Thanksgiving Day Blog

It’s that time of the year when life gets pretty busy so I apologize for not writing as frequently. After the New Year I hope to write more regularly as long as I can come up with worthwhile topics. Most of you may read this today at work since anyone who actually went to work today is finding creative ways to slack off. The rest of you are off or getting let out early so enjoy this on Friday if you have to go to work.

Thanksgiving should be a two day holiday. Having a holiday on a Thursday doesn’t make any sense. Especially when so many people travel workers are forced to take an extra personal day to get the four day weekend. I guess I can’t complain I get holidays like Columbus Day, Presidents Day, and MLK Day off of work. But seriously I would trade Martin Luther King Day for Black Friday. MLK Day already falls in between a ton of other holidays. Plus having the 2-day Thanksgiving Holiday lets you get over the food coma from Thursday. So since we are all thinking about what we will be eating tomorrow what are the best dishes on Thanksgiving (not desserts)?

1) Stuffing – I can’t think of a way this can go wrong. Stuffing is great plus it’s a meal that makes croutons desirable. Whether it’s cooked in the turkey or outside the turkey its always delicious.
2) Sweet Potato Casserole – I must admit was not a fan of this when my mom made candied yams. (Which is basically the same thing). I also don’t like the additions to the candied yams like marshmallows and pecans. However a friend of mine makes an amazing sweet potato casserole without those things and I look forward to it every year…because I talked my mom into making it too. Although old habits die hard and the first year she added marshmallows to the recipe. I kindly explained to her that it wasn’t necessary because she would only ruin a good thing.
3) Cranberry Sauce – NOT CRANBERRY SALAD. The sauce I am talking about is the Ocean Spray jello like stuff in the can. Yes I am putting a non-homemade dish on my list. But that should only explain how good this stuff is to eat.
4) White House Rolls – If you have ever shopped at a Ukrop’s you have eaten these. Ukrop’s RIP. The store closed in Fredericksburg but I hear the rolls live on in Richmond. A good roll is the key to a good meal especially if you make Thanksgiving meal sandwiches with them.
5) Mashed Potatoes – These used to be much higher on the list for me but there is so much good food. My mom makes them thick and chunky…mmmm.
6) Turkey – I’m just not a fan. Plus my brother used to smoke a goose every year and I thought that was a better bird.

All other sides might as well not touch the table because these are the foods I care about on Thanksgiving Day. The best part is the next two days coming up with new ways to cook these dishes so you don’t have the same meal every day. My mom makes a great turkey casserole which takes care of a lot of the leftover turkey. A turkey bowl is also good. I am pretty sure this is where KFC got the idea for their potato and chicken bowls. All you do is take some turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and some cheese and gravy then place it all in a bowl mix and heat up.
Now on one of the Podcasts I listen to they were discussing the top 5 pies of 2010. The podcast is the Daves of Thunder. Damashek was listing off his pies and the more he named the more the rest of the show members and myself thought this man has lost it. I don’t know how you have a top 5 pie list and leave Apple off of it. So here are The Baron’s Top 5 pies.

1) Apple – Nothing says American like a slice of Apple Pie and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.
2) Blueberry – This is a personal favorite I just love blueberries.
3) Pumpkin – I wish it was easier to find Pumpkin Pie outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh and for all of those who say Sweet Potato Pie is better I say GOOD DAY.
4) Pecan – Not one of the Baron’s Favorites but you cannot deny popular demand. I just don’t like Pecans, but the pie is still good enough that I can get past that.
5) Peach – I had some over the weekend and it was amazing.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your time with family and friends, enjoy the food, and hopefully enjoy the football.

Jersey Shore Awards

As the second season of the Jersey Shore has come to an end it is time for the Jersey Shore Awards to be handed out. A lot happened this season and too bad it wasn’t really at the Shore. This season took place in Miami because the Shore didn’t want The Situation and his many situations back. Thankfully the cast will be back for Season 3 airing in January on MTV. The whole cast returned for season 2 which was shocking since Angelina didn’t even make it that long on season 1 but the producers sure did know what they were doing. Angelina brought with her a hurricane full of drama. So let’s get this thing started.

Manager of the Year: (Awarded to the cast member who successfully managed a difficult situation.)

The three nominees for this award are Angelina, Ronnie, and The Situation.

Angelina – For most of the season she kept herself out of trouble even though she was at the root of most of the drama. It was surprising to me how long she lasted before people turned on her. The key to her success was having Pauly D and Mike on her side. Once she betrayed them which started when she open hand slapped Pauly twice one night you know her time in Miami was short lived. Had she lasted the whole season she might have won this award.

The Situation – Mike is nominated for successfully handling one of his many situations. Pauly and Mike brought two girls back to the house when two more showed up. Mike put one girl in the Smush room, one girl to bed, Pauly took his girl, and they handed one off to Vinny. One chick passed out and three were satisfied not a bad night at the Jersey Shore house for the guys.

Ronnie – The winner of this award hands down. Ronnie successfully managed the situation of having his ex in the house while hooking up with girls at the club. After the club Ronnie would come back to the house and hook up with Sammi. This went on for nights until JWOWW and Snooki wrote a note to tell Sammi of Ronnie’s wild nights. Somehow Sammi gets pissed at Snooki and JWOWW and Ronnie gets away with everything. I still don’t know how this man pulled it off, but I applaud him.

Cy Young Award: (Awarded to the cast member that struck out the most.)

The two nominees for this award are Vinny and The Situation.

Vinny – Vinny really only struck out with one girl. She was a fairly hot model that stood him up once. As we later learned when he finally took her out she is just insanely late all the time. He went on a couple successful dates with this girl and for that will not be winning the Cy Young.

The Situation – Mike gets this award for not just striking out himself which we saw a lot of but also for causing his roommates to strike out. On at least two occasions when he couldn’t close the deal he caused Pauly to not get any. One thing the Situation has that all great Pitchers have is a short memory because he was never afraid to get back on the mound. The clinching moment for this award was when the Situation was shut down by Snooki.

Best Nicknames

Joey Yanks and J420 –These guys were never on the show but were probably talked about by fans more than anybody that was actually on season 2.

Best Fight

The nominees are Sammi vs. JWOWW, Angelina vs. The Situation, and Snooki vs. Angelina.

Angelina vs. The Situation – This fight was more one sided. Mike spent a lot of time talking trash to Angelina and finally Angelina smacked The Situation. It was a lot of build up but no real pay off. Obviously Mike wasn’t going to hit a girl.

Snooki vs. Angelina – It was really hard not to give this the award. It was by far the longest of the fights. It involved the most hated person in the house and possibly the most likable girl in the house. I can’t think of any sane person who might have been rooting for Angelina. The added commentary by Ronnie doing his Michael Buffer impersonation was great too. The only problem was that if the judges had to make an honest decision Angelina probably won the fight. Snooki was like a bull though when she was charging at Angelina with her head down. She definitly had the will to keep fighting if she would've been allowed to go on.

Sammi vs. JWOWW – This fight pitted the two biggest divas in the house against each other and that’s not the only reason it wins the award. The best part of the fight is that I still don’t know why Sammi was so pissed at JWOWW. I have a theory that JWOWW’s future career is in Pro Wrestling and when she had Sammi on the ground fighting to get up I thought this fight was over. Then out of nowhere Sammi is on her feet and JWOWW is in the corner when Sammi lands a right hook on JWOWW’s face. Down Goes Frasier! It was over as fast as a Tyson fight, at least before he started biting opponents ears. Two things pushed this fight over the top for me. 1) Out of nowhere Ronnie and Vinny get into it. It spawned a second fight between the biggest and the smallest guys in the house. 2) The trash talk that ensued by Sammi and the way JWOWW seemed to have lost her MOJO.

Best Villain

This award goes to Angelina. Nobody else came close. She was hated by the girls when she moved into the house. By the end of her time in Miami she was hated by the guys. Then the girls tried to make nice with her and she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. The only partial friend she had in the house was Sammi at the end and she is probably runner up to this award. She was called a Dirty Hamster, the Staten Island Dump, the Staten Island Ferry (Everyone gets to ride), Trashbags, and other names I’m not going to mention here. Everyone was glad to see her go. Also I was wondering if a Fossil Watch is really currency for sex in either Miami or Staten Island.

Comeback Player of the Year

There is only one guy this can go to and it’s Vinny. He made some serious off season adjustments. I think he watched season 1 and said to himself, “if I want to last on this show I have to be on camera.” Then he made the changes to his game to get more camera time, even if that was riding on the coat tails of Mike and Pauly. Although Pauly should realize he has a better wing man in Vinny than in Mike. Vinny would more graciously fall on a grenade. Vinny also hooked up with Snooki, Angelina, and Ramona. On top of various other women who found themselves in his bed at the end of the night.

