A month ago I was asked if I wanted to join a broomball team and my immediate answer was yes. Though I have never played broomball before in my life, I figured my skills on skates should transfer over to this sport at least a little. Now after playing our first game I think stick handling the ball and shooting are definitely  transferable  skills, but running on ice is nothing like skating, and not just for the obvious reasons. On shoes it isn’t as easy to get away from players on the other team, so any advantage I may have had no longer applies in a game situation.

First Broomball Game

I was able to get a couple of shots off during the quick thirty minute game, but only one even had a chance of going in the net. Unfortunately  no one  else on our team was able to score either, and we ended up losing 0-2 despite great efforts from our goalie. We had a quick team meeting (beer drinking session) after the game and have already discussed some strategies that will hopefully allow us to start scoring some goals and maybe eventually win some games. Photos from our first game can be seen on 5chw4r7z.com as well as his flickr page.

Our remaining games, for those who want to come cheer the Little Kings on to victory:

• Monday January 9th at 8:30pm
• Monday January 16th at 6pm
• Tuesday January 24th at 6:30pm
• Monday January 30th at 8pm
• Monday February 6th at 6:30pm

My attempt to complete the Jenny Challenge this year is over and I did not finish the 100 miles before Christmas. I’ve continued to log my miles and I should break the century mark tomorrow, as long as the weather is good. My biggest challenge for this year was getting miles in on the weekends. Now that we are back in Cincinnati there is always something going on during the weekends, and any free time we have we like to spend with Trey, doing things that he likes.

Most of my fantasy football games are now over as well. I ended up winning one league, taking home $180! I finished in 4th place in another league, but still won $70.  In my other two leagues I finished 7th and 11th. My total entry fees were $125, which I was able to double with my $250 combined winnings. There is still one week left in the pick’em game (currently 1st) and the salary cap game (currently 4th) but no money is on the line in either.

I am desperately trying to finish this year’s Jenny Challenge. After today’s 7 mile run, I am still 21.6 miles short. That means some busy days ahead as I try to finish the miles before Christmas. Fortunately the weather forecast looks decent enough that I might be able to finish. Without access to a treadmill, keeping my fingers crossed for good weather has been my only option.

I know most of you probably find this boring, but this should be one of the last fantasy football updates for a long while. My fantasy teams went 3-1 this past week. Unfortunately one of the losses came in the championship semifinals. I will be playing for 3rd place this week. In another league I have advanced to the championship and have guaranteed myself $90, but could win $180! In another league I’m playing for 7th place and in the last league I wound up in 11th place (ouch). I remain in 1st place in pro pick’em and 4th in salary cap.

So much of this week’s sporting news in Cincinnati has focused on the Crosstown Shootout  Beatdown. If you have no idea what I’m writing about, a big fight broke out with seconds left in the annual basketball game between the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University and the game had to be ended prematurely. There has been a lot of finger-pointing since the brawl and now suspensions have been issued and  apologies  have been made. Hopefully the universities can find a way to continue this great rivalry game without results like this. If you have time for it, UC  head-coach  Mick Cronin had some good things to say after the game.

In other news, my hockey team has continued our winning ways! I netted two goals in our big win over a team that we have now beat three times this session. I was able to play numerous shifts with both of my buddies from high school, and it was fun to all be out on the ice playing forward again together. I think our line was responsible for most of the points in the game.

Finally I had a pretty brutal week in fantasy football, but fortunately my losses have very little major playoff implications. I lost one game in the consolation bracket and now will battle it out this week for second to last place. I had a big win in another consolation bracket and am still alive for a decent finish in that league. A loss in another league did drop me from a likely second seed in the playoffs to the fourth seed, but I am still alive. And after a bye week in my final league, the action resumes for me as I try to capture a championship. I remain in first place in the pro pick’em game and I am up to fourth in the salary cap game, which is quite an accomplishment since I was in dead last at one point.

The Cincinnati Bearcat football team had a big win this past Saturday versus UConn, 35-27. It was great to be back at Nippert Stadium, especially seeing a win that gave the Bearcats their third Big East Conference championship in four years. They lost to BCS bid to West Virginia, who shared the championship with the Cats as well as Louisville. However they will be playing on New Years Eve at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis versus  Vanderbilt. My parents have already made plans to attend the bowl game and I hope that we can join them.

With all the success the team had it came as no surprise that head coach Butch Jones was named as the Big East coach of the year. Completing the sweep of awards, running back Isaiah  Pead won offensive player of the year, and defensive lineman  Derek Wolfe was awarded defensive player of the year. I have also seen Wolfe’s name on some lists of All-Americans.

In  other Bearcat news, the basketball team has their annual  match-up  with neighboring Xavier University tomorrow afternoon. The game will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 12:30 EST.

My hockey team got back to the winning ways this past weekend. I also recently found out that I’m on a broomball team for an upcoming league down at fountain square. My buddy Kenny and I got a head start on everyone by practicing our broomball skills before our latest hockey game. I’m sure this will provide some interesting updates once the season starts after the new year.

Today is the halfway point for the Jenny Challenge. Unfortunately I’m not at the halfway point for the 100 miles, but I’m close. So far I’ve totaled 44.4 miles in 16 days. I need to average nearly 3.5 miles per day to finish the challenge this year. I guess I better get running!

Finally a quick fantasy football update. I had two wins and two losses this past week. The playoffs have started in the two leagues I had wins. In one league I finished the regular season in 2nd of 10 and have a first round playoff bye. In the other league I finished 9th of 12 and am playing in the consolation bracket. The playoffs also started in another league where I finished 8th of 12, and so again I am in the consolation ladder. Finally I am sitting in 2nd of 12 in my last league and playoffs will start next week. A win this week will make sure  I make the playoffs, while a loss would lead to all kinds of interesting tie breakers. The college pick’em game has ended and I took home 3rd place! I moved up one spot and sit in first place in the pro pick’em. Finally I’m up to 6th in the salary cap game.

