• Ah the joys of relationships. Several days ago the better half got a cold, which of course was passed onto me just in time for the weekend. So as I spent my leisure time sweating one minute and shivering the next, there was another perk to this condition. Whenever we go to bed, she sounds like Kyle’s cousin from "South Park." If I’m not listening to her gurgle excess phlegm, I am awakened to her hacking a lung out several times a night. Tonight should be a joy.
• Thanks to Hawk 34 for pointing out that the first AFRICIAN-AMERICAN TO QUALIFY FOR A NASCAR RACE IN 20 YEARS finished an impressive 38th. Perhaps if there was a police car following him throughout the race, he would have finished with a better time. Actually, I think this guy will feel like an outsider for quite a while. Not because he’s black, but rather because he sounds quite articulate. No, this isn’t another “He speaks so well!” backhanded compliment that's given to a black person trying to fit in white society; he’s probably the most well-spoken NASCAR driver I’ve heard since, well, ever. Then again I don’t follow NASCAR, so maybe there are some other yankees who haven’t mastered the Southern drawl yet.
• And Hollywood wonders why people aren’t going to movies. Susan Sarandon is slated to play Cindy Sheehan in some hippie movie. Whoever makes this piece of crap deserves to lose the untold millions it would cost to produce.
• About a week ago I saw some of “The Simple Life,” and had no words to describe the horror I saw. I didn’t think there could be anything to top this. I was wrong. The sad thing this guy probably has a SAT score above 1300. I like the “Blue Collar” stand-up and all, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to a theater and shelling out $8 to watch some guy say “Git-R-Done” for 90 minutes. It would be interesting, though, just to see who does buy tickets to this film.
• When the World Baseball Classic concludes tonight, there will only be two players from Major League Baseball on display – pitcher Akinori Otsuka and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. Big deal. The Pirates would kill just to get a hold of the South African roster. Oh, yeah. Go Japan; fuck those commies. Unless any want to defect after the game – then welcome aboard.
• And while I’m talking about March Madness, I have to give the Women’s Tournament props. They finally got someone to dunk. Uh, great, I guess. Then again, my vertical leaves something to be desired. On an unrelated story, a few years back I ran an office March Madness pool at work; if memory serves, I got about 70 people to pony up $1 and fill out their brackets. While an enjoyable experience and overall morale booster, the best part came when some feminazi asked me why I wasn’t doing a pool for the women’s tournament. I think my response of “What a great idea, and you’d only have to charge a quarter entry fee instead of $1,” didn’t totally offend her, but my ears were warm for the next 20 minutes or so.
Check that. The best part came when the chick who won the contest told me if it was OK that her husband was the one who filled out her bracket. While I didn't care who filled out these forms, it was fun giving her a guilty conscience for the next few days, especially since she was someone who cared about other people's feelings and well-being. Sucker.
The thread title is a parody of the typical comments after the first couple of rounds of every NCAA Tournament. Every single year there are big upsets and "mid-majors" getting past the first weekend and every year it seems to come as a big shock to CBS and ESPN's analysts, or they pretend to be shocked at least. I guess we can chalk this up to the typical short attention span of networks and the people who watch. Really the biggest surprise maybe that no #10 seed made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in ten years but not that CBS or ESPN would notice.
Here's a look back at the "surprises" of the NCAA Tournament in just the last five years and I'll work backwards just to show how quickly people forget how "crazy and wild" past tournaments have been.
2005
-A #14, #13, #12, and a #11 seed win first round games.
-#12 seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee advances to the Sweet 16.
-#5 seed Michigan State advances to the Final Four.
2004
-Two #12 seeds win first round games.
-Two #1 seeds are elminated in the second round.
-A #8 and #7 seed make it to the Elite Eight.
2003
-A #13, #12, and a #11 seed win first round games.
-#12 seed Butler advances to the Sweet 16.
-#7 seed Michigan State advances to the Elite Eight.
2002
-Three #12 seeds win first round games.
-#11 seed Southern Illinois advances to the Sweet 16.
-#12 seed Missouri advances to the Elite Eight.
-#5 seed Indiana advances to the title game.
2001
-#15 seed Hampton wins in the first round.
-#12 seed Gonzaga advances to the Sweet 16.
-#11 seed Temple advnces to the Elite Eight.
So you get the point. This year is really no different from any other. If George Mason reaches the Final Four then we can talk about this being a surprising tournament.
-Speaking of upsets as mentioned in a prior entry I picked Bradley to make it the Sweet 16. I've been near perfect in that Oakland Region as only missed the Alabama/Marquette game. Of course every other upset pick failed miserably and this was probably one of my worst years ever picking the tournament but I prefer just to brag about picking Bradley. Oh and hey did you notice the game? It was Brad/Pitt in the little scorebox. Get it? Brad Pitt! Didn't take them long to drive that into the ground.
-Enough with the gratuitos shots of the coaches wives at the end of games. Does this really bring more viewers in? Is there some sort of extra drama I'm supposed to feel because the coaches' wife is praying? It got really out of hand at the end of the UCLA/Alabama game as literally every five seconds they were cutting to one of the wives.
-One final thing, March Madness On Demand was simply the greatest thing ever. Kudos to CBS and NCAA for agreeing to do this for free when they certainly could have charged a subcription fee for it and made a killing on people wanting to watch games while they are at work. It allowed me to not watch the Cal game (although I tuned in for the final minute to watch N.C. State win, woo hoo!) and for that I will always be grateful.
I listened to two of the four CD's I bought yesterday. My Thoughts:
Can-Ege Bamyasi I don't like it as much as Tago Mago (The weird chanting/yelling in the song Soup gets annoying) but it's still awesome. This is the second album from Can I've bought, so maybe I'll buy either Future Days or Soon over Bambaala next.
Butthole Surfers-Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac- I said it in the music board earlier, and I'll say it again: This is probably the funniest album they did. It's also the most punk rock sounding of their albums that I've heard. It's not as good as Locus Abortuon Technician or Rembrandt Pussyhorse, but it's still awesome.
Up next in my listening list is Massive Attack's Blue Lines and Richie Hawtin's Decks, EFX, and 909.
6.
And nobody else was close. The end. Well, no, I actually should have made that pic an ugly baseball card. And have waste like kkk post his stupid, uninformed comments afterwards. There, the end.
George Mason or Wichita St. is making the Elite 8. That's great stuff. Last time a mid-major makes the elite 8 since Kent St., I believe. Here's to hoping one of them can knock off UConn, and make the Final 4. Otherwise, the tourney is boring me. I'm doing horrible with my picks.
I see a lot of people responded in my blog before. Fuck if I know why. Jingus, one of the douches from HTQ's blog, and some other asshole... I'm not reading it.
I've only received 3 PM's so far about my current avatar. Rather disappointing. And they're not funny anymore, either.
In my next entry... I'll bitch about one of the many reasons why this board sucks.
Fin.
• So I have ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” on right now as background noise and they’re talking about RACISM in sports, or something. There is this panel on and suddenly I hear them talking about the Rush Limbaugh/Donovan McNabb incident. Eagles safety Brian Dawkins went on to say how horrible this incident was and this ‘n that.
