Tonight is the Rock River Raptors last regular season home game. ItÂ’s a must win for us. We have two games and a by week left in regular season. Currently we are sitting atop of the division with a 9-4 record, but River City is right behind us with a 7-5 record and Lexington a 7-6 record. Tonight we play Lexington. If we win tonight we pretty much clinch the division. If we lose, then we have to beat Sioux Falls next week at home in hopes of winning the division. The problem is that Sioux Falls is on a 32 game wining streak and sitting atop the other division.

That means that tonightÂ’s game should be a good hard-hitting game. So any of you football fans out there want to go have some fun, tonight at the MetroCentre is your chance.

IÂ’m not saying that the Raptors and their organization listen to me or that I have any influence with them. But I do think they like fans like Bruce and myself. We really get the crowd involved. So occasionally they like to throw a little something back our way. Like last week. During half time the Dynomites did a zombie themed dance routine to Michael JacksonÂ’s Thriller.

Football and zombies, how perfect is that?

Posted by: Contagion at 08:47 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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What a wild and fun weekend for me. First off I would like to take this time to apologize to anyone that received a phone call from me between the hours of 8:00PM and 2:00AM CST. If you couldn’t tell, I was not quite functioning at full mental capacity. I really lost count of how much I had drank early on in the night. I don’t blame anyone else for my actions; it was completely my own fault. Next time I need to remember to not listen to T1G when he states that I need to “keep up with him” and that “I’m one behind.” So yes, I am truly sorry. We are going to invest in a drunk phone for me next time. The one that has the built in Breathalyzer so that you can’t drunken dial.

Other then that, Friday night was a blast. After work Ktreva and I went to the Rock River Raptor’s Season ticket holders party. I know they tried, but the party was pretty dead. Almost no one showed up other then the players and people associated with the organization. It was held outside in the heat… and they only served Bud, Bud Light and Corona. BLECH! We hung around for a while, but when we saw the party wasn’t going to get any better we left. Since we had a babysitter for the night, Ktreva didn’t want to go home. She wanted to hit the town. The problem was we couldn’t agree on were to go. She wanted to hit a bar. The problem was finding a bar that I would be comfortable in, but would also take my wife to. Most of the bars I tend to like are a little on the rougher side. Thus we ended up at Fritz’. Now I wasn’t positive T1G was going to be there, but well… yea I was pretty sure. Ktreva made the comment. “Great you guys are going to be talking all night and ignoring me.” I told her to call Tammi and tell her to come down. At this point she says, “I don’t have my phone.” FINE! So I call Tammi for her. And of course upon answering the phone I’m accused of drunk dialing. I explain the situation, and Tammi agrees to head down there as well. Flash-forward to a night filled with Day-glo green drinks, Tabasco in beer, and my ultimately delving into drunk dialing.

Saturday night I went with Bruce and our friend KF on the Rock River Raptor bus trip to Bloomington. Folks, this was well worth the price of the ticket. On the bus they supplied sandwiches, chips and fee beer and water. However the beer was Bud and Bud Light. Now I canÂ’t fault them the beer. The local Bud distributor sponsors them, and apparently they are very generous. ThatÂ’s okay; Bruce and I brought our own beer. For the bus trip IÂ’m going to give some high lights.

-BloomingtonÂ’s stadium is awesome. They have a really nice set up with corporate sponsors. They have a Leinie Lodge, a Jack DanielÂ’s VIP section as well as a corporation that bought the rights to the stadium. There is an in stadium pro-shop and a jumbotron with instant replay. Their concessions were better quality and at about the same price range. Their seats have cup holdersÂ… NO SPILLED BEERS!

-Apparently when I get upset and am drinking I swear. Also apparently if I do this with Bruce around the angry parents of little kids will blame him.

-On road trips I do become “That Fan”. You know, the one that is really loud and cheering his team on, even after getting threatening looks from the home team fans. Either that or Bruce was swearing again.

-The best part about our seats was the fact that we were sitting with some of the playerÂ’s families. Blue AldridgeÂ’s uncle was right behind us and he was just as fevered about the game as we were.

-The Raptors won by a point. Yes one point, which made this a very exciting and good game. Of course a missed PAT and short field goal doesnÂ’t help. (IÂ’m watching the placeholder for the next couple of games.

-Tom Crow, the Raptors GM, seems to be an actual nice guy. I’ve spoken with him on a couple occasions. He rode on the bus back from the game with us. We got to spend some time talking to him, and shooting off some ideas and what not. He seemed to take everything we said into consideration. Not that I actually expect him to listen to us, but he was cool about it. Especially since I kept calling him Tim. For the love of me I don’t know why I couldn’t get his name right. I actually started calling him Tim-Tom at one point as I tried to correct myself. He didn’t blow us off. During the ride back, I got a little hungry and Bruce grabbed the three remaining bags of Cheetos from the back of the bus. At that point Bruce kept calling me Cheeto and saying, “Good times Cheeto.” Tom Updates the Raptors site and in his brief post, Raptors Defeat Extreme he ends it with, “Also, a big “Thank You” goes out to our first official Fan Bus Trip of the season… Good Times Cheeto…” I'd like to the post itself, but the way the site is set up, I can't.

-I guess I should mention that my sister lives down there and is a Bloomington Extreme (yes, their team name sucksÂ… extremely) fan. So I was able to see her. And harass her about the guy she brought withÂ… and rub it in after the game that we wonÂ…

All in all it was a great time. For those of you that missed it, you missed a lot of fun. Just remember the next time they do a bus trip, you might want to jump on and just enjoy life a little more.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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On June 16 the Rock River Raptors play the Bloomington Extreme (Yea, their name sucks). This will be the third time we play the Extreme this season. We have a 1-1 record against them this season with our overtime loss last weekend. This is playing out to be an important game for us to win the division and to be a good close game.

The Raptors are planning a fan bus trip from Rockford to the game. They are charging $50.00 for anyone that wants to go on the bus. The price includes a round trip bus ticket, food and beverage on the bus and a ticket to the game. I am going to this game, so IÂ’m jumping on the chance to take the bus. It saves me money just in gas alone, plus I donÂ’t have to worry about the two hour drive. Throw in the food and the ticket to the game, this really is a steal.

The problem is that they only have 50 spots available; they need at least 30 people in order to make the trip happen. Including me they currently have 10 people signed up. If you live in or around the Rockford area, love football, and want to have good time, IÂ’m telling you, jump on this opportunity. Plus we really want to support the home time at what is playing out to be a crucial game. We all know how much fan support can really help a team play.

So if you are interested in going, call 815-965-7000 and sign up for the bus trip. Not only will you be able to go see a great game and have a lot of fun, but you get to hang out with me! That in itself should be worth $50.00!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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