it's almost time

It's the most exciting time of the year for sports fans.  And unless your diamond squad is making an October run your attention has turned to football as the countdown to kickoff for colleges and pro ticks away.  Oh hell, ESPN had high school games on today and I was watching.

The mundane nature of work fades throughout the week and last minute fantasy switches and trades are made.  But I am getting way ahead of myself.  Most fantasy owners should have either just had or are awaiting their draft, which I would argue is the most exciting part of fantasy football.  By the middle of next week we should have a good idea of who will make the 53-man rosters and who is injured going into the regular season (granted you will still draft the most ballin' players that are expected to miss a few early games).

Who likes drafting first?  There is huge potential to blow it with this pick and sweat while better picks drop off the board and the best 15-19 players are gone before you get to pick again.  Luckily, Buffalo Wild Wings has a solution for this problem.  Have your draft party at BWW and they will give you food or drink or something.  But in the 10 minutes or so between picks you can polish off at least 3 wings before retuning your attention to the 3rd-5th rounds of the draft where you can really create separation from the competition.

So do your homework.  Is your league set up for big points?  Is defense rewarded?  A catch league?  Don't just go by ESPN and Yahoo rankings, in this new media age many times the smaller "blog" sites have great insight.  And they even have first hand knowledge and insider information when it comes to injuries.  KFFL is one of my favorites.

So to close I want to address Hank Williams, Jr., Faith Hill and whoever is singing on Monday night this year.  I am ready for some football because baseball is just too depressing right now.

An Airport Apology

I could say I haven't had the time.  Or perhaps use the excuse that my premise for blogging starts with two beers and I haven't been drinking lately be the reason for a delay between journal entries.  But both cases are false.  (Although I did have a period of about two weeks between an awesome wedding and a mud run were I was on the straight and narrow)  I was simply lazy.  Sorry.  With that is out of the way, I'll commence with the blog.  

I'm feeling awfully American as we close in on the 4th of the July.  Maybe it's because I know that a Tahoe weekend will create its own fireworks and I can leave the bottle rockets, M-80s and roman candles at home.  Maybe it's because I'm getting a paid day off.  Or maybe it's because California got it right.

The Founding Fathers fist-bumped in their graves this week as the California Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the say on injunction repealing Proposition 8 and effectively cleared the way for same sex marriages.  Freedom is not complex, however in the last 200 years we have been able to twist it to a point where we hardly recognize it.  Let's make is simple again.  Freedoms and rights co-exist to make us happy.  Marriage is no different.

(Insert Genesis verse here)

You live in a country that is defined by a separation of church and state.  If you don't like it, MOVE.  And you can't tell me that God, or any higher being would choose hatred and oppression over love.  Before God's greatest gift to the world, His Son, he gave people the freedom to choose.  (Remember, in Genesis)  

Now is a time where you can choose to be open to more ideas.  Be a true American over the next weeks.  Eat some hot dogs.  Drink some truly American beer like German owned Budweiser (there is still some nostalgia in the red, white and blue can).  Watch some baseball and stop worrying about your fantasy team without Hernandez (too soon?). And welcome all the gays and their marriages.

Time to board now.  

Please excuse any errors in grammar. 

First (of many .... Maybe)

How come we become inspired (used loosely) after two beers?  The two beer buzz is revered in many cultures like the Irish or fraternal clans.  It allows otherwise tongue-tied adolescent men to approach that hottie at the bar or, more personally, that blonde beauty at the Zac Brown concert.  I sprawled out in my hot tub tonight with the sun barely relaxing over the mountain top and my four beer equivalent of the the two beer buzz found a moment of inspiration.  It wasn't much,  but good enough to require action.

I like to argue, hear myself speak, and see the eloquent flow of words that dribble out from my mouth land on a blank page of Microsoft Word.  I mainly think of great things to write and soon lose the desire to follow up, but the two (four) beer buzz has taken her hold and I believe it is as good a time as any to publish.

I know this blog will be riddled with clique, but that's pretty much ingrained in sports so I'm not worried about it .  It was only fitting that the game came down to a final shot as Laettner and Hill would prefer it.

My heart sank the as soon as LaQuinton Ross became enshrined in Ohio State history.  I thought about the Tweets and Facebook posts that cluttered cyberspace and an anger grew inside me.  Images of the team that climbed to #3 in the Nation early in the season flashed into my mind and just as quickly faded to that of the squad that fell from the rankings and hobbled into the tourney.  Soaked with the jets gently massaging my lats,  I recalled how much negativity weighed on this team.  How can you go out and give your all when the President doesn't believe in you?  Well the 'Cats quickly put the Commander in Chief out of the White House pool.  Surely Matt Damon had put a formula on the chalk board to stop Mark Lyons before he finished waxing the hallway floors.  Nope.

Arizona was by no means built to go far in the NCAA with a crew of freshmen handling significant playing duty and a converted point guard transfer.  When I clicked on my Facebook feed after the clock hit 00:00 I was met with reassurance that the Arizona faithful would remain just that.  Nothing but well deserved praise and optimism for an extremely young team with a highly touted recruiting class.

So in not so many words, thank you.  Thank You for shutting up the President, thank you for quietly climbing to national rankings and spotlighting the team for recruits, thank you for four years Hill, thank you for making the second weekend significant, thank you for Bearing Down.

It is my every hope that this will become a expansive blog of life including sports, political views, religious undertones, relevant historical comparisons, favorite dinosaur analysis, bowling recaps and enough other stuff to keep someone entertained.

Oh, I came up with a sign off too...

I am not a objective observer... because I bleed Red and Blue and my heart beats "Bear Down, Arizona."