The "List": Why Does It Exist?

Well, it has been a solid two or three months since the end of the JMC 425 class and my last blog. I have taken a sebaticle this summer because I wanted to relax from everything that was school. I probably should have been blogging more to work on my writing, but it is what it is. This is why I am writing now, to work on my writing as school is no more than two weeks away. Today I am going to write about a topic that has been bugging me lately and does not seem like it will go away any time soon, and that is the phantom 2003 steroid "list" compiled by the MLB Union to determine if they needed stronger testing in baseball.

This list first became public issue back in March/April, when an SI report flooded the sports newswires stating that Alex Rodriqguez, star third baseman for the New York Yankees, was on this list of 104 players in a 2003 voluntary testing session who tested positive for a perfomance enhancing drug. Now there are a couple huge problems I have with the release of A-Rod's name, and his only at that time, from this supposed "secret" list which was only compiled because players volunteered to get tested for the sake of baseball: 1) the players agreed to be tested on the basis that once the research was complete, that the list would be disposed of and no one would know and 2) what some or most of the players tested positive for during this 2003 test, was not illegal to take according to MLB testing policies during that time. So with the leak of Rodriguez's name to the media, someone knew the contents of the list and they were releasing that information at their own will.

Since then more than a half dozen names have been leaked from this list of 104 players, culminating with the names of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, two key components of a Boston Red Sox team that captured World Series glory in 2004 and again in 2007. I remember sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas when I heard of the news on ESPN and I brushed it off as nothing that surprised me. As time passed, however, I started to think about the contents of the list and those who have been thrown under the bus at the expense of the media. It wasn't until I listened to Mike Greenberg this morning on "Mike and Mike In the Morning" that it struck me that while these names were released as supposedly being on the list, that it was never reported what they tested positive for. In the case of Ortiz and Ramirez, an anonymous individual who is leaking names reported that these two names were on the list, without any information as to what they tested positive for to trigger the positive test.

The response has been curious to a spectator such as myself. Ortiz was immediately approached and questioned by members of the media as to why he would be on the infamous 2003 list, to which Ortiz responded that he wanted to gather facts before he addressed the media. Because just like the rest of us, Ortiz had not been told what he had tested positive for, let alone that his name was actually on this list. When Ortiz came out this past Saturday, it was just him, no agent, no left-hand man telling him what to say, no piece of paper to read off of. He also had the backing of the MLB Union president who stated that he was tired of this list and that the 104 was an inflated number to the real number, which is more around 83-96. Ortiz maintained his innocence, claiming that he was careless in purchasing LEGAL vitamins and supplements, but that he never purchased or took anabolic steroids. Now the talk of the town is whether or not to believe Ortiz and his reasoning for being on the list.


My question is, where is Manny Ramirez and why is no one on his dreadlocks asking for a reason why he was on the list? As far as I'm concerned the whole steroid talk has been about Ortiz and none of it has surrounded Manny, who was already suspended 50 games this season for a positive test, in which he tested positive for a female fertility drug, commonly used by males coming off of a steroid cycle. But for some reason, people don't want to put 2 and 2 together and put Manny under the spotlight.

Regardless of whether or not this occurs, I feel that no names should have been leaked from this 2003 list where players tested with the promise that nothing would become of it. I also have a problem with players being accused of using PEDs when they weren't illegal to use in baseball. Back in 2003, the supplement ingridient "nandronine" was legal to purchase and ingest according to baseball policy. Since 2003, it has become illegal and is now on the list of banned substances. For example, Mark McGwire was accused of taking an anabolic steroid during the peak of his career in the late 90's and early 2000s, but what people don't care about is that this steroid was not illegal to take during this time period. This means nothing to the public, however, as any use of a PED constitutes instant infamy, a bold "x" stamped on their forehead, a cheater for eternity.

As for this list, it needs to be demolished and the person or people responsible for the leaks needs to be prosecuted and sent to jail. The players who agreed to test for this list agreed to do so with the protection that it would be vaporized once completed. But once the federal government became involved with baseball, steroids, and BALCO, it confiscated the list and ever since then, has been responsible for the leaks. Destroy this list and get it out of baseball because it is a disgrace that players who thought they were safe now have to fear for their reputation because of an individual hellbent on ruining baseball, one name at a time.

Where Has Everyone Gone?

This is what I thought would happen to the blogging class as soon as summer hit. I know it has been hectic, with people moving and getting back with old friends, but I am still surprised that there hasn't been a post since May 7th.

Well I will be the first to post back and just give an update on my summer. Omaha has been very boring, but I am currently conducting research for a 10 page paper due May 20 for my online class. Wow, someone here forgot that summer was a time to relax, especially after taking 19 credit hours. But what can I say, I want to graduate in four years.

So I hope everyone is having a safe summer so far, I have already seen my fair share of tragedy while here in Omaha and may I send my prayers and condolences out to the Ford family of Ainsworth. Not only did the Ford's lose their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley, in a car accident, but two days later, their son Andrew, 21, died in a car accident. I don't know how anyone can handle that. My prayers and wishes to their family.

Mission Accomplished

Well, this semester was an overwhelming success in my eyes. Coming into the semester, I was registered for 22 credit hours, before dropping my Meteorology class (don't ever take it), to still leave me with 19 credit hours..which is more than I have ever taken. Well finals was a culmination of hard work and dedication in the classroom as I pulled out a 4.0 for the semester, with almost as many A+'s as I had A's (3 compared to 4).

Now I am just 30 credit hours away from finishing my degree and it has not struck me yet that I am officially a collegiate senior and it's scary. It's scary that this time has gone by this fast, as it was just yesterday, or so it seems, that I pledged to be in Alpha Tau Omega. Just yesterday that I was elected as president of that very organization. Just yesterday that I was a member of the UNK Golf team, living out a high school dream. There is so much I have accomplished in three years, 4.0's, member of a collegiate athletic team, photographer at nationally televised games, interviewed nationally known comedians and bands...the list could go on and on. But yet I still have so much more to do with my life and I thank God that I still have a year left to sort it all out.

As for this summer, I am going to relax. I turn 21 at the end of July and already have a trip booked to Vegas, so let the good times roll.

Dallas Cowboys Facility Collapses: Video

Text for my video commentary

Every year, video game consouers around the country begin clamoring for the release of one game that begins its hype in April and climaxes with the release of the game in August. That game, of course, is the coveted, and haunted, Madden series.

Now I know those of you who don’t watch sports and read up on your video game twitter accounts, are asking yourself, what does he mean by haunted? How could a video game be haunted?

Well for years, pundits and critics have claimed that whoever graces the cover of the new Madden game that year is doomed to fail and fall under what sports enthusiasts everywhere have coined as the “Madden Curse.”

Let’s take a look at past cover boys and how the success of becoming the face of the video game industry’s best-selling franchise has affected their season that year.

The first was in 1999, when San Francisco running back Garrison Hearst was pictured on the cover of the game. He had a solid regular season (3rd in rushing), but in the NFL playoffs against the Atlanta Falcons, he suffered a severe broken ankle that required Hearst to miss two full NFL seasons. In 2000, Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders was featured over Madden’s shoulder and how did Sanders fare that season? Well he retired abruptly in July before the start of the season.

In 2001, Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George was selected as the Madden cover boy and responded by failing to break 1,000 yards and his team missing the playoffs. Ex-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper flaunted his arm on the cover of the 2002 Madden game and during that season, he missed 4 games with injury, threw for 1300 less yards and 19 less TD's then in 2000.

