Ballin'

Fantasy Football Teams Thus Far

I've had three drafts, one live, two online, and so far- I think the results have been pretty good.  Of course, one never knows until the season starts, but here are my teams:

Red Viper's Revenge:

RB Arian Foster
QB Matt Stafford
RB Ahmad Bradshaw
WR Marques Colston
WR Demayrius Thomas
TE Jermaine Gresham
WR/RB/TE Michael Turner
K Stephen Gotskowski
DEF Chicago
Bench: DeSean Jackson, Stevan Ridley, Jay Cutler, Kellen Winslow, Randy Moss, Tim Hightower, David Wilson
(Won best draft based on Yahoo! projections)

PURPLE:
QB Tom Brady
TE Gronk
RB Fred Jackson
WR Andre Johnson
RB Ahmad Bradshaw
WR Miles DAVIS Austin
W/R Eric Decker
K Robbie Gould
DEF Eagles
Bench: Jonathan Stewart, Donald Brown, Jay Cutler, CJ Spiller, Ronnie Hillman, Mike Williams (TB), Coby Fleener, Earl Bennet

Peppermill High Roller (2 time defending champ!)
QB Matt Ryan
RB LeSean McCoy
RB Darren McFadden
WR Roddy White
WR Brandon Marshall
TE Jermichael Finley
FLEX Darren Sproles
K Alex Henery
DEF Chicago
Bench: Doug Martin, Jay Cutler, Brandon Pettigrew, Nate Washington, Kendall Hunter, Mike Tolbert, Mike Williams (TB), Lions D, Randall Cobb

So there you go.  Let me know how I did.  The teams drafted 1st, 8th, and 4th respectively in 10 team snake drafts.  Last team left is my MSFL auction league draft on Tuesday.  It should be a BLOOD BATH.

Every Band I've Seen Live

I began thinking about all the great (and terrible) shows I've seen over the years and figured I should make a list.  I'll update it as I think of more bands I've seen...

- Pearl Jam
- Bad Religion
- Neil Young (w/ Pearl Jam)
- Hootie & The Blowfish
- Cowboy Mouth
- Bush
- Toadies
- Hum
- Oasis
- Third Eye Blind
- Tonic
- Verve Pipe
- K's Choice
- Goo Goo Dolls
- Fastball
- Toad the Wet Sprocket
- Space
- Squirrel Nut Zippers
- Blur
- Erasure
- The Cure
- Finn Brothers
- Ed Hardcourt
- Neil Finn
- Crowded House
- O.A.R.
- Stone Temple Pilots
- Paul Simon
- Bob Dylan
- The Pixies
- Nine Inch Nails
- Beck
- Bright Eyes
- Muse
- Interpol
- Jason Mraz
- John Mayer
- Maroon 5
- Counting Crows
- Foo Fighters
- Dave Matthews Band
- Tom Petty
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Jack Johnson
- Ben Harper
- The Damnwells
- Matt Costa
- Radiohead
- Wilco 

Prime99 Update

For anyone who is curious- here is the update on how things are going.  First, my goal is to obtain one of these:

Anyone who can help- let me know. 

My classes are going great.  I'm done with 3 of 9 and I've gotten A's in all of the classes thus far.  I am damn proud of myself, but my work isn't even close to complete.  Unfortunately, I can't bring back the blog on a regular basis. 

The Cubs reminded me what being a Cub fan is all about.  Ah, the wonder of getting nut punched Johnny Cage style.  Baseball is back, for better or worse.

I haven't seen "The Hunger Games."  I just assumed it was about Ethiopians playing Scrabble. 

"Game Of Thrones" and "Walking Dead" have been keeping me busy TV-wise.  I'm pretty sure Carl is the anti-christ.  He's immortal and bad things happen to the people around him.  It makes too much sense.  Change his name to Damien.  I won't talk about "Game Of Thrones" because I'm reading the books and I know too much.  My fantasy baseball team is called "Winter Is Coming..." though.

I still love 90's rock.

Nike got the NFL apparel contract and nothing changed... well, besides Gregg Williams' pre-game pep talks.  His mention of butt-raping Vernon Davis was a little over the top, no?

I really miss blogging.  It is unfortunate that this fine art of prose had its throat slit by the sands in the hourglass of my time, but what can I do?  I am making great progress toward a better career and it sucks that this fine, inactive site is the victim.  I'll try to post again some time soon, but until then... don't drop ecstasy and listen to electronic music.  I'm serious- those people are the worst!

