Comic Cover of the Week: Secret Avengers #16

Triple U

Unfunny, Unreadable, and Uninspiring

"Triple U" is a Jim Rome Show bit. Find something in the world that is basically lame but others may find "funny," and it becomes a "Triple U" contest (via email or text) on the JR show.

For example: The tool in the office that says, "Hey, who's the new guy!?!?" when a co-worker finally comes back after a week long vacation. It's not really funny. It's lame.

Here is something that isn't necessarily funny, but lame: Being charged for a cup of water/ice at fast-food retaurants, golf courses, party stores, and gas stations to name a few.

In early August I was heading to Peru, IL and we stopped at a party store that I think was just across the Illinois border. I had a warm Gatorade in the van, I just needed a cup of ice. Come to find out, that will be $.25.

I decide to suffer without it.

Then we stopped at a gas station just up the road. I decided I didn't want to suffer, so I'll pony up the $.25. Come to find out, at this crapland it's $.35... + TAX. I had to pay $.37 for a cup of ice. No water. Just ice.

Lame.

Side note: Two minutes later we decided we were hungry and walked across the street to a Wendy's where I ordered a meal...and a cup of FREE ice water.

24

My dad and I went golfing yesterday at Arrowhead Golf Course in Caro. I already had a giftcard of 18 holes for two people. We were teeing off at noon and I didn't have my pullcart, so we wanted a golf cart.

$24.

"Is that with the greens fees?"
"No. There are two of you, so $12 each is $24."
"Um, dad, we can walk."

Seriously? Is it possible I could rent a Mustang for 4 hours for less than $24? I don't know really, just guessing. $24? Really? I realize the weight of an extra person would use more gas (it might even be a battery cart), but an additional $12?

If they are trying to get society more physically fit by walking, well, I guess they achieved that goal.

Later on in the day...

After the first 9 holes, I went into the clubhouse to get a simple cup of icewater.

"$0.25"

That's right. Water from the tap is now $0.25. Man, styrofoam and a straw doesn't grow on trees anymore.

More on this in a future post.

Sports Mulligans

Great discussion question on WDFN 1130 The Fan last Thursday:

If you could have one pro/college sports mulligan (from a game), what would it be? If you could make just one game disappear from your memory, what would it be?

Obviously you will name more than one.

In no particular order:

1. "The Colorado game" ("Slash" - Kordell Stewart")
2. "TIME OUT!" Oops.
3. Appalachian State (Can't wait for the 2014 rematch)
4. Isiah's pass to Larry Bird in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals at Boston to lose the game.
5. Spartan Bob
6. UM/MSU 1990 @ Big House (The Pass Interference NOT called in the endzone on Desmond Howard)
7. 2005 NBA Finals (Rasheed Wallace not covering Robert Horry for the game winning shot)
8. Every loss to Ohio State during the Salary Cap Era
9. All of September 2009 for the Tigers
10. This is not a game, but drafting Darko.

How Bad Has SNL Become?

Keep in mind, this was December 2010. (I saw this sketch/episode on Saturday night after watching the sports highlights on the local news channels and just decided to keep the TV on an extra 5 minutes to see what SNL had to offer since I haven't watched it in 3-4 months.) I can only imagine the envelope has been pushed even further since then.

the Coolidge Test

A thoughtful analysis of the presidents performance.

"President Barack Obama is an Ivy League-educated man of considerable intelligence and ambition who has surrounded himself with numerous experts to help in his decision-making. With these advantages, he has tried a number of things to help the country domestically and in the area of foreign affairs. But at the end of the day, how does Obama’s efficacy in office compare to that of a sack of hammers?"

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A question for those of you who are bigger baseball fans than I: Now that Justin Verlander has his 20th win, and before the end of August to boot, should he win the MVP? If not, is there a number of wins he needs to have to be a candidate? Paul Sporer of ESPN has some discussion here. Regarding the argument that a pitcher doesn't play enough to truly deserve the MVP, Sporer observes:

Looking at Verlander’s 216 innings shows that he has pitched 18.6 percent of the Tigers' total innings (1161) while the team’s best offensive player and marginal MVP candidate, Miguel Cabrera, has logged 577 plate appearances, or 11.5 percent of their 5,001 total plate appearances. So who is really making a bigger contribution?

That conclusively settles that argument for me. Any other thoughts from you baseball guys?

A Thought

Perhaps this might come across as a little insensitive, but after seeing some of the news about Hurricane Irene it strikes me that New York City on the day a hurricane hit would be a fantastic setting for an action movie or a mystery/thriller. Can you imagine? Daniel Craig. Dwayne Johnson. Emily Blunt. Storm Surge. Summer 2013. It practically writes itself.

Draft Day

Is everyone planning on having our 2011 draft next weekend? It's our traditional time, but I thought I had better check. Also, we have only 6 managers signed up so far, it would be nice to have everyone in before we draft. We can't start unless we have an even number.

Some draft links:
Fox's Draft Guide
ESPN's Draft Kit
Yahoo's Draft Kit

I'm thinking of going with ESPN's top 300 as the default list rather than Fox's top 200. Thoughts?

Football Humor

Via The Corner: "Which NFL team should I root for?"

Age of Reptiles

It All Makes Perfect Sense

Maybe this explains why the Lions have never really tried to build a winning team. You make more money...LOSING!

Boooooo!

Now that things have settled down, I have a chance to get to the theater to see Captain America. Unfortunately, a few of the city theaters are already pulling it or reducing the number of showtimes, which makes it difficult to fit into a schedule (especially if they say they have a 9:50 showtime on their automated recording only to find out at 6:30 when you get there that 4:40 was their actual last show for the day.)

I've been gone a lot since it was released, but I was pretty confident it hadn't come to the Cass Theater yet. But when the poster showed Smurfs as the next show after this weeks Cowboys and Aliens, I started to wonder. (No way does he show "CA" Friday, Sept. 2...six weeks after it was released.) So, I called the theater last night and asked when it was coming. It's not. BOOOOOOO! How do you not have a way to fit Captain America into your summer rotation?

?

So now that the Raiders have selected Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft, is he going to be a flop or a huge flop? Not that I expected him to succeed, but going to the Raiders pretty well seals the deal.

Good news everyone!

Matthew Stafford played for 5 minutes in an exhibition game last night and didn't get injured. So, hey, that's one in a row. If we're lucky he might make it through the preseason, but there's always the chance of getting hurt while he's playing Xbox or washing his car.

Static

Man of Steel

From ComingSoon.net via Big Hollywood:

RE: Movie Trailers

This trailer?



Usually I feel like a trailer loses something after I've seen the movie a dozen times, but that's still pretty awesome. The teaser trailer isn't bad either, I think I prefer it to the one for The Dark Knight Rises, even though it doesn't have any scenes from the movie:

Movie Trailers

I watched "I Am Legend" last night on DVD and the best part of the movie was seeing the trailer for "The Dark Knight." It still sends chills down my spine and gets me even more geeked for 2012. When I finished the movie, I went back to watch the trailer again. I also noticed in the trailer that there was no reference to Harvey Dent. In fact, there was probably less Bruce Wayne/Batman than the Joker.