We Don't Walk Slow

Finish it Lebron

I’m not a huge NBA fan but the last thing I want to happen is for the Pacers to beat the Heat in game 7. Talk about a huge let down. A great thing has happened with the veteran Spurs, arguably the most consistent team in recent history, sweeping the Grizzlies and setting up an NBA championship WITH THE 2 BEST REMAINING TEAMS. The one thing that is stopping that is the Pacers.

The Heat have Lebron and he’s the best player in the NBA. No question about it. His supporting cast has been shaky and he is going to be the reason if the Heat win or lose this series. What I’ve noticed is that Lebron doesn’t have much chemistry with his teammates. Bron and Wade are so far apart that it’s weird even thinking of them as teammates because they haven’t been using each other whatsoever. When Ray Allen and Bosh disappear from the game, the Heat are a bunch of role players. I don’t think that will happen in Game 7 though back in Miami.

The Pacers had home court in game 6 and played a hell of a game even with Lebron making an effort to take over in the 4th. This play in particular is going to set up an exciting game 7 because this was the nail in the coffin of game 6. I don’t understand the charge call for what it’s worth. How strong is Lebron to get this ball up to the basket?

I think Lebron has turned into such a charismatic, humble, determined individual that I love watching him play the game of basketball. Once he stops selling the flops (which he only does to win the game which I understand), I’ll boost him up even higher.

Watch this post game interview and tell me that he doesn’t say all the right things.

Hibbert is playing like a beast and he can say and do whatever he wants at this point.

I will be tuned in for Game 7 and expect the Heat to take it home.

By Tom Stortz|2013-06-02T10:32:20-04:00June 2nd, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Roundabout

My life posts are usually the weakest but every so often I do something that most people don’t get the opportunity to do. I woke at 5:30 today and drove up to Elizabethville (population 1,100) which is on the way to Penn State but you get off about an hour early at the Halifax exit. I was meeting a specialist in sash (window) restoration and was there to film some content for our line of paint scrapers in use. We spent the first part of the day going over his shop and capabilities and then discussed some product improvements that I would never have thought of myself. After some lunch we filmed about 13 minutes of content that will get edited down into an “advertisement” on youtube for our scrapers. I’m pretty excited to see what type of reaction we get to the video. That’s the great thing about having your own business, when you do something different like this, you get to see the benefit from the work put into the project. Days like these are what separate a person who goes to work everyday and someone who is making something happen. It also is a chance to get to spend time with someone who is an expert in their field and learn anything and everything you can.

2″ Stortz Paint Scraper

I finished up at 3pm and knew I had a long ride on the turnpike home so I decided to play a round of golf at a course I haven’t thought of for a long time, Royal Oaks. I used to go there with the Schmidt’s for a golf outing when we were about 13 and haven’t even considered playing there ever again. I didn’t bring shorts so I needed to purchase a pair in Lebanon which proved a funny story. I put shopping in my GPS and 3 miles from the course was my savior, a Kmart. I walked in and had to drop the kids off at the pool quickly because I hadn’t since the night before. I then purchased a non-cargo pair of Wranglers in a size 32 and they only cost $14! This stop couldn’t have gone better. I proudly put on the shorts and drove to the nearby Royal Oaks and got prepared to play a round.

Their twilight rate was $24 bucks cart included!!! Oddly enough, Gatorade was $3.00 and I stole a ball mark that was being sold for .10. Pricing isn’t their strong point perhaps. I asked if anyone had teed off ahead of me and he said not for an hour. Perfect. The first hole was an intimidating dogleg left Par 5 and I decided that for this round I was going to play 2 balls per hole and keep track of both scores. I didn’t take a single practice swing and thought the back tees would be fine (6747 yards) and I ripped one down the middle. The second ball was a tad right but in play and I was off. I’ll expand on the round but first want to detail the course. 10/10 for value, 8.5/10 for the course. Awesome condition, greens were slick and fair, actually required some shot making, and general overall enjoyment throughout the round. I used a 3 wood 4 times off the tee because driver would drive straight into trouble. Lots of water and the pins were well guarded. I thought it was very well laid out as none of the holes were on top of each other.

