Long Weekends, Late Nights and Allergies, Allergies, Allergies

I have a mental note in my head to try and post life updates here more often. Not for anyone else in particular really, more for myself and for my kids to have at some nether point in their future when they might care to know what was going in back in the day.

Right now my kids don't much care about what happens in the world around them as long as they've got some Legos to play with, preferably Lego Star Wars but "plain" Legos will work too. In a pinch. And with some whining (or, as the much more delightfully spelled and pronounced, whinging).

It's just after 6 on Tuesday morning, I've been up since 5 already with a delightful bout of allergies that have been kicking the crap out of my mornings for the last several days now. We're supposed to be getting some rain soon and I'm sure that will help knock the pollen out of the air and allow my sinuses to take a break.

I'm not really complaining too much about my allergies because we had a pretty fun weekend nonetheless. Some good friends were in town for a visit, we had a good party, we played poker late into the night and then chatted even later (I went to bed at 4:30 in the morning yesterday). I also had one good hand at poker, the first one, where I had pocket aces, failed to capitalize when the time was right and then coasted along on crappy 2, 3 off suit hands the rest of the night.

But that was fine too. It was a good time seeing my friends again, talking shit, drinking and enjoying each other's company.

There were also some football games, the unbelievable Niners and Saints game on Saturday which seems so long ago now. UFC 142 in Rio with lots of insane finishes, one bad DQ and one champ charging into the crowd of his countrymen after another successfully defense of his belt. It was a great sports weekend. We've got another good weekend of football next weekend to determine who gets into the big game and we could be looking at a brother versus brother Super Bowl if the Niners and Ravens advance one more time.

I just wish I'd been able to get a decent night of sleep as I felt like a zombie most of yesterday and am likely to feel like that most of today if current stuffed headedness doesn't ease up.

But it's okay, the weekend was fun and memorable nonetheless!

The Final Grinddown

It isn't a countdown this week, it is going to be a grind down. There is a three week break pending at the end of this week and a ton of work that needs to get done before it hits. And not enough man and woman power to get it all done which means some projects, even some high profile and important projects are just not going to get finished. Heck, some of them aren't even going to get started.

One of the hardest aspects of my current position, aside from having effectively, five bosses, is that my time on site is so limited and there are always fires to put out or other priorities that derail attempts to complete stagnant projects. And those stagnant projects get pushed a little further back each time they are shuffled off.

So much to do, not enough time to get it all done and sometimes that realization can paralyze me in the gates. Which project to pick up? Which project to ignore? Which teacher to wave off, which one to help? My job is nothing if not a constantly shifting mass of obligations, partially fixed problems, request for rights and scrounging up of parts because ordering them would take more than a month if the order actually passes through the freeze committee that has to approve of every single purchase.

In other news, it appears that I will come in second in our neighborhood football pool again. This will make the fourth or fifth week this season I've just barely missed the money spot. The upside to this is that I will likely move into first overall which would be okay with me so long as I can hold on to it for the overall win. Otherwise I paid a lot of money and didn't get jack squat in return. And I'm not really a fan of the jack squat when I want me some jack scratch, ya know?

We are engaged in the house hunting process trying to find a smaller house but closer to Santa Cruz. Reduction in monthlies is the goal but the secondary goal is to get closer to our friends, mountain bike trails and away from Watsonville which has never really made me feel totally comfortable and settled. And there is the whole pain in the ass of having to load up my car with my bike to get on some trails. I'm tired of that crap, for sure.

Anyway, time to get the lead out, do some software installs, make tech behave and then go do it some more at another school this afternoon. Can you tell how excited I am about this week? No? There's a reason for that.

The Benefit of the Doubt

I've been thinking about my hard stance in regards to Michael Vick and his return to the National Football League. I think that I am going to give him a short term benefit of the doubt to see if he really has changed his spots or whether he said the right things to get his ass a big paycheck in the NFL again.

If its the former and he really does speak out against animal abuse and really work hard to undo some of the egregious harm he's inflicted on animals then I will forgive him. If it becomes apparent that it is the latter and he really couldn't give a damn then I'll go back to the pitchforks and torches and fervent prayers for a career ending injury.

But for now, I'm going to adopt a wait and see because the proof, as they say, is in the pudding and I'm curious to see what kind of pudding he'll make.

Busy Sunday

I have, like a large percentage of American males, just finished watching the Super Bowl and extend congrats to the Steelers for pulling it out after nearly letting Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald take it away. It was an odd game marked by some pretty questionable penalties.

But I enjoyed it anyway and am glad that the Steelers did win but I'd be happier if they'd covered the damned spread but oh well.

Also, Kurt Warner's wife looks about a thousand times better with hair than without.

But I also did a bunch of other stuff today too and it was fun and noteworthy.

After doing some preventive maintenance on my bike rack (I added some ring clamps so that the fork side couldn't slide off again) and switching my handlebars out for the more comfy pair, I took Grady out for a bike ride in the slough that ended up being in the parking lot at West Marine instead. We had a blast chasing each other all over the big lot, me on my cruiser and him on his Hot Wheels BMX. I don't know how far we went but he definitely put a couple of miles under his wheels. More than anything though, we had alot of fun cruising around together.

After we came back home, I loaded up again with Sully and the Trail-a-Bike to get him some saddle time in the fantastically warm and beautiful day. He really surprised me by being game to go and go and go even though he was having some trouble reaching the pedals. It was touch and go at first but we stopped several times so he could blast the horn some and that made him smile and really start to enjoy himself.

We ended up going down the trail to the bridge and back to the parking lot and then all the way to Main and back. He was game for more. But he didn't want to try the solo bike on his own and took out his scooter to buzz around the parking lot for a while with me chasing him and him laughing loud and long.

If I can infect my boys with my love of bicycling then I will be a happy pappy indeed.

Oh yeah, I also dismantled, cleaned, lubed and reassembled the PS2 from my wife's shop to restore it to near perfect working order again, that was cool! Thanks to MetaCafe for the excellent help video to guide me through.

Football and Campfires

My Sunday consisted of a raucous and fun football party this late morning into the afternoon followed by a quick trip home for some naps while I enjoyed the Ravens/Steelers game (and snoozed a bit). And then, this evening, we loaded up the dryer fire and had us a little suburban campfire in the backyard. The pic to the right is me holding Brogan and was taken by Grady (who's developing a pretty good eye for photos) the pic below of Mike is also one of Grady's.

The party was the culmination of our local and long running football pool. It is usually held at someone's house and includes lots of meat on bbq's, much drinking, much gambling and more hooting and hollering than you can shake a stick at. This year was a little different because the party was held at a restaurant owned by a friend of the guy who ran the pool this season. It ended up being a great location with lots of space, some sunny, some close to the tv and a couch to relax on as well.

The Cardinals and Eagles game was all that it was cracked up to be. The first half belonged to the Cards and most of the second was the Eagles with the Cards pulling out the win to send Kurt Warner, Larry "Hat-Trick" Fitzgerald and the Cards to the Super Bowl.

Besides my two boys, there were two other kids, one a little older than Sully and the other a wee toddler just finding his way up to two feet. They mostly played well but, as the afternoon got longer, the meltdowns and battling became more and more frequent. But, by that time, the game was just about over and it was time to roll out.

On the drive home, the boys were out cold asleep by the time we merged from 17 to Highway 1. I'll admit that I was having a hard time keeping my own eyes open but I had a job to do and I was going to get it done.

We pulled off the highway into Watsonville and stopped at the light and some idiot lady in her Honda Accord bashed into us from behind. Neither of the boys got woken up and there was no damage to our car but it still rattled me a bit. I hope my trailer hitch mangled her front end a bit.

After enjoying most of the Steelers and Ravens game, including some moments when it looked like the Ravens were going to close the lead and maybe even win, and then Palomalu made that interception and ran it back in for a touchdown and the game (and spread) were done. I headed into the backyard with my cool new LED headlight to put together a speedy dryer fire as per Grady's many repeated request from the last two days.

