by Matt Groom 9/5/12
To old and new readers: zzzzz (Pronounced "Quintuple-z") is a blog about my random thoughts. Most of them are my reactions to what is happening, while others are just random thoughts. This whole thing came about when myspace was popular. I got bored one night and put all my thoughts in a blog. I came up with the title, zzzzz, because I got bored trying to come up with a title for the blog. Since a group of z's can represent sleep, I decided to come up with that. I thought I would just do it once and never write one again. However, there was some popularity in the blog, and I went to write more. I would say about five people were crushed when I decided to stop writing them.
Anyway, what made me decide to bring this back is that I am at a crossroads in my life. I went to school to become a teacher, and I came one step short (pointless California teaching regulations). Anyway, I can't afford to wait for teaching to work out. So, I am wondering what I am supposed to do with my life. One of the things I've been thinking about is becoming a sports writer. (Other things I've been considering will appear later in this blog.) I decided it would be in my best interest to relaunch this blog in order to get some writing practice. Since my main passion is sports, I will be writing mostly about sports. However, in zzzzz, I will be covering other topics as well. (There will be other blogs in which will be solely about sports topics).
I am not completely sure of what I want to get out of this blog. The thought of taking this to a national publication (though just a dream at this point) sounds appealing, but I may have to compromise who I am, in order to accomplish that. I might also want to use this and other blogs as a portfolio in case I want to send my resume in to a local paper such as the Oakdale Leader, Turlock Journal, or Modesto Bee. I have no idea how long this version of zzzzz will last, but it's my project regardless of its longevity.
This version will be a lengthy read to be honest. I'm going to spend some time introducing some of the topics. Plus, I have a lot of thoughts before I start writing, and I create a lot more as I am going through the process of writing. I will categorize the topics so if one is not of any interest to you, you can skip it. Sports topics will be title by the sport I am writing about and not simply, "sports". Zzzzz will occur anywhere between the first and second Wednesday of the month, depending on when I have time. Other blogs will be written as I see fit. I am also considering writing two versions of zzzzz a month, one for sports and one for other topics. I would like to read your thoughts about it.
Here we go...
THINGS AT CHURCH
I attend Bethel Assembly of God in Oakdale, California. As in the past, I will plug events and other news about my church. I am also willing to advertise events of other churches if I hear about them.
- On Tuesday, September 11, the church will go around the city of Oakdale and provide lunches to police officers, fire fighters, and city officials. This tradition started when Pastor Dave took over the church, I believe 5 years ago. He calls it "Bethel Remembers".
- On September 29, 2012, there will be a service called "Love Oakdale". The volunteers will meet at Wood Park (Corner of A and 1st streets in Oakdale). They will be working on various projects in the city. It will last from 9:00 A.M-noon. The churches in Modesto will have a similar day for that city. For more information, go to www.loveoakdale.com for Oakdale and www.lovemodesto.com for Modesto.
POLITICS
The Republican Convention happened last week and the Democratic Convention is happening this week. I wanted to do a report on both, but I am getting worked up over politics this year and decided to omit them from my blog. I want to spend the first few editions of zzzzz writing objectively, and I cannot do that right now. Therefore, I think it is best to skip it. I have my opinions on who I think would make the better president, and I'll leave it at that. Those who know me know where I stand.
HISTORY
I have been reading some of my old college textbooks for a couple reasons. Either I will go back to pursuing my teaching credential, and I will need to keep history fresh in my mind. I am also thinking of getting a master's degree in history. I will need to stay sharp if I decide to do that. I am relearning some things; and I am finding things out for the first time, either because I didn't catch something the first time, or in the case of my Western Civilization class, I didn't really read the book the first time. I learned something interesting recently. I had no idea that the Greeks had colonies as far away as modern-day Spain, at the height of their power. (I also found from another source that they have also had influence in Libya.) These colonies were created to encourage trade, but political problems soon occurred and Greece soon lost these colonies.
GRE WORD OF THE MONTH
As stated earlier, I am considering going for a master's degree in history. Many schools require a prospective candidate to take the GRE. The GRE is like the SAT for the master's program, but the material is more advanced. One area where I may struggle is the vocabulary. So, in order to help me study, I will present a word, definition and use it in a sentence.
Today's word: inchoate- not fully formed, incipient (yep, I'll need a dictionary to find out some of the definitions of the definitions); rudimentary, underdeveloped; lacking order.
The night that Julia Ward Howe composed "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," she woke before dawn with a rudimentary, inchoate idea of what she wanted to say. (ok, I copied it from a flash card.)
FIFA TOP 25 (men's soccer national teams)
(In order to save room, I won't write it like an up-and-down list: 1. Spain, 2. Germany 3. England 4. Portugal 5: Uruguay 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Greece 12. Brazil 13. Russia 14. Chile 15. France 16. Cote D'Ivoire 17. Ecuador 18. Sweden 19. Czech Republic 20. Switzerland 21. Mexico 22. Columbia 23. Japan 24. Slovenia 25. Australia
I don't see how England is 3, Portugal is 4, how Brazil can be dropped to 12, how Australia is 25, and how the United States isn't even in the top-30 (33)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
I will mostly be talking about the Sac-Joaquin Section in California since I live in that area and most (if not all) my audience lives in.
