The Underwhelming Winter Olympics (so far)

Posted on February 12, 2014 by brent

I hate sounding negative so please excuse my whining but after the first several days of the Sochi Winter Olympics I am not impressed. By no means though am I blaming my lack of inspiration on the host city, the athletes, the stray dogs, or NBC. Rather I take full responsibility for not doing everything I personally can to make the 2014 Winter Olympics more enjoyable for myself. In the same way that millions of people love “The Walking Dead” and I am indifferent to it, the same can be said for these games.

Although I enjoyed the opening ceremony my attention has since waned. Probably going against me the most is that I am not a winter sports enthusiast. But even with my ho-hum attitude about sports played in the snow and ice in the past I have still enjoyed the competition and pageantry of the games. This year that spark has disappeared for me.

I think I have become so spoiled with the Summer Olympics and the coverage of other sports broadcasts in general that I am a little underwhelmed and bored with the games going on right now. When I get home from work it seems like the only competition coverage I am finding on the Winter Olympics is the primetime package on NBC. This is cool and all but I would prefer to have the option to view the more obscure events on other networks within the NBC family. I just like the choice to watch events more in their entirety rather than watching the flagship station jump in and out of the most popular events.

I also have a tough time connecting with the athletes. To put it truthfully, many of the Olympic athletes lack the powerful and adversity-filled backgrounds and stories that athletes from the Summer Olympics hold. Events in the winter games are more specialized and equipment dependent. Because of this many of the athletes come from more established backgrounds. This privilege, along with geography (it doesn’t snow everywhere), also reduces dramatically the amount of countries participating. I never have a sense that the “whole world” is competing at the Winter Olympics. Speaking of equipment, the helmets, pads, and full body suits cover up many of the athletes. You can’t see faces, body physique, and in some cases, emotion. These things (when visible) are big reasons why I enjoy watching sports.

How can an Olympics go on without Bob Costas? Tonight will mark the second straight night without Bob behind the desk as he faces a nasty eye infection. Rotten luck for sure but not hearing him give his powerful intro, not watching him interact with the athletes in the studio, and not smirking at his dry sense of humor takes a lot away from my enjoyment of the games. Trust me on this one, I like the guy so much that I wrote a blog post about him.

Maybe lacking the most is just the buzz. I don’t feel that people are that engaged in the games, even in the social media era that we live in. I haven’t heard anyone really talk about the games at work. I haven’t received any texts yet from people asking me if I am watching. My Twitter feed is by no means blowing up with #WinterOlympics hash tags. Maybe I am living under a rock and I just don’t know it but the magic of the Olympics is not there.

I haven’t given up all hope yet. The games are still young and a lot can still happen. I will continue to tune into the primetime coverage and give it a chance until boredom overtakes me. The Olympics are just too important for me to write off so I am not jumping ship. But can someone please give Bob Costas a miracle drug so he can get back to that anchor desk? Don’t Blink.

Losing My Keys

Posted on February 11, 2014 by brent

Today I learned the stress of something that I have always considered a minor and silly problem that older forgetful people find themselves in. After going through it myself I now know how unsettling the dilemma can be and that younger people are not immune to experiencing it.

As I got up from my desk at noon to go to the gym I patted down my pockets and realized my keys weren’t there. Calmly I looked down at my desk and started shuffling papers. No luck. I went out into our little open space to see if I somehow dropped them on a table or ledge when I went out to greet people. After not finding them I went to the most likely spot I thought I could have left them, our storage closet. More than once I have left my keys in our good-sized marketing storage room. You need a key to get in so I usually take my key chain out, open the door, and then set my keys down on a shelf inside the room while I search for what I am looking for. With the door to the room still open I went in and looked…nothing.

Losing your keys is not a fun experience.

At this time the first wave of uneasiness swept through me. The times I had misplaced my keys before I found them in five minutes. This go-around I had checked the usual places and came up empty. As I had a busy morning I started to think about all the places around the Adams Center I had covered. The upstairs offices, the Hall of Champions, the basketball court, the ticket office lobby, the Sky Club, and even the restroom were all places I had ventured to during the morning. I started the process of retracing my steps.

