Olympics, Olympics, Olympics

I don't watch sports. At least, I don't usually watch sports. But every time the Olympics roll around, I just can't stop watching. I love them!

I find myself just as interested in curling as watching Shaun White's gold medal run in snowboard halfpipe. I squealed when he threw that board, and I still do every time I watch the video - which I've done a few times. (I've watched Chloe Kim a few times too - that girl can fly!) But seriously, that run! That man can still fly! His 3rd Olympic gold medal and the 100th gold medal for the U.S. in winter Olympics. How cool is that? Redemption and a milestone.

Go, Mikaela!

I pretty much leave the Olympics on all day. I watch skiers fly in the ski jump competition, watch the craziness of short track speed skating, watch some hockey (how did our U.S. men lose that game to Slovenia, anyway?), and then I check out the downhill skiing. And then I go back to curling. There's just something about that game - I just can't stop watching. Oh, and I think the weirdest sport I've seen so far in these Olympics is the luge doubles - seriously, who decided to stack 2 humans on a little sled and send them down a curving, icy track? And is there a limit to how many people you can stack on that little sled? I do think that ride down the track looks like a lot of fun. If you can keep from bouncing off the walls and crashing, which seems to be a serious risk. Oh, and then there are the guys who go head-first down that same track on another little sled...

The biggest problem with all this Olympics coverage is that it goes so late. How am I supposed to get any sleep?

Related articles

• Winter Olympics: Red Gerard Wins First US Gold - Then Uses Blue Language
• Shaun White fell to his knees and started crying after winning gold at the Winter Olympics
• Snow Queen: Kim dominates to take gold in women's halfpipe
• All the Medals the U.S. Has Won in the 2018 Winter Olympics

Is Your Student Athlete At Risk for Sudden Heart Failure?

A small percentage of young athletes are at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.  Jeffrey Towbin, MD and John Lynn Jefferies, MD of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center will be hosting a free live Q and A to help active families understand the risk factors of sudden heart failure in student athletes. It’s a chance to talk to knowledgeable and experienced doctors, ask questions in real time, and get answers right on the spot.

The Q and A takes place April 9th from 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST. RSVP now and add this important event to your calendar.



Top 5 risk factors for sudden heart failure in student athletes:

1. Family history of sudden death.
2. Fainting or family history of fainting.
3. Family history of arrhythmias or heart muscle disease.
4. Participation in sports (particularly sports that require a burst of activity like basketball, hockey and football).
5. Athlete has gone through puberty (an athlete’s body is stronger at this point and has power during the burst of activity).

Baby Gifts for the Sports Fan

I've noticed that people like to dress their kids and babies up in cute little outfits that support their favorite sports teams.  The babies have no choice - they're born fans!  In our family that always meant University of Illinois Fighting Illini clothes.  (Basketball; not football)  You should see how many Illini outfits Jason has!

Here in Wisconsin, most babies wear Green Bay Packers outfits, and in Texas I bet they all wear Dallas Cowboys Baby Clothes. You have to admit, they're really cute.  Onesies, sleepers, sweatsuits, all kinds of adorable fan clothes are available as well as things like hats, bottles, bibs, and even a storage unit for baby's room.  And, of course, those cheerleader sets for little girls.  Nothing is cuter than that!  Nothing.  I don't care what team it is.

They'd make great gifts for all the sports fans in your life and their new little fans.  According to this site, baby fans - "Once a fan, always a fan." - so you know they want to get them started off right!  The site has baby and toddler clothing for the littlest fans of not only professional football, baseball and basketball teams, but college teams, too.  They'll even wrap your gift in team-colored tissue!

If you're shopping for the holidays, be sure to order by December 18th for guaranteed delivery.

Need Tickets?

