UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

- It was nice to not have to blog for nearly 36 straight hours. I gotta thank Hank for allowing me to partake in the IMBC, as well as his kind words about my blog (you really enjoyed reading my Michael Vick rants, eh?)

And Amy, don’t doubt the Ung-hex! Just because I’m on a “cold” streak lately–the Yankees have been hot recently, and the Dodgers have not–that doesn’t mean the Ung-hex is a fluke! Stop doubting the Ung-hex before your negative energies begin to cancel its effects out!

- I said I was going to go into detail about what caused me to be eliminated from the IMBC. That will have to wait.

(I promise it won’t have to wait as long as my poker story, or my thoughts on Tom Donaghy.)

- So in the next few days, I’m probably going to kick Blogger to the curb, and I’m going to start using Wordpress. Let’s hope I don’t royally screw up!

Also, I’m trying to figure out a consistent format for the UngsungBlog. Do I want to make it a pure sports blog, or should I keep it the mishmash of random thoughts and random topics that it currently is?

- One other thing before I get to the big topic at hand: it was very sad to hear, this morning, of the passing of San Francisco 49ers HOF coach Bill Walsh to leukemia. He was 75. Walsh won three Super Bowls with the Niners in only ten seasons, and his name is synonymous with the West Coast Offense. Perhaps his biggest contribution to football is the number of current and former coaches linked to Walsh and his 49ers teams:

Even a short list of Walsh’s adherents is stunning. Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet all became NFL head coaches after serving on Walsh’s San Francisco staffs, and Tony Dungy played for him. Most of his former assistants passed on Walsh’s structures and strategies to a new generation of coaches, including Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci and Jeff Fisher.

I was never a 49ers fan; in fact, you could probably go ahead and say that I hated them. However, I could not help but respect the 49ers and what they accomplished during the 80s and early 90s.

- It looks like Baroid Bonds is heading to LA and SD, one home run behind Hank Aaron for the record. Let me be brief by saying this: Grady Little, don’t you dare pitch to this guy! He better not break the record here in LA!

Now, this is not a racial issue. Believe it or not, this is not a steroids thing; even with all the “evidence” we have on the guy–the fact that he got better in his late 30s, the rapid increase in size of his body, the lack of neck, etc.–I’m of the opinion that Bonds is probably guilty in the minds of many, but until he is officially indicted, I will consider him the record holder (once he breaks it, that is). This is about Barry being a member of the San Francisco Giants, and a world-class jerk, who only deserves the record because he’s been a damn good player for a number of years.

If he does break the record here in LA, I would love to see the Dodger fans in attendance turn their backs on him as he rounds the bases. For some, that could be their way of not acknowledging a record that appears to be obtained via cheating. For me, and maybe some others, it will be my way of respect (of which there is none) of a guy who I really don’t want to see break Aaron’s record.

Of course, knowing Dodger fans, they’re going to boo the living hell out of Bonds, and there’s a possibility that some fans might do some really stupid things. I can hope all I want that that does not happen, but I can’t help but expect some fan to do something really idiotic to make the other contingent of Dodger fans (those with some class!) look really bad.

I wouldn’t mind so much if Bonds get a single home run, but please, please, Grady, don’t give him a chance to break the record. I don’t care if it’s the ninth inning of the last game of the series, and we’re up by 10 runs! Do not let Bonds break the record here in LA! Let San Diego deal with the guy.

Tags: Blog, Random, Sports by Peter
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So apparently my olive branch/three-way-tie plea/cop-out didn’t work

Yes, after three or four near-eliminations, I am finally officially out. And it was totally worth it.

(Details later.)

Now if you’ll excuse me, the food coma is kicking in.

Until then, I’m out (in more ways than one).

BTW, congrats Amy! The Ung-hex ought to kick in sooner or later!

Tags: Blog by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Boy is it hot here! If this keeps up, I’m going to have to start sleeping in a tub full of ice cubes. Or, maybe I should pitch a tent in my patio and start sleeping outside.