Christ almighty; give it up. A perfect example of what Rush was talking about back then is going on now in NASCAR. This weekend I have heard countless times about some black guy who qualified for a race and how he’s the FIRST BLACK DRIVER TO QUALIFY SINCE WILLY T. RIBBS 20 YEARS AGO. Hey, ESPN, this is what Rush, and many other people, complain about – who gives a shit if a driver is black or some other race? You PC bitches shove this politically correct bullshit down our throats and many of us are tired of listening to it. I hope to God this black dude doesn’t win whatever race he’s in. No, not because he’s black, but because I think ESPN will do to his next race what they did to the last Duke/UNC college basketball game, with each ESPN station having a different camera angle set up on this poor driver. Hey, watch the race on ESPN which features the FIRST BLACK DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR A NASCAR RACE IN 20 YEARS SINCE WILLY T. RIBBS. If you want to be inside the car with the FIRST BLACK DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR A NASCAR RACE IN 20 YEARS WILLY T. RIBBS, switch over to ESPN 2. If you want to see Bill Lester's wife in the stands during this race, switch on over to ESPN U; did you know that Lester is the FIRST BLACK DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR A NASCAR RACE IN 20 YEARS SINCE WILLY T. RIBBS? And if you want to see a special presentation of former racecar driver Willy T. Ribbs, switch over to ESPN Classic Say, did you know that Bill Lester is driving today? Yeah, he's the FIRST BLACK DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR A NASCAR RACE IN 20 YEARS SINCE WILLY T. RIBBS.
And while we’re at it – where are all the NFL white cornerbacks? Surely there are some people of my race that can blanket a wide receiver in man-to-man coverage.
Great, now they brought up how NBA attendance is down and if it is due to today’s THUG BALLERZ that the white ticket buyers don't want to see. Also, is the newly installed NBA dress code RACIST as well? Oh, no. Stephen A. Smith is on the Sports Reporters, as well as Dan LebaRetard and Mitch Album? What in the hell happened to this show that I used to watch when I was a kid? I have to turn this shit off, now.
• Yet another reason why I don’t blame people for wanting the death penalty for lowlife pieces of shit. Not only is Andrea Yates remarried, but she is also getting a second trial for drowning her kids. I wonder if Katie Couric bought Yates something off of the bridal registry?
• And while I’m talking about wedding registries, one of the plusses to getting married is that you get to set-up one of these things. Of course, the problem is nobody ever gets you anything you want off of your registry, or at least that was the case for me. Now I can sympathize with people not wanting to pitch in and buy a new sink base stand (or whatever the hell those things are called), which was one of the things the better half put on our registry, but for God’s sake what’s the point of buying us a single TOWEL? However, on the bright side, we got a bunch of mini-cooking appliances (two George Foreman grills, a cuisinart, a quesadilla maker, and a crockpot, to name a few). Of course, I could have bought 10 of each of these things and have some change left over if I didn’t have to shell out $14k for the wedding, but whatever. Here’s a tip to all the single guys out there whose better halves want a “traditional” wedding with all the stupid “protocol” that's involved in one of these money pits. Make sure, when they want this “traditional” wedding with all the trimmings, to make it really traditional and have her parents pay for the whole thing.
Well, it seems like the "Snakes on a Plane" teaser might be a fake. I hope not.
In more important thoughts, my best guess is that either Czech or Carnival will win the TSM Poster's Tournament. I'm still suprised that I made it to round two. Plus, it's kind of an honor to lose to Niskie, as he's an awesome poster.
I bought Can's Ege Bamyasi, Massive Attacks's Blue Lines, Butthole Surfers's Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac, and Richie Hawtin's Decks, EFX, and 909. I'll get to listening to all of them by the end of the weekend. Also, I listened to Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By from Lovage today. My second listening, and it's alot better than I remembered it was.
• Last night I caught the end of a Hannity & Colems segment where Sean was yelling at some hippie bowtie-wearing politician from Oregon. Although I normally skip past these exchanges because they are nothing more than “Why do you hate our country and not support our troops?” sound bites, this liberal putz actually said something that made me keep this channel on for longer than a few seconds. He was complaining about how it was time for U.S. troops to leave Iraqand that this country's people need to be more self-reliant. Woah, I think this is the first time I’ve heard a lib say that some person/group needs to stop being coddled and pull themselves up from their bootstraps. Now all I need to hear is how Republicans are for small government and fiscal responsibility.
• Some guy in South Carolina who recently kidnapped and raped two teen-age girls in a ready-made “dungeon” (all allegedly, of course) was finally caught. And what a surprise, he has been convicted of sexual assault before (this victim was 12 years old) and only spent nine years in jail for the crime. I guess it could have been worse; he could have been in Vermont and only needed to spend a weekend in counseling. I was watching cable news this morning and heard that the judge who issued this “harsh” sentence blamed prosecutors for not building a better case the first time he was caught raping – nice spin, asshole. I wonder if Bill O’Reilly is going to go after the red diaper doper baby judge who locked this guy up with a light the first time? I certainly hope so; it’s fun to watch these bitches get called on their bullshit judgments.
• Today was movie day for me, considering I am in the midst of battling a cold given to me a few days ago by the better half. Now laying around doing nothing is usually par for the course on a Saturday, but because I am sick I now have an excuse. The first movie I popped in was one of my favorite “spoof” movies of all time. Now many people will associate Shawn and Marlon Waynes with “Scary Movie,” but before they hit it big with that, they did a similar feature that was, in my opinion, much better. Titled, “Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood,” this 1996 gem goofed on a number of “life in the ghetto” movies. If you’re a fan of “ghetto” movies, or you thought “Scary Movie” was funny, see “Don’t Be A Menace” now.
The second part of this double feature was another comedy, “As Good As It Gets.” This is one of my favorite comedies, although it is a bit on the long side for me. However, this movie has some of my favorite movie lines, such as “People who talk in metaphors oughta shampoo my crotch,” “I got JEWS at my table” and the following exchange:
“How do you write women so well?”
“I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.”
• So the Dallas Cowboys are going to take a chance on T.O. – man is this going to be a fun year. Also, the Miami Dolphins gave up a second-round pick to acquire Daunte Culpepper from the Minnesota Vikings. Personally, I think it was a good move on the Dolphins part. Even though Culpepper has been inconsistent at times and suffered a season-ending injury last year, a second-round pick seems like a reasonable gamble for a quarterback that has shown to be of MVP-caliber in the past.
5.
So, 5 months since I last posted here. Oh well.
The NCAA tournament is going miserably for me. I had Kansas making at least the Sweet 16, and mostly the Elite 8 in all my pools. Basically, they were my Louisville pick from last year. And that one paid off big time. Therefore, I am dead. And likely the first time no money for Leelee since 1999. Damn you.
The World Baseball Classic continues. Don't care. US lost. On the wrong day... they're supposed to lose before the NCAA begins so I can laugh at them. I always root against the US in world competitions like this. Their attitude is always so much weaker than the rest of the world. I'm not sure why that is... but it's sad. Like in Russia, athletes would give up anything just to play for their country. Especially in tennis, it's scary how patriotic they are. But, in the US, it's puling teeth to get those primadonnas to play.
In my next entry, we'll be looking back at the 2003 A.L. MVP race! And other exciting stuff!
• Last night I had the NCAA tournament playing, and while it was mostly on for background noise, I was somewhat following the Xavier/Gonzaga game. With a few minutes left, I noticed Xavier was up by six points. One of my old friends from Ohio had went to Xavier and blindly followed his beloved Musketeers. Since the better half got me sick with her cold, along with the fact I wake up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready for work, I decided to go to bed early and I called my friend up to congratulate Xavier on pulling off a first-round upset. Even though I thought Gonzaga would win the game, I had a feeling this match up could result in an upset scare.
