Real Sports Talk with E$

It is 12:47 a.m. on technically Thursday morning. I am absolutely done with this week, and just cannot wait to go home next week for Thanksgiving and pet the absolute fur out of my dog, Niko (he’s got a Facebook). I am also pumped to see my parents when I get home as well, because it has been a New York minute since I’ve seen them (I can say that, being I’m from New York). The anticipation of getting out of my Pontiac Bonneville upon driving back to ol’ Farmingville is overwhelming, and I am pumped for it. It isn’t that I am homesick or anything (I’m really not), but it is just knowing that I am SO close to going home in a few days. It is crazy for me to comprehend that it is already more or less Thanksgiving, as I can remember so many past Thanksgiving, such as when my grandmother (the grandkids call her Helen, and she is awesome) farted at the dinner table; it was a moment I think we will all never forget. Moments like that are what Thanksgiving is all about; being around your family, and just catching up with the people that care about you so much, and you care about just as much.

I was about to start this column off with the usual sports stuff, but I realized that the title of this was ‘ES’ instead of ‘E$’. With that said, I’d love to tell the story as to why I am called E$, since I feel like most people don’t know it. Back when I was a freshman, seemingly 20 years ago (but really in 2010), I volunteered to go down to New Hampshire Motor Speedway to raise money for the American Meteorological Society (or AMS) club. There were a number of freshmen that made the trip down as well, but none of us really knew anyone since it was mid-September at that point. Our jobs for that day were to sell tickets to fans that had yet to purchase tickets, and me having decent experience with money with previous jobs, I was able to be quick and correct with money. Fellow classmate Kyle Martin couldn’t remember what in the world my name was, but knew that it began with an ‘E’. Seeing how fast I was able to deal with money, the legend of E$ was created, and much to my surprise, has stayed with me in college. To this day, I can’t believe that a nickname started by Kyle, Rachel Sass, and a few others has stayed with me. I really haven’t been called Eric (that is my first name, believe it or not) on a consistent basis in school since I was in elementary school back in 6^th grade (which was back in 2004).

In other Irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-I still stand by my Super Bowl pick of the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts facing each other.

-Was pretty ecstatic to see the Cleveland Cavaliers lose to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

-Florida State deserves to be one of the four teams that make the playoffs for college football, but I have a hard time believing that they will win the title this season.

-The idea to kick off the season with non-stop college basketball is a pretty sweet concept. There was literally a game on from about 8:00 P.M. on Monday night until about midnight on Tuesday night. I can’t imagine what it would be like to play a game at like 5:00 in the morning.

-At this moment, Aaron Rodgers is the MVP for the NFL, but I also declared Jay Cutler the MVP Week 3 of the season.

-Holy cow, was it a fun environment at the Savage Center last Saturday night! The men’s hockey team had their long awaited home-opener, and the place was PACKED. Show that support again on Saturday night PSU.

Non-Sports Information of the Week:

Rant of the Week- While the hockey game was absolutely awesome, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed in one of the policeman that was working the game. Upon the completion of the game, the members of the Panthers go to mid-ice to acknowledge the crowd. Myself and Steve Swiatlowski went to the middle of the stands to show our appreciation, and while we were walking back to our seats, Steve saw some body paint, and picked it up with the thought process that maybe we would paint our bodies for a game this season. Upon Swit picking this paint up (there were six 2-3 ounce bottles that were green, white and black), big bad police officer Steve Tempereno (the last name is what his last name sounds like) demanded that Swit hand over the paint, stating that “we didn’t need it,” and insinuated that we were going to go and either huff it, or paint something on campus. For those of you that don’t know, I have never smoked marijuana, or done any drugs in my life (aside from your Advil/aspirin when I’ve had a headache). Anyway, the Officer Tempereno decided to follow myself and Steve around until we left the area, telling us that we have had “too much fun already.” I had to use the bathroom prior to leaving, and he decided to follow me into there. After washing my hands, I asked him “why are you following me? I am not a bad kid, I just love to support this team.” He laughed at this statement, and told me that he wanted to make sure that I left the building since I was the last one out. In short, I felt as it Officer Tempereno was being extremely disrespectful to myself and Steve, and was over abusing his power. I respect authority, and have always received that same respect back.

-I had to get that off my chest. Sorry if you think I am being disrespectful, but people over-abusing their power for something like that just isn’t cool.

-Was awesome wearing Tieg Alward’s jersey to the home game last week.

-Pretty ridiculous/stupid that there are no playoffs for intramural sports.

-I’ve had a number of people come in and say “HI!” to me in the office over the past few days. Thanks for that ya’ll, always nice seeing people I may not have seen in a few days (including but not limited to Emily Tilton, Tom Wendling, and Rocky Collura)

-See you soon, Duane.

-Lupe Fiasco flows so well.

-Pumped to start the internship that I got up in Burlington, Vermont over Winter break. There is a certain amount of pride that I have that I was able to get the internship completely on my own, and without any of the help of the meteorology professors.

-Broke my headphones the other day. That was quite a bummer.

-The over/under for how long it will take me to drive back to Plymouth the Sunday after Thanksgiving is eight hours. So far, it has taken me over that twice, and under once.

-When people come up to me and tell me that they literally envision my voice in their head as they read this, it means a lot to me. I am in no way some sort of genius with English, but I think it is pretty cool for people to envision that.

-I also like to talk to people who are so passionate about miscellaneous things that they do.

-That date thing is on the table, but who the hell am I kidding, I got no date coming up any time soon.

-It is after 2:30 a.m. now (I’ve been multi-tasking over the past hour or so). It is time for the second-to-last edition of the semester column to be over with.

Real Talk with Eric- As I said before, enjoy the family time over Thanksgiving. You never know if something will suddenly happen, and this is your last Thanksgiving with a family member. Friends will come and go, but family is forever.

‘Til the month of December (that is crazy), I’m outta here….