- Have I ever told you that Amazon Prime is evil?

(I might have, in an earlier blog or twenty.)

I’ve now made eleven orders, since I signed up with Prime. And I have about eleven months of service left.

- ESPN must be desperate for subscribers. One day after having my ESPN Insider + ESPN The Magazine subscription auto-renewed for $39.99, I called in to cancel my service (I had intended on doing so a few days earlier, but as the story of my life goes, I forgot to do it).

Immediately after reaching a rep, the guy offered me a subscriber “special”: $14.99 to continue my Insider subscription for a year, though I’m not sure if I get to keep the magazine subscription or not. I really don’t care for the magazine, though; I don’t think I’ve read a single issue. As long as I get my Insider subscription, I’m good.

- Hey, remaining IMBCers! We’ve been going on with this competition for ~120 posts now, and I don’t know about you two, but I’m starting to get sick and tired of blogging every single day. I mean, it’s been fun, but I never expected this competition to go on for nearly four months!

So…anyone up for calling the competition off? I don’t have a need for the top prize, and I remember hearing that Amy recently got her own domain and hosting. So why don’t we shake virtual hands, and call the whole thing off?

(If you think this is a cop-out, out of fear that I’ll probably next to be eliminated from the competition, then you’d be right.)

- So my UPS guy is a comedian, apparently. Every time I see him–and I see him a lot, due to my inability to pass up a hot deal–he has some joke for me. Whether it’s a heart-felt “Are you running your own office supply store?” to a “Oh…I wonder what’s inside this box,” he’s always got a quip up his sleeve. Today was no exception: I got a huge box, and he inquired as to what was inside the box (never mind that the box was clearly labeled “Bubble Lined Mailers.”)

Of course, I told him that they were, indeed, bubble mailers, and of course, he didn’t believe me. Moron

(That should make it obvious that the last topic was posted in complete jest. Now if only I knew what his name was. And I can’t just ask him for his name, because I’ve already had to twice before. Yes, I’m really really bad with names.)

Happy blogging!

Tags: Deals, Random, Sports by Peter
3 Comments »

Argh! Brad Penny just hurt himself running down first base! Lowe got hurt a couple days ago, and now this?!?!

We’re screwed! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

- So I lost the flyer to the best non-chain pizza place around me, forcing me to satisfy my pizza cravings with (ugh) a pizza from a chain restaurant. Fortunately (?) for me, Papa John’s had their B1G1 for 99c deal, so I went with a Chicken Alfredo, Spinach, and Tomato Pizza, with a Pepperoni thin crust pizza.

(I like getting lots of extra pizza, so that I can freeze it away and have it on a later date. It comes out quite good, provided you reheat it in the oven, and not the microwave. I also had a Papa John’s gift card, so I figured now would be a good time to use it.)

I was pretty happy with the pizza, but not at first. You see, the two pizzas cost $21.xx before tip!!! Among other things, there is a $1.75 delivery charge!

(I know, I know; if I want to avoid paying a tip + a delivery fee, I should just go pick up the pizzas myself.)

Good thing the pizzas were kinda tasty today. For a chain restaurant, I’ll take kinda tasty any day of the week.

- I am of the opinion that 99% of all song covers are crap. I’d like to go ahead and modify that statement, after visiting this page (from Digg) of the 100 Greatest Cover Songs of All Time.

My statement, regarding song covers, shall now read as follows: 99% of all song covers done in recent times are crap.

(Notice that many of the songs on that list were remade years ago.)

- Finally, do you suppose this guy has a gambling problem? A 36-year-old Florida man is accused of leaving his two kids in his car while he went to play some poker in a nearby race track:

Police arrested Terrence Davis for child neglect after a passerby spotted the children at the St. Johns Greyhound Park.Davis said he left the car running with the air conditioner on while he went inside the track. He said he had only intended to peek inside the park, but got talked into playing a few hands of Texas Hold ‘Em. He told police that he was only inside for about 15 minutes.

