Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Curling Big Board
Resby Coutts has his top 16 Men's Curling teams listed. No surprise to see Kerry Burtnyk as the number one team but there are a few surprises in his list of 16. Check it out here. I take part in a curling draft when the Manitoba Championship comes around as well as take part in the MCA calcutta at the Deer Lodge Curling club so I will put the rankings to good use.
2008 NFL Week 3 Picks - Another Simmons Classic
The Sports Guy Bill Simmons pounded out a great Week 3 picks article. I usually end up reading the picks the following week for some reason but even if the games are already over it is still worth a read. In case you don't want to read the entire article here's some highlights (I wouldn't make a good editor because as you can see I've included a lot of the article).
On fantasy football backlash in the early stages:
When I worked for the Boston Herald in 1995, I pitched a weekly fantasy column to my editors that August; I might as well have been pitching a column about drinking and driving or trying to sleep with underaged girls. They couldn't have said no fast enough.
On fantasy football soaring to new heights in popularity today:
While the Summer Olympics were doing such gangbuster ratings for NBC in August, the most-searched term on ESPN.com for those two weeks wasn't "Olympics" or "Phelps" or even "Sacramone." You know what it was? That's right … "fantasy football." A few weeks later, the Eagles-Cowboys game became the most-watched cable event of all time. You might think this was a coincidence. You would be wrong.
On what makes fantasy football so great:
Miss out on fantasy, and you miss out on the draft, biting e-mails, jokes, barbs, funny team names, inane arguments, idiotic trade offers and everything else. In some cases (like with me and my East Coast friends, who have something like 58 kids among us), the draft is the only day of the year when you're in touch with friends who were once essential parts of your day-to-day life. Look, I support anything that keeps friends in touch, keeps them arguing and keeps them busting each other's balls for five months a year. That's why I love fantasy over everything else.
On Vikings fans:
Booing Tarvaris Jackson during that Colts debacle wasn't nearly effective enough this past weekend; the Vikings' fans should have been singing "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails or chanting, "You're ripping out our souls! You're ripping out our souls!"
Observation I've made before but would never have been able to put it in such a way:
If you made an All-Star team for "Athletes with Latino Names Who Look Like Their Name Should Actually Be Something Like Jimmy Scott or Rick Stevens," would you call it the Jeff Garcia All-Stars or the Anthony Gonzalez All-Stars?
On Peyton Manning:
after unleashing a Hall of Fame Manning Face in the first half, no less -- and the thing that stood out was how, after a certain point, when Minny kept blowing chances to blow that game wide open, it became patently clear that Manning was going to make the Vikings pay, no matter how grim things looked. Now that, my friends, is a great player. I now will wash my eyes out with paprika.
Finally, one of the best rants I have ever read:
Three more notes about my Sunday in the airport (we were there for a wedding and grounded by weather delays): First, a belated middle finger to everyone working at the diner who refused to change the channel from NASCAR to the Colts game even though nobody was watching the TV. I'm sorry, I worked in a restaurant once upon a time -- you can't tell me you "don't know where the remote is" when we both know you are just more interested in texting your friends. By the way, that was me who went into the bathroom and peed all over the toilet seat. Sorry about that. Second, just when I thought the day couldn't get worse, my daughter pulled the fire alarm and nearly caused a riot. I continue to hate every one of my friends who told me, "You have to have kids -- they're the best!" Burn in hell, all of you. And third, I finally found a TV that was showing CNN. One lady was watching it. Telepathically, I convinced her to go to the bathroom within 35 seconds. I know that's hard to believe, but it couldn't have been a coincidence that I stared at her thinking, "Bathroom, bathroom, you have to go, bathroom," and then she just got up and went. Then I turned it to the Colts game. This made up for everything else you read in this paragraph. I briefly turned into Uri Geller. It happened, and you can't tell me it didn't.
On fantasy football backlash in the early stages:
When I worked for the Boston Herald in 1995, I pitched a weekly fantasy column to my editors that August; I might as well have been pitching a column about drinking and driving or trying to sleep with underaged girls. They couldn't have said no fast enough.
On fantasy football soaring to new heights in popularity today:
While the Summer Olympics were doing such gangbuster ratings for NBC in August, the most-searched term on ESPN.com for those two weeks wasn't "Olympics" or "Phelps" or even "Sacramone." You know what it was? That's right … "fantasy football." A few weeks later, the Eagles-Cowboys game became the most-watched cable event of all time. You might think this was a coincidence. You would be wrong.
On what makes fantasy football so great:
Miss out on fantasy, and you miss out on the draft, biting e-mails, jokes, barbs, funny team names, inane arguments, idiotic trade offers and everything else. In some cases (like with me and my East Coast friends, who have something like 58 kids among us), the draft is the only day of the year when you're in touch with friends who were once essential parts of your day-to-day life. Look, I support anything that keeps friends in touch, keeps them arguing and keeps them busting each other's balls for five months a year. That's why I love fantasy over everything else.
On Vikings fans:
Booing Tarvaris Jackson during that Colts debacle wasn't nearly effective enough this past weekend; the Vikings' fans should have been singing "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails or chanting, "You're ripping out our souls! You're ripping out our souls!"
Observation I've made before but would never have been able to put it in such a way:
If you made an All-Star team for "Athletes with Latino Names Who Look Like Their Name Should Actually Be Something Like Jimmy Scott or Rick Stevens," would you call it the Jeff Garcia All-Stars or the Anthony Gonzalez All-Stars?
On Peyton Manning:
after unleashing a Hall of Fame Manning Face in the first half, no less -- and the thing that stood out was how, after a certain point, when Minny kept blowing chances to blow that game wide open, it became patently clear that Manning was going to make the Vikings pay, no matter how grim things looked. Now that, my friends, is a great player. I now will wash my eyes out with paprika.
