Watching The Big Game!

What's better than watching the big game? You've got your snacks in the fridge or you have them out on a table ready for snacking all day. The beer or beverage of your choice is on ice. (For the record I love beer on ice, in a cooler nothing better for game day.) You are set, you sit down ,you're all ready but something is missing. All these things are great for the game but they are just the small extras. The reason I love sports and the only reason is the Man and Woman I watched sports with growing up. My house growing up was the sports zone. My two older brothers played sports as well as myself. (I still don't know how my Mom and my Sister put up with four loud stinky men!) If we weren't at a sporting event we were watching them. I am fortunate to have had two parents that supported me and my siblings in everything we did. My Mother was at home with us kids making sure we were at all the events and school we needed to be. My Father worked the graveyard shift and I am sure that man never slept until he retired a couple of years ago. With three boys in sports and a girl in theater, I can only remember one wrestling match of mine that they missed.(My Mom and Sister walked in right when they were raising my hand for the win.) We all had the best equipment to use and never had to wonder if we would be able to play the next season. My Father coached and Mom was the Team Mom. That's just how it was in the Bloyer house growing up. It may have been sports that we were always around but it was God that put the love of our Family in all our hearts. Without that the Big Game is just a blank screen. I am now grown up (not really it just sounded good) and have a little girl of my own. As well as all my siblings married with kids (they all are like rabbits). My parents are not perfect and they will tell you that themselves. They have made mistakes with us and as kids we made our share of them as well. ( Some more than others!)  When it is all said and done it is about the gift of FAMILY and being able to share the big game with them. So as we get ready for the most wonderful time of the year, get together with the ones that matter most. As for me I am all ready to watch some football and baseball this fall season with those same crazy people I always do. And to Mom and Dad I raise my glass to the two of you for always putting your four loony kids ahead of anything else and loving us even when it wasn't easy. Till the next time raise your glass pick up the phone call the ones that matter the most and watch the big game!

The Next Big Boxing Fight.......No Thanks!

I used to be a big fan of boxing. I would watch all the fights I could. I remember seeing an 18 year old Mike Tyson rip apart the heavyweight division without breaking a sweat. Watching Sugar Ray Leonard take on the hard punching Marvin Hagler for the belt. That has all changed, don't get me wrong I still like a good fight, just my interest and my dollar are going to MMA and the UFC. Boxing has become such a joke that the men who are in charge of boxing are too arrogant to realize how low it has become. Why would I pay close to 60 dollars to watch two guys that I have never heard of fight. Or a couple over the hill boxers that make you turn your head every time they get hit because you think they may fall over and die on the spot. The UFC and Dana White are so far ahead of the good ol' boys of boxing it is comical. When you pay for a fight with the UFC you are getting at least 5 good fights per card. Not to mention the prelims that you can catch for free either on Spike TV or online. UFC will also have free fights on Spike from time to time, and if that is not enough you can always watch the Ultimate Fighter on Wednesday nights. If boxing had a clue they would unify all the belts and start cross promoting with Dana White, and boost the all around fight community. This won’t happen and I will continue not watching the crap they put out there. So until the next time raise your glass and enjoy the fights this weekend!

Good Riddance!!

Last night I was on the radio on 710 KNUS doing the best sports talk radio show in Denver. (Artificial Turf Sunday nights from 8-11 p.m. http://www.turfsports.net/, ok plug over!) The News that osama bin ladin had been killed by US forces was reported. I will always remember where I was when this news was released. To be on the air waves while this was going on was very exciting! Our sports show was instantly changed to a news show. This is a great day to be an American! I am so thankful that I live in a country where I can watch and write about sports, and voice my opinion without fear. This day has been long overdue but what a message we have sent to the rest of the world. No matter were you go, no matter how long it takes the USA will find you and you will be brought to justice. Thank you to our brave men and women in the Armed Forces all over the world that serve our great country. I am just very happy to be an American. Until the next time raise your glass and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Really?

I am back, I have had a lot going on the past couple of weeks with the family. So with that being said let's get into it. I have no problem with being a fan of your team. You can wear your team's hat, shirt or jersey no big deal to me. If you are a grown man, and not in college and paint your face and go to the game, seek help right away! I watch college football all the time and I get a big kick out of the students dressing up and painting themselves to root for their team. This is ok you're in college have fun, get crazy. But when I see men, yes grown  35 year old men painting it up, I am just confused. You see this in the NFL more than anywhere else and I just don't get it. There he is- half his face blue, the other half orange yelling into the camera for all the world to see.( If you are this guys friend and you don't make fun of him, your not a friend at all!) Yell, get loud, and have fun but let me make this clear if you have to go to work the next morning and not school you're an idiot! Until the next time raise your glass and please put the face paint down.

