Fanzine

[C-Fan]

Top post painting:


Thomas Eakins: "The Gross Clinic."
Eakins is one of my favorite American painters, and if you're ever in Philadelphia you need to check out the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It has a ton of his stuff there. More info on this particular painting here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gross_Clinic


The big news on my front, is that I got a bad injury this week out of nowhere. Last weekend I was shredding and feeling fine. Then on Monday afternoon at work, my right heel started hurting out of nowhere. My best guess is that I have plantar fasciitis, but I haven't seen a doctor so who knows. No matter what the case, it hurts like hell to put any weight on my right heel, and I'm limping around. I'm still walking the dog, since Haley is 8 months pregnant and the sidewalks are still covered in ice. But yeah, lots of pain. I'm hoping to do some stretches and continue taking anti inflammatories, so hopefully I recover quickly. This may put an end to my pursuit of the LOTDs for a while though.

As I mentioned in my last post, my last session was split between LOTDs and drilling:

My second goal of the session was to work on some boring drills. I'm hoping to use the winter as a time to revisit my basics and improve my foundation..

Here's the drilling portion of the session:



Not much of note, though the dynos may be a personal record. If its not, its certainly the most I've hit in a row in the past few years. Looking over my drill session, it surprises me that I got my weird injury this week. Playing only once a week probably had something to do with it. I'm also guessing that my lack of stretching after sessions probably didn't help either. But looking at my session, I wasn't even doing any big tricks. Most of what I was hitting was both sided intermediate drills, so getting this injury feels unfair. Anyway, maybe its a good excuse to rest for a while, and when I come back I'll really work on true basics for a while.

Gonna close this post out with a random story/realization. Back in July, I think Dan Boyle asked me if I had hit paradox whirling swirl BSOS. I didn't think I had, so I went into a session trying for it, and was super stoked when I got it:


I didn't give it any more thought for several more months. Then today I was looking for an old video of mine where I hit predator back to back, and when I found it guess what trick I hit bsos at the 22 second mark?



And that was back in October of 2014! Just another reminder that my memory is not what it used to be. You'd think I'd remember hitting that, but quite clearly I did not. It definitely makes me feel happy that I've kept a blog for 13 years, and that I have so much video documentation of my game over the years. I checked my YT account just now, and it says I have posted 2488 videos and gotten 415,000 views over the years. That's crazy.

[boyle]

It's great to be able to look back on 10 or so years of a blog and see the changes and also that kind of thing. ...oh I have never hit this before, except when I did it two years ago.

[C-Fan]

With just over a week left in the year, and me still injured, figured it's as good a time as any to do a reflective recap post for 2016.

Overall I feel like it was a good year in footbag for me. I played a lot, I wasn't injured much, I started a podcast, and I got to see a good number of friends despite not going to a single tournament all year. Here's a recap of some footbag highlights of 2016, followed by some life highlights.

Gatesman visited Denver. Didn't get to hang much, but we got in a shred.
Daryl visited Denver. Got in a nice outdoor shred and a nice dinner together.
I got out to Northern California for work twice. Got to shred and hang with Derek and Bob Green.
Went to St. Louis and got to shred with Kyle and Cory, and got to know them a lot better too.
Went to Seattle. Despite having my phone break at the worst possible time, still somehow managed to shred with Justin and Reilley, then get beer and NBA watching afterwards.
Returned to Japan after 10 years away. Got to show Haley the old stomping grounds and introduce her to old friends. Got to shred in Yoyogi Park with the Japanese crew, which just made my soul happy.
Surprised myself by hitting some new tricks I wouldn't have guessed I'd be hitting at age 36. Tapping flurry, montage rake, alpine motion sickness, whirring swirl to name some of my favorites.
On a similar note, surprised myself by hitting a bunch of new beast combos, pushing my count to 51 "pure" beasts.
Launched my footbag podcast, The Symposium. Released 7 episodes.

