Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Yes, I know... It has been an incredibly long time since my last post. I apologize. Not that anyone has actually been waiting on the edge of their seat for a new post (or at least, if there was, they've surely given up by now).
Work has been incredibly busy, much of the reason for the lack of posts. I also went through a horrible period of writer's block during which time I felt that I had absolutely nothing to say. The big news of the day for me is that I have officially turned down a job with America's Next Top Model. You must think I'm insane. Well, I would not have been anywhere near the wanna-be models, a major sticking point preventing me from taking the job. (I kid, I kid... There were actual factors involved with my turning down the offer, none of which included the amount of time I would get to spend with the women.) In the end, it seemed to me that I would have been taking a step backwards (or at the very least, a step sideways).
On the Cubs front, I thought the injury issues couldn't possibly continue from last season... Boy was I wrong. What the hell?!? I mean, God must seriously hate us. That can be the only true explanation to the number of injuries we've suffered.
Hopefully this will be updated more regularly again. As of a week and a half from now, I'm officially on hiatus from Starting Over, so I should have more time for the month or so I have off.
Work has been incredibly busy, much of the reason for the lack of posts. I also went through a horrible period of writer's block during which time I felt that I had absolutely nothing to say. The big news of the day for me is that I have officially turned down a job with America's Next Top Model. You must think I'm insane. Well, I would not have been anywhere near the wanna-be models, a major sticking point preventing me from taking the job. (I kid, I kid... There were actual factors involved with my turning down the offer, none of which included the amount of time I would get to spend with the women.) In the end, it seemed to me that I would have been taking a step backwards (or at the very least, a step sideways).
On the Cubs front, I thought the injury issues couldn't possibly continue from last season... Boy was I wrong. What the hell?!? I mean, God must seriously hate us. That can be the only true explanation to the number of injuries we've suffered.
Hopefully this will be updated more regularly again. As of a week and a half from now, I'm officially on hiatus from Starting Over, so I should have more time for the month or so I have off.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Lasso Lessons
Have to say, I'm pretty excited about Sin City, which comes out next weekend... From all the great reviews I've read for it already, I'm really hoping to be blow away by it. In conjunction with that, I just read about how Jessica Alba, in preparation for her role as Nancy, would get drunk and then go to strip clubs, along with learning how to use a lasso, saying "I had a rope guy teach me how to twist it around like a lasso and stuff. I just spent every night in Texas in The Four Seasons (hotel) in my underwear, knocking over lamps trying to lasso things." Wow... to be in that room. What a treat that would have been.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Another bad break...
So much for the hopes of Joe Borowski returning to form as the Cubs closer this season... He fractured his hand yesterday and looks to be out for six weeks. Bad news for the Cubs but really, it is even worse news for JoBo. The guy has worked so hard to get to where he is, and to have another season start with injury must be killing him. What the hell is the deal with all the injuries? It's like we can't get a break when we need it...
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Unintentional Comedy at its finest
I spent a good portion of my morning tuned in to ESPN's coverage of the baseball hearings going on in DC today... Did I intend to do this? No. But from the moment I turned to ESPN, my eyes were glued to the set. Can someone please turn this cast of characters into a sitcom? Because the unintentional comedy was flowing throughout the players' testimonies. The cast list (and each of their taglines) would look something like the following (based on the impressions these guys gave off):
Jose Canseco as The Complete Idiot (Not only is the presence of a brain in my head in question, but so is my integrity!)
Sammy Sosa as Mr. "Baseball Been Berry Berry Good to Me" (I understands English better than I let on!)
Rafael Palmeiro as The Genuine Guy (If I'm lying, I should be an actor!)
Curt Schilling as Humorous Honest Guy (Honesty with a little humor thrown in for good measure is what I do!)
and
Mark McGwire as The Dick (I'll only talk about the positives and the future and keeping the past in the past!)
with a special guest appearance by
Frank Thomas (via satellite only) as The Guest Star (There's no purpose for my presence aside from having another big-name guy here!)
OK... So maybe I'm being a bit harsh about this. And taking it all a bit lightly. But McGwire's routine (while I can understand it) got pretty old pretty fast but was among the funnier moments... Especially when one of the representatives said that he was sitting there crying because of McGwire. Big Mac did have a good point though... If he says he didn't use steroids, people just won't believe him. And if he says yes, that causes all sorts of other problems. But the way he acted has me questioning whether or not he did use a bit more (I never used to think so).
And why was Frank Thomas there? Beyond the opening statement, I heard him say nothing (I don't even know that he was still with them once they got back from the recess).
It's also pretty funny that Jose Canseco was being kept in a separate room from everyone else before the hearing... But given the comments the other guys made regarding Canseco in their opening statements and beyond, I'd say that segregating him was probably the right thing to do.
Wish I could have seen what Bud and Donald Fehr had to say, but I had to get to work... Either way, nothing like a House hearing to kick-start your day. If only these hearings were always this entertaining... I wouldn't watch anything else if that were the case!
Jose Canseco as The Complete Idiot (Not only is the presence of a brain in my head in question, but so is my integrity!)
Sammy Sosa as Mr. "Baseball Been Berry Berry Good to Me" (I understands English better than I let on!)
Rafael Palmeiro as The Genuine Guy (If I'm lying, I should be an actor!)