Early Season Baseball

The MLB season is very early and I have enjoyed many games so far. Extra Innings is the one of the greatest inventions on this wonderful planet. I sit here; on a Monday night watching MLB games all across this great nation of ours. It is still early and you can’t get too high or too low on any team right now. You can never win a World Series in April, but let me make this clear you definitely can lose one this time of year. Before the season started many experts were predicting the Boston Red Sox to get into the World Series. The Red Sox have opened the season 2-8, by taking 2 of 3 from the Yankees this past weekend. I thought this would get the Red Sox going, but after tonight when the Rays beat them 16-5, I am not so sure. We are only ten games into the season but if the Sox don’t get it going very soon they will be trying to dig out of a hole, in the AL East where there are no weak teams.  Baltimore and Toronto have already shown that they will not be pushovers this season. The Yankees will always be competitive and the Rays, well, maybe they are the one weak team in the division. If you think Red Sox Nation is in an uproar now, it will be 100 times worse come May, if they are still playing like this. My gut tells me they won’t continue to play this bad.   There is too much talent on that team for them not to win. It will be fun to see this all pan out and like they say “That’s why you play the game”. Till the next time Raise your glass and hit it where they ain’t!

Masters Week

I love the week that builds up to the Masters. I like it even more now that Phil Mickelson won this weekend at the Houston Open. Before Lefty’s win there was no clear-cut favorite to win the Masters, which he is now the leader with 7 to 1 odds. I love this event! I have never been to Augusta to see it live but it is on the bucket list for me. The first time I really remember watching the Masters was on a spring day in 1986. Yes that 1986 where Jack Nicklaus, at age 46, made a march at his 6^th and final green jacket. I was a 10-year-old kid just trying to impress my older brothers playing ball outside when my father yells out the window “Hey boys the Bear is on the move”. Now I went running in for 2 reasons- 1. I was ten and whatever my father liked so did I. 2. At that age I was already getting into sports and I didn’t want to miss anything that I could talk about with my friends. So as I sat down in front of the TV to watch I was hooked. I remember Jack hitting one great shot after another and all the while Greg Norman completely falling on his face, which he pretty much always did. To this day I don’t remember a Masters as thrilling as that one in 1986. When Jack putted in for eagle on 15 to tie for the lead, that was it, you just knew he was going to win. I remember my father watching and saying how great Jack Nickluas was and that there will never be another like him. Which we are still in a holding pattern on that and he still is the greatest. What made it special for me was watching this drama play out and seeing a man in complete control of everything. Jack never looked the least bit nervous and it just amazed me. This up coming weekend will be another great Masters and I will have golfers I am rooting for, some more than others. I just know that it will not be as Jack in 1986. Don’t get me wrong there have been some great masters since, but this was my first time watching the grand event and seeing amen corner bring every golfer but one to it’s knees. Enjoy the Tournament and all the drama the it brings, as will I. Thank you Augusta National and Jack Nicklaus for inviting a 10 year old boy to enjoy the drama and magic of the Masters. Until the next time….Raise your glass and hit it straight.

Game 1

Well as I sit here watching the Dodgers vs. Giants enjoying this great opening day. I am looking at Don Mattingly in a Dodgers uniform and it just looks strange. Don't get me wrong I wish Donnie Baseball all the best. I just long for the days of my favorite ball player in a Yanks jersey. It still blows me away that he has never won a World Series. Yes you read that right, Mattingly who played for the most successful franchise in all of sports never played in a world series. The other shock is that he was a coach for the Yanks from 2004-2006 and they never played in a World Series in his three years as a coach. It just doesn't seem right that a man who works as hard as anyone does not get rewarded for it. That's why if the Dodgers find some way to get into the World Series I will be rooting for my boyhood hero more than any other team in all of the MLB. Well as long as it is not against the Yankees, I don't want to think about what would happen if I would have to deal with that! Until next time raise your glass and cheers!

Here we Go!

First of all let me say thanks for stopping by Casey at the Draft. I have wanted to do this for a while and have had many friends and family tell me I should do a blog. So here we go, I hope you find this fun and interesting. You will not always agree with me but as long as you find the topics intriguiging we should have a great time!

Here we go! In just two days the MLB season starts again and I will be heading over to my father's house (for the fifth year!) to watch all the games. When I say all the games that's the truth. We have multiple T.V.'s set up with the MLB package to catch all the games. It is a tradition that I really enjoy and hope my six year old daughter will, one day, come along for the ride. We have many coolers filled with many different beverages, ok who am I kidding they are filled with beer nothing else. I will be eating as many hot dogs, brats, and as much green chili as I can. All because of this wonderful game of baseball! I love opening day! Every team in the league has that hope again that their team will make that magical run to October. It does not matter what your team did or didn't do the year before you are ready to root them on. (Let me say this counts for everyone but the Pirates because their owners are cheap and should be run out of town but that is for another blog.) No other sport opens with as much hope and excitement as baseball. One game does not define a season and many fans, this one included, can get caught up in the tradition of baseball. One reason I love baseball is because it is a slower pace and takes time and persistance to be a fan. Football is easy to follow. Your team plays once a week and you can set aside time to watch it. Now all you football fans don't get all twisted up by this. I am a football fan myself, I played  football and I love that game. But baseball is a habbit you can't watch everygame, although this guy tries to. (Gotta love the DVR) If you don't catch a game you try to find the highlights, or the score on your phone. When I was a kid we didn't have a team here in Colorado and my family didn't have espn until I was a little older so the only way I could get the score of the games was the box scores in the paper the next day. I love this and I still do. Now that I have rambled on about this a little to long, just remember to take a little time out this weekend to slow down and watch a game. Call your brother, sister, parent, or a friend sit down crack a cold one and smile. Enjoy this great game of baseball and remember how you felt when played catch when you were a kid.  Till the next time, raise your glass and Happy Opening Day.