Mas Playoffs

Last night another series of the NBA playoffs was wrapped up with the Denver Nuggets defeating the Dallas Mavericks in 5 games. They will play the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers and Huston Rockets series. The Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Atlanta Hawks and are awaiting the winner of the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic series which plays game 5 today and Boston leads 3-2.

Another AMAZING playoff series ended last night in the NHL where the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals in 7 games behind the AMAZING play of Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh star finished the series with 8 goals and 13 points. Washington’s superstar Alexander Ovechkin was no slouch either however finishing the series with 8 goals and 14 points edging Sidney slightly, but you know how the saying goes. Stats don't matter if you can't win. This was an amazing series and I’m sad to see it end. The Penguins will play the winner of the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes series which is tied 3-3. On the other side of the bracket there is the Chicago Blackhawks who have finally returned to glory advancing to the Western Conference Finals where they will play either the Anaheim Mighty Ducks or the Detroit Red Wings whose series is currently tied 3-3 also. One thing is for sure though...this playoff season is CRAZY!!

LeBron or Kobe?

So while i was at work tonight a few of my co-workers and i got into a discussion about whom we would rather build a team around. Would we choose LeBron or Kobe? I thought jeez this would be one heck of a topic to blog about now wouldn't it! Well there are obvious pluses in both Kobe and LeBron's corner being that they are quite possibly the two best players in the NBA and probably the world at this point in time. On Kobe's side you have his finishing ability and the obvious big shot capabilities. He also has the better mid-range game. On LeBron's side you have his INCREDIBLE ability to get to the basket and draw the foul; he has better passing ability and his overall physical presence at 6'8 260 and possibly the fastest player in the league end to end. After all of the debating and deciding I chose LeBron. I chose him because he is right now the most dominate player in the league and HE, unlike Kobe is a past first type of player. He makes everyone around him better and the defense has to respect his ability to get to the rim. He is just a nightmare match-up for anyone. If you're too small he'lll post you up but if you're too slow he'll blow right past you. So in the end my desicion was easy....LeBron ALL THE WAY!!

Time Flies

So this is what it looks like? I can see the end of one part of my life coming up fast. In like 9 days I’ll be done with a journey I started some 13 years ago as a small care-free kid and here I am on the verge of a semi-functioning member of society! It definitely went by real fast. I can name all of the teachers I’ve ever had and probably describe them somehow. I thank them for everything that they've done and all that they continue to do. Don't get me wrong I’m extremely excited to be getting out of this place filled with drama and pointless information but I will miss a lot of the people who I’ve not only known the majority of my life but those who I met and have grown close to over the last three or four years. I wish them all the best with whatever they choose to do in live and to some people who won't be named I hope that they get a taste of what life is REALLY like outside the sheltered walls of Kennedy High School. Overall I’d say my high school experience has been a very good one, minus a few things but who doesn't that happen too? I'm not really going to go to far in depth but for the people who have made my time here so great (you know who you are) I’d just like to thank you for everything and hopefully we'll keep in touch after all this is said and done....

Sweep!

Well once again here I am writing about the Cleveland Cavaliers who once again swept another team! They swept the Atlanta Hawks last night on Atlanta's home court. They beat them by 10: 84-74 continuing their playoff dominance winning every game by double digits, this being the least. The Cavs will either play the Boston Celtics or the Orlando Magic. I'm not sure which team I’d rather see them play because they both have their disadvantages for us. If we play the Magic there is an obvious problem with Dwight Howard who is an absolute FORCE!! Then there are the defending champions the Boston Celtics who with Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen have one of the most, if not the most talented backcourt in the NBA. Either way I think the Cavs will probably lose their first game of the playoffs because let's be honest it has to happen sometime doesn't it? But I do however feel that they'll be the eventual Eastern Conference and NBA champs behind the amazing LeBron James!

In other playoff goings on here are how the other series are shaping up:

Los Angeles Lakers and Huston Rockets: tied 2-2
Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks: Denver up 3-1
Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic: tied 2-2

The Boston, Orlando series bodes well for the Cavaliers because they have ample time to rest and scout either team.

LBJ = MVP

In honor of LeBron James being named MVP of the 2008-09 season I figured the least I could do was dedicate an entire blog to a man who not only is the best player in the league but who also makes everyone who plays around him that much better. I'll just start by saying that it is no surprise to me that LeBron won this award considering the season he's having. Not only is he leading his team, who i might add is possibly also the best in the league in scoring, but he's also leading them in assists and rebounds as well. Like I said LeBron makes everyone around him better as well which could be the reason that the Cavaliers have the best record in the NBA. He is also LOVED by the fans in Cleveland who finally have something to be happy about there. They show their support every game and could possibly be the reason that they've only lost two games at home...LeBron has averaged 28.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists this season which are some IMPRESSIVE numbers if i do say so myself. So i know i speak for a lot of people when I say, congratulations LeBron on an outstanding season and go get em' in the playoffs!!! (which i might add they haven't lost yet, sweeping the Pistons and now leading the Hawks 3-0)

Round 2!

So like many people already know, round two of the NBA playoffs got underway last night. Six of the eight remaining teams were in action last night, those teams where

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Huston Rockets
Denver Nuggets vs. Dallas Mavericks
Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic

The only two teams not to play last night where the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks. Those two face off tonight in game 1. The theme of last night must've been upset night however, we saw two of the three of the higher seeds get beat last night those teams where the Lakers who lost to Houston by a score of 100-92, And the Orlando Magic beating the Boston Celtics 95-90. The only higher seed not to lose was the number two seed Denver Nuggets who beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-95.

On another note the NBA has a new "King" and that man is LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I Personally knew that he would win it this year after about quarter of the way through the season, i thought as long as he stays healthy he's got it. My opinion is that this is only going to be one of MANY! This guy is an absolute monster and will possibly by the end of his career (baring catastrophic injury) will be mentioned on the same if not higher level of Michael Jordan. I know it's far too early to be doing those comparisons but at the rate he is improving and how young he is (24) the future is EXTREMELY bright for him and the Cavaliers who are also the number one overall seed in the finals this year...

Second Round!

Well after a long lay-off the Cavs have FINALLY found out who they're going to play in the second round. They get the Atlanta Hawks, they are a very athletic and talented team who beat the Miami Heat but I personally don't think that they are on the same level as the Cavaliers....at the moment. Like I said, they are a very youn team with TREMENDOUS upside. They've got Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and numerous other players who have potential to be all stars. I believe that the Cavs will win this series and eventually the finals becuase of the AMAZING chemistry that they all have together. They play the game like it's supposed to be played and they have a hell of a time doing it!

On the other hand the series that I said was probably going to be the best series of the first round did not dissapoint. The Boston Celtics put an end to the series Saturday night with a win that actually was in regulation. This definetely bodes wel for the future of the Bulls becauase they are also a young team and they just pushed the defending champs to seven games and their future looks bright! I guess that's about it for tonight i should probably be going to bad so talk to you guys later!

What a Game!!

I know I’m not the only one but who thinks this but the Bulls and Celtics game last night was INCREDIBLE! Its games like these that make me love the playoffs so much! Last night I was at work and where I work they keep TV's on for people to watch other games other than the one they paid to come see, and last night they had the Bulls, Celtics game six game on. About halfway through the game I walked out and noticed that the Bulls had the game pretty well under control so I decided to go back to work. Later in the night when I was almost off me saw that the Celtics had clawed back into the game and had a chance at winning it! I watched as the game went into the first overtime and was pretty surprised. After I got done with work I got home and found that the game was heading into its 3RD OVERTIME. That's when I decided that's what I’d be watching until it was over, and it didn't disappoint. The drama all started when the Celtics star Paul Pierce fouled out with 35 long seconds left in the 3rd overtime and Joakim Noah hit a free throw giving Chicago a 3 point lead. The next play that Doc Rivers drew up worked to perfection and Eddie House hit the wide open shot for two, bringing the Celtics to within 1 again. The Bulls then got to inbound the ball when the Celtics new big man Glenn "Big Baby" Davis fouled Brad Miller and also fouled out giving Miller two free-throws which he calmly swished giving the Bulls a three point lead again. The next possession for the Celtics ended with a Rajon Rondo tip-in off of his own missed shot. After another time out the Bulls got the ball back with 21 seconds left. The Bulls drew up another perfect inbound play but Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich missed a lay-up giving the ball back to the Celtics with 15 seconds left and a chance to win. The Celtic's Rajon Rondo decided to take it upon himself to win the game but the Bulls' Derrick Rose had other plans. When Rondo set up Rose with a nice pump fake and faded away Rose somehow found the energy to spring up off the floor to block his shot and get the steal after which he was fouled and given 2 free-throws and a chance to seal the game with 3 seconds left. He missed BOTH OF THEM! The Celtics still had a chance but Rajon Rondo missed a prayer for a little inside half court.

Its games like these that make me an NBA and a Basketball fan, and as I said in an earlier post this series was my upset pick and it's one game away from coming true!!

How old are we?

I thought when you got to be a senior, teachers started to treat you with more respect? I guess that's just something I made up because like two days ago I was in my Spanish class and we we're just sitting there basically hanging out while doing a worksheet and I asked if I could go to my locker to grab a book for my next class. I figured it was the least I could do because I don't want to just get up and leave. But when I did his exact words were "NO." I must've been confused because I though I just heard a teacher tell me I couldn't leave? Apparently I wasn't mistaken though. I'm 18 years old which in America legally makes me an adult. I realize teachers are supposed to be responsible for us while we're here but I almost find it degrading to ask to go to the bathroom or to my locker because some of my teachers are only like 10 years older than me. I guess I just figured since I have to restrictions on movies, can drive around as late as I want, buy cigarettes, and go to war and die for the country I’m legally an adult in, I could go grab something out of my locker without being questioned but hey I guess if it makes the man feel more powerful then I’ll play that little game with him.

Really NBA?

So last night i was watching Sportcenter and one of the main stories was how the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard is suspended for the critical game 6 against the 76ers becuase of an elbow that he through during a little tie up with Samuel Dalentbear. Normally that would make sense to me but then they showed another clip from the Celtics vs. Bulls series. Boston point guard Rajon Rondo fouled the hell out of Chicago's Brad Miller opening up quite a gash on his lip. I though "wow he's probably got it worse than Howard becuase of that one." but boy was i wrong. The NBA didn't suspend Rondo or punish him at all! That is the part i don't get, how can the NBA decide that, the Howard Elbow was worse than the Rajon Rondo "punch". I don't think that's right. I guess if you're going to hurt someone you might as well make it look accidental becuase you won't get in trouble...

Stupid People Making Stupid Decisions!

So recently i've noticed a new trend among some of the top athletes around the country and i'm beginning to wonder just what the hell they're thinking. First off, quite some time ago as many of you probably already know Michael Phelps who is probably the greatest swimmer/olympian of all time had pictures taken of him while he was taking hits from a bong. Another one that also happened a while ago is something you might have heard of, I'm not sure if you know their names or not but do the names Plaxico Burress and Michael Vick ring a bell? Both of them had it made and now they are screwed with a capital S.

That's old news though, recently there have been a lot of screw ups around the NFL draft. For example, Andre Smith from Alabama, he was projected to possibly be the number one tackle taken in the draft and after a few stupid mistakes such as leaving the combine early and firing his agent he slid to the third tackle taken in the draft. Another couple of players who are messing up are Percy Harvin, the wide reciever from Florida and another wideout whose name escapes me at the moment tested positive for Marajuana and will have to take part in the leagues anti-drug class and he's only a rookie, that's pretty much unbelievable if you ask me..

