Shoresy's Record of Events...

Saturday marked the first league game for the Fredericksburg Falcons. We had to trek to Richland, New Jersey to play the New Jersey Broncos. Kick off was set to be at 6:00 PM. After leaving home at about noon on Saturday afternoon, I finally arrived at the field 10 minutes before kick off. That bumpy start for me did not translate on the field w/ the rest of the team. The offense rolled and the defense stifled. Final score: 22-7. I even had a catch for a first down to officially get me in the books. The Falcons are now 3-0 for the first time.

With all that you would think the trip was really worth it. And in retrospect, it was. If you did the math already you would know it took about 6 hours to get to New Jersey. According to Google Maps, that's about twice as long as it should take. We hit a traffic jam in each of the three states we passed through. We paid what feels like one weeks salary in tolls. And we also found out that little towns in NJ hate to use street signs. More than once during the trip I was ready to cal it quits. After all we were still in VA at 2:00 PM. We ended up in Harford County, MD, where I grew up, at one point, and my thought was to cut our losses and turn back. Kristin particularly found it annoying that you can't pump your own gas in NJ. Especially when the tank is filled and you have to wait 10 minutes for Johnny Attendant to come just to take the pump out of your car.

But hey! We made there and back without a scratch. We survived to fight another day. We don't have to drive to New Jersey again this year, and quite honestly, that might be the last time I ever go intentionally. I'm sure there are good parts of New Jersey. But, not on our route.

All my friends at NHS in Fredericksburg, VA have been hit with a reality check this week. The branch in FBurg is being moved to North Carolina. I think it sucks. I'm sure some think it sucks more. I' massuming this is one of those "business not personal" situations, but how do you not take it personally? "Uh, yeah, we're going to be moving the office in which you work. Now if you want to uproot what life you have here and move we're cool with that, but otherwise you're kinda SOL." Not exactly the conversation you would want to hear I would imagine. "So the times they are a changing." Good luck everyone. I'll personally be interested to see how many people follow NHS further down the coast. If I were a betting man I would wager on the under.

The Fredericksburg Falcons are making plans to fly into the preseason. Our second practice of the week goes on tonight. The offense, which I'm partial to, had a great showing on Tuesday night. The scrimmage was only able to last about 30 minutes, but the O managed a touchdown on the final play. I'm still in the running (as far as I know) for starting tight end. I had the longest pass play for any tight ends in practice so far. Tuesday I was fortunate enough to grab a pass break a tackle and turn it p field for a little over 20 yards. I got a few nasty scratches and massive bump on my forearm after the play. My second of the practice season. It led me to think, "How on Earth do NFL and college players avoid these nasty bumps." Both times for me they came from smacking my forearm against another players helmet. How can that not happen on a regular basis in higher level football? We'll make some efforts to avoid these nagging injuries. In the immortal words of Ray Lewis, "Pain is only temporary no matter how long it lasts."

Yesterday was a smorgasbord of good movies! Blcokbuster.com came through and delivered Apaloosa right to my door. Wow! What a good movie! It's a western, which I'l admit I won't sit down and watch western's on a regular basis, but I really enjoyed this movie. And in fanboy fashion, Drew and I attended the midnight showing of Terminator Salvation last night. Now Drew is more geeky about the Terminator franchise than I am. I enjoyed just about every second of the movie. McG (yeah McG the Charlie's Angels director) did a pretty awesome job. Although there were times I couldn't tell if Christian Bale was John Connor or Batman, it was a a good flick. The character Marcus Wright kicks A! I wish I was him. Of corse if I was I wouldn't need to worry about annoying forearm injuries!

Ah well, looking forward to another good day today. Springfest coming up this Saturday. Let's roll!!! Tweet up!

