Woo hoo, my three World Series box sets showed up today. I’ll try to figure out some sort of entry to do on the sets beyond a simple review. Probably will start by watching the bonus disk on the 1986 set that has Game 6 of the NLCS.
Hey remember how overrated Carlos Beltran was and how he was overpaid? What happened to that talk? He’s arguably the best healthy player in baseball right now. To no surprise Pujols is still on top even on the DL but Beltran is making a serious push for the top spot. If the Mets do end up winning the East you could have an interesting teammate duel for the MVP with him and David Wright, depending on how much Pujols’ injury time affects his chances. Scott Rolen has stepped up in Pujols’ absence and makes his first appearance in the Top 10. After a huge jump into the Top 10, Alfonso Soriano goes cold and nearly tumbles out of it while his teammate Nick Johnson is red hot. The slumping Chase Utley drops out of the Top 10 for the first time this season.
#10 Alfonso Soriano, Nationals
.289/.350/.585, 57 RC, .299 EQA, 23.9 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#9 Bobby Abreu, Phillies
.292/.455/.500, 54 RC, .318 EQA, 23.9 VORP, 14 Win Shares
#8 Scott Rolen, Cardinals
.355/.430/.589, 42 RC, .323 EQA, 27.7 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#7 Nick Johnson, Nationals
.309/.436/.554, 55 RC, .328 EQA, 30.5 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#6 Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
.339/.435/.562, 54 RC, .330 EQA, 34.0 VORP, 11 Win Shares
#5 Lance Berkman, Astros
.308/.386/.602, 53 RC, .313 EQA, 24.2 VORP, 14 Win Shares
#4 David Wright, Mets
.335/.404/.587, 55 RC, .319 EQA, 33.0 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#3 Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
226 ERA+, 5.69 K/BB, 1.07 WHIP, 41.6 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#2 Carlos Beltran, Mets
.300/.408/.643, 59 RC, .329 EQA, 34.3 VORP, 17 Win Shares
#1
.308/.442/.751, 65 RC, .357 EQA, 38.1 VORP, 19 Win Shares
Finally we have a new #1 in the A.L. as Jim Thome is starting to cool off. He actually leads the league in Win Shares still but the new #1 topped him in every other category. Joe Mauer pulls off what Alfonso Soriano did last week and makes a huge jump into the Top 10. Vernon Wells also makes a big jump and might be emerging as a serious MVP candidate this year. I do have some sad news this week…Baseball Jesus has dropped out. Do not cry though, there will be a resurrection.
#10 Curtis Granderson, Tigers
.282/.379/.464, 49 RC, .290 EQA, 18.5 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#9 Ramon Hernandez, Orioles
.292/.353/.498, 50 RC, .291 EQA, 17.7 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#8 Miguel Tejada, Orioles
.333/.392/.556, 51 RC, .318 EQA, 37.1 VORP, 11 Win Shares
#7 Jermaine Dye, White Sox
.298/.393/.639, 47 RC, .325 EQA, 23.1 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#6 Alexis Rios, Blue Jays
.335/.386/.623, 51 RC, .320 EQA, 28.2 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#5 Jason Giambi, Yankees
.270/.443/.616, 54 RC, .341 EQA, 26.5 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#4 Joe Mauer, Twins
.378/.443/.523, 44 RC, .331 EQA, 33.0 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#3 Vernon Wells, Blue Jays
.328/.384/.624, 53 RC, .320 EQA, 34.7 VORP, 12 Win Shares
#2 Jim Thome, White Sox
.281/.415/.615, 61 RC, .331 EQA, 29.8 VORP, 14 Win Shares
#1
.303/.454/.620, 65 RC, .356 EQA, 37.7 VORP, 13 Win Shares
KKK's Top 103 Posters
Number 86: JAxl Morrison
I haven't noticed Jaxl around lately, but I generally like what I read from this guy. Then again, I don't have a daughter that I have to worry about him corrupting. When he's not putting his sexual partner's life at risk by banging her while she still has a tampon inside of her, he's putting his own life at risk by getting it on with military wives. (I must say that, after seeing a picture of that Marine's wife he was "at attention" with, you can certainly say he was committing a worthwhile risk.) But hot military wives aren't the only things he sticks his dick in; he'll even give a lot of lovin' to those that have lots to love. Oddly enough, he has also started a thread about getting test for STDs.
And now a word from the expert panel I have put together to comment on the people I’ve listed.
From Porter:
• Wow, first a red diaper doper baby Vermont judge gives a repeated child molester a two-month sentence. Now, on the other side of the spectrum in the same state, some piece of shit got hit with the death penalty for kidnapping and murdering a supermarket worker. Even though this is the first time in nearly 50 years someone has been sentenced to death in this state, he'll probably croak from old age before dying from the needle.
• While we're on the subject of spectrum swings, from the same Court that brought you the Miranda warning 40 years ago now say police don't have to knock before coming in with a search warrant. Well of course they don't, because thanks to George W. Bush they already collect all the evidence they need while illegally wiretapping your phone. Oh, and the deciding vote went to Alito. Woo-hoo. Here's hoping Bush gets to appoint at least one more black-robed lawyer to keep the Ginsburgs and Bryers in the back of the classroom.
• After Big Ben "apologized" for his motorcycle accident, there has been a stupid topic going through the Shittsburgh sports-talk radio circuit. The debate is should Ben "apologize" for the fans? What a stupid fucking argument. Of course he shouldn't. I was listening to some callers say he "owes it" to the fans because they pay for Ben's salary. Whatever. So I guess the next time you're in a fast-food restaurant and your cashier doesn't do cartwheels when getting your fries you should demand them to apologize because they owe it to you since you "pay their wages"? Fuck you. Like someone isn't going to go to a Steelers game because Ben isn't the quarterback; what did you people do for the 70+ years when he wasn't the Steelers QB?
• Bye Dan. I'm sure the two or three people that still think you matter will be starting a vicious letter-writing campaign to cBS over kicking you to the curb. Remember ... courage.
• This is interesting. The Mavericks were up two games to none on the Miami Heat coming to Miami. No team has ever won three consecutive home games since the NBA Finals went to a 2-3-2 home/away game format. Now the Heat have tied the series up at two. Conventional wisdom will say that since no team has ever one three straight home games that Dallas is sure to win Game 5. However, earlier this year the conventional wisdom was that no NFL Wild Card team that played all of its postseason games on the road would win a Super Bowl.
When I was a kid of 4-5 years of age, I remember my mom taking me to Chuck-E-Cheese. To say it was a good experience would be a big lie.
I can't believe I still remember this, but here it goes.
I remember that all of the kids were real fucking brats. I mand real brats. The kind of brats who treat all the other kids like shit, scream for God knows what reason, and basically were little worthless bastards. Also, the Animatronic Animals creeped me out as a kid. The things sang with no melody or rhythm, and even looked creepy. I don't care who you are, but if you see a robotic rat singing to you with it's friends, then you are going to be creeped out. Oh, and the games were shit. And don't get me started with the pizza. The worst pizza on Earthy is sold at Chuck-E-Cheese.