I guess all i'm trying to say is that if people that are supposed to be Role Models are getting in trouble and acting this way that does not bode well for the future becuase all of these athletes are young and hopefully they don't have to strong an influence over these kids becuase if they do, we may be looking at a more serious problem come the future.

Some Updates!

Alrighty well I'm back again sorry guys but you'll have to live through another one of these bad boys where I update you on things happening in the sports world! First of all there was sort of a big thing that happened this weekend in football known as the NFL draft. This is where the young college stars decide to test the waters and make some money off of the game that made them famous. The Detroit Lions had the honor of getting the number one overall pick (which i guess really isn't an honor at all becuase as we all know they didn't do so hot last season.) They decided to take Matt Stafford quarterback from Georgia with the number one overall pick and they are hoping he'll turn the franchise around. Now for those of you who don't know I happen to be a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, and overall i think they had a fairly good draft. They already have a pretty darn good team and a trade with the Chiefs shortly before the draft got them perenial pro bowl Tight End Tony Gonzalez! So they drafted defensively which i believe is a very good strategy for them becuase they have a fairly powerful offense already! I am extremely excited for the upcoming season and i'm expecting good things from the Falcons who will no longer be able to just surprise opposing teams.

Switching gears to the NBA playoffs, My boys the Cleveland Cavaliers made short work of the Detroit Pistons sweeping them in 4 straight games! Now don't get me wrong i am extremely excited to see how well they are playing but here's my beef..This past weekend i was in Iowa City at Scheels when i decided i'd check out the t-shirts and stuff that they had. I'd been there before and have bought quite a bit of Cavs merchandise before so i thought hey they're doing good now maybe they'll have more. Boy was i wrong, They were nearly all sold out and the only sizes they had left were for people who actually play in the NBA being like XXL. The reason that this made me mad was because I ABSOLUTELY HATE bandwagon jumpers. For those of you who don't know what they are, they are the people who have a different "favorite team" every year and like that team as long as they're winning. I don't think this constitutes anyone as being a sports fan. My opinion is get a team and stick with them through thick and thin. For example as I stated earlier i'm also an Atlanta Falcons fan and if you don't remember they had a TERRIBLE year, two years ago after the whole Michael Vick fiasco, I could have easily said "screw them i'm a Patriots fan!" but i'm not a bandwagoner and i plan to keep it that way!

Senioritis....

Urban Dictionary defines Senioritis as: noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation. This definition is almost perfect. I would add on having a "who gives a crap" attitude, being rude to teachers who have obviously been through the same thing numerous times, and being a freaking crybaby.

For real people come on, really? Are you seriously using this as an excuse? I'm sick of hearing "oh my god I can't do this, it's so boring!" and "Wow why can't we just graduate already." All I have to say to you people is SHUT UP. It'll be over before you know it and you bitching and moaning about it only makes time pass that much slower. So why you just shut don’t up and do what you have to do. As high school seniors we're supposed to be the most "mature" and "adult" students in the school. But all this whining and complaining takes me back to the days of freshman year when you bitched about the lunch lines. I'm going to be honest I get bored to I feel like I’ve done everything Kennedy has to offer for me and I don't really want to be here much longer either. But bitching and complaining about it only makes this whole process go by so much slower. So shut up and survive because in a few years I grantee you'll be the one saying "whoa what happened to the time?" when in reality you were the one who wanted it that way.

Playoffs Continued

Well like I said a while ago, the NBA playoffs are going on and they are pretty much going the way that I expected. My Cleveland Cavaliers are up 2-0 on the Detroit Pistons and game three is this Friday. LeBron is continuing his MVP run with two VERY impressive games, with 38 points 8 rebounds and 7 assists in game one. And in game two he had 29 points 13 rebounds and 6 rebounds. If those aren't MVP numbers then I don't know what is!

Other series that are currently going on are:

Lakers vs. Jazz: Lakers up 2-0
Nuggets vs. Hornets: Nuggets up 2-0
Spurs vs. Mavericks: Tied 1-1
Trail Blazers vs. Rockets: Tied 1-1
Celtics vs. Bulls: Tied 1-1
Jazz vs. Magic: Tied 1-1
Hawks vs. Heat: Tied 1-1

As you might have noticed there are quite a few series tied at 1-1. This might be surprising for some people being as one of those series is Celtics vs. Bulls. Well this is your upset pick right here. NBA rookie of the year Derrick Rose is not playing like a rookie at all pacing the Bulls all the way, in game one (mind you this being his first playoff game ever) he scored 36 points had 4 rebounds 11 assists and 1 steal. I guess that's alright for a rookie....

Playoff Time!!!

So the regular season of the NBA is very close to if not already over and the playoff pairings are in. The first round is as follows:

Eastern Conference:
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #8 Detroit Pistons
#2 Boston Celtics vs. #7 Chicago Bulls
#3 Orlando Magice vs. #6 Philidelphia 76ers
#4 Atlanta Hawks vs. #5 Miami Heat

Western Conference:
#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs. #8 Utah Jazz
#2 Denver Nuggets vs. #7 New Orleans Hornets
#3 San Antonio Spurs vs. #6 Dallas Mavericks
#4 Portland Trailblazers vs. #5 Huston Rockets

I personally think that these particular playoffs will be extremely interesting from the beginning. I have my personal opinion on the team that i think will win it all (Go Cavs), but there are some teams in their conference that pose an obvious threat. These teams include the obvious Boston Celtics, who by the way may be without their big man Kevin Garnett and Orlando Magic but either the Atlanta Hawks or Miami Heat are capable of beating anyone when they're playing well. I personally think that the Cavaliers will the Eastern Conference champs and play the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals!

