Entries Tagged as 'diva favre'

Ding, Dong, The Witch (of Green Bay) is Dead, uWink, And Eddie Izzard’s “Stripped” at the Kodak Theatre

No quick-hitters tonight.

My jaw is still hurting from Stripped.

- Today was a great day.  One day after clamoring for a Diva Favre trade to the New York Jets, it actually happened!!!

I feel like a kid in a candy store…on Christmas Day.  In fact, I was so happy when I heard this news that I declared myself a Patriots’ fan for two days:  Sunday, September 14, and Thursday, November 13.

(Soon after I typed that, I started hyperventilating.  I may need to re-think that idea.)

Let me rephrase:  on those two days, I will be cheering heavily AGAINST the Jets.

(That’s better.)

I’m not even going to waste my time analyzing the events of today; I’ll just let my new favorite sports writer express his feelings, and I’ll agree with him 100%.

- We took off for the Kodak Theatre at around 5:45PM, and got there at around 6:15PM.  We decided to have dinner at uWink, frankly because it was the only restaurant nearby that 1) wasn’t Quiznos, and 2) didn’t have a line extending out of it.

(Fun facts:  apparently this uWink opened back in May of 2008.  In addition, the founder of uWink also founded Atari and Chuck E. Cheese:

Following the success of the first location in Woodland Hills, Nolan Bushnell, former CEO and founder of both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese…)

The concept of the restaurant is pretty cool:  the menus are digitalized, using a touch-screen terminal at each table.  You enter each diner’s name, enter the order for each person, and then you simply “send” the entire order to the kitchen.  Most food items are completely customizable (examples:  types of bread, doneness, types of cheese, etc., for your burgers), and you could even order drink refills from the touch-screen.  The terminals also offer various games to pass the time.

(Apparently, these terminals run MacOS.  How do I know?  Our console crashed, and when it was rebooted, I immediately recognized the MacOS screen :P).

Food was pretty good—we all had cheeseburgers, mine with Bleu Cheese and bacon, Nancy with sweet potato fries—but the service was S L O W, and therefore, our food came pretty cold.  We sat down around 6:50PM, and didn’t get our food until nearly 7:20PM, not giving us much time to eat.  It’s a good thing that the Kodak Theatre was literally next door.  At least my drink refill came pretty quickly.

- I won’t go into too much detail about Stripped, but let me summarize the night with this tidbit:  both myself and the guy sitting two seats to my right were crying during the performance…TEN MINUTES IN.

(Too bad he started nearly 20 minutes late, which in Los Angeles time, means he started ten minutes early.)

Izzard started off with a bang, hitting on two easy targets:  Los Angeles itself (remember Dress to Kill, where he made fun of San Francisco?) and George W. Bush.  I was kinda shocked, actually, when he not once, but three times (by my count) insisted that we all vote for Barack Obama.

As usual, religion, language, and animals dominated the show.  In almost George Carlin-esque fashion, he questioned the 6,000 year old Earth theory, opined about Noah’s Ark (poor squirrel!), and ribbed the Ten Commandments (”Thou shall cover thy neighbor’s ox???”).  Language—even animal communication!—also occupied a good part of the routine, and in typical Eddie Izzard fashion, he veered way off-topic several times.

Of course, what Eddie Izzard stand-up routine would be complete without his constant gyrating about, coupled with his facial expressions?  Too bad I was way up in the nosebleeds, so I couldn’t get a good look at his face.  I could imagine how dumb he looked at times, though :P.

My two favorite moments:

1) The image of a soldier being impaled by a Hoplite, then pulling himself forward on the spear, pushing himself back and again pulling himself forward right before dying, will forever be burned into my retinas.

The sadistic “ha-HA” after each pull will not be soon forgotten either.

2) Izzard’s demonstration of how man went from a four-legged creature to a two-legged creature was just stupid funny.  While he got winded after that act, the crowd got winded from all the laughing.  I couldn’t see right for the next two minutes, as I had to wipe tears off my face.

Oh yeah, and as I correctly predicted, he tossed in a reference to his FX show, The Riches, which got a loud ovation from the crowd.

Damn bloke!

