Victory!

Alright, first off, two wins on Wednesday night, so congrats to the rest of the Blue Crush team. We, uh, you know. . . Crushed them. Our second game was against a short-handed version of my old team, so that was a good win, if only for trash-talking purposes. Bill Resler, the basketball coach from the great documentary The Heart of the Game has a saying, "the team that makes the most mistakes generally wins", and I could see that in our games. We threw a lot of leading passing that careened out of bounds, but for every one we missed, we'd get another one for an easy basket. It's how the best teams from last season would win. We played loose and relaxed, ran for most of the game (we have to be the oldest team in the league, but running seems to really work for us), and came away with two good wins.

Tim had that country band back out to the Dorian studio last night, so I got to meet and greet with them. Like all bands, their "between drummers", in that the drummers they like are unreliable and the drummers that are reliable they don't like. They're just a couple of brothers, but they've got great chops and a good business sense; their dad helps them out, and he seems to have a great sense of how to help while letting it be his kids' deal. So, for now, I think I'm going to go back and re-record their drum tracks for them (their lead-guitarist is laying down scratch drum tracks), and see how that goes. They play a lot of gigs, all over the place, and I'd be up for Kingston shows, but traveling isn't really my thing (unless I get rides, I guess, then it would be alright). I'm not sure they realize how good they have it -- they're pulling $200-$300 a gig, for just a three piece, that's great money.

Hope everything is cool with you,

Jay.

Drunken Hippies

I got to work today (thanks to the household for sponsoring a new ebike battery -- the new one is wicked awesome, and thanks to Sienna for making an equally awesome waterproof cover for it) and my boss Tim was asking me if I wanted to drums play in a country band.

For some background, Tim has asked me to form or join the following kinds of band:

Collective Soul Cover Band
Matchbox Twenty Cover Band
Maroon 5 Cover Band

I like my job, so I should probably stop there.

But the country band thing is strange. A few years ago, Matt Murphy from Halifax's The Super Friendz, starred in a mockumentary about a fictional Canadian Country singer named Guy Terrifico. The film is, oh, around 3 stars, but the music in it was really catchy, and so I bought the album from Zunior and it's all kind of fake old country stuff, with lyrics like, "if our love ain't worth a damn, at least it's worth a song". But it's really cool music, and the slide guitar along makes me want to get a pedal steel. So, anyway, I had my ipod playing through the stereo, and some of the Guy Terrifico stuff came on, and Sienna looked over at me, and we both knew what the other was thinking, and our conversation was something like:

"Man, I really dig this stuff."
"Yeah, it's got me worried."
"I know. Me too. Like, can I like country music?"
"Yeah. "
(We talk like drunken hippies.)

And we both enjoy the alt-country, but this stuff wasn't alt at all. It was old time. It's like turning on the radio and suddenly thinking, "You know what, this CBC program about gardening is fascinating!" What's a guy to do?

So, anyway, Tim asks me about this band, and I'm curious. Their going into the Dorian Studios to do some recording, so I'll get a chance to hear their stuff.

New Comic! (New Artist. . .)

The Blue Crush

Along with our new name (Blue Crush -- it was going to be Orange Crush, but we couldn't get the orange jerseys, and so now we share our name with a chick surfer movie. . .), my basketball team has a new winning attitude. We played about 100 times more like a team; good passing, good help defense, and some timely shooting from everyone.

There was a little scuffle involving some aggressive play -- it's tough in a league without refs; fouls away from the ball just aren't called, so battles underneath the basket can get a bit chippy. I think everything got worked out -- Bonnie from last season's High-Fives is their captain, so I had a talk with her after the game about what happened (I was largely ignorant, since it all took place away from the ball, and I generally spend all my time looking at the net. . .)

I was pretty surprised to see any verbal animosity -- the league is so much less intense this season than last. I haven't caught a single elbow, and by and large all my checks have been quick to smile. I think we're going to have a great season.

Thanks to Jeff, Dave, Sarah, Kaili, Bryn, and Dennis -- Seth; hope you're back next week.

My knees were totally fine, which furthers the biking-cause-injury theory. I iced them last night, but they feel fine today.

Basketball - Innocent!

Alright, so I got on my bike today to take my ebike battery to a repair shop (after I put out the fire I caused while trying to repair it myself), and the pain that had gone away from my knee came back with a vengence, and I realised that it wasn't the basketball, but my bike ride to work that was the cause. The timeing of the injury lines up with the morning following a commute where my breaks were stuck on, resulting in my having to pedal the whole Ebike contraption home against significant forces.

So, it's all good.

Bring on the games.

But how will I get to work?

Hope all is well with you,

Jay.

P.S. My friend Adam posted this interesting stuff on his blog, check it out!

Right Knee

Ever since I started playing a lot of pick-up basketball in the summer after my 1st year at College, I've been pretty used to being crippled the day after a big game. When I lived in my parent's basement, the trip up the stairs the morning after a game would often involved clawing my way to the top, because my legs would be so destroyed. But, aside from a messed up ankle (resulting mostly from a fall from a lamp-post I probably shouldn't have climbed) in 2001, which took about 3 months to heal, it was always fairly obviously a pulled something or a sore what-have-you, and it would be fine before the next game -- and even if it wasn't, I could still play through the pain.

But last Friday I woke up, and my knee decided that if I bent it past 30 degrees, it would scream and scream and scream. And if I climbed down the stairs, it would scream. And pretty much anything involving picking up and carrying a little person, again, screaming. It happened 2 days after a ball game, so it wasn't just from that game (I actually felt great the day after the game), and instead of getting better, it got worse each day for the next 6 days. And, basically, I was wondering if just all the basketball and shooting practice I've been doing had worn out my knee -- which was a pretty terrifying idea; I'm 28, but that's not really the age where I'm willing to accept my joints giving up on me.

I had to consider that I might have to stop playing ball -- which is by far my favorite rec activity. I had always figured that all was missing from me being a great player was giving it more time, and here, having given it my time, it seemed to be ruining my body. Peja woke me up in the middle of the night (she's actually be pretty awesome lately, so it's no big deal), but what sucked is that I could barely get to my feet. I dragged my right leg to her room, and with an incredible amount of pain, I carried her to the bathroom and back to bed.

I fell back into bed, my knee grinding and popping, and I decided that it was alright. My goals have had more to do with coaching lately anyway, and if this was what it took to properly change my focus, than maybe it was alright.

Maybe it's what I need.

Jay.