An Upgrade I Probably Need to Make

Posted on January 4, 2014 by brent

I admit that I am a pretty easy target. It goes without saying that when you are as big of a nerd as I am, friends and family will joke freely at your expense. I get this and take it in stride, sometimes even considering the good-natured tough time I am given as flattery. With the help of social media, something that I own that my friends like to make fun of me for has gained some traction.

I own one television. While it is not a black and white rabbit ears set, it is not a 60 inch plasma TV either. The television I own is a 27 inch Sony Trinitron, a relic I bought in the dorms over seven years ago for $100. I purchased it from someone who lived on the same floor as me and at the time after the transaction I thought I had a movie theater screen in my room. I used the TV through my whole college career and continued to use it as I entered the professional workforce as well. It has traveled with me to each different place I have lived. With 2014 here, I still have it set up front and center in my living room.

Here is my famous Sony Trinitron television set I have owned for over seven years.

I have come to grips with that fact that it is nearing the end. The picture has become increasingly grainy. Frequently I have to go behind the big box set (who needs a flat screen?) and fiddle with a cord to make it viewable. It is not accessible with many of the new appliances and systems out there. Compared to what has been out on the market for the past five years, it looks like an oversized antique.

But do I care? Not really.

The same can’t be said for my guests. When I have people over, they can’t get past the “ancient” box sitting in front of them. Looking at me with a confused and slightly agitated look they will exclaim something along the lines of “Are you serious?!” I usually will just tell them the standard response I have down by memory: You know, I don’t put a lot of weight on material possessions and I don’t watch that much TV to begin with except for sports.

Me in front of my scrutinized TV.

That response only gets me so far though. My friends will then counter with the belief that the only way to watch sports on television is through a large high definition plasma screen. They will then twist the knife even more by saying that someone like me who works in athletics for a living and who only watches sports has absolutely no excuse to view the action through a TV that looks like it came out of a dumpster.

My friend Shaun Rainey called me out via Twitter on my TV when he came over to watch football.

A year ago my response to my “But do I care?” question about my underwhelming television would be a big, fat “NO”. But as you see from my response above, it has changed to a “not really”. Because my TV is actually starting to malfunction a little bit and because of the pressure I have received from guests, I am going to start looking to upgrade. I think the time has come. In the end what it all comes down to is the comfort level for the people I invite over. Although I know I will love the new TV I end up purchasing, I honestly could live with the one I have for another ten years. But I want to keep my friends coming over to my place. I don’t want them to not enjoy hanging out at my apartment because my television falls well below their standards. When I am entertaining, I want to make the experience of my guests the best possible and if that means getting with the times by purchasing a new television, it will be worth it.

So, I ask you all: What type of new television should I go for? Where should I buy it from? Any special info you have on good deals? Any help would be much appreciated and if you do offer me some good tips, you can expect an invitation to enjoy a game with me on my nice, new TV. Don’t Blink.

What Kills an Organization’s Social Media Program

Posted on January 3, 2014 by brent

On this blog I have become quite outspoken against plastering the same piece of content across multiple social media platforms. However, much of my scorn on this lame practice had been directed on an individual basis. You know, I was mostly talking to my friend who would post the exact same photo with the exact same caption with the exact same hash tags of her new shoes across four different social networks. Or I was talking to the guy who I don’t even know why I am following who pressed a button and sent his No Shave November mustache simultaneously to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then, just to be extra annoying he decided to Snap Chat it to everyone on his list as well.

I have called these people out enough. You are annoying, you are unoriginal, and you are lazy. You also lack complete understanding of how individual social media services work. But you know what? There are more severe violators out there besides my old high school classmate, my college lab partner, and my friend who works at Starbucks. There are users out there who sin far greater when it comes to duplicating content across social mediums than just everyday people who want to do social media their own way and could care less what I think. I am talking more about people who should know better and who have much larger audiences in the social world.

Tonight I am talking about people and groups who direct organizational social media programs.

Because I am tasked with running the social media program for Grizzly Athletics, I naturally look at many other official athletic department pages/accounts around the country just to get a better idea of what others are doing and to learn from them. I also look at official pages of my favorite brands, restaurants, and organizations to once again get a gage of what works and what people are doing to engage their fans/customers/clients. Many of these entities have powerhouse and pristine social media programs that use each of their various outlets in a creative way to engage, inform, and inspire their target audience. Others, however, miss the boat.

Would you believe me if I told you that I regularly see entities that send out the same filtered photo or the exact same update to every single social media service they work with? I always have a tough time wrapping my mind around this flawed practice just because in this day and age new media marketing/information sharing is king. Fans and customers are heavily involved and entrenched in social media and they want to be stimulated with fresh and creative content. This legitimate desire is not satisfied for a fan when he goes through the social media pages of his alma matter’s athletic department and observes that the made for Instagram photo with three different filters is posted on the Facebook page and sent out via Twitter. Or the desire is not satisfied when a Facebook graphic is cropped and crunched into an Instagram photo. Or the thirst is not quenched when Twitter updates loaded with hash tags and topped off with Hootsuite shortened links dominate the Facebook page. Yuck!!

It is absolutely critical that companies hire social media professionals who don’t take shortcuts and who understand the importance of diversifying content across different mediums. Social media users who are passionate about a team or brand will follow it via all its different social channels because they want every connection and piece of information they can get. However, when they start to see that what is posted on Facebook is also posted on Instagram and what is posted on Twitter is posted on Facebook they will stop following the majority of an organization’s social media channels. And how can you blame them?

We have to realize that each social media service is unique. They don’t fall exactly in line with one another. The way we present and report to fans must be different across each outlet. Dedicated and effective social media marketers will flat out buck up and spend the extra time it takes to customize and capture extra content to provide their audience with originality. This means taking triple the amount of photos while covering an event, logging individually in to each social media outlet rather than using a third party posting service , spending the time to create different graphics, and devoting care to composing posts that are specific and appropriate to each unique outlet.

Of course consistency must shine through the originality as well. The best social media marketers have no problem sharing unique content across all different channels while at the same time making sure the Instagram piece reflects the Facebook piece and the Twitter piece reflects the Instagram piece (and so on…). Obviously when our football team stages an amazing comeback victory I am sharing the same adversity-defying story across all of our Griz social outlets but I am just doing it with different images, videos, and words depending on the service. Or when we have breaking news I am usually directing fans from our social outlets to www.gogriz.com where a press release with more info can be found but before I do that I am giving them the basic information in an appropriate manner based on what social media service they are on.

Social media is complex. With the complexity comes infinite ways to reach out to fans/customers like never before. To sacrifice these opportunities by taking a lazy and/or uncreative way out is extremely damaging to an athletic department, brand, organization, etc. Diversity across social outlets is key. If you don’t believe me, look no further than some of the entities out there that use duplicate posting across multiple social channels and then take a look at the engagement they get and the follower numbers they have. You will see what I mean. Don’t Blink.

The Method to How I Check Facebook, Instagram, and Snap Chat

Posted on January 2, 2014 by brent

Many times my friends will question me like this: “Hey! Have you looked at the Snap I sent you yet?” Or “Why haven’t you responded on Facebook?” Or sometimes “Did you see what _______ posted underneath your Instagram photo?”

I get these types of inquiries so much that I basically respond with my standard text of “Sorry, let me go look real fast.” I then open up whatever social media service I have unfinished business on, look/respond/delete whatever issue my friend alerted me to, and then follow up with them via another text.

Many of you might be surprised to know this about me, but I don’t subscribe to Facebook, Instagram, or Snap Chat iPhone notifications on my personal accounts. For my readers out there without iPhones that means I don’t get alerted, buzzed, or notified when someone interacts with me (i.e. likes/tags/messages/etc.) on these services. Additionally, on the menu pages of my iPhone I don’t have little numbers at the corners of the icons telling me how many notifications I have.

Now I know this might come as a shock to some of you considering I work very closely with and I have a strong passion for social media but let me just quickly explain and I am sure you will understand.

