2019 XC Crosses the Finish Line at least for us

Well it was a great season, had some ups and downs but recovered nicely the last quarter of the season.  A recap of the season for Sampson -

All Buckeye 8
All-OVAC
All-District
District All-Academic

In addition to these his team won:

Belmont County Championship
OVAC 4A
Buckeye 8
OVCCL
Martins Ferry Invite

He qualified for the regional for the second year in a row along with his team, and this year he did much better.  Last year he got 81st and was a little overwhelmed at the race.  This year he got 52nd and it wasn't his best race, but it was pouring down the rain and we had talked before about the worse the conditions were the better it was for him if he was going to have any chance to make it.  The bad things is I don't think it was better for his team.  He ended up running a 17:35 in 50° weather with the rain pouring at the start of the race.  He actually beat 2 kids that he hadn't beat this year so that was good, and one of the kids it was their first year and I don't think they had ever run in those conditions.  Last year it was about the same, real sloppy course and bad weather, but this year all of the races had been dry and warm and if a kid hadn't run it that before they were in for a rude awaking.  Sophie was like "I hope it stops raining" and I was like "I hope it pours for the next 18 minutes to give him a chance".  Alas there were still enough kids who were prepared and talented enough that they held him off.  I thought he ran a good race given the circumstances and cross country is a funny sport in that it is rare something could come up and change the place you should finish.  You could run an amazing time that is just way above anything you have run, but that is usually because of your training, and maybe tapering and having everything hit just right.  By the time you are a junior in high school this is probably less likely and it isn't like other sports were you can keep the score close and throw a hail Mary at the end or have a stud pitcher that other teams can't hit, or just shoot lights out behind the arc in a basketball game.  No in cross country you can pretty well figure out where your team is going to finish before you go into the race.  I had his team at about 13, well they finished 15, but like I said the conditions were good for him, and maybe one other guy, but the other 3 guys not so much.  It should help them next year to at least be prepared for this, but I know Sampson wants more.  We had the team banquet and as soon as we came home he was trying to figure out what he had to do to get to State.  I told him about 500 miles between May and August.  We'll see.  I just hope he is able to go into the season healthy next year and have a good last season.  I hope all the boys can be healthy.  This year we had a knee injury kind of take out our number 2 guy, plus a kid on the team got bit by a tick over the summer and ended up with Lyme's disease.  So hopefully next summer goes better.  Anyway a link below to the video from coach's husband. 

Predictions for the New NBA Season 2019-20, Cause why not?

So to be fair I haven't watched much pre-season basketball, but I did watch the draft (at least until Bol Bol was picked) and I saw what happened during free agency (lots of crazy stuff).  So with that here are my picks for MVP, Rookie of the Year, and the playoffs in the East and West.

MVP - Giannis Antetokounmpo (repeat, dude is not even in his athletic prime and really hasn't learned to shoot.  Most teams don't have someone who can even stay in front of him)

ROY- RJ Barrett. I just feel like Zion won't play that much this year because the Pelicans are being sooooo cautious, but you got the guy to play basketball and at some point he is going to play, but with the early knee injury I now doubt he plays any back-to-backs and just doesn't get the games in to make an impact.  He may have better averages than RJ, but I think RJ is going to put up better numbers on a worse team.  MPJ would be my second pick, but that team is loaded and I think he is just going to be limited minutes wise to start the season.

