Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 7-28

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-3

...It's been exactly one week now since I watched Curtis Granderson get hit by a pitch during his first at-bat of the spring, breaking his right arm in the process. This injury we have been told will sideline him until the beginning of May. I never blinked. I never worried for one second how this is going to affect the Yankees and how are they going to survive, etc, etc. Something's happened to me because I don't care anymore. I've been this way since the ALCS ended last October when I watched this team quit as soon as the series moved to Detroit. Granderson was a huge part of it but he was virtually ignored because everyone was too busy blaming Alex Rodriguez. He was just one of many that went up there with a home run on their mind and nothing else and that's exactly what we got out of him and the rest of the lineup - nothing. So forgive me for not being too worried about this guy. I've got better things to do.

...But don't think I don't care about the Yankees and what goes on. One day last week Jim825 showed me a link to an article that suggested Alfonso Soriano be traded to the Yankees since he knew that just seeing that link would get me worried. It worked. I went to that link with a sense of apprehensiveness that I have not had since the last time my wife told me she wanted us to go out of town to see her mother. Luckily there was no reason to be worried since it was just a writer telling the Yanks what they should do and all I can hope for is that the Yankees were too busy to even read this.

...Fidel Castro made a rare appearence at the opening session of Cuba's National Assembly. It was the first time he was at one of these conferences since 2010 after he retired from office due to an undisclosed illness. Castro said nothing during the entire proceedings and looked so old and frail that he could have been mistaken for an extra in The Lord of the Rings.

...Three students were captured on film wearing Klu Klux Klan hoods during a high school semifinal hockey game in North Dakota. The students decided to wear these because in the section where they sat everyone dresses in white for a "whiteout'' tradition. The three boys, all freshman, wore the outfits for about a minute until they were made to remove them. The school of course is taking appropriate action. And I am sure that if any of the seven black people living in the state of North Dakota actually saw this their punishment would be even more severe.

...Of all the people you can think of, Kim Kardashian is arguably the last person you would think of to dish out marriage advice. But as it is for many things that can't be explained, she is doing just that. She says give your relationship a good six months before you commit. Sound advice from someone who couldn't even put in half the time herself.

...Another celebrity marriage that left me scratching my head was when forty-six year old Janet Jackson married her thirty-seven year old boyfriend by the name of Wissam Al Mana who is a retail businessman who is worth over one billion dollars. Even though she's got millions of her own you don't turn your back on a billion dollars. Ask any woman, they'll tell you. But what I don't get is this guy's thirty-seven. He's young and a billionaire. And the best he can do is Janet Jackson?

...Even though marijuana is legal in in Washington and Colorado now, the lawmakers in each state are still doing their best to keep it out of people's hands. It seems that each state has what they refer to as "gardening coaches" and what these people do is help others grow the best tomatoes or cucumbers they can and they give them tips and pointers on how to achieve this. Each state has instructed these Green Thumb experts not to give the same worldly advice to people who want to grow marijuana. They figure if people don't know how to grow the plant correctly they won't have their own marijuana. Good idea if you don't stop and think about too much but if you do you'll invariably say to yourself what is going to stop these people from going to Google to find out all they need to know?

...Dennis Rodman and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters are in North Korea to shoot footage for a new TV show for HBO. They are there to promote some "basketball diplomacy" by running a basketball camp for children and playing pick-up games against locals and also alongside North Korea's top athletes. While peaceful diplomacy is always a good step to try and improve relations between two countries that do not see eye to eye, I have to question why Rodman is there trying to do this. All he has to do is elbow some Korean in the face during a game and bust his nose and Kim Jong Un will blame it on Obama.

...And Manny Ramirez is going to Taiwan to play in their professional league? Wait until he pisses them off by doing something stupid. Even though he's from the Dominican he made his name here. All we need now is to send someone from the Rodman and Ramirez mold to Russia and we'll be all set.

...A Southern California man was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of a New Jersey businessman who laughed at him when pastrami fell out of his sandwich at a doughnut shop. It may have been a good thing for everyone there that he didn't order tuna because that would have spilled all over his shirt and the whole place would have laughed and he'd be facing more charges. In this case it was just a few pieces of pastrami that decided to venture off on their own and because of this he is facing up to eleven years in jail for this unexplainable act of violence. Maybe once he gets all settled in jail he'll get a cellmate that will teach him a different way on how to hide a salami without having it fall out.

...Cameron Diaz posed topless for a Russian magazine recently and it was a huge success because as soon as women from all over Russia took one look at her they all felt a lot better about themselves.

...If you ever wondered why people from other countries think we are stupid here in the United States, then stop wondering. The Learning Channel, the network that produces the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo show is going to syndicate the series to Australia, the Netherlands, Italy and Latin America because it has become such a hit in Poland. Of course it has. Finally those people have someone to laugh at. If traveling abroad isn't hard enough already for some Americans having this show exposed to so many countries now is going to make people from the States look more like the idiots we are already perceived to be because there is not a high opinion of us as it is to begin with. Now every family they see from now on they are going to wonder if they're a family of inbreds just like they see on TV.

...A fifteen year old Maldivian girl was sentenced recently for engaging in premarital sex and because of this will now receive 100 lashes and be under house arrest for eight months. When Amnesty International heard about this they immediately filed a protest for the girl's behalf but that went nowhere. The Maldives government explained to anyone who listened that their hands were tied in this matter because the girl confessed to the offense, which is punishable under the Islamic country's Sharia laws. In other words, she's not getting out of this one. In case anyone was wondering what happened to the young man in this case that the girl had relations with he has been the recipient of many high-fives, backslaps and way-to-goes by the community and was also given a complimentary dinner to any restaurant of his choice for his entire family.

...Only in Pennsylvania Dept, Part 83: It may seem to readers of this weekly thread that commenting on the exploits that take place in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a preoccupation of mine. I can assure you that it is not. But at the same time the stories that come out of there are hard to ignore and comment on. Take this one for example and you'll see what I mean. A receptionist from a doctor's office called a high school student about an upcoming appointment he had there. Unfortunately for her (and soon for every school in the county) she was not able to talk to him directly because his phone went to voice mail. The woman became concerned and called the police after she thought she heard a threat about "shooting" and "school" on the kid's outgoing message. That's when all hell broke loose. The cops informed the school officials about the threat and they in turn instituted a lockdown on every school in the county. Soon after the student in question was found in his high school's guidance counselor's office. He was taken into custody because of the "threat" on his phone but after the police listened to the message he was released. Just like that. It turns out that the woman's sharp ears did hear the words shooting and school but they were from a song lyric from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So what we have here was a song from a TV show in the early 90's shutting down every school in this county because some woman heard Will Smith sing "and all shootin some b-ball outside of the school." This woman ought to be fired for not using her head. There's no word as to how many man hours were used to deal with this situation or how many terrified parents there had to be when they heard the school their kid was at was closed down due to a shooting threat. Everyday we as a society reach new heights of stupid and the people in Pennsylvania always lead the way.

...Just think, if this kid had the Beatles song Happiness is a warm gun{/i] for his voice mail message this woman would have called the FBI and the National Guard before calling the police.

Ok, here's the song that shut down the schools in Ambridge, Pa, a small town near Pittsburgh.

...Wendy's, the home of the Frosty and the Baconator have come up with an odd idea to update their burger franchise. They are adding fireplaces to their restaurants surrounded by lounge style imitation leather chairs. The explanation for doing this is they want to make their restaurants more inviting so you can sit down, stay for awhile and have your meal while sitting in front of the fire. Good luck to them is all I have to say. I just don't see me taking my wife down to Wendy's to sit by the fire any time soon.

...Can you imagine if Wendy's put one of these fireplaces in one of their inner city locations? That would work well. First time someone gets their order messed up or fights with another customer, someone's going in the fireplace whether they want to or not.

...I'm going to close this week on a very happy note because over the years on this website we have had many good people leave here and not come back and most of the time we don't know why. For the most part of last year Dylan Bradbury was among the missing. He was a person who made valuable mods for this game that included the yearly schedule. He also was someone who was here every day and was one of the helpful members the site had. Dylan returned on Friday and after reading what he had to go through you can see why being here was the last thing he should have done. His health was first. Now that he's back I hope that nothing bothers him again. Welcome back Dylan!

[DylanBradbury]

...I'm going to close this week on a very happy note because over the years on this website we have had many good people leave here and not come back and most of the time we don't know why. For the most part of last year Dylan Bradbury was among the missing. He was a person who made valuable mods for this game that included the yearly schedule. He also was someone who was here every day and was one of the helpful members the site had. Dylan returned on Friday and after reading what he had to go through you can see why being here was the last thing he should have done. His health was first. Now that he's back I hope that nothing bothers him again. Welcome back Dylan!

Thanks, Y4L!

It's good to be back.

[Yankee4Life]

Apologies for posting this week's version late Saturday night instead of waiting until midnight on Sunday like I usually do. I have to leave now to attend to something so I'll be kind of busy for the remainder of the night.

Updated to 3-10

...Two weeks ago I wrote in this space about the twenty-eight year old woman who was going to the New York Jets practice facility to attend an open NFL regional combine for kicker tryouts. She could have kept her car running because she was not on the field for any length of time. She did not turn any heads and later explained to reporters that her poor performance was due to a quadriceps injury which allowed her to take part in only three kicks in the afternoon, two of which consisted of booting a football. Her first kick traveled a distance of nineteen yards and her second one was even worse as it landed thirteen yards away from where she was standing. The final one was administered by the combine officials as they showed excellent technique and follow through when they kicked her off the practice field and all the way to her car, which she did have turned off. Nineteen yards and thirteen yards? Where is she going with that? Any Eagles fan who's worth his salt can throw a beer can farther than that.

...This injury may have affected her kicking that day but what she said after showed me that she had no understanding of how the NFL is played. While admitting that the distance wasn't there in her kicks, she was hoping that the scouts would notice her technique because as she so aptly put it ''it's not always length.'' Because that's what players and fans will say too when she misses a game winning field goal. Yeah she missed that 25 yard field goal but look at the way she kicks. She's got good technique.

...Isn't it funny that the Dodgers actually expected Carl Crawford to be ready for the start of the season? This guy quit playing as soon as the Red Sox gave him that huge contract.

...Another guy like this is Mark Teixeira, who since joining the Yankees back in 2009 has watched his batting average drop lower than the Mason-Dixon line each year. And now he has a new injury -his wrist- which he hurt last week while swinging off a tee. This forced him to leave the WBC team for the United States and it also made the Yankees shut him down for eight to ten weeks. It's going to take a lot longer than that for Teixeira to get over this. Try all season. Everytime he gets in a slump or has a bad day this will be brought up again. He's already got his built-in excuse for the year so this season's a wash. Maybe the Yankees should have given him more money because twenty million a year doesn't get you anything anymore.

...With Teixeira ($23 million a year) and Granderson ($10 million) out for the next two months and Alex Rodriguez ($30 million a year) out until God-knows-when, the Yankees have a total of 63 million dollars of their payroll on the disabled list so far this year or almost twice the amount of the payroll of the Miami Marlins ($36 million).

...The worst thing so far for me this spring was yesterday when Mariano Rivera made it official and will retire at the end of this season. This hurts the most even though you knew it was coming. I don't care if I see Granderson's or Teixeira's faces for awhile but knowing Rivera has a little time left in pinstripes is going to put a damper on the entire season.

