"Work In Your Rooms..." Day

For some reason, there was just so little to do for our in-service this year. Last year, it seemed like we had something going on every single minute of the day.

With the exception of yesterday, this in-service was a breeze, and at the same time, a bore. We are required to be at school for these in-services, but I have to laugh at these "work-in-your-rooms" days because it seems like they've run out of ideas to lecture us teachers on.

It just seems during these do-nothing days, you can kick back and watch a little SportsCenter or whatever. Nobody cares, just as long as you're in your room and you "look" like you're doing something. Today, I was actually trying to get something done, since I'm planning the work-based learning program this year and I had to coordinate a meeting for the parents and students participating that was held tonight.

Once I found something to do, it was amazing how the time flew by. Soon, I was counting the minutes and was soon pressed for time to get things typed up, printed off, copies made, so on and so forth. Before I knew it, it was 3:15 p.m. and I had to do some coaching.

Everybody was like that today, at least I wasn't the only one. I'm still not satisfied about things around the school and I still need a lot of things to be done, but everybody's like that. I'm upset that I don't have a software program installed on my computers, I'm upset with the state's educational standards, I'm upset at the school's financial situation, I'm upset with my personal life.

After a great rebound from a horrible summer with a great month of August, I'm sorry to see it go. But at the same time I'm welcoming the month of September with optimism and confidence -- a second-year teacher with a re-newed and wiser look on life. I just cannot take nothing for granted any longer.

"How's the football team doing, Tony?" you might ask. Solid, I reply.

Like I've said before, this 8th grade bunch is a very physical group of boys. I had most of them last year in 7th grade baseball and my expectations are high. Today, we just started some full-contact offense versus defense and already, I've got some kids who come to hit. Sure, you've got a few here and there that are complete "marshmellows," but they too, are getting better.

Our running game is already unsurpassed and these guys are outright smart. It took almost until the 2nd to the last game of the season last year for guys to know the plays and already, this team knows all the plays for one formation (10 in all). I've "dumbed" it down, made it simpler, and maybe that was our problem last year.

I'm looking forward to our game next Thursday as we open at home.

A Day I Won't Get Back

Kill me now.

Meetings. Networking. Blah-blah-blah-ing.

Sitting. Sweaty palms. Fidgeting.

Headaches. Walking. Getting lost at the worst university ever. Who built this fuckin' place?!

I'm actually thinking of a career change -- I know I'm over-reacting. But I'm a gutsy-mother-fucker. I'm going to tough it out.

My beef? This endless, pointless, mindless sessions. Let's just get back to the nitty-gritty and start doing what we're trained to do: TEACH.

While I'm ranting, my right knee is killing me -- it has ever since the city league softball tournament. I just can't figure it out. My hamstring is killing me and my knee sometimes "pops" something fierce. Great, just great.

Thank God Labor Day is around the corner. I can celebrate a day that dedicates itself to work by not working.

I'm heading back to the Home Town for some last-minute fun, do another Fantasy Football draft, drink some beer and kick it.

Hopefully the hot tub's in.

Nooch.

In-Service

In life, there is nothing more boring to a teacher than an in-service day. Unfortunately for us, we get 3 days in a row of in-service days before the actual school year starts.

What does an in-service day consist of? Meetings. Meetings that, according to the schedule, it'll take an hour to get through a certain matter. 5 minutes into a meeting, it's over.

"Go back to your rooms and work, folks!"

Things will be run a little bit differently this year due to a change in the administration. We have a new high school/middle school principal this year. Will things change for the better? As far as coaches go, things seem to be a little bit easier so far. The new guy, who has been an administrator for the past 16 years, knows what he's doing.

As for me, I'm not going to take it easy this year. I've got one year under my belt -- something which was short of a disaster -- but it was a learning experience for me. I'm going to give off a "cooler" attitude this year, meaning that I won't take much crap from anyone. I'm already showing it on the field -- and it's going to carry on over to the classroom.

It's ironic that I've got hoards of students signing up for my classes, thinking that they're slack, but they're going to be in for a treat!

NCAA 07 Update

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have successfully defended their National Championship.

My Second Season started out easy as I mopped up on some Division I-AA teams, but after I got into the Big Ten schedule, things actually took a turn for the worse, as my quarterback with throwing interceptions (it seemed like everything was tipped for a pick) and I simply had no running game whatsoever. There were a few victories in which I just eeked out wins, something that was pretty uncomfortable to deal with!

After convincing victories over Penn State and Ohio State, the Gophers basically sewn into the National Championship game against USC. Both teams were undefeated at 12-0 records -- and it showed how tough it was in the Championship game itself.

I fell behind early 10-0 but came back on a 100-yard interception return to put the Gophs on the board 10-7. For a while there, I couldn't figure out their passing attack, so I let up on blitzing so much and dropped back into a 4-3 Cover 3 defense which really held their offense.

At the half, it was 20-14, USC in the lead. But in the end, with a new-found stifling defense, Minnesota pulled through with a 28-20 victory.

As for the "created player," I again had an outstanding year with lots of hardware taking up the trophy case. Although I put up impressive numbers, it still won't be compared to the Nate Burleson-era at Nevada!

My wide receiver finished with 127 receptions, 2200+ receiving yards and 30 touchdown receptions. The hardware for my guy alone is as follows:

• Heisman Trophy Winner (Top 3 finalists, including my player, were Gophers)
• Maxwell Award Winner (best offensive player)
• Best WR Trophy
• 1st Team All-American
• All-American Academic Team (3.9 GPA)
• 1st Team All-Big Ten

Other awards given to the Gophers:

• Best QB Trophy
• Best Head Coach Trophy
• Best Offensive Lineman Trophy
• Bednarik Trophy (best defensive player)
• Best LB Trophy
• Rimington Trophy (best center)
• Groza Trophy (best kicker)
• Back-to-Back National Championships
• Big Ten Championship

I currently have a 27-game win streak after my first win of the Third Season, an awesome 80-0 win over Alabama State.

First Day of Practice -- Nasty!

Oh, God.

For some reason, I knew it was a good day to keep the cell phone on me this morning.

Today, during this cold and wet morning, our 8th graders finally took the field for the first time this season. They were all anxious as usual, strapping up and running all over the place.

After the other coach and I finally settled them down, we were set to go.

Again, I'm in charge of the backs, offensive and defensive, so after running a few drills, I decided to do a little route-running.

After running 7-yard outs and slants, I wanted to test our quarterbacks out. We went for a post pattern ... things were well until one of our best players dove for a ball across the middle.

Crunch.

That's all I heard, then came the immediate yelping. The kid's arm broke at the wrist at such an angle that I couldn't comprehend what I was looking at.

It just looked like the hand and wrist was shoved back straight off the arm bone. The bone itselt was close to sticking out the skin. He was naturally hollering, so I did my best to calm him down. My instincts kicked in like automatic -- I yelled at the other coach and told him to call an ambulance (because there was no way that we could have done anything for this) so he ran back to the school.