A Brutal RiteAid/CVS/Costco Trip, And Now How Bad Does Diva Favre Look?

Quick-hitters:

- 92/101F today, and fortunately, only 27% humidity.  A few days ago, it was only 95F with about 45% humidity.

If it ever hits 100F with 45% humidity, you won’t see any new blogs on this site for a while :P

- The Olympics opening ceremonies start in two days!

Yawn.

- Tomorrow, I will be attending Eddie Izzard’s new show, Stripped, at the Kodak Theatre!

One might say that I’m so excited, I cannot hide it.

Since his first stage appearance on London’s West End in 1993 in the one-man show “Live at the Ambassadors”, there’s been a succession of sell-out and critically acclaimed International tours including “Glorious” in 1997, “Dress to Kill” in 1998, “Circle” in 2000 and the record breaking “Sexie” in 2003. Now Eddie’s “Stripped” and he’s coming to you.

I have five of his shows on DVD—everything from “Unrepeatable” to “Circle”—though I’ve only seen “Glorious,” “Dress to Kill,” and “Circle.”  I plan on doing a marathon session of Eddie Izzard tonight through tomorrow morning…sleep is overrated, right?

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,020 and still falling.

(Speaking of which, I have about $200 in rebates that must be filed in the next couple of days.  Oops!)

- Yesterday, we went errand-running at the usual hotspots.  The first stop was RiteAid, where, as expected, I missed out on all the good FA(SC)R deals.  I was only able to score some cheap body wash and bug spray for ~ $2 after coupons and rebates.  Meh.

Next stop:  CVS.  Unfortunately for me, I had run out of ECBs, so this entire trip was going to be paid for with…CASH!!!

(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)

My sister, on the other hand, at least had a single $2 ECB.

(Don’t ask me how we used up all our ECBs.  The story is too painful to retell.)

Needing to reload on ECBs, my sister and I each bought three FAECB items—Tums, Excedrin, and Extreme Energy shots—and she bought a couple packs of lip balm.

My total:  $18 (ouch!).  Her total:  $23 (WTF).  We both went into cardiac arrest after paying what we owed.

Finally, we stopped by Costco, where we were certain we were only going to buy a “few” things.  Clearly we were delirious at the time, probably from the CVS fiasco.  We got our usual fare—romaine lettuce, cucumbers, some snacks, and a rotisserie chicken for dinner—and we couldn’t resist another box of pluots, which were marked down to $5 for 15!  My sister also had to buy a bottle of wine for a get-together this weekend, and I couldn’t resist a tub of seafood salad (which I totally regret buying now; I didn’t expect it to be sweet!).  We also bought a bag of frozen breaded chicken tenderloins, which was priced at $12.99; I could’ve sworn that this stuff costs $15+.

Total bill:  $70 or so.  With the wine purchase, that bill was pretty reasonable.  Try convincing my sister of that, though :P.

- So I know I said I was done with the whole Diva Favre situation.  I know I said that the whole saga was probably coming to an end.

Double play.

Hey Diva, what happened to you wanting to come back to play for the Packers?

Favre seemed resigned to a future elsewhere, telling ESPN’s Chris Mortensen on Tuesday morning that the “best thing for this team is for us to part ways.” (source)

And you Favre myopians still insist on rooting for the guy?

“They told him, ‘We’ll trade you, but not within the division,’” Favre’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, told USA Today for Wednesday’s editions. “His first desire was to play here. Their first desire was for him not to play here.”

I believe the Diva’s first desire was to screw over the entire Packers’ organization.  Something tells me he had no intention on wanting to come back.

Favre told Mortensen he doesn’t have a problem with competing with Aaron Rodgers for the starting job, and can “truly understand” why McCarthy would make Rodgers the starter. But Favre also said a competition “probably isn’t going to work” and that “the problem is that there’s been a lot of damage done and I can’t forget it.”

What a bunch of baloney.  This guy has sh!t all over Aaron Rodgers, from the day Rodgers was drafted!  Does anyone recall the day Favre said that (to paraphrase) that he was not responsible for grooming Rodgers?  And why wouldn’t a competition work?  You’re the better quarterback!  Take the job away from Rodgers, and put the final nail in his Green Bay coffin!

