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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Chad Underwood: Who You Gonna Call? A Timeline of My Life featuring the Ghostbusters


Note: The little stars (*) are footnotes. When you see them, look to the bottom of the post for more information.

   Ghostbusters (1984) is without a doubt my favorite movie of all time. As a child growing up in the 1990's, it might strike some as strange that this mid-80's action-comedy would qualify as my favorite film. Last night, I went to the local theater in Montgomery because Ghostbusters was re-released this October and was in 500 theaters nationwide. This trip inspired me to write a timeline of how this film has managed to keep being my favorite since I was five years old.


 
   Late 1995- I used to stay at my Grandma's house a a lot growing up when my parents both had jobs. My family is interesting: My grandparents had two children in the late 60's (my mother and my aunt) and then my Uncle Matt came along in 1980.
   My Uncle Matt and I have a relationship I feel that most uncle-nephew combos do not have. In 1995, I was the most annoying child on the face of the Earth. I knew I drove my Uncle insane and loved it. I constantly jumped on him and bothered him, a craft I had perfected by 1995. *
   Matt's role is very simple in this story: He had toys as a kid. Toys that my Grandma must have kept for the Ball of Hell she probably assumed would be me. When I found these toys in a basement I have so many childhood memories in, I found some pretty cool stuff: Some He-Man action figures, Legos, toy guns, but most importantly: A gun from the movie Ghostbusters. At the time I had no clue what it was, but I was going to find out soon enough.



   1996- DVR did not exist yet and my Grandma was the Tape Queen. She taped everything she wanted to watch, including her favorite soap opera, Guiding Light.** I soon discovered a tape with the title "Ghostbusters" written on the front. Grandma at some point had taped this from TV, so I began to watch it.
    Instantly the gun was making sense. The thought of catching ghosts and using laser guns to get them the most incredible idea ever for five-year old Chad. Grandma gets unlimited amounts of credit for taping Ghostbusters, I cannot thank her enough.



   1997- My baby sister Madison is three years old and in the hospital. One of her kidneys is not growing at a normal pace, so she has to go to get that one removed. Since my Mom and Dad were with Madison a lot, I was once again staying at my Grandma's house, where some of my favorite toys and the NES lived.***
   Madison surgery went perfect and her kidney was removed. My Grandma (once again, a hero) got me Ghostbusters 2 on VHS for being a "good big brother" while my sister was in the hospital. Ghostbusters 2 plays out eerily similar to the first one, but who cares!? It is newer looking and different to me! I was once again mesmerized by the men with their Proton Packs, saving the day.



   1999- I am getting older. Probably annoying Uncle Matt less (don't quote me on that) and Extreme Ghostbusters the cartoon was hitting the scene. I had gotten a toy Proton Pack from the series and I loved it. I was eight and still destroying ghosts, but that was all getting closer and closer to ending.

   November 5, 2001- Moving to Alabama was the worst thing ever. I was leaving everything that I truly cared about: my best friends, my grandparents and other family, along with the basement I had poured so much of my childhood into. I could never re-visit what it would be like to watch and play as a Ghostbuster like I used to. You could say I was pretty disappointed.






   2002-2008- Probably watched this movies 30 times during this period of life, nothing else notable pertaining to my love of the film.

   2009- Myself and some of my best friends in Alabama come across Ghostbusters 1 & 2 DVD combo pack for $9 dollars at Wal-Mart. I buy it without thought, it needed to be done. We watched the first one together and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Top purchase of 2009, with the exception of my Pens Stanley Cup Champs swag.


   2010- Madison and I watch Ghostbusters 2 and it is pretty bad. Simply nowhere close to the original and it shows. I will still manage to watch this horrible film at least three times before I die, because I still love it.

   October 31, 2011, 7:00 PM- I am in college, sitting around my dorm and very lonely on Halloween night. My girlfriend goes to school about 40 minutes away and my family is about an hour away. I love Halloween, even if I had not dressed up since 7th or 8th grade, it was still fun to be with my family on that night. So instead of eating as much candy as possible and probably vomiting, I decided to go see the re-release of Ghostbusters that got extended through Halloween weekend. I had no time to see it in the weeks prior until now, on Halloween night. It is safe to say I was really excited.
   I bought my ticket for a ridiculous $8.50. I got both movies on DVD for $9 bucks two years ago, but hopefully it would be worth it to have this theater experience.

   7:30 PM- I walked into the theater and I am super excited. I will probably never see this film like this again. Overflowing with joy, I make my way to the top row of the stadium seating and I see a little boy, 7 or 8 years old, and his older sister are sitting a few rows below me. I was happy to see that this kid was at the movies instead of trick-or-treating, because in my most honest opinion, he was in for a great treat with this movie.

