Finger Food

Week 1: Solid

Ideally there has to be a goal, some sort of endgame. As that goes my plan had always been to run a bunch of marathons and if I was ready for it, the ultra marathon national championships in Boalsburg, Pa. at the end of the October. 

Hey, when the speed is gone, the endurance prevails.

Regardless, I’m not interested in running marathons if I’m not fit. Yeah, I can probably go out tomorrow and hammer out 26.2 miles. It would be slow and I might be out of commission for a couple of days after it, but what would be the point? The idea this time around is to be fit enough to bounce back quickly and jump into the next run or race.

And so we get to the base building, that steady accumulation of miles and miles of running every day. Because I’ve been off for so long, racking up the miles is tedious. Likewise, the changes to the body as well as results from the workouts come oh so slowly.

But maybe that’s the fun part. There is absolutely no stress on putting in the work. There are no workouts to hit just perfectly and no races looming. It’s just the miles and nothing more.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself…

Anyway, the first week of the new year is in the bag and it went rather solidly. I wouldn’t say strong, but instead it was solidly solid. It was pretty decent and almost good.

Here’s how it went:

January 1

11 miles

Ran to the Susquehanna River. I was sluggish in the beginning but felt good after getting loose. This is a tough run … not a whole lot of flat stretches.

Might not be able to tell from the picture, but just look at these hills:

 

January 2

10 miles

Easy does it. Got out later than I would have liked and ended up running most of it in the dark. For some reason I don’t run very fast in the dark. Even when I feel like I’m moving, my watch always shows a slower pace.

Oh well.

 

January 3

10 miles

 Ran after some hills. Felt good and did some work.

 

January 4

10 miles

Same exact run as the day before. Hills might make you go slow but they clean up the form.

 

January 5

13.25 miles

Ran all over the place. Weaved around the neighborhood, hit some rails-trails park, dipped into the city for a stretch and added a hill or three for fun. By far the best run of the week.

 

January 6

6.25 miles

Woke up with my quads feeling like crap. Took some extra coaxing to get my quads and hamstrings ready to move. They hurt, man! Must be the hills. Thankfully I only scheduled an easy one for today.

61 miles for the week. Solid.

Dope on dope on dope ...

Coincidentally, the reports that Lance Armstrong is mulling a confession for a career-long and systematic doping regimen that helped him win the Tour de France seven times as well as an Olympic medal and plenty of other races, comes just as I finished reading teammate Tyler Hamilton’s book chronicling those years.

Obviously, Armstrong’s admission is too little, too late. But, with anything involving Armstrong one has to look for a Machiavellian plan at work. What is the endgame for a guy who spent two decades attempting to destroy any one who told the truth? It can’t be that he simply wants to race triathlons or marathons again, could it? He can do that any time or anywhere.

Does he really need attention that badly?

An admission is a bit surprising because there are so many obstacles for Armstrong to leap over. For instance, if he admits to doping all those years, he’s wide open to an array of lawsuits. Over the years Armstrong successfully sued or received settlements from entities that claimed he doped. If it comes out that he actually did everything as reported by the likes of Hamilton and Floyd Landis, there’s going to be a long line of folks trying to get some money.

Armstrong also would be open to federal perjury charges in Landis’ whistle-blower suit against the US Postal racing team. In other words, in order to admit to doping, Armstrong would have to be reassured that he would not lose all of his money nor spend time in jail.

Once again ...

Everything still hurts and that's good. It means after a few years away, I still know how to do it right.

So after five months of the so-called "comeback," it seems like a pretty good idea to turn this little site back into one chronicling adventures in running, racing and whatnot. The Sixers stuff will still be over at CSNPhilly.com and of course there is Beerleaguer.com, too, but this here is all about running.

You can dig into the archives and see the sort of stuff posted about training and racing from the last go at it, culminating with the Pocono Mountain Marathon in May of 2008. This time around the updates will be similar, however, since I'm old and not as fast any more, it's time to tackle ultramarathons.

Anyway, this is it. There won't be a comeback after this one so maybe we can make it last.

 

Kibosh!

The powers that be (you know, the ones that pay me) shut down this little site. As it stands, I cannot write the off-beat stuff here anymore, but I am allowed to write a book. Therefore, the plan is to use this site as the inspiration as some sort of epic tome about sports, silliness and, of course, love.

