Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Graduation

How is it going?

I was going to talk about baseball today, but I decided to switch it up and write about graduation coming up in almost four weeks. Yes, that is scary to think about for me.

At the beginning of the school year, I was not thinking much about graduation at all, until lately it has hit me. I enjoyed last semester a lot, but this semester is a lot of fun too. Most students who are graduating are going to try to find jobs. But for me, I am lucky that I have two jobs lined up for the summertime. With the economy being so bad, I have a job at the Effingham radio station getting about 10 to 15 hours a week. Many studends in my field of radio and television will have a hard time finding jobs. My other job is working at Niemerg's Steak House in Effingham as a dishwasher. I have been working now for six years and although it kind of sucks, it is still fun to work at. With graduation around the corner I am ready for the future challenges of not being a college student anymore and getting in the real world.

That is it for today's blog. Next time I will talk about the National League awards like I promised. Until next time, be kind and rewind.

Baseball season coming up!

How is it going?

I am back and today I am excited to talk about the upcoming baseball season. During the next couple of weeks I am going to tell who I think will win the National League Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player award. Now onto the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs will begin the season on Monday when they play their first six games on the road. They wll be against the Houston Astros at Houston. The Cubs are consistently a good to average road team. Their pitching in the preseason has been pretty shaky, but hopefully they will start off season good.

The Cubs will be starting Carlos Zambrano in the opening game like he has the past 5 years. Hopefully he has his A game on, and can lead the Cubs to a win. The next two starters will be Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly. These two pitchers were the Cubs best pitchers last year, and if barring any injuries will be consistent once again this year. Well, I am really excited to have the baseball season beginning in a week.

Next time, I am going to be talking about my picks for Cy Young and MVP awards. Until, next time take it easy.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Blues Playoff Tickets

What is up?

I am back today for another RitzBitz blog. Today's, topic is about sports once again, and it has to deal with hockey. I am a huge St. Louis Blues fans and playoff tickets went on sale this past weekend.

The Blues were last place in the whole National Hockey League on February 3rd. Since, then the Blues have climb out of the cellar and have jumped 7 spots to get into a playoff spot. The top 8 teams in the Western Conferenc get into the playoffs. The Blues are currently on a five game winning streak and are six games over .500. I am so excited because the Blues have not made the playoffs since the 04=05 season.

With only six games remaining the Blues still have their work cut out for them with five games on the road. If they keep winning though the Blues will break that playoff drought and make it. This past Saturday my brother, Dad, and I bought playoff tickets for the first two rounds up to 40 dollars a game. We took a huge gamble, and are hoping that they can win and get in. The tickets are refunded if they do not get in or the tickets go to next year's game. I am so excited to be getting tickets. I just hope they keep winning in the the final six games, so we can have fun in the playoffs.

That is going to do it for today blog's. Next time I am going to talk about the exciting baseball season that is about to begin. Until next time, be kind and rewind.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Spring Break

Hi! I am back for another RitzBitz Blog. Today's topic will be about my Spring Break. My girlfriend and I went to North Carolina to go see the Smokey Mountains.

We ended up leaving Sunday at 5:30 in the morning to drive ten hours away to go to Cherokee, North Carolina. The previous day before, I started to feel pain in my lower back and I thought nothing of it because my back usually hurts off and on. Well, this pain was really bad, and so I decided to take some medicine. That night I started to get the chills and feeling worse. When we left for North Carolina, I thought nothing was going to stop me from going. We ended up going and got there at 4:30. The next three days for me were pure hell for me. I ended up puking eight times in two days. It felt like somebody was beating me up because I kept having pains all over my body.

My amazing girlfriend how great she is ended up taking care of me over those three days. We had all kinds of fun stuff planned out: hiking, fishing, kayaking, and other fun things. All this was ruined because I got sick. I hardly ever get sick and the week of spring break It happened to me. I was so sad I was sick that we had to leave North Carolina early because I could not take it anymore. I went to the Emergency Room on Tuesday, and they said I had a viral infection. So, basically our whole spring break was ruined.

That will do it for today blog's. One other thing happened on spring break as well that went bad. We were heading back and my girlfriend was driving in Kentucky going 83 in a 70, and she got a speeding ticket for it. The ticket was 233 dollars. That is amazingly high for a speeding ticket, but that just shows you how bad our luck was on spring break. Until next time, be kind and rewind.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Top 10

How's it going everybody?

