Fishing Derby of Aught 10

This year was special because it was the first time that Peach got a trophy. She was kind of upset when Sampson got another trophy and she thought she wasn't going to get one, but when she found out she won she had the biggest smile on her face. Sampson fished with Uncle Bo and got the "Most Fish" trophy while Peach and I pulled in the one for "Smallest Fish". What? She could have won a trophy for anything and it wouldn't of mattered as long as she got one. And she actually did bring it in. Old dad was busy trying to bring the biggest fish, but my line got tangled on a old rope (which I estimate the rope's length at about 30' which would have one for longest catch, you know if there was a category for that) and it ended up costing me about 5 minutes out of our 15. If that wouldn't have happened we might have ended up with the most too. But I'm not greedy, I'm just glad Peach finally got a trophy to put on her wall. Check out how excited my little girl was. Also Nippert (from the famous sheriff election of aught 8 or so) got the win for biggest fish. See he is money at making the big catch, too bad you didn't elect him sheriff so he could be "catching" criminals instead.

Oops what happened to August

Holy cow I forgot to blog in August. . . well "forgot". Sometimes I go through periods where I don't blog for a while, I mean come on how was I going to set the record between blog posts of over 2 years. Well on this "labor" day I've decided to "work" on the old blog and catch some stuff up from over the summer. Wow, I seem to be using the old "quotes" a little bit too much.

Happy 4th Everyone

We had a pretty busy day on the 3rd, and just kind of took it easy around the house on the 4th. My mom did just send me an e-mail though and I thought the image was pretty powerful as it kind of puts into perspective all of the freedoms we do have and the cost with which they have been paid for. 234 years ago some very brave people were willing to give everything they had to start a new nation even if it meant giving their life. Unfortunately that kind of sacrifice is still needed, and still greatly appreciated.

Peach's 2nd Recital

We have a pretty jam packed weekend coming up, with Peach's second recital and the Fishing Derby. This year Peach is in 3 classes, so she will get a little more face time at the recital, unfortunately not until the 3rd and 4th act though. Also me and Sampson get to defend our title of most fish at the fishing derby. Can't Wait...check in for the results.

Oh also we have avoided (well at least through today) any broken apendages that may effect the dance recital. . . .

Baseball Season is Over - Well Rays Pinto Season

Well today the Pinto Rays finished their season a respectable 6-4-1. We started out like gang busters, but dropped 4 of the last 5. It seemed like we were a lot better than some of the teams to start the season, but we just didn't improve as much. Either that or the hot weather got to us. I think we got a little out of sorts when we were off for 10 days and didn't really play. Oh I kept working with Sampson on the weekends and I think he really did do better as the season went on, but some of the situations we ended up in were really difficult to prepare for. Just different scenarios with runners on and where the forces were at, stuff like that. Sampson did have all 3 out unassisted in one game at Bridgeport though. He played 3rd base all season and the other team happened to get runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs and the next 3 people lined the ball right to him and he just grabbed it and stepped on the base. Sometimes he really impresses me with what he does and just surprises me. I'm really proud of the way he played this year, we even had what I would call our first real game of catch in May at Maw's house. Well the season did end on kind of a sour note, with out team getting mercy-ruled by 10 runs in the last 2 games. This last left me Really upset, not because I thought we could come back and win, but in the bottom of the fifth inning after we had gotten on of the kids out at first the first baseman went to through the ball back to the circle and he threw it to the opposing coach. Well "Coach Super Bad Sport" (as he will be referred to for infinity) ducked, wait did you catch that he DUCKED out of the way so that the ball would go out of bounds and they would get another base on the over throw. Well the kid was awarded 3rd base and then scored on the next play which was a fielders choice from the short stop which would have held the runner at second with 2 outs and we would have had a chance to get to the 6th. I just thought it was really poor from a sportsmanship standpoint to do something like that to 7 and 8 year-olds. The bad things is that since it was a continuation of a game we had already started, Sampson didn't even get to bat tonight. So that is all for this season since we won't have enough kids to compete in next weeks playoffs, eh I was ready to be done, just a little disappointed in the way it ended.

My biggest gripe may be the stupid rule about the circle. We never had the circle growing up and in my opinion it is stupid. That blunt enough for you. It teaches terrible fundamentals, in my opinion was the ball is secured in the infield by any of the infielders the base runners can't advance, period. When they get to high school someone isn't going to make the turn to third when the second baseman has the ball, it just teaches horrible base running habits. I don't like it and I think it ought to be changed. That circle is just bad and you don't need the thing, get rid of it.

Ok now for some happy pictures of the season, well after this weekend maybe. Oh did I mention I kept book for the team. It was pretty hectic keeping up with the kids, I only made one mistake all season. And if you believe that . . . Well I will say this the other coaches on the team said that they had no doubt that someone wasn't going to pencil whip us. And they wouldn't have.

Survivor Finale

Just watched the worst suvivor finale ever. I had such high hope and then they were dashed when Sandra the worst player ever won again - by default. Please Survivor no more 3 person finals, just go an extra day or so and go all the way down to two.

Mailing One In

Well time is tight right now around the old Helfen Household.  We got baseball 3 days a week and dance one night.  Soon dance will go to two days a week, so I wanted to practice the old mail in the posts and see what that looked like since I might have to start mailing them in.  

New Fantasy Season

Well we drafted about two weeks ago and the "Ungiggable Frogs" have emerged as the early leaders in the new fantasy season. Well actually I think I'm tied for fourth or so, but we are coming on strong. I ended up drafting 14th, which didn't end up being as bad as I thought it would be. I picked up a SS Troy Tulowitzki and 3B David Wright with my first 2 picks and they are both in the low 200's right now. Wow, way to go guys, what did you do check to see if I drafted you. Anyway I would have taken Reynolds then, but I didn't want to reach to the 15th spot on him, I thought that was too early, we'll see. Anyway I kept with the Frog theme, since it has worked so far, the ungiggable part came from the pass word for the league which was something like "letsgofroggigging". Stevie has gone the revenge route with "Coalminer's Revenge". You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after last year's "Revenge of the Frogs", but unfortunately in fantasy baseball imitation can only get you to second place. My draft started to fall apart in the last 7 picks or so. I ended up with Eric Bedard who won't play until the second half and my back-up second baseman doesn't even start. Oh well, just have to pick some people up and make a go of it. At least I got Kurt Suzuki with my 12th pick, now I don't have to worry about catcher. Sure he isn't great, but catchers are notoriously bad fantasy players and I have found not worth the moves to try and find a diamond in the rough.

Well a new twist this season, I have branched into the 'B' category of fantasy players. I have 3 teams, but I still manage them with an 'A' type personality, checking the waivers, and free agents constantly. I haven't completely annoyed Sophie yet . . .yet. Anyway one of the teams is in a league with Mom. She wanted to play. Well I'm pretty sure she did after the constant badgering that me and Stevie give her. We also got Bo to play, so it should be fun. Probably not too much smack talk in that league, well very little. Ok probably A LOT. Anyway good luck everyone in all leagues, have fun fighting for second.

A New Poem (It's the Bomb, trust me)

Well in honor of Big Chief Red Metal's recent run-in with the law and his penchant for telling stories in the poetic style, I have constructed the following poem. Hopefully it will illustrate the hilarity (oh yes hil-ar-ity) of the whole bomb episode.

