Breaking Away - A Bloomington, Indiana Experience

So as some of you may or may not know, I've recently moved to Bloomington, Indiana (I live like right next to the massive football stadium, or just off to the left of this picture).

Anyways, it's awesome so far. Delicious locally owned food everywhere. Hoosierdom as far as the eye can see. And most importantly, as I've found out, a hot bed of cycling.

Who knew? Certainly not me. But it's been awesome, particularly this past weekend when the town had bike races. Young adults to elderly biked all over downtown, which was completely shut down to create a mile long race rack for the bikers. The scene was amazing, especially when you consider that my girlfriend and I got to watch it while drinking $3 pitchers at Kilroy's on Kirkwood. I have to say, the only better thing than a bike race through town is a bike race through town while tipsy. And hey, after it all ended, we even found Dio on a building downtown!

So that was all well and good. But it got even better the next night, when the town screened "Breaking Away." I had never seen the movie, which stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern (of Home Alone fame) and is also ranked #14 on ESPN's list of all time best sports movies (Hoosiers is #4). While the trailer to Breaking Away posted at the top of this page looks really cheesy, it's actually an amazing, hilarious, inspirational film, and I highly suggest any readers watch it if you haven't had a chance to yet.

By the way, much of the film is all about Indiana University's Little 500, an intense student bike race that involves teams of four completeing 500 grueling laps around a stadium. The event sounds amazing, but being a Bloomington transplantee of 22 days, I have yet to see it. That'll change April 23rd and 24th of 2010, and I'll be sure to post the awesome event for all of you to see when it happens. I know I can hardly wait!

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Futbolito!

Man, I just love Gillette Stadium.

Today I had the pleasure of attending MLS' Futbolito, a 4 on 4 soccer tournament that involved 4' by 6' nets and a 20' by 30' field, as well as no goalies and a weird box in front of the goal that you couldn't touch the ball in (to reduce "camping"). There were tons of people there, with 24 fields per practice field (48 total) and another 12 or so inside Gillette Stadium itself (where the above picture is from). And even though it began to rain early on (and just got worse, as my shirt and pants were stuck to my body as I left), some great soccer was played and a lot of awesome times were had.

I personally had the pleasure of following around my brother's under 16 team, FCLC, as they played throughout the day. Two wins (7-1 and 5-2) were followed by a disputed tie (I say it was 8-7 us, the ref claims 7 all), and that was good enough to win the group. What followed (post Qdoba stop) was an intense matchup against the always pretty good but also always a little chippy FC Puma entry. FCLC went up early but Puma came back, and FC was down 6-5 as the game neared the end of the second half. Both teams started to push and shove a lot and get a little frustrated in the slop, but somehow FCLC's Johnny McBride caught hold of one and put it in the net to tie the game up at 6 a piece just before the second half ended. Truly the stuff of champions.

OT One was Sudden Death, but no one managed to put a shot in. There were several good chances from both teams, but a lot of the period was filled with pushes and complaints about no calls, mostly from one Puma player who scored a lot of goals but also apparently thought he was a ref.

OT Two was short and bittersweet, as one Puma player took the ball about two minutes in and put in the game winner from close by. He followed this up with one of the least classy displays of sportsmanship I have ever seen, as he extended both arms, middle fingers raised, towards the entire FCLC team. A hard fought game by both teams, and I'm impressed by Puma's resolve to come through in a double OT game after losing the lead late in regulation, but I can't get behind a team that pulls crap like that. So kind of a shitty ending, but I guess it is what it is (although, to be fair, this was the semifinal - Puma was killed by FC United in the actual final, so karma is a BITCH!).

Some other notables of the day:
(Almost) Goal of the Day - At one point in the tie game, FCLC's Uday Agrawal had a great chance all alone right in front of the net with a 3-1 lead. Instead of putting in the easy goal, he fell to the ground and attempted to head the ball through the "no touch" box and into the net. The ball stopped just short of the goal line and no goal was scored, but it was easily one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen on a soccer field.

