“Royal” Magic
By Cheval John
The Royals are one game away from moving on to the American League Championship Series after pulling off another extra inning win against the Los Angeles Angels.
Coming into this series, the Royals were last in the AL in home runs.
However, it was the long ball that has led them to be 2-0 against the Angels.
The first game was tied at 2 in the 11th when Royals’ third baseman Mike Moustakas launched a go-ahead, game-winning home run to secure the win.
Then lightning struck twice early this morning.
In the top of the 11th inning with the game tied at 1 with a runner on, first baseman Eric Hosmer hit a two-run blast to right field that made it 3-1.
With the air lifted out of Anaheim Stadium, the Royals tacked on another run to make it 4-1.
The post-season has made heroes out of ordinary players.
Perhaps, this is a sign that the Royals are going to win it all this year.
If that happens, it will be 1985 all over again.
The Kansas City faithful, who traveled to Anaheim seems to agree.
It is like Kauffman stadium right now in Anaheim. #Royals pic.twitter.com/THUVAyKLT1
— First Time Caller (@KCSportsNerd) October 4, 2014
The Resurgence Of Podcasts
By Cheval John
When Apple created the iPod in 2001, many in the tech world sensed that it was going to be a major disruption in the industry.
Apple wasn’t done yet as iTunes followed almost a year later.
They led the way for podcasts, a digital medium that consists of episodes, to grow substantially over the years.
As today is National Podcast Day, we celebrate the resurgence of this digital medium that has changed the media industry.
According to the stateofmedia.org, there are over 91,765 podcasts.
Shows like His and Hers, featuring ESPN’s own Michael Smith and Jemele Hill and the Marketing Lifestyle Show with Amy Schmittauer, owner of Vlog Boss Studios, have generated a loyal following that it has given the traditional radio industry a run for it’s money.
If a person is a small business owner who don’t have the money to buy ads like major corporations, a college student or a recent college graduate who are trying to stand out from the crowd of their peers, they should consider starting a podcast.
With podcasting, anyone can showcase their expertise if they do not like to be in front of the camera.
In order to create a podcast, you need equipment like a microphone, earphones and a dashboard that can be hooked up to your computer.
The cost ranges from $99.99 to $569.
If you are looking for an affordable way to create your podcast, then I would suggest BlogTalkRadio.
BlogTalkRadio was founded in 2006 by Alan Levy and Bob Charish.
It has over 30 million monthly listeners.
BlogTalkRadio is so easy to use because all you need is a phone and a computer.
You can create a free account with BlogTalkRadio that will allow you to have only 30 minutes of live
streaming.
You have the option to upgrade to either a Premium Plan for $39 a month, a Plus Plan for $99 a month or a Pro Plan for $249 a month, with the first month free.
The best part about BlogTalkRadio is that your show is live and then afterward, it is archived as a podcast and can be downloaded from the show’s site.
It can also be submitted to iTunes if you have an account with them.
So if you want to separate yourself from the competition and think that podcasting is for you, go for it.
If it does not work out, it will not be a big deal because you tried something new and stepped outside of your comfort zone.
Excerpt from the book, “8 Things You Need To Do Before Quitting Your Job”
Never Underestimate An Opponent
By Cheval John
When Sam Houston State lost to the LSU Tigers 56-0 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it seemed like an anomaly.
I was thinking that the Bearkats would rebound from that loss when they hosted Colorado State-Pueblo in Huntsville, Texas.
It did not occur to me that CSU-Pueblo, a Division II school, were No.2 in the nation and went undefeated last year in the regular season with an 11-0 record.
I was going on the feeling that the Bearkats would take care of business because they had a 23-game winning streak at Bowers Stadium.
I was even debating of whether I should make a return visit to Huntsville to cover the game because I thought it was going to be a mismatch.
I decided to go and my intuition was right about the game being a mismatch.
A mismatch for Sam Houston that is.
The Bearkats got outplayed by the ThunderWolves that resulted in a 47-21 loss.
It might seemed that it was not a bad loss by the Bearkats.
Don’t let the outcome fool you.
The Bearkats went three and out in their seven drives (six in the first half).
Starting quarterback Jarrod Johnson, who went 14 of 26 for 72 yards, was sacked 6 times.
On the other hand, the ThunderWolves’ offense was slicing and dicing the Bearkats defense.
CSU-Pueblo (2-0) set the tone on their first drive, going 10 plays for 57 yards that was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Cameron McDondle, who had 116 yards and 2 scores on 14 carries.
By halftime, the ThunderWolves had a 27-0 lead and accumulated 206 total yards while the Bearkats only muster one yard.
After the Bearkats went three and out to open the third quarter, the ThunderWolves struck again when Chris Bonner found a wide open Paul Browning for a 64-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 34-0.
The Bearkats finally found the endzone on a 9-yard touchdown run by Johnson to make it 34-7.
However it was too late as the ThunderWolves snapped the Bearkats 23-game winning streak.
The Bearkats can be thankful that they have a bye week because they need to fix their secondary, create new offensive schemes and go back to their bread and butter which is running the football.
Before this game, it was a matter of them having a good record against Southland Conference (SLC) opponents to get an at-large bid in the FCS playoffs.
Now, the Bearkats will have to win the SLC title if they want to extend their participation in the playoffs to four straight years.
On the bright side of things, the Bearkat bowling team was honored after the first quarter for winning the school’s first ever national title at the Division I level.
CSU-Pueblo (2-0) exposed the
Sam Houston went 3 and out in their first six drives of the game.
The Bearkats had only 1 yard of total offense in the first half.
Let’s Eradicate Domestic Violence
By Cheval John
The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Pittsburg Steelers 36-6 last night in Baltimore, Maryland.
One could say that the Ravens organization was “inspired” to play well after dealing with the Ray Rice controversy.
As you well know, Rice was released by the Ravens earlier this week and was suspended by the NFL indefinitely after TMZ released the video of him punching out his fiancee (now wife) Janay (Palmer) Rice.
The focus was on NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell’s ridiculous two-game suspension of Rice and the way how the Ravens handled the situation with Rice.
Though it was important to focus on those matters, the bigger focus should have remained on domestic violence.
I will be honest, TMZ should not have released that video to the public because it was very gruesome to watch (I did not watch it because it was really uncomfortable).
However, I could “understand” why they did it because it seem as if report after report from credible sources like the Associated Press has pointed out that the offices of the NFL had received the video on April 9th.
From what many people have heard about Goodell’s denial of ever seeing the video before TMZ released the footage on Monday, it seems as if Goodell did not wanted to see it.
But I will not focus on that.
Instead we have to acknowledge that domestic violence is a disease that is plaguing America.
Even though Mrs. Rice hates the fact that she has to relive that horrible incident everyday because of the video, it has brought domestic violence to a huge national discussion.
We finally had the chance to learn about domestic violence and how many organizations like the National Organization For Women (NOW) are doing to eradicate domestic violence.
What I hope is that the NFL will take a stand against domestic violence and even go as far as having influential players like J.J. Watt, Drew Brees and others make videos about how they are with the victims of domestic violence.
One can be optimistic that everyone will listen to the words of James Brown and take a stand against domestic violence.
Texans’ Fans Showed Their Spirit At Jerry’s World
By Cheval John
The once in a few years rivalry matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans ended with the Cowboys winning in overtime 20-17.
Though they were some highlights like Tony Romo’s houdini escape from J.J. Watt that resulted in a touchdown pass to an unbelievable catch by Dez Bryant that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime, the real takeaway was the invasion of AT&T Stadium by the fan base of the Texans.
The Texans’ fans made themselves known in Jerry’s World that Romo criticize his supporters because he felt that the Cowboys was playing a road game despite being at home.
“We played on the road today in that football game,” Romo said after the game to Sports Illustrated. “We need to do a better job as a fan base.”
This is not the first time that the Cowboys felt that way.
In the opening week of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, there were a slew of 49ers fans at Jerry World in support of their team.
At times when I took to Twitter to tweet about the game, I thought that the Cowboys had made a play after I heard the fans cheering.
However, it turned out that it was the 49ers that were making the plays.
As a 49er fan, I felt relieved and happy that they beat the Cowboys in their own stadium.
Maybe the Cowboys’ fans are sending a message to their team that we will not accept mediocrity anymore with the lack of a turnout to the games.
Jerry Jones might have finally received the message after the Texans’ fan base showed who is Texas’ real team.
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