SLAM!

So, did the Pistons' window for winning another championship just slam closed? It's especially galling to see them lose to the Celtics after listening to the media anoint the Celtics the champions as soon as they made the big trade. I don't care much about basketball, but I would have taken a lot of satisfaction in them being beaten. Oh well. Go Wings!

Cyberwar

So, were you feeling like you could sleep soundly tonight? Then don't read this. Here's the short version: hackers in China, some potentially with support from the government, have committed major attacks against US government and private sector networks. Probably the most interesting (and scariest) thing I've read in weeks.

Tecmo Bowl Kickoff Review

This is what you've been waiting for: video of gameplay in Tecmo Bowl Kickoff, and a review, thanks to Joystiq.



So, are you guys going to go buy DS's now or wait until September?

68

That is today's special number. Can anyone figure out what it might represent? I'll give you a few guesses:

1. My golf score after 18 holes? I wish.
2. Fritz's golf score after 9 holes? Maybe, but no.
3. The number of miles Adam ran last week around town. Probably not.
4. The number of hours Aaron spends online with his computer games each weekend? I hope not.
5. The number of freakin' errors our Varsity baseball team had tonight in the Pre-Districts against Bad Axe? No, but pretty close.

The Answer:

How much it cost me to fill up my 16+ gallon gas tank in my car tonight in C^2. OUCH!

Wisdom For The Day

Okay, you're going to want to grab a pen and paper and write down this incredible wisdom from the lips of Nathan Haag. Let me set the stage:

Mandy and I were eating our Subway sandwiches. Mandy asked if I could save her a little bite of my footlong. I looked over at her and noticed she was putting away the other half of her footlong.

I said, "Your 'little bite' is right there!" I was referring to the fact she still has 6 inches left of her own sub that she can eat.

"I'm saving that for my lunch tomorrow."

Okay, here it comes. Are you ready...

..."There's no tomorrow until tomorrow."

Old School

According to Xbox 360 Fanboy, RBI Baseball might be coming to Xbox Live Arcade. How great would that be? If this happens, I'm going to download the first day it's out. Of course, bringing up the game caused discussion of other NES sports classics, which gives me an excuse to post this video (also featured at the original post):



Bo knows Tecmo Super Bowl.

Wedding Songs

Andy's looking for songs to play at his wedding reception, so I thought I'd put up a post to get ideas. Serious of silly ideas would be appreciated. So far, in the discussion I was in, there was:

Serious
"Grace and Love", Kutless
"Falling Slowly", The Frames
"Hanging by a Moment", Lifehouse
"Your Are For Me", Plankeye

Probably Not
Cotton Eye Joe
The Legend of Zelda theme
"M4 Part II", Faunts (from Mass Effect)

Banned
The Chicken Dance

Any thoughts? I'll add as they come up.

Broken

Vows

I don't know if Andy is writing his own vows, but are some ideas from The Simpsons episode "A Milhouse Divided":

"I will now read these special vows which Homer has prepared for this occasion. 'Do you, Marge, take Homer, in richness and in poorness' -- poorness is underlined -- 'in impotence and in potence, in quiet solitude or blasting across the alkali flats in a jet-powered, monkey-navigated'... [consults the notecards] ... and it goes on like this."
-Rev. Lovejoy

I think the "quiet solitude or etc." line would make for a memorable ceremony.

Good News

All those hours put in coaching kids in baseball may be teaching them more than pitching and hitting. A quote from this article at The American:

But below the radar of popular athletic culture is something that has profoundly shaped the lives of millions of Americans for the better: youth sports. A growing body of research is showing the social and economic benefits of participation in youth sports to be surprisingly large and overwhelmingly positive. Other things being equal, if a kid plays sports, he will earn more money, stay in school longer, and be more engaged in civic life.

Now, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's coached kids, but it certainly is nice to see evidence.

Toyman

I got a kick out of this article, specifically the pictures which show Harrison Ford with an armload of Indiana Jones toys that he's just purchased. It's especially funny when you consider that Ford would have been able to buy an action figure with his likeness (Han Solo specifically) for a large portion of the last thirty years. (Hat tip: Rebelscum.com)

The Coldest Heart

Baseball Trip

So, uh, have any plans been made?

Windfall

This article by Jonah Goldberg is the best thing I've read all week. Here's the first three sentences:

Imagine this. You’ve built the better mousetrap. (Because lasers and pneumatic tubes are cool, let’s imagine it uses them.)

You had me at "lasers and pnematic tubes". Seriously though, this is a great evisceration of Washington stupidity. Worth your time.

Iron Man

Quote of the Day

"Oh, let’s also point out that, as a matter of political reality, Clinton might as well be calling for a ban on the use of unicorn meat in dog food, because there is no way her proposal can actually, you know, happen."

