Kissena Pigskin Cash

I am reporting that the 2007 Kissena Pigskin Cash ESPN Fantasy Football site is now live as of 07/05/07 at 1900hrs. For all those involved in the keeper league please check the site and your e-mail for more details.

Road Trip Review

Last week, the annual Great American Baseball Road Trip took place...
Following the success of the quickly thrown together trip to Cleveland and Pittsburgh last season, this years trip was less strenuous, more planned out, and did not disappoint.

The destinations were Baltimore and Philadelphia... Their opponents were the Yankees and the Mets. How would cheering on our respective home teams go in visiting parks? Very well...

We (Big Nasty, Bad Steve, Young James, and Anthony (no nickname)) drove down from NY on Thursday. It was a brutally hot day and made for a general group malaise upon arrival in dilapidated Baltimore. After walking around the humid, beggar-laden harbor for a bit and getting our pre-game eat and drink on, we went over to the breath-taking Camden Yards. Not sure what else one would want out of a ballpark than that. Perhaps a real team to play in it maybe.

There were too many Yankees fans in our section. It was like we were in Yankee Stadium, except everyone was white and knew each other... Not really a fun group to be stuck around. So there was absolutely no threat of getting into anything with any of the Orioles fans unfortunate enough to be where we were sitting.

The game was tight between Wang and Cabrera... Typical entertaining AL game: lots of back and forth and running around bases... Then the clouds opened up and the night was pretty fucked. We left our seats for higher, drier ground... And we found our way to a couple groups that felt the need to punch each other in the heads based on their rooting interests. The guys in the Ripken t-shirts were on one side against the black guys who weren't security guards.

We waited out a couple rain delays and the game was eventually called with the Yankees leading by 2 in the 8th, to be picked up from that point on July 27th when the Yankees come back to town. Don't think we're gonna drive down to see it when play resumes. Scott Proctor can blow that lead without our help for sure. The rain did let up but we were left soggy so we just walked around lovely Baltimore and called it a night. The highlight of our trip to the hotel was accidentally walking thru the mega-sketchy strip-club block and having one of the barker's say, "I smell pussies" after we declined his invite to come in with no cover charge. Fucking degenerates.

The next morning we headed right out for Philly for the 1:30 game... Of course, the rain resumed in the morning and it looked like another shit day for a ballgame.
Fortunately, it let up and the game started as scheduled. They do have some really good food options at Citizen's Bank Park... but all in all it wasn't as nice as some of the other parks we've gone to (hard to get to our seats, can't walk around stadium without detours, parking and traffic a bitch, far from downtown).

After some shenanigans by Charlie Manuel got El Duque pissed off,

things were looking good for the visiting Mets as my man Delgado smashed a homer out of this ballparks silly dimensions.
There were plenty of Mets fans here... But they were spaced out whereas the Yankee fans seemed more clustered in Camden. When the Mets opened up a 5 run lead, it was time to go exploring...

While waiting on a line for some ice cream, some poor woman got hit by a mustard bomb. I didn't see it happen, but I heard it. And after it happened, no joke, she was wiping mustard off her face for 10 minutes (a lot of people wanted ice cream so I got a long look at the mess). I felt bad for her. It was right in front of the "smoking pen" which is gross in its own right, and many people were laughing. I didn't laugh, but I did feel the need to document her plight. Mustard bomb lady, if you're out there, I feel for you.

Any ticket holder can get dangerously close to the visitor's bullpen here. In fact I might have gotten a steroid contact high just from standing there.

When we got back to our seats, Jose Reyes was stewing for being called out trying to steal. The replay showed he was safe, but he really acted like a baby about it between innings, refusing to put his glove and hat on, not throwing the ball around, needing the Latino coalition to counsel him...

Mota and the rest of the pen did what they could to give the game back, but Billy da Kid was coming on in the 9th, much to the delight of the fans, especially the dick in the Romano jersery...

A "Let's Go Phillies" chant was quickly turned around into "Let's go Billy" and stupid Phillie fans clapped along with us... 3 up, and 3 k's later, Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business" was being sung by a horribly clapping Anthony and it was party time.

After a miserable time getting out of the parking lot (gotta love split double-headers), we headed to the famous dueling Cheesesteak spots, Pat's and Geno's.

Going off anonymous recommendations and appearance of the lines, we opted for Pat's.
Cheez whiz, onions, and steak is the bomb.