Today, I am back for another RitzBitz Blog. Now, usually I write about sports and other topics, but today I am going to post a top 10 list of best college names. Some of these names are dandy's.

10.) Lehigh - now would you not want to go to a school called this name.
9.) Gonzaga - This school is located in California and always has good basketball teams.
8.) Morehead State - what kind of school name is this? This school plays its basketball in the same conference as EIU.
7.)Colgate - now seriously this is a cool college name. This is a name brand of a toothpaste.
6.)Canisius - what do you think of this school name?
5.) Mt. Saint Mary's - this college name is the home of great basketball teams as well.
4.)U.L LAF (Univeristy of Louisanna - Lafayette) anybody ask what your school initials are you can tell them U.L LAF.
3.) Pepperdine - this name makes me think of pepper. They are located in California. Good school to go to.
2.) Elon - this is a weird name for a school but cool as well.
1.) William & Mary - number 1 cool name for a college. Every time you look at the name you think of Saint names.

That is the top ten best college names. I would have to agree who ever came up with these names you have to think what was going through their heads. That is going to do it for today's blog. Until next time, be kind and rewind!

Monday, March 9, 2009

A Winning Tradition

How is it going?

Back today for another RitzBitz blog. Today's topic is about my 7-10 minute documentary I am making in my Advanced Video Production Class. It is called "A Winning Tradition" and it is about the Teutopolis High School Boys and Girls Basketball teams over the years. The basketball teams at Teutopolis High School have been so successful by winning many Championships in their history. I thought it would be a great idea since I am from Teutopolis to do it on this topic.

In my project, I am going to interview many players and coaches from the years and ask different questions about what they liked about playing basketball at T-Town and what they liked about it. My project is just not for young adults, but also for older adults that use to play at Teutopolis. I am really excited about this project. It is taking a lot of work, but in the end the hard work will pay off, and the documentary will be successful.

Thats going to do it for today's RitzBitz blog. Next time, I do not know what I am going to write about, but it will be a fun topic. Until then, be kind and rewind.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Broadcasting

Wats up?

Let me start off today by saying I have been really excited the last couple of days. This past Friday, the Effingham Flaming Hearts faced the Charleston Trojans in the Mattoon Class 3A Regional. I work at 95.7 WCRC and we cover Hearts Basketball. When we do the games it is usually Chad Baker and I doing the games. This past Friday night, Chad could not do the game and I had the opportunity to do play by play of the game. My future goal in my life is to become a Sports broadcaster for a major sports team. I was so excited that I had this chance to cover the Hearts Regional Championship game. I was so excited because doing a play by play of a game is fun, but doing a regional championship game is what I was looking forward to doing.

I ended up calling an exciting regional championship game. The Hearts were down by ten in the third quarter and started making there comeback in the fourth. The Hearts made their comeback led by Cody McCollum with 16 points. They were down by two with five seconds left to go and they had to come down the court and make a shot and they did. It was so exciting calling this game because as a broadcaster you always want a fun and close game. The game went into overtime and the Trojans had a 1 point leading with seconds left to go and the Hearts came down the court again and this time they did not have the luck with them as they lost the championship by one point. That was one of the best and closest games I have ever done.

That is going to do it for today's Ritzbitz blog. Next time I am going to talk about my documentary I am doing in my Advanced Video Production class. Until next time be kind and rewind.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Wooden Shoes Basketball

Hi Whats up!

Hopefully everybody is having a great weekend. Today's topic is about the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes basketball team. Their season came to an end last night after the 4th ranked team in state beat them -- the Marshall Lions. The Lions won by six points, but they were up by 16 points earlier in the game. The Shoes battled back to tie the game up in the 3rd quarter and had a chance to take the lead. The Shoes did not take the lead, but stayed with them until the end. The Lions were too much for the Shoes. T-town is graduating five seniors this year, and every one of these seniors worked their hearts out to make it farther in the playoffs, said coach Andy Fahrenbacher.

The Shoes finished their season 26-4, ranked 9th in state losing in the Regional Championship game. The game was held at Effingham St. Anthony's Enlow Center. The Enlow Center holds 2,100 people and last night's game was a sellout for the first time ever at the gym. They sold 70 standing room tickets, which is the most they have ever sold. The shoes fans brought 1,200 people and the Lions fans brought 900. Now, I know T-town's populations is 1,600, so three fourths of their population showed up to this game last night -- simply remarkable. Just shows how much basketball means to the village of Teutopolis.