You know, the usual stuff.

In the meantime,check back for updates and stuff like that. 

xoxoxox,

jrf

Game 20

Saturday, January 28, 2012
Game 20: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 95, Pistons 74

PHILADELPHIA — When I was in the eighth grade, the only thing I wanted to do was play basketball. Sometimes I would leave for school early so I could spend time on the school yard shooting before we had to go to class.

At recess and gym I played ball as much as possible and when the school day ended, I was on the way home to play some more. It didn’t matter what the weather was like outside, I was firing up shot after shot for as long as possible.

Once I went to the gym to wait for practice for our CYO team only to find out it had been canceled without warning. Something had come up with the coach and he couldn’t make it, but for whatever reason I didn’t get the notice until I was getting dressed on the sidelines and getting fired up to go. I remember it felt like a tease—here I was in the gym and I couldn’t play.

Game 19

 

Friday, January 27, 2012
Game 19: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 89, Bobcats 72

PHILADELPHIA — Recently, there was a small controversy in Los Angeles because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the only NBA player to win the MVP Award six times, did not have a statue of his likeness outside of the Lakers' arena, the Staples Center. As far as controversies go, it was pretty tame, but there was a point...

If Kareem can't get a statue, who can?

One of the problems in the whole thing that it was Kareem doing the complaining. Even if the guy deserves a statue, a bobblehead doll or fat head poster, you don't go around complaining when one isn't there. That's just gauche.

In Philadelphia there is nothing to worry about as far as public artworks around the arena. In fact, there is just one statue of any former Philadelphia athlete and it's the biggest and bestest of them all.

Indeed, Wilt Chamberlain, the Overbrook High graduate and Hall of Famer who played for both the Warriors and the 76ers, has some sort of avant statue on the south side of the Wells Fargo Center. Sculpted by Omri Amrany and unveiled in 2004 (five years after Wilt's death), the statue shows two images of the man. One is a bust of Wilt's head and the other is of him rising with the basketball as if to throw one down. The part that seems odd -- aside from the two faces of the man -- is the whisps flowing from the ball and Wilt's body as if to show motion and flight.

It's odd because there is no need to show the motion with such graphic detail. If there is a picture of a man holding a ball above his head while his eyes are focused on something in the distance, movement is assumed.

Anyway, Amrany seems to have cornered the market on sports stadium sculptures in the U.S. He is also the artist behind statues of guys like Michael Jordan at the United Center, Pat Tillman in Arizona, as well as several statues of Washington baseball greats at Nationals Park. Those, just like the one of Wilt, also show those waves of motion.

Interestingly, Philadelphia was once the city with the most public art outside of Paris, but of all the statues, sculptures and murals, sports figures are barely represented at the complex in South Philly. Aside from Wilt, there was a statue of Julius Erving outside of the Spectrum. However, since the Spectrum has been torn down, the statue of Dr. J has been removed. One can assume that Doc will find a new home, but for now we're still waiting.

The Phillies seem to have done a pretty good job with the artworks celebrating the greats of their franchise. Outside of the ballpark, there is a statue of Mike Schmidt, Robin Roberts, and Steve Carlton, which is aptly out past left field. Inside the stadium, a young and speedy Richie Ashburn is shown running the bases from a perch in center field, while his old broadcast partner, Harry Kalas, has a home on the concourse close to the restaurant that bears his name.

Otherwise, the only controversy seems to be that the statue of Wilt doesn't do justice to arguably the greatest basketball player who ever lived. For his time Wilt was an athlete beyond reproach. He was a track star, a volleyball pro and even dabbled in boxing. The only thing Wilt couldn't do well was shoot foul shots.

But if the Wells Fargo Center is going to be around for a while, maybe there ought to be some more artwork around the building. The arena is set on the former spot of JFK Stadium, which hosted 42 Army-Navy games, Live Aid and the famous Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney fight for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1926. Tunney won the fight with a 10-round decision, setting the stage for the rematch at Soldier Field in Chicago. That one turned out to be the famous "Long Count" fight in which Dempsey knocked down Tunney, but because he would not move to a neutral corner, the referee delayed his 10-count. Tunney had plenty of time to rest, regroup and take the fight from Dempsey in a unanimous decision.