Handling social media for Grizzly Athletics is a 24/7 job all in itself. Besides posting intriguing content and giving our fans access they can’t get anywhere else, I also have to serve as the best customer service rep possible. In order to do that, I make sure to answer the numerous inquiries from fans we receive on a daily basis through all of our social media outlets. Because this is the job I get paid to do, Griz fans will get a quicker response from me than my Facebook friends will. To minimize a complete overload, I turn off my personal notifications while keeping my work related notifications on.

Secondly, I kind of like the element of surprise when I open up my Facebook, Instagram, or Snap Chat account. Although I do without external notifications, I do get a bit of a thrill when I get the notifications inside the service itself. Call me weird, but I like guessing how many (if any) notifications I will have. It is fun opening up Facebook and seeing that you have a couple friend requests, a few messages, and six notifications. Conversely, it is disappointing when I log in after a half day and have nothing. But I much prefer getting my interactions all at once after a little time has passed rather than getting notified about each single one in real time via text alerts and notifications on my iPhone menu.

Just a couple points. During the work day
I am obviously logged on Facebook the whole time from my desktop office computer so I do receive my personal stuff up to the second during those hours. I don’t want to make it seem like I am completely disconnected from my personal Facebook page when in reality I am on it very consistently during the day. Also, I do receive all Twitter notifications (replies, mentions, direct messages, and even tweets of others) directly to my phone. Twitter is a service that I feel is both manageable and important for me to keep tabs on 24/7 from a personal level so I am constantly engaged with it.

So if you see that I haven’t opened your Snap or you don’t know why I haven’t responded to your Instagram post within the first couple minutes, don’t take it personally. I will get to it eventually, with 99% of the time it being sooner rather than later. Sometimes even a person obsessed with social media has to take small measures to keep himself sane. Don’t Blink.

One Simple New Year’s Resolution for Social Media

Posted on January 1, 2014 by brent

Last night I breezed through Facebook and Instagram and read many statuses from my friends summarizing 2013. First thing I noticed? I think more people should take up a blog like me! Numerous friends of mine composed novels about this past year on social media. Both Facebook and Instagram seemed to have never ending block paragraphs about 2013. The second thing I noticed? It seemed like a high percentage of the people I connect with on these social outlets had a pretty miserable year. Many friends shook their fists at 2013 and held nothing back regarding their joy that the end of the calendar year was very near.

With this last slew of negative posts and with 2014 now upon us, it has inspired me to offer a special new year’s resolution for all of us regarding social media: Be positive. In 2014, I think we should strive to post much more positively on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Let’s resist the urge to criticize, whine, complain, cry out, and hold pity parties.

First off and most importantly, this resolution is worth striving for on an individual basis. If we feel crummy and angry, I think posting about it on social media just magnifies these feelings. It makes us dwell on unpleasant circumstances. Now I know some might say that airing out your every emotion can serve a therapeutic purpose but I call hogwash on that theory when directly applying to social media. Using no filter to freely list our shortcomings, insecurities, and disappointments is very counterproductive. Not only does it drive home the bad feelings we are experiencing even more, it portrays us as unconfident and weak to others. I strongly encourage a journal or a trusting friend to serve as your venting outlet.

Secondly, this resolution is worth striving for on a communal basis as well. Let’s face it, when there is a negative person in a work place or on a team, it impacts everyone. Same goes for online groups as well. Many of us do so much to make sure our own personal psyche is right, the last thing we need is to let the outside negativity of others get in our heads. Even if we don’t directly notice it, depressing and angry posts can subconsciously sidetrack us. As a courtesy to others, we really should do all we can to cut down on producing negative social media content.

Just because I am challenging all of us to cut down on social media negativity, I am not advocating that everyone should post five overly happy Facebook posts and send out ten “high on life” tweets a day. Those people can be just as annoying as the negative users. I am just saying that if you want to post something and you can choose between a negative experience or a positive experience, go with the positive experience. If you only have a negative experience, refrain from posting.

