Archive for the ‘Other’ Category

The Youngstown State men’s tennis team was upset by sixth-seeded Butler on Friday during the first day of action at the Horizon League Championships at North Central High School. The Penguins lost 4-2 to the Bulldogs.

YSU was the third seed in the event and had knocked off Butler for the first time last Sunday in Youngstown.

The Bulldogs jumped on top 1-0 after victories at No. 1 and No. 3 singles. YSU won at No. 2 as Rodrigo Campos and Victor Theorin defeated Tommy Marx and Zach Ervin.

In singles play, the Penguins earned a stright set win at No. 3 at Dawoud Kabli (above) defeated Ervin 6-2, 6-0. At No. 5, Campos beat Billy Weldon 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 for the Guins’ other singles victory.

Butler won in three sets at No. 1 and No. 6 and won in straight sets at No. 4. At No. 4, Max Schmerin lost 6-3, 6-2 to Pulok Bhattacharya. At No. 1, senior Tariq Ismail split the first two sets with Austin Woldmoe before dropping the third. Ismail dropped the opening set 6-1 before rebounding to win the second 7-5. Woldmoe won the third and deciding set 6-1.

At No. 6, Zeeshan Ismail forced a third set against Stephen McLoughlin, but came up short. McLoughlin won the first set 6-4 before Ismail won the second set 6-4. Ismail lost 6-0 in the third set.

At No. 2, Silviu Mistrean was leading Marx 4-6, 6-4, 4-2 when the match was decided.

Butler 4, YSU 2

Singles:
No. 1 – Austin Woldmoe (BU) def. T. Ismail (YSU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
No. 2 – Mistreanu (YSU) vs. Tommy Marx (BU) 4-6, 6-4, 4-2
No. 3 – Kabli (YSU) def. Zach Ervin (BU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 4 – Pulok Bhattacharya (BU) def. Schmerin (YSU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 – Campos (YSU) def. Billy Weldon (BU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
No. 6 – Stephen McLoughlin (BU) def. Z. Ismail (YSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0

Doubles:
No. 1 – Austin Woldmoe/Billy Weldon (BU) def. T. Ismail/Kabli (YSU), 8-4
No. 2 – Campos/Theorin (YSU) def. Tommy Marx/Zach Ervin (BU), 8-1
No. 3 – Stephen McLoughlin/Sam O’Neill (BU) def. Mistreanu/Z. Ismail (YSU), 8-5

The Youngstown State men’s tennis team picked up its first win over Butler since joining the Horizon League knocking off the Bulldogs 5-2 on a chilly Sunday afternoon at the YSU Tennis Courts.

The Penguins came out strong winning the doubles point by taking two of three matches. Butler won two of the first three singles matches, before YSU clinched the victory with strong three-set wins at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles.

At No. 2, Silviu Mistreanu (above) picked up a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Tommy Marx. At. No. 1, Tariq Ismail suffered a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Austin Woldmoe while Dawould Kabli dropped his match to Zach Ervin after winning the opening set. Kabli won the first set 6-3, but dropped the next two 7-5, 6-4.

Mistreanu finished Horizon League play with a 6-1 record. He carrys a five-game winning streak to the HL Championships 14-5 overall.

At No. 4, Rodrigo Campos battled back after losing a first-set tiebreaker to beat Pulok Bhattacharya 6-3, 6-3 in the final two sets.

Zeeshan Ismail picked up the clinching point for the Penguins at No. 5. Ismail dropped his first set 6-3, to Billy Weldon before battling back to win the next two 6-4, 6-4. At No. 6, a firery Felipe Rosa won 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 over Stephen McLoughlin.

With the win, the Penguins improve to 9-10 overall and 4-3 in the Horizon League. Butler falls to 3-19 and 2-4.

YSU returns to action on Friday in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament.

