The SoapBoxers

A few years ago, I changed cell phone plans. I decided to save a few bucks and went with a plan that doesn’t have the internet. Not surprisingly, the inability to have sports scores at my fingertips hit me the hardest. Withdrawal set in hard.

Before long, a friend of mine made me aware of a site that sends text messages with sports scores – and tons of other alerts. This site is 4info.net. It’s a great one-stop shop for text alerts, allowing you to coordinate everything under a single ID and password. It’s also free. It is supported by advertising. There is a very short ad at the end of each message (it is a part of the main message, not a separate text message). For example, one recent messages ended with this “Romance Reading! Reply LUV”. If you are interested in the ad, you reply to the text message (your cell provider might charge you for incoming/outgoing text messages – 4info does not charge for the service). If you’re not interested in the ad, you simply ignore it. As far as advertisements go, these are pretty easy to live with.

I absolutely love the sports alerts. I get a text message at the end of every Colorado Rockies game to tell me the score. I could have opted for a message at the end of every inning, or any time the score or lead changes, but those seemed like a bit of overkill – especially considering how many runs the Rockies score (and allow). You can also configure alerts for particular players. For example, I am a big fan of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, so I get a text message every time Tulo gets a hit. Similar options are available for other sports. This is a great tool for fantasy sports junkies. The NCAA basketball tournament is just around the corner, and 4info is great for keeping up on scores from all the game.

4info’s services go far beyond sports, though. I also get the weather forecast so that I can be ready for the mood swings that Mother Nature tends to have in the Midwest. The “on this day” alerts tells you about an important (or not-so-important) event that occurred on today’s date. The stock market alert allows you to track stocks (or indexes) and get alerts when the price goes above of below a certain price – or rises or drops more than a specific percent. The daily insult delivers a zinger that you’ll be tempted to use later in the day. Those of you who wish to acquire new superstitions can receive snippets about superstitions every day (“if you walk through a spider web without seeing it, you will soon receive money”). Want to be notified when a particular item is listed on Craiglist? It can do that. Last, but not least, fans of astrology can have their horrorscopes sent to their cell phones every day.

This is not a comprehensive list of the alerts that 4info has. I highly recommend this free service and suggest that you subscribe to it immediately. It truly does have something for everyone.

Note: this is a work of fiction. A longer disclaimer can be found at the end of the piece.

The Soap Boxers was stunned to learn that the governor of Minnesota has suggested a radical cost savings plan – having the US Senate shrink its membership to just fifty members – one from each state.

We smelled a great story and sent resident bloodhound Scoop Chevelle to the frozen tundra to check the story out. Scoop arrived at the governor’s mansion on a snowmobile-driven carriage and was granted an audience with His Lordship, the Governor of Minnesota, Tom Lawplenty.

SC: My Lord Governor. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.

Gov: Scooter, let’s get rid of the formality. You may simply call me lord.

SC: Yes, lord. Some representatives of other states have suggested that this plan to reduce the US Senate to 50 members from its present membership of 99 is simply a ploy to return Minnesota to full representation in the Senate to avoid having the courts settle the Franken/Coleman election.

Gov: What a load of hogwash, Scooby. Obviously, the Frankenstein / Coolman issue will be resolved within the next few days. My only agenda is to reduce the cost of government to the fine taxpayers of the United States. I believe each senator is paid five million dollars per year. Cutting fifty senate positions would thus save taxpayers three billion dollars each year!

SC: Actually, I’m pretty sure they make $174,000. Reducing fifty senators would save $8,700,000.

Gov: Skippy, don’t try to confuse the taxpayers with that deceptive “new math” you New York folks are slinging around. Consider also that each senator has a staff of three hundred, eight chefs, a barbershop quartet, and a dog groomer. We’re a talking about tens of thousands of positions that could be eliminated, at a savings of seven trillion dollars.

SC: I think those numbers may be based on some inaccurate information, my lord.

Gov: Also, Sarah, this plan would finally put an end to the senate hazing.

SC: Hazing?

Gov: Oh, yes, Sally. You would not believe the hazing that occurs. The senior senators from each state treat the junior senators very poorly. The cut ahead of them in line at the cafeteria, steal their lunch money, flush their heads down the toilet, shove them into lockers. It really isn’t pretty.

