Save the Date, Open House: March 11, 2012

Posted on January 27, 2012 by strongadmin
Open House

Come Join Us!!

Are you looking for the perfect opportunity to bring your friends to see what camp is all about? Here’s your chance! Let them experience camp first hand on Sunday, March 11th from 1:30 – 5:30.

Guests will tour camp, meet the staff, owners and directors all while having a blast playing at Strong Rock.  Several camp activities will be open including archery, riflery, climbing, horseback riding, canoeing and more.  Open House will provide you with a great chance to get back in the camp spirit, and will get your friends excited about attending camp with you.

Those new to camp will be able to enter our special Open House Tuition Giveaway Drawing.  The winner will receive a free session at camp compliments of Strong Rock!

Don’t forget to put this FUN event on your calendar and invite all your friends.  Give us a call (706-348-1533) or comment below to let us know you’re coming .  We can’t wait to see you and your friends!

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Bowl Bonanza Contest, Final Standings

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Bacon

Well, the final whistle has blown on the 2011-12 Bowl Season as Alabama owned LSU’s Jordan Jefferson all night and the Tide captured another National Title. LSU’s quest for a perfect season fell short as the Alabama defense simply smothered the Tiger’s throughout this contest.

With that, our contest comes to a close and our final standings are complete. We had a staff member take the top spot, so we are still working on combing through the fine print to dole out our prize packages, but didn’t want to leave you all hanging. Here’s a look at where many of you finished up:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 24-11
Rambo: 21-14
Rebecca: 19-16

The Rest:
1st place (Overall Champion): 27-8 – T-Bone
2nd place: 26-9 – Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
3rd place: 25-10 – James Knight, Pistol, Trip

Notables:
24-11:  Nike, Robin Dent, Snaps, Baylor Rainbow
23-12:  Kristine Zemen, Willow, Susan James, Steve James, Erin Esping, Kelsey Weed, Caitlin Weed, Kirsten Weed, Aaron Sims, Becky Martin, David Martin, Wes Jones
22-13:  Bubbles, Dill, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Kim Halder, Michael Humphrey, Lee Wall, Rebekah Latimer, Sharon Latimer
21-14:  Nathan Dose, Madison Tart, Ryan Esping, Sarah Jane Collins, Cass Waddell, Chris Earnest, Steve Lowry, Melissa Rainbow

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 17

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Bacon

The GoDaddy.com bowl is in the books and the Huskies from Northern Illinois prevailed. Arkansas State jumped out to an early lead and a 13-0 edge, but the Huskies woke up and rolled out 31 unanswered points. By then, it was too late for the Red Wolves to regain control.

Only one game left. The Big One, so check out our latest standings and enjoy the game.

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 24-10
Rambo: 21-13
Rebecca: 18-16

The Rest:
1st place: 26-8 – T-Bone, Charlie Flint
2nd place: 25-9 – Trip, John Lloyd
3rd place: 24-10 – James Knight, Pistol, Nike, Robin Dent

Last game of the season tonight with the National Championship on the line. Should be a great rematch so forget the controversy, accept reality and enjoy the final college football game of the year. I’m hoping for a dandy. I picked LSU but this could easily go either way. Enjoy!!

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 16

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Bacon

I have to be honest and let you know I didn’t see even one minute of the SMU / Pitt contest. I’ve not even witnessed any highlights yet. All I know is that SMU jumped out to a 21-3 lead early in this one and their defense held strong, allowing only 3 more points to help the Mustangs secure the victory. I also heard that this was win number 100 for the SMU coach, so a big win for those guys.

We finally saw some movement at the top today, so check out our latest standings:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 24-9
Rambo: 20-13
Rebecca: 17-16

The Rest:
1st place: 25-8 – T-Bone, Charlie Flint, Trip, John Lloyd
2nd place: 23-10 – James Knight, Susan James, Pistol, Nike, Caitlin Weed, Robin Dent, Becky Martin, Baylor Rainbow
3rd place: 22-11 – Erin Esping, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Lee Wall, Kelsey Weed, Kirsten Weed, Aaron Sims, David Martin, Snaps

Notables: T-Bone and Trip moved back into a 4-way tie for 1st place as they picked correctly today while our 2 leaders stumbled. Two games left to see if we can get some separation at the top.

Next up, Northern Illinois takes on Arkansas State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Both teams are coming into the game riding solid win streaks. Arkansas State will have to see how the team responds to the loss of their head coach. Since I picked them, I’m hoping these guys play hard to showcase their talent for the new head coach who will be watching from the press box. Tune in Monday to see how we all did in this one.