Anyways, after that experience, I thought I would never go there again. Think again.
On one of my brother's birthdays in the mid 90's, he wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese. I sucked it in and decided to go, thinking "hey, how could it be?" Well, pretty bad.
The pizza was still bad. The games still sucked. The kids were still brats. The worst thing though, was the 17-30 year old guys whyo would go there. These guys didn't come with their families. Oh no, they came with their friends, or usually, by themselves.
I remember playing "Primal Rage" (hell yes), and when I was done, a little kid (about at least 7 years of age) competed with a guy who was in his 20's. The guy in his 20's won, and to make matters worse for the kid, rubbed it in the little guys face.
That's right, these guys went to Chuck-E-Cheese to beat kids at video games so they could feel better about themselves.
How pathetic do you have to be to go to a place for kids 5-10 years of age, just so you can beat those at video games and gloat about it? Answer: Really pathetic. I mean spanking it to furry porn in your mother's basement in your 20's pathetic. The kind of pathetic reserved for would be child molestors with three inch dicks.
The moral of this story? If I ever get married and have kids, I will never go to Chuck-E-Cheese. Never again.
I hate that place.
In a moment, a whole industry can been changed.
In a moment, lives will never been the same.
So was the moment at ONS2- the world champion, a TRUE world Champion was crowned.
But what makes a true champ, is the how he does under pressure. And so far, it has been with flying colors, despite what others tell you.
However, this is not about that man.
Its about the Main Writer and the President of the Company that owns them.
They pretty much wanted to say Sorry but didnt want to imbarrass the shareholders.
Thats the first true test of a man, its to own up to his mistakes.
However, this message isnt to put them down. Its to help them.
There is some storylines that will be both progressive, promote stars, hardcore, keeps Sci-Fi happy, get ready for the old guard to step down, and so on.
The Zombie story arc might work, however- he needs to be cleaned up more. Instead of a horror Zombie- its a Psyological one- he feeds on the emotions of the croud, and uses to his effect.
The Goth Story Arc- A tag team mostly.
The Cosplay arc, send out the geeks, until you get to the pretty girl. You figure out the rest
(Densha Otoko) Arc- The basic new Dreamer Vs Raven storyarc. Read the Wikipedia article on 2ch. Eugene, or Trever Murdock are perfect for the roles, with CM Punk or another being the heel.
Thats just off the top of my head.
However, the crowing from Jeff Jarret is well founded. Come on, who ever would believe that we care about Steiner and Nash again? And the fact the book has been very good at times, and there house shows have been amazing at times, He has reasons to talk smack. Hes got some of the best talent, old men ready shine one last time- and young lions HUNGRY for titles. The only thing hurting this, is the title situation. Christian is a talent, but years being in the midcard has hurt him. Joe- is too damn good for the X title- and I hope that if and when American Dragon heads to TNA, that Joe drops it to Dragon or maybe Homiside. The tag teams are about to get better with LAX ready to go. 6 good tag teams are better than none!
All they need is just a little help from the Ladies side- more international flavor (Please get Nagata, Nakatashi, and Tanoshi here! Oh and when you and CMLL reconsile- I would like to have some of their big stars as well), and we have something that Heyman only WISH he can touch.
---
But if there is one thing that made me happy this week, is that AJPW is starting a major rennasonce after many slow years. The Best World Champ, is Satoshi Kojima. He has held the title in his first defence, 9 times. After winning over Kawada back in 2005, he has faced some good...some bad, but truly showing hes a champ. Even though Akiama has been ok, Kojima is truly on another class of his own. Besting Brock Lesnar at his own game is not an easy feat. Sure, they dont have a major TV deal- and they havent been in the big venues for quite a while. But the upcoming match between him and Kea- will revenigurate AJPW back into form. Kea has been no slouch, but that will tell you how much Mutoh respects the company he took over- he let the young guy do his thing and he did it well. I wish this upcoming match makes people forget the Pride troubles, and see what they have been missing for the last several years.
Next week, can ECW Recover from the worst show in a genration?
Will TNA get over 70,000 buys!?
Is this the Summer of DX?
King Booker might lose, but is he ready for a title shot against Rey?
How come Rey keeps losing!?
Is Batista gonna finsh off Henry?
Will Kennady move Smackdown to new hights?
Thats all next week.
The last few trips to the grocery store were rather normal for me, and I was starting to get worried that my usually fun excursions to Giant Eagle were no more. Today let me know I still had my magic touch. While getting my personal shopping scanner (for those that don’t know what I’m talking about, look here) this couple was trying to get theirs turned on. The problem was they didn’t scan their Giant Eagle Advantage Card, which activates one of these scanners for you. As I began stocking up on grocery bags, I knew they would be asking me how I got mine activated. Sure enough, once I got my scanner started, they looked at me with the same look cavemen gave a companion who had just rubbed two sticks together for several hours and created this red, hot thing. After giving them a brief tutorial on the joys of the Giant Eagle’s Personal Shopper Scanner, I went off to do my shopping.
My first stop at the grocery store is always the produce section, which is where the better half usually buys some fruit that ends up spoiling because she never finishes what she starts. Since she wasn’t with me today, I was able to get some stuff on sale, so the eventual trip these perishable items will take into the garbage can won’t piss me off as much. While I was bagging some bananas this old guy just walks up to me and says, “Look at what these people (Giant Eagle) are trying to get away with.” He proceeded to tell me that even though Giant Eagle has a certain brand of potatoes “on sale,” two 5 lb bags for $5, there’s another brand right next to the “bargain” potatoes that were in 10 lb bags for $3.99. I responded, “Well maybe someone would just want to buy one 5 lb bag of potatoes for $2.50.” He then gave me this evil look left in a huff. Fuck you, you old bastard. I’m with you on the fact that people don’t read price labels all that carefully, but don’t get your diapers in a knot just because I dared exercise some independent thought that went above and beyond your “In my day during the Depression I could get a full tank of gas for a dime, and the station attendant would change my car’s oil and rotate my tires at no additional charge.” I actually like it when these old bastards complain about the cost of everything nowadays, because that’s the perfect time to remind them “in those days you only made a quarter a week.”
Finally, after I finished my shopping and was paying for everything at personal shopper checkout aisle, this other old guy began asking me about that scanner I used to ring up my groceries with. I proceeded to spend about five minutes explaining to him the same things I went over with the couple in the first paragraph. But hey, I don’t mind. Everyone’s got to learn sometime. And besides, doing acts of charity like showing someone how to use a scanner evens out (or at least I hope it does) the bad karma I accumulate for the other times when I’m a bastard.
