What's up Gabbers?

This week's been one hell of a ride for me. I've felt like shit for the past five days, and honestly I don't have that much in the tank to go on, so I'm just going to go with the flow here  and whatever comes out is what you get, but I'll try to cover what I watched this weekend as I wished for a quick and painless death while laying on my couch.

Thursday and Friday night I watched the Cardinals steal the World Series from the Rangers. Or, if you want to look at it from another angle, I watched the Rangers choke and blow the World Series. either way, congratulations to the Cardinals. And congratulations to David Freese for winning the MVP...the dude deserved it, because frankly without him, the Rangers would have been celebrating the victory on Thursday night.

I'm glad the World Series ended up being the Cardinals and Rangers because it turned out to be a seven game series that had 6 very exciting games and 1 blow out game, and much to the media's chagrin it was one of the most entertaining series in recent memory. Granted, my memory only goes back a few years (unless you've fucked me over, I never forget that shit).

Saturday was all about college football (as it should be). I started out watching Nebraska and Michigan State thinking it would be a good game, and it was if you're a Cornhusker fan. Michigan State looked nothing like the team that beat Wisconsin last week, as they let the Huskers run up and down the field at will on them all afternoon, eventually losing 24-3.

Apparently I lost interest in this game in the 2nd half, and I think I fell asleep or some shit, because one minute I'm watching Nebraska/Michigan State, and then the next minute I'm watching Oklahoma Kansas State. I was slightly excited when I realized which game I was watching, especially when I saw the score was 17-14 Wildcats. Well, that's about all the Wildcats could celebrate, because after they took that 3 point lead the Sooners brought out the 10 foot titanium dildo and rammed it straight up the Wildcats' ass, unleashing an unwavering barrage of points on the hapless pussies, and I don't even know what the final score ended up being because I switched channels when it was 176-17 or some shit like that, and put it on a game that was a little more "competitive".

That game was Penn State/Illinois, and the score was 0-0. It doesn't get much more competitive than that. I guess they were just waiting for me to show up because as soon as I started watching, both teams started scoring points. Eventually Penn State pulled out the 10-7 victory giving Joe Paterno the most wins in Division 1 history. This teaches us a valuable lesson that we can share with our kids: if you stay at your job until you're 125 years old, you will eventually be the best at what you did. Seriously though: congrats Joe Pa...you've earned it.

After the Penn State/Illinois game I watched the Gamecocks beat Tennessee in what can only be described as a "what the fuck just happened" game. Carolina won with their running game that was missing their star running back...I just don't get it sometimes, and I'm not even going to pretend to try. Carolina's defense looked stout for the entire game though, as Tennessee's shitty Freshman QB had nowhere to go for most of the night.

After the Gamecocks won I flipped over the Clemson/Georgia Tech and laughed my ass off until it induced a 10 minute phlegm-spewing episode that damn near killed me (not kidding) as I watched the Tigers choke away their chance at making it into the BCS (as if they ever had a real chance anyway).

During my time of glee I decided to hop online and check out some other scores, and I noticed that OSU had pulled off an upset against Wisconsin. Beezer said it best with two consecutive Facebook status updates: 1) How's what Wisconsin dick taste Ohio State? 2) Nevermind, Wisconsin doesn't know how to play defense on Hail Marys.

How can you not defend the hail mary? It's the easiest play in the game to defend...you knock the fucking ball down. That's it. That's all you have to do. Apparently, they don't teach this at Wisconsin. The best way to beat Wisconsin is to run the hail mary every play...they can't stop it, and you can just move the ball down field at will with a 100% success rate. Teams who still have to play Wisconsin, take note of this...the hail mary -- use it, and use it often.

Sunday I was primed and ready to watch the Panthers/Vikings game, because I thought thsi would be one of those games that the Panthers would be able to win since the Vikings have forgotten how to play football this year. Well, things weren't going too terribly for the Panthers, even though they were losing 24-21 late in the 4th quarter. They had the ball with about a minute to go and they were moving down field, and then BAM!, Cam Newton rushes for a first down to set up first and goal with 50 seconds to go. But no...there's a flag on the play for holding (that may or may not have occurred). The flag takes a 1st and 10 and turns it into a 3rd and 7. 

