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.