Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 11-19

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 11-24

...Derek Jeter announced last week that he is going to partner with publishing house Simon & Schuster to start his own imprint called Jeter Publishing, a subsidiary which will concentrate on adult non-fiction and children’s books. Sounds like a good idea to me and I wish him well. In fact I can't wait until he devotes all his time to this job and retires from baseball. One thing he'd better get straight right away is that Simon & Schuster isn't the Yankees and that means they won't be required to kiss his a$$.

...More than one million Playstation 4 console systems were sold in the first twenty-four hours they were put on the shelves last week. That's pretty impressive when you consider that each system sold for $399 and that doesn't factor in if people bought an extra controller ($59) or the Playstation Plus 12-month subscription card ($49) along with it. This thing was so hot that if they had two million available to sell that day they'd have done it. You'd all know if I had got one because all of a sudden I wouldn't be here for two weeks.

...Patiently waiting for someone to post online wondering about the PS 5.

...I saw an article last week about a woman in Portland, Oregon who calls herself a professional cuddler and has a business where people come to her and pay her to snuggle with them for a certain amount of time. And after I read that it reminded me of something that I was going to write about in here around a year ago but never did. You see, we have one of these cuddling businesses right near where I live. And I mean right near where I live, like ten minutes away from my house. Like with most things I got curious and I went to their website and read about it but I really didn't take it seriously at all since it's not something I'd ever do. When I told my wife about this she thought I was making this up until I showed her the website and then I jokingly asked her if I could go there just for the forty-five minute session. That little request got me in the doghouse for a few days. Just when you think you know somebody.

...The real reason why I never would want to go to one of these cuddling people is that I would either fall asleep during the session or get my face slapped.

 

...Brother, Can You Spare A Dime, Dept: Last week I wrote about waiting for the mechanic shop to call to let me know what was wrong with my car. True to their word they did call and they did let me have it. There were three problems with the car. The mass air flow censor that sends air to the engine had to be replaced. So did the ignition switch and I needed a new brake line in the front of the car. Other than that things were fine. Total cost: $700.

...Coming to theaters near you in 2015 is going to be the sequel of It's a Wonderful Life and it's going to be called It's a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story. For sixty-seven years we all thought that movie was done once they started singing Auld Lang Syne and the ending credits began but we were apparently wrong. This shouldn't really surprise anyone since every generation or so they remake or embellish A Christmas Carol so it was about time Hollywood got around to ruining this one too. This new film will be about George Bailey's grandson, who like his grandfather is not having a wonderful life. I can just imagine how much changes are going to be made in this new movie. Mr. Potter's grandson runs the drug trafficking in Bedford Falls. Violet Bick's granddaughter owns an escort service and has a soft spot for the Bailey grandson. I hope these two years fly by now! (Sarcastically of course.)

...Thank you to BitsduJour for having a 56% off sale on jAlbum, a software program where I can make photo galleries and then post them online. I've had other photo gallery software before but this one can do so much that I have been losing myself in this. Good thing baseball season is done or else two weeks of games would have gone by and I wouldn't have even known. I have 10 GB of online space to post photos and that's a lot more than I am ever going to need. All I need now is the time to organize what I have and that will be my biggest problem.

...One constant about Walmart is that they've never been a company that has been known to treat their employees fairly and honestly and because of the approaching holidays this has been brought out even more. They pay their workers so poorly that some of them are compelled to organize food drives for other Walmart workers who are unable to support themselves on what they take home in pay from their job. This is because most of their employees do not get forty hours a week and they get little or no benefits. I really had no idea it was this bad and I feel bad for any of you guys on this website who have to work at Walmart. I say have to because I'm sure none of you that do want to. Unfortunately, until people quit shopping at Walmart their actions will never change and every year at this time some person who is struggling to stay afloat has to accept a handout from a co-worker for the holidays.

 

...After being on death row for fifteen years a man named Joseph Paul Franklin was put to death last Wednesday in Missouri by lethal injection because he was linked to twenty-two killings in the span of four years because he wanted to cause a race war. Along with these murders he admitted that he was the person who tried to kill Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in 1978 and civil rights leader Vernon Jordan in 1980. I had no idea who this guy was until a few days before he died although I remember somewhat the press coverage that surrounded the Flynt shooting because there were some people who were actually glad that he was paralyzed after he was shot just because he ran that magazine but I didn't know this guy was the one who did it. As expected, there were protests from people who didn't want this to happen even though they were well aware of what he did. I'm not going to open up a Pandora's box here by turning this into a comment on the death penalty but if you take a step back you'll see that both sides make good points for what they believe in. I'm all for not killing anyone. That happens enough as it is. But this is a person who did not show a bit of concern for the people he killed until the days leading up to his execution and had he succeeded in his attempt for a race war more people at that time would have been killed.

...Of all the people that you would think that would go to Harvard to deliver a lecture it would be safe to say that Kanye West would not be one of them but last week that is exactly what happened. West gave a lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design about architecture, creativity and political commentary. I had to wonder why such a prominent school like Harvard would bring this guy in to talk to some of their students because the only other way that West would have got into Harvard was if he was carrying a broom.

...I give a lot of credit to the Detroit Tigers organization for dumping off Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers and dumping him is the best way to put it. This was another guy who got an A-Rod type contract and unfortunately for Detroit he put up A-Rod type numbers in the post season. There's a lot of talk about Fielder's weight but I don't see that becoming a problem in Arlington because after he plays in a few home stands down there he'll be shedding off pounds so fast that you'll swear Dee Gordon had a brother.

...Why is it that these other teams can get rid of their big contract players? Isn't there anyone out there that can use a switch-hitting, buck-toothed first baseman who rakes in 23 million a year that gets his share of base hits a year but not one when it really matters?

 

...Connecting on his first solid hit in two years, Alex Rodriguez pounded his fists on the table at his arbitration hearing last Wednesday and told everyone there that he didn't want to play anymore and was going home because his hearing was not going the way he wanted it to be. Rodriguez was upset that the Commissioner was not called on to testify and was further outraged because he wasn't even required to. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Rodriguez ask for this hearing and has anyone complained that he has not been on the stand either? I don't know what else is being brought up in these hearings that A-Rod is objecting to but I am sure about one thing. Only guilty people storm out of hearings.

...The more I see the selfies that people take and post online the more I am convinced it is the adult way of saying "hey, look at me" that an annoying child knows how to do so well.

...Don't judge a book, Dept: I went to purchase a lotto ticket the other day and the corner store that I went to is right near a bus stop and there happened to be a woman there waiting for the bus to arrive. She was all alone and was walking back and forth, pointing at something in front of her that only she could see and occasionally waving her arms. I bet no one's going to be bothering her, I said to myself as I walked in the store. It only took me about five minutes to get my lottery ticket and a drink and when I left she was still there talking animately to herself. I'm glancing at her and when I got halfway to my car she suddenly stopped right where she was, grabbed at her ear and screamed I HATE this damn bluetooth! I laughed all the way home.

...I'm surprised that I've never told this story in here before but since it is the Thanksgiving week it seems this is the right time to do it. It is about someone that I used to work with who had an appetite that was, well, the only way that I can put it is legendary. On one Thanksgiving that he spent with his girlfriend and her extremely large family, five different kinds of turkeys were being prepared that day. I only thought there were two different kinds of turkeys - alive or cooked. Along with the turkeys they also cooked two ducks. When it was time to have dinner this guy and one of his girlfriend's cousins were elected to go in the kitchen to carve the birds. After about a minute or so the robust aroma of cooked turkey was getting to them so they decided to have a little slice of the duck. One slice turned into two and when it was time to bring out all the turkeys that is exactly what they did and when someone asked were the ducks were they looked at each other, turned a little red and told everyone that they ate both ducks. You'd think that someone would have been upset about this but everyone at the table could not stop laughing. And if you assume he was done for the day you would not have been more wrong because I got one more for you. Same guy, same appetite and 100% true.

 

Where I worked there used to be an after-work golf league and this guy was in it. Each week after they finished their round of golf they'd get together and do some grilling. One week they decided to make burgers and it was a good thing that they had plenty of them because our hero ate fourteen of them including the bun and then went home and went out to dinner. Hey...I didn't believe this either but this story was confirmed by every single person there and even the guy himself admitted it was true although he added in the end that "the burgers were small."

...Three NFL games are on Thanksgiving Day, which should really make every football fan happy. The second game is always the game that the Cowboys are involved in so that's the time I take my nap but I can't this year because the Raiders are playing. Just so you don't have to look it up here are the three games for Thursday: Green Bay at Detroit, (FOX) Oakland at Dallas (CBS) and the night game is Pittsburgh at Baltimore (NBC.)

...Before I sign off for another week I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our members here and that goes to the people who live in other countries that don't celebrate this day. Enjoy the time with your families everyone and I hope you all are able to have that opportunity to do so.

[GoRedSox34]

You can discredit Kanye for his relationship with Kim and whatnot but that doesn't take away from his artistic brilliance. Creatively, Kanye is a genius, which is why Harvard brought him in on Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ488QrqGE4

He even gave away 300 free tickets to his show that night, that's pretty awesome

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 12-1

...December sure got here quick, didn't it?