I forgot that I actually had my cell phone on me, so I quickly called this player's mother. All I had to do was keep the kid breathing deep breaths, settle him down, and just talk to the kid. I felt so bad -- not only was he a great player, but his season is over with from Day One.

The ambulance arrived, along with a police escort, and they stabilized his arm. It was painful for him as they were doing it, so painful in fact that he could not sit up on his own power. They put him on a body-board and hauled him off on a stretcher.

All the rest of the players were bummed, because they all knew how good this kid was. But since we've got such as great turnout for this year, we've got a lot of great players. Things will go on and we'll pick up the pieces and kick some ass -- hopefully in time for the first game on the 7th.

South Dakota Fantasy Football Results

I attended the 4th Annual South Dakota Fantasy Football Draft last night. It's a stress that is matched by no other when it comes to football -- well, unless your team is playing in the Super Bowl -- but this is pretty close.

I arrived a little late, finding that I had the 10th overall pick (out of 12 teams).

We're back to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, after a year off from going to ESPN Fantasy Sports last year.

Being the defending champ, I've got a lot riding on the season. My expectations are high and hopefully I've picked up some solid picks and can rely on some "hidden" free agents who are going to be the dark horses.

Our league is set up as follows:

• 1 quarterback
• 2 running backs
• 2 wide receivers
• 1 RB/WR
• 1 tight end
• 1 kicker
• 1 team defense
• 2 defensive players
• 3 bench players

After 14 rounds of the draft, my line-up is as follows (number in parantheses indictate overall pick)

1. Ronnie Brown, RB (10)
2. Tom Brady, QB (15)
3. Donovan McNabb, QB (34)
4. Chris Chambers, WR (39)
5. Todd Heap, TE (58)
6. Ahman Green, RB (63)
7. Nate Burleson, WR (82)
8. Adam Vinatieri, K (87)
9. Brian Urlacher, def. player (106)
10. Terry Glenn, WR (111)
11. Donnie Edwards, def. player (130)
12. Baltimore, defensive team (135)
13. Chris Simms, QB (154)
14. Marion Barber III, RB (159)

Other notes from the draft:

• Shaun Alexander, RB, was the #1 overall pick. Peyton Manning was #2, Larry Johnson #3, and LaDainian Tomlinson #4.

Two-A-Days

After I got back from the varsity scrimmage, there was a new TV show on MTV called "Two-A-Days" which chronicles the season of the Hoover High School football team in Hoover, Alabama.

I love this high school football stuff in which the cameras go deep into the team itself, watching how practices are run, how tough the coaches are, how the emotions of the players can effect the game itself. What I don't like is the extra-curricular stuff -- the relationships between the players and their girlfriends, the night life, and so on. I like watching the relationships between the players and their families, and that's about it. But I completely understand why they do things like that, it's the only way to get high school-aged students to watch, and it's on MTV of all cable stations.

This is very similar to Go Tigers!, the movie about the Massillon, Ohio football team that was released in 2001.

The Hoover Bucs have won the last 5 out of the last 6 state titles in their class. If the head coach is getting paid $94,000/year, you'd better win some state championships! His record since taking over program in 1999: 91 wins, 8 defeats.

Just sick.

The Scrimmage

It was a beautiful day to watch some high school football.

I myself didn't have to do much, since it was completely for the high school -- no middle school. I just stood around, picked up on a few things, helped out whenever possible -- and did a "little" yelling.

The varsity looked sharp, on the ground and even in the air. Besides P-Town, there were only two other schools there, area schools in which are always there at the scrimmage.

Our featured running back was having a field day. It just seemed like everytime I watched the varsity or looked down the field while I was watching the JV team, he was in the end zone and just simply out-ran everybody else on the field.

I still have my doubts about going far into the season with the depleted offensive line, but hopefully they can prove me wrong. The defense is quick off the ball and they pursued well.

My main gripe was the freshmen, who I had as 8th graders last season. They still complain "what a waste of time...I didn't even hit anybody", they still lounge around -- some kid was so bored that we was literally pulling the grass out of the field: "my feet hurt...", and for some reason, they still cannot tackle. They still live by the "shoulder tackle," something that looks good on TV when the pros play, but in high school, it's all about the fundamentals.

But man, it was great to be back on the field. It's like a transformation for me -- all other things and thoughts seem to slip away and I just get into that zone regarding the formations, the plays, the players, etc. It's just surreal.

First varsity game is this next Friday night here in town, while our 8th graders don't play until the 7th. Lookin' forward to it!

Crash Publications, Inc. Update

Inspiration has once struck my brain, giving me something more to do while I head on into the new school year.

I came across Mike's "1846" 23-chapter behemoth and I figured, why the hell not? I ended my last project abruptly just a couple of weeks ago, my most beloved "THFNW" Series, but after reading once again, I figured it was time to fire it up again.

Last night, typed out the first three chapters -- not a pleasant mood, I might add -- so I had to put myself through a depressing state to type those up. Hopefully today, I can add at least another 2 chapters as the plot starts to unfold itself.

I can already say that I'm picking up inspiration from the my most recently watched movie: Apocalypse Now: Redux, which I thought was great. We'll see where this one goes!

The Advice Giver

My, the tables have turned.

After the past couple of months where I had turned to friends and family about understanding and acceptance, now I have already been approached by high schoolers for advice about their relationship problems.

In this certain situation, I have to be extra careful. I was dealing with a female who is a senior this year. She dated a guy who is at college now and they just recently broke up earlier this summer. But she is still carrying the torch for this guy, even though she again just recently dated (and broken up) with another guy just this past month.

Now, how in the hell am I supposed to approach this? Tell her of my past experiences? That wouldn't work, because I can only give her a man's point-of-view. Instead, I took the safe route: I told her to follow her own instincts. In my opinion, she'll be hurt by this situation, but I refrained to tell her that. She's young (only 17) and she simply needs the experience. Instead of cutting corners, she simply needs to go through those situations herself -- and that's what I told her.

Although I appreciate the fact that there are some students out there that can see me as a person who can be trusted, I'm the last person to come to about relationship advice, especially at the high school level. One reason why I became a teacher/coach is to pass on "words of wisdom" regarding morals and knowing the difference between right and wrong. With relationships ... well, that's a whole new ballgame and they should figure that one out for themselves.

Dreaming

I've decided to sit back and take it easy today, since I figured spending the past couple of days at school working is enough for me now.

I'm still having a bugger of a time sleeping. It's not that bad, really -- but for the first few hours of the night, it's good. After about a good 4 hours, then things take a turn. I'm literally trying to find that comfortable position, I'm hot, getting up to adjust the fan, closing the windows if it rains, etc. Then the dreams.

I learned in college that when a person sleeps, for the first few hours a person does not dream. Your brain is in R.E.M. mode and it's trying to get things sorted out from the day's previous events. When you realize in your subconscious that you are dreaming, that means that your brain is somewhat refreshed. Then the past events, people, other random situations come together to form the dreams, and according to your brain, it should make sense, because they're your thoughts! Sometimes you wake up and then think about the dream and say, "what the fuck was that?!"

