Jim825 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Those horns are called vuvuzuelas and they were rather annoying. They were so obnoxious in fact that UEFA (Europe's governing soccer authority) banned them from all of their competitions after 2010. For next year's World Cup in Brazil, you (well, not you guys) will be hearing the sound of the caxirola, which has been approved by Brazil's Ministry of Sport: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/29/sport/football/caxirola-brazil-world-cup-2014-vuvuzela/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeRudi26 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Those horns are called vuvuzuelas and they were rather annoying. They were so obnoxious in fact that UEFA (Europe's governing soccer authority) banned them from all of their competitions after 2010. For next year's World Cup in Brazil, you (well, not you guys) will be hearing the sound of the caxirola, which has been approved by Brazil's Ministry of Sport: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/29/sport/football/caxirola-brazil-world-cup-2014-vuvuzela/index.html Vuvuzuelas. Now that you mention it, my wife did tell me what they were called at the time. Not hard to imagine they got banned, and as I've said, if soccer fans in said particular arena enjoy it, then good for them. I honestly couldn't even hear the announcers over it, to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Updated to 9-29 ...I'll be living the bachelor's life this week because my wife is in Dallas visiting her sister. Since she lives 1,500 miles away from her family she always wants people to come and visit her and when she offered to buy my wife her plane ticket she said yes so fast just in case she remembered that she had something else to do. If I wanted to go my plane ticket would have been taken care of too but as I was quick to explain to them someone had to remain behind and watch and care for the dogs. Thank God that person was me and after looking disappointed for a little while I had them believing that I really did want to go but I am remaining home because "someone had to do it." Sure, I'll travel all that way just to spend a week with two women who want to do nothing but shop. It's going to be a struggle here all by myself this week but I will try and hang in there. Wish me luck! ...I didn't want to get her worked up before her flight. My wife is not afraid of flying but she is afraid of snakes but not nearly as much as I am. So when I read an article about the Boeing 747 flight from Sydney, Australia to Tokyo that was grounded because someone found a snake near the doorway of the plane, I kept my mouth shut. Chances are if she would have heard about that she would have made me drive her to Texas. ...It was a week ago today that the Yankees held their ceremony to honor Mariano Rivera and while they showed him a lot of love and did many nice things for him there was something about it that just didn't seem right to me. I liked how they brought back some of his old teammates like Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada and manager Joe Torre and that he was the first player to get his number retired by the Yankees while he was still playing. The pièce de résistance was a Waterford crystal statue of his game glove which had to cost them a lot of money. Most of the things given to Rivera that day were checks made out to his foundation. All in all it was a very nice way to honor the man who was most responsible for the five championships the Yankees have won since 1996. However, thinking back on something that happened ten years ago it made me feel that the Yankees could have done more for him. It was back in 2003 that Roger Clemens announced his retirement and the Yankees, who were dumb enough to believe him, gave him a special day just as they did for Rivera last week. They went all out for Clemens as they gave him a Hummer to bring home to Texas and sent him and his wife on an all-expense paid vacation, among other things. His wife even got gifts for herself too. A few months later Clemens had a change of heart and decided to pitch for Houston in 2004 and did not retire for good until 2007. That's what I thought was missing here. If anyone deserves to be given stuff like this it is Rivera. I have no doubt that when it is time for Captain Twenty Million to hang them up the Yankees are going to go overboard with the gifts that they give him just to make themselves look good and to give Jeter a departing a$$ kissing before he goes home to Tampa. ...Good move by the Philadelphia Phillies to retain Ryne Sandberg as manager and giving him a three year contract beginning next year. It did not take them long to realize that they made a mistake thirty-one years ago when they traded him to the Cubs. They weren't going to make the same one again. ...Apple is one company that I have never cared for but when they released their gold iPhone -a device that does everything that a white iPhone does and nothing more- I had to give them a lot of credit because they knew that people would have to have it based on the color alone. And they were right. When the new iPhones went on sale nine days ago the demand for them was so great that stores literally were selling out in record time and for the people unlucky enough not to get their hands on one and who were too impatient to wait for the next shipments due to arrive next month they have engaged in online bidding wars in attempts to get one. In fact one ebay seller sold a single, unopened and unlocked 16GB gold Apple iPhone to someone for $10,000. Usually only crows and magpies and babies are fooled into going after shiny toys. It didn't take long for Apple to figure out that some adults can be too. ...Every year I say to myself that this is the year I am going to tune into the Emmy Awards just because I've never seen them and every year I never do it, usually because I find something more interesting to do. This year's excuse was a book that I could not put down and after hearing about it the next day I am glad I didn't watch it. I don't know if this is done every year but this show honors actors and actresses who have passed away during the year and with some they have individual segments to honor them. Granted with so many people that pass on during the year they can't single out everyone but Hollywood legends like Jack Klugman and Larry Hagman were pushed aside just so they can honor Cory Monteith, a thirty-one year old actor who died in July of a drug overdose. I don't know anything about this guy or even know what show (s) he was on but to give special tribute to a drug addict who overdosed is typical of Hollywood but I think I understand why. Klugman was 90 years old and Hagman was 81. They'd rather spotlight on someone younger just for the ratings. When it's Emmy time next year I won't even make an attempt to watch it. ...Some people should never be allowed outside Dept:My wife has a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone that she purchased from Best Buy back in July and lately she noticed that the back of her phone was getting very hot and we went back there last week to have someone look at it. After we arrived we were directed to the Geek Squad area to wait for someone to look at the phone. What should have been a problem that once it was looked at could have been taken care of in fifteen minutes, tops. But because of the lady that was ahead of us we were there for ninety minutes, which was the combined time it took for Best Buy to take care of her and help out my wife. That woman was there to pick up her laptop and she also purchased the latest version of Microsoft Office that she was going to have them install for her. This is when the fun began. At one point she had to provide her e-mail address. She didn't know it. And then she asked the technician if he knew it. Just by the look on his face you could tell that this had to be the stupidest question that he ever heard. Little did he know that this woman was just getting warmed up. After checking around in her phone for a few minutes the e-mail question was answered and the same problems arose when she had to put in her password. She didn't know it and I should also add neither did the guy helping her. She had to phone home and ask someone there what her password was. Again I stole a glance at the technician and I saw the concern in his eyes because a line was starting to form behind us. After hanging up with whomever she was talking to she asked if she will be able to view her Word and Excel documents after Office was installed. Finally I said to myself, an easy question that this guy can answer. When she heard that she could indeed view her documents she then asked -honest to God- what Microsoft Office was, which prompted more questions. Dealing with this woman must have been as much fun as a baseball bat to the head for this poor tech. Finally two other Geek Squad people were called out from the back to help out with the crowd and that is how we managed to escape from there because if we would have stayed any longer they'd have charged us rent. ...Why do supermarkets even bother to have express lanes for people that have fifteen items or less when they completely ignore it and the store looks the other way when it happens? ...When the Yankees were eliminated last Wednesday night from making the playoffs I didn't feel any disappointment, I wasn't angry and I certainly didn't think about it for days afterward, which is something that I would customarily do over and over in the past. It was a tough year and that's not even bringing up all the injuries that they had, so I won't. Watching Mariano Rivera one last time made this season worth it because nothing else came close and that includes lazy, self-centered Robinson Cano. He wants a thirty million dollar a year payday next year? I can identify with that because that's exactly how much I want but at least I know I'm not getting it. Thirty million dollars a year for a guy who can't be bothered to run to first base like he really means it? I really think the Yankees told Joe Girardi not to say anything to Cano about this because they didn't want to make him mad at them before contract talks. I really don't think there is any other explanation...Oh, and C.C. Sabathia said that he will be the same ace he's always been. That means when the Yankees really need him to win a game he won't. I feel better already...What to do about Alex Rodriguez? Who knows, but his hearing starts tomorrow. I'm hoping for the best and expecting nothing...At least when we start talking about real, live baseball again in February Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain will be making fans on some other team mad at them...Already a bright spot for next year. ...Look for the positive, look for the positive. And there it is! Bud Selig is retiring after the 2014 season. And why not? He's done enough damage. ...The Yankee situation may be a mess but at least they don't have B.J. Upton to worry about. One season into a five-year, $75.25 million contract he is only hitting .184 for the Braves. ...Since September 4 the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a 12 - 11 record down the stretch and that is the reason why the Cardinals won the division and they didn't. Pirate fans should be happy they are in the post season again but they won't be there for long if they keep playing like they have been. ...For a long time now, ever since I have been a member of this website, I have played a little game with people's screen names. When I read the screen name I think of the first thing that pops into my mind about it based on what the name is. It doesn't work for all screen names however. Say for example PaulW, who is one of our modders. Well that's the man's name so it is kind of hard for me to picture a Paul W. But for other names, well, you'll see. Dylan Bradbury: Scary stories. Only because I immediately think of Ray Bradbury the writer.Oinkersthepig: I picture some guy with bags and bags of pork rinds around his computer.StormsWarning: Thunderstorms. Also, there's a book called Storm Warning by Jack Higgins, a favorite writer of mine.Fuzzone: Some kid who needs a shave.JoeRudi26: Well this one is a different. I don't picture the user. I picture the player himself and when I do he is making that famous catch in left field off of Denis Menke in the 1972 World Series. What a leap.AlcoholicStepfather: Yes there really is a member here by that name. I think of a guy sitting in a comfy chair drinking a lot of beer.MrDudleyDoWright: I think of the cartoon and the Canadian Mounties. UncleMo: Rhymes with Uncle Joe. As in Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction.DustintheWin: That damn song by Kansas. Every time I hear it I think it will never end.Drovebykeptgoing: Some guy who drove by and kept going and didn't feel like picking someone up. ...If I were a Dodger fan and I was in San Francisco to watch my team I would not wear one thing that would be mistaken for Dodger Blue. And the same goes for Giants fans who travel to Los Angeles for a game. Keep the orange and black colored gear at home. It could mean your life. ...A few years back the father of my wife's friend had an extra ticket to a Buffalo Bills game and she asked my wife if she wanted to go with her. She agreed because she's never been to Rich Stadium before and also because the Bills were playing the Miami Dolphins, which is her favorite team. (She knows nothing about football and the reason why she likes the Dolphins is because she likes the colors of their uniform.) After she came home she was so upset because people were yelling at her for being a Dolphin fan and finally after being screamed at one too many times she goes up to the guy and tells him that she doesn't play for Miami, she's just wearing their jersey. I told her that the guy who was yelling at her must have had one too many beers two hours ago and if she ever gets a chance to go back she'll be wearing something that has no team insignia on it. She doesn't understand how team rivalries affect fans which is strange because she lives with me and she sees how I am when the Red Sox are on TV. After she told me about what she went through at that game she asked me if she would have had the same treatment had she went to a Raider game instead of a Buffalo game wearing her Dolphins jersey. I said you sure would and I'd be one of the people yelling at you. I reserve the right not to tell you what happened next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSabathiaEra Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) Been awhile since ive posted but ill give a brief update This site has changed alot since i first joined back in fall 2007, i remember when the shoutbox was accessed to everybody and it got pretty intense at times. When i first joined here i was in 8th grade going on 14 years old..i was such a clutz and the biggest Yankees homer you could find...cant believe its been that long. Im currently 19 and enrolled in a 4 year