On another note last night the Cavaliers had a chance at history. They had the chance to tie the NBA record for home wins in a season with 40 wins which was set by the Boston Celtics back in their glory days. But the cavs decided to rest 3/5's of their starters who were LeBron James, Mo Williams, and Zydrunas Illgauskas. They also rested key reserve Joe Smith and Ben Wallace who is still recovering from a broken leg. The skeleton line-up that was did the starters proud however, they played tough through the entire 48 minutes and ended up taking the 76ers (who were playing everyone) to overtime where their quest for the record ended in a 111-110 loss. Daniel "Boobie" Gibson led the team with probably his best game as a pro with 28 points to go with 7 assists. I don't know about you but the cavaliers playing that well against another playoff team? without their starters? I'm thinking we'll be okay.

What's The Big Deal?

As high school comes to a close, senior year gets more and more laid back. I'll admit that I’ve had senioritis since about sophomore year but yeah these last 34 or so days are going to be BRUTAL! Not only are you nervous about the next step but there are still a lot of events coming up still in high school, such as senior recognition night, graduation, and oh yeah prom. Prom has been the main talk of all senior girls around Kennedy for at least the last month, and to be honest it's getting real old. I understand you're excited but jeez it's only prom. I'll admit that I was stressing a little bit about finding a date but that all changed because I have a pretty legit date now. I've also noticed that girls tend to take this VERY seriously. They go through at least 14 dress ideas and spend hundreds of dollars on a dress they'll only wear once....a bit much don't you think? Well I guess you might as well waste your money on something "useful" like that right? I honestly hope all the girls who put so much time and effort into prom have the night of their lives because I guess prom night is almost as important as their wedding......well good luck to all you people who take this stuff way to seriously I hope you have the time of your lives. But a little advice to you, don't take it seriously because it probably wont be perfect, something WILL happen that isn't part of your "plan" it's unavoidable. So live it up but remember....IT'S JUST HIGH SCHOOL!

March Sadness....

Now even though it's April when the college basketball season is officially over I still think the title of this one is pretty darn creative. But as you might have guessed the college basketball season came to an end on Monday with the National Championship. One team I think almost everyone could have predicted was North Carolina. The other team had come to be known as somewhat of a giant killer beating Kansas AND UCONN on their way to the title game. That team was Michigan State. I noticed that some people actually thought Michigan State had a chance, well they were absolutely wrong! North Carolina jumped out to an early 20 point lead and did not look back beating the Spartans convincingly 89-72, earning the 5th championship in school history behind UCLA with 11 and UK with 9. Onto the womens side, the results were as everyone expected the UCONN Huskies completed an undefeated season and continued their dynasty as a womens basketball powerhouse beating Louisville 76-54.

Another thing that is sad about the end of the college season is all of the great players who are leaving to cash in on their games the list this year is full of great players this years list includes players such as the player of the year Blake Griffin (who probably has the #1 pick locked up), Dejuan Blair of Pittsburgh, Chase Buddinger of Arizona and probably many others. Well that about wraps things up so i guess i'll update sometime later.

Possible Topics?

Well recently Mr. Ayers has been trying to classify our blogs to a certain "genre" so to speak. I've noticed that mine has yet to be placed under one of these labels and to be honest i understand why! I think I have blogger ADD. One day i'll blog about what's happening in the sports world, the next i'll completely switch gears and talk about an interesting story that happened to me. I'm not exactly sure what i could call this but i think that he could start a new category. Call it "babble" or "ramblings" if you will but I don't think I have one clear and consice topic to my blog to be honest. So sorry about that Ayers....

39 days.....

Well as the title states, 39 days till I’m officially done with high school. I'm sort of on the fence about this topic to be honest, I mean I'm real excited to get out of this place because let's be honest it's old...but on the other hand I’ve had a lot of good memories at this place that I don't want to forget and a lot of my friends are going to different colleges in different places so it'll be tough to keep connected with these people. When people say the four years fly by at freshman orientation they aren't lying! It seems like only a short while ago I was that little freshman hiding behind the seniors trying to get to my next class but now it's the exact opposite. I've got all the tricks figured out, I know exactly how long I need to get from one class to the other. I've just got crap figured out, but next year; here we go again I’m going to be that new kid who doesn't know where to go or what to do. To be honest I think it'll be a fun new challenge because I know for a fact I’ll get over it eventually just like high school. One thing I AM worried about is not knowing what I’m going to major in! I just don't know what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life, it's sort of a vague question because I’ve heard that the average person changes their major something like 2 and a half times or something.

Oh well I guess I’ll have to make the choice when it comes time but until then I’m going to enjoy what I have left of high school because once it's gone, it's gone!

-

This first week back from spring break has been as I expected the longest days ever. But one thing happened that I didn't expect. Monday night my dad got a call from my uncle saying that my grandmother was in the hospital and they weren't sure if she was going to come home. My grandmother has been sick for a very long time. She developed cancer when I was around 2ish and this past year it got real bad. But back to the story, my dad went down to the hospital and said he'd keep us updated. So we went on that night and figured that we'd go see her the next day because it was too late and my little brother was already in bed. Then we got the phone call, my grandmother passed away at 10:55 Monday night.

I'm not exactly sure if it's hit me yet but I can definitely feel something different. Mt grandmother was probably the toughest person I’ve ever met. She has been married to my grandfather for 61 years and had 7 kids together so as you might've guess I have a pretty large family. All together I have 19 cousins and even some of them have kids, she was pretty much a saint. But like I said she is probably the toughest lady I’ve ever met and she put up an amazingly strong fight with her illness, like I said she was diagnosed when I was around 2 and I’m 18 now so you do the math. Well the visitation is tonight and the Funeral will be Friday and I’m sure it's not going to be easy but like everyone is saying and I keep telling everyone it's sort of a good thing because she isn't sick anymore and isn't in pain anymore.....R.I.P Grandma

Picks.....

Well just to update you on my picks....yeah they aren't looking so good. My national title game teams were both eliminated and that hurts quite a bit...I wasn't doing too bad for a while then wouldn't you know it everything fell apart. Memphis gets beat by Missouri and Pitt got beat by a surprising Villanova team.

