The World of Joel Szerlip » Sports

A Quick Day of Golf With Jake

Joel — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:09:41 +0000

So Jake came over for the weekend and we decided to go play a quick round of 9 holes at Newport Beach Golf Course a Par 3 style course with a few Par 4 holes to let us drive a few times. It was a lot of fun and we decided to take some video of us playing to see how bad our strokes are. Have fun with the videos I am sure you will be making as much fun of us as we made fun of each other.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Can you believe that there is only 1 week until the wedding?? I am so ready for it and cannot wait!

Federer Wins His 15th Grand Slam Title

Joel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:55:22 +0000

What a day in sports. As many of you probably know by now I am a huge tennis fan. Last year I was lucky enough to be in London during the finals of Wimbledon getting engaged, so I was lucky enough to miss the the 5 setter with Nadal taking out Federer. Today's match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick was just as epic as last years match if not even more so. Watching Roddick hold serve for 4 straight hours without letting the best player of all time break him was beyond impressive.

When the match was over I was excited that Roger had broken Pete Sampras most grand slam record of 14 grand slam titles but I also was feeling it for Roddick. The guy really gave it everything he had and to me it seemed like he deserved the win. When it is all said and done Federer continue to shows why he is the best player of all time. Another amazing Wimbledon final.

Federer Has Just Been Crowned The Best Tennis Player of All Time

Joel — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:47:46 +0000

I remember at the begining of 2009 joking around saying that Federer was going to win the French Open, never really thinking he would, as much as I would have liked him to. With the field opening up as Nadal was ousted early on in the tournament all eyes then focused on Federer to see if he could finally take hold on the one trophy that he still had not yet hoisted that of the winner of the French Open. That all changed this morning when Federer was dubbed the King of Tennis as he easily pulled out his first French Open title. Not only has he tied Pete Sampras with 14 majors but he also did something Pete never was able to accomplish and that is win a career grand slam. In my opinion there is no question that Federer is now the King of Tennis. Go Fed Go!

Tiger Woods Just Keeps Getting Better! Another Huge Putt at the Arnold Palmer Invitational!

Joel — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:09:51 +0000

There is nothing like watching Tiger Woods playing on a Sunday in contention. Only Tiger Woods is in contention when he starts a round five strokes back and still everyone thinks he is going win. I decided with Tiger in the prowl on a Sunday I would sit down and watch the final round at Bay Hill. You may remember my post from this time last year, "Tiger Woods Does it Again" where Tiger putted the amazing winning birdie on 18. Well Tiger had that same opportunity this year, and guess what, he did it again! Tiger Woods is hands down the most exciting athlete to watch. After having knee surgery, he is back like he had never left at all.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Just One of Those Updates…

Joel — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:07:59 +0000

I sat for a good ten or fifteen minutes before writing this post. I just am not sure what to write about today. I know I have gone a few days without a post, but I feel like I have nothing interesting to say or at least not enough for my typical post legnth, so I am going to break it down into a few smaller posts in one.

I've Been Twittering The Past Few Weeks

Twitter.com is one of those technologies/innovations I just don't understand, but it sure took off. The whole idea is really micro blogging, making posts that are under 120 characters. I know a few people who do and I started to, but to be honest I just don't see the point. However on a day like today where I just don't have a real interesting post to write this would come in handy!

Darkstation.com Has Been #1 Focus

Some weeks I just feel like blogging, I have a lot on my mind. Other weeks like this one I just want to get my work done on Darkstation.com and move on. I have had the site under my control since August of 2008 so over 6 months now and the site has truly improved in both stats and I think in looks. Updated have been frequent and I feel like we continue to offer a better product today then yesterday and hopefully will continue that trend.

Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive For Steroids

Does this really come as a surprise? I mean I can't say I was 100% sure he was taking steroids but at least we had to be a little suspicious of anyone who has been on a proffessional baseball diamond in the past 10-20 years. I, just like everyone else was in love with the McGwire and Sosa HR race, it was great. We the fans knew something wasn't right and we still loved it. Now the best player in baseball comes out and says he was taking it. The last big name that I think would really shake people up if he came out with steroids is Ken Griffey Jr. I am not sure if he took steroids or not, but if he did I think more people would really be in uproar. I just never liked A-Rod maybe because he is a Yankee, I just have never cared much for the guy and now that he was with steroids I really don't care for him. We all new this was going on, its just a shame to see such a great sport be dragged through the mud over and over again.

Federer Falls Again to Nadal at the Aussie Open

Joel — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:39:27 +0000

I am not a big fan of Rafael Nadal at all. In fact I will root for just about anyone on the men's tour besides Nadal. There is just something about him that just really irritates me. It could be his girl pants, but ever since he won his first French I just have never liked him. As many of you know my favorite Tennis player at the moment is James Blake and will be until he retires. I am still rooting for him to win a major! However back to the topic at hand, how does Federer keep loosing to Nadal? This Aussie final with Nadal and Federer reminded me far to much of the Wimbledon final of 2008.

