Thursday, August 03, 2006

This is Keith's brain on drugs. Doctor prescribed, of course.

Wow. Time flies. Sorry about that. I see I haven't written anything in two weeks. You probably needed the break.

I tore my hamstring in a softball game at Zearing Days. I thought it was a result of giving everything I had for the team; my dad says I need to realize I'm no longer in my twenties (or thirties). He could be right, usually is, but I'm going to act as young as possible until they throw dirt on me. However, I might stretch next time.

The Darvocet makes me feel a little groggy, so rather than try to stay on point for an entire column, I better go with scatter-shot thoughts on various topics.

Floyd Landis: Making up eight minutes in one day is possible if Landis were chasing Ed, John, Erin and me---well, maybe not Erin. She's really in shape---but it's hard to believe he made up that kind of time on the top cyclists in the world, and now we suspect why. It doesn't look good, and no matter what the B sample turns up, his win will be forever tainted and questioned. Cheating takes away one of the pure pleasures of being a fan: that you can't believe what you just saw. Now, too often, we can't.

America's Got Talent: I know it's the Gong Show in 2006, but I can't stop watching. Plus, don't underestimate the Regis factor. That guy's got talent. He makes hosting look easy. It's not. Now, come on Celtic Spring!

Talladega Nights. The ballad of Ricky Bobby: Can't wait to see this. Man, it looks funny. Shane in Marshalltown raises a great question though: Why is it when Andy Fales makes fun of NASCAR's more absurd traditions (non-stop sponsor plugs, etc.), he receives hate mail. When Will Ferrell does it, NASCAR fans can't wait to pay $8 for the privilege of being made fun of. As Andy points out, Will Ferrell's Will Ferrell, and Andy's not. More cowbell!

Valley wins everything: I didn't realize what a hot button issue this is in the Metro, until we asked on SoundOFF if Valley winning 9 team titles in one year was good for local sports. Lot of passion. Lot of resentment. Lot of jealousy. I heard everything from, "They should win everything. They've got enough students for two 4A schools", to "The rich jerks in West Des Moines buy titles by getting private lessons for their kids from the cradle" to "The fix is in. The refs want Valley to win, so no other schools have a chance. He's all paid for." (Yes, these are all actual voice mail calls from adults.) On the flip side, Valley's dominance brings a lot of positive attention to the CIML, forces other schools to step up their games, and keeps the championships out of eastern Iowa. On the whole, I think it's been positive, but it's reaching the point where I just expect Valley is going to win; I'm shocked when it doesn't. Much more of that and we could lose interest. Then again, everyone loves to go after the Big Dog (think Yankees, Notre Dame, Bulls in the 90's). Golf's ratings were never higher than when Tiger Woods couldn't lose.

More to come...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is entertaining stuff. You should run it where someone other than me actually reads it.

Kathy said...

I love reading blogs. Good stuff!

Anonymous said...

I read it! Just because I don't comment doesn't mean I don't read it!

Anonymous said...

Keith,
Sorry about the injury. How old are you anyway???

America's got talent truly is a guilty little pleasure isn't it???

NASCAR and Valley rank about the same for me. I couldn't care less about either one.

Anonymous said...

Everyone is so quick to jump on Valley for winning everything... So is everyone forgetting who a lot of this year's state Champs were?
Boy's Basketball: HOOVER
Girl's Basketball: ROOSEVELT
Softball: EAST HIGH

Keeping things competitive is good for all the metro schools - *someone* has to be on top..... and it's the nature of the beast that everyone hates the top dog.

People should grow up.

AND, I think it's not fair (nor is it in good taste) to bring up the subject of money in this arguement. If that's the case then, can we pin the Roosevelt Girls' win on the folks South of Grand ponying up cash? Hardly. Those girls were talented, and so they won.

Yeesh, people.

Anonymous said...

The dominance of Valley has raised the stakes for the CIML schools to get better. Actually, it's a good thing. I'm not a fan of Valley, but anyone who can knock them off in any sport can add a notch to their belt and say that "we've played the best team and beat them."

As a Eastern Iowan, I'll continue to root the eastern schools to win a state title and beat the best, which is Valley.

These things do come in cycles with respects to the schools and their programs. Dowling Catholic went through one, the old traditional powerhouses in the 50's and 60's went through the same thing (C.R. Jefferson, East Waterloo, (Central) Davenport, to name a few).