Saturday, February 09, 2008
Rocky Balboa
I just watched Rocky Balboa, which I found surprisingly good. It's a little slow and self-referential through a good chunk of the movie, but you can't help but get into it once he steps into the ring. Anyway, did you know that a real boxer was the inspiration for Rocky? Apparently Chuck Wepner, who had lost fights against George Foreman and Sonny Liston, unexpectedly went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in a 1975 fight. Stallone saw the fight and was inspired to write the original Rocky. Interesting.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Things I'll Do....
The evil overlord list.
4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
196. I will hire an expert marksman to stand by the entrance to my fortress. His job will be to shoot anyone who rides up to challenge me.
201. All giant serpents acting as guardians in underground lakes will be fitted with sports goggles to prevent eye injuries.
222. I reserve the right to execute any henchmen who appear to be a little too intelligent, powerful, or devious. How-ever if I do so, I will not at some subsequent point shout "Why am I surrounded by these incompetent fools?!"
224. I will build machines which simply fail when over-loaded, rather than wiping out all nearby henchmen in an explosion or setting off a chain reaction. I will do this by using devices known as "surge protectors".
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
And in other news...
...Cass City has another new Varsity baseball coach. Let's recap the last 12 years:
19??-1996: Doug Hall
1997: Toby Wegener
1998: Mark Errer
1999: Chad Daniels (how could anyone forget)
2000: Some guy. Can't even remember his name.
2001-2006: Ryan Prichett
2007: Bill Hartsell
2008: Nathan Haag (what?)
As you can see, the key to NOT building a program is hiring a new varsity coach 6 straight years. Nothing like being the 8th different Varsity baseball coach in the last 13 years. Any extra motivation to do better than Daniels? Nah. None at all.
Job was accepted and approved on Monday, January 28. Contract was signed on Tuesday, January 29, 2008.
Play ball!
P.S. Adam, can you be my scorebook keeper in the dugout?
19??-1996: Doug Hall
1997: Toby Wegener
1998: Mark Errer
1999: Chad Daniels (how could anyone forget)
2000: Some guy. Can't even remember his name.
2001-2006: Ryan Prichett
2007: Bill Hartsell
2008: Nathan Haag (what?)
As you can see, the key to NOT building a program is hiring a new varsity coach 6 straight years. Nothing like being the 8th different Varsity baseball coach in the last 13 years. Any extra motivation to do better than Daniels? Nah. None at all.
Job was accepted and approved on Monday, January 28. Contract was signed on Tuesday, January 29, 2008.
Play ball!
P.S. Adam, can you be my scorebook keeper in the dugout?
Monday, February 04, 2008
Super Ruminations
Some thoughts on the game a day later, and after watching PTI:
-I'm really enjoying seeing Belichick get crushed for leaving early, at least by Wilbon if no one else. Sportsmanship matters and the Patriots have played with a deficit of it all year. How many records do they hold now because they ran up the score? This is one of the biggest reasons for my not being able to root for them, even though I'd also like to see an undefeated team in my lifetime. It just needs to be someone else.
-I've agreed with Wilbon all season that the way to beat the Patriots was to play tough and punch them in the mouth. Too many teams played not to lose and got killed because of it. The Giants weren't intimidated and it showed.
-Yeah, the Giants have 6 losses, but they're still the champion. It's pretty impressive that they won 11-straight games on the road. The "best" team doesn't always win in a playoff, people just tend to ignore this most of the time because we've decided it's the most "fair" way to determine a champion. Unless you're playing Madden, teams don't have a numerical rating. Everyone had the same shot at the Super Bowl; the Giants pulled it off. Hats off to them.
-Has anyone come in to the NFL with higher expectations than Eli Manning? I'd take Peyton over Eli any day, but I don't think Eli sucks. He's showed improvement that would get all sorts of compliments if he had a different last name. During the game-winning drive last night he displayed all the qualities that the QB on the sideline gets praised for constantly. Peyton has had consistently tougher opposition and has played better over his career, but the best teams don't always win. Eli made the best of his chance and now he's an NFL MVP. By the way, how great is it to watch two Super Bowl MVP brothers celebrating after the game? That's a great image.
-The commercials were underwhelming. Bridgestone "Screaming", Budweiser "Horse Training", and FedEx "Carrier Pigeons" were pretty good, but the rest didn't do much for me. Okay, I guess Corolla "Soundproof" wasn't bad either. The Prince Caspian trailer was good, but Iron Man just rocked.
-I'm really enjoying seeing Belichick get crushed for leaving early, at least by Wilbon if no one else. Sportsmanship matters and the Patriots have played with a deficit of it all year. How many records do they hold now because they ran up the score? This is one of the biggest reasons for my not being able to root for them, even though I'd also like to see an undefeated team in my lifetime. It just needs to be someone else.
-I've agreed with Wilbon all season that the way to beat the Patriots was to play tough and punch them in the mouth. Too many teams played not to lose and got killed because of it. The Giants weren't intimidated and it showed.
-Yeah, the Giants have 6 losses, but they're still the champion. It's pretty impressive that they won 11-straight games on the road. The "best" team doesn't always win in a playoff, people just tend to ignore this most of the time because we've decided it's the most "fair" way to determine a champion. Unless you're playing Madden, teams don't have a numerical rating. Everyone had the same shot at the Super Bowl; the Giants pulled it off. Hats off to them.
