11 p.m.
• Let’s see: Get into work at 10:30 a.m., leave at 9:15 p.m. Why the hell do I do this? Oh, yeah. Because whenever I’m here on the weekends, I won’t be there sometime during the week. That’s why. Besides, the drive home was great. No traffic, clear night, had the NLCS on ESPN radio. Only regret was missing my football games today and I didn’t get to go through my Sunday papers/coupons/etc. Oh well, that’s what tomorrow is for.
But the real fun began when I got home. No, Mrs. kkk wasn’t bitching at me for being at work all day – she was already asleep. The fun came about 30 minutes later when I realized my wedding ring wasn’t on my finger. The fuck? When did this happen? Good thing the better half is asleep. Time to backtrack. Did the ring fall in the sink’s drain when I washed my hands in the bathroom? I can’t remember if I still had it on at that time. I normally take it off and put it on the spice rack when doing the dishes. Problem was it wasn’t on the rack when I cleaned the dishes. Well the cats aren’t playing with anything shiny on the floor, so that’s a plus – but did the already bat it under a couch or major appliance? Yikes. Could it have fallen outside when I was on my way inside the house? No clue. Fuck. It’s been 30 minutes and I can’t find this goddamn thing. I’ve looked everywhere I’ve been so far tonight. The car, the walkway, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the bedroom. I’ve sifted through the garbage can, looked in several cabinets, peered down into the bathroom sink’s drain, and peered into a bunch of crevices. No luck. Wait a minute. What about my drawer in which I keep a bunch of useless shit, including my cell phone’s AC adapter, which I took into work with me today. When I opened the drawer I heard a “clink.” Oh thank God.
Now it’s time for bed.
Thank you to Oregon State Vanessa Hudgens I do not have to worry about a Cal national championship, although still need to some help to avoid them getting to the Rose Bowl.
With the BCS Rankings out I probably shouldn't even bother with this anymore but maybe one more week. Pretty simple there are five undefeated BCS teams so they make up my Top 5. This week though I now have to include two loss teams in the rankings and even rank some of them above one loss teams but I will rank all one loss teams. Now one rule that I always stick by is if you have two teams with the same number of losses and who have played each other, you must rank the winner of the head-to-head match-up higher. As much as I hate Cal there is no justifying ranking them below Oregon. Of course this rule has to be thrown out when you have a situation like with LSU, South Carolina, and Kentucky. LSU beat South Carolina, South Carolina beat Kentucky, Kentucky beat LSU. In this case given that yesterday's game could have gone either way and that LSU beat South Carolina convincingly, I've ranked LSU above Kentucky.
1. Ohio State
2. South Florida
3. Boston College
4. Arizona State
5. Kansas
6. LSU
7. South Carolina
8. Oklahoma
9. Kentucky
10. West Virginia
11. California
12. Oregon
13. Missouri
14. Virginia Tech
15. Auburn
16. Florida
17. Cincinnati
18. Texas Tech
19. Tennessee
20. USC
21. Virginia
22. Kansas State
23. Connecticut
24. Hawaii
25. Boise State
The Cincinnati Reds have hired Dusty Baker as thier manager. Good God. Well, I guess it's appropriate to hire a racist in this town. After all we had Marge Schott and her Hitler memorabilia for an owner. F*** me it's going to be a helluva 2008 season.
SECOND ROUND
Boston 10
Nashville 2
Minnesota 3
LA Dodgers 2
The Twins scored two in the seventh to take the lead for good. Johan Santana allowed two runs and struck out eight in 7 1/3 innings pitched.
San Diego 9
Florida 2
Scott Olsen allowed seven runs (five earned) and walked five and threw two wild pitches in less than four innings of work.
Chi. Sox 3
NY Mets 2
Eight innings and two earned runs allowed for Mark Buehrle, while Bobby Jenks picked up the save. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye hit home runs in the victory.
Kansas City 3
Arizona 2
Brian Bannister drove in his own go-ahead run with an RBI double in the 7th, and the Royals held on to win against Brandon Webb.
Chi. Cubs 6
Omaha 5
Atlanta 17
Texas 5
NY Yankees 6
Pittsburgh 2
Alex Rodriguez hit two home runs for the Yankees in the win. Melky Cabrera drove in three.
LA Angels 4
Tampa Bay 0
John Lackey pitched eight shutout innings, striking out nine.
Oakland 7
Milwaukee 4
Travis Buck broke a 4-4 tie in the ninth with a two-run home run.
Colorado 10
Baltimore 6
The O's bullpen imploded, allowing seven runs in the final two innings.
Washington 7
Detroit 3
San Francisco 12
Portland 2
Buffalo 5
Seattle 4
Ryan Mulhern's home run in the first inning gave the Bison a 3-0 lead. The Mariners fought back, bringing the tying run to third in the ninth, but Ichiro struck out to end the game. Ichiro did drive in three of the Mariners' four runs.
St. Louis 7
Toronto 1
Cleveland 2
Sacramento 0
Due to the sheer number of games, no details unless necessary.
Red Sox 28
R-Phils 2
Nashville 11
Richmond 3
Minnesota 6
Indianapolis 5
Torii Hunter 3-run HR
LA Dodgers 4
Norfolk 1
San Diego 7
Round Rock 1
NY Mets 7
Charlotte 6
10 Innings
Chi. Sox 11
New Orleans 2
Arizona 13
Ottawa 9
Kansas City 5
Iowa 2
Omaha 7
Houston 5
11 Innings
Shane Costa tied the game with an RBI double in the 9th and Mike Aviles put the Wranglers ahead with a two run shot in the 11th.
Atlanta 6
Pawtucket 1
Texas 15
Louisville 1
Pittsburgh 7
Durham 5
NY Yankees 15
San Antonio 6
LA Angels 8
Trenton 0
Tampa Bay 10
Toledo 1
Milwaukee 8
Tacoma 2
Oakland 5
Albuquerque 2
Colorado 4
Memphis 0
Baltimore 3
Fresno 2
4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief from Dan Giese.
