A Wild Ride on Penn State's Cross Country Course!

But not as wild as any of those rides with Coach Groves behind the wheel!

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier for the NCAA Cross Country Championships will be at Penn State next weekend. 

Jogging Shirtless Horse-Head Man and Presidents Meeting Presidents

Sandy didn't dent the spirits of everyone.  This guy got his 15 minutes of fame.  Which one of you idiots was this?



And here's 2 examples of photos of Presidents meeting future Presidents (although the one is a bit of a stretch).

Here's Bill Clinton meeting President Kennedy in 1963:

And here's a photo of the funeral procession of President Lincoln in NYC.  That's a 7 year-old Teddy Roosevelt hanging out the window with his younger brother Elliot.

"MISTER CHRISTIAN!"

The Storm of the Century, Sandy seems to have wiped out lower Manhattan, but group supporter and all-around good guy Phil Passen is safe, having apparently been evacuated from his building next to Battery Park AND the Hotel he fled to in New Jersey.  I hope to get word from him on the aftermath of the storm.  He has been an ardent supporter of our efforts at the blog and my thoughts and prayers are with him often.

Also wiped out is the Atlantic City Boardwalk and the entire town of Ocean City, New Jersey, my vacation spot for the last 20 years.  Not only is it underwater, but there were scores of fires overnight without the ability to fight them.

Another high profile loss was the HMS Bounty, the ship built for the filming of the classic Mutiny on the Bounty. The Captain of the ship has been lost at sea and a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, the instigator of the mutiny, was rescued from the sea many hours after the sinking, but failed to be revived.  The first 2 photos are from Shawn Whalen, a prolific masters runner in New England and friend of Martha (White) Collins, a great Friend of the Group and namesake of my daughter.  The last photo is from the Coast Guard.

Sandy Gave Me a Day Off Work! Maybe 2!

I hope everyone is safe and sound on the East Coast.  I've had contact with several people in the direct path of the storm and everyone seems to be well prepared. There will be effects felt over as large an area as I've ever seen.  The Great Lakes area need to be prepared.  And the Canaan Valley in West Virginia is bracing for 3 feet of snow! I used to XC Ski there in my younger days.  And here's my reminisces of another storm during "the best week of my life".

Coworkers decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so I actually called off a day of work.  I'll run extra on the treadmill as long as the electricity grid holds up (sorry Ron!), but will have to venture outside in the maelstrom if the power goes out like one year ago.

As the storm is predicted to be right on top of my house on Tuesday, I possibly will miss two days of work, which will take me weeks of horribly extra work to catch up, but c'est la vie.

Here's a great photo of the B1G Cross Country Women's start on Sunday from our friend Patrick Davey, a Tennessee alum and as good a photog as I've ever seen.  I'll send him this hat-tip as a way of consoling his frustration on another football season going awry!  It's not like PSU alums don't know about football travails.

 

Still the Ladies Man

Blog Muse and all-around Best Man Rob Whiteside took his daughter Phoebe to the Ivy League Cross Country Championships, better known as the Heptagonals. Look who they happened to run into!  I've always said he was everywhere, so be sure to mind your p's and q's.

I'll update the results of the B1G Championships here later. Go Lions.

Women finish in 3rd Place with Rebekkah Simko taking 5th place overall.

The Men end up in 6th with Robbie Creese placing 23rd.  


 

Dogs Have No Need for Physics

Judging by the lackluster response to the previous post centering on cats, I figured I'd come back with a post on Man's Best Friend.  These two are the working dogs of adopted PSU Track Alumni Golfer Luke Watson. The two beauties are added to the PSU Track Alumni Dog Slide Show.

His Facebook post also made me think about the early days of my running career, when I would flush out at least two pheasants during every run I took.  The local young runners today tell me they have never seen one.

It's B1G XC Championship Week (and Feline Fysics!)

The Big Ten Cross Championships are finally upon us. Check out the preview and news from the teams at the link.  Good Luck at Michigan State.

And many of you know my love of dogs (send me a photo of yours to be included in the PSU Track Alumni Golf Dog Archives).  But if you must know, I have 6 cats and only 5 dogs.  Since cats live only partially in our Universe, there must be different Laws governing their presence.  Maybe these are the Laws that  "explain it all", a Unified Theory of Cats, as it were.  I've thrown in some photos of my cats doing what they do best.

