UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

My poor blog, how I’ve ignored you over the past few days!

(What can I say? I haven’t had much to talk about lately!)

Quick-hitters:

- It’s been sunny and COLD the last few days.

I miss the heat. I also miss sunlight at 6PM.

And if it’s so cold, why the heck do I really really want some ice cream?

- Small Shot-Online update: I’m still stuck on level 52 (haven’t played much lately), and, due to a bout of complete idiocy, I blew a chance at an easy ONE HUNDRED MILLION NG profit!!!

I don’t wanna talk about it.

One of these days, I will venture onto Cads. One of these days.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,500 or so, but I’m sure that the total is closer to $2,000 than $1,500.

That’s what I get for keeping such poor rebate records

- For the first time ever, here’s a tangent to a previous topic topic that deserves its own section!

Tangent: Fry’s/WorldwideRebates.com update: Fry’s customer service sent me this email regarding my “lost” $20 rebate:

Hello Peter, in regards to your Trand Micro rebate in the amount of
$20.00. We have since gotten in contact with the rebate manufacturer in
regards to your denial. Unfortunately after talking with them it seems
as though they are unwilling to help there customers. What we are going
to do for you in this matter is go ahead and give all of your rebate
submission to our home office. They will be issuing you a check shortly.
Please note that this may take up to 2 months. Please feel free to get
back with us in regards to this status. Thank you.

I boldfaced the line above because I thought it looked awfully familiar to me, especially the misuse of the word “there.” Does Fry’s use a form email to respond to rebate complaints? Well, remember my American Telecom rebate rant?

Hello Peter, in regards to your Pay N Talk rebate in the amount of
$25.00. We have since gotten in contact with the rebate manufacturer in
regards to your denial. Unfortunately after talking with them it seems
as though they are unwilling to help there customers. What we are going
to do for you in this matter is go ahead and give all of your rebate
submission to our home office. They will be issuing you a check shortly.
Please note that this may take up to 2 months. Please feel free to get
back with us in regards to this status. Thank you.

That was from an email response sent to me from February 1, 2008! Notice the emphasis in the blog entry linked above!

Once again, kudos to Fry’s!

(EDIT: Just as I finished typing this, I got an email from WorldWideRebates…it appears that they finally got my rebate submission! Should they successfully process my rebate claim, I will contact Fry’s and see if I can get them to not issue me a check. If not, I’ll just destroy it.)

- Fantasy football updates:

I’m riding a three-game winning streak in one league, the third win coming via a 132-88 beatdown of my opponent. It helps that my two RBs, Thomas Jones and Maurice Jones-Drew, combined to score 59 points by themselves. I am now 5-5 in this league, tied for fifth overall, and still a game out of a playoff spot (though I’m trailing badly in the tiebreaker, which is points scored overall.)

In my other league, I won for the sixth straight week. I’m not going to take too much pride in this win, though, as my opponent played three guys on their bye week, and one was on IR. I’m now in first place in this league, and I face the team that I leapfrogged in Week 11. The receivers on this team are really killing me, save for Andre Johnson.

Non-fantasy football thoughts:

- Ask and ye shall receive.  Thank you, T.O., for giving me my lead story of Week 10!  I need not even comment on this (though I will):

“We have to go back to the drawing table and look at the things that made us successful last year, moving me around a little bit, really just making an effort to get the ball in my hands on certain routes,” Owens said Tuesday, during a signing for his new book in Manhattan.

Well, at least he was smart enough to say the word “certain.”  You know, he wouldn’t want to appear to be demanding the ball, or anything like that…

I cannot wait for the upcoming Cowboys-Redskins game.  What will spew out of T.O.’s mouth if the Cowboys happen to lose THAT game???

- As soon as I found out that the Monday Night game was San Francisco at Arizona, I decided that I wasn’t going to watch it.

Boy did I miss out!  What a crazy goal-line “stand” by Arizona!  Of course, I say “stand” because Arizona’s field turf played a huge role on that series, tackling 49ers’ RB Frank Gore on 2nd and goal.  Why was Frank Gore not on the field on the final play of the game?  And why didn’t the 49ers spike the ball on the final play, since it was only 3rd down?

