Back in the game baby!!!

Redskins nation rejoice!!! If there has been one thing over the past decade-plus that has brought out the rage in your average Skins fan, it would have to be the the work of team owner Dan Snyder and pseudo-GM Vinny Cerrato. Now, wishful thinking for Snyder to somehow relinquish his stranglehold on team progress is a lost cause, but Cerrato's removal is certainly within the realm of possibility. For years, however, Snyder & Cerrato were as inseparable as chicken wings and blue cheese.

Well today's news brings the dawn of a new day as it has been released that Vinny Cerrato has resigned from his position, stating that "We agreed that the franchise needs someone different in this position".

Fan-fucking-tastic. I have been waiting for this for so long that I'd almost forgotten. Bad personnel decisions, wasted draft picks, bloated contracts to aging veterans, those have all been staples of the Cerrato method.

This isn't to say that roster decisions going forward won't be equally putrid as Snyder will still be there and has been known to stick his mits in everything. However, the recent fan outrage may have finally taught him something. We can only hope.

To be honest, the news comes as somewhat of a surprise. The team is finally starting to pull things together in these last few weeks of the NFL season. The offense is starting to click and they gave a number of good teams a run for their money. Of course, bad teams always find a way to lose, but it does end the season on a good note that, hopefully, will carry forward to next season.

However, this team has been awful for over a decade, and I for one have no regrets in seeing Vinny go. So good luck to you Mr Cerrato. I hope you find employment again, soon. Perhaps you should look at the Cowboys. Just sayin'.

YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK!!!

SERIOUSLY, FUCKERS!!! THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I REALLY HATE SHARING THIS COUNTRY WITH MORONS. EAT A BAG OF DICKS! REALLY?:

Top Singles of the Decade
14 "Beautiful"
BY CHRISTINA AGUILERA

13 "American Idiot"
BY GREEN DAY

12 "Viva La Vida"
BY COLDPLAY

11 "I Gotta Feeling"
BY BLACK EYED PEAS

10 "Seven Nation Army"
BY THE WHITE STRIPES

9 "Since U Been Gone"
BY KELLY CLARKSON

8 "Complicated"
BY AVRIL LAVIGNE

7 "Welcome to the
Black Parade"
BY MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

6 "Stronger"
BY KANYE WEST

5 "We Belong Together"
BY MARIAH CAREY

4 "Toxic"
BY BRITNEY SPEARS

3 "Beautiful Day"
BY U2

2 "Single Ladies"
BY BEYONCÉ

1 "Boulevard of Broken
Dreams"
BY GREEN DAY



Top Albums of the Decade
19 Bruce Springsteen
THE RISING

18 Coldplay
VIVA LA VIDA

17 Justin Timberlake
FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS

16 Mariah Carey
THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI

15 U2
NO LINE ON THE HORIZON

14 My Chemical Romance
THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE

13 Christina Aguilera
STRIPPED

12 Beyoncé
I AM... SASHA FIERCE

11 Kelly Clarkson
BREAKAWAY

10 Lady Gaga
THE FAME

9 Jay-Z
THE BLUEPRINT

8 Kelly Clarkson
ALL I EVER WANTED

7 Britney Spears
BLACKOUT

6 U2
ALL THAT YOU CAN'T
LEAVE BEHIND

5 Radiohead
IN RAINBOWS

4 Avril Lavigne
LET GO

3 Radiohead
KID A

2 Kanye West
GRADUATION

1 Green Day
AMERICAN IDIOT

Top Artists of the Decade

23 | Kanye West

22 | My Chemical Romance

21 | Kelly Clarkson

20 | Beyoncé

19 | My Morning Jacket

18 | Lil Wayne

17 | Bob Dylan

16 | Conor Oberst

15 | Wilco

14 | M.I.A.

13 | Arcade Fire

12 | Fall Out Boy

11 | Kings of Leon

10 | Jay-Z

9 | Jack White

8 | Eminem

7 | Bruce Springsteen

6 | Justin Timberlake

5 | Black Eyed Peas

4 | Coldplay

3 | U2

2 | Radiohead

1 | Green Day


ALL THIS BULLSHIT IS COURTESY OF A POLL FROM ROLLING STONE. "READERS POLL", THEY SAY. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING: I READ ROLLING STONE AND SOMEHOW I MANAGED TO NOT BE A PRETENTIOUS FUCK. WHAT'S ALL Y'ALL EXCUSE?

GREEN DAY? I KNOW NOTHING GETS A GOOD LIBERAL HARDER THAN A LIBERAL BAND RAGGING ON BUSH, BUT SERIOUSLY... GREEN DAY? WHAT THE FUCK?

AND RADIOHEAD. RADIOHEAD WAS GOOD TEN YEARS AGO. SINCE THEN. FUCK NO!

U2, YOUR NEW CD STINKS.

KANYE, SHUT UP AND RAP. NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK.

BRITNEY FUCKING SPEARS????? YOU'RE A TRASHY WHORE.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE? AWFUL FUCKING EMO-SCREAMO-PSEUDO-PUNK ROCK WANNABES.

LIL WAYNE, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?

LADY GAGA, I HEARD ABOUT YOUR DICK.

COLDPLAY. WANNA KNOW HOW I KNOW YOU'RE GAY?

EMINEM, HE SAYS HE HATES WHITE PEOPLE. YOU'RE FUCKING WHITE!

BUNCH OF GARBAGE.

BUNCH

OF

FUCKING

GARBAGE

DIE!

The problem with polls

The problem is, of course, that everyone has one supporting what they want to say.

Take health care reform, for example. For this entire debate I have heard Republican after Republican declare that "the American people have spoken" or "the American people don't want this". I'm not sure what specific poll they are referring to, but I assume that there must be one somewhere supporting that statement.

Then you have stuff like this. There you have it; a poll showing support for the public option.

So who's right? Ultimately, it doesn't even matter. It's like the global warming debate. Who's right: the scientists who say it exists or the ones who don't?

Information can be a powerful thing. Information is the source of power in this modern era, but you can cherry pick it any way you want to tell the public whatever you want. I'm in the accounting field. I know what can be done.

It would be nice to assume that people would not take advantage of the powers of information, but power is power. If you had a movement that was near and dear to your heart, who's to say what lengths you would go through to see it successful.

So, as I always do, I will pay attention to the great modern debates and the people on both sides. As for the information, don't mind me if I look in to it myself.

"Well we all want something beautiful/ Wish for something true"

New jams from the Foo Fighters. This tune comes courtesy of their Greatest Hits album released last month. Unfortunately, that little nugget of new music comes along with the news that the Foos are going on a little hiatus for some time. Perhaps the fault of that decision is on the label as they forced the release of the record despite the bands protestations that their greatest hits have "yet to be written".

The Foo Fighters have always been something of an anomaly for me, much like 311. The Foos rose from the ashes of Nirvana like the mighty Phoenix (or some other city in Arizona) and I've always been a fan. Following them has naturally always involved comparing them to Nirvana, but the two are really nothing alike. Kurt Cobain was a depressed, suicidal, angst-ridden rock god. Dave Grohl is an upbeat, goofy, fun-loving rock star. The Foo Fighters seem just a touch too radio-friendly compared to their peers; a little too pop, but I've always liked them.

Hopefully this break won't be a long one. Good new music is hard for me to find as I find myself looking into more classic rock, old school hip hop, blues, and jazz. So take your time, Dave, just be sure to come back.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire!

