Sergeant Tony's Blog

The group I was traveling with in upstate New York wanted to go to Cooperstown. They wanted to visit The Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sigh.

Baseball Hall of Fame. Not on my bucket list.

This is gonna make some of you mad at me, but here goes. Baseball is boring. There. I said it. I’ve always thought of baseball as a game invented to give non-athletes something to do.

I played “America’s Game” as a kid and then abandoned it when I realized that I could think of at least 10 other things I’d rather be doing than standing around in center field yellin’ “swing batter batter batter swing!”

Seriously? This is a sport?

Too much spitting and scratching. Too much sitting around in the dugout. Too much standing around in the field.

And what’s up with the coaches (managers) wearing a uniform with a number on it? Really? I mean, when was the last time one of those guys called their own number and took the field?

I’ve tried to like baseball. I really have. I just can’t wrap my mind around the whole thing. I mean, it’s like 2 minutes of action stretched out over two hours.

Oddly, though, I love baseball movies. Two of my favorites are “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural.”

Anyway, there we were in Cooperstown and I was walking around The Baseball Hall of Fame. Did visiting the Hall of Fame change my attitude toward the game? Nope, not a bit. But the historian in me loved it. The history was very cool.

But as soon as I could, I excused myself from the group and the Hall and took off! There was some place else in Cooperstown, NY that interested me more than The Hall.

I walked a mile from the Baseball Hall of Fame and found the home of James Fennimore Cooper. The town is named after him. You might remember that he wrote “The Last of the Mohicans.”

Walking around his home, now a museum, was pretty cool. Being in the place where the man lived, worked, and died was really interesting, though no one else in my party felt the same. None of them joined me.

Remarkably, The Last of the Mohicans wasn’t written in that home in Cooperstown. Cooper wrote about the struggles of the American frontier of 1741 while he lived in New York City in 1826.

NEW YORK CITY?

I know, right?

Harper Lee wrote about Alabama in “To Kill a Mockingbird” while living in NYC too. New York City has been the place where tons of novels about somewhere else have been written.

So you’ll understand why, when I was in NYC a couple of years ago to run the NYC Marathon, I thought maybe I might write the great American novel from my overpriced hotel room.

But alas, the best I could do was write a few silly stories about meeting Rod Stewart and Lance Armstrong in New York on the same day. Hardly the stuff of the great American novel. Guess it requires more than a change in geography to ignite greatness!

And you may prefer the Great American Pastime to novels. And that’s perfectly acceptable!

And while I don’t care about baseball, I DO care about hot dogs and beer. I will gladly go to the ball park because those two things are there! In fact, I’ll go with you to any empty ball park and just look at the pretty green grass so long as those two things are there!

But there’s also another reason I like going to the ball park. The enthusiasm and passion of the true fan is awesome to me!

I’m drawn to people who have a passion for something. Anything! People with hobbies and interests are fascinating to me, even if I don’t share their passion. Maybe especially if I don’t. That way I’m sure to learn something new.

I recently listened to a woman talk at length about wine. I don’t drink wine and it’s a subject I don’t know anything about. She didn’t talk in a “Sideways” snooty kind of way about wine. She has a great passion and interest and knowledge about vino and listening to her talk with passion and animation about it almost turned me into a connoisseur. But sadly, my pallet is entirely too pedestrian! I can’t tell the difference from a glass of pinot noir and Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill.

(As an aside, I’m told that some fancy wines get better and improve with age. Unfortunately humans, as a species, don’t. We only get slower, slacker, flabbier, softer, wider, and feeble unless we DO something about it. You gotta DO! DO! DO! Keep moving and striving and exercising!)

I’m always amazed by the Facebook status updates that say “I’m bored to tears.” I don’t get that. I don’t understand that. (I guess they must be updating their status from a ball park! hahaha) Sounds like passionlessness to me, if that’s a word. Read a book! Write one! Draw something! Paint something. Turn on the Discovery Channel. Download some new music. Come over and clean my house.

According to history, the Ancient Greeks only asked one question when a person died. “Did they have passion?” “No sir, they were ‘bored to tears.’” FAIL!

Within walking distance from Cooper’s home is Christ Episcopal Church. Cooper died in 1851 and is buried in the churchyard. Wandering around his old home a few blocks away were people who had passion. Wandering around The Hall of Fame nearby were people who had passion. And buried there in that old cemetery was a man who lived with passion and wrote about it!

How bout you?

Got passion?

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THE RETURN OF THE 0830 CLASS AND THE CONTINUATION OF THE 0645 CLASS

The 0645 will continue indefinitely on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!

The 0830 Class will return to ACTIVE DUTY status on Wednesday, September 8!

