Ok, I like putting these different clips in. I promise this is it for a while.

I want a lot of things....This guy isnt asking for much.




This girl wants you to like Ohio State!




This is the slowest Saturday I have had in a while. It is almost weird.

I've used Digg.com to read a little. The following storys are cool.

This game is addicting. My high score is 120. Try it.

http://www.jeannettevejarano.com/games/chaos-theory.html

This is the best commercial ever! You will likely not see it here in the US.


The Nissan boob commercial - video powered by ToxicJunction.com

This is why mom and dad would never buy me one of these! You'll shoot your eye out!



Dan Marino...freaking out!



Troy Smith, 2006 Heisman Trophy Winner, The Ohio State University



Hopefully this works. Enjoy!

Leave me some comments! I like feedback.

Catching Up

I have not written anything on here in a long time.  I’m going to attempt to catch you up.

Football

We ended our season at 3-7.  We played pretty well for a 3-7 team.  I really think we were a much better team than our record indicates.  We were a couple of plays away from being 7-3.  When you think about football it always comes down to that.  If a couple of plays go your way it’s all the difference.  That being said, I think we can stop this snowball effect and win right now.  We are currently hard at work trying to recruit a class that will further help the solid classes coming back for the 2007 season.  

Defensive Lineman

I finished the year with 16 defensive linemen.  I will lose two to graduation.  Those two player, Mike and Brandin, were good football player, great leaders, and greater people.  They will be missed.  Brandin was a defensive end that played in our rotation, he really did well when you think that this was his first year at defensive line.  He played wide receiver in the past.  Mike Stephens was a four year starter from day one of his freshman year.  He was a First Team All CCIW selection at Defensive End.  Mike was really good.  He should have been an All American but his numbers were off due to the fact that teams game planned around him.  Mike really helped make my transition to college football a lot easier.  I seen some really good football players over the last few years and Mike is up there in my top 10.  He is the best defensive player that I have ever coached.  Both guys were a lot of fun to be around as football players and young men.  I wish them both much success in what lies a head.

I am really excited about the guys that are coming back.  Leading the Titans next season at D-Line will be Rob Hoyland, a second team All CCIW Nose.  Rob cost me 20 large pizzas, which I was glad to donate, for returning a fumble 70 yards for a TD last season.  My expectations are high for Rob, I’m sure he expects the same.  Our top returning Defensive End is Tim Wilkins.  Tim is a fast and explosive player.  Tim will make a run at being one of the best Defensive Ends in the conference.  He is a natural leader, and his speed will cause havoc in the backfield.  Brock Collins, will return as our 3 tech.  Brock is a little unique to say the least.  Brock was a solid defensive lineman and will no doubt be itching to compete in his senior season.  Mike Ammirati saw a lot of the field early as a freshman.  Unfortunately he fell ill and missed a good portion of the season.  Mike will be competing for a starting spot at Defensive End.  Andrew Boyd played in the rotation of inside defensive lineman.  He will no doubt be bigger and stronger and a bigger force in 2007.  Kevin O’Connor really came on his freshman year and was the talk of a lot of offensive coaches as he earned scout player of the year.  Kevin will push for time and for a starting position at Defensive End.  Other guys that will be back and ready to push for time include JaLaser Jolly, Joe Holmes, Alex Holmberg, Joe Vanchieri, Matt Beres, Kindred Cook, Jim Phillip.  It remains to be seen if I will get to keep Travis Boothe.  The Offense has been salivating with idea of making him a tackle.  I really don’t want to lose anyone of our guys, but I also know that we need Offensive Lineman Now!  

Recruiting

I love it.  It’s new, different, and exciting. Javan, it is a lot more fun than NCAA 2007.  Javan is a friend of mine from Napoleon who loves simulating seasons to recruit in NCAA Football.   There are five of us recruiting.  I have probably 100 schools to contact and maybe 50 to visit.  I recruit North Chicago Suburbs, Decatur, Danville, Champaign, Urbana, and a lot of in-between.  It is an every night event.  

School

Grad class kicked my ass.  I haven’t been a full time student since 2001.  I was full time again this fall.  I was learning how to do things all over.  School and football is tough to balance.  But I survived and made it through.  I will have 3 B’s at worst and maybe one A in there.  I’m happy.  To be honest, football consumed my time, but I wanted to do well.  I’ll take B’s there good.  Good news is this spring will be my last full semester.  I will finish after next fall, and I will only have to take 2 classes then.  I’ll graduate a year from today I think, December 15, 2007.   That will be nice to be done and not have to worry about school.  

Christmas Vacation

I think I will leave here on Wednesday morning. I’ll be home so give me a call if your around.  I have no Christmas gifts yet, no time.  Maybe I’ll try tomorrow to get some stuff.  Otherwise, I’ll be one of those people rushing at the last minute.

Poker

I haven’t played poker in a long time.  It was obvious when I was home for Thanksgiving.  I played a couple of times and was always third or one out of the money.  Guys….Guys at Glick’s House…I’m going to win the time!  I am looking forward to it.

Well that’s all I’m going to write for now.  A am going to try to post some videos though.  We shall see how that works.

I’ve updated….long time coming.

Eb

Blog updated! Links should be changed. Feel free to leave a comment, Graig did.

Irish Red, Carmen Ohio, Green Swarm victorious over the Big Blue

I’m sitting here, ready to go to sleep.  I’m excited that we put together a nice win over Millikin.  Elmhurst is next.  It is still time to get right!  

It was a great game.  We actually tried a free kick attempt at a field goal to end regulation.  It was crazy.  Berry almost made it, 64 yards or something.  We once again blocked a field goal, scratch that, Drago did it again.  That is number six.  He has a blocked field goal in every game.  Very impressive!  The defense was stout and stopped the big blue on a goal line stand in OT sealing the victory!  I’m still excited about it.

Dirk made good on our bet, and I’m drinking a fine brew from Mr. George Killian.   Ohio State rolled over Michigan State.  

Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern and that team up north still remain.  It is still uncertain if I will go to Glendale if they make it, I want to…but that is also the AFCA convention.  I think I need to go to the convention to meet some people for down the road.  

Good Night.  PS – Who is reading this?

Ghosts of Simon Girty in October

Well I have not written anything in a while.  I’m actually writing this in Microsoft word, testing to see if it will upload correctly.  

Where to begin?  Logic says the beginning.  

Football is going so fast.  I really can’t believe that it is October 11, 2006 already. I have been busy.  

We are 1-4 at the moment.  We have played good football at times despite the record.  

Week 1 – We Played Coe College who is currently ranked 25, but was 14th when we played them.  We were up early 14-0 and then we let them back in the game.  35-21 was the final.  We should have beaten them, but we beat ourselves.  As far as the defensive line goes, this is the only game that we allowed a 100 yard performance by a back.

Week 2 – We played Olivet, Michigan.  We won 21-6.  Olivet had a long bus ride home.

Week 3 – The Titans accompanied me home to Ohio.  We left early Friday morning.  The drive took about 5 hours.  We practiced at the Cincinnati Bengal’s facilities.  That was amazing and beyond awesome.  We got a tour of the place, and got to go through the locker room.  That was the pretty neat.  They game was against Mount St. Joseph.  It was a great defensive battle until seconds remained in the first half.  They scored on a freak lucky play.  The second half, we got into a jam offensively and with special teams.  We lost 28-7.