I know Federer was really down after loosing this latest match to Nadal, and in fact I can't blame the guy, he gave it everything he had. But how great would it be for Federer to match Sampras's record on Nadal's court of Rolland Garos? Not only would he tie Sampras but he would complete his career slam, something that Sampras never was able to do! Do I think it will happen? Probably not but here is to hoping!!

An Abysmal Fantasy Football Year

Joel — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:29:33 +0000

So I ended up 3-13-1 this year in Fantasy Football and that tie was sheer luck of having Longwell as my kicker. The only "good" fantasy pick I made this year was Matt Ryan but that didn't do near enough to help me win this year. My first mistake was my first pick of the draft Joseph Addai who was horrible this year. My second mistake was to load up on old running backs and not spread more wealth to my wide outs. I had Plaxico but he shot himself, so that left me with a really weak group of wideouts. My running backs which I thought I stacked up on all turned out to be some of the worst starters in the league. I ended the year with a 6-Game loosing streak and it was fitting to get blown out on my last week.

This isn't one of those years where I just had bad luck, I just had a bad team. I am hoping to take some new strategy into next year's draft to at least make it in the money! I didn't earn a dime this year which is the first time since I started playing in this league, and I am hoping next year will be a big turnaround.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Joel — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:05:35 +0000

It seems like it has been forever since the Giants won the Super Bowl. But football season is finally upon us and that means another year of great NFL and Fantasy Football action. So we drafted our teams recently for the annual Fantasy Football league that I am in and I can honestly say that I am really not sure about my draft. Not only did I go with a lot of old guys which is typical for me but I feel like there are far to many question marks on my roster, people that "may" be good, or can be good, but not really a ton of sure fire winners. Here is the team that I drafted.

QB:
1. Eli Manning (NYG)
2. Vince Young (TEN)
3. Matt Ryan (ATL)

RB:
1. Joseph Addai (IND)
2. Larry Johnson (KC)
3. Edgerrin James (AZ)
4. Julius Jones (SEA)
5. Deshaun Foster (CAR)

WR:
1. Plaxico Burress (NYG)
2. Marvin Harrison (IND)
3. Torry Holt (STL)
4. Brandon Stokley (DEN)
5. Hines War (PIT)
6. Steve Smith (NYG)

TE:
1. Vernon Davis (SF)
2. Benjamin Watson (NE)

K:
1. Adam Vinatieri (IND)
2. Ryan Longwell (MIN)

As you can see a lot of big names, but guys that may have been on their fantasty upswing a few years ago. So far though the week started out strong with Plaxico and Eli, we shall see how the season goes! Here is to a first place finish!

It’s Time for Some US Open Tennis

Joel — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:55:27 +0000

If I had a week of vacation that I could take, I might just take it now so I could stay back and watch the full coverage of this years US Open. For one laying on the couch eating some chips and kicking back a few cokes would be ideal, but just after watching a few matches yesterday (Nadal and Blake) I have once again been instantly sucked in to watching this year's US Open. Did anyone hear that they brought in Don King to help promote this year's tournament? The Grapple in the Big Apple is what he is calling it. The battle between Federer and Nadal. The two have to get to the finals first, I am a bit surprised they are playing that up so early in the tournament.

In some respect it does make sense given the amazing Wimbledon match of only a few months ago between the two players, but common Blake has a chance. Well maybe not he barley made it through his first round match last night against Donald Young. I am sure many of you could care less about the tennis circuit but I am a big fan, and I love watching the four grand slam tournaments especially the last two of Wimbledon and the US Open.

This should be a great US Open and let's just hope Nadal trips on his capris and makes a quick exit, because I don't know about you but I can't stand the guy. We shall see, it will be a fun two weeks of tennis!

A Reason to Love DirecTV, Wimbledon Coverage!

Joel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:04:11 +0000

I have always been a big fan of DirecTV, I have an HD unit which I am very happy with the quality it shoots out on my 37" Toshiba LCD. But if there was anything I had to love about DirecTV it is during Wimbledon and the US Open where they open up about 6-7 channels and allow you to watch literally every court that is playing. This is great because a lot of times ESPN will just show the Williams sisters, or whatever is on center court and this can be the least enjoyable matches to watch. So today I got to sit back and watch some really great tennis including this final match of the day with Chris Eaton from the UK who is ranked 661 in the world but maybe it through qualifiers and took the match in 3 sets. The crowd was so for him, and he looked like he was having the time of his life, it was quite a match to watch. I also got to watch a great Andy Murray match and saw James Blake pull off a great match as well.

So as I said yesterday I was having problems staying focused, watching Wimbledon is one of those "distractions" that I don't mind putting in front of work, there is nothing better then watching Tennis at the All England Club. And just think in a week I will be only a short distance away from the action when I leave for London. Ah I love this time of year!