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Saturday February 17th, 2007
12:35pmWhat a Beautiful Day
I got up at 6:45 this morning because I had to go up to work for a couple of hours. On my way I swung by Shipley's for some kolaches and a couple do-nuts. Mmmm. I was done with work by about 9:15 but I had a few errands to run so I headed towards the mall to take care of them.
The first stop was to exchange some fancy thermals I received over the holidays but they didn't have the size I needed but since I didn't have the receipt I could only get store credit....so I got myself a new pair of running shoes. Let me just say that I love Saucony. Not only did I get the sneakers but there was a balance remaining but it was too little for them to give me a gift card for so they paid me with cash. That essentially covered 1/2 of my bill at Shipley's.
From there it was into the mall to get my glasses fixed and to swing by Lids and exchange a hat (it was too red and not enough maroon. For its exchange I picked up my annual Twins Franchise Cubs hat. I've got half a dozen of'em already but they get nasty so each year I treat myself to a new one. The original hat was purchased with a gift card and today's transaction was an even exchange so it didn't cost me anything.
From there I was walking to the eyeglass place when I ran into my buddy Evan's girlfriend and talked to her for a minute. They're both good people.
I got my glasses fixed and as I was walking back through the mall to the entrance I parked a sneaker caught my eye in the window of Foot Action.
I walked in and picked it up. The hip-hop lookin' fella next to me said something like, "Man, they must have just re-released those." and I, the dorky looking white guy, chimed in, "Must have. Those are the old Barry Sanders." I think I impressed him. I didn't tell him that I worked at Footlocker during high school.
Air Zoom Turf is what they are actually called. I never really got into fancy sneakers but there have always been two pair that I secretly coveted. The first was the Jordan XI which came out when I was in 7th or 8th grade. I liked the first edition that came out in white with the black patent leather on the toe. I heard that they're actually going to re-release the Jordan XI again sometime this year.
The only other pair of sneakers I coveted were the Barry Sanders Air Zoom Turf. I wrestled with myself today as to whether or not I should try them on but I decided that it would be best to leave it alone. I couldn't afford them back in 7th grade when they were $90 and now, although I can afford them, I just can't justify paying $125 for them. It was nice to see them again though.
After taking that stroll down memory lane I headed over to Academy to get a new racquetball grip and a couple of work out t-shirts with a gift card I have. Since I was in memory mode I headed towards the baseball section. It's just about spring time and all the little league dads were over there having their kids trying on gloves and looking at new shiny baseball bats. I think the dads enjoy it as much, if not more than the kids. I actually picked up a pitch counter while I was over there. I always struggle to keep an accurate count on my scorebook when I'm at Aggie games so I thought it would be $5 that would go a long way.
On the way home I swung by the grocery store and picked up some stuff. I got all that knocked out before noon.
It is such a beautiful day out today. Low-60s, sunny, clear blue sky. I'm going to take care of some lawn stuff as soon as I get done writing this, then I'm going to go test out the new running shoes and I should be done in time for the 2pm first pitch of the Aggie baseball game against UT-PA on Aggie All-Access (they won yesterday 7-4) and the 2:30 tip-off of the men's basketball game on ABC as we travel to Norman to take on the Sooners.
As if that doesn't make for a complete day, this evening Jennifer and I are going downtown for dinner and then over to watch Twelve Angry Men which is appearing at the Hobby Center.
It is featuring George Wendt, who is best known as Norm from Cheers, but almost equally remembered as "Da' Bears" fan from the SNL skit.
What a beautiful day.
Tomorrow won't be too shabby either as I will be heading up to College Station with my old man to meet my brother for a little racquetball to be followed with my first Fightin' Texas Aggie Baseball game at Olsen Field this season. WHOOP!
Friday February 16th, 2007
12:01amAgs Beat McNeese & Host UT-PA
Tuesday afternoon the Ags beat McNeese State 5-2 in freshman Scott Migl's debut on the mound. Brandon Hicks had a nice day at the plate going 1-for-2 with a double, 2 runs, 2 BBs, and an RBI. Jordan Chambless continues to mow down hitters as he K'ed 5 more batters in 3.2 inning of relief.
In somewhat interesting fashion, McNeese State's head coach, Chad Clement, resigned yesterday. Olsen Magic, perhaps?
This weekend we host UT-Pan America for a 3-game set. I want to make sure that I pass along that this afternoon's gametime has changed from 6:30 to 3:00. It probably has something to do with the weather...., probably because if the game was at 6:30 it would be about 10 degrees cooler. 50 degrees is a big difference from 40 degrees, especially at Olsen where you have to subtract 10 degrees due to the wind.
Saturday (2pm) and Sunday (1pm) will be beautiful sunny blue skies, but a bit chilly (upper-50s/lower-60s....minus 10 degress for Olsen Factor).
I haven't seen any starting rotations so I can't pass that on to you. All I can say is enjoy the weekend and the fact that Aggie baseball will be at Olsen Field for the next month.
Gig'em & BTHO UT-PA! WHOOP!