By the way, if Kurt Warner wins his third MVP this season—and personally, I think he’s the front-runner—tying himself with that guy currently on the Jets, that has to be enough to get him in the Hall of Fame, right?  Maybe he doesn’t get in on the first ballot, but he’s gotta get in, right?

- Speaking of the Jets, did you see them running up the score against my hapless Rams?  How sickening!

OK, fine, my Rams horribly stink, and the Jets did not run the score up on them.  However, can we stop giving Favre all the credit for the Jets’ “resurgence,” a 6-3 record against a cupcake schedule, including a LOSS to the RAIDERS?

Kris Jenkins?  Alan Faneca?  Thomas Jones?  Leon Washington?  Eh, forget it; let’s give all the credit to Diva Favre.

(And please stop with the “Oh, if Favre were still a Packer, they wouldn’t be 4-5!  It is not completely Aaron Rodgers’ fault that the Packers are struggling.  That defense of theirs is terrible, and it only got worse with the loss of LB Nick Barnett for the season.)

- Colts fans, begin to send your hate mail!

Is it just me, or are the Colts quickly rounding into that struggling team that, all of a sudden, gets white-hot, and earns the “We don’t want to play THEM!” label?  After back-to-back victories over New England and Pittsburgh (did the Colts really keep the Steelers out of the end zone when Pittsburgh was on the Colts’ 1???), the could-have-been 1-8 Colts could very well be 10-4 going into the final two games of the season.

Of course, they could also get upset by Houston, lose @SD, and then lose one of @CLE, CIN, or DET (shudder…), and miss the playoffs.

- And finally, thank goodness that Jacksonville remembered who they were…as did Detroit.

By the way, would you bet on Detroit going 0-16, or Tennessee going 16-0?  You’d have to be on the latter being more likely, wouldn’t you?

I would…but just barely.

Until next time!

Tags: cadeiger, diva favre, fantasy football, frys, green bay packers, indianapolis colts, kurt warner, mvp, new york jets, nick barnett, rebate-o-meter, shot-online, t.o., worldwiderebates by Peter
No Comments »

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

- 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!

Tags: brett favre, circle, costco, cvs, definite article, diva favre, dress to kill, ecbs, eddie izzard, glorious, green bay packers, hot, live at the ambassadors, new england patriots, new york jets, olympics, opening ceremonies, rite aid, sexie, stripped, tampa bay buccaneers, unrepeatable by Peter
1 Comment »

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

Tags: "calling their bluff", "night heat", aaron rodgers, brett favre, denver nuggets, diva favre, green bay packers, greta van susteren, los angeles clippers, marcus camby, on the record by Peter
No Comments »

Argh…my legs are sore as hell!

It took me ten minutes to get from my bed to my bathroom…a total distance of about eight paces

Quick-hitters:

- Has anybody heard that a new movie, called Mamma Mia!, is being released soon? I just saw a commercial of it for the first time today.

(Believe that, and you’ll also believe that I own oceanfront property in Utah.

Oh look…the commercial aired again!

Mamma Mia

There it airs again

My my

How I want to end myself

Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and The Bill Engvall Show think that movie is being seriously overhyped.

- SUPER quick thought on the Elton Brand-LA Clippers situation: the fact that Brand signed with Philly for only four million dollars more per year tells me that either Brand is a backstabbing liar, or the Clippers clearly blew it by throwing Brand an eleventh-hour, lowball deal.

In any case, I wonder if Baron Davis regrets signing his deal with the Clips.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,410, and that number will go up once the backorder on a couple things I bought from Frys.com gets lifted.

- If you’re even a slight baseball fan, and you missed out on the Home Run Derby, you missed a great show by Josh Hamilton. What a shame he couldn’t hold on to win, though. The record books will say that Justin Morneau won the Derby, but who could forget the show Hamilton put on? Twenty eight home runs in the first round? That’s just stupid.

