Vietnam Period h4

If I could go back in time, I think I would go back to the Vietnam War period in the late 50’s to the early 70’s. In eighth grade, I learned about this period and I found it extremely interesting due to the wars and issues that were going on in our own country due to the Vietnam War. Everybody that was around during this period always talks about how bad the war was. Many people were against this war because it had no direct impact on the United States. We entered this war because we wanted to stop the spread of communism. Well, we failed in doing so because we did not win the Vietnam War. Also many people in the United States would protest against this because families were losing loved ones and people were petrified of the draft. One of the most famous protests took place at Kent State University. When this was happening, the Swat team was called in to stop the protests. It ended up turning into a tragedy because believe a total of 5 people were shot and killed. This historical event became known as the Kent State Shootings. I would not want to get shot in this period, but I would definitely want to know what all of this chaos was like. Also, I would want to witness how scary it really was during the Cold War and how much fear people had. Another thing that would be an adventure would be if I was a soldier. The Vietnam War took place all in the rain forests. I am almost certain there would be many crazy things I would come across during this period. This was a very interesting time period in my eyes and I would love to have been a part of it. Even though I may have been scared at times I would want to witness it.

Vietnam Period h4

If I could go back in time, I think I would go back to the Vietnam War period in the late 50’s to the early 70’s. In eighth grade, I learned about this period and I found it extremely interesting due to the wars and issues that were going on in our own country due to the Vietnam War. Everybody that was around during this period always talks about how bad the war was. Many people were against this war because it had no direct impact on the United States. We entered this war because we wanted to stop the spread of communism. Well, we failed in doing so because we did not win the Vietnam War. Also many people in the United States would protest against this because families were losing loved ones and people were petrified of the draft. One of the most famous protests took place at Kent State University. When this was happening, the Swat team was called in to stop the protests. It ended up turning into a tragedy because believe a total of 5 people were shot and killed. This historical event became known as the Kent State Shootings. I would not want to get shot in this period, but I would definitely want to know what all of this chaos was like. Also, I would want to witness how scary it really was during the Cold War and how much fear people had. Another thing that would be an adventure would be if I was a soldier. The Vietnam War took place all in the rain forests. I am almost certain there would be many crazy things I would come across during this period. This was a very interesting time period in my eyes and I would love to have been a part of it. Even though I may have been scared at times I would want to witness it.

Brian's Bashing#3 Buffalo Sports

Really? Buffalo sports is an absolute disaster, I don’t even know where to begin. The football season begins and here we go off to a fast start. The Bills win two right away and bring a very slight amount of hope into that week three game that so happened to be against Tom Brady and the Patriots. This game would be the test to see if the Bills were real. The fell down 21 to 0 right away and they had no chance. 4 Brady interceptions later the Bills beat the Pats for the first time since 2003. Then it turns into “The Bills are going to the Superbowl! “ I also bash myself for buying into this team so early. I was strapped in extremely tight to this band wagon. I thought Fitzpatrick was the real deal and this team was so good. Well here we are 13 weeks later and we are 5 and 9 and not going to the playoffs. I don’t even know what to say, I am so sick of this feeling. I have never seen a Bills team in the playoffs in my life. But hey let’s try and lose our final two games to get a good draft pick. Oh my God! I say this every year and I’m sick of it. The Bills are driving me nuts and they have to do something about it in the future, and I sure hope they don’t get put on the cover of Sports Illustrated ever again. At least the Buffalo sport fans have the Sabres, oh wait, they are horrible too. I can’t even count how many games they have lost, but way too many for me. This situation may be worse than the Bills. I know one guy that is a diehard Buffalo sports fan. His name will not be fully identified so I can protect his identity. We will just call him “Joe from Elma.” Joe from Elma is a huge Lindy Ruff fan. Well one night I get a text from this man saying “Lindy needs to be fired.” That says it all to me because I don’t think there was a person in the world that liked Lindy Ruff more than this man. Also, I would like to bash the Whiner Line for banning Joe from Elma’s phone calls. I find this very unnecessary. All I want is the city off Buffalo to bring me a Superbowl and a Cup. Also, WGR needs to bring back Joe from Elma. Get real Buffalo sports, get real.

H2 Madeline Koelbl

In this great class, one of the blogs I look forward to the most is the interview blog. I like this just because it is a different wrinkle that gets thrown at us. Usually we don’t get blogs like this so that is why I like it. The person I interviewed was Madeline Koelbl. See unlike me, Madeline gets her assignments done right away were it tends to take me a little longer to do my work even though I do make sure it is done on time. So Madeline already wrote her blog about me which was very good and I thank her for that. There is one thing though in her blog that I can promise you will not be in my blog. She did have a picture of me in her blog and I just want to make it clear I do not have the brains or the technology to pull off a procedure like that. Yes I did just quote the movie Superbad. In all reality though, I am not hands on enough to find a picture of Madeline for my blog and I apologize for that. Now I will talk about what Madeline had to say. She started off by telling me her favorite class in school is AP Literature because she likes the book. I was quick to respond to this with a big question. I asked “How do you like the teacher?” She simply said “Ehhh, he’s alright.” I told her to stop being nice after that. Really Madeline didn’t say that, she only said good things about Mr. Currin. I don’t know how she could do that though. Yes I am kidding as well. Madeline is a member of the National Junior Honor Society so she is obviously a very responsible and hardworking student. I asked her where she was looking to attend college. She told me she her two top colleges at the moment which are Boston University and George Washington University. Both of these are very high academic schools so this goes to show how great of a student Madeline is. She is also a two sport athlete. She runs track and is a swimmer. She is also a lifeguard for the boys swim team too which her brother is a member of which she finds interesting. Her brother is a freshman and I asked her how she likes being in the same school as her brother and she said it is definitely different especially because she sits next to him in a class. Besides Mr. Currin her favorite teacher is Mr. Wild because of his style of teaching. When Madeline grows up she wants to get into law and she wants to do something that deals with different countries. I wish Madeline the best of luck with her future.

