He ran into me

Yes the person in that picture, and the person who the story is about ran into me in high school when we were on the same football team in gym class. We were both going for an interception and his head went right into my head...right before spring break. I got the worst of that. I don't think I got a concussion but it is the closest I've probably come to getting one. Atleast Vlad did catch the ball.

I believe that Vlad was relatively new to the country when he got to my high school. If you had told me that he was going to be invited to the NFL Combine I would have said that you were crazy. He has worked so hard to get where he is. I know he worked hard in High School and he must have continued at UMass.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/news/story?id=4953267

Hawaii

I am hoping and praying for the best in Hawaii and for those who live there and know those who live there. It is such a beautiful place and is one of my favorite places on earth, (after New Hampshire, Florida, Lake House and Connecticut)

It is so beautiful there. I loved hiking up Diamond Head. It was such a beautiful view of Honolulu. I wish that the Pro Bowl was back to being played there.

I loved the Punch Bowl, as we looked unsuccessfully to find one of my father's relatives who died at Iwo Jima.

I love Maui. That is paradise. Parasailing there is a great view. I also went snorkeling there (before I knew how to swim...which wasn't the brightest idea).

I hope everything will be ok in Hawaii. I want to go back.

Skillz

Today at Husky Sport I went in to the gym for the second class period. I threw the football around with one student and then we got into a competition to see if we could throw a small nerf football through the small gymnastic rings that were hanging from the ceiling.

I was the only one who succeeded in getting it through. I was so close a couple of other times too. I even had one bounce out.

I also made a half court shot while in Hartford.

These things make up for what I messed up in at soccer practice yesterday. I was playing with another manager, a couple of coaches and a player who is sitting out. The player was really laughing at how bad I was. She also laughed at me for my poor juggling skills on Friday night at our tournament.

I'm glad I made up for my poor skills in soccer in other sports today.

My least favorite Sports Movie

I was chatting with this athlete today (Maybe you know who she is and a little bit about her) and I asked her about the movie "The Little Giants." I noticed that she wrote that it was her favorite sports movie in the media guide and had to ask why on earth she would like a movie with such a bad outcome, the Cowboys losing.

I don't remember anything about the movie other than that my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, lost. This made me mad. I was really mad that the Cowboys lost in the movie. You would think I might like any sports movie, especially at the age that I watched it, but I hated that movie. It made me mad. I think I even have the book "The Little Giants" but I can't stand that movie.

Wow

Wow, Seton Hall is cutting their men's and women's track and field programs. I am surprised.

I really wonder if Seton Hall is a viable member of the Big East conference. I think being in the Big East is good for Seton Hall, but I don't think it's good for the Big East. At some point it won't be good for Seton Hall either. The Atlantic 10 might make more sense for them.

Great article

Great article about a Rhodes Scholar, named Myron Rolle, who happens to be a likely top pick in the NFL draft too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=100218/myronrolle

And the Spring Sports are almost here?

The fact that the Spring Sports are almost here is scary to me. I can't really believe it. Hockey is almost over. The Women have a few more games to play in the postseason and hopefully they qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Basketball is obviously not over. One team is making post season play and the other one we don't quite no about.

Here is my take on the Spring Teams at UConn and a little bit on my expectations for them. I don't think any spring team is a favorite to win a National Championship. I think a team might have an outside shot.

Team Most Likely To Win a National Championship
Women's Track and Field.

UConn Women's Track and Field has some amazing athletes and this team is the only team that is ranked of all the spring teams, which by default makes them the most likely to win a National Championship.

Non Track Team Most Likely to Win a BIG EAST Championship
Baseball

I, and many other people, are very optimistic about the chances of UConn's Baseball team this year. The team had a lot of players drafted and lost some quality pitchers, but the three best players on the team remain. George Springer is an amazing talent and is someone that every UConn Sports Fan needs to go see play. Pierre LePage is a great second baseman and Mike Olt should have a big year after battling some injuries last season. Mike Nemeth is a very good first baseman.

