An Original and Impactful Holiday Video

Posted on December 7, 2016 by brent

To watch the 2016 #CCU Holiday Video, click here.

Today, we released an annual piece of content here at Coastal Carolina University. At noon, the 2016 #CCU Holiday Video premiered on our social media channels and our website. Although it has only been live for roughly seven hours, analytics and reaction from our social media users seem to prove that the video is already a smashing success.

The #CCU holiday video is outstanding. (This is a screenshot from the video).

Although a holiday video at Coastal is an annual tradition, this year’s edition is anything but traditional. That was by design. Our senior marketing director, Lindsi Glass, and our production manager, Geoff Insch, set out to create something that was completely original. The duo worked extremely hard to put something together that was not only creative but also embodied the Coastal Carolina University #TEALnation spirit. To say they succeeded is an understatement.

The premise of the video is this: the President of our University observes the performance of a traditional choir singing a traditional song. He steps in and suggests that the group might benefit by adding “more cowbell.” From there, the video takes off…

The video starts with a subdued choir scene but then takes off. (This is a screenshot of the video).

The video starts with a subdued choir scene but then takes off. (This is a screenshot from the video).

Using the talents of both students and faculty, a rocking track begins that includes witty rap lyrics, powerful vocals, and killer guitar playing. While the song is performed, different groups on campus are captured jamming out. A wide variety of Coastal entities from our national champion baseball team to our financial aid office to our housing staff to our deans to even our CCU NASCAR driver are all showcased getting their rock on. In the end, well over 200 Chanticleers were featured.

A scene from the video. This took place on Prince Lawn. Can you spot a “Don’t Blink” author trying to dance? (This is a screenshot from the video).

But I will stop there and just let you watch it. Seriously, it is worth three minutes of your time. Lindsi and Geoff took a big chance with creating this type of holiday video and I think the risk paid off immensely. As people have already echoed on social media and elsewhere, this production makes you proud to be associated with Coastal Carolina University. In my opinion, it does an outstanding job at showing that we are a close knit, creative, and big time institution.

What makes this year’s holiday video so unique is that actual students performed the vocals to the original song that was written (this is a screenshot from the video).

Once again, great work to Lindsi, Geoff, and everyone else who helped out on creating something that represents Coastal Carolina so well. Also, awesome job to the Coastal community for coming together to make this work. The bar is set high for next year. Don’t Blink.

An Artificial Beach

Posted on December 6, 2016 by brent

The point has already arrived in the year where I drive to work in the dark and come home in the dark. I know depravation of sunlight really impacts people but fortunately for me, it doesn’t mess with my mental health. However, do I prefer the light to the dark? Of course.

Driving to work this morning, I thought about an interesting business venture that developed in Missoula, Montana, over six years ago. For those who are unaware, winters in Montana are long and bitter. Not only are the days gray and the nights dark, but the whole climate itself will wear on you unless you love freezing cold, howling wind, and loads of snow.

Needless to say, if you live in Montana you will really start to crave the sun and some cheerful weather during the winter. Looking to capitalize on this desire that many Montanans had, including myself, an extremely unique business opened up in Missoula around 2010. It was called Staycations.

Built to cater to both Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers and those people who just wanted to get out of the ugliness, Staycations was a pretty innovative place. You would enter inside the doors to a lobby area. Then, when it was your turn, you would stroll inside to one of the several rooms that waited past the front desk. You would then open the door and walk into an island oasis.

Each room was overflowing with white beach sand. Matching the color of the sand was one of those “happy lights” that transmits magnificent bright white light. A large television displayed ocean and tropical scenes. Sounds of the sea radiated throughout the area. A lounge chair was available to sprawl out on. As you can imagine, it was a very welcoming scene to walk into.

Here in Myrtle Beach we definitely take the ocean for granted. People desire so much for what we have in our backyard that they do all they can to replicate it inside rooms in landlocked geographical areas.