On the life side, 2016 was pretty good too. Some of the bigger highlights for me were:

Getting past a couple health scares with my parents. I feel lucky I get to close out another year with both of them alive and healthy.
Finding out Haley and I are expecting. Parenthood is both exciting and scary, but I feel lucky I get to embark on the adventure with Haley.
Going to weddings in North Carolina and Texas, getting to eat and dance and have fun in places I haven't been before.
Taking Haley to Japan, getting to speak Japanese again, getting to show her what a magical country it is.
Passing the first stage of my professional certification for work. Hopefully I get the second and final stage next year. It won't change what I do at work, but it will give me more career options down the road if I need them.

I'm not sure what to expect for 2017, either from a footbag or a life perspective. My initial conversations with work about paternity leave have gone well though, so my prospects for going to Worlds are a lot better than I thought they'd be. I still need to get my paternity leave approved officially before I can move on Worlds, and its probably not a bad idea for me to see what happens with my foot injury as well. But if everything works out, hopefully I can compete in Portland. I think it may be my last year competing seriously, in which case I'm going to do everything I can to give it my best shot.

I'll close this out with a video the Japanese crew made of my Yoyogi session:



Hacky holidays everybody, and see you in 2017!

[Tjuggles]

Nice write-up Ken.

I'm glad you got to make it back to Japan; I was there as well and totally agree about kicking at Yoyogi park making one's soul happy. Of course, our experiences in Japan were much different, but I feel like I know more or less the exact feeling that you are talking about.

Looking forward to hearing about lil ceiling fan in 2017. What a year that is going to be!

[boyle]

Sounds like a pretty good year. It will be interesting to see how the new arrival changes your footbag game. Hope that injury doesn't keep you out for too long. Great work on kicking off the podcast too, it's something I have thought of doing at times so it is nice that one exists.

[C-Fan]

Joulukalenteri 2016 is over now. I really enjoyed this year's. A few thoughts:

Props to Hogan for running it and keeping the tradition alive. Its a lot of work with very little thanks, so hats off to him for keeping it going.
I thought this was one of the best LOTDs in memory. Good variety of elements, interesting links, nice ramping up of difficulty. Not an easy thing to balance. Well done.
Overall I enjoyed the videos. None stood out as an instant classic the way Joulu Jupe 3 did, but that's a pretty ridiculous bar to set.
Shred wise I enjoyed the final video the most, with the Boise crew. Good choice to end on that one.
Editing wise, Bonslaver's was the most impressive.
My favorite video overall was Boats. Good mix of crazy shred, editing, general Boats-ness, and just a very unique vibe.
The Boats cartoons were a great addition.

The big footbag news on my end is that my foot has taken a turn for the better. I haven't played since the injury, or done any exercise beyond walking the dog. If it continues to feel better, I may get in a light session this weekend to try it out, but I'll have to play it by ear. On one hand I'm relieved that I'm back to walking without a limp, on the other hand it freaks me out that I don't know what caused the injury or how it went away. Like, if I hurt it doing a certain trick, then I'd know to avoid the trick, etc. But this injury just appeared out of nowhere, crippled me for a week, then disappeared just as mysteriously. Hard to make adjustments based on that. Also worries me a bit that it might come back. How crappy would that be if I jumped through a ton of hoops to attend Worlds, and then this hit me again while I was supposed to compete? I'm hoping that if I start exercising regularly and make stretching a consistent part of that routine, that I can avoid this injury again. We'll see.

Allan is doing a project where he's digitizing old VHS footage of footbag, and he's started posting some of the fruits of his labor. This past week he posted old routines from Kenny, Peter, Wulff, and Mulroney. The first 3 were new to me, and it was a blast to see them purely from a historic perspective. Comparing the first 3 to Mulroney's really highlights how Ryan changed the routine game. Look how many kicks are in the first 3 routines, then compare it to Ryan's. Routines nowadays are expected to be super dense and filled with tricks, and we largely have Ryan to thank for that. Crazy.

