NFL Players + Money + Guns + HBO = Crazy

On Inauguration Day, HBO aired a new edition of Real Sports, the first for 2009 and its 14th season of its Emmy Award-winning sports news magazine.In this edition, there were three new stories and one update from 2006. Let's look at the only segment I watched:

Guns & The NFL:

This story is on the debate over NFL players who carry guns. Bernard Goldberg looks into the story. It starts with Bernard talking with former defensive end Marcellus Wiley who grew up in the violent streets of South Central Los Angeles. Wiley says he saw people getting shot. He saw people shoot others and he saw people who were killed after getting shot. Wiley says not even the football field was safe. He says in 9th grade, shots were fired at the football field from a building across the street. Wiley said he had to hit the deck to avoid getting shot.Wiley says he never touched a gun during that time. He never looked at a gun and didn't buy one until he joined the National Football League. (Right, and a frog doesn't bump it's ass everytime it hops?)


But Wiley says eight seconds after he was drafted into the NFL, he bought one.This is not uncommon in the National Football League. Players feel invincible on the field, but once they leave the sanctity of the stadium, they feel they're huge targets.

Daunte Robinson of the Houston Texans did not have a gun until his home was invaded which was situated in a gated community. The invaders stuck a gun in his face, right in front of his two children, then tied him up with duct tape and robbed him.

New York Giants receiver Steve Smith was held up at gunpoint outside his New Jersey home which was also in a gated community.

Richard Collier of the Jacksonville Jaguars lost his leg after he was shot 14 times and is paralyzed.

But the two incidents that hit closest to home for NFL players were the senseless murders of two young players. First it was the drive-by shooting of Derek Williams of the Denver Broncos outside a nightclub. Then the killing of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor in his Miami home really caused players to think about protecting themselves.

Marcellus Wiley says he now knows he's a target. He went from having zero in his bank account to having two commas and several zeroes. Wiley says being a millionaire made him a big target in the eyes of some people. And it also stems from where he came from. Compton in South Central Los Angeles. Wiley says many players came from rough neighborhoods and it's there where they become marked men because people know how much money they make. It's for that reason why many of them have gravitated to guns.

And Wiley goes on to say black players come from New Orleans, Southeast DC, places Wiley calls "murder capitals". And he says his whiteplayers come from places like Palo Alto, affluent neighborhoods. Wiley says his Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are spent in the murder capitals and that is what he has to deal with. (Right, so because it's the holiday's you the millionaire in your poverty stricken family, YOU the player has to travel back to Compton for every holiday?!? Obviously if this guy was smart, he'd simply pay for his family to come to him.. I mean afterall he does have a nice house right?)


Adewale Ogunleye of the Chicago Bears says you have to be crazy to think that you're not a target. Ogunleye lives in South Florida in the offseason, not far from where Sean Taylor was murdered. He believes Taylor might be alive today had he had a gun and not a machete. Ogunleye says players around the league talk about incidents like Taylor and are careful. Even when encountering a fan with the best intentions, players feel they still have to be on the alert in case someone is looking at them in a negative light. It's for that reason why Ogunleye owns a gun and keeps it in his house. Ogunleye bought that weapon from a former teammate on the Miami Dolphins, Jay Williams. He tells Bernard that he doesn't go anywhere without a gun. Williams played in the NFL for ten years and since his retirement, he's become a seller of guns. When he retired, Williams sent out a mass mailing to players letting them know he was in the gun business and said he knew what they were going through and would help to keep them safe.

There are no hard statistics on the number of NFL players who owns guns, but Williams says it's a lot. He thinks the numbers are close to 85% of all NFL players who own a weapon. The NFL tells its players that any handguns must be registered and cannot be anywhere near a league facility. But Williams said he brought a gun to practice every day against the rules. He says when he leaves practice, he's in the real world and if he stops for gas, goes to the store or just gets out of his car for anything, he's going to have his gun on him. (Bad Boys.. Bad Boys.. Whatcha gun do!)