Well, naturally they only get 5 yards on the next play, so it's 4th and 2. It's a 3 point game, and it's a 31 yard field goal try to tie the game and send it to over time, so bring in the kicker...he's got this. Olindo Mare makes 31 yarders in his sleep, so he should have no trouble with this one, right? Well, that's what I thought. I almost didn't even watch because it 's so automatic...and then, in what's still the WTF moment of my weekend, the mother fucker misses it. Shanks the fuck out of it. Ballgame, Panthers lose. Instead of 3-5  at the bye they're 2-6 with at least 3 losses that should be wins.

Of course, there are no almosts in the NFL, but it definitely pisses me off to see a team lose like the Panthers lost today...kickers are paid to make 31 yard field goals, they're not paid to miss them. So why did Mare miss it? I don't know, but I sure as hell don't trust the mother fucker in an important situation any more. Fuck, my blood pressure's going up just thinking about it now, so I think it's time for me to wrap this shit up before I stroke out and don't get to hit publish, which means the last 15 minutes of my life would have been wasted typing this shit that no one would ever read when I could have been stroking my dick instead.

Alright guys I'm out. As always, feel free to leave any thoughts you have in the comments section.

Oh, and by the way...Happy Fucking Halloween.

Until next Monday...

Am I motivated?  No.  Have I been motivated lately?  Not really.  Motivation is a fickle creature that can have some serious implications when it rears its ugly head.  I had a hard time last night, even getting motivated to go to a friends Halloween party.  Was I motivated enough to go?  Barely.  Was I motivated enough to wear a costume?  Nope.  Was I okay with it?  Yup.  Were my buddies okay with it?  Yup.  So that is where the motivation problem becomes contagious. 

Is motivation the problem in Boston?  Is motivation the problem in every Stanley Cup Hangover?  In all seriousness, it must be hard for the winning team to move on while the Cup is still in the building.  The Bruins need to forget about last season, forget about all the public appearances they were doing at the start of this season with the Cup, and simply get motivated once again.  That is where the value of a Mark Recchi was evident.  Maybe the Bruins need a veteran leader right now, that can look at the problem objectively and try to right the sinking ship.  The main key players that the Bruins lost last season were Recchi and Ryder.  Was Ryder the positive influence on the young players on the Bruins?  I can definitively say no.  Recchi provided some much needed leadership and dedication that the Bruins seem to be lacking right now.  Peter Chiarelli needs to do something quickly, before the Bruins get themselves into a hole so deep, that trying to climb out of it provides them with a defeatist type of attitude.  What are Chiarelli's options?  The Bruins have the cap room and they have the resources to go and find that veteran leader that they are sorely lacking.  Does it mean going out and getting a player like Recchi?  Yes it does.  Does it mean going out and getting a player that may have played with Recchi and had won the Cup with him?  Maybe that is where the value in a player like Ray Whitney lies.  Consistent scoring, veteran leadership, and someone who has been in the game long enough and can be relied on to help augment the current leadership group in the Bruins dressing room.  That's right augment...because after all, it still is Chara's team

This is an occurence we have seen all season long, and this issue has been around in smatterings for the last few years.  Shanny is coming in and trying to repair the damage that his predecessor caused.  The players just aren't getting it, and it makes perfect sense.  Let me use an analogy here.  Lets pretend there is a school that has a principal close to retirement.  When there is a little dustup on the schoolyard, the principal is content with phoning the kids parents (GM and coaches) and bringing the students into his office for a meeting.  The principal then scolds the students involved, and in severe cases, tells the student that he is going to have to spend a couple of days at home.  The word starts to get around that this principal really doesn't care, he's going to be retiring anyways.  Eventually, that person retires and a new principal takes over.  This new principal is younger and new to the job.  Maybe this new principal worked under the old principal as a vice principal, and maybe the whole time he was taking notes on how he would have handled the different situations.  Once the new principal takes over, he sends a letter home to all the kids parents and advises them of his expectations.  Now, it is his time and his chance to clean up the issues that he had spent the last period of time seeing handled improperly.  So he comes out hitting hard, suspending students that were getting away with their little dustups for the last couple of years.  Now the students are looking at each other and thinking, wow, that was a suspension?  The new principal now has to change the culture of behaviour in his school, and he now has the golden opportunity to fix what he saw as being incorrect. 

Would Campbell of suspended this type of hit last season?  Maybe.  Will Shanahan suspend this type of hit?  You can rest assured he will.  It is going to take a few more consistent suspensions before this starts to right itself again, and the players start to respect each other once more.  This could be the year of the first time offender, and it is already shaping up that way.  Players that have never been in trouble with the NHL before are now finding themselves called onto the carpet, so to speak.  Something that the NHL had been lacking in the past was consistency and transparency.  With Shanahan in place, hopefully they have the correct person in charge.  Personally, I have always been a fan of Shanahan.  It takes a lot of balls to stand in front of a camera and justify his decisions to his fans and to his players.  That in itself, provides Shanahan with more respect from me.  For a long time now, I have been an advocate to the "Fire Campbell" movement.  Now that he is gone, it is now Shanny's league to enforce how he pleases.  And as it would appear, he likes to do it with consistency and transparency.  Will he do something that I will disagree with?  I can guarantee you he will.  But you have to respect what Shanahan is trying to do.  Shanny has to change the culture of behaviour that has been prevalent in the NHL for the past few seasons, and it will not be an easy job.  We are going to see many more suspensions this season, and some of them may be from players that have never had contact with the NHL discipline offices.  But it is going to happen.  And it may have to be a suspension to a player like Datsyuk or Crosby for the rest of the league to really understand how serious Shanahan is about his new job.

Hockey Fight of the Week:

Mike Brown vs Kris Newbury

Thanks for stopping by.

Hotchnuts

Always look on the bright side of life (and sports).   Congratulations to the World Champion Saint Louis Cardinals.  It was a great series to watch, and now that the season has ended, all the fans of the other 29 teams can begin to dream of next season and how their favorite teams are going to win it all.  Baseball will  begin anew in late February of next year when pitchers and catchers report.

Always look on the bright side of life (and sports).  Baseball season may have ended, but pro and college football are in full force and the NHL hockey season has just begun.  College basketball is just around the corner.  The fall and winter sports are entering their time of the sports calendar, with one glaring exception.     

Quick now who can name a sport which should be in full force right now but has instead alienated its fans to the point that nobody cares if the entire season gets canceled?  It is a sport that the fans could care less if the greedy owners lose millions this season or if the overpaid players ever get another paycheck.  That is correct, it is the NBA (no basketball again), the league that is about to put itself out of business permanently. Always look on the bright side of life (and sports).  We will never have to hear ESPN tooting LeBron James horn ever again or proclaiming that the Miami Heat is the new Dream Team.  Nobody cares what Kobe and the Lakers will be like without Phil Jackson.

I really should not be slamming ESPN so much; I actually am indebted to them for all the college football games that they broadcast each week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.   I watch at least 12 or more games each week, and on Saturday it is wall to wall football from morning to late evening.  This kind of viewing was impossible when I was growing up, and even a decade ago was not available.  I feel like I watch so many games that I could actually be a handicapper in Las Vegas (not really, but close).

Meanwhile in satellite television land, The Speed Channel has been bought out by the Discovery Channel and has been renamed Velocity.  There are a ton of programs about muscle car auctions and rebuilding muscle cars from the 1960’s.  That is right in my wheelhouse, and what I grew up with, muscle cars, pretty girls, and rock and roll.  All three have stood the test of time.

Born in the '50s...

A child of the '60s...

Central, Illinois...

Baseball was still our past time...

Football and basketball had yet to hit their strides...

Wiffle ball in our backyard...

With Jeff, Gary, and the other Doug...

The whole neighborhood played...

Even their sisters played...

The kids named the place after my dad...

Van's Field...

What a life...

Cubbie fans???

No way...

 We loved the Redbirds...

