I just need to rant

I know I'm a little late chiming in on this, but Kenny Rogers with pine tar on his hand wasn't exactly a major surprise. He got caught cheating red-handed on national television during a World Series, which is the only reason why this was such a big deal. Pitchers have been doing things like this for years. The only thing shocking about it was what a terrible job of hiding it he did.

I can't wait for the elections to be over with. The commercials are driving me comepletely insane! Are there actually people out there who get persuaded by these things??

Speaking of commercials, I now curse the day that ESPN got Monday Night Football. I'm fine with the guys in the booth and the telecasts, but I'm completely sick and tired of the commercials they have for EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK telling me how many more days until the game.

Speaking of commercials 'part two', can anyone give me a good reason why NFL games go to commercial break after a score, come back for the kickoff and then go straight back into a commercial break?? I hate the influence of money in sports.

They're building a new housing development across from a large mega-church that just moved into a multi-million dollar facility here in Tampa. I called the phone number for info on the homes and found out that the starting price for a home there is $850,000. Guess you have to make sure you keep your target market close to home. I hate the influence of money in the church.

Florida State's coaching staff is being passed by their peers and the game itself. I've never seen a bigger waste of talent in college football.

There, I feel better now.

Had a little trouble

Once again, I find myself posting after a long layoff. This time, though, I had a little trouble with eblogger. I had a brief post about Man of the Year (the new movie with Robin Williams) and politically-themed movies in election years ready to go, but it wouldn't post when I tried over a couple days. Then I went to Jacksonville followed by my parents being in town for more than a week and I didn't look at blogs - mine or anyone else's - that whole time. Anyway, here's some of what happened.

While in Jacksonville, I was ordained. My thanks to Fort Caroline Christian Church and the leaders there for their confidence, blessing and prayers. My thanks to God for impressing upon me the proper respect for, understanding and responsibility that comes with being ordained.

That same weekend was my alumni weekend for the Jacksonville University baseball team. I had a great time! Got to go golfing with 3 of my former teammates on Friday. Didn't shoot all that well because I couldn't sniff the flag with my irons all day, but still had a good time. One of my friends (Scott Biernacki) that I golfed with almost got in a fight on the first hole because he bombed his drive about 290 yards left of the fairway and allegedly hit the vehicle of a homeowner who lived along the first hole. The guy wouldn't let anyone look at the car to see if there was even any damage. There were some great quotes in that 15-minute fiasco. One of the best was after Scott said he was leaving and the guy said "What about the damage to my car?", Scott yelled "What about the damage to my Titleist?". Another classic was from the guy's wife who came outside and in all seriousness looked at Scott and said, "Why don't you just hit it in the fairway?!"

Playing in the alumni baseball game was great! I went 0-2 with a walk, but was robbed of a hit because of diving stop by the 3rd baseman. One inning, my friend Josh and I threw out runners at the plate from the outfield on back-to-back plays. I have to admit, jogging in from the outfield after that made me wish I could do it all again.

The time with my parents was fun. Once again we played a lot of games together. Even played Clue for the first time in ages. We also introduced them to Snapper's Sea Grill (see previous post on this amazing restaurant here) and went to the beach on the Friday they were here. The weather couldn't have been better!

My lovely wife turned 27 on October 20th. Happy Birthday, again, Taryn! I could never explain how good she is to me and for me.

And finally, my meaningless fantasy football update. I'm 7-0 and 4-3 (thank you LaDainian Tomlinson) in the two leagues I care about and 2-5 in another league. Yes, that's how it works. You say you only care about the leagues you're doing well in.

Remember this date

Sunday, October 8th, 2006. Today is the day that Terrell Owens has officially begun to derail the Dallas Cowboys. Fox has shown him on the sidelines all game. He's been yelling at the defense (which they didn't seem all that thrilled about), yelling at the offense, getting talked to by a coach to keep him away from Bledsoe and getting a heart-to-heart from Mike Vanderjagt. Bledsoe just threw a pick-6 to Lito Sheppard to seal the game for the Eagles. This will only give TO even more to say to reporters today and throughout this week. If TO goes off on his teammates and coaches after this game, Jerry Jones might want to look into getting Dr. Phil out at Cowboys' practices.

The last straw

I just got done watching the FSU-NC State game, which FSU lost 24-20. That drops them to 3-2 on the year and 0-2 in the conference and it means I'm done watching their football games this year. I'm tired of FSU's terrible offense. I'm tired of the announcers falling all over themselves looking for new ways to compliment the opposing team's players and coaches. And I'm tired of the difference in penalties called and penalty yardage when FSU's on the road. Good luck in the Music City Bowl. See you next year.

Victory ... again.

OK, so it's not a world championship and that's not really our trophy, but yesterday I wrapped up my third consecutive fantasy baseball championship and fourth in the last 5 years over pretty much the same group of friends and family that I play with each year. Like the Chicago Bulls of the 90's and the New York Yankees, I have become a dynasty in this league. In fact, starting last year, I went ahead and decided to make that - The Dynasty - my team name. The best part is that one of my friends in the league (Tyler) named his team Coup D'Etat this year, with the intention of "dethroning" the king. The king is still in his rightful place and I could be wrong, but I don't believe they give out trophies for 4th place. So you'll have to come back and try again next year, Tyler. To all my friends in the league, keep your heads up. It was a good battle, you fought hard and there's always next year.