UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Quick-hitters:

- Boy was it COLD today.  Cold, chilly, windy…can I have summer back?

Oh well…cold weather means I can go have pho again!  Yum!

(And yes, I did have some today.  Gosh I missed that stuff.)

- A new toy arrived at my doorstep a few days ago, delivered by USPS (more on that later):  an LG Shine!

Too bad it was for my sister.

Nevertheless, I ripped open the box, popped the battery into the phone, popped the backplate onto the phone, and then immediately plugged it in.  I hit the power button, and it immediately asked me for a SIM card.

Nooooooooooooo!  A new toy, and I can’t even play with it???

Then I remembered…I used to have an AT&T Prepaid plan.  Would the SIM card work?  I rushed to my desk, dug through my desk drawers, and somehow found the little SIM card buried between some manuals.

I rushed back to the phone, stuck in the SIM card, and it worked!

I played with the phone for about ten seconds, before putting it away :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  ~$1300.

With the fall season comes new TV shows, the MLB Playoffs, NFL football (of course!), and the NBA regular season on the horizon.  For me, I like to add “2009 Rebate Deals!” to that list!

Yeah, I’m a rebate degenerate, as well as a gambling degenerate, and a fantasy sports degenerate.

- My USPS carrier has NEVER left a package on my door.

(I’d argue that she never actually knocks, but who knows?)

The package could have been torn apart to reveal a t-shirt inside, and she still wouldn’t have left the package in front of my door.

So you could imagine how absolutely shocked I was to see a USPS Priority Mail box sitting on my front door, containing my sister’s cell phone!!!

(clears throat)

YOU WON’T LEAVE ANY OF MY PACKAGES ON MY FRONT DOOR, EVEN IF I FILL OUT THAT STUPID POSTCARD PERMITTING THIS, BUT YOU DECIDED THAT THIS ONE PACKAGE WAS WORTH LEAVING ON MY DOORSTEP??????????????????????????

(I need a throat lozenge.)

- To my loyal readers (all none of you), I present an UngsungBlog PSA.

If you have attempted to order from Frys.com lately, you might have run into a situation where adding an item to your cart leads you to a webpage asking you to enable cookies.

If you run into that problem, there’s an easy workaround:

1. Copy the seven-digit Frys.com item number.
2. Enter the item number into the search field.
3. When the item shows up, click on the “Buy” button, and the item should show up in your cart.

Hope that helps.

- (Yeah, I should have posted this yesterday.  Shoot me.)

Andre Ethier at first, none out, and the Dodgers played hit and run.  James Loney hit a grounder to short, and oops!  SS Ryan Theriot, running to cover second base, overran the grounder, and stuck his hand out to try to barehand the ball.  It glanced off his hand, trickled into left field, and all of a sudden, it was first and third with none out.

You could just feel Cubs fans fearing the worst.  Even after Matt Kemp struck out looking, you could hear the nervousness in the crowd’s response.  Once Blake Dewitt hit that grounder directly to 2B Mark DeRosa, though, you could almost hear the crowd breathe a heavy sigh of relief.  4-6-3, inning over, right?

Whoops!  DeRosa kicked the ball, and then tried a desperate flip to Theriot.  Loney beat the throw, Ethier scored, and you just had the feeling the the Cubs were in deep trouble (and members of the crowd were probably calling their therapists).  But then, Casey Blake hit a hard grounder to 1B Derrek Lee, and the Cubs had ANOTHER chance to get out of the inning!

So close!  Derrek Lee booted it, everyone was safe, and now the Dodgers had the bases loaded with only one out.  At this point, you almost felt sorry for Cubs fans.  But wait!  Chad Billinsgley was up, and down he goes on strikes!  Two outs now, and Carlos Zambrano only had to get Rafael Furcal out to escape the inning!

Of course, Furcal ends up burning the Cubs by laying down a perfect drag bunt—it would have been terrible, except for the fact that Mark DeRosa was playing on the outfield grass!—and all of a sudden, it was 2-0 Dodgers, and Zambrano had to face Russell Martin.  The rest was history; Martin lined a double into the left-field gap, and the rout was on.  The crowd was ABSOLUTELY DEAD by that point.

I could spend some time explaining how the Cubs aren’t close to being done in this series—Harden could quickly shut down the Dodgers’ roster, and so could Lilly, and then the Dodgers would have to win a Game Five at Chicago, possibly facing Zambrano!—but I’m not going to waste my time.  It seems that Cubs fans are so certain that their team is cursed that Peter Gammons couldn’t convince Cubs fans otherwise, much less a stupid blogger.

One parting topic about this series:  can people stop arguing that the Cubs are choking this series away more than the Dodgers are winning it?  Sure, Ryan Dempster was crazy wild in Game One, but Loney still had to hit a 1-2 pitch into the center field seats, right?  Sure, the Cubs’ infield defense looked like they were using frying pans as gloves, but the Dodgers still had to make contact with Zambrano’s pitching, right?

Sorry, Cubs faithful, but the Dodgers are winning this series 2-0.  However, THEY HAVE NOT YET WON!

(Never mind.)

Other Division Series-related thoughts:

- How are all four DSes 2-0?

- How did Brett Myers (????) draw two walks against C.C. Sabathia?

- How are the Rays doing it?

- How are the Angels not?

One parting thought about the Angels:  as an Angels “hater,” I was mildly amused with watching K-Rod give up the game winning bomb in the Los Angeles Angels nowhere in Los Angeles’ loss to Boston tonight.

Then I realized who hit the game winner.

Damn that unnamed right fielder.

Until next time!

Tags: chicago cubs, cold weather, comedy of errors, cookies, frys.com, lg shine, los angeles dodgers, rebate-o-meter, ungsungblog psa, usps by Peter
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Let’s get right into the topic of the day.