I am so into Twitter right now. I really have no idea why. It has nothing to do with anything in real life. For some reason I think it is extremely fun to see what people like Ashton Kutcher, Steve Nash, Lance Armstrong, etc are up to. In no way do I see these people as my "friends", though I see how that reality could be confused. What a good way to break the communication barrier. Celebrities on Twitter are so much more accessible, and Twitter seems to break the "celeb barrier." I mean in the age of Clark Gable and Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe, that was part of the mystique of being a celebrity. Businesses were built and sustained on the simple fact that celebrities frequented there. It made the location as famous as the celebrities who visited. Nowadays we can see how human celebrities really are. I'm sure people used to wonder so often what celebrities did while not on the silver screen. Now we know. People like Alyssa Milano and P. Diddy post pictures of themselves at normal everyday places doing normal everyday things like you and I. I mean, how awesome is it to see your favorite celeb just chilling out at Taco Bell? Or, reading about your favorite athlete while s/he give you an inside look at the life of a pro athlete. I assume Twitter will fade away into the fad sunset eventually, and it will likely be replaced by something else. For now though I am really enjoying it. Not for any particular reason, but just the novelty of the idea. Oh yeah, follow me @shoresy!!!!

Ok ok so I haven't written in a number of months. I wasn't actually dad, which should be obvious, but I have been very tired. There is much to write, but let's address some of the last blogs posted before my short hiatus. Dead World Diaries, the web series that I was a part of (which episode 1 is posted below) has been put on a hiatus of it's own. Few were able to view episode two before it was taken down from Youtube. What gives? Glad you asked. Dead World Diaries (the episodes shot and script) was highly enjoyed by local TV executives. The creator/director, Greg Daye, was asked to transform the web series into a television series. I believe the station interested is PBS or a small local station like that. Still very cool! Greg has started the process of rewriting the script and adjusting the story for TV. He is attempting get an entire season of material. I have been contacted about continuing my role as Jacob, which I am excited about. Hopefully this will out turn out very well. Stay tuned...

Semi-pro football with the Fredericksburg Falcons is in full gear. Literally, we are in full gear and starting to get own to real business. The last time I wrote about football, the Falcons were in the middle of our Winter workouts. Boy have things evolved since then! We started our official practices in April. We got a lot of work in there. About two weeks ago we started hitting in full pads. That was a wake up call for me. I haven't hit or been hit in about 12 years. I was really depressed when I did that math. Fortunately for me since I play tight end, taking a hit hasn't been difficult. It's making a hit on other people that I production. Looking forward to improving in that and all other areas in the upcoming weeks. First scrimmage game is 6/6/09. Won't be there because I'm busy that day ;). League games officially start 7/11/09. Let's get nuts!!

On a smaller note, I signed up on Twitter after much psychological resistance. I admit it's pretty cool. I guess I need a blackberry now so I can get really hooked. Find me on Twitter and follow me. I promise it's much cooler than it seems!

Ok, ok , ok, a lot of friends are asking, "When can we see the movie you're in?" Well as I've said before it's not a movie, it's a web-series. If you're a little confused and not sure what a web-series is, don't stress I didn't know much about them either. Now I am convinced that web-series will take over the world. Web-series are a series of little 4 to 5 minute episodes with usually no name actors and low budget shooting, editing, and production. It's the indie scene of film. And it's awesome. A lot of the stories are top notch, and if the writers wrote for big TV companies, these series' would be hits. One of the web-series I am involved with is called Dead World Diaries. DWD for short. DWD is a post apocalyptic story involving a handful of survivors following a disaster that has destroyed much of the Earth. For all those friends of mine who were asking and who happen to stop by the blog every now and again, you get the first look. The director literally just posted in episode on Youtube. In episode 1 you meet Jacob (myself) and Timothy (Cal Bowman Jr.). Jacob is a rough looking dude who is ready to off himself as he's lost everything he had. Timothy is a preacher who stumbles across Jacob and convinces him there may be more to life. I was pretty happy with the episode. It wasn't very deep script wise, but I think the point gets across. My only regret is I wish I had spoken louder, it's hard to hear sometimes I think. Or maybe it's just my computer. Anyway enjoy, comment away, and laugh accordingly. Speaking of which there is supposed to be a female scream at the end of the scene. To me it sounds like a dude emulating a female scream. That cracks me up. But it's also the beauty of web-series in the truest form. And before you ask, I have no idea what happens next. Thank you guys for being so curious. With no more adieu, Dead World Diaries Episode 1

OK so week two of winter workouts for the Falcons is over. It was a little more intense this past week. I thought I would be smart and not workout at the gym at all until the workout session. That turned out to be a mistake. Waiting to work out until 7:00pm is never a good idea unless you have no other choice. I figured rather than reminisce about the pain it would be easier to make a list of what exactly hurt all week long.

