Currin!

Get over yourself! I mean come on; you post a blog asking people to say whether or not you are a big deal. Obviously if you are asking for people to write about you being a big deal then I don’t think you are. I feel like someone that is a big deal is someone that others talk about without asking them to. Maybe I am wrong, but this is just the way I see it. Sorry if that offends some people, but that is the truth in my opinion. Actually this person probably could be a big deal in their own mind obviously. I just am not sure if they are a big deal in the minds of other people. I would say in order to be a big deal. You need to be humble, not go to Buffalo State College, not go to St. Francis High School, never live in Angola, and never date a college basketball player’s sister. It is really weird because I feel like I just described someone I really know. Oh god I really hope they are not reading this. The moral of the story is that I don’t think Mr. Currin is a big deal. Ouch, that hurts. Okay not for the real part of this blog. To be honest, Mr. Currin is a big deal. I know that he has had a huge impact on my life, and he is a great role model for every student in this school. He has a personality that everyone has fun with, and he is one of the hardest workers in this school. He is a great coach, a great teacher, and even a better person. I am looking forward to having two more years with him. I can’t wait for what the next two years brings. Mr. Currin is a big deal!

R1 End of Year

The best part about the end of the school year is the fact that all the stress and deadlines are almost done with. I would say that it can be difficult at times with the amount of work we have at school. I am not saying that the work load is always a lot, but at times it becomes stressful. I think that the feeling of not having to get something done by a deadline really is a great feeling. Knowing that this is nearby really makes me want to wrap up this school year. Summer is always great because of so many reasons. The warm weather, the free time, the preparation for football, and much more makes the summer a great time of the year. Then end of the school year almost feels like summer in a way because all sports are done so after school there is nothing to do besides go home or work out. One thing that I love about the end of the year is that I really get an opportunity to put my nose to the grindstone. My intense period of training for football starts right about now, so it safe to say this is a fun time of the year for me and many others. I have a couple of exams coming up that I am not looking forward to. It is going to take a lot of work to get good grades on them, so this means I am going to have to stay after a couple times for review. This will stink, but I just have to get it done. The end of the year has a lot of parts to look forward to, and there are some parts that I don’t look forward to. Last year we got to play dodgeball at the end of the year which was really fun. If we do that again this year, it would be awesome!

Q5

Really!? All I hear about is how all of these analysts on ESPN talk about how great the NBA is. Basically I just hear so many good things about the NBA, and to be honest it makes me sick! The NBA is absolutely pathetic in my eyes. There is no strategy in the NBA. It is a complete pick and roll game. Nobody plays defense until the playoffs, and that is extremely annoying. I can also prove this too. How come during the regular season the scores of games are over 100? Honestly I couldn’t tell you the answer to this. Mystically though, when the playoffs start the scores of games are in the 70’s. Does this mean that players all of a suddenly just start missing shots? No it clearly means that teams just turn up the defense when it matters. The NBA is a joke and the competitiveness is horrible in a lot of cases. In the Eastern Conference you have maybe three teams that are contenders. The Western Conference is competitive. Back to the East though, the best team lost their stud in the first game, and then they lose the series in 5 games. So really there are only two legit teams in the East, and one of them is quite old. The team that everyone loves is the Miami Heat of course because they have this so called “Big Three.” I think the Big three is also a joke. I will save my Lebron bashing for another day because I will definitely need a whole blog for it. I am not a big Lebron fan, but it doesn’t matter. I really just don’t like the NBA, and I thought this was a good time to pour out some of my feelings about it.  I have a strong dislike against the NBA! It is time where the game makes a change!

Q3 Romeo and Juliet?? Ehhh I Suppose

I really couldn’t tell you what the best book I have ever read is in English class. There have been so many books I have read; it is all kind of a blur to me. Yes I am aware that is not a good thing at all considering the fact that I have an exam that asks questions about these books. I suppose if I had to pick one book to talk about and write about, I could. I am almost certain that there are a ton of people who know a ton about Romeo and Juliet because it is such a popular and famous work by the William Shakespeare. Even though I didn’t understand his old school lingo, I thought it was a pretty good story. If it wasn’t for Miss Weisbeck I probably wouldn’t have understood many parts about the story because she would interpret so many lines. This was a good book though, and it was very easy to get into. I also liked the fact that we got to watch the movie with it. This book dealt with two groups that did not get along at all. Two people fell in love, and they each belonged in the separate groups that didn’t get along. They ended up killing themselves which brought the groups together and ended the fighting. This is a story that many people remember because there are many people who consider this story to be the greatest love story of all time. I don’t believe I am qualified to make this judgment due to the fact I have not read many love stories. I do believe this is one of the better stories I have ever read in English class though. At the end of the day, I can say I remember liking a lot of stories I read, just at the moment I am remembering what every story was about.

Buffalo Fans

Really!? I will be honest and say that I am very excited for the upcoming NFL season. I think the Buffalo Bills have great potential and it will be a great season. I felt like last year was going to be a good season, and it started off that way, but the Bills had a second half collapse during the season. When this happened there were so many people who said how the Bills stink, and they will never win. Basically, those people didn’t even consider themselves fans of the team anymore. So many people had negative views towards the Bills, and just stopped caring. Then there were people like me who have always stuck with the team even through the hard times. I am not like the other fans that give up, and just root for the Bills when they are good. That would be called bandwagon fans, and it is not good to be a bandwagon fan. Sometimes I compare these people to the people of Rome in the Julius Caesar time period. They were very fickle which means they change their mind and views very often. Sometimes I fell this word summarizes some of us Buffalo fans. I do not find this to be good at all. This past March, the Bills go out and sign Mario Williams! They make him the highest paid defensive player ever in the NFL! When this occurs, everyone now loves the Bills and “they are going to the Superbowl, I love them.” Those are the things I would hear after this. All I can do when this happens is shake my head. Then when I didn’t think it could get any worse, I was wrong. The Bills go out and sign former Heisman Trophy winner, Vince Young. The fans were all over this as now they just go on to say we are for sure going to be right there. I agree with the fact that we will be good, but really is the backup QB the difference? Buffalo fans need to get their stuff together.

