Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Alcohol and College Students

Blog Post 7
Today in Wellness class we had a guy come in and talk about alcohol and the affects it has on college students. Wisconsin is by far the worst state for people who can consume the most alcohol. Wisconsin has more bars on one street than any other state. We have students that learn from our parents to drink. It's considered normal to get drunk at least once a week for college students. I personally don't really enjoy drinking. When I was younger I used to drink to fit in and I thought it was a lot of fun and really had good times. I have grown up over the years and realized that there are more fun things to do with my time and I don't need to fit in. I can have fun without drinking and still be popular. Wisconsin is the top state with consuming brandy and in the top 3 for consuming vodka and beer. Over the years college students seem to get more and more riskier when it comes to drinking. Many students have drown in the Mississippi over the recent years and college students are convinced that there is someone taking the people to the river and pushing them in. Students are to bull headed to think and realize that it's the alcohol that makes people make stupid decisions. In La Crosse students have volunteered to help make sure there aren't more river drownings. Over the years many people have been saved from going in the river because they honestly are lost and don't know where they are going. Ever since these people have been volunteering there hasn't been a drowning. I hope that I don't become an alcoholic and ruin my life. THere is a family history of alcoholics and I hope I don't become one.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Opening Weekend of Deer Season

Blog Post 6
The opening weekend of deer season was not a very promising one for most people. The weather condidtions were not to what is considered normal this time of year and the deer population is down. I personally only saw 2 deer opening day and they were over a hundred yards away on a dead sprint. I shot at a coyote 4 times and missed but they are pretty hard to hit sometimes. The next day it was really foggy and it was so hard to see. Another kid and I went hunting together and I tried to get some deer to go to him. The deer of course went the other way and we never saw them. We ended up hunting with 5 other guys and did some drives with them. We ended up seeing 5 does and I never got a shot at one of them. I tried to put the other guys in a spot so they would get some shooting and they did but they never hit one of them. I was so mad because I didn't get a shot at any of them and they fact that I was busting my ass to get someone a deer. I know the numbers are down this year from last but we need to try harder to get some meat on the table. I know a lot bigger bucks are being shot this year becuase the corn was still standing last year which gave them an easy place to hide until the season was over. I just hope that next year I get to do some more bow hunting so I can shoot the bucks before gun season comes because so far 2 of the bucks I have on camera have been shot. I just hope this week and next weekend bring me more luck or else I will have to hit muzzelloader season hard. I just hope sometime this week I get a shot at a deer. We got 19 deer last year and not one person in our group of 5 have got a deer yet.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Airborne Deer Injures Family

Weekly Blog Entry 5

A Minneapolis couple were driving when an oncoming car hit a little buck and the deer became airbore. The deer then went through the windsheild and right on through the back window. The father, who was driving, got several broken bones in his face and the wife in the passenger seat only got a few scatches and bruises. The 17 year old daughter who was in the back seat got a broken cheek bone along with a broken nose. These types of stories are rare but can be very serious.
I have a few friends that have hit deer and done some serious damage to their cars. I hit a deer with my car during the winter time and knocked one side of his rack off. He was a little buck but I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of my car to run after him. I was going to kill him if I would have had a chance. I didn't even care about the car because it was a junker. One of my friends hit a deer with thier crotch rocket going 80 miles per hour and still managed to keep the bike up. He totaled the bike but managed to be lucky enough to get away with a few scratches. The deer was almost split in half after the accident.
I feel that there were less deer accidents this year because there aren't as many deer in the woods anymore. People should still learn to be careful when driving and keep a close eye out for them. The rut is the time when the most deer get hit by cars because the bucks don't think about anything except that doe.
I have heard many stories of people getting seriously injured when hitting deer. I feel that if I was to know I was going to hit a deer I wouldn't even swerve to miss it. Many people end up going into the ditch and ruining their cars more than if they were to hit a deer. I would maybe swerve a little to just hit it in the front fender but not dead on right down the middle. I would try at least to read what the deer was going to do but not go out of my way to damage my car severly.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Final on "Best of the South"