I went to my first Cincinnati Cyclones game in years this past Saturday night. Tickets were only $13 each for just about any seat in the house. With only the lower seating bowl open, there wasn’t a bad seat to be had. Plus drinks and snacks are a more affordable than at other sporting events, especially when they have $1 beer nights or the more regularly occurring food specials. It’s hard to find a better deal around town for a night of entertainment. Plus Santa was there on Saturday. Trey was not a fan of the man in red, but calmed down enough for a quick photo as long as I was in it with him.

Things are definitely looking up in my world of sports. The University of Cincinnati Bearcat football team beat Syracuse on Saturday to improve to 8-3 for the season. They take on Connecticut this coming Saturday at home and with a win will share the Big East Conference championship. This is their last regular season game of the year and I can’t wait to see it all unfold back at Nippert Stadium.

The Bengals also got back on the winning side of things this past Sunday against Cleveland. Their 7-4 record is only good enough for 3rd place in their division, but if the season were to end today they would get the second wild card spot into the playoffs. That’s quite an improvement from last year and for a team that no one, myself included, was giving any credit to in the preseason.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my hockey team. Even though I scored an early goal for our team, we suffered a big loss with a new  net-minder  filling in for our normal goalie. Both of my buddies from high school scored goals as well, but it was far from enough to compete with the 10 or so goals the other team put in our net.

I won three of four fantasy football games. Unfortunately the one loss came in the league that is my worst. In that league I am still in 10th of 12 teams and nearly out of the six team playoffs. In another league I’m still in 2nd of 10 and I have  secured  my playoff spot! I moved up a spot in another league to 7th of 12, which would just keep me out of the playoffs, so I need a big couple of week to move on. Finally, in my last league I’ve all but secured a playoff spot with my 9-3 record, where I sit in 1st place in my division. I’m in 2nd place in both pick’em games and remain in 7th in the salary cap game.

Lastly, a quick update on my Jenny Challenge status after the first full week. I’ve logged 21.7 miles, which is a great start! Unfortunately most of that has been walking and hiking. My weather hasn’t been  cooperating  for outdoor runs very often, and when it has I’ve been stuck at work where I still don’t have showering facilities. At least I was able to get one nice long run in over the last weekend. At this current rate I should have no problem finishing the challenge again.

I couldn’t have asked for a much worse week as far as my sports interests go. The Bengals lost a  heart-breaker  to the Ravens on Sunday, 31-24. The University of Cincinnati Bearcat football team lost to Rutgers, 20-3, their first game without a touchdown in years. To make an already depressing Saturday worse, the Bearcat basketball team lost to the  Presbyterian  Blue Hose later that night, 56-54. These  warm-up  games for the basketball team should nearly be automatic wins.

My hockey team had a disappointing 8-2 loss to the first place team in our league. I guess it turns out that eating pizza and drinking beer doesn’t prove to be the best pregame activity. At least some friends and I actually brewed some beer earlier in the day, otherwise Sunday would have been a down day too.

My fantasy football teams provided only one win this week. With our playoffs starting in just a few weeks I sit in 2nd of 10, 8th of 12, 10th of 12, and I’m still in 1st in my division based game, where I had my only win of the week. I’m still in 2nd place in the pro pick’em game but fell another spot to 5th in the college version. Finally I moved up to 7th in the salary cap game. I’m hoping some of my players on a variety of my teams get healthy so I can finish out the season with a bang.

One last item, the Jenny Challenge is starting up in just a couple of days. I’ve participated the last couple of years and look forward to doing it again. Signing up is really easy this year, and again is open to anyone and everyone. I’ve already recruited a few new friends to the challenge. You know you want to join us.

This past Saturday was game five of six in our season tickets to University of Cincinnati football. We lucked into another great afternoon for football and started with a morning tailgate. The Bearcats took on the Mountaineers of West Virginia in an exciting game despite coming up three points short in the end. UC showed a lot of heart keeping the game close and nearly claiming a victory even after their starting quarterback went down in the first half and didn’t return.  Despite the loss, the team can still win the Big East Championship and will start that effort this weekend at Rutgers.

Similarly the Bengals came up just a bit short in their game against the Steelers this weekend. I haven’t written much about them this year since I cannot easily sit down to watch their non-sold out home games. However the team is managing to do much better than most would have thought this years team could provide. I may even try to get to a game before the season is over.

My fantasy football teams didn’t perform much better with only 1 win out of 4 leagues. My teams are now in 2nd of 10, 4th of 12, 8th of 12 (after five straight loses), and finally 1st in my divisional based game. I am in 2nd place in the pro pick’em game and 4th in the college edition. Finally my team in the salary cap game has moved up to 9th place. I don’t think I’ll win this one as I’m now nearly 200 points out of 1st, but I hope to continue moving up in the standings.

My hockey team had a big win on Sunday night against a team that we had previously lost to. After 6 games we are now 4-2 and are in 2nd place behind an undefeated league leader. We will be playing against the 1st place team this weekend so I’m hoping for another big win.

For the third year in a row I ran the Run Like Hell race this past Friday. Joining me in the race were my dad, Kim, and a few others from Kim’s extended family. I wanted to finish the race under 8 minute pace and that goal was met!

I don’t think they keep any race results, as it is much more of a party than a competition, but I had my GPS watch with me. My dad and I tried running together but he got caught up in the mess of walkers at the start. He didn’t finish far behind though, but I think this is my first victory over him! Kim just walked the route this year since she hasn’t gotten back to running yet. At least she walked in style though.

Me, Kim, and my dad ready to race.