See a trend yet? No? Well let me give you some more food for thought.

In 2003, St. Louis Ram’s running back Marshall Faulk had his picture plastered across the cover and during that subsequent year, Faulk rushed for 430 less yards and had 4 less TDs compared to 2001. Faulk's worst season since 1996. Coming into the 2004 version of the game, no player was hotter than Michael Vick, which gave the cover spot to the Atlanta Falcons signal caller. That year, however, Vick suffered a broken leg in the preseason and missed the first 11 games of the season, all stats were down from the previous year.

As for the 2005 season, the curse seemed to be broken with the installment of Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis. His numbers were slightly down from the year before but were still above the league average. He did, however, miss one game and failed to record an interception for the first time in his career. Also, he dropped a crucial interception in a playoff game against the Tennessee Titans that season which cost his team the game.

For Madden 2006, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and savior Donovan Mcnabb suffered a hernia and was lost for the season after appearing on the cover. Mcnabb threw for more interceptions and his yards per attempt and completion percentage were down from 2004. The Eagles finished 6-10, in last place, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999

Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander was featured on the Madden 2007 cover of the game after a record-breaking previous season. That year Alexander missed 6 regular season games with a broken foot. He finished the season with 896 yards and 7 touchdowns, which were the lowest since his rookie season. For Madden 2008, the dubious title of Madden cover boy went to Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Vince Young, who proceeded to have a ratio of 2 interceptions for every touchdown he threw that season.

Then for Madden 2009, the video game figured it would get around the curse by featuring Brett Favre, a recently retired Favre, in his Packers uniform. Well, the trick was on them as Favre un-retired and returned to play with the New York Jets. Favre and the Jets started the season hot, but after Favre injured his throwing arm, the season collapsed quickly. Favre threw 6 less TD's and 7 more int's then in 2007. The Jets finished 9-7 after starting 8-3 and missed the playoffs.

So what will happen with the release of the brand new Madden 2010 game, as Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald were selected as the first ever duo cover boys. Is there really such a thing as a Madden Curse?

When thinking about it using general common sense, there is no way that becoming the poster boy for a video game series can affect your career. But when looking at the track record of the past players to grace the Madden cover, it is almost too spooky.

Critics have been talking about this ‘Madden Curse’ for years now and it continues to happen with each player. Is it really fate or is it merely a coincidence?

While people worry about whether Polamalu will get the hair yanked out of his head or if Fitzgerald will tear an ACL, the real video game fans are looking forward to the release of the game and so am I. In a recently released interview with “Madden NFL 2010” senior producer Phil Frazier, he gave a few hints as to what to expect with the new game, building the excitement for one of the most hyped games of the summer.

The first new feature of the game is a program called Pro-Tak. This new technology system “is a new animation technology that helps drive several new features in the game," Frazier said. "This includes nine-man gang tackles, a brand new pocket for the offensive line, steerable blocks, steerable tackles and the fight for the fumble feature that really lets you fight for that ball at the bottom of the pile.”
That’s right. a fight for the fumble feature. In perhaps the most exciting new feature to come about in any NFL franchise football game is this new piece of heaven. The fight for the fumble will allow you to scrum on the bottom of the pile, fighting for that elusive turnover, mashing buttons on your controller to keep the ball for your side. Never before have players been able to fight for the ball and Madden 2010 will give gamers the opportunity to do that.

Another sweet new piece of technology making its debut in the Madden 2010 game is the quarterback avoidance system. This system will allow you to continue to look downfield for receivers as the pocket collapses around you. When you have a defender breathing down the back of your neck, your controller will begin to rumble and you have a second to flick a button to hopefully avoid from becoming that player’s sack lunch.

Other features in the game include the introduction of the “Wildcat” offense which, for those of you who have no idea what a wildcat is, is when the running back assumes the position of quarterback and then with a running back next to them can either hand off or run it themselves. They can also throw the ball if you have a really athletic quarterback.

The whole purpose of these new features is to make the game as real as possible, to bring what you see during games on Sunday into your game console. The Madden franchise has continually provided excellence in the field of sporting games, proving to be the leader in technological advances in the field, making the game as real as possible. The series has been able to remain a mainstay in popular culture and continues to be a giant in the video gaming industry.

Madden 2010 looks to build on the previous success of the franchise and with these new features, there is no doubt that the 2010 reincarnation of the game will prove to be the best yet.

The jury is still out, however, in regards to the curse, but we’re only 3 months from release and 4 months away from seeing if the Madden Curse will strike again.

Final Project: Madden 2010 Curse/Preview

Thank God for that catchfence

Countless lives were saved yesterday by a fence.

That's right, a fence. But this isn't your common, everyday white picket fence, it is referred to by NASCAR officials as the "catchfence". This fence surrounds the track, particularly in front of the massive crowds that venture their ways to the speedways to cheer on their favorite drive. These fences were created to stop large pieces of debris from becoming unattached from cars and ending up in the crowd's lap. The fact of the matter is this, take a crash at 200 miles per hour, have a wheel come off and shoot it into the crowd and it is a fatal projectile sure to take more than a few lives.

It's not common for crowds to show up in numbers of excess of 100,000 to these events, making a crash into the stands a potentially tragic and horrific scene. This is why NASCAR and safety researchers created the catchfence to be put around the track and reinforce it where there are fans. But with nothing to really test it, as 99% of crashes stay on the track, it is almost impossible to tell what a full speed crash would do to these fences. Would it hold against the weight of a car? Sure the fence might be strong enough to take a tire or something that isn't a two ton hunk of metal spiraling through the air. Well let's set the scene for Sunday's NASCAR race at Talledega and show you how a fence turned certain death for hundreds of fans into minor injuries for only 8 spectators.

Carl Edwards and rookie Brad Keselowski are bumper-to-bumper during the final lap of a wreck filled race. Already there has been two accidents that have involved at least ten cars and what was about to occur next would have fans kissing the feet of the men and women who designed this fence. Edwards was in the lead going into the final turn as Keselowski was hooked onto his bumper, looking for that one opportunity to make a pass.

Keselowski went down. Edwards with the block. Keselowski went up. Edwards went for the block. But as Edwards went for the block, Keselowski made his move back down to the inside part of the track, poised for the pass on Edwards. As Edwards came down for the block, Keselowski was already inside of him, pitting his back side against the other driver's hood, sending Edwards sliding to the left.

In order to slow cars down during a crash, racecar engineers installed flaps on the roof, much like on the wings on an airplane to slow it down during the landing. Well these flaps caught the air flow around his car moving sideways and lifted his back end up off the ground. This would've been fine except for the car behind Edwards had too little room to do anything and ended up being a catapult to Edward's car. Edwards's car began to fly through the air end over end and it was going toward the crowd for almost certain death.

But a metal fence stood between the crowd and Edward's flying car taking the full force of the accident, bending back as this car hit it going 140 miles per hour in the air.

It didn't break. It did it's job.

Edwards was able to climb out of his car as it came to a rest short of the finish line and he ran across it to get the points, alas shades of Ricky Bobby. But looking at his car and watching the crash from all different angles has to leave fans wondering what if. What if that fence didn't hold, what if the car made its way through that barrier and ended up crushing many helpless fans on the front row?

