th, 2014, Cal Poly became the first team in over 50 years to win an NCAA tournament game despite having 19 losses on the season. Not particularly famous, but still funny.
- Today in the 305: On March 19th, 2008- and I'm gritting my teeth here- the Heat put up 54 points in a loss to the Toronto Raptors, which was the third lowest score since the invention of the shot-clock. That would also be the franchise low for points overall, points in the first half, and shooting percentage. 'Course the Heat have gone 18-6 against the Raptors since then, so rest assured that account has been settled.
Miami Sports Flash 3/18
Happy Post St. Paddy's to all you loyal readers. If you were celebrating properly, you likely missed at least a few things in the last 24 hours. So without further ado:
- The Marlins had their first two game losing streak of the spring, getting the blemish out of the way in just one day, dropping a pair of split squad decisions 7-1 and 6-4 to the Cards and Mets respectively.
- Rallying from that, the Marlins beat Washington 5-4 today on the strength of Giancarlo Stanton's first home run of the spring- and more significantly, since last year's shattering season ending injury.
- The Miami Heat followed up on Monday's feel good shellacking of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's Cavaliers with a 108-104 squeaker over the Trailblazers on the strength of a pair of double-doubles by Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside. And oh yea, Dwayne Wade put up 30 points- doing so in consecutive games for the first time in nearly three years.
- CRABTREE!!!!!! The soothing tones of Richard Sherman spring to mind as reports indicate that Michael Crabtree will be paying a visit to the Dolphins.
- On the bright side, the Panthers might get star goalie Roberto Luongo back for Thursday's game against the Red Wings. On the down side, they remain trapped in ninth place after failing to record a point in consecutive games.
- Lastly, the Marlins have apparently agreed on a 7yr/49.5 million dollar contract with Gold Glover Christian Yelich.
- This Day in Sports: On March 18th, 2001, Reggie Miller hit his 2000th 3-pointer. He was the first ever to hit that mark.
- This Day In the 305: On March 18th, 2013, the Miami Heat notched their 23rd win in a row, breaking a tie with the Houston Rockets for the second longest winning streak in NBA history.
By The Numbers: The Case For Shields
By Sean Millerick
A little under two months ago, it would have seemingly made little sense for the Miami Marlins to sign James Shields. They had just swung trades for Mat Latos and Dan Haren, and completed a significant overhaul of an offense that provided the textbook definition of "middle of the pack". All of this on the heels of inking superstar slugger Giancarlo Stanton to the richest contract in sports history. All of this at a time when it was becoming painfully apparent that LeBron James was going to be sorely missed indeed by the Heat, and that the Dolphins would once again be fading painfully down the stretch. The Marlins had actually won a PR battle for the first time in years, were being spoken of positively by national pundits, and were really the only feel good sports story in town. Enough had been done, there was little need for a splash to curry favor, and certainly not at the huge price tag that would have come with it. The club had made the big money move it had to, and could reasonably expect to contend the next season and in the future.
A little over two weeks ago, things started to change. Shields was still on the market, the only top target left after free agent crown jewel Max Scherzer signed a nearly record-setting contract for a starting pitcher. And while beyond understandable that the Marlins didn't land Scherzer, especially if he wanted that much money,the problem was that the team that did was in their division- and already projected to win it. Yes, the Washington Nationals- those same Nationals with arguably baseball's best rotation- had just ended any debate about the point. While never projected to win outright, the Marlins had at least been winning the offseason. In the blink of an eye, they had seemingly been upstaged. Signing Shields would be a pretty strong counter punch, but if it took over $200 million to sign Scherzer, nine figures would still likely be the rule to sign the next best option. So you stand by your rotation, convince Dan Haren to admit he'd at least consent to reporting for Spring Training, and you make a final splash by signing a future first ballot Hall of Famer to bolster your bench.
But today, Shields is still on the market. All thoughts of him getting anywhere near amount of money originally expected has come and gone. Eight years of 200 plus innings is quite the double-edged sword when pushing your resume across the table as a 33-year-old pitcher, 2015 is proving to be a unique situation where many of the big spenders have already either made their moves and/or have lower than usual expectations. And at this point, if the Marlins are serious about a playoff run in 2015, then they need to make this signing.
It's really all about numbers. At the peak of his expected value- at least five years, at least $100 million- the risk of Shields arguably outweighed the reward. The risk being that Miami overcommits financially, risks angering the face of their franchise when they shed salary, and probably is forced to make an unpopular decision or two on some of the other young talent. But that number has by all estimations dropped dramatically. Shields' numbers could well be off the book by the time the salaries of some of those other young stars would start to really ramp up. Latos is likely gone next year, and Haren might still ultimately be gone this year- so the financial sting is already mitigated. Plus at this point in the offseason, it would seem unlikely Miami would have to break its typically bedrock policy on no trade clauses; they could always cut bait along the way provided the overall momentum of the club continues to be forward. Money wise, opportunities like this don't come along everyday.
As for why this is such an opportunity, well that's about the numbers as well. Specifically the positive side of that "Eights years of 200 plus innings" coin. So let's put aside that we're talking about a veteran pitcher with World Series experience. Let's just focus on the regular season, on those 200 plus innings and what they represent:
- 2014: 90% (60%)
- 2013: 80% (70%)
- 2012: 50%* (90%) *Would be 70% if adjusted to be 198 IP
The above figures represent- over the course of the last three seasons- what percentage of the teams that made the post season a.) had at least one starter log 200 or more Innings Pitched and b.) had at least one starter rank in the top ten totals for Quality Starts. In 2014, 60% of the starting pitchers that led the Majors in IP pitched in October, 50% of teams that made the playoffs had multiple starters break the 200 inning plateau, and most importantly 90% of teams that made the playoffs had a pitcher throw more innings and log more quality outings than Miami's leader in that category. And he isn't even with the team anymore- Nathan Eovaldi led the club with 199.7 innings and 20 quality starts.
So obviously a couple of things to point out in the spirit of objectivity. One, Nathan Eovaldi probably didn't need to be in the rotation this year- there's more to pitching than hanging around games, and Nathan still needs to iron that out. Secondly, the Marlins had a pitcher tally over 200 innings in 2012, and it was one of the most disappointing seasons in club history. So it's by no means a guaranteed ticket to the postseason. But on the other hand, 50% of 2014 postseason participants had more than one pitcher hit the innings mark, and each of the last three seasons has seen at least one club with two or more such pitchers advance to the World Series (the 2013 Red Sox are the only time the winning club was not one of those teams). Shields has personally ranked in the top ten in both categories in all three of these years. If Latos turns in a full season, there is every reason to expect him to offer such a contribution. But unlike Shields, there actually is a recent injury history in his case and legitimate grounds for skepticism he won't miss some time. The best argument for Shields missing time, at the end of the day, is that he's due to miss some. Optimism for 2015 is also heavily hinging on the swift return of Jose Fernandez to, well to Jose Fernandez form. Shields provides an added cushion, further eliminating both any temptation to rush Fernandez back and simultaneously allowing for the possibility it takes him a few weeks to regain his presence on the mound. Finally, the price for upgrades at the All-Star Break is always more expensive, and the Marlins just spent an offseason trading in many of their assets to improve. In short, it would be better long-term to simply break the bank a little more now, than to either fall flat or bankrupt the farm in July. The bottom line is there is an awful lot to like about the acquisition, and the asking price will likely never be cheaper.
By Sean Millerick
Capping off an offseason far more reminiscent of, well reminiscent of ballclubs not located south of Turner Field, the Miami Marlins officially introduced former Seattle Mariners' legend Ichiro Suzuki this week as the team's fourth outfielder. Front office brass actually journeyed to Japan to make the announcement, part of a bounty of All-Star treatment for the 10-time All Star; for full details on the journey and the contract, check out Joe Frisaro's article here.
Of special interest to the avid fan however might be the fact that as part of the red carpet treatment, Suzuki will once again be wearing 51- his number for the majority of his professional career. Now obviously when you hear 51, the name Bernie Williams likely springs to mind fairly quickly- it's for that reason that Suzuki did not wear that number as a member of the New York Yankees. As detailed by MLB.com's Brad Lefton, the availability of "51" was part of Miami's appeal for Suzuki. And while Lefton does detail who wore the number the longest as a Marlin- pitcher Terry Matthews- there is a bit more history to the number. And since pitchers and catchers haven't even reported yet- let's take a moment to dive into it.
Ichiro will in fact be the 12th Marlin to wear the number, according to Baseball Almanac. The 2015 season will also be the 12th season a Marlin has worn the number. It has been worn once since 2010, and that was in a brief 2013 appearance by Derek Dietrich (Dietrich wore #32 in '14). On an ominous note, no Marlin wore the number in 1997 or 2003- the club's two title years. But most interestingly of all, the FIRST Marlin to wear the number will very likely be there in Cooperstown to greet Ichiro when he himself arrives: Trevor Hoffman debuted as the first 51 for the club on April 6th, 1993.


