And so a new blow to Cleveland is now in the record books...

It has been 14 hours since a dagger has been twisted in the back of Cavs fans but the wound is still deep. Our beloved "chosen one" has chosen another, as if he was the bachelor choosing the whore over America's favorite at the final rose ceremony. We are now left with feelings of anger, grief, and outright pain that has been illuminated by the light of the hundreds of burning number 23 jerseys. Cleveland fans are used to pain: we all know "the fumble", "the drive", "the shot", Jose Mesa, and countless other events that have slapped Cleveland sports fans in the face. But I can argue that none of these events will EVER top what happened last night. In a preconceived media spectacle, Cleveland's "king" went before the nation and announced "the betrayal". As soon as the words "South Beach" fled from Lebron James' mouth I could hear sighs and curse words all across Ohio, well, okay, maybe just across Quaker Steak and Lube. I can say without a doubt that in 50 years if I go back into that restaurant I will be able to look around the building and point out EXACTLY where I was standing when those words were announced as if it was happening all over again.

Though many teams were in the running and are disappointed about the decision, they will never feel the pain that Cleveland feels. Dan Gilbert even posted a statement about the decision, something he may or may not regret in the coming days. His words were the words that all Cleveland fans wanted to say, and were saying through social media. A trend I noticed with my friends and followers was that it wasn't so much THAT he left, it's HOW he left. This was just not a decision that every other free agent annoucned to ESPN through a simple fax or phone call but a pre-orchestrated public relations ploy that probably will be one of the highest rated shows in ESPN history. It was a flawless marketing scheme and we all bought into it. I, however, like to think of myself as better than that, and had I not been working, I would have saved my Nielsen number and waited for it to show up on Twitter.

I, like millions of others, was one of LeBron's biggest fans. Yes, I am a Cavs fan, but LeBron, to me, represented more than a team. He represented a city and I believed him to be one of the few athletes that put the game first, not their egos. In fact, my very first blog post was titled "58476521 reasons why LeBron won't leave Cleveland." I thought he knew how much he meant to the Cleveland area, not just for sports, but for the life he brought back into the city. With him gone, there goes even more of the economy of a city that was already coming into its slow demise.

As the 2009-2010 season ended for Cleveland two months ago, the talk became about where he would choose. The whole season we heard how the Knicks and the Nets were going to have loads of salary space and were the front-runners for LeBron, but when I started hearing about the Bulls, The Clippers, and The Heat wanting to make a plea for him, my first instinct was that if he doesn't stay in Cleveland, he would go with the Heat. After last night, I will, for the rest of my life, always trust my first instinct with every single decision I ever have to make. Most people, including those "expert analysts" on ESPN, only mentioned the Heat because of the salary space but never even considered it as an option for LBJ. It seemed crazy to people because the Heat is Dwayne Wade's team and there was no way he was going to sign with anyone else. Most people could have agreed that it would have been between New York, Cleveland, and Chicago because they thought they knew LBJ and the decisions that would be most important to him: choose the spotlight and the money in NYC with his pal Sean Carter, stay in his hometown and remain its savior, or take his chances to Chi-town and have his best option at a championship in 2011.

While all these seem like great ideas on paper, we must not forget who we are dealing with and that though he is a gifted athlete he cannot win a championship alone. Kobe couldn't do it alone and neither could Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, or anyboday else with multiple rings. Why would LeBron be any different? In the last 7 years he has been working hard to find someone who is up to his superstar caliber to get him the ring. The closest they got was in 07, but I like to believe that was just pure luck because they were severely underrated. Last season was the season. All of the puzzle pieces were in place. Anderson Varejao was a dominant force, Mo Williams was arguably the most improved player, Shaq brought in a whole new fan-base and experience, and Antawn Jamison was like that last piece that you swore was missing for good but you later found it underneath the coffee table and could smile when it finally completed the the board. But with the upset by Boston, it was like someone just came across and picked up the puzzle board and tossed it across the room. There was no rhyme or reason for it, it just happened and it would never be the same.

That loss was undoubtedly the last straw for LeBron. He now had to turn to himself and think what would be the best fit for him and that fit was Miami. Why did I think he would choose it? Well, it's simple: which other team was going to put him alongside another superstar? Definitely not the Nets or the Clippers. The Knicks? Probably not, even with the addition of Stoudemaire. Though he is an above-average player, he is nowhere near superstar status. The Cavs? most likely the same roster, but why would anyone with a heart quit on the team you have helped shape? The Bulls? probably the best option with the deepest bench, but would LeBron and Joakim Noah really have been able to play on the same team? I mean, has everyone forgotton about round one of the playoffs and all of the other meetings between the two? Having beef like that with someone just isn't going to change over night. The Heat? Perfect in his mind. Yes, they have no bench, and last time I checked Bosh is great, but he will always be a number two. But all LeBron is seeing is another number one player and that's all he's been looking for this whole time. If by some unheard of chance that Wade would have signed somewhere other than Miami, I would have picked that team to be the team LeBron goes (if he didn't stay in Cleveland, that is).

In Bill Simmons' column yesterday, he mentioned how a true competitior would want to play AGAINST someone like Dwayne Wade, not WITH him. I completely agree. LeBron could have convinced Wade to come to Cleveland and remained loyal to the city that is half the reason why he's such an icon. So what if Cleveland has winter? It's not like they actually have to drive themselves around in the snow. People do that for them. And since the majority of the season is in the winter, how much time do they really have to be doing extracurricular activities? But no, Wade got LeBron to come to his turf, which is a clear indication of how he is unquestionably the Alpha dog in this relationshp. LeBron is not finding HIS second guy, he has become the second guy. I don't care how good he is, Miami is NEVER going to throw Wade under the bus because Wade did not throw Miami under the bus like James did to Cleveland. LeBron is now a sell-out and, in my book, sell-outs are the ultimate losers. Becoming a sell-out is another way of saying one made a deal with the devil: these people always get burned.