Feline Fysics Laws (from Funny2.com)

Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by some outside force such as the opening of cat food, or a nearby scurrying mouse.

Law of Cat Motion
A cat will move in a straight line, unless there's a good reason to change direction.

Law of Cat Thermodynamics
Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler body, except in the case of a cat, all heat flows to the cat.

Law of Cat Magnetism
All clothing attracts cat hair in direct proportion to the degree of color difference between the cat hair and the fabric color.

Law of Cat Stretching
A cat will stretch to a distance proportional to the length of the nap just taken.

Law of Cat Sleeping
All cats must sleep with people whenever possible, in a position as uncomfortable for the people involved as is possible for the cat.

Law of Cat Elongation
A cat can make its body long enough to reach just about any countertop which has anything remotely interesting on it.

Law of Cat Acceleration
A cat will accelerate at a constant rate until he gets good and ready to stop.

Law of Rug Configuration
No rug may remain in its naturally flat state if a cat is present.

First Law of Energy Conservation
Cats know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and will, therefore, use as little energy as possible.

Second Law of Energy Conservation
Cats also know that energy can only be stored, by a lot of napping.

Law of Refrigerator Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

Law of Dinner Table Attendance
Cats must attend all meals when anything good is served.

Law of Fluid Displacement
A cat immersed in milk will displace her own volume, minus the amount of milk consumed.

Law of Cat Disinterest
A cat’s interest level will vary in inverse proportion to the amount of effort a human expends in trying to interest him.

Law of Electric Blanket Attraction
Turn on an electric blanket and a cat will jump into bed at the speed of light.

Law of Comfort Seeking
A cat will will always seek, and usually take over, the most comfortable spot in any given room.

Law of Bag / Box Occupancy
All bags and boxes in a given room must contain a cat as soon as possible.

Law of Cat Embarrassment
A cat’s irritation rises in direct proportion to her embarrassment times the amount of human laughter.

Law of Milk Consumption
A cat will drink his weight in milk, squared, just to show you he can.

Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.

Law of Equidistant Separation
All cats in a given room will locate at points equidistant from each other, and equidistant from the center of the room.

Law of Cat Composition
A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn’t Matter.

Law of Furniture Replacement
A cat’s desire to scratch furniture is directly proportional to the furniture's cost.

Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land in the softest place possible.

Law of Cat Invisibility
Cats think that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them.

Law of Cat Probability (Cat’s Uncertainty Principle)
It isn't possible to predict where a cat actually is, only where it “might” be.

Law of Selective Listening
Although a cat can hear a can of tuna being opened a mile away, she can’t hear a simple command three feet away.

Law of Concentration of Mass
A cat’s mass increases in direct proportion to the comfort of the lap she occupies.

Law of Cat Obedience
As yet undiscovered.

In Praise of My Roommate

In another iteration of the often-asked question "What NCAA Cross Country team was the best ever?", the 1981 UTEP team came out on top.  The entirely foreign team of East Africans placed first, second, third, fifth and sixth in the team standings to score an astounding 17 points.  Only one American runner broke up a perfect team score, (although two other individuals also sneaked in  ahead of UTEP's fourth scorer also.  They didn't count in the team scores.). That runner was Penn State's own Alan Scharsu, my former senior year roommate.

1. Mathews Motshwarateu, Texas-El Paso, 28:45.6
2. Michael Musyoki. Texas-El Paso, 28:46.4
3. Gabriel Kamau, Texas-El Paso, 29:19.3
4. Mark Scrutton, Colorado, 29.22.1
5. Graeme Fell, San Diego State, 29:30.4
6. Alan Scharsu, Penn State, 29:30.5
7. Suleiman Nyambui, Texas-El Paso, 29:32.6
8. Gidamis Shahanga, Texas-El Paso, 29:33.6
9. David Taylor, Arkansas, 29:35.6
10. Richard Tuwei. Washington State, 29:36.7

I have previously extolled the virtues of another PSU roommate, Dudley Doo-Right (aka Doug Kent).  Alan was also a great roommate.  We also lived next door to Don Skerpon that year.  Another pair of people as fine as them would be hard to find.  My only quibble with Alan would be his choice of music, but today's versions temper that quite a bit!

A Fast Blast From the Past

I came across this great pic from the days of yore, which brings back a whole bunch of smile-inducing memories.