Youngstown State vs. Butler

Singles
No. 1 – Austin Woldmoe (BU) def. T. Ismail (YSU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – Mistreanu (YSU) def. Tommy Marx (BU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 – Zach Ervin (BU) def. Kabli (YSU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
No. 4 - Campos (YSU) def. Pulok Bhattacharya (BU) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 – Z. Ismail (YSU) def. Billy Weldon (BU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 – Rosa (YSU) def. Stephen McLoughlin (BU) 6-2, 6-7, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1 – Woldmoe/Weldon (BU) def. T. Ismail/Kabli (YSU) 8-4
No. 2 – Campos/Theorin (YSU) def. Marx/Erwin (BU) 8-4
No. 3 - Mistreanu/Z. Ismail (YSU) def. McLoughlin/O’Neill (BU) 8-4

It is a test of man vs man, and also man vs nature, filled with athletes who bring different strengths and weaknesses to these games.  Some of the athletes are stronger, rugged weightlifter type guys, while other are speedy, slender, marathon running types.  Shapes and sizes are part of the beauty that form the “Tough Mudder” makeup.

The outcome even takes a backseat to the cause.  All of the proceeds generated at the “Tough Mudder” competition go toward the Wounded Warrior Project, which is a non-profit organization that raises money for service men and women who were severely injured.

The competition itself entails a 10-12 mile obstacle course that challenge strength, stamina, mental toughness, and camaraderie.  That criteria alone would make it unique.

To browse the Tough Mudder official webpage, I saw the three criteria statements that the organization posted and expounded on.

1. Marathon Running Is Boring.
2. Mudders Do Not Take Themselves Seriously.
3. You Cannot Complete A Tough Mudder Course Alone.

So more importantly than winning to the founders, is helping fellow competitors complete the course.  It is not a contest to find the ultimate physical fitness specimen that the Cleveland Browns would pay decent money to clone, but rather an exhibition of sportsmanship where finishing the course is the goal – not necessarily finishing the course first.

The two-day weekend staged event is taking place at various locations around the world and only so many spots to participate are sold for each.

Want in?  Hone your skills on the monkey bars, carrying large chunks of wood for set distances, swim, climb, jump, help people swim, climb, and jump, and show up in shape – both mentally and physically.  Oh yeah, and bring a change of clothes, the ‘Mudder’ part of the title is also an adjective of a good part of the course.

The Youngstown State women’s tennis team picked up their first win of the season defeating Valparaiso 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Northwest Athletic Club.

YSU earned the doubles point and picked up victories at No. 1, No. 2 and No.4 singles. The deciding match was Gimena Puppo‘s come-from-behind win at No. 4 singles.

The Penguins won the doubles point to get off on a good start. Marta Burak and Carolyn Jesko won 8-4 and No. 1 while Puppo and Laurent Hankle picked up an 8-6 victory at No. 2.

In singles play, Burak cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Megan Barthels at No. 1 and Hankle took care of Stephanie York 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2.

Jesko dropped a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 3 to Kaitlyn Hamel while Jennifer Moore lost 6-0, 6-0 to Brittany O’Reilly.

The match came down to Puppo’s comeback. She lost the first set to Kristin Zakiewicz 5-7, but rallied to take the next two 6-4, 6-2 to give the Guins their first win of the season.

For the year, YSU improves to 1-14 overall and 1-4 in the Horizon League while Valpo is 4-13 and 0-6.

The Penguins play at UIC on Sunday. First serve is set for noon.

YSU 4, Valparaiso 3

Singles
No. 1 – Burak (YSU) def. Megan Barthels (VU) – 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 – Hankle (YSU) def. Stephanie York (VU) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 – Kaitlyn Hamel (VU) def. Jesko (YSU) – 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 – Puppo (YSU) def. Kristin Zakiewicz (VU) – 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 – Brittany O’Reilly (VU) def. Moore (YSU) – 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 – Angelina Goheen (VU) won by default

Doubles
No. 1 – Burak/Jesko (YSU) def. Zakiewicz/Barthels (VU) – 8-4
No. 2 – Hankle/Puppo (YSU) def. Hamel/York (VU) – 8-6
No. 3 – Goheen/O’Reilly (VU) won by default

*Story Courtesy YSU Sports Information

The Youngstown State swimming and diving team finished up their home season on Friday against UIC at Beeghly Natatorium. Freshman Ashley Dow broke two pool records and junior Casey Hill continued her dominance in the diving events.

