Feeling the blues, thanks to the Jazz

I got a text this morning from a friend. It said that Jerry Sloan had quit the Jazz. I didn't believe it, but I still ran to a computer. I fired up yahoo and typed "jerry sloan quit". Multiple articles popped up. They all spoke of a press conference that was going to happen at 3pm where Jerry would address the media. It didn't seem real.

Jerry Sloan started with the Jazz back in 1984 as a scout. He was later promoted to an assistant coach by Frank Layden thanks to some encouragement from Phil Johnson. I very much remember going to Jazz games with my father in the 80's and seeing Frank Layden on the sideline running the show. He was a very round man with huge black rimmed glasses. He was a larger than life character and he brought some national attention to the Jazz. He even won the NBA coach of the year honor, something that Sloan never achieved. But during the 1988-89 season Layden decided to step away from the court and took team president. His first job was promoting Jerry Sloan.

Now I could type endlessly about everything Jerry has done for the Jazz, but if you are a product of the state, or an NBA fan in general, you already know. But I'll hit on a few notes. Jerry was the longest tenured coach in any of the four major sports in America. He won 1,221 games making him the 3rd in all time wins. He lead the Jazz to two NBA Finals. He is the only coach to win 1,000 games with one team.

But those are just numbers. If you know Jerry, he's not a numbers guy. He is an oldschool hard nosed coach. He demanded a lot from his players, and usually he got it. He took a couple of kids NBA scouts thought very little of and turned them into Hall of Famers. You might be familiar with John Stockton and Karl Malone, right? After those two left he took a team led by NBA castoffs like Carlos Arroyo, Tom Gugliotta, and Michael Ruffin, and finished with a winning record. He made players stars and when they left him they were exposed as nothings (see Shandon Anderson). He was loved and admired by his peers and was respected around the world.

But the game has changed. Today's players call the shots, not the coaches. Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Chris Paul, and more, have gotten their coaches fired with their "my way or the highway" stance. They are the stars, the ones who sell tickets and jerseys. If they don't like the coach, they can complain to upper management and *poof* bye bye coach. This has happened everywhere in all the major sports. Everywhere but Salt Lake. Until today.

Yahoo sports, ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and many more are attributing to Jerry stepping down directly to the Utah Jazz primadonna himself, Deron Williams. Sloan and Williams have butted heads ever since the Jazz drafted Williams. But unlike other players Sloan has had beef with (Ostertag, Giricek, etc...), Williams has called the shots. He's made jabs in the papers that if things aren't changed that he'll leave. He likes to run the offense himself, but Sloan has always called the plays. Even when John Stockton was here. Turns out the straw that broke the camels back was Deron blowing off a play Sloan called last night against the Bulls. Jerry got after him at halftime and the two had it out. Jerry decided after that, it was time to go home.

It breaks my heart. He was the last piece of my childhood that I could hold onto. All my favorite althetes are gone. MC Hammer isn't cool anymore. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles don't do it for this 30 year old. But Jerry, he was still there. Like a family member. I feel sad. I believe the franchise did him wrong by letting things get to this point. He is a Hall of Fame coach and he deserves better.

As for the new look Jazz, I just cant support them now. Not as long as Williams is there. I'll always love my Jazz. The teams lead by Malone, Stockton, Eaton, Bailey, an so on. But as long as Williams suits up for this team, I will not cheer for them. Jerry Sloan is Utah, not D-Will. This is just a stop for him. He'll leave in free agency, just like all stars do now. He's not Utah.

Thank you very much coach for all you did for this state. You made a positive impact on many people, including us fans. You will be missed by all, including the new Shandon Anderson, Mr. Deron Williams...

References:http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-sloanretiring021011

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6109031

Blogger Stats

I was messing around with my blog today. I was looking for a new backdrop. In doing so I ran across some pretty cool stats. Turns out blogger tracks users who read your blog. You don't get any personal information about these people like names or addresses. What you do get is info on what country they are from, how many times your blog is looked at, when the heaviest traffic is, what type of web browser was used, and what operating system was used. This is so cool.