...I hope that everyone here had a good holiday and that you weekend is just as good. I did my part on Thursday to rid the world of stuffing and mashed potatoes and like the Raiders in the second half of their game I ran out of gas early.

...Every year my wife feeds me the same line of her not wanting to go out shopping on Black Friday because she has no desire to fight those crowds like she did last year and the year before that. Sure enough Friday morning rolled around and before I knew it she was putting her coat on and walking out the door because "there were just a couple things" that she had to get. Reminding her of what she said the day before about not going she told me she said that before she had a good chance to look at the ads. If I didn't know any better I would say that sales advertisements in the paper have subliminal messages that only women can see that make them leave their homes to go shopping. Five hours later she came home looking like she just finished a ten-mile hike, which very well could have been close to the truth considering how many times she walked the mall. After waking up from her nap she swore that she wasn't going to do this next year. Sure I remarked to myself. Just don't read the ads.

...Last week Kim Kardashian went on eBay to sell some of clothes and accessories to raise funds for the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines. On the surface this seemed like a very nice thing to do because what happened there hit those people quick and they lost just about everything in a short amount of time. But these are Kardashians and they have been known to never do anything if they do not put themselves first and this little "charity" bit of hers was nothing but more of the same. Somehow someone discovered that 90% of the profits that she was making from the sales of her items were going directly to her bank account and only 10% were going to be sent to the Philippine Islands. Considering the source this shouldn't have surprised anyone. It's true humanitarian efforts like this that really tell you a lot about someone.

 

...Hey, Brian McCann is now a Yankee. What a signing! What a move! We're on our way back now! Is this the way we should look at the latest Yankee millionaire that they plucked from another team? The way I see it this is just another example of the Yanks not having faith/patience in the players that they already have. Austin Romine was never given a decent chance to fill the job and now he's either going to be the backup or is going to be traded somewhere that will give him a chance. I have absolutely nothing against Brian McCann and from the little I saw of him when I tuned into the Braves games he was very good but at the same time f*** him because I'm not going to get excited looking at the numbers he put up for some other team. I made that mistake when they brought Burnett and Teixeira on board. Let's see what he does in the Bronx before we start patting ourselves on the back.

...Microsoft is a perfect example of what it means when you hear the saying that there are lies, damn lies and statistics. They announced last Tuesday that the sales for the XBox One also sold one million units, just as the Playstation 4 did on their launch date on the fifteenth of November. And it's true. They're not lying. However they failed to mention that the one million Xbox One units sold came from a 13-territory release that included North America, Brazil, and much of Europe. Sony's one million PS4 consoles were sold in North America alone. It took them a few more countries but by God they showed Sony that they can keep up with them.

...If I really wanted to I could fill this entire space every week with things that people find to complain about that will make you think that I lie in bed at night thinking them up. Take this Rhodes scholar in Missouri for example. Her license expired and the state sent her a new pair of plates. As you know, the numbers on license plates are randomly picked by computer unless you're one to pay the extra cash for vanity plates. Well, this woman gets her plates and immediately wants to send them back because she received WHO R8X as her new plates. I couldn't figure out what got her so upset. Who...R8...rate is how I saw it. Not this woman. She was more insightful then I was. The state of Missouri wasn't going to get one past her. What she read on her WHO R8X license plate was “whore eight times” and that was that. She filed a complaint with the state and asked for a replacement but she was told that she would have to pay a fee of seventeen dollars for a brand new set of number. All she had to do was stick a crowbar in her purse and pull out a twenty and her problem would have been solved. Instead she ran to a local TV station and gave them her sob story and they ran with it and it made national news, which is how I heard of it. It just goes to show that there are people who will be offended by anything, even if it doesn't actually exist and it's going to get worse because the media makes these people fifteen minute celebrities. God knows what the next one is going to be.

 

...I usually like to play a couple games of MVP a week where I randomly pick a season mod and for the entire week just use that mod. The reason why I bring this up now is because last week thanks to a website that has old games hosted there for download (for a price of course) I was playing baseball games that I was playing as far back as twenty years ago. The website is called Old Games which I am sure a lot of you are familiar with. While poking around in there I found so many games that I wanted to get. So I signed up for a one month membership that cost me $8.95 just so I could get them all. You can download them for free but the server that handles the freebee downloads must be somewhere in Siberia because it is the slowest I've ever come across. Naturally this is done on purpose just to get you to sign up and I'm proof of that. Now this site isn't for all of you. People that are used to the stunning graphics on the Playstation systems will laugh at how these games look. Visually appealing these games were not. It's like looking at a woman who wears thick glasses and has her hair in a bun. At first glance you may not think she's all that but let her take those frames off her face and let her hair down and you'll see her in a completely different way. That's what Hardball 3, 4 and 5, Tony Larussa 2 and 3, Oldtime Baseball and ESPN Baseball Tonight all had in common. They will not score points graphically but given the chance they'll surprise you on how good they are. Those are the games I downloaded last week. It occurred to me that for those of you guys who were not playing computer baseball two decades ago you may find it hard to believe that there were so many different baseball games out there to get. At one time I had all seven of these games installed on my computer and let me tell you I wore every one of them out and I always was looking for another one to play. And there were others. That's how things were before this exclusive license nonsense started. I know I won't be playing these games a lot because Mvp has that much of a hold on me. I felt guilty because I didn't play that game last week and if you think I'm crazy for saying that join the fraternity. But it is nice to know I can now. Best nine dollars I spent in a long time.

...The first thing I thought of after I finished my trip down memory lane was how good would companies like Accolade, Acclaim, Stormfront Studios and 3DO make baseball games today? These people put 2K sports to shame.

...Prince Fielder was introduced to the Rangers media people in Arlington last Monday with a new haircut and wearing a broad smile on his face and if you think you've seen that act before, you're right. Because this is exactly what he did two years ago when he met the Tiger press corps for the first time. The guy can turn on the charm when he wants to as he answered every question put to him without his usual surly attitude. He'll be saving that for when the season starts when his average dips closer to the .250 mark. Ranger fans who are expecting a lot out of him must not have watched him for the past two years with Detroit, especially in the post season where his numbers were so bad that he made Alex Rodriguez look good.

 

...Sit down and be quiet Dept: An eleven-year-old girl who is apparently quite the baseball nut has taken her enthusiasm for the Chicago Cubs to a new level and some people that sit near her and her father at Wrigley Field have let her know how much her cheering has begun to grate on them. These complaints began as soon as the season ended last month and why someone waited to post this online during the Thanksgiving week wasn't explained. Maybe they just forgot. This kid is at all the Cubs games because her father is a season ticket holder and when the crowd around her is quiet she takes that opportunity to try and lead the people around her into a chant of "Let's go, Cubbies!" And when the late innings roll around and the Cubs are behind she does the same thing to get the fans going so they can try and help rally the Cubs. By doing this every game some people around her have become fed up with her constant yelling and the complain has even reached the Cubs front office and they even asked her to tone it down a notch, so you can imagine what a healthy set of lungs this kid has. There's an easy remedy for this of course and I'm kind of surprised that no one has thought of it before. When Opening Day rolls around next April someone in her section should present her with a book on the history of the Chicago Cubs. After reading that she'll know that there's no reason to cheer.

...Actor Alec Baldwin is a hot-head. There's no way around that. Like everyone else he says things that he shouldn't when he's angry and I think because of that the paparazzi that follow him around take advantage of this and goad him into losing his temper so they can get it on film and record his words at the same time. Not too long ago he insulted one of these photographers that were hovering over his wife and child and called him a name that you could only say in an R rated movie without having it bleeped out. This slur bought him a two week suspension from his radio show on MSNBC and now after thinking it over a bit more they decided to cancel his show outright, which really shouldn't have astonished anyone. There's freedom of speech but to a point. He didn't say this while he was working or being interviewed or dealing with fans. He said this to an intrusive photographer that was harassing his family and I don't think he should have been suspended or fired for that. I don't know how it feels to be hounded and chased by photographers constantly so I don't know what I'd do. The only thing Baldwin did wrong here was apologize.

...Ted Lilly retired last week and I was sad to hear about it. He was another one of the long line of young Yankee pitchers that they never gave a proper chance to and if they had he could have been a solid starter for them for many years. Instead he was just that for other teams. The Yankees had him at the beginning of the last decade and he was involved in a three-team trade in July of 2002 that brought the Yankees Jeff Weaver, and any Yankee fan will tell you how well that turned out. I'll never forget one of Lilly's final games with the Yankees. It was a complete game three hit shutout of the Padres in San Diego. Lilly's big problem during his short time with the Yankees was that he wasn't a superstar and because of that didn't get a lot of playing time. Maybe it was better that he got out of there.

[sabugo]

I didn't read your last update but I just had to come here and let it be heard:

For the money he was asking, bye bye Cano! Enjoy the rain, the overpriced coffee and watching re-runs of "The Killing". It was nice knowing you.
The Yankees already gave two large contracts this offseason who may not turn out so well in the end, in addition to the ones they already have.
I was actually hoping he'd stay, just on the fact that I don't think he's as lazy as Y4L does, but that's way too much money!
Does anybody else think that Jay-Z was actually hoping the Mariners wouldn't pay?

