Training starts to get tough, Bolt hit 285 golf shots, and a pimp inspires us all

Track

This past week we started our next phase of training after our initial conditioning phase we finished last week.  For us it lines up with our annual Fall Break where WSU students get a couple days off around the mid-term time.  We didn’t have a Fall Break at Kent State (where I went to school) so this was new to me when I started working at WSU.  We use it to give the athletes a few days off and hopefully return to practice refreshed and ready for a new level of training.

Taking a few days off is just as important as trying to push yourself to the limit every day.  It’s impossible for coaches to know when an athlete is most susceptible for injury but it’s much more likely to happen if they don’t take a break here and there.  Our athletes want to be ready right NOW but sometimes they (and we) forget it’s most important to have them ready for the championship portion of the schedule in late February and then May (and beyond).

So after a few days off and a day at the golf course supporting Coach Bolt (see section below), we got back at it on Thursday with our first speed endurance workout of the year.  No matter how good of shape you‘re in, nothing can prepare you for the first time your body fills up with lactic acid from long and intense sprints of 100-500 meters.  I can still remember the first time I did 500-300-300-200-200 with 6 minutes rest.  I laid on the track for what seemed like an hour afterwards wondering what truck had just run me over.  I’m sure I went back to the dorm afterwards and fell asleep immediately.  This is what you have to go through to become a good long sprinter.  Luckily, your body begins to adjust to these types of workouts over time and the recovery process isn’t nearly as bad the next few times.  For a good long sprinter (200/400) these workouts are the “bread and butter” of their training.  It’s the most specific work they will get in preparation for those events.

Thursday was also the first day to get a little event work in so if you had stopped by the track it would’ve looked like a 3-ring circus with hurdles, long jump, pole vault, high jump, sprinting, and throwing all going on at the same time.  Even though it probably seems chaotic to the outside viewer, I usually find myself smiling because I know the indoor season isn’t too far away!

Cross Country Pre-Nationals

Coach Hunter took the cross country squad out to Terre Haute, Indiana, for their toughest challenge of the season so far – the Pre-National Invitational.  Run on the same course as this year’s NCAA Championships it brought together over 100 teams, many of which are ranked in the top-25.  Both of our teams were placed into the “Blue” race, which is reserved for the top teams in the meet.  There were around 40-50 teams in the Blue race and our men placed 31st while our women finished 37th.

Coach Hunter was a little disappointed in the overall placing but felt confident afterwards that our team would be ready in two weeks.  He has done a great job getting this group to believe they can achieve at a high level and I’m sure this little hiccup won’t be a major issue when we’re in Carbondale, Illinois, for the MVC Championships.

Bolt’s 57 hole golf-a-thon

Last week I mentioned Coach Rainbolt would be walking 57 holes of golf (he’s turning 57 this year) to try to raise some money for Shocker T&F.  Well he was able to accomplish the feat and it was a very enjoyable day.  Our entire team of 130 athletes made their way out to Willowbend County Club in shifts to be the “gallery” for the event that began at 7:30am and ended around 5:30pm.  It took Bolt 285 shots to play 57 holes and he said he felt a lot better afterwards than he did compared to his crazy 50k and 55k jog-a-thons.  So far we have raised around $8000 for our program and we expect it will eventually be over 10k.  Thank you to everyone who has donated – it will go a long way towards supporting our great Shocker athletes!

Tallgrass Film Festival

Believe it or not Wichita is the home to a great artistic culture.  Besides things like museums and live music, one of the biggest passions for people in this community is movies.  In 2003, the Tallgrass Film Association began the Tallgrass Film Festival with the motto being “stubbornly independent”.  It is much like the famous film festivals you may have heard about like Cannes and Sundance.  There are over 200 films being shown in Wichita this weekend and I always try to get out and see a few of these great shows.

I was able to get out to a couple of films this weekend and my favorite was a collection of short films made by Kansans or films about the state of Kansas.  There isn’t anywhere else you would be able to see such unique and quality cinema except a festival like this.  Thanks Tallgrass!

“H” Movies

This is the eighth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 164 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

I only have 5 “H” movies but they are all very good so here is the list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Hustle & Flow (2005, 116 min, R, 7.4, $23.5m) – It’s hard to imagine a movie about a pimp who tries to become a successful rapper is one of my all-time favorite movies – but it is!  Terrance Howard is incredible as Djay, the down on his luck pimp who is desperately trying to earn a legitimate living but can’t quite turn the corner.  One of the most fascinating things about this movie is that it was written and directed by a white guy (Craig Brewer).  This was a low budget movie that was an obvious labor of love for Brewer.  If you haven’t seen it, make sure to find a copy soon.  “Everybody gotta have a dream.”

The Hurt Locker (2008, 131 min, R, 7.6, $49.2m) – Jeremy Renner stars as a Sergeant in the Iraq War who is assigned to a bomb squad and ruffles his fellow mates with his wild ways to disarm bombs.  This movie won all kinds of award including best picture of 2008 and it’s easy to see why.  Brutally honest and seemingly realistic, it will open your eyes as to why people do this sort of job and want to go back again and again even in the most harsh and dangerous situations.  I love this movie and the final scene with Renner marching off the plane will give you goosebumps, not knowing if it’s a good or bad thing.