Store of the Day - Bass Pro Shops. The one in Patriot Place not only has archery and fishing lessons available, but it also had a giant ship AND giant whale. It's pretty ridiculous, but also kind of awesome, and there must've been 400 people in the store today during a break from gameplay. I was impressed.

Last but not Least, Team Name of the Day - The very first team FCLC faced called themselves the "Scrappy Sausages," which was pretty funny. I guess they were actually Canton High School's JV team. For the record, Canton has been home to Mo Vaughn, Dana Barros, Randy Moss and Jonathan Papelbon, among others. So that's pretty sweet.

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MLS Soccer 5/30/09: Revolution 2, DC United 1

Seems like I've been to ten trillion sporting events since I've been home, especially at Gillette stadium. Today's was a doozy, as a heated game between the Revs and United ended in a 2-1 victory, but only after a questionable penalty kick goal for the Revolution in the 90th minute.

The game started pretty slow, with DC showing a slight advantage but a lot of heading and few chances. Eventually Revolution Matt Reis made an incredible save on a diving header in front, and the crowd went nuts. However, several minutes later Fred (that's his whole name, how cool is that) put in a beautiful goal of a sweet gimme pass from Luciano Emilio Estevez (who my brother thought looked like Ronnie Turiaf, but only thanks to the braids he now sports.

Anyways, 1-0 DC at half even after Taylor Twellman (who had been injured lately) enters and the crowd goes wild. After half however, Chris Tierney (who is terrible) was taken out for Kenny Mansally (an unfortunate name but an okay player) . Mansally made an almost immediate impact, as very quickly into the new half he made a sweet cross that Shalrie Joseph (pictured above) headed in for the tying goal.

So that was awesome, the crowd erupted. Then there were a lot of penalties back and forth and few good chances. A few times it seemed like the Revs should have gotten a penalty kick on bad fouls by DC. However, the ref (who was so huge and the kids behind us kept saying must be on steroids) kept making terrible calls (like giving a card for a tackle in the box but no penalty, or calling the game over when the ball was nowhere near midfield and confusing the entire DC team) and so he didn't give the Revs any penalties.

Until the 87th minute that is. On a nonfoul. So that's awkward.

Steve Ralston nailed it home, the Revs were up in the 90th minute, and they held on for all of injury time to pull out the win. Ra ra siss boom bah, yay Revs!

Final Thoughts:

Best Hawker Ever: Same guy from the NCAA Lax Tourney (it is after all the same stadium). His beauty tonight? He signed this weird guy's shirt after the guy asked him to, and then peddled his diet pepsi with this gem: "Diet Pepsi will add ten years to your life. That's vitality that even viagra can't do. Unbelievable."

Worst fans of the Night: Those kids from Framingham who sat near us. One claimed his high school team could take the Revolution because "they make a lot of dumb mistakes" and then later claimed that soccer was rigged. They were sort of annoying when they called the refs zebras (soccer reds wear yellow and no stripes so it doesn't really work) and kept talking about smoking blunts, but it got real bad when some crazy guy sat near us and they just kept antagonizing him and it got reaaal awkward for the families around us. No question the guy was nuts, but these kids were douches, and I'd really like to see them take on the Revs now to see them get destroyed. Guess I can dream.

Best fans of the Night: The kids next to us. One of them said "I think the refs afraid of yellow," which was adorable.

Man of the Match: Kevin Alston (Ok, not really, but no one was particuarly awesome, and just look at Alston's picture). Plus he shares a last name with Skip to my Lou and Corey Alston, so that's ill.

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High School Lacrosse News: Saint John's over Shrewsbury 13-9

Technically this would be a FIELD TRIP! but I didn't take any pictures and it'll be a relatively short post, so no special tag.