As for Granderson, somebody should have told him that it's allright to hit a single from time to time. We all understood that you can put them over the short porch in right field, you just didn't have to try to do that EVERY TIME! I believe he could have been way more productive if he was better managed by the Yankees (not just by Binder Joe, who I happen to like quite a bit). Like we've seen in the past 3-4 years, home runs are important but they're not everything.

[Yankee4Life]

For the money he was asking, bye bye Cano! Enjoy the rain, the overpriced coffee and watching re-runs of "The Killing". It was nice knowing you.

The Yankees already gave two large contracts this offseason who may not turn out so well in the end, in addition to the ones they already have.

Seattle fans are going to end up hating him.

As for Granderson, somebody should have told him that it's allright to hit a single from time to time.

Remember when he was with Detroit? He was good then. Soon as he got to the Yankees he sucked.

[GoRedSox34]

Seattle fans are going to end up hating him.

Remember when he was with Detroit? He was good then. Soon as he got to the Yankees he sucked.

[Yankee4Life]

Photoshopped?

[TheSabathiaEra]

Seattle fans are going to end up hating him.

Remember when he was with Detroit? He was good then. Soon as he got to the Yankees he sucked.

I appreciate those 40 homerun seasons though lol. But you always knew when he got in a hole it was a strikeout. I wouldnt say he sucked when he got too the Yankees. He still produced, he was just injured all of last year

[Yankee4Life]

I appreciate those 40 homerun seasons though lol. But you always knew when he got in a hole it was a strikeout. I wouldnt say he sucked when he got too the Yankees. He still produced, he was just injured all of last year

Ok, ok you and GoRedSox proved to me that I may have slightly exaggerated here. But let me ask you this. Are you going to miss this guy if the Yankees make the post season next year? He was an automatic out just like Swisher.

[TheSabathiaEra]

Ok, ok you and GoRedSox proved to me that I may have slightly exaggerated here. But let me ask you this. Are you going to miss this guy if the Yankees make the post season next year? He was an automatic out just like Swisher.

Eh, its not a devastating blow. All i was saying was he didnt suck with us, you are right. I most likely wouldnt care. At that point i would just want to win by any means lol.

[sabugo]

When he was in Detroit he didn't try to hit a homer every time.
First, because with Detroit's park he knew he probably coudln't. Second, he hadn't yet believed is own hype. I woudln't say he was a totally different player, but he sure was different. For a guy who's supposed to have great speed, he stole a surprisingly low number of bases while with the Yankees, save for 2011. He was always strikeout prone, but with the Yankees it just got ridiculous. At times you just knew he was going for the HR and instead ended up with a K.
Last season he was very unlucky. I mean, two trips to the DL because of broken bones on HBP in one season, come on!
If his asking price wasn't so high, the Yankees should have probably kept him.

As for Cano, I can understand what he's feeling and I can see the interviews, sooner or later:
"Been here for 9 years, hitting above .300 and playing well. I want to get paid. Yankees holding out on me, then go out and spend all that money for McCann (the Yankees actually needed a catcher) and Ellsbury (not a real need IMO)."
He might even throw Granderson in the conversation just to show that he's a good teamate and that they both got screwed.

And Beltran...meh...Should have gotten him 9 years ago, and that's all I have to say.
Is there like an age-minimum for people to play for the Yankees? I can almost imagine this conversation between Cashman and a very good player who's soon to become a FA:

"Sorry Mr. Trout, no can do. You're only 25 and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to healthy to play for us. Go run into some walls, get beaned in the head, go break some bones and in 10 years we'll talk. Go on now, just go and be productive for someone else. Come back when your hair is turning gray and your hips set off airport alarms."

[Yankee4Life]

When he was in Detroit he didn't try to hit a homer every time.

First, because with Detroit's park he knew he probably coudln't. Second, he hadn't yet believed is own hype. I woudln't say he was a totally different player, but he sure was different. For a guy who's supposed to have great speed, he stole a surprisingly low number of bases while with the Yankees, save for 2011. He was always strikeout prone, but with the Yankees it just got ridiculous. At times you just knew he was going for the HR and instead ended up with a K.

And this is why I couldn't stand Granderson. Well put.

Last season he was very unlucky. I mean, two trips to the DL because of broken bones on HBP in one season, come on!

If his asking price wasn't so high, the Yankees should have probably kept him.

I didn't mind. It was the less I had to see of him. People rag on Rodriguez for being a playoff choker (which he is. I'm not defending him here) but because Rodriguez was SO bad he overshadowed people like Granderson, Teixeira, Swisher and Cano. They were just as bad.

"Sorry Mr. Trout, no can do. You're only 25 and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to healthy to play for us. Go run into some walls, get beaned in the head, go break some bones and in 10 years we'll talk. Go on now, just go and be productive for someone else. Come back when your hair is turning gray and your hips set off airport alarms."

You got a good understanding of the Yankees. I can see that.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 12-8

...Starting out this week's edition with some good news. At least it's good news for me and for anyone else that could not stand the sight of Phil Hughes anymore. Hughes signed a three-year contract with the Minnesota Twins last week, who must think they saw something in him worth signing although by the middle of May at the latest they'll realize that they were wrong. One positive the Twins can look at is that Hughes comes to them well rested from his last year with New York because in most of his games he never made it out of the fourth inning.

...All that being said, watch him win twenty games next year.

...I don't care if I get one gift when Christmas arrives in a couple of weeks and I don't care if I get shut out on my birthday next July. As far as I am concerned last Friday was all I needed and then some. My first gift was stuck in my stocking by the fireplace. Curtis Granderson signed a four-year contract with the New York Mets. Why the Mets felt that they had to sign him is of no interest to me. Maybe they figured they had to sign someone so they grabbed him to keep the fans interested. He might be the only player in recent baseball history who has hit more than forty home runs two years in a row that were hit when the Yankees were far ahead or far behind. When he had two strikes on him you could bet the house he was going to strike out and when he was going really bad he only needed to have one strike on him and then he would take his walk back to the dugout. I'll miss this guy like I'll miss a punch in the jaw. Then there was that big gift that was under the tree which was wrapped with lots of bows and ribbons and was waiting patiently for me to open. Robinson Cano is now a Seattle Mariner. I don't know how it happened but it did. Jay-Z and Cano must have got the movers and shakers of the Seattle front office good and drunk and then got them agree to a ten-year 240 million dollar contract. I'd like to see their faces once they sober up and realize what they did. He'll get a big hand from Yankee fans on his first trip back to the Stadium next year but it won't be cheers to welcome him back. They'll be cheering because he's gone. What wonderful gifts I received!

... I had to laugh when I read the article that said that Cano never said that he wanted a new deal worth 310 million dollars. He may have not said it out loud but he sure as hell thought it was a good idea and he waited until now to let everyone know it. Cano doesn't realize it but teammate Alex Rodriguez is the reason why he's not getting 310 million or 260 million or 230 million from New York. That's another thing he did last week. He dropped his asking price of 310 million that he said he never requested to a more reasonable 260 million because he's such a nice guy. That's over a quarter of a billion dollars for a man who can't even run out a ground ball. The Yankees did not give Cano what he wants because they've seen how bad the Rodriguez contract has turned out and they'll be damned if they get themselves involved in another one. Seattle gave him what he wants. And now he is a very rich man with an overpriced contract. You think he didn't hustle before? With that ten-year contract that he has now you haven't seen anything yet

...Before June is over Mariner fans are going to hate him.

...On his radio show last week Rush Limbaugh called the latest document by the Pope (called The Joy of the Gospel in English) "pure Marxism" because it calls for church reform and castigates elements of modern capitalism. I can't decide on what I think is worse, that Limbaugh actually said this or that the people who listen to his show will believe it.

...My wife's the kind of person that likes to throw out feelers to gauge interest in specific Christmas gifts and if she scores a direct hit she tries to change the subject as quickly as she can. It only took me a couple of Christmases to pick up on this. Which is why I will not be getting a Kindle HD come December 25th. I don't like tablets and I can barely tolerate laptops even though I own two of those. I am more comfortable on my desktop than on anything else. Now if I can only steer the conversation to new computer chairs...

...The U.S. is in negotiations with North Korea for the immediate release of an eighty-five-year-old California man named Merrill Newman who has been detained there since he was taken off a plane last month as he was leaving Pyongyang following a tourist visit. He is being held for what North Korea says is "hostile acts" against them dating back to his participation in the Korean War in the early 1950's, stating that he was was involved in the killing of local soldiers and innocent civilians. At least that's the official story coming out of Kim Jong-Un's office. The way I see it the blame for this entire mess should be put right on that old man's shoulders because it was his choice to go to North Korea and no one else's. What the hell did he think was going to happen? A ticker-tape parade upon his arrival? It's like going to Russia and taking a piss on the Kremlin. You do that and you won't be going home right away.