I don't know where he saw it but he's been asking for a campfire for a few days now and was getting rather annoyingly persistent. Not that I was against doing one, I just wanted to watch the end of the game in peace, ya know?

The dryer fire, for thems that aren't already knowing, is the steel barrel from a washing machine that's had the center post removed. It makes a fantastic contained and portable fire pit.

I set it on a pair of bricks, loaded it up with some cardboard and sticks, then layered it up to larger sticks. It took about five minutes to get ready for action and then it was lighting time. I had extended a bit of torn cardboard down into the hole left by the center post and lit it from underneath. But that was taking too long and the smoke freaked out Grady so I lit it in several other places and, within about five minutes, we had us a roaring fire.

Once it had flamed up and then started to die down, we made some s'mores and gnoshed happily for a little while. I even made myself a marshmallow torch by allowing one to catch fire and held it aloft (but not over me as the dripping marshmallow bits are sticky and very, very hot).

After the thrill of the fire and s'mores had worn off and everyone else went inside, I grabbed a hot dog and cooked it over the fire. There is nothing better than food cooked over an open fire. It was the best tasting hot dog I've had in a very long time.

A good fun day, some good fun pictures (Grady borrowed my camera at the football party and took some outstanding photos of people in addition to a whole bunch of WTF photos but that's the beauty of digital, just erase the ones that we don't want).

Oh yeah, I also had fun putting the fire out at the end of the night. It threw off massive clouds of smoke and steam as I hit it with the hose. That was cool!

Are You Ready for Some Football......Talk?

It was another interesting and entertaining weekend of football with the Forty-Niners playing tough against the Jets and Brett Favre. Mike Singletary, the Niners' head coach has done a very good job of raising the team's output to his expectations and demands. He was one of the most intense and fearsome defensive backs when he was a player and damned if he isn't an intense and fearsome head coach too.

If the Yorks, the owners of the San Francisco Forty-Niners, do not keep him on as the team's permanent head coach then they are bigger fools than I ever thought. Ever since Mike Nolan got fired earlier this season, the Niners have been improving and becoming a better and more complete team.

I liked Mike Nolan but he was a terrible head coach. He admittedly knew nothing about running an offense and, sorry, but you cannot be successful if you can't run an offense (Baltimore Ravens excepted, of course).

The Niners should also work hard to try and keep Mike Martz as the offensive coordinator unless Norv Turner gets canned from his head coaching job in San Diego, which is quite likely since the Chargers suck with him as their coach. Either way, Martz or Turner is needed to keep the steam rolling. I think, at this point, it should be Martz' job if he wants it but I'm pretty sure he's eyeing some soon-to-be vacant head coaching positions.

In other football news, Tony Romo's girlfriend, Jessica Simpleton moved in with him this past week. And then the Cowboys lost to the Steelers. Coincidence? I think not.

Donovan McNabb and his Eagles knocked off the NY Giants. Which was a big surprise given how dominant the Giants have been. But perhaps the distraction of Plaxico Burress and his idiot self-inflicted gunshot wound helped that. The Eagles have been a roller coaster team this season, winning games they should not and losing games they should win.

The Oakland Faders continue to suck ass. They will continue to suck for the foreseeable future because Al Davis, their owner, is an egotistical jackass bent on doing things his way when his way has been demonstrated ad nauseum to not work. I guess it is true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, especially when he's not willing to listen to anyone else.

Last story, the Redskins were bad yesterday. Yes, they were playing one of the best defenses in the game but they still couldn't do anything. Another season with a lot of promise until the season gets underway.

I'm sure there are plenty of stories I missed, I didn't watch too much football yesterday or maybe that's more like I didn't watch nearly enough? I'm not sure. But I did get a bunch of stuff done and kept up on the games.

The Weekend

This ended up being a pretty good weekend despite the absolutely insane mid-November heat wave that peaked yesterday with temps on my deck reaching and breaching 100 degrees. No lie! I've got photographic proof if need be.

