• The better half and I got into a disagreement over recently regifting a particular Christmas item, and no it wasn’t a fruitcake. A few years ago we got this $25 Blockbuster card; I can’t remember how or when we got this thing, but it has been posted on our kitchen corkboard for at least 18 months. We don’t go to Blockbuster, and the few times I thought of buying something from this store I could find the same products in better condition and at a cheaper price elsewhere. I don’t know what it is about renting movies; I just don’t like to do so. I’d rather just buy the thing at a cheap price and not feel rushed to return the movie by a certain time or end up paying late fees. Well Mrs. kkk was making some “movie gift pack” for a co-worker, and instead of going out and getting a gift card I suggested we just give this person our current Blockbuster card. It’s not like we spent any money from this piece of plastic, and it’s still in mint condition. What’s the big deal? Well after her bitching about this for a few minutes she finally relented and now we’re regifting. Oh well.
• About a week ago I noticed that Comcast’s On Demand service had available “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Now this film premiered back when I worked at the theater almost 10 years ago, and it was one of those movies I’d walk in and watch for 15-20 minutes at a time, but I would never actually sit through an entire screening. I figured what the hell and watched it. Eh. I could have wasted 90 minutes doing something worse. Anyway, after seeing this film, and remembering its sequel, “I still know what you did last summer,” I wondered why more sequels of this franchise weren’t made. As I was in Target today looking around while the better half was shopping for that PERFECT Christmas card *gag* I came across this. Good God.
• Would the fact this event took place in San Francisco surprise anybody? I can't wait until the city government starts giving the homeless milk money, which of course will be spent on crack and booze.
• So much for safe sex.
Well, the wedding is over. My cousin Ann got married, and I'm happy for her. The wedding itself went by suprisingly fast, and it was freezing outside.
Afterwards, I went to the wedding reception. The wine sucked ass, but the bar had some good stuff. Had some rum and coke, and sprite with peach schnaps, and it was all good. My relatives (and the relatives of the groom) got drunk, and it was ugly. No violence occured, but I had the unfortunate image of seeing my uncle Greg, a white guy in his late 40's or early 50's, trying to dance to "Baby Got Back". There was also a bunch of shitty modern day country (Man, fuck Rascaal Flatts), and it was the whitest wedding reception I've ever been to.
My parents got drunk too. Now, when my dad gets drunk, he's more casual about it. I mean, you can tell, but he never does anything embarrasing. When my mom gets drunk though, it's different, as she gets a bit more excited, and starts dancing as badly as everyone else. Oh, and afterwards, she'll deny.
Afterwards, my brother, who doesn't drink, had to drive us all to my Aunt Pam's place. Mom and Dad were in no shape to drive (especially dad), and while I wasn't drunk (I'm the only person in my family who drinks but doesn't get drunk, and generally keeps it in moderation), I wasn't really in the shape to drive either.
When we got to my aunt's house, my uncle Dick tried to "be cool" with me, and tried to impress me with his musical tastes. Sorry man, but Karin Carpenters Christmas album isn't exactly a good album. He was most likely joking though, which makes sense, since he's always been the joker of the family.
Next day, I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, talked with relatives, watched the National Geographic channel, went to Best Buy, and left for home.
And that's how it went.
Because my overall cumulative record was near .500 before this week’s of games took place, I knew I was in for some trouble. Before even looking at this particular slate of games, I had a bad feeling about this.
Baltimore at Cincinnati (3.5). Incorrect.
I felt the Bengals would be the more desperate of the two teams, but I still went with the Ravens. For what reason I don’t know. Should have went with my first thought.
Arizona at St. Louis (6.5). Correct.
Not only did the Cardinals win, but they won by two touchdowns. Shouldn’t I get a bonus point or something?
Atlanta at Washington (1.5). Incorrect.
Could the Falcons be righting their wayward ship in time for the postseason? Don’t know, don’t care. All I know is they screwed me this week.
(4.5) Dallas at N.Y. Giants. Incorrect.
Well the Cowboys won but they didn’t cover the spread. Sure it was a divisional game, but it doesn’t do me any good.
Detroit at New England (13.5). Incorrect.
I called picking New England a “steal” this week. Not only did they fail to cover, but also they almost outright lost. To Detroit. Ugh.
(7.5) Indianapolis at Tennessee. Incorrect.
Not only did the Colts fail to cover, but also they outright lost. To Tennessee. Ugh. Well, the Titans are playing better as the season has gone on. But still.
Jacksonville at Miami (2.5). Incorrect.
Looks like the Jaguars are righting their wayward ship in time for the postseason.
(5.5) Kansas City at Cleveland. Incorrect.
Oh for Christ’s sake, this is getting ridiculous. Don’t any of these playoff bubble teams that I pick want to continue their season past Week 17?
Minnesota at Chicago (9.5). Incorrect.
Having watched this game, the Vikings did not deserve to get this win. And by “win” I mean not lose by double digits.
(1.5) N.Y. Jets at Green Bay. Correct.
Yay. I got one right.
(5.5) San Diego at Buffalo. Incorrect.
Sure it wasn’t an impressive win, but it’s victories like this that can determine whether a team is playing at home in the conference championship game rather than going on the road.
San Francisco at New Orleans (7.5). Correct.
And here I was actually worried about the point spread to this game.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh (7.5). Correct.
I thought the Steelers would probably win, but I was hoping for the Buccaneers to keep it close. I was wrong. I sense a trend.
Houston at Oakland (3.5). Correct.
Oakland? Favored? I need as many gimmies as possible this week.
Seattle at Denver (3.5). Correct.
Didn’t watch this game. Have no idea what took place. Seahawks won. That’s all I care about.
(3.5) Carolina at Philadelphia. Incorrect.
Not only did the Eagles win, but also they have a shot at making the playoffs. I’m not saying this will happen, but I’d love to see what the Philadelphia region would do should Jeff Garcia take the Eagles on a magical playoff run that resulted in a Super Bowl win. All with Donovan McNabb watching from the sideline.
This week’s record: 6-10
Cumulative record: 93-99
Drat. And I was so close to mediocrity.
Eric Davis - Outfielder
Cincinnati Reds 1984-1991, 1996
Los Angeles Dodgers 1992-1993
Detroit Tigers 1993-1994
Baltimore Orioles 1997-1998
St. Louis Cardinals 1999-2000
San Francisco Giants 2001
Awards
1987 NL Gold Glove - OF
1988 NL Gold Glove - OF
1989 NL Gold Glove - OF
All-Star Selections: 2 (1987, 1989)
League Leader
None of note
Career Ranks
AB/HR: 83rd
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Batting - 61 (398) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 26.8 (395) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 27.5 (603) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 1 (Larry Doby)
Other Similar Batters: Kirk Gibson, Jeromy Burnitz, Darryl Strawberry, Raul Mondesi, Roger Maris, Bill Nicholson, Reggie Sanders, Danny Tartabull, Ray Lankford
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1984: 7/2.2
1985: 5/1.6
1986: 25/7.1
1987: 30/11.2
1988: 27/7.7
1989: 26/7.5
1990: 17/5.8
1991: 8/3.2
1992: 6/1.2
1993: 12/5.8
1994: 1/0.4
1996: 22/6.8
1997: 6/1.4
1998: 18/6.9
1999: 5/1.0
2000: 8/2.1
2001: 0/0.1
Career Win Shares: 224
Career WARP3: 72.0
Would he get my vote?
No. Yet another player on this year's ballot who's career was wrecked by injuries. From 1986 to 1989 he posted OPS+ of 143, 155, 139, and 154 respecitvely while playing Gold Glove defense in center and being a force on the base paths. Even during these years when he was at the top of his game he had nagging injuries and he never played more than 135 games in a season at any point in his career.