And as far as “damage,” I’m sure the Diva thinks he’s done little wrong.

And now I just heard on my TV that Favre is not exactly keen on a trade to Tampa Bay.  WTF?  I’ve said this several times before, and I’ll say it again:  YOU ARE NOT THE GENERAL MANAGER!  YOU DO NOT GET TO DICTATE WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO BE TRADED!!!

Please, please, please, trade Favre to the Jets!  I would pay to see the New England Patriots pummel Favre into the ground twice a year.  Hell, I’ll turn into a Pats’ fan for those two games if a deal to the Jets happens!  I will cheer on the Pats’ D to score 4-5 Pick-Sixes (INT returns for TD), even if I’m playing in a fantasy league where my opponent has the Pats’ DST!

(Did I REALLY just say all that?  Do you see how much I cannot stand this story?)

Two parting thoughts:

“The football team’s moving forward,” McCarthy said. “The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want. He needs to jump on the train and let’s go. Or, if we can’t get past things that have happened, I have to keep the train moving.”

My sister responded to this with:  “McCarthy can conduct the train, as long as Favre is tied to the tracks.”  Yikes!

Finally, Yahoo! Sports’ columnist Michael Silver is now my new favorite columnist.  Finally, someone who isn’t in love with Favre, telling it exactly like it is!

A 168 Supermarket Freak Injury, Fresh Trout For Dinner, And Why The Diva Favre Saga Will Now Come to an End…For This Season, Anyway

I had no intention of blogging today, but something happened today that got my juices flowing.

One quick-hitter:

- Man-Ram’s line today:  4 for 5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, and a triple away from the cycle.

I’m just sayin’.

(Jason Bay’s doing incredibly well too, and I heard Andy LaRoche hit a HR today.  Talk about a great three-way deal!)

- I am NEVER, EVER AGAIN stepping foot in 168 Supermarket…EVER EVER AGAIN.

No, I did not get my ankle snapped by a shopping cart.  In fact, I wish that my ankle was what was injured!

While in the shopping cart autobahn that is the produce section of 168 Supermarket, I was standing in front of my cart, putting away a few bags of stuff that I had just picked up.  That’s when some idiot rammed his cart into my cart, ramming my cart into…well…you know where.

(That sound you hear is the sound of fellow UngsungBlog male readers—all none of you—keeling over.)

(Tangent:  You know how Jackie Chan and other martial arts protagonists always get caught in out-numbered fight scenes?  Why doesn’t the protagonist just kick one of the guys in the balls?  If he were to do so, the other guys would just keel over in sympathy pain as well, no?  Then again, maybe our protagonist would keel over too.)

Worse, the guilty party gave me the death stare as he passed by my bent-over self, as if I had done something wrong!  If ever there were a situation where punching someone right in the g*ddamn face should be legal, that would be it!

(As an aside…I actually had to admit that my mom was right about something today.  That might have hurt more than the physical injury I suffered!)

- My aunt and cousin went fishing this morning around Mt. Baldy, and they brought back some fresh trout!

I wanted to steam it with some slices of lemon and some fresh herbs, but we had neither, so I went with a bit of melted butter, kosher salt, and a bottle of “Italian seasoning.”  A few minutes in my mom’s Flavor Wave oven later, and dinner was served!

Believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve ever eaten freshly-caught fish.  At least, this was the first time I’ve knowingly eaten freshly-caught fish.  Good stuff, and at $10/fish, it wasn’t terribly expensive either.

- I had a really difficult time navigating through sports web sites today, because of all the pictures of a grinning Diva Favre all over the place!

Later on today, we got to see a beaming Diva Favre as he walked from his just-landed charter jet into an SUV waiting for him.  If the pictures of his face on those web sites were vomit-inducing, that shot of him walking towards the car could have been a biological weapon of mass destruction.

And who the hell were these people that greeted Favre off the runway?  You people reminded me of the numbskulls standing outside the court house when Wacko Jacko’s “Not Guilty” verdict was announced, screaming at the top of your lungs when it happened.  Are you myopians that blinded by his stature that you will let him jerk around with your emotions for THREE STRAIGHT YEARS?  What the hell are you guys going to do next year, if (when?) he performs Act IV of “As Brett Favre’s World Turns?”  Carry him on your shoulders from the airport to Lambeau Field?  Tattoo the number “4″ on to all your chests?

