Posted by Ted Hopton on November 1, 2008
This was the highlight of the ceremony at the Phillies’ World Series championship parade. Despite a several second delay by the broadcast networks, none of them bleeped it out, and so ended up issuing apologies afterward. It got the biggest cheer of the day from the crowd and may go down as the best speech ever.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on October 26, 2008
I watched the Phillies win game three of the World Series last night and this morning, sort of. It started so late (10pm ET) that I kept falling asleep on the couch. And Comcast committed an unforgivable sin by providing the worst signal I have ever endured: the picture kept freezing, the sound would disappear, and finally the feed died altogether for 25 minutes (so I read, this morning, because I fell asleep waiting for my view of the game to resume). I missed both Utley and Howard’s home runs. Shame on you, Comcast!
Luckily, I woke up in time (at almost 2am) to see the Phillies bat in the ninth inning, though I saw none of J.C. Romero’s shutdown of the Rays in their half of the ninth. It was great to see Bruntlett sneak across home plate on Ruiz’s feeble hit down the line. I smiled wearliy and went to bed, and when I eventually woke up this morning I couldn’t quite remember at first if I watched the game or dreamed about it.
Luckily it was a good dream.
Posted in Human Interest, Sports | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 6, 2008
I don’t often write here about sports stories, but I like stories that have a good message, and this one does. If you’re not a Phillies or baseball fan, Jimmy Rollins is a superstar shortstop who won the Most Valuable Player award two years ago. Yet in yesterday’s game he failed to run hard to first base, thinking the ball he’d hit was going to be easily caught for an out. When the ball was dropped, he had squandered a chance to be on second base instead of first.
The story here is not baseball or sports — it’s about taking responsibility for your actions no matter who you are. It’s also about management — Charlie Manuel yanked Rollins out of the game as punishment, sending a clear message about accountability. And then it’s about how you act when you get chastised publicly.
He took his medicine. Jimmy Rollins took his benching yesterday like a man, like a teammate, maybe even like the leader he purports to be.
Posted in Human Interest, Leadership, Management, Sports | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 30, 2008
Yet another reminder that it’s best to get up off the couch and get moving!
People with chronic health problems can improve their health and quality of life by learning how to exercise safely.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on April 21, 2008
Bill Lyon’s column reads like an exciting story — even if you’re not a basketball fan, you’ll enjoy the account.
These 76ers throb with the energy and impatience of youth. They remind you of teenagers presented with the keys to their first car. They quiver to be gone. Rev it. Gun it. Floor it.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Fake it ’til you make it!
It’s easiest to change the mind by changing behavior, and that’s probably as true in the office as on the pitching mound.
Posted in Learning, Science, Sports | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 16, 2008
I haven’t blogged as much recently, but I have been noting articles of interest on a daily basis, flagging them for future posts. As I looked over those news items this morning, I found several related to physical fitness, a subject that interests me.
When the weather is cold, it’s hard for me to get motivated to exercise, since my preferred venue for exercise is the outdoors. I know that’s a weak excuse (and I have plenty of indoor exercises I could do), but I am literally a fair-weather exerciser for the most part. Now, as the temperatures creep above 50 degrees farenheit, I am ready to get back into an exercise routine. And my waistline says it is about time!
So, here are some interesting findings about exercise. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Health, Sports | Tagged: fitness, Health, push-ups, Sports, weight-lifting | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 15, 2008
If you read my post about Brad Hennefer, a varsity basketball player with Down’s Syndrome, you already know I love stories about athletes who overcome adversity to succeed.
That’s the essence of amateur athletics as far as I am concerned: digging deep within one’s self to become the best you can. So I have deep admiration for athletes, especially young people, who refuse to be held back by the weak hand they’ve been dealt as physical specimens. They are inspirational proof that so much of success in sports derives from heart and spirit — and that’s a great lesson for succeeding in all aspects of life, as well.
So, here’s another heart-warming account in the NYT of a young man who fights the odds and is a winner in many ways: “With an Iron Will, He Finds a Way.”
Carter, 18, is a 103-pounder whose legs end at his hips, whose right arm stops just after his elbow and whose left arm is even shorter. He had the rest taken from him at age 5 because of a blood infection that required extensive amputations.
Take a look at the photo from the NYT — it’s astonishing that this young man can compete at a high level, with no leverage from his legs, no fingers to grip with, and arms that give him diminished reach.
Yet he qualified for the state tournament! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Interest, Parenting, Sports | Tagged: amputee, athletes, Dustin Carter, high school, inspiration, Sports, tournament, wrestling | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 1, 2008
“Nah, I’m not going to do a surfing lesson. I don’t have that kind of balance.” That was the negative attitude I began with, based on my experience trying to balance on skateboards in the past. They always flew out from under me. Something about that side-to-side balancing on wheels just does not come easily to me.
Andrew, who has surfed before, insisted I would be able to do it. Tina was psyched to try it, and so was Mike. Finally, I decided to take a chance and try it, why not? So what if I fell in the water a lot. Plus, even though I wanted to go on the Medicine Hike and learn about all the plants that have medicinal uses, my feet really really really did not want to do any more hiking any time soon.
When we got to Puerto Viejo we had determined the best day and time to do the surfing lesson would be the next morning, but we had nothing set up in advance. No problem, Dawn knew just who to call, and she set up our lesson with Beto, the local surfing guru from Uruguay with dreadlocks and a completely laid-back vibe. After a brief description of what the lesson included, Mark was in, too, so there were five of us. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Costa Rica, Outdoors, Sports, Travel | Tagged: Beto Torres, chillaxing, Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo, surfing, surfing lesson, Travel | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 12, 2008
Sometimes the “science” stories in mainstream media just re-hash old news, re-packaging it in ways that non-scientists can more readily appreciate. And I, for one, do appreciate that and like learning in this way.
But here’s an article that is new news: “Finding May Solve Riddle of Fatigue in Muscles.” Personally, I didn’t even know this was a riddle. I thought it was well understood that lactic acid causes the pain in tired muscles. Turns out I am at least six months behind the times on that one:
For decades, muscle fatigue had been largely ignored or misunderstood. Leading physiology textbooks did not even try to offer a mechanism, said Dr. Andrew Marks, principal investigator of the new study. A popular theory, that muscles become tired because they release lactic acid, was discredited not long ago.
Instead, here’s the latest theory: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Health, Research, Science, Sports | Tagged: calcium leaking, lactic acid, muscle fatigue, Research, Science, Sports | Leave a Comment »
