Worthless Sports Statistics

Posted on October 14, 2013 by brent

As a kid I loved sports statistics. On my third grade YMCA basketball team I would literally get home after a game and chart how many points each person scored and add them up on a piece of computer paper throughout the season. Now granted our team only scored around twenty points per game so I didn’t have to have an out of this world memory to remember everyone’s point totals but what I am trying to say is that I loved stats from an early age.

When it became obvious that my high school basketball career would not continue, I became the varsity team’s statistician during my senior year, a nice little activity between football and track season. To this day I check box scores each morning, I rationalize mostly all of my major life decisions in a sports statistics frame of mind, and I can still recite all of the key statistics from the 1995 Seattle Mariners baseball season. I am definitely a stats nerd!

With that said, I have started to become a little agitated with the ultra-specific and sometimes bizarre level that the sports media is taking the reporting of statistics to. As someone who values stats, no one appreciates timely and relevant numbers during a sports broadcast like me. Tell me overall averages of a team against a certain pitcher, tell me a quarterback’s record playing in outdoor stadiums, and tell me a player’s free throw percentage during the last five minutes of a game. Given in the past tense, they also help put in perspective what had just occurred. These are all specific and relevant statistics that provide me with information and that help explain what might happen.

But like I said, the reporting of statistics is now at a new level and I don’t particularly find them helpful or interesting. I don’t need to know that a pitcher was able to throw 8 innings of no hit ball on three days rest for only the second time since 1957 in the ALCS. Or I don’t need to know that an NBA player picked up exactly five fouls in three straight games for the first time since 1980. Or I don’t need to know that an NFL team has gone 66-21-1 after leading by three or more points going into the fourth quarter in games played after 2 p.m. over the past ten seasons.

Not only are the above statistics overly specific but they also say nothing of real consequence. Who cares that a player picked up the same amount of fouls in three straight games? Does it really tell me much that a football team wins a majority of its games when leading going into the fourth quarter with other unrelated factors? The answers to the two questions are no one and no.

I do realize that a small portion of the population actually does enjoy these types of statistics. However, I don’t think sports networks should cater to these small numbers by jamming their broadcasts with them. Save them for the back pages of magazines, the small print of newspapers, and the depths of the almanacs. Don’t have them lead off an episode of Sportscenter or don’t use them on a lower-third during a crucial point in an MLB Playoff broadcast.

I know technology keeps increasing and I know that statistical staffs are growing. Obviously these two factors make the overly specific worthless statistic more abundant but there is a point where producers and the talent have to question what they are feeding the audience. Aren’t they trying to do their best to inform? A statistic that throws together unrelated factors and random periods of time does not improve the experience for the fan. Most of the time it makes us digest the information for a couple of confusing seconds and then utter how stupid and irrelevant that stat actually was. I don’t know if networks are trying to fill time or if they are trying to come across as sophisticated (or perhaps both) but we as an audience are neither entertained nor impressed.

As someone who once wanted to grow up to be a sports statistician, I am a little turned off these days at the information that is being gathered and then reported. I hope the leaders in sports broadcasting re-evaluate what and how they present from a statistical level. By the way, this is the 165th blog post I have done after 10 p.m. that has contained only four or more sentences in the ending paragraph. Don’t Blink.

Trying Not to Settle For My Subpar Work

Posted on October 10, 2013 by brent

Tonight I got home and after I had some dinner and got caught up on the MLB playoffs I sat down to write a blog post surrounding an idea that came to me a couple days ago. I labored through the post, trying to make each sentence flow perfectly and working to make sure I crafted the passage in such a way that it would really drive my point home. I spent more than a couple periods just staring at my computer screen contemplating what words I should add next. I struggled through the whole thing. Compared to my average post, I spent much more time and wrote much more on this one. I then made a decision:

I decided not to publish it.

After taking about as much time to scrutinize and think about the post I had just written as it had taken me to draft it in the first place, I decided that I would not publish it to Don’t Blink. I came to the conclusion that it just didn’t fit my brand and that it probably wasn’t my best work. Yep, even though I did spend a lot of time on it that toil didn’t quite translate to Grade A quality.