Brian's Bashing #3

For real bro? I have to tell a story about one of my close teammates and friends that has one tradition that is very different. One time I was in a deep sleep in my bed on a Wednesday night. I had school the next morning so I definitely wanted to be having a good night sleep. Then all of a suddenly I woke up to my phone vibrating. I got a text message a 3:31 a.m. in the morning. It was from my friend who sent me a text saying “Tricks are for kids. Haha.” For one, this joke isn’t even funny so I didn’t get the point to this at all. Then I wanted to know why this kid was up at this time at night when we had school in the morning. So then I saw my friend in school that morning. I asked him what that text was about or what the point of it was, and all he did was burst out into laughter. He didn’t even say anything! Then a week later on the following Tuesday, I went to sleep early again because I had school yet again in the morning. Yet again, I got another text from him in the morning around the same time. This started to make me wonder, I’m not going to lie. This time it wasn’t a text message that I received. I received a picture message of this man holding a gallon of milk with a huge grin on his face. It looked to me that he was laughing quite a bit, and I’m not sure why. But, the moral of this story is that I don’t understand at all why my fellow teammate is sending me texts at ridiculous times that I suppose are supposed to be funny. For those of you that are considering doing this as well, I just want you to know that I am not a huge fan of receiving texts or picture messages at crazy hours of the night. So do not ever  send me texts at the random times because I do not want to be woken up on a school night to read something stupid that I don’t care about.

Brian's Bashing #2 The Steffanator

Really!? It doesn’t take much for a normal person to write a 300 word article especially when you have an editor to correct your mistakes. I think many people would agree with that statement except for the ones have a hard time writing an article or the people that can’t think of something to write an article about. That’s right people; I did just say there are some people who have a hard time coming up with something to write about. I know this is ridiculous. Well one member of the Bulldog Student Newspaper does the same thing every week and everybody is getting sick of it. Every week I hear Michael Steffan say “Uhhh, Brian what should I uhhh right about?” And every week I will give him a great idea, but then I will get that dumbfounded look and a response of “That’s stupid Brian.” Yeah, real mature Mike, I guess he can go ahead and call me stupid, but I’m not the one looking for articles at the last minute. Who’s the stupid one now? See I kind of take it personal that Doodler never takes my opinion, but I guess it works out for him because a lot of people really care to read about Carson Palmer. Very recently, Mike wrote an article about Carson Palmer. Really Mike? Who cares about Carson Palmer and the Oakland Raiders? This past Monday, Doodler came in to class without an article idea. 80 minutes later, he left class still without an article idea and he accomplished nothing in the class. Boy that was a very productive period for him I would say. Putting all the article issues to the side, here is another issue with Doodler. He always tell me how we are going to chill and play Madden and all that good stuff that men our age do. But then at the last minute Mike always comes up with some lame excuse for how he can’t do anything because he has to go walk his dog or something along those lines. Mike there’s an article idea for you, go write about how lame it is for people to not have article ideas. This story may be continued one day……

Anyone Want to Know What my Favorite Book is?

I would have to say my favorite book is about a former great NFL coach. Jon Gruden has a book that is titled “Do you love football?!” This book is one my favorites for many reasons. In this story, Jon talks about his journey in becoming an NFL coach. I find his way of becoming an NFL coach very interesting because he never played in the NFL so he was a disadvantage right away. Most coaches in the NFL are former players so they have many connections right after they retire. Jon on the other hand was a division 3 quarterback at a little college by the name of Muskingum in Concord, Ohio. Now this story is very interesting to me because Jon was going to have to work so hard to become an NFL coach. In his book, it explains his hard, exhausting journey in becoming a coach. Gruden explained how it is so important to make connections with as many people as you possibly can so when coaching jobs open up you already know people. Also, he said he how it is crucial to show an incredibly hard work ethic. In the story, Jon definitely showed a great work ethic. At one point he said he lived in the coaching office because he wanted to show people that he was willing to put in tons of time and work as hard as he possibly could. Gruden also states how he became an assistant coach for the Green Bay Packers under Mike Holmgren. He said that was one of the biggest reasons why he became a successful NFL coach. This is my favorite book because Jon Gruden is one of my favorite coaches. Another reason is because his path to coaching is similar to one that I would like to take to become a coach. This is a great book and I recommend it anyone.   

The Best Movie is..........

To be honest, there are so many movies in this world that I like; it is going to be very difficult for me to find my three favorite movies. Every day my three favorite movies probably changes because I suppose it depends on what kind of mood I am in. For today, the third best movie is the Dark Knight. Many people probably don’t know that I am a huge fan of Batman. I have watched every batman movie many times, even the ones that were made in the 1960’s. Yes, I did just say the 1960’s. Anyways, the Dark Knight is a great movie because it has so much action and the Joker is insanely creepy. There is another Batman that is coming out next summer that I can’t wait to go see. It even has the Pittsburgh Steelers in a few scenes because the movie was filmed in Pittsburgh. Big Ben will probably make the movie bad though; well I hope not. I have always said that if coaching and teaching careers don’t work out for me, then I want to be the next Batman. That may be very difficult, but I won’t worry about that right now. The second best movie is Rudy. I am not sure that there is a more inspirational and uplifting move than Rudy. Every time I watch this movie I get teary eyed because it deals with somebody working as hard as they possibly can and it pays off for them. Also, it deals with the sport that I love the most. Finally, the best movie is Dumb and Dumber. I really do believe that I know every single line to this movie. I can watch it a million times and I will laugh just as hard every time. The humor in this movie is so funny, I can never stop laughing. There are so many stupid acts in this movie that make me laugh. I often compare my friends to this movie; that probably isn’t a good thing. Today, Dumb and Dumber gets the best movie for me.

My Wishes

I will have to say that there are more than just three wishes I have in life, but I suppose for now I could pick out three that I wish would come true. One of my biggest wishes is obvious and it is to win a state championship in football. Now really that is probably a goal more than it is a wish, but for now I will call it a wish. I really wish we would have won it all this year, but there is nothing I can do about it now besides use the pain as motivation in the weight room. This will make me a better football player in the future and hopefully next year it will help our team get the job done. My second wish is a very big one. For those of you that don’t know, I just got my license so now I guess I could fit myself into Mr. Currin’s quote, “I’m kind of a big deal.” I am just kidding; I don’t think that getting a license is as big as that quote, but oh well. I will say that being able to drive by myself now is pretty sweet. The only problem with me having my license is that currently there are three vehicles that my family owns and there are four people that drive. That means that I am the one that gets left out because I am the “Young One” as my father would say. My wish is that I would get a vehicle sometime soon. The vehicle I have always wanted is a Chevy Colorado. Hopefully my wish comes true sometime soon. My final wish is that the Bills make the playoffs. In the beginning of the year, this looked like a sure bet, but now it doesn’t look so good. But, if Stevie Johnson can get his head on straight and the Bills get a little luck this is possible. It would be awesome if all of these wishes eventually come true. Without question, the most important wish to me is winning a state title; enough said.

