random thoughts

- well that was a suck-ass weekend of racing. shitty coverage, boring fucking racing..... way to go NASCAR, just couldn't stand to have race fans watching could ya? not to worry, keep it up and it won't be a problem.

- the one bright spot, Jr is now 5th in points.

- raining on my own parade. next is Vegas where Jr doesn't have the best record. survival is the name of the game there.

- my drinking resume can now include: doing a kegstand. pictures will follow soon as i get them from Robbie or Josh.

- got my schedule for the next quarter of school. College Math 1. shoot me please. another bullshit class that i have to take so ITT can justify giving me an associates degree. fuck all that. i don't give a fuck what anyone says, that shit is useless in the real world. if you're using the shit then you're either a career student or a mathematician. see, in the real world we use these things called computers and calculators to solve our math problems. we live in the 21st century where i come from. i worked in accounting in the air force and in contracting, so if i'm not using college math in something like THAT there ain't no fucking chance you'll convince me i'll need i in computer networking.

- to continue that rant. aside from maybe insurance and religion, is there really a bigger scam out there than college??? let's look at this from a consumer prospective shall we? i pay them money (3 or 4 times as much if i'm from out of state) and then they tell ME what classes to take. so basically i'm walking into a store, handing the cashier my wallet, bending over, getting a kick in the ass, turning around, getting a kick in the crotch, and then sent on my way with whatever they decide to give me for all the money i spend. of course i could always get a price break and play the minority card and admit that i'm stupid and will never be equal with white kids unless someone gives me a headstart..... nah, i guess i'll have to settle for earning everything on my own merits. call me crazy.

- you know what i really like? i like movie ending credits where they show the picture of the different characters. like the end of predator or kill bill 2. i dunno, i just think it's cool.

- WVU clinched a first round bye in the Big East tourney by beating Pittsburgh tonight. SUCK IT PITTSBURGH!!!!

- today's moment of self-reflection. i'm now 29 days from turning 30. i dunno on some level it's kinda depressing. i see my friends with careers, wife and kids, buying houses, that whole deal.... and then i look at where i am. single, resigned to spend the rest of my life alone, in school trying to start a new career from scratch, living alone in an apartment, spending my time playing video games and watching TV. don't get me wrong, i'm right where i put myself. i'm the one who walked away from several opportunities in life to do something. i'm the one who decided i don't want another relationship because i know i'd just fuck it up. i'm the one who decided that playing games is more fun than doing something else. i've done a lot in my life. i've been all over the world, seen things most people could only dream about, experienced shit a lot of people wouldn't even WANT to, and everything is all because of choices i made. i have a ton of regrets in my life, but in the end i'm living my life on my terms and i think that's all that matters to me.

ok, enough of that.

Prerace: California

halfway thru it and here's some things to notice.

- the jimmie johnson ass-kiss-machine is still running full steam, fueled with the win from Daytona.

- DW and the boys in the booth continue to be so full of shit it ain't funny. Which rookie will if any make the chase..... DW has a hard time picking between Denny Hamlin and Clint Boyer. WTF!?!?!?!? yeah good call there guys. me personally, i'd have to put my money on... oh i dunno.... maybe the guy who is DEFENDING 2 BACK-TO-BACK BUSCH TITLES!!!!!

- so now FoxSports is stealing from NBC. This year seems to be an effort to try and push the Petty name into the limelight and try and get us to believe it still stands for something other than charity fundraisers and shitty race teams. hey i have nothing but respect for Kyle and the good things he does for kids, i got NO problem with it. He just needs to stay the hell out of the cockpit. anyways, so Foxsports is using the Petty driving experience machines to take laps around the track. it's only a matter of a couple races till they start carting celebrities or Olympic athletes around and make the Wally's World steal complete.


- wow, 2 national anthems in a row that were well-sung. i'm scared. when do the meteors start?

Bacardi

Bacardi makes some great commercials.

this one is AWESOME.

funny

thanks Cynthia for this one.

best/worst presidents

In honor of President's Day yesterday, someone did a list of the 10 best and the 10 worst FICTIONAL Presidents.

i heartily concur with #1 on the worst list.

NASCAR blows it again

Lemme get this straight......

- Terry Labonte has illegal part in qualifying, he loses 25 points.
- Johnson has part illegally and deliberately modified, crew chief is suspended.

oh and by the way......

- Terry is only running like 6 races this year so that makes the point taking meaningless.
- Johnson kept his car, won the race with it, kept all his points, and now is going around acting like he's a victim and that not having Knaus is killing them and that the team is SO great for "pressing on without their leader" or some shit.

great job NASCAR. way to make the sport look credible. i hear they need new judges at the slam dunk contest next year, maybe you guys can go help out. you could hardly do worse.