Maybe a Bobby Clarke statue or one of Bernie Parent celebrating the Flyers' last championship in 1975 would look good outside of the building? Or how about one of Charles Barkley rising for a two-handed tomahawk slam? Either way, there is plenty of concrete and open space down there just waiting to be accessorized. 

Game 18

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Game 18: Wells Fargo Center
Nets 97, Sixers 90 OT

PHILADELPHIA — For one reason or another, people like to invite Ian MacKaye to sporting events. The so-called iconoclast/punk hero must give off the vibe that he would not like checking out a ballgame or something, as if so-called iconoclasts/punk heroes don't have time to kick back and relax.

So it comes as a surprise to some folks when MacKaye reveals that he often takes up offers to go to games. For instance, back in 2000 when the Lakers faced the Pacers in the NBA Finals, a friend flew MacKaye to Indianapolis where he sat near Larry Bird, Phil Jackson and Jack Nicholson.

There's more, of course, like the standing offer from his uncle-in-law to see the Phillies the next time they make it to the World Series. Or the fascination with former Red Sox and Expos lefty pitcher Bill Lee, who attended a premier of a documentary a friend made about The Space Man in San Francisco and put on a show of sorts sitting in the audience as well as on the screen.

Better yet, MacKaye remembered going to RFK Stadium to see his hometown Washington Senators before they moved to Texas after the 1971 season. Like everyone else, MacKaye was excited to see slugger Frank Howard, who was known for blasting rockets into the upper deck for Ted Williams's Senators.

“I remember it being a big deal at the time,” MacKaye said about the trip to RFK.

So what's the point? The guy gets out a bit, big deal? Lots of people go to a lot of games. Who cares if some punk rock dude gets invited to places?

Truth be told, I just wanted to write about a phone chat with Ian MacKaye.

Yeah, those are good questions. But it was during that conversation with MacKaye that the topic of the athlete and his role in society came up. My contention was that a lot of athletes did not realize that they were part of a show—that they were, in essence, entertainers. The way I saw it, pro athletes were competing against Hollywood and television for the entertainment dollar. The thing is, I said, most athletes didn’t sign up to be entertainers. They just wanted to play ball.

Which brings us to Kris Humphries, the power forward for the New Jersey Nets…

When he was in high school, Humphries was an All-American, which helped him get a scholarship to the University of Minnesota where he spent one year. In 2004, Humphries was drafted by the Utah Jazz with the No. 14 overall pick. Since entering the NBA, Humphries has played for four different teams and earned nearly $17 million in salary. At age 26, Humphries is just coming into his prime as a ballplayer and his 19 rebounds against the Sixers on Wednesday night was a season-high.

So it would seem that Humphries has everything going for him. He has money and a successful career in which he is finally coming into his own.

Now all he needs is to meet that someone special to settle down with…

Game 17

Monday, January 23, 2012
Game 17: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 103, Wizards 83

PHILADELPHIA — A few years back before the Phillies had won a championship and became the darlings of the city, I was chatting with a player when suddenly realized it was time to go.

“You guys have a ceremony to get ready for,” I told the player.

“Really? What’s this one for… the 10th anniversary of the 12th anniversary?”

It’s pretty funny when one remembers how the Phillies used to be. The team seemingly had a special event every other weekend to celebrate its handful of trips to the World Series as well as its lone championship. It was a running joke that the Phillies would do anything to celebrate their shitty history without actually acknowledging they were the losingest franchise in the history of North American professional sports.

And here’s Ben Chapman… the man who tried to prevent Jackie Robinson from breaking Major League Baseball’s color line!

The Phillies don’t do much of the rehashing of old times with ceremonies and parades of former players because they have to anymore. The not-so secret is that good teams and good players pack the stands and since the Phillies are winning, they don’t need to bring back Mike Schmidt or Steve Carlton as much anymore.

In Philadelphia, the Flyers are the team that re-lives its history at every chance and like the Phillies, th Flyers are still celebrating a long ago championship that most folks can’t recollect. It’s been 37 years since the Flyers last won a championship and it doesn’t appear as if the team is any closer to winning one anytime soon.

The Sixers, on the other hand, don’t go the sentimental route all that much. Oh sure, the team brought back Allen Iverson to play for a bit when it was clear there was no other way to get fans to the games, but that act got old quickly.

