EURO 2008

As most of you know, I am what you would call an avid sports fan. Outside of regular season baseball, put a sporting event on tv and I will watch it. I have been very excited about this years European Championships, known as The EURO's, which is arguably the toughest tournament in the world to win...yes, even tougher than the World Cup. There was no clear cut favorite this year, but the majority of people thought Portugal would have the best chance. They have two great offensive player, Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is different from the other Ronaldo many have heard of. CR is a 23 year old who is the best player in the world. Not only that, but I have heard from many he is stunningly good looking. Last month, he led his club team, Manchester United, to the Champions League title, which is the like winning an NBA title, it is the best club league in the world.

I have been enthralled by the tournament thus far. Since we moved back to Cedar, I have gotten a lot done around the house with the games on. The ones I cant watch, I have tivoed, but that usually doesnt go well because I dont have enough self control to not find out who won. The quarterfinals started a few days ago, and 3 of the 4 matches went to extra time, OT for you yanks. Two of those three went to penalty kicks, which the players hate, but the audience loves. I didnt get to see the pk's between Italy and Spain today, but the Turkey/Croatia game was one for the ages. After going 118 minutes tied at 0, Croatia scored. Since extra time only goes to the 120th minute, things looked bleak for Turkey. On a long free kick by the turkey goalie, one of the forwards turned and shot, rifling a ball into the back of the net...on to pk's. The croatians were stunned and only one guy even made his penalty kick. Two didnt even hit the net and one was saved. The turks score 3 of 4 and won that game.

There are many out there who dont appreciate soccer, but games like this make watching it so satisfying!

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!

KG, The Big Ticket, Member of the Boston Three Party

He finally won a championship! Even though I am not a Celtics fan, I am definitely a Kevin Garnett fan. Since the NBA started advertising their league has a players league instead of a team league 15 years ago, I have not had a favorite NBA team. Instead, I have linked myself to certain players. KG was the first that I latched onto. For too many years, he played on not good enough teams in Minnesota. I died each year as they failed to get out of the first round. Then, in 2005, it seemed as if they had finally gotten over the hump, only to be knocked out in the conference finals.

When I heard about KG possibly being traded this past summer, I hoped it would be to the Suns, who were the closest team in the league to being my team. When he ended up going to the Celtics, I found myself in a hard place. I couldnt cheer for the celtics!!!! The first half of the year, I was enforcing my ban on watching the NBA, hearing about the amazing year it was turning into. I need to thank Jake for bartering a deal that allowed me to resume my NBA fanhood when he left on his mission; basically taking over what he had started.

It did not take long for me to get back into the game. Shay and I started dating and I used her love for the Jazz as an opportunity for me to sharpen up my NBA knowledge. We spent many nights over the past few months listening to the horrible KJZZ announcers! I was back...and so was the NBA.

For the Celtics to blow out the Lakers to clinch the championship was only fitting. Kobe was finally named MVP in a year where two or three other player had valid claims for the trophy. Also, he seemed to disappear after the first quarter in each game. I could not bask enough in the scene of Kobe trying to make his way to the locker room with confetti falling and reporters mauling KG, Ray and The Truth.

The journey of those three, plus the journey of the Celtics franchise back to the top, mirrors my own journey back to being an NBA fan. We all took different routes and had our reasons for our actions, but in the end, everyone won.

New Blog and New Dog

First off, Shay and I started a new blog for the two of us, which you can get to by clicking here. It will be more of an update on our lives.

Second, we got a dog! Some of you who know me may have fainted when you read that sentence. It was something I have been talking myself into over the last few months, knowing that Shay would really want one. When we were on our honeymoon, I told her, "I have a question for you, but you have to answer it thinking of yourself, not what you think I would want." When I asked her if she would want a dog, she didnt even hesitate before responding "YES!"

We got a little yorkshire terrier, or yorkie. Shay knew from the first time she held her that was the one. While we were looking at a few others, another girl started playing with "our" yorkie. Shay came over to me and said, "That girl is playing with our dog!" Luckily, the girl could not pay for it and we were able to get our Lyla.

