Trick or treat

Since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, Hilliard and some other Columbus suburbs designated Thursday as the night to go trick or treating. For the 1st time, Alex went with Briana (for a short time). He went as an Ohio State football player (of course):
I went as Coach Tressel (of course) and got plenty of attention:
And Briana went as a firefighter (not sure why):
I took Briana and her friend Avery to every house in the development (around 80), so she got plenty of candy. One neighbor actually cooks hot dogs and brats for adults, so we all had a great time.

College Gameday

ESPN's College Gameday was back in Columbus this Saturday and for the 4th time, I was invited as a VIP for the broadcast (for securing volunteers to the event). I always have a great time at Gameday, seeing what goes on behind the scenes and talking with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Lee Corso. But, there was a very special guest for this broadcast - Lebron James! He walked right past me on his way to the stage:
After the broadcast, there is a meet and great where you can talk to the on-air talent and get their autographs. Desmond Howard, a Heisman trophy winner from the University of Michigan, was asked by someone if he was worried about his alma mater (they are 2-6 right now). He replied, "I'm not worried about Michigan; I'm worried about my portfolio." I almost fell over laughing.

Soccer

Briana is playing her 1st team sport this fall - soccer. The sport is really big here and she plays at a huge complex. Friday nights are more of a practice, while Sunday nights are "games" (they divide the girls up into 4 teams then play, usually 4 on 4). Many of the girls have played for several years (even though it is an Under 7 league), so Briana started out a little behind the others. She has improved quite a bit over the last month and seems to enjoy playing.

She also has gymnastics on Wednesday nights, so she is quite the busy young girl. She has improved even more in that sport. There is a short "recital" next week, so I will have pictures/videos on the blog.

My class was mentioned on an NCAA blog

One of my graduate students, Marcus Freeman, is a key player on the football team. Marcus graduated last December, but still had a year of eligibility, so he started graduate school. I found out last week that he writes a blog for the NCAA (they have student-athletes from a variety of sports write weekly blogs; Marcus is 1 of 5 football players at the FBS level chosen to write). In his latest blog he talks about a class (marketing) that he is taking - the course is mine! You can read his blog here.
Marcus is a super young man and a joy to have in class (he is the one that showed us around the Woody Hayes facility).

Alex is getting even bigger

Alex had his 1 year old doctor's visit today. He is up to the 97th percentile for height (32 in.). Even though he just turned 1 last Friday, he is in 2T clothes because of his height. He is 1 ounce short of 20 pounds (only the 20th percentile, but improving). He also has 6 teeth, with 4 more about to appear. He is growing so fast!

We live in the #1 sports town in America!

Technically we live in Hilliard, but the research conducted by Scarborough Sports Marketing found the Columbus DMA (designated market area, which includes our city) to be the #1 sports town in the U.S. Two-thirds of Columbus residents are avid sports fans. Also, Ohio State has the highest percentage of fans in their home city of any college football teams. To read the full report, click here.