Worse than the Fighting Meercats

The Fighting Meercats, of course, were the not-so-great (and short-lived) intramural slow-pitch softball team I organized in spring 2006. We lost the opening game of the tournament, largely due to my complete failure to throw strikes.

Despite the demoralizing loss, there are three good things to take from the experience.

1. Fighting Meercats - as a team name, this can not be beat. It was chosen because nobody else on the team suggested anything, and I was forced to write something on the sign-up sheet. I will continue to use the name...Fantasy Football 2010 watch out!

2. We lost, true, but that didn't stop me from shaking up cheap bottles of champagne and popping them afterwards. Always a positive.

3. It appears that we aren't the worst baseball/softball team ever assembled - Wezen-ball looks at Charlie Brown's baseball team and finds decades of heartbreak. (h/t to circling the bases)

I imagine his field goal percentage isn't very good either...

Good news/bad news

Sometimes, people come back to places they never should have left. That happened (again) today, as Greg Maddux returns to the Chicago Cubs organization as an assistant to GM Jim Hendry. While I love Maddux and am glad he's back working for the best team in baseball, it sure would have been nice to have him from 1993-2003 as well...stupid Cubs.

In the bad news segment of this post, Jon Leuer broke his left wrist in Saturday's game against Purdue. It's not good news - Leuer has stepped up his game this year, and when he's not in foul trouble (v. Ohio State and Penn State) or breaking his wrist (v. Purdue) is pretty tough to guard. Thankfully, he's only expected to be out 4-6 weeks, and his broken wrist is on the non-shooting hand.

BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!

I heard some very interesting news this week - very exciting news indeed. Remember the old (and brilliant) game NBA Jam? I have definitely gone into the wee hours of the night with Joe and Chris, futilely attempting to beat every NBA team. Once, Christ lost a key matchup because the clock ran out as his character was 20' in the air catapulting through his dunk animation. Such a disappointing loss...

Well, go and buy a Wii, because soon you'll be able to sink shots from dowwwwwwntowwwwwwwn!

Curious about potential matchups? Nymag.com runs down modern-day dynamic duos, but I'm more excited to see my mii v. Jody's as she puts up a BRICK!

Restaurant Week 2010 (Winter Edition)!

It's Restaurant Week time again in Madison! Or, it will be on January 24-29th...
This will be the third winter I participate in the week-long amazingness that is Restaurant Week. The winter version is a favorite of mine because it tends to line up with my birthday. This means that my birthday dinner with the family has been at a restaurant week participant venue for the last two years - Quivey's Grove two years ago and Harvest last year.

This year, I am trying to decide between L'Etoile, Sardine, and El Dorado Grill. (this is your cue, family, to click the links and tell me if you have any preferences!)

I can only hope we don't get this waiter (with a special cameo by Michael Steele!) -

A loss

Tuesday night saw a great loss in my life - a loss that has sent me reeling, although I did see it coming. It will be tough to recover from...at least until August. I'm pretty certain I'll get over my grief in August.

RIP right Moccasin
"mo"

(note: I do not, nor have I ever, named my moccasins)

This right moccasin served me well for about a year and a half - the mortal wound along its right side had developed initially due to wear and tear. Tuesday night,
Lucy (see right, in a more peaceful mood)








was insatiable - only one thing would appease her crazy, animal appetite (Duh duh duh...)

And so, I became Lucy's favorite friend ever. All it took was the sacrifice of half of a pair of heavenly footwear that had done nothing wrong.

I think you can read Lucy's eyes in one of two ways here.

1. I'm sorry for devouring your moccasin, Jeff. Please forgive me.

2. So...where's the left one??

The most brilliant mustache of all time

I think even without the above-referenced award-winning facial hair, I'd still be interested in seeing Youth in Revolt. The "mustache" just seals the deal.



I wonder what my alter ego's name would be, since The Hulk II is apparently wildly off the mark :(

Badgers v. Spartans, take 1.

In just 3.5 hours, the Wisconsin Badgers are going to play the Michigan State Spartans. In ~5.5 hours, Tom Izzo will limply shake Bo Ryan's hand, avoid any interaction, and then whine to East Lansing sportswriters about either the officiating, his team's shots "not falling," Hughes/Leuer/Bohannon "catching fire," or some combination of the three.

I rely upon Kenpom to satisfy my college basketball jonesing. Pomeroy consistently provides more intelligent analysis than any of ESPN or SI.com's writers, although Luke Winn will regularly cite his statistics. Besides the great analysis, I got sucked into the site with my old roommate Mike Schroeder because it doesn't overlook the Badgers. Tempo-free statistics look past the "boring, glacial Big Ten pace" and illustrate the true talent level of an offense. Tonight, Pomeroy projects the Badgers to win 67-66 (preview) in 63 possessions, with a 55% confidence level. You won't find many people picking the Badgers to win tonight, but I've learned not to doubt Bo.

Apparently, Kalin Lucas thinks the Badgers are a dirty team. Last year, center Goran Suton said similar things - I'm looking forward to their post-game interviews.

Prediction: Badgers 70, Spartans 64 in 66 possessions.