Well the better half gave me one of my Christmas presents last night, and it sure was a surprise. We went to Heinz Hall last night for that evening's performance. For those that don’t know, Heinz Hall is a hoity toity place where NPR listeners and PBS viewers go to partake in all that artsy fartsy crap. So what was on the itinerary for that evening? The symphony? A choir performance? Ballet? Uh-uh.
Carlos f'n Mencia.
Even if you aren’t a fan of Mencia, to sit in a place like Heinz Hall and look around at a crowd that would normally be cleaning the establishment after hours than actually being paying customers was worth the price of admission alone, especially seeing all the senior citizen ushers who had to endure the three hours of foul language, raunchy humor and racial epithets being tossed about like candy. While some may not like Mencia’s humor or Comedy Central “Mind of Mencia” program, I enjoy much of his work, mainly because I’ve thought/voiced similar opinions many times in the past. I remember back in the mid-1990s I was watching a HBO stand-up act with some Mexican comedian, and to this day it was one of my favorite comedy specials of all-time. I never knew the guy’s name, and when I first saw “Mind of Mencia” a while back I began to wonder if this was the guy I saw a decade ago. Sure enough, a couple of months ago I saw this HBO special on Comedy Central and it was indeed Mencia.
I’m not one to go to concerts or events like these because, frankly, I’m a cheap bastard. What’s the point of paying money to see a band play one time when I can buy a CD and listen to the same song numerous times? Now granted there are people who like the concert experience, and if that’s your thing, then good for you. Me, I would rather listen to a song in the comfort of my home while typing on the computer. (I’ve got ACDC’s “If You Want Blood” concert CD playing as I’m currently typing.)
After dinner we were waiting for Heinz Hall’s auditorium doors to open, and let me tell you it was an … interesting … crowd we were standing alongside. It was weird being one of the older people at this place; most ticket holders looked to be college students, although there were a few old-timers scattered throughout. My favorite person was some guy with a hoodie whose back featured a picture of W. and read “Not my President.” Wonderful. Another type of patron that caught my eye were families attending this event with pre-teens. The hell? Oh well, it’s not my problem. However, I have to wonder if these parents knew what they were getting themselves into. Three hours worth of racial and sex humor is deemed quality family time? I can’t believe every family unit was aware of what was going to be presented on stage. In fact, there were a few people in my section who got up and left during the show – I guess the 59th time the word “nigger” or 97th time “fuck” was uttered was too much for them. Prudes.
Although I still know there are several Christmas gifts coming my way (the most recent South Park DVD, for example), this concert was a surprise. Hell, I didn’t even know this comedy tour was coming to Shittsburgh; it’s not like this area has been overrun by Mexicans … yet.
on Friday I worked a wrestling show as a Referee for the promotion of BAW in the motherfucking cold state of Oregon, and here, yes here on Scroby's blog, are the details of my journey from California to Oregon to work the BAW show.
My adventure began on Friday morning, at 4 in the motherfucking morning, as myself (Referee Toby), and indy wrestlers, Alexis Smirnoff Jr, Jason Vega, The Big Ugly JD Bishop, and Kassy Summers, all packed ourselves in a new Dodge Charger and left Sacramento CA and started making our way towards Oregon. It was a LONG freaking trip. The trip from Sacramento CA to McMinnville OR, took us about 12 hours, making very little stops...and myself getting very little sleep.
Nothing special really happened on the way up there, I heard a few stories from the wrestlers, we talked about other local promotions, and gimmicks and stuff like that as we made our way up there. Due to us getting lost a few times because Smirnoff can't apprently read his own writing, myself, Jason Vega, and Alexis Smirnoff got to the venue that was hosting the show in McMinnville OR around 4 o'clock. We had dropped off Kassy and The Big Ugly with two other wrestlers that had met up with us after we got into Oregon. The two of them would be at the venue later on.
It was very cold in Oregon, but I tired to not let it bother me much as I was excited to work this show. New Jack, Brother Runt (Spike Dudley), Mike Modest, and Molly Holly were also booked on this show as well and I was excited to meet them, plus all the other wrestlers on the show that I had never met before. Even though myself, Vega, and Smirnoff had gotten there around 4 in the afternoon and had been put in the wrong direction a few times, we were really the first workers there. The BAW Promoter, along with the head trainer Terry Bull, and some of the trainees and ring crew were there but we were the first people outside of the promotion to show up.
I don't know much about the BAW promoter or Terry Bull but both were very nice to me throughout the night, which I'm grateful for because it was a long ass drive there and I only had about 5 hours of sleep from the night before with maybe an hour of sleep on the car ride up there, and I really wasn't wishing for anyone to be a dick. When I had got there 3 of the trainees were working out a dark match that they were going to do before the actual show had started. After introducing myself to the people who were there and feeling out the ring a little bit, I pretty much sat back and relaxed and hung out.
After a little while, the owner of Devil Mountain Wrestling (my home indy promotion) Helfyre showed up as he was also booked on the card. Helfyre's gimmick...well is basically himself, Helfyre. I guess I would describe him as a Death Metal wrestler gimmick, but...not so much. Its sorta hard to describe what Helfyre's gimmick actually is, but if you want you can look him up on myspace under "Helfyre". After a little while longer more and more workers started showing up.
The Devil Mountain Trainees, Josh, Anton, and Neil showed up. Anton and Josh were both having their first matches on this show, while Neil made the trip to support the both of them. Neil and Josh are both close friends who both went into wrestling training together. Josh was going to have a match with Helfyre whose his trainer at Devil Mountain and Anton was going to have a match with Jason Vega.
As the night went on, more and more people showed up. I introduced myself to all the new wrestlers who I hadn't met before and also put my Ref gear on as the time got closer to show time. It was near 6:30 when Spike, New Jack, and Modest had showed up. I introduced myself to Spike and Modest and shook both their hands, with New Jack it was a little bit hard to introduce myself because he was pretty much getting settled in and figuring things out, so I just let him be as I finished getting myself ready for the dark match at 6:30.
Even though the show started at 7, the promoter and the booker wanted to have the dark match at 6:30 to try and get the crowd hyped up a bit before the show. It was the 3 wrestling trainees who were The Incredible Ty, Sir Latte (yes its a Starbucks coffee gimmick), and someone else whose name escapes me at the moment (like I said it was a long night). I got to Ref this match and it was a pretty quick match and the 3 BAW trainees did some pretty good spots as well with the match ending with Sir Latte stealing a pin on Ty after the 3rd trainee hit a swinging neck breaker on Ty. After the match was over, I went back to the locker room so I could get the run down of the card and the matches I was giong to Ref.
After waiting around a bit because I wasn't sure if the card was fully finished or not, this woman came up to me and I introduced myself to her and lord and behold it was Molly Holly! I didn't reconize her as she has (from what I can tell) slimmed down from the last time I saw her on tv and looks great. Not saying she didn't look great before hand because she did, but she looks even greater now. After I talked with her a bit and letting her know when what she was doing was up and when a match was, I had to talk with Terry to figure out what matches I was going to be doing for the night. I had the first, second, and sixth match of the night.
The first match was Micheal Blade facing someone whose name again escapes me at the moment and his name isn't on the BAW site yet, so I can't look it up there. The second match was going to be Jason Vega vs Anton, whose under a mask for this show, and the sixth match was going to be Mike Modest vs Wage. Yes folks I had Mike Modest's match! I felt like a lucky boy that night.
