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Monday, January 29, 2007The Happiest Music Ever??Here's a theory of mine. You know that song from Charlie Brown? I think it's called "Linus & Lucy". It goes, da-da-dada-dadada-da. da-da-dada-dadada-da. dum-dumdum. dum-dumdum. You know that one? It's a really happy song. Well, if you know what song I am talking about this might make sense. It is hypothesis that "Linus & Lucy" is the happiest song in the history of music. No matter the situation...no matter your current mood...if that song comes on you will nod your head, tap your feet, and smile. Maybe not a lot...but you will. You could be in front of a firing squad, a You Can't Do that on Television type firing squad...but without that crazy general who gets in the way. Anyway...the song comes on and you'd think, "well...it's not all that bad I guess. This song is happy!" Then they would countdown and shoot you. But at least you got to die happy. This is just a theory of mine. But theory implies it could possibly not be right. So it's not a theory. It's a fact. Although "Rawhide" is a fun song too. Maybe it is a theory. Labels: Charlie Brown, Music Wednesday, January 24, 2007Australian Open UpdateI love tennis, and since there is a Grand Slam event going on I am watching as much as I can. Sadly the event does not take place in the Eastern Time zone so I miss a lot of matches. Like the good ones...which happen to be when the men are playing. WAIT...KEEP READING...LET ME EXPLAIN!! Tennis is a great sport: a combination of power, speed, agility & endurance. It is exciting to watch. That said, when I watch the girls' matches I feel like everything is in slow motion. They move around the court slowly, they hit their ground strokes softly (except for that behemoth Serena), they hit their serves slowly and worst of all they all scream every single time they hit the ball. Maybe it's just the screaming that gets to me. Every one of them does it. Yes, there are a few guys on the tour who "grunt" when they hit the ball every time. But I don't like them either. An occasional grunt is OK of course, just not every time. Actually its probably not the screaming that makes it less enjoyable. It's screaming while at the same time playing boring tennis. That's what it is. I probably wouldn't like to watch it on mute either. Well...maybe Sharapova. Yes, every single one of them could beat me 6-0, 6-0. That's not the point. The point is that the tennis is less entertaining because it seems to require less skill than men's tennis. It's a lot like the WNBA. Yes, they are good athletes and they could all beat me in basketball. But that doesn't mean it is as skilled or entertaining of a game than the NBA. It's not intended as an insult. Girls do stuff that guys can't do all the time. Like....ummm...umm...like having babies. Guys can't have babies. Anyway...Rafael Nadal lost last night. I'm not sure about him. I think maybe the other players caught up to his pounding style and have figured him out. I'm sure he will still compete, but I'm not sure he will be the clear cut #2 after this year. Plus he wears girl pants. Freak. Also...in the spirit of all the instant history that happens in sports these days...tonight's match is probably Andy Roddick's biggest of his career. He is playing great, so if he can't beat The Fed now, I doubt he ever will. I imagine it will be a fun match. It looks like I won't see it because the Australian Open, in its infinite wisdom, would rather have the Mixed Doubles Finals on tonight. Awesome. I hope that schedule is wrong. Labels: Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Tennis Monday, January 22, 2007Championship Game ObservationsWelcome to the worst two weeks of the NFL season. 2 weeks of non-stop talking. How exciting! Anyway...here are my thoughts from last night's games.
Labels: Peyton Manning, Reggie Bush, Rex Grossman, Super Bowl, Tom Brady Sunday, January 21, 2007Feed SubscriptionHello, I have added a few things to the infrastructure of the blog. There is a search function on the side bar and a Feed Subscription on the side bar. If you are familiar with RSS feeds then please go ahead and subscribe to my blog. I would really appreciate it. If not, let me explain real quickly. An RSS feed is a way to get blog content sent to you automatically. You can use many different programs that will capture the posts and then you can access them more easily than searching around the web for new postings. You can get more information at this website: http://blogspace.com/rss/readers Please subscribe to my feed and you will get new updates automatically! Labels: RSS
Wal-Mart Yea for politics and social discussions! My first social rant! I welcome all discussion as I am interested in opposing viewpoints. I have been reading about Wal-Mart lately and all the complaints people have against Wal-Mart. Mostly for "treating their employees poorly". This bugs me...are these employees not voluntary? Are any of these people being forced to work there against their will? Here is an economic staple that we can (hopefully) all agree on: When a transaction is made (voluntarily) both parties believe they are better off than they would be if the transaction had never taken place. Example: I buy a sandwich from Subway. I believe I am better off with that sandwich and Subway believes they are better off with my money. I'd say we can probably all agree on that. The same holds true for the employee-employer relationship. Let's say that I get a job at Wal-Mart. I MUST think I am better off having that job; otherwise I wouldn't have voluntarily signed up for it. If I thought another job would be better for me (and my current skill set), then I would go try and get it. It galls me to see politicians and "social intellectuals" decree that they need to police a voluntary (and legal) transaction between two entities. Why does some central planner think he knows more about what is best for me than I do? The only conclusion I can come up with is that he thinks I am stupid and can't make a good decision on my own. The solution according to the central planners? Make the minimum wage so high for Wal-Mart and other "big box" stores that they are forced to leave the area (see Chicago for an example). This is a good solution because they get to feel good about themselves because they have fought the evil corporation and won a battle for the little guy. Meanwhile, because Wal-Mart moves elsewhere...I lose my job. Brilliant. Instead of a lot of people getting paid $7 an hour to work at Wal-Mart, they get paid $0 to be unemployed. In conclusion...I know what is best for me...let me make my own decisions about where to voluntarily work. Labels: Walmart