The lineup was memorized...

We all had our idols...

I don't know why...

But my hero was third baseman Ken Boyer...

Actually...

I loved 'em all...

Bill White...

Lou Brock...

Dick Groat...

Mike Shannon...

Tim McCarver...

Curt Flood...

Hoolee--onn Hahvee--air...

Who I Iovingly called...

Joolee-unn Jayvee-urr...

Gibby...

Simmons...

Sadecki...

Washburn...

Sportsman's Park...

My first Cardinal game...

Look just above the batter's head...

That's where we sat in the front row...

Uncle Eddie, Cousins Kim and Kerry...

Dad and Me...

July 15, 1964 vs. the Dodgers...

Gibby on the mound...

And he got shelled, 13-3...

Heartbreak..

Listening to the games at night...

On my pink transistor radio...

Harry Caray...

Holy Cow!!!

The 1964 World Series vs. The Bronx Bombers...

My hero comes through...

And I was dancin' with joy in the front yard...

What a life...

What a way to grow up...

Growing up a Cardinal fan...

dvt

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Another  Thursday and another week in sports.

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Can I mention for starters how much I hate the bye week. Of course like the Patriots Rob Gronkowski who loved the bye week . Robbie was a little naughty during his time off with  few photo ops with a porn star. I guess he won’t enjoy this week back at practice after he faces Belichicks wrath. But he was young and wasn’t thinking.

Are the Lions coming back to earth or have they hit a small bump in the road? Ndamukong Suh is a beast and he is a dirty player the guy makes Vince Wilfork look like a model citzen on the field... This kid is what you want in a football player he is tough big and smart and has heart out there. Albert Haynesworth has ability but lacks his heart and that is the difference. Suh is dirty by today’s standards but weren’t all the great defensive players a little dirty? Butkus, Niteschke, Lawerence  Taylor, Lyle Alzado, Fred Smerlas. They were all nasty .

There is no doubt in my mind some trash was said with Matt Ran lying on the ground injured. But that crap goes on all the time. The Lions have taken on there coaches personality because he seems to be a bit intense as well.

Well it finally happened (yawn,yawn,yawn) Theo is in Chicago and his cub gentle Ben is in Boston. As both guys take on new challenges it’s time to see what direction each team will go in. Gentle has actually been with the Red Sox longer than Theo so he gets his shot in the pressure cooker (does anybody use one of those anymore). I think we will see how good Theo was or perhaps wasn’t over the next couple of years.

Sticking with baseball maybe Tony Larussa should learn how to text instead of calling the bullpen or maybe Derek Lilliquest should get the wax out of his ears. I’m not sure which. Now Tony repeat after me M M-M _O-T-T instead of L-L_L Y-N_N. Larussa said he may have slurred but only works if he was managing the Red Sox . There is a funny AP article on this from the Washington Post. The guy goes through some of the great miscommunications in sports this fall. I’m getting into Ron Washington, he is one win away from the World Series as much as I like the Cardinals . I like that Ranger team for Nolan Ryan down. Washington is a character and he is  just fun. That is one thing Pro sports lacks these days. For that matter society lacks it these days except here at the Gab of course. Everybody is to uptight lighten up folks you only go around once. Who ever wins the Series it’s been pretty good so far. I won’t be disappointed if either team wins.

Last night I drafted my 3/4^th grade basketball team and I actually have a kid name Wilson (last names)and was going to draft a kid named Spaulding(I’m not kidding) as my next pick and the guy before me took Spaulding. I thought it would have been funny as all hell to have both Wilson and Spaulding on the same team.

Yes, the war room of a youth basketball draft is just a nasty place. It’s funny because the thing goes smooth and it’s all guys that have been involved for 3 or 4 years or longer. It goes smooth for about 6 rounds and then you pick the kids in the late round and start here crap like good luck with him or just groan or a sigh. Than it comes done to crap like what kid has a good looking mom or what kid is just a good kid or what kid is a pain in the butt. It’s 3^rd and 4^th grade hoops. Last year my wife drafted for me I was away and she was like don’t ever let me do that again those guys suck.