Speaking of being nice, on the drive home from work today, there was another old guy who was trying to get into my lane from a parking lot next to me. Seeing how we were at a stoplight, I made the motion for him to get in front of me. When he did this, I saw what this old bastard had for bumper stickers. From right to left: “Kerry/Edwards,” “Seniors for Kerry,” and “I did NOT vote for Bush.” Had I only received this information beforehand he would have not had such an easy time of trying to get back on Rte 30. Actually, I feel sorry for people that get mad after seeing a pro-candidate bumper sticker for someone they wouldn’t vote for in a million years. When I had my Bush bumper sticker in my rear window back in ’04, I didn’t get any reaction, which surprised, and disappointed, me because I drive through some extremely pro-Democrat areas to and from Shittsburgh. I did have one guy give me a “thumbs up” however; he had a Bush sticker on his car, too. And while I’m talking about bumper stickers, I wonder if people will get the joke if I put a “Run Hillary Run” bumper sticker on the front of my car come 2008 should the Beast get the Democrat nomination?
-Well, things are alright. I got a job volunteering at a computer workplace. Work starts next week.
-Henry Rollins has a new show on the IFC channel. It's pretty damn boring, and mostly just him ranting and interviewing people (He's not a very good interviewer). Personally, I don't know what CheesaaisGood see's in him. Plus, I hear he's a major asshole in reality.
At least his "Letter to Ann Coulter" was amusing, mostly because I hate that fucking bitch.
-Speaking of Ann Coulter, sooner or later, I think people are just going to get tired of her. You can only say so many stupid things before people finally just grow bored with you, and she'll become irrelevent eventually.
-It seems like Carnival and Leena have quit posting. While I really don't miss Leena (she eventually just got boring), I do miss Carnival. He was one of my favorite posters.
Well, that's all for now. Next time: Bad Chuck-E-Cheese memories.
I watched this match the day after it originally aired, with, based on what I had read, the expecations that it was going to be a stiff, scrappy match. When I didn't get even close to that, I was disappointed, and it probably lessened my opinion of the match more than it should have. So I rewatched it today, with a clean slate and no specific expectations.
The story of the match was vaguely defined (ie. not told all that well). As far as I could surmise, the main story elements were Benoit's comebacks after being controlled for stretches. Neither the "dominant control" portions by Finlay nor the comebacks by Benoit were particularly well done. They were solid enough, there just wasn't that extra something in them that allows for a clearly defined story.
The wrestling style itself was something I'd seen many times in New Japan in the last few years, so I wasn't overly impressed with it. The matwork wasn't scrappy or hotly contested, nor were the strikes particularly stiff. The execution wasn't bad, it just wasn't even close to being good enough to gain any points.
The finishing submission hold was well fought for, but came out of no where. There really wasn't much work to the finish, and that's generally something I look for in a high quality wrestling match. What it all amounted to was a good match, that wasn't any better than what one might see in a really good RAW or Smackdown match. Maybe I've been spoiled by seeing so many recent matches in a similar style that exceeded this match, but I can't in good faith rate this particular match over those, just because the promotion this match took place in doesn't normally feature that wrestling style. ***
I cannot for the life of me see anything special in this match. Even when I was actively looking for story (generally something that shouldn't be necessary), I didn't find a whole lot. Were people just impressed by a different style in a WWE ring? I know it's happened in the past. Anyone who disagrees want to hit me up with a good review of it? (or at least some bullet points)
I know it isn’t normal of me to follow up a blog so quickly but I was bored and I know I am coming down with something. Whatever trendy summer flu is around, it’s seeking a home to bury these bones.
I only get sick (really sick, not the sniffles or headaches) but the kind of sick that renders the toilet seat to be your lone comfort and essentially drains you, once every 2 years. Since I have a really bad feeling that it’s time for it again (last visit was winter 2004)…I went ahead and finished up as much work as I could today in preparation for the days I’ll miss. Luckily, we’re smooth sailing and my absence won’t detour things. The real bitch is?
I will obviously be using my sick days, I hate losing these. I was supposed to take a vacation with my gf sometime in the next month or so (naturally we haven’t planned a fucking thing), so that might be in jeopardy. I get paid vacation, but if im going to be off for a few days. I might have to X the trip.
I never get sick when It would benefit me.
It’s early this summer, but I am already thinking about college. I want to take a full semester of classes again but I can’t with work…I cant decide at this moment what is better for me… Pursuing my education or leaving it for a well paying job that I don’t enjoy. I’ll struggle with this (in)decision for the next two months until I finally decide.
-
It’s June 14th, and roughly that means it is basically the mid-way point of 2006 and I’ve made a rough edition of my BEST OF 2006 lists
Wrestler of the ½ Year
1. Bryan Danielson
2. Mysterio
3. Chris Benoit
4. Kurt Angle
5. Samoa Joe
6. KENTA
7. Austin Aries
8. Marufuji
9. Nigel McGuiness
10. Roderick Strong
11. Christopher Daniels
12. Finlay
13. Paul London
14. Homicide
15. Shawn Michaels
(After a down year, Benoit is back in form. Samoa Joe hasn't busted out his now annual 5* match but there is still 6 1/2 months left and the inevitable Danielson/Joe re-match. McGuiness is the biggest surprise this year as he has improved tremendously, which has to be attributed to his NOAH tours and his elevated efforts in ROH. Homicide will probably have a hot second half as his shoulder is healed and he's done with the blood feud with Cabana.
Match of the ½ Year
1. Blood Generation Vs DO-FIXER (3.31-Supercard of Honor)
2. Kurt Angle Vs The Undertaker (2.19-No Way Out)
3. Jack Evans and Roderick Strong Vs Briscoes (3.25-Best in the World)
4. Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe Vs KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji (3.25-Best in the World)
5. Kurt Angle Vs Mysterio (6.2-Smackdown)
6. Chris Benoit Vs Finlay (5.21-Judgment Day)
7. Samoa Joe Vs AJ Styles Vs Christopher Daniels (2.12-Against all Odds)
8. Colt Cabana Vs Homicide (4.1-Better then Our Best)
9. Bryan Danielson Vs Roderick Strong (3.31-Supercard of Honor)
10. Mick Foley Vs Edge (4.2-WrestleMania 22)
11. Mysterio Vs Finlay (3.24-Smackdown)
12. Bryan Danielson Vs Nigel McGuiness(4.29-Weekend of Champions Night 2)
13. Jimmy Jacobs Vs BJ Whitmer (3.30-Dragon Date Challenge)
14. Samoa Joe Vs Christopher Daniels (4.13-iMPACT)
15. Randy Orton Vs Chris Benoit (1.27-Smackdown)
Surprisingly stronger year from WWE thus far then 2005.
I think every sports fan has certain athletes they dislike or even on some level hate. Sometimes there are some justifiable reason to dislike the athlete and other times it is just irrational hate. For me that athlete is Roger Clemens. I can't stand the fat fuck. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense as Clemens has many memorable failures against my Oakland A's over the years. Clemens was 0-7 head-to-head vs. Dave Stewart when Stewart pitched for the A's. Hell you'd think I'd like the guy but I don't. I've grown tired of his several near retirements which started with his so called farewell season of 2003. That season he was forced on to the All-Star team by Bud Selig after not being selected to the team and was given a long standing ovation in his "final" start in the 2003 World Series even though at no point before or during the season did he ever say that it would be his final year. Now he's on his way back yet again and in honor of his return I will attempt to take something away from him: the 1986 American League Most Valuable Player Award.