- After watching Cubs’ pitcher Ryan Dempster yield his seventh walk of the day, and then making James Loney look bad on three straight low pitches, I was very upset when I saw Loney swing at another one.

Routine fly ball to center, I thought to myself. Another wasted opportunity—thanks, Andre Ethier—in a game where every run was going to be huge.

That’s when I noticed that TBS’ camera was still panning up, and all of Wrigley Field immediately became silent. Even the winds that make Wrigley Field famous couldn’t knock that shot down.

As I watched Loney’s slam find its way into the bleachers, I had no idea how to react. Cheer, dammit, I kept thinking to myself. For some reason, I felt paralyzed. James Loney hit a grand slam, and you can’t even utter a “YES!”???

Eventually, I had the wherewithal to text my sister the following message: BOOM!!! OUTTA HERE!!!

In a matter of mere moments, the Dodgers erased a 2-0 deficit, and all of a sudden, Cubs fans everywhere are seriously gripping with the possibility that they may have to wait another year for a World Series opportunity.

(Don’t include me in that list, Cubs fans! As far as I am concerned, the series is playing out exactly as I expected it to; I figured that the Dodgers’ best chance to steal a game was Game One, and I just don’t see the Cubs—and Zambrano—losing Game Two. In fact, I actually predicted that the Cubs would win this series in four games, losing Game One in the process.)

Yes, Cubs faithful, many things were going against the Cubbies in this game: Derek Lowe being on top of his game, the euphoria running about in Wrigley, the adrenaline flowing through Ryan Dempster, and that guy named Manny.

(Did you see that lob wedge he hit? What a showoff he is, applying a tiny bit of draw to the shot :P)

However, even after that seventh walk—did Dempster really walk Derek Lowe TWICE????—it looked like Dempster was going to escap. Too bad he hung just one pitch right over the plate, and as the ball was lifted into the sky, you could have heard a pin drop in Wrigley. Even still, Cubs fans…

(clears throat)

IT’S JUST ONE GAME!!! CALM DOWN!!!

Worry not, Cubs fans. Z will lead your team to a win tomorrow.

Seriously, Cubs fans, I sincerely hope the reports that some of you were acting like the series was over were exaggerated. Come on! That’s why the NLDS is a best-of-five, right? That’s why your team earned the home field advantage, right?

(This isn’t helping, is it, Cubs fans?)

Here are some other thoughts on topics in the sports world:

- Oh, Terrible Owens, I expected more out of you than a weak “The media blew it all out of proportion” argument. I’m almost disappointed in your poor effort. Couldn’t you have uttered this phrase while doing some chin-ups, at least?

My favorite part:

“That is not to say nothing about Tony Romo,” Owens said. “I am not going to be able to catch every ball thrown my way. Every pass was not a valid catchable pass.”

Do those two sentences bolded above appear even somewhat contradictory? They sure do to me; after all, who is the one throwing “every pass?”

I can’t wait for T.O. to be traded to another team, just so I can hear what he really thinks about Tony Romo.

- In the wake of Lance Armstrong’s return to competitive racing (a terrible idea, IMO), apparently the French anti-doping agency wants Armstrong to approve the testing of his 1999 Tour de France “B” urine samples, a request that Armstrong has since rejected.

(Here’s why I think Armstrong returning to the sport is such a bad idea: his legacy is intact, speculation aside. He’s has nothing close to a Kirk Radomski (Roger Clemens) or something as damning as a grand jury perjury charge (Bonds) on him. And no, it doesn’t hurt that he’s perceived as a “good guy.”

So what’s the point of coming back? To prove that he did everything legitimately?

If Armstrong comes back and fails, what would the main reason be for his failure: lack of cheating, or simply age?

If Armstrong comes back and succeeds, and doesn’t pass a test, would Armstrong really be perceived as clean, or could there be additional speculation that he is simply “getting over” on drug-testers?)

As much as I admire Armstrong, I gotta ask this question: if he knows he didn’t cheat, then why wouldn’t he approve of the re-test? Wouldn’t declining the test only provide even more speculation that he really did cheat?

I hope I never see the day where Lance Armstrong is proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be a cheat. At the same time, though, if he is a cheater, I would want to know. Allowing a test on urine samples from 1999 would, in my opinion, be a huge step in proving his innocence.

On the other hand, who knows what state those samples are in? Who knows if those samples are tainted? These are just even more reasons why Armstrong should not bother returning back to a sport that is going to monitor his every action, 24/7, for who knows how long.

Until next time!

Tags: carlos zambrano, chicago cubs, james loney, lance armstrong, los angeles dodgers, manny ramirez, nlds, ryan dempster, tour de france by Peter
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Quick hitters:

- The Los Angeles Dodgers’ magic number: ONE.

Start engraving that MVP trophy with Manny’s name on it! Sure, the Dodgers are only 28-21 since his acquisition, but do you think the Dodgers win more than 2-3 of those games without him?

And how great was it to see Rafael Furcal and—to a much lesser extent!—Jeff Kent back on the field?

(Somewhat off topic, but why do newspeople insist on raising one finger any time they say the number “one” with emphasis? I’m looking at you, FSN’s Patrick O’Neal!)

- Subject and From: field of an email I received a few days ago:

Walmart.com bought a Walmart.com Gift Card for you!‏

From: Walmart.com bought a Walmart.com Gift Card for you!‏

Spam, right? If I offered you 1:10 odds that this was spam, you’d bet the house on it, right?

Amazingly enough, it was NOT spam! You see, a couple weeks ago, Walmart.com had offered several workout machines for ridiculously low prices. Sure enough, they turned out to be pricing errors, as stated in the “kill mail” email from Walmart that immediately found its way into my trash can.