But don’t knock the attempt until you have lived in Missoula. I thought it was the greatest idea ever. I paid a visit to Staycations once. I believe I had some type of a promo card (if I remember correctly you paid by the half hour) and was able to spend 30 minutes inside one of the rooms. It was an interesting experience.

However, I never returned and I don’t know if Missoula ever really got on board. Staycations didn’t stay in business long.

Despite the lack of success, I stand by my belief that in theory it was an incredible idea. Perhaps the premise could be revived somewhere else. I thank my morning commute to campus for making me think of something that had not entered my head for over a half of a decade. Don’t Blink.

Christmas Cards

Posted on December 5, 2016 by brent

Christmas trees are thrown out, holiday dinners are consumed, and Santa heads back to the North Pole after Christmas Eve. Once the holidays pass, what is left to remember them by?

Christmas cards.

A tradition that started in my family before I was born and continues to still faintly live on is the Reser Family Christmas card. Year after year, my parents would either call the neighbors over to take a quick snapshot of our family or decide on a nice group photo from a vacation earlier that year.

Here is one of our earlier Christmas photos. This is from 1990.

Here is one of our earlier Christmas photos. This is from 1989.

**Disclaimer: Hopefully by now it has become obvious that I am writing about Christmas photo cards that families send out. However, I also have a major love for classic Christmas greeting cards as well. To hear about my obsession, read this blog post that Sidney wrote.**

We would then take the image to Costco and choose one of the warm holiday themed templates to put it in (of course all three Reser kids always had a different opinion on what template should be selected). The order would then be put in and a couple days later we would pick up our Christmas cards for that year.

This is my all-time favorite Christmas card my family sent out. This was us at the Christmas tree farm in 1995.

Then, over the course of a couple nights, my dad would put his talent for calligraphy to good use and address all the envelopes and sign all the cards. We would watch him carefully write out all the addresses but woe to any of us who accidentally bumped the table while he was using his fancy gold pen.

This is my mom’s all-time favorite Christmas card. We were all wearing our Bloomsday shirts. Bloomsday is a popular road race in Spokane. This is from 1998.

As the years passed, my parents would add a copy of the latest Christmas card to a photo album that showcased all of the cards in chronological order. As technology improved, my mom invested in one of those frames that changes itself, rotating pictures every few seconds. When Christmas time would come around, the frame would be displayed front and center in our living room as the photos from the past would flicker by.

This Christmas card photo was taken when we visited Arizona one October in 1999 to watch the Washington State Cougars play the Arizona State Sun Devils.

What made these cards so special? It was the fact that we could watch ourselves grow over time. It was the fact that we could remember highlights and stages from years past. It was the fact that we could watch the evolution of Christmas cards go from a single print with a basic Christmas graphic to a glossy photo collage with artistic holiday scenes.

This Christmas card is from 2001. Glen is wearing his middle school shirt, I am wearing my high school sweatshirt, and my sister is wearing her college sweatshirt. I really like the colors in this photo.

This year, Sidney and I start our own Christmas card tradition. Over the past weekend we worked on creating our inaugural holiday correspondence. With a wedding in the books and a baby on the way, we weren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. We enjoyed the ease and variety of making our first card and we are pretty happy with how it turned out. For the sake of the card being a surprise for those who receive it, we thought it might be best to not share on this blog post.

If you are sending out Christmas cards this year, perhaps you will add the author of Don’t Blink to your recipient list. I promise he will return the favor. Don’t Blink.

The Special Ornaments on our Tree

Posted on December 4, 2016 by brent

Last week, I mentioned that Sidney and I had to start from the ground up when it came to stockpiling Christmas decorations. We took our first step toward this goal by purchasing a bunch of Christmas tree ornaments from Target.

However, not all of the ornaments that adorn our tree are of the major box store variety. Believe it or not, we have some items that hang on our tree that bring more of a sentimental value with them. Don’t get me wrong, Target ornaments still outnumber more personal ornaments by at least 5:1, but over the years this ratio will start to close.

