The MDB Mania- 10/26/10..The NEW JOISEY edition

Hey everybody- Whew what a last 2 weekends I had- lets just say lots of driving and lots of fun fun fun! The last column I promised you guys and gals that I'd write a recap of my Atlantic City trip as well as my trip the weekend before in New Jersey too. Don't worry, no dumb references of the stupid Jersey Shore TV show here lol :D It's gonna be a long post so get ready to stay in your chair for a good 10 minutes lol ;)


I'll start off with October 16th weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe, NJ. There was an event going on there called the Legends of the Ring thats been one of the most successful conventions in the northeast over the last 6 years. I sorta thought about going to it, but since I was planning to go to Atlantic City the weekend after, I wasn't going to go to LOTR- but my good friend of alot of years now, Tam, contacted me a week before the show and asked if I could possibly help her out, so I was like sure why not- since I hadn't seen her in a few months and thought it would be great to see her again. Next thing I know, I end up going to NJ 2 Fridays in a row which was a first for me....and my car as well lol


Overall the LOTR weekend was pretty good. I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile, as well as meet some new ones. The drive up was such a mess though! One thing I learned from that is DO NOT leave to go up northeast during rush hour....ugh lol. I wound up getting stuck in Maryland and Delaware forever thanks to road work and toll booths for some reason taking eons to wait at. Once I finally got to the hotel and settled in, I hung out and relaxed & my friend Jerry came up and said hey, and wound up getting into the Ring Roast of Jim Cornette, which was ok. The comedians that night that I saw were pretty weak, but it was cool seeing Cornette get recognition since hes one of the all time great wrestling managers



-Me & Missy Hyatt
-Me & wrestling tag team legend "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton




One of the highlights of that weekend was seeing my friend Danielle and her family again. This girl and her family are an inspiration who have gone through alot and keep on fighting and having a great life and not to mention, they are so fun to be around! I wound up hanging out with them and & their close friend Torrie Wilson & her bf Nick that Friday night until like 3am...fun times! Torrie remembered me from us hanging out after the Wrestlers Rescue dinner 2 years ago and has always stayed sweet. Me & Torrie were talking about Boise State since I know thats where she's from and she was so jealous of me going to that Boise/Virginia Tech game last month when I showed her my clips and pics from it! hehe :)

-Me, Danielle, her parents, Torrie & Nick

-This was meant to be a picture but the camera was actually set on video so you can see all of us looking like we're ready for a pic and not a video lol :D Its the same one as above. We all hung out late into the night at the hotel bar & in Danielle's hotel room until 3am- it was a fun fun Friday night :) 10/15/10 in Monroe, New Jersey at the Crowne Plaza Hotel

Oh if your wondering, here's one of the clips I showed Tor from the Boise State game from early Sept ;)




The LOTR show itself on Saturday the 16th was a good time. Tammy was telling me it was slower then usual for those shows but we still did ok there and alot of fans did come up to us so it was decent. One moment that was cool was when former WWE diva Serena came up to say hi to us, and I mentioned to her about remember hearing about her going to a nearby high school to me(she went to Oakton High School and graduated in 2004, and I went to rival Chantilly High School and graduated there in 2002) so we joked and had fun with that hehe. I helped Tammy out with handling her fans who were buying autographs and pics from her and was her pic taker. Tam was a blast to work with and so easy going and would love to help her out again soon whenever she needs and wants my help- she knows Im around, since I know your reading this Tam lol ;) Your awesome :) Here's the new promo Tammy did for the blog as well as a few pics I took from that LOTR day:



-Me and Tam



-Me & Jerry

Me & Paul

-Me & Danielle

-Tam & some 6'9 wrestler. She's huge!!

-Me & Torrie


After that weekend, it was a normal work week for me, and then this past Friday the 22nd I came back up to NJ, but this time the location and event were alot more different then the weekend before. Thanks to my awesome bud Jerry, he got me hooked up to be at the MMA & Sports Expo in Atlantic City, NJ at the Taj Mahal Casino Hotel. Safe to say, this location was alot more around it then there was in Monroe,NJ lol. It was the first time I've been to Atlantic City in 15 years. The last time I was there was only for like a brief 1-2 hours with my brother Erek and my mom on a summer roadtrip back from Wildwood,NJ. This time around, I got to enjoy the surroundings of the fancy hotels and boardwalk. I've never really been that into MMA so the fact that I was working a MMA related event was ironic lol. It lasted from Friday through Sunday so it was for the whole weekend.