...I don't know what got me thinking about it after all these years but the other day I thought about War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and I got to wondering again if anyone had ever read the entire book since it's over 1,000 pages long. It's like Tolstoy didn't know how to end the novel and he just kept writing. About fifteen years ago I decided I was going to give it a go and read the thing. I got about twenty pages in and then quit. That's all it took to convince me that this book was as boring at it was long. Yeah I know that this is considered a classic but anything that was written in the 1800's that can still be recalled today is going to be a classic, just like 150 years from now books on Star Trek will be classics.

...A Florida man found himself tossed in the pokey recently after getting into a verbal altercation with his sixteen-year-old brother in law because the teen had cursed at his mother. The man was so incensed that he picked up a Taco Bell burrito and threw it in his face leaving him with burrito sauce, cheese and meat all over his face and clothing. What really made the teen mad about the burrito besides having it all over him was that in another minute or so he planned on eating it and when his brother in law refused to go and get him another one he called the cops. The moral of the story here is if you are going to throw food in another person's face make sure you have a spare.

...In probably the most disturbing bit of news that came out of last week was when a nurse at a California elder care facility refused to give CPR to a woman who collapsed in their dining room and then had a hard time breathing. The nurse called 911 to report the incident but turned down all requests from the dispatcher to give CPR. This woman's lack of compassion while talking to the 911 people was just as bad. While the lady on the floor lay struggling for life the nurse made it sound like it was an inconvenience, like going outside in the rain to get the mail and finding it's not there yet and getting wet for nothing. The nurse said she was following company protocol by not administering CPR and by the time the ambulance came there was nothing they could do. After all the negative publicity this has received the company is now saying that the nurse didn't fully understand their policies and she has been put on voluntary leave pending an investigation. In other words she's being thrown under a bus. And those things are pretty big. They don't miss.

...In a major case of overreaction, a college in Ohio last Monday cancelled all classes last Monday after a student reported that she saw someone that looked like a Klu Klux Klan member near the college's Afrikan Heritage House. She didn't take a picture of the person nor did she get anyone to verify what she saw. She just phoned in her complaint and the school took care of the rest. As it turned out what she actually saw was another student walking around with a blanket around her. How she turned this into a KKK sighting is anyone's guess. It is my hope that whatever job this woman gets when she is out of school none of them have anything to do with National Security.

...I must give major props to Brian Cashman for having the nerve to jump out of an airplane because I don't know about any of you here but I wouldn't even consider doing it unless of course it was in a video game. Then I'm all for it. Cashman did joke that he would be ready by Opening Day but was puzzled at all the comments asking him if he ever decided to make another jump in the future to bring Alex Rodriguez with him.

...Last week someone uploaded a delivery receipt for 85 pizzas that came to a little over $1,400. The person was upset because he was only given a ten dollar tip for his troubles. I don't blame him. With all the money that he's making you would think that Prince Fielder can do better than this.

...I don't know what Jose Canseco's day job is now but whatever it is he better hold on to it because whoever told him he was an artist sold him a bill of goods. Canseco painted a portrait of Bud Selig looking like a fire breathing dragon, which if you think about it is an insult to dragons. The painting was so bad that it looked like it was done by a three year old who forgot to take his afternoon nap.

...A 23-year-old Red Sox prospect by the name of Drake Britton was arrested last week for DUI and wreckless driving and was clocked speeding at 111 m.p.h. The Red Sox were very upset to learn of this because they were planning on taking Britton north with them when the season started. Now because of this he may not make it up there until June.

...There is a mentally retarded man in New York City that is facing jail time because he was inside his house laughing out his window at his neighbors. Something tells me that there is more to this then what is being told but police did come and arrest him for this and if convicted this guy could be facing up to thirty days away from his window. This makes no sense because since when it is a crime to laugh inside your own home? Thank God I don't live near people like the ones who called the cops on this guy because if I did they would have arrested me for laughing all last year when I was reading the Red Sox scores.

...You know, every time I bring up the TSA is because they did something stupid again. Which is why I bring them up now. Starting next month passengers will be allowed to bring on board the plane pocketknives as well as souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs. The TSA explained this policy change by saying they wanted their officers to "better focus their efforts on finding higher threat items such as explosives." In all likelihood this also means they will be increasing their focus on catching terrorists that continue to disguise themselves as eighty-year-old men and women or young children who may or may not be handicapped. And God help these people if they are caught drinking a bottle of Evian.

...Demi Moore -a woman who is worth 150 million dollars- is going after spousal support and attorney fees from Ashton Kutcher in their divorce battle that is going on now. Something is terribly wrong if this does not get laughed out of court because she has enough money not to work at all for the next few lifetimes. This is all about sticking it to Kutcher, who was a moron to hook up with her in the first place. A woman scorned is not a pretty site and one look at her these days confirms it.

...Somewhere Bruce Willis is smiling.

...It just hit me. Isn't Danica Patrick kind of like the Anna Kournikova of racing? They both made money off of their looks without ever winning a single event in their respective sports.

[sabugo]

Yeah, the Yankees 2013 season has great potential for disaster... Teixeira...I really really really don't want say bad things about him because of his Portuguese ancestry so I'll just let you say what we are all thinking.

I just hope that wherever the Yankees travel this season, the opposing fans will show as much class as Mariano has always had, and give him the proper farewell tour that he rightfully deserves. In how many fields can you say that there is one single person that is the absolute best ever at what he did???? Thank you Mr. Rivera!

About Cashman's jump and taking A-Rod with him: I woudln't take A-Roid anywhere. Judging by how many injuries and bumps and bruises the man has had recently I'm afraid that if he farts he might break his ***, so... I'd only take him anywhere wrapped in protecting foam.

[Yankee4Life]

Yeah, the Yankees 2013 season has great potential for disaster... Teixeira...I really really really don't want say bad things about him because of his Portuguese ancestry so I'll just let you say what we are all thinking.

All I can say is forget that for one second and then take another look at him.

