Vikings- Season 1 Episode 1 "Rites of Passage"

WOW. LET ME SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME, WOW. I want to use the word "graphic" to describe what the opening scene were like but i'm afraid i'm going to have to come up with more terms very shortly unless I just want to repeat myself a lot. Im going to say something like part "Saving private Ryan, part "God of War" but with Axes and Spears.

Mixed in between the heartfelt moments between father/son and mother/daughter there is more bloodshed in the blink of an eye. While in such a situation it was more then deserved, it's still a shock to the system if your unaware of the direction the show seems to be heading. Probably best to send the little ones to bed before cracking that beer and lounging on the couch. And on second thought, if you want to keep the Mrs in a "amenable/giving mood maybe it's best if this is one watched on a day off or a weekend alone.

Without giving too much away, the plot has presented a very interesting beginning and I am absolutely going to move on to the next episode.

Ragnar Lothbrok and his small family are the main characters in the opening episode. He has a wife, brother, son and daughter presumably. To the best of my knowledge so far each year the village leader decides which men go sailing in which direction and for what purpose. Let's just say Ragnar and his men, are having other ideas for where the best bounty can be found....

ESPN

The ESPN empire has exponentially grown over the past say 20-25 years that I have been watching it. My first memory of any sports is growing up the first thing my father and I would do after waking up was to grab cereal, bowl, milk and sit at the kitchen table with a small tv and watch highlights from the day/night before games. From what I remember it was a majority of Baseball, Football and Basketball. The big difference I get watching today is firstly they have several networks such as ESPN deportes for the Hispanic audience, and now they cover everything from the X-games to the golf network. Obviously Tiger Woods is a big reason golf grew in popularity and revenue. Although he has basically dropped off a cliff in his play he still draws a crowd, thankfully for golf fans, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIIroy have stepped up and look to continue to develop a rivalry.

Now with publications like ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com they are looking to continue their growth. I have a problem with this expansion though. Sometimes growth is great and sometimes it spreads you so thin that you don't fully grasp the consequences. For me personally, I can't stand that ESPN.com now has a large number of material and even entire sections in the college category that are only available to view if you are a ESPN The Magazine subscriber. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

I happen to be a subscriber because I still enjoy reading a magazine, having the feel of it in my hands. But a large majority of the population, especially in today's seemingly bad economy, shouldn't be forced to shell out another $10 to get the full story on the website. It doesn't matter that it's less the $1 an issue. It's the point of it.

 I try to write factual and interesting pieces based on my opinions of articles. Coming from where i'm sitting I just don't think it's right to make portions of a website and conglomerate that make a huge number of profits, off limits to hard working sports fans, spending time supporting your business by reading articles on pages FILLED WITH ADS YOUR BEING PAID TO SHOW.

what do you guys think? should espn eliminate the "pay to play" per se??????

Comcast/ Infinity customer service technician

With a window of 1pm to 3pm by the time it reaches 2:55 you've gotta be thinking theirs no way this guy is coming....typical. Well I gave it another few minutes and waited upstairs and sure enough comcasts technician knocks on the door at 2:57. Good enough for me. He was polite, did his work quickly and fixed the minor problem and even helped me with an additional problem not exactly related to his work and he helped me out without a second guess.

I really appreciate how he explained what the problem was and how he fixed it, and even gave us instructions for a variety of questions afterwards. I wish he told me his name so I could give him a shout out, but whoever you were, YOU DID AN AMAZING JOB AND WE REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR HELP MR 413 TECHNICIAN WORKING IN WESTERN MASS.