I won’t bog down the detail with every shot and score but I’ll give my impression of playing two balls per hole. My one self beat my other by 5 strokes (92, 97) which I gather isn’t too surprising. If I took best score on each hole I’d shoot an 82 which is probably what I can shoot when I play my best. Out of the 13 driving holes (26 drives), I had 6 that I would consider “very bad” drives. Meaning I basically missed the ball and it went nowhere. When you hit that many more drives, it starts to show how consistent you are off the tee and these 6 bad drives led to double and triple bogeys. I also hit 2 straight 6 iron shots in the water on the challenging, 192 yard, hole 16 par 3, which blew my mind because each shot was identical. I had an eagle attempt on the 501 par 5 13th when I was on in 2. I got a par. I think I lost a total of 5 balls which I don’t think was horrible. I started getting tired towards the end but I think that was mostly because of lack of water on the course (only downside) and the fact I was up early. I totally enjoyed the round and finished in under 2 and half hours which is unheard of for 36 holes. Tremendous idea by me.

Hole 4, Par 4 468 Yards

Royal Oaks Scorecard

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-29T22:47:46-04:00May 29th, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Just Working On My Fitness

A new idea I’m going to implement is turning the titles of my posts into some sort of category. For instance, last post had Destiny’s Child Say My Name and this one is Fergie’s Fergalicious. I believe this will be pretty fun in that the titles will most likely be more creative than what I’d come up and you can see if you know where I’m taking them from. Most likely it will only last a few weeks but it’s worth a shot all things considered. Hopefully though you’ll find some relevance in them and I’m not just pulling them out of a hat. Onward to the topic at hand.

After the Broad St Run (5/5) I took an entire week off from exercising. I was pretty pleased in my performance and felt like I earned it. Everyone (well maybe not) should know that it’s easier to lose physical strength than to gain it. Meaning that you’ll lose more from a week off of doing nothing than than what you’d gain from a week of training. Just a theory. Over the past month I don’t have anything to train for and have been lounging around. I’ve attended two weddings which are mostly drinking parties and have been half assed “training”. Today I went to the gym for the first time to try to rekindle some of that performance…

It didn’t work. The old machines I used to go to felt foreign and I had to dumb down all the machines weight and feel like a total pussy in a little boy’s body. I was only able to skip rope for half the time and the perfect push-ups whipped my ass. Even on the treadmill, my go to, (and best place to test performance)(I think the treadmill was integral to my training for the Broad St this year) I was only able to muster up an 18:07 5k. I couldn’t go any further either. Coming from 7 miles at 5:50 on the treadmill to barely able to muster 3 in what is less than 4 weeks should be telling of how quickly hard work comes and goes. Now that doesn’t mean that I can’t get back into shape quickly…

It only takes a dedicated effort and something to train for. I knew that for the month of May I had nothing to do physically that urges me to stay in shape. Now I’ve got Phil’s 5k in July that I’ll have 6 weeks to train for. I think that’s an appropriate amount of time for a 5k training schedule. My idea is to focus on 3-5 mile runs in speed work fashion. I’ll throw in a long run here or there but I’ll train for the race. I’m aware it’s not a prestigious event but I’m not a prestigious person. I’ve ran the course for the past 7? years and I can always look back and compare what I did the year before. That’s the magic of staying in shape and constantly testing yourself. Plus getting that beach body makes sense.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-28T20:45:28-04:00May 28th, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Mike Tyson Petrified Me

In 1995 I was 13 years old and specifically remember watching all the Pay-per-view (I used to think it was paper view) boxing matches on Saturday night. JC would order the fight, have a few buddies come over, and we’d hang out and score the rounds. This was when boxing was at one of its high points with great fighters like Julio Ceasar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Felix Trinidad, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis just to name a few. However, there was one fighter that stood out head and shoulders above everyone else, that was Mike Tyson. When I was younger I didn’t understand his life story but in recent time I’ve read his bio, watched some videos and now have some background on Iron Mike. As a kid, my only knowledge of him was that he was released from prison and punched harder than anyone else. A scary dude.