That happened to me twice last night. After getting my sound 4 hours of sleep, after that it was dotted with small 45 minute snoozes accompanied by these fucked up dreams. It was a disaster. The dreams have been progressively gotten better since the whole break-up thing, but still, there's just some things that seem to dig themselves up in my dreams and it takes me the longest time in mornings to think about it, trying to determine whether or not it was real.

If I had a particularly bad dream, it just ruins my day because I simply cannot get it out of my head. It's just strange how that works -- I know it's not real, but my mood completely plays off it.

Last night, I had one of each. The great one came first, the bad one came later on. Thankfully now, the thoughts of those dreams are starting to fade away. Tonight will be another adventure.

STUDS Racing, Inc. Update

Throughout the summer, I just haven't had the opportunity to field my car as much as I wanted to.

The first season of the Nocturnal Adrenaline Cup Series came to a close last week with the finale at Talladega, a race that I in fact did miss. I missed 4 out of the 5 last races of the season and still managed to finish 5th in the overall standings. My last race was at California Speedway. I had a pretty solid Top 10 car until I got wrecked with less than 10 laps ago.

Now it's the start of the second season for the NA Cup Series, as we're running Bristol Motor Speedway tonight. Although I don't test quite as much as I used to, I just ran a few laps at Bristol with a preset set-up and didn't do quite well. Bristol is a concrete track, just a tick over a 1/2 mile, with 36 degree of banking in the turns. If anybody has been a race at Bristol, it's probably the most exciting ticket to get in racing, apart from Daytona.

You can see by the picture how tight the turns are. I made the mistake by entering a corner too quickly, thus the spin-out. This is quite the track itself -- it requires a lot of concentration: finding your marks where to accelerate and where to brake.

I was almost taken aback by looking at the new second season in the NA Cup Series -- there's no Daytona or Talladega this time. It's all short or intermediate tracks, at which I've been inconsistent at. But hopefully I'll have the time and test more often and get used to the feel of the shorter tracks once again.

In the Midnight Thunder Truck Series, I also haven't been racing much, which is really bad since I love racing in this series. It's all flat-out, pedal-to-the-metal action and all you have to do is watch for the guys around you -- since it's so tighly-packed. I'm well out of the Top 10 in points (probably sitting around 17th, I haven't checked in a while), but this Friday night/Saturday morning we're racing at the Blue Ridge Speedway, a fictional track (but it's basically Michigan International with tons of grip).

More on this later!

So Far So Busy

It's almost been ridiculous lately. The past two days I've been getting barely 6 hours of sleep, getting a little anxious for football and the upcoming school year.

The past couple of days I've been spending my mornings at the school, waking up early to attend meetings with the coaches and getting this work program for the seniors in order.

Early this morning, we finally passed out equipment to our 8th graders. The anticipation and the expectations are so high with this team that I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season.

This year, I'm doing things a little differently, especially in the playbooks. Instead of 5-6 formations, we have decided on doing only two (so far), the I-Tight (which I code named "Indy") and the Flex-Bone. We will not have any split outs or anything like that -- we're going to concentrate on the running game (probably 80% of our plays will be runs), and later on, we'll include some bigger pass plays with another formation.

Another of our main focuses is to try to get the players to "know" the plays. If we can run them day-in and day-out with no problems, then we're going to be sharp. Some main questions that we are going to address is how is a specific play going to be run against a 4-4? A 5-3? A 6-2?

We just have to be aggressive, physical -- none of this finesse stuff. Push some people around! If you get knocked down, don't be scared ... punch 'em in the mouth! First middle school game: a home game on the 7th of September.

The varsity has a scrimmage this Saturday morning, which will be extremely satisfying to watch, considering that we've got one of the best backs in the area, although our offensive and defensive lines were depleted from graduating seniors.

The Silent Hill DVD

Man, did that flick bring back some memories.

If anybody has ever played Silent Hill on the old PSOne, the movie is right up your alley. A person watching it can understand the whole premise and even pick up on some familiarities. Overall, a great dedication to the game itself, although the last half of the movie got really messed up -- some unfamiliar parts, but what could I expect, I never finished the game since I got so freaked out.

But the movie itself, especially when the main character of "Rose" (who is played by a man in the game) walks into the familiar environment of the school -- it just reminded me of a real-life place that I once knew called "The Sanitorium."

Paint peeling off the walls, dirt everywhere, broken tables, etc. -- just brought me back to those days when Mike, Sean, myself, and a bunch of frightened girls would run through there.

The movie should be worth a look, only to the decided PSOne fan, otherwise, you'd probably would not get it.

The "Big Fair"

It was quite the "spur of the moment" kind of a deal.

After making my way back to P-Town on Monday, I was interupted by an early phone call on Tuesday morning regarding that my new pair of glasses were in. It was sooner than I had expected, but it was welcome news, considering that I haven't gotten my eyes checked in 6 years and that I had desperately needed a new pair of glasses and new contacts.

The opportunity presented itself quickly, as I knew the "Big Fair" was going down in a small town near Back Home. I haven't attended the "Big Fair" in five years, so I figured -- what the hell.

On my way there, I stopped by Mike's place and he was all shot from the night before at the Beer Gardens. I proceeded on over and met up with the likes of Sean, his wife Tammy, and Mike's wife Lacey.

It was all about the Beer Gardens as soon as I got there. Sean bought the first round, I would buy the second. Tap beer usually does not agree with me, but since my beer tolerance is so friggin' high now (softball tournaments -- what do you expect?), it was going down pretty well.

After a while, it was all about denying Tammy on going on rides (namely the "Zipper") or giving high-fives to little kids on the "Sizzler" (a.k.a. "Scrambler) after I got feeling pretty well.

Tammy convinced Lacey to go on the "Zipper" with her (my God -- that thing was like 40 years old), so after they got strapped in, they were round and round, high up in the air. Right before the carnie was going to let them out, he spun them in their cage like 10-15 times and all you could hear was Lacey screaming. Apparently, during that whole thing, Lacey belted out: "I'm pregnant, you fuck-head!" She's not obviously pregnant, but damn, that was a funny story after that one.

Later on that night, I thought Lacey was going to throw down after a while. This guy comes up to her and starts talking about her stolen car (which was recovered the next day). This guy was friends with the guy who actually stole the car, so he was trying to convince Lacey to drop the charges. Here I am, listening to bits and pieces of the conversation, and I'm thinking, who the hell does this guy think he is?

This guy is spouting off about oh, it's going to cost $3000-$4000 against (my friend) and well, there's nothing wrong with the car, was there? and all this. And God Damn, wouldn't you know it, Lacey through it all, basically told the guy to fuck off.

Anytime you get something taken away from you or you lose, it's a rotten feeling. Especially in Mike and Lacey's case, it was a car! Lacey's purse was in there (with credit cards, Social Security, etc.) so they had the responsibility to take care of all that. That's just un-needed stress for the both of them. This dude deserved to be punished.

But then at one point, Lacey was getting pretty hot and she said "Get away from me!" and Sean and I perked up. The guy left without Lacey backing down, but man, she was looking to kick some ass.