A big key for the team will be pitching, as is most often the case in baseball. The team will also need to replace the offense that came from Peter Fatse.

I think the baseball team has the best chance of winning a BIG EAST Tournament of all spring sports but the track teams.

Team most likely to stay good.
Men's Track and Field. The Men's Track and Field team is solid and always puts together good performances. They should have another good year.

Team that should improve
Women's Lacrosse

M.E. Lapham and Kiersten Tupper showed a lot of promise last season. Both players are sophomores and both are attackers. Lacrosse was playing it's best towards the end of last season. After starting out 0-9 they won 3 of their last 7. They also played really well against Top 5 ranked Syracuse last season. I like the coaching staff and the direction of the program. It is unreasonable to expect a team that lost two top scorers and a team that is bringing in a large amount of new talent to be competing for a national championship. I think a much more realistic goal should be to get the team closer to .500. I think that can be accomplished. I think they will win more games than last season and I think that the team will be in a very good position to be nationally ranked again (as they were in 2007) once their young talent becomes juniors and seniors.

And...
Softball

I have been a big supporter of softball and I expected the team to have a great year last year. They almost hit my expectations of a 30 win season last year, but injuries slowed them down. I think that this teams goal should just be to make the BIG EAST Tournament. I think that is a realistic and achievable goal. I don't think any team at UConn lost more talent than the softball team did. Jillian Ortega and Micah Truex were two amazing players. Danielle Del Ponte was another big loss. Sarah Neuschwander and Rachael Crossin were two more big losses. Erin Burtner was solid in pretty much every way. This team has a lot of question marks and freshman will need to make an impact.

Julie Towers is a great talent and she should have a big year. Tricia Sullivan will hopefully return to form from her injury. Justyne Roy is a great fielder at first base.

I can't say I know what to expect from softball, but I hope for the best.

Tennis, Golf and Rowing are sports that I don't feel qualified to write anything about. I wish those teams good luck.

Labbe

Stephanie Labbe is in Cyprus with the Canadian National Team. Before you know it she will be playing in Sweden for Pitea again. Canada won 3-0 yesterday and have several more games in Cyprus.

Winter Olympics

For someone who loves sports I have surprisingly not been mesmerized by the Winter Olympics. I check to see that the United States is in the medal count, and I liked hearing that Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller won Gold Medals.

I don't really care to watch figure skating, although I do understand that what they do is very difficult to do. (I can't even skate)

I'd love to watch bobsledding but I haven't seen it on yet. I love watching that. I think that was the first Olympic Sport that I remember that I enjoyed watching. That was even before the 1996 Olympic Games and those games really meant the most to me. The Atlanta games were all about Michael Johnson and I was such a huge fan of his. I also enjoyed the long jump. I remember being 8 and trying to jump as far as I could into a sandbox. That was fun, especially since it was close to a Lake that I could wash all the sand off in.

Anyway I haven't found bobsledding on yet and I want to see that.

Snowboarding is interesting, but I haven't been compelled to stop what I have been doing to watch. Although to be fair I have been so busy with other things and school work that I haven't had all the time in the world to watch the events.

I really have been interested in Curling. I became interested in it when Dr. Fink spoke about trying to market Curling before the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. I sort of understand Curling, it's like shuffle board on ice, but I still have some questions.

Hockey is a cool sport, but I don't really love watching it. I'd rather watch track and field events.

I also have missed the speed skating that has gone on.

I hope I can watch more events before these games are up.

extrinsic vs intrinsic and scholarships

Scholarships are an interesting thing.

I think a lot of people are motivated to get a scholarship. They are intrinsically motivated to see if they are good enough to get one. Once they get one they think that they now are being "controlled" and need to work to stay on scholarship. This change in how one thinks can negatively effect performance. It becomes a job to stay on scholarship and not a challenge to see if you are good enough to get one.

