To add insult to injury, Bud comments on my last post needling not only my post, but my incorrectness and my bank account. Brutal. Week 5 already has a big red bulls-eye circling it. Onward to some misery.
To go along with the shock of the Patriots getting beat at home in the season opener, with a 9 point spread, I managed to to last exactly 0 games in the losers pool which I decided to play for the first time. There were 3 9 point spreads (Pats, Steelers, and Bills) and I figured that the Pats were easily the best team and would have no problem defeating the Alex Smith led Patriots. Obviously that was incredibly wrong and it cost me $50 for the losers and $70 on the game. People are supposed to last the entire SEASON in the loser’s pool and I couldn’t make it 1 game. I hope this is a sign of “it can’t get any worse” instead of a “dude, give up.” Fortunately I didn’t get hurt too much in fantasy as only one guy I played had Gillislee to go along with Cooks and the Pats D. The 7 unit loss puts me back at even for the season as we plod on to week 1. This game is the perfect example of if you are so sure something is going to happen, do the opposite.
My day job atmosphere consists of me and Jeff. We don’t compliment each other. The work environment is get shit done and don’t expect a pat on the back for doing your job. As of late I’ve been working with a group of people in an association. Since no one gets paid in this association, you’re not required to do anything. So whenever I do work, it gets lauded with “looks great” and “great job”. It’s this insincere motivation that I don’t need.
I’m not emotional. Life is life and it can be over in a blink of an eye. When I’m driving down the road at 80mph’s there is always this doubt in my mind that the tires are going to fly off and I’m going to go careening mid air and wondering if the air bag will save my life. This thought didn’t enter my mind when I was 16. As you age, you start to appreciate how easily life can be taken away. Now it’s probably rarer than I think, but it can still happen. This leads me to the first sentence, I don’t get emotional when I know that life is what it is.
I’ve been watching Power and Tommy will kill a wanksta without thinking twice. No regard for the other human’s life. Rolla had a family! I’m getting off course a little bit from my main subject. People who say “good job” are probably good at not doing a “good job”. It’s like they are giving praise for work that they have no intention of producing. You can get away in this world by only producing compliments. It makes you fit in and become well liked but that doesn’t mean that it’s sincere. I’d much rather someone tell me “that sucks” than appeal to my insecurities by saying “it’s good”. Tell me this post sucks!
BTW, Pats – 9 tonight for 8 units. Count it @ even money.
After being under weather last week, my body and brain were unable to perform at peak condition. This led to a minimal blog posts, reduced exercise, and a general sense of depressing well being.
I had a relatively quiet labor day weekend where I blacked out exactly 0 times and routinely was above average in activities I participated in. I became the 3 and 1 man going up 8 units on the season with a gut wrenching GT cover against Tennessee. My Draftking bets all lost like they usually do. I’ll be betting on the game tomorrow but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Every time I bet on the Chiefs I lose and every time I bet on the Pats I win. Sounds simple. The only reason I’m leaning Pats is because I would hate to get pumped to watch the game then have Brady open it 14-0 in the first 5 minutes and ask myself why the fuck did I ever bet on Alex Smith. I’ll update tomorrow I’m sure.
My other good news is that I’m finally able to run again without Achilles problems. I ran 4 of the last 5 days virtually pain free. I’m taking today off to fully heal and then I imagine I’ll be back to normal. I did manage a 17:20 3 mile time on the track so it won’t be long before 17 is in the dust.
Not much else going on and I’m so freaking busy with work and customer that even taking the time to write this I look at as better than nothing. Here’s to another shitty entry. I also started watching Power if anyone else likes that show.
Watch this ridiculous GOT / Fantasy Football Video GoT Fantasy
Today I rolled 8 strikes in a row to start a game. To date it is the best start I’ve ever had. My highest score was a 9/ in the first and 11 after for a 290. No chance at a 300. This was my shot.
Without building suspense, I didn’t strike in the 9th and finished with a 260 whatever. I bowled a few nice games after but never again had that chance. These opportunities only happen so often. It’s the people who dominate these situations that succeed.
You could say “it’s luck”. I’m not so certain. Luck can only take you so far. I have a good example of an oddly general question that can produce inaccurate results. How many times does it take the 20 handicap golfer to get a hole in one? My guess was a huge amount like 150,000. This is the reply from Google:
Actuaries at such companies have calculated the chance of an average golfer making a hole in one at approximately 12,500 to 1, and the odds of a tour professional at 2,500 to 1.
