Marathon

Yesterday was Maren’s first ING New York City Marathon. Let me walk you through the day. First, we woke up at 9:00 to watch the coverage on NBC of the elite men and women. And in Maren’s very first NYC Marathon, an American man won for the first time since 1982. 1982! Way to make your country proud! After the elite men and women finish, there’s enough time to walk from our house to the finish line and stop for some coffee.

Meghan met up with us at the house so she and I could enjoy our third marathon together. We tend to have great luck with the people around us and yesterday was no exception. The woman next to us was awesome!

 

Let’s take a moment to talk about what it’s like to be in Central Park when it’s at its most beautiful. It was a beautiful fall day. Crisp, cool, dry. There were leaves falling along as we walked and as the runners ran. The park was filled with the yellows, oranges and browns of the falling leaves. Seriously, a sight to behold.

We then made our way to the racers to cheer them on.

Maren didn’t quite get this until she did it herself. It is hard to describe why it’s so great to someone who’s never been there. But once you stand next to complete strangers, clapping together, cheering together, calling out runners names together, you finally understand how great it is to be a New Yorker on Marathon Day! So many New Yorkers trek to the park to encourage the 42,000 American and international runners who are nearing the end of their 26.2 mile trek through all 5 burroughs of New York City. It’s a fantastic thing to do. And the best part is, we don’t know these runners. We couldn’t pick them out of a line-up. And if they weren’t running, we’d be irritated with them on the subway or in Times Square, but this is the one day when extra people in the city is welcome by most all of us. A day when you congratulate people wrapped like baked potatoes for their hard work. A day when you yell out the names of complete strangers as they run by you and they throw you the thumbs up. A day when you high five strangers as they pass on their way to the finish. I can’t tell you how great it is. But now, Maren can.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Brianne’s favorite day in New York City.

 

Lung Health

Friday I woke up freakishly early for me (10:30) and after I did my homework ate lunch, unpacked my groceries, I decided to go on a cleaning spree. There’s just something so invigorating about giving your house a good scrub. What’s not so invigorating is a lung-full of bleach. I sprayed the shower with a bleach mixture and then started coughing which interrupted my plan to hold my breath during the bleach spraying and led me to take a giant breath of the aerosolized bleach. I can’t be sure, after all, I’m only a nurse, but I don’t think this is 100% great for my overall lung health.

While on the subject of health, let’s talk about what a great day for sport tomorrow is. First, at 9:00am the marathon tv coverage starts. It’s a nice hour of warm-fuzzy stories about the top marathon runners so we can decide who to cheer for. It’s during this time that I pick a winner  and then cheer them on as they haul ass to the finish line. After the top runners finish the race, we are going to head out to see the regular joe’s finish the marathon and cheer them on. As you have heard before, the New York City Marathon is my favorite day of the year in the city. It’s hard to explain, you just really have to be here. I inevitably tear up when cheering on the runners. It’s such a great day to be a New Yorker. And who gets to experience it for the first time? Maren Stefanie Genow! I’m so jealous of it being her first time.

Anyway, after the marathon, the Packers play the Vikings and then it’s game 4 of the World Series. Seriously, this is a lot of sport to cram into one day and I can only hope I’m up to the challenge.

Saturday sporting update: M Go Blue!

P.S. Happy Halloween!

 

Maren Left the House

Every Saturday for many many years, I have tried my best not to leave the house on Saturdays unless it’s football related. I’ll leave the house to go to a football game or to go to a sport’s bar to watch a football game, but if it’s not related to football, I try my best not to leave the house. This is a life philosophy that I’ve been lucky enough to share with some of the best football watching friends and neighbors I’ve known: John and Amber.

Now that Maren is living here and it’s football season, it’s like living with Amber all over again. We wake up for College Game Day, try to work in a shower if we feel like it, usually stay in our pajamas all day and we try our best to stay at home and watch football all the live-long day. In fact, when there is a break between the afternoon and night games and we have to watch something that’s not football, we don’t take it too well.

Which is why it’s shocking that Maren left the house yesterday during football! What?! I know, it’s unfathomable. She needed to get her oil changed and could only do it on Saturday, so just as the noon game was starting, she left the house. Got dressed in real clothes and left the house. To her credit, when she walked out into the living room after putting on her real clothes, she did say “I hate that I’m wearing jeans right now!” That’s my girl. That’s how the Genow sisters rock football. We don’t just like football. We don’t just casually watch football. We schedule our lives around football and that’s the way it should be!