Good thing Hotmail hadn’t yet emptied my trash when the email containing the GC hit my inbox.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,039, but I haven’t yet updated it with over $500 in recent purchases.

- So you might recall that my really cool neighbors recently moved out of their condo. I’ve met two of the three new tenants in that condo; the lone female seems like a nice person, and one of the guys seems to be a grade-A jerk. There’s a third guy there, but I have yet to meet him.

Unfortunately, I have become quite acquainted with the fourth member of that condo: a super-annoying, barks-every-waking-minute dog! Of course, every time the stupid rat dog starts barking, the other dogs near us start barking away as well.

One of the dogs—a serial offender, and one I’ve probably written about before—is now so bad, there have been times where s/he has barked at 3-4AM!!!

Stupid dogs…and their stupid owners.

- Needing to use up some expiring ECBs yesterday, we swung by the Encino CVS. I was hoping to score some more FAECB body wash, deodorant, and some really cheap Propel water. I also needed eye drops, and after picking up all the items above, I went to the checkout counter, where I met my favorite cashier.

After all my coupons and ECBs, my total due was $3.00. As I reached into my wallet to pull out a $20, the cashier started giving me the death stare.

(Oh sh*t…what did I do???)

In her thick accent, she started scolding me! “Three dollars? Usually you hand me a few cents!”

I responded with “It was the darn [Propel] water…too good of a deal!”

She responded “Come on, I know you’ve got a two-dollar-something ECB in that envelope of yours.” Then she almost tossed my change back at me.

As I grabbed my bags, I told her “Does this mean I’m banned from the store now?”

She responded with “You better come back next time and spend a few cents. You’re letting me down!”

I love my CVS.

Better yet, apparently my sister forgot a bag of items, and we didn’t realize this until we got home. Upon realizing this, I instructed her to call the CVS and, to prove that it was her bag of items, I told her to identify what was in it.

She called, and while speaking to a cashier at the front, she could hear another cashier screaming “It’s all my fault! I’m so sorry!!!”

We went back, and as soon as we stepped in, the cashier screamed, “I’m SO SORRY!!! I can’t believe I did that!”

I love my CVS.

- I’m now 1-2 in both of my Fantasy leagues, no thanks in part to the injuries to Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook.

In my “crap” (read:  Carson f**king Palmer) league, I’m 1-2, thanks to Maurice Jones-Drew.  I now face the only winless team in the league, and unfortunately, he’s not 0-3 because he drafted Tom Brady.  Worse for me is the fact that Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Roy Williams are all off next week.

1-3 here I come!

In my other league (read:  Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook), I got drubbed 97-56, so it’s not like those two would have helped much.  I’m now up against a 3-0 team next week.

Fantastic!

Until next time!

Tags: barking dogs, brian westbrook, cool cashiers, cvs, donovan mcnabb, ecbs, encino, fantasy football, gift card, injuries, jerks, los angeles dodgers, magic number, manny ramirez, maurice jones-drew, neighbors, rebate-o-meter, spam, walmart.com by Peter
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Boy did it get chilly over the last two days!

Stupid weather girl lied…she said it would be warmer, not colder!

I want summer back =(.

Quick-hitters:

- I now have somewhere along the lines of fifteen rebates that need to go out soon.

(Yes, that includes the ten or so that need to go out by next week.)

- Why do teams continue to pitch to Manny?

Sure, Manny grounded into a double play, struck out on a wicked change, and then hit a towering fly ball in his first three at bats tonight against the Rockies. Come on, Rockies! That’s only going to motivate him to try! RBI single, single to load the bases, and ho-hum…another 2-for-5 day.

I’ll miss you, Manny. Enjoy the Yankee pinstripes next season.

- Better late than never, right?

1) So first Vince Young, allegedly, refused to re-enter a game after injuring his MCL (He only returned after Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher pleaded with him to get back in the game).  Then, after the game, Young went missing.  Later on, we found out that he was at a friend’s house, eating chicken wings.  His mom decided to chime in as well, demanding space for her son.

And now there’s word that he spoke to a therapist about suicide?

I’m not going to pile on the guy, like some people on ESPN; I’ve read enough “You make millions of dollars, you poor baby!” comments to last me ten lifetimes.  All I’ll say is that Young’s MCL injury might be a blessing in disguise; if I were the Titans, I would leave Young in Tennessee to recuperate AND find someone to talk to about his personal issues.

2) I felt a little bit guilty about rooting hard for Chad Pennington to rally against the New York Favres.

(Just a little bit.)

Too bad Chad Pennington remembered who he was, right before throwing that back-breaking pick.

3) I’m so glad everything in the world is back to normal, now that T.O. is once again going after Donovan McNabb.

Thank you, Terrible Owens.

4) I’d worry if I were a Jags’ or Seahawks’ fan.  I’d temper my expectations if I were an Eagles’, Bills’, or Bears’ fan.  Colts’ fans, I wouldn’t worry too much, especially if Jeff Saturday returns next week and is healthy.

And finally, Pats’ fans…

5) Is Matt Cassel going to be the next Tom Brady?  No.  At this point, Pats’ fans better hope Matt Cassel is the next Trent Dilfer, and I mean that with all seriousness.

Remember, it was Trent Dilfer that did not cost the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl XXXV.  If Matt Cassel can do that, and the Pats’ defense stays solid throughout the year, then who knows?  Last time I checked, the Pats still had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Lawrence Maroney, and Bill Belicheck.

(Can you believe this?  A year ago, I would have puked in my mouth at the mere mention of the Pats, and now, I’m actually being sympathetic???