Q2 Summer!!!

I have to say I honestly cannot wait for this summer just like everybody else in this school. I am looking forward to being able to lie on a raft in my pool when it is 85 degrees. While that is going on, I will tell my mother to go make me a strawberry smoothie or something because yeah let’s just say I’m a boss, and I tell my mother whatever I want. Just kidding, I would never say that to my mother. I would tell her to go get me a mango smoothie! Okay for real now I was just kidding I would never speak to my mother like that. To be honest, I really do love spending time in my pool in the summer. It puts me in that relaxed mood that I just love. Also in the summer I will look forward to playing some video games in my man cave. For those of you who don’t know what the man cave is; it is the part of my house where I sleep and play video games. The best part about the man cave is that it has air conditioning. Yes, you must be invited to chill in the man cave. Sit back down everyone. Another part of this summer that will be brilliant will be the opportunity of getting another chance to win a state championship. Football games are not won of Friday nights, they are won in the off season. Well the summer is the heart of the off season, and my teammates and I have a lot of work to do. I can’t wait for workouts to get into full gear. I love working with my teammates to get better at football. This summer will also have a sad part to it that I will not be looking forward to. I made a lot of friends this year that are seniors. I hate having to say good bye when they go to college. Even though I will see them again and it’s good that they are going to do great things with their life, it is a change that stinks at first. I will miss a lot of my friends, but that’s just life. This summer will be a great time, and I am excited for it.

Brian's Bashing Again

Really!? Okay this Brian’s bashing is kind of just a bashing of everything to be honest. For those of you who are unaware, Mike Steffan has been placed off of editor probation. When he was on it he was humiliated by many people including myself and the Mr. Robert Currin of Angola, New York. Let me tell you a few things about Angola, New York. I am just kidding of course, I am not going to waste my time talking about that. Anyway, it was wrong of me to say some of the things I did about Mike. He is my friend, and he deserves more than that from me. I know many people feel the same way I do, and I am trying to think of a way I can make it up to my dear friend. I’ll think of something I’m sure. Switching to another topic now; this past week I went to open my locker in school. For those of you who don’t know, I still have my football sign on my locker which is how I figure out which locker is mine. I don’t ever pay attention to the number. Well last Friday I went to open my locker while a couple of my friends were just gathered around talking about whatever us high school kids do these days. When I attempted to open my locker, I failed. I didn’t worry about it; I just figured I put in the wrong combo. So I tried again and failed another time. That was unusual, but I figured I just made a mistake twice. Then it didn’t open the third time and I was getting extremely mad because I knew my locker was jammed. All my friends were around, and I would look like an idiot if I went to go get a janitor so this was not good. Then the situation got even worse because Mr. Currin suspiciously started walking down the hallway. When he looked at me he laughed so something was up. I also remember noticing how his AP Lit class was standing in the hallway for some reason. I couldn’t figure out what was up. Then the kid who has the locker next team was smarter than me. He came up and told me that the sign on my locker was moved one locker down. I just looked like an idiot. Then Ryan Snyder was making his smart remarks, and everybody was just Mr. Cool and had something funny to say. Thanks Amber Breyer! It was so funny! To wrap this up, Austin Hopcia was listening to Beyoncé in class, and someone turned his speaker up so everyone could hear it. Embarrassing but I feel for him!

Reflect on A2

After reading my A2 blog I would say I have done a decent job this year in regards to accomplishing my goals and staying on task. In my blog back in September, I really didn’t set in stone any goals that I had to accomplish I just said I hope that I would be successful in a lot of things. For the most part, I think I was very successful this year. There is one thing that bothers about this year every day though. I did not mention this in my September blog because I didn’t want to jinx anything. Obviously in football this year we had a great year. I mentioned how I worked extremely hard for football because I wanted to win.  Ultimately I had one goal for this season. I wanted to win a State Championship, I expected to win a State Championship, and I was going to do anything I could to win a State Championship. Now I could never go out in public and say this because I can’t give people the impression that I am overlooking my competition in section 6 and I don’t ever overlook my opponents. But I do believe that if every player on our team does their job, and we work hard, we should win. That is the way I look at it. This makes me remember last spring when I would just be working out or outside shooting hoops and when I did those things I would just dream so big. I am not the afraid to admit I do dream and imagine a ton. I do dream of winning a State Championship, I do dream of accepting that trophy, I do dream of hugging me teammates after we just won that game, I do dream of running out of a tunnel in front of 80,000 people. I really do, and I am not the least bit afraid to admit it. Why do I dream and imagine so much? I do because of how much I love the game of football. Last year I could not wait to get a shot to play Hornell. Even though I knew I would have to win a lot of games to get to that point, inside I just knew it was going to happen. This was a game and opportunity that I imagined for such a long time. Every day last year I was just so anxious to get that opportunity. I wanted to be able to be the only quarterback that could say they beat Dominic Scavo. I wanted to be the quarterback that ended Hornell’s win streak. I wanted to be that sophomore that could go into the pressure and take down the best team in the state. I wanted to do the unexpected to many and I wanted to be great. Unfortunately I wanted to be much more successful on the football field this year. I set the expectations for myself to be perfect. Weather that is right or wrong I do because I am a competitor, and I want to be perfect. Let’s face it; I wanted to be the quarterback who threw five touchdowns a game and 300 yards. I really did expect that. I never did that. It doesn’t mean I had a bad season just I felt like I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to. So when the Hornell game finally came I knew that I had a chance to make up for what I didn’t do. Well I did fall short in the Hornell game unfortunately. Even though I was close, I was still short. This is why this game eats my alive every day. I might not show it, but this game is in my head every day and it bothers me. I wanted it so bad, and I replay this game in my head at least 30 times a day. I feel so empty because I didn’t win the Championship and I didn’t beat Hornell. I wanted to be that guy and it eats me alive that I wasn’t. I hope that I learn from this and get better in the future from it. For the most part this year was a success, but the biggest goal I wanted I didn’t accomplish.

