Into March

A couple of things from this past week.

1) Is there a difference between redneck and blue collar? I mean, shouldn't the collar and neck be similar in color if they're referring to the same kinds of people?

2) Naperville Ribfest is announcing their entertainment lineups and Three Dog Night (minus Chuck Negron, so it should still be Two Dog Night), the Doobie Brothers, and the Charlie Daniels Band are all confirmed. That's one hell of a lineup, considering last year's entertainment was "highlighted" by Ted Nugent.

3) I never thought I would have a cinnamon roll so good and so huge, even I couldn't eat it, but it happened last night!

4) I hope this Olympic break doesn't derail the Rangers' momentum...

5) I may not go to Greece this summer, but it looks like I may head down to Waveland, Missisippi in June for a week to assist the Katrina victims. More on that in the coming posts.

6) For the first time, my car battery died yesterday. Saturday night, I went into my car to get some CD's. I turned the car accessories on so I could eject a disc in the player. Or as Teddy Long would say playa! I left the accessories on overnight. I figured it out the next morning, but the car wasn't ready by 4 p.m., which was when I planned to leave for volleyball and then go to Ecclesia from there. The game started at 4:45 and it typically taked 15 minutes to get to to the gym I play in. So I'm calling up anyone I can think of and I get one guy I know to send his son to pick me up. I had never met his son and he drove 15 minutes too far west on North Avenue. When he finally pulled up to the house at 4:40, I said "Bro. Floor it!" We got there at 4:53, just in time for me to make the first serve of the game. I even served seven straight points in the second and we won all three games, our first three-game sweep this year. I then negotiated rides into Wheaton and then home to St. Charles.

And thanks to a can of Coke (which handles battery acid) and cables, the car started this morning.

7) Three wrestling notes:

7a) There will be another ECW One Night Stand PPV in June. Bad idea. First of all, the WWE is putting it on. And since June, they have lost the Dudleys, Tajiri, Rhino, Chris Jericho, and Eddy Guerrero. Sabu signed with TBA, so they probably won't let him go either. Now they can add back in Rob Van Dam and they are supposedly trying to convince Terry Funk to sign on. So they will be working with a very depleted roster. I think the one PPV was great last year, but just think it should be left alone now.

7b) Samoa Joe is a beast!

7c) I just finished Eddy Guerrero's autobiography. I wrote a long post several months back after he passed away. But there's a section of the book I want to discuss. When he was in WWE and fighting drug addiction, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko both went to Jim Ross (in charge of talent realtions) and let him know Eddy was in deep crap. Eddy never knew this until after he got sober and saw the UPN TV special about his life. He was a little upset because he never knew Malenko and Benoit went to JR. When he asked Malenko why they did it, Malenko said he was sure if he kept going the way he was going, they would have found him dead in a hotel room somewhere. And to think after beating addiction, Eddy did die in a hotel room. It's sad. Really sad.

The Knicks are Incompetent, impotent, and not important

Congratulations to Isaiah Thomas as he continues to make Scott Layden look like Ned Irish, Jerry West, Pat Riley, and Ernie Grunfeld combined!

The Knicks trade Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway's expiring 15 million dollar contract to Orlando for Steve Francis.

Let's look at the good side. With Ariza gone, David Lee can play a bit more at small forward. Coach Larry Brown, who called him "delsuional" in front of the media, never liked the second-year forward. And they didn't have to surrender a draft pick.

Ok, with that out of the way, onto the bad.
1) Francis has three more years and about $48 million left on his deal.
2) The Knicks lost the chance to take 16 million dollars off their payroll by trading Hardaway's expiring contract.
3) The Knicks have Francis, Stephon Marbury, and Jamal Crawford in their back court. All are ball hungry and love to shoot. None is a true "setup your teammates" point guard. Not to mention Quentin Richardson and Nate Robinson, both of whom love to shoot and can be careless with the basketball. And Richardson is the only one of the five who has even considered playing defense this season. At least Nate can dunk, even if it takes him 17 tried to make one!
4) This is not a team desinged to contend with Miami and Detroit and make a run at a championship. It's designed to be fast and exciting and fill up Madison Square Garden. The championship thing doesn't matter that much to Isaiah, he won two as a player. Larry Brown finally won one with Detroit. Owner Jim Dolan cares as much about championship as this country cares about men's curling!
5) Francis is a locker room distraction. He's an on-court distraction. He's someone Shaquille O'Neal correctly identified as holding back Dwight Howard the Magic's young star forward.