I am glad I have come to the point where I can recognize work that is subpar and then not go with it. I definitely have not always had this discipline. I can glance through my almost 400 posts in Don’t Blink and see pieces that are garbage. Either my topic sucked, my writing lacked substance, the structure was off, my voice wasn’t coming through, or all the above. But my desire to “get something out there” that particular night led me to publish it. I have a plan in the near future to go through my blog and delete some of the dead wood that I should have never of put my name to.

I think in this day and age we as a society have this conception that we must get “stuff” out there. I am sure most of you have heard someone say or said yourself “we just need some content.” Without even thinking about quality many of us just want the mediocre feature or the lackluster post to take up space. As I just admitted with my blog, I have triumphed this thinking too many times myself. But I am trying to get better and tonight was a good step.

Just because we work on something doesn’t necessarily mean that what we created was a success. We need to be honest with ourselves and honest with who we are. If we create something that doesn’t sound like us or that doesn’t reflect who we are and we go through and make it live we are deeply damaging our personal brand. No amount of time spent on a project that doesn’t meet standards could ever justify posting it at the expense of the reputation that we have worked so hard to build. Don’t Blink.

Keep It Classy, Denver: Social Media Arrogance

Posted on October 9, 2013 by brent

On Monday, the Twitter account of the Denver Broncos made national news in the sporting world. The account rattled off many impressive stats of the prolific offense ran by Peyton Manning including this one:

The Broncos sent out this tweet.

In my opinion, the tweet standing alone is just a tad bit bush league. However, I don’t think it is totally out of bounds. That is not to say that I would ever tweet anything of that nature from our official Twitter account at Grizzly Athletics (@UMGRIZZLIES). I don’t disparage or call out opposing teams. I think it is in bad taste and I think it reflects poorly on our department. But again, I don’t think the tweet in and of itself constitutes a major social media no-no.

But there is something about the timing of the tweet that makes it bad, something that the person running that account should have either realized or respected…

The Broncos play the Jaguars this weekend.

Starting in high school it seems like every coaching staff uses bulletin board material to motivate players. Anything an opposing coach or player might say that can be twisted around to sound like a diss will be utilized to fire the other team up. Believe me, this type of motivation works. It has helped me play harder and, outside of the playing field, work harder.

What the staff member in charge of the Broncos’ Twitter account did was provide the Jaguars with bulletin board material. Now I know Jacksonville has a .000034% chance of beating Denver. I know they are the largest underdogs in NFL history. I also know that in all reality most of the grown men playing on the Jaguars couldn’t care less about the tweet. BUT, there is the possibility that maybe a few of the players might actually take it to heart and use it as motivation on Sunday. If this is the case and maybe just as little as one player exerts a little more energy than he normally would because he thought of that tweet for a split second, that staff member has done the Broncos terribly wrong.

Those of us who handle social media for college and pro teams have to be cautious and accountable. Many of us speak to large fan bases several times on a daily basis through multiple posts, tweets, pictures, etc. We carry the voice of the school/organization we represent and it only takes one instance of stupidity to make our program look bad. Out of the numerous different ways to do so, displaying arrogance regarding an opponent several days before playing them qualifies as one.

In any athletic department or professional organization, the main goal of the support staff is to never do anything that might decrease the chances of victory. That tweet by the Denver Broncos staff member definitely didn’t help to increase the chances of victory and like I said, if it only ends up resonating with just one athlete on the Jaguars, that staffer has done a disservice to his organization.

Jacksonville did respond with a tweet of its own:

This is how Jacksonville responded.

Personally, I wouldn’t have gone that route either. I think by them mentioning Denver outright it gave the Broncos too much recognition and it displayed bitterness on the part of the Jaguars. I would have quoted the tweet and put something in front such as “Irrelevant”, “Motivation”, or “Doesn’t matter come Sunday.” The Broncos responded back to Jacksonville but it just gets stupid so I won’t even go there.

Many of us who have played sports remember these three words of advice: Respect your opponent. This wisdom should not be lost as we enter our professional careers but perhaps embraced even more….social media gurus included. Don’t Blink.

Thanks for the Birthday Love

Posted on October 8, 2013 by brent

After a birthday, 9 out of 10 times the person’s Facebook status will read something like this: “Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes. I feel very loved and I had a great day. I am so lucky!”

Well, after turning 27 years old today I feel the exact same way. Only difference is that I don’t have to write that short generic status on my Facebook wall because I have this coveted blog that allows me to elaborate on for thousands and thousands of words. But I won’t put you through that misery. I will, however, elaborate just a little.