I just found this clip on the internets




I'd probably poop myself if I saw that.

Nail in the Coffin

NOOO!!!!!

I just heard (read) that Chris Cooley was placed on IR. This makes me sad. The on thing keeping me going this season was the possibility that Captain Chaos could make a late season return and lead the Redskins to their 4th and final win of the season. Now, that will have to wait until next year.

This year has been extremely painful for my 'skins. Their injury list is now starting to bear way too much resemblance to their preseason projected starting lineup.

Portis
Cooley
Haynesworth
Jarmon
Hall
Samuels
Jansen
Betts

... pretty sure I am missing an offensive lineman or two.

In a way, the new look Redskins are kind of exciting to watch. I felt a certain amount of pride watching these guys with no hope of playoffs playing their guts out against the Eagles yesterday. In the end, the exhausted defense couldn't hold out in the closing minutes. It was disappointing, but right now the expectations are so low that just seeing more than 20 points causes a certain amount of excitement.

So this is yet another awful season for the Redskins. All in all, this blog post is simply an excuse to, once again, pay homage to Mr and Mrs Cooley.

Now you tell me!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!

This post comes to you from the often-sought rarely-seen "Chuck's PC" at home base. With extra PTO days to spare this young(ish) accountant has taken advantage and is spending Black Friday at anyplace-but-work. Have fun working that Daily Recap succkas!!!

So Thanksgiving was turkey goodness as always. Mom throws together a nice meat and potatoes meal and the relatives are good people. The only downside is that I was able to tune in to the Green Bay - Detroit game, which stank, and then had to turn the channel to Sam the Fireman for the benefit of nephew Nate. Ohhhh welllll.

But none of that has anything to do with anything. This morning I have all sorts of free time on my hands. So as I am busy putting together a kick ass radio station courtesy of Pandora.com, I was just reading the latest edition of Jambaroo over at Deadspin and came across this as the Redskins vs Eagles preview:

Redskins at Eagles: A friend of mine just got engaged. For you bachelors out there, there is nothing more terrifying than the time in between the moment you buy an engagement ring, and the moment you propose. Not because you're getting nervous about marriage. But because you're walking around with a bauble in your pocket worth thousands of dollars. You want to get rid of that shit as fast as you can, to give it to your woman so she assumes all responsibility for it. That whole time YOU have the ring, you freak the fuck out over losing it. That's why I never suggest you plan on bringing an engagement ring to some tropical locale, or try hiding it in a soufflé, or some retarded thing like that. Just get rid of the fucker ASAP.

Ha! I had to laugh because I went through the same thing. Have you ever spent multiple days traveling a serious distance in strange lands with a multi-thousand dollar item in your posession? Man is that scary. Not only did I have multiple layovers, I was travelling to Colombia. You know all the rumors about Colombia? It ended up all for the best in the end, but complications like customs and checkpoints were a constant worry. Just before we got to Parque Tayrona we had to get searched by a couple military dudes. I was freaking out the whole time because, A) I didn't want them to pull out the ring and ruin the surprise, and B) I'm sorry for gringo tendencies but I was not, at that point, confident that there was no corruption in the military. So, I had to act all fishy and kind of interject my body between the guys and my fiance.

Luckily, everything worked out, I didn't get robbed, and I didn't just lose it because I'm stupid like that. I just wish I had that piece of advice a little beforehand.

Keep the squirrels out of it.

"His name is Twiggy the Squirrel,and he's three years old. How 'bout that? That squirrel can water-ski. Man, that's hilarious."

Today must be politics ranting Thursday. Maybe I'll try to limit my politics beef to Thursday, it might bring some organization to the mix. Anyway, I happen to live in the congressional district recently made famous by the likes of national heavyweights like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin as they piped in on the election between Doug Hoffman and Bill Owens.

I've heard about hotly contested congressional seats before but this is the first time I have ever been at ground zero. My God was it annoying. There was non-stop commercials on tv, invasive phone calls, and radio commercials every 5 seconds. You have no idea how much I was praying for it to just come and go. But not even the actual election would make the drama disappear.

Nope, instead of nice neat landslide victory for Hoffman, as everyone was predicting, it had to be a close victory for Owens, the evil-liberal-socialist-Pelosi-Democrat (Hoffman's words, not mine). Hoffman ended up conceding and that should have been that.

But wait! Hold the phone, it turns out that as the straggling votes were being counted, it was actually much closer.In the days following the election, and with a few thousand absentee ballots to go through, there was still a glimmer of hope for Hoffman, the common-sense-conservative-Reagan-Republican (Hoffman's words, not mine). There was hope yet for Republicans to regain their 150 year strangle hold on upstate New York!

Hoffman has already proven to me to be a minor nuisance compared to the big guns in the country. He publicly complained about not being given questions far enough in advance, bitched constantly about socialism and Pelosi, and showed everyone that he knew nothing at all about the area. His interviews basically consisted of him repeating ad nauseum that he was a "common sense conservative", whatever the hell that means. I even witnessed him gushing on the Glenn Beck show how much he learns from him and essentially declared his love for Beck. In essence, he looked immature and inept, at best.

The election should have made him go away. However, the updated vote count kept him hanging around, and announced (On Beck's show) that he was un-conceded. That's fine. However, he decided to open his mouth again, and it is painfully apparent that he is extremely immature. He's now blaming the whole thing on ACORN. It's really embarrassing, and I feel bad for him. The ACORN thing is such an obvious grab for more donations. The likes of Beck and co have done such an amazing job building of the infamy of ACORN that conservatives everywhere have declared the organization as a sworn enemy.

The final count on this vote should have been completed on Monday. Hopefully this time it will end the issue, and I won't have to hear about the 23rd until... next year? Shit.

Update: Hoffman has given up on the election again and will not file any charges. Don't worry though, he will most likely return to the thick of the Upstate NY action next year for another edition of "Democrats, Chicago Politics, and ACORN.. Oh My!!!".

Pussies hiding behind the bible

There's nothing I love more than smug assholes twisting the words of the Bible and the Constitution to suit their needs. The Bible-thumpers are particularly disturbing as ones faith in God can be a very powerful thing.

For some, faith can be the driving force that keeps them going. It can help people through tragedies and trials. It can bring people back from the brink of self-destruction. It can also be a routine every day source of happiness. There's any number of reasons why faith and religion can be a positive influence in the world.

For others, it is a motivation for actions that one would normally be too chicken shit to conduct without some viable excuse. The Bible is a large book. There's a lot of business going on in there. In fact, there's enough material in there to supply any twisted fuck with enough divine guidance to do just about anything their perverted mind wishes to undertake.

Quite a few years ago I recall some documentary that was interviewing some backwoods hillbilly. He was sitting there on his bed with a high-powered rifle across his lap and discussing his hatred for gays. The one line that has stuck in my head, and always will, is, "...and if the good lord tells me to shoot, I will shoot." This man believed that he was God's tool to kill homosexuals.

Another example are the anti-abortion fanatics. Abortion in itself is a very controversial topic. Unfortunately, it has become a very political issue and there are millions of people who will vote primarily on that issue alone. Personally, as long as the procedure is deemed legal, it should be up to the choice of the individual. If, for some reason, it is overturned, I will accept the decision and move on, without loss of sleep. It is not that big of an issue (to me). However, there are some who believe that it is necessary that doctors who do these procedures should be killed. In doing this, they believe that they are doing God's work. I call bullshit. The murder of a doctor does not make you a saint. It makes you a murderer, and you will burn in Hell. Plain and simple.