We should have traded for some guy who plays tough defense and helps bring a team together on the court. I don't know who that guy is. But there are a lot of them out there. What good does adding another shooter and scorer do for this team, or should I say, this group of players. Because they are so far from an NBA team, it's ridiculous. You have about 20 college teams right now that can beat the Knicks. And 40 college teams that can score 120 points on them.

Heck, my Division III school of 1500 people is 23-3. THEY could beat the Knicks! Because at least they still give a damn about their season.

We made the playoffs 15 years in a row; now we may wind up not winning a playoff game 15 years in a row. As bad as the Rangers were for 8 years, this is going to be far worse. This team is not even in these basketball games. The last playoff game win was against Toronto. The year was 2001 and counting...

Don't they know???

I rarely write about WWE here, but I feel the need to let a little steam off about where this company is headed as Wrestlemania approaches (Which I spent 200 dollars to go see, so it had better be great. Not good, great!)

Last month, they announce an 8-man tournament with the winner facing John Cena for the World title. As soon as I saw HHH was in the bracket, I knew he was winning. And when the main event turned out to be HHH, Big Show, and Rob Van Dam, they may as well just awarded the match to HHH right there.

From the 3-week period between I saw the brackets go up until the final Pedigree last night, I never saw anyone other than HHH, who has won 2,374 titles, winning. It’s Wrestlemania time, so that means it’s Triple H’s time.
But Van Dam had just come off a major injury that kept him out a full year and the fans are thrilled to have him back. RVD is my favorite current wrestler in WWE, Raw or SmackDown, but again, the WWE refuses to see what this guy is truly capable of. He carried ECW, holding their TV title for 23 months.He can at least help carry this company because there is no one else quite like him, between his attitude and ring repertoire.

Now from what I’ve read, it’s possible that RVD will be involved in a feud with Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Title. This is a feud I've been thinking about for months and I mentioned it to Rob when I met him this summer. And Shelton Benjamin is very good. But the IC Title again? He held that belt for months. What does winning it again prove? Wasn’t that RVD in the main event on RAW for a World Title shot at Wrestlemania?

Now onto the office's point of view. I'm going to quote from a website I was reading because they put it perfectly:

Did anyone hear how loud the crowd was on Monday night when RVD gave his
signature “R.V.D.” statement? Did anyone see all the people in the stands stand
up and take their thumbs and point to themselves just like RVD? I know I did, I
know you did, but I’m not so sure The WWE did.

All I'm saying is Van Dam is hot right now and Triple H has been in the WM main event 5 out of 6 years. Do something with a new guy who's been around a while that hasn't had a chance. Rey Mysterio falls into that category as well. Oh that's right, they took him out of the Smack Down main event by having Randy Orton beat him! Here's my point to the WWE powers that be. Do something with Van Dam before he becomes stale. Bring back Bill Alfonso to manage him. Yeah he's got that whiny voice, that whistle is annoying, he only has three teeth in his mouth, so what? Lou Albano wasn't exactly handsome! Do something different! Besides the Boogey Man...

And a pleasant good evening to you

Gary Cohen and Howie Rose coming to you live from St. Charles, Illinois as pitchers and catchers report today...

Ah, well. Radio broadcasts will not be the same.

Anyway, here are 10 pre-season thoughts on the NY Metropolitans

1) Omar may have made one trade too many regarding the starting rotation. When he traded Kris Benson and his louder half for Jorge Julio and John Maine, the front office now says Maine is the guy they really wanted. Then couldn't we have given up a mid-level pitching propsect for him and kept Benson? I like the Seo-for-Sanchez deal. Duaner will be very effective. But now there is no depth in a rotation that is aging. I don't call Jose Lima, Iriki or whatever his name is, or Brian Bannister solid insurance like I would Aaron Heilman. We have three starters all over age 35, a roller coaster in Zambarno, and Heilman, who I like a lot, but has never pitched a full major league season in a starting rotation. Will teams adjust to his changeup when they start seeing it three times a game?

2) I really hope Jeff Keppinger gets a fair chance to win the second base job. He's not Superman, but he has a solid on base percentage and hit over 310 in AAA. If Bret Boone wins the job, it's only because everyone else has bombed out.

3) Who will get lefties out? I like Royce Ring if he can get some command. I like Pedro Feliciano as well. In the end, I think the man will be Matt Perisho. Please don't let it be Darren Oliver. He will be this year's Shingo Takatsu and Mike DeJean combined.

4) Have you seen the picture of Jose Lima on the first day of practice in his suit and Clyde-style hat? The man looks like a rejected pimp in CSI Miami.

5) Watch out for Bartolome Fortunato in the bullpen. If I ever have a son that's what I'll name him. And I'll throw in a middle name. Bartolome Bartholomew Bartolo.

6) Have you ever heard of a man make such a big deal out of a shoe? One that wasn't gay anyway?

7) Reyes, LoDuca, Beltran, Delgado, Wright, Floyd, Diaz/Nady, Matsui

8) What can Julio Franco do that Chris Woodward didn't do last year on the field?

9) Dae-Sung Koo is back. Hopefully as a designated hitter.

10) I hope pre-season expectations aren't too high. I hope...

Is it any wonder?

One thing I have learned. The people you're closest to are the ones who can hurt you the most. Or specifically, the people you want to be closest to can hurt you the most. And I probably shouldn't be writing this, but hey, two people of that many will read this, so I really don't give a crap. And I will be writing what comes to mind so don't be surprised if this comes out random. I

I never thought it was wrong to be different just for the sake of being different. Now I'm not sure. Because if you don't fit in with a group, they'll shove you aside and not think twice about it. It can be downright sick. People will hurt you and they're so caught up in themselves, they don't even know the damage they are inflicting.

All a person can do is be the best they can be. And work to get better at the things they struggle with. Accepting a negative status quo about a certain part of yourself is a nail in the coffin. But it's a bitch to be my age when you're still trying to feel like you're accepted and feel it's not happening. I think everyone wants to be accepted, loved, and successful. Those are 3 basic human needs. But at some point, rejection happens to you often enough and after a while, it barely stings. You just get used to the frustration and though it still hurts to a degree, it doesn't even come as a surprise to you anymore. You almost expect the worst, and the worst happens.

If you expect crap going in, crap will come out. It's amazing how much people can sabotage themselves. Sabotaging other people is bad enough. But it is not realized people set themselves up to fail sometimes and they don't know it until it's too late. Consider a situation as simple as a casual conversation. Things are going smoothly. But at the same time, there's a trace of nervousness in the bad part of your brain. You want to keep the talk interesting because you want to be perceived as a person that people want to spend time with. Sadly, despite Woody Johnson's claims, perception is reality. So then you can't think of a thing to talk about. All of a sudden, a little fear bubbles up. Then they say the wrong thing, they do the wrong thing, they think too much, and before they even realize what surface they were standing on, they're halfway up to their neck in quicksand. And they can't get out.

And this garbage happens over and over again. Sometimes, it almost seems easier if we didn't socialize with other people. It would make life less risky and there would be a lot less hurt and aggravation. I know that's only half the story, but sometimes, it would be good to just take a vacation (not a trip, but a day or two in quiet) and refocus. Because in this world and in this country, we need it.

No real silver lining here. I'm not in the mood to find a positive spin here. Just this. This world would be a lot better if people could learn to accept that ALL people have issues and aren't always perfect.

Random facts and hapenings

Well my computer is just about back in business. I only had to spend 4 hours downloading Adobe, Real Player, and Flash. I haven't even gotten to AOL Instant Messenger yet!

And I'm hoping EA Sports releases a new baseball game soon. I mean soon. Think about this, in my current game, John Smoltz is a closer, David Wright doesn't yet exist, I have the Montreal Expos, Johnny Damon has short hair and no beard, Chris Carpenter comes out of the bullpen, David Ross is actually good (if you're wondering who is David Ross, well, don't feel guilty), Kaz Matsui is the third or fourth best second baseman in the National League, and Sammy Sosa occasionally makes contact!

Rangers blast Ottawa 5-1. HASEK! HASEK! HASEK! Don't count on the Czech Republic winning any 1-0 games in the Olympics.

By the way, I took an internet quiz titled: What current Ranger are you? I'm Valeri Kamensky. jk. Jason Ward. Here's the link.
http://quiz.myyearbook.com/zenhex/quiz.php?id=61077

My new ECW DVD will be arriving any day. Can't wait!

