"You Didn't Get the Memo?"
So long time Flyer d-man Chris Therein has been in Philly longer than any other current athelete. Think that would mean something right? Apperently not. Poor Chris was put on waivers this past Friday which means any team in the NHL can just call up the Flyers and claim him for nothing. Okay its cool they put him on waviers to make room for younger players, but they didn't bother calling him to tell him he was unprotected. He found out from the media.
Poor guy. He wasn't picked up by anyone which sucks, because now he is on a team that wants to use him as 7th D-man. I honestly would like to see him go the last few seasons have been pretty much a waste keeping him around. However wouldn't it be the right thing to do for Clarkie to call up Chris and inform him he might be moving to another city soon, instead of him hearing about it on 6 10 WIP? No class on the Flyers part. Guess Clarkie was either to busy throwing dars at a picture of 88, or kissing Ed Snider's ass.
I wish someone would have claimed him, and made a roster spot free. I guess he will have wear out his welcome with John Leclair.
Too make matters worse the Flyers just got their butts handed to them by their farm team the Phantoms. It is going to be a long season.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Oh I am sure your sick of it, but read my dear readers I have a different take on the whole thing, and have a good twist at the end of this one. Again before you read this I don't agree with what he said.
“Rush to Judgment”
Well Rush Limbaugh left ESPN and that is not a surprise since the story mushroomed to an enormous story line. All talk radio, newspapers, and news cable outlets have been going wall to wall with this story. If you were under a rock recently you might not have heard that Limbaugh made a comment on ESPN before the NFL Pregame show. Here is the quote about our own Donovan McNabb that finished Limbaugh’s career in sports where he got his start.
“The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”
When he said that I think every white person in the country looked at each other and said, “Is he allowed to say that?”. I stand by my earlier claim that ESPN was the wrong place to bring up this point. Especially since he has his own talk show syndicated in almost every market. With in 24 hours many sports writers ripped Rush on this “racially sensitive comment” and liberal bloogers have had seemingly 24 hour erections.
Well the coaches’ part might have some merit. Within the last few years lawyers have gone after the NFL because they don’t think that there are enough black coaches in the NFL. Does that mean the NFL coaches are being overrated? (Hmm). Lawyers using statistics from the past 15 years, the report said black coaches had been more successful than their white counterparts, but that they weren't hired commensurate with that success. So basically owners should feel obligated to check the NFL’s coaching list before hiring to make sure a good amount is on the payroll? This story was national news for months, but now seems to have been forgotten. Was it a stretch to say maybe the NFL is doing a PR type tactic to make average Joe see black man play good football. Average Joe thinks NFL Blackman good he plays football. No problem with lack of coaches.
So do I buy that in an underground headquarters of the NFL they plucked Philly’s quarter back to be an unwilling pawn in some sort of effort to persuade the general public that the NFL doesn’t give African-Americans a raw deal? NO! I honesty don’t buy that owners with huge amounts of money on the line don’t hire better coaches. Besides I don’t think he meant he didn’t earn his spot on the team, its just that he isn’t a big threat as people would have you think, and is very beatable.
Now I honestly think the comment blown out of proportion local newscasters started claiming that Rush personally attacked the Eagles Quarterback which was untrue. He attacked the NFL and media. Not him. I thought to myself one day a comment will be made that will be equal or worse by African American about “The White Man”. Well that day actually passed by over 15 years go.
Okay I promised I would take a different angle and make a point at the start of this article. Okay with all the out cry is pretty obvious that the general American public thinks that race relations shouldn’t be talked about with sports. Most people think Rush had very little evidence to back his claim. Just vaguely blaming the media wasn’t enough right without any evidence. I mean heck he was pro-bowler. What if I told you before the internet and blogging that a similar comment had been made in a different sport, but it was black person making a comment about a white person? Well here is an article cut and pasted.
“In 1987, after the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons in the 7-game East finals due to Larry Bird’s fantastic performance, Isiah Thomas remarked that, sure, Bird was good, but, “If Bird was Black, he’d be just another good guy.” He said this to confirm his then-teammate Dennis Rodman’s racist comments. Never one to miss out on media publicity, Rodman whined that Bird was “overrated” and received media praise and attention only “because he is white.” (Not apparently because Bird—with several MVP seasons and the first NBA player to shoot better than 50 percent from the field and 90 percent from the foul line for consecutive seasons--had just spanked Thomas and Rodman on the court.)".
Well back than I guess you could get away with comments like that in sports since neither player was fined or suspended. As long as you don’t call anyone a Monkey (like hockey player Chris Simon did and got suspended for) than you are okay. Do you think anyone’s feelings were hurt by that? What about all those white boys who go down to the courts every morning and dreamed of making the NBA? Do you think in the late 80s they all threw their basketballs in the trashcans and went and shoot up heroine insead of free throws.
“My dream was ruined, some guy said that white players can’t become stars on merit alone!”
Funny when you think of 1980-90s basketball Bird is the only icon player that is white. Michael Jorden, Dr. J, and Magic Johnson come to mind. Do you really think they weren’t marketed at all? Bird certainly had the track record to be hyped up that much. So you could argue that his statement had equal factual support that Rush’s did. But that’s not racism right? Do you know what if figured happened instead of a media blitz after that? A bunch of white people looked at the floor.
If that’s not bad enough there is the infamous incident when Charles Barkley snapped at a room of mostly white reporters who were questioning him. (gasp). “That’s what I hate about White People…” Oh really? All White reporters are like that? What a blanket statement there Sir Charles. You would think that someone who had a least one element of hatred towards a particular race could have other bits of racism in them, right? Well you would imagine that if a white person said that’s what the hate about black people in any capacity their ass would have been fined, canned or they would be ripped apart by the dare I say it media. Last I heard he was thinking about running for office.
So if you think about it this whole “topic” isn’t shockingly brand new. It just gets swept under the rug every few years and comes with a pretty clean looking double standard.
“Rush to Judgment”
Well Rush Limbaugh left ESPN and that is not a surprise since the story mushroomed to an enormous story line. All talk radio, newspapers, and news cable outlets have been going wall to wall with this story. If you were under a rock recently you might not have heard that Limbaugh made a comment on ESPN before the NFL Pregame show. Here is the quote about our own Donovan McNabb that finished Limbaugh’s career in sports where he got his start.
“The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”
When he said that I think every white person in the country looked at each other and said, “Is he allowed to say that?”. I stand by my earlier claim that ESPN was the wrong place to bring up this point. Especially since he has his own talk show syndicated in almost every market. With in 24 hours many sports writers ripped Rush on this “racially sensitive comment” and liberal bloogers have had seemingly 24 hour erections.
Well the coaches’ part might have some merit. Within the last few years lawyers have gone after the NFL because they don’t think that there are enough black coaches in the NFL. Does that mean the NFL coaches are being overrated? (Hmm). Lawyers using statistics from the past 15 years, the report said black coaches had been more successful than their white counterparts, but that they weren't hired commensurate with that success. So basically owners should feel obligated to check the NFL’s coaching list before hiring to make sure a good amount is on the payroll? This story was national news for months, but now seems to have been forgotten. Was it a stretch to say maybe the NFL is doing a PR type tactic to make average Joe see black man play good football. Average Joe thinks NFL Blackman good he plays football. No problem with lack of coaches.
So do I buy that in an underground headquarters of the NFL they plucked Philly’s quarter back to be an unwilling pawn in some sort of effort to persuade the general public that the NFL doesn’t give African-Americans a raw deal? NO! I honesty don’t buy that owners with huge amounts of money on the line don’t hire better coaches. Besides I don’t think he meant he didn’t earn his spot on the team, its just that he isn’t a big threat as people would have you think, and is very beatable.
Now I honestly think the comment blown out of proportion local newscasters started claiming that Rush personally attacked the Eagles Quarterback which was untrue. He attacked the NFL and media. Not him. I thought to myself one day a comment will be made that will be equal or worse by African American about “The White Man”. Well that day actually passed by over 15 years go.
Okay I promised I would take a different angle and make a point at the start of this article. Okay with all the out cry is pretty obvious that the general American public thinks that race relations shouldn’t be talked about with sports. Most people think Rush had very little evidence to back his claim. Just vaguely blaming the media wasn’t enough right without any evidence. I mean heck he was pro-bowler. What if I told you before the internet and blogging that a similar comment had been made in a different sport, but it was black person making a comment about a white person? Well here is an article cut and pasted.
“In 1987, after the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons in the 7-game East finals due to Larry Bird’s fantastic performance, Isiah Thomas remarked that, sure, Bird was good, but, “If Bird was Black, he’d be just another good guy.” He said this to confirm his then-teammate Dennis Rodman’s racist comments. Never one to miss out on media publicity, Rodman whined that Bird was “overrated” and received media praise and attention only “because he is white.” (Not apparently because Bird—with several MVP seasons and the first NBA player to shoot better than 50 percent from the field and 90 percent from the foul line for consecutive seasons--had just spanked Thomas and Rodman on the court.)".
Well back than I guess you could get away with comments like that in sports since neither player was fined or suspended. As long as you don’t call anyone a Monkey (like hockey player Chris Simon did and got suspended for) than you are okay. Do you think anyone’s feelings were hurt by that? What about all those white boys who go down to the courts every morning and dreamed of making the NBA? Do you think in the late 80s they all threw their basketballs in the trashcans and went and shoot up heroine insead of free throws.
“My dream was ruined, some guy said that white players can’t become stars on merit alone!”
Funny when you think of 1980-90s basketball Bird is the only icon player that is white. Michael Jorden, Dr. J, and Magic Johnson come to mind. Do you really think they weren’t marketed at all? Bird certainly had the track record to be hyped up that much. So you could argue that his statement had equal factual support that Rush’s did. But that’s not racism right? Do you know what if figured happened instead of a media blitz after that? A bunch of white people looked at the floor.
If that’s not bad enough there is the infamous incident when Charles Barkley snapped at a room of mostly white reporters who were questioning him. (gasp). “That’s what I hate about White People…” Oh really? All White reporters are like that? What a blanket statement there Sir Charles. You would think that someone who had a least one element of hatred towards a particular race could have other bits of racism in them, right? Well you would imagine that if a white person said that’s what the hate about black people in any capacity their ass would have been fined, canned or they would be ripped apart by the dare I say it media. Last I heard he was thinking about running for office.
