I did the tri with my friend, Matt, and my brother, Cory.  Matt lives here in Mesa and Cory lives in Park City, UT.  Matt and I had planned on having me fly us up to St. George, UT, where the event was.  That would turn an 8 or so hour drive into a 2 hour flight.  Then my brother asked if I could come pick him up near Park City…so of course, I agreed.  After dropping Matt and our gear off at St. George Airport (KSGU), I got back in the plane and flew up to Provo, UT (KPVU) and picked up my brother.  Then we both flew back to Hurricane, UT (1L8) where our rental home was as well as the actual triathlon (Hurricane is about a 20 minute drive from St. George).  Matt and I got to fly over the western edge of the Grand Canyon both ways.  Here are a couple of pics from that.

We stayed in a great house that was only a couple of miles from the start of the race, so we were able to ride our bikes in on the morning of the tri…no parking or waiting in long car lines necessary.  It was great!  My friend, Jen, from high school and her husband, Marcello, drove up from their home in Las Vegas to cheer us on and take some great photos.

We had a great time.  I wasn’t happy with my performance, but that just gives me some additional motivations in my training…I’ll improve for next time.  Even so, I got to hang out with a lot of great people, got to race in a triathlon, and got to do a lot of flying!  A great weekend, indeed, despite Sandy Hill.

I dedicated a daily flip video to the experience.  It’s a little long for a daily flip, but I hope you enjoy it.

I’m flying Matt and I up to the event on Friday and flying home on Sunday in the Skylane.  We were lucky enough to be able to rent a home very close to the Tri venue and not too far from the small GA airport that we will be flying into in Hurricane, UT.  Should be pretty convenient.

Enjoy today’s daily flip of Matt and I goofing around on the bikes, enjoying the outdoors, and generally having a fun ride with very little pain.  That’s a first for a while.  Some of it is jumpy when I was doing a point of view charging down a hill in the wind…but that’s what it feels like on the bike sometimes…so I left it in.

We got some Gyro’s from George’s before the game, and Todd and Rachel broke out donuts afterwards for Todd’s birthday.  Also, a lot of fun softball under the lights in between.  I hope you enjoy today’s flip video.

In other Flip news, the Flip UltraHD was released today (thanks, Tim, for tweeting about it).  Might need to upgrade at some point.

This is a huge season for ASU, too.  It’s the sophomore season for (not so new anymore) head coach Dennis Erickson, and after a phenomenal debut season last year for him, expectations are high.  Add to that a couple of returning players who were injured last year as well as a maturing team that didn’t loose too much talent, and we have a recipe for a great season.

While every game is important, and because the PAC 10 is so competitive and is structured in such a way that everyone plays everyone (unlike, say, the SEC or the Big 12) it’s even more so, there are a couple of games that stand out.  First, of course, is USC.  Once again, USC is expected to win the PAC 10…but hopefully Dennis and friends will have something to say about that.  But if we head outside of the conference, there’s an equally big game with top ranked Georgia.  I’m already having flashbacks to Nebraska and 19-0, but I’ll try not to get ahead of myself.

In any case, we’re in for an exciting year, and I personally can’t wait for it to get started at the end of this month.  Here is the Sun Devil 2008 schedule.

GO DEVILS!

This is my friend, Obie, having some fun at the wildcats’ expense when we found an abandoned U of A cap after ASU beat them on December 1st.  Don’t worry…the Calvin impression he’s doing is all special effects…but gets the point across.  Besides…this was a home game, and he wouldn’t defile Sun Devil Stadium like that.

Sorry for the small sized pics…but this was taken with my camera phone at night…lots of camera shake and a small sized photo to boot.  I think the idea is clear, though.

GO DEVILS!

Well…its official.  The Sun Devils, even in a tie for the PAC 10 title with USC and a fabulous 10-2 season, were snubbed from the BCS.  Oh well…you can’t control it, so you’ve got to roll with the punches.  We take on a very respectable Texas team on December 27th in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.  I’m trying to get a party bus together to drive down (and when I say party bus, I mean several 30-something dads who have to get permission from their wives to rent an RV an drive to San Diego right after Christmas).