Curt Schilling as Humorous Honest Guy (Honesty with a little humor thrown in for good measure is what I do!)
and
Mark McGwire as The Dick (I'll only talk about the positives and the future and keeping the past in the past!)
with a special guest appearance by
Frank Thomas (via satellite only) as The Guest Star (There's no purpose for my presence aside from having another big-name guy here!)
OK... So maybe I'm being a bit harsh about this. And taking it all a bit lightly. But McGwire's routine (while I can understand it) got pretty old pretty fast but was among the funnier moments... Especially when one of the representatives said that he was sitting there crying because of McGwire. Big Mac did have a good point though... If he says he didn't use steroids, people just won't believe him. And if he says yes, that causes all sorts of other problems. But the way he acted has me questioning whether or not he did use a bit more (I never used to think so).
And why was Frank Thomas there? Beyond the opening statement, I heard him say nothing (I don't even know that he was still with them once they got back from the recess).
It's also pretty funny that Jose Canseco was being kept in a separate room from everyone else before the hearing... But given the comments the other guys made regarding Canseco in their opening statements and beyond, I'd say that segregating him was probably the right thing to do.
Wish I could have seen what Bud and Donald Fehr had to say, but I had to get to work... Either way, nothing like a House hearing to kick-start your day. If only these hearings were always this entertaining... I wouldn't watch anything else if that were the case!
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
The Prophet and Mr. Obvious
So I'm watching some ST baseball on ESPN2 before heading to work today... Now, normally watching any sort of baseball would be great. But the broadcast team they've got today is driving me crazy (moreso than usual). Not even sure who is in the booth aside from Gary Thorne, who seems to have drawn the short straw in terms of being stuck broadcasting every ST game that ESPN does, whereas the other broadcasters seem to rotate.
The first comment to drive me nuts (and I'm not even sure who said it) was on the effect Mike Matheny's addition to the Giants. They claimed that, by adding Matheny, the Giants' team ERA would be lower than last year's by a run and a half! Now, I'm not saying Matheny isn't good, because he is. But he alone will not make that large of a difference in the team ERA. It's not like the Giants have had a run of shitty, inexperienced catchers (b/c their main reasoning for this was all of his "experience behind the plate"). They had Pierzynski and before that Santiago... Both guys with plenty of "experience". And yes, Pierzynski has an attitude and Santiago is somewhere in the 60+ age bracket, but there is no way that a switch to Matheny will cause that drastic of a drop.
The second comment (again, don't know who to attribute it to, as I wasn't really paying attention until I heard it) was: "It's safe to say that [Ichiro] can probably put the bat on more balls than any other player in baseball right now." Really? Is that true? You're telling me there isn't anyone else out there who just set the record for most hits in a season?!? Stop the presses. Ichiro can hit. Go warn everyone. Someone out there might not know that he can hit. Ugh. This comment is just unnecessary.
Anyway, it is ST, so I guess the announcers also need a little time to get into things. But between making wild prophecies and blatantly obvious statements, they're driving me absolutely nuts today.
The first comment to drive me nuts (and I'm not even sure who said it) was on the effect Mike Matheny's addition to the Giants. They claimed that, by adding Matheny, the Giants' team ERA would be lower than last year's by a run and a half! Now, I'm not saying Matheny isn't good, because he is. But he alone will not make that large of a difference in the team ERA. It's not like the Giants have had a run of shitty, inexperienced catchers (b/c their main reasoning for this was all of his "experience behind the plate"). They had Pierzynski and before that Santiago... Both guys with plenty of "experience". And yes, Pierzynski has an attitude and Santiago is somewhere in the 60+ age bracket, but there is no way that a switch to Matheny will cause that drastic of a drop.
The second comment (again, don't know who to attribute it to, as I wasn't really paying attention until I heard it) was: "It's safe to say that [Ichiro] can probably put the bat on more balls than any other player in baseball right now." Really? Is that true? You're telling me there isn't anyone else out there who just set the record for most hits in a season?!? Stop the presses. Ichiro can hit. Go warn everyone. Someone out there might not know that he can hit. Ugh. This comment is just unnecessary.
Anyway, it is ST, so I guess the announcers also need a little time to get into things. But between making wild prophecies and blatantly obvious statements, they're driving me absolutely nuts today.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Prognosis Negative
Well... When it rains, apparently it pours. Just after hearing about the level of uncertainty of Kerry Wood's status for the beginning of the season, now it seems Prior will also be out "indefinitely". What does this mean? It means a rotation of Zambrano, Maddux, and who knows who else. Personally, I'd guess that it would end up being Dempster, Rusch, and Mitre... Though there's always a chance that a hit like this could allow a guy like Guzman to come to the Bigs and try to prove his worth. Either way, that puts the Opending Day rotation on a bit of shaky ground again.
I don't know what's worse... hearing that news or having to mop up shit-water in my house for an hour yesterday. Hrmm... Well, plumbing problems do suck. But they can be fixed fairly easily usually (especially when I just rent, which makes it the landlord's problem). A broken rotation? Well, that's a bit more difficult.
I don't know what's worse... hearing that news or having to mop up shit-water in my house for an hour yesterday. Hrmm... Well, plumbing problems do suck. But they can be fixed fairly easily usually (especially when I just rent, which makes it the landlord's problem). A broken rotation? Well, that's a bit more difficult.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Charlie Sheen is one lucky man
A friend of mine just directed me to this site, where you can see Denise Richards' spread of nude photos for Playboy. Naked or not, she is one beautiful woman... Which makes Charlie Sheen one lucky dude. Just don't stare too long... Might make you go blind.