On a personal level, it was also neat seeing that video for a lot of reasons. First off, just seeing all the faces in the room was a treat. Before this footage surfaced, the only video of it that existed was way zoomed out and the crowd was just a blurry mass. In this footage though, you can not only see everybody who was there, you can also see the reactions on their faces. What a treat. You can see me in the background at the judges table, in between Jon Schneider and Eli Piltz. Back then the judging system was pretty complex, and required lots of judges. In a nutshell, each judge was tasked with counting uniques in various categories, which would all be tallied at the end for the final score. For example, one judge would be tasked with dexes, and their job was to count how many unique dex tricks occurred (with different sides counting as unique). Another judge would be in charge of body adds, and would tally each unique trick involving a body add, etc. This system required a lot of judges, and placed a lot of faith in the ability of each judge to accurately count how many unique tricks occurred. No small feat. I remember volunteering to be a judge since I knew it would be the best seat in the house, though at the cost of not being able to just watch and enjoy a routine since I'd be fixating the whole time on counting something or other. I think I got one of the easy assignments though, like unusual surfaces, so I was able to mostly just be a spectator. I remember either Eli or Jon had xbd as their card, and once Mulroney walked up on stage I joked with them that they could just put the card down, since Ryan would almost certainly max the card out (I believe it topped out at like 20 tricks. Watching the routine again, and all our expressions really brought me back to that moment. 2000 was my second Worlds, and I remember being sad when Ryan lost the previous year in 99. Watching him up close in 2000, doing such a great routine...almost dropping but not quite...I felt like I couldn't breathe for the full 2 minutes. Then when it finished and he hand caught it, we all just flipped out. One of my favorite moments from the Worlds I've attended. Right up there with Vasek's epic run in Circle semis in Berlin, and Olav's Sick 3 in Prague.

In other news, Evan is going to be in Boulder in a couple weeks. There are a few logistic hurdles to us hanging out, but I'm hopeful we can figure something out. Fingers crossed.

[C-Fan]

Hacky new year Modified!

The biggest footbag news on my end, is that my foot is mostly better. It still doesn't feel 100%, but I walk without a limp now and it only hurts if I am on my feet for very long periods of time. I bought new insoles for my shred shoes, which is probably like 3 years overdue. Hopefully that helps a bit. I was also able to get in my first footbag since the injury, and overall that went well. I mostly avoided shuffle and symp, and tried to get back on track with my basics drills gameplan from before the injury. Towards the end though I couldn't resist, and I tried a few of the remaining LOTDs:

Viewers with sharp eyes might have noticed the new shorts. While it seems minor, I've always had a rough time finding shred shorts that I like. I don't like billowy shorts, I don't like long shorts, and half the time I find shorts that have good legs they are way too tight on the hips (because they're for kids). I was therefore impressed that Haley found shorts for me for xmas which are the right dimensions, and have inner support to boot. I've only played in them the one session, but I'm cautiously optimistic I may have found a long term solution for shred shorts. They're Under Armor brand...I can dig up the model name if people are curious.

I had that session in a park I don't normally go to, since it was close to the massage parlor where I booked Haley a prenatal massage. As I was leaving the park, I was surprised to see a majestic bald eagle just chilling in a tree. I took a snap of him on my way out, but not great quality since it's on my iphone. Still, cool that I see things like owls, coyotes, foxes, and bald eagles in my every day life. I really like Colorado, and am excited my kid will grow up in a place where they'll be exposed to nature too.

Evan arrives in Boulder this Sunday. I still don't have a great plan figured out for hanging out. The logistic challenge is that Evan won't have a car this trip, and his hotel is about 30 mins North of Denver, while I live 30 mins South of Denver, and the hospital where we're delivering the baby is 30 minutes East of Denver. Long story short, I don't feel super comfortable being 60 minutes from home and 90 minutes from the hospital if Haley goes into labor while I'm hanging with Evan. Especially since those time frames all assume no traffic and no snow, neither which are givens.

