Recently in Sports Category

Last Sunday the 23rd Kelly invited a bunch of her friends over to my house for a BBQ. Six people showed up and to have some food. We made corn on the cob, burgers (Kelly made and Brian made) and some chicken kabobs. We also had lots of sides like veggies and chips. Dessert was some chocolate chip cookie brownies from the Amish and brownies and a cherry pie from Kelly. A good time was had by all. The visitors also seemed to like my basement and were already planning a movie night.

After the BBQ we all headed out to see the Charm City Roller Girls at the Putty Hill Skateland. This is a re-imagining off the old Roller derby. They take a standard roller rink and create a track on it. The track is an oval taped off that is the width of the rink and about half the length with an infield. At either ends people sit on the floor of the rink and watch the action. There are four teams and they pair off and challenge each other. The ladies participating in the derby are of all varieties. They go from 90 lb speedsters to close to 200 lb blockers.

The one match up was between the undefeated team and another. That match up wasn't that good since it was so lopsided. The other match up was much more competitive and fun to watch. There were a few fights and few ejections. It was a lot of fun at times to watch. There was a fair amount of downtime though. There was a general announcer and then two play by play announcers. The announcers were more color commentary then anything else since the action is so fast.

There was a good amount of people at the match, I would say several hundred. The only downside really was the sitting on the floor. My legs were asleep quickly and I had to move around a fair amount. We will investigate the bringing of folding chairs in the future.

Last Tuesday Kelly and I and some of her friends went to a Baltimore Orioles game. It was a bit on the warm side (90+) but otherwise a good night. We sat in the right field bleachers. Kelly wasn't too thrilled about the huge watch for flying balls sign. The game was against Tampa Bay so I figured the fact that it was two of the worst teams in baseball there wouldn't be much worry of this.

However the final score of 7 to 5 had a total of 5 home runs. The scoring was quite amazing considering the teams. Check out the stats if you care.

The only downside was a very sub par pretzel that Kelly had. The pretzel was even more unfortunate since she was looking forward to it.

Tuesday night I went to a Nationals vs. Dodgers game. Jerry got the tickets like 2 months ago. Jerry and Karri went as well as Jerry's parents. I left work about 3 PM and ran by home and then left home about 3:30 PM. I drove down to Green Belt metro and got on there. Road down to RFK. I got there like 75 minutes before the rest. I just laid down in the park near rfk and listened to ipod.

It was freaking hot this night. Like 95 degrees and super humidity. Just spent the night sweating. The nats have installed a nice new big screen for replays. The food and drink service seems to have improved greatly since the last time I went.

The nats were behind most of the game. They rallied in the 8th but couldn't quite make it. Fun game though.

I got home about midnight, long day.

I have been a subscriber to NFL Sunday Ticket for the last 5 or 6 years. In that time it has always been with Roger and then Travis splitting the cost. The cost has gone from about $150 to $200 over the years. Last year the HD versions of the games were included for free as part of the package. It was great, anywhere from 6-8 HD games a week. Now this year the base package has grown to $220. In addition you have to buy the HD games as part of a SuperFan pack for $99. This superfan pack includes some interactive junk, which doesn't work on TiVo's anyway. I am only concerned with HD really. Now that I have to pay for it all myself I have to decide if I want to pay all that much. I should be able to get both the DC and Balt feeds of Fox and CBS. This should allow me to get anywhere from 3-8 games and most of them in HD. Choices, choices.

Last night a bunch of us went to see the Nationals play at RFK Stadium (naming rights to be determined at a later date). It was Roger, Travis, Matt, Coleen, Jim, Kevin, Greg, Dan, Heather and SP. We were somewhat concerned since it began raining late Friday night / early Saturday morning and kept raining until mid-day Saturday. It stopped raining before we left though so we were hopeful. We rode the Metro down.

There was also a Wizards playoff game in the afternoon yesterday. There were some people who went to that game and then took the short Metro ride from MCI Center to RFK. One of those people happened to be James Carville. He is a big sports fan and is often seen around DC at various events. He sat down next to Dan and Heather. Dan said hi and not much else, kind of cool.

We got to the park at about 6:45 PM. The first pitch was supposed to be about 7:10. We found our seats which were really good for many reasons. They were in the upper deck almost directly behind home plate as you can see from the picture. Also they were covered and this will be key. I went to grab some food and the lines were already quite long. The staff there is ok, just not quick about anything. They are still getting up to speed I think.

The rain did come back about the top of the fifth inning. It started light at first and then really started to come down. They called the first rain delay in the top of the sixth inning. It was about 45 minutes including the time to get tarp on and off. During the rain delay the food stations (in the upper deck at least) began running out of food. By the end of it nothing but pizza was left. They started the game back up and it went to the bottom of the eigth until the second rain delay. Most of us left at that point since we assumed it would be called. It was about 45 minutes later.

A pretty good evening. Lots of fun and the Nationals won to boot.

Well the Illini's luck ran out last night as well. They were down by 13 at the half. They managed to come back and tie it with about two and a half minutes left. They just couldn't finish it off. Maybe next year.

Well the Illini's luck held tonight and they won. However mine ran out so I don't think I will be any help to them on Monday. Hopefully they can do it on their own for the finals.

During all the Illini games leading up to the Elite 8 game last Saturday I had either been on the phone or out with a friend of mine. I was worried Saturday as the Illini kept falling farther and farther behind. Then when things looked most bleak with the Illini down 15 points my friend called. I turned off the game, but turned it back on later to see that the Illini were able to tie it up and then win in overtime. Hopefully the good luck holds for the Illini all the way to the championship.

After the first week and two rounds of the NCAA tourney I am not in the lead in points, but I am in second place for possible points. The only problem at this point is everything hinges on the Illini. If they go down so do I. I guess I need to cheer for them.

Well luckily ESPN's Friday night prediction was correct. Illinois won the semi-finals and then also won the finals. They are now a number 1 seed in NCAA tournament. Hopefully they can make it far in that if not all the way.