Was the question I posed to the nice checkout lady in the Penn Station McDonalds after she told me that this McDonalds does not have Dr. Pepper. As I wait to pick up my sister and her kids, Allison and Matthew (who I recently ran over his hand ice skating and he had to have 9 stitches) a fellow customer tells me Dr. Pepper was a PhD. Figures that you have to be super smart to come up with that secret formula.

After the kids eat happy meals, we enter the world’s most famous arena: Madison Square Garden, and hope to witness the NY Knicks first home victory of the year (against the Wizards). After some time at the souvenir booth where Matthew buys a Knicks flag with his own money (very important for a 7 year old), we settle into our seats, right behind the 1^st half home basket.

The game was flowing well and 5’9 Nate Robinson gave Matthew and me hope to join the NBA one day. The Wizards being the NBA best scoring team and the Knicks, well just stink, I was not hopeful, even when the Knicks had a “commanding” 5 point lead at times. Rookie Renaldo Balkman scored a season-high 18 points and put on a good show. The Knicks were up at the half!

Then it got fun. First the jumbo-tron put up a live image of Mark Messier. (Then they showed his retired jersey hanging from the garden ceiling.) Then guess what? He was sitting next to Charles Oakley! The crowd went wild! After the standing O, Oak stood and waved to the crowd. I explained to Allison and Matthew all about Oak and that it was slightly before their time. When I used to work at MSG, Oak was my favorite player. I also told the kids about bang sticks and how they use to give them out when your basket faced the visitors.

Then low and behold they came out with the bang sticks! The kids went wild and the Knicks went back to their old ways and committed about 7 fouls in the 3^rd period, so 14 free throws gave the kids lots of opportunity to band the sticks and distract the players. Unfortunately the Wizards convert 13 of 14 free throws. But the kids feel they helped the Knicks with that 14^th free throw. Bang sticks + 2 kids under 10 + 14 free throws= FUN!

The kids have to leave to catch the train back home at the start of the 4^th, I tell the kids to bring the sticks over Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner. I hang back and watch the most solid defense of the year and the Knicks win the first home game of the year 102-82.

Posted by Steve, Live from the World's Most Famous Area

Live! | NBA

Thursday, November 16, 2006 9:08:48 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Hi Craig,

            How are you?  Well, I hope.

Thank you very much for agreeing to do the "Steve and The Tank" Interview.   

1. How did you get started in running?     Had back surgery and realized my career as a professional bull rider was drawing to a close.

2. Why do you run?  Admit it you just don't have much else to do. I’ve been running so long I can’t remember. It’s like asking why I breathe.

3. I assume your friends are like mine, they can't even name the 50 states.  It obviously was not for bragging rights, so why did you run a marathon in all 50 states? On all 7 continents?  I was the most ignorant person I knew when it came to Geography…. One of the downfalls that comes from running with grade school teachers. Also it works better for getting out of the house without the mate.  That gives at least fifty excuses to get out of town with the guys.

4. The Tank looks like a Tank when he runs he is so banged up from running too much. Do you have any knee issues, etc?   No real joint issues to speak of.  Been very lucky in that respect.  Clean living I guess.

5. Ever run a marathon with an injury?  I’ve run marathons with a pain in the ass, but I just pretend to have to pee and let them get ahead so I don’t have to listen to them anymore.

6. Best state to run a marathon in?  California (see answer to question 9).

7. Worst state to run a marathon in? A drunken state.

8. Favorite marathon story? 18 miles in to Big Sur there was a shapely, beautiful blonde (girl) writhing on the ground. I thought she was shedding clothes due to the heat. She stripped down to nothing but her running shoes, put her bib number in her teeth and posed for a picture with arms and legs spread out. I had a tough time finishing the race after that due to a severe relocation of blood.

9. Congratulations on finishing a marathon in all 50 States and 7 Continents.  How long did it take you to finish both?   I haven’t finished the seven continents yet (3 to go) It took me twenty years to do the fifty states. I plan on seven years for the continents. One a year should give me time to enjoy them more.

10. What possessed you to do it?    I’m still trying to figure that out.

11. What is the strangest thing that was ever confiscated from you in Customs? Strangest travel story?    The only thing I’ve ever had regarding a customs agent was coming back from the Toronto Marathon.  The agent asked if I’d been in Canada on business or pleasure and I said neither.  When I told him I was there for the marathon he said he guessed I was right and let me pass.