Image by bradlby via Flickr

It seems like there's always something going on - concerts, sports events, festivals, etc.  It has me wondering how so many people can afford to go.  How do they justify spending so much on a few hours' entertainment?  The news around here is that the Packers are planning to add on to their stadium (that's what it's called, right? where they play football?).  Anyway, they figure they can pay for it because there is a whole list of people who are just waiting to get season tickets, and they'll have more space so they can sell more of those tickets and make enough money to pay for the expansion.

Not me.  I'm not on the list.  I can't see spending that much money, whether for Packers tickets, Anaheim Ducks Tickets, Chicago Blackhawks Tickets, or any other tickets.  Partly that's because I don't really care about sports much, and mostly because I can't imagine caring that much.  I'm just too cheap.  Occasionally we'll see a basketball game or hockey game, but only when we get really cheap tickets or free tickets.  I have a good time when we go, but I don't get all excited and decide we need to see more games.

For those people who just need to see the games, there are some options that aren't quite so painful.  I checked out acheapseat.com and found some Packers tickets for Thursday night's pre-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs for around $20.  Not that I'd know if they are good (or even remotely decent) seats or not, but they're tickets to the football game, and that's not bad for the experience.  I'm sure there are some decent deals on Boston Bruins Tickets, Calgary Flames Tickets, Buffalo Sabres Tickets,or whatever teams or games are in your area, too.  They also have concert and theater tickets.  See if they have the tickets you need - for the price you'd rather pay.

Related articles

• Packers to add 6,600 seats to stadium (marketwatch.com)

Our First Hockey Game

Image via Wikipedia

 We attended our first hockey game this weekend.  The Milwaukee Admirals played the IceHogs from Rockford, and Jeffrey got free tickets from work.  I don't think we'll make a habit of it, but we had a good time.  We didn't really understand the rules, but it was still fun to watch - and 'our' team scored 5 goals in the first period and went on to win the game, so that was good.

Cory and I took pictures and updated facebook from our phones while we watched, and we had several questions.  First I asked if anyone knew where the IceHogs were from, because I'd never heard of them.  Of course, I had facebook friends who knew the answer to that!  Maybe it was because they're from Illinois, or maybe that's just something everybody but me already knew.  Another question I had, which nobody answered, was why these Admirals fancy themselves pirates when admirals are high-ranking officers in the Navy, aren't they?  Of course, while I'm writing this, Zemanta is suggesting several different Milwaukee Admirals logos, so I'm just thinking they're suffering from some kind of identity crisis.  Currently they're using the skull with the pirate hat, and they 'sail' a pirate ship around on the ice before the game and during breaks.

Another question Cory and I had was, "What is that thing?" regarding the fuzzy orange puck-nosed creature they call Roscoe - the Admirals mascot.  There he is 'helping' out with the pie eating contest.  Does anybody know what he's supposed to be?  I should probably go look it up.  If Jeffrey hadn't left his phone at home, either in it's blackberry case or charging on the end table, we could have looked it up while we were at the game, since he's got Internet on his phone, and we don't.  You'd think they'd have a parrot for a mascot.  Don't pirates always have parrots?

Then the 3rd period started and the fights started, for no real reason that we could see except that it's expected at a hockey game?  That had Cory wondering if "third period hockey" is canadian for "fight a lot" because if so, awesome.  So, yeah, it was fun.  We might even go again sometime.

Review: Ladies Tan Thru Golf Gloves

It's the middle of winter here, and we've got a lot of snow on the ground, so now isn't really the time to be talking about golf gloves or playing golf.  Though, I think true golfers are thinking about golf year-round and would gladly play any chance they could get.  Me, I've never played, but if I did, I would definitely need to get one of these tan thru golf gloves.  I did get one free for review, but my husband who does play golf tells me that I need one for the other hand since I'm left-handed.  There are all kinds of other ladies golf gloves, but I really like these.