1986 was the last time a starting pitcher won an MVP award as Clemens had arguably the best season of his career going 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA while playing on the best team in the league. In the 1995 N.L. MVP redo I established that it is still possible for a starting pitcher to win an MVP award although it is very difficult. Certainly Clemens had the type of year a starting pitcher would need to warrant consideration for an MVP and he received 19 of the 28 possible first place votes. His main competition was the defending A.L. MVP Don Mattingly and he had an even better season than his MVP year but his RBI total was down from 145 to 113 so undoubtedly that hurt him in the view of the writers. Then other player to receive first place votes was Clemens' teammate and another former MVP in Jim Rice. Rice had a great year but the best position player on the Red Sox was clearly Wade Boggs who won the batting title with a .357 avg and also lead the league with a .453 obp. Boggs only finished 7th in the voting.
Actual Results
1) Roger Clemens 2) Don Mattingly 3) Jim Rice 4) George Bell 5) Jesse Barfield 6) Kirby Puckett 7) Wade Boggs 8) Wally Joyner 9) Joe Carter 10) Dave Righetti 11) Doug DeCinces 12) Mike Witt 13) Don Baylor 14) Tony Fernandez 15) Teddy Higuera 16) Gary Gaetti 17t) Marty Barrett 17t) Scott Fletcher 17t) Pete O'Brien 20) Jose Canseco 21) Jim Presley 22) Dick Schofield
#10
.263/.358/.469, 102 RC, 125 OPS+, .307 EQA, 53.6 VORP, 26 Win Shares
#9
156 ERA+, 2.80 K/BB, 1.21 WHIP, 75.3 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#8
.302/.335/.514, 114 RC, 130 OPS+, .300 EQA, 49.9 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#7
.282/.355/.461, 102 RC, 122 OPS+, .296 EQA, 58.7 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#6
.328/.366/.537, 131 RC, 140 OPS+, .307 EQA, 65.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares
#5
.324/.384/.490, 117 RC, 137 OPS+, .310 EQA, 52.4 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#4
.289/.368/.559, 120 RC, 147 OPS+, .315 EQA, 51.8 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#3
169 ERA+, 3.55 K/BB, 0.97 WHIP, 84.6 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#2
.357/.453/.486, 128 RC, 157 OPS+, .337 EQA, 73.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares
#1
.352/.394/.573, 155 RC, 161 OPS+, .338 EQA, 85.8 VORP, 34 Win Shares
OH IN YO FACE CLEMENS, IN YO FACE!!!
See the fact fuck wasn't even the best player on his own team. That's it he shouldn't be allowed in the Hall of Fame. Pretty much a toss up between Mattingly and Boggs, I wouldn't argue with anyone who feels Boggs should have won it. RICKEY~ didn't receive any votes and neither did Ripken who also didn't receive any votes in the 1984 A.L. MVP redo when I chose him as the winner.
In the near future I'll be posting an 80's round up of MVP redos for the years haven't done yet but aren't interesting enough for their own entry...and I'm not even sure if this one was either.
• So I’ve been listening to this financial guy on RIGHT-WING RADIO Dave Ramsey for a while now, and it’s a pretty enjoyable show. Basically, he talks to people about their money matters. I don’t learn much, if anything, from this program, but goddamn are some of his callers funny. There was one the other day that was great. This lady called and said that her and the hubby have more than $200,000 worth of student loan debt between them. The husband went to law school, passed the Bar exam and then became a stay-at-home dad once they produced a little crumb snatcher. Sorry, but when you go to law school you don’t get to be a stay-at-home anything unless it’s a private practice. But the best part was when Dave asked her what she did for a living. She said that she spent more than $100,000 for her Master’s Degree education. And just what was that Degree in? Non-profit Money Management. You can’t make this shit up.
• Is it any surprise that more than a billion of dollars worth of fraud is now coming to light in wake of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath? I’m surprised the amount is that low. In a way I feel for the faceless administrators and pencil pushers that gave away this money like it was water, but not the kind that strands you on your rooftop. After all, if they actually took their time to research each claim and determine whether it was legitimate or not, they would get the third degree for being cold-hearted and dragging their feet while dead bodies were piling up in the Superdome freezer.
• Darryl Hannah, in a show of protest or something, climbed up some tree to prevent a private property owner from getting rid of this hippie garden where illegals grew crops or something. God forbid this guy do what he wants with HIS property. This sounds like another case for the Supreme Court. I think the funniest thing from all of this is that with the Hollywood celebrities who came to the garden’s defense (Hannah, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ed Harris and Martin Sheen to name a few), you think they could have all chipped in and purchased the land with the $16 million price its owner was asking for. However, the biggest story in all of this is that the Los Angeles Times actually wrote something I agree with.
Now you don’t read stuff like this everyday from this commie publication. Whatever could be the reason for this turn to common sense -- could they be trying to put a somewhat normal face on this rag to prospective buyers? Nah.
• And with all the shit that Philadelphia is dealing with – crime, poverty, failing government schools – it’s nice to know they’re going to come down hard on a guy operating a cheesesteak place just because he has a “Speak English when ordering” sign.
• Wow. The Poland/Germany World Cup game is on and Poland is trying to eek out a 0-0 tie. This would be a win for them because one of their players got red-carded earlier in the game. In the 90th minute two German players, just a few feet away from Poland’s goal, took point-blank shots and hit the crossbar each time. Well this all doesn’t matter because as I’m typing this Germany just scored. Having played several games of soccer as a kid, I can say giving up a goal in the waning minutes of a tied game is probably one of the worst feelings you can get when playing this sport. Well that or unsuccessfully trapping a rock-hard ball with your inner thigh in freezing weather without wearing a jock strap. I think the worst thing about that whole experience was I couldn’t just kneel over and cry, even though I wanted to more than anything else at that moment in time. After I cleared the ball from my area I tried “walking” the pain off. Didn’t work. Not by a long shot.
The first show of the new ECW era was one of the most terrible, mind-numbingly awful one-hours of television in modern wrestling history. Looking like something excreted by Vince Russo after he overdosed on LSD and caffeine pills, the first television show of the ‘new’ ECW could only have been put together by someone with absolutely no real clue or concept about what made ECW. It was filled with the kind of craptacular gimmickry that was the hallmark of Vince Russo, along with the kind of nonsensical booking that is fast becoming, if it hasn’t already, the hallmark of Vince McMahon.
