Indeed.
Wednesday: Valentine's Day. My fiancee got me a red rose, a gorilla w/ boxing gloves (teddy bear), my favorite gum, and a heart shaped baloon. My best Valentine's Day to date. I didn't really get her a present considering the food I bought for us for dinner, I did get her a romantic card though. I cooked two lobster tails, one was a 13 oz, and the other was 9 oz. I also cooked Two pounds of King Crab legs, and shrimp, along with a baby spinach salad. Dinner was amazing, with candles, the mood and atmosphere was out of this world! One of my fondest memories, and happiest times ever. We went out to the bar, and she got drunk, and I waited to get toasted until we got home, I decided to be the DD last night.
Thursday: Had a job interview at Red Lobster. It went fantastic, I was immediately offered a position, at $8.50 an hour, which is a $1 pay cut for me, HOWEVER, I'll be working full-time, AND far less wear and tear on my car. I don't even need to drive to work, considering it's right across the street from me. Ten minutes ago, I called my father, he told me I had some mail at my old house, and I asked him to open it up and read it to me. I'm going to college for State Corrections, and the MDOC sent me an interview request for March, 7th. I am psyched. Things are starting to look great.
And on a lesser note, I've been watching a ton of pre-split AJPW, and it's amazing.
So I am not sure if I mentioned this in the forums, but tomorrow I start a new job as a vocational skills trainer. Basically this company works with the handicapped and they contract out work that they can handle/do, so when they get a contract, they train me and other trainers on how to do the job and then I train the folks that will be doing the job. When I worked at a Target warehouse I remember some handicapped folks would be bused in once or twice a week to open those old plastic mechanisms that CDs used to be put it....so I am sure that is an example of something I would be training people to do, although each job would be varying in how easy or difficult it is. This isn't a temp job, which is good, and my hiring supervisor said she is looking for someone to grow with the company and encourages me to look for other job listing within the company if I see something I like that better suits me in the future......
Oh and we ended up getting a 2004 Chevy Venture Van. Yeah I know, Chevys are shit blah blah fucking blah, well it only had 24k miles on it, and it was a leased car which gives it a pretty clean bill of health. We had a DVD player put in it the other day, so yea we pimped our ride......I could have bought a used foreign car that "runs forever" but they all had 80k or more miles on them, which means you could probably start running into other issues besides just the engine.....
EXCUSES ARE NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERFORMANCE, MR. THE MAN IN BLAK
Okay, so I didn't update the blog yesterday for Valentine's Day. (My opportunity for a dreadful My Bloody Valentine's Day pun, squandered.) The fact that I had actual work to do at my job, as well as spending the evening with my wife and family, probably had a lot to do with that, so apologies and whatnot.
That being said, this disturbing trend of actual work appears to be continuing through this week...perhaps even next week, so I'm in a bit of a tight spot. Well, at tight of a spot as you can be in, as it pertains to responsible and timely bloggery.
So, for the time being, I think I'll repost some more video game reviews on the blog, some of which may have already reared their head at New Millennium Blues during my time there. According to Gamefly, Final Fantasy VI Advance is supposedly on the way through the mail, so I may be able to sneak in a review some time next week. At any rate, if you see a reposted video game review here in the next couple of weeks, you can make a mental note that The Man in Blak just couldn't find it in himself to update Bow Down To Frogblog with original material. (What a lazy asshole.)
8:15 p.m.
• The whistleblowing part I don't care about; it's the collective bargaining. And you people thought the airport lines were long before.
• Judging by the ratings,it looks like ABC has "lost" its viewers -- lol lol lol lol. Yeah, I'm a retard.
I got Season 1 a while back and thought it was great, although I still don't have the urge to get Season 2. Especially since most of what I hear is that it is shit. I'll probably get it one of these days when it's retailing for $9.99 or something. Like I said in an entry last year, I love the right-wing redneck guy. (I already forget his name -- Sawyer?) Otherwise, I have moved on. If the drop-off in quality is that bad, then maybe wrapping this whole thing up sooner than later will be a good thing. No sense in dragging this out; give me a good show with a short lifespan rather than enduring a slow, painful death.
• With "Sex Packets," "Sons of the P" and "Future Rhythm" in my collection, I'm a semi-fan of the Digital Underground. If I'm in the mood, I'll give "Packets" or "Sons of the P" a spin. "Future Rhythm" is ... eh. Anyway, each album has its high points and low points. However, I cannot hate on "Good Thing We're Rappin'" How can you go wrong with lyrics like:
The song drags after five minutes or so when they start saying...
...but that's why you have the "skip" funtion on CD players.
8:15 a.m.
• Awesome, I never knew Tim Hardaway was a fellow Republican. I got your back, brother.
Can't wait to see what ESPN does with this, if they haven't already.
-I don't have class today, because the University is closed due to the shitty weather. This actually pisses me off some. Unlike others, I want to get some homework done, and I hate being stuck in my room all day, which has been the way for about 2 days. I did help a chick get her car out of the snow, but other than that, I haven't done anything lately, and the boredom is starting to get to me.
-A thread in the Music Folder deals with the hilarious results of rapper Cam'ron making an ass of himself. Really, go there, and watch the video, it's awesome. Just watch the video though, because Carlito Brigante ruined the thread, as he's known for ruining any thread related to Hip Hop.
-In movie stuff, check out "The Abandonded" next week. It was the best recieved movie over at Horrofest last November, and has gotten some pretty damn good word of mouth.
-The guys with the snow shovel are out ther right now. That's the seventh time I've seen them in the past two days. Yes, I am really bored.
-Finally, Happy Valentines Day.
