Reflecting on This Boy's Life, A Memoir

I can't say for sure what it is that draws me so much to Tobias Wolff. Is it his friendly walrus mustache, the fact that he came and talked at Menlo, his amazing writing or a combination of all three? Probably the combo.

I just finished reading the memoir of his teenage years, which was published in 1989. I had meant to read it months ago having been emailed twice by the Menlo librarian that the book was overdue. Because of the start of basketball or my increased academic workload or my lack or literary commitment I didn't get around to the book until about three weeks ago.

Once I got started though, Toby didn't let me down. This Boy's Life was a raw and poignant memoir that led us through his rough childhood until the end of high school. Tobias, or Jack as he called himself, lived with his mom and an abusive stepfather Dwight for much of the story.

One way I know this book was good that on some nights when my reading time was limited This Boy's Life made the cut over the likes of ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated. That's when you know this book has some pull, it's tough to pull me away from my sports.

While reading I found myself rooting for young Toby. I was actually surprised by his outlaw youth. He spoke at Menlo about not being proud of his youth and I just assumed it to be a product of his poor upbringing. But he was no saint of a child himself. Despite his transgressions as a minor through Wolff's writing style and his own flawed self I fell in love with his character. Even though you knew it all ended up well with him becoming a successful writer you couldn't help but root for Toby to find himself and get accepted into a prestigious east coast boarding school.

Wolff was also really funny without trying too hard to be. He never wrote about any experiences that were designed to make the reader laugh, but would always slip in a witty line at the end of a paragraph. With a nod to my English teacher Ms. Pugliese, Tobias Wolff was adept at having the emphasis be at the end, in this case the funny part, was placed at the end of the paragraph.

My favorite part of the memoir was when Tobias Wolff attempted to right his life trying to get accepted into an elite boarding school on the east coast. When confronted by the fact that he needed multiple letters of recommendation he got his friend Arthur to swipe some official school stationery. Toby wrote fake letters of recommendation from his teachers.

I declined to say I was a football star, but I did invent a swimming team for Concrete High. The coach wrote a fine letter for me, and so did my teachers and the principal. They didn't gush. They wrote plainly about a gifted, upright boy who had already in his own quiet way exhausted the resources of his school and community. They had done what they could for him. Now they hoped that others would carry on the good work.

I wrote without heat or hyperbole, in the words that teachers would have used if they had known me as I knew myself. These were their letters. And on the boy who lived in their letters, the splendid phantom who carried all my hopes, it seemed to me I saw, at last, my own face.

In this section of the book Tobias Wolff momentarily finds himself through his own writing. His whole life he has been struggling to discover his true self through the mask of a tough guy charade and by writing gross exaggerations about his accomplishments he sees a glimmer of his true self. And that's all it is, a glimmer. Wolff does not devote a bulk of the story to this mini-revelation and it's not even a moral turning point for our protagonist. He gets rejected by multiple schools before finally being accepted.

In the story Wolff's "plain" writing style, "without heat or hyperbole" is symbolic of the person he strives to be, and deep down, is inside. His mom can't help Toby find himself, she's constantly busy trying to find a new job to support the two of them, he hates his stepdad Dwight and slowly is growing apart from his friend Arthur. Toby can't even really help himself on his own, but this "splendid phantom" who comes alive when he writes can. It took his own writing that crafted an angelic twin of himself for him to briefly look inside his heart and find that a better person somehow existed beneath his paunchy chest.

The young Wolff's life was also entertaining in enough of itself to make a good book. I was curious about how he went from a troubled teen to a brilliant writer, but an explanation never came. This was a memoir of his boyhood, but it still would have been nice to have had some gaps filled in. The last section "Amen," skipped through some years quickly to fill us in, but it wasn't enough.

Tobias Wolff was also so eloquent at laying his finger on his emotions and why he acted as he did. He summed up beautifully his teenage self's emotions and we really got into his head as a boy. But I also liked how he wasn't afraid of saying when he didn't know why he acted certain ways or had certain thoughts.

Week in Review

From top: Tiger Woods with his wife, Elin, and daughter at a Stanford football game before news of his affair. Alabama running back Mark Ingram on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Kurt Warner during his game against the Minnesota Vikings.

This is a slightly different type of blog post than I have done before. Instead of focusing on one game or event I took a look back on the week's most important sports stories. And of course, there is a bias towards bay area sports, as always.

NFL:

49ers:

Right when a friend mentioned to me the 49ers have a chance of making the playoffs, (yes, in fact they do) they go out and lose a very winnable game. And the Cardinals win against the Vikings (assuming they don't blow the 17 point lead they currently have).

With a 5-6 record, two games behind the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers still had a shot at winning the division if they beat the Seahawks, and beat the Cardinals next week and then won out the rest of the season. Very doable, but a tough road game against the Eagles would have been problematic.

Instead the Niners don't even hold up their end of the bargain, falling 20-17 to the Seahawks in a mistake filled game. The Cardinals meanwhile, are dismantling the 10-1 Vikings behind the return of QB Kurt Warner and his 3 TD passes.

It seems as if every year is "the year" for the Niners. Every year they are picked by at least one magazine or called out on a sports tv show as the sleeper team of the year and each time they fall short behind mediocre play.

Rest of the NFL:

The Saints barely squeaked out an overtime win over the Washington Redskins, keeping their perfect season alive. Speaking of unbeaten teams, the Colt defeated the Titans 27-17 to tie the Patriots' regular season record of 21 straight victories.

In Michael Vick's return to his former team, the Atlanta Falcons, the Eagles QB rushed and passed for a TD for the first time since 2006 in a 34-7 romp. When Vick first took the field, he received a mixed welcome, but by the end of the game the crowd was behind him.

