Thursday, March 31, 2011
It's A Dunk-Off
This is the hardest I have laughed at a youtube video in at least three days (I laugh a lot at youtube videos, three days is actually pretty decent. And also, the last three days have been pretty much laughter-free, so this helps. Goddamn VCU.) It was to the point where I had to forward this video to my boss, because there's no other way I could pass off how hard I was just laughing in my office. There's no covering that up with a cough.
My question is: did people do this regularly? Beer pong slam dunks? I've been to my fair share of parties, played my fair share of beer pong (graduating from the #2 binge drinking school in the country, per capita....stupid Texas-San Antonio always beat us) and I've never attempted this myself, seen this attempted, or heard about it being attempted until this video. I feel like we missed out a little bit. I see it playing out like this: we set it up and somebody like Haley (who has little regard for bodily injury) or Smapes (who just wants everyone to accept her) dunks one, to great laughter and applause....then half an hour later Russell tries to one-up it and makes a huge mess and breaks somebody's leg or spills on some girl's dress that has been in the family for 300 years or something, and everyone yells "Goddammit, Russell!" Because that's just how Russell's luck works.
Also: that guy in the skateboard (at the beginning and again at 30 seconds) just GETS AFTER IT. Is there anything better than a slow motion flight leading into a fast motion crash? I say no.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Ugh.

UTEP.
Rhode Island.
Bucknell.
Bradley.
Northern Iowa.
And now VCU. Losing to mid-majors as a high seed is getting a little old. My only solace today is that I don't cheer for a team coached by John Calipari (sorry, Hendo.)
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Things I'm (trying to) look forward to now that KU's season is done:
1. Opening Day is right around the corner. The Red Sox, um, might be decent this year.
2. Tiger Woods comes out tomorrow for PS3.
3. I've got the the season 5 DVD's for How I Met Your Mother to run through. They're still new to me.
4. The beefy crunch burritos at Taco Bell are unbelievable. I think this is the first time I've ever liked something from T.Bell sober before.
5. The Fighting Sioux made the Final Four! (Just jokes. Hockey sucks.)
So I've got all that going for me. Which is nice. Big ups to all concerned parties yesterday and today. If you got no response it's because my phone was turned off most the day. I always feel extra loved the day that KU is knocked out of the tourney, even if it's mostly because people are honestly concerned I'm going to do something stupid after a loss (don't worry, thanks to 2008 my days of passing out on bridges are over.)
Keep on keepin' on.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Last Weekend By The Numbers
1,000 beers (approximate).....at least that's what my body felt like at the end of the weekend. In reality, it was 7 hours of drinking on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday, 18 on Friday, and 12 on Saturday. I'm no mathematician, but 52 hours of drinking vs. 19.5 of sleeping is not a good ratio unless you're Frank Sinatra.
3.5 tins of chew. In a sad indicator of our age and the influences women have on our lives, I was the only chewer present who didn't have to a) annoy his significant other by chewing; 2) hide his chewing from his significant other; or D) outright lie about chewing to his significant other.
18 tums (two of which were dipped in queso. Don't judge, I was out of chips and my heart was hurting. Can't let any queso go to waste-o, dude.)
2 times I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I was having a minor heart attack. I think I'm going to stop making jokes about me dropping dead in the middle of a Chipotle burrito, because there seriously might be a heart attack coming. Real talk. Along those lines...
207 pounds is what I now weigh, the fattest I've ever been in my life. A good 10-12 pounds over my ideal fighting weight. We had a big weigh-off on Friday night during the party's collective drunkest point, and I don't think there were too many dudes who were proud of their weight. And yet, as I type this, I can only use the ring and pinky finger on my right hand, because I have Doritos chalk on my other fingers. What, I'm not supposed to eat while typing? Grow up Peter Pan, Count Chocula.
1 argument with Bergman over the weekend (for those who know us, that would've hit the under.) This one was because he and T.Nels pulled an all-nighter playing Wii, and Bergman kept coming into my sleeping area, blasting music (yes, I know 'Anna Sun' is phenomenal, but I'M TRYING TO EFFING SLEEP!) and trying to wake me up, ignoring the fact I just went to bed three hours ago. T.Nels has the ability to hole out from 123 yards and not scream at the top of his lungs....Bergman does not. Act like you've been there before.
Top 5 greatest gambling moment of my life, taking the Butler money line vs. Pittsburgh in the 2nd round. Then coming back on top of that with a huge bet at halftime when Butler was getting 9 points in the 2nd half. The last 2.2 seconds of that game, I ran the full gamut of emotions. Unbelievable. And just to brag a little more, since bragging is fun, here's something I wrote back before the season started, and proved to be very prophetic. "Get Pittsburgh and Villanova out of the top 10. Those two teams are horribly overrated, and I will spend the winter and spring making money gambling against them." It just took longer for me to cash in on hating Pittsburgh than Villanova, although both paid me nicely during the tourney.
