If It's True, It Ain't Really Bragging!

At least that is what my good friend Dick Haley always told me as he patiently allowed me to share Liam's latest exploits any time I passed him in the city hall lobby.  If it weren't for Liam there would be no update this week.  It's been like an episode of Seinfeld around here this month.  The "Seinfeld" show has been famously described as "the show about nothing" (a self-referential phrase from an episode describing Jerry and George's attempt to create a sitcom idea), as most of the comedy was based around the largely inconsequential minutiae of everyday life... (From WikiSein) And except for Liam this week, that is all I'd have to report.

If you happen to have seen my Facebook postings this weekend you would know that the Western Carolina Indoor Track Teams had a very good weekend.  The men's team came in first at the Southern Conference (SoCon) Indoor Track Championships for the third year in a row (the three-peat is the first in the history of the men's program) and the women came in a respectable second place.  Earlier this month I had a conversation with Coach Williamson where he described some limitations with who, or more specifically, how many competitors he could take to the SoCon Championships and the possibility that Liam, as a freshman, may not have the opportunity to compete in the season finale this time around.  Ultimately, Liam did travel with the team and had the opportunity to compete in two events and earned seven points for his team on their way to a victory in the Southern Conference Indoor Track Championship.  But I get ahead of myself.

Western Carolina University's track program is know as a "Sprint" and "Jump" school.  At least that is how it was described to Liam by college "Distance" coaches trying to persuade Liam to decide on their schools over Western during Liam's whole recruiting experience.  In the past, Western has rarely had an outstanding distance team and has been content to concede those points for distance events to their opponents during the track competitions while still fielding overall successful Track Teams.  Although this has been Liam's first opportunity to compete indoors, except for a couple of meets when he was recovering from respiratory illness, Liam has had decent freshman college cross country and indoor campaigns which likely contributed to coach Williamson's decision to include Liam at this weekend's competition.

Liam's first event was the 3000 meter race on Friday evening.  Liam has done very well, first at the 3200 meter distance in high school where he holds the Corona High School record for that distance, and then at the college distance of 3000 meters where in his very first attempt Liam, as a freshman, won against his college competitors and qualified for the SoCon Championship Finals fast heat at that distance.  In the race Friday against twelve runners, all but two of which were seeded higher (had run better times at this distance) than Liam, Liam was hoping to have a breakout performance at his preferred distance and maybe squeeze out an eighth place finish and snag a point for his team in at least one distance event.  The indoor track at the CrossPlex venue in Birmingham Alabama is a 200 meter oval.  If you think watching eight laps around a 400 meter track is boring (high school 3200 meters), fifteen laps around a 200 meter track is twice as bad.  Liam had a strong if not exciting race; was one of only two freshman that qualified to run in the finals for that distance and the only freshman to score points for his team in that event.  Liam finished a strong sixth place with a personal best by almost :10 seconds of 8:30.85 to earn 3 points to help Western to a first day point lead in the Championship.  If you are interested (and you probably shouldn't be) I recorded the race and here is the YouTube link:  https://youtu.be/Y2jcvEuictE

Liam's second event was the 5000 meter race on Saturday afternoon.  The 5000 meter distance has always been Liam's "Achilles Heal" in track and cross country.  Liam has been surprisingly versatile in the different distances in which he has competed despite his propensity towards the longer races, even helping his high school's 4x800 and 4x1600 relay teams achieve national rankings his senior year.  And the 8000 meter cross country distance in college seemed right is his wheel house based on his very respectable freshman campaign, winning three of the six regular season events that he entered, finishing 16th (1st for Western) in the SoCon Cross Country Championship, and earning a spot on the All-Freshman Cross Country Conference Team.  And each 5000 meter poor performance came with a reasonably good excuse like an extended layoff recovering from an illness or something similar, but a poor performance none the less.  So having laid the groundwork, Liam's best indoor 5K time going into the Championship was a not so respectable 16:14.76.  The finals of the 5K was split between a fast heat and a slow heat. Of the 28 entrants, only one time was seeded lower (slower) than Liam.  Based on that I was certain that Liam would be seeded into the slow heat.

