Bluey's Fantasy League Return!

First, Bluey and his Ellwood City/Oakmont Rangers lit up the EHL (Existential Hardball League) to the tune of 5 fantasy baseball titles in 10 seasons (1994-2003).

Then, Bluey and his Pitt/SCM Piewizzards rampaged through the FHL, winning 6 fantasy hockey titles (4 of them consecutively) in 10 seasons (1996-2005).

Now as an encore, Bluey will tackle the Gridiron this year as his Hail Mary squad will take the field and look to continue it's fantasy success on a little patch of astroturf in Washington, PA.

Some of its' participants have already began trash talking Bluey's ability to unseat their former champions. Saying that the chance of that happening would be similar to that of an eighty yard hail mary pass with :01 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Thus the inspiration for the team name.

Bluey will be joined by Highmark as the two newest additions in a fantasy football league hosted by Tay's family members, Cali, B and Flav.

Let the punishment begin...

Hudson Park, That's Good Water!

When I was a kid, once in a blue moon, my parents used to buy bottled spring water. The first jug of spring water I ever saw was a half gallon jug of Deer Park. My Dad always said that bottled water was a complete sham because New York City had the purest water in the world with their expensive triple purification process. No one had cleaner water.

My sisters insisted that the Deer Park spring water was so much better than the tap water much to my Dad's chagrin. Other than being colder because it was kept in the fridge, I couldn't taste a difference. One day, when the Deer Park was running out, I had an idea. I filled up the Deer Park container with tap water and jokingly referred to it as "Hudson Park", born and purified out of the sewer that was New York's Hudson River.

My sisters continued to drink the "Hudson Park" without having any idea that they were drinking tap water. It wasn't until dinner one day, that they found out the truth after insisting that Deer Park's water had a better taste than the tap. I told them that I had been refilling the jug for weeks and that the water they had been enjoying was indeed "Hudson Park"! They were deflated and their argument blown out of the water, pun intended.

I guess my point is, paying for water is stupid unless you live in a third world country or have tainted well water. A story in today's news has Aquafina finally having to fully disclose that it's water source is not some distant cool mountain spring but the good old tap. Other brands also will now have to back off claims that their water is extracted from virgin glaciers in the arctic circle as well. It seems that many purified waters on the market share a common source, the tap.

So, stop being gullibulls like my sisters were and sit back, relax and enjoy the cool refreshment of a "Hudson Park", coming from the good folks at the local public water facility who have been turning your toilet and greywater into drinking water for 100 years!

Yummy!

Softball/BBQ Event

We couldn't have asked for better weather this past Saturday as it was in the low 70's with a nice breeze. The field at KO HS was pristine as expected. Fifteen players showed up to enjoy two 7 inning games at 11am.

The games were marked with lots of jovial ribbing and laughter. Participants, please feel free to add your stories to the comment section and I will include them in the body of this blog.

Game 1: Team Tay 14, Team Becky 11.

Team Stacey (Trimpdog, Timmee, Highmark, Meersky, Natey, Tay, Timamigo)

Team Becky (Choder, Hamdog, The Don, Rhino, Becky, B, Gunky, and Bluey)

Game 1 saw Team Tay race out to the early 5-0 lead after 3 innings only to enter the 7th inning with a 11-6 deficit. Team Tay scored 8 runs in their half of the 7th inning to take the lead and upset Team Becky by 3 runs.

Game 2: Team Tay 11, Team Becky 10.

Team Tay (Choder, Rhino, Tay, The Don, B, Gunky, Timamigo)

Team Becky (Timmee, Meersky, Hamdog, Natey, Becky, Trimpdog and Bluey)

Highmark caught as an injury prevented him playing on either side.

Game 2 saw Team Becky race out to an early 5-0 lead, lost it in the middle innings (5-5) and held a 10-5 lead until the 7th inning when Team Tay scored 6 runs in their half of the 7th inning to pin another heartbreaking comeback loss of 11-10 on Team Becky.

Both games were highly competitive and featured late rally victories.

Entertainment was provided by a KO HS female track team member who ran on the adjacent track in a skimpy t-shirt and short shorts. The highlight came when she decided to sit on the track 20 feet away from the field while facing us and proceeded to put on a clinic in flexibility. Rumor has it that Meersky has yet to stop drooling. He tawt he taw her ovaries!

The game marked the triumphant reurn of Hamdog from Columbus, who brought a friend, Rhino to join us. The Don brought his consiglierre, Natey and Timmee L. brought a buddy as well. Also in attendance was Tay's brother Gunky and her cousin B. The usual suspects rounded out the bunch. The game's were a blast and were immediately followed by a BBQ at Bluey's place.

The BBQ featured Highmark's wife and twin progeny, a surprise visit from Francois and his significant other from Redding, the Trimpdog boys, Bluey's gals, Choder's wife, The Don's wife Kay, and Tay's cousin LiLi and husband Cali.

Of course, as usual, the day went entirely too fast. Another softball event is in the plans for August. Thanks to everyone for coming and making the day a special one!

Bluey In Lockdown Mode

(contains no spoilers)

Aussie, Loni, Bebis, Kitty and I went to the midnight opening to pick up our copy of the last Harry Potter novel. We have two more copies being delivered this morning so that Loni, Aussie and I can read it simultaneously.