All of that goes back to thanking their lucky stars that individuals were able to create a fence strong enough to take the blow of a carsh this intense and not break. Now, each driver and fan has their own opinion of the crash and the safety equipment, but the bottom line is this: Edwards was able to walk away from a crash where his car flew through the air and hit a metal fence at 140 miles per hour. Fans in the path of this metal tornado were able to go home and tell the story of their survival, about the fence that saved their life.

Countless lives were saved by a fence yesterday. Who knows what would've happened had it failed to stay standing.

And the with the first pick...

Teams begin planning for today the day after their season ends, going through team inventories and grading each area. General managers, coaches and scouts replace their 24/7 study of game film with game film of the next great college prospects. Sports stations across the country turn to covering today more than three months in advance, covering everything from the athlete's 40-yard dash time to their barber's name when they were a kid. If that's not enough, they dedicate their own show to the next two days, instead of incorporating it with the other highlights.

For fans, these two days are where hope can be found in your team, camping out in front of the television, awaiting who will become the next possible future face of the franchise. These next two days will determine how your team's season will begin and can you give you more or less reason to hate other teams.

I am, of course, talking about the NFL Draft, which began today to a less than climatic boom, as the No. 1 pick was already signed by the team two days before the draft began. Georgia QB Matthew Stafford was selected and signed by the Detroit Lions with the No. 1 selection in the 2009 NFL Draft. Last season the lowly Lions finished a dismal 0-16, the first team in NFL history to not win a game in a season (since the schedule was changed to 16 games in the mid 1980's).

But as for the rest of the Draft, it was a mystery. Each team has needs to be filled, but there is always one question that must cross the minds of every coach and general manager as the time becomes theirs to pick: do I pick a player that fills the needs of our organization or do I draft the best available player when it becomes our turn? Rarely do those two ever meet one another and if they do, it is only because the team is so terrible and has so many needs, that it is inevitable that the best available player will match-up with their needs.

My favorite team, the Green Bay Packers, faced this similar situation in today's first round of the Draft. The Packers were very raw on defense last year and need help, giving up game-winning drives in the last minutes to finish 6-10 on the year. So defense was a main concern going into the Draft and with the number 9 pick, they could address it. But no one saw it coming when perhaps the best player in the draft fell directly into their laps in Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The only problem was that their main target, Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji, was still on the board and would fill in a huge need.

So what is GM Ted Thompson going to do? Is he going to go with the sure fire need for a defensive tackle to help the league's 26th worst run defense, or does he draft the explosive Crabtree to improve a wide receiving corp that doesn't really need help?

Well I guess this is why they get paid the big bucks to make decisions like this, because I would have selected Crabtree in a heartbeat. Crabtree is a playmaker who can be a game changer, while Raji can be the same thing, but on a less consitent basis. While Raji will be the anchor of a defensive line that is switching from the normal 4-3 base defense to the new 3-4 defense that so many NFL teams are now going to.

The Packers ended up with two first round selections and went with defense both times, Raji at No. 9 and USC linebacker Clay Matthews at No. 26. Both of these picks will help the Packers transition into that 3-4 defense.

I still will always wonder what it would've been like to see Crabtree on the back of a Packers jersey as he makes the Lambeau Leap. *sighs*

Column 3 Rough Draft

Waiting for the clock to strike Midnight: An After Midnight Project Review



“You will hear us on rock radio.”

Those were the words of Danny Morris, a drummer for a little known band called the After Midnight Project. AMP is a group that hails from Los Angeles and is on a hellbent path of destruction to future rock band stardom.

The After Midnight Project describes their music as catchy and edgy, using their lyrics to pull in the listener and never let them go, beating them over the head with hard rock riffs and screaming vocals but then bringing them back down to earth with melodic choruses and soothing verses. This creates a musical mix that gives them a sound all their own - and they know it.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel when we create music,” said lead singer Jason Evigan. “We combine all of these different elements to make the listener want more.”

On Saturday April 18, the After Midnight Project brought their high energy circus act to the Health and Sports Center to kick off the party in regards to the release of their new album, Let’s Build Something to Break, scheduled for release on July 14. It will be the band’s first album release with major label Universal records.

As an opening act, their name was nowhere to be found on the promotional items and was an underscore next to the two other groups set to perform that night. But being an underdog before has never stopped this band from living its dream of making music.

“We started as a band in 2004, and while there have been several reincarnations of the band, we have never lost sight of our main goal,” Evigan said. “And that goal is to keep making music as long as we can and enjoy every minute of it while doing it.”

After watching this band roll up to the venue in a van and U-haul, dwarfed in comparison to the extravagant and luxurious tour buses provided by the other acts, it was hard to tell what this group would bring to the table. But after interviewing them in their locker/dressing room, it was easy to tell that this group of five musicians had confidence - and a burning desire - to absolutely blow this crowd away.

The stage was set and floor was filled with students eager to hear great music, unaware that this little rock band was waiting in the back, ready to put their hearts on their sleeves and give it to the crowd. As the lights dimmed, the crowd erupted into a nervous cheer, not knowing what to expect of the band getting ready to take the stage.

Immediately the band opened up with a track off of their 2006 EP, titled “Digital Crush”, which featured edgy singing by Evigan, magnificent guitar playing by Spencer Bastian and Christian Meadows and hard hitting sets from drummer Danny Morris. Being next to the stage, you could see the determination and emotion in Evigan’s eyes, pouring everything he had into that microphone.

Song after song, the band threw curveballs that even threw me by surprise. Before the show, Bastian has told me that to “expect a show that would get the crowd flowing because we pride ourselves on having a high energy performance, something the audience will remember when they go home.”

Boy, did they get the crowd moving. Looking at the concert through my camera, I could see the impact these men were having on the Kearney faithful. The storms going on outside at the time could not compare to the electricity flowing through the crowd during the band’s entire performance.

The After Midnight Project did something that no other band did that night: they connected with the crowd on a personal level. The words that flowed from Evigan’s mouth to the notes being strummed by Meadows, all implanted into the ears of everyone in the crowd. Just like a fish on a string, they were reeled into world the band wanted to create for them.

“The songs - the music and the words - speak to a lot of people,” Bastian said. “I think that is what the fans get out of it the most.”

With word spreading quickly of the band’s performance, don’t be surprised to turn the dial and hear the After Midnight Project coming through your speakers. It’s only a matter of time before people from Kearney can watch MTV and say, “hey, I saw that band live!”

Photoblog: Secondhand Serenade

Here a few photos I selected from the Secondhand Serenade portion of the concert. These images will be smaller to save space, but click on them to make them larger.

Photoblog: After Midnight Project

These are a few photos I selected from the first performance of the night, the After Midnight Project.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Invades Kearney

On Saturday April 18, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus invaded Kearney for a show at the Health and Sports Center. They brought to the stage a blend of rock that they have made their own, with only two major label albums under their belt.

With over 500,000 copies sold of their major label record debut, Don’t You Fake It, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has established themselves as one of the premier rock bands in the country. Their lead single off that album, Face Down, catapulted the band to super stardom levels, reaching No. 24 on the Billboard 100 and No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts.

The band just recently released their second album, Lonely Road, which debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 music album chart.

“Personally, I love being in the studio, especially when you’re there with people who are there to create awesome stuff together. It’s the feeling of creating something that’s yours and that has never been done before,” said Ronnie Winters, lead singer of the band. “But you can’t compete with the live energy of a show, when people are together and they’re pumped.”

