We're Back to Back

Sorry for the long delay, I know some people are very happy about the break, and hope a few are glad the blog is back.

I hope everyone had a happy Memorial Day.  I love this holiday as it is the official start of the summer.  Golf Courses are packed, the beach is crowded with beautiful women, restaurants start to seat you outside and the rooftop clubs/bars become the hot spots.  I spent the weekend drinking, golfing and relaxing.  Hopefully your long weekend was spent the way you wanted it to be spent. 

Another part of Memorial Day that seems to becoming a tradition is the Syracuse Orange(men) hoist up a lacrosse trophy.  Syracuse picked up their 11th Lacrosse Championship and went back to back.  After last year beating John Hopkins this year they beat their New York rival beating Cornell in what was one of the best lacrosse games I have ever seen ( I haven't seen a ton of lacrosse games so I might not be the best judge in this topic).  However Syracuse scored 3 goals in the last 4 minutes of the game.  Cornell had a one goal lead with 27 seconds left and on their way to the schools first championship in any sport since 1977.  The next thing they know heave pass after heave pass seemed to find a Syracuse stick and with 4.5 seconds left in the game Syracuse put one in the net and tied it up.  As the game went to overtime two stars lead Cuse to a championship.  Cody Jamieson and Sid Smith who grew up together and have been playing lacrosse together since they were toddlers locked up the championship for Cuse in overtime.  Smith on defense came up behind the Cornell playing jarring the ball loose which led to an outlet pass followed with a few quick passes finally finding Jamieson's stick who released a quick shot that finally put the dagger in Cornell.  As soon as the ball left Jamieson's stick he took off to find his oldest friend to celebrate their incredible comeback.  As Syracuse fan's know after this there is only one thing left to say:

Here are some highlights from the game:

Also this weekend I happend to see the new Terminator movie.  Now I will give the benefit of the doubt that going into the movie I was exhausted and had a feeling I was going to be falling asleep.  I haven't fallen asleep in the movies since Pearl Harbor which was an epic not a movie.  With that being said, I did not enjoy this movie at all.  Some of the action scenes were cool, however the movie as a whole was not good at all.  Christian Bale needs to be told that he isn't always a superhero and to calm down.  I now understand why he yelled at someone on the set.  This guy is a lunatic, he over acts way to much.  He does not know how to talk in his roles he only yells.  For example the average person might say "hey can you hand me that apple"  in a low voice, Bale fucking yells it.  I know he has had some great roles: American Psycho,  3:10 to Yuma, The Prestige and Bruce Wayne in Batman (Not as batman).  However with all that good this guy just annoys me as an actor now a days.  

Great sports have been going on in my time off:  Lakers vs Nuggets.  This series has been great, there has been one lopsided game.  Lakers lead 3-2 and I believe everyone is hoping this one goes the distance.  As a Syracuse guy I may be bias but Melo does not get enough respect.  In a class of Lebron, Bosh, Wade etc it always seems that Melo is put in the back burner.  Give the man some respect, rather yet he is demanding it in this series.  

The other series: Cavs vs Magic has been close game after close game, this series could be over 4-0 Magic or even 3-1 Cavs.  James is incredible, however the Magic have just been playing physical basketball and hitting their outside shots.  It seems like the city of Cleveland might have to wait another year to finally get a championship in any sport.

Moving on:

While I was not writing the sports world lost a legend.  Chuck Daly died of pancreatic cancer a few weeks ago.  The ringmaster of the bad boys, coach Daly coached the Detroit Pistons, Nets, Magic, and Cavs.  He also lead the Dream Team to Olympic Gold.  He was loved by all and was an intense coach that knew how to win.  If you are watching the playoffs you will notice that all the coaches are wearing a CD pin, it is in honor of Coach Daly.  An NBA legend who will be missed.

Before I go:

Movie Quote of the day:  "I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins. 

_You dont know anyone named Johnny Hopkins. 

_It was Johnny Hopkins, and Sloan Kettering, and they were blazin that shit up everyday. "

Random Thoughts

I want to start by thanking everyone for their birthday wishes.  This guy is 24 going on 60 (does that mean I can retire and get a senior citizen discount?)  I will be doing something this weekend to celebrate so I hope you all can make it.

I am not an overly big fan of the whole birthday thing.  I appreciate the bday wishes, I always like an excuse to drink, but am I supposed to feel different on May 10th as I do on May 11th?  What this does do is make me even more jealous of Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony and the other 24 year olds who are doing a lot more than me.