If I recall correctly, he had THIRTEEN straight bombs after hitting fifteen in his first eight outs. As great as his first-round performance was, watching the crowd cheer Hamilton on was surreal. Once you factor in the fact that this guy was out of baseball three years ago (due to drugs), the scene becomes even more memorable. Add to it the fact that this is the farewell season of Yankee Stadium, and…you get where I’m going. It almost appeared as if the crowd was completely winded after Hamilton’s run; one could say that Hamilton’s performance was truly breathtaking.

Major League Baseball could change the rules of the Home Run Derby to include all rounds in the final scoring, but it won’t change the fact that we saw one of the finest single-round Derby performances ever. Then again, Bobby Abreu hit 24 in the first round only three years ago; maybe someone will come around and hit 30.

- Brett Favre, you did it. You finally got me to say something about the recent drama surrounding your changing-of-the-mind. Let me start by saying (clears throat…)

YOU HAD TO GO ON FAUX FREAKING NEWS TO AIR OUT YOUR FRUSTRATION AT THE PACKERS???

Were all ESPN interviewers busy? Were Len Pasquerelli and John Clayton on vacation? Couldn’t you have sent another text message to Chris Mortensen? Seriously, Fox News?

That being said, are you freaking kidding me? If you had even a shred of doubt about your retirement, why did you seem so emotionally torn during that infamous press conference? If you really weren’t sure about retirement, couldn’t you have worked something out with the Packers’ organization?

This is easily my favorite part of the interview:

Favre told [On The Record host Greta] Van Susteren that “I worked my butt off two years ago to try to get them to sign Randy Moss.”

Favre added that he offered to give up salary to sign the receiver who ultimately landed with the New England Patriots.  Favre said that Thompson publicly denied that the quarterback had lobbied for Moss.

Favre also said that he tried to convince Thompson to re-sign linemen Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle, but the two key contributors signed elsewhere.

In a final instance that riled the quarterback, Favre said that he told Thompson that he should interview Steve Mariucci, an old friend, for the head coaching job after Mike Sherman left. Mike McCarthy was hired instead. “And none of those had anything to do with me retiring once again but, you know, it’s hard for me to trust, you know, this guy when I — either I’m told one thing and everyone else is told another, or he’s telling the public one thing and telling me another,” Favre said, according to the newspaper.

Uh-huh.  You brought up all these points, and then mention that none of these factors drove you to wanting out of the Packers’ organization?  Right…and a girl telling her boyfriend “I’m not mad!” really isn’t mad.

And what really gets me is the number of Packers’ faithful that want the guy back!  This guy put your team in limbo with regards to his playing status for three straight years!  Why the hell would you want him back?  Sure, he led the team to a 13-3 record last year, but attributing his play with the team’s record would ignore the Packers’ much-improved defense, their rounding-in-to-form receiving corps, and the play of Ryan Grant.  Sure, he’s the face of the franchise, but you drafted Aaron Rodgers for a reason, did you not?  If Favre returns, and Aaron Rodgers walks at the end of the season, what if Favre were to really retire then?  How horrible of a situation would Green Bay be in THEN?

If I’m Ted Thompson, I would not release the guy until the very last minute, and then I would hope he signs with Minnesota or Chicago.  Both teams have awful offenses, and I can’t wait for the day for Favre to chew out his new team, citing management for not surrounding him with enough talent to win, and then backstab the team by acting out Act Four of the “Brett Favre Saga.”  Sure, Green Bay will have to see him twice, but so what?

Since telling Brett Favre to go away isn’t going to do a damn thing now, I’ll just tell him to please sign with Chicago so he can throw 60 times a game, average three picks, and lead the Bears to a 4-12 record.

(Please?)

The whole story enrages me, and perhaps I will clean up this blog entry at a later date (I looked over it once, and it looked kinda messy.)

Until next time!

Tags: baron davis, brett favre, brett favre saga, elton brand, fox news, green bay packers, greta van susteren, home run derby, josh hamilton, justin morneau, los angeles clippers, mamma mia, on the record, overhyped by Peter
No Comments »