Week 4 – We played at Augustana.  Augie was definitely beatable, but again we sputtered and stalled offensively and with special teams.   We Lost 7-24.

Week 5 – We played Carthage.  We beat the snot out of them for 54 minutes.  Then the floor fell out in the last 6 minutes.  We allowed them to drive and score.  They then kicked an onside kick that they recovered and went on to score.  We then fumbled our first offensive snap giving them the ball inside the 20.  We lost 28-31.  

The toughest part about losing is waiting another week to play and get that taste out of your mouth.  I want to win so badly.  These Seniors work to hard to lose.  They deserve to end it on a run.  Time to get Right!

We need to stop the bleeding and stop it now!   We are preparing for the Big Blue of Millikin.  Millikin is Chuck Martin’s Alma Mater.  Coach Martin coaches the D2 National Champions Grand Valley State.  

My parents made it to town last weekend.  It was good to see them.  They spoiled me with food and groceries.  They also took me out to eat Chinese on Saturday night.  I took them to Mike and Beth Wagner’s house.  They were celebrating Mattie’s birthday.   So it was good for them to meet my parents to meet everybody.  Everybody included Brett, Carry, not sure if I spelled that correctly?, Brett’s Parents, and Mikes Parents, and Becca and Matthew of course.

I actually spend a lot of weekends, Saturday Nights, there.  The Wagner’s are extremely good to me.  

And then I should write about the girl.  She is beautiful, amazing, ambitious, intelligent, easy to talk to, a good person, and someone I’d like to spend some time with. But then, she kind of has a boyfriend.  That stinks, no kind of involved. Of course I do not know the details, but this girl deserves better than a “kind of boyfriend.”  Crushed.

School is going well.  It is busy.  9 Grad hours that are major work loads.  Nothing like Education Grad classes which are diploma factories.  Almost to much going on in these classes.  But, so far I’ve managed.  Sometimes only a day in advance, but I’m getting through.  I have another athlete interview to do; I need to find an athlete.  

So far I really like the experience here at Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State in Bloomington Normal.  I’m so glad this opportunity came about.  

5 more games.  The goal is to win at Millikin, then prepare our butts off again for the next team.  Time to Get Right!

Adiós y buonas noches

Are you Ready for some Football

According to Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power! Well that football field out there tonight, that's our universe. Let's rule it like Titans!

Remember the Titans, Movie.

Football Season has started and I’m excited as hell. It is Friday night, and I’m about to fall asleep, but I needed to write this because I have not written in some time.

The last two weeks have been busy with staff meetings. I really like our staff. We have great chemistry. Everyone gets along and that is awesome. As a Defensive Staff, we click. We are all on the same page. Wags has been very open to Dirk and me and our suggestions.

http://www.iwu.edu/

The Defensive Staff is Mike Wagner, DC and Defensive Backs. Dirk Smid, Linebackers, and myself, Defensive Line. Brett Stevens is floating between LB’s and DB’s.

We have everyone back minus a Quarterback. However, two of the three guys fighting to be number one have some experience. We are picked to do poorly in the CCIW. I think that will help us in that teams might be looking past us. For those of you reading, Wesleyan was a top 20 program in the 90’s and early 2000’s. They have had two down years the last couple of seasons.

Thursday, Seniors reported. 17 of them, and they seem to be ready. Today, Friday, the rest of the team reported. I met with the entire Defensive line for the first time. I was a little nervous, but extremely excited to see the players and meet everyone on the team. I’m telling you now, I’m going to have a quality Defensive Line. Anchoring the line will be our pre-season All American, Mike Stephens. From there, there is a good mix of guys who will see playing time. I’m really excited about a couple of freshman. Seriously, I think we can be pretty good.

Tomorrow is testing and our first real on the field practice, cant wait!


This past Weekend Brett had a Beer Pull party. It is really a neat idea. Everyone who comes must bring a 6 or 12 pack of there favorite, non domestic beer. You randomly drop them into the trough of ice and blindly select, and drink what you pull. I brought Honey Brown, on sale in the famous liquor store for 8 bucks a 12. Honey Brown is really good, and has earned the nickname Honey Bear. That is what Silverback, Kenny Bostelman and I have called it ever since we drank it non stop at Massilon one year.

The bear pull had a risk reward factor. Although the trough wasn’t booming with shlitz or PBR or other low end beer, there were a couple of Nasty’s. Wags told us that back in college they used to have a competition to buy the worst beer. The idea being that roommates take turns buying a beer to put in the fridge. If you drink it, it is the next roommates turn to buy a case. If no one drank it, it was bad and the rest of the guys had to buy your drinks at the bar for the next two weekends. Now, it had to be cold, and if that didn’t work you moved on to nearly freezing the beer. High Brow, of course spelled some other way was the worst, until the beer pull!

Brett has been doing the Beer pull for 4 years. It is quite the party. He had BBQ and lots of other food. He even sold T-Shirts. It was very cool, and much more elaborate than the average party in NW Ohio.

Back to the worst beer ever, it is called Chili Beer. It has a hot pepper in it. Of course I had to try it. I nearly lost control of my body and shit and puked at the same time. It burned like whisky, and it tainted good beer well into the night.

We gave a bottle to Wags, to see if it was worse than High Brow, and it was. Wags thought nothing could be worse than High Brow, a case he found that had nearly an inch of dust on it and was $1.99 a case during his college years sitting in a corner of some liquor store near Augustana.

Chili Beer, I don’t recommend it even though the novelty and conversation is worth the buy.

Signing off, take care.

PS – Opening comments. I want to see what that does to the blogmosphere.

Lets See here.

I havnt written in a while. We are done for the year with camps. I'm glad. Starting the first we get into our meetings and things start rolling. I'm really excited.

Camp was fun. We had 7 teams form across Illinois here. Some were really good. Edwardsville was the best. They had a Defensive lineman that will be a bigtime college player in two years. Michael Young. MArk my words. He was fun to coach. Camp was fun. We drilled them and had individual with the positions once a day. Not two bad, except the D line group was f ing huge. I had two sections of 60+ kids. Tim Wilkins, a Wesleyan Defensive End helped me. That was it. Kind of tough to get real personable drills, but I managed.

I cant wait to get our kids here. I'm really excited. I'll have 4 expereinced Defensive ends back and 6 interior guys. The rest will be Frosh. I'll end up with a group of about 16-18 players. Thats like back in Napoleon.

Speaking of Napoleon. I'm in constant contact with John Snoad. He is getting ready for a fine season. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this team will be the fastest team in Napoleon History. Speed kills, and hopefully we kill some opponents. A win over Defiance, our arch rival will be three in a row and 4/5. Realisticly we should have won in 2003. We just didnt get it done. Such a great game. I wish it was week 10.

Findlay and MArion will be the favorites again in the GBC. But I'm telling you...Don't count out the former fighting Scotts!

JJHuddle hasnt had much on the cats yet. I'm reading.

