In 2005, we were introduced to the convenience store chain Wawa serving milk shakes. You have seen these machines, you choose what flavor you want and load it into the metal cup, which then raises into the blender and uses water to make you a cool snack in a quick and easy fashion. You can even choose your thickness (less thick, regular thickness, more thick.) The company that makes these wonderful, technologically advanced machines is called f'Real. I have made many trips to the local Wawa's just for a tasty frozen treat for the past 4 years.
It all started out with the standard Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry. The vanilla tastes great, like any vanilla milkshake you would get at a local malt shop. To me, the chocolate is waaaay to chocolatey (not that I'm a big fan of chocolate anyway) and the strawberry is, well, let's just say I would stick with the vanilla. A few years after the initial success of the three normal flavors, f'Real introduced smoothies and frozen cappuccinos. You could get any of three different flavor of fruit smoothies, Strawberry Spin, Wildberry Whirl and Tropical Burst or three different cappuccino flavors, Caramel, Classic Coffee and Mocha. Now, it wouldnt be fair for me to judge any of them because I never really tried them. One time, I had a thirst for coffee and tried one of the frozen cappuccinos and threw it out right after it came out of the machine. I took a sip and remembered I didn't like coffee and threw it out for a real milkshake.
Over the past couple of years, f'Real would release different flavors of milkshakes just to gauge the public's interest in having different flavors. During the holiday season, they used to make an Egg Nog milkshake and it was amazing. This past Christmas time they did not have it for some reason and it felt like there was something missing. A Cookies 'n Cream flavor was available for a limited time only and it was really good. I consider myself somewhat of an ice cream connoisseur, with Cookies 'n Cream being one of my favorites, and this milkshake tasted just like it. It was in demand so much it is now available all the time. Last spring, another limited time flavor was Mint Chocolate Chip. Now, I never was a really big MCC ice cream fan (why does it have to be green?) but the milkshake is great. The cool mint ice cream is very satisfying, especially on a blazing summer day. It even has little chocolate chips that fit up the straw. It is easily the best f'Real milkshake, that is until I made the Cookie Dough discovery on Saturday.
First, a little background story. Saturday I took a trip with Sara to Stone Harbor. There, we got ice cream at a nice little ice cream shoppe. My flavor of choice: chocolate chip cookie dough. We sat down on a bench and I saw a Wawa and thought immediatly about the milkshakes they have there. I said, "Wawa should have Cookie Dough milkshakes." Fast forward to 1130pm that night on my way back home, I stop at a local Wawa and make my way to the f'Real machine. I look into the freezer and see a different color than I normally do. There it is, "Cookie Dough."
It was the first time I have seen the new flavor, which I'm sure is only out for a limited time. It is vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip pieces, much like the Mint Chocolate Chip milkshake, but also has little pieces of cookie dough in it. That's right, there are cookie dough pieces in it that are probably a little less than half an inch that fit right into the straw. No, not those stupid skinny soda cup straws, the 'Regular Straw' that has the yellow and red stripe on it. It was as good as I had hoped and thought it ever could be. I highly recommend trying at least one before they are gone. And once you do, send positive comments to f'Real so they bring it back full time. I'm going to get one right now.
Happy Memorial Day.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Stars and Stripes Forever!
Well, Major League Baseball and New Era are at it again! Last year, for just about every patriotic date during the season, every team wore special blue hats with an American Flag imprint of their logo (although the Toronto Blue Jays wore a cap with a Canadian imprint, which is a nice touch). The hats debuted during the Fourth of July series, I believe, and were worn again on Veteran's day and again on 9/11. A portion of all sales went to help returning veterans.
Being the amazing Phillies fan I am, I bought one at a local sneaker store in late July. I really like fitted hats, and it seemed nice because a part of my buy was going to help returning vets. And I told myself, hey, it's not like their doing this every year. And even if they do bring them back, I'll already have one! It'll be perfect.