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It's hard to tell conspiracy theories from the truth in athletics, and more
Back when Lance Armstrong was riding away from the other doping cyclists, rumors and conspiracies about doping were rampant. Fans wanted to believe the sport was clean. People wanted the Legend of Lance to be true. Cancer victim comes back to win Tour de France seven times! It doesn't get any better than that.
Well, the conspiracies all turned out to be true. The lies ran all the way up to the top of the sport.
But it was a house of cards. For years Lance was the Rainmaker for the entire sport of cycling. His personal brand brought millions of sponsorship dollars into cycling and everyone benefited. But it was all very much like war profiteering. The ends justified the means. And that meant everyone doped because if you couldn't keep up, you could not get your piece of the Lance Armstrong pie.
It's often said that sports is a paradigm for the rest of humanity. The triumphs and failures are a form of art imitating life. We love it when our heroes succeed. We suffer when they fail. The vicarious nature of human beings wants to know that acting like a hero begets some sort of good in this world.
As the years roll by people are coming to appreciate that the great conspiracy of Lance Armstrong was a plot even stranger than fiction. By the time he finally came clean (pun intended) it was not exactly shocking. The truth was staring most of us in the face all along. A ton of other cyclists from Lance Armstrong's era had already been caught or confessed. A map of the podium finishers in front and immediately behind Lance was like a rogue's gallery of cycling busts. So the conspiracy, as it were, was no longer secret. Everyone was doping because everyone had to dope just to participate in the sport.
A world of dopers and dopes
So much of the world also works that way. People go along to get along with the powers that be. They're paid (sometimes quite well) to keep their mouths shut. And if the conspiracy is important enough, people lose their lives when they threaten to expose the truth.
Of course some people lose their lives as the result of conspiracies in the first place. One of the greatest conspiracies in American history is the killing of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. No one with a brain in their head believes any longer that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone shooter. Decades of research by investigators of all political stripes have also exposed the sham that was the Warren Commission. It's quite obvious now that people within our own government, in collaboration with mafia and possibly CIA help pulled off a grand execution and then covered it up. LBJ was likely in on it to some degree, but so perhaps was George Herbert Walker Bush, then of the CIA.
Conspiracies about Kennedy's death long felt like false claims that anyone other than Oswald was responsible for the killing that day in Dallas. America could not deal with the idea that people could be so evil as to assassinate a popular president. But it happened. And stuff like that continues to happen every day.
The root of all evil
Some people see links between that brand of conspiracy and what transpired on the infamous day of 9/11. It's difficult to comprehend the possibility of that level of conspiratorial action, but it's obviously not the first time in history men of power have conspired to act out of fury and madness for their own agenda. The mixed up world of war profiteering in World War II included men like Prescott Bush, Joe Kennedy and even Henry Ford selling weapons to the Nazis. Men of power have always conspired to use tragedy for their own profit.
It's always about the money. That's what drove Lance Armstrong and so many other cyclists to cheat and defame the sport that fed their pockets and their egos. As it turned out, the Lance Legend, while still impressive for its level of accomplishment, was a conspiracy come true. It has convinced me there is almost always a difficult truth behind the lies we're fed about events ranging from the Kennedy assassination to 9/11.
When faced with a conspiracy, one of the first questions we all need to ask is; Who is the benefactor? There's always a reason behind why people do things. Sometimes it's power. Sometimes it's money. Sometimes it's sheer madness. But there's always a motivation. Sometimes it's just to gain attention. More often it's to gain power, prestige or money.
Crazy conspiracies or not?
There are conspiracies that are just plain crazy on the surface. Some people refuse to believe we ever put a man on the moon. Others insist that Paul McCartney was killed in a car accident and was replaced by a talented CIA plant named Faul McCartney.
Many people continue the search for Sasquatch or Bigfoot. There is absolutely no material evidence that such a creature exists. No credible remains have ever been documented. Yet there is a website dedicated to "educating" people about the existence of Bigfoot. Perhaps the idea of a man-beast that is part ape and part human seems to hold appeal for a segment of the populace. Perhaps it's the hope that the human race has not completely conquered nature after all.
Hubris exposed
Conspiracies tend to focus on that sort of narrative. There's a hubris afoot in some way, and people want to peel back the arrogant lies and reveal the truth. No one likes to be tricked, and conspiracy theorists hold back no resources when trying to figure out what really happened in this world.
Three Ms
There's just one problem with conspiracy theory as a world view. It can easily be misdirected, misguided and misanthropic.
For example, there's an apparently large segment of the American populace that views science as some sort of conspiracy against truth. They regard with suspicion any fact or theory that does not align with the tenets of their own worldview.
Hence we find creationists building a museum in Kentucky whose main mission (funded by millions) is to expose the supposedly false contentions of science and evolution. Their main point is that these secular knowledge tools are designed specifically to counteract the word of God. So these believers do just about anything to counteract the so-called conspiracy that human beings evolved from other life forms over millennia.
In fact the real conspiracy is that people who take the bible literally are simply selective in what they choose to believe and not believe. They also ignore the fact that Jesus Christ himself used much organic symbolism in his teaching, which was dependent on using examples from nature to convey spiritual principles. So creationists technically are conspiring to obscure the actual teaching methods of Jesus and the true foundation of the bible, which is spiritual metaphor.
It's inconceivable to creationists that evolution is anything other than a conspiracy to defeat faith in a literal bible. Actually what really galls them, and heightens the notion of conspiracy, is that many real scientists care not a lick what people choose to believe about God or spirituality. Those notions have nothing to do with material science. If it can't be tested and reproduced in practice, then it is not science. And it likely does not exist.
That's the irony in all this. Science is the ultimate debunker of conspiracy theories. Hence the popularity of the cable show Mythbusters. Myths and conspiracy theories have a tangential relationship, you see. People create myths around their most closely held beliefs.
But people also create myths to fool others. That's what happened with Lance Armstrong. His myth held out for quite a long time before the conspiracy of his doping was exposed, and confessed. In his case it was the corroborative evidence of other witnesses that doomed his mythlike stature. His former teammates blew the conspiracy wide open.
The question we all face when dealing with conspiracies, exposed and otherwise, is how much accountability there should be when it comes to secrets and lies. If a conspiracy is constructed to ostensibly protect a nation's interests, is it better for the public to ultimately know? And, if a conspiracy is exposed and it is determined that the nation's best interests were compromised or put at risk, what should the punishment be? Do we simply let conspiracies such as the Reagan-era Iran-Contra affair lay there in history? Or do we call those who perpetrated the actions to account? Usually its a mix of responses. And usually there it is a fall guy, not the top people in power that pay the price.
That's what makes the Lance Armstrong case rather rare. But even Lance seems to want to tell us he's not the ultimate kingpin. Someday the true nature of the full cycling conspiracy will come out. Like the Kennedy assassination investigation, it just takes time.
Secrets and operatives
Surely we've learned that our own CIA in America does all sorts of things it does not want the public to know. Yet once the conspiracy of our military's torture of Iraqis was exposed, that led to greater hate of our nation by terrorists. Some claim we should never have released those photos. They were the province of war and special intelligence.
But if we truly care about the character of our nation and its representatives, then all of us should take conspiracy seriously. Surely some conspiracies are shallow, vain attempts at gaining attention. But others are massively significant, such as the case with Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information from the NSA. Some say he did it out of good conscience and is a hero. Others consider him a traitor.
One thing we know for sure. There is always something afoot that runs deeper than our surface knowledge. It pays to ask questions and seek the truth, even if it means exposing some of our heroes and leaders as frauds. There's always a risk in that. Sometimes we find out things we really did not want to know.
We're coming up to Easter, the season when Christians celebrate the Resurrection, which is either the biggest even known in history or the biggest conspiracy ever perpetrated on the face of the earth.
Conspiring minds want to know.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged CIA, conspiracy theories, Edward Snowden, from JFK to 9/11, mythbusters, NSA, rich man's trick, war profiteering 2 Comments
Why my kids aren't running clones of me
One of the vows I made upon becoming a parent was that I would not force my children into liking or doing everything I did. At least I tried to meet that vow. Sure, I dragged them afield for nature walks, pointing out birds and plants and interesting bits of garbage in the weeds, if that's what it took. But that's just part of being a parent.
What I did not do was take them out running with me. This was a divisive decision in my head. On one hand I believe strongly in the health benefits of physical activity. On the other hand I did not think it wise to try to make them into clones of myself. I'm happy to say they are finding their way in this world based on their own choices.
Both participated in the sport of soccer. I coached my son's teams all the way through middle school. As a coach I erred on the side of a screamer now and then. I'm competitive and getting eleven kids at the age of 10 to work together on a soccer field is a difficult task.
So I could have done better at that. But years later when my son and I talked about our soccer days, I mentioned a particular play he made during a game and he told me, "Dad, I don't remember any of our games. But our practices were fun."
And he ran around a lot during practice. So I knew he was getting exercise. He also played soccer on the playground at school. So I knew he ran around even more. Yet one day he came home frustrated with the game that day.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"Well, all the good kids gang up on one team, and they win every day," he replied.
"And what do you do?"
"I play on the other team," he said. "And they kill us every day. It's not fair and it's no fun if the sides aren't even."
(And being the dad I said…) "Have you tried getting everyone to make the sides more fair?"
(And as a son, he sighed) "Yes. We've tried everything. All they want to do is win."
And that, in a nutshell, "is life," I told him.
But I was damned proud of his commitment to justice. He made that decision on his own.
Of course by proxy it also meant that he had to run and play twice as hard and likely improved his soccer skills trying to keep the ball away from ten guys at once.
Nothing motivates improvement like anger. Nothing.
My daughter was similarly feisty on the soccer field. But she cared not for the social snarkiness of the girl's soccer teams on which she played. Nor did she really care for all the running. So despite my fervent encouragement to use her natural speed on the field (she was among the top 10% in speed among the girls she played) she chose to play goalie.
It's in her nature to be contrary about some things. At the tender age of three years old she was acting up in the back seat by teasing her brother and being obnoxious. I stopped the car and stared at her in the rear view mirror. "Emily, if you don't straighten up in the car, I'm going to have to make some rules."
She leaned forward in her child's seat and looked me right in the eyes through the rear view mirror. "But daddy," she replied. "I'll break the rules."
You try coaching a kid like that. However one of her last seasons as a soccer player the coach hired a trainer from the local fitness club to work with the girls. Those 12-year-olds were put through core workouts that made me wince. But their tummies got tight. They even compared ab muscles on occasion. And man, with all that fitness built up from within, my girl could really run.
I specifically recall the sight of her pale legs flying downfield in pursuit of a a girl dribbling in a breakaway. She ran that girl down and in full stride stripped the ball from her feet.
I already knew by that point that Emily would not go on to play high school sports. The natural infighting on sports teams just did not appeal to her. Plus she never really liked getting out of bed earlier than she absolutely needed. So I savored that moment for what it was. Just the joy of it.