SC: Well, this is definitely an, um, enlightened viewpoint. Do you have anything else to add?

Gov: Oh, yes, Wendy. We should not stop there. We should also reduce the House of Representatives by half.

SC: How would this be feasible? Some states have an odd number of representatives.

Gov: Well, Amy, we could handle this like King Solomon and chop someone in half. Ha. ha, ha. I’m just kidding. If a state had seven representatives, they would have four representatives during one session of congress and three during the next session of congress.

SC: How would you handle Wyoming, with its single representative?

Gov: Oh, that’s very easy, Jasmine. Wyoming would have one representative half the time and zero representatives half the time.

SC: Lord, are you seriously proposing taxation without representation for the citizens of Wyoming?

Gov: Ha, ha, ha. Where would you ever gets such a crazy idea, Crystal? Of course not. I’m Mr. e pluribus unum himself. Carpe diem and salve regina!

SC [visibly confused]: Well, there you have it, America. This is Scoop Chevelle, reporting to you from the heartland of America.

Note: This is a work of fiction. It has minimal basis in fact. I believe the only facts are that Norm Franken and Norm Coleman are indeed still locked in a court battle surrounding their senate race, and that there are snowmobiles in Minnesota. I have altered the name of the Governor of Minnesota to reflect the fictional nature (and to avoid having him hunt me down and punch me in the face). The character of Lord Governor Lawplenty does not share core values with the real governor of the state, nor does he represent the fine citizens of Minnesota in any way.

People of Minnesota (and Wyoming): please, no hate mail . Give me enough time, and I will eventually take shots at all 50 states. I have already written an Oregon article (click the “Humor” link on the right side of the screen)

For those of you who are not sports fans, hang with me through the next couple of weeks. I’ll be hitting you with a heavy dose of WBC, but will return to a more regular mix of posts once the WBC is complete. I promise a non-sports post either Wednesday or Thursday (possibly both days, if I get more time to write).

This update covers the games from March 8 and March 9

Game 5 (loser eliminated): Korea vs. Cuba (Sunday)
Korea ends China’s WBC with a 14-0 win. Korea starter Suk Min Yoon went 6 innings, allowing two hits and no runs. Korea was already up 4-0 in the 5th inning when they busted the game open by scoring five runs on three hits, two walks, one hit batter, and two errors. That’s not a pretty way to score runs, but it is effective. The mercy rule (one team ahead by 10 or more runs after 7 innings) was invoked after the top of the 7th.

Game 6 (determines the pool winner): Japan vs. Korea (Monday)
Korea avenged a game 3 loss to Japan with a 1-0 nail biter. Korea got their run on a walk and two singles against Japan starter Hisashi Iwakuma. Korea had just four hits in the game, but Korea’s pitches did no allow a run on six hits and no walks.

I find it a bit odd that Korea is the pool winner. My opinion is that the game 3 winner should be declared the pool winner, and the team that has a loss after the first 5 games is the pool runner-up. Japan shouldn’t feel too bad, as they lost a 1-0 squeaker and won a 14-0 rout – so they should be confident in their chances if they run into Korea again.

Pool A is complete.

Game 1: Cuba vs. South Africa (Sunday)
This was a horrible mismatch on paper, and turned out to be a mismatch on the field as well. Cuba starting pitcher Norge Luis Vera allowed 2 hits in 6 innings, including no his through the first four innings. South Africa managed 4 hits in the game and finally dented the scoreboard in the 9th inning. Cuba hit 6 homers (5 solo shots) in the game, including 2 by Frederich Cepeda. Neither team committed an error.

Game 2: Mexico vs. Australia (Sunday)
In a stunner, Australia knocked off the home team Mexico 17-7. Australia hit four homers and set a WBC record for hits in a game with 22. Australia is kind of a low second tier club. They weren’t really expected to contend, but on the other hand, they are definitely a big jump up in talent from the likes of South Africa and Taipei. They’ll have their hands full with Cuba, and if they lose to Cuba, they would need to beat Mexico again in game 5 – something that the Mexico City crowd might not allow.

Game 3: (loser eliminated) Mexico vs. South Africa (Monday)
After being upset by Australia in their first game, Mexico bounced back with a 14-3 win over the toothless South Africa team. Adrian Gonzalez hit two homers and drove in six runs and Oscar Robles and Jorge Cantu also hit homers. This games was actually 3-2 after six innings, and the bats awoke for team Mexico. Elmer Dessens allowed two runs on three hits and no walks through six innings. Mexico will face the loser of Australia/Cuba in game 5. The winner of that game will advance to the next round.