9, by my count, different forms of gambling we participated in over the course of the weekend. There was gambling on tournament games, our suicide pool, our bracket draft, blackjack (hours and hours and hours of it...I would feel bad for the girls but I hope they understood that us out-of-staters don't have charitable gaming anymore-- small talk is overrated when there's a blackjack table mere feet away) Wii bowling, Wii golf, Wii three-point shootout, Farcle, electronic horse racing....and there were others that I wasn't a part of or think of right now. We've been spending most our lives, livin' in a Gambler's Paradise.
4.5 minutes of North Carolina's first round game that Horp (Carolina fan) got to watch before passing out at 6:45 pm. Friday afternoon got away from all of us a little bit, it definitely escalated quickly....but you would have to roofie at least 3-5 of my beers to make me pass out during a KU game. Tarrrrr! Heeeeeeeels!
90% of levels of 'Where's Waldo?' I got owned in by Finn, who has not yet turned 2 years old. (Supporting information: I road-tripped with Skye and Finn, who dropped me off and kept driving north to see family and friends.) In a mind-boggling display of memorization, Finn could pick out Waldo pretty much as I was turning the page. I hadn't looked at 'Where's Waldo?' for years, and was legitimately excited for the opportunity to return to my childhood, and Finn just beat me down. Humbling. (Side note: wouldn't a Grand Theft Auto or Halo-style version of 'Where's Waldo?' be awesome? Like there's all kinds of side missions and shooting and battling through a huge city, and you have to find Waldo in some room in the basement of a bombed out building in the middle of downtown? I feel like this could be awesome.)
15-20 other stories to tell, but they'd make no sense to anybody and wouldn't be funny if I tried to explain them. Curly Spice? No-Win Lynn? Top Shelv? Triple Double no assists? Where are the horses? You can Google anything? Quick hands? Sniffing nerf balls? Spider fingers? See, I told you they wouldn't make sense.
357 days until the next opening round of March Madness. This is my excited face.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
And We're Baaaaaaaack!
RIP Nate Dogg. West Si-yeeeeeeed!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
College Basketball Thoughts
>> I'm pretty disappointed that BYU suspended the dude who was banging his girlfriend. Stupid honor code. I wanted to see my boy Jimmer make a run to the Final Four this year, and now they have little or no shot without Davies. Even though that whole Southeast region is rubbish.
>> I couldn't tell you the name of the woman who has season tickets next to ours at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, but I can confidently tell you the two things she hates the most in this world:
1. The Rock Chalk Dancers
2. Tyshawn Taylor
>> Ben Hansbrough? I thought we were done with the Hansbrough family. And he somehow managed to be a bigger douche than Tyler! The one thing I can say positive about Psycho T is that he didn't carry himself like he knew he was awesome. He was kind of unassuming in his douchebaggery. But you can tell that Ben is just convinced that he's awesome. I really hope KU gets a shot at him in the Elite 8. Brady will show him how a white starting guard should carry himself.
>> Kentucky's Terrence Jones is a decent NBA prospect, but I'm pretty convinced he's incapable of dribbling with his right hand. As a lefty myself, I'm reminded of a line from Chappelle Show where Chappelle, talking about Mark Fuhrman, says "Take it from somebody who says 'nigga' a lot....that nigga says 'nigga' ALL THE TIME!" In this case, take it from somebody who goes left a lot...Terrence Jones goes left ALL THE TIME!
>> Question of the Day: if your college basketball coach left tomorrow, who would you want to replace him? I enjoy this game because back when Ol' Roy was waffling on the Carolina job, I had my eye on Bill Self, and sure enough, that's who we got, and he's been amazing. Now, if Self were to leave (God forbid) I would want Jay Wright from Villanova.
>> It was nice to see Duke not get a cakewalk to the Final Four like they usually do. The bottom half of their bracket is weak, but Texas as a 4 seed is brutal. And Ohio St. got the KU treatment from last year, where the #1 overall seed gets the hardest region. That potential Sweet Sixteen is bruuuutally good (Ohio St., Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina.) While we're here, other teams seeded way too high are Florida, KState, Cincinnati, and West Virginia. Seeded too low: Utah St., Richmond, Kentucky, and Old Dominion.
>> For the first time in many years, I love love love KU's bracket. Notre Dame doesn't scare me, the 8-9 game doesn't feature a scary Northern Iowa type (during the selection show last year, as soon as I saw UNI in the 8-9 game opposite KU, I let fly a stream of F-bombs. This year I was smiling and clapping.) Louisville should be tough-- but usually a Bill Self team destroys full court pressure (just ask Missouri.) Really the only team that scares me is Purdue. Originally I was going to pick KU to lose in the early rounds, thought they were prime for an upset, but between the draw they got and the way they just crushed the Big 12 tourney, I might pick them to go to Houston after all. Similar to Syracuse last year, I don't necessarily think that KU is the best team in the country, but I think their 'A' game is better than anyone else's 'A' game. If they their best game, nobody else is beating them. Unfortunately, whether or not KU brings it every game has been their main problem this year.
