The older brother will always find a detail to annoy them.
"You're killin' me with that crunchin'!"
Peyton can't stand how Eli eats chips. ???? #TheTimeline (via @NFLFilms) https://t.co/KYu23F6XfN
— NFL (@NFL) August 24, 2016
Bowling is easy. It requires what all other activities do when you are trying to improve and that’s doing it often. I’ve participated in many different sports over my life and they are based off of how skilled I am, at whatever age I am.
From elementary school through middle school, I enjoyed basketball. I went to all the camps and was a pretty damn good little kid (proof here). Then I got cut from the 7th grade basketball team because I hadn’t hit puberty yet and that was the end of my career.
Once you get past high school you do whatever the hell you want. I’ve been golfing since the age of 12 and at various points of my life I’ve tried to develop my skills. I’ve had a few seasons where I’ve been mid 80’s consistently but have never broke through. Now I’ve pretty much reasoned that as long as I have a job, I won’t have enough time to practice golf to be a scratch golfer. Which brings me to bowling.
The “sport” that allows you to drink beer and compete. The sport that has no variation aside from the amount of oil on the lane. The sport that once you’ve done it enough, it becomes more of a mind game than a game of physicality. A sport that is easy to get better at with practice.
This is a screenshot of our team in our league (we are Snakes Strike Back):
I started competitive bowling in Jan of ’16 averaging 165-170 pins through my first 5 weeks. I’ve risen my average by 20+ pins after 8 months of bowling “seriously”. This past week I rolled the highest series of my life, 861, which is a 225+ average. I got lucky multiple times and wouldn’t expect consistent performance like this but it shows that I’ve struck a pretty high ceiling. Our team stats below:
From Gutter to Glory
I’d estimate that I’ve bowled at least once a week for the past 30 weeks. Now raising an average from 190 to 220 may take another year, who knows. Adjusting in bowling, and not just adjusting but knowing when and how to do it quickly, is a major skill. Throwing the ball down the lane only requires muscle memory. There is some luck involved in hitting the pins but less can go wrong when compared to other games. Watching your ball, where it strikes, and then doing it better is all you need. Once you play for 8 months straight, you start getting better at it.
Would I be making this post if I didn’t just roll a 681 series? No. Obviously you can’t claim to be good at a certain game by doing well for 1 week. However, I’ve talked with people who are good bowlers and they claim that breaking through in bowling is mainly about believing that you can break through.
So this year’s game is bowling and I’ve been enjoying it. Socializing with other bowlers, although not the most athletic or motivated crew, is fun for all. The pressure in the last frames is also a feeling you don’t get from other sports. For my early 30’s, I found a “sport” I like. It’s an old man sport.
No real point to this post other than I’ll hopefully post again when I hit a 700 series which I’m hoping won’t be a year from now.
I Haven’t Felt Like It – If you don’t have any reasonably good ideas, it’s not fun to blog. It could be argued that most of my ideas aren’t fantastic, but producing shit is bad for all parties.
Vita-Coco Cleanse – Yesterday I drank 2 of the Vita-Coco’s which are a laxative if you consume to much. Much to my surprise, I urinated out of my butt for 10 minutes straight. This was a blog worthy topic but is only getting a bullet.
I wrote this piece on the Diner En Blanc last year and was cracking myself up re-reading it.
I’m having so much fun!
Tomorrow I’m hoping will be a special guest blog entry from Jeff recapping his epic night of hauling tables and chairs across Philadelphia for the “secret” meeting place where the well to do can eat their own prepared food. Remember, you PAY for the privilege to dine on your own meal.