As far as the Sixers go, there was a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the 1983 championship team, a nice ceremony for the last game played in the Spectrum and a retired number fete for Charles Barkley. Otherwise, the Sixers haven’t dipped into that well all too much over the past decade.

Part of that has to do with unresolved grudges between players and former ownership, and another factor is that the Sixers have not been too great for long stretches of time. In fact, the Sixers’ history includes a team that many argue was the greatest ever (1966-67) as well as the team that set NBA record for futility (1972-73).

Regardless, Philadelphia has a strong basketball tradition. When the BAA began in 1947, the Philadelphia Warriors won the championship. The Warriors lost to the Baltimore Bullets in the second year of the league and in 1950, when the league changed its name to the NBA, the Syracuse Nationals (later to become the Philadelphia 76ers) made it to the championship round in their first season.

A team from Philadelphia has been to the NBA Finals nine times in the history of the league. 

Travel/off day

Two hours prior, it was 80 degrees and sunny.

 

Game 16

Saturday, January 21, 2012
Game 16: American Airlines Arena
Heat 113, Sixers 92

MIAMI — Every once in a while it’s the little things that amaze me. For instance, a few years ago I was covering the 2009 NLDS in Denver where snow and sub-freezing temperatures made for delays and bad baseball. It was so miserable and cold that on the day Game 3 was snowed out, I spent the afternoon shopping for winter gear.

But when the series ended, we climbed into a flying tube and were transported to Los Angeles where it was nearly unbearably hot.

I spent the off day shopping for summer clothes.

Anyway, I was better prepared for traveling from the snow and sleet in the northeast to the 80-degree climes of Biscayne Bay because my trip to Miami lasted less than 17 hours. Essentially, I flew in to watch a basketball game, wrote about what I saw and flew home.

It was as if I wasn’t even there.

And maybe in a sense the same thing goes for the 76ers. Though the team has been playing shorthanded without starting center Spencer Hawes for some time, nowhere was that exposed more than against the Miami Heat. In the game, the Sixers made just 9 of 20 shots at the rim and were 6 for 15 on shots from 3-to-9 feet, according to HoopData.com.

Meanwhile, the Heat were 18 for 32 on those same shots and simply hammered the Sixers on the boards. When rookie Nik Vucevic went out of the game with what was later revealed to be a hyper-extended knee, the Sixers had no chance.

Why are the Heat so good? Obviously, the quick answer is because they have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh—three of the best players on the planet. You know, duh.

 

But what really makes the Heat tick is that they have Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem on the frontcourt and veteran Shane Battier as a defensive stopper on the perimeter. Certainly Anthony’s and Haslem’s contributions can be measured with rebounds, blocked shots and steals. Moreover, there are advanced metrics that can be used to also quantify the contributions of the frontcourt mates.

Much has been made of how advanced statistical analysis has changed baseball, but when it comes to the advanced metrics revolution in sports, basketball comes the closest to truly measuring the value of a player. Actually, when compared to baseball it’s not even close. After games in the NBA, coaches and players pour over the stat sheet, looking for nuggets of information that might offer an insight to performance. With the Sixers, Doug Collins lives by points off turnovers and second-chance points. He also talks about forcing the opposition to take shots “in the yard,” which is to say, no three-pointers and no shots in the paint.

Going old school, during my high school days at McCaskey in Lancaster, Pa., we determined a player had a decent game if he scored more points than shots attempted. I’m not sure that figures into the world of advanced metrics, but in terms of stats having a value, it worked for us.

However, Battier is one of those players that defies categorization and unlike the cultish reactionaries that subscribe to all mathematical data as a way to truly define a baseball player, even the devotees to basketball metrics look at Battier and just shrug. In fact, Battier must be seen to be believed. Against the Sixers, Battier had seven points and three rebounds in 30 minutes—not exactly eye-popping stats.

But Battier was often guarding the Sixers’ swingman Andre Iguodala and held him to just four points. During extended periods during the second half of the game, Iguodala rarely even touched the ball because Battier was hounding him so much.

If there were a number to go with guarding your guy so tightly that he can’t even catch the ball, then Battier would be an All-Star every year.

“I have the ultimate respect for Shane Battier. I think when you put him on your team, you’re automatically better.”

So if there is one reason why the Heat are better this season than last year, it’s because they have Battier, the guy who makes statistics nothing more than silly little designs on a piece of paper.