Michigan Basketball

I listened to the Michigan-Michigan State game the other night while driving down to Palo Alto for a business dinner. The game was so crazy exciting that when I got home late at night, I watched the second half in its near entirety.

This Michigan team is imperfect - they run hot and cold and are a little too dependent on three point shooting for my taste - but they are a fun group to watch and very likeable. In fact, I think they just might be the most likeable Michigan basketball team I've watched since the Fab Five days (say what you will about that team and that era - and I know history isn't treating them particularly well - but they were as charismatic as hell).

The kid to watch though is this freshman, Trey Burke. He's about as exciting a player as I've seen in the NCAA this season and his upside potential is just scary. The Little Boy and I just love watching him play. I hope he sticks around - if so and based on our recruiting class that's coming in next year, I think we have some very good years ahead of us.

Go Blue!

Scottsdale, Arizona

We had a very nice time in Scottsdale. We did the race on Sunday, which you've probably read about. Yesterday we woke up, had a great breakfast and then headed to Camelback, which is a famous mountain (mountain? rock formation? Not sure exactly how to categorize it, exactly). It was a terrific though at times technical climb. Funny, these words coming from my fingers, but my kids have been hiking since they were three (the girl, anyway) and it really showed; they scrambled up this thing like it was nothing. A pretty impressive sight, if I do say so myself - not a lot of kids could do this particular one.

Once we were done, we hung out poolside (note: if you are looking for a very nice little hotel in the Scottsdale area, the recently-renovated Saguaro gets two thumbs up from us - it was a great 50 yard pool and one of the best hotel gyms I've ever seen) and then left for the airport.

I always enjoy visiting Scottsdale. I like it just find, but not quite as much as the wife. She is crazy about it and can see herself living there. I need to be closer to the water and there's too many old people for my taste (respect, old people). Reminds me a bit of when I used to visit Miami Beach as a kid, and the average age seemed to hover somewhere around 85.

Nevertheless, a very nice area all the same.

Phoenix Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Greetings from Arizona. We came here for the long weekend (given how much I fly Southwest, flights to Southwest destinations don't cost us a thing). As par of our trip, the Little Boy signed up for the half marathon really. He was going to run the first 6.2 miles and I was going to run the rest. That was the plan, anyway. But I felt strange leaving him along among the tens of thousands of runners this am, so I called a last minute audible and ran the entire thing with him. That ordinarily wouldn't be a big deal except that I haven't run more than 5 miles over the past three months. Literally. At best, I've been running twice a week.

Anyway, the Little Dude did well; we hit 10k in 55 minutes. He started to suffer bit during miles 5 and 6. Despite my hip killing me, I soldiered on and somehow even managed to pick up the pace at mile 8, once my hip opened up a bit. Managed to do 8-11 at around 7:40 pace, which really stoked me. We finished in 1:52, which I'm pretty darn happy with all things considered. This was my first true test of CrossFit and there's no question that it's helping immensely. I wasn't even that cooked at the end though it would have been another story had I ran another rile or two.

But anyway, it was great fun. I love running with that Kid and I think vice versa. For sure, he was getting a lot of attention - he had to have been the youngest kid in the race.

So, all good. Will post a few pictures later.

Hip Update

I haven't complained too too much on these here pages, but those of you who know me know my hip has been bothering me pretty bad these past few months. So, I had a MRI about a month ago and today took them to a sports orthopedist that was recommended to me by Coach Phil. She wants me to get a series of X-rays to go along with the MRI, but so far she's seeing:

- a fair amount of scar tissue from a previous torn labrum that I must have ran through (word!)
- what appears to be a cyst in my hip joint. Let's hope it is a cyst, anyway
- the kicker: what appears to be signs of early arthritis. ARTHRITIS!

The net net? I am officially old. I've kept my running dialed down (though I am running a half marathon relay with the little boy this weekend) and will probably continue to do so until I get this thing in better working order, but one thing I can say for sure - I ain't done running yet.

No way, no how.

Business Travel

Greetings form LA where I am on my first business trip of the new year. Last year (and probably the year before, too) I flew so much on Southwest in particular, that I reached some sort of exulted status; the Wife now gets to accompany me for free whenever I travel. That's pretty cool and evidenced by our upcoming trip to Arizona this weekend, it seems like she is going to take them up on this deal.

In regards to business travel (actually, let's just call it travel in general) I am going to set the over under at fifty total flights (a total flight equals a roundtrip - any additional trips in the middle count for a quarter point). Could be a fun parlor game; I suspect I will surpass that without too much trouble, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Sunday Nights on Showtime

I think Showtime has the best TV offerings out there: Dexter, Californication, Homeland, Weeds, Shameless - the list goes on. Even the ones I don't watch (Dexter) are good - I'm not certain how they do it so consistently.

Though I will miss Homeland, which I think is without question the best new show on TV (the operative word being "new") the new Sunday night lineup that kicked off this weekend past is truly off the charts: Shameless (definitely a top five show and good lord is Fiona hot), the new Don Cheadle show House of Lies (while I didn't love the premier, you can see that is has potential. And Cheadle is an amazing actor) followed by Californication, which as far as I'm concerned is the gift that keeps on giving.

My advice? If you have cable, enjoy watching good TV and don't get Showtime - subscribe now. I promise you won't have any regrets.

National Championship Game

Ok, I'll make a prediction here for tonight's National Championship game: LSU 21, Alabama 14.

I actually think Alabama was the better team last time they played and I do believe they are looking for more than a measure of redemption. It certainly wouldn't be an upset if they won.

But LSU has home field advantage for this one and they are a very, very good defensive squad - one of the best I've ever seen.  So - that's my prediction. I'll be rooting for them too: my main man Payro is an alumn and their coach, Les Miles is a Michigan man. That's all the reason I really need.

Geaux Tigers!