The band is comprised of members from around the western area of Jacksonville, Flor., an uncommon theme for most bands today. To have a band made up of performers that live within miles of one another has played into the band’s success.

“It’s cool because when we go home, we’re all literally right there next to one another and we can continue what we love to do,” said bassist Joey Westwood. “We love to meet bands like that because as you said, it is really uncommon to see that in music today.”

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is just kicking off their Lonely Road Tour, traveling across the country to showcase their music. They have recently made stops in Lincoln, before coming to UNK, and also in Wayne. But traveling across the country isn’t the real perk in touring. That would be when the band gets to play overseas and experience culture outside of the norm.

“We have played in the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Singapore, UK, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium,” Winters said. “What I enjoy about it is the culture shock, meeting people that were born in a different place and how they react to your music.”

During the show on Saturday, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus proved why they are one of the top up and coming rock acts in all of music today. With a combination of high energy music, crowd interaction and powerful lyrics, RJA is able to win over fans at every stop they make.

Success hasn’t come easy for the band, however, who offers advice to any musician aspiring to make it big in the industry or just make it in a band.

“The most important thing is just to play your instrument and nothing else,” Joey said. “Everything will fall into place, but music is the bottom line.”

“You have to know your instrument and be good at what you do. If you work at it long enough, you will find other people who are good at what they do and you’ll be in a band,” Winters said.

Drummer Jon Wilkes offered up a bit of advice in saying that, “if you want to make touring a part of your life, make sure that is what you want to do and don’t take no for an answer.”

After forming in 2001 and releasing their first EP in 2004, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has achieved what every band dreams of and that is to make a lasting impression on their fans. It’s not about the money for these guys, it’s about making music and enjoying what you do.

For more information about the band, visit http://www.redjumpsuit.com to learn more about the guys or to hear some of their music if you never have before.

Attempting to find time for a blog

I never thought a time would come during the semester where I would be so busy that I wouldn't have time for the simplest of tasks, such as relaxing or even eating dinner. This is what I'm experiencing this weekend and I am struggling finding the time to post adequate blogs for this week. Let me give you a run down of what I'm attempting to accomplish by Monday night at midnight.

Well let's begin with my Sport Marketing and Sports Psychology classes, which I have on MWF at 9 and 12:20. It is with the same teacher so it is fitting that we are holding our end of the year research paper/marketing plan presentations during the same time period. But not to fear, the class sizes are large enough to spread out the presentation days from April 20 until May 1. Oh but hell hath no fury as by the "random luck of the draw" I was selected to give my presentation on the same day, the first day possible on April 20th. With each 6 minute presentation comes a paper to be done by the time you give your presentation.

Next, an e-mail from my online class told me that we had our finak journal synopsis due Monday April 20th, by midnight..oh great, another big time assignment due at midnight.

Added on top of that is my assignments for the Antelope newspaper which are due by noon every Sunday. Well for this upcoming issue I have three story assignments and those are:
1) feature on Joe Ellenberger, UNK Graduate mixed martial artist
2) story on UNK Spring football practice
3) story about the concert tomorrow at 7 pm

I really am excited for the feature on the concert tomorrow because I do get to interview the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus at 3 p.m., four hours before the show. So expect a blog entry with a column about the band.

So here was my schedule today until Monday at midnight and trying to find time to squeeze in some blog entries, let alone free time for myself.

Friday
1-5 p.m.: Writing Contest at the Holiday Inn

Saturday
noon-1 pm: Luncheon for conference
3-4 pm: Interview RJA
4-6 pm: write RJA column
7-10 pm: concert (photography)

Sunday
1-6 pm: fraternity recruitment seminar at the Student Union

Squeezed into there is the three news stories, two Powerpoint presentations, two papers, one journal synopsis...and a partridge in a pear tree. All due by Monday and after that I will be ready for a week long nap and who knows, I might just do that.

There will be a blog tomorrow featuring my RJA column and a photo blog of the concert tomorrow night!

Watching the Green Jacket Unravel Before Your Very Eyes

They already his jacket size ready, the sleeves hemmed, the annals keeper already had his name written down at the champion of the 2009 Masters tournament after his tee shot on the par-3 16th.

But that glass slipper just didn't want to stay on Kenny Perry's foot.

Earlier in the day, fireworks were provided by two of golf's heavyweights as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired together, the number one and two golfers in the world. They were perched at 4-under, seven shots back of the leaders going into the final round. Woods and Mickleson knew, realistically, to have a chance, they would need to post 65's and hope the leaders remained stagnant. The crowds that surrounded this group were absolutely incredible, lining the fairways of every hole they played, what looked like tens of thousands of people focused on these two legends.

Mickleson lit the course on fire in the first nine, pulling off incredible shot one after another, turning the front nine into his own personal playground. While Tiger struggled to get anything going, Mickleson fired a 6-under, 30, tied for the Masters record for lowest front nine score. Woods, however, with the help of an eagle on No. 7, fired a 3-under, 33. The gallery that engulfed these players exploded with every birdie, making the leaders full aware that they were on the prowl.

After Tiger birdied No. 16, each player went into the final two holes at 10-under par, two shots off the leader, Kenny Perry. A costly drive into the left trees left Tiger making bogey and Phil had an easy 4-footer for birdie. I say easy as though I wouldn't have blown it by 10-feet on those greens, which is like putting on glass. Mickleson missed the birdie putt, which would have pulled him to within one shot of the leader and the crowd let out a huge moan as that putt slid by the left edge. Also sliding by was Mickleson's chances at a third Green Jacket.

Both had an anti-climatic finish on the final hole, each one making bogey to put them at 9-under and 8-under, respectively, leaving the stage set for the current leaders to make their mark on history, whether it be that or infamy. Tiger shot a final round 68 and Mickleson a 67, a few shots short of where they knew they needed to be at the end of the day.

We join the action on the par 3 16th.

Perry had just almost holed his tee shot on No. 16, with a one shot lead, soon to be two with two holes to play, it was his tournament to lose. That is when the proverbial wheels fell off the proverbial wagon, with all of the momentum behind him from the birdie on the difficult 16th. But for anyone who has ever watched the Masters, they know that the tides can change on any hole, with a double bogey never far away and never out of reach.

Perry stepped up to the 17th tee box the owner of only four bogeys the entire week on perhaps one of the toughest golf courses in the world, Augusta National. Perry sat at 14-under, while competitors Angel (pronounced Ahn-hell) Cabrera and Chad Campbell lurked behind at 12-under. Cabrera was playing with Perry in the final group and Campbell was one group ahead. On perhaps the most important tee shot of the tournament, Perry hit a striper down the left center of the fairway, leaving him in position to at least make par. But that is when the Kentucky-native learned the hard way that major titles don't come without heavy pressure.

He second shot from the short grass took on bounce on the green and went over, leaving him with a difficult chip back towards the pin. Perry hit his chip a little too firm, sending the ball down over the mound and to the front of the green, making bogey a certainty. But all was well, Cabrera made par and Campbell missed his birdie putt on 18, leaving Perry still with a one shot lead making his way to the 72nd hole.

A drive into the left bunker put Perry at a disadvantage, but found himself on the upslope, away from the lip, making his shot a tad easier. But Perry hooked it just a little too much and left the ball down, off the green, and with a difficult chip to a pin that left little green to work with. He chipped it up to about 20-feet, with a par putt to win, the tournament essentially his since his birdie on the 16th.

