Since it's near the end of the year, I've decided, for the first time ever, to have a year-end "awards" blog. The awards categories are pretty much arbitrary and made up by me, and they will be awarded based on my opinion. This may seem unfair, but it is my blog after all.
Anyhow, I present the first BISdom awards:
The Sports Class:
Team of the Year:
Boston Celtics. Any team that can make the NBA socially relevant deserves an award.
Runner-up:
UNC men's basketball. This is based on my hope/prediction that they will win the championship in April. (Starting out real well with the bias.)
Athlete of the Year:
Michael Phelps.
Runner-up:
Albert Pujols. (Again with the bias.)
Surprise of the Year:
ACC football. The good teams were bad, and the bad teams were good. Then, at the end, it pretty much worked out as expected, except for Clemson.
Runner-up:
The Tampa Bay Rays.
Fantasy Player of the Year:
Bryan. He not only managed all of the leagues, but he has done at least fairly well in all of them. Plus, he's currently on top in his football division and the NBA league.
Runner-up:
Jon. He won the regular season in the baseball league, sort of sucks at football, but is in second place in the NBA league. Besides, everybody sucks at football.
The Entertainment Class:
Movie of the Year:
The Dark Knight. This is one of the better movies of the decade. Plus, it's Batman.
Runner-up:
Wall-E. This won't be a very popular pick, but that's only because most of my friends refuse to see it because there isn't much dialogue. It's still a great movie.
Show of the Year:
30 Rock. I still say this is the best show on TV right now.
Runner-up:
Chuck. I'm mildly surprised by this one myself, but Chuck has had some great moments. Plus, it's taken an overused concept (the spy show) and made it worthwhile again.
Most Fun Game of the Year:
Saint's Row 2. This game uses the GTA formula but has fun with it. Plus, it's not all uppity like the GTA games.
Runner-up:
Gears of War 2. This may be a good point to mention that I thought about giving video games their own "class" of awards. But I'm not entirely thrilled with the formatting of this blog anyhow, so I'm not going to worry about it.
Gaming Moment of the Year:
Beating level 20 on Horde in Gears of War 2. This is the infamous "stay home and have fun playing video games or go to see Miley Cyrus in Bolt" moment. Bryan, our cousin Nathan, and I decided we'd have (infinitely) more fun playing Gears of War 2 than watching Bolt with the rest of our family. We were right, and it ended in one of the greatest video game moments of my lifetime: beating level 20 on our "one more try," last ditch effort, "we're already late" play. It was definitely worth it.
Runner-up:
Beating level 49 on Horde in Gears of War 2. This was a very similar moment to the first one but includes Matthew, a harder level, and a lot more strategy. Theoretically, beating level 50 should go here, but it was pretty much a cake-walk after 49.
Game of the Year:
Fallout 3. I'm a sucker for Bethesda RPGs.
Runner-up:
Gears of War 2.
The Social Class:
Newcomer of the Year:
Karlie. I've known Karlie for more than a year now, but she's just started hanging out with the rest of my family and friends, so I'm considering last year her redshirt year.
Runners-up:
Jessica and Kaity. These girls are friends with my cousin Emily (Dunn). This year they rode 8 to 10 hours to boring-ass Deersville, Ohio just to hang out with our family. Plus, they had to put up with my mom and my uncle Dave, so they deserve a lot of credit. And they were a lot of fun, too.
Most missed:
Matt and Jamie. This isn't really fair since they live in Boston. But this year proved how much more fun Wilmington could be if they lived here.
Runners-up:
Daniel, Jon, and Charles. This is more fair because these guys used to be around all the time.
Best Trip:
Trip to St. Louis Cardinals games. This award pretty much picked itself.
Runner-up:
Ohio family reunion. I never would have guessed that this could be so much fun or that Matthew would be involved with both of my "best trips," but it happened.