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 15

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Bacon

The Cotton Bowl featured two fairly solid teams in Arkansas and Kansas State. They both got off to a pretty slow start offensively as each teamed struggled to even get a first down for much of the first half. Arkansas took the momentum swing with a punt return for a touchdown and outlasted K-State efforts at a comeback. The Razorbacks tie their school record for most wins in a season and complete quite an impressive year for their program.

For the second day in a row, no change in the top 3. Everyone in those 3 positions picked up a win this time. Here’s the updated standings:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 23-9
Rambo: 20-12
Rebecca: 17-15

The Rest:
1st place: 25-7 – Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
2nd place: 24-8 - T-Bone, Trip
3rd place: 22-10 – James Knight, Susan James, Pistol, Nike, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Lee Wall, Kelsey Weed, Caitlin Weed, Aaron Sims, Robin Dent, Becky Martin, David Martin, Baylor Rainbow

Notables: Pretzel has shown one of the worst falls from glory as she spent several days on the leaderboard early in the contest and now finds herself near dead last in our rankings. I believe her quote after submitting her picks went something like “I just entered my picks. I’ve got this in the bag… No point in the rest of you even filling it out.” Be careful what you put in print, Pretzel!

This afternoon we have a match up between SMU and Pitt. Most of the us don’t know a lot about these 2 programs, but they both have some storied football roots. Pitt had a horrible stretch in October, but finished their season a little stronger. SMU had one big win against TCU, and a decent season. Not much hype about this game, but it still counts in our contest, so root for your team and check back in to see the standings tomorrow.

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 14

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Bacon

E.M.B.A.R.R.A.S.S.I.N.G! It was bound to happen at some point in the bowl season, but no one could have ever seen this coming. Clemson’s rise to glory under Dabo Swinney just hit a huge brick wall. Shock and awe. Props to the Mountaineers for putting together their best game of the year, and condolences to the Tiger fans who walk away from the best season in recent history with a horrible performance to mull over for the next 9 months.

No change in the top 3 other than everyone picking up a loss. Only 3 people in our entire contest picked this one correctly. One of those is a huge South Carolina fan who probably just couldn’t bring himself to pull for Clemson. Here’s the updated standings:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 22-9
Rambo: 19-12
Rebecca: 16-15

The Rest:
1st place: 24-7 – Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
2nd place: 23-8 - T-Bone, Trip
3rd place: 21-10 – James Knight, Susan James, Pistol, Nike, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Lee Wall, Kelsey Weed, Caitlin Weed, Aaron Sims, Robin Dent, Becky Martin, David Martin, Baylor Rainbow

Notables: First time in Bowl Bonanza history that over 95% of us took a loss in the same game. The sad part is that we all took a beating, not even close.

We get a break tonight, which apparently we all need. Next up, the Cotton Bowl, featuring Kansas State vs. Arkansas. Kansas State had a banner year for their program and are looking to go out with a victory. Arkansas is very solid, with their only 2 losses coming to LSU and Alabama. If they win this game, it would be a perfect ending to their own storybook season. In our contest, 84% of us are pulling for the Razorbacks.

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 13

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Bacon

The Sugar Bowl was another very close game. Neither team looked spectacular, but it was at least a competitive contest. Virginia Tech just couldn’t score a touchdown, but still managed to stay in this game and take it to overtime. I actually had a feeling that they would come out on top, but Michigan pulled through in the end.

Not sure if these teams proved they deserved the Sugar Bowl bids, but at least it was entertaining. I’m not a Michigan fan, but must admit that I am pretty impressed with Brady Hoke and his record after only 1 season with the Wolverines. They still have a lot to fix, but he seems to have them on the right track.

A little shuffling going on up top and tons of you back in third place again:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 22-8
Rambo: 19-11
Rebecca: 16-14

The Rest:
1st place: 24-6 – Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
2nd place: 23-7 - T-Bone, Trip
3rd place: 21-9 – James Knight, Susan James, Pistol, Nike, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Lee Wall, Kelsey Weed, Caitlin Weed, Aaron Sims, Robin Dent, Becky Martin, David Martin, Baylor Rainbow

Notables: T-Bone stumbles on yet another field goal. If only…

The Orange Bowl is tonight. We have West Virginia facing Clemson in a pretty intriguing match up that exhibits another couple of quality quarterbacks. Early in the season it looked like Clemson might run the table, knocking off opponent after opponent. Eventually, they stumbled and had a short rough stretch, but seemed to be back on track in the ACC championship game. If they show up for this like they did for that game, the Mountaineers are going to have their hands full. We have tons of Clemson fans in our camp family, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon with you and cheering for the Tigers!!