   8:45 PM- Sister and kid are gone. Maybe they were scared. I do not think this is a scary movie. Maybe they just hated it. Who cares, this is the way I wanted it anyway: Watching my most beloved film in a cozy theater, all to myself.

   8:56 PM- I am getting closer towards the end of the film and there is a wide-shot of NYC. The first thing that catches my eye is the World Trade Center, something no one would think about back when the movie was made. It was an interesting moment that left me feeling strange. The shot is in the video below, it is pretty easy to find them in the back.



   9:02 PM- We have arrived folks. The trademark scene at the end of this film, featuring the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Seeing all of this in a theater was so special, all the years of loving something that never really changed but felt so different by a dark room and a big screen. It was too much fun.


9:03 PM- Still alone, I feel myself starting to get sad because I do not want this to end. This movie is just my favorite one and there is not really a way to explain it. The final scene was great once again, but hard to watch because I knew it was all over.




   9:13 PM- The movie had been over for a little while by this point. I watched the credits and just appreciated the fun of it all. Any loneliness that I brought into the theater was left there and what I brought back with me was a kind of happiness and nostalgia I had not felt in quite some time.
   Through my lifetime, I have felt like I have needed this movie. Ghostbusters helped me play as a child and laugh as an adult, but most importantly it helped a stressed college student on a lonely night to open his eyes and remember what it was like to sit in his Grandma's house and just be a kid, something we all should do sometimes.

Chad Underwood is the editor-in-chief of Students of the Game. He is currently attending Auburn University at Montgomery and majoring in Mass Communications.  He also loves Ghostbusters.

*Nowadays, Uncle Matt and I are good friends. I would not blame him for hating me forever after torturing him as a teenager, but he waited till I grew up and realized that I was awesome. He even let me be in his wedding. I will be traveling to West Virginia in December to see him and my Aunt Robin (along with a Pens game!).

** Guiding Light is a show that has made it rounds in our family. My Grandma watched it for like forty years until it went off a few years ago. My Aunt Tracey was also a regular viewer. My Uncle Matt, my step-dad and my mother also had Guiding Light fever in certain parts of their lives. I'll admit, one summer I watched it for like three weeks, then quit in fear of an addiction.

*** Another great way to try to bug my Uncle Matt to death was stealing his "The Legend of Zelda" NES game and play it and delete files. He would hide it where he must have thought I could not see.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Michael Allen: Hating How Much We Love College Football

No, she was not just told her grandma is dead. It's about football. 


“College football.”

What do you think of when you hear those words?  The names of those heroes that changed their university forever, like Barry Sanders, Doug Flutie, Reggie Bush, John Elway, and Herschel Walker ring in your ear.  You reflect on those crisp, sunny Saturday afternoons you spent tailgating on campus, temporarily forgetting the worries of midterms and essays.  You think about the dizzying jump to your feet when your school’s star quarterback completes a 40-yard pass to the walk-on 5’9” wide receiver.  It is simply one of the most beautiful sports in the world.

Here in the Southeast, we deeply appreciate this beauty.  We love it so much, in fact, that it makes us crazy.  I mean this very literally.  Someone who you think is relatively polite or soft spoken will prove you wrong during football season.  I’m an Auburn student, and have followed the school’s football program my entire life.  But I will try my best not to only talk about the stupidity that is thrown at me.
I live in Auburn now, so everyone around me is pretty much on the same page.  But back home in central Alabama, people can’t keep their mouths shut.  I’ve been told on countless occasions that my school is a “cow college,” and often by my own blood relatives. The local Auburn fans, meanwhile, claim to be “classier” shortly before throwing around insulting words like “white trash” and “rednecks” to describe the Crimson Tide’s fan base.*  Guess how many of these vocal individuals have an affiliation with the university that they support?  For some reason, the most obnoxious fans are the ones that have no reason to be obnoxious.Take this gentleman for example. He’s the sort of guy that would talk smack to you from a few pews back after a Sunday service.
Dare I say it?  People in the Southeast care way too much about college football.  The crude behavior stems from a deep-rooted love of their team, which is typically partnered with an equally deep-rooted hatred for their team’s rival.  From birth, everyone is brainwashed into rooting for one of the universities in their state, and this is why people behave like this guy.
The emergence of social networking in recent years has only worsened the behavior of obnoxious Southern football fans.  I now make it a point to avoid my Facebook page every Saturday.  My newsfeed becomes a circus of football stupidity.  People would rather spend time bashing their team’s rival than praising their own team.
“ALABAMA 48 KENT ST 7 BEAT DOWN CURDOSY OF THE CRIMSON TIDE!!! AND AUBURN, IF YALL PLAY LIKE YALL DID AGAINST US, YALL WILL GET ELEPHANT STOMPED AT JORDON HARE.. THAT GAME MADE ME LAUGH!!! ROLL DAMN TIDE!!” –A Facebook user
“C-L-A-S-S.  The one thing Bama fans lack.”- Another Facebook user.  This status was “liked” by 27 people.