He Got Game (1998, 136 min, R, 6.9, 21.5m) – This Spike Lee movie stars Denzel Washington as the father of the best high school basketball player in the nation (played by NBA star Ray Allen).  As a young athlete when this came out I was totally engaged in the behind the scenes recruiting as well as the drama of how all this affects a young, talented person.  It’s not a perfect movie but I think it’s one of Spike Lee’s best.

Hard Candy (2005, 104 min, R, 7.2, $7m) – This was one of the early Ellen Page movies that showed her immense talent.  She played a teenager who turns the table on a pedophile in his own home.  I don’t want to give away what happens in this movie because it’s some of the most intense stuff you will see but needless to say any male who watches it will wince while making sure his manhood is still in place.  This is a great little movie that basically only has 2 characters.

Higher Learning (1995, 127 min, R, 6.4, 38.2m) – This was one of John Singleton’s follow ups after his success with Boyz in the Hood.  The main reason I bought this movie was because the lead character, played by Omar Epps, is a college track athlete and how many movies that involve college track are out there?  Not many!  Unfortunately, most of this movie isn’t about track, it’s mostly about racism and how young people are influenced on a college campus.  I feel much of the movie is blown out of proportion but it’s still entertaining nonetheless.

Next week

We are fully back to practice so I’ll report on that as well as talking about our Intersquad Draft that takes place Wednesday night.  I only own two “I” movies and if you can guess them both I will give you a million dollars.

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!!!

Fall testing results, birthdays, and Clint Eastwood is a bad dude

It was such a great week that this blog wasn’t able to be completed until Monday.  Sunday was used to nap, eat and watch the Bengals miss a chip shot field goal to win the game.  Well I guess the entire week wasn’t perfect.

Fall testing and what it means for the Shockers

On Wednesday and Thursday we did our annual fall training with our sprinters, jumpers, vaulters, hurdlers, and multi’s.  I explained what our fall testing was last week so check out that blog if you need the background info.  A lot of people have asked me how I thought our fall testing went and I would say it went pretty well with a few exceptions, but all it really means is that we’ve done a good job of training during the summer and first six weeks of practice.  They don’t give out any championships in October.

Without getting into crazy detail about who did what this is what I feel like our fall testing told us:  Our men are very good and our women are talented and young.

First for the men, we had very good testing in our 30m fly’s.  I tend to lean towards this test as one of the most important of the seven tests we do and, as a group, our guys performed very well.  And it wasn’t just the sprinters.  We had some very good 30m times from our jumpers, hurdlers and multi’s too.  Where did we not test very well?  Probably some of the second day plyometrics for my sprint group, which isn’t uncommon, but it does tell me we have to concentrate on our explosive actions during our next phase of training.  But like I said I think our coaches were very happy with the men – so far so good.

It’s a little different for our women although not in a bad way.  We have a lot of newcomers to the sprint group this year and we’ll need to be patient although several of those newcomers showed flashes of great potential.  When you have a younger group some of the things in testing seem pretty foreign to them (like overhead back shot put throw or hang clean) and they don’t perform like they will one year from now.  I think this group can be good but they will take longer to come around than the guys.  I’m sure some of our early season meets will be inconsistent but I do believe this group will be scoring good points when it counts at the MVC Championships.  On top of having that young group, we have a few of our studs that we held out of testing for precautionary reasons with aches and pains.  I like this group – they will be fun to coach and watch grow over the next 7 months.

Someone turned the big 4-0

Even though I have really enjoyed my 30’s I couldn’t hold back the inevitability of turning 40 on Saturday.  I got a lot of the “do you feel older now” type questions and this is what I tell folks:  I feel great, my 30’s were much better than my 20’s so I am assuming that my 40’s will be better than my 30’s.  And I totally believe that!  I think the experience you gain with age outperforms the struggle you might start to have physically and if you can pay a little bit of attention to your health you should feel pretty good by 40.  Now the other side of that is I’m not married and don’t have any kids so the level of stress in my life is probably lower than most, so you tell me?  I’m excited for the next decade and hopefully I can say the same when I turn 50!

As for the weekend, me and fellow coach (and new 40 year old) Pat Wilson hosted a gathering of friends.  It was a great time and I wanted to thank everyone who wished me well in my new old age!

Someone else is having a birthday too and he might be crazy

Our head coach Steve Rainbolt is turning 57 soon.  When Bolt has a birthday he doesn’t mess around.  Some of you may remember when he turned 50 he did a one-man 50k jog-a-thon (about 31 miles) on our indoor track for a WSU Track and Field fundraiser.  Five years later he did 55k (34 miles) on our outdoor track for the same reason.  After that 55k, which he admitted he hadn’t prepared well for, he said he’ll never do that again (it took over 9 hours).  So this year Bolt, an avid golfer, has decided to play 57 holes of golf in one day for another fundraiser.

While that is a lot of golf most people might not think of it as a huge challenge, but here’s the tough part – Bolt will walk the entire way which will end up being around 24 miles.  There is only about 12 hours of daylight so he will need to hustle.  If anyone is around Willowbend Country Club on Wednesday, stop and walk nine holes with Bolt – it should be an interesting event!

“G” Movies

This is the seventh of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 159 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

For some reason I don’t own many movies that begin with G so here is the short list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Gran Torino (2008, 116 min, R, 8.2, $269m) – I’ve grown up watching Clint Eastwood in movies like Dirty Harry, Heartbreak Ridge, and Million Dollar Baby and this may be one of my favorites. Some like to think this character might be and retired version of Dirty Harry.  It’s classic Eastwood, darkly funny and dramatic throughout.  I doubt he will make many more movies so it’s great to see him act and direct such a great movie at the age of 78!  “Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t mess with?  That’s me.”

