YouTube

Hey everyone, I know it's been FOREVER since I've blogged... and I will get to that soon but for now check out our YouTube videos!! Enjoy :)

When I get paid...

This was a big hit last year, so I thought I'd do it again. I put up a sign in the hallway a week ago and here are the contributions:
When I get paid....
I'm going to buy a new hub-cap for my car - Smitty
I'm gonna make Clare a poster for her door - Hall
I'm gonna save my money just in case... - Spencer & Em-Dizzle
I'm gonna go grocery shopping - Spence
Get a hair cut and wax the bushes above my eyes!! - Hall
Fill up my car with gas - Chippy
Go to the mall - Birk
Get my sixth guitar string - Margo
Pay my credit card bill - Margo
Pay my Dad for my last 3 phone bills - Birk
I'm getting eye black - Margo
I'm getting my car door handle fixed - Birk
Search for better colored headbands for colored headband night - Birk
Buying DVDs to watch in the lounge with Sho! Most likely Dawson's Creek.... season 1, 2, or 4 - Hall
I'm going to Dunkin!!! - The Force

we finally got paid, YAAAYYYY!!!!!! :) Now I pretty much will be sending my entire check to my Dad, shoot :(

80's Workout Video

There's never a dull moment here at Cedar Crest... first it was hacky tryouts and then we made an 80s workout video. This is just a short preview but it's definitely entertaining. Enjoy!

Netherlands & Riptide

LIVE STREAMING GAMES!!!
For the first time in NPF history, the Philadelphia Force will make
available a live video stream of every Force home game. Fans from anywhere
on earth with an internet connection now will be able to see the Force in
action, and more importantly they will get to see the greatest players in
the game! So visit the Force website for further details of how to
subscribe or click this link:
http://onyxweb.streamguys.com/subscribe/force_signup.html

Netherlands
Game 1 - W 6-4
Game 2 - W 5-2
Game 3 - W 5-3
Game 4 - W 5-4

Riptide
Game 1 - L 1-5
Game 2 - L 2-8
Game 3 - W 5-4
Game 4 - W 3-0

Da Vinci Science Center

Smitty, Friedman and I did a two day appearance at the Da Vinci Science Center here on the Cedar Crest campus. We talked to junior high students about science concepts and how they relate to sports. We did exercises to measure velocity and distance; they tested their reaction time and how fast they could throw a ball. I know that Emily, Ashley and I had fun doing it and it seemed like the students enjoyed it too.

We even got to ride a GyroSphere! What is a GyroSphere, you ask? I don't really know how to describe it... just watch the video!

Jersey Number Revealed

The fans voted and on opening day I was finally given my jersey number!!! Yay, I'm not ?? anymore :)

I LOVE sushi and Hacky try-outs

I had Sushi for this first time and I liked it!! We went to this little place across the street from our dorm and it was really good. Margo and I got chicken teriyaki and we split the Shrimp something roll. Shoooot I already forgot what it was called. Tempura? Can't be sure. It was quite the experience though... the waitress brought out hot towels and gave one to Margo, who said "thanks" and put in on the table, then I just held mine and waited for someone else to get one, and finally Rocky got hers and wiped off her hands. Margo and I were like "ohhhh," haha. Then we wanted to practice using our chop sticks so we made up a game where one person drops a piece of straw wrapper and the other person tries to catch it with their sticks. At first it was just me and Margo playing (since we're kids) but the rest of em couldn't help to join the fun. And just imagine a bunch of athletes making a simple game soooo competitive, haha. You should have heard us yelling in disappointment when someone would juuust miss. It was hilarious.

Now, for the serious stuff. For those of you that don't know, one of our pre-game rituals for the Force is to play Hacky. Not everyone plays, just those who want to but we get pretty into it. Last year we had 6 members on Team Hack but we've lost a few of those players so we had to recruit for this year's team. A few nights ago we hosted round one of try-outs. Jenna Hall aka "Haller" and Ashley Smith aka "Smitty" were our first victims. Each try-out began with a verbal question and answer session followed by a physical skills test. Tune in to our youbtube video below to see the results...

Phillies Day

On Saturday the Phillies held a free clinic for over 200 softball players. The Force along with some of the Phillies "ball girls" worked the clinic teaching hitting, defense and pitching. I can't speak for the other stations, but I know the pitching station went well. All the parents thanked us and said we did a good job and all the girls seemed to enjoy it as well.
After the clinic we headed over to the Phillies stadium (across the street), to get ready for the game. They fed us lunch and provided us with a locker room to shower and get changed. We watched a little bit of BP before we headed over to lead the parade of softball players ranging from tee ball to high school. Just walking into the tunnel and hearing all the girls scream when they saw us almost made me cry. Seeing the excitement on their faces and hearing them scream like we're celebrities just makes me love the game even more. Being an idol for those young girls and paving the way for the NPF to grow into what it should be is what we all play for. After we led the pack around the entire stadium, we returned to the 3rd base line where each of us were announced and Ruth Hartman, a hall of fame baseball player, was honored. Amy Harre and Ashley Smith threw the first pitch of the game but none of us got to see it :( After that they divided us into groups on the concourse to sign autographs through the 3rd inning. Amy, Margo, Ashley, Tory and myself (pitchers and catchers) were all together. After the 5th inning Rocky and I got to do a skit on the field with the Fanatic! We struck him out :) I'm not gonna lie, I was REALLY nervous that I was either going to hit him or over-throw it, but miraculously I didn't. I'm still trying to find a video of it, but I haven't had any luck yet. In the 7th inning our entire team danced on the 1st base dugout to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with the Fanatic. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good day :)