Most Valuable Player

It is fitting that the three nominees for this award also call themselves MVP, Mike, Vinny, and Pauly.

Mike – He started the season strong, but the last few episodes were a definite low point for the Situation. He was striking out with the ladies, the housemates were upset with him, and he was pulling everyone else’s game down with his. When the Ace is slumping the team usually follows, however this season the team wasn’t going to let the Situation drag them down with him.

Vinny – He did some good work this season. As discussed earlier he really came out of his shell. He also made it a little harder for Mike to pull the Robbery on him at the bar.

DJ Pauly D – Last season was all about the Situation, but this season Pauly came running out of the gate and carried that steam all the way to the finish line. He pulled in girls every night. He worked the nice guy routine every time Mike was being a jerk to the ladies and it worked. At the end of an unsuccessful night he could just walk up to two girls and say you’re coming home with us and they would hop in the cab. He successfully got a girl to come over at 5:30am just to hook up.

Best New Terms

In this category we are all winners because we now have terms like:

T-Shirt Time: When it is time to put on your shirt to go to the club.

The shirt before the shirt: This is the shirt you wear while getting ready or relaxing before going to the club. This act precedes T-Shirt Time.

Oh Yeah, Cabs are here: Pauly alerting everyone that the cabs have arrived. He is like a modern day Paul Revere.

Chicken Cutlets: Something that fell out of a girls top while in the hot tub. The guys also passed back and forth like a baseball.

OG: Original Guido, this term was used to describe Vinny’s Uncle Nino.

Land Mine: Uglier than a grenade.

President of the I.F.F.: You can find the definition here. Ronnie is the President. Also view past Presidents at this site.

I hope you enjoyed this season as much as I did. I’m looking forward to Season 3 in January.

Fall Sports: It's Game Time

This weekend is going to be a big sports weekend for me. The Phillies will play Games 2 and 3 of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds, The Michigan Wolverines are playing the Michigan State Spartans, the Philadelphia Eagles play the 49ers, and The Washington Capitals open up the 2010-2011 season. First and foremost the Phillies after a historic game on Wednesday night look to put a strangle hold on the series Friday night when they send Roy Oswalt to the mound. In a best of 5 series the Phillies look to be a tough team to beat because they can send Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt out twice and Cole Hamels out for Game 3. Not many teams outside of the Giants can match that starting pitching. Although as long as I’ve been a Phillies fan I know nothing is guaranteed. Halladay threw a gem on Wednesday night when he threw only the 2nd ever post season No Hitter. He has complete command of his pitches and the batters didn’t have a chance. I don’t foresee the Reds coming out cold for Game 2. Oswalt however has been pretty strong since coming to the Phillies and after spending so many years with the Astros should know the Reds lineup fairly well. This could be a great game and if the Reds win we could have a great series on our hands.

The next matchup I’m looking forward to is the annual matchup between Michigan and Michigan State for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. MSU has had the upper hand the last couple of years but with Denard Robinson shredding up defenses anyone can win this game, even with Michigan’s terrible defense. I’m looking for what should be another high scoring affair between two ranked teams. I think the Wolverines have a real shot at winning this game as long as Denard stays healthy. I also know that last year Michigan was in this same position and then didn’t win another game. I hope that doesn’t happen again. Go Blue!

As for the Eagles and the Capitals I’m not so worried about it. The Eagles are playing the 0-4 Niners and with the Baseball playoffs going on I’m not focused on the NFL or the beginning of the NHL season.

Here are my top 5 moments as a Phillies fan.

1: The Phillies win the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The last game started on a Monday Night and didn’t finish until Wednesday Night because of a Rain Delay. I remember the feeling I had after the Phillies won and all of the phone calls I got from friends and family. I don’t even know how to describe the feelings I had that night. It was awesome.

2: Roy Halladay pitches a No Hitter in his playoff debut. The only thing keeping him from getting the Perfect Game was a Jay Bruce walk. Aside from that he dominated the Reds lineup. Before this I had never watched a No Hitter. If he continues to play this way throughout the playoffs and the Phillies can get back to the Fall Classic he really will be Mr. Doctober.

3: 1993 NLCS Game 6. The Phillies beat the Braves to go to the World Series. I remember staying up late to watch the game. After Mitch Williams struck out the last batter I could hear people outside cheering and banging pots and pans to celebrate. This event is what threw me into the deep end as Phillies fan and I’ve never looked back.

4: September 2007 Run to the Playoffs. The Phillies were down 7 games to the Mets at the beginning of the September. They covered the ground and won the NL EAST by 1 game. The downside was they were swept by the Colorado Rockies in the first round. That was the first year this team went to the playoffs. They have won the NL EAST the next 3 years and been to 2 World Series since then. This team has this season and hopefully a few more to go before we really know the whole story but I like where they’re at.

5: Anytime I got to go watch the Phillies play at the VET with my Dad. I used to love going to baseball games with my Dad and even to Wrigley Field with my Grandparents as a kid. Even today a trip to the ball park is an event to look forward to.

Enjoy your weekend and whatever sporting events you will be watching this weekend.

PH Award - Jersey Shore Style

Sorry but the Baroness was visiting this weekend so the Baron didn’t have time to post the Paris Hilton Award for last week. I know everyone has been waiting on pins and needles. Last week’s Paris Hilton Award recipient is Angelina from the Jersey Shore. It has only been 10 months since Angelina first appeared before millions of viewers moving into the Jersey Shore house for season one with everything she owned in trash bags. At least this season she seems to have upgraded her luggage. Angelina wins the award for moving out of the Jersey Shore (South Beach) House in Miami. In season 1 Angelina was kicked out of the house for not going to work because as the Kim Kardashian of Staten Island it takes her 6 hours to get ready to go out at night. If you’ve seen the show you understand why it takes so long for her to get ready, she has a lot of ugly to cover up. In season 2 Angelina was a surprise housemate. She was befriended by the Situation and Pauly D but hated by the rest of the cast. She then proceeded to alienate Pauly D when she smacked him one night after getting hammered at the bar. She never truly rebuilt the bridge with the girls and then crossed the Situation to close out her time on Season 2. The Situation who has now taken a punch to the face from 2 female cast members in 2 seasons proceeded to make Angelina’s life hell. This all culminated when Angelina decided to move out and get into it with Snookie. This fight had more anticipation for it then the Sammie v. JWOWW fight and the Angelina v. Situation attack. If you saw season 1 you know that Snookie can take a punch. (See Video Here.) The fight went on for a few minutes when the girls were finally pulled apart and Angelina went on her way back to Staten Island to regain the thrown as the Staten Island Dump. The reason she is winning the award this week is because of all the money she cost herself by leaving the show. It’s almost guaranteed she will not be on Season 3 after voluntarily leaving Season 2. While she does provide good drama it’s not worth dumping the money into her contract when she may not show up for the full season. Angelina’s Jersey shore career has been a lot like Randy Moss’s NFL career. She brings it early on but by the end you will do anything to get rid of her because she doesn’t pull her wait. The other reason she is getting this award is for the simple fact that she left South Beach with two weeks left of taping. If I’m getting paid 10-15 thousand dollars an episode to be taped for a reality show and I have two weeks left where I am being kept in Miami I don’t care how much I hate the people I’m living with I’m going to party my a$$ off. She doesn’t have to hang out with the cast but take advantage of the situation and party. Angelina it was enjoyable watching the drama you created on the Jersey Shore but I honestly can’t say I will miss you.

Stay tuned for my Jersey Shore Season 2 Awards in a week or two.

The Baron's Mailbag

Today I am going to start a new feature in my blog. It is called a mailbag. In the following lines of text I will answer questions that have been presented to me by my readers. I will do my best to answer all of the questions and if you do not see them in this mailbag you will see them in a future one. Oh and if you want to send the Baron a question hit me up on my Twitter or by email. So let’s see what’s in the bag and get this thing started.

How do you feel about the real possibility of Toyota winning the NASCAR Winston Cup?
~RLB

The good news is Toyota will never win a Winston Cup but the bad news is it is possible that they will win a Sprint Cup. However if Toyota does win a Sprint Cup I will feel like I’ve failed as an American. So I’m holding out hope that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch don’t win. I’d rather see Jimmie Johnson win a 5th straight Sprint Cup championship then a Toyota driver hoist the trophy.

If you were an appliance what would you be?
~Nicole

This is an interesting question for sure. I would have to say a keggerator because if it was up to me I would always be full of beer.


What is the Baron’s Babe of the Year?
~Brandon

This question is a little tough. This is not so much a lady that would show up on the Baron’s top 5. The qualifications for the Baron’s babe of the year are she has to be relevant in the current calendar year and she has to be hot. So with that in mind I would have to say Erin Andrews. She has made a step up at ESPN. She does the sideline reporting with ESPN’s top broadcast team, she is part of College Game Day, She was in the top 4 on Dancing with the Stars, and she also does the College World Series.

