Forget Planking. Tebowing is sweeping the plant.

We have all witnessed the internet sensation that is known as planking. Some find it funny, others find it idiotic. People have actually died because they fell while planking believe it or not. Pretty intense stuff. Unfortunately, like all trends, they become old news at some point and pave the way for a newer, more phenomenal fad.

Lucky for all of us, Tebowing is the new internet sensation. A great example of Tebowing is the picture below of Denver Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller joining the cult like fad.

The concept apparently started with a group of friends watching the Broncos comeback this past Sunday. They noticed as everyone on the Denver sideline was jumping up and down and celebrating the win, Tebow was in a prayer-like position on his knee. The friends decided to take a picture of themselves doing the pose, and it has become an incredible internet phenomenon.

It is a very simple pose to perfect, and because of this it has already been done by people from the age of 2 to the age of 60. It has been captured in operating rooms, by beer pong tables, in a radio station, on a putting green, and even in the Denver Broncos practice facility as shown above.

This blog is very pro-Tebow. I feel that he is not only an unbelievable role model and person, but he is going to be a successful NFL quarterback because he simply will not let himself fail. He is not the most conventional quarterback around, but with an offense designed for his skill set, he can be very difficult to stop for opposing defenses.

Tebow is one of the most popular NFL players, even though he has only played in a few games. People love him, people hate him, but most surely, people love to talk about him. This phase just adds to the flame that is Tim Tebow.

-John

Campaign 2012

Andrew Luck, Quarterback, Standford

In 2012, there will be two major choices that need to be made in the United States. Obviously, the 2012 Presidential Election, and then the most important selection, The NFL Draft, Andrew Luck sweepstakes. This football season so far has been full of signs in the crowd and commentators all shouting the same slogan for their respective teams, "Suck for Luck". Andrew Luck has been signaled by many as one of the most well rounded quarterbacks to enter the NFL Draft but the main question is going to be, Where will he play?

This 2011 NFL season has been interesting to say the least. Through 7 weeks, we have one undefeated and major standout team in the Green Bay Packers. We have some elite teams like the Saints, Patriots, and Ravens. We have teams that we don't know what to make of them, such as the Lions (5-2; 2 losses in consecutive weeks), Cowboys (Romo-Problems), Jets (0-3 on the road), and the Texans (who can just never seem to figure it out in consecutive weeks). Then we have teams like the Rams, Dolphins, and Colts, who are just terrible. These are the teams we will go through for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.

Rams (0-6; NFC West) Last year finished 7-9, and just missed the playoffs. The 2010 #1 overall pick Sam Bradford has been a fairly decent quarterback in his first year and a half in the league. He has been dubbed the "Franchise Quarterback", so you cannot imagine the Rams holding onto the #1 pick in this draft and selecting Andrew Luck. You don't want to pick someone else at #1 (barring injury to Luck) and let him fall into the lap of the next team. You would assume they would trade the pick away. A team like the Dolphins, Broncos (Tebow-factor could knock them out of the picture), or Chiefs, could all use someone of Lucks caliber.

Dolphins (0-6; AFC East) Last year finished 7-9, this year the only thing they are playing for is Andrew Luck. The Dolphins are in absolute shambles. They were talked about in the offseason as possibly having a top tier defense. After 7 weeks, they have the 21st ranked pass defense, and 20th ranked run defense. Top-tier? No. The Tony Sparano saga is very clearly coming to a close, and the season of Chad Henne came crashing down two weeks ago. Miami seems like it may be a the leader in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes through 7 weeks.

Colts (0-7; AFC South) Last year finished 10-6 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. I said the Dolphins may be the leader in the sweepstakes, but then again, the Colts are awful. This year, the only reason the city Indianapolis is coming up in postseason talks is because it is the site of this years Super Bowl. Obviously, this year's stats for the Colts are out of whack because of the injury to Peyton Manning, but still, the show goes on. The Colts rank 27th in passing yards, and 25th in rushing yards. I should also mention the Colts just lost to the Saints 62-7, this past Sunday night. Luck to the Colts could be a great thing, both for the Colts and for Luck. Who knows how much longer Manning will hold the reigns in Indy. Look at Aaron Rodgers, arguably the best quarterback in the game right now, he sat behind Brett Favre and learned from the legend for years. What better way for Luck to adapt to the NFL by learning from a quarterback that will go down in history as one of the best of all-time.

The rest of this 2011 season should be fairly exciting. Even if there are not too many stellar teams this year, there are plenty of bad ones that should make the race for Andrew Luck exciting all the way down to the finish.

--Nick

Sports. Girls. Anger.

As a person who can get extremely bothered by very little comments or situations, it is very important that I am aware of triggers that affect my personality. I am a person of many pet peeves, but to make matters worse, I let these issues ruin entire days, sometimes even weeks. I probably shouldn't let the fact that someone is wearing two different socks, and knows it, bother me. But guess what... It does! Is it so hard to fold your socks when they get out of the dryer and not just jumble them into your underwear drawer? The answer is No. This pet peeve of mine, is totally besides the point I am trying to make here, but is definitely something I needed to get off my chest.

Today as I was watching the Packers and Vikings duel it out, I was making my usual social media views (Follow me on Twitter @Nick_Papp), when I came across a Facebook status that definitely caught my mild mannered attention. This person, who happens to be a young woman, will not be named, but her status update read as follows:

Now, If I happened to be having a conversation with this girl, my first area of concern would have to be her spelling. You, my friend, are a college student. Hokey? Really? Hockey, is spelled with a "C". Learn to spell before you try to get people's attentions about you watching a sporting event. This really bothered me, but once again, not the point of this story. 

As of 2010, Chicago was lucky enough to bring home another professional championship. Our first major championship since the 2005 White Sox (although I'd rather not talk about it). In 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, by beating the Philadelphia Flyers. During this championship run, as expected, all of the city jumped on the bandwagon. That is fine, in fact, I encourage cities rooting for their teams during times like that. Now, about a year and a half after hoisting the cup, there are many people... many girls, who think they are the biggest Blackhawks fans/hockey (or Hokey) fans in the world. Today I am going to show you 2 of the reasons why girls hopped on the bandwagon in the first place, and the reasons they are still holding onto it today. 

Jonathan Toews (left) and Patrick Sharp (right) in deep conversation

These two strapping gentlemen, are Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. And I put all of the blame on them, along with few others, for the reason I have to listen to stupid hockey (or Hokey) arguments from girls who know nothing about sports. I can't tell you how many times I have heard comments such as, "...like all hockey (or Hokey) players are hot", or "...OMG, I have been watching hockey (Hokey) since I was like 5", or "why do the refs break up pushing in other sports?". First, I don't watch sports to see attractive men sweat. Second, No you have not been watching hockey all your life, if you were 5 in 2010, then touche. Third, refs break up fights to keep some class in American sports. As much as I would have loved to see someone deck Lebron James in the face this year, I don't want to ruin the integrity of the games. Hockey (or Hokey) fights are great, but lets keep the flying fists on the ice and off the hardwood or turf.

Stupidity is one of my biggest pet peeves, and unfortunately, thats a major part of all women's sports related arguments. If you don't know whats going on, keep it to yourself, or ask during commercials. Don't interrupt me with stupidity as I am watching a Tom Brady two-minute drill, or bracing for a Derrick Rose breakaway slam.

Lastly, do not think I am attacking women with sports opinions. That's not what I am doing... completely. If you know what you are saying, Fine. Give me your opinions, join the conversations. But, being a person who gets angered by small things, this is something I needed to say, especially knowing that a lot of men feel the same way. My main arguments in this post are obviously a Chicago-based problem, but I am sure other people can relate no matter what city you're in.

--Nick

Spart of the Moment..

For years, collegiate football has been the younger sibling to the dominant business that we know and love as the National Football League. It is a sport that is hard to have a real connection to with so many universities present and the constant revolving door of players to come in and out every 4 (sometimes 3) years.

Lucky for sports fans all across America, college football gave us a night to remember this weekend. We were able to see two of the most historically rich programs clash in South Bend, Indiana. The schools have a combined 1,607 wins, 22 claimed national titles, and 13 Heisman trophy winners (not including Reggie Bush's vacated award). No matter how anyone feels about these two schools, there is simply no denying the impact that this rivalry has on the college football world. Unfortunately, this prime time showdown took a backseat to arguably the best college football game we have seen in years.

Everyone has seen the unbelievable play that ended the Wisonsin-Michigan State game on Saturday night, so I will spare you all from a game review. A spectacular deflection into the waiting hands of Spartan receiver Keith Nichol for the winning score. The play had to be reviewed and was actually reversed to give Sparty the touchdown. It was an unbelievable sport moment that proved once again that there is no show or movie with more drama than in the world of sports.

Unfortunately, for as great of an ending as we witnessed, we also witnessed why college football is a sport that simply cannot be taken seriously. Wisconsin might as well get ready for basketball season now, because their season is completely over. Any chance they had to play for the National Championship is out the window, and the fact that this is the case is, for lack of better words, a joke. Teams mess up. It happens to even the best.

The NCAA needs to realize that even the die hard fans are at the point of no return with college football. A lucky play like we saw on Saturday, simply should not determine a team's season.

We might even see multiple teams finish unbeaten this year, yet we will only crown one of them the champion of Divison 1-A football. If anyone can explain how this even makes some sense, I would love to hear it. Teams like Boise State, Stanford, Houston all could finish unbeaten and find themselves left out of the "Championship Game".

So please NCAA, lets fix this problem ASAP before we simply stop caring.

-John

Welcome/Just Give Up

Welcome to my Pappas Blog. I understand this is a terrible name, which is why I took the initiative of adding a nice little TBD up by the name. I decided to make a blog page while studying for a Finance test, and unfortunately, all my creative juices are flowing towards Finance at the moment and not towards writing blog entries. So I figure I can give some quick details about the blog, and a fast entry. This blog will feature everything from television, movies and sports, all the way to the countless lessons I learn from being a college student. So here is a quick post during my ten minute study break.

    As i was reading a message board for my class, looking for the answer to a question that was giving me a panic attack, I came across this post:

    Now, I dont know if I am just slap-happy from being up all night, or if this is actually as funny to me as it seemed when i read it the first time. I will decide later. Anyway, whenever a post starts with the phrase, "I have pretty much accepted that I have no hope on this exam...", I am just going to go ahead and assume that what I am about to read is going to make me laugh at someones misfortunes. As terrible as it sounds (you will find out from reading my entries), I get absolutely jacked up when people experience problems. 

    Here's a Free Tip kid, do not complain about not understanding school work on a public message board. As a college student, you are between the ages of 18-23, give or take, and you should have realized by now that nobody cares about anyones problems outside of their families, or some close friends. That's the world we live in.

--Nick