It was a Soccer Weekend

Jenny and I earned our first "cap" this weekend and saw the US Men's National Soccer team play a friendly vs. Chile. Granted it was our "B" squad, as most of the first teamers are in Europe and weren't called back to the US to train. It was a great chance to see some our America's young soccer talent and a few of these guys are likely to be on the squad heading to Brazil in 2014.

JLV scored some sweet seats behind the goal about 10 rows up and had a great view of the only US goal scored by Sporting Kansas City's own, Teal Bunbury. Here's my video of the goal and the semi-failed "Dougie" celebration.



And if you haven't seen it by now here is the video that has gone viral of the Spanish language broadcast's goal call. I'm sure we will see some rendition of that call at the new KC soccer stadium this summer.



The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but the atmosphere was better than any soccer game I've ever attended. The only negative to the evening was the concession stands didn't take credit/debit cards. Do they not want us to buy beer?!? I don't understand how any large stadiums can still only accept cash. Lines at the ATM machines were 40 deep JLV reported.

On Sunday I continued the futbol weekend and helped out with the LA Galaxy physicals. I didn't do his physical but I was in close proximity to Landon Donovan, one of the most prominent US players in history. It was crazy to stand a few feet away from a national hero from this last world cup. He was just relaxing and catching up with teammates and acting like a normal guy - the clip below was anything but normal.



One of my great memories was watching the game in a packed Ragtag theatre and becoming friends with 100+ strangers. Our experience was like many others gathered in bars and plazas across the country unified by national pride.



I still get chills watching that.

Xtranormal

While reading through the latest issue of Fast Company I came across an article about Xtranormal.com. It is a site that provides automated animation and computer generated voices for whatever you type. Sounds a little confusing I know, but check out this video below made by a Best Buy employee and you'll see the creative possibilities that it can unlock.

WARNING: Contains some hilarious computer voice profanity.

Life as a Ski Doc

I've been calling Park City, Utah home for about a week now and I'm halfway into my stay here. For those of you who don't know, I'm up here working at a urgent care ski clinic at the base of Park City Mountain Resort. It's the tan double wide in the center of the picture.

Basically, they work me for 6 days a week and then I get to ski free on the 7th. Not too bad of a deal. I'm seeing all sorts of fractures, sprains, and dislocations. It's a great experience and obviously a beautiful setting.

I'm staying with a very nice couple in their early 60's who are kind enough to rent a room to a traveling fellow. The house is a quaint old mining shack that was moved down from the mountain when the ore business dried up. About 10 years ago they renovated the interior of the house while preserving the historical exterior. It's going to be on the market in the spring for a cool 1.5 mil if your interested. It's a perfect location to walk to the ski resort while just blocks from the shops and restaurants of downtown.

One of my favorite things about the clinic is that they have dogs trained in avalanche rescue that lounge around the clinic. The pups are part of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue Organization. They live with their ski patrol master and come to work when they are on duty. Sometimes I'm in a clinic room seeing a patient and in walks a dog. I'm also a sucker for giving them treats. How can you say no to a face like this?

I'm skiing again on Thursday and the weather is supposed to be nice with highs in the low 30's. I'll try to post some more pictures but until then here is one from last week. The summit gives amazing views for miles and miles and you can see some of the buildings of the resort from this picture at the base of the mountain.

Kids Hate to Read These Days

featured on Jimmy Fallon tonight



I hope you didn't buy a kid books for Christmas this year!

The Original "Boom Goes the Dynamite"

Most people have seen the Ball State student newscast from a few years ago that quickly spiraled downhill and is known by many people as one of the worst sportscasts ever. It did, however, coin the catchphrase "boom goes the dynamite." 15 years ago in Quincy, Illinois another sportscast at a local TV station went from bad to worse to absolute hilarity. The 15th anniversary of the telecast was yesterday and the Quincy newspaper wrote a bit about that infamous day in Quincy TV history.

