UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

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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Sorry for not blogging in so long!

Quick-hitters:

- What is it about potato salad that makes it so ridiculously addictive?

(For the record, my potato salad is simple: diced potatoes, sliced olives, chopped hard boiled eggs, finely chopped celery, mayo, vinegar, and pepper to taste.)

If preparing the salad wasn’t such a PITA, I wouldn’t have a problem eating this stuff often.

- Somebody please remind me never again to wait until near the end of the (typical) 30-day postmark deadline to file my rebates!

I was filing four rebates on purchases that, so I thought, were made on 6/11, meaning the claims must be filed by 7/11. Eventually, I realized that 6/11 was the shipping date, not the order date. The actual order date was 6/9!

Whew.

- Speaking of rebates, my current rebate-o-meter reads $1550, and that’s not counting the several orders I made recently.

My toothpaste-o-meter dropped by one, because cousin David was only willing to take one box off of my hands.

- So I missed most of the Nadal v. Federer classic (and I don’t get ESPN Classic, so I couldn’t watch the replay), but if the last few games were any indication of how great the matchup was, I will have to petition NBC to sell the match on iTunes. His streak of five straight Wimbledon titles was gone in a flash, and after dismal showings (dismal by Federer’s standards, that is) in the Aussie and French Opens, Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam titles record of 14 (Federer’s two back) is starting to look somewhat out of reach.

(By the way, I thought it was really compelling to see Federer’s reaction to his loss, when he was interviewed by John McEnroe. His delcaration that the loss “[hurt],” followed by his near breakdown, was almost humanizing, because we’ve never seen Federer in this position: losing a Grand Slam final not on clay.)

More importantly, have we witnessed a changing of the guard? Nadal suddenly has five Grand Slams, and he has proven that he can win on a surface other than clay. Would it be out of the question for him, currently 22, to have ten Grand Slams by 25? Nadal is a ridiculous athlete; did you see how many shots he made that he had no business getting to? There’s no reason why his game can’t translate on to the hard courts? He might be the man to win the season Grand Slam, if anybody.

I can’t wait for the US Open.

- Friday the Fourth was spent at two locales: an annual Fourth of July BBQ (thanks Aaron!), followed by the fireworks show at the Valley Cultural Center in Woodland Hills.

As we headed out to the BBQ, the weather was awful: it was warm and sticky. Fortunately, the sun was shining brightly when we got there, and thank goodness it was a dry heat. It was hot enough, though, for me to go through three sodas, and (by my count) seven bottles of water.

We brought that addictive potato salad, and for lunch, I had a Hebrew National hot dog, a hamburger, half of a giant Hot Link, an Omaha steak hot dog, guac and salsa with tortilla chips, various fruit, and some awesome spinach dip.

Naturally, I regretted eating all that. That didn’t stop me from chasing all that with a hamburger at 2:30, when Aaron fired up the grill a second time.

My sister and I spent most of the day taking up two seats at a table, and people constantly shuffled in and out of the other two seats. Without going in to too much detail about the individuals sitting in other seats, let me just say that older people are awesome to hang around with :P.

We were about to leave at six, when Aaron fired up the grill for a seventh (?) time. I managed to choke down another two burgers, an Omaha Steak hot dog, and about two servings of insanely awesome baked beans.

I had to be carted out of the party.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 3.5 hot dogs/sausages, four hamburgers, five or six sides, three sodas, seven bottles of water, and a stomach ache when all was said and done.

(And if you think what I ate was ridiculous, apparently all I downed was par for the course!)

After food, we swung by the Valley Cultural Center to watch the fireworks show. Barnes Park’s fireworks show, that was not. The fireworks show ran along with music played by the Los Angeles Pierce Symphonic Winds, which was pretty awesome. It would have been cooler if we heard much of the music, though; we were too far back to hear more than the booms from the fireworks.

All in all, a good start to the weekend.

Part 2 next time, and maybe a serious rant on my part.

Tags: barbeque, bbq, deadline, fireworks, Food, fourth of july, grand slam, los angeles pierce symphonic winds, postmark, potato salad, rafael nadal, rebate, roger federer, valley cultural center, wimbledon by Peter
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No quick-hitters tonight; I’ll save them for next time.

- While it was fun to see my three-year-old (not four yet, as I said earlier!) nephew this past weekend, I also got a headache from seeing him.

I constantly had to remind myself that he was a three-year-old.  Whining, crying, bitching…and that was just my reactions to his behavior!

It was good to see the kid again, though, even though he is much too smart for his own good.

(Tangent:  I found out, this weekend, that my laptop’s lid could support the weight of a small child!

How did I find out?  Well, my nephew thought it would be fun to crawl over my laptop—it was laying on the carpet, in front of me.  As soon as I heard the lid buckle, I instinctively shoved the kid off my laptop (I might have shoved him a good three feet; I forget how strong I am at times), fired it up, and was relieved to see it boot up.

