The semester is coming to an end and I have really enjoyed writing in this blog. I will try to keep writing after the semester ends but there will be no guarantee. I have to admit that I probably would not have started writing in this blog if I would not have been instructed to do so by Shayne. This opportunity gave me a chance to practice my writing outside of Facebook and text messages which has helped me quite a bit. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and have learned a lot that I can take with me into the real world. I would recommend everyone take this class even if it is not necessary for his or her major.

This was a loaded weekend. The weekend consisted of Easter, General Conference, and the Final Four. It was paradise. General Conference was especially good this year. I enjoyed the conference talks thoroughly. Priesthood session was my favorite as I was not beaten over the head with the pornography issue over and over again. Easter was nice as well. The weather was in the upper 40's which allowed us to bar-b-q outside in between conferences. We enjoyed some wonderful Texas brisket and corn on the cob as we watched the little kids search for easter eggs in the yard. The final four teams in the Final Four were already disappointing but was even more disappointing when Duke advanced to the National Championship game. West Virginia was my last shot to knock off Duke. I do not think that the Bulldogs of Butler are up to the ask but if somehow they can upset the Blue Devils, I will be ecstatic and it will go to show that small schools can win too. Overall, an excellent weekend that was much needed before finals.

The final four is set. It consists of four lame teams, none of which I am excited to watch. Duke, the team I hate second most in the country, beat the last Texas team this afternoon making it a Final Four without a Texas team. I thought this year would be a good year for Texas teams but it just goes to show you that it is a lot harder to select the winning teams in this madness. The team I hate the most in the world, Kentucky, lost last night to West Virginia. I was ecstatic. John Calipari is a cheater and should not be allowed to coach in the NCAA. As long as he never wins, I can die a happy man. My brackets busted, my sleepers stayed asleep, and supposed champion lost in the second round to Northern Iowa. This was a mad march indeed.

After finally moving past the first round of the NCAA Tournament, BYU crumbled against Kansas St on national television. BYU ended a nine-year streak of first round losses on Thursday against the University of Florida. We needed two overtime periods to get the job done but at the end of the night, the cougars ended up on top. On saturday we played our second round game against Kansas St. BYU was a heavy underdog but the match-ups were favorable to BYU. Kansas St has very good guards but not the best big men. That pretty much describes our cougars. We rely on guard play and just hope our bigs don't mess things up. Jimmer Fredette came into the game coming off of a 37 point performance against Florida. We expected a similar performance against Kansas St, but instead received a disappointing show of a guard who was scared out of his mind. Jimmer Fredette had dominated the Mountain West guards but had his hands full with the Kansas St guards. He was ripped cleanly several times and looked scared to bring up the ball. Jimmer started forcing passes and shots which widened the gap between us and Kansas St. The game proved that Jimmer is not yet ready to enter the NBA and should probably work on lateral quickness and his separation moves from faster guards. Despite the loss, I am proud of our Cougars and look forward to the next season.

March Madness is upon us. BYU is finally favored to win a first round game which would end a streak of first round losses that started when I was a baby. Their first round match-up is against a struggling Florida team. They started off hot at the beginning of the season but have cooled down as the season progressed. BYU has played very well against many of their opponents this season but seem to struggle against teams that have a dominant big man or against teams that excel at rebounding. These things are actually weaknesses of Florida. They do not rebound well and do not have a dominating big man. College basketball is a guard's game and I feel that our guards at BYU are good enough to end the streak of first round losses. Unfortunately, I do not think they are good enough to get past Kansas State in the second round. Oh well. I wont be greedy. I will take whatever I can get.

It is finally here. The intramural basketball tournament is upon us. Basketball intramurals only come during the winter semester and it is something I look forward to all year. It gives the opportunity to those high school ballers, who could not hack it at the college level, to show their stuff.

The regular season began in early January and the tournament is beginning this week. It is a long tournament that will take many games to reach the championship but I have confidence in my team’s ability.

Unfortunately for my teachers, I will be focusing more on intramurals than my studies. Honestly, if necessary, I will probably skip a class or turn in an assignment late so that I do not miss a game. I know this sounds foolish and immature but it is something that I look forward to. It is a chance for this old man to relive his high school glory days.

The Olympics are over and the United States has a lot to show for it. We earned 37 medals, the most of any country in the Olympics. The united States performed well in many events including skiing, speed skating, and bob sled. The medal that I feel the United States really wanted was the gold medal for Men's Hockey. We made it to the finals against Canada but fell to them 3-2 in overtime. This was a heartbreaking game. Down 2-0, the U.S rallied to send the game into overtime with 24 seconds remaining in the game. A goal in sudden death overtime by Canadian Sidney Crosby sealed the fait for the American Hockey Team. We did very well in this year's olympics but was just one goal short of the miraculous underdog victory in hockey. The U.S hockey team put on a heck of a performance. Watch out Canada in 2012. We don't mess around come summer olympics.

When I signed up for MCOM 320, I signed up for two reasons. The first reason is that it is a prerequisite for the business program and the second being that I am a terrible writer. The only writing I ever do is on Facebook and text messaging. I did not know, however, that this class would help me get a job. Recently we have been going over how to create a resume and how to interview. Until this past week, I did not know how beneficial this information would be. I took the information I had learned from class and applied to several different summer-job positions. One particular job stands out to me. I was applying for a position that I did not know much about. Upon finding out the job requirements, I came to realize that I was very under-qualified for this position. I found out that over 100 applicants were applying for this job and they would only be hiring 3 people. The first interview was a group interview. If asked to return, the next interview would be a panel interview and then if asked to return again, the third interview would be a one on one interview. I was tempted to leave during the group interview but decided to stay anyway despite there being no way I would get hired. I remembered the tips on how to interview in class and made my self stand out in the group interview. I was called back for the second interview. The interviewers complimented me on my resume and it was very appealing to the eye. I wowed them in my interview despite being a terrible candidate for the job. I was invited back for the final interview with the vice president of the company. I was one of 8 called back for the final interview. At the conclusion of the conclusion of the interview the vice president told me that I did not have the experience or qualifications for the job but knew why I had made it this far in the interview process. He said that I interview very well and that my resume is very impressive. I smiled and said that I knew i was under-qualified but wanted to interview anyway. This experience showed me that is does not matter whether you are the best man for the job or the worst man for the job; one needs to be able to interview well and have an impressive resume to have a shot at getting that job.

