Crazy legs

Growing up, I watched a lot of football with my family. My Grandpa Don, a down-home Cajun from New Orleans, always has something to say about the game. Whether he's shouting "Run, boy, run!" at the tube or saying "You stupid son of a..."

One of the most notable of his sayings, however, is "That boy runs like 'Crazy Legs' Hirsch out there." This post is a tribute to the good times I've had watching football with him.

Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, starred for the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference. An oustanding player, Hirsch posted career numbers of 387 catches, 7,029 yards and 60 touchdowns. Hirsch also won an NFL championship and was named Pro Player of the Year with the Rams in 1951 after posting a 66-reception, 1,495-yard, 17 touchdown season. Hirsch was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Hirsch split his time playing college ball between the University of Wisconsin and later the University of Michigan, where he was assigned to during his stint in the Marine Corps. He was a letterman in four sports at Michigan: football, baseball, track and basketball. Hirsch died in January 2004 at the age of 80.

Hirsch can be seen making brief appearances in videos here and here.

Reasons why the Cowboys won yesterday

Though this blog masquerades as a Pacific Northwest news source, I do still have a soft spot for my favorite team. And in light of such a crucial win yesterday -- coupled with a 24-17 New York Giants loss to the Arizona Cardinals which dropped the Giants into a tie with the Cowboys atop the NFC East standings -- I thought I would explore three aspects of the game which contributed to a Cowboys 'W':

Tony Romo stayed off the turnover schnide.

Much maligned for his propensity for turning the ball over, Romo protected the football well, didn't hold onto the ball too long in the pocket (with the exception of his sack on the first drive of the third quarter) and pulled out some magical footwork to keep plays alive (notably his touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton before halftime). Dallas won the overall turnover battle, with Felix Jones' fumble the only blemish against the Falcons three turnovers.

Miles Austin again provided the Cowboys with a big play threat.

With the home run ability Felix Jones provides missing the previous two games, Miles Austin stepped into the limelight against Kansas City. He proved his run after the catch skills were not a fluke by turning in six receptions for a total of 171 yards on the day. Austin, who coming into the season had only 18 total receptions, saw his yards per reception average bubble up to an astronomical 24. Austin's quick feet in and out of comeback routes and deep fly patterns make him a threat to break into the open field at all times.

Pressure on Falcons QB Matt Ryan kept the Falcons passing offense in check.

After posting one of the league's top pass rushes last season and boasting DeMarcus Ware as the NFL's sack leader, the Cowboys had only generated 10 sacks through the first five games of the season. The defense unloaded on Ryan yesterday, taking the ex-Boston College QB down four times in the pocket yesterday. Ryan had Cowboys' meat hooks in his face all day, rushing his tender feet out of the pocket to throw the ball away or forcing poor throws into coverage, which led to two interceptions and Ryan's lowest completion percentage of the young season.

Making blogs (including this one) better

A great article on a blog I read from time to time on Yahoo!.

Hopefully, this increasing "urban sprawl" of blogging will lead, as Puck Daddy indicates, to local bloggers landing jobs in mainstream media as large, conglomerate companies seek to localize content.

Which, in turn, means people like me might be able to obtain jobs for companies like, let's say, ESPN. Fingers are crossed...

Top Alaskan high school mascots

While reading on ASAA's website about the new high school that opened up in Juneau last year, I wanted to know what their mascot was. I found it to be the "Falcons," a very ordinary name. However, Alaska being Alaska, I knew there had to be some schools out there with some strange ones. Here's what some digging produced, in the form of a top three:

3) Chaputnguaq Shaman - Chefornak, AK - Like many rural communities are, I imagine, a spiritual name. Hopefully spells and charms must be removed along with all jewelry before stepping onto the court, gypsy twirls.

2) Aniak Halfbreeds - Aniak, AK - Half man, half...whale? Many small rural communities (Aniak has an enrollement of 40 students) have mascots that identify with local icons or creatures. While I am not sure of the actual presence of werewolves or vampires in Aniak, I have heard whispers of Twilight and Underworld movies being shot here in the near future.

1) Malemute Malemutes - Koyuk, AK - Utterly redundant. I am just distressed by this. You are telling me the best name you could come up with for the school was Malemute, and then to top that off, you wanted the mascot to mirror the school's moniker? Envision: "Starting at guard for the Malemutes," and "When I say Malemute you say Malemutes." This could cause poor grammar too. When will we differentiate between the school name and the mascot name?

Honorable mention: King Cove T-Jacks and Rookies, Kokhanok Warlords, Mountain Village Strivers, Yakov E. Netzvetov Axtam Taligisnikangis(es?ers?)

Pacing

I started off this post thinking about why I think baseball is mundane. The pacing of the sport is far too slow. I lose interest in the game, and while I am unfocused on what is happening, someone jacks one out of the yard or a foul ball is coming in hot to smoke me in the face. Not my thing.

Instead, I stumbled upon The Science of Sport blog. More specifically, this post centered around the human ability to pace one's self during the course of physical exertion. It reveals motivation's important contribution to pacing exercise intensity.

Fascinating stuff for something not considered while doing trail running. Now if I could only pace my eating habits...

Why are some people special?

Okay, so I'll add to the hysteria of this 9-year old child from Maine doing a ridiculous display of skill on the ice.

I'll admit, I have never seen anything like it. I've seen a lot of hockey in Alaska, and a lot of NHL on TV. But this is crazy. How long does this kid practice that to a) be that good at that wraparound shot and b) have the confidence to do it on the ice while being filmed? NHL players can't do that. How does he?

Watching this made me think of one thing: how do some kids have so much more natural ability than others?

I mean, everyone's different -- I get it. Some kids can pound out their times tables in less than a minute. Some kids were the fastest ones to sprint across the field during recess -- I get that, too. But why do some kids get that rare combination of work ethic and raw athletic talent that others don't?

Sometimes it's obvious. When you have a pedigree, like him, it's easy to see where the talent emerges. But when you're right next to a future Marino throwing the football around at Pop Warner practice, there's something that separates him from you. I just don't know what it is.

Someone's going to say 'While you were inside studying for the SAT's, Derrick Rose was outside ballin'. That's BS. No matter how much you love sports, you can't screw around on the field or court all day. Everyone has other interests.

Another finger pointer will say 'It has to do with the way they were brought up.' Okay, so your family is too poor to get Wi-Fi and buy books from Barnes & Noble. But what does every American family have? A television. And you can bet that little white kids in upstate New York are watching the same Disney channel as kids in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco.

Then, the genetics types will say that blacks and hispanics have more fast-twitch muscle fiber, giving them an inherant athletic advantage. Okay, so they start with a leg up on other kids. But what gets them from being able to jump a little higher than everyone else to the next level? Nobody's making anyone do plyos before high school tryouts. They just show up like everyone else and dominate. Somehow there becomes a deliniation between the best and the rest.

What gets me is how unfair it is. If these future stars aren't hitting the weight room more than you or out shooting hoops alone (a la Hoosiers) to improve more often than you are, they shouldn't get the spoils you can't. Escalades, MTV video honeys and a job playing pro ball while the rest of us are blighted from succeess and have to get real jobs.

Now that I have vented on my inferiority complex enough, we can move on.

The poor goalie doesn't know what hit him either. Granted, I don't feel that badly for him. The videographers, coaches and parents in the stands were surely as dumbfounded by this move as he was. Nonetheless, you're digitally immortalized for getting pwned by your teammate. Not only does this kid throw snowballs at you on the way home from practice and is going to be a dynomite Juniors player, but he just rocked you on SportsCenter last night. Sucks, bro.