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 12

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Bacon

Wow, what a day of football. Game 1 saw Case Keenum throw for 532 yards in their win over Penn State. Who does that? What a way for that young man to play in his last college football game. Game 2 had my attention as the Florida Gators battled it out with Ohio State in what many called the Urban Bowl. All I can say is that I am glad this football season ended with a victory and am thankful that our special teams came up big. I don’t think the Gators win if they had to rely on their offense in this one. How about Ohio State finishing with their first losing record since 1897? Game 3 saw Spurrier and the Gamecocks fighting it out with the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  For a while, I thought this could go either way, but South Carolina eventually pulled away a little in the second half for the win. Game 4 was a doozy that I didn’t think would ever end. Georgia started strong, but literally gave this game away. It took 3 overtimes to lose it for good, but the Bulldogs were successful in handing the trophy to Michigan State. Not to take anything away from the Spartans and Kirk Cousins, but Georgia should have put this away in regulation. Fun to watch the ending though. Game 5 saw 2 of the best offenses in the country battling it out. It seemed that both teams could score at will as Wisconsin and Oregon traded touchdown after touchdown. On the rare occasion that 1 team had a defensive stop, it seemed like the other defense answered with a turnover to keep this thing close. Tough to see either team lose this one, but in the end the Badgers came up short as the Ducks rolled to victory. Oregon definitely has some electrifying athletes, but I thought the Badger defense would do a little better in this one. Game 6 of the night was one of the most anticipated Fiesta Bowl’s that I can remember as numbers 3 and 4 battled it out. Oklahoma State and Stanford came into the matchup with fantastic quarterbacks and remarkable seasons. Oklahoma State thought they should be playing for a national championship so I looked for them to really play strong to make a statement. They did play well, but so did Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal. This was another classic battle that went down to the wire and was eventually decided by field goals with the Cowboys sneaking out with the victory in overtime.

All in all, if you had nothing else to do and you love football, yesterday was a great treat with quality games across the board. It was definitely a fun day to be a college football fan.

With so many games, the standings shifted a little again. Check out the latest standings:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 21-8
Rambo: 18-11
Rebecca: 16-13

The Rest:
1st place: 23-6 – T-Bone, Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
2nd place: 22-7 – Trip
3rd place: 21-8 – Nike, Aaron Sims

Notables: It was just a great day for college football and most of you did fairly well today.

Only one game at a time from here on out. Tonight features 2 teams who many think are unworthy of a BCS Bowl battling it out at the Sugar Bowl. Michigan and Virginia Tech are ranked pretty low in comparison to some other teams that were snubbed for this contest. Regardless, it is what it is and it should be a pretty decent match up. These two teams have solid programs that have just not had great seasons. Michigan is under a new head coach and is looking to rebuild a program that has struggled the last few years, so we will see if they can pull this out or if the Hokies rebound from their last embarrassing outing against Clemson. Game on.

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 11

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Bacon

New Year’s Eve was filled with bowl games, but many of us didn’t fare so well as a couple of popular picks went down. Texas A&M held it together long enough, avoided the 2nd half rally and won their last game as members of the Big 12. Most of us picked Georgia Tech over Utah in the Sun Bowl, but the Yellow Jackets just couldn’t get it done. This team was so hot to start the season, but they sure hit a slump late in the year. They stretched it to overtime, but Tech lost by 3. In the Liberty Bowl, many of us went with sentimental favorite Vanderbilt to surprise the Bearcats, but they just couldn’t get it done. I was really hoping that Vandy would pull this off and get some decent exposure for their program. They kept it close, but just didn’t have it last night. In the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Illinois held on to beat UCLA. I’m glad they did as I didn’t think UCLA deserved a bowl game since they had a losing record. Ridiculous. The final game of the night was the Chick-fil-a Bowl featuring Auburn vs. Virginia. In the battle of blue and orange, Auburn started off a little slow, but eventually pulled away and sent the Cavaliers home empty handed.

Our top 3 spots have definitely slimmed down a ton. We have a single leader again and some better separation in our standings. Things are just getting interesting:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 17-6
Rambo: 14-9
Rebecca: 12-11

The Rest:
1st place: 19-4 – T-Bone
2nd place: 18-5 – Charlie Flint, John Lloyd
3rd place: 17-6 – Trip, Cass Waddell, Mary Katherine Lloyd

Notables: Rebecca had potentially the worst day in office bowl bonanza history going 0-5 on the day. Not sure anyone can overcome a beating like that.