Top Gear is a television show broadcast in England on BBC2. It features three men who drive and review cars, mainly high performance cars. They also inject a lot of humor into their shows. It is well produced and very funny.
Last year they filmed an episode, which just aired on February 9th, where they travel to America and drive from Florida to New Orleans. This could have been a great episode. The southerners love their cars and it would have been great to see the hosts interact with them on this shared interest.
Instead they chose to delibrately provoke and insult the people they encountered, and presented an entire show with the messsage that "America is a horrible place and the people who live there are the worst people on Earth". They always behaved in a condescending way toward everyone they encountered. They drove around with bumper stickers that read "Nascar Sucks", "Man love is OK", "I'm Bi", "Hillary for President". Now 3 of those are fine, but why provoke people with "Nascar Sucks"? Three British snobs putting down a popular sport right in the heart of the south is asking for trouble.
Their attitude right from the start was "we are so much better than these scum and we'll act accordingly". There was an incident at a gas station in Alabama where some guys were threatening them. Some say this was staged by the Top Gear producers--it could have been, I don't know. One of the hosts wrote a blog entry about it and did not allude to any fakery.
And of course a lot of Brits are posting on the Top Gear about how great it was, how "scary" Alabama is, how great it is to see the U.S. deservedly trashed, etc.
I guess I could go to London, drive around with a bumper sticker that says "Soccer is a trash sport" or "Formula 1 Sucks", act like a holier-than-thou jerk and get it on video. Then I could edit it to keep in all the angry Brits' reactions in and show it on American TV and call the people of England all kinds of fun names and talk about how awful they are.
• Well, no work for me today. Have I mentioned how much I hate broadcast news? On the NBC affiliate this morning they were giving you up-to-the-second updates on whether it was snowing outside or if there was freezing rain. "OMG IT'S SNOW...NOW IT'S FREEZING RAIN...NOW IT'S SNOW...NOW IT'S FREEZING RAIN...WABBIT SEASON!"
• Oh, yeah. Valentine's Day. Fuck that holiday. I'm doing nothing romantic -- why should this day be any different from the other 364 days of the year? She's getting Season 7 of Charmed and Anastasia DVDs. That ought to shut her up for a day or two.
• And with all the school closings in my area, and probably elsewhere in the country, I want to let anyone who had their heart set on attending today's Congressional hearing on "“Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?" scheduled for today, I have bad news: it's been postponed due to inclement weather, so adjust your schedules accordingly.
• Toyota is going to get in trouble, Toyota's going to get in trouble.
Yeah, Toyota. How DARE you run an efficient business that actually makes a profit! Why, I bet you don’t have any union auto employees (I wouldn’t quite call them “workers”) making $30+/hour at a local “jobs bank.” This is AMERICA, damnit.
These made me LOL.
OK
Yeah, because a JAPANESE-OWNED COMPANY can’t be diverse unless it has one of our country’s race-baiting poverty pimps getting a cut of the profits.
Once again, damn you Toyota for making these bloated, inefficient companies look bad. Shame, shame, shame. That ain’t going to fly with Democrats in charge.
I am patiently awaiting the release of this movie. The director, Kevin Fincher also made Fight Club and Se7en, two of my top ten favorite movies. The preview alone has guranteed my viewing, let along Fincher directing it.
24 has been very good in previous seasons. This season it is terrible.
Lost has jumped the shark, really sometime last season.
Heroes jumped the shark on about episode two or three.
First, 24:
1. The writing this season is amateurish. The dialogue is horrible. It is filled with loads and loads of exposition. Maybe the show's producers have received complaints from viewers that are having difficulty following the storyline. Whatever the reason, the whole thing comes across as a show for 9 year olds.
2. Absurb, implausible goings-on. I'm not talking about Jack getting across LA freeways in 3 and a half minutes--the show has always had over the top storylines and that's OK. I'm talking about little things such as: Jack's brother being left alone with his father. There is no way Jack's brother would be left alone in a room with the IV still attached to his arm, let alone with another person present, even his own father. And the repetitive nature of the general plot is getting old. Same thing all over again. A couple hours and a new layer of the bad guy hierarchy is revealed; last hour's top bad guy is shown getting a cell phone call from yet another, different bad guy who is above him, and so on.
Second, Lost:
Lost is a....lost cause. It started to suck last year. The spiraling plots are just a bunch of tangents going nowhere. Nefarious plot tangents brought up last year have never been resolved. You can't do that to an audience.
Third, Heroes:
Never got going. Great potential, jumped the shark right out of the gate. The cheerleader's father sucks and is a lousy character. The chick with the evil twin sucks--horrible storyline, horrible character. Everytime the bitch comes on, either one of them, the show grinds to a halt. Same with the cheerleader. Fucking awful character, the shows grinds to a halt every second she is on screen. Getting through each fucking episode is like wading through molasses. The dumbasses writing the show have no idea how to keep the audience interested. Just because you through in a twist 58 minutes into the show means nothing.
VIDEO GAMES, SELECTED AT RANDOM
Bump 'n Jump
(NES - 1988)
Once the late 80's hit and coin-op developers started to realize that the Nintendo Entertainment System had finally re-established the video game console as a viable force in the home electronics market, dozens of arcade ports started to roll into the Nintendo catalogue. 1988 was a particularly fruitful year for console ports on the NES: Contra, Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon, Bionic Commando, Legendary Wings, Salamander (released in America as Life Force), Gunsmoke, Paperboy, Jackal, and Bump 'n Jump.
Poor, poor Bump 'n Jump. Some thugs have snatched your girlfriend and you have a jumping car. Er, jeep. Off we go into stage after stage of race car derring-do, bumping other cars off of the road and jumping over huge, inexplicable rivers and bridges. I would suspect that the inclusion of multiple streams and rivers was, perhaps, an allusion to the future dangers of global warming but, then again, they have bushes planted in the middle of the road that detonate your car upon impact. Arcade games make my head hurt sometimes.