If only I knew how naive past-Derek was. Recently, Major League Baseball announced that this year, starting on Memorial day, teams would once again be wearing stars and stripes. This time, however, instead of using the same old blue ones from last year, teams will be wearing brand new red caps.
Now I'm in a bit of a pickle over this whole thing. First off, I really like last years hat; it's my second hat for Phillies games, just barely getting outshone by my world series patch hat. It's a solid hat and I have no regrets buying it, let alone wearing it. However, I feel like this year's hat is more "Phillies", if that makes sense. I think the red is a nice touch, but at the same time I don't get it, because I thought the blue of last year's hat was a nod to the formal uniforms of the armed forces.
But the pickle I'm in has nothing to do with the color of the hats. It's the fact that I'm a sucker for these new and exciting hat promotions. I got the blue stars and stripes last summer, and it was my only fitted Phillies hat for a while. Then I got a world series patch hat, another kind of gimmicky hat. It's not that I don't like them, or regret them, because I still wear both, but I don't have any regular Phillies fitted hats, and honestly, I doubt I'll ever get one.
Honestly, I'll probably end up buying one of the red hats, sooner rather than later. And next year, I'll probably get whatever new one they spin out (hopefully it's white, because that would look sick). I'll stop when they bring out camo ones.
As a little afterthought, last year the Cleveland Indian's hat featured their mascot, Chief Wahoo, all done up in the American Flag garb. This year's hat instead features a stylized C that screams "politically correct".
Being the amazing Phillies fan I am, I bought one at a local sneaker store in late July. I really like fitted hats, and it seemed nice because a part of my buy was going to help returning vets. And I told myself, hey, it's not like their doing this every year. And even if they do bring them back, I'll already have one! It'll be perfect.
If only I knew how naive past-Derek was. Recently, Major League Baseball announced that this year, starting on Memorial day, teams would once again be wearing stars and stripes. This time, however, instead of using the same old blue ones from last year, teams will be wearing brand new red caps.
Now I'm in a bit of a pickle over this whole thing. First off, I really like last years hat; it's my second hat for Phillies games, just barely getting outshone by my world series patch hat. It's a solid hat and I have no regrets buying it, let alone wearing it. However, I feel like this year's hat is more "Phillies", if that makes sense. I think the red is a nice touch, but at the same time I don't get it, because I thought the blue of last year's hat was a nod to the formal uniforms of the armed forces.
But the pickle I'm in has nothing to do with the color of the hats. It's the fact that I'm a sucker for these new and exciting hat promotions. I got the blue stars and stripes last summer, and it was my only fitted Phillies hat for a while. Then I got a world series patch hat, another kind of gimmicky hat. It's not that I don't like them, or regret them, because I still wear both, but I don't have any regular Phillies fitted hats, and honestly, I doubt I'll ever get one.
Honestly, I'll probably end up buying one of the red hats, sooner rather than later. And next year, I'll probably get whatever new one they spin out (hopefully it's white, because that would look sick). I'll stop when they bring out camo ones.
As a little afterthought, last year the Cleveland Indian's hat featured their mascot, Chief Wahoo, all done up in the American Flag garb. This year's hat instead features a stylized C that screams "politically correct".
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Book Review: The Best Game Ever by Mark Bowden
This past Christmas, I actually asked for a book for a gift idea from my parents. Yes, yours truly asked for a book. I haven't really been one to read in my life but lately I've been trying to be more scholarly.
The book I received was "The Best Game Ever" written by Mark Bowden. This book takes you through the background of the game that launched modern football, the 1958 NFL Championship Game. It really is a historical documentation of a game that I wasn't around to see and it shows you how both the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants were built into the teams that led into the Best Game Ever.
We get introduced to some of the major characters of each team early in the book, like Johnny U and Raymond Berry. We get to look into the strategy of the Giant offense run by the legendary coach Vince Lombardi before he was legendary and see the innovator of the 4-3 defense, future Cowboys head coach Tom Landry. Many of the players had jobs in the off season at the time of this game, and we get introduced to some of them. We get to see how Raymond Berry was known as a 'different' because he wanted to watch hours and hours of film and workout during the offseason.
Through the middle of the book, we are then shown how the game changed the history of football. The 1958 NFL Championship Game was the first football game ever to go to sudden death overtime, a notion that was just introduced after years of ties with no extra session. The game began in the late afternoon and led into the beginning of prime time as the entire nation watched the game go to overtime. The entire book is interesting in that it tells you a lot about how football has gotten where it was on television today.
There was one story that was extremely interesting: during the Colts winning drive in overtime, the Baltimore fans were jumping onto the field (back in those days, running on the field was okay) and somehow, someone unplugged something making the NBC signal go off the air. So, while the game was being decided, the nation was seeing a black screen. Someone who worked for NBC who's name escapes me right now, ran onto the field and took just enough time for security to catch him for NBC to get their picture back onto the air.
The final chapter follows some of the big players from each team and sits down with them for some commentary on the game and it's affect on the sport. Hopefully I didn't spoil much of the book for you. Like I said, it is a historical look at how the game changed due to this one game. It is a must read for all big football fans.
My next review will be on the book "America's Game" which I am working on reading now. Oh, and thanks to amazon.com for the picture.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Album Review: Punk Goes Crunk...part two.
Alright, I left off my review of the CD Punk Goes Crunk about halfway through. It's time to pick up where I left off and let you guys know what I think of the rest of the CD.
Next up is a cover of The Seed, by Philly's own funk group, the Roots, who can now be seen as the house band on the train wreck that is Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The only real issue with this song is it sounds exactly like the Roots version, it just has a different singer. Seriously, if you play them back to back the instrumentals sound exactly alike. Still, it's a decent song.
I feel like I'm not paying enough respect to the Roots, but I'm sorry, because the next song is the best song on the CD in my opinion. The song is called "Still Fly", originally by the hip-hop power group Big Tymers. The cover, done by The Devil Wears Prada, is absolutely amazing in every way. The band really puts a lot into the song, and you can tell that they worked hard to make this song their own. I once read that in an interview the members of Big Tymers said they thought the cover was better than the original. You know you've made an awesome song when the guys that wrote the song in the first place say you did a better job than them.
The next song is another one of the best on the CD. The original song is Umbrella, by Rihanna. The cover is done by All Time Low. This song is so good it got decent airtime on alternative rock radio stations. I feel like the All Time Low got lucky, because this CD came out right when Umbrella was on the charts, so they were covering a single that was still charting, and so they got the most exposure right off the bat. It's still a sweet cover though. The band did a good job of taking a hip-hop song and turning it into a banging rock song.
Next is probably the most famous "crunk" song on the CD: Notorious Thugs by the late great Biggie Smalls. The cover is done by Scary Kids Scaring Kids. At first, I hated this song; I would always skip it. I just didn't like the intro and the song is kind of slow so it got old pretty fast. There's not a lot of movement either; it's pretty much the same song the entire time. However, recently I started to really listen to the song, and it's not that bad In fact, Notorious Thugs has become one of my favorite songs on the CD. It's a nice wind-down song, which you don't expect to find on a Punk Goes...CD.
Unfortunately, this run on good songs is disrupted by the terrible cover of Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg. The cover is done by The Escape Frame. Honestly, this is the only song that I don't ever want to listen to. I'm not sure what The Escape Frame sounds like most of the time, but on this track their singer sounds absolutely awful.
The last two songs, Hey Ya and Tennessee, remind me a lot of the first two songs. Their good enough, but they don't really go out of the way to impress me. I mean, their nice songs, but I feel like a lot more could have been done to make them better.