Regarding daily life in general, we should all strive to be more positive in 2014. Obviously this will trickle down and reflect in our social media activity. But if we can’t reach that goal right away, let’s start small with social media. Let’s do ourselves and others a big favor and cut out the negativity when posting to our favorite social outlets. It will make a difference. Don’t Blink.

Looking at 2013 in the Right Perspective

Posted on December 31, 2013 by brent

Last night I sat down and downloaded Statigram, the app that generates the “year in review” videos that are the most popular thing on Instagram right now. I gave the app my info and via my top ranked Instagram photos it generated the most disappointing narration of my year ever. In five crummy pictures my 2013 was summed up by two pictures of different girls with different dogs (I don’t like dogs), an image of a tree (I am not much of a nature person), a terrible photo of myself giving an interview to a news organization (embarrassing), and lastly an actual cool photo of fireworks going off in our arena. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed.

After thinking about it for a couple minutes I decided that I was not going to let that corny video define my year, even just in an Instagram sense. Instead, I turned to Flipagram and merged together seventy of my happiest, coolest, and most memorable photos from 2013 into a fifteen second Instagram video set to a song that means a lot to me. It made me feel a lot better about how I was ending 2013 on my favorite social media service.

I made sure to make a deserving video for my Instagram year in review.

The way I evaluated my year on a social media level corresponded to how I evaluated my year on a general level as well. In 2013 I came head-to-head with some disappointments. I lost out on a couple opportunities that I probably think about too much. I allocated too much of my time to some people and not enough to others. I had a few bad days. But in the same way that I allowed my Flipagram video to trounce my Statigram video, I have willingly let my good times in 2013 dramatically overshadow the subpar times. In 2013 I experienced a lot of joy. I laughed a lot. I made new friends. I woke up motivated and hungry every day. I grew as a person. My family had a safe and healthy year. I had a great twelve months working for Grizzly Athletics.

I mean really, what more could I ask for?

I will remember March 16, 2013 for the rest of my life. We sent both our basketball teams to the Big Dance under the same roof just a few hours apart.

In 2013 I got to take some nice vacations in Boston, Las Vegas, and Orlando. I got to see a couple great concerts. I attended some pretty sweet professional sporting events. I dined at the nicest restaurant I have ever eaten at in my life. While these times were cool and are nice little notches in my 2013 belt, they don’t highlight my year. Rather, a day like July 5 where I spent a sun drenched, action packed day in Walla Walla, Washington, with my family mean more to me. Or the day of March 16 where both our men’s and women’s basketball teams punched tickets to the NCAA Tournament under the same roof just hours apart stick out more. Or the week I just experienced in Spokane where I got to put everything aside and just be myself around my loved ones will always scream “2013” more than any vacation or concert.

Quite possibly July 5 in Walla Walla with my family was my best day in 2013.

If you find yourself sorrowing over 2013 try to think about the good things that did happen. Even those of us who had a truly rotten year can find a few positives. Try to focus on those moments until the clock hits midnight this evening. Then wipe the slate clean and pour 100% of your energy into making 2014 the best ever. Thank you for making 2013 a GREAT year for Don’t Blink. I wish all of you a very prosperous new year. Cherish every second of it. Don’t Blink.

Spending Christmas Eve Waiting in Line

Posted on December 30, 2013 by brent

I did a good portion of my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve this year. Mind you I did start early in the morning. By around 2 p.m. I had completed almost all of my shopping and I headed off to Northtown Mall (yes, that Northtown Mall) to meet my friend Jessie who also waited to the last second to purchase the remainder of her holiday gifts. With our shopping lists taken care of, we casually strolled around the mall taking in the last hour blitz.

To be completely honest, the mall was not in a frenzy. Anarchy had not broken out. Rather, it seemed very tame and dense as we walked through the center. Of course there was one exception.

We made our way to the upper level of the mall and looked over one of the balconies. We casted our eyes downward and caught a glimpse of what some may call a depressing sight. A line stretched completely around the large North Pole/100 foot Christmas tree display and down a significant stretch of the mall not even in the vicinity of the winter wonderland. Of course this windy, stretched line of adults and children existed because they wanted to get their picture taken with the Fat Guy. At the forefront of the North Pole display sat Santa Claus in his big red throne surrounded by a couple of photographers with those multi colored dust brushes. The line seemed to be moving at an agonizing slow rate.

