Hilltopper39

^Eh, your right, I read the seeding wrong. In that case I'll take Green Bay and Seattle in the NFC Championship game.

We'll see, but everyone around our program is really excited right now. I don't know if it's a bad sign when a former DC from the likes of Washington and USC winds up little ole Western Kentucky, or if it's a good sign. I mean everyone expects Petrino to be in and out in a few years so getting on his staff no matter what the pay rate might be worth it in the long run.

This is great news to me because I've never been to Knotts but hopefully when I get around to making that trip the Log Flume will still be operating! I love a good log flume, but for whatever reason it seems like there haven't been any great log flumes built in the past decade. I know they are probably expensive to maintain and operate, but even the newer flumes like Shoot the Rapids, and Pilgrims Plunge just don't seem to be as cool as the older rides. Exciting news.

All I know is that when it comes down to the playoffs my money is on guys named Brady/Manning/Rodgers more so than guys named Schaub/Ponder/Flacco/Dalton. I'm really excited to see what Luck/RGIII/Wilson do in their first playoff appearances because I think all three have a very bright and successful future ahead of them, but for the time being my picks are Patriots vs Colts in the AFC Championship and Packers vs 49ers in the NFC Championship game with New England vs Green Bay in the Superbowl. Indy is my upset pick to make a deep run since they are playing well and seem to have a little magic on their side this year but might not be able to get a win in New England. I'd honestly be happy with any Superbowl combination between New England/Denver/Indy/Houston and Green Bay/San Fran/ Seattle/ Washington.

^My Hilltoppers just signed a former Southern Cal coach as our new defensive coordinator under Petrino, you remember Nick Holt? Anything good/bad to say about him from a fans perspective?

King's Island is kind of a weird park since they have a very nice "kids" section in one corner of the park but not a lot of kids/family attractions located throughout the rest of the park (with a few exceptions obviously). I'd be all for a family friendly full sized coaster similar to Cheetah Hunt but the former SOB site may not be an ideal location for a ride like that. Then again with Top Flight Gun Deck likely reaching the end of it's life span that whole section of the park might be a good spot for a large expansion that could possibly include multiple rides and an entirely new themed section so we'll see. I've been going to Kings Island my whole life and even though most of the coasters aren't top 10 quality in my book I kind of feel like most people in that area who attend that park regularly every summer look at it as a thrill ride park, and attend for the coasters, so maybe a major thrill ride over a family coasters isn't the worst idea (just hope it doesn't suck).

The REAL USC, South Carolina.......

^

Morris is good but I think he benefits from playing in an offense that consistently gives him carries in misdirection packages where the defenders are more worried about RG3 than him. Don't get me wrong he had a great year and is a good player (helped both of my fantasy teams) but he aint no Adrian Peterson IMO, Peterson is a once in a generation kind of talent at the position who honestly may be the best running back to ever play the game. Saying Morris could be the next Peterson is like saying Derek Rose could be the next Michael Jordan. I think RG3 will be fine from a the standpoint of his success against other teams ability to gameplan for him but if he keeps playing the way he does he's asking to get banged up. I don't know how long he can stay healthy taking the number of shots he took this year, it's going to catch up with him eventually. There certainly seems to be a transition of sorts to the running style QB in the NFL with Griffin, Newton, Wilson, Kaepernick, Ponder, Locker, even Luck all having success in that "style" of offense. I think that style of play is here to stay because it would seem like it's a lot easier to find and develop a QB like Kaepernick or Wilson than it is someone like Brady or Manning, especially early in heir career. Two things I'm looking forward to in the off season: One- seeing where Chip Kelly winds up. Whenever that guy gets into the NFL I think he's going to be a star. His offense won't look exactly like it does at Oregon but I think your going to start seeing a lot of teams running the up tempo, play action, run option style of offense (New England already does a TON of the same stuff), and wherever Kelly winds up at will be ahead of the curve from day 1. Two- Tim Tebow in Jacksonville, it's going to happen, it needs to happen. I'm not a Tebow fan, or a hater for that matter, but in pro sports if your going to be bad at least be interesting. Tebow makes the Jags interesting from day one for better or worse, and I just want someone to give the guy one season as the full dedicated starting QB and see what happens. Jacksonville's roster is so bad right now that they are a good 2-3 years away from being competitive no matter who the coach or GM is, might as well throw Tebow to the wolves in the mean time and see what happens.

I used to ski but have been hooked on snow boarding ever since I first tried it. I will say that after a few trips of falling on my arse all day getting an instructor really helped me pick it up since some of the motions are kind of unnatural, but once I figured it out I found it so much more entertaining then skiing. I don't have bad knees (surprisingly) but I always felt like if you did have bad knees boarding would be easier on them than skiing because both feet are always locked into position on the board so there's not as much of an opportunity to have one knee get twisted out of alignment even when you fall. I have had some pretty nasty crashes on a board that were probably worse than any I ever had on skis but those were probably my own fault. I really need to go boarding again, stupid Florida and all it's sunshine.