...Usually when I read or hear about stories that have something to do with race I am immediately skeptical of it because these days there are some people out there that can turn a simple hello and how are you into a racial attack but I don't think this is the case here for a twenty-eight-year-old Florida man named Earl Sampson. The man's stat sheet with the Miami Gardens Police Department says he has been questioned 258 times, searched more than 100 times, jailed 56 times and arrested for trespassing 62 times. The majority of the citations that he has received occurred at the convenient store where he works. The store owner doesn't let him take out the garbage anymore because he doesn't know if the cops are going to grab him. The guy's been in jail so many times that he keeps a change of clothes there along with toiletries and a few of his favorite books. The attorney for the man, who by now only has one client because he's been so busy here says if you added up all the times he was picked up, arrested or detained it would be the equivalent of being arrested once a week for the past four years. By now Sampson must know who everyone is on that police force and is on a first name basis with all of them too. There are allegations now that the Miami Gardens police have been targeting black males and if that's the case they must be using this guy for training purposes just so they get it right.

...I unintentionally scared the hell out of a mall sales lady last Wednesday when I was going to get my wife's jewelry checked, which is another story in itself. The mall opens up at 10:00 am and I leave my house just so I can get there when the stores are opening up. As soon as the electronic gates were raised at Littmans jewelers I walked in their store because I was there to get her ring looked at and cleaned. I took a seat at one of the display tables and the same lady who opened those gates turned around and saw me and got startled. I didn't know if she was startled or just seeing me did the trick. She did explain to me that the reason why she let out a little scream was because she didn't expect anyone to be there that quick. I take these jewelry trips twice a year for my wife because I do not want her inside a jewelry store for any reason because the last time we went together to get her rings and necklace inspected she wanted to walk around a little bit and when I asked why she said she was "just looking." Now I don't know about you but when I hear a woman say she is just looking that means she is trying to figure out in her head how to get what she is just looking at while at the same time not giving the budget book a good swift kick in the teeth. And I'm here to say right now my wife can kick with the best of them which is why I travel to two different malls by myself every time December and May roll around. Because when I go to a jewelry store I never just look. I just leave.

...I have been meaning to write about this for the past couple of weeks now but the combination of not knowing how to word it right and deciding that it wouldn't be worth it anyway made me not take the time to write it at least not until now. Why someone like Dennis James only has 50 reputation points after all he has done for the Mvp and 2K communities in here is a discredit to him. Besides all the mods he has made for both games the guy is one of the first to help people with game issues in here. The same goes for someone like Jim825, who has even less reputation points than Dennis if you can believe that. He's another guy in here who has furnished us with unbelievable mods and also is no slouch himself with technical support. And Trues, who just by the way happens to own this place, has next to nothing. But in a way in his case it's understandable since he makes about three posts a month in here so that right there makes it hard to cast a vote for him. Sometimes I wonder if some of these people in here know who he is. Whatever the real reason is I don't think these votes are used correctly because people are either not voting or voting for specific people or voting out of spite, something that I can personally attest to.

...It was anarchy last week at Houston's Reliant Stadium when two security guards were fired for posing for pictures with Tom Brady after Sunday's Texans-Patriots game. It's a good thing that's all they did. Imagine after the picture was taken if they thanked him and shook his hand? They would have been strung up by their thumbs.

...Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo announced last Tuesday that he is going to be opening up a museum dedicated to what is nearest and dearest to his heart which, in his case, is himself. The museum will be located on the Portuguese island of Madeira which is the perfect location for it because that also happens to be where Ronaldo was born. What a humble human being this guy must be to decide to have a museum so that everyone who is not Cristiano Ronaldo will finally be able to see for themselves how wonderful it is to be him. And maybe spend a few bucks while you are there too. Derek Jeter must be kicking himself right now for not thinking of this idea first.

...I'm sure that Sabugo, who is one of our members here that lives in Portugal, is counting down the days for this to open up so he can go there.

...It's amazing how just by reading something it can trigger a memory that you have not thought of in many years. There was a story from Japan last Thursday where the police there arrested a woman for calling them more than 15,000 times over a six-month period. It immediately brought me back to a woman who used to live in my neighborhood when we were growing up. If you walked past her house and stopped to tie your shoe she'd be on the phone to the cops. Laugh in the general vicinity of her property and the same thing would happen. We were kids who played sports out in the street. Baseball, football and hockey according to the weather. You could tell when the police were going to show up when she would go somewhere in her car while the game was going on. Within ten minutes that's exactly what happened. She may not have called the police 15,000 times like this woman in Japan but take it from me she gave that woman a run for her money.

[TheSabathiaEra]

Feeling under the weather, and finals week is about to start...ugh

The Yankees still need a 2B, no way Kelly Johnson starts all year. I expect Infante to be signed over the meetings..or even a trade. We'll see

Christmas is right around the corner. My dad is so hard to shop for. Think ill just get him a Buffalo Bills neon sign for the man cave.

Back on baseball, i wouldnt rule out a Gardner for Pablo Sandoval trade. The 3B spot needs to be addressed considering Arod is a question mark. SF also needs an outfielder, win win. Of course more would be added to the deal, but just an idea.

Rumors are David Price could head to Seattle for some of their top prospects, getting him away from the AL East is fine with me.

[sabugo]

Unlike a lot of people, I don't think Yankee Stadium was his problem.
Sorry Phil, but if you leave pitches in the middle of the plate with no movement at all, you will get bombed pretty much anywhere. He might see a decrease in HR allowed because Target Field is more spacious, but he'll still suck as a starter. He won't ever dominate as a starter as much as he did when he was a reliever. Not without a decent offspeed pitch. Not by trying new pitches and then scrapping them without properly mastering them.
Also, his head might have something to do with his innefectivity. Time and again he placed two pitches on the corners and then tossed a meatball waiting to be destroyed. If that's not mental, I don't know what is!
In conclusion, dear mr. Hughes, this is how baseball goes: Leave pitches in the middle of the plate, sh*t gets broken. And that's all.

What's really getting under my nerves are the trade rumours surrounding Gardner. I'm perfectly fine with an outfield composed by Gardner in left, Ellsbury in centerfield and Beltran in right, alternating the DH spot with Soriano.
Ellsbury is basically a slightly better Gardner. A little more speed, a little better batting average and that's pretty much it. Why the Yankees felt the need to go out and get a player that's similar to the one outfielder they already had - who by the way, was the only outfielder who produced according to expectations last season - is beyond me.

Gardner for Sandoval???? Hell no! The Yankees have no need for an overweight 3rd baseman who pouts, and whose body is breaking down. We have A-Rod for that, save for the weight.
Gardner for Price? That's another story, and we can only dream.

As for Cano, Safeco is a great place for your bat to go and die. Just ask Jesus Montero, Smoak, Morse, Jason Bay - oh the list is long...
And they're already calling him Pujols 2.0
I see a crash and burn here. And a lot faster than expected too.

And good luck to you on your computer chair quest.
There isn't a measure unit big enough to quantify how much I've grown to dislike Christmas. For one thing, everything is more expensive because 'it's Christmas!'. I absolutely loathe the fake happyness on everybody's face. And completely despise the obligation of buying gifts.
I really don't mind going out with the mrs. and if she sees something she likes and I can afford it, no problem. I prefer to buy her something when she's not expecting it. It's that much better for me, and the look on her face is also something I like to see.
Christmas...God, let's just get it over with!

If everyone in the PD knows Earl Sampson (they have to, how can they not?!), why the hell do they keep hauling him in?! Something's not right with that story. Like you, I have the feeling there is something missing there.

As for Cristiano Ronaldo, I could write a book on his passion for himself. He might be a dumbass, but he's my country's dumbass
Then again, how would each one of us be if you'd left your family to play soccer at age 12, then have the other kids make fun of your accent and how poor you were, and as soon as you turn 15 have everybody around you tell you that you're going to be the greatest soccer player ever. And then you turn 20 and people tell you that you are the greatest soccer player ever.
That should be enought to screw anyone's mind.
He's pretty sane by superstar soccer player standards, and by all accounts an extremely hard worker, who keeps honing his craft despite being one of the two top players in the world.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 12-15

...Merrill Newman, the 85-year-old American detained by North Korean authorities back in October returned to the United States last week happy, relatively healthy and by the skin of his teeth. His release was made possible by the work of the U.S. and Swedish diplomats who were able to get the North Korean government to "deport" him back home, which in diplomatic terms means get him the hell out of here. During his press conference when he arrived back in California Newman vowed to never step foot in North Korea again stating that he had no desire to be involved in anything like that again. When asked where he wanted to go on vacation next he replied "Afghanistan," proving again that when you get older you don't always get smarter.

...Carrie Underwood’s performance on “The Sound of Music Live!” last week went over as well as a blind person trying to land a plane and she was the target of so much criticism for her portrayal of Maria on the live special as they thoroughly panned her acting. When Underwood heard about all the comments people were making about her she ran to her Twitter account and said that she would be praying for all the mean people because they "need Jesus." What she really should have done was pray for talent.

...Practice makes Perfect Dept: The World Cup is still seven months away but considering what some Brazilian fans were doing at a game last week they are ready for it to begin right now. Just ten minutes into the game fights broke out in the stands after the opposing team jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Either they figured their team was so bad that they'd never come close to scoring or that they needed the practice when the big boys come to town next June. There were explosions in the stands and riot police showed up to break up the many fights in the crowd. One guy was hurt so bad that he left in a coma and was taken to a nearby hospital. Fortunately he will pull through and stadium officials said that the next game he attends he will be able to throw out the first bottle.