I spoke to Angi V this week. I got kind of a random email from her. Which is really strange cause I was thinking about her after running AIM . Angi is the former girlfriend that I compare everygirl I date to. I just really like her. But she is now married, and out of my league. Out of my league because I'm not a home wrecker. That is a reference to one of my friends who used to have a thing for married women. Anyway , Things are looking good for her carear wise and school wise. Best of luck, and keep writing. I enjoy it.

A lot of girls I used to date are married now, but I guess it is about that time. I'm not looking to get marreid anytime soon. First there is noone that I'm serious about. Though there are some definate possibilities here in Bloomington. Coach Eash predicts that Jared and I will both be in serious relationships befroe we leave. It will take someone that can live with a football coach cause that is my passion. I will not pull a Thompson and disapear from coaching. Even though he got a great girl in Lisa.

Graig Bachman now has a blog. Thanks to me.

I've been watching World Series of Pop Culture. It is addicting. Though they repeat everything and my tivo doesnt understand i dont want repeats.

Fantasy Football along with some other things are going to get put on the back burner. I'm in two leagues. Or was. The Bowling ally League, which is a keeper league that I dominate and Joe Good's League which is the Premere league of 90's Graduates. It is about as famous as the Gubernath Leaugue that everyone knows. I wont be able to draft, and that is the best part. So, will see. I'd really like to still do Joes.

I'm going to email him now.

I havnt heard form the crew in a while. Javan, Sicky, Tim...Where are you guys?

Enough Rambling...it is 11:00 already.

NCAA 2007 for 360 is awesome. Minus the one button old school techmo bowl like select a player. That is the sucky part. I can live with everything else. I wish EA would get it together and package a real deal whole game for once. this is watered down and missing things. But the Defensive pick a player is awful. But the Game play is awesome.

Jared and I played on Saterday all day on the big screen at the Shirk.

Ok, I said i was leaving.

You should check out http://www.privatephone.com/

Its like free love in the 60's. I've never paid for love. Although they make it look glamorous on Entourage! Free voicemail number and service. Kind of nice.

Entourage is probably the best shoe that most people aren't watching. In fact, I'm going to attempt to name the best shoes right now.

10.
9.
8.
7. Nip Tuck
6. Survivor Where Ever the hell they are
5. Lost
4. Entourage
3. Rescue Me
2. Soprano's
1. Grey's Anatomy

Well I couldn't quite get 10. But I must say that the West Wing is one of my alltime favorite shows. It recently ended a long run. This season was very enjoyable.

Look how many of those shows are on either HBO or FX. I think shows are much more real there. Of Course they don't give a shit if they offend anyone either.

I just got back from Coach Eash's House. He had the staff over for a cook out. It was nice. I've met everyone now but two guys who couldn't be there. It was nice, low key, just coaches and those who had wives.

I ate two burgers. Jared ate 4. I thought it was hilarious. He is not a big guy either.

Things get going big time here soon. Conference call tomorrow to all the players. We start meeting a week before August. Our last Camp of the summer starts Sunday.


I'm looking up Nascar results to mail out. After that, probably bed sometime early.

Back to Bloomington

Find a station, in the early morning rain...

I traveled back to Bloomington today. I found a good radio station. It was all country. I think it was a Purdue station; it came in clear from Indy to almost Bloomington.

I love the song Summertime by Kenny Chesney. Sure all the girls love Kenny, but he performs great. Whether or not he writes his own music, I'm to lazy to look, he is an awesome performer. The song choices paint a vivid picture and I just get it. The song summertime is a classic. Listen to it, I'm looking to download it, but I might give allofmp3.com some pennies.

I'll probably not make it home again until after football season. I'll be back in Ohio a few times, once for the Bengals camp and again to play St. Joes.

The drive here was pretty normal. Actually I made it in under 5 hours this time. Normally 5 hours 10 minutes or so. I kept my cruise on about 10 mph over the whole way.

I'd like to bitch about truck drivers who feel the need to pull out in front of you to pass another truck. I don't have a problem with the truck swap...Its only when they pull out right in front of you.

Another truck baffling question....Indianapolis would be much better driving if trucks were pinned to the outside lane. Instead they are driving in all but the far left, and they just create picks and screens. It gets so annoying. Not as annoying as the lady who comes barreling up behind you, and when you pull over to the other lane she takes forever to clear you. Shit, and those people who are oblivious to the two lane thing...The ones that refuse to move at all. The interstate is more dangerous when you go slow. I really believe that.

Besides the couple inroad tirades to the air passenger it was a good trip.

Bachman: www.blogger.com get yourself a blog. It is free. Then let me know you have one.

Actually if there are people out there reading this, let me know I might open it up to allow comments. Of course that could get brutal.

Well, I'm back to football after some ISU stuff tomorrow morning. Going to learn me the MAC video editing software. Should suck with the one click thing. That's what I hate most about MACs. I hate the mouse and the no right click feature.

I hate Taylor Hicks. Possibility confirmed, America got it wrong.

Going to give Tim a call, maybe he is in Vegas.

Goodnight America....Wherever you are.

July 1, 2006

When I left Bloomington, I made it a point to remember my black dress shoes and belt for Joe and Trisha’s wedding. But I forgot my dress pants and shirts. So I needed to get some.

I went to the dentist in the morning; Dr. John Burns made a special trip in for me. No cavities! I need to floss more.

Then I went to the Men’s Warehouse and got some new clothes. My parents and I ate at Ground Round, which is like Applebee’s or that type or restaurant. It was good.

Got back, and went to the wedding reception. It was 6:30 or so when I got there, I figure I’d be major late, but I beat the wedding party. I sat with Brian and Rachel Bostelman, Chad Bostelman and his girlfriend, Nick Sonnenbeg, Nick Dammon, and Christy Frutchey.

I saw Mike Hummer which was pretty neat. He was curious how things were going for me. I filled him in, and I had questions about his vacation in the hurricane and football.

I talked with Ryan Miller and Cara. I have only seen them a few times since getting Riffed at Napoleon. They seemed excited about there August Wedding. I’m going to miss a lot of weddings here in the short future, not because I want to, but because of my new job. Miller, Nemire, and Sicky’s wedding are all during football season and I really don’t see anyway that I’ll be able to go to any of them. But, time will tell.

The wedding was a lot of fun. I didn’t get to carried away drinking, cause I had t drive my ass home. But I had a good time. I talked with a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. Doug Brown, and yes he was sweating. Hines, Vanny, and Brian Wade. Wade and I had a good conversation. His daughter is 4 now, I am getting fucking old.

I found out that Bachman is probably my only reader of this Blog. I told him he needed a blog if for no other reason to discuss his music interests. He has pretty good taste in music, and most people from his class do not.

There were a lot of younger people at the wedding, people from my first couple years of teaching and coaching. Not really a big deal, but I’m not really friends with these people, because of my professional past. Though it was good to say hello and see how school and stuff is going. Zach Kruse is truly a Kruse and reminds me a lot of Todd. Enough said.

Went up to Rick’s afterward hoping to catch up with Sicky, Jen, and Javan. No Dice. But Kruse, Lininger, and Nemire were there. It was good to hang out a while.

Came home about 2:30 or so. I dropped Chad Williams off on the way. When I got home, I thought maybe Christy Brinkly or Uma Thurman might be in bed waiting for me, but again….No Dice


I’m home until Thursday morning, then back to Bloomington Normal.