In any event, this could be one of the more wide-open tournaments of my lifetime. If Duke had Kyrie Irving, they'd be head and shoulders above everyone else, but without him, they're no better than a handful of other teams. I put a small bet down on Ohio St. to win it all at the beginning of the season, so I'll dance with the one that brung me. Hopefully I'm wrong. Rock chalk.
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Tomorrow I head up to Fargo to watch the first two rounds with the old crew. Culligan reunion with Fundy, Noles, Horp, and Godfread, plus Bergman, Schneweis, Morley, and whoever else shows up over the course of the weekend. Four full days and nights of watching basketball, gambling, boozing, chewing, gambling, causing shenanigans, and gambling? I'll be looking like Mojo the helper monkey at the end of this trip.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sold.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
TV
1. Back and knee issues are preventing me from playing as much golf and pickup basketball as usual.
2. There are more entertaining shows now than any other time I can remember.
3. It's much easier to watch shows at your leisure; before I could never make the commitment to be home at a certain time every week to watch a show, now there's a bunch of different ways to fit them in.
I get ripped on quite a bit since, on some shows, I'm over a year behind, since I wait and buy the DVD's. Every time a conversation about The Office breaks out, I have to ruin it by cutting in with a "Aap-ap-ap-ap-ap.....haven't seen it, don't say anything else!"
So here's the breakdown, just so you know which shows not to talk about around me, in case I haven't seen them:
>> Shows I wait and buy on DVD a year later, since they're my favorites and it gives me great pleasure to sit and watch the whole season in two or three days:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- Took over the top spot sometime last year. So good.
The Office- Still haven't even bought last years' DVDs yet, I haven't been hearing great things. But it still gets grandfathered in for its previous work.
How I Met Your Mother- The only traditional sitcom I truly love anymore. Once you watch shows without laugh tracks, and then you hear a laugh track, it's incredibly distracting. It's like all I can hear.
>> Shows I have DVR'd for me and watch shortly afterwards (one of these days I'll get DVR at my house again....I'm in no particular hurry):
Jersey Shore- Might not make this list next year. Ronnie and Sammi are single-handedly ruining this season. They're only fun to watch when he's roiding out and destroying her stuff and calling her 'bro.' Otherwise, they don't need to be dominating episodes.
The League- Sex & the City for dudes. Only with funny jokes.
>> Shows I watch online during my lunch break:
Parks and Recreation/Community- When Parks & Rec went on its couple-month hiatus, I thought that Community was turning into my new favorite....and then Parks & Rec came back and I watched a new episode and realized that was just silly. Not that Community isn't awesome, but Parks & Rec just cuts right to the core of me.
Modern Family- A couple more seasons like this, and Phil Dunphy moves into Michael Scott territory.
Family Guy- Only if I'm super bored. This show pretty much sucks now. As opposed to....
South Park- Just keeps on ticking. If anything, it's funnier now than it was in the first couple of seasons. I've always used baseball players to compare South Park, Family Guy, and The Simpsons, but the last couple years have kinda skewed the analogy. The Simpsons seasons 4-8 will never be touched, by anything, ever, but I haven't watched a new episode (besides a Treehouse of Horror) since 2003. Family Guy had a spectacular first five or six seasons, but has dropped off quickly since. And South Park has just gone along at about the same speed, with a few seasons better or worse than others, but every one at an All-Star level, for 14 years now.
White Collar used to be in this rotation, but I dropped it a few months ago. You ask, does this coincide with Tiffani Thiesen being mostly cut from the episodes? And I answer, you just may be right, my friend. You just may be right.

>> Miscellaneous (how narcissistic is it to have a 'miscellaneous category'? I'm writing about what effing tv shows I watch. I know that blogs are, by their nature, extremely self-indulging, but this is bad even for me. I need to wrap this up soon, buuuuut I bet I won't.)
Mad Men- finally hopped on the bandwagon last fall and watched the first three seasons, I'm only one season behind now. Also, I very nearly picked up a smoking habit after about four episodes. Don Draper makes cigarettes look downright DELICIOUS.
Entourage- I've struggled to define this show for years. It's supposed to be funny....but I hardly ever laugh. It's supposed to be dramatic....but nothing ever really happens. I've watched almost every season....but I'm not sure if I actually enjoy the show or not. I watched it when I had free HBO, and occasionally I'll rent seasons for free at the Public Library. So I think I can finally define it: it's a show I'll watch, but never pay a single dollar to do so.
Big Bang Theory- for years, my mom would email me and tell me to watch this show. For years, I'd blow her off by telling her I didn't want to just jump in now, I had to start from the beginning (because my mom couldn't possibly like a show that's actually funny, could she? If it wasn't for Two and a Half Men, I'm pretty sure her favorite show would still be Home Improvement.) So finally for Christmas this year, she bought me the first two seasons on DVD, and I was sucked in by the first commercial break of the second episode. Now I'm gonna have to get the rest the seasons on DVD and get caught up. Dammit, Mom.
Degrassi: The Next Generation- I'm not even going to try and defend myself here (though I feel I could launch a good argument- the number of people I've successfully roped into watching Degrassi is surprisingly high.) I'll just say that maybe this is the reason why for most of my twenties, I avoided most TV shows. If I just ignore crappy shows, I won't get sucked in. But if I start watching one, even a little bit, most the time it's all over for me.
