Spread the Word Baby, Omar Back

It's been quite some time since my last post, and a whole lot has changed. I went from living on a couch in Battery Park City to a air mattress, then futon in Harlem, and now have a crib in the East Village. Unemployed to intern to full time employee. Cheering for Durant at the NBA Draft to Felix in the Bronx to the Seahawks in Green Bay. Added a few Facebook interests (cheese, Kenny Mayne hosting SportsCenter), found a few new bars to frequent (Lucy's, Mudville 9), got hooked on a few TV shows (The Wire, Lost). I missed over half of 2007 here in Cyberspace. I guess that's what happens when you get a job.

Despite my job, I still managed to get out and experience one of my favorite things in life: Live sporting events. Here's a rundown of what I've been up to:

• NBA Draft, Madison Square Garden: Sporting my Chris Wilcox t-shirt, I was in the front row of the back section of the MSG WaMu Theater, and was officially the first Seattle Supersonics fan in the world to shake the hands of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. I also gave props to fellow Washingtonians Spencer Hawes and Rodney Stuckey. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
• Yankees/Angels, Yankee Stadium: When a few of my buddies from Boston came to town and we had extra tickets to a Yankees game, naturally we all put on Red Sox gear and made a trek out to the Bronx. One of us had a few too many beverages beforehand and nearly instigated a riot, as the entire stadium booed us and tried to get us kicked out. It was arguably worse than it would have been had the Yankees actually been playing the Sox. Remind me not to do that again. I'm not even a Sox fan.
  
• Yankees/Devil Rays, Yankee Stadium: On a nice Friday night in July, I got to see the Yankees get crushed by Tampa 14-4. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
  
• Yankees/Mariners, Yankee Stadium: I got to see King Felix pitch for the first time in my life, and he delivered: 7 innings, 1 run, 5K in a 7-1 Mariners victory including an Ichiro! home run. The hopped on the subway to go to...
  
• US Open, Queens: Roger Federer defeating Feliciano Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. We got hooked up with incredible seats. What a day of sports.
• BC/FSU, Chestnut Hill, MA: The beginning of the end for BC Football, this is when the wheels came off. I should have learned my lesson and not attended any other games.
• BC/Maryland, College Park, MD: If the wheels came off against FSU, the whole thing caught fire and burned to the ground at Maryland. Not even my Jesus piece could help us.
• Sonics/Knicks, Manhattan: Kevin Durant's first trip to the Mecca, and boy did he impress. Led the Sonics to a 117-110 victory with 30 points, including key buckets down the stretch and a thunderous jam right on David Lee. I loved it. Spike Lee would disagree.
• Blazers/76ers, Philly: After meeting Greg Oden and spending a day with reporters demoing College Hoops 2K8 (I love my job), we posted up 7 rows back on the baseline for the Blazers/Sixers game. I was excited to see my boy Brandon Roy play, and by halftime the game was an embarrassment: 45-27, advantage Portland. But the Sixers came out hot in the 3rd quarter and eventually completed the improbable comeback, winning the game by 4 points. It was the first time I had ever seen Louis Williams play. I added him to my fantasy team the next day. The kid is going to be good.
  
• Mavericks/Jazz, Salt Lake City: After I missed my connection in SLC back to NYC from Sun Valley, I rang up my one friend from Mormon Country and he had a spare ticket to the game. I have honestly never seen an NBA crowd quite like Utah--every single person was engaged, the place got LOUD, and everyone stayed until the finish. Deron Williams is going to go down in history as a great point guard. Mark my words.
• Seahawks/Packers, Frozen Tundra, Wisconsin: This trip truly deserves its own post, but I'm not sure that'll happen or not. The abbreviated story: 14.5 hour drive from NYC to God's Country, freezing weather, snowflakes as big as softballs, lots and lots of cheese, and the best experience you could ever have while watching your favorite team lose a playoff game on the road. Simply amazing. Until that 14.5 hour drive home.
• Clippers/Knicks, Manhattan: Typical Knicks game, they stayed in it for nearly 4 quarters before letting the game slip away with 3 minutes left. It was great seeing David Lee dunk on Chris Kaman, exclaiming "That was out of this world!" after a Sam Cassell drive, and discussing how he was an "All-Universe" guard, representing Mars.

