Welcome To My Life Wednesdays

As I was calling it a night tonight, I had a sudden realization about Wednesdays this semester. They are the perfect indicator of what my life is like. If you want to know what I’m doing with my life currently, find me on a Wednesday. Everything I do on Wednesdays is basically what I do the rest of the week, just more compact. Here’s a little timeline of a typical Wednesday for me:

9:00 AM – Work at the office for my sales and marketing internship. Usually I work a few days a week at sporting events, but Wednesdays are a time to work in the office and take calls all morning.

EAT

12:30 PM – Class. Pretty much the event that takes up most of my time right now. My classes go from Monday to Thursday afternoon, but Wednesdays are pretty laid back.

3:30 PM – Boxing Conditioning/Gym. Being a college kid, it’s almost impossible to work out more than 4 or 5 days a week. Thankfully, MSU offers one-credit Kinesiology classes including working out at a boxing training facility and, my personal favorite, hockey.

EAT

6:00-9:00 PM – Usually this time offers a slew of IM basketball, soccer, football, or softball games. Right now, it’s all about basketball, and you already know we are winning the championship this year.

10:00 PM – Bar. This part of Wednesdays needs to be kicked out, but when all your friends and classmates are going out to bars with HALF OFF drink specials, you have to go. Today is a special day because it’s my roommates birthday so the exam I have Thursday morning at 8 AM might be rough.

EAT

There ya have it! My life all condensed down into a single day I get to experience once a week. I’m sure everyone has that one day of the week where all their favorite things come together, and it just feels like life is flowing by. So get up and go!

Defeat the Day!

 

 

 

 

Ed Reed and the Super-baugh

As everyone knows, the 47th Super Bowl is being played this Sunday between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans. The Ravens are coached by John Harbaugh, making his first appearance in a Super Bowl, while the Niners are led by Jim Harbaugh, the younger brother of John, who seeks a title in his second season in the NFL. Both teams had successful regular seasons on their way to division titles in their respective divisions. Colin Kaepernick looks to lead the 49ers to their first Super Bowl since 1994, while the Ravens want to send their captain, Ray Lewis, out on top. The line is -3.5 to the Niners, but I think the game could be even closer.

Anyways, this blog isn’t just about the Super Bowl. It’s also about the greatest defensive player of all time (IMO), Ed Reed. He is one of the most passionate, smart, hard-working players in NFL history and his career achievements prove the same. Ever since Ed came into the league in 2001, he has played at an elite level and is known best for his interception touchdowns and big defensive plays. He seems to always know what the offense is doing before they do it, due in large part to his intense devotion to studying film. In a time where Ray Lewis has been dominating headlines, Ed Reed has quietly been a vital part of the Ravens success and a huge leader in the locker room. Here is a fantastic article on Ed Reed published on ESPN. It’s a great read if you have about 10 minutes, and it shows a side of Ed we don’t get to see that much. I hope Reed can adjust a little bit better to the new, “softer” NFL or he will probably end up retiring early.

So with all that said, I have to go with my boy, Ed Reed, and the Baltimore Ravens to win the Super-baugh this year.

Final Score Prediction:

Ravens – 24

49ers – 21

It should be a great game so gather up your friends and family, order some wings, grab a case of beer, and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!

P.S. Here’s a few highlights from Ed Reed’s career including his college years at The U.

New Media Drivers License

So this is my last semester as an undergrad at Michigan State and real life starts in May. However, I still have to finish up my last 16 credits so I am taking a Advertising 420 class, with the focus being on broadening your social media impact and sharpening your online skills. The class requires each student to create a blog and write posts every week about topics that interest us. I figured I already have a blog, and I could just use this, but it looks like we have to create a separate blog on WordPress. Once I get the other blog up, I will link my posts on each blog for all to see. I’ll get the link up later tonight and it will include my first post for the class.