-Trump Taj Mahal Casino on the boardwalk

On Friday night, they had this red carpet event going on where alot of the talent got all dressed up and interviewed by press. It was pretty cool with how it was setup, and by far- the hottest there was my friend,the Traci Brooks aka the Canadian Winnie Cooper(Danica McKellar from the TV show "Wonder Years") hehe :) Hubba Hubba! lol- she looked great in her blue dress! I was able to catch up with my friends Josh and his PR person Christina too & and it was great to do that too since I hadn't seen him in almost two years. It was cool catching up with Alicia Webb & meeting X-Pac, two very nice & down to earth people! Also was great seeing wrestling photographer extraodinare Bob Mulrenin again 2 weekends in a row- I know we were happy when the Phillies lost on Saturday night lol. Also got to catch up with Marty Manoli again too, always a good guy & like Bob was happy about the Phillies losing, Marty had fun with the Yankees losing on Friday night too :D Jerry introduced me to Diamond Dallas Page aka DDP as well & he's one awesome dude that I look forward to working with more in the future. For those who don't know, DDP has his own Yoga company these days that I'd recommend you all checking out at http://www.yrgfitness.com -oh btw for those who don't know, he was the originator of the triangle hand gesture(Diamond Cutter) long before Jay-Z and Lebron stole it and called their own



-the lovely Traci Brooks




- Me and Xpac- we've got 2 words for ya.... ;)

-Me and Alicia, I was being a goofball here lol


-Traci and Jackie

-me & UFC star "Lights Out" Shonae Carter & Kim Coture

-Me & Josh

-Me, Josh, Christine, and DDP

-DDP lines me up for the Diamond Cutter hehe

-me in front of the MMA cage

Heading into the weekend, honestly had no idea what I would be doing other then being a staff member. I thought I was going to help out my friend Traci, but I wasn't 100% sure what the promoter had planned for me, but I would of preferred working with Traci- but thats me lol. I was the one who helped Traci get interested in doing the show, so that felt great to be responsible for her being there and having a great time :) They gave me a free staff shirt for the show to wear so that way no one working the show would think I was some random guy trying to sneak in ha. The only bad thing was the shirt they gave me to wear was like almost two times my size and would of been better for me if I was 30 pounds overweight haha, but I didn't have time to shrink the shirt- so I had to wear it. Basically what I did at the show was walk around alot and made sure things were going good for the talent involved. It was a little different for me, since anyone who knows me knows when Im around people I don't usually see much, I get really shy. Everyone was totally cool that I met and got to hang with. There was so much neat stuff involved at the expo throughout the weekend. They had different booths/events going on in the arena like arm wrestling, cooking, karate, weightlifting, and bodybuilding competitions in additon to being able to meet all the talent. Here's some pictures and a video from the expo in the weekend:

-Video of bodybuilding competition ending including Alicia Webb, Tony Atlas, April Hunter, X-Pac, Rob Terry, and Traci Brooks

-Kurt Angle and April Hunter



-me and Bonebreakers girl. They had cool looking designed shirts there and I bought one






-DDP hosting his YRG Yoga class sessions at the Expo

-Me, Alicia, and Traci hanging out at the bar on Saturday night, and we were all being funny :D The Phillies were losing to the Giants in the NLCS during that on the big screens and us all high fived each other- fun times :)

-me & UFC legend Dan "The Beast" Severn

-Me & Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. One of the all time greats

-me and ROH's Prince Nana. It sure feels good to be royalty :)

-Me filming DDP's promo for my friend Fred(I look so nerdy here haha :D)

-me & Traci(who I helped get booked for the event)

-Traci knows my most sensative spots :D


On the Saturday, there was a cool moment where in the female bodybuilding competiton, Jackie Haas(former WWE/TNA diva) was a part of it, and shes good friends with Traci, Marty, Scott Epstein(their hookup for the event). She wound up winning the event, and I got a nice vid out of it since I was standing next to Jackie's friends when she won and they were all happy :) You go girl!






I also met a new friend, June, who I see big things for in the future! :) She's a total sweetheart that I'll look forward to seeing again soon :)




Saturday was pretty busy, but Sunday was pretty dead at the show. I think it had to do with NFL games going on mainly. With it being dead, it gave me and the talent more time to talk with each other which was nice. I was also able to snap some new vids for the blog with DDP & Traci. Thanks you 2 so much for doing that! DDP's was great since alot of the stuff he said came on the fly & the one with me and Traci came out great since it was cheesy but in a good way lol. Check them out!

-DDP doing a video promo for Skins, Fins & Bears...Oh My!

-Me & my lovely bud Traci welcome you to Skins,Fins,& Bears..Oh My!

Overall, it was one heck of an experience both weekends. If you would of told me like 8/10/12 years ago that I'd be doing and seeing the stuff/people that I've been doing these last few weeks and 2+ years- I would of been in heaven and thought I was crazy! I was one of those guys back in middle school and high school who would wear the wrestling t-shirts around proud that never would of thought that all these years later, that I'd be doing the stuff I've been doing. Its really cool when I sit down and think about it for sure. Just goes to show if anyone wants to dream about anything, its possible :)

I want to also give a big shoutout and huge thanks to 2 people I mentioned earlier who were responsible for me having these experiences the last 2 weeks- Tammy Sytch & Jerry Sorrentino. Tammy....what can I say- I've been lucky enough to have known her personally for like 12 years now ever since the days on AOL when we were TSytch1033, ECWCANMAN, and Markola98...god times flies haha. She's also one of the sweetest people that I know. Lastly- Jerry....the man responsible for getting me hooked up with the access in Atlantic City at the Expo. You did alot for me and will forever be greatful for that, and will look forward to our new journey with your new upcoming company!