The main staple of The Roundup has been sports, especially attending games live. Doing so is one of the things in life that I truly value. Sure, I grew up watching Michael Jordan on NBA on NBC, but I'll never be able to tell my kids that I saw him in person. But over the last 7or 8 months, I've added some good new ones to my list. Crawford, Felix, Federer, Ryan, Durant, Green, Roy, Igoudala, Louis, Dirk, Deron, Favre... and of course, the only extra terrestrial playing professional sports, Sam Cassell.

BC Reunion Weekend

This weekend, I made my triumphant return to Boston to see the crew, the campus, and the football team. It had the potential to be a disaster from the start. Why? Three words: Fung Wah bus. To save money, Liz and I took the "Chinatown express" on Thursday. Some of you may be able to recall me saying things such as "I will never take the Fung Wah," in the past. But in the past, I didn't equate $25 (the amount I saved by traveling Fung Wah over Greyhound this weekend) to four meals . But I had reason to be skeptical of taking the FungWah, like the multiple articles I read during my four years at BC in the Herald or the Globe about buses breaking down, getting in accidents, or even catching fire. Or, sophomore year when Joe, Rob, Amish, Chris, and I drove to Jersey for the BC/Rutgers football game, and while traveling around 80mph, had a Fung Wah scream by us on the right. This particular instance, coupled with the popular Boston Chinese take-out restaurant Lucky Wah, has led me to the conclusion that "Wah" directly translates to "fast" or "express." What else would a bus service and a take-out place have in common other than speed? "It could mean 'unsafe' or 'harmful,'" Fell noted, on our return trip to New York on Sunday.

Arriving in Boston in the afternoon, I headed into campus to see some of the fellas and lose a couple games of NHL Hitz (a great throwback memory to the days of Joey, T-Bone, Robbie, and Mac). After a few hours at Roggies (an essential stop) and some sushi from Sapporo, I hopped on the T and went out to Somerville for a night of "drinkin' beehs with the smaht kids at some Hahvahd bahs" with Ethan. After a few ogre-sized Hoegaarden beers and a few other imports, Ethan and I headed back to his mansion for some drunken foosball. I would like to note that I don't remember how many games Ethan and I played, but I did win one game.

On Friday, after watching Good Will Hunting and a movie I probably shouldn't disclose with Ethan, I went to another mansion, this time the one that is home to Reed, Finch, Galligan, and his boy from home, Jeff. Friday night quickly turned into a shitshow, as noted in the 20th edition of Monday Mornings With Levy. Beirut, an 80's power hour, a few scattered half-pints of whiskey, and a solid group of friends eventually made it downtown to Faneuil Hall and our favorite dive joint, Dockside. Having most the crew back together was great, and it was a wonderful night.

Saturday, after taking a field trip to my storage unit to pick up some winter clothes to bring back to New York, it was time to tailgate the much anticipated match up between Duke and Boston College. Starting off in Ignacio was a good throwback to last year. Robbie and I then moved down to the Mod Lot for the Meehan tailgate, which included delicious seafood dip and a Conorburger. After a reunion with Frank Albano and a few of the mushes, I decided it was time to go to the infamous Galligan tailgate, and cut through the Mods. Little did I know, it would take me nearly an hour to make it through the Mods, as I ran into a ton of people I hadn't seen in months. The Galligan tailgate was as great as always, with Marty tossing me a keg as soon as I got there.

The game itself was pretty boring. I harassed the band to "play song 16" throughout the game. About half the times I asked, one of the band members would say "do you even know what song 16 is?" Of course I know what song 16 is. And I have no problem with requesting a marching band to play Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone." They good thing was, they actually played it for me in the 4th quarter after I had spent the entire game yelling at them to do it. Unfortunately, I was otherwise occupied at the time. At least I was there when they played song 14.