There are countless examples of religious fanatics justifying their actions by saying God told them to do it (George W Bush claiming that God told him to go to war in Iraq, Spanish Inquisitions, etc.). The point is, I'm not buying any of it. It's things like this which cause my view of religion to be somewhat jaded. How is it that, with the potential for so much good, so many of the faithful use religion as an excuse for insidious deeds?

Which brings me to my point: the extreme religious right using God and the Bible as justification for absolute insanity in their stance on President Obama. The idiocy started right about a year ago when stupid-ass chain emails were being tossed around declaring Obama was the anti-christ. My dear parents were receiving these emails weekly from a church acquaintance which allowed me the opportunity to read the crap first-hand.

Let me tell you something, the Bible can be interpreted to justify just about anything if you want it to. I bet that, with a little work, I could use the good book to justify me eating a whole pizza for lunch, skipping out on work early, getting piss drunk, and then hitting up the titty-bar. Pretty sure I could also use it to justify punching you in the face. Whatever.

Cowards do this on a regular basis. There's nothing quite as motivating as divine justification.

The latest in extreme religious right wing actions is the fad known as "hide-behind-scripture-wishing-for-the-death-of-Obama-without-actually-saying-it". I came upon an article yesterday which talks about these new bumper stickers/ t-shirts/ assorted asshole merchandise which reads some variation of "Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8". Without doing any research or having the Bible committed to memory, one would think this is a nice thing by nice religious people. If you look up the Psalm however, you get this:

"Let his days be few; and let another take his office and charge"

Still, no big deal, right? Other than the fact that it looks like some douche bags are using scripture to pray Obama out of office, of course. I mean, the line between religion and government has been blurring for some time now, and for the religious right it has ceased to exist altogether.

When you read on to the next line, however, you get this:

"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow"

...and now you are just in asshole fuck religious fanatic territory.

Just come out and say it, cowards. Come right out and make your t-shirts say, "Pray for the murder of Obama". That's what you really want to say. So just come out and say it. Don't be coy and sneaky. And what makes these people different from the fanaticism of the likes of Al Qaeda? Not too much, in my opinion.

What would happen if we had people doing the same thing releasing this merchandise in regards to George W Bush? You know what would happen. What's the difference? These people are justified because of their faith.

With Secret Service recently reporting that death threats have skyrocketed since Obama took office, I find it extremely irresponsible with the way that some are inciting violence and anger. For 99.9% of the population, it is all just talk. But there are those few, who take it upon themselves to do the unthinkable, and it is those who are the most dangerous. What sets those few apart from the docile masses?

Why, it's God, of course. And each one of those individuals believes that God is on their side.

Veteran's Day Update

Well, the awesomeness known as "No-Work-Wednesday" has come and gone and here I am back at work where I have the time and leisure to blog. My checklist went like this:

Sleeping Late - Success! I managed to stay in bed until 9am, at which point I treated myself to extended viewings of Sportscenter, multiple cups of coffee, and a three egg omelette with cheese and bacon.

Video Games - You know it. I finally finished the main quest of Fallout 3 and the DLC Point Lookout. I've been stringing that game along for more than a year. While Fallout may be sick, it's about time to wrap it up.

Rocking Out - Eh, not so much. Extended video gaming led to a lack of time to devote to enjoying fine musicians like Pearl Jam and Michael Buble.

Eating Calzone - I ate the shit out of that calzone. However, my first real exposure to calzones came during my senior year of college. We used to get these things from a place called Sabastino's and my god were they delicious. You had to turn it upside over a trash if you wanted to pour some of the extra butter and grease out. Everything I've ever tried since then has been a little more healthy and a lot more boring. I'd probably kill a child if it would get me one of those.

Not Showering - Check!

Watch a Bunch of Movies - Only got to one. GI Joe was ok. There was nothing about it that particularly made me think, "wow, this is exactly like GI Joe!!!". All in all, I probably would have to give it ... 2 Lebowski's.

Getting Drunk - Nope. After a super rich omelette and a big fat calzone I would spend the rest of my day alternating between shitting and not shitting.

So that was my Veteran's Day. Thank you troops for allowing me to stuff my face, get sick, and watch bad movies.

Support the troops!

The time is going by slower than molasses in January today. Most likely it's due to the fact that I am super stoked that tomorrow is Veterans Day and this guy doesn't have to go to work. Just thinking about it makes me giddy. I have absolutely no actual plans for the day off but all I know is that I don't have to do anything accounting related and that is pure awesomeness.

There are a number of reasons why working for a bank sucks but the fact that we get to observe all those sweet holidays is alright with me. So, my activities for tomorrow will be pretty much limited to the following:

• Sleeping late (at least until 8)
• Playing video games (I will finish Fallout 3)
• Rocking out
• Eating a calzone
• Not showering
• Watch a bunch of movies

That about sums it up. Maybe I could:

• getting drunk

...as well. But after my Halloween, I'm kind of hesitant to be partaking in that particular activity for a little while.

I'm having a hard time deciding what movies to watch with my free day. I'd like to give the GI Joe film a shot. What guy my age wasn't a huge fan of Joe back in the day. Like most things I assume that the movie will fuck it all up. For Christ sake they have Sienna Miller in the movie!!! Name me any good movies at all that she's in. Or, for bonus points, just name any movies that she's been in.

Anyway, those are my aspirations in appreciation of the brave men and women who defend my freedom and ability to be a total lazy piece of shit.

Thank you, and God bless.


Army Girl - Watch more amazing videos here

Ain't no party like a crazy tea party cause a crazy tea party don't.......

STOP!

Christ almighty, just when you think the Republican party has reached the limits of acting the fool, they go ahead and show you just how much further they're willing to take things.



The latest batch of lunacy has come courtesy of a woman who, more often than not, I can never remember if she is a pundit or an actual elected representative: Michelle Bachmann.

You may know Bachmann for a number of incidents. She's a recently elected senator from Minnesota who seems to be doing her best to get a firm monopoly on crazy.

Last year she famously called for a full investigation in to members of Congress for "anti-American behavior". She then, somehow, was re-elected with 46% of the vote. I could spend a number of blog postings on the weird shit she gets in to but I really just want to talk about the most recent tea party bidness.

Bachmann recently called upon all of the loyal Fox News subjects to march on the Capital yesterday to protest against the health reform bill, bringing their fight right to the heart of the matter. She was quoted as saying the protesters should "scare" lawmakers in to killing the bill. I find it hard to believe that this woman would encourage citizens to engage in bully tactics and intimidation. Honestly, the right can criticize and make claims that we are being attacked by socialism and maoism and maxism and however many "isms" they want; the fact remains that they are allowing themselves to become a party built on dictatorships, despotism, and mostly mob-rule.

So, the tea party hooligans were at it again, descending on D.C. with a number of signs telling the world just how out-of-their-fucking-minds they are. A number of these tools were arrested in Pelosi's office for trashing copies of the bill.

I'm sure this is no laughing matter to the members of Congress who have to stand face to face with these lunatics, but to the rest of the right thinking people, these efforts are laughable. Perhaps the most hilarious clip is the one of Rep Akin leading the crowd in a rousing rendition of the "Pledge of Allegiance". The hilarity comes as he declares that the pledge "drives liberals crazy", which was met by laughter.