Despite all my logic about how Miami would be the choice if it wasn't Cleveland, and how heartbreaking it may have seemed at the time, I still respected LeBron. That was until a few days ago when I heard about "The Decision". As soon as that news reached my ears, all of my respect for LeBron as a person went completely out the window. Every word I ever wrote about how he was loyal to his fans I will take back. He could have very well said he was staying, but he didn't and he said it in such a way that absolutely makes my toes curl. As a recent college graduate from a journalism program, I have, fresh in my brain, the textbook knowledge of how media is a business and business cannot be carried out without the media. No other athlete in the history of sports has decided to turn their free agency decision into an hour-long special that was disguised as a charity event. If LeBron wanted to donate to the Boys and Girls Club, he could have done that any other way. No, he decided that he was going to promote himself and completely dog an entire city on national TV. Michael Jordan would have never done that. Hell, Kobe would have never done that. This was by far the most egotistical display of entitlement that I have ever witnessed. And what hurts the most is that it was by someone who, two months ago, I never thought would have stooped so low.

I made the comment on my Facebook and Twitter that maybe LeBron should have taken note from the book of the Browns' Josh Cribbs on how to be loyal to your fans that have given you so much when it comes to these business decisions. One of my friends asked if I was referring to the same Josh Cribbs that publicly dissed the Browns organization. Yes, the same Josh Cribbs that dogged an organization that was not treating him fairly. It was the same stance that any employee would have made to their boss if they were not being properly rewarded for the above-average work they were putting in. Cribbs loves playing for the Browns and deserved to be paid more than what his contract orginally stated, just like when someone working for a corporate firm makes a badass deal and gets a promotion. He made it clear that he loves the fans and that none of his actions had to do with them. He never made a scene in front of national TV that he knew would hurt so many.

The other thing I learned most from all this besides trusting my instincts is that it is possible to change your opinion of someone overnight, just by one action, whether it be simple or extreme. Now that LeBron is out, Cleveland fans are saying how it is proof that Cleveland will always be Browns town. Football season isn't for another couple months, but I cannot wait. Cribbs might not completely realize it yet but he is now going to become the new face of the city. Let's just hope that our opinion of him will always remain one of respect.

Alumni status

Well friends, it has now been 10 days since graduation. Summer is officially here, and since this will be my second summer not on Lake Erie, it feels more like a work-fest with a little fun in between and absolutely no school work. Yet this summer is quite different for me because the past four were spent not only enjoying a break from class, but knowing that in September I would return to my fabulous life as a student at The Ohio State University. This summer, I face the reality that I am no longer an OSU student, I am an alumnus, and in a couple months I will go on to the next two years of my life as a graduate student at Kent State. Though northeastern Ohio is one of the last places I thought I would end up after getting a bachelor's degree, it was the only place that had an opportunity for me that everyone said I would be stupid to pass up. One of my friends said that it would be good for me because I wasn't ready to be done with school anyway. She's exactly right.

My last four years have hands down been the happiest time of my life. I had a childhood that was quite strange and abnormal so coming to Ohio State was my escape from the hardships and a gateway to what would become my ultimate happiness and strangely positive attitude. I experienced so much at OSU and every year was unique. Freshman year is what I will call "My learning year". This was the year I learned that it was okay to be myself and the people who truly care will be there for me no matter what. It was the year I made the majority of what will become my lifelong friends. And it was the year I learned what a broken heart feels like, in more ways than one. Not too mention, I became quite good at a variety of drinking games, and how to get courtesy rides from student safety services, a skill I would definitely use in the future.

Sophomore year is what I would call "the in between year". One could compare the sophomore year of college to the middle child in any family. Not really as respected as the oldest sibling but often overlooked because of the youngest. In this year, one is no longer a freshman so all the strict guidance by first year experience is gone, and freshman forgiveness does not carry over after 45 credit hours are completed. In the social aspect, because most sophomores aren't 21, yet have their own house/apartment, they resort to taking turns hosting massive house parties with ironic liability signs that read "Must be 21 to drink". These parties usually end up as some of the most epic nights for the respective hosts, as was the case with the parties thrown at my apartment. We had three of them and each one was full of strange sequences of events that none of us will forget. In addition, my sophomore year was the year that the blizzard of 08 took place, and my best friend and I decided to see how it feels to be in 20 degree weather wearing a swim suit. The biggest upside of this year though is that since it was stuck in the middle, we had already learned a year's worth of lessons about how we needed to act in college but did not need to really find out our purpose in the world for another year or so.

This brings me to junior year, which would probably be my best year of college. I had finally figured out that I wanted to do, which was, and still is, sports journalism, instead of my previous two ideas of investigative and political reporting. I loved having my criminology minor but my opinions are too strong about certain issues to remain unbiased in my reporting. I have my favorite teams, yes, but if I'm not writing an opinion column I think I do a pretty good job of not letting people know who my favorite team is. This was also the only year of college where all of my roommates got along, which is hard to believe since the house consisted of 7 girls. I love having roommates and this is the year that solidified why. But probably the best part of junior year was the long-awaited 21st birthday celebration. To top it off, mine was in Panama City (see my post "Back on the Boat" for details).

Finally, there was senior year, "the year I need to figure it out". I never actually did figure it all out, but at least I have a plan for after graduation. I did quite a few internships to make some great connections and get something other than countless serving jobs on my resume. I also managed to win a peer-pressure induced jello wrestling contest, which really was more like stick three girls in a pool of jello and see who could collect the most beads. I think the other two really wanted to fight each other. I just wanted to collect the beads and win the 50 bucks. Clearly my strategy was best, and less skanky.