Best of the South

Have you ever done something you’ve dreamed about for years but no one else thought it was possible? Have you ever been able to accomplish your dreams or have the opportunity to do so? I can recall a time when I did. That day was one of the biggest days of my life. People predicted that the Potosi football team would beat us for sure, but we had different plans in mind. De Soto is known for having heart and determination when it comes to football. We always have a good work ethic and know when it’s time to get down to business. Many of our parents won state when they were in high school so the team wanted to make them proud. We all had fun when playing but took every play seriously. Playing Potosi was one of the days that I knew made my dad proud and knowing it was possible, we stepped on that field and played every play as if it were our last. I personally wasn’t going to let anyone of my teammates down.
My senior year of football was my first real year of starting football on the varsity level. I never really had a chance during my junior year to prove myself against the other quarterback but since he was a senior and I was a junior I would have to wait. When it got to be my turn to be quarterback I took advantage of it to the fullest. Before the season started I knew we would have a great team. We are known for having a strong running game but I knew this year we would be passing the ball a lot more. The coach and my teammates had faith in me to make big plays when needed. I did make some mistakes but no one is perfect. I know though that I did my best and left it all on the line when I had to.
The season went by way too fast for all of us. We all hated two-a-days and wanted to be lazy, but we all picked each other up because we knew our team was something special. Every kid on that team knew this would be the year if any to go to state. We never really had a challenge throughout the whole season until we played a nonconference game against Belmont. We were losing 14 to 0 at halftime but we knew we could beat them, and did. We won 28 to 14. We then realized we needed to pick our game up a bit and work harder. We went into the playoffs undefeated and once again met Belmont at Level 2. This time we played at home on our new football field. We ended up going into 4 overtimes on a muddy field that wasn’t ready for such an intense game. The ball was so muddy and wet that I could hardly throw and nobody could run without falling down it was so muddy. Finally in the 4th overtime we did a trick play that we just made up in a timeout. I completed a 20 yard touchdown pass and also a 2 point conversion. Now we just had to stop them from scoring and we would win the game. On fourth down we intercepted the ball and won what I thought to be the best game I’ve ever been a part off. I thought for sure that was going to be the best game of my life. Little did I know that the next week we would make history.
Potosi was ranked number one in the state preseason rankings, and we were ranked tenth. We thought we deserved to be ranked higher because we knew that we were contenders for the state title. Many of us were a bit scared of how big and fast they were. We all hoped to play them at state and not along the way because we all thought they would give us a huge challenge. I knew that Potosi would be tough but I never expected them to be so big and fast. Belmont is in the same conference as Potosi and they wanted a second chance at them because they thought they were so cocky. I was so happy to beat Belmont but also felt bad for them at the same time because they tried so hard and never gave up after a muddy four overtime battle. Potosi was also undefeated and since they were more popular got the first seed which meant we had to play them at their home field. This is known to be a disadvantage to the opposing team but we didn’t feel that way.
It was an abnormally hot day for playing football in November. We all stepped onto the field at Potosi with butterflies in our stomachs. We were all extremely excited but nervous at the same. Their players were huge. They all looked like grown men playing football. I will never forget the opening kickoff where our running back went running down the field as fast as he could and went head to head with another kid. He knew he had a minor concussion but still wanted to play so we didn’t tell the coach. The first half went back and forth between the both of us and Potosi scored just before half time making it 7 to 0 them. We all talked at half time and we all realized that we weren’t scared of them. Yea they were big and fast but so were we. We knew we were smarter than they were and that was what was going to win us the game.