People Are Awesome

It seems a lot of the videos on YouTube these days have to do with people doing dumb things and gaining attention and views for it. Videos with titles such as “Guy Faceplants Off Roof” or “Guy Tries to Jump Over Car, Gets Smoked.” Every so often you find a video of someone actually completing the stunt they attempted and not falling on their face. I’m sure a lot of you have seen the PEOPLE ARE AWESOME videos so here is the most recent one

Another PEOPLE ARE AWESOME video:

Le’Veon Bell Highlight Tape (2013 Draft)

Le’Veon Bell decided to forgo his senior season with the Spartans in hopes of getting drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. I watched Le’Veon play all three years he was here, and he was an absolute workhorse! I’m not going to bother you with a bunch of stats or anything, but this guy has the potential to be a feature back in the NFL. I’d expect him to go in the 3rd or 4th round, but don’t be surprised if a team jumps on him a little earlier.

CBB: Michigan State at Wisconsin

The college basketball season is in full swing, and MSU has a huge game tonight against those pesky Wisconsin Badgers. A Wisconsin team that took down Indiana is the same team who lost to Iowa on Saturday. That’s basically both sides of the pendulum right there. State has won five straight, with their last win coming against a tough Ohio State team. Wisconsin is 4-1 in the Big Ten and a 1/2 game behind MSU, who sit at 5-1 on top of the division. State usually doesn’t play very well in the Kohl Center, an arena that is one of the toughest to play at in Big Ten as well as the entire country. However, they beat Wisconsin at their place last year, and the Badgers are now looking to get some revenge.

Keys to the Game:

1. Payne Train

Adrian Payne has been lights out from the field over the past four games, shooting 22-28 (78.5%) and making a three in each of his last three games. He and Dawson got into a little scuffle before Penn State, but it seems all it did was fuel his fire. Payne gives you about 20 minutes per game because of his lung issue so it will be important to work the ball low to him early on and let him work in-to-out with that deadly jumper of his.

2. Mr. Big Shot

I know Appling hasn’t made a “buzzer beater” this year, but he has emerged as the go-to guy during crunch time. He seems to thrive down the stretch and has no problem being the guy to take the last shot. However, Appling needs to start the same way he’s been finishing, with aggressive moves into the lane and confidence in taking the outside shot when it’s open. Appling may be the most skilled scorer in the Big Ten (sans Deshaun Thomas), but he needs to come out of the gate with the same intensity he’s been ending games with.

3. Where’s the Bench?

One of the glaring weaknesses in this young Michigan State team is their lack of contributors coming off the bench. When Valentine starts, Payne comes off the bench and contributes very well, but after him, it seems like a long list of underachievers. Trice hasn’t handled the ball as well as he can, and seems intimidated by an above average defender. For a shooter, Russell Byrd sure doesn’t shoot very well. Costello and Gauna seemed to be lost when they get out there and haven’t found an identity yet with this team. Losing Kearney seems to be affecting MSU a lot more than they could have imagined and now it’s time for one of the bench players to step up. They are all very talented players and possess the ability to make a difference in this game. Who is going to be the difference maker?

 

Is This Real Life Right Now?

P.S. this is the first post I’ve ever done on my phone so I have no idea whether (pun intended) the picture shows up or if it’s just a bunch of words.

P.S.S. Either way, it’s cold

Manti Te’o: Come On, Man

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or don’t really follow sports), you know the big story this past week was Manti Te’o being the victim (so they say) of a hoax regarding the relationship and death of his girlfriend. To recap, the Notre Dame linebacker met a girl online and they developed a relationship over the years, and in September she died of leukemia the same day as Manti Te’o's grandmother. Recently, Deadspin.com did a huge story on how the girl, Lennay Kekua, never actually existed and was part of a hoax conducted by some guy in California. During an interview with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, Te’o denied being part of the hoax and, when he found out about it, still talked about her to the media because he didn’t want it to sound crazy because he never met her in person.

Now, you’re probably asking yourself, how could anyone fall for such an elaborate hoax and claim someone is their girlfriend without actually ever meeting them in person? Sadly enough, it happens all the time these days and is highlighted on MTV’s new hit show Catfish. This guy goes around and finds people in “online relationships” and then organizes meetings in-person between the two people. Most of the time, one of the individuals ends up not being who they say they are and admits to lying to the other individual the whole time.

