Category: Sports

Sometimes Other Teams Are Good Too

060901_sn_worldbasketballtn.jpgAs disappointing as Team USA’s loss to Greece was in the semifinals of the World Basketball Championships, it should be noted that in the bronze medal game, the Red, White and Blue thrashed pre-tournament favorite Argentina 96-81.

Slate‘s Robert Weintraub offers up this and other perspective-lending points in his article “How Soccer Explains the World Basketball Championships.” His views are a breath of fresh air amid all the recriminations resulting from this most recent international sports loss and the USA’s subpar performance in the most recent soccer World Cup.

Having been an athlete, coach and spectator, I concur with his sentiments.… Read the rest

Beyond the Bling

p1_wadehinrich.jpgIn one of the quieter sports stories of the summer, the U.S. Mens basketball team has been marching steadily forward in the FIBA World Championships in Sapporo, Japan. There was a time when U.S. teams took World Championship and Olympic gold medals for granted. But in recent years, a new generation of international basketball players has humbled American hoopsters, resulting in an embarrassing 6th place finish in the last World Championships and a disappointing bronze in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

So what’s different this time around? Two words: Coach K. Duke Head Coach and master motivator Mike Krzyzewski took over the reigns of the National Team last year and immediately went to what USA Today appropriately called Plan B–a true team.… Read the rest

The Death of “Good Mornin'”

It’s a given that if you’re taking a walk or a run on a Saturday morning in Alabama (or just about anyday anywhere in the South for that matter) and you meet up with one of your neighbors, that you’ll exchange a greeting of some sort. A head nod, a lift of the hand, a “hey,” or the classic “good mornin'” are all socially acceptable salutations. To acknowledge and greet a fellow passerby is as much a Southern staple as barbeque, sweet tea, high school football and Wednesday night church.

Or so I thought.

This past Saturday I was nearing the half way mark of my morning run when I spotted a speed-walking, fifty-something woman clad in colorful, cheerful spandex coming around a corner directly into my path.… Read the rest

Hoover High Lights

om.jpgWhenever we Alabamians hear that our beloved Yellowhammer State is in the news, our first reaction is to usually to cringe–“what now?”

Well, for better or worse, Alabama has made it again, this time in the form of MTV’s “Two-a-Days” a reality show which documents the fortunes of the Hoover High School (near Birmingham) Buccaneers football team, winner of four of the last five state 6-A football titles and the current preseason #1 in the USA TODAY Super 25.

We know a little something about Hoover High up Huntsville way. Our Grissom High Tigers are usually the ones who make the first round of the state playoffs only to be served up as Buccaneer bait.… Read the rest

A World Cup Reprise

zinedine-zidane-real-madrid2.jpgIt’s been over a month now, but I just can’t let it go.

Forget the head butt. These are the images which will endure. (Hat tip: Seattle Soccer Mom)

If a mix of Coldplay and Zidane aren’t to your taste, then try a helping of U2’s Bono and a mesmerizing montage of World Cup 2006 highlights.

Ok, I know some of you hate it when I write about soccer. Just do me a favor: watch the videos and then take the same pulsating passion, the vim and verve, the emmaculate elan, the deftness of foot, and the all-encompassing, all-seeing vision and apply them to whatever work God sets before you this day.… Read the rest

The Assimilation Continues

borg-18527.jpgIt’s been an eventful week here at Ocular Fusion. First, I was graced with a visit by the Winged Goddess of Victory herself (I think we all know her name, don’t we?). Then I was the victim of a vicious attack of flying spam, necessitating the installation of the new and improved, all purpose, Super-Duper Askimet Anti-Spam Shield and Bug Zapper (so far, 70 pieces of fried spam in 48 hrs).

But, no matter what I do, the assimilation continues.

Here’s my latest VIP visitor:… Read the rest

From Swoosh to Spam in No Time Flat

1559606_340_1116081430036-spam.jpgI thought that “getting Swooshed” would be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Visions of free running shoes, endorsement contracts, commercials and billboards were dancing like Oregon Waffles in my middle-age, ever-balding head.

Instead, I went from Swoosh to spam in no time flat.

