UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

and some sweat when the heat is on! (count me in as part of the latter group :P)

So I’m still too cheap to afford a web hosting plan, and I’ve noticed that 100webspace does not allow image hotlinking. Neither did a couple other free hosts I found. I finally stumbled upon one that does allow hotlinking, zero ads, and a ton of webspace (as if I am going to use anything close to the maximum). Thanks XER Team Speak–link in the links section–for the free web space! I’ll be publishing this blog to my new free subdomain, and I hope that I won’t run into the problems I had with 100webspace.

- As of this posting, I have 20 of 24 correct picks in my Tournament Pick’em League; it looked like Georgia Tech was about to pull off an upset of UNLV, but oh well. My entire San Antonio bracket is intact, but I’ve missed two picks in the St. Louis bracket, and possibly three if Arizona doesn’t come back against Purdue. I also picked Virginia Tech to beat Illinois, and the Illini are upsetting them as we speak.

- Tennessee 121, Long Beach State 86. Just crazy! Then again, Bruce Pearl did say to take the over…um…that is, if betting on NCAA tournament games was legal here in the states.

- This is ouuuuuuuuuuuur country! That’s the 20th time in the past two days that I’ve seen a commercial featuring that damn Mellencamp song!

- I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC. And I thought the Mellencamp song was annoying. CBS should really learn to not air those commercials back-to-back.

- I’m drawing a serious blank here; I can’t think of much else to blog about right now. Maybe I need a cold drink…happy blogging!

by Peter
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oh, living on a prayer (a non-denominational one, that is)!

As a side note, gosh, it’s hard to come up with some of these punny blog titles!

Halfway through Day 1 of the first round of the best weekend in sports–yes, better than the Super Bowl–and I got 13 of 16 picks correct so far. I missed Michigan State over Marquette–thanks, Marquette, for waiting nearly 10 minutes to score your first points–Butler over Old Dominion–the 12-5 upset I picked to happen–and VCU over Duke (!!!).

Some random thoughts on day 1:

- Thank goodness UCLA didn’t allow Weber State to stay in the game for long. They had me worried when the game was close in the early going. Next up for the Bruins: Indiana, on Saturday.

- VCU guard Eric Maynor is a stud. He nailed big shot after big shot in the waning moments of the Duke-VCU game, and who didn’t expect his last-second jumper to go in?

- Louisville trashed Stanford by 20. Yeah, Syracuse and Drexel didn’t belong in the tourney, but Stanford did. Just wait until USC crushes Arkansas. And no, I don’t care that Drexel got beat in the first round of the Not In Tournament. They should have been in the field of 64.

- I expected the Indiana-Gonzaga game to be closer than it really was. I really wanted to see a rematch of last year’s game between Gonzaga and UCLA, but Indiana and UCLA ought to be fun.

- Games I’m looking forward to tomorrow: Texas v New Mexico State (Kevin Durant!); Kentucky v Villanova (Tubby’s last stand?); Notre Dame v Winthrop, and Arizona v Purdue.

And now for some non-bracketology thoughts:

- I love this article about Oprah and The Secret. For those uninitiated, The Secret focuses on the Law of Attraction; as quoted from the article,

They maintain that the universe is governed by the principle that “like attracts like” and that our thoughts are like magnets: Positive thoughts attract positive events and negative thoughts attract negative events. Of course, magnets do exactly the opposite — positively charged magnets attract negatively charged particles — and the rest of “The Secret” has a similar relationship to the truth.

Let me point out that I won’t completely discount the power of positive thinking. Sometimes it helps me to put myself in a positive mindset before tackling certain tasks; that being said, in no way has positive thinking ever brought me material wealth. I can also assure you that my out-of-shapeness has nothing to do with me thinking negatively about my weight or diet; it might have something to do with the can of Pringles by my bedside

The real problem I have with The Secret is the obvious pyramid-like scheme in which the movie is being distributed. Pay $20, find the secret to true happiness, and get others to pay $20 so that they can do the same appears to be the basis of their marketing campaign. The fact that Oprah Winfrey is now behind the secret–Oprah can do no wrong, right?–is only going to bring these quacks more staying power, and, ultimately, more dollars:

…the marketing idea behind it [The Secret] — the enlisting of that dream team, in what is essentially a massive, cross-promotional pyramid scheme — is brilliant. But what really makes “The Secret” more than a variation on an old theme is the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who lends the whole enterprise more prestige, and, because of that prestige, more venality, than any previous self-help scam. Oprah hasn’t just endorsed “The Secret”; she’s championed it, put herself at the apex of its pyramid, and helped create a symbiotic economy of New Age quacks that almost puts OPEC to shame.