private school located in my town which is real convient studying in Mass Communications hoping someday i could live my dream job as a sports anchor for ESPN..or even a producer. Something like that has always been a dream of mine. Its been a tough year for my Yankees. Mo retiring, Pettite retiring, leaving Jeter as the sole survivor of the Core 4. Injuries mounted right from the get go. We need to clean house starting now. Lyle Overbay has been a pleasant suprise and i hope he returns next year. Oh, and im done with Phil Hughes. Basketball season is right around the corner, and i hope Melo doesnt take anymore stupid contested shots and think hes the whole effing show for the Knicks. Im really high on Tim Hardaway Jr and hoping he can break through and become a terrific 6th man and blossum to something even better someday. So yeah, i have been keeping busy with school etc and its cool seeing some old familiar faces still around here and modders doing their thing keeping a cult classic alive. Edited September 29, 2013 by TheSabathiaEra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Been awhile since ive posted but ill give a brief update This site has changed alot since i first joined back in fall 2007, i remember when the shoutbox was accessed to everybody and it got pretty intense at times. It is always nice to see people come back to the site for a visit. Yeah, I agree with you. This place has really changed. These new people don't post much and I have no idea why they don't. We never worried about that years ago. The shoutbox became restricted when new people to the site would use that as a place to get technical support instead of creating threads. I still recall spending a day and a half with one guy who did not know how to install two copies of the game on his hard drive. Now the shoutbox is for contributors, modders and staff members. It cuts down on the flooding. When i first joined here i was in 8th grade going on 14 years old..i was such a clutz and the biggest Yankees homer you could find...cant believe its been that long. Im currently 19 and enrolled in a 4 year private school located in my town which is real convient studying in Mass Communications hoping someday i could live my dream job as a sports anchor for ESPN..or even a producer. Something like that has always been a dream of mine. Its been a tough year for my Yankees. Mo retiring, Pettite retiring, leaving Jeter as the sole survivor of the Core 4. Injuries mounted right from the get go. We need to clean house starting now. Lyle Overbay has been a pleasant suprise and i hope he returns next year. Oh, and im done with Phil Hughes. No way man. You couldn't hold a candle to me. I used to be a big Yankees homer myself and now I don't give a sh** anymore. That's from years of watching them choke in the playoffs. And I am not too happy with them not doing anything about Robinson Cano, who has no idea what it means to hustle. It was very hard watching class acts like Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte leave. They are tough to replace and I think we have some lean years ahead of us. I'm also done with Phil Hughes too. And you can add Joba Chamberlain, Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to that list too. Time to clean house? You bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSabathiaEra Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) It was very hard watching class acts like Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte leave. They are tough to replace and I think we have some lean years ahead of us. I'm also done with Phil Hughes too. And you can add Joba Chamberlain, Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to that list too. Time to clean house? You bet. Ugh, everytime Joba comes in you know its trouble. Its a shame how far hes fallen, he was the man when he first came up in 07 against Toronto with that filthy slider and zinging fastball. Then we tried to make him a starter and that fell flat and ruined him. Grandy strikes out everytime hes in a hole, Arod is well..Arod. Cano is being a fool, over 300 million for a 2nd basemen? hey, i love Cano. Best 2B in the game but just..no. Hes entering his 30s and after the 10 year deal with Arod i hope Cashman learned a hard lesson. As for Tex, i dont even know. His bat is declining but still has a vacuum glove. As for who replaces Mo...there will never be another Mo. And whoever takes over has big shoes to fill. I dont feel confident with Robertson and i feel he should stay in the setup. Not sure whats out there on the market for closers if we even sign or trade for one. Whatever it may be. Its gonna be odd not seeing Mo in the pen anymore man. Cashman has ALOT of work to do. Edited September 29, 2013 by TheSabathiaEra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Ugh, everytime Joba comes in you know its trouble. Its a shame how far hes fallen, he was the man when he first came up in 07 against Toronto with that filthy slider and zinging fastball. Then we tried to make him a starter and that fell flat and ruined him. Grandy strikes out everytime hes in a hole, Arod is well..Arod. Cano is being a fool, over 300 million for a 2nd basemen? hey, i love Cano. Best 2B in the game but just..no. Hes entering his 30s and after the 10 year deal with Arod i hope Cashman learned a hard lesson. As for Tex, i dont even know. His bat is declining but still has a vacuum glove. As for who replaces Mo...there will never be another Mo. And whoever takes over has big shoes to fill. I dont feel confident with Robertson and i feel he should stay in the setup. Not sure whats out there on the market for closers if we even sign or trade for one. Whatever it may be. Its gonna be odd not seeing Mo in the pen anymore man. Cashman has ALOT of work to do. Joba was unbelievable when he first came up. You know how you see good, young pitchers come up for other teams? Well that's what happened for the Yankees when they brought him up in 2007 and before you knew it he was useless. Today is his last game in a Yankee uniform and I am glad about that. Cano is already 30 years old right now. In fact he is going to be 31 next month. And he wants a ten year contract? Show him the door. Teixeira is another in a long line of free agents that did great before becoming a Yankee but when they get on this team they forget how to hit. Cashman does have a lot of work to do and it won't be done in one off season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 6, 2013 Author Share Posted October 6, 2013 Updated to 10-6 ...Today is the last day for me being home alone because I have to pick my wife up at the airport late this afternoon. I did things last week that I have not been able to do in years. I watched a ball game -no, make that a few of them- without having someone have a running conversation with me about what is going on at her work and who said what to whom. Don't ask me how many times I've missed something that happened in the game after I finally gave up and listened to her. So you can imagine how strange it was for me to watch baseball and football and the only sound in the room besides the TV was dogs that were sound asleep. Absence does make the heart grow fonder but at the same time I think I could have held out for another week. ...Look at Alex Rodriguez go! He's so desperate to avoid that 211 game ban that he's suing everyone in sight. So far he's going after Major League Baseball (which they expected) and just to make his lawyers work more he's suing Doctor Chris Ahmad, who happens to be the Yankees team doctor and the New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center because they did not validate his parking when he went there for treatment. So far the Yankees themselves have not been sued but tomorrow starts another working week so you just never know. ...Of all the baseball that I watched last week on the MLB Network there was one stat that stood out the most for me and that was that seven out of the ten top payroll teams in baseball did not even make the playoffs this year and for any of us that follow this game as close as a lot of us do in here that should not surprise anyone. ...Larry Beinfest, the President of baseball operations for the Miami Marlins was fired by owner Jeffery Loria just days before the Marlins finished up their third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. After twelve years with the team this is probably the best thing that's happened to him in a long time. Last off season Loria had him trade away his best players and when they didn't win this year it was Beinfest's fault. Pretty soon Loria's not going to have anyone there to fire but himself. ...An up in Quebec, they are laughing. ...I wonder if the Phillies heard through the baseball grapevine that the Cubs were going to fire Dale Sveum as soon as the season ended and it was one of the reasons why they made Ryne Sandberg their permanent manager? ...As bad as the Oakland Raiders have started out this year they are still doing better than the winless Jacksonville Jaguars. The other week they even trie to entice fans to come to the game as they promised them two free beers if they just bought a ticket. I'm not sure how well that promotion worked out for them because some fans can knock off two beers on the way to their seat, but I give them credit for trying. Their season is going so bad that some fans have set up a web page for the Jags to sign Tim Tebow and during last Sunday's loss to the Colts a plane flew over the stadium carrying a sign that said TEBOW,WHY NOT? Why not indeed. Their season was over before it started. Nothing that Tebow can or can not do will change anything. ...Speaking of beer I read an article last week that drinking it could be good for your health because there is a high content of Vitamin B in it and that in turn is good for your bones. If that's true then the drunks that you see at sporting events are the healthiest people in the world. ...Because the Oakland Athletics are going to be hosting a divisional playoff game later today the NFL game between the visiting San Diego Chargers and the Raiders has been moved to 8:35 pm Pacific time, or 11:35 p.m. Eastern time. The reason for this is that the Oakland grounds crew needed more time to get the stadium ready after the baseball game is completed. I've got no problem with that because I'm sure it's not an easy procedure to convert a baseball field over to football dimensions. But the NFL knew the Athletics were in the playoffs over a week ago and that they'd be hosting the first two game in their series. Wouldn't it have made sense for them to switch the game to San Diego and then later on in the season when the Chargers are to host the Raiders (on December 22nd in week 16) play that game in Oakland? With this late start on the west coast those fans in that part of the country are finally going to feel what it's like to watch a game when it starts that late. Good luck for them staying up to the end. ...I find it funny that football fans think that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is so terrible because he wants to expand the playoffs to fourteen teams. Any baseball fan could tell them that he got this idea from watching Bud Selig water down baseball's post season over the years. This new proposal in scheduling would cut the pre-season down to three games but because there would be one less game in August another playoff team in each conference would be added. It's all about the money. Better to charge higher ticket prices for a game in January then to a game in the summer that no one cares about anyway. ...I don't think taking away a pre-season game is going to help any team. Coaches use these games to evaluate players, get a first look at drafted rookies in game situations and make cuts. Having only three games won't help this at all. Picture ending spring training around the 15th of March after a couple weeks and going right into the season. Imagine the problems that will cause. When I was a kid the NFL had a fourteen game season and the pre-season was six games. I don't want to think how bad Goodell would have ruined that. Pete Rozelle messed it up enough when he added two games to the season. ...Why does it seem that the first thing people say to you after you just got a haircut is did you just get a haircut? And it doesn't matter if these are people that see you every day. They'll still ask that same question. I always wished that I could come up with a funny comeback but I've never been able to. ...A few years back we put our home telephone number on something called a no-call list and for those of you who do not know what it is it's something that is supposed to stop unwanted sales calls and it works as well as a redneck trying to stay away from a yard sale. They still keep coming, especially the one that starts out with "there's no problem with your credit card..." and then they tell you to press one now to talk to a sales associate. One time I actually stayed on the line to ask these people not to call me again and I was surprised to learn that I was talking to someone from Bank of America and the reason why I was surprised was that we don't have a charge card or any kind of account with them. The lady that I talked to said they would be glad not to call me back but apparently she forgot our conversation as soon as we hung up with each other because the calls keep coming. ...Something similar like that happened last year to me when I turned on my cell phone and was amazed to see that there were eight voice messages for me. I don't use my cell phone every day. In fact I can go a whole month without turning it on. That's how little I use it. When people need to get in touch with me they use our land line number or they send me e-mail. After checking these messages I discovered that they were from collection agencies that were looking for someone named Donald Robinson, which I explained to them that I was not the guy they were looking for and that I didn't know him either. What I didn't understand was that how they got my cell phone number because I have had the same number for years now. What I'm telling you here happened in May of 2012. I spent one hour on the phone talking to these two different collection companies telling them what I knew about this guy, which was nothing. Both of these places agreed not to call me again and I thanked them and wished them well in finding this guy. For a long time I heard nothing back - until this spring when the voice messages started again. This time I just deleted them without calling them back. They must think I'm hiding Donald Robinson from them out in my shed in the backyard. ...Without a doubt the Pirate fan that was the happiest to see his team beat the Reds in the National League wild-card game Tuesday night was that guy who interfered with that home run that Shin-Soo Choo clobbered in the eighth inning. There was some question if it was a home run but once that guy tried to catch it and then dropped it, the umpires saw it went into the stands. TBS showed