The time had come, oh yes it had
For all to leave, times had gotten bad

Well old Chief Red Metal stayed to help
"No problem Dale", he said with a yelp

He'd check the plant day after day
But one item eluded his vision's stray

When Consol had bought the place
Shock and Aw did fill their face

For in the Big Chief's office did they find
One big detail he had left behind

It was not a mess or ISO files on his desk
It was the fake bomb he made for that safety test

His pride and joy it was
But that darn Consol had called the fuzz

They came with lights and the sirens blared
They even shut down Route 2 to show they cared

Consol did not want their new plant blown apart
So they began their search for the owner of that car in the parking lot

All signs pointed back to the Chief
"It's a fake" he said but to no relief

They couldn't figure why he left it out
It's all Dean's fault he began to shout

It must have been that spider bite
That left him not thinking right

But he stayed right there he would not run
"I'll blow this place to kingdom come"

Oh wait, no it really was a fake
Being a prison bride he could not take

He got off for now, the police did not arrest
But I'm sure he'll land on the no-fly list

Ok, well this is just getting to be ridiculously long now, so I'll just revert back to the prose I'm more used to. Anyway I don't think he got arrested, but I suppose he is still at risk, and probably up for the no-fly list and what not. Oh man, I forgot I really wanted to come up with a rhyme for no-fly list . . . Well I changed the last line of the poem to reflect it now, but I'm too lazy to erase what I've already typed. Actually I'm not even sure that arrest and list rhyme, but that's the best I got. Hope you enjoyed it.

New Robin Hood

You'll always be the gladiator to me Russell Crowe, always.

Sampson's New Team

Sampson got on the Rays!!! Once a schedule and stuff comes out I'll be sure to let you know.



Also in honor of the new baseball season a little something to get you in the mood for baseball . . . or not.

It's Peanutbutter Jelly Time !!!! (better late than never)

Ooops, forgot the video. Well here you go.

Let's Go Bobcats!!!!!

Watching the Bobcats play G-Town in the Tourney. Up by 12 at the half, LET'S GO CATS!!!!

Changing Seasons

No not the weather - sports. I haven't been keeping up with the old blog too well lately *cough games*, but Sampson finished basketball at the end of January. He did very well, he even poured in 16 points one game, old dad has the video footage too. Last week we signed up for baseball. It should be pretty exciting this year as they keep scores and outs and what not. I think it is coaches pitch, which is essentially what they did during instructional league so that shouldn't be too bad. I'll have to get him out and work some of the rust off if it would ever not snow or rain. Well hopefully I'll do better keeping track of the new season. Oh also his team was undefeated in basketball, even though they didn't keep score for two full games, but that is mostly do to the fact they were blowing the other team out. I think he really enjoyed it. I can still take him though. At least in his room on the little rim he got for the back of his door at Christmas.

Sampson Trades Rooms for Magic Beans

Well not quite magic beans, but 2 packs of Marvel figures. Of course that is what Sophie thought he traded for, turns out Sampson thought the deal was Super Hero Squad bed sheets, a new paint job in the room AND the two marvel packs. Well that is what he started telling everyone else he traded the room for, so in all likelihood Sophie is going to have to throw in the stuff now too. The sweetheart part of the deal for him though is that he thinks he traded for a bigger room too. Unfortunately buddy you didn't, but after we started moving all of Peach's stuff into Sampson's old room and his stuff into Peach's old room, it did look like Peach's old room was bigger. Well I know for sure that the closet is smaller and that will be big for her later, trust me. Anyway the whole reason that came about is because I broke the piece of crap computer chair that we had in the kitchen. Sophie says I can have a nice big chair fully capable of supporting me if we can move the computer and stuff down stairs, but in order to do that we needed to move the doll house upstairs, which required a larger room for Peach, which means Sampson needed to switch rooms with her, which meant that Sophie needed to bargain with him to do it, which she did for 2 Marvel Packs. And apparently some other stuff, but really he could have asked for the kitchen sink and probably got it. So buddy someday you'll realize you gave up your room to your sister and there it is. Hope it works out, I know it will for me, I'm getting a new chair!!!

USA WINS!!!!

The US Hockey team just beat the Canadian team 5-3, in Canada even. Yeah, take that Canada, now that victory over our women's curling team isn't quite as sweet is it? That was the first time we had beat them since 1960, so you know I have been waiting for this opportunity for a while. Well not really, but it sure was convenient. Anyway Congrats U.S. Team and keep up the good work. I forgot it was on until there was 5 minutes left and the US let the Canadians score with 6 seconds left in a power play late in the third period. Then the goalie Miller saved about 20 shots in 2 minutes and one of the defensemen added an empty netter. Pretty awesome win for the US.

Jimmie "wins" 5th Championship

Well he hasn't yet, but judging by the first real race of the season HESCAR hasn't done anything to slow him down, plus they conveniently bend the rules for him so he can get back out front after late cautions when he is on pit road. Plus HESCAR left all the chase tracks the same, so it is only a matter of time before Jimmie gets number 5. I don't know if I can watch anymore of the season, I'm so disgusted right now.

New Dog

Well Peach is finally going to get herself a new dog. You see she has been begging and begging for a puppy ever since, well I think since she could talk pretty much. And at first we told her we would get one if she potty trained, but then we didn't want to get one when the weather was going to be bad. Then the timing just never really worked out until recently and one of Sophie's Mom's friends had some pups she was giving away. So since the price of free is always in my ballpark and the pup was a beagle mix we decided that we should go ahead and get one. Sophie and Peach went to look at them yesterday and Peach was in love. The only problem was she thought she was going to get to bring it home, but the pup isn't weened yet. Anyway I guess she threw the fit of all fits when she had to leave the puppy, but Sophie got her calmed down a little by promising her a DVD or something. Ghesh, you promise a kid a dog, then you got to bribe 'em on top of that. Can't wait until she is ready for a car or something then maybe we'll have to bribe her with a laptop or jewellery. Anyway here are some picks of our new dog Brownie. Named for the Browns of course. I can't tell who is more excited Sophie or Peach.

Quick Fact

Did you know India consumes about 46% of the total butter produced worldwide? Well that may have been before the USA got Peach, cause that girl likes her butter. Watch out India here we come.

Surviving Sophie

I imagine if our fish had a blog that is what the title of this post would be. Either that or 'The Adventures of Mac and Cheese' cause that is their names. Anyway last night I had just laid down in bed and Sophie started yelling for me to come into Peach's room because she needed help and the light was off in her room. So I came running in there and here Sophie had started to feed the fish and the lid had fallen off into the fish tank along with about half the can of fish food. So she is standing there trying to get the pump unplugged and I just imagine the fish are swimming in there going "Hallelujah". The fish tank was pretty well filled with food at this point and Sophie was in pure panic mode as she hustled the tank down stairs and did the fastest tank cleaning job she had ever done. As she was pulling the fish out of the tank with the little net it was impossible to not get some food in with them, so they were setting in the little temporary bowl with food still floating around. I wish I would have gotten a picture, but given the circumstances that it was already past midnight and Sophie's head was hurting a little it probably wouldn't have been a very good idea. Old Kirk could have ended up "sleeping with the fishes" if you know what I mean. Anyway Sophie cleaned all the rocks and stuff off as best she could and I cleaned the fish food lid off and the filter stone and carried the clean tank back up stairs. It was definitely something unexpected, but hey now it will be a while before the tank needs cleaned again . . . hopefully.

Happy New Year!!!

Well happy new year everyone. Hope 2010 is a great year for you!!!

Invite Friends To Play Cyber Nations

Invite Friends To Play Cyber Nations

if you want to play cyber nations use this linky. It helps me :D.

Bobcats Bowl Game - Live Event Blog

12:20 PM- I'm going to try and do something new and capture an event as it is unfolding. Right now it is about 40 minutes before the Bobcats get ready to take the field for hopefully their first ever Bowl win. I'm going to keep updating as time elapses. Should make for an interesting read, I hope. I see Bill Simmons do it for the Super Bowl one year. Right now Sophie is out picking up the pizza. Little Caesar's of course.

12:37 for the pregame I'm actually watching 'Overboard' with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Funnier movie than I thought it would be.

12:57 - ok, ESPN has just switched coverage over to the game. I'll have try and catch the end of that overboard movie sometime. Still waiting on Sophie and Pizza.

