New Pictures

Since I'm still stuck at home, it gave me a chance to go through my pictures and get them uploaded to my flickr site. You can start here to view all of the latest acquisitions, or click on any of the pics below for what you're interested in:

Capitals Games




Exploring DC


Baltimore Ravens Spring Football Fest


Baseball Games

Caps Phone Update

At the Caps game. We have got to tighten up our offense, hustle more and make more breakaways or else its over. I don't want the Penguins to win.

Weekend Update

After spending Friday night tagging items for my churchs yard sale, I was back Saturday morning to lend a hand.  It went very well for us, I ended up being surprised at how much stuff had already been sold in the first half hour of the sale before I got there.  The only snag we ran into was that we didn't have our supplies to sell hotdogs, oh well, next yard sale.

I drove up to Baltimore to meet up with DB and RB to watch the final rugby game of the season with Chesapeake.  The team did well enough to win both games against the NYC club they were facing.  DB and I got to do some catching up while RB took pictures of the game.  Unfortunately thanks to all the rain and the port a potties that had not been cleaned out the week before, the field had some funk going on.  I hope by now that Don's Johns have shown up and taken care of them, blech.

After the games we went over to Mums and had some Boh with the teams before heading back to DB and RB's place.  They had plans that evening to meet up with a friend so I headed off for home, and that is where things went to hell.  I was getting onto MLK Jr. Blvd when traffic basically came to a dead stop.  There was a wreck at the intersection with Baltimore St.  Fine, okay, yeah, it happens, but oh no, we weren't done yet.  Two intersections down at Lombard St. was another wreck, and that one was bad enough to close two of the three lanes.  It took me half an hour to get through it because there was no place to detour.  By the time I got through there and out of Baltimore, I was good and pissed off, vowing that if I was going anywhere that evening, it would be either by someone picking me up, or by Metro.  I ended up chilling out at home that evening since some potential plans fell through.

Sunday I got up and went for an early morning run.  I need to start doing more cardio exercise because I can tell I am starting to get out of shape otherwise.  I went to church and had one of the shared worship services with St James.  One of these days I need to explain this whole deal with St James right now.  After church I used my time to tackle some housework that had been neglected, including vacuuming, dusting, and mopping.  I picked up a steam mop recently to help with keeping the floor clean, it is easier than dealing with a mop at times.

Hung out with some buds in the evening and ended up watching Any Dream Will Do on BBC America.  I hate to admit it but I actually liked the show.  What was really attractive about it was that the judges who give their critiques actually have been working with the contestants during the week, so you will often hear them talk about how this person did one thing during practice when working with them, but then they didn't hear it during the performance.  We'll see what happens with this show, but it's not like I'll know because I am still giving Comcast the middle finger.

Customization

One of the more interesting aspects of following sports is going to games and seeing the folks who sport jerseys that have some sort of customization.  The typical thing is to get a jersey that has the name of your favorite player on the back, but this is not something everyone does.  Some people don't even bother with a customization.  There is a friend of mine who refuses to put the name or number of a player on the back of any shirt or jersey she buys because she says when she does that, the player ends up injured and out for at least a few weeks, if not the end of the season.  Did I mention that sports fans tend to be a superstitious bunch?  We're just as bad as the players, if not worse.

One other thing I have seen is folks customize a jersey with their name or a nickname.  For the most part it seems to be taken well, but there are those folks who take issue with that, they call it a "jersey foul."  Now there are some jersey fouls I can understand, such as a person wearing the name of a player that never played on the team, or even wearing a current player's name on a retro jersey, and maybe perhaps the OBAMA 08 jerseys that I did see while at a Caps game.  However, I'm not so sure that people should get bitchy about those who customize their jersey with a favorite nickname or name.

One line of thinking about why a person would customize a jersey for themselves is because players come and go and so instead of being stuck with wearing a jersey of your player that moved on to another team or even retirement, you can show support for your team and not have to change your jersey every few years.  The only exception would be if your team changes their style of jersey, but even then, you can still wear the old one, I see plenty of folks who do that.