Don’t worry, if you wrote on my wall I will still make sure to respond back to you personally. After all, I can’t go back on something that I make sure to do every single year. However, you will have to wait until tomorrow for me to drill those out. I like to start on that project once all of my Facebook birthday wishes come in and with three hours of October 8 left to go, there is still the chance that others might wish this aging blogger a big ol’ Feliz Cumpleanos.

But all joking and sarcasm aside, I want to genuinely say thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday today. Especially in this day and age with all the different mediums out there, birthdays are definitely a self-esteem booster, even if I can’t stand getting a year older. For all the birthday wishes through phone calls, texts, e-mails, Facebook posts, twitter mentions, Instagram mentions, Snap Chats, cards, and face-to-face conversation I do feel very valued and cared for. I know I say I am not a birthday person but I would be lying if I said that all the attention and love I get from people on this day didn’t make me very appreciative.

I spent today doing what I love: working for the Griz. I got to be around my awesome co-workers and our humble and amazing student-athletes. The birthday wishes I got from both groups throughout the day again reminded me of how lucky I am to work in a first class athletic department. I then got to celebrate my birthday with someone who owns October 8 much more than I do. Sylvia Jensen is the biggest Griz supporter you will find and she turned 80 years old today. She came into the office this morning and wished me a happy birthday but this evening I got to return the favor when we surprised her at Dickey’s BBQ. I can only hope to have as much energy, enthusiasm, and love for people that she has if I am ever lucky enough to reach that age.

Thanks again for all the love you gave me today. I am so lucky to have you all in my life and I thank God every single night for my infinite blessings. It is like the ultimate birthday gift that keeps giving each day. Don’t Blink.

Monte Suffers a Loss in the 2013 Mascot Challenge

Posted on October 6, 2013 by brent

About an hour ago Monte was dealt his first loss in the 2013 Mascot Challenge in a down to the minute race with Sparty the Spartan from Michigan State. The close 51% to 49% defeat not only gave him a mark in the loss column but it knocked him out of first place and stripped him of his #1 ranking. Definitely a less than ideal way to end a weekend in which our football team crushed Portland State in the much anticipated Homecoming game.

Once the standings refresh on the Capital One website, Monte should sit in either third or fourth place depending on the tiebreaker method used in the competition. Two mascots hold unblemished 5-0 records while four mascots (including Monte) hold 4-1 records. Two of the mascots with 4-1 records suffered their lone loss in the competition to Monte.

During the last hour of this week’s round, I watched a noble and frantic effort by Griz Nation to push Monte to yet another victory over another giant in the BCS landscape. In the end, it fell just a little short. My Twitter and Facebook feeds were overloaded with people answering this past week’s question of “If Monte started a band, what would he name it?” Besides my actual Facebook friends and Twitter followers aggressively pushing for a Monte victory, everyone else in Montana seemed to be doing the same. Just searching the #CapitalOneMonte hash tag on Twitter yielded hundreds and hundreds of tweets coming in by the second! I got a good laugh at reading everyone’s take on what Monte’s band should be named.

If I was in Monte’s band I would play the recorder!

Of course anyone could see that the tweets marked with the #CapitalOneMonte hash tag vastly outnumbered the #CapitalOneSparty hash tags. Because of this, some might speculate that the final tally was not reflected correctly. However, standard voting is also a big part of the equation and the fact of the matter is that Michigan State has 50,000 students at its school while almost 10 million people live in the state. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that with a population size that large comes with it a distinct advantage. If a majority of those people are voting, it doesn’t matter how many tweets we are sending out… those sheer numbers will win every time.

But notice how I said if. We have absolutely no idea how many people are voting. The organizers of the competition elect to only give us percentages as opposed to concrete point totals. As I have said from the beginning, I have a tough time trusting internet voting formats. I have an even tougher time trusting internet voting formats where we can’t see the raw numbers. Judging by the comments on our social media outlets, many people have the same trust issues as me.

But in all honesty I have little to complain about. This competition has already given us great exposure, a nice check for our program, and a special experience for our Monte performer (he got to travel to New York City for photo/video shoots). Although I am not 100% convinced that we got a completely fair shake in this past round of the competition, I do realize that in the four prior rounds it is possible that we could have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

Life moves on in the 2013 Mascot Challenge and this week Monte is up against Baldwin the Eagle from Boston College. Just like during any other season in any other sport, you have to move on from defeat and come back with more tenacity and more hunger for the next opponent. I promise you that Monte and Griz Nation will come back stronger than ever. That Eagle better watch out. Don’t Blink.