Anyways, in a game three years in the making, Saint John's of Shrewsbury (16-3) took out Shrewsbury (11-6) in the Quaterfinals of the Central Massachusetts Lacrosse Playoffs. Why was this game so anticipated? Well for one, a prep school will always be natural rivals with the town that it's placed in, and this is very much the case between SJ and SHS, and every game is extremely well attended. Additionally though, Saint John's was the cream of the crop when lacrosse first got big in Central Massachusetts (around 2000). They'd routinely beat local teams by scores of 16-2 and win CMass every year. However, the last time they won was 2003, when yours truly was playing goalie and we lost to Amherst Pelham in States. Since then Saint John's has repeatedly come up empty, with the last two years being most painful since they lost each championship game to Shrewsbury, a former cellar dwellar of the early 00's.

Today SJ finally made it happen, though not entirely convincingly. SJ jumped to an early 2-0 lead before Shrewsbury scored a quick 2 and tied it back up. Eventually SJ pulled ahead, however, and entered half at 8-4. And that would be there difference, as both teams scored 5 goals in the second half, ending the game at its final 13-9 score.

Final Thoughts: Colin O'Rourke, an All American for SJ this year and one of two CMass players this year to get a D1 scholarship, was a big part of the outcome of today's game. Even though he was locked off by a midfielder for most of the game, he still managed to put up a number of goals and assists. He was injured the past two years for the Shrewsbury game, and it makes you wonder if SJ would have won back then had he played...Goalie play is huge, and today proved it. SJ's goalie made some huge saves in the second half that killed SHS momentum, while the SHS keeper wasn't doing it after a solid start...Saint John's continues on into the Semifinals to face Grafton, who beat Saint Peter Marian's today in overtime to advance.

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Cornell vs. Syracuse Division 1 Lacrosse Final - One For the Ages

After this game ended, a 10-9 Syracuse win in overtime after a furious 3 goal comeback, my brother turned to me and said "This just may be the greatest sporting event I've ever personally witnessed." And you know, I just may have to agree.

Down 9-6 with about 5 minutes left, Cuse finally began to attack on offense after missing the net all day long. But even then, it seemed too little too late, as Cornell had the ball and a one goal lead with 27 seconds left on the clock. It all seemed to be over.

But Cornell couldn't manage to clear the ball. The long pole carrying the ball lost it around midfield, and a cuse midfielder picked it up. In triple coverage, he threw up a behind the back prayer of a pass that was caught about 20 yards downfield by a Cuse attackman. This attackman ran a bit, then got himself into double coverage, but somehow got off a pass across crease to Kenny Nims. Nims, with 4.6 seconds left, threw a single fake on Cornell Keeper Jake Myers before putting the ball in the net. Possibly, or rather probably, the GREATEST twenty five seconds of lacrosse I have ever seen (and the funny thing is, Nims has done this before).

Overtime was essentially all Syracuse's (losing a three goal lead in five minutes killed all Cornell momentum). After a quick strip on defense by Sid Smith (and his flowing locks) Cuse held the ball for about two minutes before finally scoring on an awkward pass and shoot (the goal was on the doorstep, but the pass to set it up was sort of an awkward lob), and the crowd absolutely erupted (There were about 50,000 fans present in total and it definitely felt like 2/3 of them were Cuse fans).

Without further adieu, my thoughts on specifics:

Player of the Game: This is a really tough one. I was all set to give it Cornell Midfielder John Glynn, who scored at least a hat trick and also won nearly every faceoff of the first three quarters. However, it's Cuse who eventually came out on top in the end, and their dominance on fourth quarter faceoffs had a lot to do with that. It's tempting to go with Nims and his game tying goal, or Cody Jamieson (who scored the game winner) or even Sid Smith (who had the excellent strip in overtime to set up the game winner). However, I'm giving player of the game to the player who threw the over the shoulder pass that set up the game tying goal by Nims. For now he will remain anonymous since I have no idea who he was, but his pass could not have been much more perfect, and so I give him credit for an amazing play.

Play/Goal of the Game: The Nims Goal. As if there was any question. Although Ryan Hurley of Cornell made a sweet cut around the crease with a dump to John Glynn to set up one of Cornell's last goals, and that would have been the goal of the game if not for the last second heroics of Cuse.