After looking up his number from my hotmail account, I called and left a message on his answering machine. When I hung up the phone, I replaced some garbage liners and took out the trash for Friday’s weekly pick up. When I came back inside I walked by the living room television that had the Xavier on; Gonzaga was now up by one.
Oops.
I think subliminally I wanted Xavier to lose and by giving a premature congratulation I cemented the underdog’s fate as being another close-but-no-cigar story.
• I normally don't have a problem with pop stars that seem fashionable to hate if you’re not a teenybopper. The Backstreet Boys never cut me off in traffic. Justin Timberlake doesn’t hold up a line at the store by counting change in the express lane. Hanson didn’t cause me to stab my mother 100 times and leave her in a car that had a one-way trip to the bottom of Lake Erie. So whenever the better half complains about how someone can like Jessica Simpson, I just bite my tongue. I’ll never listen to her music, nor have I ever seen an episode of that show her and the ex were on, but I have no reason to hate her, unlike so many other people in this world. And after what she did at a recent fundraising event (or should I say, didn't do), I think I like her even more. After recently declining a seat at a Republican fundraising event, she said her reason was because she wanted to lobby for her nonprofit foundation that offers free plastic surgery to disadvantaged kids with facial deformities. Attending this GOP fundraiser would have injected politics into her nonprofit, and I can respect that.
• And while in a loving mood, I must say that even though Russ Feingold does not believe in the First Amendment (campaign-finance reform), made an ass out of himself with that recent hippie call for censuring George W. Bush, and would make me go on medication if he was ever elected president, there is something I will always give him props for. Even though he voted against the Iraq war, when it came time to fund the war, he voted for that $80 billion that John Kerry famously voted for, too, before voting against it. Although I will probably never agree with Feingold on anything, I’d rather have him as a political opponent than some piece of shit like Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy or Charles Rangel.
I'm certainly not new to TSM, but I am not very well known among the public of TSM either.
Welcome to my blog, if anybody is just so happening to read this, thanks for taking the time to do so, I appreciate it.
On to my first subject, the 2006 NCAA College Basketball Tournament. I didn't enter any competition, or any betting circles, nothing like that. I usually don't. And since I can't really actively watch all that much college basketball, let alone television, I don't see the point in losing money, or just getting mad over it. Whatever. I did, however fill out the brackets. Most of my guesses were based off of heresay, general knowledge, the teams stats and standings, etc.
Here's my sweet sixteen breakdown:
Duke, LSU, Iowa, Texas, Memphis, Kansas, Gonzaga, UCLA, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee, Villanova, Nevada,Florida, and Ohio St.
Nevada has already been eliminated, so, yeah.
My Elite Eight:
Connecticut, North Carolina, Villanova, Ohio St, Duke, Texas, Kansas, and Gonzaga.
Final Four: North Carolina, Ohio St, Gonzaga, and Duke.
I then have NC and Gonzaga in the finals, with Gonzaga winning. Yeah, it's certainly a long shot, but I have faith in Gonzaga. They've pulled off upsets, and are a great team.
Below are my picks for the 2006 NCAA Tourney. My method? There was none. I don't follow college athletics. My only sources were a few conference tournament games I watched and sports talk radio that mostly bitched about how Shitt guard Carl Krauser is going to go 4-for-30 in the second round.
ATLANTA BRACKET
First Round
Duke/Southern = Duke
George Washington/N.C. Wilmington = George Washington
Syracuse/Texas A&M = Syracuse
LSU/Iona = LSU
West Virginia/Southern Illinois = Southern Illinois
Iowa/Northwestern State = Iowa
California/N.C. State = California
Texas/Pennsylvania = Texas
Second Round
Duke/George Washingon = Duke
Syracuse/LSU = Syracuse
Southern Illinois/Iowa = Iowa
California/Texas = Texas
Third Round
Duke/Syracuse = Duke
Iowa/Texas = Texas
Fourth Round
Duke/Texas = Duke
OAKLAND BRACKET
First Round
Memphis/Oral Roberts = Memphis
Arkansas/Bucknell = Bucknell
Shittsburgh/Kent State = Shittsburgh
Kansas/Bradley = Kansas
Indiana/San Diego State = Indiana
Gonzaga/Xavier = Gonzaga
Marquette/Alabama = Alabama
UCLA/Belmont = UCLA
Second Round
Memphis/Bucknell = Memphis
Shittsburgh/Kansas = Kansas
Indiana/Gonzaga = Gonzaga
Alabama/UCLA = UCLA
Third Round
Memphis/Kansas = Kansas
Gonzaga/UCLA = UCLA
Fourth Round
Kansas/UCLA = UCLA
WASHINGTON DC BRACKET
First Round
Connecticut/Albany = Connecticut
Kentucky/UAB = Kentucky
Washington/Utah State = Washington State
Illinois/Air Force = Illinois
Michigan State/George Mason = Michigan State
North Carolina/Murray State = North Carolina
Wichita State/Seton Hall = Seton Hall
Tennessee/Winthrop = Tennessee
Second Round
Connecticut/Kentucky = Connecticut
Washington/Illinois = Illinois
Michigan State/North Carolina = North Carolina
Seton Hall/Tennessee = Seton Hall
Third Round
Connecticut/Illinois = Connecticut
North Carolina/Seton Hall = North Carolina
Fourth Round
Connecticut/North Carolina = Connecticut
MINNEAPOLIS BRACKET
First Round
Villanova/Monmouth = Villanova
Arizona/Wisconsin = Wisconsin
Nevada/Montana = Nevada
Boston College/Pacific = Boston College
Oklahoma/Wisconsin-Milwaukee = Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Florida/South Alabama = Florida
Georgetown/Northern Iowa = Georgetown
Ohio State/Davidson = Ohio State
Second Round
Villanova/Wisconsin = Villanova
Nevada/Boston College = Boston College
Wisconsin-Milwaukee/Florida = Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Georgetown/Ohio State = Georgetown
Third Round
Villanova/Boston College = Boston College
Wisconsin Milwaukee/Georgetown = Georgetown
Fourth Round
Boston College/Georgetown = Boston College
FINAL FOUR
Duke/UCLA = Duke
Connecticut/Boston College = Boston College
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Duke/Boston College = Boston College
Hey look a reader request, Culloden Hastings writes:
Hey take away something from Kirk Gibson? No complaints from me.
Gibson winning the MVP in 1988 always seemed like an odd choice. It always appeared on the surface just to be your typical writer vote where the guy who is SCRAPPY~ or TOUGH~ or a LEADER~ gets more support than he deserves. Gibson's Dodgers have been romanticized by the L.A. media to the point that you'd think they were some dynasty rather than the complete fluke they actually were. It's likely Bill Plaschke pleasures himself every night to Game 1 of the '88 World Series.
Without looking that closely into it before I figured Will Clark or Darryl Strawberry should have won the award. Strawberry finished 2nd in the voting but split some votes with his 3rd place teammate Kevin McReynolds who had quite the good season himself. Clark finished 5th without any first place votes as the Giants hovered just above .500. Also someone of possible consideration was Gibson's teammate Orel Hershiser who went on a record scoreless inning streak at the end of the season.
So was Gibson a bad pick? Is there anyway it couldn't have been Clark or Strawberry? Will I discover time travel and kill Gibson and Hershisher before the '88 World Series?