That is it for today's topic. Next time on the RitzBitz blog I will be talking about a suprise topic. Until next time, be kind and rewind.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

March Madness

Hey! How's it going everyone?

Today, I am back for another edition of the RitzBitz Blog. Today's topic is about March Madness. If you have no idea what March Madness is it has to do with basketball. Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team is wrapping up their regular season in two weeks before they compete in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. The Illini are currently ranked 20th in the nation in the Associated Press Poll. They are 22- 6 and 10-5 in the Big Ten Conference. They have two more hard matches to face. The Michigan State Spartans and the Penn State Nittany Lions. These two teams have beaten the Illini once already this year. It will be important for Illinois to beat these teams once to show them that they can beat them in the regular season. In the future, the Illini might have to face one of these teams in the Big Ten Tournament. As of right now, the Illini are in the NCAA basketball tournament. In my opinion, I think they are a three or four seed. All it takes is for one team in the 65 team tournament to get hot and win six straight games to win the National Title and the Illini are trying to do that. If the Illini continue to play tough defense and get good scoring with their three or four players over ten points a game they will be tough to beat.

In other basketball news, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes will be facing the St. Anthony Bulldogs tonight at St. Anthony in the Class 2A regional semifinals. The shoes are the three seed and the bulldogs are the two seed. The winner will have the right to face the Marshall Lions in the Regional Championship game. The Lions are the 4th ranked team in state and are 26-0. The shoes do have there hands full, but they have been in this situation before in the past, and hopefully they can win both of these games.

That is going to do it for today's RitzBitz Cracker blog. Next time I am going to see how the Shoes and Bulldogs game went. Until next time be kind and rewind.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Cubbies

Hey Hey Hey!!


Hows it going today? Back for another RitzBitz blog and today's topic is about the lovable losers, and my favorite team the Chicago Cubbies. I was born a Cub fan and will be a Cun fan until the day I die nothing will stop me. Yes the Cubs will win a world series in my lifetime.

Anyway the cubbies are coming off of two straight seasons where they got swept in the playoffs. It makes me sick and disgusting because they should be winning in the playoffs. They work hard all year long, and then suck in the playoffs for a whole week, and all that work is down the tubes. This past season the Cubs had the best team in the National League, and then the Los Angeles Dodgers of all teams sweeps them in the postseason. I was sad to say the truth, but I was expecting the beatdown by the Dodgers. All the players on the Cubs when the playoffs started got all nervous and had the fans rooting for them. All they had to do was go out their and have fun.

This season though, the Cubbies are looking for another great year. They signed Outfielder Milton Bradley to a four year deal, and Closer Kevin Gregg to a deal has well. The players they departed with was reliever Kerry Wood, and Shortstop Mark Derosa. Now Derosa was the best Cub player last year and had a breakout year, and now this move is going to hurt them badly. The move I did like is getting Bradley. He is coming off probably his best year ever and the Cubs are glad to have him. The one downside to Bradley is he likes to get in trouble a lot and stir up controversies. He has been on four different teams in the past eight years explaining that different teams let him go because of bad behavior. So you ask why did the Cubbies sign him? Well the Cubbies needed a left handed batter in their lineup, and they need another Outfielder that could provide a spark.

So what to expect this year from the Cubbies. I think they will crusie through the division and will make the playoffs for the third straight year. The problem they will face is how will do they do in the playoffs and erase that 101 year drought of not winning the World Series. I am excited for baseball season to start, and I plan to attend some games this year when they face the Cardinals in St. Louis. That will do it for today's topic about the Chicago Cubs.

Yesterday, I was in the library watching the WWE No Way Out PPV on the internet and I was suprised about how good the streaming was of the event. There was thousands of people watching it on the website and had different chat rooms where you can watch it from. I was shocked to see how good the feed was because usually when a lot of people watch it on the internet it tends to slow down the internet web feed, but not in this case. That is all I have in today's RitzBitz Blog but next time I am going to be talking about a mixture of different topics that I have planned out. Until next time be kind and rewind.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Suprise

Howdy! How's it going today folks!

Today I am back for another superb blog. Like I promised I am going to have a surprise topic today. My topic is about what my radio show is all about. I work from 3 - 5 pm every Tuesday and Thursday. I have the absolute best time when working.