Detroit 6
Syracuse 2
Washington 4
Salt Lake City 1
Portland 7
Philadelphia 6
Figures. Jamie Moyer allowed four runs in three innings.
San Francisco 9
Rochester 7
Trailing 7-5 in the ninth, Kevin Frandsen hit a grand slam home run to win the game. Rochester walked Barry Bonds intentionally to load the bases.
Seattle 2
Columbus 0
Buffalo 4
Cincinnati 1
Buffalo's Adam Miller struck out seven batters over six innings of work. Bronson Arroyo struck out eight in the loss.
Toronto 11
Colorado Springs 5
St. Louis 6
Oklahoma 5
13 Innings
Chris Duncan hit a three-run, game tying home run with two outs in the ninth. Four innings later, Duncan's RBI single won the game for the Cards.
Sacramento 7
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 1
Cleveland 9
Huntsville 0
7 p.m.
• So I'm roaming the wires, and this got a chuckle out of me. Two articles are next to each other, each with the same lead. The first headline reads:
and the second reads:
That's all I got.
• I just heard on the television that not only is the "Caveman" show still on, but now the next show will introduce the first CaveWOMAN~! Find the people watching this shit and sterilize them. NOW.
7 p.m.
• Oh boy, western Pennsylvania.
The long-standing rivalry between Coke and Pepsi took a physical turn Friday when a Pepsi deliveryman allegedly punched his Coke counterpart in the face at a western Pennsylvania Wal-Mart, state police said.
Could this be in my neck of the woods?
Nuts. Indiana is to the east of me. Oh well, maybe next time.
10:15 a.m.
• I just got done watching part of the “Fast Food Nation” and boy was I not disappointed (when I feel motivated, I'm going to have to check out IMDB's message board section about this masterpiece). I read bits of the hippie book, and while thumbing through its pages I thought “Boy I sure wish they would make a movie out of this.” If you want a laugh, check it out. My only regret was that Esai Morales and Bruce Willis were in it. Esai I understand because I’m under no pretenses that the guy’s a commie. However, I like him anyway. I didn’t see Bruce’s character, so I at least hope he played some evil greedy right-wing corporate exec. Otherwise, when I saw his name in the credits I went, “Why Bruce why?” Like I said before, I didn’t see this genius in its entirety, but I saw enough. Slaughterhouses, corporate greed, oppressing the underclass and invaders undocumented American citizens, pseudo-hippies. “Well I can't think of anything right now more patriotic than violating the Patriot Act!” Fuck you Paco. My name translates into Paco in Spanish, too, and you’re no Paco. Well, actually Paco is a “nickname” of my formal wetback name, but whatever. I remember back in middle school there was some “rhyme” in Spanish that involved the word Paco, and I was the only one in my grade who could say the entire verse in less than 3.5 seconds. This of course didn’t take away from the fact I HATED that class and failed. Then again, I failed a bunch of classes back in my middle school days. I had the same teacher for my Francais class the year after, and I flunked that, too. Christ, was I a miserable little shit back then. Two years later when I was in high school I was studying Francais yet again just before a girl’s volleyball contest when my former aforementioned teacher, who was sitting in front of me, made some remark about my studying, and at that moment I just smiled and thought, “How the hell did she put up with me back then?”
Where was I going with this? Ohhhh, shiny object.
10:15 p.m.
• Yeah, I know there's more to this story, but the lead paragraph just sounds funny to me.
9:15 p.m.
• So on the way home from work today we were driving through the black people part of the trip and went past some guy with a colorful jacket that featured patches of each NBA team sewed on. I didn’t notice it because I was too busy looking at traffic and shit, but Mrs. kkk did. The following conversation ensued. You can figure out who is who.
Hey look, it’s Jamal and the multi-colored robe.
Huh?
You know, Joseph and the multi-colored robe? From the Bible?
What?
You don’t know the story of Joseph and the multi-colored robe? The one where he gets sold into slavery by his brothers and they tear up his robe to show to their father?
The fuck?
*Goes on to tell the story up to the point where the robe is returned to dad*
Jesus Christ that’s depressing. Did Joseph at least get his revenge?
I don’t remember, but I think the story is about forgiveness.
Fuck that shit. I’d be pissed.
Well, his bones got returned back home with Moses.
I thought Moses didn’t make it back because God fucked him over about something.
That’s correct … sort of.
What exactly did Moses do?
He was trying to get water from hitting a rock. God said to do it one time and he did it twice.
That’s it?!
Yes. God said that showed a lack of faith on Moses’ behalf.
So he roams around in the desert for 40 fucking years, and God doesn’t believe he’s of faith? No wonder God’s a Jew.
What?
When it came time to pay the bill for Moses, God Jewed him, "Thanks for all your years of service, Moses, but you violated Page 490, Section XL, Article 4a, line 20 of our agreement. No promised land for you." If God tried to Jew me like that, I’d send all his people away to Detroit.
Why am I talking about the Bible with you?
Because you commented on Jamal’s mulit-colored coat.
THE END
That coat was pimp, too, what with the old Hawks logo. Jamal's, not Joseph's.
8:30 p.m.
• So earlier today I became one of “those customers.” I was going out for a few things, and I decided to get one of these new burrito things that Taco Bells was pimping. You know, the one with the “I’ll stop the world and melt with you” ads. Hey, it’s got meat, cheese and sour cream – can’t be all that bad. Problem is, when I approached the drive-thru I couldn’t remember what this product was called. No problem. There will probably be a sign or ad pimping this new item. No such luck – some hippie crap about putting chili on nachos. Now the drive-thru speaker lady is talking. Fuck. Scan that menu. It has to be on there. Nothing. Oh Christ, I have to say it.
“Can I get that burrito that’s been advertised a lot lately?”
