Video Advent Window #1 - Dec. 1st

Congratulations on opening the first window of the HammerTime Video Advent Calendar.




Watch this to see instructions on 'Movin On Up' -
www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/episode-120/movin-on-up/

HammerTime Video Advent Calendar

Please watch the following video for this year's Christmas Gift competition.




p.s.- Check back every day for a new video.

p.p.s.-What music do you hear in the background? First person from each family to respond correctly gets to pick out of the hat first!!

Opening a vein in a new production.

The Hammer Times paper is taking a bit of a new direction.  Originally this production was created to share pictures with family and friends.  Then I took a trip of a life time and again wanted to share it with family and friends.  When I used the production for these purposes I intentionally kept my opinions to myself.  But….

…recently I have been a bit frustrated with the lack of culture, creativity, uniqueness, risk taking and to be frank the lack of life in This City.  So I am creating this grassroots section of the Hammer Times in order to vent some frustrations with specific venues and events, but at the same time I do not want this to turn into Debbie Downer’s production so I am going to suggest improvements or alternative in order to foster change.

My first perspective.  The “Best of…..” awards for This City really need to be changed, revamped, or challenged.  How can a city have “Best of” awards when there are two choices in each category?  Many times, if not every time, the food joint that gets the “Best of” award in This City is the joint that has the best advertising or has been around the longest.  Not necessarily the BEST food.  That is the main reason I am starting this production.  To give my perspective on the best options in This City so that small joints that may be new or have less advertising can get some representation.

So keep checking back for perspectives on food joints, drink joints, music joints, events and suggestions.  Time to bring the life.

All things come to an end.

So Rachel and I have two more days here in Durban. We have met wonderful people, seen beautiful places, watched unbelievable soccer and can’t wait to come home to see family. This past weekend we took in the Portugal v. Brazil match on Friday night which was incredibly boring (except that we sat next to a man from Portugal who was hilarious. Please see the posted videos below for more information.). Saturday we had a romantic weekend at a vineyard (with no grape vines) further up the coast from Durban. We were right on the beach and it was so relaxing. Finally, today Rachel and I drove south down the coast to a beautiful gorge and game reserve where we saw giraffes, wilde beasts, spring boks, zebras and other animals. Pictures of all this will be in the next post. I also plan on doing a wrap up post.

So Saturday night the USA run for the World Cup came to an end. Again Ghana put us out of the tournament but this time it was a little bit later than four years ago. As expected our midfield was the only part of our team we felt confident it. We can not have a group of forwards that go scoreless for a World Cup and expect to advance to any decent stage. Unfortunately I feel that Bob Bradley has just coached his last match as head coach. I would be surprised if he is present for the match against Brazil in August. Also, farewell to Donovan. He will join Everton before their next campaign starts in August and if we are lucky he will play a few more matches for the Galaxy (actually if the Sounders are lucky he will not play any more matches for the Galaxy). I don't know if there is much more to say. We had an opportunity because Ghana did not play that well but it is what it is. Now we wait four more years. Unfortunately I feel that it will be a more difficult World Cup in Brazil.

Thanks for reading and enjoy my Portugese friend.

And the winner is…..

Not Italy.  Amazing they finished last in their group. Don’t worry y’all, I won’t shed any tears for them.

So anyway, the suggestions for the banner were,

1. “Hey Brazil-Get your own language.”

2.” Hey Portugal-Get your own style of waxing.”

3. Circle Me Bert

4. Tempo para Martelar

5. Where is Rhonaldino?

6. Whammy is the Winner

And we went with nobody’s.  Not even Rachel’s, kind of.  We are going to have a black and white banner that says,

“HAMMER TEMPO” on it.  We will be sitting in on of the corners.  It is actually the northwest corner but I do not think you will be able to tell on tv.  Our seats are on the second level, so it keep an eye out at the Portugal v. Brazil match today for “HAMMER TEMPO.”

Thanks for everyone’s participation.

On the Rebound

So after 90 minutes of close attempts and being robbed of our second fine goal…….GOAL!!!!  Thank you Landon for cleaning up the rebound.

So Rachel and I walked down to the pub we have established as home base and guess what…..all three of their tv’s are hooked up to the same channel and there were already some damn England fans watching that lame match.  So we walked to the next pub and again all three tv’s had to show the same match and of course there were England fans already watching.  To make a long story longer, we finally found a restaurant in a mall that resembles Chili’s or something.  I am so glad that the USA won and is moving on.  I would have been very disappointed if we did not advance but we had two goals taken from us.  But we don’t have to worry about that now.

On the topic of rebounds, Rachel, the resident great soccer mind, has been upset that no teams are cleaning up rebounds.  She and I both agree that the teams that do the best and getting rebounds and putting them back in the net will be the strongest.  If you think about it, the ball supposedly does not fly true, so keepers are trying to punch or block incoming balls rather than catch them.  That means more rebounds.  Every shot needs to be followed up by someone hoping to clean up.

Cheers and thanks for reading.  GO USA!!

Hammer Times Banner Contest (re-post)

Some of you may have missed this so I am re-posting it.

So for the Portugal v. Brazil match Rachel and I will be sitting close to the railing.  We have noticed that having a banner hang over the rail is a good way to be noticed on TV.  So here is the 1st Annual Hammer Times Banner Contest.  We are going to hang a banner at the Portugal v. Brazil match and we want your suggestions.  So if we have a better suggestion than Rachel’s, which was to write Hammer Time in Portuguese on the banner, we will put it on the banner.  Of course we will tell everyone what will be on the banner and hope that you look for us.

Looking forward to reading your suggestions.  We want you to put the suggestions in the comments section.  The deadline will be end of the USA v. Algeria match.