In 1991, he was convicted of rape against 18 year old Desiree Washington and sentenced to jail for 6 years. He was out in 4 and started his comeback in 1995. This video shows a bit about his training for the Peter McNeely bout which started the point of his career that I remember.

In 1999, after crushing a bunch of tomato cans, he met up with Evander Holyfield. I’d watch each of his 4 fights leading up to this huge event and was scared for his opponent each time Iron Mike got in the ring. I remember hearing someone tell me that Mike’s favorite punch (other than knocking Robin Givens across the room) was trying to knock a person’s septum through their brain with an upper cut. So with this thought in my mind, I honestly thought I had a chance of seeing someone get killed.

The Tyson-Holyfield fight was taking place with Tyson as a 25-1 favorite and Holyfield being “over the hill” at 34 years old and was coming back from a threatening illness. Once the bell went off I thought that Mike was going to kill this guy or give him a heart attack. Here’s the video and the first 10 seconds had me mortified. I sat there pale white like Casper, fearing for Holyfield’s life. Amazingly, it never happened. Holyfield was the tougher fighter, took everything Tyson had, and ended up winning the fight and essentially ending Tyson’s career. Tyson’s next fight was a rematch that ended with the ear-biting episode which is possibly the most bizarre event in boxing.

I can’t remember at any other point of my life being more fearful of someone dying. After watching Sam’s post about the 17 year old who was diagnosed with cancer and didn’t have much time, these guys probably felt the same way.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-22T19:29:56-04:00May 22nd, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Not Newsworthy – Serena Williams unfollows Sloane Stephens

ESPN Magazine – To be fair, if there were misconceived notions about the tight relationship between Sloane and Serena, it’s in part because Stephens played along. In January Stephens told ESPN, “She’s, like, one of my really good friends” and that “everyone thinks she’s so mean, but she’s, like, the greatest person ever.” In reality, their interaction consisted of occasionally warming up together before events and chitchatting in the locker room between matches.

But then Sloane beat Serena in Australia. “She’s not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way, not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia,” Stephens says emphatically. “And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter.”

Her mom tries to slow her down, but Sloane is insistent. “Like, seriously! People should know. They think she’s so friendly and she’s so this and she’s so that — no, that’s not reality! You don’t unfollow someone on Twitter, delete them off of BlackBerry Messenger. I mean, what for? Why?”

Then there was the alleged subtweet — a cryptic message posted to Serena’s Twitter feed two days after their January match and addressed to no one in particular that said, “I made you.” Stephens was sure it was about her, and so were a few of Williams’ followers who tweeted back at Serena about “that lil girl” who beat her. “I was like, ‘You really don’t think I know that that’s about me?'” Stephens says.

I thought that this whole story is absurd. A rising star beats an injured legend during one match and all of a sudden the media creates a huge story about it. Both parties involved (Serena and Sloane) are acting immature about the whole thing and the media feeds off of it. Sloane is only 20 years old and the youngest woman in the top 20 but isn’t the point that she hasn’t done anything in the tennis world in regards to winning. The only reason this is a story is because she’s a black rising star female and Serena is the best black tennis player in ever, and they don’t get along. Does anyone give a shit about this story? That Serena is a bitch and this girl is learning what it’s like in the professional world. This type of news story is the worst because it inflicts a race card which is the only reason it’s a story. Serena’s attitude to a girl who beat her is atrocious by the way. Sloane should have taken the higher road and kept her mouth shut but she lowered herself to Serena’s game and now it seems her game is paying the price. She’s been on a downward slide of inconsistency since beating Serena and I can only imagine why. Me posting about Women’s tennis has to be a low point for this blog.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-07T21:49:54-04:00May 7th, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Broad St Run 2013 – Better With Age

This Sunday for the 2013 Broad St Run I continued to amaze myself. I played a round of golf on Saturday and walked my bag the last 5 holes which I wasn’t sure was smart because it could hinder my performance. I got a fairly decent night’s sleep (aside from a 2 am wake up call) and was feeling alive on Sunday morning. I dressed in only a tee-shirt and shorts which was a mistake pre-race because it was a chilly morning. I did a lap around the area and some brief stretching to get prepared. I was hydrated as I hardly needed to drink any water and didn’t need to use the bathrooms which I think was a huge indicator that I was geared to go. I met up with Bake and the McGrath’s pre-race which was surprising because of all the people in the area.

