Sports Marketing at its Finest

Posted on March 8, 2013 by brent

We do a lot of cool, fun things in the marketing department at Grizzly Athletics. So many, in fact, that I don’t have the time to write about each one as they occur on a daily basis. However, when we do something extra cool, I do try to shine some light on it. This morning, Christie and I plus our army of interns set out on The University of Montana campus and hid 200 wallets over one of the most scenic places you can go to school at.

But before I go on about our morning, I do want to give credit to the inventor of this crazy idea. Kenny Dow, the marketing director at Portland State, thought up this concept while thinking of ways to increase attendance at Vikings’ sporting events. Don’t ask me how all the elements came to him but they did…and then he implemented it. Because Kenny’s idea had great success with the PSU students, and because he used to work for the Griz, and because Christie and I respect him so much, we borrowed his idea. Thanks, Kenny!

So what we did was we ordered a bunch of wallets for cheap. We then slapped Griz emblems on them and then we filled them with coupons for free frostys, free chili, free t-shirts, and a chance to win an i-pad (sorry for using the word “we”…I actually did diddly squat when it came to the preparation of the wallets…thank you interns!). In order for students to redeem the coupon for the free t-shirt and to receive entry into the drawing, they had to come to tonight’s Griz basketball game and turn in the wallets they found.

This morning at 7 a.m. we had seven of our eight interns show up to hide wallets. We met in our offices and then walked to The Oval, the center part of The University of Montana campus. After taking some pictures, the interns plus Christie divided into four teams of two people each. Each team took one of the four quadrants of the campus. Since I was the official photographer I acted as the rover and roamed from team to team, taking pictures and watching the hiding strategies of each group. Our marketing team hid wallets on benches, in trees, on the ground, under plants, and on top of signs. They hid them inside the library, the dining center, the University Center, the lecture halls, and the business building. They hid them in cacti, inside doors, and on statues. Yes, a great job was done by our team scattering the wallets in creative hiding places all across campus.

Our interns setting out to go wallet hunting!

The interns met back in the office after the distribution of the wallets and they were all excited. They chatted happily about where they hid their wallets. They talked about encounters they had with the few people who were on campus at the time who had no idea what was going on. They explained why they either decided to hide their wallets in tough to find places or in spots where they would more easily be found. Everyone had a wonderful time this morning, including Christie and myself.

I am lucky to have such a great group of marketing interns!

After the distribution of the wallets was complete, I transitioned into my main duty of the whole operation…connecting the promotion with social media! When we arrived back inside and out of the cold, I started to relay the rules and purpose of the wallet drop to our followers/fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Using lots of the photos I took, I tried to make sure that the students who had not found a wallet now had the heads up to find one while conveying at the same time to the students who had already found one what they needed to do to totally optimize their wallet discovery. After the ground rules were set, we started to have a little fun. We encouraged students who found a wallet to take a picture of them with it and then either post it on our Facebook page or Tweet it at us. Those who did so won one of our coveted social media t-shirts. We got a great response and once again it reinforced the power of Griz Social Media.

McKell and Andrew found a great spot to hide a wallet!

Finally, game time arrived. The student section filled up extremely fast as it was full fifteen minutes before the game was to tip off. From my vantage point at the music table, I could see lots of people with the shirts we were giving out for returned wallets. Things inside the arena started to pick up and I kind of forgot about the promotion for a little bit as I worked the game and watched our first place Grizzlies tangle with Sacramento State. But as things slowed down a little bit once the game entered the second half, I was able to quiz our intern Andrew on how many wallets were returned. When I asked him he said “Uh, only about 20.” Disappointment filled me. But then he added, “But we got a whole bunch of t-shirt slips back, well over 100.” You see, besides all the coupons we put in the wallet, we also put the basic rules of the promotion as well, much like the ones I put out in social media. However, on that sheet of paper we mistakenly omitted anything about students needing to return their wallets at the game in order to redeem their coupons/get entered to win the i-pad. So, what happened was that students found the wallets, took the goodies out of them, stashed the wallet in their apartment/dorm, and then just brought the paper coupons to the game. While we felt a little dumb because we would have definitely liked to get the wallets returned so we could just use them again next year instead of buying a bunch more, we got the satisfaction in knowing that the promotion worked. People found the wallets and then came to the game.

Word on the street is that the wallets did not last long at all after they were hidden.

Right now as I write this, I only have Andrew’s estimation to go on in terms of quantifying our success. But soon I will have a more specific number to report and I will share it with you. The success of the wallet promotion combined with a great home win by the Griz and then topped off with the Lady Griz winning the Big Sky Conference championship has me grinning ear-to-ear right now. But what makes my smile extend even further is having the knowledge that our team of interns, working primarily free of charge, would sacrifice precious hours of sleep in their warm beds to help us hide wallets on a freezing Montana morning. Thank you so much Andrew, Brian, Gianna, Kylie, McKell, Mike, and Zach. Don’t Blink.

I had a great time hanging out with a great group of hard working, motivated young adults today.

Life’s Little Instructions

Posted on March 6, 2013 by brent

One thing I am not is a quotes guy. As I have explained extensively, I find quotes both overused and corny. I am not one to recite them, write them down, or share them over social media. However, I do have one exception when it comes to quotes. For seven years, I have had a desk page-a-day calendar based on the famous “Life’s Little Instructions”.

