rm21.org

2013 Fantasy Football Draft

2013-08-27T10:46:00.001-04:00

I haven't written a post in a couple of years. Well, we finished up our fantasy football draft for 2013.

Fantasy Football Draft 2011

2011-09-06T15:58:00.000-04:00

We all got together and picked our players for the 2011 fantasy football draft. Way too many comments on my line up of empty Guinness bottles. The name of our league is "Chuggers", right? Hopefully the guys will get connected to the league I set up on NFL.com too so we can see about using a free site and pay out more to the winners next year. I had fun.

Lost Basketball Game 105-61 03-08-2011

2011-03-09T10:13:00.001-05:00

Well, we lost another basketball game. This time by 44 points against arguably the best team in the league. I went 0-4 on free-throws. I don't know what I do wrong in game situations, but the last couple of games I have been hitting the back of the rim and it stinks. We had a lot of uncontested layups and baskets from the paint which was awesome. They had a lot of fast break and transition baskets and tons of three-pointers. They scored 105 points to our 61. That's crazy. They didn't give us a lot of rebound opportunities because they were all going in the basket. At least I didn't make the game losing foul this week, and my team mates didn't have a lot of bad calls to complain about. Outside of losing miserably I had a great time.

DirecTV Is In The Dog House

2011-03-07T13:41:00.001-05:00

So I just got our latest bill from DirecTV and it had the UFC 126 Silva/Belfort on it twice. So I called them to let them know that it was an error and the Indian fellow, I assume, on the other end of the line said that since we moved to another receiver to finish watching the fights and had to push purchase on the remote control to get it to work that the charges were correct and that there was nothing that he could do. That makes their commercial completely bogus. Sure you can move from room to room to watch things, but you have to call them, not use your remote control. I mean it is the exact same event on at the exact same time and I'm just gonna' say okay charge me $54.95 twice because I love the UFC so much and they need it more than me? It wouldn't show up on the other receiver automatically so we had to pick purchase. That's a deal breaker for me. I'll hold a grudge against a company with poor customer service and now I'll blog about it. I just finished a survey from DirecTV and let them know about my experience again and they are suppose to contact me within the next 24-48 hours. We'll see what happens and if we are going to be Time Warner or AT&T customers as a result. Yeah, I'm bitter and football season is over so I don't really see any good reason to keep them.

Lost Basketball Game 3-1-2011

2011-03-01T22:51:00.001-05:00

I lost the basketball game tonight. Yes that's I and not we, because I fouled a guy with no time on the clock when we were winning by a point, but they were in the bonus so the guy got to shoot two free-throws and become the hero on his team while I got to become the heel on mine. I appreciated most of the guys trying to make me feel better by talking about what they did wrong during the game and "could a', should a', would a'" telling me not to worry about it, but it still really bugs me. It was the same team that gave us one of our two wins this year too so I know we can beat them.

My kids made me get over it quick though. They really don't care about basketball and just wanted some attention before bed. Evan said "You have to try harder than that, Dad." when I told him about the game. I couldn't laugh though because he was trying to be serious and give Daddy back some of his own advise. I may have heard that come out of my own mouth a few times before. Next time I will.

Lost Basketball Game 2-22-2011

2011-02-22T22:12:00.000-05:00

We lost again, go figure :) Made my free-throws this time though. Still missed a couple of bunny shots that would have helped a bit. Most of my team mates lose their cool when the referees quit calling fouls. I wish I knew how to get their heads back into the game instead of worrying about what the referees are or are not doing. Oh well, it's still good exercise and I need all that I can get and I like to talk with my friends even if all they are doing is complaining. We lost by like 18 points.

Lost Basketball Game 02-15-2011

2011-02-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

We lost our basketball game tonight. I missed a few easy shots, a layup, and a couple free-throws. We need to run some set plays or have specific assignments I think. The other team just played better tonight, no excuses. I don't remember the exact score, but we lost by 19 points.

Kicks, Knees, Angles, and Covering

2011-02-11T12:52:00.001-05:00

Muay Thai (MMA) Class 02-10-2011

Boy my legs are sore! All I can see in my head is the "No whining zone" sign hanging up on the wall at Aegis where I take classes. I'm not sure if they are sore from Jiu-Jitsu class a couple days ago or if it is from our Muay Thai class last night, but my quads, calves, hamstrings, and even toes are sore.