My goal was under 60 minutes and my strategy was to go out hard to make up some pace and then see what I had left in the tank. I was in the red corral, which was up front, and I had no problem with the start of the race. I went out in a 5:35 mile which got me plenty of breathing room and a nice cushion to work off of. As the race progressed I kept clicking off sub 6 minute miles and was wondering when I would start to fall off. Around mile 6 I could tell I was slowing but was still under 6’s which had me extremely optimistic. At the 8 mile mark my feet started hurting and I hit my first mile over 6 with a 6:02. Moving into the last mile I found myself checking my watch more frequently (I didn’t check it once in the first 8 miles other than the splits) because I was out of gas. My feet were hurting me and I couldn’t sprint but I still closed the last mile in 6:11. I finished in 58:35 (chip time) which was good for 146th place. I felt great through 7 miles, started cramping a bit after that, and my feet hurt for the last two. Other than that though I was feeling like a champ. Results here. My splits were 5:39, 5:39, 5:46, 5:50, 5:43, 5:56, 5:53, 5:51, 6:03, 6:11.

When I got back home I popped a blood blister and was walking around gingerly. It was Cinco De Mayo and I was celebrating a nice time with a few drinks during this beautiful day. I’ve also become wiser and more experienced with my drinking as I was in great shape all day and woke up this morning feeling fine. Only story from yesterday was when Ian and I really had to take a piss and decided to go into Woody’s (gay bar) because it was the only place around. Ian was completely against it to start and I underestimated the experience. The bathroom was completely empty when we went in and within 2 seconds, 3 dudes were in the bathroom making comments and asking if we were gay or straight. It was a bit terrifying when my dick was in my hand but we both made it out alive. I was also harassing people throughout the day who were wearing their Broad St medals around because 12,000 place finishes shouldn’t be flaunting medals 8 hours after the race. All in all it was a good day for me and I will continue to get better in all aspects of life.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-06T20:04:06-04:00May 6th, 2013|Running, Sports|0 Comments

Saturday in the Park

With the Broad St Run going on Sunday, I’ve been on a non-alcoholic binge. I spent Friday night beating Bake and Shee in mini-golf (with a chip from the rocks I might add)and then woke up on Saturday fairly early. I tried on my suit for Laura’s wedding which fit fine and then headed off to Sam’s final track meet at Ursinus. He ran the steeple chase and won the B heat. I then decided that I wanted to play golf so I went to the nearby outlets and bought a polo and shorts and made a tee-time. As soon as I arrived they paired me up with a twosome and I was off.

This was the 4th consecutive round that I jumped out of the car and directly to the tee-box with no warm up whatsoever. It is getting kind of old but being able to play immediately after getting there is an acquired skill. One of the people I was paired up with was a guy who said he had tried to get in Q school and at his peak was an 8 handicapper. I thought this might be a good learning opportunity. Alas it wasn’t. The guy played slower than molasses and wasn’t nearly good enough to warrant the time on every shot. We actually let a group play ahead of us which I would never agree under normal circumstances. At 13 I told them I had to move along and walked the rest of the holes. Something amazing happened at hole #17 that was magical. I hooked a tee shot to the left and it banked off an electrical box to land directly in the fairway about 30 yards in front of the green. I hit a magnificent chip shot and holed it in for birdie. Something other than me made this happen and it’s events like this that make me believe in a higher power. I ended up playing the final 5 holes without my slow partners in +1 and finished with an 85. I was pretty satisfied. I hit some huge drives but also had a couple of misses that caused some bigger scores. After the round I headed home and now I sit here ready to go to sleep to run a quick time tomorrow. I’m aware posts like these are lousy but I figured it was better than nothing.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-04T20:51:10-04:00May 4th, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Eagles Season 2013

The Eagles were 4-12 last year and are going under a Chip Kelly head coaching change that will hopefully lead to a lot more handing off and using LeSean. With the latest news from camp that Vick beat McCoy in a race, this isn’t shaping up like a shot at the Superbowl type season. If the Eagles can go 8-8 this year, I’d consider it a successful season. Eagle diehards will tell me I’m stupid and not a true fan but let me break down the team by position and explain why I don’t see a winning season.