Not your Everyday Tailgate

The action inside the Rose Bowl during the USC-UCLA game this past weekend paled in comparison to the craziness during tailgating. A flag football game nearly turned deadly when a football bounced into a parked Mercedes and a brawl erupted. Reports say that 50-75 people were involved and 2 guys got stabbed and one man was arrested on attempted murder charges. I haven't seen fans that intense all year and this was 3 hours before the game!

Today a clip surfaced of a granny "gettin' her groove freak on" during tailgaiting festivities. Someone, please tell me there was alcohol involved. The clip is safe for work but not safe for your eyes. You'll never be able to see someone wearing a maroon track suit the same. I can't imagine being her children or grandchildren seeing your grandmother backin' her thang up.

The Real MacGruber

I used to love MacGyver when I was younger, but I never realized he had such a super mullet. I want to find a way to watch some old episodes to see if they were actually any good or just something I remember to be much better than it really is (like SpaghettiOs).

Anyway I came across some of great MacGyver pictures on Google images.

Why Not...

So I'm now 30. It's been a year since I have blogged. Most of my contribution to the internetz is on twitter, but I have always liked more of the options of a blog. So who knows maybe I'll start posting more. Rumor has it that @jhawkgray might even start blogging or tumblring soon.

Monday Night Football was in New England last night and it was cold and breezy. The Don was there along with his hair and one of them got a little riled up when a sudden updraft of air rushed into the luxury sweets.



I've never fully taken advantage of some of the goodies that Hulu has to offer but I came upon a cool series of videos from AV Underground where they have 25 bands cover 25 songs on a first come first served basis. Nashville's own Ben Folds has a great cover of Elliott Smith but my favorite so far is Coheed and Cambria covering The Smiths.

It's Been Too Long

I don't know why it has been so long since I updated the blog...really no good excuse.

Lots of things have been going on since last post...finished 2nd year of residency, oriented all the new interns, about to finish up my 3 months as chief resident.  I've applied to 26 sports medicine fellowships and waiting to hear back about interviews.  I'll be crossing the country interviewing during November and December and maybe stopping a location near you.  I've been riding my road bike a lot and even entered my first bike race, a criterium in St. Louis.  Got some cool pics to show from it...

Thanks to Barack I got $4500 for my Jeep that was worth about a 450 bucks and got a new Honda Civic.  It felt like I was taking a dog to be put down when I was driving my car to the dealer for the last time...lots of good memories in that car.  But she had seen much better days and it was time to part with her.  I've promised an blog entry devoted to the Cherokee soon.

Heading down to south eastern Missouri for my 4th Berryman Adventure Race.  I've wised up from my younger days and 12 hours is now a sufficient adventure compared with 24-36 hours that I thought I could complete in college.  Weather is looking like 40% chance of isolated storms which could be interested.  I'm still trying to figure out how to do some twitter updates during the race.  Our Team is Biggie Smalls because last year Biggie (me) was in the front of the canoe weighing it down and Smalls (Wes) was steering us in the back.  That's one thing we are for sure fixing this year.

Just downloaded the new Derek Webb album Stockholm Syndrome tonight.  I've always loved his music and voice.  He put on a great show for TN Tech RUF about 8-10 years and I've been hooked ever since.  He's one guy who is not afraid to sing controversial lyrics and I appreciate it.  The single below didn't end up on his physical CD but you can download it for free from his website.

Lenny's Retirement

Lenny Dykstra used to be hard nosed on the baseball diamond and earned the nickname "Nails."  These days he is a crooked businessman who has lawsuits chasing him from coast to coast.  If you have some time check out this lengthy article by ESPN.com investigative reporter Mike Fish.

Dykstra's business: a bed of 'Nails' 


Update:  Lenny has been let go by TheStreet.com and will no longer be providing columns for the website.  

Not the next Larry Bird

This further proves why white guys should never try to dunk.  Kid, I promise you there are easier ways to execute a foward flip.