...Seriously, if no one gets injured next summer while this is going on it will be a miracle.

...I felt bad for the guy over in England who spent $740 thinking that he was purchasing a brand new XBox One on the first day it was for sale in the European market and instead received a picture of the console system in the mail days later. As I said, I did feel bad for him until I saw the screen capture of what he placed his winning bid on. It distinctly said that a photo of the XBox One was being sold and not the machine itself. Sure it was a sneaky thing to do and luckily the buyer was able to get all his money back but the buyer could have easily been stiffed on this transaction. Let's hope he never visits America because he just may end up being the newest owner of the Brooklyn Bridge.

If there is one thing that everyone should know by now about the people who are running our schools is that there is no limit to their stupidity. Take this six-year-old Colorado boy who was suspended from school for one day because he leaned over and kissed his "girlfriend" during a reading group that they were in. That was enough for the principal to consider what he did sexual harassment which warranted his one day vacation from school. If it wasn't a true story it would be laughable but I don't see anything funny about this at all because these people are serious and that is what worries me. All the kid did was give her a peck on the cheek. It's not like he tried to bring her in the broom closet. It's a good thing that the kid didn't have a shirt on advertising for the NRA or else the swat team would have been called and he'd have been expelled. The funny thing is once this story hit the national news and the school saw all the negative publicity that they received they changed the kid's disciplinary offense from "sexual harassment" to "misconduct," which was there way of saving face but not coming out and saying that they were totally wrong here. That is still harsh considering what this kid did and because of this he is going to be teased by the other kids for awhile and some of the parents from now on are going to look at him differently.

...Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings and over this past year I have thought about it many times because it bothered me that much and felt for every one of those poor families who are now facing their second Christmas without the child they lost. But nothing seems to be done after this except for jumping on a kid who wants to wear an NRA shirt or a little kid who makes a gun out of his sandwich. They make a big issue out of these things to show that hey look, we are doing something! And the real problem still exists. On Friday it happened again. This time the excuse was that the kid was mad at a teacher and wanted revenge. Just knowing the reason why must make every teacher in America feel so much better. These maniacs need to be stopped and if I knew how I'd let someone know. I'm just concerned for the people like a cousin of mine who is a teacher and all the others who went into that profession to try and make a difference instead of being a target.

...Maybe TSA employees worked as school officials in their previous jobs. How else can you explain the things that they do to airline travelers? A woman who sells customized sock monkeys online was stopped going through security at St. Louis International Airport while going through the screening process. A TSA goon picked up one of her bags and when it was being inspected they found a few sock monkeys, one of them that was made to look like a cowboy from the ten gallon down to the holster around his waist. Inside the holster was a two-inch toy gun which to the trained TSA eye could do as much damage as an assault rifle provided of course if the monkey's gun was in fact real. The gun was confiscated from the sock monkey and the woman and her husband were allowed to board their plane provided that they keep the monkey in their bag for the entire trip as not to upset and frighten the other passengers because their monkey had a firearm in his possession. It's nice to see the TSA cracking down on sock monkeys. Before you know it everyone will have one. Then we'll never be able to fly again.

...Last Tuesday Uruguay became the first country in the world to have a system regulating the legal production, sale and consumption of marijuana. Of course with a law like this being passed there are just as many people upset about it as there are ones who are excited about it but I'm thinking after some time passes some of the naysayers will come around down there once they find out someone sprinkled some of the happy stuff in their brownies and it made them taste better.

...If I knew Spanish I'd go down there in a minute once this law begins just so I could open up a chain of food marts that won't bother selling items like milk and bread. Instead it will be fully stocked with Ho-Ho's, potato chips, microwave burgers and Pepsi. I'll never have to worry about money any more.

...As I have said many times in the past just about everything that I see in the news that hints of politics gets ignored by me faster than watching Red Sox World Series highlights on the MLB Network. It has to take something really stupid for me to actually read about it and usually that means laughing at something Sarah Palin did or said. This time it was John McCain, who is just as bad. Many of the world leaders went to Johannesburg, South Africa last week to pay their respects to Nelson Mandela who passed away on December 5th at the age of 95. President Obama was one of the many people who attended the memorial service. Before Obama stepped up to the podium to address the crowd he had a few words with some of the people that were already on the stage and he shook their hands as he walked down the line. One of the people that he said hello to and exchanged handshakes with was Cuba's Raul Castro and that's what John McCain objected to as he compared what Obama did to "shaking hands with Hitler." What else was Obama supposed to do? Slap him in the head? Punch him in the gut? Or just as bad ignore him and pretend he wasn't there/ That would have went over very well. All this was was a courtesy between two world leaders at a service for a man who promoted peace. McCain conveniently neglected to mention what he would have done had he been in the same situation. It's been five years. He should have got over losing the election by now.

...Robinson Cano's introduction to the Seattle media and fans was aired live last Thursday on the MLB Network and if you did not have a chance to watch it you missed a hell of a performance by Cano. It was one of the few times when I saw Cano smile when he was in front of the media. Even when he got the game winning hit for the Yankees and Kim Jones would trot out on the field to interview him he would answer the questions put to him like someone would when they are talking to a cop who just pulled them over for driving too fast with a low voice and no emotion. But it's not every day someone throws 240 million in your lap so why not put on a happy face? And that Seattle GM, Jack Zduriencik? I can't pronounce his name but no matter. This guy acted like he was part of the greatest deal ever. But I was waiting for Cano to say something because as good as he is hitting a baseball he has shown over and over that the grey matter in his head has hardly ever been used and I did not have to wait long because he accused the Yankees of not giving him any respect or making any effort to sign him. Maybe he should wait a few years so he can watch the Mariner front office make an effort as they try to get rid of him.

...Chances are when you think of Microsoft you can immediately associate it with many things such as operating systems, office software, consoles and tablets, just to name a few. But I can guarantee you that you would have never thought to see their name and a certain woman's undergarment mentioned together in the same sentence. Since stranger things have happened it is no surprise that the people in Redmond are working on a prototype of a "smart bra" equipped with sensors that will monitor a woman's heart activity to track her emotional moods and combat overeating. The idea is that the sensors will contact the woman's smartphone which will -believe it or not- send her a message to stay away from the refrigerator and make better eating decisions. If this thing ever gets on the market they better make sure they got it right because I can see it short-circuiting on some woman who is going through her special time of the month if you know what I mean. And to think, everyone thought Windows 8 was a bust. No pun intended.

...Far be it from me to laugh at the technological advances that Microsoft is trying to do. In fact I would like to volunteer my services on this project in the technical support area for all beta testers in the 21 to 35 age group. It's the least I can do.

...An Arizona man got himself banned for life from Walmart because he was ad-matching in the store and when an employee saw him do it he was told that it was not allowed to do in the store. I don't know anything about Walmart because I do my best to stay out of there at all times but from what I've been told is that they encourage you to ad-match just so they can beat competitor's prices right when you are at the store. If this is all it takes to get banned from Walmart my wife should have had the boot years ago.

...Does the name Elian Gonzalez ring a bell to any of you? If not, I'll fill you in. Back in 1999, a then six-year-old Gonzalez fled Cuba to try to make it to the United States. On the way there the boat sank and Gonzalez's mother and nine other people in the boat drowned and Gonzalez was found by the Coast Guard clinging to an inner tube. After his rescue the boy was placed with relatives in Miami, who wanted to keep him with them and had no desire to return him back to Cuba. That didn't go over so well with the boy's father, who was still in Cuba. Apparently no one let him know about the boat ride to freedom so he was upset. He cried foul and got the government involved and Ozzie Guillen's hero Fidel Casto led protests in order to get the boy back. Well, it worked but the relatives in Miami said that they were still keeping the boy and that is that. After failed talks with the relatives to get them to hand over the boy the U.S. government raided the home right before dawn one day and took the boy and returned him to Cuba. That's who Gonzalez was when he was six. Now he's a twenty-year-old malcontent who blames the U.S. for his mother's death on that boat all those years ago because of the "unjust embargo" that the U.S. has with Cuba. That's why she drowned. Because America will not deal with a dictatorship. Next thing we'll hear is that someone from this country told her to get on that boat just to take a little ride. I suppose if you are not a baseball player in that country you become a Castro mouthpiece.

...It's not even officially here yet and it's already been a bad winter.

...Probably the worst thing out there when the weather is bad is the people who drive the four-wheel drive vehicles because they drive around like they are in their own private off road racing fantasy.

...I am sure that there was something else Kim Jong Un could have done besides killing his uncle if he didn't want to get him a Christmas gift this year.

