Nathan Read's Seattle Mariners fan blog

Man is this going to be a good fight.

 BJ Penn is the lightweight champion in the UFC, and he is defending his title against the former lightweight champ, Sean Sherk. It's a fight that's been brewing for nearly a year.

 Penn has been widely regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters in all of mixed martial arts, or MMA, for quite some time. He is a well rounded fighter, with excellent striking skills, a black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu, and the kind of flexibility one gets by having Gumby somewhere in the family tree. One of his weak spots has always been his conditioning and his cardio. When he first started competing in MMA, he relied on his skill, and natural ability to dominate his opponents. Nowadays, you can't just be competent to excel at, well, pretty much any professional sport. Knowing this, Penn has recommitted himself to improving his cardio, and making himself that much more dangerous. This saturday, we'll see how much he has improved, because he's going up against a man that just does not quit in Sean Sherk.

Continue reading "Saturday night"

I can remember being something like four or five years old, and playing whiffle ball in the backyard with my dad. A lot of people when they played sports as children, used to pretend to be the athletes they looked up to. I can remember wanting nothing more than to be like Seattle Mariners infielder Julio Cruz.

 Seeing as how that was around 25 years ago, I don't really remember much other than liking how he played the game. He had so much fun playing baseball, that it was impossible not to root for him.  He always had a smile on his face, and a genuine love for the game. 

 I have had other favorite ball players over the years. Some still have a place in my heart, some have moved on. Through all of this I have gone from an admirer of the game of baseball, to a fan most devout. I love this game above all the rest, and I owe it all to Julio Cruz.

Continue reading "my first favorite Mariner"