The Penguins honored their seniors Nishani Cicilson, Audy Grubbs, Kirstin Walker and Katie Wolf prior to the meet (above).

On the night, YSU won six events in a 166-133 dual loss to the Flames.  Dow ecplished two pool records to earn first place in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke clocking a times of 58.61 seconds and 2:06.65 respectively.

Hill finished in first in the one- and three-meter dive with scores of 260.84 and 262.35. With those wins, she earned her 17 and 18 diving wins of the season.

Sophomore Megan Ciampa earned first in the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle with times of 5:20.25 and 10:49.71, respectively. Grubbs finished in second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:22.00.

Sophomores Laura Paz and Kim Kurtz took first and second in the 200-yard butterfly with times of 2:12.75 and 2:24.02, respectively.  In the 50-yard free, Cicilson was less than a second away from first, earning second place with a time of 25.03 seconds. She also took fourth in the 100 fly.  Junior Sam Roberts finished in second the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 1:08.48 and 2:26.72.

The Penguins finished in second place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:51.18. The squad was comprised of Dow, sophomore  Angela Diorio, sophomore Laura Paz and Cicilson. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Paz, Grubbs, junior Soriah Davis and Walker finished in second with a time of 1:41.70.  Diorio finished in second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:17.06.  Walker and Grubbs captured second and third place in the 200-yard free with times of 1:58.00 and 1:58.98, respectively. Walker also took third in the 100 free (54.66).

In the 1000 free, sophomores Brittany Vigar and Kim Kurtz took third and fourth with times of 11:06.09 and 11:25.03, respectively. Paz earned third place in the 100 fly.

YSU will host its annual Diving Invitational on Sunday at 11 a.m. The next full-team action will be at the Horizon League Championships on Feb. 22 in Brown Deer, Wis.

For years, the Jambar has turned out a quality product featuring objective viewpoints from student writers and photographers at Youngstown State University.  Lately, technology has allowed a few of the Jambar student-writers freedom to be more imaginative and try their hand in video-journalism.  Joe Catullo Jr. has spent a whole bunch of time compiling editions of Jack Up The Rev.  Not a conventional name by any means, the video clips are entertaining and the quality is surprisingly good.  All-in-all, it is a well produced minicast of what is going on.  Congratulations to Dustin Livesay, Nick Mancini, and Catullo for taking their vision as far as they can and continued expansion and growth to who comes next.

The name can be amusing to those who have never heard it.  I have watched YSU football coach Eric Wolford make Catullo cue him on what was to be said several times before a take was completed.  I am completely honored to be the featured presenter to Volume #12 (above).  Catullo has chased down Wolford, Bob Boldon, Zach Humphries, Anthony Noreen, Jim Brown, and anyone else they have been able to get to say their catchphrase as a show lead-in.

I recently caught up with Catullo (below) to explain the concept, the purpose, the future, and the past of Jack Up The Rev.

Paneech: Where did you come up with a name like, ‘Jack Up The Rev’?

Catullo: The name Jack Up The Rev came in February.  I was sitting with reporter Patrick Donovan who was telling me about his weekend.  When he finished, I told him it seemed like he was really trying to jack up the… jack up the rev or something.  I don’t know where it came from or how it happened, but it did.  About an hour later, the entire Jambar staff was saying it.

Paneech: Does each episode have a set time limit?

Catullo: We try to keep each episode about four minutes or less.  It only goes over if we have a lot of content we need to use.

Paneech: What goals have been set for the show?

Catullo: My main goal is that this will help me in my future.  I want to show future potential employers what I can offer.  Also, short term, to give the audience a look back at what YSU has done in the past week with some comedy involved.