Williams says the fear factor for athletes is not crazy paranoia, it's for real. He says criminals want to get near the athletes for their money and possessions. But Bernard argues that anyone in society can make that argument. Williams counters that the criminal element sees NFL players as the alpha males in the trenches playing a physical sport who make a lot of money, so the element wants to go after them and take what they have.While the player may feel safer, in reality, he may not be. Marcellus Wiley was asked if someone comes up to him pointing a gun, would he pull out his gun? Wiley replied that once a gun is at your head, it's too late, but players don't like the element of surprise. They like to see the play materialize in front of them and then take action. Adewale Ogunleye he understands by having two people with a gun in a confrontation, things could go horribly wrong, but he says having a gun at least gives him a chance of survival. And sometimes owning a gun puts the player in more danger than any potential assailant.

Enter Plaxico Burress who's gun was never registered. Because of that, Burress faces a potential prison sentence. Williams says that incident gave players who carry guns legally a bad name because it was obvious to him that Burress was not mature enough to handle a gun. (Right, and 85% of the NFLPA is mature enough to carry a gun?)

The incident made Wiley think that it could have happened to him. That the gun could have slipped from its holster and cause it to go off. (Right, because players carry their guns in their holsters, and not in the front or in back of their beltline!? C'mon on son, 50 Cent is goin to teach dat wangsta a lesson!)

Like most players, Wiley carried his weapon for peace of mind. But it snowballed from peace of mind to paranoia. He says the gun changed his perspective and what he saw. Instead of seeing a person who wants directions, Wiley was wondering if the person was a carjacker. And when he went to clubs, he would see people staring at him possibly looking for an autograph as people who would want to rob him. But then Wiley began to ask questions that many players may not. Would he be ready to pull a gun if confronted? Could he handle a potential attempted murder charge? Could he handle a murder charge? Even if he pulled the gun and didn't use it, could he handle the legal ramifications? Could he handle if he pulled the gun on the streets, the person he pointed the gun at was coming back? So when he was with the Buffalo Bills, Wiley decided he no longer wanted to own a gun. As he was driving near Niagra Falls, he felt something bad was going to happen the longer he held possession of the weapon. So he threw the gun into the falls and Wiley says he felt a 270 pound gorilla lift off his shoulders. (Dude, you do realize you just tossed your supposed registered hand gun into a river, or worse, it could be picked up by a child or criminal, and take human lives!?!? Way to think that one through... Real mature and responsible, how about taking it in to the local Police Department, and properly relinquishing the gun, I guess if you went to Hunter's Safety, or Weapon's training you'd know that..)


But even with his revelation, Wiley feels the trend is more guns in the NFL. Mostly because of the Sean Taylor incident and because players are making more money and getting more attention.While there's a war mentality on the field, there's one off the field as well. Jay Williams says it's down to who has the biggest advantage, the criminal or him? If the criminal has the gun, he has the advantage, but with Williams and his training, he feels he has the advantage. In the transition, Bryant and Bernard had a lengthy discussion on guns. Bryant asked Bernard if there was any evidence of players being attacked and Bernard replied you don't hear about NHL or baseball players feeling this type of pressure. Perhaps some NBA players do, but it's mostly with the NFL. Bryant wants to know if this is an NFL athlete problem or a black athlete problem. Bernard says it's an economic problem and players come from murder capitals. And in those neighborhoods, guns are a normal part of life. Bryant says the athletes are rich enough to hire bodyguards so why not use them? Bernard says if they do that, the prevalent feeling is that the players are not taking care of their own problems and they're a punk. Crazy story. But as Wiley says, the trend is more guns. Grade - A+. Very disturbing.

Hextall Mind Fluck's the Pio's

Last night was the 1st time I've ever seen a player get inside an opposing team's head and its coaches head so bad that, the whole team lost it's composure.

Also last night was the 1st time I'd ever seen a player mind fock a team to the point the team had to sit 4 players in the penalty box, all in the same sequence of events.

Hat's off to Brett Hextall, he took a huge elbow to the head, then was drug to the ground by another player after the whistle, and penalty was called. Then after that settled out play was supposed to resume, BUT the Denver Pio's goon's weren't done yet.