the guy three or four times after the play was over and had Cincinnati come back to win that game people would have known what he looked like and they'd have thrown him in the river. ...You really got to give the Atlanta Braves credit for keeping Dan Uggla off their NLDS playoff roster against the Dodgers. Sure he only hit .179 for them this year and only collected 80 hits for the entire season, 22 of them home runs and he had 55 RBI. One would think with a player like that you would keep him off the post season roster in a split second and move on. But Uggla's also raking in thirteen million dollars this year which makes him Atlanta's highest paid player. Most teams would feel pressured to keep someone like that on their roster. This is Uggla's third year of a five-year, $62 million contract. One would hope he has a little nest egg growing because if he keeps on hitting like this no one, least of all the Braves, are going to sign him after it runs out. ...Nick Swisher went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts for the Indians in the American League wild-card game Wednesday night against the Rays and if you would have run into any Yankee fan before the game they would have told you that this is exactly what to expect out of Swisher once the post season rolls around. ...Last week a woman who owns a bar near Wrigley Field took a break from running her business to go dumpster diving in a trash bin outside Wrigley Field because she spotted a pile of Ron Santo memorabilia in there that the Cubs accidentally threw away. These were the same items that a Cubs representative told a local radio station were already retrieved by the team and being held on to but later on in the week admitted to the Chicago Tribune that they had no idea where the memorabilia had disappeared to. It's unclear as to when these items were thrown out or even who in the Cubs front office made a determination to throw this stuff out. I mean they could have stored the Santo remembrances in their trophy case. They have plenty of room in there. ...At the beginning of last week former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar was pulled over by police on suspicion of drunk driving. After checking his license and registration the police put Kosar through a series of tests, which he all failed miserably. He couldn't recite the alphabet or pursue an object with his eyes and then when the officer asked him if he had any problems that would prevent him from standing on one leg or walking and turning, Kosar told him that he's had several surgeries on his knees and ankles because his offensive line couldn't block for him during his playing days. This makes for a funny story, I won't deny that but I guarantee you that the next day there were a whole lot of Browns fans who had no trouble believing Kosar's story that he told to the cops. The police apparently didn't since they charged him with a DUI and they advised him to stay away double whiskeys and offensive lines in the future when he was going to be behind the wheel. The next day his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Good luck with that. ...For those of you that come in here each week to read these postings I am sure you have noticed the lack of political conversation in here and that's because I don't follow what's going down in Washington at all. About the only time that I do is when I bring up the Palins and that's only when Sarah and company are doing something stupid up in America's Wasteland. That being said even a political inactivist like me knew about the government shutdown last week although I have no idea why it happened or what caused it. To take the time to learn about it would have required me to do some reading and put some time in watching CNN and this time not just for looking at Ashley Banfield. Blame it on the baseball playoffs because I did neither and I don't regret it one bit. ...I've heard the Dodgers say more than once that they are not interested in signing Robinson Cano when he becomes a free agent next month which of course makes me think they're going to go after him. Don't misunderstand. I hope they get him because I'd love to see nothing more than watching him loaf down the line at Chavez-Ravine next year than at Yankee Stadium. ...Here's my wish list for the divisional series match-ups: Tampa Bay, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Updated to 10-13 ...I thought I was done listening to Michael Kay for the year but there he was, announcing the Athletics - Tigers series on ESPN radio. I was listening to him online since I wasn't near a TV because I had some work to do on the computer and I kept on waiting for him to start singing the praises of Derek Jeter. ...Thanks to a nine year old boy who slipped through security at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and who was able to fly on a Delta Air Lines plane to Las Vegas without a boarding pass, the TSA is no doubt going to come up with some more new rules to inconvenience passengers that are not runaways. Crew members became suspicious of the boy during the flight because he was behaving himself and not bothering other passengers and contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who picked up the boy when the plane landed and returned him to his family in Minneapolis. The boy was able to get through the airport security and board the plane when TSA agents were busy checking out the nude x-ray of the woman in front of him but how he got to the airport in the first place and why didn't anyone, like his parents, report him missing made no sense. His father, who refused to identify himself and hid behind a hood tied tightly to his face explained that the kid went to go throw the garbage out and when he didn't come home they assumed he was at the home of one of his friends. Instead he took a train to the airport and the rest is history. Right there is where they lost me. Here was this guy at a press conference hiding his face and literally crying to the press that he needed help with this boy because he doesn't listen to them and does what he wants to do all the time but in the same breath he admits he had no idea where he was and just assumed he was with a friend. This family needs more than help raising an out of control kid. ...I am about as far away from California as you can get while still living in the continental U.S. but even I am aware of the money problems that the Golden State has been going through for quite some time now. So when I read that they spent one billion dollars to purchase iPads for over 650,000 students for the kids in Los Angeles in an effort to boost their interest in their school work, the skeptic in me immediately came to the surface once again. Sure enough a group of kids cracked the security settings in the tablet and instead of having something to help them with their homework they are instead using it to play games and update their Facebook accounts, which as everyone knows is much more important. The L.A. school system's goal is to have an iPad in the hands of every student and teacher in the city's 1,000 schools by next year. As soon as Apple found that out they must have been doing backflips. Their purpose was to assist students in a district where 80 percent of the students come from low-income families and this idea could actually work if they only can figure a way to block Facebook. ...Even in Saudi Arabia online pictures can get you in trouble. When a Saudi man saw a picture that his wife posted of her tenderly kissing her pet horse in a display of love and affection he immediately told her to pack up her riding gear and get out because he was divorcing her. Isn't that something? Who the hell knew that there was divorce in Islam? Usually they just go straight to the beheading or stoning part and call it a day. ...I don't feel too bad for Matt Flynn even though Oakland had to give up a draft choice to get him. The Raiders weren't going to use him and after five games he has a good chance to hook up with someone else for the remainder of the season (Jacksonville maybe?) instead of sitting on the bench. Sure, the Raiders looked bad by doing this but what I like most about this move is that they owned up to making a mistake in trading for him right now instead of stringing him along. And with fourteen million dollars left on his contract that he signed with Seattle I won't worry about him at all. ...Commissioner Roger Goodell is really pushing having NFL games played in London because the league scheduled three regular season games next year at London's Wembley Stadium next year with the Jaguars, Falcons and Raiders being the "home" teams. I had no idea that American football was so popular in Europe. I recall that NFL Europe league that they had a few years ago. The crowds weren't that good and most importantly to the NFL, they weren't making any money. It's no secret that Goodell wants a team in London and like any big shot in the sports world he'll probably get his way. ...Goodell was also busy last week when he said he would agree to meet with representatives of the Oneida Indian Nation to discuss the possible name change of the Washington Redskins. I know I have commented on this before but this is just getting more out of control as time goes on. And why does the Oneida Indian Nation have to get involved in this? These people are located in Central New York and the last time I looked at a map that's no where near Washington, D.C. Around here what these people are mostly known for is running the Turning Stone Resort Casino that does a hell of a good business and attracts many people from Upstate New York and Ontario, Canada. And now they get free press because they want the Redskins to change their name. Even the President commented about this by saying that he would think about changing the name of the team. I think right now he has more important things to concern himself than something like this and what to call an NFL team should be the very last. I guess I still look at things the old-fashioned way. Why were people more tolerant years ago? People back then did not walk around looking for something to be offended by but today all you got to do is look around and you'll see people bothered by the most ridiculous things possible just to get attention and when you get right down to it that is what this "name change" talk can be summarized to. When you get the representative from this Indian nation saying with a straight face that the name of a football team has caused very serious public health consequences for his people the logical thing would be to say how is this possible? But the public is so used to hearing excuses like this they don't even question them anymore. When I was in grammar school many years ago for some reason the entire sixth grade was made up of Redskin fans. When we were outside of school you could always tell who was a sixth-grader just by who was wearing a Redskin hat or coat . But what I most recall about this was there were two Indian boys that were part of the sixth grade class and these two were not shy in letting anyone know that they were Indian and who their favorite team was. Some of the other kids wished they were Indians too because those two kids looked at themselves as the best Redskin fans in the entire school. They were rooting on their team and that's all there was to it. I'm not saying that people years ago were better than people today because then I'd be overemphasizing my point. What I am saying is that people back then didn't spend their lives looking for any further reasons to be upset about something because everyday life, as it is today, was frustrating enough. ...David Freese (who makes 3 million a year) has had more clutch hits and big games in the post season than Alex Rodriguez (28 million a year) has ever dreamed of having. ...You ever get the feeling that every time the Atlanta Braves are in the playoffs they play like they want to go home for the winter as fast as they can? ...While I was watching the Tampa Bay Rays in the playoffs last week I couldn't help wondering how dangerous they would be if their ownership actually spent some money and signed a few hitters for them. ...With all the lawsuits that Alex Rodriguez has going on right now it's worth noting that Albert Pujols has one going on himself since he isn't in the playoffs this year and presently has nothing else to do. He's suing Jack Clark for comments he made over the summer that Pujols used steroids. To his credit Clark isn't backing down from what he said and has not apologized to Pujols. Truthfully I would be amazed if this ever went to trial because Clark's defense team will find witnesses and just maybe as an added attraction we will all find out how old Pujols really is. ...After finding out that Bruce Jenner split with his wife Kris Jenner all I had to say was what took him so long? He must have been either very tolerant or stupid to stick around for twenty-two years and I wish him luck from here on out although part of me is wondering if this is nothing but a publicity stunt to get more ratings for her talk show. ...The web has me so trained now that it's not even funny. Every time I click on a video I am used to being forced to watch a commercial before I get to what I want to see but on the rare instances when the ad is bypassed it always catches me by surprise. ...Hannah Anderson, the girl who made news by being kidnapped in early August, got herself back on the front page last Wednesday as she described new details with her time with her capture Jim Dimaggio. She is now claiming that he handcuffed her, bound her feet with a zip tie and tried to force her to play Russian roulette with his pistol. What I don't get about this is why are we hearing about this now after all this time has past? It could be that this has a lot to do with a new book that is soon going to be released that seriously questions her story and involvement in the deaths of her mother and little brother and she is now putting herself back in the spotlight to get attention away from that book since she knows nothing that she says can be corroborated. I've always wondered if Dimaggio had not of died that day how much we would have known what really happened because all we have to rely on is the word of a sixteen year old girl who on her return home after this nightmare has instead acted like she was just on an overnight sleep over at her friend's house with not a care in the world. ...Very sad to hear the story that came out of Denver last week when police found four young, very under-fed brothers who were forced to live in a filthy environment where rotten food, trash and insects were the norm and was also filled with an unbearable odor that was described like that of a decomposing animal. Their parents, who both looked like they haven't missed a meal in years, are facing felony child-abuse charges. All four boys were found wearing unwashed dirty clothing and could hardly talk at all and were taken away and placed in protective custody. The mother was released