That's not to say that Bump 'n Jump isn't fun. You certainly don't see many "racing platformers" out there in the annals of gaming history. But it just doesn't go anywhere or really grow as the game goes on - bump some cars around, jump when the big exclamation point comes up at the top of the screen, maybe pick up some gas cans, and then move on to the next stage. It's a quarter muncher in the very sense of the word and, on the NES, that doesn't amount for much value at all.
One side point, as it relates to the original arcade release in 1982. Bump 'n Jump was originally developed by Data East, but it was licensed for distribution to Bally/Midway, the historic Chicago-based coin-op manufacturer. Shortly thereafter, Midway would answer with their own variation of the theme one year later, trading out the cartoony art and "Jumpin' John" for a steering wheel control, guns, and the Peter Gunn theme in Spy Hunter, one of the most absurdly successful arcade games of all time.
Anyway, Bump 'n Jump - it's worth a novelty play but, ultimately, it pales in comparison to the other titles on the NES at the time.
**1/2
6 p.m.
• Well the drive home wasn’t bad at all. The roads weren’t bad, traffic was light. I was almost getting a woody until I came to this one crappy “s curve” stretch of road where there was suddenly a backup due to an accident. As I drove by I noticed two pickup trucks had collided. My guess: Someone was driving faster than they should have. This brings me to my philosophy of driving in crappy weather. Respect the elements, but don’t fear them. If you are afraid to drive when Mother Nature is dropping flakes of frozen precipitation, then DON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE. However, just because you are driving some “all terrain” vehicle, that doesn’t mean you should be acting like it’s 80 degrees and sunny. In fact, while driving home today some “yo man” (a term I use to describe someone from the “wigger” classification) in a SUV was in the midst of swerving into the left-hand lane because I was only going the speed limit and almost sideswiped a fellow motorist. After that guy laid on the horn the “yo man” went back into my lane and kept his distance. Idiot.
Well the better half is already dropping hints that she doesn’t want me going into work tomorrow. Whenever there is a forecast involving shitty weather, she always reminds me 10-12 times per hour. This is because I have the “final say” as to whether or not we are to go into work for that particular day. Is this another example of male oppression? No. She just doesn’t like making decisions herself. It’s funny because on snowy days while I’m the shower she’ll have the morning news on, ready to give me a full report on what schools/functions have been cancelled, all while not directly telling me that she just wants to go back to bed and sleep until noon. And whenever I agree with staying in she will say for the rest of the day, “Well you’re the one who wanted to stay home.” I can’t wait to see what she does if I decide to go into work should this expected freezing rain doesn’t arrive.
Ha. I just had a flashback to my 11th grade Horticultural class. Yes, I hated science and chose to go in a retard science class because I didn’t want to lean about chemicals and all that shit. No sir. I was in with all the burn-outs and vo-tech students. One of that year’s highlights was when we had a COLORING BOOK for one nine-week grading quarter. Oh the memories are now coming back to me, but for now I’ll just elaborate on the “rabbits.” The teacher for this class had a greenhouse set-up in the upper level/attic of our school, and we all went up there one day where he showed up the rabbits he had up there. He was trying to mate them, and we were to supervise them while he went and did something else. Once we opened up the divider thingy separating the male bunny from the female bunny, the male went to town. The two females in our group had a look of disgust while the dozen-plus males were laughing to the point of tears, especially when the male rabbit was humping the side of the female. Ever since that day, trying to “mate the rabbits” was an often-requested in-class assignment.
• Um, even though this really doesn’t need any comments, kkk-ommentary will be in boldface. You’ll probably guess where this started before being told in the third paragraph.
Ha. I just had a flashback to my 11th grade Horticultural class. Yes, I hated science and chose to go in a retard science class because I didn’t want to lean about chemicals and all that shit. No sir. I was in with all the burn-outs and vo-tech students. One of that year’s highlights was when we had a COLORING BOOK for one nine-week grading quarter. Oh the memories are now coming back to me, but for now I’ll just elaborate on the “rabbits.” The teacher for this class had a greenhouse set-up in the upper level/attic of our school, and we all went up there one day where he showed up the rabbits he had up there. He was trying to mate them, and we were to supervise them while he went and did something else. Once we opened up the divider thingy separating the male bunny from the female bunny, the male went to town. The two females in our group had a look of disgust while the dozen-plus males were laughing to the point of tears, especially when the male rabbit was humping the side of the female. Ever since that day, trying to “mate the rabbits” was an often-requested in-class assignment.
12:15 p.m.
• Well, now the snow is coming down full-tilt. If tonight's freezing rain predictions are correct, I doubt I'll be heading in to work tomorrow. No way I'm risking wrecking the car for just one workday's commute. Yeah, I'll do that, then fuck up my transportation situation for days, weeks even, while the car gets towed off to an auto shop. One of my life's mottos is "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Remember that, young ones. Except for The Thread Killer, who's older than me and probably already knows this as well.
8:30 a.m.
• A picture is worth a thousand words, or at least a sarcastic remark or two.
Click Here to download.