Nor did sports last for my son. In high school soccer he played and started through his sophomore year. Yet when the coach did not lift a finger to talk to him or his other friends about the next season, soccer was dead to him.
Two years later that same coach lamented in a newspaper article that his team was struggling because they lacked senior leadership. Small wonder. None of the 18 freshman that began the program together made it through their senior year. "How ironic," I said out loud to the newspaper.
My son also ran track through his sophomore year and was actually faster in the 800 than I was at that age. I think he ran 2:05. But one day he came home and told me, "Dad, when I'm doing track I'm 25% happy. But when I'm doing drama I'm 100% happy."
I agreed that the decision was made. He went on to act and direct plays both in high school and college at University of Chicago. He's studied Improv in New York City and has become a writer as well.
It's funny how these aspects of personality in our children emerge despite our best efforts, in some respects, to let them become who they want to be. Despite some of their differences in personality and approach to life, my daughter now laughs that she sees her mother emerging in her language and actions. My son was really close to my wife and yet in many ways he could not be more different than she.
But these are the things that make us close.
In recent years my son has taken his running and done interesting things with it. His legs (like mine) are not perfect for the sport. He is prone to a knee injury on one side. Yet that has not stopped him from getting involved in a group that literally runs with the homeless population in New York City. Running helps the homeless in surprising ways. It frees them from adverse expectations. It builds confidence too.
He told me about the day they all attended one of those races where everyone gets doused with bright colors. At first his homeless proteges were skeptical. But then something great started to happen. "They got into it," he said.
We can sometimes only imagine what the human mind does when released from the bonds of negativity. Running is great for that. It has saved my mind in many ways, and many times in life when troubles threatened to overwhelm. Imagine going from being homeless to be covered in bright yellow, green, pink and blue colors.
I've never used my running for something so cool as that.
Yet the gift I gave to my daughter for her birthday last year was one of those 0.0 ovals for the back of her car. She's not going to become a runner anytime soon. For one thing, her feet are pretty flat from the orthopedic boots she wore the first year of walking. Her feet had been curled and the doctors straightened them out the old-fashioned way, with straight shoes.
So she needs orthotics to this day, and yet does not yet wear them. She's no clone of me, you see. I wear orthotics everywhere I go, and all the time. We all make our decisions based on our own interests. Running doesn't really interest her.
That's fine, of course. It's never been my goal to make my children a clone of me. And they're not. But I have insisted on many occasions that they learn to "enjoy the process," which means living in the moment. And when that doesn't happen, I've always counseled that difficulties "build character."
I'm not sure if I borrowed that phrase or came up with it on my own. The one thing we all do share is a love for the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. It grew evident over the years that I am literally the father in that strip, who loves to ride and exercise in horrible conditions, then come home and tell everyone how it "builds character."
The one area we might all converge some day is cycling. Emily likes a simple ride on a hybrid bike and Evan used to ride off to parks during the summer with book in hand. So perhaps we'll all ride together at some point. That would be fun.
And a bit of a time warp. I rode with them back and forth to the park when they were just little kids. Evan took to the bike pretty quickly. Emily refused to ride a two-wheeler until first grade when we moved to Batavia and we had a big wide driveway and quiet street where she could practice in peace. That's my girl. Does it her way.
My son is also a fan of Star Wars. His Christmas gift from my companion Sue was a book in which the Star Wars story is written in the style of Shakespeare. I cannot imagine myself enjoying that book too much. He's very well read however and has torn through massive tomes like the Brothers Karamazov and other classic literature that I have never touched.
Mu daughter meanwhile has become a naturalist in ways that I never really imagined. She picked up where her mother left off in raising monarch butterflies from the eggs laid on milkweed plants. Last summer she raised and released 50 of the insects, more than her mother even managed to do. And in Emily's inimitable style, she chronicled the entire life cycle using her incredible photography skills and powers of observation (which she did get from her mother) to bring the entire episode of metamorphosis to life.
That's probably an apt enough symbol here on which to close. We're all part of a metamorphosis in some way. As individuals, as a family, and as a population.
It takes a whole cast of characters to make it work, and none of them the same. That's what makes us all more alike than we might like to think.
Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cycling, running Tagged calvin & hobbes, parenthood, raising kids, running clones, star wars clones 4 Comments
6 rules to live by with cycling communication
As a cyclist for more than a decade, it has been a challenge and a joy to figure out how to ride better. There have been years when everything seemed to flow. My quads bulged. My lungs thrived. My head imagined what to do and I fairly much did it.
Some years I raced quite a bit. Other years, depending mostly on my appetite for additional stress, I backed away from racing. There were other issues calling for my attention, the most notable among them taking care of a wife and family.
But there is one thing that stands out in all these years of cycling ups and downs. One thing that makes cycling better in every respect. That one thing is communication.
Cycling is a wonderful solo activity. It is also a great way to enjoy the company of others. But to fully enjoy that company, it truly helps to communicate.
Here are 6 Rules to Live By when it comes to cycling communication.
6. Determine how far and how fast you want to ride
Unless everyone in a group is in similar cycling condition, communicating about how far you plan to ride, and how fast, is critical to an equitable experience for everyone. The first step to quality riding is helping everyone in the group to understand the goals and expectations of a ride.
5. Talk about "Drop" or "No Drop"
If you are part of a competitively based group there is no question about the goals of a fast ride. You hang on or get dropped. But if you are part of a training ride, then the basic rules of "Drop" or "No Drop" must be communicated clearly to the benefit of the whole group. Nothing frustrates slower riders more than being dropped and not knowing whether someone from the group will come back to get them. And nothing frustrates stronger riders more than not knowing whether they can push the pace or not. So communicate. Sometimes rides "split" into two groups with some willing to hold back and guide those working on fitness while others agree to forge ahead. But don't just do it without talking about it. That lacks class in cycling.
4. Don't assume that everyone wants to keep up
If you drop back and find a cyclist or a small group of cyclists riding at a pace that is sustainable for them, don't automatically assume they're unhappy with the group for riding faster. Many cyclists readily recognize their limits and are not insulted by the fact they can't keep up. The right thing to do in such circumstances is ask how a cyclist or dropped group wants to proceed.
3. Respect the pull
If you are the strongest cyclist in a group you may find yourself doing a greater share of the work at the front. The right thing to do if you are in a group where a strong rider is doing all the work is to say to them, "Hey, we know you're doing all the work. Let us know if we can share the pull now and then." Some riders will decline, but acknowledging their effort is always the right thing to do. It is also important when riding in a group to do your best with your opportunity to pull. But respect your limits. It does no good for anyone if you ride to the point of absolute exhaustion and then find yourself unable to pull later on in the ride. You're in it for the long haul, but sometimes that means doing shorter pulls.
2. Signal your intentions
No matter whether you're a solo rider hammering along on a lonely stretch of road or one of a group of 20 slicing your way down the tarmac, communication about your position on the road, in the group, upcoming turns, approaching or passing traffic and changes in speed or the need to stop are all vital signs that you care about yourself and other riders. So communicate. It's the path to safety but also to speed. It's one of the laws of nature when it comes to cycling. A smart group can ride faster.
1. Know your kind.
This single most important rule is only heightened when you get mixed groups of cyclists together. If you find yourself as a road cyclist with a group of triathletes on aero bikes, pay extra attention to pace, speed and turning ability. Those bikes are not the same. And if you are a triathlete jumping in with a group of road cyclists, recognize that you are essentially a danger to the entire group. The bike handling capabilities of a tri-bike versus a road bike are night and day.
Let's hear it for the parents
Over the last few months I've been going through layers of family history. Finally getting to the bottom of some of the deep stacks of stuff one builds up through years of marriage. All of us need to do this at some point. It's healthy to de-clutter your life and also make decisions about what is important to keep, and what…not so much.
It has been interesting to stumble on photographs of events whose memory has been shaded by time. Just last night while flipping over some album covers a set of photos fell out that taught me something. One of those photos was a shot of my parents standing with me at the finish of the Sycamore Pumpkinfest 10K in 1984. I'd placed second to a better runner that day, but not for lack of trying. Some days you just get beat. So I was smiling in the photo, as were my mother and father.
But here's the kicker. I had completely forgotten they were in attendance that day. And likely, that's true of many other races. They came to most of my meets in high school and even some in college. My mother cheered and my father often yelled, "Stay loose!" which often made me more tense. But that's a different story.
It's so easy to forget these moments of support and dedication. I had my differences with my parents over the years like most people. But truth be told, they were very supportive of most of the things I did.
That includes my art, my writing and my athletic pursuits. It was my father that drove me to Luther College on a whim in the middle of summer 1975. I switched from Augustana to Luther on his advice. "It's beautiful there."
And that's sometimes how parenthood works. It's the small things that count. Like being there often enough to be noticed. And being there even if you figure your attendance will be forgotten some day.
They saw me win. And they saw me lose. And they loved me in between.
Recently my companion Sue made a trip to Florida to spend time with her parents. She had not seen them in more than a year. It was the right thing to do. Your parents need to see you, just like you need to see your parents.
So let's hear it for the parents. Every one of them. Even if they're gone from this earth, it is healthy to think back and remember. To turn and hug your own kids, or your spouse or companion. Share the love. That's what parenting is all about.
Just a few ways that Strava can make you crazy
On becoming a better runner, achieving it, and on we go
Scott Fink-Finowicki is a young man who works in sales and is returning to running after a period away from the sport due to injury and getting started in his career.
It's been an interesting return to the sport, because during his competitive career in high school, Scott was not just an ordinary runner. He was a very fast runner. His time for 400 meters was 49.5 seconds. That's under 25 seconds per 200 meters.
Even more impressive, his time for 800 meters was 1:51.3. That's running a 56 second first quarter mile and coming back with a split of 55.3 on the second lap.
Fink-Finowicki started his track career as a sprinter with a 200 time down near 23 seconds. Anyone that has done repeat 200s on the track knows how fast that really is. A 5:00 mile pace requires runners to go through 200 meters at 37.5 seconds. 30 second pace gives you a 4:00 mile.
So to run 1:51.3 for the 800 meters is not joking around. Fink-Finowicki first tried middle distance races during his sophomore year in high school with an indoor 600 meters. He had been messing around in training with some sprinter friends by doing longer distance runs, so the idea of covering more ground in a competitive event was not completely foreign to him. He found success by applying his sprinter's speed in combination with distance training.
It is very likely Scott would have placed high in the state meet for Illinois had he not torn his hamstring at the sectionals meet his senior year at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School. "I had tweaked my hamstring earlier in the season during the first meet. It was cold outside and I pulled it a bit during a 4 X 100 relay. But I worked through that during the season and had run 1:51.3 for the 800."
That time could well win or at least place in the Top 5 at the state final. So it was obviously disappointing when Scott tore his hamstring muscle in two that late spring day.
He went on to college at Illinois State University but did not compete in track and field. To this day his hamstring is in the process of recovery. "Since I started lifting again the left hamstring muscle is about 1/3 the strength of the right. I can hamstring curl 20 X 60lbs with my right. With my left it's still about 20 lbs. But I'm working on it."