On Saturday, I took the boys to "Blue Ball" park in Soquel. It is so named because the predominant feature there are a series of huge blue balls set into the hill side. The park itself is large and sprawls a bit but the main attraction is a couple of slides with a bump at the top and a good runoff landing in the sand below. One of the slides had been removed for repairs so the remaining slide was pretty impacted and the kids had to wait their turn.

It was hot enough that I had to take my shirt off to keep from overheating. Sully had to be convinced to keep his pants on. We played at the park for nearly 3 hours before we all got hungry and headed off for some lunch. Sully took a short nap on the way home but that was it, I was pretty sure they would both crash. But nope, they charged ahead without naps which means we could look forward to sniping at each other as the evening goes on. Sully still needs a little break to recharge his batteries or he turns into, well, a little fucker. It isn't really his fault but boy does he get annoying. From stealing Graydon's toys to trying to hit Nande with whatever he can lay his hands on to shutting off the tv repeatedly to laying the open hand slap on whatever bare skin he can to dumping his juice on the floor.

On Saturday night I took up a teacher friend's invitation to join him for some mixed martial arts mayhem in UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar. I've already written it up along with my scorecard from my predictions. One re-reflection I'd like to note is that Lesnar showed some real class in his victory over Couture. Unlike his last facing of Heath Herring when he beat him, this time around he handled it well. Oh yeah, one more thing, I was kind of shocked at how quickly Demian Maia walked through Nate Quarry.

It was a fun evening and I enjoyed spending time with Manuel, his wife and his very sweet little boy (who's got a little of the stinker in him too). Plus, the Marzen tasted awesome, I forget how good that beer is.

On Sunday, the wife and kids were headed to a birthday party that I was invited to as well but Sunday's are pretty much my only day to be at the house, get projects pushed along and enjoy some pigskin fun (that's football). And I did get a whole bunch of stuff done around the house including most of my laundry, I finished hand sanding the bunk beds and they are ready for pre-staining, staining and sealing. I also gave Nande a bath which was desperately needed if the amount of fur coming off her was any indication. I had to stop and clear the drain at least ten times. And then, later on in the evening when she was dry, I took another massive pile of fur off of her. She really has an amazingly thick coat. And she was rather happy to get cleaned up, rubbed down and brushed.

The Forty-Niners put a whooping on the Lambs which was a refreshing change from their six game losing streak. But then the Redskins had to go and lose to the Cowboys which will make winning my football pool a little more difficult. Basically, I need the Browns to win tonight and the total score to be more than 52 or 53 points.

I also had a good chat with my mom.

All in all, it was a good and productive weekend. I would have liked to get a bike ride in too but it was just too freaking hot on Sunday to go out even though I'm sure it was at least ten degrees cooler in the shade at Nisene. The problem with going riding in Nisene Marks on the weekends is that there's about ten times as much foot traffic as during the week. And its no fun to scare the living crap out of walkers who happen to be on the bike trails. Okay, its a little bit fun.

Time for me to get cranking on my massive tasklist. Hope you had a great weekend too.

Chug Chug Chug

Some days I feel like the Little Engine That Could. Others I feel like the Little Engine That Could Not. And still other days I feel like the Little Engine That Just Wants A Nap.

I think part of this is due to my lack of exercise lately and the changing of the season from sweet summer to wet and windy fall.

Oh and the never-ending depression that is the state of politics in America. And its downstream effects on the economy, the mortgage nightmare, the endless war in Iraq, the disgusting Republican doublespeak and the generalized venality of partisan life these days. When I see a McCain sticker on a car, I have an immediate tendency to think that the person driving that car is an asshole. I know that's a bad kneejerk reaction but I just cannot help myself. If you support an asshole then it stands to reason that you are, at best, an asshole sympathizer.

Let's be clear, McCain and Palin are poison to the future of this nation. They are the continuation of the exact same policies that have gotten us to this sad state we're in now. Voting for them is a vote for more of the same, only worse since Palin is actually a nastier and more deeply frightening VP candidate than even Dick "Shoot 'Em in the Face and Fuck You All" Cheney. And that is saying an awful lot. But the McCain campaign is employing the politics of desperation, smear and lies now and its very easy to see how poorly their message is resonating with Americans (bye Michigan, bye Ohio, bye Nevada, bye Virginia).

