sports | Safe As Milk

Aug 29 2024

I’m a spinner now

I’ve been playing tennis for a few years now, almost exclusively for fun and exercise. It’s been a good sweat and I like hanging out with my tennis friends. I’ve also gotten better at it.

I’ve gotten to a point now, sadly, that my skill has exceeded my fitness, and if I want to keep improving I’m going to need to start exercising and improving my cardio so I can get better at the thing I do for exercise.

I know, I don’t like it either, but here we are.

I have chosen a twice-weekly spin class as the path by which I will collect cardio gains. I used to be an avid recreational cyclist and I’m not unfamiliar with the dark arts of the spin studio. Plus they’re free at the club so the barrier to entry is low.

I never thought of myself as a Zone 3 Man, but the data is the data.

Aug 12 2024

photos, sports, tv

Poolside Viewing

The rent is too damn high, for sure, but I’ll take an invite to a spot with amenities like a poolside cabana tv that turns so I can watch the Olympics from the water.

Jul 21 2024

fun, photos, sports

Postseason tennis is back

We took one of the two spots to advance out of the USTA Sectionals this weekend. I was only available to play one of the matches, but we won our line and the team won handily. This is the same kind of thing we did a few years back when we went out to USTA Team Nationals (as 3.0 players, “the best of the worst”).

The weather had been dodgy all weekend so we played an adjusted format that greatly shortened the match, in an effort to get as much tennis in before the rain as we could. It wasn’t a crushing physical task, thank goodness, but it was still muggy enough to get up a good sweat.

We go again in three weeks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Jul 14 2024

fun, sports

Too hot to be fun

Another too-hot day with a USTA match. We didn’t get going until 2:30 and man, it was rough. It was the first time this summer I was paying attention to my heart rate in-match. It broke 160bpm a few times, which is where I start to reconsider my choices. Even with generous breaks for water and shade, things were dicy.

I played pretty well, which was no small feat given the temperature and crushing sun. My serve held most of the match and my ground strokes were consistent. That’s a few matches in a row they they’ve been decent. I *might* be getting better.

Those improvements were balanced out by a hysterical inability to hit a volley at the net. Like, it was bad-bad.

It was my first win at 3.5, too. Also, holy shit it was hot.

Jul 08 2024

photos, sports

Strong Sunday Candidate

Sunday started with a customary coffee with the gang. I like to keep it iced in the summer. It gets hot here.

Morning tennis was in the 3.0 league and we won our match 6-1, 6-4. The team won on a deep tiebreaker, keeping some postseason hopes alive. It’s been a rocky one for us. Afterwards, I had a small meal, a shower, and a nap, all in preparation for evening tennis. Unlike my misadventures on the 4th of July, there was room in the day for a recovery plan.

Unfortunately, I didn’t play as well in the 3.5 evening match and we lost 6-3, 6-4. I’m still new at the higher level, so I’m okay with the loss/lesson. Our opponents were decent dudes, so it softens the blow a little. A couple of post-match cold ones (not pictured) completed the picture for a top-5 Sunday in July.

Jul 06 2024

sports

This was too much tennis

I double-dipped on the courts this 4th of July and I might not be recovered yet. The 9am start for a doubles match was reasonably smart given the weather forecast of mid-90’s and bright sun. It was competitive and by the end it got hot.

Right after we wrapped, I joined the 4th of July round robin tournament that our club was putting on. This was a mistake. It got even hotter and I was slowly frying in the sun (don’t mention this to my dermatologist). Any sunscreen I applied was sweating off almost immediately. I was wrecked by the end.

I tried to soak it out in the pool afterward but I ended up spending two hours fighting off cramps in my legs and lats. I’ll give this story the Lesson Learned stamp, and hope the wisdom of my advanced age lets it stick.

Jul 05 2024

photos, sports

Halfway to the goal

As I’ve mentioned, I’m moving into the old-guy sports of golf and tennis. I harbor aspirations of getting back to the gym, but it will likely be in a maintenance rather than competitive vein. Tennis is good for me because it’s a decent runaround in a tight 90-120 minutes. Golf is much more of an investment, in $$ and in time. Because they’re both sports you can play when you’re old, though, I’m cool with the spend.

I played for the third time this year and, I have to say, it was a lot of fun and I was better than I expected. I still scored for shit, but I was hitting the ball well. If I had gotten there early enough to get some time on the putting green I could have save myself a bunch of strokes. A bunch, in this scenario, is 4-5. It was an after-work round on a hot afternoon and my watch suggests it was definitely exercise.

If I can get 6 rounds in this year I’ll seriously consider upgrading my irons, which were 12 years old when I bought them 21 years ago. My golf friends tell me that the technology in modern clubs makes the game so much more accommodating for the enthusiast (“bad”) player that I’m cheating myself by not making the move. It’s just too expensive right now for something I might do 6 times this year. I’ll surely be shopping used, in the hope that mid-2010’s golf tech was good enough to keep me in the fairway in 2025.

Also, the golf club parking lot has some treasures.

Jun 30 2024

fun, sports

Sunday USTA

I got added to a 3.5 roster this summer (I am a 3.0 player, so a 3.5 team is the next level up) and I have been lucky(?) to get a couple of matches because so many of the other folks have scheduling conflicts. This morning’s match was inside, in an effort to hide from the sun. So while we were, in fact, spared the sun, the dead and humid air inside was so much worse for me. I had trouble holding the racquet and eventually wilted from the heat. We lost 4-6, 0-6. I’m 0-3 in this league so far. It makes some sense, because I’m playing against better players, but man it’s a bummer to get repeatedly worked.

Jun 30 2024

fun, photos, sports

Summer Adventures 1

It’s been a sweaty time here in the RVA this summer. I’ve been trying to get out and do/see some cool stuff, but then I can only post about it if I get some photos. I try to spend my time practicing gratitude and manifesting abundance, you know, the classics, so it’s been a while between posts.

I’ve decided to try to play some more golf this year, and that’s what that photo up there is about. I usually play one round a year, that I get as a birthday present. For 2024, I took some steps to get a little more “serious”. I got my clubs re-gripped, so they’re closer to an appropriate size for my dumb paws. I’ve also hit the range a couple of times to practice. I’ve played twice this year already, which has been great for me. I’m a poor golfer, but I know the rules (and etiquette) and I play fast and I’m good for some laughs, so I’m welcome as a 4th with better golfers.

It also helps that a person can have a couple of cold pops during a round. I especially enjoy a sport where a beer or two isn’t going to hurt, and might even help.

May 07 2024

fun, sports

Big Day for me in Sports History

May 7th is a day that holds a couple of key memories for me, sports-wise.

Bartolo Colon’s only career home run cemented his status as a folk hero for the New York Mets and for me as a fully-portioned gentleman athlete. I still get some goosebumps when I watch it.

May 7th was also the date for the one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sport. Liverpool erased a 0-3 deficit in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final to win over Leo Messi’s Barcelona, punctuated by Divock Origi scoring on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner taken quickly.

I still watch this a couple of times a year. It gets me every time.

Category Archives: sports