What Have Sports Come To?

I'm reading a story on ESPN.com regarding a man who is suing another man over Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball. Apparently, Timothy Murphy had possession of the ball by "sitting on the it (the ball) and securing it with his right leg."

Then another man, Steve Williams, who has possession of the ball now, said that it was just laying there at the bottom of a pile of people. Williams contends that he did not hit or hurt anyone to get the ball, but Murphy claims that physical force was used against him to cause him to lose the ball.

My take: For crying out loud! Who's the moron that puts a price on a baseball. If I were Bonds, I'd say, "Gimme that damn ball! I hit that thing," or I'd put it in the Hall of Fame. Same goes for Bonds' 73rd home run back in 2001. Two people fought over that thing and went to court for it for the longest time. Eventually, both of them never got the ball, instead, they both got $450,000.

Damn joke.

New DVD's

Yesterday from Amazon.com, I got my copies of the "Star Wars Trilogy" and George Lucas' "THX 1138 - The George Lucas Director's Cut."

Whoever restored these films in digital glory is a genius. The Classic Trilogy looks and sounds unbelievable -- and believe me, with the Star Wars Main Theme playing on my Sony Home Theater, boo-yah! The films are of the Special Editions, which were released in 1997. Some changes were made to them, like the Han and Jabba scene in "The New Hope," Jabba has been worked over and made to look more realistic. A LOT better than the Jabba from 1997.

Also, in "Return of the Jedi," more celebration scenes were added to the end of the movie, including scenes at Naboo. One other curious observation, during the Coruscant (Imperial City) celebration, one can see the Jedi Temple in the background (after the toppling of the Emperor Palpatine statue). Thinking that the Jedi Temple was all but destroyed during the time of the "Revenge of the Site" (the title for Episode III), I guess not! Also, the apparition of Anakin Skywalker at the very end of the movie with Luke looking on, there's a huge change. Instead of the Anakin that was inside of Darth Vader (from the original and the previous Special Edition), we see Hayden Christensen, the actor who portrays Anakin Skywalker in Episodes II and III. It's an addition that is a welcome sight, although there is some sadness because it changes the original. But I have to agree with George Lucas, the person we know who Anakin Skywalker is dies and becomes Darth Vader when he turns over to the Dark Side of the Force. Anakin is still very much a young man! What we see by watching "Jedi," is the redemption of young Anakin, not the old, to join Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi with the full knowledge of the Force.

Sorry, but I'm a Star Wars freak and I've subjected many a persons about my discussions on Star Wars -- like kicking everybody's ass at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.

But I also started to watch "THX 1138." I've only managed to catch the first 30 minutes of it, but it's stunning. The story -- is really messed up, a person really has to pay close attention. Maybe it'll be a little bit easier to listen to George Lucas' commentary during the movie, but I won't do that until I've watched it completely the first time through. But whoa ... this movie reminds me a little of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," just a strange storyline but with genius direction. Check it out, if you dare.

NEWMAN! Wins at Dover!

This past race on Sunday was boring. Ryan Newman dominated all day long. There was no excitement whatsoever watching him running away from the field like that.

Ryan started in the second spot, passed Jeremy Mayfield for the lead during that first lap, and really never looked back. He did get passed by Matt Kenseth and later Kurt Busch thoughout the race, but Kenseth's and Busch's cars were not handling as well as Ryan's was.

Ryan got the maximum points possible for the race, picking up 180 points for the win, plus 5 bonus points for leading a lap and 5 more bonus points for leading the most laps. All-in-all, he led 325 of the 400 laps at The Monster Mile.

This helps, especially from his engine failure at New Hampshire a week ago. Ryan now sits 107 points back from championship points leader Jeff Gordon (pussy-bitch!). But next Sunday, it's the EA Sports 500 at Talladega, the fastest super-speedway of them all. Watch for big packs and possibly The Big One, which can easily take out half or the entire field of cars. Last year, Ryan finished 4th in a crazy run to the finish.

Fantasy Football -- Disaster for Week 3

You're telling me. What a joke. I now fall to 1-2 on the season for losing to the dead-last team in the league, all thanks to Peter Warrick and T.J. Duckett. Warrick was injured early in his game and left, while Duckett didn't even touch the ball all damn game. I got some bad information from the Yahoo! Fantasy Sports site, saying that Warrick Dunn was injured and Duckett would get the majority of the carries. Well, apparently Dunn was alright, running for over 100 yards.

On top of that, Michael Vick didn't have the best game of his career. If you can only beat the Arizona Cardinals by the score of 6-3 ... yeah, you're not going to have huge numbers on offense.

So, I made some huge changes. I dropped Warrick, am going to drop Duckett tomorrow (the man has been absolutely worthless), and dropped Antonio Bryant. I picked up WR Brandon Stokley of the Colts, WR Ashley Lelie of the Broncos, and am waiting for waivers to clear for RB Rudi Johnson of the Bengals. I still am in need for another running back, since the Vikings have the bye week next week, so I might be dropping Ontarrio Smith and looking elsewhere. Not sure who I'm going to get yet.

More on this later in the week.

A Fabulous Football Weekend

On Saturday, after my little gander to Sioux Falls, I watched Michigan take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at The Big House. Michigan won. 'Nuff said. That defense of Michigan's is going to be tops in the nation by the way they're playing. Next Saturday, Indiana.

Well, well, well. The Vikings -- thanks for that totally unimpressive win over the Bears. Cripes, you damn near handed it to them. Daunte, Randy, and Ontarrio basically carried the team on offense. Where's the Vikings defense? I thought Antoine Winfield was supposed to be the new stud cornerback? And what the hell's been Chris Hovan been up to? I haven't heard nothing from that guy all year -- it's basically been Kevin Williams on the d-line, and that's it.

Bye week for Week 4, Ontarrio is going to appeal his 4-game suspension for smokin' the reefer during the off-season. Michael Bennett should be good to go for Week 5, although I've read reports that besides his MCL being sprained, his ACL is banged up also.

They Call Me ... "Mouse Killer,"

For some reason, Katie had this bug about buying up some mousetraps to set in the basement. We've had them before back in the Spring when we moved in (noticed by all the mouse poop), so we knew that we were going to have them again in our basement when the harvest season rolls around.