Other than that -- it was a good time at The "Big Fair." Unfortunately, I couldn't make it today due to coach's meetings (hand out equipment for the middle schoolers tomorrow morning).

Right now, I'm tired as all hell -- went to bed late, got up TOO EARLY. And it's worth it.

True Happiness...? Movin' On

I have debated for sometime whether or not to write down what exactly has been happening in my life lately. Some of you already know, some of you probably don't have a clue.

But, after careful thinking and some consideration, the only real people who actually come across TonyTimes are people I know. If people stumble across it and read it -- I couldn't care less. They're people I don't know and if they leave a stupid comment, that's because they don't know the situation and they don't know me. Simple as that.

I've been "blogging" for nearly 7 years now (WAY before the blog-explosion), on my old college web page. It's a been an outlet to let lose a little bit: cause a little controversy, talk about the everyday goings-on, or get serious once in a while about an issue. But mainly, I think, it is a "selfish" way to leave my mark on the world, or in cyberspace, for my own personal good. It's normal for me, this kind of self-journalism, a way to glorify others and myself. I've been doing it for years: making home movies, slide shows, whatever. It's all for me and the people I know.

Now my friends thank me for carrying around that camcorder back in the day, recording the typical goings-on in a high schooler's life, or snapping pictures whenever the chance presents itself. People have remarked on how my mind is still sharp about our past and the different situations we used to get ourselves into -- well, now you know.

After that thorough explanation, it's time to delve. It's a rare treat to go deeper into the life of TonyTimes, but we only live once. It's time to be therapeutic.

The great personal tragedy occurred this summer, something that I thought could never happen to me. After just over a year of marriage, Katie and I have decided to go on our separate ways.

It's something that I could never expect to happen. But it happened, there is no sense in denying it.

I could provide opinions/excuses, but what good could that do?

Things just gradually got worse as soon Katie and I made the transistion over from South Dakota to Minnesota. We simply didn't have the time to spend with each other. I was so busy and wrapped up in my first full-year of teaching and she had her own education. The communication just wasn't there any longer and we were depending on assumptions. Although through our "talks," I tried to assure Katie that it was going to get better. That held through for a little bit, but when the school year finally got over with, it was too late.

I still saw the light at the end of the tunnel -- I now had all the time in the world to spend some quality time with my own wife. But since Katie thought I had alienated her long ago, she was depending on her own friends. I promptly took the backseat to her new alternative lifestyle, something that I couldn't comprehend. It was doomed.

There was nothing left to fix, she said. She simply did not want to make the effort to make it work. She simply ran out of feelings for myself and the marriage.

It came to a head on the 4th of July. Katie moved out the following day.

A couple of weeks later after some serious thinking, it was decided that we should go our separate directions.

That month of July was probably the worst time in my life -- apart from somebody dying. I had blamed myself for things going wrong ... feeling sorry for myself. It took a lot of time Back Home to get my bearings straight -- things were just not good. After hearing all I could from my family and some of my closest friends, there was nothing that I could have done to prevent this. It simply was not my fault.

After I had figured that out for myself, I was starting to feel a lot better. Just like Katie, I was also quite miserable throughout the spring and into the summer. My confidence drifted back a bit (along with my appetite) and I eventually put the wheels in motion to end the marriage.

Although I was still reeling from the events, it seemed like a weight had been lifted, like I was free again. It's not like I was super-anxious to get out of that situation (because I had felt that it could have been saved, if Katie would've put in the effort), but I just figured it was for the best. With the situation as it was, there was no way it could've gotten better.

I hired a lawyer in the beginning on August and hopefully it'll all be said and done before September rolls around.

Katie and I do not completely hate each other -- that was never the case. We still talk from time to time regarding the cats (who are staying with me) and whatever, but we are being adults in this situation. I'm not out to kill her financially, and either is she, it's just a complete understanding on both of our parts.

We had been together for 4 years (including the marriage) and I had known her prior to that. I have no regrets in what has transpired. There's no use dwelling on the past and wishing things could change. It just happens.

But for me, I'm just looking out for my best interests. I'm all about what makes me happy. Like I have posted previously throughout this month in TonyTimes, the month of August has been a God-send. I've never had so much fun in my life. I'm just continuing to be super-thankful that I've got family and friends that know who I am deep-down and who care for me and have always been there in need for support. I just cannot stress that enough.

An old friend of mine asked me yesterday at the ball field why I was spending so much time Back Home. Apparently, he didn't know the situation and I wasn't prepared to tell him face-to-face, but Back Home is where I could find true happiness. It was my comfort zone, a place where I truly felt included and treated me like the Tony of Old.

I almost hate coming back to P-Town -- there's just nothing for me here. I come back to an empty house with nobody to talk to. I've got the cats and they give me some attention, but it's just not the same. I get so bleeding bored -- I try to do something to occupy my mind and only a couple of minutes go by and I have to find something else to do.

I just got so used to having somebody there ... Katie was my stability here in P-Town. That's what everybody thought: it's Tony and Katie. The Yin to my Yang. Now that one person is gone, it's tough to stand on one leg. She was always there to hear my bitchings about the students at school, always willing to make the extra effort to get something done for me, always willing to be THERE.

Until the day I die, there will always be that absence of her presence. I'll miss her eyes, her smile, her laugh, her smell. That's something that a person just cannot get rid of.

But I've accepted the fact that it's over and it was time to move on. I no longer have any real feelings for Katie; it's more of a friendship-thing now.

When is it the right time to move on ... go back to the dating thing?! Do I have to respect the past marriage and my relationship with Katie. Or do I go with my gut-instincts and serve my best interests? Time is the only answer and it'll let me know.

There are a few of my friends that think that I should go after Mike's sister-in-law (in which I haven't concluded whether they're pulling my leg or I should take the matter somewhat seriously). I tried testing the waters slightly last weekend and was greeted by some serious cold shoulder-action, which was surprising. Maybe I'll have to wait a few months and let that thaw out a little...

But the last thing I need is to be so desperate for anyone who thinks I'm hot-shit, because if I fall for that, I'm not going to get any respect. I think it's best is to wait a little while, keep my ear to the ground and see if somebody can see the good in me once again. I just need a little confidence and a jump to my step and things will be right as rain.

I would just love to see if I still got it after all of this. I'm a wiser person now, but it would be nice to know that I can still show a lady a good time. I'm sure I could, because I was always pretty good at doing that part!

Time. That's all it's going to take. It's a bugger, but with my rejuventated attitude on life and on the future, time will fly on by and before you know it, I will hopefully be truly happy once again.

Fantasy Football Update

10 teams (out of 12) in the Minnesota Fantasy League, only 8 have signed up back in the South Dakota Fantasy League.

Things are shaping up to be an exciting year in Fantasy Football, as rivals are renewed once again for head-to-head trash-talkin' action.

The "Smack Talk" has somewhat already started in the Minnesota Fantasy League, as Sean ("The Commish") has threatened to blacklist my team and my columns if I speak bad of his team during the course of the season.

