Bucket List

So I present to you on my 20th birthday, well the day after my 20th birthday, some things I think are cool.

First off, I was thinking about this the other day...

I think it's really funny that when you are growing up, you can't wait for your birthday, but then at a certain point in your life, you never want your birthday to come anymore. Well, that point is your 22nd birthday. Why? Let's see...when you turn 10, you're stoked because you've finally hit double digits in years. When you're 13, you're happy because you're officially a teenager. Then comes 16, and well, you can finally drive...at least in most states you can. Next comes 18. At the age of 18, you can buy tobacco, if you're into that. Next is 19. The only thing interesting about the age of 19, is well, nothing! After 19 you turn 20, which is still meaningless except for the fact that you are a one year closer to that ever so coveted 21. 21 is the birthday that absolutely conquers every single other birthday. Not because it's so fantastic, because sometimes it's not, but because your whole life builds up until the day you can actually go to the bar and by your first beer....legally. After 21 your whole crashes and burns. From then on, there is nothing to look forward. By nothing to look forward I mean, age wise. When 30 hits, you cry because you're getting old. When 40 hits, there is still some part in you that you thinks you are young, but then you wake up the next day and realize that you are indeed old. Then the hammer drops at age 50. Not only is that supposed to mark the exact halfway point between your life, you realize you are OLD. You realize that really most of your life has come and gone and the day after your birthday, you realize that there is not much more to do in life that you haven't done, except to complete what is left your "Things to do before I die" list.

Speaking of the "Things to do before I die" list, here is mine at the age of 20:

Sports-
I want to go to a Super Bowl, preferably one that Bengals are playing in.
I want to go to a Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game, preferably at Duke.
I want to go to an Ohio State-Michigan football game.
I want to go to the Final Four.
I want to go to a NASCAR race.
I want to go to the Olympics.
I want to go to a Notre Dame football game at Notre Dame to see Evan Wray show off what he has worked so hard to get at.

Travel-
I want to go to France to witness everything that is France.
I want to go to Ireland so I can stare at the hills and be amazed.
I want to take my mom on the trip of her lifetime.
I want to travel with my two cousins and my brother and have a blast.
I want to just get in the car one day and drive. I don't care where I end up, I just want to drive.

Life goals-
I want to....
be the head coach of a football team.
work for a professional team.
be a father.
go to a concert.
be remembered for something remarkable.
graduate college.
buy a house.
live close to my sisters and brother so it's a simple drive to their house when I want to go there.
have this blog turn into something big
work with someone famous
meet Mark Cuban
and of course, witness something, in my eyes, that is truly majestic.


I'm sure there are plenty of things I left out, but hey, it's a start. The way I see it, everyone should at least attempt to do everything they want to do before they die. You only get one life. Why not try and do something for yourself every once in awhile.

Go out tomorrow and do something you wanted to do today, but didn't.

The Journey of Social Networks

I wonder everyday what the next big thing will be. Is it going to be a social network? How about a search engine? How about a place wear you can stream videos....another type of youtube? It is really hard to say what will be the next big thing, but if I had a guess, it would be another type of social networking site. Google released Google Buzz recently, and so far, the reception has been less than stellar. Some say that it's just a copy of Facebook, but just under the Google name. Social Networking is the one thing everyone is attacking. Everyone is looking for that one piece that will turn into a "gotta have," something that will impact people's lives.

Let's not forget though how we got to where we are now. For me, it began with AIM. There was nothing more exciting than signing on to instant message your best friends. AOL set the bar, and started off a long line of things to take over the lives of people. From AIM, it went to Xanga. Xanga was HUGE. Everyone had one, and most likely, everyone still has one because chances are you did not delete your profile. Regardless, Xanga was the beginning of the social network aspect. From Xanga, we go to MySpace. Personally, I hated MySpace, but Tom hit it big. As MySpace hung around, yahoo and possibly google planted their networks with an Instant Messaging feature. From MySpace, we travel to the world of Facebook, which has absolutely taken over the lives of not just young people, but older people as well. From Facebook, comes Twitter, which is hitting it big at the moment. And now, from Twitter, we go to this endless abyss of networks who are trying to find that big feature that will light everyone's eyes up.

That is really the challenge, for me personally, if I am going to invest in the stock market, I am looking for a social network that is undervalued, and hoping it hits big. I just wonder what is going to be next. I mean, Google started as a class project. Maybe some teacher challenges his students to make the next big thing. It will be interesting to find out what will happen.

My Birthday is arriving soon, and I can't wait.

Here's a quote to finish it off:

"It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years!" - Abraham Lincoln

What's the story?