Last Friday night, I set four traps -- three in the basement and one in the bench upstairs, right underneath our big picture window. Next morning, two traps went off -- one in the basement and the one in the bench, both with mice with their heads smashed in. Gruesome? You bet!

Katie freaked out, so I had to handle all of the disposal duties. Take 'em by the tail and throw 'em in the grove! I'll have to give her credit, it was her brilliant idea by cutting up bite-size Snickers and sticking them on the bait plate. Before, we used peanut butter, but those lil' buggers always managed to lick them off without having the trap going off.

Well, on Saturday, I drove down to Sioux Falls to buy some Mobil 1 and I picked up a few more mousetraps (8 of them) when I stopped at Wal-Mart. That Saturday night -- two more, including another one in the bench! Katie just groans when I tell her the "good news" about trapping more mice.

As of today, nothing has happened since. As far as I can tell, we've gotten them all from our house, but I'm sure there's more to come. And I'll be ready.

Weekend Plans -- Sept. 25-26

Besides a whole lot of football watchin', it's going to be your typical boring weekend.

On Saturday, I'm torn a little bit. I have to get to Sioux Falls to buy some motor oil (they don't have what I want here) plus an oil filter, but I probably will want to head down early before the Michigan-Iowa game at 2:30 p.m. Katie says that she wants to go to Sioux Falls also, but she works on Saturday until 2:00 p.m. Cripes!

On Sunday, it'll be the NASCAR race at Dover and the Vikings play the Bears. Since Katie's family is all about the Chicago Bears (they're all aloof from the previous week's victory over the Packers), I was thinking about heading into Madison and watching the game on the big screen -- but then, the race is on. So, I just might stay out at my place in solitude.

Fantasy Football Update -- If I Lose...

...I'll probably kill myself.

My opponent is playing the same strategy that I am, not playing certain players because of the bye weeks. But, instead of sitting one guy out, he's sitting out two -- which is simply unheard of! It's early, but I don't think he's going to get rid of his guys on the bench because they're pretty good players.

So far, he's got one empty running back spot. The only guy he's got good to go is Deuce McAllister, but he's questionable for next Sunday's game vs. St. Louis. That's odd, because the Saints head coach says that he's out for 4-5 weeks with his bad ankle. So that's a plus for me!

Also, he's got WR Deion Branch, RB Travis Henry, RB DeShaun Foster (all bye weeks), and QB Vinnie Testaverde on the bench. He'll have QB Donovan McNabb and QB Trent Green starting instead.

Like I said before, I'm taking a few risks, like having to start QB Kyle Boller (who really hasn't played well yet) and having only one tight end starting (Jeremy Shockey). Biggest risk is that I'm going to have the Detriot defense up against Philly. Ouch! We'll see about that!

Newman Goes Out On Top -- Engine Troubles at NHIS

Yeah, Ryan had a damn good car all day on Sunday, making his way up to second place late in the race. After leader Kurt Busch pitted, Ryan took the lead and gain his 5-bonus points for leading a lap, but then when his crew was telling him to come into pit lane for gas and fresh tires, his engine started to sputter and Ryan said over the radio, "It's going to blow any second."

Instant depression for me -- I was pretty much pissed. Besides other guys in "The Chase" like Tony Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield who were caught up in an accident early on in the race, they all took a hit in the points. Ryan ended up finishing 33rd.

Ryan actually moved up from 10th place to 9th, but his points total took the major hit. Only nine races remain in the season for the championship, but during Ryan's post-race interview, he still has great confidence in his cars and his team and who knows, maybe he'll get back up there in contention.

Here's the standings are Race 1:

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5210
2. Kurt Busch 5210
3. Jeff Gordon 5201
4. Matt Kenseth 5200
5. Jimmie Johnson 5180
6. Elliott Sadler 5172
7. Mark Martin 5139
8. Tony Stewart 5086
9. Ryan Newman 5074
10. Jeremy Mayfield 5068

Next up is Dover -- the race that Ryan won last year. The wild card has to be Talladega, which is the week after Dover. If you're not a race fan but want to get caught up into the NASCAR scene, watch the Talladega race. You might see "The Big One," a huge accident that usually involves 20+ cars. Exciting shit!

Fantasy Football Update -- First Win

"Nine Years," the name of my team (an homage to how many years it'll take to get me through college), won its first game during Week 2. I chalked up 159.94 points, compared to my opponent's 131.56. My opponent acutally had a 15-point lead going into Monday Night, but unfortunately for him, I was starting Randy Moss, Ontarrio Smith, and Antoine Winfield.

My point total for Week 2 was the second highest in the league (out of 12 teams), so I must be doing something right.

Total points through Week 2 -- I have 301.74, the fourth highest in the league, but I'm am currently sitting in 5th place with the 1-1 record. Next week for Week 3, my opponent is in dead-last, with a total of 228.84 points. Be wary -- he had a solid point total for Week 1 (146.58), but really took a hit in Week 2, when he only chalked up 82.28 points.

As far as big moves go, I really haven't made any since the Week 2 match-ups. New England has a bye week, so 3 of my starters are sitting on the bench (QB Tom Brady, WR David Givens, and TE Daniel Graham), so in place, I'm playing Kyle Boller as my QB, Peter Warrick is going in at WR, and I'm taking a risk -- I'm not going to play a TE this week. I'm pretty confident that the rest of my guys will make up some points and due to the weak play of my opponent, I should get the win in Week 3.

So far, a huge disappointment in one of my running backs, T.J. Duckett. Warrick Dunn has been getting most the carries in Atlanta, but now that Dunn is pulling up lame, Duckett will get a majority of the carries. I'm hoping that Week 3 will be good to him. Also, in Week 4, the Vikings will have a bye week, taking out Moss, Smith, Bennett (on the bench) and Winfield. I will most likely drop Smith and Winfield, since Bennett will be good to go after the bye week to start against the Houston Texans in Week 5.

One big move, I guess, is that I dropped the Kansas City defense (no, shit!) and picked up Detroit. They have the most points so far on defense, but they are playing the Eagles on Sunday -- it's a risk, but I'm going for it.

Vikings/Eagles

Let me express some of my frustration after watching that pile of crap on TV on Monday Night Football. Fuckin' Vikings should have won that game, but no!