4,500 people attend this event and my feeling is that they say that the people who mock it are just “jealous”. As someone who has never attended I’m not judging as much as adding up the pieces to where no fun seems to be had. Here are the top Reddit comments regarding the event:
Not the Navy Yard
i cant wait to see what part of the city is rendered entirely inoperable so a bunch of shit pigs in white h&m clothes can drink box wine on a folding chair in the middle of the street
Someone compared it to the Broad St Run:
The Broad Street run, if I’m not mistaken, benefits charity. Pretty sure Diner En Blanc is an entirely for profit event. Also, I realize Broad Street is on a much larger scale, but shutting down Broad on a Sunday morning for a non profit run that promotes health and benefits charity is a completely different animal than a for profit, mostly pointless gathering of privileged yahoos that jacks shit up at some location in the city on a weeknight around rush hour that is kept a secret until the day of so no one has the opportunity to plan around it.Taken from a Reddit Post:
Is this the face of someone who one Silver at the Olympics?This is Renaud Lavillenie, a French pole jumper, at the the award ceremony for his Silver medal. Does he look happy? No, because the whole Brazilian audience is booing him. They boo at him because he was the favorite for the gold medal and concurrent of the Brazilian athlete. At all his attempts the audience booed, so that he fails and the Brazilian athletes wins. And in the end he lost to the Brazilian athlete, who won gold.
And when the national anthem of Brazil played he couldn’t stop his emotions anymore and cried. The Brazilian people are the worst audience and host of the Olympics. This shows only how bad the decision of the IOC was to chose Rio besides the open thefts and violence against tourists and athletes.
I signed up for Dollar Shave Club back in December. It’s a relatively simple concept that made Gillette, the leader in shaving, completely alter their business model. For $9 dollars a month, they ship me 4 brand new razor blades. I found 8 razor blades for the Gillette Fusion online for $24.38 which seems like a reasonable deal for reference.
I shave about every 3 days and I would say I grow regular facial hair. Pretty consistent throughout and not too thick. After 9 months, I’ve stored about 10 extra blades that are mine. I go through 3 a month. The razor is never dull and I don’t feel like I’m burning money by throwing it out. One critique I have is that I don’t think the razor blades are as good as the Gillette ones. If you feel like you spend too much on razor blades, I’d say the Dollar Shave club, for $108 a year, is pretty good.
HOWEVER, if you say I go through 3 blades a month, and the cost of 8 is $24.38, than 4.5 x $24.38 – $109.71 which would mean if I think the Gillette blades are better, I should stick with Gillette. This is a valid point but I also accumulate 12 extra blades through DSC. I also saw the Amazon review was 2 out of 5 with 121 reviews. HMMMM.
Coming off a huge $30 dollar win on my Olympic Golf DraftKings team I’m primed and ready to go into earnings season.
Ezekiel Kemboi (WAS +170)
The 3000m Steeple has been removed from the Bovada betting as Vegas re-evaluates the odds after the trials went off today. Sam noted that Kemboi’s odds moved all the way to +200 last Friday and settled on +150 which I have a feeling will continue to trend downward as we get closer to the race and more eyes land on it. Kemboi made the finals after Monday’s race as well as the other big names in Conseslus, Brimin, and Jager. This is a great read on the race from Let’s Run better than any resource I can give you. They believe Kemboi will outkick Conseslus for the Gold which is what Sam predicted.I currently have $350 to win $595. THE RACE IS 10:50AM on WEDNESDAY 8/17/16. Congratulations to my future wife Emma Coburn for her Bronze medal in the 3000m Steeplechase this morning (she was one of the likes).
Marry me @emmajcoburn! #PreClassic
— Tom Stortz (@rnningfool) May 30, 2015
Novavax
The earnings were underwhelming. The stock dipped from $7.60 to below $7 bucks last Tuesday. Today NVAX has come back with a vengeance going up to exactly where it was last week at $7.60. This is a good sign. I’d recommend sticking with the stock. A quick update on my position. I bought 6 $9 OCT option contracts at $1.20 which is equivalent to a $720 investment. Today those options are worth $1.55. This is a .35 gain on a $1.20 basis which is 29% gain in about 3 weeks time. Let’s keep running up!