Before I dive into story time, let me educate those out there who are not familiar with “Life’s Little Instructions”. Basically, the concept of “Life’s Little Instructions” is to educate a person in one or two sentences about the lighter aspects of life. Some of the instructions are helpful, some are funny, some are witty, and some are just downright stupid. To illustrate what these instructions are like, check out the entries from the past five days: Politeness is called for even when you dislike someone (3-6) / Don’t go looking for trouble; it will soon find you (3-5) / Give people a second chance, never a third (3-4) / Laugh more. Frown less (3-2 and 3-3) / Don’t finish other people’s sentences (3-1) . Get the idea? Okay, let’s move on.

This is an example of what a daily instruction looks like.

Every year for Christmas for as long as I can remember, my mom would always buy the three of us kids a page-a-day calendar. For me, themes ranged from this day in sports to bible verses to Jeopardy trivia. But that one Christmas seven years ago my mom decided to try something a little different and got me the “Life’s Little Instructions” calendar. As a freshman in college, the little bits of advice helped to keep me in line while also giving me a laugh. Each morning, like never before with my previous calendars, I looked forward to ripping the previous day off to see what the new instruction on the new day said. I enjoyed these instructions so much that as the next Christmas came around, I asked my mom to get me the same themed calendar.

The evolving then started to begin. When I got my second “Life’s Little Instructions” calendar six years ago, I decided that I wanted to share the daily wisdom. Because texting had just started to pick up steam, I used that avenue to spread the advice. Because she bought me the calendar, because I knew she would appreciate the little sayings, and because it was a great way to communicate with her on a daily basis, I started to text my mom the daily “Life’s Little Instructions” tidbit each morning. Although it started out a little rough namely because my mom did not truly understand text messaging and because the texts arrived at 4:30 a.m. for her (during my college years I would get up to work out at 5:30 a.m. and in Montana we are one hour ahead of Washington State), she quickly started to enjoy them. Not only were the instructions good, but it also let her know that her son was okay and up and ready for the day. Presently, my mom is still the first one to get my “Life’s Little Instructions” piece of advice each morning.

It is me with my very special calendar!

Seven years ago I started to get the “LLI” calendar, six years ago I started texting them to my mom, and then five years ago another development occurred…I got a Twitter account! Even with my disdain for sharing quotes on social media, I went ahead and started tweeting out the little instructions each day. I did this because the quotes are really not quotes in the first place…they are instructions. I simply just put quotation marks around the advice to let my followers know they are not my own words. Secondly, I wanted to do something that kind of gave my Twitter account its own special twist. Just like how I sign off each night with “Don’t Blink”, sharing the daily “LLI” gave my account more personality. Thirdly, I just wanted to tweet them because many of them are actually useful while others provide a good laugh. So, it just seemed right to start that little tradition and five years later it is still going strong.

The sharing of my page-a-day calendar has branched off once more since Twitter. Fifteen months ago I got an Instagram account. Knowing I needed to do something to make me constantly update my account, I decided to take a picture of my calendar each day. After I text my mom the daily advice and after I tweet it out, I Instagram it. I take a picture of the specific date, apply the “rise” filter to it, caption it with “Life’s Little Instruction for (month, day)”, and then upload it. I never realized how many people would actually enjoy the Instagram version of “Life’s Little Instructions”.

While my mom responds to about 30% of the “LLI” texts I send her and while I will occasionally get a reply or a retweet when I tweet out the instruction, nothing compares to the response I get from sharing it on Instagram. In particular, nothing compares to the response I get from females about them.

Each day on Instagram I can always count on several “likes” and at least a couple comments on the advice for that particular date (mostly all from women). I have had girls text me and ask “Where do you get those pictures of advice from? They are so cute. Do you know where I can get my own?” Today a friend of mine messaged me and she asked if I could picture message the advice I shared on Instagram earlier this morning. About a few times each week, someone will come up to me and say that they look forward to checking Instagram each morning to see what the instruction will say for that day. If it is a weekend and somehow I forget to upload the day’s instruction right away, people will check in with me to make sure I am okay…and then tell me to get it up ASAP.

Where my calendar sits in my room.

So what does it say about me that I like something just as much as a bunch of females? Well, I rather not think about that. Instead, I just find it cool that I have started a little tradition that a lot of people enjoy and even depend on. A calendar that my mom purchases for me each year for about $10 yields a much higher return on investment than I could ever calculate. Thank you for sharing with me “Life’s Little Instructions” each morning. Keep the reaction coming! Don’t Blink.

Sriracha Sauce

Posted on March 5, 2013 by brent

Growing up and continuing into adulthood, I have never cared much for condiments and sauces. To this day I hate the big three: ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. To me they taste, smell, and feel (texture wise) nasty. To be honest, I always get a little sickened when I see others indulging, and in many cases over indulging, in these types of add-ons.

But my dislike for condiments does not end with just the big three. I hate tartar, I pass on relish, I detest heavy dressings on my salads, I find nothing “special” with special sauce, sour cream sucks, and horseradish makes me gag. I dislike many of these condiments because they are messy, fattening, and unnecessary. Most of all though, I dislike them because I eat food for the flavor and most condiments detract from that flavor. What a waste.

However, there is one condiment that I have an undying love for. I could almost justify using it on most any type of non-sweet food. It is a type of sauce that my taste buds crave, that my nose can sniff out from a mile away, and that my eyes can immediately spot if it happens to be in any restaurant or house of a friend. To be completely fair, it is not like my eyes have hawk-like capabilities or anything, I mean it is pretty easy to notice a distinctively shaped bottle with a rooster on it filled with red goodness and topped with a bright green tip. Yes, I am talking about the best sauce known to humanity, Sriracha.

