“And no, he has not changed a bit.” Hugh, I liked that. It was ripe.

Clarion,

As I Tweeted last night, there is no need to run a clearout for Devan. The 25 feet between him and the basket is insignificant.

Hugh, your phrasing was wonderful.

Hey by the way are you counting calories or gone low carb? The world of Scoop awaits.

Off topic: lot to love about the Women’s World Cup today. Can’t wait to watch! Possession control and speed aren’t as good as the men’s game, but ball handling is right up there! Go USA!

I am amazed how ugly basketball looks when it is not coached. I see zero benefit in these tournaments. Ten seconds of watching the clip is enough for me. What morons would even sit in the stands to watch this? From the thrill-packed faint ramblings the tacky sounding announcer heard in the background over-dramatizing each score…to the complete absence of defensive pressure..to the sloppy play geared toward nothing but one-on-one showboating…. high school ball puts this garbage to shame. I’m frightened that Watford and Oladipo have put their skills in jeopardy partaking in these charades. Farm more harm than good…It’s like playing in a hornets nest of bad b-ball habits…They’ll fortunate if it only took 2 months to shake the ‘Devan’ stings out of their games. Keep our kids in Cook Hall gyms and bypass this purposeless concocted mess only serving an organizer interested in a few dollars kickbacks for the advertisement space given to t-shirt and tennis shoe companies. I would rather watch a dorm room Nerf ball tournament or Crean plucking his eyebrows.

Floyd, I can’t tell what you’re trying to say, could you be more direct? Just kidding. I tend to agree with most of what you said. It’s probably a “net” gain on improvement, though, versus no tournaments at all. Let’s them work on their dribbling and 1 on 1 skills. Hopefully a few choice words from Crean will break any bad habits quickly.

Can’t wait for “real” basketball to start in the fall!

Clarion,

I’ve been watching what I eat (limiting portions, cutting the crap out) and working out five days a week. Down 32 pounds so far. Thanks for noticing.

Floyd,

Yeah, it’s not good basketball. It’s not even decent basketball. For the college kids I think the benefit is that the pros (NBA, NBDL or Europe) do not want to be embarrassed by some 19-year-olds. We saw that with Will Sheehey and Lance Stephenson a few weeks ago: Stephenson got angry and then really got in Will’s face. There wasn’t a whole lot of that last night, but a highlight film does leave out the flow of the game: the other team pulled it to a tie and Oladipo and Watford made baskets (as did Dumes) to lead an 8-0 run. Does it translate to November? Probably not. But it’s still better to see a guy take a shot and make it than shy away from it.

Hugh-

I’m not criticizing your coverage of these events…I guess it’s just the way things are. Is it making kids into better basketball players come fall? I still think time away from the game can have a positive effect. Sometimes what began as a natural skill becomes overworked and mechanical. Speaking from a purely personal and nonscientific perspective, I used to find that a few weeks absent from playing hoops often resulted in the ball finding the bottom of the nets with far more regularity upon return.. There is a point when so much emphasis on repetitiveness inexplicably can take something that happened naturally away. We’re recruiting kids younger and younger…We’re turning all sports into 365 days a year obsessions….We’re shoving it down the throats these kid no matter the message of quality the experience or true love the game. Is it because they want more or we want more? Maybe I’m just blowing BS in the wind.

Do you think the same methods of saturation with the art of words would make for better journalists?

Congrats on discovering holes for the buckle your belt never given much shot a chance being discovered. You look great.

These are not tournaments, but indy pro am. I think any time a kid can have the opportunity to play against high level (Euro Pros, NBA players, and NBA draft picks) it is a good thing. When I watched Victor go against Shelvin Mack a few weeks ago, it was high level play and Victor took the challenge playing against an NBA draft pick.

