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Tuesday, July 31, 2001
  Oooogie! Former Montreal reliever Ugueth Urbina [left] is now a member of the Red Sox. Antonio Banderas [right] was not available for comment.In a completely unrelated subject, check out espn.com's "Here's Looking At You" archives for some humorous and often dead-on resemblances. My favorites were Jerry Rice and Bobby McFerrin, Will Smith and Robert Horry, Freddy Garcia and The Rock, and Jeff Van Gundy and Vincent Schiavelli. Monday, July 30, 2001
I seem to be in a soccer mood today... so why not share a little something I found on mlsnet.com: a clip of Marcel Balboa performing MLS's goal of the year 2000. Also may be in the running for best goal ever. I hope the announcers are okay after this one.
New Sports Guy column. I had decided to only share his new columns when they were about the Sox or were really funny, but I thought I'd share this one too. For one thing, his comment about yesterday's game regarding Nomar was right on target. Also, he gives props to the MLS All-Star Skills competition. Wish I had seen that, especially the "air soccer." Maybe they'll show it on SportsCenter's Top Plays tonight.
 Twelve goals were scored in the MLS All-Star game on Saturday. Twelve! Guess how many of Sunday SportsCenter's "Top Plays" were from the MLS All-Star game. ZERO. I swear there is some sort of conspiracy against the most popular sport in the world. Even I didn't make it (see picture). Boy, it's a good thing I scored. What if I hadn't, and I ran around all day with that under my white shirt? Or if I did take off my shirt anyway? Talk about laughing AT someone instead of WITH someone.Other coolness from the All-Star game (though I was not fortunate enough to watch it): Donovan had a hat trick for the West, the first in All-Star history, after the first 18 minutes. He ended up with 4 goals, and performed his hit song "Mellow Yellow" in the halftime show. P.S. That's not me in the picture. Jim Rooney just looks and acts like me. “It’s a good thing they’re comfortable. I was getting a little nervous I wasn’t going to score. The players were trying to set me up and it worked out great." Saturday, July 28, 2001
Did anyone watch the Sox game last night? The situation I described below came up, with the running and the throwing and the hey hey... Anyway, with Daubach on first, Hillenbrand hit a grounder to second baseman Ray Durham in the basepath just ahead of Daubach. Dauber actually stopped and ran back toward first, and it almost paid off. Durham caught him, tagged him and just had enough time to toss to first and get Hillenbrand. But it was close! After the play, announcer Jerry Remy said "I think the thing to do in a play like that is to dive and make the fielder bend down to get you."
Why hadn't I seen that until yesterday? Nomar hit a dinger in Pawtucket... Carl may be in the lineup today... Sox win... Sabes wins... Everyone wins. Friday, July 27, 2001
The artist formerly known as BSG has done it again. The NBA meets Boogie Nights, and hilarity ensues. Has he been reading EnlowSpeak? Check out the "That Guy" paragraph!