He stepped up, this putt would define his career. It would give him his first major and it would come at the Super Bowl of golf tournaments, the Masters. A seasoned pro who had found success on the tour, but never when it mattered the most. He hit the putt and it began to slow down...and curl...towards the lower edge of the hole, no good. Inches away from immortality. There was going to be a three-way playoff between Campbell, Perry and Cabrera.

On the first playoff hole, Campbell was eliminated when he missed a short par putt and Cabrera and Perry making miraculous up and downs to save par. Cabrera made par after hitting his drive in the trees, hitting his second shot into a tree and receiving a lucky bounce back out into the fairway, instead of back further into the forest. So off to No. 10 they went, Cabrera and Perry, the final group of that day was having the final say on who would be crowned champion.

Both hit drives down the middle of the fairway, but a catastrophic mistake by Perry would leave Cabrera with the Green Jacket firmly with his sights. Perry, one again, hooked his approach shot all the way down the hill, virtually impossible to recover from, while Cabrera had a 12-foot putt for birdie. A subsequent missed par putt by Perry allowed Cabrera to tap in for par and claim his second major victory (U.S. Open in 2007).

One can't feel bad for Perry, who had the tournament slip from his hands in the final two holes. You can't help but root for the guy, who could be any one of us. He is a man who enjoys his muscle cars and is slightly overweight. He is laid back and gracious, a real "blue-collar" type of golfer who appeals to every demographic. Fans of golf have watched him win more times than anyone last season and lead the U.S. to a Ryder Cup victory in 2008 in his home state.

This was one of the greatest rounds in Masters history, whether it be two golfing giants making a Sunday charge and electrifying the crowd or a golfer collapsing underneath the weight of the Masters pressure. It had me glued to the television wondering what would happen next and surprising me around every corner.

One day Kenny Perry will find his prince, just the Masters wasn't his time to find it.

He Plays For A Different Team of Angels Now..

He had just pitched the game of his young MLB career. Six scoreless innings, allowing only seven hits against a tough Oakland Athletics squad. Even though his bullpen let that lead slip away and cost him the win, it was still the most promising start of this budding young baseball superstar that no one had heard about. That night would be the last game he would ever pitch

He was drafted in the 14th-round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels a couple of years ago out of a Baltimore high school, slipping that far because of arm problems. Some even viewed him as the top pitching prospect in the nation. But the Angels took a chance on this kid with a golden arm. He spent two seasons in the minors and made his first MLB start on May 1, 2008. He went on to make four more starts that year, picking up his first MLB win along the way.

To the Angels organization, they knew him as "Nicky" and to the rest of the world he went by Nick Adenhart. On Wednesday night/early Thursday morning Adenhart was one of four passengers in a Mitsubishi Eclipse that was sideswiped by a minivan running a red light, the driver, Andrew Gallo, a 22-year-old who has a prior DUI conviction and a suspended license. Early reports indicate that after he was apprehended (he fled the scene on foot), that his blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit.

Two of the passengers were killed instantly and Adenhart died later in surgery. The fourth remains in critical condition and in intensive care.

He was only 22 years old.

Shockwaves rippled around the country on Thursday after the death was made official by the Angels. The Angels postponed their game that night against the Athletics and players were there to console one another. Fans who watched the game that night before saw Adenhart pitch out of his mind for six innings, in line for his second MLB win, his promising future coming to fruition before their very eyes. The player that was ranked as the top prospect in their organization was finally making an impact, far from the high school player they drafted in 2004.

Fans from all over California drove to the stadium and began memorials against the fences, leaving hats and posters and flowers. The pain of the loss being felt throughout the Angels organization.

Perhaps the most painful part was that Adenhart was an only child and since he was making his first start of the season hours before his death, his dad was in the stands watching his every pitch in the last game he will ever see his son play. Jim, his father, had flown out from Maryland to watch his son live his dream, little knowing that within hours, he would be back. When he returned, he stood next to his son's empty locker, filled with memories and heartache. He was handed the jersey Nick had wore the night before. The flags were lowered to half-staff at the stadium and there stood Jim Adenhart on the pitcher's mound in a red Angels pullover, saying goodbye to his son in the best way he knew how.

This is just a reminder that those people in that car could have been any one of us and that life could end at any moment, you just never know when. Show love to those who are special to you and live life for today. Nick Adenhart did just that, playing baseball and making friends.

Now he plays for a different team of Angels...RIP Nick Adenhart

2nd Column Rough Draft

Learning Life’s Lessons...All By the Age of 19


Sara is your typical college student, she goes to class, does homework, plays a little golf and hangs out with friends. When looking at her, you would never be able to see what has happened in her life that has made this girl so special.

When Sara was just 15-years-old she began experimenting with alcohol, going to barn parties and failing to realize the potential consequences. That is when she got her first MIP (minor in possession), a term all to familiar for college students, but not 15-year-olds. But Sara thought nothing of it, as most young teenagers would, took diversion and kept on drinking every now and then, but not excessively.

She began smoking pot at age 17 and it began to take over her life. Before she knew it, Sara was lighting it up when she woke up, on her lunch break, after school, at night and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. It was that year that her best friend was killed in a car accident - he had huffed de-icer and froze his brain while driving.

“ After that, I hated God. I didn't believe in Him anymore,” Sara said. “I wanted to end my life, my best friend was gone and I didn't know why.”

That didn’t deter her from smoking as she continually skipped class to go blaze a couple. That was until she was finally caught by the school and was suspended from playing in her school’s golf conference tournament. She came back, however, and won Districts and even became the State champion that very year. Golf was the only thing going for her and she knew it.

It was that summer, however, when she obtained her second MIP and she knew enough was enough. She began going to church again to regain her faith in Jesus Christ, going on mission trips to Louisiana to help hurricane victims, to Romania to work in communist orphanages and teach bible study to kids, and to Chicago to work in homeless shelters.

What she saw on these trips changed her life immensely, but none more than her mission trip to Romania.

“ They were left in beds as children and fed maybe a spoonful of oatmeal every three days. So when I saw them, their real age was about 40 but they acted like they were two. Most couldn't talk and some couldn't even walk,” Sara said through tear-filled eyes.

The ones who couldn’t walk hopped around on all four’s to move. She became attached to these “kids”, some being adults. Sara put life in perspective when she talked of a young girl who she met while there.

“We brought them candy and their eyes lit up so big. I played patty cake with a girl for two hours and she laughed harder every time. It made you realize it’s just the little things that were so important and how much of an impact we made on these people.”

The Romanian government wants to tear down this orphanage to extract the clean water from underneath it, putting all of these people on the streets who have never been out there before. It is Sara’s goal to raise awareness about homes like these in danger of destruction. That is the kind of girl she has become.

She wants to complete the first four-year degree in her family and become the best women’s golfer in UNK history. She also has dreams of opening up her own beauty shop and get a degree in social work. It has all come full circle for Sara, who has come a long way from that little girl getting MIP’s, to a girl who is letting God lead the way.

“Knowing that I was strong enough to over come something like that led me to know I am strong enough to do anything.”

Fal-AWFUL: West Bank Story

What happens when you take a giant pot and mix in a cup of West Side Story, a teaspoon of heated middle-eastern fast foot establishments and a pinch of quirky songs with full choreography? Well, stir well and bake on crazy for about 30 minutes and you get the 2006 Academy Award winner for Best Action Short Film, West Bank Story.