Onto sports & entertainment related happenings-

My Washington Redskins survived a ugly game vs. the Bears on Sunday. I wasn't able to watch it since I was driving back home from AC, but glad I missed it sorta lol. I was able to catch the 30 minute version of the game later on Sunday night when I got home thanks to my NFL Sunday Ticket package. If it wasn't for D'Angelo Hall- they would be a 3-4 record by now just like their defense gameplan, but thankfully they pulled out the win and are only a game back of 1st in the NFC East. Go Skins go! :)

The hockey season so far has been back and forth. The Washington Capitals(my hometown team) are doing ok so far with a 5-3. The surprise team so far has to be the Nashville Predators with a 5-0 record(I know your happy with that Traci ;) Its gonna be interesting to see how the season goes, and as long as the Caps don't win the Presidents Trophy again- they should have better luck in the postseason lol, since usually the team who wins the regular season presidents cup trophy ends up really choking in the playoffs

I'm ok with the new BCS rankings but still think Boise State is getting screwed. I think Auburn is gonna lose one of these games coming up and Oregon is bound for a letdown game. I wanna see Boise Vs. TCU in the title game just to upset all the big conference & SEC fans lol

Yay- glad to see my picks in the LCS series win and face each other in the World Series. The Giants/Rangers series is gonna be a fun series to watch I have a feeling. I'm gonna pick the Giants to win in 7 games and its gonna come down to how well San Fran's pitching can do vs. the Rangers hot bats

I'm happy Kurt Warner is still alive on Dancing with the Stars, but am not surprised since the football guys on there usually do great and get alot of fan support. Hopefully he doesn't get eliminated tonight! Honestly, the only reason I watch that show is whenever the sports athletes are on(Jerry Rice, Chad Ocho Cinco, Kenny Mayne lol,etc.) not for "celebs" like Sarah Palin's daughter and a Jersey Shore airhead

Here's my 4 NFL Game picks for this week:

Washington Redskins at Detroit Lions-
My pick: Redskins, this is gonna be an dangerous game and after their loss to the Rams last month- we'll see if Washington can step it up against a underrated 1-5 Lions team thats better then their record

Jenn's pick: Lions
Krista's pick: Redskins

Miami Dolphins at Cincinatti Bengals- My pick: Bengals, I think they'll start to get back on track this week

Jenn's pick: Bengals
Krista's pick: Fins

Pittsburgh Steelers at New Orleans Saints- My pick: Steelers, I see a big game for Steelers WR Mike Wallace

Jenn's pick: Saints
Krista's pick: Saints

Houston Texas at Indianpolis Colts: My pick: Colts, this will be the game of the week and fitting its on a Monday night. I think the Colts are gonna start going on their annual long hot winning streaks now

Jenn's pick: Colts
Krista's pick: Colts

Thats all for today and I know it was alot to read so I'll close it out now. Thanks for coming again and until next time- cyanora :)

Mark

The MDB Mania- 10/21/10

Hey everybody! Figured it was time for a new post. I had a fun weekend up in the northeast that I'll get into on my new column here next week since I'll be doing an event in Atlantic City this weekend & will do a report,pics & vids describing both my weekends in New Jersey

With the baseball playoffs in full steam- so far its looking like my pre LCS series picks are doing good with the Rangers & Giants both leading their series's at the moment. There's no doubt that San Fran and Texas are 2 good teams who are pretty talented in different fascets of the game. The Rangers have the offense bat power while the Giants have alot of pitching power. For me, it'd be nice to see them since the Yankees are about always in the World Series every year & the Phillies have been in the last 2 years, so it'd be fresh blood in the big baseball series. It's hard not to root for Josh Hamilton too. His long road story to go from phenom to alcoholic to a rejuvinated sober superstar has been a story worthy of a future movie done about him. I saw a story done on him on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, & after watching that- if he wins the World Series this year.....he deserves it so much

Like I predicted in my post on here last week, the Colts wound up winning over the Redskins. I knew Washington was in trouble as soon as Carlos Rogers dropped an easy intereception & then how Peyton Manning was rushing the playcalling and confusing the Skins defense easy. I was surprised that the game was as close as it was, but shows that this year's Redskins are no slouch, even with a 3-3 record and will fight through alot of games. Even with a loss- they are building alot of character, and having Donovan McNabb as the QB brings alot of leadership and experience. Yeah....he has his faults, but he brings alot of positives too. Who would of thought that a Anthony Armstrong would become a WR threat?