I'm not going to go into detail about how the matches went because I felt they all went fine and all 6 men that I worked with really liked the job I did as a Referee. Modest was very impressed with me and told me what he had liked about the job I had did. Modest had went out there with a ring on his finger and as I was "checking" him, I had noticed ( really didn't notice the ring) the ring. Before I rang the bell, Modest jumped out of the ring and grabbed a mic and told me to come here. So I very confusingly walked over to him and asked him whats going on.....he then explained to me how he had the ring on his finger when I checked him and didn't say anything and told me that he could have used that as a weapon. I hung my head down as he was telling me this in front of a live crowd on the mic. After the match was over, Modest had won with a small package, Wage who was still in the wrestling ring, was telling me that I made a fast count and started asking me if I was in Modest's pocket, then to make things worse the freaking BAW Commish comes over and says "Wage has a points, it looked like a fast count." At that point I just got down off the ring and went back to the locker room.
Afterwards, I went up to Modest to shake his hand, and return his ring (he had handed it to me after the promo) and he told me how he liked how I didn't do a Ref over reaction when he was cutting the promo on me and how he liked how I did just stand next to him and listened to what he had to say, like I knew I fucked up and I was going to listen to what he had to say....in reality I thought I had really fucked up, I honest to God did not see the ring he was wearing and he was cutting a shoot on me. Luckily it wasn't and Modest was really cool and I'm really glad I got to work with him and Wage, both really stand up guys.
As the night went on, I enjoyed myself. Everyone was just fun to be around and was just so freaking nice to me and all had positive things to say about my Refereeing, espically how I had the crowd hating me, even though I was just being a Ref. We actually had a 2nd Ref there and when he came out for the 3rd match of the night, the fans cheered for him and I also heard some fan yell out "Finally a good Referee."...God I love heel heat. For some reason on the 3 shows that I have Ref'ed for, I have been boo'ed or have gotten some kind of heat, its freaking great, it really is. After the show was over, myself, Jason Vega, and Smirnoff all headed back for California around midnight of Friday night, and I got back home in California after 10 in the morning, and even though I'm still tired, I wanted to post this as hopefully some of you would like to read it.
Now if guys don't mind, I'm going to leave you a little describtion of my experiance with the some people I worked with last night.
New Jack: Just fun to be around and a very cool guy. He was having a good time last night in the locker room and it was just fun to be around him.
Spike Dudley: Nice guy, I don't know what to make of the guy other than that. He was just a very nice kinda quiet guy.
Molly Holly: Ok first, she's hot! Chris Water's if your reading this, I'm sorry but......I MET MOLLY HOLLY, I MET MOLLY HOLLY!, ok I'm sorry. Molly is such a nice and sweet person. She's very cool to talk to and I'm glad I got to meet her last night.
Mike Modest: Like I said, very stand up guy, and I'm so happy that he was really impressed with my work in the ring with him. It also seems he lost a lot of weight as he's not as, and I'm not knocking him at all so no one take it like that, muscle massive as he used to be. He's still in GREAT shape but he's just slimmed down a bit.
Everyone else was just a pleasure to work with and hang out with in the back. Everyone was so nice to me and actually the wrestler Lonestar, who has his own promotion in..I think Kentucky gave me a invite to go Ref a show for his promotion out there. I really made a good impression and I can't wait to return on the 26th of Jan.
Well there you guys go, thats pretty much my trip to Oregon in a nutshell. I did leave some detail out because I felt this blog might get to long and I didn't want to do that. And I also know I said my next post was going to be about my time with the WCWA but I'll do that post later, I promise. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and all comments are welcomed.
• If you have read KK’s Korner for any period of time, chances are you’ve learned of my fondness for my current batch of fellow co-workers, or lack thereof. After hearing my constant griping regarding many of these zany characters I deal with in the workplace, you may be surprised to learn that I actually prefer having a cohesive work environment. Seriously, who doesn’t want to enjoy the time where they spend one-third of their workweek? The problem with an office environment is that many times you have no say in who your co-workers are: if you get along with them, that’s great; if you don’t, well, too bad. I thank my lucky stars my office is two floors away from ninety-nine percent of my peers and that my job doesn’t interfere with what they do so my interaction with them is limited. Why do I say all this? Well, just yesterday I learned what one of my co-workers did at last years’ Christmas “grab bag” event.
For those that don’t know a grab bag’s purpose, it is for people who want to be involved with some faux form of workplace unity. If someone wants to be involved in a grab bag extravaganza, all they do is put their name in a hat and someone who organizes the activity selects which co-worker will buy $20 worth of gifts for another co-worker. For everyone participating, they have to write their name on a piece a paper and include a list of three to four items that they would like. (I must mention here that ever since I began working at this place I have never taken part in one of these grab bags. This is because I think the whole idea is stupid and also because there’s no way in hell I’m spending money on someone I loathe, and there are quite a few people at my job that fill this bill.) Well anyway, I found out that one of my co-workers, I’ll call her Sue, was supposed to get something for … let’s call this other person Beth. Now keep in mind Sue is a compulsive gambler, or so I’ve been told, and she ended up buying $20 worth of scratch-and-win instant lottery tickets. I’m assuming Beth wanted lottery tickets for this grab bag thing, but I digress. If Beth did indeed want lottery tickets, then I guess $20 in instant win games seems like a good gift, right? Well, in happy world it would be, but this is kkk’s world. In kkk’s world, Sue scratched off all the tickets before giving them to Beth. The reason? Sue wanted to make sure she gave at least one winning ticket to Beth. Uh-huh. Right. So in effect, Sue’s gift to Beth was 17 or 18 scratch-off tickets that were already played and had no value and two or three tickets that had a $1 or $2 payout. And people say I’m a Jew bastard. I’m surprised Sue didn’t throw in a few losing Powerball tickets from the previous week’s drawing.
I do find it odd that Sue is a person who, when we have an office pool for a $100+ million Powerball drawing, she never joins the rest of us sheep and instead plays on her own. I would assume if she was a degenerative gambler that she would want to be in an office pool where the odds of winning a jackpot would be only one-in-two-hundred-million, rather than playing the lottery by herself where the odds increase to one-in-infinity-plus-one. Then again, what the hell do I know? The only reason I participate in an office lottery pool is that I know if I don’t then my co-workers would win the mega-ultra jackpot, and there’s no way in hell I’m about to let that happen. Not on my watch.
Could it finally be, someone who I'd actually vote for on my imaginary ballot?
Rich "Goose" Gossage - Closer
Chicago White Sox 1972-1976
Pittsburgh Pirates 1977
New York Yankees 1978-1983, 1989
San Diego Padres 1984-1987
Chicago Cubs 1988
San Francisco Giants 1989
Texas Rangers 1991
Oakland Athletics 1992-1993
Seattle Mariners 1994
8th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2000: 33.27%
2001: 44.27%
2002: 43.01%
2003: 42.14%
2004: 40.74%
2005: 55.23%
2006: 64.61%
Awards
1978 AL Rolaids Relief Award
All-Star Selections: 9 (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985)
League Leader
1975: Saves
1978: Saves
1980: Saves
Career Ranks
Saves: 17th
Games: 10th
K/9: 40th
ERA+: 55th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 9 (248) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 41 (580) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 19.0 (312) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 126.0 (61) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Rollie Fingers, Hoyt Wilhelm)
Other Similar Pitchers: Lindy McDaniel, Stu Miller, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, Tug McGraw, Sparky Lyle, Roy Face, Mike Marshall
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1972: 3/0.2
1973: 0/-0.5
1974: 4/1.9
1975: 23/10.5
1976: 10/4.7
1977: 26/10.5
1978: 20/7.8
1979: 11/4.0
1980: 18/6.2
1981: 12/5.9
1982: 17/7.4
1983: 16/7.1
1984: 15/5.1
1985: 15/4.4
1986: 5/1.5
1987: 7/3.3
1988: 4/1.3
1989: 5/1.4
1991: 3/1.8
1992: 2/1.1
1993: 3/1.8
1994: 4/2.0
Career Win Shares: 223
Career WARP3: 89.5
Would he get my vote?
...No. Like I said in the Lee Smith entry I just have a hard time viewing someone who spent their career primarily as a reliever as being a true Hall of Famer. I absolutely agree that Gossage is much more deserving of enshrinement than that of Bruce Sutter. What's funny is that if Gossage had retired at 35 like Sutter did he probably would already be in the HOF as his greatness as a closer would have been remembered better by the short attention span of the writers. Gossage retired nine years after his last good season as a closer after bouncing around several teams as a moderately effective, situational reliever and he gets unfairly penalized for it. I will not argue with anyone who says Gossage deserves to get in and I will have no problem if he ever gets in, which I think will happen eventually after the big jump in support he's received the last couple of years. But on my imaginary ballot I just can't put him down.
This morning, the morning of my final exams the SW Ohio area was blitzed with a shitload of (for me) unexpected snow and most importantly, thick sheets of ice. I caught on the radio as me and Allison (whom crashed during our finals cram session) were getting dressed that there were many reports of wrecks all throughout the area. I didn’t pay too much attention, this is what you get used to around these parts. Random weather acts, yesterday it was 68 degrees and sunny. This morning, it reached down to 12 degrees and that is where all hell broke loose.
From my house to school, it’s 25 minutes with regular traffic. My first class was at 9:45. I figured traffic would be slower, so I left @ 8:30 instead. It was bad. Really bad, probably the worse I have ever seen the roads considering how little snow was really falling. I was cautious, more so then I usually would have been had Allison not been in the car with me. Allison, wanted to take the main route instead of the back road we’d usually take since it would be “safer” and it would be prophetic when I replied “That’s just more dangerous, really”.
Things were going fine, most people seemed to figure out that the roads were covered in sheets of ice. It took me 30 minutes to move 5 miles and I knew at this rate, we would be late. Allison called our professors and like many other people did, said we would be late for the exams due to the roads. (That’s Allison for you. More concerned about her schooling then I think she needs to be)
Then it happened, it was inevitable and I knew it was going to happen. I saw it ahead of me and I knew I was fucked. It’s like in the movies and everything becomes slow motion and you think, life is never like that. It was. Cars moving at 10-15 MPH down main street, a jeep hopped the railroad track. This railroad track was always tricky during inclement weather. I saw the Jeep twist side ways and I counted the cars in front of me and the Jeep. Four Cars. Four Cars that were about to collide and I knew it, I had two options. Head first into the truck in front of me, swerve into an icy ditch and probably flip over or wait for the car behind me to hurl me into the other cars. In that slow motion moment, that was probably just five seconds in reality. That’s all it takes to cause the chain reaction, I grabbed Allison and I collided into that truck head first and the car behind me collided into us and sent us spinning around that railroad track into a curb embankment. 4 Cars were pinned. Metal, fiberglass, plastic left spilt onto the ice. I could see the damage to my car from where I was. The front end was completely smashed in, I knew my rear was dented as well. Allison was alright. My hand hurt. Then after that brief “what the hell just happened!?” moment of clarity sank in…
Four drivers and a couple passengers stormed out their cars. Instant Blame Game.
“YOU FUCKER!”
“YOU HIT ME!”
“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”
“IS EVERYONE OK?!”
“LOOK AT THIS! FUCKING LOOK!”
Then I saw a little kid, probably no more then 7 years old in the truck that I hit. I was worried for him, not my car. He was fine, shook up but fine. No one was injured on site except my hurt hand but I knew it wasn’t serious, so I never said anything. It was only a matter of seconds before the police, ambulances and paramedics came by. It had been quite a busy day for this community, 11 accidents had been reported since the ice fell in just a 5 mile radius. Ours being the most severe in size. We all managed to get our cars pushed over to a gas station. We all separated out and waited, as the air warmed up, watching the ice thaw out. In my mind, I wondered if I had spent an extra 5 minutes in the shower or if Allison had her usual pop tart, we wouldn’t have ended up in the mess. I didn’t mind the wreck, that’s life. It happens. I’m glad it was an accident and not because of faulty driving. It was out of my control.
We took our statements and did the song and dance. Of the cars, I took the most damage. Figures, I had often said I wanted to get rid of that car because I hated driving it in the winter and this was exactly why. It was first car I ever brought. I drove cars in between it but I ended up back with that car. Now it’s totaled. The price to fix is far greater then the value of the car. Guess, I’m going to get that new car after-all.
The whole thing took an hour. Which felt entirely too long. I called my tow guy at work to take my car to the garage where I knew it would be stripped and junked. (At least I don’t have to pay for that) I cleared out the personal stuff. In a week, once the legal stuff is finalized, we’ll tear it down for parts. My sister happened to work a few miles down the road. She took us home, we had already notified the professors and we were cleared of taking exams. For right now, I’ll be driving my father’s old pick up until the insurance agency gets my rental situation figured out. It was first real wreck, not counting a fender bender a few years ago that wasn’t even reported. Oh, and my hand is fine now, but I’m basically going lefty right now.
Give me suggestions for a new car, though. Money isn’t too much of a concern but I’m shooting stay around the $21-24,000 range. I don’t want another truck or large vehicle, however. I want performance, safety (meaning when I get in another wreck, I won’t see my car collapse as it did, fucking Japanese).
Oh, and I don't like this new and "improved" board.
Orel Hershiser - Starting Pitcher
Los Angeles Dodgers 1983-1994, 2000
Cleveland Indians 1995-1997
San Francisco Giants 1998
New York Mets 1999
2nd year on the ballot
Past HOF Ballot Results
2006: 11.2%
Awards
1988 NL Cy Young
1988 NL Sporting News Pitcher of the Year
1988 NL Gold Glove - P
1988 NLCS MVP
1988 World Series MVP
1995 ALCS MVP
All-Star Selections: 3 (1987, 1988, 1989)
League Leader
1984: Shutouts
1985: Winning %
1987: Innings Pitched
1988: Wins, Winning %, Innings Pitched, Complete Games, Shutouts
1989: Innings Pitched
Career Ranks
Wins: 100th
Strikeouts: 58th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 20 (88) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 129 (130) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 34.0 (101) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 90.5 (115) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Catfish Hunter, Dazzy Vance)
Other Similar Pitchers: Bob Welch, Milt Pappas, Kevin Brown, Vida Blue, Jim Perry, Dave Stieb, Silver King, Bob Shawkey
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1983: 0/0
1984: 18/6.8
1985: 23/7.7
1986: 12/5.1
1987: 21/9.1
1988: 25/10.3
1989: 21/9.7
1990: 1/0.2
1991: 8/3.1
1992: 8/4.5
1993: 13/5.6
1994: 7/3.2
1995: 13/6.4
1996: 14/5.9
1997: 11/4.5
1998: 7/2.9
1999: 8/3.0
2000: 0/-1.7
Career Win Shares: 210
Career WARP3: 86.2
Would he get my vote?
No. Looked like he was on his way to a Hall of Fame career at the conclusion of the 80's but a torn rotator cuff in April of 1990 cost him over a year and he was never the same pitcher after that. Like with Bret Saberhagen throwing over 250 innings three straight years did not end being a good idea. Hershiser was arguably a better pitcher than his HOF comp Catfish Hunter but Hunter was vastly overrated and a very dubious HOF inductee, while Hershiser was not at the level of Dazzy Vance.
And down the final stretch I come:
Cleveland at Pittsburgh (7.5)
The Browns are riding high after an upset win against the Chiefs last week. Now they come to Shittsburgh to take on a divisional foe who they should have beaten a few weeks ago. Will they emerge victorious this week? I don't know, but I'll take them with that point spread the way it is.