Game 3 (winner advances): USA vs. Venezuela (Sunday)
Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta saved a run by preventing a wild pitch, and then broke open the game with a three run double (advancing to third on the throw home) to make the game 6-3. The game also included homers by Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Braun, and Adam Dunn. Oddly, one of the guys on TV (a guest, I believe) initially credited the Dunn homer to Derek Jeter, in spite of the fact that the 6’6”, 275 pound Dunn looks absolutely nothing like Jeter. Well, I guess they are both human beings.

Game 4 (loser eliminated): Italy vs. Canada (Monday)
Wow. Italy beats Canada 6-2. I had Canada advancing as the #2 team in pool C, but that was not to be. Chris Denorfia was 4-4 with three doubles and two RBI. Dan Serafini (1st round MLB draft pick in 1992) didn’t allow any runs until the 4th inning, when he allowed the only two runs of the game. Interestingly, neither Denorfia nor Serafini were actually born in Italy. There is not birth or residency requirement in the WBC, so you see a lot of people (Americans, especially) playing for the country of their ancestors. This is true of many teams, not just Italy – I’m not suggesting that there is anything wrong with this, just that it’s an interesting aspect to the WBC.

Next: Italy and Venezuela face off in game 5, with the winner getting a trip to the next round.

Game 3 (loser eliminated): Dominican Republic vs. Panama (Sunday)
The Dominican Republic bounced back from their upset loss to the Netherlands by shutting down Panama 9-0. Miguel Olivio hit two homers. Dominican starting pitcher Johnny Cueto went 4 2/3 innings. He allowed just two hits and a walk, but he did plunk two batters.

Game 4 (winner advances) Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico (Monday)
This game was closer than Puerto Rico would have liked, but they managed to punch their ticket to the next round with a 3-1 win over the Netherlands. The Netherlands scored in the top of the first and held a 1-0 lead until the 8th inning, when catcher Yadier Molina (of the famous catching Molinas) drove home two runs with a double.

Next: Game 5 will be a rematch of the Domincan Republic and Netherlands. The Netherlands has now strung together two good games – can they beat the Dominican Republic again and clinch a spot in the next round? I like the Dominican Republic to win the WBC, so I can’t turn against them now – I think the DR does bounce back and beat the Netherlands.

This is the first installment in a three part series. Catch the other installments on the next two Mondays.

I’m the youngest of eight children. None of my siblings have any interest in sports. I really didn’t become a sports fan until I was in third grade. My teacher was a sports fan. At some point during the third grade, I decided the sports were cool and became a fan.

At that age, most of the kids followed the same sports teams. Everyone followed the Iowa Hawkeyes, of course. The Cubs and Bears were also very popular. I quickly became a die hard fan of these teams. I also became a fan of the LA Lakers, although the reason for this isn’t particularly clear, since LA is a long way from Iowa.

My timing really could not have been better. I became a sports fan in late 1983 – early 1984. Ryne Sandberg was my favorite player. Ryno led the Cubs on a magical ride to their first playoff appearance since 1945. He was named the National League MVP. The Cubs, alas, fell to the Padres in the National League Championship Series and would not return to the playoffs until 1989 (where they would once again fall in the NLCS).

1985 was a great year for my football teams. My Chicago Bears went 15-1 during the regular season before advancing to the Super Bowl and running roughshod over the New England Patriots 46-10. The lone negative aspect of that year was the fact that Walter Payton did not score a touchdown in that Super Bowl game.

My Iowa Hawkeyes also had a dream season in 1985. In the greatest game in the history of the University of Iowa, the #1 ranked Hawkeyes knocked off #2 ranked Michigan 12-10 on a Rob Houghtlin field goal as time expired. The perfect season was later derailed by a loss to Ohio State, but the Hawks were the Big 10 champs and represented the conference in the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, they were undone by Ronnie Harmon fumbles and lost the bowl game.

The Iowa basketball team also had some bright moments – notably a Sweet 16 appearance in 1988 – and featured stars such as BJ Armstrong, Roy Marble, and Acie Earl.