It was the day before Valentine's Day and I was on a date at the movie theaters. I was waiting in line to get my date her much needed Diet Coke when I heard the girl in front of me ask for a Coke. I quickly remembered our assignment and thought about how to approach the girl. I just "manned up" and told the cashier that I would be paying for her Coke. She looked at me awkwardly and said, "Huh?" I told her that I would like to pay for her Coke. Luckily for me, my date was saving our seats so I was standing in the line alone. The girl smiled at me and thanked me several times and told me how sweet I was. She was pretty cute and if I wasn't on a date I would have asked her out. She was with her friends and all of them told me how sweet I was and how I was such a gentlemen. She thanked me once again as we parted ways to our separate movies. Of course I did not tell my date that I bought a random girl a drink, but the satisfaction I had when I did this random act of kindness made me not care what she thought. If I ever see that random girl again I am sure we will have a lot to talk about. Thanks Shayne!

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and it lacked the excitement that usually goes with it. The two best teams in the NFL were playing for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, yet I was not as excited as I usually am for the Super Bowl. The game was itself was not as exciting either. There were no huge plays except for a late interception for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. I actually even lost track of the game at one point. The game was a let down. The only good thing that came from the game was the city of New Orleans received a huge boost after the game. I am happy for them as they have struggled over the last few years. Other than that, the beer commercials were the only entertainment throughout the infamous Super Bowl Sunday.

Three weeks of school have gone by which means that midterms are about to begin. One midterm I am dreading is my grammar test in MCOM 320. This test makes every person who takes it, feel like a complete failure. There are so many rules to remember and tenses to figure out. I can have a very strong understanding of the course material and still bomb the test. Oh well. At least I will learn to become a better writer. If anyone is reading this blog, you can tell that I am a terrible writer. All of the writing in my life has come through text messaging and Facebook. Due to my lack of experience with writing, my skills are not as polished as they could be. I hope by the end of this class I will be able to become confident in my writing and proud of my work.

This has just been a poor month for the University of Texas Athletics. The football team lost in the National Championship games and the number one ranked longhorns lost two straight games in basketball. However, the BYU Cougars have been playing excellent basketball of late. They are 20-1 with one loss coming to a Utah State team that had their best game of the season against the Cougars. BYU has the second best record in the nation, only trailing the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats.

In years past the Cougars have not made it past the first round of the of NCAA Tournament. Hopefully this year the streak will end. If the Cougars can run the table during conference, they have a really good shot at being a two or three seed. If this is the case, the Cougars will be heavy favorites in the first round of the tournament and favorites in the the second round. Hopefully BYU will not choke and play to their potential. I believe they can do it and BYU nation has been waiting to get the national respect it deserves.

I find it amazing that a 40 year-old quarterback can still outplay 25-30 year-old quarterbacks. I am a Dallas Cowboy fan and my team was just embarrassed by Brett Favre and the Vikings. Usually I would be upset but I find myself cheering for Brett Favre. I do not like how things ended in Green Bay and I think the Hall of Fame quarterback deserved his spot back if he wanted it.

Brett Favre has shown the world that he can still play at a very high level. He is now on his way to the NFC Championship where he will have a shot a Super Bowl birth. I know the Vikings have the best running back in the game to go along with an excellent defense but Favre was the missing piece to this dominant team. Congratulations Brett Favre and good luck in the NFC Championship.

National Championship

37-21. The score is very deceiving. Although the winningest quarterback in the history of college football left the game after just 5 plays, the young true freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert showed some promise for the future.

Before Colt McCoy left the field for the final time as a Longhorn, the Texas defense was dominating the Alabama offense. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over twice in it's first two possessions. The momentum was going the Longhorn's way and the game looked like it could even be lopsided. The so-called underdog Longhorns looked like they might run away with this. Then all of a sudden, Mccoy went down. Not only did did the Longhorns lose their offensive leader, but the leader of the entire Longhorn Nation.

This loss not only affected the Longhorn offense, but the defense as well. The BAMA rushing attack started gaining more and more yards and the Offense was calling conservative running plays in order to not turn the ball over with their true freshman Garrett Gilbert.

The momentum shifted completely and looked like Bama was going to run away with it.

While the true freshman quarterback started off rocky, he showed great poise and confidence as the game progressed. He showed his arm strength as he rocketed 2 touchdown passes to Jordan Shipley to close to Alabama lead to 24-21. Texas then played stellar defense to get the ball back and give their team a chance to march down the field for the win. Then with one tackle, the game was over. FUMBLE. Alabama recovers and the game is all but over for the Longhorns.

The Alabama offense punched it into the end zone for a one yard touchdown and a 10 point lead with 2 minutes remaining. Shortly after, Alabama regains possession to secure their win. All Alabama has to do is kneel the ball twice and the game is over and they are the National Champions. Instead, classless Nick Saban decides to run the ball into the end zone to run up the score. Great sportsmanship Nick. The game was much closer than the final score and the Longhorns played valiantly despite losing their four-year play caller. Hook'em.