We then checked into our nice downtown Philly hotel and got in shape for the night-time activities. This is Anthony's hairy left foot while ironing. His pinky toe nails were the subject of much ballyhoo.

For the second game of the double header, we cheered the Mets on at a local pub. After Wagner closed the Phillies out again and we exchanged high-fives, a girl behind us asked to no one in particular, "Do they realize they're in Philadelphia? New York Mother Fuckers." That was fun. We eventually moved on to the next establishment where we were treated much better by the lovely women of Philadelphia the rest of the night.

All in all, a great trip, with Baltimore having the nicer ballpark, but Philly having the waaaay nicer city for a young man.

And as a treat, here's the CD that was made especially for the trip that never made it due to a good ol' CD burner malfunction. Enjoy.

The Podium Girls' Burden

Sure seems like an easy payday... Stand up there, look pretty, and give a peck on the cheek to the victorious athlete.

But check out Mr. Schleck's snot drip shortly after peddling to victory in the 4th Stage of the Tour de Suisse in Liechtenstein Tuesday...

That's some nasty shit... I give the chicks some credit for hanging in there and finishing the job.

One would think having a name like Schleck and looking all nasty in biker shorts and shit would turn the girls away... However, judging by this pic of him smirking on the cell with the broad to his right, he's doing mighty fine.

I always hated guys who do faggy things and pull hot bitches. These bastards may be the worst of them. But checking out some of these pics, I wonder if it's not too late for me to stuff a sock in my draws and squeeze into some spandex, throw on some Oakley's and a Pop Tarts jacket, do a few dozen cycles of anabolics, and get in the race.

If Landis can get a spritey looking chick

and Mr. Pink Tie-Dyed Discovery Channel Shirt dork can get this girl rubbing up on him...

then what's stopping me?

Oh yeah... talent, ambition, and a sponsor. Damn.

Before the House of Hilton Bred Whores

Before the House of Hilton Bred Whores….