Fantasy Baseball
You cannot get a piece of my fantasy baseball action but I manged to make it to the finals in my $100 league. First place is $700 and 2nd is $300 (I think). Considering I know very little about baseball, this is a bit surprising but shows being active on the waiver wire, listening to others, and getting lucky can be all you need.
Brookes did my draft because I don’t know the players very well. I STILL don’t know the players except for who is on my team because I never actually watch the games. Goldschmidt was my first pick (pick# 3) and proved consistent but is 15th in total points scored among batters. Dee Gordon (missed most of the year), Gerrit Cole (underwhelming) and Matt Carpenter (solid) were the next 3 picks. 5th round grabbed Tulowitzki who was hurt for some of the season but is a good shortstop when he plays. The steal of the draft happened in the 6th round with David Ortiz (5th most points scored among batters). The remainder of the draft yielded Zimmerman, Hanley, and Kemp but no one else who remained on the team to completion.
Why I think my team is in the finals is because I have no attachment to the players who were drafted. If they players weren’t performing, I cut them and moved to a player who was. Russell Martin was horrible and I grabbed Wilson Ramos off the waiver wire who was an all-star. I added Rick Porcello (16-3), Rich Hill (9-3), Danny Duffy (9-1), and Marco Estrada (7-5, 1.04 WHIP) thoughout the year to basically become my staff. Not a single closer remained for the entire season as Rosenthal was replaced and Ziegler and Rodney were traded. I also added Adam Duvall and Jean Segura who helped out along the way.
A final thought was I got really lucky. I had the least points scored against in the entire league. I had the guy in the first round of the playoffs only score 166 points against me. In the second round I streamed 4 pitchers who all had positive results. Call it great managing but it has more to do with getting lucky. That’s why I think there is about a 0% chance I lose this week. Big thanks to Bud and Brookes who answered any questions I had as the season progressed.
Justin Rose wins Gold
Huge congratulations to Justin Rose for out dueling Henrick Stenson for the Olympic gold in Rio. He played great golf the final round and sealed the deal with a 50 yard chip or so to about 2 ft which gave him a birdie and the win on 18. Stenson had a shot at birdie on 18 to tie but couldn’t get it done. Kuch shot a 63 in the final round to backdoor into the bronze medal.
Props to Kuchar (-13, 3rd place), Bubba (-8, T for 8th), Patrick Reed (-6, T 11), and Rickie Folwer (E, T for 37th) for doing a great job representing the USA. The tournament had a different feel to it because the players weren’t playing for money but for their country. Matt Kuchar said:
“I can assure you I’ve never been so excited to finish in the top three in my life,” he told Golf Channel’s Steve Sands. “I can’t explain to you the pride I feel just burning out of my chest. It’s something I haven’t felt before.”
Aside from the great golf being played and the enormous respect that is due to the players who participated, there should also be a large amount of shame placed on the top players of the world. Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, and Adam Scott, I’m looking in your direction. It should be pointing out that the Zika virus was to blame (lame excuse) and Rory straight came across as a dick.
I hope she was worth it.
Dustin Johnson – “As an athlete, I can think of no greater honor than representing the United States in the Olympic Games,” Johnson said in a statement Friday night. “However, after much careful consideration and discussion with both my family and my team, I have made the decision to withdraw from the 2016 Olympic Games. This was not an easy decision for me, but my concerns about the Zika virus cannot be ignored. [Wife] Paulina and I plan to have more children in the near future, and I feel it would be irresponsible to put myself, her or our family at risk.
I hope you get eaten by a kangaroo.
Jason Day – “The reason for my decision is my concerns about the possible transmission of the Zika virus and the potential risks that it may present to my wife’s future pregnancies and to future members of our family,”
Major respect points deducted.
Jordan Spieth – “It’s the most exciting sporting event for me to watch on TV and to have a chance to be a part of it is something I definitely look forward to trying to do. This year I just had to try and weigh a risk that doesn’t present itself every year, and just at the time that I had to make the decision, I just felt this was the right move for me.