My reply: "Remember who started 0-6 and still made the playoffs last year. Boo-yah."

The Minnesota Fantasy League draft will be held on September 2.

Redemption

After the trials of a personal tragedy, the month of August has been one of Redemption, one of fulfillment and true happiness -- showing me that I am one lucky person to have a family and friends like I do.

The Last of the Great Weekends has come to a close, slightly bittersweet -- only because it's sad to see the good times come to an end, but knowing the realization that I am soon approaching the new school year and it's time to go back to work.

I went back to the Home Town last Wednesday with the expectations of going north to do a little fishing with my Dad, but the winds were just a bit too strong, so we postponed our little trip until Thursday morning. This time around, my grandpa came along on a brisk day to a lake where I had once "ripped it up" back in the old days. We focused mainly on catching sunfish -- it for a while, it was like-mad. The "sunnies" turned out to be robbers for the most part, ripping off our bait straight off the hook (we used angle worms and small leeches), but after hooking the worm two/three times, we found our luck.

By the end of the day, we figured we caught over 50 sunnies, but kept roughly half. We eventually fried them all up on Sunday, where I had my share after the softball games on Sunday night. Not bad eating, in my opinion.

On Friday, I finally got my eyes checked for the first time in 6 years. My contacts were on their last legs and it basically got to the point where I could barely see straight. Luckily for me, I got new contacts (and new glasses) in preparation for the upcoming school year and the softball tournament. What a relief -- my eyes are already thanking me.

The City League Tournament started on Saturday -- with the news of two teams in the league dropped out due to low numbers of players showing up, so that totally screwed up the brackets. Again, I was back on the mound to do some pitching, barely winning our first game 11 to 10. Later on, we lost our second game of the tournament to the eventual league tournament champion, a game in which we got "15-runned" in the 6th inning. It was pretty tough, considering we were only fielding 9 players (instead of the usual 10) and the other team hit the gaps pretty well. I didn't take that loss too lightly, fully knowing that we probably could have beaten them with a full 10-man line-up.

On Sunday, we won our first game in the consolation bracket with a come-from-behind win in the 7th innning. Again, just like the weekend before, our bats were COLD. Instead of pitching on Sunday, I played right field during a blustery day. Later on that day, we ended up losing to the 2nd place team.

Overall, my performance at the tournament was fair at best. I probably hit below the .500 mark, which in slow-pitch softball, isn't stellar. My defense was pretty good, although I muffed a lazy fly ball out to right field -- apparently I was a little too rushed to get the ball back into the infield (since the other team was tagging up). The team as a whole finished 4th in the tournament, 2nd place in the regular season. Although I didn't play much during the regular season, it was still a great time playing once again for the first time in years.

Some other highlights include:

• The Premiere: I showed the two new films from Crash Productions, Inc. at Mike and Lacey's place on Thursday night -- which were met with great praise. That's what I basically did it for, so other people could enjoy them. The first film was the events from the previous weekend's softball tournament, and the second film was "The Ultimate Party Collection, Vol. #1", a collection of digital photos that I had already saved on my computer, dating back to last fall. I was planning on creating a new movie this past weekend during the softball tournament, but my primary photographer was unavailable and I couldn't find a suitable replacement.
• Bean-Bag Dynasty: Mitch and Joe complied an 11-1 record when it came to tossing the bags last weekend. No matter who stepped up, they brought 'em down. Mike and I actually gave them their only loss during the weekend, ending their 9-win streak. But after we had all figured that we couldn't beat them, we all basically gave up.

Well, what's there to look forward to now? The Big Fair is coming, but I doubt that I will make an appearance. It'll take some convincing to come back for that, but due to everybody working during the week and my new-found responsibilities, it's tough.

The "Sod Days" are around the corner in mid-September, which usually hosts another softball tournament. I will probably not play in this one, but it's still worth making an appearance (and maybe making another "film" in the process).

But where ever there is beer, softball, and friends, you'll likely see Tony.

Vikings Problems

Man, just have one pre-season game and the Minnesota Vikings are already starting to feel the hurt.

I was watching ESPN last night and the Vike's new #1 draft pick Chad Greenway is out for the season with a knee injury.

And now ... wide receiver Koren Robinson is arrested for a possible DUI -- all this after the Monday Night Football crew were bragging up how he's taking control of his life, jotting all his values down (supposedly he carries it around with him), and visiting the rehab clinic to spread his story about how it's help him and it's changed his life around, etc.

Yeah, real good role model, buddy. He's just succeeded in making everybody feel stupid.

The Upcoming Week

The Last of the Great Weekends is slowly approaching.

Tony, in all is glory and resurrection, is going to make one last stand for some all-out visceral fun.

Once school starts, my life become busier than ever, with the exception of the weekends -- but God only knows how my body and my brain will hold up after a long week of students.

This month of August has been something else ... to be it is to be cherished. Saying that the months of June and July were rocky is an understatement, but lately these past few weeks, I'm alive once more.

I've had more fun this month than any other that I can think of in the past. Spending time with family and friends has been very rewarding and helpful.

Moving into September will be bittersweet, as I said before, as I move back to the old ways of the realities of a job, but I will sure miss being around those who had stabilized me when I was in need. Hopefully I can make an effort this fall to make the most of a certain situation, seize the day.

I'm heading back to the Home Town this Wednesday to spend some time fishing with my Dad, something that I haven't been able to do for quite some time. I think the last time that I had actually spend time fishing was probably 6 years ago, when I flew up to Canada to do that. Living in Minnesota -- that's a sin!

On Thursday, I will continue to do a bit of fishing, then things will lay low for a little bit. I've got an eye doctor's appointment on Friday (finally, so I can get a new pair of glasses), then on Saturday and Sunday, it's the city league softball tournament.

I may head back the week after for the big Fair for a day, since I hadn't been there for years. Things are looking up as long as I have the time.

I've got a good two weeks before the start of our in-service days ... and I'm going to make the most of it.

Mass Confusion

Man, if anybody could get their shit together around here.

Since the month of August is winding down, my focus is beginning to change from playing softball and having all-out fun to my job and most of all, coaching a little football.

So while I'm here in P-Town, I've finally taken the initiative to find out what's going on. Nobody at the school seems to know what exactly is going on (regarding practices and handing out the equipment). I've talked to the athletic director, the principal, and even tried to find out information from the other 8th grade coach. Everybody seems to be confused.

I woke up bright and early this morning and attended a varsity practice. The head varsity coach told me that equipment would go out this Thursday and the first practice would be on Friday.

What?!

"Didn't the other coach call you?" he asked.

"Nope." I replied.

I called the other coach and explained to him what the head varsity coach had said. Just like myself, he was also confused. Apparently, he saw the head varsity coach in the weight room just a few weeks previously and discussed that equipment would go out on the 24th, first practice on the 28th.

So, who's right? I've already got parents calling me up asking me when practice starts, and I'm the one who feels stupid because I don't have the answers.