Top 25 teams regardless of size (according to calpreps.com) 1. Elk Grove (2-0) 2. Vacaville (1-0) 3. Del Oro-Loomis (0-2) 4. Franklin-Elk Grove (2-0) 5. Folsom (2-0) 6. Lincoln-Stockton (1-1) 7. Granite Bay (0-2) 8. Nevada Union-Grass Valley (2-0) 9. Oakdale (1-1) 10. St. Mary's-Stockton (2-0) 11. Buhach Colony-Atwater (2-0) 12. Placer-Auburn (1-0) 13. Grant-Sacramento (1-1) 14. Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove (1-1) 15. Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills (2-0) 16. Inderkum-Sacramento (1-0) 17. Merced (2-0) 18. Los Banos (2-0) 19. Atwater (1-0) 20. Whitney-Rocklin (2-0) 21. Pitman-Turlock (2-0) 22. Turlock (1-1) 23. Hilmar (2-0) 24. Woodcreek-Roseville (1-1) 25. Antelope (2-0)
-My awesome girlfriend gave me some wise advice to cover something that no one else covers and I have an opportunity to do that with a local team. The publications lack to cover Big Valley and the rest of the Central California Athletic Alliance. Granted, the conference is geographically widespread. From north to south, it goes from Lodi to Merced. From east to west, it goes from San Andreas to Tracy. So, here is my take on the conference. So far, no team has a win (every team is playing a few non-conference games before conference season starts). That is shocking. Millennium of Tracy won the conference, Sierra Ridge/ROP (San Andreas) and Jim Elliot Christian (Lodi) were playoff teams last year, and Brookside Christian (Stockton) is only two years removed from a state bowl berth. (One of only five Stockton/Modesto area schools to do so. Others were Central Catholic, Modesto Christian, Escalon, and Le Grand). Elliot Christian has the best shot of getting a win this coming week as the Eagles take on Turlock Christian Saturday at Hilmar High School. I will be at the Ripon Christian-Big Valley game on the 14th. I won't necessarily be doing any reporting, but the next edition of zzzzz will have my reactions to the game.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The start of college football was this past weekend. Alabama is defending their national championship (that I will say to this day they didn't deserve) and are off to a great start. With a 41-14 win over Michigan, I think they look even better this year than last year. Also 4 teams will join Division I-A (Massachusetts, South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State). Eight teams who were already in the division switched conferences (Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC), (TCU and West Virginia to the Big 12),(Temple to Big East), (Fresno State, Hawai'i, Nevada to the Mountain West), and four teams are bowl ineligible for various reasons (North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, and UCF).
In 2014, the BCS will be dumped and a four-team playoff will happen. Before that was decided, all experts had their own opinions of how many teams and who should be in the playoffs. I will offer my opinions.
- Twelve teams would be in the playoffs under my proposal.
- Eleven must be conference winners and one wildcard.
- Rankings will be determined by ratings (A wildcard team may not have a top-four seeding unless it has a better record than the remaining conference leaders, regardless of conference),
- Higher seeding has home game until finals (will be at neutral site). Top four seeds have a first round bye,
- Remaining 6-6 or better teams will be in a bowl game.
Here's what it looks like after week 1:
(1) USC-Bye; (9) Texas St. @ (8) Nevada; (12) Ball State @ (5) Alabama (At this point they get the wildcard, because they have not played a conference game, yet. As the season goes on, they'll get a higher seeding.); (4) Michigan St.-Bye; (11) East Carolina @ (6) Virginia Tech; (3) South Carolina-Bye; (10) Louisiana-Lafayette @ (7) Louisville; (2) Oklahoma-Bye
There are pros and cons to my proposal; but in interest of length, I will save them until I write the blog "If I was King of Sports."
RANDOM THOUGHT
I have seen top 10, 20, 100 lists of One-hit wonders in the music world. Someone should do a list for country music only. I have some proposals to put on that list:
Vicki Lawrence- "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" (Yes, she played Mama on Mama's Family).
Boy Howdy- "She'd Give Anything"
Ken Mellons- "Jukebox Junkie"
Shane Minor- "Slave to the Habit"
Billy Gilman- "One Voice" (Remember the 11-year kid who was a hit for a while?)
If you want to add others, let me know.
OTHER TOPICS CONSIDERED, BUT NOT COVERED: News in Oakdale (Though I must congratulate my former 8th grade English/Literature teacher, Gillian Wegener, for becoming something called the Poet Laureate. Sorry, I have no idea what that is. I'll read the story later.), Geography, Vice President Joe Biden, Education in the United States, Baseball playoff picture, Olympics, the Honeybadger, more random thoughts, what I am reading.
Sorry it was so long. I cut the list the best I could; however, there was a lot I wanted to say. I welcome comments. I will do my best to respond if they are written respectfully. If you are still willing to read more versions after this, I'll see you next month.