12. I think you did some hiking of the Grand Canyon last year with our fellow Antarcticamaniac Eric Stover.  What was that like?   We’ve been hiking the canyon for over ten years.  It is one of the most fantastic hikes you can do for endurance and a good butt whipping.  As with most of the Antarctica bunch, it is always great to see them.

13. You had a chance to spend some time with your wife Kathy and two daughters during the NYC Half Marathon weekend.  What was the social and running experience like?  What was most memorable?  Had a fantastic time.  Went to shows, ate at delis, went to Chinatown.  Running was strange.  Heading south along the river to Battery Park I kept trying to imagine the Towers still there. Having only seen them a couple times on prior trips I don’t know how locals can take it.  That was the visual version of silence being deafening.

14. What's next?  Any other destination marathons you want to run?  Next continent will be Victoria Falls, Africa.

15. As you passed me after I injured my back in the Fin Del Mundo Marathon in Ushuaia, Argentina, you said there is a beer waiting at the finish line.    We knew you had to be hurting the way you were walking. You were only a mile or two from the finish and we knew you’d tough it out. We do this for the pain and boy do we get our money’s worth.

16. What is your favorite beer? My quick answer is “any” …actually given the choice I go for Bass or Harp’s.  I have been know to drink warm, flat  light beer. I have yet to get to the point of drinking spilled beer out of an ashtray so I guess there’s still hope.

(Instead of beer, I asked for a chiropractor and got some codeine or an equivalent prescription drug from a runner from the other boat but I still had sharp back pain through the night and on the way home the next day.).

17. Being that you live in Columbus, Ohio, home of the Yankees AAA affiliate (changed since question was posed), what players have you seen come through there over the years?  Have you had a chance to meet any of them?  Besides running, what other sports do you follow?  Ohio State Buckeyes football?  Well, since this writing I’m sure you know Columbus is no longer the Yankees affiliate.  We got canned and now are the Nationals affiliate.  We’ve seen Strawberry.  Buckeye football rules the fall in Columbus.  We do have the NHL Bluejackets now and get to see your Rangers,  Islanders, and the Devils.  I’ve had season tickets since the opening year.

18. Outside of running, you are an entrepreneur if memory serves.  How did you start Wanner Metalworx?  Congratulations on the OSU stadium project.  (BTW, the Buckeyes are The Tank's pre-season college football #1 pick)  You could call me an entrepreneur but the fact is that I just couldn’t work for anyone else.  My travel and vacations would be hard for someone else to put up with.  My secret is to hire people smarter than me and get out of their way so they can do their jobs.  Few people object to a boss who doesn’t micro-manage them.

19. During the Antarctica trip, you were (in)famous for your knowledge of Monty Python.  What is your favorite Monty Python movie?  Quote?  By far, my favorite movie was the Holy Grail. It is so full of quotes that I can’t really pick one. Spank me next, I only want to sing, merely a flesh wound, what is your quest, trivia:

a. The four capitals of Assyria are located in what is currently Iraq.

b. Funds earned by Pink Floyd’s album "The Dark Side of the Moon" went towards funding The Holy Grail.  The band were such fans of the show they would halt recording sessions just to watch  Monty Pythons Flying Circus.

Factual errors: When they are in the cave and reading the message in Aramaic their heads move from left to right.  When reading Aramaic your head moves from right to left.

20. Steve is being stalked by supermodel and X-Men movie star Famke Jenssen as well as hot Turkish singers. Anyone stalking you?   Sometimes it seems like the IRS is.

Steve's Bonus Question:  Any cute SINGLE daughters or nieces to set The Tank up with?  I tried and Julia Stiles does not return my emails.    Seems like the Tank would intimidate mere mortal women with his knowledge of sports, music, religion, and life.  I think if the Tank is looking for equals he should travel to places like Mount Olympus and hope for women of mythical proportions.

Thank you very much for your time.  See you on the roads.

Sincerely,

Steve and The Tank

P.S. The photo below is Columbus Craig and the Tank drinking beer and orange juice, respectively, in the Ushuaia, Argentina, airport enroute home on, March 7, 2005, or so they thought.  After running the Antarctica Marathon on February 26, 2005, and the Fin Del Mundo Marathon on March 6, 2005, little did Columbus Craig, the Tank, and the rest of the Gang were beginning of their third, unscheduled, and hardest marathon of the trip.  The long road home started on March 7, 2005, and got longer through a long layover in Buenos Aires, weather delays to Atlanta, and finally home.  