Paneech: Who are some of the people involved with you in the project?

Catullo: Our online editor, Chris Cotelesse, brought the idea to the table that we could try to produce a sports show.  He is also the creator of the theme song.  He played the guitar and we sang all of the lyrics.  Our editor-in-chief, Josh Stipanovich, gave his blessing to call the show Jack Up The Rev.  Sports reporter Nick Mancini and photographer Dustin Livesay help in filming games.

Paneech: Where do you come up with ideas to keep the content entertaining?

Catullo: Personally, I feel that the sports are entertaining enough.  For other people to think so, I try to present the content in my own entertaining way.  I don’t really know where I come up with the ideas.  It is mostly improvision and the ideas are created and followed through upon on the spot.  I generally don’t write a script.

Paneech: Once you graduate and leave YSU, will you take Jack Up The Rev with you, or is it something you would want future students to expand with?

Catullo: I will still be attending YSU next year, so Jack Up The Rev will definitely continue, even if I am not the sports editor.  Afterwards, I can dream that a company would decide to buy the name and keep me on it.  It would be awesome to see myself on ESPN doing the show.

Paneech: Typically, how long does it take to build a single episode?

Catullo: It takes a long time to build a complete episode.  You first have to take the time to import and export video.  In a good week, there can be three or four hours of video content that would take anywhere from seven to eight hours to import and export.  My segments on camera used to take over an hour, but we have been able to scale that back to about twenty minutes.  Putting the video together is the toughest part and usually takes about six hours to complete.  The theme is the toughest thing because there are so many clips to look at and each one can only last about five seconds to synchronize with the theme song.  A whole episode can take up to two full work days to complete.

Paneech: When you ask someone to do a show intro, how confused are they and how many times can you expect to tell them what to say?

Catullo: Every time I tell a new face the name, they are always stunned and can’t figure out the meaning.  I just tell them that it is the name of my new show and that it is a motivational saying.  They are still usually confused afterwards.  A perfect example is Episode 6 when I had Coach Wolford saying it.  That episode now has the second highest hit total next to the first.

Click the above link and check out the effort that goes into this project by Catullo and staff.  They do fantastic work for having limited resources.

The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the WATTS on a very high note on Friday at the YSU Invitational. It was the first meet held in the new state-of-the-art facility.  Participating in the event were Duquesne, Robert Morris, Buffalo State, Slippery Rock, Clarion, and John Carroll.

Bobby Grace won the shot put with a career-best toss of 17.73 meters. Grace’s mark was the third-longest toss in school history. John Seaver was second with a 15.53 and Benjamin Goodnight was fifth at 14.68m. The Penguins took the top four places in the men’s weight throw. George Thomas was first with a throw of 17.19 meters, Grace was second at 16.33m, Caleb Schwan was third at 16.08m and Goodnight was fourth at 15.64m.

Katrina Rettburg took first place in the high jump with a leap of 1.71 meters. Rettburg’s jump was just .02 meters shy of her school mark which she set last yaer. YSU’s Makayla Martin was second at 1.68m while Leanna Hartsough was third at 1.62m.  Laura Kosiorek won the 60m hurdles with a career-best time of 8.85 seconds.  Nichole Rymer was third with a time of 9.01 seconds.

Martin Solomon won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.29 seconds while Clay Febus was second with a personal-best mark of 8.36 seconds. Solomon placed seventh in the 400-meter dash.  Brandon Pasvanis was second in the men’s mile with a time of 4:37.90 while Aron Korir was fourth at 4:51.91.

YSU soccer player Heather Coonfare was the Penguins’ top finisher in the mile run with a time of 5:40.34. Coonfare placed fourth out of nine runners.  Aaron Hartsough placed second in the high jump with a leap of 1.92 meters. The Penguins’ Megan Wesner tied for fourth with a toss of 13.55 meters in the weight throw in her collegiate debut.  In the women’s shot put, Alison Roth was second with a toss of 13.92 meters while KaiCee Kubicina was fourth with a throw of 12.42 meters.