Every stinkin' time they would get inside the Eagles' 30-yard line, it's like something happens in which their concentration goes to shit. I don't know how many false starts they had -- it seemed like 100 -- and then they'd screw themselves and settle for a field goal. Morten -- you're good, but you're old! You should have nailed that 44-yarder!

And Daunte was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. "Ooh, maybe I should throw it ... no wait, I'll run it! ... damn, I fumbled on the goal-line!" Ya idiot.

Right tackle Mike Rosenthal is out for the year with a broken right foot, now it's been confirmed that Jimmy Kleinsasser is out with a torn ACL. Tight end Jermaine Wiggins (who was solid against the Eagles) is out 3 to 4 weeks with a broken hand. However, Michael Bennett has been upgraded to "questionable," but won't see the field until after the bye week on Week 4.

Hopefully, the Vikings can re-establish the running game against the Bears, since it was so non-existent against the Eagles after the injury to Rosenthal.

A Conflict of Interests

Sunday -- NASCAR race at Dover, or NFL Football with the Vikings and Bears?

Damn, this is why I wish I had a couple of TV's in the same room at the same time. Better yet, get me a TiVo or something like that.

I will be switching back and forth between the channels all Sunday afternoon, also at the same time, keeping track of all my Fantasy football players and seeing how they are doing.

Yet Another, Classic E-Mail From Mike

February 3, 2000:

"Hey, let me no if you got part 3 or not. I forgot if I sent it to you
yesterday. I think I did, but if not let me no and I will send part 3
of Mr. Dragon.
You didn't here it from me, but I think Grams made out with some chick
the other night at the rock. I guess there is this girl in one of his
classes that thinks he is so hot and they got it on. I will have to
write him and give him shit."

Ah, hell. How about another?

February 10, 2000:

(Prelude: I was going to Colorado for a friend's wedding. Sean was living out there at the time, just south of Colorado Springs. We had a couple of girls coming with us.)

"You'll have to get sean drunk. so are these annoying chicks hot or
what? Maybe you can hook sean up with them if their ugly."

Let's keep going!

February 15, 2000:

(Prelude: While I was in Colorado, Mike was livin' it up in Aberdeen for "I Hate Winter Days" at NSU. Here's his account.)

"That's pretty crazy shit with those old emails. Crazy cats! Yea,
aberdeen was pretty sweet except for the long ass drive. The zoo was
just plain wild. Tim got busted friday night for taking his beer bottle
out of the bar. Grams was drunk as ever like always. Sat. night he
hooked up with some ugly 30 year old chick and went back to tim's to get
laid, but he couldn't get it up so we gave him a ton of shit. We were
all hung over saturday after ripping the zoo up friday night. The place
was just unbelievable, crazy as all hell. You would have like it
because there were tons of chicks. Fischer came up friday, but went
back on saturday for some concert. We ran into tony reishus there to at
this big party. The party sucked though because there were so many
people you couldn't even move. Sat night was even wilder at the zoo,
but I was so damn tired and hung over. After awhile I managed to start
drinking and then I had a better time. We went to a couple parties
after the zoo closed up, it was just crazy. Ran into seaver and tyler
there on sat night. I also ran into erin kassel. it was a pretty good
time if I do say so myself. We were all being crazy as fuck!"

Another weird-ass one --

April 10, 2000:

"I got some psychos next to me here in the library. They are looking up
how to make different kinds of bombs on the internet. o.k. whatever
turns your crank I guess."

You know -- that's about it! That's all I got, and I'm pissed as hell that all of the other ones are gone. We used to quote audio-dub left and right, making fun of people (Sean) about how bad he is at some parts ("The River Wild"), but Sean had his Tour de Force during "The Hobbit."

That should do it. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully, to touch up on the other subjects about what happened last weekend.

And a classic quote from Mike,

"Over and out!"

The Classic E-Mails

I was thinking back to Mike's reply here a couple of days ago about our Clinton debates -- during the time when the news came out when we was getting a few favors from that fat cow Monica Lewinski -- we had some pretty good debates. So good -- I cannot remember them!

I checked my Hotmail and they're all gone! Then you say, "what the fuck," well, this isn't my fault.

As soon as I transferred from Moorhead to Madison, I e-mailed all of my old classic e-mails from the Moorhead UNIX e-mail server to my Hotmail account. Well, I must've gotten a little full one day -- over my 5 MB limit -- then Hotmail started to delete them. Fuck!

Now, Hotmail's decided to give me 250 MB of e-mail space -- a little late, you turds. All of my e-mails previous of 2000 are gone, including all of the Moorhead e-mails. But a huge heads-up goes to Mike, he printed them off long ago and saved em', 'cause they're that damn good!

Don't Worry ... Still Alive!

Hello, folks! This is Tony comin' at you live from Madison S-D, bringing you the hard from hardcore! ... (what?!)

I'm alive, yes, but don't you worry, I'll be back posting as much as I can, as often as I can, but I took a little hit last week as you may know -- a little nasty head cold -- but I'll get into more detail on that later.

Top topics for the past couple days for TonyTimes:

-- Sick, sick, and more sick!
-- Wedding Dance in Madison on Saturday night: drunk, drunk, and more drunk!
-- Ryan Newman -- the good, the bad, and possibly the ugly!
-- Lil' Troy gets a new truck! (You bastard, I'm jealous than hell!)
-- Fantasy Football Update! "Nine Years" is 1-1!
-- Vikings/Eagles -- stupid fuckin' Vikes!
-- no money, no money, and no money (until next damn week!)
-- And Tony's busy week...

...all in TonyTimes!

Classic E-Mail from Mike

This was written January 20, 2000.

"Man It seems like a long time ago when I wrote that Imagine poem.
Reminds me of the good old days, when hope ruled ones life. It's so
damn cold today I would hate to be a women with big tits. You could cut
right threw the air with them baby's pointing out. So you taking some
special lady to that dance thing or what?
Sean still talking about getting hooked up with spuds. He needs to find
a new women to wack it to."

Oh, man. We might get in trouble for this one.

Any Regrets?

As I think back on my past years in college -- is there much regret that I screwed around for so long with absolutely no direction in life, due to the fact that I was finally independent and I could do whatever I wanted?