A small portion of the line. Sorry for the terrible quality. I had to capture it from an Instagram video.

Excuse me, but why would all those people choose to get their picture taken with Santa on CHRISTMAS EVE and why would they insist on standing in that line when the wait was probably at the very least TWO HOURS?

This was the point where everyone wanted to get to. Again, I apologize for the photo quality.

Now I know you sense complete hypocrisy as I type out these words. I of course was out on Christmas Eve myself. I decided to procrastinate until the very last minute that ultimately led me to the exact same place that all of those people in line were. Yeah, I am not proud of myself. But I don’t think things are exactly the same.

I got home well before festivities started. I never wasted any of my time standing idly in line.

Why wouldn’t you get your family Christmas photo with Santa well in advance of Christmas Eve? Isn’t the point to show off and send out your photos to others before the new year actually hits? Or isn’t it the goal to let your children see Santa at the very least three weeks before Christmas so you have ample time to use leverage against them to be on their best behavior? Or wouldn’t you want to go earlier in the month so you can help perpetrate the myth of Santa Claus to your kids just a little more? I mean come on, most youngsters have the sense to realize that Santa can’t possibly afford to sit in the middle of a mall in Spokane, Washington, at 3 p.m. PT on Christmas Eve.

But most of all, why would you want to spend multiple hours of your time in a line during the late hours of the afternoon on Christmas Eve? I guarantee that half of the poor souls I saw waiting to see Santa were still waiting in line while I attended Christmas Eve mass with my family. I don’t do well in lines. I definitely don’t do well in lines when I could be out celebrating one of the most joyous holidays on the calendar.

A couple days after Christmas I sat in Santa’s throne in Northtown Mall.

However, I definitely know that I could be missing something. I mean heck, out of all the mall trips I took during the holiday season, nothing compared to the one I saw on Christmas Eve. A reason must exist for why people freely sacrifice their holiday to stand around a cheaply manufactured holiday display in a halfway abandoned mall for hours on end…right?

Is it because of tradition? Is it because of the magic? Is it because people want to stay away as long as they can before they have to go over to their relatives’ house? I know I am assuming a lot so if I am in fact way off and narrow minded please enlighten me.

To each his own! I know I will probably hear some answers that will put me in my place. For all I know, Santa Claus might very well be real and he just so happens to take up residence at Northtown Mall while giving everyone who visits him on Christmas Eve lavish gifts and winning Mega Millions tickets. If so, I might find myself in line next year. Don’t Blink.

Christmas 2013: A Wonderful Week Off

Posted on December 29, 2013 by brent

As I sit here in my Missoula apartment fresh off of one full week in Spokane for the holidays, I feel very rejuvenated. Last Sunday I got in my car and drove west for a nice vacation in my hometown. Earlier today I made the trek back here. As with any fun and fulfilling getaway from the grind, time seemed to travel extremely fast and many memories were made.

I was as jolly as St. Nick the whole time I was in Spokane.

I am so incredibly thankful for how our schedule at work figured itself out this year. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, we had no home athletic events around the two holidays. This allowed me to take extended breaks during the weeks of both holidays, something I had never gotten to do while working for Grizzly Athletics. In fact, I had never taken a whole week off from work ever, so to have that luxury was nice, relaxing, liberating, and even a little bit weird! But most importantly, it was so incredibly worth it.

How did you spend most of your Christmas week? Well, I caught up with my family. Hours were spent in my parents’ living room around the Christmas tree and fire place. Even if we weren’t talking, you would still find all of us in that living room. My brother would be texting, my sister would be Snap Chatting, my mom would be playing Candy Crush, I would be on my phone, and my dad would be getting irritated. But trust me, we devoted more time to chatting than to playing with our electronics.