Today my blog was read by 29 different people. Not huge or anything. But one of those readers was from Russia, and another was from South Korea! But when you dig deeper my blog has been read over 400 times this past month with readers from not only South Korea and Russia, but also the United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands, and Latvia. Isn't Doom from Latvia? When looking at the all time stats of my blog, i found out it has been read by people from France to Iraq. I find this so awesome!

Growing up I had no idea what the kids in the next school were up to, but now with the Internet some (awesome) guy in Iraq knows how I feel about Lucy, Nintendo, and my dog. Instant information. It's also cool to see that 49% of my readers use Windows and 45% use Mac. The majority of readers use Internet Explorer or Firefox, but some use OneRiot or Jakarta Commons (whatever they are).

I always thought that outside of a couple of friends, nobody cared or knew about this little blog. The stats prove otherwise. It kind of makes me want to step up my game and write better posts. I guess I'll get back to my hotel reviews or video game rankings, whatever it is that brought these readers my way. If any of you foreign readers like something I write, drop a line sometime. I'd like to know what it is that brought you to this fat kids postings!

Theaters VS Netflix

My wife has a movie addiction. If it were up to her we'd be at a movie theater every single night. Salty, buttery popcorn in hand and a large soda in the other. During our dating years and the first few years of our marriage we'd hit the theater weekly. Sometimes we went multiple times a week. But then Jill got pregnant.

It just became too uncomfortable for Jill to sit in the theater when she started to get bigger. We haven't been to a movie since November 19th to see the new Harry Potter flick. She wasn't comfortable sitting through that movie, but it would take much more then a prego belly and swollen feet to keep her from Hogwarts.

Outside of the Potter movie it seems like it had been awhile since we went to a show. I went to a few late night flicks with Andrew or Brian, but that was only because my ability to kill Nazi's on Call of Duty stinks and I needed to get out of the house.

Even though we haven't been to the theater in a long time (sorry True Grit) we've seen quite a few movies. This is due to our Netflix membership and the Redbox located in my store. I think Jill has seen more movies in the past month at home with Lucy then at any other time in her life. Netflix is so nice because we can order the disc of any new release and we'll have it in days. The other great thing about it is the ability to streamline shows over our Mac, Macbook, iPad, Xbox, PS3, and Nintendo Wii. It's loaded with great movies and tv shows. It was very useful for me late at night at the hospital. Bill F'n Murray in Groundhog Day kept me sane.

We turn on the Netflix almost daily, but now that Lucy is getting bigger, we are itching to go to a movie. We tried to go a few weeks ago, but Jill couldn't leave Lucy with her parents for very long. She needed her baby. But just today she told me that she was ready to try again. I'm down. Hopefully there is something good showing. If not, I know there is back home on my Netflix.

2/8/11

It's been over a week since I last ate fast food. I haven't really watched portions or even worked out much, but just by eating at home I have lost 5lbs. It's crazy to think that just by cooking myself instead of Ronald McDonald doing it, I can lose some weight. I need to just do better at portion control and working out and I'll be heading in the right direction.

If you read about my goals you'd know about my plan for Meatless Mondays. Well I failed at my second attempt at it. I went to work and when it was time for lunch I made a roast beef sandwich! Oops! I called Jill and explained my folly, and we ended up with a Meatless Tuesday. It's hard breaking old habits and meat is everywhere. Hats off to my vegan friends!

Baby Lucy is growing so fast and changes daily. She is so beautiful and she makes me smile constantly. She is smiling more and is getting more animated. I adore her.

Well, just wanted to check in real quick, I'm off to the gym. If I don't step away from my computer now, I may never leave.

2010 Goals Version 1

So I have a few goals I am aiming for and I want to "put them in writing" so I can see them. Also, having some people know my goals will also help keep me motivated, so I am putting them out here on the interwebathingymabob. I'm not afraid of who I am nor am I ashamed, I just want to better myself for my future, and my daughter's (isn't she cute) future. So he we go.

1. I would like to lose 30 lbs. I am currently at my largest weight ever of 256 lbs. That number is shocking to me because I never thought I could get that high. Karl Malone weighs 256 lbs and he's 6 foot 9 inches and looks like a body builder. How can my 5'11" handle that? Yikes!