How Far Cuse Had to Come Back: At around 10 minutes left in the 4th Quarter, the game was 7-6 Cornell and looking close. Cornell's Jake Myers made a huge save on the doorstep, but as he was on the ground a Cuse player scooped the ball up and over him for an apparent goal. However, the player was in the crease, the goal was called back, and Cuse was deflated. Cornell then went on to possess the ball for three straight minutes (including 2 Cuse penalties) until Max Seibald put in goal number 8 for Cornell. It only got worse when goal number 9 scored, but Cuse refused to lay down and take it, and you have to give them credit for that.

Damn You Played Good, Sorry You Lost: John Glynn, as mentioned, played lights out today. Jake Myers, who I've already mentioned several times in this post, also was incredible. His best save (and probably the save of the game) came with 4 seconds left in the first half on a point blank Cuse scoring opportunity, which is pretty strange when you consider how the game tying goal scored. I guess shot opportunities with 4 seconds left were just kind of Syracuse's thing today.

Hawker of the Tournament: I'm tempted to go with this one guy who shouted great things like "Buy my stuff" and "Getch ya Cheesy Deliciousness Here," but my choice is one Italian Ice Hawker from Sunday's Division 2 Game. His classic line? "Get your italian ice here. See the world in another dimension. The Italian Dimension. Unbelievable."

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FIELD TRIP! D2 and D3 College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium

The College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette continued yesterday, and so does my coverage of them here! Sadly a ticket misprint led to me and my brother not getting to the first game until half time, and so I don't have a whole lot to say about Cortland's 9-7 win over Gettysburg. I do, however, have a lot to say about the later game, an 8-7 nail biting win by C.W. Post over Le Moyne.

Meaningless Stat of the Game: Le Moyne had, according to the scoreboard late in the 4th period, beaten C.W. Post 7 times in a row. That streak obviously ended yesterday.

Player of the Game: Without question, C.W. Post's Dan Sciulla. Early on I wasn't super impressed by him, he made the saves he had to and missed the ones that were real difficult (and had a deflection go in that wasn't his fault as well). But as the game went into crunch time, Sciulla turned into an absolute wall, keeping his team in the lead as well as giving them the momentum to score more. For example, at one point late in the game, Sciulla made a stop from a shot right on the crease that drove the crowd wild. However, as Sciulla picked up the ball, a defender of his had a terrible push in the back which gave possession back to Le Moyne. But Sciulla then made 2 more huge saves, and had 2 more (total is 5) before Le Moyne would score again. That's what you need from a Championship Keeper.

Play of the Game: For a while it was tempting to give it to the Le Moyne player who put in the 7th goal and gave his team a shouting chance. But with about 7 seconds left, Sciulla made a huuuuge save on a really good shot and then beat the ball to the line, ensuring possession and the victory. As C.W. Post chucked the ball down field, their fans absolutely erupted, a truly beautiful scene.

WTF Moment of the Game: One Long Pole Midfielder on C.W. Post, who will remain unnamed, cleared backwards every time he had the chance. This strategy works sometimes (and did for him 2/3 times), but it takes a lot more time and kills any break opportunity, so I didn't understand why he kept at it. The third time he tried, however, he was absolutely decked, and didn't try it again.

Short Term Memory of the Game: C.W. Post player Greg Cerar had a terrible push in the back, with possession, right in front of the referee. However, after his team killed the penalty, Cerar came right out of the box and scored almost immediately. He finished with 4 goals, the last on an empty net after his defender didn't lock off on him.

268 Home runs and One Goal: Brooks Robinson scored goal number four for Le Moyne. Nice to see old Hoover making an appearance at age 72.

Player of the Game if Sciulla didn't play like a house on fire AND Cerar didn't have 4 goals: Daniel DeCosta, C.W. Post. This kid had a huge effort play to beat a sleeping attackman to the line on a shot, a huge check that knocked down his man on a later possession, AND a sick sidelines play where he fell to the ground but still managed to keep the ball in his stick and pass it off despite immense pressure. DeCosta had moxie, and he was messing up Le Moyne's game all day long.


Today at 1pm is the D1 Final between Cornell and Syracuse. Hopefully it'll be a pretty exciting game like the D2 final was, but either way I'll let all you readers know how it went!