12:58 - Sophie arrives - With Pizza :D

1:01- kick off and we are underway. stumble in the endzone for OU. O-H-I-O gets the ball first, let's go Bobcats

1:03 - Sophie gets the mail, Christmas letter from the Simmons' is in there. Well time to load up on pizza. Little Caesar's no less. Dang 3 and out for the 'Cats. Good punt 50 yarder. Crap I hope the Punter doesn't turn into the MVP for us.

1:06 - 'Cats hold the Herd to 3 and out. At least Brazill is playing this time.

1:10 - first little Caesar's commercial telling me there is going to be a special deal this weekend. Hope we got that. Whooo hoo 'Cats get the first first down of the game. An end around by Brazill.

1:15 - working on my 3rd piece of pizza.

~1:18 - Ohio drive stalled inside Marshall territory. Lot of positive yardage this drive.

1:19 - Ooooo Marshall Penalty. I hope they don't do a bunch of cheap shots like Central Michigan did. Also Sophie says she is full. Pizza very good after 2 full days of ham.

1:21 - Marshall gets a first down. Yuck

*an observation - I don't like the "little Caeser's" logo in the endzone. I mean it is in the middle of the field and all over the promos - we get it. The team names should have been in the endzone. That is all.

1:26 - 'Official' review of Marshall ball carrier. Peach is playing here new DS and screaming 'Fly'. Yeah. Now it is 4th and 1 good review. Apparently there is a female ref. thanks ESPN.

DANG 17 yard run Marshall

1:30 - Marshall scores, thanks to some horrid tackling from OU. Dang it. Sophie says there are just some things women shouldn't do and I have to agree, why would a woman even want to ref a football game. well 7-0 bad guys.

1:37 - crap another 3 and out for the bobcats. And Marshall scores on the punt. Ghesh.

1:39 - Little Caesar's has a coupon for 3.99 pizza for today and tomorrow only. Sophie is a little hot since she paid full price and was wearing her OU stuff.

1:41 - it may be time for another small piece of pizza.

1:44 - mercifully the first quarter is over. Oh crap personal foul penalty against the bobcats. Terrible call, but the Marshall guy seems to be in a lot of pain. Well maybe it wasn't a bad call. Oooo a play update presented by "Flomax", that just doesn't seem right.

1:49 - no it was a terrible call, he came up and tried to run into the offensive player who defended himself. Well let's see if the 'Cats can tackle this time. Another flag. catch interference i bet.

1:51- Yep catch interference. 15 yard penalty for that, seems a little excessive. They should have varying degrees of interference cause that would be a 5 yarder. Sophie is unimpressed with the announcers, one of which is also a woman who stated that the Bobcats haven't scored yet. Really?!? I guess that is why they have 0, who knew.

1:53 - apparently this game is a snooze fest as Sophie's mom managed to take a nap.

1:55 - Crap another penalty. pass interference on a horribly thrown ball. You know if the receiver has the run into the defender that is not the defenders fault. We need a turnover right here.

2:01 - Shoot another TD, from the hated Herd. 21-0.

2:08 - Turn over OU. Hey isn't there a tuck rule in college? If there was that woman ref probably wouldn't know it. Oh complaints of a phantom whistle that stopped OU players. TO Herd, run back . . . TD for the 'Cats . . . flag on the play . . .fingers crossed

2:10 - TOUCH DOWN OU!!!!!! whew we needed that. Holding on the offense penalty declined 21-7. Maybe a little momentum shift. Way to go Ballard.

2:14 - Sophie's mom wakes up to catch replay of Touch down.

2:22 - OU stops Marshall and the 4 on 4th and 1. WHOOO. That was dumb. Chance to get some more points before the half easy kick and they go for it by pitching the ball and Noah Keller comes up to make the stop. Man if OU can take the ball down here and get something before the half that would be a HUGE shift.

-New Allstate commercial with a dummy, funny stuff

2:26 - well Marshall blew the first play up and called a timeout. OU can run the clock out though as Marshall only has one timeout left. Also Sophie's Mom went back to sleep. Marshall shouldn't even call a timeout. How dumb. Just run it Frank and run the clock out or kneel, yep kneel. Duh. Well we'll have to try and mount a come back the second half.

2:29 - time to check on some laundry

2:47 - Well while I have time I check the old fantasy sports over at Yahoo.

2:50 - Here we go time for a come back, Oooo tackle behind the 20 by OU. Good way to start.

Wow Noah Keller had 11 tackles in the first half. Come on guys don't forget this is for the BELL!!!

2:53 - Oh nice tackle there. 3 and out for the Herd. Let's see if we can get one here from Brazill. . . nope, but well start near mid field.

2:54 - Big pass to Price . . . Here we go . . . O-H-I-O.

2:56 - 3rd and 11, Pryce picks it up but comes back doh! 4th and 1 . . . depends on the spot.

Stopped by less than an inch. Dang.

3:04 - Good Defense OU. Got 'em into 3rd and 12 and then got the sack. Then I think there was a crappy punt too. Sweet. 'So you're saying there's a chance'.

3:08 - Yep crappy punt, then a face mask, OU operating inside the Marshall 25. Little Caesar pizza may be catching up to me. Our yelling about a run inside the 10 wakes up Sophie's Mom.

3:10 - a timeout. Dang my stomach is aching. apparently peanut butter cookies are not a good chaser for bread sticks and then throw in some squirt.

3:12- I (Sophie) have to step in to tell you about the OU TOUCHDOWN because hubby is indisposed. Go Bobcats Go!!!

3:19- Oops Marshall was that supposed to be a punt...Go OHIO!!!

3:22 - Ohio FIELD GOAL!!! 21-17 come back Ohio stop Marshall.

3:29- Hubby's back we will see if he is bad luck guy.

3:31- end of the 3rd quarter.

3:33 - (Kirk) I guess the aching could have been from the chocolate orange slices I had too. Sampson had 5 pieces of pizza. Better get ready for your own belly ache son. Hans was supposed to be here too, but so far he is a 'no Show'.

3:35 - 20 yard pick-up on 2 and 25 . . .Nice bobcats nice, way to start the fourth. Oh yes First down.

3:37 - exciting 4 yard loss by the bobcats . . . But a flag on the play 15 yarder on Marshall . . . Another First Down!!!!! Almost a TD. the flanker pass goes incomplete, but Price was wide, wide open. Another timeout Ohio. Boy I hope we don't need those at the end of the game.

3:44 - Oh yes throw that flag lady! Late hit Marshall another pick up on 3rd down.

3:47 - 4th down, field goal try 29 yards . . . no good. Dang.

3:54 - Ohio stops Marshall on 3rd and short. Oh man that Brazill gets a lucky bounce to retain possession. He is exciting every time back there, whether he returns the ball or not, unfortunately. Hans called apparently he got busy and now is not going to make it. 7 minutes left and the Bobcats need a TD to take the lead now as they trail 21-17.

3:59 - Ohio has to punt the ball away and play defense now. Another Turnover would be real nice. Dang another 1st down Marshal.

4:03 - Another Marshall first Down - less than 3 minutes left now.

4:04 - Ohio has to use its last time out. 1:47 left. Only a flicker of hope remains now for the Bobcats. Sophie and her Mom agree that the Bobcats are done, but I'm holding out for history. What better way to win their first bowl then the come all the way back from down 21 to win.

Starting to wish I had watched the end of that 'overboard' movie. Wonder how that ended.

4:08 - 4th down Marshall. On the 21, 1:02 remaining. Good chance the Herd will go for it. Nope field goal . . . Oooooo Miss. Only his second miss all year.

Here we go 'Cats.

57 seconds left

Incomplete - that's ok it was a short pass anyway.

47 seconds - complete to Brazill out of bounds 4 yard gain. Brazill hurt a little

Interception!!! Game Over.

well Dang it. The bobcats come up just a little short on their first ever bowl bid. Man I was so hopeful. Well there is always next year. Hope you like the post anyway.