Even though I didn't wear it to play golf or get to try out the tan thru properties of this glove, I did try it on.  It fits very nicely, and I love the half length that keeps my fingers free.  I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time doing anything with gloves on, so the open fingers are really important.  I also love the tan thru mesh on the back, which not only allows the sun to get through, eliminating weird tan lines, but is also designed to help keep the hand cool.  The palm is nice and soft and made of a SureFeel palm material for a better grip.  I'm sure that is very important if you don't want golf clubs flying when you try to hit the ball.  I also love that this glove is machine washable, which I think is very important for all sports equipment.

I tried really hard to think of what I could wear this glove for if I'm not going to take up golf, but I can't really think of anything.  Maybe I should go play golf with my husband.  How hard can it be?  But really, I'm going to give this to one of my lady golfer friends. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

It's Good to be Home

We left home around 8am Thursday morning, December 23rd and didn't get back home until 10pm Saturday night, January 1st.

First we drove to Lexington, KY where we had a wonderful Winter Family Weekend with a lot of incredible people.  We ate together; played games of basketball, volleyball, soccer, and dodge ball; roller skated and played laser tag; had a dance; attended seminars, Bible study, and church services, played lots of Double Hearts; and just generally had a fantastic time.  From the Thursday evening meet & greet to saying goodbye in the lobby on Monday morning, the weekend was altogether too short.

When we left Lexington, we drove about 2-1/2 hours to visit my parents and brother's family and stayed with them until Thursday morning.  It was nice getting to spend some time with them, because they live too far away, and we only get to see them once in a while.  We didn't do a whole lot.  My mom and sister-in-law fed us really well.  We got to see the progress my brother has made on building his house.  We'd seen it on his blog, but it's nice to see it in person.  It was especially nice to spend time with my nieces and nephews - they really do live too far away, and they're growing up too fast!  Somebody make them stop.

Thursday morning we packed up, said goodbye, and headed for Jacksonville, IL to visit Jeffrey's grandma and aunt & uncle.  We spent Thursday night there and all day Friday, mainly just sitting around and talking.  It was really nice!

Saturday morning we packed up, said our goodbyes, and drove to Bloomington for church.  It was awesome to see our friends Mike & Brenda and their son Josh.  After church we went to Olive Garden for dinner, along with a couple of their other friends, and sat and talked and talked - until we thought we better go and free up the table - and we still had 3 hours or so to get home.

The trip home was uneventful.  We got home around 10pm, unloaded the van, and unpacked most of our stuff before going to bed.  We took it easy on Sunday not really doing much, and since then I've been trying to get caught back up, doing laundry, etc. - and fighting a cold.

It was a really nice trip, but it feels really good to be home.  Now, if I can just get back into the swing of things...

Collect Free Olympic Medallions from Coke and Mac's

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iCoke.ca. All opinions are 100% mine.

The Olympics are next month!  I'm getting pretty excited.  I may not care about sports regularly, but when the Olympics roll around I love watching them.  My favorites are ice skating and snowboarding, but I will watch whatever is on.  I'm kind of bummed right now that I don't live in Canada, because I can't get a  FREE Coca-Cola Collectible Medallion by buying two (2) Coca-Cola 591mL products at Mac's stores.  That's right, if you buy two Coke products in one transaction, you get one of three Olympic medallions FREE.  This promotion just started Monday and runs through the end of February, but only while supplies last and only at Mac's.  So, visit the iCoke.ca website and find a Mac's store near you, then run out and get your Coke and Olympic medallions before it's too late.  Of course, if you're buying Coke but don't really care about the Olympics (What?  Are you crazy?) you could always collect the medallions and send them to me.  I wouldn't complain.

I don't really buy a lot of Coke, but I definitely like it better than that other brand - and it makes a great mixer, if you know what I mean.  So, if I was going to buy it, I'd get some regular Coke and probably some Sprite, because that makes a good mixer, too.  And if I could get these free Olympic medallions, now would definitely be the time to buy so I could collect them all.  You Canadians are so lucky!

The Olympics are coming to your country!  Next month!

Miss Me?

