yes, i said "roller derby"

Are you looking for a totally different sporting experience?

skating line during the intros

May i suggest, roller derby?

warm-ups

My only experience with roller derby was the episode of Charlie's Angels where Jill and Kelly had to go undercover as roller derby girls. I had no idea what to expect, but fTM Felicia's boyfriend follows roller derby, so she invited a group from work to go to the East Coast Regional Finals.

Really.

The Charm City All-Stars (Baltimore's team) are a flat track team (as opposed to inclined track) so there was no railing to flip people over, but man was there still some crazy excitement.
Will had looked up the rules so that he could explain what was happening to the rest of us: play is divided into 2 minutes jams during which one skater (the jammer) tries to lap the pack and skate around the track as many times as possible without someone killing her. There are actually a lot of rules about how you are allowed to block or contact someone, but it was still mayhem on wheels.

It was immensely fun and action packed.

Plus the people watching was as intense as the game.

And there was a guy dressed as a banana. Really.

I highly recommend going to a match, especially if your local team kick as much a** as ours.

Fore!

What sport is the least likely that you can imagine me playing?
If you said Any sport, I'll give you partial credit, but the answer we are looking for is golf.
Golf.
What the heck is up with golf?
Hit the ball hard.
Walk to the ball.
Hit the ball hard.
Walk to the ball.
Hit the ball hard.
Walk to the ball.
 Hit the ball gently into a hole.
Repeat 18 times.
Is that even a sport?
I mean, the audience has to stay quiet when you play. What kind of sport doesn't allow cheering?
 Anyhoo, validity aside, golf has always been in the background of my life cause my dad is an avid golfer. I once had my picture taken outside of Augusta (if you know golf, you know why). But i've never had any interest in learning the game. I loves me some Putt-putt, but the actual game of golf? Nope. However, this year i have been considering that i might want to go to a driving range. Hitting things really hard seems like a great way to blow off some steam. But i've never even swung a club before. Heck, i wasn't even sure how to hold the club. Since i am in Florida visiting my dad, i asked him to teach me how to hit a golf ball.
There is a little area at the end of his street that is set up
for that very purpose:
There are tees and clubs and balls all ready to go across from an open field where the only thing you could accidentally hit is the aluminum recycling wagon (and no, you can't turn around and hit balls into the lake; they seriously frown upon that).
Dad showed the proper way and then walked me through grip, feet placement, torsion, swing and follow-thru:
I can report that i did better than i thought i would.
The golf swing is crazy unnatural. Keeping my wrists locked was really hard and i had to talk myself through each step on every swing. I tried a few different lengths of club and -no surprise here- need a short one to have any accuracy. I was able to get a few to fly straight with some loft. I still have no interest in playing an actual game, but with this lesson i at least feel like i can go to the driving range without looking like a total dweeb.
As an added bonus, this also counts as a new thing for December.

opening day

I have never gone to Opening Day at Camden Yards before. People who know how much i love both adventure and my hometown gasp in disbelief at that sentence. But not any more! Thanks to Kate P's timing of conveniently having a baby 3 weeks before Opening Day, i got to use her ticket. [thanks Kate and Jason!] Last Friday i took off of work, put on an Orioles jersey and had appropriately festive hair for my adventure. It was a clear day so Jason and I parked at work and walked through the harbor to the stadium. I love that they used the old warehouse as part of the stadium instead of tearing it down; it adds character. I've been to games before, but Opening Day seemed to have a different atmosphere: there was camaraderie and hope in the air. It felt like Spring. I loved the teeming throngs of people I loved that everyone was dressed alike, including me. I loved that anyone would actually pay this price for beer. (Ridonkulous!) I loved the best ballpark dogs i have ever eaten, which Jason suggested. The sky was so gorgeous, with puffy Simpson's clouds like it looked computer-generated. I loved the meticulous field. I loved the orange carpet and flags and balloons as the teams were introduced. I love the crowd's reaction to the double ceremonial first pitches by Orioles' legends Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell. I loved spending the day with my friend, surrounded by throngs of people sometimes enjoying and sometimes NOT enjoying (could the O's closer be any worse? I mean he pitches like the guy in Bull Durham for goodness' sake) the Great American pastime. Plus, it counts as something new this month!