Myself with my one and only condiment, Sriracha

I must admit that even though I hate most condiment sauces, I have always enjoyed a good hot sauce. I am a lover of spicy foods and because of that personal attribute it is only natural that I would like hot sauces too. However, I didn’t know there was a hot sauce in a whole league of its own until I got to college and started finding Sriracha in the cafeteria line. I tried it and fell in love with it and from that point on I have always had Sriracha in my refrigerator. I do find it funny how I had never noticed or heard of the sauce before I tried it for the first time at The University of Montana, because, just like the phenomenon of never realizing how many people drive the car you do until you actually buy one, after I tasted Sriracha for the first time I saw it everywhere. I started immediately to see it in the supermarket aisles, at restaurants, on all the stands of the food wagons/trucks outside of the bars, and at the residences of my friends. This was of course just fine by me because the sauce was just simply so damn good.

Sriracha wins my praises for two reasons: it has amazing flavor and it packs the heat. Most hot sauces have a little bit of a sweet taste and aren’t true sauces…they are very liquidy (not a word but you get what I am saying). Sriracha on the other hand is thick, red, and has a bold, fresh taste. As you enjoy that one-of-a-kind taste, the spiciness of the sauce kicks in. While many hot sauces don’t even register as hot with me, Sriracha definitely does its job. Many times when I write these blog posts I see my hypocrisy come out. You see, above I said I dislike condiments because they detract from the true flavor of the food. But it is this reason why I like Sriracha so much, the flavor of it can at times overwhelm the flavor of my pizza, pasta, sandwich, etc. because I am savoring the sauce so much.

Sometimes I enjoy the sauce so much that I end up not enjoying it. Hopefully I didn’t lose you with that statement, let me explain. Many times I have sat down and ate something after dousing it with Sriracha. After the first bite or two I know I have put too much on and my mouth has started to burn a little but I don’t care. Instead of taking some off, I put even more on and continue to fuel the flames in my mouth. By the time I have finished whatever it was that I was eating I am sweating and my mouth is on fire. I tell myself that I was an idiot for putting so much on and for eating it so fast because I didn’t want the full force of the heat to catch up with me. But just an hour later my bitterness toward Sriracha is gone and I am looking forward to the next meal when I get to use it and turn into a sweaty mess again.

Sriracha does have a couple quirks to it. My roommate and I used to put bottles away of the stuff like the rooster on the bottle was about to stop producing it. We devoured so many containers of it that we started to notice something. Some of the bottles were hotter than others. We would label the bottle as a “hot one” if it did its job and sent our tongues to Hell for a few minutes. We would try to use up the not as hot bottles as soon as possible so we could go buy a better one. As time went on, we got very good at predicting if the bottle was going to be a “hot one” or not. You want to know the trick? The bottles that are filled with a sauce that is more bright red in color deliver a better kick. The bottles filled with a darker red sauce are more mild. Also, some foods bring out the spiciness of the sauce more than others. Foods that are temperature hot or that have another sauce in the original recipe (such as a pasta with marinara) always amplify the spiciness of the Sriracha.

If you want to limit yourself to one condiment, I strongly suggest you select Sriracha. I say this because many nutritionists say it is your best bet as well. Hot sauce causes people to usually eat less because of the burning sensation that accompanies the usage of it. People douse their food with a hot sauce and after they finish they usually don’t want seconds because they need to give their tongue a break. I am not making this up!

If you like hot sauce and you have not tried Sriracha, you have been living under a rock. But don’t feel bad! I lived under a rock for eighteen years before I discovered it. But in all seriousness, if you have not tried it yet, you need to go out and buy a bottle of it. Trust me, it is that good. Don’t spend your time and calories consuming yucky, unsatisfying condiments when you could be using Sriracha. Don’t Blink.

March: A Wonderful Month

Posted on March 1, 2013 by brent

February 2013 treated me well and I used the month to improve myself personally. However, I would be lying if I said I am not happy to see it go. For me, February is kind of a depressing month. Sure you got the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day but besides that it is a pretty gloomy time. The cold still lingers, the freshness of the new year fades, and a feeling of restlessness creeps in. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all that February is the shortest month of the year.

Thankfully, I always find consolation in the fact that after one of my least favorite months passes, one of my favorite months emerges. Besides the summer months, March is my favorite month of the year. I like March for many reasons but I think the overarching appeal of it is just that the cold is leaving and brighter, warmer, longer days are arriving. Throw some great basketball in that mix as well and you got a pretty spectacular month. For this post I would like to briefly highlight some of the great things that make March so spectacular.

Great Montana Basketball: As you will see as I list all of the reasons for liking March, most of these items that make the month so awesome are constants …with the exception of this one.

Well, I should rephrase that last sentence in regard to my subject. The University of Montana always has great basketball, it is just that this season we have really, really great basketball. Both our Griz and Lady Griz teams are in first place and have great shots at ending the regular season in those number one spots. If this occurred, we would get to host both Big Sky Conference tournaments and I would be in absolute Heaven. But let me not get ahead of myself…

Big Sky Conference champions or not, the first ten days in March will be very exciting as both teams play in crucial games that will decide the outcome of the league. To have the opportunity to travel to Bozeman tomorrow for Griz-Cat basketball and then to work the final two Griz home games next week is something very special and something that I am looking very forward to.

Christie and I in Bozeman last year after both Montana basketball teams swept Montana State.