As I started to go back to these places without success I thought about the ramifications of losing my keys. I first thought about my University key. It gets me into my office, lets me into Washington-Grizzly Stadium, opens up the Dahlberg Arena gates, provides me access to many smaller and important rooms around the athletic department, and unlocks our smaller gym doors. Not only would it pain me personally to go without that access until I got a replacement but it would also pose a huge burden to our facilities staff as most likely those areas would be re-keyed.

I then thought about my apartment. How would I sleep tonight? I don’t get home from work until at least after 5 p.m., well after the property management had left for the day. I would have no way of entering my warm home, fixing dinner, blogging, and going to bed.

But not getting into my apartment was a moot point to begin with because I had no way of actually getting there…my car key and car door opener were both gone now. I knew I had a spare car key in my apartment but without having access to my apartment, well, you know how that goes. Very quickly the numerous negative impacts of losing my keys started to pile up. I didn’t even mention the complexities of also losing my storage unit key, mailbox key, and my lucky Las Vegas key chain.

After about thirty minutes of fruitless searching I made the move to retrace my steps from when I got out of my car, shuffled across the parking lot, and walked into the building. Trekking through the snow, peering into my car to see if I left my keys inside, and moving my head around like it was on a swivel I once again came up empty handed. I was now a little stressed. Our sports information director who could see it in me as I continuously came in and out of our offices looking around asked what I was doing. I told him my problem and he just said they would turn up. At this point I pretty much just took stock in what he said and I left to go to the place I originally intended to got before my unfortunate realization set in regarding my keys.

As I wrote about before, the gym is my refuge. When I am there I think. And think a lot. My mind is cleared and my brain activity is at its highest level. While I was on my wild goose chase I kept telling myself “Just go to the gym and you will be okay…it will come to you then.” But because of my stubbornness I decided to spend almost an hour of negative energy getting nowhere.

At the exact midpoint of my Tuesday workout a giant light turned on inside my head and an even bigger smile came across my face. Without even putting too much pressure on myself to figure out my problem during my gym session I had suddenly realized the solution to my agonizing mystery. I felt light as a feather for the remainder of my workout.

After changing I hustled back to work and went directly to our archive room where we keep all our records, programs, photos, slides, etc from the 100+ year history of Grizzly Athletics. There in the back of the room on the shelf storing our football media guides laid my keys. Forgetting that I helped someone with a project regarding the coaching staffs from the 2008 and 2009 football teams I totally neglected to look there this morning. I grasped my keys in my hand and went back to my desk feeling victorious.

I now have a very familiar idea on the helplessness that accompanies not knowing where your keys are. The contents of a key chain literally open so many doors that to no longer have that access is a crushing feeling. Now one of my readers please tell me, there are key trackers that people can purchase, right? Don’t Blink.

My iPhone 5 Issues

Posted on February 10, 2014 by brent

I love my iPhone to death. Behind my journals I can confidently say that if my apartment caught on fire my phone would be the second thing I would go in and retrieve. Because I prize my little piece of communication technology so much I do get a little distressed when it doesn’t give me optimal performance. Because I have owned my iPhone 5 for well over a year now I am currently experiencing a few technical difficulties with it.

Now I am the type of person who immediately turns to Google when I encounter a problem and simply type in my issue. More often than not the solution is formatted out in a neatly numbered list and I just follow the instructions and go on my way. However, these issues that I am currently experiencing don’t have clear cut Google answers directly relevant to my phone issues. My goal tonight is to address them on here and hopefully get some feedback from my dedicated readers. Those who can offer me some helpful advice will surely get a mention in an upcoming post.

Even when my iPhone acts up I still love it.

I Need a Charge! – During Christmas my phone wouldn’t charge. I would plug in my charger to my phone and that faithful lightning symbol right next to the battery icon would fail to appear. I ran through my parents’ house trying every single outlet throughout their three stories. I flip flopped the piece of the charger that goes into the phone. I flip flopped the piece that plugs into the outlet. Nothing worked. I finally went out and just purchased a new charger. When that didn’t work either I thought the Spokane electricity just didn’t like my Missoula phone.

For whatever reason after my phone had been dead for about fifteen minutes it came back to life and started charging again. Over the next couple days my phone would sometimes charge and sometimes it wouldn’t charge. The inconsistency drove me nuts. When I returned to Missoula my phone seemed to charge each time I plugged it in. Then in about the middle of January I started to experience the same problem again. Over the course of a few days it would go back and forth between charging and not charging. It snapped out of that phase and started charging normally again until this past weekend. Once again I am dealing with either an iPhone or a charger (or both) that prefers to take time off and leave me without access to texting, Tweeting, e-mailing, etc. Does anyone know what the problem is?