Brian's Bashing

Way to go Stevie! As many people would know the Buffalo Bills got off to a great start this season. It looked like the Bills were going to make the playoffs for the first time in ten years. Everybody thought this was the year they finally broke out. Then there was suddenly a breakout of injuries. Kyle Williams, Fred Jackson, Shawn Merriman, Eric Wood, and Terrance McGee all suffered season ending injuries. This obviously ended up hurting the Bills and they went on a horrible losing streak that started four weeks ago. Although the Bills have been struggling, their playoff hopes were not gone yet. This past week they traveled to New York City to take on the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS. Both teams entered the game with an equal record of 5 wins and 5 losses. Basically the winner of this game would be in great shape to make the playoffs and the loser would be just about eliminated from a playoff opportunity. I give credit to the Bills for coming out and playing a great game. It was evident that they gave it their all and played together as a team for the most part. The key phrase in that last sentence is “for the most part.” I am against picking out one player to blame in a game, but for this occasion, I don’t feel bad at all. During the second quarter of this game, Stevie Johnson caught a touchdown pass to give the Bills the lead. After that, Stevie decided it would be hilarious to mock out New York Jets receiver, Plaxico Burress, by pretending to shoot himself in the leg. For those of you who do not know, Burress went to a New York City night club two years ago and managed to shoot himself in the leg accidently. After Johnson mocked Plaxico, he then mocked the other Jets receiver, Santonio Holmes, by doing Santonio’s touchdown dance. For his actions Johnson was given a penalty that made the Bills kickoff 15 yards behind where they normally do. This forced Chan Gailey to call a squib quick. The squib quick only went 10 yards by mistake which gave the Jets the ball at the Bills 40 yard line with 2 minutes left in the half. The Jets went on to score to tie the game. At the end of the game, the Bills were down by four points and marching right down the field trying to win the game. With very little time left, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a perfect pass right down the middle to Stevie Johnson, but Stevie wasn’t celebrating after this play. Take a guess why. He was wide open and he dropped what would have been a game winning touchdown. It makes me wonder why he dropped this pass. It must have been because he was thinking of his next touchdown dance, but he didn’t get that opportunity. To me this is a perfect example of the Buddha belief of Karma. I think it’s safe to say, Johnson won’t be doing any touchdown dances for a long time, because I’m sure he won’t want to hurt his team again. Actually with his selfish acts, he probably isn’t a team player. So he might do another stupid dance next time he scores because he doesn’t care about his team. I cannot express how stupid of an action this was by Johnson. He put himself in front of the team and cost the Bills a trip to the playoffs. I hope he feels the pain from this loss because this is one of the most stupid things you could possibly do. Stevie should take the time that he thinks about touchdown dances and use it for time to practice catching the football because he isn’t very good at it. If you are a young kid reading this, learn from the stupid, idiotic moves that this person made. One thing is for certain, I know for a fact, Stevie won’t be doing any dances in the playoffs this year. Way to go Stevie! Enjoy your winter where your team will not be in the playoffs completely because of you!

 

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is right there next to Christmas for being my favorite holiday. I would have to say that it does not get better than football, family, and food. My Thanksgiving consist of quite a bit. Every Thanksgiving morning I go out hunting with my father and my brother at our cabin. I call it hunting, but nobody in my family ever seems to get a deer. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many. This does bring up an off topic very quickly though. When being in a conversation about hunting, most people will say “Did you shoot a deer?” Well I always find it funny when our defensive coordinator always asks “Did you catch a deer?” I wonder how a person can physically catch a deer, but crazy things can happen I guess. Now I will get back on the real topic. After my family is out hunting for the morning, we usually come back home and then the fun for the day really begins. There are always three football games on Thanksgiving Day and I look forward to them. The first game always takes place in Detroit, Michigan. Some would consider this a dumpster of America, but I liked it when I went there to be honest. I think most people look at this way just because their football team has had some rough times. But I got some news for those people; the lions are back baby! Actually, wait, the Lions were never good, but still this year is different. For once the Detroit football game on Thanksgiving is a very meaningful one. Detroit will be taking on Green Bay in a huge NFC North matchup. Then the second game will consist of Dallas and Miami and nobody will care about that one. That will be a great time to eat dinner though which I can’t wait for. I love Thanksgiving for many reasons and it is definitely one of the best holidays.

Christmas

My favorite holiday would have to be Christmas for many reasons. For those of you that don’t know, Christmas is on December 25^th. It is the day Jesus was born just to remind everyone. Now I said there were numerous reasons for why Christmas is my favorite holiday. Well yes I could say the obvious that we love Christmas because we get gifts, but to me it is more than just that. Every Christmas morning starts off with a wonderful breakfast down the street and my Grandparent’s house.  This breakfast consists of great foods such toast with jelly, eggs, pancakes, very crispy bacon, and corned beef hash. At this breakfast, just about our whole family is there and other people from around the neighborhood. After breakfast, I walk back down to my house with my family. Once I get home, I usually try out some of my new gifts and see how I like them. I will also turn on the television and watch NBA basketball at this time, but this year that might not happen to do the fact there is a lockout in the NBA that is currently stopping the play of games. Around four in the evening, my mother’s side of the family will come over for a nice prime rib dinner. Also at this dinner, my mother will make some corn, broccoli and bean casserole. These are always a good fit for the Christmas dinner. After that, my Grandma will make a nice dessert that consists of ice cream and hot pudding.  This truly is one of the best dinners that I have during the year so I always look forward to it. Another Christmas tradition that I have is that on Christmas night we usually watch a football game. Sometimes there are both college and NFL games on Christmas so it is a great way to cap off the holiday.