Daylight Savings Begins! – On Sunday, March 10, we will move the clocks forward and trade in sixty minutes of sleep for longer days. Immediately, we will have an hour more of daylight on that Sunday evening and from there on the days will just get longer and longer. I can’t express how much it elevates my mood when I leave work in the evening and it is still perfectly light out. Waking up to the sunshine is another coveted luxury that Daylight Saving’s brings.

Longer days make me happier and more productive with my time out of the office. I notice a change in the people around me too. I can’t wait for the time change to come!

NCAA Basketball Championship Week – Last year I devoted a blog post to Championship Week so my love of this time is well-documented. The NCAA Tournament is awesome but Championship Week just has a whole different element to it. The ten days of conference heroics, court stormings, unknowns made into heroes, storylines, and the allure of having automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs makes for incredible basketball.

The playing stakes and the different atmospheres make me adore Championship Week. What makes Championship Week even better? When I get to participate in it! Last year we hosted the Big Sky Conference tournament for men’s basketball and it was an absolute blast. With the chance to host both the men’s and women’s Big Sky Conference tourneys this year, I could potentially have the best Championship Week ever.

St. Patrick’s Day – Who doesn’t love St. Patty’s Day? Sandwiched perfectly right in the middle of the month, I have never not had fun on March 17. Last year I got to experience the craziness of Butte American on St. Patrick’s Day and had a memorable time to say the least. I have also had many good times in Missoula on the holiday as well. Nothing beats dressing up in ridiculous green gear and celebrating the Irish. It is something I look forward to every March 17.

In Butte last year! Melissa, myself, and Misti.

The Start of Spring – On March 20 the season of Spring officially begins. Even though Montana weather won’t always recognize this change in seasons, just the indication on the calendar means a lot to me. Winter is officially over and even though if it happens slowly, conditions will only improve. Spring symbolizes new life and brighter days. All I can say to that is AMEN.

The NCAA Tournament – There could be a month marked by natural disasters, famine, and death but as long as the NCAA Tournament still took place during it, many people would consider it the best month of the year. The NCAA Tournament is obviously one of the best sporting events in the world and what helps make it so fun is that the excitement lasts for a couple weeks, even spilling into April! Of course nothing really compares to the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament where the whole field is in action, making it two of the most exciting days on the calendar year.

Remember how I said there was a certain condition that would make Championship Week even better? Well that condition applies for the NCAA Tournament too! If the Griz or Lady Griz happens to make the Big Dance, the excitement goes up exponentially.

Myself at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the NCAA Tournament.

Easter – This year March will conclude with my favorite holiday. Easter falls on March 31 this year and will provide an excellent ending to what is going to be a great month. Easter to me is such a bright, hopeful holiday that brings a lot of peace and joy to my soul. The most significant date on the Catholic calendar, Easter has a lot of meaning to me and my family. Nothing beats Easter Sunday mass and nothing beats the time I get to share with my family afterwards. Easter is not about presents or a huge meal, it is about being thankful for the saving of humanity.

As with the whole theme of March in general, Easter is about renewal and the coming back of life. It is an optimistic holiday filled with brightness and joy. Luckily for me, Easter will be here in no time because this month is going to fly by with all the fun things going on.

My brother and I on Easter Sunday last year.

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Have a blessed March everyone! Make the most of it and improve yourself. Good luck to your teams and have a good one. Don’t Blink.

Google Yourself!

Posted on February 26, 2013 by brent

A couple months ago, I blasted the social media community for dramatically overreacting to the new Instagram privacy policy. As I am sure most of you remember, the immensely popular photo sharing service introduced a crafty new policy that stated users who sign up with the service automatically give ownership of the photos they put on the application to Instagram. Delving further into the policy, it stated that Instagram had full liberty to sell pictures to third parties for “promotional purposes”.

After this privacy policy went live, you would have thought the world was coming to an end the way people reacted. The whining and crying about the policy reached ridiculously high rates. Online petitions circulated like wild fire. Talk of boycotts and lawsuits gained steam. People with too much time on their hands demanded answers from the big wigs at Instagram.

I pretty much just sat back and laughed…and then I wrote a blog post about the stupidity of it all. I basically said that for anyone to be so worried (and arrogant) to think that their Instagram photos would be chosen out of all the billions of photos that are in the app’s database to be featured in some type of marketing campaign were beyond delusional.

Fast forward two months later to the present time and I still feel many of the people who let some social media privacy policy ruin their whole day acted out in the most idiotic way possible. However, after I learned about a certain event involving one of my friends, I did come around just a little bit to why they were freaking out so bad.

My friend was in the library today and in the middle of everything she had a couple minutes of downtime. Like any smart, motivated young person does occasionally, she Googled herself. (Hate to shift into my lecturing tone real fast but it is important to Google yourself every two to three weeks. Find out where your name pops up, see what people are saying about you, make sure no red flags or inaccurate information comes up). So she types in her name and one of her high school senior pictures comes up. Although it is not on a local website…it is in Toronto. But this gets even better (or worse depending on how you look at it), her image is being used in context with an educational subject. But not an educational subject like photosynthesis or hibernation. Can you guess what subject it is? BIRTH CONTROL!

Featured on the website www.teenhealthsource.com , my friend’s image was placed prominently at the very top of one of the pages of the site titled “Birth Control: Finding The Best Fit”. Now all kidding aside, it is not like birth control is that terrible of a subject but to unknowingly have your picture placed right in the middle of a page of a foreign website that is discussing a topic some might find awkward is a little unsettling. I mean what if she steadfastly opposes any type of birth control? To see your image associated with the topic would be very upsetting. I know that if my image ever appeared next to something that I strongly disagreed with or detested I would feel very uncomfortable and angry. For just a short moment, I kind of felt the uneasiness that many of the Instagram privacy policy protesters felt.

Because my friend is one of the coolest cats you will meet, she did not flip out over her library session discovery. In fact, she even told me this had happened before. One time her mom went to the doctor and flipped through a magazine issue of WebMD and saw a photo of her daughter in one of the ads. Once again, it was one of her senior portraits. My friend told me that she believes she remembers signing a waiver with the photographer that gave him the rights to the photos along with the permission to sell them at his discretion. Obviously the photographer knew he would make more money off of my friend than just the money she was giving him because she is a very attractive girl but I do question the ethics of a photographer selling the images of his clients, especially the younger ones. But as I said before, my friend does not care so it is not my battle to get into.

So the purpose of this post is for me to first concede that maybe just a little bit I can see now why so many people went cuckoo with Instagram’s privacy policy. Although I still hold to my guns that 99.9% of Instagram users will never see their photos used by a third party, I can see why some might worry if what happened to my friend happened to them. Secondly, make sure to Google yourself! Even if you don’t mind at all about what is out on the web about you, at least you have an idea. Remember, you can follow me on Instagram at @BrentReser. Don’t Blink.

My Special Taste for Mongolian BBQs

Posted on February 25, 2013 by brent

Okay, all of you might want to hit me really hard for writing about food again so I apologize. I have convinced myself that the more I write about it the less I will eat it so at least you have an idea of my thinking. So just a few days after going into great detail about homemade pizza, I am onto my next high-caloric yummy fascination.

One difference about what I am writing about tonight is that this dining option really is not that feasible to make at home. Rather, you have to go to certain restaurants to indulge in this extravagant cuisine. And believe me, I am not using the word “indulge” lightly. Mostly when people enjoy this type of food they enjoy it for quite a while afterwards because when you are done, you are stuffed. I am talking about a truly interactive dish, one that you see made right in front of your nose, from the bubbling of your sauces to the chopping of your meat to the swooping of food off the cooking surface and onto your plate. I am talking about Mongolian BBQ.

Growing up, I was initially turned off to Mongolian BBQ restaurants. Not too far away from my parents’ house, jam-packed in the middle of a not so clean strip mall was a local Mongolian grill place. We would go in for lunch or dinner occasionally. I would get my bowl and go through the rather small line of noodles, meats, and veggies and pick out what I wanted…pretty routine, right? Well, pretty routine except for the owner standing at the end of the line staring at me as I made my every move. I looked down as I put the preliminary ingredients in my bowl. But then, every single time, just as I got to the sauce section he would jolt toward me, take my bowl, and speaking in some Asian language he would talk out loud while pouring a combination of sauces on my food. He would finish splashing everything into my bowl and then hand it back to me and motion me towards the grill to have it cooked.

I hated this. It took all the joy and excitement out of the experience. It also took the fun out of eating it as well. I never liked what he concocted for me. I remember the third time going in and cringing the moment that I saw the owner in his usual spot. When I got through the first part of the line and to the sauce section I tried to resist the man’s attempt to take my bowl and my mom even tried to tell him to ease off as well but it was to no avail. His voice got louder and he aggressively motioned for my bowl. He confiscated my food once again and ruined my meal. Yep, for a long time I didn’t care too much for Mongolian BBQ.

But as I got older and as I tried different Mongolian grill type places, you know, the ones that actually let you decide what you want to put on your food, I grew to like them quite a bit. Whether it was going to pig out with football teammates, enjoying a meal with my relatives in Walla Walla, or battling my brother to see who could eat the most, I developed quite an appreciation and a craving for these types of places. The combination of an all-you-can-eat place that cooks your food right in front of you and that allows you to make flavors come alive really captured my heart and my stomach. Back in my real eating days I loved to get one plate that was super spicy and then cool down with a more mild selection and then finish off with a combination of a bunch of different flavors. I was a pig.

I also relished experiencing different Mongolian BBQs. When I was younger I didn’t place as much emphasis on cleanliness in restaurants as I do today. With that said, I have eaten in some pretty sketchy Mongolian grill joints. You know, the ones where the fish tank water is probably cleaner than the dish washing water. The ones where week old debris on and around the grill is commonplace. The ones where plates are cheap, silverware is almost plastic, and napkins are thinner than your average sheet of Kleenex. The ones where grease seems to float through the air and you feel like you need a shower when you leave. But again, during that time of my life I didn’t care. I just wanted the endless, flavorful food.

I became picky with Mongolian Grills when I moved to Missoula and tried HuHot for the first time. I couldn’t believe that a love I already had for a certain type of food could increase so much more. Soup and rice brought out right away? FLOUR TORTILLA SHELLS to roll your food up in at no extra cost? Cut up sausage available in the meat line? An endless array of sauces? A spotless restaurant that even includes a classy enough bar? Needless to say, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven during my first dining experience at HuHot (Yes, there is a HuHot in Spokane but I never got the chance to go there because it was on the other end of town and with the proliferation of Mongolian BBQ restaurants in the city, it never really occurred to me to try it. EXTRA SIDE NOTE: I sang the praises of HuHot before back when I gave out the “Brent’s Best of the Zoo” Awards…as you can see, I love the place).

But what really sets HuHot apart from everything else I had in the past is just the freshness of the ingredients. Everything from the meat to the vegetables to the tortillas to the chopped peanuts is top notch. Even though it is a franchise the food always tastes perfect.

Believe me, that was not supposed to be a commercial for HuHot. I just get really excited about the food!