The ensuing faceoff didn't happen as another Pio Goon, decides to start slashing Hextall before the faceoff even occurs, sending that goon to the penalty box, plus an additional for what I'm sure was unsportmanslike, or delay of game, as the puck hadn't even dropped yet.

The story of last nights game should've been about the Sioux DOMINATING the current #1 team in the WCHA in a convincing manner by a tally of 8-3. But, it'll probably be known more for the DU MENTAL BREAKDOWN..

People love to talk about the Sioux being goons, but what I watched last night, was DU's numerous attempts to goon up the game. I understand when you're getting your butts handed to you by a team that's not supposed to be good, because the guys that do the polls say so. You get frustrated and want to start slashing, face washing the team that's making you look silly.

A few more things stick out, like when the DU players decided that since there was a stoppage in play and the Sioux players were trying to seperate themselves from the Pio players, the Pio players on the bench decided to stick their arms out and start punching the Sioux Players.. Classy..

I wish this was the NHL, as these tactics that the Pio's pulled last night would have never happened if the players were held accountable for their actions.. I mean that little Maini kid that tried to dog collar choke Hextall to the ground from behind after the play was whistled dead, would've put him as the #1 on any NHL Enforcer's List of people to go out and beat down the 1st second they hit the ice! lol (I'm reminded of Cam Janssen this week pointing at Cam Barker after his boarding/checking from behind/interference 5 minute Major on David Backes, it looked ugly, and Cammer was leaning over the dasher pointing and yelling, and the best part was the audio picked it up, and to keep it PG, he mainly just said that he's #1 on "the list", and that's how Pro Hockey settles it)

NCAA hockey, just lets it elevate, so the ensuing 5x3 powerplay the Sioux have DU sends out its goon line, and tries to injure the Sioux's top 3 forwards... I mean Coach Gwoz "knows the code" which obviously means when you're the coach that's up 5 goals, and on a 2-man advantage powerplay, you don't send out your best forwards, you send out your 5 goons to match up with his 3 goons..

Nice....

But hey, at least I get to watch round #2 tonight! So far with me watching the Sioux live, they're averaging 8 goals/game.. If they win by a blowout again tonight, like say 8-1.... I wonder what excuse some will come up with next??

Siouxper Sweep!?

Tonight will be my first chance at watching the Sioux team live! Weird I know, but many times the Sioux have played at the same time as the fabled Blues. So I've had to watch the Sioux games via Internet after I've found out who scores and everything, kind of taking the fun away, but in reality I try my hardest not to go on the Internet till after I've watched the games... It's been a tough season for this guy..

SO, getting to the point, if the Sioux get swept, I'll never watch this team live on the Internet again... (notice I left myself an out, just in case I come home this year and watch them in person, or in the cities)

BUT, if they SWEEP the Pio's (I always love saying PIE-O, and then follow it up with CRAP/Shit the latter when I'm drunk... yes I'm still bitter from the West regional in '04 when Bochenski and Parise were told by Blaiser not to leave the ice until they scored. {Dean their was like 5 minutes left in the game!?}) sorry, if they sweep the Pio's they move into the #1 spot in the league! It'll be the 1st time probably ever that the #1 team in the WCHA will be ranked lower in the polls.. Showing once and for all the people who do the polls are that useless..

If they split, it's like sister kissing. I hate ties, and ties should be settled via shootout! Or in the case of a split, they should play a 3rd game on Sunday! That would be awesome!! Wow, am I getting way off topic..

Well I wish I was at Buffalo Wild Wings in G-Forks right now, as I'd be pounding Beers, and eating up all them O-rings with that sauce add in some boneless Mild's and you got yourself one great pre-game party!

1st day in Office.. Thanks Obama

Well its always nice to know that the media hasn't ran with this "SPECIAL" story....

I mean afterall, every American knew how much the Republican party spent on clothing Sarah Palin?! (It's not her fault, she lives in Alaska, which is similar to Grand Forks, only nicer, which means she shouldn't have designer gowns, and dresses it's freaking COLD PEOPLE)

So Republicans spend $150k on clothing Palin family.