Hole in one stats if you’re interested
This answer is going to be lower than it actually is because they don’t want to pay out. What this question fails to address is the hole. If you change the question to how often is a player hitting a hole in one on a 200 yard par 3, my guess is the answer gets closer to the hundreds of thousands. It doesn’t happen by luck.
I raise this point because bowling a 300 doesn’t happen by luck. It’s practice and work coming to an end point. Hole in one’s are the same concept with differing variables. Any joker can put the ball in a hole from 100 yards. It happens all the time. Multiply that yardage by 2 and you’re talking single digits (if any digits) on a given day.
Bowling has the exact same set up on every throw so it comes down to muscle memory. Average bowlers don’t have muscle memory for 12 straight shots when they struggle for 1. There is a difference between a strike and and a real strike. Same concept with golf, any knucklehead can whirl a ball down the lane and knock over 12 pins 1 time. They may even do it multiple times. At some point the luck wears off and you have to muscle memory the same (or lucky) ball again. Strikes roll through the rack. When you are ready to throw 12 balls through the rack, then you’re ready to roll a 300.
It’s fun to use the blog in the early days to categorize my wins and losses betting on sports. After bragging about being the 1 and 0 man, I promptly became the 1 and 1 man with some misinformation from my source on a reverse line movement. This loss put me down 2.5 units for the season. With remarkable fortitude, I bet on Alabama last night at -8 and they dominated the game. The QB on FSU decided at one point to hurt his leg because he kept throwing interceptions. This 5 unit bet puts me back up 2.5 units for the season. I’ll update the juice closer to the end of the year but today I’ll use a general barometer. Most likely I’ll keep updating my picks and stats until it gets too embarrassing depending on my losses. I’ll try to give my DraftKings updates as well but I’m down about $700 since the start of the year so I’ll need a hit before I start bragging again. I did manage to pass 17 of 18 golfers (fuck Adam Scott) in my 3 teams so I’m hopeful for at least 2 cashes. This may be optimistic because there were only about 20 cuts and Rory is the only notable player to miss. I also have Louis at 6 bucks to win $240. LEGGOOO LOU!
I bought 2 pair of Men’s CEP compression achillies socks which have a support for the back of your achillies. Now, you probably don’t know that I’ve been battling an achillies problem for about 2 months but its been tortuous. I’ve tried taking a max of 4 days off and it doesn’t heal which has caused me to purchase these socks. My life cannot function without exercise.
As I look around on a daily basis outside of Philadelphia, exercising doesn’t ring true for, guessing here, 80% of the population. For me, it’s engrained in me since I ran track in middle school. I don’t like being overweight because it’s a measure of self worth. If you don’t take care of your body, there’s a good chance you don’t take care of more important parts of your life. “But Tom, you abuse your body with alcohol on a weekly basis.” Good point. Let’s move on. Just kidding. I almost view these 2 activities as a balancing act. Exercising allows me to have the fun (and downsides) that drinking provides from life.
Back to the socks, they do moderately help with the achilles problem. The support almost forces the pain to stay in one place and that turns it into a dull roar instead of a flaring pain. This has allowed me to exercise for 2 days straight for the first time in what feels like months. Unfortunately the socks peel the skin away from my upper heel which has no caused another pain. My brain tells me that all of these issues stem from my shoes which for the last few years I’ve been wearing Altra’s and they worked like a charm. Yeah, you gave me the wrong shoes. Uh-huh. Yes, it’s a black Altra. Uh-huh. Ok, well don’t you think that the Altra people, in some crazy scheme in order to make a profit, MADE MORE THAN ONE BLACK PAIR OF SNEAKERS? This kind of happened to me in that the early versions of the shoes were made for my feet and now they’ve made them skinnier and I’m having major problems as felt by the achillies, knee, and ankle. The new shoes don’t work which has become problematic.
Which brings me to today and I’m pleased with 2 workouts in a row but am not going to be able to go again today. So it goes.
Over the past 2 years I’ve been drinking a lot of Pabst Blue Ribbon. PBR is the cheapest beer at North & South bowl. Since I’ve been bowling a lot, I’ve been drinking it a lot. Here is the best info about Pabst: “The beer experienced a sales revival in the early 2000s after a two decade-long slump, largely due to its increasing popularity among urban hipsters.” Why do I like it?
It’s light beer without actually being light beer.
I’d rank it above the regular light beers like Coors, Bud, and Miller.
I enjoy the lower priced approach to marketing.