As I'd noted before, I did watch the Elite XC fights on Saturday night already knowing that Kimbo got knocked the fuck out. There were still some decent fights on the card and, when there were not, I'd just jump to Spike and watch the Griffin/Rampage rerun. That was a 25 minutes war between Forrest and Rampage and it really could have gone either way. But Forrest won, Rampage's life went sideways for a little bit and now we're looking at Forrest fighting Rashad Evans (fresh off his knockout of Chuck Liddell).

And then there were the other sports, the baseball and the football. Bummer on the Cubs for meekly rolling over and letting the Dodgers have their way with them. That sucks because I like the Cubs and freakin' hate the Dodgers and loathe Manny "Duffbitch" Ramirez. They are the first to bow out of the post season after having an outstanding year. Which leaves the Phillies to face the Dodgers and the American league possibilities are still open with the Angels and Red Sox still fighting and the White Sox still alive against Tampa. I would be happy seeing anyone but the Dodgers in the World Series at this point but, if they do make it, I'd love for the Red Sox to pound them out in four.

As for football. I lost a mere 3 games in the football pool yesterday but they were three big point games and I was out of the running by the start of the afternoon games. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the games. The Niners had a chance to win but not much of one against a bye week Patriots team coming off a loss. The Raiders didn't lose because they didn't play and the Redskins continue to shock, amaze and awe with a win last week over the Cowboys and a win this week over the Eagles. Right on! Oh, and I got crushed in my fantasy league this week.

That's about it for the Monday morning wrap up. I suppose I should get to working now. Oh wait, I have been, I'm waiting for a drive to empty its trash. What joy.

Weekend Sports Wrap

The perfect season didn't end so perfectly for the New England Patriots. They fell to the New York Giants to put a period and not an exclamation point on an undefeated season. Instead of a scary 19-0, they end up at 18-1 and are Super Bowl XLII runners-up rather than the champions.

There are plenty of reasons why they lost but I think the biggest is that the Patriots behaved as if the game was a foregone conclusion. As if nothing could possibly upset the applecart that is a perfect season so late in the game. But it appears someone forgot to tell the Giants they were supposed to be the footnote

Well that and the perceived mentality that playing the game was an afterthought and merely a formality. I'm sure that's now how the Patriots really felt the game was but that's certainly the feeling I got over the last couple of weeks.

And I'm sure the Giants came in feeling pissed off and ready to smash the Pats in the mouth. Especially after nearly beating them in week 17 a few weeks ago.

It wasn't inevitable but it felt like the Giants were alot hungrier, played alot harder and ended up winning. The perfect season fades into a footnote on the Giants huge upset Super Bowl victory.

The other big event this weekend was the debut of wrestling "champion" Brock Lesnar in the octagon competing in an MMA match for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He took on Frank Mir, a legendary fighter with insane submission skills. And Lesnar got submitted. I'll look forward to actually seeing the fight when it gets rebroadcast but I couldn't justify dropping fifty or sixty bucks on it. And Tim Sylvia was winning his fight with Nogueria when he got submitted. That'll be a good fight to see too. Why did I want Lesnar to lose? Simple, that haircut he sports is the worst thing I've seen since Mark Cuban started doing his homage to Canseco's bowlcut.

The bummer about the Monday after the Super Bowl (aside from my teams having been eliminated weeks ago) is that football is done for the year now. Which leaves us with hockey (which I like to watch) and basketball (which you cannot pay me to watch). The sports are slim pickings for a few months until baseball kicks back into gear.

Are You Ready for Some Football....Party!

Today is our annual football party to celebrate the end of a successful football pool again. I came close to the top but ended up in third overall and I'm pretty okay with that.