Today I want to share five of the more unique and personal ornaments on our tree. I hope you enjoy.

5. CCU Ornament – Coastal Carolina University holds a special place in the hearts of both Sidney and I. As my employer and as Sid’s alma mater, our Coastal Carolina ornament is very much valued. Making it extra special is that it once belonged to Sidney’s grandma.

It is a no-brainer that we have included a Coastal Caorlina University ornament on our tree.

4. Toddler Sidney – This ornament just tugs at my heart. It is of Sid as a little girl over 22 years ago in 1994. Such a sweet decoration to put on the tree. My mom asked me if I wanted her to send a similar ornament of me from my early years to hang right by Sidney’s but I told her to hold off for the time being.

I love looking at this ornament that depicts a young Sid.

3. First Tree Stump – Sidney saw this brilliant idea somewhere (probably Pinterest) and wanted to make sure to replicate it for us. When we purchased our tree, we had the guy cut off the bottom of the stump for us. Sidney then wrote on it and converted it into a creative ornament. You know, as a kid I always felt a bit sad when we would throw out our Christmas trees. The bonding, the joy, and the fun we had with the tree seemed to go with it to the dumpster. For the two of us, I am thrilled that we will always have a piece of our first tree together.

This was a brilliant idea by Sid to make this ornament using the stump of our tree.

2. Wedding Ornament – As part of the wedding gift that our sponsor couple gave us, they included this special ornament. It has two figures that look like Sidney and I along with our names and the date of our wedding. After our special day in June, we had been waiting to finally hang this up on our tree.

Our sponsor couple, Tim and Kathy McCormick, gave us this ornament as part of the wedding gift they graciously gave us.

1. We Are Expecting Snow People Family – Sidney and I saw this at our local mall and couldn’t resist but have it customized. The woman snow person with the “snow bump” stole our hearts. We had the bump customized with the name of what we will call our daughter but for the sake of this blog post I am “white washing” it.

Needless to say, this is a very precious ornament and it will be a treasured part of our tree for years and years to come.

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There is a quick look at some of the finer ornaments on our tree. This is a big weekend for purchasing and decorating trees, so if you are on this bandwagon, I hope you picked a good one and have lots of special/pretty ornaments to hang on it. Don’t Blink.

Kicking Off December With a Thursday Rundown

Posted on December 1, 2016 by brent

Happy December to you all! What a fun and magical month this is. It brings me no greater pleasure than to lead off December 2016 with a Thursday Rundown.

Thanksgiving Recap – I apologize for not writing a Thursday Rundown last week…I was a little busy celebrating a certain holiday. I think it is only proper that I post the obligatory Thanksgiving spread photo in this post. If you count, you will see that we had 19 different dishes to enjoy. NINETEEN! The food was incredible and I stuffed myself silly. As usual, great work by the Mathis family.

A look at our large Thanksgiving spread.

Christmas Movies – We have prepared for December by watching way too many Christmas movies in November. Besides a full slate of Hallmark movies I have watched bits and pieces of with Sidney, we also watched a couple of classics over the past couple of nights. On Tuesday, we watched “Rudolph” and then last night we watched “Christmas Vacation.” Before watching the Chevy Chase holiday staple, I asked Sidney if she felt we were going a little overboard. She said no.

A look at the movies we watched over the past two nights along with the tweet I sent out about Sid’s willingness to watch “Christmas Vacation” in November.

First Visit to Sam’s Club – Some might find this hard to believe, but in my three decades of life, I had never visited a Sam’s Club before. This fact isn’t just because I am a Costco fan, rather, the truth is that Sam’s Club locations didn’t exist in the previous places I lived. But this past weekend, I finally went through the doors of the alternative wholesale warehouse giant. My initial impression? It was much more like Costco than I thought. I was hoping for some obvious differences. However, besides the store layout (which was actually in some ways similar to Costco) and the non-crowded aisles, Sam’s didn’t really distinguish itself from “the other guy.”