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FIELD TRIP! - D1 College Lacrosse Semifinals at Gillette Stadium

Today Outside the Boxscore brings you something a little outside the general area of BallHype related blogs. Most Lacrosse stuff seems to only get reported on ESPN2 and without fanfare, so I thought I'd give it a little write up since I went to the games today and will be at the D1, 2, and 3 championship games tomorrow and Monday.

Today's games were not what you'd call close. Syracuse spanked Duke after a close first quarter and a half 17-7 in the first game, and then Cornell manhandled top seeded Virginia 15-6 in the night (later day?) cap. So were the games interesting from a tension standpoint? No. But were they fun to watch? Oh hell yes. Here's my thoughts:

Names of the Games (Gotta give the Great Name Hall of Fame some kudos here): I thought that Cuse's Pat Perritt and Duke's Parker McKee were awesome names from Game 1. But Game 2 really took the cake on this one, as Virginia's Steele Stanwick and Cornell's Rocco Romero apparently took a time machine from their 1970's Buddy Cop Movie name roots to play in the game. Not only did they play, but they also played well (2 goals a piece), proving that you can have an awesome name and some talent (sorry Earthwind Moreland).


Player(s) of the Game(s): For the Cuse/Duke game, it's a toss up. I really loved the inspired goaltending of Cuse Goalie Joey John Galloway, but I think I have to give the award to Cuse Attackman Kenny Mims Nims. 4 goals on 4 shots with an assist and 2 groundballs added in is pretty impressive.

As for the Cornell/Virginia game, my pick is 100% Cornell goaltender Jake Myers. Only 8 saves versus 6 goals allowed, but he had some amazing saves among those eight. These included a point blank rejection late in the first half after the ref blew the whistle/started the play unexpectedly, as well as an amazing rejection near the start of the third quarter. Cornell was playing great anyways, but Myers made sure Virginia never got back in it, and you have to love that.


Shot(s) of the Game(s): In game one, the second Cuse goal was scored by long pole defender Joel White. He faked like he was going to pass it up to someone who played offense for a living and then fired a shot at the cage, scoring a huge goal.

As for game two, I actually was most impressed by a goal by Virginia's Steele Stanwick. He came out from behind X, faked a pass across the crease, and then tucked the ball inside the close side bottom post of the goal. Jake Myers had a read on it and almost got to it, but the shot was executed to perfection, and so it became one of the few goals Myers gave up all day.


Fan of the Games: The Cuse fan in the middle of this picture, whose shirt read "Real Moms Wear Orange" (though to be honest there was a very intense Cornell fan in a straw hat, bright red corduroys, and a nifty belt that was better, I just didn't get his picture). --->

I had a lot of fun at the games today. Tomorrow are the D2 and D3 finals, and I'll try to post a little something about them when I get back from Gilette Stadium.

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FIELD TRIP! - Jalen Rose for Continental Airlines and a Story or Two

Yesterday I flew home from Rome to Massachusetts, where I'll be writing from for a while. In general the flight home was pretty uneventful, but one thing really struck me, and I figured I'd post it here.

Now a lot of flights now have music channels you can listen to on the flight. Continental has around 20, and a lot of them are decent. One was their hip hop channel, with solid tunes like Diva by Beyonce and Dead and Gone by T.I. with Justin Timberlake. So I listened to it a bit.

And then realized that the DJ was none other than Jalen Rose.

Now don't get me wrong. Jalen Rose was my second favorite player when he played (my first was Mitch "Rock" Richmond and my current favorite is Tyronn Lue, though not for his level of play) and so I give the man credit. But when I thinkof potential Hip Hop DJs, he's not one of the first people that comes to mind. Especially when it comes to airplanes (though the band Trapt was their music DJ, so it isn't like Continental was going with the big names anyways).

Anyways, obviously had to get some quotes. Here's my top three:
3. "That was Dead and Gone, with Justin Timberlane and T.I. lightin' up the sky."

2. "You are officially locked in to the best mix in the sky. What's goin' on? I'm Jalen Rose."