Quick List
Artist/Track Title/Album
01 - Tech N9ne featuring Skatterman & Snug Brim - "Riot Maker" - Everready : The Religion
02 - Birdman & Lil Wayne - "Stuntin Like My Daddy" - Like Father, Like Son
03 - Obie Trice - "Cry Now" - Second Round's On Me
04 - Jedi Mind Tricks featuring Ill Bill - Heavy Metal Kings - Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell
05 - Proof - "Trapped" - Shady Records Mixtape : The Re-Up
06 - NATAS - "Full of Hate" - N of tha World
07 - Esham - "Martyr Sity" - Martyr Sity
08 - NATAS - "See You In Hell" - N of tha World
09 - Tech N9ne featuring Brotha Lynch Hung & Dalima - "My World" - Everready : The Religion
10 - NATAS - "Crazytown" - N of tha World
11 - Nelly Furtado - "Maneater" - Loose
12 - Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around/Comes Around Interlude" - FutureSex/LoveSounds
13 - Axe Murder Boyz - "Honor" - Blood In, Blood Out
14 - Jay-Z featuring Ne-Yo - "Minority Report" - Kingdom Come
15 - Jedi Mind Tricks featuring R.A. The Rugged Man - "Uncommon Valor : A Vietnam Story"
16 - Tech N9ne - "The Rain" - Everready : The Religion
17 - Jamie Madrox - "Tear Jerker" - Phatso
18 - DMX - "Goodbye" - Year of the Dog....Again
19 - King Gordy - "Lucifer's Apology" - King of Horrorcore
Honorable Mentions
HM - Blue October - "X Amount of Words" - Foiled
HM - Boondox - "They Pray With Snakes" - The Harvest
HM - Esham - "Here Comes The Antichrist" - Martyr Sity
HM - Justin Timberlake - "Lovestoned/I Think That She Knows Interlude" - FutureSex/LoveSounds
HM - La Coka Nostra featuring Sick Jacken & B-Real - "Fuck Tony Montana" - Ill Bill is the Future : Volume 2
HM - NATAS - "Worlds Apart" - N of tha World
HM - Tech N9ne - "In My Head" - Everready : The Religion - Bonus Disc
HM - Tool - "Vicarious" - 10,000 Days
SOUNDS LIKE SOMEBODY'S GOT A CASE OF THE MONDAYS
This one's coming late to the press, thanks to the incompetence of the tech support folks at my occupation, who had issues solving the dangerous riddle of file transfers across workstations. Fucking Monday.
So, I gave Arbouretum's Rites of Uncovering a spin through the early morning doldrums and wasn't overly impressed. Brooding guitar-heavy folk rock, feeling very British in spots, and occasionally a little too close to Papa M for comfort, but the majority of the album falls a bit flat. The guitar solos are certainly nice, as Pitchfork will tell you, but they don't reinforce as much as they outright save some of these songs. If Dave Heumann (the frontman) shaves this down to an EP, then we might have something on our hands.
Heumann, a former associate of Will Oldham, holds Paul Bowles (who penned The Sheltering Sky) as a primary influence over the album, so there may be more for you here, perhaps, if you're a fan of the author's work. As for me, I've got less of an inclination for folk rock as it is, and Rites of Uncovering doesn't really break new ground or hit a home run in that particular field, so it comes in at a solid "Eh." Here's a couple of the tracks I enjoyed:
"Pale Rider Blues" (download available at Thrill Jockey) - Straight-away blues, with an overdriven guitar that climaxes into one of the better guitar solos I've heard in a while. Reminiscent of Hendrix's extended blues jams.
"Signposts and Instruments" - GLOOOOOOM. Probably too dark and serious for its own good, the album's opener still maintains a distinct charm about it. Perhaps it's the tremolo-soaked vocals or the vibraphone flyover that buffers out the guitar crunch almost three minutes into the song. Methodical, somber, and somehow captivating.
"Tonight's A Jewel" - That's right, the first three songs all appear here as recommendations. This one taps into some English folk, complete with a real clanger of a line in "if you hold the torch / best carry it with flair". But, yet, it's the most palatable folk indulgence on the album and (surprise!) it holds a nice little electric guitar ditty about halfway through.
• What's do we have here?
Oh? Do go on.
How can this NOT fail? They negotiated for 16 WHOLE HOURS! But then again, I don't think Jimmy Carter was involved, so there will be no Nobel Prizes to gain.
Uh, didn't they already agree to scrap its nuclear program, like 10 years ago? Oh, yeah, it did.
This is my favorite part. Using the football analogy.
Yeah, and what's going to happen when North Korea decides to go for the long bomb?
• Wow, that didn't last long.
Then again, Arrington was hurt for much of the season. Hope he liked becoming a free agent while he was a disgruntled Redskin.
7 a.m.
• So the Dixie Terrorists won some Grammy Awards.
Big shock there. I forgot they even had an album out. Great. Now this will probably be all over cable news for the next day or so, giving me just another reason to tune out.
The Dodgers were the only team in the '80s to win two World Championships and there were the only N.L. West team to win a title so not surprisingly they lead the way here with six teams, although we saw having a lot of teams didn't really help the Mets in the N.L. East. Every other team here has two reps including the Reds who were the only team in the the N.L. West to not win a division title in the decade although their '81 team was robbed of one.
