Programmatically printing a block
There is a way to programmatically print a block in a tpl file. 

For 'module' defined blocks you can use block_load() see: block_load op api.drupal.org

If you have a block defined through the block interface, it is called a custom block you can use block_custom_block_get($bid) see: block_custom_block_get() on api.drupal.org

$block = block_custom_block_get(1);
$content = $block['body'];