...I needed a laugh after all that snow that I shoveled in the last few days and it took an article about Santa Claus to give it to me. A woman named Aisha Harris wrote an article about how the image of Santa Claus is racist because he is a fat, old white man in a red suit because it made non-white kids feel insecure when they go and see Santa. This is the first I have heard of something like this. The few times I see kids in line at the mall to have a visit with Santa I don't hear any of the black or Asian kids tell each other that they are going to go see whitey. The color of the man in the suit isn't noticed by the kids because they can't get past the bright red suit and shiny black boots and the excitement of being there. This delusional woman suggested we should get rid of the traditional image of Santa and turn him into a penguin instead of a white man with a beard. Penguin Claus? Talk about two words that should never go together. If this woman wanted to get attention to her blog by writing this, it worked. Don't worry now, Santa's not going away any time soon. But she will be. The men in the white coats will be picking her up sometime next week. Thanks for the laugh. It came at the right time.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 12-22


...Just a few more short days and this will all be over for another year and we can put Rudolph and company away in the cellar where they belong.

...My Christmas plans are still undecided because we are supposed to be going to be with my wife's family and they live 180 miles away in the part of New York State that is called the Southern Tier. It's a nice enough sounding name but take it from someone who has been there too many times that is the only good thing about that place. Well no, I take that back. The other good thing about being down there is when we are packed up and driving home. The reason why I say we are supposed to is that if the weather is good tomorrow night we'll be driving down there. If not, we are not going anywhere and my wife will get mad at me because if she is to be believed, it is a well-known fact in my house that I control the weather. If we do end up going I will have my eyes and ears open because something always seems to happen when I'm there that I find hilarious.

...Two quick stories that I can throw out in here because she rarely reads my stuff and when she does she shakes her head and then calls me Pinocchio. A few years back we all went out to breakfast before we headed out for our three-hour trip back home. We decided on going to Denny's but when we got there there was a line out the door waiting to get in the place. We were waiting our turn and when a party that was called to let them know their table was ready did not answer and come forward the server came outside to call their names again, thinking that maybe they missed it. What happened was these people must have taken off and before the girl went inside my father-in-law asked her what was going on and why there was such a long line. She told him that Denny's had a special today where if you ordered linked sausages with your breakfast you would get an extra sausage and when people heard that the word spread. So we were waiting in line to get an extra sausage that was just about the length of an index finger. The other story happened during the summer about ten years back. We went to a carnival at one of the nearby towns which was funny all by itself but I'll save that for another time. While we were walking around the area I noticed a medium-sized building surrounded by a high fence a little more than a football field away from the rest of us with a few cars parked in the parking lot. Curiosity got the best of me and I asked one of the locals who was working behind the lemonade stand what that was. "Oh, that's our hoosegow!!" he replied.

...By the way, a hoosegow is a jail. I had no idea either.

...I am getting tired of seeing this Ron Burgundy stuff all over the place. Will Ferrell must know people in high places if they keep letting him make movies.

...The Indians signed John Axford last week to a free agent contract. It wasn't a high profile signing but for the Tribe it was a necessary one and an important one because now that the news about Uruguay legalizing marijuana they are not sure if Chris Perez is going to come back and play or retire and move down there.

...British researchers with obviously too much time on their hands have done an analysis on James Bond's drinking habits (yes, that James Bond) and have determined that he could die from alcohol-related causes, such as liver damage, by age fifty-six. I'd imagine if 007 were alive he would pay attention to these findings and try and cut down on the medium-dry vodka martinis but since he isn't I see no attendant danger. The researchers found that his weekly alcohol consumption totaled 92 units a week and that is four times more than doctors recommend to anyone that is actually among the living. All fourteen of the original James Bond books by Ian Fleming were analyzed for this study. And to think, all I did with those same fourteen books was read them. Well, I don't know what the purpose of this study was about but they ended up saying that Bond should be referred to treatment to help reduce his alcohol intake to safe levels. And they were serious.

...Maybe their next study can focus on how many girls Fonzie would have hooked up with had he been living in a bigger city than Milwaukee.

...I don't know if any of you have Imageshack accounts but I am not liking the new format that they are running over there.

...Am I the only person in this country that does not like chicken wings? When people find this out about me it instantly puts a smile on their face because they know if they are ever out someplace with me they don't have fight me for them.

...A homeless couple is suing a small town in Missouri stating that their constitutional rights were violated when the police asked them to leave because they stood on a street corner holding a sign asking for a handout. Because the police told these people to get out of town the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal lawsuit on the couple's behalf. There's something about this entire story that I do not understand because I've seen people like this before holding signs that say something like Will Work For Food but I had no idea that it was their constitutional right to panhandle. The cops around here make them move on down the road as far as possible and then that's that. Personally I think they should purchase them a one-way bus ticket to Buffalo because at least when they are there they can blend in better. What I think this couple needs more than having the ACLU fight their case in court -which could literally take years- is to have a roof over their heads instead of a lawyer on their side.

...There is a restaurant in Port Huron, Michigan named the Cajun Gator that won the right to have live alligators greet their patrons as they arrived there for dinner. The City Council voted 4-2 to allow this to happen and something tells me that with all the bad ideas that have been carried out over time this one here could prove to be a memorable one. I know it was just a movie but we all saw what happened when King Kong was put into an environment that wasn't his own. He got mad, broke loose and started eating people. I can see the same thing here if someone begins teasing one of these animals. Call me crazy but I do not feel like showing up someplace for dinner when there is an outside chance that I can be some gator's appetizer.

...There was an article last week about Derek Jeter that made the rounds on ESPN and other news sources where visitors to his home down in Florida have to place their cell phones in a basket by in his foyer before entering his house so that no one will take pictures of his home due to privacy issues. It must have been a slow news week last week because even the two idiots on Intentional Talk had to bring it up on their show. Considering that in all possibilities and scenarios that I will never set foot in Jeter's home let alone stand in his driveway I am not concerned at all what his house rules are.

...Considering how sneaky some people are I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone to smuggle some kind of camera in his house now.

...Journey guitarist Neal Schon got married last week and for some reason he and his fiance decided to have their wedding on Pay-Per-View and at $14.95 a pop the only people that ordered it were relatives that couldn't make it to the wedding or were not invited. To be fair if they felt they had to broadcast their nuptials to make a buck they should do the same thing when it's time for their divorce.

...It has been said that I am behind the times as far as certain things are concerned and depending on what it is I have to admit that it is true. For example, I have no idea what is popular in music today and to tell the truth I don't want to know. That's probably the best illustration that I can come up with right now. Basically if I have no reason to be concerned about something then I usually don't pay attention to it. This explains why when every time I heard something brought up about Duck Dynasty I could not tell you one thing about it except that it is a TV show and everyone on it looks like the Old Man on the Mountain. That's all I knew. I don't know who's in it and what it's about and I still don't. Apparently one of the people on that show got himself in a bit of hot water because of a magazine interview that he gave where he voiced his opinions on gays and other subjects. Without going into detail about what those opinions are it is safe to say that these are not ones shared among people who make a living as watchdogs on what other people say. His comments earned him an indefinite suspension from the show after angry protests from people who didn't agree with him. That's all it took for him to get the boot off this show. Now I may not agree with what this hillbilly was talking about but you got to respect his right to say it. More and more in this country the right to express your opinion without fear of any fallback is equivalent to a popularity contest.

...It's that time of year again and this time I'm not talking about Christmas songs and buying presents. If only dealing with that were as easy as updating my Kaspersky for another year. Thanks to Zing Sale I find a deal every single year for the three-license version I get. I don't want this to sound like a commercial for that website because this isn't but the last two years the money I saved updating this much needed program has given me one less headache. If only everything were this simple.

...I still have not been able to put Oldtime Baseball down yet. This game, along with Tony Larussa 2 and the 1958 mod are keeping me up late at nights and getting me out of bed early in the morning. I have forgotten how difficult this game could be when you play on the hardest level and having all the teams from the 1800's up until the early 90's is a classic baseball fans dream. There's no way any of you PS3 or PS4 guys will try this out because your eyes have been spoiled and the 2K fans will get mad because this game, along with the others made during this time was made better than what they have been putting out all these years. Check out this screenshot of a game between the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns in the 1922 season. Give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

One from Tony Larussa Baseball 2, which by th way turned twenty years old this year.



And lastly Hardball 5, which just turned eighteen.

...Some people may say they are old school but in my case I really mean it.

...Finally, I hope all of you here at Mvpmods have a wonderful Christmas and that goes for all your friends and family that will share the day with you. Enjoy!

[GoRedSox34]

Duck Dynasty looks like a terrible show, how could someone be interested in that

[Yankee4Life]

Duck Dynasty looks like a terrible show, how could someone be interested in that

I've never even seen it myself.

[sabugo]

I've never even seen it myself.

I'm glad it's out there. And I'm glad Jon Stewart uses it in some of his bits. That's the only use I find for that show.

That being said, I'm a couple of days behind, but since I dislike Christmas:

Happy Festivus!

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 12-29

...I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas and after you finish reading what I went through last week you'll understand why I am so happy that Christmas is over and that I am back home safe and sound in a home where beds don't hate me and couches do not sag to two feet off the floor when you sit on them. Read on if you care to but remember something very important. Every word of this is true.

December 24th: We took off from home around 10:15 am and I was having my doubts about us making it down to Binghamton, New York which I consider my personal hell. The weather was not agreeing with us as we left and there were four parts on our way down route 17 that had slippery roads, blowing snow and tractor-trailer trucks flying by you that temporarily blinded you with snow as you drove. There were times when I was driving forty miles an hour because of these conditions and my wife asked me if we should turn around and go home. I told her that we should just try to go at it a little longer and maybe we'd catch a break but what I said to myself was entirely different because if she really wanted to know what I thought I'd have told her I didn't want to be driving down there at all. Besides, if we turned around and went home she would have pestered me about going there again and I just wanted to get it over with.