He's back to running and has lost 20+ lbs. in the process. He says it feels good to be running again. Even sprinting is now possible.
When asked if people appreciate the speed he once had, Scott admits that most people cannot conceive running that fast. "If they're from the track & field community or the running scene, they get it," he laughs. "Otherwise, no."
That's one of the tragic aspects of being a really great runner at one point in your life. To the average runner hoping to run a 7:00 or 8:00 mile, and to do repeat quarters at 90 seconds per lap, the idea of covering 400 meters in under 50 seconds or doing a half mile in under 2:00 is inconceivable.
The irony of having run that fast at any age (much less high school) and having to leave it behind because of injury and finding out what you could do in college or beyond is tantalizing. It gives you confidence to think about what you accomplished, and yet one can't help wonder what could have transpired without the injury. A 4:00 mile?
Typically those are questions that go unanswered. We all have windows of opportunity in our lives. Some come early. Some come later. Scott Fink-Finowicki gets to say he ran a 1:51.3 half mile. There is never any shame in something like that.
And now he's using his running to build the remainder of his life and career. There's certainly no shame in any of that either. Like they say, running is a journey, not a destination. On we go.
A true and compelling story about sharing lanes in swimming
By Monte Wehrkamp
TODAY'S BLOG is provided by my long time friend and fellow write Monte Wehrkamp. It was written in response to yesterday's We Run and Ride blog on sharing swimming lanes. I loved the directness of this true story. It provides some inspiration for us all.
When I was a kid, I wasn't exactly fat, I just wasn't as slim as other kids by 1970s standards. My mother blames it on my extremely premature birth (did I ever tell you I was a twin? He did not survive, that's how much of a close-run thing it was). Baptized in the incubator, I was. My home for six months. When I got home, I failed to thrive. I vomited up breast milk, cow's milk, did not matter. The doctor put me on a diet of heavy beef broth. This I could keep down. Mom and Dad had to feed me with a toothpick in one hand in order to clear the nipple of beef and fat bits. Raised on such an unnatural diet (hey, it was the 60s, nobody had even heard of lactose intolerance or invented milk and formula substitutes yet), I was a chubby baby.
So it was I went through grade school wearing husky Toughskins from Sears.
And so it was I was an overweight kid in the pool, twice a week, every week, for 10 years.
With me the whole way was a girl named Diane. She was thin, fit, fast. In my grade, in my school. Some years, we'd be in the same class. Some years, we had different teachers. But every year, together at the YMCA taking, then teaching, swim classes.
Your WRAR article reminded me of how many hundreds of hours I spent lane sharing with her. And teaching tadpoles, then guppies, then frogs…class naming convention. She took the criers. I took the spastics.
When we were young, she always swam lead, slicing through the water with nary a wave or splash. I had good form, I just took up more space. It was an arrangement that worked perfectly till…
Seventh grade. I went from a 160 lb, 5′ 5″ chubby kid to a 170 lb 5′ 11 1/2″ regular kid. My stomach stretched flat. My shoulders grew by four inches. My arms and legs lengthened to proportionally fit a man 6′ 3″ tall. Then I took the lead in the lane, and slim little Diane fell in behind me for the next four years, as we completed everything, taught everything, received our lifeguard certification. Lots of kids came and went in and out of the program, but Diane and I were the only two in our grade to stick it out till the end. Survival swimming. Rescue methods. Kayak and canoe capsize and flip drills (which came in handy four years later when I was in college, I was with Diane's brother in a half-frozen MN lake, we were drunk as skunks in a canoe at twilight when we flipped it. I righted the canoe, threw in the paddles, pushed Rich into it — it was still 80% full of water — and swam Rich and the canoe to shore while wearing cowboy boots and a jean jacket. The 33-degree water temperature ruined my Jim Beam buzz pretty quick).
Ach, teaching lane etiquette to a pack of 10 year olds. Like herding sunfish. But when we were done with the little kids, Diane and I would jump in and put in our laps. Then get out, write our totals in grease pencil on the board, shower, and go home to do homework (which sucked, because chlorine and my eyes don't mix — can't teach wearing goggles, and even the fumes off the water tear me up).
The thing with doing 25, 50 laps is like a long flat 50 mile ride on your bike. You get in this zone. Enveloped in a bubble, rhythmic, hypnotizing. Stroke-stroke-breath, stroke-stroke-breath. Or if it's slower, gliding, more strokes between breaths, just letting the bubbles out your nose tickle down chest and stomach. The white churn and little peeks of Diane's feet just a couple feet from my outstretched arm. She flips and I see her below and to my left and I flip, glide behind her. Over and over and over and over. Out of time. Tunnel vision. Like the bike on a hot day with little wind on a flat straight road. The crank turns and turns and turns. Shift weight a little, relieve some pressure on hands or butt, but it's unconscious. Unthinking. An hour goes by and you wonder where you are, startled out of the exercise trance.
It's good to have a lane partner for 10 years, one that you learned to swim with from the beginning. All those things in your article that you've got to look for when lane sharing? Never occurred to us. We just swam.
Editors note: See what I mean? Sharing a lane really can change your world!
Can sharing a swimming lane teach us how to save the world?
Pool etiquette is as important as any other kind of etiquette on earth. For starters, everyone is standing around half naked, or might as well be. So there's the first and primal duty of keeping your eyes where they belong when you arrive at the pool.
Of course most serious swimmers are long past that point when they're at the pool. More important thoughts such as how to survive the pending workout occupy much more thought among serious swimmers.
There is still important swim lane etiquette to consider however.
There's this issue of sharing a swimming lane with someone else while you're both moving. It sounds simple enough, and people who practice swimming quickly learn the importance of etiquette in the pool.
But conditions can vary, and even etiquette from pool to pool. But here's some simple advice. If you're swimming at a pool where the lanes are narrow you really need to put the priorities of your lane partners first. You don't want to mess up your lane partner's workout. What a wonderful example of how to get along in this world!
Of course there is also the pace of your swimming to consider as well. If the person swimming in your lane is much faster than you, it is vital and respectful to allow them to own the timing of the lane. For example, if they're in the middle of a hard repeat 400 interval and you're only doing repeat 100s at a much slower pace, you should be the one that accommodates their need to make turns and maintain a rhythm and flow.
Most good swimmers negotiate this stuff fairly easily. They've done thousands of hours in the pool with swimmers who are both good and bad lane partners. Some have shared lanes with two or three people at a time.
Swimming is unique in this respect of sharing intimate liquid space with someone else. It's a fact of physics: everything you do in the pool reverberates for everyone else. Cut that down to a single lane and it's even more important to keep an eye out for your lane partner.
In these respects swimming differs from a sport such as running, but not entirely. For example, one of our teammates in college was known to sweat so badly it was gross to run in his vicinity. Sweat consistently flew off his body and struck you in the face if you ran behind him. "Hey," we'd yell. "We didn't come out here to go swimming!"
In cycling there's this thing called "riding in the draft" that is akin to swimming in the wake of a boat, only you're cutting through air, not water. But there's a real challenge in riding a draft behind a person that can't hold their line and weaves down the road with nary a consideration for the rider behind them. It's distracting, dangerous and tiring to ride behind or beside a riding partner like that. Generally you'll see experienced riders jump out from behind a wobbly cyclist and find another spot in the line to ride. Some would much rather lead the pull for miles than try to ride behind a cyclist that cannot hold their line. In racing, those principles become even more important. Poor cyclists cause you energy and time.
Which brings us back to swimming and the whole sharing a lane thing. If you have to share a lane at the pool, here's a list of people you'll want to avoid:
1. The Big Wake Swimmer. Some people know how to swim smoothly through the water. Others seem to have evolved their strokes by working as a waterwheel at a grain mill or as the propeller on an ocean line. They move water around so much with every stroke you nearly get knocked into the ropes when you pass by them. There are reasons for their big wake style. They may be a "head-raiser" or "shoulders out of the water" type of swimmer, which generates tons of wake. Or they have a rotating or thrashing stroke that turns a 10 meter circle around them into a Wave Pool. In any case, if you arrive at a pool and see the Big Wake Swimmer churning up the water, pick another lane to share.
2. The Human Orca. Yes, Killer Whales are beautiful, amazing creatures in the wild. But the swimmer who consistently tears at your feet while using your lane is no blessing of nature. Some people never look up when they swim. In triathlons they are the same folks that swim right over top of you as if you were a helpless seal. It's hard to tell a Human Orca from a distance. But if you wind up in their lane it can be best to get out of the pool and choose a new lane partner. No sense getting eaten alive.
3. The Snot-Nosed Cough & Hacker. It's simply a gross thought to have to swim through the watery detritus of another swimmer's nasal or congestive issues. Nothing turns you off to sharing a lane with another person more than the sound of the snarking up Farmer Snots or coughing loudly like a clogged bellows with every pause at the wall. Ick.
4. The Bob and Weaver. Let's face it, for some people it's hard to swim in a straight line. When you share a lane with a Bob and Weaver, it means paying close attention when you approach them from the opposite direction lest you get clonked by their head or slammed by a wayward arm or body shot.
5. The Olympic Caliber Jerk or Jerkette. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes even people who offer to share lanes are not the nicest folks you can encounter. Their every action screams "I wish you were not here." You can almost feel the electric charge of despise and inconvenience in the water. Sure, they've likely earned their right to feel like they own the pool, having perhaps swum thousands of miles and won everything from the Kiddie Junior Olympics to the Master's Swim National Championships. Some people just can't help lording their ability over others.
Of course you can also encounter a jerk or jerkette that just thinks they're too good to share a lane. In some ways that's an even worse situation. The best you can do is be polite and hope you never encounter either species of swimmer again.
Fortunately the swim world is by and large one of grand consideration and etiquette. That's because the pool is a pleasure for all those who enjoy swimming. Many people like to share that experience. But the fact remains: how sociable can you be really, given that 90% of your time is spent with your face down in the water? It's not like riding or running where you can carry on a conversation while working out. It's pretty much you and the bubbles you create for company. When you finally come up for air between laps it's to catch your breath, not waste it discussing the world's problems.
Now there's a good idea! Perhaps the world really would be a better place if more people spent more time in the pool! Hot air and stupid political opinions tend to dissipate when blown into the water. Perhaps we should require that the next set of Middle East talks might be conducted in the confines of a pool, where both space and etiquette are better appreciated. That's where bitter resentments can be drowned, as well.
May you share your lanes in peace.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged pool etiquette, sharing a swimming lane Leave a comment
In Christian tradition there is no more important event than the Resurrection. It symbolizes life after death and to some, the promise of eternal life.
Those are pretty big concepts to grasp. Yet every year at this time people who call themselves Christians broom together their guilt and sorrow into a dingy little pile and submit their repentance for consideration before the Lord God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
If that sounds a little bit like the language of a Radio Preacher, then so be it. As I wrote recently on my blog GenesisFix, there is a new form of Christianity out there that is more about winning the values argument than it is about actually acting out Christian principles. I call it Meta Christianity, that referential brand of faith that commodifies the authority of Jesus for the convenience of the self-proclaimed righteous masses and what they decide is all important on behalf of God and Christ. That might include lying to yourself about the Prosperity Gospel or that evolution is a farce, but so be it. Hubris isn't confined to the secular world, for sure.
Because mostly what we find behind the motives of Meta Christianity is the love of money, political power and control freak standards of morality that have nothing to do with an intelligent understanding of scripture. There's an arrogant tradition in religion that says if you own the narrative, you own the power. Just ask the Catholic Church before Martin Luther took them down a notch.