The slow heat entrants paraded onto the track and Liam was not there.  The slow heat race went off and at the finish the winning time was what I thought to be a decent 15:13.92.  All but two of the competitors in that heat were under 16 minutes beating Liam's best time for 5K on an oval.  None of the runners in that first/slow heat finished in the combined race top eight necessary to score points for their teams but we couldn't know that at the time.  Earlier in the day we were encouraging Liam to give his best effort and maybe try to sneak into the eighth position and steal another point for his team.  After the "slow heat" Maureen and I were just hoping that Liam's "Achilles Heal" would not be the cause of too much embarrassment or be too discouraging for him.  We had almost written off his chances of being anywhere near the front half of the 28 total combined entrants in the two heats of the 5K event final.  A good analogy would be the pundits that gave the Super Bowl Trophy to Cam Newton and the Panthers in the week leading up to the game.  But wait!  Even though Peyton Manning and the Broncos had no hope of winning they played the Super Bowl anyway and ultimately that trophy did not go to Carolina.  So how did Liam's 5K race go?

If 15 laps around a 200 meter oval is boring, what do you think 25 laps look like?  When you think your runner doesn't stand a chance and he surprises you it can be a little exciting!  First, the winner of the race was in a class by himself.  The Samford University runner, a sophomore, lapped the entire field once and most of the field a second time on his way to setting the CrossPlex and the Southern Conference Championship record for 5000 Meters in a blistering 13:55.73.  That is over three miles in under 14:00 minutes.  But back to Liam's performance.

Liam ran this race very much like his better races his entire running career.  At the start of the race he positioned himself at the back of a middle pack.  After the first few laps the runners had spread out a bit and Liam moved up to the front of that second pack and set the pace for that group for most of the remainder of the race.  The lead group of four runners, including the Samford sophomore, was separating itself from the rest of the race but Liam looked smooth and strong and continued to lead the second group.  At some point it dawned on us that Liam was running 5th in the "fast heat" and that he might be able to steal a point if he could just manage to get into the low 15s at the finish.  With about four laps to go a runner challenged Liam for the lead of the second group and managed to pull ahead of Liam by 10-15 meters.  The final lap bell rang for the lead runner and the rest of the field still had 1 1/2 to 2 laps remaining, some even more so it was difficult to tell just where everyone was in relation to each other but I was confident that Liam was still in sixth place and he was running smooth and not slowing down.  With 1 1/2 laps to go I heard Coach Williamson yell to Liam that he was doing great, had 300 meters to go, and to catch the runner in front of him.  The number 5 runner had not pulled any further ahead but although Liam was picking up his pace it didn't seem that Liam was closing the gap.  However while Liam was on the back straight during the final lap I looked away for a moment and when I looked back Liam was rounding the final turn at a full 6'-2" sprint stride heading to the finish and closing strongly on the runner in front of him.  Alas, from our vantage it looked like Liam just barely ran out of track at the finish.  But the official results tell a different story.  Liam, by 6/100 of a second, stole 5th place points for his team at the tape with his personal best by well over a minute for 5000 meters, with a time of... 14:54.38!!!  This is unconfirmed, but some of Liam's veteran teammates suggested that Liam's time just might be the best freshman time for 5000 meters in the history of the WCU track program.  In addition to his 5th place finish earning an additional 4 points on day two, Liam was named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team for both the 3000 M and 5000 M distances!

"And now you know the rest of the story..... "


Southern Conference Trophy Award Video (You can see very briefly Liam on the top step in the back)
https://www.facebook.com/SouthernConference/videos/10154035785882318/

WCU Recap after day 1
http://www.catamountsports.com/sports/c-track/recaps/022616aab.html

WCU Recap after day 2
http://www.catamountsports.com/sports/c-track/recaps/022716aaa.html

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

Rick

Super Bowl 50 Special Edition. So who are you rooting for?

We are all getting ready for Super Bowl Sunday!  At least most of us are.  I still want Green Bay to win Super Bowl 50 but I don't really like their chances at this point.  I'm just a little conflicted about who to root for now.  

