A few days ago I was insulted by the Washington Post because I wear Crocs and carry a backpack. I don’t know who Robin Givhan is, but I don’t take her (or his) criticism lightly. The article starts by talking about who our stupid president wore Crocs with black bike socks imprinted with the presidential seal. Seriously, that’s worse then then your grandpa wears black socks with sneakers. They’re boating shoes you dumbass! You don’t wear socks with them!
The article then goes on to ridicule adults who wear Crocs (they think they only look cute on kids), claiming that just because something is comfortable doesn’t mean they look good. Ok, I agree there, but maybe they are fashionable and you just have your head up your butt. Then they have the nerve to complain that the same adults who wear Crocs are “like the workday Peter Pans who carry backpacks in the city. Not grown-up leather backpacks, but the kind made of nylon with water bottles stuck inside a web of bungee cords and a canister of Bear Be Gone hanging off the side.”
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I carry a backpack. It’s a blue North Face (very stylish! not an old Club U.S.A. like we all had when we were kids). With a nalgene in a bungee corded compartment. I don’t have charms or Bear Be Gone hanging off it, and when it gets dirty I wash it. All the extra straps are tucked away. I keep a very neat and clean backpack. Jishman and Terp20 know that I take backpacks VERY seriously. Alright, let’s gain some perspective. There is no way on this green, 100% humidity earth that I am carrying a leather backpack. Dude, it was 97 degrees in Georgetown today. First, I don’t think that the sweat marks that would result would be very stylish. Second, the last time I checked, environmentalists were applauding people who use a reusable water bottle rather then buy a plastic water bottle every day. And I couldn’t put it inside my backpack anyway - it would sweat all over everything.
So in conclusion, you can suck it Robin Givhan. I’m going to keep wearing my Crocs and carrying around my nylon backpack and there is nothing you can do about it.
The Tournament Schedule is here… The great part of this tournament… six of the top 10 teams are represented in this tournament. Lansing’s Team has already beaten the 2nd ranked team in the country and they face off tomorrow against Dallas Yankees, the seventh best team in the country…. should be a cake walk for the Virginia Mavericks, huh Waterboy?!
Good Luck to F.R.E.D. and the rest of the Mavericks team…. updates to be posted in the near future!
I must say that I am finally getting ready for the NERFL draft which is still a 24-hour span under two months away, but I diligently plan. I have Commissioner duties to attend to as well and since we are adding a technical component to our “Live (in person), auction draft,” Planning with restaurants so that some owners can particpate from as far way as florida and washington DC has been a fun challenge to sort out. Anyway, not the reason for my post.
I have finally culled my list. My previous list, a mockery of sorts to do nothing but aggravate some die-hard faithfuls in the world (like Hartford Speed), was a preliminary sorting of last year’s statistics, medical updates, and rumors. This current list (which by the way, I may add, I hate straight 1-150 lists) is a first step in a multi-faceted process and will be the last time I view players in a numerical context because our draft is an “auction draft” which means I now need to switch numerical context to a value based system…. a long-winded way of saying, where’s the cut off?
so without any more mind-numbing chatter, here’s the top 25 RBs, WRs, and TEs (I do not include TQBs, K, and defenses because you can always get them at the end of the draft) based on NERFL standards, going into July….
No joke, had there been an Israel Baseball League when I lived there more than a decade ago, I might not have come back so quickly. I might have worked there, if they would have had me. I mean, can’t you see it, Coach Jish? GM Jish?
Here’s a video of the draft. I love that Jeremy Schaap was the draft host.
Editor’s Note: And just in case you were interested in rooting for one of the teams, here you can buy team garb. I personally will be a Modi’in Miracle fan. Go Miracle!
New Transformer series! Once the movie came out, the old series back in the 80s was crap…but then again, it didn’t stop me from watching. I won’t watch this series, but I will admit Transformers, Voltron, and Thundercats were my 3 favorite cartoons as a kid.
Now, I’m a football fan, and while I think Detroit has gotten better (and their division has gotten worse in many ways), I don’t even know where to go with this one. Is he kidding? Has he looked at his defense? Does he know that rookie Wide Receivers tend to make less of an impact than other positions? Is he smoking the same stuff that Matt Millen is? If so, why won’t he share? Did he forget his team has drafted Wide Receivers in the first round 4 out of 5 years? Did he forget that his GM is still Matt Millen? How about that this team hasn’t won 10 games since 1995! That’s the longest in the NFL (minus Cleveland and Houston, of course). Does this include pre-season?
I would go to Thuggy McHates-You, our Detroit Sports expert, however, he said this is such a non-story that the gangs ALL got together to laugh at Kitna on this one before going back to killing each other. Thus, no Thuggy.
Watching baseball to me is a mind-numbing bore. But for Israelis, the new Israel baseball league represents an entirely new experience. While I resent that a former Red Sox GM is running the league, it is an astounding thing to me, although I shouldn’t be surprised. To many people, sports represents a powerful force. It represents hope and happiness. The Olympics and the World Cup have both proven to be sources of national pride and, in rare cases, a cessation to violence.
Though, we shouldn’t be particularly surprised. Baseball first left America for parts in the Far East (Japan) and south (South America), and then rapidly expanded throughout those regions. As the number of American Israelis continued to grow, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that baseball would emerge there too. Baseball’s Field of Dreams on Kibbutz Gezer (carrot, honest to god, I’m not kidding. That really is the name of the area - the Carrot Region of Israel) has proven to be a very popular spot for visitors, and now, Petah Tikva can also share in the growth, and possibly a place in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Israel has long been a spot where basketball has thrived. Nadav Henefeld, Doron Sheffer, Danny Schayes, and numerous others have come to play and grow in the European and Israeli leagues in just the last 20 years. Baseball has the possibility to grow equally as quickly.