Coming out of half time we knew we were going to go home winners. We weren’t going to give up for anything. We put too much sweat, blood, and tears into the game to give up. It wasn’t until late in the third quarter that I threw a touchdown pass to one of my good friends, Andy Lee. The kick was no good so the score was 7 to 6, in favor of Potosi going into the 4th quarter. We then kicked the ball to Potosi and our defense held them, and they were forced to punt. On third and six I mad a bad decision which could have turned the game around. I thought I had a man open so I threw the ball as I was getting hit. Potosi intercepted the ball and I was devastated. I got up from the ground and saw a flag on the ground next to me which usually means it’s a holding penalty. However, it was a call against the defense for roughing the passer when a kid hit me in the head with his helmet. You’re not supposed to hit the quarterback in the helmet when tackling him which meant we got the ball back. After a sigh of relief, we continued to march down. It was once again third and long and we decided to try a screen to the left. A screen is when some of the lineman let the defenders go by them in which they try to sack me. I then have the responsibility to throw over top of the defenders to my running back in which the lineman then run down field and block people. We tried this play for the first time all season to keep it hidden from our opponents. We used this at the perfect timing in which our running back ran 50 yards for a touchdown. We then ran in the 2 point conversion to make the score 14 to 7 us. After our defense came up with another big stop on Potosi’s 25 yard line Potosi had to try and get the first down or the game would for surely be over. Potosi’s quarterback went back to pass but was sacked by 3 of our lineman. The crowd went wild. We then had the ball on Potosi’s 20 yard line. I handed the ball off to another one of the running backs and he drove his way in the end zone for a touchdown. After the extra point was good it made the score 21 to 7 us with 2 minutes left. We knew at this time that we had just won the game. After scoring that touchdown and hearing our fans going crazy, I immediately got chills. Potosi gave it one last effort to throw the ball but we intercepted it to seal the deal.
I never really looked at the crowd until we won the game. I had never seen so many people at one football game in my life. I never got nervous when I was playing, only before the game. I then realized that I led the team to a victory. I read many comments online about how we wouldn’t be able to throw against Potosi because they had such good linebackers and cornerbacks. I will admit that they stopped our running game but they couldn’t stop me from passing. I ended up completing 15 of my 21 passes and had 246 passing yards. That game was the best game of my life and I will never forget it. I had so many happy emotions from this game and knew that I made so many people proud knowing that I did my best. I felt really happy for having the community and all of my friends behind me and supporting me throughout the whole season but especially this game.
After beating Potosi we had to play Catholic Central for the second year in a row to make it to state. We ended up losing that game by a few touchdowns which was so disappointing but we all gave it our best. We were able to say that we did our best and that simply wasn’t good enough and that was o.k. When I look back I don’t like to think of losing to Catholic Central, but rather the beating of Potosi. I was just glad to be a part of something so special and unique. I grew up with all of the guys on that team and made many memories with them that I will never forget. A state championship would have been nice, but I’ll take a remarkable season with my friends over that any day.

Weekly Blog Entry 4

Randy Moss Is Let Go

After being with the Vikings for only four weeks Randy Moss is being let go from the team. Randy wasn't happy with the way that he wasn't getting the ball enough. He was all excited about coming back to Minnesota when the New England Patriots traded him for a thrid round draft pick. He was also fined 25,000 dollars for not speaking to the press before the game against the Patriots. When let go from the Vikings he said he missed playing with the Patriots and hopes to go back there to get some playing time in. In his time with the Vikings he had 17 catches for 2 touchdowns and 174 total yards. He enjoyed his time there but didn't agree with some of the calls in the game or the lack of touches he had on the ball. Many of the Patriots players wanted Randy to come back and play for them, but no one knows as of right now on what he will do.
Many people have different opinions about Randy Moss. I feel that he is a really good, hardworking athlete, but he is to much of a drama queen. He always feels that an offense should revolve around him and that every team should fear how good he is. I agree this to some degree but he seems to try to hard to stick out. He should try and keep under the radar and help the other recievers around him by taking some of the pressure from the defenders. I hope that some team will be able to harnass his bigheadedness and make him into a better more team player.