HAHAHAHAHA! That's right! Those fucking liberals are going to be driven to their knees by the mighty pledge! Well, this one proved to be ineffective to my liberal sensitivities. However, the potency of the attack may have been reduced by the fact that he fucked it all up. How embarrassing. Apparently Akin is not familiar with the components of a spell, and that failing on the verbal will cause it to dissipate from memory. Now he'll have to return to an inn and restore that particular spell back to his memory before he can use it again. What a fuckin n00b.

Throughout that whole ordeal I found myself thinking of the Knights who say "ni"



Perhaps they will send Pelosi on a quest to find a shrubbery. Maybe she'll even have to chop it down with a herring.

Anyway, I thought that the recent election would be the peak of the lunacy for the right this week. After hearing for weeks how NY-23 was the race to watch and seeing a number of conservative heavyweights back up interloper Doug Hoffman, that race suddenly became meaningless when Democrat Bill Owens won in a district that has been strictly Republican for 150 years. "No no no, you've got it all wrong. The governor races of VA and NJ were the real forum on America, and America has decided 'down with Obama!!!!'!!!". !!! !

It is becoming apparent that the Republicans are being hijacked by a minority of extremists. They have three things going for them though: they are fucking loaded with money, they are loud as shit, and they're so off-the-chain crazy that nothing will stop them.

But maybe this will:

Ekki-ekki-ekki-pitang-zoom-boing!




















Ni!

My first World Series as a Yanks fan

For most of my life I hated baseball. It seemed too boring, too slow, too blah. Shortly after college when a few of my friends were fanatics for the Red Sox I decided I should at least start to see what was doing and, as a suggestion from Best Man, started rooting for the joke-of-the-MLB Detroit Tigers. I can't say that I actually watched a single game during this time but at least now when these Sawx fans were going on and on about baseball I could talk about my favorite player, Juan Gonzalez. Wow, look at me!

Shortly thereafter I started dating uber-Yanks fan Hot Mary and she got me watching the Evil Empire on a regular basis. This was a new thing for me. For my entire sports fan life I have had to deal with only being able to see my Redskins on teevee on those rare instances when local coverage had them playing a NY team. But with the Yankees I could watch them every day all day. It just about blew my mind. Couple that with how I started to play some fantasy baseball and I was officially hooked.

Unfortunately, I had come on to Yankee fever just around the time that they lost total sense in building an effective roster. It was all to similar to my Redskins fandom in that they just picked some aged has-been, threw a sweaty fist full of dolla bills at them, and expected success. Much like the Underpants Gnomes business model, except where the Gnomes used this formula"

1. Collect Underpants

2. ????

3. Profit!

The Redskins/ Yankees do this:

1. Throw money at old men

2. ????

3. Profit!

Anywho, the point is that this is an exciting year for me because it is the first time I will be able to watch a World Series and have a sincere interest (excluding the times I hope the Red Sox crash and burn).

Enter the Phillies. If ever there was a team in the NL equipped to handle the Yankees, Philadelphia would have to be worthy of that distinction. They play excellent defense, they can hammer the ball, they have some fantastic baserunners, and they have adequate pitching.

So please indulge me in my position by position analysis:

Catcher

Excuse me but this is a decided no-brainer. Yes, Ruiz has been raking so far this postseason with an OPS of 1.000, but I would have to be stupid to think that he was in any way shape or form a better catcher than Jorge Posada. Posada will go down as one of the better offensive catchers in MLB history. He has the resume, and he has the experience. The only thing that bites the Yanks in the ass is that Girardi decided that Jose Molina should catch for Burnett. Girardi has had a habit of over managing this ballclub. Burnett is such an erratic pitcher that the difference the catcher makes is borderline negligible. Hopefully, he comes to his senses and starts Posada.

Winner-Yanks

First Base

This is great matchup: Teixeira vs Ryan Howard. Both are big time sluggers, and Howard has been on fire so far. If this was to be based on current postseason performance so far I'd have to give the edge to him, but this isn't fantasy baseball, and defense does count. Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of the Yankees this year has been the effect Teixeira's glove has made on the team. It is an immense relief to look at first and not see Giambi looking like lost retard at the mall. Call me crazy, but I think Teixeira's bat is bound to wake up this week.

Winner-Even

Second Base

Another good one with Chase Utley and Robinson Cano. Both are batting great this year, and both play sound defense. These may be the two best second basemen in the league, although Pedroia and Roberts both deserve consideration. However, where Utley has the clear advantage is the fact that the dude is a great base runner having stolen over 20 bags this year.

Winner-Phils

Third Base

This isn't even close. Alex Rodriguez vs Pedro Feliz. One has an OBP of 548, the other is 212. One has 12 RBIs, the other has 2. One of them is currently leading the team is just about every offensive category, the other, well, the other is Pedro Feliz. It's amazing the turnaround A-Rod has gone through. I hated this guy for his first couple years in NY. As soon as he stopped complaining about Jeter and how no one loved him he just turned on fire. So, you're telling me that when you stop worrying about stupid shit and just start playing ball you might be a little better at the game? Who knew?

Winner-Yanks

Shortstop

Rollins vs Jeter. The move to the leadoff spot has worked wonders for Jeters game. This year has seen a resurgence in both his hitting and defensive work. He still has a tendency to hit in to double plays too much, but the leadoff spot has helped to cut down on that problem. Rollins, on the other hand has seen a big drop off in his performance. The guy is supposedly a multi-talented threat as a 20 homer/20 stolen base kind of guy, but so far this postseason he has neither. The talent is there, but he is definitely underachieving.

Winner-Yanks

Outfield

Here you have Damon-Melky-Swisher vs Francisco/Ibanez-Victorino-Werth. This is a position in which the Phillies have a clear cut advantage. Francisco and Ibanez will probably be juggled at the DH spot depending on who the Yankees are pitching but both are solid players. Francisco is definitely the superior outfielder but Ibanez swings a mean bat. Victorino is the spark plug of the offense and base stealing threat. Werth has had a breakthrough season in which he mashed over 30 homers. For the Yankees, Damon has found that hitting in new Yankee stadium has definitely agreed with him, but his weak arm has been well documented. Cabrera is having a career year after initially losing the center fielder job to Brett Gardner. Swisher carried this damn team on his back in the early season, but this postseason has not been kind to him.

Winner-Phils, by a mile

DH

This is probably going to come down to Matsui vs Ibanez/Stairs. Given what Ibanez is capable of doing as seen in the early season, it looks like he could carry the advantage, but he has definitely not been hitting the ball well. Stairs is hard to get a good idea on as he has only had 4 plate appearances so far. Matsui has found some success in the DH spot now that his legs no longer enable him to play in the field. He's only hitting about 240 but he's also been walked 8 times.

Winner-even

Rotation

Sabathia vs Lee-This should be a great matchup. I wonder what Cleveland thinks about seeing two of their former Cy Young winners going head to head in game 1.

Pedro vs Pettitte-Two postseason veterans. Sounds like fun to me. Pedro has lost alot but he's a compensated and, so far, has been pitching well this year. Pettitte is postseason warrior and has been throwing the ball very well.

Hamels vs Burnett-These are two fellas who are capable of shutting down the opposition at any given moment. However, they're also capable of having a complete blowup. It's hard to believe that Hamels was the hero of World Series last year for Philadelphia. What the hell happened to that guy?

Blanton vs Gaudin-These two might not get a turn in the rotation if either team gets what they want. If they do, Blanton would probably have the advantage. He had himself a comeback year
while Gaudin is adjusting from leaving the spacious confines of PETCO park to the homer fest known as Yankee Stadium

Winner-Even

Bullpen

What was one the strength of the Yankees in the Hughes-Rivera combo is now looking quite suspect with Phil's recent troubles. Girardi is also mismanaging the relief arms and seems to have a problem with letting Robertson get it done. Philly on the other hand is suddenly seeing Lidge throw the ball with authority after a miserable regular season. However, they have a number of struggling arms in Madon, Happ, and Park.

Winner-Yanks

Management

Girardi is managing like an asshole.

Winner-Phils


All told, the matchup looks great. I think it will be close and I think it will be dramatic.

Prediction- Yankees in 7

Let's go Yanks!!!

Adding insult to injury

Mios dios. I have to apologize on behalf of all of Redskins nation for the public being subject to the slow agonizing torture that is "Redskins being televised nationally". This game... was awful! The Redskins finally get a chance to play a team that has actually won a game and the promptly respond by turning the ball over 4 times. Four fucking times!!! Campbell was on the run the entire time. And by "on the run" I mean staring blankly at swarms of Eagles coming at him. That game was awful.

Readers of deadspin will know that Mr Daniel Snyder has been waging a personal battle against the fans. Why exactly is he drowning out the very same people who allow the team to function? Somewhere in the trail of links is a column by somebody at the Washington Post who states that a team spokesman released a statement saying that the behavior of these upset supporters are not representative of "real fans". How delusional is that? So, the only real fans are actually cheering for this team which has zero direction, even less talent, and no possibility of success this year? I find it awfully hard to believe that an uber-successful businessman like Snyder is so far removed from reality.

Unfortunately, this is old news. The real kick in the pants from Monday Night's embarrassment is that my boy, Chris Cooley, broke his ankle and could now be out for the season, at worst, or as little as 4 weeks, at best. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. The game, even as unwatchable as it was, had a couple of bright spots in that the young bucks Fred Davis and Devin Thomas actually got involved in the offense. Maybe losing his favorite target and getting new play calling from Sherman Lewis will force this offense to open it up and take some shots. At this point, the season is lost. What do they have to lose by venturing out of their comfort zone? Their offense is anemic and painful to watch. Let's at least give the loyal fans who are still paying money a good show. That's the least they can offer.

Unless of course "real fans" like Tom Cruise disagree.



There is a silver lining to it all of course. Just not for me, or you. What puts a smile on my face is that Chris Cooley will be in good hands as he is nursed back to health.

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"Yeah, it's me, Mr. Squirrel, not a plastic explosive or anything..."

Some songs don't need lyrics. Tool speaks the language ROCK!



I'm making a push to have my fiance walk down the aisle to this jam but chances are high that it ain't gonna fly.



Perhaps the most epic song ever written and one of the coolest bass grooves in existence. Ride the wave, kiddies!

The definition of a "slump buster"

So yeah, Steve Phillips of ESPN and former NY Mets GM fame, has done got himself in to a dilly of a pickle. He went ahead and ended his marriage due to the sweet alluring charms of this ESPN employee:

Take a good look at that. This homely maiden is Brooke Hundley, a fellow ESPN employee whom Phillips thought was worth dipping his pen in the company ink. What in God's name made him think this was a good idea. He can no longer brag about being the guy to discover David Wright. This chick is now his crowning achievement.

Not only does she look like a dump truck, she's also completely out-of-her psychotic. She left a letter for Steve's wife, telling her how their catholic faith shouldn't get in the way of annulment because God wants everyone to be happy, and she also plowed her car in their house. Oh yeah, she also friended little Steve Jr on facebook and pretended to be a classmate or some other shit.

Way to go, Steve. Hopefully you get all of this straightened out during your "leave of absence".

Update: Phillips done got himself fired!!! Awww Nawww!!!

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/steve-phillips-girlfriend_n_331474.html,

The only thing that could have made the Rams season worse

I don't like Rush Limbaugh. Not at all. He is an expertly guided hypocrite missile aimed at the Democrats/liberals. So when it came out that the group planning to buy the St Louis Rams had dropped him from their efforts I would be lying if I said that it didn't make me happy. Rush has every right to do with his money as he wishes, but it's also the right of others to exclude him from their business proposal.

Rush is in the business of saying offensive scandalous things. He's built his entire reputation on this and has gotten paid very very well by doing so. He is well within his rights as an American citizen (although I have yet to see his birth certificate) to say whatever he wants on the radio and get paid for doing it. What Rush seems to have no clear concept of is the idea of consequence.

As with most things and with most people, there are consequences to ones actions. Certain people who have mucho de money and mucho de power can avoid most of these as long as they stay within their little bubble of influence. In Limbaugh's world, he's a god. He's untouchable. But time and time again, whenever he has ventured outside of his world things have not gone too well.

Although, Rush may deny it at every opportunity, he has steadily built up a body of work that may lead a large number of people to believe things about him. If it were one or two instances, maybe I could believe the excuses. However, this is years and years of his work on the radio. That's fine, he can say what he wants, but after all this time of saying things about black people, mexican people, european people, and whatever people there are... it's really easy to believe this man is racist.

Listen, I understand that Obama being elected has caused a huge race card shit storm sweeping all over the nation. I used to be a huge fan of Keith Olbermann's show Countdown but at some point he became one of those pundits who started calling everyone a racist and that really turned me away from his program. But, with Rush, it just has been too much a part of what he does to be able to make any rational excuses about it.

So when it became known that Rush was a part of the group hoping to buy an NFL franchise, the disapproval by many was not surprising. It must have been a bitter disappointment for the radio show host. The man is football-lover, which I can appreciate, and big time fan of the Steelers. But a number of players and owners all came forth with criticism about Limbaugh. The commissioner even released a statement. It just wasn't going to work, and to avoid any potential problems, Rush was dropped from the group. One would think that in the face of all of this opposition, perhaps Rush would see the error in his ways.

But, alas, this is not a Shakespeare story, but rather another chapter in the life of Rush Limbaugh. The reason for this turn of events does not lie in the actions of Limbaugh, according to him. As with all things, the blame for all of the horrible things that happen in America, and America's Anchorman, can be placed squarely on liberals.

"This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative.Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have."

In all honesty I believe this story serves as a huge clue as to how this man operates. In his own mind he has built up liberals to epic nightmarish proportions. Liberals, in the mind of Rush, are the boogieman hiding in the closet. For the longest time I have wondered if he is serious about the crazy shit he says, or if he is simply operating on an agenda to further the conservative movement. Although that is still a possibility, his childish reaction to not getting what he wants has convinced me along the line of thinking that this is stuff that he actually believes. A life built around sitting in front of his golden microphone and spouting rhetoric day after day has done a far better job of indoctrination on himself than anything the President could have accomplished with an hour on tv in front of school children.

In other crazy conservative pundit batshit crazy news:

• Glen Beck tells his audience that "progressives were slaveowners"
• Ann Coulter debates with Joy Behard (how fucking annoying must that debate be) states that "presidential assassins were all liberals"

"I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this"

That's Tool gettin it done!

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to watch a couple movies I've been wanting to see. First off was District 9. I heard a lot of good things about it and it's symbolism and sci-fi goodness. When I finally got to see it I have to say that the reviews were dead on. The movie was bad ass. Sure, there was a bunch of plot holes, but I won't let that get in the way. Parts of it were slightly disturbing, as advertised, and taken as the metaphor that it is supposed to be I suppose it's moving on a human level. The action was the main selling point, though. I'd definitely give it a couple extra viewings.

