The hob-nobbing and delectable eats of another Easter over, now comes the actual thinking this is the last month of college. Forget the school work - which has to be done regardless - what happens from here?
You get the same old questions - how are job prospects, where do you want to be, what do you want to do, etc.
Plus, 11 days have passed on a break from Long Beach and then has taken me to Phoenix, Sun City (grandparents) and San Diego to visit some other cousins. We got a bit of bad news with my great aunt on my dad's side passing away at age 98 on Saturday, and with my grandparents 95 and 98 I hope this is not the last time I see them. Milwaukee's been far away during this stretch - it feels like it's been a while.
It's a very unnerving time of mixed emotions, with some really exciting prospects and some questions about how it will all unfold. Suffice to say, the real roller coaster ride begins now ...
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Another Long Beach in the books
At 21, it's not often you can say you've been to something and it stretches onto a second hand. But for me, that's the case for going to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The just concluded weekend in 2011 marked my sixth appearance at the April weekend in sunny SoCal, and it never disappoints.
Some brief thoughts:
***
The economic crisis has affected everyone in some way, from those left out of work, to those searching. It felt like every time I turned my head around there was another ex-CART/Champ Car, Indy Lights or Atlantic driver in street clothes actively pounding the pavement. Names like Patrick Carpentier (pictured), John Edwards, James Davison, Dillon Battistini, Dan Clarke, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Katherine Legge, Jaques Lazier and the list goes on, I'm sure. I doubt many of those are household names but they all have talent and don't want to give up on their dreams just yet. There is a tendency to critique and be overly cynical about motorsports, but given the number of people who love it and aren't involved at the moment, it does make you really stop, think and appreciate when you do have an opportunity.
***
ALMS weathered its miserable combined P1/P2 prototype count for this weekend and still turned in a more than respectable race - a far better showing than IndyCar, in my opinion. The GT battle was scintillating and gut-wrenching at the same time. BMW has been both fast and smart this year en route to two wins. Both the Corvette at Sebring and Lizard Porsche at Long Beach were in with a sniff of the win but lost out due to making mistakes. We're now into the "81 days of darkness" before Lime Rock the second weekend of July ...
***
Much like Monaco for F1, Long Beach is a historic and great event for IndyCar, but not a great race. Strung-out, straggly starts have been mostly the norm at Long Beach but it seems this year's was even more spread out. The double-file restarts were nonexistent. The penalties called (or not called) raised eyebrows for a fairly obvious lack of consistency. And it's not off-the-mark to suggest Helio Castroneves has lost a step or two, and is overdriving and missing his braking points by substantial margins to make up for it. Helio's incomprehensible punting of teammate Will Power may have done the Aussie irreparable damage to his championship charge. Yes, Helio has won three Indy 500s for "The Captain," but his leash is shorter now than it probably ever has been in 12 years in the team.
***
In another perfect piece of symmetry, Mike Conway can now say he's won at both Monaco and Long Beach. Conway won a GP2 event in Monaco and completed a comeback both from an earlier slow pit stop and his devastating accident at last year's Indianapolis 500 to score a popular first win - even if he was more modest and humble than a piece of pie. While Versus' coverage and its announcers have been solid this year, we didn't even know Conway was in the picture until restarts from about 20 laps to go.
***
The end of this weekend leads into the great unknown. In a little over a month's time, I'll have graduated from Marquette. There are a couple very exciting opportunities in the days and weeks to follow after that point, but after that is still wide open. I know I'll be at Indianapolis for the centennial of the '500,' and I hope to share more details soon. As for now, I'm out. Cheers.
Some brief thoughts:
***
The economic crisis has affected everyone in some way, from those left out of work, to those searching. It felt like every time I turned my head around there was another ex-CART/Champ Car, Indy Lights or Atlantic driver in street clothes actively pounding the pavement. Names like Patrick Carpentier (pictured), John Edwards, James Davison, Dillon Battistini, Dan Clarke, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Katherine Legge, Jaques Lazier and the list goes on, I'm sure. I doubt many of those are household names but they all have talent and don't want to give up on their dreams just yet. There is a tendency to critique and be overly cynical about motorsports, but given the number of people who love it and aren't involved at the moment, it does make you really stop, think and appreciate when you do have an opportunity.***
ALMS weathered its miserable combined P1/P2 prototype count for this weekend and still turned in a more than respectable race - a far better showing than IndyCar, in my opinion. The GT battle was scintillating and gut-wrenching at the same time. BMW has been both fast and smart this year en route to two wins. Both the Corvette at Sebring and Lizard Porsche at Long Beach were in with a sniff of the win but lost out due to making mistakes. We're now into the "81 days of darkness" before Lime Rock the second weekend of July ...