Actual Results
1) Kirk Gibson 2) Darryl Strawberry 3) Kevin McReynolds 4) Andy Van Slyke 5) Will Clark 6) Orel Hershiser 7) Andres Galarraga 8) Glenn Davis 9) Danny Jackson 10) David Cone 11) Tony Gwynn 12) John Franco 13) Eric Davis 14) Bobby Bonilla 15) Andre Dawson 16) Randy Myers 17) Brett Butler 18) Steve Sax
#10
.273/.363/.489, 83 RC, 139 OPS+, .314 EQA, 48.9 VORP, 27 Win Shares
#9
.296/.347/.429, 86 RC, 119 OPS+, .294 EQA, 55.7 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#8
.274/.366/.476, 102 RC, 142 OPS+, .310 EQA, 50.5 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#7
.302/.352/.540, 113 RC, 149 OPS+, .314 EQA, 58.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#6
.288/.336/.496, 91 RC, 142 OPS+, .312 EQA, 48.3 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#5
.288/.345/.506, 104 RC, 143 OPS+, .312 EQA, 56.6 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#4
148 ERA+, 2.44 K/BB, 1.05 WHIP, 64.8 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#3
.269/.366/.545, 109 RC, 165 OPS+, .327 EQA, 54.4 VORP, 30 Win Shares
#2
.290/.377/.483, 98 RC, 149 OPS+, .324 EQA, 56.4 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#1
.282/.386/.508, 113 RC, 160 OPS+, .332 EQA, 63.1 VORP, 37 Win Shares
As much as it pains me Gibson wasn't a bad choice for MVP although Clark would have been a much, much better pick. So the biggest mistake by the writers wasn't Gibson winning but the lack of support for Clark. Maybe it had to do that the guy was a dick to the media or because his middle name was Nuschler...NUSCHLER! Is that even a name?
Since there was some talk about southwestern Ohio grocery stores in yesterday's entry, I figure now would be a good time to talk about why I can’t stand Bigg’s. Well, it’s not really a good time, but I’m feeling too lazy to talk about much else.
For those that don't know, Bigg’s is kinda like Wal-Mart, only not yet ready to take over the world. At the job I worked at in Ohio, many times I trekked over to the nearby Bigg’s and bought some grub during my lunch break. I did this for several reasons. 1) It was a nice little walk, and I needed to stretch my legs after sitting down for a 4-hour work interval. Oh who am I kidding – I spent most of the time goofing off, but it was a nice walk nevertheless. 2) Going to a grocery/retail store instead of heading toward Wendy’s or Burger King gives you a wider, and healthier, selection of food to choose from. 3) These lunches were cheaper, and more filling, than a value meal. The only problem with going to Bigg's several times a week was that most of the cashiers who worked there were full-timers, so I saw them just about everyday. This got annoying because many of them got on my nerves. However, I usually just zoned out during my transactions and tried to avoid the retarded chitchat many customer service representatives try to engage you in.
One day I had a friend with me who wanted to try out the “kkk lunch run;” we got a few items each and headed to a checkout lane. Now at every checkout lane there are these rubber sticks that are used as dividers in-between the orders of different customers. I call them the “Great Dividers.” Now, I use these things just like any other reasonable person would, however, on this day I didn’t. You see, the customer in front of me had his order rung up by the cashier, and as my friend and I approached the register there was nothing on this conveyer belt. I put my apple and a few other munchies on this belt and turned to say something to my companion. When I turned back, the cashier was weighing my apple as the customer in front of me just stood there. When I let the cashier know that apple was mine, she said “Well why didn’t you use the divider?” Because, bitch, I thought I’d be insulting your intelligence by using the Great Divider when there WAS NOTHING ELSE ON THE FUCKING CONVEYOR BELT.
I can’t remember what I said back to her, but it wasn’t offensive (if it was, then I would have remembered it verbatim). However, the encounter must have been tense enough for the person I was with because she took the Great Divider and separated her 2-3 items from my several things, which were on the other side of the conveyor belt next to the scanning device. The cashier then said something that made me laugh out loud. She picked up the Great Divider, pointed to my traveling mate’s stuff and snapped, "Are these yours?”
Well of course, bitch. Don’t you see the Great Divider?
I was only in Ohio for a few months after this encounter, but whenever I went to that Bigg’s I made it a point to always use the Great Divider every time I went into a checkout line. It was gratifying to go to the aforementioned bitch’s lane and whip out the Great Divider when I went to pay for my bagel, beverage and fruit, especially so if the person in front of me already had his or items items scanned and there was nothing else on the conveyor belt. Hey bitch, don’t question the power of the Great Divider.
I wish I could say this was the only time I had trouble with cashiers in the southwest Ohio region, but sadly it wasn’t. There was also the time I told a bag boy to get cancer, but that’s another story for another time.
-So Monmouth blew out Hampton 71-49 in the play in game tonight. Hampton had the worst RPI of any team with a winning record in the entire country and you can thank those conference tournaments for that. Now every year after this game ends the ESPN analyst has to talk about the school getting it's first ever NCAA tournament win, which always annoys me, and tonight was no different. Did Monmouth really win a tournamnet game? After all it is the "play in" game which by the wording of it seems to indicate that the winner of the game gets into the tournament. In my view Monmouth has now qualified for the tournament while Hampton has failed to do so. Monmouth will win its first real tournament game if it were to beat Villanova, which we know won't happen.
-The other postseason tournament started tonight, the NIT. I normally never pay attention to it but after a lackluster year Stanford finds themself in it, snapping their 11 year NCAA tournament streak. They beat Virginia 65-49 in their Opening Round game as UVA looked like a team that traveled 3000 miles for a game they didn't want to play which tends to happen in the NIT as motivation plays a big factor in how long a team lasts in it. Cardinal travel to play the biggest snub of the NCAA Tournament, Missouri State for their next game where they'll probably get slaughtered but hey for one night at least Stanford didn't look like mediocre team they are.
-Due to Stanford's lack of success they didn't have as many t.v. games as past years when they were a Top 10 team thus I paid a lot less attention to college basketball this year. This of course creates a problem filling out a bracket but sometimes less knowledge is a good thing. My typical formula is to look a trends for past tournaments. Things such as usually one 13, one 12, and one 11 seed will pull off a 1st round upset and at least one double digit seed will get into the Sweet 16. Of course this strategy is very hit and miss as it can really be a guessing game when it comes to picking true upset (#9 over #8, #10 over #7 aren't upsets). But I prefer doing this as I rarely play for money, including this year, so it makes it more interesting to try to have some low seed teams picked out that I can root for on the first couple of days. So here's my true upsets for the first round with very little actual research going into it:
Southern Illinois over West Virginia
Bradley over Kansas
Utah State over Washington
I then have Bradley beating Pittsburgh to become the 3rd #13 seed ever to get to the Sweet 16. Ya I've really lost it on that one. Northern Iowa is my #10 seed getting to the Sweet 16 after upsetting Ohio State. Other things of note is I having Syracuse beating Duke in the Sweet 16 which may just be my disgust for Duke but a #1 seed getting bumped for the Elite Eight is usually a strong bet. Everyone seems to be picking Tennessee to be an early exit so I put them into the Elite Eight before losing to UConn. I have Oklahoma reaching the Elite Eight which again I've probably lost it on that one. Then to finish it off I have Iowa getting all the way to the national championship game before losing to UConn.