I heard about this from a website. "A public library book issued in 1945 has racked up an overdue fees bill for $6,114 -- but the book's borrower has had the fine waived." I was 2 days late paying a $200 bill for house maintenance is 2003. I still can't get a refund.

And a few random numbers.

1) 85% of us will eat Spam this year. (How many will know we're eating SPAM?)

2) 22% of all restaurant meals include French fries.

3) 66% of us eat cereal regularly. (Outside of airplanes, I have not had an actual bowl since I was a college freshman.)

4) 13% brush our teeth from side to side. (And the rest brush top to bottom.)

5) 85% of women wear the wrong bra size. 1) I don't think we should be able to notice that. 2) Who was in charge of deciding whether the bra size was the right fit?)

6) 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand.

7) 6% propose over the phone. (I have never seen that, but I would never do it.)

8) 33% of women lie about their weight. (The other 66% don't answer. They just stare at you like they will kill you when you ask them that).

9) 78% would rather die quickly than live in a retirement home. (I certainly fall in the majority.)

10) Only 30% of us know our cholesterol level. (I didn't think 30% just knew the scale for measuring cholesterol.)

Oh I forgot the Grammys were last night. But so did practically everybody in America.

Bradway out, Mr. T in

That's Mr. Mike Tannenbaum for the uninitiated. So Terry Bradway is out as GM of the New York Jets and the salary cap guru, Mike Tannenbaum, is in. Bradway has been moved to a consulting position. Now we know Mike's position. We know Terry's position. Here's my position.

I'm sitting down with my left leg resting on a board and facing a computer.

Good riddance to Bradway. Between losing 4 players to Washington, then trading 2 number one picks and a fourth rounder to get the "phenomenal" DT Dewayne "Giving me pain" Robertson, trading this year's first round pick for Doug "Doesn't make me feel too" Jolley, letting James Farrior leave as a free agent to go to Pittsburgh, signing disappointments like Sam "Brown" Cowart, Lance Legree, and David Barrett, resigning older guys like Wayne Chrebet, Jason Fabini, and Curtis Martin to outrageous deals, getting backups like Damien Robinson, Reggie Tongue, and Terrell "Steve Smith beat me again" Buckley (and that's just the secondary), signing Doug Brien as the kicker. I know the Jets made the playoffs 3 of his 5 years. But the core of the team was acquired when Bill Parcells was still here. Testaverde, Pennington, Mawae, Fabini, Martin, Chrebet, Sowell, McKenzie, Abraham, and Ellis. And he made a handful of good draft picks, but only one has reached the Pro Bowl: Santana Moss who's doing it in Washington.

But has anything really changed? The same guys are still in charge, it's just that the hierarchy has been shuffled. Tannenbaum is essentially a lawyer and he does a great job at keeping the Jets under the salary cap, although with the situation coming this offseason, who knows what will happen? But what does he know about drafting, making trades, scanning the waiver wire, and all of that stuff? Hopefully, he will let Eric Mangini decide on drafts and free agents.

It's new blood in the front office. That's potentially good. I just wonder if he deserves to be making personnel decisions.

And more than that, why wasn't this done a month ago when Herman Edwards left?

It's going be a rebuilding process, to say the least. 3 or 4 years. And Mangini, Tannenbaum, and the rest of that front office had better build this house to stand.

Is there a theme in this post?

A question:

Which is the worst kind of crash: A car crash, a plane crash, a computer crash, Dave Matthews singing "Crash," , a stock market crash, being a crash test dummy for a living, a crash course, a crash diet, or watching the Oscar nominated movie "Crash" with James Spader and Holly Hunter?

Right now, it's a freaking computer crash! Goodbye hard drive, it's been nice knowing you.

The third-warmest January in recorded history for Illinois. It is now a month of the past. Now comes February. Maybe we'll be making up for lost cold.

I have a game to cover Friday night. Girls basketball. Batavia vs. Glenbard South in a Suburban Prairie North Conference match. Not exactly a marquee match, but I will be interested since Wheaton Academy plays Batavia in the first round of the playoffs in 2 weeks. I have not covered any kind of a game since October when I covered a tennis sectional. At least I get to be inside on this one.

And in men's college roundball, Gordon beats Endicott for the first time in 3 years! Yes! We are now tied with our archrival in the standings with 8-1 conference records and Colby-Sawyer is right behind at 8-2. Will we finally win a conference title in basketball and our first in any sport outside of lacrosse since the fall of 2004?! Let's hope so.