Michael Jordan Is Dangerous! I've been having a lot of discussions lately about comparative talent levels between people. This all came up because I play in a weekly basketball game with about 20 other guys. One guy there is really good. Great defender, great rebounder, sweet shot...just really good. It came to my attention last week that he walked on to Kentucky in 88-89. So I did some research and found out his stats. As it ends up, he only played 6 minutes that year and only scored 6 points. That made me realize just how good the stars of any sport really are. Here's a guy who could dominate our weekly basketball game at any point (he usually chooses not to do that), and he NEVER PLAYED at college. I looked at the other people that were on his team that year and they actually weren't any good (historically). But those guys were that much better than my guy. It's amazing to think about the athletic talent level that a Kevin Durant or a Greg Oden has and just how good they are. Then compare those guys to a Dwyane Wade and a Lebron James and the talent level disparity grows even more. Eventually you get to Michael Jordan who was so good that sometimes opponents faces would melt during the game because they looked at him directly. I am not saying that looking at Michael Jordan is equal to looking at the presence of God though. When you look at God your face totally melts off, when you look at Michael Jordan your face just melts a little. Kind of like putting styrofoam in a microwave. What I have concluded from this is the following 1. I suck at basketball 2. It would be fun to see Michael Jordan play in my weekly pick-up game...except the face melting thing. 3. The Indina Jones movies are good 4. I suck at basketball Labels: Michael Jordan Saturday, January 20, 2007Greatest Tennis Player Ever??I want to take some time here to talk about Roger Federer. The Australian Open is headed into the 4th round tomorrow. Or tonight. Or whatever day and time it is in Melbourne. I'd like to talk about "the Fed" (it's my special nickname for him. I'm positive I am the first person to call him that). Whenever the Fed is playing a match on TV, the announcers pretty much only talk about him and how great he is. I won't disagree. He is my favorite tennis player by far. On the other hand, it's kind of like watching a football game being called by Joe Theismann and Paul MacGuire. By the end of the match I feel like the Fed is about to cure all forms of cancer and AIDS (just the one form) with a pill that only costs $1.25. Although, if he can do that he should probably stop playing a game and cure diseases. Anyway...sorry for that digression (it is the name of the blog though). My point here is to try and figure out if the Fed is the greatest tennis player ever. If he isn't now...can he ever be? I'm not really sure how to answer that really. Part of me says that he does things that no one else in the game has done before. He wins almost every single match he plays, and does so on every surface. Sampras couldn't do that and Sampras had the most awesome eyebrows ever. Plus he threw up a sandwich on the court once. He should probably get bonus poitns for that. OHHH...and he is married to Miss Veronica Vaughan. More bonus points. But...then I realize that it's a fairly impossible (are there different levels of impossibility?) question to answer. Federer never played Sampras during his prime. Neither player ever took on Rod Laver. The game has changed so much over the years, both in equipment and the natural cycles of talent, that different generations can't be compared. It's like trying to establish if Babe Ruth or Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player ever. Different generations and stuff. Plus Babe Ruth never had to play against black people or Latino people...which I believe makes him racist. So in conclusion...you can't really answer who the greatest tennis player ever is. Except that it's Federer. It's science. Labels: Roger Federer, Tennis Thursday, January 18, 2007Blog Posting - Take OneHowdy... This is my first ever blog post. Kind of feels queer. Not that I know what queer feels like, more what I imagine queer feels like. ummm...wow...bad start. Anyway, this blog is really an experiment for me. I doubt I will get many (read: any) readers, but it should be fun to write again. I would appreciate feedback and counterpoints made via the comments. That would be great. Although I am probably right like 98% of the time, I am still interested to see what people have to say. Honestly though, this is published on the Internet so that means that it is factual, right? That's how I always thought it worked. If you want to be right then you can go through the long laborious process of creating a blog. It took me like 7 whole minutes. I almost quit trying. But if you have the patience and the will power to click on a few buttons that will create your blog automatically for you...then do it. Don't say I didn't warn you though. I took a nap after I did it. That's how tiring it is. Anyway...I am probably going to post a lot on sports. Probably a lot of Cincinnati sports. I will probably post a bunch on government/politics. I figure this is a good way to refine my opinions. I'll probably post on random stuff too...like my movie, book, and TV recommendations. OK...that's probably good for the introductory post. Also, you will notice I use ellipses a lot. That really bugs some people. I like it. If you want to make your own blog you can...oh wait, I already talked about that. Nevermind. I need a good tagline for my exits. I'll have a contest. Whoever comes up with the coolest tagline will get a prize. Most likely that prize will be a mention on the blog and whatever I find in my "random stuff" drawer at my house. but for now... AFW
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