-Annnnnnnnnnnd time to finish this off with some useless facts. Here's the biggest first round upset of every tournament since they expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
1985: #13 Navy 78, #4 LSU 55
1986: #14 Cleveland State 83, #3 Indiana 79
1987: #14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67
1988: #14 Murray State 78, #3 N.C. State 75
1989: #14 Siena 80, #3 Stanford 78
1990: #14 Northern Iowa 74, #3 Missouri 71
1991: #15 Richmond 73, #2 Syracuse 69
1992: #14 East Tennessee State 87, #3 Arizona 80
1993: #15 Santa Clara 64, #2 Arizona 61
1994: #12 Wisconsin-Green Bay 61, #5 California 57
1995: #14 Weber State 79, #3 Michigan State 72
1996: #13 Princeton 43, #4 UCLA 41
1997: #15 Coppin State 78, #2 South Carolina 65
1998: #14 Richmond 62, #3 South Carolina 61
1999: #14 Weber State 76, #3 North Carolina 74
2000: #11 Pepperdine 77, #6 Indiana 57
2001: #15 Hampton 58, #2 Iowa State 57
2002: #13 UNC-Wilmington 93, #4 USC 89 OT
2003: #13 Tulsa 84, #4 Dayton 71
2004: #12 Manhattan 75, #5 Florida 60
2005: #14 Bucknell 64, # Kansas 63
You know what pisses me off? When certain businesses that do nothing to improve their product over the years suddenly blame the Wal-Marts and Targets of the world for their misery. In my area there are three “major” grocery store chains: Foodland, Shop ‘n Save and Giant Eagle. My local Giant Eagle store is so much better in terms of price, cleanliness and variety of products than a nearby Shop ‘n Save. I shopped at the latter a few times and vowed never to return. (I don't have a Foodland within a short driving distance from my house, so they're out of this story.)
Now that my community is starting to grow, and bigger retail chains have begun to set up shop. Earlier this month a Target opened up next to Giant Eagle, and there has been a local controversy with a Mega-Wal-Mart trying to get built in the same area. After some legal battles, the Wal-Mart has been approved and will probably begin construction sometime in the near future. Because of this Wal-Mart being built, the Shop ‘n Save store has announced it will be closing at the end of April. Representatives from the store have cited the upcoming Wal-Mart as the main reason why they are folding up their tent.
Good.
Fuck you Shop ‘n Save. You aren’t being run out because of big, bad Wal-Mart. You’re being run out because your prices suck, your brand selection leaves something to be desired, and you have made no attempts to upgrade over the years. Giant Eagle has acknowledged the competition and is meeting it head on. The store has lowered prices on a number of items and has introduced a “personal shopper” program. I’ve talked about this system before, but for those that haven’t heard me describe it here we go.
You have to be a Giant Eagle “advantage card” member, and what you do is scan your card at this machine and pick up a scanning device. Basically what you do is ring up and bag your order as you go. I have said before that although you spend more time shopping due to scanning and putting stuff in your grocery bags, I love this system for a number of reasons. 1) You get to see how much your running tab is as you shop. 2) You can bag items that you normally store together; this saves a lot of time at home unpacking. 3) You don’t have to wait in line, and you don’t have to hear the cashiers complain to each other about how much longer their shift is.
Another thing Giant Eagle has introduced in the last year or so is a line of convenience stores. For every $50 you spend in groceries, you get 10 cents off a gallon of gasoline on an upcoming fuel purchase. Is there a huge savings? Not really. But every couple of months, it’s nice to get $1 off per gallon of gas when filling up at one of these “Get-Go” stations.
Will this Giant Eagle survive with the increased competition from Target and Wal-Mart? I hope so. I don’t hate Wal-Mart, and I do some shopping there, but I don’t shop for groceries. I think one of the reasons I refuse to is because I don’t want to wait in line for an hour just to buy food and other products that I can’t get at a grocery store. As for Shop ‘n Save (and I’m sure Foodland will go under, too, considering those stores are worse than Shop ‘n Save), good-bye and good riddance.
• Wow, all this time I thought Issac Hayes was a cool cat; turns out he’s little bitch. Apparently, after almost 10 years of playing a character voice to one of the most offensive shows out there, he has had it with the program's bigoted stance on religion.
N*gga plz.
Now South Park has goofed on just about everything under the sun, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone have had a field day with every religion out there, from Catholics to Jews to Buddists. This let's-make-fun-of-everybody mentality is what has made this show great. I find it hard to believe that an episode last year that goofed on Scientology would offend Hayes to the point he would quit. This was around the time I learned Issac was followed this goofy religion/practice/whatever the hell it is. Waaaaaah. Cry me a river. Stone said it best when responding to Hayes’ tantrum that the singer “Wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.”
I think it’d be great if they still used Chef’s voice but instead voiced him with some dopey white guy, or change the voice every episode to include other races.
• Well, the March Madness brackets have been devised, and now it’s time to bitch about all the teams that didn’t make it into the field of 65. I don’t follow college basketball, so I have no idea who got hosed and who did not, however, the one team that made me go “wha-?” was Air Force; how’d they make it in?
This brings up an interesting argument about which teams should be allowed in. Do teams from conferences like the Big East and ACC that have mediocre records get the last few spots, or should teams from the Never-Heard-Of-It Conference get a bid for going 29-5 against universities that you didn’t know existed? I can see the argument from both sides. After all, take the fighting Colonials of Widget State Tech University, put them in the Big 10 and watch them get slaughtered. However, I say let these 15- and 16-seeded teams play. After all, schools like Maryland will surely make it back to the NCAA Tournament in a year or so, but how often will many of these school get the chance to be considered for the greatest tournament in all the land?
If Maryland made the postseason and lost in the first round, the fans and players would just go “eh” and move on. But a school like Southern U, who will undoubtedly get crushed by Duke in the first round, will look back at their tournament experience and revel in it. Players will talk about when they kept Duke’s lead to single digits, or if they held JJ Redick to under 40 points. If some of the bigger schools whine about not getting in the tournament, then they should have won a few more games. This isn’t Division One Football, where one loss puts a team out of so-called “National Championship” contention.
• This story made me laugh. No, it’s not due to some media conglomerate conspiracy I have. It’s just that Kevin McClatchy owns the Shittsburgh Pirates, and you would think that after buying $4.5 billion for a dying media, he would at least try to boost his baseball team’s payroll by a smidgen in hopes of making the franchise somewhat competitive (and around here that means getting near the .500 mark).
• I’m not a huge fan of television. I mean, I watch it plenty, but if it doesn’t involve news or sports I don’t tune in every week to watch. Thanks to DVDs, I have started buying a few shows (The Shield, South Park, Lost, to name a few) and watch them commercial-free and at my leisure.
That being said, I was channel surfing yesterday afternoon and came across the E! network, who apparently boughts the right to re-air “The Simple Life,” starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Now although this show is several years old, it’s new to me. Oh my God what a train wreck. I have no words to describe what I saw for that 30 minutes or so. I mean … wow. That’s all I have to say on this matter. Just … wow.
• So this chick is selling ad space on her pregger belly, and some Internet company will broadcast the eventual birth. I have to give this lady props for being creative, but she would have made even more money had she auctioned broadcasting rights to this kid’s conception nine months prior.
• In order to cut costs, many newspapers are dropping those pages of stock prices. Makes sense to me. After all, most people can get the results on-line. And if someone does not have Internet access, I’m sure they aren’t checking the stock page on a daily basis anyway.
• Wow, not as many people are going to see movies. I’m sure the mindset in Hollywood now it not to make films people want to see, but rather they haven’t produced enough gay cowboy films.