This is how the Elite Eight shaped up this weekend.

Michigan State Shocked The #1 Overall Seed Louisville
UNC Beat Blake Griffin and The Oklahoma Sooners
UCONN survived Missouri who played extremely well throughout the tournament
and Villanove as I said earlier shocked Pitt.

The Final Four matchups are as follows:

Michigan State vs. UCONN
UNC vs. Villanova

My picks are UCONN beating the Spartans and UNC beating Villanova, and eventually I believe as much as it pains me to say it being a Duke fan, North Carolina are the 2009 College Basketball National Champions, beating an extremely talented UCONN team. I do believe that the game will be very close and be everything that a National Championship game should be.

Hellish first day

Well this usually happens to me on sunday nights, i'm usually stuck laying around becuase i made the mistake of sleeping to late this morning...but hey that's the price you pay i guess. So with this extra free time i decided i could get some quality blogging in.

This past week was spring break and I had probably one of the most memorable spring breaks i've ever had. As you might know if you've read my blog at all I went to Orlando this passed week to visit my best friend Eric who is interning down there. The trip started off pretty eventful....We took of from Cedar Rapids at around 6:30 and landed at around 10:40 ish Florida time. My friend Eric had booked resort rooms for the next night so we had to find a hotel for the first night so we found a decent one near the airport...or so we thought...When we landed we were supposed to get our luggage and meet the shuttle bus that would take us to our hotel, turns out there was no shuttle. After a while we asked one of the people that worked there where we could find the shuttle bus and they said "oh there are no shuttle buses that go to this airport." Turns out the hotel we booked happened to be on the other side of Florida near the OTHER airport....So you guessed it, we were stuck at the airport.

After about 2 or 3 hours waiting at the airport we finally found a hotel that was close to the airport we were at and booked a room, but we still had a problem we didn't have a ride...so we had to call a taxi and i'll tell you what that was one of the wierdest things i have ever had to do. So to end day one we eventually made it to our hotel a few hours behind schedule.

The next day was the day we could check into our resort and we were pretty excited to get there. After hearing our story our parents chipped in and got us a Driver and i must say it was pretty legit!

When we made it to our resort we got checked in and everything went smoothley from there until the day we went to Hollywood Studios and rode the "Tower of Terror". My friend Eric who was hosting us down there somehow lost his phone while riding it and we never found it so we could no longer get a hold of him....

All and All this was like i said the best spring break i've ever had, I met some cool new people and got to hang out with my best friend who i hadn't seen in forever. I also learned how to look out for myself with the whole hotel situation and paying for a cab. So i guess this is where i'll leave you for the night, by saying if you get a chance to do something that you might not ever get to do again....DO IT! don't even give it a second thought becuase you just might regret it for a long time.

March Madness

What up fellow bloggers?! Usually I have some random story or something to tell you but this post I figure I’m going to reveal to you my bracket picks for the upcoming NCAA tournament, so get your paper and pencil ready because here it goes....

First off in all regions of the tournament I’ve got the obvious picks of the number one seeds advancing in Louisville, Pittsburgh, UCONN, and UNC. I've also got the two seeds advancing these teams are Michigan State, Memphis, Oklahoma, and Duke. My "upset picks" of the first round consist of Siena beating Ohio State, Butler beating LSU, and Western Kentucky beating Illinois. And that pretty much does it for the first round.

Second round is a little bit tougher for me to pick however, I've got the one seeds again winning and moving on. I've got Kansas although they lost their previous meeting beating Michigan State. I've also got Villanova over Duke only because Duke relies way too much on the three and DO NOT have a strong inside presence and threes won’t carry you through the tournament. The rest of my two seeds move on, although I feel like Syracuse could pose a bit of a problem for the Sooners of Oklahoma seeing as the Sooners only go about seven deep and will eventually tire out. We know Syracuse however can do it because after all they did play quite a few OT games in
The ACC tournament.

On to the sweet sixteen! I've got Louisville beating Kansas, Memphis pulling the upset and beating UCONN on their way back to the final four, Pittsburgh beating Villanova and UNC beating Oklahoma. The best game out of the bunch should be Oklahoma vs. UNC because of both teams and how physically they play and Hansbrough vs. Griffin would be one heck of a match up. (Advantage Griffin)

Final Four time, I've got Memphis pulling off another upset and beating Louisville on their way to their second national championship in two years and Pittsburgh beating UNC mainly because Dejuan Blair is a MONSTER!!

So that leads all up to the national championship where I have the incredibly athletic Memphis Tigers vs. Dejuan Blair and the Pittsburgh Panthers. I believe this game will come down to who makes fewer mistakes as most games do. Memphis can run Pittsburgh to death but they don't have anyone who can match-up with the sheer size and physical-ness of Dejuan Blair. All in all I think Pittsburgh takes the National Championship 57-52

I'll update on how well or how terrible my picks turn out to be!

Peace out Iowa

Well thank god this week is almost over! Spring break is next week and i could not be happier. Of course for obvious reasons like not going to school and the warm weather. But this being my senior year and the last "high school" spring break i'll ever have I boldly asked my parents this question, "so umm do you think i could possibly go to Florida?". I figured this was an incredibly bold question and it would be responded to with an immediate no. But turns out I was wrong! One of the main factors of me going to Florida is becuase my best friend Eric has an internship down there and basically he has the hookup. We get cheap suite rooms, access to all the parks, and transportation taken care of. Pretty sweet right?

Anyways I'm not going down there alone however, another one of my good friends Jake is also going down there with me. I honestly couldn't be more excited both becuase of the fact that it's a very cheap trip to Florida but because of the fact I get to see my best friend. He's been gone since January and wont come back until around may so we all better make this trip count. Well that's enough bragging out of me so peace out Iowa!

I've come to realize.....