Part of this is because of Diva Favre, by the way.  If the Jets should win the AFC East, I’m going to plaster asterisks all over that title :P).

Maybe more NFL Week 1 thoughts next time, as well as a Shot-Online update, and the worst piece of steak I’ve ever cooked (*cry*).  Until then!

Tags: cold weather, colorado rockies, diva favre, los angeles dodgers, manny ramirez, matt cassel, nfl, rebates, tennessee titans, terrible owens, vince young, week 1 by Peter
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Let’s see if I remember how to do this.

(Week 1 NFL thoughts to come tomorrow…I hope.)

Random thoughts from the past week:

- Stupid commercials I’ve seen lately:

1) These two about high-fructose corn syrup. I was going to attempt a long-winded rant about these commercials, but I’ll let The Consumerist and their readers handle it.

2) “Pasta player-hater!” WTF.

- I have something like ten rebates that need to go out in the next week or so.

Who wants to bet that I won’t send them out until two days before the postmark deadline?

- Eight straight wins, and now nine of ten. A 2.5 game lead over Arizona. Four wins against Arizona aces (Brandon Webb and Dan Haren).

Three thoughts here:

1) Why aren’t teams giving Manny the Barry Bonds treatment? Manny had another HR today, as well as a scoring fly ball. Can we etch his name on the MVP award right now?

2) Speaking of Manny…hey, Jeff Kent, Andre Ethier is Exhibit B of the Manny effect, is he not? He had four more RBI today, including a huge bases-clearing double to give the Dodgers’ bullpen some breathing room.

Don’t rush back, Kent.

3) Derek Lowe just made himself a ton of money over the past few weeks. And who knows how much more money Manny made himself.

- So some of you might be thinking that I was kicking up my heels and celebrating the season-ending torn ACL that Tom Brady suffered.

You’d be wrong, and I will neither confirm nor deny that that eleventy billion replays I’ve seen of the hit that Brady took might have changed my opinion of the injury. Despite what I may have written in the past about the Cheat-riots, nobody deserves a season-ending knee injury, especially on a fluke play in the first quarter of the first game of the season.

And please stop with the “karma’s a b!tch” talk. If anything, the Pats got what was coming to them in last year’s Super Bowl.

I first heard of the injury when I woke up late Sunday morning, fired up my laptop, and saw something about Brady leaving the Chiefs-Pats game early in the first quarter with a knee injury. When I first read that headline, I immediately thought “Oh oh…season ender?” After seeing the replay for the first time, I was about 90% sure he was done for the year.

Was the hit dirty? I don’t think so. It seemed desperate, and definitely unnecessary, but I didn’t think it was dirty at all.

What sickens me about the entire situation is the fact that one could argue that Diva Favre’s Jets team might very well be the favorites in the AFC East. If the Jets win the East (even with Brady’s injury), we might not hear the end of it until after the Super Bowl, even if the Jets lose in the first round of the playoffs! Worse, we might have to suffer through weeks and weeks of “See? The Packers should never have gotten rid of Favre!”

(shudder…)

More NFL thoughts next time…

- My two fantasy football drafts had one thing in common: I somehow missed the first pick of each draft.

Both leagues are Yahoo! standard, ten-team leagues. Unfortunately, I was not able to get twelve players to partake in a BargainShare league. Oh well.

(Note: For some reason, I’m having difficulty getting screenshots of my draft results. As soon as I figure out what is going on, I’ll post the full draft results. For now, I’ll just list my team.)

Team 1 (currently 0-1 and in DEAD FREAKING LAST):

• Round 1, Pick 4: RB Steven Jackson

(Grrrr…I was going to draft Joseph Addai here. I was also considering Tom Brady here, so at least I didn’t do that!)

• Round 2, Pick 17: WR Reggie Wayne

(Peyton Manning better get back into “game-shape” real soon.)

• Round 3: RB Maurice Jones-Drew
• Round 4: QB Carson Palmer

(This is the pick that is going to make or break my team. So far, I’m leaning towards “break.”)

• Round 5: WR Roy Williams

(I was going to take Williams in round 4, and was very happy to see him fall to me in round 5.)

• Round 6: TE Dallas Clark
• Round 7: DST Minnesota

(Don’t ask.)

• Round 8: WR Donald Driver
• Round 9: RB Thomas Jones

(Sleeper! And with the way Steven Jackson and the Rams are playing, he might be a starter soon enough.)

• Round 10: WR Bernard Berrian
• Round 11: WR Reggie Brown
• Round 12: K Phil Dawson

(He has since been dropped.)

• Round 13: RB Kevin Smith (Lions)
• Round 14: WR Drew Bennett

(Rams’ loyalty :P)

• Round 15: QB Jeff Garcia

I could see this team easily finishing 5-9 or something like that. I am not too thrilled with this team, and believe it or not, this was my “casual” draft.

Team 2 (1-0, second place after scoring 111 pts):

• Round 1, Pick 4: RB Brian Westbrook

(I actually wanted Addai here too. I think I’ll live with this pick.)

• Round 2, Pick 17: RB Ryan Grant
• Round 3: WR Andre Johnson
• Round 4: WR Roy Williams
• Round 5: TE Antonio Gates

(Why was I not notified that he still has a foot injury???)

• Round 6: QB Donovan McNabb

(Possibly my best pick of both drafts, if he stays healthy.)

• Round 7: WR Donald Driver
• Round 8: WR Jerricho Cotchery
• Round 9: DST Pittsburgh
• Round 10: RB Selvin Young

(Michael Pittman? Andre Hall? Stupid Mike Shanahan :P)

• Round 11: WR Nate Burleson

(Ouch…torn ACL? Now who is Matt Hasselbeck going to throw to?)

• Round 12: K Phil Dawson

(Dropped.)

