Thursday, December 31, 2009

Bah Humbug

I hate the holidays because gyms are closed and I have to pretend to be festive.

People are creepily nice to you in stores, but really they either want to sell you something or they're normally assholes, but have a little Christmas spirit. They'll be back to being assholes next week.

But in the end, if these holidays are well spent with friends and family which you actually like, there's hope for us all. Even me.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Gym Updates

Been working out with a buddy of mine since I got home (miss you Josh baby), introduced him to this high-intensity workout that was given to me. He's taking it like a champ, although he threw up last time we went. I, on the other hand, am kind of plateauing a bit in a lot of ways.

Good times though, thanks Bally's Gym, because every time we go in I'm just like yeah I'm with him, on the guest pass, and they just sorta nod and grunt at me. They just don't care. It's awesome. If I can go this entire break pulling that nonsense, I'll be a happy man with an extra 50 bucks or so in my pocket-- God bless America.

I've also been coming in to NFL Films and helping out every day, so I haven't had a ton of free time to do the things that I wanted- not that I'm complaining, there is coaching tape here that I've stared at whenever possible, mesmerized. Once again, God bless America.

Squat is up to 200 lbs (longggggg way to go) bench is stuck at 175 (3 sets, 10 reps, down to 8 reps next week we'll see where the weight is then. Also only 30-45 seconds between sets). I suck. Just gonna keep on the grind here, like I have been. My weight is a steady 180, hoping to add a bit more weight over this next month. I've also begun jump roping and sprinting.

Lastly, I won my fantasy football league, so I'm walking around with a strong sense of entitlement, like I really knew what I was doing. Hell, I won last year, so lightning DOES sometimes strike twice.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Obligatory Christmas Post, Updates

So life is good. Just got back from the gym (went with my boy to Bally's, that gym seriously sucks- creepy people there in King of Prussia, PA) and realized that I have nothing else to do for the rest of today. Gotta love it.

Christmas was good- drove up to Long Island to see Mom late the night before Christmas Eve, hung out with her on Christmas Eve night. Good times and all. She woke my ass up early to drive to my brothers somewhere in nowhereville, New Jersey (yeah Ginsberg) where I hung out until 4, when I had to go to work for NFL Films.

There I helped produced the webcast on NFL.com of the Titans vs. Chargers epic beatdown. The Titans live and die by Vince Young, and it shouldn't be that way- not with the way CJ was running last night. Too many drives with three straight pass calls, or two pass calls, hampering the hell out of their offense. I say fuck it, be predictable, run it right at them until they prove that they can actually stop it. Especially when VY was clearly having an off night.

But anyway, Merry late Christmas. I'm not too festive this year. Sort of hate driving around to see all the different relatives and all, and too much to do. I didn't even get to eat Christmas dinner with the fam, so whatever.

And what did I get? Cash, Amazon gift card, and a bottle of Soco from my brother. At least they're all useful. God bless America.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Home Sweet Home

Got home last night around 2:30 a.m.; decided to drive down around 8 and needed to sift through the hurricane of my room to find enough shit to bring home with me.

Good to hear Mike Missanelli on 950 a few mins ago- that guy, for all his haters out there, is an awesome sports talk host. I interned at 950 over the summer on Danny Schwartzman's show which is right after Missanelli's, and everyone around the station likes the guy, too. I never met him personally.

Missanelli was talking about how this is kind of a shady year for the Eagles in that expectations are down because of the Phillies, which I find ridiculous. For a team that went to the NFC Championship game last year, expectations should be high and fans should be rabid. I know, the Phillies are good. Love the Phillies. That said, lets look at the premier sport in Philadelphia, and it's football. Missanelli is right though, things seem strangely calm this year, even at the Redskins game I went to.

Maybe they have gotten so close, so so close, so so many times, and we're sort of becoming immune to being excited about going to the playoffs. I can't think of another team in history that has come so close, so many times, for so long. You can say the Bills, but that was just a few years of coming SO close. This has been a prolonged period of disappointment.

Let's hope they don't put their heads in their asses come playoff time, because this team is talented. The next few years should be even better as these young guys on offense become a little more seasoned.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Week 15 Picks

FINALS ARE OVER...as of about an hour ago.......thank god. Let's get down to brass tacks here with the most important stuff- football.

Here are your picks.

Indy over Jacksonville- Jacksonville has to want it more here, so it's tempting to pick the upset. But I won't.

New Orleans over Dallas- Gotta pick them both to stay undefeated, don't ya? Plus it's December, and it's the Cowboys. Have you heard? They really don't do well in December...it's been mentioned on NFL Network and ESPN once or twice.