If the Baron was stuck drinking 1 beer and 1 liquor for the rest of his life…what beer and what liquor would he choose?
~Brandon

This is a tough question because I like a lot of different types of beer. I really enjoy Imperial Stouts and enjoy them even more when they are barrel aged. The problem is this beer is not ideal for the summer months when it is hot because it is such a heavy beer. The other problem is most places that make a good imperial stout only make them seasonally. In the summer I like a good Wheat beer. However too many of them and they start to get too sweet. This is why the Bud and Bud Light beers are still very popular. They are not heavy, they get the job done, and they are good all year long. The downside being there is not enough flavors. I would choose Lienenkugel’s Sunset Wheat as my only bear for the rest of my life. The liquor is not as tough because I don’t drink too much liquor but when I do it’s usually Bourbon so now I just need to pick one. I would choose to drink Bowman Brother’s Single barrel bourbon. It is distilled in my home town of Spotsylvania, VA

What was the greatest party you ever attended?
~Marty

The problem with this question is that I have been to a lot of really good parties. The first one that came to mind though is the Pastel Party that my friends through at their house which was known as the Country Club. The premise was everyone had to wear Pastel colors. The theory was chicks like pastel colors so they will show up to the party. The party was insane and sorostitutes galore showed up. At one point one of the members of the house left the house because in his words, “the party had taken on a life of its own and could not be controlled.” Another resident of the house was deathly ill and before the party wrote his will. In his Will he left me his girlfriend and my friend JD his car. To be honest though this is just one of the few parties I remember from college so it may not be the greatest and only my subconscious will know the true answer to this question.

What are your thoughts on Kim Kardashian dating Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin?
~Schliz

I think the real question here is what Miles Austin has to say about having Reggie Bush and Ray Jay’s sloppy seconds. What would possess a man to date a chick who is only famous because she made a sex tape with Brandy’s brother? Oh wait, I do know the answer to that but a girl like that do you really need to date her to get goods? Anyway I think for a kid like Miles Austin who came from New Jersey and is now the top receiver for the Cowboys why wouldn’t you date Kim Kardashian, at least it’s not Kourtney.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go, who would you go with and why?
~Heather

I would go to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. I would take my Fraternity brothers (you know who you are). I would drink until I blacked out and drink some more. It would be the best month of our lives.

If you could be a color what would you be?
~Nicole

My favorite color is blue but who wants to be blue? Not me that’s who. I would be blaze orange because then everyone would see me even in the woods.

Would you rather…be a country music sensation, NASCAR driver, or Royal Baron? Why?
~Spencer

I’ve always wanted to be a country music sensation and a NASCAR driver. But I think the Royal Baron would be the best…oh wait I am a Baron so I would choose country music sensation because that would also gain me access to NASCAR tracks around the USA. I could also do a music video where we drove stock cars and that would satisfy my need of driving in NASCAR until the next time I need to drive 200mph.

If CvL won the lottery (for shits and giggles say a billion dollars), what are the first 5 things he buys?
~Brandon

I would buy a 2010 Camaro SS, a beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I would buy the Philadelphia Eagles and finally bring a Super Bowl Championship to Philadelphia, I would buy a Chevy Silverado 2500 with muddin’ tires and a 6 inch lift, and I would buy a NASCAR team.

What is your favorite value meal at McDonalds?
~Spencer

The #1 is the way to go at McDonalds. Can you go wrong with 2 all beef patties, lettuce, special sauce on a sesame seed bun? No.

The 6 fouls rule in the NBA. Is this necessary? I mean, pass interference in college is 15 yards – in the NFL its SPOT OF THE FOUL. In college basketball its 5 fouls…why the 6th foul for the “pro” athlete.
~Brandon

The real reasons for the extra foul and Stern will never admit this is “pro” athletes make too much money to not be playing. Fans pay to go see the stars play for their team. If that star fouls out of the game fans feel cheated. This is why there is an extra foul in the NBA.

I know we have a long history, beginning in 2001 at Michigan. I have had my ups. I have had my downs. But I appreciate you always having my back, being a Michigan guy and all. With my recent DWI arrest and ridiculous facial hair, you must see how much of an idiot I am. Please tell me I am a "lock" for the Paris Hilton Idiot of the Week honor.
-Braylon Edwards

Braylon when you were wearing the 1 jersey for the University of Michigan I loved watching you pulled down passes and score touchdowns. However what were you thinking going out and drinking with a guy who just over a year ago killed someone while drinking and driving? Then you thought it would be a good idea to get behind the wheel of a car drunk in a city that has more cabs than any other city in the country. Braylon for this you are the Paris Hilton Award for Idiot of the week this year. Plus the beard was cool but do you have tweet and hash tag #thebeard. The sad part is you are late to the game because Jayson Werth was already called the Beard. So get it together and represent the University of Michigan proudly and stop doing stupid things like drinking and driving. The worst part about this was how good I felt after you scored that touchdown against the Patriots on Sunday and then jumped up and did the Dougie. All that good faith is gone.

The Baron’s “Pass List.” Meaning, who are the top 5 ladies the Baron has a “pass” to RNI whether in a relationship or not if they came knockin’ on the Baron’s door.
~Brandon

This should be easy the good news is I had this discussion the other day with friends.

1) Jessica Biel
2) Mila Kunis
3) Eva Mendes
4) Megan Fox
5) Allyson Hannigan


Where do babies come from?
~Nicole

Hold one…

Most attractive male friend?
~ Spencer

Wait for it?

Do you choose beer?
~S Money

Yep these are my readers/friends.

Here are the Baron’s College football Picks for Week 4.

NC State over Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech over Boston College
Arkansas over Alabama
Stanford over Notre Dame
South Carolina over Auburn
Kentucky over Florida

Week 3 College Football Picks and Some Other Rankings

So far the Baron has been doing pretty good with his NCAA picks. My record stands at 11-3. The football season has lived up to all of my expectations so far. Michigan is out to a 2-0 start just like last year. This year I hope they stay the course. Denard “Shoelace” Robinson is a beast putting up 502 total yards against Notre Dame. The Big East and the ACC are waiting for basketball season to start again so they can flex their athletic muscles again. In case Duke Fans are confused you are playing Alabama’s football team this week. Oh and Bama’s defense hasn’t allowed an offensive touchdown all season. The SEC sits atop the college football world again right now which brings me to my conference rankings.

1) SEC
2) Big Ten
3) Big XII
4) Pac – 10
5) Mountain West
6) ACC
7) Big East

Now on to my weekly picks.
Michigan State over Notre Dame
Iowa over Arizona
WVU over Maryland
Stanford over Wake Forest
BYU over Florida State
Auburn over Clemson
East Carolina over Virginia Tech (sorry Tech fans but you did just lose to JMU)

My last installment for week 3 is going to be the 5 disappointments from week 2. I could write my top 5 or my bottom 5 but I will leave that to the professionals. This way I can point my finger at the teams that lost the previous week and remind them one last time that they failed epically.

1) Virginia Tech – I should congratulate JMU instead of poke more fun at the Hokies but that’s not the point. Tech lost to FCS JMU. I won’t say anything except now Hokie Nation knows how the Wolverines feel after losing to Appalachian State. I will give you this advice: 3 years later and it still hurts like the day I witnessed it in the Big House. The downside for Hokie fans is JMU probably isn’t winning the National Championship this year.

2) Minnesota – Even though you were not ranked like VA Tech you still lost to an opponent from a lesser league. Epic Fail! At least you have the colder months to look forward to in your year old outdoor stadium. If I were Minnesota I would schedule some teams from warmer climates for later in the season it could help get a win or two on the record.

3) Florida State - For a team looking at moving back into National Prominence they took a step back by getting beat by 30 points against Oklahoma. Sure OU was ranked, but if you want to be taken seriously this was not the way to get it done.

4) Georgia Tech – Another ACC team that showed it didn’t deserve its ranking and losing to unranked Kansas.

5) Georgia – Not a touchdown scored against a conference team. Either South Carolina is the real deal or Georgia isn’t very good.

Stay tuned for the Paris Hilton Idiot of the Week Award.

Paris Hilton Award & College Football Picks

I almost forgot about these this week. I'm sitting in Richmond, VA waiting on a friend so we can go drink morning beers at a NASCAR tailgate. I'm typing this on my phone so I apologize for no pictures and any misspellings.

Lets start with the Paris Hilton Award for the idiot of the week. The award goes to Roger Clemens. The man is being charged with perjury for lying to Congress about his use of performance enhancing drugs while playing Major League Baseball. The proof was there in the Mitchell Report and they had his supplier willing to testify. Roger sjould've learned from A-Rod and Big Mac. These men came came clean about the use of PEDs and have almost been forgiven fort their involvement. Roger however lied to Congress anf could go to jail for it.

