The reason Kevin Nash won’t be facing CM Punk is that Nash did not get clearance to wrestle.

Matt Hardy is turning out to be a complete asshole. This is what he says in a you tube video titled “Goodbye.”

Goodbye, World …

My time here is

Almost complete …

I only have a few

Hours & minutes …

I loved you all …

Regardless of how

You felt about me…

I’ll miss you all

September 23, 1974 – August 31,2011

This video has been taken off the website.

Meanwhile Jeff Hardy’s wife, Beth is saying that it is a “work” as police showed up at her home. She wrote the following:

“When the cops show up to our house at 11 pm, for a “suicide call” the fucking joke is over @MATTHARDYBRAND. Stop trying to work the Internet.”

The Sheriff’s office received almost 25 calls to check on Matt.

Rock says the reason he came back to the WWE is not to become champion again. I came back for these reasons: entertain the fans like no-one else can. Elevate the WWE to new heights never seen before. Challenge and mentor some of the younger talent. Give the millions what they want which is to kick John Cena's f'n a--. #RockTalk

CM Punk sure knows how to push Triple H’s buttons. Do you think Triple H looks good in pink??

There is talk that if the live Smackdown! does well on Tuesday it might make a permanent move to that time slot. 

Hello gabbers, and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. I know that some of you are digging out from the damage done by Irene. Thankfully, the damage was not nearly as bad as forecasters had predicted. I wish that my job allowed me as much margin for error as the weather guys...The Austin weather guys have a much easier job this time of year. It is either hot or hotter. As hot as this summer has been, I glance to the west and realize that Harvey and his neighbors have it worse. At least this year Arizona has some good baseball to take their mind off of the heat.

There are still a few good baseball races left to entertain us...the DBacks are trying to run away from the sagging Giants. The Rangers appear to have a comfortable lead over the Angels and the Tigers are trying to hold off the surging White Sox...but the sporting world's  attention has been drawn to football. Tell me that you have not watched a bit of preseason football or have read to prepare for your drafts...yes indeed, football season is here.

I read today that Michael Vick has signed a 6 year contract for 100 million dollars. How does this make you feel? We have always been a nation that embraces comebacks. If ever there is a guy that has reinvented himself, it is Michael Vick. I know that the proof is in the long term pudding, but considering that this guy was signed last year as the 3rd string  QB...the contract he signed this week is pretty damn amazing. Do you remember Kevin Kolb? I know that I do. I drafted him on more than one fantasy team last year. I was lucky enough to grab Vick in two of my leagues when Kolb went down; the other one I was not so lucky. I read an article about Vick in ESPN the Magazine yesterday and was intrigued by the transformation that Vick went through to become a more polished NFL QB. After each practice last summer, Vick worked with Eagles QB coach Marty Mornhinweg. Because Vick arrived from prison 2 steps slower, he was forced to embrace the pocket. After practice was over, Vick worked on his footwork...over and over again. You may have seen these drills...cones are set up and the QB has to work through the cones then fire to a target. Slowly but surely, Vick became better. The article shows Vick's numbers from his last year at Atlanta and last year by quarter. In each quarter, he was at least 10% more accurate. As Vick's athleticism came back, the finished product was pretty damn good. I sense that prison changed Vick in many ways...let's hope that he does not forget what he learned behind bars.

Ben prepares to fire...

Last Friday was the first game for my son's Westwood HS football team. The Warriors of Westwood faced one of their old rivals from Cedar Park. Cedar Park put a whoopin on Westwood last year on their way to a heartbreaking loss in the 4A state finals. This was a really good team that had 5 D1 OL prospects. Thankfully four of them are playing on Saturdays now, but there was still one big ugly and a returning stud at QB. Cedar Park is a power football team. They really run the old single wing attack and last Friday saw their Sr. QB rush 33 times for 225 yards. Brian Hogan is the Timberwolves QB and he was his slipperly, silding self last Friday. Not exceptionally big or fast, he has a talent for evading tacklers. It is a good thing that he does not pass well as the two interceptions he threw probably resulted in a Warrior victory. As I have previously mentioned, Westwood has a stud QB of their own. The Cedar Park Timberwolves defense was determined to not allow Ben any running room. They did indeed contain the QB run, but as they found out, we also have a pretty good running back and receiver this year. I have included several videos of last Friday night. The Final score was 21 to 13 and was a great start to a promising season. My son played on each special team and played most of the 4th quarter as an inside linebacker. He is #35 in the videos.

Blake brings down the elusive Brian Hogan.

Those Friday night wins feel so good...

Westwood begins the season with flair...

Cedar Park's troubles began early...I missed this, but of course it was on you tube...

Opening kick off...