June 13th, 2007
There’s a great quip told that when someone wants to act stupid, get out of their way and let them. This general notion, I submit, needs to be extended to cover other acts. Considering there has been much concern expressed that Paris may be putting her own mortality in jeopardy, I say, if someone wants to kill themselves, let’s do the same thing we’d do when someone comes around wanting to act stupid — get the hell out of their way and let them. In the case of Paris Hilton, or any other slobberish, sleazy, starlet (or star), I, for one, just don’t give a damn. If you ask me what I think — and thousands that I don’t have the time to individually respond to do — I think it’s much better to have the ruinously run lives rotting underground rather than having them run loose ruining the lives of the many above it. I know, I know. You’d never say it — but you knew I would. You’re welcome.
Years ago, long before Paris Hilton, conceived by disinterested sperm and egg donors too regal and haughty to ever be caretaking parents themselves (so raised by nannies), blossomed into the cheap, self-centered scofflaw and squealing tramp she is today, I discovered a great, powerful book in a bedside drawer one night while staying, weirdly enough it seems to me now, in a eponymously named Hilton Hotel, the Hotel empire her Great-Grandfather founded and built. Since Paris is going to have some free, uninterrupted time on her hands over the next couple of weeks (in between ingesting all the psychiatric drugs she needs to sustain her insanity), she might want to read it. I really doubt that she ever has.
No, I don’t mean the ubiquitous Bible you can find in nearly every hotel room. I mean “Be My Guest,” written by Conrad Hilton, her Great-Grandfather. If she took the time to turn its pages (and, yes, phonetically slur her way through pages, of course) she’d discover just what kind of timid, third-rate adventurer and wanton, fallen angel she truly is. She’d also discover, perhaps shamefully so, what hard work, perseverance and integrity her remarkable Great-Grandfather invested of himself to not only succeed at building the Hilton empire, which she and her siblings and other relatives now parasitically revel in, but what life principles he observed and honed to truly become a man who lived a full, powerful and grand life that came to be admired by people from all over the World (see book link and PDF Biography file attached).
Unfortunately, Paris Hilton was destined to become the ungrateful, snobbish, pretentious, pouty-lipped skank she has become. Her Dad — one half of the atrocious parent couple she was spawned to — got his lessons of ingratitude from his own father, Barron Hilton, one of Conrad’s sons. When Conrad passed away, still competently running the company at 91 years of age before he suddenly died of natural causes, Barron disagreed with his old man’s will-ed wishes to leave each sibling only $250,000 and most of the rest to the Roman Catholic Church. So after they laid Conrad to rest, eulogizing, I suspect, what a great and worthy father and man he was, Barron went to pissing all over his old man’s fresh grave as he got busy contesting his final, dying wishes. Mind you, never publicly contesting his father’s saneness or the fact that his Dad was the one that built the empire and that it was his wealth and money to do with what he damn well pleased.
No, he went and hired some shameless lawyers (likely at his dead Dad’s expense) who were semantically well-versed in the kind of stylish, obfuscating language that works real well when performing the fantastic storytelling demanded by fabricated legal briefs, the kind of language and stories that his own tough, upstanding father never put up with and many times punched right back into the smart-assed mouths of the same kind of litigious smart-asses. Decently raised to know that blood is thicker than water, Barron figured he’d one-up his Dad and take mentoring to the next level by teaching future generation of Hiltons that huge stacks of cash, piled greedily one atop another, are even thicker than blood. Of course, it’s always easier to make your court case when the defendant is dead. Then again, what do any of us plebeians know? Hundreds of millions of dollars might just be enough to cover the ransom your conscience forever demands once you hang this kind of covetous guilt around your own neck. Seems to work pretty well today for some of our most notable celebrities, including politicians.
It’s interesting to pay serious attention here to the deterioration parallels. They aren’t a coincidence. The character of the Hilton name has fallen in disgrace at the same pace and level as America’s, and most American’s, cultural integrity. Less than 100 years ago it was pride in the job one provided and the quality of principle the individual practiced that created and stood for success. Now it’s how pathetically low your behavior can go and how many paparazzi will jeopardize their own life and limb to sychophantically follow you around photographing your vulgar acts one after the other. All of the latter, mind you, now financed by the former.
Even those you might expect to stand up for regard of the law are, in the way they are handling the coverage of this, confessing their own ignorance and two-faced deceit. Many presumably knowledgeable pundits (including conservative Fox News personalities) have said, “Paris isn’t being treated fairly, she’s definitely getting a raw deal.”
Like hell she is. What and Who are getting a raw deal are our laws and the law-abiding citizens of this country. Laws are not unfair or fair. The law is simply THE LAW. It just IS. What the law is, is what the law is. Plain and simple. Laws are not (supposed) to be subject to relativity. Once they are, they are no longer laws. We can, again, thank the deteriorated culture and its relativity that this “anarchy” is becoming more and more the case. Using previous instances of leniency shown to other celebrity lawbreakers, some even committing more serious crimes, is not the gauge to use to determine appropriate punishment for Paris. The punishments already on the books are! Just as it was in every other lenient punishment enforcement instance before now. Unfortunately, in those previous instances no one was paying attention to it as so many are now because of the frenzied media debate going on. The leniency that was applied wrongly before is not what anyone should being use, now, to judge what is fair or unfair for Paris. Instead of once again using popularity, feelings and program ratings to rationalize continued leniency, what should be done is that an end is put to any more tolerance of it once and for all. Once punishment for breaking the law is determined by popularity, celebrity status and money, those who don’t have these things, yet have the decency and discipline to abide by the laws, are the very ones being treated unfairly and getting the raw deal.
If Paris Hilton is the prostitute now finding herself being made the example, so be it. We all come to make the beds we lie in. She’s made hers, too. And you can bet it’s not the filthiest one she’s ever been handcuffed to. Give me a break. She’s an absolute tramp. Her $1000 an ounce perfumes can’t begin to conceal her slutty stench.
Who knows, maybe she will become better for having the experience. She admits she “used to act dumb,” says she is through with it — isn’t going to act dumb anymore. She also says, “God has given me this new chance,” and that she’s “much more spiritual” and her “spirit and soul did not like the way I was being seen.” She’s even said she “might build Paris Hilton playhouses, where sick children might come, and the toy companies could donate toys.” Of course, I’m not holding my breath. And, since this all began, I haven’t lost one minute of sleep. One thing for sure. After saying these dumb things in the same interview she informs us she’s no longer going to act dumb, it’s obvious she means that she intends to drop the dumb act after she gets out of jail, not before.