#1
1988 Los Angeles Dodgers (94-67, defeated Oakland 4-1 in World Series)
OPS+: 97 (9th)
ERA+: 113 (2nd)
DefEff: .708 (7th)
Best Player: Kirk Gibson
Best Pitcher: Orel Hershiser
#2
1981 Los Angeles Dodgers (63-47, defeated New York 4-2 in World Series)
OPS+: 106 (4th)
ERA+: 110 (2nd)
DefEff: .711 (5th)
Best Player: Dusty Baker
Best Pitcher: Fernando Valenzuela
#3
1989 San Francisco Giants (92-70, lost to Oakland 4-0 in World Series)
OPS+: 110 (1st)
ERA+: 103 (t-4th)
DefEff: .725 (1st)
Best Player: Will Clark/Kevin Mitchell
Best Pitcher: Scott Garrelts
#4
1984 San Diego Padres (92-70, lost to Detroit 4-1 in World Series)
OPS+: 98 (t-7th)
ERA+: 102 (6th)
DefEff: .721 (1st)
Best Player: Tony Gwynn
Best Pitcher: Goose Gossage
#5
1986 Houston Astros (96-66, lost to New York 4-2 in NLCS)
OPS+: 106 (2nd)
ERA+: 114 (t-1st)
DefEff: .720 (t-1st)
Best Player: Kevin Bass
Best Pitcher: Mike Scott
#6
1985 Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67, lost to St. Louis 4-2 in NLCS)
OPS+: 108 (t-1st)
ERA+: 116 (1st)
DefEff: .713 (t-4th)
Best Player: Pedro Guerrero
Best Pitcher: Orel Hershiser
#7
1980 Houston Astros (93-70, lost to Philadelphia 3-2 in NLCS)
OPS+: 105 (5th)
ERA+: 106 (3rd)
DefEff: .703 (t-4th)
Best Player: Cesar Cedeno
Best Pitcher: Vern Ruhle
#8
1983 Los Angeles Dodgers (91-71, lost to Philadelphia 3-1 in NLCS)
OPS+: 100 (t-9th)
ERA+: 116 (1st)
DefEff: .702 (6th)
Best Player: Pedro Guerrero
Best Pitcher: Bob Welch
#9
1987 San Francisco Giants (90-72, lost to St. Louis 4-3 in NLCS)
OPS+: 110 (2nd)
ERA+: 104 (4th)
DefEff: .698 (t-4th)
Best Player: Will Clark
Best Pitcher: Kelly Downs
#10
1982 Atlanta Braves (89-73, lost to St. Louis 3-0 in NLCS)
OPS+: 100 (6th)
ERA+: 98 (t-6th)
DefEff: .695 (t-7th)
Best Player: Dale Murphy
Best Pitcher: Gene Garber
#11
1981 Cincinnati Reds (66-42, best overall record in MLB)
OPS+: 111 (1st)
ERA+: 96 (9th)
DefEff: .717 (2nd)
Best Player: George Foster
Best Pitcher: Tom Seaver
#12
1980 Los Angeles Dodgers (92-71, lost one game playoff to Houston)
OPS+: 108 (1st)
ERA+: 107 (2nd)
DefEff: .715 (1st)
Best Player: Dusty Baker
Best Pitcher: Jerry Reuss
#13
1985 Cincinnati Reds (89-72, finished 5 ½ games behind Los Angeles)
OPS+: 100 (7th)
ERA+: 102 (5th)
DefEff: .713 (4th)
Best Player: Dave Parker
Best Pitcher: Tom Browning
#14
1989 San Diego Padres (89-73, finished 3 games behind San Francisco)
OPS+: 104 (t-3rd)
ERA+: 103 (t-4th)
DefEff: .707 (7th)
Best Player: Jack Clark
Best Pitcher: Mark Davis
#15
1983 Atlanta Braves (88-74, finished 3 games behind Los Angeles)
OPS+: 107 (t-1st)
ERA+: 106 (t-2nd)
DefEff: .698 (8th)
Best Player: Dale Murphy
Best Pitcher: Craig McMurtry
#16
1982 Los Angeles Dodgers (88-74, finished 1 game behind Atlanta)
OPS+: 108 (1st)
ERA+: 106 (3rd)
DefEff: .709 (3rd)
Best Player: Pedro Guerrero
Best Pitcher: Fernando Valenzuela
First Round Match-ups
'82 Dodgers vs. '88 Dodgers
'87 Giants vs. '83 Dodgers
'85 Reds vs. '84 Padres
'80 Dodgers vs. '86 Astros
'81 Reds vs. '85 Dodgers
'89 Padres vs. '89 Giants
'82 Braves vs. '80 Astros
'83 Braves vs. '81 Dodgers
9:30 a.m.
• So yesterday I was debating on whether or not to come into work today. My work is ahead of schedule, but I'm a freak when it comes to getting work done early. I know if I didn't come in today, my idiot boss will have some time-consuming project waiting for me Monday, and I would spend half the day kicking myself for not taking advantage of working during the weekend. Well, I found out that our area should be getting at least 4-8 inches Tuesday, so now it's time to come in and call off Tuesday. I'm envisioning the traffic nightmares right now. I know my friends north of the border are used to 4-8 inches in the summertime, but this ain't Canada. This is Shittsburgh. There's a big difference. Trust me on this one.
The 1987 Seattle Mariners beat the 1989 Oakland A's. Yup, this tournament is a mess. In fact only two higher seeds advance in the 1st Round of this division/region. Thought about scrapping the whole idea but might as well see how bizarre this gets and see if every 16 seed advances. All three A's teams were bounced so definately can't be accused of fixing this.