Stewart clear-up

I've been thinking about the flak that Tony has gotten over his driving and his safety comments. I've come to the conclusion that maybe he doesn't deserve all of it. i still think opening his mouth was foolish. just because of the can of worms he ended up opening.

think about a few things

- when he made his comments he was referring specifically to "bump drafting" when he said they'll end up killing someone.
- his wrecks and bumps during the race had nothing to do with bump-drafting. at all. he was hitting guys from the side.
- was this kind of behavior atypical for him? he's been paying guys back since he got on the track. it's just his style.
- do you really think it's realistic to eliminate bumping and banging altogether? try to imagine Bristol with no bumping.

so when you think about it, he wasn't really being a hypocrite.

if i'm wrong someone tell me why.

iPod case

Check out what i just bought for my iPod. SWEET!!!!!

daytona thoughts

ok, i've finally settled down and had time to think of something to say on the weekend.

- fuck johnson. you knew i was going to say and i hate to disappoint. i would've rather seen Newman win, but since Mears hung him out to dry that didn't happen.

- i guess cheaters do prosper. at this point i've stopped being surprised that Hendrick cars are getting away with whatever the fuck they like and coming out squeeky clean. why are any of you surprised still?

- oh and nice job of thanking the "haters" versus whatever pitiful fans you have left, Johnson. seriously, how the hell can anyone cheer for this tool? someone find me a 48 fan and have them explain it to me cuz i'm dying to know.

- ok, now i'm 100% sorry that Tony opened his damn mouth after the shootout. not only did he ruin coverage by giving the media the green-light to beat us over the head ALL WEEK with the weak-ass storyline of safety, but he then proceeded to completely throw his credibility in the fucking toilet with his driving Sunday. Maybe he was just paying Kenseth back, but the bottom line is, you can't complain about safety and then go out and look like you're putting everyone around you in the wall. Tony just lost a lot of credibility.

- nice to see how the media was on the ball last year on just how many laps Jr led and yet didn't see fit to mention he led the most laps at Daytona.

- worst part of Sunday, now we have to listen to the media kiss Johnson's ass all year. i know i wasn't alone when i changed channels before he got to victory lane. The Duke game was far more satisfying to watch.

nah

ok i lied. i won't be blogging. i'll be playing world of warcraft while watching the race. sorry.

Daytona baby

it's go time!!!

well, in a couple hours anyway. i'll probably live-blog a diary while watching.

today minus 5 years

i'm sure the TV will be mentioning this in great detail all day today and tomorrow but i thought i'd at least throw my meager 2 cents in. so 5 years ago today the NASCAR family and the sportsworld lost one of the greatest personalities it will ever know. i'm not really sure what to say. everything to be said has already been said.

- there's an article on foxsports.com talking about how NASCAR has flourished since his death. flourished..... yes. gotten better? no. NASCAR is losing its soul. to say it sold out is too cliche, i'm just going to say that in the quest to get to the top they've shown they don't care who they step on en route and they don't really care to remember who helped them get there. sad really, but not surprising.

- you just know that Jr is going to get 50 million questions about his dad this weekend. it's going to make me sick to my stomach each time, but i guess i've accepted the shitheads in the media continuing to cash in on it.

i sure wish we had him back.

how to podcast

i'm going to have to try and get into video blogging or even audio blogging. expand my horizons. i know how to video podcast now thanks to this instructional video by french maids

sexy and educational!!!

RIAA dun gone loco

ever been out to a bar with a friend who didn't know when to shut the fuck up? he gets a few drinks in him and he starts yapping on or he goes and hits on some chick who doesn't appear to have a boyfriend in the 2 seconds he looks at her. he gets rebuffed a couple times and you think "oh good, maybe he'll back off and shut his mouth." but he doesn't. now he's actively pissing people off around him, and you start wondering how many guys you can pull off him before the bouncers will be able to help. you could leave him to go get his ass kicked but that's your boy you gotta back him.

well, now imagine that scenario and now picture that you represent all the recording artists in the music industry. the RIAA represents the drunken friend. see, the drunken friend (drunk on POWER in this case) has just upped the ante in the legal world of online file sharing. they are now saying that RIPPING CDs THAT YOU LEGALLY BOUGHT SO YOU CAN PUT THEM ON YOUR iPod OR OTHER MP3 PLAYER IS ILLEGAL.


what does this mean? well basically that the RIAA feels that if you buy an insanely overpriced CD you are now stuck listening to it in that form only. which also means that they feel the only manner you should be able to load an iPod up is by buying stuff to load it with.

does all this scare you? it should. does it piss you off? it REALLY should. how many other companies/industries do you know of that SUE THEIR CUSTOMERS?? this is like someone bumming a smoke off me and having Marlboro sue me for it. here's the things i'm pondering on this.