Since Oprah endorses The Secret, it must work, right? Like I said earlier, I don’t totally discount positive thinking; I just don’t need to pay $20 in order to hear people talking about the power of positive thinking. Oh wait, let me rephrase that…I’d be happier with the $20 in my pockets…I’d be happier with the $20 in my pockets. Hey! I feel better already!

Well, I had lots more that I wanted to talk about, but somehow it’s 3:30AM, and I’m still not asleep yet. Yikes!

by Peter
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The line from Motley Crue’s song (minus a word, I know) could apply to someone I know, but for now, let’s use it as the prevailing theme for this blog entry.

March Madness officially starts in a few hours! W00t!

- Gary Matthews Jr. finally spoke about the allegations linking him to HGH. I’m glad he found some time to finally comment on the situation. Here’s the best part of his statement, quoted from ESPN.com:

“Before saying anything publicly I wanted to make absolutely sure of my ground,” said the 32-year-old Matthews, who agreed to a $50 million, five-year contract with the Angels in November. “In particular, I needed to try to learn whether anybody in authority — in or out of baseball — felt they had reason to accuse me of anything with regard to HGH. If they did, I would have to deal with that.”

He added: “It has taken me, and those representing me, 16 days to make certain that’s not the case. And that is why it has taken longer than I would have preferred to make a public statement.”

Um…what? It took him 16 days to realize that no one had a reason to accuse him of anything? He needed to be absolutely sure of his ground? What, he wasn’t sure he actually took HGH??? Let’s see…if I didn’t take HGH, and was accused of doing so, I’d say it would take me exactly 16 millseconds to be screaming holy hell. I never knew one of the side effects of HGH was retardation.

(By the way, I don’t want anyone here to accuse me of being insensitive for using the word “retardation.” One such definition of retardation is, according to m-w.com, “an abnormal slowness of thought or action.” I dare anyone to accuse me of misuse of the word.)

I can’t believe Angels’ owner Arte Moreno is actually happy that Matthews made his statement. What, exactly, is this statement going to do, other than fuel more speculation about Matthews’ past?

- Alex Rodriguez says that his future in NY is in the hands of the fans. Alex, what exactly are you thinking? As if these words are going to repair your wrecked image. This guy really needs to stop talking, both for his own good and the good of the Yankees (did I really just type that?). In A-Fraud’s (E-Rod?) defense, he’s taking way too much flack for his failures in NY, and he’s in an absolute no-win situation. He’ll always be compared unfavorably with Derek Jeter, and even if A-Rod finally wins a ring, people will point out that Jeter will have five rings to A-Rod’s one. A-Rod, do yourself a favor and just stop talking. Stop giving Yankee fan more reason to boo you during the season. By the way, feel free to opt out of your contract at the end of this season, and underachieve with my Dodgers next year!

- Pete Rose bet on his own team, eh? He had that much faith in his team, huh? This guy needs to go away. Sure, he’s the all time hits leader, a fierce competitor, and a legend. He’s also a gambler, who wagered on games while managing, and there is no place in the sports world for gambling, especially in your own league. Looking at the comments left by ESPN users in the article I linked, I cannot believe how much support he’s getting. Heck, the poll on that page shows that 70% of voters–out of ~40,000, so far–are in favor of Rose’s reinstatement. Why should we trust that this guy is over his gambling addiction? Why should I believe that he won’t gamble again, if he’s reinstated into the league? Pete, just keep selling your books, and insist that Selig’s unwillingness to reinstate you into Major League Baseball doesn’t bother you. Either that, or please just go away.