The brightest spot in my early sports fanhood were my LA Lakers. Unlike most fans my age, I never became a fan of Michael Jordan. My man was Magic Johnson, the 6’9” point guard for the Lakers. Magic led the Lakers to the NBA title in 1985, 1987, and 1988, as well as appearances in the NBA Finals in 1984, 1989, and 1991. His annual battles with Larry Bird was the stuff of legends.

At this point, I’ll go on a bit of a tangent to discuss the positive aspects of sports on children. At the time when I became a sports fan, I was a lackluster student. My newfound interest in sports compelled me to read any sports related item I came across. When I read the sports section, I even read about the sports that I didn’t follow. Sports also helped me build my math skills. Statistics are a key aspect of sports, and I became adept at calculating the statistics. In a couple of years, I became a very good student, emerging as a strong writer and math student.

Note: In case you missed it, I slipped in a second post – a WBC update – late in the day yesterday. When you’re finished reading today’s post, go ahead and read that one as well.

I am a firm believer in the importance of a fantasy team’s name. If you take the easy way out and name your team “Bob’s Team”, what sort of a message does this send to your team? The players can tell that the lack of creativity stems from pure, unadulterated laziness. Suddenly, the players think that it’s OK for them to be lazy. Your hitters stop running out ground balls and your pitchers lose focus on their follow through. Suddenly, your fantasy team is in the crapper – all because you couldn’t take the time to think of a name.

On the flip side, a brilliant team name can do wonders for the psyche of a team. Out of the blue, that good-field, no-hit shortstop is hitting .330 with 20 homers on July 1.

Another important rule is that you cannot reuse a name from one year to the next (or for teams in multiple fantasy leagues). Each team has its own unique identity, and giving each team a unique name fosters the team concept. There is an exception for keeper leagues. If more than 70% of the players are retained from one year to the next, you may use the name you used the previous year.

Each year, I spend a considerable amount of time thinking of the name. “Satan’s Navy” and “Hobbes Eats Calvin” have been names of former teams. I have a couple dozen names that I have retained for possible future use.

I am proud to announce that I have narrowed the choices for my 2009 fantasy team to the final 2.5 names.

1A) Tulo’s Whiskey. This is derived from the name of my favorite player, Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

1B) Tulo’s Wet Skis. Same general idea as 1A.

2) Jesus Cust, Superstar! The name of the famous rock opera has been altered to allow A’s hitter Jack Cust to step into a starring role. I’m a big fan of Cust’s combination of walks and homers.

Do you have an opinion? If so, tell me which name you prefer by leaving a comment (note: you can comment as “anonymous” – this allows you to comment without creating an account). I’ll still be in charge of the final decision (it is still my team), but I’ll take your opinions under advisement.

Tomorrow’s post will describe the evolution of my fanhood.

I was going to wait until midweek to do this update, but I’m too excited about the WBC to wait.

Game 2:
Korea clobbered Taipei 9-0. The starting pitcher for Taipei was knocked out after 1/3 of an inning. He allowed two hits (including a grand slam by Jin Young Lee), walked three batters, and hit a man. The bullpen actually did a decent job, but the horse was already out of the barn at that point.

Game 3 (loser eliminated)
The losers of games 1 and 2, China and Taipei, met in this game. China starting pitcher Lu Jiangang pitched into the sixth inning and allowed just one run. Ray Chang was 3-4 with a homer, a double, two RBI, and a run scored. China won the game 4-1. Taipei is eliminated from the tournament. China will face the winner of game 4 to determine who survives.

Game 4 (winner automatically advances)
In the winner’s bracket, Japan trounced Korea 14-2, as the mercy rule (ahead 10+ runs after 7 innings or 15+ runs after 5 innings) comes into play. Korea’s starting pitcher Kwang Hynug Kim was touched up for eight runs in 1 1/3 innings of work. Jpana starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was pretty good through four innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. The two runs came in the first inning. Daisuke settled down after that point. The Japanese bullpen was dominant, allowing no hits and one walk over the final three innings. The margin of victory over a quality opponent is definitely a feather in the hat of Team Japan.

Korea will face China in game 5. The loser will be eliminated. The winner will face Japan in game 6 to determine who is the pool winner for pool A. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Clearly, the winner of the winner’s bracket would be the pool winner.

No games have been played.

Game 1 will feature a monstrous mismatch, with Cuba facing South Africa. I’m predicting a mercy rule outcome – perhaps even the 5th inning mercy rule (one team ahead by 15 runs)

Game 2 will be Mexico against Australia. This game is in Mexico City. The house should be rockin’, and Mexico should win.

Game 1:
This was a border war between the US and Canada. The game lived up to its billing, with the US winning 6-5. There were five homeruns in the game – two by Canada and three by the US. Adam Dunn had the homer that put the US ahead 6-3. Kevin Youkilis and Brian McCann also homered for the US, while Joey Votto and Russell Martin hit dingers for Team Canada.

Game 2:
Italy starting pitcher Mark DiFelice did not allow any runs for the first four innings against favored Venezuela. In the fifth inning, the wheels came off, with relievers Jason Grilli and Lenny DiNardo allowing four runs. Venezuela went on to win 7-0. Venezuela starter Carlos Silva scattered six hits in four innings, allowing no runs. Felix Hernandex went four innings and allow just one hit and no runs.

Next:
The US will face Venezuela in the winner’s bracket (game 4), with the winner clinching a spot in the next round. This should be a good game.

Canada be favored against Italy in the loser’s bracket (game 3), with the loser being eliminated.

Game 1:
The shock of the tournament so far was Netherland’s 3-2 defeat of the Dominican Republic. The Dutch were not considered to be serious contenders, whereas the Dominicans were one of the popular picks to win the WBC. The Netherlands loaded the bases in the first with a single, a bunt single, and a walk. A run sored on a wild pitch by Edinson Volquez, and two more scored on a Hanley Ramirez error. Sidney Ponson and the bullpen held on for a 3-2 win. Dominican Willy Taveras was gunned down trying to steal third base to end the game. The talent differential between these two teams is rather large; this definitely qualifies as a major upset. Note: the Netherlands includes players from the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, such as Curacao.

Game 2:
Puerto Rico’s Ivan Rodriguez homered twice, and teammate Carlos Delgado hit another as Puerto Rico beat Panama 7-0. Javier Vasquez and the PR bullpen held Panama to five hits.

Next:
Netherlands will face Puerto Rico in the winner’s bracket (game 4) with the winner clinching a spot in the next round. Puerto Rico will be a big favorite in that game.

Domincan Republic will face Panama in the loser’s bracket (game 3) with the loser being eliminated from the tournament. Dominican Republic will be a big favorite in that game.

Note: I am going to continue to provide WBC updates as I have the time. I will also be doing some other posts, so you may see several days that have more than one post.

There are so many ways to waste time on the internet, but I’ll focus on just a few.

Snopes
OK, this can actually be pretty useful. Snopes is a leader in the industry of myth debunking. Snopes currently lists 43 different myth topics, ranging from Disney to politics. There’s even a category devoted to debunking dozens of myths about the 911 attacks, including:

– Osama Bin Laden owns Snapple – false

– Bert (from Sesame Street) appears on posters carried by Bin Laden Supporters – true!

It can be interesting simply to browse the Snopes archives. Many of the myths are mind boggling, and they make for very entertaining reads. Snopes can also come in handy when your friend forwards you the latest email about an outrage that is occurring in congress. You can search on key words and get the information you need to tell your friend that someone is yanking his chain.

The articles on Snopes are well researched, and the sources of their information are clearly noted at the end of the articles.

Says-it
Says-it allows you to create add your own text to signs – church signs, bank signs, danger signs, and more. Here is an image I created.

On a forum that I subscribe to, one member uses a custom church sign as his signature – with custom messages that poke (good natured) fun at other members.

Says-it was also used to design the logo for this blog.

GraphJam
GraphJam allows you to quickly create custom charts. Pie charts are my favorite, mostly because I like pie.

You can easily waste a lot of time looking at all the cool graphs that other people have designed. Here’s a quick graph that I came up with.

Note that GraphJam is a part of the ICanHasCheezburger family of sites (probably best known for LolCats) – so if you haven’t wasted enough time on GraphJam, you can always jump over to some of its sister sites.

World baseball classic
The WBC got underway on Thursday, as Japan beat China 4-0. Japan starting pitcher Yu Darvish set the pace early, allowing no runs and walking just one batter. The five relievers each allowed exactly one hit and did not walk anyone. Third baseman Shuichi Murata provided offense with a two run homer.

Darvish is a candidate to be the breakout star during this WBC. Many die hard fans already know him, but the WBC will allow him to reach a wider fan base. The 22 year old Darvish is the son of an Iranian father and Japanese mother who met while attending college in Florida. They settled in Japan, were Yu was born.

Yu had a very successful high school career. Several major league teams were interested in him, but he stayed in Japan and was drafted by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (note: Hokkaido is the name of the island, Nippon Ham is the name of the sponsor, Fighters is the team name).

Yu has had great success for the Fighters:
2005 (age 19): 5-5, 3.53 ERA
2006 (age 20): 12-5, 2.89
2007 (age 21): 15-5, 1.82
2008 (age 22): 16-4, 1.88

Yu has also increased his strikeout rate while decreasing his walk rate. The net result is a strikeout : walk ratio of more than 4:1 over the last two seasons.

Of course, it must be noted that many baseball people consider the Japanese leagues to be on par with an AAA league in the US, a step below the major leagues. However, if a 22 year old player was putting up these numbers for an AAA team, the team would be very happy, as these would be great numbers and would suggest that the player would have a successful major league career.

Darvish has stated that he has no intention of signing with a US team any time in the near future and that he would like to win 200 games in Japan. This is a bit disappointing to me, as I would like to chance to see Yu pitch on a regular basis (preferably for my team).

Korea and Taipei face off at 3:30 AM Central time on Friday. This is too late of a start time to meet the TCO’s publishing deadline. The Asian teams are starting a couple days early because of travel considerations (they play the first round in Tokyo; all other pools play in North America)

Baseball injury watch
Alex Rogriguez has a torn labrum in his hip. He may face a surgery that would require four months of rehabilitation. Keep on eye on this story before grabbing A-Rod high in your fantasy draft.

Boating accident
In sad news, two NFL players (Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith) and two other men (Will Bleakley and Nick Schuyler) were on a fishing trip in Florida when the weather turned bad and their boat overturned. Schuyler was rescued. The other three have not been found, and hope is fading.

Matt Cassell trade
Former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassell and linebacker Mike Vrabel were traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for pick #34 in the NFL draft. Even with the high value teams place on draft picks, I think this is a great deal for the Chiefs. It is true that Cassell had a lot of weapons at his disposal in New England, but you still have to make effective use of those weapons.

Manny
Manny Ramirez ended months of posturing by finally signing a contract with the Dodgers. Manny will make $25 million in 2009, with a player option of $20M in 2010. $25M of the money is deferred over the span of five years. I’m not a big fan of the player option. In theory, this would allow Manny to hit .200 with 5 HR, and then exercise his option and make $20M in 2010 – but if he hit .370 with 50 HRs, he could opt out and perhaps sign with the Yankees for $30M. If you wanted Manny for two years, make it a regular two year contract.

Kurt Warner
In negotiations that were considerably better (although Warner did allow the 49ers to woo him) Kurt Warner signed a deal with the Cardinals – two years with a total compensation of $23M. Warner will give back $2M if the Cardinals are able to renegotiate the contract of WF Anquan Boldin. I’m a big fan of Warner (although my wife is even more of a fan) and I’m hoping he lights up the skies again next year. Maybe he can seal the deal and win a Super Bowl for the Cardinals (how strange does that sound) and punch his ticket to Canton.

TCO weekend
The Soap Boxers will bring you some light reading this weekend.

Saturday: Some good time wasters on the internet
Sunday: The importance of a good fantasy team name

A few months ago, our natural gas detector’s alarm went off. A guy from the utility company was quickly out to the house to take a look. Within about a minute, he had deemed it to be a false alarm. At that point, however, he did not simply leave. He poked around the utility closet and began giving suggestions (which were appreciated). At one point, he noticed water under the water heater and recommended having this checked out very soon. This was the weekend, so I kept an eye on things. I noted that the spot under the water heater was dry about 90% of the time. The odds of it being wet at a time when I was looking into the utility closet were not good. If the guy from the gas company hadn’t noticed it, it probably would have been too late. I absolutely hate cleaning up water messes.

There was a sticker on the water heater, recommending calling a particular business for service. It was a pest control business, which definitely seemed odd. However, I have seen business doing some very unusual things as a sideline, so I figured I’d give the guy a call, on the off chance that he was the correct person to call.