New Year's Music

In order to help people transition from Christmas to New Year's I've put a little "New Year's" music up. 10 Auld Lang Syne to help ring in '10. Happy New Year.

Eternal Couturiers Men's Page

Eternal Couturiers Men's Page

Check these out from my good buddy Casca. Lots of neat Religious Shirts just in time for the Christmas season.

Peach the Vet

Peach said today that she wanted to be a vet, but that if someone came in with a skunk pet that she would not look at it. Because "skunks could get their stink on you." So in the future if you are thinking about going the the Peach Helfen Home of Healthy Animals with your skunk you might want to rethink that because she isn't going to even check your skunk. Then you'll just have to go somewhere else anyway.

Bobcats Win!!!

Sampson won his first ever organized basketball contest. Yah! Overall the Bobcats played pretty well, you could tell the second year kids from the first year kids though. Our second year guys really carried the load this first game. Sampson did start contributing late in the second half as he scored his first ever basket and then later scored his second ever basket. So good job buddy and I got it all on tape er I made a digital recording of it anyway. See Sophie and the kids let me have my Christmas present a little early so that I could record his game. In HD no less. It is funny watching him play because I go over a lot of stuff with him and we even played at Maw's house yesterday working on rebounding, but when he got in the game and started playing it was like he forgot everything. Oh well, he has a game Thursday hopefully he remembers to REBOUND. We'll work on it. I think his stat line was something like 4 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, maybe a steal or two and at least one turn over. The final score was like 32 to 24 or so. I could check the tape again. I made him watch the game film already. Well I mean I wanted to see it hooked up to the TV anyway so we just went ahead and watched it. Good stuff.

Oh also the OU Bobcats are going for their first ever bowl win on December 26th around Noon Eastern or so against the Marshall Thundering Herd. This is also a rivalry game, so I wonder if they will put the "Bell" up for grabs. I mean the splendor and history of the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl should probably be enough, but I mean why not throw it out there for a little extra. If you happen to be thinking about it on the 26th think some positive thoughts for the old Bobcats. Thanks.

"Bones" Jones - Future LH Champion

I watched Jon "Bones" Jones on the ultimate fighter finale last Saturday and just let me say I think he is very impressive as a fighter. He is in that light-heavy weight division that is severly stacked, and even though he "lost" I honestly think that in the next 4 years he will be the light-heavy weight champion. No pressure kid. But seriously he really handled Matt Hamil and I thought Hamil was pretty decent. He ended up getting DQ because of illegal elbows, but that was after he beat Hamil in the mount for about a minute straight. He is extremely long and throws very high impact unorthodox shots from crazy angles. Right now I don't see a good defensive strategy because he can out reach you and he has the more dangerous wrestling background of Greco-Roman which is tough in MMA because they like the clinch around the waist and most regular wrestlers like to grapple higher or lower. Honestly because of the crazy 84" reach I don't know how you get to this guy, I guess just shoot early and hope for the best cause if the fight stays standing I'll take "Bones" in the first. But I just wanted to call it on the old blog that by the end of 2014 "Bones" will probably be hoisting the belt. I see a good match between maybe him and Cantewell as he is a good up and comer too. Then maybe a Jardine, which would be interesting because of the two unorthodox styles. Next would be Evans or Griffin and then Machida or Rua whoever isn't champ and maybe a few other fights in there for good measure but within the next four years it will be difficult to keep him out of a title shot, just like it was difficult to keep out Machida.

Also during the finale Kimbo Slice finally looked like an MMA fighter. He was down to 112 lbs. which is pretty impressive considering he is all muscle and only weighed about 230 before. He said he wanted to try and fight at 205, which would probably be better for him than fighting heavy weight, but he is definitely improved. I think he could probably beat Seth now straight up, but the top of the 205 lbs. ranks would give him fits. Houston Alexander was a little disappointing, because he's got that knockout power, but I think he over-thought the fight by trying to key on the leg so much. I think he should have keep throwing the kicks, but he kept distance too much. The circling the whole first round was just way too much for me. If anything the first round could have been 9-9 because of the lack of action. But I thought in the end when it came down to a decision that Kimbo should have won because if nothing else he controlled the center of the ring.

If you'd like to meet Mr. Jones here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsy8aT--bGU&feature=related

Browns Really Did Win This Time. . . No Seriously

For the first time in the history of the blog (yes, for real the very first time since before '04) the Browns have beaten the hated Squeelers. Ending the streak of defeats at 12 and hopefully starting their own winning streak. At the heart of the win was Joshua Cribbs (Note to Cleveland: GET THIS GUY A HUGE CONTRACT) who did basically everything, but play defense, and actually the defense itself which played good enough to not need Cribbs. Cribbs kind of reminds me of the "Water Boy" that way like "com'mon guys you gotta help Josh out there. He can't do it all himself. (then the coach turns to Josh) Ok Josh you are going to have to do this all yourself, cause you have absolutely no help out there." Unfortunately we were without two of the bigger name players on the team and bigger players for that matter in Jammal Lewis and Shaun Rodgers. I wish Shaun could have played cause then maybe the defense would have had about 12 sacks. As it were they pretty much raped the squeeler offense (oops, sorry big ben fans) and held them to only 2 field goals. As a side note, it was the coldest game ever played between the two teams so for those people who said the Browns could only win if hell froze over, I guess it finally did on December 10th 2009.

Browns Win, Oh Wait Nevermind

No they didn't win, in fact they actually came up with a new way to lose. They were actually down in the fourth quarter and came back to score a touchdown and get a two point conversion to go up by 6. Then they stopped the Lions with like 3 minutes left, but couldn't run out the clock so they had to punt back to the Lions. I'm not sure how much time was left at that point, but it didn't really matter. You see the Browns allowed the Lions to make it down to the 1 yard line before coming up with a stop as time ran out. Well it seemed like a stop, but apparently it was pass interference. So the Lions get one more untimed down. And they scored a touchdown to tie the game, then got the extra point to win 38-37. You see in the last few years I've gotten accustomed to Romeo ball, where you get really far behind then make a charge at the end, but still come up short. Apparently with Mangini ball you can actually take the lead, but if it looks like you might win - even though you couldn't run out the clock and I guess you thought throwing on 3rd and 5 was smart with a 6 point lead (it isn't you should run the ball, always run the ball, don't get cute) - you just commit penalties to keep giving the other team shots at the endzone so they can win. I didn't think it was possible, but way to disappoint me in a completely new way.

I also heard a story that some people went to a Browns game and the Dad got arrested and a kid got his noise maker taken off of him and broken right in front of his face, because "people aren't allowed to bring anything into the stadium". Now if this is true, this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of, and if it happened to me I would quit rooting for the Browns right then. I mean if it wasn't painfully obvious that you have an organizational problem it should be after something like that. If you are going to put a team out there that is as bad as the Browns are now, you should let people bring in what ever they wanted to make the game more enjoyable. I mean let 'em bring in noise makers, or something that could give you some home field advantage. You need to be extra nice to the fans right now, because let's face it you aren't winning any new fans because of the awesome effort you are putting out there on the field. But you know I don't even blame the players, because the fact is that other than a few really good players here and there - Joe Thomas, Josh Cribbs and Shaun Rodgers - these guys just aren't capable of winning games. Right now Cleveland just has a severe lack of talent and that is the fault of the front office in my opinion and I don't think that Mangini is all he is cracked up to be. I would have rather had Mike Shanahan myself - a proven winner with a good zone blocking scheme that made any running back look good. Just ask the Browns about Reuben Droughns remember him, he rushed for like 1200 yards for the Broncos and the Browns traded their entire defensive line for him and he ended up doing squat for the Browns. I guess he did rush for 1,00 yards . . . once. Ok I'm done I need to think happy thoughts before going to bed.

