Brett Favre

I don't know how other people feel, but I'm very happy about the way the season has gone for Brett Favre. I think it's good that the Jets are probably not going to make the playoffs and the Packers aren't. In my opinion, after seeing how this season has gone, the Packers made the wrong call on Favre. We have a team that is set up to go deep into the playoffs, but the management didn't bring back the essential piece to their success...Brett Favre. Brett has proved now that it doesn't matter what team he's playing for, he will put up pro bowl numbers no matter what (yes, he's going to another pro bowl this year). That's awesome for him! I will definitely be cheering for the Jets to win the super bowl so that Favre can say I told you so. If other Packer fans don't want to cheer him on for that reason, then do it because the farther the Jets go in the playoffs, the better the draft pick we will get next season! Go Brett!

Going green

I think that the Going Green movement is something that really needs to pick up speed, and I think that having Barack Obama in office this January will help get it going. We are seeing more and more climate change, and more pollution than our earth can handle, so it's time for us to get serious about making some changes in the way we live our everyday lives. We can all do the little things like turning lights off that are not in use, turning the T.V. off when we're not watching, riding a bike to work or school instead of driving, etc. in order to help out. The problem is, people don't think that the little things they do are going to make a big enough difference to really change anything, but if we thought the opposite way, we really would make a difference. We can either be collectively innefective, or collectively effective...it's our choice. We know what the right decision is.

Duke University Basketball

Duke basketball is back on the map this year! The Blue-devils are ranked sixth in the nation right now, and I expect them to finish the year in the top three. They are returning four of their five starters, and Ben Zoubek (their big man) is not injured this year, giving them a presence inside. The only thing I'm really worried about is that Duke won't utilize Zoubek enough. See, Duke is a very good shooting team, especially three-pointers. They take a lot of threes during the game, and the outcomes of a lot of games depend on how well Duke shoot the three. That really scares me because I'm a big Duke fan, and they need to stop doing that. Overall, Duke looks good this year...it might be the year that they add another national title banner to the rafters!

Two and a Half Men

I love to watch Two and a Half Men. It's my second favorite show after House. Charlie Sheen is hilarious. He is the owner of a Malibu beach house, and he takes in his brother, Alan, and nephew, Jake, when Alan goes through a divorce with his wife. The dialogue is sometimes pretty vulgar, okay most of the time it's pretty vulgar, but that's what makes the show funny. Also, Jake is not the brightest kid in the world, and all he likes to do is play video games, watch T.V., and eat...a lot. He hates school and never does his homework because he doesn't see the point. Charlie and Alan always give him a hard time, but Jake always finds a way to get them back. Actually, all three of them rip on one another's flaws. Charlie definitely wins the conversation most of the time though, because he doesn't really have a soft spot that people can get to in order to get on his nerves. This is a great show, and I would recommend watching it sometime.

Wausau

Every year my Dad's side of the family has Christmas in Wausau. We either go to my grandparents' house, or to my dad's aunt and uncle's house. I love going there because my grandma loves to cook, and she makes so many sweets it's crazy. I think I gain like five pounds every time I go there. It's about a two and a half hour drive, so I bring my ipod...I would be bored to death without it. The gift exchange that we do in Wausau is always interesting. One year somebody bought my dad's uncle a summer sausage and some socks (it was the goofiest gift of all time, but he loved them apparently). Last year, my cousins and I decided to cheat on the exchange, and we told eachother who we had, and narrowed it down to who might have us. I ended up guessing right, but I also had it narrowed down to two people. Going to Wausau is always interesting. I look forward to going this year!

class/christmas break

Overall I had a good experience in my writing class, but I'm looking forward to Christmas break. I was able to overcome my inability to write about things that I'm not interested in, and I learned some new information as well. My favorite assignment was the viewer response essay that I did on The Pursuit of Happyness. My least favorite assignment was probably the research paper, but I've never been big on research papers. It was interesting to learn more about Nelson Mandela though. I'm really looking forward to taking some time off now until classes start again in January. I will still have to work at the Ace Hardware Retail Support Center two days a week, but that's not much. I will be able to relax and spend time with my family. I hope everyone enjoys their break!