Overall, Punk Goes Crunk is an amazing idea with a pretty good execution. Some of the songs are absolute gems that should get more playtime, but others are blunders that need to be forgotten as mistakes of a mash-up CD in a bizarre music industry. I'll give the CD a B- overall. It's good, but it's not something you'll listen to for the rest of your life.
Maybe someday I'll review Punk Goes Pop 2, the latest entrance in the series.
Maybe.
Next up is a cover of The Seed, by Philly's own funk group, the Roots, who can now be seen as the house band on the train wreck that is Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The only real issue with this song is it sounds exactly like the Roots version, it just has a different singer. Seriously, if you play them back to back the instrumentals sound exactly alike. Still, it's a decent song.
I feel like I'm not paying enough respect to the Roots, but I'm sorry, because the next song is the best song on the CD in my opinion. The song is called "Still Fly", originally by the hip-hop power group Big Tymers. The cover, done by The Devil Wears Prada, is absolutely amazing in every way. The band really puts a lot into the song, and you can tell that they worked hard to make this song their own. I once read that in an interview the members of Big Tymers said they thought the cover was better than the original. You know you've made an awesome song when the guys that wrote the song in the first place say you did a better job than them.
The next song is another one of the best on the CD. The original song is Umbrella, by Rihanna. The cover is done by All Time Low. This song is so good it got decent airtime on alternative rock radio stations. I feel like the All Time Low got lucky, because this CD came out right when Umbrella was on the charts, so they were covering a single that was still charting, and so they got the most exposure right off the bat. It's still a sweet cover though. The band did a good job of taking a hip-hop song and turning it into a banging rock song.
Next is probably the most famous "crunk" song on the CD: Notorious Thugs by the late great Biggie Smalls. The cover is done by Scary Kids Scaring Kids. At first, I hated this song; I would always skip it. I just didn't like the intro and the song is kind of slow so it got old pretty fast. There's not a lot of movement either; it's pretty much the same song the entire time. However, recently I started to really listen to the song, and it's not that bad In fact, Notorious Thugs has become one of my favorite songs on the CD. It's a nice wind-down song, which you don't expect to find on a Punk Goes...CD.
Unfortunately, this run on good songs is disrupted by the terrible cover of Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg. The cover is done by The Escape Frame. Honestly, this is the only song that I don't ever want to listen to. I'm not sure what The Escape Frame sounds like most of the time, but on this track their singer sounds absolutely awful.
The last two songs, Hey Ya and Tennessee, remind me a lot of the first two songs. Their good enough, but they don't really go out of the way to impress me. I mean, their nice songs, but I feel like a lot more could have been done to make them better.
Overall, Punk Goes Crunk is an amazing idea with a pretty good execution. Some of the songs are absolute gems that should get more playtime, but others are blunders that need to be forgotten as mistakes of a mash-up CD in a bizarre music industry. I'll give the CD a B- overall. It's good, but it's not something you'll listen to for the rest of your life.
Maybe someday I'll review Punk Goes Pop 2, the latest entrance in the series.
Maybe.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Album Review: Punk Goes Crunk...part one
I guess the ways this works is Corey's posts will be pretty serious while I'll be the blog's hilarious comic relief.
I learned a lot of things in college. Older professors don't take attendance, and like grandparents, are happy just when you show up. Despite literally having grease poured on them by a guy who has no business cooking, cafeteria burgers are only 230 calories. Girls from South Philly REALLY are that dirty. And the Punk Goes...franchise introduces more suburban white kids to rap than Q102 and MTV combined.
I was introduced to Punk Goes Crunk about two days into my college stay when one of my floor mates decided to blast it at 3 in the morning. I didn't hold it against him, because the album was freaking awesome. I'd like to take time now and let everyone know that I really do enjoy rap; it may even be my favorite genre. Punk, on the other hand, never really found it's way onto my play lists, mostly because I closely associated it with Emo during high school, and more than anything, I didn't want to be one of "those" kids. You know what I mean.