- And finally, UIGEA, please, please, please just go away! The UIGEA (the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), piggybacked onto a defense bill by Sen. Bill Frist, took online poker away from me, and I wouldn’t mind having it back. Then again, gambling is evil, and I’m glad my US Senators care about me enough to tell me what I should and should not do with my own money. I’m a bit skeptical that the UIGEA will ever be totally repealed; more likely, Congress will allow a US-based company to run a poker-site, under tight regulations. I wouldn’t mind that; then again, I haven’t played a hand of online poker in months, and nothing will ever replace the donkey farm known as Party Poker.

- As promised, here’s my tourney bracket. If the link doesn’t work, try copying and pasting the URL. A few thoughts:

1) Yeah, I can’t believe I’m picking Pitt over UCLA, either. Unfortunately I have a feeling that the Bruins’ last two games were not flukes. Also, since the Bruins lack big bodies, that big stiff Aaron Grey will probably dominate the Bruins, unless he gets into foul trouble.

2) Yes, I know I picked 3 #1s. I have no balls, what can I say? I was really thinking about picking Texas A&M over Ohio State; Acie Law IV might be the most clutch player in all of NCAA basketball this year.

3) I was leaning over taking Georgetown over Florida in the championship, but it’s pretty obvious that Florida has hit “the switch.”

4) ODU over Butler is the only 5-12 “upset” that I see happening this year.

5) Dick Vitale is awesome; I don’t care how annoying he is, but his passion this time of year is remarkable. It is an absolute travesty that he is not yet in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

NCAA Tournament Basketball…it’s awesome, baby!

by Peter
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NO TOURNEY! YOU GO NOW!

(that’s a reference to a line in a John Pinette stand-up routine. I promise this post will be NCAA Tournament-free!)

- Bill Clement is a hockey (you know, that sport on ice, played by Canadiens, eh?) analyst for the Versus network and NBC. He said that he was not condoning what Simon did, but–and anytime someone says “I am not/did not ……, but,” you can be damn sure he is/did…–he did offer the following defense for Simon:

1) Clement argued that Simon had no real intent to injure Hollweg. He stated that hockey players usually have great control of their sticks, and Simon was clearly aiming at Hollweg’s chin.
2) Clement pointed out that Simon’s hands were too far apart on his stick to do any real damage–ask a baseball player how much power he could generate with his hands far apart, Clement said.
3) Clement pointed out that a hockey stick–weighing a couple of ounces, he said–is too light to do any real damage.

He was aiming for Hollweg’s chin??? He had no intent to injure? The hands were too far apart? The stick is too light? Let’s ask Donald Brashear how that light stick felt when Marty McSorley smacked his temple. I loved Bill Clement’s analyses when he was a hockey color commentator on ESPN with Gary Thorne. That being said, are you freaking kidding me??? How can anyone condone a guy wildly swinging his stick at a guy? I don’t care if the guy was swinging a hockey stick or a chopstick; if he’s swinging at me, clearly there is intent to harm. At least Clement didn’t buy Simon’s argument that he was concussed, and that caused him to act irrationally. Nevertheless, Bill Clement, congratulations, you are the front-runner for the 2007 Most Ridiculous Sports Comment of the Year.

By the way, coach, you’re wrong. Simon got off easy with only a 25-game suspension.

- Here’s an example of some major pwnage. Cliffs: a guy posted on the Beyond.ca forums about his friend who got victimized by a hit-and-runner. Apparently another member of the forum happened to be at the intersection of the crash, and had his camera available. He snapped photos of the car (including the dent to the front left bumper AND the license plate), as well as the face of the driver. Apparently, local news media outlets picked up the story, and the guy ended up getting busted! The best part is, the witnesses incorrectly identified the suspect’s license plate, but the photos proved to be enough to get him! What an awesome story!

- A straight-A student is suing over getting an F on an assignment she turned in a day late. As usual, the words “emotional stress” appear in the article. While I do agree that there is a problem here–if the school’s policy is to allow late assignments to be turned in for certain absences–is a lawsuit, especially for punitive “emotional” damages really necessary? I do believe the teacher should have allowed the student to turn in the assignment late. That being said, I would hate to see what kind of precedent would be set if the student wins her case. Could any student sue any teacher for a bad grade, based on the teacher’s dirty looks? I think the principal should have immediately stepped in and rendered a decision; I think (s)he should have allowed the student to turn in the assignment late, or, at the very least, mediate a compromise between the student and the teacher.