The Grudge (2004, 92 min, PG-13, 5.8, $187m) – This is the American remake of the original Japanese movie Ju-on: The Grudge.  I’ve actually seen both movies and it gives an interesting perspective on what the differences are in what Japan likes and what Hollywood thinks we like.  Both were directed by Takashi Shimizu and the Japanese version is a little more subtle and realistic while the American version is more of a horror movie.  Both are well made and, in some places, identical shot for shot.  If you’re a horror fan you can’t go wrong either way but I like the original a little more.

Next week

I’ll be talking about our first week of “specific preparation” as well as letting you know how Coach Rainbolt’s golf-a-thon went.  I have five movies that begin with H – and all of them are very interesting and unique!

Until then … go Shocks!

Chile Pepper, fall testing, and Fargo gets the nod this week

There’s a lot happening in Shocker Track and Field so I’ll just get right into it.

I traveled over to Fayetteville, Arkansas, with my fellow assistant coach Pat Wilson to watch our cross country teams compete at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on Saturday.  It was the first time I’ve been to this meet and was quite impressed with how well run and organized it was.  I would estimate there were around 40 colleges and at least twice as many high schools competing.

 This was our cross country teams’ first significant challenge of the season as both our men and women had won their previous two meets.  Our women finished fourth and our men ended up fifth.  I sat in for the team meetings the previous night and their goal was to finish in the top-3 so I know there was a little disappointment afterwards but I thought our group looked very strong and worked well together.  They’re a great group of kids that really seem to like and respect each other – that should help them come championship time, which is rapidly approaching!  The Shocks will head to Pre-Nationals in two weeks and in four weeks the MVC Championships will be at Southern Illinois.  The fall season is flying right on by!

On the track, this past week was our last full week of what we call “pre-season conditioning” where we are limited to eight hours of practice per week.  The next two weeks are “testing and regeneration”.  After a normal Monday practice and Tuesday off, we will do our annual fall testing on Wednesday and Thursday.  We do this every year to see how our athletes have improved from year to year.  With not having a competitive fall season it also helps to give our athletes something to look forward to in terms of a competitive effort.  We do this with all the sprint, hurdle, multi, and jumps athletes – basically everyone except the throwers and distance runners (the throwers have already done testing of their own).  Our testing goes like this:

Day 1 – 30m fly (with a running start), 30m acceleration (from a 3-point start), and then a long sprint of 150m, 300m, or 600m depending on what event the athlete runs.  We do all of these tests at our indoor track so that weather and wind won’t play a factor in comparing times from year to year.

Day 2 – Standing long jump, standing triple jump, overhead back shot put, and the Olympic lift hang clean.  We try to do these at our outdoor track because the weather doesn’t significantly affect these tests.

A few years ago I created a scoring system for each event so at the end we have a total score much like a Heptathlon or Decathlon.  I’ve seen all kinds of testing competitions like this and after many years of trial and error we have landed on this system.  It’s fun for the kids and very informative for the coaches.  We can narrow down where an athlete needs to make improvements as we head into our specific preparation phase – which starts October 15.

Besides our annual Intersquad meet in December, this is one of my favorite weeks of the fall semester.  The upperclassmen, who have been through our fall testing before, get very enthusiastic and create a fun atmosphere.  The newcomers are mostly nervous and a little intimidated by the scene – which is usually good, because it’s an introduction to what will happen when the actual track season begins.

After testing is over we give our athletes several days off (which coincides with our fall break) before gathering back up October 15 for our next phase of training.

As for recruiting, October will be a very busy month. We will have lots of official visits on campus as we lead up to the early signing period in November.  In fact I need to finish this blog so I can meet a recruit later today!

All of that and I will be turning 40 Saturday!  The best birthday present I can get will be some great test results from our athletes!  (And I also like cash)

“F” Movies

This is the sixth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 157 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

F seems like a popular letter for movies so here is the list of my 11 “F” movies from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Fargo (1996, 98 min, R, 8.2, $60.6m) – I love the Coen Brothers’ movies and this is one of their best.  Fargo is crime drama that shows perspective from both the criminals and the police trying to solve the crime.  Interesting and funny throughout, it won two Oscars for best screenplay and best actress.  If you haven’t seen it you won’t be disappointed – “you betcha!”

Full Metal Jacket (1987, 116 min, R, 8.4, $46.3m) – The first 30 minutes of this Stanley Kubrick war movie is some of the most intense cinema I’ve ever seen.  It’s really two movies, the first part is about basic training and the second part is the actual fighting in the Vietnam War.  R. Lee Ermey plays the king of all drill sergeants – I would quote him here but none of his lines are suitable for this blog!

The Fighter (2010, 116 min, R, 7.9, $129m) – Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale play professional boxing brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund in this based on a true story movie about the early years of Micky Ward’s life.  I’ve always enjoyed movies that are based on a true story and Ward’s life is a more recent version of Rocky.  Great movie and Christian Bale is pretty incredible as a former boxer turned to a waste of space brother.

Friday (1995, 91m, R, 7.3, $28.2m) – One of those movies that crosses racial and ethnic lines because it’s just so funny.  Chris Tucker and Ice Cube (who also wrote the movie) star in what happens on a typical Friday in the hood.  It spawned several sequels but none could capture the magic of the original.  This movie is still as funny as ever!