June 30, 2006

I got up fairly early, 7:00am. I wasn’t packed. I took me a lot longer to get around than I thought. I think after loading up and eating a quick breakfast I was on the road by 8:30. I got home about 2:30 our time. 5 hours plus and hour in there from Central to Eastern Time Zone. I went to the bank, and to the post office, and made it home. Good to see the family. It was also good to see my dogs.

I took a nap, unplanned, but woke up later and my sister had people over. So I shot the shit with some of them.

June 27 – 29,

After 10 days of camp I took the day off. I slept in and did nothing. I just was a bum all day the first day back.
Then I went to the Shirk, there wasn’t much to do. So I would go in at noon or later. I got back into a lifting routine, and I have been playing a lot of basketball. I’m really bad at shooting, I always have my elbow everyway but under the ball.

I watched some tape, and took some notes. I’m looking forward to coming home this weekend.

June 22 – 26, 2006

Thursday was our travel day. We traveled from Bloomington to Grand Rapids, Michigan. We met at Coach Eash’s house. It was the first time I had been there.

Brian Steiner and Mike Goodwin came with us.

On the way there there were two drivers, since Steiner was coming. I rode with Coach Eash. He listens to terrible music, or rather stuff I don’t care for. So I high jacked the radio with my ipod. We listened to some good stuff. He liked most of it, told me to get rid of the “Acid Rock” a couple of times. 5 hours went pretty fast. That’s pretty good for being the first long trip spent with the boss.

Grand Valley is a beautiful campus. It is very large. It is spread out too. 25,000 or so probably go there. It used to be a large commuter school, but that is changing. The football facilities were awesome. There only going to get better too. They are going to build an indoor facility in the next year. Pretty amazing for a D2 school, but they have one 3 National titles and played in 4 games during the last 5 years. That is impressive no matter what level.

The dorm we stayed in was very nice. It was a quad, with a community living room and kitchen. I really liked it. I would like one for my apartment.

Registration was sort of a nightmare. My master spreadsheet was corrupted, so the data printed out all wrong. People who had paid owed and vice versa. Thank fully coach Brockelbank of GVSU had a backup. Otherwise, we would have been in deep shit.

Camp went well. I had a stay group, which means my guys didn’t practice both Defense and offense. This is great for a couple of reasons. One, you get a lot more one on one time for teaching and drilling. The second, I only had 13 evaluations to do instead of 26 or so.

My group was older, but there was not many who had a lot of game time experience. I think they did well. I really like my group. A couple of kids really stood out and were great leaders. A couple others stood out too, but for other reasons. During registration, one kid wrote so bad I took his card from him and wrote myself, of course I got this guy. He was big and strong, but soft and didn’t seem bright. Turns out the guys was pretty smart, just had some problems mentally. I felt kind of bad.

As far as games were concerned, we struggled. The kids couldn’t remember there plays, and that hurt us. We scored a little more often, but again didn’t earn a W.

Coach Alexander gave me shit, and a lot of it. But I think he liked me. I think he like all of we Wesleyan coaches. He invited us to go to training camp in Cincinnati for the Bengal later in July.

Michigan camp was run a lot loser than Illinois. It was that way probably because it wasn’t on our campus. A lot of the coaches were former players or cronies of Coach Al’s. You could tell Coach Eash was a little upset at times about the looseness of camp.

Grand Valley had good food, but not near as good as Wesleyans. I enjoyed a real cappuccino every night for supper. They also had great pizza.

The Coaches party was a lot of fun, we played Euchre. Coach Al and his daughter won. He put up a $100 prize, but Steiner and I fell short.

I met so many coaches over the last two camps, I’ll bet 30 something. I started a database, for future use. I really like Coach Tom Riva and Jeff Hancock. Riva is with the arena football, Grand Rapids Rampage, and Hancock just left GVSU for the OC job at Adrian.

The coaches were all a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.

Steiner went back to Ohio. He is coaching at Dayton. So Goodwin rode with Coach Eash and I back to Bloomington. We drove through Chicago on the way home. Traffic was pretty bad because of construction. I will avoid it at all costs until it is done. But I think, I could cut off another hour or something if I could drive 80/90 all the way to Interstate 55.

June 18 - 21, 2006

Camp at Illinois started on Sunday. It is the Midwest Elite Lineman camp. We probably had just shy of 200 high school players there.

We started off with a staff meeting. I met a lot of coaches. Coach Paul Alexander, who is the Bengals Offensive line coach, is the co-chair of the camp with coach Eash. He brought with him three players; Andrew Whitworth, Nate Livings, and Jesse Boone. Whit was a 2nd round pick out of LSU. He is a freak of a person, absolutely enormous.
Livings and Whit were from LSU, and Boone from Utah. Livings and Boone were free agent pickups that were not drafted, but Paul thinks they will all make the team, especially giving the circumstance that they will have two free agent all star lineman at the end of the season.

I talked to Livings the most at registration; he seemed really interested in knowing about high school football and coaching.

I got to know some of the other local coaches pretty well. Coach Chris Patton, DL, from ISU, and some local HS guys, Rich Baldwin and Duane Thoennes. I talked about the 3-5 and the differences between Ohio and Illinois HS football. There were a lot of other guys as well, Coach Murray and Brian Steiner were the other D line guys.

I met the guys that Jared and I replaced. I knew Jeff Voreis, but Didn’t think I knew the other guys, Matt Traxler and Brian Steiner. I spoke to Steiner before I accepted the job at IWU. He is a good guy and I picked his Brain a lot during camp. It turns out that I had actually met Traxler before. He used to live with Rickenberg. They played together at Tiffin.

We did three practices a day for camp. We had meetings and all that. Players were divided up into groups. My group was very rough. They were all young. I think the oldest was a sophomore. Most were Freshman or Junior High. I got pretty frustrated at times. We played a continuing game, sort of lineman only football against the other groups, I went winless and took a lot of crap. But everyone realized that my group was young and inexperienced. We took pride on not quitting and scoring a few times.

Halfway through the camp we switched groups. I got guys who wanted to play both O and D, that were with an Offensive coach the first half of camp. This group was much more enjoyable to coach and a lot easier too. They were mostly upperclassman.

Coach Alexander told me that he would have quit if he had had my group. I’m not sure if he said this to get my to feel better or if he was serious, but I did feel better.

Camp was great. I ate well on the dining hall food. I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the guys that I replaced. We went to Mulligans one night. They had mason jars that were filled with long islands. Tasty! Long Islands are probably my favorite mixed drink. I love them.

The last night we had our coaches party at Scooners, the place reminded me of Wriglyville. It had a grat outdoor patio and had decent wings. We had a good time.

When camp ended, I helped clean stuff up and load stuff up for our next camp at Grand Valley State.

June 17, 2006

I entered more data for the camp. I printed off rosters etc. for camp.

Put on the pads for the sleds and got final stuff ready for camp. Short day as far as work is concerned.

I went to the grocery as well. I seem to go to Meier a lot. They have the cheapest Milk. I also go to Aldi, for the little stuff.

June 16, 2006

Coach Eash and I went to Sam’s Club, an extension to Wal-Mart. We picked up a lot of things for camp. We bought more Gatorade to sell at the store as well as some candy bars.