My two hours I have are the busiest hours of the day. The 3 to 5 time is when people are gettng off work and heading home. When people head home after work they tend to listen to the radio for news, sports and weather. On my show, I start playing great music to get the listeners pumped up. I usually play the promos that are required at :05 and :40 of my hours. The Sky Watch Forecast is at :20 and :40 of the hours. The News Watch update occurs at :15 of the hour. During my shift, I am really busy keeping the listeners updated on the news, sports and weather.

On Tuesday and Thursday, when I work I have my "Bonehead of the Day" segment at 4:00. This segment I tell the listeners a story about a criminal or a person that has done something stupid. Sometimes I have to question what people are thinking when I read these funny stories. On Thursday, after the Bonehead I have the Top 5 at 4:05. This segment I play the top five songs in the country at the time. I have been doing this segment for five weeks now, and Taylor Swift has been number 1 for three weeks. Not only do I have these great segments, but I take requests the whole two hours. They can be called in or emailed to me. That is what I like about working there. If anybody wants to hear anything they want they can call me and I will put it on the radio for them. Last but not least, the thing I always do on my two hour shift is play great HitMix music. We have music from the 50's till today with a touch of country. There are some great tunes at the radio station that I sometimes want to hear, I put them in the system to hear. So if you are never doing anything from 3 - 5 sometimes on Tuesday and Thursday listen to me on HitMix 88.9 WEIU.

That puts a lid on today's RitzBitz blog next time I plan to write about Chicago Cubs and their upcoming season and what to expect. Until then, stay kind and rewind.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Alex Rodriguez

What is up everybody once again?

I am back for another blog and today's topic liked I promise is about New York Yankee third basemen Alex Rodriquez and his use of steroids. When I heard about the news I was so shocked and dissappointed. Alex is in the middle of his prime as a player and is on pace to hit 800 home runs and break the all time home run record which Barry Bonds currently holds. This is such a big story because Bonds has the record now, but with controversy as he has taken steroids as well. With Rodriquez on pace to shatter the record sometime in the future everybody was hoping that he would break the record cleanly and without controversy. The fans wanted him to do this so bad because that would restore the image of the home run record from Bonds. I totally agree with this. I want the all time home run record to be held by somebody that has not cheated using steroids or human growth hormone. Now that Alex has admitted taking steroids his legacy will be questioned.

After Sports Illustrated, broke the story about Rodriquez using the steroids it was all over the news. The big question would be is if Alex would come out and say that he admitted using steroids, or if he would deny using steroids and had nothing to do with them. Well Rodriquez came out and said he used steroids during the 2001-2003 seasons. He spent those three years with the Texas Rangers after he signed the biggest contract in baseball history 10 year/252 million dollar deal. He said he felt pressure to perform at the highest level, and to be the best player ever. He admitted using the steroids in that time span, and he said that he was sorry for what he did, and he said he was stupid and naive. He apologized to his fans in New York and Texas.

Well, now that the Yankee slugger has admitted to use steroids he will continue to play for the Yankees, and will get questioned everytime he shows up the games. I am glad that he came out and said the truth that he used the drugs and that he was sorry for using them. Not to many players today come out and say they are sorry for using steroids, or admit they use them. Now that Alex has done this it will help him in the future as he continues to play to regain his image and his Hall of Fame candidacy.

That is going to wrap up today RitzBitz's blog next time I am on here I do not know what I am going to be writing about, but it will be fun and will be a suprise.. Hopefully everybody has a fun time.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

St. Louis Blues

How is it going everybody?

Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite sports teams -- the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are currently five points out of the 8th position in the Western Conference Standings. The top eight teams in the standings make the playoffs, so it is going to be important for the Blues to continue to win their games down the stretch. The Blues find themselves last in the standings at 15th, but have been playing much better lately, getting points in there in the last nine out of ten games. Their goaltender Chris Mason has been on fire lately, winning five out of his last six games. He started the year 5-15. Now he is 10-16, which is a big turn around for him. It has sparked the recent Blues' success. For the Blues to even stay in the hunt for the playoffs, they are going to need to get good goaltending from Chris Mason or their backup Manny Legace. Legace has been hurt off and on all year but when he is in the net has been consistent.

The Blues are a very young team. They have the 4th youngest team in the National Hockey League. The Blues are led in scoring by Right Winger Brad Boyes. He has 22 goals and 25 assists for 47 points. He has 11 points in his last six games and has been leading the Blues in scoring and will have to continue to carry them on his back if they want to make a run for the playoffs. Left Winger Patrick Berglund, one of the Blues many rookie players, leads all rookies in the NHL with 17 goals. He is going to be a very good player for the Blues for many years to come. I am really excited for the Blues down the stretch with over 25 games left to go, hoping they make the final playoff spot. That would be really cool to see my favorite hockey team make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in three years.