"Can a team be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs before the season if their starting center combo is Todd MacCulloch and Jim McIlvane?"  Cool. I've often wondered if these sort of evasion tactics (in the picture on the right) would be effective. It looks like he almost got away with it, too. Unless... it was a normal slide, and the fielder picked him up and is throwing him into the air. Heh heh.Here's another tactic I wonder about. Let's say there's a dude on first and the batter hits a grounder right to the second baseman, right on the basepath, a second or two before the runner gets to him. You always see the runner just keep running, only to get tagged out on the way to second, and make a double play easier. Why doesn't the runner just stop running, or maybe even run back in the direction of first? The second baseman would have three options, all of which would greatly decrease the possibility of a double play, and all of which would increase the probability of an error. Do not underestimate the power of surprise and confusion. (1) Throw to the shortstop at second to get the lead runner, and maybe a double play. This would be a tough double play, especially because the 2B has to take some time to make this decision and he isn't that close to second. (2) Chase the runner back. This may be the best course of action for the fielder. But it buys the batter time to get to first and makes a double play less certain. (3) Throw to first to get the batter, then catch the runner in a pickle. This is also a safe play, but it increases error possibility and decreases chances of a double play. If you're the runner, and you see the 2B throw to first, maybe you should dive into first if you're close. The batter would be out, but maybe they wouldn't have time to tag you and you avoid a double play. And your baserunning genius makes you a hero, and they write a book about you and give half the proceeds to the guy who revolutionized the sport of baseball (me). Or.... are you allowed to slide when you're not near a base? That might be even better, getting under the tag and continuing on to second. You never see that. I used this move on Coach O'B in gym-class kickball and it worked like a charm, but that might have been because he was about 2 feet taller than me. Something to think about... Thursday, July 26, 2001
Back when I was in school, sometimes I was bored in class. No, it's true. One such time I created a little diversion to pass the time and keep me entertained while Dr. Mann droned on about the Cramer-Rao Theorem. I don't have a name for it, but Ross Eckler of the periodical "Word Ways" calls it "King-graphing." I take the letters of a name or phrase (or anything), and see if I can arrange the letters in a grid so that I can move from one letter to the next and spell out the name or phrase by only moving one space horizontally, vertically or diagonally. It's called "King-graphing" because it's like a chess king moves.
Here's an example. "A penny saved is a penny earned" is king-graphable, like so:
I tend to treat sentences or phrases as a single word. I also have dabbled in groups of words... for example the last names of the first six presidents can be found in the grid below:
So here's a little contest for you. I call it a contest rather than a brain teaser because I am not sure of the final answer. How many of the twelve zodiac signs (ARIES, AQUARIUS, CANCER, CAPRICORN, GEMINI, LEO, LIBRA, PISCES, SAGITTARIUS, SCORPIO, TAURUS, VIRGO) can you put in the same grid?
Blogger's being stupid. I am not able to modify my template, which controls the links on the left... but I assure you I have been updating the Song of the Day on a regular (daily, even) basis. I know you people were panicking.
Played poker with the boys last night. I fared well, but unfortunately the Sox did not. I believe they are now 0-6 when being watched by us while playing poker. I don't want to talk about the Red Sox right now. Tonight at our frisbee game the new Spam uniforms will be unveiled. Rumor has it they're pretty sweet. Green, Nike Dri-fit, complete with cool logo and numbers. I may never take it off. Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Congratulations are in order for my old high school chum Tim Whitney, who made the US National Rowing team! And, it seems he did so in "impressive fashion." Way to go, Tim.
Things are looking good for the Sox. Coney got another win last night (he's doing slightly better than he did last year, eh?). Every starter got a hit. All six runs came with two outs. Crazy Carl homered for the Gulf Coast Sox. Nomahhh went 0-for-3 for Pawtucket but could rejoin the team this weekend. Sabes will start Friday for the first time since October 1999. Pedro's been throwing long toss and is due back in August some time. Everything's going to be... okay. Tuesday, July 24, 2001
 Nomahhh begins a rehab stint in Pawtucket today. Sweet.In other sports news, Brazil fell to Honduras 2-0 in the Copa America, and Mr. Bean is not amused. Monday, July 23, 2001
 Saturday my ultimate frisbee team played in a mini-tournament. It was quite fun... we won one game and lost the other, which is about what we were expecting, maybe even better. Anyway, here are some action photos.    
