I don't want buns of steel. I want buns of cinnamon.

After pushing myself mentally and physically to get ready for the race both my mind and my body insisted on a break, once I dropped that plan. So today's 43 miles was the first real distance ride in two weeks. Ouch. But it will come back. I want to do about 100 miles a week with a long ride of 45-50 miles. That will maintain fitness.

I don't watch any baseball during the season. It's almost as boring as televised soccer. Now that we're in the playoffs...when did catchers start wearing hockey goalie masks?

I'm behind in my periodical reading, so it was only today that I read an article by Joel Stein in last week's TIME Magazine about the number of men now wearing makeup. The article contained all kinds of information that was surprising and slightly creepy. The paragraph I enjoyed comes half-way into the article:

"Clearly, I needed to give everyday makeup a shot. Luckily, because I live in L.A, I have a male friend who wears makeup. Not Adam Lambert makeup, but something that makes him look tan and healthy. His name is Lash Fary, which is the name he was born with. He has a makeup mirror in his house, and he often carries a man purse with a photo of Barbra Streisand on it. On a separate note, he's gay."

I wrote the other night about Josh Hamilton, an outfielder for the Texas Rangers, who just beat the Yankees to earn a trip to the World Series. I said he was a class act. He's a lot more than that. In short, he came into the league as the #1 draft pick, signed a contract for a WHOLE bunch of money, and promptly went on a slide into serious drug and alcohol use. He was banned from baseball for a year for repeatedly failing drug tests. Hamilton went from being the most promising to the most self-destructive player in just a couple of years.
Then he got saved.
He turned his life around, beat his addiction, and in his first year back went to the All Star game where he won the home run derby with a record 28 homers in the first round and a total of 35 in the competition, the second highest total.

Last night, after closing out the (justly) hated Yankees Hamilton was named the series MVP.

Here is a rather poor fan-captured video of Hamilton getting the award. But it steadies out after about 20 seconds. The significant part, IMHO, comes just before the 60-second point. When the mic is put in his face the first thing he says, difficult to hear in this clip, is that he wants to give glory to his Savior, Jesus Christ.
Then note the crowd reaction.
If you listen beyond that point you'll hear a very humble athlete, a refreshing change from the egos we've seen so often lately. And as an indication of the esteem his teammates have for him, the locker room celebration afterward included the ballplayers spraying one another with ginger ale instead of the usual Champagne, so as not to expose Hamilton to any alcohol.

We've finally moved past the Geico caveman commercials. Now can we agree to retire that annoying Progressive Insurance gal in the faux insurance store. She was cute for about the first two ads. Now she's just real irritating.