I got pads out and boards too.

I haven’t written on here in a while so I’m trying to remember as I type this.

June 15, 2006

I started by hanging out at the apartment in the morning. I didn’t really do anything. I went to the Shirk center about noon. I checked some mail and stuff. I then headed out to baseball camp.

Baseball camp was super easy. I kind of floated, and did odds and ends stuff. I talked to coach Willey most of the time.

Easy check, I am grateful to coach Martel for the work.

Afterward I started entering data for our lineman camp on Sunday. Then Norm and I got the camp store ready. T-shirts and Gatorade and some other stuff like that. After that I finished up compiling the data. I printed out all the receipts and letters. Then I collated them into the appropriate piles.

I got done like ten after seven. I came home and made a burrito and nacho’s.

It is 9:00pm already. I’ve been watching Fox News. I’m not sure the guys names but they just debate everything. It is good banter.

I’m going to bed early tonight. Tired am I.

June 14, 2006

I worked the baseball camp for Coach Martel. It was easy money, and not at all difficult. The weather has been awesome. It has been sunny and hot.

I did more camp forms, and met more people.

I lifted, did some dumbbell work. I’m going to make a good effort to get in shape and make the most of these great facilities.

More tomorrow!

June 13, 2006

When I wake up it is usually before 6:00am. Its amazing cause it is brighter than hell outside. Central Time Zone is different. I usually go back to sleep until 6:30 or so.

I headed to the Athletic center and worked on some camp forms and watched some tape. I also studied the playbook. Coach Eash and I got out the pads for Sunday’s Lineman camp; that should be fun.

I lifted. The weight room is awesome.

Came home and had Cable. I messed with the DVR a little. Pretty cool. Then, I emailed some people.

June 12, 2006

Got up and ate breakfast with my parents. They stayed at a hotel near the airport. After, I said goodbye and they left. I went to Shirk to work.

Wags gave me a playbook. It is a little more than I’m used to. The toughest part of learning a new system is the vocabulary. I have to forget what I know as far as terms and start over. I hope my learning curve is short.

I watched some tape, and met a lot of the coaches in the athletic offices. Coach Eash and I unloaded all the helmets and shoulder pads that have been reconditioned.

Jared and I shot some hoops. I met some players. Good stuff.

Came home late, and watched Saving Private Ryan. I’m almost out of DVD’s, the ones I brought with me. But Cable tomorrow.

June 11, 2006

Mom and Dad came today. They got here a little after noon. We unloaded the furniture, and Jeff, who I had not met, came and helped me move the couch. That was pretty nice on his part.

We went to eat lunch at Lone Star. It was tasty. It was nice to eat and spend the day with my parents. We then went looking for a bed and got one. We also picked up a nice kitchen table for cheap, that I am writing this from.

Came back to the apartment, started assembling things together. We then left to meet Coach Eash at the Shirk Center. My parents thought the Shirk center was the “Shrek” Center. They were impressed by the facilities as well. Coach Eash was there and everyone met. My Parents seemed to be impressed.

I drove my parents around Bloomington Normal, and showed them what I knew, I think they were impressed that I knew it fairly well, at least the main drags. I am learning, and I’ll get better.

We came back to my apartment and Dad put the chairs together, and Mom and I went shopping. We got sheets, and more groceries. I think they think that I’ll starve.
Anyway it was very nice of them to come and help me out so much. I am very grateful.

Parents went to get a Hotel room and I cleaned up a bit. Then they came back and we went out to eat at TGI Fridays. It was another good meal. I really think they think I’ll starve.

We are going to have breakfast in the morning before they leave.

Right now, I’m listening to Counting Crows, and typing. My new bed is calling my name.

June 10, 2006

Saturday, was Saturday. I went to Lowes, which is across the street. I got some spare keys made up for my apartment and I bought a shower curtain rod. I really needed it too. I was making a good mess when I showered. Everything would get soaked. Problem fixed. I also went to Meier. I really like Meier. I did a little grocery shopping.

I bought a cable modem at Best Buy. I ran into Coach Wagner and his kids there. They were wasting some time waiting for the movie Cars to start. I also bought Gods and Generals, which is an awesome Civil War movie. It is in the same lines of Gettysburg, same director, same series. Although the third installment is not out, it is the beginning of the trilogy.

I met my first neighbor, Kristen. She and Jeff live in apartment 8.

Saturday night I went to my first Arena Football Game. Bloomington Extreme v. The Ohio Valley Greyhounds. I thought it only fitting. In fact, Brock Dodrill, from Defiance, was the Jack Linebacker for Ohio. Pretty cool I thought. Ohio won, which didn’t hurt my feelings. Overall, I thought it was pretty neat. The atmosphere was energetic to say the least. The game was played at US Cellular Convention Center which is brand new. Sweet place though there was only 5000 some people there and it can hold 12-15, 000.

After the game I stopped at the Shirk Center to drop off my spare keys. Came home, made some nachos and watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

June 9, 2006

I got up and had a place to go. Shirk Center is the home of the Fightin Titans. It will be where I call home for most of my time here in Bloomington. The place is amazing. It definitely influenced my decision to come here. The facilities are top notch for any program, let alone a Division III school. I will pretty much be here all of the time. I will work there, do school work there, learn football, game plan, practice, lift, and run. Yes, I said run. I need to get my butt into shape. I have become gross.

I cleaned up my desk and work space and then I watched some tape. I really enjoyed my first day.

Later Jared Williamson, the other GA, and shot some hoops and talked about a little of everything.

Came home ordered a pizza and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

June 8, 2006

I stopped in at Napoleon Football Conditioning. Dropped off the keys, turned in my rain gear, and said my last goodbyes. The past four years have been so much fun. I’ll miss Napoleon Football; it has taught me a lot and made me who I am.

The trip to Bloomington was long. 24 to Fort Wayne, 69 to Indianapolis, and then 74 to Bloomington. It took me just over five hours. Traffic was pretty calm, so I was cruising. At one point I started counting the cars I passed, then I got to such a number I figured I should stop. On 69 South I saw the roadside cross from the tragic accident that killed a handful of college students about a month ago. The thing that makes it stick out was that they misidentified one of the girls who died with one who was in a coma. What agony, and what a miracle…depending on which family you were with.

Fueled up in Bloomington, cost a ridiculous amount. Took about ¾ of a tank to get here. The US needs to bring back freighters of oil form Iraq for compensation to the service our Armed Forces are providing. Of course, some people don’t see it that way, but I believe we are making a difference. Will that difference be kept when we do leave? My guess is no, but I am hopeful.

I got all my crap moved into my apartment. I live by the airport. I really think I will like Bloomington Normal. It seems to be a friendly town. I am without some essentials, but my parents are coming on Sunday with the last of my stuff.

Went to Shirk Center and helped get some Camps stuff together.

EB's Ramblings

Coaches Clinic

Easton. What a place. Went to the anual Ohio High School Coaches Association anual clinic this weekend. We left school on Thursday after 6th period. Took off and got to CBus just in time to hear the first speaker at 5:00. We listened and took notes then off to Fado.

