Riddle Me This, Jishman

Let’s start with the DotW’s:

1.) Pink for the football broadcast anthem??!?!?!? — Alright, no. Just no. I don’t want to hear “I’m coming out” as my football broadcast anthem. NBC, did you not learn!??!

2.) K-Fed? An actor?!?! — Second acting gig?!?!?!!? As in, someone was dumb enough to hire him for a first?!?!

3.) Me — there’ a big difference between “knowing a concept” and “being able to explain a concept”. Come on, teachers, back me up here. (Let this be a lesson to all you students out there. Make sure you can explain everything you study. If not, it is a guarantee that you will be called upon during class. Mark. My. Words.)

Now the Thoughts:
4.) Five things you must eat before you die — I don’t know. I was thinking about this. Some of you may have seen the BBC article on this, and while their list is comprehensive, its not as specific as I would have liked. I mean, number 24 is “sandwiches”. Well, who has never had a sandwich before?! Were you never a kid? Plus, who wants to eat “Haggis”? I mean, even the Scottish get pissed off when they have to eat it. However, never to be one to pass on a list, of course, I meade one, and here are my five: A.) a really good Hamburger — I mean, we’re talking prime beef, good mix-ins, the works here! B.) well cooked Venison (also on the BBC list) with a good, light raspberry reduction (my mouth is already watering), C.) Oatmeal cookie — now my standards are pretty high here. Not unlike Ed Levine’s for Chocolate Chip Cookies, and an oatmeal cookie needs to have a few basic principles: good sweet mix of raisins, craisins or chocolate chips, whichever; slight crunch of oats; and much be moist as the day is long. THAT is what makes a good oatmeal cookie, D.) A milkshake (or frappe, as my northern friends would call it) that makes you wonder where it has been all of your life (flavor of ice cream doesn’t matter, but mine is a great oreo and cookie dough with vanilla ice cream shake), and finally, E.) Apples and Peanut Butter — three words. best. snack. ever.

5.) Speaking of Ed Levine, its true, what the world really needs more of are foods that can be bought on the street for under a buck.

6.) did I mention it was the Econ professor that called on me? So totally screwed. Must start study group now.

One of the things I’ve always liked about basketball, and specifically the NBA, is that unlike other sports, you can truly control your own destiny in a game from beginning to end if you’re prepared enough. Take the Phoenix Suns, for example. Three years ago, this team was talented, yes, but they never went anywhere. They were trying the same offense, basically, that they had been running since Kevin Johnson was their All-Star point guard 10 years earlier when he was running with THUNDER Dan Majerle, Rex Chapman and Charles Barkley. Then, in came Mike D’Antoni, a largely beloved coach. out of the Italian League, and he completely changed the way the team thought about the different facets of the game, Offense, defense, transition game. It was all part of a larger mind-shift that the moribund Phoenix Suns had to underwent before they could fully embrace D’Antoni’s system…and embrace it they did with open arms. Over the span of one season, and with a major addition in Steve Nash (of “Promiscuous” fame, if you’ve never heard the song), they went on to win MONUMENTALLY more games than they had a season earlier — a full 32 game turnaround. Nearly unheard of in a league that prides itself on dynasties (see Detroit, the Lakers and Chicago for reference).
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Here’s an early look at season 3.

Knowing that I’m a Star Trek fans (yes, yes, make your jokes now), you’d think that I would like this show. It has all the appropriate details — Space, Drama, Edward James Olmos — but I just never got into it. I figure I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD through Netflix and then try to catch up.

Plus, it has an added bonus, Dave and Bram both like it. How could I not? (wait, didn’t Bram also like Pokemon? Well, whatever…)

I can quit fantasy football whenever I want!

Just in time for me to really start my long commute (1 hour 40 minutes each way), CNN is reporting that the price of gas could drop to $2 a gallon by November. I had 2 immediate reactions to this news:

1. YEAH!!!! Now I won’t be paying as much for gas to drive to work
2. Is that convenient! Gas prices drop to between $2 and $2.50 a gallon in time for the midterm election and the Republicans claim success in Iraq and Middle East policy and ride to an enlargment of their majority in Congress.

I am really hoping for cheaper gas (currently $2.69 in Cumberland, MD), but I would also like to see a political shakeup in Washington.

Check out this Emmy acceptence speech from Sunday. It’s a classic!

Greg Garcia, from My Name is Earl, is a graduate of my new institution, Frostburg State University.