Speaking of divas, if I hear just ONE interview with Deanna Favre, asking her about her tribulations during this offseason with her husband, I might just stab my eyes and ears out.

(ETA:  Week 1 v. Minnesota…Michele Tafoya, get ready.)

Also, to make Aaron Rodgers’ life even more miserable, apparently the Packers are going to have an open competition for the Packers’ now-vacant QB job.

(clears throat…)

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO “Aaron Rodgers is our quarterback??????????????”

Seriously, Packers, please release the guy.  Either that, or give him a gun to shoot himself in the face with.  Let’s face it; despite all of the pageantry and drama surrounding Diva Favre, he is clearly the better quarterback, and Rodgers has almost no chance of beating out Favre for the starting QB job!  Did Aaron Rodgers sleep with the wife of a high-ranking Packers’ official?

Check out this gem:

“Although we built this year around the assumption that Brett meant what he said about retiring, Brett is coming back,” team president and CEO Mark Murphy said. “We will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage.”

Are you kidding me?  You had to ASSUME that Brett meant it when he said he was retiring?  The tears, the hesitations…all that was just an act, wasn’t it, Diva Favre?

Please, Green Bay brass, trade Aaron Rodgers for a fifth- or sixth- round pick.  Otherwise, you guys are guilty of first-degree murder…of a career that never had a chance to take off.

Any time you can make T.O. look like a model citizen, you know you’re screwing up somewhere.  Diva Favre, you’re making Adam “PacMan” Jones look pretty good right about now.  Last year, I couldn’t watch SportsCenter because of all the butt-kissing of the New England Patriots.  This year, I won’t be able to watch because of all the coverage the Favre is going to get.

Congratulations, Brett Favre.  You have now surpassed Tom Brady as the most obnoxious player that I hated first out of professional jealousy, and then later hated because for being an idiot.

And I mean this last part with absolute sincerity:

Brett Favre, F**K YOU.  Stay the f**k off my television next year!  I will NOT watch a single game you play in next season, even if the final game you play happens to be the Super Bowl.  Please, I beg of you to throw three back-breaking picks late in a game, and then throw your teammates and the entire Packers organization under the bus.  THAT, I would tune in to.

(He’s already getting the double-middle-finger salute from my sister, and she used to be a HUGE Brett Favre fan.  And trust me, she’s cursing him out 10x worse than I am.)

More Diva Favre News, Woodland Hills Kiwanis Pig Roast, And Ned Colletti Should Be Fired…Yesterday

I have not yet recovered from Saturday’s Pig Roast.

(More on that later.)

Quick-hitters:

- You know that your blog is pathetic when a simple blog entry about a spammy caller-ID number doubles your blog traffic.

Not that I’m complaining…

- I didn’t get to play much Shot-Online over the weekend, mostly due to yesterday’s affairs.

I did, however, absolutely steal a win on a nine-hole match earlier tonight.  I was playing Hela, tied with my opponent on the final hole (a par 3), when I seemingly drove my ball into the water (my ball rolled on to the brown perimeter of the water, and not actually in it).

Even though it said I hit it into the water, I was not accessed a penalty stroke (apparently, you get relief if this happens, without being accessed a penalty).  On my next shot—just off the green—I thought I putted the ball much too hard, and the darn thing went in!

Needless to say, my opponent was incensed.  She got so mad that she didn’t even attempt her tying birdie putt, as her shot clock ran out!

- Quick thoughts about Diva Favre:

1) “‘It’s pretty clear — and this is what I told the commissioner — that they want me to go away, stay retired.’”

Do you blame them if this is true?  If you hadn’t jerked around with the team for three consecutive off-seasons, and the Packers still did this to you, then we have a different story.

2) “‘They would much rather see me in a Packers’ uniform, paying me $12 million to be a backup — which you know they really don’t want — rather than see in another uniform, no matter what they say.’”

The Packers wouldn’t mind seeing you in Packers’ gear, had you not jerked around with them a third time!