- The Green Bay Packers are reportedly discussing a deal for WR Randy Moss. This has been rumored for about a month now. I like the deal, in the sense that it gives Brett Favre a deep threat downfield–a guy that Favre can throw a jump ball to every now and then. However, there are a lot of things to hate about this deal:

1) Moss is owed a ton of money, and he’ll probably have to restructure his deal.
2) Moss is 30.
3) Have you seen Moss’ act lately?
4) The Raiders reportedly want a #1 in exchange.

That being said, I think the Packers need to take a chance. If the Raiders lower their price down to, say, a #3, or maybe even a #2, I think the Packers should make the move. You’d never know it, but Favre is inching closer to retirement, and he has had to deal with a problem player before (Andre Rison), and that actually worked out well. Green Bay, make the deal!

- Maria Sharapova will lose her #1 ranking after a loss in Indian Wells. I really have nothing to say about this; I just wanted to mention her name once in my blog

- Speaking of bad commercials, these SoCal Honda Dealer commercials are HORRIBLE. They usually involve a salesman, at the house of a customer, talking about how they’re no-bull, helpful salesman. Each commercial ends with an attempt at comedy; in one commercial, the guy says he’s very helpful, and the woman tests that theory by having him do some plumbing work. And no, these commercials are not at all funny.

Two blog posts in a row, and nothing about college basketball? Yikes!

by Peter
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No HEROES tonight?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Oh well, the series premiere of the new FX show, The Riches, is on tonight. I love Eddie Izzard’s stand up comedy acts, and I’ll definitely be interested to see how he does in a comedy/drama.

- Kobe Bryant was retroactively assessed a flagrant foul for his elbow against Kyle Korver on Friday. As someone pointed out in that article, all three victims of Kobe elbows–Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric, and now Kyle Korver–have said that they thought the elbows were inadvertent. Nevertheless, I’m very surprised that Kobe was not suspended for multiple games for this latest incident. Laker fans, your team may have just dodged a serious bullet as your playoff hopes start to flicker away…

- Typical of the last few years of the New England Patriots’ on again/off again dynasty, the Pats have made a number of moves to strengthen their roster. LB Adalius Thomas, WR Donte Stallworth, and now WR Kelley Washington have been added to the team during this year’s free agency period. Now that Tom Brady actually has someone to throw the ball to, and with the Colts regressing this year–losses of Dominic Rhodes, Cato June (soon), Nick Harper (possibly), etc.–it looks like the Patriots might be the early favorites for next year’s Super Bowl. That last statement was really hard for me to type, by the way, as I hate the Pats.

- The Knicks’ Isiah Thomas got a contract extension today. I’ll admit, as horrible of a GM as Thomas has been, he has been pretty good managing his horrible roster of overpaid veterans. So they have four shoot-first PGs, a center that is allergic to rebounding and defense, and a bad first-round pick this year, thanks to the Eddy Curry deal. The Bricks do have one thing going for them: they do play in the (L)Eastern Conference.

(Your regularly scheduled, chock-full-of-bracketology-talk blog posts will resume tomorrow :P)

by Peter
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Yeah, I’m chewing gum; was it that obvious?

- So the NCAA Tournament Bracket has been released. I can’t say I’m shocked that the Bruins were dropped to a #2 seed. Sure, they still get to stay in California until the Final Four, but a second-round matchup against Indiana/Gonzaga will be fun. A potential Sweet Sixteen matchup against Duke/Pitt will be fun as well, especially if Pitt advances that far (Howland v. Dixon!). Then, of course, an Elite Eight matchup against Kansas ought to be compelling. Of course, I’m making a bunch of assumptions here. I have UCLA losing in the Elite Eight last year, and we all know how that ended up. I actually have UCLA losing to Pittsburgh this year in the Sweet Sixteen; yeah, I just don’t have faith in that team recovering from their last two losses. Of course, all of this is subject to change before the 15th.