My whole opinion on the matter is probably similar to anyone else who has heard the story. Why in the hell would you even put yourself in a situation where you aren’t 100% the person you are “dating” is real? Anyone can be whoever they want to be on the internet these days, and it is basically impossible to completely trust what anyone says online. I could be a 6’10 basketball star from Turkey who started the largest duffel bag company in the world. But I’m not. I’m just some average looking guy from Michigan who writes about dumb stuff. And unless my roommates are just pretending to talk to me, I’m pretty sure I’m a real person. My point is, you can never really be sure with people online these days and it’s always best to get confirmation of another person’s existence. It sounds crazy, but it really isn’t crazy at all to think that someone can take on a different persona and ruin someone’s life, or, in this case, pursue a relationship, die, come back to life, fake die, and then expose the most talked about linebacker in college football. I am all for online dating and such, but to put full stock into a relationship, with all communication coming solely online, is a bit ridiculous. What ever happened to loving someone because of their physical outer/inner beauty and touch? Eventually, a couple is going to get married online and they will have virtual babies who grow up to be virtual lawyers and doctors and then everyone is screwed.

Get it together online community.

Defeat the Day

When thinking of my New Year’s Resolutions, I always try to stay away from the clichés (losing weight, eating better, or paying it forward more) and focus on resolutions that mean something to me. I also want my resolution to be something where it actually matters that the year ended and a new one started.  Yeah, losing weight and eating right is cool, but you can start those types of resolutions at literally any point during the year. The fact that you need the calendar to turn over to stop going to Taco Bell when your drunk means you are most likely not going to stop eating like crap consistently throughout the whole year. My resolution this year is a simple one. Well, it’s not really that simple because I have to do some math to figure out the success of it and then analyze the percentage to make sure it actually worked. But besides that, it is simple. Go to bed each day with a feeling of accomplishment rather than a feeling of guilt. I figure if I can feel good about myself and the amount of shit I accomplished during that particular day, then I can go to bed happy and not wake up the next morning with a sense of guilt on my conscience. Then, at the end of the year, I will be able to calculate the number of days I went to bed feeling good, and divide that number by 365 (days in a year for the slower individuals). If I end the year with a relatively high percentage (75% or higher is high passing in this scenario), then I’ll look back and consider it a good year. If I end with anything lower than 75%, it means my year possessed way too many faults in my daily routine and I need to seriously reevaluate my life.

Examples of positive things I can do to make a day better:

Work out

Eat relatively healthy

Finish all my homework and studying

Remember to turn in my homework once it’s finish

Wake up before noon

Find new music

Increase my network for a potential advancement in my career

Examples of negative things I can do to make it a bad day:

Drink way to much

Wake up after noon

Drunk text or call someone who hates me

Skip a workout

Lay on the couch all day

Forget to do homework

Eat like shit

Make an idiot out of myself in front of people

Break something

Ok, I know there are tons of other things on either side of the spectrum that could make or ruin my day, but these are just a few examples. I call my plan, “Defeat the Day”, and will pretty much just keep a running tally on my calendar of my “wins and losses.” Since we are already 20 days into 2013, I’m going to give myself 12 wins and 8 losses. It seems pretty fair considering I lost the last 3 days in a row, but I started the year motivated from what I can remember. So right now, I’m at 60%.

Keep your own calendar on how many days you’ve defeated!

Tigers resign Anibal Sanchez to $80M, 5 year deal

This is the big news in the baseball world today. The Detroit Tigers had a chance to match the Cubs offer to Sanchez and they did just that in the form of $80 million over 5 years. This is an insane amount to give to a 4th starter who is 28 years old, but Sanchez pitched well at the end of last season and it brought his value in the market up tremendously. I thought the Tigers should have let him go to the Cubs and moved Smyly into the rotation, but now the big question remains on Rick Porcello’s future status with the club. Does it suck that the Tigers paid so much for Sanchez? Yes. But he is also a proven pitcher who will be the best 4th starter in the league and will give you 6+ innings each start. This deal smells a lot like Mr. Illitch.