Had such a nice time hanging out with my brother and sister. This was my first night in Spokane at Flamin’ Joes

How else did you spend your Christmas week? I ate. And I ate. And I ate some more. Of course the crowning moment of my week long feast came right in the middle of it with our Christmas dinner on Wednesday. My mom made an exquisite prime rib meal complete with pasta, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and more. It was heavenly. But sandwiched between that were about 200,000 calories on both sides. Besides the constant snacking on Christmas treats around the house we made Spokane restaurants very happy with our patronage. I dined at Flamin’ Joes, Boiler Room, Hop Jacks, Waddell’s, Moon’s Mongolian Grill, Panda Express, and even Taco Bell. My mom also managed to make a chicken fettuccine dinner and her classic biscuits and gravy breakfast. Did I also mention that I took my first ever week long hiatus from working out since middle school? Yeah, tomorrow’s gym session should be great.

Our Christmas dinner was amazing!

Anything else besides chatting and eating? Well of course…I slept! Probably the main reason why I feel so rejuvenated is because I enjoyed some of the best sleep I have gotten in a long time. I haven’t known what “eight hours” was since I started college so to actually sleep from midnight to 8 a.m. most of the nights in Spokane felt amazing. It wasn’t like this was choppy sleep either. I slept like a baby in the guest room at my parents’ house and woke up energized and happy each morning.

That’s all you did with your week off? Lame! Not so fast! I did have a little bit of fun. Besides my lovely family, I got to hang out with some of my friends. I enjoyed the company of my remaining friends from high school who still reside in Spokane. I got to hang with a couple friends who I met going to college who now work in Spokane. I got to enjoy lunch with a friend who I met in Missoula about a year and a half ago but has since moved away to Denver but was in Spokane for the holidays with her family just like me. I also got to hang a couple times with my good friend Jessie who I coincidently met on the Las Vegas strip a couple years back. She now lives in Seattle but her family is in Spokane.

Kind of an uneventful week off, wouldn’t you say? Well, I guess so. But I neglected to mention the little things. You know, like playing Nintendo 64 with my brother. Or going to the meat market in a sketchy area of Spokane with my mom. Or playing with my sister’s adorable kitten. Or going up to a random stranger’s house in my Santa outfit and taking a picture in her lawn. Or going to see “American Hustle” and “Grudge Match”. Or watching football games with my dad and brother. Or walking into a zombie donut shop. Or attending a couple of beautiful church services. Or playing in a poker tournament. Or tying my brother in black light miniature golf. Or spending 60 tokens on arcade games. Or visiting my dad at work. Or driving around looking at Christmas lights. Or eating ice cream and watching a movie at home with my parents. Or just taking the time to realize that I do have a life outside of work.

It was a very nice week with family and friends.

This past week was just what the doctor ordered. I will remember Christmas 2013 for a long time, especially that feeling I had of complete freedom. It was all about family and friends, for the most part I didn’t let any stress into my life. I absolutely love what I do for a living but sometimes it is important to take a step back and celebrate what matters the most, especially during the best time of the year. Merry Christmas! Don’t Blink.

Holiday Season at the Movies

Posted on December 27, 2013 by brent

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas. Currently I am still in Spokane on vacation as I enjoy time with my family.

Speaking of enjoying time with the family, when us Resers are together we like nothing more than to go to the movies. This holiday season has proved no different as I have watched two movies in two nights with my loved ones at the neighborhood theater. Writing as a movie critic is definitely not my forte and I am definitely not qualified to do it, so please consider the explanations below as just a brief guide from a biased male movie-goer. I want to just provide what I thought of the movie and maybe make your decision easier on if you want to see it or not.

“American Hustle”: On Christmas evening my family winded down from the day’s festivities by watching “American Hustle”, a movie with a star loaded cast about a couple of con people who get caught conducting one of their schemes by a FBI agent during a sting. In order to avoid severe sentences, the con people (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) must participate in a much bigger, more elaborate sting operation orchestrated by the FBI agent (Bradley Cooper).