Friday, March 4, 2011
I'll Be In My Room Painting....FRIDAY Things
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I had my first Taco Bell experience since finding out their meat was fake....it was the same as it ever was for me: delicious, but only because I was not sober. They could announce that they were adding another couple layers to the Crunchwrap Supreme, consisting of dog food and wet newspaper, and as long as I was at least 8 beers deep, I'd be OK with eating it. Also, we've all been saying it wrong for years. It's TACO Bell, emphasis on the 'taco', not 'bell.' Via the D.O.C. and J-Po.
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Well, it's official: my old man is on Facebook. Just a matter of time, really, as over the last couple of years he has followed in his oldest son's footsteps and become a pretty big internet junkie. He spends more time on gun enthusiast message boards than David Hasselhoff (is that how that joke goes? Maybe something about a beach? I always mess it up.) Anyway, I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about my mom joining anytime soon, considering she just got a cell phone about six months ago. Exciting new technology, those cellular telephones.
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I vote that it's time to ditch the leaping shoulder bump celebration in sports. It's gone about as far as it can go. I know I've gotten my enjoyment out of it-- Ricky and I, upon the entrance of one of us into the multi-purpose court at Hyslop, used to sprint the length of the court to shoulder bump each other and celebrate another day of noon ball-- but that was like five years ago. Now, when starting lineups get introduced and they do little mini bumps to EVERY player on the team, or when every timeout is greeted with the bench players sprinting out onto the court to shoulder bump the players coming off (Kansas is guilty of both of these) it's just getting annoying. I'm not trying to piss in anyone's cereal bowl here, I've just had enough of it.

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Happy Friday. Only 10 more days until Selection Sunday. This is my excited face.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Eveningstar

Tomorrow is Senior Night for KU, meaning the last home game of my boy Brady Morningstar's career. Though he'll never have his jersey raised in Phog Allen Fieldhouse, it will be getting nailed to the Wall of Fame in my Fortress of Solitude as soon as the season is over. So he's got that going for him...which is nice. My Brady fandom has been a mostly solo affair (I'm about 93% sure I'm the only person in Lawrence besides his parents that owns a Morningstar jersey- I guess we'll find out during tomorrow's game) and it has spanned 4 phases:
Phase I, 2006- April 2008: Brady is a little-used Freshman, then redshirts during the National Championship season. The only reason he stands out at all (for me) is because he is the first Jayhawk to accept my friend request on Facebook. Yes, I friend request every incoming KU basketball player. Judge me if you will. At least I don't play Farmville.
Phase II, 2008-2009 season: Pretty much the whole team graduates/leaves for the NBA after the championship, and suddenly a ton of minutes are up for grabs. As word spreads during the preseason that Brady is in line for a starting spot, people around Lawrence start grumbling. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the phrase "If Brady is still starting in March, it's gonna be a looooooong season" then I wouldn't even be writing this right now- I'd be in the Taco John's drive thru, buying enough six-pack-and-a-pound's to last me the rest of my life (don't worry, they're still good leftover.) So halfway joking around, I started defending Brady amongst my friends, which led to me paying special attention to his game, which led to me actually liking him. Brady ends up playing the second-most minutes on the team after Sherron Collins, leading the Big 12 in 3-point shooting percentage, and rocking the hell out of a baggy undershirt under his jersey.
Phase III, October 2009-January 2011: Brady gets a DUI right before the start of the season, Xavier Henry takes a ton of his minutes, Brady never really gets it going, does this during a technical foul free throw, and becomes a whipping boy among fans after the shocking 2nd round loss to Northern Iowa. Then he starts out 2010-11 ice cold, and the Brady Bashers double their efforts (yes they actually called themselves the Brady Bashers...the internet can be super gay sometimes.) Arguments on internet message boards are ferocious; there is a six-month stretch where about 75% of the comment sections on KU's website eventually dive into the Great Brady Debate, regardless of what the original article was about. Which of course makes me love him more.
Phase IV, Current: Brady rediscovers his shot, leads the Big 12 in 3-point shooting percentage (again), posts an absolutely stupid 7.5-1 assist-to-turnover rate in Big 12 play (for a somewhat flawed comparison, the NBA leader in this statatistic usually puts up around a 4-1 ratio) and merits legitimate discussion for making the All-Big 12 second team. Even the Brady Bashers are relatively quiet on the message boards-- although they still wish his minutes were going to Josh Selby or Elijah Johnson, because that would be better for KU "long term"--because Brady Bashers are usually not very intelligent basketball fans. Needless to say, this has been my favorite Brady Phase. Even though it has been sans baggy undershirt for the most part.
Here's hoping this phase lasts through April. Everybody enjoy your various teams' Senior Nights, it's one of the things that make college basketball so awesome.