Tickets are available now.  ASU and Texas have, believe it or not, never played each other…ever.  That’s something like 105 years of football…and they’ve never met.  Should be a great game…and a win in this bowl game will be a perfect cap to an unbelievable season for the Devils.  Could have gone better…but we’ve gotten used to much worse over the past 5 years.  String a couple seasons like this together…and Dennis Erickson will have earned his money and his accolades.

Great job this year, Sun Devils.  One more to go.  Go Devils!



My Sun Devils are no longer undefeated, but going to the Rose Bowl is still in our own hands!  Our only loss came in Autzen stadium to Oregon, so both teams are tied for 1st place in the PAC 10 with a record of 6-1.  Oregon holds the tie-breaker because our loss was against them.  That puts them in the driver’s seat to win the PAC 10 and go to the Rose Bowl…assuming that they win out.  Since they are now ranked number 2 in the BCS standings, though, they will go to the National Championship game if they win out…leaving ASU (again, assuming no losses against USC and UofA) to represent the PAC 10 in the Rose Bowl.  Assuming ASU wins out and Oregon suffers one more loss, again, ASU would go to the Rose Bowl as the sole PAC-10 champs.  The only thing ASU has to do is win their last two games!

The next game is on Thanksgiving day at home against USC.  This will be the big test.  On December 1st, ASU faces Arizona at home.  This is a very winnable game, but Arizona, with nothing much to be proud of, will base their season on this game…so the Devils will need to be ready.

Okay…now on to more College Football Poll insanity.  Okay, I can buy the top three teams in the BCS Standings (LSU, Oregon, Kansas).  They deserve to be there.  I would swap LSU and Oregon, though.  Kansas is a tough one…they are the only major conference team to be undefeated right now…but their schedule is laughable this year (not playing Texas, Texas Tech, or Oklahoma).  They definitely deserve to be in the top 3…where they go, that’s tougher.

Now, on to the rest of the top 10.  This is where it gets just plain silly.  I’m going to compare all these teams to ASU, since that is what I care about…but it helps demonstrate the absurdity.  First, why is Ohio State ranked above ASU at this point (and now I’m talking about the human polls…because that’s where the tradition garbage comes in).  Let’s see…both have one loss, but that’s where the similarity ends.  One of those teams plays in a terrible conference.  One of those teams lost at home to an unranked opponent from that terrible conference.  One of those teams has no notable wins at all.  The other team plays in arguable the best or second best conference.  That team lost to the number 2 team in the nation who is from that powerful conference.  Figure that one out.  What about West Virginia?  C’mon…the Big East?  West Virginia lost to South Florida who was exposed recently as a mediocre team with their 3 game loosing streak to non top 20 teams.  And some of their wins are against teams like Western Michigan, Marshall, and East Carolina (where the freak is East Carolina?).  There is no logic that should rank them above ASU.  Missouri plays in a decent conference, but the Big 12 North is much weaker than the south…and Missouri probably won’t even win that half of the conference to play in the title game?  We’ll see, but if that’s the case, how can they be ranked ahead of ASU?  Oklahoma is a good team…and probably deserves a top 5 or so ranking…but they did loose to an unranked team that ASU beat handily…so again, should they be ranked above ASU?  These rankings really need to have more to do with what has happened on the field and less to do with where the voters think they should be based on where they were ranked last week, when was the last national championship, and what color uniforms they wear (and other irrelevant things).  What happens on the field matters.

That’s it…



That leaves 4 major undefeated teams with at least decent schedules.  That’s pretty good company for ASU to be in as they rest through the bye week, and then start the most difficult part of their season.  Over the 4 weeks (well, 4 and a half…there is a Thanksgiving night game against USC) following the bye week, ASU will face three top 15 teams, two of which are ranked higher (Oregon and California), along with a USC team that is hungry to prove they belong at the top of the BCS standings.  A game against UCLA rounds out that 4 week stretch, and the Bruins are a dangerous team even though two terrible losses to bad teams have dropped them from national favor.  What a season for college football fans!  What a season for Sun Devil fans!  Long live college football.