Let's start with the East because the team are a little easier to evaluate here.
1. 76ers - Added talent, competition got weaker, should be an easy walk to the conference championship baring injury.
2. Bucks - Lost Brogden, still have a lot left though including the MVP.  They did get exposed by Toronto so they will have to fix that if they are going to the finals.  If they find someone to fill the hole left by Brogden could move to first.
3. Celtics - 2 All-stars leave, one comes back.  Will be interesting to see how Hayward plays without Kyrie and if Brown and Tatum improve.  Also they got some good rookies again.  Ton of talent, but kind of starting over.
4. Nets - They made the playoffs last year, and trade an All-star for an All-star.  If KD comes back at all could be a tough out in the playoffs.
5. Toronto - probably.  Lost a lot, OG is back, but they have a huge target on their back every night.
6. - 8 - All these teams have a wart of some sort so in no particular order
Orlando - If Fultz plays well they get better, if not probably still make the playoffs.
Chicago - They have talent, coaching is the question mark here.
Indiana - Depends on when Victor comes back and if he is healthy.  If he is rushed back and still hurt this team doesn't make the playoffs.
9. Miami - About right for a Butler led team. Maybe they get to 8.
10. Hawks - Still a year away, but should be fun to watch.
11. Pistons - Made a push for the playoffs last year, but older and slower now.  Blake starts out hurt too.
12. Knicks - idk, too many power forwards.  Maybe they can make a trade. RJ probably isn't good enough to get this team to the playoffs by himself...yet.
13. Cavs - If Beilein coaches well they move up, if they play like they did in the preseason they are the worst team in the East.  Why draft another point guard?
14. Wizards - Beal is good, probably gets traded, full tank mode with Wall out.
15. Hornets - Bad, maybe Jordan isn't a good talent evaluator.  I mean he did say Steph isn't a HOFer...

The West is L-O-A-D-E-D, too bad all the games will be on too late to watch :(
Let's do this in Tiers
1-3 - LAC, LAL, Den.  Top 3 teams, maybe in the league.  Any could be number one.  I could see the Lakers falling out of this group if the players don't mesh and Lebron plays less than 70 games or so and his defense is still objectively bad.
4-7 - Blazers, Jazz, Rockets, Warriors - Lots of returning players, but some exciting new players, the team that has the best of the new players will get a home playoff series or the best of their returning players.
8-12- Spurs, Mavs, Thunder, Pelicans, Kings - I would say one of the teams above drops out of the playoffs and the Spurs make it.  After that these teams are likely fighting for one spot.  If Zion doesn't play at least 60 games, that team is done.  The Thunder are a long shot here, but they did get CP3, SGA and Danillo G. So there is some talent.  Mavs it depends on K-Porzi and Luca and if they can stop anyone.  Kings were close last year so if they get better they hold the other teams off and make it in and get swept in the first round, if they get worse this teams likely gets blown up again.
13. Suns - Still not very good, but they have Rubio and Saric now so at least some scoring and what looks like an NBA level starting 5.
14. T-wolves - A team going the wrong direction, in a stacked conference.  Could be last if the chemistry blows up.
15. Memphis - Should be exciting to watch, but Morant and Jackson have a lot to learn.

Impeachment - An exercise in futility for 160 years...