Becoming a Coach

After high school, I plan on attending a University to study something and play college football. Now, I don’t know what I want to study yet, but it will definitely be something that I love doing. I have many colleges in mind for where I want to go, and it doesn’t really matter to me where they are located. If I end up 30 minutes from my house that would be great, and I if end up 10 hours from my house that would also be great. My goal in life is to become a Division 1A Head football coach. In order to do this I will have to play college football. Now to make it easier for me, I want to go play for a football coach with lots of connections. So this way I can have many options for where to start my coaching career. My plan is to become a Graduate Assistant when I am done playing college football. This means I am an unpaid coach, but I do a lot little jobs to start off. For example this position deals with doing lots of paper work, and running camps and jobs like that. While doing this it is crucial that I show a solid work ethic because if coaches see that I work hard, they will fight harder to get me a job. Also while being a graduate assistant, my graduation classes are paid for. So hopefully I could get a coaching job relatively quick and then start making some money. Then when I get a position coaching job, I just have to keep building my way up to bigger coaching spots. After being a position coach, I want to become a coordinator, then a head coach and then I just keep going through that process until I am content with the level I am at.

Best Class Ever!

My favorite class is without question is Online Publishing. Last year I took this class and basically wrote the same exact blog, but it’s okay because it is a great class to write about. Last year I took this class for the first year it was ever offered and I had a blast. It would be impossible for you not to have fun in this class to be honest. Last year I was fortunate enough to write about the varsity football team. This year I do not write about the varsity because I am a member of team and I think it would be weird. So this year I write about the J.V. football team and I am having a wonderful time with it. Also, because I am a two year veteran in this class, I am not a senior editor. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal. Being a senior editor is a lot of responsibility, sometimes too much for people to handle. It can cause a great deal of destruction to human being if they struggle managing their time. Just ask Nathan Michael Bailey; last year he was stripped of his edition duties because he just could not handle it. In other words, he was put on editor probation.  Believe me, that is something that you never want to experience. This class is also a great time because you never have homework. That is a benefit because that isn’t causing any stress outside of the classroom. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who is looking to have fun in school. Some people say the teacher is a little bit of a different bird. Personally, I think that he is alright. Actually everybody has a great deal of respect for Mr. Currin because he is kind of a big deal. He will be the first to tell you that. This is my favorite class of all time.

The Men who Impacted my Life

Since there have been so many teachers in my life that have impacted me positively, I have decided that I am choosing a department that has impacted me in a positive way. The Alden High school physical education/ health department has impacted my life greatly. I will start off with Mr. Helmicki. He has taught me many things about life such as looking up to people, how to throw a Frisbee, and he has many great quotes. If you walk down by the gymnasium; chances are that you will hear Mr. Helmicki tell somebody “Watch your mouth.” This quote has impacted me in some way, but I haven’t figured it out yet. This is tough to figure out because he will tell you this when you just say hello to him sometimes. That makes it difficult to figure out what you did wrong, but that’s okay. One of my favorite memories with this man is when I had him for a maintenance class last year, and he made me call his mother in front of the whole class. Yeah, that wasn’t awkward at all. I have been honored enough to play football for Mr. Helmicki for two years. We had a 17 and 1 record together, no big deal. I consider him to be an offensive master mind. Rumor has it; Nebraska calls him every day to come coach there, but now just isn’t a convenient time for him.  Mr. Helmicki is a great man, and definitely one of the most influential people in this school. Now moving on to Mr. Carll, he is also a great man. He has taught me how to win in life. For example, Mr. Carll always tells me how he went out on top, just like Elway did. Mr. Carll retired as the wrestling coach after leading them to a division title his final year. I have this goal in life as well. Mr. Casillo has impacted my life because he taught me how to throw a softball with that cannon arm he has. I thank all of these men for impacting my life.

It Needs to Stop

After reading this story, or watching the videos of this topic, my opinion is on bullying is very strong, even though it was before I watched these videos. Bullying is an absolute terrible thing that should be eliminated, although it will be very tough to eliminate it. People need to realize that everything you may say about someone can hurt a person. Everybody in this world is different and everybody has different feelings. You never should be picking on people or saying nasty words about people to or behind their back. If you think about it, it is horrible that people go as far as taking their own life of because of bullying. This occurs everywhere and it is very unfortunate. Lady Gaga was stated saying how bullying should become a crime because it is a hate crime. I couldn’t agree with her anymore.  The only way bullying could come to an end would be by making it an illegal act. Honestly no one should care about the personal traits of people. Think about how hard it is on the families who have lost people due a suicide. Also, think about the families that have to worry about their relatives because they get bullied every day and this could become an issue.  This is a terrible issue that needs to be resolved. It is very disturbing watching and hearing what some people do and say about others. It is sick to think about that fact that people kill themselves over words. I really hope there are strides very soon to prevent bullying and hopefully one day brings it to a complete end. Also bullying can affect anyone because it could start tragedies like Columbine. That is an example where two boys were bullied and they took it out on everyone because of how much it hurt them. Bullying isn’t a huge word, but it has a huge meaning and it needs to come to an end because it is causing too many unnecessary tragedies.

Lunch list c1

Quite honestly, I can’t tell you what the best school lunch is because there are many good ones. I really do not know the answer to this question. I mean, I will just about eat anything you put in front of me so I am unable to say the best school lunch of for that matter I am unable to determine the best lunch. That sounds better. I will give a list of my top eight school lunches of all time.  Coming in at number eight would be cheeseburger day. It’s a good lunch and a safe bet, but it is not good enough to make it higher on my list. Number seven is the salad bar simply because you get to pick what goes on the salad. It is set up pretty good. Brunch lunch falls into the six spot. Very good lunch, breakfast is my favorite meal at times. I may be a little generous putting this here. Number five is the pulled pork. It is a phenomenal lunch that I love, just not good enough to be the elite. This will upset some people, but I have to do it. Spaghetti day falls to the four spot. This would be number one for many and sometimes it is for me to, but not today. I love the fact that we get the big cookie with spaghetti, but it is not enough to make it the best. Third place goes to taco day. I love taco in a bag, but the reason this falls to three is because every taco day is such a long wait in line. Number two goes to hot dog day. I love the hot dogs because they are boiled, that makes them so good. I also love the sides that come with them. Number one is Potato Day. You get the chance to load up a potato with whatever you want. That simply makes it the best. One recommendation for school lunches is that I believe we should have a garbage plate day.

