Go Bathrobe Man

So, two quick things while I'm awake before I head into the lab today. Both involve sports to which I haven't historically actually paid any attention.

1) Sunday, I was awakened by a few hundred people outside my window, cheering on a few Kenyans and two Americans that probably didn't actually need encouragement to continue doing what they were doing. Then by a few thousand more who were trying to do the same thing as the guys who had passed by earlier. Evidently, my building is on the route (at approximately the 15K mark) of this year's LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. I didn't actually mind that much (which is a lie, I did mind it quite a lot as I was asleep and like to remain that way, but I'll pretend I didn't) as I was planning on being outside to see one of my friends pass by while running the marathon. I ran down at about 9:15, at which point I was introduced to a new sport. Not marathon-running, but watching other people run marathons. I was later informed that the reason I found this culture so strange is because I don't run long distances. That might be true. If any of you do run long distances or like watching people run long distances, let me know. Anyway, the goal of watching marathons appears to be to cheer for as many people as possible, with the end goal of getting the guy in the bear mask and bathrobe or a member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to raise their hands above their heads. Leonardo if at all possible. If you see someone running with their name taped across their chest, you must scream it as loud as possible despite the fact that you have no idea who it is. Repeat this for as long as you can. The person we'd gone down to see passed by after we'd been out there for about forty minutes (I'd tried to figure out when she'd get there based on the pace she'd mentioned, but forgot to account for how long it would take to get to the starting line) and I left the scene immediately. Leaving the Turtles, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the guys in the bathrobes, the bear mask, and the guy in the three piece suit to try to finish running a very long distance.

2) I haven't really paid too much attention to hockey since I was in high school. I don't know why. I remember watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2002 and somewhat last year, but haven't actually paid attention to the Penguins in a long time. Part of that is because of the fact that they're broadcast on a channel (Versus) that isn't exactly included in any cable package I've had in the past few years. This year is no different, except that I have absolutely no chance to see anything as 've abandoned cable for stations I get via antenna (which is more than I thought I would, actually, and substantially more when I rely on the internal antenna than when I spent a while fooling with antennae from Best Buy). Last night, I discovered that, unlike MLB which makes you pay for anything even close to listening to an out of market game, the NHL offers apparently free radio feeds of both the home and away commentators. I've discovered that hearing Mike Lange come up with bizarre little expression is something I've missed over the past few years. I'll be listening to that over the rest of the season. It helps that the Pens are doing well to begin the year. Hopefully, that will continue.

I'm watching City of God and have learned that I don't speak Portuguese.