Brain Teaser (don't worry, it's not homemade; it's from Games Magazine):
There is a certain logic to the arrangement of the fifty United States in the following list. Can you determine what it is? NY, MD, GA, ME, TX, LA, ND, ID, MA, NV, WV, WY, SC, OH, NH, CO, IA, DE, KY, PA, CT, MT, HI, IN, MS, MO, AK, MI, NE, AR, WI, AL, VT, TN, OK, WA, AZ, SD, RI, NC, VA, CA, MN, OR, UT, NM, IL, FL, KS, NJ *The answer has been posted. Sunday, July 22, 2001
Friday, July 20, 2001
For the sports-impaired:
Of the letters "B", "F", "J", "K", "W", "V" and "Y", which appear(s) in the most last names of U.S. Presidents? Which appear(s) in the fewest last names? If there are two presidents with the same last names, count it twice. For example, "M" appears in 7 last names: Adams, Adams, Fillmore, Madison, McKinley, Monroe and Truman. P.S. Sorry if this sort of thing is confusing or boring... it's home-made. * This one is solved. From now on I promise to keep them a little more simplistic... and interesting.
How many men's professional sports teams' nicknames can you think of that are types of birds?
Note: I don't think "Blackhawks" applies because that's a Native American Tribe and not a bird. And I'm not so sure about the Philadelphia Flyers either. * All taken care of.
Which two U.S. cities have the same name, are the largest cities in their respective states, and are not state capitals?
*This has been solved. Good work, anonymous weenie. Thursday, July 19, 2001
From now on, check the left side for the Song of the Day.
The "Discuss" links seem to be taking a while, and sometimes not working at all. Sorry about that, I guess that's the downside of free hosting. Help yourselves to some outstanding brain teasers; there haven't been many inquiries about the light bulb problem. I'll post the answer to that soon. And help yourselves to the same-team-nickname question... there are several more out there. Wednesday, July 18, 2001
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
I got sick of the old "design" so I changed it. The picture on the left is of me talking to college buddy Milliner, taken by college buddy Dean at his house in Columbia, SC when I visited him last spring.
This just in: Wheaton College (my alma mater) will host the Chicago Fire at East McCully Field on July 24. Why am I stuck in Boston????
According to the article, East McCully seats 1900. Won't that be a bit of a problem? Then again, as Bill points out, "It's not like it's a Wheaton soccer game." Here's some trivia: Winningest coach in college soccer history: Joe Bean, Wheaton College (1969-present), 624 wins Most consecutive college soccer games without a loss: 66 (Wheaton College 1996-1998) Highest winning percentage for a Wheaton College soccer coach: 90.9%: Russ Enlow (1968).  Okay, that's too many posts in a row without a little picture to brighten the website. (And there's no way I was going to put this guy on the front page, even though I was making fun of him.) So here's a picture of me making people nervous in New Hampshire at the Balsams resort, where we had a family reunion a couple years ago.Monday, July 16, 2001
How about eleven professional men's sports teams with a "V" in their nickname?
*This one's all figured out too.
How about five professional men's sports teams with "J" in their nicknames? Just list them in "Discuss" as you think of them.
*This one's all figured out. See "Discuss."
The other day I wondered what would happen if El Guapo swung the bat. Now we know... yesterday he bunted into a double play. That technically may not be swinging the bat, but the bunt actually wasn't that bad. It's just that with El Guapo's speed, they could have turned a quadruple play had the bases been loaded. And you know what, he will still be more popular than Upper Deck Beck.
Speaking of the Red Stockings... I can think of five men's professional sports teams whose nicknames contain the letter "X". Can yoooooou? *All figured out.  "People everywhere love us... but people really love Garces. The guy's got his own shirts and everybody wants to wear them. Maybe I should put out a mullet hat - you know, a regular hat with fake long hair attached to the back of it - and sell it as a Rod Beck hat. Maybe that'll make me popular. I always hear people yelling to me, 'Nice mullet, Beck.' I didn't even know what it was. I had to go on the Internet and look it up. I guess it's my kind of haircut: short on the side and long in the back. It's supposed to be an insult, but I don't mind it. You wouldn't believe the stuff we hear people say."I think I saw Rod Beck camping in Western Mass... he came to our campsite and told us to be quiet. Sunday, July 15, 2001
 Here's another brain teaser courtesy of Karen's Dad (who I believe got it from Car Talk)...There's a light bulb in the kitchen that is turned off. There are three switches in the basement, one of which is the switch that operates the light bulb. By making only one trip to the basement and coming back up, how can you determine which switch operates the light bulb? (You can't see the light from the bulb when you're in the basement.) E-mail me if you have the answer, or if you want a hint: luke@enlow.net Saturday, July 14, 2001
Sorry I've been boring lately, I've been wiiiiiicked busy at work... and I was away today.