What will give area defensive coordinators sleepless nights...Ben to Dez.

Another completion to Dez...

The back breaker...after Cedar Park scored to make it 14 to 13 (missed the extra point) We were trying to run out the clock. LeDeans Anderson had a better idea. This kid moved to Austin from out of state at the end of last year...welcome to Texas LeDeans!

Blake makes a nice tackle (had to include this).

Can anyone explain why the flute section is sitting down? I am sorry to say that I have a difficult time with much of what the high school bands do these days. I guess I am a traditionalist...

Here is the after game celebration...we call this the 5th quarter.

After reading this today, I could not help but mention. It has become common for many folks to train in CPR and to learn things like the Heimlich maneuver. It is such a simple thing, thankfully this vendor knew what he was doing:

Hot Dog Story Link

That's all I have for this week...but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey to ponder:

There should be a detective show called "Johnny Monkey," because every week you could have a bad guy say "I ain't gonna get caught by no MONKEY," but then he would, and I don't think I'd ever get tired of that.  

I wish I would have a real tragic love affair and get so bummed out that I'd just quit my job and become a bum for a few years, because I was thinking about doing that anyway. 

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own...

Hey Gabbers, welcome to another Wednesday. I am getting started with my classes at Wayne State today, but I spent last night out with IHM, my dad, and a few other folks at the pool hall. Pool is definitely a game of skill and finesse, neither of which I posses much of. Still, fun stuff.

I spent part of the weekend going to a card show. Still kind of a sad affair compared to what I remember. I only bought one item, an Alan Trammel starting line-up. They had a Mike Hennaman too, but I decided to go with the Tram alone. My dad, of course, spent time finishing up his NFL/MLB team sets.

They didn't have anybody signing, but I had some thoughts about it. I can remember catching some of the old Tigers like Gates Brown or Auerrolio Rodriguez. They would generally sign for free, or maybe a buck or two for multiple items. I think I had to pay a slight bit more for Mickey Lolich. I've recently seen current Tigers like Danny Worth or Don Kelly charging upwards of $20 per autograph. I don't get it.

Now my bro used to collect autographs. He'd send away for them and would usually at least get a pic. He didn't have to pay much. Frank Thomas asked for $5, but it went to a children's charity. I see this as more of a sign of the disconnect between the players and fans. And as Fan82 said, we kinda lie back and take it. I don't want to pay $20 for a guy who had a good year or so. I don' like paying for old timers either, but I can see why they would charge something. I'd get tired of people asking me for autographs every time I go out in public. I think that a lot of leagues, esp NFL/NBA, need to do something to reconnect and at the very least discounted autographs may help close the gap some.

The Nationals are looking to bring Stephen Strasburg back to the bigs for a debut this season. He's scheduled to make his start Sept. 6. of course, the question arises as to why. The Nats are clearly out of it. If Strasburg hurts himself, the teams will be ridiculed. Even if he does well, it seems kinda moot at this point. The one plus side, more fans will come in to see Strasburg pitch. The money rolls in for the ownership. I wonder when they'll bring Bryce Harper up?

Speaking of pitchers, Justin Verlander won his 20th game last weekend. He's had a great year and is considered the favorite to win the AL Cy Young. Jim Leyland recently went on record saying he backs JV for MVP. This opens up the debate of whether a pitcher should win the MVP. As for me, I say so if the pitcher is that dominant. Denny McClain was certainly just that and was a huge part of the Tigers success in 1968. While Verlander has been great, he's hardly the biggest part of the team. The Tigers have had key upgrades at short stop and catcher. We've also had some great pick-ups at the trade deadline.

Personally, I believe that position players should normally win the award. McClain was an obvious exception in 68, but rarely has a pitcher stepped up enough to win. Guys like Bautista or Granderson should be chosen. So, what do you say Gabbers? Is JV even the Cy Young favorite? Does he have a shot at MVP?

Last week, ScottJax77 got our first troll on the site. Congrats man. For a reward, here's a special video.

http://youtu.be/mDREg5nRCbs

Well, hate to keep it short, but I have class tomorrow. I'm also hoping to find a sweet gargoyle for my sister's upcoming wedding. Thanks for reading and for any thoughts you leave. As always, here's your weekly vocab.

free balding, noun

Sunday I had two fantasy football drafts. One was in the morning and the other was in the afternoon. Thanks goodness, because it was a long day. Each draft took almost 3 and a half hours.