My Life Is A Battleground

Yesterday I received news about my job that could be good or could be bad- that is yet to be determined.  Let's just say that it currently is adding to the extreme amount of stress that I've been experiencing lately.  Juggling an increasingly stressful work situation with regular life (family and friends), class, playing music (my second, more enjoyable job that is shrinking constantly), and blogging has been a stretch at best. 

To be ask nerdy as possible, I'll quote Biblo Baggins from the "Lord Of The Rings" movie-

"I know I don't look it, but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday."

I will agree that my situation pales in comparison to a poverty stricken family or one of the victims from the Penn State scandal- that is true.  However, it is unfortunately the case that I can no longer keep up with the daily posting here.  I don't necessarily want to quit, but if I can't post every weekday, then I'm not really doing my blogging duty.

It's become obvious that I can't keep up, so it's time to lay down the "penis mightier." 


I'll still comment over at G$'s blog, The Money Shot- which I recommend if you are down with twisted jokes and soap fights. 


Who knows?  Maybe I'm like Kiss and will keep retiring and coming back, but for right now, I have more pressing things to take care of.  I have to make those responsibilities a priority, but I really want to thank people for reading (whether you commented or not.)  Stay well and I'll see you around!

Penn State Scandal And A Tale

I had Tuesday off and I was able to get caught up on a few things.  Laundry, the gym, cleaning, and homework.  On my way around town, I listened to quite a bit of sports talk radio which was dominated by talk of the Penn State scandal.  I was quite frustrated and angry while listening and I eventually had to turn it off.  What a sick fuck this Sandusky guy is!  What spineless jerks everyone involved has turned out to be.  The whole scenario is despicable.

It got me thinking about my days as a high school basketball player.  Before I go on, let's just make clear that I absolutely never saw anything first hand, nor am I accusing anyone of any wrong doing.  However, one of my high school basketball coaches had rumors creep up from time to time about him and they were less than positive.

When my class came in to high school, this guy was in his early to mid 20s and he was the freshmen basketball coach.  Our practices were insanely difficult and the competition (against other teams and with each other) was on a level that none of us had ever experienced previously.  I know of at least one guy who attempted to injure himself because quitting was deemed shameful but he needed a break from how unbearable practice was.  Over the course of the season, though, these harrowing circumstances seemed to pull us together as a team, which I believe was our coach's intention (or he fully enjoyed watching teenage boys physically struggling to see who would break first.)

Our coach preached "respect, loyalty, and love" which, in theory, is all good.  Those were the stages of trust that were earned as we worked hard to become a better basketball team.  This brought most of us to form blind loyalty to trust our coaches and each other as teammates.  Obviously, team cohesion is healthy, but looking back, this was on a different level.

After our season ended, I was brought up to the varsity squad, which separated me from the rest of the bunch.  Our freshmen coach kept working with certain players and also started up Spring league teams.  Over the next year, it became known who his "favorites" were because our coach would give them rides and hang out with them often (which is weird.)  This was next level brainwashing, in my opinion.

In the coming years, I was more separated from the original group and didn't interact with our freshmen coach all that much.  His favorites continued to hang out with him and odd rumors started coming up here and there.  I fluffed them off because I had heard other ridiculous rumors about varsity initiations involving fingers and anuses.  Since no one ever fingered my bunghole, I assumed that lots of people would come up with rumors about our successful program.  People love to bring down winning programs with scandals and in our high school, it became obvious that some people were jealous of our success.

After our varsity coach left for another high school, the freshmen coach followed him to the other school.  Oddly, within a few months, the freshmen coach left/was dismissed and he came back to assist our new varsity coach.  It was unclear why he came back, but he said he felt like him leaving was a mistake and he was loyal to us.  Whatevs.  I'm fairly certain that, from what I've heard years later, he was dismissed for sharing hotel rooms with players and misusing funds that parents had paid into for tournaments.  Not good.

Here's a great spot to remind everyone that if I knew anything concrete, I'd have reported it to the authorities- so again, am I telling a story from my point of view rather than accusing anyone of anything.

Here is as close to evidence of improper actions as I have:

During a Fall league basketball game, I was working as a score-keeper for extra cash.  After my shift, I sat and watched another game with our coach and another player.  While sitting there, our coach put his hand way too high on my leg, over my shorts.  He left it there way too long.  Obviously, this was in public view, but it was not OK.  I don't remember the context of the conversation because I froze up.  He did not touch my genitals, but it was not appropriate.  Eventually, I made an excuse to leave and got out of the situation.  He never tried anything else with me, potentially because he wasn't a predator or potentially because he deduced I would not be an easy target.