 I played in a soccer tournament today with Curran and his buddies (that's me on the left in the picture). I am sunburnt, sore and exhausted. We lost 3 games and tied 1. And we didn't win any. But I don't care, I still had fun. That's probably because I scored 3 times. I never score. I pass instead. The tournament was cool because it was on a small field, 8 on 8, and there was no off-sides... so I got to play my dream position, hanging out in front of the goal and waiting for the ball. Did anyone see El Guapo "batting" yesterday? Heh heh. Let's just say he is now 0 for 2 in his career. Who knows what would have happened if he had swung the bat.Friday, July 13, 2001
Thursday, July 12, 2001
Homemade brain teaser:
The number 327 has special significance to me. Why? HINT: My middle name is "Christian". *Alan got the answer... go to "Discuss" if you want to see it. Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Last night during the All-Star game, A broken bat hit third base coach Tommy Lasorda, who promptly fell to the ground. This was very funny. It reminded me of a cross between cow-tipping and Humpty Dumpty, the way he flopped around. I love the picture on the right... everyone in the NL dugout dying of laughter as they watch the replay on the scoreboard, compared to the look on Tommy's face.
 
A couple brain teasers:
(1) What common word contains the string of letters "ADAC"? (2) What common word begins with the letters "HE" and ends with the letters "HE"? E-mail me if you have either answer: luke@enlow.net * The answer is now there in the "Discuss" area. Tuesday, July 10, 2001
This is very cool. I don't care much about stocks or astrology... but calculator, movie listings, conversions, zip codes, area codes, hangman, trivia... pretty darn cool.
More pictures from WTC.
  LEFT: Me in WT-mode and Bob in Bob-mode.RIGHT: Aaron with his patent-pending pepperoni sunscreen. BELOW: Post-tubing recovery from the frigid water. From left to right: Jeff, me, Diana, Jen, Aaron, Stu, Susan.  Monday, July 09, 2001
I'm starting a new feature: Song of the Day. I'm going to pick a song I like and talk about it. My intention is to (1) provide a glimpse into my wacky and somewhat unpredictable music tastes, (2) give music recommendations, (3) tell boring anecdotes, (4) be able to keep coming up with interesting things to say.
Today's Song of the Day: "I'm Chief Kamanawanalea" by the Turtles.
Last weekend I went camping with my ultimate frisbee team. The trip was referred to as WTC, short for "white trash camping". (Disclaimer: The views expressed by my team concerning "white trash" are not necessarily shared by the author.) The joke was that we were camping like WT live, and that by being in Western Mass we thought we would be living among the WT. And we were right! Mullet sightings, biker gangs, and lots of unmerited shirtlessness. Good times. We also tried to dress like our new neighbors, so that will explain some of the attire you see in some of our pictures. The pictures I have are just ones that Bill D took, I think Bill B has some better ones. I'll share them when I see them.