The football pool party has grown to become one of the times of the year when all of the old neighborhood comes together. We all either lived together or close enough to be the same thing. But since then we've gotten married, bought houses, made kids and moved. Life goes on.

But I'm looking forward to seeing pals, watching football, letting Nande play with her pal dogs and having a few beers to celebrate the Patriots taking one step closer to a perfect-perfect season.

My predictions:
Patriots over Chargers - 35-24
Packers over Giants - 28-14

Now, if I can only get myself some of those scores on the card and make a little scratch at the party.

Perfection!

The New England Patriots completed the regular football season tonight with a perfect 16-0 record. A feat unmatched since the 1972 Dolphins.

It was a pretty good game that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through to the end. Despite the bumbling commentary from Bryant Gumble and Chris Collinsworth.

Collinsworth in particular said some pretty stupid stuff, including that the Pats need to win the Super Bowl to have a truly successful season. Um yeah. They won all 16 regular season games and he requires a Super Bowl win to count them among the best teams of all time. Why not count the three Super Bowls they've won in the last six years.

And someone should let Gumball know what the difference is between the third and fourth quarters. At 4 minutes left in the third, he said the game had 4 minutes left. Nice work, dumbass.

The game was enough to overlook the crappy ass commentary though. Eli Manning played well, the Giants played well but not quite well enough to defeat the balanced and superb Patriots.

Bill Belichick might be an ass with a hole but he's also one hell of a good coach and I tip my hat to him, his coaches and his players. Now the real season begins!

Monday Night Observation

Tony Kornheiser is difficult to look at and to listen to. Two bad things for someone who works on TV by talking. The big headphones help a tiny bit because he starts to look more ridiculous that irritating.

He makes Monday Night Football almost unwatchable and definitely unlistenable.

Two Years for Dogfighting

Vick Gets 23 Months for Dogfighting

That feels about right. He'll probably get let out early and will start his comeback to the NFL as quickly as he can. Which makes sense since he's lost a pretty amazing amount of money over this really stupid and cruel dogfighting ring he bankrolled.

Do I ever want to see Michael Vick on the football field again? Nope. I'd just as soon he never appeared in the public eye again but it isn't up to me. I just hope neither of the Bay Area teams are dumb/desperate enough to sign him because I will make it a point to go and protest it.

Big Ben is Man's Best Friend's Best Friend

Big Ben to donate to police K-9 units

"The grant will be distributed to the Cleveland Division of Police's Canine Unit to purchase an explosive detection canine, dog training and a canine protective vest," the news release from Roethlisberger's agent, Ryan Tollner, read.

"It's something we decided to do, my foundation is doing, after the police dog in my hometown got shot and killed. We decided to do it for every away city I play in and every time we play at home -- pick a department here in Pittsburgh to donate to," Roethlisberger said yesterday.

Now this makes me incredibly happy to be a Big Ben fan and a Steelers fan. The example he is setting is one I hope other players decide to emulate.

Found via David Grenier, a blog I need to get back to reading regularly again. Done (added to my Bloglines) and done (added to my links on the right there).

Initial Reactions to the Vick "Apology" Statement

Meh.

There was no contrition, there was nothing even resembling any emotion. He invoked God and that he found Jesus which scores points with the Bible crowd. He apologized to everyone a couple of times without appearing to feel sorry for anyone but himself.

His lawyer warmed up the room and warmed over the facts of the case by misrepresenting them, as lawyers are paid to do. He called it an incident and an event when this dog fighting ring was a pattern of cruelty and gambling and deeply reprehensible violence.

Vick said he would take full responsibility for his actions but entered a plea deal that protects his potential future in the NFL. You can't accept responsibility and then weasel out from under the most onerous charges against you, it just doesn't work that way. Make no mistake, Michael Vick helped kill sub-standard dogs, he bankrolled an illegal gambling operation and crossed statelines transporting dogs for fighting purposes. His plea deal conveniently omits all of those grisly details and that is, most definitely, NOT taking full responsibility for his actions.

He referred to his pending jail time and football suspension as "downtime" which indicates to me that he really doesn't think this is a big deal at all. Its just a longer off-season than usual.