The whole deal with the NFL hard hits has been interesting to witness over time. I know alot of the football players & enthusants don't like the new rules the NFL has enforced to help players safety, but these guys need to realize if they want to have a long life after finishing their careers- its only going to help them in the long run. No need to feel like you have to be all macho just because you feel tough enough to pound someone's head out into getting a concussion. Some people don't know this, but the whole awareness about the lasting effects of football players who get concussions all got started from the investigative reports done on the Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel show 3 years ago, and it was former WWE wrestler & Harvard graduate Chris Nowinski who got the ball running with it:



I know football is an hard hitting sport, and alot of people love the big hits, but the last thing I would like to see happen in a future game is someone end up getting killed from a blow to blow helmet hit to the head. Hopefully the new rules will help save lives & still make the game of football a great game to play and watch as a fan

For my NFL picks this week, its gonna be interesting since 2 of the 3 names for our blog title will play each other(Skins at Bears), so it's gonna be a fun weekend

Washington Redskins at Chicago Bears: I'm gonna go with my team, the Redskins(sorry Jenn lol). I think Cutler is in a middle of a funk & that he's gonna find a way to turn the ball over at the worst time

Pittsburgh Steelers at Miami Dolphins: Steelers- With Big Ben back, I think they are a even better team & Miami seems to struggle at home more this season then the road for some reason

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers: Vikings- I think GB is in a middle of a cluster and injuries are catching up to them. I can see Favre even with his current off the field problems going through a rebirth in a way this season now that he has Randy Moss to throw to, and its a matter time before we start seeing Favre to Moss bombs daily every week this season

Philadelphia Eagles at Tennessee Titans: Titans- Tennessee isn't no slouch either & this is gonna be Philly's first true test on the road this season with a decent team and think their gonna have trouble with Chris Johnson. Btw- thanks Chris for making me lose both of my fantasy league games last week on that one last TD run last Monday night...ugh lol- I love fantasy football, but there are times like that when you can't stand having bad luck playing it every once in awhile!

Until then, its time for me to head off to Atlantic City tomorrow for 3 days for a fun fun time! Have a enjoyable weekend everybody! & Who's got a wet towel? hehe :D



Marky Mark

The MDB Mania- 10/11/10

Hey everyone! I'm glad to hear that we have some new members to the blog who'll be able to add comments to our blog postings on here. If any of you would like to be able to post on the blog- send me a email at MarkBdk@yahoo.com & I'll hook you up!

I'll start this column out with talking a little about college football. I've been hearing about how the #1 and #2 teams should be teams like Oregon and Ohio State, but get tired of all the crap talk about how Boise State & TCU are small schools who don't deserve to play in the BCS Title game. I guess those same people didn't see what Boise State could do when they beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl & beating Oregon last year and TCU destroying some big name conference schools. As someone who saw Boise State play in person last month when they beat Virginia Tech near DC(the background for the title pic up top here on the blog), I don't see why Boise State can't play in the BCS Title game in January. Boise State is one of the most fun teams in college football, I mean yeah that blue turf always makes me go half blind whenever I watch a game from there in HD lol- but they are no joke. Teams like Ohio State and Alabama...I don't know, just something about those teams has always bored me. Go Boise and TCU!

Moving on to the NFL- yay Washington Redskins! :) They gutted it out and stayed in the game with the Green Bay Packers, but unlike all of their other games this season- they actually turned up the offense in the 2nd half instead of the 1ast, and the defense definately stepped it up and all their hard hits and not quitting payed off. The home game with the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning next week is gonna be another tough one and I have a feeling that Peyton is gonna torch up the Skins defense- but am hopeful that they find ways to win again and up to 4-2 and stay atop of the NFC East!

I've been watching the MLB Playoffs too and just saw the Giants beat the Braves. Congrats Giants! If I had to choose a World Series I'd like to see most- it would be the Rangers vs. Giants. I think that would be a fun matchup to watch and that Josh Hamilton's story from addiction to glory would be a great thing to witness.

For the 4 NFL games next weekend that I'll go for with predictions for these games:

Indianapolis Colts @ Washington Redskins: Hate to say it, but I think the Colts are gonna be hungry to get their first road win of the season- here's to hoping I'll be wrong with this pick!

Oakland Raiders @ San Francisco 49ers: Raiders(as long as Alex Smith stays in, they don't seem to have much hope left in the season)

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots: Pats(I think having a bye week is going to help them prepare for the Ravens D)

Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles: Falcons(They are a for real 4-1 team and I can see them lasting pretty good into the playoffs)

One last thing to end this column, if there's one word to put you in a better mood........YAHTZEE!!!!!!!!!!!! hehe :D



Marky Mark

The Furby Farabee- 10/11/10

Week 5 turned out to be a crazy week. We no longer have any unbeaten teams in the NFL The experts i'm sure are kicking themselves for saying that the cowboys would be the first team ever to make a super bowl played in their home stadium, with a record of 1-3 as we have just eclipsed the quarter mark of the season, its looking highly unlikely.

There is nothing normal about this NFL season has gone thus far. usually by week 5 the playoff picture begins to shape ever so slightly, just enough to were we can tell what teams have no chance, what teams have a 50/50 and what teams have a great chance. This season however, that is not the case. If the 1st quarter of the season is any indication on what the remaining 12 weeks have in store, its going to be one of the craziest seasons in the history of the NFL. There is no one team dominating the league right now, teams that should have lost, have won and vise versa.