On the Worlds front, I've finally gotten all the forms signed for paternity leave that I need. I should be able to submit them today, at which point hopefully they just get approved. Once that happens, I should be able to start making firmer plans for Worlds. I still don't know things like whether or not Haley and the baby would come, or if I'd need to take work with me, but I'm allowing myself to feel more (cautiously) optimistic that Worlds 17 might happen for me. It'd mean a lot to me to celebrate my 20th anniversary in the sport with one last Worlds appearance where I'm actively training to do well. I don't plan on dropping out of the scene afterwards or anything like that, but I do expect that my days as a serious competitor are numbered once the baby arrives.

[Asmus]

For some reason your embed does not work for me. Here is the link if anybody else has the same problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mABrPaso1Y


Bummer about the injury. I was just talking about growing up around nature and I do agree it is great and important.

Do not google how paternity leave works in Denmark if you don't wanna become a socialist and move over the ocean.

[boyle]

It ia great having nature easily accessible close by. That has beem something awesome for Nico so far.

[C-Fan]

Quickie update.

The baby's due date is tomorrow! Super excited for the birth, but also getting a bit antsy waiting. Kinda feels like waiting for water to boil. I'm caught up with work stuff, so I feel like I'm in a holding pattern until the baby comes.

Work has approved all my requested leave. Most importantly this is great news for me as a parent, as I want to spend as much time as possible bonding with the baby. Footbag-wise, this is also great news as it means that Worlds is now a possibility. Not a guarantee, but a possibility. Hopefully I can look at schedules and logistics more in depth once I start paternity leave. But the key thing is now at least Worlds is a real possibility.

Evan came to town last weekend. I thought it'd be hard to coordinate anything, since he didn't have a car and I didn't want to get too far away from home in case the baby came early. Rippin came through in the clutch though, and made it all happen. Despite living a good 90 minutes away from me, he picked up Evan at the airport and drove to my house so we could hang out and shred. We ended up playing at the rec center near my house, then went out for burgers afterwards. We were too tight on time to record any pods, but we had a great time hanging out and the shred was fun. It was my 2nd session since my unexpected bout with plantar fasciitis, and I felt close to 100%. I got enough footage for 3 short videos, but YT links are still broken on modified so I'll wait til that's fixed before posting.

Things are looking up in the equipment department. I got new shorts for xmas from Haley, and through 2 sessions they feel really good. I also bought a new Mike Wilson bag from Evan when he was in town, which I really needed. All my other bags were developing holes and spitting beads. Assuming I can make Worlds, none of them would have lasted until then. The new bag still needs a bit of breaking in, but I am optimistic it will be as good as my last Mike Wilson. Also, given the fact that I'm trying to train my basics up again, a slightly rolly bag is actually a good thing. Finally, I recently bought new gel insoles for my G-Units. This was probably 3 years overdue, and I wouldn't be surprised if my plantar fascia issues were caused/exacerbated by inadequate cushioning in my shred shoes. I've only played with the new insoles once, and they took some getting used to, but I expect it will be a smooth transition. Most importantly, I'm hoping they keep injuries at bay.

I recently made a post on the Facebook group asking people to rank the 5 best players in the US. I had a few reasons for doing this, and I got some interesting responses, but I'll address this in more detail in a future post.

Final big item: I won the 2016 LOTD! I have to say I really enjoyed this year's LOTD, as I thought it was a nice mix of difficulty and variety. I felt it was a good challenge. I was a bit bummed that not many people participated, since I know Kevin put a lot of work into thinking, hitting, and filming the links. Anyway, I had a great time with it, and I appreciate Hogan's work on it. Also shout out to Karel Christopherson for the prize bag. If Worlds 2017 is in the cards, starting off the new year with 2 new bags to train with is ideal.

Hopefully next post I make, I'll be a father! Also hopefully the video issues will be fixed, and I can post some vids of Evan shredding it up.

[Tjuggles]

Awesome stuff Ken, hope that water boils soon, and without a hitch.