Just like buffets and places like Texas Roadhouse and Olive Garden, you have to make sure to only go to Mongolian BBQs sparingly, no matter how much you like them. When you go, you are pretty much guaranteed to overeat and pretty much guaranteed to feel full and guilty afterwards. But I think the thing about Mongolian grills that help decrease the guilt a little bit is just the atmosphere and experience. Creating your own dish, experimenting with sauces, and watching someone cook it on a huge grill is fun! Just make sure to pass on dessert. Don’t Blink.

The Smart Ones of Society

Posted on February 24, 2013 by brent

Do you ever sometimes look at jobs other people have and think, “Wow, what they do is big time work. It must really be something to have a job that has so much importance placed on it and requires an immense amount of skill and talent to carry out” ?

This weekend I had these thoughts circulate in my head a couple of times.

On Friday I went to the theater and watched “Zero Dark Thirty”. The movie chronicles the CIA hunt for Osama Bin Laden. At the conclusion of the film, the special forces mission that went into Bin Laden’s compound and took him out was depicted. Watching this group of talented soldiers carry out such a dangerous mission definitely got me thinking about how incredible and valuable these people are. I don’t think any civilian can really comprehend how special these elite troops in the military are to us. They really do carry out the impossible and make it so we can continue to live in the best country in the world.

How do you put a value on people like that? How do you put a value on people who have received and mastered training that is probably 1,000x more sophisticated than we can imagine? How do you put a value on people who can go into the most hostile of places on foreign soil and execute missions that if not done perfectly result in death for those involved and perhaps catastrophic consequences for the country?

But it is just not the people doing jobs that protect our national security that make me think I got it easy in my daily tasks. Tonight I watched the Oscar’s and I felt the same way I have felt the past few years…many of the people who work in the movies are complete geniuses! Take some of these movie makers who are making animated films. The technology and crafting of these productions is amazing. I can’t even begin to think of the thought process that occurs when someone decides on an animation concept and then actually creates it and turns it into a movie that people fall in love with. Just thinking of the work and brain power that is involved in producing something as beautiful as “Avatar” or “The Life of Pi” boggles my mind. To know that some human beings are capable of creating something like that is pretty neat. Again, the amount of talent out there is amazing.

But it is just not the animators in the movie business that blow my mind. How about the people who are charged with costumes? Could you imagine the workload of the person who was in charge of “Lincoln”? Man, all the research, the purchasing, the devising, and the fitting for a humongous cast had to be an outrageously gigantic job. Or what about people who are in charge of the sound for these productions? All the work that goes into making a production sound realistic yet pleasing to the ear of the viewer (no matter how displeasing the actual sound is) requires a truly unique talent. And then of course there is the director, the person who must oversee the multi million dollar budgets of these films as well as the thousands of people working on the movie while creating something that is going to attract millions of people to the theater. Talk about pressure.

Although I got reminded of the above professions this weekend, there are other jobs that I constantly think about and just shake my head at because of all the intelligence and skill involved. Take building planes, jets, and space shuttles. What if someone told you right now that they want you to lead a project where you had to create something that soared through the air, traveled hundreds of miles per hour, and could safely carry a hundred people in it? You would probably cry. But in this world there are people who can build these things called airplanes, an invention that has revolutionized our way of life and made long distance travel possible.

Then I frequently think about our doctors who are performing surgeries each day. Anyone else find it incredible how some people are smart enough to cut into someone when they are close to death and perform maneuvers that will save that person’s life? Talk about the need for confidence! To be able to use one’s hands to make someone else’s internal organs right again is pretty special.

Don’t get me wrong, my job requires skill and talent as well. I think just sometimes I get wrapped up so much in intercollegiate athletic marketing and new media that I do forget about some of the other professions out there. And then when I do get the chance to see a movie or watch an awards show or look in the sky and I see the important and involved work other people are doing my eyes get opened a little bit. It is good to take time to recognize the work that others do in society to help make this world go round. We all have our talents and contributions to offer society, I am just glad there are many people out there smarter than me. Don’t Blink.

Making Pizza At Home!

Posted on February 21, 2013 by brent

One thing that I am really appreciative about my girlfriend is that she is a great cook. She comes over and cooks me meals all the time which is a pretty sweet deal because otherwise I would be indulging in a Subway sandwich, soup, or Chef Boyardee for supper. I couldn’t cook myself out of a paper bag. Paige on the other hand is the exact polar opposite and does wonders in my kitchen. Spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, meatball sandwiches, sausage and potatoes, chicken, and yummy rice dishes are all things she has whipped out for me to enjoy. I am definitely a lucky guy! Tonight though, we will be eating something for dinner that both of us can help prepare!

When Paige is in my kitchen, she does amazing things!

Paige and I both thought this evening would be a great time to cook homemade pizza! We had talked about it for a while but it kept getting bumped off the menu for one reason or the other. However, tonight the meal will come to fruition. We will have the dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings….and then our hands. Yes, I might struggle with making the most elementary of dishes but I am capable of spreading sauce on dough, laying cheese over the sauce, dropping toppings down on the cheese, and then putting it into the oven. Tonight I will be co-chef with Paige and I am very excited!

Of course tonight’s pizza baking adventure takes me right back to my childhood days when it was a BIG DEAL when we made homemade pizza at our family home. Like Paige, my mom is an excellent cook. We would eat dinner as a family at our kitchen table every single night. Usually us three kids would not have much of a role in any of the cooking but when it came to homemade pizza night, things changed. Suddenly we got to use the sacred cooking utensils and create our own pizzas. This event probably occurred three times a year so it really was a special event and something that me and my sister and brother really enjoyed.