So if you think about it this whole “topic” isn’t shockingly brand new. It just gets swept under the rug every few years and comes with a pretty clean looking double standard.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
"The Great Black Hype"
So Rush Limbaugh is in hotter water than ballpark frank over a comment he made on ESPN earlier this week in which he stated Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because he was black and the media wanted to hype him up for the NFL, because apperently there are not a lot of black quarterbacks in the NFL.
Although I am open minded enough (is that irony?) to consider the possiblity that the NFL would want to try to show how diverse they are by trumping up a minority player in wake of all the PC stuff that goes around the country these days I don't agree with the claim. First off there are enough black players in the NFL as it is and black fans. Although I am no NFL expert, and only skim Eagles coverage and watch fragments of games I never really saw any evidence of the media giving this guy a pass. The Philly media pans anyone that underperforms all the time. I don't know about the national media.
Since I am not a hard core fan I have no idea if he is even over-rated. Jenna recently said she wanted to write and Eagles a letter about how much he sucked. My mom likes that AJ guy better. Does that count as anything? Perhaps the NFL did over-hype him, but I don't think it had anything to do with his skin color. The NHL does that constantly, does anyone actually think Jamie Storr, Eric Lindros or Alexander Daigle are future hall of famers? You might have by reading PR the NHL spewed out a few years ago about these busts. I do think the league might tell commentors ("The Media in this case I guess) to hype up players to make stars out of them. Either the NHL did that with Lindros or Bill Clement has some sort of homoerotic relationship with the Big E, who he will hype even if he spends the entire game wipping sweat off his brow with a dazed look on his face. Perhaps its the same in the NFL I wouldn't know. The local media certainly doesn't give anyone a pass and in sports I think thats the best way to get our coverage on a certain team.
I wonder if ESPN got what they wished, everyone is talking about the NFL pregame show. I honestly wouldnt have a problem if Rush had mentioned this "black card" theory on his syndicated radio show. Let me just clear this up I am not a ditto head. I know people might not buy into that statement since I am still trying to convince people I am not in love with Jenna. However that is his soapbox, I would have no problem if he did that on his show. You don't have to listen to him. I think Howard Eskin is a ten times larger asshole than Rush, so I rarely listen to him. I admit I tune in on occassion and I do admit to agreeing on what he says about some political issues but I certainly am about as far away as a philly team winning a championship to him when it comes to social vaulues such as race and gay marraiges.
I feel bad for Donovan a bit, despite playing awful the first two weeks. I think he is a classy and well spoken guy who needs this like a new Mathew Perry Movie.
Man what a great week for liberal bloogers Drew's "traffic" is going off the chart. Speaking of the l would like to address my traffic today. I would like to thank both my readers who check this web blog every two weeks. I would also like appoligize to the reader who thought he was reading the life and time of Darcey Tucker. Oh yeah we have a back up on 295 south bound too, which means it must be ending in Y.
So Rush Limbaugh is in hotter water than ballpark frank over a comment he made on ESPN earlier this week in which he stated Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because he was black and the media wanted to hype him up for the NFL, because apperently there are not a lot of black quarterbacks in the NFL.
Although I am open minded enough (is that irony?) to consider the possiblity that the NFL would want to try to show how diverse they are by trumping up a minority player in wake of all the PC stuff that goes around the country these days I don't agree with the claim. First off there are enough black players in the NFL as it is and black fans. Although I am no NFL expert, and only skim Eagles coverage and watch fragments of games I never really saw any evidence of the media giving this guy a pass. The Philly media pans anyone that underperforms all the time. I don't know about the national media.
Since I am not a hard core fan I have no idea if he is even over-rated. Jenna recently said she wanted to write and Eagles a letter about how much he sucked. My mom likes that AJ guy better. Does that count as anything? Perhaps the NFL did over-hype him, but I don't think it had anything to do with his skin color. The NHL does that constantly, does anyone actually think Jamie Storr, Eric Lindros or Alexander Daigle are future hall of famers? You might have by reading PR the NHL spewed out a few years ago about these busts. I do think the league might tell commentors ("The Media in this case I guess) to hype up players to make stars out of them. Either the NHL did that with Lindros or Bill Clement has some sort of homoerotic relationship with the Big E, who he will hype even if he spends the entire game wipping sweat off his brow with a dazed look on his face. Perhaps its the same in the NFL I wouldn't know. The local media certainly doesn't give anyone a pass and in sports I think thats the best way to get our coverage on a certain team.
I wonder if ESPN got what they wished, everyone is talking about the NFL pregame show. I honestly wouldnt have a problem if Rush had mentioned this "black card" theory on his syndicated radio show. Let me just clear this up I am not a ditto head. I know people might not buy into that statement since I am still trying to convince people I am not in love with Jenna. However that is his soapbox, I would have no problem if he did that on his show. You don't have to listen to him. I think Howard Eskin is a ten times larger asshole than Rush, so I rarely listen to him. I admit I tune in on occassion and I do admit to agreeing on what he says about some political issues but I certainly am about as far away as a philly team winning a championship to him when it comes to social vaulues such as race and gay marraiges.
I feel bad for Donovan a bit, despite playing awful the first two weeks. I think he is a classy and well spoken guy who needs this like a new Mathew Perry Movie.
Man what a great week for liberal bloogers Drew's "traffic" is going off the chart. Speaking of the l would like to address my traffic today. I would like to thank both my readers who check this web blog every two weeks. I would also like appoligize to the reader who thought he was reading the life and time of Darcey Tucker. Oh yeah we have a back up on 295 south bound too, which means it must be ending in Y.
Sunday, September 28, 2003
"The Vet"
Well the Vet is now just another abandoned building in Philly. This past Sunday the last Phillies game and last event EVER was there. This week the building will start being gutted.
A good deal was mentioned about the stadium recently. The place had a pretty bad rap, with the awful playing surface and the dirty sections of the stadium. I watched a news report when the guy said it might not have been a great stadium, but when you mention the VET everyone knows what you are talking about.
I think what he ment to say, was that despite the buildings short comings thousands and thousands of people in this area have a story about an experience they had there. If it was a father who brought their son, or a couple who met there, or a memorable game. A million memories are there.
For me it wasnt the games so much as sitting there in the environment. My most memorable game I went to was the game I went to just after 9/11 with Lima Beanz and Ryan. I will never forget that strange feeling that was in the air that night. It was the first night that Baseball had returned after the attacks. I can't even explain the feeling it was a once in a life time feeling.
I am not even sure if they won or not to be honest with you. The building will be imploded in Feb. so now it just sits waiting its demise.
Well the Vet is now just another abandoned building in Philly. This past Sunday the last Phillies game and last event EVER was there. This week the building will start being gutted.
A good deal was mentioned about the stadium recently. The place had a pretty bad rap, with the awful playing surface and the dirty sections of the stadium. I watched a news report when the guy said it might not have been a great stadium, but when you mention the VET everyone knows what you are talking about.
I think what he ment to say, was that despite the buildings short comings thousands and thousands of people in this area have a story about an experience they had there. If it was a father who brought their son, or a couple who met there, or a memorable game. A million memories are there.
For me it wasnt the games so much as sitting there in the environment. My most memorable game I went to was the game I went to just after 9/11 with Lima Beanz and Ryan. I will never forget that strange feeling that was in the air that night. It was the first night that Baseball had returned after the attacks. I can't even explain the feeling it was a once in a life time feeling.
I am not even sure if they won or not to be honest with you. The building will be imploded in Feb. so now it just sits waiting its demise.
Saturday, September 27, 2003
"Clean Slate"
Well more details are coming into Tucker's World about the birth of Jay and Jenna's baby.
Here are some stats. cut and pasted from the proud pappy.
Hunter Steven Volosin born at 11:45 AM on Friday
September 26th 2003.
7 lbs 14 ozs, 21 inches
Jenna will stay in the hospital until Sunday. She released a statment earlier today saying that the experience was trying but she was happy to finally see what the kid looked liked. Much to her dissappointment the child has Jay's ears.
Well this birth has gotten a lot of coverage on my blog. Sometimes Lima Beanz has come under fire, and there have been some damaging reports. However things arent doomed just because the situation is a bit akward. There is still time to change the situation for the better which for the most part is the money aspect.
Luckily for Hunter I will no longer have to refer to him as "it" or "Baby Beanzie". You have to be a bit jealous of the child who has a clean slate. Nothing has been set in stone and he has his whole life ahead of him. Who wouldn't want a clean slate like that?
Well more details are coming into Tucker's World about the birth of Jay and Jenna's baby.
Here are some stats. cut and pasted from the proud pappy.
Hunter Steven Volosin born at 11:45 AM on Friday
September 26th 2003.
7 lbs 14 ozs, 21 inches
Jenna will stay in the hospital until Sunday. She released a statment earlier today saying that the experience was trying but she was happy to finally see what the kid looked liked. Much to her dissappointment the child has Jay's ears.
Well this birth has gotten a lot of coverage on my blog. Sometimes Lima Beanz has come under fire, and there have been some damaging reports. However things arent doomed just because the situation is a bit akward. There is still time to change the situation for the better which for the most part is the money aspect.
Luckily for Hunter I will no longer have to refer to him as "it" or "Baby Beanzie". You have to be a bit jealous of the child who has a clean slate. Nothing has been set in stone and he has his whole life ahead of him. Who wouldn't want a clean slate like that?
Friday, September 26, 2003
"The Arrivial"
Lima Beanz and Jenna are now parents. As of sometime this morning. I missed the call from Jay but the voice mail said that they are now proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. It is unconfirmed at this point wheather or not that Hunter is actually the boy's name.
Tucker's World has not yet learned the actual weight of their child, but there is no reason to think that the birth didn't go smoothly. It is also unclear at this point if Jenna was staying the night in the hospitial.
The contest has already started and already have one winner. Tucker's World plans interview Jenna on here, but it might be hard what with all the poop and screaming and all.
Congrats. the two of you welcome the wonderful world of parenthood. Now the real challenge has started which will last the rest of their lives.
Tucker's World will keep you up to date this weekend
developing.....
Lima Beanz and Jenna are now parents. As of sometime this morning. I missed the call from Jay but the voice mail said that they are now proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. It is unconfirmed at this point wheather or not that Hunter is actually the boy's name.
Tucker's World has not yet learned the actual weight of their child, but there is no reason to think that the birth didn't go smoothly. It is also unclear at this point if Jenna was staying the night in the hospitial.