People don't want to have to worry about doing the necessary things to stay on scholarship, but they are willing to work hard to see if they can earn one.

I feel that freshman are often some of the most motivated college athletes. As a matter of fact "new blood" is often the most motivated because they have something to prove. It's important that college athletes have something to keep them intrinsically motivated. You need them to worry about a new challenge and goal for them to complete. It's not good for athletes to worry about doing what's necessary to stay on scholarship.

Only Me

Today I drove the van for Husky Sport. There were four athletes in the van, Allison Karpiak, Bethany Semlear, Donnell Beverly and Kemba Walker. I have half of those people's autographs.

If you guessed that I have the two field hockey players you know me way to well and you would be correct. I am the only person who can say that.

Why do I have their autographs?

That is a GREAT question.

No I did not ask for them, instead an autographed photo for charity got ruined in the rain. They were going to throw the photo away, but I looked at it and thought it was still in an ok condition and thought it would go well on my game room wall. It hasn't been framed yet, but I will put it one. They were 2009 Big East Champs.

I was the public announcer for the team this past season so I thought it would be cool to have that picture as a way of remembering what I did, and also remembering whose names were difficult to announce.

Donnell Beverly and Kemba Walker were both polite and apparently challenged the kids at Clark Elementary school to some basketball.

By the way I was happy, and not surprised that UConn beat Villanova.

I enjoy Husky Sport because I love spending time with the kids at Clark Elementary school. They are fun to be around. Last year I spent almost all of my time in the gym. I spent time with kindergartners and first graders last year and we often played basketball and duck duck goose. I am a natural in the gym and love being in there.

This year I have gone to the classroom and have continued to work with some of the same kids as last year. This time I am doing some things that I need some practice at like drawing, and acting. I have learned that I am not good at conducting Simon says or at drawing, but thats ok! The kids like it when they are better than me at things. I may not be as good in the classroom as I am in the gym, but I like staying with the same kids and getting to know them.

It is remarkable to see how much the program has grown since I got involved last year.

Like last year, this year we have the Read and Raise challenge for the children at three Elementary schools in Hartford, the Clark, Wish and MLK Elementary Schools.

The challenge is to get each school to read 10,000 books, with the best classrooms receiving prizes like in-school recess and gifts.

The other goal is to raise a dollar for each book read and donate it to Emeka Okafor's One for One Safe Blood initiative. Okafor, a former standout UConn Basketball Student Athlete (he graduated with a finance degree in three years and was a first round NBA pick) donated a large amount of money to the program and as a way to thank him for his generosity Husky Sport will donate back to his Safe Blood initiative.

http://www.education.uconn.edu/research/HuskySport/video2009.cfm

http://www.education.uconn.edu/research/HuskySport/video_safeblood.cfm

http://www.education.uconn.edu/research/huskysport/read-and-raise-2010/

They will lose

In watching Tina Charles today I have figured out that the women's basketball team will not go undefeated, next year. This year will be difficult but it's not impossible. If the team is caught in a bad stretch we can lose. I don't see us going undefeated in 2010-2011.

Anyway I don't think that the team will be able to absorb the loss of Charles and Kalana Greene as well as they did with losing Renee Montgomery. Tina Charles has been dominant this season and no one can replace her right away.

A team that scares me is Baylor because they have Brittany Griner, who is a tall center. She can be so disruptive and can really effect a game if she is playing at her best. I hope UConn doesn't have to face Baylor.

Misc.

I love American History. It is my favorite non-sports related subject. I got a five on the AP U.S. History exam (out of five). See if you can beat me on this quiz about Presidents. I got 92% correct, off of the top of my head.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35372422/

I also don't like Khakis. I hate wearing them. I have such strong and big thighs and they make sizing weird for me. One pair, that I wore to work recently, made me think that I was wearing spandex. (Ok not really, but you get the idea of how it may not fit exactly as I would like)

I don't like Khakis. I am bringing this up because it was brought to my attention by Shauna, who happened to be at the game on Saturday.