Pittsburgh over Green Bay- Ugh...Pittsburgh HAS to win this one. They HAVE TO...they are out of the playoffs, but did you see the tears in Hines Ward's eyes? They're gonna raise hell now...but too late.......but Green Bay needs it more. They can't stumble right now in their hunt for the wildcard. So they should win, since Pittsburgh has nothing to gain. This is the game of the week, by far I think.

Titans over Dolphins- Chris Johnson show continues ...

New England over Buffalo- Randy Moss has a career day to silence the Straight Cash haters...

Arizona over Detroit- Arizona rights the ship against the ultimate team to right your ship against...praying Fitz doesn't go wild, he's against me in fantasy football

Philly over San Fran - Trying to go to this. Anyone have extra tickets? Frank Gore gets shut down and Philly continues their march.

Jets over Atlanta - IF MATT RYAN DOESN'T PLAY
Atlanta over JETS- If he does...

Baltimore over Chicago- Baltimore needs to get their act together if they're going to go to the playoffs, and they don't stumble vs. Chicago here.

KC over Cleveland- What you saw last week was an aberration...KC takes a close one in the battle of the bads.

Houston over St. Louis- Your grandmother over St. Louis

Cinci over SD- RIP Chris Henry. He plays one last game here against SD, and Cinci rolls.

Denver over Oakland- Woulda picked Denver if Gradkowski wasn't hurt. They were actually looking decent for a while. Love this rivalry though, one of my favorites. Lost a bit of it's luster though after Shanahan left, but there's still bad blood.

Seattle over Tampa- Seattle is at home where they are wayyy better, and Tampa is terrible...inclement weather...Justin Forsett ...

Carolina over Vikings- THE UPSET! ah, what the hell...

Ginas over Redskins- Turmoil continues in Washington and the Ginas kick the crap out of the Redskins.

That's all folks!

Monday, December 14, 2009

'Tis the Finals Season...

3 classes down, two to go.

Looking forward to break. Reading the following books:

Paper Lion - This guy basically did what I'm trying to do, only he did it from more of a journalistic perspective than I did. He was always (from what I've read so far) kind of a side-show girly man on the team, while I'm trying to actually make the team. Still, freakin awesome and this Plimpton guy is pretty damn funny.

Truman - A biography on Harry Truman, probably the most underrated president ever.

What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire - Charles Bukowski poetry. Freakin poetic.

And hopefully one or two more, depending on time. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to break mostly because I have very little to do. I'm going to lift hard, condition hard, and read books basically. Maybe I can even make it to an Eagles game, we'll see. Either way, life is good. Just gotta get through two more finals and it's smooth sailing, baby.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

More Shameless Self Promoting Video

Ryan Koletty did one of his COM200 projects on me. It's below- very dramatic, Mr. Koletty.

The one thing that did fire me up about this- I look so much bigger now, already. He did this in September. Progress...thank god.

NFL Picks Week 14

The season is going so fast- soon we'll be relegated to freakin...basketball and crap. Hockey. Ugh.

Indy over Denver- The streak continues- Indy with Peyton always kicks the crap out of the Broncos- yes I know they have a new coach now. Same result, although this sorta smells like a trap game.

Bengals over Vikings- Picking the upset here, and the Vikings lose two in a row- they're just keeping it interesting for themselves until playoff time.

Jets over Tampa- Unless it's the Browns or St. Louis or Detroit, it's whoever over Tampa till they get their s**t together.

KC over Buffalo- I like some of the things that I'm seeing from KC- they play hard. Buffalo, on the other hand, I don't know what the hell is going on there...

Green Bay over Chicago- For the 2nd time this year. The Bears need more playmakers on offense, a line....a lot of stuff. Bringing in a QB doesn't solve everything, because without support you see what happens. I think Cutler will be fine, for the record, provided the franchise puts some players around him. Right now though, he looks broken, both in play and in spirit.

New Orleans over Atlanta- Was really tempted to pick the upset here, but with Matt Ryan questionable....gotta go with the juggernaut. They look like the best team in the league. We'll see come playoff time.

Baltimore over Detroit- They get their swagger back against the league's favorite beating toy, now Stafford-less and thus hopeless. I would know a thing or two about that.

Miami over Jacksonville- How are the Jaguars favored in this? I think Chad Henne is gonna tear 'em up.

New England over Carolina- All this stuff coming out this week about the lax attitude in the locker room, the lack of leadership, all these things. You never hear that stuff about this team. I think Brady, Moss, Welker and co. will take care of their stuff here and do work on Carolina. No way they lose a third straight.

Houston over Seattle- Houston looks like they're getting back to form, albeit too late, and Seattle is so bipolar you can't trust em to pick em.

Titans over Rams- Huuuuuuuuuuge. Chris Johnson show! With or without Vince Young.

Oakland over Washington- Yep....the Raiders look good lately, and the Redskins do too. Still taking the Raiders.