After the game, it was back to Galligan's mansion for a night of flip-cup, beirut, and other various drinking games. But one of the best parts of a reunion weekend is the reminiscing of the great memories. We remembered Gootz pouring ice on Galligan per request of the mayor of Mazatlan, the effects of 100 Beer Weekend (including the development of alter egos named Scott), and of course, Senior Week. After perching in a makeshift throne for nearly two hours, Ethan and I formed an OT (Ogre Team) to take on Shane & Co., who talked a lot of trash. But as soon as Ethan left me with one cup to hit, I knew it was Game Over. By the end of the night, everyone was exhausted from such a long weekend.

The trip to Boston was a fun and much needed one. It was great to see the majority of the crew, tailgate, see a game, and spend some time in Chestnut Hill. But by Sunday night, I was glad to be back in the city so nice, they named it twice. Thank God I got back alive.

Extra Points are Automatic

Browsing away messages after the BC loss to NC State tonight, I'd say about 92.4% of them had something to do with death threats, injury wishes, transfer requests, or other negative thoughts intended for Ryan Ohliger. The remaining away messages centered around the firing of Tom O'Brien (If you haven't seen it yet, check out http://firetob.com). It's depressing. It really is. With the fall off of Miami, and games vs. VaTech and FSU this season, we had a legit shot at winning the ACC. Unfortunately, we have TOB leading the charge, and Ohliger missing extra points. Which are automatic, last time I checked.

Here are a few extra points from tonight's game, as seen on my buddy list:

"Shit List
1. Ryan Ohliger" -DL

"proud to be hating tom o brein for over 4 years." -AP

"Tonite, one man should lose his life, two need to lose their jobs... Kill Ohliger, Fire Spaziani and TOB..." -DB

"ohliger, you are just terrible" -JR

"and that's how you ruin an entire football season." -DD

"Look out for Oh-no-liger." -KA, posted before the game

"Number of Seasons Ryan Ohliger has cost Boston College Football: 3....and counting" -TM

"Dear Ryan Ohliger, Dana Bible and Tom O'Brian,
Please kill yourselves. Thanks
-Stephen" -DS

"Ryan Ohilger is an awful awful human being and should be shot." -MaS

"Dear Ohligher,
You SUCK!
Sincerely,
The Entire BC Community" -SJ

"A lot of people probably deserve blame for tonight's loss, but none is weaker, more arrogant, and less talented than ryan ohligher. So fuck him" -AS

"God has deserted BC. And #20 needs to die. I volunteer." -BB

"Fuck you Ohliger, you blew the game. If it were not for you, we would have had a 20-10 lead in the first place, and it wouldn't have mattered. You are miserable, and have no right to get defensive when people join a facebook group about how much you suck. Extra points are automatic. FUCK YOU." -AR

Speaking of Facebook, if you type in the name "Ohliger," you come up with 13 names and 10 groups. The funny thing is, all 10 of the groups are dedicated to the Boston College kicker. Not Anne Ohliger of USC or Joshua P. Ohliger of Ohio Northern. Ryan Ohliger, kicker, Boston College. Let's take a look at the groups, their descriptions, and their membership (which will probably be on the rise):

Group: Ohliger Isn't a good kicker
Description: Ohliger isn't a good kicker
Membership: 34

Group: Ohliger sucks, let's go for 2!
Description: Ohliger can't even hit an extra point. Keep Matt Ryan on the field, bring in the T(oal) and lets go for 2!!!
Membership: 137

Group: Ryan Ohliger is the new Ray Finkle
Description: Self-explanitory to anyone who has seen Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Membership: 15

Group: Castrate Ohliger
Description: Join this group if you want our kickers balls to be gone.
Membership: 33

Group: If Ohliger doesn't transfer, I will!
Description: Ohliger sucks, we alll know. Join.
Membership: 9