- I’m watching ESPN’s coverage of the tournament, and Doug Gottlieb, Digger Phelps, and Dickie V have picked UCLA to make the Final Four, both picking them to beat Kansas to get there. Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas have Kansas over UCLA. Dickie V has UCLA beating Florida to get to the championship! That man is crazy, baby! He has them falling to UNC, though.

- To suit the title of this blog entry, let’s talk bracket snubs. How the heck does 18-win Stanford get in, especially after coming from ahead to lose to USC in the Pac-10 tourney? How does Arkansas get in (no, a trip to the SEC Finals wasn’t enough)? How does Syracuse and Drexel get left out? How does Drexel get left out???

- Prized USC recruit OJ Mayo was cited for possession of marijuana Friday night. Way to go. Can’t this guy wait until he reaches the NBA to cause trouble? They say this is his second serious incident–the first was improper contact with an official in a high school basketball game (a ruling that I thought was pretty wrong; I saw the video, and it looked like the “bump” was incidential). Oh well, he’ll be one-and-done next year, and probably a top-5 pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

- Every year, a 12-seed beats a 5-seed; it just happens. This year, I’m not so sure any of the 12s (Old Dominion, Illinois, Arkansas, Long Beach State) are going to beat any of the 5s (Butler, Virginia Tech, USC, Tennessee). I sure hope Arkansas gets beat by USC, or I’ll look really bad for questioning why they got in to the dance).

- I’ll have my final bracket posted here soon; for now, I have all four #1s advancing, so clearly changes need to be made. Right now, I have Florida over Kansas and UNC over OSU in the Final Four, and Florida over UNC in the Championship game.

- More bracketology talk to come! BTW, you’re a gambling degenerate if you bet on the play-in game between Florida A&M and Niagara

by Peter
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Don’t forget to roll your clocks forward an hour! Losing sleep FTW!

My sister, Nancy, opened up her own blog (see links section). We’ll see if she posts to it often, or if she’s as much of a slacker as I am.

- Ron Artest apologized and rejoined the Sacramento Kings. I’m pretty surprised by this–not his return, but the fact that the Kings allowed him to return so quickly. On the one hand, why would the Kings want him back? He’s obviously going to be a huge distraction to the team. On the other hand, maybe he deserves a chance to come back into the league and play basketball, and use basketball to get his mind off his personal life. Then again, does he deserve this chance? I’m not too sure.

- The Big East (Georgetown) and Pac-10 (Oregon) championships were absolute yawners; so was the Conference USA championship (Memphis). I expect Florida v Arkansas to be a ridiculous blowout. Hopefully UNC/NCST (and coach Sidney Lowe’s bright red blazer) and Ohio State/Wisconsin will both be awesome games.

- Speaking of the Big East, Pitt’s Aaron Grey…what’s the big deal with the guy? Maybe it’s because I wasn’t able to watch him the entire year, but the guy looks like an immobile stiff out there. Maybe it’s because Pitt played Louisville and Georgetown back-to-back, but the guy reminds me of Arvydas Sabonis (sp?), minus an outside shot. I hope Kevin Love (UCLA recruit and a big the Bruins could use THIS year) doesn’t turn out to be nothing more than a stiff.

- I did have Chinese food today, and I did order some Kung Pao chicken. I’m very happy I did, even if it cost an arm and a leg. I also ordered some stir-fry steak dish, and that was damn tasty too. Plus, I have plenty of leftovers for the next few days.

- A man in NY mugged a 101-year old woman over a tidy sum of $33.00. What a lowlife; I guess he really needed the money. Now I am not trying to make light of the situation, but I love the woman’s comments: “I’m quite sure that if it had happened when I was younger, I would have been after him,” she said. “I’m a very strong woman. I’ve been that way my whole life.”

I hate to end this entry on such a low note, but I’m tired. Happy blogging!

by Peter
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So I’m up early, in bed, enjoying a hot and delicious bowl of plaster–aka oatmeal (by the way, oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar is pretty good, but oatmeal with Craisins is damn good, even if oatmeal tastes like a wet rice cake). Why am I up early, especially on a Saturday? March Madness, of course!