Hugh, I hate to make this into a diet post but just food for thought. A couple years ago I was told by a doc to cut out soda pop 6 days a week and only have one that seventh day and at a movie or special occasion. I dropped 20 pounds in six months! I was not even a heavy pop drinker…maybe one a day. The sugar keeps the cycles in the body from being able to run properly so in turn your metabolism is better without the soda pop. Last year I had a cholesterol problem so I simply introduced fish once a week, eat only grilled foods…never fried anymore, and lowfat yogurt which I swore I would never eat. I took 50 bucks to the grocery and went ALL lowfat with dressings(love ranch) and cottage cheese, etc. I have lost 15 more and do not even work out. The doc said and I will always remember this…fill up and load up on veggies and fruit 1/2 plate, and 1/4 starch, 1/4 meat…the meat I struggle with but the red meat is awful for you and I love it! Pay for the buffalo meat at marsh. Good Luck Hugh…we have to be careful now that we have kids we want to be around for a while with. Bill Phillips books have helped me!

*Eye opener I learned last March: Hidden Valley Ranch 130 cals per tablesoon but lowfat/fat free 30…big difference if you love it like I do!

JPat-

It’s summer! Savor the chance to go off-topic.

Not so sound like a diet expert, but one pop per day is waay too much for a healthy diet. I am glad your doc was on top of that one. 1 pop = 180 calories (mostly high fructose). 180×7= 1060 calories per week. About 3000 calories beyond your normal diet. builds a pound of fat. Do the math: without exercise, that soda will build you a nice gut in no time! Same rules apply for my personal vice, beer. Whether it’s beer or soda, cut back and you will see the pounds fall away!

Oops. 180 x 7 is 1260 calories.

Thanks for Summer coverage and throughout the year Hugh. Glad to hear you are aiming to be healthier as well. 3 years ago a friend turned me on to the finest nutritional food products I have ever seen. Along the way, I’ve learned that true, lasting, vibrant health is achievable via excellent nutrition along with some excercise of course. Now at 41 years young I feel as good or better than when I was a high school and college athlete. Keep it rolling!

Good on ya, Hugh.

Not that you can tell much from this glorified pick-up game, but Watford looks like he hasn’t worked on much this summer. Is it just me, or why do I feel like he is tired after he’s on the floor for less than a minute?

I don’t understand why there seems to be no explosion in his legs. Looks like he is on his way to another record-setting year for a 6-8 forward getting his shot blocked. Get in the weight room and start doing some squats or power cleans. Please!

JPat,

You’re absolutely right – soda is a killer. I’ve only consumed diet soda for as long as I can remember, but we’ve stopped buying it for the house. I’ll drink it at a restaurant (maybe once a week) or traveling (caffeine boost) but that’s about it.

The caffeine buzz off of a Diet Coke is heavenly in the middle of the day.

Unfortunately, aspartame, the sweetener in diet drinks, is also bad for you and should be consumed with moderation. It’s good for your short term weight loss goals, though.

Lots of diets take weight off, but very few people keep it off without consistently incorporating aerobic exercise into their lives.

That’s the truth. Diets help with the initial push to get the weight down. Cardio and portion control keep it off for life.

Adding to JPat’s earlier post, another good tip is to cut out processed foods and pre made stuff from bottles and cans where possible, such as dressings. Often they are loaded with sodium and preservatives which cause weight retention.

The best salad dressing of all time can be made by putting olive oil, balsamic or red wine vinegar, a crushed clove of garlic, a little dijon, and some sea salt in a jar and shaking it until it looks creamy. No preservatives, no saturated fat, keeps in the fridge for weeks!

Juice of one lemon(maybe a little less), 1/4 clove smashed garlic, tbsp. of mayo, and 1/2 cup olive oil makes a delicious and quick Caesar dressing. I know mayo is not that great for you, but this still avoids the heavy calories and preservatives in the bottled stuff. All you need is a thick grilled New York strip steak, and some sliced garden tomatoes, to go along with your salad.

P90X. Don’t be intimidated. It’s designed for you to do whatever level you are at. I took it on at age 55. It’s a well designed program you can do at home.

Hugh, aren’t you flattered by all the concern with your diet well-being and suggestions, recipes, moral support, etc? Personally, I’d recommend frequent, lengthy hikes in the expansive woods surrounding Bloomington. Hoosier National in particular helped keep it off me when I was a resident Bloomingtonian.