The other day I had to go to Target to get some stuff for a project. I was in a fairly good mood and I decided "hey I think I’ll be nice to people". This if you know me well enough is sometimes hard for me to do because I have very little patience usually, but back to my story...So like I said I was in Target and I saw some random old man looking up at something on a shelf. He looked to be about lower to mid 70's and he was looking a little angry. So I asked if I could help him with whatever he needed, he sort of looked at me like I was crazy for a while but then realized that I was serious and asked if I could grab him some M & M candies from the top shelf. Me being 6'3 almost 6'4 it wasn't really a problem. After that we got to talking a little bit and he told me that he had just lost his wife a couple of weeks earlier. He said that, that was one of the nicest things he'd seen in a long time and he offered to buy me whatever I was looking for. I thanked him but said no because I had enough money and I wouldn’t take the old dudes money.

So that led me to think "jeez I just made that guys day, and it wasn't even that hard". I've realized that doing something as simple as saying hi or a friendly nod could make someone’s day, maybe even week. So if you're following my bog at all this is the post that I you need to read. I challenge you either throughout the week, or even throughout the rest of your life, just do one thing a day to make someone’s day better. If you see someone that looks like they're having a bad day just say "Hi" or do something as simple as holding a door for someone because you never know what's going on in their life and even though you don't think it's a big deal you could be extremely wrong, you'll also very good that you did, I know I did.

"When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching." - Edward G. Bulwer

Untitled

So it's been quite a while since i've updated this bad boy but i've noticed that it's really a lot harder to come up with titles to these blogs than it is actually writing them...anyone else feel the same way?

Anyways as you may have guessed since it's been so long since i've updated, a lot of stuff has happened both in my life and in everyone elses. Some things that have happend for me is well basketball is over. We made it all the way to the sub-state final and lost by 2...not exactly the way we wanted it to end. But like coach says "that's the thing about sports, you don't always go out a winner" let me tell you it sucks when you don't. On the other hand our girls did really well and i'm really proud of them losing to the eventual state champs on a pretty dang good comeback. my hats off to them!

On another note since basketball season is over that means that the school year and my high school life is winding down (i think the countdown is around 49 days left). When you first come to high school and all the current students say "it goes by fast" and you think "whatever this is going to be hell" you're wrong. I can remember freshman orientation like it was yesterday but actually it was like over 4 years ago. I'm beginning to notice exactly how fast time flies! Looking back on my four years i realize i should have done more things while i was here. the only extra curricular activity i participated in was basketball. If i could do it all over again that'd probably be the only thing i'd change. But like they say all good things must come to an end and here it comes.

But lifes not over yet! i've got college to look forwarde to. I'm going to be attending Mount Mercy College next year. At the moment i'm not really sure about the whole major situation but hey i've got some time. (although i'm sure it will be here before i know it) well i guess i've just about run out of things to talk about for now so i'll just leave you with some words of wisdom.

Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. ~Chinese Proverb

Blogging.....yay or nay?

If you would have asked me about what i thought about blogging before we started this whole thing I most definetely would have said LAME!! I guess I thought that blogging was something that only people with no lives did or people HAD to do it becuase it was part of their job. I started this assignment thinking "why is he having us waste our time on this, this is so boring.." yada yada yada. But after doing this for the last few weeks i've come to realize that it isn't that bad at all! I've actually started to look forward to days where we blog in class.

I look at blogging as a way to get things off of my chest and to tell other people about things I like. It also seems to clear your mind when you put your thoughts down on "paper". I would most definetely reccomend blogging to people who have never tried it or are a bit skeptical about it becuase usually i say "don't knock it, until you try it." which by the way i didn't do with this assignment, i'll be honest.....i knocked it.

I started blogging about one specific topic and as you might be able to tell i've matured a little bit on my blogging by not limiting myself to one topic, but opening it up to many numerous topics such as sports, music, me ranting, and all sorts of fun stuff. Which leads me to another reason why i like blogging, you can do it about ANYTHING, i mean look what i'm doing now. I'm blogging about blogging, crazy i know.

Well i'm thinking that's enough out of me for a while, i have some major things to work on such as my L.A Presentation(maybe extra credit for mentioning it) and my spanish final(which if you read my earlier post about my spanish class should be hell). But like i said i'm done for now i'll talk at you later.

ADIOS!

whoa!

Last night if you watched anything that had to do with sports I’m guessing you saw one of a few things, you either saw something about High School kids signing there services over to colleges for football, Kobe and LeBron trying to one up each other, Duke getting WOMPED by Clemson, or Wake Forest getting WOMPED by Miami (Fl).

This night was both good for me but bad at the same time. As a Cavalier fan I was extremely happy to see LeBron go 52, 11, and 10, for the highest scoring triple double in a long time. But on the other hand was thoroughly embarrassed to be a Duke fan as I witnessed their dismantling at the hands of Clemson. My best friend who by the way is a Clemson fan let me hear it for about 2 hours at how overrated and bad Duke is, the truth is I sort of believe him, last night they were completely outplayed and deserved to win, that is now two ACC games that they've lost to ranked teams this one being more embarrassing. The other was a last second lost to the also beaten Wake Forest Demon Deacons who got beat last night as well by an underdog. This showing was thoroughly embarrassing and frankly I’m done talking about it.

Now on a more positive note, LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers won their 8th game out of the last 9 they've played last night behind an extremely impressive performance by LeBron who had 52 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds, only one night after Kobe scored 61 points in the same arena (Madison Square Garden). With 61 points Kobe now holds the single game scoring record for Madison square garden, with 52 LeBron is now in the top 3. The top 3 are Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, not exactly a bad group to be in. Now many people may think Kobe had the better night, but I disagree. LeBron is more than just a scorer and he proved it last night, he does everything. He gets rebounds, assists, plays defense...he's a machine. No disrespect to Kobe who is considered by many to be the best player in the League but I think LeBron was the better man last night.

DATS ALL FOLKS!