Quarterback

Vick, Foles, and Barkley. 5/10.
Vick will undoubtedly get hurt, Foles will relieve successfully for a brief stint but fall back into mediocrity, and Barkely will ride the pine. Vick isn’t a Superbowl quarterback and he’s head and shoulders better than Foles. Michael Vick’s best play will be to hand the ball of to LeSean, if he does that, they have a chance.

Running Back

LeSean McCoy. 9/10.
Give him the ball. Enough said. If they don’t do that, they won’t win.

Wide Receiver
DeSean Jackson & Jeremy Maclin – 5.5/10.
These guys get entirely too much credit. DeSean is a long ball threat and Maclin is a nudge above average. They need someone with speed and size to make a difference. These guys disappear from games when they get shut down corner coverage.

Tight End
Brent Celek. 6/10.
I don’t have much a problem with Celek. He catches well, has seemingly enough speed, and I don’t notice much about his blocking so I guess he’s doing alright.

Defense
5/10. This is hard to judge with Nmandi and Babin gone because they were bringing down the team unity. I see weakness at cornerback with no shut down corner and Chung at safety will have to be a judgement once he starts playing. DeMeco Ryans is a solid LB but not much else at that position. Trent Cole is a good DE but where the pressure will come from? Too many holes to fill.

O-Line
Kelce, Peters, Watkins, Herremans are the names that stand out to me. I honestly don’t watch the line enough to comment.

Over/Under for the season is 10.5. If anyone wants to put money on the over, I’ll take the under. I have a feeling that they’ll be slow to start and come on as the season progresses. Like I said in the intro, an 8 win season seems likely.

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-02T20:57:43-04:00May 2nd, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

Training to Peak – Broad St Run Wisdom

I have a feeling after those AOR posts that I may get a few more people who are interested in running than usual. This post will also be my last running related post until I segway into my normal writing. With the Broad St Run coming up, I want to share my feelings on peaking for a big race. This will apply to people who maintain 9 to 5’s and are out of the education schedule. We all know that after you get out of school, responsibilities increase and training time decreases.

It’s extremely difficult and not very practical to be in RACE shape 99% of the time due to the time and dedication. My suggestion is to never let yourself get out of shape. During times when you aren’t training for a race, run 3-4 times a week to stay toned. When you sign up for a big race, I’d give yourself about 6-8 weeks to make that effort to peak. Before any training begins, ESTABLISH A GOAL TIME! If your goal is to finish that’s one thing, but having a mark to hit helps you in how to train to hit that time. My goals are always better than my personal best. If I know I’m not going to be near my best, I usually don’t enter races because my motivation isn’t to finish, it’s to improve. Now back to how to train.

Let’s use the ten mile Broad St as an example. 2 months before the race I’ll start with 5 mile runs at as close to race pace as I can get. My philosophy is to train at race pace at lower miles and continue to work up to where I want to be. This doesn’t mean killing yourself but it means pushing yourself at these lower distances. I also throw in longer, slower pace runs to increase miles as well. It’s important to mix it up so you don’t get stale. As time passes, you want to keep moving closer to the 10 mile mark in your training runs. I don’t think it’s smart to run 6 or 7 days a week, more like 3-4 and 5 at the most. Your body needs to heal because getting hurt is pretty much the absolute worse thing you can do. In my life I’ve been hurt one time due to training so I’ve learned how to avoid injury. If it hurts, don’t press it. You aren’t setting world records.