Who needs a Panasonic toughbook? :P)

- I can’t believe nobody took my bet regarding the XG/MGE fiasco I’ve been dealing with over the past year:

I’ll lay 2-1 odds to anybody who is willing to bet that I will, within the next four weeks, receive the second rebate check.

Anyone who would have taken the bet would be counting his/her money right about now.  On Thursday, I got the second XG/MGE Company check for $19 that was owed to me!

Finally, I can close this dark chapter of my life :P.

- Time Warner keeps advertising on my television that they do not nickel-and-dime like the phone companies do.  I can attest to that!  I don’t think Time Warner has ever nickel-and-dimed me.

Case in point:  my Time Warner bill has gone up from $61, to $65, to $72, in a span of three months!  That’s no nickel-and-diming; that’s a pretty significant rate hike, no?

Kudos, Time Warner, for keeping your word and not nickel-and-diming customers.

By the way, on my most recent bill, there was this gem:

“This statement reflects your new 2008 pricing as previously communicated.  Please see the next page for the new pricing.”

Either Time Warner “communicated” this new pricing scheme via telepathy, or they issued a statement regarding these price increases via television…during the latter part of last week, when my TV signal and internet connection were flaky as hell.  By “flaky,” of course, I mean “works for ten minutes, and then goes out for two hours.”  Of course, there’s also the possibility that Time Warner NEVER SENT ME ANYTHING REGARDING THESE PRICE INCREASES.

All I know for sure is that Road Runner (Time Warner’s HSI) used to cost me $34.99 a month, then it went up to $39.99 a month last month, and now it’s costing me $44.99 a month.  Remember, though:  Time Warner doesn’t nickel-and-dime, and they certainly didn’t do so here!

I’ll update my List soon.

- Finally, I’ve been hearing all NBA season that this year’s playoffs were going to be the most competitive playoffs of all time.  The Eastern Conference first-round didn’t look compelling, save the Washington-Cleveland series, but wasn’t the Western Conference first-round supposed to be all potential seven-game series?  Weren’t we supposed to see at least one “upset” in the making?  Wasn’t Denver’s 1-2 scoring duo of Melo and AI supposed to push the Lakers?  Weren’t the Hornets supposed to be too young to contend against the Mavs?  Weren’t the new-look Suns supposed to push around the suddenly-aging Spurs (save for tonight)?

I see three 3-1 series leads for the favorites, and a series heading for a four game sweep.  Yes, I’m burying the Nuggets right now.  What a horrible performance by the Nuggets’ stars on Saturday!

BTW, Melo, “we” didn’t quit…at least, not all at the same time.  It sure looked like YOU quit first, and then your team followed suit.  I guess coach George Karl better start updating his resume, and either AI or Melo better start packing their bags.  Clearly the Melo/AI experiment is NOT working.

Other random NBA playoff thoughts:

1) What took so long for the Suns to show something against the Spurs?  Could they be working a miracle comeback?

(Nah.)

2) T-Mac, enjoy your vacation.  Maybe you and Gilbert Arenas could go fishing together or something.  They could take coaches Karl, D’Antoni, and Avery Johnson with them!

(Tangent:  Is D’Antoni really on the chopping block if the Suns get eliminated?  Last I checked, he wasn’t the one that traded for Shaq!)

3) Anyone see Al Horford smack-talking the Celtics after Atlanta’s Game 3 victory?  I thought Joakim Noah was the “vocal” one of Florida’s two championship teams of not so long ago.

4) Raise your hand if you didn’t know that Toronto and Orlando were facing each other.

The NHL playoffs couldn’t find the Tor-Orl series on TV.

I’m tired, so that’s all I’ve got for tonight.  No NFL Draft thoughts, by the way, for no reason in particular.

Tags: AI, melo, mge company, nba, nephew, nuggets, playoffs, rate increase, rebate, time warner, western conference, xgbox by Peter
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I’ve got so much to blog about, but every day, other material comes to me (take, for example, The Office returning tonight!)

Oh well…on with it!

Quick-hitters:

- Seriously, Brett Favre, please go away. You might consider coming back if the Packers need you? You just got the entire town of Green Bay, WI, praying for a serious injury to Aaron Rodgers.

What did Rodgers ever do to you, by the way? You’ve hated this guy since day one, it appeared (anyone remember when Favre said something to the effect of “I’m not here to groom a new QB?”).

Go away. Seriously.

- Taxes are due in five days, and yours truly still has not filed them yet. Geez…what is so difficult about clicking the “submit” button?

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1800, and that’s after receiving $80 worth of rebates.

I’ve got about another $300 coming soon, though.

- One bit of television talk before I get to my Office review…

(For the record, I will neither confirm nor deny that I watch American Idol.)

but did Michael Johns really get eliminated this week? And WTF was with Ryan Seacrest reminding the viewers that, at this time last year, nobody was eliminated…but that wasn’t going to be happening this year? That was seriously messed up.