2nd Runner-up:
July Ohio trip. This was a great trip because I got to hang out with my other cousin Emily (Sherrick). Plus, we got to watch fireworks from my grandma's driveway (while I was watching Cards/Cubs on my laptop).
News of the Year:
Hunter's engagement. I don't think anybody really expected this.
Runner-up:
Austin bought a house. And he will be missed.
Best Party:
Matt and Jamie's wedding. This involved a week at an amazing beach house, a great wedding/reception, and a bunch of beer. And I got to feel like a mooch the whole time.
Runner-up:
The Pig Pickin'. This party would probably be in the running for this award every year.
Moment of the Year:
Austin's trip to the Fairy Circle. Can't really explain it.
Runner-up:
Jenny's pizza going in the sink. I can't really explain this one either because I was not all that sober at the time. But, somehow, Jenny and I put most of a piece of pizza into her sink.
Leftover Class:
Best Day of the Week:
Friday. Fridays included a lot of Rock Band, NBA Live, quarters, landmines, and fun.
Runner-up:
Thursday. Thursday has long been one of the best TV nights. This year saw more of the same with shows like 30 Rock, Sunny, and The Office. It was a good night.
Best Class:
The day my classes wrote blogs in class. This was a great assignment because it forced them to write and then actually talk to each other.
Runner-up:
The day we played video games in my science fiction class. My class created a Fallout 3 character and played some Portal.
Biggest Scrumpt:
That one time I washed my car. It didn't really help. I fear that the dirt is now a part of the car, like its muffler or its fuel tank.
Runner-up:
The fair, maybe. I don't know: I had fun, but I also felt dirty afterwards.
So, those are the first BISsies. I'm sure I've left some stuff out, and they seem a little end-of-the-year heavy, but I remember all of that better. I'm posting a QotD in hopes that you'll all rant about snubs and give your acceptance speeches. So, do that. Also, this may be the last blog of the calendar year, so happy holidays and all.
Question of the Day:
What award would you like to see next year? Also, feel free to post any differing opinions you might have about the awards this year.
My take: I really wanted to do a "Picture of the Year" award, but I don't have many pictures on my computer, and I couldn't find the one I really wanted: the picture of Jenny giving the camera the middle finger. It really captures Jenny's essence. Well, not really, but it's a really fun picture.
So this time, Rajon Rondo was in my starting lineup, but he was three "stats" away from his second triple-double of this young NBA season.
The Yankees did, in fact, sign A.J. Burnett, but are evidently not done. They are rumored to be after either Teixeira or Manny. At this point, I would imagine a Yankees' fan's biggest concern is that they may not have enough money to go after LeBron in 2010. But I'm sure they can find it somewhere.
Depending on what kind of person you are, you may or may not have seen the trailer for the upcoming Wolverine movie. I'm going to try to "embed" it here, just to see if that works. I'm doubtful. (It, of course, did not work like I'd hoped. So, you'll have to follow the link above if you want to watch it.)
The important thing to notice in this trailer is that the big reveal is Gambit. Bryan and I (but especially Bryan) have been clamoring for Gambit in an X-Men movie since the first one, so I (but especially Bryan) am glad to know that he is actually in this one, since he's been rumored to be in every movie since the first one. But, I don't think this should be the selling point for a movie about Wolverine.
By the way, comic book articles are one of the places where I can get lost for (literally) hours on Wikipedia. Fortunately, this visit was not so long.
Question of the Day (submitted by Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock):
What's the past tense of a scam? (Be creative.)
Tray's take: "scrumpt"
My take: Texas horseshoed.
The main purpose of this QotD is to remind you/tell you for the first time that I do allow QotD submissions. So, if you have a question that needs aksed, let me know, in whatever way you deem fit.
