kickin’ it in Wisconsin…

Hello to everyone back in Wilmington! Its me again blogging from training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs from River Falls, Wisconsin.

 

I arrived here last Thursday and again was ready for a new experience.  I have been through four training camps with the Tar Heels and knew that it would be similar. As the days have gone on it has been just like college to me again, except the fact that now it is a job and there is a lot more pressure for me. This training camp and preseason will determine whether or not I make the final roster and also start my career. There are a lot more two-a-day practices than there were in college. Every other day we will have a practice in the morning and then in the afternoon. It has been alot of fun though. I love the fact that in the NFL you only have to wear a helmet and shoulder pads, so now I don’t have to put those annoying pads in my pants anymore, so that is a plus. I just wanted to get everyone that is reading this caught up to today, which is Tuesday the 29th of July.

 

     As far as kicking goes I have been very consistent so far, just trying to pick up from where I left off during OTA’s this summer. The competition is great between myself and Nick Novak. We have been battling since the first day we started practice on Saturday. It is going to be a very tight competition for the job here in Kansas City.

 

This morning we had a special teams practice, which went very well. We focused on all the different aspects of the kicking game so that we can get ready for our scrimmage on Thursday against the Vikings. I kicked off well and am trying to improve everyday in camp. I just finished lunch and now I am going to take a nap before our next practice at 4 today. Hope everyone has a great day and God bless.

 

Connor

gym cast of characters

I’ve belonged to the gym for about a year now – and I’m now convinced that everyone who goes to the gym fits into a mold.

• “Old T-Shirt Guy”:  No lie – There is a guy that wears a “Dream Team 92″ t-shirt.  That shirt could legally drive a car.
• “Purple Ball Guy”:  You know those big exercise balls?  He’s the guy that takes the ball and then refuses to give it up for the two hours he’s there.  Using a machine that doesn’t require the ball?  He just lodges it underneath the machine.   Do you need to use it?  Too bad.
• “She works here”:  I’m convinced that the gym pays hot girls to work out there.   Why else would these girls work out at 10am? Don’t they have real jobs?  They can’t all work nights like I do. 
• “Going Through the Motions Guy”:  The guy that signs up for the gym, met with the trainer, got a workout plan – and then does as little as possible when he’s working out on his own.  Why even go?  I will admit – certain days, I am this guy.
• “Hot Mom”:  the ladies that have 2+ kids but are in better shape than most 20 year olds you see downtown.   Good stuff. 
• “Overly talkative guy”:  The one guy that knows everyone and has a conversation with everyone.  I’ve never actually seen these people working out, but they’re always there.
• “Naked Locker Room guy”:  the guy that does everything naked in the locker room. Shaving, brushing teeth, drying hair:  all naked.  Not necessary.  At all.
• “Too much money lady”: The ladies that spend all the money on trainers – and then just talk to them for the entire hour. .Every now and then they do a lunge or two.
• “Triathalon Cult”:  I’m convinced that people that do triathalons secretly join some sort of cult.  They’re always in that ‘too good of shape’, no matter how old.  They’re talking about their swim times and how good their run was.  Meanwhile I get winded walking up the stairs.
• “Scary Buff Girl”:  The girl that looks like she could kill you.  Her legs are the size of tree trunks and she could easily bench press twice as much as you.  Probably eats Powerbars for every meal.
• “too many crunches guy/girl”:  I want six pack abs as much as the next guy, but I really don’t feel like doing a million crunches and then a million more crunches with some variation to them.  ‘this time I do it while holding a five pound weight’.  Great dude, I’ll be eating a double cheeseburger if you’re looking for me.
• “Heart Attack Guy”:  He’s the guy in his 50s or 60s who lifts WAY too much weight.  His face turns bright red, sweat pours out, he’s straining so much that giant vein pops out of his neck/forehead and all I can think is ‘I hope someone here knows CPR, because he’s about to need it’.