Friday Night Lights (2004, 118 min, PG-13, 7.3, $61.9m) – Another based on a true story movie about Permian High School (Texas) football.  The book was controversial and very popular because of all the inside info the author let loose and obviously it made for a good movie as well. Billy Bob Thornton plays the head coach who tries to keep his team together through tumultuous times.  Really good movie, I imagine it hits home for many people who look back at their high school athletic career.

Footloose (1984, 107 min, R, 6.4, $80m) – This is one of those cheesy 80’s movies that just seem to never get old.  Kevin Bacon plays a teenager who moves to a small town where music and dancing have been banned.  I’m sure Bacon is embarrassed to watch some of the scenes nowadays but that’s what makes this movie so enjoyable.  And whenever the theme song comes on Coach Yost starts dancing like crazy.

Fletch (1985, 98 min, PG, 6.9, $59.m) – One of Chevy Chase’s classic flicks from the 80’s with classic lines and scenes that anyone my age remember like it was yesterday.  Upon more recent viewings this movie doesn’t stand up as well today so if you’ve seen it before I would recommend just watching the funny parts on YouTube.  “Awww, come on guys, it's so simple. Maybe you need a refresher course. [leans arm on hot engine part] Hey! It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads.”

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, 117 min, R, 7.1, $245m) – This was Hugh Grant’s coming out movie and a very good one at that.  The title explains the plot as it follows a group of British friends one summer.  This is how romantic comedies should be – funny!  I think Hollywood forgot the “comedy” portion of that genre.  I think the Brits make funny movies, I only wish more of them made it over the pond so we could see them!

The Fall (2006, 117 min, R, 7.9, $3.6m) – I stumbled onto this movie through one of my weird friends on a weird night.  It’s a super artsy film but something about it kept me intrigued.  It’s one of the most visually appealing movies I’ve ever seen but most of my friends who I’ve tried to get to watch it usually fall asleep.  That must be why it only made $3 million dollars at the box office.

Friends with Benefits (2011, 109 min, R, 6.6, $149m) – They took two good looking people (Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake) and had them try to avoid every Hollywood cliché possible but in the end you knew they were going to get together.  It’s not a bad movie, I was just hoping they would be more creative with the ending for a movie with this kind of subject matter.

The Fountain (2006, 96 min, PG-13, 7.4, $15.9m) – Another super artsy film starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Darren Aronofsky (who also directed Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan) about death, love, spirituality, and uhhhhhh yeah I kind of got lost halfway through.  It does have a pretty cool ending so if you can hang in there it’s almost worth it.

There are a whole lot of great movies up there, you really can’t go wrong with any of them except maybe The Fountain.  I only have two “G” movies so next week will be a short review.

Until then have a great week and Go Shocks!

A typical week is never typical and some weird "E" movies

Even though there didn’t appear to be a lot going on this week (no WSU cross country meet and nothing besides regular track practice), it ended up being a fairly busy one!  I went on two different recruiting trips and was gone for four days while not missing any practice.  How does a week like that look?  Well here ya go (and please understand I can’t specifically talk about where or who I was recruiting because of NCAA rules):

Monday – It was a normal morning in the office followed by practice in the afternoon.  There were also several recruiting calls in the evening.

Tuesday – Another typical morning around the office, then practice, then I drove about three hours to stay in a hotel.  I made a couple of recruiting calls (hands free) while I drove to my destination.

Wednesday – I was up early (for me) and at my first of four high schools for the day at 7:45am.  I traveled around during the day and had visits at 8:00am, 9:30am, 10:45am, and 1:00pm.  I saw a total of six recruits for the day while our jumps coach Heidi Yost (now Benton) saw three more.  Practice on Wednesday is optional right now so we didn’t miss anything and I was home in Wichita by early evening.

Thursday – It was back in the office in the morning and practice in the afternoon.

Friday – We had an early morning workout (6am) and then I spent a little bit in the office before heading back out on the road so I could be ready to recruit the next morning.

Saturday – This time I was out recruiting a cross country meet for our distance coach Kirk Hunter.  I got back into Wichita in the evening and relaxed for the night.

Sunday – I’ve been watching football and do not plan on leaving my home until Monday morning.

So as you can see, even in a pretty normal week the life of a coach is hardly normal.  None of this was excruciating or difficult but not having a normal 9-5 job does throw your body for a loop.  I was totally wiped out by Saturday night and have been totally lazy on Sunday.

There are a lot of coaches out there who do a lot more recruiting and travel a lot more than me so you can imagine some of their hectic schedules.  As I often tell people when they ask me what a typical week on the job is, I almost always say, “there isn’t one.”

Next weekend I’ll be heading with the cross country team to Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Invitational.  Should be fun!

“E” Movies

This is the fifth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 155 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

E isn’t the most popular letter for movies so here is the list of my 4 “E” movies from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

El Mariachi (1992, 81 min, R, 7.0, $2m) – The story behind how this cult classic became popular is just as good as the movie itself.  Robert Rodriguez made this movie about a Mexican guitar player who is mistaken for a real life criminal for only $7,000.  It’s pretty amazing what can be done with that little amount of money.  And it’s actually a good movie!

European Vacation (1985, 95 min, R, 6.0, $49.3m) – This is probably my least favorite of the Vacation movies but it’s still pretty funny and has some classic lines.  Chevy Chase was in his prime and very funny.  Anytime I drive through a roundabout I always think of the scene where he’s stuck in London – “Hey kids, Big Ben, Parliament!”