Anyway, I didn't really "listen" to Punk Goes Crunk until later in the year when I bought (cough) myself a copy of it. It's one of those things that I first experienced during freshman year that I'll probably enjoy for the rest of my life. Just like Hurricane Malt Liquor. Just kidding, mom and dad! It taste horrible.
The CD starts with Set Your Goals, a Pop-Punk band who's biggest song is called Echoes and is from Punk Goes Acoustic. They cover the song Throw Ya Hood Up, a song about...throwing your hood up. The original song, by Lil Jon, is pretty bad, to be honest. There are a few different approaches to these covers. Some bands try their darnedest to make a crunk song go punk. Some bands try to change the song, give it their own little twist, leave a recording that says, yeah, the original was good, but this is our version. And some covers take a terrible song and make a joke cover. This first track definitely goes in that last category. I mean, you can tell that the band probably had a blast recording the track, and at the end they were probably all laughs, but it's not a good song.
The second cover is by Say Anything. They cover I Got Your Money by Ol' Dirty Bastard. Now, this song is a good example of taking a song and just covering it. I mean, it's as good as the original, but it's nothing special. It's about on par with the first version, it doesn't eclipse it. And that's actually okay. Not every song can be perfect. If most of the covers are as good as the original, then you have a solid CD. Also, anyone with any knowledge of the band understands why it was a great choice, since Max Bemis and Ol' Dirty Bastard have faced a lot of the same drug related problems during their careers.
The next two songs, I Wish by The Secret Handshake and Men In Black by Forever the Sickest Kids, are both pretty good covers, but they don't really do much for me. Their interesting to hear the first few times, but they get old pretty fast. I think it's because the originals were kind of bland, so the covers, despite being pretty good, get bland as well.
California Love by My American Heart is the first of what I consider to be the amazing tracks on the CD. This cover is just amazing; the band took a great song and put their own mark on it that just makes another great song. The only thing is it's not really Punk at all. It's more of a Punk-Techno mix. I Wanna Love You by The Maine, the next song, is also one of the best on the album. This song kind of chops and screws with the original, but it's one of the only songs that really sounds like it could be a straight rock song, as opposed to just a cover.
Kryptonite by Emanuel is the next song. At first, I wasn't really a fan of this song; it's currently rated a 2 on my iTunes. But it really isn't a bad song, per say, it's just caught in the line of a bunch of good songs, and doesn't compare well to the other covers near it.
Whew! This is quite a lot of information for one post! I'm about halfway done the CD, and I'll fill you guys on the rest of it tomorrow. Stay tuned for Punk Goes Crunk...part two!
I learned a lot of things in college. Older professors don't take attendance, and like grandparents, are happy just when you show up. Despite literally having grease poured on them by a guy who has no business cooking, cafeteria burgers are only 230 calories. Girls from South Philly REALLY are that dirty. And the Punk Goes...franchise introduces more suburban white kids to rap than Q102 and MTV combined.
I was introduced to Punk Goes Crunk about two days into my college stay when one of my floor mates decided to blast it at 3 in the morning. I didn't hold it against him, because the album was freaking awesome. I'd like to take time now and let everyone know that I really do enjoy rap; it may even be my favorite genre. Punk, on the other hand, never really found it's way onto my play lists, mostly because I closely associated it with Emo during high school, and more than anything, I didn't want to be one of "those" kids. You know what I mean.
Anyway, I didn't really "listen" to Punk Goes Crunk until later in the year when I bought (cough) myself a copy of it. It's one of those things that I first experienced during freshman year that I'll probably enjoy for the rest of my life. Just like Hurricane Malt Liquor. Just kidding, mom and dad! It taste horrible.