Now that this is over, I feel a huge cloud of uncertainty over me. Yes, I'm going to grad school, but that wasn't in the plan until recently. Throughout my entire life my educational career was completely planned out and I knew exactly what I would be doing the following year. When I graduated from high school, I was so excited and ready to move on and away from my hometown. Ten days ago, I was sad and terrified to leave Columbus and ten days later, I still am.

As depressing as all this may be, I could also put a positive spin on the last week and a half. We could call this timeline of post graduation days 10 days of P90X because I jumped into the latest workout craze the day after I became an alumnus. I still have 80 days to go, but I already can feel my body changing into the healthiest state it's ever been in. I'm not the most unhealthy person; if it wasn't for the drinking and the drunk food and the dorm food from freshman year I probably would still be my high school weight. But I can honestly say that I never have really enjoyed a workout regimen and thought about sticking with it for so long until this.

In addition, in the last 10 days, well, actually, the last 14 days, many Americans have all of a sudden began to care about soccer (known as futbol in every other country). I've never minded watching the sport and I have a real respect for those that have the endurance to run up and down a field for as long as soccer players do. But, I have never been a die-hard fan and I'm not going to pretend I have. I understand the penalties and the positions, but I still can't quite understand the tie bracket and how they determine who moves on to future rounds if teams have so many draws. I often wonder how if there weren't ties in futbol maybe even more Americans would care about the sport and it would be as revered as "the big three" (football, basketball, and baseball). America is a nation prided on competition and there must be a true winner in life, ties are not an option.

We could also call this the 10 days where I still continue the shenanigans that I get myself into, as if I was still an undergraduate. Four years later, I managed to somehow still have the skills to pick up a courtesy ride from the otherwise appointment-only student safety services. And it's never a dull moment when I make an ass of myself in front of a political figure. Monday night I waited on a US senator from Maryland. I'm not going to say what his name was but he was clearly enjoying some down time and was supposed to be meeting up with Sen. Sherrod Brown (never showed) of Ohio. Why they chose Quaker Steak is beyond me and this guy was probably the most prominent figure to ever walk into The Lube (besides Terrell Pryor). The humiliation occured when I thought that Sherrod Brown was an Ohio senator when in fact he is the U.S. Senator representing Ohio. So much for being college educated, but at least I reconfirmed to myself why I switched to sports journalism. The only mistake I've made (so far) is accidentally tweeting something about USA/England when I was actually referring to USA/Slovenia. Oops.

So I guess since I walked through the Shoe with my diploma, it has started to sink in that graduation is not the end of my book and that I'm still the same person, it's just the end of what was so far the best chapter in the story of my life.

"If you're not first, you're last"

I was hoping my first blog post in a month would be a happy one about how the Cavaliers are moving on to face the Magic again, but as everyone knows, that's clearly not going to be the case. Like every other Cleveland fan, or any basketball fan for that matter, I watched in agony as the Cavs were upset by the lethargic Boston Celtics. I say lethargic because if you look back at their season, it was anything but one that makes you think "championship contender". But somehow, they either came back to life, or the Cavs just gave up. I'm going to go with the latter. It must suck to be LeBron right now, people comparing him to Michael Jordan and how he hasn't done as much in his first seven years that Jordan did, but, it could be worse: he could be Mike Brown. Apparently, as Sports Illustrated is reporting, The Cavaliers have fired Mike Brown. I totally called this. I remember telling someone last night that I would be shocked if he didn't get fired tomorrow. I can just take a wild guess at what was going through his head after last night's game: "I'm fucked." Or something along those lines. While most Cleveland fans are pointing the finger at Brown, me being one of them, I am also going to look past the basketball aspect and looking at the bigger picture: the city of Cleveland. This was seriously the last hope. And if LeBron leaves I won't be surprised if the city becomes another Atlantis and disapears in Lake Erie. Also, I will lose my faith in the fact that not all superstar athletes think in terms of dollar signs. Well, no, I take that back. I still have Josh Cribbs to believe in. I have already stated why LeBron won't leave but if he proves me wrong then I'll retract everything in that entire post. But I don't need to worry about that until July, so we're good.

So with all the talk on every sports source in the country, it's really got me thinking of how much emphasis society places on wealth that it even trickles into sports. I know that pro sports are a business and, like in any career, you want to capitalize your wealth, but why is it that the market is so limited to do so? I know that in big business, if you aren't in a big city you aren't really in the business at all, but in sports, there are franchises everywhere. Why do only LA, Boston, and NY continuously hog all the credit? I could write pages and pages about this but that would take all day. I just want to make the point how amazing how our country's political system has trickled down into every aspect of society, whether it's intended or not. I am blessed to have been raised in this democratic, captialistic nation, and by no means am I dissing it. Just think about it though: whether it's business, sports, and even relationships, everyone has to be the best. Ricky Bobby said it best: "If you're not first, you're last." We are taught that we must be in the most profitable careers, find a man that will buy us the best engagement ring, and, if we're going to be good at a sport, the only thing that will truly prove our worth is a championship. And the only way to acheive these goals is through perfection. Ironically, though, we are also taught to embrace our imperfections. So, where is the happy medium?

Even though I'm all for competition and making lots of money and getting a really pretty ring, I'd like to think of myself as someone who has found that happy medium. Case in point: I want to be a sports writer or PR rep. In my job search, all of the entry level positions pay about $20,000 starting out (pre-tax) with no benefits. It is for this reason I have decided to go get my Master's degree. I will make the same amount of money next year, plus benefits and the possibility for some more awesome networking. I hope this plan works but even if it does, I still won't be loaded right away.