• Round 13: RB Justin Fargas
• Round 14: QB Matt Schaub
• Round 15: WR Ronald Curry

If (and that’s a huge IF) my top six stay healthy, this team is going to be a force to reckon with…I think.

Until next time!

Tags: andre ethier, derek lowe, fantasy football, hfcs, high fructose corn syrup, jeff kent, los angeles dodgers, manny ramirez, new england patriots, season ending injury, stupid commercials, tom brady, torn acl by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Once again, I have allowed two rebates to go right up to the 30-day postmark deadline.

I guess this is a sign that I better start using MS Outlook or something :P.

- If I hear It’s Not My Time by 3 Doors Down one more time on Sirius Internet Radio, I might have to throw something through my computer screen.

Seriously…enough already!  I almost miss the days where Sirius was (seemingly) contractually obligated to play one Coldplay song on one of its stations at all times.

Contrary to what you might believe, this is not a rant against Coldplay or 3 Doors Down.  It is simply a rant against Sirius.

- So as many of you deal hunters probably know, Amazon has started swinging the ban stick at a number of individuals recently.  Everyone who got banned got this rather vague email:

Hello from Amazon.com.

A careful review of your account indicates you’ve experienced an extraordinary number of incidents with your orders and corresponding shipments.

In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store.

Please know that any accounts related to yours have also been closed. If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

If you require additional assistance, or have any concerns, feel free to contact us directly at account-appeals@amazon.com.

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you.

If you read through the thread, apparently Amazon.com CSRs can’t offer a thorough explanation of what “an extraordinary number of incidents” really means, though speculation is that this is referring to a large number of returns and/or price matches.

I understand that Amazon.com has a right to choose who they want to do business with, but they couldn’t offer a warning?  Also, reports are that not only are people unable to even log into their account to check their invoices, but individuals with outstanding gift certificate accounts may be SOL as well!  Furthermore, some individuals with both buyer and seller accounts are getting both locked because of the activity on their buyer account!

I was surprised that it took nearly a week for this story to hit The Consumerist, and I can’t say that I’m surprised by the reactions of the readers there, though I do not agree with what most of them are saying.  Yes, people that open multiple accounts to take advantage of the same promotion multiple times should be banned.  Yes, people that have a ridiculously high return rate—and the number of actual returns, not just the percentage, should also matter!—should be banned.  Nevertheless, shouldn’t these people be warned?  Is that too much to ask for?

For the record, my account has not been banned.  It would not surprise me in the least, though, if I find that email in my inbox in the coming days.

(The statement above is NOT an admission of guilt.)

- Quick thoughts on Monday’s Vols/Bruins’ game:  did somebody replace QB Kevin Craft with Peyton Manning in the second half?  How do you go from a guy throwing passes that a Pop Warner QB wouldn’t throw, to gunslinging passes into tight coverage to rally your team back from not one, but TWO second-half deficits?  How does a team lose both its starting QBs in the preseason, and then lose three senior starters during the game, and yet muster enough to hold off a ranked opponent?

And how must Tennessee be feeling, knowing that the game was lost on a missed chip-shot field goal in OT, minutes after their kicker bombed a 47-yard kick to tie the game in regulation?

Unfortunately for Bruins fans, this game did not end without some controversy (what else is new?).  Did Raymond Carter really get in on that 3-yard TD run?  Also, wasn’t the pass to Ryan Moya that set up the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter an illegal forward pass?

Finally, who knew that the Bruins’ defense would be THIS good?  Sure, Tennessee is no USC or Florida, but the Vols’ offense looked really bad for three quarters against the blitzing Bruins’ D.

- I know we’re only talking about a four-game sample size.  I know two of the four games were played against a really young ( = bad) Padres team.  I know we ran into a pair of struggling aces (the D’Backs’ Webb and Haren).

However, do Dodger fans realize that the Boys in Blue are 4-0 since Jeff “Vin Scully talks too much” Kent went on the DL with a knee injury?

(Tangent:  Yes, Kent is an idiot for saying that Vin Scully talks too much, even if he thinks he’s right.  I realize that he might have been saying it in jest, but it still does not make it OK to slander “some guy” [his words, not mine] like Vinny.)

Sports enthusiasts always talk about chemistry and how important chemistry is to a championship.  The Giants won the Super Bowl last year because Tiki Barker and Jeremy Shockey weren’t around to ruin the team chemistry, people might say.

(I’d argue that the Giants’ D-Line mauled Tom Brady and the Pats’ O-Line).

Could it be said that the Dodgers might actually be better without Jeff Kent?  One would think not, seeing how well Kent has played since the Manny deal (despite what Kent might argue).  Secondly, Kent’s replacement—one Blake DeWitt—does not exactly strike fear into opposing pitchers the way Kent would.

I cannot, with a straight face, say that the Dodgers are definitely better without Kent.  However, if the Dodgers should string together a couple more victories—a 3-1 record to finish the homestand is not exactly a stretch!—I might have to entertain the thought.

And what happens when Kent returns?  What if the Dodgers start losing games again with him back?

Whatever happens, this will be a very intriguing rest of the season in the NL Minor League Division, aka the West.

Tags: 3 doors down, amazon.com, banning accounts, consumerist, it's not my time, jeff kent, kevin craft, knee injury, los angeles dodgers, postmark deadline, rebates, sirius, team chemistry, tennessee volunteers, ucla bruins, vin scully by Peter
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My living room thermostat says it’s 86 degrees in here right now.

It’s 12:45AM.

- I swung by CVS for the first time in nearly two weeks, and all I had were ECBs!

(NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!)

The sales this week were pretty crappy, with the exception of some FAECB energy shot-thingy.

