Baseball - Practicing at Home

In baseball, like most sports, there are a couple of key elements to focus on if you really want to improve your skills. The first element are the rules of the game and what you need to do in each situation. Rules are easy to read, but situational smarts takes a lot more effort and often lots of time. You have to build in layers as you understand one element, others make more sense.

The second key area is individual skill development. From catching pop-flys, fielding grounder with soft hands to batting. The more you practice the better you will get. With baseball, you can do a ton of improvement on your own or with just one other person and a good pair of running shoes. Batting is one of those areas that with a little extra equipment, your practice time can be tons more efficient. Set up a practice batting cage and get some extra balls. If you can afford it, a pitching machine can make this a solo effort.

Make Your Own Skateboard

If you are an avid skateboarder and are handy in the workshop, you might enjoy building your own skateboards. You'll needs to collect all of the parts to build the board, but this can be a lot of fun when you get to pick and choose the exact components that you want. One of the cooler options is to go with a blank skateboard deck and you can go hog wild with your own graphics. Match it to high end trucks and wheels and you will have a one of a kind skateboard that you can be proud of. Enjoy!

Good Fitness Is Hard Work

If you are out of shape, you know what a daunting task getting back in shape can be. There are a couple of really simple things that you need to do to get to where you need to be.

The first is to eat health and a reasonable amount of food at least 6 days a week (and only splurge a little on day 7).

The second is to exercise. If you are eating healthy and you aren't getting back in shape then you need to exercise more. There are many fitness tips that you can follow, but the simple fact is that you need to burn more calories that you consume. Mixing up aerobic exercise with weight lifting is a very good combination, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just get started with a simple exercise that you enjoy today. Walking, jogging, swimming or joining a recreational sports team are all good places to start.

NHL Ice Hockey Playoffs - May 12

Lots of excitement with game 6s and games 7s looming in this round. Break out your favorite hockey jerseys and make sure you wear them around town to show off your loyalties.

The sad thing is that the Vancouver Canucks got ca'nuked right out of the playoffs. Ah, no more Canadian teams in the playoffs. At this point I am pulling for the Pens.

My Tivo is getting full almost every night :-)

Looking forward to the next round. I love the intensity that all the players bring to the rink at this time of year!

Water Sports

There are MANY different water sports that you can participate in. Some of them are even fun to watch.

My favorite water sports include:

• Water skiing
• Water polo
• Bass Fishing
• PWC (personal water crafts) aka jet skis
• Sailing (although I haven't done this competitively)
  
• Swimming - I like to swim but I pretty much just watch swimming when the summer Olympics are on

There are many more water sports and if you have a different favorite, please add a comment to let us know about it.

(photo by Claudiu_M)

NHL Ice Hockey Playoffs

Break out the Ice Cream Machine! Playoff teams, seeding and match-ups are set for the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the East we have:
Boston vs Montreal
New York Rangers vs Washington
New Jersey vs Carolina
Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia


In the West we have:

San Jose vs Anaheim
Detroit vs Columbus
Vancouver vs St Louis
Chicago vs Calgary

Id doesn't look like a strong year for the teams from Canada this season. We shall see how it all turns out soon enough.

Ice Hockey Playoffs Are Coming

We are getting near the end of the regular season for NHL Ice Hockey. There are a lot of teams that are battling very hard to get into the playoffs or trying to cement or improve their standings for home ice advantage. It is a ton of fun to watch hockey at this time of year because it is really playoff hockey for a lot of teams. This is especially true in the west this year due to so many teams just a few points away from in or out of the playoffs.

As of 3/30/2009 (with games still to be played tonight) the current standings are:

IN if Playoffs started today:
San Jose Sharks
Detroit Red Wings
Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks
Vancouver Canucks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nashville Predators
St Louis Blues

Outside looking in:
Anaheim Ducks
Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota Wild
Dallas Stars
Los Angeles Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche