Make It Four Championships For North Dakota State
By Cheval John
North Dakota State and Illinois State did not face each other during the regular season.
The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national championship game in Frisco, Texas was a perfect place for the Missouri Valley Football Conference rivals.
The game lived up to the hype as the last two minutes was filled with drama.
In the end, North Dakota State escaped with a 29-27 victory to claim their fourth consecutive FCS national championship.
It seemed as if the Bison was going to dominate this contest as they extended their lead to 20-7 with 7:33 left in the third quarter.
The Red Birds had other ideas as they outscored the Bison 13-3 to cut the lead to 24-21 with 2:22 remaining in the matchup.
That was when the excitement began after Tre Roberson, who went 11 of 23 for 157 yards, broke free for a 58 yard touchdown run to make it 27-23 with 1:30 left.
The touchdown capped a 5 play, 80 yard drive in 44 seconds.
It was a matter of if the Red Birds could hold on to win their first football championship as the Bison had enough time to retake the lead.
North Dakota State’s quarterback, Carson Wentz started the final drive with two pass completions to R.J. Urzendowski for 32 yards and 13 yards.
After two incompletions, Wentz connected another pass with Urzendowski for 33 yards that brought them to the Red Birds’ 5 yard line.
On the next play, Wentz, who finished with 237 passing yards and a score, ran the football into the endzone for a go-ahead touchdown that made it 29-27 with 33 seconds left.
With the point extra blocked, Illinois State sensed an opportunity to win the game.
Roberson started the drive with a 14 yard pass completion for a first down.
After a penalty pushed them back for 5 yards, Roberson rushed for 9 yards with 13 seconds left in the game.
Then Roberson threw an interception to Esley Thornton to allow the Bison to seal their fourth championship.
“Right when that clock hit zero, I had so many emotions I couldn’t say anything,” Wentz said to ESPN.com. “I didn’t know whether to cry or to be happy. It was just unbelievable.”
Though the Bison is the first team in FCS history to win four consecutive national championships, they became the second team to pull off the feat at all levels.
The first team to win four consecutive national championships were Augustana, who won four consecutive national championships at the Division III level from 1983-86.
Video courtesy of North Dakota State Athletics
Building A Strong Community Takes Time
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of www.blog.getsatifaction.com.
Amy Robinette started her company, “The Gold Buying Girl” with only $500 dollars in 2008 and has made it into a $21 million dollar business.
Sensing a need to also help women entrepreneurs, Mrs. Robinette created the Women Helping Women To Network group last year in August and has grown the community to 3,000 people.
She shared her expertise at the Houston Social Media Breakfast earlier on Friday that was really great for anyone who are looking to build their own community online.
Here are some takeaways from the event:
Members want to know that the administrator is there. If you are not responding to questions that they posted, then you have already lost your community.
It is always important to meet each other in person because it deepens the relationship that you built with your community online.
Establish some guidelines when you start your community because it can get chaotic if you don’t have rules in place.
Always be professional. If you say that you are going to be at an event, make sure that you honor your word because if you do not show up, then you have tarnished your reputation.
AVOID DRAMA AT ALL COST
Allow others in your community to help you run your group because it is really a lot of work for one person to make it successful.
Build an e-mail list because social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. is only “rented space” and they can change the rules anytime that can affect your community. An e-mail list is your “real estate.”
Buiding a community online is not for the faint of heart.
It takes time and you must have lots of patience to make it work.
Even if you do succeed, you have to be willing to learn from others who doing well with their communities.
Have you ever thought about starting your online community? You can leave your comments below.
Learning Life Lessons In Unexpected Places
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of www.craigmotor.wordpress.com
Sometimes life lessons can come in unexpected places.
Like if you missed your bus to go to a sporting event or you have a flat tire.
The only thing you have control over is how you react to circumstances that is out of your control.
You can choose whether to have a pity party and rain on the parade of people who are having great days or see it as a life lesson.
I had decided to go to downtown Houston to put up a blog post and participate on Twitter chats.
When I missed the bus at a “particular time,” at first, I was mad at myself.
It was freezing cold outside and had to wait about an hour before the next bus arrived.
I could have continued to wallow in self pity.
However, I decided to just enjoyed the scenery and wait patiently.
After the next bus arrived and arrived at a local coffee shop where I normally do some blogging and participate in Twitter chats, a person was at the table where they was only one place where you can plug your computer.
With the batteries running out, I decide to make the most of it and in the process, I ended up chatting with college students and later, some business people who were on their breaks.
If I had arrived earlier, I would have missed out on the opportunity to have a conversation with the people about meaningful topics.
So the next time something does not go your way, take a deep breath and relax.
That could turn out to be a lesson in disguise.
Have you ever experienced a time when things did not go your way and it ended up being a blessing in disguise? You can leave your comments below.
Growing Your Podcast To Greatness
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of www.groupanizer.com
Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I make a commission on recommendations. I only recommend books or products that I believe will benefit you, the reader.
If you want to launch a very successful podcast, I highly recommend reading this book, “Podcasting Good To Great: How To Grow Your Audience Through Collaboration” by Jared Easley.
The book is only 62 pages, but it is filled with great insight on how anyone can grow their audience and build a vibrant community.
And just to let you know, I finished the book in about 3 hours.
Jared shares from his experience on how he grew his podcast, “Starving The Doubts” and how his willingness to contribute to other people’s success allowed him to interview some of the biggest names like Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Pat Flynn, Gary Vaynerchuk, Michael Hyatt, John Lee Dumas, Jenny Blake and Jessica Northey.
What is also amazing is the fact that Jared does not allow lack of experience to stop him from accomplishing a goal.
Case in point, Mr. Easley was the co-founder of the first ever “Podcast Movement”, a national conference for podcasters, held last year in Dallas, Texas.
They raised the necessary funds through a KickStarter Campaign and the conference drew about 600 people.
So if you are looking for a book that is a “quick” read and deliver’s valuable information on podcasting, I strongly, strongly suggest reading Mr. Easley’s book.
You will be very happy you did.
Which book made an impact on your life? You can leave your comments below.
When A Catch Isn’t A Catch
By Cheval John
The Dallas Cowboys was trailing the Green Bay Packers 26-21 with about five minutes left when they decided to go for it on 4th and 2.
The Cowboys were in Green Bay’s end of the field and could have decided to kick a field goal, especially with their kicker Dan Bailey being a clutch player.
Tony Romo, who had a remarkable season especially going 4-0 in December, made a pass to Dez Bryant, who leaped into the air and seemed to had catch the football for a first down completion near the goal line.
However, the officials took a look at the play on replay and then overturned the call, which led to a turnover on downs.
The Packers were able to maintain possession of the football especially when Aaron Rodgers completed a pass to Randall Cobb after the football was deflected for a crucial first down that allowed them to run out the time to secure the win and move on to face the Seattle Seahawks in the AFC Championship Game.
Maybe it was the old saying, “What goes around, comes around,” because the Cowboys had a huge break in their win against the Detroit Lions.
Too bad that break did not help them to possibly win this matchup against Green Bay.
Do you think that the officials made the correct call on Dez Bryant’s appearant catch? You can leave your comments below.
Video courtesy of TYT Sports
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