MAKI MADNESS Canadian Tour Announcement

Just wanted to let everyone know that my training tour will be making two stops in Canada this September: Toronto and Vancouver.

French Open

The French Open started on Sunday. Americans generally always do poorly at this event, Andy Roddick didn't even bother showing up this year. Marty Fish is the best the Americans' have to offer up (the #10 seed). Its only a matter of days before someone makes sushi out of him, and will end up in the Ra Maki Maddness 2012.

On a positive note, Big John Isner took the defending champ Rafa Nadal to a 5 setter, and almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time. Last French Open, Nadal did not drop a single set.

And on a side note, I would like to throw my hat in the ring for the job of coaching Rob to sushi eating champion. We all know if he can outeat BalTimore Bisk, he can out eat anyone. How many wings was that again??? Anyways, I would just like to provide him with the same encouragements Bode Miller receieved at the starting gates at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino. Anyone else remember that? (I tried to find a clip of the absurity, but no dice).

MAKI MADNESS 2012

Next March, look for me to win Ra's sushi eating competition.  My training commenced on Saturday.  The crowd was rowdy at Asahi sushi, but could not affect my extreme appetite and my stomach was tested to its absolute limits with a Kraken roll.  In the coming weeks, I'll be touring the local sushi circuit, so look for me at a Japanese restaurant near you.

Not Good Enough

Zack Britton pitches 7 innings, gives up no earned runs. Vlad gets a clutch RBI in the bottom of the 9th, tying the game and cause Mariano Rivera to blow a save. And what happens? Gonzo gives up the winning run in the 15th then plunks the next batter in the head and immediately gets tossed. (Classy) Way to go O's! There are still 13 more games against the Yanks this season, maybe they will be able to steal one. Right now; Yanks 5, Os 0.

Unleash the Kraken!

It has now been a week since Team Kraken has begun its dominance in the strictly athletic task of geocaching ! Team Kraken currently has 7 members, and are looking for more every day. Tomorrow Team Kraken is looking to hit Catonsville hard! If you want to join us on a lovely afternoon of caching let us know.

The 3 rules to live by:

1). Always want the cache
2.) Team Kraken is always first
3.) Obey the cache

Happy hunting!

Turgeon the Sturgeon

Judging by this video, it appears the University of Maryland will admit anyone these days. Hopefully, Mark Turgeon is not just anyone and will help bring back the glory days of College Park.

Team Kraken

Fellow contributor "J" and I have discovered a new sport recently; Geocashing. We are currently finding cashes in the local area and leaving our calling card "Team Kraken" behind. As some of you may know the Kracken is a legendary sea beast.(See image below).



The best part of this sport is its secrecy. These cashes are all over the world, and in every day locations, but hidden from normal view. Last night was out first venture out, where we were able to find 3 cashes. In the excitement of the find, I forgot to record video footage, but that will come in the future.

The last of the night was by far the most exhilarating. We ventured out after 9pm, after Survivor of course, in search of a Geocashe that ended up being in wooded area about 40-50 feet off the road in the pitch black! We did not take flashlights, only our GPSs aka Iphones, and made the find hidden away under some brambles and shrubbery. Here is a blurry image of J opening up the secret cashe: (As you can see he was not properly attired for finding this geocashe, but when the hunt is on there is not time to change)!



We plan to continue Geocashing, and hope that some of you may join us.

Our team name come from the infamous Kraken Rum:



*Disclaimer: We do not support heavy doses of Kraken Rum before driving to Geocashe sites unless someone else is driving. We do not support drinking and driving*

**Disclaimer: Geocashe at your own risk*

Ehh hemm

so check out this article in espn by Jerry Crasnick

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=6515822

essentially what he did was he read my blog post earlier in the year titled "DWI's and striking out guys" and decided he should write his own article on the issue article (wow I was way ahead of him)

glad I could help out

yours truly, the most consistent contributor,
Alex Richard Bogucki

RIP Wouter Weylandt

Wouter Weylandt died Monday during the final decent of stage 3 in the Giro d'Italia. Weylandt came off his bike during a descent near the finish of the 173km stage from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo. The fall left him unconscious with blood coming from his mouth and nose, and even though medics gave him cardiac massage at the scene, they were unsuccessful in their attempts to revive him.

Today, the fourth stage, 216km from Genova Quarto dei Mille to Livorno, will be preceded by a minute's silence. During the race all the riders will ride together at a steady pace, with the Leopard Trek team at the front. Organisers said there would be no music or festivities on the route and that the presentation ceremony would again not take place.

This death will surely give inspiration to all the Leopard Trek riders in this years cycling event. Maybe when the Shleck brother's have the clean sweep (7) at this years Tour de France they can dedicate their victory to Wouter!

(From right to left: Shleck, Shleck, DB)

I plan on dedicating the rest of my season's rides to Wouter.

RIP Wouter, you will be missed!

Competitive Eating

A few weeks ago my brother in blogging, BalTIMore Bisk, wrote about competitive eating.  I participated in an event this past Tuesday night... and won.  I had about 15 tacos and they were actually the best tacos I've ever had.  You have not had good Mexican cuisine until you've been to Andele's in Las Cruces, NM.  My recomendation: the taco platter with pork and chicken.

A State of Drepression

The Capitals are down zero to three,
Will there be any changes, George McPhee?
Another season finishing in first,
Only to have our Cup dreams crashed and burst.
The month of December, a sign to be,
A lack of offense, who's heard from Ovie?
Bruce's defensive system did not win,
Too much time spent sitting in the sin bin,
Power play, one of the worst in the league,
A disappearance from the Super Swede,
If they want to win, tonight must improve,
They need to get out of this shitty groove!
They need to avoid this major collapse,
Get up! Lets GO! C-A-P-S Caps, Caps, Caps!

Reports from the Government

It has been reported that Matt Wieters' home run against the white sox on saturday April 30th struck Osama Bin Laden in the head, rendering him unconcious for a long enough time that our US Navy Seals could catch him before he got away.


But seriously, dont want to disrespect, I was listening to the radio this morning and Mike Preston had an interesting thing to say, which sort of gave me goosebumps "well it just goes to show you, when they say they are going to get you, they will, it might take omne year or it might take ten years, but they are going to get you". Hes speaking of the special ops guys out there and our overall national defense.

The USA might do some things wrong, going into countries and asserting their ways, killing innocent people at times. I think we would all be nieve to think that we always do the right thing. But it also goes without saying that the USA did something yesterday that made millions of people all over world, not just in the USA, but in different languages and expressions, celebrate the death of one person.

The USA also does something else right, the NFL. Good picks by the Ravens hopefully. Torrey Smith during a news conference poked in on a question aimed at Jimmy Smith that I think could speak volumes. A reporter asked Jimmy Smith why he was wearing a Scarface t-shirt, so as to question his criminal background. Torrey poked in before Jimmy said anything saying "Thats a great movie".

Cirque du Soleil

Saw Totem on Friday night.  It was pretty awesome - go see it today (Sunday) as it's the last day in Baltimore...

Oh, watch this while you're here: