Yuletide Blogging

It’s Christmas Eve and so starts the magical week of family, parties, and gifts. It’s a magical time that one gains weight, useless gifts, and enough leftovers to last a month.

The Christmas season has become a favorite of mine over the past few years, mainly because it means a break from school for a month and great time with the family. Christmas Eve has also been my favorite day of the Christmas break. Most of my mom and dad’s families come out to our house and enjoy good food. Years ago, my brother and I would open gifts from Santa. Now, it is a great time to catch up with family and get a good number of gifts later in the night. Christmas day brings gifts at the grandparents’ house and the always delicious prime rib my grandmother makes.[1]

Josh Milligan asked for suggestions for a new blog post. My prompt asked him to discuss his best/worst gifts ever received. I’ve always been of the philosophy that you should never ask a question you can’t answer, so here’s my list of best/worst gifts ever.

Best:

1. Tickets to Jacksonville Jaguars/Tennessee Titans game the day after Christmas - I knew my aunt and uncle were going and when asked if they had gotten a ticket for me, I was told no until Christmas day when I opened my gift with this in it.

2. Bike – What kid doesn’t remember getting a bike?

3. Xbox – My brother and I got this the year it came out and really started my gaming career.

Worst:

1. 3 peat year – I can’t remember the gift exactly but I got the same gift three different times. C’mon relatives, let’s communicate a little bit.

2. Clothes from Mom – Sorry Mom, but most of your clothing options throughout the years have not been the greatest. That being said, the clothes have gotten better throughout the years.

3. Toilet Paper – Yes, I received this one year. It was a gag gift, but it wasn’t that funny. Especially since the reason I was getting it was because my aunt and cousin had TP’ed my car earlier in the year and had then blamed it on my friends.

On a serious note though, gifts aren’t everything this holiday. This is the time of the year that Jesus was born and after receiving gifts and hanging out with family I know that I will definitely remember how thankful I am for those things but also for Jesus being born and the great gift He has given all of us. Have a great Christmas everyone!!

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[1] I would challenge anyone to find a better prime rib anywhere

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

July 15th 2009. On this day in history, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince[1] was released in theaters, Natalya Estemirova (a Russian activist) passed away, and I wrote my last blog post. How quickly the six months have passed. Another semester is in the books, and yes I survived I-core.

I’ll be honest and admit that I really had forgotten about the whole blogging thing until yesterday when bored at home I decided to catch up on Josh Milligan’s excellent blog[2]. One of the titles was “On Giving Thanks and Calling Fools Out.”[3] This intrigued me because what’s better than people getting called out. Much to my surprise, I was one of the fools called out. Josh was nice enough to point out that it had been since that wonderful day in July that I had written a blog post. Right then and there, I knew I had to make a comeback[4]. And because of the wonderful accountability, Josh showed I decided that my comeback post would be about my own New Year’s Resolutions so that all who read this can provide the same kind of accountability as Josh.

Now I know that it is almost Christmas Eve and talk of New Year’s seems far away but guess what, it’s my blog, and I can do what I want[5]. Now for the resolutions:

1. To continue writing this blog and on a continual basis. In addition to this, because of Josh and Bill Simmons[6], I have decided to begin using footnotes.

2. Do some kind of physical activity at least 2-3 times a week. This can include cycling, running, ultimate, basketball, etc.

3. Pray everyday. I challenged myself to read the Bible everyday last year, and for some reason I find it easier to read than just chat with God. I would like to find a good balance.

4. Limit my consumption of soft drinks. This isn’t a huge issue now but soft drinks[7] don’t really help with health, so I might as well cut them out.

5. Visit friends more often. IU provides a lot of weekends for my high school friends to visit, but I don’t seem to reciprocate the favor too often. So I’d like to make a trip to Ball State and USI this spring.

There you have it. A list of 5 resolutions that I would love to make good on. The return to blogging has been good but now it’s time to go.

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[1] Which is currently out on DVD and highly recommend it.

[2] Link here : http://bravodeploysatchmo.blogspot.com/

[3] Written on November 25, no less

[4] And not like a Michael Jordan to the Wizards comeback or a Brett Favre to the Vikings comeback. It’s more like a Jordan post-baseball comeback.

[5] You can expect a special Christmas post tomorrow.

[6] Who should be considered the Czar of Footnotes. In his Book of Basketball, his use of footnotes can only be described as copious. And none of which are irrelevant, actually they add quite a bit.

[7] And never known as “Pop”

Return of the Shankapotamus

The British Open at Turnberry begins this evening/morning around 1:30 AM and that means the return of the fantasy golf game on espn.com. As you might remember, I created an entry for the US Open. A few weeks ago was my first endeavor in the four-man best ball fantasy game. Needless to say, being a rookie hurt me. I did not realize that you take the best score from your four golfers on each hole. So basically you want to pick guys that will make lots of birdies. This gives you the best chance of scoring low. With the experience under my belt, I feel more prepared to create a dynamo squad for the British Open.

If you don't know much about the British Open, just know that it is THE tournament in Great Britain, aka the birthplace of golf. In Britain it is links style courses that most often are on the shoreline and are open to high winds and weird weather. The greens are large and the rough is thick. I would rank a British Open win as bigger than US Open and slightly lower than the Masters.

With my knowledge of British Open past, I think I have a pretty solid squad for the Best Ball Challenge. The roster for Shankapotamus II:

Golfer 1: Steve Stricker: Steve is coming off a big win last week where he finished 20 under par. He has been one of the most consistent players over the past couple years and I like him to play solid golf this week and be in contention come Sunday.

Golfer 2: Lee Westwood: Lee is arguably the best player in Britain. He plays a mostly European schedule and always performs well in the major tournaments. His knowledge of links courses and great game make him one to watch out for this week.

Golfer 3: Soren Hanson: I don't know much about Soren, but he did play well in the US Open and is from Europe. I have a feeling about him and who knows, I could be wrong.

Golfer 4: JB Holmes: JB hits the ball a mile, and while that is an awesome thing, it sometimes leads to bad holes. The flip side is that it leads to great holes. JB is the ultimate golfer for this fantasy game because of the number of birdies he will put up on the board in any given round.

That is the team, and I expect more than the 60% standing I had at the end of the US Open.

Disc Golf Tour 2009

The 2009 edition of the Greater Bloomington Young Life Disc Golf Tour will be remembered not for the disc played but for just about everything else. I'll explain.

The day started off well enough. After an early breakfast thanks to Jeff Mahrt, our crew of Jace Rasche, John Byers, Jeff Mahrt, and myself on the road were ready to head towards Indy around 8:30. The first course on the list was the Avon Town Hall course. We managed to get turned around on the way there but it wasn't anything Jace's iPhone couldn't handle. Needless to say as we approached Avon and the start of a great day of disc golf, we were on Cloud 9. The only problem is that Cloud 9 had enough rain in it to impress Noah. Rain started to come down as we approached Avon. A quick look at the forecast on the iPhone showed a 30% chance of rain at our tee time of 10 AM with increasing chances of rain but the radar looked clear after a brief storm.

We met up with one Harrison Hilliker at Avon and even though it was raining, we were ready for some disc. The rain intensified as we opened up the doors but at this point it was appropriate for the Caddyshack, "I don't think the heavy stuff's gonna come for quite some time." A little rain was not going to ruin this round. We started the round and everything seemed great, until about the 8th hole. The rain that should have passed through was still coming down. Not only was it still coming down, it was close to downpour status. The wringing of shirts had already begun and one could see that this day was going to be extraordinary.

The back nine at Avon leads you into the woods, of course we didn't find this so easily. A backwards trek from hole 15 led us eventually to the 10th tee and a little respite from the downpour occurring in the outside world. That being said, we were still getting drenched in the woods. The rain settled down a bit as we exited the woods and it looked as if God would finally smile down on us and bless our attempt at some disc golf. We were sorely mistaken. A nice steady rain met us on the 18th and final hole and led us to our cars at the end of the round. A group decision was made to visit the nearest Goodwill store for dry clothes and protection from this rain.

As most know, Goodwill provides us with some of the best opportunities for great t-shirts at dirt cheap prices. Our entourage of 5 rolled into the Avon Goodwill looking like we had survived a hurricane. Nonetheless, we were able to find some real gems. A consensus among our group led to scramble teams of Harry, Jace, and John and myself and Jeff. We wanted to pick out team colors. Jeff was able to find an Ohio State jersey, which was very fitting. I found a reversible Plainfield basketball jersey. Jace located a retro Chicago Bulls championship t-shirt from 1991. Finally, JB3 found an old Pizza Express t-shirt. The fresh threads rejuvenated us and thanks to the iPhone, we found a Chic-Fil-A nearby.

The trip to the Chic-Fil-A from Goodwill proved to be the most humorous part of the trip. As Jace looked up the Chic-Fil-A on his iPhone, the rains began again. This made our decision to eat look better and we were in need of some food. Jace found the directions and as in The Office, followed the directions of his GPS too literally. The map showed that we were near a road in the parking lot and Jace took the liberty of not exiting the lot like most people but blazed his own trail down a slight hill onto the road. Harry couldn't accomplish this feat in his Scion and was forced to use the normal path. All of us in the vehicle besides Jace were a little stunned at this and didn't really say anything and just looked. Jace did too and commented, "The quickest way between two points is a straight line." Thanks, Einstein. This little mini adventure left us laughing 3.7 miles down the road to the fine eating establishment.

After some delicious Chic-Fil-A, a decision needed to be made about our future. The seemingly constant rains would have been a detriment to most in a quest to be outside, but not us. We decided to head to our next course, Brookside. A quick look at the radar provided us with the image that a break would be coming followed by some storms. It was weird but it seemed that the radar always looked like that. We started the round in our new clothes and while it was sprinkling, we figured we could get at least 5 holes in and then decide. Surprisingly, I was playing well after 5 and it didn't look too bad. Okay, it was starting to look pretty bad but we figured that we had been wet all day and why should that stop us?

We probably should have stopped. Whatever luck anyone had basically went out the window after that decision to play on. The second hole after proceeding, lightning came down and thunder surrounded us. But of course we realized that this was actually moving away from us so at any time the sun would come out. Wrong. It continued to rain and even a little harder. In addition to that, Jeff lost two discs in two holes thanks to the thick foliage that resides at Brookside. Things were starting to go better when we reached a hole featuring a large tree close to the basket. Jace tried to go over the tree, only to have it get stuck about forty or fifty feet up. We couldn't let a third disc go, and it was too fun to try and knock it down. The rain came down the whole time and none of really cared. We were like little kids at Christmas trying to be the first to knock it down. I actually hit the disc but it didn't fall. Then Jace got it to fall a little lower. We figured it should be easy from here, but it proved harder than first thought. Once Jace actually hit it from the lower spot, his other disc got stuck and we were forced to get another disc down from the greedy tree. The rest of the round was pretty uneventful except that of course the rain turned to a downpour as we finished the round at Brookside.

After a time of reflection on the round, a decision was made to head back to Bloomington for greener pastures, or drier ones for that measure. However, upon reaching home we realized that we didn't have it in us. That's okay, because today might not have been the best disc played ever, but it was probably the funnest.

Unofficial Scores* (Scores are unofficial due to Harrison's pending steriod test)

Avon Town Hall Links

1. Jeff Mahrt (-6)

T-2. Jace Rasche (-4)

T-2. Harrison Hilliker (-4)

4. Jon Uebelhor (+5)

5. John Byers (+9)

Brookside CC

1. Harrison Hilliker (-9)

2. Jon Uebelhor (-3)

3. Jace Rasche (-2)

4. Jeff Mahrt (E)

5. John Byers (?)

US Open Preview and Picks

If you didn't know, the US Open starts tomorrow and I for one will be watching intently Thursday through Sunday. And while I'm sure that all of you out there know quite a bit about golf, I figured I would give my thoughts on the tournament and provide my picks for the fantasy game I'm involved in on espn.com.

This year's Open is being held at the most renowned and tough public golf course in the United States, Bethpage Black in New York. As soon as one steps foot on the premises, he is greeted by this sign:

A tad intimidating huh? A golf course with a warning sign! Who knew? And if that doesn't intimidate you, maybe this will:

Still not intimidated? Imagine being at the top of the 15th green putting straight downhill on a green that registers 13 or 14 on the Stimpmeter (basically putting on glass).

If you still aren't intimidated, you are lying or you are Tiger Woods. With that being said, this US Open features a course oozing with trouble off the tee, around the green, and on the green. The US Open tries to be the toughest test in golf and there's no doubt that this year will feature that. The last time the Open was at Bethpage, one player broke par. That player was Tiger Woods. Only one other player stayed at par and that was Phil Mickelson. As you can see, the best players in the world rise to the top of the leaderboard here.

So with that in mind, who do I believe will do well this week? To win a US Open, you need to hit it long but more importantly in the fairway. And when you hit it in the fairway, you need to hit the greens. You also need to have a great short game. Basically, you need four rounds of playing great golf. And who is capable of that? Only the best in the sport. Espn.com has a fantasy game where you pick 4 golfers under a salary cap of $50. So without further ado, here is Team Shankopotamus

Golfer 1: Mike Weir: The straight hitting Canadian can keep it in the fairway and putt with the best of them. That's why I like him.

Golfer 2: Ian Poulter: He's got a great game, and ESPN's expert picked him. Plus he's very fashionable.

Golfer 3: Geoff Ogilvy: Arguably the third best golfer in the game behind Tiger and Phil. He always brings his 'A' game to the majors and I expect no less this weekend.

Golfer 4: Bubba Watson: Dude drives it a mile but might be 30 yards off the fairway and in some big trouble. This is my risk reward pick with a risk reward golfer.

Enjoy the Open and if you ever want to head to New York and play the Black with me give me a ring. Just make sure you are highly skilled.

Stanley Cup

The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a shaky first period and a devasting hit to Sid "the Kid" Crosby to secure Lord Stanley's Cup. It was a great ending to a very exciting playoffs that I can say drew me into hockey. The action in the playoffs was great and I was thoroughly pleased with each game I saw.

The Penguins proved they were the best team in the league by handing the Red Wings a loss at home in Game 7 and that without the services of Sidney Crosby for one and a half periods. Maxime Talbot and Flower Fleury stepped up their games to provide the Penguins with the Cup.

These playoffs had great play and great matchups, unfortunately games were really only on Versus. The NHL is close to becoming a force as a popular sport and only needs some bigger attention on the tube to achieve that. I hope that it happens because these Stanley Cup playoffs were great and would love to see more and have others see it as well.

A Sunday Two-Play

This Sunday myself and quite a few others made a trek to the Starlite Drive-In. And while this was no Reo Drive-In, it was a pretty good trip to the drive-in. The two movies showing were Night At The Museum 2 and Star Trek.

Now I had seen the first Night At The Museum and was not too impressed to be honest. Ben Stiller wa

s good but overall it just wasn't that great. The second edition however was much, much better. A better cast and storyline made this movie an overall good view. I won't spoil the movie sinc

e it came out recently and maybe someone reading thi

s will see the movie. I would recommend it if you were going to the drive-in, a toss-up in theater, and a definite rent when out.

The other movie was Star Trek. By no means would I consider myself a Trekkie. In fact, I've never seen any of the previous movies or shows. And I'm not a huge sci-fi guy in general. I was lost for a good bit of the movie. That did change towards the end where a lot of things were explained, other things continued to fly over my head however. Baylor did his best to inform us what was going on but to be honest our cuddle group was a little more concerned about being warm as it had gotten quite cold outside. With cuddling aside, the movie was excellent in special effects and I have no doubt that Star Trek fans were happy with the result. I however found it to be just another action movie that was sci-fi which isn't my forte. So I would recommend this movie to Star Trek fans and anyone else who enjoys a good action flick. I would definitely not recommend this to anyone who likes to know what is going on during a movie because you will end up being obnoxious and trying to figure out what's going on.

So there's my best Ebert and Roeper attempt. Take it and leave it as you please. The only thing I think you should do: see a movie at a drive-in. It's the best.

Home

So I went home this weekend and needless to say it was one great weekend.  My brother's graduation party was on Friday, and I was able to see a lot of my family, friends, and family friends.  It was great to catch up and stuff my face with all the great food at the party.  On Saturday, I was able to play 9 holes at Muni and while I didn't hit the ball that well, I did make a birdie and was about a foot away from a hole-in-one.  That was followed by two more graduation parties and some chill time with friends.  Sunday featured some swimming and another graduation party.  Monday I ate breakfast with family and then headed back to Bloomington for a chill Memorial Day inside because of the stupid rain and some ultimate at night.

While it was a great weekend for all the awesome parties, I really enjoyed seeing all the important people in my life.  It really hit on Saturday that I'm not going to be home this summer so I won't see as many of my old friends as in the past.  And I also realized that I might be seeing some adult family friends for the last time in a long while or perhaps ever.  How many more times will I see my old 5th grade teacher?  Or just how many times in my life will I see those friends that I only see once or twice a year.  This weekend really made me want to make the most of the time I have on this Earth but in a smaller time span sense, I want to make the most of every situation.  I want to make the most of college, the most of my internship, the most of whatever job I have after that, the most of my marriage (hopefully), the most of everthing.

24: Day 7

Over the years, the TV Show of 24 has captured me.  It's everything a man wishes he could do. Drive fast, wield a gun, take down terrorists, and look good doing so.  The only thing Jack is missing is a super attractive wife to come home to, and let's be honest the producers made a mistake with Terry Bauer and did the best thing by getting rid of her in Day 1.  Plus, Jack is too much of a man for any woman to be able to handle.

The latest day of 24 just completed and like so many seasons before left us with many more questions than when we began.  This will contain some spoilers so there's my disclaimer.

I'd like to talk about the actual season but like so many others it had too many twists and turns to be rapped up in one blog entry.  Let's just go with the questions I have left following this season and my own predictions for the future.

Questions:

Is Jack going to live? (Okay, the odds of him not living are slim but it's still possible)

What's going to happen to Tony? (Is he going to be remorseful or just fade away as a bad guy?)

Will we see more Chloe in future seasons? (I hope so)

What role is the FBI going to hold in future seasons? (Are they going to keep them involved? Maybe restart CTU?)

Predictions:

Jack is going to live.  Somehow the slim chance miracle treatment will work because it's Jack.

Somehow Tony is going to be remorseful and get away with all his actions because Jack will ask it of the President.

And my final prediction that I could see happening but hope that it won't is that Rene Walker is going to somehow take over as the main character of 24 at which point I will stop watching.

NFL Draft Time

So this is my first post ever and hopefully not the last but it is possible that I could get bored with this phenomenon as quickly as I did yo-yos.

With that disclaimer done, I now turn my attention to the most overhyped, truly unimportant event in all of sports, the NFL Draft.  First I'll get a little rant of my chest then address the Jags overall draft.

I'm glad the draft is over for a few reasons mainly the fact that it is unimportant, that I've listened to Todd McShay and Mel Kiper for what seems like a year, and finally, that I don't have to see Mel Kiper for another two months (because we know that next year's draft will be talked about then.) 

When I say that the draft is unimportant, I mean it not in the sense that teams don't need players.  They do, but it is unimportant because 70% of the players slapped with all the praise will probably be just okay and some guy from the 5th round will turn out to be the Hall of Famer.  The hype for this event only provides us with a sense that we are in football season but really we are no more closer to the football season than the NBA Playoffs are over.   The draft is like Fat Tuesday.  It feels awesome to indulge in whatever (soda, chocolate, late night snacks) until you realize that you are not going to have these things for 40 days.  Except that the football season is four months away.  Thanks ESPN for handing me a 2 Liter of NFL just before offseason Lent.

This hype also has forced many of us to put, at times, undeserved emotions into players that really don't deserve it.  As a Jags fan, I've had to endure Matt Jones for the past three years.  Heck, I even bought his jersey because he was a 6'6" beast that could run a 4.3 40.  How was I rewarded? Years of people saying that this was finally his break out year and that the Jags could find their deep threat.  Well, I guess I've learned my lesson not to put too many eggs in a basket.

My second frustration comes with Todd McShay and Mel Kiper being force fed to me since the Super Bowl ended.  I had no time to even enjoy Santonio Holmes' grab when I see Mel Kiper discussing his value board.  Mel, I know this is your job but could we just talk about prospects in April?  I can't tell you how many times I heard Todd or Mel talk about Matt Stafford's arm or that teams might look down upon Michael Crabtree's injury.  Thanks for the great info.

Thirdly, Mel, smile.  Within five minutes of turning on the draft, I got a big shot of Mel's death stare.  I can't remember what they were talking about but I don't think it would matter.  All I've ever seen is that mix of confusion and anger when anyone talks to him.  Also, I saw Mel's grades for the draft and if he was a professor there is no way I would take his class.  He gave out only 2 A's and only a handful more B's.  Everything else was a C or less.  He was consistently giving lower grades than his peers.  Mel, it's time to go and hand the reins to McShay.  Do it while everyone still enjoys your opinion and doesn't feel berated through the television screen.

Now I don't want everyone to think that I'm just a big pessimist.  I love the draft.  I love seeing where college's stars will play in the NFL and how these players will fit into their new teams.  I think that the draft being in spring is perfect because as spring brings new life to the Earth, so the draft brings new life to NFL teams.

The team I care most about, the Jacksonville Jaguars, had a pretty good draft in my opinion.  Eugene Monroe falling to us at 8 was my ideal situation going into the draft.  I figured that Sanchez would drop and NY would trade with us but getting Monroe was even better.  Tra Thomas is going to be a great mentor for Monroe and the second round pick Eben Britton.  Everything I've read says that Britton can be a long term fixture at right tackle, which is good considering Tony Pashos' very uninspiring sophomore year with the Jags.  Picking Terrance Knighton in the third round is a question to me.  The guy came out of Temple so I don't know anything about him.  I'll get back to the Jags other third round pick in a bit, but I loved the Jags selection of wide outs in rounds 4,5, and 7.  Mike Thomas looks like a Steve Smith type receiver who knows what to do after he catches the pass.  Jarrett Dilliard's stats prove he can play, we'll just have to see if he can play in the NFL.  Tiquan Underwood can provide some speed and hopefully stretch the defense.  Rashad Jennings was the other seventh round pick, who excelled at Liberty.  Once again, I have no information on this guy.  Now to the most surprising part of the Jags' draft.  They traded a second round pick next year for the Patriots' third round this year.  With the pick we drafted Derrick Cox, a corner out of William and Mary.  It was a surprising move but all the brass in FL are excited with this pick and I'm excited to see if their excitement pans out.  The Jags have drafted well in the middle rounds lately, and I hope it holds.

A final thought on the draft is that something needs to be done about rookie salaries.  Matt Stafford being given almost $50 million in guaranteed money is absolutely ridiculous.  As Peter King said on PTI, "The Lions go 0-16 and how are they rewarded? By paying a guy $50 million that has a 60% chance of succeeding." There needs to be a cap on rookie salaries so that the top picks can't get more money than a seasoned veteran who is probably twice as good right now.  Not only will this serve teams better but provides the top picks with even more incentive to prove that their selection was not a fluke.  Teams need to start wanting higher picks not dreading them.

Hope you enjoyed the quick or perhaps not so quick read.  (I kinda rambled)  Until then, savor every moment of post draft coverage until we dive into the purgatory that can only be described as the NFL offseason and Stay Classy Internet