So if LeBron does leave (which I really don't see happening, so don't think for a second I'm going back on my word unless this illusion becomes a reality) I will most likely be writing an extension to this lovely short post ranting on how much I hate the corporate world going into sports. But for now, I'm going to do what I did after the Indians blew it in 2007: boycott the sport. I don't do it because I decide I'm not going to be a fan; a do it because since there is so much corporate pressure in pro sports, I am convinced that baseball, and now basketball, is rigged, and for whatever reason everybody is out to get Cleveland. This may or may not be true but I like to think this protest is my own form of self-activisim. I will always remain a Cavs fan but from now until next year's playoffs, I will not be watching, or even following what's going on in the world in basketball (with the exception of the free agency drama, for this blog's sake) I stuck to this pretty well when I did it for baseball. I didn't watch a single game or keep up with a single story about the Indians or anything else that was pro-baseball in 2008. I'm sure I can do it with the NBA-no matter where LeBron is playing. It will make no difference to the league if they have my viewership or not but at least I know that I'm holding true to my happy medium.

Everybody Hates Joakim

Ahhh, April. So many amazing things seem to be happening this month. The weather's getting warmer, people are coming out of their seasonal depression, baseball season is underway (The Tribe is 6-7, not great but better than most people thought), I've begun drinking frozen coffee again (which is okay because I burn the calories by not riding the bus), and, of course, the NBA playoffs. So far, the first round hasn't had too many surprises. Seven of the eight favorites dominated game one, which led me to believe that the Portland/Phoenix matchup might be the most interesting of round one. That was until last night's OKC/LA thriller. I was at work for the beginning of it and decided to quit trying to pay attention. When I got home and checked my Twitter, I saw that OKC somehow managed to rally and were up by one. I was in disbelief, but I was seriously pulling for some miracle. I would love to see a Cavs/Lakers matchup in the finals, but LA needs a reality check. It is far too often that these powerhouse teams reach the top and begin to develop these egotistic complexes, which I shall call egoitis (pronounced ego-Itis). The Lakers have a dynasty of championships and they have a huge fan base that consists of celebrities, and all kinds of rich people that know nothing about basketball and only like them because they are good. They even marry celebrities. What a life. But I feel it wasn't until last year that the glory of winning has caught up with them.

Let me bring up the date December 25, 2009, a day that will live in infamy. As one can recall, the Cavs came to LA as the projected losers. They left as the true winners, which was more of a surprise than finding out what exactly is in fruit cake. It's not just that it's the Cavs that I bring this up. It's the fact that LA was on a high horse and treated Cleveland like a mediocre team and let their guard down. And once they were losing, their fans brought out their arrogant side and decided to commence all-out warfare with the deadliest of weapons: water bottles and foam fingers.

This is actually a pretty good strategy: throw foam finger at target, target dodges foam finger, while target is worried about the foam finger, immediately launch a full $10 bottle of Aquafina at 70 mph at target's head, causing them to lose consciousness.

The flaw in the plan: these fans had no strategy, they just went into guerilla mode, trying to take out anyone they could, because that's what many privileged people do when things don't go their way, engage in irrational temper tantrums. I'm not trying to single out the entire LA fanbase, just the ones at the game. I'm sure there are many LA fans who wouldn't have acted out in this behavior, but they also were not the ones that could be fortunate to get tickets to such a high profile game on a holiday. That being said, I really think this event was a wake up call for the Lakers, at least for awhile. Yes, the Cavs beat them again a month later, but in that game they knew how much of a threat the Wine and Gold really is and were far, far, away from their home army. Now, they are coming into this post-season trying to defend the title, yet, the ego-itis is back like the plague. My prime example from the team: Ron Artest and his gold hair.

You know you have an ego problem if you think imitating Dennis Rodman is cool.

Another athlete with an ego issue that I find very amusing is Joakim Noah. (You must be thinking, yes, she finally gets to the point of today's nonsense). Most Cavs fans will admit that they do not hate Noah as much as Kevin Garnett of the Celtics (a team which might arguably suffer from egoitis more than the Lakers) but when you start attacking an entire CITY, not just its basketball team, you are just asking for it.

Let's go back to the beginning of the beef with Noah, and I'm not talking about the incident back in December when Noah was mad because LeBron was having fun with his team while his was losing so he started yelling stuff, blah, blah, blah. This may have been the start of Noah's beef with LeBron but not Cavs' fans beef with Noah. The real source of this hatred goes back to 2007 when Florida's basketball team beat Ohio State in the National Championship just months after it's football team stunned the Buckeyes in Tempe. People who are fans of OSU hate Noah for the same reason as they hate Tim Tebow: we lost to them. While I personally do not see Tebow as extremely cocky, at least not yet, I have always seen this cockiness in Noah. Since many fans of OSU are also fans of Cleveland sports, it only makes sense that this hatred for him has carried over to his professional career. So, I have decided to take the liberty of writing up the thoughts of many Cleveland fans into a little snipet I've cleverly titled "Everybody Hates Joakim":

