Mindless and Random

It happened last year. There is simply no way to contribute to this blog during school. Any real free time I have I usually waste. Writing requires time and patience, well good writing anyway. Over winter break and when I am jobless, maybe this blog will thrive again. Ok you got me, it never really was thriving but you could check this every week when ESPN, Facebook or Porn got repetitive and maybe find something that was somewhat interesting to read. Anyway just to shake off the rust: here are some of my mindless and random thoughts.

-I love when a great artist comes out with a new and good album. It allows me to not only listen to some new tracks but to simply put that artist in my Itunes search and enjoy their entire catalogue. Spoon's Transference, Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, Jack Johnson's To The Sea and now Kanye West's My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy. The album is good, not pitchfork good but a great addition to his music library. Favorite song right now is "Gorgeous." Awesome beat with some great lyrics and of course a really catchy hook from Kid Cudi.

-Vassar weekend in September easily goes down as a top 3 weekend in my college career. A fantastic frisbee tournament in all aspects. Beautiful weather and fields, great Jive crew, some good competition as well as some fun teams that provided some hilarious and awesome frisbee. A great party that features some fantastic stories and of course we won the tournament in a fantastic come from behind victory against Vassar. This post will come out soon.

-The fall Jive season ended in Princeton where we won with relative ease. There were some good teams here but we were clearly better. CUFF would of been a better test but the weekend in Jersey was awesome and the weather for a mid-November tournament was unbelievable. Jive beat Princeton 13-6 in the final and I am now incredibly stoked for the Spring semester

-There was a second trip to Nationals that was occurred. I thought about blogging about this, I am had a Pre-Nationals thoughts blog written but I never typed it up. Southpaw ended with us reaching the quarterfinals and finishing in 7th place, something that is incredible for a first time open team. It was an awesome accomplishment that I unfortunately did not feel like I contributed too. Regionals and Nationals was spent mostly on the sideline for me watching our team making awesome plays and win some incredible games. While I am so happy for my teammates that carried us to where we got, I couldn't help but feel frustrated at times that I was watching most of this happen. Everyone who played over me did a fantastic job. Special props to Tim Gaulton and Greg Owens who played out of their minds as they anchored our D-line guarding some of the best players in the country. I just wish I got more of a chance to join them on the field to make plays.

As a D-player, it is incredibly hard to get a D at this level. Most of the time, you have done your job if your player doesn't touch the disc. Since I wasn't playing much, I couldn't get into a rhythm was unable to make any plays that would warrant me more playing time. I was the youngest player on the team and I missed my fair share of practices while I was at college. Most people in my situation would be happy just to be a part of this team and see the field once or twice. But after last year, I wanted more. I am extremely confident in my abilities and believed that if I had more playing time, I would of contributed. However, I squandered chances by falling into some bad habits and when it was time to play my best ultimate, I simply didn't. Not getting position and trying to simply jump over my guy, getting turned around a couple time on some deep hucks, not moving my feet fast enough on some marks, a couple fluke plays that didnt go my way and finally getting beat deep in the Doublewide game on my first time seeing the field sealed my fate.

To sum up, I am proud of Southpaw and I loved all the guys on the team. Our 7th place finish is a testament to our talent and work ethic. It was a fantastic season that I just wished I contributed more too. There is no doubt I became a better player over the course of the year and in the end, that is what matters the most.

- With that, have I mentioned that I am so pumped for our Jive team in the spring. While we absolutely need to stay healthy, the team is well constructed to succeed in ways never even thinkable for Dickinson say 5 years ago. Our senior class consists of a core of 4 players that are regional level club players. We will only go as far as those 4 take us. Tracky is one of the best all around players I have ever played with and would be a valuable addition to any college and most club D-lines in the country. Matt has evolved into our best deep option which I would never actually admit if it wasn't true. The kid was always athletically gifted and he has demonstrated that if you are dedicated to playing the sport and are already fast and athletic, you can be an absolute beast and dominate the game at certain levels. While I give Griffles a ton of crap for various aspects of his game, he is invaluable to our team and has proved that he is not only one of our best handlers but also one of our best cutters. If he can stay healthy and really put in the work this spring, he will be the one that will quietly win us games by isolating him against favorable match ups and coming up with some critical D's in various ways.

Again it is hard for me to not sound so positive. I truly believe that we are better than a lot of teams. Spring semester is our chance to prove it. The huge improvements that our Juniors and Sophomores have made must continue into the spring. Timber, Shaman and Moonshine, who I honestly thought during their freshman year that they would never contribute have come a long way. I cannot be more happy to be proven wrong as they have become some of our most steady players on our O-line. It is a testament to their commitment to the team. They never miss a chance to play and are good examples for some of the freshman just starting and feel overwhelmed at times. I still remember when Shaman wrote me a message after Cuff exactly one year ago, wondering if he should just give up after a frustrating tournament where he wasn't getting playing time. What a difference a year and some confidence will give you. But for Jive to win, these 3 must work as hard as anyone to get in better shape for the tougher match ups that will present themselves in the Spring. Hall and Bowman need to first and foremost get and stay healthy. Their role on the team will be crucial for Jive.

The sophomores show promise and continue to improve at a faster rate than I expected. Most of it is just playing more and becoming more comfortable on the field and understanding the flow of the game. Mittens has benefited the most and has shown the most improvement in the grade because he has played the most out of anyone. There are others that can reach their potential but must commit to it. And finally Jive has the deepest and most talented Freshman class ever. If these kids stay with it and commit, Jive will continue to thrive over the next couple of years even with the loss of one of the best classes next year. So much rambling but that's the mood I am in.

-The loss of Hakeen Nicks further puts the magnifying glass on Eli Manning as he must rise to the challenge and get the Giants to the playoffs. His test to prove his elite status and contract are simple: get to the playoffs anyway possible. The loss to the Eagles this Sunday was one of the more painful losses in recent memory.

-I should be working on my proposal for my senior Thesis so rather than continue this later, I'll just fucking post the damn thing. I jsut wasted three hours. This is why the lib needs to be open all night.

Someday, top 4 rap albums