(Tangent: Here’s a sampling of some of the crap I’ve purchased at CVS over the last few months, for no other reason than to use/rollover ECBs: flaxseed oil gelcaps, multivitamins, energy shots, bandages, small bottles of pain medication, some immunity booster, loads of TUMS, and even pantiliners!

If a bottle of homeopathic crap ever happens to find its way into my basket, that might be the end of my CVS deal-hunting days…unless the deal is FAECB, and I have a coupon, and the item comes with a money-back guarantee…)

I also picked up some Propel, as well as some “flavored sparkling water.” Quite the disappointing trip, I know, but I had to roll over my ECBs.

- My sister and mom came over today, and we decided to have Korean BBQ for dinner tonight.

Too bad I ruined my appetite with a late lunch of leftover El Pollo Loco chicken, followed by a snack of Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar potato chips.

(Drool…)

Usually, we are able to polish off four helpings of meat:  two servings of jumuluck, and two of bulgogi.  Today?  No thanks to my late lunch/snack, we struggled through two and one, respectively.  Service, though, was actually quite good; waiters came only a few seconds after one of us pushed the call button, and we got our food rather quickly.

Good stuff.

- Labor Day is Shot-Online Double EXP/NG day!

(Guess where I’ll be spending most of my Monday :P)

Shot-Online update:  my character is at level 36, and only yesterday did I find out that one needs a -4 handicap on Gladsheim to even attempt the semi-pro test!  All this time, I thought you only had to sign up for the test and shoot a -4 to become a semi-pro.

As it stands, I can’t shoot better than +1 on Gladsheim, and I scored that only playing nine holes!  Sure, I’ll get a bit of extra power, impact, and skill once I get to level 41, but I’ll also be pushed back to the semi-pro tees!  Furthermore, it took me almost a week just to go from level 35 to 36.  How much longer is it going ot take for me to get to 41?  Double EXP day can’t come soon enough!

- And finally…I have to imagine that the LA Dodger bandwagon is near-empty, after that horrific eight-game losing streak.  Seriously, four to Philly, and then three to FREAKING WASHINGTON, and then a blowout against Arizona???

(Good thing we won today, although it helps when Manny Ramirez is single-handedly carrying the team again.)

What’s incredible about that horrible streak is that, if we somehow beat Arizona tomorrow, we’ll be only 2.5 games behind Arizona!  How laughable is that?  Of course, we face Brandon Webb tomorrow, so a win isn’t terribly likely.

Until next time!

Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks, cvs, double exp day, ecbs, el pollo loco, kettle cooked chips, korean bbq, los angeles dodgers, losing streak, propel, semi-pro, shot-online by Peter
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It’s hot, and it’s the humid hot, not the dry hot!

Help me.

Quick-hitters:

- To fight off the heat, I am enjoying some canned Thai Tea.

At least, the label says it’s Thai Tea.  It sure tastes like anything but Thai Tea!  Blech!

- It was quite a hallmark day in the world of sports today.

We had the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games.

We had the Little League World Series match, won by the team from Hawaii (no, I did not watch it).

We had the Redeem Team winning gold against Spain.  We had the Men’s Indoor Volleyball team win an emotionally-charged final against Brazil.

(Tangent:  You people can pick Michael Phelps as the most memorable aspect of the Olympics.  Go ahead and pick the opening ceremonies.  Usain Bolt was (pardon the pun…sorta) riveting, and I won’t argue if you think he was the most memorable part of the Olympics.

What is my pick for the most memorable part of the Olympics?  It’s gotta be the Men’s Indoor Volleyball gold medal match against Brazil.  Watching coach Hugh McCutcheon break down after the victory was somewhat hard to watch, considering the ups (a gold medal-winning team) and downs (his father-in-law being killed by some coward) he has experienced over the past two weeks.

Jason Lezak’s running down—or should I say swimming?—of Alain Bernard is a distant second on my list.  Without Lezak’s historic heat, Phelps doesn’t come close to eight golds.)

Anyway, today was a pretty sweet day filled with sporting events.  Too bad the last thing I saw last night was the Dodgers’ bullpen choking away yet another victory!

Yeah, I understand that the Dodgers could have provided more than two runs, and yes, the Dodgers’ offense left many opportunies on the table.  However, a team that is built on solid pitching HAS TO hold a lead, even a one-run lead!

That’s now four blown leads that have led to losses in the past couple of weeks!  Grrrr…

- Back on Friday, while at my desk, I glanced over at the clock on the lower right-hand corner of my screen.  Hovering over the clock, I noticed that Friday’s date was August 22.

For some reason, that date stood out in my head.  Was it my Dad’s birthday?  No; that was on the 16th.  Did I have to be somewhere that day?  I didn’t think so.  What the hell was so important about the 22nd?

Eventually, it hit me; I bought something on July 23rd, and knew that the rebate attached to the item had to be postmarked by the 22nd!

Just to make sure, I called the rebate center (it was 4:10pm when I initiated the call).  About ten minutes later, I was thinking to myself, “These guys are going to keep me on hold until 5pm, to screw me over on the rebate!”  Finally, a guy picked up, and I quickly explained my situation.  He put me on hold (*gulp*), and returned a minute later, saying that the last postmark date was, indeed, the 22nd.

I got to the post office at 4:45, fifteen minutes before the last collection.  Whew.

One of these days, I’m gonna miss a postmark date entirely, and not even realize it until a week or so afterwards.

- Either I am in training for a marathon, or I just couldn’t control my eating today.  We stopped by Olive Garden for lunch—soup and salad for $5.99 FTW—and I ate the following:

(Tangent:  Apparently, it was Plaid Shorts day at Olive Garden.  While waiting for a table to free up, I saw no fewer than seven or eight people—only one lady—wearing plaid shorts.)