“You mean the Cheesy Beefy Melt? Do you want that in a combo?”
Grilled stuffed burrito. Sonofabitch. Oh well, it was worth the humiliation. Well, I wasn't as bad as the old lady at the Burger King drive-thru years ago asking my co-worker if we had fish sticks or macaroni, among the dozen-plus other items we didn't have because she hadn't left her house since the Truman administration (it was a Lenten Friday -- God did those shifts suck).
• Swift Terror brought up Land of the Dead, and it finally forced me to think back to when I saw it a few months back. I liked it. I’m not what you consider a zombie movie fan. I have nothing against them, but I’m nowhere near a fanatic like some others are with this genre. Then again, if that’s what they like to see, then more power to them. Anyway, the whole “Dead” film series is mostly “eh” to me. “Night” was there, and it’s probably my favorite of the three. I never really cared for “Dawn,” and “Day” was OK. I remember as a kid a classmate always saying, “Fucking ‘a, biggest piece of meat in the cave,” and never knew where he got it from. So with this in mind, I always had “Land” pegged as one of those movies that I was in no hurry to see but wanted to get around to doing so before dying. Well now I can rest in peace, I guess. Wasn’t too bad. Yeah, it was a bit cheesy with the whole zombies-of-the-world-unite thing going, and I’m sure there’s some social commentary with the whole “Uniontown” thing that I missed because I’m an evil right-winger. However, there is an actual Uniontown about an hour or so from Shittsburgh, or whatever the city was called in the movie, so I’ll give this a pass.
• So the better half has been sporadically watching that Bret Michaels Flavor-of-Love rip-off every now and then, and this evening she had the FINAL DECISION EPISODE on. Long story short: this guy had to choose from the stripper and the psycho. Longer story shorter: Bret couldn’t decide between these two up until the very end, so he asked each if they wouldn’t mind sharing him with the other. The stripper said sure, the psycho said no. The psycho won. Jesus Christ how stupid can some people be? And if you’re looking for “true love,” wouldn’t you know before asking two chicks if they wouldn’t mind being part of a threesome? I just pray everyone on that show doesn’t vote.
• Al Gore got a Nobel Prize. Yay, and stuff.
What a prestigious award. Too bad Arafat’s dead – they could have been BFF.
• Uh oh, don’t you know that …well, whatever the hell is going on here…
…is one of the worst things you can do to a Muslim male?
I typed this out last night, and decided to post it today. So, here.
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We start in the studio, with Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.
Before we go to the first match (when I say we, I mean us, the viewers) there's a Bigelow vignette that shows the tattoos on his head and that he looks like a rough and tumble, mean son of a bitch.
Sivi Afi v. Macho Man Randy Savage. Savage is my favorite wrestler, so if it ever seems like there's any bias toward him, well, there is. Take that. Afi pulls off a flying head scissors off the top rope and a rana IN FUCKING 1987. What the fuck. He misses a Dynamite-ish flying headbutt off the top rope, and gets dumped to the outside. Savage does his axehandle from the top rope to the outside, then tosses Afi back in. Savage Elbow finishes at 2:16. To give a little bit of insight to my rankings, I would usually give this sort of match *. But for the rana, at that time, I add 1/2*. That's not something you see in '87. The rating is *1/2.
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Gorilla and Heenan argue about whether or not Heenan has signed Bigelow, and this is the trend for the entire show. As that is the case, I won't reference it again.
Now, we go to the Boston Garden for the next match, One Man Gang vs. Jose Luis Rivera. The rest of the matches are from the Garden, from this same Garden show. Looking at the entire card, it's crap. Most of what they show here isn't, but I would never pay for a show with the headliners on this card. Bruno is the draw, here. Just a squash. Punch, choke. Front suplex finishes at 4:13. DUD.
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Then, back from the break, the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, is throwing money to the crowd. Not because he's a nice guy, as he so elequently states, but rather because he loves to watch people beg.
That's followed with a special report with Craig DeGeorge, about Dangerous Danny Davis. I WOULD say to fastforward, but there's some good, lesser seen highlights here. Probably my favorite part of this show, and I marked for the Savage/Santana IC title change.
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The next match is Dino Bravo w/Johnny V v. Scott Casey.
Casey starts off the action with an atomic drop, hiptoss, scoop slam and armdrag. Another armdrag, and the armwringer sequence is ended with a Bravo chop. Inverted atomic drop by Dino, and Casey is tossed out. Chinlock by Bravo, then a back elbow. A gutwrench suplex and legdrop by Bravo follows, and Casey tries to reverse the tide with a backdrop. However, the tide does not stay reversed, as Dino hits his side suplex for the win at 6:00. *1/4, I've seen WAY worse.
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Heenan says Bam Bam Bigelow was the one to approach him about being managed by the Brain, as we segue to a MACHO MAN OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYEAHHHHHH promo. He says he'll be the next World Champioon, and that the Madness is UP HERE and
Hulkamania is DOWN HERE.
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Cowboy Bob Orton v. Jerry Allen is the next match. The WWF should have kept Allen and pushed him. I mean it. Allen goes up and elbows Orton almost immediately, then crossbody's Orton for a two count. Orton gives Allen a delayed back suplex and kneedrop. Orton then dumps Allen to the concrete floor. Allen tries a sunset flip in, but Orton holds the ropes so he doesn't go down for a count. Orton goes up for a pump splash, but he eats knees. An Allen hiptoss and dropkick gets one, as Orton's feet are on the ropes. Allen brings it to the center for a 2 count, and then Orton gives Allen an inverted atomic drop. Orton stomps on his face, and gives him a backbreaker after parading Allen around the ring while holding him, and then an Orton superplex finishes at 6:27. I enjoyed it, but there are some flaws in this match. I'll still give it **.