(3.5) Atlanta at Tampa Bay
I'm helping out the Falcons in their attempt to reach the postseason. I know if I would have picked them, the Bucs would have defeated them, thus prompting me to say the following week, "Atlanta's late-season collapse is still alive and well, and I fell into the trap of thinking they'd win two in a row." This is why I'm picking Tampa Bay, so that way I don't have to say the above sentence in next week's entry.
Baltimore at Kansas City (2.5)
Kansas City is a tough place to play at, but the Ravens defense is a tough unit to run against. I guess I could look up the stats and see if this is actually true, but that would requre effort.
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets (4.5)
I never thought this game could have playoff implications this late in the season, but it does. Good for everyone involved. I'm taking the Bills due to the spread.
(1.5) Indianapolis at Jacksonville
The Jags have been off-and-on this year while the Colts have been a bit more consistent. With me taking Indy, perhaps this is the game in which Jacksonville gets over the hump.
Minnesota at Detroit (2.5)
The Vikings have been struggling as of late, although I wouldn't consider their woes to be that dire where the Lions are the favored team in this matchup.
(3.5) New England at Miami
Hmm, the Pats were nearly upset last week at home against Detroit. The Dolphins were defeated by the Jags at home. I'll go with New England to rebound against a divisional opponent.
New Orleans at Dallas (6.5)
I'm sure Dallas will win, but that spread. Well, the Cowboys have that defense. Plus they're at home. OK then.
N.Y. Giants at Carolina (3.5)
Each team has been inconsistent as of late, so it's a case of pick your poison. I'll take Carolina.
Oakland at Cincinnati (10.5)
I don't like that point spread, but Cincinnati is a lot different than Oakland weather-wise this time of the year.
(1.5) Philadelphia at Washington
I'll take my chances with Jeff Garcia, who I forgot was with the Eagles this year. I feel bad for the guy. Back in his San Francisco days, Terrell Owens made some homophobic remarks toward him and the national sports media didn't show a fraction of the outrage it had over T.O. and his feud with Donovan McNabb.
Tennessee at Houston (1.5)
Riding high off an upset win against the Colts, I'm sure the Titans will crash and burn here, but I'm a sucker for teams that score big wins the week before.
Green Bay at San Francisco (5.5)
I think the 49ers have a great shot at winning ... oh who am I kidding, I have no clue. I'm taking the Packers because of that point spread.
(3.5) Seattle at Arizona
I remember when Joe Bugel used to coach the Cardinals, Arizona would start out bad but come on strong late in the season and the "should Joe get fired?" talk would commence. This usually resulted in, "let's give him one more year because his players like him and they're playing hard to keep his job." Well Dennis Green ain't Joe Bugel. Not sure if that's an insult or compliment.
Denver at San Diego (7.5)
San Diego will probably win, but with that point spread I'll take divisional foe Denver.
(6.5) Chicago at St. Louis
I'll go with the Rams at home to make this competitive. I'm still getting flashbacks to the Bears/Cardinals Monday Night game earlier this year.
Devon White - Centerfielder
California Angels 1985-1990
Toronto Blue Jays 1991-1995
Florida Marlins 1996-1997
Arizona Diamondbacks 1998
Los Angeles Dodgers 1999-2000
Milwaukee Brewers 2001
Awards
1988 AL Gold Glove - OF
1989 AL Gold Glove - OF
1991 AL Gold Glove - OF
1992 AL Gold Glove - OF
1993 AL Gold Glove - OF
1994 AL Gold Glove - OF
1995 AL Gold Glove - OF
All-Star Selections: 3 (1989, 1993, 1998)
League Leader
None of note
Career Ranks
None of note
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Batting - 41 (581) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 21.3 (651) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 34.5 (502) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Amos Otis, Claudell Washington, Brady Anderson, Chet Lemon, Marquis Grissom, Johnny Callison, Felipe Alou, Cesar Cedeno, Johnny Damon, Gary Matthews
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1985: 0/0.1
1986: 2/0.6
1987: 17/7.1
1988: 11/5.0
1989: 14/6.2
1990: 7/3.5
1991: 24/10.3
1992: 19/7.5
1993: 20/8.8
1994: 11/5.4
1995: 12/4.3
1996: 18/5.7
1997: 9/2.6
1998: 18/5.1
1999: 12/3.4
2000: 2/0.4
2001: 11/3.1
Career Win Shares: 207
Career WARP3: 79.2
Would he get my vote?
No. During his prime he was an outstanding defensive centerfielder, very deserving for most of the Gold Gloves he won, and a good base stealer but outside of 1991 was never that much of hitter. Only had a career OBP of .319, never hit higher than .283, and struck out a lot which is not a good combination. His similar batters make him look better than he was as only Marquis Grissom had a lower career OPS+.
No, I'm not getting married. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday though. A cousin of mine is getting married.
Anywho, weddings are a weird thing to me. Sure, you stay around afterwards, talk shit with folks, and eat cake, but it's weird to know that this person's life will never be the same, and neither will they.
Could I get married? I really don't know. I'll admit, staying with the same woman for your whole life doesn't sound that bad. I mean true love only happens once in a lifetime. On the other hand, there's parenthood. I really can't see myself as a father, since it's such a grave responibility. Granted, I'm not irresponsible. It's simply the thought of the fact that you have to take care of this person you brought into the world is somewhat strange to me. Also, what if they fuck up. And I mean really fuck up. You can punish them, but what good does that really do.
I know, I usually don't get this personal or emotional. It's just that this is just that things like this really make you think.
Anyways, I'm sure it will be alright.
• Imagine you're a happily married woman who wanted to watch the sun set while sitting on your back porch. Now imagine opening your back door to this.
OK, now I don't know what would creep me out more: The fact your husband has chosen to have sex with the family dog, or the fact he chose to do this OUTSIDE ON YOUR BACK PORCH (allegedly, of course). Photos were taken by your wife of you having sex with the family dog. How, if you're the guy in this situation, can you possibly have a defense for this? You were drunk? The bitch was asking for it? I'm actually interested to see what the defense has to say with this one.
• Wow. Another story about how the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, and this time it's on a global scale.
Still don’t care. Although I liked this part.
Assuming property and other things of worth are covered under "assets," my household is well in the top 10 percentile of the world’s richest adults. That means I’m oppressing the other 90 percent of this world. Awesome. Now if I can only get a Mexican to mow my lawn.
• Eh, I still prefer Affirmative Action bake sales.
• Boy did Neal Boortz had a field day with this story on his show today. That's all I can say about this one.
79.
It was kinda fun doing this last week. Plus, I'm brutal with NFL Picks, so it's funny.
Thursday 8:00:
Cleveland (4-8) at Pittsburgh (5-7): I have to fade the Browns here starting Derek Anderson with 4 days preparation time. Plus, the Steelers still have that tiny glimmer of hope that the 5-7 teams do (like Buffalo), so they should be enthused for this one. Only question is how PIT deals with their injuries, especially on the defensive side. But, odds are with PIT here. PIT 23, CLE 13.
Sunday 1:00:
Indianapolis (10-2) at Jacksonville (7-5): JAX should have won their 1st matchup of the year, and I really like them here. Almost enough to bet on them... JAX is a strong running team, IND's run defense is crap. JAX is fighting for their playoff lives, and are a great home team. JAX 38, IND 24.
Tenneseee (5-7) at Houston (4-8): No real reason for this one. I'm just not sold on VY's abilities as a true QB. His completion percentage remains horrid. After two home games crushing the Manning family, I can see TEN having trouble on the road here. And Houston has been playing good football lately, too. HOU 27, TEN 17.