Tuesday February 13th, 2007
12:01amAgs Go 2-1 at MMP and Beat #1 Rice
I thought we had a great showing this weekend. We faced some very good pitching and scored a few runs (4, 3, & 4), albeit not a ton, but more than we would have scored last year against good pitching. We also pitched incredibly well. We had one rough inning on the weekend....the first inning of the first game. From then on out we were flat out incredible.
IP H ER SO/BB ERA BAA ========================================== Overall........ 26.0 21 9 29/9 3.12 .233 Minus ASU 1st.. 25.0 16 5 29/9 1.80 .193Very, very impressive. Even more so when you consider that included the #1 team in the nation (Rice) as well as the scariest lineup in the nation (ASU).
Even after Jason Meyer's rough first inning on Friday he settled down and threw 3 scoreless innings before reaching his PC limit.
Kyle Thebeau looked great against UH, as he did last season, as he gave up 3 hits, 1 ER, and struck out 8 before leaving in the 6th inning with some sort of injury to his hamstring. He backed up a throw at third base and dove for the ball and came up gimp. It was a quite chilly evening so it would be very easy to strain a hammy. He was at 91 pitches so he probably wouldn't have gone out for the next inning anyways.
Jordan Chambless came out of the gates throwing flames this season. He touched 96 on the gun in our game last Tuesday against TSU as he recorded each of his 5 outs by way of the K. In fact, it took until the 8th batter he faced on the season before a guy put a ball in play against him (he walked one against TSU and Ked the first batter he faced against UH). He has thrown 5.0 innings on the year now striking out 11, walking only 1, and giving up only 1 hit.
We all got to see our first glimpse of David Newmann on Sunday night as he squared off against All-American Joe Savery. It was a great game. Newmann was very impressive giving up only 2 runs in 5.1 innings. I thought he got tagged unfairly with one of those runs being earned but even still he looked very good in his first appearance on the hill in 2 years. Kyle Nicholson was nails out of the bullpen picking up a big double play on his second pitch to get out of the 6th inning and then going the rest of the way allowing only a single.
Offensively we saw nice things out of freshman Brodie Greene who drove in the two game winning runs against UH, and then with Luke Anders on Sunday as he smashed a ball into left-center for the game winning double. Anders is 3-for-4 on the season with a double and a triple.
My favorite thing to see offensively was the return of Craig Stinson. Craig has played very little over the last two seasons following shoulder surgery after his All-Conference 2004 season. He looked fully healthy on Sunday as he hit an opposite field HR in the 5th inning and then drove in a safety-cushion run in the 8th. The HR was his first since May 2nd, 2004.
Kyle Colligan didn't have good numbers on the weekend (1-for-11) but he hit several balls right on the screws that were either right at people or fielded with incredible plays. He looks like he has really bulked up since the end of last year.
Overall it was a great weekend. On Saturday I got to MMP at noon to watch the Arizona State/Vandy game which was 10 innings worth of good baseball, although it was miserably cold. My old man showed up in the 9th inning and we watched the A&M following that. I got home just in time to watch the final 12 minutes of the A&M/Nebraska basketball game (we're now 9-1 in Big 12 play).Then I watched a movie with Jennifer. Actually, we started to watch The Aristocrats, which was probably the worst movie I've ever watched. It wasn't anything like we expected and turned it off after about 20 minutes. Then we watched Jesus is Magic with Sarah Silverman. It was a big step in the right direction.
Sunday morning I met my old man at the gym and we played racquetball. It was the best set of games I've played in a couple of years. Apparently, working in the yard for a day and a half is an excuse for getting skunked 11-0. After that I ran some errands and then I met my dad again at MMP for the Rice game.
It is always great to beat Rice and it's something that we haven't done too much of in recent times. This was only our 2nd win in our last 10 games against the Owls.
Our next game is this afternoon as we host the Southland Conference Champions, McNeese State (4pm). It is the beginning of an almost unheard of 19 game home stand. We don't leave Olsen Field again until our March 20th game against Rice at Reckling Park. True freshman Scott Migl will make his Aggie debut on the mound as he takes the ball in this afternoon's start.
I wanted to touch on the Lady Ag Softball team. The girls are 5-0 in very impressive fashion. They have upset #4 Northwestern, #20 Fresno State, #3 UCLA and on Sunday they knocked off #1 Arizona. All of the wins were on the road in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona.
I'm not sure if there has ever been a single day when both the Aggie baseball team & the Aggie softball team toppled the #1 team in the land. Their next game will be Friday at 2:30pm against Arkansas at the Aggie Softball Complex as we host the Aggie Classic.
The next men's basketball game is also tonight as we host tech. It'll be the first tech game I won't be in attendance for since Bob Knight took over the raiders in '01-'02. We've won 5 straight games since losing to texas tech in lubbock, while texas tech has lost 5 straight games since beating us in lubbock. The game is on ESPN2 at 6pm. BTHO tech!
Finally, I wanted to clear up a discussion my old man and I had on Sunday night. Bobby Bramhall was on the mound for Rice and we argued how big he was. I said he was 5'11/165 and my old man claimed he was 5'9"/155. Boo-ya.