Well, that is going to do it for today's RitzBitz blog. Next time I am going to talk about the shocking news in baseball with the steroid allegations with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez. Until next time, hopefully everybody has a great day.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Sports

How is it going everyone?

Today I am back to talk about the National Trail Conference Tournament and the results of it. Also going to talk about the Super Bowl and the commercials. Two blogs ago I said the championship game would come down to the Wooden Shoes and the Bulldogs and that the game would be very intense.

I could not be anymore right on my opinion about the championship game. These two teams did face each other after the Wooden Shoes dismantled the Altamont Indians in the semifinals by 25. The game which was seen by over 1200 people in the stands was not close at all as the Indians had no answer for the Shoes offense. The bulldogs on the other side ended up also destroying there opponent by 20 points. The Stewardson Strasburg Comets also could not handle the out pour of offense by bulldogs.

So the matchup was set the Bulldogs and Shoes in the finals. The Shoes led most of the game, and there biggest lead was no bigger than five at any time during the game. The Bulldogs ended up taking the lead in the final three minutes of play off a three point shot by sophomore Marty Jansen. Jansen led the dogs in the fourth quarter with ten points as the Shoes could not stop him at all. The Shoes did keep with them until the final minute of play as each team switch leads. The Shoes had set up a play with 16.4 seconds left to go to pull ahead, but could not convert on it as Senior forward John Runde was stripped of the ball by Marty Jansen with three point eight seconds left to go. The Shoes fouled immediately and Jansen missed the free throw, and the Shoes down by one point had a chance to take the lead, but could not as there shot was missed giving the Bulldogs the win and the Championship. The game was back and forth the whole time and electricity in the building was off the charts as over 1,500 fans came to root on there teams. You could not have ask for a better championship game and tournament. The 3rd place game belong to the Altamont Indians who beat the Comets by nine points and last but not least the Neoga Indians beat the Browstown Bombers by five points in the Consolation Championship game. So all the games on the final day were really intense and were close just proving how good the teams are in the National Trail Conference.

On to Super Bowl 43, which the Pitsburgh Steelers won 27 to 23 over the Arizona Cardinals. This game as well went down to the wire and was also a back and forth game. Down at haltime 20 to 7, the Cardinals finally figured out the Steelers defense in the second half scoring two touchdowns from Larry Fitzgerald. With two minutes left to go though the Cardinals thought they had the Super Bowl wrapped, but not so fast as Ben Roethlisburger led the steelers on an 80 yard drive which was also led by the MVP of the Super Bowl Santonio Holmes. Holmes caught five of the six passes from Roethlisburger on the final drive and eventually the game winner in the endzone giving the Steelers the 27 to 23 win and there sixth Super Bowl win in their franchise. The game was really exciting, and I was on my feet for the final three minutes as I wanted the Cardinals to win so bad, but that is not the case as you have to give credit to the Steelers for keeping their poise and coming back.

The game was watched by over 11o million viewers worldwide, and they were treated to the Super Bowl commercials. In my opinion, I think the commercials were alright, but their was some really dumb ones in the mix. The ecoimagionation.com ads were really stupid, and I did not understand them at all. The commercial I like the best was the the first commercial which was the Miller Lite advertisement. My second favorite ad was the cheetos. These commercials had me laughing really hard because of how funny they were.

Well that is going to wrap up today's edition of the ritzbitz blog. Coming up next time I am going to talk about another sport that I like to watch and that is the game of hockey. Until then hopefully every has a great time.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Blog 4

What is up everybody?

I am back for another blog. Today's blog is going to be about my life and how it is going. After watching the Super Bowl yesterday I am really exhausted after getting excited about it. I wanted the Arizona Cardinals to win so bad because of there quarterback Kurt Warner. He used to play for the St. Louis Rams and they got rid of him for some odd reason, but I was wanting him to win bad.

Anyway, to get on with how my life has been lately. My life is revolving around three things. My girlfriend, school/work, and sports. My girlfriend goes to EIU and is majoring in Journalism and works at the radio station with me and also at the Daily Eastern News. Without her in my life, I can not imagine how my would be. School is going good so far. I am taking three classes along with a practicum. My classes include Advance Video Production, Computer Mediated Communications. and Advertising. My practicum includes working in the Coleman Hall radio lab seven hours a week throughout the whole semester. The main focus is assisting students with Adobe Audition. My three classes are going to be a lot of fun and have been so far. I can not wait to the end of the semester, so I can graduate and get out of college.