My Spokane Froyo Tour

Posted on September 29, 2013 by brent

During my packed weekend in Spokane hanging out with my family and watching football I decided to squeeze another endeavor into my busy schedule. I toured froyo shops in the city. Yep, I sure did. Even though the weather was rainy, windy, and cold I decided to prolong my denial that summer is over and I indulged. On Saturday I visited one froyo location and today I visited two. After froyoing it up all weekend long, I learned one pretty important thing about these types of shops…

They are pretty much all the same.

I guess I had the fantasy that each location would have their own unique twist on the rapidly growing froyo self serve yogurt concept but I was disappointed. My thought that maybe each little shop nestled in random strip malls would have a different personality with different flavors and with different toppings was unfounded. After reviewing both froyo self-serve places in Missoula (YoWaffle and U-Swirl) I saw some unique traits in both and kind of assumed that all other locations would also have cool quirks about them too but after my three stop tour this weekend I know this not to be the case.

Not to say that all three places I frequented this weekend were exact replicas of each other. They all had something that kind of made them stand apart but not to the degree that one would think. For stepping foot into three different, local, and independent businesses I just expected to see more diversity among them. Rather, I saw the same prices, same flavors, same toppings, and same setup. Of course if each business is making bank why should they care that someone like me wants to see noticeable differences from place to place? They shouldn’t.

Here are some photos and a personal description of each froyo place I frequented this weekend (listed in the order I visited them):

FroYo Earth (829 Boone Avenue)

Myself at Froyo Earth

My first stop took me to the Gonzaga district to try out Froyo Earth. The place was very spacious and clean, although the spacious part probably had a lot to do with the fact that my mom and I were the only ones inside. Who knows though, maybe everyone else was upstairs because they did a second level with additional seating. I got a cup with peanut butter and cake batter yogurt. I put Cap’n Crunch and Reese’s candy on it and topped it with peanut butter sauce. The lighting was the worst here out of the three locations but the yogurt was pretty decent.

Did’s Pizza & Froyo (5406 N. Division Street)

Myself at Did’s Froyo and Pizza

Today I stopped at Did’s Pizza & Froyo right in the middle of Division Street where all of the Chinese restaurants are located. This place was made for all of us who like unhealthy, fun food. Besides froyo they also have pizza, shaved ice, teriyaki, smoothies, bubble tea, and beer! It is pretty cool inside with an island theme, televisions, and an arcade. I got a cup with three different flavors: candy bar smash, cupcake, and peanut butter. I topped it with peanut butter candy chips, Snickers pieces, and a piece of brownie. The yogurt at this location definitely stood out to me as the best. My brother tried a slice of the pizza and said it was okay. With different food, entertainment, and seating options, this is a good place to take a young family.

Go Froyo (6704 N. Nevada Street)

Myself at Go Froyo.

My froyo tour ended just a couple hours ago with a quick visit to Go Froyo on Nevada Street. This was the smallest shop I went to but it was brightly lit, they had cool red couches to sit on, and the girl working behind the counter was very friendly and cute. I got a cup and tried their cake batter and New York cheesecake flavors. I topped it with oreo cookies, Reese’s candy, and peanut butter sauce. My dad and I sat on one of the red couches and watched the end of the Denver-Philadelphia NFL game. Unfortunately, the best was not saved for last. Go Froyo probably had my least favorite tasting yogurt. My New York cheesecake tasted nothing like cheesecake…obviously flavors had somehow been mixed and the consistency was off. But that is probably what I deserve for deciding to eat frozen yogurt three times in less than 24 hours, right?

I will keep trying to think up silly, health destroying ideas to do during my coveted free weekends. I enjoyed making the rounds on Spokane’s froyo circuit and I thank my mom, brother, and dad for joining me at each of the stops and taking the embarrassing photos of me holding my froyo. I still think I prefer YoWaffle. Don’t Blink.

The Hardships of the IOS 7 Update

Posted on September 28, 2013 by brent

When it comes to upgrades in technology and social media, I like to be on the forefront. I like to fall in line with the latest trends and then learn sooner rather than later all the new features and quirks of the new upgrade. So, when Apple came out with the latest 7.01 software (and then 7.02) I had full intentions of updating ASAP. That was the plan, anyway.