The contest has already started and already have one winner. Tucker's World plans interview Jenna on here, but it might be hard what with all the poop and screaming and all.
Congrats. the two of you welcome the wonderful world of parenthood. Now the real challenge has started which will last the rest of their lives.
Tucker's World will keep you up to date this weekend
developing.....
"Lesbian Roast"
So out of the blue Ryan and are invited to a former classmate’s surprise 24th b-day party by her girlfriend (not that there is anything wrong with that). It just seems a little strange mainly since Ryan has seen her very few times since we graduated highschool back in 1998. DAMN WE ARE OLD.
Anyway I wouldn’t know the girlfriend who is organizing the event if I ran her over with my 1991 Ford Tempo. So I take it she got my address from an old year book. Now I have seen the guest of honor some what recently. I see her maybe 4 times a year, but that is only because I happen to be at Starview or the same bar as her. I did see more of her since the end of Sterling since we both went to CCC. She didn’t change much still had all kinds of drama going on from what I gathered.
Anyway the party is a “roast” kind of like the things you see on Comedy Central. In addition it is a fundraiser. They are raising money so she gets a car for her 24th b-day. Now keep in mind she wasn’t in some sort of accident or anything. In fact just a week ago I saw her at Somerdale and the Pike at a red light. Her car was nicer than mine! It was kind of old, but I guess could use anew one. Yet the invitation suggests donations from 20-75 to the get her a car fund.
The invitation claims how proud we are all of her recent accomplishments. The last time I saw her was at the diner almost 4 months ago, and I at the time was only working one day a week so I thought I was going to need another job and she offered me a part time job for the summer chich was nice (that only lasted two weeks or so for those of you that still think I work one day a week) . She told me she was working for some movie company or owned some company that does props work for movies when they are shot here. Apparently its not going to well if she can not afford a car of her own. I havent talked to her since.
Now what I don’t get am I obligated to donate the 20 bucks to get in? I don’t spend that much on a friend let alone a casual acquaintance. I mean my car is older and has been around since I was still at Parkview Elementary for Gods sakes. When are people going to raise money for me? We are allowed to make jokes I think. The only one I could think of is that she got more girls in highschool than I did.
The only thing I can think is that they are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel when they got to me. I only hung out with the girl through other people. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against her or her lifestyle but I have not been invited to people’s wedding who I considered myself closer with at some point let alone some friend of mutual friends fundraising b-day.
I can’t figure out if this was a really ballsy unique move, or plan out weird.
Surprise Roast Fundraiser, eh? ((stroking chin))
::: picturing a fundraiser for baby beanzie::
Oh wait, Jenna hated all the girls in high school and broke too many of the guys hearts, and no one remembers who Jay is. Eh, ain’t my kid.
Although If Dan K decides to have a bachelor party(assuming I am invited to his wedding.) I better start making a mental guest list. Even though his party will likely be in a chatroom. Here is what I have so far.
Dan Pike
Jim Amlio
Ray Shawn “The Chief” Hall
Andrew “Vegal,Andy, Drew, Puma, Destro, Uncle Drew,”Vogel.
Lima Beanz
Ed
Matt Owens (perhaps a rematch of the famous St. Luke’s Showdown?)
Old Mantis
Jaun Rios
Jason Kennedy
Jon Shane
Steve Libby
Jason Good
So what did we learn from this article? Well I guess sometimes it is better for me to go up and make a bologna sandwich and go to bed instead of writing for Tucker's World.
For the record I don't see myself making the event.
So out of the blue Ryan and are invited to a former classmate’s surprise 24th b-day party by her girlfriend (not that there is anything wrong with that). It just seems a little strange mainly since Ryan has seen her very few times since we graduated highschool back in 1998. DAMN WE ARE OLD.
Anyway I wouldn’t know the girlfriend who is organizing the event if I ran her over with my 1991 Ford Tempo. So I take it she got my address from an old year book. Now I have seen the guest of honor some what recently. I see her maybe 4 times a year, but that is only because I happen to be at Starview or the same bar as her. I did see more of her since the end of Sterling since we both went to CCC. She didn’t change much still had all kinds of drama going on from what I gathered.
Anyway the party is a “roast” kind of like the things you see on Comedy Central. In addition it is a fundraiser. They are raising money so she gets a car for her 24th b-day. Now keep in mind she wasn’t in some sort of accident or anything. In fact just a week ago I saw her at Somerdale and the Pike at a red light. Her car was nicer than mine! It was kind of old, but I guess could use anew one. Yet the invitation suggests donations from 20-75 to the get her a car fund.
The invitation claims how proud we are all of her recent accomplishments. The last time I saw her was at the diner almost 4 months ago, and I at the time was only working one day a week so I thought I was going to need another job and she offered me a part time job for the summer chich was nice (that only lasted two weeks or so for those of you that still think I work one day a week) . She told me she was working for some movie company or owned some company that does props work for movies when they are shot here. Apparently its not going to well if she can not afford a car of her own. I havent talked to her since.
Now what I don’t get am I obligated to donate the 20 bucks to get in? I don’t spend that much on a friend let alone a casual acquaintance. I mean my car is older and has been around since I was still at Parkview Elementary for Gods sakes. When are people going to raise money for me? We are allowed to make jokes I think. The only one I could think of is that she got more girls in highschool than I did.
The only thing I can think is that they are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel when they got to me. I only hung out with the girl through other people. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against her or her lifestyle but I have not been invited to people’s wedding who I considered myself closer with at some point let alone some friend of mutual friends fundraising b-day.
I can’t figure out if this was a really ballsy unique move, or plan out weird.
Surprise Roast Fundraiser, eh? ((stroking chin))
::: picturing a fundraiser for baby beanzie::
Oh wait, Jenna hated all the girls in high school and broke too many of the guys hearts, and no one remembers who Jay is. Eh, ain’t my kid.
Although If Dan K decides to have a bachelor party(assuming I am invited to his wedding.) I better start making a mental guest list. Even though his party will likely be in a chatroom. Here is what I have so far.
Dan Pike
Jim Amlio
Ray Shawn “The Chief” Hall
Andrew “Vegal,Andy, Drew, Puma, Destro, Uncle Drew,”Vogel.
Lima Beanz
Ed
Matt Owens (perhaps a rematch of the famous St. Luke’s Showdown?)
Old Mantis
Jaun Rios
Jason Kennedy
Jon Shane
Steve Libby
Jason Good
So what did we learn from this article? Well I guess sometimes it is better for me to go up and make a bologna sandwich and go to bed instead of writing for Tucker's World.
For the record I don't see myself making the event.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
“Baby Later”
Well unless victim of a prank Jenna didn’t not give birth to first born son of Jay tonight like I predicted. So it looks as though this contest results in no one winning again. So I am going to spice things up a bit, and expand the contest to the whole gender thing.
If LIMA BEANZ and JENNA give birth to a bouncing baby boy than the first two people to email me TUCKERS WORLD ROCKS! will get a prize from yours truly. I will post on here as soon as humanly possible after word of the birth of “Baby Beanzie” reaches me. Given the fact that my cell phone provider sucks big time I might not get the message until sometime around 2004.
Oh I would also like to propose that if the boy is born the same day that Conan O’brien’s kid is born that the kid is named after the Late Night talk show host.
Well unless victim of a prank Jenna didn’t not give birth to first born son of Jay tonight like I predicted. So it looks as though this contest results in no one winning again. So I am going to spice things up a bit, and expand the contest to the whole gender thing.
If LIMA BEANZ and JENNA give birth to a bouncing baby boy than the first two people to email me TUCKERS WORLD ROCKS! will get a prize from yours truly. I will post on here as soon as humanly possible after word of the birth of “Baby Beanzie” reaches me. Given the fact that my cell phone provider sucks big time I might not get the message until sometime around 2004.
Oh I would also like to propose that if the boy is born the same day that Conan O’brien’s kid is born that the kid is named after the Late Night talk show host.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
My entry today was originally going to be valid points against the theory that my friends hold about Clinton being the best President ever, but my mind got side tracked. Enjoy these two little nuggets of joy insead.
“Killer Rats”
Okay if it isn’t bad enough that there are genetically altered featherless chickens out there, trolls lurking on the sides of the Garden State Park Way and Homosexual sheep out there now if you couldn’t tell by the title of this article you have a killer rats to look out for.
An unusual breed of rats is inflicting damage on Kyrgyzstan's Dzhalal-Abad region (apparently a place in Europe). These pesky little rats can climb trees ( a bit more nimble than their South Jersey/Philly distant cousins I presume) and are destroying produce.
If rats chomping on Apples doesn’t freak you out they seem more aggressive in nature. They have reportedly been attacking the good people of the Kyrgyzstan's Dzhalal-Abad region and their small children are feared to be a bigger risk of becoming a buffet for a swarm of killer rats. Maybe we can unleash some of these violent natured rodents at my work when the children misbehave.
Scientists and people who are smarter than me theorize that this mutant or killer rats are a cross between muskrats and city rats. Apparently this results in an evil hybrid of blood thirsty rodents. Who would have thought messing around with nature would result in this? I’d imagine that people are trying to shoot this little buggers, and theorize their dead bodies might be made into McDonalds Cheesesteaks.
“Killer Rats”
Okay if it isn’t bad enough that there are genetically altered featherless chickens out there, trolls lurking on the sides of the Garden State Park Way and Homosexual sheep out there now if you couldn’t tell by the title of this article you have a killer rats to look out for.
An unusual breed of rats is inflicting damage on Kyrgyzstan's Dzhalal-Abad region (apparently a place in Europe). These pesky little rats can climb trees ( a bit more nimble than their South Jersey/Philly distant cousins I presume) and are destroying produce.
If rats chomping on Apples doesn’t freak you out they seem more aggressive in nature. They have reportedly been attacking the good people of the Kyrgyzstan's Dzhalal-Abad region and their small children are feared to be a bigger risk of becoming a buffet for a swarm of killer rats. Maybe we can unleash some of these violent natured rodents at my work when the children misbehave.
Scientists and people who are smarter than me theorize that this mutant or killer rats are a cross between muskrats and city rats. Apparently this results in an evil hybrid of blood thirsty rodents. Who would have thought messing around with nature would result in this? I’d imagine that people are trying to shoot this little buggers, and theorize their dead bodies might be made into McDonalds Cheesesteaks.