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It's Paul Roma vs. Shadow #1. I'm not giving this a full review, although it was better than I thought it would be. Roma is disgustingly juiced. Seriously, it's gross. The highlight of the match was Roma taking a sick bump to the concrete, after missing a crossbody on #1 while he was tied in the ropes. He missed the ropes entirely instead of grabbing them to slow himself down a bit, and he landed right on HIS FUCKING HEAD. I can't believe he got up from that. Flying crossbody huh, you ain't kidding. Roma won the match, it was **.
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To Studio G we go, and Gorilla exposes Heenan as faking his neck injury, when he brings in a doctor that says the x-ray of "Heenan's neck" is that of a young woman. Heenan storms off without his neckbrace. He sold this injury for a long time.
Jim Powers vs. Shadow #2. I'm not watching that shit. Put the two teams in a tag match and save everyone the trouble. Powers won, I FF'd through the entire match. I don't do that often, but if it's some bullshit like that, I am. Never during PPV's, though.
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We come back from the commercial and Gorilla has on a neckbrace of his own. Funny shit.
The feature match is Tito Santana vs. the Magnificent Muraco.
They both lockup and trade armwringers, and Muraco begins to stall. Please, don't. Then we have what looked to be a blown spot, as both guys are trying moves as Santana comes off the ropes, and they ram right into each other. Muraco works on the left knee, a neckbreaker, spinning toehold and grapevine type hold are the high points of this leg work, and when attempting to reapply a spinning toehold, Tito kicks Muraco and Muraco flies into the steel ring post. Tito sells the knee pretty well, until Muraco clotheslines him in the corner. Then Muraco charges into the corner and Tito rolls through with a sunset flip for the win at 8:22. *. Bob Orton and Muraco have words after the match, and after their words, Muraco decides to shake Santana's hand. In no uncertain terms, Orton tells Muraco to screw himself.
And that's it!
Rating: Above-average. Since a lot of the matches on the Prime Time show are similar and formulaic, I base my rating on the vignettes and promos. They delivered, this time.
The date on the program description is wrong. You can't have a show air on 1/4 when the footage was shot on 1/5, obviously. I'll do the logical thing and say this is a 1/11/96 review, not that I'll title it as such.
To start with, before the entire program, WWE put in a video package of The Pitbulls.
I don't review the Tazz/Styles portions of the show where they talk about the past, so we skip ahead to the program.
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Flashback to "last week", as we have Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie in the back cutting a promo and all of a sudden, THE FUCKING FRANCHISE SHANE DOUGLAS makes his re-debut, as he wonders what the hell happened to ECW...
I believe that would apply to the present as well.
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Now, to the "present," and Joey Styles is in the ring, as he usually is, to introduce the show, of course. Bill freaking Alfonso comes out to the ring, blowing his whistle and screaming about Taz not getting any respect. I love Alfonso's whistle gimmick. Taz then confronts Joey and says he's sick of this shit. He wants to beat Joey's ass. 911 and Tod Gordon come out, Tod attacks Joey and the refs get in-between 911 and Taz. Thank God, I don't want to see that shitty match. Some wrestlers come out to help the officials, as the fans chant "Let them go."
I say, "How about no." They separate, but El Puerto Ricano is in the ring, wearing a shirt that says, "Fonzie Must Die." Well then, Taz sees the shirt, and Tazplexes the guy RIGHT ON HIS HEAD. 911 hits the ring again as a result, but the Eliminators come out and Totally Eliminate him, dude. Jason's with them and he's full of laughs, until Rey Mysterio hits the ring, that is. What the fuck happened to THIS Rey Mysterio, he's all over the place, flying and taking out Kronus and Saturn. I guess we have a tag match, with The Eliminators against Rey and 911. Never once was anything mentioned about a match, until about a minute into their fight. So I don't have a time. Taz comes back to the ring and chokes 911 out with his towel, and I've gotta say, make up your fucking mind. Go to the ring and stay there, or go to the back and stay there. Rey and Saturn are brawling on the outside, and afterward, Kronus gives Rey a bodyslam in the ring. A standing moonsault gets 2 for Kronus. 911 suplexes Saturn in the ring, and at the same time, Kronus gives Rey a powerbomb. Total Elimination on 911 and Taz is back to choke 911 some more. Perry Saturn powerbombs Rey, then the Eliminators whip Rey into the ropes, but get double DDT'd for their trouble. 911 finds his way back to the ring, and Rey goes onto his shoulders for a chickenfight. Saturn goes up for the Eliminators, and Rey jumps to the other side and rana's Saturn off for the pinfall. I liked that spot.
After the match, Rey is Totally Eliminated, and the Pitbulls hit the ring. They look pissed. Francine attacks Jason, but she is also Totally Eliminated. That's the end of that until Jason hits one of the Pitbulls with a steel chair, and they bail soon afterward. Damage Control are out, and Francine does a stretcher job. Totally overbooked trash. Entertaining overbooked trash, that is. **. I can only take so much of that, though. Also, that's 911's last match in ECW for a while, and he only made a one show appearance a few years later. End of a chokeslamming era.
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ECW then cuts to Styles, as he introduces a segment where Jimmy Del Ray accepts Mr. Hughes as his bodyguard, after him being offered Mr. Hughes by Damien Caine. Whatever.
The match is Buh Buh Ray Dudley w/the rest of the Dudleys vs. "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray w/Curtis Hughes.
Buh Buh can't say his name, as I'm sure most of us know. Del Ray dropkicks him as he's trying to stammer it out, and we're underway. Buh Buh dumps Jimmy, and begins to dance. Very entertaining, even though the wrestling on these shows really lacks. Clipjob, and we come back with a Dudley avalanche for a 2 count. Swinging DDT from the top by Del Ray, then Hughes gets on the apron. Buh Buh's DDT finishes at a clipped 2:45. 3/4*. Buh Buh's music isn't dubbed, thank goodness, and that's cut once Shane Douglas makes a surprise appearance at the ECW Arena. He wants to teach Buh Buh some English, and slaps the taste out of Buh Buh's mouth. And that's that.
