2010 Year in Review

I am back again with a look back at my 2010, one of the greatest years in my life in so many ways. This year has been full of some lows and many highs as well as many life changing, once in a lifetime experiences.

The year started out rather uneventfully until my 20th birthday where I got to spend times with my close friends and kick off the semester. Then came the infamous Snopocalypse where I spent time with my friends and got closer to them. In the beginning of March I went to Koach Kallah at Pearlstone which allowed me to meet and become friends with Jewish college kids from all across the nation as well as reconnect with some old friends.

Then I had Spring Break Miami where we renovated a local park and worked at an after school program at a local elementary school. We each had a kid to be a friend and mentor to and my kid was full of energy and truly made my experience memorable. On top of this I had the opportunity to meet more college kids from different schools all over the country as well as strengthen the relationship I had with people from Towson. The highlight of the trip for me was successfully running a trip to a Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs (my favorite team) game at which everyone had fun, that made me feel amazing.

All the while I was planning to run for Vice President of Towson Hillel, I found out one of my friends was running against me. I ended up losing the first election and later was told my best friend voted against me. After some constitutional issues there was a 2nd election which I won and my fraternity brother won President. The spring semester ended on a high when I won the Emerging Student Leader Award for Towson University, I was really looking forward to the summer and working at my local camp (milldale) for the 9th straight summer.

My Summer lived up to and surpassed my expectations, for only the 2nd time in 9 years I got the age I wanted (the same kids I had the year before) I was also a bus counselor in the afternoon and a late stay counselor. My kids were awesome each in their own way, I made some new friends, and reconnected with some old ones. The best part was getting a hand written note from one of my campers which said I was his favorite counselor. There were so many memorable moments (CTC, SZH, swimming, sleepover, O's Game and much more) and I will never forget the summer of 2010 or the children in Bunk 4D, bus 12, or OM JCC late stay.

When my fall 2010 semester started I was very nervous about moving into my new apartment, being VP of Towson Hillel, and balancing that with my fraternity and academics. Although I had the roommate from hell it was a tremendous semester for a number of reasons. I had an extremly successful first semester as VP, I kept my grades up, and my fraternity had an amazing semester which was topped off with a extremly strong new group of brothers and a super successful crush party. The best part of the semester was that I started to feel more comfortable in my own skin, became more outspoken and outgoing, as well as made many new friends and became closer with my older friends.

In general this blog post is just the tip of the iceberg of what was a truly special and amazing year for me. I would like to thank all my friends, family, and anyone who had an effect on my 2010, I aboslutly can't wait for what 2011 has in store for me.

NFL Home stretch report

Sorry for the delay, I have been really busy but here is my take on the NFL with 4 games left including my predictions for the regular season standings, postseason awards, and playoff predictions. (Editors note these standings are accurate for only teams 2 games out of their division and wild card races, the standings are tiebreaker accurate)

Standings

NFC EAST
1. Philly 11-5 (#3)
2. Giants 10-6
3. Cowboys
4. Redskins

NFC NORTH
1. Packers 11-5 (#2)
2. Chicago 11-5 (WC # 6- lose divisional record tie breaker)
3. Vikings
4. Lions

NFC SOUTH
1. Falcons 13-3 (#1)
2. Saints 11-5 (#WC #5)
3. Bucs 10-6
4. Carolina

NFC WEST
1. Seattle 9-7 (#4)
2. St Louis 8-8
3. San Fran
4. Arizona

AFC EAST
1. Pats 13-3 (#1)
2. Jets 11-5
3. Dolphins
4. Bills

AFC NORTH
1. Pittsburgh 12-4 (#2-Win strength of victory tiebreaker, which they currently have so I gave it to them)
2. Ravens 12-4
3. Browns
4. Bengals

AFC SOUTH:
1. Jags 10-6
2. Colts 9-7
3. Texans
4. Titans

AFC WEST
1. KC 11-5
2. SD 9-7
3. Oak 8-8
4. Den

For you Ravens fans out there here is how the Ravens Win the division: Win 2 more games then Pittsburgh over the next 4 (Ravens- @Hou, Vs. NO, @CLE, Vs. Cin, Pit-vs. Cin, vs. Jets, Vs. Car, @ CLE) OR

win out and Have Pittsburgh lose to the Browns and have Houston finished ahead of Tennessee and have Denver finish within 4 Games of Oakland (Source: ESPN's playoff machine)

Postseason Awards:
NFL MVP: Tom Brady, QB NE
NFL OPOY: Philip Rivers QB SD
NFL DPOY: Clay Matthews LB GB
NFL OROY: Sam Bradford QB Rams
NFL DROY: Ndamukong Suh DL Lions
NFL COY: Todd Hayley Chiefs
Comeback Player: Mike Vick QB Eagles
Suprise: BUCS
Disappointment: Cowboys/Vikings

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

WILD CARD ROUND

Bal over Jax 27-17 (Ravens control MJD win 4th road playoff game in 3 years)

KC over Jets 24-17 (Charles and Jones lead KC to victory over Jones' old team)

Chi over Phi 20-17 (Bears control Vick, Win on the road)

Saints over Seahawks 34-24 (Brees and Saints Offense too much for Seattle)

DIVISIONAL ROUND

Pittsburgh over KC 24-13 (Steelers Defense dominates Leads Steelers to victory)

Bal over Patriots 31-27 (Ravens take advantage of Pats' suspect D, avenge Regular season loss)

ATL over Chicago 20-17 (Ryan leads another late game winning drive to beat Bears)

GB over NO 34-27 (Matthews, Rodgers overwhelm Saints ending repeat bid)

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

GB over ATL 27-24 (Rodgers leads Packers into Atlanta, win rematch, to Super Bowl)

Baltimore over PIT 17-13 (Classic Ravens-Steelers game ends with Ravens winning Round 3)

SUPER BOWL
RAVENS over PACKERS 24-20 (Rice, Flacco, Lewis lead Ravens to 2nd super bowl title)
MVP: FLACCO