My thought though is this; customizing a jersey with something like a name or nickname is your way of showing support of your team without necessarily being tied to a player.  It's for when you're emotionally vested in the team, but not quite to the point of sticking with certain players.  Let's be honest, players do move around and the player you like today may not be there tomorrow, and then you feel that you have an obsolete jersey.  Let me also say that jerseys are not cheap, so most folks in that mindset wouldn't want to have to buy a new jersey every year or so.  Using a personal name means you're not switching out jerseys every so often.  Besdes that, if your player is a popular one, then everyone and their mother has a jersey with the same name, and then you look like everyone else in the stands, and who really wants that at times?  Even if the folks that would cry jersey foul over it, it's probably a better idea for those folks all around.

I bring this up because I have been doing some jersey hunting for myself.  I am liking the new Orioles road jerseys this year with Baltimore across the front of them, so I would like to get one, but ya know, I'm not really following the players that closely.  The only one I really pay much attention to is George Sherrill, and I got a free T-shirt last year from one of the T-shirt Tuesdays.  When it comes to the Capitals, I just got into them so I am not that vested in any particular player, so I would rather support the team.

The one exception is the Ravens, I follow them very closely, and I do have a few player jerseys that I would wear, and at this point I would not consider getting a personal jersey because I know I can wear these player jerseys for a while.  If anything though it does make me a bit crazy to see all of these folks sporting Flacco jerseys now because I feel like they're being bandwagoners.  I ordered my Flacco jersey before Flacco was even cool.

Anyway,  so how I'm feeling about this is that I am going to say screw the haters, when it comes to the Orioles and the Caps, I'd rather have a personalized jersey than a players jersey because it gives me more flexibility for now.  From the opinions I gather from some other folks I've talked to, they could care less about seeing so-called jersey fouls.

Now to just find a discount on a jersey since the Baltimore ones are finally in.

Picture Catchup

I've finally processed and posted pictures from the last few weeks to my Flickr Account. This series includes:

Ice Storms:


Capitals Games:


FIRST Robotics Competition in DC:


Snowstorms:


My trip to help move some stuff for a friend of TB:


Visiting Havre de Grace:

Changes in Attitude

This past Friday I was glued to NFL news because players contracts were expiring and that meant they were free agents.  I wanted to see what would happen with the Ravens.  I said on my status on Facebook that I was on pins and needles because of the free-agency, and I got the following comment from my brother.

Remember when you hated sports? Who are you?

I hate to admit but he has a bit of a point.  Growing up I was not huge on watching sports, though it wasn't like they were verboten in the house.  My mom was a regular football watcher, so I followed that on occasion, but I never really sat and learned the nuances of the game.  The Superbowl on the other hand, that was something to sit and watch.  Baseball bored me to death because it took forever, and I wasn't much for watching hockey.  There were a number of factors that contributed to this.

First and foremost, I didn't have the patience to sit through a game, especially on TV.  It seemed like they would make a play, and then commercial, play, commercial, play, commercial.  There's only so many commercials I can take.  I thought there were more interesting things to do than to just sit and watch a game.

Next was location; I was too far to watch a professional league game, especially while in parts of Arizona.  I lived 4 hours from Phoenix, so to even think of going to any sort of a game would have meant making an entire weekend out of it, and in the case of football, missing school.  That wasn't going to happen unless it was a special game.  New Mexico doesn't even have a major sports team, so unless you followed college sports, you were following a neighboring state.

I went to a high school where sports were the big thing, it didn't help that we had been champions in our division, to the point that we had a record for a winning streak after several years.  It also gave many of the athletes an attitude, and it wasn't nice.  After dealing with folks like that, do you really think it would give me a reason to want to pay attention to sports in general?

