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14 Dec, 2010

Monday Night Miracles

By |2010-12-14T00:59:13-05:00December 14th, 2010|Sports|0 Comments

It has become household knowledge that crazy things happen on Monday nights when fantasy sports are involved at 200 Green Lane. I will delve into the football action in a paragraph or two because I’m first going to write about the Monday Night Miracle that almost happened in our Championship basketball game for the Y league. It was us, the all white team, vs an all black team w/ one white guy. We started the game in a 3-2 zone that worked well for us last time we played this team. Unfortunately it didn’t work so well this time. All of their players were draining shots and we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. We weren’t pulling any O boards and were turning the ball over which led to fast break points by them. We finished the first half with 14 points and I think were down 20 or so. We opened the 2nd half in man and it proved to be a little bit more effective. We were hardly cutting into the lead for the first 10 minutes and then all of a sudden the D was forcing turnovers and we found ourselves down 4 points with less then 2 minutes left. Jeff had a chance to cut it to 2 with foul shots and uncharacteristically missed two. That was the last real chance we had to make a run at it. Jeff certainly isn’t to blame because everyone had opportunities. The other team was obviously on the edge of their seats and it was good we made it a game instead of getting embarrassed. We were just outsized and outshot but there’s always next year.

The real Monday Night Miracle occurred in the Houston-Baltimore game. I only had one fantasy playoff game this week because my other 3 teams had byes (brag). I had Andre Johnson and Boldin and he had Eli Manning and Cundiff, I entered down 14 or so. If you watched the game you know what happened, Johnson went huge with a 25+ point game and a huge TD at the end of regulation to give me the lead by 1. Boldin added another 2 points in the OT which made me safe from a Billy Cundiff less than 39 yard fg. To make matters all the better, I put 50 bucks on Baltimore -3. Meaning Cundiff could kick a 40 yarder and push my bet and lose my playoff game. As luck had it, the Ravens got a pick 6 to win the bet and cinch the playoff game. This win in Bakers league has me facing off against JKash’s Moisturizers and then potentially facing the other brother CK4 in the championship. Oh how sweet that would be. I get Sharon in the 2nd round of Bud’s league and Het’s Ballers in Evan’s league. A 4 for 4 sweep would be tough to pull off but I’m certainly hoping for it.

I find the Phillies getting Cliff Lee to be a bit like the Miami Heat putting together their trio. I’m not sure if anyone else feels this way but isn’t there way more gratification from winning when you aren’t purchasing the best team? The San Fransisco Giants winning the Series with that team this year, would be so far and away superior than if the Phillies were to win it in 2011. I honestly find it difficult to root for teams like the Phillies are putting together. Wasn’t there something exciting about having Jamie Moyer on the mound, knowing he was going to get shelled, and still winning baseball games? Considering the amount of baseball I intend to watch my points really have no meaning but I’m entitled to my own opinion.

Just to finish on the Dexter season finale. I certainly didn’t find this season has enjoyable as others. Jordan Chase as the villain just didn’t do it for me. I obviously thought the Tick Tick Tick was hilarious but he just didn’t have the same aura as the Trinity Killer or the Ice Truck Killer. The Quinn storyline with Liddy was sort of unusual as well. Deb and the end sequence wasn’t exactly great either because I thought it would be cooler if she knew Dex’s secret. It is still a good show but I just thought this season was kind of ho-hum compared to others.

13 Dec, 2010

WHY ATHLETES CAN’T HAVE REGULAR JOBS…

By |2013-03-15T17:45:13-04:00December 13th, 2010|Sports|2 Comments

1. Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model:
“I wan’ all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan’ all the kids to copulate me.”
(Say what??)

2. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season:
“I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first.”

3. And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the ‘Skin’s say:
“I’d run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl,”
Matt Millen of the Raiders said: “To win, I’d run over Joe’s Mom, too.”

4. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins:
“He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings..” (ahhhhhh……….)

5. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann:
“Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”
(consider the source, Albert!)

6. Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh :
“I’m going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes.”
(Now that is beautiful)

7. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach:
“You guys line up alphabetically by height..”
And, “You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle.” (maybe this explains things??)

8. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison:
“Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton .”

9. Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker:
“That’s so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes.”

10. Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regimen of heavyweight Andrew Golota:
“He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is.”

11. Chuck Nevitt , North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice:
“My sister’s expecting a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an uncle or an aunt.”
(I wonder if his IQ ever hit room temperature in January)

12. Frank Layden , Utah Jazz president, on a former player:
“I asked him, ‘Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?’
He said, ‘Coach, I don’t know and I don’t care.'”

13. Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F’s and one D:
“Son, looks to me like you’re spending too much time on one subject.”