 Me with a WT shirt on, in a WT pose. The shirt was clean once, but Bill said it needed a mustard stain... so Bob smeared a mustard packet all over it. In the background is--you guessed it--a river. Came in handy for skipping stones, tubing, and relieving oneself in the middle of the night. Bill, Schaff and Jen lounging around. This is how we spent most of our time.This was Bill's least-WT outfit.  Jeff O (a.k.a. WTJeff) perusing Schaff's periodical between beers (literally). We also spent a lot of time doing this, because the only other reading material available was Oprah's magazine "O". Me tossing around with Bob. We found that shirt lying around another campground... so I put it on. Hmmm...... I hope my chest just hurts because of sunburn.The weather was amazing both Friday and Saturday. Sunny, warm and dry. But Saturday night it rained rather hard, and I was not prepared. That always happens to me when I camp. Right before leaving Friday I was about to pack a sleeping mat into the car we took, but there was no room. BIG mistake. At 4 AM yesterday morning I awoke to find myself in a puddle of cold water inside my sleeping bag. Part of the problem is that my sleeping bag is old and flannel, another problem is that I didn't have anything between my bag and the tent floor. The biggest problem was that the tent I borrowed from Karen didn't have a rain fly, and I was at the corner of the tent where the water rolled to after the tarp underneath collected rain that fell on and near the tent. I never got back to sleep. Eventually I gave up trying to ignore the puddle I was in and I got up. I was cold so I hit the showers for about an hour. Then I was bored so I picked up the Oprah magazine. About five minutes into the magazine I realized I'd rather return to the puddle than continue reading the latest "O". So I sat in the big screen tent we had and ate Pringles. Fortunately Stu, Schaff and Bill D, who were in the drier three corners of my tent, also got up somewhat early so we got a head start on packing up. In summary, a good time was had by all, except for Sunday morning when a good time was had by all except Luke.
A few new additions to Enlowspeak: "The idea has merit", "Tan-too", "Sammies", "BACON! and the SAUSAGE!", "Good plan, king!". But they're boring. I'm not very talkative today. I got work to do. Account of WT Camping later.
Tuesday, July 03, 2001
The other day Karen's Dad posed to me a pretty good brain teaser which he heard on Car Talk:
 You are blindfolded, with a bunch of coins on a table in front of you. You also have mittens on so you can't tell which sides of the coins are heads or tails, but you can manipulate the coins all you want. You don't know how many coins there are, and it doesn't matter. But you do know that exactly ten of the coins are heads to start with, and the rest of the coins are tails. Your task is to separate all the coins into two groups, each with an equal number of heads in them.You may want to refrain from clicking "Discuss" unless you have the answer, or you give up; someone may have answered. And if you've heard this before, shaddup! Sunday, July 01, 2001
I just got back from the Garment District, a second-hand clothes shop in Kendall Square. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it... clothes strewn all over the floor. It's like my bedroom, only ten times the size and I felt like I really didn't belong there. One dollar per pound of clothes, and judging by some of the stuff I found in that pile, they were overpriced. You may be wondering why I was there in the first place... well I'll set the stage.
 Next weekend (after the 4th), I'm going camping with my ultimate frisbee team, which is called "Spam". The excursion was described as "trash camping", a term I hadn't heard before... I think it just means that we go to some cheesy campground and sit around, rather than hike and then camp away from civilization. We decided on a campsite in Western Mass, and somehow "trash camping" became "white trash camping". We joked about dressing like white trash, living like white trash, etc. and soon I realized that people weren't really joking. Next thing I know Bill and I are going clothes-shopping together, which would ordinarily mean that hell had recently frozen over.We searched for wife-beaters, lame T-shirts, anything that the team could use at the campground. Fortunately Bill was there to tell me what did and what did not qualify as "white trash". We were basically laughing the whole time we were there, at some of the stuff we were finding... I tried to curb my amusement as much as possible, trying to be slightly respectful of the people who were in the store doing their routine shopping. My best find was a Hard Rock Cafe (Jamaica) wife-beater with a huge red stain on the front. I was thinking about throwing some mustard on it before it was ready for prime time, but it's real close as-is. I picked up some jeans too, out of which I made cut-offs that accidentally resemble daisy dukes a little too closely. I also got a T-shirt that says Newport (cigarettes) on it, and a tight T-shirt with an apple on the front and a whole lot of dirt stains. Needless to say, these items will be going directly into the wash. I wonder if we'll be in public at all that weekend.... if so, I wonder if I'll blend in with the denizens of that part of the state. Either way, should be a good time. And I hope to borrow a digital camera so I can share the fun with those less fortunate. |