The Steelers, last years Super Bowl champions, got upset by the Oakland Raiders on a last second touchdown. This is the fourth straight loss for the Steelers and they are in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

And apologies to the person who I advised to pick the Steelers to win in their dad's office pool of NFL pick'em. He had picked the first 11 games correctly.

All of a sudden 2 stud NFL teams, the Steelers and the Patriots appear suddenly vulnerable. Tom Brady's efforts weren't enough to stave off a 22-21 defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.

College Football:

After a 32-13 win over the then #1 Florida Gators, the Alabama Crimson Tide will be playing in the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7 versus the Texas Longhorns, who beat Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship on a field goal with 1 second left.

Mark Ingram was the best of all the Heisman candidates playing on Saturday and in my opinion won the award with 113 rushing yards and 3 TDs. I still think Toby Gerhart did more for his team this season than Ingram, but Ingram is a worthy candidate. Sports Illustrated wrote a great article on him last issue that is worth checking out.

The Stanford Cardinal will play in the Sun Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners in El Paso, TX on New Year's Eve. Despite the Sooners down season, which can be attributed largely to their quarterback Sam Bradford's shoulder injury, Oklahoma should not be taken lightly. They are a Big 12 powerhouse and snuffed Oklahoma State's BCS dreams with a 27-0 smackdown.

Tiger:

The Tiger Woods affair story became official this week. His wife, Elin, enraged that he was having an affair, smashed the windows of his car with a golf club, causing him to crash. It is sad to see arguably the world's most famous athlete caught in such a quagmire.

But Tiger did not react well to the news and instead continued to deny any "malicious rumors." He should have come out and held a press conference admitting his mistakes and then moved on. Go here to see a parody of Woods's affair done by SNL.

Alex Rodriguez, another incredibly famous athlete was found out to have been using PEDs while he played for the Texas Rangers this spring. He acknowledged his mistakes and apologized and recovered nicely from hip surgery and won the World Series.

It is likely that Tiger will come to terms with his transgressions, but it will be remembered as him vehemently denying that anything was up. Or will the sports world just let it go, as it has done with so many high profile athletes in the past? In my opinion, this is not nearly as bad as taking steroids or dogfighting and he will be able to move on without as much public criticism as other athletes. Tiger, however has the disadvantage of being so famous that people will have a hard time letting this go. His sterling, and almost boring reputation are no more.

Stanford and Gerhart Take Down #8 Oregon

Toby Gerhart runs over an Oregon defender. Both Stanford players and fans celebrate after the upset. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Go here to watch highlights of the Stanford victory.

Nov. 7, 2009

The Stanford Cardinal pulled of a huge upset Saturday with a 51-42 win over the #8 ranked Oregon Ducks. Toby Gerhart led a rushing attack that overpowered the Ducks defense and set the single game Stanford rushing record with 223 yards and 3 touchdowns. The win pushed Stanford to 6-3 and more importantly made them bowl eligible for the first time in 8 years.

The victory snapped a 7 game losing streak versus Oregon and gave coach Jim Harbaugh and the football program a big boost. This is the program's biggest win since the upset over USC two years ago.

Stanford's less athletic defense managed to slow down the high powered Oregon offense led by the dynamic rushing duo of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James just enough for the victory.

In the first quarter freshman running back LaMichael James scampered for a 60 yard touchdown run that cut Stanford's lead to 10-7. James rushed for 125 yards and has filled in nicely for the Ducks, who lost last year's star running back LeGarrette Blount to suspension after he punched a Boise St. player following a loss in the first game of the season.

The freshman RB James had rushed for 918 yards and had a career high with 183 against USC last week in a 47-20 drubbing of the Trojans. Oregon hasn't missed a beat with Blount out of the line-up, and despite rumors of his return this week coach Chip Kelly did not reinstate him. Last year Blount ran for 1038 yards and 17 TDs.

Toby Gerhart answered back with the first of his 3 touchdowns with a 4-yard run to improve Stanford's lead to 17-7. With such a great performance in a big game Gerhart puts himself right back into the Heisman race.

After another Stanford score Jeremiah Masoli threw a 29-yard touchdown to keep Oregon within 10. Masoli finished the day 21-37 with 335 yards passing and 4 total touchdowns (1 rushing).

But, in the 3rd quarter Stanford came out firing and Andrew Luck hit receiver Chris Owusu in the end zone for a 31 yard TD to put Stanford up 38-21. Luck had 2 touchdowns on 251 yards passing and Owusu had 3 more receptions for 111 yards.

Toby Gerhart and Chris Owusu are third in the Pac-10 in combined yards/game, trailing brothers Jacquizz and James Rodgers of Oregon State.

Late in the 3rd quarter Toby plowed into the end zone from 17 yards out to give the Cardinal a 45-28 lead and ultimately proved to be the game's winning points.

Oregon scored 2 late touchdowns to close the gap to 6 points, but Stanford recovered an onside kick with 2:38 left in the game and Nate Whitacker nailed a 47 yard field goal to ensure that the Ducks could not tie the game with a TD and a 2-point conversion.

Both teams rushed for over 200 yards and combined for over 500 yards of total offense.

Led by the punishing ground attack of Toby Gerhart, Stanford dominated time of possession and held the ball for 37:43.

As good as tailback LaMichael James has been this year, he dropped 2 potential touchdown passes in the 4th quarter. After the second drop, he slid and appeared to injure his shoulder on the play, but it seemed more like an injury to his pride.

The Stanford Cardinal play at USC next Saturday, November 14 at 12:30 pm.

Citations:

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293110024

http://espn.go.com/ncf/preview?gameId=293110024

Yankees win 27th World Series with 7-3 Victory

(Clockwise from top left): Hideki Matsui watches his two run home run in the 2nd inning, the Yankees celebrating their record 27th championship and Andy Pettitte hurling a pitch in his winning effort. Photos courtesy (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0911/mlb.world.series.game6/content.1.html

11/4/09

The New York Yankees won their 27th World Series championship Wednesday night with a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees were led by Series MVP Hideki Matsui who finished the night 3-4 with 6 RBI, tying the single game WS record, on a home run, double and single. The Yankees have won more championships than any other American sports franchise and their first title in nearly a decade.

