Word of the Day

So I was really bored last night and decided to find a random word and see what it means. You all know you have done that before. Well, probably not but, anyways, the word was:

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Drumroll Please

tatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat

waterlogged: so filled or flooded with water as to be heavy or unmanageable. (Dictionary.com)

Well, that was interesting wasn't it? You know it was. Ok, so maybe it wasn't, but at the very least you now know another word, unless you already knew this before, which, in that case, you just wasted a couple minutes of your day reading this blog post.

New B.o.B. Album Review

So one of my favorite new artists just released a new album this past week. B.o.B., a rapper/musician that can sing, rap, and play instruments, released a new album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray. I think it is a great CD by a great artist.

"Don't Let Me Fall" 9/10. This is a great song to open up an album. It has a catchy chorus with message-filled verses. The rhythm and melody are catchy and I had this song on repeat a few times on my IPOD.

"Nothing on You" 10/10. The second song is awesome. He features Bruno Mars in this song. Right now it is played on the radio a lot and is really catchy. I love the song and always turn it up in my car whenever it appears on the radio.

"Past My Shades" 8/10. In this song B.o.B features rapper Lupe Fiasco. It is catchy and has a nice melody. At times it can be kind of repetitive, but other than that it is a great song featuring two great artists.

"Airplanes" 10/10. This song features Haley Williams of Paramore. This pretty much makes the song great because she is awesome. The chorus of this song is awesome and solely features her. Then, to make the song even better, B.o.B adds greatly-timed raps. This combination makes for a very entertaining song.

"Bet I" 6.5/10. In this song, he features T.I. I think T.I. is awesome, so I immediately wanted to listen to the song. I was expecting another hit, and was left kind of hanging. It was good, but not great. It seems like B.o.B. got away from what was working in the rest of the album having a nice balance of singing and rapping. This was mostly rap and didn't stand out like most of his other songs. Overall, it's a pretty good song though.

"Ghost In The Machine" 10/10. This is probably the second catchiest song on the album, next to nothing on you. It's melody is awesome and spot on. The extra sound effects and music make it seem like a song you could hear on Ghostbusters or some Casper movie. Awesome, awesome, awesome song.

"The Kids" 9.5/10. This song is a little less upbeat than the previous songs, but still is awesome. The melody, like many of his other songs, is great. He features a really talented girl whose bone-chilling solo at the end alone makes the song.

"Magic" 8.5/10. This is a cool song. I can't say it's one of my favorites, but it is another good song. The chorus with Rivers Cuomo is catchy and has a nice beat to it. It sounds a little like it could be on Disney Channel. But all cons aside, it's pretty good and a nice song to listen to.

"Fame" 9/10. I like the way he starts off this song like it's an old song, and then busts it out into a nice rap song. This song has one of those choruses that get stuck in your head, and, in this case, that is a great thing.

"Lovelier Than You" 10/10. Just when you think you are getting the gist of this album, B.o.B throws a curveball. This is a much more musical song with some great singing. The lyrics are nice and happy, and overall it is a very uplifting song, and shows that B.o.B isn't just a rapper, he is a musician and a singer too.

"5th Dimension" 8.5/10. This may seem like a broken record, but this song, yet again, is very catchy with great raps and a cool beat. His falsetto in the chorus is awesome and shows his range as a singer. This song also features Ricco Barrino who adds some nice raps to this song.

"Airplanes pt. 2" 10/10. To end this great album, B.o.B does pt. 2 to his hit song "Airplanes". Haley Williams is still in it, and, as if the song wasn't good enough already, Eminem raps in this song, but reader beware that there is some bad swear words in Eminem's rap. So if you solely like children's music and Disney music this isn't the CD for you. First of all why would you be listening to this in the first place, and second of all this song is much better with the swear words in it.

Overall, this is a great album that I recommend to all. Not just rap lovers, but music lovers. It is an awesome CD that cleverly mixes singing and rapping, showing just how much of a musician B.o.B is. Now go out and buy the CD and listen for yourself.

"Above: B.o.B album cover for, "The Adventures of Bobby Ray", http://deadstarsco.com"

2010 NFL Draft

This past weekend was the NFL Draft. This is the time when teams are made. Where you find your franchise quarterback, running back, or wide receiver. Usually these are chosen in the first couple of rounds, but, in some special circumstances, they can be found in later rounds. Take New England Patriots's quarterback Tom Brady, who was chosen in the sixth round. Coming out of college no one expected him to be the star that he his today, and that's what makes the draft so great. The various surprises and draft day shockers that define a draft, and this year was no exception.

Some of the obvious surprises were C.J. Spiller getting picked ninth overall, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow getting picked in the first round by the Broncos, and Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Claussen falling to the middle of the second round. C.J. Spiller wasn't expected to go that high. Tim Tebow had many question marks about his form and whether he could make it as an NFL quarterback, which made it really shocking to see him picked in the first round. And then Notre Dame quarterback, Jimmy Claussen. Many thought he was the most NFL ready quarterback in the draft. They also thought he should go in the first round, so seeing him drop to the middle of the second round was very surprising to see.

The Minnesota Vikings did very well in the draft this year, even without a first round pick. In the second round they picked Chris Cook, cornerback from Virginia, and Toby Gerhart, running back from Stanford and Heisman Trophy runner up. Chris Cook is very talented and athletic and should be a nice addition to an already stellar Vikings' defense. Toby Gerhart was a great pick. He is an awesome running back and should be a nice backup to Adrian Peterson in the future. In the fourth round they picked a talented defensive end from USC. In the sixth round they picked an extremely athletic quarterback/wide receiver from UAB who should be a playmaker at the next level, not that the Vikings need anymore playmakers.