- are there ANY musicians who are pulling their heads out of their asses long enough to realize, "holy shit, these fuckers at the RIAA are going to kill this industry..... i better back out and distance myself from these lunatics while i still have fans"

- i'm not sure what's worse: the smug way they're doing this as if there's nothing wrong with it, the fucked up commercials they put up calling US thieves ($14 for a CD? and WE'RE the thieves????), or the way they expect us to just give up.

- they're about to call down the unholy wrath of the online community. file-sharing is about to go big-time. i'm hoping that this is the straw that breaks the camel's back and that we see a revolution the likes of which the RIAA never dreamed would happen.

- if someone in Bush's camp had any sense, they'd jump all over this and beat the RIAA with everything they had. i mean, the entertainment industry already hates him so what's he got to lose? if nothing else he'll win over a few youth voters who MIGHT realize that the industry that's been tell them what's what all these years is more greedy and crooked than they ever imagined.

power rankings

Ok, let me just be the first to say "what the hell is Ryan Smithison smoking?"

the power rankings for Daytona are out.


he's got Jr at 14th. huh? 14th? how the hell does Casey Mears and Jeff Burton get ahead of him? has Ryan ever watched a race at Daytona?

i know the initial Jr-hater reaction to me saying all this is "you're just mad he didn't ass Jr's ass... blah blah blah.... " but see, i've got some backup on this. apparently before making this list Ryan failed to check with a few people, namely THE GUY DRIVING IN THE RACE. pretty much everyone in that garage said the #8 was fast and the best to draft with. so yeah i guess maybe that means he'll do ok in the race. just a hunch.

except for Johnson, he'll pick Gordon. did you see him on Sportscenter yesterday in the Budweiser hot seat? what a fucking tool.

v-day, how i hate thee

ok here we go. it's no secret that i loathe valentine's day. this is the most bullshit of holidays ever. why do i feel so strongly? well here goes.

- the commercialism. i don't understand why xmas is always catching the most shit when the subject of commercialized holidays comes up. v-day is more commercial than xmas will EVER be. i mean with xmas at least i can do SOMETHING besides give a gift and feel like i'm celebrating it. i can watch "charlie brown xmas" or even go to church and pray (not going to happen but you get my point) and say to myself "i think i've celebrated today well". but what the fuck else can you do today except spend money on someone else and say you've celebrated the day?

- what it brings out in women. today turns you girls into the biggest bitches on the planet. if you've never been with your current girl on v-day guys, then today is the day you will probably see a side of her you never thought was there. today is the day that the women all hit the "clear memory cache" in their heads when it comes to what you've done for them. took her out for a nice dinner last week? got her a nice dress the other day? doesn't mean shit today guys. somehow in their twisted minds if your spend-fest does not take place between 12:00AM and 11:59PM on the 14th of February..... then you don't care. the green-eyed monster also runs rampant today. she may not give a rat's ass about flowers and candy any other day, but once she sees a few friends get those a nice expensive bouquet delivered at work, that all changes.

- what it turns guys into. today turns the rest of you guys into the biggest bunch of wussies, pansies, doormats, and beggers ever. i've accepted that most guys will just surrender like a Frenchman when the dilemma of "spend money or no sex" comes up. face it, you'll spend the cash and put up with her shit when she starts holding the nookie hostage. what bothers me about it, is how you guys convince yourself that making her happy is making you happy. i've heard it from good friends who i respect and i still don't buy it. why do you accept this? look, if she needs a stupid ring to say "i love you" or some other bullshit, then what the hell does this say about your relationship? stop being a wussy!!!


look, bottom line is someone is going to try and say some crap like "don't be such a grinch Jimmy!!! what's wrong with taking a day to let that special someone know you care?" i'll tell you what's wrong. what's wrong is that if can't get the messege across that you love them on the 364 days that AREN'T today.... you don't deserve today.

oh great

things just went from bad to worse. NASCAR has announced that they will monitor and POSSIBLY penalize drivers.

