They say Every Picture tells a story...So this week I'm gonna use that as my theme...
What does that first picture say? A couple things...First, I needed another cup of coffee before I did this crap...You'll see why later...Second, I clearly have some geek in me, since I have a Boba Fett coffee cup...That's right, it's not all sex, sports, and ranting here...There is some geekiness too...Hell the Beeze family was playing Star Wars Monopoly tonight...
And before this goes any further...There will be no talk of Tiger Woods, or The Masters...I could give a shit...I'd rather be Watching the Paint Dry then watch golf...
(If you don't get that reference and the picture above, just move on)...
Sunday was a big day for a New York Rangers fan like myself...The Rangers took on the Philadelphia Flyers...The winner moved on into the last playoff spot...The loser, was just that...This game also had personal bragging rights on the line, as my father is a Flyers fan, and my Red White and Blue blood can't stand those bastards....
Once again Henrik Lunqvist did all he could for the Rangers...Stopping 46 of 47 shots on goal...But of course he's teammates played way to cautious with the lead, and went back to their old ways of not shooting the puck enough...It's sad when your looking for Jody Shelley and Brandon Prust to light the lamp instead of Marian Gaborik, and Olli Jokinen...
The game first went to OT...Then to a shootout...The Flyers up 2-1...Here comes, Overpaid, Overrated, if you trade for him, your team will go in the shitter, Olli Jokinen...And, NO GOAL!
Flyers win...Dad calls, busts my balls...Season over for the boys in blue...Go Bruins!
It was time to drown my sorrows...That's right...A six pack of Peroni and a Chicken Club Pizza from Dina's.... Don't worry, I finished it all...Extra 20 minutes added to the workout tomorrow...
I had Saturday off from The Fish House...So what did I do? Took the kids to the grocery store and prepared a dinner for the wife and a few of her friends...They were trying to have a special night without spending too much cash, so I offered to feed them...This also meant getting the kids to behave and leave their mother alone for the evening...The kids were great...Now I have to take them out, so they can pick a reward for themselves...Yes, I bribe them...
Here's what we made for the ladies... Strawberry Gazpacho with sauteed shrimp...Those are pita chips on the side...The Mrs. likes to eat it like salsa...
Balsamic Roasted Pear over a Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with a Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette... My wife's favorite...Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes, green beans, and a red wine reduction...
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After that, the ladies went out for more drinks...I was left to put the kids bed, which wasn't hard since it was well past their bedtime...Oh and the Little Beeze had been up since 4:30 AM...Evil bastard!
Then I got online and searched out new and exciting things to squeeze off a couple rounds to...
It's gonna be hard to follow that up...But I'd like to end with a good old fashioned punch in the face...
I've never been one to believe in Karma...But after I saw this video, I thought...There has to be something...Fate...Destiny...A little, what goes around, comes around...Something...Maybe even Karma...Because after seeing Matt 'Cheap Shot, Dirty, Scumbag, Douche' Cooke get knocked out by Evander Kane, something about the world just felt right...
Sorry for my recent absence. School has been catching up to me lately, especially with finals up soon. I'm back now, and I suppose there's nothing better to start off with than some baseball.
So, the White Sox are officially pissing me off. I know its only five games into the season, but if this is how they're going to play, I don't see how they're going to contend in the AL Central. You simply cannot waste quality starts, and that is exactly what the Sox's bullpen has been doing. Namely Tony Pena and Randy Williams. I cringe when I see either of them enter the game from the pen. The other problem thus far is situational hitting. This team is the opposite of clutch right now. Guys are getting on base but nobody is driving them in. The Sox are stranding way too many runners and that is a key reason they're losing the close games. I guess its a good thing that there's still a long way to go before the postseason comes around.
The next topic is the Masters. The talk has of course been about the return of Tiger Woods after his car crash and going to rehab for "sex addiction." Of course, he's Tiger Woods so he's already back in the hunt. I'll never count him out, but my pick to win right now would be Lee Westwood. Westwood has been on the cusp on winning a major before only to see it narrowly slip away. Westwood is playing some very good golf right now and is near the top in hitting greens in regulation. The biggest challenge for Westwood right now would have to be Phil Mickelson. Mickelson had a very strong third day at Augusta capped off by two eagles. If Phil can play the final eighteen like he did in the third round he will be a very dangerous player, especially if that putter is working.