I just hope that wherever the Yankees travel this season, the opposing fans will show as much class as Mariano has always had, and give him the proper farewell tour that he rightfully deserves. In how many fields can you say that there is one single person that is the absolute best ever at what he did???? Thank you Mr. Rivera!

I think we will see a lot of love and respect for this guy this year all around the American League and in the cities the Yankees play in during interleague.

[sabugo]

The Yankees are pursuing:

A ) Derrek Lee

B ) Chipper Jones

C ) Ben Francisco

I figure this belongs in this thread because...I mean, it can't get more random than this, can it?!

Edited March 11, 2013 by sabugo

[Yankee4Life]

The Yankees are pursuing:

A ) Derrek Lee

B ) Chipper Jones

C ) Ben Francisco

I figure this belongs in this thread because...I mean, it can't get more random than this, can it?!

Not at all. And let's just hope this never happens.:)

[sabugo]

And just to make this a happy morning:

D ) Scott Rolen

Because we clearly don't have enough old and crippled players as it is.

[sabugo]

Ben Francisco brought two runs in with a double yesterday.

Clearly someone who's not used to the Yankees way of doing things with RISP. I'm guessing Girardi will sit him today and show him how the other kids do so he can learn.

[Yankee4Life]

Ben Francisco brought two runs in with a double yesterday.

Clearly someone who's not used to the Yankees way of doing things with RISP. I'm guessing Girardi will sit him today and show him how the other kids do so he can learn.

Hahahahaha. Oh my God is that funny. :D Now they're probably going to fine him.

What the hell, you got to find a reason to laugh because these guys were pitiful with runners on last year. Maybe this year it will be different because the entire team won't be going for home runs every at bat. Who knows?

[sabugo]

Maybe they won't suck as bad as last year and they'll finally understand that you can't have 9 guys trying to hit homers.

[Yankee4Life]

Maybe they won't suck as bad as last year and they'll finally understand that you can't have 9 guys trying to hit homers.

When I see it I'll believe it. :)

[sabugo]

So Brennan Boesch was signed in order to move Juan Rivera from the OF to 1B for the time Teixeira is out. How's this for random?

Really? There is really no-one in the minor league system who can provide 6 weeks of league average defense and hit over .200? Does the Yankee minor league system suck that bad?!

I'm half expecting to hear that Cashman signed Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero. They're old and brittle, they fit the mold.

[Yankee4Life]

I'm half expecting to hear that Cashman signed Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero. They're old and brittle, they fit the mold.

Shhhh. Don't give them any more ideas.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-17

...A woman is suing St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Catholic Church in Indianapolis because they are refusing to let her place a headstone that she had specially made for her late husband to be placed in their grounds because the church said it did not meet the requirements of their cemetery, which has been around for one hundred years. The woman had the idea to have a custom headstone made to represent her late husband's interests so she paid $9,600 to have one built into the shape of a couch and she put images of a dog and a deer on it along with the logos of the Indianapolis Colts and NASCAR. This immediately made me wonder to myself what her house looked like. The church advised the woman before and after the purchase of the headstone that it did not meet with their conditions but she went ahead anyway. Obviously the cemetery guidelines were for everyone else to follow but her. She can always have him buried someplace else. He won't put up a fight.

 

...I'm kind of surprised that the Colts and NASCAR aren't coming after this woman for unauthorized use of their logos. Can you imagine if this guy was a baseball fan? Bud Selig would send someone out in the middle of the night to bust up the headstone.

 

...With the baseball season about three weeks away now the only thing that these baseball "experts" seem to all agree on is that the Houston Astros are going to have a terrible team in their first year in the American League, which only means when they play the Yankees they are going to beat them.

 

...As soon as we see balls getting past Derek Jeter at shortstop again that is when we'll know that his comeback is complete.

 

...David Ortiz has been shut down completely by the Red Sox because of a sore left heel when inflammation was revealed by MRI tests. If this is not handled correctly an injury like this will keep his stolen base total way down this year.

 

...Cheers to the Miami New Times for not giving Major League Baseball, otherwise known as Bud Selig, the records that they have on Anthony Bosch and the anti-aging clinic he ran. They've got some dammmn good reasons too. They figured they posted enough records on their website for MLB to have but Selig wants them to to hand over all the notebooks they obtained because they are of course, baseball, and nobody says no to them. Until now. Jeffery Loria was one reason why the newspaper would not hand over the records. Those people down in Florida are still furious about what happened to their team because the Marlins today look completely different than they did a year ago and fans should expect the National League to push them around a lot this year. But the most important reason they gave is that they don't trust baseball with their work because Selig may use this information improperly like punishing some players and not others. They've got other reasons and they're all good. I just hope the folks down in Miami don't have a change of heart.

 

...Interested in reading the article in the New Times? Just click right here.

 

...With the World Baseball Classic going on now it is more important to me to have baseball become more popular around the world then to see who actually wins the thing. It's just nice to see countries like the Netherlands, Australia and China do well because the more this game is promoted the better for the game.

 

...At the same time I got to admit that it would be nice to see the U.S. win the WBC. The way they get eliminated in these things reminds me of watching the Yankees in the playoffs as you try to guess when they'll fall apart and have to go home. You don't know when it's going to be you just know it's going to happen. This team had a disadvantage going in with Joe Torre calling the shots because he looked totally lost knowing that he didn't have Scott Proctor to bring in the game in the late innings . So now it's three tournaments in a row for the U.S. How much you want to bet that before the next one rolls around Commissioner Stuffed Shirt forces each team to send their best players to this?

 

...When Doug Glanville compared the Yankees disabled list problems to "Brokeback Mountain" it was obvious that he was commenting on the number of injuries the Yankees had and that he had no idea what Brokeback Mountain actually was. Then again when you think back and recall how they bent over and let the Tigers do whatever they wanted to them in last year's ALCS you never know.

 

...My wife actually saw this movie when it aired on DirecTV. And to answer the next question, no I did not watch it with her.

 

...Google has been hard at work at making self-driving cars, a technology that they say will save 1.2 million lives provided that they can get it perfected. I can just see it now if and when they get this to work. Before we take off in this self-driving wonder we'll have to watch a few commercials from some of Google's sponsors.

 

...Police departments from all over the country will be a very unhappy bunch because if this works they are going to lose a lot of yearly revenue that they have been getting off of motorists for over one hundred years.

 

...In another incident of anti-gun hysteria that has popped up at schools ever since Sandy Hook, the principal of a small town elementary school in Michigan confiscated thirty homemade cupcakes that a mother of a third-grader made for a birthday because the little boy put green plastic figurines on the top of them that represented World War II soldiers. The principal decided that the cupcakes were "insensitive" in light of the shooting at the Connecticut school last December. While you can not take away the seriousness of what happened last year you also can not make a connection between our military and Sandy Hook since I am unaware of any instances of the Army attacking any schools.

 

...What really gets me worried is wondering how these kids are going to turn out after all the political correctness they've been forced to swallow.

 

...Another Pennsylvania story for you because last week there wasn't one and I didn't want anyone here to start thinking that they missed anything that comes out of there. In Philadelphia -where else ?- the Catholic Youth Organization there or CYO for short recently barred an eleven year old girl from participating in football because of their "boys only" rule. People reacted to this news as if they just found out liquor prices all over Philadelphia would be going up 15% and it was the Archdiocese's fault. A special panel was quickly formed and to no one's surprise the girl was now allowed to play football because as they explained to everyone she's been playing since the age of five and all that time had been giving cheap shots to other kids at her school without getting hurt so why can't she play football?

 

...A student from Argentina paid $3,000 to come to the U.S. last December as part of a summer work travel program, an opportunity that provides an American cultural experience to foreign students and now less than three months later he must be questioning his decision to come here. His "host" company was McDonalds, and these people must play their own version of welcome to America that you don't see in any brochures. While working there he was not paid overtime and had to be on call at all times of the day. Now the State Department is getting involved to investigate this exploitation claim against McDonalds. I don't know how far this complaint will go because if you think about it he got exactly what he wanted when he got screwed by his employer and is now worse off then he was before (bye-bye three grand, nice knowing you). Sorry to say but that is the American cultural experience.

 

...When Samsung released their new Galaxy S4 phone last Thursday the first thing that I thought of was when my wife was going to run out and buy one.

 

...Remember in the old days, like back in 2012 when you thought going on a cruise ship would be fun?

 

...With that mustache that Joba Chamberlain is walking around with now he looks like the guy you tell your kids to stay away from at the playground.

 

...Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day and welcome in the first day of spring this Wednesday.

[sabugo]

Chien-Ming Wang.

Really.

I know he's an injury waiting to happen. But at only 32, I wonder how this young kid will fit with all the other old Yankees.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-24

...Tiger Woods is getting back in the swing of things and in more ways than one. He's now dating skier Lindsay Vonn, a woman who looks remarkably like his ex-wife Elin. Woods and Vonn have said that they want to keep this relationship private, so the first thing they did was run to Facebook to announce it and post pictures of them together. Woods better watch his step with her because if he cheats on her like he did his wife he will find out a downhill ski hurts just as much as a golf club when it's hit over your head two or three times.

 

...Maybe the only reason Tiger settled on her was because all the Kardashians were spoken for?

 

...$4 million worth of pot wrapped in plastic bags were found at a beach in Santa Barbara County last Sunday. This is what happens when people don't do a good job of picking up after themselves because as soon as they get home they remember they left something behind.

 

...A 75-year old Detroit woman is on trial for her life for first-degree murder after she shot her grandson ten times over a six minute span. This grandson of hers was no prize since he took drugs and forcibly tried to get money off of her to support his habit. Had he lived he would have likely been found behind some building somewhere with more than ten bullets in him or else he would lived off the state of Michigan for the next ten to fifteen years with barbed wire all around him. About the only people in Detroit that I believe are not carrying guns are the pre-schoolers and even then I'm not too sure.

 

...Looking back on my life I should consider myself lucky because when my grandmother came after me she used a wooden spoon and when she made contact she made it count.

 

...It's funny listening to Brewers fans defending the innocence of Ryan Braun because it sounds so much like the Giants fans who say to this day that Barry Bonds was clean.

 

...If you said that Miley Cyrus looked like a gay Frenchman you would be insulting actual gay Frenchmen.

 

...A computer hacker was sentenced last week to three years and five months in prison for stealing data from over 120,000 iPad users. Meanwhile in Ohio two rapists got a third of that sentence for what they did to a drunken sixteen-year old girl. When you figure out why those two received that small of a sentence kindly get back to me.

 

...The WBC was fun to watch except for the fact that the Dominican Republic won it. There's no way I can find myself ever rooting for a country that produced David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, players who quit on their teams like Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, hot dogs like Fernando Rodney and a lazy bum like Robinson Cano. Other than that they're fine.

 

...I've actually read some complaints about the Phillies using Hooters girls as ball girls during their spring training games this year such as they don't know the rules and no matter what ball that is hit their way, however slow it may be, they can't seem to catch. Does that really matter? If they miss the ball they have to bend over twice to get it.

 

...In all my years of watching the Yankees I have never seen a spring training go so bad like the one that is going on right now. The latest is that they have signed Chien-Ming Wang to a minor league contract. What are they going to do next, contact Gary Sheffield ?

 

...It's pretty bad when arguably the best player for the Oakland Raiders is their punter. And it's even worse when he signs with the Houston Texans. Thanks for everything Shane Lechler.

 

...How bad does political correctness have to get? During last Wednesday's Yankee game on YES, Lou Piniella was talking to Ken Singleton about the Blue Jays - Marlins trade that took place last winter. Commenting on the trade Piniella said that the Marlins got "raped" in the trade. It was not even necessary to watch the telecast to understand what Piniella was referring to but he felt he had to apologize anyway just in case someone out there wanted to use what he said against him.

 

...Lindsay Lohan has been sentenced to ninety days in rehab for her latest string of offenses. For those keeping track this will be the sixth time she'll be heading there. The facility is already getting her old room ready and the sign on her reserved parking space has been repainted in anticipation of her arrival. How the courts think a sixth stay at one of these places is going to do her any good is unclear since it was obvious the first five were a waste of time and money but as the saying goes justice is blind especially when it comes to the rich. Lohan's wrists must hurt by now with all the slaps she's received on them.

 

...Best of luck to that high school kid who asked Kate Upton to his senior prom in May. I have to give him a lot of credit to ask one of the most beautiful woman in the world to go with him. There's even a chance that she will do it because she responded back to him and told him she will check her schedule. After reading about this I brought up an idea to my wife and I asked her if I could send Kate Upton a request as her number one fan if she will go to a movie with me but she saw right through me and nixed the idea before it had a chance to grow.

 

...The trustee in charge of Casey Anthony's bankruptcy case has filed a request in federal court in Tampa to sell the rights to her story so she can pay her debts. If this gets approved we will be seeing a bidding war because this will sell. People may be disgusted for what she got away with but there's no way they'll be able to stop themselves from reading about her side of this story.

 

...In probably one of the funniest stories I have heard of in a long time, an 18 year old kid from Kentucky went into a bingo hall and while the game was going on yelled out "BINGO!" that caused mass disruption in the game and when the elderly women that were in attendance found out that it was hoax they didn't know whether to hit the kid with their cane or grab for a heart pill. What made matters worse was an off duty cop was there and he arrested the phony Bingo winner and cited him for disorderly conduct, probably because he was close to Bingo himself and was peeved that someone else won. The punishment he received from the judge was that he could not say "Bingo" for six months and if follows that the charges would be dropped. If not, he could face ninety days in jail and a $250 fine. For one word. Yeah I know what he did caused a disruption in an activity that some people take very seriously and he did get off pretty easy. It's not like he's going to walk around for the next six months having the state of Kentucky monitor what he's saying but it's still pretty funny that a teenager from Kentucky can't say this word for all this time but an organization like the Westboro Baptist Church can say the most vile and insulting things at the funerals of our servicemen and be protected by freedom of speech.

 

...Unless I missed something North Korea did not threaten anyone yesterday. It must have been a slow day.

[MrDudleyDoWright]

I've been pondering on whether I should do one of these again. I vaguely remember doing one of these a couple of years ago, around the time of the newer conversion mods. But...here i go..

Dudley's Random Thoughts.

--- As I type this, it's about 3AM, and I'm just sitting here watching a CBC feed for Hockey Night in Canada, and I must say...Don Cherry's jacket really tests out the colors on my HDTV.

--- While I sit here and introspect, I was thinking about how the site was back then. I remember being so into this site, devoting tons of hours tweaking my game, running a online league, procrastinating on high school home work because someone had spoke bad about the Mets and I needed to go and defend my team, or doing a dynasty, boy those were good times.

--- Things have changed drastically from what I last remember, and I'm not putting that out as a bad thing. I still remember reading somewhere that Trues was going to take the site down. I remember saying to myself "Oh no!"

Even though by that time I had been less involved in the site, I would come back on occasion, see how all is, and the thought of it not being there struck a chord inside me, as weird and cliche as that sounds...

--- I remember the day I found out this site was modding the 2K PC game, and I immediately thought it was a bad idea, I honestly don't know why. I guess it might have had to do something with me absolutely hating 2K's baseball games (at that point, I had no PS3, all XBOX, I am a happy PS3, MLB The show owner now BTW). But now I see that the modding of the 2K game has given this place a longer lifespan.

--- It's always nice to see some of the old guard here. Some names like KC, Y4L, DJ Eagles, Homer, just to name a few. I still remember the days when this site and EA Mods were joined, but split at the same time. I found that so awesome to see EA Mods and MVP mods both operating at the same time. I do remember when EA Mods went down, kinda sad because there were some mods there I couldn't find here, but that's all in the past now.

--- I look at myself now and look at myself back when I was immensely active on this site. When I was around more, I was a teenager, still in High School. I had acne, braces, bad hair, a terrible sense of humor, a failed baseball player and a serious case of procrastination-itus. Now, I still have some acne, but got the braces removed, fixed my hair, attend a college, and I'm trying to wiggle my way into the broadcasting business, to one day host my own late night comedy talk show. I've even gone the lenghts to have my own local talk show in my town, which is also on YouTube, which can be seen......here (Late Program, it's there).

--- I guess this is more of a reflection of the past then random thoughts, sorry Y4L, I'll be a bit more random after this..

--- I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

--- A Fort Worth police officer Tased Lady Liberty three times at a busy intersection, reports the Dallas Morning News. You know, this seems to be getting out of hand. Why just yesterday, police arrested Big Ben for giving them the wrong time...

--- The Huffington Post asks "Do you want to live in an insane asylum?"

Um...yes Alex, I'll take "Questions asked before moving to New Jersey for 500"

--- Nicki Minaj posed for ELLE magazine recently, citing she "wants to be taken more seriously when it comes to her style."

For the record, this is the first time a fashion magazine has featured a live donkey on it's cover.

--- Last three thoughts are jokes I wrote...

Well, I guess that's it for me...for now. I'll still be around, just not as much as I wish I could be. Those are my random thoughts on this sunday morning, March 24th, 2013.

[JoeRudi26]

I've been pondering on whether I should do one of these again. I vaguely remember doing one of these a couple of years ago, around the time of the newer conversion mods. But...here i go..

Dudley's Random Thoughts.

