2012 Fantasy Football

This year was an exciting year for fantasy football as my team, Big Mike Boyz, participated in the Damn D Fest's league, started by Matt D. in 2008.  His friend Jeremy was not available to play this year, so I filled in place of his team.  In late July, a draft lottery was held at David B's in Barberton to determine the draft order of the 12 participants, which is done in a snake format (draft order reverses from round to round).  A month later, the draft was held at Greg and Mario's house, where we paid our $80 entry fee.

Once the season started, Nick got off to a 7-0 record and finished as the regular season champion before losing in the semifinals.  The championship, won by Mario, was held in Week 16 since many NFL teams would be resting their starters in Week 17.  The weird thing is that the 5th and 6th seeded teams played for the championship, both of whom finished the regular season 7-6.  Actually the weirdest thing was Jason starting 0-5 before winning 4 straight with a large number of points.  Big Mike Boyz's finished 4th place with a 7-6 record before losing 100-76 in the first round.  I started the season 4-1, before losing 3 straight and leveling out for the final weeks.  I won $15 the last week of the regular season for finishing with the most points in the league that week.

This is a recap of my roster:

QB: I drafted the Lions' Matt Stafford in the 2nd round and he had a rough start to the season before having a strong finish.  At one point, I had to bench Stafford in favor of Bengals' Andy Dalton.

RB: Dolphins' Reggie Bush and 49ers' Frank Gore were questionable picks coming into the season, but they both gave me a good year and Gore was selected to the Pro Bowl.

WR: I drafted Texans' Andre Johnson in the 1st round and gave me a good, but not great, year.  Steve Smith was solid and I was in trouble at the beginning of the year because my other WRs were garbage.  I made a bad pick with Titans' Kenny Britt.  As soon as I made it, I thought I should've drafted Redskins' Pierre Garcon, but looking back now that wouldn't have been any better than Britt.  Packers' James Jones had a big first game so I decided to pick him up off the waiver wire and he saved my ass.  Jones was the only significant waiver pickup I had this season.

TE: I drafted 36 year-old Tony Gonzalaz in the 9th round and he proved to be a steal.  He had a big year and made it to another Pro Bowl.  I drafted Cowboys' Jason Whitten a few rounds earlier, which was risky considering his spleen injury, but after a slow start, he finished strong and also made the Pro Bowl.  I used Whitten as a WR-TE flex.

K: I drafted Patriots' Stephen Goskowski, which to no surprise was a great pick considering the large number of points the Pats score.

D: I drafted the Texans and with J.J. Watt on their line with 20 sacks, it turned out to be another great pick.

2012 Educational Year-in-Review

In 2012, I continued my pursuit of a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kent State.  It had its highlights and lowlights.

In January, I began the Spring 2012 semester taking Media Writing and Multimedia Techniques (three credit hours each).  Media Writing teaches journalism students the basics of Associated Press style journalism writing.  It was challenging to learn so many grammar rules, but it was a very helpful class.  The instructor was tough, but she was also fair and helpful.  Multimedia Techniques was definately my favorite class of the semester.  It was a "hybird" class, which means that we had to meet for two lectures a semester and the rest of the assignments were submitted online.  We could also meet with our section instructor on Tuesdays to help us with our major multimedia assignment for the class.  The first few weeks of the class, I was having trouble thinking of a topic, but one night I had a dream about going to old Rolling Acres Mall when I was a young child.  When I got up the next morning, I realized that was going to be my assignment for the project.  I went to the abandoned mall to make a three minute video of what the mall looks like now, completed three interviews, gathered narrative material, and old pictures of both the mall and my family being there to complete the project.  At the end it was a very fulfilling experience.

In May, I took a three credit hour, three week, intersession class, Principals of Microeconomics, which was much easier than I expected.  In June and July, I took a three credit hour, eight week, Newswriting class.  I got two articles published in the Daily Kent Stater from that class. 