Now please take into consideration that my mom did not let “kids take over the kitchen night” turn into a complete goat rope. She made sure the potentially catastrophic event was well under control. If she had not already flattened the dough for us, she watched carefully as we stretched it over the pan we were using. She placed all of the sauce, cheese, and toppings in separate bowls for us to easily access and use. She called each of us up one-by-one to make our pizzas individually. With three kids all making pizzas at once there is always the potential for messes, distractions, and fights. After we were all finished making our pizzas my mom would put them in the oven and set a timer. She would make sure we were all upstairs when she took the pizzas out so we could proudly watch our creations come out of the oven and see for the first time how our smiley-faced pie looked cooked or whether the pound of cheese we had put on had entirely melted. It was kind of a magical time.

The peak of the excitement on homemade pizza night in the Reser household was definitely the preparation part and the coming out of the oven part because to be honest, the actual eating part was always a little anticlimactic. Now I am sure my mom already knows this, but I always preferred the taste of delivery pizza to that of homemade pizza (probably because my taste buds were not as sophisticated back then). But let that statement not take anything away from homemade pizza night because it really was all about the experience as opposed to the taste!

Before I wrap up this post I would like to make mention of something unique that my mom would always do on homemade pizza night that has a special place in my heart of memories. In addition to our regular sphere shaped or square shaped pizza pies we would make, my mom would also take out her cupcake pan and make PIZZA CUPCAKES! The process was super easy…she would just shape the dough inside each cupcake spot, have us add quite a bit of sauce, top it with quite a bit of cheese, and then add toppings. She would then throw it in the oven and out would come pizza cupcakes! Simple, yes, but also a great idea. Such a great idea in fact that my mom submitted the recipe to Taste of Home Magazine and they featured it in an issue.

Check my Instagram account for pictures of our homemade pizza tonight. The one I make for my dinner might look a little goofy but just give me points for trying. Unlike years ago, I think tonight I would rather trade the experience for the taste! Don’t Blink.

The Importance of Working Out

Posted on February 20, 2013 by brent

If someone approached me and asked me to recommend one thing that they should incorporate into their daily routine for the rest of their life I would not hesitate with my answer: Work out. I know my advice is not revolutionary. Experts, doctors, teachers, coaches, insurance companies, and even employers all advise the same thing. Sometimes I like to go away with mass opinion but not here. The single most important thing we can do for our personal welfare is to work out four-five times a week for at least an hour.

Before I get into the benefits of a steady workout, I just want to briefly expel terrible excuses people use to dodge exercising (I have ranted about this before so I promise I will make it quick). I am too busy. No, you are not too busy to work out. Everyone is busy. There are twenty-four hours in the day, out of all those hours you can surely find one to hit the gym. Go before work/class, go during your lunch hour, go after work/class. If those times don’t work for you, just choose a non-conventional time. Most all areas have 24-hour gyms. Get a membership there and go at an early bird or late night hour. My dad gets up at 4 a.m. to get his workout done. If my 55 year old dad can do it, I know you can! I am too tired. You are tired? Great! Nothing like a good workout to get you filled with energy. But you really like the feeling of being tired? Don’t worry, after the adrenaline fueled energy leaves your body a much more satisfying sense of tiredness will set into your soul and you will be so glad you got that exercise in. The gym is too busy/too expensive/too inconvenient. Get over whatever anti-gym excuse you have, suck it up, and just get there! You know there is that saying that goes “90% of life is just showing up”? It is true! Just get to the gym, block everything else out, and focus on working hard.

Okay, enough with the above excuses and the millions others that people conjure up. Unless you are physically unable to move there is really no excuse not to work out (yes, I know there are exceptions). Let’s move onto the positives though…

Working out does wonders for the physical body. Sorry to state the obvious but I couldn’t resist. If you have a decent plan when you enter the gym, you are benefiting your body. Our bodies need exercise, especially in the culture that we live in and we must constantly feed it….no, not with hamburgers and sodas but with physical activity. Everything from the heart to the muscles to the lungs to the skin to the blood flow improves dramatically from regular exercise. Those of us who work in offices owe it to our body to give it anaerobic and aerobic attention. Sitting in an office for several hours each day has a detrimental impact on our systems and we can’t afford to neglect exercise. The pictures that show organs that are in bodies that exercise compared to those that don’t are like night and day. Our bodies are our own personal temples and we need to upkeep them by staying active.

When we work out, we also improve our physique. Now I am by no means a decent example of this but most other people who work their butt off in the gym have great bodies. Honestly, what would you rather have….a hard body or a soft body? Or let me put it this way, what would your significant other or your dream girl/guy rather you have…a hard body or a soft body? While the bodies we see on magazines and on television/movies are sometimes unrealistic, my basic point is that we can make our physique so much better by just going to the gym on a regular basis as opposed to not. So while many of us actually won’t obtain a hard body we can still obtain a body that is better than a soft body (aka a body that doesn’t work out).

Aside from physical benefits, there is no better booster for our mental state than working out. After a tough, sweat-filled session of exercise you get the ultimate high. Walking off of the gym floor after you gave it your all is such a wonderful feeling. For me, I can finally relax in my head after my workout is complete. The sense of accomplishment that you get after a workout is addictive and satisfying. I could never see an improvement in my physical body for the rest of my life but I would continue to work out solely because of the gratification I get from doing so. This ending feeling of gratification is definitely worth all the hassle, inconvenience, pain, sacrifice, anguish, dedication, and heart that is put into before and during the workout.