Quick, Take an Important Picture! Dang It, Can’t – Working the job that I do I need to be ready to take photos and videos at the blink of an eye. However these days I am having a tougher time doing so. More often than not when I open up the camera feature on my phone I am greeted with a prompt that reads “There is not enough available storage to take a photo. You can manage your storage in Settings.” To make matters worse when this annoying message comes up I can’t delete photos and videos right on the spot from my camera but rather I have to exit it and delete from the photos icon. This takes a lot of time.

What makes me mad is that I can delete fifteen photos right away and go back to my camera and get the exact same prompt. How does that happen? Two pictures ago I was fine. The storage prompt then flashed so I seemingly overcompensated by deleting a large amount of photos but I still get shut out. Sure I have 1,900 photos on my camera role but not too long ago I had over 2,000. I have done a lot of work to cut back but I am still consistently getting the message. I have minimal music, only a couple videos, and just two pages of apps. What else can I do to free up space?

This message drives me CRAZY!!

My Phone Indicates I Have Text Messages..Only I Really Don’t: I subscribe to SMS texts for about 10-15 Twitter accounts. While trying to solve my above problem of limited space I went through my iPhone deleting text message conversations. It seemed logical to delete my Twitter text conversation just because with the numerous accounts feeding into it, it fills up very quickly. Although I had two new tweets that were just delivered to my phone I neglected to check them and I swiped away and deleted the conversation.

But now the two unread tweets haunt me forever as they are reflected on my text message icon. When I have no new text messages I still have a white number two inside a red bubble attached to the icon. If I have one legitimately new text message I have a white number three inside a red bubble. If I wake up in the morning and I see that my notification says I have eight new texts I know I really only have six. It gets annoying. People will see my phone and ask why I don’t check my texts and I will have to tell them my situation. I have turned my phone on and off, I have looked up help topics, and I have swiped out of my text message screen. I still have that annoying number two on my phone. I am at a loss.

My phone always has at least a “2” in the text message notification spot.

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Even if I get some guidance or a good lead on one of these issues tonight I will be happy. Can any of you nerds (or people who are just smarter than me) help me out? I would appreciate it. Hope your week is off to a great start. Don’t Blink.

Praying For Peace in Sochi

Posted on February 5, 2014 by brent

Although I would watch the least significant sport in the Summer Olympics over the most significant sport in the Winter Olympics it doesn’t mean that I won’t watch the Sochi games. Although I have many reasons for liking the summer games over the winter games, what will occur in two days is still a world event that will match athletes across the planet against each other for the chance at Olympic gold. Just because I don’t care for cold, snow, and ice doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what I like more than anything else…high level competition.

Because I deeply value this special level of competition that only the Olympics can provide please excuse me if I say that I am a little concerned about the Sochi games. For the past six months all I have read about are problems that are plaguing the 2014 Winter Olympics. Issues such as corruption, unready facilities, unsafe courses, inequality for some athletes, lack of planning, and stray dogs running all over the place keep getting a lot of play in the media. These obstacles are serious and could tarnish the games. However, if dealt with head on during the next two and a half weeks I believe Sochi can manage to keep them out of the public eye and make a respectable lasting impression. While it will take a lot of work I think Russia can do it.

What scares me the most is terrorism. With many experts forecasting doubt on the safety and current political climate of Sochi, I have my concerns. And not that the average person living in the U.S. has a superior grasp on foreign security measures but for what it is worth a CNN poll recently came out that shows 57% of Americans think a terror attack is likely at this year’s games. I hate to say it and I never like to overreact but I do have an uneasy feeling in my stomach about whether the games will go on peacefully from the time the cauldron is lit to when it is ultimately extinguished.

Although it happened over 14 years before I was born I have that eerie image engrained in my head of that one masked assailant at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich looking down from the balcony as he helped his terrorist group hold the Israeli athletes hostage. Even after September 11 I still associate that image as the face of terrorism. I still get chills just thinking about. To think of something like that repeating itself in 2014 scares me.