Yeah, I do regret those days when I was out all night in Fargo/Moorhead, drinking until the early morning hours, hanging out with friends -- all the while my homework and my responsibility was sitting on my desk. Wednesdays through Sundays, I was in a drunken haze. I didn't care about school or anything; I would usually go to one or two classes a week, the rest of the time: playing PSOne during the day hours (Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2) and go all out all night.

I really didn't have the best environment either, my old roommate for a year and a half, Nick, was just as bad. He would drink Southern Comfort like there was no tomorrow, sleep in all day, go out at night with his "girlfriends." One night, my room and the room across the hall was host to the largest on-campus party that got busted. Brew's room across the hall, had 17 people in it -- and these rooms! 10 feet by 8 feet, and most of that is taken up by closet and desk space. Also got hit up for having Concordia girls in my room past 2:00 a.m. Yeah -- nothing happened, but I had to do 2 hours of community service.

But the memories! I have to consider them a learning experience. I'm glad now that MOST of that kind of behavior is now out of my system. But my Moorhead days, the two years right after high school, wow. It was always good to have my old friends in high school coming up to visit and party the Moorhead way (although we were minors), but I remember Sean and Steve sleeping on the top floor of a residence hall (in one I actually didn't live in), Aaron coming up from college in Iowa and FALLING OFF my roommate's loft and he said, "I thought I was Superman." Yeah, he was smashed. And Mike and Jarrod, heading up to Moorhead after DJ-ing a dance, gets to Moorhead at 6:30 in the morning, drunk all the way up, wanting to drink. I was up all night waiting for those guys, watching "GoldenEye" on VHS, and finally drifting off. The phone rang, so I picked it up and hung it up. Then it rang again, then my mind started to function -- it was Mike and Jarrod. After all that beer they drank, they had some serious stinky-ass! My room was in a green haze, but then I convinced them that we should sleep for a while, then it's off to party!

But yeah -- my Moorhead days were bad and I do regret them, but I still love the times and memories that occurred at 287 Holmquist Hall.

P.S. I should put some of Mike's and my e-mails on here, when Mike went to SSU. They were hilarious.

Oh, Man...

I thought yesterday I was feeling better. Err, maybe not.

Last night, I was up half the night hacking away. Katie didn't care for it obviously, and I also got the kitten's attention as they tried to find out what that noise was by scratching at the door.

I had an 8:00 a.m. class today and I was serious doubting that I should go. Well, I finally did drag myself out, made it on time, but due to my mind all messed up, I totally forgot today's assignment. Oops.

And the weather ... just plain crappy. It's finally making its turn towards the fall season, the leaves and crops are starting to change -- and in the meantime, we've got a steady drizzle here in eastern South Dakota.

Also, I have to get my application together before October 4th so I can student teach next spring. That means hours of getting paperwork put together, reports written, all that stuff. Is it worth it? Damn right it is!

Last night I called home and called to my mom (for financial reasons) and she asked me how school was going. Usually I would reply, "It's okay," but this time, I actually surprised myself. I said that I was all-fired up, ready to go. The end is finally in sight -- 9 years in college, what can I say? I've finally pulled some motivation together and I'm going for it.

Kick ass and ask questions later.

Ha Ha

The Blue Team lost.

38-7.

Eat it, you fucking pompous bitches.

Newman Finishes 20th -- Squeaks In to "The Chase"

I damned near died from exhaustion from watching the race at Richmond, VA on Saturday night.

First off, good things were happening. Ryan started on the pole (5th of the year) and ran really good to start things off. He was Top 5 all day, then cautions were flying left and right -- but since Ryan was in the front, all was well.

Then something happened that usually never happens at the Richmond short track -- a long, green flag run. We were about to watch green flag pit stops for the first time that night. Most of the leaders were coming in, including Ryan, for tires and fuel. That put Ryan and others a couple of laps down, so I'm praying for the rest of the field to cycle through their green flag stops so Ryan would get back out in front -- and avoid a caution.

Wouldn't you know it -- Dale Jarrett and Jimmy Spencer get together and the yellow flag waves. Shit -- Ryan's in 18th! Before, he was safely in "The Chase," the Top 10 drivers in the points standings would get into the run for the championship starting next week in New Hampshire. Ryan was teetering on the edge, showing him currently in 10th place in the standings and just a few points ahead of Jamie McMurray who was charging to the front.

You see, every guy Jamie passes, he gains points. If Ryan gets passed, he loses points. Ryan was backing up little by little, then reports came in that Ryan might run out of gas -- 8 laps short. I was pissed, freaking out the whole while and Katie was telling me to settle down. I couldn't! I was pacing around the room, trying to figure out ways to see how Ryan could still get into "The Chase." I was yelling at the TV -- "Pass Jamie!" or "Don't pass Ryan, dammit!!"

Then it finally came down to the last 5 laps. The leader at the time, Kurt Busch, had run out of gas and Jeremy Mayfield, who looked like he would get into "The Chase," had taken the lead. Then, Ryan received word that his gas would barely make it -- then, a stroke of luck. Jamie McMurray's engine started to go, he was running on 7 cylinders instead of 8. Jamie was yelling over the radio -- "Don't pass me!" But guys were flying by him. Mayfield took the checkered flag and took the 9th spot in "The Chase," while Ryan held out and crossed the line in 20th place, taking the 10th spot in "The Chase." McMurray, finished 15 points behind Ryan and currently sits 11th in the points, not making "The Chase for the Cup."

Here are the 10 guys who will compete in the next ten races for the championship:

Jeff Gordon
Jimmie Johnson
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Tony Stewart
Matt Kenseth
Elliott Sadler
Kurt Busch
Mark Martin
Jeremy Mayfield
Ryan Newman

Those top ten guys will now have their points reset -- Gordon will be in 1st with 5050 points, and it'll drop 5 points down the line. Ryan will start with 5005 points. As for the other racers who didn't make "The Chase," they'll try to reach for 11th place, which holds a $1 million bonus at the end of the season. They will race along side the contenders for the Cup, but I don't think it'll be too friendly out there.

Next race is at New Hampshire, the track where Ryan picked up his first ever Cup win in 2002, helping to solidify his title for the Rookie of the Year. It's going to be a nerve-wracking 10 races to Homestead-Miami, but nothing will ever compare to that race in Richmond last Saturday night.