Final verdict: 4 Lebowskis

I also got to take Transformers 2 for a ride. The reviews weren't nearly as kind to this one and more than one fancy pants movie critic went out of his or her way to shit directly on the fine work of Bay. As I said in a previous post, people who even consider seeing this movie know what they have coming. They're not looking for something deep and thoughtful. They want robot battles. You think it's easy delivering a robot battle? Eh, the movie was entertaining for the most part. Waaaay too long though. If I recall correctly this thing clocked in at over 2 hours. Totally unnecessary. If I had to pick the thing that bothered me the most it would have to be that way too many generic Transformers were inserted in to this thing for the simple purpose of providing a death count. Kind of lame. But, Optimus and Bumblebee tore some shit up, Turturro is good, Sam's parents are funny, Megan did her thing, and it appears that they have this thing set up for an infinite number of sequels.

Final Verdict: 3 Lebowskis.

Dingers!!!

Congratulations to the Phillies for securing themselves a repeat appearance in the World Series. I can only wonder if it was as painful for them to play in the game last night as it was for me to watch it. The game had been on for about 2 hours by the time that they got half way through the 4th inning. Total game time: 3 hours and 40 minutes. Eesh. So, the game took forever. I finally quit when the score was something like 8-3. Accountants need sleep.

All I can really recall from the game was a shitload of homers, Vincent Padilla looking like he was in a full sweat, and Cole Hamels throwing the ball no where near the strike zone. There was a total of 7 homers last night. Most of them in the first 2 innings. Not a great game, but a series clinching one none the less. Thus dies the hopes of a Torre vs Girardi match up. That would have been the balls.

It's a bit premature to preview a Yanks-Phillis World Series but all signs seem to be point to that being the case. Hopefully New York can wrap things up tonight and not blow it. Burnett vs Lackey... I'm not to keen on AJ but hopefully he will keep the ball in the park just enough to end the hopes of California having a place in the main event.

The Redskins are an awful awful team...

Meh. My loyalties are being tested this year. So we're now heading in to Week 6 of the 2009 NFL season and my Redskins are sitting not-so-pretty at 2-3. On the schedule this weekend are the Kansas City Chiefs. The 0-5 Chiefs, that is.

Thus continues the trend so far; the 'Skins have yet to play a team that has won a game:

1-NYG 0-0 L
2-STL 0-1 W
3-DET 0-2 L
4-TB 0-3 W
5-CAR 0-3 L

6-KC 0-5 ??? (L... no confidence)

The NFC East is a beast. Annually you can expect at least 3 of the teams to be competitive. After the Week 1 dismantling in the Meadowlands there was this wonderful streatch of 5 games against horrible teams in which the Redskins had a great chance to build up a lead in the division. Instead, we stand a game under .500 and are now considered the joke of the league. Last week on Deadspin the resident dick joke guy, Drew Magary, wrote up a little piece on my team and I take issue with none of it.

Once the Chiefs further embarrass the team we embark on a brutal six week stretch:

7-PHI
8-bye
9-ATL
10-DEN
11-DAL
12-PHI
13-NO

If we can get one win out of that I will be surprised. So, for the sake of projections let's say that when the next break comes along in Week 14 against the Raiders, the Skins will already be firmly eliminated with a record of 3-9.

Every year I get excited for the NFL. And every year the Redskins give me a kick to the pants.

Damn you Dan Snyder!!!

Do people really take this guy seriously?

Ugh... I guess it takes a Planet Fitness viewing of the Glen Beck show to bring me back from a week long blog hiatus. Because the TV receiver at the machine I was using produced a horrible squeal while I was trying to listen to ESPN, I was forced to look for alternative entertainment. Against my better judgment, I decided to tune in to my good pal Beck and see what was grinding his gears today.

I've noticed that Beck has a tendency to take two unrelated topics, force them to sound like they are similar, and move on as if this is the truth. He basically centers each episode on false assumptions. When he was in the middle of the ACORN diatribe, after he reached the conclusion of the whole pimp & prostitute scandal, he went on to say how these employees were "community organizers". He then jumped from that to how we didn't know what community organizers really do, but now we do. So, luckily for us, Beck assisted us in determining that Obama's time as a community planner involved cheating taxes, prostitution, smuggling foreign under-age girls for said prostitution, drugs, and murder. He does this without missing a beat.

Yesterday he was focused on everyone's favorite current events topic: health care. He brought on... some guy. He might have been a CIA dude or not, I can't recall. His area of "expertise" was hostage situations. Beck had him explain the traits of a hostage takeover. Dude gleefully described situations as quick and violent. Beck then went on for the entire segment to associate the health care reform efforts to a terrorist hostage situation. I couldn't believe it.

Actually, let me correct myself. Beck initially said that he didn't want to jump to any conclusions and compare the two. Having made that disclaimer, he then went on to jump to conclusions and compared the two.

First, how long has health care reform been a goal of the Democratic Party??? 20... 40... 50 years? This is not a surprise!!! This is not a sneak rushed attack against the American people!!! Everyone knew this was coming. Show me a piece of legislation that either party has not said needed to be "signed quickly". You know why both parties do this? Because as sure as shit the other party is going to do it's best to slow down the process in hopes that it stalls forever.

The Republicans keep saying publicly that they want to slow down the workings on this reform. I would have a much easier time of believing that if it weren't for the fact that in multiple instances word has leaked out that they want it to go so slow that it ultimately dies. At least be honest enough and say, "we have no intention of passing any sort of health reform. You might as well forget about even working with us." That, I would respect. Each side has it's own agenda. If the Republicans had any intention of doing something like this they would have addressed it during their 6 years of dominance.

Second, Beck seemingly tentatively asks his "expert" if violence could be interpreted as vocal violence rather than physical. When dude, again gleefully, says "yes", Beck begins to build the case that the poor teabaggers are being treated oh so harshly by their critics. The poor teabaggers and townhall disruptors are being "shouted down". I almost laughed myself off the stairmaster at that point. This Beck guy, he's serious, right? Is he a satire like Stephen Colbert? The fact that he is applying the label of "terrorist" to people shouting down a group of people who are themselves shouting down and slowing down the democratic process... I don't even know how to handle that.

He piles it even thicker by saying that he and his ilk are not encouraging violent behavior. All he is doing is allowing these poor people to "blow off some steam". So, the conclusion is that when Beck and his people are doing their thing, it's therapeutic. When others do, they're terrorists.

Again, who the fuck is the guy and why the fuck do people think he's relevant?

At that point, I had had enough and powered up the Ipod to let Mike Mcready do his thang, as only he can...

How about a list of corporations that aren't corrupt?

In response to legislation currently in the works in the effort to de-fund ACORN, it looks like there is now a fledgling effort to reduce all activity between the government and companies engaging in fraudulent activity. Representative Alan Grayson (D-Fla) has since asked for the publics' assistance in identifying said companies.

The list, so far, is impressive.

Palin around with Rogues

Here it is boys, soak this image in

"Going Rogue". That is the name of Sarah Palin's book coming soon to a Walmart near you. Word is that there's like a zillion of these books preordered for all of her many many fans. The way this lady has vaulted in to super stardom is amazing and I can't blame her for throwing a lasso around that charging bull and riding it for all it's worth.

