I don't believe in role models, but you're mine!

-Great video of Spree and C-Webb in a barbershop back in the day (stole this link from TrueHoop, it was just too good)

-I'm watching a women's college basketball game for the first time in I don't know how long tonight. I'm not gonna lie, i really just want to see Candace Parker play.

-The beard that I have been carefully cultivating for the past 2+ months is on its way out. It's been a good run but now that we're finally seeing some warm spring weather, the whiskers have got to go. I'll post some pictures soon.

RIP WBFF

So, my brain child for the past few months, Will Bike For Food, has unfortunately been put on hiatus. I have been thinking about and planning this trip since I came up with the idea last November. I am extremely disappointed that something I put so much effort and time towards is not going to happen exactly as I would like, but this isn't the first time and likely won't be the last. What is something worth if there was no struggle to obtain it? In the end, it just wasn't meant to happen this summer for a number of reasons.

1) Not enough riders.
In the beginning, the idea was that there would be about 10-15 riders who would be willing to spend the summer biking across this beautiful country in order to raise money for the hungry and impoverished. However, despite working feverishly to recruit people to join, only 3 riders, myself included, were willing to bike all the way from Poughkeepsie to Portland. A group this small would have been extremely hard pressed to accomplish the goals that we had set out.

2) Not enough support.
From potential donors, potential sponsors, and potential riders. I felt for the most part that I was trying to prop up this idea and project I had despite all kinds of negative circumstances and situations. Businesses were not willing to financially back an endeavor that had such a small following and in such a short time frame. There was definitely something missing with the whole thing. It might have been the lack of ferocity that the original organizers, Jer and I, had towards raising money for the charity.
The initial notion was to organize a x-country bike trip that would benefit a worthy charitable cause. I look back on it and can't help but feel that it would have had a much better chance if the cause was truly something that we were extremely invested in. This is not to say that I don't care about helping those in need, but after hearing about other groups who rode to raise money for cancer or heart disease research, I feel that their impetus was stronger than ours in this regard.

3) No money.
In order for the trip to happen, we needed to have some sort of financial support in the form of corporate sponsorship. I don't have enough $ right now to fund something like this to the extent that I want to take it. This wasn't happening and I don't have the time in my days to devote the time that would be necessary to make it happen.

I am still thinking of scaling down the trip into a tour of Dutchess County that would help to raise money for Dutchess Outreach and their need for a vehicle to pick up donations and make deliveries of life sustaining resources (food, clothing, water, etc...). This type of project would require very little funding while also having the potential to attract support and resources from local businesses. More people would be able to take part in a weekend ride than a 9 week journey. Dutchess County is beautiful and has an active bicycling community. I think that this is a much more realistic project and am going to be exploring the possibilities of putting it together.

In closing, this type of trip is not impossible. It does however require a number of motivated people with free time working on making it a success. If nothing else, it was a great learning experience as I was forced to teach myself a lot about fund raising, long distance bicycle touring, corporate sponsorships, local charitable organizations, and a ton of other things. I met and spoke with some incredible people and had my eyes opened to parts of the world, and Poughkeepsie, that I did not know existed.

(completely unrelated, check out the above picture. its a photograph right?)

Title Bout

Memphis-Kansas. I think a fair way to pick this game is to look at the future NBA players suiting up for each squad.

Memphis has Rose, CDR, and possibly Dozier and Dorsey. Rose is looking like a future all-star while CDR will likely be a solid scorer off the bench for an NBA team. I can see both Dozier and Dorsey finding spots on a 15 man roster as athletic defensive-minded big men.

Kansas has Rush, Arthur and possibly Kaun and Chalmers (not to mention my boy Aldrich who looked like their best player at times on Saturday). Rush and Arthur will both definitely be rotation players in the league, but I think it might be a stretch to call either of them future all-stars. Kaun and Chalmers give themselves a chance because they can meet certain needs (fairly athletic and coordinated 7footer and defensive point guard) .

Considering the fact that both teams are deep and well coached, I am going to take Memphis because of this edge in NBA impact talent.

WBFF Article in Poughkeepsie Journal

Here is the link to the column written by Nancy Haggerty about Will Bike For Food. Check it out!

A white and soundless place

I'm reading this book, "Metal Cowboy", about this guy who tours on his bike all over the United States, Australia and New Zealand. He has all these incredible stories about his , people he met and wild situations he found himself in. Its a fun book to read, especially considering the x-country bike t that I am embarking on in a little more than two months.

There was one story where he references a work of fiction he read where a civilization of people had figured out how to live forever.

They had become immortal, suffered no pain or injury, and did not age. Free to build utopia, they lost the desire to do more than reach a certain level of comfort. They put off their dreams until tomorrow, because tomorrow was an unlimited resource. Then, for no apparent reason, one member of this world began to age normally, bleed and feel pain. Gradually, he became filled with passion, urgency, and the ability to see his dreams through. He also became the envy of the world. Because his time was limited, it held value.

The idea is that what makes life so special, so important, is the brevity of it, the implication that we only have so long and its all we have here. We do not have all the time in the world to do everything we might like to do, so choices must be made, some paths taken and others forgotten. If we were just allowed to live forever, the possibilities of what we could do would be endless, but the greatness of any one thing would be diminished by the fact that you wouldn't have to give up anything in order to do it.