-Jonah Goldberg, 5/7/08 column

A Slightly Different Advantage to Being the Heisman

Check out this article on ESPN.com about the sophomore QB Heisman winner, Tim Tebow. He's probably not the only Heisman to "spend time" in prison, but at least it's on His terms. Pretty cool.

B-Squared Sightings

You'll never guess who I ran into at Videomation a couple of Saturday's ago...Brian Brown. I have not seen him since about a year or two after we graduated...when he was coming out of yet another video store, All-Season Video. What are the odds of that? But that's not all. Four days after our Videomation encounter, guess who was coming into McDonald's on Wednesday morning? Yup, Brian. Larger than life. The same gait. Same haircut. Same voice.

New Post

There is a new post on "Monkie's Progress" just in case no one has checked it in awhile.

Third Time's the Charm

A season like the Lions' 2007-2008 season would get some guys down. Not Jon Kitna. He expects to win 10 games this season. Of course. Let's break the Lions down for a bit. Last year, they had no running game, partly because the didn't actual try to run the ball. So they fire Martz and will presumably focus more on the run this year. To help with this they, uh, cut Kevin Jones and let go of T.J. Duckett, leaving them with Tatum Bell, rookie Kevin Smith, Brian Calhoun, and Aveion Cason. Well, that's one approach. Sure, they'll have more yards, but just handing the ball off more than twice a game will guarantee that. Defense? They drafted a LB. I'm guessing pretty much a wash here. Same at offensive line. WRs are about the same, possibly slightly better if Calvin Johnson improves. Kitna should be about the same; decent but making too many important mistakes. The schedule looks relatively favorable, so I'm going to say they'll end up between 6-10 and 8-8. Wildcard: If Drew Stanton comes back strong from injury and shows the spark he had in college, the Lions might just be able to push close to 10 wins. But probably not.

Pic of the Day

$102.1 million

Iron Man, the first blockbuster of the summer, reportedly made $102.1 million over the weekend, making it one of the most successful superhero movies ever. Coming off this impressive success, Marvel Studios announced they will not release a film in 2009, instead concentrating on an Iron Man sequel for the summer of 2010, as well as a Thor movie. 2011 will have a Captain America film followed shortly after by a film featuring the Avengers. If Marvel handles this well, they're going to make a lot of money. Oh, since I hyped Iron Man but didn't haven't wrote about since I saw it, here's a quick review: Awesome. (Hat tip: Libertas)

(In case you're wondering, I was listening to the song while typing this.)

A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

StarWarsShop.com is selling a projector that looks like R2-D2. Apparently it can move, has most of the hookups you'd want, and only costs... $3,000. So it's not cheap. And based on the video, I don't think it's quite lifesize. But it's still pretty cool. I don't think I need a projector quite that badly though. (Hat tip: Gizmodo)

Now, even cooler than R2 is this guy's home theater setup, linked by a commenter at Gizmodo. Wow. I've seen a similar Star Trek themed theater, but it wasn't as impressive as this. Maybe I do need to buy a house after all...

J-E-T-S

I posted earlier that the Lions should think about signing Jehuu Caulcrick as a free agent. Well, a few other teams had the same idea and the Jets actually did it. I'm not sure if he'll make it with the Jets, but I feel pretty certain Jehuu will make an NFL roster this year.

"If it's brown it's down."

I saw a truck in the parking lot of Wal-mart with a sticker in the back window displaying that phrase and immediately thought of Matt. So, has he bagged a deer since those words were uttered (while hunting, getting it with the car doesn't count)?

Tecmo Returns

Tecmo Bowl is making a comeback in the form of Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff on the Nintendo DS. So, how many DS's did I just sell with that statement? Anyway, the game doesn't have the NFL license, so there will be lots of customization available instead. Can it live up to the fabled TSB?

Mouth Like A Magazine

The Best

Which MLB ballpark is the best? Well, according to a new fan survey from Sports Illustrated, it's... Cleveland? Hmmm. Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and St. Louis round out the top five. Coincidentally, the Monkies have been to all five of these ballparks. So, what do you think? Are the ratings accurate, or is SI just trying to stir the pot?

Free Agents

The draft is over, so all the college players with NFL dreams who didn't get drafted now get to see if they still have a chance at making an NFL team. I was surprised when I checked in on the draft and saw that MSU's Jehuu Caulcrick wasn't drafted. Now, I'm no NFL executive, but if I was the Lions I'd try and sign this guy right now. They don't have a lot of depth at the moment, and I'm not convinced that a rookie from Central Florida will fill all their needs in the running game. Signing these guys costs relatively little, so what's the risk? Side note: The Sports Inc. bio for Jehuu says that he doesn't have "prototypical power". I'm sure you can knock him for many things, but lack of power? Have these guys seen him play? So, who should I believe, Scouts Inc. or my lying eyes?