First, have you noticed that this is the only Super Bowl ever advertised without the use of Roman numerals?  I thought it might be because the appearance was a bit lack luster; "Super Bowl L".  Especially compared to some of the past years; "Super Bowl XXXVIII" or even "Super Bowl XL" as in "Extra Large" event.  As it turns out it's more superstitious than that.  In the NFL, a lone "L" stands for "Loser!"  And the commissioner was not going to have that represent his league.  Here is an article in Rolling Stone magazine if you're interested.

What the L? Why the NFL Sacked Roman Numerals for Super Bowl 50

So, like a lot of "old guys" my age, I'd be inclined to root for Peyton Manning.  Peyton is an inspiration to us all.  Peyton Manning will be 40 in March.  John Elway brought Peyton Manning for the 2012 season to fill a void while Denver recruited or developed a franchise quarterback.  The problem with turning the team over to a new quarterback though is that Peyton has led the team to no. 1 in the AFC West all four years he has been with the team.  Denver is in it's second Super Bowl in four years with Peyton at the helm.  Now to be fair Denver's defense, ranked no. 1 in the league, probably has something to do with their success.  Denver is the poster child for the cliche; "Offense (or rather Peyton Manning) sells tickets, defense wins championships!"  Denver's offense with Manning is only ranked 16th in the league, and at one point while Denver was still undefeated, was ranked a bottom dwelling 32nd.  I always ask my soccer teams; "how many goals does it take to win a game?"  The answer is; "one more than your opponent."  And with Denver's defense it's hard to image any number of quarterbacks could not have put Denver in this championship game once or twice over the past four years.  I mean, Tim Tebow took Denver to the top of the Division in 2011 and where is he now?  But this is Peyton Manning, the 39 year old super star who recovered from neck surgery, was released by the team he spent his career with and won a Super Bowl for, but still returned to the game we love and he continues to dazzle.  So like a lot of sentimentals that would love to see the "old guy" have one more day in the sun, I'm inclined to root for Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

My conflict is that I now live in the Carolinas and Denver will be playing the Carolina Panthers!  So why is that a big deal?  I lived in California for over 30 years and never really got behind a California team as a fan.  I have no explanation other than I've always been a Green Bay fan and maybe California had too many teams to single out just one to root for on a consistent basis.  And with the Raiders bouncing up and down the coast, the Rams exiting the state for St Louis and Eli refusing to play for San Diego, it was easy to dismiss those west coast teams in favor of being loyal to Green Bay, even in Green Bay's lean years.  The exception to that might have been the San Francisco 49ers during the Joe Montana, Steve Young years.  Those were some great teams to watch.  I still haven't really decided but I think Peyton might be seriously considering retirement and it would be great to see him go out a winner in Super Bowl "L"!

 Where do I plan on watching the game?  As it turns out, at the last minute I invited some new friends over to watch the game with us.  Now I've never been a "Monster" size TV guy but Maureen has been pushing an agenda that if we had a monster TV downstairs Liam might come home more often and even bring his friends so we could meet some of them.  On the other hand, I have been adamant that Liam would not have a better TV to play his PS4 on than I would have upstairs.  I put my foot down on that one.  Except for this perfect storm of circumstances leading up to the big game.  Between inviting my friends over, the email I got from Best Buy advertising a great sale on monster TVs (thanks to lack luster Christmas sales), the limited space I have upstairs for my own monster TV, and putting my foot down around here really doesn't mean anything (you know I have managed to stay married for 30 years), we (or rather Liam and his friends) have a nice new 55" Samsung that I will get to watch the game on occasionally with my friends.

Remember your mom always warning you; "don't sit too close to the TV, it will ruin your eyes"?  Our downstairs space is roughly 1,300 square feet and there are very few places you can be where you are not too close to a 55" TV, especially sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace!  Inside Best Buy which is probably 15-20,000 square feet by comparison with 20 foot ceilings, you don't really get a feel for how big that TV screen will be in the relatively small space of a room in your home.  I'm afraid to set up my old surround sound.  As big as the screen is if it becomes too realistic Liam might end up with PTSD from his shoot-em-up games on the PS4.  The food will be at the bar on the other side of the room so that might be far enough away to save my eyes if not my waistline.  And like everyone else, I'll only be paying attention to the TV during the commercials anyway! 

Have a great weekend and enjoy the game!

Rick