The runner up this week was Congress forgetting involved with any of this in the first place. Especially when the economy was tanking and we were involved in two wars at the time.

Last weeks college picks were pretty good for me. I picked Cincy wrong and that was it.

This weeks games:
Michigan over the Golden Helmets of Notre Dame.
Bama over Penn State
Ohio State over Miami
West Virginia over Marshall
South Carolina over Georgia
Florida State over Oklahoma

If anyone is going to the race look for me there. War Tony Stewart!

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College Football

I wanted to tweet about this today but it would’ve taken more than 140 characters. Last night the Big Ten announced the new Divisions once Nebraska officially joins the Conference. A lot of speculation was made during the week about how this would affect “The Game.” It doesn’t need to be referred to by any other name because those around college football and many who don’t follow college football know about “The Game” between Ohio State and Michigan. Recently it hasn’t meant as much because Michigan has been playing something that barely resembles football. (Thanks Coach Rod, Can I get my old CARR back?) But back to my point, the tradition of Ohio State-Michigan is that it has always been the last game of the Big 10 Season and many years determined who would play in the Rose Bowl as Conference championship. On numerous occasions this game has determined who would play for the National Championship.

With the addition of the 12th team in the Big Ten the Conference had to make a decision, a decision that could affect The Game in some way or another. The first question was whether to place Michigan and Ohio State in the same conference, much like Texas and Oklahoma. This would ensure the two teams would play each other every year. The game could still be held the last weekend of regular season games for the Big Ten and would have the stakes it needed to be a relevant game. The winner goes on to play for the Conference championship the next weekend. This is the situation I liked the most. Another popular option was having the two teams in separate conferences but making sure they still played every year to keep The Game alive. A lot of people liked this idea as well. This according to people who understand the economics of college football better than I do is the best financial option for the Big Ten. This plan could go one of two ways as well. Michigan and Ohio State would play earlier in the year just like Texas and Oklahoma. However the teams could still win their divisions and play again in the Conference Championship. The second way would be to still have Michigan and Ohio State play the last regular season game but if both win their divisions they would play again the following week. There are multiple reasons this is a bad idea. If one team knows it’s still going to the Conference Championship game will they rest their players like coaches do in the PRO’s? Plus it’s hard enough to win the first game every year imagine how much tougher it will be to win it twice in one year.
Ultimately I think having the two teams in opposing divisions within the conference devalues The Game. It won’t mean as much IF they play twice a year. This brings me to my last point who says these two teams are going to make the Conference Championship every year or even once a decade. Michigan doesn’t look like it will make it there ever again. Even on good years Michigan will have to beat Iowa, Michigan State, and Nebraska to make it to the game. Ohio State has to beat Wisconsin and Penn State. The Big Ten see’s dollar signs and more views coming to their network and that is why they decided to have Michigan and Ohio State play in opposing divisions and why some years we may get back to back games of Michigan and Ohio State.

Here’s my final thought on this: UVA and VT, UT and OU, Auburn and Bama are all in the same division and those games are still big for college football fans.

As for the way the teams fall in their respective conferences it makes little sense to me. It would make more sense to have and North/South or East/West geographical split. Although then the balance would be off.

Predictions:

Week 1 Picks:
Utah vs. Pitt: Utah
Illinois vs. Missouri: Mizzou
WVU vs. Coastal Carolina: WVU (i'll be in attendance)
Michigan vs. UConn: Go Blue (Mich wins)
Oregon St vs. TCU: Oregon St
Boise St. vs. Va Tech: Boise St.
UK vs. Louisville: UK



Conference Winners:

SEC: Alabama
Pac10: Not USC…Oregon State
Big Ten: IOWA
Big East: not worth a pick, Cincy
ACC: Is it basketball season yet? Va Tech.
Big 12: Texas

The National Championship game will be Alabama over Boise State in a close one.
Sorry Tech fans that does mean I think Boise shocks the world over the weekend. Although does Boise State still get Shock the world status?

The Flooding of the Nile

Lets Party! This weekend my friends threw a party. The fields were fertile and the seed was sown. The theme was Egyptian and costumes were warned. There was need for celebration because the famine was over and the people would hunger no more. Nobody needed to worry if friends were going without anymore. The people of Egypt were once again happy and satisfied and fulfilled. The party was a great time and I’m really thankful for the friends I have because I can’t think of anyone else who would go through a quarter what my friends went through to put on the part this weekend and for the reason the party was thrown. If you don’t know why the party was thrown I apologize but you’ll just have to guess.

The afternoon started with everyone getting into Pharaoh like costumes and one person dressed as Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Some of my friends are very clever. Once costumes were on the guests arrived by passing through one of the Great Pyramids and were greeted with a glass of sangria. If you are wondering how a Pyramid was imported to Falls Church…it was built but no stone or mud was involved. We started with some games of V King and Can Jam. Then around 5:15 there was a surprise. An unfamiliar woman had shown up to the party. My first instinct is that she is a stripper. Boy was I wrong. The woman was a belly dancer come to show us some traditional Egyptian dances. At one point she taught us a dance each move had to do with a Kabob. When she said Chicken we swung our hips to our left and when she said Onion we swung our hips to the right. Then she would say Pepper and we would stick our back sides out and when she said BEEF we would thrust forward. So we practiced moving our hips all over and laughing every time we practiced BEEF. The next day we walked around saying Beef –Pepper, Beef-Pepper.

After the Belly dancer left we ate dinner which was followed by a ceremony. By this time of the night most of us were pretty intoxicated. I will tell you the parts I remember. At this time I was given a Pharaoh’s hat to wear and told to take my shirt off. The next thing I remember is the girls were rubbing body paint all over my stomach, chest, and back. Then everyone brought sacrifices to throw in the fire to honor me. I can only imagine what people thought if they saw what was going on. One person brought a discharged shotgun shell and a shotgun shell that needed to be discharged, another person brought a hungry man dinner because now that I had a girlfriend I will no longer be hungry, and another brought a picture of a damn. I apologize to anyone I didn’t mention but I don’t remember all of them. The final part of the ceremony I was given sunflower seeds and told to take them to all of the women and spread my seed. At which point the girls would take a couple and then I would toss a couple on them.

The night ended with a dance party.

The night was great and I had a blast. If anyone else who was there would like to add their stories in the comments I welcome it because I cannot recall them all.
If you are look for a reason to party on Thursday night throw a 90210 themed party because it will be 9/02/10. Decorate your room like the Peach Pit and dress like your favorite character but stick to the original version the new one blows.

****Pictures will come later once someone posts them on FaceBook****

The Paris Hilton Award: Presented for the Idiot of the Week

This weekly award might possibly turn into a weekly awards post but for right now it will just be the one award until I come up with some other ones to give out.

I heard the story about Paris Hilton getting arrested in Vegas for possession of coke. It doesn’t surprise me that she uses any form of illegal substance. What stuck out in this story to me was her claim that she thought the cocaine was bubble gum. If I was the arresting officer I would’ve given her a stick of gum and said snort this up your nose then tell me what this really is in your purse. I could be wrong but I’ve never seen gum come in a powdery form there is usually a powdery substance on the gum, but as a whole it is usually rectangular in shape. Sometimes gum looks like chew, tape, or even cigarettes but never seen it in a powder. On top of her ridiculous claim of cocaine being bubble gum she then changed her story multiple times. If you do decide to lie you should stick to the same story. Anyways while thinking of a name for this weekly award and trying not to name it after any of the other similar awards like the Darwin Award or the Dumbass Award (pronounced Dumas), I decided that the original recipient of this award should bear that honor and will from hear out call this the Paris Hilton Idiot of the week award.

Much Ado About Nothing (Football, Race Horse Names, Movies)

Race Horse Names

This morning the news was all over this story about a horse race what a horse named "My Wife Knows Everything" edged out "My Wife Doesn't Know." Obviously to hear the announcer call the race down the final stretch was humorous but I want to know what they wife doesn't know. How is that not asked of the horse owner before this story hits national news?

Anyways it got me thinking what if a horse was named "My Butt" then the announcer could say things like "My Butt is on the rail," "My butt is out in front of the pack," or "Big Brown is coming up behind My Butt." I hope this happens at a big race like the Kentucky Derby. What if My Butt was racing against "Number Two? I could keep rattling off one liners but I think you get the idea.

Here is a link to the story.

College Football

In just over a week NCAA football will begin and life will be right once again. 2010 has been a great sports year for fans. It started with a great Super Bowl that led in to the Winter Olympics where the Americans were the best they have ever been, followed by a March Madness full of upsets that had Butler almost knock off Duke in the final game. After basketball there were the NHL and NFL playoffs each of which having teams with history battling it out for the championship. The Blackhawks and Flyers both trying to end multi-decade title droughts and in the NBA the two teams with the most banners hanging in the rafters taking it to 7 games and to the final seconds before a champion could be declared. The next thing we knew the World Cup had begun and the USA team put on a show and with the help of ESPN raised interest in the game of Soccer in America. Next thing we knew training camp had begun and we knew football was just around the corner.

