Surreal: Some Thoughts on Marriage on Independence Day

Surreal.

Happy Independence Day. Happy Birthday to my Dad, who turned 47. Happy week’s eve to my wedding day.

I once heard a man tell a joke. It was July 4 a few years back, and he mentioned that it was his wedding anniversary. “Ironic, ain’t it?” he said. “The day we celebrate freedom is also the day I lost mine.”

Blog!

Yeah, it’s been a little while since I’ve put anything up here. Sorry about that. I’m going to work on that some this week, but things are pretty wild around here. It’s my last week in Greenville–on Friday the family is heading to Wilmington, where we’ll stay for the week before my wedding, which will be July 11. I’ll be moving stuff into the condo there that weekend and throughout the week, plus I’m busting my tail to finish the first draft (of who knows how many) of my book by the wedding.

I’ve got exactly 10 days, really, to get it done and I’m close. I’m averaging between 4,000-5,000 words per day, so that’s eating up a lot of my time and writing energy. I’m at 65,000ish right now, as I take a break to write this, and plan to be at 68,000 by the end of the day.

Once I finish this draft, I’m going to print it out and shelve it for the five days I’m in St. Lucia with the wife, then come back to it, read over it, make notes in all the margins of who I need to call, what I need to clarify, what additional research I need, etc. I expect to work on my second round of interviews and research for about a month, then start writing my second draft.

My first draft is essentially compiling all the information I have in chronological order. The second draft I expect to be something I take more time on as far as making it read more poetically, more entertainingly, all that. (Basically, the first draft is written how these blogs are most of the time. The second will be written how I like to write my feature stories.) Then I’ll rewrite and rewrite and call people to clarify stuff and do more research for another couple of months until I get the thing perfect.

In the meantime, I need to start working on getting the attention of some agents or publishers. That’s going to be the hardest part for me. The research, the interviewing, the writing, it’s all hard work, but it’s hard work I know and even love to do. The business side of it is hard, mainly in that it’s pretty unfamiliar to me. Selling a book feels a lot different than selling a freelance story, for some reason.

But more on that as I get there. I mainly just needed to get a blog up here so the Bolivian TV anchor’s face wasn’t the first thing people see when they come here.

Peace!

TV station mistakes ‘Lost’ episode for Flight 447 footage

Special thanks to a SportsJournalists.com poster who shared the following in a thread this afternoon.

Bolivian TV channel PAT showed footage it claimed was shot by a passenger aboard ill-fated Air France flight 447 as the aircraft broke apart above the ocean and was salvaged from the passenger’s phone

in fact, it was footage from an episode of Lost

oops

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090623-media-blooper-year-bolivian-tv-network-uses-images-tv-drama-lost-air-france-crash

Another SJ.com member said this is why he’s stopped watching Bolivian TV. To paraphrase, “Too many (bleep!)ups.”

Matty Ott is the man

Last night Matty Ott, LSU’s freshman closer, threw 3 scoreless innings (9th, 10th, 11th) against Texas to help LSU knock of the Longhorns in Game 1 of the 2009 College World Series finals.

Prior to that game, I knew absolutely nothing about Matty Ott. Now I’m officially one of his biggest fans.

I don’t know why, but I love this kid, and I really like this LSU team. I’m not going to break down stats and all of that–that’s not really my thing. But what I love to observe is body language, reactions to failure and success, and overall team mentality. Baseball players are renowned for arrogance–heck, athletes in general–but this group seems to have, if not Gandhian humility, at least some level heads.

But Matty Ott is perhaps my favorite of them all. And it feels weird breaking down athletes who are younger than me, but then, I’ve graduated from college, so all college athletes are now younger than me. Hm.

They call him “Matty Ice.” He’s a no-frills type of guy who throws three-quarters to sidearm from the right side with filthy movement and the coolest sneer I’ve ever seen on a pitcher. He pumps his fist after a big strikeout or inning. He’s got some fire about him, but he’s not overdramatic with it like the Fransisco Rodriguezes of the world. And he held Texas–Texas, they of the five solo home runs that game–scoreless in an epic clutch situation.

Well that’s about it for this one. Not really a true article, just your standard blog blurb.