The first thing you will notice about the film is that two opposing restaurants, the Hummus Hut and Kosher King, break out into song on the dirt-paved roads of the West Bank. Now why would a Palestinian-owned hummus eatery and an Israeli-owned falafel establishment be feuding and exchanging lyrical bullets at one another? Well the story runs deeper than pastry and witty dance moves.

You find yourself lodged into a full fledged middle eastern love story that only West Bank Story could get away with. Fatima, a Palestinian clerk at the Hummus Hut, has fallen in love with an Israeli soldier named David. But the constant West Bank struggle between the two sides creates a forbidden bond between the two. An obstructed love that can only be solved through a series of cleverly placed songs and dancing menorahs.

This story will leave you laughing, crying and probably snapping your fingers. For the length of the film and the creativity in making a West Side Story, it is obvious this short movie is not for everyone. If you are a fan of obscure musicals that take an odd look at serious issues, then West Bank Story is right up your alley, or should I say strip...like Gaza Strip..nothing? Alright.

If you are looking for a quick laugh and a film that is the length of a bad sitcom, than this movie may catch your eye. It's available for just $1.99 on iTunes and that is a reasonable price for a feature that doesn't go over thirty minutes and will leave you wondering what you just watched. This film will suit you better if you have a general idea of what West Side Story is about and then be able to apply it to this movie.

Despite the off-color attempt at humor, this film takes a swing and a miss. But don't blame us if you walk away from it craving a falafel for supper while dancing to your kitchen busting out in song.

Perfection..Why You Never Saw It

31 points per game in the regular season. 25.6 points per game in the NCAA Tournament.

That is how much the University of Connecticut Women's Basketball Team won on average against every single opponent. On Tuesday night, the Lady Huskies beat the Louisville Cardinals 76-54 to capture their sixth NCAA title and complete a 39-0 undefeated season. Perhaps the greatest team in women's college basketball history, the Lady Huskies won every single game by double digits, something never before accomplished, not just in women's college basketball, but college basketball - period. And get this:

During the regular season, the UConn women trailed for only one possession during the entire year in a game against Oklahoma. One possession.

The closest games the entire season for the Lady Huskies were two wins by a margin of ten points, that's it. There have only been five undefeated teams in the history of women's college basketball and UConn has three of them in the past decade, but none finer than this team. Their closest game in the entire NCAA Tournament, a field of elite college basketball teams, was 19 points.

Throughout the season, sophomore Maya Moore and senior guard Renee Montgomery have had a chip on their shoulder after being upset last season by Stanford in the Final Four. They bulldozed through each game with the same tenacity, same desire, same passion as the last, determined to capture that title.

What amazes me about this whole situation is the relatively lack of little coverage on the media's part. As the title game grew closer, ESPN began running more coverage on it, but it dwelled in comparison to the hype of North Carolina-Michigan State. Just look at massive differences in attendance between the two games (which also has to do with the size of the stadium).

Men's title game (sold out): 72,922
Women's title game (not sold out): 18,478

That is almost a 54,000 person difference between the two games and I don't know about you, but I would rather see a team make history by capping off an undefeated season in dominant fashion than watch a game with little meaning except to the fans of those two teams. Even more shocking was when I went to Yahoo's homepage and clicked on sports. UConn completing an undefeated season, winning every game by an aveage of over 30 points per game, has to be the featured story right? Wrong.

What came up was the story about how Michael Jordan's son chose to play college ball at the University of Central Florida. It has just within the past couple of hours changed to a story about the Masters. Why is this unbelievable story not on the front page of every sports website and newspaper? In a time when parity creeps into every single sport in America, a team that completely dominates every single opponent has to be worthwhile news. But, it is a fact that a majority of this country can be viewed as cynics and pessimists, who will view the glass half empty.

This country, who doesn't follow sports very closely will look at the dominance of this team and state that women's college basketball is a joke and that there is no good talent, that UConn basically had a free pass throughout the entire season. Try telling that to the girls who pour their heart and soul into these teams, the coaches who mold and develop this girls into women, whom 95% of us couldn't be in a game of one-on-one. Don't sit there and tell me that this undefeated season of dominance is due to no competition for the Lady Huskies because it is everywhere.

These girls simply outstrategized, outplayed, outthought, outhustled and beat everyone they faced into a bloody pulp. This is bigger than the Masters, which doesn't even start until Thursday, bigger than the MLB, which has a whole season to go, bigger than the men's title game, which is already done with and it is definitely bigger than what school Marcus Jordan decided to play college basketball for. This is a story about a group of girls who put everything that had into a season and turned it into one of the greatest seasons in sports history. Not just college history, but all of sports. When you can take your opponent, no matter if they are ranked or not, and make them tap out each and every game, with that big red bullseye tagged and painted on your back, it is truly something special.

UConn got the best from every single team they faced and hardly anyone knew about it. More people know about what color belt Roy Williams like to wear during Final Four games than they knew about this Lady Huskies team and it makes me sick, as a propriator of great athletes. Maybe if ESPN could change their titles of men's and women's college basketball to that, instead of "College Basketball" and "Women's Basketball", inferring that women don't deserve to have the college in their description, than maybe stories like this won't get buried behind the mediocre stories that "sell" the show.

Congratulations UConn Lady Huskies for all of your accomplishments this season. No one can take that away from you, not the media, not the public, not anybody. Enjoy it, you deserve every ounce of spotlight.

Baseball Diamond Blowout

The box score of the game between Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky State looked like a misprint. If you were to see it in the newspaper the next day, you would swear that the editor must have missed something. Or maybe it was just some April Fool's joke that the fine people at Eastern Kentucky were playing on the newspaper.

But this was no laughing matter. Okay, maybe it was.

According to an article of foxsports.com, Eastern Kentucky put up 22 runs against Kentucky State in a baseball game - in the first inning. EKU ended up winning the game 49-1, a game called after only five innings of play. According to the article:

"After Kentucky State (2-16) got a run in the top of the first, EKU scored 22 times in the bottom half. EKU scored five times in the second inning and 19 more runs in the third, and finished with 38 hits including five home runs."

The teams were scheduled to play a second game in the doubleheader, but the game was canceled. And in an act of pure class, the EKU website held out the final score and game details in their recap. The really outstanding statistics came from the pitching staff of KSU, which produced nine errors.

According to the article, "Freshman Kendall Wilson started for Kentucky State and allowed 13 runs - albeit only four of them earned - while getting only one out. Reliever Jamaal Duncan didn't fare much better, surrendering 25 runs - 14 of them earned - in 2 1-3 innings."

And perhaps you were wondering if this was the largest defeat in Division I history, but oh the contrary. Kentucky State is a Division II school, eliminating it from being able to consitute as a Division I game. However, this blowout doesn't even hold the jock strap of the largest defeat in DII history, as St Francis defeated Robert Morris 71-1 in a game in 1996. 71-1!

My question is, how do you even let it get that bad? How can you let the other team score 71 times, let alone not even call the game. I applaud the officials who decided to call the game after five innings to avoid further embarassment to those kids from Kentucky State. Also, a pat on the back to EKU for calling the second game and not requesting a forfeit.

In another story of class from a university, it is buried by the final score and all that caught my attention was the 49-1 score. And that's all that people will care about. As for the Kentucky State pitching staff, perhaps they will bounce back and have great seasons.

