Blog address updated

Procrastination finally got the best of me, and I sat down with my closest adviser, Alexander Keith, and between the two of us we managed to get the "Wagon Queen Family Truckster" blog moved over to the new address of blog.timwingfield.com - complete with snappy new name. (I was blessed with the name of Wingfield...the rest, as they say...) In addition to the move, I'll also start putting my tech related posts here and allow the Slight Weapons Malfunction blog to lapse...well, lapse more.

Turns out my blog-per-subject thought wasn't one of my better ones. I'm still maintaining the hockey blog separate because I can manage enough posts to make that work, and I've added a couple other contributors. But, the tech only blog suffered from lack of content, and the personal blog started to get better. Combining the two subjects just seems to make sense for less to manage. Plus, I can put a little something at that timwingfield.com address I acquired earlier this year.

So, if you're subscribed to family-truckster.blogspot.com, you'll want to update your subscription.

The Game goes to the Buckeyes

Off the top, I need to give some credit to Chad Henne. I have a new respect for Henne. The guy has a sack the size of the state of Michigan. He is beyond injured, has been for weeks, and guts out the game today. The performance wasn't that good, but upon returning from the locker room, Lloyd tried to keep him out of the game, but I think the coach would have needed two Clydesdales, a John Deere, and a Cat dozer to keep Henne off the field. Henne is a gamer, and for that I tip my (scarlet and gray) hat to him.

At the other end of the spectrum...what little respect I had for Mike Hart is now gone. The guy ran his mouth after losing last year, ran his mouth after the MSU game, ran it again before the game, and ran it during the game...the only thing he couldn't run was the goddamned football.

Hey, Mike, guess what: There was a football game today. Your QB who has had to sign his name left handed for the last 3 weeks managed to show up, where were you? Oh, that's right, flapping your gums. Sitting out the Wisconsin game to "get ready" to run for 44 yards. On top of that you have 0 wins vs. Ohio State. In one of your pre-game jaw workouts you said, "I'd rather lose to Appalachian State than to Ohio State." Guess what big boy, you managed to do both this season. Mike Hart's career tally vs. App St and Ohio St. - 0-fer how ever many games you played. (0-5 for those of you scoring at home.)

Even better out of Hart, when the game got tough and his ankle got a little sore, off to the sidelines. Took himself off the field. Henne, as mentioned previously, would have gone out on the field looking like the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail. But not Hart. His team can't do shit and he's got an ouchy boo-boo, so off to the bench he goes. Turns out you can talk the talk Mike, but it ends there. Greatest running back in Michigan history? 0 and four, pal.

Enough about that, how about the Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes? Turns out that defense can bounce back from Juice-fest a week ago. That the offense isn't flashy or exciting, but can win football games. Seems Beanie Wells knows how to run the football a little bit...or, maybe a lot. Michigan's tackles will be having nightmares about Vernon Gholston for a few weeks.

So, in OSU's win, they didn't have the flash and dash of Troy Smith in the backfield, but they didn't need that this time around. With a defense giving up under 100 yards and all of 3 points, giving the ball to Beanie over and over was sufficient. Sure, it got boring late in the second half, but taking chances wasn't needed.

So, today's running back match up yielded two important things: 1. Beanie Wells is a big game, big time running back. 2. Mike Hart(less) is no Beanie Wells.

Baseball is OVER!!

Thank goodness, the baseball season has finally come to an end.

They're finally done dragging the season out. Yeah, I'm a hockey fan, and the NHL takes heat for the 8 month season, but there's actual action in a hockey game...9 months of it isn't enough. But, this isn't about hockey, I do enough of that here, this is about baseball and all its annoyances...

First of all, the bane of all my Tribe fan buddies' existence is the off game in the middle of the three game home stand. Don't these guys spend all summer playing three and four game series? Don't they string three series together at times, playing 9 or 10 straight days? You get a "travel day" to get alllll the way from Boston to Cleveland, and then you need an off day in Cleveland after game 4? Why? Sight seeing? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is nice, but I'm sure Schilling can bring the family back in January to see it. (Because what's more beautiful than Cleveland in January? Well, other than Buffalo...) The NL was done by then, there was no baseball on, just the Sawx and Tribe lounging around in Cleveland in October waiting on the first lake effect snow.