At the end of August, I began the Fall 2012 semester taking Law of Mass Communication and Broadcast Beat Reporting.  Law of Mass Communication, a three credit hour class, was a very interesting and informative class, where I researched an interesting report on political advertising.  Much of the class was based on the 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech.  Broadcast Beat Reporting was a much more eventful class, despite it only lasting one month before I had to drop it.  I never realized how much more demanding broadcast was that print journalism.  I had to constantly be on campus to complete assignments and with my status as a non-traditional student, it was too much to handle.  I plan to get caught up with the loss credit hours by taking Print Beat Reporting this summer, also a four credit hour class.  Once I complete that class, I will decide whether I want to focus on news or magazine journalism.

Week of Paid Vacation: July 29 to Aug. 4

I took my second week of paid vacation from Acme in 2012 from July 29 to Aug. 4.  Overall, it was a good productive week with a few lowpoints and really hot weather.

The first two days I spent with Scott since he was off work.  On Sunday, I went to church and after eating lunch with Scott, we went to Tuscora Park to play catch with my new football.  On Monday, Scott and I went to Best Buy and I bought the camera and equipment that I would need for my fall class, Broadcast Beat Reporting.  We met again in the evening, this time with his brother Mark and our retired minister, Father Tarsis.  I spent Tuesday getting an oil change, cleaning and waxing my car, and working around the yard and house getting it cleaned up.  I sent a message to Cousin Ginny and called Aunt Helen to find out some more info I would need to get ready for the trip I was going to make with Dad to visit the old family sites in southern OH/WV/KY.

On Wednesday, I met with Adam for the first time in several months.  He was busy for a while and since he was now between jobs, we headed up to Cedar Point.  We rode several rides and watched a couple of rock music shows, in additon to having lunch.  On the way back, we stopped at Friendly's in Montrose.  Unfortantly, when I got home I found out Uncle Larry died earlier in the day.  Dad and I had to cancel our trip, which was kind of ironic because the next day I found out my tie rod (which controls the steering of the tire) was busted.  I took it to Eagon to get it fixed and came home to do some cleaning in my room and ran a few errands.  On Friday, I painted the living room closet and met with Cousins Elaine and Ron at their home with Aunt Edna.  We had dinner, played cards, and stopped to check out the LaFlavor concert at Lake Anna. 

On Saturday, Mom and I met Aunt Kathy and Cousin Nikki for lunch at Hookline and Drinkers since Nikki was visiting from Maryland.  When I got home I worked on some family tree information for a while since the weather outside was too muggy to do anything else.  On Sunday, St. Andrew's welcomed its new minister, Dr. Michael Petrochuk, for his first service as deacon-in-charge.  He was very enthusiastic and I think it will serve St. Andrew's well.  I'll write a separate blog about Uncle Larry's services on Sunday and Monday, before I returned to work at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Remembering Uncle Larry Hanshaw (1944-2012)

On August 1, my uncle, Larry Hanshaw, passed away at the age of 68.  He wasn't feeling well lately, but it was still a surprise.  Dad and Uncle Larry were close considering their small 15 month age difference (Dad is 69).  After Grandma Webster died in 2005, Uncle Larry always made sure to keep up with Dad regulary so he didn't lose touch with things going on in Marion.  We had a great time at his and Cousin Brent's home a few years ago.  We hung out for a while in Brent's garage which was pretty neat with all the antique auto items.  That was definately my favorite memory of Uncle Larry.  I found a photo of Dad and Uncle Larry as children that was a favorite of mine, so I posted it as my Facebook profile picture.

My parents and I attended the calling hours were held from 4-6 on Sunday, August 5 at Boyd-Born Funeral Home in Marion.  We saw a bunch of people we don't see often and met a lot of other nice people.  On Monday, we went to Marion Cemetery (near President Warren Harding's tomb) for the graveside service.  The best part of the service was when the minister said that Uncle Larry "beat his brothers to the finish line," which was perfect considering the four Hanshaw brother love auto racing and that Uncle Larry was the first to die.  Afterwards, we headed out to Brent and Heather's home for lunch.  Heather's family was there watch Dylan and Bryce and were nice enough to make lunch for the family and Cousin Pat had some interesting family stories to tell.  Afterwards, we went home so I could go back to work.