We got home last night after being gone for about a week - we left last Wednesday morning and drove to Kentucky. We had a long weekend full of activities in Lexington, the Winter Family Weekend sponsored by Church of God Cincinnati & Lexington. We stayed in a really nice hotel, but they wanted us to pay for Internet in the room, which no one was willing to do. There was free wireless in the lobby, but we were too busy to mess with it much anyway.

We spent most of the day Thursday and Friday at the KBA, which is basically a huge gym with multiple courts available. There was basketball for anyone who wanted to play, volleyball, table tennis, dodge ball, games for the kids, and some amazing concessions put together by the organizers. Jeffrey played basketball. I played volleyball, and Cory played volleyball, too - I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of that. What was I thinking? I'm still sore from the volleyball, and my arms are bruised from hitting the ball, but it was a lot of fun. We also got to go next door and roller skate on Thursday, which Cory did while I was playing one of my volleyball games so I missed it, and he played laser tag, too. I skated for about an hour and realized that I hadn't been on skates in ages. I'm probably sore from that, too.

Besides all the sports and activities, there were seminars, a family dance, Sabbath services, a pizza party, some interesting activities Saturday night involving huge inflatable things, and lots of fellowship with old friends and new. The teenagers didn't get much sleep, and some of us adults didn't either!

It was hard to leave, but Sunday morning we got packed up, said a long good-bye to everyone who was left, and headed out to visit my parents. They only live a couple hours from Lexington, so we had to visit them, being so close. We got there not too much past noon and spent the rest of Sunday with them and all day Monday, then left for home Tuesday morning. Luckily, thankfully, the weather was beautiful and the traffic was not so bad - of course, anything would be an improvement over our last trip home from Kentucky - after Thanksgiving last year when the traffic was just horrendous, and the trip took us a whole lot longer than it should have. But, that was last year - yesterday we got home in a reasonable amount of time, considering the parents have to live so far away. It was nice to get home and to sleep in my own bed again!

What is that Smell?

Image via Wikipedia

I want to say a big Thank You to Febreze for sending me their Febreze Sport to try. I got the Extreme Odor Eliminator, along with a nifty Febreze sport bag and a water bottle. All they asked was that I share my opinion - and fill out that little survey card (which I have to find) and mail it back to them.

I jumped at the chance to try this stuff - not because we're big on sports around here, though Jeffrey does play basketball with the guys in the winter. I thought it would be handy for that, but I was really thinking it would come in handy controlling the odors found in tennis shoes worn by a certain teenage boy. Febreze Sport is designed to be used on things you can't really wash, like shoes, gym bags, and other sports equipment. Febreze says it 'penetrates deep into fabrics and contains scientifically designed X-Sweat™ Technology to neutralize sports odors at the source.' All I know is that it works.

I was putting my own shoes on one day, getting ready to leave the house when I noticed a particularly unpleasant smell. I finally tracked it down to a pair of shoes belonging to that teenage boy I mentioned before. So, I sprayed them with the Febreze Sport, which has a very fresh, pleasant smell, by the way. It's not some perfumey smell that attempts to cover up the offending odor, because I'd hate that. Of course, since it's designed to be used by athletes, many of whom are guys, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate that either. Anyway, very neutral fresh smell, and it took care of that teenage guy feet odor really well. (teenage guy feet odor? did I really say that?)

I'm really glad I got a chance to try this out on Cory's shoes, because if I hadn't I might have had to mention the smell my shoes gave off this summer. Sweaty feet, no socks - not a good idea. But now I won't have to mention that and let you all know that my feet sometimes stink, too. I'm so relieved. And you can't prove it anyway, because I sprayed Frebreze Sport in my shoes!

When Jeffrey starts back into playing basketball next month, we'll get a chance to try it on his sports equipment, too. I think this Febreze Sport is going to be handy to have around.