Conrad Hilton Biography-PDF file
Your Founding Father of Ring Intensity,
Always Believe,
Warrior

Mets v. Mercenary

You know this prick wanted no part of this series.
In 10 career regular-season starts against the Mets, Clemens is 3-5 with a 5.14 earned run average. And now he's even older and hasn't faced a major league lineup this year. And the Mets lineup isn't loaded with the likes of Rey Ordonez and Jeromy Burnitz anymore.
Billy must've thought he was pitching against the D-Backs otherwise he wouldn't have showed up for that series.
When A-Rod hit the homerun off the facade of the upper deck in left Wednesday night, the whole team jumped off the bench to cheer. Not Clemens. He sat and high-fived his steroid supplier his groin masseuse. A million dollars a start? For this bastard? I really don't know how you cheer for these assholes.
Yanks have won 9 in a row. Mets have dropped 9 of 10. 2 teams heading in different directions. But the Mets are in first with a 2 game lead, the Yanks are in second, 7 1/2 out. I have a feeling this is just the wake up call Ricky Ledee and the Mets need. Win or lose, it's nice to know I'll still have a soul. Yankees fans can't quite say the same.

I think it's time for a little payback for a couple incidents many moons ago.

What Shawn Estes tried to do wasn't enough for me.

Barring what would be a violent World Series, this is the last time the Mets face this asshole.

For real this time. Let's embarrass this douchebag.

Tony Larussa Ultimate Baseball Inspired WIS Sim League

Given the recent success filling the All Black QB Football League over at WhatIfSports.com, Inappropriate Hugs is back at again, this time with a league for good ol’ baseball.

The league is themed after the classic Tony Larussa Ultimate Baseball game. While Larussa may be right up there on my All-Time Sports Douchebag list, I was always able to look beyond his frightening face and waste countless hours playing the game he helped design.

As a freshman in college (a good 6 years after the game came out mind you) my roommates and I played out an entire 162 game schedule on the PC. A nice mix of introversion, alcohol, insomnia, awful weather, lack of responsibility and money, and dedication helped us achieve such a lofty goal.

Well since those halcyon days of youth, things have gotten more complicated and I can no longer shirk away from life completely and disappear into a magical world filled with crappy graphics, shitty sound, and Tony Larussa along with some friends.
But now, thanks to the brainwork of the guys at WhatIfSports, I can try and reconstruct the days gone by using their SimLeague Baseball simulator. In putting the league together, I tried to keep to a lot of the same principles of the old Larussa game.

Anyway, here are the ground rules:

• Each team owner must choose one MLB franchise to represent and can only pick players from that team to fill their roster. No 2 owners can represent the same team. The league will be made up of 24 teams, so naturally some of the current teams won’t make the cut based on what teams the public demands. See the comments section for a list of available teams. In honor of the team I played with in my Tony Larussa league 10 years ago, I have selected the Minnesota Twins. My apologies to the nice people up there that would have liked to take them.
• Unlike the Tony Larussa game, I’m limiting the players to the period of time from 1985 to 2006 for the Sim League. In the old game, you would end up having matchups like Honus Wagner vs. Christy Mathewson. While that’s cool, I’m more interested in seeing players I know involved. Grover Cleveland Alexander might pwn Andre Dawson, but I don’t really care to find out.
• You cannot have the same player on your team more than once. It may be nice to have an outfield made up of Barroid Bonds seasons 2001-2003, but I’m not allowing it. Unlike the Larussa game, 2 different teams can have the same player though (example, both the Pirates and Giants can have Bonds on their rosters).
• Owners must place their team in their home ballpark (any parks that team played at from 85’-06’ are eligible).
• Team names must contain the city/state of the team first so it is easily identifiable. Feel free to bastardize the team nickname.
• A team salary cap of $100 million has been instituted. This will level the playing field so the owners that picked the better franchises over the past 20 years don’t have a huge edge. It also means more role players/bad pitchers get to be involved which makes for a fun time. In the old Larussa game, the older franchises had a huge edge because they had a bigger time span to pick players from. The salary cap will limit that problem for franchises that weren’t around in 85’.
• Trades will be permitted once league is filled to allow owners to address any weaknesses/over strengths your team may have.
• The AL teams will have a DH spot, the NL will not. The leagues will be realigned when filled up to adjust the divisions correctly.
• When selecting a team to represent, you must post in the comments section below which team you want. You will then have 6 hours to signup for the league and fill the roster for your team. If you don’t, that team will be available to others again (doing this as a follow up to my lessons learned from the football league).
• League is restricted to newbies of the SimLeague Baseball game.
  

To join and play for free, click on the link and use Promo Code FXFBSLB7 and join Sim League Baseball League ID MLB67335. See the comments section for teams still available in the league. The league is open to all readers, and it'd be nice to get a cross-section of fans across this great land to fill it up.