ASU Fans, you need to get to Sun Devil Stadium next Saturday night, wear gold, and be loud!  Go Devils!

From this weeks AP poll.  Huh?

Okay, everyone knows that college football polls are a little looney, but lately, with every week bringing upset mayhem, the poll participants have completely lost their minds.  The only poll these days that makes any sense seems to me is the College Football News poll which is done editorially rather than by massive vote (it appears, anyway), and they justify the position, along with stating why the team should be higher, and why they should be lower.  They use common sense and analysis to make the picks about who is better than who right now.  Tonight, I’m not even going to touch what my friend Steve Roach, a huge BYU (Mountain West) fan, calls the football cartel (BCS)…I’ll stick with the ‘creative ranking’ even in the major conferences when it comes to the polls, just to keep it interesting and more challenging. [more]

Obviously, as a huge ASU Sundevil Fan, I come at this completely biased…but I’m not even most upset about where we are ranked…so maybe my analysis here can still be somewhat trusted.  Probably not, though.  So, that said, my beef is with the AP and the Coaches polls.  I generally put more credence in the AP poll; I think the coaches only really know the teams that they will play that year…so they’re probably less qualified than the geeky sports journalists all over the country who have nothing better to do than pontificate.  I know…that’s what I’m doing now, the irony is not wasted on me.  I would call what I’m doing more of a rant than pontification, though.  Settled.

So while the AP poll may be a little more reliable than the Coaches poll, the collective poll-ees have now lost it.  First of all, why is Ohio State numero uno?  Does anyone really think that Ohio State could beat every other team right now?  Isn’t that what number one is supposed to mean?  I realize that tradition dictates that if you loose, you drop.  I think tradition is sometimes really stupid though, and here is my best example of why, in this case, it’s silly.

Cal and Oregon play in arguably the best conference in football this year…and probably undisputedly at least in one of the top two conferences (yes…I already admitted my bias).  Its a tough conference to play in, they beat each other up.  Cal and Oregon are both good football teams.  Very good, actually.  They have the exact same record (both in and out of conference) at 5-1 (2-1 in the PAC 10).  So the question has to be asked.  Why is Oregon ranked 3 spots higher than Cal?  Is it because Oregon lost to a better team than Cal lost to?  It’s true, but the logic is absurd!  Oregon lost to Cal!  Doesn’t anybody realize how stupid this is?  Actually, I think the reason that Oregon is ranked higher is because Cal lost more recently; this is another of those stupid traditions of the polls.  Absurd.  I can’t even follow the circular logic of this whole mess without getting a headache.

So, let’s say it really should be all about who has lost more recently (which it shouldn’t) and about who is undefeated (see Ohio State comments above).  How do we explain, then, how there are 11 teams without perfect records ranked above 7-0 Hawaii (including a team with two losses, Florida)?  What’s that?  Hawaii doesn’t play anybody?  NEITHER HAS OHIO STATE!  When a team can claim Washington and Purdue as their stepping stones to the number 1 slot, something is wrong.  While I admit, to this point in the season, ASU has had a nice schedule for winning, we’ve beaten more quality teams than Ohio State…and we’ve got a much, much tougher schedule coming up with which to prove or expose ourselves.  Even so, we trounced Colorado, Stanford, and Oregon State in our path to 7-0.  Ask (then) top 5 ranked Oklahoma, USC, and Cal if these are patsy teams.  So why then, is ASU ranked 12th in the AP and Coaches polls while Ohio State is ranked 1st?  That leads me to my final “tradition”.  It matters where you start in the polls at the beginning of the year when nobody knows anything about anything.  Why is this?  Lunacy.  Just look no further than Notre Dame and Michigan to see that nobody knows anything at the beginning of the season.  Back then, USC already won the national championship, Michigan was a national powerhouse, LSU was unbeatable (except by USC), and Notre Dame was going to win 9 games.  Fast forward 7 weeks and USC has been exposed, Notre Dame is a joke, Michigan is a laughing stock (and shouldn’t be in the top 20), and LSU proved to actually be kids playing a game on a field with other kids…amazing.

