Viral: The Ohio State University Marching Band

image source: tbdbitl.osu.edu

As an Ohio State alum, I am beaming with pride to see the Marching Band (aka The Best Damn Band In The Land) going viral on the internet this past week. The tributes to Michael Jackson and Hollywood Movie Blockbusters, wow to the nth degree.

Featured this morning on NBC's Today Show, these impressive and no doubt difficult moves the band practices to perfection used to be mapped out with dots on paper. It is now done through the tutelage of an iPad app. In case you didn't see it, here's the Today Show's segment:



And for those of you too preoccupied choosing this year's Halloween costume the past 2 weeks, here are the full video clips of the Michael Jackson and Hollywood Movie Blockbuster shows.





Anyone who's ever been in marching band in high school and/or college, the world now knows band nerds are truly cool.

Terrell Owens to bowl in PBA World Series of Bowling

image source: PBA

On March 13, my blog entry discussed Terrell's attempt to bowl at the elite level. Can't say I was surprised to see so many negative comments when he bowled at the USBC Championships in May and his upcoming debut in the PBA World Series of Bowling at South Point in Las Vegas this weekend. However, most that follow the sport of bowling closely support TO's efforts.

Longtime PBA veteran bowler Norm Duke said it best:
"It's unfair for all the bowlers in the world to compare him with us...He does have a pretty good fundamentally sound bowling game, but we should be fair to him. He knows his role here. He wants to see what it is like."--Associated Press, October 24, 2013.

For those naysayers that likely didn't know, Terrell's average during the USBC Championships was about 167. Not great, but not terrible either. It's my guess Terrell will do better than he did in March.

Best of luck to you this weekend, T.O.

2010 MLB World Series Film

image source: Fanpop

On Wednesday, October 23, begins the 2013 World Series between 2 red-themed teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. Both teams are not strangers to the series, with Boston making their last appearance in 2007, and St. Louis in 2011. Both teams won their series.

I've been revisiting film clips the past few nights from other recent post-season games, including the 2010 World Series, the first championship for the Giants in the San Francisco era. I was able to find on YouTube the full length film chronicling San Francisco's run to the Fall Classic.

Watching the film last night felt like seeing it for the first time. Many of the key players for the Giants in 2010 were not on 2012's team. Cody Ross and Juan Uribe are now with different teams. Brian Wilson spent most of 2012 on the disabled list. Pat Burrell retired. Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez are not actively playing baseball at this time.

Thanks to michael2damax at YouTube for posting it. In case you haven't seen it, here it is:



Narration by actor and comedian Rob Schneider.

Remembering Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 17, 1989

Today is the 24th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. Epicenter was in Santa Cruz, California. As I tweeted earlier this morning, my longtime and dear friend Jeff drove me to San Francisco International Airport on a flight to visit family and friends in Columbus.

I've copied from George Kelly (@allaboutgeorge on Twitter) a series of tweets from other Tweeters, including mine, of their memories on this date. I was fortunate not to have felt it, but will never forget the impact it had on everyone else living in the area.

As extensive as the damage was to much of the Bay Area, it could have been a lot worse. The San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's were set to play in a first-ever Bay Bridge World Series and traffic was light that day because many were preparing to watch the game.

Weber Cup XIV - 2013

image source: Weber Cup

UPDATE October 13, 2013 - Team Europe rallies to a 17-14 win over Team USA. Congratulations to Mika, Stu, Dom and Martin!

Battling as we speak is this year's Weber Cup match between Europe and the United States. The United States got off to blistering start, leading 5-1. Like the recent America's Cup, a big rally from Team Europe has surged them back into contention. Europe is only 2 matches down.

As of this blog entry, United States 10, Europe 8. First team to reach 17 points wins. Competition ends tomorrow.

This year's rosters:
Team USA (same as 2012): Chris Barnes, Bill O'Neill, Tommy Jones and Mike Fagan.
Team Europe: Mika Koivuniemi, Stuart Williams, Martin Larsen and Dominic Barrett.

Looking very forward to the video of the matches in early 2014.
Go USA!

League Bowling Blog - Gutter to Glory

image source: guttertoglory.com , Roto Grip

A month into my 6th season of league bowling (yes, it will eventually match all these years I played league softball), I'm not perusing as many YouTube videos as I did in the past 2 years. I do continue to follow all levels of bowling from league and local tournaments to the WTBA and PBA.

League scores from the 2 centers where I bowl regularly can be found at leaguesecretary.com. My Wednesday league has its own website at chinesebowlingclub.com under the Friendly Trios icon. Our stats are usually updated Saturday nights. I just checked the site and see results for this week are already in. If I bowled well (which I did), I'm always anxious to see how well I did against everyone else.

Statistics are a great way to help track progress. More importantly for me is practice and to watch others practice. When appropriate, I'll chat with other bowlers during practice and league play for their feedback. I can usually determine that with a "nice shot" compliment, or hear a self-deprecating remark about the errant shot he/she just made.

Which leads me to Zak Becker's and Tim Merath's blog, Gutter to Glory, sponsored by Roto Grip. As fellow league bowlers, they write about their bowling experiences I can relate to in so many ways. The screen shots of their scores on their blog and Twitter look so much like my scores, good and bad. They express frustration with inconsistent scores, how to adapt to changing lane conditions, and a ton of other minutiae bowlers only know.

If you find this kind of bowling minutiae fascinating, you can follow Gutter to Glory on Facebook, and Tim's Twitter account, @guttertoglory. Good luck to Zak and Tim. My goal this season is the same as Zak's, a 165 average.