Secondly, why do playoff games take 4 and a half hours? Extra innings puts you into the wee hours of the morning. During this year's playoffs I managed to watch a whole football game (Ohio State @ Purdue) during roughly 8 innings of a baseball game, and I got an entire Jackets game in before the 7th inning even started in one of the ALCS games. Honestly, Fox, do you need to start these games at 8 and end them at 1:26 in the morning? I understand that the American League is involved in at least half the playoff games, so I expect them to take a while, but even AL fans are complaining about how long these games are taking.

And finally, Sawx fan should be thrilled that they just won the Series in less than 85 or so years from the previous one. Do they celebrate? No, they bitch and moan because A-Rod decided to use that day to say he wouldn't be a Yankee next year. So what? You guys hate the Yankees anyway, right? You have the ultimate "SCOREBOARD!" on them, why whine about one of their players announcing they'd leave? Suck it up a little Sox fan...sheesh. You'd think the whole A-Rod thing was like the press would act if Joe Torre turned down a contract with the Yankees. (What? He did? How'd I miss that??)

So, now we're on to the once daily gold glove, Cy Young winner announcements to keep baseball in the news until Christmas or so...or long since forgotten by any self-respecting football fan. I'm sure some member of the Yankees will take a dump in the next 24 hours and the press will be all over it for us. Hell, somebody might actually spot the National League, but nobody in the press would notice because the Yankee turd would probably be a world record of some kind.

Ahhh, baseball season is over...pitchers and catchers report in only 48 hours or so...

Stupid TV...

As blogged last week, I'm supposed to be in Lexington with my brother watching the LSU-Kentucky football game. (Currently LSU is up 10 playing under cloudless skies.) I'm not in Lexington because CBS decided this should be a 3:30 game rather than the 7PM start it was originally scheduled to be. When did they make this decision? Last Sunday.

Since Kevin coaches JV football, we weren't going to make it from Waynesfield, OH to Lexington and get parked and get in the stadium in 3 hours. One traffic delay would mean $200+ in tickets would have gotten us maybe a half of football...and no pre-game beers. So, thank you CBS, for trashing a pretty good plan the Wingfield boys had in place. (Kev did get the tickets sold, and we lost $30 a piece on them. Could have been worse.)

Stupid TV gripe part two...WOW taking a dump on hockey fans...

I've managed the first two weeks of the NHL season without Center Ice...barely managed. Why? WOW currently isn't carrying it, and indications are they aren't going to carry it at all this year. What that means here is we're likely about to become DirecTV customers again. So, after three years of WOW cable, all three where they offered the Center Ice package, it's time to leave. In this instance, choice is nice. (And, no, Time-Warner isn't an option...same crap as WOW, different name. Plus, DirecTV is offering 35 or so HD channels at the moment...about 34 more than TW or WOW have....)

In the meantime, though, no Hockey Night In Canada...

In other news, Iowa won a football game today. I might mention that in my weekly recap tomorrow.

The Cardinal unrolls a Trojan

The debate over whether USC or LSU should be #1 ended yesterday as Jim Harbaugh, everybody's favorite Michigan grad, and his Stanford Cardinal pulled off the big upset of USC. If not for Appalachian St. beating Harbaugh's alma mater, it may have been the biggest upset of the year.

So, while USC was losing at home, Florida was going down in Death Valley. Imagine that, LSU winning a night game at home...whodda thunk it? Even in guiding his team to its second loss in two weeks, Tim Tebow is rumored to have passed a loaf on the sidelines and daisies immediately sprang forth and children were heard to be signing.

In the grand ol' Big 10(11), the suckitude continued...this time it was Wisconsin dropping, and at the hands of upstart Illinois. The Illini find themselves one 6 point loss to Mizzou from being tied with Ohio State for the outright lead. Other semi-surprises were Indiana winning again, and Northwestern taking down MSU in OT. Non-surprises of the weekend...Ohio State winning at Purdue and Iowa losing. Again.

So, the joy of college football rolls on. We sit with three undefeated teams at the top, and a bunch of one-loss teams behind them. Can Ohio State survive trips to State Penn and Ann Arbor? Will Cal survive another showdown with USC? Will LSU survive the always tough, and ridiculously deep SEC? (Kev and I will be in Lexington next week...will they bite it there at the hands of UK?) One thing's for sure, there's enough drama left in this season to give the BCS boys fits again.

