Month Long Blog April 30th
Monday, April 30, 2007, 11:00 PM
Well, it's been a month and the Month Long Blog is ready to shut down. But that doesn't mean that the blog is done nor does it mean that things are going to slow down.
The season starts tomorrow with the 1st practice. Now is when the Gaels step up and begin their next journey. Last year, we went through Junior C and now it's on to Junior B.
We are ready for it, I can tell you that. What I don't know is if we're ready to win it. That is what the next 4 months of practice is for. That is where we step and improve just as much as we did last year. Last year was not our peak. That is what everyone needs to know. Everybody has room to improve and that's what we need to work on. Treading water is only going to land us a Friday exit out of Nationals.
To kick off the 2007 season, I thought I would end the Month Long Blog with season wide predictions.
City League Champs: Romio Rebels
Why? I don't know. Teams haven't been set with the City League teams, but if I'm going to randomly choose a team, I gotta choose the team I was on last year. Go Rebels!
City League MVP: Brian Doolan
Brian was a key part of the Blue Cobra's last year as well as the national team. Brian also happens to be heading over to Washington State to go to school. Not sure why though. Regardless, this will probably be his last year and just the way he's been improving and stepping on defense, I think it will land him a MVP in something. We can always give an award to the guy who scores some points, but I think Brian is gonna prove that good defense is more valuable.
Vancouver's Round-Robin Tournament: My team
Ok, another one where I can't really guess who's gonna win because of how it is set-up. The way it works, everybody shows up and throws their name into a hat. Then the teams are picked and off we go.
To me it sounds like a brilliant plan. I love the idea and would be open to stealing it without Vancouver's consent.
I'd also like to point out that the random team I was placed on in the 2006 Men's Football 7 on 7 Tournament went on to win. Was it luck? Heck no, I was an imperial part of that team. Definitely the 6th best man out there! By far!
Seattle Gaelic Tournament: San Francisco Na Fianna
What we're gonna hope to do with this is put together a tournament that allows every team from varying degrees to have some competitive matches that challenge them and give them a chance to play the game.
That being said, Na Fianna coming in as a Junior A team really speaks volumes of their skill. Would we give them a challenging game? I think we could. Would we win? I'm gonna say no. Not until I see more out of our team will I say we have a shot at Na Fianna.
Vancouver Games: Seattle
With the series tied at 1-1-1, we go into the Vancouver games looking to separate ourselves from them. We've only been doing better against them everytime we play them. We've gone from losing bad, tying, then last year winning. I think we stay strong, get a mean streak from our lose during our Gaelic Tournament and beat Vancouver/Edmonton/Calgary
Nationals: Not Seattle
Will we win? Possibly. I'm not saying that we can't win, but like I said earlier, I need to see something more from this team before I think we're gonna go in there and win. Last year in the beginning of the year, I thought we would win Junior C. This year, not so much. I need to see some improvements from everybody out there to throw the win on the table.
Make no mistake, we are good enough to win Junior B. But it's not going to be from maintaining where we're at and hoping for a crappy goalie. But until I see it, I can't say Seattle.
Player of the Year: Aaron Phillips
I thought Aaron was a strong player last year in the MVP game. Maybe people didn't vote for him, but I think he crossed some people's mind as a possibility. This year, I think Aaron steps up, starts to get his game together, starts to become more of a leader and provides some quality play out there.
Rookie of the Year: Nate (something)
I've seen Nate once and was pretty impressed with what I saw. He definitely has been doing some training in the off-season and looks like he has picked up the game well.
That can be said about a lot of the rookies too though. It's always a gamble picking this early. Because at this point, it's not who's better now, it's who is going to keep coming out trying to get better. My guess, Nate.
Enjoy the season Gaels, it's going to be fun…
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( 3.1 / 88 )Month Long Blog April 29th
Sunday, April 29, 2007, 08:43 PM
Alright, a couple new bars have been reviewed for your happiness.