In case you're wondering, UM running back Mike Hart was taken in the 6th round by the Colts.

UPDATE: The Lions are really satisfied with Tatum Bell (who was mostly benched last season), Kevin Smith, Brian Calhoun, and Aveion Cason (who they've cut before)? RB coach Sam Gash says he looking for "the cream to rise to the top". Uhh, what if there's no cream? By the way, the Lions plan on using a FB again. You think Jon Bradley, Sean McHugh, and Jerome Felton can play as well as Schlesinger used to? Me neither. I feel 6-10 coming on.

Draft Thoughts

It's a little strange to have the commissioner step on the stage, announce the beginning of the draft, and immediately announce the first pick.

The top two picks have the same last name? Saw it coming, but it's still odd.

How silly is it to have instant draft grades? Post-draft grades are frivolous enough given that we won't really know for 3-4 years. We certainly won't be able to appreciate the picks in 3-4 minutes. If you graded that way, the Lions would be geniuses.

Note to ESPN: "Live" online draft coverage isn't worth anything if it doesn't automatically update.

Keyshawn must be blind. That's the only explanation for the outfit he's wearing. How did they let him go on TV looking like that?

Phrase of the Day

"200-proof nonsense" by Jonah Goldberg.

Late

Did you know the NFL Draft is starting 3 hours later this year? Normally it would start at noon, this year it's starting at 3 ET. I'm going to assume the NFL (and ESPN) would only make this move if they think it's going to increase the number of viewers. Could this really be true? How does moving the draft back to a time where it's competing with MLB games and the Stanley Cup playoffs increase viewership? Sure, I enjoy the draft, but I still only half follow it through the first round. Do they think people are going to sit enthralled by the TV screen and watch the Raiders make the 3rd pick? The draft is exactly the kind of event you follow by channel surfing or watching ESPN's Bottomline. I don't get it.

Seattle

Happiness

You know, watching a Red Wing smash an Avalanche player just puts a big smile on my face. You can feel the old rivalry waking up and shaking off the dust.

Wokka-Wokka-Wokka-Wokka

So, Pacman Jones has been traded to the Cowboys. Okay, for accuracy's sake, the trade needs to be finalized, but the they're planning on making the trade. The Titans will reportedly receive a 4th-round pick.

Here's a question: What is Dallas THINKING? Does Terrell Owens not give them enough headaches? What has Jones done to deserve a second chance? He's a pretty good player, but he's only had 4 INTs in his career. And his idea of rehabilitating his image during his suspension (which is still ongoing by the way) was to take up professional wrestling. Yeah, he's contrite. Dallas is going to regret this, and they're going to deserve it. Mark it down, I'll stand by this one.

Turtle Power

I usually don't post the geekiest stuff I find to the blog, but these are pretty cool. Probably even cooler than all the old turtles that are sitting in a closet in Caseville. At first I thought they looked a little funny, but a few more pictures sold me on them looking pretty good. I don't really need any Turtles to sit on a bookshelf, but I'm afraid I might end up with them (because you can't buy just one turtle) anyway. I'd imagine Joe has them already being shipped to him. Here's the company's website.

“This is a window to what Michigan can be.”

There was an article in the Detroit News yesterday about the windmills in the Thumb and the energy they provide. Apparently the governor spoke at Lake Elementary about them. Doesn't sound familiar? Oh, that's right, it's actually LAKER slementary school. But I guess that's just a minor detail for someone in Detroit.

My first thought on reading the quote from Granholm: "Yes, all of Michigan should strive to be more like Pigeon."

Four Yorkshiremen

#1

Predicting the 2008 NFL Draft just became a little easier. Miami signed UM tackle Jake Long to a contract likely worth nearly $60 million today. To my knowledge, this is the earliest a #1 overall pick has signed. It's refreshing to see someone just make a deal and get it done with. I suspect the fact the he was an offensive lineman made it a little easier, since they don't usually get the egos that, say, a WR gets.

3 n' 6...

...represents our current varsity baseball record. As mentioned earlier in a comment, we picked up our first win of the season last Thursday v the Ubly Bearcats. Brent Doerr picked up the win in game 1 going 6 and 2/3 and only yielding 2 runs. It was 6-0 going into the 7th inning and Austin Babich closed the game for the final out with the bases loaded (after walking AND balking in a run with the bases loaded) to seal the win 6-2.

In the nightcap, we jump out to a 2-0 lead only to give up a 3-run blast in the bottom of the first to a southpaw sophomore. But, we battled back to regain the lead 4-3 the next inning. However, more problems and we fell behind 11-4. But, we managed 2 runs each in future innings to cut the lead to 11-8. Ubly then entered their #2 stopper and we lost 14-8.

Saturday was the Tuscola County Tournament in Vassar. We were scheduled to play Caro in the opening round. We were looking for revenge as we came up hitting for a 1-0 lead...only to see ourselves give up 7 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Mason Doerr was unable to get through the whole inning and was pulled when the top of the order came around again (Then again, when you give a team 7 outs, anyone will score 7 runs.) The Hawks failed a comeback and lost 7-2 after 4 and 1/2 innings.

With the loss, that meant we had to face mighty KINGSTON!!! Basically a JV team. The Hawks pulled out the 15-7 victory. Yes, 7 runs to Kingston. We'd have a better chance of Adam Stoeckle getting on the mound to throw strikes. We literally can't hit water from a boat...or grass if we were playing on a grass infield.

Last night: The Hawks bats pounded out 6 runs in the first inning but went silent until the 6th inning. The Harbor Beach managed one in the first to cut it to 6-1. It stayed that way until The Beach small balled a few more runs to make it 6-4. Next inning, 3 errors later, we are down 10-6 heading to the top of the 6th inning. We scratched out some gap shots and plated 3 runs to make it 10-9. We shut them down defensively in the 6th to set the stage for the dramatic 7 inning.

The first two batters didn't help as we fell in a deep hole with 2 outs and no runners on base. But, some timely hits eventually got us to runners at 2nd and 3rd with Austin Babich, our best hitter, at the plate. Ball 1, ball 2, ball 3. At this point, I gave Austin the "green light." Strike one. Ball 4.

Bases loaded, two outs, and a senior at the plate. (It should be noted that the backstop was about a football field behind homeplate. It was possible to steal 2nd and 3rd on a passed ball.) Ball one....I can't remember much after that except our batter simply couldn't put the ball into play and struck out. Ball game over. 10-9. We really needed that game.

Game 2: Not knowing ahead of time that The Beach didn't have a JV squad, basically Harbor Beach was happy with a win and just put in a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. We won, 10-0. Big whoop.

Silver Lining: The last 3 occasions we've had a game day, we've managed to at least go 3-3. Next up: Lakers...first conference matchup!

It should also be noted that of our 14 players on the roster, four run track and one plays golf. We were missing 3 players last night due to a track invitational. All of them are great hitters...3 of our top 5 in the batting order to be exact. Two are pretty good defensive players. I'm not making excuses, but track didn't help us. However, we should win no matter who shows up, especially with a 6-1 lead in the 4th inning.

Wings Win

The Red Wings won in a 3-0 shutout by Chris Osgood (Is this 2008 or 1998?) to take their series against the Nashville Predators 4 games to 2. I wanted to watch at least some of this game, but couldn't find it on anywhere. I could, however, watch an early '90s football game between USC and Washington. Go figure. Anyway, it seems pretty difficult to even find much hockey coverage. Most of what I see is notes in the Detroit News. Are people in Detroit following the Wings?

Monkey Torture

"Darth Vader aesthetics and a ninja’s reputation."

The F-117A Nighthawk is one of the most unique aircraft ever to take to the skies, and perhaps the most recognizable. On Monday it will retire to the history books and museums after a farewell ceremony at Holloman Air Force Base. The Air Force Times has an excellent article up on the development and history of the F-117A. It's a great read if you're interested in military technology, or if (like me) you read books about the F-117A while growing up and thought it was just too cool to be real. (Hat tip: Danger Room)

Shaken

So, did anyone actually feel the earthquake this morning? I was awake and should have been able to, but I didn't.

?

Did everyone realize a remake of Prom Night came out last weekend? Tell me someone saw it. I suppose we could all wait for the DVD release and watch it at Danny and Shirley's.

More Cowbell

After the last post, I think this is required:

"Less Cowbell"

I read this post at The Corner by Rich Lowry and thought: "I know exactly how he feels." I've often nursed revenge fantasies against those idiots in the stands (or in class) despite my best efforts not to. Sigh. Sporting events would be much more fun it wasn't for all those other people.

0fer

I don't have much to write right now, but thought something needed to be posted...our record is still worse than Daniels...0-3. We lost to Brown City tonight at home: 0-3 and 0-10. Yeah, shut out on our own diamond. We lost to Caro two weeks ago 6-9. But, we tied 2-2 in the second game after 5 innings and darkness. Most times I wouldn't settle for a tie, but in this case, that tie keeps us from being 0-4.

Strange

I'm watching the Tiger-White Sox game on WGN and the commentators are talking about the Nintendo DS almost as much as they are about the game. Apparently A.J. Pierzynski had one at spring training and played one of the quick recognition games, now he's off to a fast start. One of the commentators also owns one. Strange, but it certainly shows how Nintendo is appealing to those outside the usual demographic.

Who's on first?

Non-Core

You want to know why GM and the rest of the Big Three are having financial difficulties? Here's one reason: they were paying (and still are) $28/hour to the guys who drove the finished vehicles around. That's $58,240 a year (before taxes, assuming no OT) for driving tiny distances. Material movement (fork truck drivers) were making the same. After reading this, I don't understand how GM and the rest didn't fold a long time ago.

?

Who is Clete Thomas and how is he batting .476? I know he's under the minimum to be considered among the league leaders, but that's still pretty impressive, right?

"He was delicious."

It's On!

The world puts up with a lot of things from communist (or wannabe communist) dictators like Hugo Chavez: nationalizing industries, torturing dissidents, etc. But banning The Simpsons? Enough playing around, let's just nuke the bastard.

More Thanks

So, the MHSAA has all but declared bankruptcy. I can barely articulate how angry this makes me. For one thing, the MHSAA was defending the position that the people of Michigan actually favored and preferred, but the law (an ass) decided the other way. Then, an attorney who "volunteered" her time is now going to get paid the bulk of the money. What kind of vounteer demands payment after successfully volunteering? Sure, I'll mow your lawn for free, but only if I do bad job. If it looks good, pay me. I've been a supporter of girls' sports as the HS level, but, frankly, I really hope they suffer in Michigan now.

Finally

It only took the supposedly World Series contender Tigers 8 games to get their first win. I think I can let that slide if the go on a 20-game win streak. And crush the Royals.

Alive

Mirror, Mirror

Thanks A Lot

Hey, remember those moms who sued the MHSAA and ruined Michigan high school sports? A judge just ruled that the MHSAA owes them $7.4 million. The MHSAA only has assets of about $6 million. So, in addition to screwing up HS sports they might now destroy the body that administrates the entire enterprise. If Michigan lost a season of volleyball, could these moms be sued by other moms? It would serve them right.

Wood-Grained Glory

I haven't seen much in the way of April Fool's humor yet today, but this page from XBox Live was pretty good. Who wouldn't want a wood-grained XBox?

A Carhartt?

Did anyone else know they did this on Opening Day at Comerica Park?

Thanks

I appreciate the Tigers extending their Opening Day game so I could catch the end, but I'd really prefer a win in 9 innings that I miss to a loss in 11 that I get to watch. Thanks for the effort though.

How big would this be?

According to this story, the U.S. could be sitting on a massive reserve of oil. By massive, I mean in the neighborhood of what's under Saudi Arabia. That's enough oil to make the Middle East almost irrelevant in the near future. Wonder what that would look like? (Hat tip: Michael Ledeen, The Corner)

Forty Minutes

So, is anyone giving MSU a shot against Memphis? Well, besides Bob Wojnowski? This is the kind of game MSU lives for. That doesn't guarantee a win, but it suggest it could be quite a game. Just don't call it an upset. Also, is anyone really rooting for Memphis? Calipari and his team have been bugging me since mid-February, and I barely followed college basketball. Am I alone here?

Viral Marketing...

...can be silly but I like this bit for the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight:

More here.

Funny Stuff

A Chinese government official is unhappy with the U.S. State Department about a warning that visitors to the Olympics may be monitored and have "no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations." This shouldn't be surprising, given that you're talking about a totalitarian Communist regime, which aren't historically all that big on privacy rights (check out the film The Lives of Others).

Also interesting, the writer can't help but prove his liberal credentials by noting the "irony" that the U.S. government is warning about the spying tendencies of a totalitarian regime while supporting (gasp!) warrantless wiretapping of terror suspects. Because, obviously they're the same thing. Cough! Cough! Sorry, the choking stench of moral equivalence got to me for a bit there.

Not Working

I found this passage from this article in the Free Press about American Axle amusing:

"...and find a way to stop paying people for not working."

Gosh, there's a concept. Is it any wonder the Big Three, and their suppliers, are in such dire straights?

What's wrong with this?

I was reading about the Lakers game tonight and the name Vlade Divac was referenced. I thought, wow, haven't heard that name in about a decade. So, I decided to click on the profile link. Here is what came up:

Vlade Divac #12 C
Birth Date February 3, 1968
Birth Place Prijepolje, Yugoslavia
Height 7-1
Weight 260 lbs.
Age 38
Pronounced VLAH-day DEE-votz
Position C


Is my math wrong or theirs?

New/Old school

I think on the new style the home jersey's say "Pistons" and the away say "Detroit." It appears the old home/away just said "Pistons." Baseball does the same thing. Away jersey says the town and the home jerseys say the nickname or just the logo.

What's Going On?

I don't get Michigan talk radio here, so can anyone fill me in on what's going on with UM? A football player transferring isn't that unusual, but the statement from lineman Justin Boren isn't your typical playing time related gripe. So what's Rodriguez doing that's upsetting people? Saying the winged helmet now brings out a completely different emotion than pride is kind of a big deal

?

According to Netflix, since I liked Monty Python's Flying Circus and Mean Machine, I might also be interested in Sense and Sensibility. Huh?

Sports Logos

A few weeks ago I was thinking about the Pistons and their team logo from the 80's. Then I remembered that ridiculous marketing stunt they tried in the mid-90's and how Joey D got them back to the original once he started running the show. I like Joey's attitude: The Piston logo is just as untouchable as the Detroit Tiger "D." You just don't mess with it.

Then it dawned on me: What sports logos are "untouchable?" What logos, no matter how bad the team, would you never tweak. A few came to mind:

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Boston Celtics
3. LA Lakers
4. Detroit Tigers
5. Boston Red Sox
6. New York Yankees
7. Detroit Red Wings

Professional Sports Food Per Diem

A few weeks ago I was listening to "The Herd" on ESPN radio on my way to SVSU. The topic of conversation was that the host was going to be traveling over the next few days and ESPN was only going to be paying $48 per day for food. Since he was going to be in Houston, NY, and some other expensive city, his complaint was "how in the world will I be able to eat three meals off of $48 in cities like NY?" That led to his discussion on what NBA and MLB guys get per diem.

MLB gets $84 and the NBA gets $107 per diem for food. Wow. That is unbelievable and I now hate professional athletes even more. Do pro athletes really need to be eating at expensive restaurants for EVERY meal? You would think that $9 million a year contract you have would be able to cover your eating expenses. Let me get this straight: When I see a guy sign a fat contract of $50 million over 5 years, that doesn't include the money he will be paid for food? Ludicrous. I hate you.

Come to think of it, I remember one of the "Big 4" recently restructoring some issues in the players union and it seemed like they were bargining for $3/day for food.

I've actually tried to figure out how much it cost me on a normal day to eat:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of cereal (milk and cereal) ~ $1.25
Lunch: 1 turkey sandwich (2 slices of bread, little mayonnaise, turkey) ~ $1.50
Dinner: Probably on average < $3.00

Grand total: $5.75. Just to be safe, a flat $6.00 for 3 meals/day.

The Lopez...brothers?

For those of you who don't follow Stanford basketball (what's wrong with you), you may not know of these basketball players on the team part of the Sweet 16: Brook and Robin Lopez. They are twin brothers. Yes, brothers.

This quote is from Bill Simmons' blog on ESPN's Page 2:

Now, the reason that we're inherently prejudiced against the Lopez twins is simple: They're charter members of the Lindsay Hunter All-Stars for "Athletes with names that make them sound like hot girls." In other words, because their names make them sound like two smoking-hot juniors at an all-girls prep school, it's impossible to take them seriously as NBA prospects. If their names were Dwight Lopez and Isaac Lopez, you'd feel much better about them in the first round.

Their parents seriously need to be hit in the head with a spade shovel. Brook? Robin? Something tells me they really wanted girls.

WNIT?

Okay, so I just got this email from U of M about the women's basketball team advancing to the 3rd round of the WNIT. Are you serious? At Crisler? Give me 20 tickets right now. This is my dream come true.

What is wrong in our world? WNIT? Does anyone care about the men's NIT? If no one cares about the NIT, who is watching the WNIT? This has got to stop. Are we getting a little tournament happy? Even the coaches don't want to watch this game.

Ticketmaster

Not to keep bring up this sore subject. Have we gotten anywhere on a baseball trip? New York the destination? Mid or late august would be the best for me. Have we checked other ticket options - perhaps Stubhub. Lets get this thing wrapped up.

He Reigns

Star Trek

If you like Star Trek, at least in its '60s incarnation, I've got great news: you can now watch every episode of the original series online here. If Trek isn't your thing, there's also The Twilight Zone and MacGyver.

Serious Threats

Montana is serious about the 2nd amendment. How serious? Well, they've threatened to secede from the union if the Supreme Court rules that the right to bear arms is not an individual right.

See Ya Later

It's not good for my bracket, but seeing Duke knocked out of the tourney just puts a smile on my face.

Miffed

So are UM fans angry that Terrelle Pryor (I think he needs another "e" in his name) picked OSU?

Also, when you've spent months picking your college you could at least get the name right. An excerpt from the article:

"If everyone's here," Pryor said to start the news conference, "University of Ohio State."

Try the Ohio State University. Shouldn't a future Buckeye know something like that?

Tournament Pick'em

REPOSTED:

There's a new Tournament Pick'em Group at Yahoo! Sports. The group ID number is 4311 and the password is, of course, monkie. Haven't got the invitation emails out yet, but you don't have to wait.

UPDATE: Clicking this link should do most of the work for you.

On the Road

I'm heading back to Michigan for the weekend, so I'll try to catch who I can Friday/Saturday.

Mr. Redford...

...has lived up to the billing and received the coveted Mr. Basketball award. He received 1402 points (5 points for first place vote). Runner-up was future Spartan Draymond Green with 1245.

Congrats to Brad. By the way, he'll be playing Tuesday night at Houghton Lake for the Quaterfinals against Menomonee. Oh, and North Branch is also hosting boys Quarterfinals. Yeah, I'm sure it makes much more sense to send Frankenmuth to Houghton Lake when North Branch is in their backyard. Way to go MHSAA.

Another great idea by the MHSAA, just like this weekend when the Class B state championship in Hockey was ended after a record 8 OVERTIMES with no winner. So, instead of finishing the next day or next weekend or rescheduling for a future date, the MHSAA just said they would both be Co-Champions. Tie game. Nice. Don't forget to kiss your sister too. That was Marquette v Orchard Lake St. Mary.

You can follow the Quarterfinal Basketball game online here.

UPDATE: Muth loses, 65-60. Redford only scored 24 or so.

Scholastic News

Ah, remember the good ole days of sitting in elementary school reading the latest edition of Scholastic News. Well, the privilage of being married to a 3rd grade teacher is you get to grade a lot of papers. One of them being the monthly addition of Scholastic News. You remember how it works. You read the stories and then on the back page answer a few questions to see if you remembered what you read. Here are three of the four questions on the back page with the multiple choice answers:

1. The Iditarod race is about _______ miles long.
a. 32
b. 45 million
c. 1,150
d. 10,000

The answer was C. I know, how could it not be 45 million miles long. Well, actually some students seemed to think so and answered B.


2. You can guess that ______.
a. the Junior Iditarod is easier than the regular Iditarod
b. Conway Seavey is afraid of dogs
c. there is no time to rest during the Iditarod
d. cats can also run in the Iditarod

I have to be honest. I graded every paper with the highest hopes that someone would choose D. Finally, I got my wish. Some idiot girl picked D. Come on. Can you really see cats doing ANYTHING? Can you picture a bunch of cats all roped together? Running? In snow? Outside? In the cold? Cats doing work? Hilarious.


Now for the best one:
3. The main idea of this story is that _______.
a. monkeys like bananas
b. monkeys are causing problems in India
c. monkeys are very clever
d. it's fun to live with monkeys

Again, I was waiting with the highest anticipation someone would choose D. How is that not the right answer? You're telling me it's not fun to live with monkeys? I died laughing when I finally got to a paper when someone picked D. In fact, I gave them partial credit just for thinking it would be fun to live with monkeys.

Ultimate Timewaster

I've discovered the ultimate timewaster: Tecmo Super Bowl as a flash game. That's right, you can play Tecmo from any computer that has an internet connection and a web browser. If Tecmo isn't your thing, there's a few other games to choose from.

Sore?

Not to bring up a sore subject but where do we stand with the baseball trip? Probably need to get this in the works soon, especially if we go to a place that matters. You know fans in KC,TB, now MN, dont have a problem with just giving us season tickets. Elsewhere could be different.

Trampoline Bear

They just featured this video on PTI, one of my all-time favorites:



Classic.

R.I.P. Favre

What a sad week of sports news to hear Brett Favre has died at such a young age. It seems like it's been 24-hour coverage of his unfortunate passing on ESPN. What a tragic story.

Hey, did Favre just retire on Tuesday morning? It seems like I heard that somewhere, but I didn't know if it was true. I've been living under a rock since Tuesday morning, but yet the rock even knew Favre had retired. Weird.

Seriously ESPN, get a grip on yourself. You're covering his retirement story like the man has just died. I don't even get Sportscenter or ESPN, yet somehow you've covered this story so heavily, my TV couldn't fight the airwaves and ESPN managed to come through my television. You've been talking about it so much, even I have to hear about it on my own TV. Well, not really, but you get the point.

Is anyone else getting sick of all the pub on this? I really don't think overkill is the way to cover it. I don't need interviews of the 3rd string quarterback on the 1993 team asked, "Did you see this coming?" No one cares if a guy who used to live on the same street as Favre growing up, but was actually older than Favre so they never really lived on the same street at the same time, no one wants to hear him answer "So why do you think he retired?" Enough already.

