Pt. 2...

So I hear this rumor (from Lauren, check out her blog, The String Bean) about a new Wal-Mart that just opened and the urge to check out its $5 bin hits me across the face. I walk in and the place is huge and everything looks brand new, but I left disappointed. THERE WAS NO BIN. Yes, they had $5 movies, but they place them on the rack instead of a big bin. You don’t get that feeling of rummaging and hunting for that majestic movie that may or may not exist. What is the world coming to when you no longer have movie bins in Wal-Mart?

Needless to say I still purchased a movie, The Rainmaker for $5... But it just wasn’t the same.

$5 Binning...

There is a tale, I kid you not, about a man, who made a journey that he never expected to go down as one of the greatest binning explorations in history. Now before we go further I must explain binning for those of you who are unfamiliar with the art form.

The only reason I feel warrants a trip to Wal-Mart is to go binning. Each Wal-Mart I have ever visited has a $5 movie bin, filled, sometimes to the very tip top with movies old and new, good and bad, classics and straight-to-DVD. Now to fully commit to binning one must arrive with the intention of reaching the bottom, no matter how it may look to others. Even if there is already someone hap-hazardly rummaging through upon your arrival, your must not back away scared. Plant your feet, plunge your hands in and begin searching, even if you intrude on others. You have a goal - to find the best $5 movies possible- come hell or high water.

Now you don’t always need to reach the bottom to succeed in your mission. Sometimes its easy to find the gem your looking for, other times you leave empty handed. It is the risk you take.

My last attempt binning was a fail. The bin was full of straight-to-DVD releases and old westerns, as well as a large amount of Spanish language films. I left saddened. But a few days later I received a phone call from a friend. He had been binning and returned with one of the greatest hauls I had ever heard of.

I have had my share of successful missions returning with Trading Places, Van Wilder and Swingers. But my friend called me with a haul that toped every binning quest I had been on. He left with a $25 haul. FIVE MOVIES!!! Incredible. They were - Spiderman 1, My Cousin Vinny, American Beauty, Dumb and Dumber and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The names speak for themselves. This binning exploration took 15 minutes. He committed, he succeeded and will go down in history as one of the best binnings ever. Thank you G for setting a standard for everyone else to live up to.

WE ARE...BETTER

We are... better than your school. But keep disrespecting us. Sporting News has us 12. The AP has us 9. WHAT!!??!! Ole Miss is higher than us. COME ON! In the Coaches Poll we are 8. It's cool though, because nobody wants to play us at home.... Penn State!

Tyson...

Last night, I screened (with Winston), the documentary Tyson, about the life and career of Iron Mike. He is without a doubt one of the most interesting individuals EVER. I will argue that he is not crazy, but yet a very, very misunderstood individual, yet his environment turned him into not person that people view as a monster. I view him as a contradiction. One moment he makes heartfelt statements about his former trainer and father figure Cus D’Amato, struggling to hold back tears with his voice cracking after every word spoken, pausing for to regather himself before breaking down once again as he tries to speak again. But then will use vile words to describe Don King or the former women in his life. He can make intelligent thoughts about the sport of boxing and about people judging his mental state, then tell stories of how as an 11 year old he would rob people’s houses. How he got a rush from that, yet he hated what he was exposed to and witnessed in prison. The way others treated one another appaled him. He felt he didn't belong, at least for the crime he was convicted of. He explained that it wasn’t the rush of actually stealing from people that he enjoyed but the idea that he could outsmart someone. He could wait and wait until a person felt safe, be patient, and then once his victim let his or her guard down for a second he would strike. He could read there eyes. It was just like fighting. It was not the brutality that he loved. It was the science of the sport. It was knowing that, while every fighter can punch hard, he was smarter. He knew where to hit someone. He knew he could land a punch with pinpoint accuracy on his opponents face. He knew he could strike fear into his opponents ever before a punch was thrown.

He is a brutally honest individual, almost to a fault. He struggles to hold back his emotions, whether violent, angry, joyous or depressed. He admits he is not perfect, far from it. And that when he was living reckless he did it because he never thought he would still be alive at the age of 40. That in itself is depressing.

I find him a fascinating individual. If I had a free pass to pick any athlete to interview for a day it would be him. Yes, over Muhammad Ali, over Michael Jordan. It would be Tyson. I would chose him for his honesty. For his stories. For the chance that he might say something off the wall that your eyes open up wide and you want to replay and hear the sound bite over and over again to make sure he actually said it. But mostly for the moments of genuine honesty that he gives, you can see it in his eyes, you just need to look past the tattoo. His life, his story, his world is fascinating. His legacy as a fighter should never be disputed. He had the speed of a lightweight fighter, with the power of super heavyweight. Watching the documentary I never realized how fast he truly was. He lived his life as champion as if he was throwing a right hook, just without the accuracy and the precision that he brought into the boxing ring. Trouble followed, he made mistakes, but to call him crazy, insane and stupid makes you worse than the person you are judging.