Price Is Right – On Tuesday night, my mom and sister were audience members at the Price Is Right. But before you ask me if they met Drew Carey, let me tell you something. They attended the non-TV version of the show that travels around the country. As you can imagine, Drew and his models don’t extend themselves past the main Price is Right studio in Hollywood. My mom and sister attended their show at Northern Quest in Spokane. Although they were eligible to be contestants, they were never told to “come on down.” But they had a really good time and looked great in their cliffhangers t-shirts.

My mom and Miranda in their t-shirts before they went off to the Price is Right.

From the Archives – Oh man, I have a couple of great posts I wrote on this date in previous years. Two years ago, I wrote about an extremely unique and special tradition my dad did for us kids growing up. Then, three years ago on December 1, 2013, I wrote about a very uncomfortable situation I found myself in when I picked up a stranger in the middle of nowhere. If you want some of my more recent stuff, just last year on this date I wrote about the hottest Christmas lights trend (one that I am following this year).

My dad had a neat tradition where he would create drawings for us on special occasions. Here is some of his work from my high school years.

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May you all have a blessed month. I am excited for these next several weeks and I hope you are too. Don’t Blink.

Decorating For Our First Christmas

Posted on November 29, 2016 by brent

I have always loved Christmas. Growing up, I jumped at the chance to string lights with my dad, go to the Christmas tree farm with my family, and decorate whatever we cut down later that night. I am a big believer in Christmas Magic and I cherished all those activities.

However, once I left the house I didn’t participate in holiday decorating anymore. What was the point? Stringing lights on whatever apartment I was living in wasn’t necessarily allowed and installing a full sized tree for only myself to enjoy wouldn’t be much fun. Thus, my living quarters for the past several years during the Christmas season looked similar to the Grinch’s cave.

But that has all changed this year! I am a married man and I have a wife who likes Christmas just as much as I do. Long before this past Thanksgiving weekend, we had joyful plans to decorate our house in Yuletide spirit. However, we quickly learned something when the time came to start decorating: We had nothing to decorate with.

Yes. We both really like Christmas.

Not that this was a huge shocker. Many married couples spending their first Christmas together don’t have a stockpile of stuff hanging around. Most couples, Sidney and I included, need to start from scratch.

This past Sunday we did just that. With my mother-in-law driving us around, we went shopping for stuff to make our living room inviting for when Santa visits on Christmas Eve. After a quick stop at Sam’s Club, we went to Sidney’s happy place…TARGET. Once there, we filled a shopping cart up with ornaments. It was kind of fun picking out the colorful balls and figures that will make up our original Christmas ornament set. I silently asked myself: 20 years from now, will we still have a lot of these ornaments decorating our tree? I sure hope so, because they will remind me of this very trip to Target when we were young newlyweds.

After we checked out at Target, we headed to Lowe’s. It was here where we would pick out our first ever tree together. We went inside the gardening area and pretty quickly decided on a cute seven foot tree. While I carried it to be wrapped up, Sidney went inside the actual store and picked out Christmas tree lights. Before we knew it, we were cruising back home.

Me holding onto our tree as Sidney shopped for Christmas tree lights.

We spent the evening decorating our tree while Christmas carols played. It became evident that we actually bought too many ornaments because we ran out of real estate to hang them. But it was actually a good thing because it meant that our tree was completely covered. When we stepped back and admired our first ever tree we were quite pleased.

This will go down as the first ever Reser tree. We are proud of it!

With a gorgeous seasonal ribbon display that Sidney created last week and with some other miscellaneous decorations around the living room (including a couple mini Christmas trees) the inside of our house looked great. But we all know the inside is just half of the deal.

Sidney made this very nice and festive craft.