But kids, take note of Matty Ott. I wish you all would try more to emulate guys like Ott than guys like Rodriguez. I don’t know what it is about being a Major League ballplayer, or any type of pro athlete, that makes so many of them go so bonkers, but it’s just weird. There’s no need for megadrama on the field, or anywhere in life, really. Just be what you are, and be the best version of it.

OK, done rambling.

Oh, Arizona

more about “College World Series: Texas Longhorns…“, posted with vodpod

The way Arizona State University was eliminated from the 2009 College World Series was almost as heartbreaking to me as the way Carolina played against ASU two nights before. ASU scrapped to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the 9th and entered the bottom of the inning ahead 3-2.

Then Texas catcher Cameron Rupp launched a 3-1 fastball at the waist and straight down the middle over the batter’s eye in centerfield, tying the game 3-3. The next batter, Connor Rowe, golfed a first-pitch changeup over the leftfield wall. Game over, Texas wins, 4-3.

It’s one of the greatest endings to a college baseball game I’ve ever seen. The drama, the emotion, the clutch performances from both sides. “This is something they’re going to remember forever,” said ASU coach Pat Murphy after the game. “They” being his players, Texas’s players, the fans, the umpires, everyone.

This is why I love baseball. The anonymous can become heroes in an instant, and that’s what happened last night. It sucks for Arizona State, it’s heaven on earth for Texas. There will be a tomorrow, there will be new games, but there will rarely be a game like this one. Sports, like life, are ever-changing, never-stopping, constantly moving forward, but it’s the memories they create that make the games beautiful.

It’s gonna be great getting married

Note to readers: Don’t take naps from 8 to 10 p.m. You can’t sleep and you end up writing something like this. 

Hello, blog readers. 

I’m getting married in just over three weeks. 

Holy crap, is that right? Three weeks!? Man alive!

But anyway, the story of how I proposed is here, our wedding website is here, and a picture of my beautiful bride to be is over there >>>.

Yeah, she’s ripped. And she’s been working out hardcore with a personal trainer and everything lately to get ready for the wedding/honeymoon. Me? I’ve been talking about working out a lot more than I actually have been. Something about having to bust my tail for four years as a college baseball player–in which I gained 30 pounds of muscle, thank you very much!–and then not having to do anything….well, to say I’m not motivated would be a pretty massive understatement. I tried to do some pushups yesterday and got through about 20 when I was like, Dude, I don’t have to do these, why bother?

So I didn’t, and went and ate pretzels with cream cheese on them while watching Scrubs.

It does suck, though. I used to be able to look down and not see my nipples. My pecs were so manly. Now? Total nipple visibility. 

But I am trying to at least stay trim, which is why I’m getting up at 4 in the morning to go play basketball with my little brother at Gold’s Gym in Greenville at 5. I can’t just sit there and crank out pushups and situps and bench presses and curls like I used to, but if I’m running around trying to keep up with a bunch of guys who are way faster and better than me, I at least have something more embarrassing to think about than the fact that soon my own fiancee might be able to kick my butt. 

Sorry, this is one of those outrageous posts that get blurted out of me at 1:30 in the morning. I took a nap earlier during the UNC-Arizona State game (ugh!) and can’t go to sleep, so I’m trying to blog myself unconscious, apparently. And P.S., there’s no way Katie will ever be able to kick my butt. I’m a man!

Anyway, the main point of this post was going to be to ramble about how awesome it’s going to be to get married, as inspired by this post by someone I’ve recently met through the blogosphere. It’s so cool how the Internet enables us to meet people in places like New York whom we’d never otherwise run into. 

But my fiancee, Katie Holloman Soon-to-be-Sneed, is freakin’ phenomenal, and I’ll tell you how. As you could see from my previous post, I was actually pulling pretty hard for Carolina to make a run here in the CWS. I mean, I really was. I never get emotionally involved in games, and tonight reminded me why. I was so ticked off at Carolina’s pitching staff, at their catcher, at everything going wrong. (Which I decided not to blog about tonight because I was so mad. Remember the momma saying: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Although I guess this is me pretty much saying something about it, but anyway….) 

Well, Kate could tell I was upset. She’s perceptive, for one thing, but then, I’ve never been a big yell-at-the-TV kinda guy, and, well, that poor TV got an earful tonight. So what does she do? She makes like, my favorite dessert ever. Brownies. (Of course, she wanted the brownies for herself, and I had to go to Food Lion to get the eggs, but by golly, we had brownies, and they were great!) So great I felt kinda sick after eating them. I knew I shouldn’t have had that one extra. 