Camera Critters (#45)

It wasn’t until the day after Jeffrey and I went to the Bucks game that I realized I had missed a great opportunity to get a Camera Critters photo. I did manage to get this one:

See that blur? That’s the Bucks mascot Bango, doing the slam dunk thing. I just had my camera on the wrong setting, so all I got was that blur. If I had been thinking, I could have gotten some other pictures of Bango, running around on the court, riding the Harley around on the court, something. But, no, I didn’t do it.

Last time we went to a Bucks game (last year) I didn’t get any of those either, but I did get this pic of the inflatable Bango after he deflated the other team’s mascot:

See, I told you the whole thing was rather circus-like.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in. There are all kinds of great critters to see!

ETA: because I didn't actually know the answer to the question, "Is Bango supposed to be a buck? How come the inflatable Bango has no antlers?" I looked for and found some info on Bango on the Bucks website. There's a nice video on the page, too that shows some of Bango's antics. Yes, it does look like he's a buck and he does have antlers, though I don't know why the inflatable one doesn't have any, except that maybe he was starting to deflate himself.

Date Night at the Bradley Center

Jeffrey and I had a night out last night.  It was a real romantic date – to the Bucks game.  Originally, I wasn’t going to go.  Jeffrey called from work and wanted to know if I wanted to go, but I wasn’t terribly thrilled.  I’m not really a big sports fan.  Beth had to work, or she probably would have wanted to go.  So, she sent Cory a text at school and asked him if he wanted to go.  He said ‘sure’ and it was going to be a boys’ night out, and I was going to stay home alone.

Then Cory backed out because he has a Forensics meet coming up and he needed to practice with his partner.  So, I said I’d go so Jeffrey didn’t have to go alone.  Other people from work were going to be there, so he wouldn’t have been completely alone, but still…

He came home from work, picked me up, and we drove to Milwaukee, found a place to park near the Bradley center – free on the street because it’s better to walk a few blocks than pay $20 for parking.  Then we walked around the building trying to find something to eat.  There are definitely lots of things to choose from there.  Who knew going to a basketball game could mean you could end up needing  diet pills?  I ended up getting a burrito from Qdoba, and Jeffrey got a barbecue chicken sandwich.  Later, at half time we walked around again to get some roasted nuts – so good!  The almonds are the best, but the cashews and pecans were good, too.

It is interesting watching one of these basketball games.  The whole atmosphere is rather circus-like.  It amazes me that the players can even concentrate with all the noise and music going on around them.  Maybe it isn’t so loud down on the court?  Then during every time out or break in the game, something else happens down on the court – games, giveaways, dancing girls. 

The Bucks won the game, and it was a fun evening overall.  No, I wouldn’t pay $60 for the tickets, but if Jeffrey gets free tickets again, I’ll go with him again.

To the Bitter End

Cory has pep band tonight at the girls' basketball game. Since he brought home the schedule, I actually knew ahead of time and was thinking about going. Except that he and his friend Pam didn't want to stay for the whole game. The band gets to leave at half time, and they don't want to stay for the rest of the game. They just want to come home. I said, if I was going to go and pay to get in ($3?) then I wanted to stay for the whole game. So they decided Pam would drive, and Jeffrey and I stayed home.

Besides the money thing, I just think it's kind of rude. People go for the band or to watch the dancers, and then after half time they leave. I know they are there to support their own kids, but their kids are there to support the basketball team, and it only seems right to support them until the end. Leaving at half time is kind of like putting in hardwood floors, but not getting any area rugs, or fixing dinner but not serving it. Or... never mind - it just seems rude to the kids who are playing. Win or lose, they work really hard and deserve the support.

So, when I do go to a basketball game, or two, I want to stay to the end. Yes, I'll enjoy the part when the band is playing best, but I'll stay until the final buzzer.

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• Not a Pep Band Mom

Priorities, People!