Over the course of the year that I've been in this school district, I've only made a few conclusions: you cannot depend on other people for anything -- you have to do it yourself. Being the first-year teacher that I was last year, all I had was questions, but rarely did I receive any advice or help.

It's just been one frustrating situation after another. Besides the whole coaching thing, it just seems like I've been left in the dark at times.

And this goofy variance crap that the state's Department of Education throws on us teachers ... to hell with "No Child Left Behind." I thought it wouldn't effect me, but it has.

Ah ... it's good to bitch.

Football Fever

Whether it's high school, college, or the pros ... man, I'm starting to feel it.

You always know it's time to get ready because that's when NCAA Football 07 usually comes out, the Fantasy leagues are starting to get set up, and the high schools are handing out equipment for their two-week practice sessions prior to their first game.

But for tonight, the Vikings took the field against the Raiders. It's nothing too special -- it's only pre-season ball -- but it's nice to see the new faces playing for the purple and gold.

Although the fever is closing in, I usually don't watch too much of pre-season football. I shut the Vikes/Raiders game off mid-way through the 3rd quarter, but I can tell you this: I'm sure impressed by the Vikes 2nd-round draft pick, Tavaris Jackson. He threw the ball like a pro, with great poise in the pocket -- not to mention that the kid's got some wheels!

How 'bout those new Monday Night Football commentators? Yeesh... Tony Kornheiser? Can that man be any more cynical? Does he have to have an argument about everything? Stick with PTI, fella. Not that I care for Joe Theismann, but I'm ready to see a rumble in the booth between those two.

I can't wait to see the Wolverines take to the field ... plus on top of that, I start coaching my 8th graders next Monday. I'm writing up a new playbook (going away from the old one) and we're going to rip it up this year. I've got a bunch of over-grown kids on my team and I can't wait to take it to those punks from South Dakota this year.

Crash Productions, Inc. -- The Best Project To Date

Even before the weekend started, I had a plan of what I was going to do with just a digital camera.

After making "small waves" with an extremely short film based on Mike's dancing abilities during a wedding reception, I decided to take it one step further.

The camera was clicking away last weekend during the softball tournament, and with Lacey's help, I got boat-loads of great pictures.

When I got home last night, I worked on my new "film" for roughly 5 hours. It ended up being over 7 minutes long (including credits). The premeire is going to be later on this week when I return home for the up-coming city league tournament.

Since Crash Productions, Inc. is off and running -- I may be making a collection of these videos based off pictures (since I don't have my digital camcorder yet). If I get a few of these, I'll burn them all on DVD and make some copies, free of charge (since I cannot make money off these due to the songs used).

But after it was all said and done around 3:00 a.m. this morning, I gave myself a little punch in the arm for a job well done. Hopefully it'll be received with equal praise!

The Weekend That Was: Aug. 11th - 13th

Another weekend was had by one and all. Even though we all had our ups and downs, I consider it to be a very successful weekend, personally.

Since it was the Home Town's annual summer celebration, of course there was more softball to play. Unfortunately, we had to begin playing at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday -- which was completely too early, especially that I didn't get to bed until about 6 hours before that due to some drinking and playing NCAA Football 07 at Mike and Lacey's.

Just like the weekend before, our bats were completely dead -- we simply couldn't buy a base hit. We played a team during that 9:00 a.m. game that I consider to be weaker than us, but due to numerous pop-flies, we just couldn't get our runs. We lost our first game, sending us down to the loser's bracket.

Yours truly pitched the entire weekend. My pitching performance, in my opinion, was stellar (more on this later). My at-bats ... well, they could've been better. I simply did not hit the ball well. I managed to reach base a few times, but not as much as I had wanted to.

Throughout the day on Saturday, we were dealing with a strong wind blowing in from left field. Our line-up is stacked with our fair share of home run hitters, but we just couldn't get the distance. Later on through the day, we played two more games and won them both -- earning us the ever-elusive Sunday games.

Meanwhile in between games, we bean-bagged it up, drinking beer, and had a good time that was shared by all. After we had finished with the ball field, we bought some more off-sale and headed over at Mike and Lacey's. That's when disaster struck.

Things went along typically -- a nice group of people were over, socializing and so forth, until the thunder and lightning came, along with a nice rain. We all headed indoors to the garage, played a little darts, listened to a little music. Around 1:30 early Sunday morning, I was last to leave the garage. We were literally starting to fall asleep in our lawn chairs, thanks all in part to that lovely 9:00 a.m. game.

That night, Mike and Lacey both left their cars outside. When they awoke, there was one car missing -- Lacey's.

After some confusion, it was concluded that it had been stolen. Lacey accidentally left her keys in the car, along with her purse (which included everything: credit cards, Social Security number, etc.). A totally helpless feeling.

I'm thinking that the car couldn't have gotten far -- probably some loser drunk from uptown who got left at the bar and needed someway to get home. This person probably searched for vehicles all over town before he/she got to Mike and Lacey's and found one that suited his/her needs. Hopefully in the next couple of days, somebody will report a car on a field road or somewhere -- but man, what a joke. Who's that dumb? And to put the both of them through the hassle of making phone calls to the police and calling the insurance company, the credit card companies, and etc. to protect themselves.

On Sunday, the games were postponed a few hours due to the heavy rains that had drenched the area (got about 2 inches of rain). When the field was dry enough to play on, we played our first game to the best of our defensive capabilities. On top of that, I pitched the game of my life -- anything I threw was right-on "money." We ended up taking a pretty tough offensive team to extra innings (9 in all) and won on Mitch's two-run blast to left field.

Later that day, we finally lost our second game in another extra inning battle -- a game in which I gave up a walk-off home run. I was so pissed, because just before that we were talking about giving up an intentional walk. I threw one pitch -- it literally came right at him -- and he just turned on it and hit that sucker over 300 feet to left. I think my glove went farther than the ball. But again, we didn't help our own cause, since we only managed to put up 5 runs that whole game.

After it was said and done, we managed to pick up 4th place (out of 9 total teams). We fared better than we had last weekend, but we need to get those bats going! This up-coming weekend will end the Home Town's softball league this year with a city league tournament. In order for us to win it all -- we need the hits and the runs. It's been proven for the last couple of weeks that we've got some stellar D and some pretty good pitching (ha...!). I'm looking forward to the tournament -- hopefully we've got enough players.

Crash Productions, Inc. In Full Swing

Since the huge "Owl Garden" documentary isn't going to be coming out until 2007, I've got to keep Crash Productions going.

I've been putting a short little string of short videos together, nothing too special, but something that I can release.

Plus, it's a great hobby of mine -- some of you know that I enjoy making "home movies" (i.e. the infamous "Star Wars" flick, The Highlight Tape Vol. #1 & #2, etc.).

I'm going to bring the digital camera back with me this weekend to record the events. Hopefully, I can get something together and can post it on YouTube.com.

Stay tuned.

Ending a Possible Vikings Drought

Speaking of professional Minnesota sports, I almost "lost it in the pants" today when I read an e-mail from our athletic director.