Sidney and I discussed that we wanted to go with the big trend of last year and utilize laser Christmas lights. After looking around at a couple different brands in different stores, we were ready to buy a couple of our own projectors. But then my next door office mate and assistant director of video production at CCU, David, offered to let us use the laser lights that his family used last year. David’s wife is Robin, a theatre professor at Coastal, who loves making light displays at their home each year. She went with laser lights in 2015 but is doing something different in 2016. She was more than generous to allow David to bring me some of their projectors to the office this morning. Right when I got home this evening, I set them up and our house looks great!

I think our house looks pretty good with the laser lights. Thanks David and Robin!

So when it comes to the inside and outside of our house, the Resers are ready for Christmas. If you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by our warm home. We would love to welcome you with some holiday cheer. Don’t Blink.

Make This For Your 2016 Christmas Party

Posted on November 28, 2016 by brent

It was only a week or so after I wrote about the best ever corporate produced snack mix that something else was thrust in front of me. My wife shared one of those recipe viral videos to my Facebook wall of what I can only describe as the holiday homemade snack mix of all holiday homemade snack mixes. The outrageous Yuletide treat had quite the name: Christmas Reindeer Crack.

Sidney posted on my Facebook wall a video for making a treat called Christmas Reindeer Crack.

However, it was almost as if the colorful name still fell short on doing it justice. Then again, it really is hard to decide upon a worthy name for a snack that uses eight sweet and/or salty snacks. Christmas Reindeer Crack calls for the sweet tooth “crackhead” cook to mix pretzels, peanuts, Fritos, Chex Mix, Bugles, and M&M’s together in a gigantic container. After the items are combined, white chocolate is poured over the contents to bring together the several different snacks into one. It is quite the sight.

Did I see myself making it? With a half of a tub of Rudolph’s Mix still left in our pantry and with all the Thanksgiving dishes and leftovers, my initial thought was no. However, my initial thinking would soon be tweaked…

After I commented underneath the post that Sid shared with something along the lines of “OMG THAT IS INCREDIBLE” she responded with a simple question.

Will you make it for me?

It didn’t take more than a few minutes for one of Sidney’s co-workers to jump in the conversation and reply: “Of course he will! You’re carrying his baby!”

This sealed it! I was making the Reindeer Crack.

There was no possible way to back out now.

On Black Friday, I went to Walmart and bought the ingredients. The only thing I omitted was the Chex Mix. I couldn’t find a mild flavored traditional mix and I wasn’t too excited about how the texture of the snack would fit with everything else. I bought double the amount of white chocolate and double the amount of M&M’s.

These were the ingredients I bought for Christmas Reindeer Crack. I laid them out for a photo on our kitchen table before getting to work.

For those who know me, and for those who regularly follow this blog, I can’t cook myself out of a paper bag. Luckily, the only skill needed of anyone wanting to make this recipe was just the ability to pour items into a container.

To make Reindeer Crack, you just have to be really good at pouring stuff into a container. This was my mix before I started adding the sweet stuff.

You know all those ingredients I had on the table above? I used 95% of them. I think I had a few pretzels and some Bugles left over. Even without the white chocolate added yet, I had a gigantic snack mix concoction that looked very festive.

After I poured in the M&M’s, the Christmas Reindeer Crack looked very festive.

To properly mix the Reindeer Crack and to create a couple different batches, I took the big container and emptied the contents into two smaller containers. I then poured one white chocolate packet on top of the mix in one of the containers and the other white chocolate packet on top of the mix in the other container. I then stirred and mixed with Sid’s kitchen tools. I never realized how well white chocolate bands items together. In no time, the snack looked fit enough for even St. Nick himself to eat.

A look at right when I put on the white chocolate and then after I mixed it.

I cooled the Reindeer Crack in the refrigerator for about an hour. Upon taking it out and trying it, I realized why it has the name it does. The sweet and salty taste truly wins the day. I brought one of the batches over to our Thanksgiving leftover dinner with the Mathis family. The other batch is still at our house where we have been working on it throughout the weekend.