Dietary advice is for everyone, not just Hugh! One reason that Americans are so overweight is because people don’t properly understand how all the cr@p that is marketed to them on a daily basis affects them. Even in elementary school, kids are fed tater tots, nacho cheese, sloppy joe and soda pop, as if these were real foods! Heck, JPat didn’t think about how soda affected him until an honest doctor sat down with him and told him the risks.

The more we can share with each other and spread the word through food education, the more we stand to gain. As consumers, we need to dictate what food is on our tables, not the big corporations trying to sell us sodium, saturated fats, and sugar!

Ban concession stands at football and basketball games! Concession stands kill! We need pictures of obese people on the 32oz. cups that are filled with sugar-water! Never mind, just look at the 75% of the people standing in line. Step right up for your blueberry yogurt parfait and a side of carrot sticks….Right. Who in the hell are we trying to kid? Most the reason people go to movies and sporting events is to drink beer, eat Milk Duds, devour Nachos smothered in melted cheese…go to the pump station and put 1/4 cup of fake melted butter onto your popcorn …inhale steamy hot dogs…chew on doughy pretzels..drink more beer…eat more nachos…sugars and salts…salts and sugars..Who was playing today? What “cr**” movie did I just pay $10.00 to see so I could have an opportunity to gorge on the #1 Combo Meal that has 12 cups of stale popcorn put in a grocery bag accompanied by a half-gallon cup of coke the size a painter’s bucket in which the longest straw manufactured by the Cotton Candy Straw Co.(proudly still made in America) can only extend from the lid by one inch. But don’t forget, refills are free. We live in the greatest country in the world. We stop the sugar consumption and we put Eli Lilly, one of the largest insulin producers in the world, out of business. Where will the alumni donation funds come from if Indy’s job base goes kaput? Here’s an idea…Instead of blaming corporations, how about a little discipline and not being a pig? Commit dietary sins in moderation. Or, how about a different angle in blaming corporations…How about giving the average financially strapped and stressed citizen a shorter work day so they can have time to shop and cook a healthy meal for their family? The richest people in this country eat the healthiest because they usually have one parent with more free time and can afford the outlandish prices for fresh high-quality foods at the markets.

Two suggestions on weight. First, replace your pop with soda or seltzer water. That will satisfy your taste for the fizz, and no calories.

Second, the challenge. Buy yourself something you really, really, really like and that destroys you (a piece of chocolate, a great NY pastrami sandwich, a can of your favorite pop)something you love but know is evil. Wrap it well and put it in your backpack, easy to reach. When you get the CRAVING take it…look/stare at it (min 15 seconds). Then DECIDE..consciously giving in to it or rejectit). After three days of putting it back in your pocket your done. I quit smoking this way…carried a pack of cigarettes and a lighter for a week. (Now if I could just stop wetting myself– just kidding). It works because you are in charge. Good luck. P.S. At night, put the item next to you on the night table.

Canada-

You’ll go to any length to disagree with me, won’t you?
I bet that if I criticized a tornado, you’d find a way to praise it. If I were to say that Pol Pot was an evil dictator, you’d find his inner good qualities.

Read my post again. I am advocating education and awareness. Informed people make better decisions about their bodies and their lives. How can you possibly argue with such a point? The whole concept of “America the Great” that you so gracefully alluded to is the idea of an informed individual making responsible choices for his or herself using the gifts of reason (as Clarion would say) and education. That’s how we go about being “free” from big bad governments and corporations.

If you believe that we, as consumers, can be empowered to do the right thing with our lives, than you can’t possibly object to a few Scoopers sharing diet/health tips on an internet forum.

Oh, and how about your point about “Instead of blaming corporations, how about a little discipline and not being a pig? You are contradicting yourself. You imply that eating healthy is a matter of personal, individual free will and “discipline.” Yet, at the end you argue that healthy eating is a function of social and economic class. Which one is it, D?

