Endless Ducker - Dude Perfect

It's been awhile since I posted a review of the latest Dude Perfect video but better late than never.

While it's not the latest video from the the five Texas buddies it is is their latest BATTLE...22nd Battle competition overall. SPOILER ALERT: However all you Coby Cotton fans, he is still winless in DudePerfect Battles. Coby has officially become the Phil Mickelson of battles as his current record stands at 0-22 with seven second place finishes. Poor Coby! He'll win one of these days - hopefully it's not before

Endless Ducker is the third iPhone game for DudePerfect (after their first two basketball ones) and it centers around "The Tall Man" Cody Jones, who at 6'6" has to constantly worry about bumping his head into everything and anything! The object is simple...although the game is not...make Cody duck and jump under obstacles. The longer he runs the more points you get.

(I have played this game and can attest it is hard. I have not got over 30 and Panda - cue Desiigner's "Panda"  - gets me all the time.)

Because it's his game and he's in it. Cody starts us off but he's not as good at iPhone games as he is at sports receiving at wopping eight points. Codes, stick to Dizzy Sports. However, Garrett in his green shirt which makes me look like he's floater against a "green screen" lowers the bar for his teammates taking a drone to the face for four points. But he did come up with an idea for a new game. How about it "Endless Limbo?"

"The Battle Master" Ty, who leads the entire team with 10 Battle wins - what a show-off, slides into the hot seat and immediately becomes the new leader. I mean it wasn't hard. Eight is pretty easy to reach before being taken out by the flying football helmet.

But 11 points seems pretty comfortable for Ty with the Twins coming to the plate right? I mean Coby "is not winning this thing" as Garrett likes to proclaim at least once every battle. Or is he?

In surprise to us all Coby stays alive long enough to reach 26 points is in the leader after round one after staving of his twin brother Cory, who was ready to knock him off reaching 23. Sorry Cor, better luck next time.

And he did have have better luck in his second and final round, edging out his brother to win just his second Battle. If you remember Cory's first Battle win was in the first iPhone Game Battle last summer. Coby is once again left without a trophy.

Will he ever win a Battle or will he go down "as the "Greatest Trick Shooter to Never Win a Battle?" Keep watching more DudePerfect videos and try their new game "Endless Ducker" out for yourself.

Recap of DudePerfect's Latest Water Bottle Flip Shot Video

Monday evening DudePerfect uploaded their newest trick-shot video and I do have to say it is one of the best of 2016. It rivals their trick-shot from earlier this year when they made a video with their new nerf toy line.

Everything from this newest video is outstanding from the music, using The Score’s “Unstoppable,” to the concept. Not many people can create dozens of tricks with a simple water bottle and make it fun on top of that. It even features Garrett and Tyler going head-to-head, literally, in a game called “Flip or Smash.”

It opens up with the five buddies from Texas A&M flipping five water bottles over in unison on their ping-pong table in the original DudePerfect Headquarters. Wonder how many it tries it took them before they were successful and Twin #1, Coby Cotton gets so overamped up for the video and brushes all the bottles on the floor before continuing to celebrate with his buddies.

Here’s the down-low of the tricks from the Water Bottle Flip Edition:

The Cupholder Flip (Cody) – Pretty sweet as Cody climbed up to the top of the DPHQ and flipped a water bottle over the edge of the building, through the sunroof in his car and into the cupholder in the center console. Great way to open up the video, Tall Man!

The Golden Play Button Flip (Ty) – Probably one of the more impressive shots of the video. Stand about 20 feet away from the team’s award from YouTube for one million views, the leader of the bunch flips a water bottle onto the top left corner of the frame. After he was done celebrating he did it again but this time from only  a foot a way and backwards. Can’t forget to give a shout-out to Twin #2, Cory Cotton, who was instrumental in helping Ty achieve this by straightening out the frame before the shot and helping Ty celebrate after. Great job Cory!

Double Water Bottle Flip (Panda) – Only regular size water bottle flip  in the video. But it’s great because it’s Panda who did it!  

Big Bottle Truck Flip (Garrett) – Two trick shots in one! After introducing the shot, Garrett flips the big water jug into a trash can but then quickly corrects us saying that wasn’t the shot. The actual shot was Garrett sitting in the flat-bed of the pick-up and flipping the jug onto the top of the upside-down barrel that read “Don’t Mess With Texas.” The trick shot was good but the comedy between Garrett and Cody was even better. Garrett, you should have let Codes do some doughnuts in celebration!

Flip or Smash (Garrett and Ty) – Six sugar glass bottles – three green and three brown – sitting on the table next to Garrett and Ty. The object of the game is to flip the water bottle and land it. But if it falls your opponent gets to smash one of your sugar glass bottles over your head. Three strikes and you’re out. If you have none left, you lose! Who do you think will win?