Let me, let you, in on my life. I have recently discovered how much I love business. Not just any business, but the business of sports. It is quite unbelievable how business works in sports. You have partnerships, corporations, marketing, advertisement, sales, and even naming rights. It could not be a more difficult process to actually fully understand each and everyone of these things, and I'm not about to begin telling you about any of them. If you are interested, you can look it up on google, or bing, or whatever other search engine you choose to use. The business within sports is such a fascinating thing. Not only do you have the stuff like marketing that is more behind the scenes, you actually have to run a team. You may have to dump salaries to free up some cap space to sign a good player. Or get rid of a good player to release the money to rebuild the team. The decisions made within a team will most times be questioned, but remember, even though your favorite player on your favorite team just got traded away, MOST times, it's only to benefit the team.

I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that Jamaica doesn't have a bobsled team in the Winter Olympics this year, or the fact that Chat Roulette is slowly grabbing the hearts of the world and sucking them into a wild abyss of nothing. Chat Roulette is just a weird concept. It hooks up everyone who goes to the website to random people all over the world who have webcams. Then you just talk to random people. I've had one run-in with Chat Roulette, and I will most likely never use it ever again. Some people use that to do some really sick things, so beware!

What will be the story of the Olympics this year? No one knows right now... Will it be: Canada not winning a gold medal in any event for the 4th time they've held the Olympics. That's right, Canada has never won a gold medal when hosting the Olympics. Will hockey win the hearts of the world, making it the event to watch? Will Shaun White win gold? Which country will win the medal count? So many stories, and only less than 16 days to hear them....

Business, Sports, America

So it's been an extremely long time since I last updated this. I attempted to drop this blog and move on to bigger and better things, but then I decided I couldn't live without this thing. I just have so many thoughts that all of you need to read. Just kidding, but really new ideas, new topics, it's a new blog. So here we go...

First, let's talk about Entourage, or more specifically Spike TV. I'm a big fan of Entourage, but I think it's more incredible that a TV network will pick this show up. Just think of how much money they have to pay to air this show. Entourage makes a ton of money on itself, then add in the factor that it originally airs on HBO. Now, let's envision the amount of money Spike had to pay HBO, now add the money Spike had to pay the producers, directors, and possibly the actors of Entourage. That's a lot of money. The fact is, Spike has acquired the syndication rights to all 78 episodes that have already aired, and any that will air in the future. That's a lot of money.

Now, I'm not saying it's a bad deal because they spent too much money because believe me, in the long run, the profitability of this deal will far outweigh any amount spent to get the syndication rights. Here's why... there are plenty of people who have never watched Entourage because their cable package doesn't include HBO, which is topic for discussion on another day. Spike TV's main watching group is predominantly men. Typically, men like Entourage for various amounts of reasons that will not be named. On a network that shows UFC, Manswers, and now Entourage, it's inevitable that Spike has positioned themselves to be one of the top networks in the long run. As fans pick up the remote and flip to Spike to watch Entourage, you better believe more fans are beginning to do the same. Entourage is a hit, and a TON of people haven't seen any episodes yet. Now, since Entourage lands on semi-basic cable, look for both the ratings of Entourage and Spike TV to skyrocket.

Now on a lighter note, let's talk college football. Wednesday was national signing day, and some schools hit it big. While other schools like Ohio State spent their day twiddling their thumb and wondering what went wrong. Jim Tressel will never say it, so I will... Buckeye Nation, we dropped the ball. When Tressel came to Ohio State, he made it a point to keep the best high school football players in Ohio, in Ohio. Which means, it was his job to get the best of the best and make them come to Ohio State. Well there's one thing that went wrong. Jordan Hicks played his high school football at Lakota West, which is near Cincinnati. Tell me how he doesn't go to Ohio State. Hicks was the Nation's #1 rated Outside Linebacker by ESPN. He's from Ohio, so he should definitely sign his letter of intent to OSU right? WRONG. Why wrong? Because Tressel dropped the ball once again. Though he finally won a big game... talking of course about the Rose Bowl win over Oregon... it's clear that he lost another. I'm counting this in the big game column, because once you can't recruit the best to your school, you can't be the best. Well, Hicks left Ohio and fled to Texas. I can't understand how Tressel lets one of the best players in the country, who is from Ohio, leave Ohio to play his college football. Add it to the loss column.

How about the fact that OSU isn't even ranked in the top 15 recruiting classes based on ESPN's rankings. Add that to the loss column too. That will account for at least 2 losses over the next 3 years because Ohio State just won't be as good as they need to be.