Week of Paid Vacation: May 6 to 12

I took my first week of paid vacation from Acme in 2012 from May 6 to 12.  Overall, I had a fun and productive week.

On Sunday, I went to church in the morning before meeting Scott, his brother Mark, and Father Tarsis at the Magic City Fastlane for a few games of bowling.  On Monday, I spent the day cleaning up around the house.  I took some old magazines to the Barberton Middle School to donate to my former art teacher Mr. Reichenbach.  He will use them for collage project in his classes, which is better than me throwing them out with the trash.

On Tuesday, I met Scott at Tuscora Park to play catch, something I hadn't done in quite some time.  Afterwards, we got ice cream from the Magic Freeze.  On Wednesday, I visited Aunt Kathy before spending time w/ Mom's cousins (the Boldrys and Bob) and Aunt Edna at the Boldry home.  I learned how to shoot a pellet gun and played pool.  On Thursday, Scott and I went to two museums in Canton.  The first was the Hoover Historic Center (vaccum company) and the Blue Majesty Boat Museum.  The second museum was especially fascinating because there were numerous hand made model ships made from abstract woods from all over the world.  We met the man who made the ships, who has been doing so as a hobby for over 35 years.

On Friday, Scott and I went to Kirtland (Geauga County) to visit a Morman settlement from the early 1800s.  I never realized the Mormans settled so close to where I lived before going to Utah.  We stopped for lunch at Quaker State before heading home.  On Saturday, I went to the Cherry Blossom Parade and met cousins Elaine, Sarah, Evan, Jillian, and Jackson.  I ran into some old high school acquantances while there.  I went home and cleaned the three family cars for a while before heading to a 30th birthday party for Matt D's sister, Lauren.  I saw a lot of old and new faces there, not realizing how many people I knew were related to each other.

2011 Personal Year-in-Review

This is a recap of personal events that took place in my life this year, in addition to the ones listed in the previous blogs regarding my first two weeks of vacation and my return to school.

My 10^th anniversary of working at Acme took place on June 12.  I received a service pin shortly afterwards.  Many changes were taking place, including an expanded cake center and floral department.  A mass hiring took place during the spring and summer, with some more people hired in the fall.  Seeing all the kids come in is an interesting experience.  They probably all wonder how I ever made it there 10 years.   I try to give them the advice of a more experienced person. 

I made a ton of new friends, my two best being Max Hennis and Megan Kozak.  I would say Max has a similar personality to mine.  We’re both laid back most of the time, but when we don’t like something, we get fired up and tell it like it is, although he swears more than I do.  His parents remind me of mine and we both think that Matt D is a pretty cool dude.  Megan is about the nicest person you’ll ever meet.  You couldn’t pay her to say something bad about someone and seems to be constantly happy.  We hired a few older people too and they are good to talk to as well.  Some good people left too, like Teresa, Jen, and Chris.  Teresa had a baby girl, Jen married former co-worker Kyle, and Chris left for college.

Matt, Max, Justin (girlfriend Megan), Todd, Dayne, and a few others started meeting out at Griffith’s Pool this summer.  We had a blast out there and I want to keep it going a few more summers. I went to Max’s graduation party and was glad to be there for that special moment in his life.  We played a fun game of corn hole too.  Megan, Yuki, and I got together once for a movie, but Yuki’s leaving for school, so Megan and I will have to find a new movie buddy or two.