There's been some confusion as to how to "follow" or "track," as I like to call it, my blog. I think the main problem is that Blogger, unlike MySpace, does not email you when I blog (and neither will I). So, for those of you who want to be up-to-date on the life of Brett and related materials, you have three options, as I see it:
On to the news:
The proverbial "stove" is, in fact, very "hot" right now. A lot of pitchers moved in the last couple days, including F-Rod, as I call him, and J.J. Putz to the New York Metropolitans. The big news, though, was the Yankees signing of CC Sabathia. The Yanks are also trading Melky Cabrera for Mike Cameron in the increasingly rare "straight-up" trade. According to Buster Olney, this trade happened, in part, because Cameron and Sabathia are chummy in real life. The Yanks aren't done though; they evidently have an offer in to A.J. Burnett and will probably get another (ace) pitcher at some point.
So, this is my understanding of how the AL East will play out now. The Red Sox are pretty much required to get Mark Teixeira. Then, they'll probably trade Mike Lowell for some relief pitching and offer a $50 million contract to the best pitcher in the Mexican leagues. After that, the Orioles will probably make a move for John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, or even Barry Bonds, who I refuse to link. At which point, the Rays will probably trade Dioner Navarro or B.J. Upton for some Double-A prospects who will all win Rookie of the Year within the next five years. And the Blue Jays, well, they're in Canada, so…
It was an interesting night in the Association last night, but I don't imagine any of you care about that, so I'll just wait until I see Bryan tonight and talk about it then. I will mention that I had previously imagined it impossible to score negative points in our fantasy basketball league, until Greg Oden scored an astounding -1 for my team Tuesday night.
I also have to mention the "hot stove" in the NBA, since it involves a Charlotte team. Charlotte traded extreme baller Jason Richardson and former BC Eagle Jared Dudley to the Suns for international superstar Boris Diaw, Kobe-hating Raja Bell, and fellow former ACCer Sean Singletary. I don't mind the trade for Charlotte. It just left me wondering why they got JR in the first place, considering they only kept him for a little more than a year and gave up a top-ten draft pick, Brandan Wright, for him. Did they expect to win the championship last year? Was he the one piece that they needed to put them into the last year's elite tier?
Question of the Day:
I was going to ask about the Heisman, but I feel like this blog is a little oversaturated with sports news. So, the question is: How do you expect to "track" my blog? Also, feel free to write about any problems and/or solutions that I've skipped in my explanation above.
My take: By writing it.
I "finished" writing my only final today (for the class I'm taking). Now, I only have to grade about 45 final exams before I'm free (to work on my thesis) for Winter break. The one final that I did write was about a video game, Fallout 3. The problem with writing about video games is that it makes me want to play video games. So, I spent the second half of my day playing Penny Arcade's OTRSPD Episode 2.
Santa Ski 2008 was a good time. Despite my comment in Inaugural Blogural, if you're reading this, then you probably weren't there. We had a pretty low turn-out this year: 8 people, and never more than 7 at a time. I don't know why we couldn't get a larger crowd to hang around a lake in the middle of December. Must be the "lake snow effect" or the lake-effect snow, which does actually exist. So kudos go to Austin for being right about that (though I don't think he had the whole concept down). But even more kudos go to the people who ignored the lake snow effect and actually showed up. Of course, Stew, Byron, Bryan, and Travis get the most kudos for actually skiing in 40-some degree water.
As usual, we fried way more food than necessary. This year, we added fried pickles and fried cheese that were especially good. We're still working on a dessert.
Also, this happened:
That's not a particularly important picture, but I'm just trying to figure out how pictures work on this new blog. (It turns out I can't publish them from Microsoft Word like I was hoping. Actually, posting pictures is considerably more annoying than I'd expected, so don't expect too many.) Also, it's the only one I have until Jenny posts her pictures somewhere.
It's been a few days for UNC sports, especially considering the men's basketball team didn't play.
The football team is going to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, which works out nicely. They're playing West Virginia.
Also, the women's soccer team won its 19th NCAA title in 27 years, which is a pretty good percentage. I wrote a story on their coach Anson Dorrance a couple years ago that you can find here. (I think you'll have to register with The Franklin Times website to read that, though.) He was interesting.
The men's soccer team plays Wake Forest in a semifinal match Friday at 5:30 on ESPN2. I'll probably watch it with beer. You're welcome to join.
For anybody who didn't watch MNF last night, the Panthers looked strong, especially their running game.
There is a new episode of "The Guild" available. If you have five free minutes, you might want to check it out. It has an odd and abrupt ending, but I assume that'll make sense after the next episode.
Question of the Day:
Which college football bowl game are you most excited about?
My take: Probably the Fiesta Bowl between THE Ohio State University and Texas. But I'm also looking forward to the national championship between Florida and Alabama. Tebow is fun to watch. Plus, he might have a new Heisman by then.
Finals week is always a good time to blog because it's a good way to procrastinate while still feeling mildly productive.
Speaking of procrastinating: this is what I've spent much of the past 24 hours doing. It was well worth it. (After you click on the link, if you click on "Play," then "Continue," then "Start," it should show you my contraption in action.) If you follow that link, which I highly recommend, you might recognize the title of my "contraption" as a Simpsons reference. (But you probably won't, which is why I'm mentioning it here.) The original title to the game puzzle was "Unpossible," but that doesn't show up on the video of my contraption working.
I hadn't planned on blogging again before the weekend, but I was considerably remiss in my first post as far as the old MySpace blog is concerned. In other words, I left out all the sports news of the day.
It's nice to see that the ACC is still wrecking shop (or "owning shop," as I heard someone say recently) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, thanks in part to UNC's destruction of Michigan State last night. Two notes on this:
There was some discussion in my house last night about when UNC will actually play in a close game. My roommate Austin's primary purpose in watching sports is to see overtime, so blowouts really undermine his whole goal there. Anyhow, the consensus was that it would probably be the first Duke game, which is February 11.
My loyal followers probably know that I like to get some NHL (or Scott Spiezio) news in blogs whenever possible. The big news coming out of the world of hockey recently was that Sean Avery made inappropriate public comment number 138 of his career. The best part of this story is that multiple Sportscenter anchors warn the audience that they may find the comment offensive. I've seen both Linda Cohn and Scott Van Pelt give this warning. So, I'll give it here, before linking to the story: you may find Sean Avery's comments in this story offensive.
Also, Rajon Rondo earned a triple-double last night on my fantasy bench. So that's a bit bittersweet.
I have another post up on the Star-News blog about The Guild, which is a hilarious online show about MMORPGers, a.k.a. people who play World of Warcraft, a.k.a. Nathan.
Question of the Day:
What is the coolest "contraption" you've ever seen?
My take: The Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. I usually try to ask questions that I have a good answer to. This is obviously not one of those.
The blog is back.
It's been over a year since I've blogged, but I'm getting back into it because I want to force my students to blog next semester, and I thought I'd be all egalitarian and blog with them. I'm starting a month early so I can have some posts to show them when class starts. I'm also moving to blogger because I think it will be more classroom-friendly, not that our students are necessarily tech-savvy. I thought these kids grew up on computers and the iPods, but I guess not.
So, the old blog is over on my MySpace page. I can't seem to find a direct link to the blog anymore, but I imagine if you can click on that hyperlink, you can figure out how to follow the links on my profile page to the blogs. You can also find my blog for the Star-News
here. I try to write for that about twice a month, usually on Thursdays, and it is exclusively about video game stuff.
This new blog will probably be more about classroom activities and such than about sports, like the old blog. It'll mostly be a way to communicate with my students. But I'll probably run out of things to say to them and write about sports, video games, TV, etc. like I used to.
That being said, I'm not putting my picks for the remainder of the NFL season on here because Jenny and I are in a pretty tight race (despite my lame performance last week), and I don't want to give her any advantage.
Santa Ski is this weekend, and I probably won't post again before that. If you read this before then, you should probably be there.
Now for the good-old-fashioned Question of the Day:
Should the question of the day reemerge from the ashes of the MySpace blog?
My take: Sure. Why not?
Posts