Personally I love College football and prefer it to the NFL. I love my Michigan Wolverines even if they haven’t had a winning season since Lloyd Carr retired. I have hope for this season and if the Wolverines start out 5-0 again I will have dreams of a Big Ten championship in my head and maybe more. Don’t get me wrong I know the first 5 games are the easy ones they are not against teams like Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, or Wisconsin. But as a fan every week I sit myself in front of the tv to watch the Maize and Blue play and think they have a chance of winning.

The best part about college football is going to the games and tailgating with the fans. For 6 years my brother and sister went to WVU and my family had season tickets. I’m really looking forward to going back for a couple games this year if for nothing else but to tailgate. I mean WVU is consistently one of the top party schools in the nation.

The Godfather II

I finally got around to watching The Godfather II. This movie blew me away. It was interesting watching the paths that Vito and Michael took to get to where each of them were at the end of the movie. The stark differences between the two men could not be overlooked either. Michael as we say in the first movie really never wanted anything to do with the Family Business and after talking with a friend about the movie we think he knew what he was capable of the whole time and didn’t want to go down that path.

I’m really glad I finally found 4 hours to sit down and watch this movie it lived up to the hype. Also funny note I know the DVD set had two discs for this movie and I can only assume that the VHS also had two tapes and at the end of the first disc or tape there was an intermission. I found all three movies on Blue Ray at a video store that was closing for 25 bucks. The blue ray version at around 2.5 hours the screen goes black and in white letters the word Intermission appears on screen for 30 seconds. I laughed that when they converted the movie over to Blue Ray they kept the Intermission in the movie even though it was only on one disc now.

The Expendables

This movie was awesome for the simple fact that it was as ridiculous as all of the action movies in the 80’s. The second best part about this movie is that there were more people in this movie using PED’s than in the entire Mitchell Report. The sad part is this movie could not have been made in the 90’s because it would’ve cost too much for the cast which included Sly Stalone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Stathom, Mickey Rourke and Jet Li. The second tier cast members were Dolph Lundgren, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture and Terry Crews. If you like action and love explosions you will like this movie.

Bar Crawl Retro Diary

This weekend was the annual Bar Crawl that I started with my friend Chuck 5 years ago. It’s still unofficial and is just a reason for us to get together with friends and drink large quantities of alcohol, but one day we hope to make this a marquee event in Fredericksburg, VA. Here is a little history about the crawl before I get into this year’s events. Chuck and I were once roommates and sometimes drinking was never enough so we would give ourselves little challenges. It started with Chuck challenging me to drink all of the beers that Fatty J’s had on draft. They had 13-15 beers on tap at the time and it took me 3 or 4 visits to try them all. Chuck gave me a month to complete the challenge so that was easy. Once I finished that one he came up with having me drink a beer at every bar in the city limits of Fredericksburg. This one was a little more challenging. Just like before I had a month to complete the task. Earlier that year I attended my first bar crawl in Ghent with my friend Jason. It was a great time so I upped the challenge Chuck gave me to all of the bars in one day and let’s invite a bunch of our friends to do it with us. This took place the summer of 2005 we had around 10 people join us at 11am at Bailey’s Pub in central Park. We finished the crawl 13 hours later at Fatty on the Water (Wings on the Water). In all we had a drink at 24 bars that day. There are stories from that crawl that I will not write in this blog, but will tell you in person if you ask.

How did we find those 24 bars? That was easy we went to YellowPages.com. We didn’t count places that were mainly restaurants like Friday’s and Applebee’s. Chuck and I scouted out a couple of questionable establishments prior to the tour and narrowed the list to the 24 bars we visited that day. The second year we wanted to continue the bar crawl and some of our friends were asking if we were doing one again so we narrowed the crawl down to only Downtown Bars so we could park and walk. In total it was only about 8 blocks of walking the whole day and there were 12 bars included. We’ve seen bars open and close their doors over the past few years, but there have always been enough to do the crawl. This year we only had 9 bars.

Some of you who read Bill Simmons column on ESPN may be familiar with his Retro diaries. He typically writes a time stamped column while rewatching a sporting event. That is the basis I am using for this blog except I’m going to try to remember the events of the evening as they happened or were told to me by others involved. Remember this was a bar crawl and I was drinking so as the night went on memories are fuzzy but that just means the story might be crazier. Times are approximate and I was drinking not looking at my watch. I’m basing the times on the position of the sun.

3:00pm: I arrived at the Rec Center with my brother (Brian), Ryan, Danielle and Matt. We met up with Chuck and the group that met at his house. There were 8 people that met at his house. Another 7 people met up with us later. The Rec Center actually isn’t a Rec Center. Outside there is a sign that reads “Worlds Best Hot Dogs,” I don’t believe that at all. This bar is the biggest Dive in Fredericksburg to my knowledge. The usually group are older mustached men and women whose faces are wrinkled from smoking their whole lives. So needless to say we get some looks when we enter. If you ever want a $1.25 PBR this is the place for you, but remember they close at 4pm. The Baron’s drink choice: PBR.

3:20pm: Stop number 2 was at the Capitol Ale House. This is a great place to go if you like to drink beer. It has the largest selection of beer on tap and in the bottle. The problem with a place like this is it takes forever for people to order. It’s the only bar people stray away from drinking their usual domestic beers. I snuck down to the beer cellar here. There was a sign and I’ve always wanted to know what was down there so I just walked on down and checked it out. The door to the cellar was locked but there were windows so I could see what they kept back there. I’m not sure what type of beer was there but it looked fancy. One thing I found odd here was at the end of the bar a father sat with his 2 sons. One of them was around 10 and the other around 8 maybe. They could barely reach the bar. The youngest one was drinking milk. My issue was they were taking up valuable real estate at the bar and I always thought you had to be 21 to sit at the bar. Although I did think it was funny the kid was drinking milk at the bar, for some reason I thought of those scenes in old westerns when the guy walks into the saloon and orders milk. This is also where 4 more people joined our tour. The Baron’s drink choice: Purple Haze.

4:10pm: Stop number 3 was at Fatty J’s. We spent some time here because this is where we got food. Fatty J’s was my go to bar during and after college. It was a great bar scene, had awesome waitresses, and good service. It was also a good place to go and watch a football game. I would spend all day on Sunday during football season at Fatty’s. Now the bar is only beat out by the Rec Center as the biggest dive in the city and it caters to a different crowd. It’s not even the best sports bar in town. It’s sad to see what has happened to Fatty J’s over the years. Nothing really eventful happened here other than this is when people started to get a little buzz going and started interacting with people. We had two more people join the crawl here. The Baron’s drink choice: 24 oz Coors Light, it was a special for $3.

6:00pm: Stop number 4 was Spirits. Spirits is a pizzeria in Old Town Fredericksburg and rumor has it the building is haunted. We tend to have more fun with the juke box here then actually drinking. It’s also a dive and just recently moved ahead of Fatty’s, but that’s only because Fatty’s got so bad. Plus Spirits at least hires girls to work the bar. This is where people started feeling good on the Crawl. At one point Brownie started talking about watching Glee with his roommate and how they sang and danced to the Gaga episode. I just had to introduce him to Danielle. They held the funniest conversation about Glee. People would stand and listen and laugh as he talked and danced and sang. The Baron’s drink choice: Kamikazee ($3 dollar special, took a round with four others) Pitcher of Bud Light (Split with 3 others.)

6:30pm: Stop number 5 was Sammy T’s. If you are looking for vegetarian food this is the place for you in Fredericksburg. If you date a vegetarian this is the place to take her because they do have chicken tenders for us carnivores. We got in and got out of this place as fast as possible. We arrived and there were two people sitting at the bar, the bar stretched the length of the restaurant. Once we all arrived there was only standing room, yet they were not happy to see us. At one point a waitress told some patrons, “don’t worry about them, they are on a bar crawl and will be leaving soon.” This is also when my sister joined the group. The Baron’s drink choice: Star Hill’s Lucy.

7:00pm: Stop number 6 was J. Bryan’s. J. Bryan’s was the first of 3 Irish Bars we would stop at during the Crawl. The Bar area is small so we never stay too long here either. At one point I walked from one side of the bar to the other and in the process one of the girls grabbed another girl’s chest and then grabbed mine for comparison. I asked if I could play but didn’t get a response. Remember this story for later. The Baron’s drink choice: Jim Beam and Coke.

7:25pm: While leaving J. Bryan’s the girls each grabbed a guys arm and we walked to the next bar. I’m not sure why this happened or why we allowed it to happen. Oh wait, we were hammered.