Finally, most of the sports teams where I lived sucked.  The Arizona Cardinals were just about a guaranteed win for the other team until two years ago; the Diamondbacks were pretty mediocre until their World Series win in 2001, then they went back to mediocrity; as for the Coyotes, they have yet to make a good showing at the playoffs if they even make it that far.  Come on, at least have a decent record if you want to get me interested.  I followed the Phoenix Suns a bit more because they could at least make the playoffs in most years, even if they were competing against the Bulls when they still had Michael Jordan.

So what changed?  Moving out here, which gave me better access to sports teams and non dickheaded fans and players.  It's ironic though that I follow Baltimore teams rather than DC teams, considering that I live near DC and work near DC, so there are a lot of DC team fans in the office.  Thing is though, I just like Baltimore better, I like the city and it seems to have less fair-weather fans than in DC.  It started with football, the Ravens went on a hot streak in 2006 and made it to the playoffs so it caught my attention and I started following them, getting more into it in 2007 and especially 2008.  JH did get me into watching the Orioles, though I can only watch them live.  I still can't stand watching baseball on TV, I'd rather turn it on as background noise.  Hockey didn't come about until last year, and that was after being taken to a game by LM.  Now I can't get enough of it.  That's another thing that changed my attitudes, seeing games live, and if I play my cards right, I'll be seeing a lot of live football.

It doesn't hurt that talking sports with some folks, especially talking football has been quite the equalizer in some ways, but that is another entry.  It does make for great conversation in the office, especially the day after a game.

So who am I?  Someone who discovered he's capable of liking sports, the right factors just had to come into play.  Access to games, winning teams, and decent folks to talk sports with, a winning combination!

The Life of A Sports Nut

I suppose I can blame my parents for this, but I love sports, at least as a spectator. With the way things have gone this week, you'd think that I do nothing but watch sports.

If the pictures and video I posted previously was not enough of a clue, I was at the Ravens game this past Sunday. What a great game that was to watch. It is only my second live NFL game, and this time around it was a much better experience, maybe because it wasn't 45 degrees and raining! Great game, great fans, always a blast, I can't wait for December 7 when we face the Redskins. Did I mention I have now customized my phone wallpaper with Ravens logos?

Monday I took JH to an Orioles game as a gift for his birthday. Great seats, unfortunately, not a great night for the Orioles, oh well.

Tomorrow night, I am going to a Capitals game with AX because a friend of mine who is a season ticket holder cannot make it to the game, so she gave me the tickets, with one string attached. I will accompany her to the season opener of the Caps on October 11. I have gone to the games before, they're fun to watch live.

Finally, this Sunday is the last game for the Orioles and I have a couple of tickets. Anyone interested in joining me? Let me know.

Four different games in seven days, wow, I never would have thought I could do that.

While we're talking about it, the only sports I will watch on TV are professional football and basketball, I really am not a fan of watching baseball or hockey on TV, I have to watch them live in order to keep my interest. That's probably due to the fact that growing up, we always watched football, and my brothers got into basketball as well, so I am used to seeing those.

What surprises me nowadays is how accessible it is for me to get to a game around here. Of course it's easy to buy baseball tickets, even on the day of the game, it is one of the few sports left that is accessible. As for other sports, it has not hurt that I am making connections with season ticket holders who cannot always make it to the games they have, or occasionally my church has a group outing to a sporting event. Some people would be surprised that I would go with a church group to a sporting event, but the way I put it is that "It's not full of Jesus, just beer."

Of course, try being the only Ravens fan in Redskins territory; thank God we are not division rivals. I joke that I am a drop of purple in a sea of maroon at work. However, ever since I have started wearing my jersey for Purple Friday, I have had other fans approach me, including those who are season ticket holders. Hopefully this will translate into more live games in the future :-)

One more thing, why aren't more gay men into watching football? Discuss. I will post my own thoughts about it in the future.

First Hockey Game

So a friend of mine, Laura, had an extra ticket for todays Caps vs Devils game and asked if I was interested in going. After looking at my schedule, I ultimately decided to go, namely because I have never seen a live hockey game.