"You Have Reached the United States of America Sorry We Didn't Get your Call"
So I keep hearing about this national deficit. Maybe I am stupid, but I don’t know how we owe this money to countries? Other people tell me its actually money we owe ourselves. If that is the case than who cares? What are we going to do kick our own asses if we don’t pay?
I learned anything the past few years it is you don’t HAVE to pay your bills. Lima Beanz left his car idle outside my house years ago and missed a few payments on it because he was out of work. Now he drives around a much nicer car than he did before. So who is the fool? Jokes on the collections office.
Why don’t we just pull an LB and not pay off the bills? If it’s the other countries that we owe money the solution is simple. Just don’t pay them back. They never pay us back for anything. In fact when we get other countries out of a jam we usually end up paying them or rebuilding their country.
Is Italy calling us up right now? ::Italian accent:: HEY AMERICA WHEN ARE GONNNA GET ME THE MONEY? I HAVE NO MONEY TO MAKE MY BIG A PIZZA PIES! GIME ME THE MONEY WE NEED A THE BIILLION DOLLARS.
What is even better if these countries are really calling us. Why not help the unemployment situation our country is suffering and hire people to make lame excuses when people start asking us if we are going to get around to paying them. Here are a few good ones. Have them tell the countries looking for their cash that the we are at the guy in charge of treasury fund is at the gym. Maybe we can just put them all on the national no call list .
So I keep hearing about this national deficit. Maybe I am stupid, but I don’t know how we owe this money to countries? Other people tell me its actually money we owe ourselves. If that is the case than who cares? What are we going to do kick our own asses if we don’t pay?
I learned anything the past few years it is you don’t HAVE to pay your bills. Lima Beanz left his car idle outside my house years ago and missed a few payments on it because he was out of work. Now he drives around a much nicer car than he did before. So who is the fool? Jokes on the collections office.
Why don’t we just pull an LB and not pay off the bills? If it’s the other countries that we owe money the solution is simple. Just don’t pay them back. They never pay us back for anything. In fact when we get other countries out of a jam we usually end up paying them or rebuilding their country.
Is Italy calling us up right now? ::Italian accent:: HEY AMERICA WHEN ARE GONNNA GET ME THE MONEY? I HAVE NO MONEY TO MAKE MY BIG A PIZZA PIES! GIME ME THE MONEY WE NEED A THE BIILLION DOLLARS.
What is even better if these countries are really calling us. Why not help the unemployment situation our country is suffering and hire people to make lame excuses when people start asking us if we are going to get around to paying them. Here are a few good ones. Have them tell the countries looking for their cash that the we are at the guy in charge of treasury fund is at the gym. Maybe we can just put them all on the national no call list .
Thursday, September 18, 2003
“HurriaLAME Isabel”
Well the Hurricane is going deeper and deeper into the land. The storm has lost most of its form at this point and unless you live in North Carolina or Virginia which are being smacked down pretty hard. The lack of warm water to feed this little lady will downgrade her to just a huge bunch of rain and a occasional gusts of winds. These gusts could easily cause a nuisance if they knock down power lines, which will certainly happen at some point. Of course it won’t be as wide spread as in the more Southern Sates.
Despite being under a state of an emergency its likely that we have seen heavier rains during all the storms we were hit with this past summer at this point. The shore will suffer some beach erosion out for sure, and more high risk low level points such as Strathemere and the North Side of Sea Isle and center city Ocean City might get some flooding but nothing to worry about. Even more south Cape May might have a good deal of flooding. They have anticipated this and told everyone to slack off on Friday and not bother showing up to school or work. I hope you didn’t leave a boat in the waters down there!
The main area to be affected (In the Delware Valley) by this will be West of the City just after at the flooding of a few days ago. The ground simply won’t be able to absorb the moisture. This will result in us sitting in our nice warm dry homes laughing at people from the Keystone state standing on the tops of their cars. If for some reason your house starts to flood just roll up some Criminal Justice or Public Relation degrees and push them under your doorway in order to prevent your lower level turning into a waddling pool. Although I doubt any of my readers will have to worry about anymore than what DVD to pick out their COLLECTION this evening to pass the time of the miserable weather night.
Some people were fairly nonchalant towards Isabel and others thankful. The fighting Phillies might have been thankful that they got their game in earlier today, because the wind gusts made for some unpredictable fly balls that benefited them in their race for the wildcard. They are ½ games behind, with a final show down on the Marlins turf next week. Meanwhile Chris is going up to the big apple to live it up with Dave and paint the town a colorful shade of Arter.
The good news is usually over hyped storms result in giving employers an excuse to slack off. The bad news is its only 4 30 and the worse is yet to come in our area. People should at least be careful if they are driving around tonight, and make sure anything that could blow away is taken in tonight. With any luck the Eagles will be blown away in exchange for a team that actually has a clue. Hopefully all our illegal immigrants can go flying to California were they can drive legally.
New Jersey has been declared a state of emergency so this contest has been negated. I win. Although some areas could be in for some tricky weather I hate to break it to most people that business and schools in this immediate area are likely to be open tomorrow. If you guys are planning to stay in tonight come back to my blog because I will likely update again before the storm clears.
Well the Hurricane is going deeper and deeper into the land. The storm has lost most of its form at this point and unless you live in North Carolina or Virginia which are being smacked down pretty hard. The lack of warm water to feed this little lady will downgrade her to just a huge bunch of rain and a occasional gusts of winds. These gusts could easily cause a nuisance if they knock down power lines, which will certainly happen at some point. Of course it won’t be as wide spread as in the more Southern Sates.
Despite being under a state of an emergency its likely that we have seen heavier rains during all the storms we were hit with this past summer at this point. The shore will suffer some beach erosion out for sure, and more high risk low level points such as Strathemere and the North Side of Sea Isle and center city Ocean City might get some flooding but nothing to worry about. Even more south Cape May might have a good deal of flooding. They have anticipated this and told everyone to slack off on Friday and not bother showing up to school or work. I hope you didn’t leave a boat in the waters down there!
The main area to be affected (In the Delware Valley) by this will be West of the City just after at the flooding of a few days ago. The ground simply won’t be able to absorb the moisture. This will result in us sitting in our nice warm dry homes laughing at people from the Keystone state standing on the tops of their cars. If for some reason your house starts to flood just roll up some Criminal Justice or Public Relation degrees and push them under your doorway in order to prevent your lower level turning into a waddling pool. Although I doubt any of my readers will have to worry about anymore than what DVD to pick out their COLLECTION this evening to pass the time of the miserable weather night.
Some people were fairly nonchalant towards Isabel and others thankful. The fighting Phillies might have been thankful that they got their game in earlier today, because the wind gusts made for some unpredictable fly balls that benefited them in their race for the wildcard. They are ½ games behind, with a final show down on the Marlins turf next week. Meanwhile Chris is going up to the big apple to live it up with Dave and paint the town a colorful shade of Arter.
The good news is usually over hyped storms result in giving employers an excuse to slack off. The bad news is its only 4 30 and the worse is yet to come in our area. People should at least be careful if they are driving around tonight, and make sure anything that could blow away is taken in tonight. With any luck the Eagles will be blown away in exchange for a team that actually has a clue. Hopefully all our illegal immigrants can go flying to California were they can drive legally.
New Jersey has been declared a state of emergency so this contest has been negated. I win. Although some areas could be in for some tricky weather I hate to break it to most people that business and schools in this immediate area are likely to be open tomorrow. If you guys are planning to stay in tonight come back to my blog because I will likely update again before the storm clears.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
"Stealth!"
Go here but don't tell anyone. It is a top secret link only given to people in the circle of trust. This includes myself and both of my readers. Even the one who only reads my blog once a month who I sadly actually consider a "reader".
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=notmosco305
How did I found out about this blog? STEALTH! That is all you need to know. THe author of it is also unknown.
Go here but don't tell anyone. It is a top secret link only given to people in the circle of trust. This includes myself and both of my readers. Even the one who only reads my blog once a month who I sadly actually consider a "reader".
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=notmosco305
How did I found out about this blog? STEALTH! That is all you need to know. THe author of it is also unknown.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
“Hackett Racket”
So everyone keeps mocking the fact the Flyers decision to pick up Jeff Hackett in the off season. I honestly think it was a wise move by Bob Clarke. Sure he has never won a playoff round in his life but who is counting? Hackett quite the NHL journeyman has played for Montreal, Chicago, Boston, and San Jose to name a few. Sure Hackett was next to last in Goals-Against Average as to opposed to Roman Checkmanaek who was 2nd in the league. Who cares that Checkmanek was third in safe percentage and Hackett hovered around the average percent in the league.
Checko has some bad blood with the fans and teammates. His post-season play was just awful where he would let up too many weak goals and kept the Flyers out of games they should have been in. Roman will likely put up less impressive numbers this season with the less effective defensive system in front of him. I don’t see him playing in the states anymore than two more years.
At the prime of his career I would certainly say Hackett was an underrated net minder however he is far from cup worthy. His last few years he seems to have been caught in some healthy competition situations with # 1 goalies in the league. Just look at some of the games he stood on his head in while in Montreal. Now I am not saying Hackett is going to hoist the cup anytime soon. The truth with Hasek in net this team couldn’t win the cup, not unless a major roster overhaul happens this season. The team is too old, too slow, and not creative enough offensively to even make it to the finals.
Last year JR lead the team in scoring yet was behind was 57th in the NHL in scoring. The team is a dud and goalie prospects Anetro Nittymaki, or Roman Malek are excepted to be the future of the team, however the future is not anytime soon it seems. Heck unless Malek impresses at training camp he may never make it into the league he is already 26 and Nittymaki looks to be the one that will be given a shot, but not for awhile.
Despite the fact that Jeff Hackett’s body is pretty torn up, he will certainly make a better mentor than CHECKO. CHECKO who has limited English would be more inclined to try to redeem himself than try to show Robert Esche the ropes. You see the Flyers are hoping Robert who is well liked by the team can be the next Giggy (the Ducks surprise goalie success story last season for you non-hockey fans). Its highly unlikely but since the franchise is in a transition stage to a younger crop of players Hacketts’ role is to basically baby sit the next until one of the prospect eggs hatch into NHL level goalies. Meanwhile what is the harm in seeing is Esche is the diamond in the rough? Maybe he was a steal.