14. In the words of NC State great Charles Shackelford:
“I can go to my left or right, I am amphibious.” (ribbit, ribbit)

15. Amarillo High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips,
Phillips responded: “Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good-bye.”

10 Dec, 2010

Friday

By |2010-12-10T10:20:41-05:00December 10th, 2010|My Brain|0 Comments

Give me some credit that I picked the Titans last night and they had a meaningless score that covered the points. I also picked the Sixers which also was an easy cover. I was spot on on the Chinese IPO’s which debuted at huge gains. I’m not patting myself on the back but every once in a while I know what I’m talking about. I actually find this to be more lucky than knowing what I’m talking about but that’s just the way it is. CK4 and I got bombed at Mad River last night and it was certainly worthwhile. I’m going to give a major thumbs up to Go Go Gadget as they are a really good band and can play a wide array of music. We labeled one girl as the Down Syndrome girl and she just completely cracks me up every time I see her. She’s perfectly normal but just gets completely obliterated. There’s also this other girl who is there every Thursday and she knows every song but her boyfriend is always near by and it’s just awkward. This one girl who was a big girl but had a pretty face was sort of dancing with me but I don’t really know what happened. I woke up in my bed today happy to be in my bed. I also know that these are all fragments and this post has no order but that’s what you get when you let your heart win. Paramore quote FTW.

9 Dec, 2010

Mismatches and Female Pop Star Sales

By |2013-03-15T03:27:25-04:00December 9th, 2010|Music|1 Comment

I understand that artists record music and then if there is an untimely death, they can release the material postmortem. I get the feeling though that this is going to be a TuPac like scenario where Michael Jackson will be coming out with music for the next 10 years. I think it’s interesting how this song has adapted to current pop music tastes and you’d have no idea that Michael Jackson is around 50 years of age when recording this. I also think that they can probably just take previous recordings of Michael’s voice and just put everything together to form songs. Technology is truly wonderful.

This song has 38 million views!

I actually think it’s pretty good myself. It’s an uplifting song that people can relate to and I am not surprised at its success. Catchy chorus, good beat. I’m a homo. Although the gay guys kissing is really gay and I don’t understand why this gets included in the video. Whatever happened to a guy kissing a girl. The fireworks coming out of her boobs are hot.

Ck4 and I also had a debate on who the biggest female pop star out right now and the top 3 of the list were Katy Perry, GaGa, and Rhianna. I personally find Katy Perry to be the hottest act out right now but after some fact finding, she won’t take this award. To make this as informative post as possible, I found the album sales of various female artists and comprised a list from top to relevant.

  • Madonna – 300 million
  • Celine Dion – 200 Million
  • Mariah Carey – 200 Million
  • Whitney Houston – 170 Million
  • Barbara Streisand – 140 Million
  • Cher, Britney, Janet Jackson, Olivia Newton John – 100 Million
  • Rihanna – 60 Million
  • GaGa – 55 Million

    Katy Perry’s second album has sold 800,000 copies. Obviously music is downloaded and pirated more frequently today so that probably has something to do with it.

    • 9 Dec, 2010

    Blue Horseshoe loves Anacot Steel

    By |2010-12-09T08:43:26-05:00December 9th, 2010|My Brain|0 Comments

    Just a quick update on a few things I’ve mentioned previously. The Chinese IPO’s of DANG and YOKU are now trading at 34 and 30 dollars respectively. As the general public I didn’t even see YOKU at anything less than 27 dollars so I’m not sure where the IPO target of 9-11 comes from. I still have the same sentiment that these Chinese Internet stocks that mimic successful companies like Amazon and Youtube will increase in value. I’m going to give it a week or two and see if the stocks pull back at all (Dang to $30 and Yoku to $25) and then I’d probably take a position. Also Stern signed another 5 year contract with Sirius and that has surged the stock 10% this morning. I still like Sirius and would consider leaps as an option play. Finally some good news on TEVA too.

    Nothing else of real interest. I had the Heat last night against the Jazz which proved to be an easy win. I was 1 for 2 on Tuesday and now we are coming up to the fun Thursday night games. Currently the Texans are getting 3.5 at home and my initial reaction is to bet the Colts. I would also guess most of the public feels that way too which would lead me to think that The Texans are going to play a close game. Chris Johnson has been a non-factor the last couple games and the Colts D isn’t too impressive so I would expect a big game from him. If Kerry Collins is the QB I think I like the Titans in this game. It may be by the half point but that’s why it’s there.

    Also baseball salaries are getting out of hand. Carl Crawford is supposedly getting a 7 year $142 million dollar contract. Werth with a 7 year $126 million dollar contract… I would consider these guys above avg players but they are being paid superstar contracts. Werth hasn’t hit over .300 in his career and my best guess is now that he’s paid he’s going to lay off the juice and you’ll see his numbers way down. Plus he’ll be 39 when the contract is up and that’s just old for a baseball player. Crawford hits marginally above .300, steals bases, and gets hits but $20 million a year?!? Just seems like a lot of money considering he made $10 million the previous year and didn’t do anything different than he’s done previously.