That's former State College star and High School Mile State Champion Dave Felice in the lead. Dave was a Tasmanian Devil with the baton. (Sorry Ryan, is that racist?) Memories of the many spirited interactions between Dave and Coach Groves still make me giggle.  It's even better when you realize that Dave went on to coaching at State College High, where he had one 800 M runner named Matt Groves, the fastest of Coach Groves' progeny.  The world has a nifty sense of humor, doesn't it?  I'll bet Matt didn't give Dave the least bit of trouble however.

Dave was also a firefighter in Midland Texas after college and helped in the rescue of Baby Jessica from the well.  Dave's face plastered across all the national magazines and newspapers also made me smile from ear to ear!

In second place is Friend of the Group Malcolm East of Allegheny.  My memories of him are of the back of his head, but even they make me smile. 70's hair was wonderful, wasn't it?  I came across this photo as a suggestion for "friends" on Facebook.  I'm sure many of you have memories of the Allegheny teams back then, and of Malcolm.  I have made him an honorary member of the Group just for making me smile.

A Great Weekend in State College

It started with a rainbow with 2 pots of gold in Happy Valley.  It continued with a great victory for the Women's Volleyball team, a tie that clinched the B1G Title for the Women's Soccer team, and the Men's Football team thumping of an always pesky Iowa.  My bet is the luck holds until this weekend's B1G Cross Country Championships at Michigan State.

Additions to the Last 2 Posts

Here's Kevin Geesaman demonstrating that I really don't know how popular fishing is!

And there were PSU Track Alumni Singlets at the Hershey Half-Marathon! Matt Groves looks to be in good shape, and the newly married Ryan Foster doesn't look too bad after conquering the distance. PSU is 800 U

PSU is 800 U: Half-Marathon Division

Yesterday was the Hershey Half-Marathon and a couple of ex-PSU "half-milers" jumped in and stirred up the locals.  Not sure if any PSU Track Alumni Singlets were involved, but I'll put out feelers to find out. Our growing list of spies are everywhere!

It's quite a wide range of talent to run well at 800 Meters and 13.1 Miles, especially when the real world has turned you into a working stiff following the embracing cocoon of PSU.  Congrats on good efforts from Matt Groves (16th) and Ryan Foster (9th) on the difficult course.

All results from spies anywhere in the world with word of PSU Track Alumni (Golfers) are welcome here!

Penn State Track Alums and Drift Boats, Whatever They Are?

There seems to be a theme going on, and I know nothing at all about it.  Fishing is another of the things I barely understand.  Although I would have to admit sitting around BS'ing with others with adult beverages at the ready can't be a bad thing...

Coach Gary Schwartz seems to be enjoying his retirement in fashion.  He has told me he will attend our Reunion Weekend and Golf Tourney once his "non-working" years commenced.  I'll hound him until we all see him there.  I would love to get some Coach Groves stories from him for the blog.  I'll bet he has a few.

That's Coach Schwartz on the right, the most relaxed of the three!

And here's PSU Track Alumni Golfer and All-American Dave Masgay.  It looks like he can set records both on and off the track!

Now They Tell Me!

Who knew there was a course at Penn State known as "Idiot's Physics"?  And why didn't you tell me?

Actually, I couldn't have benefited from it anyway.  It was just for the Liberal Arts Majors.  In this case a Liberal Arts Finance Major. Physics 1 wasn't quite Physics 101, I suppose!  Damn, not having to know any of the formulas would have been right down my alley.

Here's an article by a former PSU Finance Major discussing the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as a viable Investment Principle. Idiot Physics and the Case for Diversification.

Death of an Icon

Not the person, just the store.

The Bill Rodgers Running Center at Quincy Market will soon close its doors forever.  The Faneuil Hall iconic store has been around since the store moved from the Cleveland Circle original site at the 22 mile mark of the Boston Marathon.  It was as much of a museum as it was a store.  I can only imagine what the rent must be at a place like that in one of the most expensive cities in America.

Frivolous Post With Far Reaching Implications

Apparently, even germs are faster than I am now.  We all know the 5 second rule.  That states that when you drop something, but pick it up within 5 seconds, it is OK to eat.  It has been as hard and fast as E=mc2, Moore's Law, gravity and "the early bird gets the worm".  Except that stick-in-the-mud scientists just proved it is wrong.  Darn them all.

For dads, that means that Binky you kept popping back in your kid's mouth was a no-no.  Who would have thunk it?