After being bumped off at least four flights from Atlanta to New York (including first class with NH Diane) on March 8, 2005, the Tank offered to take the Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith look-a-like pilot up on his offer to fly the plane to Hawaii because none were going to the Northeast.  The Tank flawlessly slipped into one of his characters (my pscychologist doesn't like me to call them "personalities") Murdock in his patented crazy role from the "A-Team".  (Like Murdock, the Tank knows how to fly a helicopter as he took a helicopter lesson with BayRidge Bob, Howard, and one of Howard's friends in August 2002 near Princeton, New Jersey.)  The Tank quickly recruited "Face" and "B.A. Baracus" look-a-likes to round out the crew.  Atlanta Homeland Security did not bother arresting the Tank because they know he is a loveable lunatic and a non-terrorist in the need of sleep, shower, and a soulmate.  After a few hours, the Tank finally got an Atlanta hotel room and got the shower and sleep he desperately needed.  He didn't care that he landed the next evening on March 9, 2005, in LaGuardia and his luggage landed in JFK because his back hurt too much from the second marathon in eight days and didn't want to schlep it anyway.  Soulmate still pending.  Keep checking back for more on the Tank and his love, running, and sports adventures.      

Posted by Steve and The Tank in NY.

Interviews | Running

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 2:23:55 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Or Steve at Mile 10.

Running

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 3:47:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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After watching Borat! and undergoing physical therapy Monday afternoon, the Tank was faced with a choice on Monday evening, watch the Barnaked Ladies (BNL) concert or watch the Bricks face the San Antonio Spurs.  The choice was not difficult as I have dozens of opportunities to watch the Bricks lose this season or watch BNL who I have never seen before live.  I wanted to see BNL with Alanis Morissette last year but had to work and/or I was angry that she was selling her album exclusively at Starbucks. 

I got into BNL in college as they are I like their melodic, poppy, quirky, geeky, and solid up tempo lyricists.  They can sing / kind of rap but are closer to a Generation X's successor to "Blondie".  I also like BNL as their lyrics remind me of Weird Al Yankovic's parodies.

BNL performed Monday night at Radio City Music Hall.  I scalped a cheap ticket and am on the main orchestra floor.  Thank God!  I can walk up stairs but have a hard time walking downstairs because my legs feel like lead from lactic acid.

Radio City is a great place to catch a concert because it is made for concerts, not sporting events, and even better after they improved the sound system a few years ago around the time my Twin Gil and I saw the Gipsy Kings who are playing Radio City again on February 24, 2007.  (The Tank is considering going.)  Radio City is also decked out in Holiday decorations.  It's almost 2007.  Whoa!  Where did 2006 go?

Before the concert began, BNL posted informative environmental messages on Radio City's great screens.  BNL uses soy based biodiesel.  The Tank is psyched that BNL is part of the environmental solution.  Go BNL!

Since my legs were full of lactic acid and my right knee was still injured, I had to limit my dancing but was still able to share my gifted musical voice and air guitar with my fellow concert goers.  It was a great crowd.  The couples in front of me were literally dancing in the aisle and twirling each other around like "Dancing with the Stars".  My row of total strangers but fast friends got into it as well.  There was unfortunately a dud married couple, especially a guy near me.  I felt like telling him, "Dude, I know this concert isn't your cup of tea.  It's not a Megadeth concert, but make the best of it and enjoy the show.  You spent all this money to take your wife out.  BTW, your wife is kind of hot.  Do you mind if I make out with her because you're just sitting there?"  As tempted as the Tank was "to make Sexy Time" (to quote Borat!) with the "Desperate Housewife", the Tank stayed a gentleman and quickly went back to focusing on the concert. 

I knew the hit songs but not the new stuff yet.  I knew the "Old Apartment" on the the first note and about five seconds before everyone else.  In addition to their new and hit songs, they did some nice covers like Van Morrison's "Moondance".  Ed played a few notes from the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan and Steve Vai to the tune of Van Halen's "Running with the D*vil".  They even picked on David Gray.  They are all very musically talented (rare in today's musicfacturing environment), especially the mandolin and accordion player.  Boo yeah!  

They explained the insanity signal of putting your index finger in the air to the tune of whatever music you're listening to.  I'll use it at work instead of flying the bird.  This is important because I'll hopefully get my Holiday bonus on Wednesday, November 22, touch wood. 

Being clever like they are, the incorporate poly unsaturated fats and Avenue of America(s) into "If I Had $1000000".  They encouraged everyone to vote.

The only down part of the night was I bought a live download for $14 and didn't want to wait the 25 minutes after the show to get the USB for $25.  The download didn't work but I haven't had a chance to call customer service. 