This is me proudly holding one of the batches of Christmas Reindeer Crack I made.

If you want an easy, tasty, and original treat to bring to a holiday party this year, I would recommend Reindeer Crack. Just remember to follow the rule I outlined above and always add extra white chocolate and M&M’s. Don’t Blink.

We Are Having A Baby Girl!

Posted on November 27, 2016 by brent

Recently, Sidney and I found out she would be giving birth to a baby girl in April. We had anticipated the news for a long time as we basically counted down the days until we would know the gender. Our families couldn’t wait to hear the verdict, my co-workers participated in a “gender poll,” and Sidney performed every possible old wives’ tale test determined to predict whether she was carrying a boy or girl.

It was a 10-10 split from the Office of University Communication at Coastal Carolina on whether Sidney and I would have a girl or boy.

Although some people prefer to wait until birth to find out the sex of their baby, we are so glad we found out when we did. We can now shop for our daughter, daydream about raising a little girl, and begin setting up the nursery. However, the best part of finding out the gender of our baby (for us anyway) is this: We can now establish an identity.

Over the past 10 days or so since learning the news, we have grown even more attached to the little person Sidney is carrying. It just isn’t a baby anymore, it is our daughter. We can now use the pronouns of “her” and “she” without hesitation. We can practice the name we have already picked out by greeting her with it every morning and every night. It is now crystal clear what is developing inside Sidney and it feels like we are much more connected to all the excitement than we were before.

Sidney and I are thrilled to be having a baby girl.

Personally, I am elated at having a baby girl. For the past 20 weeks, I never really had an instinct on the gender. Not only did I not have an instinct, I also didn’t have a preference. Now I don’t have to explain these feelings to people anymore because there is no doubt that we are having a baby girl.

Sidney has told me over and over that there is no love like the love a daughter has for her daddy. I am excited for this incredible gift and I can’t wait to do all that I can to foster it.

Everyone is thrilled about the news from Sidney’s family to my family. Upon hearing what we are having, my sister immediately sent us a baby girl outfit. When we Facetimed my parents about the news, it was an exact replication from when we told them that Sidney was pregnant. Yes, my dad was once again wiping away tears. I told my mom that I hope she didn’t mind another granddaughter (my sister has daughters) and she said, “Not at all! I will take 10 of them!”

But of course the person most excited about this all is Sidney. She has already picked out the nursery theme, raided the baby aisle at Target, and went on a Pottery Barn Kids online shopping spree.

And that was just the first night after finding out.

Sid is truly in love with our soon-to-be baby daughter and it is so special to see.

We will soon be blessed with a baby daughter. We can’t wait to start creating our nursery.

The greatest mystery of having a baby is now solved and we are happy/relieved. Already more than halfway through the pregnancy, we are excited to embark on the second half with the knowledge that we have a special baby daughter waiting to see us at the start of April. Don’t Blink.

My Old Thanksgiving Eve Tradition

Posted on November 23, 2016 by brent

Over a year ago, my Mead High School Class of 2005 held its 10-year high school reunion. Because of geography, I did not attend. Although mildly disappointed, I was by no means heartbroken. You see, I had already attended about four or five high school reunions before the official August 2015 one.

One year ago on this date, I wrote about my Thanksgiving traditions. Because I no longer celebrated one certain tradition at the time I wrote it, I did not include it in the blog post. Tonight I will shed a little light on that omitted tradition. For a span of about 4-5 years, I would celebrate Thanksgiving Eve the way a large portion of people in their twenties do…at a watering hole.

Anyone in the bar industry will tell you that Thanksgiving Eve is one of the busiest nights of the year. This is fueled by a few things:
1. The next day is a holiday for many.
2. People need a break from family.
3. It is a joyful time of the year.

However, the driving force behind big Thanksgiving Eve nights is the fact that people come back home to their old stomping grounds. Students and young professionals return to the place they grew up in because most of the time their families are still rooted there.