Fado is an awesome pub. It is an Irish pub. So let the dark beer flow. I had a couple different beers, but the blacka nd black was the bomb. Guiness and Blackberry brandy. Wow, there isnt a word to describe it. It was something you couldnt drink a lot of. But definately good.

We loaded up on the appitizers. Probably a good time to tell you who was there. Hummer, Snoad, Wolfe, Bostelman, Mack, Glove, and myself. Jeff would come down Friday.

We were eating and I broke out my ode to Snoad. See every year someone does something super funny, so I managed to fin some pictures of the Snoader from High School, back at Central Catholic. I made a nice calloge of pics and copied them and handed them out to everyone. It was a riot.

Later that night I got Coach Rios to come over and talk to us, Coach Rios is famous for being himself on JJhuddle. He talked about Peris and Davis. Some great D1 guys to come out of Rogers.

The guys kept ordering shots, its amazing I got up early to listen to JT. That JT would be Jim Tressel.

After Fado we went to Adobe Gillas. It is a tiki type bar in the mall. There was some crazy girls grinding on eachother that provided great entertainment.

We ran into the Oletangy coaching staff and talked to Mike Dooley. Dooley is who we got a lot of the 3-5 ideas from. He is now at Clemson. I was talking to him about a GA position. He told me to keep trying and he'd look into the Clemson opening I applied for.

We finaly made it back to the hotel. LATE.

Like I said, got up early and went to see JT. Listened to Jim Heacock, and then Tim Beckman. We then took off for lunch as a staff. We went to FADO of course.

Fado is great if you havnt gotten that idea

Then back to the clinic to listen to 4 more speakers.

We then got dressed up for our banquet dinner. The steak wasnt the best, but the salad was.

Tressel spoke again, but was pretty quick. I took off after dinner, not staying for the whole thing. We got ready to do something else. Normally we go to the coaches social, but we skipped it to go out. We decided to go else where then the normal Fado or Gillas.

We walked to champs, but it was lame. So we went to Gameworks. This place is awesome, and I'm sure we will go back. It is like an adult, beer serving, chucky cheese. We all were drinking and then we went and played games. Racing, Football toss, different arcade shit.

It was so hot in there, that was the only down fall. Hummer and I ran into Harder. Tyson was a coach whne I played. He coaches at St. Johns now. I bought him and the guys that were left a beer.

Hummer and Glove and I won an hour free of gaming, because we have a lot of shit in or wallets!

Wolfy and I had a hard time using all the points.

We closed the place down and walked back to the hotel.


Saturday we did the hole thing over again. Speakers in the morning, Luch together at Champps. Then one last speaker.

We finally got home, the drive a little slow cause of the weather.

I got home home about 5:30 or so. I played around with some software I got there, and now I'm writing this stuff. Need to go to bed because Ratliff's SuperBowl/Poker party is tomorrow.

Speaking of Poker.....I'm on a roll 3/3 in my last tournaments! Brought home first in a big Tourny last week. It was awesome.

I'm done, tired, and going to bed.

Tempe Trip Recap

As everyone and their mom now knows, I went to Tempe, Arizona at the end of December. I went with two long time friends in Kirby Gerken and Joe Lavin.

Our Adventure started out early on Friday December 29, 2005. I picked up Lavin at 4:00am I believe. We traveled to Kirby’s house and were off to Detroit Metro by 4:30am.

I’ve never been to the airport in Detroit. I’ve actually only flew one other time on a mijor airline, Vegas Baby. I can’t talk about Vegas, cause everything I did and didn’t do is lost there. I can’t talk about it unless we are in Vegas. But anyway, that is another story. Onward. Once we got to the airport we were clueless as to where we parked. We figured it out, but it was costly, we parked right across from the terminal and the raped us for $15 bones a day.

Once we figured out the parking situation we made our way to the ticket counter where I printed our boarding passes and checked our luggage. Getting through security was not a big deal, but those people are clueless, They only look for obvious things. On the way to the terminal I said hello to a Football Coach from Purdue. It was not Joe Tiller, originally from Toledo, and I have yet to figure out who he was. But, I aspire to coach in a NCAA D1 program, so it caught my attention.

Once we got to our Terminal I spotted Brooke and Tiff. They too are originally from Napoleon. They told me that Dan had got them tickets. Dan is a Tackle for Ohio State. I had the luxury of coaching him at Napoleon. Brooke and Tiff informed us that Lange, DUT, McColley, and Bush were on the previous fight that left even earlier than our ass crack of the morning flight.

While waiting for the plane to board we took advantage of a local pub. We downed a couple cold golds there at the airport. Our Vacation was officially underway.

Kirby had never flown before, so he sat next to me. I’ve known Kirby since we were in Kindergarten together. Joe had to sit by himself, because that’s how it works when you go hunting for cheap flights.

The flight was long and uncomfortable, but being 6’5’’ and crammed in an airplain is like being a sardine in a can. The flight was smooth, and the landing was incredible, I never felt us touch down. It was smooth, like the cool side of a pillow.

The Houston Airport sucked ass. We spent nearly 3 hours there. It was hot and seemed to not have climate control. It was really dirty. I don’t recall it being that way last time I was there. We ate dinner, I had Harlan’s BBQ. It was tasty. I consumed the largest baked potato I’ve ever seen. It must have been a foot long.

We then hit up another bar, it was like being in the heart of Longhorn Land, everything Burnt Orange. I talked with an Oil tycoon, or rather a oil construction tycoon alongside a man from Florida that liked football.

We finally made our plane and arrived in Phoenix. It was beautiful there, the weather perfect. After a bit of confusion finding our luggage we were off to the curb waiting for our shuttle to the hotel.

The shuttle driver was in his mid 20’s. He looked like he was a roadie for some band. A little crazy if you will. He gave us the scoop and told us things to do. We arrived to the hotel and checked in. A argued momentary with the desk guy because the room price was off but Kirby opened his mouth to soon for me to save any money.

We got situated in our Hotel. We discussed that our hotel was nice, but not as nice as we were led to believe from the online pictures.

I called Jeff and Susie Wagner to let them know where were stating so that we could get together when they got in.

It was evening and we made our way out on the town to check out the stadium. Apon arrival to the stadium, I wished that I had picked up my press credentials earlier because it was open for tour. But I didn’t have the opportunity to go in that night, but it would happen later.

We then made our way to a bar named Fumbles. It was just across the street form the stadium. We purchased a few shirts form some street vendors on the way. Once we got to the bar, Coors was putting up banners and advertisements everywhere. I asked them if we could have a couple and they told me that they could give us one when they were done as long as we drank Coors. So into Fumbles we fumbled and ordered several rounds of bullets. The Coors Lite guys came in an asked me which poster I’d prefer and then delivered. It was a great start to the trip. The banner is now in the barn here at home for all to see and admire.

One o f Lavins friends lived in the greater Phoenix area and he met us there. He then took us out and about. We went to Mill Avenue. Mill is like High street or Lane in Columbus. Lots of great bars and really a cool downtown strip. There weren’t a lot of people out, but enough.

We ate at Uno’s. Everyone was starving. I had Pizza, an Uno’s classic. It was good.

