Inspiration

"Everybody needs a little time away
I heard her say
From each other"
You're the Inspiration, Chicago

So after like a week of not writing anything, I've been sufficiently inspired by the musings of Bill Simmons, and have decided to get back to the lovely pastime of blogging. Fortunately, my work schedule this week is allowing for such an activity.
Here's how the weekend played out, work-wise, and how I sit this Tuesday afternoon awaiting the start of the MLB All-Star Game with not much else on my plate:
Friday involved a 7:30 p.m. departure from work and a nice dinner with Side and friends at Houston's in Manhattan Beach. B-Shaw was in the house, likely in the midst of angling for a coaching job and convincing Kobe to stick around. Got to sleep in a little bit and headed back up to Fox for baseball from 12-4:30, after which I started scanning Yankees tapes for clips of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez--I suppose there are worse assignments. These guys are really good.
Had a break and hit up the Apple Pan for dinner with your father, which was a nice respite, then headed back to the viewing decks for another five hours or so of logging. Left around midnight and headed home.
Sunday was the actual weekend portion of my weekend--up until the late evening, anyway. Got to hoop in the morning, Brentwood-style (went 3-2), then relaxed at home with some sun, some crosswords and a little Front Office Football. Quick note: Though the real Chargers might be the worst-run organization in professional sports, my computer version is becoming a force in the AFC West. We advanced to the conference championship game my first year, on the legs of LT and on the arm of Drew Brees (draft pick Carson Palmer is breathing down his neck, however), then fell in the second round of the playoffs in year two. Donnie Edwards leads a talented young defense, Quentin Jammer is becoming the shut-down corner we all knew he could be and Marcellus Wiley and David Boston actually care about football in this fantasy world. Now back to Sunday...
Went to Bel Air at 6 and then dinner at Baja in Westwood with some friends before a return trip to the lot and to the A-Rod/Jeter world. Didn't re-emerge from the abyss until 3:15 a.m. Seriously. I got to sleep at 4 and woke up at 6 (attempting to attend my morning workout was pretty much not an option) to get back to work for my edit session at 7.
I wasn't nearly as tired as I thought I'd be for most of the day, and actually ended up being very productive. In addition to the A-Rod/Jeter piece (which turned out quite well), I wrote and tracked a topical (regional daily promo for the show), watched and fixed two segments and dealt with plenty of frustration from co-workers about the inefficiency of the day's broadcast from Houston. Almost fell asleep at my desk waiting for our basketball game to start, then headed up to Westwood Rec and made a solid contribution to a winning effort (improving our record to 4-2). Fell asleep at 9:30, which was the best idea I've had in weeks.
A quick addendum to the Westwood Rec league mention: One of the best basketball players I've had the pleasure of seeing in person was on the floor last night for the game immediately following ours. Former LMU point guard Jim Williamson was a ringer for this team that also features former Lion Jeff Fryer (one of my all-time shooting heroes). Jimmy, a 5-10, 145-pound Ollie-from-Hoosiers look-alike, dominated Stais Boseman, one of the great high school defenders in recent times, in the CIF Finals one year, one of the more memorable performances I've seen in the years I went to those final games. I saw Paul Pierce, J.R. Henderson, Kris Johnson, the Collins twins and many others play in those games, but Williamson was incredible. I think I need to blog sometime about the memories of those championship Saturdays, when Ev and I would sit in the Sports Arena or the Pond from like 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on a Saturday in February or Marcj. Good times.
So yeah, the reason I was going to write was that I went through several of Sports Guy's old columns and saw one about his top 15 sports DVD's of all time, and added 20 of his favorite non-sports DVD's as well. I was going to write up a similar list, but it's hard to be confident that it's all-inclusive, and I know I'll forget one or two if I try today, so I'm going to start a list and post it later in the week.
We're dark today and tomorrow, which is the real reason I've got the time to write right now, and I'll be leaving momentarily to watch the All-Star game on Fox, so more will be coming tomorrow, I hope.
Columns that need to be written soon:
- highlights of watching Southern California high school basketball in the mid-to-late 90's
- my favorite movies of all time (sports and otherwise)
- the most embarassing moments of my life--this one occurred to me because my old boss at LCPC mentioned Marisa Sampley (now Vanevenhoven) to me the other day, and the worst thing I've ever said came flooding back to me
- best video game teams I've coached/managed/played with--obviously inspired by the new-look Bolts on FOF4
- best things about working at Fox (and yes, this will definitely include sharing honey wheat thins with Lisa Dergan)
Hopefully that's enough incentive to check back later this week. Pieces.