Tap the Rockies

As part of the third installment of the Sunday Funday excursion series, some interns and I headed out to Golden, Colorado to tour the Coors Brewery. Along the way, we picked my cousin Emily and my friend John and his friend met us at the brewery. The self-guided audio tour took about 25 minutes but the free beer tasting at the end lasted nearly an hour. It was snowing and Golden seemed like a cool little town so we stopped to eat afterwards. None of us expected the snow, which slowed traffic to a crawl on our drive back to Colorado Springs. Coors light is probably my least favorite beer but I did gain an appreciation for Coors Original, or the banquet beer.

To continue the Intern Olympics, we played team handball last week and sitting volleyball today. Four former Olympians taught us handball, putting us through drills before letting us scrimmage so that we really gain an understanding of the game. The game is a mix between basketball, soccer and lacrosse. Then we were taught sitting volleyball, which is a Paralympic sport primarily for athletes with a missing leg. Much like wheelchair basketball, it was pretty difficult but also a lot of fun. Learning unfamiliar sports puts everyone on the same level, allows us to interact with the Olympians and Paralympians we live and work with, and exposes us to the venues and equipment available to us.

Click HERE for photos of the brewery tour.

Click HERE for the latest Olympic Sports Scene.

Click HERE for Teresa's article on bowfishing, which required her to take an airboat through the swamp.

Tomorrow's forecast for Colorado Springs: High 37, Snow

Sunday Sunny Sunday

Sunday's high in Colorado Springs: 81 degrees. Perfect day for a trip to Garden of the Gods. I had been once before but this time I got to see a different part of the huge public park. The strange rock formations are truly unique. I couldn't believe the warm weather, one week after an icy Saturday with a high of 30. I don't know how many sunny, mild weekends are left so I was glad to take advantage of the opportunity.

This past week I booked two plane tickets. One to Pittsburgh for Christmas and the other to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February. I'm very excited about both trips. I have never been to Pennsylvania and the trip will also include visits to the small Italian mining town of Crabtree. I'm hoping to eat some good Italian food and maybe enjoy my first ever white Christmas.

The Olympics are more real than ever for me now. I know that I have a bed in a condo in Whistler, within 100 yards of the Whistler Media Centre. Whistler is the ski resort about three hours north of Vancouver. The Olympic sports taking place there are biathlon, various ski disciplines and the sliding sports of bobsled, luge and skeleton. I think I will be doing odd jobs, such as writing releases for the website and working events. The hours will be long but I'm hoping to have a spare hour or two to catch an event. I might be able to attend the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Texas Longhorns are 6-0, having just beat their archrival Oklahoma in rather unimpressive fashion. For any UT fan, there's no such thing as a bad win over the Sooners. The Horns now enter a tough two-game road trip at Missouri and Oklahoma State.

Click HERE for photos of Garden of the Gods.

Click HERE for my latest Team USA Going for the Gold vodcast.

Click HERE for Teresa's front page story on intramural cricket at Lamar University.

Days until my weekend trip to Texas: 18

Wheelchairs and Mountain Bikes

A few of the interns have organized the inaugural (as far as we know) Intern Olympics. The first event of the four-team tournament was wheelchair basketball. We enlisted the help of Paralympic cyclist and Olympic Training Center resident Joshua George, who was more than willing to coach us. He taught us the fundamentals and rules and then we played some games. My team was by far the least competitive but we ended up winning. Intern Olympic games of water polo and team handball are also in the works.

I rounded up some interns to spend a Saturday mountain biking. We rented the bikes and headed to the Air Force Academy for a trail that was described to us as a "Colorado intermediate." We get to the 13-mile trail and it's a little more intense than we anticipated. Three miles into the trek, my bike experiences some technical difficulties. It was unrideable, which was a bummer because A) my ride was cut short and B) the rental place might make me pay to replace an expensive bike derailer. Luckily, one of the other interns is an avid mountain biker and she was able to fix my bike up just enough to pass inspection when I returned it to the bike shop.

Friday was essentially the first day of winter here in Colorado. It sleeted Friday and flurried Saturday. The icy roads were nearly unnavigable. Today (Sunday) was slightly better. So naturally, I decided to head out to the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame right here in Colorado Springs. It was about as cheesy as I expected although the photo-ops were worth the price of admission.

In sports news, my Texas Longhorn and fantasy football teams are undefeated at 5-0. UT heads into Dallas next Saturday for its annual grudge match with the Oklahoma Sooners. It will be the first Red River Rivalry I miss in six years. The Denver Broncos are also undefeated and the Colorado Rockies are in the playoffs. I'm still hoping to check out an Air Force of Colorado College hockey game soon.

Click HERE to view photos from wheelchair basketball, mountain biking and the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Click HERE to view my latest press release announcing the September USOC Athletes of the Month.

Days until I am back in Texas for the UT-Central Florida football game: 28

Rocky Mountain High

This is probably the longest I've gone without posting. Let me catch up. Last weekend was marked by two major events: the Air Force football game and the Pike's Peak Cog Railway. Both of which were great. I had been dying to experience some live college football, tailgate and to see what Air Force football was all about. The AFA Falcons won and I was able to play bags, also known as "cornhole," with a beer and my intern buddies.

Their are three ways to get to the summit of Pike's Peak: hike, drive, cog railway. No way could I have survived the 13-mile ascent on my own two feet. Driving is supposedly pretty scary, so I would have had to keep my eyes on the road rather than the amazing scenery. The cog railway seemed like the natural choice. Me and four other interns went on what might have been the last warm weekend. Still there was snow at the top. The views were breathtaking and the photo-ops were plentiful.