I was listening to Rome yesterday and he interviewed the Packer head coach (forgot his name). Anyway, there were two questions he completely bombed: 1. "If Favre were to come out of retirement, would you take him back?" 2. "If the organization wanted Farve to keep playing, why is Favre's agent saying they didn't want him?"

By the way, I just retired on Tuesday as well, but no one cared about me.

Sincerely,
Warren Sapp

Meet "Brett" and "Favre"

If I ever have a son, I think I'm going to name him "Favre", like this Florida couple. Think it will catch on? I would find it hilarious if "Favre" was a top 10 boys name in ten years.

"I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it."

I think this post by John Derbyshire at The Corner does a pretty good job of summing up how I feel about the election.

Tired

Brett Favre retired today after contemplating it for the past few years. He left a voice message with ESPN's Chris Mortensen saying:

I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife, I'm just tired mentally. I'm just tired.

No wonder, considering he played in 275 consecutive games. I'm sure this will be debated constantly over the next few days, but I think you have to put Favre right up there with the best to play the game. I watched Montana, Elway, and Marino play, but not the way I saw Favre play. I saw flashes of brilliance from the others (Elway spinning through the air into the end zone in the Super Bowl comes to mind), but I know more about their greatness from sports writers and commentators constantly talking about it. With Favre, it comes from seeing at least 8 games a year for as long as I've been paying any real attention to football, and all of the images that are burned into my memory. For example, have you ever seen a more amazing performance by a QB than Favre against the Raiders on Monday Night Football just afte his father passed away? That's the stuff legends are made of. Congratulations to Favre on an amazing career.

There's No Free Lunch

Here's an interesting article by Thomas Sowell at NRO, especially relevant for Michigan and the auto industry.

"Restore the universe to order."

I heard this Hank Steinbrenner quote on PTI, so I'm assuming it's getting around:

"Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order."

I may need to wear my Sox cap around again, if only for a day or two (gotta represent among all these Cub fans). Also, I don't think Hank has earned the right to go all Darth Vader on us yet. You've got to do a little better than overpaying for guys who are already past their prime to create enough fear to keep the other teams in line.

More Iron Man

Gone Baby Gone

Shaun Rogers is on his way to Cincinnati, according to Mike O'Hara of the Detroit News. The Lions will potentially receive a 3rd and 5th round pick, though this is still unconfirmed.

UPDATE: No, Rogers is actually going to the Browns. Maybe. Who knows?

UPDATE 2: Okay, Rogers really is going to Cleveland. The Lions will get CB Leigh Bodden (I've never heard of him either) and a 3rd round pick.

MAD MONEY?

You might be wondering what would bring a sleeping bear out of hibernation. As I toy with the idea of getting into e-trading I have been starting to watch finance shows to see what this thing is all about, Last night I'm stumble across Mad Money with Big Boo-Ya, To-Ya Jim Cramer. I've seen the show before so I'm basically only watching the bottom ticker and roughly listening to Mr Mad. To my surprize Cramer is wearing a John Deere Hat. Last Nights edition was about the 2 best investments right now. OIL & FARMING. Who is one of the leaders in farming. d/s Services Inc. is No.1 followed right behind by John Deere. Because I was unavailable, they they had Adams boss on there talking about his fine, fine, Supply Chain Manager/Monkey - Adam Sto-lacky making the company all the money. Then I hear on Paul Harvey this morning that the JD is investing 30 Mill into factories to produces bigger and better machines. Hats off to Adam and Myself for keeping this fine economy we are in going.

Signed

Expanding the Horizon of the Cass City monkies Blog with big Boo-Ya To-Ya

Cheat Codes

On PTI they just discussed a Gametap interview of Tony Dungy where he poked fun at Bill Belichick. Here's the quote:

GameTap: Are there going to be any cheat codes in the game where I can spy on my opponents?

Tony Dungy: [laughs] I don't know about any cheat codes. They say that's really a big secret around here, it's like Spygate. I don't know if they put that in there or not or what the penalty would be if you entered any cheat codes, but we'll probably only let New England have cheat codes.

Funny stuff. Read the whole interview here.

Breaking News

The "Ultimate Sweetroll" I just had from Wal-mart wasn't exactly ultimate. I suppose "Pretty Decent Sweetroll" or "Not-Half-Bad Sweetroll" doesn't sell quite as well though.

Standing athwart history yelling "Stop!"

William F. Buckley, Jr. died today at the age of 82. If you don't know who WFB was, the simplest way to describe his legacy is that he was the single person most responsible for the conservative movement in America, as well as the founder of National Review. The editors of NR have their statement here, and many, many words about WFB can be found at The Corner. RIP.