However, I quickly realized that I would have to do more than just press the update button to get the new software. You see, in order for the download to occur you needed 3.1GB if available space. I had .07GB remaining. With the daunting possibilities swirling around in my head on what I would have to part with from my phone to achieve the necessary amount of memory to get the new software (coupled with working long hours), I put the transition on ice for about ten days.

Last night I arrived in Spokane for a weekend getaway of relaxation and breathing room. While watching on television my high school alma matter take on our arch rival in the Battle of the Bell football game, I decided to make the necessary adjustments so that I could download 7.02. Unfortunately for me, it was no easy fix.

I spent the whole second half of the game freeing up the necessary memory to satisfy the massive software download. I had to completely delete my entire music library…I am talking every single song. But that just scratched the surface. I then had to turn my attention to my roughly 7,000 photos I had stored. In a painstakingly long process, I went through and deleted photo after photo. I would then look back at my storage information and see that I was still way off of where I needed to be for the download. I would then go through and delete even more pictures only to look back and see that I still needed to do much more work. After about the sixth round of “cutting fat” my device finally met the absolute minimum amount of space needed for the download. I hit the upgrade button.

It took what seemed about two years for the software to download. After all the waiting the progress bar finally filled up and I thought I had successfully downloaded the new technology. Not so fast! A prompt came up and notified me that before the changes could be made I still had to free up 100 MB of space. I had nowhere to go but to my applications. Not even having two pages of apps I had to choose very carefully which ones I wanted to get rid of. I ended up chopping my Yahoo Sports App, my Emoticons, and a picture cropping aid. My phone then went black and another progress bar appeared and it had to fill up two separate times before the upgrade finally kicked in. Long after the high school football game had concluded (my school lost, 10-0) I finally had the 7.02 software update installed on my phone.

I don’t think the new update is terrible. I think, just like with anything, it will take a little getting used to. In fact, I have only had it for 12 hours and I feel I am almost accustomed with it. I will say this and I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way but I think the presentation itself with the icons is a little bit of a step back. To me it seems like the screen I am looking at now is the screen that the iPhone would have had if it existed 10 years ago. But believe me, I am well aware with how the “retro” look is in so maybe that is what Apple was going for.

Sure, the new camera features are pretty cool. Although if I am going to apply a filter to a photo I take I am still going to open up Instagram and go from there because IG has both a better and more vast selection. I also hear the panoramic tool is pretty cool but I am yet to master it. I attempted to take a photo at the restaurant we were at last night but it did not work.

Even though I am not blown away with the 7.02 software, I am glad I finally made the time (and the sacrifices) to update. It is important to stay with the times, especially when it comes to technology. Especially with my profession and with my interests, I need to speak the language and use the current tools of the techies around me. Shame on myself for not getting this taken care of sooner. Don’t Blink.

The Week I am a Dog Fan

Posted on September 26, 2013 by brent

I admit it, I am not much of a dog guy. I grew up in a cat family. I also had a couple bad experiences with dogs when I was younger and I do get turned off by how some owners take care of (or don’t take care of) their hounds. That doesn’t mean I hate dogs or that I dislike living in a city where dogs are just about as numerous and carry as many rights as the people living it. It just means I am not going to go out of my way to pet the dog that someone decides to bring into the grocery store.

This week though I have become a dog fan. The people closest to me who just read that last sentence spit out their coffee. That’s right, this week I have definitely warmed up to dogs and have looked at many and thought “What a cute, nice looking dog.” Yes, I know, now I have to explain.

This week, believe it or not, I am a dog fan!!

Remember last month how I talked about a company called Think Social and how we at Grizzly Athletics are partnering with them to introduce fun, organized, and branded social media contests? I wrote about the initial campaign we did with them. Just with Grizzly Athletics benefiting, we did a Griz Facebook fan photo contest. The week-long promotion was a great success and we experienced huge engagement numbers and a solid increase in likes to our page. After that initial run through we have done several other Think Social contests with our corporate sponsors. Basically I promote the sponsor’s contest on our Grizzly Athletics Facebook page and then our fans enter it by liking the Facebook page of the corporate sponsor. These have all proved successful as well.

