Regular Segments Starting on "The Sports Buffet Podcast"

I have really felt energized since I have been able to restart "The Sports Buffet Podcast". But, I decided on one thing that I thought would be better, and even make me more accountable (and Lord knows I need that). Starting in January, "The Sports Buffet Podcast" will start having certain segments that will either air weekly, every other week or once a month. Now, some interviews will still be done on a regular basis (like game recaps, previews, interviews that a team's coach is just being interviewed to talk about current things going on with the team), but there will be some segments that will follow a pattern (weekly, every other week, or monthly).

Here is the schedule of planned segments for "The Sports Buffet Podcast" beginning in January.
WEEKLY
* "Chew on This" is a segment that will feature four people (counting yours truly as the moderator) in a weekly discussion about sports. Not only, will there be talk about the current events in the sports world, but also some debatable topics in sports such as "Top 10 NFL quarterbacks of all time" or "Biggest chokes of all time". If you would like to be a panelist (or suggest some topics) on "Chew on This" at some point, contact me through Facebook (You can join "The Sports Buffet Podcast" facebook page by clicking here, or you can e-mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net.

* "Bob and Dad" is a segment that features my dad and I just arguing about sports. You can ask my mom or my wife, nobody can argue about sports like me and my dad. We will not only debate current topics, but like in "Chew on This", we may discuss debatable sports topics as well that aren't currently relevant in the news. Check out "Bob and Dad" by clicking here.

* "Teammates" is a segment that will test how well two teammates know each other. Each teammate will be given five questions, with the other teammate having to guess the answer that the teammate gave (think of the Newlywed Game). Most likely this will be a contest between teams (i.e. three sets of teammates from the Brookville football team will participate against each other). Check out an episode of "Teammates" with former Amherst Golfers Marshall Tinsley & Robert Martin.

* "Know Your Coach" is a segment that is similar to "Teammates", where a player instead of being matched up with a teammate will either be matched up with a coach or this will be a competition between 3 teammates to see which one knows their coach the best. Stay tuned to see how the segment develops.

* "One On One with Bob Alvis" is an interview with someone to where they are asked 11 questions that have absolutely nothing at all to do with their sport. This segment is designed to get to know the athletes (media members, officials or whomever) better away from their sport. Check out this episode of "One On One with Bob Alvis" where my guest was E.C. Glass Girls Soccer Head Coach, Darien McClurg. Sometmes I even do "One On One with Bob Alvis" with more then one person as in this case when I took on a trio of William Campbell football players, Antwain Hubbard, Drew Davis and K.B. Younger

* "Inside the Game" will be a segment of quick hit soundbites and such that will encompass multiple sports into one segment (if you ever heard "Quick Hits" back in the day on
"Talking High School Sports", that is how the segment is being designed. Here is an example of Quick Hits featuring Jefferson Forest Volleyball & Cross Country, as well as former Nelson County football coach Tim Crawford.

* "The Sports Buffet Profiles....." will be a segment to where we will profile someone who is currently involved in the sports world, and will just let you learn a little bit more about the individual. It will be similar to "Checking In" and "Where are They Now" which will be heard every other week.

The daily debut schedule for "The Sports Buffet Podcast" is as follows (new segments will debut on the listed day at 10 A.M.)
Monday-One On One with Bob Alvis
Tuesday-Teammates
Wednesday-Know Your Coach
Thursday-The Sports Buffet Profiles...
Friday-Chew on This
Saturday-Bob and Dad
Sunday-Inside the Game

EVERY OTHER WEEK
* "Checking In" is a segment that catches up with an athlete from the area who is now continuing their career in college. Not only will you hear from the athlete, but also from their high school coach, college coach and others from their past team and their current team. Here is an episode of "Checking In" from 2006 with Chris Rocco, former football player (and other sports) at LCA.

* "Where Are They Now" will feature a person from the high school (or maybe college or pro or media member, the possibilities are endless) sports world and will examine, where they are now. Like "Checking In", it will feature people from their past when they were coaching or playing in the sports world. Here is an example of "Where Are They Now" with Mark Hanks, former head boys basketball coach at Liberty, and at the time of the interview, Pulaski County head coach.

* "Coach's Corner" is a segment where a coach will talk about a nuisance of their game. It can be simple as something of proper free throw shooting to something as complex as when to execute a suicide squeeze. Here is an example of Coach's Corner featuring E.C. Glass Head Coach, Roy Roberson talking about use of a full court press.

New segments will debut every other week at 10 A.M.
Where Are They Now-Monday
Coach's Corner-Wednesday
Checking In-Friday

MONTHLY
* "The Roundtable" will be designed to feature 3 coaches (or maybe players) but the segment will feature more on philosophies or issues in the sport as opposed to current events. Here is an example of The Roundtable with three football coaches, Don Rice (Jefferson Forest), Jeff Woody (Brookville) and former Amherst head coach, Scott Abell.