The Internet has a way of encouraging people to say things that should just remain in their brains.

I’m complaining about the way Southern football fans behave.  If I had grown up anywhere else, I would have something else to complain about.  If I lived in North Carolina, I would be writing about the conversations between fans of Duke and North Carolina.  If I lived in Spain, I would be writing about the interactions between fans of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.  If I lived Alberta, I would be complaining about the stupid things that Flames and Oilers fans say to each other at Tim Horton’s.
The rivalry between Auburn and Alabama is a part of the corner of the world that raised me.  Maybe that’s why I’m beginning to think that it’s really stupid.

*Anyone who uses the word “classy” to describe themselves might as well be snorting cocaine off of their grandmother’s wedding china, if you ask me.

Michael Allen is a writer for Students of the Game.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chad Underwood: WVU vs. LSU: A Chance to Rewrite the Story

LSU presents a challenge, but also an opportunity for WVU to excel on a national stage.
 
   I cannot remember a time when I did not care about West Virginia University sports. It is a part of me that I cherish, a part that few here in where I live (in SEC Country) can even understand.
   I lived in West Virginia until 2001, my family moved a couple months after the September 11th attacks. Few times in my life have I been that sad. I was leaving what to me was everything behind: My best friends, my family and my home. It all had to be left behind because of a job opportunity my father took, which looking back on, was a great decision.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Michael Allen: What American Sports Fans Are Missing: Part Two: Open-Wheel Racing






            The United States of America is, arguably, the best country in the world for sports.  There’s something for everyone.  We have four gargantuan professional sports leagues, a steadily growing soccer league with a bright future, a thriving college sports organization, motorsports, horse racing and poker.  Americans are always a major competitor in the Olympic Games.  I’ve even seen a game of chicken foot broadcast on ESPN.  The USA sports party is wild.  But there are a few guests, some foreign, others local but a little shy, leaning against the wall that we should offer a few drinks.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Mark Vance: DRIVE Review

 
Carey Mulligan
We should totally hang out
We should make out too.

That was my haiku about Carey Mulligan.

Oh, my darling Carey Mulligan. So soft, so quaint, so innocent. Your dimples can express the beauty of the world more than Renoir, Michelangelo, and Bob Ross ever could. Your smile seems to reach out and grasp my inner being and comfort it until it transforms from hard, cold, and angered into warm dripping slurp. Oh Mulligan My Mulligan…

Friday, September 16, 2011

Savannah Cingoranelli: Why Fake Fandom?

Last Monday, the Broncos came close to a Week 1 victory, but came up short in a 23-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders.  
   
   It’s tough being a true fan to a horrible team. That explains why so many people are considered “bandwagon” fans. When a team does great, they celebrate and wear all the memorabilia you could imagine; but the second the team goes on a losing streak and all the hype disappears, their fandom is easily swayed elsewhere. However, it is possible to get through the terrible years.
   I would know. Not only am I a Broncos fan, but I have been a fan practically since birth. I grew up around that area, and in the Northwest region of the United States, college football is disgustingly dreadful. At that point, everyone turns to the 
NFL for their football entertainment.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Face-Off: Chad Underwood says "Defense Wins Championships"

"Oh Yeah, Rick. It is going down right now. How dare you disrespect us."- Steelers Defense 
 
 "Defense wins championships" is not just some worn out saying used to keep teams grounded, it is a fact. When Rick and I decided to write these dueling columns, I thought the battle would be much harder than it has been. In my opinion, the numbers tell the story just fine.

Face-Off: Rick Dahrens says "Offense Wins Championships"

These men combined: six Super Bowl championships and eight appearances in the big game.

   
 The Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, and Chicago Bears: One of these teams is not like the other. All except one has won a Super Bowl within the past 7 seasons. One has ventured far enough to the big stage, but fell short. The Chicago Bears lacked one aspect of the game that the rest of the teams excelled with.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Michael Allen: What American Sports Fans Are Missing: Part One: Australian Football




This is a image from last season's Grand Final, not some kind of war.

