Danny O'Brien to Transfer to Wisconsin

Danny O’Brien will transfer to Wisconsin

By Matt Bonesteel

Danny O’Brien will have two years of football eligibility remaining. (Toni L. Sandys - WASHINGTON POST) Former Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien will transfer to Wisconsin, the school announced Wednesday.

“We’re excited that Danny has chosen to attend Wisconsin," Badgers Coach Bret Bielema said in a statement. "The first thing we did when we were aware of Danny's interest was to try and find out what type of person he was and if he would fit into our program. From our dealings with him and all the things I have heard from those who have been around him, he is a tremendous person and has great character. He had a fantastic visit and our current players who met him came away impressed. Having graduated from Maryland in just three years, you know right away that he is a smart kid.”

On Wednesday afternoon, O’Brien tweeted: “I will always be a proud Terp alum, but am hungry to get after it and start my next chapter in Madison! Lots of hard work ahead.”

Maryland announced that O’Brien was leaving the program in February. Originally, the school placed a number of restrictions on where O’Brien could transfer but later eliminated those restrictions after a significant public backlash.

O’Brien, who is expected to graduate from Maryland this spring and is originally from Minnesota, will have two years of football eligibility remaining. He was named ACC rookie of the year in 2010 before struggling through a 2011 season that was ended when he broke his non-throwing arm against Notre Dame on Nov. 12. He completed 150 of 266 passes for 1,648 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2011.

O’Brien reportedly chose  Wisconsin over Penn State and Vanderbilt, which is coached by former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin, who recruited O’Brien to College Park. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Badgers have only two healthy quarterbacks participating in spring practice. O’Brien is the second former ACC quarterback to head to Wisconsin after graduating early; N.C. State’s Russell Wilson did the same last season and led the Badgers to the Rose Bowl.

For Wisconsin fans interested in getting to know their new quarterback, here is Eric Prisbell’s profile that ran in September.

original article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/terrapins-insider/post/danny-obrien-will-transfer-to-wisconsin/2012/03/28/gIQARcQigS_blog.html?tid=pm_sports_pop

tags: Danny O Brien, Wisconsin, Badgers, NCAA, Football

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Hunger Games - READ the Dang book first!

The Hunger Games!

Unless you've been living in a box, you must have seen at least 1 billion ads for The Hunger Games thus far.

Here's my big tip I've already figured out by reading the numerous blogs about Suzanne Collins' best seller - READ THE DANG BOOK FIRST!

The Hunger Games, just like any other book-made-for-movie fiasco, ends up having to leave out many of the details because simply:
  1. Hollywood can't afford to have 4 hour long movies, and The Hunger Games tips the scales at 2hrs 22min
  2. It is REALLY difficult to capture the thoughts and 1st person descriptions of the character and make it 'work' on the big screen
  3. People just want a different experience in the movies than when reading a book.

So, am I being an elitist by saying, "I read the book first," and "The movie is not as good as the book" among other cliches?

Well, sort of.  You see, the reason I enjoy movies to reading is because I like speed, efficiency, and short cuts. I always read the cliffs notes and was able to embellish later instead of reading full texts.

And in this case - Tah-DAH! Audiobooks.  I read The Hunger Games in 3 days flat.  Period. End of Story (well sort of, since it's a Trilogy!).

And now I can walk around and say, "Dude, the movie is not as good as the book."  And people will then think, "Wow, he reads!"

Exactly.

Anywho, read the book before seeing The Hunger Games.  You'll be glad you did.

The Hunger Games BOOK - Not movie ;-)

Craft Beer Club! Drink Microbrew beers and craft beers in your home!

You've probably noticed that in the last few years the trend of homebrew and craft beers has virtually blown up!  Instead of going to your local bar and seeing the normal beers, ie. Miller and Bud products, you now see a plethora of microbrew and craft beers available for your imbibing pleasure.

And with that, now comes an influx of, dah duh-dah... homebrew!  The art of homebrew and brewing beer used to be a thing of the past, and you might be lucky to know a cousin of your friends uncle who brews homebrew in their basement.

Now, it seems in most circles I mingle with, at least 1-2 people have made homebrew or are actively homebrewing currently.  And that has created an incredible, mass love for craft beers.  I've started blogging more about beer on a regular basis, and I even attempted to do a 30 Beers in 30 Days blog.  I say attempted because the blogging for the last week was the issue, not actually trying 30 unique brews in 30 days.

It was an exhilarating experience to say the least - I got to try 30 unique beers, mostly craft beer and attempted to keep the beer limited to the geographical place I was currently in.  I happen to travel a lot for work so it was relatively easy to find craft beers in Vancouver, CA to SoCal, and even try some new beers from the home state of Wisconsin.

I am getting really excited to try this new Craft Beer Club - a sort of Beer of the Month club.  It seems pretty sweet so stay tuned for updates!

If you'd like to join the Craft Beer Club, be sure to check out the site here.

To learn more about Homebrew Recipes, be sure to visit Homebrew Clone Recipes.