Ecstatic at returning home and feeling good about the prospect of hanging with old friends, many people will devote some of their time to going out on Thanksgiving Eve. For a few years, this was me.

I would hit up a place in north Spokane called Fizzie Mulligans. A line would be out the door, patrons would be shoulder to shoulder inside, and a loud band would drown out almost all conversation. However, I still made it a priority to show up on more than one Turkey Day Eves.

My brother and I on Thanksgiving Eve 2010 inside Fizzie Mulligans.

As someone who hates the above conditions, why would I do this? Well it was to see people of course! It wasn’t like I went there alone. I would go with a group of my close friends from high school or my brother or sister (on one occasion all three of us went together). From there we would join the masses and run into everyone from old classmates to old teammates to even old teachers. With a carefree attitude brought on by the holiday season and a drink or two, it was actually always a great time.

Now I know there is a high percentage of people out there who become repulsed at the thought of seeing people from high school and/or their childhood. Obviously, these folks stay home on Thanksgiving Eve. But I wasn’t like that. I had an interest in how my friends and acquaintances from Mead were doing. The night always brought with it a little bit of excitement.

Since I no longer take part in the Thanksgiving Eve tradition, do I miss it? Not really. First off, I am too old for it. Second, with social media as dominating as it is in society these days, I pretty much already know what everyone is doing. So even if 3,000 miles didn’t separate me from my hometown, I still wouldn’t venture out on Thanksgiving Eve. However, I understand the youngsters who do. To all who go out tonight, have fun and be safe. Don’t Blink.

Happy 40th, Rocky Balboa

Posted on November 22, 2016 by brent

Yesterday, ESPN made a big deal out of celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Rocky.” The four decade old original movie chronicling Rocky Balboa would lead to five sequels and a spinoff movie called “Creed.”

Although not at the same level as “Forrest Gump” for me, if I could lump the entire “Rocky” series together as one title, it would easily make my top ten favorite movies list.

I am a big “Rocky” fan.

My brother and I became introduced to the movies by watching bits and pieces of Rocky marathons on TV. That led us to renting the VHS cassettes and watching them over and over. The underdog plot that each movie took on combined with our intrigue for boxing and our fandom of Slyvester Stallone made us super fans of the franchise.

Although I am a Rocky fan, Glen is a bigger Rocky fan.

Try to picture this image if you can: inspired by the boxing scenes and the powerful soundtrack that accompanied the movies, my brother and I would step into the ring ourselves; the “ring” being my parents’ basement of course. Blaring “Eye of the Tiger,” we would bare knuckle box (face shots were not allowed). My mom and dad were not impressed.

Anyway, I think I might have hit my brother a little too hard during those crude “boxing” bouts because as I grew up my passion for “Rocky” decreased while Glen’s obsession increased. He still quotes the movies in everyday conversation, he binge watches the series on random weekends multiple times a year, and he even dressed up as Rocky Balboa for Halloween last year. As you can probably imagine, he still has Rocky posters up in his room.

Glen went a few rounds with Rocky in New York.

As is the case with many other “Rocky” fans, my favorite film in the series is “Rocky IV.” What makes that film stand out so much? For me, it is the fact that Slyvester Stallone is in the best shape of his life, major worldly themes are taken into account, the training scenes are incredible, the music pumps you up, and Ivan Drago is by far the best Rocky Balboa villain/opponent of the series. The film has turned into somewhat of a cult classic. Although I won’t put the DVD in and watch it from start to finish at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night like my brother, I still will sit and watch through a few different commercial breaks if it is on TV.

Even Sidney doesn’t mind getting in the ring with Rocky.

With the big milestone yesterday, I felt like I needed to recognize “Rocky.” If you are yet to see any of the films, you probably should at least watch the first one. I think we can all agree that it is an American classic. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Author Archives: brent