Hoops, Jimmy, Padres, 24

"Hang loose, my friend don't walk away from me,
Because I really think you're cool
Is it worth turning back despite these open hands?
You're tearing me apart"
--Seventeen, Jimmy Eat World

No time to write yesterday and limited time today, but I must get a few things down about the weekend. Sunday night represented the close of said weekend and brought with it the second basketball game of this spring/summer rec league season. It resulted, of course, in another blowout victory, this time over a team called "I Got This." Needless to say, they didn't "got" anything. All of us (except for one unnamed individual who may or may not be one of my brothers) wore headbands as a show of solidarity, and we played one of our best games (at least offensively) in a long time. Missed a quasi-dunk attempt (but managed to tip it in) and had a sweet between the legs, no-look pass to Seas for a layup on the break. Oh yeah, and I made four of my five free throws, which is a complete aberration the way I've been shooting from the stripe recently. It's still so fun to just get out there and play with a bunch of friends; I really hope we can keep doing it for a while.
Saturday night was the Jimmy Eat World concert down in Long Beach, where they were joined by Mates of State (got there late, missed them) and Taking Back Sunday (got there on time, wasn't impressed). The set list:
-Futures--partial (basically just the lines about "nickels and dimes," which I felt was quite appropriate
-For Me This is Heaven
-Bleed American
-Lucky Denver Mints
-Kill (my favorite song on the new album, if you haven't already read it among the 35 other times I've mentioned this in the last several months)
-Work
-Blister (How Long Would It Take Me)
-The World You Love
-The Middle
-23
-Get It Faster (I'm captivated by this song: as near as I can tell, the idea is that he wants to break up with the girl, but she doesn't get it, so "cheating gets it faster"--kinda weird)
-Seventeen (off "Static Prevails," the oldest song they did)
-Futures--the full version, still including the dimes reference
-A Praise Chorus (my favorite all-time song, a perfect way to finish the main act)
And then a tremendous two-song encore:
-Pain
-Sweetness
All in all, a quick (<1 hour on stage) but stellar show. I've only see them open (for Blink 182/Green Day and for Tenacious D/Weezer), so to see them headline was a tremendous experience.
Getting to go to the concert meant I was home and not in San Diego, as a result of a few Padre game arrangements falling through at the last minute, but it was still cool. The Pads didn't need me, as it turns out, sweeping the Marlins (and adding another one last night). Buster Olney gets it:
"Padres Streaking
The Padres had just started playing better when Woody Williams and Tim Redding went down with arm injuries. But they keep winning, helped along by one of the rotation replacements – Tim Stauffer, who had another solid outing Monday in San Diego's comeback victory against the Braves. The Padres have moved into a tie for first place in the NL West."
As Mel Allen would say, "How 'bout that!"
So I had a basketball game (gone for two hours) and a concert (gone for about four hours), and pretty much every single waking minute outside of those two events was spent doing one thing: watching season one of 24 on DVD. One of my editors lent it to me on Friday, making sure to give me the warning that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop, but I figured I could have some self-control. Not so. After getting back from a bar on Friday night (watched the Mavs-Suns game with a couple buddies--Amare Stoudamire WOW!), I popped in disc one and watched two episodes. Nothing big. Woke up Saturday, however, and it was on. No less than ten (10) episodes were viewed on Saturday (they're only about 42 minutes, so it wasn't a full 10 hours), before getting showered up and heading off to the concert. I did take about an hour break somewhere in there for lunch and a brief nap in the sun (gorgeous day--probably shouldn't have spent the duration inside), but the vast majority was spent with Jack Bauer (and the lovely Nina Myers, hot in a very subtle way--I honestly think that if I ever met the actress who portrayed Nina, I would ask her to marry me on the spot). Sunday was more of the same, after some morning errands and before the pre-game nap, I only had one left going into game time. With Jack and his family in such peril, it was a tad difficult to concentrate on the game, to be honest, but I was able to make do and get back home with enough energy to watch the 24th and final episode of season one before bedtime. Wow, was that some good television. I've been totally caught up in this season, completely oblivious to this world of 24 before a couple months ago, and now I can't get enough. The same editor has seasons two and three, but I have to wait until he's moved into his new house and the boxes are unpacked. It's probably better that way, for my health and ability to focus on work in the meantime, so hopefully I'll get them in time for our next dark week (week of Memorial Day), when there'll be plenty of viewing time.
Just found out that today's load is going to be even heavier than I thought, so I'm off to start it. Star Wars tonight at 9, if I'm still awake. Peace.