The game was great, though the Caps ended up losing, but at least it did go into OT. The game was basically scoreless until the 3rd period, so there was excitement to be had there. I'd go again if I was invited by someone, or I could score a great deal on tickets.

After that, went to dinner with Laura, and her friends Eileen and Jeff. Service was slow this evening at La Tasca, which was very strange because normally they're very fast, even when busy. Who knows, maybe the waitstaff was really shortstaffed that night. Oh well, so dinner ran late, but at least the food was good.

Facts for Features Special Edition

Super Bowl XLII

Super Bowl XLII will be played Feb. 3 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. To commemorate this occasion, the Census Bureau has compiled a collection of facts examining the demographics of the host area, as well as the cities represented by the contenders, in this year’s edition of our nation’s most celebrated sporting event.

New York (Giants)

Unless otherwise indicated, the data come from the 2006 American Community Survey.

1st
Where New York ranked on the list of the nation’s most populous cities. New York’s estimated population on July 1, 2006, was 8.3 million. New York gained 36,728 people from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006. The city has been the nation’s most populous city ever since the first census in 1790. (The Giants actually play in suburban East Rutherford, N.J., which had an estimated July 1, 2006, population of 8,931.) Sources: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/010315.html> and historical census reports <http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html>

32%
Percentage of New York’s residents 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2006; 79 percent had at least graduated from high school. The respective national figures were 27 percent and 84 percent.

39 minutes
Average amount of time it took New York’s residents to get to work. Twenty-four percent of the city’s workers drove to work alone, 6 percent carpooled and 54 percent took public transportation. Nationally, it took workers an average of 25 minutes to get to work.

48%
Percentage of New York’s residents 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home. The national average was 20 percent.

$46,480
Median household income for New York. The national median was $48,451.

$496,400
Median home value of owner-occupied homes in New York. The national median was $185,200.

Boston (New England Patriots)

Unless otherwise indicated, the data come from the 2006 American Community Survey.

23rd
Where Boston ranked on the list of the nation’s most populous cities. Boston’s estimated population on July 1, 2006, was 595,698. Boston’s population declined by 940 people between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006. (The Patriots actually play in suburban Foxborough, Mass., which had an estimated July 1, 2006, population of 16,274.) Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/010315.html>

42%
Percentage of Boston’s residents 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2006; 84 percent had at least graduated from high school. The respective national figures were 27 percent and 84 percent.

27.7 minutes
Average amount of time it took Boston’s residents to get to work. Thirty-nine percent of the city’s workers drove to work alone, 9 percent carpooled and 32 percent took public transportation. Nationally, it took workers an average of 25 minutes to get to work.

35%
Percentage of Boston’s residents 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home. The national average was 20 percent.

$47,974
Median household income for Boston. This is not significantly different from the national median of $48,451.

$432,800
Median value of owner-occupied homes in Boston. The national median was $185,200.

Glendale, Ariz. (host city) and vicinity

Unless otherwise indicated, the data come from the 2006 American Community Survey.

16th
Where Arizona ranked on the list of the nation’s most populous states. Arizona’s estimated population on July 1, 2007, was 6.3 million. It was the nation’s second-fastest growing state between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007. Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011109.html>

13th
Rank of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz., among metro areas with respect to population size. The Phoenix metro area had an estimated population of 4 million on July 1, 2006, up by 787,000 since Census 2000 — the fourth largest numerical increase in the nation. Its rate of growth during the period (24 percent) ranked 10th nationally. Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/009865.html>

246,531
Population of Glendale on July 1, 2006. Glendale’s population climbed by 3,387 between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006. Glendale is now the 72nd most populous city in the nation. Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/010315.html>

36,228
Population of Glendale in the 1970 census. Source: Historical census reports <http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html>

26%
Percentage of Arizona’s residents 25 or older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2006; this compares with 27 percent in the Phoenix metro area and 19 percent in Glendale. The respective national figure was 27 percent.