Finally, one of the best rants I have ever read:
Three more notes about my Sunday in the airport (we were there for a wedding and grounded by weather delays): First, a belated middle finger to everyone working at the diner who refused to change the channel from NASCAR to the Colts game even though nobody was watching the TV. I'm sorry, I worked in a restaurant once upon a time -- you can't tell me you "don't know where the remote is" when we both know you are just more interested in texting your friends. By the way, that was me who went into the bathroom and peed all over the toilet seat. Sorry about that. Second, just when I thought the day couldn't get worse, my daughter pulled the fire alarm and nearly caused a riot. I continue to hate every one of my friends who told me, "You have to have kids -- they're the best!" Burn in hell, all of you. And third, I finally found a TV that was showing CNN. One lady was watching it. Telepathically, I convinced her to go to the bathroom within 35 seconds. I know that's hard to believe, but it couldn't have been a coincidence that I stared at her thinking, "Bathroom, bathroom, you have to go, bathroom," and then she just got up and went. Then I turned it to the Colts game. This made up for everything else you read in this paragraph. I briefly turned into Uri Geller. It happened, and you can't tell me it didn't.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Curling just around the Corner Guard
Last week was registration week for most curling clubs in the city of Winnipeg. Once again, I will be playing on Wednesday nights at the Deer Lodge Curling Club. Last year I lost a lot of playing time due to work but this I year I am in a position to play a lot more and I couldn't be happier.
My wife and I have signed up for Mixed Curling at the Fort Rouge Curling Club on Fridays. We curl with a group of friends and it's quite fun. With two kids now it is a little more difficult but we are prepared to enter into the realm of hired babysitters.
On the curling spectator front we are planning on going to the Brier in Calgary which would make 4 straight Briers.
Keep an eye out for the curler.com's MB Men's preview post. I know Resby has been itching to get back into full curling mode. His posts last year on the top 32 were very good and pretty bang on.
My wife and I have signed up for Mixed Curling at the Fort Rouge Curling Club on Fridays. We curl with a group of friends and it's quite fun. With two kids now it is a little more difficult but we are prepared to enter into the realm of hired babysitters.
On the curling spectator front we are planning on going to the Brier in Calgary which would make 4 straight Briers.
Keep an eye out for the curler.com's MB Men's preview post. I know Resby has been itching to get back into full curling mode. His posts last year on the top 32 were very good and pretty bang on.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Feels like coming out of retirement...just like Favre!
Another lengthy delay in posting....whoops! I thought about putting an end to the blog but I just couldn't do it.
So I'm going to do a rundown on everything that's happened since August 25th...NOT. Man, the NOT joke was pretty annoying but still kinda funny. I loved the comedy coach teaching Borat the NOT joke routine.
Here's a real mixed equipment bag of sports related stuff that's been getting stinky waiting to be aired out...
Milt Stegall Drive - since I only live about a Favre to Cotchery TD bomb away from Milt Stegall Drive (I really should have had a Glenn to Stegall TD bomb reference there but since I haven't seen one yet this year I just couldn't do it) I want to start with the Bombers.
So I'm going to do a rundown on everything that's happened since August 25th...NOT. Man, the NOT joke was pretty annoying but still kinda funny. I loved the comedy coach teaching Borat the NOT joke routine.
Here's a real mixed equipment bag of sports related stuff that's been getting stinky waiting to be aired out...
Milt Stegall Drive - since I only live about a Favre to Cotchery TD bomb away from Milt Stegall Drive (I really should have had a Glenn to Stegall TD bomb reference there but since I haven't seen one yet this year I just couldn't do it) I want to start with the Bombers.
- It makes me sick that the team has a head coach (hired for his offensive experience) and an offensive coordinator but allows the QB to call the plays. A QB that was benched at the start of the season. This doesn't make sense to me.
- The Argos are 4-6 and canned their head coach to bring in CFL legend Don Mathews to guide the team the rest of the way. The TiCats canned their head coach too. The Bombers continue to roll with Doug Berry...who doesn't even operate the offense.
- How does Tom Canada tell the GM he won't report to Hamilton then seek his own medical advice and is now on the 9 game injury list?? Who's running the show here? I'm one in favor of unloading Canada. He is a fan favorite and by all accounts a really nice guy who likes Winnipeg but he is too slow. If he gets help from his defense and the play is at him then he makes a splashy play but far too often he can't recover or make plays on his own.
The Forks - I participated in the Manitoba Dragon Boat Festival in support of the Canadian Cancer Society last week-end. It was an intense physical effort that drained my body and took a day and a half to recover. This was my second year. It's a fun and safe event and I value participating in fundraising events at the Forks (especially on the river!).
One Portage Ave East - Goldeyes Baseball at CanWest Global Park. The Goldeyes lost to the Gary Railcats in playoff action over the week-end and that brought an end to the 2008 season. I took my family and joined my parents and friends at the game. It seems every year my family starts the summer off with a Goldeyes game and brings it to a close with playoff ball. This trip marked the first ball game for my son Drayson.
Sackville Street - I have spent most of my computer time on fantasy football. I've had my fill of week 1 preview, games, highlights, analysis, etc. so I'm not inclined to say too much but here are my four downs:
- Brady out for the year. Defense was the key to success this year anyway..just means even more so now.
- Favre/Rodgers - nothing interesting about this story but it goes on and on and on and on..
- Raiders - a team shouldn't be this bad.
- Bengals - a team shouldn't be this bad.
I better sign off this post and just ease my way back into it. Lots of exciting things coming up..
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