I love the Northeast's definition of a fan

In the Northeast we have a unique view of what being a fan means. In the Northeast people will call themselves a fan when in my mind they really aren't one.

To me you can't be a fan of the women's basketball team at UConn if you only go when you get a free ticket and show up right around tip off. You are not a "fan" if you go and leave after the first half.

To me you aren't a fan if you get to the game late or leave early...consistently.

It really does make me laugh when people call themselves fans but really don't act like ones.

Down South a fan is someone who gets to games hours early, tailgates, cheers loudly and has their dining room set made of their teams favorite logo.

Good quote

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Vince Lombardi

300 Victories

Our Women's Ice Hockey coach, Heather Linstad, won her 300th career game as a coach today. She is one of three Women's Ice Hockey coaches with that many wins. I hope she and the UConn Women's Ice Hockey program gets more of a name for themselves. They are a very good program.

Difficult

Some injuries just boggle my mind. I feel bad about them happening. I feel horrible about them happening and saying "feel better" doesn't seem to do any justice. I hate it when I see people not being themselves too. I just want them to get better quickly.

This isn't about sports

This isn't about sports but there is this girl named Brittany who always sings songs at UConn Latenight on Friday nights at the Student Union. Her karaoke is interesting. She always goes up and always puts on a show and as someone from Quebec put it "She is one of a kind."

She is also courageous for going up all the time. She sometimes make me laugh, but I always respect her. She has more courage than I do to perform multiple songs on a Friday night in front of hundreds of people.

Also someone on the track team performed tonight. I don't know who she is but she I always see her with a track backpack. She also in my sports psychology class, which is a great class that I think all athletes should be required to take.

Shout out

So team managers will be honored along with players for good grades, grades of above a 3.0 tomorrow. I know that the women's basketball managers will be mentioned. I don't know if other managers will.

I felt that Matt Sych of Men's Soccer deserves a shout out because I'm pretty sure he had a good G.P.A. I had a 3.78

Remember when?

Remember when I would always make fun of people who ride scooters or can't sit down in seats in psychology class?

Well I don't make fun of that team anymore, or talk about things from around campus.

However, I can talk about other things.

Melissa Gonzalez was spared being hit by a hockey puck by someone sitting by her at a game over the weekend. A man was also drilled by one but he was hit in an area with a lot of padding.

Today the single season leading goal scorer in UConn Field Hockey history, Loren Sherer, slipped and fell on snow while walking down a hill. I was probably the only person around to have seen her. I thought to myself "haha I saw that."

Later on that same walk, as I was walking towards Hilltop, karma got me back. I slipped and fell while walking up a hill. I wonder if someone else went "haha I saw that."

Facebook brings back good memories

Sometimes what I like best about facebook is seeing the name of someone I haven't seen in a long time. Like someone I went to elementary or middle school with. I saw one of those kids pop up on my newsfeed today and it brought back a great athletic memory.

I remember playing gym in like 7th grade and I blocked this kids shot so badly. I mean I literally blocked the shot out of the gym. I blocked it out the door and into the snow. That was a highlight of 7th grade gym. (I also remember that Glen Rice was big when I was in 7th grade)

Unfortunately for me I took a shot later that same gym that went into the palm of the most athletic player in the school. I guess karma got me back. The player who blocked that shot also went to play college football for a little bit.

I have a couple highlights in my mind too from College and college athletics. Stopping a Melissa Gonzalez warm up pass with my foot was one of them. Taking a half court shot in Gampel and hitting front rim on my first try is another. Making a three pointer in Gampel is another... The other highlight is my favorite and it was sort of similar to blocking shots.

This coach is right

An un-named coach was talking about how there are now so many media members who have no idea what they are talking about. They are loud mouths who talk, and write on the internet and really don't know what they are talking about.

He is right.

