Spitfire Thoughts (8/21)

• I never thought I would say this on August 21st, but I really don't want to see David Wright, Jose Reyes, or Carlos Beltran in a Met uniform again this season. It's been a lost season for a while, ever since the latter two of the aforementioned three went down with injuries. These injuries were completely mishandled by the training staff and were probably only made worse in the long run. I'm glad these guys have one job and one job only and can't get it done. I don't see a reason to rush back these core ouf the team for a season that is already lost. Time to let some of the younger players and prospects get on the field and get a sample of what we will see in the years to come.


• I know everyone is tired of hearing about Brett Favre, but there is no denying that he makes the Vikings a better team. Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels are really both career backups. Brett Favre should have about the same role on the Vikings this year as he did with his outstanding cameo in "There's Something about Mary", very little. If they can keep defenses honest with a well-timed vertical passing game, we may see a 2,000 yard rushing season for Adrian Peterson and a deep playoff run for the Vikes. Time will tell.


• For such an uneventful and long summer, I always sit here in late August and wonder where it went. I feel like just yesterday it was the 4th of July. Reality has set in that in 10 days I will be out of the country for 3 1/2 straight months, and I couldn't be more excited about that. Seeing people leave for school has really spurred on that feeling more so in recent days.


• Usain Bolt is a once-in-a-smoker's lifetime (copyright Drew Colon) athlete. He has broken 5 world records in the past year, and did it in both the 100 and 200 meter races at this week's World Championships in Berlin. He just turned 23 years old today and is thought to have not reached his peak. That thought is scary - can he challenge 9.00 in the 100 and 19.00 in the 200?


• Will the Knicks please sign Ramon Sessions already? I'm done with Nate, ship him off to one of those franchises who only care about selling tickets than they do about winning (LA Clips, Sacramento). Sessions is our point guard of the future, it's time to get this done.

Leaving for College

Last night I was the unfortunate witness of a catastrophe in my own house. It was the sight of 5 girls on one of their last nights together before leaving for college. When I had first returned from work my first guess was that either the Real Housewives series was cancelled, or someone had lost their favorite pocket book. I soon realized, however, that this was their send- off party for the first two to leave. It was a solemn night full of cries and forced laughs in an attempt to counteract said crying. The night culminated in a trip to the grammar school they all met up at many years ago. The place where it all began.

Don't get me wrong, leaving for college is not an easy thing to do. Leaving your comfort zone for completely new surroundings is by no means a walk in the park. I wanted to say something to try to lighten up the mood last night but I remembered that you need those last couple nights of crying and pure fear of leaving your friends to remind yourself how lucky you are to have them in the first place. If you don't go through a night like that, then I feel sorry for you. Whether it's with your friends, boy/girlfriend, or family - or all of them - the despair of leaving everyone behind is inevitable and there is just no way in the world to avoid it.

The hard thing to realize on those nights is that you are heading off to a place that you will learn to call home for the next four years. The supposed best four years of your life. After the goodbyes are said the new feeling is one of anxiety and great anticipation. The friendship you have spent years and years building up is going nowhere, other than a different place. The only thing that sucks is that everyone on facebook has to watch those brutal video messages where girls feel necessary to tell each other they're not doing their homework (as always), and they just have to talk because there is sooo much to catch up on (roommates!, boy!, parties!, class!). Yeah, you know the messages i'm talking about. God awful.

Anyway, the world is not going to end, Real Houswives will still be on at its normal time, and you just left your pocketbook in the passenger seat of the car of the boy who drove you home from the last party of the summer. That's something you'll have to worry about over Thanksgiving break - or you could just cut your losses and continue on with your life as is.

Ode to Lamar

This article is one I have been able to put a lot of thought into over the past 2 weeks of my seemingly eventless and meaningless summer. It was a nice Saturday morning (August 1st), and my buddy Anthony and I were up around 6:45 to make a trek to our mecca of golf, Apple Mountain. After some brief dialogue we decided that the vehicle of choice would be Lamar. For those of you do not know, Lamar was my 1990 Volvo 760 turbo series ex-car. Waking up that Saturday morning, I had no clue that this day would be my last with my friend and car, Lamar.

It was a nice day of golf and a free pitcher of Yuengling at Apple Mountain. Lamar was smooth as always for the trip, the absolute epitome of a "big trip-car". This is similar to Curt Schilling being labeled as a "big-game pitcher." The trip home was very smooth and I soon retreated to the couch in my living room to relax for a little while before going out to party for the night. And when I say party, I mean play Fifa 09' in my living room with my laptop next to me for the night. In any event, I digress. My father came home with some shocking news; we were going to get a new car in the Cash for Clunkers program, and I should immediately start to clean out Lamar, and bring him to the dealership within the hour. Panic set off in my head; I knew this day would come, but everything happened so fast. After a lengthy clean-out and brief photoshoot, it was me just me and Lamar on the 15 minute drive to the Maxon Hyundai-Mazda dealership on route 22. There was no sound to distract either of us, no Air Conditioning (it never worked once over the 3 years we spent together), no radio (same as A/C). It was a very awkward situation, but I think he understood. I could sense it in the way his engine purred along without one last stall on the way there. It was his mature understanding of the situation, and how I really had no choice but to cash in on this program.

Throughout our eventful 3 years together, there were inevitably many ups and downs along with several near-death experiences as well. There was the non-functional air conditioning and radio, the stalling of the engine at the most inopportune intersections. Along with the stalling came the embarrassment of having to hurriedly start up my car while countless impatient gibronis leaned on their horns behind me. Lamar didn't give me much luxury or flash, but what he gave day in and day out was true grit and heart. He got me to and from Fairfield all year long, with trips to Providence, Boston and Pennsylvania mixed in as well. Everytime a big trip was on tap, he showed up on game day and performed flawlessly. We had the best of times, and the worst of times. One man's pain is now some random junkyard's pleasure. Rest in Peace.

Countries Quiz Completed

After several months, I along with the help of Jason Waks, have finally finished the Countries of the World Quiz. Yes, this is my summer...

Hermione Granger is very smart...

Just came across this story about Emma Watson (Hermione in the Harry Potter series) heading off to Brown University in the fall...

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20292428,00.html

Hermione Granger is smart in real life, too

Just saw this report that Emma Watson (Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series)