In the women’s 800-meter, Alexis Cooper was fourth with a time of 2:28.09 while Coonfare was fifth clocking a time of 2:29.42.  In the women’s 200-meter dash, Taylor Entzi was fifth with a time of 26.30 seconds while Alexis Washington was sixth at 26.37 seconds. In the long jump, Kendall Homan was fifth with a leap of 5.19 meters.

Brittany Stockmaster finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 11:36.25.

In the 4×400-meter relay (above photo, courtesy Ron Stevens), the YSU women were first with a time of 4:05.2 finishing ahead of Duquesne. Running for the women were Washington, Entzi, Alteeka Vanwright and Nichole Pachol. In the 400-meter relay for the men, YSU placed third.

The Penguins return to action on Jan. 13 when they participate in the Akron Quad.

After a grueling week on the road, the Youngstown State volleyball team will play two Horizon League matches this weekend at Beeghly Center. YSU will play host to Butler on Friday at 7 p.m. and Wright State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Friday’s contest will be YSU’s “Dig Pink” match in which the Penguins will raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. Fans attending the match are encouraged to wear pink.

Youngstown State picked up its first Horizon League and road win last week with a 3-1 victory at Loyola on Oct. 4. The Penguins hit .279 behind freshman setter Brianna Bartlett and got 14 kills from both Shannon Watson and Missy Hundelt. The Penguins, though, were swept at Green Bay, UIC and Valparaiso to conclude the trip. Hundelt averaged 3.31 kills per set in the four road matches to lead the Penguins. She ranks third in the Horizon League with 3.55 kills per set, and she leads the conference with 0.40 aces per set.  Hundelt was injured when the Penguins played both Butler and Wright State last month.

Butler has won three straight Horizon League matches to improve its record in league play to 4-4. The Bulldogs swept Wright State and Green Bay and beat Loyola in four sets. Butler is looking for its first road win of the campaign. Senior Maureen Bamiro averages 2.88 kills per set, and her .301 attack percentage ranks sixth in the conference. She had seven kills in five blocks when the Bulldogs swept YSU on Sept. 17 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Wright State has lost nine straight matches since defeating YSU on Sept. 16 at McLin Gymnasium. The Raiders are 2-18 overall with their only other win coming at High Point on Sept. 10. The Raiders lost in four sets to both Green Bay and Loyola last weekend. They had been swept in seven straight matches heading into the Green Bay match. Sophomore Heidi Splinter ranks sixth in the conference with 3.17 kills per set.  She also averages 3.17 digs per set, and she had 17 digs against the Penguins last month.

Following this weekend, YSU will head back on the road for its final three road matches of the regular season. Its next match will be Oct. 21 at Cleveland State.

The Youngstown State volleyball team hit .279 as a team and had three players register at least 11 kills in a 3-1 win over Loyola at the Halas Sports Center.

The Penguins recorded their first Horizon League victory as well as their first in a true road contest. YSU had a season-high 11 aces, and the attack percentage was its second-best of the year.

Freshman middle blocker Shannon Watson (Zoarville, Ohio) had a career-high 14 kills and hit .619, and Missy Hundelt (St. Charles, Mo.) had 14 kills and 12 digs.  Jackie Carlisle (Hubbard, Ohio) added 11 kills, and Bri Kern posted five aces and 17 digs. Freshman setter Brianna Bartlett registered 41 assists and 10 digs in her first career start.

Youngstown State hit .423 in the opening set and got four kills from Hundelt en route to a 25-21 win. Three straight kills – two by Carlisle sandwiching one by Hundelt – put the Penguins ahead 14-7.  Loyola climbed to within 15-14 following back-to-back errors, and the Ramblers had the deficit to just one on four more occasions. The final time was 22-21, but YSU got a side out on a service error and closed out the match with a block by Johnson and Missy Hundelt and a ball-handling error.

Loyola broke open a close set by ending the second set on a 9-2 run to knot the match at 1-1. Purcell had nine kills in the set for Loyola.