I didn't see any remorse, I saw a prideful man forced to speak about his actions and he looked more like an ant under a magnifying glass, squirming and deeply uncomfortable. I hope that feeling of discomfort lasts for the rest of his life.

The one bit from his statement that I did appreciate was when he spoke about letting down all of the kids that may have looked up to him as a role model. And to use him as an example of poor judgment.

Overall, the statement was limp, fake and demonstrative of his lack of remorse rather than any realization of just how disgusting his actions and his person are to me and every other dog lover around the world.

Maybe Now is a Good Time to Wipe That Smug Look Off?

NFL suspends Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick indefinitely after he files plea

And the plea deal tries to misrepresent Vick as just part of the gang and not the ringleader and bankroll. Good on Roger Goddell for bringing the hammer down hard on this miscreant scumbag.

You know what would go a long, long way to starting to repair your public image, Michael? Actually looking like you realize how fucking wrong and guilty you are. The smug look you carry may just be a survival mechanism but it makes me and every other dog lover in the world want to strap you down and beat you with a lead pipe. But I'm not holding my breath since you continue to give the impression that you think all of this is ridiculous and people are up in arms over nothing. It isn't nothing. You are a cruel and reprehensible man who gets his jollies from watching dogs forced to fight each other to the death. That's sickening!

I hope the suspension is permanent. I hope you are barred from playing in the NFL for the rest of your life. Or maybe they let you back after you've gotten old and slow just to watch the young studs bury you again and again?

Nah, that would be cruel, not unlike you hanging "sub-standard" dogs. Or drowning them. Or fucking electrocuting them, you disgusting shitbag.

I hope the judge in your case gives you the maximum sentence of five years and I hope each state that can prosecute you, does to the fullest extent of the law. I hope you emerge from the other side of this disgusting case a contrite man with just a tiny bit of understanding how thoroughly disgusting a human being you really are.

Goodbye salary, goodbye Nike endorsements, goodbye lavish house in the boonies. Hello, six by eight cell.

Vick is Done

NFL: Vick accepts U.S. plea offer in dogfighting case

And he should, if there is even a tiny bit of justice in the universe, never set foot on a professional football field as a player again.

Actually, he should never be allowed to walk the streets as a freeman again but I am not holding my breath since he's got alot of money.

The deeply disgusting nature of his crimes and just how graphic his involvement has, allegedly, been pretty much makes him scum. He could get fed into a chipper/shredder feet first and I might be inclined to think he got off easy.

I can't even think straight because of how disgusting and infuriated this story makes me.

I hope he goes to prison for a long time and suffers as much as all those dogs he forced to fight and die (and be killed) for his grotesque entertainment.

[Update: The Grammer Police stopped by and informed me in the most smart alecky way possible that I meant "infuriated" above and not "infuriatingly" as I'd originally written. I can't wait to catch Rhodes in a moment of grammatical weakness! The payback shall be swift and merciless! And I might just write a post full of grammatical mistakes just to cause him editorial pain. How ya like me now?]

Super Stupidity for Super Bowl Sunday

NFL Wants To Remind You That Having People Over To Watch The Super Bowl On A Big Screen Is Copyright Infringement

I saw that Rick had written about this and it reminded me that I wanted to pen a quick note.

If you watch the Super Bowl on a 55 inch or larger screen then the NFL says you are infringing on their copyright. Putting aside the utter stupidity of this pronouncement, how in the hell are they going to enforce this? Spies all across the nation? Bounties for evidence of the "infringement"?

The NFL needs to really think about what this says to fans and casual fans who tune in just for the Super Bowl. Just like the incredibly stupid warning not to disseminate broadcasts or accounts of their broadcasts, that means you are, technically, not allowed to even talk about a football game you watched on TV. And that is just incredibly stupid.

Maybe the NFL's taken too many hits upside the head?

[Update: Brian Krebs at Security Fix has just posted an alert about a Trojan horse on the Dolphin Stadium website (where the SuperBowl is being played in two days).]