sportsguy.net

For Cubs fans, you know what this feels like? I just figured it out a moment ago. It's like having this friend who suffered with you through thick and thin, sharing in your deepest pain and your greatest hopes. Finally, one day, your friend finally gets what you've both been hoping for. And you're really, really happy for them, but you can't deny that you're also jealous. And you're a bit sad, and a bit scared, because you know that from now on, you're going at it alone.

(Also, you have an annoying little brother with the same problem, but nobody gives a crap about him and neither do you.)
-- Adam Rettberg, Chicago

Heh heh heh.

ESPN.com - MLB/FALLCLASSIC - Caple: Curse finally 86'd: "'I put the Polish death grip on it,' he said. 'When we beat the Yankees I gave the ball to Derek but this one I'm keeping. This one is staying with me.'"

Heh heh...Polish Death Grip. I admit I held my breath while Foulke made that play.

Great job fellas!

Jesus thinks you're a square. You always do the
right thing if you can and you've lived a life
that follows the path of the living Christ. Pat
yourself on the back, Jesus thinks you're
boring.


What does Jesus think of you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Square? I prefer 'dependable'.

Wow, a recording of Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman just called me to remind me to vote early...as long as I voted Democratic. What a sad, sad joke.

USATODAY.com - Did 'Saturday Night Live' expose Ashlee Simpson's extra help?

"oops"

CNN.com - Candidates and campaign ads�target swing states - Oct 24, 2004

This is out of control here. *EVERY* commercial is a political one. Thank the Maker for Tivo.

sportsguy.net

Name = Matt Parker
City = Brooklyn, NY
Do you think Francona is on the Yankees Payroll? How do you bring in Pedro in the 7th? Maybe he's one of those historical reenactment buffs and wanted to see if he could duplicate Grady's Last Stand. What was the thought process here?

heh heh heh

What a great time to be a baseball fan. I love it.

Wow, Sportguy's on the Dan Patrick Show!

Sportsguy's mailbag, hilarious as always...

name = Scott B.
city = Toronto, Ontario
comment = There are 750 great things happening in the Nation right now. One of the best, though, has got to be the "Red Sox Fan" face on the Yankee fans. They're the ones watching through their fingers now, wondering what horrible thing will happen next. I didn't even sweat the usually cringe-inducing "touched by God" post game comments by Schilling last night. He could have thanked his long term life partners Rex and Bronco and it wouldn't have bothered me.

And yes...the Schilling G*d comments were cringe-worthy, but I give the man some slack.

MLB.com shop

d'oh! Looks like MLB counted its chickens. I can't say as I blame them...were they supposed to expect the BIGGEST CHOKE JOB IN BASEBALL HISTORY? :D

Boy, back to back GREAT games. I love baseball! Red Sox got out to an early lead that they never gave up...After Damon was thrown out at home off a great relay by Jeter, Ortiz hit one out to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Later, Damon smacked a grand slam just over the wall in right. And STILL later, Damon hit a towering 2-run shot to right. The Bosox never looked back.

This game, and yesterday's Schilling Game, will of course be one of those 'where were you when it happened' games...thankfully eclipsing the Bartman Game as the last 'where were you when it happened' game I actually watched. Congrats Boston!


by the way...anybody see Poor Little A-Rod glaring at the celebrating Red Sox from the Yankee dugout after the game. Priceless!

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

I watched this one start to finish. Great game! Ex-Cubs all around...Lieber, Bill Mueller, Felix Heredia, and Mark Bellhorn, along with an ex-White Sox Keith Foulke.

Sights seen...

• Umps blowing a call on a homer that hit a spectator in the left field seats and came back onto the field. They all met up and reversed the call giving the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.


• Schiling throwing a GREAT game on a semi-bum ankle. You could even see the blood stains on his sock.


• A-Rod slapping at a tag like a little girl which led to another reversed call saving the Red Sox from a big Yankee Inning, calling A-Rod out at first for interference and sending Jeter back to first after he'd scored during the play and the later confusion.


• These *correct* calls leading the New York scumbags to throw debris onto the field...delaying the game and getting cops in full riot gear called on to stand at the lines.


• I'd heard Dan Patrick (or was it Showkiller) say the over/under on 'Jeter reaction shots' shown by Fox tonight would be 100. I didn't get the joke because I hadn't watched any previous games in the series. Now I do...and I'll take the 'over'.
  

Nice to see the umps reverse two calls for the better. Great game!

CNN.com - Army: GIs refused mission because of safety concerns - Oct 17, 2004

Not that I disagree with the soldiers, but a chain of command must be maintained. This could be a VERY dangerous precedent.