(16) 1987 Seattle Mariners def. (1) 1989 Oakland Athletics 4-3
Game 1: Mariners 4, A's 3 15 innings
Game 2: A's 8, Mariners 3
Game 3: A's 4, Mariners 3 10 innings
Game 4: Mariners 6, A's 5 12 innings
Game 5: Mariners 4, A's 0
Game 6: A's 3, Mariners 1
Game 7: Mariners 7, A's 3
Phil Bradley: 14-32, 5 2B
(9) 1986 California Angels def. (8) 1982 California Angels 4-2
Game 1: '82 Angels 8, '86 Angels 0
Game 2: '86 Angels 6, '82 Angels 4
Game 3: '86 Angels 4, '82 Angels 3 10 innings
Game 4: '86 Angels 9, '82 Angels 5
Game 5: '82 Angels 5, '86 Angels 3 13 innings
Game 6: '86 Angels 4, '82 Angels 0
Brian Downing ('86): 4 HR, 7 RBI
(13) 1982 Kansas City Royals def. (4) 1988 Oakland Athletics 4-2
Game 1: A's 2, Royals 1 11 innings
Game 2: Royals 6, A's 1
Game 3: Royals 4, A's 3
Game 4: Royals 7, A's 2
Game 5: A's 5, Royals 1
Game 6: Royals 2, A's 1
Vida Blue: 2-0, 1.06 ERA
(12) 1988 Minnesota Twins def. (5) 1980 Kansas City Royals 4-3
Game 1: Royals 4, Twins 1
Game 2: Royals 3, Twins 2
Game 3: Twins 4, Royals 2
Game 4: Twins 6, Royals 3
Game 5: Royals 8, Twins 2
Game 6: Twins 6, Royals 4
Game 7: Twins 6, Royals 4
Tom Herr: 10-27, 3 SB
(6) 1983 Chicago White Sox def. (11) 1989 Kansas City Royals 4-2
Game 1: Royals 5, White Sox 1
Game 2: Royals 9, White Sox 4
Game 3: White Sox 5, Royals 1
Game 4: White Sox 2, Royals 0
Game 5: White Sox 4, Royals 2
Game 6: White Sox 5, Royals 3
Harold Baines: 11-26, 2 HR, 6 RBI
(3) 1987 Minnesota Twins def. (14) 1985 California Angels 4-1
Game 1: Angels 7, Twins 4
Game 2: Twins 7, Angels 5
Game 3: Twins 2, Angels 0
Game 4: Twins 2, Angels 0
Game 5: Twins 6, Angels 0
Tom Brunansky: 3 HR, 6 RBI
(10) 1984 Kansas City Royals def. (7) 1981 Oakland Athletics 4-1
Game 1: A's 1, Royals 0 10 innings
Game 2: Royals 3, A's 1
Game 3: Royals 2, A's 0
Game 4: Royals 5, A's 1
Game 5: Royals 4, A's 2
Royals' Team ERA: 0.99
(15) 1981 Texas Rangers def. (2) 1985 Kansas City Royals 4-2
Game 1: Royals 7, Rangers 6 10 innings
Game 2: Rangers 9, Royals 2
Game 3: Rangers 8, Royals 7
Game 4: Rangers 4, Royals 2
Game 5: Royals 7, Rangers 3
Game 6: Rangers 12, Royals 0
Mickey Rivers: 14-27, 7 RBI
A.L. West Quarterfinal Match-ups
(16) '87 Mariners vs. (9) '86 Angels
(13) '82 Royals vs. (12) '88 Twins
(6) '83 White Sox vs. (3) '87 Twins
(15) '81 Rangers vs. (10) '84 Royals
Up Next: N.L. West
8 p.m.
• So I reserved a room for a March out-of-town excursion, and the hotel chick gave me the price, which was of course “before taxes.” For those that don’t leave their parent’s house, hotels are like cigarettes when it comes to taxing. Local governments don’t want to tax their constituents, so they jack up taxes for out-of-town visitors, and if someone is going on a business trip to that area, it’s not like they are going to sleep in their rent-a-car before the big presentation the next day. For a laugh, I like asking how much a room is “after taxes,” which often results in the hotel employee answering in a nervous tone. What the hell am I going to do? OMG WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TAXES GWAAAR! Well, actually, I’m sure there are people out there who probably do such things. I guess hotel executives figure if they quote a customer a price “before taxes,” that will make their establishment more appealing due to the “lower” rate and by the time the weary traveler arrives, they would be too exhausted to bitch about the taxes added on to their room.
12:30 p.m.
• Well this was an odd way to start out the day. First off, I woke up at 7 a.m. because the cats were walking all over the bed trying to get one of us up to feed them. They get fed twice a day – once when we wake up, once before we go to bed. During the workweek they get their food at around 5:45 a.m. and then at around 9:30 p.m. However, when it’s the weekend, we tend to wake up later, but Dessa, JJ and Max have none of that. Well, maybe not so much JJ, because all he does is mill around in the room where they get fed; Dessa and Max do the dirty work. They have pretty much learned to not even try with me because I generally don’t wake up for anything, so they focus their efforts toward the better half. Dessa either wakes her up with the old “sniffing the nose” trick, and if that doesn’t work she’ll chew on her hair. Max is less creative; all he does is go up to her face and meow, although I think he’s discovered a way to get me up. What he does is walk over on my nightstand and start knocking shit down to the floor. Now the actual knocking of objects (usually just my contact lens case and deodorant) don’t actually wake me up, but rather the long fur from his tail that is hitting my face does the trick (I sleep on my side facing my nightstand). I vaguely remember this morning. I felt Dessa and Max walking all over us, and while Dessa was doing her thing, Max was knocking my contact lens case over. All I remember is hearing Mrs. kkk say, “Alright I’ll get your food; Jesus Christ,” and me reaching for the squirt bottle to spray Max. I looked at the clock to see that it was 7 a.m. and went back to bed.
I don’t know what the hell happened to me or what I was dreaming, but I woke up at 11:30 a.m. Normally I don’t get up so late (although I used to; good times), but when I did I was sore all over. I was also dreaming, but I can’t remember what it was about. All I remembered was that I was back in high school as a senior and our one class had split into groups, and this one girl, Wendy Welsh, began reading/singing this story about one of those Chronoicles of Narnia books. She was reading this from a fill-in-the-blank test score sheets where you fill in answers to multiple-choice or true/false questions. I didn’t have one of these sheets and had no idea what the hell was going on. And the song/story she was singing? I have no clue. I’ve never read any of those hippie books, except for the “Lion, Witch and Wardrobe,” and that was when I was a kid in a Christian grade school. So this story could not even have been related to the whole Narnia thing, although that lion was involved, along with those beavers. That’s all I remember from this dream, and when I woke up, that made-up song Wendy was singing was still in my head! When I got up, I looked at the clock and it read 11:30. I went to the bathroom to do my thing, when suddenly the doorbell rang. The cats scattered, and I finished wiping. I threw on my sweatpants and shirt, both lying on the floor by my bed, and trudged toward the door, not knowing what adventures were in store for me.