Today, only 20 of the 120 players are native born sons. I’m going to be interested to see what happens next.
So, I promised Sujal I would write this about a week ago, but better late than never, right?
Now, I know I get mocked a lot about liking things that are usually reserved for the “fairer sex.” My music, my television shows, …. well, now there’s another log for the fire. I went to see the movie the Waitress last week with high hopes. Unfortunately, this was a case of the trailer being slightly misleading. I thought the movie was going to be about a waitress who used “pie making” as a story telling device. I thought we’d see more of it - some comedic scenes using them - but in point of fact, if you were expecting a comedy, you picked the wrong movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad movie, and it certainly wasn’t one I’d say to avoid - it wasn’t and isn’t - it might be a rental, sure. I just think, there isn’t much comedy in a loveless marriage with a pregnant wife (who doesn’t want to be). Sadly, I’ve found this far too often in “Indie” or low level releases. The story meandered and the acting - while very good (Keri Russell, Nathan Fillon and Cheryl Hines) - could only outshine the story for so long.
Enjoy the clip below, but trust me, rent this one.
I’m not a huge blood and gore fan. I don’t like huge amounts of violence in my movies. I don’t mind fake violence. I basically don’t like violence where any one gets permanently hurt (except maybe Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker - he and George Lucas should lose both their hands for what they wrought on society). (more…)
But as Maron began to investigate, urged on by his father, a cardiologist who researches sudden death in athletes, he quickly uncovered similar sand cave-ins around the country. Though the accidents are rare — you’re about as likely to die from a shark attack in the United States as by falling into a beach hole — they fit a tragic pattern, according to Maron’s research: A buildup of pressure causes the sides of a hole to crumble suddenly, burying alive a child or teenager playing inside. The victim, usually a boy, remains submerged for several minutes as bystanders panic and rescuers, afraid to use a shovel because they might hit the person, struggle to reach them by hand.
and here is some information for parents with small children:
Maron, who has two children too young to dig, recommends that parents not allow their children to carve out holes deeper than their knees. He continues to collect data on sand submersions and hopes to create an official national registry of the accidents.
Read the whole article for the information. As the article states, these cave-ins are rare and do not occur often but for educative purposes, I link to the article.
Was shown this by my friend Avi (from Retrocrush). 46-100 were pretty bad, I can only imagine what 1-45 will be.
We bring in our music expert Tuney Tuni Tune McHates-You for his feelings.
Thanks, Jishman. I don’t know what to say here. Jessica Simpson’s “Take My Breath Away” was world’s worse than any of these songs, although, maybe, if I hope out hope, it’ll be in the second list. Plus, what about Counting Crows “All along the watchtower”? and ANYTHING with David Hasselhoff - Secret Agent Man? Hooked on a Feeling? Looking for a freedom? Oh wait, that one was original. It sucked so much, I just assumed otherwise. Oh well, we’ll see what happens. Back to you, Jishman.
Thanks. Seriously, it some times makes me wonder what record executives were thinking. Paris Hilton? Leonard Nimoy? Although, it will never get better than this:
As I sit here watching the US Open (with NO PLAYERS UNDER PAR!), I keep thinking about ways for the PGA to improve itself.
1.) Of the 4 major tournaments, the Masters was the first. The US Open is the only tournament an amateur could play into. The (British) Open Championship is the only major played overseas. But the PGA Championship is the only one of the four that has no truly defining feature to it. Historically, the PGA Championship was a match-play event (meaning, you didn’t keep score over your whole round, just each hole - much like a “skins” game), however, the tournament changed that format years ago (and with the World Match Play Championship, that type of game has become superfluous).
My suggestion is to return it to a match play tournament. Stroke play events are commonplace and far less interesting, in my opinion. Americans like rooting for underdogs. When Tiger Woods is playing against ANYBODY, American viewers like rooting against him. We don’t like pure domination (see hatred of the Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, and the 49ers). Match Play allows the viewers to root for one on one battles. Plus, considering the major tournaments get better ratings (marginally of course), each one should be as differentiated as possible.
2.) The US Open courses have been ridiculous the last few years. Ask any professional, and they will tell you the last 6 courses or so (Shinnecock Hills, Bethpage (Black), Oakmont, Winged Foot, Pinehurst, and Olympia Fields) have made glass look like a textured surface. And as a viewer, I LOVE IT. I love the fact that Tiger Woods has to struggle with a course like this, just as I have to on an MDC or DC public course. I love the fact that when I hear the announcer say “this just isn’t quite the we’re used to.” I know its horrible to feel joy in someone else’s pain, but as a struggling golfer and someone with very little athletic talent to speak of, let me tell you, I don’t care. Every year, my friend Dave and I talk about the fact that no one is under-par (or very few) going into Sunday, and this year was no different. Golf to me is fun. Golf to them is a job, and the US Open is the great equalizer. Next year, take the time and watch at least part of the last round, because these guys are really damn good, and they are struggling.
3.) Future dreams: the RMTJ Blog Bowl (NCAA Football BCS Bowl sponsorship) and JT’s Original BBQ Sauce sponsoring John Daly on the PGA tour like Nike and Taylormade have. Can’t you see it now? The biggest guy on tour wearing a BBQ Sauce hat? I can already see it.