The Reverse Cap Flip (Cody) – Opens with Cody sitting in Garrett and Ty’s office trying to the water bottle to stand upside on the cap. However, the two usual inhabitants of the office slide the door and unbeknownst to the Tall Man, who is sitting with his back to the door, Ty comes up behind him and “scares the living daylights out of him.” Direct quote!  In addition to his post-flip celebration and the degree of difficulty, Codes took a relative “boring” trick and made it one of the bests.

The Up-And-Over (Coby) – On of the few shots that include Coby. But don’t worry Cobes; we still love ya! Love the creativeness with a ladder and landing the water bottle on the top. The degree of difficultly had to be enormous judging by the height and the relative small platform to land it on. You can see in the shot it almost did not stay on the top of the ladder.

Flip and Smash – Garrett loses again

The Super High Skinny Rail Flip (Ty) – When you think they he can’t out-do himself, he surprises you yet again. This one takes place in the new, currently in progress of being built, DPHQ2. Standing at the beneath a very high staircase, Ty flips the bottle up as it lands perfectly on the skinny railing. He makes everything looking simple!

The Double-Double Jug (Cody and Coby) – Sometimes we all need a little break. Panda did the regular double-double water bottle flip now Cody and Twin #1 have their shot flipping two water cooler jugs with relative ease. Celebration points with Cobes drinking the water without spilling a drop. Impressive!

Interview Advice (Garrett) – Sitting at a table a long conference table with seven hockey pucks in front of him, Garrett brings a little seriousness to the video but only to set up the next trick. He sets himself apart from the rest of the job candidates by flipping the bottle onto the stack of pucks before getting up and walking away. Nothing says confidence like a “drop the mic” reference in a video!

The Skateboarding Swisher (Cody and Cory) – Cody uses his long board, DP nerf hoop and his good buddy Cory for this next shot. Props the creative-ness and execution. Not only flawlessly executed but the celebration was “un-Cody-like.” The usual, loud and boisterous tall member of the group took a moment of zen.

Flip and Smash – Ty finally loses!

The Backwards Stick Flip (Ty) – Kind of low-key for Ty as we always expecting him to do something flashy and great. In the DPHQ2 he skates backwards and methodically flips a water bottle from a hockey stick onto a folding table. But that’s not the most ironic thing. The normally loud in celebration Ty was just quiet. It was quiet “Boom” celebration from the bearded guy.

15 in a Row (Cory) – In the old DPHQ Twin #2 flips over one water bottle 15 times without fail. The post-trick celebration was the usual reaction for such a feat because you know the first few times they attempted this trick Cory got to like 13 before missing the next one and having to start all over. But I do love his “Airplane” celebration!

Flip and Smash – Garrett’s making a comeback! Ty losses again as they are each down to their last sugar glass bottle.

The Chippy Holer (Cody and Coby) – Cody does a nice job of incorporating the Gentlemen’s Game – golf – into the video by standing atop a high-stool and chipping a “Fiji” water bottle into the closest hole on the putting green. Not easy! A+ for the idea, execution and sportsmanship!

Flip and Smash – The pressure’s mounting between Garrett and Ty. You can see it building in Garrett’s face and posture while Ty remains even keel. However, like always Ty wins again.

Front Flip Flipper (Ty) – Ah here it is! I knew there would be a trick with Ty ends the video by flipping head over heels and landing a shot on the table in front of him. Ty is never one to back away from a dangerous challenge and he gets numerous props for landing this trick but still not the best in the video.

As we come to the ever end of the video here’s your top five:

1.     The Golden Play Button (Ty)
2.     The Reverse Cap Flip (Cody)
3.    The Super High Skinny Rail Flip (Ty)
4.    The Chippy Holer (Cody and Cory)
5.    Interview Advice (Garrett)

Be sure to check back here for some more reviews of Dude Perfects’ next video. 

AFC Championship Game: Gronkowski vs Broncos' DBs

We are still only five days away from the 17^th edition of the Brady-Manning Bowl with the chance to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, February 7^th. Today the talk revolved around Rob Gronkowski and Denver Broncos’ defensive backs.

Bronco cornerback Chris Harris told Business Insider reporter Cork Gaines “you gotta hit him low, man – hit him in the knees.”

That is one terrifying statement to fans across New England. But it is not entirely untrue. The only way to tackle the Patriots tight end is “to go low.” It should not come as much of a shock.