3) “‘Roger is willing to help but he has to be careful,’ said Favre. ‘I told him I could easily send in this letter [of reinstatement] but they really don’t want me there and it’ll be a big circus.’

Um…too late!

4) “According to Favre, Thompson asked him if he was interested in a trade. ‘Yeah, but not just to the teams you want me to go to,’ Favre said, relaying his conversation with the Packers’ GM.”

WTF?  If the Packers get a good offer, and he shoots the trade down, then that is his own damn fault, isn’t it?  Seriously, I would pay good money to see Favre in Oakland or Miami.  And for the record, I’m 99% sure that the teams the Packers don’t want him to go to are the Vikings and the Bears.

Somebody please call this guy a WAAAAAAAAAmbulance.

- So the Woodland Hills Kiwanis Pig Roast was this past Saturday, and my sister (still a proud Kiwanian!) and I arrived at the festivities at about 5PM.  About half an hour later, my partner in crime, Mr. Don Doner, showed up.

I call Mr. Doner my partner-in-crime because, for the past three years, we have been responsible for selling tickets to buy booze from the bar.  Every year, sales have gone up, and I think alcohol sales went WAY up this year, despite the cooler-than-expected temperatures.  More importantly, though, I attend this Pig Roast every year because I get to spend 2-3 hours with Mr. Doner.

You see, he is a counselor, and at the ripe old age of 1,000 (:P), he’s forgotten way more than I will ever learn.  Every year I’ve attended the pig roast, we talk about life, business, and philosophy, so much so that I treat the Pig Roast as a paid life lecture with a complimentary meal.

(Watching Mr. Doner charm the ladies—and the gentlemen too!—out of their money for booze tickets is pretty awesome too.)

As for the food:  roasted pig, roasted chicken (some people were complaining that the chicken was undercooked; my piece was cooked perfectly), potatoes, cole slaw (w/celery?), salad, beans, and a slice of cake for dessert, and I was stuffed.  The best part was, I got to take tons of leftover food home!  Too bad there was no left over pork…

(The chicken I took home turned out to be undercooked, unfortunately.)

I can’t wait for next year’s Pig Roast, and I’ll see you there, Mr. Don Doner.

- So the Dodgers got Casey Blake?  Awesome!

(Not really.)

So we traded a future catcher prospect (Carlos Santana) and a good pitching prospect (Jon Meloan) for a 35 year old 3B who can’t defend, hits only decently (though, compared to the rest of the Dodgers, he’s an All-Star!) and is a free agent at the end of the year?  Worse yet, speculation is that the Dodgers had to throw in Santana to get the Indians to pay the rest of Blake’s $2 million salary.  Really?  You’re doling out $118 million, and $2 million more is a problem?

That being said, I can’t fault Colletti for having to save money, even at the expense of an extra prospect.  What I CAN fault him for is EVERY OTHER FREAKING STUPID MOVE HE’S EVER MADE!!!  Juan Pierre for $44 million?  Jason Schmidt?  Andruw Jones???

(And I’m fully aware that I actually ENDORSED the deal late last year.  I must have been drunk that night.)

If I hear that Colletti traded away Kemp, Kershaw, and Billingsley for Mark Teixeira and money to cover his contract the rest of the year, I better hear about 200,000 Dodger fans chasing Colletti out of town.  Then again, Colletti doesn’t trade his best prospects, so I better expect an Andy LaRoche-Andre Ethier for Jack Wilson swap, with a third prospect being thrown in for the money issues.

Speaking of Andy LaRoche…what the hell did he do to get treated so poorly?  Did he make a pass at Mrs. McCourt?

Until next time!

Clippers Get Marcus Camby, More Brett Favre Reax, And The All Star Game Should No Longer “Count”

No quick-hitters tonight:

- Quick thoughts on the Clippers-Nuggets deal that sent Marcus Camby to the Clippers for the rights to swap second-round picks:

1) Clearly this was nothing more than a salary dump for Camby, but certainly they could get more than the right to swap picks, right?  They couldn’t get the Clippers’ second-round pick outright for the former All-Star?