“Not everybody’s going to understand. Nobody’s going to understand what it’s like in my shoes . . . As you can see, a lot of golfers are trying to decide for themselves. Mine came down to just a very personal decision that, again, I don’t expect anybody to understand, but trust that I believe I’m making the right decision for myself, for my future and for those around me.”
You told the honest truth which was commendable but you’re a dick.
Rory McIlroy – I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all. I didn’t get into golf to try to grow the game. I tried to get into golf to win championships and major championships.
Simone winning Gold
Aly Raisman and Simone Biles are en fuego. I knew that Biles won gold in the all-around and Raisman got silver as I was watching last night which is another reason why watching replay sucks. After seeing Aly Raisman’s floor routine I thought to myself “how could anyone do better than that?? Then I saw Biles and was blown away. She is so powerful, gets so much air, and sticks every landing. I see why she’s the best gymnast in the world. First watch a clip of Raisman’s first pass for reference. Now here is Biles routine. And if you have a crush on Aly Raisman, here is further hotness from Aly (NSFW) in the ESPN Body Issue.
Jaw dropping and awe inspiring. I know virtually nothing about swimming so I can’t tell if the competition is weak or he is that much better with regard to world times, but what he has done throughout his career might not be matched for a long time. 22 golds! He will win 23 tonight as he’s going off at -300. What an absolute monster in the pool. His parents are dolphins!
Young Phelps
Bubba Watson and Greg Louganis
I wrote that the John Deere is such a snoozer because of these Olympics and it’s playing out that way. Draftkings has 47k entries to the Olympic golf tournament. The PGA championship had 83k to give you an idea of it’s relevance to the gambling community. I’d guess the John Deere has 3k.
It’s the early goings but you have Stenson and Rose chasing guys like Marcus Fraser and Thomas Pieters. The USA team is struggling with Kuchar leading the way in 11th currently, Bubba in the middle of the pack, and Reed and Fowler lagging behind. Fortunately there are no cuts.
The medal count looks like this:
Obviously the Americans are dominating swimming and gymnastics. I have a hard time believing they’ll win in events like archery, ping pong, hand ball, and water polo. What it really shows though is the dedication to sports and the ability to train and fight through obstacles. People like Phelps, Ledecky, Biles, and Raisman are created by a devotion to being the best. They have god given abilities that are crafted through a lifetime of work. What you are watching is the result of talent and hard work and America is proving it knows how to create the best athletes on the planet. It’s incredible to watch the ass-kicking they are putting on the rest of the world.
Never leaving the limelight is McKayla and her firm ass.
Lately pretty much the entire planet has been pissing me off. There’s nothing major in my life that is problematic but it’s the little tidbits that start to piss me off. Here’s a short list.
Bikers and runners in Center City – I was driving in Center City last night, which I know was a huge mistake, and people riding and running in this area must have a mental disorder. At 5:30pm it’s so fucking crowded that I’d imagine people get hit every minute. Bikers have no room to ride except in the already clusterfucked street. Drivers have road rage because it’s stop and go and these bikers swerve in and out of lanes like they own the road which is asking for a hospital visit. Topping it all off are these runners who decide that Center City streets are a great place to run in rush hour and add to the misery. From now own I will no longer be entering Center City. Ever.
Sirius Radio and Scottrade Pop Ups – I stream Sirius on my computer and today it has been stalling every 5 minutes and popping up asking me if I want to retry. Scottrade pops up every 30 minutes saying that if I don’t hit OK it will time me out of my account. This sounds simple but when the computer cues to the pop up as the primary window, it takes me away from whatever it is I’m actually doing. Nightmare.
Crossword Puzzles with #’s – When did this happen? Today’s puzzle had an answer to “what did the fan say after he missed the ending of the game?” The answer was WHO1. WHAT?!?! 4 other answers had it to. Fucking insane. See. I did it again.