So, let’s recap.  First, what everyone who knows nothing about anything at the beginning of the season thinks about your team has a huge bearing on where you end up, no matter what happens on the field (read it a couple more times…it’ll make sense eventually).  Second, when you win winds up whisking you inexplicably up and down the polls, regardless (or irregardless for my buddy, Todd) of who you win or loose against.  Finally, the inconsistency of when they apply these “rules” and to whom is incredible.

I can’t help it…the sarcasm is coming.  Ohio State has to be number one…they’re undefeated, and everyone else lost, right?  Well, ya, ASU and Kansas, and BC and South Southern Eastern Florida Tech Poly (what is it again, South Florida???) is undefeated, too…but, I don’t know, Ohio State started higher…and oh ya, they scored a lot of points and didn’t let their opponents score very many.  Someone should remind the journalists and the coaches who Akron, Kent State, and Northwestern are…nobody.

That said, if you leave the logic up to the machines, we get a little more reasonable.  The BCS standings have ASU at number 8 (see screenshot above) which adds computers into the mix (analyzing strength of wins based on who has beat whom) etc.  College Football News actually has the Sun Devils at 6th.  Both of those seem more reasonable than the other guys.  I’m not saying that we should end there…there is a lot of testing to be done.  Over the next 4 games we will play Cal, at Oregon, at UCLA, and USC.  Like I said earlier, we will either prove ourselves or expose ourselves, but one thing is for sure.  It will become clear who the best team is in the PAC 10 is, which may translate into the best team in the country.  At least the most worthy to play LSU in the national championship game, because the way I see it, the winner of the PAC, whoever that might be, and LSU (unless they self destruct), will be the two best teams in the country.  It should be fun.

Go Devils!

Additional Note:

I still think there is a decent chance that ASU could meet Ohio State in the Rose Bowl for a rematch of sorts of the squeaker that got away from us in ’97 (’96-’97 football season).  If ASU takes second in the PAC-10 (and whoever takes the PAC goes to the National Championship Game) and Ohio State wins the Big 10 (but looses a couple of games, which I think will happen), that should match the two teams up again.

I should also call out that there is one journalist in the AP poll, from Georgia I think, that is voting ASU number 1 (their one first place vote).  His reasoning is that ASU is the only unbeaten team left in what he considers the best conference in football, so until they loose, they are number one in his mind.  At least there’s an explanation of logic behind this.  I don’t necessarily agree with him, but as a Sun Devil fan, I’ll take it.  We’re number 1, baby!

I began training for my first full triathlon.  I was going to compete in the “Olympic” or “International” distance, which is a 1500 meter swim (about a mile), a 40 kilometer bike ride (about 25 miles), and a 10K run (about 6.2 miles).  I’ve competed in a triathlon before, but that was as a member of a team, so I only did the 40K bike.  This would be my first complete event.  My last tri was also over 7 years and many pounds ago.  My training was going well, except I didn’t really have enough free time to train as much as I needed/wanted to, but finishing the event wouldn’t be too hard, and as my first one getting back into shape, that was really my goal. [more]

As the day of the event approached, my family decided to accompany me, so we were going to make a weekend of it.  We rented a condo to stay in, and made some arrangements.  I was very excited, and getting a bit nervous as well; after all, I had spent a a lot of time preparing.  I checked in the night before for the race, and was ready to go for the next morning.  My brother and I had been talking about the severe weather that was forecasted to hit “sunny” St. George the next day, and how difficult the race would be in the cold, rain, and wind.