12th Annual Coach Harry Groves Golf Tournament Slated for May 17, 18, 2013

Coach Groves with last year's winner of the Golden Putter Dennis Hendershott.

The weekend of May 17 and 18, 2013 (correction!) has been set aside for this year's Penn State Track and Field Alumni Reunion and the 12th Annual Coach Harry Groves Golf Tournament. This comes again on an off week following the Big Ten Outdoor Meet and the NCAA Regional Meet.  That means you can again meet some of the current athletes and staff as well as alums from up to 8 different decades!  Planning is already underway and we will keep you posted on any details right here at the blog with it all.

Remember, our Reunion is open to anyone with an interest in Penn State Track and Field.  The golf tournament is in a format that allows even horrid golfers like me to get their name engraved on the ultimate prize, the Coach Groves Memorial Cup!  (Hint, it's not a Cup and Coach is still very much alive and can still kick your butt.)

Set the weekend aside and come meet others sharing the greatest tradition in Track and Field.

Women Impress at Wisconsin Invitational

I remember my very first "Big" race.  It was the 1977 Maryland Marathon and there were more than 2,000 runners signed up.  I was a newbie to the distance so I started in the back and spent the entire run passing people.  I couldn't believe how many there were.

But when there is nearly that many on a cross country course, it is especially tough.  Every twist and turn is a catastrophe waiting to happen.  The Wisconsin Invitational has become one of the most popular meets of the year and the expansion this year to nearly 50 teams makes it one of the biggest out there.  That's even considering they added a "B" race (to increase the total to more than 50!), which would have been a dream-come-true for me.

With many of the top teams in the country jockeying for rankings, the Nittany Lion Women impressed with an 8th place showing, tops in the Big Ten.  Rebekka Simko led the charge.  That shows some excellent range for a great 800 M runner.  (PSU is 800 U!).

The finish moved them to 14th in the NCAA rankings.

And This is Her Second Sport!

Stephanie Pezzullo debuted in the Chicago Marathon with a rather fine 2:32:42.   Penn Staters remember her mostly as a star on the soccer team, but she completed one year of eligibility in Track as well.  She competed in the Olympic Trials in the Steeplechase with fellow Nittany Lion Bridget Franek.  Now she has switched to the marathon distance in a rather impressive fashion!

Watch more video of 2012 Chicago Marathon on flotrack.org

The Duel

It has been nearly 33 years since The Duel, but I remember it as if it was yesterday.  One of the participants has since almost died twice (that we know of) while the other has battled back from alcoholism and severe weight gain.  But neither a heart attack nor hyperthermia could kill the one, and alcoholism the other, and both are still running today.

The 1979 NCAA XC Championships were in Saucon Valley, just south of Bethlehem PA.  Alberto Salazar and Henry Rono were among the stars, and they did not fail to disappoint.  I was lucky enough to see the race with Rob, Mark, Barb, Gary and others who had spent the night with me at my grandfather's house.  It really was a unique opportunity.

Right from the start, it was a duel between Rono and Salazar, which continued for the entire 10K. Alberto, probably outmatched in talent, never had any quit in him, which explains his later brushes with death quite easily.  Rono eventually pulled away, but no one would have said it was easy.

More interesting to our cadre of spectators was seeing a tight bunch of PSU singlets near the front of the pack.  Alan Scharsu, John Zeigler, Bob Snyder (I was wrong here.), Larry Mangan and Tom Rapp were there (who else? Help me here! Dwight Stephens? Jeff Adkins? actually Jeff Adkins, Jim Clelland and Rick Garcia.).  The Nittany Lions became the top team with all Americans to finish.    It seems like yesterday...

Complete Race Results Here

And since I don't have video of it, here's the trailer for the movie High Noon.

"PSU is Relay U" *

* A Headline supplied by our East Coast Reporter which would bring a smile to the lips of Coach Groves.

In the latest Track and Field News, Penn State comes out in a tie for third in the overall Relay Rankings.  This is bolstered by  a number 4 ranking in the 4 x 400, a number 5 ranking in the Sprint Medley and a number 1 ranking in the 4 x 800 ("PSU is 800 U")  Don't forget your "PSU is 800 U" t-shirts designed by Olympian Greg Fredericks available in our store.

4 x 400
1 ..........................Florida
2 ...............................LSU
3 .............................. USC
4 .................... Penn State
5 ............South Plains JC
6 .................. Texas A&M
7 ......................Arkansas
8 ...........................Baylor
9 ............. George Mason
10 ....... Mississippi State

Sprint Medley
1 ........................ Georgia
2 ...........................Baylor
3 ..............................Iowa
4 .............................. USC
5 .................... Penn State
6 .............World Express
7 ............... Norfolk State
8 ............South Plains JC
9 ............ St. Augustine’s
10 ........ Texas A&M

4 x 800
1 .................... Penn State
2 ....................Minnesota
3 .................. Texas A&M
4 ......................... Oregon
5 ..................... Columbia
6 ......................Villanova
7 ......................Arkansas
8 ...........................Baylor
9 ......................... Cornell
10 ...............Notre Dame

Overall Men’s Leaders: 1. Texas A&M 34; 2. Baylor 27; 3. tie,
Penn State, Arkansas & LSU  23; 6. Princeton 19; 7. Indiana
16; 8. tie, Columbia & USC 15; 9. tie, Georgia & Minnesota 14

U-S-A! U-S-A! (and France too.)

Sheldon Lee Cooper must wait for next year, as the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics went to an American and a Frenchman for their work on how to observe subatomic particles without destroying them.  Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland will share the Prize and split the $1.2Million bounty.  Not bad for a couple of nerds.

Let's Start a PSU Track Alumni All-Star Band!

We certainly have at least one lead singer with "Jumpin" Paul Souza.  Steve "800 U" Black played bass guitar for the headline band at the very first Dance Marathon.*  He also played bass guitar in Paul's first PSU band!**
And here's our first lead guitarist, Pete Bortolotti.***

How about some other nominees for our band in the Comment Section!!

* For bonus points and a PSU Track Alumni iron-on patch, what was the headline band's name?
**  For another PSU Track Alumni  iron-on patch, what was Paul's first PSU band's name?
*** The best nickname for Pete also garners a patch!

Life is Turning Into a Southpark Episode

As we patiently wait for more Cross Country action, we must turn our thoughts to less important things, like elections and the world of gaming.  As I won't obliquely comment on the upcoming election, let's stick to the World of Gaming.

I have always thought that computers have ruined the Gaming World.  It has taken imagination and ingenuity, wonder and creativity, and substituted expensive hardware and state-of-the-art graphics.  Complete morons compete equally with 67th level Wizards who graduated from MIT with dual majors in Computer Science and Philosophy.  My days with the original Dungeons and Dragons (3 pamphlet boxed set!) were so much better than today's fare.  I'm told my set would be quite valuable if I was to part with it.

So it was with a giggle and a chortle or two that I read the headline from Forbes of all places!  "Hacker Attack 'Kills' Thousands in World of Warcraft."  Serves them right.  And I'll bet they all paid a lot more than the ten bucks my DND was in 1975.  My 7th level Wizard Rocc Singh would kick their a** from here to Southpark anyway.

Four Straight Years of Being Goofy, Now Add Daffy

My wife is set to try for her fourth straight Goofy Challenge at Disney World in January.  That's a Half Marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday.  Both days have 30,000 or so runners in them.  This year she is running the 5K on Friday with the girls, so that will make it a "Daffy".  Anyone else in the PSU Track Alumni World doing this?

All this, mind you, is with running barely a step in the year leading up to it.*  She does all her work on the Nordic Trac ski machine, supplemented with a few miles of severe uphill walking on the Nordic Trac Walkfit. 

*If anyone is thinking of gambling against her, she once qualified for Boston having only run 1 mile, and that was when qualifying was harder than it is now for the 100th Anniversary Race.

I Have Never Been Politically Correct

Anyone bringing up a Penn State Locker Room nowadays has to be either crazy or non-caring about political correctness.  To those around the world that think any of us PSU Track Alumni has anything to do with child abuse, I say "you're the one with the problem, not us."  

My Treadmill Room is finally nearing what I originally envisioned, somewhat reminiscent of our 1977 XC Locker Room.  It isn't a big room, it isn't a state-of-the-art room, but it is a really good oasis from the rough and tumble world that is 10 times more complicated than I ever thought it would be.  I use this room nearly every day; it is rare that I ever venture out for a run or travel for a run anymore.  The room is just big enough to house my professional grade treadmill (best investment I ever made!) and my cheap elliptical machine I utilize to supplement my jogging without incurring too much stress on my surgically scarred knees.  The floor is unadorned cement and the lighting is stark bare fluorescent.  I have a small flat-screen TV in there to provide an adequate distraction. An efficient PSU working-man type of room.  Three yards and a cloud of dust...

As a curmudgeon of the highest order (if they had a certification process I would qualify as a Leader!) I usually curse and moan at the site of a yard sale.  But this AM I saw the set of 5 lockers of steel-gray shining in the sun, and I had to stop.  I paid $100 for the set, even though I could only fit 2 of them in the space I had visualized them in.  Thanks to my wife's handiwork and sweat-equity, we successfully separated them without damage and they are now housed in my Treadmill Room!  These are the same lockers we had in the old Rec Hall Cross-Country Locker Room, next to the Wrestling Locker Room which smelled much worse than ours. The All-Steel Equipment Co. of Aurora, Illinois provides just the right aesthetic touch and utility for my daily recreation.

In 1977, my personal locker was used by Jerome Whitehead during a game between the highly ranked Marquette team and the nowhere-near-ranked Nittany Lions.  The game was exciting because PSU was ahead at the half with York's Jeff Miller draining many long range shots;.  If there was a 3 pt. line back then we would have prevailed.  After the game I went to my locker  to discover Jerome and his entourage AND my personal effects in a puddle in the corner of the room.  

 Jerome will never get anywhere near this locker, that's for sure.

Even I Didn't Go This Long Between Race Wins!

Teddy Roosevelt last won a Presidential race in 1904.  In that race, he defeated Alton Parker, a Southern Democrat with apparently no running ability. 

But on October 3, 2012, Teddy finally won another one after a string of defeats totally more than 500 attempts.  Way to go Teddy!  This time he defeated known great runners, Abraham "800U" Lincoln, George "25 foot long jumper" Washington, and Thomas "Skeets" Jefferson!  (There actually is a story of George jumping 25 feet across the Potomac River in his youth.. The 800U and Skeets part I made up!)

Making Just One Year Count

Sam Masters has emerged as Penn State's Number One XC Runner early this season seemingly out of nowhere.  But nowhere happens to be Tulsa.  Sam graduated last year with one year of eligibility remaining.  He has enrolled at PSU with aspirations of a doctorate in Biomechanics.

Welcome to Happy Valley.  And the largest and most active Track and Field Alumni Group in the World.

Things Coach Groves Told Me, Without Ever Saying The Words

1. Life isn't fair.  Get over it.
2. Hard work is sometimes the only reward.
3. Shut the damn window.
4. If life hands you lemons, kick it in the groin.
5. Charge the uphills.  And the downhills!
6. Kickers are often badly beaten by other, better kickers.
7. In bed by 11:00, home by 1:00. (not verified)
8. Trust but verify.
9. You ran a good race, but you should have run better.
10. 3 up, 12 x 400 (72), 3 down. (on Wednesdays)
11. Morning runs after 9:00 am don't count.
12. There is no need for seat-belts in a van.
13. If you can't kick a man when he's down, you don't deserve to kick him. (not verified) 
14. If you can't squat 200 pounds you ain't worth a damn as a distance runner.
15. (add more via the comments...)

Life is a Series of Knuckleballs

Staying in the game can be really hard.  Sometimes when life's fastballs hit you in the head, it can take a long time to make a comeback.  As mom told us, patience is a virtue.  Even then, when you finally make it back to the acclaim of everyone around you, three straight knuckleballs force you back to the bench.  Keep at it Mr. Greenberg!

For the record, I couldn't hit fastballs, curves, sliders or knuckleballs very well.  Hence I tried my hand at basketball before giving that up for my last chance, distance running.

Some would say I failed at that as well...

Chris Foster is on a Roll

Chris Foster placed 2nd in the Los Angeles Triathlon for his third big finish in a row.  This moved him up to fifth in the overall standings in the pro circuit.  His 30:03 10K was the top time in the running portion of the event.

Is Racewalking a Sport?

Physicists pretty much have the answer in this episode of "Minute Physics" on You Tube.  When cheating occurs on practically every step by every athlete and no cameras are allowed to document it, does it make a sound?



And it also seems that Justin Bieber feels the same way about any music since the 1980's as I do:



Which is kinda, sorta my plea for more content from the Peanut Gallery.  You guys haven't let me down before!