March Madness? Great!
March Madness in HD? Even better!
March Madness in HD without having to adjust a stupid antenna every 30 seconds? W00t!

- Cooper Brannon is my hero. I heard him on The Jim Rome Show on Thursday, and his story is incredible. Not bad, going from Marine, to Purple Heart recipient–after a freak accident involving a flash-bang grenade–to minor league pitcher for the San Diego Padres. It’s a shame this world has far too many Ron Artests and Adam “Pacman” Jones and not enough Cooper Brannons and Jim McLarens.

- The Los Angeles Lakers lost again yesterday. Kobe Bryant threw another wild elbow. He better be careful; the Lakers are probably one more wicked Kobe elbow away from missing the playoffs altogether. Then again, with all the injuries the Lakers currently have, they may miss the playoffs anyway.

Sometime last night, I saw a commercial for Ruby Tuesday, a restaurant that features “simple fresh American dining.” I see these commercials several times a day, and I find it amusing that the nearest restaurant location is in Woodland, CA–east of San Jose. Needless to say, it will be unlikely that I will ever dine at a Ruby Tuesday. Which reminds me…

(just a random thought before I start the list…apparently Chevy has created YET ANOTHER commercial featuring that damn John Mellencamp song!!!!!!)

- Apparently McDonald’s has another commercial pimping their new Angus burgers; this time, three Bostonians are discussing their wishes to try this burger (apparently, this burger is being “beta-tested” here in CA). McDonald’s commercials have gotten to the point where I’d rather see 10,000 Verizon guy and Jared from Subway ads than a single McDonald’s commercial. No, I guess you can say that I’m not lovin’ it.

- As far as good/funny ads are concerned, I love SportsCenter ads. Watching athletes pretend to be funny by pretending to work at SportsCenter amuses me. The latest one involves New Orleans Hornets PG Chris Paul and SportsCenter anchor Brian Kenny. Kenny asks Paul if he’s going to go for 16 or 17 (presumably points); Paul says he’s going for 28. The joke is that, instead of points, the two were talking about items from a take out Chinese restaurant; apparently #28 is the Spicy Kung Pao chicken.

Hmmm…I could go for some Spicy Kung Pao chicken for lunch, actually…

by Peter
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- Did UCLA’s choke job last night cost them a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney? Last night, I thought the answer to that question is “for sure.” Today, I’m not so sure. Even if OSU, Kansas, UNC, and Florida all win their conference tournaments, an argument could still be made for UCLA to get a #1 seed. Their RPI is still #1, with a very high SOS, and a 15-3 conference record in the second-best conference in the country. Five losses overall hurts, but 9-1 against the RPI Top 50, and a ton of quality wins–most recently at Washington State–adds to their already strong resume. As of right now, my four #1 seeds are UCLA, OSU, Kansas, and UNC, with the last two being chased by Wisconsin and Georgetown.

- Dominic Rhodes has bolted the Indianapolis Colts for…the Oakland Raiders (?!?!), signing a two-year deal worth up to $7.5 million dollars. I don’t get this signing for a number of reasons. First, um, it’s the Raiders! Second, Rhodes still won’t be the feature back, so as long as Lamont Jordan is there. Third, did Rhodes not see what happened to Edgerrin James? At least James went to a system where he could flourish, with Leinart, Boldin, and Fitzgerald. Rhodes is going to the Raiders! Well, if the Raiders get help at QB, just about everywhere on the OL, and WR, they might be good…

- Chris Simon is a thug, plain and simple. That clothesline he delivered to Ryan Hollweg with his hockey stick is criminal, and I don’t care that Hollweg was able to get up with minimal injuries. Simon was suspended indefinitely by the NHL, and he needs to be banned for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs. Even that might not be enough of a penalty, in my opinion.

- Gary Matthews Jr. is ticking off Arte Moreno. Just come clean already, says Moreno. I was never a fan of Moreno because of insistence of naming his team the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim), a joke considering that they don’t even play in the city of Los Angeles, much less the county. That being said, good for Moreno to demand that Matthews come out and explain himself. He just gave the guy $50 million after a strong one-half of a season (preceded by a couple uninspiring seasons); why shouldn’t Moreno not want to know if that half-season was fueled by performance-enhancing drugs?

