Saturday, September 18, 2004

"The Big 400 Movie Game!"

According to the masterlist for my blog, it say this is my 400th blog! Of course some had to be reprinted all at once after the first TUCKER's WORLD died. So, its actually more then that.

Okay, in honor of the big 400, I am going to get a movie game started for the comments section. The rules are simple. I give clues for an actor...if people don't know just post no clue. If you have a guess post on there and I will say if you are right or wrong.

The first person that gets it right gets to write clues of their own and we all try and guess. The game ends when we generally all lose interest which with my blog should be in less then 24 hours.


OKay here we go:


I have worked with Oliver Stone 3 times

I have shared scenes with both Kevin Spacy, Marlon Brando and John Candy

Despite most people not knowing my name, I have been in big '90s films such as
Pulp Ficition, Field of Dreams and JFK.


Who am I ?

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

"NHLPA Blindness Leads to Lockout; & I Want Bob Goodenow to Burn in Hell"

note: the title came to mind after I wrote the article. I tried to be fair I really did. I wanted to keep this from being a curse fest and now I am going to go hit stuff after repressing my anger while writing this and keeping it suitable for children. The anger is starting ooze out and maybe I should have titled it before the oozing started...enjoy...and comment...

I was going to try to break down on here why the NHL is not going to have a season or least a complete season. However, I am filled with so much utter rage that I can’t even reasonably do this. Now lets get this straight the owners are no angels in this mess, but it’s mainly out of their hands now. Some of the bigger market teams got into an arms race in the NHL to stockpile their teams with talent in order to get the cup, so they figure since they have the money the best way to insure the player will join their team is to pay them insanely high wages so that the majority of the league like Buffalo, Calgary’s, and Ottawa’s of the world will be out of contention.

What this did was allow player’s agents to have more leverage and compare their clients performance to others who are earning more in order to figure out how much they are worth. It trickled down so much that the average players or players that don’t even necessarily draw fans and revenue the way Patrick Roy would. For example, Martin Lapointe’s agent can say he look Micheal Peca got 4.5 million last season when he signed, and Lapointe had 20 goals last year too. So, since this other owner is paying him that, Lapointe should be paid that. They only problem is they are guaranteed contracts unlike some sports, meaning John Leclair can do figure 8’s at center ice and still get paid his 9 million (for the record the other two players salaries were guessed by me, that is actually what John earns). Some players have incentives in their contracts if their static’s hit certain amounts, but should they have to give back some of their money if they suck really bad?

Okay, so the owners help make this mess, but at this point its only the players that can fix it. The NHL has been losing it’s fan base with the game becoming duller and duller each passing year. Fans aren’t supporting the teams as much. Hell the Ottawa Senators simply couldn’t pay their players a few years back. Buffalo was bought out by a bored billionaire, and Ottawa was taken over by the NHL for a time. Almost a dozen NHL teams are close to filling bankruptcy including the Pittsburgh Penguins which oddly enough has their owner also a player. The NHL just narrowly avoided having a team fold in the middle of a season quite a few times, and it’s unlikely they could have made it much longer without having a bored billionaire save the day. They basically used up all of their nine lives, and NHL could only bail out so many teams and it could have happened mid-season which would be a disaster and an embarrassment.

The media cover of the sport has been shrinking in the past few years. In fact the lockout itself has gotten and likely after a few days of it being actual news will disappear to page 7 of the sports papers. It’s a shame that the mainstream media doesn’t follow it like the NHL, because at least they could put some pressure on the two sides.

The most powerful player in this mix is the president of the NHL PA Bob Goodenow might think he knows what is best for his players, but has arrogantly underestimated the backlash of the fans. Forgive me for not being fair and balanced, but if this stupid prick actually believes that fans would return enough to pay the salaries of his precious union members as far down the road as 1.5 years he ought to be tested for drugs. If I were in the position and power of a media hockey guy, I would use Goodenow as face of the death of hockey, and do everything I possibly could to make his life a living hell. I wish nothing but ill-will to him his family and everyone he holds dear to his heart. If I saw him I would certainly pull his shirt over his head and start throwing punches.

I imagine from reading the quotes that some players clearly including Keith Primeau in the Daily News that said that it would hurt hockey. Well, gee doesn’t sound like you agree with what your union leader is doing if you think it’s going to bad, right? Okay, technically the owners LOCKED out the players, but independent studies have shown the financially the league can live the way it is, or even with the proposal that the players union drew up. In fact they barely made any changes in the one they presented last week in the one they did 15 months ago.