Thanks Dad, for raising two football obsessed girls.

 

Hail to the Victors!

I know I’ve talked a lot of football lately, but my excitement cannot be contained about Michigan right now. After suffering, and I do mean suffering, through a 3 win and 9 loss season last year, winning yesterday’s game over the evil Notre Dame is just about the best thing ever!

You should have seen me yesterday. At more than one point, I was mocked mercilessly by both Zak and Maren for the comments I made during the game and various bad plays:

1. “That doesn’t help your team…at all!” (this one they kept quoting later in the night. they seemed to find it very funny)

2. “If Michigan loses, it won’t hurt my points (in the picks I do each week) but it will hurt my heart”. (yes, i did say this. this one did warrant mocking but didn’t get it like the first one)

In Dad’s words, it was a perfect day. Michigan won, Notre Dame lost, Michigan State lost and Ohio State lost. Who could ask for anything more? Well, who as a Michigan fan could ask for anything more?

I’ll try to talk less football this week. Maybe just on Saturday. Speaking of Saturday, Maren’s birthday (26) is the 19th, just as a reminder. We will all be going to Canada for Jeff’s game and the having of much fun.

M go Blue!

 

Saturday

Let’s take a moment to talk about how great last Saturday was:

1. First day of college football!

2. Michigan won their first game of the season for the first time in 3 years.

3. Sean and Ericas wedding was awesome and had a pretty great after-party.

4. OU lost. (My apologies to Amber on this one-I know it hurts you, but it also brings me great joy)

5. Drunk Meghan was out to play-she’s my favorite Meghan and she so rarely visits.

Can you ask for a better Saturday? I’m not sure you can. But, having this first Saturday has reminded me how great football Saturdays are. It’s fall and there’s College Gameday and I don’t work Fridays or Saturdays and now Maren is here so we can watch football together. This is a recipe for greatness if I’ve ever seen one. The only problem with football season is that sometimes I see the rest of the week as the crap that has to pass between football games. I’m trying to be better about this, but I guess it’s just a reflection of my all-consuming love for this great sport. See you Saturday.

 

At the Game

So, we went to the Yankee game last night. And while I hate to admit it, the new stadium is really nice. But, I don’t think that it makes it okay to tear down 86 years of sporting history, even if it is super cool inside now.

Before the game, Hideki Matsui did the stupidest warm up dance move that we have ever seen. It was pretty funny and we’re pretty sure that it served no warming up purpose whatsoever.

This was Maren and Jeff’s first ever Yankee game. It was a good one. The Yankees won 9-2 and there were 3 homeruns. Sadly, none to where we were, even though Maren brought her glove and was prepared each time there was a new batter to take out the people around us to go for the ball.

Good times for the Perretts plus Brianne at the game. And in case you are wondering, we did indeed have hot dogs for dinner.

 

My Favorite Athletes

I know you have already seen my list of my favorite (as in hottest) celebrites. But, I find that my favorite athletes is a very different list and I thought I’d share it with you now.

My Favorite Athletes in No Particular Order:

1. Ben Roethlisberger-quarterback Pittsburgh Steelers

2. LeBron James-Cleveland Cavaliers

3. Phil Mickelson-glorious golf

4. Andy Roddick-tennis

5. Rafa Nadal-tennis

6. Johnny Damon-Yankees

7. David Wright-Mets

8. The Mannings-quarterbacks/awesome commercial makers

9. The Williams Sisters-tennis players/awesome people!

Now, I’m sure it’s a coincidence that all of these athletes are pretty to look at. But, you must admit that pretty is not the only criteria or else Tom Brady would have been on there and he’s not. I think he’s too pretty but that’s a story for another day.

And because one isn’t fair without the other I give you my

Least Favorite Athletes in No Particular Order:

1. Sergio Garcia-golfer/cry baby

2. Alex Rodriguez-baseball player/drug user/ wife and kid leaver/home wrecker/can’t hit a ball in the post season ass

3. Yelena Jankovic-tennis player and giant cry baby who takes way too many “injury” time-outs

4. Novak Djokavic-tennis player that also takes too many “injury” timeouts and said some really bad things about Andy Roddick the night we were at the US Open-use your head, you don’t insult an American in front of Americans/New Yorks at the US Open!!

5. Kobe Bryant-basketball player/can’t really explain it, just think he’s a bit smarmy and I don’t like him.

 

6. Tom Brady-quarterback that’s too pretty for a boy, uses more hair products than Brianne and Maren combined and I just can’t bring myself to like him even though I know I should since he’s from Michigan. Sorry.