Baltimore (9-3) at Kansas City (7-5): I can't go against the Chiefs' 18-game winning streak at home in December, or whatever it is. BAL's offense looked so poor at CIN, and has been inconsistent all year. This isn't the place where they'll probably kick start it again. I don't see them doing significantly better against a very hungry KC team that can't afford any more losses. KC 17, BAL 13.
Philadelphia (6-6) at Washington (4-8): Yuck. Nothing is worse than a bad NFC East game. I'll be fading WAS the rest of the year with their injury issues. So, whatever. PHI 28, WAS 10.
Minnesota (5-7) at Detroit (2-10): MIN has won the last 9 games in this series. I see no reason this changes vs. a team that's great at finding ways to lose. And MIN better be fired up after blowing a huge opportunity to win @CHI last week.MIN 20, DET 17.
NY Giants (6-6) at Carolina (6-6): NYG seems to be in total disarray, but CAR may well be the same. The Giants still do have a lot of talent, and haven't been playing that badly. Just blowing games. Eventually, things must go right for them. CAR is a very overrated team. Their lines are weak, and the running game is not what people think it is. NYG 34, CAR 17.
Atlanta (6-6) at Tampa Bay (3-9): TB can't score. Vick had a solid game vs. TB early in the season, and it looks like he can play against them now. So, looks good for ATL. ATL 24, TB 7.
New England (9-3) at Miami (5-7): Jason Taylor's availability will be important here. It seems like everyone and their dog is taking MIA in the upset here. But, MIA's performance against JAX last week was very disappointing. I think it's possible they've thrown in the towel. NE 37, MIA 21.
Oakland (2-10) at Cincinnati (7-5): Bengals are red hot lately, on both sides of the ball. However, OAK's pass defense is the only positive they have. I just don't like a blowout here. CIN 24, OAK 14.
4:00:
Green Bay (4-8) at San Francisco (5-7): GB's run defense is poop, and after last week, things look very bad for them. GORE GORE GORE should at least get 150 rushing yards here. SF 38, GB 26.
Seattle (8-4) at Arizona (3-9): As unimpressive as SEA may be at times, they just don't lose with Hasselbeck and Alexander. ARI still blows despite beating the Rams. Sorry ass team. Sorry ass franchise. SEA 35, ARI 24.
Buffalo (5-7) at NY Jets (7-5): The Jets got all the breaks in the previous game, and the Bills are very capable of beating them. Yeah, biased. THE BILLS STILL HAVE HOPE. Plus, the Miami game has to have some meaning... BUF 17, NYJ 16.
Denver (7-5) at San Diego (10-2): LT = good. Denver = YAWN. I don't even like thinking about Denver games, let alone watching any more of them. SD 42, DEN 10.
8:15:
New Orleans (8-4)at Dallas (8-4): This is the week teams will start figuring out Tony Romo (HOF QB). Please. DAL's streak of good luck has to end lately. Us Cowboys haters beg for it. Of course, New Orleans would become AMERICA'S TEAM with a win, and Reggie Bush would be MVP. Especially since he can't stretch the field for Colston anymore. Or, something. NO 27, DAL 24.
Monday 8:30:
Chicago (10-2) at St. Louis (5-7): Total fade on the Rams here. They're getting into the competition for worst team in the league with their play lately. Grossman throws for 300 yards, just to confuse everyone. If he's gonna do it, here's the chance. CHI 38, STL 24.
xoxo.
78.
So, it's time for my ignore list again. It's great filler for my blog.
It may seem like I have fun doing this. And, I do. But, the reason my list is so huge is because I really REALLY hate reading stupid things. And when I read stupidity, we know how I respond. Therefore, ignoring them is optimal for all parties.
surreaList: Constantly rude to people. Rather dumb as proved by most of his decisions. Plays the whole "I'm too cool to care about boards" bullshit.
The Thread Killer: Just a horrible poster... tries to be funny, and always fails. Easily the most pathetic person on these boards.
bob_barron: Nothing really against him, he's just kind of a pompous jerk. Only posts crap in sports. Only stuff worth reading from him is SNL reviews or stalking celebrities, and I don't care about any of that.
Marvinisalunatic: Decent guy... but, he's on ignore until he stops the WP v2.0 gimmick. Although, it seems he's adopted the Comic Book Guy-like pissed off nerd gimmick lately, which may keep him here longer.
Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye: "Established" poster who only posts lame garbage like so many of them do.
tominator89: Unnecessary dickish comments towards me.
Kinetic: "Established" poster. Or one the lame "clique gimmicks". Either way, whatever.
kkktookmybabyaway: We've already mentioned him.
netslob: Useless, sad person.
Invader3k: Stupidity.
godthedog: Jerk. Maybe gimmick.
Mole: Stupidity. Stalks me.
RavishingRickRudo: "WWE suckz" troll.
Lord of the Curry: "WWE suckz" troll, and constant annoyance in other forums.
Blue Bacchus: Stupidity. Troll.
CheesalaIsGood: Stupidity.
alfdogg: Immature. Obvious gimmick account user.
snuffbox: Stupidity. Possible gimmick as a purely awful poster.
Sandman9000: Troll. Absolute joke he's not banned.
Sex Machine Gun: Ok, sometimes... but, has too many issues. Nice one day, then rude as possible the next for no reason.
Part II, later.
• It must be budget time at NASA, because now they’re talking about colonizing the moon or something. Don’t care. I’m sure space travel was a big deal 50 years ago, and I am also aware that many products we enjoy today came indirectly from space and military research, but this is 2006. Nobody cares about this anymore, and even if some did they are finding ways to get into space without government spending. (Remember that contest a year or so ago that offered a cash prize for the first private flight into space, or goofy “sphere” that’s above us?) But NASA will get everything it wants and more because, hey, it’s the government. What else have they got to do with money besides spend it?
• Gwyneth Paltrow recently took some flack for saying that she likes Brits better than Yanks at her dinner table. Here's what she said:
Now I could jump on the “If you hate America so much then giiiit out” bandwagon, but it seems that she’s already done that by living in England with trips to the United States to squirt out an Apple, Plum, Orange or Grape Nut. To the surprise of some, I’m going to come to her defense somewhat on this one. She thinks the dinner conversation from across the Pond is more thoughtful than here in the States. Who’s to say she’s wrong? As much as I love my brothers from anotha motha in anotha country, you guys are a bit too socialist for my liking, so it wouldn’t surprise me that less people over there discuss work-related matters while eating their meals. Besides, I’m sure meal-time conversation is important to Paltrow. What else is she going to do at the dinner table, eat? I normally don’t spend much time talking during this time, but that’s because I have food in my mouth.
• In lovecraft’s blog he recently talked about Rachael Ray, and I expressed my hatred toward this bitch in the kitch … en. (Wow was that bad.) Why do I hate her? I don’t really know. I just get the same vibe from her as I did from those uber-preppy girls in high school who would whine and bitch about getting only a 102 percent on a test while I was lucky to fill in my name in the correct blank. You know who I’m talking about, the same kind of girls who would pout because their daddy bought them the black Corvette when they wanted the red. Last December the better half had one of Ray's “Survive on $20 in this expensive part of town” shows on the Food Network. As I sat there watching this garbage, that half-hoarse/half-annoying voice of hers began grating against my soul, or what little of it I have left. Not only was I being annoyed by her, I began to seethe with hate about having to watch this. Did I go upstairs and surf the Internet? No. Did I leave and watch something from the spare bedroom television? Of course not. Did I read a book? N*gga plz. All I could do is sit there and watch as my rage boiled over into a deep hatred. I don’t care if Joe’s Café on 5th Avenue offers $2 coffees from 2-5 p.m. I don’t care if there’s some back-alley Asian eatery that serves up fresh dog every morning. My hatred for Rachael Ray knows no bounds.
