NASCAR, Soccer and some YouTube learning

Ah.... one of my favorite days on the Sports calendar was this past Sunday.  #DAYTONA500 Day.  It took awhile, like 8-9 hours, because of a FIVE hour rain delay.  Duh, it is February....  Michael McDowell was the first to cross the finish line for his first Daytona 500 victory.  Some good and bad news comes along with this win.

The bad is that he will not be able to use the car ever again.  I say ever again cause next year NASCAR goes to a new style of car.  One of the perks (depending on your point of view) is that the winning car of the 500 goes into the Daytona museum for an entire year.  He gets the car back on the Saturday prior to the next Daytona 500.

The good news is that he has already qualified for the "Chase for the Cup."  So he doesn't have anything to really worry about until September.  That is when the playoffs begin.  All the winners of the 26 races that lead up to the playoffs and then some wildcards based on points.  The top 16 in the season long points battle qualify for the playoffs.

Tuesday saw another soccer match on the schedule.  It was the season opener for the men's soccer team.  The match against California Baptist University (cbu (that is how they stylize their school initials)) out of Riverside was scheduled for March, but was moved up.  Prior to the match, I swung by Gaglione Brothers in the Sports Arena area.

For those that have never heard or (gasp) never had them before... they are DELICIOUS!!!!  They primarily specialized in Philadelphia Cheesesteaks.  I had the mushroom cheesesteak without onions.  I took the sandwich and stopped by a 7-Eleven that is between the restaurant and USD to get a beverage.

I got to the press box and enjoyed the sandwich prior to the match, but not prior to getting yelled at for eating in the press box.

The match was rather easy, with one exception.  Live stats was having a hard time staying current.  It would not update the time when I inputted different fouls or corner kicks.  Heck, it didn't even update on a few of the goals that were scored.  USD ended up losing 4-1.

Today, I went to the chiropractor, like I do every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  It was a pretty normal adjustment... except for the neck.  He really went deep on that part of my body.  After I got my adjustment, it was time for lunch.  Mom and I went to Firehouse Subs.

On the way home the Matriarch of the family had me stop at my LEAST favorite store in the World. Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I hate that store, most of this hatred stems from my early days as a security guard.  A post that was assigned to me was the very store that we went to, the Mission Valley Center location.  It is a story for another time.

Once we got home, I watched the ending to one of my favorite movies "Rounders."

At the conclusion of the movie, I loaded up the USD softball game that was being played.  Not good news for the Toreros.  They began the season 0-2.  They will be back in action when I'm on stats on Saturday in a doubleheader against Grand Canyon University.

I finished the night by watching some YouTube videos on how to get better at editing.  I've picked up a few tidbits so hopefully, the videos for San Diego Street Talk will be getting better.  Speaking of San Diego Street Talk (now available on YouTube here) I will be out shooting our next episode tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 18) on the Embarcaderro between the Star of India and the Midway between 12:30p and 3 or 4p.  I will also be in the Gaslamp Quarter on Saturday night after the USD Soccer match to record for episode 3.

For those that are wondering, I have already set out a shooting schedule (hopefully things get opened up this Summer) through September (which will get us to about the episode 25-30 range).

Until next time my friends, Adios.

Yikes.... that was tough, but we are one day closer to the DAYTONA 500

 Greetings,

So I worked my first USD Soccer match today.  My initial reaction is OY! or YIKES! if this was a regular season, it could be long.... But this is a short season, so it might not be that bad.

From my not very educated knowledge of collegiate soccer is they need more speed!  The Toreros are lacking in that aspect of the sport.

Now, as for my purpose at the match.  I was learning how to do the stats.  I had never stated soccer before.  Yes, of all the sports that I've done stats for, I've never (prior to today) done soccer.  In retrospect, it is very appropriate that today is Lunar New Year.  So I started a new journey at the beginning of a new year!

I picked up the program very quickly as it is not that hard to figure out.  Once I got home from the match, I texted a good friend that is an SID at a local university and asked him why hadn't told me how easy stating soccer was?  His response was "Hahaha. Easiest of all." Yeah, it is.  In just a month on March 20th, I'll be doing the hardest of all the stat programs, Football.

On the journey home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for the weekend.  I got a couple of salads, some strawberries and blueberries, some sunflower seeds (cause what's a salad without them?) and both fried and grilled chicken for the weekend.