7:30pm: Stop number 7 was The Blarney Stone. At this bar you have to walk through the dining area to get to the bar in the back. I always feel bad because people are eating and we are pretty drunk by the time we get here. The first thing I did when I arrived was find my dollar bill I stapled to the ceiling at last years crawl. It was still there. Ryan wanted to have a mixed drink with me at this bar and I wanted something Irish is nature. So I said let’s do a Car Bomb and he was drunk enough to agree. My brother in law Matt got in on this too. So I ordered three car bombs. The bartender brought them over and we turned them up. I’ve never drank anything so fast, it was gone after two swigs. I put the glass down and it looked like the other two barely started. After that I was talking at another table with people and this guy Joe who was on the crawl wanted to buy shots for the table. He asked what he should get and I told him, Jameson’s. Let’s just say we were enjoying the Irish bar. The Baron’s drink choice: Irish Car Bomb, Harp, Shot of Jameson’s.

8:20pm: As we are walking to the next bar one of the girls on the tour pulled her top down and flashed me. This was one of the girls from the story at J. Bryan's. Apparently I was not the only one who saw the goods that evening. Let’s just say everyone was feeling good at this point.

8:30pm: Stop number 8 was the Irish Brigade. It didn’t feel like we were here that long. I didn’t order a beer but I drank one. Things started to get real fuzzy at this point. The Baron’s drink choice: Smithwick’s.

9:00pm: Leaving the Irish Brigade we lost 3 people in the group to injury. One of them twisted there ankle and the other two drove them home.

9:05pm: Stop number 9 was at Brock’s. Brock’s is usually hopping on a Friday and Saturday night. They have a large outdoor patio with music and dancing. The problem was at 9:00pm it was still near the 90’s outside and humid as hell. So that left the indoor bar. The night began to wind down here but the drinking did not. I know I had 3 drinks here, but only remember what one of them was. The last 2 people to join the crawl showed up here, if they only knew what they missed out on. People just sat around at the bar, which wasn’t very busy yet and hung out and talked. The Baron’s drink choice: Unkown, Budweiser, Unknown.

10:00pm: The Baron is wasted. My Designated Driver showed up.

11:00pm: Passed Out.

Don't Tell Mom I'm Watching This...

This week MTV announced that they will be bringing back Beavis and Butthead. Mike Judge must not have much going on now that King of the Hill is off of the air. Beavis and Butthead has been off the air so long that the last time a new episode aired MTV still showed music videos. Beavis and Butthead were seen by some as the start of the non music video version of MTV. Some might remember the format of the show, it was part cartoon and then part music video, where the two characters would comment on the video that was being shown. MTV’s reboot of the show will be the same but with current music videos. So instead of mocking Running Man they will be joking on Lady Gaga. The good news is MTV will be showing music videos again.

The Real reason I bring this up is not to talk about why MTV has decided to go back to an old cartoon from the 90’s. Will Beavis and Butthead be as successful in the 2010’s as it was in the early 90’s? Will fewer parents keep their kids from watching the show because of its crudeness? I remember staying up late as a kid and watching Beavis and Butthead with the volume turned down low so my parents wouldn’t hear what I was watching. First of all when I was growing up I wasn’t even allowed to watch MTV because of such distasteful videos as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” Can you imagine if that video was shown today, would anyone even care? But this got me thinking of other animated television shows that our parents didn’t let us watch as kids. Unless you were that kid who had all his friends over to watch these shows because your parents didn’t care, then I would like to thank you. So that brings me to my top 5 cartoons parents don’t let their kids watch, in no particular order.

1) The Simpsons – When this show first aired it was based on Bart Simpson, a “foul” mouthed kid who talked back to his parents. In later seasons the focus of the show moved from Bart to Homer and when I watch it today I laugh at the fact my parents wouldn’t let me watch this when I was younger. The Simpsons is one of the smartest cartoons on TV. The show has been on the air since December of 1989 and shows no signs of stopping. I think a lot of us who couldn’t watch it when we were young are now keeping it on the air.

2) South Park – I was in high school when this show first aired. The poor animation only adds to the humor of this show. The show is ridiculous but smart and is very topical. The creators are not afraid to go after anyone. Some of the funniest episodes attack the Scientologists’, Brittany Spears, Tiger Woods, Mel Gibson, Al Gore (Man Bear Pig), The Nagger Guy Episode, The Richers (When they chased all the rich black families out of town and Gingers. I remember watching the first Christmas episode that aired on TV with Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo at my Grandma’s house with my cousins on Christmas Eve. My parents and Aunt and Uncle were trying to get us to turn the channel before my Grandmother came in the room, but it didn’t happen and we laughed our butts off, the family still talks about that Christmas.

3) Beavis and Butthead – This was one of Mike Judge’s first projects. If you listen closely their neighbor’s voice sounds awfully familiar. It’s the same voice as Hank Hill from King of the Hill. Beavis and Butthead were morons who got in trouble. I think this shows biggest problem was it was aired on MTV. The language might have pushed the limits but nothing like South Park. Either way my parents did not like this show.

4) The Family Guy – This show aired after my parents stopped caring what I watched, but I know watching it that if it would’ve been on TV 5 or 6 years earlier it would’ve been a definite no go. The topics approached are also fairly current but a show where the baby is always trying to kill/get rid of his mother. My mom would’ve hated this.

5) Ren & Stimpy – Some people may not even remember this show. It was a cartoon on Nickelodeon. The thing these guys did wrong was fart. It was a cartoon based on fart jokes. It was a dog and a cat that farted. I remember I owned the video game for the Sega Genesis and you made the characters fly by farting. Ren & Stimpy also had this "commercial" that would play called "Dont Wizz on the Electric Fence: The Game."

The funny part is no matter how hard my parents may have tried to keep me from watching these shows it didn’t really work. The Simpsons is one of my favorite shows and I own many of the seasons. South Park also offers a nice family memory as I explained above. So maybe our parents should realize that these shows weren’t that bad.

Mega Wedding Blog

This blog is a few weeks late, but it should be worth the wait. In June I attended three weddings on back to back to back weekends. These weddings couldn’t have been more different either. The first wedding was the son of one of my parent’s friends. The second wedding was two of my good friends and the third wedding was my sisters.

The first wedding was at my parent’s church in Fredericksburg. It was at 11am and the guys were rocking morning coats. This may be the only reason to have a wedding this early in the day. Although if you are not serving alcohol at the reception this is another reason to have an early wedding, alcohol was not served. The ceremony was nice and the highlight of the ceremony was when the Father of the Bride turned to go to his seat he did a military turn, but didn’t plan on the Brides train being in the way of his foot. He put the brakes on so fast to keep from stepping on his daughters dress he almost bit it in front of everyone. The reception was short and to the point as well, which is key when there isn’t dancing or alcohol. Then it was 1pm and it was time for my brother and I to head to our future brother in law’s bachelor party. The evening was a blast. We went to a Nationals game and watched them lose, big surprise. We got to meet some of Matt’s friends and they were a lot of fun to party with. We also met White Ford Bronco for the first time at the pre-game bar, The Bullpen.

The second wedding was AWESOME! My friends Spencer and Nicole were getting married at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA. If you don’t know where that is then you are out of luck because there is nothing nearby to point you in the right direction. After getting off of I 81 I drove for around 90 minutes and then out of no place a giant brick resort popped out of the mountains. It was amazing looking. I arrived on Friday before the wedding and the rehearsal was at 5pm. The rehearsal was outside and it was hot. I have never had as much fun at a rehearsal in my life. We were allowed to drink and the minister knew all the groomsmen and bridesmaids had to do was walk in and walk out, so we practiced that once and he talked to the bride and groom for a few minutes and then it was on to the party.

The rehearsal dinner was also the best food I have ever had at rehearsal dinner. While talking to Nicole she told me that the theme was Spencer’s favorite foods. The menu consisted of chicken and waffles, beef brisket, grilled trout, roasted corn, and pork chops (which almost didn’t make the menu according to Nicole Newman, but as she said, “It was SO good”).

“But the best part and highlight of the night… was the Chicken and Waffles. This was a hit for everyone! Even my [Nicole’s] grandparents loved them! Spencer and I were lucky enough to have Chef Todd. Who is the Head Chef [at the Homestead], personally attend our rehearsal dinner because he was so excited to make the Chicken and Waffles – he is from Texas.  Chef Todd even made maple syrup butter.” ~Nicole Newman

They also had Texas and Carolina style BBQ to cover the brisket in. Sides included fried okra (also known as southern pop corn and was Nicole’s favorite thing to eat that night), green beans, festival bread (Nicole said that Spencer and her first tasted this in Jamaica and requested that the Homestead make this for them), and to finish it off they had a baked potato bar. Nicole explained to me that Spencer and she wanted to incorporate the mothers tastes into the menu as well. She said they had Key Lime Pie for Spencer’s mom and Italian Soup for her mother. Nicole said, “we opted for a buffet style for the rehearsal because this allowed more talking among friends AND then people could choose what they wanted to eat.” In case you were wondering what my ranking of top 3 rehearsal dinners are they go like this, 1) Newman-Harrison Wedding, 2) Barel-Lawton (Mexican food, they had homemade tortilla shells and margarita pitchers), 3) Lamb-Holt (Texas BBQ). This was also the first wedding where there was a party at the rehearsal and on top of it there was an open bar.