Of course foreign Olympic host countries aren’t the only ones vulnerable to an attack. The bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta is a tragic event that I remember very well even though I was only ten. These horrific events can happen anywhere at any time and I think that is what worries me most about Sochi…whereas no one thought an attack would occur in Atlanta many people think an attack will occur in Sochi. See where I am going? If a terrorist plot succeeded in an Olympic city that people thought was untouchable than surely a terrorist plot can succeed in an Olympic city that already has grave concerns about safety.

May the 2014 Winter Olympics be safe and joyous. While analysts and former security big shots around the world can point fingers at Sochi right now, we all really have no idea what type of sophisticated measures and tactics are being planned behind closed doors. Pray for peace! Don’t Blink.

My Disdain for the Current Jeopardy Champion

Posted on February 4, 2014 by brent

Growing up in my family whenever we all happened to be in the house when it came on we all liked to watch “Jeopardy” together. Actually, I should rephrase that. We all liked to compete against each other. When it came to us kids more than once fights broke out about who answered the clue first, who had answered the most clues correctly, and what penalty should be levied for blurting out wrong answers. We went as far as to participate in Final Jeopardy by writing our answers on computer paper and to reveal them as the actual contestants did. Shoot, our parents even bought us a Jeopardy computer game one Christmas. After a couple months it was pretty much useless because we had played it so much that we had all memorized every single answer in the game.

When I went home for Christmas this past December my brother, dad, and I got to reignite our game show rivalry by watching a couple episodes of Jeopardy. With my brother and I now more caught up to my dad’s knowledge it became a contest of out of the three of us who could read the clue at warp speed and spit out the answer before Alex Trebeck could even get out the first couple words. It got intense.

I bring all of this up to illustrate that I am a Jeopardy fan. I mean come on, if you take the time to read Ken Jenning’s book it pretty much goes without saying, right? Well anyway I want to use my Jeopardy loyalty status to serve as my right to weigh in on the newest Jeopardy champion. His name is Arthur Chu and to put it nicely, he is kind of a tool.

Chu is currently a four day champion with over $100k in winnings. After a special “Battle of the Decades” tournament that started this week he will return on February 24 in an attempt to win his fifth straight game and qualify for the champions tournament. As he has dominated the competition over the course of four nights he has gained haters mostly because of his unorthodox play and arrogance.

Chu’s strategy centers on him jumping all over the board selecting random categories and dollar amounts. This gives him a better chance to find the crucial daily doubles while also preventing his opponents from getting into any sort of a rhythm. Chu’s arrogance hinges on him showing apathy on the set and cockiness off it. In the interviews he has given over the past few days he seems about as likeable as Jim Harbaugh.

I don’t like the guy’s style of play for the exact same reason his opponents, Alex Trebek, the producers, and Jeopardy purists don’t like it: unpredictability. His opponents have no idea what clue is coming next, Alex has to search frantically for the note card he must pull, the producers know more editing will need to be done, and Jeopardy purists have a heart attack when the $200 clue in “American Potpourri” is not followed by the $400 clue in “American Potpourri”. Personally it messes with my Jeopardy Mojo when I am playing along as well. I feel smarter when I can answer three or four consecutive clues from a category that I know rather than get iced while Chu takes a tour around the board. I also just hate the sight of a Jeopardy board that has blank clues in the most random spots rather than orderly blanked out columns.

But make no mistake about It, the guy has a sound strategy and it has won him $102,000. I don’t blame him one bit for utilizing a smart and legitimate game plan to win a lot of money. Well done.

But what I can’t tolerate is the less than respectful way he conducts himself on stage. I don’t have as much of an issue with his comments he makes to the media outside of the studio as I do with what he does on set. You can win a lot of money and stand leaps and bounds above the competition while doing so with class. Ken Jennings did it for 74 nights. Arthur Chu couldn’t even do it through the first segment of the first show he appeared on. He acts disinterested and aloof. He has little concern for his opponents. But what I can’t stand the most is his disrespect for the God of game shows, Mr. Alex Trebek. While Chu calls Alex a “national treasure” you would never know it by watching him during the episodes. Besides speaking over Trebek when giving answers he also had a very bush league moment during a daily double clue that he didn’t know. When Trebek asked Chu how much he wanted to wager on a daily double based on a sports category the four time champ responded with $5. Jeopardy purist or not, that is a very disrespectful bet and should anger even the casual Jeopardy viewer. Then, to make matters worse, Chu responded “I don’t know” before Alex could even finish reading the clue. Pure classlessness.