Really never thought the discussion would go this way and this far.
It’s all about free will — as Tsau alluded to. Will you eat the cheesecake? Drink the gallon jug of Dr. Pepper? I am sitting in the office right now and there is a jar of candy about eight feet away. I’ve had a mini Take 5 bar and a Reese’s Cup — I had the points (I am doing Weight Watchers, at the risk of losing my man card) and I chose to use them that way.
I am not much of a hiker — with a sports writer/dad’s lifestyle, I need something I can schedule and know weather is not going to cancel it for me. I am going to walk in the YMCA at 9 a.m., drop the kid off at daycare and do 60-90 minutes on the elliptical. Maybe some free weight work, maybe 15 minutes on the treadmill. Took the day off today after four days on, will work out tomorrow and Saturday before going out of town on Sunday morning.

It is all about the portion size in the end!

That was the entire point. You’re the one unnecessarily taking it personal..America is a contradiction. It’s founding was a contradiction. We ran from religious persecution and slaughtered the native inhabitants that were here before our quest for freedom. Then we extended the beautiful Bill of Rights to bring men and women of darker skin tone in shackles the hulls of rat-infested ships. Were we uniformed then? I don’t adhere to a belief that 90% of the people are uniformed slobs. A cigarette is no different a trigger on a gun(other than the fact the bullet is much slower and your aim is inward). Horrible habits abound throughout the planet..Italians eat enough salty sausages to rival three meals a day at McDonald’s..Maybe have a glass of wine with your Big Mac tomorrow. We have structured this country where wealth creates advantages far beyond just having a bigger home and a better car. The lower and middle class are pinched like never before. I’m not going to make them feel guilty for eating a whole loaf of bread when the minority owning all the wealth this country have not shared in the fruits their efforts. The dollar goes nowhere except a burrito at Taco Bell.

Use the Force, Hugh.

Hugh-

I thought that was you that I saw at the Y the other day!!! Elliptical is good, but aren’t you pissed about the channels on the TVs? I don’t care if the channels were “democratically chosen” – who, in god’s name, wants to watch the Casey Anthony Trial while on a treadmill?

I like the food network and the home renovation channel, but the other two channels should be sports, exclusively. ESPN alone is not enough.

By the way, take me off the spam list. It’s a joke.

In part because the TV selection is so poor, I am attached to the iPod. But yeah, I am not sure Casey Anthony is really what I need to get going on a slow day.

Hugh….My man! (you got it).

Canada Dry…like everything else you’ve turned everything into a huge political contemplation of….your belly button. So much resentment, guilt, self-loathing… I’ll bet on Hugh,…if you were right about all that babble it really would be a case of the belly-button standing triumphantly having conquered the man.

Everyone else…don’t you think we could be a bit more supportive if we just shut up! You got it Hugh!

JPAT…that’s what my wife said. She divorced me,

Canada Dry, Big Burrito …I love the authoritarian tone…Execute the White Man! (bet you he’s white…bet you!)… You don’t understand… religious persecution, slaughtering, shackling while running around in uniforms was part of our entertainment before reality TV. Cigarette are gooooood, if you don’t try to grab the smoke.

Why you make funna io? Perché si prendono in giro … il mio italiano salsiccia Mc Donald buono come la vostra salsiccia! (my italian Mc Donald sausage as good as your sausage). What an idea! a good red wine at McDonald’s..!!Il buon vino mi fa cornea (makes me ho**y).

One question: How can “…the minority owning all the wealth this country have not shared in the fruits their efforts”??? Big burrito, Viva Il Ducci!!

Where are Jack LaLanne and Haystack Calhoun when you need them?

Put on some running shoes and hit the roads to REALLY put weight loss into overdrive. Pound for pound, it’s one of the most, if not THE most, effective and efficient weight loss exercises you can do. And don’t believe the stories you hear about how it will trash your knees…that theory has been debunked.

is canada too smart for his own good, crazy, or retarded?

▲▲▲ all three plus often drunk. Aren’t the unrefined arrow tips short, bold, and ostentatious?…Just like you. And a happy Sunday morning to you.