Should Angel Hernandez be fined, suspended, or fired for THIS horrible call?

Kentucky has fallen, so has A-Rod, who got the better of the Rivers/Manning trade? All this and more in this weeks edition of…..

On the March 24, 2011 edition of “Rants and Raves” I posted a question..

Why is it that when you go to the gas station and use your credit card to pump gas, the gas pump doesn’t stop until your car’s gas tank is full.

Are you still paying attention, but, when you pre-pay, the gas pump slows down with about 50-cents to go and it then takes almost a minute or two to finish pumping? Any gas experts???

WELL, I finally got an answer to that question. I was pumping gas at my local gas station, when I noticed a mechanic working on one of the gas pumps. When I was finished pumping gas I walked over to the man and asked him that question and he politely answered the question as such…

When you use your credit card you have control on how much gas is pumped and how much you actually might want to spend so if you want to fill it up the pump won’t stop until the gas tank is full. But, when you prepay you want to only pay a certain amount, so to make sure the pump does not go over the prepaid amount the gas attendant presets when the gas starts slowing down as to not go over the price amount.

This has not been a good week for the NFL.

First Kansas City Chief’s linebacker Jovan Belcher kills his girlfriend, the mother of his daughter, then goes to Arrowhead Stadium, talks to GM Scott Pioli and Coach Romeo Crennel, thanks them for all they have done for him and then commits suicide. Now there is a 3 month old child, Zoey Michelle, without a mother and father.

If that wasn’t enough, and this went unnoticed….

Eric Eucker a member of the Cleveland Browns ground crew also committed suicide by hanging himself in the equipment shed.

I can say the Giants got the better of the deal with the Chargers for Eli Manning. There is no comparison. As we all know by now, Phil Rivers was drafted by the New York Giants with the 4^th pick in the 2004 NFL draft, while Eli was drafted number 1 by the San Diego Chargers. Manning did not want to play for the Chargers they had a 25 year-old quarterback named Drew Brees running the plays for the team. The Giants traded Rivers along with three picks (which San Diego used to draft Shawne Merriman, Nate Kaeding and Roman Oben) to get Manning. Now Rivers, Kaeding and Merriman are great players, but, they have not won any Super Bowls with the Chargers, while Manning guided the Giants to two Super Bowl victories.

8 years and 12 games stat info for Phil Rivers

112 games of which he started 108, 27,254 yards, 181 Yds and 93 Ints. 4 Pro Bowls

8 years and 11 games stat info for Eli Manning

132 games of which he started 130, 30,469 yards, 200 Tds and 140 Ints, 2 Pro Bowls

Alex Rodriguez might miss time due to a second hip surgery. It is reported that A-Rod could miss the first half of the 2013 season. He will have to have his left hip to repaired to fix a torn labrum, bone impingement and the correction of a cyst. It could take four to six months to recover.

To some, they were expected to repeat (don’t tell that to Indiana fans), to others a top 5 team, but now the sky has fallen as Kentucky fell last week from #3 to #8, and this week fell off the map and outside the top 25, by losing to Notre Dame and Baylor. This is the biggest single weekly drop from the ranking since they went to a 25 team ranking in 1990.

Don’t make excuses that Kentucky is a young team, because Kentucky was a young and unproven team last year and they won the National Championship. I must also mention that Kentucky had the top recruiting class in the nation.

The first members to be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame have been announced. Former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert who purchased the team in 1915, bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, and built Yankee Stadium. Also elected into the Hall were umpire Hank O’Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White.

I am rooting for Northern Illinois to beat Florida State. I want to see an occasional underdog, or Cinderella story every once in a while. If I was FSU I would not take NIU lightly.

Til Next Time

Scott

Hey Gabbers. Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. I also hope that mixed in with giving your thanks you had some good times and good BBQ. We had a mass of ribs and drumsticks topped with some Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce. The only thing missing was my traditional stuff jalapeno treat. I halves and seed a few peppers then stuff them with a mixture of cream cheese, sausage, and some shredded cheese for effect. I used to try to wrap them in bacon and grill them to soften the cheeses, but that is tough and a little time consuming. I’ve found that serving them chilled is just as good for most folks.

In the midst of all of this, I got to listen to a few Tigers games. Things started on a down note as the team got swept by the Indians that so many thought we’d demolish. I figured we’d at least get a win with JV on the mound, but our offense stayed quiet.

Of course, the Tribe and Tigers have something else to worry about (as BOB mentioned): the Chi Sox and a resurgent Paul Konerko. What’s more their number 4 starter Chris Sale has been about as good as most thought he could be this year. He’s currently 6-2 with a 2.34 ERA and 61 strike outs. Keep in mind, this is their fourth starter. His last three games have been real smooth with 3 wins, 2 earned runs, and 15 strike outs against Tampa on the 28^th. Of course, Peavy has had a bit of a rebound as he sits as the Sox ace with a 6-1 record and an Era just over 3. He’s been logging a lot of innings too with most of his exits coming in the 6^th and two complete games. Luckily the Tigers don’t see the White Sox again til the second half when hopefully we’ve figured out our hitting and bull pen.

For my own listening pleasure, things got better as of the Holidays. I was able to listen to the Tigers get a comeback win over the Twins. I could smile as I ate my ribs knowing that the White Sox handled the Indians. Of course, this series with the Red Sox hasn’t gone any good for Tigers’ fans. Leyland has been animated as hell of late, but it can’t get our bats going.