25 minutes
Average amount of time it took Arizona’s residents to get to work. Seventy-five percent of the state’s workers drove to work alone. In the Phoenix metro area, it took an average of 26.6 minutes and 75 percent drove to work solo. In Glendale, the respective figures were 26.5 minutes and 71 percent. Nationally, they were 25 minutes and 76 percent.

28%
Percentage of Arizona’s residents 5 or older who spoke a language other than English at home. The Phoenix metro area had an identical percentage, while Glendale was at 32 percent. The national average was 20 percent.

$47,265
Median household income for Arizona. In the Phoenix metro area, the median was $51,862, and in Glendale, it was $48,455. The national median was $48,451. (Glendale was not significantly different from the national median.)

$236,500
Median value of owner-occupied homes in Arizona. The respective medians in the Phoenix metro area and Glendale were $266,300 and $243,900. The national median was $185,200.

Notes:

• The average amount of time it took residents to get to work was not significantly different between Glendale and Boston, nor Glendale and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area.
• The percentage of workers who drove to work alone was not significantly different between Arizona and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area.
• The percentage of people 5 or older who spoke a language other than English at home was not significantly different between Boston and Glendale.
• The median household income was not significantly different between Boston and Glendale. In addition, Boston was not significantly different from New York or Arizona. Glendale was also not significantly different from New York or Arizona.

“Special Editions” of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features are issued to provide background information for lesser known observances, anniversaries of historic events and other timely topics in the news.

Editor’s note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-763-3762; or e-mail: <pio@census.gov>.

First NFL Game

I love dating a Ravens fan :-D

Friday I get a text message from J, asking if I had any plans on Sunday night. I didn't so he told me to make sure the calendar was clear because he had two tickets to watch the Ravens play the Colts. I had never been to an NFL game live, so this was an exciting experience.

We drove up to North Linthicum and caught the light rail into Baltimore. Got off at the stadium and walked around watching the tailgaters as they were out there with their vehicles done up, the grills were cooking, and the beer was flowing. We walked around some of the vendors that were out there as well. J bought a knit cap since it was a cold enough night (39 F) that wearing a hat was going to be a good idea. I looked around at some of the replica jerseys, but the vendors wanted way more than what I could pay at Modell's, so I think I gotta go to Mo's.

At first we hung out at the Dunkin Donuts lot. It's off to the southwest side of parking, and there's the donuts there, but we went there for the $2 24-oz cans of beer. Eventually J called one of his buddies and they were over at another lot tailgating, so we headed that way. Met a few of his friends, they were talking about how they were heading to watch Baltimore play Miami next weekend, including J, those lucky bastards.

Eventually we headed into the stadium. The tickets that J got were club level seats so there was a nice set of inside bars, concession stands, and bathrooms that we got to hang out at before the game started. Eventually we went to our seats, great view of the 50 yard line, you did not need binoculars to see the action. I got some pictures of the pre-show before the game started to show where we were at.

So if you followed the game, you know it did not go well for the Ravens. Eventually it started to rain, and so we went in and watched the game for a while inside, then went under one of the covered areas and continued to watch the game until about halftime. By then it was Colts 44, Ravens 7, so it wasn't even worth considering staying for the game. Like most of the fans, we headed outta there. Got back to J's car, listened to the game on the way back down towards DC, and got back to my apartment.

Even though the Ravens basically got their ass kicked, it was still great to be able to go to the game. I had fantasized for years about being able to go to a Ravens game, and it finally got to happen, thanks to J (and his mom :-) ). I would totally do that again in a heartbeat. We have been joking that maybe next time we want to see the game but can't get in, we'll fork over the $35 and just park and tailgate, since someone will probably be down there that will be tuned in to the game. I think that would be a lot of fun. It gives me incentive to look for a camping stove now ;-)

Something Fun

Don't forget http://www.endthedebate.com for Bond's 755th homer.