I would be lying if I said the social aspect of going to the gym is not a benefit. Now I don’t mean social in terms of yaking with everyone who is in the building at the same time as you. I guess I should rather call it the “respect aspect.” I don’t talk while I am in the gym. I go by myself, work out, and leave. But there is something about seeing the same people day in and day out. I see them and they see me. I nod my head and am courteous and aware of them. And even though I don’t really talk to them, there is that bond there, a bond between consistent gym goers that recognizes the hard work that is taking place. Even though we might not say much to each other in the gym, if we ran into each other at the store or the bar, we would immediately exchange pleasantries and talk for a couple minutes like we are good friends. You can only get this type of relationship at the gym. Now that’s cool.

I like to think I covered the main aspects for making the effort to work out at the gym: Physical well-being, respectable appearance, positive mental state, and a satisfying social connection. I believe that when these four keys are obtained people become more confident, energetic, fun, alert, optimistic, happy, and most of all….HEALTHY!

One final tip. Besides just striving for the four main things I discussed, make sure to have a couple of personal motivators to help you always make it to the gym and work out hard. My list includes items that we should all want but each one of us has our own personal goals that we strive for. Work those into your desire for hitting the gym hard and you should never feel “too tired” or “too busy” again. Don’t Blink.

The Griz Intern Social Media Contest

Posted on February 19, 2013 by brent

One thing I have mentioned before that I covet about my job is having the opportunity to work with a group of 8-10 college students who serve as interns in the Marketing Department of Grizzly Athletics. I utilize our interns heavily when it comes to our social media program. However, even though many people equate social media with the word “fun”, I have to admit that much of what I have them do for me doesn’t constitute fun at all. Basically, I have them do a lot of adding, inviting, and deleting. Because of the monotonous and boring tasks I put them through, I try to give them at least one opportunity to let their creative juices flow and let them shine within Griz Social Media.

Christie and I with several of this year’s interns

For the second year in a row, I have instituted the Griz Intern Picture Challenge. To put it simply, this is a contest where our interns each submit one Griz related picture and battle it out for the most “likes” on our official Montana Grizzlies Facebook page.

That is the simple description of the contest. Of course there is so much more to it…….well, not really.

I presented the contest at our weekly intern meeting a week ago last Monday. I laid down the rules and told them that they had a week to brainstorm, capture, and then send me a picture that in some way relates to Grizzly Athletics. Because yesterday was President’s Day, I made the deadline today. Now that I have all the pictures in my possession, the fun can really begin.

Each weekday starting from today through the end of next week during the time period of 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., I will feature one of the intern’s photos on the Montana Grizzlies page, under the Montana Grizzlies name. From the exact time that I post each photo, that particular image will have exactly twenty-four hours to accrue the most “likes” possible. For example, I posted the first picture of the contest at 4:08 p.m. today. The picture is eligible to receive countable “likes” up until 4:08 p.m. on February 20. The second the deadline hits, I will record the total amount of “likes’ for that photo and that will count as the intern’s score.

This was the picture submitted by my intern Gianna. I ran this one today at 4:08 p.m. on our Facebook page.

Yesterday I randomly drew the order of when each intern will have his/her picture posted. Yes, everyone knows that some days and exact times of posting are more advantageous than others. My interns also know that news at the intercollegiate level breaks unpredictably and can result in a picture getting drowned out on the Facebook page immediately, even if it was only the lead story for fifteen minutes. So naturally some pictures will be in more of a position to succeed than others but it is just the luck of the draw and the nature of the contest.

Our Montana Grizzlies Facebook page has close to 80,000 likes. We have the most successful Facebook page at the FCS level and we beat out numerous other schools in the BCS ranks. None of the fans of our page know that the contest is going on. They simply will just see nice, creative pictures displayed around the same time for the next several days. If they like them, they will actually “like” them with the click of a mouse or a tap of a finger/thumb and participate in the contest unknowingly. Of course I encourage my interns to campaign for their pictures amongst their friends and family so I guess in that respect people outside our intern circle will get to know about the contest.

On Friday, March 8, the winner of the contest will be announced via our closed Griz Marketing Facebook group. The big prize for the winner? Free school for the duration of their education at UM? Full time job in our department? A special place in our Hall of Champions? No, no, and no. I will award the intern whose picture garners the most “likes” with a gift card to the restaurant of his/her choice. Definitely a small prize but at least it is something to strive for. After all, the biggest draw of this whole contest is just the opportunity to get one’s own photography up on a medium for thousands of people to see.

Last year, Steph won the competition. She chose a gift card to Iron Horse as her prize.

Of course I consider Griz Social Media the biggest winner in this whole ordeal. Fans love to see pictures, especially well-taken pictures that are creative and that take them behind the scenes. This contest feeds them for eight days. As everyone knows I LOVE to take pictures and I love to share many of the ones I take for Grizzly Athletics on our social media channels. However, I have a certain style. In life it is good to switch up techniques every once in a while and get a fresh take. That is what makes this contest so valuable. It is not my work…it is the work of the interns. Fans get to see a different angle besides the one that is coming from me or the one that is coming from our university photographer. True, some interns submitted better pictures than others but I guess that is not even for me to decide, it is rather a decision for Griz Nation.

I invite you all to follow the Griz Intern Picture Challenge the rest of this week and all of next week through the official Facebook page of Grizzly Athletics. Enjoy the photos and make sure to “like” the ones that you feel are deserving. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Author Archives: brent