• And speaking of gay cowboy films, I finally got around to watching “Hidalgo;” sadly, it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. However, what stuck out to me were all the offensive things that occurred to Muslim men in this film. I mean, I thought going overseas with your mixed breed horse to participate in some dessert race was one of the worst things you could do to a Muslim male (it appeared that way from the reaction Frank Hopkins and his horse received). But then I realized that wanting to shake hands and ruin the ability for a sheik to see into the future was one of the worst things you could do to a Muslim male. However, I soon noticed that wanting to help a fellow racer stuck in quicksand or whose steed turned up lame was one of the worst things you could do to a Muslim male. But then I saw that touching a daughter while protecting her from unseen attackers (or at least that’s what you thought they were at the time) was one of the worst things you could do to a Muslim male (not to mention one of the worst things you could do to your reproductive organs). I’m surprised this film was even made, what with all the offensive material directed at the Muslim male in it. Hopefully, this movie isn’t seen by any radical clerics wanting to stir up trouble; if some cartoons can cause widespread mayhem and death, Allah only knows what’s going to happen with this film filled with RACISM and hate.
Next Thursday and Friday will be what I consider the best two days of the year in sports. There is simply nothing more fun from a viewing standpoint than the 1st round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. 16 games both days with basketall all day long on CBS. You know you won't get through the day without seeing something exciting. I had originally scheduled both days off from work but someone in my department was let go last week and I do the work of two people as it is I might be going in Thursday so we don't fall behind. But for at least a day and a half I'll just be gorging myself on college basketball.
My favorite tournament by far was the 1998 tournament, simply because Stanford had ended a 56 year drought and reached the Final Four. After being a perennial doormat on the west coast for a number of years, Mike Montgomery had legitimized the program. After 1st round losses in 1989 and 1992, in 1995 Stanford picked up their first tournament win since the 1942 National Championship. Next year they'd nearly upset Marcus Camby and UMass in the 2nd round. In '97 they would end Tim Duncan's college career by beating Wake Forest in the 2nd round before losing in overtime to Keith Van Horn and Utah in the Sweet 16.
For the '97-98 season they would return with much of same team at the core but with one big loss in All-American point guard Brevin Knight. Junior Arthur Lee would take over the point with the rest of the line up being Kris Weems, Pete Sauer, Mark Madsen, and Tim Young. One of their last games of the regular season was a 32 point humiliation by Arizona. Although just their fourth loss of the season many doubted Stanford would last in the tournament. I can still remember after they were given a #3 seed, Digger Phelps whined about them getting such a high seed on ESPN's selection show and it was the only team he thought was seeded too high.
Some people's doubts seemed warranted after they had a surprisingly tough game from the College of Charleston in the first round. After that they though they would blow out Western Michigan in the 2nd round and then just beat the shit out of Purdue in the Sweet 16. Now the Purdue game wasn't a blow out but the Boilermakers were expected to out physical Stanford with well publicized inside duo of Brad Miller and Brian Cardinal. But led by Mark Madsen and freshman Jarron Collins they just punished the Purdue duo the entire game. Then came the regional final against upstart Rhode Island led by their backcourt of Cuttino Mobley and Tyson Wheeler. As the #8 seed they had upset #1 seed Kansas in the 2nd round and then eliminated the feel good team of the tournament Valparaiso. I fully expected Stanford to beat them but by the end of the game was just a wreck as URI controlled most of the game. Then came one of the great individual performances in the final minute of a game.
Mobely hit two free throws with 59.3 seconds left to put URI up 71-65. Arthur Lee then took over the game.
-Lee hits an off balance three pointer with 52 seconds left, 71-68 URI
-Stanford fouls with 49.8 seconds left, Mobely hits one out of two free throws, 72-68 URI
-Lee feeds Mark Madsen inside for two with 40.7 seconds left, 72-70 URI
-Stanford fouls with 38.8 seconds left, Preston Murphy hits two free throws, 74-70 URI
-Lee drives the length of court, scores and is fouled with 32 seconds left, hits the free throw (didn't miss the entire tournament), 74-73 URI
-Lee strips Mobely after the inbound, the ball gets knocked to Madsen, he dunks and is fouled with 26.2 seconds left, hits the free throw, 76-74 Stanford. I've watched that play on tape probably a few hundred times and I'll never get tired of it.
URI would unrravel after that, turning the ball over the next posession, then Tyson Wheeler would miss three free throws, Lee would hit two more free throws, a URI half court shot at the buzzer would end the score at 79-77 Stanford. Lee scored 10 points and had the key steal of the game in the final minute. Stanford advanced to play Kentucky in the Final Four. Everyone, and I mean everyone, pretty much was preparing for a Kentucky/North Carolina final as Stanford and Utah were after thoughts. The Cardinal would lose to Kentucky in a forgotten classic 86-85 in overtime. I think it gets forgotten as one of the great tournament games because it didn't have that dramatic finish or an upset that other great games get remembered for. It was just a incredibly well played game by both teams and Dean Smith after the game on CBS said it was the best game he'd ever seen. I remember not even being upset after they lost as they weren't expected to give Kentucky any sort of a challenge and they played so well that I couldn't be mad that they came up short. It's the one game where a favorite team of mine lost that I would still watch on tape years later.
1998 Tournament Results
March 12, 1998
East Region
#1 North Carolina 88, #16 Navy 52
#8 Charlotte 77, #9 Illinois-Chicago 59
#4 Michigan State 83, #13 Eastern Michigan 71
#5 Princeton 69, #12 UNLV 57
#14 Richmond 62, #3 South Carolina 61
#11 Washington 69, #6 Xavier 68
#2 Connecticut93, #15 Farleigh Dickenson 85
#7 Indiana 94, #10 Oklahoma 87 OT
West Region
#1 Arizona 99, #16 Nicholls State 60
#9 Illinois State 82, #8 Tennessee 81 OT
#4 Maryland 82, #13 Utah State 68
#5 Illinois 64, #12 South Alabama 51
#3 Utah 85, #14 San Francisco 68
#6 Arkansas 74, #11 Nebraska 65
#2 Cincinnati 65, #15 Northern Arizona 62
#10 West Virginia 82, #7 Temple 52
March 13, 1998
Midwest Region
#1 Kansas 110, #16 Prairie View 52
#8 Rhode Island 97, #9 Murray State 74
#13 Valparaiso 70, #4 Mississippi 69
#12 Florida State 96, #5 TCU 87
#3 Stanford 67, #14 Charleston 57
#11 Western Michigan 75, #6 Clemson 72
#2 Purdue 95, #15 Delaware 56
#10 Detroit 66, #7 St. John's 64
South Region
#1 Duke 99, #16 Radford 63
#8 Oklahoma State 74, #9 George Washington 59
#4 New Mexico 79, #13 Butler 62
#5 Syracuse 63, #12 Iona 61
#3 Michigan 80, #14 Davidson 61
#6 UCLA 65, #11 Miami 62
#2 Kentucky 82, #15 South Carolina State 67
#10 Saint Louis 51, #7 UMass 46
March 14, 1998
East Region
#1 North Carolina 93, #8 Charlotte 83 OT
#4 Michigan State 63, #5 Princeton 56
#11 Washington 87, #14 Richmond 66
#2 Connecticut 78, #7 Indiana 68
Midwest Region
#1 Arizona 82, #9 Illinois State 49
#4 Maryland 67, #5 Illinois 61
#3 Utah 75, #6 Arkansas 69
#10 West Virginia 75, #2 Cincinnati 74
March 15, 1998
Midwest Region
#8 Rhode Island 80, #1 Kansas 75
#13 Valparaiso 83, #12 Florida State 77 OT
#3 Stanford 83, #11 Western Michigan 65
#2 Purdue 80, #10 Detroit 65
South Region
#1 Duke 79, #8 Oklahoma State 73
#5 Syracuse 56, #4 New Mexico 46
#6 UCLA 85, #3 Michigan 82
#2 Kentucky 88, #10 Saint Louis 61
March 19, 1998
East Region
#1 North Carolina 73, #4 Michigan State 58
#2 Connecticut 75, #11 Washington 74
West Region
#1 Arizona 87, #4 Maryland 79
#3 Utah 65, #10 West Virginia 62
March 20, 1998
Midwest Region
#8 Rhode Island 74, #13 Valparaiso 68
#3 Stanford 67, #2 Purdue 59
South Region
#1 Duke 80, #5 Syracuse 67
#2 Kentucky 94, #6 UCLA 68
March 21, 1998
East Region
#1 North Carolina 75, #2 Connecticut 64
West Region
#3 Utah 76, #1 Arizona 51
March 22, 1998
Midwest Region
#3 Stanford 79, #8 Rhode Island 77
South Region
#2 Kentucky 86, #1 Duke 84
March 28, 1998
Final Four
Kentucky 86, Stanford 85 OT
Utah 65, North Carolina 59
National Championship
Kentucky 78, Utah 69
First of All, I saw the remake of "The Hills Have Eyes" last night. For the most part I enjoyed it, but I still like the original more. Also, as his second film, I'd have to say that Alexandre Aja's first film "High Tension" is better. Still, it's pretty good, and much better than most remakes.
