In case you missed it in PART ONE we tackled the first half of the ten biggest articles I failed to write during the last 18 months. In the second installment we look at the five biggest omissions to the King of Arguments blog since December of 2012.
5 - Update 30 for 30 List
Date: Ongoing
When Matt Barnes and I get together to share in a few adult beverages, you can bank on certain topics always coming up: the Indians, women, NBA, the fact that Barnes is on television, Ohio University, and my 30 for 30 list.
Barnes constantly wants to know my progress and how he can help cross an item off. To Barnes’ credit he’s played an integral role in two of the six goals I’ve accomplished after a year and a half.
Let’s take a look back and see what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve yet to do, and where we stand with just one year before the big 3-0. In case you missed it, here is PART ONE and PART TWO of the 30 things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30.
ACCOMPLISHED
#2 - Attend a John Mayer/Coldplay concert
Date: December 3, 2013
The John Mayer experience began during my freshman year of college and has slowly transformed from a distant curiosity to an unmistakable infatuation. His lyrics, his guitar playing and his voice have created without question, my favorite musical artist.
There’s John Mayer and then there’s everyone else.
When I found out he was headed to Columbus to play at the Schottenstein Center it wasn’t a matter of IF I would be going, but rather where my seats would be.
Heading into the concert there were three things I was hoping John would do.
1) Play a song of his I had never heard of before.
2) Play my favorite song of his ("Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967").
3) Make me fall in love with one of his older songs.
It was a pretty tall order on two fronts considering John hadn’t played Walt Grace much on his tour leading up to the Columbus date, and I’ve listened to a ton of his songs so getting one I’ve never heard of would be tricky.
John didn’t let me down.
In the middle of the set he checked off all three of my pre-concert criteria with three consecutive songs. John gave his band a break and told the audience, "Every song will be played if you made a sign."
The first song was “Sucker,” one I had never heard of and one he hadn’t played at all during his lengthy tour. The second was "Walt Grace" (no it wasn’t my sign). And the third was a beautiful rendition of "3 X 5."
Say what you want about John Mayer, the person. But John Mayer, the artist, is my all-time favorite and I can’t wait to go see him again.
#5 - Attend a Broadway Play
Date: June 15, 2013
Barnes and I have argued and debated this particular item several times. He claims seeing Wicked in Columbus at the Ohio Theatre does not count as seeing a Broadway Play. My counter is that they call it Broadway in Columbus, it’s the same show as they put on in Broadway, and it’s just a traveling version of it.
Good thing it’s my list and not his. Consider this one done.
Angela and I went and saw Wicked last June and it was truly an amazing experience. Even though we were sitting up in the balcony I was completely taken back by the sheer power of the performers. Their voices carried all the way to us and made it feel like we had a front row seat. While Wicked was not my first choice of a Broadway play to see it cemented the fact that I would really enjoy witnessing more.
#6 - Swim in the Pacific Ocean
Date: January 17, 2013
Got to give credit where credit is due, and kudos goes to Matt Barnes for the assist on this one. At the tale end of a night capped with bowling and drinking, Barnes and I were sitting at J. Lindsay’s when the topic of traveling came up. Barnes had some deal with Southwest Airlines that was set to expire at midnight (which was rapidly approaching). We talked about possible destinations before deciding on Los Angeles.
I woke up the next morning a little groggy and wasn’t quite sure if we had booked the tickets or if I had dreamt the whole thing. Well it wasn’t a dream, and we were going in a short couple of months.
The trip was outstanding. We went to a Comedy Club (ran into Jeffrey Ross), attended a Jimmy Kimmel show (highlighted with appearances by Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Lopez’s ASSets), visited Santa Anita Park (got to meet THE Gary Stevens), ate at Pinkberry and In-N-Out, reminisced with old friends, watched a very entertaining basketball game at the Staples Center (Thunder vs. Clippers) and maybe most importantly crossed another item off my list by swimming in Pacific Ocean.
Okay, maybe there wasn’t any swimming, but let’s not argue over semantics. It was an awesome trip and I can’t thank Barnes (and maybe J Lindsay’s while we are at it) for making it possible.
#17 - Meet a Top Ten Athlete
Date: July 21, 2013
While I could have visited the Pacific Ocean on my own, I could not have accomplished this without the help of Matt Barnes as he set this whole experience up.
The 2013 US Open (for Bowling) was held in Columbus, Ohio which meant all of the greatest bowlers in the world would be ascending on our little metropolis. Amongst them was my #4 favorite athlete of all-time, Norm Duke. (He's moved up one spot since that list was published.)