The NHL season is officially a week old, nothing of note has happened yet as it is still way to early.

The NBA preseason is underway, while i personally do not care for the NBA (And havent for many years) for the topic of conversation I will say this....It will be interesting to see what adjustments teams have made in the off season, and hopefully come June we will have someone other then the Lakers representing the Western Conference

MLB Post-season is in full swing, and I'm glad the braves are done!

NASCAR's Chase for the cub is nearing the final races of the season. Saturday night they will be rockin and rollin down in Concord, NC for the Bank of America 500 will Jimmie Johnson continue to lead the chase? Or Will Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick continue to give Johnson a run for his money? Anything can happen.

College Football is nearing its halfway mark as well, however just like the NFL it has been a topsey turvey season there as well. Alabama's lost this week really caused a shakeup in the standings, while there are still a few more weeks before the BCS standings begin, how teams are rated in the AP and Coaches top 25 polls most certainly affect the "computers" rating of them.

4 down...12 to go.

The Houston Texans are in first place in the AFC South while the Colts share second place with the Jaguars. The Kansas City Chiefs are the only undefeated team in football. The Chicago Bears are in first place in the NFC North after Jay Cutler led the Bears past Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The St. Louis Rams are tied for first in the NFC West and look like the only team that can compete in that division.

If you said, “I called that in the offseason” to any of the above statements, you’re lying. We are 25% of the way through the season and man has it been a good one. There have been plenty of surprises, some a little more heart breaking than others. As much as I love college football, Gators fan through and through; parity is what makes the NFL far superior to the NCAA. If you look at a College football teams schedule you can tally the W’s and L’s and bet money you will be right within 1 win of the actual W-L record. The NFL is a whole different animal. The Lions are 0-4 and have managed to contend in every single one of those losses. You can’t deny that what makes the NFL so special is because the old adage, “Any Given Sunday” holds true, while college football is probably the most predictable sport.

The AFC South is most likely the biggest shock. What do you think of when you mention the AFC South? Peyton Manning. Period. Love him or hate him, Peyton Manning is the epitome of the QB position. For the last 7 or so years, Peyton Manning winning the division was automatic. It could be a struggle for the Colts this year. Manning is averaging a ridiculous 341.25 passing yards per game with 11 TDs to 1 INT and a 112.2 passer rating, and the Colts are still tied for second place. Matt Schaub was a nice story. Stuck behind Mike Vick in Atlanta, Schaub was traded so he could get his chance to start. It was a rocky start to his tenure in Houston but management was smart. They stuck with Schaub and gave him the chance to grow with his teammates and it has paid off. Did you ever think you would turn on ESPN and hear that the Texans orchestrated a miraculous comeback to beat ANYBODY? Now they are beating NFC East teams? Since when? The Texans are 3-1, the Colts, Titans and Jags are tied for second at 2-2. This division race is going to be a knock down drag out fight until the end.

The reason I feel the Texan being in first place in the South is slightly, just slightly more impressive than the Chiefs being the only remaining undefeated team left in the league is very simple. Peyton Manning aside, the balance of power is shifting in the AFC West. The Raiders are obviously still garbage, no debating that. The Broncos can’t decide if they want to win or lose each week. When they want to win, the Broncos are scary…when they want to win. When the Broncos are looking bad, they are looking BAD! The Chargers are going to have a rough season this year. The Chargers have scored 113 points to opponents 71, but the Chargers are 2-2 for a reason. The Chargers blew out both the Cardinals and the Jaguars combining for 79pts in both game, but put up a measly combined 34pts in games against the Chiefs and the Seahawks. Philip Rivers still looks phenomenal but is obviously missing Vincent Jackson. The Chargers need to sign Jackson or trade him and get something for him. Jackson is sitting on the bench instead of padding Rivers’ stats. The Chiefs are looking solid. Jamaal Charles is a stud and I don’t think anyone is surprised that Thomas Jones is still a top notch starting half back. The surprise has been the Chiefs D. They have been putting the pieces into place but everyone, including myself, doubted the Chiefs. We all could look very stupid come week 17. It’s still early, but the Chiefs are looking more and more like contenders and less and less like pretenders.

The only thing that has shocked me in the AFC North is the fact that the Steelers have played four games without their 2 time Superbowl Champion QB, and they are 3-1 and tied for first place with the Ravens. As much as I hate to say it, this year’s Steelers are great for football. In today’s high-flying elite offense NFL, it’s nice to see defense still dictates the W-L columns. The Bengals are 2-2, but just like last year are MAYBE a 9-7 team, that misses the playoffs this year. I’m worried for the Ravens fans. Their defense is for real, as usual, but their offense is disappointing thus far. The Ravens acquired Anquan Boldin and TJ Houshmandzadeh to help the offensive numbers explode. So far all they have done is implode. Their only impressive outing was against the the most unimpressive team for the last 20 years. They dismantled a pathetic Browns team coached by the most overhyped Belichick protégé ever. Mangini was anointed the next big thing before he coached his first game in the NFL, now we all see he is a joke. Mangini is coaching for his job next year, which will be a coordinator job somewhere.

The AFC East is, well, dominant. The only team that has beat the Patriots is the team they share a 3-1 first place record with. I will be the first to admit I was a Mark Sanchez doubter before his rookie year began and I still think he has a LOT to prove, but man is he having a monster year so far. The Jets are dismantling every team they play and are looking like favorites to head to the AFC Championship game for a second year in a row. Talk all the trash you want about Rex Ryan, he has this team stomping opponents into the dirt. The Dolphins are again a mediocre team and the Bills, unsurprisingly sit in the cellar at 0-4. The shock in this division has to be the trading of Randy Moss. Please allow me a moment to quote Deion Sanders, “Are you CRAZY?” They must be. Moss is a #1 wide receiver on ANY team in this league. Let me repeat that with a little more clarity. Stick Moss on ANY roster in this league, the Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Cowboys, Colts, Packers, Falcons or Saints. Randy Moss is automatically the best player on the field. Period. Better the Chad “I’m an egotistical moron” Johnson (I refuse to call him the O name), better than either Steve Smith, Roddy White, Terrell Owens, Greg Jennings, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, ANYONE! Randy Moss is phenomenal and from what I have seen has never shown signs in New England of any of the issues he has been accused of in the past. Randy Moss traded to the Vikings = STUPID.

Say what you want about the Skins, but are we really surprised they are in first place in the NFC East? The Giants are 2-2 but have been outscored by opponents 72-88. The Giants D played well against the Bears shaky O-Line, but no one fears that defense anymore. Couple with the fact that the Giants run game is sorry, they will be lucky to finish above 3rd place. The Eagles gave up probably the most successful QB they have ever had for an unproven backup and a running back trying to prove he can play quarterback in this league. The Cowboys are what they are. The Cowboys have an enormous payroll, an enormously disappointing W-L record and a pathetically small margin in the pts for-against columns (54-53). The Cowboys are terrible and it’s easy to see why. The offense put up big numbers everywhere except the scoreboard. So much for Dallas playing a Superbowl in their home stadium.

Are you surprised the Vikings are 1-2 and sit deservedly in 3rd place? I’m not. Brad Childress should be ashamed of himself for allowing Favre to sit out all offseason. Favre should be embarrassed that he elected to sit. Favre was only in his second season with the Vikings so offseason work outs are important. Not just for Favre, but for his young receivers. Now that his primary targets are injured he has to make do with the back-ups he has had no practice with because he sat out all offseason. Oh, wait, the Vikes just traded for Randy Moss. Scratch the whole beginning to this paragraph because the Vikes just made the playoffs. The Bears look great, but it won’t last. The O-Line is weak and their receivers are unproven. The Bears will finish with a respectable record because their D but will miss the playoffs because their offense. The Packers will make the playoffs be it as division winner or wild card, but it will happen. Aaron Rodgers is too phenomenal to miss the playoffs. The Lions deserve credit for being 0-4, but having played well enough to reach 3-1 had things gone their way. Long season ahead for Lions fans.

The NFC South is a two team division. The Panthers are awful and are placing their fate in the hands of a rookie when they don’t have a team to help him along. The Bucs, in my opinion, have shown signs of progress but will still be a sub-.500 team for a few more years. The Falcons are just playing phenomenal. The Falcons could be 4-0 if a couple defenders could learn how to tackle Rashard Mendenhall. To follow that up with a win over New Orleans and you are making a strong case for winner of the NFC South. The Saints offense has had a slow start, but that’s ok because their defense is playing hard. The Saints will break the “Madden Curse,” they WILL be in the playoffs, and could be headed to Dallas for a repeat trip to the Superbowl.

I really don’t need to say much about the NFC West. There is really no surprise that the whole division is trash. The Niners have the best roster in the division, but have managed to play the worst out of any of the four teams comprising that division. The Seahawks showed flashes of brilliance but have stalled early and will miss the playoffs. The Cardinals lost their Hall of Fame QB and it has showed over the first four games. They are bad. No other way to word it, BAD. The Rams are tied for first place against two teams who are clearly inferior to the lowly Rams. The Niners are winless and are 2 games out of first place. With a division this bad, are you surprised the 1-15 Rams could become a playoff team this year?

The MDB Mania- 9/29/10

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend, even if some games didn't turn out the way you hoped it would....I'll get into that a little later

I decided to go to a preseason hockey game last night with one of my best friends Alex since he mentioned the idea last week. Figured why not do something fun on a Tuesday night, so we went to DC for a Bruins/Capitals game and had a good time. What was a neat moment was during the game, me and Alex moved from the upper level down to the lower one, and met him with his mom and one of the Capitals star players Alexandar Semin, his mom. Her and Alex's mom are actually really good friends so I met her and also met Alexandar Ovechkin's dad as well too at the game...go figure!

I thought I'd do a first on here, and post a video exclusively for the blog from the arena....so here it goes! Sorry if the PA guy had to be a rude ball and try to talk over me here at times lol :D



Here's a few pics I took at the same game:







One more thing from the game.....you can't go wrong to get ready for a hockey season without a....HOCKEY FIGHT! ;)




All I can say about that Redskins game vs. the Rams this past Sunday was yeah......pretty bad. The thing about it is their offense didn't look that bad and McNabb played good, but the 3-4 defense has been really awful the last 2 games. I know that Sam Bradford is going to be a good QB in the years to come, but in his 3rd game of his NFL career, he shouldn't of been torching a team's defense already like he did to the Skins. Its weird since you'd think about how they shut down the Cowboys in the opening game of the season that the defense would have a great season, but ever since the Texans started the comeback last week to be the Redskins- its like as if the defense just started to lose any momentum from the Dallas game that they had

I watched the Dolphins and Bears games as well and they were both good games to watch. The odd trend I noticed with our favorite teams(Mines-Skins, Krista-Dolphins, & Jenn-Bears) was how each of our teams would start out a game trailing by double digits(14-0 deficits for Skins and Fins, and 10-0 deficit for the Bears). For a little while- I thought that there was going to be a "Curse of the BlogBino" for all our teams after this blog got started up last week lol. Good thing for the Bears that they prevented that from happening and were able to pull it out from the Packers. I thought with how Aaron Rodgers was driving the ball late in the game that the Packers were going to pull it out, but Urlacher made a great play on defense with stripping the football out of Packers WR James Jones's hands and gave the Bears a chance to win the game which they took advantage of. I have a feeling the NFC North race is gonna go down to the wire until the last week of the season

The games next weekend look like they will be interesting. McNabb returning to play against the Eagles......will the Bears & Steelers go 4-0? The Skins game at Philly will be a big game for Washington if they want to get some needed positive energy going. Vick has been playing lights out the last 2 weeks, but this will be his first divisional opponent he plays this season so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. If the Redskins actually beat Philly on Sunday and go improve to a "2-2" record, then I will post a picture of me wearing a TuTu- lol I'm being serious too :D I would be encouraged to see Donovan beat his former team though and their fans since I always thought the city of Philly treated him so bad. I know he didn't win them a Super Bowl, but you can't deny the fact that he took them to so many playoff games and NFC Title games and he is a good QB

I went 0-4 in my picks last week so not the best start but here's the 4 handpicked games of the weekend to pick from for winners:

Washington Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles- My pick: Redskins(but if the Eagles win, its not going to surprise me)
Chicago Bears at NY Giants- My pick: Bears(Giants have been looking undisciplined and not playing well as a team the last few weeks)
New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins- My pick: Patriots
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers- My pick: Go Steelers(beat those Ratbirds! as my Uncle and diehard Steeler fan would say ;)

Thats all for this latest column from me, but am so happy to see this becoming a good place for all sports chat and friends to chit chat at! Great posts before me from Jenn the last few days(great work girl! :), and her sis Krista will soon join along with us, and looking forward to reading their future upcoming posts on here as well. Also would like to welcome my friends Fred, Jerry and Alex on joining the blog as commenters on our columns if they'd like to share any options to what me, Jenn and Krista write- as well as write guest columns from time to time(For ex, Fred doing a football column & Alex doing a hockey one from time to time). Things are looking on the up! Take care everybody :)

Marky Mark

NFL Top 4 picks...

Actually Mark, I am going to go with the Redskins as well. Krista, you're truely my sister but this week it's all about the J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS, WHOO!!!! And as I was telling Mark the other day, I am still not over our Monday night loss to your little fishies in '85 to screw up our perfect season...and yes, I know it's been decades, WHAT EVER!!! Ahhh, HELLO!!! Bears, thank you very much!! And finally, the Saints will go marching home with a win....

Sports...what else?? College Football Baby!

Ok, let me just tell you all right now that I am just a fan and the teams that I like have meaning to me but will make no sense to the rest of the world.

For starters, Go Gators! Thats for my bf, who went to Florida, please Florida, move up in the polls this week, I don't like seeing you in 8th and 9th place. Go Badgers! At least you're near the top ten...I like that! Rock Chalk Jay Hawk, GO KU! I like that the coach is taking away your cell phones before the game, there is no need to be tweeting when it's 4th and goal and you are most likely trailing...we all know that basketball is where its at in Lawrence but lets show them we can play football there as well! Oh, and one last thing, can someone out there please explain to me how Ohio State is ranked 2nd?? They are the most overrated team in college football. When was the last time they had a really hard schedule and won a ligit title?? Enlighten me, please!

Now on to baseball...REALLY NY??? Can you please explain to me how the friggin Devil Rays are tied for first?? NOT COOL!! And down with the SF Giants!

And finally, the NFL....DA BEARS!!! Please beat the Pack on Monday Night Football when Zoe is watching the game with me, talking a bunch of smack on how they always beat us!! Channel some old school players, like Bronco Nagurski, Walton Payton (God rest his soul), and some other greats! Lets not forget that the last time I checked, Da Bears, have more Hall of Famers than any other NFL team!!! And thank you God for letting the 49ers lose again...please keep this streak going so I don't have to listen to their fans all season....