YSU led by four three times in the early going of the third set, but the Penguins had to continue to fight to take a 2-1 lead. Loyola cut the lead to one six different times, including 23-22. Hundelt answered with a kill for a side out, and Alexis Egler (Clarkston, Mich.) closed out the set with a kill.

The Penguins had six aces in the fourth set, including two from Erika West (Painesville, Ohio) to start the set as YSU scored the first four points. Loyola scored the next two points, but YSU answered with another 4-0 run, which included an ace by Kern. A Watson kill made the score 14-3, and Loyola never cut the deficit to single digits again.

Youngstown State remains on the road to play at Green Bay tomorrow at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Lisa Neeld has been a busy woman lately.  She has stacked her appearances, started filming a reality show for television, continues to sell barbecue sauce, and is a full-time mother.  I became enamored with Neeld when I asked her ten baseball questions at a Scrappers game.  She played along, the good sport that she is, and had fun with a segment that many Playboy models would scoff away from.  A year later, I followed that up with ten boxing questions.  Same playful Lisa, same comical approach, same demeanor.

Neeld is excited about her new reality show, simply called Lisa Neeld: VIP Style.  The show airs at 6:30 in the morning on the WB Network every Thursday.  It is commercial-free and the interview which I conducted will be featured on one of the upcoming episodes, so set your DVR, it is fun to watch.

Having never interviewed a Playboy model before, I was cautious, but brought my highest line of questioning.  Lisa, as always, was very accommodating and honest.  I have a lot of respect for her because of the way she is going about life without the stereotypical priss label. All too many times, albeit an athlete or a musician with some level of fame, certain media outlets are snubbed because a celebrity feels too “big” to be a part of anything less than TMZ or a major publication.

Paneech: Tell me about the reality show.

Neeld: I was doing small reality clips for 93.3, The Wolf, and all of a sudden we got with some friends who would film and edit.  My producer, Mike Kolovich, signed on with us to do it.  It airs every Thursday morning at 6:30 on the CW Network.  It showcases the lifestyle I lead with all of the different roles in comparison to businesswomen and moms.  Things that people don’t necessarily think of associating with me.

Paneech: You were in Playboy.  How does that work with two children?  Is that something you will have to tell them?

Neeld: My children already know.  My first issue came out in 2008 and then I was on the cover in 2010.  When the first issue came out, my son was ten.  We didn’t let him see the magazine, but we did tell him.  I would rather he hear about it from me rather than kids at school who may have heard it from their parents.  I didn’t want to put him in a bad light because I was proud of it.  Playboy is very classy and to be chosen by them, and later land a cover is honorable, but I would never want my children to think that I did something wrong. My daughter is only eight, and when she is old enough, she will know from me.  My children know everything that I do and there is nothing to hide.

Paneech: How about other family members?  Did they chastise you because of your decision?

Neeld: Actually, I have no family.  My mom passed away five years ago.  She raised me as a single parent and I have not had to deal with that issue.  She would have been proud of me.  The whole time I was growing up, she had me in dance line, pageantry, dancing lessons, and modeling.  She would have been very proud and it is sad that she is not able to see the things that I have accomplished like this show.

Paneech: How much charity work do you do?  Also, do you feel obligated to do charitable work, or is it something you enjoy?

Neeld: I have a personal charity that I work with.  I work with Someplace Safe, a charity that works toward the awareness and prevention of domestic violence, which is pretty important to me.  I always try to arrange something that will benefit them.  We have had bowling nights, a blizzard thing at Dairy Queen, sold cut-out hearts, and many other things.  I feel it is a charity which is often overlooked because victims are afraid to speak up.

Paneech: Lets talk about Hugh Hefner.  This guy is like 90 years old, lands beautiful 21 year-old girlfriends, is loaded, and seems unhappy.  At the same time, he seems humble and grounded.  What have your experiences around him been like?

Neeld: I have met him several times at the Playboy Mansion and he is very down to earth.  He is a nice and sweet guy and actually cares about the younger girls.  There are a lot of girls who come through that have had issues or problems and he is actually there offering his support and helping them.  He is an all-around great guy.  I feel like he sometimes gets a bad rap, but he is an amazing person.

Paneech: You seem busier these days than you were two years ago.  Do you have any spare time?

Neeld: I hang out with my children.  We kind of like to stay at home.  I am always out so much and I am not the best cook in the world, I’m not going to lie, so we prefer to hang out and enjoy our time together.  Personally, when I have spare time, I like to run.  I like to work out, box, run – it’s not hyper it’s high energy (laughs).  I would probably want to go to a spa, I guess.  Well actually, the perfect night to me is just staying at home and watching TV.  I don’t have to be “dolled up”, worrying about appearances, so it is nice to just chill out.  I like a good movie, but I am not into the price of popcorn though.

Paneech: A lot of models who have posed for Playboy have been approached to appear in adult movies.  Have you been bothered for that yet?

Neeld: Yeah…  Yeah, I was contacted about a year ago by a competitor of Playboy to do a shoot and we declined.  If it is something I am asked to do that I feel I would be embarrassed telling my son about, then I will not do it.  I won’t cross a line that would potentially put my child in an embarrassing situation.  If people opt to do that stuff, than that is their option, but I will not cross that line.  It is one thing to do appearances and have fun, but nothing too risque.

Paneech: What is with the barbecue sauce?  How did that start and how are sales?

Neeld: The barbecue sauce came about when my friend Guy Hughes, of Guy’s Barbecue, had all of his products lined up at a press conference.  I picked up one of the bottles and jokingly said, ‘Why don’t you make me a sauce and put my name on it.  I can call it Saucy Housewife’.  Next thing you know, we have attorneys checking copyright facts and it wasn’t taken, so a month later it is in production at Summer Garden on McClurg Road and going into a production run of 1,200 cases or some crazy amount.  The Scrappers made it the exclusive barbecue sauce of the stadium and they made pulled pork this season for the first time.  The label on it shows a little too much cleavage so we couldn’t market it at family grocery-type stores.

Paneech: When does all of this get tiring?

Neeld: Never.  I have my days when I want to stay home in my sweatpants and cuddle up with my kids.  However, it is my job.  There are days when I am sure you don’t want to go to work and do your job.  I love what I do and I appreciate people’s support and I never take that for granted.  No matter how many times, or which venue, I get excited that people are making the effort to come and see me, it is pretty flattering.

Paneech: You have barbecue sauce, security, a reality show, a career you love, but the one thing you don’t seem to have is an agent.

Neeld: At this point, I do not have an agent.  I have contacts in California who handle some of the bigger publications and things like that.  I pretty much handle everything else on my own, not necessarily by choice, but because there is too much of the legwork that I have already taken care of and it is just easier for me to handle it myself rather than explaining everything to a third person.  The third person can easily get things twisted.  As long as I can continue to handle it myself, I will.

Paneech: Tomorrow is a school day, your kids will probably be in school.  How will you spend your day?

Neeld: We start off at six.  My son gets his bus at seven, and my daughter goes by eight, so I am in ‘mommy’ role until then.  After that, I immediately get with my trainer and we will run.  Some days it is five miles, other days ten.  The way I look at it, it is job maintenance plus you always feel better after that anyway.  After that, I go right into making business calls and doing some networking.  It is not a typical day because things always change.

Paneech: If I rub this cup of lemonade you are drinking and a genie comes out and says you can have any three wishes, what would they be?

Neeld: Firstly, I would always wish that my children are safe and that nothing bad will happen to them.  Secondly, I would wish to remain happy, not knowing what that will entail over the next couple of years.  Third, I would say I want to be able to adjust to anything. No matter what happens, I would also want a Jeep for my friend, a red Jeep.

Neeld will be coming to a function you may be attending soon, make an effort to meet her, she is definitely not who you would think, in a good way.