#7b Honey Stinger
This was my one gift from my brother after his trip to Boston. He got me a nutrition bar. Pretty exciting. He claimed it was pretty good. This one is Dark Chocolate Cheery Almond Pro, which usually is not the combo I'm dying to eat. But since it was 'pro' instead of 'semi-pro' or 'amateur', I thought I would give it a try.
Diagnosis, good. Pretty darn good. It goes with the 3 Musketeers filling, that whipped chocolate thing and it tastes pretty good.
Problems though, there are 17g of fat and 6g of saturated fat. Is this really a nutrition bar? It's got 20g of protein, but couldn't I just have a Reese's Nutrageous bar and get the same amount of nutrition?
390 calories too! Maybe this is for the guys who are trying to gain muscle and weight, but from the whole "Honey Stinger" name and packaging, it doesn't seem like it.
#12b Twisted Bars
These caught my eye because they have a couple pretzels in the bar. Maybe that could be a good combo. Those chocolate covered pretzels are decent and have a very strong pretzel taste, so maybe that'll over-take the gross nutrition chalky taste. Which it...kind of does, but it's still pretty disgusting.
It seemed like they took something that was really crappy and said, "Ehhh, lets add a pretzel on it and call it a day".
And that's why you have me. To be your guinea pig and try out this crap. Don't bother with this.
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That's all I got for you today. A long weekend of work took up much of my time, but I'll be back for the final installment of Month Long Blog tomorrow with a pretty decent size one. It'll be about hurling too!
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( 3 / 89 )Month Long Blog April 28th
Saturday, April 28, 2007, 09:30 PM
Alright, Part 2 of our Energy Drink Reviews starts.
MEGA Energy Mango/Passionfruit
taste: 3 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 4
staying power: 4
Comment: Crap drink. Unless you like Grapefruit juice, but I can't stand it.
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Hansen's Energy Pro Pipeline Hawaii
taste: 1 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 4
staying power: 1
Comment: Worst drink I've ever had! Avoid.
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Raw Dawg Energy Drink
taste: 10 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 4
staying power: 8
Comment: One of the best tasting drinks out there! Very hard to find though! I'm seriously considered buying a case online. Energy level is not as high as I would like though.
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Kronik Energy Drink
taste: 8 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 5
staying power: 7
Comment: Surpisenly decent drink. I figured with a drink like Kronik, it would be all gimmick, but it's actually decent in taste.
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Red Bull
Taste: 5 out of 10
Energy/Strength of energy: 7
Staying power: 7
Comment: The popular one is ok to me. I don't drink it straight up very often, but when I do, it's average.
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Wired X294mg
taste: 6 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 9
staying power: 6
Comment: A average tasting drink that delivers in the energy department.
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Unbound Energy
taste: 2 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 6
staying power: 1
Comment: Horrible tasting drink with a smokey aftertaste. Yeah, smokey.
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Wired Energy
taste: 3 out of 10
energy/strength of energy: 3
staying power: 1
Comment: Another over-rated drink. This one is like drinking a beer out in the sun for an hour; half way down and you cringe after every sip.
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Full Throttle
Taste: 2 out of 10
Energy/Strength of energy: 7
Staying power: 5
Comment: Very bad drink that gets worst as you go on.
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Full Throttle Fury
Taste: 8 out of 10
Energy/Strength of energy: 7
Staying power: 8
Comment: They use to carry this at my work and it was a solid drink. I don't know why Full Throttle continues to put out it's original when it sucks so bad compared to their new ones.
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Full Throttle Blue Demon
Taste: 9 out of 10
Energy/Strength of energy: 7
Staying power: 8
Comment: They're carrying these at my work now. Look for their stock to go up. It's a great drink, right behind Rockstar in my opinion
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Rockstar Energy Drink
Taste: 10 out of 10
Energy/Strength of energy: 8
Staying power: 7
Comment: The godfather of energy drinks in my opinion. Cheesy marketing, great taste, good energy, nothing beats it.
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( 2.9 / 95 )Month Long Blog April 27th
Friday, April 27, 2007, 11:32 AM
So after I posted the big review of Nutrition bars, all I ever heard when I walked the streets was people asking me what I thought about 'such n such' bar. It was very cool, because I realized the magnitude of how many people I'm reaching with my words. It's powerful stuff yo.
That got me thinking. Nutrition bars are not my only expertise. I have many many others. And one of them could be directly related with hurling.
In Hurling, it's all about feeling right for the 80 minutes that are about to beckon upon you as you take the field. And besides having a good nutrition bar before you get out on the field, I can't think of anything else that could be besides...
Energy drinks! Yeah!
My brother blessed me with one of the greatest birthday presents I have ever received a while back. 24 different cans of energy drinks! Different brands, different styles, different flavors, etc. Some of them I didn't enjoy, but some of them I did. Some surprised me too.
Now, I know you all go to the store, see the racks and racks of energy drinks and think, "There are so many to choose from! What should I do???" Most likely you'll gravitate towards the Red Bull, but I don't think that's always the wisest idea. Take a minute to go through the list and if I give it a good score, keep your eye out for it next time you're in the convenient store.
Enjoy.
Jones Soda Co. Extra Strength Energy Drink
Taste: 4
Energy/strength of energy: 6
Staying power: 5
Comment: Tangy Apple Juice flavor. Ehh...
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RUSHHHHHH ENERGY DRINK!!!!!
Taste: 9 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 6
Staying power: 9
Comment: Unfortunately this is totally geared towards kids, so I feel like a loser drinking it.
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Amp
Taste: 9 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 3.5
Staying power: 9
Comment: Once again, Mountain Dew comes out with a great drink. Too bad the energy sucks.
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Sobe No Fear!
Taste: 5 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 3
Staying power: 3
Comment: Once again, Sobe comes out with a mediocre drink.
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KABALLAH ENERGY DRINK!!!
Taste: 8 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 5
Staying power: 8
Comment: Good drink, not much else to say...
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Monster Energy Drink
Taste: 3 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 4
Staying power: 1
Comment: Monster is one of the most over-rated drinks in my opinion.
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HYPE Energy X2
Taste: 5 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 2
Staying power: 4
Comment: Needs more b12, that's the cure. The text on the can is cool though!
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Rip It Energy Fuel
Taste: 6 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 4
Staying power: 7
Comment: Decent berry flavored drink that doesn't have much energy.
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Wired X B12 Rush 3000% RDA
Taste: 8 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 8
Staying power: 5
Comment: Wired tastes like a cross between Rockstar and beer. Your call if you want to try it.
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Big ol' can of Whoop Ass Energy Drink
Taste: 8 out of 10
Energy/strength of energy: 3
Staying power: 7
Comment: Another great tasting drink that doesn't have much energy.
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( 2.8 / 112 )Month Long Blog April 26th
Thursday, April 26, 2007, 07:14 PM
As each day passes, I'm often reminded of how closely we are to the season starting. And now, as each day passes, I'm sitting here, coughing, lungs hurting, one nose running, one nose stuffed and preparing like no other warrior out there. Yeah, my preparation this past week has been to rest. Ehhh...I don't recommend it for others out there.
Before, I didn't really care, I was sick, everybody gets sick once in a while. But now it's at the point of being annoying. But it's not long term, so I can't complain that much.
It's also getting pretty close to the end of the Month Long Blog! Aren't you all excited? Probably not as much as me! While this has been fun, it definitely has had some taxing moments where I felt like I had homework when I got home. Being the true professional that I am though, I'm sure you couldn't tell. And being the true amateur that I am, I'm telling you this now, so you can look at all my future posts with an analytical eye.
This is going to be a 'nothing' post today. But here's a preview of what's in store for the rest of the week.
- New nutrition bars have been eaten and will be reviewed!
- Since the nutrition bar reviews have been a HUGE success, I got a brand new list of something. This is a possible 2-day'er
- Season Preview. Go over all the events we'll be doing and throwing out some predictions while we're at it.
- Ehhh...more wrestling clips (???)
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