* "Bumps and Bruises" will feature an athletic trainer discussing something that will either maybe prevent an injury, how to rehab an injury, or something related to the athletic training field. On this edition, Tony Tucker (Athletic Trainer at Heritage High School) talked about heat illnesses.

* "Away from the Game" is designed to tell you about an athlete (or other figure) and what they are contributing away from their sport of play. Whether it be involvement in a church or community endeavor, you will hear about an athlete's contribution away from the game.

* "Rules of the Game" will be an official from a certain sport describing a rule of the game. For those fans back in the '80s of college basketball, I believe Hank Nichols used to have a segment that would air (I think it was sponsored by State Farm" and it was called "Rules of the Game"). We may not have Hank Nichols but we will have one of our officials in sports in the area explaining a rule of the game.

* "The Sports Buffet Feature" will be a feature that we do each month. It will be a 4 part series where each week a new segment will debut. For example, Febuary is Valentine's Day, so we may do a feature on being the spouse of a coach. How tough is it? How much understanding involved? Then one month, we may take a look at something serious such as leadership. How do you develop leadership amongst your team? It promises to be interesting, informative and entertaining.

Here is the debut schedule for the monthly features.
Bumps and Bruises will air the 1st week of each month
Rules of the Game will air the 2nd week of each month
Away from the Game will air the 3rd week of each month
The Roundtable will air the 4th week of each month

The Sports Buffet Feature is to be determined on debut dates.

I for one am looking forward to all these segments. Tell your friends and neighbors about our Facebook page and more. "The Sports Buffet Podcast" is always looking for active participation from our fans (or even our non fans) so let us hear your suggestions by e-mailing TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net or become a fan of "The Sports Buffet Podcast" on Facebook. You can also check us out on Twitter.

Important Information about "The Sports Buffet Podcast"

For those of you diligent followers of "The Sports Buffet Podcast", you may have seen this on my other blog that is dedicated to High School Sports. Check out the announcement and information by going to that post by clicking here.

The Sports Buffet Podcast....One More Try

Okay, "The Sports Buffet Podcast" is going to make one last try of it. Basically, when I was doing "Talking High School Sports", that was in my BK (Before Kids) era, and I had tons of time to dedicate. Now, I have two kids and a full time job that has me working abnormal hours, so basically I don't have the time that I'd like to dedicate to my podcast. So, I am going to bring back the 'Buffet. The interviews/segments may not be as plentiful as they once were, but it's a labor of love, and I need my hobby back, so the 'Buffet is back in town!

More updates and developments hopefully to come. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, please don't hesitate to e-mail them to me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

The Return of "The Sports Buffet Podcast"

The target date has been set. "The Sports Buffet Podcast" has set the target date for the podcast portion of "The Sports Buffet" to relaunch on Monday August 3rd. The features that I mentioned in a previous post on October 24th, 2008 are still the features that you will be hearing on "The Sports Buffet Podcast".

Until then, I will be updating my blogs on a regular basis. I have three blogs, one relating to high school sports, one dealing with the general sports world (non high school sports) and one that just deals with the general world and my thoughts as a whole. Also, if you are a Facebooker, you can type in The Sports Buffet Podcast in the search box in the top right and become a fan of the podcast.

I want thoughts and suggestions from you on what you want to hear! E-Mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net or leave me a message or post on Facebook. If you haven't contacted me and volunteered to help with "The Sports Buffet" whether it be as a reporter or blogger, you can offer your services to me there as well.

Look forward to serving you up some good things on "The Sports Buffet". Stay tuned for more exciting news and updates that will be coming to "The Sports Buffet".

Updates on "The Sports Buffet"

Just a few updates on "The Sports Buffet Podcast", the page should be seeing some major updates in the next week or two. Hopefully, there will be new blogs, and the page will be updated on hopefully a more daily basis. The podcasts part of the page however will probably not be consistently updated until August. Features that will be on the website (eventually) will include (but not be limited to)

* High School Sports
* College Sports
* Professional Sports
* Podcasts
* Blogs
* Links
* Historical Info on High School and College Sports
* Schedules
* Standings
and much more.

Stay tuned to "The Sports Buffet Podcast" to fill your sports hunger.

NFL MVP... Top 5 Candidates?

As the NFL season draws to a conclusion, there is a lot of debate about what teams will make the playoffs, and who will win the Super Bowl? However, I am here to debate the MVP race and give you who my final five candidates for MVP.

1. Chad Pennington- The Dolphins were 1-15 last year. 1-15! Obviously, you have to give the Tuna (Bill Parcells) and Tony (Sparano) some credit for that. But, I think you have to give Chad Pennington the veteran quarterback some credit as well. Pennington has, in my opinion, outplayed the person that the Jets acquired (Brett Favre) and remember the Jets had serious discussions about who was the better choice for them, Kellen Clements or Chad Pennington? With all that being said, even if the Dolphins don't make the playoffs, (and I don't think they will, because I think they will lose to the Jets) you have to give credit for what they have done. This is not a postseason award. This is the NFL regular season MVP.