• During game one of this series, I could not believe how many times Noah freaked out when a whistle was blown. Many times, the call wasn't even on him. He just assumes he's being treated unfairly all the time. Must suck to get bad calls. Remember how many bad calls were made on OSU in 07? Payback's a bitch.
• Back in the December game, I remember debating with someone about whether or not LeBron was being too cocky with his little dance moves. As a rebuttle to this person's comments, I pointed out that the dancing started BEFORE the game, not while the Cavs were ahead. I'm going to make the assumption that LeBron continued these antics with his team because he loves his team, not to personally attack or be arrogant against anyone. I remember back when I was an athlete and we used to do little dances and cheers before games and such. Everyone did it, especially in volleyball. Nobody thought we were being cocky. Why is it any different in professional sports? Maybe Noah can't dance and was so angry about it that he had to start fussing at LBJ. If this is the case, then I guess I would be a little bitter too.
• In game two, The Bulls were definitely giving the Cavs a scare. So they have the nerve to dare LeBron to keep shooting jumpers. So, as James so nicely put it, he shot them over and over and over again. Cliche lesson of the day: if you play with fire you're gonna get burned.
• Joakim Noah is what the child of a T-Rex that mated with Kirstie Alley would look like. This is mean and really strange and not my quote, but I read it on Facebook and I thought it was funny.
• And finally, the biggest case against how much people hate Joakim Noah is how he so very egotistically dogged the city of Cleveland, saying there is nothing to do and no one vacations there. I don't think I have ever heard an athlete criticize an actual city (please, correct me if this has happened before).
  

I have one big point I want to make about this: WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO DO BEFORE A PLAYOFF GAME? Shouldn't you be worried about trying to WIN A GAME rather than finding the best shopping and dining or what club you want to pull a Ben Roethlisberger in? This might be why your team is 0-2 this series. If I was a Bulls fan I would start hating Noah just as much as Cleveland fans hate him for bringing this bad karma to my team and letting himself get stricken with a huge case of egoitis.

The final thing I want to say is this: Maybe for the Cavaliers themselves the tension towards Noah doesn't go as deep as 3 years ago, but it is clear for the fans it does, and as we can see from my Lakers example, fan backlash can turn violent. The difference between the Cavs fans and Lakers fans is that Cavs fans and their team don't have egoitis because there is nothing for them to have triggered it. They caught a slight case of the disease last year in the playoffs: they had the best record, won the first two rounds of the playoffs in four straight games, and had commercials that were certain the Finals would be Kobe vs. LeBron. This year, their team is a different team with different chemistry, and while they still have fun and dance around, they have learned from their mistakes and have the focus of a team who has the experience of winning on the big stage. But with No championships, high unemployment rate, and anything else I mentioned in my first ever post, the Cavs and their fans are still humble. I truly hope that this humility remains if Cleveland takes it all this year because the last thing we need are more Ron Artests and Joakim Noahs hurting the image of this game.

Bulldogs and Bears and Bees, oh my!

Today started week 2 of the last quarter of my college career. It was a strange day because the temperatures continue to be more than perfect for this time of year, and I wound up having strep throat and missing Hal Green's cynicism (though I probably didn't miss much of a finance lesson). Aside from remembering to pump my body with antibiotics, I really only had three things on my mind. There probably should have been a few more but it's early in the quarter and I usually don't start doing homework until later at night anyway. Ironically, I always get the best grades spring quarter even though I feel as if I put in the least effort. Maybe I should have applied that to my winter quarters too, then I probably would have a 4.0. I also should have been focusing on my job search but I decided to put that off until Thursday-ish so I can mentally prepare myself for the torture of rejection I'm about to go through. In fact, I'm doubting my ability to think about a lot for the next few weeks, at least not while walking through campus. This is because the university is now plagued with the most annoying insects on the planet: Bees.

Every spring students are forced to walk through the trails of sidewalks all over campus and be greeted with the buzzing sounds of these obnoxious creatures. I don't know where they all come from or where they put their hives but they just come flying out of the woodworks during the first few weeks of the quarter. I understand that they serve a huge purpose in keeping the flowers and other plants fertilized so they can make campus beautiful, but I cannot understand why they have to swarm so close like they're going to attack at any moment. I'm probably the only one that looks like a monkey when I walk past them, though, because everyone else seems to pretend they aren't there. But I will go into a two-foot sprint, then walk, pattern everytime one gets near me and I shake my arms in a way that makes me look like I'm going to drop to the ground and have a seizure at any moment. I also do not understand which ones of these things are classified as bees and which are classified as yellow jackets. Below, I have inserted a picture of a yellow jacket (on the left) and a bee (on the right). They may have noticeable differences up close but how am I supposed to know what these are when I'm passing them by? All I really care about is that they could both sting me and potentially ruin my day. I've only been stung once so I know I'm not allergic but if it happens again I don't think I will be very happy about it.











One woman's basketball player that could probably punch me and it would undoubtedly hurt more than 100 bee stings is Baylor's freshman dunking sensation Brittney Griner. Though her team fell short of gettin the to the championship game, she is the reason why the Baylor Lady Bears were the second thing I thought about today.

After watching last night's game, I wasn't really left in shock about anything. In fact, this entire women's tournament was lacking in shock value. Almost everyone predicted UConn and Stanford to fight for the 2010 title and almost everyone got it right. A huge difference to the madness that took place in the men's tournament. The only thing I had to look twice at on the women's end is that Ohio State lost to Mississippi State in the second round.

Sidenote: I would like to give a shout-out to my freshman roommate Shavelle Little, who just finished up her senior season with the Buckeyes. She is one of the most interesting people I've ever met at OSU (I mean this in a good way) and I'm glad she did big things in her college career and I know she'll continue to do them in the future.

Anyway, back to Baylor and Griner. I knew that Baylor was not going to beat UConn but watching Griner play left me wondering "how does she do that?". Granted, I can't even play HORSE let alone a full game of ball, but she is going to be a powerhouse for the Lady Bears in the next three seasons. This girl is scary, if I went to high school with her I probably would have walked on the other side of the hall. And, since her team is only losing one senior, the odds might be in their favor to make it all the way in the next few years.