And number 1. "Now that's a smooth cat right there, Kenny "Babyface" Evans."

Much love to Jalen though, even if I think he's not the best DJ ever.


As a bonus, here's a few "couldn't really merit their own post so I'll post them here" things:
1. One of the funniest stories I have ever heard is the "generic dude, fighter pilot" story. The link goes to a story about a french dude named Pierre, but the tour guide on our Scotland trip told it with this dude Bertrand Dixon as the pilot and told it way better. Regardless, read it if you want a cheap laugh.

2. In Rome I stayed at this hostel called the Yellow and had a shot called the Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick to the Face (1/3 each of vodka/absinthe/jager and then some tabasco sauce on top). Solid stuff, but also not really sports related.

3. More FIELD TRIP! posts to come as I sort stuff out here, as well as more of my other usual stuff. Good to be back.

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FIELD TRIP! Homepage

FIELD TRIP! is a little piece we write now and then about different visits we make to sporting events/sports related places. From analysis of the game to the Hall of Fame, and every sports themed restaurant in between, FIELD TRIP! will hopefully bring you readers some cool insights about some interesting places.

FIELD TRIP!s that Outside the Boxscore has taken so far include:
6/21/09 - Futbolito!
5/30/09 - MLS Soccer 5/30/09: Revolution 2, DC United 1
5/30/09 - High School Lacrosse News: Saint John's over Shrewsbury 13-9
5/25/09 - Cornell vs. Syracuse Divison 1 Lacrosse Final - One for the Ages
5/25/09 - D2 and D3 College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium
5/23/09 - D1 College Lacrosse Semifinals at Gillette Stadium
5/21/09 - Jalen Rose for Continental Airlines
3/27/09 - Eddie George's Grille 27 in Columbus, OH
3/24/09 - Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH

More FIELD TRIP!s will come as our lives get more exciting.

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FIELD TRIP! - Eddie George's Grille 27 in Columbus, OH

In keeping with the sites name, we're going waaaay Outside the Boxscore tonight and giving you a taste of Eddie George's Grille 27. I have a friend in Columbus, OH who I visit now and then. Everytime I visit we walk past Eddie's place on the corner of 11th and High Street, but I hadn't ever been in, until yesterday's lovely dinner there. Having finally experienced the dining experience that is Eddie George's, I'll share my opinions with you!

To begin, I want to quell some misconceptions about Eddie George's. From the street and on its website, the place looks pretty fancy. Inside 27, however, the place isn't nearly as sophisticated. It's certainly clean and looks nice, and the waitstaff is dressed nice, but there are tvs everywhere (the booths even get their own little flatscreens) and the menus are more of the cheap takeout variety. A friend of my friend said this was the kind of spot you took girlfriends to, but when Eddie talks in the video about how families can eat there he is much more correct. I'm sure a huge Buckeye loving girlfriend would enjoy Eddie's, but I'd probably take her somewhere a little fancier. Regardless, just wanted to point that out for diners in the Columbus area who stay away fearing a sophisticated/high class place. Eddie's is actually a very comfortable, affordable dining experience.

The waitstaff was lovely and the food was...interesting. Lots of choices, though mostly sandwiches/salads. I was actually kind of shocked to only see 3 different cuts of steak in a football town. Of course one of them was a $44 dollar 27 ounce steak, in honor of #27 himself, which is supposed to be delicious, and so I guess that can count as a few different steaks. I really wanted to get the 27 ounce, but being a poor recent college graduate, it was sadly a little out of my price range. I also didn't get any booze, though I hear they make amazing martinis, so I regret that one, as they were affordable.

Instead, I opted for something truly...innovative? A fried meatloaf hoagie, with literally everything fried. I know the Midwest is all about frying their food but wow, I did not realize that included the bread and the meatloaf and the sauce and all. My friend got a wrap (I forget the type), which looked pretty good. The fries on the side were delicious, the hoagie was alright (some things are delicious fried, meatloaf is not really one of those things). Additionally, my friend seemed to really enjoy her wrap.