Animal in the Making? B4

I would first like to point out the fact that the last two homecoming queens have been members of Online Publishing, No big deal. On September, 24^th, the homecoming dance took place. This is when I discovered an animal in the making. Many would see this young man as a quiet, laid back, hidden person. I no longer see him as this. He may have these qualities, but he has a side that people have not seen, unless you were at the dance, which by the way, I’m a little concerned if you were not there because you missed a fun time. I stepped into the gymnasium ready to get the show on the road, but then I realized that someone had already stolen my thunder. I gave him a new nickname right away, “The Animal” and no, I am not talking about the man in the stands at the football game that gets everybody going. This man is one his own. He’s a one man wolf pack. Superman where’s underpants of him. It is the one and only Michael Steffan. He was the man on the dance floor the other night that had it going. If an MVP award was given to the best performance, I feel that it would have been an unanimous vote for Michael Steffan, or Doodler in other words.  I can’t even put into words what Doodler was doing out there that night because it was something else. I can say this though; Doodler pulled me aside and asked to go get a drink of water because of how hot the gym was. When we went into the cafeteria, a small, young man came up to Doodler, and simply asked him “Have you gone swimming, or something?” Doodler was not happy about the comments, but that just shows the kind of night he had. He is an Animal in the making, once again, no big deal.

B3 The Moment

Throughout my short life, well somewhat short, I have been fortunate enough to have my great moments that I will never forget. I am going to take this time to write about one of the most recent great moments. At this time last year, I was in the middle of my J.V. football season. Our team worked incredibly hard throughout the spring and summer to be prepared for the season. Many predicted that we wouldn’t be as good as the year before. The previous season, our team won 8 games and lost 1. There is only one way to get better than an 8 win season, it is to go undefeated. So our team had only one goal. It was to win every single game we played even if we were a little less talented then the year before. Well, we went undefeated and we proved all of the doubters wrong. I am going to explain everything that went on when we finished off this great run. We took a week 9 trip west of Alden to play against the Depew Wildcats. Many people said that we were not going to win this game. Many thought that Depew was just bigger and stronger, but the important thing was that we didn’t listen to those people. We went in there with a focused mind set ready to battle. We set the tone of the game right from the beginning as we marched right down the field for touchdown to take the early lead. We held on for the rest of the game as we went on to win 17 to 6. At the end of the game, every single player on our team was so proud. We proved that if you truly work as hard as you can at something, you can achieve it. Our team worked extremely hard and we earned an undefeated season. I hope that this season can turn out just like last season.

B2. Which Season wins?

I will make this clear now; I am a fan of every season of the year. They all have something very special characteristics about themselves. The fall is special because of football season. The winter is special because of the holidays and the snow. The spring is fun because it starts to get nice again and it is always a refreshing feeling. The summer is most people’s favorite season because there is no school, and people do not feel the same amount of pressure as they do during the school year. Summer is also a fun time because of how warm it is, and people are much more relaxed.  At the end of the day though, my favorite season is the fall. In the fall, the best game on the face of this earth is being played. Football is what I live for. I love playing the game and that is the reason why I love fall. Also, the fall is the time where the Major League Baseball season is coming to an end. Actually, I should just say it is the time where the Yankees are winning it all. Now I will say, there are some parts about the fall that I dislike. I am not a fan of the cold weather, unless there is snow on the ground. If that is the case then I do not mind the cold as much. I like the spring because I play baseball, but it seems like that the springs of late have been incredibly cold and rainy which really stinks. I will say that I enjoy the summer because it is not stressful to me at all. I also enjoy summer because it is more time that I get to spend with my family and I also spend a lot of time getting prepared for football season. I really do like every season, but my favorite of them all is the fall.

B1

I do in fact use the one and only “Facebook.” Now I use Facebook for good reasons unlike many other people in this world. See too many times I log on and within 10 seconds I’m just shaking my head. Some people will use Facebook to post the most stupid, annoying, and sad statuses’ that I just really don’t care about at all! I don’t care that your boyfriend dumped you, I don’t care your mad at your friend, and honestly I don’t care about what you’re doing most of the time either. These are some of the Facebook quotes I have remembered over the course of the past year. I will not mention any names to protect the individual’s personal identity.  Here are some of the quotes that are interesting.  “Jerseyyyyyy Shore tonight” Wonderful, only 100 people have this status every Thursday night, I don’t care.  “So sick of everything, can’t wait for college” Good, go to college, get away from me. I got a good one, “Truth is?” Please, this status is so stupid; don’t waste my time by saying stupid comments like this. “I hate you” Great, if you’re posting this, you’re probably hated by a lot of people and I don’t feel bad for you at all. “I hate drama” Way to go, your just making drama. Honestly I don’t care about any of this stuff. I think if you’re going to post a status, just simply make a joke or something like that.  I use Facebook to communicate with friends because that’s what it should be used for.  One thing people don’t realize is that if you post information or pictures on this website, you can get in a lot of trouble, and create damage for yourself. For example, college’s look at Facebook when they are evaluating students. Kids need to realize that Facebook may be a great thing for many people, but if you use if for the wrong reason, it will hurt you.

A4

This year, I am really looking forward to writing about whatever gets assigned to me. Yes, I have some favorites and some things that I’m not a huge fan of writing about, but I honestly don’t have a problem with anything I will have to write.  My favorite topics are definitely sports, such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and why not, I suppose I could write about golf.  I currently play three of the great sports that I just mentioned. I am a member of the varsity football team, as well as the varsity baseball team. I am also a basketball player. My favorite sport out of any of them is football. Enough said. I am a fan of writing about hot topics such as History and the Alden Bulldogs. I really enjoy when we get to write about whatever we want to because I usually have some really good stories to tell. It would be sweet to write about former Alden High School graduates as well. I am a big fan of being able to express my mind in writing because I think that allows you to show people who you really are. Writing about movies, news, people are always fun for me. Last year I didn’t write a whole lot about college and professional sports. This year, I would like to experiment with those topics a little bit. An interesting topic would also be to reflect on great times in my life. This high school has a lot of great history, maybe not as much as St. Francis high school though. This town is very special and has a ton of great qualities, nothing like Angola, New York though of course. Mr. Currin is another topic that everybody fights over to write about, so if I could write about that, I suppose I wouldn’t mind doing it. I’m looking forward to everything I write about this year.