Now on to the work part of my life. I currently have three jobs, but only work at two during the school year. I work at Hitmix 88.9 WEIU, Cromwell Radio Group, and at Niemerg's Steak House in Effingham. I have not work at Niemerg's since the beginning of the school year, but will return to work as a dishwasher during the summer time. My job at WEIU consist of me being Disc Jockey. Other jobs I have done is voicetrack, production, sports, and the morning show. I currently am on the radio from 3 to 5 every Tuesday and Thursday. My shows consist of playing good music, taking people's request, and the bonehead of the day. The bonehead of the day is I find a story of a certain person or people that do stupid things, and I tell that over the air and I ask what are they thinking. I enjoy working as much as possible there. It gives me good experience and I am always learning on the job. My other job at 95.7 WCRC in Effingham consists of production, sports broadcasting, and board operation. I broadcast all the Effingham Flaming Hearts basketball and football games all year round. I really enjoy doing this because that is what I want to do in my life, and I love doing it. I am also the board operator for Illinois Fighting Illini basketball games. This duty is also really exciting because when I am working I am listening to the games and playing the commercials too. In the future I hope to move myself up the ladder at WCRC and get a job as DJ and my own show that would be really cool.

Last but not least, I am going to talk about the sports part of my life. If I did not have sports in my life I would be bored to tears. I like watching St. Louis Blues hockey games, college basketball games, and sometimes poker whenever its on television. Those are the sports I like to watch, but in my spare time I like to play poker for money, and yes sometimes I do win money. During the winter time, I also like to go bowling. I have a bowling team on Wednesday nights with my friends, and we have a really fun time. I really enjoy bowling because it is a challenge to keep my average at 188. My goal at the end of the season is to have it at 190. My goal also is to bowl above a 275 this year and to get a 700 series. I have bowled a 700 series before but that was three years ago, but I think I am overdue on it. My previous career high game is 269. Also came back three years ago as well. It would also be very exciting if my bowling team could win first place in the league and win the 500 dollars at stake. Our team did it back in 2007 I believe we can do it again.

So, that is how my life is going on at this moment, and I could not say how happy I really am. I am enjoying the final semester in school, with the girlfriend, friends, and family. Well time for me to go out today, but next time on the RitzBitz blog I will be back to discuss on how the National Trail Conference Tournament went and discuss some about the Super Bowl and it's commercials.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Blog Thrice

Hows it going everybody? I am back today for another RitzBitz blog. As promised from last week this week's blog will be about the Teutopolis boys basketball team and how they are doing and what to expect down the stretch for them.

The Wooden Shoes are (17-2) after defeating Windsor tonight by a score of 52-22 in the 74th Annual National Trail Conference. The Shoes have won 14 straight games and won three tough games last week beating some good teams in the process. They beat Casey-Westfield by eight, Altamont by four, and finally Danville by seven. These three games were really important for the Shoes because by winning these games the players showed they can play with the best, and win tight games. The Shoes are led by Senior guard Tony Zerrusen who averages 15 points a game, and Senior forward Brian Haskerherm with 12 points a game. The shoes also get great contributions from seniors Jeremy Schumacher, John Runde, and Kendall Giles. These guys do not get enough credit for how much great defense they bring to the court, and the leadership they have as well. They sometimes might not be the leading scorers, but the parts they play is a vital part of the Shoes this season.

The Wooden Shoes are currently playing in the National Trail Conference Tournament where they have earned themselves the number one seed, and are the favored to win. The tournament, however, will be not be given to them on a silver platter. They have to face a tough rematch against the Altamont Indians who will be playing on there home court. The shoes will have there hands full, but showed they can beat the Indians once this year, and this game will decide who will move to the Championship game. Other teams that pose a threat is the St. Anthony Bulldogs who have the two seed. The Bulldogs are always a tough crew to beat, and this year they are getting votes for state rankings. Everytime these two teams play, the games are so physical, and the fans are always into it. I am expecting a Wooden Shoe/Bulldog championship game in the National Trail Conference Tournament. That would be really exciting if the two teams did matchup for the championship as both teams hate each other. One other team to not look over is the Stewardson Strasburg Comets who earned themselves the three seed. They will be playing the Bulldogs in the Semi-finals, and the Bulldogs have beat them once this year by ten points, so the Comets are looking for some revenge, and no better time would be to do it in the tournament.