Barack the Bracket

I have to admit that it is pretty cool to have a President that enjoys doing the kinds of things that everyone else does. Andy Katz from ESPN interviewed him this week and his entire bracket will be revealed Wednesday on Sportscenter. His Final Four has 3 number one seeds(Louisville, North Carolina and Pitt) and Memphis.  I am still working through my bracket and will post some of my picks on here.  

Tracy Morgan back on SNL

This was one of those great skits where the whole cast was trying not to break character and laugh. Double Big Mac tries to talk some sense into these troubled youths by warning them of how things go down in jail.

Rest in Peace Bat Man

Don't know if anyone else heard about this but last year an independent minor league baseball team traded one of its players to another team for 10 wooden baseball bats. Teams often trade players for cash but for some reason this was seen as different and made rounds on national sports news.  After the trade opposing fans ridiculed him with various nicknames.  If you have ever been to an independent minor league game more than half the fans are just there to drink and mock the opposing team.Well the story took a tragic twist in November, less than 6 months after the trade, when John C. Odom was found dead in Georgia from an accidental overdose from heroin, methamphetamine, the stimulant benzylpiperazine and alcohol. Teammates and coaches have since come out and say that he took the trade pretty hard. Life as a minor league player has to be hard with all the long bus trips and dirty hotels. To have your coaches and general manager say you were worth 10 planks of wood had to be devastating. Really a sad ending from a strange and seemingly innocent story.   

Fiction Family

Picked up a new album today on iTunes from Fiction Family, a supergroup made up of Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins.  I have been a fan of Switchfoot from before they made it big.  Starting back with their early albums, Legend of Chin and New Way to Be Human, they have always had a cool mix of rock songs and acoustic little ballads.   This album is a sweet mix of the things that I loved about Nickle Creek combined with Foreman's sweet vocals on Switchfoot's slower songs. 

Here is a funky little video from their first single

Fiction Family - New Music - More Music Videos

Alive

So I am post call today and the movie Alive is on HD.  I have seen parts of it before but never the whole thing.  I always thought it was a pretty crazy story but didn't really know the events surrounding the whole thing.  I Googled it and of course there is an awesome Wikipedia article about the whole thing.  Did you know that they were stranded up there for 72 days at 10,000 feet elevation with very limited supplies.  I couldn't believe that it was that long.  Rescue crews only ended up looking for 8 days before giving up.  In the end out of despiration a couple guys ended up hiking out of the mountains and found some hikers/ranchers that notified authorities.  Oh yeah...and they ended up eating the dead bodies which is always interesting.  Aaron Neville also sings Ave Maria during the credits which was an added surprise. 

Prepare to get misty eyed

I am a huge fan of Bill Simmons and his articles on ESPN.com and his weekly podcasts.  His usual topics are sports related intertwined with pop culture and reality TV.  This week however he took a different attitude to his column and wrote about dog, "the Dooze ."  The article is NSFW because if you have ever had a dog this one will get to your emotions.

 

It's been too long

Can't believe it has been a month since I have touched the blogs. All apologies to all you loyal readers...j/k. Last month in the cardiac ICU and this month in the medical ICU and my blogging time kind of disappeared.

Like to get back to it by letting you know what I am into...

Toblerone chocolate

Bill Simmons' Podcasts and Football columns

Campbell's Tomato and Rice Soup

Skin and Bones by Foo Fighters

Finding songs on Rock Band to purchase on iTunes

Riding on my trainer (a great birthday surprise from my J)

Dr. Mario on the old Nintendo

Lost

Settlers of Catan

and finally looking forward to WOMV

Jake and Tom on Cars

One of my best friends since I was in first grade now lives in Washington, DC and works for Energy Action Coalition as their internet director. He and his dad, who has worked for GM for a long time, have different opinions on the auto industry and discuss them on this cool 4 minute news clip from the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7774590.stm

I encourage everyone to check it out.

His website is The Realist Idealist and a link to it is over on the right.

Another Natural Disaster

Thanks Adam M. for this one.