Once I got everything ironed out after dinner, I recalculated and formatted my hockey power ranking sheets.  With all of the COVID rescheduled games, I needed to reformat the spreadsheets.

Now, I am getting ready to go to bed.  When I wake up in the morning, it will be time to go work a pair of NAIA Basketball games as the San Diego Christian College Hawks host William Jessop University.  The Warriors will invade the Kroc Center tomorrow (later today) with a 10:30a women's game, followed by a men's game.

If you are looking for me on Sunday, it won't be hard to find me.  Look in the living room, it is not Valentine's Day as many think.  It is DAYTONA 500 Day!  Along with Singles Awareness Day.

On Tuesday, it is looking like I'll do my first men's soccer game.

Off to bed to get ready for the final two games of the week.  It's been almost like "normal" times this week.  Six games across six days and a trip up to Burbank for good measure.

Volleyball replay and Networking

Well, I didn't really like today's assignment.

I don't often say that, but it was true.  Not a fun day at the office.

The Toreros hosted the Portland Pilots in a West Coast Conference volleyball match.  I was assigned to be the replay official for the match (today as well).

Got to the arena around an hour early.  Went and made sure that the equipment was working correctly.  At the time it did....I'll explain later.

First set, everything is going ok... then late in the set (22-13 San Diego), Portland thought the call of in was wrong.  The assistant coach went crazy thinking that it was out.  He damn near ran on to the court and said "You'll see in just a second that you were wrong!"  I really wanted to find an angle that proved the referee correct.  On the angle that I saw and showed to the down referee, it looked to me like the ball was out.  The down referee looked and said nothing to me (I have to fill in some paperwork on the screen when there is a review).  I wait to see what he signals and he signals that the ball was out (Gee, thanks for letting me know what was going on).

Second set, we had two reviews, one for each team.

For San Diego, they thought the ball was in.  The problem was that upon looking at the video, only one of the two angles that we were supposed to have at our disposal was working.  The one angle was skipping over the two to three frames that we needed for confirmation, so the call "stood" because it was inconclusive.

Portland had another review late in the set (I'm noticing a trend....).  It was another in/out call.  On the opposite side of the benches (and the table).  Looking at the video again it looked in to me.   However, the original call was out and that is what the referee confirmed.

In the fourth set (as it turned out the final set) San Diego on the bare eye looked like they just missed a pancake (slipping your hand under the ball and having it bonce off the hand).  That call was confirmed that it did hit the floor and not the hand.

The final set scores were: San Diego 3-1 (25-15, 28-30 (nothing like over points), 25-14, 25-14).

On Tuesday, I was invited by my friend Callan to join him as we went up to Burbank to meet up with Sean Pebbles.  If you don't know the name, you might know the position that he holds.  Public Address Announcer for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Sean is in SoCal doing something with Warner Bros.  He said that he could tell us, but then he'd have to kill us.  We kinda like living, so we just let it lie.  Really cool guy.  After we had dinner at BJ's Restaurant in Burbank.  After dinner, we went back to his hotel and talked for a bit.  He offered us drinks but I just took a water as I was driving (do your own thing, but if you drink and drive.... don't expect me to be at your funeral).  Hope to hook up with Sean again when his plans are to come back out to San Diego in August.

Basketball and videos

 Well, talk about a day!

First on the docket was running the Instant Replay for the USD Toreros Women's Basketball game against Pepperdine at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.  Game time was two in the afternoon.  I got to the arena at 11:30.

Most people are reading this and wondering, why so early?  Well there is two reasons for being there two and a half hours early.  One, I haven't done this position in about a year.  Two, I did a little example video on how everything works.  That will be compiled with the other mini videos that I'm making for all the positions at the table and will compile them all into one video and then post it.

The game went very smoothly.  When USD wins by 25 points that helps.  Also, when the referees only come over one time for a clarification and no real reviews, it is a good game!

I also found out that I'll be working the scoreboard on Monday for Women's Volleyball (I promise to keep all comments to myself!).  The comment in parenthesis is an inside joke that a couple of people know about.  Also, the good ladies in the SID office must really trust me with stats, as they have asked me to come learn/do the stats for Women's soccer this coming Friday.  Of course in 2021, I won't be counting goals until there actually is a game.  In this time, a game on the schedule is just a suggestion.