Ask and Ye Shall Receive…
Because while preachers these days are asking for $65M jets from their followers, and building $10.5M homes as testament to their own dreams of prosperity, millions of naive people continue giving their hard-earned money to the cause of the wealthy because humble people are always dying to get into heaven. It couldn't possibly suck as bad as life on earth.
So the Resurrection holds tons of hope for people worshipping at churches where the kingdom of God is turned into a kind of currency exchange all those seeking a title loan on their souls. Frankly that approach makes the kingdom of God feel like a Rust Belt city trying to make ends meet as a tourist attraction. All those arenas filled with crying parishioners march straight from the church to the NFL stadiums or their big screen TVs because they crave stimulation in the face of this boring, secular life they have to struggle through before earning their place in heaven.
Paths to Salvation
Well, I am here to tell you, my fellow believers and non-believers, that those of us who run and ride know a better path to salvation. We know daily what it means to suffer and come back to life. We resurrect ourselves for morning workouts when even God is still lying in bed. We strive and fail with gusto, just like Jesus and even the God of the Muslims and the Torah told us to do.
Moses and Abraham would have made great triathletes or marathoners. They knew the virtues of strife bring out the best in us all. A restricted diet of manna and quail? No problem. Let's keep moving folks. We don't want the dust to settle under our feet for too long. Snakes biting your ankles? Wrap thick cloth around your ankles and make sure you strap on your sandals tight in case you need to run for your life.
Moses and Abraham were like the original coaches, don't you see? They led their charges out of Egypt and got their training rules from God himself.
But the people griped and complained. Life was too damned hard in the desert. They bitched and moaned about the food, or tried hoarding it like little piggies. So God made it wilt and spoil just to prevent them from cheating on their diets. Oh that Oreos would do that trick.
Even that biblical character Job knew what it meant to suffer with the best of them. "It builds character," he so much as bragged to his snarky buddies who stood around mocking him for his pains. "And when I'm through with the spiritual workout God is putting me through, I'll be in peak soul condition. Because what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Women pegged for success
There are plenty of strong women in the Bible too. You had to be tough to be a woman in those days. It wasn't easy being the property of any man. Hell just finding the car keys would have been tough! And when tested, women knew how to survive. Take this example from Judges 4:21, "But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died."
It is likely she killed him because he stole her water bottle before a 20-mile workout. Anyone who does that deserves to die. And it's unlikely that the dude with the tent peg through his head got resurrected, either. God doesn't like thieves. They don't get into heaven. "Thou shalt not steal."
Daily Resurrections
Those of us who run and ride do know what it's like to rise from death to run and ride again. Or at least we feel dead some days. Aching legs. Ass numb from riding 80 miles on a hot day in August. And yet, when you get moving a little things often improve. You come back from the dead eventually.
Of course we also make ourselves nearly sick to death with our training regimens. We skip sleep and feel like zombies. We catch colds so bad our lungs come flying out in chunks. We get diarrhea and constipation, spew blood and sweat and Farmer Snots, and still we swallow our pride and come back for more. We kill ourselves only to rise again. Another day, another workout. And goddamnit, we've not quitting.
Jesus in the Desert
Think about Jesus in that desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Satan himself accompanied him out their to tempt the Son of God with all sorts of riches and comforts. He waved his hand and said, "All this can be yours!" But Jesus turned to Satan and said. "I've got a swim workout at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. Go away and let me sleep."
So you get the picture. Our sacrifices do teach us a few things about life. Even if you think religion is a bunch of bunk, you have to admit there are certain parallels between endurance sports and the race of life. 2 Timothy 7 captures it cleanly: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." That's like the triathlon of spiritual testimony, right there.
Beware of False Prophets
So we must beware of false prophets who would lead us astray from the modern asceticism that we find appealing in our endurance sports. The New Pharisees with their promises of the Prosperity Gospel seem to think God is in the business of handing us stuff just for speaking well of his character. They seem to think we're all just a bunch of squirrels sniffing around for free nuts that God throws down from heaven. Seriously, that's about the depth of their so-called Prosperity Gospel. Well, nuts to them.
True Spirits
Those of us who run and ride know there's a big difference between saying you're going to run a 2:30 marathon and actually doing it. We know that God refines our character through trials that many people seem unwilling to endure.
And yet we must be careful not to think ourselves better than others for our pursuits. There are many paths to God or enlightenment. Many types of journeys can deliver insight, hope and the zen of being.
The best philosophy is to be strong in your efforts, but grateful for your abilities. Be hopeful in your approach, yet accept your failings with humility and grace. Be sure to kick ass when you can, yet be encouraging to people of all abilities. The weakest among us are not those whose ass you seek to kick.
They already understand the grace of God, after all. They rise and fall in daily resurrections just like you, but without the possible glory you might earn. Those are the people we need to respect most of all. They teach us that resurrection is something highly individual, yet meant to be shared.
And here's hoping the Easter Bunny brings your favorite kind of chocolate. You've most certainly earned it.
Spread the Gospel of We Run and Ride. Please share with your flock of friends.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire User Reviews
Average Ratings from 14 reviews
- Performance:
- Appearance:
- Build Quality:
- Overall:
Review Highlights Click to filter reviews below
User Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 2006 Chrysler Crossfire reviews.
Casey writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe Limited Review
Great performance, handling, and the smile I get while driving it.
Premium fuel only; dealer maintained only.
Xfire — Great performance. Handles just like the SLK320. Very little auxiliary noise other than a few interior parts rattling. Cost of ownership is not bad. Due to Mercedes parts it's a little more per visit, but the visits are few and far between. It's a great [fun] car to drive.
Looking for a Used Crossfire in your area?
CarGurus has 360 nationwide Crossfire listings starting at $5,598.
John writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Review
Unique styling, impressive handling, surprisingly quiet unless you decide to push the gas down, spoiler lifts up in the back at high speeds
Low end torque could be improved, high price tag when new when there are competitors that give you more for a similar price
Defintly A Worthy Chrysler/mercedes Effort — The fruit of a joint effort of both Chrysler and Mercedes Benz is definitly worth taking a look at. The fat rear wheels on this car give it a lot of stability and handling and the large breaks on the car are astonishing. Based on the only SLK chassis, the styling inside from what i have heard resembles Mercedes. As impractical and fun that this car has it does have its flaws. Low end torque is pathetic for a car of this caliber. In addition, so you don't think it's a Mercedes , they have toned down the 3.2 liter V6 to only 215 hp. But with that aside once you get past 2nd gear the car takes off. My father has a manual but i heard the torque is not as much of an issue with the automatic.
rhs3300 writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe Limited Review
Looks great and handles great, a real head turner
Not made for a tall heavy person but once in the cockpit its rock and roll.
Great Affordable Fun And Reliable. — i have ownes this car for three years and since then have injured my knees which makes it very hard for me to get in and out of the cock pit. it is very much worth it's weight in gold and a future investment.
Primary Use: Commuting to work
Jum writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe Limited Review
gas milage in high 20's
no spare tire
Dosn't Tow Very Well — missfire is a great car and quite a value. all mercedes under the skin and made in germany very quick and the best brakes for a vehicle under 100k styling is in the eyes of the beholder but the electric wing is boss
Primary Use: Utility (towing boats, transporting cargo, etc.)
musicslave writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Limited Review
style, comfort, reliability, unique looks, I can spot the spark plugs and NO RECALLS.
Console cup holder would have been more practical as an ipod holder.
2006 Limited Chrysler Crossfire Roadster — Simply an enjoyable 'Limited' roadster with discriminating looks and style. Less trouble getting in and out of than my '68 Jag E-Type, and it's getting just as many looks! Bought in prestine condition, 11,200 miles on a 2006 for $15,200US. Responsive automatic transmission but not for winning races off the line. Why race when you have luxury, anyways. Navigation updates seem impossible to locate. Test others but the CROSSFIRE will be a top contender, I am sure.
Joseph writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe Limited Review
Looks, Quality of car, reliability of a Mercedes
A bit underpowered
Awesome Little Cruiser — Great peppy little car. Only 215HP V6 and with an MSRP of over 35K you would expect at least 260HP. Design is beautiful and that was the real reason for buying it. Great Quality, a rarity to say the least.
Primary Use: Commuting to work
fulldemolition writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Limited Review
Fairly quick vehicle with a decent ride. Handles like it is on rails.
Some blind spots with the top up and seats are a bit bit narrow for a larger person
Quick Car That Turns Heads. Don't See Alot Of Roadsters On The Road. — This car is a real head turner as you do not see too many roadsters. Since it is based upon a Mercedes it has great build quality and some essence of German engineering. Very safe and fun car to drive.
Primary Use: Commuting to work
Stefan writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe Review
Absolute chick magnet and an excellent everyday sports car for the inexperienced driver.
Limited practical uses...and lots of plastic.
World's Greatest Car For Teenagers! — Theis mostly german American car has won my heart of the last year and a half that I've had it. It's handling and power are perfect for the city streets. You can zoom around and have fun on some of the twistier bits of roads and show off to your friends, but also stop on a dime or swerve out of the way of any idiots that try to kill you or your Crossfire. Not many are on the market because of the insane starting price that Chryler set for it, but used, the value is remarkable. The Chrysler Crossfire is the perfect car for my driving philosophy, avoiding the accidents, so that you never acutally have one.
Primary Use: Commuting to work
JerrieMarie writes:
2006 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Limited Review
Mercedes under Chrysler design!
If you need any room at all, this is not for you..
I Want Two! At Least! — I love this car! Very dependable, tight and fast in corners. The scream of the V6 is pure music! There is almost no extra room besides that for two adults and a bag a piece. A romantic cruiser for the coast! Love it!
Primary Use: Commuting to work
Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 2006 Chrysler Crossfire reviews.
Reviews From Other Years
2004 Chrysler Crossfire Reviews
Exciting And Fun!
I love this car. It's amazing, it runs like a race car and looks hot. The control and handling is more than awesome. This car is great to drive on the weekends and during the week. It can go the l... Read More
Fast And Furious!
Great on gas, fast acceleration, great looking, plenty of room in rear for luggage. I love the car very much, but my guy is 6'6 and he can't fit in it, so I have too look for something better suited f... Read More
2005 Chrysler Crossfire Reviews
The Smoothest, Most Stylish Car.......
This Roadster is the most stylish automobile I've owned. The pleasure I've gotten driving it during the warm weather especially lived up to everything a Roadster is to be. Wherever I go, people ask me... Read More
Smoothest,fastest Ride I've Ever Owned
It gives me that control of the road, the driving confidence of sharp handling, quick/smooth shifting in any road/driver conditions. You want to feel the wind blow through your hair, and the sleek,st... Read More
2007 Chrysler Crossfire Reviews
The Car I've Kept Longer Than Any Other
I like everything about it and accept that there are always some trade-offs, such as trunk space. The handling is great, the touring comfort is phenomenal, the acceleration at speed is effortless, and... Read More
2008 Chrysler Crossfire Reviews
Nice Summer Car,
Fun summer car, I like the Porsche BoxsterS and the Nissan 370Z but I got a good deal on this car and I liked the styling. If you are taller than 6 foot you might find it to tight in the drivers or pa... Read More
This is my fun car! It gets really good gas mileage and it's a pleasure to dirve. I got an excellent deal on it. $18,000 off MRSP. It's comfortable, classy, and I get alot of comments on how it lo... Read More