In addition to the prize from WhatIfSports, the owner of the winning team will get 2 other bonus prizes:

1) A 1990 Donruss rookie card from one of the best, most steroid abusing players of this era, 2-time AL MVP, Juan Gonzalez.

2) A 1991 NY Mets Calendar. Not exactly glory days.

Signup now and pick your favorite team… the promotional code expires at the end of the month.

Attention Ladies and Gentlemen...

Your 2007 Song of the Summer has come out:

Stronger - Kanye West, featuring Daft Punk


Version has an annoying DJ talking over parts... Guess he doesn't want to be murdered for the leak...
Edit (6/10) Old link didn't work anymore... Found new link w/ out dj if anyone interested...

But damn... this song is the shit. Can't wait for the retail version...

"You know how long I been on ya,
Since Prince was on Apollonia
Since OJ had Isotoner’s
Don’t act like I never told ya."

Enjoy! (or ignore, I know that Kanye rubs many people the wrong way).

Oh... and to bring it back to sports... maybe there's some fight in these 2007 Yanks after all... Bizarro game tonight. Yanks blow 4-0 lead in the 5th (nothing new there), but they fight back late w/ A-Rod hitting the GW HR in the 9th off Papelbon... Rivera capped it off by retiring Ortiz, Ramirez, and Lowell in the bottom of the 9th (while hitting that huge goatee wearing clown Youkilis again). Turning point? We'll see...

Nice to have Benitez back at Shea...

What a fun night to be a Mets fan...

And I was even fortunate enough to be at the game.

After pre-gaming with Bad Steve (the birthday boy) and Tony G at El Chicano's on the corner of 114th St and Roosevelt Ave prior to the game, we were raring to tear into Bonds, Linecum and the rest of the Giants from our Mezzanine level left-field seats.

Well, by the time we made it around to our seats, Ollie Perez and the Mets were down 2-0 courtesy of a leadoff homerun by Randy Winn and a solo shot by another pure evil Molina boy, and some guy named Ortmeier was playing in Left field.

Perez settled in though, and my man Delgado continued to show signs of being a bear waking up from hibernation tying the game with the Mets first hit of the night in the 4th...

The other Carlos, contributed with a double to bring in Reyes in the 6th, but the lead didn't hold for long as that Bonds fill in guy hit a home run to tie the game off Perez in the 7th.

In the 9th, the Mets had a chance to win it, but Julio Franco (or, as the 4o something year old guy sitting behind us refered to him, "Dad") couldn't get the ball past fellow senior citizen Omar Vizquel.

I always hated Vizquel, but man, he is smooth in the field.

After that, the Giants decided to use the bullet they had on the bench in Bonds... Needless to say, he wasn't given a hero's welcome.

Fittingly, he walked and never came around to score. Interesting to note, Ben Johnson made his Mets debut tonight... The Giants however did scrap together a run off Joe Smith in the 12th, leaving the game in the hands of their closer and former Mets "closer" Armando Benitez, much to the delight of this guy, who waited the whole game to see him come out and blow it.

Not suprisingly, the fans didn't seem to care much for all the great work Benitez did for the Mets some years ago...

Reyes led off with a walk, moved to second on a balk by the never secure Benitez and moved to 3rd on a sacrifice by Endy. That brought up Beltran who needed nothing more than a simple sacrifice fly to tie the game up. And he grounded out to the drawn in second baseman.
That left it for my man Delgado... And before the 1st pitch, Reyes was coming home on another balk by Benitez.
Man can Armando fall apart. I almost feel for Giants fans (if they didn't support a steroid laden asshole, maybe I would)...
And Delgado put Armando and the Giants out of their misery with his game-winning, second home run of the game.

Some fun post game quotes about Benitez' latest meltdown:
Delgado: "It's not my problem," Delgado said. "His job is to pitch and my job is to hit."
Benitez: "I lost the game"

It's nice to have the cool players on my team finally.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Please remember in your hearts all that have given up their lives for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in present and past wars on foreign and domestic soil.

Inappropriate Emails on Inappropriate Hugs

The offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers is currently in trouble for sending some "inappropriate emails" to a plethora of NFL employees, including the head honcho Roger Goodell. Whoops.

Come on though, I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Who hasn't sent pornographic emails to the NFL Commissioner? I know I regularly send him as much smut as I can on a regular basis.