Fantasy Football Crap

Week 1 -- I took the loss. My opponent had Priest Holmes. He simply kicked my ass.

Total points:

Me: 142.80 Opponent: 160.44

I'm currently ranked 8th out of 12.

I was so pissed at some of my guys, like Jerry Rice (good-bye!). I made huge adjustments to my team. I picked up Antonio Bryant, wide receiver of the Cowboys; David Givens, wide receiver of the Patriots; and Antoine Winfield, a defensive back for the Vikings. I dropped Rice, WR Brandon Lloyd, and defensive player Michael Strahan.

My other QB, Michael Vick, didn't have a great game, along with my RB T.J. Duckett. Warrick Dunn scored the rushing touchdowns for the Falcons instead.

My biggest shot in the foot is getting rid of Jerome Bettis -- or is it? 5 carries, 1 yard, 3 TD's -- who knows. He would have given me 18 points, but I think I still would have lost.

Next week, I play an opponent who also lost in Week 1, and I scored more points than he did. His key players are:

Well, LaDainian Tomlinson of the Chargers. That's about it. Otherwise, he's got Steve McNair who was horrible Week 1 and Jeff Garcia. Other than that, nobody else who stands out.

Michigan and the Vikings

Michigan gets upset at South Bend playing the Fighting Irish (thanks for the comment, Robb). Not a happy camper on Saturday. I'll have to admit, it was quite a boring game, 9 to nothing lead at halftime, then the Irish storm back in the 4th quarter. It was all about the defense in that game. Michigan also slips BIG TIME in the standings, they're 17th in the nation in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The Vikings, on the other hand, had me a little worried in the beginning on the game. Dalls dominated the 1st quarter, owning like 13 of the 15 minutes that quarter. Then the Vikings offense kicked in -- Daunte with 5 TD passes, 2 to Randy Moss -- wow. 35-17, I'm thinking playoffs, baby! But next week, they play another potent offense in Philadelphia on Monday Night Football. Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens hooked up three times, so the Minnesota D-backs better be ready.

But I have never seen the Minnesota offense so efficient and so smooth before. Usually, Daunte will have hot and then cold streaks during a game, but he was on!

Sick ... Ish ...

I think it all started Friday night. After work, I headed down to The Cocktail in Madison to do a little karoke singing. Of course, I really wasn't in the mood to be there in the first place, but after a couple of Morgan Cokes, damn -- I was ready to take on the world.

A buddy of mine, Tate, comes up to me and says,

"Hey, are we going to sing our 'Man of Constant Sorrow' tonight?" Tate asked.

"Hell, yeah! I saw you walking across campus today and I was going to holla at you about it, but I thought better of it. Write it up!" Tony replied.

Tate laughed.

Yep, so we got up there and started our tradition, singing "Man of Constant Sorrow" from the Soggy Bottom Boys -- or just watch the "O' Brother, Where Art Thou" movie.

Right from the beginning, I knew something wasn't right. Usually Tate and I mop up on this song and everybody in the joint is going ape-shit. We just didn't have it that night. We simply struggle staying on tune, but we did it. We got the usual applause.

Then Katie's cousin, Lisa, shows up. She wants to get loaded, so she's hitting them back one at a time. She gets the grand idea that she wants to sing a little ditty, so she asks me if she wants to sing.

"Hey, wanna sing a song with me?" Lisa asks.

"Uh, I don't know ... what song do you want to sing?" Tony asks.

Lisa flips through the book. "How about 'Picture?'" Lisa asks.

"I don't know that song," Tony replies. Katie give him a stern look.

"You do to know that song! You sing it all the time on the radio. It's that Kid Rock-Sheryl Crow song." Katie said.

A light blinks in Tony's head. "Oh, that song! Sure, write us up."

It's a nice little duo with a guy and a girl. It took about an hour for us to finally get up there, and by that time, I was 5 sheets to the wind.

I did my best up there, since it has been a long time since I heard that song, and my harshest critic was myself. I consider myself a pretty good singer (based on my past experiences), but for some reason, I wasn't happy with myself. Better bring in "Spinal Tap" for next time (Hello, Cleveland!)

It wasn't until the later stages on Sunday and into Monday that I figured out what the hell was going on. I'm sick -- the same shit that had been going around for the past month. Katie had it, people at work had it -- I thought I was invincible since I had been taking my vitamins and I was fighting off the attack. But nope, on Monday its been full-blown, and I'm still feeling like crap now. Hopefully this'll pass in a couple of days.

Weekend Plans -- September 10-12

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, besides it being the Vikings home opener at the Metrodome.

Tonight after work, there's Cock Night (my little nickname for karoke) at The Cocktail. Katie's parents own The Cocktail, which means I get to drink for free! Yay!

Saturday is going to be a day for preparation. Michigan plays Notre Dame on NBC at 2:30 p.m., then afterwards, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series will run at Richmond. I'm going to super-stressed out, since Ryan is in 8th place in the points standings, and he needs to be in the Top 10 in the points to stick in the Chase for the Cup. It could get interesting.

On Sunday, again, it's Vikings Time. Plus, I'll have to keep track of all of my guys on my Fantasy team, while I also keep track of the guys I'm up against. In the head-to-head match-up, here's who I'm up against:

QB Byron Leftwich
QB David Carr
RB Priest Holmes
RB Dominick Davis
WR Chad Johnson
WR Lauverneus Coles
WR Steve Smith
TE Randy McMichael
TE L.J. Smith
K Matt Stover
DEF Dallas Cowboys
D-PLayer Rodney Harrison

I feel pretty confident that I'll take this week! More on this on Monday.

NASCAR 2005 Update

This is where I'm going to start to get creative.

In my Second Season running full-time Modifieds and Truck Series, I'm starting to pile up some wins, mainly in the Modified Series. In 10 starts, I have 5 wins, 6 Top 5's, and 7 Top 10's.

The big surprise is the Truck Series, in which they put me in a crappy truck (1 star out of 5). So far after 12 starts, I already have 2 wins -- one coming at the super-challenging Dodge Raceway Stadium.

I might have to delve into Crash Publishing, Inc. on this one. I might get a little creative, introducing a story line or something, just trying to heighten the excitement over my racing career. So far, I do not own my own race team -- probably in the Third Season, in which I'll buy a Modified team under the STUDS Racing, Inc. banner, hire a driver, while I concentrate on Truck Series and hopefully win a Busch ride.