Barnes had told me he was interviewing Norm the day before the tournament began, and if I wanted I could tag along and get the chance to meet him. Done and done.
After Barnes was finished asking Norm a few questions I stepped in and introduced myself. I told him I was one of his biggest fans, been passionately rooting for him for quite some time, and that he was one of my favorite all-time athletes. Norm was very genuine, looked me directly in my eye, thanked me for the kind words and asked if I would like a picture.
The whole interaction lasted less than 90 seconds, but it felt like it was going in slow motion. I hold Norm up in the utmost reverence and getting the chance to spend even those 90 seconds with him was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
#20 - Get My Own Place
Date: July 1, 2013
While it wasn’t my own house, I was able to cross this off my list when I moved from sharing an apartment with Devin Frank to living on my own last year.
Having my own one bedroom apartment was as enjoyable as I had always imagined. It was my own space with my own furniture. No more “heads up” texts letting a roommate know Angela was coming over. No more cleaning up for two. It truly felt like home.
#22 - Fall in Love Again
Date: Ongoing
Not much to say here. Yes, I’ve fallen in love again and yes, it’s the best thing anyone can hope to feel during their lifetime.
“Love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you.” - Loretta Young
LEFT TO ACCOMPLISH
There are still 23 things left to cross off and I only have one year to do it. Now, I’m not naive enough to think I can hit a hole-in-one on the golf course, or go to Italy in the next 12 months, but the following are obtainable goals I really hope to cross off.
#3 - Read at least one Novel every month
This one might be the most important. If I’m reading more, I’m writing more. I will finish Stephen King’s “The Talisman” this month and will then read two more before the end of the year to get this started on a positive note.
#11 - Update all of my lists
When I say all of my lists I mean my Top 100 Movies, my Top 50 Television Shows and my Top 50 Sporting Figures. Every year these need to be updated as my tastes and preferences constantly change. If I update one list every four months this will be a piece of cake.
#16 - Beat Smitty in Golf
He’s been ducking me for the last 18 months. I just need one more crack at this. I promise.
#18 - Go Skydiving
This sounds like an excellent 30th birthday gift. (#HintHint)
#24 - Connect More/Say Thank You More
One letter a month to an individual who has had a positive impact on my life, that’s it.
Honestly, when I put that list together I thought reaching 15 of the 30 goals would be an impressive feat. I still feel that way. With seven down, and those five soon to fall it would get me very close to that 50% mark. And even if I don’t get there, that’s why there’s a 40 for 40 list coming soon.
4 - Robin Williams Passing Away
Date: August 11, 2014
It started with a three-worded text from Matt Barnes, “Damn. Robin Williams.” From here I learned that not only had the comedian/actor Robin Williams passed away, but that he had hanged himself from an apparent suicide.
The majority of that evening was spent watching CNN and trying to gather as much information as I could on the subject. I was shocked. I was confused. But mainly, I was sad. Sincerely sad.
I was sad for Robin, I was sad for his family, and I was sad for the world because it felt like we all lost a beloved friend that night.
When I ranked my top actors based off my favorite 100 movies, Robin came in at number ten. To be fair that isn’t an accurate number, because some of my favorite Williams performances were not reflected in this list. He was outstanding in One Hour Photo, Jack, Hook, and Mrs. Doubtfire (all movies that failed to crack my top 100). But that’s the thing about Robin, everything he touched turned excellent.
Ask 50 people to name their three favorite Robin Williams performances, and you very well could get 50 different responses. (For the record mine were Good Will Hunting, Aladdin, and Dead Poets Society.)
The world really did lose something on August 11th. They lost not only a friend, not only an inspiration to others, and not only a comedic genius, but they lost someone who was put on this Earth to make us laugh. Truly, a sad day for everyone.
3 - The F’d Up Tournament Lives
Date: January 3, 2013 - Ongoing
One of the best kept secrets of the past 18 months was that the 2012 and 2013 F’d Up Tournaments actually took place.
Those of you that have been following this blog from its’ inception, feel free to lift your jaws up from the ground right now. That small group of people saw firsthand how long it took Kevin Hunt and myself to attempt the 2008 F’d Up Tournament. We held preliminary tournaments, we decided on automatic selections, we made a selection show video and we live-blogged the first couple of rounds in about six months time. And oh yeah, we didn’t finish. Michael Jackson’s Final Destiny (think NCAA Final Four) is still undecided.