The "core 4" of the Yankees, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, who all debuted in the 1995 season and have been together now for 5 championships, got their first ring since the 2000 season. The Yankees had won 3 championships in a row from '98-00 and 4 in the last 5 years before their 9-year "drought."

Jeter had 3 hits and 2 runs, Posada caught all 9 innings, Pettitte set a new record by being the first pitcher to start and win all 3 clinching games in the playoffs and Mo finished the game.

This championship justified nearly half a billion dollars ($462 million) in the off-season free agent acquisitions of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett and the extravagant $1.5 billion Yankee stadium got a 'ship in just its first year, too. CC had a great post season and shook off some past struggles in October. He had 3 wins and a 1.98 ERA in 5 starts and frequently pitched on short rest.

Matsui led off the scoring with a 2-run homer in the second, and after a sac fly by Jimmy Rollins, "Godzilla" hit a 2-run single off of Pedro in the 5th inning to make the game 4-1 in favor of the Yanks. 2 innings later Matsui finished the Yankees scoring with a deep double off the wall in right center that scored 2 more runs and gave the Yankees their 7th run. He, Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada all are free agents after this season and the speculation was that the team would retain Posada and Damon and not re-sign Matsui, but after such a big performance it will be hard for the team to part ways with the Japanese slugger.

Alex Rodriguez, a man known for his spectacular regular season stats and choke jobs in the playoffs contributed with a great postseason this year. Despite leaked reports about how he took steroids with the Texas Rangers from 2001-3 and hip surgery that kept A-Rod on the bench until May. A new, wider batting stance and willingness to be just another guy and not so intensely focused on being the best player helped A-Rod to hit .365 with 6 HRs, including a couple of crucial game tying or go-ahead home runs.

On Phillies notes, at least Chase Utley tied Reggie Jackson, Mr. October himself, with a record 5 home runs in a single series. He owned the formidable lefty CC Sabathia and hit 3 jacks off of him.

The Phillies came within 2 games of being the last NL team to win back to back World Series titles since the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds did it back in 1975 and '76.

Ryan Howard set a new postseason record with 13 Ks in a World Series, but did hit a 2 run homer in the 6th inning. He struggled in the Series against New York's heavily left-handed starters and hit .207 against lefties this year.

Concision Practice in Our Essays

This assignment made us choose 3 sentences of more than 9 words from our essay and then write that sentence in 9 words, 7 words, 5 words, 3 and 1 while still keeping the main meaning. This helped us with being more concise in our writing while allowing us to write these cool, almost poetic sentences.

Original sentence: I was in second grade at Duveneck Elementary School and our lunchtime activities consisted of basketball, football, hide and go seek tag, four square and handball.

During lunchtime in elementary school I played many games. 9

Duveneck during lunch was basketball and football. 7

Games during lunch at Duveneck. 5

Games at lunch. 3

Play. 1

Original: The steady beat of basketballs reverberates throughout the gym as everybody warms up.

The beat of basketballs in the gym reverberates loudly. 9

The beat of basketballs reverberates during warm-ups. 7

The beat of basketballs reverberates. 5

The basketballs' pulse. 3

Rhythm. 1

OS: It was a great couple of hours with my cousins, aunt and their dog and when she gave me a ride back to the hotel I received two full bags of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I loved the time with cousins and the cookies. 9

The night with my family was awesome. 7

A night with my cousins. 5

Quality family time. 3

Family. 1

Essay Reflection

1. What is your essay about? (concept not plot) Be as specific as you can while remaining conceptual.

My essay is about simple, yet important moments in my life that define me and define what I enjoy in life. There were a range of memories and concrete examples that all created the same grounding effect and gave me some inner peace.

2. What was the most challenging aspect of writing and rewriting this essay?

Since I am kind of a perfectionist, it was difficult for me to write such a long rough draft and not worry about making it perfect. Normally I fret too much and it takes me a long time to get my thoughts down because I worry that they have to sound just right.

The hardest part rewriting the essay was being willing to look at my stronger paragraphs in a new light. It was easy to just cut out chunks that even when I wrote them, I knew probably wouldn't make the final draft. But, it was hard to make major edits on the better writing.

It was also hard to develop some of my ideas. I knew what I wanted to say in my head about the concrete idea of pick-up basketball, but it was hard to put it into writing. I spent a lot of time and ended up satisfied with my writing about basketball.

3. If you could go back and make changes or additions, what would you do? Why?

I might just take out the first memory entirely. I only used it because we had to include our initial memory in our essay and it isn't that important to me when I think about it now. I do like the concept about the power of our childhood though that follows up on that memory.

4. What was most unexpected - or unexpectedly fun - about writing this essay?

I was surprised at the end length of essay. I thought it would be hard to make it 4 pages, but at one point it was over 5 before I cut it down a lot. Just editing and expanding on my ideas lengthened my essay without me consciously trying to get more words.

I was also more motivated than I thought with this essay. Because the memories and concrete ideas were important to me, I wanted to take the time and make it good. This is in contrast to another book we may read in English that I might not like; then it will be harder to work as hard on that essay.

Star Wars in Concert

Yoda and the voice of C-3PO at "Star Wars in Concert" at HP Pavilion

10/15/09

This past Sunday I saw "Star Wars in Concert" at the HP Pavilion. It was an incredible display of possibly the greatest movie soundtrack in history, movie clips and special effects. The Star Wars orchestra played for 2 hours and the voice of C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, narrated between scores.

