Tag: snow

Iconic Sports Venues, Wrightsville Beach, and Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 3

Dear Readers and Listeners,

We had snow on Thursday. Late March snow! This weekend we Torgs went to Wilmington, North Carolina to watch Kate Sears play in the Carolinas Classic All Start game that features North Carolina versus South Carolina. We stayed at a Holiday Inn on Wrightsville Beach that we recommend. I went from scraping the car of ice to getting a little sunburn that afternoon at the beach. Wilmington made a good impression on us. My daughter Charlotte drove down from college to spend the night with us and go to the game. Then she came all the way back to Boone for a night. Charlotte, my daughter Izzy, and I got a workout in at App State before she headed back to college.

My men’s NCAA Bracket took big hits with St. John’s, who I picked to win it all, and North Carolina, who I picked to go to the Final Four, both losing. In the women’s bracket I picked UConn to beat South Carolina in the final. Next weekend, we’ve got the Watauga Women’s Basketball team banquet!

Thank you so much for checking out the podcast and the content on the site!

Best,

Torg

Podcast Notes:

Introduction to be read to open the podcast:

  • Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast! This week we’re doing iconic sports venues, I’m going to talk about our trip to Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, and we’re doing Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 3 in which the Zava starts playing with Richmond. Anne, I added a new feature to podcast. I wrote everyone a letter. Do you think anyone will visit the Torg.com to check it out?

Anne and Bill Life Snapshots:

Anne, give us a snapshot of life for you in LA:

Bill Snapshot:

  1. Went to Wilmington, NC: what the beach is like, the hotel, the game, Charlotte came
  2. Really bad Kentucky Fried Chicken stop on the way home.
  3. NCAA tournament time: Men’s bracket: SJU and NC lose.
  4. Women’s bracket: UConn over South Carolina was my pick.
  5. Banquet is next week. Our sports banquets.

In the show Ted Lasso, the football team is Richmond. They are the Greyhounds, and their home pitch is the Dog Track. I thought that was a pretty good name. It made me want to ask you, what comes to mind when you think of iconic sports venues, either the name and/or the venue itself.

  1. Madison Square Garden
  2. Augusta National
  3. Fenway Park
  4. Hinkle Fieldhouse
  5. Wimbleton (Southwest London)
  6. Wrigley Field
  7. Cameron Indoor
  8. Lambeau Field
  9. Boston Garden
  10. Yankee Stadium
  11. Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 3 titled “4-5-1”

Lots of storylines loaded up in this episode:

  1. Zava comes to the team. Lots of time passes and there’s a winning streak. Richmond–with Lasso, Rebecca and Zava–seem to be on a collision course with Nate the Great and Rupert. Zava doesn’t seem like Rodman anymore. Now I’m thinking James Hardin, Kawhi, Kyrie, Jimmy Butler. Who are the greats who probably live within the team with very different rules?
  2. Jamie struggles with all of the attention Zava is getting. Roy offers to train him. Anne, anything worth getting up for at 4am? When have you been that motivated, sports or other?
  3. We continue with the Collin story of being secretly gay and the last shot of the episode is Trent Crimm, the writer, seeing Collin kiss his boyfriend. What’s Trent to do here? Where is this headed?
  4. Rebecca sees her mom’s psychic who has a vision of a green matchbook and Rebecca having a family. At the end, Sam hands her a green matchbook. What do you make of that?
  5. Ted finds out that his ex-wife is now dating their marriage counselor.
  • Collin in bed. “Your body is temple.” “I know who Zava is.” boyfriend is off to Dubai. “I am a strong and capable man.” Runs into the trash cans. Restarted the intro.
  • Coaches, who do they sit? Who gets moved out of the front? Jamie or Dani? One of the tricky parts of coaching. Starters. What spot? They do all time favorite Julie Andrews characters. Love lists. Not our wheelhouse Anne.
  • Jaimie comes in. Special treatment with big locker and comfy chair. Full house to watch practice. Zava not showing.
  • Shandy still involved. Higgins has a name ready in case he ever DJ’d: damage control. Higgins:
  • Zava meeting Ted: I am an empty vessel, filled with gold. I am your rock. Mold me. Nose to nose with Higgins.
  • Zava wears a white tee shirt with a sun on it. Fancy looking only members only jacket. Zava worked as a kit man at 11. Breath with me. Everyone joins. Zava can exhale for a very long time. “We are now one.” There is no me. There is no you. There is only “the we.” and “the us.”
  • Zava goes in the coaches’ office. Trent is there is his orange tee shirt. He moves the players around on the white board, bunches everyone on defense and himself on offense.
  • Rebecca goes to visit the psychic Tish. Awkward white Russian joke and then Tish made two.
  • Tish, the psychic, says to embrace the flaws and imperfections and in doing so create something stronger. They place their hands on the bowl. Psychic sees a green matchbook. She sees a vision of Rebecca upside down and she’s drenched. What do you think Rebecca’s reasoning for seeing a psychic would be? “You will have a family. You’re going to be a mother.” Hits Rebecca hard and she calls her cruel.
  • Ted asks Roy for the Wordle word. He gives him the wrong one.
  • Jamie comes in to talk to Ted about Zava. Beard calls him ironic. Jamie corrects him and says he’s being hypocritical. Do you want to take on Zava? (Durant, Hardin, Kyrie, Kawhi,
  • Pregame speech: Collin out for Zava. He keeps rolling with, “I am a strong and capable man.” All the while Zava meditating. Reminds me of the character that prays in Hoosiers. “I am ready.” We say that in our visualization.
  • Ted calls. Gets a Trump impression from Dr. Jacob. Pretty good impression. Ted finds out Jacob is around the house. (I did check Charlotte’s team’s score as I went in to talk to team vs. Lake Norman).
  • Ted faces panic attack. Zava scores off the opening pass back.
  • 32.23 field.
  • Richmond climbs in the standings, from something like 17 to 9th. Brings new wave zen approach to the team. Ted checks out what Jacob is doing.
  • Rebecca is checking out matchbooks in her house. What is going on?
  • Jamie hasn’t scored.
  • In professional sports, is it only winning or is there a line? Actually, there really isn’t a problem with this winning and the team seems on board.
  • 36:04. good image.
  • Looks like West Ham with Nate the Great and Rupert are on a collision course with Coach Lasso, Zava, and Rebecca.
  • Zava has muscles.
  • Sam opens his restaurant. It brings a lot of the main characters together. Sassy comes. Ted kind of wallowing in it. Jane arrives. Jamie wallowing in it too.
  • Roy offers to train Jamie. Starts the next morning at 4AM.
  • Shandy eyes Zava. Keeley eyes Roy. Rebecca eyes Sam.
  • Keeley: there are better things ahead than anything we leave behind.
  • Sam hands Rebecca a green match box.
  • Trent sees Collin kissing his boyfriend.