A few of us have mentioned the umpires as of late. They did kind of hurt the Tigers by not giving us that third out against the Red Sox Monday. It’s never a good thing when these guys get so much press. Jeff’s ideas can’t go into effect quick enough. We need to get these guys to air things out.

The refs are even taking over the NBA playoffs. Granted, I haven’t been watching much, but I was watching last night. I saw Doc Rivers get the first of what would be five (5!!!) technical fouls for the Celtics. What did Doc do? He just looked at an official after a tic-tac foul and said “Come on, Eddy”. I’ve heard worse. I know that ref has. Still, Doc got the tech. The Heat could have bagged potentially 10 unanswerable points from techs. The Heat won the game on their own; I’ll give them that, but that many techs can really slow a team down. While the Celtics have vowed to be more physical down the line, but it won’t do them much good if they keep getting those kind of fouls called on them. Stern’s gotta rein that crew in.

While you’d think the Lions were on Hard Knocks by the amount of bad press they’ve had it’s actually been revealed that it will be the Miami Dolphins who will star on the ill-fated HBO show. I bet that fan base is thrilled. Did we get any good free agents? How’d we do in the draft? HRRRMMMM…we got on Hard Knocks though? With the level of fan unrest you already have, will exposing that your players are world class douches (Cromartie style) really help the situation? I have a hard time trying to see why teams still agree to do this show. I would think it puts too big a strain on your team and makes camp unnatural. You need a strong camp to bring the boys together and get your chemistry started out. Last thing you need are camera crews and reporters all over. Miami just seems like much too weak of a team and in a rough place to try to fit this in. I know BOB is pissed.

Well, that’s it for me this week. I’d like to once again thank all of the servicemen and women and those here at The Gab who have served or have family members serving. I hope the weekend found them safe and able to communicate. I got to talk to my buddy Dave who is over in Germany and will be deployed to Afghanistan soon. In the meantime, he had his new wife over to Germany and has been enjoying some sight-seeing. He tells me he’s already bought a handful of steins. Here’s hoping the next weekend will be just as awesome but maybe with less rain/heat.

Oh, if you are a comic nerd like me and have enjoyed the music I’ve been sampling, then I highly recommend you check out the Old Man Logan stop motion comic on YouTube. Old Man Logan tells the story of what happens to Wolverine following the day that the villains team up and finally defeat all the super heroes. Wolverine, a broke and desperate farmer, agrees to see Hawkeye, now blind, across the remnants of the US (all of which are owned by various super villains) to deliver precious cargo to a resistance group. It’s a great story with spectacular art and a great sound track. Be sure to find the ones by ImOldManLogan. There’s about eight of them and they run about 9 minutes each.

I leave you with our word of the week.

holiday hangover, noun

A screen legends passes. Oh man, I try to talk up the Big East, another lame suggestion on how the NFL can split $9 billion, new NFL rule changes and LT and more in this edition of Rants and Raves.

Elizabeth Taylor passed away of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. But it was MS. Taylor who gave many a man heart failure in movies like “Cleopatra,” “Butterfield Eight,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf.” She was like the goddess she played in “Cleopatra,” elegant and above all the other actress in Hollywood at the time. She will be truly missed.

What’s up with the Big East? They had 11 teams in the tournament, but now only 2 survive. Last Sunday didn’t help in that there were two games where the Big East played against each other. Now there are naysayer’s that say the Big East is over rated. I say it isn’t. ACC, SEC or any other conference from top-to-bottom is not as strong as the Big East. Anything can happen in a tournament . That is why its called March Madness.

I just can’t give it up. I have to stick my two cents in. Here is another suggestion for the NFL owners and players. How about each side taking 45% each and then give 10% percent to the players that played in the NFL before 1970, who don't have the pensions that players now have. These legends of "real" football don't have great, or any, medical coverage, while living on a very small pension. They can use all the $$$ they can get.

Now the NFL is taking on the poor defenseless player. Looks like there will be more rules changes once the NFL gets their act together. The NFL will change the rules for illegal hits, instant replays and kickoffs. Players will have a chance to get suspended for flagrant illegal hits.

Rules defining a defenseless player will be expanded and now will include eight categories:

• A quarterback in the act of throwing;

• A receiver trying to catch a pass;

• A runner already in the grasp of tacklers and having his forward progress stopped;

• A player fielding a punt or a kickoff;

• A kicker or punter during the kick;

• A quarterback at any time after change of possession;

• A receiver who receives a blind-side block;

• A player already on the ground.

The league's competition committee plans to propose at next week's owners meetings moving the kickoff up to the 35-yard line and are thinking about bringing a touchback out to the 25. It also will propose making all scoring plays reviewable by the replay official.

What’s the NFL trying to do?? Ruin a game that is already starting to go down the tubes?? Its hard enough for the refs to run the game now more senseless stuff for them to mess up.

This has nothing to do with anything I am currently blogging about. But I just like her smile and had to post it.

Hopefully Lawrence Taylor will finally learn from his mistakes. He was sentenced yesterday to 6-years probation for sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute. LT has to register as a sex offender.

Can someone answer this question? Now pay attention

Why is it that when you go to the gas station and use your credit card to pump gas, the gas pump doesn’t stop until your car’s gas tank is full.

Are you still paying attention, but, when you pre-pay, the gas pump slows down with about 50-cents to go and it then takes almost a minute to finish pumping? Any gas experts???

Pictures by: Big East Logo with teams - missourisportsblog.com, NFL Logo - 6magazineonline.com, Elizabeth Taylor - glamour.com/images, Lawrence Taylor (after football) - 3.bp.blogspot.com