1. Left wrist
2. hamstrings
3. calves
4. right shoulder
5. lower back
6. triceps
7. chest
8. butt
9. right ankle

Considering the only body parts I was concentrating on working out on Wednesday was my chest and triceps. I really feel the list should NOT be that long. Ah well, it is sure to be worth it. I also got a yearly schedule e-mailed to me on Friday:

Good Day Future Falcons,
I just wanted to share the below info. with you for planning purposes. This is just a proposed schedule but close to firm as possible.

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Fredericksburg Falcons Semi-Pro Football

Venue: Full Contact Football

Each player must purchase all football equipment for themselves. We suggest that you start now and find good deals on websites such as Football America and Eastbay to name a few. Most of their equipment is on clearance right now. We also have players that sell their gear at the end of each year and I sell that as it becomes available. There is also a place in FB called "Play It Again Sports" that sells used equipment for a good price.

- Home Games Played at Caroline H.S. each Saturday night at 7:00pm.
- Most away games are no more than 2 hours away.

Season Schedule:

* Winter Workouts - (Jan. 21 - Mar.25) one night a week from 7-9pm @ The Sport & Health in FB ($20 fee)
Falcon t-shirt included.

** Team Combine - March 28, 2009 location TBA. Trophies will be awarded for Fastest Falcon, Strongest Falcon and Best All-around Athlete. ($25 fee goes towards your team dues)

*** Spring Training - (Apr.4 - May 16) conditioning, skill drills training and offense/defense sessions on Tue & Thur. from 6:45 - 9:30 pm / Sat. from 8:00 - 11:00 am @ Waterfront Park in FB.

**** Full Contact/Pre-season games - (May 16 - 27 Jun) conduct full contact drills and begin scrimmage for preseason play. We will attempt to play 2 scrimmages and 1 preseason game at the minimum.

***** Regular Season (10 games) - Starts July 11th and ends Sept. 19th 2009
Play-offs - Start Oct. 3rd
League Championship - October 24th
National Play-offs - Nov. 14 (if we receive an invitation)

NOTE: This is only a projection and dates & times are subject to change.

Any other questions please contact me anytime

Coach Hobbs
Head Coach
The Fredericksburg Falcons

I got that e-mail at about midnight, and afterward my body got all warm and I couldn't sleep due to the excitement. Looooong road ahead.

As some of you may know, and others may not. I recently became a member of the Fredricksburg Falcons. It's a semi-pro football team here in Fredericksburg, VA. Now, my first thought was to have a video blog, or vlog if you will, documenting the experiences that go along with such a thing. After some thought though, I decided I didn't feel like doing that. So, I will write about some of the events leading up to the season. I'll throw some videos and pics ip as they become available.Right now there isn't too much to be excited about. Playing football at any level requires a lot of preparation. Well, it does if you want to be successful. The Falcons Winter workouts started last Wednesday. Winter workouts is basically focusing on getting your body ready and loose for the upcoming season. There's a lot of running and cardio involved. I was nervous heading into the workout, because the last time I had a football workout (which was *gasp* almost 10 years ago) it was rather intense. So I prolonged my normal gym visits to two hours and concentrated a lot on cardio and such. Well, when I showed up to practice last week, I found I had overestimated the intensity that was being used in these workouts. Six laps. Yup six laps around a track. The track was half the size of an outside track and six laps was equal to a half of a mile. So that was the only required training for the day. The rest of the time was to be used doing whatever kind of workout you would normally do. So it wasn't quite as eventful as I thought it might be, but my overtraining definitely helped me to be prepared. I am assuming that in the weeks to come the mandatory parts of each workout will become more difficult, and practices should prove challenging. Anyway that's all for now. By the way this increased workout lifestyle has caused decreased awareness of hygiene. As I type this I am sitting having worked out for two hours yesterday and spent time in the steam room without showering. Yeah I'll take care of that now.