Welcome back!

This blog's going to be a little short, just an update of what's going on with the team and what we're headed for.

My last post was over a month ago.  I've had several ideas for posts wander through my mind none moving me enough to cause blogging.  Add to that a little bit of procrastination that kept me from posting earlier and here we are... I'm definitely overdue so here we go.

                        

We've had a rough weekend.  A loss against Chicago and a loss against Wash U have hurt us pretty bad.  As we sit here in the airport waiting to go back to Boston we have nothing but time to think about it.
On the upside tomorrow is another day, and this season is not over yet. 

I'd like to take a moment here and see if I can try to explain this by way of the literary device known as "metaphor"
I'm sure you've all seen the Rocky movies, and even if you haven't I'm sure you can ask someone near you who has and know the plot to each one.  Here I am going to be talking about the fourth (Rocky IV for you roman numeral types) in which Rocky fights Ivan Drago the Soviet super-boxer that is indestructible.  Apollo Creed (Rocky's close personal friend and sometimes trainer) is defeated so badly by Ivan Drago in Las Vegas that he dies from his injuries.  Now everyone was devastated when Apollo Creed died in Rocky Balboa's arms during the fight with Ivan Drago.  
But what did Rocky do?  Did he run and hide?  

No.

He did what every red, white, and blue blooded American would do.
He took his black Lamborghini with the "sothpaw" vanity plates out for a spin then pumped the volume on his 8 track tape of Survivor "No Easy Way Out" on his hi-fi.  
And he thought about it...
Obviously his greatest memories were of his training sessions with Apollo where they did things like running, hugging (bromance?) and dancing in boxing ring with Apollo since they became friends. 
He thought about how bad he felt watching Apollo get slammed by fake punches when he fought Drago and how much that made him hurt inside.  So he did the only logical thing there was to do.

He challenged Drago to a fight in the former USSR and trained in Siberia...
And then he won, against all odds, even when he trained with nothing but the logs in the snow and his opponent had the most technologically advanced training equipment Soviet Russia in the 80's had to offer (which included a track AND a leg press machine with a blinking box next to it...wow)

Now if Rocky can go up against all those odds and win, it's hard to see how anyone could think that they don't have a chance.  This is applicable to so many of life's problems it's ridiculous.  
All any team/person/group of guys needs to do is get these things:

·                         Some nice shorts (Red White and Blue if you're going to compete in a foreign country)

·                         A tank top 

·                         A nice '80's jam to work out with 

If the 80's taught us anything...anything at all, it's that a good montage is a recipe for success.  So go out there with those things and do several different things, simultaneously, while listening to the same song (preferably Journey), and maybe you'll understand the power of the montage.

How does this relate to Brandeis Basketball?  Well we're going to have to regroup and win out these last few games, and I think maybe watching Rocky IV would be a great team booster for us (or any organized sports team) to get us back on the right track.

I'd like to end today's blog a little differently than usual...
I've been getting requests from a few of my teammates to include some quotes from our locker room shenanigans... Unfortunately if you're not a part of our locker room shenanigans you will not understand the humor, but believe me - it's there.
So starting with this post I'm going to throw in the "Kenny Smalls Jr. Quote of the Day"  

The Kenny Smalls Jr. quote of the day:

"Ya gifts....is ya gift-BONDS"

 

 

Hey Sports Fans!

It's been a rough couple weeks: finals, cold weather, NCAA.com crashing, a disappointing end to our first semester, and a sneaking suspicion that basketball shorts are becoming pants.

Butler is a team that understands a fundamental truth about every Caucasian basketball player--we love short shorts. You could be saying to yourself, "But Mark, I'm white and I like baggier shorts" to which I respond with "You are not only a liar, but a disgrace to Kurt Rambis."

Scarface is on so this is gonna be short and sweet.
(how awesome is the 80's music montage where Tony builds his empire...probably the best montage of all time)

I found an interesting video today on the internet...It's a video of a robot named "Big Dog" designed by Boston Dynamics that is designed to: "carry 340lbs, travel at 4 mph, climb 35 degree slopes and travel over rubble"
Follow the link and be amazed...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

Aesthetically pleasing...uhhhh CHECK!
(obviously not winning any beauty pageants)

But deep inside the cold metallic shell is a heart full of grit and determination.
Check out the slo-mo section at 0:36 where a guy comes up and kicks Big Dog in the side and it not only keeps it's balance but manages to keep on trucking with it's 340 lbs of cargo.
Or 1:24 when it slips on ice, yet manages to stay on it's feet and find its way off the ice.
 