Second of all, I would have to say this: Tina Fey is not funny.
Finally, to everyone who voted for me in round one of the TSM poster's tournoment, I say thank you. I don't expect to win round two, but I'm happy that I made as far as round two.
“Mark”, “smark”, and “smart” are three of the most prevalent labels given to groups of fans that gather online to talk about wrestling. We’ve seen them for years, we’ve all used them at one time or another and I hate all of them and every label like them.
To me, the only label a wrestling fan should be given is “fan”. There’s no such thing as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan. There is either a good fan or bad fan. A good fan either knows what he’s talking about, or admits to not knowing much about the subject at hand and accepting that there are people who know about some things better then he does. A bad fan doesn’t know what he’s talking about and cannot or will not admit to this and refuses to accept that their knowledge of the subject at hand is limited. A good fan will be open to different points of view and will listen to disparate opinions and respond with a well thought out and reasoned response that intelligently puts across their point of view and, hopefully, intelligent discussion is the result. A bad fan will get very angry and irritated at having their faults pointed out. They’ll get defensive, will probably start insulting people, and drag the discussion down in a vain attempt to maintain the illusion, if only in their own mind, that they really do know what they’re talking about.
You can keep making comparisons between good fans and bad fans, and the differences between the two should be obvious, but there is a better reason to stop labeling people as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan than the fact that any such label is inaccurate. The moment you label a person or a group of people with a tag like “mark”, it instantly becomes easier to dismiss their opinion or point of view out of hand because you’ve distanced yourself from the fact that the person with that opinion is a person with a mind and could have the intelligence to bring a reasonable point of view and instead have grouped them in with a segment of people that, to you, don’t have an opinion that matters as much as other people, and that’s a dangerous thing to do when you want an intelligent discussion. Dismiss people for being bad fans if you want, because bad fans are just that, bad. But don’t dismiss someone because you think they’re a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart”. You never know what you could be missing out on.
Third verse, different from the first.
• Kim Komando comes in at number 24, and she’s some tech chick. Being in my local market, I’ve listened to her show a few times if I’m driving somewhere. Nothing special, but she’s managed a niche market for herself, so you go girl.
• Bill Bennett, number 25. You can bet that I have no desire to listen to this show.
• I’ve seen one-half of the number 26 Curtis and Kuby duo on Hannity’s radio and television show. The one who’s not the commie started the Guardian Angels or something. I guess that’s good.
• Clark Howard chimes in at number 27. He’s on from 6-10 on my shitty WPTT station, so I haven’t heard his show but once or twice. However, he’s been on Boortz’s show (they broadcast from the same flagship station), and I’ve listened to some hippie daily minute sound bite he does. He’s cheaper than me, and that’s saying something.
• George Noory is number 28. I didn’t care for Art Bell (How many times has he retired now?), and I don’t care for this kook. Look, if listening to overnight radio like this is your thing, then cool. I remember listening to Bell before the year 2000 hit, and some of the Y2K stuff he was going off about was utterly insane. Also, how many goddamn phone numbers does this show have? To call west of the Rockies, dial this; to call east of the Rockies, dial that. If you’re in the phone booth down the street, call the underground line. Christ almighty.
• Michael Medved comes in at number 29. He’s a Jew and reviews movies. I’ve heard him sub for Rush, and I’ve seen him on cable news and C-Span. Lots of people that don’t like the Parents Television Council and the Media Research Center don’t like Medved, so I’m sure there are some things I would like about him and others I’d just roll my eyes over.
• 30-32: Huh?
• 33: I know nothing of this Lionel hippie other than that his show got canned when I lived in Ohio in favor of Michael Savage’s show.
• 34-37: I’ve heard of Tom Leykis (34), but I’ve never observed him in any media outlet. The others in these entries are nothing to me.
• 38: Ugh, I wouldn’t mind Rush using sub hosts if many of them weren’t so awful. Roger Hedgecock is one of those who when I hear his voice I know I’ll be tuning in to Jim Rome that day. In fact, the only sub host I enjoy listening to is Walter Williams.
• 39: Pass.
• Tony Snow is number 40. I didn’t care for him when he subbed for Rush, but I guess I’m in the minority since he has his own show now. More power to him, I guess. Just don’t expect me to listen to it.
• Oh God, G. Gordon Liddy’s (number 41) show was on in Sappy Valley and it was boring as shit. Hell, most of the time he just read from the newspaper in a monotone voice that would make Ben Stein sleepy. One thing that did made me chuckle was his constant refusal to say “Washington Post” (he always bleeped out the “Post” part. Gee, I wonder why?
• I’ve heard of numbers 42-44 in one way or another over the years, but I don’t care about any of them. Also, who the hell is number 45?
• Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN radio comes in at number 46 – I have better things to do with my mornings than listen to this.
• Man, Vern Gagne was pissed when Phil Hendrie was announced at number 47 while Air America people were ranked 20+ spots higher. Sadly, I have listened to his program for about 20 minutes one night while driving in an area that carried his show, so I can’t really comment on him. But if Vern and MikeSC like him, then I’m sure his OK. Also, anyone that does a character voice for the “Team America” movie can’t be all that bad (he was the voice of “Intelligence”).
• Never heard of numbers 48 or 50, but Dennis Prager (who’s at number 49) has been pimped by a few people I know. That’s all I got.
God damnit, I thought I’d be done with this by now, but I’m only half-way finished? Zoinks.
Here is Part II of my take on the top 100 RIGHT-WING RADIO hosts, as determined by Talkers magazine. I ended my last installment with Neal Boortz at number nine, so now let’s get crackin’.