A3

Without question my favorite year of schooling was my freshman year. For the first time, I actually went through a school year on the same school as my brother. It would also be the only year I would be in school with him. Last year he was a senior so it was pretty sweet that I got to hang with him. I actually took Online Publishing with him too, so we had some good times. I made a lot of friends last year, especially seniors because I never had a year where I was in the same school as them. I was very fortunate to be a member of Alden high school last year, due to how much fun it was. I took some fun classes, especially Online Publishing. This class really was a great time, there were so many great, fun people in this class, and it was definitely the most fun class I was ever a part of. Also, last year was a blast because the JV football team that I was a member of went undefeated. Then I got moved up to the varsity football team when they played at Ralph Wilson Stadium and at All High Stadium. I was fortunate enough to be pulled up to the varsity basketball team at the end of the winter as well. To cap off the year, I played a whole season on the varsity baseball team.  My freshman year was a great time, and I had such a blast. My teachers were another excellent part of the school year. It was a great year for me academically as every marking period was over a 93 average.  The only thing that wasn’t good about my freshman year was the workload that I would get at times. In the second semester, my classes were somewhat difficult and there was a lot of work that came with them. But at the end of the day, I got through the difficulties to cap off a great school year. I hope 2011-2012 is just as good as last year if not better.

A2

As a student of Alden High School, I am very excited for this school year, but I am also unsure of what quite to expect. This new school schedule is really making things different for this upcoming year, so I’m not sure how I am going to like it. I would have to say that a lot of people miss last year’s format, but there’s nothing we can do about it. My schedule this year is very balanced which I like so I shouldn’t ever be overwhelmed with work. Last year my first half of the school year may have been the easiest first half schedule that a freshman has ever had. I’m not kidding about that either. I wonder why I had so much fun at the beginning of last year. My second half was incredibly hard. I had so much work to do! It was ridiculous at times; actually it was to the point where I was doing homework past midnight at times. This year, I don’t think it will be like that, at least I hope not. One thing that I look forward to every school year is sports. This year I am playing varsity football and I am just having a blast. Our team is off to a great start. We worked very hard in the summer so I am hoping that it will pay off.  Our expectations are very high this season so I am extremely fortunate to be on this team.  In the winter I will be playing basketball and doing a ton of lifting. Then later in the year when spring time comes rolling around, I will be playing varsity football again. Last year I thought I had a pretty good year academically and I am expecting even a better year in academics. I am taking some hard classes but I feel that I can handle it. This year will be very fun, I have enjoyed every day so far and hopefully it stays that way.

A1

This past summer was very busy, fun, and quick. Right when last school year was coming to an end. Most of the football players were already involved with offseason workouts. Most weekends in the spring we were out improving our game and getting into shape on both Saturdays and Sundays.  Once exam week came around, we were working as team every afternoon. We took this into summer and we were improving our game all the way up to camp. The team was learning our plays in this time and becoming stronger and faster in the process. Also, my brother and I spent a lot of time doing weight training at the Eastern Hills mall in the Absolute Performance gym. This was a lot of hard work, but it really made me an all-around better athlete. At the end of June, my teammate, Ryan Sosnowski, and I went to the Syracuse football camp to learn more about our positions and become better football players. When I got back from camp, I had to start getting ready for my brother’s graduation party. Getting ready for that party was a little hectic, but it turned out to be a very fun party with a lot of people there. After that, most of my summer was going to a lot of graduation parties and getting ready for football. In early August we had our Bulldog football camp which was getting our team ready for the high expectation season. After that camp, I played in a men’s softball tournament for one day which was a great time.  About a week after that it was time to deliver my brother off to college down it Edinboro, so he could start his college football career. When I got back, it was time for me to start football practices. Basically that was my summer. I played in a couple summer league basketball games and spent a lot of time with friends.  That was just about everything. This summer was fun, but it also flew by.

blog #3 final project

Since 2006, the Alden football program has got better every single season. In 2006, the J.V. Bulldogs went 2 and 5. One year later, they went 7 and 1 and finished second in the division. In 2008, they won 7 games for the second straight season. In 2009 the Bulldogs lost their first game and then won the next 8 games to finish the year with an 8 and 1 record. Also in this year, the Bulldogs claimed a share of the division title with Pioneer and Lackawanna. The final game of this season resulted in the Bulldogs beating one of the best J.V. teams in Western New York which was Hamburg who is a much larger school than Alden. This year the Bulldogs finished with 9 and 0 undefeated record. The Bulldogs won their division title and the Section 6 Class B title over Depew. Alden was the only J.V. school in Section 6 Class B to go undefeated. The J.V. Bulldogs are also currently on a 17 game winning streak. That is pretty impressive.  Going back to the 2006, the Varsity Bulldogs had a record of 2 and 7. In 2007 they doubled their win count and won 4 games. The next season, they once again doubled their win count and won 8 games. In that season, the Bulldogs won their division title and fell one game short of playing for a Sectional Championship at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The next season, Alden only won 7 games, but they actually went further in the playoffs and got the opportunity to play at Ralph Wilson Stadium for a sectional championship. Alden lost that game to Cheektowaga by a score of 26 to 13. This season, Alden won 10 games and made it to the state playoffs for the first time in school history. Alden played in a Sectional Championship for the second straight season against the Lackawanna Steelers. Alden won 14 to 12. It was the first time since 1983 that the Bulldogs won a Sectional Championship. That is a great accomplishment. Hopefully in the upcoming seasons the program keeps getting better so even more great things can be accomplished by the Alden Bulldogs football program.

final project blog #2

This season the Varsity football team had the best season in school history. This year our Varsity Bulldogs won a sectional championship for the first time since 1983. This year it was the first time ever that Alden has played in a regional championship. That's pretty impressive considering the fact that 6 seasons ago the Alden Varsity football team went 1-7. That just goes to show how much we have improved as a program. This year the Bulldogs were led by many great players that worked very hard and played very well together as a team. There was some concern in the beginning of the season with the offensive line, but the line played great this season and gave many opportunities for the backs. The team opened up against the Tonawanda Warriors in a dominating win. The Bulldogs won that game 41-0 and they were just clearly the better team. In week two the Bulldogs headed north to Medina. The Bulldogs struggled a little bit, but they came out on top 25 to 8. In week three the Bulldogs bounced back great by destroying Lew- Port by a score of 56 to 7. In week four the Bulldogs hit another road bump, but still managed to come out on top over Newfane for the homecoming game. Alden won that game 31 to 13. In week five, Alden hosted Springville on Senior Night and the Bulldogs won 34 to 0. The week 6 match up will always remembered as the first time Coach Diminuco returned to his former school coaching the Bulldogs. Alden won this game 27 to 0 in a big division game against Albion. In week 7, the Bulldogs clinched the number one seed in the playoffs by beating Maryvale 49 to 21. In the first round of the playoffs Lew- Port came to Alden for the second time this season and Alden won once again 42 to 10. In week 9, Alden was hosting Burgard and everybody said Burgard would pull off the upset, but Alden made the statement that they are pretty good by beating Burgard 42 to 6. Alden advanced to play at Ralph Wilson Stadium for a sectional championship against Lackawanna. Alden came out on top 14 to 12. The final game of the Bulldogs' great season was against defending state champion, Hornell who ended up beating Alden 21 to 14. The Bulldogs ended up finishing 2nd in the state rankings. The Bulldogs had a great season that everyone will always remember.