Apparently, he's got Vikings season tickets (four in all, end zone seats). There are three regular season games he isn't going to make it to, so he just sends out an e-mail to the whole school district, "who wants 'em ... e-mail me back if interested."

Uh, yeah...

The three games that he isn't going to: Chicago, Green Bay, and St. Louis. I've already seen Chicago in action at the Dome (but still, a great NFC North match-up), but the Green Bay game -- roar.

Hopefully I can hear back from the guy! I haven't seen the Vikes play in the Dome for a few years now, ever since the infamous trips from South Dakota (getting really fucked up in the meantime ... great times). It'd be nice to return!

Twins On Top

Boo-yah.

The Twins took an amazing series victory away from the Tigers last night -- highlighted by Jusint Morneau's 30th dinger of the season (and even moved himself past the 100-ribbie mark).

With the win, the Twins are now on top for the AL Wild Card, just a measley 1/2 game ahead, but considering where the Twins were in the beginning of the month of June, it's truly an amazing accomplishment.

Bad news is that Francisco Liriano is now on the DL for 15 days. I figured if you continue to whip the ball well into the 90's -- even in the later innings -- you're going to do something to your arm. Crap -- at least Radke and Silva are pitching better and you know Johan is a stud.

The Twins now take on Toronto for a four-game series at the Dome. The Twins have the best home record in baseball -- need I say more?!

In The Zone

It's like I can do no wrong.

Lately, I've been having the week of weeks. I'm excited. I'm anxious. And I don't even know why.

It seems like ever since last Saturday, things have been smooth sailing. I don't know if it was the softball, the beer, the outdoors, or what ... it's just been a trip.

Even sitting here at home, doing absolutely nothing (well, a few things here and there), it's been great.

I'm just itching to get back to work at school -- visiting the students once again and the triumphant return to coaching football with a team that should go undefeated.

I'm also itching to play some more ball Back Home, two more tournaments to go to finish out the year, not counting "Old Sod Days".

More bean bags, more friends, more beer!

Better get ready ... in the zone, baby

Crash Publications, Inc. Update

The newest addition in "THFNW" Series has been officially been scrapped.

It was a story that I had been working on for nearly 3 years with well over 100 pages to it. But, due to other circumstances, the story itself does not seem to fit with the present times.

However, all is not lost -- I've currently got a new idea that will move away from "THFNW" Series (but I will return), but will borrow from the scrapped project.

More on this later.

Once Again, Extremely Sore

Not as bad as from the co-ed softball tournament, but just enough to make me groan as I climb the stairs.

I participated in yet another softball tournament last weekend. This time, it's was a men's tourney, but again, it was a stinkin' round-robin tourney.

Overall, we played 3 games on Saturday, 3 games on Sunday. How'd we do? Well, let me tell you about the comparison between the words Saturday and Suck.

Our first game on Saturday was against a team who eventually won all of their games during the tournament. It was an offensive slug-fest, as they put up 5 runs the whole game, while we managed a meager 2 runs. It was quite pathetic. The defense was solid, I'll give it that much. As for me, I couldn't find my swing. I changed bats a few times, going from a Miken to a Worth, eventually settling on a DeMarini. It wasn't until Sunday when I finally found my swing (by actually pulling the ball).

The second game wasn't any better, although we kept up our stellar D. We lost 5-3. I still couldn't hit, along with the rest of the team.

The third game was a disaster. By this time, we were all half-baked (literally, from sunburn). We lost BIG, finally ending the game after the 5th inning due to a run rule.

Highlights from Saturday:

• Bean Bag: While we weren't playing softball, we tried our luck on Mike's bean bag game. Mike and I were teamed up against Mitch and Dinker -- all the while sucking down Miller Lite like there was no tomorrow. Mike and I held a 3-to-1 game lead, then we blew 3 straight.
• Schrupp's: Later that night, we all hit it up some more over at Schrupp's. By this time, I was starting to not feel so well (tasting the foam in my throat -- not a good thing). We passed the time playing some old-school P&A and looking at old yearbooks and laughing at baby-faced Schrupp.
• Drunk: Regardless of what she says, Lacey was plowed after getting back from Schrupp's. If you stumble out of the car and tip over ... that's a good sign. Don't deny it, it's all good!

On Sunday, I awoke to a slight stiffness in my ass and my quads, but not too bad. We had to play our first game at 11:00 that morning, which wasn't too bad.

We won our first game against a bunch of whiners who were griping to the umpire about being in the batter's box when a ball is pitched. After we beat 'em, they left and never returned. Bon voyage.

The second game was against Robb's team, a match-up against the Goliaths of softball-lore. We even surprised ourselves by getting our bats back and driving in some key runs, until we got robbed on a crappy call when our shortstop was clearly safe at a sliding play at home plate. The momentum died just like that -- the ump said that our guy didn't touch home plate, but his fingers were clearly on the plate. Oh, well. We had a 4-run lead going into the 6th inning, then the other guys opened up for a 9-run inning. We only managed 1 run in the top of the 7th, which wasn't enough.

Our third game was against a bunch of drunks who were entertaining themselves at the local bar for a few hours. We opened that can up BIG TIME, ending the game in the 5th inning. It was a successful end to a long tournament, but we could have easily won 5 games instead of 2 ... just my opinion.

Highlights from Sunday:

• Bleeder: Mike continues to get all beat up and bloody from playing the great game of softball. After tearing his leg up during the co-ed tournament (and later on, picking the scabs completely off), opens up the same wound with a slide into second base. Our very own Scott Studwell on the basepaths!
• Bean Bag, Part II: Mike and I planned our revenge against Mitch and Dinker once again, but we fell 2 games to 1. It was all effectively cancelled due to food at Dinker's place.
• 'Roids: I surprised myself by pulling a monster shot over the left-fielder's head during the second game. The ball didn't leave the yard, but it was a shot that I personally haven't seen from myself since the ol' batting practice days. I usually consider myself a slap-hit hitter to right field, but I think I may have found something now with the pull-ball.
• The Grunt Heard 'Round the World: During the first game, Mike jacked one something fierce over the right-field fence, all with a delayed grunt. The bad news: we were over our 4-home run limit, so the dinger was an out.

Well, that was it. Another tournament this up-coming weekend (which should be a freakin' blast once again) and hopefully I will bring my digital to record some of the weekend festivities. But I woke up something too early this morning (my folks are adding a seasonal porch to their house) and I struggled through all the noise of pounding and wood-cutting.

I paid for it when I finally got out of bed, though. After my bat finally came alive on Sunday, thus much more running ... yeah. I hurt everywhere.

Fantasy Football Gets Started

The first steps are off and rolling as Tony himself has joined two leagues for the Fantasy Football season. I thought my life was stressful enough, but it's only going to get worse as the draft approaches.

In the same fashion as last year, I will participate in a Minnesota league (featuring friends from the Home Town area) and a South Dakota league (featuring friends from college).

I am proud to say that I am the defending South Dakota league champion, hopefully a title I can defend again this year. But the drama was left to the Minnesota league, as I came back from a 0-6 start to make the playoffs. Mitch, the current Minnesota champion, is always proud to annouce who made him go far through the playoffs:

"STEVE SMITH!"