1st round playoff games are set, the Seattle vs Washington and Baltimore vs Indy are probably the most interesting first round games to me.

1. Do some winery tours and tasting in Napa/Sonoma/ wherever the cool kids are going these days. These probably are not as much fun as I think they would be but I've always wanted to do one. 2. Octoberfest, even though it's kind of theme park related I'm more interested in the beer and food and atmosphere in general than the coasters (Olympia Looping being the exception of course). 3. I've always wanted to go to a gigantic European Rock festival like Rock Am Ring, Glastonbury, Download, Rosklide anything. The lineup for those shows are pretty good every year but if one of my favorite bands were playing it would be even better. 4. Ski at Lake Tahoe, or Whistler, or Vail or any major resort destination west of the Mississippi really. 5. There are several golf courses I'd love to play but a golf trip to Scotland, or a trip to play Pebble Beach are pretty high on that list. 6. Dubai, again kind of theme park related but I just want to see the place. 7. I've got a ton of sporting events that could make up it's own bucket list but the crown jewel would be going to The Masters one of these days if I could ever get tickets.

^That might be almost every team in the NFL.

Yeah, I went in expecting it to be completely force-less and very tame, and came away think the slight positive G's on the drop and loop were surprising. Overall my feeling were the same as yours though, fun ride, but nothing terribly memorable or top-10 worthy. Give me Kumba and Raptor all day. I wonder if the Wingrider Trains are even capable of "old school" B&M forces?

Wild Eagle was much more forceful than I was expecting it to be, maybe Gatekeeper will be similar.

Yeah, the only team in the AFC I really see New England struggling with is Denver. New England doesn't rush the passer very well and if you can't rush Peyton Manning then he can pick you apart. Then again Bill Belichick > John Fox and I'd take Bady/Belichick over Manning/Fox all day every day especially in the playoffs. I still don't like Atlanta or Houston, I know both teams are the #1 seeds but I still don't have any confidence in either team to win a big game against an established playoff opponent like New England, or Green Bay, or San Francisco.

I hate to admit this because I secretly hate this team (or hate a lot of their fans I know) but I'm secretly pulling for the Colts to pull a few upsets and make a deep run. What they've done this year has been nothing short of phenomenal with a rookie QB and a head coach missing half the season for lukemia treatment. I'm a sucker for a good human interest story related to sports and if they made a run to the Superbowl it would be amazing.

Yeah, the Seahawks looks really tough right now. I don't know if they can win 3 in a row on the road in the playoffs but I like their chances as much as anyone at this point. Now that the majority of the playoff spots are decided who would everyone like to see in the Superbowl? Personally I think a Green Bay vs. New England match up would be fun to watch, but wouldn't mind seeing seeing San Fran play just about anyone from the AFC.

Wow, that's pretty impressive display for a neighborhood, no matter how wealthy the neighborhood is. Oh and the pictures are pretty good too I guess .

I saw Les Miserabeles yesterday and overall though it was really good. I've been a fan of the stage production and the music of the show for a long time and had fairly low expectations for the movie since I didn't think the cast could do the music justice but overall it really worked and was a lot of fun. It wasn't prefect (I thought Russel Crowe was terrible as Javert) but had some really strong moments and was a great adaptation of the musical. Gavroche and Enjolras and Eponine were great.

Bose Soundwave bluetooth speaker iGrill Digital grill thermometer that syncs to my iPad Bourbon Decatur Eliptical machine for the house (wife's present kind of but I use it too) Tickets to see Tenacious D this spring Some new tools (drill, mitre saw, etc) to finally get some projects done around the house

^I've heard some pretty solid reviews of the new Barclay's center in Brooklyn, that's supposed to be a very cool new venue. Joey, go to the Barclay's Center immediately and let us all know what you think .

^True, but Notre Dame is big enough of a draw to fill a pro stadium. Now that I think about it when Florida/Georgia plays at the Jaguars stadium it's way more exciting than any Jaguars game ever is.

Yeah, Metlife looks pretty uninspiring for the most part, and I bet the atmosphere for a college game in that NFL Stadium was pretty dull.

Looks very similar to a upscale bowling place her in Jacksonville called latitude 30. I've only been there a few times to have a drink but I've never actually bowled because the lanes are always booked solid (I'm sure Splitsville will see similar success). Looks like an awesome addition that perfectly fits the vibe of Downtown Disney. How many total lanes did they have? I remember that building being HUGE when it was the Virgin megastore, but in these pictures of Splittlsville it doesn't feel as massive as it did as the Virgin store. It's probably just me.