The CityWide is supposed to be $3 (I feel like it’s $5) with a PBR pounder and some brown syrup.
I’m supporting the underdog.
Here’s to cheap beer that doesn’t seem forced upon you.
These are all Sam’s favorite bands so take what you want out of that. I’m not saying that I haven’t liked these band or songs at times, they only fell out of favor for me and seem to rest on their past more so then their present. A better way to put it is like this, when artists I like release an album, I listen to it at least once the entire way through. If these guys did, I’d wait to hear their overplayed song on the radio until I’d never want to hear it again.
Cold War Kids – Starting in 2008, the Cold War Kids have released 6 albums with 60 songs you’ve never, ever heard. They put their number 1 hit as the first track of an album and the next 10+ songs are easy to forget. I liked Hang Me Up To Dry (2007). Louder Than Ever (2011) was good. What happened next though is all of their songs sound exactly the same. Miracle Mile (2013) is forgettable. All This Could Be Yours (2014) is tiring. First (2014) is a fine song but completely overplayed (77 million listens). Then Love Is Mystical (2017) sounds exactly the same as So Tied Up. It’s formula music and I don’t like it.
Cage The Elephant – I loved the song Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked. The sound was new and the lyrics were story telling. Next came Shake Me Down which I also liked. Then Come a Little Closer was the next hit and I wasn’t as in love with it. Next Mess Around and Cold Cold Cold which I’m not going to lie, I hardly listened to. Now Whole Wide World is playing and it’s not for me. Most of their songs have millions of listens on Spotify so they have obviously gotten major exposure, I just don’t know if they are as good as they once were.
The Lumineers – Their self titled album “The Lumineers” had absolute jams. Submarines, Ho Hey, and Stubborn Love are all worth listening to over and over. There cover of the Talking Head This Must Be The Place was great. Unfortunately they fell into a category of “too big too fail” and I don’t know how well deserved it is. I cannot listen to the song Ophelia ever again. Cleopatra’s only good line is “when I die alone”. Angela stinks. No other song on the album have I listened to. It’s not that I think they are bad, I just don’t love them because I’m supposed to love them.
Alt-J – Robot music. “Are you afraid of it?” I don’t get this band. I can’t understand the lyrics because the lead singer sings them with a Bane mask on. Breezeblocks has 202 million listens and I can’t understand one word. I can’t see myself ever actively saying, “I want to listen to Alt-J”.
Kings Of Leon Sex on Fire (267 million) and Use Somebody (193 million) are some of the best songs that cover bands play. Everyone knows the words, they are upbeat, and they are all around quality songs. All of their newer songs, I don’t care for. This isn’t surprising considering the band started in 2003 and didn’t produce a hit until 2008 when people started to take notice. Their 2010 album produced Pyro and Radioactive which weren’t bad. There latest album has Waste a Moment and Reverend are a step down. Plus this (not real but worth watching):
Bands I Like
It’s not fair to blast bands without writing bands that I enjoy. So in no real order:
Judah and the Lion
Young the Giant
Neon Trees
Fitz and the Tantrums
Electric Guest
JR JR
Bastille
888
Smallpools
Wild Cub
X Ambassadors
J. Roddy Walston & The Business
Capital Cities
Night Riots
Joywave
MuteMath
Barns Courtney
The Shins
Shoutout to the Shee for last night’s pick as the kid is getting off to a hot start to the betting season. How did he know that Buffalo would cover the 22.5 spread against Minnesota last night? I have no idea.
Will I bet on almost anything? Yes. It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball, soccer, Nascar, or track and field. If people or cars are running around in circles, or professional athletes are tossing or kicking a ball, that’s all I care about. PGA Dell Technologies Championships starts today and I have 3 DK lineups that consist of guys like Patrick Cantlay,the Kuch Man, Old Charley, and Louis. If anyone watched Louis on Feherety, how can you not like the guy?
Oh no! It’s been 6 days and there hasn’t been a post. What’s going on? The answer is nothing. I’ve been a bit under the weather and haven’t felt like cranking out steaming pieces of crap on this website. When you don’t feel well, you can’t produce. Simple as that.
I gutted through a Monday night bowling blowout to the hands of Strike You again. Then I rolled yesterday to more turd games. Work has slowed down but I can’t even enjoy that because my head feels like a hot air balloon. I’ve got a load of fantasy material to sift through and the Dell Technologies is this week which will be fun. Aside from that…nothing doing. I’ll start posting again when I feel better. Here are some chimpanzees hunting monkeys.