Basketball '09

This is Sampson's first year of basketball and he is only 7, so I worry about pushing him too hard too fast and sucking the enjoyment out of the game, because right now I think he really likes it. You see, me and him play NBA 2K7, yeah I know it is old, but it serves its purpose, on the PS3 and he really likes that, and when we play outside I think he enjoys that too. Plus, of the sports he has played I think he most looked forward to playing basketball. I signed up to help coach too. What, I should be fine remember it isn't like they are 11 and 12 year-olds, only 1st and 2nd graders so I should be good, right? Well maybe I'll pick up a couple of new ankle braces just to be on the safe side. He had an open gym today, conveniently on Maw's 80th birthday (Happy Birthday Mom), but he did good. He just needs to work on his handle and getting stronger to push the ball up. Unfortunately they will always play on Sunday in this league, so no trips to Mom's on Sunday, but there are only about 4 teams so it shouldn't be too bad. I guess they play 16 minutes halves with continuous clock, on 8 foot rims. Should be good, hopefully he gets on a team were he can contribute. He said he didn't make as many baskets as he would have like too, well keep trying buddy you'll get there.

Parade Odessy '09

Well Peach is old enough to go on the float for the Dance Factory in local parades. Right now she only gets to ride on the trailer and the older girls dance behind. They did really well in the first two parades we went to this year, I mean as well as a four year old can do just kind of sitting there waving and being all cute and all. First we had the St. Clairsville parade on Thursday night and that was her first parade ever, so that was neat. Then on Friday we had the Wheeling parade, "the big time". I guess last year there were like 50,000 people that came out to watch the parade and judging from the traffic I would say it was pretty close to that again. While I was watching the parades, I realized that I'm really not a parade person. Not that they aren't nice, but I just wouldn't go out of my way to watch the old parade if I didn't have a personnel interest in it. I mean if they came up with a virtual parade that I could download or watch on YouTube then I might do that, but someone would probably have to send me a link. Just kidding, I probably wouldn't watch that either. One funny thing from the parades though, other that Moon Dog following Santa at the Wheeling parade which is tradition, was in the middle of the Wheeling parade there was like a color guard with a bag pipe player, and following them was a float for a hospital or something. But in between the two were two people dressed up as super heroes, wait it gets better. One was dressed up as Bat Girl and the other one was Spiderman, but it looked like a chick in the Spiderman outfit, plus one is Marvel and the other is DC comics, so there is like no continuity, but the funniest part was I couldn't figure out which float they went with or if they were just like their own float. I think that would be hilarious if they were just random people that kind of slide in between two floats dressed up as superheros. Kind of like parade crashers, but who is going to pull them out of the parade. I mean wouldn't that be great to kind of just randomly join a parade. That is a new goal of mine, to dress up as a super hero and just get in a parade, but I think I would need someone else to do it with me to kind of add legitimacy. I mean in these type of parades there are always random characters and I bet if someone asked you could just say you were with one of the floats, and if the people behind you asked you would just say you are with the people ahead of you and if the people in front of you asked you would just say you were with the people behind you. Genius.

More from the Barn Painter

Well even though I'm not a huge Buckeye fan (understatement), I found this contribution from the barn painter to be very good and well worth the time to view. So head on over to youtube and check it out. Oh also if you are lucky you will even see a couple of vids of me in my youth. But you might have to look hard. Anyway here you go . . .

Also Go BLUE!!

Just How Good is that Romo?

Did you know that Tony Romo ranks third in all-time passer efficiency rating. ALL-TIME. As Kanye would say "He is the Third best passer of all-time, ALL-TIME". This interesting fact was brought up today at work just to stir the pot a little. Apparently he is behind only Steve Young and Peyton Manning. I said he is also down on the list in a couple of other categories. Like did you know that the current active leader in rapes at the QB position is Ben Roethlisberger. Oh yeah everybody knows that. So I guess Romo is like tied for second in this category since he has none, along with the rest of the active quarterbacks in the league. Just another thing the Squealers are on top of in the NFL.

HESCAR boots Jimmie

In what can only be described as a desperate move by HESCAR to appeal to the old blog and all of the readership, Jimmie was forced out of the race Sunday. Well he was wrecked out on the third lap by a combination of two of my new favorite drivers Sam Hornish Jr. and David Reutimann. I had forgot the race started at 3:30 (dumb time to start a race, but HESCAR will rectify this next season when all the races will start at 1PM / 4PM / or 7PM) so Bo called and told that I needed to watch the race so I could catch Jimmie wrecking. Oh it was nice. I mean I never want to see anyone get hurt, but watching him wreck out brought a tear to my eye . . . tear of JOY. All I can figure is that HESCAR is trying to even out the Chase, so that it will look like Mark Martin has a chance to win before Jimmie pulls off a Miracle in the final race to get his fourth "championship" in a row. Yeah I put "championship" in quotes because had it not been for the chase Johnson would have 0 championships, and likely Tony would be winning his third this year. The two worst things to happen to HESCAR in the last 10 years were Jimmie and chase. Among other bad things was taking a second race off of Darlington for California, and taking Rockingham off the schedule completely in all series. You can't tell me that with the lucrative sponsorship agreements and television deals that actual gate revenue is driving these decisions. It is horrible for the drivers, horrible for the sport, and worst of all horrible for the fans. Hopefully HESCAR can pull their heads out of their exhaust pipes and get back to being a fan friendly sport like NASCAR used to be, instead of some bleed every dime out of every sucker by any means possible because it won't be long before people quit watching all together. Seriously I'm about done. No seriously this time, if Jimmie wins another what is the point. He will just win next year and the year after that too, because the chase is totally catered to him. Also Junior has a chance to win his first race of the year this week at Phoenix, same as he has had every other week this year. This is just a fun fact Sophie and I like to remind ourselves of at the beginning of EACH race. Also Bobby Labonte has a chance to win his first race of the season. Sorry Sophie.

Sampson the Ice-Man

Well Sampson is on such an ice kick right now that maw had to buy a new refrigerator just to keep up with ice production. Actually I think she just got it because her's was getting old but between Sampson and Peach when they go out there I think they eat a tray of ice. Just the ice, not like in a drink or anything just eating ice cubes. Sophie says she used to do that, so I guess they get that from her.

Bones

Sophie says she is sick of all the tension between Bones and Booth. It is driving her nuts!!! Just Hook up already.

Also on CSI she says she is ready to right a strongly worded letter. Not because it was too bloody or gory but because in the opening scene a Nikon camera got thrown. Better watch out CBS, Sophie didn't think too much of that. I told her I'm sure it was a stunt camera though and no high end photographic equipment was hurt during the filming of the episode. You might want to add that disclaimer though.

Tuesday Elections

Tuesday the Republicans won the Governorships of New Jersey and Virginia after taking a butt whooping last year in the general election. One other race of interest was the New York 23rd district for congress (not sure if that makes a lot of sense but essentially it was the 23rd congressional district of New York state). You see what happened was Pres Obama nominated John M. McHugh to the secretary of the Army, which vacated the position needing a special off year election to fill it. Now what seems funny to me is that there was no primary for this office rather the republican leaders of the district nominated Dede Scozzafava. And Dede happens to be a very liberal minded republican for this conservative leaning district. Plus the Democrats got to put their own liberal candidate. So now it was playing out that no matter who won was going to be more left leaning than the person they replaced. Well the conservative part of the republican party didn't want Dede to get elected so they got behind Doug Hoffman who ran as a conservative (in New York you can be a registered Conservative - with Hoffman and Sean Hannity they probably have like over a hundred registered). So within a month of the election a bunch of big name conservatives came out in support of Hoffman, only it was too little too late. You see the damage had already been done, because the republican party ran ads against Hoffman and in the last day of the race Dede dropped out, because I guess she didn't want to split the vote. The vote with her liberal counter part that is, because she ended up ENDORSING THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE. Let that sink in for a moment. The republican party spent over 900 grand trying to get her elected and then when the leaders of the party realize she wasn't what they wanted, she dumps them and goes with the democrat. Say what? That doesn't make any sense to me. I mean if I saw an election was lost and a group had spent a lot of money on me I don't think I would support someone completely out of the party. Unless you know I didn't really belong in that party anyway. So here is my theory - Obama nominates McHugh to the all powerful and coveted position of Secretary of the Army, and then works out a deal with the locals of the district to get someone elected who would be more inclined to vote his agenda forward. Now what the people of the district would have got in return I'm not sure, but I would bet (yes I said bet - you know what that means) that there will be some sweet kick backs coming to that district over the next year. I guess will just wait and see. My favorite quote from the whole deal was from former Gov. Mike Huckabee who said the Democrats didn't win it because they were smart, the Republicans lost the seat because they were stupid. Well Mike stupid yes, but just how sneaky the democrats were remains to be seen.

The 4th Worst Race in HESCAR History

Well this past Sunday's race was one of the worst I have personally witnessed. I would say it is probably fourth behind the New Hampshire restrictor plate race(3rd), the Kansas race of '07 (2nd) and Indy '08 (1st), but I never saw the New Hampshire race thus the "personally witnessed" disclaimer. Anyway I will fill this spot in later, if you get a chance to watch the two wrecks at the end of the race you should watch those as that was the only interesting thing that happened.

Ok it's later, lol. We were at my mom's house and because Talladega is such a boring race (except for the final 10 laps - normally) I decided we could leave with 48 laps left and make it home before the end of the race. My reasoning was because there is usually a couple of yellows from a wreck and sometimes a red flag, and boy was I right. I only made it home to catch the last lap, but still we made it home. This week HESCAR decided it wanted to make Talladega "safer" by putting a bigger restrictor plate in and telling the drivers not to bump each other in the corners like they normally do. Well all that worked for about the first 182 laps of the 188 lap race and then all heck broke loose. First Ryan Newman got flipped end over end, that is right end over end, then he landed upside down in the grass and couldn't get out. Well that was more than enough to draw out the usual red flag. Because there weren't that many laps left it set the race up for a green white checkered. Which normally would be interesting, except the rules that were set up shouldn't provide that kind of finish . . . or could they. Just ask Mark Martin what he thought of the end of the race as he was the second driver to end up spending a little time on his roof Sunday. Here is an idea HESCAR - take the plates off. That will spread the field out a little and the bump drafting won't be an issue. I would think you could make the engines smaller and that might accomplish the same thing, so as to put a cap on the top speed but leave the field separated, because some engines will be better that others. But what I really liked was when Jimmie said 'take a bulldozer to the corners to flatten them, because cars will have to slow down." To which HESCAR basically said that was the dumbest idea out there. ha ha. Nice try Jimmie. Anyway it was a dumb idea to tell the drivers to not do what they normally do anyway, because all it did was push the big wreck to the end of the race rather than somewhere in the middle, poor predictable HESCAR. You could have done that by just racing 50 laps and it still would have been as good of a race, plus I probably could have seen the whole thing at Mom's house. At one point the entire field was just riding single file, putting in laps - boring (unfortunately I couldn't take a nap during this as I was driving, but I bet if you were watching at home it would have put you right to sleep). Hey that gives me an idea, me and HESCAR can team up and make DVD's of the most boring races, this one, New Hampshire - any rain out race this year and sell them as sleep aids. Well be rich! Well I guess HESCAR is already rich, but it would help make me rich!

Ok new paragraph that one was getting a little long. So HESCAR has other problems too. It isn't surprising that Chad, er "Jimmie", is going to win his fourth championship since all the races are basically the same every year. What HESCAR has done is make some of the tracks completely invaluable and a driver can pick to just tank it certain weeks and not really matter. I mean let's face it, if a road course or Bristol or even Pocono were in the Chase instead of Martinsville, Dover and Lowe's that Jimmie wouldn't even finish in the top two. What HESCAR has allowed is that Chad can focus on just the last 10 tracks to build cars specifically for those tracks, and as long as they grab a couple of wins on the way there, no worries about not finishing in the top 12. Then when the final 10 races roll around there is Chad waiting to capitalize on all the suckers that spent time setting up cars for the road courses, pocono, Bristol, Darlington. I mean how awesome would it be to see the final race of the year at different tracks. What about a finale at Daytona a complete circle of a season with a wild card at the end of the year, man that would be awesome. Just move the Indy race to July 4th and problem solved. Or what about Darlington in the chase or Bristol just for a change of pace. I mean as long as the last 10 races stay the same there is a good chance that Jimmie is going to keep winning Championships*. You know that under the old points system Jimmie wouldn't even have one Championship. It is the equivalent to having the Superbowl at the exact same stadium every year, and every playoff game at the same place. Anyway one other thing HESCAR needs to do is change what happens after the first 26 races. They need to seed people based on where they finished the first part of the year. It is fine if they want to give an extra 10 for wins, but who ever is ahead should still get something for doing so well and putting on shows at tracks like Pocono, Bristol, and the road courses because lets face it, if it were up to Jimmie and Chad we wouldn't even watch those races. Well I have definitely cut back my watching this year, and if things don't change I probably really will be done watching because they have made the entire season pointless.

Betting @ Work

I had to teach my old buddy Chuck a little lesson last week at work. You see he though Cincinnati had been beat this year in college football. To which I said no they haven't. Well he was a little stubborn and didn't "believe" me, so I said "How 'bout we bet a piece of pizza on it?" Which he jumped on, because he thought he was right . . . but he wasn't, and I enjoyed a free piece of pizza for lunch. If he would have followed the Kirk Helfen Guide for Betting he wouldn't have been in that situation, see I only bet if I'm going to win. Makes it easier that way.

Back to Evony

Well the gang wanted to hook back up and play a little, so I decided to start playing again. This time though we went to server 91 and I'm now ChuckNoris. And Chuck Norris is pretty tough if you didn't know. Also blogging may take a little bit of a hit in the mean time. sry.

Browns Problems

Well new season, new coach, new GM same stinky browns. I'm not sure exactly what all their problems are, but I'll start a list.
1) You have an organizational problem. Clean up your facilities. The only thing a Browns wide receiver or tight end has caught in the last 3 years is staph infections. Get some bleach or something. You really should have gotten a clue this year when 20% of the team caught the flu so quickly. I mean put up some of those hand sanitizer stations, and maybe offer the players a flu shot. If I owned a team you can bet your rear-end that all of my players are getting a flu shot. And also they will be encouraged to wash their hands frequently.
2) Stop trading people to the Jets. Are we absolutely sure that Mangini isn't still working for the Jets. I mean someone check his bank account to make sure. First we trade our #1 pick away so they can get Mark Sanchez, meanwhile we are stuck with Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn. Yes I'm saying stuck with Brady Quinn although now I would say we need to go back to him. Then with the 19th pick or something we get Massaquoi or whatever or a center or something stupid, while Jeremy Macline is setting there. Dumb. And Braylon Edwards was worth more than Chansi Stuckey and some special teams guy. Ultra dumb. Seriously we are trading away first string guys for 3rd and 4th tier players.
3)Why have you not extended a contract for Josh Cribbs. I haven't heard anything bad off the field with this guy (I mean at least he hasn't gotten into a fight or killed anyone a-la Donte Stallworth), he is consistently a bright spot every week, he runs the Browns wildcat and is efficient (other than that pick) and he is an Ohio guy.

Ok, I'll stop for now but please stop being dumb, and also get some hand sanitizer and bleach.

Down but not Out

Even though Sampson came home sick today, it was still parent/teacher conference day. Sophie went so she could meet the teacher this time. She got Sampson's report card, which was essentially all A's (good job Buddy, just like old Dad. Hey that is how I remember it). So hopefully he will feel better soon and he can try and soak mom and dad for some stuff. Like I said, I am more than happy to pay for A's.