So, I’ve laid off A-Rod because I know he’s STUPIDLY talented and its more than likely that most of these problems are just the pressure of making more money than CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who actually work for a living. I’ll also say that he was the MVP last year, so it can’t possibly be mostly physical.

However, as of now, the moritium is over. He will be mocked. It will be merciless and it will be starting now. A-Rod, you’re getting dangerously close to the DotWs, man!

In that spirit, here is a mini-forray brought to us by our friends in Clan Jishman:

Well, as you can guess, Dan & Betsy got married this weekend. I had a great time, and there was much dancing and laughter all around.

Here’s a picture of George, Dan B. and I (groomsmen abound).

Dan B. and I. I’m not sure I know who was the bigger troublemaker here.

No, I take it back, these two are the troublemakers.

Aw….ain’t we cute?

If you were there and have any more pictures/comments, leave them here or drop me a note.

I went to the Yankees-Red Sox game in Fenway on Monday. I met three other guys for lunch just before the game. Apparently, one of the guys and his wife had a debate about two people in American Music. From this debate came the following two questions:

1) Who is the better singer, Steve Perry or Darius Rucker?

2) Who do women find more attractive and therefore, they are more inclined to date/take home, Steve Perry or Darius Rucker?

Now, my answer to question #1 was Darius Rucker. He has more range then Steve Perry, in my opinion, and I believe with his latest album: Darius Rucker and His Big Band Performing the Music of Frank Sinatra that Darius has shown an even broader versatility to his vocal ability. Steve Perry has a great falsetto and because of it, he helped propel Journey to greatness during the 1980s hair band explosion but Rucker has depth, understanding and true soul in the inflection of his songs…. Perry vs Rucker…. Round 1: Rucker

As far as question #2 is concerned, I will defer to the women to let us know who the more attractive person is but if the photos (different photos after each question) above show us the best depiction of what Steve Perry looks like… well, by default… round 2 would fall to Rucker.

So my question to the Reader’s of Riddle Me This, Jishman…. Steve Perry or Darius Rucker?

Ok, now this was a bit more than rounding off the fractions of pennies and moving them to another account.

You gotta play to win!

Contrary to Sports Night, Pluto is now no longer a planet… Booo! Now I have to completely relearn everything!

NBC4 did a facsinating story (not) about how a bunch of researchers from West Virginia University have concluded that in the event of a severe emergency, everyone would take the same routes out of town. The routes?? Maryland, Virginia, and the panhandle of West Virginia. NBC made a bulleted list and everything.

Well damn, did they think people were going to use New Hampshire as a route out of D.C.???

I was in Fenway Park on Monday to watch the 2-1 finale of a five game sweep that has been dubbed “The Boston Massacre, Part Two” …. before we get to the obituary, I must reference Jishman’s post fromJuly 9th entitled What do these Guys Have In Common?
Jishman wrote:

This morning, I was listening to the local sports radio morons rant and rave about how the Yankees have bought their success, and while I couldn’t really disagree that they had spent a ton of money stupidly, when he refused to even discuss the success that these “Baby Yankees” were having, that was when I just changed the channel. I mean, seriously, if you want to rant and rave, go ahead, but rant and rave when you have a leg to stand on. The Yankees aren’t going to scare anybody when you get to the lower third of the lineup any more, but come on! This team with NOBODY has the 6th best record in the league!

I get it. I know that the Yankees have higher payroll than everyone. I know that they get killed every time that comes up, but Boston Sports Freaks, let’s try not to forget that the Red Sox have the second highest payroll, and are only leading the Yankees by 3 games WITH ALL OF THEIR STARTERS on the field, every freaking day! If you can’t win, just shut the hell up!

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I’ve got my books packed, my Transformers trapper keeper (r) (circa 1985) filled with 3 hole, wide ruled paper, my Superman lunch box has a PB&J sandwich with the crusts cut off, apple sauce, juice box (apple only), and a random piece of fruit all packed. I’m wearing whatever new clothing I’ve purchased in the last two weeks. The exits are here, here, here, here, here and here. Make sure to keep your hands inside the carpet at all times. Its time for the first day of B-School. Gentlemen and ladies, start your engines!

I love my MacBook. Really I do. But I’m annoyed. My SuperDrive doesn’t seem to want to eject disks. I noticed this problem about 10 days ago and took it into the Apple Store 7 days ago. I got it back today (incidentally about 3 days later than promised). I pop a CD in tonight and lo and behold, I cannot eject it! So tomorrow I have to drag my grumpy 1 year old and grumpier husband to the mall and yell at someone.

Signed,
Should have known better than to buy an early rev of a Mac product