Because Syracuse University’s football team does so poorly, almost anybody who watches them probably has some theory about it. What you generally hear is that the coach is incompetent, so throw him out. Or that the coach is OK, just be patient and give him time to instill his new methods. And here comes Dave with yet another theory! But hear me out, I don’t think you’ve run across this angle.
Too Much of a Good Thing?
A couple years ago, I had a young acquaintance who had been part of the SU football program. He was a very big, strong guy, and I had met him because he was working as a building contractor to make some extra money. His idea of a good time was doing very heavy high pulls and the like. As I recall, he had graduated, and was hoping to get a team coaching position. He had injured his leg while he was a player, and was still feeling the effects.
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Posted in Articles.
By Dave
– November 22, 2009
I just read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and it blew me away! Once in awhile it’s great to have my preconceived notions turned upside-down. The main topic of the book is extreme distance running, particularly as practiced by the Tarahumara, Mexican indigenous people who live a remote existence in Mexico’s Copper Canyon region. By extreme distance running, I’m referring to people who run distances longer than a marathon. People for whom a marathon may be a light warm-up race. The story is a page-turner, and the narrative is organized around events that lead to a race between some of the best extreme distance runners in the world.
Anyone who knows me, or has read my many snarky remarks here about distance running, will wonder if I’ve lost my mind. Well, I won’t weigh in on that. Most of my hopefully humorous remarks are my way of poking fun at the sport’s huge injury rate. The frequence of injuries is so high that it’s essentially taken for granted, and viewed as an acceptable risk for those who love the sport.
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Posted in Running.
By Dave
– October 23, 2009
I confess, I often make snarky comments about running. Some of this is based on genuine concern, as running not done correctly is very likely to cause injuries. And the truth is, I’m somewhat biased against LSD, aka Long Slow Distance running, because I find it too time-consuming, and have various other small complaints with it. And sometimes I’m just going for cheap laughs.
But I know that many people enjoy running, and more power to them! I used to run all the time as a kid. After working up to some personal bests in kettlebell work and other indoor exercises, I felt that I needed a change, and began to have some nostalgic feelings for the running days.
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Posted in Workouts.
By Dave
– July 26, 2009
It’s spring again, all the yearly ad hoc joggers are out, and the plants are blooming! My favorite time of year. This week, I unexpectedly had two of the toughest workouts I’ve had all year. We decided to add more gardens to our yard, and my contribution was mostly manual labor: digging through grass, weeds, and roots to get down to nice, rich soil for our newest garden additions. It didn’t sound like a big deal. But those days were hot, and the amount of dirt to be removed amounted to several hundred pounds, and some of it didn’t move very willingly. By the time I was done each time, I was out of breath, and very tired. Fortunately, because I love to stay in shape, I wasn’t sore the next day, just bone-tired.
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Posted in Articles.
By Dave
– April 26, 2009