BCS

The BCS (Bowl College Series) system in college football which decides who will play for the national championship needs to be done away with. The national champion should be decided through a playoff like every other sport. Yes, rankings and strength of schedule are important, but don't let a computer decide who gets to play in what Bowl games. This messed up system dealt away Texas' chances of playing for their own conference championship because it's in the rule book that in a three-way tie in the Big 12 conference, the team with the highest BCS ranking goes to the championship game. Oklahoma will be representing the Big 12 South against Missouri who won the Big 12 North, even though Texas beat them during the season. Also, Texas Tech beat Texas, but lost to Oklahoma...why don't they get to play in the championship game? It's because the rules are messed up. Now, if you're not a college football fan you're probably saying who cares, and that's fine, but most of the people who do care about college football are making this same argument that I am right now because they know there should be some sort of playoff system implemented. Just give teams an option at the end of the season..."you can play in this bowl game, or you were the winner of your conference and ranked high enough to participate in a playoff for the national title." Whatever works best, I could go on for pages with different playoff scenarios and formats that would be better than the system we have now. Those with the authority to implement a playoff system, please...make the change.

House (the show)

Have any of you ever watched House on Fox, or the re-runs on USA? It has to be the best show I have ever seen. At first, I watched about five minutes of an episode and decided it wasn't that great, but once I watched a few episodes I guess I kind of grasped the theme of the show and it was very entertaining. Dr. House (played by Hugh Laurie) is one of the best diagnostic medical doctors in the country. He gets the patients which nobody else could figure out what's wrong. He doesn't save their lives by himself, though. He has a team of three young doctors who brainstorm with him, and do tests to try and find out what's wrong with the patients. House is known for his rude, sarcastic behavior which bothers pretty much everyone that he works with because he's very clever about how he gets under people's skin and picks apart their personalities. The only reason the Dean of Medicine, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, puts up with his behavior is because he's so good at his job, and for the most part she trusts his judgement. House also deals with a drug addiction. He takes excessive amounts of vicadin throughout each day because of chronic pain in his right thigh from a gunshot wound (an angry ex-patient shot him in his office). The reason why I love this show is because of the eccentric behavior of Dr. House and the way he treats people. He has a way of figuring out what kind of person someone is just by looking at them. In fact, most of the time when he has clinic duty he will tell the patients who come into the clinic what's wrong with them before they say more than two sentences. I find that quite funny. I would definitely recommend watching House. New episodes are on Tuesday nights at 7:00! Re-Runs are on USA!

Plaxico Burress

How many times does it take a professional athlete to mess up before they finally figure out that they are not above the law? Star Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was at a Manhattan night club last Friday night and was carrying a .40 caliber handgun with him. While making his way to the V.I.P section of the club he somehow fumbled the gun and shot himself in the thigh. Regular citizens aren't allowed to have guns in night clubs without permits, why does Plaxico think he gets to? Plaxico then made his way to Cornell hospital and gave a fake name (Harris Smith) in order to get treatment and not get in trouble for carrying a gun. Surprisingly, the doctor who treated Burress is now suspended from Cornell hospital because they did not report the incident to police, and signed paperwork with Burress' phony name on it. This just goes to show how people who are famous use their fame and money to try and get around the law. Obviously it's not true for all celebrities, many of them handle themselves very well...so why is it so hard for some of these guys (i.e. Plaxico Burress and Pacman Jones) to stay out of trouble and learn from their mistakes the first time...at least the second time? I think it's all one big attempt to get more attention and prove how tough they are. If this is the case, prove to us that you're tough by learning from your mistakes, and come back and do your job and stay out of trouble. It's a lot tougher to stay the course and do what's right than it is to break the law. There are millions of kids out there who dream of becoming a pro athlete, but few will ever get to experience this opportunity. So Plaxico and others, stop taking your opportunity for granted.

Presidential Election

The upcoming presidential election really has people talking. In past elections that I can clearly remember, I had not heard nearly as much debating, and even yelling or arguing among the general public about who is better suited to run this country. Many of the adults that I'm around a lot of the time are undecided on who they will vote for, and most of them say that they don't like either candidate. The arguments that people are making about both candidates are very consistent, though. Some will argue that Obama is too young, and doesn't have the experience needed to be president, while others will argue that someone like Obama is exactly the change that this country needs. As far as John McCain goes, the common argument is that he has sided with George Bush 90% of the time, and we can't afford another four years of George Bush. Obama and Biden have made this point the forefront of their campaign..."we can't afford more of the same."
Despite these arguments, I'm worried that this election is going to turn into somewhat of a prejudiced election. I think it will work both ways too, meaning that some people will not vote for John McCain because he has chosen a running mate who is a woman in Sarah Palin, and some will vote for him because of the sole fact that he has chosen her and they want to see a woman in the White House. I think it will work the same way for Obama. There will be many people who are going to be hesitant to vote for him because of the fact that he's black. This is quite sad, but true...I've heard the conversations myself. Also, I think there are a lot of people out there who want to see the first black president of the United States. My point here is we shouldn't be basing our votes off of these things, we should be taking into consideration what each candidate has to say about the issues that are most important to us. If you're going to vote, make sure you visit each candidate's website first, and decide who has a better plan. I think we will all feel better about who we're voting for if we know a little bit about what we're voting for.