Nextel Cup officials said Tuesday that spotters in "zones'' in the turns on the 2.5-mile Daytona track will feed information to NASCAR, which will then determine whether to penalize cars in Sunday's season-opening race.

let me outline this for you and explain why this makes things worse. NASCAR has just announced that they are going to now open the door for them to make MORE "judgement" calls where driver conduct is concerned.

still not getting it? remember those horseshit black flags that they threw at Carl Edwards in the shootout because he avoided a wreck and didn't blow thru pit lane at 100 MPH?? yeah, NASCAR has just announced they're about to let the braintrust in the judge's box make more calls like that. great.

i almost wish Tony had kept his mouth shut.

v-day

and yes, i will be posting something to commemorate this wretched joke of a day we call "Valentine's Day".

later though.

bye Knaus

I would really like to believe that Knaus's suspention means that NASCAR is actually putting their foot down. I really would. i'd like to think that maybe Hendrick and Roush aren't going to get away with half the shit they did last year.

but........ given the BS black flags given to Edwards and the fact that Busch lite probably only got a "talking to"..... i'm not going to get my hopes up too high.

shootout

Inspired by the Sports Guy, i'm doing a running diary of the Bud Shootout.


3:02 - ok here we go. pretty standard intro. nice little interview with Johnson, i liked Tony giving him a wet willie.

3:06 - there's just something wrong with seeing the drivers with huge coats on. bet they can't wait to get in their cars. oh boy, HEAT!!!

3:10 - i still get chills any time i see a clip from the 2001 Pepsi 400.

3:15 - i still can't believe NBC or Fox hasn't thrown a wad of cash at Jerry Seinfeld to have him do a commercial with Newman. every time i see him on screen i can't help but go, "newman!!"

3:23 - great national anthem. about time they got someone who can sing. and was that Danica Patrick over with Ken Schrader?

3:33 - was it me, or did Kyle sound like he almost had to have someone feed him his line? Jr should have just come on and said, "Jr here..... do i even NEED an introduction??? Damn skippy. Let's rock."

3:40 - green flag

3:47 - this just isn't Kenseth's day is it?

3:51 - you gotta wonder if Waltrip is sandbagging. i mean, he knows all he has to do is stay on the same lap. just hang back, avoid any potential wrecks, he knows a pit stop is coming..... i guess we'll see.

3:56 - looks to me like Vickers got Mayfield loose and started a chain-reaction from there. please please please let there be no significant damage to Jr's car. Looks like Kyle might've helped Vickers into Mayfield.

4:09 - nice to see they got the "instigator cam" going. where they show the driver what happened as quickly as they can so they can piss him off and hopefully get a good soundbite of him saying something about someone else.

4:15 - come on Carl, they got a bleeping device. go nuts. i mean you'd be wrong since you were both clearly over the yellow line AND you advanced your position, but i'm just dying to hear a driver say, "man that was bullshit!!!

4:22 - i will say this for TNT. they know how to do repitition. they know how to keep showing the same damn commercial/promo over and over and over until you just wanna stab your fucking eyes out. i still have yet to see that show Wanted because they showed it SO MUCH that i said "fuck them i don't care how good the show ends up being i'm not going to watch one fucking episode."

4:27 - you can hear the crowd cheer as Gordon pulls into the pits. gotta love it.

4:35 - the NBA is asking a Rap star to do something for the All-Star game? i never would've guessed.

4:43 - i really hope Kyle doesn't win. he's being a little bitch out there.

4:49 - a black flag for Edwards? ok, NOW he needs to go on the air and say "that was a bullshit penalty!!" fuck that little bitch Busch.

4:58 - well if the treatment of Edwards is any indicator, we're in for a LONG season of horseshit penalties and lack of penalties from NASCAR with the usual "we're NASCAR, we don't have to explain ourselves no matter HOW bullshit our calls are" from them afterwards. Good for Carl taking a stand. Fuck you Helton and fuck you France.

5:05 - i was praying for Tony to take out Busch. then jump him and go apeshit on him. IT'S GO TIME!!!!

5:10 - we better get a damn green-white-checker.

5:17 - i can live with that ending. let's hear some interviews.

5:22 - you know who Tony was talking about.

ok, so to wrap things up.

- fuck Kyle Busch. he's on my shit-list this year already.
- Carl Edwards just got some cool points with me. i like it when someone doesn't just bend over and take it.
- this should be a good Daytona 500 race.

olympics, rivalries, and more......

- i just read that Kwan is dropping out of the Olympics. i'm sorry to see it happen, i really am. i don't follow skating but i know enough to know this would be like if Marino took himself out of a Superbowl right before retiring. i respect her decision greatly, it couldn't have been easy.

- speaking of skating, Robbie and i were remarking on the couple Savchenko and Szolkowy. They're representing Germany. Those ain't german names. in fact, she's from Russia. she moved to Germany in 2003. some of these dual-citizenship deals are wild. the other thing we were remarking on is GOD DAMN SHE'S GOT A KILLER BODY. she has GOT to be a demon in the sack.