   
The United States of America is, arguably, the best country in the world for sports.  There’s something for everyone.  We have four gargantuan professional sports leagues, a steadily growing soccer league with a bright future, a thriving college sports organization, motorsports, horse racing and poker.  Americans are always a major competitor in the Olympic Games.  I’ve even seen a game of chicken foot broadcast on ESPN.  The USA sports party is wild.  But there are a few guests, some foreign, others local but a little shy, leaning against the wall that we should offer a few drinks.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Chad Underwood: Remembering Tupac Shakur

 

   When I was thirteen, I managed to get my hands on a copy of Kanye West's The College Dropout and it changed the way I listened to music forever. Before that, I pretty much just listened to Train and Dave Matthews Band with my dad (sometimes I still listen to those bands), but hearing Kanye was my first true rap experience. I loved the sound and how every single time I popped it in my portable CD player (Wow, we had those?) I discovered some new wordplay I did not realized the first time. It was incredible.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Mark Vance: Contagion Review



   Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion could not have come out at a better time. Contagion, a film depicting a catastrophic epidemic, opens on the weekend of the ten year anniversary (strange to call it an anniversary) of the tragic events of September 11. It is hard to not think about the aftermath of 9/11 and its affect on the world populace and I think it is best to keep these thoughts in mind while watching this great film.


    Let’s get the “well duh’s” out of the way. The film looks fantastic. The directing is spot on. The pacing is swift and the film is entertaining throughout. All of this comes with a Soderbergh film. What did stand out to me even more was how improvisational each scene felt. The pauses, the stuttering, the “uhs,” all feel organic and genuine. Scenes that lesser movies would have made cliché come off as authentic. Deaths come at a shock to characters who can’t take it in immediately.  Only when several months have passed is when it finally hits. And it hits hard. The dialogue and acting, involving Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and many more, easily makes these people feel like real people and that this horrible epidemic is really happening. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Chad Underwood: Hockey's brutal Summer, and how Fall could change that

The 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club.
   
The hockey world usually stops to take a break after the Stanley Cup is awarded to the champion of the league each June. This off-season has been anything but a break. In the past four months we have had three NHLers commit suicide: Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers overdosed on pain pills and alcohol, Rick Rypien of the Vancouver Canucks killed himself after fighting depression, and recently retired Wade Belak, was found hanging in his hotel room.

Rick Dahrens: My relationship with NASCAR

Fact: NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
   
   While some might like to call it the “non-athletic sport created around rednecks”, I simply like to call it NASCAR. It’s been a part of my life since 2001, and will always continue to impact my life. I even have aspirations to somehow incorporate NASCAR into my career.   

Monday, September 5, 2011

Chad Underwood: Tha Carter IV vs. Watch the Throne

Three of the four rappers are featured in this column. T.I. is in jail...again.

   Three hip-hop heavyweights release two albums not even a month apart, forcing me to take my first stab at some album reviewing. First, Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped Watch the Throne (August 8th), a solid album that takes chance after chance and makes it work. Tha Carter IV, released last Monday, is an album from the likes Mr. Dwayne Carter, AKA Lil' Wayne. Both albums have what it takes to be considered for a Grammy nomination, but which one stands alone as the best Hip-Hop album of the year so far? They both make very good cases.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Michael Allen: "My NFL Marital Status: Single and Okay With It"

  


   
   I grew up in central Alabama, where college football was easily the most-watched sport.  In that area, people respect the National Football League, but it is nowhere near the conversation piece that Crimson Tide or Auburn Tiger football is.  I was brainwashed from an early age to be an Auburn fan.  My parents have had season tickets since shortly after their graduation from the institution in 1982.  I have been to at least 100 Auburn football games at this point in my life.  It’s a major part of my life and always will be, especially now that I’m halfway though my college career on the Plains.

Monday, August 29, 2011

About Us



Chad Underwood




Chad Underwood is the Editor-in-Chief of "Students of the Game" and was a
editor/writer for "Chad's Sportsworld" till September 2011.   He is a former Editor-in-Chief of Thompson High School's (Alabama) TribeUne 
newspaper.
Chad is currently attending Auburn University at Montgomery and is majoring in Mass Communications.












Michael Allen

Michael Allen is a writer for Students of the Game. He was a co-writer with Chad
on the prestigious Tribe-Une newspaper staff at Thompson High School. He
currently attends Auburn University where he majors in English and minors in TV/Radio/Film.


War Damn Writing.












Mark Vance


Mark Vance has never worked for a newspaper or anything important. I am not sure why I let him on my blog. Probably cause I feel sorry for him because he used to go to Belmont. He will also write his own bio soon.












Rick Dahrens


Students of the Game writer Rick Dahrens attends Troy University, where he 
is majoring in psychology and criminal justice. He also works with Troy
University's media relations department, where he writes from time to time 
for www.troytrojans.com

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