Corrections

Man I make a lot of mistakes. Apparently there are some there/their mistakes and I left the n't off of wasn't a couple of times. I would hope people are paying more attention when they read. . . but then I guess I should pay more attention when I type. Hey don't try to turn this on me. As soon as I can afford a proofreader I'll put one on the job, to make sure all my ideas are transmitted in a friendly easy to read way manner, with correct punctuation. Also I seem to leave prepositions at the end of sentences a lot, but you'll have that. Besides I think I already addressed that.

Illness 2009 edition

Well Sampson is the first one to come down with the Flu or flu-like symptoms. The Swine flu is the really big deal now, and since he got the regular flu vaccine you would be inclined to think that he has the swine flu. The bad news is he was signed up to get a shot like this Saturday or so and now I don't know what he'll do. Hopefully he can handle it, he says he is in pain, in his neck, legs and arms. I hope it isn't the swine flu though, as that is supposed to be pretty nasty. I guess the thing hospitals are doing now is just diagnosing everyone with the swine flu whether it is or not. That way they are at least erring on the side of caution. You wouldn't want to diagnose someone with regular flu that had the swine flu, but so what if you do the opposite. I guess that is okay, but when we are still waiting to see the real spread of this flu I think they would take more precautions. Like actually checking people to make sure they really have it. Anyway, whatever he got we will probably all get, so the good news is I'll get to update the blog a little more. Hopefully no one gets too sick. I hate sick kids. Well you know.

I gave Sampson a bell to ring if he needed anything, so he didn't have to try and yell. If I didn't know better I would say Sophie is not a fan of the old bell.

Sampson Scores his first points

Saturday finished the season for the old M.F.C.Y.F.F.L. (Martins Ferry Civics Youth Flag Football League) and the buckeyes came in 3rd. Sampson got to run the ball for the first time, or maybe the second time this year, but either way it was the first time he scored in flag football. It was so exciting and unexpected even though they were playing 8 on 8 since the other team didn't have all their players. Then he hiked the ball and even played quarterback some. It was really exciting to see him do everything, did I already say exciting? I guess it was just really awesome to see him do stuff for the first time and see him succeed at it. Then he scored again later when he got the ball and it was awesome because he started to the right and he seen a bunch of people there so he cut it back to the left side of the field and it was wide open and he ran it in untouched. Sorry for all the conjunctions there, but it was pretty exciting (man there is that word again) to see him score again. The coach looked over at me at goes "Why didn't you tell me he could do that?" and the truth is I didn't know he could. I mean I would like to think he could do that, but until he did it I didn't really know he was capable of pulling that off. Which is kind of ironic because when I look at him I just see so much potential and I really think that someday he can do whatever he wants, the sky is the limit. But I almost don't want him to depend to much on sports I want him to concentrate more on school, because I know if he works hard at that I can really help him. When it comes to sports I try to help, but I know if he is successful it will have more to do with him then it will with me. Not that that is a bad thing, but old dad wasn't exactly an all-star on the field of play. I mean the only sport I really enjoyed was basketball and it gave me nothing but hardship. I guess he gets his sportiness from his mother, which is cool, because it means he isn't an exact clone of me and all that potential hopefully means he'll end up better off than old dad. Not that dad isn't happy, but there is nothing I want more than for my kids to end up better than me.

Ok that got a little philosophical there but all good stuff. Anyway Sampson's old team ended up winning the championship, but we didn't stick around cause we wanted to go watch Astro Boy. Our chairs ended up sticking around though because Sophie traded our seats for a couple of pictures with her friend Trisha's camera. Sophie didn't bring a camera because it was a little overcasty (oh come on google overcasty is so a word, ah overcast would have worked, but I leave this here to see my thought process, "exciting" stuff huh?) and since we had good seats because we were at the early game it was a fair trade. I might post some pics later once I get some good ones. I got a couple on my phone, but they aren't that great.

Oh two more things. 1) When Sampson was asked where he learned that cut back move he said he got that from dad, because dad taught him to run where the people weren't. I guess dad did help a little there. 2) Shoot what was I going to say here, oh yeah since we were playing in the 3rd and 4th game all the pressure was off so to speak, even though this is still like an instructional league and there really shouldn't be any pressure. And since the pressure was off everybody got a chance to run the ball and hike the ball and sometimes during the regular season it is hard to get everybody the ball. Especially if the game is close or the first year kids don't really understand what they are doing, but it does make for a much more interesting game. Also I think the kids get into it a lot more and since Coach said at the beginning of the season everyone was going to get to run the ball I was glad to see it actually happen. I would have hated for him to promise that and then not been able to deliver because we "had to win at all costs". Anyway I thought it was great and was glad that it happened, even if it meant we played for 3rd, because that way the season ended on a really good note.

Civic league playoffs. . . playoffs, don't talk about playoffs

Well the old flag football season is winding down and what is a kindergarten/1st grade playoff without a little controversy. We lost tonight in the first round thanks to some creative score keeping, but since it just happened I will recount the events as they are fresh in my mind. Also Sampson got two flags tonight and he blocked really well, way to go buddy. Ok so the Broncos started with ball in the first half drove down and scored 0-7. Then we drove down and scored 7-7, it was actually kind of dramatic as the Buckeyes had to convert a fourth down in order to keep the drive alive and a penalty on the conversion gave the Bucks a much needed second shot on the conversion. Then they scored 7-14. Then we scored but missed the conversion 13-14. Then the Broncos scored to make it 13-21 before the half. We got the ball one more time, but ran out of time before the half ended. Little kids flag football plays two 20 minute halves with a continuous clock until the last minute of the half and then apparently the clock stops for everything, so games last like 5 hours. Just kidding it is like an hour, but tonight's game took a little longer.

(Switch to Dramatic Mode)
So the Buckeyes were down at half time, but not dejected. Determination shown through on their little faces as they took the field for the second half and the referee signaled 1st down Buckeyes to start the half. Methodically the Buckeyes marched the ball down the field to score and draw back to within a point, 20-21, of the hated Broncos. Well not hated, but greatly disliked at least tonight. Anyway we let them go back down the field and score and make it an 8 point game at 20-28. On the next possession the Buckeye marched down and scored, but failed on the two point conversion leaving them in a two point hole at 26-28. On the Broncos next play from scrimmage a seldom used 1st-year player was given the ball, I assume he was a first year player because he instinctively ran backwards where he was taken down for a safety, allowing the Buckeyes to draw even at 28-28. I give the Broncos credit for giving the ball to one of the younger guys in that situation as it would turn out to be pivotal, unless they just thought they had the game in the bag then that was silly. After the safety, by rule, the Buckeyes get to go back on the offensive. Now with the game even and new life breathed into the offense again the Bucks went to work dismantling the Bronco D for another score 34-28 Bucks as they took their first lead. But missing on the conversion had left the door open for the Broncos to come down and score and tie the game, before converting and regaining the advantage at 35-34. Undaunted the Buckeyes huddled having less the a minute now to work they had to be quick yet manage the clock. Two running plays and two timeouts moved the bucks near the goal line, but not in. Now in a creative genius mode our coach pulls the boys together and decided to go for the deep ball. I say deep, but really a pass play in flag football is pretty spectacular at any yardage. Our QB drew back passed the ball to a wide open slanting receiver who caught the ball, but stopped short. Desperate the bucks used their last timeout, because let's face it trying to line up a bunch of kids in a timely manner is like herding cats. So effectively if the Bucks failed now it would be game over. Calmly and probably not realizing the enormous weight of the moment the QB settled under center now, quick snapping the ball and running into the end zone for the go ahead score 41-35 Bucks, after the conversion. The crowd was going crazy now, but the Bucks had made one error . . . too much time remained 33 seconds showed...the broncos would need only 22. Two plays and they succeeded in making a touch down and subsequent conversion vaulting them ahead and seemingly leaving the Buckeyes staring at the short end of a 41-42 score. All hope was lost, down 1 point, no timeouts and facing an entire field, but hope was not lost not yet the 5, 6, and 7 year-olds lined up. Knowing no fear they stared down the enemy for one last play. . . Go said the QB and the Bucks where off, but the hand off had been mistaken and the ball dropped to the ground. Game Set Match Broncos. . . but wait. A penalty, off sides Defense. New life had been given to the Bucks and this time fate would be made their b... well fate was dealt a blow as the Bucks answered the bell with now only 4 seconds left. Go they yelled and this time there would be no one catching the speeding back as he zigged and zagged through the Bronco D one last time to cap the scoring and deliver the win to Bucks, 47-42. But wait, controversy had reared its ugly head and the score was in doubt. Down by 2 the Ref Said. WHAT?!!?!? Panic set in on the crowd for the Bucks as they would now have to score a two point conversion just to "tie" the game. Alas the Bucks were stopped short yet again and the Broncos were announced the winners and would move on to the championship game. Disgusted by what I had just seen, and feeling terrible for the boys as they had played hard and deserved to win the hard fought game (legitimately as they had scored more points) I yelled at the ref to voice my concern, but to no avail. I pleaded with the coach who agreed as did several of the by standers, which relieved me because then I knew I wasn't some insane parent just ranting and raving for the sake of being a lunatic. So we confronted the head ref and he kept score on like a sheet of paper with no rhyme or reason. Our coach looked at it, he pleaded one last time and I think he thought he had made his case but the announcement had been made. Now what... the Bucks play for third.