    8 Dec, 2010

    B.O.B

    By |2010-12-08T08:53:41-05:00December 8th, 2010|My Life|0 Comments

    Ck4 and I went to see B.O.B last night at Mad River. It was a $20 dollar cover charge and we got there at 8:30. They had $.99 coors lights til 11 so that made up for the expensive cover. I probably had like 10 cheap drafts and it was pretty empty til 11 or so. People started to fill in and B.O.B arrived at 11:30. Lauren was getting me relatively cheap drinks and I think I had only one Mind Eraser. I did a video blog last night so that can probably shed some light on exactly what happened but there was this one freak girl who was pretty hot but was dancing like a whore and she was my initial girl to go after. However, there was a change of plans and I started dancing with her friend. In hindsight, I should have just made a move with this girl because as I think back, she was pretty much perfect. She couldn’t have weighed more than 100 lbs and I remember putting my arms around her waist and just thinking I could lift her above my head if I wanted. I pretty much grinded on her backside for a half hour or so and she was dancing like a freak so everything was going fine but then her friend is by herself and things just dissipated. I ended up leaving shortly after due to this little problem that I had to work the next day but I can’t forget the hotness of this girl. I have to blame my inability to close the deal on this one but she was probably a college girl and if I would have stayed out til 2, I would still be in bed right now. B.O.B was moderately exciting and had a huge entourage but it made for a decent show and a reason to go out on a Tuesday.

    7 Dec, 2010

    Product Review

    By |2010-12-07T16:28:18-05:00December 7th, 2010|My Life|0 Comments

    Droid X

    I just purchased this phone and have had it for all 2 days but I can give my initial reaction after I’ve used a Blackberry Storm for a year or two. The phone is really tall and skinny. It fits fine in my pocket but it’s just a little taller than I’d prefer. The email on the phone wasn’t that easy to set up and seems to have a nice delay when picking up messages off the server. Also they hide the ability to respond to emails that come to Gmail. I honestly still can’t figure out how to respond to emails that come to my stortz email address and then are imported to Gmail. So I still have my questions regarding this phone and it’s ability to handle emails properly. I had no complaints at all regarding email to my Blackberry. The better points about this phone is that the touch screen is unbelievable compared to the Storm. Typing is a breeze because of the responsiveness and everything is really easy to navigate. The phones browser is quick and I the addition of the apps is certainly a plus. I regret downgrading my data usage because I can tell that you can spend/waste hours with this phone and it’s applications. I’m still getting use to using it but I was impressed with it’s alarm clock this morning. It started off with a vibrate, worked into a slight noise and was steadily getting louder. I used to hate the Storm because it would start off full blast and just become such a nuisance to listen to that I would be thankful if I woke up before I knew it was going to go off. I’m still a bit clumsy with it but in due time it will improve. I will also say that the break factor of this phone is at least an 8 and that doesn’t bode well for me.

    Coke Zero

    This is the shittiest product on the market right now. I specifically had the Coke Zero Vanilla and it is the worst tasting liquid, aside from the fruit water JC buys, that I have ever had. It is specifically the zero that makes this product suck. I even like Vanilla and Cherry coke but who the hell wants crap with zero calories. Everyone knows it’s the calories that make it what it is. It’s like why on Earth would I ever prefer a fat free bland tasting piece of crap. Notice the words I’m using here, I WANT, something that tastes good. I don’t care about my health and what one can of soda is going to do to me. I realize that there are tons of weak willed individuals who do nothing with themselves and probably sit on their ass and drink cokes all day but for us somewhat motivated people, I will never succumb to these shitty ass tasting products because they are better for me than the battery acid coke that I prefer.

    Dirty Potato Chips

    These have become my favorite new potato chip. Now specifically the Mesquite BBQ flavor as I don’t actually find the other flavors all that good. These chips have a different taste to them and I like the way they are kettle cooked because they are really crispy. “Got any Crisps Kim!. Watch this video if you haven’t. I get really annoyed at other potato chip manufacturers who fill the bag up half way so their chips don’t break. That is complete bs. I don’t care if I have full chips, I just want as many as they can give me in that bag. This company doesn’t have that problem and I hope they succeed because I give them two thumbs up.