While I don’t like Arthur Chu’s playing style I respect it. However, no one on this planet has the right to disrespect Alex Trebek. On February 24 I hope Chu loses. In fact I hope he suffers a humiliating defeat. For all I care he can end Double Jeopardy with an incorrect answer that will leave him with a negative amount thus disqualifying him from even participating in Final Jeopardy. No one crosses Trebek. Don’t Blink.

Thursday Night Run Down

Posted on January 30, 2014 by brent

Time of the week to once again cover a few random topics. You ready? LEGGGGOOOO…

Rock Concert at Gym: These days on social media a big topic people like to parody are gym stereotypes (never mind that I wrote about it over two years ago). One of the stereotypes that you always hear about is the “singing guy”. This individual decides to sing along with whatever is on his iPod. Sometimes he belts the whole song out, sometimes he goes in and out with the chorus, or sometimes he will just randomly yell one or two phrases from the song. Today I witnessed a spin-off of the singing guy.

During my noon workout a dude with a tattered cut up black shirt and ball cap walked into the gym with a big ol’ set of headphones on. Although it wasn’t his wardrobe that made him standout. Rather his exaggerated motions of playing the air guitar and pounding on the imaginary drums caused enough people in the crowded area to step out of his way that others couldn’t help but look. He must have had angry, powerful music playing or just been on drugs (or both) because this guy looked like he was playing the concert of his life. Guitar one second, drums the next…over and over. I hit the track to run and when I came back to the weight area of the facility he was still pacing back and forth rocking out. I usually never smile at the gym but today I did.

Welcome Back Winter Weather: By all accounts we have had a relatively mild winter in Montana. Yesterday, however, the cold and snow came back. Today the cold, snow, AND wind came back. It was an absolutely brutal day to venture outdoors. Just my walk from my car to my office gave me about all I could handle. Never underestimate the life-sucking power of the Montana Hellgate winds. Of course I had to return a rental so that added another unpleasant 20 foot walk in the elements for me. I didn’t particularly enjoy my drive home this evening either. Blowing snow, slick roads, and low visibility made for an adventure.

Hey Winter, I talked to like six people today and they all said that you didn’t need to come back to Montana this season. We would all love it very much if you left for good now. We didn’t mind sunny skies and 35 degree temperatures.

Montana Basketball Update: One of the reasons why I am doing a quick post tonight is because our men’s basketball team is just about to tip off against Southern Utah in Cedar City. You can view my updates by following the official Twitter account of Griz basketball, @UMGRIZZLIES_BB. The men’s team needs this win tonight to climb up the conference standings a bit and to gain some momentum for Monday night’s Griz-Cat game in Bozeman.

The Lady Griz host Southern Utah on Saturday evening as they attempt to build on a successful season so far. They will then play Montana State in Dahlberg Arena on Monday evening. Yes, it is a very unfortunate arrangement. This year the Griz-Cat basketball games aren’t held at the same site on the same day as the result of an unbalanced travel partner schedule. Thus on Monday evening the men’s basketball team will square off against Montana State in Bozeman at the exact same time that the Lady Griz will tip off against MSU in Dahlberg Arena. With Idaho entering the league next year this problem will be resolved.

Fighting For a Parking Spot: School is back in session at the University of Montana and that means the parking lots are filled to capacity by 9 a.m. each day. I do get the luxury of picking my spot in the morning but if I happen to leave work for any reason during the day I have to fight and strategize to get a spot when I return. In order to secure a space in a timely manner I make sure to practice a few tricks.

First off I never stalk someone the second I see them possibly walking to their car but I do keep an eye out and set myself up for an easy route if they are in fact leaving. The second I see them click their door opener and I see the lights on the car blink I slam on the accelerator, turn on my blinker, and wait the person out. If I am competing against other cars for potential spots I am getting as far away as possible from them and covering as many rows as possible to find a vacant spot. It does no good to scour a row that a competing car just went down and it does no good to go at the same pace as a competing car either. Efficiency and speed! If a spot opens up and I get to it the second that another car does I always defer the space to the other person if the driver is a female. If the driver is my gender I will try to force the car that is leaving to back out in the direction of the opposing car so I can slip in before the driver shifts into drive (I am actually lying, I always try to allow the other person to take the spot).