Sunday, February 27, 2011
Raise Your Hand If This Is You Today
I was gonna go with the part from Rounders where Edward Norton is bottom dealing and the table of cops catch him and announce "I caught a hanger, Sarge." You know, because saying you're hungover is pretty standard, but saying you 'caught a hanger' is so irresistibly cool....but I didn't feel like searching for a satisfactory clip on youtube. In any event, I'm hungover as shit today.
(Side note: I'll be a sonofabitch if Paul and I didn't tell each other we were hungover, in Brian Fantana's tone of voice, at least 250 times while we lived together. Literally every single morning after drinking. Never got old.)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
This House Is Falling Apart
>> I'm re-reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' for the first time since 7th or 8th grade or whatever year we read it in school....it's surprisingly kinda awesome. It's a much more enjoyable read when I don't have to worry about defining words and answering random questions picked by a maniacal English teacher. I got the Carney/Skinner doubleheader my two years at South Middle School, and while I'm definitely better for it in the long run, it was a grizzly bear at the time. When I saw Mrs. Carney around town, even ten years after I had her as a teacher, she still refused to call me anything but James. Needless to say, she was not a believer in nicknames. This paragraph really spiraled on me. (Where IS he right now?) Moral of the story: books are more fun when you're reading for pleasure, not for school. But don't take my word for it!
>> Maybe the highlight of my trivia career last Sunday night, when Lane, Jud, Mike and I strolled into a buzzsaw of 24 other teams, all but three of which had at least 10-12 team members, made up of various Lawrence "bigwigs", and took them all down. It's crazy how pumped I get about winning trivia like that, it's a weird source of pride. "Yeah bro, we might not be able to kick your ass, per se, but we are certainly in possession of more random knowledge that will do us little to no benefit during our lifetimes! Suck this dick, bitch! Step up and suck this dick!" Also, our team would've been able to ride in this charity's float during the St. Patty's Day parade, but unfortunately I'll be up in Fargo that week, so that dream goes unfulfilled. For now.
>> Since it's fun to end on a negative note, congratulations Tyshawn Taylor, you have officially joined Eric Chenowith as the only Kansas Jayhawks I have ever hated in my entire life. I'm sure he'll be back from his suspension this year, and I'm sure he'll contribute, and I'm sure I'll be forced to cheer for him again at some point...but I won't be happy about it.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Fiending
1. Coke/popcorn
2. Strawberry Limeade/chili cheese wrap
3. Mac & cheese/milk
4. Squirt/chew.......I know chew isn't really a food, but humor me. Also, I know the preferred beverage while chewing, at least amongst all of my friends, is Mountain Dew-- "Chews and Dews, bro! Chews and Dews!"-- but one time I went with a Squirt (No homo? That's what she said?) and it was glorious.
5. Cookies/milk (the Santa Claus)
And now, back to our regularly scheduled 90210 marathon. Dylan is right in the middle of his obsession with guns after he got carjacked....shit's about to get real, son.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Thumbs Up, Let's Do This
But it got me thinking about youtube videos, and the phenomenon that makes certain videos spread like wildfire. Youtube has only been around since '05, but I can't seem to remember a time when there wasn't a youtube. What did we do without it?
Here are some of my favorite youtube videos over the years, in no particular order. (Side note: I'm not counting things like the Bloomington Bros, or Raaaaaaaandy! or Between Two Ferns. Not because they're not hilarious- but because they're originally from a comedy website. I'll also exclude 'Lazy Sunday' and 'Dick in a Box' since they came from SNL, even though youtube is what really made those sketches blow up. Side note to the side note: that 'Landlord' video that made the rounds about 4 years ago, with Will Ferrell and his daughter: not that funny. Not making the list.)
Boom Goes the Dynamite. Starting with the classics first. This one was probably my introduction to youtube, in a video that is the definition of when someone calls something 'a car accident.' It's incredibly painful to watch, but you can't look away. And for me, the infamous "boom goes the dynamite" line is only my 5th favorite part:
1. "Reggie Miller looking good"
2. mouthing "I'm sorry" to somebody off-camera
3. "Passes to the man"
4. Wayne Simien = Wayne Summers?
5. "...and boom goes the dynamite"
Tourette's Guy. I don't even care if it's fake, it's hilarious (also very NSFW.) I think it was either Kuntz or Weisser or someone who showed this to me in the Gamble Hall computer lab for the first time. Top 5 hardest laughs of my life. We're talking "people staring at me as I'm doubled over, tears streaming down my face, absolutely unable to stop or even quiet down even though I'm in a crowded public place" laughter. (Which also happened to me one other time in the aforementioned computer lab: the first time I saw this Gary Gaetti fan club website, coincidentally created by some dudes in Grand Forks. I still go back and read through it once every 6 months or so. The captions are gold.)
Whistle Tips. "That's only in tha mornin'....you supposed to be up cookin' breakfast or somethin' by then so...that's like an alarm clock...wooo WOOOOO!"
Star Wars Kid. Not holding up as well over time, but damn that was some funny shit the first 30 times I watched it.
Jamie Foxx ending Doug Williams' career after Williams starts bombing at Emmitt Smith's roast. There's a reason why right now you're asking "Who's Doug Williams?" It's so brutal it eventually becomes tough to watch. "Where IS he right now?"
