It Feels Good Having An Ashenfelter Back On The Team!

The Penn State Nittany Lions have another Ashenfelter on the team!  Freshman  William Ashenfelter is the grandson of Olympic Gold-Medalist Horace Ashenfelter III.  He is a middle distance specialist from Needham, Massachusetts.

Namesake Bill Ashenfelter, grandfather Horace Ashenfelter and Curt Stone.

Physics Helped Jeff Henderson Win Gold!

But of course it did!  As Sheldon Cooper has taught us, "All is Physics."  But in Henderson's case, he actually trained with the aid of some Physics from USC's Science professors.  I think they actually stole Dr. Cooper's white board.

Caddyshack: 36 Years Old Today!

Ten Things you didn't know about Caddyshack!

1. Bill Murray improvised the entire "Cinderella Story" monologue with only one sentence of direction.
2. The gopher noises in the movie were the same noises made by "Flipper" the porpoise.
3. Bill Murray's brother wrote the screenplay.
4. Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase were originally signed to do cameos.
5. Tiger Woods once did a commercial as Carl Spackler.
6. Harold Ramis wanted the musical score to be entirely Pink Floyd music.
7. The second story of the Bushwood Clubhouse was a fake facade.
8. The movie was supposedly in Nebraska, although it was filmed in Florida.
9. Cindy Morgan at first refused to appear topless in the film.
10. Chevy Chase and Bill Murray had to have the scene of them meeting in the equipment shed added at the end of filming, or they would not have ever appeared in the film together.
11. Bonus!  Sarah Holcolmb only appeared in 4 movies before retiring.  Two were the best 2 films ever made.*
12. Bonus 2!  The initial bad reviews led to the suicide of main writer, Doug Kenney. RIP

* Opinions may vary. But not by much...

Coach Groves Gets Some All-American Visits During Olympics Time

In addition to the daily visit from our own All-American Course Monitor Greg Fredericks, Coach Groves also received some additional visits from several others while enjoying some fine Olympics Track and Field Action this weekend.

Here Coach shows off our group's highest honor, The Rusty Boot, to Steve Balkey and Steve Shisler, among others.  Bob Hudson was also around.

Fill me in on who the others are!

News from Steve Balkey, always right on top of things:  That's David McMillen, center, a formidable 1500M to 10K runner from South Africa, and Randy Moore, right!  I was ashamed to not recognize Randy, but I haven't seen him in quite a while.  Wonder if he remembers that great Christmas Party in Center City Philly we had in 1984-1985 or so?  And I'll bet he doesn't recognize me either!

And Phil Caraher and family made the long trip from North Carolina to see Coach.

Phil Caraher with a new T-Shirt!

But that wasn't all for Phil, as he apparently went golfing with Coach Bill Whittaker.  I have always said that it just isn't fair practicing for the next Coach Groves Tournament!

Who Knew That Beef Was A Physicist In Addition To A Hammer Thrower And A Blue Band Captain?

Mark "Beef" Heckel was our Hammer Thrower back in the olden days of the late 70s and early 80s.  But he was also a great student and a Blue Band Section Leader.  And now he is a top-notch Field Official on the National scene.

But apparently he was also better at Physics than I was!

How To Get The Gold In Hammer Throw

One of his many hats!

The Olympic Games Finally Begin

We all know that the Olympics are a bunch of fluff, and then Athletics!  The Track and Field finally started today, and I get to binge watch all that is on.

So far, I have seen some disappointing 800M running from the Americans, although 2 of them might make it through to the 3 Semi-Finals.  The 800M is a strong Olympic Event this year.

Here's a blast from the past as a way of introducing the real games!

Mike Shine in the 1976 Semi-Finals

Olympic Photo Exhibit and John Lucas Memorial Lecture

Throwback Thursday: In Rio With Our Phavorite Physicists!

I have never been to Rio like Brian Boyer, Richard Feynman and Phil Passen. And the Track and Field starts tomorrow! But in the meantime, this is a post from several years ago to whet your whistle.

Happy Thanksgiving.  I'm particularly thankful for the possibility of a good 12:30 game this year, and of course, another wrist band submission from our very own traveling physicist, Brian Boyer.  Here he channels my hero, Richard Feynman at a Rio Beach. That's Richard juggling at the Copacabana Beach in the 50's.

Update from Brian Boyer: 

I met a guy from Brazil on that trip who I found out later studied under Feynmann during his Samba sabbatical. Also got sick back in US after I swam every day at Copacabana in what I now know was human poop mix.