No games today since the NFL plays on Sunday, but tomorrow brings us 6 more bowl contests. These are some of the best match ups of the bowl season. Game 1 features Case Keenum, Mr. Record Setter – this guy is fun to watch. Game 2 features my Gators who are coming off a very disappointing season. Not sure they can win, but I will be pulling hard for them. Game 3 has local favorite UGA in a tough match up with Michigan State. This will be a real test for the Bulldogs. Game 4 has South Carolina against Nebraska, another interesting match up. South Carolina is good, but they are pretty inconsistent so you never know what you get when Spurrier’s squad comes to town. Game 5, the Rose Bowl, the Granddaddy of them all, showcases the blazing Oregon offense against Wisconsin’s 1-2 punch of Russell Wilson and Monte’ Ball. I can’t wait to watch this game. Game 6, the Fiesta Bowl, will also be fun to watch as Oklahoma State battles it out with Stanford. You will witness 2 of the best QB’s in college football and a fantastic 3 vs. 4 contest. Many folks think the Cowboys should be playing for the National Title, so let’s see if they come out and make a BIG statement.

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Bowl Picks Update, Day 10

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Bacon

Tons of action yesterday and some pretty close contests to boot. In game 1, we had another back and forth battle that was eventually decided in the last 10 seconds of the game as BYU capped off their final drive with a touchdown to seal the victory. Two memorable highlights from this game stick out in my mind. The first was right before halftime when BYU offensive tackle Matt Reynolds lost his helmet but kept playing and laid a huge block on a defensive end to give his QB just enough time to throw a beautiful touchdown pass. This was a display of a true never give up attitude when many guys would have just quit on the play. Of course the other highlight of the game was the game winning touchdown toss as the BYU QB faked like he was spiking the ball to stop the clock, but kept the ball alive and hit his favorite target of the night to clinch the victory. It was truly a beautiful play.

Game 2 featured Rutgers against Iowa State.  Many of us picked Iowa State to win this one, but Rutgers jumped out to an early lead by halftime and never really looked back. I didn’t get to watch much of this game, so not really sure how it went. One thing for sure, Rutgers won, so I missed this pick.

Game 3 pitted Mississippi State against Wake Forest. The cowbells were in full force so I feel sorry for anyone who attended this game. It was bad enough to have to listen to it all night on TV, so I can’t imagine having to be in the stands with that noise. It may have affected the Deacons as they just couldn’t get anything going. Wake scored first, but once the Bulldogs tied it, Wake would never lead again. Dan Mullen’s squad held on despite a few unfortunate interceptions to take home the Music City Bowl hardware.

The final game of the day had Oklahoma facing the Iowa Hawkeyes. Oklahoma was ranked at the top of the polls for much of the season, but had a few rough games and found themselves underachieving yet again. Iowa has been known in recent years to play well in Bowl games. The big question for this contest was whether or not the Sooners would come out ready to play, or just ready to get their disappointing season over. Powered by some bruising runs from backup QB Blake Bell, the Sooners punched it into endzone plentyof times to take the victory. They also got some help from their defensive squad, whose last outing was the embarrassing massacre from Oklahoma State. The Sooners were pretty relentless on that side of the ball, especially in comparison to their last game. Good to see them bounce back from that horrible display.

With so many games, there was definitely some more movement. Here are the updated standings:

The Office Crew:
Bacon: 14-4
Rebecca: 12-6
Rambo: 11-7

The Rest:
1st place: 15-3 – T-Bone, Charlie Flint
2nd place: 14-4 – Pistol, Trip, Cass Waddell, Michael Humphrey, John Lloyd
3rd place: 13-5 – Jacob Bottomley, Steve James, Nike, Kay Lloyd, Mary Katherine Lloyd, Sharon Latimer, Kelsey Weed, Caitlin Weed, Aaron Sims, Robin Dent, Becky Martin, Snaps, Steve Lowry, Baylor Rainbow

Notables: Dill and Bubbles both took quite a plunge today to vanish from our leaderboard. Not a good day for these two Awahili staffers.

Five big games tomorrow as we countdown to the New Year. Of particular interest to many of our fans, Georgia Tech will meet Utah. GT should win this game, but they had a few horrible displays this season, so this could be a close one if the Jackets don’t come to play. Later in the night, defending National Champs Auburn lines up against Virginia. Auburn had a decent year, considering all that they lost. Virginia also had a great year for their program but I’m not sure they can hang with the Tigers. It’s going to be a great day of football, so tune in to a game or two.

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