Sad to see it end...

Two weeks of athletic competition has come to a close and now it's back to the usual television programing. Russia won the overall medal count with a strong showing throughout the olympics and especially on the final day of competition today. The USA finished with the second most medals and overall had a strong showing in most events. Here are some of my observations and favorite moments from the past two weeks:

- Norway dominated cross country skiing
- The Netherlands dominated speed skating
- The Americans did the best in events making their olympic debuts
- The US did surprisingly well in the sledding events (Luge, Skeleton, and Bobsled)
- I was happy to see Bode Miller win a Bronze medal and disappointed that the NBC interviewer kept probing him questions about his dead brother when you could tell he was breaking down till he eventually broke down and cried and walked away
- There was a changing of the guard with young americans performing well in their first olympics
- Alex Bilodeau of Canada may be the most amazing Olympian/person ever! The story of him and his brother is amazing and heart warming!
- Mikaela Shiffrin is way to calm, cool and collected for being an 18 year old skiing phenom
- Curling is still the only sport I can compete in and possibly make it to the Olympics games
- It took a little while, but NBC finally let the competitions tell the story of these games rather than focusing on the political overtones

The biggest thing is that whether they won a medal or not, they competed at the pinnacle event of their sport. They competed for their country and against the best in the world.

Bring on the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and then the 2018 winter games in PyeongChang South Korea!

Winter Olympics

The Super Bowl is over and college basketball teams are in the midst of their conference slates and the world of sports is shifting its focus to the Winter Olympic games being hosted by Russia in the city of Sochi. Although there is definitely some political turmoil revolving around Russia's anti-gay propaganda law, the threat of terrorism, and some inadequcies of some of the housing situations of the athletes and media, the power of sport will overcome.

The competitions actually started yesterday with the debut of two new events; snowboarding slopestyle and the first part of the team figure skating competition.  The opening ceremonies are tonight and I am really looking forward to see what Russia has in store.

I really enjoy the winter olympics because although there is a lot going on it's not as overwhelming event overload as the summer olympics. Plus with the twelve new events this year I think the games are going to be exciting to watch.

Let the games begin!!

Snowmageddon 2014

The biggest thing that happened this week was Portland getting hit by a winter storm yesterday that actually brought a legitimate amount of snow to the area. Of course in typical Portland fashion the city freaked out, schools made the decision to close early before a single snowflake fell, and traffic was snarled through the evening hours. Granted Portland doesn't get significant snowfall very often, so I get that it can be scary, but come on people it was only about 3-4" of accumulation. Pretty much every school district was closed today because of the snow and the threat of a second snow event occurring this afternoon. Even the University cancelled classes today, but of course athletics keeps going and the two of us who live closest to campus got the call to cover the room because the other three either couldn't, felt the conditions were too dangerous to get to campus, or too concerned about the impending next storm and how bad it would be for them to get home.

Well in any case I am actually pretty excited about this storm system. It's been so long since I've experienced a true snow fall. I've been transported back to growing up in Ohio and the snow storms that we used to get and the fun I used to have playing in the snow.

It started snowing again around noon and has continued through the evening hours and we've gotten an additional 2-3". So with all that snow out there I decided you know what I'm going to have some fun so I built myself a snowman! Unfortunately, the snow is actually pretty dry, so it isn't great packing snow, so my snowman is not of the greatest quality and/or shape, but hey you work with what you got.

Super Sunday

Well the Super Bowl has concluded and the Seattle Seahawks have won their first championship in franchise history. The Seahawks scored 36 unanswered points before the Broncos scored a touchdown and two point conversion late in the third quarter and then soared to a 43-8 victory.

Seattle played a flawless game in every aspect. Their defense lived up to their billing as the number one defense in the league. They got plenty of pressure on Peyton Manning forcing him and the Broncos' offense into a few mistakes and didn't give up many big plays.  The offense was smart and got the job down. Russell Wilson did what he does best, keeping plays alive by moving out of the pocket and protecting the ball. Special teams also did their job, by not allowing Denver good starting position and opening up the third quarter with a kickoff return by Percy Harvin for a touchdown.

The Broncos on the other side of the ball were not able to really get much of anything going. On the first snap of the game a miscommunication between Peyton and his center sent the snap flying over Peyton's head and into the endzone for a safety. Things didn't get much better from there with Peyton throwing two interceptions. The Broncos offense also fumbled the ball four times with the Seahawks recovering two of them. Defensively, the Broncos were unable to contain Wilson and were hardly able to get any kind of pass rush at the line of scrimmage.

