Good Boys Gone Bad

As you all know, I love the game of baseball.  My team of choice is the Atlanta Braves and has been for twenty-one years.  Over the years, they have consistently produced quality teams which makes being a fan pretty easy.  Their recipe for success is solid pitching, timely hitting, and southern hospitality.  However, the southern hospitality was in question yesterday (Sept. 25) when the Braves got in a fight with the Milwaukee Brewers.
A few years ago, the Braves Hall of Fame manager, Bobby Cox, retired after many seasons in baseball.  He alone holds the all time record for ejections from a game so I'm used to some heated, passionate baseball.  However, the new manager is a little more tame so seeing a fight like this brings back the good old days.
So here's what happened.  In the top of the very first inning, Brewer batter, Carlos Gomez, crushes a homerun of Braves pitcher Paul Maholm.  Okay, whatever, that sucks, but Gomez starts taunting Maholm as he is rounding the bases.  Braves first baseman, Freddie Freeman, calls out Gomez for being such a punk, but Gomez continues to taunt Maholm.  Eventually, Gomez is rounding third and heading home, but Braves catcher, Brian McCann, will not let Gomez pass to touch home plate.  Immediately the benches clear and the teams begin shoving each other around.  The video is posted below.
Of course this viewpoint is bias and I may not even know the whole story.  I knew there was a little bad blood between Gomez and Maholm, but I didn't think to this level.  Anyway, I hate when baseball gets to pushing and shoving and not just baseball, any sport.  I think the best way to get back at someone is to be the better person and help lead your team to victory.  What Gomez did was wrong by showing off, sure he absolutely crushed the ball, but run the bases and keep your mouth shut like a gentleman.  I also think, and here's where I'm really bias, Brian McCann did the right thing by standing up for his teammates and showing Gomez he can't just say whatever he pleases.
Overall, whether it be baseball, lacrosse, or underwater basket weaving, show some respect.  Play the game the right way and you'll do fine.  There is no need to make a fool of yourself, show total unprofessionalism, and worsening your reputation as a player.  Expect "boos" next time you visit Atlanta, Gomez, but at the same time, don't expect the Braves to retaliate, they are better than that.

http://wapc.mlb.com/atl/play/?content_id=30939261&topic_id=8878972&c_id=atl

Good Day Mate

I like to think that America is one of the best, if not the best, country in the entire world.  However, it was sophomore year of college and I had never been out of the country.  Coming to Virginia Tech really opened my eyes to a variety of subjects and courses, one of which was a study abroad course that was offered the summer between my sophomore and junior year.  I was really hesitant because I didn't know how I could ever pay for a trip of this magnitude.  Oh yeah, the course was in Australia!  Eventually I brought it up to my parents and they, as they always do, laid out the pros and cons of this trip.  Turns out where I got a job which paid for my room and board, I was able to afford the trip and was ready to go as far away from my little home town as I could, literally.
I have always been on vacation with my parents, so navigating through the Charlotte Airport and LAX by myself was absolutely nerve racking.  Fortunately, this old couple noticed me in my Virginia Tech sitting by myself in the Charlotte Airport.  The man said he went to Clemson and even though they beat us in football that past fall, I was relieved to see a friendly face.  God was looking over me that day because they were originally from the states and had moved to Australia later in life.  They took me under their wing and I had someone to help get me through the maze of LAX.
After a thirteen hour flight across the Pacific Ocean, we landed in Brisbane, Australia.  As for the actual experience in Australia, it was a blur.  For one, just the experience being in such an exotic place made time fly by.  There were sixteen students from Virginia Tech and seven from San Diego State and we all became good friends.  I was only twenty at the time and, in Australia, the drinking age was eighteen so that's another reason it was a blur.  Finally, we actually did a lot of work over there.  The class was centered around sustainability and was a six credits so definitely not an easy course.  However, I had so much fun abroad.  I got to camp out in the Outback and watch kangaroos bounce across the weedy terrain, feed a family of wallabys, scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef, perform community service on supposedly one of the oldest rain forests in the world, go skydiving, and many, many other things.
Overall the tip was amazing.  It was nice getting to go someplace different and I'm so very thankful for my parents for helping me pay for such a wonderful experience.  Neither of them have been out of the country so I felt selfish in a way, but I know they want me to be happy.  I say it was a once in a lifetime trip and certainly sky diving was, but I hope to return one day and revisit all the places I visited, but in more of a tame manner.  