There has been no leaked info on what exactly is going to be in this book but the obsession that the politically aware have over this lady is such that these people don't even care. Conservatives love her and liberals love to hate her.

The choice of title really baffles me, though. My understanding of the word "rogue" is that it is not a term used to describe someone in a positive light. Why not a title of "You betcha" or some sort of cheesy use of "patriot" or "America"?

Let me put something out there, in my youth I enjoyed a little Dungeons & Dragons and I recall a character class called "Rogue". Here's the description: "A rogue's real talent shines in deceit, espionage or performing acts of subterfuge: lock picking, disarming traps, stealing valuables, and assassinating key targets."

Here's how Webster sees it:

1 vagrant/tramp
2 a dishonest or worthless person :scoundrel
3 a mischievous person :scamp
4 a horse inclined to shirk or misbehave
5 an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation

or

1 resembling or suggesting a rogue elephant especially in being isolated, aberrant, dangerous, or uncontrollable
2 corrupt/dishonest
3 of or being a nation whose leaders defy international law or norms of international behavior

I'm not sure if she's trying to capture the mood of any of those definitions. The thing with Sarah is that she has never been one to get caught up in specifics or literal meaning. She's always been kind of a loose cannon. Make shit up along the way, shoot from the hip, and let the elitists try to to clean up after her. What she really wants to do is evoke emotion out of the people who love her and aren't bright enough to dissect what it is exactly that she is saying.

As it has always been since she showed up, a slogan (drill baby drill, paling around with terrorists, death panels) has proven to be much more effective to her target audience than a well-thought out idea.

Now excuse me, I have to go preorder this book STAT!

Into the flood again... again?

Some random Friday things...

I had no idea that the new incarnation of Alice in Chains had released their first CD in something like 50 years until I checked out Deadspin this morning. Read through the football previews a bit and you'll see their youtube link to the first single. It's uncanny how new guy sounds so much like Staley. The song itself sounds so much like vintage AinC it's ridiculous. So, as can be expected, I'm mighty stoked about this. My music preferences for some reason seem to be stuck on repeat in the 1990-1995 era and haven't been able to move past brooding lyrics, thick ugly distortion, and subject matter mostly limited to losing buddies to heroin. That's Alice in Chains to a T. My lunch break may feature a trip over to Best Buy (and Subway?) later. Or perhaps I will have to scoot on home after work and visit Isohunt instead. Viva le Grunge!

And in other Friday surprises, I was also unaware that hockey started yesterday. If you were a casual ESPN radio listener you would think that the only thing that happened yesterday was this:

ALEX OVECHKIN SCORES 2 GOAAAALLLLLSSSSSS!!!!!!

rather than this:

Washington 4, Boston 1

Montreal 4, Toronto 3 OT

Calgary 5, Vancouver 3

Colorado 5, San Jose 2

Ever since the NHL signed on with Vs and broke off their relationship with ESPN, the worldwide leader has made it painfully clear that they could give two shits about hockey. If there is a person alive who cares more about Who's Now than what's happening in hockey they deserve to be sodomized with Stuart Scott's head.

Still, hockey's back and that is good for me. Despite the fact that it hasn't gotten out of the 40s here in central New York this is the best time of year. Baseball playoffs, Football, and Hockey all at my disposal. Thus ends my pathetic attempts at being outside and active as those give way to sitting in front of teevees, eating shitty food covered in cheese, and pounding Pabst Blue Ribbons. You gotta love sports!

In other news, Letterman let on last night that he's been getting down and dirty with some of his co-workers. Apparently some douche on another show has known about it and has been trying to extort some cash from Letterman. I honestly don't know if I care. Of course it's a dick move as it's safe to assume that this has been going on while he's been with whatever lady he recently married, but who's to say that they haven't already addressed this privately. Still, extortion-guy really fucked up by trying to blackmail him. You're just getting your own ass in trouble in that situation.

Pain is only temporary!!!

In light of the fact that I lost none of the weight that I planned on losing in time for neither an old high school friends wedding or my upcoming engagement pictures, I've decided to at least make a solid effort on slimming down in time for my wedding. That gives me about 7 or 8 months to stop being a fat ass. I don't think I'm huge but this body fat calculator tells me I'm obese. What a crock of shit. So here it goes. I've made several firm decisions to stop eating so much and exercise more but I almost always lose focus and help myself to some more cheese. You know why? Because cheese if fucking delicious. Anywho, I thought maybe if I put this in a blog it would help me focus better. Let's see how it goes.

We takes the money!!!

Working for a bank has given me some insight in to the current banking crisis that, unfortunately, is more bad news than good. On the bright side, I have the pleasure of being employed at an institution that has not required any TARP funds in order to stay afloat. We have suffered losses, obviously, but nothing to the extent where the business is suddenly in trouble.

It seems to me that the largest banks are the ones that have been hit the hardest and have needed bailouts the most. Now, if about 95 banks have failed as I read recently then a good chunk of them must have been small but most of this money has gone to financial institutions that have risen above the pack. Why is that? Why would the supposed "cream of the crop" be hurting the most? I suppose there are a number of reasons to account for that whether it's blatantly over-the-top executive pay, risky investments, poor accounting practices, or whatever. But these are the guys who have gobbled up most of the government money and, if this report is true, have not learned a thing from their recent struggles. Or perhaps they did learn. Maybe they learned that every time they fuck up the government will come and throw them another fist full of cash.

Where all banks are affected by this is by the FDIC insurance. This is the funding that makes sure we, the customers, don't lose our money when a bank goes under. Prior to the banking crisis the bank I work for had to pay something in the thousands for insurance. After the crisis we were hit with a special assessment fee that hit us up for a cool $2.5 million. Very soon they are getting together to find out about an additional assessment that could hit us up for about $10 million. I do a lot of peer analysis for the company and I've seen that these fees have knocked net income figures for a number of banks in to the red, taking what looked like a promising year in a time of trouble and change and wiping it out.

So here's the way I see it: we, the smaller banks are busy propping up all the failed banks and a good number of the big boys. The huge banks of the world get government cash injected which they are using to do everything but what they were told to do. These banks then go and buy out the little guys who are getting crippled by increased insurance costs. These banks then continue sketchy investment practices, albeit with less inclination to lend to their customers. They eventually fail again, people get laid off, government throws more money at them.

So who wins in all of this? The executives, obviously.

Why does it seem that everything is set up for the guys at the top? And when is somebody up there going to do something about it?

Ineptitude Defined

It's a sad state of affairs when you can consider your team dead with 81% of the season yet to be played, but I don't think there's any mistake that the 2009 Washington Redskins are finished. You take a team that looked ill-prepared in Week 1 against he Giants, looked pathetic in a 9-7 victory over the awful St Louis Rams, and then go on to allow the Detroit Lions to break their 19 game losing streak and you know that you are dealing with a far below mediocre team.

Michael Wilbon sums it up best here (keep in mind that this article came out before the game):

"We're talking about a franchise that undermined its starting quarterback over the summer, a franchise that sued financially strapped ticket holders during a recession while swearing to the longest waiting list for season tickets in professional sports, a franchise whose fans resorted to booing during and after the very first home game of the season, even though it was a victory."

The Redskins seem to allow themselves to be defined by non-football related things. For example, I heard all about how Dan Snyder's personal buddy, Tom Cruise, was chatting it up with the coaches and things like that. Who gives a fuck??!! Instead of celebrity appearances and throwing big wads of cash at every big name free agent, why not play some fucking football?