The first draft had 10 teams and 15 rounds. You have to select 2 QB, 2 K, 2 Defense, 4 RB and 5 WR. I selected first and we used the snake to do the rounds. Here is my selections:

1^st pick: RB Adrian Peterson

20^th pick: RB Steve Jackson

21^st pick: WR Larry Fitzgerald

40^th pick: WR Santonio Holmes

41^st pick: WR Mike Williams

60^th pick: QB Josh Freeman

61^st pick: K Sebastian Janikowski

80^th pick: WR Kenny Britt

81^st pick: Patroits Defense

100^st pick: QB Matt Cassel

101^st pick: WR Jacoby Jones

120^th pick: Chiefs Defense

121^st pick: RB Brandon Jacobs

140^th pick: K Lawrence Tynes

141^st pick: RB Delone Carter (I had to it’s an Orange thing)

My starters will be Freeman, Peterson, Jackson, Fitzgerald, Holmes, Williams, Janikowski and Patroits Defense

In the second draft we had 14 teams and 16 round. You had to take 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 K and 1 Defense. Then you could select anyone you wanted. I had the 14^th pick. Here are my selections:

Except for the first three selection, I forgot to write down what order I took them:

WR Andre Johnson (14^th pick)

WR Hakeem Nicks (15^th pick)

RB Jahvid Best (28^th pick)

WR Julio Jones

RB Brandon Jacobs

Lions Defense

K Sebastian Janikowski

QB Josh Freeman

RB Rashid Jennings

WR Kevin Walters

WR Arrelious Benn

RB Delone Carter

WR Steve Breaston

TE Brent Celek

WR Anthony Armstrong

RB Issac Redman

Hoodwood actually has two football teams. Both of the are named the Black Bandits but obviously play in different leagues. But in a stroke of marketing genius, both play in the same venue with home schedules mirrored opposite. In lay terms Hoodwood Stadium is hosting a game every week, whether it’s the Hoodwood Chocolate City Black Bandits or the Great Midwest Football League or the Hoodwood Black Bandits of the HHFL. Heres a rundown of both teams

Hoodwood-Chocolate City Black Bandits

2010 Record 9-5 1^st in Lombardi Division, defending GMFL Champions

The Bandits are the gold standard of the GMFL, in the 21 seasons of play they have won 9 titles including the last two and four of the last five. The Bandits are used to drafting low but have traditionally  have drafted smart worked the waiver wire as an artform and haven’t had a below .500 since the league went to head to head competition in 1992. The worst record that this team has had was 6-6-2 in 2005. Keep in mind that this league has traditionally been very tough. The Bandits are one of the league elite but ironically have few of the records, The leagues only unbeaten regular season, most consecutive wins and most points in a season belong to other teams. The Bandits win when it counts

Rosters-Starters

QB Brees

RB-DeAngelo Williams

RB Ryan Mathews

WR-Larry Fitzgerald

WR Reggie Wayne

WR/TE Kenny Britt

Defense- Eagles

K Stephen Gostowkowski

Bench

Matt Hasselbeck-QB

RB- Mark Ingram, Ryan Torain, Ronnie Brown,

WR- Brandon Tate, Mike Crabtree, Derrick Mason,

Defense-Atlanta

Butler County-Hoodwood Black Bandits- HHFL

2010 Record 4-10 4^th in All World Division

These Bandits are poor country cousins to their more successful namesakes and are perpetually jinxed and snake bitten by unlucky top draft picks that get hurt or have subpar seasons. This team is the mirror opposite to the other team having had only 1 playoff season in 6 seasons of play and that was with a 7-7 record in 2009. That team ironically knocked a long time nemesis (a team that they had never beaten in 10 tries) off in the semifinals before getting hammered in the championship. Looking for a move to the elite the 2010 team suffered a painful setback. Losing their first three games out the box with none being remotely close. But these Bandits ironically were 3-5 with a real chance to get back into the playoff hunt in which no one was really taking control of, facing their nemesis in week 9 and the opportunity to make a statement the Bandits were clobbered 111-42 and went on a 5 game losing streak. The Bandits did win a rematch at season’s end but it was a pyrrhic victory, as the win cost them the #1 pick. This team needs the magic its affluent namesake has for a solid 2011 season.

QB-Matt Ryan

RB-Adrian Peterson,  Knowshon Moreno

WR-Larry Fitzgerald, Dez Bryant

OP-Austin Collie

Defense-Ravens

Kicker-Garrett Hartley

Bench

QB-Joe Flacco

RB-BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Darren Sproles

WR- Mario Manningham, Robert Meachem

D-Falcons

K- Stephen Gostokowski

Both of the teams look fairly similar, AP was the #2 pick in my draft in the HHFL, I got Brees and Fitzgerald in back to back picks in the GMFL. I gobbled up Fitzgerald in the 2^nd round in the HHFL as well. If asked to explain why I do so well in one league and so bad in the other it defys logic. I might acquire a throwaway team in Yahoo for shits and giggles but these are my two long time teams.