2. I want to play basketball more. It was my life before Grant passed. It brought me more pleasure than Xbox has and I'd like to spend more time with the former and less with the latter.

3. I want to help Jill clean and cook more. She doesn't really ever ask, but I know she'd like some help now and then.

4. Meatless Mondays. I want to go one day of the week where my diet has no meat intake. Oprah and Paul McCartney asked me to, so I was like "okay".

5. No fast food for the month of February. I will detail this challenge in future blogs.

So there we goal. My goals for the next little while. They shouldn't be too hard, but I'm sure I'll need a push here or there. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress!

Oprah, vegans, and double cheeseburgers, oh my!

I watched a bit of Oprah today with my wife. I've maybe seen a total of 30 minutes of her show in my life. Today her topic sparked my interest. It was about the American diet. It talked about vegan choices, the over consumption of fast food, and how animals are killed for our food. It made me think about the choices I make. I eat fast food multiple times a week. It's cheap, mostly tastes good, but most importantly it is addictive. So Jill and I are going to give up fast food for one months straight. We didn't eat fast food yesterday, so today is really day two. Let's see if I can break the addiction. Pair this with the fact I just got my gym membership yesterday and I am going tonight, and hey, I just might start to make some progress.

I am a Fat Kid

Ok, so I'm not really a kid. I turned the big 3-0 in July. But, I very much act like a kid at heart so it works for me. The fat part? Well that is spot on. I'm fat. Hell, my Nintendo Wii told me I was obese. Asshole Wii. It's always been the most smug videogame system. "We don't need flashy graphics, we're Nintendo, just play with our cool Wiimote". Nintendo 1, Matt 0. No matter how crude my Wii wants to be, it has a point, I am obese.

The problem with it is I haven't really cared much about it. Do I like being fat? Nope. But I don't remember being happy about being skinny either. It's never mattered much. I am so confident in myself and I have a personality that no body size can contain anyhow. I have dieted a few times, but not necessarily because of my size. I've done it just to make sure I am healthier and to keep from putting too many toxins in my system. But like most people, after awhile I just kind of slip away from the diet.

My weight fluctuates, alot. I'll have 20 lbs swings in one year. That does kind of scare me. I know it's not good for your body to have that kind of stress on it. Pick up a 20 lb bag of dog food, it's no joke. I'm not one of those people who blames it all on genetics, but I wasn't blessed in that department. My mom was adopted and I met her biological parents and they weren't small people. My mothers weight jumped up and down her whole life too. My father has had so many belt sizes in his life, it is hard to keep track. My dad is not fat by any means. He actually does a damn good job in watching what he eats and he works out too. But if he ate garbage and didn't work out, he has the frame to pack it on.

I have a large frame. My shoulders are wide. Wider then any of my other friends. Many friends and family tell me I am built like a football player. Yeah, a football player that hasn't seen a gym in 8 years. Speaking of 8 years ago, that's when I kind of gave up. I used to play rec basketball multiple times a week. Very hard nosed competitive ball. I was still kind of puffy then, but no where close to where I am now. But my basketball partner/roommate/best friend committed suicide in 2003. When he died, so did my love for the game. I just stopped playing. I was really good at it too. But that's another story for another time.

So if I'm ok with being a fat kid, what is the point of this blog? Well, I was far from skinny when Jill and I got together, but I have grown quite I bit since then. I feel bad for her that she's with the Incredible Bulk. Plus, she put on weight over the years that she's spent with me and I know it's bothered her. Some friends and family are nice enough to point it out to her too. Jill wants to do better and she has goals set to get back to a certain size. She's doing very well too. She's actually under her pre-pregnancy weight right now!

I also don't want to embarrass Lucy. Kids are mean. I don't want her teased because her dad is a fatty fat fatterson. It's not her fault I am the way I am. Plus child obesity is a huge problem today and I don't want to be a hypocrite and manage her weight while letting mine do the roller coaster routine. I just want to be a good dad and husband to my family. I don't want to be a little guy at all, nor do I want to be a muscle dude like my brothers. I just need to find that middle ground. I need to do this for my girls, and for me. I just have to figure out how, and when. Plus it has to be on my terms. Who knows when I'll start, or if I start even. All I know is that I want to be the best version of Matt I can be.