El Topo (1970, 125 min, NR, 7.4, $?) – This strange underground movie somehow developed a significant following in the 1970’s when John Lennon convinced a friend to distribute it worldwide.  What is it about?  Good question.  There some interesting gun fights, weird sexual encounters, and dwarfs too.  I think John Lennon was on drugs when he recommended it but I would say it is worth one viewing for the sake of saying you’ve seen it.

Eraserhead (1977, 89 min, NR, $?) – Another low-budget movie that found a following by being weird.  It’s a story about a quiet man who has a bad job, an angry girlfriend and a mutant baby – no joke.  It’s all in black and white and makes for interesting viewing if you’re ok with seeing a mutant baby and some very, very artsy scenes.  The writer/director David Lynch is best known for the TV series Twin Peaks.

It appears that if you want to jumpstart a movie making career, make a weird movie that begins with the letter E.

I own 11 “F” movies that contain words like Friday, Footloose and Fletch.  Until next week …

Go Shocks!

Shocker Cross Country is off to a fast start, Dorf got married and I own a lot of "D" movies

Another week has rolled by and we’re starting to see what kind of team we have this year.

I have to start with our cross country team because they really ran well this weekend at Nebraska.  Obviously I’m not an expert on distance running but I’ve been around a lot of great coaches and athletes in my lifetime.  We’ve had some really good cross country teams at WSU and some really average ones.  It looks like we have a couple of really good ones this year and so far they are undefeated through the first two meets of the fall.

We thought our women’s team would be pretty solid but they appear to be coming around more quickly than we thought.  There’s a good mix of veterans and rookies and you never know how long it will take to mesh.  After easily defeating the likes of Nebraska, Air Force, Northern Iowa, Miami and Northern Colorado this weekend on top of edging Kansas State two weeks ago, I have to imagine they are starting to turn some heads.

Same for the men in terms of turning heads.  It wasn’t as easy but they beat all the same teams this weekend and seem to be coming together very nicely.  Coach Hunter’s teams don’t have any superstars and seem to be working together to prove the preseason MVC rankings of fifth and sixth wrong.

The next meet will be a step up in competition at the University of Arkansas in two weeks.  I’m going to travel over with the team so I’ll be able to see their progress in person.  Good stuff!

As for the rest of the team, it will take a little longer to see what we have although after a few weeks of practice I think we are cautiously optimistic.  We had another good week of practice and the newcomers are starting to look less like newcomers than a few weeks ago.  We’re about midway through our preseason conditioning phase and each week is better than the previous.

In preseason conditioning we have two main goals.  The first is to, obviously, get the team into shape.  Basically we’re trying to get everyone to the point of being able to train specifically for their event in about six weeks.  If they have done a nice job in the summer then this phase is usually fun.  If they haven’t done a good job in the summer then it’s pretty miserable.  Luckily we’ve had a lot of fun so far.

The second part of preseason conditioning is trying to get the team to become more of a “team”.  We purposely have large groups of athletes running, jumping and lifting together so they can get to know each other.  We demand our team come together at championship time but it’s a whole lot easier if they can come together earlier in the year.  It’s very tough because we have over 60 athletes on each team and just getting to know most of your teammates is very time consuming.  So far we’ve mostly just focused on learning to practice together but we’ll have some other team building activities coming up in the last few weeks conditioning.

The newcomers, and especially the freshmen, are always the last to figure out the “team thing”.  They have a lot on their plate when they first get to campus but pretty soon we will be expecting them to get up to the level of their teammates in terms of teamwork and work ethic.

Like I’ve said before, so far so good, but it’s really too early to know what kind of team we have.

Coach Hetzendorf gets married!

For the second time in as many months, one of our coaches got married this weekend.  Our throws coach (and my former teammate at Kent State) John Hetzendorf got married to Amber McGown in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Wichita.  Amber was a terrific distance runner for Cornell and Oregon and we have already decided to recruit their kids.

My job for their wedding was to play certain music before and during the wedding ceremony.  I’m not sure what Amber was thinking putting me in charge but luckily I didn’t mess it up and everything turned out great.  Even the forecast of rain stayed away – I’d say it was a good way to start for the Hetzendorf’s!

Congrats to John and Amber!

“D” Movies

This is the fourth of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 150 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

Here is the list of my 15 “D” movies from best to worst (this is the most movies in any letter I own) …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Dallas Buyers Club (2013, 117 min, R, 8.0, $55.1m) – You can hardly recognize Matthew McConaughey as a man diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1980’s.  He lost over 50 lbs for this role and the dedication to his craft was as inspirational as anything I’ve ever seen on film.  On top of that this is a great movie about a subject that is sometimes hard to talk about.

Django Unchained (2012, 165 min, R, 8.5, $425m) – Since Pulp Fiction I’ve always been a fan of Quentin Tarantino and this may be his best movie yet.  Brutal and funny with a completely different perspective on the issue of slavery, Django left a significant impression on me.  Jamie Foxx is one talented dude!

Dazed and Confused (1993, 102 min, R, 7.7, $7.9m) – One of Richard Linklater’s first movies and definitely one of his best.  It follows a bunch of high school kids on their last day of school.  It doesn’t really have a lot of drama but it’s a great snapshot of a time in life that is captured very well.  This was Matthew McConaughey’s first movie and what a great creepy guy he played!

Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, 95 min, PG, 8.5, $9.4m) – One of director Stanley Kubrick’s most well liked movies despite the longest name ever, haha.  It’s a dark comedy about an insane general who tries to start a nuclear war while a bunch of bumbling politicians try to stop it.  The more I watch it the more I like this crazy old movie.

Death Race (2008, 105 min, R, 6.4, $75.6m) – You won’t see a lot of action movies in my collection but I am a Jason Statham fan and I loved the original Death Race 2000 movie (see below).  They did a great job making this movie stylish and funny while keeping it entertaining throughout.  Although it’s not the same story as the original it’s a great new version of the old absurd concept of killing people with your car.

The Departed (2006, 151 min, R, 8.5, $289m) – What’s not to like here?  A great action/drama with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars directed by Martin Scorsese.  I wouldn’t say this movie is the most original movie in the world but its fun and entertaining the whole way.  Jack Nicholson as a bad guy always makes a movie better!

Donnie Darko (2001, 113 min, R, 8.1, $1.2m) – This is a really weird movie where a teenager (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) has visions of a bunny rabbit that makes him commit crimes.  Yes, I said it was a bit weird.  But it’s really a great movie when you sit down and give it a watch.  It is full of emotions and great acting for a movie with such a small budget.

Death Race 2000 (1975, 80 min, R, 6.2, $???) – The plot is ridiculous (a cross country race where you gain points by killing people with you car) and the acting is atrocious (one of Sylvester Stallone’s first movies). But somehow it caught on as a cult classic and luckily I saw it as a kid.  You don’t watch movies like this to comment on its artistic beauty.  You watch it with your buddies and laugh at how ridiculous it is.

Dan in Real Life (2007, 98 min, PG-13, 6.8, $68.3m) – I’m a big Steve Carrel fan and this movie shows off some of his non-comedic talent.  There’s a part where he’s singing “Let my love open the door” with Dane Cook that motivated me to learn how to play a guitar so I could show off to girls.

Don Jon (2013, 90 min, R, 6.7, $30.4m) – Written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this movie takes a completely different perspective on a “love story”.  Even though the subject matter is a bit risqué, I definitely found this movie very entertaining and thought provoking.

Deliverance (1972, 110 min, R, 7.8, $???) – A white water rafting trip that goes to hell is a pretty good summary of this classic starring Burt Reynolds.  This was a very controversial film in the 1970’s and still makes some people uncomfortable viewing it today.  One of the more beautiful scenes, however, is their version of dueling banjos – great stuff!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988, 110 min, PG, 7.3, $42m) – This is a funny little movie with Michael Caine and Steve Martin who try to continually top each other by being seeing who can be the best con man.  There are some really funny scenes and a twist ending that seems appropriate for the two scoundrels.

The Doors (1991, 140 min, R, 7.2, $34.4m) – A biopic movie of the popular and controversial band The Doors with lead singer Jim Morrison.  It was directed by Oliver Stone so it has a bunch of weird scenes where he tries to be very artsy.  It’s entertaining but a little bit too long.  I like it but I probably would like a documentary of the band just as well.

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982, 88 min, PG, 6.8, $18.1m) – This is an early Steve Martin film that was probably way ahead of it’s time.  It’s a parody of a detective story from the 1940’s or 1950’s where this movie is blended with scenes from older movies and stars like Cagney, Douglas, etc.  It probably needs to be watched more than once to appreciate it.  I’ve only seen it once.

The Da Vinci Code (2006, 149 min, PG-13, 6.5, $758m) – I always thought this was an interesting premise – clues in Da Vinci paintings that lead to religious mysteries that could shake the foundations of Christianity.  Unfortunately it never really connected with me but apparently it did with many others as it made over $700 million worldwide.

Whew that was a lot of movies!  Luckily next week I only have 4 “E” movies.

Go Shocks!

Why seniors are special for WSU, STC, and Gunga Galunga.

I had recently read this year was supposed to be colder than normal during the winter months and, if it’s true, we got an early dose of it in Wichita this weekend.

Some very chilly weather occurred during our weekly 6am Friday morning workout and with our weight room not available for another week or so (because of remodeling), we had an outdoor session.  It’s interesting how you can be cold and shivering when you start warming up but 30 minutes later be down to a t-shirt or tank top in 40 degree weather because you’re sweating so much.

I’ve had a few people ask me how our workouts are going and how the team looks.  My usual response is, “I think we’re pretty talented but we have a long way to go before we figure out if we’re any good.”

One of the reasons I say that is because we’re lacking in seniors.  This might be hard to believe but I have 28 athletes (men and women) in the sprint/hurdle group and only two seniors.  While this means we should have a heckuva group for the next few years, an area that I worry about is leadership.

Seniors bring a special kind of leadership to a team.  Seniors usually become less selfish and less interested in their own goals and more focused on the team than juniors and sophomores.  This type of thinking lends itself to terrific leadership over the course of their final year.  Those seniors become desperate to win championships and will do anything, including motivating their teammates, to win.

Don’t get me wrong, there are always great leaders from younger members of the team, but the desperation isn’t there because they know they still have at least another year remaining.  I was the same in college.  I was a captain at Kent State for my junior and senior years and I was a much better leader as a senior because all I wanted was to win a MAC title.

I’ve seen some of the younger members of my group show some early signs of good leadership but it is something I will be concerned about throughout the year.  It takes a lot more than putting together some talented athletes to win a Missouri Valley Conference track and field championship.

Shocker Track Club

I’m fortunate to be part of a non-profit organization called The Shocker Track Club (I’m the head coach of the Elite Team and on the board of directors).  This weekend the STC hosted their annual master’s and open meet at WSU’s Cessna Stadium.  There were almost 100 athletes in competition who were beyond their “prime athletic years” and it was awesome.

Athletes up to their 80’s from all around the country were there running, jumping and throwing on the same facility that hosts thousands of college and high school athletes each year.  I only had a small part in the hosting of the meet but it was definitely inspiring seeing how much spirit was in these tremendous athletes!  We had many of our new athletes work the meet as officials.  Hopefully they came away inspired as well!

For more information about our organization you can visit www.shockertrackclub.com.

“C” Movies

This is the third of a 24 part series (maybe) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 150 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

Here is the list of my 8 “C” movies from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Caddyshack (1980, 98 min, R, 7.4, $39.8m) – Most every male over the age of 30 has seen it and can recite at least a dozen quotes.  Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield are in the primes of their comedic lives, “so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.”

Coming to America (1988, 116 min, R, 6.9, $288.7m) – Seeing Eddie Murphy at his funniest when you’re in the eighth grade just isn’t fair.  I laughed the entire time and was amazed at the end when I realized he played an old, white Jewish man.  I know I’m the only person in Kansas who owns a Randy Watson World Tour T-shirt.

Clerks (1994, 92 min, R, 7.9, $3.1m) – The movie that made anyone think they could make a movie because Kevin Smith only spent $20k making it with a bunch of his friends.  You don’t watch this movie to see how well it was made; you watch it to be inspired about what can be done with so little.  And to laugh at crude jokes.

Crazy Heart (2009, 112 min, R, 7.3, $47.4m) – This is a terrific movie about the “over the hill” side of country music starring Jeff Bridges.  I’ve always been intrigued by what happens to talented people when their popularity is gone.  Colin Farrell is awesome as well.  Who knew an Irish guy could play a country music superstar?

CB4 (1993, 89 min, R 6.1, $17.9m) – Being from a totally white place growing up, I was intrigued with rap music in high school and this Chris Rock movie came out during my senior year.  It still holds up quite well and is one of Rock’s best movies.  So many funny quotes that can’t be spoken in this public forum.  Eddie Murphy’s brother Charlie was hilarious as Gusto!

 

Casa de mi Padre (2012, 84 min, R, 5.5, $8m) – Even though it didn’t really come off as successful, I am very proud of Will Ferrell for making a movie where he speaks Spanish the whole time and he knew wouldn’t make any money.  Most people won’t like this movie because they don’t realize it’s supposed to be bad.

The Campaign (2012, 85 min, R, 6.2, $104.9m) – Will Ferrell and Zach Galifinakis running against each other for public office.  I’m a sucker for good old fashioned dumb humor and this one is high in that category.  ”Because Filipino tilt-a-whirl operators are our nation’s backbone.”

Cold Mountain (2003, 154 min, R, 7.2, $173m) – One of those “gift” movies that I think I watched once when I got it.  It’s not really that bad of a story about the Civil War.  Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were at the height of their romance I believe. Easily forgettable.

Once again most of these (except the last one) earn high marks for me.  I own 15 “D” movies so next week look out for movies that start with Dazed, Death, and Django!

Go Shocks!

Shocker XC wins at home, I'm an ESPN hater, and Bull Durham edges Beverly Hills Cop

It was a successful weekend for the Shocker Cross Country squad as we hosted our annual early season meet, the JK Gold Classic.

We had 16 colleges and 11 high schools attend our meet this year and the Shockers came away with the double victory, taking down Division I opponents Kansas St and Oral Roberts.  The DI portion of the meet was scored as duals and our men came away with perfect “15’s” in both meets.  The women’s meet was much closer as we edged Kansas St 28-29.  The difference was getting our sixth and seventh runners in ahead of KSU’s fifth.

Although it’s very early in the season and winning a meet like this doesn’t mean a whole lot in the big picture, I’m sure Coach Hunter and the cross country crew will head to Nebraska in two weeks with a little more confidence.  Being picked fifth (women) and sixth (men) in the preseason MVC poll has motivated our team.  Good job Shocks!

Hosting a cross country meet isn’t nearly as difficult as putting on a big track meet but there is still a lot to do. We have our entire 130 person team out on the course working at 7am.  It’s a good way to do some team building and even though most college kids aren’t that excited to get up early on a Saturday morning and drive 30 minutes out into the country, once they get there they generally have a good time.  It also helped that it was a beautiful morning in the mid 60’s and 70’s – perfect for cross country!

This was our first week of getting our entire group together for track practice as well.  It’s always interesting to see how the first few workouts go.  We get to see who put in work this summer and who did not.  I’d say overall our kids look pretty solid.  Our men probably look a little better than our women but that is to be expected since they are more experienced.  It’s too early to tell how good we’ll be but looking at our groups work out last week reminded me of how talented we are.  Now the grind of the fall has begun and we will try to mold them into a team – getting in shape and teaching them how to work together in search of our goals.

The fall training seems like an endless stage of training because the meets are so far away so you have to try to mix things up to not get bored.  I like to get away from the track as much as possible so we will go off campus for workouts from time to time.  Most of our work on the actual track will be warmups and sprinting.