Within ten minutes of ECW restarting, their two faces, Paul Heyman and Rob Van Dam, had been outsmarted and reduced to second tier status in favor of the WWE top guns John Cena and Edge. Edge and John Cena almost effortlessly outsmarted and beat up Heyman and Van Dam, before casually walking off without a care in the world, while the rest of the ECW locker room sat in the back with their collective thumbs up their collective asses. In the next segment, which literally reeked of WWE, we had Heyman rallying the troops and declaring that if WWE wanted to bring it to ECW then ECW would bring it to WWE this Monday on Raw. The first plug for a television program on the new ECW and it’s for a WWE show. How about doing something to plug for the next ECW show first?
The first match featured what could go down as one of the worst gimmicks of the modern era but, fingers crossed, will only go down as a one-night aberration the likes of which harkened back to the dark days of WCW, as The Zombie came shuffling out, complete with powered face and B-movie make-up. When The Zombie started grunting, literally, into the mic, I was immediately reminded of an Ultimate Warrior promo. Thankfully, it didn’t last long as The Sandman, along with his generic sounding uninspiring music, came out and caned The Zombie into the ground and quickly pinned him. That right there was the first ever match of the ‘new’ ECW era, and I don’t think I could come up with a worse way to debut the new ECW.
One of the worst booking disasters was having Paul Heyman announce that, due to what Cena and Edge had done to Van Dam, he was scrapping what he had planned for the rest of the show and was instead going to have a battle royal, under extreme rules, with the winner going on to face John Cena at Vengeance, and also coming with the rest of the ECW crew to Raw on Monday. The major problem I had with this was Heyman shouldn’t be coming on and telling people that whatever he had planned was scrapped because of what WWE did to them. It makes Heyman and ECW look like pussies for caving in to the attack from WWE and abandoning whatever plans he had made to make the first ECW show memorable for the fans. Shouldn’t the ECW fans be dictating what happens on ECW television? Heyman should have come out and said to hell with WWE, we’re doing what ECW does best, an extreme battle royal, and I’m now going to put the winner of that battle royal into a match with Cena at Vengeance. That way, you still wind up with a match set for Vengeance, but it puts ECW over stronger because they’re not seen to give in to WWE and are also the ones forcing Cena into a match. The way it was played out made it appear as if ECW were doing something they didn’t really want and they came across all the weaker for it.
I don’t know what the point of Kelly was. A big-titted bleach blonde bimbo teases going naked and then does one of the least-sexiest dances I’ve ever seen and doesn’t even show her ass or full breast, after two big teases that she would. I know nudity wasn’t going to happen, and the people at home probably knew that the nudity was never going to happen, but why on earth do you tease something like that that you aren’t going to deliver? Sure, it might peak the ratings for one segment, but it sure will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.
And what was the deal with that vampire-like clown half-way through the show?
Heading into the debut of the ‘new’ ECW, some people were holding up hope that it would at least show that WWE Creative were capable of trying something new, and that there might be a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. Instead, we got all that worst elements of WWE, WCW and ECW rolled up into one giant piece of shit.
But let me do the best I can.
I didnt get much sleep last night.
Much sleep at all.
I have a 16 hour work day yesterday (as of this post) and I was just wating to relive my young and budding years.
All with the new heros, The new vision.
And maybe Sci-Fi would had some respect. (Duh, I watch it for Doctor Who and nothing else)
But NBC has to be...such liberals.
Guess what, Annie Coulter is right about you dumb pricks.
For this baby to fail, it needed that Hollywood bull crap Steffie plays.
It was full of it.
No, i didnt expect this promotion to be the one I remember telling Jayen about in 1999.
I expect this promotion as something fresh and new!
But like Time Warner, and Kids WB/Cartoon Network/Adult Swim- the fresh and new, is something old and rancur.
I wanted the OLD school I dont care about modern socity promotion! And there is a LOT of story arcs to play off this.
I wanted the new stars!
Here we are, 2006 nearly 5 years after a downturn- and you telling me that there no major superstars after HHH and HBK on the WWE main shows?
Well, in the end- the pessimests won the first battle of the 13 episode war.
Maybe Meltzer was right, they have moved on and may never come back. After this show, who can blame them.
This is going to be really hard for even Heyman to pull up from. I see mircales from him before. But this will trully prove how good can he be.
Because if this fails, TNA will get that two hour show, and will beat The Brand or take MUCH and MUCH audance from them in 6 months.
This will be pretty much be the end of The Brand. Because if they cant even expand in the pro game, what else are they going to do!? Even the hardcore marks know something is wrong. If they cant even succeed in PRO WRESTLING, THERE DEAD, and the business will change forever.
And some how Vince knows this. And thats why he will stick to his guns. And he would want to fix this.
But if he cant, and there are signs pointing to this- you are going to see such a shift in this buisness, that your not going to see more TNA's poping up to compete in the business, its going to be the RULE your going to see start ups.
Saturday Morning (when the ratings come in) is going to be a really intresting look.
12 episodes left.
Can they reverse the worst pro show in history?
Or is this the end of the WWE...
Well, thanks to Leena I think I finally got this blog comment thing fixed. My last test didn't work but this time comments should be enabled so please leave some if you have time. PLEASE DO SO. THAT WAY I'LL KNOW IF MY BLOG'S COMMENTS ARE WORKING!!!!
Question of the day for Tuesday June 13th 2006
If you were forced to make a choice between killing 10 random dogs or 10 random humans what would you do?
Just when I thought I was turning into a commie, I get thrust back into reality. Yesterday I had to drive to a pharmacy about 15-20 minutes away from my house to pick up a prescription for my one cat who’s suffering from a urinary tract infection. As I was turning onto the road leading up to this store, I noticed this long, silver-haired guy standing on a corner with a sign reading something like, “2000 soldiers dead is 2000 too much,” or something of that nature. After my pleasant visit to the pharmacy (the vet screwed up the dosage amount or something; I was then told that it would take at least an hour to fill and that they would deliver the drugs to my house) I got the chance to drive past this idiot. Remembering the good ol’ days back when I lived at Sappy Valley, which had a student protest about something-or-other several times a week, I got to re-live the vigor of my youth. As I was waiting patiently by the yield sign where he was standing, I pointed at him, laughed and yelled, “Get a job, hippie!” The rest of the drive home was gravy.
This made me think back to all the good times I had making fun of protesters and their stupid causes. Now I doubt nothing will be better than the time I took a “Free Mumia” flyer from some pseudo-hippie during one of those Penn State marches, shoved it down my pants, wiped my crack with it, and gave it back to dumbfounded protestor-ette. However, there was another time that ranks right up there. I mentioned this story a few times at the TSM boards, but it bears repeating so here I go again.