Part of me is still sad the original F’d Up Tournament never finished. We put too much work and too much effort just to see it simply die. And while that sad fact remains true - that the 2008 F’d Up Tournament is dead - the idea and the premise of an F’d Up Tournament will never fade away. So on January 3, 2013 as I began to embark on writing my 2012 review, I decided to do something different. I decided to bring back the F’d Up Tournament to tell my 2012 story.
I put in my favorite moments, my favorite movies, my favorite songs, my favorite teams, my favorite people, and my favorite memories from the previous 12 months and had them square off against one another. I developed an F’d Up Scoresheet, got rid of spreads and replaced them with added rolls (the whole tournament is decided by rolling dice) for favorites.
Where else can you see Manti Te’o holding off Kevin Hunt in the Elite Eight? Or Ohio University Athletics knocking off Notre Dame Football in double OT? Think Walter White would let Breaking Bad lose to LeBron James and the Miami Heat? This is the beauty of the F’d Up Tournament.
In 2012, Looper knocked off Ohio University Athletics in the finals. A year later, John Mayer’s “Paradise Valley” was crowned by defeating Rafael Nadal.
Feel free to peruse the 2012 and 2013 brackets for your enjoyment. This year the entire process will be housed on this blog. Get ready for some fun.
2 - Notre Dame Wins Them All ... Almost
Date: January 7, 2013
Of all the things that have transpired during my absence, this makes the least amount of sense. Consider Notre Dame went 8-5, 8-5, 6-6, 7-6 and 3-9 in the five years leading up to the 2012 season. Head Coach Brian Kelly was just in his third season with this team and had a redshirt Freshman at quarterback. The Irish had games scheduled against Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Stanford and a road trip to Oklahoma.
Yeah, 12-0 makes perfect sense.
And yet, that is exactly what this team did. They won every single game thrown at them during the regular season. They stopped Stanford with an epic goal-line stand. They defeated Pittsburgh in triple OT (thanks to a timely Pitt missed field goal). They marched into Norman, OK and left a 17-point victor. They made Lane Kiffin get fired from USC in the regular season finale. All they did was win.
My dad doesn’t hand out compliments often, especially regarding his favorite teams, but I do remember talking to my father after the Michigan State game to which he simply stated, “defense is pretty good.”
Understated yet completely accurate. It was good enough to lead them to a #1 ranking and a trip to the National Championship game where the Crimson Tide of Alabama waited.
We all know how this story ended (with a 42-14 thrashing), but again, this wasn’t about the destination, it was about the journey.
Notre Dame has been waiting since 1996 to replace Lou Holtz as head coach, and they finally got it right with Brian Kelly. He’s the right guy for the job and the results are in: he gets the absolute most from his football teams. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him.
While Notre Dame is still waiting for that elusive National Championship, we got a small taste in 2012. And it was absolutely delicious.
1 - Breaking Bad Passes LOST
Date: September 29, 2013
Michael Jordan, Cool Runnings and LOST have topped my favorite lists (sports, movies and television respectively) for as long as I’ve been putting them together. There’s never been any serious challenging contender. They are the Mount Rushmore of all things Luke Florence. But a new face was added last year.
Walter White's.
Breaking Bad accomplished something once completely thought unthinkable. It dethroned LOST as my favorite television show of all-time. Not to take anything away from LOST, but Breaking Bad is better, hands down.
The writing, the acting and the story itself all created the best television production I’ve ever seen. It’s captivating, unique, suspenseful, humorous, dramatic, and riveting. It’s everything you could ever want in a television show.
Devin Frank, my former roommate, got me hooked on Breaking Bad and I will be forever grateful. The Season 4 finale took the show from really good to a top-five contender. After the show ultimately ended in September of 2013, it was my new #1.
Mr. White, get comfortable, it could be a very long time before someone asks you to move out of that top spot.
And just like that we are all caught up!! I do know that this is a sorry excuse for missing all that time, but it’s a start. As you can tell the blog has been updated a bit. It’s still quite a ways from the vision I have for it, but it’s making progress. Slow motion is better than no motion.
The ultimate goal for this blog is to have reviews of recent books, television shows, and movies. There will also be updates to my favorite sporting teams as well as a top ten music list. Ideally at least one new post a week. The key word here is content. The more content I can post the better. It’s the only way I will get better as a writer and the only way I can start to gain readers back.
Lord knows I’ve said all this before.
But life’s a journey of a thousand steps. They can lead you away from your path, but with one single step you can begin to correct the course.
Until next time, “read it, roll it, hole it.”
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