It all started when those pesky and creepy little search bot worm thingies started crawling all over my site a few days ago. Both Google and Yahoo (Inktomisearch.com) stop by at least daily, Yahoo sometimes more often. The result was a coordinated spam attack between 10:15 and 10:50 A.M. yesterday which launched eight cash-seeking missles that landed in the comment section of my various Nike posts.… Read the rest

I’ve Been Swooshed

In mob circles, it’s known as becoming a “Made man.” You’ve shown loyalty to the family through the years, doing all the dirty deeds you’ve been asked to do. Finally, after paying your dues, somebody notices. Suddenly, your suits get silkier, your shoes shinier, you receive VIP treatment at the dry cleaners and get the best seats at all the good restaurants with no reservations. Usually “being made” is the pinnacle of a mobster’s career–unless you’re Joe Pesci’s character Tommy DeVito in the movie Goodfellas.

Now I’m no mafioso, but I am a shoe nerd. And we have our day too, you know.… Read the rest

Tank Talks

Click here to listen to Harding grad Torrance “Tank” Daniels talk about what it’s like to be a rookie hoping to make the final cut with the Philadelphia Eagles.

I’m no expert on the pro game, but I view the fact that Tank is being interviewed for the official Eagles website as a very positive sign that his prospects are good. I also suspect that he’ll get even more field time tonight against the Browns after such a fine debut against the Raiders.

Go Tank, Go Bisons, Go Eagles (for now anyway…).

… Read the rest

Loose Connections of My Own

Alabama.gifI’m starting to get all worked up about the upcoming college football season. Crisp fall air, golden brown leaves crunching underfoot, and college football on TV from Thursday through Saturday make for an intoxicating brew. I graduated from a college with only a moderately successful football team and have never experienced an honest-to-goodness campus “Game Day,” so I don’t have as much ego and money tied up in all this as some people do. But as a Virginia expatriate who has lived 17 years in Alabama, I wish to announce that I have finally chosen a side: I do hereby officially declare that I am always, and ever will be, pulling for the Crimson Tide.… Read the rest

Pre Lives, But Not in This Body

What a relief! In the comments from yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I went on a cleaning frenzy recently and threw away my Nike Air Max ’96s that I wore in the Rocket City Marathon back in 1997. After reminiscing about all my “old school” shoes, I began to have second thoughts and wondered if I was going to have to make a trip to the landfill to dig them out.IMG_0071.JPG

Good news–I found them! After 21 plus years of marriage, Eyegal knows that I often make rash decisions like that and figured that I would regret it and had put them in the garage instead of the trash can.… Read the rest

Name…That…Shooooe!

After coming clean on my shoe addiction, I’m ripping off a page from everybody’s favorite Catfish Queen reject Nancy French and having my first contest at Ocular Fusion.

(Cue the audience to shout) Name…That…Shooooe! (cue wild, audience applause and generic game show music)

That’s right, the first person to correctly ID the following shoe will receive, courtesy of yours truly, a signed copy of Doug Mendenhall’s new book, How Jesus Ended Up in the Food Court: Seventy-Seven Devotional Thoughts You Never Thought About Before.

Here’s the picture. Remember, I’m looking for the exact name of this Nike classic:

nikeoregonwaffle-01 2.jpg

It’s really not that hard; there are sufficient clues scattered here and there that should lead you toward the correct answer.… Read the rest

Revenge of a Shoe Nerd

“Where do I buy the Nike shoes?”
-Tom Hanks as Victor Navorski, The Terminal

Hello. My name is Mike the Eyeguy, and I am a shoe nerd.

There, I said it, it’s out in the open now. I no longer have to hide the fact that ever since I was a bushy-haired boy growing up in the 1970s, I’ve been obsessed with athletic shoes of all brands, colors and sports. I’ve worn just about all of them at one time or another: Keds, PF Flyers (remember how they made you run faster and jump higher?), Converse All Star Chuck Taylor canvas high tops (black, red and sky blue–back before I knew that color was associated with the evil Tar Heels), Puma “Suedes” (often referred to as “Clydes” after Walt Frazier, famous point guard for the N.Y.… Read the rest

The Head Butt Heard ‘Round the World

Zidane head butt.jpgIt’s been a week since the “head butt heard ’round the world,” and the repercussions of Zinedene Zidane’s shot to the chest of Marco Materazzi continue to ricochet wildly throughout the internet.

Zidane has issued an apology (of sorts) for his outburst which arguably cost France the World Cup. For his part, Materazzi has reassured us that he would never dream of insulting someone’s mother. No, according to the Italian defender the insult that provoked Zidane was merely a garden variety one that is tossed around the pitch on a routine basis, implying, of course, that the French midfielder and captain overreacted.… Read the rest