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!

What do a bunch of New York college students think of when they think of Indiana? (or the Midwest)

crystal meth, tornadoes, no public transportation, that 70s show, Indians, horses, the Derby, overalls, flat land, Indiana University known party school, dirt (3x), rural (2x), river, republicans, nowhere land, tumbleweeds (4x), western movies (2x), lots of driving, Middle of Nowhere (4x), Country, Boring (5x), farms (8x), Indianapolis, Indiana Jones, lots of land, cows, basketball, boonies, do you mean India?, sunny, hot (2x), wild, barren, plains, cowboys (2x), guitar, country music, Pacers (3x), Junior Gold bowling tourney, accent (4x), no idea, small (3x), cacti (2x), mountains, coyotes, snakes, Colts (2x), quiet  (4x), Larry Bird, potatoes, Michael Jackson (3x), close-knit, corn, flat, Hoosiers (2x), Dorothy, I’ve heard they talk like you’re supposed to talk, Peyton Manning, Reggie Miller, wide open (2x), cold, country (2x), animals, relax, agriculture, Notre Dame, Noodles and Company, hillbillies (2x), snow, never thought of it before this, I know it’s a state, good music, Bible belt, conservative, small town people, Where’s that? (2x), hicks, hospitality

I've never seen a tumbleweed in Indiana!

From “Torg”:  Why am I asking my students such a question?

A while back I wanted to finish the following:  my novel A Viking on the Subway, a script adaptation of Viking, revise my collection Horseshoe so that it is a novel-in-stories, and then do a script for it too.  I’ve finally finished all that, and so I’m turning to the next project.  I’ve been thinking that I want to write something that comes from my students at St. John’s University for my students at St. John’s University.  What I mean by that is that I think all of us here at SJU have a unique opportunity to meet and talk with people from all over the world who have all sorts of backgrounds.

Yes, we do have cornfields.

Even for those who are from the city, I often find that each student’s neighborhood, block, or building may not be very diverse.  In other words, a lot of us tend to hang out with people who are like us.  For this book, which might involve a road trip from NYC to my home state of Indiana, I’d like to draw on all the chances I have to see beyond stereotypes, write a story that flies past those stereotypes, and hopefully tell an interesting story that my students past, present, and future would enjoy.

My initial impression was that most of my students not from the United States wouldn’t have even heard of “Indiana.”  After all, did you know that Cote d’Ivoire is a country or that the Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia?  Perhaps you do, but I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, I’m not sure I did when I showed up here to teach writing.  For the most part, my students nailed it with “farms” being the most common answer.  I’m not quite sure where all the tumbleweeds came from.  🙂

Indianapolis, Indiana