Luckily, I don’t work out at one of those gyms that has the huge muscle freak guys at it.  If I did, I’m sure they would take up another 10-12 types of gym guy. 

Anyways, Its fun to people watch at the gym.  Its a lot less work than lifting the weights, that’s for sure.

    kevin

The Hans and Frans pictures is from ign.com

boring

NASCAR’s public relations company just sent a press release about today’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.   Here’s the beginning:

“With teams clearly responding to the challenges presented by tire wear during Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the race produced a solid increase in green-flag passing compared to last year.”

Ooooh…green-flag passing.  What the release didn’t say:  no one noticed the passing because the race stunk.

I can honestly say today’s race was the worst I’ve ever seen.  Cautions every 12 laps.  They’d race – then stop.   Boring.

I don’t even pretend to understand what the problem with the tires was, but I know that today’s race was a joke.  In fact – I don’t even know if you could call it a ‘race’.  It was just survival.

I’ll be very curious to see what NASCAR officials say the rest of this week.  Safe to say – the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was a huge embarrassment.

  kevin

Photo from today’s race: AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Italian Spiderman!

I’m torn on if this is funny or not.

But its pretty clever.

   kevin

There isn’t really much going on or anything that really interests me, so I’ll just post the video.  Lame, I know.

who watches this?

I have no problem with ESPN.  I don’t watch much of it anymore, but when I do there are lot of things I really like on the channel including:

• Baseball Tonight
• anything that starts with “here’s Tom Rinaldi…”
• Outside the Lines
• E:60
• College Gameday
• Merril Hoge
• Scott Van Pelt, Karl Ravech, Steve Levy, and all the sports anchors that don’t make themselves the story.

Um…I guess that’s about it.  The rest of the channel is kinda obnoxious.

And perhaps tops on the list of obnoxious is “THE ESPY AWARDS”.  Does anyone watch this stuff?  Does sports really need an awards show?  I always figured the awards would be “NBA Champion” and “World Series Champion”.  Do we need to decide who is better between the Red Sox and Celtics?

I know how tv works – its a slow time and ESPN needs to fill a few hours of programming and sell it to sponsors.  We do the same thing here.  But I find it hard to believe that people actually watch it.

  kevin

The ESPY photo is from deadspin

just climb in the back…

Leave it to baseball to screw this up.

Its a parade with baseball legends and the current All-Stars.  The route goes through New York, ends in Central Park, with fans lining the streets (I’m assuming).  Its nearly impossible to mess it up.  The scene is nearly perfect in my mind.

Yet – there are all the players and legends – IN THE BACK OF PICKUP TRUCKS!!! 

I don’t even know what to say.

   kevin

Photo: AP Photo/Seth Wenig

i’m back…

We should re-name this thing “Hulls Hangout” because I suck at writing entries.

If you know me, you’re probably not surprised.  I don’t talk a lot to begin with, I’m a really reserved person that tends to keep to himself, so writing down thoughts just doesn’t appeal to me.

Somehow I go on.

For the last month or so Kelli and I have been settling into our new home.  I’ve come to realize you can move your belongings to a new place in a day, but you’ll spend untold amounts of time actually putting it away and getting things the way you want them.

Case in point, this weekend we finally finished Madison and Kaitlyn’s room, I’ve spackled holes in the master bathroom, hung a light in the foyer, and pictures are now on the wall. 

We’ve been in the house since the first week of June!

So that’s where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks.  I may not have written anything down, but over the course of time, I’ve produced my share of four-letter words in my head.

To go along with Kevin’s All-Star post…

I’ve been to two.  One as a fan, one while working and both were in Cleveland.  I went with my dad in 1981 and saw the National League win 5-4.  Some of the names in that game include Pete Rose, Dave Parker, Mike Schmidt, Fernando Valenzuela, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, and one sports anchors’ boyhood idol George Brett.