I know I've beaten up on Zorn and Campbell alot recently, but the problems with this team are deeeep. There's one solution to this: executive overhaul. Snyder obviously is not going anywhere. What he needs to do is get rid of his lackey, Vinny Cerrato, and find someone who actually knows how to assess talent. He needs to also stop this money thing he has going on. Selfish players on the downside of their career with big names come to Washington to get paid. They don't come here to win.

Until the guys in suits get a clue on how to assess players and put together a team, not a collection of individual talent, they are destined to spend their time in the basement of the NFC East.

"I'm Sure I Used To Be So Free"

Lost of new music for me to check out, kind of happy about that. We have new Pearl Jam, Chevelle, Muse, Mute Math, Collective Soul, and Mos Def. I might be forgetting a couple. The only one I've really been able to give a good listen to is Pearl Jam which seems to get better each time I listen to it. I'm curious to see how Muse is, though. A buddy of mine turned me on to them a few years ago when he picked me up on the way to the bar. I heard this bad ass guitar riff and asked who it was and he explained that someone had told him to check them out after hearing he was in to Radiohead. The Muse-Radiohead comparison is a popular one but I think their similarities are getting fewer with each successive album.

It turns out that the riff that introduced me to Muse was from "Stockholm Syndrome" which continues to be one of my favorites. That prompted me to get my hands on the album, Absolution, and I definitely was not disappointed. Songs like "Hysteria", "Time is Running Out" and "Apocalypse Please" keep me listening to the album again and again and what's great is that they, as well as just about every song on the album, are all different styles. If there's one thing that Muse is not lacking, it's diversity.

If i thought that album was good then I was very surprised to find that the one that was released prior to it, Origin of Symmetry, was just as good.

"New Born", super awesome.

"Bliss", awesome.

"Hyper Music", also awesome.

"Plug In Baby", awesome again.

And "Citizen Erased", well, that's the whole reason I wrote this post. I needed an excuse to post one of the most intense songs ever written. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do:



...I'll get to their last two albums later.

Dos Aguila Por Favor!!!

At some point I want to put up a post detailing the best week of my life. In April 2009 I visited my then-girlfriend/now-fiance in the country of Colombia where she was teaching on a Fulbright scholarship at a university in the city of Medellin. It was my first real time out of the states (Canada and Cancun do not count) and it was amazing.

The country is gorgeous, the people are friendly, I turned 30, and we got engaged. It's a shame that the country suffers from such a bad reputation but, on the other hand, fear of drug lords and murder keep the number of wandering gringo at a minimum. My only wish is that I had taken more pictures. I guess that means I will just have to go back someday...

Hail to the Redsk.... who am I kidding

This is going to be a long long year for the Washington Redskins and me. I had the pleasure of being able to attend the first game of the season with a buddy of mine which has become something of a yearly tradition. He's a Giants fan and his family has season tickets and so every year for that one game in the Meadowlands we trek out to New Jersey so that I can witness my Redskins get their asses handed to them in person. Except this game. That one was a joke. It was late in the season and neither team was relevant. No one was in the stands. It was fucking cold. People were making snow men. But Bruce Smith did manage to break the sack record. That made it all worth it.

Anyway...

That first game of the season was awful. The 'Skins game plan was to make Eli Manning beat them while they dedicated themselves to containing the running game. Well, long story short, the Redskins played like shit and Eli took what we gave him. Sure, the margin was 6 points, but of our two touchdowns, one was on a fake field goal and the last was in garbage time on a glorious diving catch by the dashing Chris Cooley. Needless to say, things were not looking good for a Redskins team looking for some success.

Luckily, the hapless St Louis Rams were the next opponent and they were coming off of an embarrassment at the hands of the Seahawks. The end of the day did end up being a victory for the fightin' Redskins, but I am far from happy. This team is awful. Three different times in the red zone resulted in 3 field goals. They do not have a single legit touchdown 2 games in to the season. It is looking like the defense will be solid, but the offense has nothing.

I have been one of Jason Campbell's biggest supporters so far, but at this point I don't know how much longer I can stay in his corner. He seems to play just well enough to not cause the team to fall apart. Last week in New York, all he had to do was step up in the pocket to avoid the strip and TD scamper from Umeniyora. He's starting to look better suited for backup work, a guy that won't throw away the game in a pinch, than a lock and load starter. Maybe I am being too hard on him. Last year I kept making excuses that the play calling never allowed him to stretch the field but I was able to witness first hand him missing Moss on a deep pass where he seriously overthrew. Make that play and don't allow yourself to be stripped on the other big one and you have a completely different ballgame.

It's looking more and more like Portis is in the twilight of his career. He's a small package who plays like a much bigger back and it's now obvious that all the abuse has taken it's toll.

All I can say is thank god for Chris Cooley and the woman who loves him.






Edit: Almost forgot, it appears that they may have lost their starting RG Randy Thomas for the season. At one point the Redskins had one of the most dominant offensive lines in the league. Nowadays their lucky to have 5 guys in uniform just to make it through the game.

The Original Birther

This Orly Taitz bird is a riot. Why they even give her airtime is beyond me but it might be doing her opponents a favor by showing that he's unhinged.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This whole birth certificate thing is really quite silly. It was debunked a long time ago and the people who still believe can't even agree on what story to go with. Obama's a US citizen. End of story.

Renaissance Man

Long time no post. What's up with that? Oh that's right, I've been working. Slave to the man, that's me. I'm on my 4th cup of coffee and it's been a rough week but luckily I have the smooth sounds of one Kamaal Ibn John Fareed to help me get by.

Kamaal, or Q-Tip as the kids call him, came to fame as a part of the best, in my opinion, hip hop/rap/whatever group of all time, A Tribe Called Quest. That may not be the best praise in the world since I consider most rap to be garbage.

Fifty Cents? Garbage and borderline retarded.

Tea Pane? Pile of crap and I couldn't name a song he "sings".

Wayne Jr.? Who the hell is that?

Quite honestly I can't really think of any other rappers and I have no idea who's even current right now. I could care less. At one point I did go through a rap phase where I was into DMX, Ja Rule and maybe a couple others I'm forgetting. DMX I can still listen to now and then because at one point he got to co-star with the one and only Steven Seagal, but Ja Rule has since been exposed as a sucka MC.

But all through late high school and college it all I had one cd that has always been part of my collection, The Low End Theory. Since then I've since latched on to Midnight Marauders
but no matter what Tribe has always seemed kind of special and able to cross the genre.

Which brings me to Q-Tip. For shits and giggles I picked up a solo album he put out last year, The Renaissance. I can't even really explain it all. There's just something so chill about the whole thing, and Tribe in general, that makes it really easy to listen to. It's the type of disk you can throw in and before you know it you're head's bobbing and you've got a smile on your face. Want to get some things done at the office and mellow out after the boss has been riding your back all day? Listen to this album. Want to keep the buzz alive after last call? Crap open a nice cold PBR (can, if possible) and let Q-Tip tell you what's up. Want to rock out a set of squats at the gym? Um... don't listen to this album. Instead you might want to listen to some Slipknot and then punch a girl in the face.

Can I just say that at some point I hope to someday have a job reviewing albums at Rolling Stone? Looking back I see they gave Midnight Marauders 2 stars. Two fricken stars!!! This is the same magazine that heralded Franz Ferdinand as the next coming of Led Zeppelin and voted Jack White as one of the best guitarists of all time! Seriously people?