Did the Packers Make the Right Decision?

After a recent turn of events, an opportunity for the "Favre Faithful" (which seems to be the majority of Packer fans) to question the decision that Packer management made about the quarterback situation has arisen. The first two weeks, one could not hear a peep from a fan in Green Bay, though the new-look, Rodgers-led Packers were 2-0 at that point. Now, the Packers have lost their last two games falling to 2-2, and Rodgers threw three interceptions this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not to mention, Rodgers sustained a sprained shoulder in the Tampa Bay game as well.
I can't imagine the enormous amount of pressure that Rodgers will now be dealing with because of all those games that #4 started even when he was hurt. There was already enough pressure on him at the beginning of the season to put up good stats and make sure the Packers win the division, but now he will have to do that fighting the pain of a sprained shoulder. Personally, I hope Rodgers is able to "tough it out", and make believers out of all Green Bay fans. I think he deserves more respect than he's gotten in Green Bay because of the way that he handled the Brett Favre situation, and the way he quietly waited his turn for three seasons. We have to face the fact that Favre is not coming back, and that Rodgers is not going to start as many games in a row as Favre did. What we need to focus our attention on is the team as a whole, and whether or not we make the playoffs. It shouldn't matter if Rodgers throws 30 interceptions this year, as long as we make the playoffs. Yes, a good quarterback is essential to making the playoffs, but rodgers is a strong leader and makes good decisions. I think that's really all this talented Packer team needs to make the playoffs, not MVP statistics from any one player. In conclusion, I don't think it's anywhere near time for Green Bay to hit the "panic button". Look for Rodgers to have a strong start against the Atlanta Falcons this week.

Brewers

Being the huge Brewers fan that I am I'm very concerned about the last ten games of the season and whether the Brewers will be able to put together a run at the playoffs. Milwaukee is just a half of a game back of the New York Mets in the National League Wild Card race, and the Cubs have pretty much locked up first place in the division, to my distaste. The Brewers just fired manager Ned Yost in order to "jumpstart" the club, and it seems to have made a bit of an impact with Dale Sveum calling the shots as the Brewers lost to the Cubs 5-4 Tuesday in a valient effort, and were able to pull out a 6-2 win last night. An important part of whether the Brewers will make the playoffs is how well they hit the ball over the next ten games because Brewers' pitcher Ben Sheets left the game early last night against the Cubs witch tightness in his throwing forearm, and that will really hurt the Brewers' starting rotation if he is unable to pitch one or two more games; thus, the Brewers' offense will really need to pick it up and carry the team if the pitching isn't where it usually is. C.C. Sabathia will need to make a couple more successful starts as well if the Brewers are going to make the playoffs. He pitched his first game for the Brewers where he was on the losing side against the Cubs on Tuesday for the first time since coming to Milwaukee. The Brewers can't afford to drop any more games when C.C. is on the mound. Those are must-win games. If Milwaukee is going to make the playoffs this year they really need to come together right now and keep consistently hitting the ball well. Prince Fielder has been red-hot lately, now it's time for everyone else to jump on board!

Packers vs. Vikings

I'm really excited for tonight's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. There are great stories to watch develop on both teams. Aaron Rodgers will be making his first NFL start tonight entering his fourth season in the league (all with the Packers), the first start by a quarterback other than Brett Favre in Green Bay since September of 1992. I think that he will be under a lot of pressure, especially early on in the year, trying to follow the hall of fame career of Favre who the Packers shipped off to the New York Jets before the start of the season. Rodgers has shown in the preseason that he has the decision making abilities and the arm strength to make it as an NFL quarterback, but I'm interested to see how he will lead the Packers this season. I can't think of a better way for Rodgers to establish himself and gain respect in the league than to play a great game tonight on Monday Night Football with the whole nation watching.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings' running back Adrian Peterson will look to get off to a great start entering his second year in the league. Peterson was voted rookie of the year last year in the NFL rushing for 1,341 yards on 238 carries for an average of 5.6 yards per carry, along with 12 touchdowns in fourteen games. Peterson will look to top those numbers this season by staying healthy. Last year he suffered a knee injury against the Packers that held him back from putting up even bigger numbers had he been able to play all sixteen games.

I expect tonight's game to be close, and Rodgers or Peterson will play a large role in their team's win. Let's hope it's Rodgers! Go Packers!