    7 Dec, 2010

    Ambler BBall

    By |2010-12-07T00:02:55-05:00December 7th, 2010|Sports|0 Comments

    4 teams made the playoffs and I believe our game was the 2 vs 3 seed. We had 2 losses during the regular season and one of them was to the team that we played last night. Our team doesn’t have a name like Primetime but we are just referred to as Team Baker which I find pretty appropriate. Ck4 opened the game with a 3 ball and the game was pretty tight throughout the first half. We started in man D and eventually switched to a 2-3 with a few minutes left in the first half. I don’t remember the exact score but there wasn’t too much of interest and I think it was a one or two point game at halftime. Our strategy didn’t change in the 2nd half but at some point they switched over to man . The first 5 minutes of the second half was completely sloppy, out of control basketball. The refs weren’t consistent in their foul calling and things were starting to get out of hand. Jeff got walloped a few times to no call and I remember Jkash owning this one guy who would have had a layup. Jkash makes his fouls count though and gives tough minutes which our team somewhat lacks. Bake kept our team ahead with an awesome tip in that he got fouled on and multiple jumpers that kept the other team at bay. With 3 minutes left in the game we kept a 6 point lead and they were in the penalty. As the game wore on we kept going to the line and they just didn’t really make a run at it. Jeff had some big layups and foul shots towards the end and we just played a really good game and came away with a 10 point victory. We move on to the championship game next week and can hopefully come back with another rec league gold. Mad props to Bake for another impressive performance and even though I know it seems like I’m on his nuts, we wouldn’t be winning these games without him. And just so he doesn’t feel left out, if it wasn’t for Ck4’s defense and rebounding, we’d still be where we are today.

    I made a nice pick on the Pats blowout and maybe I’ll give an occasional sports pick when I feel like I might know what I’m doing. I also earned 3 byes in Fantasy Football playoffs and have to play Bradbury in the first round of another. Solid performance from myself. Toot Toot.

    6 Dec, 2010

    Gwambs Gwambs

    By |2010-12-06T16:35:45-05:00December 6th, 2010|My Brain, Sports|0 Comments

    There are a couple of things I did over the weekend that I think I can sum up pretty fast. Me, Wevs and the Wads went to Sugarhouse on Friday night where I proceeded to drop 500 dollars at 3 card poker. I wouldn’t reccommend the Sugarhouse to anyone as it’s filled with the dregs of society and getting a table was a nightmare. Not to mention that the table limits were all 25 min which just made it more annoying to play. Drinks were free though so I have to give them that. I was up 250 at one point and with 750 sitting in front of me I managed to give it all away in a quick burst of losing hands. The game is truly stupid and you have to be a complete moron to play it for as long as I did. Lesson learned.

    I also managed to ride a hot streak sports betting into Sunday night. I was on a 7 game win streak which had me up about 400 bucks since Tuesday night. I hit the Pacers over the Kings, Eagles over the Texans, Pitt over Cincy, Auburn over SC, Sixers over the Bobcats, and then a 3 team teaser which was picked by Gusto for a hundred bucks and a 70 dollar win with the Packers. That led me to another 100 dollar teaser that lost on the Colts being unable to beat the Cowboys. I put 130 dollars on the Ravens last night and lost that putting my account at exactly 200 dollars (30 of which is Bakers). The miraculous thing about this money is that I have been on the same deposit since week 1 of the NFL. I have had the account as high as 650 before dropping as low as 25 and now I’m back in the green 170. I’m honestly completely in awe of how good and lucky I’ve been through this season but you can’t ask for this long of a run on 50 bucks betting as often as I do. I took my shot of trying to make up for the Sugarhouse loss last night and just feel a bit short. I’m leaning towards the Pats tonight.

    In Fantasy Football news, my 4 teams have another chance at a sweep. If Brady can outlast Sanchez and the pats D with a 10 point cushion, I win. The Turkeys won the division and will have the most points scored in the league moving into a playoff bye. The Nuts have a 28 point lead with my Jets D vs Welker, Braylon, Hernandez, and the Pats D which should probably hold in a non ppr. And depending on Dustin Keller’s game, I could get a first round Playoff bye in Big Steve’s league. That’s 4 leagues, 4 playoff spots and maybe 3 first round playoff byes. My usually lackluster fantasy performance was offset by a big 2010. Time to bring home the bacon.

    I’m also going to share my investment ideas with my limited audience and this gives a good benchmark for where levels are. There are 3 Chinese IPO’s that I read about today that all have proven business models in the USA, but these are all located in China. DangDang, symbol DANG, has an IPO set for Wednesday and it’s the equivalent of Amazon. YouKu is internet television and will IPO tomorrow under the symbol YOKU. Finally Sky-mobi, symbol MOBI will IPO on Thursday and is a Chinese App store for IPhones. I find all these business ideas solid and proven and no little about these particular companies. However, with China’s growing population of 1.3 billion people and about half a million use smart phones, there is still plenty of room for growth and these stocks have profitable American equivalents to model after. We’ll see what happens.

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