[Flashback mode on]
I was manning some stupid booth for a school club I was part of during my college days when suddenly, about 20 or so feet across from me, these two bald-headed women from the SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY started setting up their stand to pass out propaganda to the mindless teens and twenty-somethings that roamed the halls. Now this duo had all the usual posters up for leftist causes like “Free Mumia,” “Abortion is a choice,” and “Lift the embargo on Cuba.” However, they had one that pissed me off, and that was “Jail the cops who killed Johnny Gammage.” Now back around 1995, there was the Steeler – Ray Seals – who had a cousin that got pulled over in the middle of the night by a group of Shittsburgh PO-lice. Instead of doing what the officers told him to do, Gammage started some shit with them. One thing led to another and the PO-lice eventually had Gammage pinned to the road, where he died of asphyxiation. The day before my booth-sitting one of the officers, John Vojtas, got acquitted. (Or was it a mistrial? I forget.) This of course pissed off just about every lefty out there. Now I guess it was a shame the guy died and all, but it could have been prevented if he didn’t start shit with the cops. So to that I say fuck him. Anyway, I had been hearing this hippie psychobabble for a day or so now, and when you’re in a liberal arts shithole like I was in, days can seem like years. (Here's some background info on the case: Link 1. Link 2.
It was at this time when a chick I knew came up and we started talking. I went to get several pieces of paper, some tape and a Sharpie. As she saw me write in large letters “Vojtas Acquitted: One Down, Three To Go,” she started laughing and said, “You’re on you own.” I taped the sign up to my booth, sat back and waited. About 10 minutes went by when I got my first threat by some black chick. Another five or so minutes went by before I got my second threat. These exchanges were nothing note-worthy; just garbage like “What’s this?” and “You think the cops are innocent?” Each time I politely responded and said that Gammage could have prevented his death by obeying the officers. Another person came up to me shortly thereafter and threatened to rip my sign down, to which I smiled and said, “Well then I’ll just make another.” That didn’t go over too well. After a few more threats, the Assistant to the Dean of Students visited me and told me to take my sign down. When I asked why she replied, “Because I’ve been getting complaints all morning about it.” When I pointed out that the feminazis across from me had similar inflammatory rhetoric posted, this pencil pusher said, “They reserved that booth to talk about those subjects, you didn’t reserve this booth to do that.” When I pointed out that the Gammage decision took place yesterday and I doubted that the SOCIALIST EQUALITY PATY reserved that booth as late as yesterday afternoon to talk about the Gammage mistrial, this lady looked at me, sighed and said, “If I tell them to take their sign down will you take yours down, too?” It was at that point I cashed in my chips. Gee, I had always thought that Academia encouraged free thought and expression. For the record I did get one voice of support, but that was from a kid who probably grew up to be a bigger curmudgeon than me. Hey, I’ll take what I can get.
[/Flashback mode off]
Now back to yesterday's events. The pharmacy people screwed up my address, so instead of getting those meds I mentioned above at 6:30 p.m., which was when I was told they would be delivered, they didn’t show up until 8 p.m., and that was after I had to give the courier directions over the phone three separate times, which is unfortunate because my house is just a shot across Route 30. Then again, if you’re looking for “Fourth” Drive instead of “Forrest” Drive, you might be in your vehicle for a while. Also, the delivery guy had a Ben Roethlisberger t-shirt on; I guess he was hoping the power of the shirt would help Big Ben’s surgical efforts.
-I didn't watch Raw last night (I watched the director's cut of "The Wild Bunch" instead), though from what I've read about it, it's most likely a good thing I missed it.
Also, Edge is the best heel in the WWE right now, bar none. The guy can work up a crowd like nobody else's buisiness, and gets more heel heat than anybody else in the company.
-What happened to Leena? Just a question, but really, what happened to her? Also, Ortonsault will probably hate me, because I don't like Randy Orton.
-I'll say this about Ann Coulter: Fuck her. Fuck that fucking bitch.
-In my last entry, I mentioned my love for the fighting game "Primal Rage", so now, let me mention two I always hated: Beast Wrestle and Rise of the Robots. BW was ridiculously retarded, and was boring to boot. I would talk more about ROTR, but all my complaints about that game have already been said by everyone else.
Well, that's all for now. Next time: Why "The Henry Rollins Show" sucks, and whatever happened to Carnival?
Hi there Ortonsault, are you comfortable and angry?
Comfortable and furious, TSM.
Then go ahead and speak for America, Ortonsault.
Ok, here it goes.
Anglesault, who inspired my username, is banned.
The_Amazing_Rando, legendary GTG mutant, is banned.
Carnival doesn't post much nowadays and ignores me on MySpace. ¿Por qué?
And Queen Leena, my bestest friend on TSM, where have you gone?
Bottom line, America? Here are some of the people who have the potential to become one of my new favorites:
Felonies!
DrVenkman
Black Lushus
Art Sandusky
Чэв
Hitman Jebus
Fazzle
starvenger
Hawk 34
The Amazing Rando (real one)
CanadianMuggy
Tekcop
Eddie Winslow
also:
any Randy Orton fan
any Spirit Squad fan
any GTG mutant
any heel
Random Thoughts
-Idiot co-worker
!!!
Pretty frustrating, last Thursday I met with a well known cereal company about doing a job for them and everything was on board and ready to go and we were to start production in early august for it. I sent the rep to our sales exec to finalize it.
I come in on Friday morning and I’m told we lost the account. This was a HUGE account and the old fuck we have as our sales exec fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line.
It happens though, you don’t get them all but I pissed because I gave a great pitch all for nothing.
All the asshole had to say was “We’ll get the next one, trust me”.
Fuck you Old timer. You can’t do your fucking job.
-Making it work
I hate not having time for a relationship now that I am actually in one that I want to be in. The previous relationships were us constantly together and that was nice but now I really want to be with my current GF but since I work mornings and afternoons with her working nights as a hostess…obviously our time is limited. We usually meet once a day for lunch together. 90 minutes isn’t enough. Luckily, I’m taking a week vacation soon and we’ll probably escape there and catch up on lost time.
I guess, this is one of those “growing up” things that KKK talks about…when relationships can’t be a constant state of Puppy Love.
-RUDO ON ECW
The ECW stuff has been a complete joke. From the start of the entire idea of the re-birth.
Rudo, nailed it last night. The only thing interesting about the PPV was the crowd and you can get that at any ROH or Indy show. You won’t get that crowd night in and night out.
WWE is being raped by Sci-Fi already. THEY DON’T WANT TO BE WITH WRESTLING.
Remember the last time a network didn’t want ECW? The WWE name helps slightly but not enough.
I can’t fathom how they expected this to work after conceptualizing the idea just 2 months ago. You can’t launch a huge rebirth in that short time frame.
It’ll never work. It’ll be as irrelevant as Smackdown only with a couple smark orientated angles from Heyman to appease his fan base.
Last night just shows It’ll be the same style with a different name slapped on it.
People want to call RUDO a negative minded person, but not what he really is. A open eyed person. Does he nit-pick? Sure. He pays attention to details, which isn't allowed in the minds of the mutants who have spawned again in the fake rebirth.
-DO FIXER Vs BLOOD GENERATION
This is deserving of the praise it has gotten from Meltzer and the rave reviews from across the net.
Just superb.
KKK's Top Posters
Number 87: Latin Assasin
I can't remember when I have ever spoken to this guy, but anyone who sticks his dick into this
on a regular basis without having to pay for it or be in fear of an impending 5-0 bust, and who also posts on a message board, is either a) lying, b) posting some newly-found naughty pics of his sister that were intended for her boyfriend, or c) my n*gga. He may be Latino, but I'll still give him a pound, or whatever it is those black people do when greeting each other.
And now a word from the expert panel I have put together to comment on the people I’ve listed.
From SFA Jack:
• Oh God help me. Big Ben just got into a motorcycle accident and is currently listed in serious but stable condition. He wasn't wearing a helmet. Well at least I know what is going to be the top story in my area for the next month or so. I don't know who was at fault in this accident, but if it's not Ben, the other motorist, even if he or she is from out of state, will be wishing to be Steve Bartman when it's all said and done. And while I'm on the subject, I can't wait to hear all the cries of hysteria over Pennsylvania amending its helmet law a few years ago so motorcyclists can opt not to wear this headgear. The local media have already shifted their resources to the scene of the crash, Steelers Headquarters, and the hospital where Ben was taken. Nice to see they focus on the important things in life; little wonder why I don't take the Shittsburgh media all that seriously.
• When watching the World Cup Sunday, I didn't know who to cheer for in the Iran/Mexico game. Should I pull for the country that is sneaking over the border and refusing to assimilate with American culture or side with the country that wants to nuke my backyard? After much thought, I decided that I feel more for the Iranians. I'm sure at least half of them would chop my head off if given the chance, but it's too bad they got an extremely unfavorable reaction from the crowd over the policies of their wacko president/prime minister/whatever he's called. Wow. I really am turning into a commie.
• You know what's sad about this story? I bet the defendant wins, or at least gets a reduced jail sentence. And defense lawyers wonder why they're so despised.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was on a morning sports talk show in Cincinnati (2 Angry Guys) this morning, pimping his "reality league" web site or whatever it is. Shortly thereafter, he was injured in a motorcycle accident. Thank you for coming on a Cincinnati radio show, Ben, I for one am glad you did.
Speaking of the 2 Angry Guys, they got into hot water a couple weeks ago for putting out the idea that Griffey Jr. should be open to changing positions in order to reduce wear and tear on his body. Their opinions angered Jr and even got a mention on the ESPN show "Around the Horn". Jr made the comment that they hadn't played the game at this level, so they should shut up. And the talking heads on ATH said athletes shouldn't listen to the morons on talk radio.
Now former Reds star center fielder Eric Davis has echoed the view of the angry guys.
I wonder what Jr's comments will be now?
Seems so long ago that he came from kissing Diabase's Feet, fighting with such greats as Stan Hanson, Kawada, Misawa during the great days of AJPW, Hyabusa...to some the greatest matches, maybe in all of sport (IMO) in Jerry Lynn- To beat the Rock, Austin, all in there prime.
Its about time he won it.
It was 1997, maybe after they did the first invasion storyline when ECW invaded RAW. I was 14 years old. I didnt see much of WWF at the time. And all I did was change the channel one night on a Saturday. There he was. A guy that defied all the conventions of what one can do in the squared circle. I didnt know who he was. I didnt care. I didnt know he had a title, but from that very day i followed him. And from him I saw others. I saw ECW- somebody that was giving us mature, not nessarlly immature storylines. Wresling from guys that could never be reached for many many years. (because come on, honestly most of your american style moves comes from two japanese women who tag teamed in the 1980's) Women who didnt play about who they where... And just all out fun.
And he was the center of that universe.
And when it was gone, the brand and the stars, the business not only here, but all over started to suffer.
Now, that 5 year nightmare is over. He now has the title that he should have had back in 2002. This time, It might be more important because not ONLY he is the focas of a new brand, but he is the guy that if cards are played right will start the major recovery of the buisness. Hes in that league with Hogan and Austin. Cena, where as being hated, ONLY came out of his shell of the five moves of doom because of him.
And I knew that he was the future from 1997.
Thats why were in much better shape this morning, then we were ever yesterday. It will be a process. But a process is needed if we are never gonna get out of the Hollywood wannibes.
RVD, ECW World HeavyWight Champion.
Music not only to my ears, but the business ears.
Resident TSM Astros fan vivalaultra inspired me by his excitement over me mentioning Glenn Davis in the new TWiB thread and bringing up him being traded to the Orioles. During the '90/'91 offseason the Astros traded their slugging first baseman for three prospects named Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch. Davis played three injury filled years in Baltimore while Schilling and Finley are still active players. Quite the coup by the Astros but Schilling and Finley's best years would come away from Houston as they would both be traded within the next three years.
This gave me an idea, which I've actually thought of before, of looking at the evolution of a trade and see what other moves it spawned. I orignally was going to post this in the TWiB thread but there is an insane number of moves that that one trade created and changed the lives of many players. This is only from the Astros perspective or otherwise this would go on forever. Now since I'm lazy I'm only C&Ping the transactions from baseball-reference.com.
Fun Facts from the Evolution of the Glenn Davis Trade
-13 future trades, the last made in 2004
-61 Players traded
-Acquired Brad Ausmus from the Tigers, then traded him back to the Tigers, and then traded back for him. If he's never traded again by the Astros he will be the last connection to the Davis trade.
Glenn Davis
January 10, 1991: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, and Steve Finley.
Curt Schilling
April 2, 1992: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jason Grimsley.
Jason Grimsley
March 30, 1993: Released by the Houston Astros.
Pete Harnisch
November 28, 1994: Traded by the Houston Astros to the New York Mets for players to be named later. The New York Mets sent Todd Beckerman (minors) (December 6, 1994) and Juan Castillo (April 12, 1995) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.
Steve Finley
December 28, 1994: Traded by the Houston Astros with a player to be named later, Ken Caminiti, Andujar Cedeno, Roberto Petagine, and Brian Williams to the San Diego Padres for Derek Bell, Doug Brocail, Ricky Gutierrez, Pedro Martinez (the other one), Phil Plantier, and Craig Shipley. The Houston Astros sent Sean Fesh (minors) (May 1, 1995) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.
Phil Plantier
July 19, 1995: Traded by the Houston Astros to the San Diego Padres for Rich Loiselle and Jeff Tabaka.
Pedro A. Martinez
October 10, 1995: Traded by the Houston Astros to the San Diego Padres for Ray Holbert.
Ray Holbert
December 15, 1996: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.
Craig Shipley
January 5, 1996: Signed as a Free Agent with the San Diego Padres.
Rich Loiselle
July 23, 1996: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Danny Darwin.
Doug Brocail
December 10, 1996: Traded by the Houston Astros with Brian Hunter, Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, and cash to the Detroit Tigers for Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller, C.J. Nitkowski, and Daryle Ward.
Jeff Tabaka
January 10, 1997: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
Danny Darwin
February 7, 1997: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox.
Brad Ausmus & C.J. Nitkowski
January 14, 1999: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Detroit Tigers for Paul Bako, Dean Crow, Brian Powell, Carlos Villalobos (minors), and Mark Persails (minors).