Sophie's Surgery - Done

Sophie got out of her surgery fine. Thanks for the prayers. It took a little over an hour and then she was in recovery for like another hour. By the time she got to her room she was a little groggy and in some pain. So the nurse gave her a couple of shots after they got her status updated in the computer ( and I don't mean her face book status, I had to update that for her). Then I went and picked up the kids, brought them home, got them something to eat and then took them down to the hospital to see her. She should get to come home tomorrow. I'll let everyone know. Now I just have to make it through the night with kids . . .

Sophie's Surgery

Sophie goes for surgery Tuesday. So if you could shoot out a prayer for her that would be great. She is getting her gal bladder taken out. They said it could have been the cause of her back trouble and stuff too, so hopefully after it comes out she will feel a ton better. She is in a lot of pain right now and any time she eats she gets doubled over, but she is very nervous about her surgery. She has to stay in the Hospital over night too, so I get the kids all by myself. Hey shoot me a prayer too. Thanks.

The Bucks

Sampson is playing flag football again this year. He is doing much better his second year and is usually one of the biggest kids on the field. He isn't exactly angry guy though so he gets pushed around a little, I keep waiting for him to just explode though as he can pack some punch for a 7 year old. Today we complete the regular season. So far we lost 1 game to his team from last year. That is the first game he lost and it happened to be the second game of a double header, which was tough on the youngsters. He couldn't get on his old team because Sophie's brother had his little boy and they wanted them to be on the same team. Next year though Sampson moves up and Sophie has already declared that she wants 'her friends' back.

Peach is dancing again too. This year she picked up ballet along with tap and acro. She can touch her head with her feet when she does her seal now too. I think Sophie was a little disappointed that she liked ballet so much, because Sophie hated it when she took it. Peach is definitely her own little person though. This year we will try and keep her away from any injuries so she doesn't have to wear a cast for her recital.

MMO RPG Reviews

I finally finished Evony. Well I quit playing anyway, which should be obvious since I am blogging again. So I finally figured out that the deal with MMORPG's is that there is no way to get out. They just kind of drag on for ever and ever, and you get to a point were you have done everything you wanted to and there just isn't anything else to accomplish. Evony ended up being pretty good one of the best things about it is the alliance chat, i don't like the idea of being attacked when your not online and because people are from different areas it becomes very easy for them to attack you when you are sleeping. Unless you never sleep which didn't seem to be a very good option for me. The other thing I didn't like was the war system itself. Once you get an army to a certain size it becomes unsustainable and the only thing you attack on a regular basis is NPC's. Granted it takes a while to get there, but then you have to keep your army up to defend yourself. Then the bigger alliances just get a bunch of their member to send 100k troops at a time to bring your defenses down. I achieved the highest population in the game for a short period, before I started getting attacked by an old alliance, conveniently while I was off line, but I had already decided to quit by then anyway. Someday I may recap the story of my old buddy Casca Van Furey and how he held the evil VersusB alliance at bay when I was off line, lol.

So after I quit evony I was looking for something that didn't require as much time, that you could play when you wanted to and was failure secure if you were off line. So I started playing Tribal Wars, but it is like a watered down evony, without the alliance chat. I don't really care for it but I log on every once and a while and upgrade stuff. I guess I need to upgrade my army in that game too since I just got attacked.

Next I tried Tagoria, which is just a game where you control one single player. You complete quests and fight other people in order to gain experience and gold. It is all text based too essentially, as it is your stats versus someone else stats. It at least is a fairly quick game, but it gives you something to do on a day to day basis. you can only attack every 10 minutes or so then you just wait so not too bad, but definitely not the most exciting game on the web.

Then I found Dogs of the Seas. This game is fairly unique among the MMO's as you actually take the battles in your own hands. You pilot your own ship, complete missions and look for treasure. You have your own home base that you can build ships in and cannons and when you need supplies you can go out and plunder or fight an NPC. And if you were really skilled you could take down a bigger ship with a smaller one as it is not completely based on text stats. I reminds me of the old pirates game I had for the Tandy 1000SL. Anyway your home base is protected when you are off line (yeah) and you only put at risk the ship you are sailing. You could also join up with an alliance and double team or triple team an enemy. But if you are good I think you could pretty much get out of anything as you could navigate back to your home base or to a protected area. It seems like a pretty decent game at least, probably the best of the ones I have played so far.

Random Stuff

Have you noticed that Tony Stewart is now endorsing Burger King and the Whopper. Hey didn't he endorse Subway last year? Burger King is probably a better fit.

Taylor Swift's video was better than Beyonce's.

This is just funny:

Techno Stuff

If you get a smart phone that isn't an iphone, you can download a browser capable of full web browsing with flash capability (which the iphone doesn't have). The browser is 'Skyfire' and it works well on the LG Incite.

Fantasy Baseball - 2009

Well the old Ninja Frogs were transformed into the 'Revenge of the Frogs', and did exact their revenge on the league this year. After being mired in 3rd or 4th for most of the first half the Frogs kicked it up after the all-star break. The good thing this year was that I had a decent enough team that I didn't have to trade much or hit the free agent wire. Once A-rod came back off the DL my team was pretty well set. Ian Kinsler did go on the DL for 15 days in August, but other than that he was pretty dependable. I didn't mess around with catchers even though Russell Martin severely underperformed he was still solid and not worth tieing up a roster spot with another catcher. I had too many outfielder to start with, but they were all pretty decent and I held on to Corey Hart for as long as I could before I ended up dropping him when A-Rod came off the DL. I think that was how that worked or else Gil Meche went on the DL right about the same time and bought Hart another month. Either way out of Bay, Damon, Eithier, and Fowler I had to get rid of Hart. I didn't want to get rid of Fowler because I thought he would be decent, but he never got enough playing time, oh well. I think I still like the Roto format better as head to head provides for new opportunity every week there are some match-ups that people just flat out tank. The guy I took over for second played a guy he beat 10-0 one week then the last two weeks of the season I played the same guy and he beat me 7-2-1, go figure. Anyway I had a 10 game lead so it didn't matter. Oh and for Stevie, well he limped in at third ha ha. I guess his team name the '3 peters' meant he was going to come in third. Who knew. It definitely wasn't because he 3-peated as league champ. Hey at least you had a good run, but in the last year and a half I have taken over as fantasy champ. If it wouldn't have been for the first half of baseball season last year when I was learning about fantasy sports I could have won that too. Well maybe not, but next year the Frogs will look to "repeat" themselves.

Pres Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Wow

I'm Back.....

Well at least for now. What were you worried? I took off 2 years before, 4 months is nothing.