I’m looking forward to seeing you 0830 Boot Campers!! Don’t forget that there is child care available at the church for this class!

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SGT. TONY’S HALF MARATHON TRAINING!

INFORMATIONAL MEETING THIS SATURDAY FOR EVERYONE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS YEAR’S TRAINING PLATOON.

We’ll meet at 9 AM at Fleet Feet Sports, next to Panera Bread in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, Poplar and Grove Park. The store opens at 10, so we’ll be finished by then!

Eric Flanders, owner of Fleet Feet, will give a brief talk on shoes and proper fit. I’ll be giving a presentation on the details, philosophy, and purpose of the training. And then there’ll be time at the end for some Q&A.

Training for the St. Jude Half Marathon begins on Saturday, September 4. This is perfect for the first time beginner half marathoner or even a half marathon veteran.

Training is open to all. Cost for the three month training is $75 for members of USMC Fitness Boot Camp and $120 for non-boot campers.

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NEW PRICING FOR FAMILIES AND COUPLES

If you’re a part of a family (usually husband and wife) that does USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, a new pricing plan goes into effect in August! Ask me about it! You’ll like it!

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AUGUST IS ANNIVERSARY MONTH!

To mark the occasion all new enlistments anytime this month will only be $90 and a One Year Tour of Duty will only be $475.

Other celebrations and such are planned and you’ll hear more soon!

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AWOL

Have you been away from USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP for a while? Comfortable in Turdeville? Wanna come back? C’mon then!! I won’t bite you!

I know how it is. You miss a day or two … and then it’s been a week or two … and then it’s a month or two …

Get back on track. Come back to the Quarterdeck! Nothing good is going to happen by staying away!

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BOOT CAMP DISCOUNTS AND FACEBOOK EXPERIMENT!

Facebook has now reached a major milestone: 500 million users! One out of every 14 people on the planet are on Facebook.

That’s the population of the US, Japan, and Germany combined! Half a BILLION people are on Facebook.

In the world of cyber-marketing, Facebook usage can’t be ignored.

So here’s our experiment.

Make a Facebook status update and get a discount!

For every status update that you make that references: “USMC Fitness Boot Camp,” “Sgt. Tony’s Boot Camp,” “Tony’s Boot Camp,” or something similar, you can take $2.50 off your reenlistment fee for each update, up to $20 off for any given month!

Your status update has to be a specific reference to USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP or to me specifically by name.

You can use the Facebook “Places” or Foursquare linked to your Facebook account to “check in” and you’ll get the same discount!

You can use YELP and write an awesome review!

Use your own wording and personality, just include the specifics.

So log on and get started today!

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WANT TO LOSE 10 to 15 POUNDS BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER?

Take Shape For Life is the BEST weight loss program I know of. If you’d like to lose weight talk to me. This is the program I used to lose the almost 30 pounds I gained after knee surgery. Let me help you!

You can also go to www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/

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BOGA tomorrow at CUMC @ 0530. BOGA is one half hard core boot camp fitness and one half power yoga … BO-GA!

NEXT TUESDAY

At 0530 we’ll have an optional Physical Fitness Test at the U of M! Max push ups in 2 min, max sit ups in 2 min., and a timed 1 mile run/walk/crawl!

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TUESDAY & THURSDAY EVENING CLASS

The Tuesday and Thursday evening classes meet at St. Agnes’ track. These are cardio (walking/jogging/running) workouts and they begin at 5:45 PM.

St. Agnes is at the corner of Walnut Grove and Mendenhall.

Should the St. Agnes track be occupied or the field being used, making the track unavailable to us, we’ll go to St. Mary’s track, at Walnut Grove and Perkins.

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CALENDAR

A calendar has been added to the official USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP website. http://www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com/calendar.html

For you visual learners, you’ll find this an easy way to glance at the week or month and see where the workouts will be, if there’s a venue change.

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HALF MARATHON

INFORMATIONAL MEETING THIS SATURDAY FOR EVERYONE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS YEAR’S TRAINING PLATOON.

This is a “no strings attached” informational meeting. There’s no obligation and no pressure!

We’ll meet from 9 to 10 AM at Fleet Feet Sports, next to Panera Bread in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, Poplar and Grove Park.

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What would you do if money were not an issue, fear were not a factor, and failure were not an option?

To your optimum health and fitness!

SEE YOU ON THE QUARTERDECK!

Tony

Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow

USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding Mailing address: 4888 Southern Ave., Memphis, TN 38117 Cell Phone: 901-644-0145 www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com http://www.combatchallenge.tsfl.com/esuite/home/combatchallenge/–