Arm Sleeves

Occasionally, I come across sporting apparel trends that need to go by the wayside. Some of those trends come and go such as field goal kickers wearing one bar on their facemask. Headbands in basketball weren’t such a big deal until I saw guys like Derek Fisher wearing them over their ears. They’ve continued to stick around the NBA to the point where I don’t really notice them anymore. Because basketball players are the most visible to the public (no hats, no helmets, shorts, tank tops) a lot of these trends take place there. About six years ago, Nike started selling finger sleeves to the public, as some of the top players wore them. Playing intramurals in college, I absolutely bought the finger sleeves, but have no clue what purpose they provided to my already wet jumper. The finger sleeves only lasted about a year.

While watching the Kentucky-South Carolina game on Tuesday night, I noticed another apparel trend: The arm sleeve. Allen Iverson seemed to pave the way for the arm sleeve a few years ago and other players followed suit. This “magical” sleeve reportedly was designed to help with elbow injuries. I guess I didn’t realize elbow injuries were so prevalent or chronic, as the sleeves have shown up everywhere and they never seem to leave.

The sleeves stand out when you watch Kentucky games, as they’ve been modeled and designed to go with the Kentucky jersey. It’s quite an evolution really.

The main problem in this new trend is the fact that it has now trickled down to rec leagues. I’ve seen 30 year old men, who were 2nd team all county, wearing the sleeve to revitalize their game.

It makes me ask the question, what happened to the elbow pad? Not only is the elbow pad effective, but it also adds a toughness element to your basketball game. From personal experience, if a guy with an elbow pad is guarding me, I know I’m in for a dogfight. But a guy wearing a sleeve? Chances are he’s chucking 3’s and playing no defense.

On second thought, maybe I should head to Finish Line right now!

When One Door Closes....

You should always turn the handle to make sure it's locked (or maybe it's another door opens). Regardless, the RTV6 chapter of my life has ended and I'm ready to flip the page. In my case, the book is actually a choose your own adventure, which I used to love reading during church (as well as basketball stats, tic tac toe, signing autographs, filling in fake names on the attendance registry, or anything else to make the hour fly by). I'm hoping the options this time are better than sitting by an overweight passenger with mustard stains on their shirt or standing the entire time on an 18-hour Greyhound ride.

I wrote my initial blog last week to inform you that the blog was back, but last week's entry wasn't actually informative at all. Since I had the most loyal blog readers on TheIndyChannel.com, I thought you should know why the new blog layout looks like a gifted and talented 4th grade class put it together. In fact, a lot of readers were so loyal that you probably didn't even realize that I had a real job at Channel 6. That's right...besides writing inside jokes that maybe 10-15 people would get a few times a week, my main duty was to sell advertising for the station.

When they decided to restructure the sales department, I was on the outside looking in. As was "The Bous Theory". As elementary as it sounds, I was probably most disappointed that I wouldn't have my blog to write anymore on one of the top websites in Indiana. I thought there would be the possibility of Channel 6 letting me continue to blog, but as I sat in HR's office, I turned into the lady on the commercial where she's sitting in the doctor's office and doesn't ask any questions (although she wasn't hesitant to ask any questions to the waiter at the restaurant).

In the working world, there can't be too many things worse than the call from your boss that says, "Let's go to HR" The HR director at Channel 6 is one of the best guys you'll ever meet, but you never want to go down there when accompanied by your boss. As bad as the 11-second walk was, I had a sense of clarity with the entire thing. It wasn't quite the level of clarity that Peter Gibbon's hypnotist visit in Office Space provided, but there was clarity nonetheless. To go the cliche route, a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

I try to look for the positives in things, and if it weren't for my blog, I wouldn't have been able to add a new nickname to my arsenal: Boooos (for those who thought my last name was pronounced Boose-Log). Just remember, it rhymes with Mouse.

Going forward, I'm not sure what the next adventure will entail, but I know that it will be positive.

I also know that I won't choose the option to sit next to an overweight person with mustard stains on an 18-hour Greyhound ride.



Editors Note: Please contact Chad at cbouslog@gmail.com if you need a volunteer coach, scout, writer, color commentator, or even play by play analyst. Also feel free to email if you want to talk sports, television, or Pike basketball. You can also email if you have advice on how to set-up a 10 year high school reunion, need my address for your wedding invitations or baby announcements, offer fantasy basketball trades, party E-vites, good forwards (I stress the good), a good song that you heard, or if you want to say "hey".

#30 in your program,



Bous

The City Bet

Last week, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was challenged to a bet by the Governor of Maryland. Initially, Daniels rejected it, saving his bets for the Super Bowl. When the Maryland Gov. called him out, Daniels finally agreed to a bet. If the Colts won, the Gov would receive crab cakes and something like Season 3 of "The Wire". If the Ravens won, Gov. Daniels would send St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail and some sort of cake, and the complete first season of "Hang Time".

This week, Mayor Ballard issued a press release calling for a bet with the Mayor of New York. Again, St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail was on our end of the wager. The Mayor of New York offered up some sort of pizza.

This morning when I turned on the morning news, the Fox59 anchors had a bet going on with their sister station in New York. I couldn't take it anymore. The pseudo trash talking had finally taken its toll on me. When the red-headed male anchor said something about having someone "whacked", I had one of the worst cases of second-hand embarrasment that I've had in a while.

(I will give the anchor credit, though, as he called the male and female New York anchors The Situation and Snookie. Gotta give props when props are due.)

I've always liked the "City Bet" for big playoff games. It's a good way for politicians to get some positive coverage and to get involved in some of the most uncomfortable trash talk you've heard (Close your eyes and think of the most un-athletic person in your life. Then proceed to think about them talking trash about sports.)

With the Colts documented success over the past decade, the "City Bet" has grown tiresome. Movies such as American Pie and She's All That taught me in my formidable years that a bet is always the way to go: Can we just move on from the St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail? Also, when news anchors start getting involved, all bets gotta be off!

Here's my proposal for the politician bet: The winning team gets to send 25 students to the losing team's city for two days. These would be kids who are underprivileged, yet thriving in the academic world. It would also go on the losing city's dime. With politicians being politicians, the losing city wouldn't completely lose out, as they'd generate a small amount of souvenir business. The kids would get to see a city that they otherwise have yet to have the opportunity and the post-bet would make for good press (unlike the food bets, where we never hear of them again). It's a feel good bet and could make a difference for some youngsters.

OR........

The winning team sends 150 kids from the Juvenile Detenion Center to the losing city on that city's dime. Kids are still involved, but this puts the negative consequences of a bet into play. All bets are off once they check into the 4 star hotel.

Like the game of football, the "City Bet" needs to evolve. And under no circumstances should politicians or news anchors talk trash.

Unless, of course, it's New Jersey trash.