Ricky Gutierrez
December 20, 1999: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago Cubs.
Derek Bell
December 23, 1999: Traded by the Houston Astros with Mike Hampton to the New York Mets for Roger Cedeno, Octavio Dotel, and Kyle Kessel (minors).
Trever Miller
March 29, 2000: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for Yorkis Perez.
Paul Bako
April 11, 2000: Purchased by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros.
Yorkis Perez
July 24, 2000: Released by the Houston Astros.
Roger Cedeno
December 11, 2000: Traded by the Houston Astros with Chris Holt and Mitch Meluskey to the Detroit Tigers for Brad Ausmus, Doug Brocail, and Nelson Cruz.
Jose Lima
June 23, 2001: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Detroit Tigers for Dave Mlicki.
Brian Powell
November 30, 2001: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.
Doug Brocail
November 11, 2002: Granted Free Agency.
Nelson Cruz
December 16, 2002: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Colorado Rockies for Victor Hall (minors).
Daryle Ward
January 25, 2003: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Ruddy Lugo (minors).
Octavio Dotel
June 24, 2004: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Houston Astros to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics sent Mike Wood and Mark Teahen (minors) to the Kansas City Royals. The Houston Astros sent John Buck and cash to the Kansas City Royals. The Kansas City Royals sent Carlos Beltran to the Houston Astros.
Carlos Beltran
January 11, 2005: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.
KKK’s Top 103 Posters
Number 88: The Czech Republic
Czech’s a hard read for me. This guy has bitched about my use of “…” at the end of my posts back when I used to do this. He also has griped about my over-use of the words “hippie” and “commie.” But worst of all, he has goofed on my n*gga Paul Harvey, which, in my world, is tantamount to flushing a Koran down a toilet in front of a Muslim male. No, check that; it’s an even WORSE offense. However, he’s extremely approachable on AIM and has answered every inquiry I have asked him through this medium, from explaining what exactly a “neocon” is to what parts of the Windy City and its surrounding areas support the Cubs and which areas support the White Sox. Plus Czech goofs on Racist Dusty, so that’s another plus.
And now a word or three from the expert panel I have put together to comment on the people I’ve listed.
From Porter:
From Carnival
From SFA Jack
• Over in the General Chat folder Fear Havoc brought up an interesting question that I feel needs more elaboration on my behalf. Long story short: He’s friends with someone that’s getting married. He’s thinking of giving the "happy" couple $50 as a gift and wants to know if that’s enough. In my world, that’s perfectly acceptable, and the majority of posters in that thread seem to agree. However, I figured this might be a good time to give some firsthand experiences of this practice of giving, and receiving, loot at a wedding.
1) Unless you’re going to some uber-yuppie reception, giving $50 for you and your guest is perfectly acceptable. At my wedding reception the meals were about $25 per person, so you’re basically saying with a $50 gift, “Thanks for inviting me. Here, I’ll take care of my food bill because I know you are paying for plenty of other shit. Now, where’s that free bar?” At my reception, most people gave $50, which was fine with us. However, my old man’s table, which featured eight various cousins and uncles, gave us a total of $40. The most aggravating thing about this wasn’t even the money; it was the fact we had to include this table into the reception plans two days before the wedding, more than two weeks after the RSVPs were due.
2) If you’re going to get a gift, please make sure it’s something from their wedding registry. This isn’t rocket science. It’s nice to know that if our George Forman grill ever craps out on us, that we have two others just waiting to take its place. And if you’re not going to bother reading the registry before getting something, make sure you include the receipt so it can be returned. It’s nothing personal; there’s only so much storage space people have in their house/apartment and sometimes you have to be practical.
3) While I’m on the subject of registries, sometimes you’ll come across an item with a rather large purchase price. Don’t think that the bride actually expects this to be filled; it’s a pipe dream (and yes, the bride is the one who fills these registries out). The better half’s pipe dream was some new sink stand to replace the funky green colored one for the upstairs bathroom. She was under the delusion that some people from her side of the family would “chip in” and get this for us. What did we end up getting from the people she hoped would get her this gift? Four plastic glasses, a plastic pitcher, and a single towel with matching wash cloth. So close.
4) Whatever amount you give to a wedding party, expect no more than that amount back when you get hitched. After our wedding, the better half took note of what everybody gave us (well, the people who weren’t married yet) and that is what we are going to give them whenever their big days come. Shortly after our wedding, one of our guest couples got hitched and we sent them the same amount of money they sent us. Of course, when I asked what was the point of this monetary exchange, since in the end it turned into a zero-sum game, I didn’t get a coherent answer.
5) Gift cards are just as good as cash, but please make sure it is for a store the happy couple frequents. For us, our Target, Kohl’s and Best Buy gift cards were well-spent. However, the one for Linens ‘n Things took some time to be depleted, and even then the money spent on fabric could have went to buying a perfectly good DVD.
Didn't get around to talking about my trip or posting any pictures, but does any of that matter? I posted some Nintendo World museum pix in the VG folder (Comments thta don't warrant a thread) so that was good. I have a Flickr account as suggested by someone at work, so my masterpieces will all go there eventually. I guess I should say that when I was away, I bought a Dunder Mifflin / "World's Greatest Boss" mug from the NBC store. The Colbert Report taping was interesting, with the warm-up guy being pretty funny. He ragged on us for saying we were from Canada, good times. It was te 99th episode and the last one before they went on a two week hiatus. They showed "The Difference Makers" and while that was on, Colbert had broken character at the desk and was cracking up at those crazy Mexican hating Texans.
Anyway, due to a temporary supervisor exchange, I will be relocated for the next month. I'll have a net connection and all that, but it won't be me own dedicated connection so it's good to consider me postless for the next little bit.
I am looking forward to the ECW show tomorrow and hope the subsequent show revival is good. I'll probably go to the SmackDown / ECW show in Detroit at the end of July.
That crazy mySpace... I don't know how many of you are familiar with Sugar from YTV in Canada (cute, looks young but was born in 1980, high pitched voice, lent it to some anime) but she's pretty cute, and damn I found some nice pix on her mySpace page. It's weird knowing she's a kids TV host.
I approve of the rule HTQ set about pasting newsletters, etc. word for word. Ok, maybe it's because I get the WON in the mail (and usually a day or two AFTER it gets transcribed here, at that), but I always felt that it's awesome for subscribers to share news with the board, but to copy word for word what Meltz says is not cool.
Damn, I hope I am able to keep up to date on my WWE Fantasy roster for the next month. I want to place 1st (or at least top 3) in the TSM league, but one of our league members is a top 5er in the overall standings. This is a tough season with ECW involved.
Edit: Oh yeah, I got new glasses. People at work call them "Stylish" and say they look good. I like that.
Behave, everyone. I will be back.
Ortonsault, C.M. Punk, Sugar, Pam / Jenna, Ryan / BJ, and the rest: Thanks for the add.