- Adam “Gunman”…er…”Pacman” Jones may not report to the Tennessee Titans’ practice facility soon. Ten separate incidents with the law since being drafted only two years ago, and yet he hasn’t been cut yet? What is Tennessee waiting for? Hilarious statement by his lawyers, by the way, who “acknowledge[d] that their client too often is in the wrong place at the wrong time.” If Pacman was involved in one or two incidents, then maybe we have a case of “wrong place, wrong time.” But TEN such incidents? Yeah, I’m sure Pacman was not directly involved in any of the ten cases.

- Finally, I leave my loyal readers (all zero of you) this bit of absolute ridiculousness, or unbelievable power of the mind if you’re so inclined to believe it. The comments are hilarious, especially responses #42 and 43. Comment #42 openly mocks the spoon-bender, and the moron’s…er…medium’s response makes me wonder how dense the guy really is. Maybe he expended way too much psychic energy bending the spoon (with his hands)? The page also has a link to a discussion of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) Million Dollar Prize, and how much of a “scam” it is. By the way, as I typed up this blog entry, a mysterious force knocked a water bottle off my desk. Either that, or it was my forearm striking the bottle as I spun around in my chair.

By the way, the JREF’s web site is located at http://www.randi.org. That site is a great source for news about the paranormal, and how embarrassing/shocking/unbelievable some of their claims are. I stumbled upon this site while looking up information about LifeWave energy patches (my sister obtained a box of these scam patches, which contain nothing more than glucose and glycerin). Spoon-bender Uri Geller and frequently-wrong psychic Sylvia Browne are constantly mentioned in Randi’s Commentary section. I’ll mention that, while I enjoy reading his comments about these “empowered” individuals, I don’t quite share his extreme views on religion being a complete farce.

More bracketology talk to come!

by Peter
2 Comments »

I hate being sick…

- McDonald’s’ commercials are typically really bad, and I could easily anoint every McD’s’ commercial in recent memory as some of the worst commercials ever. Their latest efforts to annoy the hell out of me is this commercial for their new Angus 1/3 pound burger, involving two Texans playing instruments and singing a song. First of all, McDonald’s is only about a year or ten late in the Fast Food Biggest Burger Race. Second of all, that “I’m lovin’ it” jingle, bugged me the first time I heard it. Ten million times later, and my eardrums still bleed when I hear it. Thirdly, yeah, two Texans singing a stupid song about a burger that they could probably get anywhere in Texas really makes me want to go out and get one. McDonald’s, please stick to advertising to your key demographic (the 0-3 age group).

- Lindsay Hunter–Detroit Pistons’ guard–has been suspended ten games for a positive drug test. While I wasn’t surprised to hear the first part of his comments–”I’m as shocked as anyone”–it was refreshing to hear him say he made a “bonehead mistake.” Hey, Gary Matthews Jr., you might want to try admitting that you’re a cheat, rather than insisting on waiting for “all the facts” to be presented to you before you take action. I’d comment on what Matthews said after being linked to an online steroids ring, but I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been pointed out by sports columnists nationwide.

- O.J. Simpson is the worst guy ever…well, he was already the worst guy ever, prior to this story. I agree with what Jim Rome said; O.J. should just paint himself red and grow horns.

- Kobe Bryant was suspended today for one game for an elbow (inadvertent?) to Marko Jaric. Similar to the incident that occurred with Manu Ginobili earlier this year, Jaric was surprised by the suspension. I felt that Kobe was unfairly suspended for the first offense, when Ginobili’s nose hit Bryant’s elbow. However, I feel that Kobe had to be suspended for this incident. One elbow to the face could be considered an accident. Two, and now we could be talking habitual. If Kobe elbows another guy in the face this year–inadvertent or not–a multi-game suspension will be warranted, in my opinion.

- I can’t believe I have to wait until April for the next episode of The Office. Oh well, at least I have March Madness to keep me unproductive

by Peter
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