I guess I just don't understand the culture of NFL management.

Time Is Going Really Really Really Really Slow

Not a sports story per se, but still funny:

What, me worry?

Last night the Yankees let the league know that they're really not concerned with their awful start be sending out rookie Alfred E. Neuman to the mound. And what do you know, the ugly freckle and pimple faced punk (going by the assumed name Tyler Clippard) got the job done in a big spot as the Yankees beat the Mets 6-2 to salvage a win in the 3 game series.

As a Mets fan, this series didn't leave me feeling too proud in spite of winning 2 of 3. The team looked very flat last night and they nearly blew a big lead on Saturday. If Cano wasn't so awful at 2nd, and if a couple pitches were called balls instead of strikes, the Mets could have been swept. That's not the way you want to perform against a struggling lineup with a beat up rotation and over-taxed bullpen.

Now the Mets go to Atlanta where they need to make up for some losses earlier in the year and the Yankees face Boston in what's kind of a big series for them. If they can't get it going with Wang, Mussina, and Petitte throwing, this could be the end for Torre.

Giambi: All of baseball should apologize for steroids, revere Bonds...

In today's USA Today (you can find a trampled over copy at the doorstep of any hotel room across this great country), Yankees DH Jason Giambi gives some contradictory statements about steroids:

"We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. … Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it."

When asked, "So why did you take steroids?" Giambi said: "Maybe one day I'll talk about it, but not now."

Well shit Jason... Nobody wanted to talk about steroids, and here's brave little ol' you talking about steroids but not answering questions about them. Are you waiting until your playing days are over to bust out a juicy (pun-intended) novella about your steroid use and how your idol Mark McBeef initiated you into the scene? Yeah, you probably shouldn't say too much just yet... Maybe one day though... Asshole.

He further goes on to say:

"That stuff didn't help me hit home runs. I don't care what people say, nothing is going to give you that gift of hitting a baseball."

Hmmm... While you can obviously hit a baseball without the aid of steroids, it is odd that your slugging percentage has come down .100 points since your heyday in a pitcher friendly Oakland park after moving to left hand hitter friendly Yankee Stadium. And I'm pretty sure scientists, doctors, etc. have proven that steroid use will increase strength which should help to hit the ball further (with other side effects of course).

In support of Barroid:

"Barry is one of the greatest players, if not the greatest, I'll ever see play," says Giambi, who has hit 355 career home runs. "I know people have a tough time accepting it, but what he's doing is unbelievable. And I don't care what people say — nothing is going to give you that gift of hitting a baseball.

"Barry is like the great white shark," Giambi says, "the greatest killing machine on the planet. All it does is swim and eat.
"If you sit from afar, and look at him, that's Barry.
"Barry's motivation is to be the best baseball player this game has ever seen. And if you're in his way, he'll tell you, 'You better get (out of the way), you're ruining my mojo.' "

Who cares Bonds did/does steroids? Look at the fucking havoc he's causing. Big shit, he broke the rules, used illegal substances. Look at the fucking power he has. C'mon. Stop fucking with his mojo.

Jason Giambi... Dumber than a bag of hammers. Enjoy sitting on the bench at Shea and watching your team get stomped, asshole.

What the fuck are you drinking there anyway? Does Red Bull make you a special brew of just taurine? Do they throw bulls testicles in a blender, put it on chop and pour it into a bottle just for you? That's just nasty man.

By the way readers, keep on signing the Bonds asterisk petition. It's doubled in signatures thanks to people like you!

Hey Soulja Boi You Ain't Ready For War

Just checked out Metsblog.com and saw this story...

Oh boy... Looks like when Mets "prospect" Lastings Milledge isn't working hard to fulfill his potential as a baseball player, he's working hard as CEO/Rapper for Soulja Boi Records.

Yes, that's Lastings on the right, with his star in the making, Manny D on the left. And Lastings can be heard but not understood at his site rapping about diamonds and different ho's every night along with Manny D on "Bend Ya Knees".

Somehow, I don't see this working out too well for him with the Mets and the image they're currently portraying.

Guess we won't be able to get Dontrelle for him anytime soon. Too bad. At least it's a fun sideshow.

Get your Complimentary Whatifsports.com SimLeague Football Team On…

I came across a promotional code for the whatifsports SimLeague Football game…
Looks like they’re trying to get some interest in the game during the football off season.

If you’re not already a whatifsports user, when you get to the whatifsports homepage enter in the following promotional code towards the bottom left side of the screen: FXSLF7

If you’re already a member, enter the code by going to the WIS tab at the top of the screen and selecting Promotional Code.

If you’re becoming a new member, please enter the website thru the links found here so we get our rightful props for new recruits.

The Promo Code must be used before May 31, so the clocks ticking. And there’s no telling when they’ll nullify the code since I’m flaunting it at such a popular site here. Get in there and do it…

Now that you know how to get the free game, here’s how I would like it to be used:

I’ve put together a Football theme league that I’d like to fill amongst our friends, family, and readers…
Most theme leagues consist of ideas such as: Team must be made up of guys from the same college, only players in the 1990’s, no Cowboys allowed, and so on…
My theme league is this: You can only have Black Quarterbacks on your team, with no 2 teams having the same guy as their starting QB. Also, you cannot spend more than $24 million on your team defense (a strong d makes for a boring game). Team salary caps will be the "standard” $60 million. It will be a league recommended for newbies only, but there’s no way I can really prevent non-newbies from joining once the league goes public if it's not filled in a week. Black quarterbacks and average to bad defenses? Sounds like fun, right?

I scoured the annals of the NFL and the whatifsports QB database and came up with the following list of black quarterbacks that need to be used in this theme league (listed in highest salary order):

Daunte Culpepper - (eligible as backup for 2005-06)
Young Randall Cunningham (1986-97) (eligible as backup for 1985, 1993, 1995, 1997)
Warren Moon - (eligible as backup for 2000)
Donovon McNabb – (eligible as backup for 1999)
Mike Vick - (eligible as backup for 2001, 2003)
Young Steve McNair (1995-2002) – (eligible as backup for 1995)
Aaron Brooks - (eligible as backup for 2000, 2006)
Old Randall Cunningham (1998-2001) (eligible as backup for 1999, 2000, 2001)
Doug Williams - (eligible as backup for 1987, 1989)
Jeff Blake - (eligible as backup for 1998)
Kordell Stewart - (eligible as backup for 1995-96, 2002)
Old Steve McNair (2003-06) – (eligible as backup for 2004)
Byron Leftwich – (eligible as backup for 2006)
Tony Banks - (eligible as backup for 2003-04)
Quincy Carter – (eligible as backup for 2001-02, 2004)
James Harris – (eligible as backup for 1969-73, 1978-79)
Rodney Peete - (eligible as backup for 1989, 1991, 1994, 1996-98)
Shaun King - (eligible as backup for 1999, 2001)
Vince Evans - (eligible as backup for 1979, 1982, 1983, 1991-95)
Charlie Batch - (eligible as backup for 2003-2006)
Marlin Briscoe
VinceYoung
Joe Gilliam - (eligible as backup for 1973, 1975)
David Garrard - (eligible as backup for 2002-05)

List of Full-time Backups:
Anthony Wright
Jason Campbell
Andre Ware
Dave Mays
Cleo Lemon
John Jones
John Walton
Parnell Dickinson
Carlos Brown
Reggie Collier
Jarious Jackson
Senneca Wallace
Tarvaris Jackson
*edit: also Ray Lucas (duh, thanks for the reminder Big Nasty)
**edit: and Dameyune Craig (didn't know him, thanks Jackmann from Shaun's Kings)
This article was very helpful in putting together the list.

Since 24 teams are needed to fill a theme league, I had to make an old McNair and an old Cunningham since sadly there were not enough different black starting quarterbacks in NFL history. While you can’t have the same starting QB as another team, you can have the same backup(s).

If you feel my list is erroneous, please comment to add/delete anyone…

I had to make my roster in order to set the league up. To be fair, I picked the quarterback that was the worst of the bunch based on salary. As such, I ended up with David Garrard.

The list of quarterbacks left to be picked will be updated in the comments sections here as the league gets filled. The league will be open to the public, so let’s make sure we represent, and represent quickly.

Winning team gets a free copy of my Fear of a Black Planet cassette tape by Public Enemy.

To get into this fantastic league, after signing in at whatifsports, click on the Sim Leagues tab and click on the Draft Center link with the type “Full”. Then select the “Existing League” button and enter in league number NFL14418 and click on Draft Team. Check the list of available quarterbacks in the comments section before picking your starter, don’t spend over $24 mil on your defense and pick whoever you want from then on… Have fun, and spread word to your friends to join the league to fill it up. The sooner it’s filled, the sooner we get the games on.