A lot of people don't know this, but I'm really interested in running. Not because I'm good at it, or because I enjoy it, but because I used to be fat.

Not Star-Jones fat or Vincent D'Onofrio-in-"Full-Metal-Jacket" fat, but chunky. When you're 6-foot-4, you can hide 40 pounds here or there, an extra package around a massive Christmas tree, but when you're 5-foot-6, 40 pounds is the difference between "trim" and "SOMEONE GET A GURNEY!!"

So I started running to lose weight, and started doing races to stay motivated, and eventually took it so far as to finish a couple marathons. Slowly, mind you. Very, very slowly. My best marathon time is 3:55.19 (9.06 per mile), which is the pace most Kenyans can drag a flat-bottom boat.

I've tried to keep running, though, and last weekend I did my first race in Fresno, the 40th annual Father's Day Run in downtown. It was a 10k, and here are the results.

It should be noted that 44:17 is my PR, mostly because I'd never run a 10k before.

It also should be noted - sorry, lots of note-taking today, class - that I'm pretty sure I finished 67th instead of 68th, because Shelby Little, a cross country runner at Fresno High, was nice enough to let me pass her at the end. But then we got to talking in the chute and I think she turned in her number before I did so our places got switched.

It's fine. Looking at the results, though, it's weird to think I sprinted the last 50 yards of a 6-mile race with absolutely everything I had left; body flailing and sweating and aching. All to pass someone who appeared to be jogging casually, and who you can clearly see is in the 10- to 14-year-old age category.

The lesson here is ... I would be such a force in junior high girls cross country. As long as everyone jogged and let me pass them at the end.

Posted by Matt James at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I lied. This is another Sunday night update from Fullerton. It's 12:05 a.m., just for the record. OK, I lied again. It's actually Monday now.

When an umpire blows a call as badly as the one that just happened, you have to write about it. The umpire then threw Mike Batesole, the Fresno State coach, out of the game for arguing the call. That's just poor.

Fresno State was down, 6-3, in the sixth inning. Fullerton had some runners on and a guy hits a long fly ball to left center. The centerfielder, Nick Moresi, runs over and makes this unbelievable catch in the gap, diving away from the infield. And when he got up and made the exchange to his hand, the ball came out of his mitt.

It was pretty obvious 400 feet away, yet somehow the umpire at second base who had run halfway out, called it a hit. So two runs scored and the batter was standing on third with a triple. The Fresno State outfielders were going nuts, since he actually caught the ball, and so the umpires all got together to get the call right.

They did not get the call right, or maybe they just couldn't change the call, since calling the batter out would have meant the two runners who scored left their bases too soon. Batesole came out to argue, and even though it's impossible to know what he said, the umpire threw him out pretty quickly.

It's not a rule or anything, but if you're an umpire -- and I was an umpire for several years -- and you make a bad call, you have to just stand there and take a lot of grief from the coach without throwing him out of the game. That's a nice way of saying, "Yeah, I screwed up. There's nothing I can do about it now."

You don't let the coach put you in a choke hold or anything like that, but you don't get to throw him out of the game right away. This umpire did. Batesole was absolutely right.

And it cost the Bulldogs at least two runs. It wasn't the difference in the game, but it sure stomped out any chance of a comeback.

Posted by Matt James at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to ESPN, the Fresno State vs. Cal State-Fullerton game didn't start until 9:30 p.m. tonight, and since my deadline is 10:30 p.m., well, you can see how that's a problem.

Here is the update, with a quick catch-up for those of you who don't follow college baseball.

Fresno State was placed in the Fullerton regional this weekend with San Diego, St. Louis and Fullerton. The Bulldogs beat San Diego 9-8 on Friday, in a wild game, then lost to Fullerton, 9-2, on Saturday.

Then they beat San Diego earlier today, in another wild game, again 9-8. If those two teams played a third time, and I had $50, I'd put it all on the score being 9-8. (OK, that's a lie. I'd buy a $49 shirt and put the rest on 9-8, but it's still a dollar, and I'm cheap.)

So I'm sitting at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, and Fresno State is leading 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, and my column has been done for an hour. I theorized that the Bulldogs didn't have much of a chance against Fullerton because they just don't have the pitching. (I didn't even mention how they are in the loser's bracket and would have to beat Fullerton again tomorrow if they did win.)

That should bode well for a Bulldogs comeback, seeing as I would probably have to eat large helpings of crow tomorrow if Fresno State comes back and wins this. Nothing against Fresno State, when you have to finish a column before the game enters the third inning, you have to do some theorizing.

I've included a picture I just took from my seat, just cause this blog needs some photos. It's a crappy photo, with a camera I won at a raffle, so don't expect much.

A couple thoughts before I check out. Is it just me, or is the National Spelling Bee the Super Bowl for homeschooled parents? The rest of the year people make fun of them, call them weirdos, chuckle about how their kids won't date until they're 30, but the National Spelling Bee is their chance to stick it in those parents' faces.

I just imagine them sitting in the audience thinking, "Ha! How good is your public school now!"

Yeah, you're right. They're probably just proud of their kids.

Second thought: Fresno needs a Nordstrom store. We have a Norstrom Rack, which is nice, but not the same. Fullerton has a Nordstrom every 17 feet. It isn't fair. I was there today. They have ties in colors I had never imagined semi-formal wear.

We have 600,000 people. We deserve at least that. OK, I'm done.

Posted by Matt James at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)