I opened the door, and there it was – two Jehovah’s Witnesses. Good Lord. I could barely keep my eyes open from the bright lights and cold, biting wind going through my screen door. They asked me if I would like this literature about how “Religion is dying,” and I said … shit, I can’t remember what I said. I’ve never dealt with these people before, but I’ve heard stories. I wasn’t in the mood, or in the form, to say, “Get the fuck off my property you wackos,” either. So, due to the fact I had just minutes ago gotten up from bed and had most of my hair sticking up and that funky crap in my eyes, I had an ideal get-out-of-Jesus-Freaks-line. “I’m battling a cold and took a bunch of medication last night.” I then coughed toward their direction. They made a remark about how cold it was, gave me their pamphlets and left, but not after I shook the one’s hand. The hand I wiped my crack with just minutes ago and forgot to wash.
What has this got to do with anything? Haven’t got the slightest clue. Sorry. I’ve washed my hands since then … or at least I think I did. If not, I guess I’m typing in my own filth.
Hey it's the one year anniversary of my blog...um, yay? I've been putting off several ideas such as a list of the Top 100 players of my "baseball lifetime" (1986-present) and also the Top 50 Oakland A's of all-time, shrunk from 100 since realizing that the list would be populated with guys who played two years or less with them. So I figured I'd do my biggest staple of my blog over the past year and that was the Award Redos. I originally was going to do the 1991 A.L. MVP but then rememebered, I already did it. But in that entry after I gave Frank Thomas both the 1991 and 1992 awards I wondered if the Big Hurt should have won four straight MVPs? So now to find out if his first real MVP should have been his 3rd overall.
There was zero controversy for the 1993 A.L. MVP as Thomas won it unanimously. Typically when a player wins an MVP unanimously he probably was at the very least a deserving winner and certainly it was no exception here. Although he didn't lead the league in any major category he was in the Top 10 in Average, Runs, OBP, SLG, Homeruns, RBI, Walks, and Total Bases while helping the White Sox to their first division crown in 10 years. Since there was no real race there was no other players considered serious contenders. The defending champion Blue Jays were loaded with stars with Paul Molitor and John Olerud finished 2nd and 3rd in the voting repsectively while Robert Alomar finished 6th. Homerun champ Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey Jr., who had his first big homerun year with 45, rounded out the Top 5.
Actual Results
1) Frank Thomas 2) Paul Molitor 3) John Olerud 4) Juan Gonzalez 5) Ken Griffey Jr 6) Roberto Alomar 7) Albert Belle 8) Rafael Palmeiro 9) Jack McDowell 10) Carlos Baerga 11) Jimmy Key 12) Joe Carter 13t) Jimmy Key 13t) Jeff Montgomery 15) Kenny Lofton 16t) Chris Hoiles 16t) Tony Phillips 18) Mo Vaughn 19t) Don Mattingly 19t) Cal Ripken 21) Alex Fernandez 22t) Greg Gagne 22t) Duane Ward 24t) Kevin Appier 24t) Cecil Fielder 24t) Randy Johnson
#10
.289/.432/.474, 101 RC, 147 OPS+, .343 EQA, 56.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#9
.310/.416/.585, 100 RC, 163 OPS+, .340 EQA, 60.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares
#8
178 ERA+, 2.30 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 82.7 VORP, 27 Win Shares
#7
.332/.402/.509, 131 RC, 142 OPS+, .325 EQA, 69.9 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#6
.326/.408/.492, 118 RC, 140 OPS+, .323 EQA, 75.3 VORP, 30 Win Shares
#5
.295/.371/.554, 123 RC, 150 OPS+, .327 EQA, 59.2 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#4
.310/.368/.632, 120 RC, 169 OPS+, .339 EQA, 67.8 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#3
.309/.408/.617, 146 RC, 172 OPS+, .343 EQA, 86.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#2
.317/.426/.607, 144 RC, 177 OPS+, .356 EQA, 79.0 VORP, 32 Win Shares
#1
.363/.473/.599, 156 RC, 185 OPS+, .372 EQA, 92.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares
THAT'S WHAT YOU GET YOUR TRAITOR!!!
Olerud had flirted with .400 for a little while as he was hitting .402 on August 1st but he tailed off after that and with the Blue Jays being loaded he couldn't garner a first place vote. He was better than Thomas across the board and was the easy pick here for me. If he could kept his chase for .400 a little longer he might have given Thomas a run for the MVP but maybe the writers thought he looked too much like a retarded kid running out to the field with his helmet on.
As of today, I'm working with a new promotion and that promotion is called NAW. I get to be a ref on their 2/25 show. Can't wait, details will come after the show. I'm also booked for the two day tournament for the BAW Heavyweight Title with BAW in March on the 16th and 17th, can't wait for those shows.
Edit: So I fucked up and got myself doubled booked on the 25th. The Rocky crew and cast also do a show for the Oscars. Basically the theater that we perform out of, airs the oscars on one of their movie screens and the cast/crew of Rocky do performances during the commericals and we're basically at the place all day and night long and I said I would do the show a long time ago but I got the wrong date in my head. I thought the Oscars were on March 4th, but I found out today it was on Feb 25th, the same day as NAW. So I had to back out of NAW and I feel real shitty about doing it. Hopefully their promoter understands, because if he doesn't, i may have burned a bridge and that's gonna suck ass.
TAKE THE BIGGEST GUY IN THE WORLD, SHATTER HIS KNEE AND HE'LL DROP LIKE A STONE
So, today, ESPN.com finally unveiled the new Sports Guy column to the unwashed masses of bloodthirsty Colts fans, many whom may have been circling the web page, waiting for blood to stain the waters. And, after a week of partying at the Super Bowl
location, building up anticipation for the big game and casually dismissing the Colts, Simmons finally turns in his response to the big game: a college basketball blog.
I don't even know if you can call this "weaksauce." Has "lamesauce" made it into the internet vernacular yet? Well, whatever the case, simply choose a pejorative, preferably one that implies sexual inadequacy and/or inimitible cowardice, and you'll be set for reading this column, which may be one of the absolute worst he's penned in a long, long time.
Seeing Simmons retreat from the Super Bowl result that he so obviously didn't want to see is sad enough in itself, but to watch him decide, all of a sudden, that he's going to be a college basketball analyst (and a poor one at that) after years of ambivalence towards college sports could be a new low, even for a guy who recently dedicated an entire column to assuring us that our culture is undeniably flawed for not celebrating the New England Patriots.
(And, apparently, Greg Oden isn't the next Bill Russell. Thanks for clearing that up, Mrs. Durant.)
WHY IS THIS WEEKEND PARTY MUSIC MAKING MY EARS BLEED
Thanks to the release of Friend Opportunity, I've found myself on a renewed Deerhoof kick, scrambling to find the various and sundry recordings that I haven't heard to this point. Reveille is still on the to-do list (Apple O is where I started with them), but I did happen to stumble onto a cut from their Untitled EP, which was apparently a free download from the KRS website at one point. The track is a cover of My Bloody Valentine's "Lose My Breath" from Isn't Anything and it's not too bad at all.
Thanks to some tuning issues on the guitar (which are perhaps intentional), the verse of the song manages to be even more dissonant than the divisive cacophony of the original. So much so, in fact, that the wheels almost fall off right on the outset - the vocal veers sharp throughout, unsure of where to stand tonally, and the guitars clang from note to note with all the grace of a cheap-ass Strat copy.
But, when they come to the chorus, Deerhoof finds the sweet spot, Matsuzaki's voice gliding perfectly across the guitar, pure and clean. And, by the time the drums and bass fully make their way into the soundscape, Deerhoof has kicked into a sensation missing from the MBV original, coming awfully close to swaying, emotional, torch-bearing rock. It never quite reaches that height again for the remainder of the playthrough, but it still comes across as a worthy and interesting take, regardless.
(If the attachment worked appropriately, you should be able to check it out from this blog post. Be warned: you really should not confuse this track with the Destiny's Child hit from a few years ago.)
Weekend, everybody.
9:15 p.m.
• OK, it's a Friday night, and I haven't had to speak to anyone at work for several days. This means it's time for a kkk LOVE FEST! That's means I'm going to say some stuff that you might not normally expect to come out of my mouth, err, through my keyboard.
Topic 1:Democrats in Congress. That's right, you heard me. I feel for you people. Look, I hate most of you fuckers, and you cater to the lazy and stupid. However, even I have to feel for you on some level.
Jesus Christ, it's only been THREE MONTHS! And Congress didn't even get back into session until JANUARY. There's plenty of time between now and '08 for these pinko commie shitwads to implement their destructive schemes. Give them some time to decorate their offices first.
Topic 2: Miss America. I can't stand Nancy Pelosi. How that dumb bitch ever got into a position of power baffles me. In fact, it is downright frightening. But this latest flap about her wanting some hippie jet to shoot herself to and from her congressional district of homos, faggots and queers is a bit too much, even for me to swallow ... ew.
I heard some bitching on RIGHT-WING RADIO about how the previous Speaker of the House didn't use that big a jet to travel around. Then again, Dennis Hastert didn't have to fly from coast to coast. I haven't been paying attention to this story, but what if you need the bigger jet for a nonstop flight from DC to California? And if she wants to bring a few politicians from her state aboard, let her. That's just less fuel that will have to be used to fly those people back and forth as well. Now if Miss America starts ordering flights for people on this aircraft without her in it, then I'll raise an eyebrow, but for now just shutup about this. And don't go bitching that this is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Jesus Christ.
OK, that's enough of the kkk Friday night LIVE FEST. I'm getting the urge to take a shower now.
5:30 p.m.
• Everything's bigger in Texas, even the people.
• I stopped reading this article after its first two paragraphs. It can't possibly get any better.
This is fucking ridiculous to say the least.
Okay, a person died. People die every day. I had to look this up, but per 1,000 people, the death rate is 8.26 daily. Not so bad, eh? But considering the United States population (as of July 2006 est) of 298,444,215 that 8.26 / 1,000 comes out to: a whole lot of fucking people (Math is my subpar subject).
Very quickly, the country known for freedom is going to become a country not known for freedom. What's next? Walking and talking, walking and blinking, seriously.
Don't get me wrong, I see the point they are trying to make, but banning something because of a few deaths is absurd. Why not ban fast food? You know, since America outranks any other country with heart disease and obesity, as well as suicide related deaths, depression, incarceration rate, total number of incarcerated / under correctional supervision, over 300,000 homeless, cannot protect our own borders yet rebuilding a country we're at war with, gas prices crippling the non-rich popullation, having no middle class, etc. Why not fix those problems?
Or is it just baby steps right now?