on bail while the father, who from the look of him last touched a razor sometime in the 60's, remained behind as a guest of the county in a nice, comfortable cell. ...Stories like this amaze me. There always seems to be people like this who slip through the cracks and when they are finally caught people are amazed at what they got away with. The sad part of all this is there are probably a lot more families like this one around the country that are still getting away with this. ...Last week I said that I wanted Tampa Bay, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta all to come out on top in the divisional series that they played in and every one of them lost. Good thing I didn't put any money on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 Updated to 10-20 ...Remember the ALCS game last week in Boston where David Ortiz hit that grand-slam home run to tie the game? I'm sure you do since ESPN didn't let anyone forget it. The Red Sox have a police officer standing watch in their bullpen just in case one of the rowdy folks in the bleachers has a flashback to 2003 and decides to attack the wrong bullpen. This guy made national news just because someone snapped a picture of him with his arms raised cheering Ortiz's shot and overnight the guy got turned into the latest Boston hero. He even got his picture taken with Red Sox owner John Henry, which in some circles is considered an honor. He even has grown a beard and won't shave it because a lot of his Red Sox idols have one too. If this team ever wins this thing the male population in Boston will be walking around with unkempt beards and you won't be able to tell them apart from the homeless. ...Because of complaints by other parents, an elementary school principal in Mesa, Arizona asked a police officer not to wear his police uniform or his gun when he picks up his daughter at school because she said it was too scary for some of the other parents because he was carrying his gun. How do people like this get in a position to be in charge of educating children and make decisions like telling a cop not to dress like a cop? The way I see it an officer of the law who drops off or picks up his kids should be seen as a reassuring presence at that school. Good sense it seems is easier to have than to use. ...There's a committee of some sort in Washington called the President's Council on Fitness and essentially their job is to encourage Americans to be more active. All this time I thought this was something your physician would have already known and told you about. The point is they have this cabinet down in D.C. and every once in awhile like any good task force worth their salt they have to do something to give people the impression that they are doing their job or at the very least working. The U.S. Post Office decided to join in and introduced a fifteen set group of stamps depicting children participating in sports such as playing soccer, playing baseball and skipping rope. However the council objected to three of the stamps because they showed children skateboarding, jumping into a pool by doing a cannon ball and doing a headstand without wearing helmet and because of this they did not approve of the post office's contribution to fitness because in their view it raised safety concerns for them and the post office was forced to destroy this entire run of stamps.This happened at a time with the post office in serious financial trouble which was made even worse now because someone on a council decided like how three cartoon stamps looked to them. Fred Allen, who was a great comedian during radio's golden age and the early years of television said once that a committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary. I think that covers exactly what these people are. ...I did not know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the German guy who got married and accidentally drove off without his wife after getting off the highway to make a pit stop. It seems the vehicle that they were driving was a mini-bus and when the guy got back in to resume the trip he thought his wife was asleep in the back and for two hours all he did was drive and listen to music but then he started to wonder why she would not respond to him when he was talking to her and he soon discovered why. Back when he made his last stop his wife got out and went to the bathroom herself and when he came back he just took off. He then contacted the police to tell them that she was missing but the cops said she wasn't and that she was waiting for him at the rest area 125 miles away. After five hours the couple were reunited and they resumed their trip. The bride was even interviewed by a radio station when they found out what happened. She told them that she didn't hold a grudge against her husband and she wasn't angry with him. What married man after reading that really believes her? That's why I feel sorry for the guy. He's never going to live this down. This poor guy is in for it and he doesn't even know it. Driving in that car for those two hours when he left her being will be the two happiest hours of his marriage. ...I believe if something like this happened to my wife she would eventually believe me. Maybe it would take years but she would get around to it. I'd never be able to say to her hey honey, remember the time...? I'm smart enough not to push my luck. The only incident that comes close to this is something that happened about nine years ago during one of our trips to visit her parents. We took the thruway and got off at one of the rest stops to do what we had to do and for some reason she stopped in the gift shop there. While she was paying for her things she told me the cashier complimented her on her nail polish and when she did that the conversation took off in a thousand different directions. While this was going on I was in the car waiting for her and once she came back we were on our way again. After about ten minutes on the thruway she screams out that she forgot her phone back at the rest stop and we had to go back and get it. I couldn't just turn around and go back so I got off at the next exit and they had to give me directions on how to get back there using side roads. I still don't know how I got back there but I did. She was in a panic until she got that phone back in her hands. Being the lucky SOB that I am I wasn't worried for one second because she knew that I was no where near that souvenir shop and there was no way that I could've been blamed for it. ...Kanye West is campaigning to get Kim Kardashian a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and not counting the Kardashians themselves, he is the only person so far who would like to see this happen. He's mad at the Walk of Fame because he says she is being "frozen out" from consideration and the people who are in charge of the Walk of Fame even confirm that she has - as well as every other reality star. In other words, nothing personal. To qualify for a star the person needs to win an Emmy or a Grammy or an Oscar and the celebrity must be nominated before they can be considered for a star and so far no one has bothered to nominate her. I am still confused as to what her talent is because all she's ever done is lay on her back and have a camera follow her around. It's nice to know that the Walk of Fame has rules and that they are actually going to follow them. ...The next thing you know he's going to write a song about this trashing the Walk of Fame and he's going to spin it to make it sound like their decision was racially motivated. ...If you have never watched a Mr. Magoo cartoon you are missing a lot. Jim Backus (Thurston Howell on Gilligan's Island) was the voice of the nearsighted Magoo. Thank God some people on Youtube feel the same way because they've uploaded a bunch of them. ...I watched my 2000 World Series DVD last week because I had nothing else to do and I missed baseball even though both Championship Series games were still going on. I had to see one more time when the Yanks were still the Yanks and they didn't need to have a superstar at every position. And to watch them see what they've become over the past thirteen years that lead up to all the playoff defeats where they looked like they were sleepwalking through them right up to the season that they had where they couldn't even keep their twenty million dollar a year players on the field. That's all I was thinking of last week instead of paying any mind to the current playoff action. The Yankees will be back. The question is when. ...By the way, thanks again Jose Vizcaino and Luis Sojo. ...I saw a picture of that eighteen-foot-long dead oarfish that was found off the Southern California coast last week. A marine science instructor was out snorkeling and spotted the carcass of the fish floating in the water. He tried to drag it back to shore but the fish was so heavy he couldn't do it and it finally took fifteen people to get the job done. Now I love the water and I enjoy a good swim as much as anyone but when I go swimming I do it in a pool where I can see the bottom. With my luck I'd be out in the Pacific not bothering anyone and instead of some science teacher spotting a dead oarfish it will be me and I'll be seeing a live one and it will swim past me scaring the hell out of me and then I'd probably start making promises to God that he knows I have no intention of keeping just as long as he gets me out of the water. ...Get a room, Dept: During lunch period a high school girl in Georgia went up to a male classmate of hers and offered to do something to him that teenage boys dream of every single day. Naturally the kid thought she was only kidding and took it as a joke but apparently this girl was not in any mood to fool around, at least not in that way as she immediately began making good on her promise right there on the lunch room floor. The boy said he did try to stop the girl from what she was doing but only after a few minutes had passed. This girl must not have been hungry that day or that cafeteria has lousy food. No matter what the reason that kid wasn't about to ask. Both are facing misdemeanor public indecency charges for their lunchtime antics and before classes began the next day every member of the football team asked the girl out on a date and try as he might, the boy has not been able to stop smiling. ...After being amazed at what I read and laughing about it for awhile I stopped and thought about that girl's parents and what they were thinking when they first heard what their daughter had done and how they must have felt. That's when I stopped laughing. ...Very quietly and with no fanfare the Toronto Maple Leafs did something last week that I really thought was nice for a long time fan that recently passed away. When the team learned that one of their long time season ticket holders passed away they sent a letter of condolence along with flowers to the family to express their sympathy. The only reason why people besides the family knew about this was that the man's grandson posted a photo of the letter the team sent them online to thank them for what they did. When I found out about this it really did not come as much of a surprise to me because there is a sense of decency and kindness in that city that as visitors you get a feel of right away and what the Leafs did for this guy was typical of the people there. No publicity, just do the right thing. I can't imagine this happening in many other places with the same results. Boston, for example. If the Red Sox were to learn that one of their season ticket holders passed away I have no doubt that they'd send flowers to the family or at the very least have a representative from the team give them a call. Five minutes later though they'd have someone leak it to the press for the publicity. ...Linda Kozlowski, the woman Paul Hogan left his wife for to marry during Crocodile Dundee is now divorcing Hogan herself alluding to the usual "irreconcilable differences" acknowledgement that more often than not is heard when something like this happens. Of course now that Hogan is a senior citizen at age seventy-four and not having made a movie in years had nothing to do with the decision to end the marriage. ...Kevin Millar played for four different teams in his major league career but if you listen to him talk you would think he only played for the Red Sox. ...There is a group of people who have been camping outside the offices of Major League Baseball in New York who call themselves Hispanics Across America and they have been holding up signs and cheering for Alex Rodriguez every time he enters or leaves the building since his arbitration hearings began almost three weeks ago. They have even set up a website where you can donate money to help them stop -and this is their own words- "stop the injustice regarding his 211 game suspension." These people are insinuating that baseball gave Rodriguez this lengthy ban because he is of hispanic origin and had he not been he would have never been banned for this amount of games. Well that clears that up for me. All this time I thought he was guilty because he was and that he tried to cover his tracks when they were closing in on him. ...Shows how much I thought I knew. First chance I get I'm going to that website and making a donation. ...Forgive me if I do not congratulate you-know-who on winning the American League pennant. If there is going to be any back slapping and cheering for them in this thread it's going to be conducted by someone else besides myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabugo Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I've been away from this post for some time now. I've missed reading it. On the matter of the cop in uniform scaring some kids, it makes me think: Why would kids be afraid of cops? Aren't they supposed to be the good guys? The guy you look for if you get lost? Are they Al Capone's kids or something? In Portugal we have a saying: When you don't want something to get done, name a commitee. That seems to be true all over the world. I feel for that german guy. Women are more or less the same all over the world, and I'm sure 'the time you left me behind' will come up in the future and not always to point out how much fun it was. I hope those differences, unlike poor Paul Hogan's, can be reconcilable (does this word exist??) My dear and beloved mrs is a bit clumsy. Since I'm an athlete in a combat sport, I often get bumps and bruises and stuff like that. And she always manages to accidentally hit me where it hurts. It might be on my toe or my sore neck or whatever, she will hurt me 'by accident' she says. (over the years I've doubted this statement many times...) Then there was this one time when she had a terrible headache and I accidentally turned and elbowed her right on the face (I swear it was an accident). It was a hard elbow, one of those that ehco through the house. Still can't bring that up as a 'funny story'. Women... I'm done talking about A-Rod. Every other day there is some brand new absurdity regarding his