Peace, and much love to ya.

I play for....Team USA

It was difficult falling to Mexico the other day, but the camera guy did snap a pretty sick photo of me using my deceptive speed to split between two of Mexico's defensemen.

In all seriousness, that photo does have a pretty close resemblance to me... Maybe I really do play for Team USA and I just don't know it.

Peace, and much love to ya.

The Greatest Team Ever Is....

A question that is always posed and debated by the media and experts all around the country is which sports team is the greatest of all time. Who’s dynasty of championships can be regarded as the best of all time? Is it the Yankees? The Celtics? The Lakers? The Bulls? The Patriots or the Cowboys? If you think any of these are it you would be sadly misinformed. I answer no to all of these. There is one team that too few people know about. The lack of consideration for this team is irresponsible so I am here to set the record straight and make my statement on the greatest team ever…. TEAM 732.

Yes, Team 732. Who is this Team 732? Well, it is made up of five individuals and they called State College home. G, Pat, Steve, Zak and Tomko. They cam together for two years to form the greatest team anyone has been witnessed to, and I was part of it firsthand. The team come together fall 2006, but it was being formed well before that. G, Pat, Zak and Steve were Team 703 during 2005. I did not yet call State College home. I needed to prove myself by suffering through 2 hellacious years in Erie. I made trips through, battling the elements and proving myself each weekend I would make the drive to State College. There were ups and downs. I had to overcome a chimichanga scandal, but I came away from it unscathed and in the fall of 2006 Team 732 was formed. I started on the bench, having to pay the debt of costing us a balcony suite to accommodate my arrival but it was quickly established that we were a team to rival some of the greats. And after two years I feel like I can declare that we were the greatest team of all time, and have all now found continued success in our own personal endeavors. Here is a list of many of the things that we accomplished in just two short years. This is not everything, it would be impossible to document everything we achieved, but with some help from my teammates here is a collaborative lists and each person’s favorite accomplishments.

-Speed pong
-Late night sing-alongs
-Falling asleep playing smash brothers
-Watching the sun rise
-G puking
-Steve turning off the xbox
-A lot of movie watching
-Fines from AW sons
-Spider babe
-Hurtin bombs (a shot we created based on the movie Rocky Balboa)
-The recliner chair
-A lot of class skipping (If only we had a zip line)
-Waiting for out pet penguin to be delivered
-That girl that pissed in our bedroom
-A lot of broken things, including souls
-Marty being drunk
-2 a.m. screaming matches with Megan
-Zero to mesh shorts in the blink of an eye
-Bite-sies
-G puking some more
-Shutting down the studio
-Large piles of dishes left for weeks
-Ernie's remnants left for weeks
-Our awesome pile of Bell's pizza boxes
-Steve running the vacuum at 7 a.m.
-Major pwnge
-Shooting water balloons from the balcony
-Giada
-Turning our apartment into a gym
-Halo
-Whiffle ball
-Tony Danza
-Steve banging on the wall
-Vegetable oil
-The blender never being cleaned
-Big weekend breakfasts
-Steve tripping over xbox live
-Pat sneaking in other people's beds
-Naps
-G drunk rolling off the island onto drawers
-Zak's musical selection
- Shot through the heart as pat lays next to a mirror
- Chimichangas
- Everyone ignoring Marty basically on queue
- Baller Genetics (the greatest mix CD ever)
- Tomko
- $250 dollars worth of groceries gone in 3 days
- Checking each other in the hallway
- Mr. Smell good
- Wonderboy being played an incredible amount of times
- Using the couch as a trampoline, then fixing it with a wood board
- Christmas lights year round
- Mandeesha and someone actually stealing Mandeesha off the fridge

Peace, and much love to ya.

Round 1

Why call a blog Shorts and a Hoodie? Well its simple. Every Friday during high school, no matter how cold, and trust me it got cold, we would wear gym shorts and a hoodie to school. Negative temperatures did not matter, a foot of snow did not matter. Shorts and a hoodie would be worn and worn proudly.... Now what is the purpose of this blog... I haven't thought that far ahead, usually don't, but hopefully I will put up some cool stuff. To start off I give you one of my favorite opening scenes of a movie. Its directed by one of my favorite filmmakers (Michael Mann, some of the shots are amazing looking, especially the ones outside), features the music of one of the greatest singers of his time (Sam Cooke, even though Sam Cooke isn't actually singing these versions of his songs they are still great especially the final one) and my favorite actor (Will Smith). I give you the opening scene to ALI... The Champ is here.