It only got worse from there. Last week as I was doing the weekly trip to the grocery store I noticed that Ms. Ray has defiled my store’s Triscuit boxes, among other Nabisco products. Why Nabisco, why? Now every time I reach for a box of this wheaty goodness I get to see her on the box with that look of “Hey, I’m a millionaire just for telling people how to cook a bunch of crappy stuff.” I’m sure if I ever see nl-asshole in real life I’d probably get the same feeling as I now do every time I walk down the cracker aisle of my neighborhood supermarket.
77.
So, the general opinion is that we're glad Florida is in the title game. Unless you truly believe Florida is the 2nd best team in the nation, or that Florida's overall resume is stronger than Michigan's, then you are wrong. And by judging by the voters' history in the past weeks, they believed Michigan was the best team. That opinion can not change when Michigan didn't play for 2 weeks.
So, if the voting was decided on who the best team was... it was Michigan.
If the voting is decided on who deserves the chance, what would be fair... then, it's Boise State. They did not lose a game.
The argument that Michigan already lost to Ohio State, so they don't deserve another chance... but, Florida is more deserving because they lost to a 2-loss team, is ludicrous.
Florida got their spot because less people would bitch about it. See, kids, no matter how far you go in life, you all end up being mindless followers. "The Computers" are more knowledgeable than human voting.
As for the solution, it's obviously a playoff. More money would be made. It would be very easy to keep the "integrity" of the bowls. There'd be a point to watching more than 1 bowl game other than gambling, or being linked with one of the schools. Plus, it would make the regular season much more fun to watch.
Leelee.
I don't have to repeat myself when it comes to what I think of the BCS and what I'd prefer to happen in college football...but I will anyways. I view the BCS as a bad compromise that was created to sort of give us the opportunity to have a clear cut national champion while sort of keeping the tradition of the bowls but fails on both levels most of the time. I personally either want a true 16 team playoff system, like every other level of college football, completely removed from any association to bowl games or just go back to the traditional bowl system where trying to match-up the #1 and #2 teams in the country was an afterthought and stop pretending that we're crowning a true Division I-A national champion when no such thing exsists.
But I'm not dellusional, neither of things I want will ever happen. A 16 team playoff would be a cash cow but would have some definite logistical issues where potentially some fan bases would have to travel four times in the span of four to six weeks. Obviously we're also never going to see the old bowl system comeback either. So I've come up with an idea that does in some way combine the playoffs and bowls.
First off there would be an 8 team playoff that would include the six BCS conference champions and two at-large teams. Now in a perfect world we'd just take the Top 8 teams in the country but no conference would ever agree to a playoff system that could possibly prevent them from getting a piece of the pie, which is partly why I think a 4 team playoff will never happen. The two at-large bids would be two highest ranked teams not to win their conference or would also include any non-BCS conference team that went undefeated. As good as Utah was in 2004 I don't think anyone thinks they were the best team in the country but they certainly had every right to prove that they could be beaten and the same goes for Boise State this year. If Boise State beats Oklahoma by double digits and Florida beats Ohio State won't on some level the Broncos would have some right to claim that they should be the national champs?
The first round games would be home goes for the higher seeded team and then the semi-finals would be played at two of the four major bowl sites and then of course at another bowl site for the finals. So for example this year the Fiesta Bowl would be the site of the finals with the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl as the semi-final locations. The Orange Bowl was at the bottom of the BCS pecking order this year so they would be seperate from the playoffs which I'll get to. So here is how the 8 team playoff would look.
Wake Forest at Ohio State
Louisville at USC
Oklahoma at Florida
Boise State at Michigan
Now as for my bowl idea I want to change how the bowls are selected. The preset bids I feel devalue the overall importance of the bowls and unfairly punish teams for how their conference has performed in the past. A pefect example is the Big East bids this year. Because of the purge of the conference a couple of years ago this year the Big East bids took a big hit. Their #2 bid, the Gator Bowl, now had a deal with the Big XII where they could have skipped over the Big East and send their second place team to the Sun Bowl which is very much a midlevel bowl. Texas' collapse at the end of the season and West Virginia's win over Rutgers prevented that from happening. Then their #3 bid, the less than prestigious Meineke Car Care Bowl, had a deal with Navy to take them as long as they became bowl eligible and leaving the Big East with no alternative. That would send the 3rd place team in the confernece to it's #4 bid, the "new" Texas Bowl which is replacing the Houston Bowl which went belly up to play the 8th place team in the Big XII. This has of course happened as Rutgers, ranked #16 by the BCS, is stuck playing a bowl game against the #55 team in the BCS, Kansas State who happens to be the lowest ranked BCS conference team with a winning record.
Now I understand why some bowls have certain conference tie ins. It wouldn't make sense to have a Pac-10 team play in the Outback Bowl, just as it wouldn't make sense for an ACC team to play in the Holiday Bowl. Travel has to be taken into account and it's completely understandable. But my proposal is have an actual bowl committee that places similar ranked teams in appropriate bowl games. With the current system they set themselves up for bad match-ups. The #9 team playing the #23 team in the Cotton Bowl. The #13 team playing the #28 team in the Gator Bowl. The #25 team is playing the #52t team in the Emerald Bowl. The #19 team is playing the #52t team in the Alamo Bowl. There has to be a better solution.
On the subject of the Alamo Bowl, why is a team like Iowa even in a bowl game? With the preset conference bowl bids they're awarding a team that went 2-6 in it's own conference while beating no one of note out of conference and give them a midlevel bid with a $1.9 million payout. Why is Miami in a bowl game? Half of their wins came against I-AA Florida A&M, winless FIU, and winless Duke. There are a handful of other examples of teams that have no business being a bowl game which comes to the next problem with the bowls, there are way too fucking many of them. 32 bowl games is absolutely nuts. More than half of Division I-A teams are going to a bowl game this year. What is this, the NBA Playoffs?
My proposal to go along with the bowl committee idea and eliminating preset bids is to cap the total number of bowls at 20, which would not include the bowl sites that are part of the playoffs. With the playoffs and the bowls you'd have 48 teams in the postseason which is plenty. Now going back to the Orange Bowl, since in this hypothetical scenerio it would not be part of the playoffs it would be host the two highest ranked teams in the BCS who did not qualify for the playoffs so this year it would be LSU and Wisconsin.
So here is the bowls I came up with using the BCS rankings trying to match-up closely ranked teams in appropriate bowl games. This is some what thrown together so you could argue with the order itself I have of the bowls. I would eliminate bowls that are to reliant on getting their home team into the bowl to hope to make money (Hawaii, New Mexico, etc.) and bowls where there is already another bowl game at the same site (Poinsettia, Champs Sports). Also no team that fails to finish with a winning record should ever to go a bowl game.
Orange: LSU vs. Wisconsin
Capital One: Auburn vs. Notre Dame
Cotton: Arkansas vs. West Virginia
Chick-fil-A: Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee
Outback: Rutgers vs. Texas
Holiday: California vs. BYU
Gator: Texas A&M vs. Boston College
Alamo: Oregon State vs. Nebraska
Liberty: Penn State vs. Georgia Tech
Sun: UCLA vs. TCU
Music City: Georgia vs. Houston
Insight: Oregon vs. Hawaii
Independence: Clemson vs. Navy
Las Vegas: Arizona State vs. Central Michigan
Meineke Car Care: South Florida vs. South Carolina
Emerald: Maryland vs. Missouri
Motor City: Kentucky vs. Cincinnati
MPC Computers: Rice vs. Purdue
Texas: Texas Tech vs. Tulsa
GMAC: Southern Miss vs. Troy
76.
So, I want to change my name here. Princess Leena sounds so heelish. I need to show what a face I've become.
All suggestions are appreciated. Except Princess Cunt. You'll be banned for that.
Oh, and my Negatives about TSM thing is done. Sorry.
xoxo.
