T-minus 7

I can't believe how fast this has creep-ed up on me - but I'm departing in 7 days for Vancouver + Hong Kong + Las Vegas! January has flew by, between looking for jobs during the day, playing various sports in the evening, and weekends somewhere in the middle, it's amazing how fast the calendar turned to February.

I'm not sure if I can say I'm excited yet, simply because there is still so much to do before departure. Still have to buckle down and plan this trip - places to go to, restaurants to try, things and people to see - and on top of that still have to determine what is the best way to handle the luggage situation - what to pack for Vancouver, what to carry onward to Hong Kong after Vancouver and what to have brought back to Toronto. Of course there is still a couple of interviews coming up this week on top of a skills assessment test where preparations will be required.

With that said, I think it also boils down to the fact that this trip has yet to completely sunk in. Not only am I going to Vancouver, I'm going during the freaking Winter Olympics! After that, I'm excited just to visit the family and friends I have in Hong Kong as it has been almost 4 years since I have been there - and I really don't know when the next opportunity will come up where I will have a chance to be able to see them again (especially my grandparents).

Anyways, enough rambling for now - I will TRY to keep this blog relatively updated during my trip (at least the Vancouver portion), but there is no guarantee. I know I won't be able to do much while in HK as I will be staying at my grandparents and AFAIK, they do not have internet access at their house. So that part will probably have to wait until I return to Toronto. I will definitely continue twittering while I'm away, so follow my twitter for more up-to-date updates.

How to fix the overtime system in the NFL

The current overtime system that the NFL is employing has been a topic that's been up for debate for a long time. With the latest playoff game in which the Minnesota Vikings did not have a chance to touch the football while the Saints made the game winning field goal, I thought of a compromise where teams will still maintain an advantage for winning the coinflip, yet at the same time the team that loses the coinflip might stand a chance.

*I'm going to say that I haven't done adequate research on whether this method might be feasible, and I'm not going to claim I'm the first one that came up with this idea. So if there is someone else that has already came up with this idea, my apologies.

The team that wins the flip will win the game if they score a touchdown. If a FG is made, the opposing team will have 1 possession to tie with a FG, or win immediately should a touchdown is scored. Assuming the team that wins the coinflip does not score on their first possession, all bets are off and first team that scores wins.

The reason I believe the implementation of the FG/TD rule would benefit the game, is that too often teams only need to drive the ball 30-40 yards (or less should they get a good kickoff return), and thus taking away alot of the excitement that comes with overtime. With this rule, this ensures that team must drive the ball all the way down the field, and thus have "earned" the win while still maintaining the advantage of winning the coin-toss under the current system.

Athletes born during the wrong era

I guess this was one of those random things sports related that I sometimes randomly think about and I am actually blogging about it because I'm not putting it off.

People who become rich/famous (or whatever social status you want to apply here) reaches their status often times do not get to where they are without some sort of (or in some cases, ALOT of) luck along the way. That is not to say or take away any of their hard work to get to where they are along the way, but even with hard work, you got to get lucky, have the right break here or there in order to reach where you are. This don't strictly apply to those who reach the plateau of society, but also applies in different walk of life.

I think the prime example of this would be athletes in their sport. Would Tiger Woods have reached his current height of popularity had he been born 30 years ago when gold was still a sport dominated by Caucasians (or it can be said whether he would even get into golf as a whole)? How many titles would Rafael Nadal have won if he was born a few years later than he was once Roger Federer starts to slowdown as a player?

I don't really know where I'm going with this..just random thoughts that I actually recorded down for once.

End of one season, beginning of the next

September has come and gone, which leads us into October. And beginning of October also means the end of the regular season for MLB baseball, and the start of the regular season for NHL hockey.

Fantasy baseball wise, the last week of the season really sucked. I went from having 3 out of 4 teams finishing in the top 3 of my leagues (would've had a first, second, and third), to only having a team in second. The other two ended up dropping to fifth and fourth respectively.

I'm not really in the mood to really update...so going to leave it at that for now. Will get to other stuff later on.

Wake me up when September ends

Holy batman September creeped up this year like a spider hanging from the ceiling. I cannot believe it is already September and the summer is "over". I guess with the Labour Day being on the last day possible, and school starting on the latest day possible, this is bound to happen.

Time to continue to clean up the house!