2) As for the Clippers, I like the deal, even though Camby’s not close to Elton Brand’s talent level.  Camby’s contract is reasonable—two years, ~$16 million left—and the Clippers still have a bit of cap space to add another piece.  The problem with this deal is that it effectively wastes two years of Baron Davis’ career.  Still, I might rather have Camby for two years and cap space for the key free agent year of 2009-2010 than five years of Emeka Okafor at some obscene amount.

- So I went weeks without commenting on Packers’ diva Brett Favre, and now I’m going to comment about him on consecutive blog entries?  Wow.

Apparently there is a second part of the interview between Favre and Greta Van Susteren (who just happens to be a family friend of Favre’s AND a Packers’ shareholder!  Talk about a conflict of interest!).  And boy, is the second part a doozy.

Apparently Favre does feel “bad” for current Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers.  How nice of you, Brett!  Three years of pissing all over the guy while you waffled over whether or not to return, and you finally admit that you feel bad for the guy?

(And why do people insist that Favre is such a great guy?)

The entire quote is a great read:

The one thing in this, I do feel bad for Aaron a little bit. I think he’ll do a fine job, to be totally honest with you. I do. He has been injured. The two injuries are not his fault. Couldn’t control them. I know this has been tough on him. I think he’ll do a fine job. And this has nothing to do with him, this whole deal. If they want to make me a backup … The thing is, they’ve been preaching about, ‘We want to protect Brett’s legacy’ … and we both know what that’s about. How does that protect my legacy if I’m a backup? Brett, we welcome you back, we’ll play you $12 million but you’ve got to hold the clipboard and ball cap. That’s probably better for them as opposed to letting me go somewhere and me coming back. Then, their legacy, the management, could be in jeopardy. Let me worry about that. You don’t worry about my legacy. It’s a bunch of bull. That’s all it is.

Did the Packers’ brass really state that they wanted to protect Brett’s legacy?  If that’s so, then I’ll have to agree with Favre, in this sense:  right now, the Packers owe Favre NOTHING.  They don’t have to protect him in any way, shape, or form, not after his recent waffling.

And what’s all this garbage about Favre wanting to return to the Packers to “call their bluff?”  As rough as it would be on Rodgers to have to look over his shoulder to see Favre on the sidelines during every one of his pass attempts, the thought of seeing Favre holding a clipboard on the sidelines slightly amuses me.  And I’m sure GM Ted Thompson wouldn’t mind seeing that as well.

It’s 50/50 that I’ll have ANOTHER blog entry about Diva Favre tomorrow.

- So I tuned in to the MLB All-Star Game today, and after three innings of scoreless ball, I shut the TV off.  Later in the day, I turned the TV back on to see the National League score a go-ahead run against Jonathon Papelbon.

(Tangent:  Despite all the stupid comments Papelbon made about wanting to close, then deferring to Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera, then flipping flopping a la Diva Favre, no way did Papelbon deserve the treatment he got from the Yankee fans during the eighth inning.  And never mind the treatment that Yankee fans gave his wife during an All-Star Game parade).

I flipped the TV back off—the game just didn’t appeal to me, for some reason—and we went to Coldstone (note to self:  get the Apple Pie a la Mode sans caramel next time).  When we got back, it was 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, and little did I know what we were in for.

Dan “Ugh”-la’s late-game attempt to cement the All-Star Game Least Valuable Player of the Millenium—a huge double play, two nearly crushing errors, two strikeouts, followed by a third “error”—fortunately was thwarted by outstanding pitching by Aaron Cook and Carlos Marmol as well as ridiculous (!!!!!!) defensive gems by (where do I start?) Miguel Tejada, Christian Guzman, Nate McLouth, and Russell Martin.  I don’t know what play was better:  Tejada’s off-balance throw in the 10th to get Aaron Cook out of a bases-loaded jam, or Nate McLouth’s strike to Russell Martin to nail Dioner Navarro in the 11th.  And the game nearly was extended on a bang-bang play at the plate involving Corey Hart and Brian McCann.  Now THAT would been awesome.

What a way to say farewell to Yankee Stadium, eh?  Yankee fans might want a World Series championship to top it all off, but I’m content with this All-Star Game :P