Of course, I've never served so I don't really have a right to comment in any case.

sportsguy.net

Here's the point: This would be the perfect game for Fox to break the Black Sheep Albert out. Even Bears and Redkins fans don't want to watch this game. So why not have some fun with it? And if he doesn't exist, just throw a bad wig on Frank Caliendo and have him pretend to be the Black Sheep Albert Cousin for four quarters. I really think this would work. When you have Dr. Jonathan Quinn and Mark Brunell matching Johnny Damon throws for 60 minutes, you need something to liven things up.

Only funny when you don't consider the fact that thanks to me living in Dopesville I have to PAY REAL MONEY to see the Bears play. Last year it was a total waste due to Lame Duck Jauron. I vowed to not re-up the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package if Jauron was brought back and since he was fired I went ahead and got another year...only to have Mike Brown and Rex Grossman be lost for the season 3 games in and have Urlacher injured too. The lesson, as always? Don't move to Florida.

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

What if you went to a baseball game and a football game broke out?

Sportsguy is having a seizure as we speak.

Breaking News!

Got back from Publix a short time ago, and what did I find there? Pepper Jack Doritos!

Could this be a re-launch of my old favorite (and since discontinued) Jumpin' Jack Doritos? Details to follow.

(bag says 'limited time only')

Hitting to all fields...

• Amusing thing heard: yesterday on the Dan Patrick Show there was some short discussion of politics due to the recent debates. Nothing of particular good or ill was said by Dan or anybody for or against any candidate. Of course that didn't stop dopes from emailing the show blasting them for talking politics. Someone wrote something like "Stick to what your job is, sports!" and Dan replied something like "Well, if that's your response than I guess anybody who listens to this show that works as a mechanic, janitor, etc shouldn't talk sports because it's not their job." Dibbs called people sending nasty emails jablonies or something--and he was right.


• Yes, yesterday's Apprentice task could NOT have been more skewed against the men than if it were a beauty contest where the contestants actually had to WEAR the dresses they designed. Did the men have ANY chance whatsoever to defeat the women at creating a new line of WOMEN'S fashions? Come on now. It's SO skewed towards women that I can't think of a comparable task that could be skewed towards the men to such a degree. It's impossible! Women are more into guy-type subjects than men are into the reverse. It's like the "Battle of the Sexes" boardgame. The 'female' questions for the men are "What are the mother sauces?" and the 'male' questions for the females are "How many innings are in a baseball game?". I mean come on now.


• For some reason the reward during yesterday's Survivor was beer and pringles. And when they come upon the beer and Pringles, what type of Pringles was missing? RANCH. The best damn kind. Of course they had EVERY other type BUT Ranch. Just like some damn stores down here. By the way, I've reached the level of Surivor Enjoyment where I just use the remote to blow past both the reward and immunity challenges, as well as any conversations where people are just bitzing and moaning. Thank you Tivo.
  

Damn...what the hell did Ranch Pringles ever do to anybody?!?! Yes, we're into Michelle territory here.

sportsguy.net

9:20 -- Turned to the debate just in time to hear this beauty from John Kerry: "Being lectured by the President on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country." And that's quickly followed by the George W. Bush Face -- the one where he half-smiles and half looks like someone just asked him for the square root of 564,092.

(Good God. Can we have more options? I feel like Dave Wannstedt trying to decide between Feeley and Fiedler. I might just have to vote for Larry Bird again.)

Hilarious. I'm writing in 'Darkwing Duck' this year.

The cat is on patrol...: 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003

One year ago today...Bartman.

FARK.com: (1167203) "As expected, both campaigns declared their candidate the clear victor."

"What would he have to say to get you to say, 'Hey, this Bush guy ain't so bad.'

I don't think its what he says so much as what he needs to do. He clearly needs to walk on water. After all, Kerry is going to make people rise up and walk from their wheelchairs."


Farkers are hilarious.

There's another debate tonight, but here's something that's been sticking in my head since the last debate. A questioner challenged Kerry to talk straight to the camera and say he wouldn't raise taxes on households making over $200,000/year, and Kerry did so. Later on he talked about raised the level of health care for everyone in this country dramatically. I'm wondering how he's going to do this without raising taxes?