The passionate swells from the violins, exuberant shouts from the trumpets and flashing green laser beam lights combined for an awesome performance. It was like re-watching all the best scenes from the movies on an enormous 3-story tall screen with a live soundtrack right in front of you.

The orchestra played songs in chronological order with the movies and My personal favorites were the Darth Maul theme song (Darth Maul, what a badass, coolest bad guy by far), the main theme song and Darth Vader's song. Another one of my favorites is the song by the Cantina band. This is from "A New Hope" when Han Solo and Luke go into the sketchy bar. Hecka sick. I'm liking the steel drums in the background.

Just a random comment about Star Wars. How weird is it that Annakin got with Padme? If you remember in the first movie when he meets her, he is about 7 years old and she is 16. He falls in love with her right then and there. In later movies they age a lot and he is about 16. So that makes Padme in her mid 20s, hooking up with a teenager. Weird. And also, he gets pregnant. Not exactly the best role models out here.

Photo URLs:

http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=13540379&siteId=568&startImage=1

http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=13491426&siteId=181&startImage=3

Both Stanford and the Niners Get Pasted

The Pac-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Week Jacquizz Rodgers rushes for 1 of his 4 TDs and Roddy White outruns 49ers defenders.

10/13/09

The Stanford Cardinal went into Corvallis, Oregon leading the Pac-10 Conference and sporting a 4-1 overall record. The San Francisco 49ers hosted the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday also flying high with a 3-1 record and in 1st place in the NFC West. And both teams also got rude awakenings and realized that they are good, potentially bowl worthy and playoff bound, but are definitely not great teams.

Stanford lost 38-28 to the Oregon State Beavers, but the game was not as close as the score shows

The Rodgers brothers destroyed the Cardinal defense. Diminutive sophomore RB Jacquizz Rodgers tied the school record with 4 TDs, 2 in the 1st quarter and had 189 rushing yards. His older brother James had 71 yards receiving and a score as well.

Stanford got off on the wrong foot and never recovered. WR Chris Owusu dropped a sure TD pass from Andrew Luck on the first play from scrimmage.

Any Heisman buzz Toby Gerhart garnered before the OSU game was quickly lost. He had 96 yards rushing and 2 TDs, but they were both in the 4th quarter, when the game was well out of reach.

A combined 4 TDs by the Rodgers brothers, along with a field goal gave the Beavers an insurmountable 31-7 halftime lead.

If the Stanford game was bad, then the Falcons game was much, much worse. The Atlanta Falcons put up 45 points on the up-and-coming 49ers defense and the offense managed only 10 points on a Glen Coffee TD run.

Roddy White torched the 49ers secondary for 210 yards receiving and 2 TDs and RB Michael Turner pounded in 3 TDs on 97 yards before being taken out early in the 2nd half.

2nd year QB Matt Ryan easily picked apart the 49ers defense by getting rid of the ball in quick, decisive throws. He threw for 329 yards and 2 TDs, and it could have been much more, but when the game was safely in hand Atlanta ran the ball a lot.

The 49ers looked like they would regain some momentum heading into halftime after Coffee's 3 yd. TD run on 3rd and goal off of a pitch. Jerius Norwood fumbled and Michael Lewis recovered the ball at the Atlanta 33. Despite not being able to capitalize on the opportunity, the Niners appeared ready to regain the ball with good field position after an Andy Lee punt pinned the Falcons at their own 4. SF trailed only 14-10 at this time. But Roddy White broke a Nate Clements tackle attempt and raced 90 yards for a touchdown to make the score 21-10. Things quickly got out of hand when Delanie Walker fumbled the kickoff on a controversial call and Turner pounded in a TD and gave the Falcons a 28-10 lead, which stretched to 35-10 at the half.

The SF 49ers game summed up in one play: Early 3rd quarter Dre Bly gets an INT and despite his team being annihilated, showboats. He is caught from behind by a hustling Roddy White who punches the ball out and the Falcons regain possession. They go on to score.

My dad and I went to the game excited that first of all, we were going a Niners game, and second of all that they were playing a good team. We left before the start of the 4th quarter and the only redeeming quality was the good food we brought for lunch.

The 49ers have a bye this week and the Stanford Cardinal travel to Arizona to play the 3-2 Wildcats.

Photo URLs:

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/MediaLounge/Gallery.aspx?q=San+Francisco

http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/orst-m-footbl-body.html

Photos from the atlanta falcons and oregon state football websites

Giants Season Wrap-up

Cain hurls a pitch. Sandoval after a 10th inning home run. Lincecum anchoring a staff. Bengie congratulating Wilson after a save. Schierholtz watches his double.

10/12/09

As the MLB playoffs get started let's reflect back on the San Francisco Giants' season.

If you only take away one thing from this article, know this. The Giants had a good season.

They finished up with an 88-74 record, 14 games over .500 and were wild-card contenders. The Giants were predicted to finish 4th in the N.L. West, but overachieved and gave the Rockies a run for their money. It's disappointing that the Giants weren't the wild-card, that despite being tied for the wild-card lead after a sweep of the Rockies, ended up not even making it close. But the important thing to remember is that the Giants weren't even supposed to sniff the playoffs so Giants fans should be happy with San Francisco's overall effort.

That said, I'm going to go over the players and a few coaches and front office members to break down their individual efforts over the course of the year.

Tim Lincecum (SP): Timmy is the face of the franchise and one of the best pitchers in baseball. He had another stellar year and will probably garner a few Cy Young Award votes, but his lack of wins, which can be attributed to his low run support, is his main knock. He finished with a 15-7 record, 2.48 ERA and an N.L. leading 261 strikeouts. Go here for more of my opinion on Lincecum's 2nd half of the season.