You know who was the last American president to be impeached?  Nixon... no he actually resigned before he could be impeached.  Andrew Johnson... sort of.  Actually it was Bill Clinton.  Now I know what you are thinking, but he didn't get impeached he served 2 full terms.  Yes he did.  But he was impeached by the house of representatives in the late 90's, before having the impeachment process fail in the senate and allowing him to finish his final term.  Actually this is what happened to Johnson as well, as the senate could not reach the 2/3rds vote to get him out.  By one vote.  Regardless, if you look at it through this spectrum then the United States has never impeached a sitting president.  Nixon probably would have been impeached had he tried to stay in office, but obviously didn't think the risk of fighting the impeachment was worth staying as president, especially since he had already endured a year in office after the Watergate scandal.  So why is it a waste of time.  Essentially you have a partisan Congress that wants to oust the president and even when the Senate may be agreeable to an impeachment it is essentially an impossible task.  You see Nixon did something really bad, by spying on the opposition, then lying and trying to use the office of the president to cover it up.  This is really bad and yes it should be an impeachable offense.  So what did Johnson do - he fired one of his cabinet members... that he appointed.  "Don't they do that all the time?"  Yes. But in the 1860's the congress actually passed a law that it was illegal for the president to fire a cabinet member without congressional approval.  That law was later overturned by the Supreme Court, because really it makes no sense.  Clinton, well he lied under oath... about who he had sex with.  Not the most world shattering revelation, and certainly not something that put the country in jeopardy either.  So why did he get impeached?  Because the congress was under rule by the opposition party at the time.  You see the Congress is kind of like the kids that want to be loud and unruly and the senate is kind of like the adults.  The kids get to do whatever they want and if there are enough kids they can impeach the president.  Then it goes to the Senate, where they have to have a hearing.  Mostly no matter how outrageous the kids are the Senate won't let them screw up too badly and make the country look stupid.  Thank goodness.
So the partisan house has started an impeachment inquiry.  Which from what I understand isn't an actual inquiry because it hasn't gone through the courts, but I honestly don't care that much.  The reason is because no matter what they come up with, it won't go through the Senate.  Remember, it isn't enough that people just don't like the president, or that he did something questionable, he literally has to do something that is impeachable.  Did Trump do that?  Well they are saying that he was with holding aid to a foreign country until the country agreed to investigate a potential corrupt power grab by a former U.S. Vice President.  Who happened to be a democrat.  Yeah, that should pass a republican senate... Plus did he actually threaten to withhold the money?  Because it is actually never shown on the phone records (which I'll agree are a little suspect), so to me this is a complete waste of time.  But because the Democrats have painted themselves in a corner by wanting to impeach Trump ever since he got in office, they now have to pretend to be going after him.  And you know who it will hurt if they don't impeach him?  The Democrats.  So it is actually in their best interest to keep the inquiry going as long as possible, because if it ever goes beyond that it will fail miserably.  And the people who have been misinformed or underinformed will look at these democrats and not understand why they couldn't impeach him when it was soooooo black and white.  Honestly they should have let this die, and never even broached the subject of impeachment, because this will ultimately end badly for them.  And you know who will learn the lesson from this?  My guess is no one.  And we will have to repeat the process in about 20 years, when some people who know better come along...

The District Race of Aught '19

Well this race was kind of a combination of the last 2 years.  Sampson did cramp, but it wasn't until the last mile and he was still able to gut out an all-district performance, so this should put him up for all T-L team.  He did get all Buckeye 8, All OVAC, and now All-District.  He was probably the number 2 guy this year because of the hot races.  He actually cramped in a couple of races but it never really caused him a "bad" finish.  The only races he was out of the top 10 was usually the loaded fields, and even if they would have run the large school division at Claymont he would have gotten 10th so that is really good.  The team ended up getting 3rd at the district which is one spot better than they did last year.  I think some of the boys though they could win if everyone ran their best race or at least their top 3 race, but probably only 2 or 3 of the guys did.  Sampson didn't.  One of the boys didn't even get to race because something felt wrong when he was warming up so they had to go to the alternate runner.  He has actually run here the last 2 years, but got caught a little off guard getting shoved into the action at the last minute.  He ran well, 4 seconds faster than last year, but this year he was actually the 6th guy for the team not the 5th.  The bad thing was the guy who finished 2nd for us last year was our 7th guy this year, but he has battled knee issues all year.  So now on to the regional.  Sampson is hoping for a top 50 finish.  This is a reasonable goal.  I would say State is the goal, but this division is very competitive and the whole thing about cross country is - you get what you have prepared for.  This isn't like basketball or baseball where a kid could get hot or you can ride a great arm through to the state championship.  This is all about how many miles you have ran and how many guys have put those miles in.  Sampson has definitely done enough to earn a regional birth, but probably not state.  He has the potential, if he runs his best race and 2 or 3 guys that would have beaten him, either cramp or don't have a great race, but there just isn't a way in like some other sports.  We can't sit here and hope for a fluky bounce of the ball or maybe getting a couple of calls from the official.  Cross country doesn't work that way.  There are no buzzer beaters, or in game adjustments that can sway the contest.  No this is competition in its purest form, the gun sounds and it is about who can push their body the hardest for the next 16 minutes or less.  I say 16 because whoever wins the race will probably be below 16 minutes for 5k.  That is really fast.  No where near as fast as what Eulid Kipchoge did though when he broke the marathon record, but really fast for a high school kid.  When you step to that line all you have is the miles you have run, and the prep you have put into the race.  The girls team also made the Regional, but in a different division.  They may actually get a girl or 2 through to the state if they have a great race.  