Well, at least he left the A/C on! No word on whether or not the guy got his buy-in back, though. It would be pretty cool (for the other players, at least), if the guy wasn’t given his money back, and the casino would just blind him off as the game went on.

Here’s my question, genius: what are you doing leaving your kids unattended in the first place?!? I don’t care if you went in to the race track for sixty seconds! You went in there to take a peek, and you got “talked into playing”? What did the people around you say? “Oh, go ahead and leave your kids in the car. This will only take a few minutes”?

I sincerely hope this guy got his aces cracked by 7-2 offsuit right before he was apprehended.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Tags: Food, News, Pop Culture, Random by Peter
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- It’s a sad day here in the ungsunghero household.

We finally finished the corned beef today! *sob*

I chopped up the remaining corned beef, chopped up some of the remaining roasted potatoes, and fried them in a little bit of oil to make a cheap corned beef hash for breakfast. It came out quite tasty, and I served my makeshift-hash with scrambled eggs and buttered toast.

(Damn, I think I’ll whip up some pancakes tomorrow.)

Now that I’m all out of corned beef, I guess it’s back to my regularly scheduled spaghetti and awesome meat sauce. I’d barbecue sometime in the next few days, but I’ll be attending a pig roast this weekend, and two barbecues in a week will probably land me in my usual room at the local hospital.

- The Ung-hex strikes again! A few days ago, I told Krunk that his Seattle Mariners were on fire (and they were; they had recently been only a game back of the Los Angeles Angels somewhere near a huge body of water). Of course, the Mariners have since lost six straight games, and are now 3.5 games behind the Angels.

I also declared that my Dodgers were rolling, and that they will comfortably win the National League West (by 4-5 games, and in the NL West, 4-5 is a pretty comfortable margin). Of course, they have since dropped two consecutive, close, games, both of which were lost by the bullpen. The Dodgers loss today was worsened by the fact that SP Derek Lowe left the game with a groin injury, as if the Dodgers could afford any more injuries to their pitching staff. I can’t fathom a potential rotation of Penny-Billingsley-Tomko (shudder)-Hendrickson (shudder)-Houlton/Stults/????? for any substantial length of time.

Assuming Lowe doesn’t miss any serious time, I saw screw Mark Teixeira. Screw Octavio Dotel. Screw those crazy ideas of a Jermaine Dye deal. Let’s take a flier on a Kyle Lohse or a Jose Contreras! Neither one can be worse than Mark Hendrickson, and neither one is going to cost us much. Granted, Hendrickson’s been pitching OK in a starting role lately, but I think his best role is as a long reliever and spot starter.

BTW, I think the Yankees are going to win the next ten games.

(Go Ung-hex!)

Tags: Food, Sports by Peter
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This blog entry is going to be all over the place, because the longer it takes me to complete this, the longer it will keep me away from Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.

(Yeah, I’m a Guitar Hero dork. I also royally stink at it :P)

Speaking of Guitar Hero and my PS2, I can’t believe my console still works!

(I should mention that I haven’t touched it in months, and it has always been a bit flaky on me.)

I better be careful, or I might just play through the night, and “forget” to sleep.

- There are some foods that are just destined to be leftovers (and I mean this in a good way; some foods just taste almost as good, if not better, the day after). Corned beef is one good example of that.

(Tangent: I can’t believe I didn’t make myself any cabbage! Argh! I don’t care if it’s not St. Patrick’s Day, and I don’t care that I’m not Irish…how could I forget to make cabbage?!?)

I still have some left in the refrigerator, though it may not last much longer *drool*.

Also, day-old roasted potatoes are awesome, especially when used in a breakfast omelet! I had a spinach-tomato-potato omelet–that’s all the stuff in my fridge that was omelet-worthy–and damn, that was tasty! If only I had some pepper jack!

(Hmmm…I might make myself one of those, instead of eating the corned beef; that is, if I can pull myself away from Guitar Hero.)

- Who needs a specialized hand workout device when you can get the same workout by juicing citrus fruits?

(Yeah, let’s conveniently ignore the 3/4 cup of sugar per pitcher of lemon/lime-ade.)