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Brazil World Cup Stadium Up For Sale Tottenham, Archway Reach Agreement Facility Notes Bahia Leaves Arena Fonte Nova Qatar May Not Need Cooling For 2022 Judgment Day Looms For Leichhardt Oval Italy's Ryder Cup Course Needs Overhaul Facility Notes NRL Wests Tigers Face Uncertain Future Botafogo Wants Stadium Naming Rights
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Qualcomm's Wireless Charging Technology Used In Formula E To Hit Market Within 3 YearsPublished in SportsBusiness Daily Global on 04 / 02 / 15
Qualcomm expects its wireless charging technology will hit car showrooms within three years, according to a company official. Wireless charging, which is currently being tested in Formula E, will soon appear on tick sheets right next to car color and upholstery, said Graeme Davison, Qualcomm's VP of...
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Brazilian officials "are inaugurating the Arena da Amazonia in the jungle city of Manaus, the ninth World Cup stadium to become available" for football's showcase event. Three still "have to be finished, including the one hosting the opener in Sao Paulo in about three months" ( AP, 3/9 ). ... Bulg ...
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Malaysia Center Caters To Para-Athletes
Malaysia is building a RM 49M ($15M) Malaysia Paralympic Sports Excellence Centre in Kampung Pandan -- "the biggest" in Southeast Asia, according to Eric Samuel of THE STAR. Youth & Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the building would raise the profile of the sport as well as "inspire ...
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The Sachsenring racetrack will alter its infamous turn 11 ahead of the MotoGP World Championship race at the German venue on July 13. Turn 11, the first right hand corner after several left hand turns, has been a tricky section of track for riders in the past, so a new corner layout will be introduc ...
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HIG Poised To Buy Nürburgring
An investor group led by buyout firm HIG Capital "is poised to buy the financially troubled Nürburgring race track," according to Alexander Hübner of REUTERS. The consortium HIG "has already registered the acquisition of substantial parts of Nürburgring's assets with the German compet ...
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Kier To Build Grandstand At Cheltenham
The Jockey Club said on Wednesday that British construction firm Kier will build the new £45M ($75M) grandstand at Cheltenham racecourse "and finish it in time for the 2016 festival," according to Keith Weir of REUTERS. The Jockey Club, which owns the course in western England, said that it ...
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Barça Prepares For Renovation Referendum
Barcelona has set up an informational tour with 40 meetings in a span of 30 days that will explain the club's proposed project to renovate Camp Nou and build a new Palau Blaugrana basketball arena. The proposal will be voted on April 5 in a member referendum that will decide its fate. In addition ...
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Wembley To Host Froch-Groves Fight
London's Wembley Stadium will host the rematch between WBA and IBF super-middleweight champion Carl Froch and George Groves on May 31 with promoters "expecting to sell more tickets than for any post-World War Two fight in Britain," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The fight will be the first st ...
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Klagenfurt's Stadium Finally Completed
The football stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria "has been completed six years after the country co-hosted Euro 2008 together with Switzerland," according to the KURIER. The stadium, which hosted games during Euro 2008, "has finally been completed." The Wörthersee Stadium, including the sports park, ...
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Budapest Honved Planning New Stadium
Hungarian football club Budapest Honved has announced plans to "build a new stadium in the Little Pest district of Hungary's capital," according to Jaroslaw Adamowski of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The club will receive funds for the investment under a 40B forint ($177M) government program to "modernise ...
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AFL Long Way From Buying Stadium
Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou "has revealed the league is still a long way from being able to buy the privately-owned Etihad Stadium at a 'fair price,'" according to Jon Pierik of THE AGE. Tenant clubs St. Kilda, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs "have long bemoaned that the ...
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text:
The story of how a boy from Kapurthala ended up as poet laureate of three cities in Germany. Meet Rajvinder Singh…
To me, it is a gorgeous forest. To him, it is the subject of his verses. Shrubs growing feral, swaying to a gentle wind; lofty pines stretching their arms wide; ageing deodars, their bark plastered with grey moss. To make matters more scenic, the Shimla-Kalka metre gauge train is chugging by perilously, a few metres below the hill. Adding a poetic stroke, clouds descend rather low to meander through the trees.
I am in Baluganj, Shimla, looking out from the balcony of a modest flat occupied by Indo-German poet Rajvinder Singh, a National Fellow of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS). We are looking at the same sight and reading it differently. Between sips of Shiraz, Singh says, "I just love trees; in fact, I am attracted to all the elements… trees, wind, water. They are full of answers; you need to find the questions." Take wind, for example, he prods. "No one has understood what wind is. It is blowing, waiting to be recognised and understood."
As the sun sinks in the horizon, Singh talks of his rather fascinating trajectory as a poet; of a boy from Kapurthala who left home to work at a local fodder factory because he refused to follow his father's dream of becoming a doctor; who adored Punjabi literature, wrote poems in it, and went on to be feted in faraway Germany for verses in their language. "And also for coining German words in the process," he adds.
Singh continues, "I am perhaps the only living poet, certainly the only living Indian poet, whose verse has been cast in stone." In 2007, Singh was declared the poet laureate of Trier, the German city where Karl Marx was born. The environmental senator of Trier unveiled "the poetic stone" dedicated to Singh at a park there "under the shadow of a tall tree".
Host of honours
This honour is only one in a host of others bestowed on him in Germany. In 1997, he was chosen as the poet- laureate of Rheinsberg. This was followed by the release of a compilation of his poems chosen by seven well-known German poets. "The Art Council of North Rhine-Westphalia state also chose me to occupy the newly created chair of writer-in-residence at Remsheid in 2004."
Singh has published 11 books of German poetry and one book of German short stories, apart from two books of Punjabi poems; one is part of the syllabus of the M.A. course in Punjabi at Kurukshetra University.
"My specialisation is semiotics; I used to teach at the Technical University, Berlin. I learnt the language and started writing poetry in it. I threw away the first 30-40 poems I wrote in German. The first one I let live is 'Mit dem Winde tanze ich gern' (I fondly dance with the winds), penned in 1984."
He adds, "I am not the first to write in another language. There was Joseph Conrad, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett and Joseph Brodsky who wrote in a language that they learnt at a ripe age. I learnt German at the age of 24."
The focus shifts to how he "coined" German words. "I learnt German the way it was once spoken. Many Germans today don't speak it like that. So I guess I had an advantage," he begins.
Some of the words he created are dialogsuechtig (dialogue addict); stiefmutter-sprache (stepmother-tongue); baum-wimper (baum means tree; wimper means lashes); and worter-wehen (worter means words and wehen has three meanings — labour pain, wind comes, the pain the words cause). Such profundity of thought crafts his poems, "some have 300 lines, some just three."
Homeward bound
Singh notes, "For me, home is a gamut of flights. It doesn't really matter where you are born; you need to find where you belong." So, for the last 33 years, Germany has been home to Singh. Once his two-year fellowship at IIAS finishes next year, he will fly "homewards". Contrary to Kipling's words, he says, "I see that East and West meet in me."
Though poets are often accused of living in a bubble, Singh states, "I live and breathe poetry but I am also watching life from very close."
He recalls, "During the Emergency, I went to jail. I was branded a Naxalite, had to leave Chandigarh, went to Jammu to pursue my Phd but was hounded there too. Finally, I left the country and look at what I have become."
Back in the present, he talks about "presenting to the world, two volumes comprising a short history of Indian languages. In the West, when one talks about Indian writing, it is often Indian writing in English. But we write in 23 languages besides English. So I thought of these volumes, which will discuss the work of three to five authors and poets from each language. One volume is almost ready," he says. Though his "heart beats for contemporary Indian literature and poetry," he recently convened — for the first time in India — the 11th International Conference on Early Modern Indian Languages of North India.
As night caps the evening, Singh recites lines from his first poem in German: "Ich habe keine Himmel/bin trotzdem ein Stern/…Met dem winde tanze ich gern. (I am this, as well as that/not only either-or, this-that/but yes, of course/…I fondly dance with the winds). The words from a faraway land seem to dance fondly in the Himalayan winds.
Keywords: Rajvinder Singh, Indo-German poet, a boy from Kapurthala


