The Glory and The Agony

Snow! Vermont! Skiing! Three-day weekend! I clicked into my bindings for the first time this season at Okemo and thanks a month of heavy snowfall, the skiing was delicious! Two full days of the most exhilarating activity that I participate in, gliding down a mountain a pair of planks; gaining terminal velocity on steep groomers, bumping into rhythm on moguls or picking a line through a maze of trees in the glades, I am constantly hooting and hollering in gleeful joy. Aside from the possibility of maiming or killing (small odds!) skiing never lets me down. Unlike some other activities…

World Cup!

Football fever! The greatest tournament in the world has returned and my eyes are glued to the TV. I have been watching excessive hockey and basketball playoffs, as well as plenty of baseball recently, but these games seem insignificant compared to the global stage of the quadrennial soccer tournament. The simplicity of the sport makes for great viewing, placing the athleticism of the competitors in focus and the game structure, two uninterrupted halves, limits our exposure to the dreaded corporate advertising that dominates American sports; how glorious to feel like a fan instead of a consumer! The games are being…

Freakonomics and Moneyball

I was an Economics major in college and anytime I tell people that they find it funny--probably because my job is playing music with kids instead of making money with money. I never had any interest in joining the corporate workforce but still found Econ the most interesting department at Middlebury. It incorporated so much about humanity, from history to psychology to our core values. The focus was usually money, but the how and why made the topic endlessly engaging. Stephen Levitt is an economist who brings the study into new realms; he sees the discipline as general tools to…

Thank you Phil for reminding me!

They play at least 162 games in a season, which makes the value of each one so small, but last night was the very first and after months surviving on other sports I allowed myself to watch it as if it were game 7 of the World Series. Plus it was against the Yankees. Beginning of Baseball season also means beginning of patio season, which is where I write this now and where we grilled last night, opening BBQ season with spicy kebabs v. spicy chicken (Daliente!); a great night of hanging out with friends watching The Sox deliver a…

Mad River Glen

The Backwardest Mountain is The Best. It is some of the most challenging skiing on the East Coast, with steep gnarly pitches over rocks and through trees covered in the best moguls (thanks to their no-snowboard policy) all serviced by a double and a single chair. While every mountain around it is owned by a ski resort mega-corporation, Mad River is cooperatively owned. It is an amazing ski experience. Eastern skiing definitely means contending with ice and trees and other natural objects impeding your progress, which makes it a very technical exercise, but also makes it more exciting and MRG's…

Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010

I love this. They have had some issues to be sure with uncooperative weather and malfuctioning zambonis and torch hydraulics and DEATH! But when it happens, it is some of the most beautiful expressions and extreme limits of the human body imaginable. In competition, emotions run the gamut from highest highs to lowest lows and in the Olympics, they are telescoped to planetary proportions. Two of my favorite events are the Downhill and the Halfpipe and yesterday had both, with Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso - both stunningly beautiful ladies! - winning gold and silver and Shaun White proving…

And Thus It Ends…

But who am I kidding? While my interest in professional football has been temporarily radically diminished, I know it will return eventually and my psychotic obsession with consuming everything Patriots will burn once more, but for now i just feel burnt... At Gillette Stadium with Dad and Bro, we witnessed what I feel can absolutely be considered the worst quarter of football ever played. Has there ever been another 15 minute period that included a first play 83 yard draw play TD, a third play strip sack followed by TD, 2 interceptions and 10 more points for a 24-0 slaughter?…

Wes Welker’s knee

Sometimes sports are so disgusting they make me physically ill just from watching it. I remember watching Joe Theismann's leg shatter under Lawrence Taylor and feeling sick and scared at the violence of it. I can't even begin to imagine the pain that he must have felt and I seriously hope I am never injured that badly. I have now seen enough destroyed knees in football (and I hope it is never worse than Willis McGahee) that I have become somewhat desensitized to the awkward leg angles that can occur when caught in the path of a powerful force. But…

Who are you, Tiger Woods?

Here is yet another example of a prominent public figure destroying himself with illicit sex. Usually it is a politician doing the nasty with someone inappropriate and they are outed, publicly shamed and forced into exile. Tiger is not a politician, but if golf were a government, he would be king and his self-imposed exile is deeply troubling. His actions are sad, pathetic and infuriating and while I believe he has a right to a private life, he has no right to cheat on his wife. As fans, we are also involved in a relationship with him and while we…

A Football Move

I subject myself to sports because I like winning, but I have to accept that sometimes I lose. Some victories are sweeter than others and some losses are more bitter. Sunday's Patriots game was among those all-time terrible losses that will live with me forever. Playing the undefeated Colts, The Pats took an early lead and held it until :20 seconds remained in the game... I could not sleep on Sunday night and since then the pain has lingered but subsided. True, it will never be as bad (I hope hope hope) as losing the 2007 Superbowl with :34 seconds…