• 2.5 bowls of soup (two bowls of the Zuppa Toscana, and a half bowl of Minestrone)
• several (four?) breadsticks
• a huge helping of salad
• and peach-raspberry ice tea; I have no idea how many glasses I ultimately had

As if that wasn’t bad enough, for dinner, I had a HUGE bowl of chicken with rice.  The grapes I had right before dinner didn’t help matters at all.

I should go run a half-marathon now.  It’s the only way I’ll ever burn off all those calories.

- Injuries happen in sports, of course.  However, I don’t recall the last time so many big name players have been hurt in the PRESEASON.  Just look at this list:

• The Giants’ Osi Umenyiora will miss the entire season with a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee.
• The Redskins’ Jason Taylor will miss 10-14 days with a knee sprain.
• Shawne Merriman’s season (and possibly career) might be over because of two torn knee ligaments (though who knows if the injuries were sustained and/or aggravated during the preseason?)
• Summarizing the NFL front page on ESPN.com…Carson Palmer has a broken nose, Brian Dawkins strained his ankle, the Cowboys lost LOG Kyle Kosier for a month, and the Raiders lost two members of their offense for the season.
• And finally, we have learned that Brett Favre is dealing with two twisted ankles, both of which occurred from all the about-faces he had done during the offseason.

(OK…I made the last one up.)

The only logical thing to do, it would seem, would be to shorten the off-season.  And why not?  Teams suffer through injuries over sixteen games in seventeen weeks as it is; it’s only logical to assume that an extra four games will cause more injury.  Also, it can be argued that extra preseason games give players who may not make an NFL roster more chances to deliver a harder hit on a star player, in an attempt to make an impression on all 32 NFL teams.

Why not have a four week, three game preseason, with one bye week for teams to have non-contact drills?  Or what about three weeks, followed by a week-long gap before the regular season?  Or how about three preseason games and one full-contact, intra-team scrimmage?  Scrapping the entire preseason would be too extreme, in my opinion.  On the other hand, reducing the preseason by a game or two might spare some players from the injury bug, saving them for the regular season.

Tags: bullpen, closing ceremonies, deadline, hugh mccutcheon, implosion, injuries, los angeles dodgers, men's volleyball, nfl preseason, olive garden, olympic games, postmark, rebate, shortened off-season, thai tea, zuppa toscana by Peter
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Grrr…another three days gone by without blogging?  WTF?

Random thoughts, a mostly-Olympic variety:

- I was watching the US Men’s Beach Volleyball team of Rogers-Dalhausser play the Brazilian team of Marcio-Fabio…

(Tangent:  How I wish I could just go by “Ung” in my life…)

and man, was the crowd super-annoying!!!  I wasn’t sure if I was watching a beach volleyball match, or a soccer match.

I get it that the crowd can be behind a team, and in most cases, I don’t have a problem with that.  However, can the crowd please save the boisterous chants for between points?  Is that too much to ask for?

Shut up…shutup, shutup, shutup…SHUT UP…SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!

- In a move that should surprise nobody, the International Gymnastics Federation has been asked to look into the ages of the girls women making up the Chinese gymnastics team.  Yes, there is no concrete proof to the contrary, and yes, visual proof isn’t going to suffice, so it appears that no penalties will be assessed on the Chinese team.

All that being said…

WHO REALLY BELIEVES THAT THIS GIRL IS SIXTEEN?

- Briefly, my take on the Greg Maddux trade:  sounds like the deal will not involve anyone of substance (Elbert, McDonald, etc.), though it will cost the Dodgers two low-level draft picks.  I love the deal, especially if Penny can’t give us anything for the remainder of the season.  Maddux allows us to keep Park, Kuo, and Jason Johnson in the bullpen, which is very important considering that the Dodgers must watch Clayton Kershaw’s IP count.

(I haven’t even touched on the mentorship Maddux can offer guys like Kershaw and Billingsley.)

I just hope Maddux can give the Dodgers a quality start to start off a brutal road trip (@PHI, @WAS, @ARI).

- My sister and I went to Souplantation tonight, and apparently it was Couples’ Night.  There was the couple in the other line, directly opposite of us, that couldn’t keep their hands off each other.  Then there was this couple:

Female:  This looks good [looking at the posole soup].

Male (in that whiny voice):  Don’t get that.  It’s a heart attack waiting to happen!  It’s not good for you!

F:  OK.  What about the chili?

M:  That’s so unhealthy.

F:  Ok, I’ll just get the chicken noodle soup.

M: How about the clam chowder?

OK…so a chili advertised as low-fat is less healthy than a soup loaded with heavy cream, bacon, and potatoes?

I felt like pouring a ladle full of hot clam chowder down his throat.

(Yes, I have problems.)

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1150, though I’m getting royally shafted on at least $55 in rebates.  More on that next time.

- I’m now about a month or so in to my new addiction (Shot-Online) and here’s what I think I think about this game.

1)  Putting in this game is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE.  I could hit a 20yd putt on Hela in one round, and then five-putt a hole on Sosori.  A good round of putting, and I could probably go -10 on Alfheim.  A bad round, and I could go +5.

(I will neither confirm nor deny that the latter has happened.)

2)  Why didn’t anyone tell me how important it was to keep my Impact attribute at or above my Power attribute?

I’ve since fixed this, and now my Imp = Pwr, and my drives are finally going straight!