OBAMA's 1/2 day in office he spends $140 MILLION on his inauguration security detail..
And not a peep out of the media?? C'mon that's rediculous. If this guy is going to save the world and turn apple trees into money trees. Why did he need to outspend the last President, President George W Bush, by about 4 times. (George Bush spent $40.2 Million on security, after winning one of the closest President's elections.)

Also has anyone noticed that since Obama's took office the price of gas across the nation has increased $0.35.. That's 3 days folks!

God.. err I mean Allah Help This Country!

Sorry Wheeler... Oshie is King

Thanks to Endo for that text, as I was busy still working and didn't watch the game yet tonight..

Also just took a look at Oshie's minutes for this game...
Oshie time on ice tonight was 21:21 ranking him 1st on the team for forwards a distant 2nd was David Perron with 19:38... Even better was the Bruins top forward at 20:52 was Marc Savard... I think the NHL Young Stars game better start figuring in an injury clause as this rookie is on FIRE!!!!


Although I do have to say MSU-Makato should induct David Backes into their Hall of Fame. All-around great gee, and a pretty good hockey player:


Oh ya, and I think the West has a lot better teams then the East in the NHL and College.. 'Nuff said..

Rivalries are a great thing

Since I grew up in Grand Forks, ND I've been privy to a few rivalries in my day:

Sibling: My brother and his friends used to play smear the queer (also known as the kickoff game) where my brother and his buddies (usually 1-2) would stand in the neighbors yard and throw the football to me standing in our driveway. The object of this great game for me was to somehow make it past my big brother and his big friends. (IF I ever made it, it was sweet glory, and something I loved trying to prove to the older kids on the block.) My brothers objective: Simply try and make as ridiculous, and painfully looking tackles as possible, BUT also they had to watch my face, as whenever contact to my brittle nose was made GAME OFF, Brett would start to tear up, and my brother and friends would tell me to, "DON'T WAIT TO FEEL THE PAIN!" and proceed to stuff cold snow on it.. Hoping to return to this glorious game of them laughing and high-fiving each other after every throw..(rarely if ever did I make it to the touchdown aka the imaginary line between the neighbors trees.)

GF Elementary School All-City Track meet:
Is it just me, or when you came back the next day to school after the track meet, our P.E. teacher Mr. Palmoscino would tell us the great news that our school did indeed win the All-City track meet! (Every year the Ben Franklin Road Runners won the All-City track meet, weird.. I know... no double dipping, thanks Dr. Randklev)

Red River vs Central:
Any sport every sport, it's going to be a battle..

Sioux vs Gophers:
Having one of the nicest Hockey Facilities in North America, it truly is a spectacle

My newest rivalry I've experienced was of the Professional sorts:

St Louis Blues vs Chicago Blackhawks:

My 1st experience was on Oct. 18th. The setting was sort of surreal. Former Sioux Capt. Chris Porter puts the Blues on the board 1st. Then former Sioux Jonny Toews puts up a goal for Chicago. Later in the 3rd period we witness a huge scuffle going on in the nose bleeds, and all of a sudden shirts and clothes are flying from the upper deck down to the lower deck. Turns out the on ice fights translated into the stands! (Ahh yes, reminded me of college days.) The game goes into OT at 4-4. Still no one scores pushing the game into a SHOOTOUT! A Blue scores, and then Jonny T goes out and ties it up. Then on the 3rd round Tj Oshie scores the Game Winner! It was his 1st career NHL Goal that wouldn't count. Needless to say it was an intense game, one I'll never forget as to whom I was with that night, and the partying that ensued surely was a great night! The Blues went on to play the Hawks on Nov. 14th and again the Blues Andy Macdonald put in the game winner in OT.

Tale of the Tape JT vs TJ part 2:
It's no secret the former line mates will do battle tonight in what hopefully will be a battle of who will showcase the most. The captain of the Hawks since the new year is riding a Point/Game over the last 8 games. His career over a 106 game span he's averaging .86 points/game.

On the other side TJ Oshie after having come back from his ankle injury is averaging a Point/Game in his last 7 games. Though Tj's career has been short, he's played in 19 games, and scoring at a rate of .23 pts/game. Although his last game he put up 1 goal and 2 assists against the Av's a night ago. Here's his celebration:Let the rivalries begin.....

wuhwhat...... That just happened!