“American Hustle” definitely has its slow parts. By no means was I hanging onto my seat wondering what would happen next. In fact, the ending is quite predictable. But, even though the movie is slow and even though it is predictable, the plot is still good. What sets this movie apart though is the acting. The performances put on by Cooper, Adams, and especially Bale, are superb. Jennifer Lawrence also plays a big role in the movie and provides stellar acting as well while also being very easy on the eyes. Robert Deniro also appears in the movie.

I would recommend the movie to most adult audiences who want to watch a sophisticated crime drama containing the best acting talent available in 2013. My attention span is not always the best so many might not even think it was as slow as I made it out to be.

“Grudge Match”: Yesterday my brother and I returned to the theater to watch a movie that he had anticipated the release of for quite some time. Starring Slyvester Stallone and Robert Deniro, “Grudge Match” chronicles the build up and bout of two aging rivals who last fought 30 years ago. The rivalry came to an abrupt halt before the rubber match of the series could be staged. However, with money and unfinished business playing a role, both fighters agree to put the gloves on for one last time and settle the rivalry for good.

I actually really enjoyed this movie. I personally found Stallone and Deniro hilarious throughout the whole production. There is a great scene where the two make fun of mixed martial arts and another pretty good scene when the two parachute. Besides the funny scenes, the culminating boxing match scene is very good as well. The boxing itself is well done but the sportsmanship at the fight’s culmination is very heartwarming. Both of the men’s trainers, Alan Arkin for Stallone and Jon Bernthal for Deniro play solid roles. If you are anything like me, you will get very annoyed with Kevin Hart who serves as the over anxious promoter.

I know there are a lot of Stallone haters out there so I definitely wouldn’t recommend this movie to those people. However, I would recommend “Grudge Match” to most others. It is an easy going movie with lots of laughs, a great ending, and two iconic actors bringing the best out of each other.

——–

Lately I have had bad luck with movies so it was refreshing to watch two movies in a row that I actually enjoyed. I hope that all of you get to the theater this holiday season and see something you like! Don’t Blink.

Mixed Feelings on Mega Millions

Posted on December 19, 2013 by brent

Earlier this week the nation got wrapped up in the second biggest Mega Millions jackpot in history. With $636 million at stake, lottery fever infected many of my friends and family. No matter what I did, I couldn’t escape the constant media coverage about the outrageous amount of money up for grabs.

I don’t play the lottery. I take one look at the 1 in 258.9 million odds and don’t even bother. I don’t need to be told the unrealistic, crazy, outlandish events that are more likely to happen to me than winning Mega Millions. That 1 in 258.9 million line stands alone. Enough said.

Don’t be offended by me if you get excited by playing the lottery but I find games like Mega Millions incredibly boring. You purchase a ticket, let it collect dust for a couple days, and then check your phone or newspaper to see if you won. Many times the numbers you chose aren’t even in the same solar system as the winning numbers. Quite often, there isn’t even a winning ticket sold. Why try to win a prize when there is a good shot that the prize won’t even be awarded?

I have people close to me who have defied the odds and actually won jackpots. My brother won a $25,000 jackpot on a card game (and managed to squander it all in about a year) and my great uncle once won a sizeable chunk of cash in a local and much smaller lottery game. But these events don’t entice me at all to play Mega Millions. I think with my brother and uncle already collecting on large sums of money and beating the odds, they have removed any and all chances that anyone in my bloodline will ever get lucky again. Besides, the odds that my brother and uncle overcame pale in comparison to what it would take to win Mega Millions. I am pretty sure that the chances are greater for them to win their respective jackpots fifteen more times in 2014 on the same fifteen days of that year than the chances are of ever producing the winning Mega Millions ticket. And by the way, my great uncle is dead.

I don’t understand why people will wait in long lines for hours on end to purchase these tickets either. Or I don’t understand why people pull their hair out trying to come up with the numbers they will choose. Or I don’t understand why people throw away $100 on something that is less likely to happen than getting struck by lightning four different times in a day.

However, I must admit that this week I actually heard a sane reason for purchasing a Mega Millions lottery ticket. While watching a news report they talked to a lady who walked up to a convenient store counter and simply purchased a ticket. She wasn’t wearing a ridiculous lucky hat, she didn’t spend her whole paycheck, and she didn’t harass the worker on if the ticket would be a winner or not. She was just a normal person participating in Mega Millions. When the reporter asked her why she plays, she responded in this way:

“Because it lets me dream.”