2. Matt Cassel- A guy that did not even start in college, was really probably never counted on to play with the Patriots, unless it was a 30 point margin with 2:15 to go in the 4th. All that being said, he has just stepped into a situation, where he is filling in for a guy who has won three Super Bowls. With the Patriots falling to the Giants last year, I think expectations with all key Patriots returning, were the Patriots were just going to pick up where they left off. Once Brady went down, I think most people (not just Patriots fans) thought "Well, the Patriots will be picking in the top 10 next year in the draft, this is now a throwaway year." Clearly, that has not been the case. Obviously most think Belichick is a genius. I don't dispute that, but as William Campbell High School's head coach Brad Bradley has told me before, "Coaches lose games, players win games". While I don't know that we can say that is always absolute, it does ring true more then it rings false. I think Cassel deserves strong consideration for MVP, because like I said earlier, this is the NFL MVP. It's a regular season award, not a postseason award.

3. Peyton Manning- The Colts were also somewhat left for dead. After a red hot start by the Tennessee Titans, and a very sluggish start by the Colts, most wrote the Colts off. Now, obviously they didn't win the division, but I think if you took a poll of 100 NFL fans right now, and asked them "What team would you not want your favorite team to face in the playoffs?", I think most would say Colts. Peyton Manning has led this team, and done most of this without Joseph Addai, and an aging Marvin Harrison. After the first few games of the season, I don't think most people would have given the Colts a chance. The quarterback is always the focal point of a team. He gets credit for the wins and blame for the losses. With all that being said, I think you have to give Peyton Manning credit for getting the Colts back to a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

4. Michael Turner- The Falcons success should be credited to a lot of people, Mike Smith, the rookie head coach. The rookie quarterback, Matt Ryan should also get some credit as well. However, Mike Smith wants to establish the run in each game, and Michael Turner has established that run for the Falcons time after time through the first 15 games of the season. Could Jerrious Norwood have done the same thing? Maybe, but I doubt it. Also, anytime you have people say, "Did the Chargers keep the wrong running back", that's pretty high praise. I realize that the topic is talk radio banter, but "burner" Turner has done a good job for the Falcons this year, and I think deserves serious consideration for the MVP as well.

5. Thomas Jones- I think that Brett Favre has helped this ball club get to a respectable point this year. But, Favre's year in the Big Apple has been aided tremendously by the running back from Big Stone Gap, Virginia. I think the other four candidates listed are probably stronger, but I think Jones deserves some votes. Everybody thinks "Brett, Brett, Brett" but number 4 is not nearly as effective and strong without Thomas Jones in the backfield.

My pick to win the most valuable player is...... Chad Pennington. To reiterate some previously stated points. The Dolphins were 1-15 last year. 1-15! Pennington has 1,230 less passing yards then Drew Brees, the leader. Pennington has 15 less touchdown passes then the leader, Phillip Rivers. However, Pennington took the Dolphins into a Brady-less Foxboro, where the Dolphins shouldn't have won, and they won. The Dolphins are in the playoff race and it's largely because of Chad Pennington. Pennington is a guy who was ripped in New York unmercifully. Most New Yorkers probably thought their paperboy had a better arm then Pennington. This Dolphins team was 0-2 headed into Foxboro, surely to go to 0-3 and Pennington and the Wildcat formation defeated the AFC East's Evil Empire. Granted, the Dolphins have only won one game against a team that will make the playoffs (the AFC West winner), but if you look at their five losses (Jets, Cardinals, Texans, Ravens and Patriots) one of those teams has already clinched a playoff spot, three have a chance in Week 17 and the Texans squeaked out a one point victory with 6 seconds left. With all this said, I think Chad Pennington is the league's MVP followed by Cassel, then I'd vote Turner and then Manning.

Disagree? You are free to think that way. But leave a comment and tell me why.

Update on "The Sports Buffet" and More

For all you devout fans of "The Sports Buffet" podcast, I just wanted to update you of the status. I have yet to meet with my webmaster yet, I will be hopefully over the winter break, or once the school year resumes after the New Year. I will be developing my own web site. The domain name has yet to be registered or decided. The reason the podcast is not active now, is the website I was using at My Podcast has really been giving me major headaches, and it has made it very difficult/near impossible to upload files. You can still check out the files that have already been uploaded at The Sports Buffet Podcast. The new site will still feature old broadcasts from "Talking High School Sports" and games that have been broadcasted on WKDE. The website will also try to have schedules/scores/results and provide somewhat of a high school sports almanac. I will also hopefully update the blogs and everything else on a more frequent basis as well.

Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions, and anything else, please e-mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

Great News

Great News. "The Sports Buffet" podcast is back. All computer problems that have fixed, the recording studio has been updated and now "The Sports Buffet" podcast is ready to go again. So, what that means is this: You are going to hear new stuff, old stuff and all the stuff in between. The name and content hasn't changed, we are just back from a long sabbatical. Be sure to visit "The Sports Buffet" for all your high school, college and pro sports needs.

If there is anything you want to hear, be sure to email me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net