text:
24-01-2005 Comments (0)
ALZA CorpDitropanDitropan XLMylan LaboratoriesOxybutynin Chloride Extended Release TabletsOxybutynin Tablets and Syrup
US generics firm Mylan Laboratories says that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted tentative…
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6-Pk. Guide Gear Boxer Briefs
Item # TOPX-167617
- Google+
- Details & Specs
Guide Gear® Underwear, HUGE SAVINGS!
All are smooth, breathable, comfortable 100% cotton.
- Elastic-band waist
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- Machine wash / dry. Imported.
State Color and Size, as available in the Shopping Cart.
Built to Sportsman's Guide's exact specifications, Guide Gear stands for dependability, long-lasting quality and unmatched value! Guaranteed!
- Reviews
6-Pk. Guide Gear Boxer Briefs is rated out of 5 by 112.Rated 5 out of 5 by Bob Bruce from Good Product at a Fair Price. I wear these to work out in and they're comfortable and durable. I'll buy these again.Date published: 2015-02-23Rated 4 out of 5 by Wood chooper from Guide Gear Boxer Briefs They fit, they wear well and they are as advertised, what else can I say?Date published: 2015-02-16Rated 3 out of 5 by PistolPetey from Basically Functional but not HANES ! After waiting nearly 6 WEEKS from order date....they finally arrived !Appear & feel solid but side stitching lines appear misplaced & look awkward...these are not your daddies Hanes but ok.Date published: 2015-02-03Rated 4 out of 5 by Elk Hunter from Good Product I have had these before. I like the fit and the color(gray).Date published: 2015-02-03Rated 5 out of 5 by dink from 6 pk guide gear boxer briefs very comfortable and long wearing, had these before and they hold up wellDate published: 2015-02-03Rated 5 out of 5 by Bob Bruce from They Hold Up Well. These briefs hold up well even during my strenuous workouts. They're a good value for a good price.Date published: 2015-02-03Rated 4 out of 5 by bigkiwi from price was right they are comfy and do what they are designed to doDate published: 2015-02-03Rated 5 out of 5 by EARL R. from GreatDate published: 2014-09-23