The CD starts with Set Your Goals, a Pop-Punk band who's biggest song is called Echoes and is from Punk Goes Acoustic. They cover the song Throw Ya Hood Up, a song about...throwing your hood up. The original song, by Lil Jon, is pretty bad, to be honest. There are a few different approaches to these covers. Some bands try their darnedest to make a crunk song go punk. Some bands try to change the song, give it their own little twist, leave a recording that says, yeah, the original was good, but this is our version. And some covers take a terrible song and make a joke cover. This first track definitely goes in that last category. I mean, you can tell that the band probably had a blast recording the track, and at the end they were probably all laughs, but it's not a good song.
The second cover is by Say Anything. They cover I Got Your Money by Ol' Dirty Bastard. Now, this song is a good example of taking a song and just covering it. I mean, it's as good as the original, but it's nothing special. It's about on par with the first version, it doesn't eclipse it. And that's actually okay. Not every song can be perfect. If most of the covers are as good as the original, then you have a solid CD. Also, anyone with any knowledge of the band understands why it was a great choice, since Max Bemis and Ol' Dirty Bastard have faced a lot of the same drug related problems during their careers.
The next two songs, I Wish by The Secret Handshake and Men In Black by Forever the Sickest Kids, are both pretty good covers, but they don't really do much for me. Their interesting to hear the first few times, but they get old pretty fast. I think it's because the originals were kind of bland, so the covers, despite being pretty good, get bland as well.
California Love by My American Heart is the first of what I consider to be the amazing tracks on the CD. This cover is just amazing; the band took a great song and put their own mark on it that just makes another great song. The only thing is it's not really Punk at all. It's more of a Punk-Techno mix. I Wanna Love You by The Maine, the next song, is also one of the best on the album. This song kind of chops and screws with the original, but it's one of the only songs that really sounds like it could be a straight rock song, as opposed to just a cover.
Kryptonite by Emanuel is the next song. At first, I wasn't really a fan of this song; it's currently rated a 2 on my iTunes. But it really isn't a bad song, per say, it's just caught in the line of a bunch of good songs, and doesn't compare well to the other covers near it.
Whew! This is quite a lot of information for one post! I'm about halfway done the CD, and I'll fill you guys on the rest of it tomorrow. Stay tuned for Punk Goes Crunk...part two!
Hard Knock life for Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals held a press conference today making it official (although it was widely known in the football world for weeks now) that they will be the next subject of the HBO series Hard Knocks. I am kind of surprised of this.
The Bengals are one of those teams that everyone picks each year to do something and make a run in the playoffs. Of course, they have had their chances in the past, but the recent Bengals are known for the antics of players like Chris Henry and Chad Ochocinco. It is brilliant for HBO and NFL Films to go in there en exploit those antics for the next season of Hard Knocks. I am just surprised any NFL team would allow the access that the camera crews need to get the shots they want for a show. When you have guys trying to make a squad, it adds a circus-like element to training camp to have a number of different camera crews following guys around (I think the number is 7 or so).
It will definitely be interesting to watch. Last year, the Dallas Cowboys were featured on the 5 week show, and while it was nice to watch, it was not wildly entertaining like years past. Fans fell in love with the likes of Danny Amedola, the long shot receiver from Texas Tech (who ended up on the Eagles practice squad) and Todd Lowber, the receiver who never played football until he graduated college. We even sat on the edge of our seat to see if Ray Lewis' brother would make it on the team. And who could ever forget the opening scene of the first episode when we were introduced to a chiseled Terrell Owens running on the beach? These were the main stories of the season last year for Hard Knocks, and to be honest, it was a little boring. The Cowboys are a world class organization and they would not allow any kind of embarrassing material happen during camp that would be shown on the show. Not taking anything away from the Bengals, but hopefully this year will show a little more intrigue. I am surprised any NFL team would even be interested in allowing this kind of access. Especially a young team that should be "on the rise" trying to rebound after a tough year.