 

7. Terrell Owens-football player/guy who never tries to better himself or take responsibility for his actions on or off the field. It’s not the antics that are irritating, I mean Chad Ochocinco is pretty ridiculous but tries to improve his game.

 

8. Randy Johnson-pitcher who came to the Yankees for big money only to choke under the pressure of the city and help out not at all. Go back to the country!

 

9. Joba Chamberlain-Yankees pitcher that everyone but me loves. I also think he’s a big giant cry baby who thinks he’s the shit but can’t seem to pitch more than 3 innings in a start. Hmmm…go back to the bullpen where you belong and where Mariano can beat some sense into you.

I have a feeling I’m leaving out some important people on this list. I’ll be sure and update you as I think of them.

 

Me, Myself and 9

There is a great article in the most recent issue of ESPN the magazine about how players have come to identify with their numbers and what the numbers mean to them. The article is really long, so I won’t type it out for you but I will share the first paragraph which is pretty good.

“Back when The Magazine was new, there was a ping-pong table in one of the empty conference rooms. A couple of clearly overworked young editors took to playing a regular lunchtime game, but rather than keeping score in numerals-say, 10 serving 8- they used athletes’ uniform numbers instead. As in Pele serving Berra. (If the score was tied , one player-Larry Bird or Hank Arron-sufficed). If the server couldn’t come up with an appropriate name, he lost his serve, ad once a player’s number was used for the leader’s score, it couldn’t be repeated when the other guy caught up. This all made for minutes of fun, and those young wordsmiths were covinced that their brainchild would soon sweep the nation. (It might have, too, if only they had had better representation).

“Slightly more than a decade later, the ping-pong table is gone, but the editors remain. And like many of their sports-crazed brethren throughout the country, they continue to be captivated by the cult and culture of uniform numbers. Any fanatic worth his face paint can count from double 0’s to double 9’s using jocks instead of cardinals. (That’s Jim Otto to Wayne Gretzky, if you’re scoring at home). What began (more recently than you might think) as a way for fans and reporters to easily identify players on the field is now the fundamental way fans connect with athletes, not to mention the way many jocks identify themselves. From the clubhouse to the bleachers, season after season, numbers are the ties that bind”.

Good stuff, eh? It makes me wish I was a boy and had all players numbers memorized so I could play that awesome version of ping-pong!

 

ESPN the Magazine

Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy wrote about A-Rod this week and I found it quite funny:

“A friend asked me this question last week. How many consecutive columns could I extract from Alex Rodriguez?

My final answer: 10. No modern athlete brings more to the idea table. He plays in New York for a team that stopped making the World Series as soon as he arrived. He has made statistical history but cheated to do it. He’s our highest paid athlete in a tanking economy. He’s the star client of this generations most despised agent. He’s handsome and articulate, only his polished personality is so contrived nobody can connect to him. If gossip rags and blogs had a Thank God for This Athlete fantasy draft, he’d unquestionably be the first pick.

He’s an embarrassment of column-related riches. A-Rod has even shattered the Tyson Zone: when an athlete’s life turns to bizarre you become numb  to any twist in his story. A-Rod allegedly broke up Madonna’s marriage? I’m not blinking. A-Rod kissed himself for a magazine photo shoot? I’m unfazed. A-Rod is having a torrid romance with conjoined twins? If you say so. He’s A-Rod, dammit. I’m prepared for anything.”   -Bill Simmons

I must say that while I miss A-Rods batting average and defense, I don’t miss A-Rod the person. If only we could clone his body and then not allow the clone to speak. It’d be the best of all worlds.

Dad-sorry you just had to read so much about a New York sports team.

And a big thank you to those of you who replied with your “i hate” comments. They were all great!

 

Ah, Masters.

How great was the Masters yesterday? Phil and Tiger made a massive push with my boy going 5 under on the day and nearly getting close to the leaders but then hitting it into the water on 12. What can you do? A for effort, Phil. Thanks for making it entertaining and for giving it the old college try.

And then, after that drama was over, the leaders opted for a playoff. How great was that? And how awesome that the winner is the guy who hit it into the trees on the first playoff hole? Pretty cool! And while I was hoping for Kenny Perry to win as he would then be the oldest player ever to win a major, I was pretty happy for Angel.

Thanks for a great weekend, Augusta National.