What great news to know that all of your leave was approved. Now you can pay attention to the things that really matter. Congrats homie. Looking forward to read your first papa post.

[boyle]

Excellent news on the leave, that's wonderful. Great job in the LOTD. It was an interesting set of combos for the LOTD, I liked them. Didn't really have the time to dedicate to hitting the tricks and some were way beyond me. Pretty awesome to get in a shred with Evan and Rippin to start of the year.

[C-Fan]

Testing.

[boats]

cant see them vids

[bustinjustin]

cant see them vids

Glad someone finally noticing this problem besides me. Since Modified moved to new servers it's hit or miss whether an embedded vid has an error. I wasn't sure if it was just me so I haven't said anything.

Congrats on the new babay!

[C-Fan]

Haven't posted here in a while. I'd say it's 60% due to the newborn, and 40% due to modified video embeds still being broken. Allan said he's looking into it which I appreciate... this place just isn't the same without videos.

A few quick hits:

Taking care of a newborn is even harder than I expected. Griffin just turned a month old, and I feel like we're still figuring things out. I've played a handful of times in the past month, mostly just to get out of the house for mental relief. We've had a spate of unseasonably nice weather (which is supposed to end today), so it was nice to be outside for a bit and play. I've been out of shape and my sessions have been without purpose, but I believe they have helped keep me relatively sane.

I still don't know if I can make it to Worlds this summer. I have enough leave, but then the question is does Haley have enough? And even if she does, what do we do about the baby and the dog? I'm looking into options now, but its definitely not a straightforward proposition logistically. Even assuming I figure out the logistics of getting there and taking care of everybody, I honestly don't know if I'll have the time/energy to prepare for Worlds. And if I'm not able to compete at my best, what's the point of going? It's tough, because if I want to go I feel I need to make arrangements soon since prices will only rise. But I also don't want to buy tickets, have the next few months be a blur of baby-raising, then go to Worlds unprepared.

Equipment wise I've had a few ups and a few downs. I lost the Mike Wilson bag I bought from Evan, which sucks cause I only used it a handful of times. It was also my only new bag. I'm supposed to get a bag for winning LOTD, but I haven't gotten anything yet. I'm currently using old bags with holes in them, but that's not ideal. On the better news side of equipment, Haley bought me a second pair of the shorts she got me for christmas. I fully expect I will be using both of these pairs during competition for the next few years. The last bit of equipment news is I modded my final pair of G-Units last night, and broke them in with a shred today. My previous pair of G-Units are still usable, but literally from the day I modded them the left foot instep was coming off despite me being super careful when I cut them. They're 10+ year old shoes...I shouldn't be surprised that they don't survive exacto knives super well after all that time. While they are still usable, I didn't want to go into Worlds with them with the chance that they'd get worse in the next few months. I therefore modded my last remaining pair of G-Units. They look sturdier than my last pair, so knock on wood so far.

If I can make it to Worlds this year, my goal is to make Finals and go dropless in that round. I've made Finals twice, but never been happy with my performances. This summer is my 20th anniversary of footbag, so if I could close my competitive career with a dropless routine in Finals, that'd be a great note to close out on. I also was hoping to compete in all the other events, but based on the current proposed schedule I think I may have to bow out of Circle. Routine rounds are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so I may limit myself to just competing those days. I don't know if I can even get to peak competition form this summer (baby really is tough), but I'd like to. I don't think I'd retire completely from competing afterwards, but it likely would mark the end of the days when I'd train hard for several months for a comp.

Video from my shred today, my first in my final pair of G-Units:

[boyle]

I think footbag (or any kind of outside activity) is really good as a stress relief. I have some friends who have a little one about the same age as yours and I think they have found things harder than expected. I think the big problem in the early days is you get so much advice (all of which contradicts the other advice), but you just have to go along and figure out how to do it for yourself.

[max]

Hang in there. It gets easier. And better.

[C-Fan]

[boyle]

Nice vlog, thanks for the shoutout!