life, his doctors, his drugs, his lawyers fighting MLB lawyers, etc. It's just too much. And on top of that, the SOB has been the single most expensive singles hitter in the majors for the past 3 years. (Guess I wasn't done afterall) I've missed Yankees baseball, but since there really isn't any where I live, I'll watch whatever I can find. And now let's all root for the Cardinals, just because they're playing - as Y4L brilliantly put it - 'You-know-who'. I may not know that much about baseball, but I do know this: If the Yankees are not going to use their minor league system, they might as well just not have one, and save the money for something else. Not that I have anything againts Jayson Nix, but if a farm system can't produce a player who can play some defense and hit over .200 then why bother? Stars can't be 'produced', they are born and then correctly polished in the minors or not. But role players can be produced and turned into valuable contributors. Just look at the Cardinals and the Rays. For me, this is where the Yankees have been lacking for years. I don't mind if they go out and outspend other teams for a player that can not be produced in-house. We're lacking something, let's go get it, whether it is an ace pitcher, a leadoff hitter, a slugger, doesn't matter. There is no excuse however for having to go out and spend money on a guy like Nix, no matter how little money it is. I always wonder why the Yankees have great prospects in the low minors, and by the time they've reached AA or AAA, all their potential is gone. I know Y4L isn't Cano's greatest fan, but I recently read something that made sense to me: Would you rather have a 'lazy' Cano who plays 160 games a year, or a 'dive-for-every-ball' guy like Utley who is always injured? I think if the price is right (which it won't be) the Yankees should bring him back. Have a great week everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 In Portugal we have a saying: When you don't want something to get done, name a commitee. That seems to be true all over the world. The Portuguese must be very intelligent people. That's a hell of a saying. I got to remember that. I may not know that much about baseball, but I do know this: If the Yankees are not going to use their minor league system, they might as well just not have one, and save the money for something else. Not that I have anything againts Jayson Nix, but if a farm system can't produce a player who can play some defense and hit over .200 then why bother? Stars can't be 'produced', they are born and then correctly polished in the minors or not. But role players can be produced and turned into valuable contributors. Just look at the Cardinals and the Rays. For me, this is where the Yankees have been lacking for years. I don't mind if they go out and outspend other teams for a player that can not be produced in-house. We're lacking something, let's go get it, whether it is an ace pitcher, a leadoff hitter, a slugger, doesn't matter. There is no excuse however for having to go out and spend money on a guy like Nix, no matter how little money it is. I always wonder why the Yankees have great prospects in the low minors, and by the time they've reached AA or AAA, all their potential is gone. What you said here is something a former member in here and myself have been talking about for years. This is the richest team in baseball and their minor league system should not be like this. I mean what the hell, they have so much money they could have two AAA teams if they wanted. Years ago that is exactly what the Cardinals did. But that isn't the point. They should be promoting from within instead of trading their top prospects for 39 year old veterans. I never understood why the Yankees are so in love with players whose careers are almost over. A lot of people may not like St. Louis but they got people from their system to bring up to their team. No reason why the Yankees can't do it except that they are not patient enough to do it. I know Y4L isn't Cano's greatest fan, but I recently read something that made sense to me: Would you rather have a 'lazy' Cano who plays 160 games a year, or a 'dive-for-every-ball' guy like Utley who is always injured? I think if the price is right (which it won't be) the Yankees should bring him back. I would like to have Cano back but only at the right price. If he doesn't back off his 30 million a year demands the Yankees should let him go. As you said, bring him back if the price is right. You're right. I am no fan of Cano and probably never will be. He doesn't run hard out of the box and he doesn't run hard down the first base line and if anything is ever said to him about this it must not be registering because he keeps doing it. No one wants to have someone that is injury prone on their team but at the same time that is better than having someone that is out there and only hustles when he feels like it and usually Cano does not feel like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Updated to 10-27 ...This year's post season Alex Rodriguez award for bloated contracts and nothing to show for it goes to Detroit's Prince Fielder, the Tigers 23 million dollar a year first baseman who hit .182 against the Red Sox in the ALCS. As happy as the Tigers were one year ago every time Rodriguez came to the plate against them in the 2011 ALCS that is how thrilled the Red Sox were in this past series every time this guy came up swinging his big stick because it got very little results. Fielder's base running was as bad as his hitting and it is a good thing Detroit isn't paying him to do that. ...There's an old baseball saying that says a good manager is worth five to ten wins a year for a team. Earl Weaver was that kind of manager during the glory years of the Orioles and the same could be said about Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers, who retired last Monday at the age of sixty-eight. The first time I heard of him was when he managed the Pirates when they lost in the N.L. Championship series three straight years and even back then he was a class act at all times. ...The Red Sox made the news around here locally last week although to be fair it was only indirectly about them. A Boston fan who made his living as a furniture salesman around here quit his job so he could attend the first game of the World Series. He said that his boss would not give him the week off because he didn't give him enough notice. How can anyone work for an employer that requires something like this to be done? This guy is probably so unreasonable and contemptible that he insists that you call in to work when you are sick and not coming in. When you quit your job like this is one thing in itself but when you make sure you let everyone know what you did is just plain dumb. Good luck finding your next job. ...Meanwhile as this guy went to these lengths to see the game I still have not watched an inning of the World Series yet. ...The worst thing that any team can do this off season that has an open managerial spot is to have Dusty Baker fill it. ...Immediately after the Dodgers lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS they fired Trey Hillman, the man Don Mattingly hand-picked as his bench coach. It was easier to fire Hillman and manufacture a reason for doing so then admit that the Cardinals outplayed them and that Clayton Kershaw picked a terrible time to have his worst outing of the year. ...Not for nothing but why is honey so damned expensive? ...Two soccer fans were arrested by police last week for acting like soccer fans after they threw a smoke bomb out on the field of play and hitting the assistant referee in the back. The official was unhurt and the smoke bomb went off after it bounced off him and hit the ground. The two fans, ages 25 and 47 were released shortly after on bail but not before the police congratulated the both of them on their wonderful aim. ...Every time I hear about something like this happening it makes me think of the old Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota, torn down all these years now. It was December 28th, 1975 and the Vikings were hosting the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Playoff game. Now I am sure you have heard that on important dates you can remember where you were and what you were doing. For example most people can recall exactly what they were doing when they first heard of 9-11. I'm the same way and then some because I'm like that with all dates. The Vikings lead throughout the entire game and with less than a minute to play Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, who even though was not Irish himself still had all the luck of the Irish, threw a fifty-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson, who probably caught the ball with his eyes closed as the Cowboys won the game 17 - 14. Now here's the part where it turned memorable. Had Pearson not have caught the ball the Cowboys still would have been in great field position because Minnesota's safety, a man named Nate Wright, who was neither Irish or lucky, was called for pass interference. Everybody in Minnesota got angry at once and they started throwing things out on the field. Among the things thrown was an empty whiskey bottle that hit an official named Armen Terzian right in the noggin and later on had to have quite a few stitches. ...A Chinese couple is facing charges for selling three of their new born babies in order for them to purchase iPhones, computers and designer shoes. You know, the really important stuff. They are facing multiple counts of trafficking of women and children. The wife was allowed to post bail while the husband remains in custody, presumably so he can not fill any more orders. ...Bum Phillips died the other week and I was very sad to hear about it. This guy fascinated me as a kid. He was the head coach of the Houston Oilers and he did not look like any head coach that I ever saw. He used to wear a huge cowboy hat on the sidelines and he dressed like he was a character right out of the TV show Dallas. And with that Texas drawl of his I could've listened to him all day. Phillips is also responsible for giving me some of the worst pain I have ever had in a hospital bed. It was right at the end of the first AFC Championship game the Oilers played against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As soon as the final seconds wound down in the fourth quarter the teams from both sides started walking on the field. Being that it was in Pittsburgh and the home team won, many fans ran out on the field to celebrate. One guy came up from behind Phillips and took his hat and ran off with it and Phillips did this double take before running after the guy that made me laugh so hard that it was hurting me. R.I.P. Bum, and I hope you did get that hat back. ...It's common knowledge that somewhere in Las Vegas you can lay down a bet on anything provided that you can find someone willing to take it. That being said I would love to know the odds on how long they think the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian marriage will last. To put it as tactfully as I can, he already got what he came for. ...During this coming holiday season which by the way is not that far away, CBS is going to air a one hour Christmas special from I Love Lucy that are going to be digitally colorized. It will be airing on December 20th and even though I was never a huge fan of that show I'll probably tune in just because it will be something different to see during the holidays instead of watching The Little Drummer Boy again. To me, the Lucy show was so predictable that it wasn't even funny and if you've ever caught any of these reruns you'll know what I mean. Ricky has a new act for his club...Lucy wants to be a part of the show...Ricky says no...Lucy gets in some kind of disguise to go onstage but Ricky catches her and her plot is foiled again...Lucy cries. Rinse and repeat next week. ...Despite of what has been coming out of the mouths of education officials who are saying that most school campuses are still among the safest places for students, it makes me wonder if this is being said because they really believe it or that they just want to believe it. The more that I hear about what goes on in schools across the country the more I believe these people have no idea what they are talking about. What the hell is with all the violence? How the hell does a twelve-year-old boy get a gun and feel he has to use it on a teacher? I had a gun when I was twelve too. It was a squirt gun. And that fourteen-year-old who murdered that teacher? I'll bet my entire pension that he was thinking with his head here and not the one that he wears his hat on and things got out of control and ended up killing her. We are less than two months away from the one year anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut incident and it seems that not even that senseless tragedy has made any impression on these kids. ...My niece was born in March of 1995 and during the last few months of my sister's pregnancy I tried to convince her that she should have the child home-schooled. It got shot down by everyone that I told it to. The only one that actually listened and considered it was my brother-in-law. To make a long story short, she went to school like any other kid and graduated this past June and fortunately she did not have any circumstances that made her parents worry about her more than they should have. Right after the Newtown matter I called her up to talk to her about it and I reminded her of what I said to her about my niece all those years ago and this time I was surprised to hear her say that if she was starting school now she would have seriously considered having her home-schooled. It made me wonder how many parents out there have thought the same thing and how close they come to doing it every time something like this becomes page one news again? ...If someone would ask me the first three things that come to mind when I hear the word Texas I would say that I am glad I don't live there, that I hate every one of their sports teams and that the people there are absolutely crazy about their high school football. And after I heard about what went on last week after one game I can now add a fourth: that some of those same people are, to put it nicely, out to lunch. On the Monday after the Aledo High School football team beat Western Hills by the score of 91 - 0 the Aledo coach received an e-mail notifying him that a Western Hills parent, who must have took this loss much harder than the kids did, was accusing him and his coaching staff of bullying because of the lopsided score. This anonymous parent was quick to point out that the report he/she filed was not directed at the team because they showed good sportsmanship in their eyes but rather at the coaching staff for not telling them to ease up and not play hard once they knew they had the game won. If anyone who has ever played football would know that if you go out there to play just to play out the clock and tone down your play just a little bit that is when you find yourself getting hurt. Since this was a bullying complaint the school was forced to investigate; not because they wanted to but because it was mandated by the state. If I was associated with the Western Hills school as a coach, player, parent or fan I would try to get the memory of this game behind me as quickly as possible and hope that the next game goes better. Doing this just put more unwanted attention on the team. It's always the parents that take these games too far. Little League parents are just as bad with mothers and fathers doing their best Billy Martin impressions when something goes against their boy. The good part about this is that the Aledo coach was found not guilty of bullying and hopefully next year when his team has to play Western Hills again on the schedule he can try to keep his team from scoring more than fifty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim825 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 ...Despite of what has been coming out of the mouths of education officials who are saying that most school campuses are still among the safest places for students, it makes me wonder if this is being said because they really believe it or that they just want to believe it. The more that I hear about what goes on in schools across the country the more I believe these people have no idea what they are talking about. What the hell is with all the violence? How the hell does a twelve-year-old boy get a gun and feel he has to use it on a teacher? I had a gun when I was twelve too. It was a squirt gun. And that fourteen-year-old who murdered that teacher? I'll bet my entire pension that he was thinking with his head here and not the one that he wears his hat on and things got out of control and ended up killing her. We are less than two months away from the one year anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut incident and it seems that not even that senseless tragedy has made any impression on these kids. My middle daughter is a junior in college, studying to be a Special Education teacher. Every time I read about a school shooting, I get a knot in my stomach, wondering if my daughter will ever have to go through something like that...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 My middle daughter is a junior in college, studying to be a Special Education teacher. Every time I read about a school shooting, I get a knot in my stomach, wondering if my daughter will ever have to go through something like that...... Teachers are special Jim but I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, Who would have thought things would be like this for students and teachers alike? It is my wish that your daughter becomes a teacher like she wants to be and never has any stories like this to tell you for her entire teaching career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padres67 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 I have been teaching for 29 years. I have a Masters degree in Special Ed and have taught many Sped kids. Most of them have been great to work with. I have been threatened with physical harm on many occasions, fortunately, nothing came of these threats. Teaching has gotten much more difficult these days. we have a segment of society with severe mental health issues. I'm proud of your daughter for wanting to help these kids. God bless her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim825 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 I have been teaching for 29 years. I have a Masters degree in Special Ed and have taught many Sped kids. Most of them have been great to work with. I have been threatened with physical harm on many occasions, fortunately, nothing came of these threats. Teaching has gotten much more difficult these days. we have a segment of society with severe mental health issues. I'm proud of your daughter for wanting to help these kids. God bless her. My daughter definitely has a gift and it showed from an early age. A nephew on my wife's side is severely handicapped and when we would all gather at my in-laws for family events (my wife has 7 brothers and sisters) and all the kids would be running around playing, my daughter would be sitting on the floor with my nephew, rubbing his head and talking to him. Her best friend is a boy with Down Syndrome that she met when they were in 7th grade together. He's become like a brother to her and like a member of our family. When it came time to think about a career and look into colleges, my daughter knew that she wanted to be a Special Education teacher for elementary school kids with severe disabilities. She's been doing some pre-practicum work in elementary schools as part of her work for her major and she loves it. I know that she is going to be very successful once she gets into a school after she graduates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padres67 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 Your daughter is a loving, kind hearted individual. Not many would do what she has already done. She will be great at this job. I hope the best for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Updated to 11-3 ...After the completion of the World Series last Wednesday night or at any time during the following day it would have been nice had I taken the high road to congratulate that team for winning this year's World Championship Series. But I can't and it's not even something I'm wrestling with myself over. I'm just not going to do it. No, I'm not going to take anything away from how they played during these six games. The Cardinals were beat in every facet of the game and when that happens you lose ball games. You won't be able to look at a Red Sox fan next year without having them extend their index finger to remind you that they're number one. They may be loyal and knowledgeable fans but they also know how to get in your face and rub it in unlike anyone around. Yet this same collection of people were united six months ago for an event that changed their lives and their city forever and they did it with class. This same attitude has never been shown once however at any time when one of their sports teams has won a title. This is why I refrained from commemorating them last week. They won? Fine. What's on TV tonight? ...Just wait until next year. Captain Twenty Million is going to be back and he'll be out there at shortstop every day and the Yanks are going to be unstoppable. And then they're gonna...oh forget it! ...There was one bit of good news after this World Series went into the record books. Tim McCarver called his last game for FOX and is now headed towards retirement. That means the only people he can drive crazy from now on are his friends and relatives. ...And with the Fall Classic now in our rear view mirrors we can look ahead to what this off season will bring. Free agency and the cat-and-mouse games that go along with it, the GM and winter meetings and all the things that make the Hot Stove League the best way to pass the time until February gets here when baseballs begin to get tossed around again in Florida and Arizona. This winter though we have the dissatisfaction of the Alex Rodriguez hearing and all the pomposity that's sure to bring. Why just last week the harassed one let everyone know that he is in this fight against Major League Baseball because he felt he was serving the interests of the next eighteen-year-old that was coming into the league and to be sure that he did not step into the house of horrors that he was being forced to walk through. Without a doubt this sounds very noble of him although he fails to admit this house of horrors he is talking about was something he was responsible for building and walking in to. ...As part of a promotional stunt sponsored by Coca-Cola, Metallica will be traveling to Antarctica to play a concert on King George Island, which is part of the South Shetland Islands. The concert is going to be held on December 8th, which is the warmest time of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. As an added bonus Coke is running a contest on Twitter and they will pick a total of ten winners and they will be chosen to take an eight-day cruise to Antarctica to attend the concert. Isn't that something? I was going to throw my wife's name into the hat but contest rules exclude U.S. residents. I doubt if she'd go anyway since she is much a fan of the cold as I am. Thanks to Wikipedia I learned a little about King George Island and if you set aside for a moment the truckloads of cash that Coke is paying them I am even more at a loss as to why Metallica would want to go there. Over 90% of the island's surface is permanently glaciated. That means if you walk outside you got a hell of a good chance of falling on your keester. The rest of the island is probably nothing but parking lots. I'd be surprised if Coke gets ten winners to this contest let alone get ten people to enter. ...If you've never heard of Mario Cuomo that's ok because he's just a former politician and that means he's nobody important. Cuomo, 81, was a former three-term Democratic governor of New York and an Italian-American. Because of that he has refused to see The Godfather because it focused on the Cosa Nostra, saying that it was a negative Italian stereotype but anyone who has any idea how the political mind works he said this just to garner votes from the many Italian-American groups in New York. Now that he has been out of politics for almost twenty years he finally went to see it forty-one years after it was made. At his advanced age he better go and see the other two before it's too late.A Fool and his Money Dept: Over the last five years a thirty-three-year-old Canadian man spent $100,000 on plastic surgery in order to look like his idol Justin Bieber. Admittedly it could have been worse had he elected to look like Mick Jaggar but that's not the point. I saw a photo of this guy and they did get the hair style correct but that looks like the only recognizable part of Bieber on him. The stupid look on his face was natural and was not altered at all. I didn't post a picture of this person because I'm not really sure what to think is worse, that he spent $100 grand on this or that he's thirty-three and is a fan of Bieber. ...I wondered for a minute what his wife or girlfriend thought about him doing this then on second thought I figured he never had to consider worrying about this. ...Jose Baez, the lawyer who represented Casey Anthony in her murder trial two years ago has a new high-profile case to concern himself with as he is defending the twelve-year-old girl accused of bullying young Rebecca Sedwick who jumped to her death back in September. It's no wonder why the lawyer profession is hated so much because there is always people like Baez who are quick and willing to defend anyone for money and publicity this case is going to give him. Maybe this time the jury will get it right. ...EA Sports last week announced that a new PGA Tour game is currently in development for the new Playstation 4 and XboxOne and for the first time since they began their golf series in 1999, Tiger Woods will not be featured on the cover. EA said in a statement that they and Tiger Woods "made a mutual decision to end their relationship" and if you believe that pull up a chair and let me tell you a story about a certain Yankee third baseman who is being accused of being among other things a cheater but who is in fact innocent. Why would Woods choose to give up an easy payday like this where he had to do absolutely nothing for it except to pose for a few pictures and do a few interviews? EA showed Tiger to the door but they let him save face by saying that it was a joint decision to go their separate ways. ...I really don't think it matters if Woods is on the cover at all. One thing that EA can do well is that they can make the prettiest covers for a game that you'd ever want to see but it rarely extends to how good the game actually is. I admit I would be curious to see how golf is going to look on these new consoles and it that has nothing to do with who they decide to slap on the cover. ...I'm still messing around with Links 2003 from Microsoft and I have over one hundred courses that I can play on. Sure it's an older game. But it still plays well and that's all I care about. ...Not too long ago a man who worked nights by stocking shelves at a Detroit Walmart saw a crime being committed and decided to stop to help out a woman who was being attacked in the store's parking lot when he was outside having his meal break. It's Detroit, so these things happen all of the time. Luckily for this woman this man was one of the good guys and when he saw what was going on he immediately ran over to help her. Walmart's way of rewarding him for his courageous actions for helping that woman was to let him know that he no longer worked there after they alluded to a policy that requires their employees to alert the management and call the police instead of handling the situation themselves. It is of course something that he did not do but at the same time was also unable to do. It's a rule that looks good and makes sense on paper but following it at times like in circumstances like this is easier said than done. The bad press and complaints that they received from the public forced them to contact the fired employee to offer him his job back plus back pay from the time that he missed but he told them no because he felt they only offered this because of the pressure that the public put on them. I'll never meet this guy but if I did I'd like to shake his hand to thank him for coming to the aid of a woman who was having a bad time of it and for giving the middle finger to Walmart without actually doing it. ...I don't like to bring up religion a lot in here, so forgive me as I do so now. A lot of times this subject can be down right annoying and before anyone here assumes that I am a card-carrying atheist I better get across what I mean. Most of the times when religion is in the news it's negative. Typically there is a bombing that is linked to it or someone's beaten up or killed over it or else you have hateful people like the followers from the Westboro Baptist Church who hide behind it. Then there's one more group and those are the people who believe God is sending them a message after they've done something stupid, for example like this Texas man. He was at an off-road racing competition which was held near Dallas when all of a sudden a thunderstorm hit the area followed by lightning. It was the kind of rain that if you were driving on the highway you would pull over and wait in order to ride it out. That's what happened here as the race quickly stopped and people went for shelter but this guy decided to stand under a tree to bear the brunt of the storm but as any grade school kid will tell you this is the worst place to be when lightning is dancing around. Naturally it saw him down there and it gave him a jolt as only lightning can to let him know to clear out if he knew what was good for him. Instead of getting the hint he dropped to his knees and he got zapped again. Incredibly he survived and was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released. He said later that he believed that God kept him alive so he would be able to go to church a lot more than he has been. I believe that God kept him alive but not just to get him to rejoin the congregation because if that was the case a lot more people would be walking around afterwards with hair like Buckwheat. ...I have never been tempted to do this during all my years on the internet and after hearing about what happened to a man in China when he decided to do it I knew I had made the right choice. What I'm talking about is hooking up with someone you met after you have talked online with them. This Chinese man did and the outcome was something that neither he nor the woman he went to see ever expected. I'll sum it up. A fifty-seven-year-old man started talking to a woman that he met in a chat room that he thought was interesting and in turn she felt the same way about him. And like any two people that meet under these circumstances they both lied to each other every chance they had. Among other things he told her was that his wife was deceased and she told him that her husband was in jail. Finally after exchanging phony pictures they decided to meet at a nearby hotel. The wife's husband was not in jail but he was out of town on business and just happened to arrive home three days earlier than he was supposed to to surprise his wife. This is getting good, isn't it? He couldn't find her anywhere in the house and after calling around to various places he still wasn't able to locate her. Figuring she'd turn up eventually he got changed and went on the computer and that is where he discovered the chats that she had been having with her online Don Juan and by reading them he found out why she was not at home-and where she was. Not wasting any time the angry husband raced to the hotel and when he got to the hotel room he discovered that she was there with none other than his father. That's when the proverbial you-know-what hit the fan. He then beat his father and wife, knocking out three of her teeth and when the hotel staff saw the busted up hotel room they called the police and he was arrested. The father and daughter-in-law were not and except for some bruising and missing teeth both were fine. I think it's safe to say that all the family gatherings from now on are never going to be the same with the husband not being in jail and the man's wife still among the living. ...A few days ago for Halloween the entire Honey Boo-Boo family dressed in costume as the Kardashians. Now if that doesn't make Kim & Company want to go away for good, nothing will. ...Don't forget to turn back your clocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Updated to 11-10 ...This Friday Sony will be debuting the Playstation 4, the latest edition of their successful line of gaming consoles. While I will not be getting one myself for financial reasons only I am still very interested if the game play on this machine matches the hype that it received in the last few months leading up to the release on November 15th. If I had five hundred dollars to hand over to get one for myself I would have already pre-ordered one but with Christmas getting closer and money being dished out for that faster than we can earn it I have no problem holding off. Maybe with luck for my birthday in July and by that time there might be a price cut. ...There's someone I know who owns both the original Xbox and the Xbox360 and he is also one of those people that gets them on the first day they are sold or not long after. Characteristically for him he'll have his hands on his Xbox One before the weekend of the 22nd draws to a close. He loves the Xbox so much that the suits in Redmond, Washington should hire him and place him in their publicity department. He loves pointing out things that he believes are weak points about the PS3 or PS4 and last week he told me in an e-mail that Sony made a late change in the PS4 that they put in right before Friday's launch where they were dropping support for Mp3's and CD's so they could not be played on the new system. I'm glad he wasn't looking for a response because I didn't give him one but if this is what Xbox fan boys are zeroing in on to point out what they see is a flaw then they must think that Sony's going to come out with a good one at the end of the week. If I was in the market to get one of these systems this would not be a deal breaker because in my house alone I can think of at least ten different devices to play my CD's and at least half of them will play MP3 files along with it. Most houses have CD players and if they have a computer they can play MP3's. Maybe that's why Sony dropped support for them because they are so readily available anywhere else. I'd still get the PS4. I just need the money. ...I was kind of surprised that some members of the Miami Dolphins were coming out in support of Richie Incognito, whose unique way of hazing towards second-year player Jonathan Martin came out in the open last week after Martin left the team. If this guy ends up getting kicked out of the NFL for this, which is now a good possibility, he will have no one in his corner to defend him or lend him moral support unless you are counting the Klan or the state of Mississippi. ...You never know when you are going to cross paths with the next idiot that enters your life. This happens occasionally when I have to go to a drive-up window. I'll never forget one instance ten years or so ago when I ordered an Egg McMuffin and and orange juice and after the McDonalds employee asked me if that completed my order she then asked if I wanted an egg with it. I told her I ordered an Egg McMuffin and since when do you have to request that the egg be included in this? Her response was a mumbled "oh yeah" which I have discovered over the years is code for I screwed up again. I've told this story to friends and relatives over the years and I've even repeated here in the shoutbox too a few years back. Some people believed what I said and some didn't but they all laughed because they thought it was a good story. What happened to me last Tuesday when I went to pick up a prescription is now going to replace my McMuffin story. The CVS near my house has a drive-thru drop off and pick up window for pharmacy business and I went there that day to pick up some medication. After providing my name and address this is how the rest of the conversation went, word for word. CVS: Can you tell me the month and day in which you were born? ME: Sure. July 14th. CVS: No, that's wrong. ME: You mean I've had it wrong all these years? CVS: Can you tell me the month and day in which you were born? ME: July 14th, and here's my drivers license to prove that the State of New York agrees with me. She then took my license and then tapped on her keyboard a few times and whatever she did made her see that CVS also agreed that I was in fact born when I said I was. I know this because I heard her say "oh yeah." She didn't fool me. I knew what she really meant. ...A middle school football coach from Portland, Oregon got himself fired for his refusal to change the venue of a team party that was scheduled to take place at Hooters. The party was planned over a month ago and the team's parents were notified of it then and during all that time the coach did hear of any objections to his plans. That all changed on the weekend before the party when the school athletic director told him that three or four families took exception as to where this affair was to take place but by that time it was too late to change restaurants because the coach had already spent over $1,000 of his own money in preparation for this day. Now I'm sure this coach wasn't planning on slipping his players a beer or two while they were there, after all the parents were to be in attendance too. And if anyone who has ever stepped foot in a Hooters before knows they keep things light and easy in there and they never take themselves too serious. But that's not what some of these parents are complaining about. They don't want their son to see a girl wearing short shorts and a tight t-shirt, forgetting that all these kids have to do is turn on the TV or surf the internet or even walk around a mall on a hot summer day for them to see worse. The exposure to violence on a daily basis that these kids see, whether it is the real kind or the kind you see on TV is almost the norm these days. That being said, thank God that eighth-grade football team was spared from seeing pretty girls walking around wearing a t-shirt that was one size too small. ...You can tell when Brazilian soccer fans do not like you because they will literally separate your head from your body. This was the way they let a referee know they were not pleased with his work this past summer and the other week they did the same thing to a retired player by the name of João Rodrigo Santos Silva. Silva's wife discovered his head in a backpack which was left by the front door of their home as she was preparing to go to work. It is uncertain why this happened to Silva, who stopped playing two years ago and since then has owned and operated a health food store. No games were scheduled that day and the people in charge of the beheadings down there must of had nothing else to do. And the World Cup is going to be held there next year? What a good idea. I hope that the stadium that this will be played in is right near the airport because if Brazil doesn't win this thing that is where all the other teams are going to be running to. ...One thing I have learned over the years about Halloween is that the idiots make themselves well know with the costumes they decide to wear. From the mother in Virginia who dressed her little boy as a mini Klansman and thought nothing of it, explaining that it was a "family tradition," to the two girls in England who dressed as the burning Twin Towers just as they appeared after the September 11th, 2001 attack to the right after they were attacked in 2001 to the twenty-two-year-old Michigan girl named Alicia Ann Lynch who dressed as a victim of April's Boston Marathon bombing and thought it was hilarious. I'm sure that little boy did not know the meaning behind that costume he wore. For him it was Halloween and that meant candy. The others were old enough to know better and the backlash that the girl who wore the Boston Marathon costume has cost her her job and her privacy when it was found that she had some nude photos take of herself and someone posted them online. (Now I won't post the link here but if you just Google her name you'll see that once again Google is your friend.) This almost makes you want to fast-forward to next Halloween to see what these people are going to dress up in next because in twelve months time they're not going to get any smarter. ...Goodbye Blockbuster Video and thanks for the memories, mostly bad. I can't recall how many times I went into one of those places to get a movie and it wasn't there. I used to joke with my wife that the employees knew what I was coming in for and would hide it before I got there. ...Courtney Stodden, the girl who at the age of sixteen married a fifty-one-year-old man just two years ago has now filed separation papers from her husband. This decision stems from her need to no longer have plastic surgery done on her chest and her husband's insistence to take vacations and getaways based on what he read in his AARP magazine. ...Kmart's announcement last Monday about their decision to stay open for forty-one hours straight starting at 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving day came with all the expected outcry and anger that they anticipated. I read the usual "I'm never going to set foot in your store again" quotes but by next July when something's on sale for their summer patio they'll go there. People are calling them greedy and selfish among other things but the Kmart executives, who will be home that day with their families, know that a lot of the people who are condemning what they are doing will be there on Thanksgiving day. And that is the problem right there. Every year these retailers push it just a little bit more to see what they can get away with and the public always does their bit and shows up when they want them to. Last year Walmart started their Black Friday sales at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving and I wrote then in this thread that I would not be surprised if that was moved before Thanksgiving within the next few years and based on what Kmart is pulling this year my prediction could come through in 2014. ...It's no wonder that as each year passes I dislike Christmas more and more. Not the Scrooge way that Charles Dickens wrote so well of but just being fed up of watching what this holiday has turned in to. It used to be you would start thinking about Christmas the day after Thanksgiving but now it's right before Halloween. Sometimes I think that if Scrooge was around these days and if the three ghosts that were sent to visit him stopped to look around for a bit they might say the hell with it and leave. ...It's been a long time since I went out and bought a comic book but that is going to change next month because the people at Marvel comics are changing the appearance of one of their super heroes and making her into a sixteen-year-old Muslim-American teenager who lives in New Jersey. I don't know why Marvel decided to have a Muslim as one of their lead characters and have to emphasize it. Maybe to keep things even when the next Iron Man movie they will announce that Tony Stark is Jewish. I'm buying it to see how accurate it is by checking to see if every four pages or so something gets blown up and a jilad is declared. A Muslim super hero. I guess after twelve years Marvel figured no one would mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabugo Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Me vs. Phones So, I have mentioned before that I dislike all these new smartphones and things like that. I also believe I have mentioned here that I have a phone, which I bought used 6 years ago. One time I dropped it and cracked it's screen, so instead of buying a new phone, I just found an online store that sells screens, and just like that I kept the old phone working. Which brings me to last week, when the Mrs. was made aware of this great new promotion by our cell-phone provider which allowed us to buy one of those shiny new brilliant excellent marvelous smartphones at a great discount if we used our 'client points'. (Don't know if there is such a thing in the US, but here you accumulate points by paying your phone bills, buying a new phone, etc, etc). There were only enough points in our account for one new phone at a discount and we had to borrow my brother-in-law's points. No problem, apparently. So, thinking all this could be done online, there we go and spend some hours trying to do it through the provider's website. No go. Next day, we go to the store, where we learn that we can in fact borrow another person's points, if we change our accounts to his name. We also learn that the promotion is the equivalent of 10 dollars more if the phone is bought on the store, instead of online. By now I'm starting to get just a tiny bit frustrated, but OK. We end up getting one phone - for her - because the borrowing of the points will take another day or so, and this way I can do it online and save those 10 dollars. After two days, when the damned points are finally placed in the account, we order my phone online. They then call us to set a date for delivery. Thursday, anytime from 9am to 1pm. Allright, cool. I'm a bit busy right now, but I can spare those 4 hours. It's for a good reason, I keep telling myself. So, meanwhile, I'm getting a little fed-up of this running around. The Mrs. using her brand new shiny phone like there's no tomorrow is a little unnerving too. I swear to God, on monday she went to the toilet, and 40 minutes later I went to find her there, playing with her new phone. I was worried something bad might have happened, and there she was, using some new app that will forever change our lives! Moving on, it is now thursday, 12:30am. I tell her: 'I bet my toes that they're not going to show up...' - 'How could you know that?' 1.05 pm, OK, now I'm officially angry. I'm running late to teach a class, there's a bunch of errands I could have taken care of this morning and I sat like an idiot waiting for a phone. And then comes the call: 'Um...uh...We're on our way now...right? Allright?' 'The hell you are! You may take that freaking thing and shove it up, way way up where the sun don't shine and see if it still rings!' That last bit might have been a little too much on my part, but I just kept thinking about how I held up my end of this deal and they didn't. Other than the 4 valuable hours of my time, all the other running around...Man! Adopting a baby in China might be easier than buying that phone! So, I happily stayed with my old, crappy, beat-up phone, which amazingly does most of what this new piece of crap does. It cost me around 80 dollars 6 years ago. Talk about a bargain! Best thing is, the battery still lasts me 2-3 days, easily. And I use it quite a bit. Just yesterday my brother-in-law was telling me about all the cool features on his phone, and then tells me the battery won't last half a day. Why in the hell would you have a phone with all those things if you won't ever be able to use it because the battery is always dead? It's like buying an 18-wheeler to drive around in New York city, just doesn't make sense. Sorry for the long text, I really needed to write this... I really, really, really hate these idiosyncrasies with new technologies. And I really, really, really love my old phone. PS: I've grown to dislike christmas more and more each year for the same reasons. I thought I was the only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 That sabugo, was one hell of a post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabugo Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee4Life Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 Updated to 11-17 ...Isn't it funny that the Braves are getting their third ballpark in Atlanta since moving there in 1966 and a team like the Oakland Athletics can't get a deal done to get a decent one built out in California? ...Turner Field's not exactly old. The Braves started playing there in 1997 but if you listen to the Braves explain why they want to build a new park they'll tell you that Turner Field needs $150 million in infrastructure work which is a fancy way of saying some of the seats are broke and they need new light bulbs. They just don't make stadiums to last these days. Bud Selig himself gave his seal of approval on this impending move and said so in a prepared statement released from the Commissioner's office last week. That means that the check that the Braves sent him was cashed and he now supports them 100%. ...I did not really pay attention to the local elections around here and I confess I did not even cast a vote that day because aside from voting on a new mayor I had no idea what other positions were to be decided on because between you and I and whoever else reads this every week I really didn't care. ...I may not have had any interest but at least I kept it to myself until just now. Over in Boston the voters there showed that they didn't give a damn who their next mayor was going to be when they gave David Ortiz the most write-in votes in the Boston mayoral election, which was news to Ortiz since he wasn't running for office anyway. But the fine folks in Beantown figured that since he can hit a baseball that surely means that he is qualified to run the city. And if anyone out there needs any further proof that no one really cares about steroids here is your proof. That little PED incident hizzoner had? Gone and forgotten. Can't go after everyone especially when A-Rod makes it so easy. ...But you can't beat Texas. Down there a man named Dave Wilson got himself elected to a seat on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees by fooling the district that he was running in into making them think he was black. Wilson, who looks more like an accountant than a glad-handing politician, beat his Democrat opponent who happened to be black and has the photo ID to prove it by only twenty-six votes. What I am trying to figure out is how did he do it? Didn't he do any campaigning or give any speeches? As far as I can tell from what I heard is all he did was send out election flyers with pictures of black people that were downloaded from the internet. His opponent was understandably upset about losing, especially at such a close margin. His major complaint was that Wilson never put out to voters that he was white. Should he have? If just a few of them were paying attention this guy would have never got elected. ...And this is from a state where not too long ago wanted to secede from the United States. ...Chinese-American groups and other protesters that currently have nothing else to do are upset with Jimmy Kimmel and are calling for his job all because of a segment that Kimmel runs occasionally on his late-night TV show called "Kids' Table" where as host he would ask a group of young children questions and the answers that they gave were strictly off the cuff and completely unrehearsed. This question-and-answer format with pre-school children was first made famous by Art Linkletter and later in the late 1990's by Bill Cosby. What got Kimmel in trouble was when he asked the kids how the United States should repay its $1.3 trillion debt to China. One little boy suggested that "we kill everyone in China" and that was enough to get the professional protesters going again to babel about another injustice. I don't understand why Kimmel is being targeted here. Sure it was his show but why should he be held responsible for what the child thought in his mind was an easy answer to his question? And for a group of adults to gather together so they can complain and protest about a comment that a pre-school kid made on a late night talk show is ridiculous. Kimmel is taking the brunt of this because it's so much easier throwing stones at him instead of a six-year-old-boy. ...We had our first snow last Tuesday. Well, not really. While it was true that everything was covered in white that morning we didn't get more than a quarter of an inch and by the time early afternoon got here it it had all melted. But there is something about the first sight of snow every year that makes bad drivers turn into really bad drivers. I had to go out that day to run some errands and it didn't shock me at all to see on my way home a car that was being towed away after hitting a tree. Trees have a habit of jumping out in the road during snowfalls. What always worries me every year is the first time we get snow and we have so much that we have to break out the shovels. That's when these people are really dangerous. ...You got to hand it to the dedication that golfers have to their game. Take for example that guy who traveled down to Cancun, Mexico to attend a wedding and during some of his free time down there he decided to play a round of gold with his friends. At one point he was so intent on trying to hit a shot from a bunker that he did not see a twelve-foot crocodile watching him to see if he could hit himself out of the sandtrap. The croc was nice enough to give him one shot but one was all he gave because then he lunged at the guy and attempted to drag him into the water. Luckily his friends came to his aid and began beating the animal with their clubs before it let go and ran off. When they asked the officials who ran the Iberostar Cancun Golf Club why steps were not taken to rid the place of crocodiles they were told that the crocodiles were allowed to stay there because they rid the course of lousy golfers. ...I couldn't stop laughing last week when I saw the clip about that sixty-two-year-old white supremacist who while a guest on a talk show, found out he had a little bit of African descent in him. Naturally he said he didn't believe it and there had to be some sort of mistake. That's probably the best thing for him do from here on out, just to say that there was some sort of error with the DNA testing because if he doesn't one night he'll get all good and plastered and he'll start burning crosses on his own front lawn. ...I was watching part of an old movie last Wednesday afternoon called Marathon Man and still after all these years I have never seen it from start to finish. That's because every time they get to the part when he's being tortured in the dentist's chair I put something else on as fast as I can. I'm not bragging here or anything but there is no way I'd be tortured like that because all they have to do is give me a Snickers bar and I'll tell them what they want to know. ...Here it is a few weeks past the end of the World Series and traditionally this has always been the toughest part of the year for me because I am trying to adjust to not having baseball around me. You would think with the MLB Network around now that it would help but I didn't watch them much when the season was going on. So I go back to watching the NFL but I can't watch much of it because every time a touchdown is scored someone is dancing around in the end zone as if a colony of ants were suddenly dumped down their back. They all do it and that includes the Raiders, whom I am partial to. I remember watching a guy named Walter Payton who played for the Chicago Bears. He was a hell of a runner who played for some very bad Bears teams until near the end of his career when he finally played on a winner. Payton was one of the best and after he scored a touchdown he would give the ball to an official instead of breaking out into a signature dance. That's why I don't watch football that much. The showboating ruins the sport for me. ...Probably the worst news that I heard last week had to do with the Major League Baseball owners approving the expansion of video replay review. What this is going to do is allow two challenges per game by managers for any play they wish and if you don't think these will all be used up by the fourth inning of any typical Yankee - Red Sox game you have another think coming. ...And for those people who are supporting the further use of replay in the game and are thinking that two protests a game for each manager is no big deal let me tell you this. This is only the beginning because before long they're going to decide to give the managers three or four challenges a game and everyone still is going to say it's not a problem. Before long watching a baseball game is going to be as bad as watching a football game because you're not going to know if something you've just seen take place is going to be reversed. ...It's common knowledge that before this off season is over with that the Yankees are going to sign someone that will have everyone else scratching their heads. Usually it is a player who's pushing forty and would have been more useful to them had they signed him ten years ago or it's the square peg in the round hole kind of player that does not really fit in but they sign him anyway. The latter is what would have happened had Brian Wilson agreed, once he heard that the Yankees were showing interest in him, to shave his beard and get a haircut to adhere to the Yankees strict rules that limit the length of a player's hair and facial hair. But bless his heart, Wilson told the Yankees to keep their scissors and razor away from him because he had no interest in signing with them. Finally a sign that maybe the Yankees fortunes are turning around. Usually they end up signing idiots like this. ...Isn't there some sort of saying that goes something like if things are going good you should expect something bad to happen? Whether there is or not that is what happened to me. Things have been going pretty good lately but I've had times like this in the past where everything seemed to be going well too and when the crash hit it was always loud and painful. The crash hit me at 9:53 a.m. last Friday when I was getting ready to make a left-hand turn into a supermarket. That's when my car decided it didn't want to work anymore and died right before I wanted it to turn. I put my flashers on but that still didn't stop the people behind me who wanted to make that same left-hand turn from getting upset at me because my car wouldn't move. I swear they must have thought I did this on purpose and I chose that intersection to stop and have coffee. It seems that there is something wrong with the air flow vent or hose or whatever and because of that the engine is not getting enough air. I found this out after the AAA road side driver towed my car to the mechanic and now this has to be cleaned out for the proper air flow to get where it has to go. At least it is not something with the brakes or the alignment, things that you know are expensive as soon as you hear those words being said. I can't be sure if I am being optimistic here or am just saying this to keep from panicking for the rest of the weekend until they call me on Monday morning to let me know how much this is going to cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim825 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 ...I was watching part of an old movie last Wednesday afternoon called Marathon Man and still after all these years I have never seen it from start to finish. That's because every time they get to the part when he's being tortured in the dentist's chair I put something else on as fast as I can. I'm not bragging here or anything but there is no way I'd be tortured like that because all they have to do is give me a Snickers bar and I'll tell them what they want to know. Is it safe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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