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A useless Rey Mysterio promo...
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And now, we have what this episode is famous for. The Beulah pregnancy angle. I have to say, this shit does not hold up at all. I was almost embarassed to be watching it. I'm not going to recap it. This kind of shit is what inspired Russo to do his Crash TV garbage, so this is one of my least favorite things I've seen in the wrestling business. What some people call, "pushing the envelope," others call trash. I'm in the group that calls it trash. It just doesn't hold up whatsoever, and I wanted to get that off my chest now. I won't say anything negative about it from now on.
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My spiel about this show....overbooked. The last episode was far better. If someone watched this episode and called ECW, "Extremely Crappy Wrestling," I wouldn't disagree. Buh Buh's gimmick is really funny, so it gives this show a higher rating than I would give it otherwise.
My rating: Decent. I was entertained, but I couldn't handle it for more than 45 minutes, the length of the episode. The pregnancy angle kinda put a downer on this episode, IMO.
8:45 p.m.
• For as much as I want to goof on Joe Pa and Sappy Valley, I must say I’m impressed.
At least he didn’t blame the brake pedal for making his vehicle go twice as fast as it plowed into a car/pole/building. I saw him once while living in this shit hole. I was at an ATM machine and he was walking buy. Some guy said something to him and when he replied I turned and saw him. Uh, yay and stuff.
• So I finally got around to seeing “Wishmaster 2.” I liked it, especially with that goofy white guy being the “costume” for the bad guy. Please note I liked it due to the sheer awfulness of the whole thing. God, I have so many bad horror movies saved up on my DVR it’s not even funny. But do know what was funny? This.
“The South Will Rise Again.”
And sometimes, the IMDB reviews are funnier than any script out there.
Nope, this entry has nothing to do with the painting going on at my residence right now. Rather, there is controversy in Farmers Branch again. You might remember that Farmers Branch is the little community south of Dallas that recently tried to pass a city ordinance that would ban the rental of apartments to illegal aliens.
Story
Let me start by stating that I don't like homeowners associations. I understand why they exist and I acknowledge that they can be useful in some instances. But, usually, it's just a bunch of obsessive-compulsive types who nitpick over a lot of stupid, little shit that really has zero effect on property values either because they have nothing better to do or because they enjoy bossing others around a little too much. I especially detest the idea that someone else can dictate to me what I can and cannot do with property that I own, espeically when it's a non-government entity telling me to do so. My neighborhood has a HOA, but I deal with it because it's practically impossible to find a Houston suburb that doesn't have one and I do not wish to move back into the city.
This story is a little different because it would be a government dicating what is and what is not acceptable, but the same principle applies: don't tell private property owners what they can and cannot do with their own property.
"Some residents." What does that mean? According to the article:
So a whole two residents ask the council, who has not said they will act on it, to ban some exterior colors and it's portrayed as some sort of community-wide referendum on the matter? Fine journalistic work, indeed.
LOL. Now that's a racist statement. Who paints their house tropical colors? Someone who likes the tropics? Someone who wants to be reminded of their vacation? Someone who just happens to like tropical colors? What exactly is a "tropical color" anyway?
What better way to accuse someone of profiling a group than to profile that same group yourself.
Besides, there are plenty of white people that have awful decorating taste and would paint their houses ridiculous colors if they were allowed. I don't see a racial angle to this at all. Just another example of someone wanting to be angry about something.
This argument is used a lot, but no proof that it's true is ever offered. Besides, anyone who won't buy a house because there is another house nearby painted in an "unsightly" manner is probably someone you don't want in the neighborhood anyway because there's a good chance they'd be the stereotypical nightmare of a neighbor.
As with all things in the U.S., the free market will ultimately determine what your property is really worth. All the mowing and beige paint in the world isn't going to save your property value from a downturn in the housing market, nor is it going to suddenly turn a shitty area of town into a property hotbed. If you maintain and clean your own property, your house will sell just fine in any market.
I wish someone that lived in these folks' neighborhood would paint their vehicle an outlandish color, park it in front of their house every day, and see how long it takes for their heads explode.
10:15 p.m.
• So I had the Pitt/Navy game on for a bit tonight. My God how does Lou Holtz have a broadcasting job? And how can executives listen to him and think, "yeah, people would want to hear this"? He could get shit-faced before going on-air and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. How could his players take anything he said seriously?
7 p.m.
• You know what got me irked about Matt Leinart? His whining about not playing quarterback full-time. I’m sure it’s an ego thing and shit, but Kurt Warner was playing better than you; be thankful you were in a situation where you had a teammate that didn’t mind splitting time with his inferior (at least this is how it seemed outside of the locker room).
Aw, too bad.
• I’m not a Yankee hater, but can we focus on the teams still in contention for a World Series championship?
• See, who cares about all this SCHIP contraversery? It’s not like the little bastards are getting decent care anyway.
You know what this means ... FREEGOVERNMENTHEALTHCARE.
Wait a second, what's this in the next paragraph?
• Speaking of losers, my crack-whore niece-in-law tried offing herself again this past weekend. Then again, telling her boyfriend-of-the-month via text that she took a bunch of sleeping pills probably isn’t the best way to fade out into a permanent slumber. God, just die already.
Easy, short reviews here, so I'll get them out quick. The Kings need a win tonight, so hopefully posting this on the same day will bring a victory to Los Angeles. Each section is denoted in bold.
Mad Dog Vachon
Vachon attacks Joe LeDuc at the start of this clip, so LeDuc does a bladejob to go with the cast on his arm. Once things settle down, Vachon beats up some jobber, cobra clutches him and LeDuc is back and bandaged up.... He gets his revenge and shit. Then Baron von Raschke and Vachon cut a promo. Baron just stands their looking mean and Vachon talks in his loud, crazed voice.
I could have done without that, even though I love the Baron. It was pointless for WWE to put that on their on demand channel, IMO.
