Bullets don’t take bribes they kill shit

So I rarely listen to talk radio in the morning on my commute to work. I’ll either listen to NPR or have something playing in the CD player. Somehow this morning I found myself listening to the KQRS morning show. I think I was scanning through the channels when I heard “Sister Golden Hair” by America. I suddenly fell into memories from High School and the next thing you know I’m listening to Yahoos talk about the OJ Simpson situation and the terrorism in the boundary waters. Neither of these stories however prompted this post. What did was one of the commercials I sat through. The commercial was for the Big Ten Television Network. I don’t really know much about the details of this channel, but from what I hear is that they (the Big Ten Network) charges some ridiculous fee per customer to the local carries, which then pass this cost on to the consumer. These prices may not be exact but I think it is like $1.10 per subscriber. To place this in context, ESPN, one of the networks charging the highest fees, comes in right around $0.32. The two channels are not even close to being in the same league in terms of quality. Pat Forde over on ESPN put up a commentary on what the programming on the Big Ten network might look like (scroll down to like (14) or (15) in the article). For those of you that don’t follow college football, the Big Ten is struggling, Big Time. Anyway, in the commercial for the Big Ten Network they were saying something along the lines of “Does your television carrier offer you like 50 channels, including a jewelry channel, a fashion channel, a DIY channel, etc.” This was all done in a sarcastic voice, but the most sarcasm came when he mentioned the Bicycle Racing Channel. I assume that they were referring to VS. I’m not sure if it was the sarcasm, or the ignorance in referring to it as the bike racing channel that set me off. He was like the Gophers are way more important to us (Minnesotans) than bike racing. Whatever Big Ten Network, get a grip.

First, I’m pretty sure that the people of MN LOVE hockey, and VS. carries WAY more NHL games than any non-premium networks (NHL Center Ice, or whatever its called).

Second, the gophers are effing terrible. Who in their right mind would choose to watch them lose to Bowling Green and FAU over having the ability to watch NHL in a few weeks?

Third, bike racing is way more entertaining than watching the Gophers.

So, please do what the commercial suggests. Call your local carrier and insist that they NEVER place the Big Ten Network in your cable package.

X-Training

So Wednesday I had some cross training on my workout schedule. My workouts have been pretty unstructured and open to give my body a little recovery time before doing some intense bike and swim training. My coach said to do something different and make it fun. So I decided to try BODYPUMP and the Y. I was super skeptical and felt really weird walking into the studio. However, once things got going it was pretty fun. I really have to give credit to the people that are in here and are totally out of shape and need to lose weight. The class is as hard as you want to make it, but if you are actually doing the workout its decent. My legs and biceps are actually a little sore today from it. It does a good job at combining aerobic activity and weight training. I'll wear my HR monitor next time and post the data. I can totally see how if people would stick to it on a regular schedule they would see results in weight loss. If you are looking for something different and willing to check any ego you may have at the door give it a shot.

The weather is great up here in MN, hope its nice where you are. Get out and do something active.

Album of the Year?

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

Pick up the new Aesop Rock now. You'll be glad you did. You can check out the first single, None Shall Pass, on Definitive Swim. Its a compilation that you can download for free. The compilation is decent, a few tracks that are a little rough, but overall good hip-hop.

Random

I went to ride the River Bottoms trails on Tuesday. Man it was a lot of fun. Its pretty easy riding, though if you push yourself definitely good for a workout. Its not technical and really flat, but a nice change from riding on the road. I’ll definitely go back, maybe next time with G and a CX bike. I’m trying to nail down a used Orbea from someone. I need to get that ironed out soon if I wanna think about racing this fall.
~~~~~~~~~

This morning while I was driving to work I witnessed the extreme courtesy of MN drivers on the road. I’m lucky enough to have to go through the cross-town commons on my way to work. Right where 62 and 35W North merge, there is always a huge line-up. People never let other drivers in, and when they space out too long while waiting in line and let a gap open up, they get pissed at those who drop into the gap from the adjacent lanes. Whatever, all of you need to relax. I mean you are on you way to work. Do you love your job so much that you can’t spare those extra 5 seconds you just lost in the line-up? Anyway, today was the epitome of rude driving etiquette. A freaking school bus was trying to merge into the line-up and NO ONE would let the bus in. Are you freaking kidding me? Lighten up people.
~~~~~~~~~~

The NFL kicks off tonight. Hopefully the Yetis can put up some points this weekend and pull off a win. As I’m sitting on the couch this Sunday watching games I’ll be sure to toast to Pete (Fil) and T3 as they are pounding through the Square Lake Half IM race.

~~~~~~~~

Bacardi Pavoratti - RIP