The MDB Mania- 9/24/10- The Debut Column

-Even Teddy Roosevelt is a new fan of the blog hehe :D


Hey everyone!

Welcome to the 1st post in whats going to be a very fun new blog to be a part of. I'll be sharing this blog along with my sports buddies(and sisters by blood ;) Jenn & Krista. This will be our sanctuary for all things sports and whatever else is up on our minds good and bad. On my side of things, my columns will be called the "MDB Mania". Now your wondering.....what the F does MDB mean lol- its the initals in my name(Mark David Bodek) so I figure I'll go with that

I had a good summer overall and did some fun sporting events while at it. I went to some Nationals baseball games in DC earlier in the summer before it got humid and uncomfy outside. Unfourtanately I missed all of Strasburg's games live, but sounds like he's gonna be another Mark Prior which is too bad since he was bringing alot of needed pub for the Nats. Hopefully the kid gets good surgery in the offseason and can recover from it and become an all star for the years to come

Lucky for me, since I live in the hometown where the Washington Redskins headquarters are in(Ashburn,VA)- during training camp season, Im able to drive only like a 3 mile ride over to their place. I only went once this year though since most of their practices would be early in the morning(I need my damn sleep too you know lol), but one time they had an afternoon practice on a Sunday and it was only 75 degrees, which for mid August is really comfy. I went ahead and checked out Donovan McNabb in his new uni and snaped a small vid:



I also went back up to New York City again in mid August to visit my older brother Erek, who lives out in Queens/Astoria,NY, and it was great seeing him again and catching up with him as well as enjoy the spirit of NYC. It was a fun trip and was able to go down to New Jersey a few times as well to meet up with my close friends Dawn Marie and Michele(Krista knows who they are through her friend Gail) I went down for a preseason game with the Pittsburgh Steelers(my #2 team behind the Redskins) and the NY Giants at the new Meadowlands stadium. The new stadium was pretty nice- had alot of HD screens all around the new digs and we got lucky with great seats considering how high up we were. Better then nothing right!










On Labor Day weekend- I went up the Redskins atadium to check out the Boise State/Virginia Tech college football primetime game on that Labor Day night. My friend that I went with to the game always is boasting nonstop to me about VA Tech, which made seeing them lose to Boise alot more enjoyable lol. That game was so fun and so loud too!







The NFL Season has been interesting so far and its only week 3! Even though they lost to the Texans last Sunday after having a 17 point lead, I still feel a hell lot better about my team then I did this time last year. I remember when they were 1-1 last year when beating the Rams at home- the fans booed since they looked awful in beating a bad Rams teams, and sure enough- last season was one of the most embarassing years ever to be a Redskin fan. Thankfully this year things are getting back to place with Coach Mike Shanahan and the new GM Bruce Allen to bringing respectiblity back to the burgandy and gold. How great was that opening night SNF game vs the Cowboys? OMG I was lol'ing alot when Dallas lost the way they did, and how alot of the Cowboy fans were shut up that night after talking so much smack about how their team will win the Super Bowl in Dallas....so far 0-2 and playing at Houston this Sunday......With me being a Redskins fan- I hate the Cowboys more then Jenn hates the Dolphins for beating the Bears on MNF in 1985 hehe ;) Thats how much I dislike Dallas!

I really hope they decide to do 18 game regular seasons in the future. 4 preseason games are too much and boring, I know it'll make the injuries and tolls on bodies go up- but if the NFL wants to make more money- its the thing they gotta do

I love the taste of Mug or A&W root beer........mmmmmmmmm :P

There should be a way to play awesome background music & activate slow motion after you've just completed something totally awesome

I'm thinking about a new fun idea on here where we all pick winners for the 4 key NFL games of the week, as well as a college football or a MLB game of the week, here's the games we can from for this week:

Washington Redskins at St. Louis Rams - my pick: Redskins
New York Jets at Miami Dolphins - my pick: Dolphins
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears - my pick:Packers(sorry lol)
Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints - my pick:Saints

For all the visitors of the new page- my 2 co-horts on here

-Jenn Sereque

-Krista Brennan

In case if anyone wonders how I started becoming close with them, I met Krista at the Wrestlers Rescue dinner in New Jersey 2 years ago and sat at the same table with her and her friends, and have been good friends with her ever since




The blog title stands for 3 different teams. Skins(Washington Redskins- my team), Fins(Miami Dolphins- Krista's team), and Bears(Chicago Bears- Jenn's team). I'm 26 going on 27 soon and been a Skins fan my whole life and remember the heyday of the 80s and 90s when the Skins were the team to beat. Both Jenn & Krista are sisters who grew up with the Bears teams of the mid 80s including the Super Bowl Shuffle team of 1985

Hope you all enjoyed the first post here on our new Skins, Fins, & Bears...Oh My! blog :) Its a work in progress, but lets make this a fun and happening place!

Marky Mark