About ten minutes before we reached Corning, New York we caught a huge break. The weather cleared up and for the last ninety minutes we had clear roads and no snow for the rest of the way there. That was the final thing that went right for me until I packed my bag on Saturday morning to say goodbye to everyone.

My wife's sister also came to town for the holidays and her plane was delayed for an hour for a reason that was never explained to me. I like seeing her but at the same time I knew this would cause a bit of a problem as far as sleeping was concerned. Since I planned on doing a lot of while I was there this was something that worried me because of the lack of space in that house. Before I go on I better explain. My mother-in-law, above all other things, is a wonderful person and I love and respect her very much. She is a good woman who is very giving and takes care of all her kids very well. That being said she is also a pack-rat. If you have ever seen that reality show Hoarders that will give you an example of what I had to live through for four days. Granted it was not as bad as you see on that TV show but she could give them a run for their money. I was forever knocking something over because things were in piles and sometimes if you turned around to get something without thinking something would knock over and I'd have to stop and pick up my mess while swearing under my breath. There are times when I walked in that house over the years and I literally thought the house would explode because of all the stuff in it. I like keeping my house clean but every time I come back from there I spend days looking around for things to get rid of and after my wife goes back to work I'll find something.

Christmas Eve night we were all together and I'm looking around and I wonder to myself about what we were going to eat. Now I don't say much down there because I am respectful of their feelings and if I am asked a question about something like if I was comfortable I don't want to slip up and tell them the truth that I along with everyone else would have more room and be more comfortable if you threw some *&%# out. Well, my wife's niece wondered the same thing but she actually said it out loud. The truth was there was nothing and around 7:00 p.m. they decided to order a pizza and for the next hour they called all over the place and surprise!! no one picked up the phone. Of course no one's answering I said to myself. They are all closed for Christmas! Finally after an hour of dialing for pizza they hit paydirt and found a Papa John's open and that is what we had to eat on Christmas Eve. No egg nog, no cookies, no homemade goodies. Just pizza.

December 25th: I was up with the sun. Not because I was excited about the day ahead but because I could not sleep on the bed that my wife and I had to sleep on. This bed we had was two single beds put together to make one bed and there was not a lot of room on it if you consider having three dogs on it with you that think they all own the bed. Something had to give and that something was me. I was forced to go downstairs to sleep on the chair and after actually nodding off for awhile I woke up with a stiff neck, courtesy of the chair. My wife came down soon after and let the dogs out and then she let me go upstairs in the bed while she stayed down there. The bed was even worse than the chair because after getting a few more hours of sleep I woke up with an invisible knife in my back. And I still had three nights to go until I got home.


There were no calls for pizza on this day because there was a home cooked meal that we enjoyed around 3 pm. I remember it was at 3 pm because someone had to wake me up for it because I nodded off while they were watching an Elvis Presley movie. All we did on Christmas Day was watch TV and that continued into Thursday and Friday. I never watched so much Law and Order as I did during the time I spent there and I hope I never have to again.

The dinner itself was something else. We didn't sit at a table because the tables in the house had stuff piled on them and if all four of us pitched in together to take everything off the table we wouldn't of had dinner until Valentine's Day. So we sat where we could. On the couch, on a chair, one person in the kitchen. This is not how we would have Christmas dinners at my house and I did not like it one bit but again I did not say anything and I even ate the ham that was made even though I am not a big fan of ham.

December 26th: The best thing about December 26th was that it was one day closer to going home. Now if you have been reading this random thoughts thread each week you will remember that a few weeks back I wrote that I don't like chicken wings that much. And that explains why I remained at home while my wife, her niece and her sister went to go have chicken wings at some local dive and how with the combination of chicken wings and beer it caused a huge fight. It seems that my wife's sister had one too many and she started calling my wife a spoiled brat and her niece the same thing. Other things were said but I really didn't want to ask too many questions but everything revolved around the two of them being spoiled. My wife's sister makes good money so she says that kind of stuff when she's had a few. I've never been a target for her comments only because I don't go out drinking with them or anyone else for that matter because I don't drink. She knows damned well I am not spoiled and besides she's envious of me because I am retired. (I was forced to retire a few years back because of a disability.)

I did not learn about all of this until much later in the evening because while this was happening I was at my mother-in-law's house watching everything that she had recorded on her DVR. The woman records the news three times a day and watches it. Don't ask me why. I watched reality shows that I never heard of. At least I got to watch a couple of episodes of Cold Case. At least that was enjoyable.

Everything was fine until the residual from the bar argument walked through the door around 7:00 pm. Between all the yelling and you-said-this and you-said-that that was going on it was hard to figure out what happened and why. I wrote this down in detail now but believe me it took me awhile to figure out what happened. My wife looked at me at one point and asked me why when things like this happen how come I am always lucky to never be around? I told her I don't know but that's how it always has been. That made her more mad.

December 27th: My last full day there. It was the first time I left the house not counting the times I had to let the dogs out. My wife, her sister and I went out to lunch. The spoiled brat comments from the day before were forgotten and it was like it never happened. We went to a place were they brewed their own beer on site and that was the main attraction because the food there was terrible. Even the lemonade they served me tasted funny. But it was how they ran the place that stood out for me. A girl escorted us to our tables where the menus were waiting for us to look over and that was the last we saw of her because we had to go up to the bar to tell them what we wanted for lunch, pay for it there and then they gave us a hand held device that would make a buzzing vibrating sound when the order was ready. That meant we had to go up and get our own lunch and bring it back to our table. I have never been in a place that did that and I did not like it at all. I didn't leave a tip because there was not an option available for me to tip myself.

As soon as lunch was over they dropped me off at home because they were going out to do some serious shopping and if they dragged me along I would have done some serious crying. It was a good thing they did because they were gone five hours. There's only one mall in that two-bit town but they hit every store there. My wife got one hundred dollars from her mother for Christmas and it must have been burning a hole in her purse because she spent the entire thing on clothes that she didn't need.

While they were out running around in the mall it was my mother-in-law and me again watching TV and this time she was the first one to fall asleep watching TV. The other day it was me so we ended up in a tie.

December 28th This was my Christmas because at 9:30 am yesterday we were on our way home. I knew I was going to get my first good night's sleep since last Monday and I didn't think I could last another day. Our ride home was sunny, clear and dry and I had the cruise control on the entire way. We made great time. My wife didn't admit it while she was there but her back hurt as bad as mine.

And that was how I spent Christmas. I may not like the clutter in that house and the lack of space it causes but there is no mistake that there is love in that house and that's all that really matters.

...You kind of had an idea that the Yankees weren't going to get anywhere near Sin-Soo Choo. He's thirty-one and they can't be wasting their time on kids. They'll wait until his seven-year contract with the Rangers runs out before offering him a contract and then they'll try to convince Yankee fans that Choo's best years are ahead of him.

...It's nice that Kevin Youkilis decided to play next year in Japan because after stealing twelve million dollars from the Yankees just so he could spend more time in a hospital room instead of the dugout, I didn't think there would have been anyone dumb enough in the American or National Leagues to take a chance on him. Now he gets to steal money from the same Japanese team that is playing games by being reluctant to post right handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka to the major leagues.

...The man who invented the AK-47 assault rifle, the world's most popular firearm, died last week in Russia at the age of 94 and gun nuts all over fired rounds into the air in observance of his death. It all depends on your point of view if this invention was a good or a bad thing but an excellent question can be raised in that did this weapon save more lives or end more lives?

...India and the United States have been going through a diplomatic tiff right now because the U.S. arrested an Indian diplomat and charged her with visa fraud and after her arrest she was strip-searched in a private room by a female U.S. marshal. The last part here, the strip-search, is what really has that country hotter than any of the cuisines that they put out. India wants an apology for the way their diplomat was treated even though there is strong evidence that what the U.S. authorities did was justified. I'm kind of hoping that the United States ends up apologizing to them because can you imagine if we don't how the level of technical support is going to be the next time you got to call there?

...Dennis Rodman is having a hard time convincing all the players on the American team that it's safe to go to North Korea for an exhibition game against a North Korean team in honor of Kim Jong Un's birthday next month. I don't blame the NBA players at all for their hesitancy to go there since it's probably in the back of their mind that they may be forced to stay awhile after the games are done or even worse be mistaken for a relative.

...Because the upcoming Super Bowl will be the first one to be played in an outdoor, cold weather site (Giants Stadium, February 2nd) the NFL has come up with what they call "contingency plans" just in case someone's bad idea to allow the game to be played there turns into a really bad idea where the game has to be moved to Saturday, back a few days, or even postponing it one week. The FOX network and all the advertisers that had to pay through the nose are really going to love it if this happens.

...R.I.P. to Paul Blair. He was a very good centerfielder for the Orioles and Yankees. His single in the top of the ninth in game five of the 1977 A.L.C.S. at Kansas City paved the way for the Yankees to score three runs in that inning as they won their second straight A.L. pennant that year and their first World Series since 1962.