We had some difficulty getting to the race as well.  Suffice it to say we were quite late, so I was scrambling in the transition area to get my things ready.  The race was luckily delayed about 10 minutes because safety personnel weren’t quite in place yet.

My start was the second wave into the water, and literally 5 seconds before the gun went off, a lightning strike hit the hill across the lake…not a great way to start.  We knew weather was turning out to be a factor, but at the start, it was overcast and a nice, 70 degrees or so, with 75 degree water.  Good day for a tri.  I got underway, and was surprised to find my stress level very high…even after starting the swim.  I’ve done a few open water workouts, and felt pretty comfortable…but I guess adding in the competition stress, the sketchy weather (and waves), etc., my anxiety was much higher than anticipated.  That, along with swimming being my weakest discipline, caused me to gradually become part of the last ¼ of athletes in my wave.  During this time, I was surprised to find how difficult it was becoming to keep my heart rate down and relax and get into a rhythm.  Again…my problem wasn’t necessarily my fitness level (although that could be better), but my stress level. 

Anyway, I persevered.  About 300-400 meters into the swim, the storm/microburst hit our position directly, and it became, as my brother put it, “Like ‘Victory at Sea’ out there.”  High winds, waves, whitecaps, driving rain, etc.  All of this, of course, added to my stress level.  My thoughts started to turn toward…”Okay, Bill, just make it through the swim and you’ll be okay…” rather than, “Hey…this is fun.”  Add to that…about half of the people around me that were pulling up the rear of the group started bailing.  While looking up to get my orientation I was noticing that at least five-ten people were bailing out, waving their arms to be picked up by a safety boat.  This didn’t help my comfort level.  I knew I wasn’t going to quit, so I kept pushing, but wasn’t really having much fun or finding myself very comfortable.  Sometimes, while taking a breath, I was greeting with a mouthful of wave or rain which would pull me further out of rhythm.  I also found that it was very, very difficult for me to keep my orientation and continue in the right direction.  This is something I’ll need to work on.

I finally started to settle down a bit, and probably 1200 meters into the swim, was grabbed on the arm by a safety kayaker mid-stroke (that was jarring, by the way…wasn’t expecting that).  She informed me that the race had been canceled due to weather, and that I could catch I ride back to shore!  Evidently, the roads on which we were to ride were becoming little rivers, and they never even started the wave behind me (the sprinters) because of the fear of lightning in the area, etc.  A little fed up about my performance and allowing myself to be rattled by the conditions, etc., I asked if they would allow me to finish the swim portion, for my own benefit.  They looked at me as if to ask, “Why would you do that…can’t you see what it’s like out here?”  But they said that was fine, and as a matter of fact, many, many others decided to finish it was well (and some, like my brother who is a very strong swimmer, had already finished the swim and were in T1 when the event was canceled).  So, while I did get the whole swim done (not sure of my time…but I would guess a very slow 45 minutes or so), I’m not able to say that I’ve completed a whole tri yet either.  I was really disappointed.  I’m sure canceling was the right call (that’s got to be a hard thing to decide as an event organizer), I just wish we would have had good weather.

In any case, I’ve got a difficult competitive open water swim under my belt, and will learn from the experience.  Indeed, it is the ONLY competitive swim event I have ever done (never been a swimmer), so the experience can only help me.

I haven’t decided on which event I will do next, but I will do one.  We have some coming up in Phoenix, but I’m not sure my schedule will allow me.  It may be early next year before I get another chance…but I’ll try to be ready.

It’s time to renew ASU Football Season Tickets.  This year we’ve got a new coach, a lot of new staff, and a new (hopefully) winning way.  They’ve dropped the ticket prices in a lot of sections as well.  Go to http://www.thesundevils.com to look at the schedule or buy tickets.  I’ll be there again for each home game…we’ll see how happy I am at the end of the season.

GO DEVILS!

If you are so inclined, take a look…and even sign up and participate if you wish.