One thing from tonight's debate...in talking about the outsourcing of jobs overseas, Bush stressed further education as the solution. That is, further funding for Pell grants and other assistance to allow people to go to community college if their jobs are lost. I'm thinking...does he consider *white collar* job loss? I don't know many people at work that would want to go back to school if their job was outsourced...especially those that have multiple degrees already or have gone to graduate school. Kerry's answer was that he couldn't promise outsourcing wouldn't happen (no one could) but he'd try to level the playing field by eliminating the tax breaks that are given to US companies that can defer their taxes by off-shoring workers. I liked that answer.

The Onion | Irrelevant Pop Stars Unite Against Bush

I find it pretty how that some people think they're qualified to give political advice...and I find it *scary* that some people will listen.

I do give kudos to those celebs that just say "vote"...but isn't that just embracing the great mass of uninformed people out there?

so confusing.

CNN.com - Christopher Reeve dies at 52 - Oct 11, 2004



RIP

Taken from: The Superficial : If you're not sure who to vote for in the upcoming election, you should probably just go with George W. Bush. This isn't to say that he's the better candidate or anything, it's just that voting against whoever Kirsten Dunst is voting for just seems like a good idea. Some people might have a problem with this logic, but that's because they don't understand that Kirsten Dunst is living evil.

I figure in almost every situation it's a good idea to NOT do what Kirsten Dunst would do. I still remember something hilarious from the MTV movie awards a few years back...KD had just won for 'best kiss' in Spider-man for that upside down kiss with Tobey Maguire, and she made mention of another nominee: The kiss in the rain from Daredevil and accused them of stealing it from Spider-man in not so many words. Cut to Jennifer Garner in the audience looking at KD like she's the biggest idiot in the world. Funny as hell.

This may also touch on another one of my life rules...that there's a point where someone can get so rich and famous that they're totally out of touch with my view of reality. Cut to Britney's tracksuit outfits for the people standing up to her wedding.

I think houses are a lot like hotdogs. You don't want to see how either is made. These roofing guys are pulling up stuff like the siding and all that during the day so I can see what's underneath. It's weird to see plain old plywood and thin looking beams holding a house together. Disconcerting, actually.

I'm sure there are other ways houses are like hotdogs. Maybe some other time. :)

A three hour tour...

Ok...cruise review time. We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday, August 15th. This was just 2 days after hurricane Charley. We were lucky to find a gas station on the way that was still open and had power. Our two local gas stations were closed. On the way down we passed a lot of destruction in the form of downed trees and smashed and bent signs and stuff. We got in Sunday night and met Aimee and Chris at the Amerisuites. We had dinner at Outback (where Chris lost his hat...again) and then turned in for the night.

The Amerisuites had a shuttle to take people to the port. We made sure we had all our papers straight and got into the terminal where they process people to go onto the ship. We had tagged our bags and left them with these porter guys. I wasn't too crazy about leaving ours bags with them but we did it anyway. We got aboard the ship but we still had some time until we could get into ours rooms...officially. We found our rooms and because ours was just to the side of the stair landing area I just opened the door into the hallway and we dumped our bags in our rooms. Yeah, maybe we weren't supposed to be into our rooms yet but by this time I figure we were in international waters and there were no laws! :P

All-in-all, I enjoyed the cruise. Our room was nice with its balcony and all. The room was of a good size too I thought. The nightly dinners were nice even though they were dress-casual at the minimum. I don't really remember having lunch because we were always so busy but we did have breakfast a few times. We got these cards so we didn't have to pay for pop onboard but as with most places they made it easier for you to get alcoholic drinks (which of course you have to pay for) than pop. Even at lunch they didn't have soda fountains of the type that's at *every* fast food place nowadays...you had to ask a waiter for a soda. It was a pain.

We went to the Keys, Cozumel, and Belize. They Keys were nice. Chris and I went on a PT boat ride which was pretty cool. They're a SEAL training base down there they we went past on the boat. Saw some pretty big Coast Guard vessels too. I enjoyed it. I did get pretty burned though because it was so sunny. I wore my hat backwards and ended up with a tan line across my forehead. I was pissed about it but it's my own fault for being a dumbass. Turned out it didn't really matter anyways though...

In Cozumel we went on a jeep excursion where we got our own Jeep (a Tracker) and drive to a beach and also saw some ruins. The 'road' was more like a path with HUGE boulders half-way embedded in it. It was so bumpy they should come up with another word to describe it because 'bumpy' just ain't enough. We went to a beach where we had some Mexican food and laid out on blankets under umbrellas. I have to say that I never thought in my life that I'd be laying on a Mexican beach eating quesadillas. First time for everything I guess.