Salad Fingers. One of the creepiest cartoons I've ever seen. Led to six years (and counting) of Hubert Cumberdale and Marjory Stewart Baxter jokes between Paul and I. Chelsey's Mike is a hard guy to agitate, but if you ever need to piss him off quickly, no questions asked, just fire up this video (ironically, he's the one who introduced it to us.) 60% of the time, it works every time.
Ante Up Muppets. I love puppets, I know I've mentioned that a time or two. And I love when people dub in other dialogue to puppets' flapping heads. Especially if it's a hardcore rap song, and especially when it's done this well.
My New Haircut. It's weird, this video is almost dated now, after shows like Jersey Shore and whatnot. But this video, to the best of my recollection, really started the whole making fun of guidos culture. Also, this incident from over three years ago still makes me giggle, what a dipshit. "Not right now Chief, I'm in the fuckin' zone."
Your favorites? I want you guys to hit me with some goodies.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Just Hand Me A Racket And Point Me To The Court!
Por ejemplo, on my first day at a new job, the guy who was training me in and I were searching for a missing number on the balance sheet, thought we knew what we were looking for, and when it turned out to be something completely different, without thinking I exclaimed "Samsonite!" As in Dumb & Dumber, trying to remember Mary's last name, looking at the briefcase, "Samsonite...I was way off!" And a period of awkwardness followed, as he (understandably) had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't think anything of it....it's what I always yell when I turn out to be completely wrong on something.
So the other night I'm supposed to be meeting this guy off of craigslist (not for the usual reasons I meet strange dudes off of craigslist-- this meeting was entirely non-sexual) so I can buy the entire series of Arrested Development on DVD from him....$30 bucks, still in the original wrapping, what a steal! All I knew about him from our emails was that his name was Pete, and he was supposed to be tall. So when I first saw him approaching with the DVD's, I gave him a "Big...Pete? You're Big Pete?" and clapped him on the shoulder. If the lightbulbs aren't clicking for you, it's around the 55 second mark of this clip:
Well, apparently the lightbulb didn't click for Pete, either, even though he was around my age and certainly part of the Saved by the Bell era, and our transaction took an immediate turn into Awkwardsville. And once again I made an ass out of myself in front of a stranger. Oh well. Sorry for partying.
Happy Friday.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Why Early 90's Video Games Are Hilarious...
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Here's why I think Duke/North Carolina is either the greatest or, at worst, second greatest rivalry in sports (Red Sox/Yankees being the other): I absolutely despise both teams. I hate everything about them. Along with whomever John Calipari is currently coaching, they are my three least favorite college basketball teams in the country. And yet tonight, like every time they play, I'll be watching the entire game. Because it's a great rivalry. Lots of people around here try to claim that KU/Missouri is better, or that Duke/Carolina is only a hyped-up rivalry because ESPN says so, and that's just stupid. People who continue to blame ESPN for everything are starting to annoy me. Just stop watching three hours of Sportscenter every day if you hate it so much.
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I got crushed on my Super Bowl prop bets, probably the worst I've ever done, but I cleaned up on the random $1 side bets our party made throughout the game. Awesome. The $13 in wrinkled dollar bills I brought home from the party totally make up for the bloodbath that were my real bets. So I've got that going for me...which is nice. (Why are all the clips from Caddyshack of Carl Spackler telling his Dalai Lama speech disabled on youtube?!?!!? What a disaster.)
Also from the Super Bowl: three people compared me to three different commercials, independently of each other. Amanda said that she was reminded of me, both in looks and creepiness, when the guy in the Doritos commercial was licking Doritos dust off of other people's fingers and pants......the Nuessen sisters think I could've starred in the commercial with Faith Hill where the guy writes "Your rack is unreal" on an online card and flowers......and my Aunt totally thought of me when she saw the little kid running around in the Darth Vader suit trying to use the Force on things. I don't know whether to be honored that people are thinking of me, or to be offended- especially since all three commercials don't exactly paint a flattering comparison. Really, Nelle and Jillian? You can see me writing a card to a ladyfriend that says "Your rack is unreal"? I'm a wordsmith, son.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Bonus Weekend? Why Not.
>> Johnny Damon AND Manny back in Fenway Park 10 games a year, but playing for Tampa? Why don't you kick my dog while you're at it?
>> I don't know how many of you are big Sopranos fans, but I feel obliged to pass this link along. I didn't even watch the last season of the show because after I watched the first five seasons that were available to me, I still wasn't hooked enough to go out and actually pay for the last season (although of course I watched the last episode of the series after all the cut-to-black hullabaloo) but this is one of the best things I've read in a while. I'm a sucker for internet theories on TV shows and movies. It's a soft spot for me. Either way, this guy says there's no doubt that Tony Soprano was killed at the end of the last episode. I find his point hard to argue.