One team that the odds are not in favor for is the Butler Bulldogs, who are set to face the Duke Blue Devils in the 2010 NCAA men's basketball championship tonight. As this unlikely pairing gets ready to commence on the national stage, I sit here and think to myself how glad I am that I didn't fill out a bracket this year. All it would have done was lead me into utter frustration, just like everyone else. In fact, if there is anyone out there who predicted this be the Butler/Duke match-up to be for all the marbles I really want to see their bracket for proof. It's bad enough that Ohio State lost to Tennessee in the sweet 16, which was a total rejection of Ohio University's kind gesture of beating Georgetown in the first round. Most brackets showed OSU losing to GTown but since that game never got the chance, fans and media members alike were certain the Buckeyes would at least go to the Elite 8. However, that didn't happen either and somehow Michigan State weasled its way into the Final Four only to add to the embarrassments of the Big Ten on the big stage. Now, this 2010 Butler squad is doing something that no Bulldog from any previous year has managed to do before. It started in the Sweet 16 when the they knocked off Syracuse. After that, the Bulldogs made sure their bites were larger than their barks.

Though many people are angry about this, we can't forget that this was a top-25 team the entire season and was 10th in the preseason polls, so in this respect it can't be THAT big of an upset when they win. But because the team has never crowned itself king, unlike Duke which has done so 3 times, it becomes one of those teams that Hollywood decides to make a sports movie about in about 20 years after they win the title (if they win the title). Though my Buckeyes, or any other team that was supposed to go all the way, aren't in it, I'm not exactly angry about this game. In sports we must remember how meaningful it is for an underdog to rise to the top, even if they weren't "the best" all season. I am a fan of the underdog. Case in point, the Indians just got shut-out by the White Sox in the season opener, the Cavs have yet to win a title, Ohio State is always having ups and downs on the big stage and I really don't need to say anything about the Browns. So, if the Bulldogs win I will be happy because that restores the faith in underdogs everywhere, much like the New Orleans Saints did back in February. Just because people doubt a team does not mean its ability to win is lacking. It just takes a little effort in the game and a whole lot of ignoring the skepticism of the outsiders.

The beginning of the end...

Well, I'm alive. Those three words pretty much sum up my time in PCB this year. I partied like it was my last spring break ever..oh wait..it was. My intention going into the trip was to create memories that I want to share with everyone, much like I did for my recap of SB 09. However, I'm not going to do that. It's not because this year was X-rated or anything that crazy but there was, what I shall call "the incident", with a friend, that became the center of a trip and I would rather not dwell on it. But besides that, I had the time of my life, just like last year. I met some interesting people and some VERY interesting people, and it definitely felt like a different atmosphere without 40 of my friends partying in our hotel rooms every night. Yet, I still made the most of it and celebrated my 22nd in style. Both trips were unique but the only thing I would say was worse this time, besides "the incident", is the weather. We got three days of sun as opposed to only two days of rain in 09. And, the temperature was easily 10 degrees colder this time around. Despite the sucky weather in Panama, though, it could have been worse. The Weather Channel told me Ohio got pounded with snow and my friends back home told me not to complain because while I was in the sand, they were in the slush. Luckily for all us spring breakers, we got to come back to decent weather (it will be 75 on Wednesday, who's up for some frisbee on the oval?)

After being on vacation for a week and having two of my best friends and a champagne bottle made of chocolate waiting for me when I returned, it is now safe to say that today was one of the saddest days ever-and it's only going to get worse. I have begun what is my last quarter as a student at The Ohio State University and I could not be more upset about it. What makes it worse is that I actually overheard people talking about how bad they want to get out of here. I know the school part is rough on us all but these are the best four (or 5 or 6) years of our lives. This is the place where we learn who we are and make lifetime friends along the way. Why are people in such a hurry to leave? Maybe I just don't want to leave because I don't have a job or a graduate school lined up yet but I will spend a lot of time working on that so hopefully when I write me senior story in 2 months I can mention it.

Despite the sadness, I did find a little bit of inspiration in my finance class. This class was the last one of my day and I went into it with the sour memory of how accounting ripped out my soul last quarter. I had heard finance was better but I had my doubts. I'm just not good with numbers. I was good at statistics but that's because it was more data analysis than crazy formulas like "if 3xy=z2wtf, what is the reciprocal?" I'm not making that up either, it was on the GRE, maybe not the exact letters but definitely the same formula. Side note, if anyone's super bored (which you must be if you're reading my nonsense) wants to figure this out and let me know the answer, I'll buy you a box meal at Cane's. No lie. Anyway, as I sat there with my new Droid Eris, trying to figure out how to send a picture message, in walks this man with funny hair that looks like every other business professor at OSU. I continue messing with my phone but as soon as he started talking about how we got to use formula sheets on exams because he thinks formulas are tedious information for us to memorize, I put it down and decided to give him a chance. The class seemed more and more interesting by the minute. He told us that he is the oldest man with ADD and that the only reason he switched to finance from engineering in undergrad was because it was easier math. Now this is my kind of teacher. What moved him into my top 5 all time professor list had to be his comment about the kind of people that will truly make it in this world: "The ones who will succeed are going to be the ones that leave this lecture and go grab a burger and a beer rather than read the course material because those are the ones that have the social skills that can get them through any situation." I am pretty sure he just described my life phiolosophy to a T. I'm not staying I don't study and work hard because I do and I love doing it, but there is a fine line between overworking yourself and success. Success is not all about money and getting that dream job right out of college or graduating magna cum laude. It's about the way you present yourself to those around you in work or play. In the end, employers don't really care what your GPA was, as long as you have the life experiences that make you a viable candidate for their orginizations. So whatever happens in the next ten weeks, whether I land my "gateway to my dream job" job, or I decide to keep learning, I'm going to live my life to the fullest and make top notch memories that will hopefully send me out in style.