However, this week a new contest has come to life that has set a whole new standard. Let me introduce to you the Grizzly Athletics/Holiday Inn World’s Best Dog contest. The rules are simple and rewards are great. Fans simply have to submit a picture of their dog and the canine that receives the most votes at the end of the week wins a pretty amazing prize package for its owner. In fact, the runner up and third place dog also win sweet prize packages for their owners as well.

This week we are running the Grizzly/Holiday Inn World’s Best Dog Contest.

So while the prize packages and the contest itself are pretty cool, what has really set this thing apart has been the response. As I alluded to above, dogs pretty much run things in this town and you won’t find too many households that don’t have one or two of them so as you can imagine, many people were eligible to enter this contest. With the popular subject and with the power of Griz Social Media, this promotion has rocked thus far. With over 100 hounds entered, everyone has a horse (I mean dog) in the race.

As of right now, this is the first place dog, Jake.

By far my favorite part of this deal has been looking at the submissions. Some of the dogs are adorable. I think the maroon and silver that most of them are decked out in definitely adds a likeability factor to them. I am not kidding though, many of the owners who have submitted pictures have gone all out in dressing their dogs in Griz gear from nose to tail. Many have hats on, most are rocking Griz shirts, some are donning necklaces, and all have a unique trait that differentiates them from all the other dogs. Some owners have set up Griz themed backdrops around their dogs. All different breeds and sizes of dogs are represented and it just makes it a lot of fun.

So far this has been my favorite submission. This dog is named Aiden.

This has been a fun contest to promote. Our fans have enjoyed it and it has given me a bunch of material to share with our audience. I am now able to post picture of a dog decked out in Griz gear for the next 100 days straight if I wanted to and I guarantee that our fans would continue to press that “like” button and comment on how cute the newest dog is.

This is Franklin and he is another one of my favorite submissions.

Kudos to the Holiday Inn on pairing two things together that Missoulians might like more than anything: the Griz and dogs. This fantastic combination has made for a killer social media contest with a great level of engagement. I encourage you to check out all the submissions by clicking here. I will leave you with the question we ask whenever one of our players intercepts a pass inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium…WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?!?!!? Don’t Blink.

Make the Evenings Count

Posted on September 25, 2013 by brent

One thing I have learned about adulthood is that sometimes we tend to feel like shutting down after a long day of work. Getting up early in the morning, grinding through a long day, squeezing in a work out, and moving 100 miles per hour takes a toll on our bodies. By the time we get home and get something to eat, the inclination to just sit down on the couch and watch TV and maybe fall asleep is sometimes too easy not to pass up.

I admit, I have done it before. When I have done it I wake up feeling like garbage. I wake up feeling like I have wasted hours where I could have done something productive for myself, something not work related. Because let’s face it, during this time of the year the majority of my time is going to work. This makes it crucial for me to really make that four hour window I have from around 8 p.m. to midnight worthwhile. If I just decide to snooze and waste those hours I feel like I have cheated myself.

I wish I had the motor I had while in high school. I would wake up for zero hour weights, go to school, work my butt off at football practice for three hours, wind down, go home, eat dinner, and then study and do homework late into the night. I did this no problem. I didn’t feel the fatigue factor and I didn’t feel like I needed to park myself on the nearest couch.

News Flash: I don’t have that motor anymore.

Well, actually I do have that motor still. I guess what I mean is that it doesn’t run as fast anymore. I do get suggestions from my body much more these days to take it easy. My dilemma is to differentiate from when my body suggests rest and when it demands rest.

I take my hat off to the parents out there with full time jobs and children. Most of you never get to listen to either the suggestions or demands of your body. Rather you just have to go 24/7 round the clock. As a single guy with no attachments I have it much easier. I get to entertain many choices and options when my work day ends. But just because I have it easier doesn’t mean I always want to take the easiest way out. I have recently made it so I would never fall into this temptation by making a little change to my daily routine.

As I have written about before, I live off of checklists. They do wonders for me at work but I also use them for every other facet of my life. One of those facets includes my time for when I get off work. I used to come home in the evenings and depending on how I felt I would scribble out a checklist of items to do that night. But what I came to notice is that on some nights I would come home and not even bother making a checklist and then spend the whole evening accomplishing absolutely nothing. At the beginning of this month I decided to make some life improving changes and one of those changes was to make my evening checklist in the morning. Now, before I go to work each day I carefully write out what I want to accomplish later that evening and then stick it to my refrigerator.