Frustrated

So last night went about how I figured it would, minus a few surprising things. After basketball practice I went home and did something I don't usually do...I studied. Usually I’m pretty good at getting stuff as soon as I hear it but there is one darn class that I just cannot seem to get the hang of and that class is AP Spanish....we are just now combining like everything we've learned the past four years and combining it and guess what....my mind is blanked on all of this stuff. All of the tenses, all of the stem-changing words, basically everything that we need to know for this stuff! I must say it is pretty darn frustrating.....It's not like I don't try or anything but I just do not know how to figure this crap out...I’ll either start going in before school and getting help on this stuff or I’ll just wing it but as of right now it's not looking like a good idea to just wing it.

So that was just the background story for you guys. Everyday we take quizzes worth about 20 points a piece. This doesn't seem like a lot but after a while those points star to add up. I WAS doing pretty well at these quizzes.....back when they were only vocabulary words....now that we are putting them into all these strange tenses that are apparently used in English also, it is getting almost unbearable. My last two quiz grades over this stuff have NOT been good at ALL and here they are....12/21 and 19/36...i know what you're thinking OUCH!!! Another thing you may be thinking is "calm down, it's an AP class of course it's going to be hard" but here's what I’ll say to you the next lowest grade on those two quizzes were 19/21 and 28/36. How's that for a spirit breaker? well I guess I’ll just have to stick with it and keep studying because that's all I CAN do at this point, I think I’ll go in tomorrow morning and see what he can help me with. Wish me luck

Music and Me

Over the last couple of months I have noticed that my taste in music is beginning to change a little bit. I used to be into all the mainstream Lil' Wayne's of the world then I realized that in reality the man raps with what sounds like, to put it bluntly a speech impediment, his rhymes take no thought and his stuff has become so mainstream it scares the living hell out of me. I've recently shifted to lesser known music that actually takes thought and has meaning. I'm not all about rap either I’m what people call eclectic I like all different types of music. From the 2-pacs to the Jack Johnsons (wide variety huh) I like most everything...if it isn't on Z-102.9 I’ll listen to it.

I'm thinking that the reason people don't like or don't know about these artists is because all the listen to is the "lollipop and Hollaback Girl" songs on the radio...I guess what I’m trying to say is COME ON PEOPLE broaden you're horizons a little bit, a good website that helps with this is one called Pandora.Com. I’ll link it for you. Here’s how it works, you type in a song you like, and guess what...IT DOESN'T PLAY IT!!! it plays songs that have similar styles so you don't just have to dive head first into something, you either give the songs a thumbs up, or thumbs down, and then it starts to tailor to your likeing....pretty neat-o huh?

But don't get me wrong not all mainstream artists are bad, lil' Wayne was alright before "Tha Carter III". I have some of his earlier stuff on my IPOD. Also you may have heard of a band called Linkin Park? Yeah they suck now, their first album Hybrid Theory was AMAZING, their second one Meteora, still dece., but there newest album Minutes to Midnight = TERRIBLE!!!!!!!! They right now are the definition of sell-outs.

Well this is just my opinions on things you either like it or hate it, but please if you don't agree with me and feel like arguing have an educated opinion, because if your reason is "It was number one on Ryan Seacrest's top twenty" I will not waste an ounce of my breath on you!

That’s all there is to say!

Complaining At It's Finest!!

Well as you might have noticed of late, I've been complaining quite a bit about stuff around Kennedy and I guess I’ll just update on some of the S*** that I was ranting about.

First of all, the whole politics in sports....yeah hasn't gotten any better last night we played a JV game and I stress the "JV" part isn't JV supposed to be for the people that don't get to play on varsity or play very little? Apparently it's just another way for the coaches to make people feel bad about themselves. Last night like I said earlier we played Linn-Mar for JV and yeah like you might have guessed if you know anything about them they were good. The first half went like I expected 5 to 6 guys playing the entire 16 minutes, this is nothing out of the usual because I stated earlier coaches feel like "hey why give the other people a chance" but the second half as our team proceeded to make the lead larger, you guessed it he kept the starters in. I'm pretty sure the most rest that any of the starters got was probably 1-2 minutes at the most and for each of those times they went out for either the 1 sub or the other starter that was resting....ARE YOU F****** KIDDING ME!!!! They say that sports in high school are all about fun right? Well how are people supposed to enjoy themselves when they play 0 seconds in a game that was won by 10-12? This just really makes me mad, and if one administrator or someone happens to read it, maybe you could do something about it....but as things are looking right now I’m thinking things wont change.

Alright, time for my second rant of this blog!! About the whole taking all half-days and making them full days, yeah it happened =( All of our half days are gone now and the finals schedule for the rest of the people is all messed up. my complaint is why make such a mess out of things? Two class periods a day for four days? Really? Why not just keep them as two class days with three periods a day? It’s basically the same as a half day, and you get more done. I guess I don't know anything though, another thing, if you think that these freshman, sophomores, and juniors are going to take the time out of school on those half days to study, how in the world did you get your teaching or administrative license, sure maybe one or two will study but it's summer almost summer and there is no way they're going to stay inside and cram their noses in books when they could be doing, lets face it anything else. Especially when the weather is nice out and the seniors are making fun of them for being inferior.

That's All For Today

grrr

So here we are after the crappy weather we've been having which resulted in a total of four snow days, which is good news for seniors because we don't have to make them up.....or do we? the school district recently proposed the ideas of taking the rest of the half days that we have left in what was supposed to be the regular school year and making them all full days. I do not approve of this because when i was a freshman through junior i had to put up with all of the snow day make-ups and now that I'm finally a senior i think its time for us to get some of the perks, its not fair to us!!!!

Changing the half days to full days would make it so on the "makeup" days we're not a part of are all half days!! This is what i call BOGUS!!!! how come they get to have to half days and we don't? I know I'm a hypocrite because last year i would have welcomed it with open arms but COME ON!! Not making up snow days is sort of a right of passage for seniors along with prom and sitting in the front row at sporting events.