I've got a softball party/BBQ today, so after that is over, I'll pretty much go into radio silence mode until I finish the book.

Epilogue: Loni has finished the book at 11pm tonight. Although I told her not to say anything, she did give me an overall tone of the book.

I'm about halfway through the book after starting it Saturday night. I'm really bumming that this will be the last one, but realize that the ending of this book may not leave any other choice.

I should finish the book on Monday night.

I Want An Oompa-Loompa, Daddy!

Well, I'm almost through an entire week off with my four daughters, Aussie, Loni, Bebis and Kitty. The endless hum of their wants and desires have expressed a brain cancer similar to what I'd have if I wore a helmet of radiating cellphones 24-7.

After trips to the bowling alley, clothing and shoe stores, restaurants, movies, doctor's appointments, and countless other jaunts, I'm at my limit. Today, I had all four trying to talk me into going out to do their back to school shopping today. They pestered me for damn near two hours.

This has pretty much gone on all week. Every six minutes when one of them ask me for something, I respond in Ms. Veruca Salt's english accent, "I want an oompa-lumpa, daddy!!!!".

I'm usually a rock when it comes to denying the girl's requests for lip gloss, exfoliators, makeup, $6 shampoo and an assortment of crap they don't need, but I'm wearing down. Thank jesus I have company coming over tomorrow. I need a respite from the abuse.

"I want a cow that shits out Cadbury bars and shoots chocolate syrup out of its' milkers, daddy!!!!"

An Inconvenient Truth..."Your Son Is A Junkie!"

Granted, I'm sure Al Gore Senior is happy that his marijuana smoking, pill popping, 100 MPH driving son Al Gore III was driving an eco-friendly Toyota Prius at the time of his arrest by police. But, his tree hugging protege son may have pointed out a simple but inconvenient truth.

Maybe Al should have stopped globe trotting on his global warming speaking engagements and film making tours and stepped aside to do a little parenting over the past 7 years.

Even though this is his second such stop (he was pulled over doing 94 in one of the Carolinas) and that this time he was travelling with a personal stash of grass and five types of pills, I'm sure this will get pooh poohed by the local authorities and the mainstream media (except of course, the NY Post which lives for these stories). As long as the younger Gore keeps up his tree hugging ways, I'm sure he can do no wrong in Papa's eyes.

Next he'll be the reformed environmentalist and in thirty years the Democrats will push him for the presidency because we are a "nation of healing and understanding".

Way to go Junkie!

Sather's Sweet Redemption!

In Glen Sather's first two years as GM of the NY Rangers, I wanted his head on a platter a la John the Baptist.

This past weekend my beloved NY Rangers signed the two best available free agent centers in one fell swoop. In the past, Glen Sather's free agent signings have made me cringe. Coming from tight purse-strings in Edmonton, he spent like a drunken sailor during his first few years in New York which prompted me to actively drum for his dismissal. Then over the next few years, much to my joy and many other Ranger fans annoyance, he traded for draft picks and let the rebuilding process begin. He finally let the rookies play as he started jettisoning big fat unproductive contracts. Only then did the Rangers find some grit and passion for playing a 60 minute game.

After the last productive 2 years, with more impact rookies on the horizon (namely defensemen Marc Staal and Bobby Sanguinetti), Sather finally dusted off the checkbook and not only did he sign marquee names, he signed two proven character guys who know how to win. The Rangers have suddenly become a team that players around the NHL respect and want to play for. Look at Brendan Shanahan. He could have played anywhere but accepted less money to play for the Rangers. We were starting to see a transformation in perception within and outside the team.

Make no mistake, Drury and Gomez were sold on playing together on the Rangers long before Sather pulled out his checkbook. The only reason the Rangers got either of them was because they both wanted to join a franchise on it's way towards the Stanley Cup.

Now whether the Rangers win a Cup in the next few years is debatable. But, what cannot be debated is that this is a team that is going to give other teams fits for 60 minutes every night.
Playing the Rangers is going to be a very unpleasant prospect for the rest of the NHL. They now have the goal scoring that is on par with just about anyone. They have Vezina level goaltending in Lundqvist and potentially another goaltender in the minors (Montoya), who may be just as good and they have a solid defensive core with the best players being under 25 years of age. They are a puck control team who are going to wear out other teams on many nights.

I've been preaching for patience and now is the time to grab for the ring. Sather's coup de grace in free agency will have a huge impact. Not only with the Gomez and Drury addition, but he subtracted them from two of the best eastern conference teams. Also, these guys are leaders and character guys. They play best when the game is on the line and should adeptly deal with the pressures of playing in New York. These guys wanted badly to be here. That's not something you usually get in free agents.

I'm ecstatic that Sather declined to offer 35 year old Michael Nylander a 4 year 20M contract. If you're going to spend 5M a year for a 35-39 year old forward, why not spend an extra couple of million and get players at the top of their game and in their prime?

That feeling I had when the Rangers got Mark Messier...I have that same feeling today. Sather still has some work to do but he's on the right path.

The haze of Alzheimer's has finally lifted from Sather. He finally "gets it". Thank You Jesus!

Gooooooooooooo Rangers!!!