Next topic is the NHL. Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, and Sidney Crosby are all fighting for the Rocket Richard Trophy which goes to the player who scores the most goals in a season. Stamkos is now the third youngest player to score fifty goals in a season and according to Don Cherry if he wins he will be the youngest player to win the trophy outright. All three play games tomorrow but the favorites would be Ovechkin and Stamkos as they are both a goal up on Crosby entering their final day of play. There is also a huge game tomorrow between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, the winner will get the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. My money would have to be on the Rangers as the Philly's goaltending is pretty shaky at this point. In the West the Sharks are leading the Coyotes 2-1 as I type this, but with a Blackhawks win tomorrow, the Hawks will be number one in the West. (Go Hawks!)
I honestly don't give two shits about the NBA but the Bulls just pissed me off so I have to rant. One game before the crucial matchup with Toronto (minus Bosh) they go out and lose a game to the damn Nets of all teams. That's just pitiful right there. With or without Bosh, and whether or not they beat the Bulls, my money is on Toronto. They end out the season with cupcake games against the Pistons and the Knicks.
The NASCAR race just ended and while Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Juan Pablo Montoya all led 100+ laps, none of those three was the victor. Nope... It came down to a late restart which saw Ryan Newman beat Jeff Gordon and take home his first win in some time. A little tidbit - it was the first win in Sprint Cup history for car number 39. I don't really care for Newman, but I guess he's better than Gordon from this fan's standpoint.
Going to MMA, there was quite an upset in Abu Dhabi this weekend as Frankie Edgar defeated BJ Penn by unanimous decision to win the UFC Lightweight Championship. Anderson Silva toyed around with Demian Maia in their middleweight clash, clowning around at times and circling the octogon quite a lot. The fans got pretty upset with Silva, and while he retained by unanimous decision it was clear that he gassed and couldn't finish Maia in a rather unsportsmanlike showing. Neededless to say UFC president Dana White was pretty pissed with Silva after the fight. In other UFC 112 fight news, the legend vs legend fight of Matt Hughes vs Renzo Gracie saw Hughes come out on top which was really no surprise.
I'll wrap it up with college sports. First off, screw Duke, nothing more needs be said. Secondly, Jimmy Clausen looked good in his workout and it seems like the consensus is that he is the number two QB behind Sam Bradford. I just hope Clausen doesn't get drafted to the Raiders.
Well, that's it for this week, thanks for reading (now I'll go suffer through homework I procrastinated on... thanks Spring Break).
Charles Rogers was the second overall pick of the 2003 draft by the Detroit Lions. He was out of the NFL by 2006.
Partly because of injuries, mainly because of a substance abuse issue.
The Lions gave him a $9.1 million signing bonus in 2003, and have been trying to recoup two-thirds of it since 2006. In 2008, an NFL arbitrator rules in the Lions favor, so it was dragged out in a court of law. A judge today upheld that ruling, thus claiming just the 13Th victory for the Lions since they released Rogers.
Though he gave Detroit a whopping 36 receptions for 440 yards and four touchdowns in 15 games played over three seasons, the Lions somehow felt cheated. They decided Rogers did not uphold his end of the deal in a professional manner. The NFL and the United States of America agreed.
The only question left is wondering how much of the $6.1 million he has left. Rogers has fathered seven children in his 28 years of life already, and once was charged with assault and battery of a woman in 2008.
He also was sentenced to 93 days of jail in January of 2010 for his second driving under the influence in less than four months. His addictions to alcohol and marijuana has slowed his 40 yard dash time from 4.28 in 2003 to 4.65 in a workout with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007.
Though there are rumors he signed a contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in late 2009, he is not officially listed on the teams roster. Even if he has, it is doubtful he has commanded much of a salary from a team who will not start their season for two more months.
Let's just hope he has the cash. Detroit could recycle it by putting it towards their 2010 first round pick, which is coincidentally the second overall pick. The Saint Louis Rams own the first pick, and now appear to be locked onto Oklahoma University quarterback Sam Bradford after cutting 2009 starter Marc Bulger.
If the Rams take Bradford, the Lions then can take the best talent in the draft by the name of defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska University. That way, Detroit will improve that record with another victory.
First things first, my friends. The Tavern has been newly outfitted with a whirlpool tub in the lobby. Yessir. We go high class here. In the newest installment of what kind of random destruction has Mo caused, we find the Lowes delivery people screwing the pooch on my contractor, so he goes off and does a smaller job while the Lowes delivery people are supposedly off doing their jobs elsewhere when guess who shows up? Yup. Not knowing where to put the stuff, they delivered the tub into my living room. This makes sense of course.
My contractor, ever the humorist, calls me and says they never showed up. Which sends me into an apoplectic fit. Until he laughs at me and says they in fact did...except....
This is my life. Embarrassing. Which brings me to the actual tale of the Roundtable forum this week: the length of baseball games.
It's just so embarrassing and a disgrace when it takes so long to get to the end of a night out at the ballpark. I mean, I just hate it when the game takes 4-hours when I've got some places to go after chilling out, and paying $8.50 for a can of Bud Light. All I'm doing is waiting. Good grief, this is so boring. Whether or not you agree with the premise that Joe West assumes in his criticism of the duration of play when the Red Sox and Yankees play, much like when paying attention to who funds research behind pharmacological research, you have to pay attention to this one significant piece in this report from NorthJersey.com: umpires are evaluated on how quickly a game moves. So, tell me again why it is embarrassing for a team to use pitch count as strategy and to take as long as it takes? That's right, it's embarrassing for the UMPIRE when it takes that long - he gets two demerits. Got it.
What is truly embarrassing, Mr. West, is the recent study showing that American parents are among the worst behaved in the world at kids sporting events. THAT, Joe West, is embarrassing, not a game that goes an hour-and-fifteen-minutes longer than an average game. What is embarrassing is when an umpire can't make up his mind in a timely fashion or just wants to dick around with someone. THAT'S the disgrace and embarrassment. What the players do in playing the game is not embarrassing.
Take a good look at this guy. Ask yourself if this is a guy that should be worried about how embarrassing other people present in public? That ad homenem aside, he goes on to talk about these two teams being the best in baseball. Um, it's possible that there's a reason for that. Not claiming cause and effect, but I am saying it's about as competitive as baseball gets when the Yankees and Sox play. You think that it could be a respect thing?
2009: Red Sox 9 - Yankees 9 (Yankees Win World Series)
2007: Red Sox 8 - Yankees 10 (Red Sox win World Series)
3-year span and 54 games. In that period the Yankees have beaten the Sox two more times than the Sox have beaten them. That's pretty freaking competitive. So, Joe, do a baseball fan a favor? Stop worrying about your own evaluation, and start worrying about baseball. Calling the balls and strikes, and the integrity of the game. Although rumor has it he was seen in the airport with his wife recently, this rumor is false.
And just what makes these teams so damn competitive? Well, for one thing, they're in the big leagues. Used in this context, the meaning is not "major leagues," but "Big Leagues," as in money and business. Their respective ownerships are heavy financial players and when you get to the level at which they are, business is not a game.
Forbes just released the highest valued major league franchises. Numbers 1 and 2? The only thing that needs to be said addressing the meanings of those designations is $1.6 B-b-b-billion and $870 Million. There really is no guessing which team is where, is there? For further context, the average MLB team is worth $491 Million. The Red Sox also happen to be second in terms of operating income with $40 Million, and although the Yankees have revenues almost twice that of the Red Sox, their operating income is almost half; their debt to value is 89% which is that 89% of their value is taken up with debt - in this category they're #2. Then again, they have a kick ass new stadium and a shiny new Commissioners' trophy. The Yankees are the only MLB team valued over a billion dollars, but are in the company of The New York Giants & Jets.
We're three, maybe four games into the season. Of 30 teams, there's but one without a win. The Houston Astros. That's a bummer, kids. Even the Marlins and the Royals have won a game.
Meanwhile, I've been dealing with some labor unrest here at the Tavern. Seems that people don't like when you tell them they just can't drink beer on their lunch break. I do appreciate you fine readers are here crossing the picket line. Of course, the whirlpool in the lobby doesn't hurt business any. Now, if I could get Beeze out of it, someone else my get a chance.
Speaking of Beeze, this week was my wedding anniversary, so I thought I'd leave you with a little love song he and I wrote together.
A lot has happened this week, but before I get on with my normal routine I would like to congratulate both Don Nelson and the Charlotte Bobcats for their accomplishments. Don Nelson became the winningest coach in NBA history with his 1,333rd victory, overtaking Lenny Wilkins as the Warriors defeated the Timberwolves last night. And congrats to the Bobcats for clinching the first playoff spot in franchise history with a win against the Hornets (ironically the franchise that left Charlotte for New Orleans).