Terry Funk
Now, I have a problem with this. If you're showing Terry Funk, show something from the NWA or ECW. Not from Florida. Terry's with Gordon Solie and Dory Funk, and they narrate a clip of a previous match where Terry faced Dusty Rhodes. Dusty has a cast on his arm and hits Funk with a couple of elbows, and during the narration Funk's doing nothing but bitching. After a couple elbows, Dory comes in and attacks Dusty. NOW WE HAVE DA COLLA BROTHA, as Dusty juices. The Funk's try to rebreak Dusty's arm, and the babyfaces come out of the dressing room to save him. This angle looks really similar to the angle where Flair and the Andersons broke his arm inside a steel cage after Dusty saved Slick Ric after his match with my nephew Nikita.
Misused the theme of this month. They should have used a barbed wire match.
The Missing Link
The match here is the Missing Link and Bruiser Brody vs. Terry Gordy and The Great Kabuki. Gordy and Bruiser brawl to the back and disappear for the duration of the bout, so this turns into a singles match. Kabuki nerveholds Link to death, and me too, because I'm bored to death. That's literally all he does for the duration of this bout, until Michael Hayes hands Kabuki nunchucks and Kabuki hits Link with them for the DQ at 8:11. DUD. That was terrible.
Another one I could have done without.
Buzz Sawyer
Prematch: Now, this is what I was waiting for. The match is Buzz Sawyer, The Great Muta and The Dragonmaster vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson. Flair's the Champ, here. Sting had been attacked by the Horsemen earlier in the night, so 5 of these guys are heels. Muta is not a heel, as the crowd goes batshit for him. The Dragonmaster is Kendo Nagasaki, in case you didn't know. That was his gimmick from Florida. From Clash X, from Corpus Christi, Texas. This is the show in Mick Foley's book where he talks about facing Mil Mascaras and attacking some guy from a band after the match. I've always wanted to see this show. Jim Ross and Jim Cornette are on commentary.
Blow-by-blow: Arn attacks Buzz Sawyer to start, and Buzz returns the favor with some hard chops to the chest of Arn. Sawyer throws Arn into the cage, and Muta does some Liu Kang type flying attack at Arn, in which he hits Arn with about 5 kicks. Flair and Dragonmaster come in, and Flair chops him to death, Ole in with some knees, and Arn and Muta come in. Muta hits a handspring elbow that's probably the best looking one I've seen, and the crowd goes nuts. Nuts, I tell you. Muta applies the STF, and WE GOTS COMPANY AT RINGSIDE BRUDDA, and STING's trying to get into the cage to attack Ric Flair. Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman come out and try to pull Sting down from the cage, and they succeed this time. Ole backdrops Buzz into the cage and SAWYERS BENT IN HALF, BY GAWD and I happen to agree with that sentiment. What a tough bump that looked to be. The guy was so zonked out on crack that it didn't matter. That's why he's dead, you know. Now we have a historical moment in wrestling, as Sting goes back to the cage, and blows his knee out as he tries to climb in. Uh-oh. It can be instantly seen that there's a problem, because Sting immediately stops what he's doing, and he can't get to the back without assistance. His knee is fucked, as is the angle the NWA set up earlier that night. Buzz Sawyer suplexes Arn and goes to the top like Superfly, but he misses the splash from the top of the cage. Arn spinebusters Dragonmaster, and we have a pier-6 brawl. Arn DDT's Dragonmaster at 6:13 for the win.
Match analysis: The Sting injury really threw the NWA into a loop, it killed their main event for WrestleWar, and they tried to fall back on Luger in another attempt to turn him into their Hulk Hogan. As we know, it didn't work, for multiple reasons. For one, Luger couldn't talk like Hogan. Number two, I've read stories that the guy always felt he was above the business. He treated the fans like shit, how are they going to get behind him. They aren't. In Sting's first televised match back, he got the NWA belt. That was in July. In the meanwhile, the NWA didn't know what the fuck to do. They put Sid Vicious in the Horsemen (ugh), and debuted El Gigante. Then they did a Flair vs. Junkyard Dog main at Clash XI, and Sting made his comeback and saved JYD. They really, REALLY need to start showing this shit. Strange match, *3/4. For the whole spectacle, the entertainment value is off the charts.
I'm going to tack the review of Killer Kowalski vs. Bruno Sammartino to the two Wild Samoan matches I still have to review. So, I didn't forget about that.
Comments are appreciated.
9:30 p.m.
• So we went grocery shopping tonight, and we were by the meat section. I was eyeing up some 92 percent lean ground beef on sale when some old broad starting bitching about the price of pig's bone, or whatever the hell that shit was. She then started bitching to me and the better half about how you have to be a "millionaire" in order to feed your family. It took every fiber of my being to hold back, and Mrs. kkk took the brunt of this "back in my day" shit because she knew I was about to piss someone off big time. You know, if you're trying to feed your family, I don't think you'd be buying a BONE.
2:15 p.m.
• Call me John Kerry on this issue, but I really don’t fault either Trent Green or Travis Johnson for their actions in Sunday’s game. Here’s the story.
From what I have heard, and according to the article above, Green threw a legal block, but a player getting cut like that could suffer a season-ending injury. So when the defensive player starts yelling at the downed quarterback right after the play, I don’t blame him one bit for doing so. And that “scarecrow” quote is my line of the week.
If the NFL really wants to do something to better the league, then they should do something about cut-blocking, or whatever it’s called, instead of teams calling “time out” right before the other team’s kicker boots a pigskin through the uprights.
On and regarding Keith Olberman, would he have called Green THE WORST PERSON IN THE NFL if Johnson would have been carted off and the Dolphins quarterback got up without a scratch?
11:45 a.m.