I doubt he will be a Cup contender, but in all honestly he played better last season than expected and has yet to reach his full potential. Will he be the answer? Highly doubtful but we have a season that is pretty much a write off so now is a better time than any to find out if we don’t actually have to wait for these “prospects” to shake Snider down for million dollar contracts to stop some frozen rubber.
Oh yeah, in a somewhat related story Mark Recchi is going to be a victim on the Jamie Kennedy Experiment this season. The show is one of those celebrities play a prank on someone shows I checked it out a few times when WB had it before Off Centre (which shouldn’t not have been canceled.) Apprently Keith Jones, and John Leclair are in on this prank too so it should be funny. Oh yeah, there is another one when Leclair convinces Snider he pays him 9 million dollars to do nothing on the ice night after night. OH WAIT!
Monday, September 15, 2003
“A Storm, a Contest & a Baby!”
Well Lima Beanz and Jenna are expecting a kid as you all know. My sources say that if the child is a boy the name would be Hunter named after a drug addicted sports writer or Isabel ironically the same name of a Cat 5 Hurricane that is making a B-line for the US.
First off I know all my readers want to hear the latest about LB and Jenna. Well Jenna’s belly is bigger than the national deficit right now and that kids reading to pop on out.
I predict that they will give birth to a boy and he will weigh 8.3 lbs. I think he will be born on September 24th which would be week from this Wednesday. Oh and for the record for anyone who doesn’t already know LB’s parents finally know they are going to be first time grandparents but are likely to miss the birth of their grandchild since they are going to Cancun on vacation. One that was planned because they didn’t know their son had impregnated his girlfriend.
Actually getting out of town might not be such a bad idea. My readers and friends might know I am a bit of a weather buff, when I am not looking for a job, watching DVDs, hockey or crying myself to sleep at night I read up on the topic.
I have had my eye on Hurricane Isabel since early last week, and I had been keeping a close on the track of the storm. I thought it might actually come on here, and now it looks like that might actually happen.
Right now Irene is 900 miles or so from the coast and moving between a Category 4 and Cat. 5. Cat 5 is what would be considered devastating. Gusts during the storm’s most intense moments are estimated to be around 250 MPH. Luckily for us the combination of the storm having to travel North up the coast and colder waters in our region is likely to significantly weaken the storm. However given the size and strength of the storm it won’t be enough to make it something we can write off. I think it will hit land at Cat 3 at best, but likely closer to 2. If you think that makes a lame storm average winds for a cat 2 are 96- 110 MPH. I could easily be over-estimating the storms impact Cat rating but still. The earlier it hits landfall the weaker it will be when it hits us so if that is the case it could be as low as a Cat 1, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
All but one of the projected paths have it almost directly making land fall on New Jersey at one point. A few of them have us taking the direct hit, but most people think North Carolina or Virginia will be slammed first and the worse.
However I tend to think that the storms impact might be north of that point. I tend to think its going to hit directly in Delware. Which could cause major problems for us the shore is likely to get walloped with tidal flooding and high winds. Given the storms size we are likely to be engulfed by it if this is the case. Than again I am no weatherman and there is still a chance that the storm can just say screw his and double back out the ocean. However its more likely the Phillies will win the wild card race.
Mark my words this storm will affect us in one way or another. There is a certainly a good chance that my readers will be off from school and/or work later in this week. It clearly has the potential to be the worst storm any of my readers have ever witnessed in this area.
Now if a state of emergency is not declared as a result of this storm, than the first two readers to email me KEITH YOU SUCK will get a present. If LB & “The One’s” kid is born on the predicted date the first two readers to write me and email saying TUCKERS WORLD ROCKS will get something in return. On the second if I am wrong NOTHING HAPPENS I go to jail peacefully quietly.
Now if I am right about the storm. You better hold on to your butts! What I mean is Old Testament, dear readers, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fires and brimstone coming down from the sky, rivers and seas boiling-- years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes--The dead rising from the graves! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
Sunday, September 14, 2003
"What? John Ritter?!?!"
Once and awhile there are celebrity deaths that hit closer to home to others. Ones that seem too unfair, to early to say goodbye. Of course there are beloved stars that have pasted in the past 10 years or so that you hate to see go, but knew the end was near. Like James Stewart who lived a good life, or even Francis Albert whose ailing health condition gave his fans amble time to prepare for his exiting this Earth. Once in awhile the death of a famous person gets me really thinking for more than a day, some times in disbelief. The list that I can think of on the top of my head that really effected me is a rather short list for 23 years, and granted I might be leaving out a few. John Candy, Phil Hartman, Roger Nelison, and Jim Henson come immediately to mind.
For some reason the shocking death of actor John Ritter really hit me on harder scale than some other famous people dying and I think he could be added to that list. If you didn’t hear by now (one of my co-workers didn’t as of today) Ritter collapsed and died of a heart aliment. He had a tear in his aorta, a rare condition that usually goes undetected. Not that I was a hard core fan of his, I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between seasons of Three’s Company let alone claim that I have seen 50 % of the shows that he did. It’s been quite awhile since I watch the reruns that I barely remember specific plots of the sitcom just the basic premise.
When I heard on the news that he had passed away, I honestly thought there must have been some sort of grave mistake. I didn’t even really accept he was dead till I saw them repeat the story a couple of times. Who would have thought he would have died? He was in his early 50’s his return to television had just started a year ago. I honestly thought for before they put the picture up that it was a DIFFERENT John Ritter. I thought to myself NOT JOHN RITTER!.
In all honestly I didn’t watch 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter (what an awful title) regularly, but I would wager I caught maybe 5 episodes from the first season, and it was pretty funny( not to mention Katey Cuoco who plays his one daughter is hot). You could tell the show hadn’t quite hit its prime yet (who does in season 1), but what made the show so enjoyable was the comic performance of Ritter. He was a master at the comedic television craft. The way he played off other cast members showed his knowledge of great comic timing.
Watch some of his Three’s Company (the show that he will be always known for)highlights and you will see what a laugh out loud funny physical comedy bits he preformed over the years. This is one of those shows that was one I looked for in reruns if I was home sick or on a rainy day. What made Ritter so appealing was his coming across as a likeable buffoon. Sounds like a cliché, but the character of Jack Tripper could have been easily mishandled had a less talented actor playing the part.
Jack was a basic goofball who at heart was a good person, but inspired to a lady’s man. Some will argue that people tuned into see his female co-stars, but his pratfalls the and throwing his body around generated huge laughs. 8 Simple Rules, one of the one shows ABC has to offer that’s worth your time introduced Ritter to a new generation. Its funny because I remember thinking recently I should watch the show more since I actually laughed out loud when watching it before.
Ritter never made an enormous impact when he moved from Television to film, but his film resume is stronger than people give him credit for. Unfortunely he is known mainly for the dreadful Problem Child movies (although he did generate some laughs) and by people my age the now almost forgotten Stay Tuned a respectful guilty pleasure silly romp of a film. A majority of his films for awhile were made for television movies with the exception of Stephen King’s IT in which was mainly dramatic role for him. You usually can tell when Serious John Ritter is going to be there because he grows a beard.
Ritter was also in Sling Blade which I have never seen, but I understand its quite a departure from sitcom fare. Ritter dipped into the art house movie pool before returning TV. He actually had returned once to television in a series called Hearts Afire but I apparently am the only one the recalls that series that had aired in the early 90’s. Anyway he turned in a solid performance in Panic, and last year’s little seen but underrated Tadpole. Both movies I saw with in the last year and made me want to see him more in dramatic roles.
It just is strange thinking he is gone. Who honestly though Don Knotts would out live John Ritter? Kind of makes you think when someone can just go out like the flick of a light switch with no warning. He seemed like a genuinely good person, but I guess it was just his time. Something that is out of anyone’s control or understanding.
Once and awhile there are celebrity deaths that hit closer to home to others. Ones that seem too unfair, to early to say goodbye. Of course there are beloved stars that have pasted in the past 10 years or so that you hate to see go, but knew the end was near. Like James Stewart who lived a good life, or even Francis Albert whose ailing health condition gave his fans amble time to prepare for his exiting this Earth. Once in awhile the death of a famous person gets me really thinking for more than a day, some times in disbelief. The list that I can think of on the top of my head that really effected me is a rather short list for 23 years, and granted I might be leaving out a few. John Candy, Phil Hartman, Roger Nelison, and Jim Henson come immediately to mind.
For some reason the shocking death of actor John Ritter really hit me on harder scale than some other famous people dying and I think he could be added to that list. If you didn’t hear by now (one of my co-workers didn’t as of today) Ritter collapsed and died of a heart aliment. He had a tear in his aorta, a rare condition that usually goes undetected. Not that I was a hard core fan of his, I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between seasons of Three’s Company let alone claim that I have seen 50 % of the shows that he did. It’s been quite awhile since I watch the reruns that I barely remember specific plots of the sitcom just the basic premise.
When I heard on the news that he had passed away, I honestly thought there must have been some sort of grave mistake. I didn’t even really accept he was dead till I saw them repeat the story a couple of times. Who would have thought he would have died? He was in his early 50’s his return to television had just started a year ago. I honestly thought for before they put the picture up that it was a DIFFERENT John Ritter. I thought to myself NOT JOHN RITTER!.
In all honestly I didn’t watch 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter (what an awful title) regularly, but I would wager I caught maybe 5 episodes from the first season, and it was pretty funny( not to mention Katey Cuoco who plays his one daughter is hot). You could tell the show hadn’t quite hit its prime yet (who does in season 1), but what made the show so enjoyable was the comic performance of Ritter. He was a master at the comedic television craft. The way he played off other cast members showed his knowledge of great comic timing.
Watch some of his Three’s Company (the show that he will be always known for)highlights and you will see what a laugh out loud funny physical comedy bits he preformed over the years. This is one of those shows that was one I looked for in reruns if I was home sick or on a rainy day. What made Ritter so appealing was his coming across as a likeable buffoon. Sounds like a cliché, but the character of Jack Tripper could have been easily mishandled had a less talented actor playing the part.
Jack was a basic goofball who at heart was a good person, but inspired to a lady’s man. Some will argue that people tuned into see his female co-stars, but his pratfalls the and throwing his body around generated huge laughs. 8 Simple Rules, one of the one shows ABC has to offer that’s worth your time introduced Ritter to a new generation. Its funny because I remember thinking recently I should watch the show more since I actually laughed out loud when watching it before.