Anyway, all that to say, although I’m totally freaked out by the idea that I’m marrying someone in three weeks, I’m also totally psyched. Katie’s awesome, life with her’s going to be awesome, even though that life will be filled with little white hairs from her Jack Russell Terrier named Cooper. But he’s hilarious, as this old blog post shows, so I guess I can live with that.

Alright, enough rambling. Peace.

Come on, Carolina

Today, North Carolina plays Arizona State in an elimination game in the 2009 College World Series.

Ordinarily, I avoid getting emotionally involved with games I watch. I think part of that has to do with my training to be objective throughout college journalism classes. But when Carolina lost their first game of the CWS, a 5-2 heartbreaker to the same Arizona State whom they play today, my heart broke a little bit, too. No lie.

That said, Mike Fox is awesome. He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever interviewed. I did this story about him for Sports Spectrum magazine, a Christian sports publication, back in the spring (my story starts on page 60). He was awesome to talk to, as was Dustin Ackley, Carolina’s No. 2 overall draft pick.

It’s a genuinely good group, those Tar Heels. Fox honestly doesn’t believe that he has to win a national title to feel validated as a coach, and if you read that story, you’ll see why. One of my favorite quotes from him in that interview–never before published, I might add– I’ve posted below.

It’s funny because, and I guess it’s just human nature, when you do get to the national championship game, and you don’t win it, everybody is like, “Gosh that’s terrible.” And, “How do you feel?” And nobody felt worse at the time than we did, but it’s not something that I carry with me. That would be just be silly. It’s funny–I’ve be criticized more as a coach the last two years than in any of the other 24 years that I’ve coached. I find that so amusing.

And Fox honestly doesn’t care what the experts on ESPN say, what the analysts are going to think, or what anyone believes he should accomplish. He also told me, flat-out, in that interview,

Shaq vs. Giant Japanese MMA Dude

Basically, Shaq challenges the Japanese MMA fighter who knocked out Jose Canseco earlier this year. C’mon, Shaq. I love you, man, but I really don’t think you can beat a trained MMA fighter.

more about "Shaq vs. Giant Japanese MMA Dude", posted with vodpod

Turns out Sammy wasn’t just eating his Wheaties

This is old news by now, but Sammy Sosa’s been named as one of the guys who failed an anonymous PED test in 2003. In all honesty, this is probably the least surprising name I could have heard. When I saw the ticker scrolling across ESPN announce the news yesterday, I was more surprised that it was just coming out now. I’ve never liked the guy–Rick Reilly showed us how shady he was with this column a few years back–and the way he swelled from his younger years in the league to his prime is pretty ridiculous.

Just for fun, I’ve posted some of Sosa’s baseball cards from his early days, and a picture of him when he was with Texas. I love these comparisons.

Prayers of prey: Preacher prays one man to death, now going after Obama

Apparently there’s this guy out there saying that the assassination of George Tiller came about as a result of his prayers. Having gained some confidence, he’s now taking on bigger prey: the President of the United States of America. 

Wiley Drake, a Southern Baptist preacher who was Alan Keyes’ running mate last year, the one-time vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and who’s name is perfect for a crazy, conniving Southern Baptist preacher cartoon character, is officially praying for the death of Barack Obama. 

Asked if there are others for whom Drake is praying “imprecatory prayer,” Drake hesitated before answering that there are several. “The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama,” he said.

Later in the interview, Colmes returned to Drake’s answer to make sure he heard him right.

“Are you praying for his death?” Colmes asked.

“Yes,” Drake replied.

“So you’re praying for the death of the president of the United States?”

“Yes.”

Colmes asked Drake if he was concerned that by saying that he might be placed on a Secret Service or FBI watch list, and if he believed it appropriate to talk or pray that way.

“I think it’s appropriate to pray the Word of God,” Drake said. “I’m not saying anything. What I am doing is repeating what God is saying, and if that puts me on somebody’s list, then I’ll just have to be on their list.”

“You would like for the president of the United States to die?” Colmes asked once more.

“If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that’s correct.”

And us Christians wonder why people hate them. Sheesh. 

This is the same Wiley Drake–man I love that name–who says he prayed for the death of George Tiller, the guy who provided a bunch of late-term abortions for women.