Cheers to you, Professor Hal Green!

Back on "the Boat"

Well, it is that time of year when my fellow Buckeyes and I take a step back and breathe. We have just made it through ten weeks of the worst time of the year in Ohio and survived, although some of us may have some battle wounds due to the icy conditions of the off-campus landscape. It still puzzles me that a city which has seen record snowfalls for the last 3 or so winters can still underestimate what winter can bring. I'm from the edge of the snow-belt so I am always prepared to brace these bitter conditions, though I'm never thrilled about it. But what is worse than the snow and ice itself is the way it makes us all feel like we are powerless in our own environment. I know it's not like the Arctic Tundra but no one wants to walk to house parties (which become twice as crowded because only the smokers care to hang out outside) or bars that aren't in a 5 block radius. Even going to class becomes a chore in the winter. If you don't live on 4th Street or anywhere on Summit south of Lane Ave. you are really taking a gamble waiting for the CABS bus because most likely it's going to pass you by. Now, if you live on 15th and Indianola and you're catching the bus, well, I don't mean to offend, but is it really that difficult to walk one block to safer conditions?

But now it is the day before the official Spring Equinox, winter quarter is over, and if you stand by a window and open your ears and concentrate, you can hear the sighs of relief and screams of rage (good rage, that is) because the worst 11 weeks of the year are in the past. The weather is finally an upper instead of a downer, and if you're lucky like me, you get to go bask in the rays of some warmer destination. I don't think anyone could be more excited about it than I am. There have been so many things I've wanted to write about. Like how awesome OSU basketball is right now, or I'm blown away by the fact that accounting sucked so bad. And let's not leave out how the Browns' quarterback situation reminds me of a third-world government that changes faster than Josh Cribbs can run a 98 yard kick-off return for a touchdown. What sucked even more was that my last final was on St. Patrick's Day. Okay, you're probably thinking, ah that's not bad. How about the fact that it was at 7:30 pm.? Alright, you care a little more. Oh yes, and it was accounting 310, the most annoying class to every single person in the business minor. Now you definitley feel like you wanna buy me a shot next time you see me out. But now that that's done, I've begun packing for my long awaited trip to Panama City Beach, the mecca of all spring break hot-spots. This will be my second year on PCB so I'm definitely no virgin to its intensity, but everyone else I'm going with is and has no idea what's about to be in store. So to pass the time before we leave I've decided to take a second to reflect on last year's trip and why it made it the best week of my life thus far, the things I think I'll do differently, and the things that can never be topped.

I'll start from the beginning-the drive down. I felt like it never was going to end, like we were just going to keep going forever and ever and ever. Not too mention I got to know my anxiety issues a little too well. After about two hours in when we reached Kentucky I all of a sudden felt like I was about to drive off the face of the earth because I could not see anything but pavement and blackness. I started getting light-headed and almost fainted. Good thing there were no cars on the road or my intense swerving would have killed us all. I recall telling my friend that was in the passenger's seat that I was "tweeking out" (a term that I've only ever heard stoners use) and pulled off on the side of the road. So this year, I decided that in order to allow my friends and I to see our next birthdays. I will not be driving until it is daylight.

Speaking of birthdays, mine just so conveniently falls on spring break every year. Last year, I got to celebrate my coveted 21st and by the time I left, every single person I met knew me as "21". I seriously was on cloud nine every single day for the entire week. This moment will never be topped. This year I turn 22 and I am just as excited, but it's a different kind of excitement for sure. I am only going with 3 other girls as opposed to like 30 people from last year. This might create less drama throughout the week, but, come to think of it, the only drama I had I don't remember so we could argue that it never happened. I do know that one of my best friends that was with us went off on me and I'm really glad I don't remember it because it might have ruined the rest of my trip. This madness occured because I mysteriously got black-out drunk the day after my birthday and somehow made it back to our hotel by myself. I also have a number in my phone named "Joe-Spinnakers?". I don't know this person but I remember the next night he insisted on meeting up with me but I didn't know what he looked like. That was probably-no it was most definitley for the best. Any guy who still wants to meet up with a girl after she blatantly says she doesn't remember what he looks like is a skeez. The only reason why he is still in my phone is for a good laugh and a reminder of my stupidity. I just thank God and my friends at the bar that nothing horrible happened to me. So the second thing I have decided I will do differently is to not black out. Which means no tequila. Bummer. Oh well, if it's for my safety then I can sacrifice.

I think the best thing about PCB was how everyone had this "Anything goes" attitude. I feel like I have that attitude a lot so it was nice to see other people enjoying my same love for life. Some enjoyed it a little too much and probably did some things that I would never do. I may like to have fun but I have morals. So I will definitely be sticking to those just as much this time as I did the last. But seriously, everyday was just more than a big beach party, it was absolute mayhem. I will say that I never really got that drunk during the day because I was more concerned with my tan and meeting up with friends along the beach. Night time was a different story. We tried to hit up a bunch of different bars but Harpoon Harry's and Sweet Dreams Karaoke felt like home by the end of the week. Harpoon Harry's is just like most of the clubs along the beach but Sweet Dreams Karaoke was in a league of its own. It was a dive bar connected to a liquor store and karaoke was involved. How many people can say they did that on their 21sts? Suckas.