***
Much like Monaco for F1, Long Beach is a historic and great event for IndyCar, but not a great race. Strung-out, straggly starts have been mostly the norm at Long Beach but it seems this year's was even more spread out. The double-file restarts were nonexistent. The penalties called (or not called) raised eyebrows for a fairly obvious lack of consistency. And it's not off-the-mark to suggest Helio Castroneves has lost a step or two, and is overdriving and missing his braking points by substantial margins to make up for it. Helio's incomprehensible punting of teammate Will Power may have done the Aussie irreparable damage to his championship charge. Yes, Helio has won three Indy 500s for "The Captain," but his leash is shorter now than it probably ever has been in 12 years in the team.
***
In another perfect piece of symmetry, Mike Conway can now say he's won at both Monaco and Long Beach. Conway won a GP2 event in Monaco and completed a comeback both from an earlier slow pit stop and his devastating accident at last year's Indianapolis 500 to score a popular first win - even if he was more modest and humble than a piece of pie. While Versus' coverage and its announcers have been solid this year, we didn't even know Conway was in the picture until restarts from about 20 laps to go.
***
The end of this weekend leads into the great unknown. In a little over a month's time, I'll have graduated from Marquette. There are a couple very exciting opportunities in the days and weeks to follow after that point, but after that is still wide open. I know I'll be at Indianapolis for the centennial of the '500,' and I hope to share more details soon. As for now, I'm out. Cheers.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
When insomnia strikes ...
Blame Pepsi Throwback for this one. Drinking a can of it has prompted a bout of insomnia that can only be cured by putting fingers to keyboard and offering a few random thoughts:
***
The first time I heard Charl Schwartzel's name, I thought it was an anagram or the physical spelling out of a person choking. Actually, it turns out the dude killed it on Sunday at The Masters with a couple hole-outs on the front nine and four birdies in his final four holes to take the green jacket. Add his name to the latest of one-hit wonders winning majors in golf. On another note, now Jim Nantz goes into hiding for a few months with the soundtrack from Augusta as finished as the college basketball season and with the NFL lockout threatening its season, possibly into the fall as well.
***
Are Brewers-Cubs outings baseball games or tailgates where they happen to have a number of people playing baseball thrown in for hangover entertainment? I'm more inclined to think the latter after going to two of the three games in the NL Central rivals' weekend series. And yes, I think there were far more cans of beer and dozens of brats consumed than innings played. Neither team's fans ever will win an award for class, but I'll give a slight edge to the home crowd's backers for slightly less and more playful vulgarities.
***
Senioritis doesn't yet have a prescription drug that any of the pharmaceutical companies can exploit. You know, like restless leg syndrome - the bastion of diseases and most common problem that people bring up at doctor's appointments.
But they should - I'm guessing I'm one of many second semester seniors who wouldn't mind coughing up a few bucks to discover a magic pill could force us to do our papers, study for tests and make group projects go away. When you have to worry about job-hunting and enjoying both your extracurricular and social activities away from the classroom, figuring out a solution to this as yet undiagnosed condition would be a task I would not mind seeing GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and others take on.
***
Sebastian Vettel and Will Power are SCARY good. Moving on ...
***
Count me among those thrilled to see Newman/Haas back and moving up the grid again in IndyCar. Oriol Servia - very underrated - has a ninth and fifth (second in the non-Penske/Ganassi class today) to his credit already and at long last James Hinchcliffe finally has his full-season IndyCar ride (sans Brazil and Motegi, but alas.) "Hinch" was blindingly quick on debut and got his initiation to the series by getting Viso-ed ...
Additionally, it took four years, but the level of competition is as good as its been since unification, with the so-called "transition teams" (I hated that moniker) almost on level footing. The driver lineup (two or three drivers excepted) is stacked. Simon Pagenaud had a mega debut as well, finishing eighth in his first IndyCar start and first time in open-wheel since 2007.
***
Next week is chance two of the new ALMS TV deal, and sadly, the tape-delayed broadcast will air simultaneously as the IndyCar live broadcast from Long Beach. This was narrowly avoided today, not by much, but the supporting Rolex Sports Car Series race from Barber nearly pushed into the same timeslot as IndyCar today. And after this weekend, ALMS disappears altogether for 81 days until Lime Rock.
***
The notoriously fickle Wisconsin weather has given us in the last 24 hours: 55 and 80 degrees, sun, rain, tornado warnings, thunderstorms, and wind gusts approaching 70 mph. Needless to say I'm stoked out of my mind to be in Long Beach Thursday night and Phoenix the next week for the first time in nearly a year to catch up with the fam in my last pre-graduation jet-setting experience.
I should probably get to sleep. Cheers.
***
The first time I heard Charl Schwartzel's name, I thought it was an anagram or the physical spelling out of a person choking. Actually, it turns out the dude killed it on Sunday at The Masters with a couple hole-outs on the front nine and four birdies in his final four holes to take the green jacket. Add his name to the latest of one-hit wonders winning majors in golf. On another note, now Jim Nantz goes into hiding for a few months with the soundtrack from Augusta as finished as the college basketball season and with the NFL lockout threatening its season, possibly into the fall as well.