San Diego over Dallas- The December collapse. Really though, I'd have picked this in September, October, or November.

Philly over NY Ginas- I shouldn't even explain this. You know I'm picking Philly.

Arizona over San Fran- Remember a few years ago this was on Monday night on opening night and it had basically no relevance? Both Whisenhunt and Singletary have done great jobs building their programs, and now these will be competitive teams for years to come.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Video Link

Heres a link to the video of me being interviewed by Danny Fersh for his show "The Fresh Squeeze" on the Daily Orange website.





Saturday, December 5, 2009

Last Word(s) on the D.O. Article

So I just wanted to thank Danny Fersh for writing a nice article for the Daily Orange about me. It was well done, it really was. I did, however, want to address the headline, which he did not pick. The editors apparently pick it.

Hopeless Walk On Continues to Follow His Dreams...wow. Remember last week when I ripped on the Kay Jewelers commercials? That belongs in a goddamn Kay commercial. Like I'm doing this to follow my dreammmmmsss....so beautiful...

No. I wanna play ball. I'm busting my ass to try and do it. They should have made the title "Random Guy Trys His Hand at Football" or "Some Dude Has a Death Wish"...much more appropriate. Just saying.

I don't type on this silly-ass blog to follow my dreams. I do it to point out obvious flaws and ridiculousness in Kay Jewelers commercials. Just to be clear. That's all.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Week 13 Picks

I think I went 11-5 last week. Not bad. I have a lot of upsets this week so enjoy...feel free to ridicule.

Jets over Buffalo- No question. Don't be fooled by Buffalo's brief resurgence last week.

Denver over KC- initially had picked KC...decided on Denver because Josh McDaniels knows all of Cassell's weaknesses....hes gotta...and it's not like KC is gonna run all over them.

Pittsburgh over Oakland- With or without Big Ben. These guys have to right the ship, and right now. They will make it in as a wild card.

Houston over Jax- They are just a better team. Although they are basically out of the race now, barring some incredible comeback in the standings, they play a respectable game here and take this one.

Titans over Indy- Upsets all over the place here. I think the Titans want and need the game way more than Indy does, and they take this one with Chris Johnson running wild.

Philly over Atlanta- Atlanta is reeling right now, and with Ryan and Turner on the mend, Philly will kick the crap out of their mid 2000's rivals.

Bengals over Detroit - A playoff team versus a perennial failure. Doesn't Stafford look pretty good though? I really hope they can pull it together over in Detroit over the next few years.

New Orleans over Washington- Although Washington nearly beat the Eagles last week (I was in attendance, section 221!) I just don't see them pulling the same thing against New Orleans. Some could say that this is a trap game, I would say that a decimated Redskin team won't be able to pull it off. The run continues.

Tampa Bay over Carolina- Upset day continues. Freeman pulls it together and TB is able to stop the backfield tandem in Carolina just enough to pull off a victory.

Chicago over St. Louis- If there was ever a game to get the entire team back on track, this is it. Cutler gets back on track, which leads Forte to get back on track (or vice versa), and the defense has no problem with Kyle Boller...ha, Kyle Boller.....

San Diego over Cleveland- Yeah right like I'm going to pick THIS upset...I'd be nuts...

San Fran over Seattle- San Fran typically plays very well against Seattle, and I think San Fran holds on to their slight chance at the playoffs but more so Singletary pride, while Seattle is amid departures of front office personnel and questions about the future coaching regime.

Vikings over Cardinals- Should be a great game and could go either way, but who could argue with what Favre has done to that team. If Warner is back, could be the game of the week.

Ginas over Dallas - NY runs the ball well finally and upsets the Cowboys.

New England over Miami- Miami is the unfortunate recipient of an angry Pats team. They kick the crap out of Miami.

Green Bay over Baltimore- Should be one of the best ones of the week. I think the Green Bay offense outscores Baltimore's because of the Ravens issues at corner. They need to reload there with a 1st rounder next year.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I Am Featured in Tomorrow's Daily Orange: Have They Run Out of Things to Talk About?

The Daily Orange, the Syracuse student newspaper, one of the most renowned in the country, has lowered themselves to featuring me in tomorrow's (Thursday's) paper.

Danny Fersh interviewed me (and two friends, and my Mom!) for the article and I have full faith that he wrote a fair, open-minded article. In other words, he probably ripped me for being a complete retard. I look forward to reading it.

So pick up a copy of the Daily Orange tomorrow wherever you can- hell, it's free, why wouldn't you. I'll post a link to the story on the D.O.'s website tomorrow, when it's up.

UPDATE: http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/12/02/Feature/hopeless.Walk.On.Continues.To.Follow.Dreams-3843034.shtml - There's the article...