I am a little disappointed with where I am at 24, in 3rd or 4th grade I figured by this point I would be playing quarterback for the Cowboys and be rich.  By 7th/8th grade I realized I wouldn't be a pro in anything so figured I would be a coach or a commentator by now.  Then once I got into high school I figured I would hit the lotto and be retired already.  Now that has all failed, I need a reset button and try again cause I could really go for any of those things.

Moving past me getting one step closer to the end (wow that is a negative spin on things, lets try it this way: Now that I am one year wiser).  Anyone who listens to Howard Stern would have heard that this past weekend Gary Dell Abate, also known as Baba Booey threw out the opening pitch at the Mets game.  From the day Gary found out he was going to be throwing out the first pitch he has been nervous as hell.  He hired a trainer to help him and a psychologist to calm him down.  Well Saturday came and he failed miserable, in fact here is the post from one newspaper:

Gary Dell Abate First Pitch, Baba Booey First Pitch -- Long-time Howard Stern producer, Gary Dell'Abate aka Baba Booey, threw out the first pitch at Mets game last night and failed miserably. He said this morning that despite the poor performance, at least the pitch stayed in the television frame. He was there to promote autism awareness, as was Kim Kardashian who did much better...in heels.

The entire morning was spent ripping Gary apart for his pathetic throw.  Artie Lang, long time die hard Yankee fan who was in attendance may have had the best line: "At least Gary wasn't the only fag to pitch for the Mets on Saturday."

-Good News to all the men out there: Rhianna naked pictures!  HIYOOOOO

These pictures were supposedly leaked by BEST BOYFRIEND OF THE YEAR: Chris Brown.  I am very happy about this leak, but how dumb is this girl.  The guy beats the crap out of her (which i a understatement) and now is showing nude pics of her and she stays with him.  This girl is dumb, and no one can stand up for her on this one.  Love can make you do funny things but that usually ends when you cant open either eyes and your face is swollen like Ricky Hatten after being knocked the fuck out.

Next on the list: VP Joe Biden, Syracuse Alum spoke at the Syracuse Graduation this weekend.  First my deep sorrow and sympathy for all my friends who graduated this weekend.  Welcome to the working world, its a shitty ride.  Anyway from the looks of pictures and from what I have heard Syracuse was covered with secret service and  from what I heard he was incredible.  We know the country is in good hands when we have a Syracuse grad as second in command.  More importantly it gives a guy like me a chance....KWINTER 2020- CAUSE WHY NOT!

Quick Sports updates: 

-Zack Grienke is fucking amazing.  This guy has 4 complete games already and an ERA of under 1.  I know it is early but if he does even half of what he is doing now the CY Young is his and the Royals will be hanging around the entire season.  I think someone called that.

-How great is Kobe vs Melo going to be.  Sorry Rockets, you had a nice win the other night, but you just pissed of Kobe, next game is a blowout.  Sorry Mavericks, but your owner trashed Martin's mom and that will not help their chances in this serious.

-Crosby vs Ovechkin has been a great series that will be going to 7 games.  This has helped bring the fans back to hockey and that includes this guy.

-A-Rod welcome back to the big leagues you steroid using Pre-Madonna (I am a Yankee fan by the way).  First pitch back and he sends it a LONG way.  Maybe his "injury" was just him finding a steroid that is undetected.

BEFORE I GO:

Clip of the weekend

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Movie Quote:  "Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying"

Question of the day: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

The Death of Sports Gods

"It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift."

On Monday the book: A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez was released to the public and along with it all the steroid talks will once again be the topic of every Sports Center and all other sports programs.  The newest allegations brought against A-Rod is that he started taking steroids in high school and that he has been doing them as currently as when he was with the Yankees.  He also has been now rumored to tip batters off in blow out games while he was on the Rangers with the hope that these players would do the same for him to pad stats and help get the big contracts.

Now in no way am I saying that I believe A-Rod is telling the truth when he said he did steroids in the small time frame he is admitting to, but this book seems to be a glorified National Enquirer.  How many allegedly done things about this man's life is this women, Selena Roberts going to try and get the public to believe in.  This is the same women who ruined the reputation of innocent Duke Lacrosse players.  She ruined some of these kids lives, so before we all jump on everything she says lets get some perspective.  Again, my thoughts on A-Rod is simple, he is an insecure person who cheated the game.  I do not even think he cheated the game to get records or money, I think he cheated the game to get people to love him.  He cares so much about what the fans think that he would do anything to ensure he has their love and respect.

This is a much bigger problem though than Salena Roberts poor attempt at ruining A-Rod and even A-Rods steroid use.  This is our society being too involved with athletes personal life.  I think we have become to engrossed with everything outside of the playing field with our athletes.  The problem with this is it is ruining our heroes for us.  

We are at the point where we know everything about them, where they spend their offseason, what they do after the game, where they spend their birthdays and who is invited.  Our parents didn't know what Hank Aaron was doing off the diamond.  We didn't know Namath was an alcoholic until he tried to kiss Pam Oliver on Monday Night Football and we did not know anything about the M&M boys besides Mantle being a playboy.  I make this argument because my generation and the generations after are being ripped off from having idols.  We are loosing out on having those players who you look at as Gods among men.  Who you look up to as people who play the game right on and off the field and are genuine good people.  Have you ever talked to your dad or grandfather about some of their childhood sports heroes?  You can just tell how much those people meant to them, how many nights they stayed up late watching Bird vs Magic, or watching Mantle and Maris hit homeruns every day chasing each other and of course the Babe.  They never had to wonder if Mantle was juiced, or if Babe took shots in the ass to give him power.  Maybe they were taking something to give them an edge, but we would never have known and a part of me is happy we don't.  I am worried that maybe we wont be able to tell our kids about our heroes without having to tell them about the alleged steroid use, or how he raped a girl and cheated on his wife.

Kids today are growing up watching baseball and wearing their Roger Clemens jersey, or their Mark McGwire shirts.  They then watch these "role models" lie to congress and are said to have done steroids.  People are embarrassed to say that these are their favorite players.  We are loosing our role models in sports and it is starting to ruin sports for all of us.

Now to be fair there are players out there who deserve to be considered our role models.  One being the newly named MVP of the NBA.  Lebron James is a class act role model for all of us.  The man has genuine care for his sport, his city, his team and his fans.  He goes out every night and preforms at the highest level, and he understands that he is proving he deserves the fame and fortune he has received as he pays his dues to the league and the players that came before him.  The man deserved that award, and is helping a league rise from their down years.  

I must say that the NHL and NBA playoffs recently has helped us all forget about the nonsense in sports.  The Rangers vs Capitals, the Devils vs Carolina and now the Penguins vs Capitals series has provided entertainment for all sports fans.  It is helping get the fans back to a sport that is on the way out.  Then there was the Bulls vs Celtics series.  That series was an incredible series, filled with players who busted their ass to win each and every game.  Kids if you are looking for sports heroes take any of those players who laid it all on the line to win. Like Ray Allen who scored 51 points in  a loosing effort and has never been in trouble with the league, or the law.  He has not taken any steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.

I love sports and everything about it.  I engulf myself with my teams and stress myself out watching games like most of you.  My day can be ruined or turned around depending on the outcome of a game.  From the highs to the lows of each game, like watching a 6 overtime game and feel like I just went thru hell only to be relieved and elated at the end.  I have seen sure thing points and wins turned to heartbreaking losses (Yes I am talking about a dropped snap on a FG to be eliminated from the playoffs).  And I have laid in bed with mono and falling asleep between pitches of a game 7, and forcing myself up to see a game winning home run by Aaron Boone.  I love sports and nothing would ever get me to stop watching, I just think it might be time to move away from their off the field lives.  So maybe we can talk about our sports Gods with our kids and not have to even think about them cheating or doing wrong.  So anyone out their that wants to be like Selena Roberts, I beg you to mind your own business and let us think that our heroes are truly great.

Before I go:

Yesterdays Movie:  American Beauty

Todays Movie: "In Vegas, everybody's gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all."

The Question of the Day:  What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Your Kid Sucks....Deal with it

"If you're not first you're last"- Ricky Bobby

Today I was at work, and one of the women was selling raffle tickets for the high school baseball team her son plays for.  We started talking about one of the coaches, who happened to be one of my favorite teachers.  She said she didn't like him and thought he was too tough as a coach, her reasoning was she overheard him yelling at the team, saying you scrubs might as well go in as we are getting killed anyway.

I am not saying that is the best thing to say or the best way to say it, but I don't think it is a terrible statement.  Now obviously these kids are on the school team so they do not suck, but what is wrong with knowing you are not the elite player.  If anything it should make you work harder to get better and prove that you can be one of the top players.  This issue however, is becoming too evident in todays America.  This situation with the coach does not happen enough if you ask me.

