The Ben Zone: The Pro Bowl Is Irrepairable

As some of you may know, I work as a writer for the Vista, UCO's student newspaper. Recently, I've started writing a weekly sports column cleverly titled, "The Ben Zone" (Ben Zone, Endzone, get it? Eh...). Anyway, since this is a blog about my creative writings, it seems logical for me to post my weekly sports rants on here for everyone to COMPLETELY HATE ON. Enjoy...if you can...

 

Every year I hear the same thing, and this year was no different.

           

'The Pro Bowl sucks!' 'Are these guys even trying?' 'What happened to the Pro Bowl?' 'The Pro Bowl is broken.' 'How do we fix the Pro Bowl?' Wah, wah, wah.

           

Do you want to know how to fix the Pro Bowl? Well, you can't. Not in its current state, anyway. The NFL's All-Star Game can not be fixed because it is inherently terrible.

           

The game of football itself isn't designed to be All-Star friendly. All-Star Games are supposed to be fun for the players and the fans. It's a time to take it easy, goof off and most importantly not get injured.

           

The effort in the NBA's All-Star Game is equally as lousy, but at least there's the occasional highlight dunk or a one-on-one iso match-up that gets a little intense. Football, however, isn't a game that's easy to water down. 

           

Technorati's State of the Blogoshphere 2011

This is the first real blog post assignment I've had in my Blogging for Journalists course. My assignment was to read the content of the 2011 edition of Technorati's yearly look at the blogging community, "State of the Blogosphere." I know it's a little different from the content I usually post, but I still hope you find it interesting.

State of the Blogosphere

Though I've only recently begun blogging, I found the information compiled by Technorati to be an enlightening look at the state of the online community I am entering. The State of The Blogosphere report included information from both casual and professional bloggers, as well as feedback and responses from both advertisers and blog readers. 

Though I don't necessarily aspire to ever make money with my current blog, I was intrigued by the ways those who do answered questions about how they used social media (usually to attract attention to their blog and/or business) and what sources they use to generate content for their blogs (usually online sources and sometimes even from other blogs).

Being that I don't fall into the category of "professional blogger," the material I looked at the most was concerning the casual, "just for fun" bloggers. The thing that interested me the most were the "styles" of different types of bloggers -- I think this is where there was some of the biggest variance between amateur and professional bloggers. Professional bloggers usually blog in an expert, sincere, or journalistic style. You know, stiff and politically correct. Amateur bloggers, however, were a lot more likely to report their blogging style as humorous, snarky, or confrontational. I don't know about you, but these are the types of blogs I actually prefer. If I wanted, "just the facts, man," I would read a newspaper. When I'm looking at blogs, I want personality, I want something a little off color. You know, kinda like my blog! ...I think that's a good place to leave off...

Our Dear Leader

          

Reading North Korean press releases makes me want to write a story. Is that weird? I don't think so, it actually seems pretty natural. I mean, these things are meant to inspire some sort of feelings, right? Honestly, I have actually considered writing a series of adventures for our newest and dearest leader and may use this blog to do so if I get good feedback. You could consider this short example as a pilot episode of sorts. If you enjoy the following story, then I recommend you check out the sites Kim Jong-un Looking At Things and Kim Jong-il Looking At Things. I wish you good reading, comrades! 

OUR DEAR LEADER

         
          Kim Jong-un -- our cherished and Dear Ruler, Supreme Leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Korean People’s Army, Great Successor to the brilliant Songun Commander, profound proponent of socialist and communist rule which by nature is free of corruption and exploitation, vigorous opponent of capitalistic evils, and lover of all things skiing, basketball and James Bond -- was hungry for barbecue. Hungry for the patriotic charbroiling of political prisoners, that is!

Introductory Haiku

'Sup... Welcome to the blog. Introductions really suck, but at the same time I've had enough of this blank web page and have decided I need some sort of post here. I plan on using this blog as a way to express myself through what will be several quirky and likely unfunny creative writings, poems and daily musings. Please come back if you're at all in to obnoxiously self-centered "creative nonfiction" -- that's my favorite genre. I won't waste your time with that today, though. Instead, here's just a little haiku to launch us on our virgin voyage:

ON MY WAY

Every long journey

Begins with a single step.

Unless you're a snake...