Sadly, I am now out of limes. Hopefully they’ll be back on sale this week, so that I could, um, get another hand workout.

- So I mentioned that I had acquired yet another new toy.

Well, here it is: a Compaq Presario F572US notebook computer. The specs are nice (X2 TK-53 @ 1.7Ghz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, 8x DVD+-RW, 15.4″ WXGA, 6.6lb), but it is a Compaq. It was also pretty darn cheap, after a number of questionable rebates; the deal involved buying tons of security software that were better than free after rebate, and hinges on whether or not I actually get all the rebates.

I’d say it’s 50/50 that I’m going to “keep” it (by “keep,” I mean I’m either going to use it myself and sell my Dell Inspiron 6400, or I’m going to keep it within my family, i.e. sell it to a sibling).

Wish me luck on this deal!

*me rushes back to Guitar Hero*

Tags: Food, Games, Technology by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- My latest toy, the AMD Athlon64 3200+ + mobo combo, has run into a bit of trouble, and I’m betting it’s due to the Windows XP repair I did. Now, I’ve done OS repairs in the past, generally with good results. This time, I guess a full OS reinstall is in order.

Guess I have something to do this weekend…

- Good to see Jon Lester back on the baseball diamond, pitching six effective innings en route to a victory. For those of you not in the know, Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma only eleven months earlier.

In the sports world of Michael Vick, steroids in baseball, refs fixing games, etc., it’s good to know that there are still “good guy” stories out there.

- It seems that my Dodgers are front-runners for Royals’ relief pitcher Octavio Dotel, according to this source. Personally, I think the Dodgers need a bat more so than a reliever, but as long as don’t give up any of our key prospects–Ethier, Kemp, Loney, Billingsley, LaRoche, etc.–I’ll be OK with this acquisition.

(Speaking of Billingsley: damn you! One out away from our first complete game shutout since…Jeff Weaver?!?)

The Dodgers could really use a bat, but I don’t think Texas 1B Mark Teixeira fits. He couldn’t play 1B, unless the Dodgers are crazy (stupid?) enough to part with Loney in a deal to Texas, or if they move Loney. If they move Loney, where would he play?

3B? Not as long as Nomar is there.
LF? Gonzo.
RF? Ethier/Kemp are there.
CF? Damn you, Juan Pierre! *shakes fist*
C? I kid, I kid.

Anyway, if the Dodgers do make a splash before the trading deadline, I’ll bet they part with Ethier before any of their other prospects. And if the Dodgers are dumb enough to give up Matt Kemp, they better be getting a superstar NOT in his walk year.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few days.

- Corned beef is damn tasty. I made some today; I found the slab stuck in the back of my freezer this morning, and decided, on a whim, that I would cook it. I made some roasted red skin potatoes–cubed potatoes, skin on, coated in EVOO and Mrs. Dash, baked in the oven at 400F for about 45 minutes–and a salad as my sides. Normally, I’d have steamed veggies with my corned beef, but I decided that it was too hot to have steamed veggies (read: I was too lazy to cut the veggies up and steam them).

The potatoes were a bit bland, so I sprinkled some kosher salt on them, and popped them back in the oven for a few more minutes. The extra kosher salt made all the difference in the world.

(Yeah, I know; my blood pressure is probably infinity/infinity.)

The salad was decent, but the corned beef was absolutely delicious. It might have been a bit too salty, but I didn’t care.

Damn, I could go for another plate of food right now :P. And I think it’s been long enough since I last barbecued. Drool…

Happy blogging!

Tags: Food, Sports by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- My very quick thoughts on the NBA scandal involving referee Tom Donaghy and his alleged fixing of games:

• Not that we needed it (*cough* Lakers-Kings Game 6 *cough*), but now we apparently have concrete proof that some NBA officials fix games. Of course, we thought that the NBA was the one responsible for fixing, and not individual referees. So what’s the truth? Do refs fix games for their own benefit? Does the NBA make refs fix games for the NBA’s benefit? Or do some fans just imagine that some NBA games are fixed?
• Now that we know it happens, how do we know which games were fixed? And how do we know what impact these fixes had on playoff games of the last few years?
• So what happens next? How does the NBA recover from this black eye? Can we ever take another playoff game seriously again, without thinking, “Is one of the referees fixing this game?”