Congratulations Seattle you deserve this win. The Seahawks outplayed the Broncos from the start and never let up! Congratulations to the former Ducks who won today; Max Unger and Walter Thurmond III.

I thought this was going to be a good game and held out hope that the Broncos would make a game of it until Harvin's kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half. At that point I began losing interest in the game and started paying attention to the "Super" commercials. But, even they were a bit lackluster this year. There were a few that were really good. Budweiser went sentimental with a salute to the troops and how everyone of them deserves a hero's welcome home. I enjoyed the Coke Cola commercial celebrating America's diversity, Jaguar's commercial with movie villains was pretty cool, but the one I think a lot of people especially liked was Budweiser's "Puppy Love".

Oh and the strangest super bowl commercial had to have been the one for Scientology. I'm still scratching my head at that one.

National Geographic Shoutout: November, December & January

I had fallen a little behind during soccer season of staying up to date on reading my monthly National Geographic.  That was partly because I started to watch more television and Netflix offerings, but alas I have recommitted myself to reading through the articles and admiring the photographs that grace the pages of this esteemed monthly publication.

Over the past two months I've read the November, December and January issues.

The November issue had articles about storm chaser Tim Samaras and his untimely death doing his research this past May. A return to a reef in Papua New Guinea after seventeen years, the conflict and social divide present between northern and southern Nigeria, and the unique and picturesque coast of Norway.  The article about Tim Samaras was the one that hit closest to home. I remember growing up in southwestern Ohio during the summers and waiting for severe weather to roll through. As a family we used to sit on the front porch or in the living room watching the sky darken, the winds gust, the rain fall and the lightning strike. It was always a sight to see the power of a storm. When tornado sirens would sing we would head to the basement to ride out the storm. Well, all of us except my dad who always seemed to find his way outside to look for a funnel cloud and continuing to watch the storm rage.  I always wanted to stay as well and watch the natural show, but mom rarely let me till I was older.

Decembers' issue chronicled the first part of a 21,000 mile journey that Paul Salopek is undergoing to follow our ancestors path out of Africa to the southern most tip of South America. This is a scheduled to be a seven year journey that will be on foot, except when crossing oceans and seas. This issue also looked at the comeback of the cougar population in the USA, the use of lasers to create digital records of the wonders of the world including Mount Rushmore, Atlantic walruses, and tumbleweeds. I really enjoyed reading the cougar article and how one cougar has made his home in Griffith Park in Los Angeles as well as the tumbleweed story. The tumbleweed is just that it's a weed that was brought over from Russia. The article told the story of how the author had bought some land outside Santa Fe and started squaring off against this invader. It reminded me of what turned out to be one of mom's favorite past times; pulling weeds from her flower bed and the sidewalk. I don't know if she'd have the stamina to fight the good fight against a tumbleweed infestation, but I'm sure she would at least try if she needed to.

And that brings us to this months issue:

January enlightened me to how a native tribe in the wilds of the amazon have been able to adjust to the modern world around them in ways that suit them while also fighting for their land and maintaining their unique culture. This issue also had articles  about guest workers in the gulf states of Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, Komodo dragons, the Sochi, Russia area that will be hosting the Olympics next month and a group of rock climbers doing "deepwater soloing" on the coast of Oman. 

The two human interest stories in this months edition are what I found most interesting. I really enjoyed reading about the "Kayapo" tribe in Brazil who have fought the Brazilian government, development of dams, logging companies, and oil interest to maintain their way of life and cultural heritage. They have had to find a balance of learning how to navigate the modern world while staying true to their traditions and heritage.

I also found the article about guest workers very interesting. I was shocked to see the amount of people who leave their homeland and families for years and years to make more money to send back to their families, so that they can have a better and more comfortable life back home. The article focused on a woman from the Philippines who is a guest worker in Dubai and her husband. They have four children. The two older children live in the Philippines with her sister. The sheer number of guest workers in Kuwait, Qatar, and the U.A.E is staggering. In the U.A.E and Qatar nearly 89% of the population are guest workers from other countries. And of those guest workers they send billions of dollars back to their loved ones in their countries of origin. In the U.A.E for instance the 7.3 million non-citizen population sent 20.3 billion dollars home in 2012. I completely understand why the guest workers make the decisions that they do and the sacrifices that they make for the ones they love. But, I also cannot imagine how difficult it must be to be so far from the ones you love for so long with little to no contact. I fractionally know how this feels as I live on the other side of the country from my parents with a weekly phone call and a yearly visit. and I still miss being able to see them and spend time with them more regularly.