You see, I can’t say no to a checklist. If I write something out and say that I am going to complete it by a certain time, I am going to complete it by that certain time. I know it seems simple but it did take me some time to come to this novel concept. I have noticed that I have become much happier with how I am spending my time. When the evenings come around I am much more proficient with my blog, with my personal objectives, and with my social life. In the morning I have a good idea if I am going to get home at 7 p.m. or 11 p.m. that specific night and so I plan my checklist accordingly. But even if I have a small checklist because I get home late I still have something to hold myself to and something to feel accomplished about when the night ends.

My point is to demand something out of yourself each night. Just because the work day ends doesn’t mean your productivity should too. How you demand something out of yourself is up to you. For me it is using a checklist. Like I said, if I write a vertical list with bullet points I am going to do each one of them. For you it might be utilizing a planner or it might just be making mental notes. Some people are excellent at staying on task solely through what they jot down in their brains. Whatever method you use, make sure you figure out a system that enables you to accomplish something worthwhile each evening besides passing out on the couch. Believe me, you will feel much better about yourself in the morning. Don’t Blink.

Monte’s Big Weekend

Posted on September 23, 2013 by brent

Currently it is a great time to be a bear, especially if your name is Monte Bear. Yep, our mascot at the University of Montana had quite the weekend with many bright moments and one big milestone. Give me a couple minutes to tell you about how Monte dominated each day of this past September weekend.

Friday: On this day we celebrated Monte’s 20th birthday at our home opener Griz volleyball match. Before the Montana vs. Northern Colorado game got underway, cake was served in Monte’s honor in the adjacent gym. UM students were also given waterproof Monte cell phone cases. Fans showed up in droves to honor “The Bear” as the largest crowd in almost two years filled the stands to celebrate Monte’s big day. During the break between the first and second set the packed gym sang happy birthday to the bear of the hour. During halftime, Monte and Mo put on a birthday skit that had the place clapping and laughing in approval. The best part? The Griz volleyball team swept Northern Colorado.

Monte birthday cake is delicious!!!

Saturday: Home football games are always a big deal for Monte as 26,000 people watch his every move. In a unique twist never before seen, a video was played prior to Monte’s entrance. It simulated the path he took to arrive at the stadium. As soon as the video concluded, Monte shot out of the tunnel on his motorcycle. While the game got a little boring late with the Griz up big on Oklahoma Panhandle State, Monte added an element of excitement when he did what pretty much no other mascot can do…he kicked field goals. With his holder set up on the 25-yard line, Monte kicked the snot out of the football and split the uprights. It was pretty cool and just another example of why he is the best collegiate mascot.

Monte split the uprights on a 35 yard field goal on Saturday.

Sunday: The best moment in my opinion came just last night when Monte upset Big Red from Western Kentucky in the 3rd round of the 2013 Mascot Challenge. In a battle of the unbeatens, Monte narrowly edged out Big Red, 51% to 49%. Now you might ask how it was an upset if both mascots were undefeated. I actually agree with you, it wasn’t an upset because Monte is the best mascot around but on paper it was. Big Red was technically ranked #1 in the standings while Monte was the lowest ranked unbeaten at #5. Monte also stated off the week trailing the Big Blob 60% to 40%. Then, if you want to take in consideration what the below Big Red supporter spewed out on Facebook, you can see where he was the underdog. With me sweating it out at my office computer during the waning minutes of the round encouraging our fans to vote and complete challenges, Griz Nation did what it always does and took care of business. When 10 p.m. came around the slight 51% to 49% edge that had flopped back and forth for the entire weekend between Monte and Big Red now rested on the side of #00. The victory propelled Monte to a 3-0 record and a current #1 ranking in the competition. It also pumped me up like no other.

This guy mistakenly thought that a larger student body and a larger “national presence” (whatever that means) would defeat the pride and tradition of Griz Nation.

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This week Monte is taking on Rocky the Rocket from the University of Toledo. Although Monte boasts a 61% to 39% lead right now, anything can happen. It is because of that unpredictability that we are holding a special event on Wednesday that will hopefully give us a little more control and bolster Monte’s lead. More on that later. For now it is totally acceptable to look back on this past weekend and marvel at the three great days that Missoula’s most beloved personality enjoyed. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Author Archives: brent