In Cozumel I got ROASTED. Very badly burned. For some idiot reason I didn't use sunblock and I didn't wear a hat in hopes that my tan-line forehead would get washed out by the sun. Yeah...well...that was a pretty STUPID idea. My whole face got roasted...everybody's did. I was peeling for days. It was weird because I don't really burn at all--at least up here in the US. We all got burned, even Chris who went golfing. I figured the open-topped jeep was the reason we got so burned but I guess I was wrong.

In Belize Aimee and Chris had planned to do some 'swim with the sharks' thing (screw that) but because they got so burned they came with us on our tour. It was this bus tour that compared/contrasted Belize City with the ancient Mayan city of Altan Ha. I really only wanted to go to see the ruins. They were pretty amazing. At first it was only a few small structures but as we went on there were much larger buildings. It was neat. We even climbed to the top of one of them. Belize City (and the whole country of Belize) was an interesting place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. The whole country is badly striken with poverty. It seemed safe though, and I'm the type of guy who assumes that in any foreign country there's a pretty strong chance of trucks full of guys with AK-47's coming out of nowhere and taking over. Naive, I know.

All in all, it was a good trip. I gambled some on the ship and pretty came out even after winning $150 mid-way through. We saw some shows and a comedian and that was fun. If I had to go again I wouldn't go where it's hot, that's for sure.

My thoughts on the Presidential Debates of last week...

I'm not sure who I'm voting for. I don't really support either candidate in any way. I have to say I came away with it thinking that Bush stayed constant and that Kerry dipped down a bit in my estimation.Kerry seems to be playing the "I wouldn't have..." card. That's fine to do, but in hindsight it's a lot easier to say he would have done this or that. He disagreed with how the President went into Iraq...but who's to say he wouldn't have done the same thing if he'd be presented with the same information?

Bush's painting of Kerry as not being a guy the troops can stand behind since Kerry's comment of "wrong war, wrong place..." was somewhat effective the first time. Less effective the next 12 times I heard it. Also, Bush stammered pretty often and looked blankly at the camera once or twice. That's to be expected from him when he's speaking from anything other that prepared remarks though.

One thing each seemed to give a concrete answer on was N. Korea. Bush wants to proceed with multi-sided talks involving China, whereas Kerry wants to talk one-on-one with N. Korea. General Wesley Clark pretty much said China's laughing at the Bush choice since now China thinks we need them to 'help' us. I don't know the reality of the situation so I don't know which stand would be better.

Another Bush point was asking Kerry how he thinks other countries are going to join us in Iraq since it's pretty much a quagmire. That'd be a fine point as well if it didn't seem to be the Bush position to stay the course in that terrible situation. That Kerry seems to want the burden shared (in lives and dollars) by other countries--I'm not too sure how you're going to sell other countries on Iraq using that argument.

I really only give Bush an edge because he's the sitting President and has a definitive record, whereas Kerry was taking the hindsight approach that just personally struck me as pretty easy to do.My thoughts, all IMHO. Vice Presidential Debate thoughts coming later...

Yeap...there's guys up on the roof pounding away right now. Great.

Looking back at my bloggings it seems I forgot to talk about the cruise between all the hurricanes we've had. I'll fit it in here somewhere.

Hurricane Jeanne...we hardly knew ye. Jeanne blasted through here last weekend and took a piece of our soffet with it. Because of that (and the roof damage we've had through Charley, Frances, and Ivan) we had a lot of water come in to the 'top' of our house and seep through the ceiling. It even seeped into the walls and down into the carpet. Water dripped down onto the carpet around 2am Saturday (or was it Sunday?) morning until we went up and caught it and after that it filled a 5-gallon bucket about 3/4 of the way until it finally stopped. The water in the bucket looked pretty yellow. I'll let your imaginations handle this one. So glad to live in Florida.

We had an insurance adjustor over on that Monday for our claim on Frances. This was literally a day or two after Jeanne hit. The floor and ceiling were still damp. And there was a...smell. A dank smell from the rain water. What fun. Of course, the adjustor told me that thanks to some kind of insurance snafu (since resolved) our homeowner's insurance wouldn't pay for new carpeting, only for the painting of the ceiling. Later we got a check for $150 some dollars which was the overage of the estimation for ceiling painting with our $500 deductible. After calling our actual agent it looks like our new carpet will be covered and that's all going to be worked out. Fun stuff. Our soffet is still missing a section and a call to the condo association (or whatever it is) led them to cover our *neighbor's* soffet, useless. The dopes. Now there are what I'm sure are unlicensed roofing guys putting a new roof on each condo building. Ours should be some time this next week I think.

Pounding nails into the roof 6 feet over my head. That shouldn't be too distracting during the day.