“The wedding coordinator at the Homestead was Tricia and she told us [Spencer and Nicole] we had the longest running open bar during a wedding weekend in the history of the Homestead. Four hours for the rehearsal and 6 for the wedding day. Mind you- The Homestead is the longest running resort in Virginia.” ~Nicole Newman

On Saturday the JD, Brammer and I headed into town to get breakfast. We ran across the local Farmers Market and decided to get breakfast there. The food was great and so were the maple donuts. Afterwards the men got together and headed off to the gun club for some skeet shooting. I can’t think of a better way to spend the morning then shooting some clay pigeons. The lesson learned here is that video games have begun to simulate real life, because two guys who have never held a gun except on their PlayStations dominated and there reason was spending hours playing video game. After shooting we headed back to The Homestead to watch the USA-England World Cup game. Thankfully it finished before we had to show up for pictures. The only downside was during the game some thunderstorms rolled through and the wedding was moved inside. However it looked just as nice inside. It was 5:30 and the wedding was beginning so we all walked in and got in our places. The Bride and Groom came down and next thing I knew they were pronouncing them man and wife. I also enjoyed that each pairing in the wedding had their own entrance music, my song was Fat Bottom Girl. Now the real party began and every danced and drank their way into the night. This wedding being the fourth fraternity brother’s wedding I’ve been too I realized that they are some of the most fun ones I’ve been to. Mainly because it’s the group of guys I spent partying with and whenever we get together fun times are going to happen.

The third and final wedding was my little sisters. Julie was marrying a guy she met from school named Matt. This wedding was different because I was around for the planning so I knew what was going on. Julie asked me to sing in the wedding and she kept going back and forth on the song so for three months before the wedding I would sit at the dinner table and ask Julie if I could sing random songs like “Sledgehammer,” “Before He Cheats,” and “Ring of Fire.” I would sing a couple lines and we would all laugh, but she never liked my suggestions.

I was really looking forward to this wedding, because my cousins and I always have a great time together. A couple of my cousins got into town the Thursday before the wedding and sat around drinking and catching up all night. On Friday we had a wine tour planned, but before we left we got lunch and watched the USA-Slovenia World Cup game. We only ended up going to two vineyards but we tried 40 plus wines so we definitely got enough to drink. When we got back to Fred Rock I got ready for the rehearsal and my cousins and I went to Blue and Gray Brewery to try their beers. Afterwards my cousins dropped me off at the church for the rehearsal. This rehearsal was not better than the previous weeks. There was no drinking and there was way too much explanation of things people already knew were going to happen. Plus I don’t know why it took more than 30 minutes. Anyways we left for the rehearsal dinner at Brocks. The dinner was good and a few people said some things, but the party was going to happen at Hard Times that night. So we headed off to Hard Times to see White Ford Bronco. If you want to know more about them you should read my previous post. Hard Times was fun we partied for a while and were joined by the rest of our cousins who got into town that evening.

On Saturday I had to wake up and drive to Richmond to pick up the wedding cake. The key here was a lack of time. I had to run by my parent’s house to get the order ticket first and then cruise down to Ashland so I could get the cake. My sister wanted a Ukrop’s cake and the Fredericksburg store closed in January. I had to have the cake to the reception hall and get back and dressed for the wedding and ready to leave the hotel by 11:30. I got back to the reception hall in 35 minutes and ended up being the first one ready. The cake made it safely and a few traffic laws were broken. All I know is I was not going to be the one that didn’t get where I was supposed to be at the time I was supposed to be there on this day. All of the groomsmen and a few other people who needed to be at the wedding early got on board the trolley and left for the wedding. Imagine wearing a suit or tuxedo, its 90 plus degrees outside and riding on a trolley with no air conditioning. The downside to getting to the church so early is sitting around for a couple of hours before the ceremony.

The ceremony started at 2:00 and lasted about 30 minutes. Julie wanted a lot of music in her wedding and we all know the Bride gets what she wants. The highlight of the wedding was the Best Man was on crutches because of a beer pong injury. You have to give him credit because you could tell he was in pain but he fought through it and never complained. After the wedding it was picture time, I hate picture time. I just want to get to the reception and start the party. After the pictures we had time to kill so we rode around in the trolley and went to Chatham House, Carl’s Ice Cream, and took a historic tour of Fredericksburg. The last stop was the reception hall. The reception was a lot of fun. A few good friends and my cousins and I hit the dance floor and didn’t leave until the night was over. The highlight of the night was at one point when my Dad’s Brother went out to dance with him in the soul train line at one point my Dad’s pants fell down. Thankfully his shirt was really long and nobody was flashed.

Well that was my month of weddings in June. I had a lot of fun at all of them and they were all amazing in their own way. I wish the Bays, Newman’s, and Weakley’s many years of happiness.

White Ford Bronco

Have you ever gone to a bar on a Friday or Saturday night and a local band is playing? The bar is filled with a handful of the bands followers but otherwise nobody else cares they are there. It always amazed me that bands would play their own music that nobody knows, except the 5 people who belong to the fan club. Now this isn’t just me hating on the local music scene. Music is a passion of mine, but in all fairness when I’m out at a bar on the weekend I’d rather hear music that’s familiar to me. So to all of the small town bar owners out there, I would rather have a cover band playing recognizable music then a local thrasher band that will never make it out of their parents garage. The truth of the matter is every town has a bar that features local bands and it might suck if it’s a metal bar and you sing country but it happens. My only comment is, if they are serious about making it in whatever genre they perform in, move to the city that will make it happen. If you sing country, go to Nashville. If hip/hop or R&B is your thing go to NYC or LA, maybe even Detroit. If Rock is your act, I’m sure you can get by in any major city.

This brings me to my main point, Cover Bands are better suited for the local bar scene. A couple weeks ago I was at my now brother-in-laws bachelor party. We were going to see the Washington Nationals play the Reds. We arrived a little early and wanted to grab some beers so we went to the Bullpen outside of the stadium. The Bullpen had the right idea they hired a cover band to play and entertain the masses, which at Nationals Park is around 15 people. We call this period of time at Nationals Park BS (Before Strasburg). So you could imagine my amazement when the Bullpen had well over 100 people inside it. The cover band playing that night was called White Ford Bronco and they were definitely rocking out. I thought the name of the band was funny, because the image of the White Ford Bronco was familiar to me and I laughed to myself while I thought about OJ driving around LA 16 years earlier. The name was even funnier when the band announced that they were a 90’s cover band. For those of us born in the 80’s we’ve been going to parties centered on that decade since most of us started to party. The 90’s were too recent in memory for a party to be centered on that theme. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but as the 00’s came to an end many people started rocking early 90’s attire to 80’s parties. But now a decade separates us from the 90’s and White Ford Bronco’s playlist was very nostalgic and brought back memories of middle school and high school dances, of songs that we’ve forgotten. The best part was the band did a pretty good job at covering these artists and they did not restrict themselves to one genre of music from the 90’s. White Ford Bronco played songs originally sang by the Cranberries, Garth Brooks, STP, Vanilla Ice, and Brittany Spears.

The next day we looked up the band and checked out there website. (http://whitefordbronco.com) We found out that they would be playing in Fredericksburg the night before my sister got married. Due to one of our buddies from the bachelor party flirting with the lead singer and me tweeting with the band, we got a shout out at the concert and a song dedicated to us. The best part was after the show the lead singer Gretchen came down and hung out with us for a little while before the band left. The best part about the show was when I looked around people weren’t just sitting down yelling over music they didn’t know or want to know, they were up dancing with each other and having a great time. So, if you get a chance and live in the DC area head out and catch White Ford Bronco.

Top 5 Cover Bands:
1. The Dan Band
2. The Blues Brothers
3. Hayseed Dixie (Rock/Bluegrass covers of Popular music)
4. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (Punk Covers of different genres)
5. White Ford Bronco (the local favorite)

I Finally Watched the Godfather!

Last weekend I watched the Godfather for the first time, yes I’m a 28 year old male and I hadn’t seen the Godfather until a week ago. The good news, my brother and sister have still not seen it. The movie was not something that was in my house growing up and I would’ve chalked it up to bad parenting, but at 28 that’s no excuse and my parents have seen it. I know they have seen it because after watching it we talked about the movie at dinner. If I would’ve been thinking about it I would’ve asked them why did you not make me watch this when I was a kid. I also know the answer to that too. These are the same parents who wouldn’t let me watch the Simpsons as a kid. Anyways I don’t blame my parents. I should’ve watched this movie at least 10 years ago.