After this tournament is over the Wooden Shoes will be facing some pretty tough teams heading into the postseason. The Shoes have played really good defense, and have a well distribution of scoring this year, but if they want to continue winning games down the stretch and into the postseason they will have to play a team effort. On the schedule they have to play the Comets and Bulldogs one more time each and both games are not going to be easy. Then they finish out there schedule with Cowden-Herrick and Madison. If the seniors step and play well and the Shoes get good contributions from the bench players they will be very hard to beat.

One more final note before I head out today. I would like to give a big heads up to my friend Zach Braden has he sits through all the games at the National Trail Conference Tournament and post all the scores from his labtop. He does a really great job posting the scores on IllinoisHighSchoolSports.com which is a great website. So good job as he keeps all the fans updated that can not make it to the games.

Well, time for me to wrap this up, but next time on the RitzBitz blog I will be posting about how my life has been so far in the new semester and how things are going in 2009. Until then hopefully everybody has fun time and I will talk to you later.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Blog Duece

Howdy,

Hows it going my friends. Back for another installment of the ritzbitz blog. Today I am going to talk about Teutopolis High School Boys and Girls Basketball. Both teams are through the midway part of there schedules, and both teams are on fire.

The girls (19-2) facing Breese Mader Dai tonight at the Highland Tournament are looking to finish the regular season with a bang, and go into regional play with dominance. The girls who are led by Senior Courtney Heuerman averaging 12 points a game, is the leading scorer, but every game seem to get a different leading scorer everytime. This team has five seniors but only Heuerman who gets most of the playing time is a very young team otherwise. The Shoes also have younger players that step up really well during the season so far. Allison Wendell, Megan Kroeger, Becky Niebrugge, and Holly Koester have all provided good leadership and consistent scoring to keeps the Wooden Shoes the 5th ranked team in Class 2A girls basketball. One player who comes off the bench and provides scoring night in and out is Freshman Jesse Wendt. The way she plays you can not tell she is a freshmen, but the way she can shoot the ball, and provide good defense is a huge bonus for the lady shoes. Coming off a 3rd place finish last year in the state tourney the Lady shoes have the scoring, good defense, and leadership to make another deep run in the postseason. With only 5 more games to play after the Highland Tourney the lady shoes need to continue to play with aggressive defense causing teams to turn the ball over, and to continue to get balance scoring from there young players. There is nothing more exciting for the fans of Teutopolis to keep watching there lady shoes win games.

Well that wraps today's edition of the ritzbitz blog. Just to go out on a note today I got an email saying how the internet at EIU was going to be slow because of the Presidential Inaguaration, and how all the people are trying to get any information at all about it. That shows how much of a historic event this is, and how the technology is affected by it.

Next time on the RitzBitz blog I am going to talk about the Wooden Shoe Boys team and how there season has been so far and what to expect. Until next time take it easy and enjoy life.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

First Blog

Hi Everybody,

What is going on my name is Justin Ritz. I am a senior at the University of Eastern Illinois. I am majoring in Communication Studies going into Electronic Media Production. My ultimate goal is to become a sports broadcaster for a college team or major sports team. I have been broadcasting game for the past 5 years for different local high schools covering football, softball, baseball, and basketball. I love broadcasting games and also like working at the radio station in Efffingham. I have been working there for 3 months doing production, board operation, and broadcasting of games. It is real fun time and I enjoy doing it.

I also enjoy my job working at WEIU Hitmix. The on campus radio station is a fun station to work at. Some of my duties include voicetracking, production, board operation, remotes, live air shifts, and broadcasting of games. The reason I like working at the radio stations is because I like working with the technology and I want to inform people on what is going on in the world of news, sports, and weather, and I want to be first to break any news that might happen when I am working on the air.

While working at the these stations the technology I use is cool to use. When doing production we use Adode Audition to record liners, promos, and PSA's. While broadcasting games at the Effingham radio station we use a cell phone, a flipjack, and two or three headsets. Sometimes on occasion we use a marti system which is really a pain to set up, but it has much better quality over the air.

That is a little about myself and where I stand in my life. The next time on the RitzBitz blog will be about Teutopolis High School girls and boys basketball and how they are doing this year.