Or maybe they should stick to teeball.

"It's Like Watching Your Parents Have Sex With Your Dog"

"Hearing Escape The Fate slather Carlos Santana’s “Smooth” with teenage screams is like watching your parents have sex with your dog." - Blake Solomon

This is a review I found for a CD I recently purchased titled "Punk Goes Pop: Volume 2". I had been awaiting the release of this CD back in mid-March due to previous songs from Vol. 1. I am a fan of punk, screamo and hard rock music and this CD takes some of the up and coming punk bands and has them cover a variety of top-40 hits from the past few years. On this CD, everything from "..What Goes Around" by Justin Timberlake to "Toxic" by Britney Spears is covered by bands known more for their screaming then their vocals. When given this assignment, I knew I wanted to do this CD, just because of the possibilities for reviews and the analysis I found of the album definitely takes the cake.

I googled "review for Punk Goes Pop Volume Two" and received a calvalcade of hits, with everything from video blog responses to actual reviews from magazines and online sites. The review I chose was written by Blake Solomon of absolutepunk.net.

When I first read this review, I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself. It offers up a serious, yet hysterical view of this album from top to bottom. You can tell Solomon means business throughout the review, never meaning for it to be funny, but the way it comes off when you read it aloud makes you burst out with laughter. The review begins as a take on Solomon's younger days, relating the album to trying to maintain with his youthfulness, even though he has since passed that time. He then fires up his curveball by stating "I can no longer feign youth after hearing “in the name of fun” compilations like Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2. Don’t cry for me, though; cry for Fearless Records. They’re killing music and they don’t care."

This is where Solomon begins his case for why this album is god-awful, presenting to you the line at the beginning of this piece. It caught me so off-guard that I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. The rest of review goes over different songs and how they are an abomination to their respective original creator, stating how each song fails. In the following paragraph, he contends that a couple of the artists took completely different songs and made them sound exactly alike, leading him to question how this was recorded by "various artists".

He ends the review in the same manner he started, ripping apart Fearless Records for releasing this album to the general public. Perhaps the greatest atrocity of the album, according to Solomon, is the selection of the songs. It was believed these artists would venture out of the current age range and attempt songs from the late 90's. Solomon's last line caps off this review and it will still have me laughing from now until class tomorrow. His finishing line:

"14 year-old girls, eat your hearts out. Everyone else, blow your heads off."

I felt this review was really well-written and gets his point clearly across that this album sucks. I have to agree with him except for many 3 or 4 songs and that is because I like the bands performing the songs, so automatically I am biased towards their work. But I do agree with the review that the majority of the album leaves you wanting your money back from wherever you got it. Some of the songs are just plain unlistenable. But for a good laugh, I will let you read the review and just for those who are wondering who Solomon recommended this album for:

"Recommended If You Like: pop and/or punk, hickeys"

Does UNK Need A Baseball/Softball Complex?

Last night on my radio show, "Double Coverage" with Josh Kaufman on 91.3 KLPR (the student radio station), a topic came up that I had never thought of before it came out of my mouth. We were discussing Loper Athletics and how much the athletic department here supports certain sports. The topic at hand was the Lopers Men's Golf Team and their first tournament of the Spring down in Arizona. It wasn't surprising to hear that after the first day the team was in 19th place out of 20 schools and being a fellow golfer and ex-member of the UNK team, I knew the first tournament of the Spring is following hardly any practice due to winter. There had always been talk of the university building a UNK golf facility, an indoor area with a couple of practice bunkers, some putting greens and maybe some other areas so that the golf teams could work on their games to compete against the schools that get to play year-round.

Well that conversation fired me off into this argument: that the UNK Athletic Department only focuses its money on a few select teams, at least it seems that way. The sports that I feel get a majority of the UNK sport budget are football, volleyball, basketball and just recently, baseball. This led Josh and I to have a conversation about where the money goes and why it isn't more spread out and going to the sports that can make this university a Division II powerhouse.

When I came to UNK in Fall of 2006, I was told by the head golf coach that he gets $7500 for the golf team for the entire year, which includes travel, practice and everything. That's hardly anything for an athletic program. Now, Josh said he doesn't see the UNK golf programs being a threat to ever compete for a Division II crown and I totally agree with the lack of funding for the program. Without a facility to practice in during the months that don't allow for play, UNK will always come out of the blocks slow during the Spring, leaving them at a disadvantage.

Needless to say, that talk led to a discussion about the baseball and softball teams struggling and Josh stated that poor fan support could be one of the key elements in their struggles. Low fan attendance equals low ticket sales which leads to budget cuts within the department for certain programs. I responded to that with a reason for low attendance being the fact that noone knows where the baseball and/or softball team plays. It's not on campus and it changes, it seems, every year. I bet half of the class or more can not give me directions on how to watch the softball team or baseball team play, except for Cody and Amanda. One thing led to another and it turned into a question of whether or not UNK needed its own baseball/softball complex?

I do believe UNK does need its own baseball/softball complex if they look to compete for an RMAC and Division II title in the forseeable future. A new complex will bring in better recruits and in a centralized location, will allow for more fans to come to the games. My idea for a potential area was the field past West Center and next to the Buckle Warehouse, with enough room for a baseball field and softball field, some bleachers...enough to build a nice facility that will be a mainstay in Loper athletics for years to come. But I know what you're asking, where is the money going to come from? Well didn't we just start a new women's soccer team? I'm not against the women's soccer team, don't get me wrong, I feel it's great that UNK is expanding its athletic horizon. My feeling is just that UNK could have done better things with the money that it would take to run a new athletic program, such as the new golf facility or go towards a new baseball complex.

I just wonder where the athletic department money goes since I know the wrestling team is mostly self-funded (except for 1.2 full-ride scholarships), the golf teams don't receive much money, swimming and diving could use some rejuvenating and other programs that could use some much needed rennovating. Now I know this is a hefty claim in an economy like the one we're in now, but somehow we found the cash to fund a new program altogether. Maybe it's cheaper than I thought, but I have a feeling that it's not. Some of my argument against the athletic department helping out its athletes was also built off of Callie's blog about her tennis roller-coaster every week.

So this is where I ask you, the viewing public and UNK students, how do you think the UNK Athletic Department treats its athletic programs? Do they all get treated equally or do others get left in the backburners for others? More importantly, I want to get a sense of how the idea of a baseball/softball complex is received by you, the UNK student body. I have a feeling that one day, this will become a reality, but it's not for sure when. If UNK wants to become a Division II power and bring in top dollar and top recruits, it needs to upgrade the programs it has now, instead of implementing new ones.

Do you think UNK could use their own baseball/softball complex in order to gain better recruits and make it easier for fans to find and attend games? I think they do and should begin looking into it as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Tiger Saving Golf

This is an update to the blog I published after Tiger's heroics on 18 last night. In a paragraph down at the bottom and a subsequent blog last month, I made the case for Tiger Wood's return being the return of golf as one of the most viewed sports in the world.

Well after his breath-taking win yesterday, overcoming a 5 shot deficit and winning for the first time in nine months, all added up to major television ratings, according to this ESPN.com article. According to the article, the Bay Hills tournament provided the largest overnight television ratings for golf since the U.S. Open last year, coincidentally Tiger's last victory on the PGA Tour.

"NBC Sports said the final round drew a 4.9 overnight rating with a 10 share. According to Nielsen Media Research, that's the highest rating of any golf tournament since the U.S. Open in June. Woods won that tournament in a playoff."

What is even more amazing is that during that time period there were two more major golf tournaments. There are 4 major tournaments in golf every year, the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.

"The Bay Hill rating was up 23 percent from last year and attracted more viewers than the British Open and PGA Championship last year when Woods did not play because of knee surgery."

This further proves that without Tiger, the PGA will suffer until it can find a comparable player. Woods has reinvented golf's popularity and can be credited for almost all of golf's success in the past decade, pulling in millions of viewers each tournament and encouraging many more to take up golf. Now I am clearly talking about golf within the United States, as many other countries have their own heroes where Tiger is still a large icon. The question is, how will the PGA market its tournaments once Tiger is gone? How will the PGA make up for the ratings and lost revenue once Tiger decides to hang up his golf spikes for sandals?

These are questions that PGA marketers should be thinking about now, looking for that next great talent that could one day take over as the PGA's main draw. That was the problem when Tiger took a leave of absence almost a year ago for knee surgery: the PGA didn't have a player that they could sell to get people to watch. They tried with young fireballer Anthony Kim and attempted to revive Phil Mickelson's popularity, but there wasn't a following like Tiger's.

Just look at the crowds following Woods all day long and tell me when on the tour last season that happened without him in that group. Never. The fact of the matter is is that golf needs Tiger here in the U.S. Without Woods, golf in the U.S. will falter and screech to a halt, without that player to idolize and fall in love with. I also believe that is the reason that soccer has never taken off in this country as it has in others and that is because we don't have a national hero to watch and follow as he takes on competitiors around the world.

So my question to you is, how will the PGA survive when Tiger Woods decides to call it a career? Where will those advertising dollars come from? With what we've seen in how much Tiger affects the ratings every single tournament and can single handedly be responsible for keeping the PGA afloat during these economic times, it's hard to imagine a replacement ever coming along who can have the impact he has had this sport. On any sport for that matter.

Hear me ROAR! Tiger's Baaaack!

What a putt. What a tournament. What a beginning to the 2009 PGA Tour season!

No more than 30 minutes ago, Tiger Woods drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Bay Hills to defeat Sean O'Hair by 1 shot and cap off an incredible comeback, not only today but for the year. Woods came into the day five strokes back of O'Hair, (7-under compared to 2-under) and if Tiger were to win, it would tie his largest comeback ever in his career. As many of you may be aware of, Tiger had reconstructive surgery on his left knee, his plant knee, after winning the U.S. Open in 2008 and this was his third tournament since returning, just his second stroke play event.

I turned the golf tournament in time to watch Tiger tee off on hole number 1, part of the final group with the aforementioned O'Hair and Iowan Zach Johnson. The scene was being set by Tiger early on, after making birdies on 2 and 3 and a bogey by O'Hair cut the lead from 5 shots to 2 in just three holes. The lead would then fluctuate between one and two for the rest of the front nine and the beginning of the back nine, that was when Tiger turned on his magic.

It began on hole 14 where Tiger made an incredible up-and-down from the bunker, sinking a 15-foot putt that seemed to move both ways. Woods followed that up with a 25-foot birdie putt on 15, tying him with O'Hair at 5-under par with three holes remaining. The air was thick with tension, you could cut it with a butter knife. You knew once Tiger got it back to even with the leader that he had the ability and the prowess to put it into overdrive and run over those puny PGA players.

On hole 16, Tiger hit his drive into the thick rough and O'Hair hit a bomb down the middle, putting the advantage into O'Hair's hands due to the lake surrounding the front edge of the green. Before Tiger could lay up, O'Hair made the mistake of the tournament, misjudging the headwind blowing into his face, dropping his ball on the edge of the bank and watching what seemed like his tournament chances go kerplunk and sink to the bottom of the lake. Tiger had 101-yards to try to hit his third shot and save par and hit his approach to three feet - a shot you knew Tiger was going to hit, it's almost become surreal. He tapped in for par while O'Hair tapped in for bogey and Woods took a one shot advantage into the final two holes.

But, Tiger reopened the door for O'Hair by burying his tee shot on the par 3 hole into the front bunker, settling for a bogey while O'Hair two-putted for par. And so the story was set, Tiger Woods and Sean O'Hair were tied at 4-under going into 18. Here is how Tiger won this same tournament last year, tied on the final hole with a birdie putt to win (start at about 1:15):




So with the stage set, Tiger and Sean each hit drives down thw fairway and after O'Hair put his shot on the green about 35-feet away, Tiger stepped up and hit a high, cutting 8-iron that spun back on the green to about 20-feet. After O'Hair left his putt short, the pencil was on the paper, ready to write a conclusion to this storybook comeback. With the world watching as the sun disappeared behind the houses, Woods stepped up and hit a beautiful putt that rolled...and rolled...and...gone.

The crowd erupted, Tiger exploded, his caddy clenched his fists and with that putt golf is back. The PGA Tour struggled mightily last season after losing Tiger for the year with his knee surgery. It seemed to lose the excitement and thrill that Tiger Woods brought to the table. But now, just 3 weeks away from the Masters at Augusta, Tiger has single-handedly recaptured the flame that was lighting the path for golf's success. He has brought back in the crowd lost when he went away. Just look at the reaction Tiger Woods making the putt last year and the energy and enthusiam he brings to the table every single tournament. Him throwing the hat, the crowd rising up with cheers, it all adds up to an event that everyone has to watch.

Tiger is back and just in the nick of time. Congratulations Mr. Woods, you have been missed.

These videos give me goosebumps everytime.

Death By Hamburger

According to an article on Yahoo! News, the West Michigan Whitecaps, a minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, is offering a colossal snack that could have you dead by the 7th inning stretch. The snack? A 4,800 calorie hamburger that measures in at 4 pounds in weight and will set back a Whitecaps fan $20, more than the cost of admission to get in.

The hamburger features:
- a sesame seed bun made from a pound of dough
- five (5) 1/3 pound beef patties
- five (5) slices of cheese
- one (1) cup of chili
- lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and nacho cheese
- corn chips
- salsa

According to another article, "In addition to weighing in at more than double the US daily recommended caloric intake, the Fifth Third Burger contains nearly 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and more than 10,000 milligrams of sodium"

The benefit of eating such a behemoth sandwich? If you are daring enough to eat the burger in one sitting at the game, the Whitecaps are going to reward you with a free t-shirt. Maybe they should cover the emergency room fee and any impending artery replacement surgery that will need to take place after attempting to kill yourself with this treat. For those that want to split the bodacious burger, the concessions will cut it with a pizza cutter and serve it in portions.

When I first saw this, my jaw just dropped. My question is, is these economic times, who in the hell is going to spend $20 on a hamburger, let alone one that will put in a mini-coma if you attempt to eat it all. The burger weighs just a little less than that of a small newborn baby.

Secondly, how do you even approach this monster to eat it? From the picture, the hamburger looks to be the size of that intern's head and seems as though the normal human couldn't digest this thing even with a chainsaw and a pitchfork. It's no wonder these country has such a problem with obesity.

Well for one, this club has sure generated enough publicity with this hamburger story and maybe that was their plan in the first place. Needless to say, this whole article leaves me feeling bloated just looking at it.

Here is a look at how the Fifth Third burger is made...beware:

Fifth Third Ballpark Burger