Now that I'm back on the 21st birthday topic, I'd like to take a moment and talk about the progression of the event. The midnight portion started out like everyone's midnight portion: me swearing up and down that I wasn't gonna get that drunk because I wanted to save it all for my actual birthday. Ha. yeah, like anyone ever does that. What was supposed to be just the girls in my room going out ended up us plus a group of guys who showed up in my room, one of whom I thought stole my phone. Turns out he just had the same light blue chocolate. One of the girls we were with knew one of those guys so they tagged along. And man am I glad they did. These 7 dudes were the funnest and funniest group of guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.As soon as we got to the bar one of them decided he was gonna be my partner in crime and ended up getting people to not only buy me a shot buy one for him too. That's like me in man version right there. I was wasted by midnight. Happy Birthday. In fact, by the end of it I was screaming "I'm 21! I'm on a boat". Now that's where the nickname 21 started. Nothing will top that. Ever.

The next day was my actual birthday and the first day I really drank a lot on the beach. It was also the first day I ever played Louiseville Chugger, the game that combines baseball, chugging, and spinning. One of my friends who wasn't with me on the trip, always raved over this game and after playing it, I was completely shocked that I never took part in this activity before. What was even better was that it was in the sand, making it ten times more difficult to spin. So this year, I will be buying bats and doing it all over again, hoping to make someone's day by introducing them to a new drinking activity, or reuniting them with an old one. I will also be making a return trip to Mikato, the first and only Japanese steak house I've ever been to. I got to blow out a volcano of onions instead of candles on a cake and had a drink called a Happy Buddha. It literally came in a Buddha, which I am now the proud owner of.

Side note, Ohio State is dominating this first half against UC Santa Barbara which makes me feel like tonight is going to be a good night. I would also like to thank the OU Bobcats for completely causing the upset of all upsets thus far and possibly giving us a bigger chance to go to the final four.

Anyways, one of the suckier things for a wannabe sports writer on spring break is that it can be a bit difficult to watch March Madness. The big games I might get to see but I'll probably be too drunk to care, unless of course it's an OSU game. Then I need to remember to get to a TV.

Another side note, CBS sports announcer just talked about how Jon Diebler is from Upper Sandusky and was like "That's where Tommy Boy was filmed". Fail. A, it was in regular Sandusky, where Cedar Point is, and B, it wasn't even filmed there. That just made me laugh, so much for credibility in this profession.

Also, every Bud Light commercial gets me even more pumped for this trip. Alcohol flows like a river in PCB. It never runs out, anywhere. People actually get kegs and put them in the sand which is a beautiful site. Prices are so much cheaper down there than in Ohio, too. If we had those prices on campus, either people would have a lot of extra money in their pockets, or they would buy even more alcohol than they already do. It's a win-win either way. And if you don't have a drink in your hand you automatically become the awkward pink elephant in the room, er, well, on the shore. The point is, you look awkward and no one wants to be THAT person. And, bars in PCB are open until 4 am. It's like the party never ever stops and I love it. It probably takes years off of people's lives but it's so worth the sacrifice to be able to experience it. I think I only stayed out that late one time other than my birthday though, which was the last night. That night was the perfect ending to the perfect trip. We ended up meeting up with the guys from my birthday night which made it a sure thing that the night was not going to be dull. The funniest part about it, at least I thought, was that we all looked like shit. My hair was so frizzed out I looked like I just got shocked by high voltage electricity. And my friend decided she didn't need make up, at least at first. She's the type of person that just doesn't care about what she looks like in public half the time and I love it. But this night she all of a sudden felt the need to go get dolled up. I thought it to be a little weird for her but it all made sense when I was talking to one of the guys and he kept asking where she went and if she was coming back. I don't know what took so long for a light bulb to go off in my head but I realized she was putting make up on to impress him. They've been together pretty much ever since, give or take a few months of the usual figuring out your feelings B.S. I wish I could make a movie about them called Love and Panama, you know, like Love and Basketball...okay no that's not going to happen but it would be pretty funny if I tried to make the attempt

I also hit it off with one of the guys from the fun group. Not really sure exactly how it happened especially because I don't remember even talking to him on my birthday but whatever, I don't remember a lot from my birthday. I won't say too much about him in case he reads this and I wouldn't want to embarass him but he's one of the coolest guys I've ever met and I'm glad I did. So I guess unless I end up marrying some random dude, Hangover style, nothing will beat that.

Sidenote number three, I really hope my friends would never let me have a black out wedding because if that happened I might as well wear a big sign that reads "dumbass" on my head.

Now, as I sit here and look at the clock I wish it would fast forward to 3 am, our scheduled departure time. OSU is killing UCSB so the only thing entertaining about this game at this point is how every time they say "Gaucho" I think "Guido", which there are tons of of in Panama. (I mean this in totally Jersey Shore terms and in no way, shape, or form mean it in the derogitory context). The ultimate Guido, Mike, "the Situation" is going to be down there so you can bet that I will in some way, shape or form attempt to be one of THOSE girls that wants to party with him, only to further inflate his ego. Whatever, if someone wanted to pay me money to be filmed on vacation for a reality show I would probably do it. Only on vacation though, I don't think I want my real life on display for all to see. That just has "famewhore" written all over it.

The only thing truly keeping getting me to pass the time is writing this blog and drinking a big sugar-free redbull. I still have more than half the can to finish but I don't have much more left to write this nonsense. I have a lot more stories but I feel that these were the highlights and lessons that I need to remind myself of this time around. I hope that the things I set out to NOT do I don't do, but if I do, then it will make for interesting material for the post-party blog. I also hope that "I'm On a Boat" plays all the time again because it just won't be Panama for me if it doesn't. So, no matter what you're getting into, (though if you aren't going somewhere fun I may or may not secretly think you're lame) I wish everyone a safe and fun spring break. We all earned this week of freedom from obligations. And if you are a senior like me, live it up because it could very well be the last one you get.

Peace, love, and T-Pain :)