Bengie Molina (C): Bengie hit 20 HRs this year, but he is a free agent after this year, just turned 35 and is wearing down. However, the Giants catcher of the future, Buster Posey, doesn't look like the everyday catcher next year and Eli Whiteside isn't exactly a great option. The catching situation next year is dicey because Bengie will ask for more a raise, but he is not the Giants long term option.

Travis Ishikawa (1B): Ishikawa really struggled at the beginning of the year, and people were clamoring for his job. But he heated up in the second half and ended the year with a respectable .261 average. Ishikawa didn't display much power though with only 9 HRs. In a position known for big hitters, Ishikawa doesn't strike much fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.

Freddy Sanchez (2B): GM Brian Sabean says that Sanchez is the Giants 2B, and the club will either pick up his $8.1 million option or negotiate him a new deal. We didn't get to see much of Sanchez because the Giants traded for him late in the season and he had nagging injuries, but in Pittsburgh he consistently hit for a high average.

Juan Uribe (3B/SS): Personally, I love Juan Uribe because of his monstrous swing, generous build and cannon of an arm. He always seems to get a hit or a dinger and that walk-off homer he hit off the Dodgers is still in my mind. Uribe, like Molina is a free agent though and with a completely healthy Edgar Renteria at SS and Sandoval at 3B, it might be hard to find Uribe ABs. He proved this year that his bat will force Bochy to find a way to get him into the line-up.

Edgar Renteria (SS): The Giants traded for Renteria in the off-season with high hopes that the ex-Detroit Tiger would plug a gaping offensive hole they had at short. The $9 million salary was not money well spent this past year as Renteria was bothered by a right elbow injury. He was woeful offensively and cut his season short by having arthroscopic surgery. Hopefully Renteria will be healthy for the 2010 season and return to his old form, giving the Giants clubhouse some leadership from a man with postseason experience.

Pablo Sandoval (3B/1B): Pabs was a bright spot this year for the Giants and narrowly missed the last spot for the all-star team. Pablo hit the most home runs, 25, and hit for one of the highest averages in the NL, .330. He slumped a little in the second half, but pitchers weren't able to use his free swinging tendency against him. Pablo was much better defensively than I thought and is pretty nimble for a 245 pounder. That said, he needs to get in better shape and drop a few pounds to better make it through the grind of a 162 game season. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the over marketing of his "panda" nickname.

Aaron Rowand (CF): I'm not a fan of the Giants outfield in general; they don't have much promise and when you look at the players they are not the OFs for a playoff team. This was Rowand's second year for the Giants, and he hasn't seemed like the White Sox player we traded for. He has consistently underachieved hitting, putting up only 61 runs and 64 RBI, but his amazing catch in the 9th inning to preserve Jonathan Sanchez's no-hitter was big. Rowand is under contract and probably won't be going anywhere for a while.

Randy Winn: (RF) Over the years I have grown less and less fond of Randy Winn. He especially is the OF I mean when I say I don't think a playoff baseball team would have Randy Winn as a starter. He's aging (35 years old) and hits for absolutely no power. 2 HRs and a .353 slugging percentage. Sure, he stole 16 bases but his OBP is a meager .318. Good thing his payroll expires soon, he's just another overpaid player from the years of the past when the Giants fielded some of the oldest teams in baseball.

Nate Schierholtz (OF): Schierholtz may not be a star, but he at least has more promise than Randy Winn. He's young, has a level swing and a cannon of an arm. And he's also got some fire, remember that awesome bulldozing of the catcher he did during the 2008 Olympics?

Eugenio Velez (OF): Eugenio, god I love saying that name. EUGENIO got called up to the bigs last year, excited with his speed, but was too raw and inexperienced. This year he looked much more patient at the plate and improved his hitting greatly. While Velez is not a great fielder, it's good that the Giants moved him to left field from second base, his fielding was pretty horrendous at second. Eugenio showed brief flashes of his hitting potential with lashed doubles and triples into the gap when he saw more playing time with LF up for grabs.

Matt Cain (SP): Cainer had a career year for the Giants. He made his first ever all-star team and finished up the season 14-8, only 1 less win than Lincecum, with a 2.89 ERA and 4 CG. He has come along nicely for the Giants and the 1-2 punch of Lincecum and Cain is emerging as one of the best starting duos in baseball. He could have been even better, but had a 4-6 record after the all-star break.

Barry Zito (SP): Zito improved tremendously from his awful year last year. While he won the same amount of games both years, 10, Zito improved his ERA from 5.15 to 4.03 and was one of the Giants best pitchers in the 2nd half with a 5-4 record and an ERA under 3.00.

Jonathan Sanchez (SP): Sanchez was 8-14 with a 4.24 ERA, but everyone will remember his no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. Sanchez had been awful before that game, and he had spent some time in the bullpen. What made the near perfect game extra special was the fact that his father attended and it was the first game had seen Jonathan pitch as a Giant.

Randy Johnson (SP): The buzz was that Randy Johnson was coming to the Giants and would win his 300th game for them. He did, but we all know that Randy was just passing through town, his glory days were long behind him and he likely will not be back for the Giants next year, if he continues to play at all. My bet is that he will play next year, he's in great shape and has a burning desire to play. Randy was decent for the Giants, but he lacked the life in his fastball that used to strike fear into the hearts of left-handed hitters and was injured for most of the year, pitching only 96 innings. It was fun while it lasted Big Unit.

Brad Penny (SP): The Brad Penny signing was a great move for the Giants. Penny played for the Red Sox to start the year and was awful and the Giants picked him up and the Sox basically paid his entire salary for him to play for the Giants. For the Giants he won 4 games in 6 starts while pitching mostly to contact. The problem is that Penny probably pitched so well that he might be too expensive for the Giants to re-sign next year.