We then headed to a bar called Margarita Rocks. It was like the movie cocktail. The bartenders were brathing and fire and throwing bottles. Neat. The eye candy was amazing. There were go go dancers with ripped abs of steel and bronzed bodies. Not to mention the tiny and revealing clothing. Needless to say this was a great bar.

We then headed back to the hotel around 2:00am Phoenix time, 4:00am Eastern Time.

The next day We got up and I called a Taxi to take us to scotsdale so I could get my Media Credentials for the sideline pass. The Taxi ran me almost $30 bucks. It was brutal, but well worth it. I checked in flawlessly. I was a little nervous cause I didn’t want to fuck anything up and botch an opportunity of a life time. I checked in, and received a great Fiesta Bowl Laptop Bag. My friends and I loaded up on Media guides and programs. We snagged some beverages. Though I need to come back to Scotsdale cause they went taking pictures for the id until 1:00pm. So we looked around the massive hotel and found the media shuttle service. We learned that the shuttle was at our disposal until the game was over, meaning I spent $30 bucks on a carbide when I could have called these guys. But it worked out, caus ewe used the shuttle several times.

We decided to take the shuttle to McDoughy’s. McDoughy’s is the number 5 sports bar in the country according to Sports Illustrated. I’ve been to 2 of the top 50. Nemo’s in Detroit being the other. We walk in an immediately are asked to sit behind the fox sports anchor doing an interview with Joe Germaine. So we drank a beer and were on Fox Sports. We then found a booth and ate dinner. Our Waitress was extremely nice, and easy on the eyes. This Bar put Ricks Sports bar in Napoleon to shame. This is a true Sports bar. The bar had memorabilia everywhere. The neatest was a tribute to fallen soldier and football great Pat Tillman. They also had off track horse betting which we did not partake in.

After Lunch I called the shuttle up and they came and picked us up and took us back to Scottsdale to get my credential id. While there I saw Earl Bruce. Coach Bruce took over for Woody after his firing at Ohio State. After getting my credential we got yet another shuttle to the hotel.

We Got a hold of Jeff and Susie and they decided to stay in Scottsdale for New Years.. We got ready for the big block party in the Mill Ave. Area.

We hiked up to Mill and got in. The rumor was that it had sold out. It was full, but not sold out. The guys bought tickets from scalpers for face value. I got in free with my media pin.

At the Block Party they were passing out everything Tostitos, chips, salsa, everything.
We went to the first Beer Garden and ran into Lindsay Hire and her Fiancé. Ironically she had moved out there with the Chase Credit Card Company, who owns everything there. We talked for a while and then went ton our way to another bar or Beer Garden.

When we got to the next Garden, they were again id’en . The guy looked at the three of our id’s and said Napoloen, you must be the sixth person from Napoloen tonight. Soon we found the others form Napoleon, the Baughmans. We hung out there talking to them and drinking mad amounts of the Silver Bullet. The cutest girl serving turns out was form Ohio. I talked to her everytime I got a beer. I can imagine I was mumbling by the end of the night.

We called everyone we knew out east to say happy New Year. But we had two hours left befor 2006 for us. So we made our way down the street and ended up at Fat Burger. Fat Burger was selling Corona. So we had six or ten. We saw the other people form Naptown there; Lange, Dut, Mcolley, Bush, and Brooke and Tiff. We stayed there until the countdown. Near the countdown, the guys went running to find the chip, it was a giant facsimile of the ball in New York. The girls and my two friends stayed around the fat burger. During the countdown a pretty cute girl came up to me and wished me happy new year with a random kiss. Then she was off. Too bad for me cause she was cute.

Kirby disappeared to god only knows, but he left me a message saying he was ok, and would meet us back at the hotel. So Joe and I went to Hooters were we tried to sober up by drinking. That didn’t work so much. We socialized out on the balcony. When we decided to leave we were barraged by some girls eating. They wanted random pictures of us with them, so I imagine I’ll end up in Maxim in that section called who the hell is this.
They were form Ohio State. We talked a little and then left.

Joe was so hammered. I thought that he might not make it back, or worse I’d have to fireman carry him back to the hotel. I know no worse of a red flag than that. It screems pull me over and arrest me for public intox. But he sobered up on the walk home.

On the walk home we encountered a girl who was trying to get a way form her boyfriend. She was basicly saying he hit her. So she was walking with us, and then the boyfriend came looking for her. They were arguing, and I didn’t want to get into it with him, but I wasn’t going to leave her there. She was hysterical. Thankfully the boyfriend left when some of her girlfriends came. So we made sure they would be ok, and continued on.

We got back to the Hotel and chatted with Kirbs, and his friend. We went to bed after shooting the shit for a bit.

Got up Sunday morning when Jeff and Susie called. The called from on top of the mountain near Sun Devil Stadium. I didn’t make the hike, but will if I go back.

We decided to spend the day together. We wento out to breakfast lunch around noon. We went to the Mill Avenue area. It was remarkably cleaned up already.

Susie wanted to eat at Z tejas. We just couldn’t find it. We drove around and finally I spotted it. Jeff ran over speed bumps to fast and barked the car, and probably bottomed the fucker out. Of course Kirby saw them but didn’t say anything. So we told him to quit riding the short bus and speak up. We parked and headed into the restaurant. We decided that Z tejas was going to be a nickname for “shortbus”.

I was going to order the grilled Tuna. Grilled Tuna is delicious. It is comparable to a great steak. Nothing like the can stuff. But I changed my mind when the server talked me into Fajitas. Jeff and I got Bloody Mary’s from the Bloody Mary Create your own bar.

I made a bad one, and drank only half. Sounded better than it tasted. It was a good time.

We then shoed a little looking for deals on shirts. We ended up at a place called My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Suzie started dinking Daiquiris, the guys beer, and Jeff and I took advantage of what was advertised as cheap Long Island Iced Tea. Turns out that the advertisement saying New Years, was for New years eve. Not really a big deal in scheme of things but we had a good chuckle about it. We saw, or thought we saw Gabe Wies. But noone really knows.

We then went back to our hotel and drank some more. Then after a little unwinding we headed off to a local brewery called Four Peaks. We walked throught the getto to get there. I had a Blue Cheese burger. It was delicious. The other guys split a pizza, which I tried, it was the bomb. When we were leaving, we asked if we could get a picture in the back by the vats. It is a cool picture.

We then again hiked up to Mill Avenue to go to McDuffy’s. Susie and I stopped in the Marriot to use the clean bathrooms. We got to Mcduffies and the guys were pounding. We saw a guy that looked like the bud light guy that weres the helmet and googles. It was funny. We stayed a bit, and then called the media shuttle for a ride back. We wanted to be rested for the game.

So the media shuttle arrived and took us back to our hotel. It was another night in the books, sort of.

We got back to the hotel and we met Cletus. Now, that’s not his real name. But he throws a tailgate called Cletusfest in Columbus. He invited us to his tailgater on Monday, and to go out drinking again that night. Joe took him up, I went back to crash.

Monday came around and you could feel the energy in the air. Ohio State v. Notre Dame. My two favorite teams. Jeff and Susie came back and traded us their tickets so that they could sit together.

We still had to sell our tickets, which we would end up taking a massive hit on. That was truly the only bad thing that happened, and I’m over it now.