...I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!

[dennisjames71]

We sure 'preciate yer Christmas visit Y4L. Hope ya enjoyed the vittles and had yerself a good 'ol time, ya hear!

[Yankee4Life]

We sure 'preciate yer Christmas visit Y4L. Hope ya enjoyed the vittles and had yerself a good 'ol time, ya hear!

That about sums it up Dennis but believe me when I say that there were no Elly Mae's down there.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 1-5

...It took until the day after New Year's to get my back in working order again thanks to that trip I took to Fun City during Christmas. After over a week of living through this pain I have newfound respect and sympathy for people out there who constantly have this problem and can not get rid of it.

...Speaking of New Year's in the general area of where I live a group of idiots started shooting off fireworks two hours before the golden hour and wherever they got them they made sure to get the loud and explosive ones. Either they ran out of fireworks or the cops finally caught up with them since they do this every year because by the time midnight rolled around it was as quiet as an empty ballpark out there. Serves them right for not knowing how to tell time.

...And forgive me for trying to rush this but even though we are only five days into the new year it is not inaccurate of me to point out that next month baseball comes back to us as the major leagues begin to report to their respective destinations in Florida and Arizona. Cleveland is the first team to have their pitchers and catchers report (February 11th) and not long after that other team will be following them. The first game in Florida is on February 25th and in Arizona a day later. The first Yankee scheduled to be injured will be on or about the 27th.

...Hey, look at this! Yasiel Puig was arrested on a reckless driving charge in Florida after officers clocked him going 110 mph in a 70 mph zone. This was the second time this year that Puig was arrested for speeding. Back in April police from Chattanooga, Tennessee picked him up after they clocked him going 97 mph in a 50 mph zone. Puig must have been frustrated that he didn't get up to 100 mph the first time so the next opportunity he had he tried it again and this time he made it. He got off easy the first time he did this when he completed community service in Los Angeles but it remains to be seen what happens to him now. This just proves once again when you give an idiot lots of money these kind of things are sure to happen. Now let's see how the Dodgers handle it.

...The last time Evelyn Lozada made the news is when Chad Johnson (or Ochocinco, whatever you want to call him) had just about enough he could take of her and her mouth and gave her a head-butt that ended their two and a half month marriage. This remains to this day Johnson's best off the field move since his playing days ended. Well, while Johnson was flashing a huge smile because he was getting rid of her Carl Crawford of the Dodgers had a similar smile on his face but for entirely different reasons. Either this guy had no idea who Lozada was or if he knew he must have believed her stories of being the poor victim in the marriage with Chad Johnson and before that to her engagement to Antoine Walker, a former NBA player. Crawford has never been mistaken as someone who has used his head for anything except wearing a hat, which explains why he first knocked up Lozada and then bought her an engagement ring worth 1.4 million dollars. The way this woman goes through men this marriage has the possibility of being shorter than Kim Kardashian's seventy-two day laugher. She's covered three sports now and if I were a soccer player I would run at the first sight of her after she is done taking as much money as she can off of Crawford.

...While I was very happy that the people that were stranded on that ship in the Antarctica were finally rescued I could not help but wonder what the **** they were doing there in the first place? Yeah I know, they were on a tour of historic sites in Antarctica and the ship got stranded in the ice. But honestly what the hell are you going to see when you are there? Every where you look you see snow and ice and if you take a walk to the starboard side of the ship you'll see ice and snow and if you are really lucky maybe one time you'll see a penguin. There's an attraction to that place that I will never understand but as I said before I wish those people well and maybe the next time the idea to go back there to see what there is to see everyone will think twice about it and stay home.

...Last Thursday and half the day on Friday we got hit with a snowstorm that gave us over a foot of snow and as anyone can attest to that lives in this part of the country when it snows this much you run out of places to put it. That's why I was kind of concerned about the people in Boston that got blasted with two feet of snow. Well, almost. I pay a guy to do my driveway but I have to shovel my walk myself and with the amount of snow we got that meant I was out there seven different times in a day and a half. The average temperature outside was four degrees and combined with the wind chill (for you guys who live in the warm weather areas the wind chill is an added bonus here. It makes the actual temperature outside seem even colder) it made it seem like it was -11 degrees. While I was out there enjoying myself I couldn't help but think of those people in Antarctica that chose to be there and the more I was out there the less I felt bad for them. The next time they want to go someplace and freeze they should stand in a walk-in freezer for about a half hour. Even that will be warmer.

...Jovan Belcher, the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who first killed his girlfriend and then himself back in December of 2012 is back in the news thanks to his mother who is now suing the Chiefs in a wrongful-death lawsuit because she said that her son “unknowingly sacrificed his brain” during his four years with the team. Who the hell didn't see something like this coming? She must have spent most of last year meeting up with lawyers just to work out a strategy to properly go after the Chiefs. I feel bad because a mother lost her son and at a very young age too (25) but I believe this case is more about money than about grief. No one forced Belcher to go out on that field every Sunday. He was well paid for what he did. And if there is a wrongful death case here it should be from the family of the girl that he killed and not a mother whose meal ticket has expired.

...My wife and I were really lucky over the holidays because while we did a lot of Christmas gift shopping, none of it was done at Target. And that really has nothing to do with the store because I enjoy going into Target a lot more than I like I like going into Walmart because Target stores are always clean and that is something that can not be said about Walmart. We are inordinately fortunate that most of the people on our list prefer gift cards as gifts so that means a short trip to wherever gift cards are sold and 90% of our shopping is done. But what really concerned me about the theft of 40 million debit and credit card accounts from Target was that Target was only one of 500 publicly disclosed data breaches in 2013. As soon as I read that I became very reluctant to purchase anything online again.

...It took me a few hours to update Total Classics seasons 1951, '56. '64, '74 and '75 thanks to the updates that Dennis James provided for all five of those great mods. When that guy gets going he's unstoppable and it wouldn't shock me at all to find out soon that he will start updating his updates later on this year.

...Years ago the front page of this website had an area that had icons representing the respected sites of Mvpmods and it provided a quick link to them in case anyone was interested in checking that site out for themselves. Well, last month on the 3rd of December one of those sites closed its doors for the last time and if anyone who visited there for the last few years could tell you, they knew it was coming. The Perfect Game website, formerly High Heat and before that The Clubhouse is gone and even though the traffic there slowed down dramatically I was sad to see it go. I did not want it to go. If you wanted files for High Heat Baseball that was a good place to get them. The High Heat website is where I first met Trues and my friend MarkBtheYankee. There's a few other guys on this site that were members over there. One of the funniest things ever said about me was from one of the members there. It seems there was one guy who was being difficult in the forums with the other people and someone told him that if he didn't watch himself he would have to spend a few hours in a chat room with Mark and I while we talked non-stop about the Yankees. Those guys over there were notorious Yankee-haters and this was during the time when I had my rose-colored Yankee glasses on at all times. Now imagine mixing those two things together and what you got was a whole bunch of classic threads with no one giving an inch and laughing all the way. What a bunch of characters. Goodbye Perfect Game, thanks for everything.

...The U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team mistakenly sent a text message to a sixty-seven-year-old Canadian man informing him that he made the team that will be representing the United States in the upcoming Winter Olympics next month. The man informed them that they must have been trying to contact someone else since he was a senior citizen and besides, he can't skate. He must have been joking about not being able to skate because everyone over the age of three can do that up there.

...During a trip on the Royal Caribbean cruise line a passenger jumped overboard while the ship was headed towards Puerto Rico. This is frowned upon by all cruise line ships because when someone jumps overboard they usually don't bring their luggage along with them and that means the cruise line has to get rid of the luggage for them when the ship docks. Every precaution was made to rescue the man who jumped overboard as the ship turned immediately around to find him with all the other passengers helping out as much as they could as they stood by the railings yelling out "come back" to the wayward traveler. The Coast Guard was also notified and brought in as they searched for him for two days before calling it off. There must be a better way to settle your bar tab then resorting to this.

...I feel bad for the Walmart store manager down in Florida who tried to stop a man and a woman who were quickly loading a shopping cart full of beer that they forgot to pay for. As soon as he asked them for a receipt for the beer they backed up the truck and not wanting to get run over by it the manager jumped in the back of it while the truck sped away from Walmart as fast as it could. The good news is that someone came to his aid after they saw him trying to flag someone down on the highway. The two rednecks took off but really, how hard is it going to be to find them? The Walmart manager was congratulated for what he did and got to see himself on the evening news but in the back of his mind he had to be worried because Walmart is probably going to lean on him for this to the point where it is going to cost him in job. They did it to an employee of theirs in California recently who tried to help a woman who was being beat up by some guy in their parking lot. But that guy was just an employee and this guy was a manager which means he probably will get off with just a warning.

...I almost changed the channel during the Kansas City - Baltimore game last night because the Chiefs were up by a lot and I thought they were going to win their wildcard game but it was worth watching them choke in the second half. Watching teams in my division taking nose dives in the playoffs are about the only thing I can look forward to all year as a Raider fan.

[Padres67]

They were trying to prove global warming is real and Antartica is shrinking. Guess they were wrong-idiots