Brian Wilson (RP): B Dubs had another good year and saved 38 games with a 2.74 ERA and 83 Ks in only 72 1/3 innings. He may not be the greatest of closers, but he wins me, and I'm certain many fans, over with characteristics other than his talent. I love his post-save tribute to his father and his faith where he cross his arms and points his 2 index fingers. He's also ripped and has tons of tats (makes him look intimidating). And he also rocked a sweet mohawk mullet look that few have the cojones to pull off. A tip of the cap to you, Papa Dubs.

Jeremy Affeldt (RP): Affeldt came to the Giants from the Cincinnati Reds last year and was a great situational lefty, if not the best Giants relief pitcher besides Wilson. He had that trademark lefty 3/4 delivery slider that dives away from left handed hitters and had a 1.73 ERA.

On other notes, the Giants bullpen was surprisingly good and was one of the reasons why the Giants were in the thick of the wild-card race for most of the season. At one point the bullpen's ERA was the 2nd best in the N.L.

The acquisition of 1B Ryan Garko, Stanford alum, from the Cleveland Indians proved fruitless. Management dealed for him hoping to secure an extra bat to make the postseason push, but he made no impact whatsoever.

Fred Lewis was the original starting LF for the Giants, put his terrible fielding and strikeout total proved too much despite his sweet look with his orange sunglasses. He was useful, however, coming off the bench and hit over .300 as a pinch hitter.

Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean's contracts both expire on Oct. 31st, but it appears as if both will be back next year. They have talked to the media about their plans for next season and there have been no signs of a major shake up. I'm not sure, but I think that Brian Sabean is the longest tenured GM in the majors.

That concludes my wrap-up, I'm looking forward to the League Championship Series in both the AL and NL and to a great Giants season next year.

Photos are from mlb.com photo galleries from the sfgiants.com website. The stats are also from the Giants official website and I got info about contracts from a San Jose Mercury News article.

Richard Dawkins Talk

Richard Dawkins signing copies of his book The Greatest Show on Earth and talking at Menlo School.

10/6/09

On Monday the renowned British scientist and scholar Richard Dawkins came in to Menlo School and talked about theories of evolution during assembly. Dawkins talked about the power of evidence and observation, multiple reasons supporting the evolution theory and criticized Creationists in front of an attentive student body and throng of parents.

Richard Dawkins has written many international bestsellers, including The Greatest Show on Earth, which summarizes evolution and hundreds of scholarly articles. He is very controversial and opinionated in a touchy field for many and has appeared on, and been poked fun at the tv shows "The Colbert Report" and "Southpark."

Dawkins started off by talking about how fact can only be obtained through evidence and observation in a letter he wrote to his 10-year old daughter. He logically explained why tradition, authority and revelation are not reliable sources of fact.

All stories, he used the example of Greek mythology, were made up at some point a long time ago. Just because they get passed down from generation to generation over hundreds of years does not make it any more credible. The story is still false.

Richard Dawkins used the pope as an example for authority. Millions of Christians around the world see whatever the pope says as truth; they believe in whatever the authority says.

Lastly Dawkins, somewhat coldly dismissed spiritual revelation as a source of truth. His reasoning was logical, but almost seemed to sneer at the idea of anyone believing in something because of a religious revelation.

Next Dawkins briefly talked about reasons that support the theory of evolution. He discussed how fossils support this idea and how many species of animals, including humans, share the same genes. The lineage of all life on Earth can be placed on a big tree starting with just a bacteria cell because of all these shared genes.

Charles Darwin's study of animals in the Galapagos Islands was brought up when Dawkins said the geographic distribution of animals supported evolution. A group of lizards would get blown from the mainland of South America to one of the Galapagos Islands in a storm and they would adapt and reproduce. Then in another less freak accident they would get blown to a neighboring island and evolve in a slightly different manner because of the differences in their lifestyles. There are examples of animals with slight differences all across the world that are in concentrated clumps and this supports evolution.

To defend the notion that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, and not 6,000 years, according to Creationists, Dawkins said that the radioactive decay of rocks and fossils showed the Earth's true age. Scientists can use the amount of carbon left in a natural object and figure out its age because of the constant rate of decay.

I got the feeling that Richard Dawkins was supposed to talk about evolution, and not just criticize the idea of Creationism. By the end of the talk though he had cracked multiple jokes at Creationists' expense (Intelligent design is just Creationism in a cheap tuxedo. Intelligent design is the padded bra of Creationists.) and had started to delve into that issue when the students asked him questions. Because this is such a sensitive issue I don't think the Menlo administration wanted to keep him onstage while he bashed Christians's beliefs.

Pics taken by Pete Zivkov:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/menlophoto/3985989340/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/menlophoto/3985968158/

49ers Improve to 3-1 With Beat Down of the Rams

Scott McKillop recovering a punt in the end zone.

Patrick Willis after his TD.

10/4/09

If you picked up the 49ers D/ST for fantasy football this week as a sleeper D, you were very happy. In my league, they scored the most points, with 31. And if you like the 49ers, well then, you were very happy, too.

The 49ers destroyed the St. Louis Rams 35-0 behind 3 total defensive and special teams touchdowns and 2 passing touchdowns by Shaun Hill.

After a slow start offensively, the 49ers defense and offense poured it on in the second half with 4 TDs.

After the first 4 offensive possessions for the 49ers ended punt, punt, missed fg, punt, you just wanted to say, "Get on with it 9ers, stop messing around!" But the 49ers caught a huge break when Andy Lee's punt bounced off the leg of an outside special teams blocker and rookie linebacker Scott McKillop recovered it in the endzone to give San Francisco a 7-0 lead.

San Francisco didn't score any more and led 7-0 going into the third quarter. But Shaun Hill and Vernon Davis changed that on the 9ers' 2nd possession of the 2nd half. Josh Morgan gained big yards on a screen pass and Vernon Davis scored his 3rd TD of the year on a 13 yard pass. The catch was almost identical to his last TD against the Vikings.

