J-E-T-S JETS, JETS, JETS!

There was a slight shake of the earth felt in northeastern Wisconsin last night. Local seismotologist Jim Kraskowski said "you could feel a slight ripple throughout the state, one that shook houses and buildings for up to five seconds. It was either a quake or Lombardi finally rolling back over in his grave!"

In what has been a most curious several weeks, Brett Favre was traded from the Green and Gold to the rah-rah New York Jets for a conditional future draft pick.

The most interesting fact in the story is the rarely discussed Madden curse (inset) and how John Madden will actually handle the situation. The so-called Madden curse has taken the best players from the game for their cover, and over the past years each player that has landed on the cover has had either a serious, season ending injury, a terrible year statistically or a run-in with the law. The rah-rah Jets must have also forgot about this phenomenon, or either didn't care because their QB1 options are a) Chad "bird-arm" Pennington or b) Kellon Clemons (who?). Moral of the story: test the Madden jinx rather than your luck with these QB's.

In regards to John Madden, always one to champion Favre to the extreme, he was said to be on suicide watch from his California winery the past few weeks. News from out west says Madden has "snapped out of his depression-like state" and is now gearing up for his four month RV road trip with Al Michaels covering Sunday night games nationwide.

CU's football season has begun!

With a pre-season ranking of 36 (via SI.com), the CU Buffs opened training camp this week with a wide range of expectations heading into the 2008 season. This past Monday 105 players reported to what should be an exciting camp.

The newcomers and select veterans are working out each morning and the returning players are practicing in the afternoons.

With opening day against CSU at Mile High just under 25 days away, the Buffs have a lot of work to do. The Sunday night showdown will get national TV coverage on FSN, giving the game status as the sole game of the night and a spotlight that it hasn't had for years. CSU figures to be down this year with the Buffs having higher expectations given their recent Top 20 recruiting class, Hawk's third year on the job and a returning QB with a full year under his belt. A top notch schedule doesn't do the Buffs any favors, however I would much rather play CSU, West Virginia and Florida State in my non-conference than the cupcakes the likes of Ohio State, Kansas, Oklahoma and the like generally play.

Practices are open to the public and I will be sharing photos as soon as I can get down to a practice.

Professional soccer, er, futball, is not America's sport for a reason

We had the chance last night to go with a group of friends to watch the Colorado Rapids play the Everton FC in an exhibition at the highly-touted Dick's Sporting Goods park in Commerce City, CO (http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_10088962). Half our group was from England and cheering for Everton FC (their home team) and the other half of us were trying to figure out why we were at a soccer, ugh futball game.

With some anticipation the game began under a clear sky and Everton scored quickly. The English team looked far superior in skill and talent than the local team. I am not going to bore with details of the match, but here is a quick list:

1) there were a few yellow cards and WAY too many "fake" injuries (who gets carried off the field and is back playing at the next whistle? well, other than Paul Pierce)
2) the Rapids sole play was a centering kick at which point their tall, bald center/striker tried to head in a goal (remarkably, he scored their lone goal with his foot).
3) the inability of the Rapids to get a shot even close to hitting goal (this is why I can say that the U.S. is light years behind the rest of the world in this sport)
4) the packed (I mean PACKED) smokers lounge at halftime outside the stadium.

I will close with saying that the experience was worth a one-time shot, I cannot imagine going back. Send me to a football game, where I can experience some excitement, hitting and strategy. Don't go see soccer... unless you are taking a group of nuns!

Why a Blog, why now? Well… Why Not!

This would seem to be the ultimate question. I’ve been mulling over this idea for months now. I was part of a four person team a few years back that tried to have a cutting edge, funny and insightful blog. The pressure was too much for me and I never hardly contributed and the blog fell in to a great abyss of lost blogs. To say the least the experience has haunted me but never being one to give up or doubt myself, I have waited for the chance to at long last get into the whole blogging world. Perhaps it is being a bit more settled down now and feeling the need to share my thoughts (which I often do and can at times to put people on edge), perhaps I am inspired by some of my friends blogs (http://ourstorkgotlost.wordpress.com/) or perhaps I am getting the chance to meet people who keep really, really cool blogs that I find both interesting and insightful. Of course wedding blogs & baby blogs seemingly pop up with every new announcement…which is very exciting but allows by blogging failure to continuously pop back into my head. The business side of me gets the chance to meet really great business minds in technology and “cutting edge” fields, whether it’s the next great medical breakthrough company or a so-called Web 2.0 company starting in Boulder. Everyone blogs and as a late-adapter to technology, I now feel the water has been warmed up and it’s my time to jump in (finally)!

A bit about me…
I’m starting an Evening MBA program this fall, so I’m sure my work load, time management and stress levels will be crazy and all over the board! So what better time to start a blog! I should have an extra hour a week to put together blogs, thoughts, opinions and of course insight to today’s world. If nothing else this may turn into my “Dear Diary” on some days as well as “Dear What the Fuck” on other occasions. I’m going to look at it as therapy, a way to practice my writing skills for Grad school and life as well as a forum to comment on my passions (mainly sports, personal health & well being as well as commentary on the world). I’ve also begun to realize how quickly life comes at you and goes by. I met a great girl over 3 years ago, fell in love, got married, moved cross country, bought a house, then got a puppy and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with our busy life. We feel truly blessed and when appropriate I will tell tales from our life (as we always seem to find them pretty entertaining). Perhaps blogging is a great way to slow down and life and stop to smell the roses, or in my case, smell the coffee… we shall see.

So, feel free to check back in early and often and I will work to keep this puppy going as regularly as possible!

Godspeed – for a prosperous journey, success, and good fortune in life

- Ryan