P1 TV

I will be honest and say that I watch quite a bit of television when I get the opportunity. The problem is though that I am usually pretty busy, and that makes it hard for me to find time to watch what is good. Usually at my house there will be something to do with sports on just because I live in a sports family. We also watch a lot of comedies because I like to laugh at the movies I watch. There are a ton of TV shows that my family loves to watch. This list would include some greats like Seinfeld, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Hawaii 5-O, and many more. I don’t care for NCIS that much to be honest just because it’s kind of boring I suppose. On the other hand, I absolutely love the Big Bang Theory. I honestly can’t figure out what I love about this show, but I laugh so hard sometimes. In my house I would have to say there are six and a half TV’s. The reason there is a half is because we have a flat screen that currently is working right now, but it is in my house. The thing is I would kind of feel guilty if I went on to count that as a whole 1 so I figure if I only counted it as a half it would be better. The positives with television can go on forever. Let’s face it; you can watch sport events without being there in person. That is such a big part of life to many fans. Then people can get so much entertainment just by watching TV. I personally think TV is without a doubt one of the best three inventions of all time. If you disagree with me that’s too bad because I’m right. The negatives to television are bad, but not the worst things ever. The biggest problem is that people don’t get away from the TV, but I guess you just have to live with that.

Petrino

Really!? I understand that everyone makes mistakes in life and that is a saying that everybody always hears, but this person’s mistake doesn’t settle to well for me to say the least. I mean you have to be kidding me. Back in 2007, Bobby Petrino was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Very strangely in the middle of his first year as the coach he decided to quit coaching the Falcons and go coach the Arkansas Razorbacks. The even crazier part about this story is how Petrino left the Falcons. It wasn’t like he had a press conference and just said he would leave, he didn’t tell anyone he was doing this. In fact, his way of a parting message was sticking a letter in each player’s locker. Wow! He definitely hurt the Atlanta Falcon organization by quitting on them. I didn’t understand this because head coaches always stress how important it is to have good character and he goes and does this. I found it mind boggling, but I figured I would just give him the benefit of the doubt and figure maybe this was for family purposes or something. Then the story brings us to today. I have now realized that my assumption from four years ago is false. Bobby Petrino did not make his decision to leave Atlanta for his family.  I know how because recently he decided to cheat on his wife and put himself in front of his family. That was a real classy move on his part. About two weeks ago, Petrino was in a motorcycle accident, but it was quite sketchy. He tried very hard to keep this motorcycle accident quiet and people were not sure why. Little did people know was that Petrino had a 25 year old mistress that was half his age. He tried covering it up so his wife wouldn’t find out. Well she did and so did Arkansas. Now Petrino is unemployed because he got fired and he should have! He deserves to be unemployed and I can’t describe what I think about this man because he is sick.

O1 NFL SCHEDULE

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8287873e/article/nfl-scheduler-katz-talks-requests-and-complaints-from-teams?module=HP11_hot_topics

Just a few days ago, the 2012 NFL schedule was released. Now I do know that this is a very difficult job and it takes months and months of hard work to put this schedule together. It clearly is a hard task to make the NFL schedule as it can be to make any schedule. I know someone very close to me makes a high school football schedule and the stress he goes through just doing that is ridiculous. He always gets tons of complaints, but that just comes with the job. Now this is just in high school. In the NFL, I really cannot imagine how stressful this job is. After reading this article, I realized some points that I didn’t even think about before. One of which is that every NFL team sends in 70 dates and times that are bad because of events going on in their stadium. Then the NFL has to deal with holidays and what not which also creates a lot of work. Also, they have to make sure the best match ups are at the right time and point in the season. On top of that each team has to end the year with a game against a division opponent so the NFL has to have that in place. Starting this year, each team is guaranteed at least one Thursday night game. So after all this anyone can see this is a very stressful job and people should think twice before complaining. I will be honest, before I read this article I was complaining quite a bit. My big complaint was that the Bills didn’t get more night games. This off season they went out and made these huge moves which will make them compete with the best. They always come ready to play on prime time. And the Buffalo fans always make it an interesting game when it is at night. I think the Bills deserved a Monday night game before the Kansas City Chiefs, my god. But after thinking about the situation more, I should shut up and just understand how hard this is.

O4

My father is a man that works his hardest for the best opportunity possible for others. He is also the man that never gets the credit he deserves in my life. I would say he probably gets overlooked more than anybody.  I look at who I am as a person today, and I know I wouldn’t be anything near what I am now if it wasn’t for my father. Let me start off by saying how he has raised me.  He has taught me to be a person that is built of toughness, honesty, hard work, respect, and a caring attitude. I think about all the things that I do, and I sometimes wonder what in my life drove me to be like this. Without a doubt, it is my father and my mother for that matter. I credit much of my character and who I am to my father without question. I know if it wasn’t for him I would be half the man I am now, if that. I could go on and on forever for how much both of my parents have had a huge role in developing my character. Switching from character to sports now, I also have so much to say about my father. In football especially, I have always said if you have a father that can teach you the basics to the game you are extremely lucky. With that being said, I’m not sure there is a word to describe how lucky I am to have my father with his football knowledge. Let’s face it, I was taught what a cover 2 defense was in fourth grade. It is little things like that that just make me say wow and realize I am so fortunate. My father was a very successful football coach for a long time and because of how hard he worked to learn the game, I have benefited. That is one area where I know I am at a huge advantage. Once again I could go on and on here about my father in this topic. In baseball, I also can’t even begin to say how much of an impact he has had on me. Last year I went into the slump of all slumps and I had absolutely no reason to believe in myself. I really can’t explain how bad of a slump I was in. It seemed as if any advice anyone gave to me, it just would not work at all. When I finally had a free week end, my father spent a whole day of his of his own time trying to help me. He looked at hitting films from when he was a coach and he put me through a series of drills. Even though I didn’t have much of a reason to believe, he gave me a little hope. Luckily enough for me, only a little hope was all I needed. I broke out of my slump and hit a home run off the best pitcher in Western New York. That was simply because of my father. Even this year I would say I am hitting the ball pretty good. Knock on wood, hopefully this stays that way.  But, I would say a major reason for why I am hitting good is because of my hitting mechanics which is all of my father’s work. I really could go on and on about this blog, but unfortunately it is 10:30 at night and I’m tired. Both of my parents have had an incredible influence on my life, and I wouldn’t want to live for any other parents.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! Way to Go, o3

Really!? I have to say that the Peyton Manning signing was absolutely great for our beloved Buffalo bills. The first reason is because some of the teams that were interested in Mario Williams were wasting their time going after Peyton. This also helped the Bills because Tim Tebow was now on the market. He would go on to end up in the Big Apple. I love every bit of this because it is going to make the Jets worse. People in Buffalo should be thrilled about Tebow becoming a Jet. Now, I am going to take this time to bash Rex Ryan because he deserves it. Here the Jets are as a Superbowl contender every year; they already have a quarterback that may be good enough to win a Championship. Now if they went out and got someone that that is a stud quarterback I would understand, but they went out and got a quarterback that is not capable of winning the big game in the eyes of many. The only thing this does for the Jets is create more drama in their locker room. I love it! This was such a stupid move by Rex Ryan and the Jets organization. Tebow brings along a huge group of obnoxious fans that will make this situation worse. The first bad pass that Mark Sanchez throws; the only thing you will here is the crowd chanting “Tebow!” Believe me when I say there is more bad to come out of this than there is good. Maybe Tebow will bring some qualities to the Jets that will help them, but by no means do I think he will have a drastic impact. He may make a big play here and there, but the Jets made a mistake on this one. And when the Jets come across the Bills, I don’t think Tebow will be doing much of anything when he comes face to face with Mario Williams.

N1: Brianna Harris

When most kids are young, they usually have a childhood goal of going to some college that is very big. Then in a lot of cases, when they get older, they tend to end up going to a smaller college. Now I said this applies to a lot of people, but not all. Brianna Harris is one of those people that is going to live her one of her childhood goals. Brianna always had a goal to go to a big school, and she is achieving her goal. In the upcoming fall, she will go through a minor change in the school atmosphere. She will be going from Alden High School to Texas Christian University which is known as TCU. I would say that there is a little difference between Alden and TCU not too big though. Brianna is a very hard worker and she will do great things at TCU. She also told me that she looked at colleges in California and others in Texas including Baylor. I think this says a lot about what kind of student Brianna is. She will be majoring in Journalism next fall. She also informed me that her favorite memory of high school was when she got accepted to TCU. She was so happy to find out she could go there. Her application was sent out in October and she found out the news in early March. That time built up a lot of anticipation for her.  After the college talk, I asked her an even bigger question. I asked what her favorite color was and she told me it was purple. So now you know her favorite color. Her favorite show is American Idol and didn’t elaborate why, but I didn’t ask her to explain. When Brianna isn’t in school she likes doing things like dancing and writing, not at the same time though. Well now everyone knows a little more about Brianna Harris.

N4: A Tragic Story

I have to say that this case involving Trayvon Martin is just downright horrible. So far every single thing about this is negative and I feel that it is just turning into a worse matter. I don’t understand how George Zimmerman could at all justify that Martin was considered dangerous. According to the evidence, he was unarmed, he was not involved with any drugs, and he wasn’t doing anything horrible because he was on the phone with his girlfriend. Like the lawyer said, if he were up to no good, he wouldn’t be on the phone with his girlfriend. I feel very bad for the Martin family, and I couldn’t imagine what they are going through right now. I know this has to be incredibly difficult for them especially considering the fact they are having a hard time getting answers. Although this case is very sketchy, I do disagree with the fact the people are playing racism into this case. The reason this doesn’t make sense to me is because Zimmerman is considered a minority himself. So maybe he is a racist, but it just doesn’t make the most sense to me. I know that there is still stereotyping and prejudice acts that still go on in this world, and I think that it is absolutely ridiculous with some of the things we here. Although we have all been guilty of being prejudice at some point in our life, it is something that needs to come to an end.  The statement “Never judge a book by its cover is very true, and I think more people should start to follow it. Going back to the Martin case, I don’t think Martin was of any danger to anyone and I think Zimmerman killed him for a reason that I can’t come to think of. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I hope in the upcoming weeks, more information comes out on this story and the truth comes out.  

Coach N3

 Currently I am an unemployed U.S. citizen. My reason is simply because I am currently holding out for a management position. I really am not working anywhere at the moment though. I don’t have intentions of getting a job because I have the mindset that I have my whole life to work.  For those of you who are close to me, you would know that I already have my career planned out. I have said this for years now, and I have a plan in place for how I am going to get my dream job.  When I graduate from high school, I am going to go to college and play football somewhere. At the moment I am not concerned where I am going or what level I will get the opportunity to play at. Actually, right now I would be happy if I played at the Division 3 level. One school that I am going to look into hard will be Baldwin Wallace in Ohio which is a division 3 school. After I go to school, I want to become a college football coach and build my way up as high as I possibly can. The reason I want to go to Baldwin Wallace is because there is a little bit of a connection between Alden and Baldwin Wallace, specifically the coaches. I know for a fact that the head coach at Baldwin Wallace knows some of the head coaches of top programs in Ohio. I feel that this would be a good place for me to start my coaching career. Even if I end up choosing not to go to this school, I will take the same path into coaching. When I am done playing college football I will become a graduate assistant. This position is an assistant coach that does little work for other coaches such as paper work and running camps and so on. This is an unpaid position, but the college pays for your boarding and grad classes. When I am a graduate assistant, it will be crucial to work as hard as I possibly can to build my way up to higher position on a coaching staff. Once a higher position comes up, I try to earn it and just keep trying to work my way up higher through the ranks. Hopefully one day I will be satisfied with where I am as a coach.

M2 Don't Do it!

My opinion on texting and driving is very simple and to the point. If you text and drive you are a Moran! I absolutely hate how people just feel the need to be able to text whenever they want to when they are behind a wheel. Well I got news for those people, you are stupid. I can’t tell you how much it bothers me that people are willing to risk the lives of themselves or others just so they can send the message “Lol.” I get so worked up when people text and drive because it is just so incredibly stupid. I have once been in a vehicle with someone who texts and drives quite a bit. I can’t tell you how many times I have asked this person to please just stop. Not only has this person texted and driven, but he has also been on Facebook while driving! Yes this is incredibly insane and ridiculous because this human being has their eyes off the road because they are on Facebook. I so just want to punch this person in the face sometimes. Then this person is risking his life and my life in the process and to be honest, I do want to live for a couple more years. This person is basically telling me that it’s ok if I’m in danger. This bothers me so much because people die over texting and driving and it hurts to watch those families suffer. When people are willing to text and drive or use Facebook while driving, they are sending the message that their text is more important than your life. Those people that are willing to do that need help. I am very against texting and driving. It should become a bigger penalty if you are caught doing it because it needs to come to an end. I hate texting and driving.

M3. Forget this please!

It was a nice, sunny day in Alden, New York. I would have to say that it was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but there was a nice sunshine. I was in the eighth grade in Alden Middle School. I was a member of the J.V. basketball team, and we had a game in Lackawanna later that night.  Due to the fact we had a game, I had to be dressed up because it is classy. Then the event that took place during the day is something that I remember very vividly. Unfortunately I was the most infamous person in Alden Middle School on this day. It was the beginning of seventh period and I was just on my way to lunch like every other day at this point. I went to the back of the cafeteria to make a soup and salad. My salad was just a little one I put together quick, and then I got a bowl of New England clam chowder. When I sat down at the table, everything was going great. I had a nice little conversation with Mr. Partell who was the teacher doing lunch duty at the time. After I talked to him, all of my friends were just sitting at the table laughing at something. Garrett Rutan was sitting right next to me and he laughed so hard at something, the food that was in his mouth flew on to the table! Then he attempted to clean up the food by picking it up with a napkin, but the food kept moving closer and closer to me by accident. I was incredibly grossed out, so I quickly tried to move away from his food and by accident I spilled my white clam chowder right on to my lap. At that moment my whole table started laughing along with the cafeteria. Then Mr. Partell saw everybody being loud and obnoxious over by me, but he didn’t know why. He walked over by us and said “What’s going on?” And before he even got a response, he saw my lap, and he just started laughing hysterically. He now realized why everyone was laughing and my face was as red as blood. This was a horrible moment that I can’t forget.

M4 Brian's Bashing, LOL! JK BRO

Really!? Yes I know that friends will be friends and kids will be kids, but an action that was done this past weekend was completely uncalled for. Over the weekend, my friends and I were just chilling at one of my friend’s houses. We were all just casually sitting around upstairs having a great time just having a great conversation. Then I get a text from one of my great friends that was sitting in the other room. The text advised me to talk to this person in another area of the house. This person and I get along great, so I just figured we just had something to talk about for a second, but I wouldn’t think it was bad. So before I went to the area of conversation I had a cup of water quick and then I was just talking with Mike Steffan. No big deal or anything, we were just talking about everything. After our conversation I walked downstairs, and I was just chilling with some other people waiting for my friend to come talk to me. Then the person was a little late, but I figured to give this person some time. Well it ended up being a couple minutes so I just figured something was up, but it wasn’t a big deal. I was watching T.V. with my friends so I wasn’t really thinking about it. I finally decided to text the person and just ask them if they were coming downstairs. Well the person did end up coming down stairs and then I was asked “Why did you text me?” I said “You wanted to talk to me?” At that moment the person said I never texted you anything, and that was when I realized I had a very horrible prank played on me.  My friends took this someone's phone and decided to text me off of the phone. This created a very akward moment, for me and I was not happy.Two of my friends thought this was very funny, and I didn’t. I never thought I would have to right a bashing about one of these people in particular. For that I will not mention his name. The other two that were in on this though, do deserve to be bashed. They are Mike Steffan, Phil Zobrest, and the unnamed. Hey look at that, Mike Steffan found his way into another Brian’s Bashing. Should I be surprised? Get over yourselves gentleman, I am disappointed. Get real, get real!

L3 YOU MAKE ME MAD!

I would definitely have to say that there are many things in this world that make me angry. But, recently there was one incident that makes me extremely angry. Here I am just enjoying my Thursday afternoon, and then I get a paper shoved in my face to be edited. Not only am I angry, I am stunned because I look up and there is Amber Breyer throwing this paper at me! I mean if it was Austin Hopcia or somebody I would understand, but it was Amber Breyer! I could not believe what just unfolded right in front of me on to my desk. For those of you who do not know this, the article was due on Tuesday. So I figured Amber gave it to Mr. Currin in advance or something because she is an editor so I wouldn’t expect anything less of her. But there Amber is handing me a paper with 15 minutes left to go in class. Wait, I just made a mistake by saying Amber handed me the paper. She threw it has hard as she can in my face and said “You better edit it this, or else we will have problems. I am sick of your nonsense Brian and you have been nothing but the biggest jerk to me.” I was like “Amber take a chill pill, alright, you are the one that is incredibly wrong here.” She told me to take a hike. Now I was incredibly mad and I could not believe that the one and only Amber Breyer did this to me. I was very disappointed by this event, and I will say this is what makes me mad. Don’t give me your paper late and give me tude. I don’t like that at all! Remember if you dog one of us, you dog all of us. This makes me mad!

L4: Shall we go Gronkin? Let's not!

Really!? All I hear about leading up to the Superbowl is how this New England Patriot tight end is such a big deal. I turn on the T.V. and I see hear how he is a record setting tight end and he is impossible to stop. Well then the Patriots host the Ravens for an A.F.C. Championship game and the winner would advance to the Superbowl. In the third quarter, Rob Gronkowski suffered an ankle injury. I will be honest and give “Gronk” the benefit of the doubt. The injury did look pretty bad. Luckily for him though, his beloved Patriots would advance to the Superbowl which was two weeks later. The two weeks would be nice because it was going to give Gronk an extra week to get healthy. The bad news is that it would be an extra week of hearing about whether or not this wimp was going to be healthy for the game. I really believe that the biggest headline heading into this Superbowl was Gronk’s injury. I was sick of hearing the nonsense and I just wanted to watch the game. Finally the game came along and the Patriots lost of course. I was so happy to witness my most hated team lose in the big game once again. I think one of the best things about this though was what happened later that night. Patriot’s owner, Robert Kraft, held a party for his New England players after the game. I’m sure he assumed beforehand that they were going to win. Anyway, this party took place in an Indianapolis night club. If you saw a certain piece of footage of this party, you would be stunned! Mr. Gronkowski was seen dancing like a maniac on the dance floor. This is so funny and stupid because this so called tough guy had the worst ankle injury ever; almost so bad to the point where he didn’t play, but yet he was good enough to go dance like crazy. I find this incredibly stupid on his part. He deserves to be called out for this, and not to mention he looked like an idiot dancing. Well one thing is for certain, Gronk played horrible in the Superbowl, and he is also a horrible dancer. Get real Gronk, get real.

Superbowl!

To be honest, I have so many great Superbowl memories; I would never have enough time to write about them. Of late though, I would say my favorite moment would date back to 2008. The undefeated New England Patriots were taking on the New York Giants. The patriots were so called unstoppable, the best ever, perfect, champions, and every other overrated word that people used to describe them. I on the other hand knew that they were prime to be beat. I could not wait until they would get taken down because I hate the Patriots! Of course so many people said that the Giants had no shot because Eli Manning was there quarterback. Many people believed that the only good thing about Eli was that he is Peyton’s little brother. That is ridiculous because I have always thought Eli Manning is a great quarterback. He would prove that in this game.  The game started off with the Patriots taking the ball down the field and scoring on the Giants. Everybody began to think that this was just going to be a blow out that was over at half time. Well the people that thought that were wrong! The New York Football Giants wouldn’t give up anything else to the Patriots. The score at half time was 7 to 3 in favor of New England. There was one half of football left. Every Patriot was one half away from making history. The third quarter was also just a defensive battle. The score still remained 7 to 3 going into the fourth quarter. Half way through the fourth, Eli found David Tyree in the end zone for a huge touchdown the give the big Giants the lead. Then the Brady Lady got lucky once again and the Patriots scored with three minutes to take a 14 to 10 lead. Now the Giants had no chance according to so many, but Eli Manning had something special up his sleeve. On a third and long Eli Manning was wrapped up almost for a sack, but he then had a crazy escape and he threw the ball 40 yards down field to David Tyree. This play was insane! Now the Giants were in business. Three plays later Eli found Plaxico Burress in the end zone for the game winning touchdown; game over, Giants win 17 to 14. Go home New England! Cry me a river Brady!

k3 another story

It was just one of those days, I was lying in my room and everything just started to happen at once. I was in my bedroom just doing some homework so I could end all of the stress that was taking place in my day. I had a tough day at school, everything was just going wrong. My one teacher yelled at me at said something like I was a bad listener; I don’t know exactly, I wasn’t really paying attention. Then I spilled my lunch all over myself and everyone started laughing at me. It was just a very long day and I was glad to be home. So I figured that it would be better to just end all of the stress by doing the homework right away. I would get it done and over with which would really make me happy. I started the homework and I realized that this was just making my day worse. This was becoming so stressful because I felt like nothing was getting accomplished; this day was better even more horrible. I decided to go downstairs to take a break and then of course I fell down the stairs. Then I decided to head back up stairs and just take a nap. I couldn’t sleep at all due to the fact a massive head ache just started. I could not believe all of the bad things that were happening to me on this sunny day. While I was lying down trying to sleep, my mother yelled up to me and asked me if I wanted something from the store. I told her that I didn’t need anything so I she went outside to leave. I was just in the house and then I thought how I actually did need something. So I jumped out the window and tried to land on my mother’s vehicle. I missed and suffered a broken leg to end my great day.

K2

It was just one of those nights. Bob came home from a long day at the office and he just needed some rest. He walked into his home and he just had a feeling that something was a little odd. He couldn’t put his finger on what was fishy, but he was determined that he eventually would. So he turned on some lights and figured that would give him a better idea of what the issue was. Bob was getting extremely flustered because of the day he had and then the strange events at home on top of that. A fly on the wall quoted Bob saying this upcoming statement. “This is such a horrible day, and I am so ticked off right now, what is going on in my house!?” The fly also said they he saw Bob through his phone at the T.V. and he missed. So Bob was unhappy to say the least, he had to figure out what was going on in his home immediately. He decided to run upstairs to search around. He looked in the bathroom, it smelled, but it was clear. He looked in the closet, it was dusty, but it was fine. He looked in his bedroom and things got crazy once he walked in there. He looked on the floor and there was a bulge in his floor under the carpet. He had no idea what in the world it was, but he picked up his chair and he started hitting it with a chair. He just kept hitting harder and harder and the thing just kept moving. For hours this thought to be creature was not stopping and Bob decided to go to sleep because he gave up. He went to sleep and the best part of his day was that it was over. He woke up to a beaver hitting him in the head with a chair. This day was going to be bad too.

Incredible story k1.

It was just one of those nights; something very strange was in the air. A man wanted to go sniff around and see what was going on. The man’s name was Fernando. People called him Fern because it’s short for Fernando in case you didn’t know. Fern was hearing booms and pops all night. He had no idea what was going on, but it started to worry him. He thought it was a risky idea to go find out what was going on, but he decided to do it. He was entering into a very dangerous situation. He decided to bring his 6 year old son along with him because who wouldn’t want to bring their 6 year old son into a dangerous situation. So Fern and his son, George left the house to begin the life threatening adventure to see what all the chaos was. George asked his father where they were going and Fern said they were going to get ice cream. They were walking down the street and people were just lying there crying and some people had missing legs. It was just horrible! Fern and George just couldn’t believe what was in front of their own eyes. After every step they took, they were just getting more and more freaked out. They started to get very worried and they didn’t know what to do. But they were destined to get to the bottom of this. They continued to walk further down the street just becoming petrified of everything. They thought about turning back many times, but they continued to be brave. They got to the end of the street and stopped at the lake and the scariest thing ever was right in front of their eyes in the sky. It was huge, they thought this was the end of their life. Fern asked his 6 year old son what was in the air. He said “That is a star dad.” If you are still reading this blog, something is wrong with you. The purpose of this blog was to be lame.

J1 Who is my Hero?

To me a hero is someone that is willing to do anything for anyone even if that means putting themselves in a bad spot. Now this can be interpreted in many ways. There can be heroes in sports, school, family, or anything for that matter. In life there are so many heroes that I can just name off of my head. Jesus, Ivan the Great, George Washington, Mike Ditka, Tim Tebow, Bill Penny, all of these men are legendary heroes. All of them are heroes for different reasons though. Jesus sacrificed himself for millions of others. I can’t remember what Ivan the Great did that was so great, but he must have been a hero. George Washington did the unthinkable and made his own country, literally. Mike Ditka is loved by every human in Chicago. That itself is a miracle, because I don’t know if you have ever been to Chicago, but there are some obnoxious people there. I have never been to Chicago. Tim Tebow is referred to as a “God” by some people and his arm is compared to a third grade girl at the same time. But he is still a hero in the eyes of many. Then there is Bill Penny. He is a hero simply because he is just Bill Penny, plain and simple. He writes the Teacher Feature and benches 225 pounds for 9 times. What more does he need to do to become a hero? The answer is nothing; his achievements already make him a hero. I suppose that my hero would be everyone that has helped me in some way, shape or form in life. I always say that there are so many people I could thank in life that my list would go on and on forever. I would say my heroes are my teachers, my teammates, my friends, my family, and even the people that I may not like in this world because they have taught me what I don’t ever want to be like. I am just thankful that I have been fortunate enough to meet so many great people in my life.

J4: Brian's Bashing, but this one is a little different

Take a second and think about how long 61 years is. Many people hope they live to be 61 years old because that is a very long time. There are so many things that happen over 61 years. Now think of Joe Paterno. This is a man who coached at the same college for 61 years. This is incredibly remarkable. If you can coach at a school for 10 years you are a probably a good coach. Multiply that number by 6 and you are an incredible coach. For those of you that don’t know, Coach Paterno died early Sunday Morning due to a battle with lung cancer. It is a shame that Coach Paterno is no longer here, but one thing is for certain, his legacy will live on forever. Everything he has accomplished as a coach will have an impact on many coaches for a long time. I think it is horrible that coach didn’t get the opportunity to retire with a good slate on his own. Unfortunately he got fired due to a sex scandal that a former coach on his staff had. Paterno wasn’t fired for his involvement in the case, but for not going further and beyond to report it. It was terrible that his years at Penn State had to come to an end because of this, but he still accomplished many great things. My brother told me that he once read that Paterno always stated he was afraid to retire. He said this because another legendary coach by the name of Bear Bryant retired and he died shortly after. Paterno had this thought that once you stop coaching, you will die. Now by no means am I saying this is true, but it is very interesting. Without a doubt, this man is going to go down as one of the greatest coaches in football history. He won two National Championships and he produced large amounts of NFL players. Joe Paterno will be remembered forever.  

My Favorite Elementary Teacher: J2

I would have to say that my favorite elementary school teacher is Mrs. Stoltman. Throughout my days in elementary school I was fortunate enough to have many tremendous teachers.  I would say that they are all excellent at what they do and they do a great job maturing us into better people. One reason why Mrs. Stoltman stands out as my favorite teacher is because I still stay in touch with her through connections with our families. I have known Mrs. Stoltman as long as I can remember so I would definitely have to say she has had an impact on my life. Also I have a great amount of respect for her husband who is Mr. Stoltman, our Middle School Principle and Athletic Director. He oversees everything that goes on in our athletic department and he does a great job leading us. Every day I am very lucky to go to a school where the athletic program is very good and I would have to say a great part of that is because Mr. Stoltman guides our coaches in the right direction. Also, the Stoltman’s have two young kids that are both well raised and it shows. Their son’s name is Quinn and their daughter’s name is Claire. They both go to school at Alden, Quinn is in third grade and Claire is in pre- school. My parents are Quinn’s godparents as well so that goes to show our families are pretty close even though we are not blood related. Going back to Mrs. Stoltman, I can’t say I remember a whole lot about 1^st grade, but I do know that I though Mrs. Stoltman was great teacher and even a better person. I think that there are not enough opportunities in life to just go back and thank elementary teachers because they very well may have had the greatest impact out of all the teachers. Everything in life starts from basics weather it’s in sports, academics, or just life in general. If I was not able to learn basic information when I was younger I would have an incredibly hard time learning anything now. I am incredibly thankful for everything Mrs. Stoltman taught me and I am very appreciative that the Stoltman family is a part of my life.

I2 What a Fun Bucket List!

It is very tough for me to find a three item bucket list, but for now I will just think of three things off the top of my head that I would like to do. First off, I have to go to a Super bowl one day.  The Super bowl is the most watched television show in the world every year.  So many people watch football and everybody know that this is the biggest game of the year. Every player has the dream to make it to the game and win it all. I think it would be one of the most amazing things to witness the big game first hand. To me it wouldn’t matter what teams were playing in the game because he would be a blast to watch anybody. My father has been fortunate enough to go to three Super bowls in his lifetime. He went to three of the four Super Bowls that the Bills played in. The only Bills Super Bowl he didn’t go to was the game against the Giants.  Another thing that I think would be pretty darn sweet would be getting the opportunity to meet Peyton Manning. Now some people would probably just say this is the same old boring stuff, but I really think that if I ever meant Peyton Manning it would be very interesting. He is basically the offensive coordinator on his team while he is the quarterback. He knows so much about the game of football that I think I would learn so much from him. The last thing that is on my mind today is that I really want to participate on the show Wipe Out one day. This show always looks incredibly fun and my parents and I always say how sweet it would be do the events on that show. I think it looks like a blast and that is definitely something I want to do one day. All three of these things would be a great time.

A Break to Remember

I had a great Christmas break with that was filled with a ton of fun activities. The first fun thing I did took place on Christmas Eve. I am a Bills season ticket holder so I took a trip to Ralph Wilson Stadium for one final time this year. I would be going to see the one and only Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow brings a lot of attention with him, such as a few jokes that I will say. As many know, Tim is very close to God, and he is a very good football player. Many refer to him as a pretty big deal. Here are a few Tim Tebow jokes. Some of these are lame. “Superman wears Tim Tebow Underwear.” “Tim Tebow doesn’t mow the grass; he just dares it to grow.” My last joke for the day I found somewhat ironic. “Nobody has been this excited about a white bronco since O.J. Simpson.” Anyways, yes I did watch this man play a football game and I had a great time. If anybody is looking for something funny, Google Tim Tebow Saturday Night Live and you might get a little giggle out of the video. After watching the football game I spent time with my family for Christmas Eve. I had a great time and then Christmas was just as good. I received many great gifts and I also got hooked on coffee. Then I basically chilled for the rest of my break until Thursday night came around. A group of my friends and family took a trip to the new fun place to be at. We went to Sky zone which is an all trampoline arena where we can play dodge ball, slam ball, and jump into the foam pit. I had an absolute blast at this place and I can’t wait until I go back. We finished the fun night off with a trip to Duff’s. This was a great break and I can’t wait for my next break.

Brian's Bashing- He"s Back for Round Two

Really!? Okay, if you make it into this column not just once, but twice there is a huge issue. Congratulations on being bashed by me twice. Obviously you never want to be a part of Brian’s Bashing. Then if you make it in here for a second time I really don’t know what to tell you. Stevie Johnson is an absolute joke! About a month ago I bashed him for ruining the Bills playoff hopes because of his boneheaded penalty. Then he drops a game winning touchdown pass. After he made this mistake I stated that he probably would be smart enough to not celebrate again after a touchdown. But, I was wrong! Against the Patriots the other day, Stevie decided to flash Happy New Year to the Patriot fans. It was really funny until he got another penalty for his actions. After this event, he took a trip back to the Bills sideline which is what he would be calling home for the next three quarters. Coach Chan Gailey then decided to bench Stevie for his actions. I could not agree more with what Gailey did because Johnson deserved to be benched a long time ago. I really have a problem with the way Stevie Johnson has conducted himself this year. He acts incredibly immature to begin with and then he wants a huge contract extension. I don’t think there is a man in the NFL who chokes more when the game is on the line than Stevie Johnson. There have been at least three games where he has dropped a big pass when the game is winding down. Then he wants a ridiculous amount of money, but let’s be honest, he can get some money when actually deserves it. Stevie Johnson absolutely disgusts me because he has made it into these blogs twice and I am very disappointed about this. He thinks the world revolves around him and it’s a joke!  The only thing that revolves around Stevie Johnson is a pile of poop. He is embarrassing to the Buffalo Bills franchise and to Buffalo Bill fans. I think he is a quality number two receiver for an NFL team, but he isn’t worth the money he thinks he is. Stevie Johnson needs to do a lot to gain my respect. I really hope he does not end up in another one of my blogs. Get real Stevie, get real!