Dessert was definitely considered, but ultimately we had none. Which was a shame, as they had a fried chocolate dessert. I've had fried ice cream and I've had fried twinkies but this thing appeared to take the cake (literally). My mouth still waters thinking about the possibilities of it.

Good food, good service, and it was kind of cool to watch the 2007 homerun derby in a nice restauraunt that wasn't a chain like TGI Fridays or Chili's. The portions are solid, and we each paid under $10 for our meals, so the prices were solid as well.

So my thoughts? If you go in expecting a fancy steakhouse, or a house of memorabilia, then you will be sadly dissapointed. However, if you go in expecting good food at a good price (and little reminder of the owner himself besides the number 27 on the menus and walls), then you'll be pleasantly suprised with Eddie George's. For a start to the night, or as a night cap after a long night of drinking at the Ugly Tuna and McFadden's, Eddie George's Grille is perfect. So well done Mr. Buckeye, decent establishment.

And there you have my visit to Eddie George's Grille 27. I hope you'll try it if you're in town!

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FIELD TRIP! – Pro Football Hall of Fame

FIELD TRIP! is hopefully another regular aspect that we at Outside the Boxscore will try to work into the blog. Any time we go somewhere cool and sports related we’ll try to write a little something and post some pictures. Granted it won’t be a wicked regular segment, but time to time it might pop up.

Anyways, yesterday me and Mr. Chew ambled over to Canton, Ohio to see the Football Hall of Fame. We had both been there before and so it wasn’t an entirely new experience, but there are a bunch of things that were either new or only really struck me this time, and so I thought I’d discuss them here.

First of all, I have to throw up the obligatory Dick Butkus pictures. He didn't make it into the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, but he certainly was one of the most talented NFL linebackers to ever play the sport. To the left is the lovely bust of this beast of a man, truly showing off his awesome glory. Next to the intro for this post is part of an exhibit that showcased his helmet and a clickable button that told you about how beastly Butkus truly was. However all that talk kind of distracted you from the important point that Dick Butkus was indeed the man and that he did, indeed, play angry. And so I snapped a picture of the important part and moved on.

The second thing about the Hall that really struck me, and which I had noticed before, but not quite so in such a pronounced fashion, was that it is filled with some ridiculous things. Like it’s one thing to have guys like Gus Frerotte and Alex Smith get in the Hall for random achievements. But some of the exhibits are just plain random. My favorite has got to be the one that shows that Emmitt Smith broke the old rushing records of Walter Payton and Jim Brown. Only they can’t just settle with a jersey and a plaque. They have to actually have an entirely white painted nondescript football player (why they went cheap here when most of the other guys in the Hall are fully depicted I don’t know) at the end of a long stretch with 2 broken planes of glass (plastic) in his wake. Glass (more plastic) shards on the ground to add to the effect. The record is great and all, but the display is absolutely ridiculous.

It gets better. Check out the team area where there’s a board explaining the history of each of the NFL’s 32 teams complete with a helmet for each team. Behind the writing of each board is the picture of a player who is representative of the franchise. The Texans have Andre Johnson, the Broncos have John Elway, makes sense. The Falcons, however, have DeAngelo Hall. The same guy who complained his way out of Atlanta and forced Arthur Blank’s hand so that he had to trade him to the Raiders is the pictured athlete for the entire Falcon franchise. Now I get that Michael Vick was probably there before and that they had to replace him with someone. But not all the players are current, couldn’t they have put Jamal Anderson or someone there instead? I know I’m being picky, but this one stuck with me all day.

Another great piece is the GameDay Stadium Theater, where they show you a video about the NFL, training camp through super bowl. Halfway through the showing, the entire area of seats does a 180 just to switch video screens/put you near an exit, which I knew was coming but still totally jumped a bit. The video itself is interesting, not so much for the “behind the scenes” action but more for the players who you see a lot of in it. There’s a ton of Ryan Leaf, some early Colts/Vikings action of Peyton Manning and Randy Moss, and a helluva lot of Cris Carter and Jerome Bettis. My favorite part (well besides the amazingly obscure Amp Lee plunging for a touchdown)? At one point Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan takes a WR aside in training camp and explains to him that he could be a great player in this league one day but that he’s got to make all the catches. The player? Sir Mawn Wilson, who played one year with the Broncos and bounced around a few practice squads before he left the league and played some Arena Football. Guess he never quite learned everything Shanahan had to teach, but at least he’s (sort of) in the Football Hall of Fame.