A few good people I knew died this year.  In March, our neighbor, Mrs. Kaludy, passed away at age 83.  Soon afterwards her husband moved to a retirement center.  They were good neighbors and I miss seeing them when I go outside, even though they only lived there four years.  In November, Grandpa Muffet’s first cousin, Juanita Thomas, passed away at age 81 after a few months of illness.  I knew her well from St. Andrew’s and she was a nice lady to talk to and was good to our family.  Stephanie’s (BHS friend) dad also died this year and while I didn’t know him, I felt bad for her since her family’s had some bad luck the last few years.

Father Tarsis retired from St. Andrew’s at year’s end.  A lunch was held to honor him and his wife on Dec. 11, followed by the annual Christmas party at his home on Dec. 18 (I got to catch up with old friend Paul C. while I was there).  His last service was Christmas weekend.  I’ll miss seeing Father Tarsis at church, but I plan to remain friends with him as long as we’re both alive.  Scott and I continued to usher once a month.  We almost always meet for lunch after church, either at Thano’s, Green Diamond, or with his parents at Taco Bell.

I try to get to Barberton football and boys basketball games when my work and school schedule allow.  I usually sit with family friend Jim, but I got to catch up with old friends BJ, Sean, and Josh at the Greynolds Holiday Classic on Dec. 30.  I hadn’t seen BJ and Sean in several years, but Josh and I get together on occasion at Magics sporting events and attended a U Akron basketball game at the JAR in February.

I want to give a shout out to some people who graduated, married, and had children this year.  Cousin Jamie graduated from Norton High School and Megan (BHS friend) got her master’s from UA.  They both had graduation parties the same day and they were both fun.  I got to catch up with people at both.  Liz (BHS friend) got married and while we haven’t seen each other in ages, I try to keep up with her blogs.  Cousins Rachel and Ron had a baby, Parker, in September.  A few hours later, our longtime friends Beth and Tony had a baby, Drew.  It was too ironic!  A few others who had babies were BHS friend Brett and his wife Susan (daughter Emma), Cousin Stacy and Matt (daughter Julia), and Cousin Lisa (daughter Caysen).  I’ve seen one of the four babies so far.

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season went on as usual, spending Thanksgiving at Grandma Maybin and Susie’s house (Uncle Tom’s mom and sister) and Christmas at Aunt Kathy’s house.  We also got together a few others times, including Labor Day weekend, when we celebrated Grandma Maybin’s 90^th birthday at Green Diamond, and Cousin Ellie’s 1^st birthday at Aunt Kathy’s house.

2011 Current Events Year-in-Review

January

Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers win the BCS National Championship over Oregon.

A mass shooting takes place at a political rally in Arizona for US Congresswoman, Gabrielle Gifford.  She survived the shooting after a long fight, but six other victims died.

February

After starting the postseason as the 6^th seed in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XLV, 26-21, over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  QB Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl MVP.  I celebrated by purchasing a Super Bowl championship t-shirt and a Rodgers jersey.

March

The NFL lockout began.

A massive tsumani hits Japan, killing thousands and setting of a nuclear reactor.

Kelley Williams-Bolar is convicted of illegally enrolling her children in the Copley-Fairlawn School while living in Akron.  The case attracts national attention about school funding inequalities.  Bolar’s conviction is later converted to a misdemeanor by Ohio Governor John Kasich.

April

In an ugly NCAA Basketball championship game, UConn defeats Butler.  I participated in my first Bob Phelps tournament pool at Acme 14, where I had a mediocre finish.

May

US troops in Afghanistan capture and kill 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden after nearly a 10 year search.  In the weeks following, President Barack Obama announced that all troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of the year.  It was a good year for US foreign policy as three dictators fell from power, upon the deaths of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and North Korea’s Kim Jung Il, in addition to the resignation of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.

Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel is forced to resign after lying about his knowledge regarding five football players receiving free tattoos.  Assistant Luke Fickell served as interim head coach for 2011.

The Cleveland Cavaliers strike it lucky on NBA Draft Lottery night, landing the 1^st and 4^th overall picks in June’s NBA Draft.  Duke G Kyrie Erving was drafted 1^st overall (a pick obtained from the L.A. Clippers).