If you fall asleep when your team is tied in a game at 1-1. Then wake up the next day, does it matter really if they won or lost? I mean they were tied when you were watching them? So what if in the 3rd period the other team scores a few more goals, and your team loses. I say since I fell asleep, the rest of the game really didn't happen...

But hey, it's now the 2nd half of the season, TJ Oshie will show the team how to go on a 2nd half run.... (It's Sioux Nature)
Also props to TJ Oshie (4 points in 4 games since coming back from injury), as he through a shot on net, and Dan Hinote banked his rebound attempt off a Calgary defensemen and in, giving Hinote his 1st goal in 37 games, dating back to last season! (Hey Dan you're a nice guy, had some good talks, but please score more, so the Blues can get something for ya at the trade deadline..) {Some think I'm mean, but it's the business, he just doesn't fit the Blues long-term agenda}





SIOUX/Gopher OT:
Last night, I finally got around to reading some of the message boards in regards to College Hockey's Biggest Rivalry. Since the 2 game beatdown was so baaaaddddd (6-3,6-1), clearly many many Gopher fans have hit their holes, and packed it in until maybe the end of the week if they can win against St. Cloud. BUT, some huge jersey chasers (I'm talking man on man stuff) are still talking trash on the Sioux Message boards, as well as others. Not surprising, but what is surprising is the reasoning Gopher fans are repeatedly typing why they LOST.....

Gopher fans claim, because their head coach (whom didn't even want to go to N.D. due to some unknown medical condition that has taken over his body since Dec. 27th, and they still don't know what it is. Oh ya, by the way the Gophers have played without their coach before, so has UND) back on topic, because the Gopher players were missing their ever so GREAT COACH, who hasn't brought a team to the Frozen Four in over 5 years; wasn't on the bench the Gopher team was "missing" soooo much they decided they'd let the Sioux steam roll them for 12 goals..

Am I the only one that laughs at rebuttal?? What ever happened to the ol' Win ONE FOR THE GIPPER? (or Gopher) Shouldn't players want to play even harder when a player/coach is going through something personal??? Evidently the Gopher fans think when your face is rubbed in the dirt, you go home cry to your parents, and hope that they take care of whatever it is at home that's bothering them.. lol

Dick Vitale would be going CRAAYYYZZZYYY BABBBYY for North Dakota?:
Last night Jodie Meeks put up 54. Meeks broke Dan Issel's 39-year-old record of 53 points set at Mississippi. The Southeastern Conference's leading scorer was only the second player this season to surpass the 50-point mark, according to STATS. North Dakota State's Ben Woodside had 60 against Stephen F. Austin in a triple overtime loss on Dec. 12. Didn't hear about that one... Oh wait it's North Dakota State, see previous lezzy post.. (I apologize ESPN, and FSN)



Also turns out the Courier Journal agrees with me: "If Jodie Meeks were doing this at Duke or North Carolina, you'd have to cancel your cable subscription to keep him off the screen. You'd have to have Dick Vitale surgically removed from him." there's only 64 comments on that article, but it's only 9am...



The best part about it, is that now everyone at UK will be crying about how Psycho T, UNC, Duke, and KANSAS (don't think I didn't forget about the Defending Champs bromo, nice job beating up the boys from Manhattan, KS, would it have been a better game if Beasley was still there? ) are always in the spotlight on ESPN, well UK fans, welcome to what it feels like to be a fan of Hockey college or Pro... And in some sad and pathetic way, the NBA, as they can't seem to fill any of their buildings.. except for Boston, LA, and what? Cleveland, yep thank King James for that.



2010 NBA All-Star Game:
The 2010 NBA All-Star Game will be played at the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington, and the seating capacity will be at least 100,000. If the game sells out, it will have the largest attendance in basketball history. A crowd of 78,129 attended a game between Michigan State and Kentucky at Detroit’s Ford Field in 2003. The NBA attendance record is 62,046 for a Bulls-Hawks game at the Georgia Dome in 1998.