• Long story short: So the idiot boss is the head of some publicity/marketing committee that is putting some event together outside of work. Now my co-worker and I know this guy who is part of planning for this event (which is doomed for failure), and our “deep throat” told us that our boss volunteered to head up this committee because he “has connections” within the media. Guess what I got 20 minutes ago? An e-mail from said idiot. What was the e-mail about? Him asking for my list of local media contacts. Yeah, he’s got connections alright. Oh, and speaking of publicity, he hasn’t given me any information about this event for publication in our mailing material, and the next mailing will be going out after this event’s RSVP deadline. God I love this place.
I'm bored, so I'll type this out now, instead of later. I far prefer the one hour shows as opposed to the 2 and 3 hour ones, because it's easier to review them.
From the Sportatorium in Dallas, this is World Class Championship Wrestling. Yadayadayada, the host is Bill Mercer.
We start with Brian Adias vs. Buddy Roberts of the Fabulous Freebirds, Michael Hayes is at ringside. This is right after the angle where the Freebirds slammed Kerry Von Erich's head with the steel cage door, so the crowd hates the Freebirds. Hayes cuts a promo to start and we're underway. Roberts grabs onto a side headlock and takes Adias over three times. Adias dropkicks him after getting up from each takeover, and Roberts bails to the outside. I'm not all too familiar with WCCW, so I kinda though Adias was a jobber. He's not. Buddy grabs onto Adias arm and gives him an armlock figure-four. I like that move a lot. Not much here, except for Buddy's bloody knee, and they pick up the pace once the ring announcer says there's two minutes left in the bout. Buddy hits Adias with a nice swinging neckbreaker for a two count, and I believe it when someone says, that's how the move's supposed to be done. Because it is. Roberts follows with a backbreaker and 2nd rope elbow, each get a 2 count. Adias sunset flips over Roberts for two, and we have a time-limit draw at 8:26. The times are always fudged on the time-limit draws, of course. I don't recall very many announced time-limit draws going the duration of the announced time-limit. Anyway, I kinda liked it. *1/2.
___________________
After a commercial break (and I love WCCW's intro to commercials, btw), we go to the Freebirds house. During this promo, country music plays in the background. It fits, see. The Freebirds have a Georgia flag (which at the time, had the stars and bars of the Confederacy on it) hanging up in the background, and they defend their position on why they attacked Kerry Von Erich during his title match against Ric Flair at the beginning of the month. It was shown last month, and I thought it was ***1/4.
Another break, and we come back with Michael Hayes in the ring, as he will be facing off against Al Madril. I thought Madril was a jobber too, but Mercer says he's a former Texas State champion. OK. Hayes stalls for a while, and plays the "chickenshit heel" role very well. Not much to see here, until Hayes piledrives Madril and decides not to cover him. Hayes then beats up Madril, and Jose Lothario comes down to the ring to save Madril, so Hayes gets the DQ win at 7:46. I had no idea Lothario was still wrestling at this point. 3/4*.
___________________
Promo time, and Lothario wants to fight Hayes anytime, anywhere. He says it's ok to beat someone, but to try to hurt them after they're beat is crossing the line.
Andre follows with a promo of his own about the upcoming 6 man elimination match...
And now it's time for the main event! It's a 6 man elimination match, and the winner gets 5,000 dollars. You can be eliminated by pinfall, submission or going over the top rope, and it's every man for himself. The participants are Kerry Von Erich, Terry Gordy, Wild Bill Irwin, Bugsy McGraw, King Kong Bundy, and Andre The Giant.
Kerry goes straight for Gordy, a Freebird, before the match starts. They brawl before Andre gets to the ring, and once Andre hits the ring and the match starts, out Kerry goes after Michael Hayes pulls the rope down as Kerry's trying to put Gordy out. That took 10 seconds. Kerry tries to brawl with Gordy, but the officials send him out of the building. Andre makes Bundy look like a child, and that's no exaggeration. Andre tries to choke out Gordy for a really long time, but Bundy takes him down. Once Bundy does that, he throws McGraw out at 2:40, and we have 4 men left. Andre's still trying to choke Gordy, but Irwin gets in the way. Uh-oh. Andre throws Irwin out of the way like Irvin's a child, and Andre's still after Gordy. The crowd loves Andre. Irwin keeps trying to impede the Giant, but Andre throws him out of the way like a jabroni. Bundy tries to slam Andre, but he can't. The other three men triple team Andre for a really long time,until Andre throws Irwin out at 10:38. One thing I've drawn from this match is that Andre probably didn't like Gordy. Or it seems like it. Gordy almost goes out, but Hayes saves him. Andre goes over the top rope at 11:15 to chase Hayes, so he's gone. And he's pissed, too. Bundy then slams Gordy for a two count, as we have two men left. Bundy then misses an avalanche and gets put out over the top via a Gordy dropkick, at 12:54. Gordy wins the match, and the 5,000 dollars. I really liked the Andre portion of this match, because the guy really knew how to work the crowd, and he was still mobile enough to work. He didn't use the ropes to get up at all, and he wasn't stuck to the ropes during his matches like at the end of his career. ** for the whole thing, I was entertained.
___________________
Brian Adias and Kerry Von Erich cut a promo about Adias match vs. Terry Gordy next week, and wow, Kerry is terrible on the mic. Why didn't they reshoot that?
Anyway, the show's over. Now, as we flashback to the present, Hayes is with Buddy Roberts in the studio. Wow, Roberts looks to be in rough shape. It also looks like he's had a bout with throat cancer, as he needs to push on something attached to his chest to be able to speak. Poor guy. They then tell a story about Gordy being double-booked because of Ole Anderson, and they bury the guy. I don't even think Ole likes Ole, as I've never heard a single person say something good about him. Did he piss on everyone, or what?
___________________
Rating: Above-average. That was a fun way to spend an hour, and it was nice to see Andre before he became immobile. Hopefully with the update tomorrow comes some good stuff.
I decided to throw the DH rankings into the first base entry. Only difference from the other positions is I rank 14 players instead of 30.
