Monday, January 21, 2008

New York Giants - NFC Champions!

Just checking in even if I'm the only reader of my blog. Don't know why with all this riveting content.
What drama in the Giant win over Green Bay. I have many Patriot fans in my family which will make for a great party this year.
Australian Open tennis has also been great to watch. These guys are amazing. Blake was impressive in his comeback being down 0-2 in sets and 1-4 in the 3rd. Federer finds a way. Need to stay mentally tough.
Not much else...just working for the weekend.
My friend Satish will be back from vacation this week. Good for me, but not for him.
My other co-worker friend is training for his half-marathon next month. We're working together on a few projects at work, which is cool to collaborate on. Makes things easier and it helps with opinions, etc...

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Monday Night Ladder - 1/7/08

Disappointing results for me. I had a chance to separate myself from 8:30 elite but lost some important points in games I had 40-30 leads. Played Frank well with the best drop shots (earned 5 points) I ever had and ended up 3-4. I then played the Satish sub - Dan who presented himself as very beatable. Lefty but with only defense. He just punched everything back mostly as high, no spin lobs or blocked shots. I rallied a bit with him then looked for the knock out punch and then preceeded to hit long or just wide. Need to pronate more on wrist and apply topspin more. Lost 2-5 in a crushing defeat. I lost 3-4 to Ramon who also lost 2-5 to Satish-Dan. 8 wins - 13 losses. I'm not worthy.

I did have a little rust from 2 week layoff but no excuse...one thing I did wrong was overeat before the match. Not smart. I played like an old fat guy!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Psyche Tip

"....After winning a difficult, tense set there’s often a conflict between your logical mind, which tells you to keep applying pres-sure and close out the match, and your subconscious mind, which suggests that you temporarily escape all this stress by easing up and taking a well-deserved mental break. With a set under your belt, now feels like as good a time as any.
Big mistake. On the other side of the net, your opponent knows that he has to bear down or he’ll soon be leaving the court a loser. So he tends to maintain or increase his intensity level. Couple that with your own tendency to let up at this stage and there’s a momentum change just waiting to happen.
How do you prevent it? In this situation, forewarned is forearmed. If you win the first set, take a few moments to collect yourself and pump yourself up. Then redouble your efforts at the start of the second set. It often helps to play games with your mind. Try to convince yourself that the match is starting over and that you have to jump out to an early lead. Be even more aggressive...."