My take, it's the NBA All-Star game... 48,000 max.. wouldn't be surprised if it's around 38,000.. I could be way wrong though too..



Let's go back to the 2004 NFL Draft:
Storyline: Eli Manning is the consensus #1, only bad thing is Chargers have #1, Archie & Eli, don't like San Diego.. So:


Giants trade up from #4 to #1 getting Eli Manning.


In return


Chargers receive:
Rights to 2004 4th Overall Pick, Philip Rivers.
2005 1st Round Draft Pick - Used to draft and sign Linebacker Shawne Merriman.
2004 3rd Round Draft Pick - Used to draft and sign Kicker Nate Kaeding.
2005 5th Round Draft Pick - Traded to Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Left Tackle Roman Oben.

All that for little Eli.. Let's divulge into that draft year:
Philip Rivers went 4th, the next Qtrback went 11th to Pitts. in Big Ben, next was #22 from Buffalo Bills Selecting JP Losman.

Story of this draft: #24 pick to St Louis Rams, Stephen Jackson, currently is the highest paid from this draft.

Analysts say Eli's new contract to the Giants will put him at $120Million, for a few years, making him the highest paid player in the NFL, 2nd place goes to older brother Payton at $98.9Million..
Hey Archie how many women ask how much it would cost them for you to pregnate them?? Just askin.. I may know a few ladies..

Monday Morning Moments

Sorry for the lack of posts over the holidays, and recently. I've been busy with end of year work, and other stuff, so the blog was neglected.. Sorry it won't happen again..

OLD NEWS:
Last week the "George" started shooting his new movie all over STL (he'll be here for 5 months, also turns out that the best place to shoot a movie that has an abundant of abandoned buildings, also an empty airport is right here)... Judging by the comments section in this STL Blog about what he should do while he's here (there's only 154 comments, mainly guys proclaiming that their wives want him over for dinner, and pretty much the other 100 or so comments are girls just getting a little too excited in their pants about the thought of El Jorge coming to their house) I would say Clooney is the shizz, hell if I ran into him at the Casino, even I would be excited, I mean he shook Sinatra's hand... (well he said it in a movie, so it has to be true....)

Also last week saw the Colts go down in OT, to a team I don't want to even talk about. As they are cockier then the UofM "Golden Gopher" program...(or lack thereof, read on..)

So onto my NFL analysis:
I'm not going to lie about this, my playoff bracket is defunct... I had the Colts going to the Super Bowl... Not that I'm a homer, but I just thought Payton was healed and ready to meet lil bro maybe in the biggest game of their lives.. (How cool would that be? Prolly good for the ratings and the sport too)

Also just looking over the bracket, who predicted that the 2 #6 seeds would make the Super Bowl.. I know it hasn't happened yet, but it could happen.. I feel bad for Panther fans, they simply wrote off the Cards, and I heard about here in the Lou (yes, people are still in love with Kurt Warner, "he's the whole reason why the Rams won, and now they suck"-quoting every ram fan there) But as Jacobi wrote to me over on the Slice, DEFENSE can get you very very far in the playoffs.. Just ask Philly, as they somehow got past the GIANTS?? And I'm sure the Titans are still feeling the pain, but 3 turnovers, and some huge goal line stands helped the Ravens get past Flacco's uni brow, oh and the Titans.. (Yes, I agree with many, and Ray Lewis needs to teach Flacco about uni's, I mean after all Ray Ray is the only leader on that team..{who really would want to try and be a leader over him?}) Oh, ya in regards to Defense wins Championships, you still need to score, so in turn Offense wins you that Championship Game..

I'm done with the NFL for the year, as I don't really like anyone left in the playoffs.. I'd say Pittsburgh, but I dislike Hines Ward that much..(I'll still pick them to win the Super Bowl, over the Cards) I'd go with the Ravens, but as much as they love to talk about Joe Flacco and him being a rookie QB, you'd think someone would mention the uni brow JUST ONCE!! Just ONCE!! So I can laugh and get over it, instead they hide it, and it makes me hate him more... If the media embraced it, I'd let it go.. The Cards have Kurt Warner, who the STL papers love to lick his armpits, that's how much everyone is in love with the guy.. Making me irritated with him, just because of the sole reason he gets wayyyy tooooo much love here.. (Nice reasoning I know, as he does a lot for the community, and his story about who he was pre-NFL is a good one.. Maybe I'll change my look on him) Lastly, the Philly Eagles, and Donovan (his mom), Andy Reid (his belly) have been on my blog before, and I don't need to bash them even more.. I simply dislike them...