Good.

Upsets galore!

I love college football and all the fun that goes with it. Yesterday was one of those days that keeps you tuning in with half the top 10 falling. Sure, Ohio State will benefit by not losing and climb into the top 5, but so many big losses on one day was amazing to watch. Of course "them" at ESPN were banging on LSU early on yesterday afternoon because they "started slow" and only beat Tulane by 25 points. Wonder if Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, W. Va, and Rutgers would trade places with LSU about now? Guessing they would...

For the fun in the crap fest that is the Big 10, all kinds of great stuff happened. Penn St showed that they were marginally overrated by losing their second game in 2 weeks, this time to Illinois. Michigan continued their meteoric rise from 1-AA doormat by putting a 12 point whupping on Northwestern. (Psst, meatchicken...Ohio State didn't need the whole game to put 28 up on the 'Cats. Hell, they didn't even need the whole first quarter. Just sayin'...) Indiana went into Iowa and won, guess Kirk will have to wait another year to try and remove the pretender tag. Wisconsin, while boring as hell just continues to win. November 3rd is looming large on the horizon. And to cap the day, Purdue dropped ND to 0-5...way to go Boilers! Your reward is the Buckeyes...enjoy.

I don't have the stat attack from last week, instead, I'm going to introduce my new favorite player...at least for this week: Wes Byrum, K, Auburn University.

Probably not a big stretch to figure out that I'm happy to see Florida lose. (At anything...football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lumberjack competitions, whatever.) And Wes had a big hand...er, foot in knocking off the Gators yesterday. However, he's my new favorite player not because he had to kick the game winning field goal - not once, but twice - but because before the thing even cleared the uprights, he was celebrating. And what way did young Wes decide was the best way to celebrate? By turning and giving the Gator Chomp back to the good folks at The Swamp. Atta boy, Wes!

Coaching Soccer

A few weeks ago at practice Brendan's coach asked for volunteers to help coach in case he was out of town, and I deftly pointed at another dad and said, "He'll do it!" Nice job, Timbo, you volunteered. (And other dad didn't think it was too funny, and now thinks you're pretty much a douchebag. Two birds with one stone as only I could do it...) After practice, I talked to John and said that I've coached hockey for a couple years, and though I know nothing about soccer I can help maintain order.

So, tonight was the big night. John's out of town, his assistant is out of town, so practice is being run by his wife, Lisa, and yours truly. Thankfully Lisa had played soccer since she was five, and I believe played in college. I, on the other hand, know a soccer ball is round, that you can't use your hands if you're not the goalie, and in a wager for a beer could probably explain offsides. I mentioned that to Lisa at the game on Saturday and she told me not to worry because, "...it's just like hockey!"

Sure it is...but there are a few minor differences. Off the top, offsides doesn't involve a blue line. How do you know if you're in the wrong place without a big blue line??? That's just insane. Secondly there's the whole ball v. puck thing...when a puck rolls, that's a bad thing. Protective gear for a soccer player involves a couple of shin guards. (Though after watching these kids kick at each other, helmets, shoulder pads, and hockey pants wouldn't be a bad idea.) And finally, a goalie doesn't need an additional 45 minutes to get dressed in more leather gear on than Carrie Ann Moss in the Matrix to play in net. (I believe they're also called a "keeper." What the hell are they keeping???)

So, with those formalities worked out, I figured I'd be OK. It's a group of 8 year old kids like any other group of 8 year old kids. They'll run around do the drills as instructed and hopefully enjoy themselves. Wow was I mistaken...it was a mess. Yelling, laughing, crying, running, kicking...and that was just two kids going to a water break.

Now, I know kids will be kids and they have their moments of not paying attention at all, but this seemed to be a whole new level. Not that the kids that put on skates are any better or worse, but had this been a hockey practice there would have been a lot of skating. Not to mention a lot of yelling and a lot of whistles. Are hockey kids different kids? No, I don't think so. But, their coach comes armed with more than a whistle...he's got hockey gloves on and a stick in his hands.

So, I enjoy working with kids in sports, but I don't envy the soccer and baseball coaches of the world...not at all. I'll stick to coaching hockey, where the little rug rats are contained by boards and glass.

And I have a stick and gloves...