Group: Ryan Ohliger is Ray Finkle
Description: shittystylekickergraduatedfromchokeartisthighinjune2004bostoncollegegraduateclassof2008holds2ncaadivision1records:oneformostmissedextrapointsinaseason,theotherforlowestfieldgoalpercentageEVERcurrentnickname"shortshanks"thefirstand(hopefully)onlyathleteinhisfamilytoplayforBC...and one hell of a model american!
Membership: 23

Group: Send Ryan Ohliger to Baghdad
Description: A petition to send Ryan Ohliger to serve alongside our troops in sunny Baghdad, Iraq.
Membership: 25

Group: BC ALUMS WHO THINK OUR KICKER SUCKS DICK...FOR LEISURE
Description: RYAN OHLIGER KICKS LIKE A BITCH, SUCKS DICK FOR LEISURE, AND LOVES IT IN THE ASS
Membership: 5

Group: Ryan Ohliger for the Heisman
Description: A group dedicated to getting Ryan Ohliger the Heisman trophy! He may shank the extra point once or twice (per game), and he may nail some 45-yarders (per year), but we don't think there's any doubt who the NCAA's best player is!
Membership: 168

Group: Ohliger is the biggest douchebag and should die
Description: i hate the BC kicker b/c he is gay and likes losing and is a douche. fuck him. i root my heart out and he should die
Membership: 4



But perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on Ohliger. I mean, extra points are pretty tough to come by. Late in games, some teams even go for two point conversions. If teams are willing to go for two late in games, when it is in the "clutch," extra points must be REALLY hard. In a recent halftime interview, Tommy Bowdon stated, "We're done kicking extra points." Nobody ever quits scoring touchdowns, so extra points must be much harder. Plus, Ohliger has to worry about field goals, too! Can you imagine? Having to practice extra points AND field goals? Is there even enough time? Plus, imagine the importance of the holder. Why is nobody mad at our holder, or even long snapper? Couldn't it be their fault? Let's stop being so hard on poor little Ryan.

When asked if he had any words to contribute to the Ryan Ohliger discussion, Jeffrey Newton of Newton, MA stated simply, "Ray Finkle." That's right, Ray Finkle. The poor man's Ryan Ohliger. Laces out, Dan.

An Introduction

So they call me "Big B." It was a nicknamed coined my freshman year at BC, after two Brians emerged in our group of friends. One was short, while the other (me) was 6'7". Makes sense. So it should also make sense that "Big B" has decided to move to the Big Apple. This should be interesting.

I was born in Seattle, but moved to the tiny town of Coupeville, WA (pop. 1813) before I started gradeschool. Throughout my childhood I had my eyes set on bigger and better things than Coupeville. Don't get me wrong, I love my hometown. My core group of friends are great, and it's beautiful. But I had to get out, do new things, experience a new city, a new way of life. 2,492 miles later, I enrolled at Boston College. This has turned out to be the best decision of my life. I fell in love with Boston. Just a great city. And, after graduation, I wanted to be close enough to Boston to be able to see my friends who still remained and catch the occasional BC game. But, as the great decision I made earlier in my life, I decided to take the opportunity to experience something new. So, where was I to decide to move?

The Criteria

1. Close proximity to Boston. This means the ability to drive or take a reasonable bus ride to get back. In other words, nothing on the West Coast or deep south.
2. A city that I would have a lot of college friends around, because by being on the East Coast, I have eliminated being close to my friends from home.
3. A good job market for Sports Media, PR, and Broadcasting.

Cities of interest eliminated: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia.

New York City is a short enough bus ride from Boston. There is a great network of my BC friends throughout the greater NYC area. And if you want to talk Sports Media, PR, and Broadcasting, the Big Apple has to be tops on the list.

So this is how it's going to go down. My first time really living away from home. My blood relatives are all on the West Coast, spreading from Seattle to LA. Then I've got the uncle in central Mexico. But I'll make it work. I've got my Jewish mother and sister in the City. And I"ve got my brothers and sisters from BC from Boston down to Jersey. I have a lot of love in the Northeast. And it's gonna be a heck of a ride. I might as well keep you posted.