This all being said, there are some really cool artifacts within the Football Hall of Fame. One of my biggest favorites was the impressive collections cleats they have, especially the personalized ones. I didn’t get a good picture of Eric Dickerson’s cleats, which I thought were pretty snazzy and read "First Down." However, I did get a picture of Morten Andersen's absurd cleats. They're in the Hall for Andersen's consecutive games record as a kicker, and they read "Strength" on the side (as you can see). Dickerson’s had words too, but they were real small and in yellow and sort of awesome. Andersen's I was much less impressed by. Sure I guess a kicker needs leg strength for long field goals into the wind, but when I picture Morten Andersen as a 42 year old late in his career, I don't really see strength. I mean the guy ended up having a FG maximum distance of like 42 yards by the end of his career.

Another great exhibit? This random area where there are life size statues of eight to nine random great players on the left and a bunch of jerseys with audio on the right. When I say random I mean random, it’s like Reggie White and Johnny Unitas and Anthony Munoz and Chuck Noll and a few others, with nothing connecting them/explaining why they specifically were chosen. My favorite of all these players was Walter “Sweetness” Payton, who is kind of chilling in the middle of it all with his trademark headband. I also thought it was kind of weird that he and the others had all this stuff on but no cleats, but I guess they just didn’t donate cleats to the Hall or something. Although Sweetness DID have cleats on display in the same case that Eric Dickerson did, so who knows since, after all, the Hall is freaking weird.

Lastly, no trip to anywhere is complete without a gift shop stop. We spent $0 in the gift shop, but had a good time browsing. Awesome items included foam Eagle Heads and Cowboy Hats, Bears Cedric Benson figures on clearance, and these stand up 2D figures of players past and present. I took pictures of a bunch of these, including Derek Anderson, Mike Ditka, and Dick Butkus (of course), but the best had to be Terrell Owens. I mean he wasn’t even in the same area as the other available stand ups, he was standing on a clearance table all by himself (even though he wasn’t on clearance). Figures TO would have to make a spectacle of himself, even in a HOF gift shop.

That does it for the cool stuff we saw/things I thought about them. Other interesting tidbits include the following:

- TGI Friday’s has great mozzarella sticks

- Me and Ben had a Madden-off. He won in a high scoring affair by 17 pts, but not before I returned a kickoff for a TD with DeSean Jackson with a bunch of 8 year olds cheering me on.

- Me and Ben also has a QB challenge in the throwing cage. Results were unimpressive, but Ben won. Suffice it to say, I’m more of a TE/WR type.

- If you ever go yourself, pick O.J. Simpson’s nose. A friend of mine does it every time she goes (she’s from Canton). Sadly we were unable to because security was all over the Hall of Busts. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Anyways, that was our trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Hope you liked reading about it half as much as we liked visiting it.

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Field Trip Story to Come, Mike Fontenot Really Freaking Weird

First things first. Today Outside the Boxscore took a Field Trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Once I get all of the pictures uploaded to my computer there will be a post about our trip. Probably coming a little later today.

Secondly, I was reading some Yahoo Fantasy Info from Brad Evans and found out some very interesting stuff about Mike Fontenot of the Cubs regarding Carlos Zambrano and pre game rituals. Apparently before every game last year Zambrano would pretend to hammer a nail in Fontenot's head. And then somewhere in the season Zambrano began following that up with a piggy back around the dugout for Fontenot. When asked about it, Fontenot said, "I really can't remember where we got it from. It's just driving a nail into the ground, and then we implemented a thing where I jump on his back and he carries me to the promised land." Gotta love the wackiness, and I hope it keeps going this year too, maybe with some bat spinning added in.

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