Steroids, and Refs Betting, and Dogs Fighting -- Oh My!

So many people treat sports like their lives depend on it. It's too bad.

I think Hockey is the only major sport not in the headlines right now for some kind of major scandal or another. In the NFL, you've got Michael Vick and his dog fighting allegations (do I really have to say "allegations"? I think we all can guess the chances of his innocence...) The NBA, with the FBI's help of course, just released information stating that one of its long-time referees has been betting on his own games and is involved with organized crime -- very nice. And, of course, we would be remiss to not mention the most self-absorbed man in sports as he chases down Baseball's most hallowed record.

I think it's easy to forget just exactly what professional sports are intended to be: ENTERTAINMENT. And like any other form of entertainment, what sells the most will be shown the most. Eventually, the integrity of the game has to take a backseat to the all-mighty dollar. Take the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees as proof of my point. Does anyone actually think that the former has just as good a chance as the latter of winning the world series? Do you think the reason for that is based solely on chance?

With giant question marks around every sport, I've personally lost a lot of interest in watching professional sports.

10 Years Ago This Month...

So I saw this "Throwback Thursday" idea on Eliot's sisters' blogs and I thought it was a fun idea so I hope they don't mind me doing one this week! I like to reminisce. So this is where I was and what I was doing during July for the last 10 Years (as far as I can remember)... (I only have the most recent pics...the rest are in Puyallup.)

July 2007 - Here in Chi-town taking care of baby Wes; heading to IF for a family reunion

July 2006 - Living in El Paso, wading through the floods; went to Roswell with Mom and Dad Swensen

July 2005 - Living with Megs Mickelsen and working at Nordstrom in Orem; went to my first Smith Family Reunion on Brian's side in Boise; planning my wedding!

July 2004 - Rooming with cousin Rachel (soon-to-been Skeen) on condo row at BY-woo; went to Boise for Ryan's blessing; went to Megan Paul's "last supper"

July 2003 - Living in Puyallup, hanging out with my parents and working at my Dad's office

July 2002 - Living in Laie, Hawaii and taking art, hula, etc... at BYU-H

July 2001 - Living at Liberty Square and working at Ah-ha (thanks to Eliot)

July 2000 - Went to Thousand Oaks, Cali with my mom for when Danny D was born

July 1999 - Hanging with my girl, Jessika; cheer camp? Go Rams!

July 1998 - YW camp?

July 1997 - Jennie and Mike got married!

Shout Out

Well, even though I'm generally not a Broncos fan (especially not the Denver Broncos), I do have to give props to Boise State for winning an Espy Award on Sunday for the "Best Game". Their win against Oklahoma was pretty fun to watch. Normally, I wouldn't have watched the game, but Brian and Mike went to the game in Phoenix and Jennie and I watched it from the hotel. (We were both prego at the time...good memories.) I have to admit, that was one amazing game! I know Mike and Brian both felt lucky to be there.

This shout out also goes to my nephew, Nathan, who has watched the DVD of that game (literally) hundreds of times. And who also said to his Grandma, when Boise State was down in the final minute, "It's not over until the clock says zero-zero, zero-zero." And he sure was right! (If you didn't see that game, sorry! STBY...maybe Nathan will let you borrow the DVD.)

PS: For those of you who are unsure of the pronunciation (or just say it wrong), it's Boy-see, not BoyZ-ee. It really irritates Brian when people say it with a "Z".

Like Father, Like Son

I don't know how many people are aware of this trait among the Hanks men (Dell, Kevin, and Brian all do it...I'm not sure about Craig because I haven't been around him enough, but I'm sure he does too). When something even remotely interesting comes on t.v. (and by remote I mean, commercials even) they somehow suddenly get sucked in. ("It's like a tractor beam...zhoo") It's actually pretty funny and I usually laugh at Brian about it. But today, it was especially funny. Poor Wes...he doesn't even know that it's something he can't even control. I do have to cut them some slack though...they were watching Home Improvement, a Brian favorite.

After a Year of Studying, the Scores Are In...

So, as some of you may know, Brian has been studying (on and off) for the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) for at least a year now. It's been a hard battle, but he finally just decided he had to get the test over with. So on Friday at noon, feeling as prepared as possible, he headed in to take the test that could very well be one of the keys to our future. (No pressure, right?)

Well, my husband performed beautifully! Better that either of us hoped or expected even. The final score? (With the maximum being 800.)


That's right! Brian got 710 out of 800 - that's the 94th percentile! (He was in the 97th percentile for his verbal even!) Yah, my husband's pretty darn amazing. I was so proud of him and he was so excited - especially just to have it over with finally. Now, we can start considering what to do with the rest of our lives.

And just to give you an idea of how good that score really is...here's a breakdown of the top schools and their average GMAT scores. (Not to brag or anything, but okay, I'm going to...) :) The name that follows the school is the business school's name. This ranking is according to Business Week (U.S. News and World Report's new one isn't out yet.)


1. University of Chicago (yep, our local school is ranked numero uno) - 710

2. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) - 714

3. Northwestern University (Kellogg - also in Chi-town) - 702

4. Harvard University - 711

5. University of Michigan (Ross) - 701

6. Stanford University - 720

7. MIT (Sloan) - 702

8. UC Berkeley (Haas) - 707

9. Duke University (Fuqua) - 696

10. Columbia University - N/A

So, as you can see, Brian's score is very competitive. It's by no means a guarantee, of course, but it helps in the application process. They also consider work and life experience, GPA, personal recommendations, essays, and the interview. So he still has a way to go, but this is a good start!

His top choice right now is probably University of Chicago Business School - for obvious reasons. We've also decided to apply to Northwestern, University of Michigan, and University of Texas - Austin. So, those are the first choices and then if we need to, we have some potential back up plans.

Anyway, I just had to share Brian's huge success after all the hard work and effort he put in! Wish us luck on the application process! (And it is an "us" thing...)