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Have a great night everyone! Drive safe in the winter weather and finish out the work week strong tomorrow. Don’t Blink.

The Time I Met My True Double

Posted on January 29, 2014 by brent

Last night I had fun writing about the similarity in physical appearance that some people feel Russell Wilson and I share. I know very well that the similarities only go so far and that if he and I stood next to each other it probably would be night and day. However, a decade ago I stood next to my true double after we both found ourselves in the same small town in Washington.

The year was 2004 and I was a junior at Mead High School. During the spring I competed in track and field. Each year we would travel to Richland, Washington, to compete in a season opening meet that drew schools from all over the eastern part of the state. If not for the experience I had during this particular year I would always remember that meet for its annual horrendous weather and consistent knack of always falling behind schedule.

Me during my track career.

Because the meet lasted all day and because our coaches would never think about sending athletes home before the very last kid finished competing at 8 p.m., we had a lot of downtime. Most years my competition schedule ended by 1 p.m. At this particular venue the track and all the pits were located inside the football stadium. There was a lot of space for teams to separate and isolate themselves from the competition.

My school would usually set up shop on a grassy hill in the corner of the stadium, away from the bleachers. On this day I sat with a few of my teammates on the hill when a couple of our distance runners came by on their cool down to alert me that they had thought they entered the Twilight Zone by seeing myself dressed in the warm ups of a different high school. When they saw me in my Mead uniform with my Mead teammates and when they looked across the stadium to where this impostor still stood they concluded that they had discovered my long lost twin.

By their pure hysteria I knew I had to go investigate. With the teammates who were sitting next to me along for the ride we started to navigate through the meet and to the other side of the stadium. As we made our way across a couple more people associated with my high school alerted me of the eerie similarity. As my supposed look-alike came into view my teammates started to freak out. They couldn’t believe how similar we looked. To be honest, I didn’t really see that much of a striking resemblance but everyone else did. As we got closer we didn’t have the guts to just go right up to him so we camped out inside the track by the discus area. Surrounded by three or four girls, the guy stood behind the track, about midway up another hill.

As we kept sneaking glances back at the guy while my teammates laughed something became obvious. We weren’t the only ones creeping. He and his female posse had definitely noticed me as well and they were taking turns looking in our direction. Finally our eyes met and on cue we started walking in their direction and they started walking in our direction until we met just right off the track. We shook hands, not really even mentioning why we were doing so. Up close some of our distinguishing features came a little more pronounced. For starters, I think he was of Hispanic descent. He also had brown eyes compared to my hazel eyes. But our same mop of curly hair with identical body build and similar mannerisms proved too perfect for our teammates and friends to ignore.

By this time a small crowd had gathered around us, including a person with a camera. For whatever reason the yearbook class sent a student on the three hour bus ride to cover the most boring meet of the season. I imagine the most entertainment he got all day was the opportunity to take that picture of the double and I. Even though our yearbook seemed like it was over a 1,000 pages, that shot never made the final cut. I never saw a copy of the photo either.

Too bad that I don’t have that photo at my disposal. Talk about a great piece to share on social media ten years later! The cliché goes that everyone has a double. Even though I don’t have a keepsake of that unique moment I feel fortunate that I got to meet mine! Don’t Blink.

My Look-Alike: Russell Wilson

Posted on January 28, 2014 by brent

You don’t understand. Rarely does someone tell me that I look like a celebrity. The couple times it has happened the comparisons have been, how shall I put it, less than flattering. Howard from “The Big Bang Theory” and Dory from “Finding Nemo” are the person and fish that I supposedly look like. So, after over a quarter century of life without ever hearing someone tell me that I look like a desirable famous person that all changed on Sunday night.

I don’t like being compared to these two.

If Russell Wilson ever needs a double to walk through the streets of San Francisco for him, I am his man! Yep, you heard it right. Apparently I strike an uncanny resemblance to the NFC Champion quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. Forget that the Seahawks are my favorite professional team and that I am a huge fan of Wilson myself, I am just beyond pleased that someone would say that I look like an athletic, good looking guy.

I would like to introduce you to my double, Russell Wilson.