Rock, Paper, Scissors...Lizard, Spock!?!?

So this summer I was one of twenty-four Orientation Leaders (OL) responsible for welcoming in the Class of 2017 to Virginia Tech.  Orientation itself lasted from July 8th through July 25th, but we had to arrive back in Blacksburg a week early for some additional training.  Even though it was a two day process, the OLs only interacted with the students on the first day, so we had a new group of 15-20 students four days a week for three weeks.  I was Group 20 and after all was said and done, I led about 200 new students overall.  So enough about the boring, boring stuff let's get to the turned up, ratchet part of orientation.
My day started at 5:45am with a shower, 6:30 breakfast, 7:30-11:30 morning duty, 11:30-12:30 Opening Session, 12:30-3:00 lunch/tour, 3-5 naptime, 5-7 dinner, 7-10 Community of Hokies, 10-11 skits! Yes, it's pathetic that I still know the schedule, but it was so much fun.  The only bit I want to talk about actual orientation are the skits.  I was in a group with three other people and had to come up with a 5 minute skit showing what life was like in the residence hall, what a roommate conflict looked like, and what the role of the RA was.  We decided that we would make our skit based off the show Big Bang Theory and I got to play Sheldon.  Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1hBzIKWtA.  It got to the point where we knew the other teams' skits just as good as our own.
The really fun part of orientation were the weekends.  The staff became really close, but amazingly there was no drama between us.  Every day of every weekend we had something going on and yes, we got crazy!  The word of orientation became "ratchet" and we stayed ratchet at all times of all weekends.  Even though my liver became 48% concrete and sleep schedule was shot, it was a wonderful experience and I would recommend applying for the position.

The link I posted sometimes works and sometimes doesn't so, just in case, here is another one that is of the actual show and not our skit, but contains one of my most difficult lines to memorize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1hBzIKWtA

Fishy Fast Food Fobia

This past weekend, my girlfriend, Ashlyn, and I, were arguing over how we can spend our Saturday night.  This argument comes after the football game of course!  Anyway, we bickered for a few minutes and it was brought up that we should watch "The Lion King," and you bet your bottom dollar that was okay with me.  So, we put in the classic and began watching and watching old childhood movies always either makes me reminisce about the good ol' days or cry because today's youth doesn't understand what Hakuna Matata is all about.  In this case, for whatever reason, I reflected back on a childhood story that I can still feel the ramifications of to this very day.
As a young lad of about four or five, I wanted to be just like my Grandaddy.  Growing up, I spent a good deal of time with my grandparents because both of my parents worked and for that I am very thankful.  One particular day my grandparents were taking me around town, which is a considerable distance away since I live in a very rural area, and it was about lunch time.  Now since I was a spoiled rotten child, I always got to pick where we would eat.  I don't know if it was the flashy colors or my Grandaddy's persuasion, but I chose Long John Silvers.  I had never been there before in my young life, so I was anxious to see what was in store.  My grandmother ordered me a happy meal so naturally, I was more excited for the toy rather than the food.  When we received our food, I tore into my happy meal or should I say my slathered in disappointment, make me want to throw a tantrum, with a side of torment meal.  I was in shock!  No, not because of the quality of food, but because Long John Silver did not give me a toy.  I pitched one heck of a fit!  If my Grandaddy wouldn't have taken me into the restroom and given me a real reason to cry, I was sure we could get kicked out.  Like a football player brags if he makes a good catch, I brag because I almost got my family a life long ban in LJS...or so I think.
After 15 years recovery period from this day, I've decided to give it another chance.  Just kidding.  Since that day, I've never put as much as my pinky toe into a Long John Silvers and don't reckon I ever will. I was cheated on that day and cheaters never win and winners never cheat.  "Murica!