I would also like to congratulate myself on having the least shit-up bracket in the bracket challenge. Even though I was hoping Butler would pull off the upset (especially at the end with that half-court shot - that would have been awesome), I must say that overall it was a great tournament with a lot of upsets and some great games. (On a side note: I'm still waiting on my cash prize to arrive in the mail, so fRag, Felber or Sully if you could please take care of that I would appreciate it, thanks.)
In the who gives a shit section of the news, Brett Favre became a grandfather. I know it's important to him and his family, but do we really need to know this information? I know the media is obsessed with Favre and everything he does, but I really don't need to know about his personal life - just let me know if he's going to play football or not, and leave it at that.
The biggest news story of the week has to be the trade of Donovan McNabb that sent the All Pro quarterback to the Redskins. Wait, the Redskins? The same Redskins who are a division rival of the team who traded McNabb away? That doesn't make much sense, but then again we are talking about Andy Reid, who has been known to make a stupid decision or two in his career.
As a former Eagles fan, allow me to weigh in on the McNabb trade. The Eagles made the biggest mistake they have made in the last 10 years. Not only was McNabb a Pro Bowl quarterback and one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but he was also the franchise leader in just about every statistical category and the only quarterback to lead the team to 5 NFC title games. (Granted, they only won one of them, but he had the Eagles in competition for the Super Bowl every year he was under center, something a lot of teams can't say about their quarterback.)
The Redskins bent the Eagles over the table, pulled out the vaseline, and royally fucked the Eagles out of the best quarterback in the NFC East. All they had to give up for McNabb was a 2nd round pick and a 3rd or 4th round pick in next years draft. (For the pick to become a 3rd rounder, McNabb has to make the Pro Bowl, or reach a certain snap-count and the Skins have to win at least 9 games. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that both of those happen and the Eagles will end up with a 2nd and 3rd round pick, but they still get the short end of the stick on this deal - McNabb was just too good of a player to give up to a team in the same division.)
Like a lot of people who have made comments on this trade, I don't have a problem with the Eagles trading McNabb. I mean, they did draft Kevin Kolb to eventually take over the team. But, my problem is the fact that they traded him within the division and will have to face him twice a year for the next 3-5 years. So, I hope Andy Reid is prepared to be reminded of the stupid decision he made for the next 10 times the Eagles and Redskins square off, and Donovan torches the Eagles secondary and makes Andy tuck his tail between his legs and try to hide behind his playsheet in shame.
Perhaps the person who got the worst end of the deal (other than the Eagles) is Jason Campbell. Once again Campbell has to deal with the feeling of being unwanted as a quarterback, and now has to once again deal with the adversity that will be thrown his way. Of course, it could work out great for Campbell, because he will most likely be traded out of Washington and could end up on a team that could give him the fresh start he needs to be successful in the league. I can't imagine Washington holding on to him for too long, because they are obviously going to go with McNabb at quarterback and would have no real reason to keep Campbell on the roster, especially if the rumors are true and they are still in the market to draft a quarterback with their first round pick. I have a feeling they will deal Campbell to Buffalo or Oakland for a few picks to give McNabb some weapons to work with on offense, and will upgrade their team to compete in the NFC East.
I've never been a fan of the Redskins, but I will be cheering for them at least twice next season, because I genuinely hope they beat the living shit out of the Eagles - if for no other reason than to stick it to the douchebag fans who offered to give McNabb a ride to the airport once the news of the trade was made public. These are the same assholes who booed when McNabb's name was called out on draft day, because the Eagles didn't do what the fans wanted and draft Ricky "Cheech" Williams with the #2 overall pick. (Don't you just love how stupid fans can be at times? They wanted Williams and were pissed when they got McNabb, yet McNabb has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league for the past 10 years and Williams could barely stay in the league because of marijuana problems up until two years ago when he resurrected his career in the Dolphins' wildcat formation.) So to all the fans who are glad McNabb got traded: don't come back crying like a bitch when the Skins come to Philly and beat the shit out of the Eagles, and McNabb throws for 400 yards and 5 TDs en route to a division title. Just remember: you got exactly what you wanted.
Well, that's all I have for this week. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section and be sure to check out some of the other great stuff we have going on here at the Gab!