I've really been thinking a lot about the idea of opportunity cost in life. When I learned about it in an economics class, I just shrugged it off as something academic and not really relevant to my life as I lived it. Now, the thought of having only so long to pursue all the things I dream of and wish to accomplish is frightening. I want to do and experience so many different things, and the realization that I am limited by sheer time is extremely frustrating. The scariest thing that I can imagine is doing just one thing for the rest of my life, not exploring all the opportunities, adventures and people that are out there for me to encounter.

Swimming in Orange

On the eve of the Big East Championship Tournament at MSG, I am anxiously anticipating the Cuse's game tomorrow against Pitt. After the epic meltdown 2 weeks ago at the Dome, the boys should be eager to prove that those scrubs from western Pennsylvania pulled off the fluke win of the year. The Orange are playing their best basketball of the year right now. The Belgian Blur, Kristof Ongenaet, is a one-man wrecking crew. Jimmy B's squad is finally rounding into form after incorporating 6 new players into a 7 man playing rotation this season. It is understandable that this team has taken some lumps over the course of a rugged Big East schedule, but the freshmen aren't playing like they are rookies anymore, and the rest of the league better be nervous about the prospect of facing the boys from upstate at the garden this week/ weekend. (I need to track down a tv at work tomorrow and steal away for 2 hours around noon.)

I now present to you the forecast for next year's squad written by my marvelous friend Loren Sutton. The man is an SU grad and the biggest SU fans I know. He rightly believes that if things pan out as they should, next years squad will be one for the story books. Note: this review of the squad was written a few weeks ago, before the emergence of the ongenaet turning into the new Stormin' Matt Gorman and Greene realizing he was indeed 6-11.

First.... I'm excited for this team to find some consistency. Perhaps with some luck they can work their way into one of the last spots. Next year's team will be unreal... every weakness of this year's team (lack of depth, experience) will be next year's strengths. The second team would be one of the better teams in the Big East on their own.
The Starters...
1) Jonny Flynn - will be one of the best PGs in the country, there's nothing on the basketball court that he can't do and if he's allowed to rest for a couple minutes a game he might be even better
2) Eric Devendorf - will have two years left with 3 years experience, hopefully will be much more mature and will let Flynn create his opportunities for him and play well within the offense if he spends some time perfecting his shot combined with his ability to get to the rim anytime he wants will be an unbelievable force playing off the ball
3) Paul Harris - lose a little bit by moving him off the 2 where he and Flynn are having so much success right now especially on defense...but with the depth can give Devo rest and switch to defensive mode by putting Harris at the top of the zone...plus Devendorf is big enough where he might be able to play underneath on the zone
4) Donte Greene - if Bernie Fine can help him bulk up and develop a little inside game will be an unstoppable force on the college level, too tall to stop the shot, too quick to stop underneath, needs to develop patience with his shot so he doesn't continue to jack up bad shots when he's off a little...but the confidence to keep shooting even when he is off is great
5) Arinze Onuaku - by next year could develop into one of the more dominant big men in the league...you know he's a hard worker and won't be satisfied with his results this year and will come back next year even better...possibly a 15 and 10 guy if he gets the minutes and his presence alone is so intimidating and one of the sweetest jump baby hooks in the game
The Bench
6) Andy Rautins - healthy and lethal, ready to come in and light it up whenever he's needed and won't have the ego to be bitter about losing what would have been a starting role for him...one of the more underrated weapons on the team last year, if Flynn, Devendorf, Greene and Rautins are on the floor together there is no way to stop it you can't cover 4 excellent shooters 7) Scoop Jardine - wasn't supposed to play very much this year but the injuries have allowed him to get time and he's developing nicely...still needs some patience and work on his shot but he's going to be solid in spelling Flynn for a little bit
8) Rick Jackson - also wasn't supposed to play much this year still very raw, you can see that he still gets nervous at times and makes some mistakes simply because he gets a little timid...has shown some real brilliance at times though, especially at the end of the Georgetown game after Onuaku fouled out...not having the threat of coming out seemed to give him the confidence to play full tilt made some nice blocks and had some strong rebounds...shows great athleticism for a guy at 6'8" and putting him on the floor with Scoop there is some real chemistry there
9) Kristof Ongennaut - scrappy and hard working...can come for 10 minutes a game and add an instant energy boost, plays great fundamental like a typical European and if he works

on getting a little bit of a shot going can be a real catalyst for the team
10) Kris Joseph - big, versatile small forward freshmen won't get much time but will be competent back up if needed and will learn a lot with all the great SFs in front of him

And none of this even includes Sean Williams the ridiculous, raw and maybe a little crazy 6'11" center with a 7'5" wingspan. it's going to be a great year...even if Greene does happen to leave they'll be unbelievable and I hope we can get 3 years out of Flynn...if he stays that long his name is going in the rafters next to Douglas and Washington without a doubt.

(UPDATE: Cuse played Nova, not Pitt, today at the garden and got absolutely smoked. I missed the game and i'm kind of glad I did...)

WBFF- First Map of Route

Okay, so here is my first map attempt for our trip this summer. The distance is 3,171 miles. I didn't put in many stops or detours along the way, they will eventually be added as the details become more clear and we decide what things we want to see on our way across. Any ideas for places to stop/ things to see that wouldn't be too far off course?


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