>> Saturday night is my buddy James' wedding. But the real news is that a certain QB for the Detroit Lions will be in attendance. I don't want to name drop, so we'll just call him S. Hill. No, that's too obvious. Let's go with Shaun H. I think the only friend I have who has gone to a wedding with an NFL player is Jon-Jon, when he attended Dallas Clark's wedding a few years back, and he has reminded me of that fact somewhere around 600 times. I predict I will be twice as annoying after Saturday night.
>> Initially I was torn on who to bet on during this year's Super Bowl. My newfound love for all things Aaron Rodgers-related is documented; but the Steelers have probably won me the 2nd-most money this season (I wish I knew the actual numbers here.....Blake Griffin would have to be the all-time leader. Between his last season at Oklahoma, and the 4-1 odds I got on him winning the NBA Rookie of the Year this year...he's better than my retirement plan.) And I'm confused by the Green Bay -2.5 line. So I just bailed on betting on the actual spread, and instead dove headfirst into the wonderful world of prop bets. Which really is the greatest thing about the Super Bowl. Cheer along with me:
- National Anthem: over 1 minute, 54 seconds. You haven't gambled until you find yourself in a serious discussion regarding the biggest opportunities to stretch notes during the Star Spangled Banner. It's gambling in its purest form.
- Coin toss: tails. Tails never fails, bro.
- First score of the game is a TD? Nope. I always take this bet, and usually lose.
- First coaches challenge: Steelers. Just a hunch.
- Distance of the first field goal: over 33.5 yards.
- 3 straight scores by one team? No. This should be a back-and-forth battle.
- Longest TD of the game: under 44.5 yards. I know I'm tempting fate with this one. Both QB's love to bomb.
- Aaron Rodgers total completions: over 22.5. No-brainer.
- Aaron Rodgers -9.5 vs. Brett Favre's rushing yards in Super Bowl XXXI. So basically Rodgers has to rush for 22 yards here. Just betting against past Super Bowls makes me feel warm inside. It's like they're retroactively allowing those of us who were 14 years old in 1997 to gamble on that Super Bowl.
- Dustin Johnson's 4th round score -12.5 vs. the longest gross punt in the game. I feel this is as close to a lock as you can have in a cross-sports prop bet, and I bet accordingly. If DJ shoots a 65, which is pretty stellar, all I need is for the longest punt of the game to be 52 yards or less. To be honest, my biggest concern is DJ making the cut. As long as he does that, I should be solid. (Which means you just know that there's a fluke 70-yard punt coming in this game. The Gambling Gods demand it.)
- Gatorade bath for winning coach: over 45 seconds left in game. I'm picturing Green Bay turning it over on downs with around a minute and a half left, down 4, and Tomlin getting juiced by Polamalu and Harrison as Roethlisberger starts taking kneeldowns. Green Bay won't be able to stop the clock, since they used up all their timeouts getting the ball back before the two-minute warning. That's just me though.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
You Got Jimmered!

Hey, have you heard of Jimmer Fredette? He's pretty good at basketball, and has probably the most baller white-kid name of all time. He started making a name for himself last last year, and now he's completely blown up, as evidenced by 1) his general media coverage, and 2) how many people have started calling me Jimmer. It was only like one guy who started last spring during March Madness...now I get multiple Jimmer-related text messages every time he has a big game. It's easy to see why everyone is falling for him, too. His name is awesome, he goes to a mormon school, his brother is apparently a "rapper", he's the best shooter in college basketball since JJ Redick, and the most fun offensive player to watch since Adam Morrison (although I'll listen to arguments on Stephen Curry.)
Also, at the end of the BYU/San Diego St. game last week, when Jimmer was done dropping 43 points, the crowd started chanting "You got Jimmered!" clap clap clapclapclap. And if you don't think I'm gonna start using that phrase in my every day life....you are mistaken. I feel that the following scenarios are all appropriate times for me to exclaim "You got Jimmered!"
1. After being intimate with a ladyfriend. Or your mom.
2. After crushing a lunch buffet. (Last Friday's final total: 5 burritos, 4 cheese & onion enchiladas, two helpings of potatoes, and a chorizo & eggs burrito.)
3. After posting another 56-10 win in Super Tecmo Bowl. (Ricky Watters' stats through 6 games in my season: 4,671 yards, 45 TD's.)
4. In the couple seconds of confused silence after the Sandbar pulls the plug on the jukebox in the middle of 'Circle of Life'. Although in my defense, if you don't want that song (or 'Hakuna Matata' or 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight?' played, maybe you should take the soundtrack out of the jukebox.
In any event, I never thought that a nickname that my mostly redneck side of the family in Baltimore called me when I was a young'n would ever become a verb chanted by a Division I college basketball crowd...but then again, not all surpises are bad.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Keeping It Close To The Vest
I've always been completely unapologetic about sweater vests. I think they're baller, and not in a joking sort of way. I'm not wearing them to be ironically funny, like showing up to a party in an old school Starter jacket, or Aviator sunglasses, etc. etc. I'm also not saying I'm above doing that, just not in this instance. (This is where I'm choosing to mention Lane, who is currently showing up to our City League basketball games with striped Zubaz pants and a flat-brim 1992 USA Basketball hat as his warm-ups. Take from that what you will.)