26-years later I returned, this time Municipal Stadium was nothing but dust and Jacobs Field hosted the event.  I was a sports photograper for WTVG in Toledo covering the event with our Sports Director and was on the field for pregame as well as the home-run derby.  While walking to left field to track down an interview (Justin Thompson of the Tigers was a Toledo Mudhen, our local connection) I was nearly beaned by a Mark McGwire foul ball.  I was the lucky one.  A lady in about the 20th row took the foul off the side of her face.  The foul surface at Jacobs Field is ruberized, so when the ball hit it it took off into the crown at an incredible rate.  I’ll never forget the sound of it hitting the rubber, and her face.

I’ll also never forget watching McGwire send shots off the Key Bank sign in left field.  To see other Majore Leaguer’s watch in awe was something special. 

AL wins 3-1.

I’ll share an even better story tomorrow for the All-Star game…if I remember to post.

back when it was good…

As far as sports goes, I’ve been pretty fortunate to see some pretty cool things in person.  But one of my favorite memories will always be the 1994 Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh.

This was before the Derby became the circus sideshow it is today.  It was in the afternoon – and ESPN tape-delayed it to show that night.  It wasn’t even worth seeing live – unless you were there.  And my Dad and I are lucky enough to say we were.

It came down to Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr.  And they hit BOMBS.  From our seats in left field, we had a great view to watch Griffey’s shots to right field and all of Thomas’s homers went over our head….REALLY far over our head – 519 feet for one bomb.  (Griffey ended up winning).

The best part – And all the big home run hitters were in it: Thomas, Griffey, McGriff, Bagwell, Piazza, and Belle.  It was a sight.  Every year at this time, Dad and I eventually say, “remember that derby in Pittsburgh?”.   How could we forget?

Clearly those are the good old days – because its really gone to the dump since.  Who are these guys hitting this season?? Tonight its Dan Uggla!?!?!?  Grady Sizemore??  Evan Longoria??  Who wants to watch this??  Where is ARod?  Pujols?  Ortiz? 

Sadly, I think the HR Derby has gone the way of the Slam Dunk Contest.  You’ll always say – it was better years ago.  I’m lucky enough to say I was there for one of the best.

  kevin

The program is from the ‘94 All Star Game.  The cover has a red tab on the bottom and when you pull it – all the jerseys become the American League.  Kinda cool.

blacked out

Was all set to watch the Red Sox game on TBS this afternoon before coming into work.  Instead I got a black screen.

Blacked out.

I’m still not sure why North Carolina is considered “Orioles Territory”, but apparently that’s the case.  Of course the only problem with that is – we don’t get any of the Orioles games because we don’t get MASN.

So my Red Sox-Orioles game on TBS was just a black screen here.  I had to watch it on MASN – which we don’t get.

For those of you not familiar, here’s the back story:  Time Warner refuses to carry it even though arbitrators have now ruled – twice – that they have to.  MASN has even come up with their own website campain to try and drum up more support.  So far – still nothing.

I can’t understand why Time Warner wouldn’t want to carry it.  Seems to me like MASN is a pretty cool channel – carries the Orioles, Nationals, and lots of college basketball – including UNCW games.  

Instead – we get nothing.  I get a black screen.

   kevin

Barack wants their vote

Barack Obama wants these guys to vote for him.

Obama’s campaign is considering sponsoring a NASCAR ride for the August 3rd race at Pocono.  He’s reportedly in talks with BAM Racing to put his logo on Ken Schrader’s 49 car.

Of course – there are problems:  Schrader drives a Toyota – not an American made car.  Schrader has donated thousands of dollars to Republicans in the past five years.  And the 49 car isn’t in the Top 35 – so there’s a big possibility that Obama could sponsor a car that wouldn’t make the race.

Add all that up – and it sounds like a bad idea to me.  Sponsoring a foreign car – driven by a Republican – and not making the race.

Besides – who wants “NASCAR Dads” to vote for them anyways.  Barack – go after the “NASCAR Moms” – get Kasey Kahne’s car!!  He’s dreamy…

    kevin

Photo of fans watching this weekend’s Sprint Cup practice by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Kasey Kahne is from his All State Commericals