I guess if they do decide to make these changes there isn't a whole lot that I'm going to be able to do about it other than complain here, but if by the slim chance anyone in power cares about peoples opinions then here you go! i think i speak for all seniors when i say we shouldn't we shouldn't have to put up with it. especially after last years extra week and a half of school!

well I think that'll be enough ranting out of me for now, and by the way sorry my last two posts haven't been much more than complaining about stuff that I don't like but hey, deal with it =), I'll try my best next time to make it a little happier.

PEACE!!

Politics........

I've recently discovered something about high school, its all about politics....only a select few people judge you by who you are, and these are the people i like to call me friends, they don't care what middle school i went too, how rich my family is, or how many activities I'm involved in, and that's why they're my friends. Now here is were i get to do all the venting....people like say sports coaches however are extremely prejudice towards things like this I've been playing a sport which will remain nameless for my 4 years here at Kennedy, and every year same thing happens, certain kids get all attention while the other people are forced to just sit/stand on the side. The coaches always say the same thing "we're going to help you get better" but as far as I'm concerned this factor is non-existant.

The coaches i deal with on a daily basis seem to just leave the "standers" to themselves, they completely ignore them! And one thing I've noticed is that MOST of the so called "stars' of the team are the ones that came from one specific school cough "Harding" cough, they're also the one's who can afford to Sponser the team and and finance team meals and all that good stuff. i'm not trying to bad mouth these people i'm just trying to point out a fact. That fact is that coaches need to look in the mirror when they wonder why their criticized and they need to start giving everyone even chances, if a kid isnt all that great i have a though DO YOUR JOB!!!! coach the kid, help them out. I know it's too late for me seeing as i'm a senior but come on coaches pull your head's out!

Thanks =)

Mr. President

So two days ago American and the world turned over a new leaf, we inaugurated Barack Obama; the first African American president in history. This is a huge event in American history and i for one am glad that i was able to take part in the election. I'm not one of those people who think just because he got elected "all of America's problems are over", and that he's already the greatest president ever. I think he has to the potential to be great, but the problems he is going to face such as the debt and the war are some extremely bad circumstances to come into office with, but they also give him a chance to create a legacy. Those are only a few of the things that give the 44th president to be great, but they also give him the very real possibility of failing.

Now you may have doubts about the whole election situation saying that it was only a popularity contest or he was playing the race card, but there is one thing that you can not doubt, and that is the fact that he has given hope to people that never had hope. I personally as of right now am on the fence, i will say however that i did vote for him. i just think the next four years have the potential to be great, but you never know what could happen, the next four years could end up worse than the last eight (i personally doubt it, but others believe this). These are only a few of the pro's and con's of what could possibly happen the next four years will bring, but one thing is for sure....this is going to be interesting, and I'm pretty excited!

Friends

So here i am on another Sunday night, listening to music while also watching t.v. you're probably asking yourself, "why does he need to have music and the t.v going at the same time?" and the answer is simple....because i like to party! I understand that not a lot of people have read this as of well ever, but since we've started doing these in class I've come to realized that it's a fairly good way to rant about what's going on in your life, voice opinions, and overall just let some get things off of your chest. Usually i talk about somewhat usless information going on in the sports world but i've come to realize as of late that, that's what ESPN is for...now i'll from time to time talk about things like that becuase I enjoy that sort of stuff but from now on it's not just going to be sports, sports, and more sports because you know as well as i do that will just get boring.

But for this post i'm going to talk about something that I came to find out about a week ago, my best friend(if you know me well enough you know who this is), has decided to take an internship in Florida with Disney for 5 months, this is a very good chance for him and i'm glad he accepted it but on the other hand it's going to suck for me because i'm gonna miss this dude. we've grown up together and at the most the longest i've gone without hanging out with this kid has been probably a week! Wow this is going to be interesting. Now don't get me wrong i have plenty of other friends that i can hang out with while he's gone and i'm not going to slit my wrists or anything, but none of them are my "best" friend which he is and don't connect with them quite as well as my nog!(don't ask). He's supposed to be down there for about 7 but between me and whoever is reading this we're already scheming ways for him to get around there by oh about the 5 month mark so he can come back here and spend the summer with his REAL friends!

Well i should probably be heading to bed because I GET TO GO TO SCHOOL TOMORROW....joy. but i'll leave you with this quote...

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!” Amanda Bradley

New Year, and football

Well this is my first post of the New Year, and once again I don’t really have any idea what to write about. Break just got over and school is still not fun at all, I just want to get this winter done and over with because not only does the weather this time of year completely suck but it’s also closer to the end of the year and graduation, and college. But as usual there were plenty of good sports going on the past couple weeks. The college football season is winding down this week all culminating with the National Championship game which is between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners which is Thursday.

Notre Dame won their first bowl game in like four years, beating Hawaii 41-21 (shocking I know). Another game that was a surprisingly good game was West Virginia and North Carolina; Pat White became the first quarterback in NCAA history to win 4 straight bowl games when they beat UNC 31-30. Also winning was Oregon, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, and LSU. Teams that won the news years day bowls include Georgia, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, and USC winning the grand daddy of them all, the Rose Bowl where they beat Penn State 38-24. But the major game around here was one that may not have been too appealing to others, that game was Iowa vs. South Carolina. Iowa ended the season on an impressive run and after a long lay-off were anxious to play again. They did not disappoint anyone from here, beating the Gamecocks soundly 31-10.

Iowa overall had a good season finishing 9-4 overall, they are also the ONLY team from the Big-Ten to win a bowl game this season. The four losses by a combined point total of around 10 points I think. Their Doak Walker winning running back Shonn Greene however decided that he’d take his chances as a pro, opting to leave school early and test the waters of the NFL. The running back position at Iowa is still in pretty good hands though, Jewel Hampton, the true freshman running back had an impressive season backing up Shonn Greene.

Well I’m gonna call it quits for this blog so talk to you people later….