I will post a few pictures below. She is only 2.5 pounds and wont get bigger than 4-5. Shay gets jealous because Lyla likes to lay on my lap when we are watching tv...

So You Think You Can Dance

It is finally that time of the year! So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) is down to the top 20 and my dance critiquing is happening twice a week. SYTYCD is my favorite reality show. You may ask, Dixon, you hate American Idol, isnt SYTYCD the same thing? That is a very valid question, but let me present a few personal reasons why this show consumes my summers.

1. Dancers arent born, they are made.
On AI, you get many people who have grown up singing, but have never recieved proper training. These people have advanced far in the competition in the past. Dancing is a different story. One may be born with a "dancing body" (as I have heard about me before) but without taking classes and a lot of practice, there is no way you can be a competitive dancer. This was evident many times this season, when good dancers advanced to the choreography round but looked as if they had two left feet trying to understand even the basic moves.

2. Participants have personalities.
Yes, American Idol people have personalities, but some of them consist of, I cant believe people actually think I am a good singer so I will cry after every performance. Dancers may be weird sometimes, but at least they know how to act in front of an audience. Plus, you get to see some very entertaining victory/happy dances.

3. Judges make a lot more sense
SYTYCD judges actually critique the dancing, not song choice or choreographer choice. Also, every judge brings something to the table, unlike Paula who they prop up with a cleavage heavy dress on and she only has three or four lines to use the whole season. Many people dont like Lynita Nelson, I mean Mary Murphy, one of the two regular judges, because she never opens her mouth, but at least she knows a thing or two about dancing. Paula knows a thing or two about taking provacative pictures and hiring a good producer (which most AI contestants need to even have a chance of salvaging a singing career).

Anyways, those are a few reasons I am stuck to the couch on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the summer.

Last night was the first non-audition episode. The top 20 we randomly placed into pairs and drew different types of dances out of a hat. Every dance was aboslutely great. This season is going to be very competitive. My top three are Chelsie, Kourtni and twitch. Chelsie has been my pick to win since her first audition. As long as she doesnt get partnered with a weak guy, she should cruise to the top 10.

Tonight is the first elimination. The bottom three couples will all have a chance to perform solos. Then, the judges will send one guy and one girl home. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!

Stop Giving Me a Hard Time

I know I have been a horrible blogger over the past two months, but that is about to change. Not only will I update my personal blog more often, but Shay and I have set up a "together" blog which I will post the address for it once we get it all done.

The rebels have started Australia prep, which means we get mid-season like coverage in June!!!! It is an early birthday present for me.

Dont lose faith, I am committed to becoming a better blogger.

Dreaming of Jessica

I rarely remember dreaming during the night. It is an exciting event when I wake up and realize that I actually had a dream the night before, even though I cant recall what it was about. So, when I awake remembering that I had a dream and specifics about what happened in the dream, Hell is on the verge of freezing over!

A few days ago, I woke up from one of those dreams that seems real. It was probably the weirdest/funniest dream I have ever had in my life. Since I am writing this a few days later, I may have forgotten or mixed up some of the details, but the story is still very entertaining.

It was my wedding day. For some reason, everyone was on a bus waiting to go to the temple for the sealing. We were just waiting on Shay. I was sitting in the front of the bus, saving a seat for Shay when another girl got on and sat down next to me. I looked over to her and said, “Sorry, but I am saving this seat for my fiancée, she should be here any second.” When I looked over at her, I recognized her immediately…it was Jessica Alba. She responded, “I was walking by this bus, when I felt that if I got on, I would find the man of my dreams. That man is you.

(No, this is not a made up story to provide a valid excuse to put a picture of Jessica Alba on my blog!)

I was completely shocked by that and had nothing to say. Next thing I know, she tells the bus driver everyone is on and we head off to the wedding. She sits back down and says, “We are getting married right now,” and nothing else.