Image via WikipediaNext week - Dancing with the Stars, the Finals. Except on our abc station, they're showing it at a 'special' time - after the football game and the news. Oh yeah, really special. One - those football games never follow any rules and go as long as they want so, Two - the news will be late, and Three - it's anybody's guess when this 'special' time will actually occur. Besides being way too late for normal people who have to get up in the morning to actually watch, it's now impossible to record because, again, it's anybody's guess when it is actually going to start.

Also, if you vote on these things via phone, you only have 30 minutes after the show ends to cast your vote. That means 30 minutes after the actual show ends, not 30 minutes after the 'special' show ends. Sorry, your vote does not count.

While it's irritating any time a football game or other sports event is shown in place of a regularly scheduled show, this is particularly bad because it's the Finals. If they had done this earlier in the season, when it didn't really matter, it wouldn't have been quite so bad. Still, I think sports should be confined to sports networks where the people who want to see them can find them but they don't interfere with more important things. Obviously, nobody asked me.

A Social Network for Sports Lovers

Jeffrey's brother Kirk was visiting the last couple of days. One of the questions he had before he came up was whether he was going to be able to watch his Bears game. I wonder if he would have stayed home if we said no? Some people are like that. They just have to watch their sports teams. I've never cared all that much about sports, except for the Olympics. I love the Olympics - Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics. I could be a real sports fan if I could watch the Olympics more than every couple years.

I'm excited to learn about a new sports social network called Sportsviews, because it's not only about all the typical pro sports like football, basketball and baseball. There's an Olympics category, as well as golf and Nascar, tennis, and hockey. Sportsviews is a free sports community. Anyone can join and post sports related videos, blogs and photos, and view other people's posts, too. You can join or create groups, and invite your friends, too. It sounds kind of like an online sports bar, with all the love of sports and none of the cigarette smoke.

I think this would have been really fun during the Olympics. Now I think it will be a good way to go back over the highlights, and soon a good way to look forward to the next Olympic games. I might even learn to like some other sports. It could happen.

Just for signing up you get $50,000 Sportsviews Dollars to start playing with. You can use some of those Sportsviews Dollars to create and place bets, and win Sportsviews Dollars to do more things on the site.

ETA: I registered, got my $50,000 Sportsviews Dollars and placed my first bet - on the burning question, How Many Olympics Will Pass Before Phelps' Record Is Broken?

Is Lasik Cheating?

Recognize those eyes? They belong to Tiger Woods, probably the winningest, most famous golfer in all of the sport. Those are some extremely focused eyes. But Tiger's eyes were not perfect, and he had laser surgery to correct his vision. This would never have occurred to me, but some people seem to think that's cheating. I don't see how. I think it would be the same thing to say that wearing glasses or contacts is cheating, and I really don't believe anyone has said that. Besides, just being able to see the hole you're supposed to put that little white ball in, doesn't mean that you can. There's a whole lot more involved, like skill, practice, and determination.

Lasik is a surgical procedure that involves reshaping the cornea to reduce or eliminate the need for corrective lenses. One of these days I would really like to go for an evaluation and see if Lasik is right for me. I've been wearing glasses since grade school, and it would be so nice not to be dependent on them any more. There is quite a bit of information on this Lasik in San Francisco website, and I think the more information I have, the more comfortable I will be with the whole process. They say on the site that it is perfectly natural to be nervous about the procedure, so yes, there's that. Also the cost has always put me off, but the cost of Lasik seems pretty affordable nowadays. It's just a matter of balancing cost and choosing a high quality Lasik center with a good record and reputation.

I bet even if I get Lasik surgery and have perfect vision, I still couldn't beat Tiger at golf. Just ignore the fact that I've never played in my life....

Wimbledon 2008 is Almost Here

I've been working on the calendar today. One of these days I'm actually going to get it done - hopefully soon. Today I've been formatting and inserting the athletic schedule for the high school. Our school has your basic sports - football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, track, soccer, etc. One sport our school doesn't have is tennis. The school in the next town, the one where the kids have to take finals in all their classes? They have tennis, or at least they have tennis courts out front, so I'm assuming they have tennis. We do have tennis courts in our local park, and the kids both took tennis in summer school, back when they were in elementary.