• OK, I don’t really care about Air America, but how in the hell are any of them, let alone two, in the Top 20? And if one of them were to be in the Top 10, I’d guess it’d be Al Franken. After all, he has his show on that hippie Independent Film Channel (or at least he did; I don’t know if it’s still on, but I’m guessing it is) and has been the face of Air America since its inception. But no, Randi Rhodes is number 10 – the only thing I know about her is that she ran some bit with a gunshot sound bite a while back, which I guess was to tell us all to kill the President or something. I know that wasn’t its intention; I think it had something to do with Social Security. I didn’t care then, and I don’t care now.
• Bill O’Reilly is number 11? LOL. I don’t hate the guy like other people I know, and I do watch “The Factor” every now and then. But damn is his radio show awful. In fact, my local affiliate, KDKA, just moved him from his noon-2 p.m. time slot to late night, which usually means it’s not doing too well.
• Mancow completes this dirty dozen. I don’t know much about him. I think he’s based out of Chicago, and whenever I’ve seen him on a certain cable news channel known for being fair and balanced, I have been entertained. If he stays on the air in this format for a long time, I’m sure he’ll eventually replace the local FM morning guy I listen to who, incidentally, is also on this list.
• Ed Schultz is number 13. Once again, I haven’t listened to his radio show, but I have seen him in the cable television world. He’s a liberal guy, but the few times I’ve seen him I didn’t think he was all that bad. In fact, the one segment he did with David Horowitz and some other guy, he completely outclassed them. The only think I don’t like about Schultz (and it doesn’t really pertain to him personally) is that NBC’s Today Show did a story on him and called him competition for Rush, even though at the time he was on about four radio stations. I really hate it when Medium-Large Media call the newest liberal talk-radio host the next challenger to Rush. Limbaugh’s on 500 or so radio stations; nobody’s going to directly “challenge” him for a while, if ever. Let any upstart liberal talk-radio guy do his or her thing, and see if they have the ability to beat out the other RIGHT-WING RADIO national hosts in other time slots before even thinking about comparing their success to Rush’s accomplishments. OK, I’m done.
• One reason this list is b.s. is because Rhoes and Schultz are ahead of Glenn Beck, who is number 14. I am not a huge Beck fan, but this guy is one of the most-listened to RIGHT-WING RADIO hosts in the country and is getting his own show on Headline News. I wish WPGB would have Boortz in the 10-noon slot, but Beck is the big dog in this time; I guess it could be worse. I must say though that Mrs. kkk LOVES Beck, and I don’t think she would be as right-wing as she is if she didn’t start listening to him when he first went national in 2001. Even though his material is hit-or-miss with me, the fact he’s not in the Top 10 completely discredits this list for me.
• Jim Bohannon is number 15. Don’t care. I used to listen to his show when I worked at Sappy Valley just because there was nothing else on. I heard him a few years ago while driving in New Jersey and realized I still wasn’t missing much.
• If you ever watch Hannity’s show on the FAUX NEWS CHANNEL (lol2006), you might notice this guy who the camera focuses on every now and then. Well, he’s Alan Colmes, and he also has his own talk show. Sadly, I’ve never heard it, and even though it’s on in my market, I don’t normally listen to talk-radio late at night. I actually like Alan because he’s one of the few liberals with a sense of humor. Here’s one example why I like him: One night the two of them were talking about this incident on a school bus where one kid was beating the crap out of the another kid. Hannity then began to spout some tired gibberish about how liberals wouldn’t want the kid getting beat up to defend himself and said that Alan, when he has a kid of that age, would want his kid to take the abuse. Alan just gave Sean a “wtf?” look and said, "I’d make sure he had a good lawyer.” Well, it made me laugh.
• Number 17 is Jim Rome, one of my favorite sports talk guys. He always pimps the interviews he gets on his show, but that’s when I usually change the station. My favorite parts of his show are when the callers and e-mailers make their voices heard. I’m sure this schtick might seem tiresome to regular listeners, but I tune in maybe 1-2 times per week, so it’s still entertaining to me.
• See my post about Rhodes and you’ll get my opinion on Franken, who is at number 18. Also, numbers 19-23 I know nothing about, so I’ll just stop here for now.
• So today’s red-lettered-headline from Drudge is about NASA and a HUGE ANNOUNCEMET about life on other planets. From the “developing” story: “NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.”
So this is what NASA is pitching in hopes of getting more funding?
I may be ignorant (wait until you get to my take on Ann Richards farther down), but I’m not ignorant enough to think we are the only planet in this universe to have life forms. However, until aliens drop in from the sky, I really don’t care. I will care if/when they arrive in their flying saucers, because I don’t think they would have flown trillions of light years just to mow my lawn or pick my lettuce.
• Looks like the NFL reached a deal with the player’s union. You guys have the most successful league in the country, if not the world. Pay your players and shaddup.
• Oh, and I just had this kid ask me if it was OK for him to park his bike in a handicap parking space.
• Well I guess the bright side of this story is that the Bishop allegedly abused a woman and not some 10-year old boy. You know, this really pisses me off. No, not pedophile priests (well, they do, but not in this instance), but rather people who wait 30+ years to make these rape claims. If someone assaults you, report it to the authorities; don’t wait several generations and go “Father Bob raped me when I was 9.” And just to show that I am consistent on this issue, whenever those Juanita Broderick rape allegations hit the air waves (or at least on FAUX NEWS [lol2006], considering Medium-Large Media avoided this topic) I didn’t care. I’m sure it may be hard for someone to come forth and claim to have been raped, but what makes it any easier 50 years later, other than that there’s a chance the people you’re accusing can’t defend themselves because they are either dead or senile?
• Poor Ann Richards. It’s not her fault she wasn’t born with a silver esophagus in her body. (Sorry, but I couldn't pass that one up.)
• Now here’s a shocker, cigarette sales have dropped to its lowest level since 1951. No shit. I’m surprised it took this long. The only thing that concerns me is once Big Tobacco gets plundered for all their worth, what will the health Nazis focus on next in order to get more money out of us through tax revenue, etc?
• Hahahahahahaha. Fuck you, Barry. Too bad your kid is in school; who are you going to shield yourself with now? There has been some talk that Bonds is being targeted because he’s black, while other athletes who probably roided up in the 1990s, like Mark McGwire, got virtually a free pass. Maybe Bonds was “unfairly” targeted, but it wasn’t because he was black. It was because people outside of San Francisco don’t like him.
• A parent busted a 15-year old babysitter for forcing two eight-year olds to perform oral pleasures on him. Now, if the parent set up a video camera, he or she had to have suspected something was up with the babysitter (in more ways then one). If you were in the parent’s position, would you have done the camera set-up, or would you have fired the babysitter with no physical proof of sexual abuse? And this quote from the county sheriff about this issue is kind of creepy, too: "These type of cases require us to be very meticulous in collecting evidence.” It’s on VIDEO TAPE. Just how many times are you going to watch some teen getting forced hummers from 8-year olds?
And let’s not forget who the real victim is here: the accused, Brandon Jaffe. You know how hard it’s going to be for him to get a date for the next Homecoming dance? Even if he takes a date a few grades below him (like 4th or 5th), that kid’s bedtime will probably be before the dance even starts.
• I tried watching some of this World Baseball Classic yesterday; it wasn’t half bad. I’ll probably watch a few more innings of this tournament, but one thing that I found interesting was how the fans from other countries acted. That’s also one of the reasons I tune into the World Cup every four years. I have no idea who any of the soccer players will be on the field, but it’s entertaining to see the fans do their thing, including their various chants and noise-makers.