Within 2 weeks of the race I want to be as close to 10 miles as I can be and as close to pace as I can get in order to achieve my goals. My real life example is to break 59:45 this year. I have one week to the race and my run today went like this: 2 mile warm up, 4 miles at 6:10 pace, break, 10 miles on the Art Museum steps, 2 mile cool down. I didn’t kill myself but I wanted to make sure I could hit pace for an extended period of time. A race will always be faster than practice because the adrenaline makes it happen. No alcohol this weekend and a good night’s sleep before the race. I’ll put in an easy run tomorrow, a long hard run on Thursday, an easy run on Friday, and nothing on Saturday. This will have me prepped for Sunday. Once this race is over I won’t let myself get out of shape but I’ll tone everything down until I sign up for another race. That is my wisdom and philosophy on racing. Giving yourself plenty of time to prepare is essential to setting and achieving goals.

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-30T19:47:13-04:00April 30th, 2013|Running|0 Comments

PSU Weekend

I had all day yesterday to post something and didn’t which I know is pretty weak. To start off this long weekend, Ck4 and I booked a 7:36am tee time at Center Square. I decided to take back roads towards the course and this proved slow and I arrived a few minutes before 7:30. Ck4 was already putting and had paid for everything so I got my clubs and shoes and headed straight for the 1st. Ck4 made a comment that my new golf shoes look like Curb Your Enthusiasm shoes which I suppose was meant that I looked like a clown, which they (and me) kind of do. For the 1st shot, Ck4 found the 9th fairway and I blasted one up the chute to get us started. We had absolutely no one ahead of us and cruised through the first 9 in a little over an hour. Ck4 was leading after 5 but quickly gave it away at 6. I was 45 for the front after missing an 18 inch par putt on 9. Ck4 was a respectable 2 back. We stopped at the halfway house because we were getting some rain and I had some breakfast which I needed. The back started with me clipping a sand shot, taking no sand, and recovering for a double. The next noteworthy event was when we both had regulation pars on the hardest hole on the course. Ck4 whiffed his drive on 15 and snowmanned 17 but still kept his game in check. On 18 from about 170 I did this:

This gave me a legit birdie op for an 87 but alas, I missed. Ck4 finished with a 93 and it was an enjoyable round and the way golf should be played. My short game was pretty off but I drove the best I’ve probably ever in my entire life with bomb after bomb in play and on the fairway.

We headed back to UD to pick up Sam G to begin the drive to PSU for the weekend. The whole Boston manhunt was ongoing so that gave us something to discuss and listen to on the way there. We got to PSU at 4 and checked into the house we were staying in. The owner was still cleaning up and informed us that we were taking care of their cat Rosie for the weekend. This proved interesting. The rest of the gang got to the house and we went out to get some food and supplies for the weekend. After some attempts at drinking games we decided to head out to the bars. We went to the Saloon which wasn’t too crowded because it was only 9. I had my first experience of a Monkey Boy and had a decent buzz at that point. We met up with the rest of the group at the Lion’s Den and the campus was starting to fill in with people. We waited in a line to DUO I think for a little while and this was a “club” I guess you’d call it. It was crowded and Sam G found some sort of stage and was laying down moves which was probably the highlight. I remember leaving with a few people and getting food and then going back to the house. I’m not sure I have anything of considerable interest from those late houres but I don’t think I can recall it exactly anyhow.

We woke up on Saturday morning and started throwing a few back. After some bizarre weather and what I believe was sleet, we went back in town to a bar to watch some of the “blue/white” game which was of no interest to anyone. After a car bomb and some beers at Cafe 210 we headed to the EndZone to score some touchdowns. This was an interesting experience that I won’t go into detail and after a Chick-Fil-a dinner I was pretty beat from the day. I passed out at 10 and woke up 2:30 but missed the bar for this night which was weak on my part but after some of my incidents in the past, I don’t force bad ideas on my own behalf. I know I’m probably missing some details of this trip but I think a general recap is sufficient. We drove back early on Sunday where I pretty much used the day to get my head back on straight. No incidents to report and everyone had a fine time. If anyone wants to expand on this you can use the comments.

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-22T22:37:17-04:00April 22nd, 2013|Golf Course Reviews, My Life|1 Comment