Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this before (and I’m too lazy to search the archives), but I was once a soccer atheist. Well, actually not an atheist… I mean, I was pretty sure that soccer existed, but growing up in rural North Carolina, there was little actual evidence of soccer as a sport. No youth leagues, no high school teams, no adult leagues… nothing.
Since we just got out of the Easter season, and several million folks just made their once-a-year church appearance (you know who you are… sinners), I felt like I needed to tell a story via parable. Here we go. Read more…
Here’s a sign that you’ve had a personal blog for a little too long. Tonight, I sat down to write a missive about how I’m a bit fatigued watching the Olympics. You know… how after a week-plus of near saturation of coverage, you start to feel tired yourself, as if you’re a cross-country skier dragging into the homestretch with nothing left in the tank. Read more…
Here they are – the second five from my top 10 12 Christmas songs. They were 10 in my first cut (check out the first five), but I found a couple of more while listening to XM the last few days. Ultimately, I couldn’t leave any of these out. And really, 10 was an arbitrary number anyway. So, here are the second seven. Enjoy the snow-covered goodness.
Just realized that for the first time in the four-year history of SMP, I let a month go by without a post. Ah, the lost October. Man, that’s just inexcusable. So, here comes a super-sized entry about something that’s near and dear to my heart. At least after the last few weeks. Sportsmanship in rec leagues. Read more…
Earlier today, I heard a few NC State fans in the office discussing the upcoming football season. They were going position-by-position, talking about the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s squad. And, with the season less than a month away, you could feel the palpable sense of excitement. Read more…
(Editor’s note: Yeah, I know… I ended the title with a preposition. So what… you wanna fight about it?)
The annual hoopla about American Idol – and my friends’ near-universal ranting and raving about who won and who didn’t – has gotten me on my annual rant. That’s right! My regularly-scheduled grumpy column. I’ve taken a pretty wicked swipe at AI before. Got a lot of hate comments after that one (some I couldn’t post).
Earlier this week, I got an email from a buddy from my hometown. He proposed that a few of us get together at the old golf course – Magnolia Country Club in lovely, bucolic Magnolia, NC – for a round of golf for old time’s sake. Sounded like a great way to spend a early spring Saturday. That is, until a friend who still lives in the area threw down the news I didn’t really expect. The old course had been shut down.
Tonight, I was watching the Dook-Wake Forest game, and, naturally, supporting the Deacons with all my might. Not that I have any allegiance to the Demon Deacons or anything. I just hate Dook more. In that sense, watching league basketball games is a lot like being a coked-up Andy Dick at a bar … there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself with some strange bedfellows.
