07-07-07

Lucky sevens! If you are a superstitious person, then today is the day to gamble. (I am not really superstitious in case you were wondering.) A day like this won’t come around for another 100 years. I don’t know about you, but I am fairly certain that I won’t be around.

Bada bing

It’s over.  I just watched the finale of The Sopranos.  I’m speechless.  If you watched it, then you know what I mean.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

From everything I heard and read, everyone was so sure that Tony– at least– was going to get whacked, and the show was going to end in mass chaos and pandemonium.  It just didn’t happen that way.  Phil Leotardo did get whacked, but I, at least, saw that one coming.  Phil acting in haste without consulting the family before ordering the hit on Tony and his guys.  Phil had it coming.

As far as we know, Silvio is still alive in the hospital, although his future looks bleak.  In the end, Tony and his family meet for dinner, and that is how it ends.  It just– ended.  I was looking at every character in the restaurant for who was going to pull off the hit on Tony, but there was no one there.  It all just came to and end.  All the Sopranos made it out alive and seemingly happy.  I just don’t know what to think.  It’s over.  That is all I know.

If you have something to add, please do so.  All I can say is… it’s over.

I can dream

If money were no object, my truck would be able to do this.

The above video is the result of turbocharging a Vortec 5.3 liter engine. Wow.

Video Store Clerk Credited With Foiling Jersey Jihad Plot

It could have been Randal Graves. I wonder if Jay and Silent Bob helped foil it. In any event, you have to admit this is pretty cool. There is hope for slackers everywhere!  Read the full story here.

And if you have no clue about the people I am talking about, then go rent– no– go buy Clerks.

read more | digg story

Talladega track president wants 14 fans banned from ALL NASCAR tracks!

Grant Lynch, TSS President, banned 14 fans for throwing objects onto the track at Aaron’s 499 winner Jeff Gordon from ever entering another NASCAR event in Talladega . If he gets his was way, the 14 will be banned from ALL future NASCAR events. Some people were seriously injured because of these morons, and I think the punishment fits the crime.  Read the full story here.

read more | digg story

Chill people!

A few of you have been mad at me for posting the Finebaum article.  Please remember that I didn’t write it.  I don’t even like the guy!  I was just posting it for those of you that do not read his article.  So, for crying out loud, get off my case!  Go yell at him!  Here is him e-mail address: finebaumnet@yahoo.com.  Now– PLEASE– give me a break! 

So what is Finebaum REALLY trying to say?

I just read the following article by Paul Finebaum from The Mobile Register.  Ouch!

——————–
Time for Tide to fire Shula
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The time has come for the University of Alabama to finally man up and act like one of the greatest football powers, one with a storied tradition, instead of Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

The time has come for someone high up in the elite and rarefied air of the Alabama administration to discover the missing clue bag that should tell them Mike Shula needs to go now as the school’s head football coach. Finally, the time has come to sincerely thank Shula for his service. Give him a gold watch. Pay him whatever his contract specifies. But most important, put the program out of its misery and give the loyal fan base an early Christmas present by hiring a legitimate head football coach, not someone who four years ago was absent from everyone’s head coaching list and likely never will be again.

The experiment failed. It wasn’t a total disaster.

It was worse.

It was a slow, painful death, akin to Chinese water torture. Like one nail at a time being slowly ripped away, leaving the skin raw and bleeding.

And it was so predictable if only people could have taken the Crimson blinders off and seen this for what it really was and was always going to be.

Letting a teenager drive the family car without driver’s ed will usually garner the same result — a wrecked car, or in this case a severely damaged football program.

Alabama has been moving in the right direction under Shula? Says who?

The Tide, assuming it doesn’t go bowling, just completed its third non-winning season out of four. The Tide’s only SEC wins this year were by a field goal against Vandy and in overtime against Ole Miss. Thank goodness there wasn’t a road game at
Kentucky.

And many people strongly believe this nightmare should continue. Please. Do
Alabama fans really enjoy pain that much? Notre Dame and Florida made tough choices two years ago in firing Tyrone Willingham and Ron Zook, both of whom had enjoyed some success. Today, in the latest BCS standings,
Florida is No. 4 and Notre Dame No. 5.

What’s the best thing one can say about Shula after four years? He’s a nice guy. Now, is that worth nearly a $2 million contract to ruin one of the crown jewels of college football?

I’ve never heard anyone say Tommy Tuberville is a nice guy. But he’s an exceptional head football coach and his résumé speaks for itself.

With Shula, there was always an excuse, usually from him.

I sat there Saturday night in the bowels of Bryant-Denny Stadium, watching Shula mouth the words once again, about how close this team is to turning the corner. Unfortunately for Shula, the words no longer had resonance, not with his own team, not with the once-loyal fan base or anyone else. And my mind wrenched back to the same question I’ve been asking for the last four years: How did this guy ever get hired in the first place? 

And while some continued to argue and lobby late into the weekend and even Monday that Shula deserves more time, the only choice is to put the program out of its desolation. Cut the losses. Take the public relations hit. Do whatever is necessary. Just end the madness.

Why would anyone reasonably expect Shula to do next year what he hasn’t been able to do in four previous years? The program has no discipline. It has no direction. It has no leader. It has no moral compass.

It simply has an oblivious and dysfunctional head coach who has continued to sink deeper into the abyss with each embarrassing and mind-boggling Saturday.

The university doesn’t need another coaching change, some lamely argue. Why not? Do Alabama fans enjoy being humiliated every year by
Auburn? The streak’s at five and there’s no danger of it ending as long as Shula is the head coach.

What is there not to see other than having to admit a colossal error in hiring Shula and an even bigger blunder in giving him a new contract and hefty raise earlier in the year?

For the sake of the program, someone needs to see the light. Hopefully, what has been crystal clear to some for a long time will finally be crystalline to those who matter.

Firing Mike Shula isn’t a tough decision.

It’s the only decision.
——————–

I didn’t make that up.  I am not that bold… ok, yes I am, but that is beside the point.  You can find the source article by clicking here.

Fact or Fiction: The Madden Curse

You’ve all heard or read about the so-called “Madden Curse.”  If not, follow this link.  For the majority of you who do know what I am talking about, I give you this.

2000 - Barry Sanders abruptly retires before training camp (was he warned of the impending curse?)
2000 - Dorsey Levens is cut by Green Bay the following season
2001 - Eddie George enjoys career year, until costly turnover leads to Titan’s playoff exit
2002 - Daunte Culpepper leads team to dismal 4–7 record before season-ending knee injury
2003 - Marshall Faulk suffers ankle injury; career diminishes thereafter
2004 - Michael Vick fractures right fibula in preseason game, just one day after Madden is released; sidelined for season
2005 - Ray Lewis fails to post a single interception (after grabbing 6 the previous year), and injury forces him to miss the final game of the season; the Ravens also fail to make the playoffs after winning the division in the 2003–2004 season
2006 - Donovan McNabb suffers sports hernia in first game and undergoes season-ending surgery in November; T.O. feud escalates; Eagles finish 6–10 after reaching Super Bowl in 2005–2006 season
2007 - Shaun Alexander fractures left foot in Week 3.

Ok, I don’t normally buy into this kind of stuff, but dang!  Curse or not, you have to admit, that is just plain eerie.  Not to steal someone else’s work, I want you to know that I didn’t write that year-by-year breakdown.  It was e-mailed to me, and I don’t know the true author.