Unfortunately they spent too much time programming the legs instead of giving it a decent motor so it sounds like a lawnmower and it stumbles through the forest like a drunk man. 
It should be quiet and stealthy, yet nimble, like a deer; bobbing and weaving through the trees.  Possibly powered by soybeans??  Good first try Boston Dynamics, maybe next time.

But all this technology can be a little overwhelming sometimes... 
So to keep my head on straight sometimes I just dial up "These Eyes" by The Guess Who on my ipod and suddenly everything's alright.  (for the record I liked that song before Superbad, and that counts as my song suggestion for the week so if you haven't heard it, check it out)
 
On a more serious note...
We have a big game tomorrow over in Worcester against the WPI Engineers (speaking of technology...), so I'm going to get some rest and I'll be back sometime next week.

It's been about a week since my last entry so I'm going to try and fire up the creativity again and crank out another one of these.


Many of you may not know that the Brandeis University Men's Basketball team has taken up Yoga.  This is a weekly ritual as a part of our rigorous physical fitness program.  Lucky for us we get to do it every Monday morning at 7 am.(for anyone who is unimpressed; this is the equivalent 4 am when you use the college to real life conversion)
 
There is nothing like waking up while it's still dark to fumble around in an empty dance room with a bunch of sleepwalking guys who don't want to be awake and try to explore the limits of our flexibility...things can get a little awkward...


Now don't get the wrong idea, I have really enjoyed getting to experience Yoga. 
Believe me, when the socks come off and I get on that little mat I give it my all. 
Unfortunately our instructor is either double jointed or secretly a transformer because some of the things she can do border on impossible for humans.  (is it wrong to love that noise that they make when they transform???  don't lie, you like it too)

So after a few weeks of trying to make my hips go places they don't want to and doing sun salutations like it's my job, I feel as though I may have made a little progress.  I feel a little more flexible and hopefully this will help to ward off injury for our team as the year progresses.  PLUS I can do 3 different warrior poses...unfortunately not as impressive/useful as it sounds. 

But...now that the boys and I have experienced "classroom yoga", part of me wishes there was some way to take what we've learned and have some sort of "street yoga" competition.  We could mash our technically sound yoga with the free form yoga that pop culture loves so much.  The same way it works in real life those dance movies.


Sorry if I disappointed by not mentioning basketball in this post...I'll have more to talk about next week.
 

Go Judges!

PS- I'm trying to come up with a name for this blog...any suggestions? Leave a comment



 

Most people wouldn't call the start of a new blog a historical, world changing, life altering event.  Then again, most people haven't had a chance to read a blog by Richard Magee. 
But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there's a reason I started this blog the day after Barack Obama's historical win.  I can only surmise that it's because Barack and I share a common destiny and we'll continue our unprecedented track upward to the heights of approval polls and blog approval (i think we need ranking system for blogs).

While I make it a point to not talk politics too often, I feel today is probably the best day to do so.  First of all, elections are what make America great.  It gives us all a chance to have a say in our government.
We as citizens vote (first time for me) and we decide our leader (over simplified a little), this is such a huge part of what makes Democracy so special and something we so often take for granted. 
Now that it's over it's hard not to be anxious or excited about what's to come.  Only time will tell how this new administration will deal with whatever is up around the bend. 
So good luck Mr. Obama and God Bless! 


But I'm supposed to be here to write about basketball, right?
With that in mind lets get down to brass tacks. 
As for me I'm a 6'7" 225 lb Junior Forward/Center for the Brandeis University Men's Basketball Team.  I'm originally from Northern Virginia and I'm an Economics Major here at Brandeis University as well as the youngest of four brothers.

It's been exactly three weeks since practice started Oct. 15th and the Judges (The Brandeis mascot is a Judge...it's basically an owl that dishes out justice) are really coming along as a team.  We've learned a lot about each other and how we can play together and be successful.  With that said, we've got a ways to go, with one sub-par (maybe even worse) scrimmage under our belts and a big schedule coming up we've got our work cut out for us.  Hopefully this coming Saturday we can put together a solid scrimmage up at Saint Anselm's in New Hampshire.

Brandeis is coming off a season in which we set a school record for most wins in a single season and made it to the Elite Eight of the D3 NCAA tournament.
With a preseason ranking of #9 we have a lot to live up to this season.  At the same time we have even more to work towards because I know that my teammates and I think we can do a lot better than #9.

I'm going to wrap things up here because I have to go to class and figure out how to fix the economy.  We're really close...maybe early next week.

But I think this could be the beginning of something beautiful so keep an eye on the internet, and I'll be back sometime next week.