Final Project #1

The 2010 Alden football season was indescribable at both the Varsity and J.V. levels. Many people realize how great the Varsity did, but they don’t some people don’t know that the J.V. team also had a great season.  People were not sure how the J.V. team would do this season because of how many players they lost to varsity. I was a member of the J.V. team so I will say how I figured out a plan to answer the questions about our team. When I played my first ever J.V. game in the fall of 2009 at Pioneer, it was the first game I lost as an Alden Bulldog. After that game, I was extremely upset, and I'm not going to lie, I actually did cry. I cried because I knew that I was playing on an extremely talented team and there was going to be a good chance that was the only game we would lose in the 2009 season. Well I was right. After the Pioneer game, I told myself that I would not let myself lose another game in my J.V. career. I accomplished my goal and I won 17 games in a row since losing to Pioneer. So this how our team this year was so successful. We were told all offseason by people that there was no way we could be as good as we were in 2009. Instead of arguing with people, we just used that as motivation and I can promise you our J.V. team was the hardest working team in Western New York this season. I would argue that with anyone any day. We lifted i the winter and then when the spring came rolling around we were outside every single day. We would have workouts 6 days a week in the summer and I can't ever explain how much better that made our team and how prepared we were because of that. So the season started with us traveling to Tonawanda with us beating them 34 to 6. Then a tough Medina opponent came in to our house in week to and we beat them 24 to 6. In week three we took a trip up to Lew -Port and we defeated the Lancers 32 to 12. In week four, we taking on and unbeaten Newfane and we also beat them by a score of 14 to 0. In week five, we faced some difficulties with the rain, but we ended beating Springville 22 to 0. After that game, we knew that we would be put to a test. The Albion Purple Eagles came to Alden in week 6 for a huge division game and we beat them 21 to 6. In week seven, we were playing for a division championship against Maryvale, both teams were undefeated. We beat Maryvale 16 to 6 to win the division. Then in week 8 we faced the B South Champions, Lackawanna for our final home game. We beat them 36 to 6. The final game of the 2010 football season for our team took place at Depew for the Class B Section 6 J.V. title. Depew won their division and not many people gave us a shot to win this game, but our team knew we could win this game and we were right. We beat Depew 17 to 6 to win the championship. I have never had a greater feeling in my life after beating Depew. Our team worked so hard this year and we deserved what we accomplished. Hopefully next season, the J.V. team will play as well as we did this year.

1/10-1/14 #3

Right now there are 8 teams left in the NFL playoffs. After this week end there will only be 4 teams left. In less than a month we will have a Superbowl Champion. I really have no team that I am really rooting for, but there is one team in particular that I am routing against. It is the New England Patriots. Here is a team that everybody says is so good, but let's face it. They really are not that good and they are cheaters. Actually that just made me think of a great idea. Cam Newton should be drafted by New England next year because he would fit in great there because he is also a cheater. Poor Reggie Bush gets his Heisman Trophy taken away from him which isn't fair and then Cam Newton does the same thing if not worse. But he is fine, he doesn't get suspended or his trophy taken away from him. Great job on this whole controversy by the NCAA. Just kidding, the NCAA is such a poorly ran organization. How does college football not have a playoff system yet? This is ridiculous. Anyway, I will get back to the NFL playoffs now. This is how I think the rest of the season will play out. This Saturday, there is a game at 4 and it is the Ravens against the Steelers. The Ravens split the season series with Pittsburgh. Even though this game will be played in Pittsburgh, I like the Ravens to win because they are hot right now and they actually may be the best team in the NFL. Ravens will win 20 to 17. The night game on Saturday involves Green Bay and Atlanta. In the regular season, Atlanta won this game by a field goal. This time I think Aaron Rogers will lead the Packers to a win. Packers win 38 to 28. On Sunday, Seattle will be taking on the Chicago Bears. Seattle made a neat little run there, but it comes to an end this week end because they will be really be playing a good defense and in bad conditions. Chicago wins 27 to 14. The final game on Sunday will have another division rematch with the Jets and Patriots. Patriots will win this game only because Rex Ryan runs his mouth too much and he will pay for it. Patriots win 23 to 13. So this leaves four teams left in the playoffs. The Patriots, Bears, Packers, and Ravens. My prediction is that the Packers will beat the Bears and the Ravens will shut up all of the Patriot, bandwagon fans. So the Superbowl will involve Green Bay and Baltimore. I would love to see either of these teams win the Superbowl. They are both young and very talented. This would be a very good game. Experts always say though the game's most important aspects are the running game, the better quarterback, the better line, and the better defense. Both quarterbacks are good, but Rodgers is better than Flaco. I am a James Starks fan, but I don't think he is better than Ray Rice. Ironically, both of those running backs are from New York. Then the better defense I think belongs to Baltimore by a hair. And finally, I would also say Baltimore has a better line. Baltimore will win this game 27 to 24. I hope this is the Superbowl match up we get.

1/10-1/14#2

My typical Superbowl Sunday is like a Christmas for many little kids. I wake up on Superbowl Sunday and I just feel a rush of excitement run through me because it is such a big day for me. The day usually starts off with my mom making me a nice breakfast to start off the big day. While eating breakfast, I also read the sports page because the Buffalo News usually puts together a nice Superbowl special that I always enjoy reading. Starting the night before the Superbowl, I am always watching Superbowl rewinds. I always love watching these classic football games that get me ready for the upcoming Superbowl. Then at about twelve, people start coming over to my house for a party. Usually all the guys come over at this time and play cards and watch Superbowl rewinds. Also, my mother always puts together a great spread so the food is definitely one of the best parts of the day. On Superbowl, I usually put on about 5 pounds I would have to say. I have to be honest. I would argue my next statement with anybody in the world. Superbowl Sunday is not only a holiday, but i believe that it is one of the best holidays. So anyway, going back to my typical Superbowl Sunday. The guys will usually play cards until about 6. Then everybody will eat dinner. Usually my mother orders pizza and subs so the dinner is always something to look forward to. This year, I will have to make sure my mother orders the food from Carbones so we keep my good friend Ryan Pinkowski in Business. Finally the best part of the day is the game. Usually I don't really care who wins the game, I just want it to be a good game. As long as the Patriots are not playing in the game, I don't get too into who wins and loses. The final part about Superbowl Sunday that I enjoy is when I go to bed, I really hope for a snow day the next day because I am always tired.

1/10-1/14 #1

Social Networking really has not impacted my life very much. I have only been involved with one social network and it is Facebook. I believe that a lot of these social networking sites and programs are stupid. I mean let us use twitter for example. All summer all I heard was how all these famous athletes would tweet something so stupid like "Going to the mall". Honestly, who cares about LeBron James saying what he is doing every single minute of his life. Twitter is stupid, why do people feel the need to just post to people what they are doing. It is so stupid! I have never had a twitter and never will have a twitter. It is that simple. Some people really need to learn to live a life. Twitter is stupid, end of discussion. MySpace is another thing that was so big at one point and I don't get why. I never had a MySpace. Whenever I heard about MySpace it always had to do with something bad. People always thought that they were cool for having a MySpace, but I did not have one and I think I turned out alright. Even Facebook, is used in a pretty stupid manner at times. I only use Facebook for another way to talk to friends, and talk to some of my buddies from other towns. Some people use Facebook just like people use twitter. They say what they are doing every second of their life and it's stupid. So I would definitely have to say social networking has not affected my life, but for some kids it definitely has. Social networking can definitely make people lazy, as matter of fact, I have realized that all the people that are constantly on line and lazy and people that complain all the time and it is because they don't get out in the world. Also, these social networking things can be bad because some kids do some inappropriate things on them. Social Networking does not affect me very much.

1/3-1/7#1

In my opinion, 2010 was a great year and I couldn't ask for a much better year than that. It got off to a rocky start when someone I knew I actually died in early January. Actually, it was a year ago today exactly. I remember going to his wake and funeral and it was just a very upsetting, emotional time. 2010 also started off a bad because my basketball team didn't play very well and we ended up with a losing record on the season. I also caught the flu in early 2011, so I got off to a rough year, but the year would only get better. I March I was looking forward to a good birthday, but it ended up being my worst birthday because I caught the flu yet again. Then I ended up having a decent baseball season, we only lost a couple of games and I felt honored to play on a great team. This year I started something new that I thought would improve my football game a lot. I started working work with Coach Kubiak who played college football at Navy and at St. Francis High School, but he tries to keep that a secret because Coach Currin ended up going there which took away any greatness of St. Francis high school. I also got the opportunity to go to the Syracuse football camp. My football team and I worked very hard this summer which was awesome because it paid off. My summer was very fun. Football season was incredible to say the least, my team didn't lose a game and I got the opportunity to play at the Ralph. I wish the Yankees and Bills would have done better this year, but that is out of my control. My Duke Blue Devils won the National Championship which is no surprise at all. I capped off the year with a great Christmas and I really though 2010 was a great year.

1/3-1/7#2

I think that 2010 was an incredible year, but I am hoping that 2011 will be even better. In 2011 I hope that I accomplish many great things in the classroom and with my teammates in athletics. I also hope that all of my family and friends stay safe and have an enjoyable year. I have already came up with many goals for 2011 in sports and I am working hard already with my teammates to accomplish my goals. A lot of my goals have to do with football for next season. My first goal is that I want my team to have an undefeated season. Personally, I hate losing and I don't accept anything less than winning so I put in a ton of time in the off season so I limit my chances of losing. Secondly I would like to win the division title for the second straight year. Every season, winning the division is one of my goals because it means a lot to me to be the best team in your division. My final goal in football for 2011 will be to win a state championship and end our football season at the Carrier Dome. In my opinion, for a high school athlete this is the greatest accomplishment. I think along the way of winning a state championship, we will have many tough tasks, but we are a tough team and I think we can complete these tasks if we keep working hard. First, we will have to win our section title for the second straight year which is never easy, and we will also have to beat the two- time defending state champion, Hornell. We will also have to beat them in Rochester this year because that is where the regionals are held next season. That is my major goal for next year. In 2011, I just hope that I have a good, fun time and I also hope that everyone stays safe.

1/3-1/7 #3

It was the night before the much waited opening day of hunting season. Every hunter was so prepared for opening day because many hunters would consider opening day a holiday. Well the Stoldt family was ready just like every hunter. The Stoldt family owns a cabin up in Attica, New York with a few other families. All of the hunters that owned the cabin were staying the night at the cabin so they could get out nice and early to hunt. Mr. Stoldt had to go to a football game in Rochester and then he was going to meet his sons at the cabin later at night. His one son was Tyler, and his other son was Brian, also known as the young one. Well Brian and Tyler both had basketball practice in the evening so they would not go to the cabin until nine. At home the boys were getting all the gear and ammunition ready to go hunting. They were putting all of their supplies in the dining room and they were taking it out to the car. Tyler had his hands full, and Brian picked the shot guns. Brian put all of the things he picked up into the car and asked Ty "Ty is there anything else that needs to be put in the car?" Tyler replied with "Nope, I got everything." So the boys hit the road and they were having a great conversation. One thing, Brian said in the conversation was “Gee, it just seems like things have not been going our way lately." Well on the ride to the cabin it seemed like life was perfect for the brothers. When they got to the cabin, they pulled up next to the driveway and started getting all the supplies out of the car. Tyler said to me " Hey Bri, where is my duffle bag with the ammunition?" "Didn't you grab it Ty?" The Stoldt’s left the bag at home so they had to drive all the way back to Alden. On the car ride home, these are some of the comments Tyler said. "Boy, you called that one Brian, didn’t you!? Things just aren't going our way lately. You are so stupid! And by the way you're fat too! How can you be this stupid!?" The ride home back to Alden was 25 minutes of this and Brian did not say one word. When they got home, Ty picked up the bag and Brian said "I'm not going hunting now." So it was a 20 minute fight that finally made Brian go back to the cabin. This was the night that the Stoldt brothers will never forget.