It’s unbelievable after seeing the damage a strike did to baseball a much stronger financially stable sport. I can’t imagine that even if the season starts in January that all will be forgiven at the drop of the puck. In the post 9/11 world the tolerance of such BS is drastically lower. It’s ironic that as Hurricane Ivan is about to hit the land on the US, and destroy people’s homes and take lives that this arrogant players can actually think that a salary cap which would simply lower their earning potential (a few million as opposed to mega millions) is an actual “PROBLEM”.
I can’t imagine how anyone can side with the players, if the want to blame the owners more for this mess then that’s your opinion which I clearly disagree with. However, I don’t know how anyone can actually SIDE with the players or sympathize for them. Try to use any example you want, but it comes down to the players want the chance to earn ludicrous money. Just one thing greed. The league minimum (600,000k I am fairly sure) is certainly enough for anyone to live on. The union might think they are trying to do them a favor to keep them forever in this utopia of inflated salaries, but the truth is the money going can’t and won’t support it. Like all industries the bubble has burst, just ask all the people who went into debt after the airlines industry took a nose dive. If they want to act like big business bad-asses the greedy dickweeds, need to accept the good with the bad. In this case the bad is still having everyone making more than more American do that work all year round. No one is losing their house, or being exploited here. Unions back in the day helped factory workers who could barely afford to not starve to death fight back. When children were factory workers were 12 or younger. When things were certainly messed up back then and America is a better place for those unions. There are no heros here, a lock out doesn’t help the sport, it doesn’t help Goodenow or his union members, unless he wants to be named Time Magazine’s Asshole of the year.

Sorry for the length of the article, but I am sure you knew this was coming. I think I have exercised pretty good restraint from turning it into a cursing tirade. One more think, earlier tonight John Lecalir said is doesn’t really matter all that much till January since most people are going to be talking about the Eagles anyway. True the Eagles over shadow the other teams in this area, but the hard core fans like myself can’t wait for this time of year just ask all the people who sit in the frozen Skatezone just to watch the team skate. How, utterly a dumb thing for John to say, and not to mention insulting to his fans. Does he really think they can go that long and not feel the affects? Last I checked the Flyers were begging for people to come to their games all year round. What a smug cocksucker he is, I guess it doesn’t really matter to that prick that God gave him the talent to play the game. I guess it doesn’t matter the beautiful game of hockey that brings so much happiness to hard working people as the highlight of the work week is going to be ruined. People who like to sit down and watch the game and forget about their REAL problems for a few hours are being screwed. I can only hope that with his new found down time he pulls a Pelle , but if he wants us to give a crap he better do it after the Eagles get eliminated.

Oh… here is a test to see what an impact this lockout will have. Look at the headline of all 3 papers tomorrow I bet its on the front of one at best. Maybe a side story on some, but likely not even a mention on some. I am always setting a date for January 15th, 2005 as my deadline. If the NHL does not return by then, I will lock out the entire league (maybe not the sport I might still watch the AHL, and will give the WHA a shot) for the rest of my life. That’s right I will quit the NHL cold turkey and never watch another game. January 15th , 2005 or I will lock them out of my life forever.


Bob Goodenow can kiss my ass. You may have just signed the NHL's death warrent. No one wins with a lockout.

"Frankenfish Comes to South Jersey!"

The Big Timber Creek in South Jersey might be home to the dreaded FRANKENFISH, or Northern Snakehead for your bookish type. A couple who lives in Glendora that have a house on the creek claimed to have seen the creepy fish like mutant running around.

For those of you who never heard of this creek should know it is the one that branches out near the Deptford Mall. The river basically feeds from the Delaware River roughly 5 miles away.

The Frankenfish should be killed on the spot if you find it. The fish can get out of the water and walk on land where it can live for a few days. They can grow up to 3 feet and threaten various different types of fish. They obviously aren't supposed to be in this area, but they have been showing up in the Delaware River, and if this sighting is true it means they are moving into South Jersey waters!

Supposedly the fish comes from Asia, where they consider it good luck to throw one into the water after the eat one. Apparently, in Asia good luck means throwing really creepy fish into waters with no regard and watch it as it comically walks on land killing and eating everything in sight.

So, put him on the check list for the things to fear in South Jersey.

With the Garden State Parkway Trolls.

THe Jersey Devil.

and ... Pennsylvania drivers