Did I just rant about reality television? Let’s just pretend that that never happened…

- So I’ve got one thing to say about tonight’s episode of The Office:

L O [expletive!] L.

Tonight’s episode was just like another season premiere, and boy, was it worth the wait! Michael had three vasectomies? Just the thought of that hurt me down there.

(Totally OT, but I live just a few blocks south of that hot dog stand that Jim and Pam were at, at the end of the episode. I’ve lived near it for almost three years now, and I have never eaten there!)

Watching the Michael-Jan relationship slowly obliterate around the rest of the party was incredible. I kinda expected something bad to happen between them, especially after how nauseating they were at the beginning of the episode. WTF happened to Michael’s condo? Jan has an office AND a candle-making room? And WTF was with that painting??? Was it just me, or were those images of Jan? Well, at least Michael has a little (literally!) area to sleep in. He might as well sleep on the couch every night. Oh yeah, and don’t forget his awesome TV! Seeing that thing made me spit water all over my TV, which, I should point out, is slightly larger than Michael’s.

Speaking of the party…who didn’t figure out immediately that Michael intentionally kept the staff at the office for some reason?

When Michael had Jim and Andy in the garage, and he started with the line, “Did you know that candles are the #1 fastest-growing product…,” I was immediately thinking “Oh no…Jan’s candle business is an MLM??? LOL!!!” The writers should have gone with that…not that Michael’s straight-up asking for $10,000 investments wasn’t hilarious enough. And did it surprise anybody to find out that Jan put Michael up to asking for investors? All I know is, I’d like to know what a bonfire-scented candle smells like :P.

Also, was there anything more priceless than the look on Pam’s face when it was brought to her attention that she had a relationship with Michael? And I loved how Angela chimed in with the “I’ve noticed how you look at him” remark. The tension between Jan and Pam—I forget the details, but there was an earlier episode where Jan reminded Pam that Michael was hers, or something like that—were evident, starting with the embrace between Michael and Pam, and I loved Pam’s facial expressions each time Jan threw a jab at her.

I also loved what Jim was willing to go through to get out of the party, even if it meant abandoning Pam. My sister wasn’t happy with what he did, but I thought it was hilarious. She loved how Pam got Jim back, though, by pointing out that Jim could not “buy a new party.”

(Tangent: John Krasinski, I found out earlier today, was interviewed on the Jim Rome Show last Thursday. That was a damn funny interview.

At the end of the episode—when the cops were called over—I was expecting Jan to run out crying, pleading with Michael not to leave, and I figured the episode would end with Jan and Michael embracing, thus immediately smoothing things over between the two of them. Once Michael insisted that there was nothing wrong, I was certain that the writers were going down this route. You could imagine my surprise when I found out that this was not the case; we were left with Jan literally picking up the pieces (of a Dundee), while Michael morphed back into the laugh-at-him idiot that we know and love. Could Michael finally be coming to his senses?

(Nah.)

Favorite moments:

• It wasn’t funny at all, but who wasn’t happy to see the opening scene with most of the cast there?
• Dwight: “Does it bother me that I wasn’t invited to Michael’s dinner party?” followed by his running off-camera. Poor Dwight.
• Jan (referring to the bottle of wine Pam gave them): “…this will be great to cook with!” (At this point, I knew that the party was going to be a disaster, with Michael and Jan right in the middle of it all.)
• Pam: “What a cute bench.” Michael: “Thanks. That’s my bed. Jan has, uh, some space issues, so I curl up on that puppy.” (Great choice of words, BTW.”
• Michael (after Pam announced that Jim couldn’t set up her TiVo): If you ever need any help, I’m just a phone call away.” Did you see the look on Jan’s face???
• Andy (to Pam): “I bet you’re sick of tuna, right? You probably have tuna every night.”
• Pam: “I just want to eat…which I realize is a lot to ask for…at a dinner party.”
• Jan’s stare of death at Pam after Michael gave Pam his jacket. Now THAT was priceless. The back and forth banter between Michael and Jan afterwards was great, especially Michael remarking that Jan loves to sue! Something tells me that Jan hasn’t forgotten that Michael cost her…er…them a great deal of money!
• Angela remarking that Jan and Michael shouldn’t joke about the devil.
• Michael: “Snip, snap, snip, snap, snip, snap…you have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person.

(I just keeled over again for a minute.)

• Pam: “And now you guys are dating?” Dwight: “Purely carnal. That’s all you need to know.”
• Michael: “That was a $200 plasma screen TV you just killed! Good luck paying me back on your zero dollars a year salary + benefits!”
• Cop: “Not now, Dwight.” A nice way to remind us that Dwight was once (still is?) a volunteer cop.
• Jim: “My apartment’s on fire” which was immediately followed by Pam saying “Flooded.”

And for my sister’s one un-favorite moment:

• Angela slamming the Cold Stone ice cream cone on Andy’s car door. What a waste of ice cream!

It’s good to have The Office back.

Tags: favre, office, rebate by Peter
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