Not surprisingly, he was not the correct person to call. He got quite a chuckle out of the fact that his sticker was on the heater. He did recommend another local business. He had recently had his water heater replaced, and he had been happy with the service.

I called the water heater guy. He told me that, most likely, the water heater was shot. This was not a huge shock, and since it was probably as old as the house (15 years) it was probably time to bite the bullet and buy a new water heater. He indicated that he could sell me a heater and install it, or I could purchase a heater elsewhere and have him install it. I asked for a price quote for 40 and 50 gallon heaters. He gave me the quotes and strongly recommended the 40 gallon heater for my family of three. I tend to get a good vibe about a person’s honesty when they try to sell me the less expensive product.

I decided to buy a heater at a local store and have the guy install it, as it was a bit cheaper that way. I made some measurements and compared them to the specs for the 50 gallon water heater. I should have just barely enough room.

The guy came to do the installation. He nearly fainted when he saw the cramped quarters of the utility closet (there is absolutely no wiggle room, which seems like a rather poor design). He grabbed a tape measure, and much to my dismay, he declared that I am a half inch short on space!

So I go back to the store, and buy the 40 gallon model. The installer came back the next day, and before long, I have a perfectly functioning water heater. The installer had a very pleasant demeanor and shared advice and stories with me as he worked.

Less than a week later, my neighbor asked if I like the job that this guy did. My neighbor’s water heater also bit the dust. I gave a glowing recommendation, and the water heater guy soon had another happy customer.

This is a great example of how someone is rewarded for providing high quality customer service. This guy turned one original customer (the pest control guy) into two more customers by simply providing good customer service.

Since I know there are a couple of local readers, I’ll give the business a free plug : it is Hawkeye Sewer and Drain.

My favorite sport is baseball, America’s Pastime.

My second favorite sport is luge, which is definitely not America’s pastime. It is a sport that is only on TV during Olympic years, and even then gets less coverage than figure skating.

I’m not really sure how I became a fan of luge. I don’t live in a luge hotbed (such as Lake Placid or … Lake Placid) nor are any of my family or friends big fans of luge. Oddly, I hate winter and cold weather. But I love watching people put themselves in danger by jumping on a tiny sled and flying down a hill – within a tunnel of ice – at breakneck speeds. The perfect run is a difficult goal, with the sled having a mind of its own and often disregards the guidance of the rider. This makes the rare perfect run a sight to behold, and something to celebrate. I love to see a perfect run, and will cheer for that luger, regardless of their nationality.

The Winter Olympics are just a year away, and I’m getting excited for televised luge. I have even begun following luge news on the internet. If you have never watched luge, do yourself a favor and make it appointment viewing in 2010.

Luge is not the only unpopular sport that I follow.

At first glance, track would not appear to be an unpopular sport. Track gets a ton of coverage during the Summer Olympics, and everyone saw Usain Bolt’s record-setting run in the 100 meter dash.

However, I’m really not a fan of the sprints. Sure, I’ll watch them, but I’m a fan of the distance runners. On my fantasy Olympic team last summer, my track athletes consisted of 5K/10K runners and a hammer thrower – and all them won gold medals for me.

My favorite track athlete is Alan Webb, who is best known as the US national record holder in the mile. I received a pre-Olympic disappointment in 2008 when Webb failed to qualify for the Olympics in the 1500 meter run.

My interest in distance running – and the mile in particular – does have a logical basis. I ran track in high school, and my event was the mile. My efforts could best be described as “slow”.

My favorite track event, though, is not the mile. It is the steeplechase. The steeplechase is a 3000 meter (nearly 2 mile) race. The race also features 28 heavy duty hurdles (they don’t topple like the hurdles in shorter races) and 7 water jumps. The water jumps are essentially hurdles with water pit behind them – the further you jump over the hurdle, the shallower the water. You can imagine the athletic skills it takes to excel in the steeplechase (as well as the inevitable failures and people experience splashdowns)

Really, if someone does a good job of televising any sport, I’ll probably enjoy watching it. I even caught myself watching badminton during the Olympics.

One time, my wife happened to come into the room while I was watching something on TV. “What is that?” she asked. Why, the National Lacrosse League, of course!