I'll bring in some familiar characters, of course!

More on this as it develops.

Newman Runs IROC Race in Richmond -- 2nd!

The third out of four IROC (International Race of Champions) races were run at Richmond last night. Ryan started back of the pack (due to points standings) and made his way all the way up to 2nd, where he finished behind winner Matt Kenseth.

Newman now takes the points lead with 50 points, 4 points over Matt Kenseth. The next race will be in Atlanta on October 30.

My view: Damn! I didn't get to see the race last night due to work, but Ryan is in the hot seat for the championship. Since he is in 1st place in the points, he will start dead last -- 12th -- for the race in Atlanta.

Fantasy -- Colts vs. Patriots

As soon as I got done with work, I drove home REAL QUICK-LIKE to watch the Colts and the Patriots. I had three players playing in that game: QB Tom Brady, TE Daniel Graham, and K Mike Vanderjagt.

Brady was a stud. According to Yahoo!, he threw for 335 yards, 3 TD's, and 1 interception. All together, 29.3 points.

Daniel Graham was a huge surprise, becoming a major player in the Pats offense. He caught 7 passes for 57 yards, including TD reception -- which was HUGE! 18.7 points.

Mike Vanderjagt, on the other hand, kicked 3 extra points, made one and missed one field goal. 6 points. This is a guy who was a perfect 37/37 in field goals last year. Pfff!

Sunday is the big day, where my other guys are going in full-blast. It seems like Ontarrio Smith will get the majority of the carries on Sunday, sharing the duties with Moe Williams. He might even be able to play the Eagles in Week 2. Bad news: Michael Bennett might not be back until October 10, when the Vikes play the Houston Texans. Crap!

Madden 2005 Update

I played my first game in the pre-season with the difficulty level set at All-Pro. I won the game against the Cleveland Browns, 34-21.

Yes, it is more challenging for obvious reasons, and with the increase in difficulty, it brings a sense of realism. Daunte Culpepper struggled, throwing two interceptions and he did manage to chuck one to Randy Moss for a TD. My best quarterback for the day was my 2nd Round draft pick, Zack Mills.

My running game is still about the same, although for team rushing yardage I didn't cross the 100-yard mark. Michael Bennett played the first half, then Moe Williams 3rd quarter, and Ontarrio Smith 4th quarter. Bennett and Smith showed flashes -- and so far, there isn't a position battle for the top running back spot on my depth chart.

Fantasy Football -- Pressure!!

Well, the season officially opens tonight with Indianapolis going to New England.

I've got three players playing in that game tonight: Tom Brady, Daniel Graham, and Mike Vanderjagt.

Tom Brady is listed as probabable (shoulder). He'll most likely get the start for New England.

On the other hand, I'm still closely watching my other guys as they gear up for Sunday's games. On top of that list is again, my running backs, whether or not Ontarrio Smith will get some playing time in the Vikings-Cowboys game. The other problems that I have is that my wide receiver, Peter Warrick and tight end Jeremy Shockey, are also both listed as probabable. I really do not want to give them up due to their abilities in the down run, so I'm just hoping that they'll play and give me some valuable points.

These Damned Blue Teamers!

One of my graduation requirements is to take a wellness lab, or "gym class" before I graduate. So I decided to do raquet sports, ya know -- tennis, raquetball, and badminton.

Well, since I'm obviously the oldest in the class, I'm stuck with a bunch of freshmen. Some of these freshmen (or sophomores) are Blue Teamers, athletes who were "bribed" to play for our college teams. We got a couple of young football-ers playing raquet sports, and whoa.

You'd think that they rolled out the red carpet for these fucks and handed them the world on a silver platter. Just the attitude of these guys simply baffles me. It's "I'm better than you," or "You don't do it right," and "Woo! Look at me!" and all that crap. They haven't said that stuff directly to me, but they're sure blunt in telling others that.

So, if you're good at football (or more likely "sitting on the bench") you're good at all the sports also? That's what they're basically saying!

See, back in the day I got along with the football players. They were cool, everybody got along with everybody. Then after a couple of more freshman classes came through, these guys got that attitude. It's like being in high school again -- it's getting more "cliquey-er" every year. Then a couple of guys I knew a few years ago formed "The Red Team," a group of guy who would do anything at all possible to make "The Blue Team" feel miserable. One evening, some "Red Teamers" shaving creamed a "Blue Teamers" door in one of the dorms. It was pretty funny.

My argument against these guys is that they play NAIA Division III football. They're just a step better than high school ball but cannot even make it to play NCAA D-III ball. They don't even test for drugs in NAIA -- well, no wonder. They juiced up their egos instead.

I'll be seeing these little "Blue Teamers" here in a half-hour for class and I'll give you and update. I don't see why I should care about this, but this has bugged me for a couple of years now. Nobody is better than anybody else!

STUDS Racing, Inc.

With NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup taking up the most time in my PS2 lately, STUDS Racing, Inc. is in full effect.

At the start of the game, you are challenged to race Ryan Newman in a couple of Dodge Vipers. I beat him, in turn he offered me a contract to drive one of his Modified cars. Cool deal!

My first season was a struggle, since I didn't have the best equipment for my car. I finished with no wins, 2 Top 5's and 8 Top 10's out of 16 events. Also at the end of my season, I was offered a test session at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a Craftsman Truck, in which I got the offer to drive in three races at the end of the season.

During my Second Season, I was given better equipment for my Modified and it shows, with 4 wins so far. I also got a full-ride in the Craftsman Truck Series, so I've been dabbling in that (although not so well). In the Modified Series, I had a commanding 98 point lead, but in my last couple of starts, I finished 21st and 22nd (out of 22 cars), due to spin outs and the such. I'm now like 90 points back and in 3rd in the points, but I'll be returning to the tracks in which I've had success before in the beginning of the season. Truck Series, well, I've managed to get a couple of Top 10 finishes, but with a poor handling truck -- I'm usually beating and banging on other guys. Then they get all pissed off, picking fights with me at the end of races and my agent is getting phone calls asking me whether I should "ignore" or say "I'm sorry" to the guy I pissed off.

I also got a Busch Grand National test session at IRP, but I wasn't fast enough. Crap.