(Speaking of straight drives, I just bought a Werdandi driver for my main character from the auction house (more on that later).  +2 to all stats, plus a slower gauge, means I better not hit a drive out of bounds any more!  I just have to get used to the slow gauge, now…)

3) I made mention of this before:

…and about 99% of the players that play Shot-Online are nice guys (this may be completely untrue, but when I think of MMORPGs, I think of ten year olds that must use an obscenity in every sentence spoken, written, or typed).

and now I’m pretty sure that my 99% figure is a low-end estimate.  Left and right, I’m seeing high-level players offer millions of NG (game currency) to beginners, and only now have I been able to help out as well.

It’s pretty cool how grateful some people are, even when given a few thousand NG.  You could imagine how happy I made the one player to who I gave four clubs and some drinks.

4) At certain times of the day, foursome matches are almost impossible to set up!  It seems that, during these times, one of the following happens

• A player joins, waits 1 nanosecond, and then leaves
• Only one player joins one team, while three join the other
• Three people are ready to play, but the fourth (usually the room creator) is nowhere to be found
• The room has a glitch, forcing everybody to leave

5) My main character is now a Level 34 Amateur with a handicap of -6.  My secondary character is a Level 21, but I’ll probably ignore that one for now, as I’m trying to get the former to Semi-Pro status.

And finally (for now)…

6) I think I’m spending almost as much time in the auction house as I am actually playing golf!  Why?  I just can’t resist the temptation of buying a bunch of items at low prices and then flipping them later for anywhere between a decent and a substantial profit!

Case in point:  Zodiac Leo 100s (Pwr +6) generally sell for anywhere from 500,000 to nearly 1,000,000 NG.  In the past few days, I’ve been able to score several Zodiac Leos for less than 600,000, and I’ve been able to flip most of them for a “Buy now” price of 850,000.  After the auction fees, that’s an easy 200,000 NG profit!

Flipping stuff on the auction house reminds me of my Senior year in high school, where I bought and sold tons of trading cards to the tune of a nice little profit.  Ah…memories!

Until next time!

Tags: annoying chant, annoying couples, chad billingsley, Chinese gymnast, clayton kershaw, fabio, greg maddux, los angeles dodgers, marcio, olympics, phil dalhausser, shot-online, souplantation, todd rogers, underage, werdandi driver by Peter
2 Comments »

So I’ve had quite the horrible last few days.  Idiots galore, topped off by McAfee/Parago rejecting a rebate of mine for $65 for a missing UPC (they said I have to mail in the original UPC…too bad I SENT IT WITH THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSION!!!), and now, there’s an eerie light outside of my window.

Relax, UFO folks, it’s not an alien.  It’s just a bunch of cops, flashlights in hand, probably looking for some suspect hiding in our apartment complex.

Wait a sec…

(me hides under my blanket)

- I got an email from Time Warner yesterday, saying that my latest bill was ready.

Oh great, I thought to myself, how much higher is this month’s bill going to be compared to last month’s?

You could imagine the utter shock and surprise when I opened the email, and saw that my bill actually went DOWN.

(You know…the opposite of UP.)

- It’s not official yet, but apparently the Dodgers are nearing a trade for veteran P Greg Maddux.  No details have been released yet, but speculation is that the Padres have not yet decided on what player(s?) to accept in a deal.  It’s pretty clear that the player will not be anyone on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, because of the fact that such a player would have to clear waivers first before he could be included in a deal (and there’s no way that a team like the Rockies wouldn’t claim that player first, effectively killing the deal).

I just hope McCourt…er…Colletti isn’t throwing in a high prospect or two middling prospects just to get the Padres to pay most of Maddux’s remaining salary.

Full thoughts on this deal will come as soon as the details of the trade are released.

- I was watching women’s beach volleyball—May-Treanor + Walsh versus a Brazilian team—earlier today, when the announcer told us a story of something that happened earlier in the day.  Apparently, the Americans were on the best practice court, when the Brazilian team came by and demanded that the Americans leave the court.  The Americans obliged, though no word on whether or not the Americans cursed the Brazilians under their breath.

So how did the Americans respond? 21-12, 21-14, and to quote Brett Myers, “BOOM…outta here!”

(Tangent:  I’ve used that phrase no less than 50,000 times in the past few weeks, and I expect to use it another 500,000 times before the year is over.  Every Dodger HR or pitcher’s strike out, for example, is greeted by one.  Thank you, Jim Rome.)

But seriously, I gotta ask:  why the hell do people insist on slighting the best in their sports?  Exactly what are you going to accomplish from doing so?

(Right, “Alain”?)

You have crybaby Mark Spitz—GREAT article, by the way—Ian Thorpe, and Alain Bernard dropping jabs on Michael Phelps.  You have Rory Sabbatini and Stephen Ames famously ripping Tiger Woods.  I’m certain people have ripped Lance Armstrong (Jan Ullrich?)and Michael Jordan in the past.  And now we have the Brazilian women’s beach volleyball team allegedly disrespecting the Americans?

Let’s call it the Rory Sabbatini Corollary (in honor of Sabbatini, for this reason):

Sabbatini made waves at the Wachovia Championship in May 2007 when, after leading the field by one stroke after day three and then giving up five strokes to Tiger Woods to lose the tournament on Sunday, he proclaimed that Tiger was “more beatable than ever.” Rory went on to lead the field by one after day three at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August 2007, but ended eight strokes behind Tiger Woods.  (source)

and declare that no athlete, bystander, legend, or team shall never again insult, question the ability of, doubt, disrespect, or do otherwise to annoy, tick off, and/or fuel the fire of the best athletes in the event in question.

(Unless, of course, the athlete wants a swift, “BOOM…outta here!” moment.)

Tags: bad week, beach volleyball, bill, boom...outta here, eerie light, greg maddux, kerri walsh, lance armstrong, los angeles dodgers, mcafee, michael jordan, michael phelps, misty may-treanor, parago, rory sabbatini corollary, san diego padres, tiger woods, time warner by Peter
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