I try not to argue with the decisions of referees or coaches because I am confident that they have more experience and knowledge about situations than I do. People who watch sports are not as qualified to talk knowledgeably about them as people who have worked and coached sports for years.

When you are 5 foot 4

When you are 5 foot 4 and you grab 10 rebounds in a basketball game you deserve a shout out. So here is a shout out to Lorin Dixon who had 10 rebounds against Louisville today.

The Super Bowl

I redeemed myself, after getting 7 games in a row wrong, I got the last two right. The Saints won and I went 4-7 in predicting games in the playoffs. But I got the Super Bowl right...

I thought the Budweiser commercial with the Human Bridge was the best commercial. I rated all of the commercials for fun from 1-10. There were no 10's. I did not like any of the movie commercials. I don't understand why movie companies pay to have those put on during the Super Bowl. They don't stick out in my mind compared to the other commercials. I can't name any of those movies.

I think Sean Payton did an amazing job coaching. In my opinion I can not remember a better coaching job in the Super Bowl. He gambled, and made in my opinion good decisions. I think his play calling matched the situation he is in very well. He coached to win the Super Bowl. The on-side decision was very courageous.

The Saints

I am picking the Saints to beat the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Best Super Bowl Commericial

Best Super Bowl Commercials are the ones with the Budweiser frogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UPAtB6oRR4&feature=related

The next adventure

So I am going to accept an invitation to be an intern for the WPS team in Boston over the summer. It will be the next step in my athletic career adventure. I hope to learn about ticketing and running a pro team. Hopefully I will learn about things that I can apply to college athletics and to the great soccer team at UConn.

I really want to learn about marketing. I hope to learn things that will allow me to take a different perspective on marketing women's soccer. In college you go to class with the athletes in the games. Professional soccer is obviously different. I look forward to learning new things from them.

Monday

Monday can't get here soon enough...well maybe Wednesday since I have class Monday around noon...been waiting for this since November.

Realignment

Everyone is talking about conference re-alignment so I am going to propose my idea, which is radical and hopefully makes sense. Increasingly I doubt that the BIG EAST will be able to function with the have's and have nots. The small catholic schools like Providence, St. John's and Seton Hall can not compete in most sports. They are irrelevant in all but a few sports in the league. The 8 non football playing schools have different objectives and resources than the football schools.

Anyway I split the 8 Big East Football teams schools in half, with four going to the Big 10 and four going to the ACC.

The BIG 10 bound teams would be Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse

The ACC bound teams would be UConn, West Virginia, South Florida and Louisville.

UConn would be a good fit with the ACC because of strong basketball and soccer programs. Field Hockey would also benefit. I do think the school will miss rivalries with Syracuse and Pittsburgh, but it wouldn't mind exchanging those schools for Duke and UNC

The BIG EAST is out as a football conference and the Mountain West becomes a BCS league.

Additionally Notre Dame would bolt the BIG EAST in all other sports and would join the BIG 10 for all sports but football, but might want to consider joining for football by the time this would happen.

Anyway this is my idea. I think it is the most realistic because I don't think the BIG EAST can survive if another football team leaves. There is no more good and logical program to add to replace the school leaving. UCF, Memphis and adding Villanova or UMass in football just won't cut it this time.

I think inevitably change will be happening in conference alignment, but this time it would be a more major one.

I don't like to over-react

I don't like getting to worried or anxious about things in sports. I try to see the big picture and not obsess over the importance of every single moment of every possession and game. However, for the first time ever I am actually worried about the future of the Men's Basketball program. We need to have a plan should Coach Calhoun retire (which looks like that is coming sooner and sooner). We also need to have a plan to get a new practice facility so we can keep up with rival schools.

Finally, we need more Emeka Okafor's. Interpret that as you want.

The future is coming and we must be prepared. If not we could be the next St. Johns. (that reference has nothing to do with soccer, I am referring to the fact that St. John's used to be a powerhouse in basketball)