The Third Season comes with a little optimism for STUDS Racing, Inc., because I'm thinking that I'm going to buy a Modified team, perform all the ownership responsibilities (signing sponsors, training pit crews, hiring drivers, etc.) and drive full-time in the Truck Series. I'm not sure how it all works, but I do have enough money to buy a Modified Team, so I'll probably do it and put it under the STUDS Racing, Inc. banner.

More on this as it develops.

Madden 2005 Update

I've won my first Super Bowl, beating up on the New England Patriots 63-13 in a rainy game at ALLTEL Stadium in Jacksonville. A game before that, I beat the Seattle Seahawks 91-3 in the NFC Championship game.

But then came the off-season. I re-signed a couple of my restricted free agents, Brian Williams and Chris Claiborne (both All-Pro) and moved on to my unstricted free agent list. On top of that list was Chris Hovan, who I signed to a 4-year deal worth around 25 million. After all was said and done, I only had about $2.25 million left in salary cap room (after I started out with over $18 million) and I didn't even start my NFL Draft yet!

Since my punter retired, my first round pick was a punter, which garnered a lot of boos. My second round pick was Zack Mills, a quarterback out of Penn State. Cheers!

I went on through the draft, picking up Darren Sproles, a running back from Kansas State and picking up other defensive players. But I didn't enough money to sign all of my guys. I only signed my punter and Mills, and anybody who I picked in the 3rd round and under, I couldn't sign. Before training camp began, I was missing four players, so I needed one guard, two tackles, and a cornerback. I cut a couple of players and signed guys on REALLY cheap -- so all in all, I'm lacking depth at some positions.

I haven't started any of my pre-season games yet, but I jacked up with level of difficulty to All-Pro, so hopefully that'll give me a challenge as I go for my second straight Super Bowl!

Things to think about for the future: all three of my running backs are having contracts to expire at the end of the Second Season; Michael Bennett, Moe Williams, and Ontarrio Smith. I also need to think about my coaches, since head coach Mike Tice's contract is up.

Whoofta!

Fantasy Football Update

I'm up at odds right now over my running back situation. The season officially starts on Thursday night, but I need running backs for Sunday's games.

Word had it that while Michael Bennett is out for Week 1, Ontarrio Smith would get to play, although he faces a 4-game suspension from the NFL over its substance use policy. Rumors had it that Smith would start, so I dropped Jerome Bettis and picked up Smith.

Now, Coach Mike Tice says that Moe Williams will start for the Vikings and Smith's "availability" is in the air. For crying out loud! Although the Star Tribune says that Smith will get the majority of the carries -- eh, I just don't know. I don't have a back-up running back (besides Bennett), so I just might take one in the butt for Week 1. Hopefully my other guys, like Michael Vick, Tom Brady, and Randy Moss will take over big time and get me a lot of points.

Other news -- my tight end Jeremy Shockey is good to go! He was battling hamstring and foot problems throughout the pre-season (he didn't play in any of those games) but he's good to play in the opener vs. Philadelphia.

Newman Finishes 5th -- 8th in Points

Like I said before, I was nervous as hell to watch the race at California on Sunday night. As a fan of NASCAR, you just never know what could happen -- Ryan could get taken out and his shot for the Chase for the Cup could end, who knows.

Ryan Newman drove the white, red, and black Sony Wega Dodge this race, looking sleek underneath the lights. Ryan didn't do too bad, staying in the Top 15 all race long while fighting a loose condition. Ryan also had a bad head cold, but he managed to keep his focus throughout the race, making the right adjustments, and by the time it was all over, Elliott Sadler, driver of the #38 M&M's Ford, won his second race of the season while Ryan took fifth.

Now, Ryan is sitting 8th in points. He needs to be in the Top 10 after next Saturday night's race in Richmond to be in the Chase. The points race is tight between 8th place and 15ht, so anything can happen. Lucky for Ryan, Richmond has been good to him -- he won at Richmond last year.

My New Job

Let me begin to tell you what I relief it is to get off the floor. On the other hand, I do feel bad for letting them work out there with the lack of help, since now us college kids are on part-time and don't put in the full hours any longer.

The floor is a complete mess, while I'm off by myself, working on a couple things that aren't physically demanding. Some days, when the bogie robot is down, I help out a guy, Roger, with the ski drill machine. We drill and box for shipment over 400 skis a night, not too bad -- all the while we're hamming it up, telling stories about how stupid work is and just other stuff.

I also love my part time hours. 6 hours a night, so I'm home by 9 or 10 o' clock each night and I've got some time to get my homework done and spend time with Katie and the kitties. Since I'm off the floor now, I don't even get asked to come in on the weekends any more. I guess the company has decided to put in a couple of months of weekend work, asking some employees to work 12 hour days. Ridiculous! I'd rather watch my football and racing!

On the downside, I don't get as much money, of course -- and to make matters worse is that I still don't have my financial aid!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Well, the weekend was what I needed. Although during the summer months I had all the time in the world to do other things (besides work), but after the first week of school and having the three-day weekend, it was welcomed.

On Saturday, I paid the $20 over Dish Network to watch Michigan's home opener against Miami of Ohio. A tight game during the first half -- there just wasn't much scoring going on! Matt Guiterrez, Michigan's senior starter at quarterback, was out with a shoulder injury and head coach Lloyd Carr put in a true freshman, Chad Henne -- who didn't do too bad of a job!

• Chad Henne -- 14 completions on 24 attempts, 142 yards, 2 TD's, 1 Int.

Michigan won big, 43-10. Miami of Ohio simply ran out of gas in the second half, making stupid plays (Michigan picked them off 6 times) and the penalties were unbearable.

Next week though, Michigan goes to South Bend to play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on NBC -- a game at least I don't have to pay for.

Later on that Saturday, Katie and I drove to Sioux Falls to do a little engagement ring shopping. We first stopped at Riddle's (on the corner of 41st and Louise) and that place was an absolute joke. For something that Katie wanted, I was looking at $3000 for a 1/2 carat, and she agreed, that wasn't going to happen. We then ventured over to the mall, looked through Kay's and a couple of other places, but we found what she wanted at Greenberg's. All together, it'll probably cost me around $2400 (it's no secret, Katie knows), but the deal on the wedding band for her was too hard to pass up. It'll only cost $140! Greenberg's also has a sale, and the guy said that if I come after October 2nd, he'll still give me the sale price. But, on the downside, I still don't have my financial aid and I cannot do anything about it.