- you know what makes the best rivalries? it isn't the ones with the most trash-talk. it isn't the ones that constantly one-up each other in competition either. no, the best ones are ones in which the competition is built around respect. TNT was showing Heat and i was watching the scene with Pacino and DeNiro sitting in the diner talking and thinking, "this is what made this movie work. these two guys are great at what they do and what they do happens to be on opposite sides of the line. they both know where they stand with each other and yet despite it all they respect the hell out of each other. i'll tell you from personal experience when it comes to competition i'd much rather beat a friend than some stranger online. that's why i gotta laugh at some of these "manufactured" rivalries we see on TV like the Stevens-Porter one from the Superbowl. that isn't a rivalry. that's just one guy being a dick and the media shoving it down our throats.

- did you know that the video game series "Command and Conquer" is 10 years old? i'll just say it again, "god damn i'm getting old". i can remember playing red alert over the LAN at work after hours back when i was stationed in Germany.

- is it me or are commercials in general getting shittier and shittier? shit like that Sonic commercial with that fucking goofball or the burger king commercials with that creepy king. or how about EVERY SINGLE commercial from Sierra Mist? those annoying asshats with the one guy who's always stealing the other guy's drink and never getting his ass kicked? that doesn't make me want to buy your product, that just reminds of the times i had brought drinks to work and someone drank them or something else similar and it just PISSES ME OFF. oh and while i'm dishing advice to Sierra Mist..... Kathy Griffin is not funny. she never was. she never will be. you put her in a commercial you might as well tell me the procedes are going to help Michael Moore make another movie, cuz i'll fucking shove a red hot poker up my ass before i buy your shit.

- feels like i'm wearing nothing at all..... nothing at all...... nothing at all...... stupid sexy Flanders!!!! (Robbie will get that one)

Interesting

I thought this was a rather interesting story.

to summarize, Newman is saying he stopped sharing his car info with Rusty when they were teammates, because Rusty would turn around and share that with their competitors. See I find this interesting because I'm interested to see where it goes. Newman caught a lot of crap over the apparent lack of teamwork between him and Rusty. Rusty made it thru squeaky clean because, well, he's Rusty Wallace. Now we find out there was "method to the madness" where Newman's actions are concerned. What's even more interesting is Rusty's response:

"There never was a policy in effect on sharing information," Wallace said. "One of the perks of being a car owner is to do business the way you want.

"We had a great team last year, and I am happy with the way I did business."

that just leads me to think a few things.

- he's an arrogant prick. He doesn't even acknowledge that maybe his actions hurt his team. It just smacks of "i'm rusty wallace, I don't have to explain myself to anyone."

- the sheer ignorance of a statement like "there was never a policy in effect". Hey dumbass, common fucking sense tells you not to help your competition not a rulebook.

- the fact that he referred to it twice as "business". using that word can lead someone to think maybe his info "sharing" was a little more than just helping a friend. Maybe Rusty was pulling in some scratch on the side.

anyway, I think that this season and the results of Busch and Newman as teammates will be an indicator on just how justified Newman was and just how much damage Rusty was doing.

news bit

i thought this was rather amusing.


An 18-year-old male ASU student was arrested Sunday night at Hayden Library and charged with indecent exposure and public sexual indecency. The suspect allegedly pulled his pants and underwear to his mid-thighs to masturbate while watching pornography on his laptop. When asked why he had gone to the library to view pornography and masturbate, the suspect allegedly told police, "To be honest, the Internet connection at my dorm isn't good enough."


at least he's honest.

already?

We haven't even made it to the BUD SHOOTOUT and FoxSports has already tried to slap Johnson's name on the championship trophy.

can we PLEASE avoid handing out the winner's ribbon until about say maybe a QUARTER of the way thru the season? you media jerkwads think you can keep from blowing your load for a couple months?

ah who am i kidding.

t-shirt

as a penguin-lover, i fully endorse this shirt.

Superbowl XL

all right folks let's hear it. thoughts on the game? which commercial was the best?

personally i think it was pretty bland all the way thru. the commercials were good but nothing was "Terry Tate" good. The halftime show blew hard. The coverage sucked since i got pretty damn tired of hearing about Bettis. don't get me wrong the guy is great and i'm glad he got his due, but they just pushed the story WAY too much.

time killer

ladies and gentlemen..... the time killer to end all time killers......

the super mario soundboard

click on "press start" then enjoy. you literally can recreate a level and make it sound like you're playing. background music and everything. i could spend HOURS on this......