-Has anyone come in to the NFL with higher expectations than Eli Manning? I'd take Peyton over Eli any day, but I don't think Eli sucks. He's showed improvement that would get all sorts of compliments if he had a different last name. During the game-winning drive last night he displayed all the qualities that the QB on the sideline gets praised for constantly. Peyton has had consistently tougher opposition and has played better over his career, but the best teams don't always win. Eli made the best of his chance and now he's an NFL MVP. By the way, how great is it to watch two Super Bowl MVP brothers celebrating after the game? That's a great image.
-The commercials were underwhelming. Bridgestone "Screaming", Budweiser "Horse Training", and FedEx "Carrier Pigeons" were pretty good, but the rest didn't do much for me. Okay, I guess Corolla "Soundproof" wasn't bad either. The Prince Caspian trailer was good, but Iron Man just rocked.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Liveblogging the Super Bowl (2nd Half)
Would it be crazy to say Wes Welker is more important to the Patriots than Randy Moss?
Terminator vs. Fox Sports robot? That was cool.
You can review the number of players on the field? I thought that fell under unreviewable plays.
That commercial for Wall-E actually got me kind of interested in the film. I'm sure he's not as cool as Johnny 5 though.
I love play-action early down by the goal line.
What's a zombie doing on the Giants sideline?
14-10 Patriots? Game over man, game over.
Plaxiiiiicoooo!!!!
Okay, I was wrong earlier. Is it ironic that the Giants just played the role of David? Welcome to history Patriots, you're a footnote.
Classy move by Belichick to leave before the game is over. That's downright Moss-like.
I'm no NFL expert, but I'm going to guess brothers have never won consecutive Super Bowls.
Congratulations to the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants.
Terminator vs. Fox Sports robot? That was cool.
You can review the number of players on the field? I thought that fell under unreviewable plays.
That commercial for Wall-E actually got me kind of interested in the film. I'm sure he's not as cool as Johnny 5 though.
I love play-action early down by the goal line.
What's a zombie doing on the Giants sideline?
14-10 Patriots? Game over man, game over.
Plaxiiiiicoooo!!!!
Okay, I was wrong earlier. Is it ironic that the Giants just played the role of David? Welcome to history Patriots, you're a footnote.
Classy move by Belichick to leave before the game is over. That's downright Moss-like.
I'm no NFL expert, but I'm going to guess brothers have never won consecutive Super Bowls.
Congratulations to the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants.
Liveblogging the Super Bowl (1st Half)
Yeah, I pretty much skipped the 1st quarter. I was in an epic battle with a troll (courtesy of Oblivion).
Gisele Bundchen? See, that's why I don't like Tom Brady.
The Giants are really picking up the blitz well.
Interception. That's exactly the kind of play that always goes the Patriots way. The ball ALWAYS bounces their way.
That Iron Man trailer was awesome.
The robot is shiny today.
I wonder if the NFL told Belichick that he couldn't wear the hoody today?
You don't see Brady get sacked twice in a row very often.
Moss looks like he's going to cry. By the way, did you know that if you swap the first letters of Randy Moss's first and last name you get "Mandy Ross"?
So, can the Giants add some offense to their excellent defensive performance and actually win this thing? I'm thinking they're going to get close, then have a bad bounce and the Patriots walk away the winners.
That was a pretty decent show by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Gisele Bundchen? See, that's why I don't like Tom Brady.
The Giants are really picking up the blitz well.
Interception. That's exactly the kind of play that always goes the Patriots way. The ball ALWAYS bounces their way.
That Iron Man trailer was awesome.
The robot is shiny today.
I wonder if the NFL told Belichick that he couldn't wear the hoody today?
You don't see Brady get sacked twice in a row very often.
Moss looks like he's going to cry. By the way, did you know that if you swap the first letters of Randy Moss's first and last name you get "Mandy Ross"?
So, can the Giants add some offense to their excellent defensive performance and actually win this thing? I'm thinking they're going to get close, then have a bad bounce and the Patriots walk away the winners.
That was a pretty decent show by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Welcome to the World of Tomorrow
I'm not sure what to think of this product:
That's a cheeseburger in a can. Who came up with such craziness? Zee Germans. I didn't even know they had cheesebugers in Germany, I assumed there was only sausage. And sauerkraut. I wonder if it's any good at all? Because if they can make a good cheeseburger in a can, we're definitely living in the future.(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at the Corner, Gizmodo, Spulch)
That's a cheeseburger in a can. Who came up with such craziness? Zee Germans. I didn't even know they had cheesebugers in Germany, I assumed there was only sausage. And sauerkraut. I wonder if it's any good at all? Because if they can make a good cheeseburger in a can, we're definitely living in the future.(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at the Corner, Gizmodo, Spulch)
The Story That Won't Go Away
The Boston Herald is reporting that the Patriots filmed the Rams' last walthrough before the Super Bowl in 2002. The Patriots deny that this happened and the NFL seems uninterested in verifying the story, if there's anything to verify at all. This stuff is never going to go away, especially in the Patriots win tonight. The sports media will try to forget it as their heaping praise on the Patriots, but the team has such a polarizing effect that these rumors will persist. Add that to a 24-hour news cycle and you've got a zombie story that will never quite go down.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Groundhog Day!
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
Well, brace yourself for another six weeks of winter. Or not. It depends on which groundhog you think has the best prognostication skills. Punxsutawney Phil predicts more winter. Gen. Beauregard Lee predicts that spring will come soon. Woody of the Howell Nature Center also predicts that spring is on the way, and also predicted the Patriots would win the Super Bowl. No word on Punxsutawney Phil and Gen. Beauregard Lee's picks for the big game.
This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
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