Our track schedule should be posted on our website this week.  Next week I’ll talk a little bit about how we put our schedule together and where we’re going this year!

I don’t like ESPN anymore

I’m old enough to remember when ESPN got started and for a sports geek like me it was heaven.  Unfortunately I have changed my opinion of the “World Wide Leader in Sports” lately.

Like most sports fans I used to watch SportsCenter religiously and it was always a great place to get scores and see the great highlights from around the world of sports.  A few years ago SportsCenter started turning more and more into human interest stories and accordingly I started losing interest.  This is not why I have now turned away from ESPN, however.

As ESPN started focusing more on “stories” than the actual sporting events I became less interested.  But one moment put me over the top and I have been on an ESPN boycott ever since.

In mid-May, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made some comments after all the racist stuff about the Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling came out.  Cuban, not defending Sterling but being honest about himself, basically said all of us have discriminatory tendencies and if it was late at night and he saw a black kid with a hoodie walking down the street he would go to the other side. Then if he saw a white kid who is bald and with tattoos on his head on that side he would walk back to the original side of the street.

It was an honest, straightforward, non-racist answer to a question.  But like so many other things in the sports world today, ESPN turned it into a “Mark Cuban is racist” story and only focused on the images of Trayvon Martin in a hoodie aspect. 

Now I’m not really all that interested in sitting here and talking about racism, but my point is that instead of reporting about sports ESPN decided to take an opinionated stance on this issue and make it out to be more than it was.  And ESPN has consistently done this more and more over the years to the point that I couldn’t take it anymore.

Last year I mentioned how ESPN.com is probably my favorite website and that the information on there is as good as it gets.  Well after this deal I decided only to watch live sporting events on ESPN and only to look at their website for statistical information regarding those events.  Since May, my brain has not been inundated with ESPN’s slant on anything and I have to say I haven’t been more at peace!

I heard people talking about Johnny Manziel and Michael Sam.  I didn’t pay it any attention because neither of those guys are significant in actually playing in the NFL.  They’re just stories.  As I get older I guess I feel like I’ve heard enough of the “stories” and mostly just want to see or hear about the sport – now that I think about it that’s why I fell in love with sports in the first place – the actual competition and the story that evolves from that competition.  There is a place for stories to be told on ESPN and the 30 for 30 series is great – they should leave it to people who know how to tell stories properly.

So if you are a big sports fan and want to continue to love sports for what they are – avoid anything on ESPN that isn’t a live sporting event and you’ll be just fine.  There are plenty of other channels and shows on television for made up drama.

“B” Movies

Last week I gave my best “A” movies that I own, here is my list of 12 “B” movies from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Box office)

Bull Durham (1988, 108 min, R, 7.1, $50.8m) – The movie that made Kevin Costner famous is one of my favorite movies of all time.  The life of a career minor league baseball player is done about as well as possible.  “Don’t think, it can only hurt the ballclub.”

Beverly Hills Cop (1984, 105 min, R, 7.3, $316.3m) – Eddie Murphy at his peak.  Everything he did around this time was the funniest thing on the planet.

Buck (2011, 88 min, PG, 7.6, $4m) – Documentary about Buck Brannaman, who was the original “horse whisperer”.  Wonderful and inspiring story that will make you feel good about humanity.  I was lucky to have stumbled upon it, if you can find it you should watch it ASAP.

Black Swan (2010, 108 min, R, 8.0, $329.3m) – On top of being just a flat out great movie, who wouldn’t like that Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis make out scene?

Beverly Hills Cop II (1987, 100 min, R, 6.4, $299.9m) – A really great sequel.  1980’s Eddie Murphy could do no wrong.  He even made Judge Reinhold look funny in this one.

Bowfinger (1999, 97 min, PG-13, 6.4, $98.6m) – I’m realizing Eddie Murphy made a lot of “B” movies.  This one with Steve Martin is really, really funny in my opinion.  One of Murphy’s best performances is him playing “Kit”.

Burn After Reading (2008, 96 min, R, 7.0, $$163.7m) – Another quirky, funny, off-beat, and entertaining movie by the Coen Brothers.  Brad Pitt as the over excitable gym trainer is my favorite character in the movie.

Ben-Hur (1959, 212 min, PG, 8.2, $74m) – Charleton Heston as a Jewish prince who becomes a slave and has the most intense chariot race ever!  It’s long as heck but the chariot race towards the end is all worth it.

Bruce Almighty (2003, 101 min, PG-13, 6.7, $484.5m) – Jim Carey and Steve Carrell were hilarious in this funny flick. Lot of other people must have thought so too as it made almost half a billion dollars worldwide!

Boiler Room (2000, 120 min, R, 7.0, $28.7m) – Basically a lower budget version of the Wolf of Wall Street with Vin Deisel and Ben Affleck.  Great little movie that if it was made today would’ve made a lot more money.

Black Sheep (1996, 87 min, PG-13, 6.2, $32.4m) – Underrated follow-up to Tommy Boy by Chris Farley and David Spade.  Who would ever forget the RO-AAAAAAAADS scene?  “Sir you were driving 7 miles per hour.”

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994, 104 min, R, 5.4, $119.2m) – Luckily Eddie Murphy has announced Beverly Hills Cop IV will come out in 2016 so we can all forget #3 ever happened.  I only own this because it came in the 3-pack with #1 and #2.

Lots of great movies here!  I would say all of them except the last one are worth a viewing!

See you next week!  Go Shocks!