After the game, I walked around the main portion of USD and asked folks the opening question on San Diego Street Talk.  Which is "what would be the worst movie sequel ever made, and why?"  I interviewed 12 folks.  The final video is coming in around the six and a half minute mark.

Alright, I'm going to head to bed now so that I can get up and enjoy Super Bowl LV.  My pick? The over (more than 56.5 combined points)!

A few Top 5's from 2020

 Here we are a full month into 2021.  So why not look back and see what a few categories top five results on Google were in 2020.

First let's look at the top five in "Why's".

1. Why were Chainsaws invented?  That is a very good question.  But at the same time, why did that particular question get so high in the rankings?  So apparently there was a meme going around Social Media.  Twitter user Darco (@Natu76108249) asked on November 15th  ...

For those that don't want to search, it was invented by two Scottish doctors that wanted to speed up child births.  Prior to caesarian sections, the doctors in the 19th Century used a version of this tool to help free the child when they were either too big or breeched.

2. Why is there a coin shortage?  This is just a common question that came to light after signs were seen all around businesses.  It is a simple question with a simple answer.  With fewer people going out to restaurants and stores, the circulation of coinage came to a screeching halt.

3. Why was George Floyd arrested? This is another question that is kinda obvious.  On May 25th George Floyd was arrested and death in Minneapolis.  People were asking why was he being arrested.  When enough people ask this question, it ranks high.  It was the top search for most of the year.

4. Why is Nevada taking so long?  This question started popping up after Nevada officials were taking too long for some people.  The results didn't come out for 10 days as they were going after accuracy over speed.  There are a hare over 1.4 Million voters in the State (including my sister and niece) so it will take a while to make sure everything is good.  For the record, Nevada was not the last state to certify their election.  That title goes to California (Dec. 11), Maryland, Missouri and New Jersey all came in on Dec. 8th.

5. Why is TikTok getting banned?  This was a question after then President Trump started floating ideas about banning the app because the company that owned it was not following the correct policies for security of users information.

Of course since this is my blog, you know that sports will be at the forefront.  Let us take a look at the Top Five teams that were searched.

1. Boston Celtics: The Celtics finished 3rd in the NBA's Eastern Conference during the 2019-20 season.  But they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in August against....

2. Miami Heat: The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and would lost to the LA Lakers in six games.

3. Kansas City Chiefs:  Your defending Super Bowl Champions, and looking for back-to-back rings as they will be taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday in Super Bowl LV.  The first Super Bowl that will feature a team playing in their home stadium.

4. Los Angeles Clippers: The LA Clippers (one of my favorite NBA teams) finished the 2019-20 season at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals in seven games.

5. Dallas Stars: The runners up in the NHL for 2019-20.  Also the team that knocked both my team (the Colorado Avalanche, in seven) and my sister's team (Vegas Golden Knights, in five).  They would end up losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.

Finally, lets take a peek on who the most searched players were in 2020.

1. Ryan Newman: Who would think that a NASCAR driver would be the most searched athlete in 2020?  Well, after the wreck that he was involved with at the 2020 Daytona 500, it is no wonder why he's here.  Check out the wreck here.  Just a couple of days later, he would walk out of Halifax Medical Center just two days after the wreck.  He would be back behind the wheel when the circuit returned after the shut down.

2. Tom Brady: When you win six rings with one team (my favorite New England Patriots) and you decide to sign a free agent contract with a different team, people will search for your name.  That's what happened in March.  Just a little after the Pandemic started he signed his two-year $50 Million completely guaranteed deal.  In his first season in Pewter and Bay Orange he is in the Super Bowl.

3. Bubba Wallace:  NASCAR's only African-American driver had several newsworthy moments in 2020.  First was during the Pandemic break NASCAR went digital.  During the Bristol race, Bubba quit mid-race after wrecking on just the 11th lap.  The Mobile, Alabama native lost one of his sponsors due to his response to fans over how they were getting upset over a video game.  His sponsor pulled their name as they said his response was the same as a 13 year old boy being upset over breaking his controller.  After seeking a spotter for the Talladega virtual race, he ended up opting out.  On Sept. 21 Mr. Wallace signed with the new 23XI (pronounced 23 Eleven) team that is co-owned by Denny Hamlin and "His Royal Airness" Michael Jordan.