Jeffrey always enjoyed tennis, but he got frustrated pretty quickly the few times we went to the park to 'play tennis' - meaning, try to hit the ball back and forth over the net, never mind scoring. Yes, I'm hopeless. I wonder if practicing with the Wii will help me any? He took the kids to the park a few times to play after they'd had the class, but no one really stuck with it.

So, he may not get the opportunity to go out and play tennis very often, but he does watch tennis on television every once in a while, and always when the Wimbledon tournament is on. I have a hard time following the action even on TV, but he knows what's going on. I just cheer for whichever one of the Williams sisters is playing. Those girls are amazing, both of them. Venus won last year, as well as in 2000, 2001, and 2005. Her sister Serena won in 2002 and 2003. I wonder how they'll do this year.

Wimbledon 2008 is approaching fast. The tournament runs June 23 - July 6. Wimbledon tickets are still available, for those who can get to the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Those who don't have tickets can queue up overnight for seats. That sounds like an experience, doesn't it? We'll just have to watch the tournament on TV, follow it online, and maybe even become a Wimbledon fan on Facebook. The actual experience of being there will have to wait.

The Stuff You Need to Get Outside

As Jeffrey and I were walking the other day we noticed that our neighbors had brought their camper out of winter storage. They have a nice trailer, and they do a lot of camping. We have a tent and some camping supplies, because we really don't do much camping. We enjoy it, but there's always something else going on, and it's hard to get away on the weekends. Maybe when the kids are grown and gone, things will slow down a little and we can find some time, and some people to camp with.

Of course, that means we'll have to dig out all the camping supplies, see what we have and see what else we need. Until I started browsing this site (Big T Sports) full of camping, fishing, hunting, and outdoor sporting goods, I didn't know we needed so many things. For instance, did you know you can buy a stainless steel margarita glass? Of course, I'm going to need one of those if I'm going to start camping.

I may not ever need marine electronics, because I don't see myself ever doing any fishing - regardless of what you all say. The Big T Sports website has them for those of you who like that kind of thing. They also have all the camping supplies I can imagine, lighting, tents, cookware, sleeping bags, etc. I can smell the campfire now, and taste that margarita.

Addicted to Sports?

No one in this house is too fanatical about sports, except for Jeffrey and Beth with their Illini basketball. There are, however, plenty of sports fans out there. In this state, everyone is crazy about the Packers and were totally heartbroken recently when Brett Favre announced his retirement. Remember how much I cared about that?

In between the big games, sports fans can now visit the AddictSports forum. Here they can discuss the games, the players, nfl picks, and the latest in Fantasy Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball. If you're one of those people who just can't get enough of sports, this might be something you'd be interested in. If you're like me and really know nothing about sports, this might be a good place to learn a thing or two.

Instructional Sports Videos

Neither one of my kids is into sports. Beth played basketball in 7th grade, but her coach didn't know what she was doing, and the whole experience turned Beth off to organized sports. I think it's a shame, because kids can learn so much by being involved in some kind of sporting activity. Maybe it would have helped if her 7th grade basketball coach had known about PlaySportsTV. Coaching is not something you can just jump into without having a clue what you are doing. This coach had no clue. She was a teacher at the school. The team needed a coach, so she got the job. She and the girls could have benefited from the many instructional videos on this site, and I would have loved to have her read the article on 10 Tips for Working With Players, to start with.

Truthfully, I think I could learn a thing or two from these videos. Not only does the coach explain things and have the kids demonstrate - in this case I watched the basketball video on 'shooting basics' - but there is also a still picture slide that goes along with it. The slide shows exactly what the coach was talking about, and puts his words in writing. For people like me who need to see it in writing, that is perfect. I wish I had had someone break sports down and teach me the basics when I was a kid.

Now, even if the coach doesn't exactly know what she is doing, there is help.