What happened between now and the next part I don’t remember, but we were married in some form or another.

Next, I remember being done with all the events for the day. Instead of going to our hotel then heading out on our honeymoon, we stayed our first night at my parents house. It wasn’t the house we live in now, but it was still a very nice house. We were going to stay in a room in the attic. It was decorated very nicely, but you could tell no one had been in there in a while. There was a lot of clutter, but not dirty. We brought all of our stuff up to the room, then headed back downstairs to figure out what to do about our honeymoon.

Since the plane ticket was in Shaylee’s name, we could not leave the next morning. We talked it over with my parents and decided to push back our reservations to Saturday, giving us plenty of time to get everything ready. The weird thing is my parents decided not to move back the open house. They said we didn’t need to be there and they would take care of it.

We headed back upstairs to turn in for the night. Even though it was our wedding night, we stayed up late just talking and ended up sleeping in separate beds. Even though I recognized her as Jessica Alba, in the dream I don’t think she was famous or rich. Since we had only met earlier that day, I didn’t know anything about her. What her finances were like, what her personality was like, etc. When I asked her how much money she had saved her response was, “My parents gave me a US Savings Bond when I was a girl.” That was it!

There was a second day to the dream but I don’t remember anything about it. The worst part about the dream was my conflicting feelings about the whole situation with Shay. On one hand, everything felt right with Jessica Alba, but on the other hand, Shay never found out what happened! She would have come out to the bus and it was gone. I wanted to call her and explain, but I figured her parents would be really mad at me and not let her talk. It was a horrible feeling! Also, I don’t know where Jessica Alba came from. If I made a list of 20 famous people I would want to date, she would not make the list. That was very random.

When I woke up, I was so relieved the whole thing was a dream. Both Lindsey and Shay thought it was very funny, but I was still a little worked up over the whole thing. When I got home from work, the whole thing got a bit weirder. I was on the Yahoo homepage and the main headline was this, Jessica Alba gets married in Secret ceremony last night. WEIRD!!!!! I had a dream that I was marrying Jessica Alba the same night she secretly got married. I cant lie, it kinda freaked me out. Maybe it is a sign that I need to be some kind of psychic, I don’t know, but it definitely provided me with a funny story to tell for years to come!

RIP J.R.H.

This is my Eulogy to a friend, who departed my life as a roommate last week...

Justin Reese Hales, what can I say? We shared so many good times together. Even though you are secretly in love with my fiancee, you have always been there for me. KFC wings, rebel games after 4 hour drives and 5 dollar footlongs are just a smidgen of the many memories we have made together.



I remember our first night together. Snow was falling so hard from the sky, covering everything in sight. We decided to jump on the four wheelers and go crazy in the powdery goodness. Since I couldnt really see anything in the blizzard, you led the way, lighting my path so that I didnt get lost. We left our marks in the white fields of Cedar High School. Your only regret was not letting me pull you on your snowboard. We could have started a new fad...oh well, we had to fail somewhere.

Our Madden series ended up very close. I think you may have even pulled ahead with the Webelos in the end. I still have not beat them. As the weather got warmer, we worked on our tans by playing dunkball at the elementary school. Were you ever able to dunk cleanly? A few times I was able to dunk over David, even though he would never admit it.



NBA2K8 then entered our lives. Our first time playing together was against Arka and Curtis. It took a Paul Pierce miracle three to beat us. I knocked you around as you got used to the game, then you went on a long undefeated streak with the Suns. Never before have I been unable to beat someone like I couldnt beat you.

Soon, we will be going our separate ways, you on a mission and me getting married. I am excited to hear where you will be and I will write you as much as I write Jake. Everytime I watch a chick flick, you will be on my mind (which many people will think is weird, but they dont understand). Now, whenever I hear Kenny Loggins I will think of you sitting on the couch looking up his songs, waiting to see him in your first concert.



Justin Reese Hales...God be with you.