A great compliment I had received towards the end of the Minnesota league season was that I had written a few articles to heighten the atmosphere of the league as the season got down to the wire. I provided head-to-head match-ups with insight analysis. It was pretty cool. They'll see it back after the draft! For a sample from last season, click here.

But in interesting news, both of the leagues I were involved in has made a vise versa switch -- the Minnesota league, associated with Yahoo! Fantasy Sports last year, will make its debut with ESPN Fantasy Sports. The South Dakota league, just the other way around.

And obviously, more news on this as it comes in!

Deck Work

On Saturday, Schrupp gave me a pretty harsh guilt-trip regarding "not giving proper coverage over the construction of his new deck."

Immediately, I back-pedaled, stating that I had completely forgot since I was loaded with barley and hops while the construction was going on (hell, I even forgot my Stanley socket set there). I told him that I would give credit where credit is due.

Schrupp's response: "To hell with it! If you put something on your page about it, I'm going to write a nasty comment!" (check out the comments section in the next couple of days...)

But when I got there on that particular Saturday, the foundations were already laid. I immediately started to drink some beer (which Mike and Schrupp followed suit) and we got to work ... well, some of us. I just hauled some lumber and held some boards in places while all the wrenching and screwing was going on (hey!). Shane stopped over later and assisted Mike in "the-putting-in-screws-process" (there we go...). I just stood there and looked important ... and what was Schrupp doing?!

From all the beer, from the looks of it ... he wasn't taking too kindly to our work!

But after it was all said and done, the deck you see above is the finished result. It was hard, pain-staking labor, but it was for a good cause. Friends help friends, you see. If only Schrupp will let us drink beer on it...

NCAA 07 Update

Ah ... the best game, ever.

I've already played the first season of my "Career Legend" mode and I'm already into 2 weeks of the second season, but man, there's a lot to cover.

Prior to the first season, I was this lowly prospect coming out of high school. Just a small, skinny kid. But boy, could I catch. Did I mention that I had wheels also?

After participating in several drills for the college scouts (running a 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds), they only gave me a "68" for an overall rating. I didn't get to have the pick of colleges that I could have went to -- but instead settled for the home state of Minnesota, playing for the Golden Gophers.

My player didn't have to red-shirt, as ol' Glen Mason threw me in as the #2 wide receiver on the team. Not bad!

Highlights of the tremendous First Season:

• The Gophs went from ranked 33rd in the nation to win it all, going 13-0, defeating the Sooners of Oklahoma 28-0 in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Tempe, Arizona.
• With the exception of the first couple of weeks of the First Season, my player led the Heisman Trophy standings all the way to just after the conference championships. The award was literally snatched away from me from a junior who played for Georgia Tech. More on this later ... but it sure reminds me of two years ago with NCAA 05 when I dealt with a similar Heisman Conspiracy Situation...
• Won the Big Ten Championship
• Best Tight End Trophy was awarded to a Gopher
• Best Head Coach awarded to the Gopher head coach
• Best Offensive Lineman Trophy awarded to a Gopher (pretty much a given)
• Rimington Trophy (best center in college football) awarded to a Gopher
• Won the "Little Brown Jug" from Michigan
• Won the "Paul Bunyan Axe" from Wisconsin
• Won the "Governer's Victory Bell" from Penn State
• Won the "Floyd of Rosedale" from Iowa

Statistical Highlights:

• 97 receptions, 1830 yards (18.9 yards per) -- both school records in a season
• 21 touchdowns -- school season record
• 418 yards after the catch
• Freshman All-American
• 1st Team All-American
• 1st Team All-Big Ten
• Best Wide Receiver Trophy
• 2.9 GPA!

But man -- I should have won the Heisman my freshman season. I clearly out-shone the other wide receiver from Georgia Tech, stats-wise. That's why they gave me the Best WR Trophy ... I guess the Heisman Trophy voters didn't know what the heck they were thinking.

But they're giving me credit for my sophomore year, giving me the top honors (so far -- look at picture on top) and I'm already backing it up after 2 games, scoring 6 touchdowns. I guess it's pretty easy when the game sets you up to play "cupcakes" the first four weeks of the season. Time of the pad the stats, my friend!

Obviously, more on the this later -- I have the time!

Light In Your Eyes

I can't remember the last time that we kissed good-bye
All our "I love you's" were just not enough to survive
Something your eyes never told me
But it's only now too plain to see
Brilliant disguise when you hold me
And I'm free

I've been thinking and here's what I've come to conclude
Sometimes the distance is more than two people can use
But how could I have known girl
It was time and not space you would need
Darling tonight I could hold you and you would know
But would you believe

There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
There's a place in your heart where I used to be
Was I wrong to assume that you were waiting here for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me

Cards and phone calls and photograph pictures of you
Constant reminder of all the things you get used to
Is there a chance in hell or Heaven
That there's still something here to build on
Or do you just pick up the pieces after they fall
But after all

There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
And a song in the words that you spoke to me
Was I wrong to believe in your melody
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me

Should I keep on waiting or does love keep on fading away
Fading away

It's been a while since I've seen you so how have you been
Did you get my letter I wrote you, but I did not send
I tried to call your old number
But the voice that I heard on the phone
I recognized but she told me the number was wrong

There's a light in my eyes but it's too bright to see
And a pain in my heart where you used to be
Guess I was wrong to assume that you were waiting here for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me

-- Blessid Union of Souls

Top Ten Flicks

Today, I watched Clerks II on the big-screen. Quite funny, but not what I expected.

Some highlights:

• Jay "posing" in the nude -- with his junk pulled back in between his legs. I did not see that one coming.
• The argument over the Star Wars/Lord of the Rings movies.
• The "ass-to-mouth" discussion.
• Rosario Dawson -- man, I could have eaten her up after watching her dance on top of Mooby's (while "teaching" Dante how to dance).
• The infamous "donkey-sex" scene.

Some lowlights:

• Mooby's -- Kevin Smith's fictional creation of a fast-food restaurant. I'm actually sick of this.
• The third guy, Elias. Although he is a Transformers fan, I wanted to kick his ass.
• Too much Randal. Like it was too much Stifler when American Wedding rolled around.
• Too little Quick Stop.

After I picked up the newest DVD of my extensive collection, V for Vendetta (a decent flick), I was struck by some inspriation from another movie, High Fidelity, known for its Top Five lists throughout the movie. But only five picks is so low considering my range of movie genres, so I took the liberty and extended it to ten.

Here you go, the official TonyTimes Top Ten Movie list (in no particular order):

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Good Will Hunting
4. Star Wars: Episode V -- The Empire Strikes Back
5. Clerks.
6. Swingers
7. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
8. A Life Less Ordinary
9. Slap Shot
10. Dead Poets Society

Honorable Mentions:

1. Snatch.
2. The Godfather (and Part II, for that matter)
3. The Game
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Triumph of the Will (a Nazi propaganda film, but still fun to look at)
6. Crash