Since last weekend, Chicago went from contender to pretender in the race for the 2016 Olympic Games. Instead, the Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which should be a big party. No one can fault the Windy City for losing out to the first South American city to host the Olympics. It was a surprise to receive the least amount of votes, behind Rio, Madrid and Tokyo. The bidding process is highly political and the U.S. might want to take a break from the game after coming in last two times in a row (NYC bid unsuccessfully for the 2012 Games, which went to London).

Click here and here for two photo albums, one for Pike's Peak and the other for everything else.

Click here to see my blog posting on the USOC Intern blog.

Click here for Teresa's interview with George Foreman in the Beaumont Enterprise.

Days until the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games: 130

USOC Interns: The New Class

There's a new group of interns at the Olympic Training Center. Vanessa, Ingrid (the two other summer holdovers) and I are slowly getting to know the names, hometowns, colleges and departments of each new intern. It helped that we had an intern assimilation day, which was highlighted by a crash course in judo. It just so happened that I ended up with the only non-white "gi" or judo robe. Making matters more ridiculous was that the blue "gi" was the only to have the words Big Boss written across the back (pictured above).

Since my last post, their were trips to the Finish Line for karaoke and downtown Colorado Springs. This weekend was some nationwide firefighters festival. Apparently, all firefighters are Scottish because many of them were wearing kilts and playing bagpipes. A few interns and me ran the Jack Quinn's 5k run, which starts from the downtown Irish pub every Tuesday night. To celebrate three intern birthdays (mine being one of them), we went to Bird Dog BBQ. The placed boasted of its Oklahoma-style bbq. Whatever it was, it was good.

Last night, Vanessa, Adam (my roommate) and I went over to my boss's house to watch the UT-Texas Tech football game. Two other bosses of mine came over to see Texas win 34-24. It was an ugly win but a win nonetheless. After watching USC and BYU go down to unranked oppenents, I'm happy the Horns are still undefeated.

Click here for photos of the 5K, BBQ, Finish Line, Cowboys and the Olympic Training Center.

Click here for the latest Olympic Sports Scene.

Tomorrows weather forecast for Colorado Springs: High 52, Low 36, scattered showers

My Kind of of Town

This past week I have been in Chicago helping put on the 2010 Olympic Team Media Summit, which is the first chance to start hyping up the winter athletes heading into the Winter Games in Vancouver. It was my first business trip. I worked a few 12 hour days but it was a lot of fun. I got to know my bosses and co-workers better. At the end of each day I was very tired but we still went out and saw some of the Windy City.

I was in charge of the photo sessions, which meant that I herded athletes around between 10 photo stations. I had to make sure the athletes and photographers were happy. I got to manage volunteers and hotel staff. Everything went smoothly. The trip included sangria and a big dinner with my bosses and co-workers at a spanish tapas restaurant. There were three different receptions and media happy hour. One reception included a Beatles cover band and the happy hour took place at a rooftop bar on the 27th floor of a hotel in downtown Chicago.

The event and my room was in the historic Palmer House Hilton, right by Millenium Park, the Prudential Tower and the famous Chicago theatre. The park was the only thing between the hotel and the lake. In the park was a structure that has become somewhat of a Chicago icon, the Bean (see photos). Twice I went to a nearby sleazy sports bar to watch some soccer/football. One night we went to Giordano's for some deep dish pizza then the House of Blues. Our last night we went to a really cool college bar area where we saw a U2 cover band on the same night that the real thing was performing in Soldier Field.

Switching gears, in her second week as a sports reporter, my girlfriend interviewed Shaquille O'Neal. He was in Port Arthur for a charity with East Texas-native Stephen Jackson. She has photos and video to prove it. The story ran on the front-page but has not yet been posted online.

Click here for photos of the Palmer House Hilton, Millenium Park and the Bean.

Click here for my latest press release for the USOC August Athletes and Team of the Month.

Days until my weekend trip to Texas for the UT-Central Florida football game: 53

Halloween on Wheels

Fort Collins, Colo. is home to New Belgium Brewery, which is famous for Fat Tire Beer. Once-a-year the brewery hosts the Tour de Fat in the college town. The event is also held in other cities across the country but this one is the first and foremost bike-riding beer-drinking festival in the nation. Vanessa and I made the drive up I-25 to meet up with my cousin, Emily, and her friends. The only time I've seen more bicycles, I was in Amsterdam. The only time I've seen more elaborate costumes, I was at Carnaval in Austin. But it's safe to say, I've never seen so many costumed cyclists. The trip did nothing to change my perception that Fort Collins is the coolest little city in Colorado. I am already looking forward to going back for Halloween.

Meanwhile, the Texas Longhorns kicked off their 2009 football season with a bang. Although I was not able to watch the game (it was available only on pay-per-view), I have read enough game recaps to know what went on. The word of the day was "speed" as freshmen D.J. Monroe, Marquis Goodwin and Alex Okafor featured prominently. I cannot wait for game two versus Wyoming, although I might be working in Chicago and unable to watch it. I leave tomorrow morning for the Windy City for the 2010 Olympic Team Media Summit at the Palmer House Hilton. I will be working long hours but if I can find time for one deep dish pizza, I will be happy.

Click here for photos of the Tour de Fat.

Click here for the latest Going for the Gold vodcast, featuring speedskater J.R. Celski. This is the second vodcast for which I've written the script.

Click here for Teresa's first article as a professional journalist with the sports section at the Beaumont Enterprise.

Monday's weather in Chicago: high 72, low 65, partly cloudy