Now let's talk Super Bowl 44. Not so much about who's going to win, who's going to get paid after the fact, or who's going to be MVP of the Super Bowl, but let's talk about the New Orleans Saints. It hasn't been talked about, or at least I haven't heard it be talked about, but let's not forget that just a couple years ago the Saints' home field was turned into a safe haven for many of the people who live in New Orleans. It's a little unbelievable what happened just short time ago has already been pushed to the very back of everyone's mind, so much that it doesn't even get talked about. Put yourself in a Saints fan's shoes and imagine seeing the Superdome in both a time of need and a time of joy. In both cases, it was a packed house. In one case everyone was on the field sleeping, and the other case everyone was in the stands cheering. So as the Super Bowl approaches, let's bask in the glory of getting to the big game, but let's not forget what happened in New Orleans just a short time ago.

And the Heisman goes to....

So school is starting in about a week and a half, and I'm not looking forward to it at all. But, something has been brought to my attention in the past couple of days. It's a little something called "Dorm Life." If you haven't seen it, you need to. It is ridiculously on point with making fun of every aspect of college life. The sorority girls, the mean RA, the hippie/druggie, the weird kid, and the smart kid who never parties and is stuck the floor drunk. If you've been to college, are in college, or will be in college, it really is worth watching. You can find it on Hulu, so check it out.

I just watched an old clip on YouTube called "Drinking out of Cups." It's a guy on acid, locked in the closet by his friends so they can record what he says. It's a bit on the vulgar side, but if you can withstand that, then this video is definitely for you.

I love this time of year because it means Football is starting!! College starts in a week, and the same for the NFL. And, high school football in Ohio kicked off it's first week of games this past Friday!! In my opinion, there is not a state that has better high school football! My pick to win the state championship this year....

...the Colerain Cardinals, based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The NFL is a little bit harder to predict. I think the Arizona Cardinals will be good this year, especially if Beanie Wells stays healthy. Obviously, if Tom Brady is fully healthy, then the Patriots will be good. The Eagles will be good, Dallas "should" be good, but will definitely find a way to blow it at the end of the year. The Vikings WILL be good. Favre will make them better! The Bengals "could" be good, only if they avoid injury. My Super Bowl prediction is...

...The Giants and Cardinals will play each other for a spot to get in the big game. The Ravens and Colts will be playing to get into the big game. So, my pick to play in it is...

The Giants and Colts. Both by very slim margins! This means the Manning brothers will be playing each other for that ring. Which is going to make for some game, but c'mon, let's talk commercials. NOT!

College is even more impossible to pick due to the fact that so many teams are surprisingly good, and even surprisingly bad. The obvious teams to make noise are: Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Ohio State, and USC. It's like a re--occurring theme every year.... The big name teams will be good. Florida will get upset at some point, probably by Jevan Sneed and the Ole Miss Rebels. Texas will beat Oklahoma and then beat everyone else for the remainder of the regular season. Ohio State will absolutely run the table. I see this year being a year like the year they beat Miami in the National Championship. By that I mean, a lot of close games, but they should be able to pull all of them out. So, for the BCS National Championship...

...I have the Longhorns of the University of Texas playing the Buckeyes of Ohio State, with one of those two teams winning. The fan in me says OSU, but the smart analytical college football guru in me, says Texas wins.

But no matter who wins it all, Colt McCoy will get revenge from last year after he takes home the Heisman Trophy. Which means that after this year, Ohio State will still have the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy in Archie Griffin.

30 For 30

It's finally here.  It's the time of year when everyone who watches baseball really starts to care.  It's the time to say, "this series is going to be crucial for the rest of the year."  It's the time of year when the acquisitions that teams picked up at the trade deadline start playing hard for their new teams.  It's time for the players who aren't performing nor helping the team in any way to be released.  Baseball has been here since early April, but people, Baseball is Here!  It's a time for the not-so-good teams to play spoiler and also build for their future.  It's time for the good teams to kick it into overdrive and really make a push for the division or wild card leads.  And this year, it's a time for the Boston Red Sox to fall apart.  Everything was looking good, before Thursday.  Sure, they got swept by the Rays, but at least they got to go to New York and face the Yankees, whom they are 8-0 against so far this year.  Enter the new and revamped Yankees.  With a combination of pitching and hitting the Yankees walloped the BoSox.  The Yanks win the first game.  The Yanks win the second game in 15 innings while shutting out the Red Sox.  The Yanks win the third game while shutting out Boston...  