***
Are Brewers-Cubs outings baseball games or tailgates where they happen to have a number of people playing baseball thrown in for hangover entertainment? I'm more inclined to think the latter after going to two of the three games in the NL Central rivals' weekend series. And yes, I think there were far more cans of beer and dozens of brats consumed than innings played. Neither team's fans ever will win an award for class, but I'll give a slight edge to the home crowd's backers for slightly less and more playful vulgarities.
***
Senioritis doesn't yet have a prescription drug that any of the pharmaceutical companies can exploit. You know, like restless leg syndrome - the bastion of diseases and most common problem that people bring up at doctor's appointments.
But they should - I'm guessing I'm one of many second semester seniors who wouldn't mind coughing up a few bucks to discover a magic pill could force us to do our papers, study for tests and make group projects go away. When you have to worry about job-hunting and enjoying both your extracurricular and social activities away from the classroom, figuring out a solution to this as yet undiagnosed condition would be a task I would not mind seeing GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and others take on.
***
Sebastian Vettel and Will Power are SCARY good. Moving on ...
***
Count me among those thrilled to see Newman/Haas back and moving up the grid again in IndyCar. Oriol Servia - very underrated - has a ninth and fifth (second in the non-Penske/Ganassi class today) to his credit already and at long last James Hinchcliffe finally has his full-season IndyCar ride (sans Brazil and Motegi, but alas.) "Hinch" was blindingly quick on debut and got his initiation to the series by getting Viso-ed ...
Additionally, it took four years, but the level of competition is as good as its been since unification, with the so-called "transition teams" (I hated that moniker) almost on level footing. The driver lineup (two or three drivers excepted) is stacked. Simon Pagenaud had a mega debut as well, finishing eighth in his first IndyCar start and first time in open-wheel since 2007.
***
Next week is chance two of the new ALMS TV deal, and sadly, the tape-delayed broadcast will air simultaneously as the IndyCar live broadcast from Long Beach. This was narrowly avoided today, not by much, but the supporting Rolex Sports Car Series race from Barber nearly pushed into the same timeslot as IndyCar today. And after this weekend, ALMS disappears altogether for 81 days until Lime Rock.
***
The notoriously fickle Wisconsin weather has given us in the last 24 hours: 55 and 80 degrees, sun, rain, tornado warnings, thunderstorms, and wind gusts approaching 70 mph. Needless to say I'm stoked out of my mind to be in Long Beach Thursday night and Phoenix the next week for the first time in nearly a year to catch up with the fam in my last pre-graduation jet-setting experience.
I should probably get to sleep. Cheers.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
A week to forget
The old saying "no news is good news" is something I appreciate. Reason being, if things are standard and uneventful with nothing major, drastic or disconcerting happening, it's calming and relieving in the newsroom. This past week at Marquette was not one of those weeks.
With our front page headlines at The Marquette Tribune partially positive and mostly negative, we were on our heels in covering some stories we'd rather not. At the very least, we weren't expecting them and our reporters and editors were excellent in getting them done on the fly.
The good first - the announcement David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author will be our commencement speaker this year was universally praised.
Additionally, the announcement the university is extending benefits to domestic partners depends entirely on political opinion and thoughts on what MU should stand for.
But then the two big bits of bad news hit and overshadowed everything else. The first was the allegation that four MU student athletes were accused of sexual assault, with the incident allegedly occurring in Humphrey Hall. We're waiting to hear more details and saying anything more here would not only be a waste of space, but merely conjecture and irresponsible on my part.
The second was the trickled announcement about the University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild's tenure as provincial of the Jesuits in Chicago for a six-year period, and what he did or didn't know or allow about a pedophiliac priest. It went to the New York Times on the Monday and by Wednesday, following from the BishopAccountability.org website that had obtained all the documents, there was a press conference from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (or SNAP) on campus outside Fr. Wild's office.
The story hit the newsstands on campus Thursday and it came up at the last Fr. Wild Forum that night. Personally, I felt very weird because I wrote the article and here was Fr. Wild, someone who I still respect and appreciate what he has done for the university, reading prepared remarks and apologizing.
There's no denying MU's standing has taken a hit on campus because of these alleged affairs, and with us also almost a year out from the Jodi O'Brien fiasco we're still in a recovery mode nationally from a PR perspective. We have to be honest with ourselves as a university and acknowledge our flaws, be up front with things, and not play in denial.
Being at the Tribune provides a learning experience for student-journalists - myself included - in more ways than one. And now, having the opportunity to cover these events exposes us to the stories that aren't all bunnies and rainbows. I guess I can say I'm thankful for that. That doesn't mean I have to like it.
Out for now, cheers.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)