--- As I type this, it's about 3AM, and I'm just sitting here watching a CBC feed for Hockey Night in Canada, and I must say...Don Cherry's jacket really tests out the colors on my HDTV.

--- While I sit here and introspect, I was thinking about how the site was back then. I remember being so into this site, devoting tons of hours tweaking my game, running a online league, procrastinating on high school home work because someone had spoke bad about the Mets and I needed to go and defend my team, or doing a dynasty, boy those were good times.

--- Things have changed drastically from what I last remember, and I'm not putting that out as a bad thing. I still remember reading somewhere that Trues was going to take the site down. I remember saying to myself "Oh no!"

Even though by that time I had been less involved in the site, I would come back on occasion, see how all is, and the thought of it not being there struck a chord inside me, as weird and cliche as that sounds...

--- I remember the day I found out this site was modding the 2K PC game, and I immediately thought it was a bad idea, I honestly don't know why. I guess it might have had to do something with me absolutely hating 2K's baseball games (at that point, I had no PS3, all XBOX, I am a happy PS3, MLB The show owner now BTW). But now I see that the modding of the 2K game has given this place a longer lifespan.

--- It's always nice to see some of the old guard here. Some names like KC, Y4L, DJ Eagles, Homer, just to name a few. I still remember the days when this site and EA Mods were joined, but split at the same time. I found that so awesome to see EA Mods and MVP mods both operating at the same time. I do remember when EA Mods went down, kinda sad because there were some mods there I couldn't find here, but that's all in the past now.

--- I look at myself now and look at myself back when I was immensely active on this site. When I was around more, I was a teenager, still in High School. I had acne, braces, bad hair, a terrible sense of humor, a failed baseball player and a serious case of procrastination-itus. Now, I still have some acne, but got the braces removed, fixed my hair, attend a college, and I'm trying to wiggle my way into the broadcasting business, to one day host my own late night comedy talk show. I've even gone the lenghts to have my own local talk show in my town, which is also on YouTube, which can be seen......here (Late Program, it's there).

--- I guess this is more of a reflection of the past then random thoughts, sorry Y4L, I'll be a bit more random after this..

--- I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

--- A Fort Worth police officer Tased Lady Liberty three times at a busy intersection, reports the Dallas Morning News. You know, this seems to be getting out of hand. Why just yesterday, police arrested Big Ben for giving them the wrong time...

--- The Huffington Post asks "Do you want to live in an insane asylum?"

Um...yes Alex, I'll take "Questions asked before moving to New Jersey for 500"

--- Nicki Minaj posed for ELLE magazine recently, citing she "wants to be taken more seriously when it comes to her style."

For the record, this is the first time a fashion magazine has featured a live donkey on it's cover.

--- Last three thoughts are jokes I wrote...

Well, I guess that's it for me...for now. I'll still be around, just not as much as I wish I could be. Those are my random thoughts on this sunday morning, March 24th, 2013.

Great post, Dudley. Enjoyed reading it. :)

[DJEagles]

Dudley, your Late Show on Youtube is awesome. Great work!

[Jim825]

--- I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

You can never go wrong quoting from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" . . . :)

[Yankee4Life]

I've been pondering on whether I should do one of these again. I vaguely remember doing one of these a couple of years ago, around the time of the newer conversion mods. But...here i go..

Yes you did.

--- I guess this is more of a reflection of the past then random thoughts, sorry Y4L, I'll be a bit more random after this..

Don't apologize for a thing. This post of your was wonderful. I have always said that when other people come in here to post their stuff it makes this thread better and we get different viewpoints on things. It's kind of frustrating when only one person posts in here all the time.

Well, I guess that's it for me...for now. I'll still be around, just not as much as I wish I could be. Those are my random thoughts on this sunday morning, March 24th, 2013.

Thank you. Come by any time here and don't be a stranger here either.

[sabugo]

I wanted to write something, but the Yankees keep adding what appear to be random players to their roster, so I'll just write this:

- Vernon Wells

[MrDudleyDoWright]

You can never go wrong quoting from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" . . .

Of course not! How can ANYONE?

Dudley, your Late Show on Youtube is awesome. Great work!

Thank You, Kind sir! Much appreciated! A new episode is coming soon, I'll post it here so you guys can see!

Great post, Dudley. Enjoyed reading it.

Yes you did.

Don't apologize for a thing. This post of your was wonderful. I have always said that when other people come in here to post their stuff it makes this thread better and we get different viewpoints on things. It's kind of frustrating when only one person posts in here all the time.

Thank you. Come by any time here and don't be a stranger here either.

Once again, thank you for your kind words fellas. I'm gonna try and do these more often, seems like a nice thread to throw something and have it stick to the wall. Plus it brings me back here, so two positives lead to dystentery....wait, that's not right. I'll stop now...

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-31

...Now that the unwanted winter months are out of the way for another year it's time to officially welcome back baseball as the season opens tonight in Houston as the Astros begin their first year in the American League as the former last place champions of the N.L. Central host Texas on Sunday Night Baseball. There are twelve games set for the next day and the final two games (Baltimore at Tampa Bay and Cleveland at Toronto) won't be played until Tuesday the 2nd. It doesn't matter who you root for. Baseball's back. Everything seems so much better all of a sudden.

...Is it too late to start a poll in here to see how many people think a Yankee player will get injured in the player introductions tomorrow at Yankee Stadium?

...How bad is it for the Miami Marlins? They are selling opening day tickets for 52% off the asking price on Groupon, which is a deal-of-the-day website that offers discounted gift certificates. This just goes to show how desperate the Marlins are to get people in the park for their home opener. It might work for one game but not for the whole season. They've got a brand new ballpark down there with a lot of seats that won't be used this season, especially the ones in the outfield where there's a chance more balls will be hit off of them then people sitting in them. They're probably regretting getting rid of Ozzie Guillen about now too. Even if he talks some more about cousin Fidel at least it will give them some kind of press coverage.