Dan Wheldon won his second Indy 500, but sadly he would be killed in an accident during the last race of the season at Las Vegas in October.

June

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner is charged with indecent behavior after sending photos of his privates to women that followed him on Twitter.

The Dallas Mavericks win their 1^st NBA championship over the Miami Heat.  It was exciting to see future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki win the NBA Finals MVP, with Miami’s big three, LeBron, DWade, and Bosh finishing the season with disappointment.

July

The NBA lockout began at the beginning of the month.  The NFL lockout ended at the end of the month, with only the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame game being canceled.

The NFL announces a few changes for the 2011 season that created a lot of controversy.  First, kickoffs will be moved five yard to create more touchbacks and replay reviews will now take place on all scoring plays.  The NCAA topped the controversy by implementing a rule that revokes TDs from any player who receives an excessive celebration penalty.

In a controversial verdict, Casey Anthony is acquitted of all felony charges in her murder trial, regarding the death of her three year old daughter Caylee in 2008.  Later in the year, Amanda Knox, who served a four year prison sentence in Italy for murder, had her conviction overturned based on the lack of DNA evidence.

September

In the primary election, Barberton incumbant mayor, Bob Genet, is defeated by councilman challenger Bill Judge, Jr.  

Emotional ceremonies were held to honor the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.  Many interesting documentaries aired on TV in the days leading up to the anniversary.  NFL teams also honored the victims as their season kicked-off that day.

Two new sitcoms on ABC captured my interest this fall, Last Man Standing and Suburgatory.

October

The 2011 Major League Baseball season had one of its most exciting finishes in history.  The Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, who both had large leads in their respective wild card races, both collapsed.  This allowed for the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals to enter the postseason in thrilling games on the final day of the regular season.  Three weeks later, after being one strike away from losing the World Series in both the 9^th and 10^th innings, the St. Louis Cardinals come back to win Game 6.  They go on to win Game 7 to win the World Series championship.

After 20 years of performing Are You Ready for Some Football? prior to Monday Night Football Telecast, Hank Williams Jr. and ESPN severed ties due to controversial comments that Williams made using a Hitler reference on the news show, FOX and Friends.

November

Ohio Issue 2 failed, which would have restricted collective bargaining rights for public employees.  State Senate Bill 5 was passed in March and outrage led to a petition being filed to have the issue recalled, with myself being one of the signers.  The defeat of Issue 2 was a major roadblock to the agenda of Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Sex scandals hit two major NCAA programs, Penn State football and Syracuse basketball.  Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine, both assistant coaches, were accused of molesting several young boys.  Sandusky, Fine, and legendary Penn State football head coach Joe Paterno all lost their jobs.  Sandusky’s trial is set to start early in 2012, but Fine got off the hook due to the expiration of the statue of limitations.

Tony Stewart wins five of the last 10 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series to overtake Carl Edwards for the 2011 title.  The two racers finished on top in the final race of the season at Miami Homestead, making this season’s finish one of the greatest ever.  More than anything, most fans were thrilled to see Jimmie Johnson’s run of five straight championships come to and end.

Urban Meyer is introduced as the next head football coach at Ohio State.

December

The NBA lockout ended, with a 66 game season starting on Christmas Day.  The MLB quietly agreed to a labor agreement a few weeks later.

The NCAA announced that Ohio State football will suffer sanctions during the 2012 season, including scholarship reduction and a bowl ban.

The past two Super Bowl MVPs, Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees, both have record breaking seasons in a battle for 2011 NFL MVP, with 2010 NFL MVP, New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, following right behind.

After becoming the Denver Broncos starting QB, Tim Tebow won seven straight games, including several comeback and attracting national attention.

As a part of ESPN’s Films 30 for 30 documentaries, two very good ones were Catching Hell about Steve Bartman and the 2003 Chicago Cubs and The Marinovich Project one about former USC star QB Todd Marinovich.