Sports Talk with Dad

This entries' genesis comes from the conversation I had with my dad today. In reality sports is the foundation of my relationship with my dad. Sports have always been a part of my life. I remember as a kid going and watching my dad and grandpa play softball. When my brother and I started playing youth soccer our dad was often on the coaching staff. And during baseball seasons dad sometimes would find himself umpiring behind the plate.  When we weren't participating in athletics dad could be found watching whichever sport was on ESPN; basketball, baseball, football, hockey, auto racing, etc. Sports offered me a way to bond with my dad and is a big reason why I was a student athletic trainer and manager in high school and have continued on to study athletic training and currently work in that field.

Now to the purpose of this post. During my talk with my dad he asked me if I was watching the football games. I let him know that the Broncos beat the Patriots in the AFC and that the 49ers and the Seahawks were about to begin. Dad wanted the Seahawks to win because "they hadn't been to a Super Bowl." to which I replied "I am pretty sure that they played the Steelers in a Super Bowl a few years ago". Our conversation went back and forth a little bit on the topic, so during the game I decided to do some research on the Seahawks and am now sharing what I learned with all of you and more specifically with dad.

Courtesy wikipedia (Yes, I know the most reliable source of information on the internet),
1. The Seahawks began playing in the NFC in 1976 then transitioned to the AFC from 1977-2001.
(Point Dad)

2. In 2002 the Seahawks transitioned back to the NFC when the NFL expanded to 32 teams and developed the current four team/four division model for the AFC and NFC.

3. The Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl in 2005 where they played and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers (Point Me)

Final tally: 

Dad: 1

Me: 1

Well, the conference championship games have been completed and this years Super Bowl will pit Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos against Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks.  At first glance this looks like a pretty good match-up. The Broncos seem to be an experienced cool, calm and collected group on the field while the Seahawk are youthful and play with a lot of emotion. The Broncos have Peyton Manning one of if not the most seasoned quarterback in the league while the Seahawks have Russell Wilson one of the young guns making a name for himself in just his sophomore season. The Broncos have had one of the best offenses in the league all year setting all sorts of records in the process, and the Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the league. 

This is going to be an interesting game; outside in the elements, in New Jersey, in February. 

Back to work

This week marked the beginning of spring semester. All the students are back as we begin the slow trudge through the sixteen weeks leading to summer vacation. Overall this week was a decent one and a fairly easy transition back to working regular hours. Don't get me wrong being at work at 8am on Monday was a struggle and an unwelcome change from sleeping till 9 or 10 each day.  Luckily most of my athletes are fairly healthy at this point, so I currently only have a couple of rehabs to do and some maintenance work with another. But with this decrease in working my athletes is made up for by working with everyone else's when they are busy, not around, or just don't want to deal with them. It's kind of funny, the past couple of years my co-worker Amber has helped pick up the slack with the rowing team and I tend to end up working with the majority of the track team. Oh, well it gives us something to do right?

Outside of a pretty slow week at work I've been able to keep a decent workout schedule going. We'll see how this goes as the semester gets busier and the athletes get more injured and need more attention. I started out doing some running over the winter break and then last week started to incorporate some lifting into the routine. My goal is to get down to 160lbs by June.

With work and getting workouts in I haven't really left myself a lot of time to watch television, but I was really excited to see that the third season of "Being Human" was added to netflix.  I'm trying to limit myself to watching one episode a day. I also caught a little bit of the "American Idol" auditions. After the past few seasons I thought this show might be on it's way to becoming a thing of the past, but the addition of Harry Connick Jr. to the judging panel and some editing choices has rejuvenated it. He's not as direct as Simon with his criticism, but at least he's not afraid to tell it how it is.

Well, that was pretty much my week. Hope everyone else had a good week.

Oh, I almost forgot! Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was the National Women's Soccer League draft on Friday morning. I am excited to say that two of the seniors from this years team were drafted by the Seattle Reign. I am very proud of the two of them and am excited that they get to live their dream of playing professional soccer.