The theme in the 2nd half was scoring in spurts and 3 plays later Kyle Boller, who was filling in for an injured Marc Bulger, tried an across the field pass on 3rd and 8. Patrick Willis preyed on the pass and picked it off, easily taking it in 23 yards for a TD.

Willis, the 2 time pro-bowler, had a monster game with that INT, 8 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

Josh Morgan started the 4th quarter with an impressive leaping catch for a 25 yard TD to give the 49ers a 28-0 lead. Morgan had missed a deep throw from Hill earlier that surely would have resulted in a TD, and it was good to see Hill still have confidence in his young WR.

14 seconds later the Rams fumbled on an end around and Ray McDonald recovered the fumble and rumbled into the end zone from 11 yards out. Last game against the Vikings McDonald had the key block of a Ryan Longwell field goal that allowed Nate Clements to run it back for a TD from 59 yards. McDonald's TD was the last for the 49ers and put them up 35-0.

Glen Coffee rushed 24 times for 74 yards and caught 4 passes for 32 yards in his start in place of injured RB Frank Gore.

Shaun Hill was 14-24 with 152 yards and 2 TDs.

Photo URLs:

http://blog.49ers.com/2009/10/04/week-four-blog-49ers-vs-rams/

http://www.49ers.com/news-and-events/article-1/49ers-Move-to-3-1-Behind-Team-Effort/5d720d36-2e18-4a13-925d-a44861d5fbc8

Creative Arts Night and Chorus Retreat

(Clockwise from left): MC Alex Perez, a demonstration of sand art and the chorus

10/4/09

On Thursday night Menlo hosted creative arts night to display the various talents that Menlo students possess in the arts. Because sports get most of the attention in a school it is important to have a week to acknowledge the arts, creative arts week and a night to bring them all together in a display that parents can see, too.

From my point of view, this is how the night went down.

6:23: Arrive at school and skulk around the back to avoid the attention of my chorus teacher, Ms. Linford, because I am late for the sound check/rehearsal. I hid behind a few art booths, kept my head down walking to the stage and discreetly hopped up in the back row to sing the last few verses of "I Believe."

6:35 End rehearsal and bring backpack to the chorus room for voice warm-ups and last minute advice. A huge carton of goldfish is in the chorus room to the delight of many and Ms. Linford attempts to speak over 45 members of the mixed, men's and women's chorus with little success.

7:00 I retreat to the empty student center and a cleaner allows me to study in their alone. It is difficult to prepare for a math quiz over the incessant drone of a vacuum cleaner.

7:15 People mill about outside and the students hang out in the quad

7:30 I take a seat in a back row as parents file in and creative arts night starts. Most of my friends continue chatting and don't join me. The only friend who sat with me leaves for a more exciting venue of hanging out in the back and I am left with a teacher for company.

7:40 The orchestra starts off with a typically boring and epically long piece. Not feeling well, I take advantage of this and "rest my eyes" for the entirety of the song. Too bad they have bright lights trained on the audience, I would have had myself a nice nap.

7:55 The night continues with an awesome sand-light art video, a cool performance from rent by Carly, a video about design thinking from moviemaking, JV and varsity jazz band performances with multiple false endings, too many improv solos and of course, pitiful squawks from numerous instruments. The Knightdancers also performed and drama performed a scene from the upcoming play "Into the Woods."

8:40 I performed with chorus and we sang "I Believe."

8:55 Before leaving I made sure to cram as many of the complimentary snacks and refreshments as I could onto my small plate before leaving.

Yesterday, yes Saturday, as in the weekend, I spent the entire day in Half Moon Bay for an all-chorus retreat. One might ask, what exactly was the purpose of the chorus retreat? To that I answer, to take away a Saturday and devote it entirely to practicing songs.

We had to arrive at Menlo at 8 in the morning and about 45 chorus students, along with the teacher and a few chaperones crammed onto a school bus. This may sound snobby, but why couldn't we have gotten a charter bus? There were 45 people for an all-day event, this wasn't some little weekday sports excursion. Besides, the JV baseball team got a charter last year for a game against Woodside. Less than half the people for less than half the time the bus ride takes.

I was sandwiched in the back row between a hulking football player and the window with nothing to do except read a local San Mateo newspaper.

I don't know what I was expecting when we got there, but it wasn't it. I thought that we would practice in the morning and then perform in front of the church or in downtown Half Moon Bay in the afternoon. I was wrong. We basically had the equivalent of 3.5 chorus classes on our retreat as we practiced old songs and new songs in a church.

Ms. Linford was managing 45 students, so we weren't always singing. I made sure to take full advantage of the down time and played Connect 4 on an iPhone and games of hangman on the back of the day's itinerary with Richard. If you're curious, I won on the words "hymnal" and "incarnadine."

For lunch some friends and I went to San Benito Inn. They make their own bread their and

I got half a pastrami melt and lentil soup with ham. After bidding goodbye to a friend who was going home "sick," we returned to the church for more singing.

The trip to the beach was brief because everyone wanted to get home. But, the limited time was fun and I threw around a football in the vicious wind and somehow managed to get an incredible amount of sand in my hair.

When I woke up the next day I was surprised and disappointed to realize that it was Sunday, and I needed to do my homework. It felt like Saturday was a school day and I wasn't able to take advantage of the weekend.

Photos are from flickr and were taken by Pete Zivkov.

Conceptual Questions for False Memory

1. Why are memories of my elementary school days important for me?

This fits in with my memory because it is a mostly positive, nostalgic recollection of an otherwise negative experience from when I was in 2nd grade. I could elaborate and try to explore why exactly what it is that pulls me back to Duveneck, why these recess periods bring a smile to my face.

2. How does my personal experience with my Duveneck friends now have a bias on how I write about them?

I have limited memories of how my friends were back in elementary school, so I tended to write about them using more current memories of them. This addresses the issue of what experiences or at what age in our life do we make judgments on our friends. I could go off on tangents about my friends individually and how they've changed or stayed the same.