There were so many aspects of this movie that were great. Brando, Caan, Pacino, and Duvall were awesome. The transformation of Michael Corleone from this good hearted American Hero at the beginning of the movie to this dark man by the end was amazing to watch. You could see him slowly develop into the “villain” he became by the end of the movie. If this movie was made today not only would it be an hour shorter but the transformation would’ve started and ended when Michael found out about his father being gunned down in the street. But here it takes place slowly over the last two hours of the movie. Sure Michael killed his father’s attackers, but that seemed justified. When Michael finally puts into motion the killings of the other heads of the New York families and Sal it’s no longer about seeking justice, which is why when he has his brother in law killed you were not at all surprised. At the end of the movie Michael is almost a cross between his brother Sonny and his father. He’s cool and collected, but doesn’t blink when it comes to using force to get what he wants. The thing that keeps us as a viewer cheering him on is after all that happened to him we can understand why he becomes the man he is at the end of the movie. His father gets gunned down, then they try to kill his father in the hospital, his wife is blown up in his car, and his brother Sonny gets gunned down in cold blood.

Sonny was another character I liked and James Caan did a great job with this character. The downfall of Sonny was he reacted to situations without thinking and his quick temper was played up from the beginning. They needed us to believe he would run out to aid his sister from her abusive husband. Even if up until this point Sonny irritated you as a character, you couldn’t help but hate what happened to him. The whole time Sonny’s being shot up I’m thinking, “What is happening to his sister?” Does her husband kill her will anyone know he was beating her now. I didn’t even think about the fact that he was involved in taking down Sonny. The good news is that in the end Carlo gets what’s coming to him.

Enough cannot be said about Brando. That was one of the best performances I’ve seen of any character in any movie. He was absolutely amazing and I’m just going to leave it at that.

Connie Corleone she may not have been my first choice, but Talia Shire somehow ends up in two great movie series (she was Adrianna is Rocky). I honestly can’t name another movie she was in outside of the Rocky series and The Godfather series. She is credited as being in all 6 Rocky films even though she wasn’t actually in the last one, but she probably could’ve lived off the money she made from Rocky and the Godfather films her entire life. I checked her credits on IMDB and apparently she did act in other movies.

One of the best parts about watching this movie was seeing some great actors in the prime of their careers. It was crazy seeing Duvall, Caan, and Pacino so young, even Abe Vigoda looked young and he was still a little old when the movie was filmed.

I am really glad I decided to finally watch this movie and I have the other two and plan to watch them in the next few weeks as well. The one thing I realized after watching this movie though is that there are not a lot of Great movies. It is rare when production, acting, directing, and writing all come together and make a truly great film. Most movies today are missing not just one of those components, but usually two or three of them. It made me think about what movies are on a level with the Godfather as being great. The first ones that popped in my head were Rocky, The Gladiator, American Gangster, and American History X. There are a lot of movies out there that tell a great story but may not have the money to make it a great film. Then there are the movies with the big budgets but it all goes towards special effects and then they don’t put the actors in to make it a great movie. It certainly makes me appreciate when I do watch a truly great movie, the way I felt after watching the Godfather.

The Baron's Thoughts on 24's Finale

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! If you have not watched the Series Finale of 24 stop reading now, unless you don’t care that I am going to be writing about it below.

My history with 24 seems much shorter than many of yours might be. I started watching the show during the finale of Season 5, when Jack was abducted by the Chinese. I then spent the next year catching up on seasons 2-5 while they were being aired on A&E and finally watched season 1 last year. This could be the reason why I still watched 24 with so much excitement; it was still new to me. Jack Bauer became the great American Hero and indestructible towards the end of the series. If I had to pick a team of fictional Law Enforcement Officers that did not have super powers but felt like they were super heroes, Jack Bauer would be on that list along with John McClane, Martin Riggs, Jason Bourne, and I guess you can’t really leave off James Bond. This group would make the A-Team look like chumps. Anyways back to Jack, Monday nights series finale started out exactly how everyone thought it would. Jack is back on a rampage to kill everyone involved in Renee Walker’s death. I almost believed he might even go after the sitting President and was almost certain he would go after former President Logan. Instead nothing happens the way I thought it would. Jack comes back to Earth and it follows the predictable alternate ending. I think the series would’ve ended differently if there was not a movie deal in place for 24. I think Jack would’ve died; he should’ve died. I asked a friend the other day, if Jack died in the finale would he watch a 24 movie that starred Freddie Prince Jr. as Agent Cole Ortiz? Without hesitation he responded, if Bauer dies I am not going to watch an Agent Cole 24. It was this thinking that caused them to let Jack live to fight another day. Now as for my opinion on the final season, there were some story lines that didn’t work for me.

President Taylor letting President Logan walk all over her and compromises her moral standing. In Season 7 President Taylor sent her own daughter to jail for putting a hit on the season 7 villain. She watched as a corrupt group of domestic terrorists killed her son and his fiancé and almost succeeded in killing her husband. Because of her high moral standing she lost her husband because he didn’t agree with her sending their daughter to prison. In Season 8 she decides to sit on information about the Russians being behind the events of the 8th day, information that puts them behind the assassination attempt on President Hassan, murdering Renee Walker, attempting to kill Jack Bauer, and bringing a nuclear bomb into Manhattan. She becomes the key person in the cover up and keeps the information from President Hassan’s family. As the day unravels and Jack gets closer to the answers he wants, while leaving bodies with Russian ties in his wake President Taylor gets deeper and deeper into the cover up. My question is why? Why sacrifice your administration to protect the Russians and Logan? She says it’s for a peace agreement, but how good is a peace agreement that’s covered in murderous blood. President Taylor saves her reputation with the viewers a little at the end by calling off the hit on Jack and not signing the agreement. She is also going to expose everyone involved in the cover up. Congratulations President Taylor, too little too late. At least she stopped Jack’s execution.

Jack’s Murderous rampage. Let’s look at the timeline here for a minute. Jack met Renee Walker during season 7, they spent 24 hours together. Season 8 takes place some 6-10 months later and during that time we learned that Renee left the FBI, went crazy, and tried to commit suicide at least once. Also during that time Jack was healing from an experimental surgery. So we can assume that they didn’t spend a lot of time together during that period. Now on Day 8 they spend a few hours together, where Renee gets a little crazy, as sex with a Russian mob guy, gets taken into custody and then sleeps with Jack when the mission is over. So I am to believe that this relationship is the one that sends Jack on a murderous rampage. When it started he didn’t even know who was involved. When Teri was killed he knew who did it, but he didn’t hunt her down and kill her. When Audrey went mental after being tortured by the Chinese, Jack didn’t start killing more Chinese people to get revenge. So why Renee, why does she send Jack over the deep end? That’s all I want to know, it doesn’t add up.

President Taylor’s last words/apology to Jack Bauer. This is basically how it went:

Taylor: Jack I’m sorry
Jack: It’s ok Mrs. President.
Taylor: Jack I know you wouldn’t have done any of this if I hadn’t been a stupid bitch and tried to cover up the murder of the woman you love and put you in lock down. It’s my fault you killed all those people.
Jack: No shit, so now what
Taylor: Jack you should run, the Russians will come after you……and we will come after you.
Jack: Thank you

Ok so that’s not the exact text but that’s what it felt like to me. One thing I want to say about this whole ending. President Taylor is the President of the United States of America; she has the right to pardon anybody of anything. Why not pardon Jack for the murderous rampage he went on that day? If she would’ve at least he would only have to worry about the Russians finding him. Plus, is President Taylor worried about public criticism at this point, she just covered up murders and jailed a journalist who was going to publish the evidence of the cover up. The President just crapped all over the constitution and she can’t throw Jack a bone here.

Last season I had an issue with Tony flipping sides but after last night it surprises me that Jack has not done the same. Everything Bauer did for his country and they can’t even say thank you.

Chloe and Jack’s Farewell. First let me congratulate Chloe for living through 7 seasons of this show, especially as close as she was to Jack. Aside from Chloe and Jack, Kim was the only other series regular that lasted the duration. The whole season I was waiting for someone to kill her and then they almost had Jack do it. No chance Jack would do that to her. But the ending when Jack calls Chloe and she is watching him on the CTU big screen broadcasting a Predator Drone’s video feed was a little too cheesy for me. Jack repeatedly looks up into the sky and is looking directly into the camera, Chloe is crying, they have their tearful goodbye, the whole scene seemed odd and didn’t feel right. Then the camera zooms out and Jack takes off running. Then the screen fades to black while the clock counts to 00:00.00.

The ending left me with disappointment. Series finales should tie up loose ends. My friend AJ said it felt more like a season finale then a series finale. Jack gets no happy ending and he is on the run as a fugitive, I guess if I want closure to this show I will have to spend $10 to see the movie whenever it is made.