After these 3 games, Boston is in shambles.  John Smoltz is demoted to the minor leagues.  John Smoltz, the one who has over 2oo wins and 150 saves in his career.  The part above about the players who aren't performing is directed straight to John Smoltz.  You are too good of a baseball player to be playing as bad as you are right now.  I would seriously think about hangin' 'em up after this year if you can't do any better, because your career shouldn't suffer because you're old.

To hear the Yankee fans hoot and holler to David Ortiz as he steps to the plate took me back to the "Who's your daddy?" era of the Pedro/Yankees rivalry, at a time when Pedro Martinez was one of the best pitchers in the game.  In lieu of the steroid accusations against Ortiz, it is obvious that he would be frowned upon and chanted to/about from those obnoxious Yankees fans.  Let's not forget Yankee fans that you too have a CHEATER on your team, and he goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez.

...The Yanks have made the BoSox look completely silly.  In fact the Red Sox went 31 innings without scoring a run, finally breaking through with 2 runs in game 4 of the 4-game series.  After Cheater number 1 (Alex Rodriguez) hit a home run in the previous inning, the newly acquired (see first paragraph) Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer to take the lead in the 8th inning, only to be outshined the next inning.  It was quite sickening to see the Red Sox wilt away as the Yanks used their power to take that lead back.  Johnny Damon, a former Red Sox center fielder, hit a home run to tie the game.  If you watched it, you would understand this is completely repulsive as Damon trots around the bases knowing he just stuck a dagger in the heart of his former team.  Then, Mark Texiera walks to the plate and hits the go-ahead homer over the right field fence, which in its own right is repulsive as he chose the Yanks over the BoSox.  It's interesting because Boston got destroyed.  Losing the 4th straight game to their arch-nemesis, in such fashion that they did, makes most fans of baseball just say YUCK!

If you are a baseball fan, you like the Yanks or you hate 'em!  For me, I hate 'em!  When you hate the Yanks, you root for the BoSox when "The Rivalry" takes place, and it is truly sickening to see the Yanks walk over the Sox like they were the Washington Nationals.  It's been a sad 4 days for baseball.  It was even more sickening than seeing the Red Sox's David Ortiz hold a press conference to talk about his steroid issues in Yankee Stadium. 

Congratulations to the Cleveland Indians as they have somehow managed to be on the same level as the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I don't mean in the win/loss column either.  The Indians have managed to trade away most of their team (see "building for the future" above). They trade last year's Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee to the Phillies.  They trade a great player in Victor Martinez to the BoSox.  They trade Ryan Garko, who was at one point considered to be the Indians' top hitting prospect.  And, they trade Carl Pavano away to the Twins, who seemed to be getting back to his old form.  He was 5-1 this year against American League Central Division foes.  It seems that the Indians are willing to pack it in and start from scratch.  It makes you wonder what will happen to Grady Sizemore.  It seems unfair to him to trade everyone away except for him.  Enjoy quadruple A baseball for the rest of the year Indians fans.

You know what else it's time for, Pre-season NFL football.  HA who cares.

Kendra from the Kendra on E! is pregnant.  hmm...

So here is the deal.  Obviously I am a big fan of sports and there is one thing that I look forward to this year more so than any other sports event this year.  Yes, more than the Super Bowl, the BCS National Championship Game, the World Series, or even the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  ESPN is having a documentary series called "30 for 30."   The Concept: 30 stories about 30 years of ESPN (1979-2009) told by 30 different filmmakers.  No counting down, no rankings...just stories.  One of the executive producers for this series is Bill Simmons, whom I've talked about in recent posts.

Coming directly from the 30 for 30 site on espn.com-  Inspired by ESPN's upcoming 30th anniversary, ESPN Films is launching "30 for 30," an unprecedented documentary series featuring 30 of today's finest storytellers who will chronicle 30 remarkable stories from the ESPN era. Each storyteller will bring their passion and point of view to their film detailing the issues and events that transformed the sports landscape since 1979.

This series is composed of 30 one hour films debuting in October 2009.

Some stories include...

Steve Bartman

Muhammed and Larry

The Band that wouldn't Die

The Kings Ransom

The Steinbrenner Family Business

Marathon of Hope

The Two Escobars

The Trial of Allen Iverson

Silly Little Game

King of the New York Streets

Charismatic

Who Killed the USFL?

One Night in Vegas

MJ's Odyssey in the Minors

Right to Play

The U

The Gurus of Go

The Wizard of Odds

Racing the Devil:  The Tim Richmond Story

June 17, 1994

These are 21 of the 30 story titles that have been released by ESPN.  For more information on these individual stories go to...   http://espn.go.com/30for30