Book Binders, TEN Stone & J.L. Sullivan's

For our week in Philly we had several evening events and team dinners. Book Binders is probably the nicest restaurant I've ever been to! It's an up-scale seafood restaurant in the heart of Philadelphia that draws customers from all over. Tom treated all of us to dinner and it was sooooo good! I had steak and crab which also came with a giant baked potato and clam chowder. We had this appetizer that had shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops, and then these shots of tomato juice, vodka, and an oyster . Weird, but after Spence called Margo and I babies we tried it and it actually wasn't bad. The picture to the left is one of the hallways in Book Binders; it's full of pictures of past Presidents, actors, singers, athletes, entertainers, etc. that have been there. They didn't take our picture but we did leave them with a Force poster that they're supposed to put up.
Ten Stone was a sweet little bar on South Street that Annie, one of our owners frequents at. We mingled with people there and did a raffle and 50/50. We ended up making like $400 (I think) and the owner matched it! I think that was my favorite bar/restaurant we've been to, and not just because it's called TEN stone :)
J.J. Sullivan's is a new up-scale sports bar in Philly and we were there for the opening night! We even had our own little room to chill in, which was sweet! This blog has a post about the event and there's some pictures of us there! The fifth picture down is us chillin' in our VIP room, and the very last picture is us on the red carpet.

10 for a day!

As you know, I don't get to find out my jersey number til opening day, but Ashley let me wear #10 for our Force events! I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was... don't worry, I took pictures.
On Monday morning we had physicals and then we took our first trip to Dunkin!!!! In case you don't know what the means, Dunkin Donuts is HUGE over here in the East and we LOVE it. Sooo, 9 months without it has been ridiculous and we were pretty excited for our first trip. Here's some pics:


In the afternoon we went to St. Luke's children's hospital to visit some of the children. We handed out Force shirts, bears, wristbands, hats and visors. All of the kids we visited were SO excited to see us :) It was really fun but sad at the same time. You could just tell by looking into their eyes how exhausted they were from whatever disease or illness they were going through. It was pretty cool to make them happy even if it was only for the few minutes we visited with them. The last boy we visited, John, was my favorite. We gave him a shirt and visor and he insisted on putting both of them on right away. Then when Belle, our mascott, came in his whole face lit up. It was a great experience and I'd love to do it again.
pictures: (1)quote from the hospital, (2)quote from the hospital, (3)team @ st. luke's, (4)margo and me, (5)john throwing his bear at Belle, (6)john reading to margo



Monday night we had an event at Philadelphia's most popular sports bar, Chickie and Pete's. We walked around and passed out schedules while the NPF draft video was playing on a few of the television screens. The food was great and we had fun, there just wasn't much of a crowd because the weather wasn't great.

Road Trip

Our road trip from Illinois to Pennsylvania was supposed to take 13 hours, 31 minutes according to Mapquest. But throw in a 2 hour delay to road construction, pulling over to check the oil when the check gages light came on, oh yeah and constant rain and you'll get there in SEVENTEEN! Gooood times, let me tell you. Margo Pruis, my roomie and fellow Reteran (to be explained later) and I headed out of Normal at approxiamtely 7:00am. Only one hour after the planned departure time, not too bad. We got on 74 (my IL friends tell me I can't say 'the 74') with high energy and excitement, thinking we'd get into Philly at 7pm. Ha ha ha, not quite. We hit the half way point at about 2:00pm. And then we only drove 5 miles in the next 2 hours! I guess there was some road construction on a bridge, so they had all the cars merge, exit, and get right back on. And apparently that takes two hours! Wow. During all that sitting, my poor little truck was being a baby and thought it had an oil problem. But it didnt, it was just turning the "check gages" light on for fun. But we still got out to check the oil, regardless. That was pretty fun. We stuck the stick thingy in there and it was to the third dot. Now I don't know much about oil, but my dad taught me about the dots, don't you worry! Aaaand we did it three times just to be safe. After the oil scare we pulled back into the stand-still traffic. We put some tunes on and performed a little concert for the cars around us. We even got a few honks! Margo dared me to let the goats out of the trailer in front of us, but instead I took a picture! We played a round of Hey Cow and went 4-4! It's a pretty self-descriptive game. When you drive by cows you yell "Hey Cow!!" and then you count how many of them turn to look. It's fun :) We stopped a few times to keep us and the T-ruck energized. Oh and we played the game where you try to hold your breath through tunnels. Holy cow there are some LONG tunnels in Pennsylvania. We decided not to play that after we got light-headed from one. We finally arrived in Essington, PA at about 12:30pm. Wooo hooo!! Back to Philly :)