Differences in Teams - When a team comes together

So watching sports and coaching teams there are definitely differences between teams.  Sometimes the differences are noticeable in talent or how well prepared a team is, but sometimes a team just has "it".  I have come to the conclusion that there is usually one singular instance that has allowed this team to gel in a way that they are overachievers based on talent or coaching.  One instance comes to mind of the 2017 Michigan Wolverines basketball team.  A good team by all accounts, but nothing overwhelmingly special.  Good talent, a good coach, a team that was certainly capable of going on a run.  But right before the big 10 tournament that year their plane ran off of the run way and almost crashed.  Well actually it did "crash" it just never even got the ground.  Nerve wracking for sure, but an experience that was shared by the team and one that you would think would make a team closer by having such a traumatic shared experience.  Well they went on to win the tournament and make a substantial run in the NCAA tournament to the championship game.  Did I mention they were the 8 seed...in the Big 10 tournament.  Here is Moe Wagner's recount of the story and their run to the sweet 16 (should have waited until the final four). So how does a team that was coming in 8th in a conference make it to the last game of the season?  Could they have figured something out or had a player go on a remarkable run?  Sure.  But I really think there is something under the surface that when a team deals with a substantial amount of adversity it can bring a team together in a way that no amount of practice, coaching, or talent can account for.  I bring this up because Peach's team is on a 4 game win streak after dropping 5 in a row in and the last of those was a total melt down.  So what happened.  Well one of the girls who was on the team, but had to leave because of her mother's health, actually lost her mom and this was the first parent that any of these girls had lost.  It just so happened that several of them were at my house when they found out, and they had a very emotional experience.  Well the girl has come back to the team now, and I think they have kind of rallied around her.  I mean it is only junior high girls volleyball, but maybe that is enough to bring this team together.  I don't know how you would construct an experiment to do something like this, it is just something I have seen.  If you want to run a plane off of a runway in a wind storm, well good luck with that, not sure the benefit would out way the risk.  But that is kind of the trick isn't it if this is a key.  How do you team build in a fashion that everyone is really together as a "team" working together and caring for each other?  I think it has to start outside of what ever the sport is.  You can't have a shared experience in practice.  Every team has practice, this has to be something special and if it is a once in a lifetime (and not necessarily a positive experience either, I think the more that is overcome from adversity the more it means) experience that is not easily replicated I think that would carry the most weight.  But this is all speculation.  I have also seen teams where things have gone wrong and the whole thing has imploded, and people can't wait to go their own way.  But I think it may well be up to the coach to realize what is going on and use that motivation to further the success of the team.  That is what I believe the good coaches are able to do, and what the special teams have in common.  I'm not talking about the Warriors, or Alabama someone you expect to go in and win, I'm talking about the plucky under dog, with the remarkable story.  Something that maybe other people can look at from outside the team and have some empathy with the team, on what they went through.  Maybe that is the key, some cosmic outside energy flow that is directed to a team in a positive manner.  Anyway this is just an observation of mine, but I would be interested to hear other teams where people have seen this happen or have first hand experience.  One other thought if this could happen for a sports team, could be applied to a business or office environment?

61.94 mile month

I know, some people call this a light week, but running is hard for me and this is the most I have ever run in one month.  So back off.  I have been going up on my mileage since April, but I think this is probably the peak for this year.  I'm sure October won't be a complete drop off to nothingness, but it will probably be harder to get the runs in as it is getting dark by 7:30 so I almost have to be done by then.  Basketball will be starting soon so running between games will difficult.  Looking forward to the challenges of running in the winter this year as that is something I haven't really done before.  But I will say if this is the high water mark for the year, I totally plan on breaking it at some point next year as the distance runs have gotten easier, or at least more palatable.  On a side note, the Map my run app has an annual challenge to beat during the year, and the challenge for 2019 was to run 1019 km.  That is 633 miles, or 52.75 miles a month.  If I would have been doing the challenge from the start and averaged what I have the last 2 months, I would be on pace to beat it.  As it stands I am a little under half way and only have 92 days left.  I would need to run 3.62 miles per day to make.  Probably not going to happen.  To beat it the whole year, you need to run 1.73 miles per day.