3. Why is the fear of "getting sent to the principal" have such significance through the eyes of a 2nd grader?

Over the years my fear of getting in trouble have diminished greatly. Sure, I definitely don't want to get in trouble at all, but no longer does the stereotypical fear of hearing my name across the intercom paralyze me. There is room at the end of my memory for more detail on this concept.

Favre Stuns 49ers with Last Second TD Pass

Favre after his game-winning TD pass and Vernon Davis hauling in 1 of his 2 TDs.

9/27/09

The 49ers were on the verge of victory Sunday afternoon. Shaun Hill had just connected with Vernon Davis for a 20 yd TD reception with about 8 min. left in the 4th quarter to give the 49ers a 24-20 lead. After trading 3 and outs the Vikings had the ball at their own 20 with no time-outs and less than 2 min. to play. And that was when Favre took over and led an incredible drive that culminated in a 32 yard TD pass to Greg Lewis with only 2 seconds left. The Minnesota Vikings won 27-24.

It was a heart wrenching loss for the 49ers who would have been 3-0, in easy command of the NFC West and face the Rams next week. Even after the 9ers punted the ball away to the Vikings, a win seemed inevitable. After all, they had 80 yards to go in about a minute and a half with no time-outs. Even after Favre completed a few passes you thought, "hey, no problem, the 49ers will get a stop, we're still in control." That uneasy confidence quickly turned to nervousness as the Vikings advanced into 49ers territory but it was still "Ok, they completed a few passes, but they still need a TD, a field goal won't win it and they only have time for like 2 more plays." And that nervousness evaporated in an instant to feelings of shock and anger. "No!!! F$&*! No way! Wait, maybe he didn't get his feet in bounds. Oh, he did. Favre I hate you."

As much as my pain was for the 49ers loss, I have serious respect for Brett Favre. This was the latest, in terms of time left in the game, game winning TD pass he has thrown in his career. He eluded a 9ers defensive lineman and threw a rope while getting smacked to the ground. Greg Lewis, who hadn't caught a pass all game, was still behind the 49ers defensive back and Favre led him and put the ball in a perfect spot. Lewis slid behind the d-back and managed to drag his right food inbounds. But, I still can't believe San Francisco couldn't have knocked it down.

Favre's heroic comeback marred a great day for 49ers TE Vernon Davis. Davis caught 7 passes for a career high 96 yards and 2 TDs. He is a team captain and coach Mike Singletary helped to turn Vernon around. After the incident last season when Davis was sent to the locker room in the middle of a game by Singletary, Vernon has developed a lot of respect for Coach Singletary and Singletary calls him "the most misunderstood player on the team."

In other not so good news for the San Francisco 49ers, Frank Gore re-aggravated his right ankle on his first carry of the game. It is reported that he has a high right ankle strain and will likely miss at least 2 games.

Sidney Rice started off the scoring with a 30 yard touchdown catch. It was aided by a big 30+ yard run by Adrian Peterson, who toted the rock 19 times for 85 yards. The 49ers kept Peterson in check though, and did a great job at containing one of the league's most dynamic rushers.

After four 3 and outs to start off the game, not to mention Gore being carted off the field and playing at the Metrodome, the 49ers scored their first TD on a short pass to Vernon Davis. Their first first down that wasn't because of a penalty came with 9:43 left in the 2nd quarter.

Despite the loss of their best offensive player, the 49ers were able to move the ball and Glen Coffee, Gore's back-up filled in and did a solid job against the NFL's best rush defense. But the 49ers offensive success lies on Gore's shoulders, and if this injury keeps him out for a while, San Francisco could be in trouble.

Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell had 2 FGs in the first half and was about to give the Vikings a 16-7 lead on a field goal to end the half. Minnesota had all the momentum, but Ray McDonald and Nate Clements refused to go into the locker room trailing. McDonald stuffed Longwell's 44 yard attempt and Clements scoopd it up and took it 59 yards to the house. The 49ers, in a huge momentum swing, took a 14-13 lead into halftime instead.

Joe Nedney kicked a 37 yard FG after Shantae Spencer's INT and the 9ers, with a 17-13 lead, seemed in control of the game. But, in a game that changed leads so suddenly, the Vikings struck back. Florida rookie WR Percy Harvin took the ensuing kickoff down the middle of the field 101 yards for a TD. Harvin, a former trackstar, and one of the fastest players in the NFL was not going to let the kicker get a fluke tackle on him. This gave the Vikings a 20-17 lead in the 3rd quarter.

But, the 49ers once again showed their resiliency and scored on Vernon Davis's 2nd TD catch of the day. It was set up by long reception by Isaac Bruce and Davis and was after the 49ers were backed up by a penalty and had a 2nd goal at the 20. This came with about 8 min. left in the game.

After Mike Singletary successfully won a challenge, arguing that Brett Favre was over the line of scrimmage when he made a completion for a first down late in the 4th, it seemed like an omen that the 9ers would win. But then maybe I should have taken the fact that the 49ers were 0-11 on 3rd down conversions for the game as a bad omen. If SF could have gotten 1 first down after holding the Vikes on a 4th down play, they would have won the game. But 3 runs by Coffee were stuffed, the ball was punted away, and Favre worked his magic.

Favre's statistics: 24-36, 301 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT. He was the first Minnesota QB to throw for over 300 yards in 63 games.

Picture URLs:

http://www.49ers.com/news-and-events/article-1/49ers-Lose-27-24-to-Vikings/4fb399ef-aaf0-47b4-bee3-672a8f911317

http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/photo-gallery/Regular-Season-Game-No-3-vs-49ers---Gallery-II/8d7334b1-19ad-4958-88de-61a64f3a2390