Another great thing about this year's draft was the fact that six University of Iowa players were drafted. Offensive guard Brian Bulaga in the first round, linebacker Pat Angerer in the second round, defensive back Amari Spivey and tight end Tony Moeaki in the third round, linebacker A.J. Edds in the fourth round, and lineman Chris Calloway in the seventh round. This was great and shows that the NFL is finally getting the conclusion that Iowa players will be good players at the next level.

Overall this was a great draft and I can't wait until this fall to see how these rookies will play.

"Above: NFL Draft 2010 logo, http://nflnr.com"

Cubs Season Off To A Shaky Start

The 2010 MLB Regular Season has finally kicked off, and the Cubs are starting off the year playing the way they did last year. As all Cubs fans know, last year was a very disappointing year to be a Cubs fan. We were coming off a year when we had the third best record in the MLB and followed that great year of 97 wins with 83 wins. And to make matters even worse last year, the Cubs were out of the pennant race for much of the season. We all came in to this year hoping for a lot more from our Cubbies. And I sure hope they pull through.

This hope could soon go down the drain, though, as the Cubs are already 3-4. I know it's early in the season, and they have only played one home game, but I also know they need to play a little better if they want to be pennant contenders this year after what really amounted to a year off. On the bright side, they have hit a lot of homers and have shown they have power, but I'm hoping for more consistency by the pitchers. They have given up a lot of runs this year already, just look at ESPN, and need to wake up and start pitching better. They are good pitchers, but are just underperforming at the moment. I'm hopeful this can change, and expect nothing less out of the Cubs. They have a good team that, I feel, could make a run in the playoffs. But they need to get there first, and in order to get there they have to play better ball and win more ballgames.

It has been well-documented that the Cubs haven't won the World Series in over 100 years. I, myself, have heard it about a million times, give or take a few, and I'm tired of hearing it. But the only way to stop the comments is to win a World Series. I hope, for the team and for my sanity, that they can pull it off this year, and I'm trying to be as optimistic as possible. Let's go Cubbies!

"Above, Chicago Cubs logo, http://shagball.com"

A Not So Great Ending To A Great Tournament

On Monday, another great NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament came to a close. This is very disappointing that it is actually over already. It seemed like it just started. But now I must wait until next year to see any more exciting upsets, or bone-chilling last-second shots. Out of all of the NCAA Tournaments, I think this was one of the greatest ones of all time, unless you made a bracket and got most of your picks wrong, as I did this year.

First of all, this tournament was great because Northern Iowa beat number one seed Kansas. This was a huge accomplishment and could have made the tournament by itself. Northern Iowa, a mid-major conference member, knocked off number one seed Kansas, who was a favorite to win the whole tournament. Also, Northern Iowa is from Iowa, and, since the University of Iowa Men's Basketball Team could have been beat by a bunch of blind monkeys this year, I was forced to cheer for the only good team in the state of Iowa, Northern Iowa. No one picked Northern Iowa to win, but that didn't bother the Panthers. They played great defense, shot the ball well, didn't turn the ball over, and ended up knocking off the mighty J-Hawks. But the tournament got even better.

Butler came into the tournament this year a five seed, and on a twenty game winning streak. Even though they were on this winning streak, many people picked Butler to lose in the first or second round. They were a bunch of nobodies from a small conference. But instead of an early exit in this year's tournament, the Bulldogs defeated number one seed Syracuse, Michigan State, and then number two seed Kansas State on their way to their first ever NCAA Championship Game. This was awesome, because I love to see the underdogs win, so Butler making it to the championship was one of the greatest underdogs ever, besides perhaps George Mason making it to the Final Four a few years ago. I have to admit, I did become somewhat of a Butler fan and was crushed when they were beat by the Duke Blue Devils. I mean, no one likes Duke. Butler should have won. This would have capped off a near perfect tournament, in my opinion, and would have been one of the greatest sports accomplishments ever. But they lost, and now stupid Duke won another title. I guess I should give them my congratulations. They played a great tournament and deserved to win this year. I still wish Butler would have won, though.

But I guess I have a whole year to vent my frustration, as that is how long I have to wait until next year's tournament. Anyways, next year Iowa will be in the tournament again and will be a Northern Iowa type of story. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

"Above: Butler logo, http://cfpitiming.com"

Hawks Get New Basketball Coach

Well the Hawkeyes, as everyone knows, did terrible this year. The once well respected program won a total of 10 games this year. That is not acceptable for a Big Ten school. This is why it wasn't too much of a surprise when the Hawkeyes announced they would be firing head coach Todd Licklighter after three consecutive losing seasons at Iowa. Now don't get me wrong. Licklighter is a great coach, he was national coach of the year in 2007 at Butler, he just wasn't a good fit at Iowa. His tempo was too slow which resulted in dwindling attendance at Iowa home games last year and prompted AD Gary Barta to make a move in firing Licklighter.

And who did Iowa hire as Licklighter's replacement? They went out and hired Siena head coach Fran McCaffery. I, along with a lot of Iowa fans, had never heard of him before and were very stunned when word became known that he would be the next mens head basketball coach at Iowa. But after doing some research on him, I found out that he should be a good fit at Iowa. He, unlike his predecessor Licklighter, will bring an uptempo offense and defense with him along with gaining athletic recruits. This will be a great change for the Iowa basketball program, because it will bring more fans and will revamp the team into a more interesting team to watch. What is even more impressive about McCaffery is the fact that the is a proven winner. These last three years at Siena he had taken them to three straight NCAA Tournaments and I hope he will continue this tradition at Iowa.

This, I feel, will be a much different basketball tam and wi,, be more interesting too watch. I sincerely hope he has success at Iowa and I have a good feeling that he will. Watch out 2011, here comes the Iowa Hawkeyes!

"Above, Iowa Mens Basketball Coach, Fran McCaffery, http://images box.com"