You know what? I can live with that. I can understand that. To close your eyes and to think about winning that jackpot or to make the time go faster while traveling this holiday season and think about what you would do with $600+ million dollars is legitimate. It is a fun fantasy and a good way to escape. Even though I am still too cheap and realistic to fork over the cash for a ticket, I would say that the $1 price that people pay to dream is worth it. There are too many negative things in this world that we can allow to overtake our minds. Even though it is the long shot of all long shots, I can’t overly criticize something that gives someone else a little bit of relief from the rigors of life. Don’t Blink.

The Rivalry: Seahawks vs. 49ers

Posted on December 18, 2013 by brent

Today it came to light that San Francisco 49ers fans raised over $9,000 to put up a billboard in downtown Seattle highlighting the team’s past Super Bowl success while reminding Seahawks fans of their lack of such success. This move by the fans of the 49ers came in response to an earlier stunt pulled by Seahawks fans where they paid to have a plane with a 12th Man banner fly over Candlestick Park before a San Francisco game. Seahawks fans also bought a commemorative brick at the new Niners stadium.

Come on, what these fan bases are doing is over the top. It is childish. It is a waste. It is desperate. It is unsportsmanlike. It is GREAT.

I don’t know if people on the other side of the country have taken notice or can feel it, but the Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers rivalry has blown up into a legitimate, big time, heated hate fest over just the course of a couple years. I don’t even live in Washington or California or even inside the route it takes to get from Seattle to San Francisco but I can definitely feel the intensity and disgust between the two sides.

I guess I shouldn’t make myself out to be someone who is so disconnected from the rivalry. I have been a Seattle Seahawks fan my whole life. I am from Washington State. I have lots of friends who are Seahawks fans and who post about it on social media every single Sunday to remind me. I also have many friends who are San Francisco 49ers fans as well, especially quite a few who live here in Missoula. I guess my point was that even though I don’t live in a team’s territory or even though I don’t go to Seahawks or 49ers games or even though I don’t spend my free time coming up with clever memes to bash the other team, I can still feel the heat of the rivalry.

You bet I am a Seattle Seahawks fan!

In my lifetime I haven’t seen a rivalry involving a Pacific Northwest professional team that has as much passion and venom as the Hawks-Niners. It is insane. It works perfectly though. Both teams are fantastic. Both teams are in the same division. Both teams hate each other. It also helps that each squad has a young, exciting, and superb quarterback leading the charge…quarterback debates about who is better always adds fuel to a rivalry. It is not necessarily a bad thing either that Jim Harbaugh is such a dislikable guy. You can always loathe a team more when the guy in charge is a jerk (not my words, just the opinion of your typical Seahawks super fan). Conversely, Niners fans have reason to wish nothing but bad things for an opposing fan base that pretty much thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread. Even if the rivalry is relatively new, there is no denying its existence as the most relevant and competitive one in the NFL right now.

I love it that the players from the opposing teams genuinely despise each other and I love it that fans are going back and forth pulling off stunts to one up the other but there is one thing that turns me off a little bit about the rivalry: The way fans act on social media. I can’t believe all the nasty, low blow, classless things that both my friends who are Hawks fans and Niners fans post on Facebook about the opposing team. A week and a half ago when the two teams played I looked in shock at some of the repulsive things that were typed out and posted. If I took a screen shot of some of the stuff my friends put up and showed it to potential future employers they would never be hired again in their lives.

Okay, I got to tell the truth: It really doesn’t bother me at all, I actually love all the social media back-and-forth!!

Here’s to hoping that both teams remain good for many years to come and that this rivalry continues. It is just fun and good for both fan bases, especially the one in Seattle that has not seen a major professional sports championship since the 1970’s (exception for the Seattle Storm). Here’s also to hoping that the two teams meet in the playoffs and that the Seahawks kick the crap out of the 49ers…and that Jim Harbaugh cries. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser