European Football Season is Winding Down

While we here in America are only just now starting our soccer season, European football leagues are drawing to a close. The major leagues only have two to four games left and only the Champions League Final in Madrid remains for cup competition. The four biggest leagues all have very intriguing races for their respective domestic titles, so let's shift across the Atlantic for some good old football, fútbol, calcio, and fußball (depending on your nation/league of choice).

The First Round, Pick By Pick

The night started innocently enough, with the first several picks going as reasonably expected. Then things started getting crazy. The Raiders made a sensible pick, Jacksonville gave us a "Say what?" moment and then the wheeling-and-dealing that is draft day trades began. Let's break down the first night. Shall we?

It's Draft Time

Well hello, hello to all you sports enthusiasts out there. It feels great to be here, and what an honor it is, to work with my good buddy Benjamin Crook. I have just recently joined the BCE staff and will be contributing my thoughts on a variety of topics. As previously stated by Mr. Crook, I am a freshman currently attending the University of Texas at Austin, and sports is what I do, all day, every day. I am looking forward to sharing my views, and hearing yours, on all aspects of professional, collegiate, and all other types of athletic competition.

My first topic of the year takes us to the NFL, and yes, I am aware that it is April, but the NFL is a league that never sleeps. For those of you out there who do not know me very well, I live and die for all things Philadelphia sports. So, I figured i would start by breaking down the upcoming draft for my “hometown” team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

New Addition

The Ben Crook Experience is proud to announce the addition of Matt Reese as a contributor to the blog. Matt is a freshman journalism major at the University of Texas at Austin, and will be sure to add some fresh viewpoints to The Experience. You can find out more about Matt on his page, just click on the tab with his name, which should be coming soon if it's not there already. You'll notice that those tabs up there are new, as we are constantly looking to update and better the blog.

NFL Draft: Houston Texans Edition

The 2010 NFL Draft is fast approaching (it begins this Thursday on ESPN), and every NFL page is inundated with mock drafts by their respective draftniks and would-be general managers. I do not have the time, resources, or willpower to go through an entire mock draft, but maybe I'll reach that level some day. Plus, I figure that there are enough out there already, and there are only so many logical combinations and permutations you can put out there. So for now, you'll just have to be content with me focusing on one or two teams, and an overview of my thoughts on this year's crapshoot draft. Let's start with the hometown team (at least for me): the Houston Texans.

At Long Last: Dynamo Stadium Deal is Done

Earlier today, the Harris County Commissioners Court voted 5-0 to approve the downtown stadium deal for the Houston Dynamo. With this development, only one last step must be taken before they can start breaking ground on the new stadium.

Mailbag

The Ben Crook Experience is happy to announce that we are now accepting emails: bencrookexperience@gmail.com. If you have a question, comment, or topic you'd like to see discussed, send it our way and we'll address it either in a post or (if we get a decent amount of emails) in a collective "mailbag" post.

Involving the Common Student

It is my belief that Texas A&M's athletic department is one of the best when it comes to getting involved with students. Admittedly, I haven't exactly researched this, but I was blown away when I got here at the opportunities to mix right in with the athletic programs and student-athletes, which at least to my limited knowledge is unprecedented in Division 1 college athletics, especially at a "BCS" school.