It’ll be interesting to see how the NBA proceeds in this entire scandal, and how much the NBA will suffer in terms of popularity (if at all).

- I love watching Man vs Wild. Yeah, I don’t care if it’s slightly embellished, or totally set up. I’m pretty sure there’s still an element of risk and danger running through the Amazon rain forest, or trekking through glaciers on Iceland, set up or not.

Ewww…host Bear Grylls just drank his own piss, clearly desperate for water

- (from Digg) You can file this story in the “Going Straight to Hell” department: two women in Goodyear, AZ, ripped off kids selling lemonade with a bogus $50 bill. The kids were trying to raise money for a trip to San Diego, CA, when one of the women presumably paid for some lemonade with a $50 bill. The girls handed back $38 in chance, apparently thinking they were getting a huge tip. Unfortunately, they only got scammed. Let this be a lesson to the girls: always carry a counterfeit money detector pen.

But seriously, how low do you have to be in your life to scam some little kids out of ~$40? What’s next? Are those ladies going to take up collections outside of a department store for charity, only to pocket the money? Or maybe they’re going to dress up as homeless people to get free meals from homeless shelters. People who scam social security and the welfare system think these two women are going straight to hell.

- (also from Digg) This is easily my favorite story of the day: a United passenger was angry that his flight was cancelled, and he threw a tantrum at the poor travel agent, screaming “I HAVE to be on this flight, and it has to be FIRST CLASS!” The agent apologized, and the irate passenger responded with “Do you have any idea who I am?”

(Tangent: I thought only rich and famous people use the “Do you know who I am?” blast. Oh well, I’m just assuming that this guy isn’t rich or famous.)

The agent, to put it blunty, uber-pwned the moron:

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention please?” she began, her voice bellowing through the terminal. ” We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17.”

With the folks behind him laughing in line hysterically, the man glare at the United agent, gritted his teeth and swore “F— you.” Without flinching, she smiled and said, ” I’m sorry sir, but you will have to stand in line for that too.”

Wow…just wow!

Travel agent eleventy-billion, moronic customer PWNED. The guy deserves to have his seat downgraded to the wing of the plane for that outburst.

(Yes, one trillion Stupid Points for that idiot.)

Happy blogging!

Next time: another new toy?

Tags: News, Sports by Peter
2 Comments »

I’m in quite the foul mood today, so hopefully I can finish this blog entry pretty quickly. I’m sick, I’m tired, and I’m surrounded by (some) stupid people.

- So I got a new (to me) toy today: an Asus K8N-E motherboard and a AMD Athlon64 3200+ CPU.

(Tangent: I also got a ton of other toys, including yet another Logitech keyboard/mouse combo. Perhaps, in the near future, I will give a mini-review of some of these new toys.)

(Tangent #2: Yeah, I realize this setup is quite old, but it was dirt cheap, and was bought as an upgrade for my secondary computer, powered by an Athlon XP 2000+ CPU).

It took a bit to actually hook up the “new” parts–I had to fish out a new PSU, due to some stupidity on my part (no, I did not blow up a PSU!)–and for some reason, I had trouble screwing in the PSU to my chassis. After finally getting everything hooked up, I fired up the new computer, and got some strange error.

Long story short, it was simply user error (yes, 10,000 Stupid Points), and after a WindowsXP repair, the new computer was up and running. I tested out the computer by ripping a movie DVD; on the XP2000+ system, DVD Shrink reported a ripping speed somewhere in the 2.5-3MB/s range. With the new parts, I achieved speeds somewhere in the 7.5-8.5MB/s range, surpassing the ripping speeds on my P4 2.4Ghz system.