He continued to spend lots of time with his favorites.  There was one player in particular that our coach hung out with a lot.  Rumors intensified that our coach was molesting this player.  Both of them maintained that they were just best friends.  I personally don't think this is appropriate or healthy for an adult to be best friends with a teenager, but since I can't prove that anything sexual ever happened, I will not accuse anyone of wrong doing.

The odd thing is (and the biggest hole in the story if there was wrongdoing) that the two of them are still friends today (to my knowledge.)  I suppose if there was victimization, then they would be less likely to stay friends, but who knows how the psychology of a potential victim plays out.  I will likely never know what exactly happened, and as I said before, if I had proof of anything, this post wouldn't exist- I'd just go to the authorities.  

With Penn State in the news, it made me think of my own experience in youth sports.  I can see how that is an easy hunting ground for sexual predators.  I have experienced how it could work under certain circumstances.  Any situation where youth are given mentors that have power and responsibility can open up the possibility for inappropriate actions.  Thankfully, I'd like to believe that 99.9% of adults take mentoring seriously and would never abuse children or teenagers.  Youth sports, church groups, school and camps can leave children vulnerable to bad intentions by adults.  PSU's scandal is a great reminder for all parents that trust should not be easily given to adults who interact with your children. 

I really hope that nothing happened with the people I talked about today.  What I am happy about is that I was able to separate myself enough to have not been confronted with any situation more uncomfortable than the one I described. 

The moral of this story is to make sure you really know who your kids are being mentored by and make sure those adults earn your trust as a parent.  Even if they earn your trust, it is not a bad idea to check in often to make sure every adult in your child's life is above board.  Even more important- if you ever physically SEE something, you had best report it!  Do not be passive in situations like this.  It's not the end of the world if you don't stop for someone to help them change a tire on a busy freeway (especially with the inventions of cell phones and AAA.)  It is the end of the world if you see a boy being raped in the shower and you don't immediately intervene and/or call the authorities. 

My wife and I plan to have kids in the next few years, but on days like this, it is hard for me to come to terms with why we'd have kids and subject them to such an awful world.  Hopefully there is enough good in the world to bring some positives out of this scandal (better security or reporting to avoid future scandals like this.)  I'm not sure that is much consolation to any of the young boys that were abused by that monster Sandusky.

Stop Animal Cruelty!

I am all for stopping animal cruelty, but this post is about Michael Vick's inability to bring harm to a certain group large mammals that inhabit the Lake Michigan area... da Bearsss.  Vick may have been a dogkiller, but he's had trouble against the Bears during his career.  This Monday Nighter was no exception. 

Last night's game was, from my perspective, the best game I've watched all year.  It was prime time, my team was involved, it was close, there was a lot of back and forth, excellent plays on both sides, horrible mistakes on both sides, and in the end the Bears came out with a win.  On the Jay Cutler Smirk-O-Meter, I give it a:

This is an excellent rating.

As a Bears fan, I am tickled pink (not in the Penn State way) that they were able to come up with such a huge win under the lights and on the road.  They may have a somewhat ugly style, but I believe the public can recognize that they are a good football team (whatever that  means.)  Am I stating that they are now the class of the NFC?  No.  Am I saying they will beat the Lions at home next week?  I hope so, but we'll have to see on that one.  Am I guaranteeing a playoff berth?  No necessarily, but I am now leaning toward three NFC North teams getting into the playoffs. 

Oh!  Also- a big shout out to DeSean Jackson!  He put up zero points to get Murder Panties a nice win in the MSFL.  What a piece of shit that guy is!  His attitude stinks worse my farts after a full night brats and German beer.  Even better than the Fantasy Football result, was DeSean's huge fumble on a punt that set the Bears up for a score.  Special teams (and average Michael Vick) lost the Eagles that game and I enjoyed every second. 

Unfortunately, the Peppermill High Rollers were not able to overcome the deficit.  Matt Forte's fumbles were huge during the game, and absolutely affected the result of this Fantasy match up.  His first fumble led to an Eagles touchdown which, since I had the Bears D also, was a 5 point swing.  Ugly.  I'm worried that the contract talk is getting to him... I hope I'm wrong, but you can see it start to creep in. 

Last, I'd like to commend the Bears Offensive Line.  They have been awful at times this year.  Just putrid.  However, last night, they allowed ZERO sacks to a stout Philly rush.  That deserves some serious props.  Keep that up fellas!

What a great game... FUCK YEAH!