Let me fill you in on the backstory real fast. On Sunday night I was engaged in a Twitter conversation. One of the participants in this conversation was Mike Nugent (@MikeMNugent), a respected realtor in Missoula. While talking about Super Bowl preferences he noted my resemblance to Russell Wilson. Taken aback I asked him to confirm it and sure enough he did!

It was confirmed that I look like Russell Wilson.

This excited me a great deal! In fact, it led me to hastily put together a collage comparing myself with Wilson. I then tweeted it out asking if anyone else could verify Mike’s belief.

I sent this out to my Twitter followers.

I tagged my harshest critic, my brother, just so I get his sarcastic and mean tweets in response to my new discovery. Of course he delivered by entirely shooting down Mike’s thought and insulting me along the way. However, all of Glen’s barbs at me couldn’t match what my dad responded with when my brother asked him about the resemblance:

Classic response from my dad.

Just because my own family doesn’t buy into the Russell Wilson/Brent Reser comparison doesn’t mean it lacks validity. I have known Mike for about eight years now dating back to when we both worked for Residence Life. He has seen me in person numerous times and even though he wears glasses he is not blind. In fact the other person involved in the original Twitter conversation, Jordan Treece (@JTreece13), also agreed with the resemblance. Sounds like we are onto something here!

Jordan confirmed everything.

That night I did spend a little time in front of the mirror analyzing my physical traits. Acting impartial here, I actually saw some similarities! Our eye features are similar and our hair both turns the same type of curly when it starts to grow out. Although I am naturally not as dark as Wilson, give me an hour out in the sun during the summer and we have the same complexion. Standing at just 5’11 he is only two inches taller than me and weighs about twenty-five pounds more. I am sure we bench the same and he might run the forty just a tad faster than me.

You have to be convinced that we are pretty much twins by now, right?

No, I would not say the comparison of looks between Russell Wilson and myself is a big stretch. I appreciate that Mike identified my doppelganger for me. What do my readers say? Think I would pass the look test if I suited up in a #3 jersey on Sunday? If anyone wants to pay a modest sum to have a Russell Wilson look-alike come liven up your Super Bowl party on Sunday let me know…I am still working on the impression. Don’t Blink.

My Personal and Business Guidelines for Liking/Favoriting on Social Media

Posted on January 27, 2014 by brent

Yesterday I described my policy for “liking” photos on Instagram. Basically I explained that I only like photos where I can tell that a degree of effort was put forth in producing the posted image. When it comes to Facebook statuses/comments and Tweets I am a little more lenient. Let me explain.

When it comes to Facebook statuses I make it a habit to like the big news conveyers. You know, when people announce via a Facebook status that they got a job, got engaged, graduated, had a baby, etcetera. It is important to celebrate other people’s success and sometimes liking the status announcing it is the only way to do so. I also like funny, creative, and informative statuses as well. I am pretty much down to like anything as long as it is not a rant, a ploy to get sympathy/pity, or a “20 things you didn’t know about me” disaster.

I am even more liberal on comments, especially if someone leaves one underneath one of my statuses. I appreciate engagement on the content I post and if someone takes the time to leave a comment I will make sure 98% of the time to like it. The 2% exception comes from a friend of mine who has a knack for responding with “no one cares,” “loser,” or “get a life,” each time I post a link to my blog. But for the most part, even if someone is disagreeing with me, I will like the comment as a token of appreciation for taking the time to respond.

With my post yesterday I explained that while on Instagram I won’t go blindly through my feed liking photos. However, I almost find myself doing the exact opposite when it comes to Twitter. I don’t have a problem favoriting tweets. I think the discrepancy between liking/favoriting on the two services for me is that people are just more refined with Twitter at this point. Because Twitter has graced our lives for much longer than Instagram I think we do a much better job composing quality tweets as opposed to quality Instagram photos. Similarly with me liking comments on my Facebook posts I will almost always favorite tweets that are directed my way. Again, it is just my small way of saying thank you.

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My feel good approach to liking and favoriting comments and tweets on a personal level does not extend to how I administer them while running social media accounts on a business level though. Rather, when it comes to Facebook and Twitter for Grizzly Athletics I use tough standards similar to what I impose for my personal Instagram use when recognizing responses.

I always respond to questions and inquiries with Griz Social Media. However, when it comes to Facebook comments and tweets I am only liking/favoriting the cream of the crop. You see, we get so many fans who contribute to our social media outlets in varying degrees of quality that I feel it is our responsibility to reward those who go above and beyond while encouraging the others to reach that same level.

When a fan pours a lot of effort into crafting a thorough, supportive, and rich response to a Facebook question or feature he/she will receive a like from the Montana Grizzlies. Although we very much appreciate the standard “Go Griz” response the user who quickly types that out will not get a like. Many organizations and brands believe that every comment or tweet deserves a like or favorite because it gives the user “a special connection to his/her favorite team” but I don’t subscribe to that thinking and this is why:

Don’t you find great validation when your boss tells you great job on a project that you worked your butt off to complete and that you exerted a lot of effort into? Okay, what if your boss took time to tell you great job on a project that you hastily completed and that you knew very well didn’t reflect your best work? On ensuing upcoming projects that might encourage you to continue to put forth mediocre efforts. I don’t want to get into that pattern with fans. I want Griz Nation to strive for that coveted like or favorite each time they comment on Facebook or tweet at us knowing that only the very best will get recognized.

A great social media program is composed not just of great content provided by the brand but by great content provided by the customers/fans as well. While doing my best to enrich the content that Grizzly Athletics puts out on a social media level I also want to continue to push our fans to do the same. When quality keeps rising on both ends, the program keeps getting better and better.

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So if you missed it, let me recap everything:
Level of Difficulty Getting Me to Like Your Instagram Photo: Hard
Level of Difficulty Getting Me to Like Your Facebook Status: Medium
Level of Difficulty Getting Me to Like Your Facebook Comment: Easy
Level of Difficulty Getting Me to Favorite Your Tweet: Easy
Level of Difficulty Getting Montana Grizzlies to Like Your Facebook Comment: Intermediate
Level of Difficulty Getting Montana Grizzlies to Favorite Your Tweet: Intermediate
Level of Difficulty Admitting to Others That You Read My Blog: Hard

Don’t Blink.

My Personal Policy for “Liking” Instagram Photos

Posted on January 26, 2014 by brent

Not long ago I wrote a post about my quest for Instagram likes and my fascination with people about five years my junior and younger that can pull in triple digit likes with as much as a grainy selfie. While I highlighted my desire to receive big time likes for myself at that time, I hold no animosity towards the people who scroll past my food pictures and arena images without pressing that “like” button. Quite the opposite, I actually applaud you.

I am a big believer in sparingly distributing “likes”. You see, when I go through my Instagram or Facebook feeds my thumb is not going up and down clicking away. I don’t give out likes in the way that I give out candy. Rather I reward them based on the best content that I see. That means I am not liking someone’s Snap Chat screen captured photo they post to Facebook. Or I am not liking an Instagram photo that someone took of another photo that carries with it an awful glare. Or I am not liking a photo of someone’s dog that was taken while the animal was jumping up and down resulting in a blurry mess. I refuse to pad someone’s “like count” when they are producing garbage.

Someone will get my seal of approval with a quality, creative, or appealing image. By my best estimation, I probably like one photo for every four that I see. What separates the fourth of pictures I like from the other 75% that I just pass by? Effort. As I explained at the beginning of this paragraph I need to see an attempt at a meaningful photo. You and I both know the distinction between a good photo and a bad image. If someone I follow took a quality photo of his young kid in an intimate moment I am going to like it. If someone rearranged her desk items in a creative pattern and applied a sweet filter I am going to like it. If a girl I follow who I find attractive posts an appealing image of herself I am going to like it.

I don’t do “likes for likes”. I don’t give in to people who solicit them (unless they ask me personally, then I will). I don’t have people I follow who will receive a like from me no matter what they post. Plain and simple I distribute likes to images that deserve them. When I like a photo, it is a compliment to the person who took it.

SIDE NOTE: There is one time I will like my own Instagram photo. If I post an image and it has garnered 9 likes I will go ahead and like it myself so it will display “10 likes” under the image as opposed to a long slew of nine usernames. True stuff.

I do change my philosophy up a little bit when it comes to liking Facebook comments and favoriting Tweets. But that is a blog post for tomorrow! I hold my standards high for social media photography and I think that is a good thing. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Author Archives: brent