LAWRENCE, Kansas – During the time that I’ve been preoccupied with other projects to devote my full energies to keeping up with IPW, I’ve made the first major effort of my life to get into better shape. I’ve lost two grandfathers, a great uncle and others to heart disease, so sooner or later I was either going to need to do something about it or suffer irreversible consequences.

I opted for the former and, in Forrest Gump-esque fashion, one day I just decided to start walking. I had talked about it before but had only acted sporadically. Kicking off with a 7.2-mile walk the first day, I floored it at first before tapering off on distance in favor of more challenging terrain. All the while, I’d been making adjustments to the kinds of food I’d eat, trying to figure out ways to exploit various eating habits, etc.

The most amusing part of it, at least to me, is the fact that I don’t own a scale. In this economy, a scale simply isn’t an expense I’m willing to have. But inevitably when people have told me that I look like I’ve lost weight, they ask how much I’ve lost to which I say, “I don’t do scales.” I can tell if I feel better or not, and that’s all I need to know.

As for my walks, I probably push myself harder than is sometimes advisable during the hot Lawrence summer. My regular attire includes workout pants that I bought several years ago to combat the Syracuse cold, warmup pants or sweatpants, a sweatshirt and a hoodie. Plus, I wear a pair of tennis shoes that I bought the summer before I started college. In other words, it’s a bunch of stuff that I’ve had for a while. The only recent addition has been ankle and wrist weights that I’ll wear intermittently to add to the challenge. For me, the objective is to sweat as much as possible.

I walk almost daily, usually in the afternoon in order to get the full benefit of the day’s heat. For as flat as people generally think Kansas is, Lawrence is definitely an exception to that misconception. The KU campus has some wicked hills that I routinely hit up.

But as important as all of those factors are, what gets me through the occasionally tortuous conditions is my music. Aside from the weights, the single most important expense was a pair of headphones that are comfortable, durable. The standard iPod headphones need not apply. In fact, I have a first generation iPod touch that came with my computer nearly two years ago. It’s practically useless to me for walking.

Instead I use my much older iPod (the 4th generation iPod) with a click wheel and a monochrome display that came with my first Mac in 2004 (a PowerBook G4 to be exact). While the computer’s internal hard drive failed long ago (largely my fault… I think), the iPod works as well as ever. And, most importantly, it has actual buttons that allow me to skip songs, play, pause and adjust volume simply by touch. Even better, I have a great hard plastic case for it. Those two things, and I’m set.

As for the music, I have a “traveling music” playlist, made up of a combination of metal, alternative rock, rap, hip-hop, R&B, rock and some pop, that I keep on shuffle so I have a little bit of everything depending on the point I’m at in my walk. On a flat straightaway, I can go for just about anything. Once I get to hills, it’s all rock and metal. After the hills, I tend to tone it down.

In general, I try to mix it up and add different stuff from time to time. But some of the bands I routinely keep in the rotation are AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Ke$ha, The Killers, Metallica, Muse, Queen, Rihanna and Stone Temple Pilots.

So that’s one of the major things I’ve been working on. That, the comic strip, the podcasts and a bunch of other things.

Filed under: Opinion/Editorial

LAWRENCE, Kansas – In a demonstration of trigger-happy media and bloggers, a slew of folks jumped all over the story that Duke senior Jon Scheyer had tweeted his cell phone number following his team’s National Championship victory Monday night. He didn’t.

I’m not a detective. I didn’t need to be in order to crack this case. A quick Google search of the number Scheyer posted led me to a Facebook group. You know, one of those “I got a new phone and need your numbers” groups? Well, the number had been posted to one such group by Zach Kelly, who incidentally is a fan of Wash U Athletics on Facebook.

Sure enough, after the tweet that most people took as an admission that Scheyer had released his own phone number, he followed up with a shout out to someone named Zach Kelly, who he claimed had won back-to-back Div. III national championships.

For those of you who don’t follow D-III sports, Washington University in St. Louis – known by many as Wash U – won back-to-back men’s basketball titles in 2008 and 2009. They also have a senior forward named Zach Kelly who attended Glenbrook North in Northbrook, Ill., which happens to be the same hometown and high school as Scheyer.

But I’m sure that’s all just a coincidence.

Filed under: College, Social Media, Technology

LAWRENCE, Kansas – When I said three weeks ago that, for CBS, this year’s NCAA Tournament “may very well be the network’s own shining moment,” I never could have anticipated the whirlwind ride that followed. Not only were we treated to two overtime games in the first session of the first round, but we were also treated to close game after close game, upset after upset.

In a year with so much uncertainty about the future of the tournament, teams delivered the most exhilarating set of games in history. They showed off everything that is right with the current format, making a seemingly imminent expansion to 96 teams look that much more ridiculous.

I had the pleasure of working for CBS in St. Louis for the Midwest Regionals. Even our least competitive game – Northern Iowa vs. Michigan State – was tight until the Panthers went on one of their signature scoring droughts in the second half.

Even with so many great games, there was an eerie doubt beneath the diligent work of each crew member. It was the elephant in the room. As everyone was focused on the task at hand, the unanswered question remained in the backs of their minds: will we still be doing this next year?

An occasional reference in jest was soon followed up with uncomfortable laughter. Never in 29 years had the question been so real. In some ways, as the tournament hit one crescendo after another, it began to feel  like an all-too-perfect storybook ending. And should it be CBS’ last dance, it would be a heartbreaking end.

Next year, the network would mark its 30th year as the exclusive home of the Final Four and National Championship. Will they be given the chance?

The lead production team of producer Bob Dekas and director Bob Fishman marked their 25th Final Four and National Championship together this year, extending their record as the longest-running production duo for a major annual sporting event. In fact, no Final Four broadcast in the last 29 years has been without one or both of them.

Fishman directed CBS’ first Final Four in 1982 and has directed all but one, when illness sidelined him one year. Dekas came on board in 1985 after his predecessor Rick Sharp died suddenly of a heart attack the previous January. Sharp was only 40.

Indeed, “Deke” and “Fish,”  as they are known, have been a staple of CBS’ Final Four and National Championship coverage longer than “One Shining Moment.” And, while the closing montage doesn’t always deliver, they do.

If they were doing their final championship, they saved their best for last. They managed their nearly 20 cameras and replay machines without overusing any one piece of technology. Fishman didn’t overplay his hand on shots of wives and families, reverting to his early career with CBS News by letting announcers narrate clean pictures without excess clutter. Even in the aftermath of Duke’s victory when the temptation to go overboard peaked, Dekas used only four replays to show just how close Butler’s Gordon Hayward was to sinking his last second heave.

Such restraint would become all but extinct with a network like Fox or ESPN taking over March Madness. It’s no mistake that Augusta National doesn’t trust ESPN with the early rounds of The Masters. CBS produces their coverage instead.

If the NCAA opts out of its contract with CBS and expands the field to 96, what will the tournament look like next year?

I, for one, hope we never find out.

Filed under: Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV, Television