Yeah, I realize I’m jumping to conclusions just because one test says that this system is blazingly fast compared to the XP2000+ system. Let me enjoy my new toy!

(And yes, I’m VERY happy to also get rid of that ECS board; the fact that it lasted nearly four years is a minor miracle in itself.)

- It seems there was a little confusion yesterday regarding Citibank screwing me over yet again. First of all, I had a Citibank Dividend Platinum Select card. It was recently converted into this new World MasterCard, that I only received last week.

Because this new card no longer reports a credit limit to the three bureaus, my debt/credit utilization ratio will decrease, assuming I have any credit card debt to begin with (which I do). Fortunately for me, this card has a rather low limit, compared to the other cards I own, so hopefully the credit score impact won’t be that great.

- BTW, I got an interesting comment about this World Mastercard yesterday. Read the comment, then read the blog, and then check out this “story” linked from that blog entry:

They’ll know where you go, where you drive, where you shop, what you buy, where you run, where you hide–and they’ll be able to turn you off specifically at any time.

We are no longer human—think animal tags for people—we are now officially SHEEPLE.

Um…

I guess I’m getting Extended Warranty Protection, among other features, in exchange for Big Brother being able to pinpoint exactly where I am via the RFID tag in my credit card.

Fair deal, IMO.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll deal with the whole NBA “scandal” another time.

Tags: Random, Technology by Peter
2 Comments »

Quick-hitters:

- What’s the worst thing you could do, when you already have a cut on a finger?

Get a papercut on the same finger!

Ouch!

(10,000 Stupid Points.)

- I cooked myself some Pad Thai today, straight out of a semi-instant pack (it came with noodles and seasoning; all I had to do was include the veggies, the egg, the ground peanuts, and any meat I wanted–chicken, in this case). I didn’t have any bean sprouts or green onion, though, so I used sliced brown onion instead. All in all, the seasoning was far too sweet, and I tasted a hint of freezer burn in the chicken–it had been sitting in the freezer for a while.

The pack wasn’t the worst thing in the world, though, and I may try making it again. Or, I might try to make some Pad Thai from scratch.

- So a few days ago, I finally got my Citibank Dividend World MasterCard. I was excited to start milking the Extended Warranty feature of the card, when I stumbled upon this FatWallet thread.

It seems that this new credit card has one major flaw: Citi does not report its credit limit to the three major credit bureaus!

Why is that necessarily a bad thing? Well, one variable that makes up your FICO credit score is the ratio of your total credit card debt to the total available credit (debt/credit utilization); the smaller the ratio, the better. A decrease in the apparent total credit, therefore, increases your debt/credit ratio, and thus impacts your credit score negatively.

Now, if one have zero credit card debt, then a decreased total credit won’t affect that individual much. But, for those that do have credit card debt, like me, this will impact one’s credit card score somewhat. In fact, someone in that thread reported that his credit score dropped 30 points as a result of the switch!

(Granted, I won’t be buying a new car/house/etc. any time soon, so perhaps a high credit score isn’t necessary. But still!)

- More quick Vick thoughts: apparently the NFL, NFL Players’ Union, and the Atlanta Falcons are urging Vick to take a leave of absence, to concentrate on his federal indictment for dogfighting. I think Vick should leave the team; his presence is only going to be a distraction to the team. Yes, the Falcons’ QB options after Vick are crap, crap, and crap, but for the players’ sakes, as well as his own, he needs to leave the team until there is resolution in his case.

Here’s what I don’t get: Pacman Jones got suspended for a year, despite not being convicted of anything (yet). Tank Johnson got suspended for eight games because he owns too many guns (apparently). So why is Vick getting the chance to take a leave? Why hasn’t Goddell come down with the hammer yet?

(And yes, I was amused by PETA’s protest.)

As usual, more on this next time.

Next time, you’ll also get my thoughts on the really big story of the day: the alleged controversy involving an NBA official, points shaving, and gambling. Again, any time the Feds are involved, you know this is a big deal.

Happy blogging!

Tags: Random, Sports by Peter
1 Comment »