Ritter never made an enormous impact when he moved from Television to film, but his film resume is stronger than people give him credit for. Unfortunely he is known mainly for the dreadful Problem Child movies (although he did generate some laughs) and by people my age the now almost forgotten Stay Tuned a respectful guilty pleasure silly romp of a film. A majority of his films for awhile were made for television movies with the exception of Stephen King’s IT in which was mainly dramatic role for him. You usually can tell when Serious John Ritter is going to be there because he grows a beard.
Ritter was also in Sling Blade which I have never seen, but I understand its quite a departure from sitcom fare. Ritter dipped into the art house movie pool before returning TV. He actually had returned once to television in a series called Hearts Afire but I apparently am the only one the recalls that series that had aired in the early 90’s. Anyway he turned in a solid performance in Panic, and last year’s little seen but underrated Tadpole. Both movies I saw with in the last year and made me want to see him more in dramatic roles.
It just is strange thinking he is gone. Who honestly though Don Knotts would out live John Ritter? Kind of makes you think when someone can just go out like the flick of a light switch with no warning. He seemed like a genuinely good person, but I guess it was just his time. Something that is out of anyone’s control or understanding.
Friday, September 12, 2003
I have been out of town for awhile so I haven't posted anything for awhile. I promise to update often now (for real this time). I plan to chime in on the shocking death of John Ritter, the soon to be born baby Beanzie and the Flyers new goalie Jeff Hackett. I was away during 9/11 so I didn't get to write about it being two years after the event. This 2nd year reflections were quite scaled down and on a smaller scale, since I don't have much more to say about the event I have posted my thoughts from a year ago.
"9/11 a Look Back"
Again this post was written a year ago.
It is funny how days can slowly slip by piling up to an entire calendar year so quickly. Its hard to believe it has been a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington occurred. Every paper you pick up, every channel you turn on will bombard you with images of planes ripping buildings in half, people covered in soot, heroic accounts of the NY police and fireman, stories of narrow escapees, and many stories of lost loved ones. Granted it is overwhelming, but its important that the day is remembered. Not that the major networks had a choice in the matter refusal to air any coverage would be seen as insensitive. I couldn't justify ABC running reruns of According to Jim in place of retrospectives, even if that means having to see Peter Jennings face for a prolonged period of time.
A year ago tomorrow morning the sun rose on the World Trade Center for the last time. A year ago the towers dwarfed the landscape. A year ago from when I post and publish this people most likely someone was marveling at the size of this towers completely in the dark. For the last time people headed out the door of their homes to work. For the last time people laid eyes on their loved ones. Some used their cell phones to express their final words later that day.
The weather of September 11, 2001, was prefect. Not a cloud graced the blue sky in South Jersey nor over New York City. Of course all of that changed with in a few hours after Manhattan was engulfed in black cloud.
I had a morning work shift before heading off to class. As I was brushing my teeth, I overhead the news channel saying something about the World Trade Center. For some reason I thought they were just talking about the anniversary of when a car bomb was driven in to the towers. Apparently I forgot about the fact that it was snowing lightly that morning in 1993. When I first saw the image I couldn't get over how black the smoke was. My first reaction was some Arab (or terrorist of some sort) has set a bomb off in there. For some reason I thought that the fire would be put out in hours.
Then one of the news channels was speculating about a plane that had hit it. There goes the media blowing things out of proportion again, I thought to myself. Within a minute of seeing that I witnessed another ball of fire, so focused on the towers I didn't even notice the image of the 2nd plane slamming in the WTC. Driving to work I had Howard Stern on, there is not doubt about he said...we are at war.
Later that day I watched on TV at work, like the rest of that nation. Like all Americans I thought to myself the unthinkable is happening before my eyes. How much more did these people have in store for us? Then news footage flipped to the pentagon, and what was more disturbing is a customer still wanted me to wait on her. I spent 10 minutes selling a washer as word came that 3rd plane crashed in Pennsylvania some where. I couldn't help but think we were in the middle of the whole thing.
The reporter on the news cast I was watching at work, mentioned the whole tower shook. I thought maybe a bomb had gone off or something. However, about a minute later the tower began to collapse. The sound the reporter heard must have been the tower starting to implode. The tower disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke. For some reason I thought that other tower would remain standing. I guess I was in denial or something. When the 2nd tower went down, I knew I was watching one of the most important moments in America's history. I also realized how meaningless my problems were, and how I should just be thankful that I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that day. Life is silly that way. Later that night Ryan, Lima Beanz, myself and met Price and his father at Champs in Cherry Hill. It was a bizarre experience having footage on all the televisions there.
Human beings jumped to their death picking that as an option to go makes you understand the hellish conditions that they experienced. Thousands of horrifying images exist. Thankfully these images exist for future generations to have a perhaps some sort of understanding what happened that day. Images I will most likely remember for the rest of my life. Even the aftermath seeing the largest almost ridiculously huge buildings in history reduced to tomb of cement and metal. The are various erie images on the Internet, including a shot of the landmark sculpture the sphere which stood outside one of the towers dented and mangled.
The weeks that followed had everyone on edge. I still have the tendency to think to myself...that plan is flying a little low isn't it? Or looks a little too slanted? Isn't the Philadelphia airport in the other direction? We saw New York late night funny men David Letterman and Jon Stewart reduced to tears. We saw American flags on dozens of cars, we lit candles one night collectively as a nation. We discussed it in our classes, we tried to figure out who did this to us and why. We pondered about what could be done to make it safer. We realized what a poor condition the FBI was in. Missteps such as not having enough people to translate Arabic while intercepting messages, lack of organization,cutting the FBI during the 90's, and perhaps being a little too forgiving for the bombing of the USS Cole, and the WTC incident of 1993.
Eventually we got back to about our everyday lives at least those of us who didn't lose anyone directly did.
It wasn't long before we as nation debated if the word God should be in the Pledge of Allegiance. Baseball players childishly quibbled over money. People were wondering if that fruity white kid with the afro would become the American Idol (although hopefully none of my readers were not). The media exploited subjects like Anthrax, and came up with any thing they could to scare up viewers.
"9/11 a Look Back"
Again this post was written a year ago.
It is funny how days can slowly slip by piling up to an entire calendar year so quickly. Its hard to believe it has been a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington occurred. Every paper you pick up, every channel you turn on will bombard you with images of planes ripping buildings in half, people covered in soot, heroic accounts of the NY police and fireman, stories of narrow escapees, and many stories of lost loved ones. Granted it is overwhelming, but its important that the day is remembered. Not that the major networks had a choice in the matter refusal to air any coverage would be seen as insensitive. I couldn't justify ABC running reruns of According to Jim in place of retrospectives, even if that means having to see Peter Jennings face for a prolonged period of time.
A year ago tomorrow morning the sun rose on the World Trade Center for the last time. A year ago the towers dwarfed the landscape. A year ago from when I post and publish this people most likely someone was marveling at the size of this towers completely in the dark. For the last time people headed out the door of their homes to work. For the last time people laid eyes on their loved ones. Some used their cell phones to express their final words later that day.
The weather of September 11, 2001, was prefect. Not a cloud graced the blue sky in South Jersey nor over New York City. Of course all of that changed with in a few hours after Manhattan was engulfed in black cloud.
I had a morning work shift before heading off to class. As I was brushing my teeth, I overhead the news channel saying something about the World Trade Center. For some reason I thought they were just talking about the anniversary of when a car bomb was driven in to the towers. Apparently I forgot about the fact that it was snowing lightly that morning in 1993. When I first saw the image I couldn't get over how black the smoke was. My first reaction was some Arab (or terrorist of some sort) has set a bomb off in there. For some reason I thought that the fire would be put out in hours.
Then one of the news channels was speculating about a plane that had hit it. There goes the media blowing things out of proportion again, I thought to myself. Within a minute of seeing that I witnessed another ball of fire, so focused on the towers I didn't even notice the image of the 2nd plane slamming in the WTC. Driving to work I had Howard Stern on, there is not doubt about he said...we are at war.
Later that day I watched on TV at work, like the rest of that nation. Like all Americans I thought to myself the unthinkable is happening before my eyes. How much more did these people have in store for us? Then news footage flipped to the pentagon, and what was more disturbing is a customer still wanted me to wait on her. I spent 10 minutes selling a washer as word came that 3rd plane crashed in Pennsylvania some where. I couldn't help but think we were in the middle of the whole thing.
The reporter on the news cast I was watching at work, mentioned the whole tower shook. I thought maybe a bomb had gone off or something. However, about a minute later the tower began to collapse. The sound the reporter heard must have been the tower starting to implode. The tower disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke. For some reason I thought that other tower would remain standing. I guess I was in denial or something. When the 2nd tower went down, I knew I was watching one of the most important moments in America's history. I also realized how meaningless my problems were, and how I should just be thankful that I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that day. Life is silly that way. Later that night Ryan, Lima Beanz, myself and met Price and his father at Champs in Cherry Hill. It was a bizarre experience having footage on all the televisions there.
Human beings jumped to their death picking that as an option to go makes you understand the hellish conditions that they experienced. Thousands of horrifying images exist. Thankfully these images exist for future generations to have a perhaps some sort of understanding what happened that day. Images I will most likely remember for the rest of my life. Even the aftermath seeing the largest almost ridiculously huge buildings in history reduced to tomb of cement and metal. The are various erie images on the Internet, including a shot of the landmark sculpture the sphere which stood outside one of the towers dented and mangled.
The weeks that followed had everyone on edge. I still have the tendency to think to myself...that plan is flying a little low isn't it? Or looks a little too slanted? Isn't the Philadelphia airport in the other direction? We saw New York late night funny men David Letterman and Jon Stewart reduced to tears. We saw American flags on dozens of cars, we lit candles one night collectively as a nation. We discussed it in our classes, we tried to figure out who did this to us and why. We pondered about what could be done to make it safer. We realized what a poor condition the FBI was in. Missteps such as not having enough people to translate Arabic while intercepting messages, lack of organization,cutting the FBI during the 90's, and perhaps being a little too forgiving for the bombing of the USS Cole, and the WTC incident of 1993.
Eventually we got back to about our everyday lives at least those of us who didn't lose anyone directly did.
It wasn't long before we as nation debated if the word God should be in the Pledge of Allegiance. Baseball players childishly quibbled over money. People were wondering if that fruity white kid with the afro would become the American Idol (although hopefully none of my readers were not). The media exploited subjects like Anthrax, and came up with any thing they could to scare up viewers.