Growing up me, my friends and other people in or around my grade were not rewarded for mediocrity or last place.  There was no trophy for coming in last, in fact if you weren't in first or second you didn't get anything, and thats how it should have been.  If you wanted a trophy and to be rewarded you needed to practice and bust your ass to earn it.  Now kids are being given ribbons and trophies for every place so that no kid will feel like a loser.  This can not be the way to do things, these kids will think they are great with all the trophies they "earn" and then when they get to a level in sports and in life when they do not just receive rewards what will happen?  How will they deal with failure then?   What happens when they do not get the raise at work, or even get rejected from a school, a job etc.  All of a sudden we have another kid heading to therapy in this country because of "social anxiety" or depression.

What I do not understand is where this started, is it starting with the parents who do not want to deal with their kids disappointment?  Or is it the parents not wanting to push their kids to try harder thus causing more practices and lessons that parents have to drive to and pay for?  Are they afraid to tell the kids that they are not that good?  I sucked at soccer growing up and I knew it.  My parents knew it and they did not come out and tell me I sucked but they pushed me towards other sports.

The bigger problem here is that this is effecting America as a whole.  We are raising a generation of whimps who can not take failure and have so many pills shoved down their throats for their "ADD."  What is going to happen when this generation becomes leaders of our companies and country?  What will our army look like with these type of kids in command?  Will one get shot and everyone cry and run away?  Will the first battle lost be the end of the war?  When our freedom is attacked, what type of people will we be sending in to protect us.  Parents are not doing their kids or this world any justice babying them.  People need to face failure and learn how to accept it and get stronger.  When in their minds these kids think they are already strong how will they improve?  They wont and the people who will be affected....us and the generations of people who have failed, will continue to fail, but will bounce back and get stronger.

Before I go:

Love the comments by everyone keep them coming.  Very creative stuff.

Yesterdays movie was: The Usual Suspects.

Todays Movie: "I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday."

Question of the day:  If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

I'm Back!

Welcome back everyone, sorry for the few week layoff.  I hope everyone enjoyed not having to read this blog during the break, and for the one or two that actually missed reading the blog don't worry I am back and have tons of topics to write about.

I was away on a cruise about 2 weeks ago with some friends, Carnival Freedom.  It was an 8 night cruise and stopped at Cozumel, Costa Rica and Panama.  The cruise was great and the weather was great.  It seemed to be spring break for high schools as there was tons of high school people on the cruise and I do not remember girls being so "developed" in high school.  Some of these girls were ridiculous, don't worry I followed all laws.  Some of them are incredibly dumb, as I was walking with two of the kids that we went with and a high school girl asked them if they could ask his dad to by her some beer, referring to me.  Now the kids I was walking with at the time were 18, everyone may know I am an old man, but I don't look 40.  This girl was fucking retarted, but moving on.

Costa Rica was my favorite stop, we took a boat ride thru the rainforest which was pretty sweet seeing monkeys, lizards, all that shit.  Then we zip lined thru the rainforest which was awesome.  I recommend doing that if you ever get a chance.  Cozumel, the day was spent drinking at the beach.  The beach and water was beautiful and the beer was great.  Panama was boring as hell.  Now I respect the whole Panama Canal, combining to oceans, making trade and travel easier.  However, watching the process take place is like watching paint dry.  The process is cool watching the different water levels and boat rising, but it takes too long and is too boring.  Glad I saw it, never wanna see it again, unless I am going thru it.

The cruise was overall a great time, very relaxing and anytime you aren't in work for a whole week you cant complain at all.

One rant before I go.  If you have been reading this blog for a while now you know my feelings towards Facebook.  I check my Facebook, and like anyone I have found myself on it for way too long at times.  What I do not like is people who feel it necessary to tell us all what you are doing constantly.  "Right now John Doe is taking a crap, then I might shower" or "I hung out with this girl last night and now I have the clap"  I now have something else to add to the things  I hate about Facebook.  People have started living their lives thru Facebook, I mean they meet people they start talking to people next thing you know they are going out.  The whole relationship takes place on Facebook and usually ends on Facebook.  How pathetic are these people who can not even break up with someone in person, or at least over the phone.  They just write on their status single, or no longer in a relationship.  The poor other person finds out that way, are you kidding me?  It is starting to create a generation of people who no longer communicate like humans, rather as computers who once in a while see each other.

Before I go a few things:

New movie quote:"First day on the job, you know what I learned? How to spot a murderer. Let's say you arrest three guys for the same killing. You put them all in jail overnight. The next morning, whoever's sleeping is your man. You see, if you're guilty, you know you're caught, you get some rest, you let your guard down."  

Question of the Day:  What was the best vacation you have ever been on?  Where was your favorite place you have been?