As for the Bricks, they lost to the Spurs 105-93.

All in all, I had a great time and know I made the right choice by going to the BNL concert. 

Posted by the Tank live from the BNL Concert at Radio City Music Hall in NY.   

Live! | Pop Culture

Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:56:49 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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I leave the party I was at and enter the cab and say to the driver: "Football!" He knew where to take us.

We file into the FC Barcelona stadium at Access 19 yesterday at 10pm. The stadium is like nothing I have ever seen, holds 100,000 people and huge. The 20,000 fans that came out for this late game made the stadium look empty. Since this was just a small Spanish Cup qualifying game, we were able to get tickets in the 3^rd row, behind about 15 ten year old school boys and future soccer hooligans. After I call the tank to rub in the fact that we have 3^rd row tickets, I ask the kids in Spanish what time they have school tomorrow.

FC Barcelona was playing CF Badalona, an inferior team and since FC was a heavy favorite some of the best players were rested. We only catch a glimpse of Ronaldinho’s bad hair from the sidelines. Despite that, we were treated to an amazing game.

After some good back and fourth, about 20 minutes into the first half a nice corner kick to Gio ( at 23 mins) and GOAL! FC up 1-0. Then just about 10 minutes later Ezquerro ( at 39 mins) scores another on a nice bounce back. 2-0 at the half.

The kids start to torment the referee. I yell at them in Spanish to show some respect and one kid turns around and says that the ref is blind and deserves it. My Spanish is not good enough to counter. Remi from the Netherlands informs me that the ref was not blind and it was not offside. (We go into a long discussion of the rules of soccer, friendly match vs international play rules.)

I run and get a hot dog for Richard and I and in my bad Spanish I attempt to obtain peanuts for Richard’s wife. (She actually got salted corn nuts.) The Spanish put ketchup, mustard, spices and grilled onions on a hot dog. Rock on.

As the game was winding down, I still held to my pregame prediction of a 3-0 FC win. Remi had predicted 5-0. Towards the end of play in the second half Saviola scored on a great direct kick (78 mins) and then just 5 minutes later he kicked, was blocked and then kicked again for his second goal of the night (83 mins) and was then soon subbed out to rest with a 4-0 lead.  (Thankfully he was subbed out since I did not want Remi to win our wadger, I said 3-0 and he said 5-0, so it was directly in the middle.)

As midnight approaches, the kids parents wise up and decide that it is time to take the boys home so they can sleep and go to school.

We leave after the 90 minutes and the metros in Barcelona close at midnight so we have to walk 30 minutes to a Hilton hotel to catch a cab home. A great and memorable night.

Posted by Steve, Live! from Barcelona.

Football (Soccer) | Live!

Thursday, November 09, 2006 5:42:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Now that the marathon is over, it is time to do regular people stuff.  Before physical therapy Monday afternoon, I watched the new hit movie "Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan".  Borat Sagdiyev is a Kazakh television reporter who travels to America to learn about how Americans live.

One of the funniest things in the movie as the rooster he had with him on the plane from Kazakhstan to America.  This brought back memories of roosters and other poultry on the Tank's plane flight from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Tbilisi, Georgia, in the summer of 1992.  I can laugh now but that was a scary flight as dripping water from the ceiling of the old Aeroflot plane dripped onto me as we were about to take off.  The lady next to me and I held hands as we prayed that the plane did not crash and we thankfully made it. As if the flight to Tbilisi was bad enough, the return flight was also an adventure as we had too much cargo/souvenirs and Larry the Tour Director paid off the customs guy so our plane could take off.  More adventures for another time.

Anyway, back to Borat's adventures across America in an ice cream truck.  Borat interviews former Republican Congressman Bob Barr and two time Presidential candidate Alan Reyes made cameo appearances.  Who says Republicans don't have a sense of humor?

Other humorous scenes include the Kazakh national anthem to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner at the rodeo, fraternity drinking games on the cross-country RV, learning hip-hop speech and dress in Atlanta, the Pentecostal revival prayer meeting, and pursuing Pamela Anderson.

Though there is nudity in the film, it is NOT of Pamela Anderson.  During the hotel room scene, you may want to (a) get popcorn, (b) go to the restroom, © look away and glue your eyes shut, and (d) all of the above.  Trust me!

Though some of the scenes are crude and you'll want to look away, it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Just see it if you haven't already and you'll thank me later.

Posted by The Tank at the movies in NY.

Pop Culture

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 12:56:07 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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