Sunday, September 07, 2003
“No Bad Blood”
A few posts ago I mentioned Ryan had disgust for crew members that would rival Dan K. It was mainly just a joke about how he never wanted participate in anything to do with the crew, and avoids Dukes apartment like the plague. It was mainly inserted to give Dan a chuckle. I apparently and succeeded because after the fact he cut and pasted the portion of the article and emailed it to me.
It came to my attention that people took it as Ryan had “bad blood” towards certain people. As far as I know that isn’t the case, so I don’t want people thinking so. Ryan was unavailable for comment, meaning he was likely “At the Gym” or in bed already.
A few posts ago I mentioned Ryan had disgust for crew members that would rival Dan K. It was mainly just a joke about how he never wanted participate in anything to do with the crew, and avoids Dukes apartment like the plague. It was mainly inserted to give Dan a chuckle. I apparently and succeeded because after the fact he cut and pasted the portion of the article and emailed it to me.
It came to my attention that people took it as Ryan had “bad blood” towards certain people. As far as I know that isn’t the case, so I don’t want people thinking so. Ryan was unavailable for comment, meaning he was likely “At the Gym” or in bed already.
Friday, September 05, 2003
"Hockey Armageddon"
Hockey Armageddon is looming. I have been reading my annual NHL preview book and it seems almost every writer is feeling very pessimistic about the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to take place in September of 2004. Some speculate the players and owners are so far apart that there might not be a 2005-6 let alone a 2004-05. Many think that the sky is falling and the lockout is expected to last longer than the one almost a decade ago. I really don’t like what I am hearing.
In one corner we have NHL commissioner Gary Bettman who’s current situation could easily mirror that of the captain of the titanic. The commissioner has seemingly passively stood by as his world continually looms closer to destruction. First off the product on the ice isn’t nearly as entertaining as it was 5 years ago let alone the last time they had a work stoppage. The clutch and grab in the neutral zone has snuffed a good deal of the excitement out of NHL hockey. Bettman has promised again and again to crack down on obstruction but everyone knows its an empty threat. After saying for the 5th time that he was serious last season it he was going to come down on the referees he backed off drastically and by the time Christmas rolled around the obstruction was back to the level it had been the previous seasons. I used to say to non-hockey fans with the right match up, I could sit them down and make them watch one or two games and have them hooked instantly on the sport. I actually turned lots of my friends on to the wonderful sport, but honestly now I don’t think I could convert a non-fan to a fan if I paid them. I have trouble watching an entire game now sometimes.
In the other corner we have Bob Goodenow the head of the players union. Despite the fact that Bettman hasn’t insisted upon it, you can bet your Gordie Howe jersey that he wants a salary cap or at the very least a luxury cap. Goodenow flat out refuses to accept a salary cap for his camp. Apparently he was out of town when the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators went belly-up financially last season. Luckily a bored billionaire purchased Buffalo and the NHL took over the Senators temporally and the franchise seems to be back on their feet for right now. THE NHL NEEDS A SALARY CAP, I REPEAT THE NHL Needs a salary cap.
Without a salary cap this problem will only snowball and many other teams will suffer similar fates. There is simply isn’t enough kind hearted millionaires or money in the league to bail out franchises that annually lose money. What might be a common ground is a Luxury Tax (I believe the NBA has this) it is basically a payment system x amount of money over a certain amount spend on one player will go into supporting the small market teams. I guess kind of like hockey welfare. NHL players granted play a lot more games but it doesn’t make sense to me that their average players make more than the average football players. The NFL (which has a salary cap) is a money making machine, where as more than half of the NHL teams lose money each year. Players that literally score 20 goals are year have multi-million dollar contracts. There seems to be zero chance at this point of the players giving into a salary cap. Better chance of John Leclair being a 50 goal score again I am afraid. Utterly ridiculous.
There is a laundry list of things that the two sides have to agree on before they come to an agreement. Some don’t even make sense to me at all. For example players want to broaden the definition of the term revenues. They want to get a piece of the action from the concessions, advertising, luxury suites and parking money. I don’t see how this could work since most of these things are owned by different companies who get the money for it. For example the majority of the parking for the Flyers is privately owned and has nothing to do with Comcast of the Flyers. The players would also like to see the age that a player can be unrestricted free agent lowered from 31 to 28. There is also talk about shaving the regular season from 82 to 72.
It gets even worse folks. The NHL ABC/ESPN deal expires at the end of this season. So they are going to try to negotiate with a possible non-existent product? Seeing where some markets NHL games barely beat out arena football games, its going to be a tough sell. What about the players contracts if a season doesn’t exist? Does that count as a year on their contract? Will the ESPN have to pre-empt their nights ahead of time only to have to put on Bass masters marathons?
I hate to sound like a broken record, but it even gets worse for the NHL. In order to make this point I have to give you a brief hockey history lesson. In the 1970’s a rival league formed called the World Hockey Association (WHA) and although they were mocked for their orange pucks (hey better on tv right?)and the fact their franchises were constantly folding or relocating they did give the NHL a run for their money during that decade. They managed to bring over some of the biggest names in hockey at the time, from Bobby Hull, to Bernie Parent to Mr. Hockey himself Gordie Howe not to mention countless others. The WHA finally bit the dust in 1979, and their survivors the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), Winnipeg Jets (Phoenix Coyotes now), Quebec Nordiques (Colorado Avalanche), and the Edmonton Oilers (the only WHA team that stayed put) landed in the NHL. Heck old 99 himself started out with Oilers (technically the Huston Areos who basically sold him to the Oilers) when they were the in the WHA.
Curiously enough the WHA is coming back! The 2003-045 season will mark the first season of the WHA2. It starts in 60 days or so with only a handful of teams, but could easily double in a year if enough intrest is sparked. The ball has started rolling for such a movement. Bobby Hull is back as the commissioner of the WHA2 which plans to offer a high level alternate professional hockey league. Entertainment for the whole family they boast. Hmmm. They ran an ad in the Hockey News soliciting franchises if anyone is interested. Now one thing they got against them is some of the major cities simply have no room at the inn. The closest I see a WHA franchise coming to my home is Atlantic City. They would have to either work out a deal with the Bullies or oust them. Because every other rink in this area that could hold such an event is owned by the Flyers in some capacity. I don’t see a fledging league being able to construct their own buildings so they will have to go through markets and see where they can blow the dust off the old stadiums. Winnipeg is close to becoming a team of the WHA2. Other candidates include Pittsburgh, Hamilton, Québec City, Nova Scotia, Saskatoon and Vancouver in Canada, and Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minnestoa (close to filling the papers), Hartford(RETURN OF THE WHALE?), Pittsburgh (big mistake), Los Angeles and Milwaukee (they are actually crazy about hockey out there). I am not sure if they could actually steal teams from the American Hockey League (the AHL, the NHL’s minors where the phantoms play)or not. The AHL is suffering a bit from overload after taking the International Hockey League (IHL) refuges when their league folded a few years back. If an NHL team goes belly up this year could WHA2 team jump in their grave? There already seem to be some doubling up going on here in some fairly big markets.
Orlando Seals, Jacksonville Barracudas, Miami Manatees and Macon (Georgia) Traxx were
pulled out of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (REALLY REALLY Minor League)by owner David Waronker for the WHA2 already. The league plans to have 16 player rosters, more teams the second season at least, and eventually expand into Europe. They come right out on their website and mention their attention is to rock the NHL again. This ain't no IHL or AHL who just sits and lovingly watches the NHL, the WHA is out for round 2. Unlike the XFL's challenge to the NFL that leasted one season the WHA2 is going against a wounded opponent.
The owners might like the WHA2 to get some publicity because it will make the players start sweating bullets if the WHA2 takes off. How can they stop them from drafting players from college and the juniors to play in the 2003-04 season or 2004-05 season? Can Players just refuse to report to team if they are offered something by the WHA? Or will the WHA just make their draft before the NHL and take anyone they want? The NHL certainly doesn’t own rights to college students and junior hockey players. Could some NHL players just say screw it and abandon ship? Brett Hull in the twilight of his career might want to play two more seasons. Maybe he will play his final season in the WHA and help his father out who he recently reconciled with. He has been openly critical about the NHL’s policies and seemingly sides with what the owners have to say. Things got a little out of hand last time the there was a lockout. The Devils owner said to HELL with the small market teams, and Chris Cheilos made a comment about crazy fans doing something to Gary Bettman or his family. It was taken by many as indirect threat. Some players who might have two years left are likely to just walk away from the mess, including Steve Yeserman, Jeremey Roenick, Mark Recchi, Hasek, and Chelios himself to just say screw it and never come back to the NHL, especially if an entire season falls through.
So the WHA2 could jump on players that don’t get resigned at the end of the year, heck there are quite a few that never got signed this summer. Again it raises the question how valid a contact is for a league that never goes back to work. The world cup will still go on unaffected by the CBA, and you be sure players such as Peter Forseberg will just go back to their native countries and play for them. Some people think Peter arguably the best player in the league (sorry Clarkie) will never come back if he plays an entire year over there.
Of course we have a year to see how things pan out. I am actually the first person to even throw in the who WHA2 theory(Can I will let you now the first time I see a writer steal my theory.), but I am sure I am not going to be the last. They went for the NHL’s jugular in the 70’s, why not do it again? The timing is perfect. What is better this time is they have a clean slate and not as much BS to make up new rules. They can design the rules to make it almost impossible to use the trap. Perhaps implement some drastic different meanings for the lines on the rink that the NHL is afraid to do(and rightfully so). Again, maybe its speculation, may the Bob Goodenow’s head isn’t screwed on right, perhaps his shoes are on too tight, and he might just might come to his senses and avoid a lockout. So there isn’t much we can do about the pending NHL Armageddon it’s controlled by people far richer than us, who care less about the game than we do. For now try to enjoy the sport and put it out of your mind, try to enjoy whatever pureness of the game remains in this day in age. Try to forget that every players makes more in two shifts than some people do in a several years. Engulf yourself in the wonderful world of hockey, just keep your eye on the falling sky and look out for ORANGE PUCKS!