...I spent most of last Monday morning at a waiting room in a local hospital because my niece had gall bladder surgery. It's always interesting when you have to pass the time sitting near total strangers. For example, as soon as the hospital lobby workers brought out coffee for everyone it was like a high pitched whistle was blown that only dogs could hear because everyone came running in all directions.

...I was there for about six hours and believe me nothing slows a clock down more than waiting in a hospital. I had to find something to pass the time and since all the magazines around me were Good Housekeeping and Women's Day, reading was out of the question plus there are just so many times you can take a trip to the vending machine to get a soda before you have to burst,if you get my drift. So I started watching what was going on around me. There was a mailbox located outside of the hospital right before you walked in and I had a good view of it. After about a half hour of watching people drop mail in it I began to notice that most of them seemed to have a hard time doing it. I could not understand what the problem was. Pull down the hatch, throw your letter in and walk away. That pretty much covers it. But a surprising number of them when they were putting their letters in acted like they were cautiously trying to feed an animal at the zoo since they looked like they were keeping a safe distance from it. I watched and watched until finally curiosity got the better of me and I went outside to look at the box myself. I opened it and closed it just to see if there was a problem with the latch. Nothing. As I turned around to leave I saw two people watching me, probably wondering why I went to mailbox without putting anything in it. So much for curiosity.

...Probably the best news I heard last week was reading about Tim McCarver announcing that he will retire from FOX after this year. I had no idea that he worked in 28 consecutive post seasons for Major League Baseball. I just knew that once he teamed up with Joe Buck they formed the most boring broadcast team ever. These guys would have you changing the channels during the seventh game of a World Series. McCarver said that he wanted to step down while he knew he can still do the job. Fair enough, but if he really meant it he would have made this announcement twenty years ago.

...With the trade for Vernon Wells from the Angels and the signing of Lyle Overbay after the Red Sox sent him packing, the Yankees are quietly stocking up on ex-Blue Jays players. It's a good thing that Shannon Stewart and Shea Hillenbrand aren't playing anymore or else they'd be Yankees too.

...Oh, and Vernon? That "quietly always been a Yankee fan" comment? You said the same thing when Toronto traded you to the Angels in January of 2011. Now that you're here just hit the ball. If you still can.

...The Detroit Tigers locked up Justin Verlander for the rest of this decade with a five-year contract extension. He'll be making $28 million a year each season from 2015-2019. Look, the guy is good and he has a great arm but this is a hell of a risk that Detroit is taking. As far as I know he's never been on the disabled list but for the Tigers this deal could turn out to be a bad one because of any arm problems Verlander could develop. Just look at the Mets with Johan Santana. He's making $24 million a year and will not even play this year. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, in May of last year a man from Denmark held his breath underwater for twenty-two minutes. That's nothing. The Detroit Tigers will be holding their breath until 2019.

...Two thirteen-year-old little SOB's in a Virginia middle school were caught recently trying to poison their teacher by putting hand sanitizer in her tea. They only succeeded in making her miss work a few days with stomach pains and a low grade fever. Whatever this was, be it a practical joke or a dare, these two kids are now facing a class three felony charge. That is a felony that carries a punishment of not less than five years nor more than 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $100,000 in that state. Good. I'm hoping that these two little angels get everything that's coming to them. How anyone would want to be a teacher these days is something I'll never understand because it seems that a lot of these kids today are getting braver and braver doing things like this for reasons only they understand.

...The Italian court system wants to extradite Amanda Knox back to Italy to retry her for the murder of her roommate. They were pretty upset that she did not get convicted the first time they had her on trial and now they seem to think they have a better chance of getting a conviction so they want her back. The Italians should be quite ashamed of their legal system because it's making ours look pretty good and that's kind of hard thing to do.

...She didn't ask me and if she did I wouldn't help her anyway but if I were Amanda Knox I'd quietly get the hell out of this country and go to a non extradition nation as soon as possible because you never know if and when the U.S. is going to give her up just so they don't ruffle any diplomatic feathers.

...You know, if the Italians don't get Knox would they settle for Casey Anthony instead?

...What is worse, shooting a thirteen-month old baby or being one of the people who tried to cover up for the killer by lying for him?

...Up until two days ago I have spent my entire life not knowing what a Whizzinator was and now that I do know I can safely say that all knowledge is not power since I could have lived the rest of my days not knowing. But that is past and I'll let you how I came to find out about this. A Missouri man was caught with this in his possession when he was trying to pass a drug test by using one of these false -now how can I put this- strap-ons because this thing actually comes with urine designed to have you pass your test so you can get back to your drug of choice and be left alone. Anyways, this guy is trying to fill the cup so he could get out of there as fast as he can when the probation officer noticed that the man, who happened to be white, was trying to use a black-colored Whizzinator. Give him one point for having the guts to try this. Take away two for stupidity.

...The first thing I thought of after hearing about this was what if he really had to go while he was faking it? What would he do, hold the false one in one hand and the real McCoy in the other?

...I bet this is a story no one is going to bring up during Easter dinner today.

...Obligatory Pennsylvania post, Part 109: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs have installed what they are referring to as a "urinal gaming system" in their ballpark this year for fans to use while they answer the call of nature. It consists of a video display mounted above each urinal and as the fan approaches it senses his presence and turns on and um, while the guy is going he aims left or right to control the play on the screen. Unbelievable. I can just imagine some drunk trying to play the game and misses the urinal completely as he tries to go left and right. By the way, the IronPigs are the top farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies, which when you think about it only makes sense.

...Go ahead, say it. This week's edition of Random Thoughts is a real pisser.

...Final thought: next week's edition in here will be posted much later because I'll be out of town for the weekend at the in-laws and I won't be home to post it online.

...Happy Easter to everyone here at Mvpmods!