Going back to the following years of the show, the Kansas City Chiefs were featured in 2007. Head coach Herm Edwards and GM Carl Peterson allowed for a lot more access on this season, and I believe it was right up there with the best of the series so far. In 2004, the Jacksonville Jaguars were the subject of the show and I can't say I saw any of it. It was broadcast on the NFL Network and that's one channel I do not get here. Of course, the first Hard Knocks was the 2001 defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. And by far, the most entertaining season of the series came in 2002 when the Dallas Cowboys were featured for the first time. It was 55 minutes of hilarity watching the head coach, Dave Campo (who is now the secondary coach for the Cowboys and had a predominant role in an episode last year) interact with his players. And who couldn't help be laugh when they saw an interview with QB Qunicy Carter (whatever happened to him??)
Anyway, I don't expect this season to live up to that 2002 Cowboys, but it should be a definite improvement over the 2008 Cowboys. I can't wait to see what Ochocinco has in store for the show. It will also be interesting what kinds of storylines the NFL Films crews look for (the Bengals have a lot of players named Jones and Johnson; this will be S Roy Williams 3 Hard Knocks; etc.). One reason to start counting down the days till training camp.
The Bengals are one of those teams that everyone picks each year to do something and make a run in the playoffs. Of course, they have had their chances in the past, but the recent Bengals are known for the antics of players like Chris Henry and Chad Ochocinco. It is brilliant for HBO and NFL Films to go in there en exploit those antics for the next season of Hard Knocks. I am just surprised any NFL team would allow the access that the camera crews need to get the shots they want for a show. When you have guys trying to make a squad, it adds a circus-like element to training camp to have a number of different camera crews following guys around (I think the number is 7 or so).
It will definitely be interesting to watch. Last year, the Dallas Cowboys were featured on the 5 week show, and while it was nice to watch, it was not wildly entertaining like years past. Fans fell in love with the likes of Danny Amedola, the long shot receiver from Texas Tech (who ended up on the Eagles practice squad) and Todd Lowber, the receiver who never played football until he graduated college. We even sat on the edge of our seat to see if Ray Lewis' brother would make it on the team. And who could ever forget the opening scene of the first episode when we were introduced to a chiseled Terrell Owens running on the beach? These were the main stories of the season last year for Hard Knocks, and to be honest, it was a little boring. The Cowboys are a world class organization and they would not allow any kind of embarrassing material happen during camp that would be shown on the show. Not taking anything away from the Bengals, but hopefully this year will show a little more intrigue. I am surprised any NFL team would even be interested in allowing this kind of access. Especially a young team that should be "on the rise" trying to rebound after a tough year.
Going back to the following years of the show, the Kansas City Chiefs were featured in 2007. Head coach Herm Edwards and GM Carl Peterson allowed for a lot more access on this season, and I believe it was right up there with the best of the series so far. In 2004, the Jacksonville Jaguars were the subject of the show and I can't say I saw any of it. It was broadcast on the NFL Network and that's one channel I do not get here. Of course, the first Hard Knocks was the 2001 defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. And by far, the most entertaining season of the series came in 2002 when the Dallas Cowboys were featured for the first time. It was 55 minutes of hilarity watching the head coach, Dave Campo (who is now the secondary coach for the Cowboys and had a predominant role in an episode last year) interact with his players. And who couldn't help be laugh when they saw an interview with QB Qunicy Carter (whatever happened to him??)
Anyway, I don't expect this season to live up to that 2002 Cowboys, but it should be a definite improvement over the 2008 Cowboys. I can't wait to see what Ochocinco has in store for the show. It will also be interesting what kinds of storylines the NFL Films crews look for (the Bengals have a lot of players named Jones and Johnson; this will be S Roy Williams 3 Hard Knocks; etc.). One reason to start counting down the days till training camp.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Now entering the ring, the undisputed champion of the world...
Well, I might as well make my first introduction post thing and get it over with.