First Basemen
2004
1. Albert Pujols
15. Ben Broussard
30. Doug Mientkiewicz
2005
1. Derrek Lee
15. Ryan Howard
30. Phil Nevin
2006
1. Albert Pujols
15. Kevin Youkilis
30. Travis Lee
2007
1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2. Carlos Pena, Devil Rays
3. Prince Fielder, Brewers
4. Mark Teixeira, Rangers/Braves
5. Ryan Howard, Phillies
6. Todd Helton, Rockies
7. Adrian Gonzalez, Padres
8. Lance Berkman, Astros
9. Derrek Lee, Cubs
10. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
11. Dmitri Young, Nationals
12. James Loney, Dodgers
13. Justin Morneau, Twins
14. Matt Stairs, Blue Jays
15. Paul Konerko, White Sox
16. Casey Kotchman, Angels
17. Adam LaRoche, Pirates
18. Ryan Garko, Indians
19. Conor Jackson, Diamondbacks
20. Scott Hatteberg, Reds
21. Carlos Delgado, Mets
22. Kevin Millar, Orioles
23. Dan Johnson, A's
24. Brad Wilkerson, Rangers
25. Mike Jacobs, Marlins
26. Sean Casey, Tigers
27. Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers
28. Ryan Klesko, Giants
29. Richie Sexson, Mariners
30. Lyle Overbay, Blue Jays
Designated Hitters
Top DH 2004-2006
2004: Travis Hafner
2005: David Ortiz
2006: David Ortiz
2007
1. David Ortiz, Red Sox
2. Jim Thome, White Sox
3. Jack Cust, A's
4. Frank Thomas, Blue Jays
5. Travis Hafner, Indians
6. Gary Sheffield, Tigers
7. Jose Vidro, Mariners
8. Aubrey Huff, Orioles
9. Jonny Gomes, Devil Rays
10. Billy Butler, Royals
11. Jason Giambi, Yankees
12. Sammy Sosa, Rangers
13. Mike Piazza, A's
14. Mike Sweeney, Royals
Another reason for me to be upset about the Cubs' getting bounced from the playoffs this past Saturday night:
I (stupidly) had promised sfaJill that, after the Cubs had completed their World Series run, we would begin work on painting and re-doing our guest bathroom (sans the bubble towels we she registered for but didn't get as a wedding gift) before moving on to the rest of the house. Barely three hours after the Cubs lost on Saturday, she turns to me and says, "We should go buy some paint tomorrow."
Oh, goody.
A little backstory:
I bought/built the house four years ago because I'd grown weary of both apartment life and renting and basically haven't done anything to it in regards to decoration since then (i.e. all the walls inside are white and there isn't much of anyting hanging on them to liven the place up a little bit). I'm fine with it. Every room is furnished with nice stuff and there isn't much clutter clogging things up. I also kept the place pretty neat and tidy, as is my nature.
sfaJill, however, is not fine with it. And that is where the conflict lies. She HATES the plain white walls and the nice, neat way I had things organized. Apparently, the house doesn't look "lived in" enough and is "boring." Whatever.
I've been successfully delaying this whole remodeling thing since she moved in last December, but now I'm out of excuses that she will accept.
So, yesterday, we spent two hours of prime football watching time wandering around Lowes. We picked out shades of blue, green, brown, and "sand" color paints. We looked at new light fixtures, towel rods, shower heads, etc. She tried to start picking out stuff for our bathroom (which we are going to pay someone to overhaul), our bedroom, and the kitchen, but I was able to put the kibosh on that by convincing her that we should probably just start with the guest bath and see what happens from there.
$300 later, we returned home with paint, a new light fixture, shower head, two towel rods, a paper holder, and a whole list of other crap she wants for other rooms.
Now...do I know anything about electrical wiring and/or hanging a light fixture? No.
Do I know how to take apart a toilet so we can paint behind it? No.
I should be able to change out the shower head, but is it likely to take me less than hour's worth of cursing and breaking shit before I get it right? No.
I have painted before and do a pretty good job at it, but it's a tedious chore I'd rather just skip. Plus, I just know that if there is the slightest hint of a streak in any area I paint, I will be asked to do it again.
This should be fun!
7:30 p.m.
• So sfaJack is having to do some painting or whatever because the Cubs lost. It's amazing what our better halves want to do with the places they live at. Like I said the other day in my entry about those people buying houses just to tear half of it down, why bother? I remember when house-shopping with Mrs. kkk I wanted to do the least amount of renovating possible due to being a lazy bastard. Well, when we settled on our house I was quite glad the amount of refurbishing was minimal. We got new carpeting for the upstairs, but that shit needed a face-lift. Otherwise, I've done jack shit. Mrs. kkk on the other hand...
The highlight of her meddling came regarding our first-floor bathroom. I've mentioned before that she repainted this room from a pleasing brisk blue to a shit brown, and she did this when I was out of state for a few days on business. Of course she didn't get the project complete, so imagine my pleasant surprise when, after driving 5+ hours and having to take a monster poop, I ventured in the house and saw plastic all over the place and a ladder in the middle of the bathroom's walkway. Thank God for upstairs toilets. Oh, and here's said bathroom.
Now why would some do such a thing? One reason was so it would match our towels~! The second was so she could stencil this shit on the wall.
I may have talked about this before, but the search function is busted. If you heard this story already, blame Mole.
Why do I have no desire to make home improvements? I said above that I’m lazy, but there’s some probably some childhood trauma I have to consider, too. When I was a kid, my parents bought some big-ass three story house that my dad said they couldn’t afford. My mom busted out the tears and they got the house. I was a kid at the time, but this house needed a shitload of work, and boy did my old man work on this residence. I remember him remodeling the third floor and doing a bunch of stuff with paint, wires and other stuff that’s found inside of walls. What was his reward for all this? A divorce that saw my mom sell the house. Ouch.
11:45 p.m.
• Some of this stuff made me chuckle. That's all I got. Just Google the headline if you want a source.