• Here we go again. Another red diaper doper baby telling the rest of the country how their lives should be run … um, actually, I’ve always wondered how blind people figure out what bill denominations they are giving out during a purchase.
• I guess Playstation3s are in such high demand that even cops are killing people to get their hands on these things.
I’m a bit of an odd bird when it comes to my video game history. Hey, what better way to transition into something that could be worth a day’s entry, and maybe more? As a kid, video games were my passion. Well, maybe not my “passion,” but I sure played them enough. Even now I spend way too much time in front of a television or computer monitor killing some demon or scoring a go-ahead touchdown. Well it beats being out on the street causing trouble or spending quality time with the wife. Let’s take a stroll down my video game history, shall we?
The Atari 2600 was my first video game console, and of course I played the hell out of the poor thing. Later on when my first system went to video game heaven, it was replaced by an Atari 7800. However, I don’t recall a single 7800 game purchased other than Xevious. After my 2600 playing days were over, I moved on to the … hey, wait a minute. I still have my 2600/7800 games. What better time than now to look in my Rubbermaid container that’s in the walk-in closet in the room from where I am currently typing and take a trip down memory lane? There we go. Now it’s time to see my Atari 2600/7800 game collection and note that all the money spent on these games could have went to purchase Microsoft stock. I have these games ranked by the company that made them, or something of that nature. You'll figure it out.
Activision Games: Commando (I have two of this title. I must have broken or stolen one of them), Decathlon, Dolphin (more on this one below), Keystone Kapers (I always laughed when I made the cop duck because it looked like he was going to the bathroom; when I got a “best of Activision game” a year or two ago one of the first things I did was play this title and, sure enough, made the cop duck just so it looked like he was pinching a load), River Raid (loved this one, even though I was, and still am, terrible at it).
I have no idea what posse the following games were from. They were funky cartridges that were long, thin and black with a slanted top saying the game’s title. None of these have any artwork. Astroblast, Football, Kool-Aid Man (!), Soccer. Here’s a little more background on the above-mentioned football game. One Christmas my cousin had his uncle figure out how to control his team’s players, and I proceeded to get slaughtered something like 100-0. I got my revenge next year when I learned how to run and pass, but I think that was also the same Christmas when I got the air hockey table and my football glory was short-lived. While playing air hockey, my cousin was cheating (or something) and I was calling him on it. I think our house rules was that a player wasn’t allowed to go beyond the table’s middle stripe, and he was constantly violating this rule. I then proceeded to get yelled at by my mom and aunt for my enforcement of these ever-so-strict guidelines because I was beating him anyway (what I lacked in other facets of my life I more than make up for in air hockey, believe you me). My cousin said something smart-ass to me and I replied, “OK, DICK FACE!” and wailed my air-hockey paddle at him, much to the horror of all the adults that were in the room (except my dad; I think he found the whole thing funny as hell). Memories.
Imagic Games (the ones with a sorta slanted top and this fancy silver label): Cosmic Ark, Demon Attack.
EPYX Games (mostly white labels; I can’t describe these games any further than to point out I didn’t play these titles a lot): California Games, Sea Hunt, Summer Games, Winter Games.
US Games (white background label with a blue background with a white lettering to the cartridge’s top). Eggomania (I can’t begin to describe this one), Gopher, Name This Game (It was a contest and was sorta like a Sea Hunt-type game, only better; you had to fight off a shark that got faster with each passing level and this big, black octopus.)
Other: Amidar (I have no idea what this is but an ape, pig, painter and Indian with a bone in his nose are on the cover; I think I may have been a Pac-Man-like game where you had to fill a screen with something before the bad guys get you), Blueprint (no idea) and this cartridge with the label ripped off. I think it is “Frogger” because I know I had this game and can’t find it elsewhere. Now that I think about it, I know it’s “Frogger” because that game used to piss me off to the point where I got so mad I would take the game out of the console and BITE IT!!! Eventually the saliva dissolved/tore off the game’s label. What in God’s name is wrong with me?
Now time for the basic Atari cartridges: Adventure (you’re a square and have to fear the green/yellow/red dragons, unless you have the sword that looks like "-->"), Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede (once I found out you were an elf with a hippie wand, my opinion of this game declined; I thought for quite a while you were in some cool spaceship blasting away), Berzerk, Combat, Defender, Donkey Kong, Golf, Joust (one of my favorites), Jungle Hunt, Kangaroo, Mousetrap, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Real Sports Baseball, Space Invaders, Superman, Vanguard (I don’t remember much about this game other than it was one of my favorites), Video Pinball, Yars Revenge (loved that cover).
Hey, aside from Xevious I also had Choplifter for the 7800, along with Pole Position (or was it Pole Position II?)
Here’s another memory of the 2600: There were some games where if you got to a certain score you could win a prize if you took a picture of the game with a camera and mail it in. One of these titles was Activision’s Dolphin. As a kid I could never achieve this score (I think it was 100,000). Believe me, this was frustrating, especially since I really wanted that hippie Dolphin patch. Years and years later while a college student I dusted off my 7800 to play some old games. One of these games I put in the 7800 was Dolphin and began playing. And playing. And playing. It wasn’t until I was about 90 percent of the way through the game when I noticed how close I was to accomplishing what I gave up so long ago doing. Then the pressure hit. Although I lost a few dolphins to that bastard squid, I eventually beat the game. The best way I could describe the feeling is to compare it to that day when you are finally able to beat your old man in a one-on-one basketball game. So you’re now better than your father at something you spent years trying to best him at. Big deal. You don’t feel any different and your dad knows his glory days are behind him anyway, so it’s not like he cares much either.
One final note. Just to embarrass myself even more than I already do, I would like to say that I took pride in owning every game that was on the Pac-Man Fever album: Pac-Man, Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Defender, Mousetrap and Berzerk. And yes, I do remember them in order. However, I didn’t remember the actual titles to all the games, just the games they represented. Now if you will excuse me, I got a pocket full of quarters and I’m headed to the arcade.
Well, what did i do other than read, waste time on the internet, and see "Casino Royale" over the weekend? I watched something I never really do watch: The Food Network. As I was watching it, here's the personalities that stuck out the most.
Emeril: I swear, this man is on drugs, because I haven't seen an adult man this excited on television in a long time. The sheer hyperactivity is alarming, because you are waiting for him to have a heart attack down the road. Really, I'm suprised to see that the man is still alive.
Rachael Ray: She's not that ugly. Sure, she sounds like a guy, but she has a decent body. She's pretty damn annoying though, and from what I hear, she has a daytime talkshow now. It's amazing to see a woman so oppsessed with making quick meals.
Alton Brown: AKA Mr. Know it all. This guy really seems to think that he is God's gift to food related television programs. The "humor" applied to his "Good Eats" show is piss poor at best. Also, he looks like a child molester. Come on, look at the motherfucker, he practically screams "Hey kid, I've got candy in my car. Wanna hop in?"
Paula Dean: I have officially found a new induction into my "creepy television" list. This woman honestly scares the shit out of me with her cheerful demenor, love of all things fat and buttery, ungrateful brats, creepy smile, and well, the list goes on. There is no way this lady will ever have a heart attack, since her entire bloodstream is obviously made up of mayo, butter, fat, and high levels of sodium and cholesterol. She's always smiling, which leads me to think she's got some serious psychological issues. Come on, no one smiles that damn much. She's almost always cheerful, causing me to wonder if she's got corpses of sexually abused children in her home like Gacy did. Oh, then there's her two adult sons. Holy shit, is there a bigger pair of fucking ungrateful brats on television today? I think not. Honestly, if I were Paula Dean, I would have killed myself years ago.
So those are the 4 people on The Food Network that scare me the most.