Moral of the story, they just don't have good guys I want to root for...

Blog Shout out: Well my deep sympathy goes over to my BoaDM, as his Day of Awesome, wasn't the greatest when it came to his favorite teams. BUT, when you can still fill your pockets with a little bit of coin, it helps maybe cover up the bitterness for a while...

BLUES Shout out: Fellow Sioux Alumni, and current Blues Rookie Standout TJ Oshie, has returned to the NHL after his injury, and now is averaging a point/game... Too bad he was injured in the 1st half of the year, otherwise media and analysts said he was a lock for the NHL young-stars game. As fellow Sioux Alumni, and current Blackhawks standout Jonathan Toews was voted in by the fans to start in the NHL All-Star game.

SIOUX Shout out: BIG BIG BIG Props, to the Sioux Hockey team over the weekend. As they dominated their Biggest Rivals the Gophers by Sweeping the weekend series in a very convincing manner scoring 12 goals in 2 games. Oh ya Minnesota was ranked #3 in the nation, and the Sioux were unranked...

Comedy Clubs: I just went to my first Comedy Club on Saturday Night.. I have to say, it impressed me. I went to a place called the FunnyBone, and the hallway is lined with numerous pictures of guys/girls that actually performed their before they made it big: Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Woody, and about 10 others that I'm brain farting with that I recognized. Either way it was a fun experience, and I was expecting an old routine, but Robert Hawkins (might be the guys name) was the headliner, he's appeared on HBO, comedy central, and other places, but he had some great current jokes about commercials like the Sham Wow, and $5 foot longssss... LOL I'm still laughing about them. It's the 2nd time in my life (next to the time in college when Endo and I couldn't stop laughing in Global Climate, and the teacher made a mockery of us, because he thought we were laughing at him, but we weren't...Needless to say I think we both dropped that class) back on topic, it's the 2nd time in my life where I couldn't stop laughing for more then a minute or two.. I mean the guy rattled on and on these jokes that were hilarious (you're prolly like "ya Brett that's his job, and you're supposed to laugh.. ass clown") but still I've never been to a comedy club, and watched some on tv, and they don't make me laugh.. (Maybe it's the beers we had, that came in a 5 pack chilled on ice in a bucket for $18) Either way, great experience, in which I encourage all to get one in their lifetime.. Now if only I could remember some of them jokes..

Mizzou Shout out: I'm sold on the idea, that if you're a Hot Chick, and you live in either Missouri or Illinois, it's a must that you go to Mizzou.. I've met 3 girls in the past 3 days, and they are drop dead gorgeous, and yes ALL are attending Mizzou. It reminds me of UND vs NDSU, and yes we all know the answer to where the ugly lezzy's go? (sorry mom, she's the only exception) Right bro? (My brother made it through 1 semester at NDSU, then wised up, and went on to graduate from UND) Thus, I must make a trip to see a Mizzou Football tailgating party, could care less about the game, because the girls I talked to say, they hardly make it past the gates!!! (Take it for what it's worth... I did)

Still recovering from Dec. 30th... and New Years..

Ahh yes.... the Free Booze Free Food will do a number on a guy, so here's some pics our new Chicago Blues Fans that came and sat with us in our Club Seats....

The above picture is about 5 seconds before Osh lines up Zajac...

Some more pics of the 3 Former Fighting Sioux Alum's

Above the two are talking about how they could go for some pretty sweet Breakfast Buffet down in Squires Hall at UND.... Or they might've been talking about how UND might not make it to the NCAA tourney for the first time since either of them left the team?

Still boozing it up at 3:30am at Dubliner's with the Paddy O's girls, Osh, and the Chicago Bro's:

Below is the picture that my Chicago Bro's took when they were at the Winter Classic