And here's this year's version of the turducken, this time for dessert.  I present the Cherpumple, a cherry pie, an apple pie and a pumpkin pie all baked into individual cakes and then put together into one huge 21-pound decadent lump. Hell, skip the turkey, this might require a little room.

It's Way Back Wednesday!

The Throwback Thursday thing got me to thinking about possibly using old posts once in a while when I don't have anything interesting to post.  But then I ran across this video immediately after coming across this Olympic pic!  But since it is only Wednesday...

Running Is Going To The Dogs And These Chips Are (Almost) Mine!

My menagerie of 5 dogs, 5 cats, 2 fish and 2 mice are all looking at me now for breakfast, as the girls are all on vacation down the shore without me.

All of the cats are refurbished shelter or stray cats that we somehow adopted.  One of the dogs is also a second-hand pooch.  The fish are carnival fish which are thriving in their kitchen tank with all the amenities.  And the mice live in luxury with the finest food in the world, safe from the well-fed cats who would play with them rather than eat them if they had the chance (actually happened once!).

But this high school XC team had the great idea of combining a weekly training run with promoting the local shelter to support more animal adoptions.  Very fine idea!  Thanks to Judy Lynn Weaver for the link!

Meanwhile, Lays has come out with a new flavor chip that harkens back to my entry in the contest when it first started.  Chinese Szechuan Chicken chips are almost exactly like the Kung Pao chips I dreamed up.  The 3 flavors in the Szechuan chips are 1) chicken flavor  2) Szechuan peppercorns and 3) garlic Chinese Wok flavor. My 3 flavors were  1) chicken flavor  2) Szechuan peppercorns and 3) peanuts.  I think mine would be much better, but the current version isn't bad.  Usually this kind of chip is overbearing like the Greek Gyro version, but these are understated and leave the lips slightly numb just like they should!  Here is another review.

PSU Big Men Work Out In Rio

The PSU Big Men, Joe Kovacs and Darrell Hill got their first tune-up workout chance in Rio with a familiar back-drop.

And our Intern Coordinator KKOB sends us this link to a conversation with Darrell on his father getting to see him compete.

Dad Will Be There!

Something Big Is About To Happen

Cheaters?

With the news of another doping scandal in the days leading up to the Athletics competition at the Rio Olympics, I have the feeling that something big is about to happen.  The entire Russian team minus a handful of foreign-based athletes has already been tossed.  Now the heat has been turned up on the already suspect Kenyan team, including 800M Champion David Rudisha.

I have personally felt for many years that Track and Field is easily more involved in PED and cheating than cycling ever was.  And I'll bet I'm right.  The days of saying "He/She has never tested positive" has proven to be the fallacy I always thought it was.  It's very depressing, but that too is sorta kinda in my Nature... I only know one thing for sure.  I never cheated (obviously!), and never would have, no matter the fame or monetary gain.  I feel cheated by all the cheaters!  Even those who even just dabbled in it.

But to cheer things up a bit, Partner the Better did finish the 23rd in-a-row Sea Isle City Beach Run 10-Miler!  Does anyone out there have a streak longer than this???

It's Only Her 23rd In A Row

Today marks the 46th Annual Sea Isle City Beach Patrol Island Run.  I have been to the last 23 of them, having stopped running them several years ago.  But Penn State Track and Field Alumni (Golfers) have played a big part in the festivities here, with both Tyler McCandless and Kyle Dawson winning it more than once!

It is a dreadful run mostly on the beach, subject to the vagaries of a changing tide, soft sand, vacationers, the holes they dig, jetties of varying heights, heat, humidity and a wind in your face in both directions.  Seriously might as well be a marathon.  Still, thousands find their way  to the narrow promenade at the start of the event every year, filling the coffers of the beach patrol for one heck of a closing season party, I presume!

Partner the Better will be lining up for her 23rd in a row.  The streak includes the time she was just 2 months past a brush with the Reaper and with a hemoglobin level of 7.  And I'm not making that up! Today's version may be the worst ever as the sand reclamation project has the sand as the softest ever, and the temperatures will be in the 90s with a heat index of over 100.

I'll try to find some other members of our group and may just run my daily 3 during the race.  Say hi if you see me there!

Here's an article written by a friend which includes mentions of other friends, all of whom are legends in Sea Isle.

Distance Running Legends...

Bill Kehner and The Great Bile, 1980.