On Sunday, we slept in. I really didn't do much all day, just eager to watch the Sunday night NASCAR race at California. When the time did come around, I was nervous as hell. Ryan Newman was sitting in 10th in points, and after the race in Richmond, Virginia next Saturday night, the top 10 drivers are locked in for the Chase for the Championship. More on that later.

Katie got a call from her aunt in Madison, saying that she found a sickly-looking cat underneath one of her shrubs. Katie drove into town, finding a malnurished kitten. So far for the past couple of days, we've had it in our basement, feeding it and cleaning out its eyes from krud. It must not have eaten in a while, since it puked all over, and it had the "trots." But today, it looks better -- it's starting to meow and we've also found out that it's a female kitten, so we promptly named it "Eleanor,"keeping in check of the other Roosevelt kittens that we've adopted, "Teddy" and "Franklin."

On Labor Day, I didn't have to work but Katie did, so I cleaned the house and played the PS2 all day long. Later that night, I drove into Madison to stop at Andy's house (a native of Renville, MN) and dropped off a PS2 game that he wanted to borrow (NHL 2004) and while I was there, I mopped them all up on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.

Fantasy Football Moves

I dropped Tyrone Calico (knee surgery) and Jason Taylor, and in their places I picked up Brandon Lloyd, a wide-out from San Francisco and Michael Strahan, the big man on the d-line for the Giants.

I'm still looking for a running back to replace Michael Bennett for Week 1.

Mr. Belding Makes An Appearance

On Wednesday, Dennis Haskins, aka Mr. Belding from "Saved By The Bell," was in Madison to do his little comedy routine (I was at work). After I had finished work, I went down to The Cocktail to visit with Hoff (bartender) and wouldn't you know it, Mr. Belding was sitting there with a bunch of other college kids -- drinking!

I had one beer myself, but I didn't go over and talk with the guy. There were so many people gawking over him, even little high school girls were coming in and giggling away.

So far, the SAB geeks have now had Screech (Dustin Diamond) and now Mr. Belding. With all the money they have in that club, you'd think they'd get somebody better. Nostalgic, I guess ... remembering all those old "Saved By The Bell" episodes that we'd used to watch after school.

Fantasy Football -- Crap!

Michael Bennett's hurt going into Week 1 of the regular season, a game vs. the Cowboys. Maybe it's for the better, since the Cowboys had the top-rated defense in 2003.

So, I'm looking for new guys now and all the good ones are gone. My reserve is Jerome Bettis, but I'm a little skeptical about him. He's not the starter anymore (behine Duce Staley), but I'm hoping once the Steelers get inside the Red Zone, they'll pound some scores in with The Bus.

I'm looking through some of the status' of my players on Yahoo!, and most of them are gimpy. Besides Bennett, Michael Vick has a tight hamstring, reserve WR Tyrone Calico is banged up, TE Jeremy Shockey is "questionable" for his opener, and WR Peter Warrick is coming off knee surgery but plans to play.

For crying out loud -- this is not what I needed! Top priority: find a RB to replace Bennett for Week 1, and that might mean letting Jerome Bettis go. If I cannot find someone better, Bettis will probably get the start.

The Vikings Make Some Moves

The big story from the Vikings camp is that Brock Lesnar was released. No biggie, although Coach Mike Tice is hoping that he'll play from NFL Europe ball, under a Vikings contract.

Also, since Aaron Elling messed up BIG TIME during that pre-season game with the 49ers, Tice got sick of it and let him go, signing Brett Conway to the team and seeing if he can do something a little bit better in the last pre-season game vs. the Seahawks.

Conspiracy at Work

Just when I thought that work couldn't get any dumber, we -- as in the entire 2nd shift -- were floored when we found out some bad news regarding the new supervisor position.

Let's start from the beginning. Jim has been our lead man for years. Now, he has decided to retire and his job is posted. As far as I know, only two people put their names in for it. Amie, who's been a staple on 2nd shift for around 7 years, was actually suggested by Jim to the front office to take over his spot. Then there's this guy from 3rd shift -- we won't name names -- but this guy, I cannot even type it out. He's been hired here three different times, quit once, and even got fired one time due to drug use.

For the past couple of weeks, Jim has been giving Amie instructions on how to shut down the compressors, hydraulics, and locking up the place every Friday nights, and she even got passwords from the front office to access the computer system. And the other guy, from what I can judge -- is completely LAZY with a capital L. All this guy does is walk around and doesn't do SHIT for the half hour/hour time our shift spends with 3rd shift.

Well, on Monday, it was decided that this guy on 3rd shift got the lead job for 2nd shift. It was basically a public outrage when I got to work on Monday and into Tuesday, with Jim going into the front office and literally chewed butt while he was in there. Amie, on the other hand, was simply devastated. She left work early on Monday and we couldn't hardly blame her, got totally smashed Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday. It was been decided that if Amie quits, there's going to be a mass walk-out of people quitting. Why should we work for somebody else?!

As for my situation, I am no longer involved in production, so I'm torn in a sense. Yes, I do feel for Amie and how she basically got screwed over, but this guy will have no "jurisdiction" over me, and I need the money! As we all think, Amie will most likely quit, followed by co-worker Al, and other co-worker John will move onto another place in the plant. The others who work with us, will probably stay put simply because they haven't worked there long.

But what motivated the front office, what is basically comprised of three people, made the decision to hire the guy from 3rd shift? Doesn't seniority rule anymore? I think it's flat out sexual discrimination -- but that I have to contradict myself, since 1st and 3rd shifts are supervised by women. Amie and one of the members of the front office have been at odds for some time now, but that's of little insigificance.

We, 2nd shift and mostly Amie, deserve an explanation. Plain and simple.

P.S. Last year, when "they" were advertising for a maintenance job, Amie put in for it. She knows mechanics inside and out -- she is a little tomboyish -- but she was a shoo-in for the job. On top of that, they wanted someone from inside the company, avoiding hiring somebody new. Well -- they hired someone new, a man -- and Amie was screwed over!

WORK = HORSESHIT