4. Mike Tyson: In July of 2020, Mike signed a contract to face Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round bout in September of 2020.  The bout was scheduled to be at Dignity Health Sports Park on the campus of CSU Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles County.  The bout was pushed back to November and went the entire length and was declared a draw.  One judge scored it 79-73 for Tyson, the second judge scored it 80-76 for Jones Jr., the final judge scored it 76-76 draw.

5. Rudy Gobert:  The Man that should've received the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.  I say this as it was Gobert was the player that tested positive for COVID-19 and shut the entire NBA and further, the entire sports world for more than five months.

Another game.... and another positive test....

 The USD Toreros were scheduled the byu Cougars.

Scheduled being the important term there.

I got an email around 11a this morning saying that the game was cancelled and the bosses would be in touch with a makeup date.  The way that the email was written I thought that it was a byu player that was the guilty party.  As I would later find out, no it was a USD player that was the guilty party.  STAY IN YOUR ROOMS TOREROS!!!!!!!

Today was the day where I was to get my truck back.  I took it in on Friday to get it fixed.  The front wheel bearings and brakes needed to get fixed.  So, I called yesterday and talked to my High School classmate who happens to own the place.  He said that the truck was ready.  I go in at like 11:30 and find out that nope, it wasn't ready.  No biggie, they were just waiting for the rotors.

So, while they were finishing up the truck, I went into work with Mom.

I knew they were going to need me as the office needed to get a new all-in-one printer.  Mom, her boss and I all went to Staples to get a good deal that they were having.  While at Staples, they also got Turbo Tax, a folder to hold the 2021 tax info and extra ink for the new printer.

We get back to the office and I begin doing my thing.  First I get the old rather large all-in-one out of the way.  It was being replaced as my mom's boss gets a lot of faxs and the old machine (which they got back in 2016) was not receiving faxes anymore.  So a new all-in-one it is.

I get the old one unhooked the telephone line from the old one, I unboxed the new one and got it out of the bag.  I place it in the spot and it takes about half of the space the old one did.  I hooked the telephone line into the new machine.

I then sat down and started doing the setup on my mom's work laptop while she was working on some paperwork on the other side of the office.  Once I got everything taken care of on her laptop, I began on her bosses laptop.  It was during this setup that they both went to the bank to do some (brace yourself) banking.

After I got all of that done, it was time for my mom and I to leave.  On the way home, mom and I stopped for lunch at Arby's.  We took our lunch over to the plane spotting parking lot at Lindbergh Field.  My family loves to go down to the airport and watch planes take off and land.

As mom and I left the airport, I called to check on my truck.  I was told that the mechanic was just about to torque the lug nuts down and take it for a test drive to make sure everything was good.

It takes about 15 minutes to get from the airport to the mechanic.  When we arrived, I noticed that my truck was still in one of the bays.  As I was paying (this is where the "Ouch" tag comes from) he was just then taking the truck for its test drive.  Maybe two minutes later he was back.

I got into my truck and started driving home.  Admittedly, I took a long cut to get home.  About a quarter of the way home I thought I had heard a noise from the left front wheel.  Keeping in mind, I had the front wheels worked on.  So, I went into a really quiet neighborhood to see if I could hear it there.  I didn't so I chalked it up to hearing it from someone else.

Once I got home, it was about 4p.  I sat down and started working on some computer work.  Really, just watching some YouTube videos on how to fix my valve cover gasket (another item that needs to be fixed, if I were to do it at the mechanic it would cost over $400 for labor).  For some reason, I fell asleep for a nap for about 30-45 minutes.  By the time I woke up, it was time for my Colorado Avalanche to hit the ice.  Actually the game had already started when I woke up.

So, I started typing this blog out while listening to the Birthday Boy Conor McGahey (tonight it was "Natural Disaster vs adjective).  The other birthday boy Marc Moser (the TV voice of the Avalanche) was not able to be viewed on NHL.tv this evening for some reason.  I eventually had dinner during the second intermission (rice with leftover meatloaf balls).  The game finished and as I was about to go back to watching YouTube videos on how to grow my channel, my main laptop decided that it wasn't going to play well with others.

So, I got my mini laptop out (the one that I usually work on at games) to finish this blog.  Well, since I haven't used the mini laptop for about a year, it was time for updates.  That took about an hour to get through.

So here it is midnight and I'm finally finishing this blog.  When it was looking like I was going to finish it around 9:30'ish.  Oh well.  Good night.

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