Thoughts.

(Two posts in two days, I know – but don’t get too excited; I’ll settle in to a lower rate soon enough.)

There’s some good new stuff springing up around the ultimate blogosphere and beyond lately – check it out:

• If you haven’t seen it yet, Skyd Magazine looks to be off to a promising start (they’re looking for writers, for any of you aspiring contributors out there).  There’s a heavy US ultimate tilt for the international readers out there, but you do see some gems coming like a series on training for ultimate, and another on building a championship team.
• Speaking of training for ultimate, check out Melissa’s training blog and Ultimate Results for some great information and ultimate application. I Like the post on holiday gifts for the ultimate player – the books are gems (I’ve added a few more recommendations in the comments as well).
• Skyd links up a Breakmark post on off-season training; as the title alludes, it’s a simplistic model and in my opinion focusing just on GPP is missing out on an opportunity to develop along several other modalities as well (I’m thinking primarily of strength here – GPP workouts are a great adjunct for recovery days after a good lift. That said, interval training and speed work can fit in at this point too, depending on your goals).
• Parinella and others have linked up Lou Burruss’ series on Cheating to Win (Without Cheating).  Codifies a lot of the unspoken agreements that teams make at the highest levels – his point about how it’s ironically a bigger issue in college because of the disparity in what teams expect (whereas in club everyone anticipates their opponent employing such strategies) rings very true to me, and is an issue any rising college squad needs to address.
• Speaking of the Huddle authors, other news includes the Huddle being absorbed into USA Ultimate‘s infrastructure.  This is a huge boost for USAU and a great opportunity for them to continue to make steps forward from being an amorphous and anonymous governing body to one more actively involved in and contributing to the ultimate community in meaningful ways beyond running the Series’.  I’ve hopped on board the writing staff officially now along with some 40 others who’ve contributed to the Huddle in the past; looking forward to helping continue the site’s massive contribution to developing the sport.

Check out Google Chrome, especially if you don’t already use Firefox.

It’s sexy.

If you’re not a power user (Firefox rules the day there) nor do you want to be a pawn of Microsoft and IE, give Chrome a look.

I mean, seriously. The Yankees? Christ.

So much for “I may walk[ away from the game.] and go home.” Or “I want at least four or five [years]” (the Sox offered 4, and Damon was asking for seven). Or “It’s definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It’s not what I need.”

Alas. But hey, why would anybody want rockstar status, the adoration of one of the most ravenous fanbases in all of sports, or $10M a year (the Sox’ final offer might’ve been more) to play in a hitter-friendly park in front of two of the game’s most dominant hitters when you can go to New York and literally cut off all that you once stood for for an extra $3M a season and a chance to play with a bunch of future hall of famers in a park that will only make the inevitable career decline more readily apparent?

Never understood why players make such a big fuss about money when your average annual salary is more than most make in a decade. I guess it can’t be helped though. So much for loyalty, and so long, Johnny D. May you flounder in the New York spotlight.

Well, the Red Sox got eliminated earlier.

Damn. Just not the same; we’re not as deep or as strong as last year’s squad.

But look out for next year, we’re freeing up payroll, and definitely going to be working in some talented youngsters by summer. Gonna be establishing a team to be reckoned with for several years to come…

Go Angels! beat those Yanks!