As Corey mentioned, I am a sophomore at the prestigious Widener University, where I am majoring in Creative Writing. I work part time at the local ice skating rink, the Flyers SkateZone. This is not my first blog; I run another blogger about comic books, which I haven't updated in quite some time, and I've had both a Xanga and Livejournal at different points in my life. Right now most of my blogging is mirco-blogging via twitter, where wu610 is my name. Feel free to follow me. During the school year I host a radio show on the campus' radio channel, WDNR 89.5FM. I also have written a few reviews for the video gaming website GameFAQs, and I continue to try a write a new review every once in a while.
While Corey considers himself a football expert, I'm more into pop culture; music, video games, comic books, movies, tv shows, pretty much everything. Most of my posts will be all over the place, ranging from video game previews to album reviews. I'm going to cover baseball and hockey more than any other sports.
That's pretty much all I have to say in the first post. You can follow me on twitter here, this is my last.fm, which tracks the music I listen to, and this is my IGN page, which is a complete list of the video games I own.
As Corey mentioned, I am a sophomore at the prestigious Widener University, where I am majoring in Creative Writing. I work part time at the local ice skating rink, the Flyers SkateZone. This is not my first blog; I run another blogger about comic books, which I haven't updated in quite some time, and I've had both a Xanga and Livejournal at different points in my life. Right now most of my blogging is mirco-blogging via twitter, where wu610 is my name. Feel free to follow me. During the school year I host a radio show on the campus' radio channel, WDNR 89.5FM. I also have written a few reviews for the video gaming website GameFAQs, and I continue to try a write a new review every once in a while.
While Corey considers himself a football expert, I'm more into pop culture; music, video games, comic books, movies, tv shows, pretty much everything. Most of my posts will be all over the place, ranging from video game previews to album reviews. I'm going to cover baseball and hockey more than any other sports.
That's pretty much all I have to say in the first post. You can follow me on twitter here, this is my last.fm, which tracks the music I listen to, and this is my IGN page, which is a complete list of the video games I own.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
And now, a SIX FOOT GUARD from Georgetown....
Welcome to the inaugural post on PYAA All Stars. My name is Corey Smith and I have been volunteered to be "Editor in Chief" of this glorious publication. We here at PYAA All Stars are here to supply commentary on sports, movies, books, video games, music, etc. So sit back and enjoy, and tell your friends! And for the record, PYAA is a tribute of the little league we played in when we were younger.
I would like to first introduce myself. I am will be a Senior in September at Drexel University in glorious West Philadelphia. I am interning at NFL Films in Mt Laurel, NJ for the summer and consider myself, not a football expert, but something close to it. I have experience working with the Philadelphia Eagles and 610 WIP, Philadelphia's sports talk radio station. I will be focusing mainly on sports in this blog, but I will try and expand my horizons to other topics (movies and video games mostly).
One of our contributing writers will be Derek Smith, my friend and long time brother. He is a Sophomore at Widner University and an aspiring writer. He will be our expert in all things not sports. I expect him to make an update in the near future introducing himself.
Well, that's it for now. We are officially up and running and expect to have 6-8 updates per week. I have been unimpressed with our layout as of right now. I'm exploring options on making it look better and hopefully I can find something aesthetically pleasing.
I would like to first introduce myself. I am will be a Senior in September at Drexel University in glorious West Philadelphia. I am interning at NFL Films in Mt Laurel, NJ for the summer and consider myself, not a football expert, but something close to it. I have experience working with the Philadelphia Eagles and 610 WIP, Philadelphia's sports talk radio station. I will be focusing mainly on sports in this blog, but I will try and expand my horizons to other topics (movies and video games mostly).
One of our contributing writers will be Derek Smith, my friend and long time brother. He is a Sophomore at Widner University and an aspiring writer. He will be our expert in all things not sports. I expect him to make an update in the near future introducing himself.
Well, that's it for now. We are officially up and running and expect to have 6-8 updates per week. I have been unimpressed with our layout as of right now. I'm exploring options on making it look better and hopefully I can find something aesthetically pleasing.
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