We headed up to the stadium. We tailgated at Cletus Fest were we listened to the dead Shembechlers. It turned out that it was a Northwest Ohio reunion. I me the Carpenters form Liberty, saw Tim Downey’s Sister, and niece. Saw Chris Peper, and the Baughman clan again. I even saw Steve Spencer and Matt Rohrs, though they didn’t stop to chat just yelled out my name and waived. Which I thought was bazaar, but fine.

We couldn’t find any takers on our tickets, because everyone had them to sell. They were going for like $100. So we ended up selling them to Jeff Hazer, and his buddy. The cool thing, if there is a cool thing about losing that much money, is that he was originally form Napoleon too.

So we went to go into the stadium. We walked in together but I soon had to leave my friends to find the my way to the field. I checked in and got my free program and goonie vest and walked throught the service tunnel to the field.

The sounds were amazing. It was simply loud. I made my way out on to the field. I immediately saw DUT and the guys and took some pictures. I then walked down the Notre Dame sideline. I got to the far endzone where my friends were sitting. I took more pictures. I then saw Jerry Rice, who I will talk about more later.

I then made my way to the Ohio State Sideline. I saw the beautiful Laura Quinn. So of course I had to get a picture. So I asked her if I could get a picture and she agreed. I talked to her briefly, telling her good luck. Make no mistake, I like both teams, but I was rooting for Ohio State. She, however, was in a predicament. Her Jersey said it all; split, half her brother, half her boyfriend. She expressed her thanks for my statement and shook my hand. And I moved on to find a good spot for the kickoff festivities.

The parachuter’s made quite the entrance to the field delivering the various flags of the game. The game was underway.

I stood at the 30 for most of the game. During the second quarter Jerry Rice came up and stood next to me. I said hello and shook his hand. I talked to him a bit, but I never told him that he was one of the guys I grew up liking. I don’t know if it slipped my mind, or if I wanted to be more professional and not ogle the guy. He and I talked about the receivers for both teams. I was amazed that he didn’t know much about any of them. I was spilling facts out, and talking about coaching High School football. He seemed proud, of that fact. He asked me how long the pass #7 had caught for a TD. I said I thought it was right around 56 yards. Well Jack Arute was there getting ready to interview him, and decide to check my facts. He was talking threw his mike to get the info and came back, “Jerry, that pass was 56 yards.” Jerry looked at me, smiled, and said, “ Hey man, you were right.” We had a good chuckle.

Standing next to me was a Photographer, David Smith. I talked to him for almost the entire first half. He gave me his card and access to his website to view his pictures.
I asked him to take a picture of me and Jerry, but he told me they frowned at that and didn’t want to lose his access to future events. I understood.

At half time I had to pee really bad, but didn’t want to walk back the tunnel to do so, so I asked the security if I could leave and come back from a field entrance. He told me to go use the Notre Dame Locker room. So I did.

Unreal, well I didn’t use the players pisser, but I was in the tunnel with them. I saw the Pat Tilman memorial that was really moving.

I made it back out and watched the rest of the game. I took some pictures of Dan. He didn’t know I was going to be there, so the expression on his face was priceless.

I was standing in one of few other spts at the end of the Buckeye bench, I say the ABC guys, and Eddie George etc. Some young woman was standing next to me and I’m not sure who it was, but she was cute and I said Hi to her. Apparently she was either a coaches wife, daughter, or Bobby Carpenter’s girlfriend cause he gave me a shitty look when she stood next to me.

After the game, I looked for Dye, but couldn’t find him. I did shake hands with Antonio Pittman, I told him hell of a game. He smiled. I also talked with Jim Heacock. He is the Defensive coordinator and the D-line coach. I’ve met him before. I told him the D-line played really well. Hw thanked me, and agreed.

I watched the trophy presentation feet form where it happened. I then walked the field before reaching the end zone seats were my friends stood. I took a great picture of them.

I then walked out and joined them.

We took all of our crap back to the hotel and went to Uno’s for beer and food.

Then Susie and Jeff left and we made our way back to the hotel.

What a game, what an experience.

Tuesday, the last full day we were in Tempe, was fun too. We went to mail some prints and posters we had picked up. Then we ate at the coaches pub or something of the like.

We then went back towards the stadium. I wanted to go dumpster diving looking for gloves and shit, but I held it together and didn’t. We ended up buying a few more shirts and stuff.

We ended up going to the Library. The Library was the coolest bar I may have ever been to. It was like walking into a library or study. There were books on the wall. The monitors all played 80’s hair band videos and the music was real. Pretty neat idea. We stayed there to watch the Penn State game.

We decided that this place would be worth buying the calander, because honestly it was better than hooters. Besides the great atmosphere, the help all were wearing short catholic school girl type uniforms with lots of cleavage to send your mind through a tailspin.

So we got our calendars which were like 10 bucks, but they had $5 coupons in them so they were cheaper in all reality. Kirby decided he was going to roll the dice with said previous girl. Joe and I got our drink on.

We pounded a lot of beer. We ate half price quesadillas and tacos. It was great. Our bar tender was great too. Her name was Dulia. Which is very unique. She flirted heavy with us, and we talked all night. She was a lot of fun. Soon we decided to ask her if she was in out calendar. She became deafly quiet. So Joe and I scrambled to find her. Once we did we asked her to sign it. She wrote colorful things to us, stuff your mom shouldn’t read. I found out she was studying to become a chemistry teacher. I tried to talk her into moving to Ohio, it was fun and innocent. Soon we decide that she should sign Kirby’s calendar. We asked her to write, “Dear Kirby….Go Fuck yourself!” This was all in fun since we had been Kirby this all week. She hesitated, but I convinced her that nothing would come of it. So When Kirby finally got home and looked at his calendar he was surprised. “fucking Dicks.” Or something of the like rolled out of his mouth.

Sometime before we closed our bill Kirby had called and asked me to get him a shot glass from Hooters. I said I would, and crawled up to Hooters, which was upstairs. I’m not sure how I made it there and back.

Joe and I rooted on Penn State as they escaped Florida State in a good game. Then we took care of our bill, tipping Dulia nicely. We had over a hondo in bar tab. It was well worth it.

Going home was a treat. Joe was hammered. He tried to get on a bus; God knows where it was going. I convinced him to keep walking. We got to walking and watered everything we could find. It was like letting the dog outside. We even climbed a small hill, or attempted at least. Good thing we stopped because there was a bike cop around the corner. We continued home to the hotel. We stopped at another bar for a drink,, met a couple of girls from Arizona. We talked a bit, bargained fro yet another sign and then headed home.

We left the next morning. Phoenix to Denver was uneventful, but Denver was a long stop. We all got the shits eating Mexican food. We couldn’t find dip that wasn’t fine. We were delayed 6 hours or so. So we got to watch the first half of Texas v USC. We all rooted for Texas by the way.

Finally we boarded and were on our way. Kirby and I managed seat upgrades, not to first class, but I had lots of leg room! We listened to Texas as the drove to win. Finally we arrived in Detroit.

In Detroit we waited like 45 minutes to get our luggage. Then we headed for the car. After a bit of confusion we paid our hefty parking bill and went home. It was a great trip. Something I’m not likely going to forget anytime soon.