Hockey Armageddon is looming. I have been reading my annual NHL preview book and it seems almost every writer is feeling very pessimistic about the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to take place in September of 2004. Some speculate the players and owners are so far apart that there might not be a 2005-6 let alone a 2004-05. Many think that the sky is falling and the lockout is expected to last longer than the one almost a decade ago. I really don’t like what I am hearing.
In one corner we have NHL commissioner Gary Bettman who’s current situation could easily mirror that of the captain of the titanic. The commissioner has seemingly passively stood by as his world continually looms closer to destruction. First off the product on the ice isn’t nearly as entertaining as it was 5 years ago let alone the last time they had a work stoppage. The clutch and grab in the neutral zone has snuffed a good deal of the excitement out of NHL hockey. Bettman has promised again and again to crack down on obstruction but everyone knows its an empty threat. After saying for the 5th time that he was serious last season it he was going to come down on the referees he backed off drastically and by the time Christmas rolled around the obstruction was back to the level it had been the previous seasons. I used to say to non-hockey fans with the right match up, I could sit them down and make them watch one or two games and have them hooked instantly on the sport. I actually turned lots of my friends on to the wonderful sport, but honestly now I don’t think I could convert a non-fan to a fan if I paid them. I have trouble watching an entire game now sometimes.
In the other corner we have Bob Goodenow the head of the players union. Despite the fact that Bettman hasn’t insisted upon it, you can bet your Gordie Howe jersey that he wants a salary cap or at the very least a luxury cap. Goodenow flat out refuses to accept a salary cap for his camp. Apparently he was out of town when the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators went belly-up financially last season. Luckily a bored billionaire purchased Buffalo and the NHL took over the Senators temporally and the franchise seems to be back on their feet for right now. THE NHL NEEDS A SALARY CAP, I REPEAT THE NHL Needs a salary cap.
Without a salary cap this problem will only snowball and many other teams will suffer similar fates. There is simply isn’t enough kind hearted millionaires or money in the league to bail out franchises that annually lose money. What might be a common ground is a Luxury Tax (I believe the NBA has this) it is basically a payment system x amount of money over a certain amount spend on one player will go into supporting the small market teams. I guess kind of like hockey welfare. NHL players granted play a lot more games but it doesn’t make sense to me that their average players make more than the average football players. The NFL (which has a salary cap) is a money making machine, where as more than half of the NHL teams lose money each year. Players that literally score 20 goals are year have multi-million dollar contracts. There seems to be zero chance at this point of the players giving into a salary cap. Better chance of John Leclair being a 50 goal score again I am afraid. Utterly ridiculous.
There is a laundry list of things that the two sides have to agree on before they come to an agreement. Some don’t even make sense to me at all. For example players want to broaden the definition of the term revenues. They want to get a piece of the action from the concessions, advertising, luxury suites and parking money. I don’t see how this could work since most of these things are owned by different companies who get the money for it. For example the majority of the parking for the Flyers is privately owned and has nothing to do with Comcast of the Flyers. The players would also like to see the age that a player can be unrestricted free agent lowered from 31 to 28. There is also talk about shaving the regular season from 82 to 72.
It gets even worse folks. The NHL ABC/ESPN deal expires at the end of this season. So they are going to try to negotiate with a possible non-existent product? Seeing where some markets NHL games barely beat out arena football games, its going to be a tough sell. What about the players contracts if a season doesn’t exist? Does that count as a year on their contract? Will the ESPN have to pre-empt their nights ahead of time only to have to put on Bass masters marathons?
I hate to sound like a broken record, but it even gets worse for the NHL. In order to make this point I have to give you a brief hockey history lesson. In the 1970’s a rival league formed called the World Hockey Association (WHA) and although they were mocked for their orange pucks (hey better on tv right?)and the fact their franchises were constantly folding or relocating they did give the NHL a run for their money during that decade. They managed to bring over some of the biggest names in hockey at the time, from Bobby Hull, to Bernie Parent to Mr. Hockey himself Gordie Howe not to mention countless others. The WHA finally bit the dust in 1979, and their survivors the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), Winnipeg Jets (Phoenix Coyotes now), Quebec Nordiques (Colorado Avalanche), and the Edmonton Oilers (the only WHA team that stayed put) landed in the NHL. Heck old 99 himself started out with Oilers (technically the Huston Areos who basically sold him to the Oilers) when they were the in the WHA.
Curiously enough the WHA is coming back! The 2003-045 season will mark the first season of the WHA2. It starts in 60 days or so with only a handful of teams, but could easily double in a year if enough intrest is sparked. The ball has started rolling for such a movement. Bobby Hull is back as the commissioner of the WHA2 which plans to offer a high level alternate professional hockey league. Entertainment for the whole family they boast. Hmmm. They ran an ad in the Hockey News soliciting franchises if anyone is interested. Now one thing they got against them is some of the major cities simply have no room at the inn. The closest I see a WHA franchise coming to my home is Atlantic City. They would have to either work out a deal with the Bullies or oust them. Because every other rink in this area that could hold such an event is owned by the Flyers in some capacity. I don’t see a fledging league being able to construct their own buildings so they will have to go through markets and see where they can blow the dust off the old stadiums. Winnipeg is close to becoming a team of the WHA2. Other candidates include Pittsburgh, Hamilton, Québec City, Nova Scotia, Saskatoon and Vancouver in Canada, and Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minnestoa (close to filling the papers), Hartford(RETURN OF THE WHALE?), Pittsburgh (big mistake), Los Angeles and Milwaukee (they are actually crazy about hockey out there). I am not sure if they could actually steal teams from the American Hockey League (the AHL, the NHL’s minors where the phantoms play)or not. The AHL is suffering a bit from overload after taking the International Hockey League (IHL) refuges when their league folded a few years back. If an NHL team goes belly up this year could WHA2 team jump in their grave? There already seem to be some doubling up going on here in some fairly big markets.
Orlando Seals, Jacksonville Barracudas, Miami Manatees and Macon (Georgia) Traxx were
pulled out of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (REALLY REALLY Minor League)by owner David Waronker for the WHA2 already. The league plans to have 16 player rosters, more teams the second season at least, and eventually expand into Europe. They come right out on their website and mention their attention is to rock the NHL again. This ain't no IHL or AHL who just sits and lovingly watches the NHL, the WHA is out for round 2. Unlike the XFL's challenge to the NFL that leasted one season the WHA2 is going against a wounded opponent.
The owners might like the WHA2 to get some publicity because it will make the players start sweating bullets if the WHA2 takes off. How can they stop them from drafting players from college and the juniors to play in the 2003-04 season or 2004-05 season? Can Players just refuse to report to team if they are offered something by the WHA? Or will the WHA just make their draft before the NHL and take anyone they want? The NHL certainly doesn’t own rights to college students and junior hockey players. Could some NHL players just say screw it and abandon ship? Brett Hull in the twilight of his career might want to play two more seasons. Maybe he will play his final season in the WHA and help his father out who he recently reconciled with. He has been openly critical about the NHL’s policies and seemingly sides with what the owners have to say. Things got a little out of hand last time the there was a lockout. The Devils owner said to HELL with the small market teams, and Chris Cheilos made a comment about crazy fans doing something to Gary Bettman or his family. It was taken by many as indirect threat. Some players who might have two years left are likely to just walk away from the mess, including Steve Yeserman, Jeremey Roenick, Mark Recchi, Hasek, and Chelios himself to just say screw it and never come back to the NHL, especially if an entire season falls through.
So the WHA2 could jump on players that don’t get resigned at the end of the year, heck there are quite a few that never got signed this summer. Again it raises the question how valid a contact is for a league that never goes back to work. The world cup will still go on unaffected by the CBA, and you be sure players such as Peter Forseberg will just go back to their native countries and play for them. Some people think Peter arguably the best player in the league (sorry Clarkie) will never come back if he plays an entire year over there.
Of course we have a year to see how things pan out. I am actually the first person to even throw in the who WHA2 theory(Can I will let you now the first time I see a writer steal my theory.), but I am sure I am not going to be the last. They went for the NHL’s jugular in the 70’s, why not do it again? The timing is perfect. What is better this time is they have a clean slate and not as much BS to make up new rules. They can design the rules to make it almost impossible to use the trap. Perhaps implement some drastic different meanings for the lines on the rink that the NHL is afraid to do(and rightfully so). Again, maybe its speculation, may the Bob Goodenow’s head isn’t screwed on right, perhaps his shoes are on too tight, and he might just might come to his senses and avoid a lockout. So there isn’t much we can do about the pending NHL Armageddon it’s controlled by people far richer than us, who care less about the game than we do. For now try to enjoy the sport and put it out of your mind, try to enjoy whatever pureness of the game remains in this day in age. Try to forget that every players makes more in two shifts than some people do in a several years. Engulf yourself in the wonderful world of hockey, just keep your eye on the falling sky and look out for ORANGE PUCKS!
Thursday, September 04, 2003
"Mosco Signs Off"
Now the Blog Square is down to a triangle. John Mosco has decided that its time to hang up the old keyboard after 429 days. This leaves Jenna and Mindless, Tucker's World, and TERMINUS as the three remaining crew blogs.
John's blog was the first one that I recall being up. He was by far the most advanced blogger, because he actually used images on his site. He was also the first to have a comments section.
I urge the people that actually read his page to go back and revisit the link and read some of his classics. I don't know if it gets any better than "Match Made in Hell" I don't know awards are given out for blogs but he should get one. Other articles usually had nothing to do with anyone I ever knew. I am sad I will not be able to hear why the Rangers Suck. John was unavailable for contact, which means he wasn't signed on when I posted this.
Maybe the blogging bubble is about the burst or something. Speaking of blogs look back here for some good old fashion hockey talk soon.
Now the Blog Square is down to a triangle. John Mosco has decided that its time to hang up the old keyboard after 429 days. This leaves Jenna and Mindless, Tucker's World, and TERMINUS as the three remaining crew blogs.
John's blog was the first one that I recall being up. He was by far the most advanced blogger, because he actually used images on his site. He was also the first to have a comments section.
I urge the people that actually read his page to go back and revisit the link and read some of his classics. I don't know if it gets any better than "Match Made in Hell" I don't know awards are given out for blogs but he should get one. Other articles usually had nothing to do with anyone I ever knew. I am sad I will not be able to hear why the Rangers Suck. John was unavailable for contact, which means he wasn't signed on when I posted this.
Maybe the blogging bubble is about the burst or something. Speaking of blogs look back here for some good old fashion hockey talk soon.
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