It is physically impossible for one defender to wrap up Gronkowski. And even if said defensive back has help over the top; the second defender may do more harm than good as John Brenkus in ESPN’s Sport Science was demonstrated. While, in theory, having a second player come in to help bring down the big man, he is actually helping Gronkowski as the additional weight counter-balances the initial defender.

In actuality, the only way to bring down “The Gronk” is to go low. However, it does not give defenses the right to attack the knees as Harris mentioned. That is just a cheap-shot and unsportsmanlike although it probably won’t result in the official through the yellow bean-bag for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty.  

Pats fans will have another reason to sit on the edge of their seats on Sunday afternoon. Watching and praying that every time Gronk goes down he gets back up in a reasonable amount of time. We all saw what happened on a nationally televised Sunday night game at the end of November 29th with Gronk down on the ground, writing in agony. 

Although it turned out to be a "minor" deep bone bruise, Pats fans don't want re-live that experience or there will be a long line of people along the Tobin Sunday night. 

Up Next: If the Brady-Manning Bowl were a Television Series

Are We Better in the Cave?

Going through YouTube I came across a Ted-Ed Talk on Plato's cave allegory. Not only did it make me feel as if I was sitting back in Dr. Neal's Classical Political Theory class sophomore year but it sheds a light (no pun intended) on the world we live in today.

But the question is: do we really want to be dragged "kicking and screaming into the light?" Is it necessary to be completely transparent in all aspects? Or do we really want to be in the cave looking at shadows and imaging what the outside is like?

Part of me likes to think "yes I want to know what's going" but the other part of me thinks no there are just some things we don't need to know or shouldn't know. We may be happier if we didn't know that  this was happening. Which is why we shun the "Philosopher King."

Leaders are the ones that puts their staff in the cave, taking the hits so their staff can successfully focus on their job. It's a tireless and thankless job but somebody's got to do it. (Sort of like another job that I know of.) But there are just times when people don't need to know everything. They don't need know how something gets down, just as long as it gets done.

On the contrary, the "Philosopher King" wants to break that mold and "drag us kicking and screaming into the light." But is that really the right thing? Would be better in certain instances being in the cave?

Ignore the Noise & Patriots Opener Reaction

The Patriot are in everyone's head.

And not this is not a statement from a Pats-fan wearing blinders and only thinking of New England. There is a lot of validity to it. When teams enter through the opposition doors of Gillette Stadium, they are paranoid. Thinking Patriots personnel bug the opposing locker room or mess around with the water coolers. Some teams even go as far as searching trash cans for listening devices to disposing of their own trash from the team hotel.

If this what teams are really worried about before the game begins, they are paranoid and by doing so they are only doing their team a disservice and the Patriots. Even if it only takes five minutes to search all the trash cans in the locker room or take their old newspapers out of their hotel room, it is five minutes they can never get back.

Five minutes wasted preparing their own team. Five minutes gone as your team is 24 hours away from playing the defending NFL champion. Wouldn't you want all the time you can get to prepare if your playing a team that just won the championship? I would.

Pre-game tampering is just one thing opposition coaches are paranoid about when they enter One Patriot Place. The other thing is when something minuscule really does go wrong like the headsets along the sideline go out the opposition things the Patriots had something to do with it when in fact those little technological mishap happen each week at different stadiums around the league. Nothing's perfect and nobody's perfect. Things will go wrong. Things will fail from time to time.

So a note to opposing teams coming into Gillette: don't be paranoid. You're not helping yourself.  If you really want to beat the defending champion your full attention needs to be directed at your team.

In the words of Bill Belichick "Ignore the Noise." Ignore the noise and all the outside influences.

On a side note, when Gillette Stadium fans broke into the "Where is Roger?" chant in the fourth quarter, that was not the first "Where is Roger?" chant every chanted in New England. Red Sox fans will remember Game Three of  the 1999 ALCS against the New York Yankees, Sox fans broke into into a "Where is Roger?" directed at Roger Clemens four failing to make it out of the fourth inning against Pedro Martinez. 

Don't Just #DoYourJob but Do Your Job Well

"Do your job."

It's just three words. Three simple words that became the building blocks of the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick. It's true in all aspects of life, if everyone does their job everyone is will benefit. As long as the offensive line picks up their blocks and blocks the guy they are responsible for, will be the difference of Tom Brady completing the pass or falling incomplete. But if one person slips up the chances are very high of Brady ending up on his back so it is important for everyone to "do their job." 

However, to add a little caveat to the saying is something that Belichick ends the trailer of the NFL Network's new behind-the-scenes feature airing on September 9th is the fourth word: Do Your Job, Well. 

Just doing your job is not good enough. Going through the motions is good enough if you strive for mediocrity. But no one out there strives to be "the also ran." Everyone wants to be the last person standing holding that trophy at the end whether it is the Super Bowl or the championship game of your recreation basketball league. The competitive nature is there. 

It's not just good enough to just "do your job." You have to "do your job WELL." 

When you do your job well, there is a sense of pride at the end of it. You really feel like you have made an impact in something, even if it is something small. Many small incremental achievements lead to big time successes. It's a process. It's a process. Nothing happens over night. 

But when you're just in it for the paycheck and going through the motions, that pride is gone. No one wants people who are just simply going to do the work, most people want people who take pride in their work and doing their job well. They get satisfaction in doing their job well not just doing their job. 

I could easily just through rosters, schedules, etc. up on the website, through a story together but I don't get any satisfaction by doing that. There's more pride by adding something to the roster or figuring out a way to add events to a schedule without having it show up on every schedule. It's the process, the struggle and setbacks of a journey that make it fun and the outcome worth it. 

If everything came easy, nothing would be worth it. 

So it's a message to everyone don't just do your job but #DoYourJobWell. 

The Irony of the #IceBucketChallenge

The #IceBucketChallenge has been the biggest social media phenomenon with people dousing themselves with cold ice water to raise awareness as well as money for ALS. It all started with Pete Frates.

By now everyone knows who Pete is. He is the former Boston College baseball player who in the spring 2012 was diagnosed with a death sentence: ALS. But the former Division I athlete was not going to take it lying down, he was going to fight and in the process he was going to raise awareness for the disease. But what not too many people know is that, the day Pete was diagnosed another former Eagle and employee, was already fighting his own battle with the disease.

I use the word irony in the title because the person I'm referring to in the the last sentence long-time Boston College sports information director, Dick Kelley or "DK" everyone affectionately called him. As a sports information director, we spend our time in relative anonymity, allowing others to take the credit and spotlight. It's what we do. We promote others not ourselves. And that is exactly what DK was both in life and now nearly five months - next Wednesday - after his death.

Although baseball was not DK's primary sport, he still knew nearly every student-athlete that came through Boston College and probably talked with Pete every now and then. Heck, he used to sit down with Atlanta Falcons' QB and former Eagle Matt Ryan and talk politics during Ryan's time at BC. So you know DK knew Pete.

Yeah I'm kind of burying the lead here now but you look at what the notoriety Pete's getting for raising awareness of this vicious, horrific disease, you can't help but think: 'this is the way it has to be.' DK never wanted to be in the center of attention.  This is DK saying Pete you take the credit for raising awareness for this disease.

DK was diagnosed with ALS a year prior - officially September of 2011 - but just like Pete, DK was not going to lay down without a fight. He continued to go into the office everyday as well as at the familiar presence along the sidelines at men's basketball games during the 2011-12 academic calendar. From just the average on-looker, you'd never know something was wrong. But just like the disease does. It gradually did it's job and robbed, the once quick-witted amicable man of everything - walking, talking.

The following year, 2012-13, DK was still court-side but this time he was confined to a wheelchair. Over the course of each home game those who knew him, such as good friend and colleague Bobby Bonanno, would come up and talk with him - even if talking was something he was having more and more trouble doing as the days went by. He still was there.And the student-athletes appreciated it.

At the end of the season, when DK was honored with the "US Basketball Writer's Courage Award," it was the men's basketball team that requested the ceremony, that was scheduled for halftime of their game against Virginia on March 3, 2013, be moved to before the tip-off. They wanted to be out there with DK.

The Boston College Eagles men's basketball team was on the road in Atlanta playing Georgia Tech while the women were at hosting #2 ranked Notre Dame at Conte Forum, when DK passed away in his hospital room at Mass. General on Thursday February 13th.

There was no a dry eye at Boston College the following day. Three days later the line at DK's wake extended out the door of the Lehman, Reen, McNamara Funeral Home as well as St. Ignacius Church for the funeral. (EDITOR'S NOTE: After previewing this blog I realized the last three words in this paragraph were on separate lines. So I had to go back in and fix it. DK would be rolling over if I didn't.)

It was already had been such an emotional week for the Eagles but it was not over yet as BC had the biggest upset of the year in college basketball, handing #1 ranked Syracuse their first loss of the season with a 62-59 win inside the Carrier Dome.

While Pete Frates may be the name everyone connects with the #IceBucketChallenge to, remember there is the person behind it. Doris Burke and Dave O'Brien put it best when they took a moment during the BC-Duke game at Conte, to pay tribute to DK.

And in addition to my fellow SIDs out there, Burke also gave you a shout out too: "might be the least appreciated position in college sports - is Sports Information Director - long hours, lots of obscurity but you are invaluable to the programs you serve. Dick Kelley, you are big time, sir!"