 what material are these made of?

Asked by: flomechbusi

 These are made of 100% cotton.
Answered by: Customer Service

Date published: 2015-02-26

 how long is inseam

Asked by: none

 The inseam is 3".
Answered by: Customer Service

Date published: 2015-01-26

 size guide: waist to size designation

Asked by: Norm

 I've included a link to the sizing chart, which you will also find located at the bottom of every web page.http://www.sportsmansguide.com/shoppingresources/sizing
Answered by: Customer Service

Date published: 2014-11-25

2015-03-29T21:29CST

bvseo_cps, prod_bvqa, vn_cps_3.1.1

cp_1, bvpage1

co_hasquestionsanswers, tq_3

loc_en_US, sid_167617, PRD, sort_recentAnswersFirst

clientName_sportmansguide

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text:
Learning with iPads
Warringa Park School has a one-to-one iPad program for our staff and students.
Walk On The Wilde Side
Come and join us for our end of year celebration. Recognising the work of our students and their quest to help the endangered animals from Australia and other parts of the world. Thursday, November 27 – 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
- Bouncy castle
- Art exhibition
- Face painters
- Sausage sizzle
- Refreshments
- Cake cutting ceremony
- Special performance @ 5:30
Science Discovery
We encourage our young scientists to use their problem solving skills, to think creatively and work together to challenge their predictions, observe reactions and explain how and what happened.
Download the Warringa Park School App!
Stay updated with the latest school news and upcoming student events.


text:
We believe that a university should be about one thing : Preparing You to meet the World's needs. It's just that simple.
Bears for Life is an online community provided by Lenoir-Rhyne University for alumni. It is the perfect place for networking with other alumni, learning about campus events, reconnecting with friends, sharing stories and events, and volunteering to serve as a mentor to someone interested in your vocation. Take charge today by signing up for bearsforlife.com.
Attend this FREE MBA level lecture and learn the ropes from some of the top professionals in our area. Lenoir-Rhyne students who attend will also receive convo credit as an added benefit! Click here for details!
The class of 1965 began in a mill and celebrates its 50th anniversary at Moretz Mill on April 24, 2015. Join us for fun, food & fellowship.
Click here for details!
Details coming soon!


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CoolIT Systems Vantage A.L.C. CPU Cooler - Final ThoughtsTake a CoolIT ECO, mix in some customer input, some cool new options and a bit of hidden tech yet to be displayed, and what do you have? - The Vantage A.L.C. of course!
Final Thoughts
I mentioned in the testing that I ran dual fan testing as well, and I did. I took a 60CFM fan and strapped to the spacer on the radiator. I figured if I went with a below average fan and I got pleasing results, it would show great potential for those who must have the push/pull setup for maximum cooling. In Extreme mode, I was able to drop the temperatures 0.7 degrees at load but it didn't change the idle much. In performance mode I saw almost a full degree (0.9), where in silent mode it grew even more. The reason for the reversal here is my 60 CFM fan was on a 12V Molex and not controlled by the Vantage. Due to this reason I didn't show these results in the temperature or sound testing; I'd rather show what you will see using the Vantage as it is shipped.
I was so taken by the Vantage that it went right from the test bed to one of my PCs. Now it's been in there for a week, it is producing better numbers on my i5 750 than did the Tuniq Tower 120 that it replaced. One thing that I didn't get during our testing was any sort of warning or alarm beeps from the unit. When I placed it on the CPU and ran it in the PC, it freaked me out a bit on the initial boot. When the PC starts up, and before my bios check beeps, the Vantage starts up beeping. I figured I broke it, but come to find out it is reading the lack of power to the unit during the various stages of boot up. The beeping goes away as soon as the BIOS clears. Realistically all I can fault the Vantage for is scaring me for about five seconds; other than that that Vantage has been flawless.
So let's get down to the basics. While it isn't the easiest cooler to find on the shelf, given a bit of time I think the Vantage ALC will be more widely available than the ECO. Once you find the Vantage, I know the price will make you think long and hard. Let me see if I can make it worthy. Most of the premium coolers out there are around $80. Some of those don't even include a fan, so add another $15 to that price. On a side note, I am being generous about the fan pricing. so that's almost $100 to get the top of the line air cooler. What we have here is a self contained, maintenance free, water cooling system. Easy to install, better than most air coolers, and will produce similar numbers With a bit of tinkering, the numbers can get even better. I haven't even touched the fact that this comes with an LCD display with many color options to fit any theme in a chassis. On top of that, there is still the Maestro to consider. At a later date, the click of a mouse can control how the Vantage ALC performs. Asking $129 doesn't sound all that bad now, does it? The Vantage ALC found a comfy spot in my chassis and I don't see it going anywhere soon. The real question is why you don't have one for yourself yet!
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text:
...well, they could do a whole lot worse.
By Josh Alper
The Titans spent the summer pitting Travis Coons and Maikon Bonani against each other in a competition for the kicking job and Coons came out on top when Bonani was released over the weekend. His prize may be short-lived, however. Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reports that the team has a strong interest in former
Read more…
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That's for certain! I'm sorry to see him go. He's done a good job for us. But the salary cap is really making things tough for us and saving $1.5 million is important. I hope Santos turns out to be as good.
|Thumbs Up
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Given: 531
Well Succop now has a one-year deal with the Titans.
Happy Easter!


text:
Zenith Dehumidifier Manual
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This morning I tried it on a different computer and I still couldn't get rsd lite to work but manually flashing all the files via fastboot worked this time.
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