We went over kicks and using the proper technique on kick shields with a partner. What I have been taught up to this point is to take an angle step across the center line of attack and rotate that lead foot outward a bit to be sure that I get good hip rotation. The ideal ending position with the lead foot is having your heel facing your opponent. That way you know that you rotated your hips and you increase your range. Your kicking leg is really just dead weight that your hips and core are flinging around like a baseball bat. I'm right-handed so it feels more natural to also kick with my right leg because I already have that lead leg out there ready to take an angle step. I'm am starting to do the ball-foot change a little more easily though without having to think about all of the steps. Move your left-foot back next to your right-foot, take the angle step with the right-leg, don't shift or rotate your shoulders and give it away so the left-shoulder is still forward and the right-shoulder is still back. Now my left leg may start to be a weapon as well.

We also went over parrying while taking an angle step and then covering when the opponent throws a straight punch. The parry is just like slapping their fist and/or arm away or redirecting it. Think wax-on wax-off if you remember the Karate Kid movie. My coach says "touch your shoulder" or "brush your shoulder". So you watch their shoulders and anticipate the punch coming and then parry with the hand or forearm while taking an angle step. Once you have redirected their punch you cover with the opposite arm just in case there is another punch coming. Coach said it looked smoother so the drill repetition is helping I think. I need to work on bringing my trailing leg along when making an angle step instead of just a long stretch which throws my balance off and would weaken any counter that I thought of using.

Finally we put some kicks and knees together for a drill with a partner and the kick shields. We did a front kick then a kick then a knee. I always say "back off" in my head when I do a front kick. I love it in theory, but I'm not sure why I don't use it in practice. It is a powerful kick, but I guess I don't want to get my leg caught or something. If I get it faster then it will be a good weapon.

Drinking Beer May Be Good For You

2011-02-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

I was reading an article at AST Sports Science - High-Performance Sports Nutrition Supplements that says that 2 drinks a day can be beneficial. Probably not great calorie wise, but it is interesting to know if you want to have a couple beers with your friends.

Side-Mount Kimuras And Arm Bars From Full-Guard

2011-02-10T09:46:00.000-05:00

Jiu-Jitsu (MMA) Class 02-09-2011

Part 1

Today we went over kimuras again starting from side-mount. You start in a "Good side mount position" which I have been taught is one knee bent and up against your opponent's hip and the other leg straight out with your hips down on the mat. Kind of like a sprawl with your lower body, but that one knee in their hip. You should lay heavy on their chest and not allow them to make any space between you. We start with one arm under their neck and your other arm across their chest or belly with your hands palms down under their shoulder. It's a lot easier to see it than to type it, but I guess it's a good brain exercise to try and describe it in a blog. That's the starting position.

Next thing you do is try and put your opponent's arm that is on the opposite side of your legs, or on the same side as your arms, whichever description paints a better picture, anyway, down on the mat. You may get their forearm going up toward head and "above" their upper-arm or you may get their forearm going down towards their legs and "below" their upper-arm. Either way you can position your arms correctly to get the leverage for the kimura.

I felt more in control when I got the forearm going up as opposed to down, because I didn't really have to shift my weight too much to get into position and I feel like I could keep good pressure on their chest. Which I know is really uncomfortable for my opponent/training partners. Nobody is really fighting too hard to stop you when we are doing the walkthroughs and the repetitions to get the proper technique down though, so when we roll it's a different story and you take what they give you so I don't really have a favorite yet.

If the forearm is going up then you get wrist control with your free hand and move their arm to your other hand where your arm is under your opponents neck and do a hand-off of wrist control. So ultimately you want wrist control with your hand and arm that is under their neck. It really shouldn't matter how you get it there I guess as long as you don't let them create any separation in the process. Once you have wrist control with that arm under their neck you slide your now free hand under their upper arm on the mat and grab your own other wrist that has wrist control on your opponent. Then you can slowly move you arm from under their neck to putting their face in your armpit and your elbow as close to their head as you can get. With your hand that has wrist control you rotate your opponent's wrist away from you/them. The opposite of pulling on the throttle on a motorcycle. Like you are about to apply the brakes on your motorcycle and you push the throttle back. So twist their wrist and use your other arm as the lever to start forcing your opponents elbow up off of the mat and wait for the tap.

Stay tuned for Part 2

Won Basketball Game 64-52 02-08-2011

2011-02-09T17:13:00.001-05:00

Hey! We won our second basketball game last night so we've already doubled last years win count. I'm proud of us considering we aren't really basketball players. Just guys that like to play basketball. I think that Matt is the only person who actually played any basketball at the college level. For the rest of us it was junior-high school or high school and done. Like Travis said it may be because everyone is a year older. We are in a 35 and up league so hopefully the competition is getting slower faster than we are. I hope Warriors '92 keeps it up!