I've loved them since around the time I became diehard about golf (1997) and always enjoyed when the Ryder Cup teams would bust out the matching sweater vests for the competition.
What Rory's vest says to me: "I don't know what you heard about me. But a bitch can't get a dollar outta me." And Lee's vest says: "No Cadillac, no perms, you can't see. That I'm a mutha fuckin' P-I-M-P."
So in the past, because of golf, I had always sported them over top of a polo, being ridiculed the majority of the time. I'd say roughly 65% of girls make fun of me for wearing them, 25% begrudgingly accept them, and 10% legitimately enjoy them. However, over the last couple years, I've also added this little ensemble to my wardrobe, the sweater vest over a longsleeve button-down. It has been met with roughly the same amount of ridicule.This was the least-douchey picture I could find showing this outfit. You'll have to trust me on that.
But still I stay strong. I will admit defeat on the striped shirt and plaid pants; I thought I could pull that off when clearly I couldn't. I fought the fashion law, and the law won. (Though there were many good jokes at my expense that day, the best comment came from Jenna. I sent a picture to Noles of the stripes and plaid combo after it became an issue, and when he forwarded it to her, she asked him why he would text her a picture of pillows and curtains.) But I will never be sorry for wearing a sweater vest. My Law & Order: SVU is the Sweater Vest Unit.
So. Sweater vests. Thumbs up or thumbs down?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Death Of The PS2
After a long and unblemished record, he began acting up a few months ago. One night last summer all we wanted to do was fire up some Guitar Hero, and it took about 15 minutes of trying all the tricks (cleaning the disc, setting the console on its side, setting it upside down, hitting the reset button at the right moment) before it finally read the disc, and by that time we almost didn't care anymore. I had barely turned it on since then, and the other night there was no fixing it. I knocked it around for awhile, my anger escalating. Then a little voice in my head told me to stop....he was already dead.
So now I send him on to the next life with a heavy heart. (And by that I mean I'm trading him in to the used video game store in town, along with all my games, and hoping that they don't try to test him out first. I only want store credit anyway, hook a dude up.) We had some good times together:
- Sitting on the couch hungover as crap and watching Noles and Horp play ramp ball for hours on end
- Watching Guitar Hero take over our lives to the point that we rarely went to the bars for a few months because we'd always "start out the evening" pregaming with a little GH, more and more people would slowly come over, then we'd say time to go out...only to look at the clock and see it was 1 in the morning
- Coming back to the dorms after lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays for an entire semester to play Lane in NCAA football-- in the process losing something like 30 games in a row, and kicking a hole in my dorm room wall once when my two-point conversion with no time left failed and left me with a 56-55 loss...that game still haunts me
- Season after season after season after season of Madden.
There's also a slight residue of bitterness, as well. How does the PS2 crap out after nine years, but my Sega, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64 are all still going strong? I think there's something to be said for blowing into the cartridge and console, rather than relying on a bullshit cd. Plus it seems like you have a lot more leeway to jimmy around with the old video game systems to get them to work. The best one I ever saw was Ike's old Nintendo. He had to take the top part of the shell off, flip it upside down, and put a 15-pound weight on it. 10 lbs. didn't work, 20 lbs. didn't work, it had to be 15. And then it worked like clockwork.
But I'm not here to dwell on the negative. The PS2 gave me everything he had for nine solid years, and I love him for that. This is a celebration, not a funeral.
Goodnight, old friend. Sleep well.

Friday, January 21, 2011
Snow Day
Also, I think I have the best-looking driveway in Lawrence right now. Jillian put some snow melt down before it started snowing (pro move. PRO MOVE) and I showed a lot of hustle, shoveling once in the middle of the storm, and once after it was done, and now it's bone dry. Seriously, it looks like there was a protective dome that covered just our driveway and sidewalk. I'm pretty proud of it. When I finished shoveling and looked up and down the block at all the shitty jobs performed by (presumably) Kansas natives, I gave a big Kevin Garnett-style "Anything's possible!!!!!!"
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It's time to ride or die with the Green Bay Packers and my new boy, Aaron Rodgers. (Once I start making homoerotic jokes about an athlete like I have been with Rodgers the last few weeks, he's officially my boy. And I seriously will give him a handjob if he's ever in the area, I owe him that much.) I was in love with Green Bay while making my preseason bets, then kinda jumped off the bandwagon in the middle of the year when they struggled and Chicago took control of the division. Late in the year and in the playoffs I've been banging them kinda hard again, then the other day I remembered I got them at 9-1 to win the conference before the season started. So among other bets, we've got that in play Sunday. I was a little bit sauced last weekend, plus I was pretty hyped up as we watched Rodgers torch Atlanta, and I told everyone that if Green Bay goes to the Super Bowl, I'm taking part of my winnings and paying for a night of drinking for the whole crew. There's no way I'm keeping my word on that, everyone knows drunk talk doesn't count.
Doo, doot, da doo doo doot.....Go Pack, Go! (I've always loved that little tune, even though I've never really been a Packers fan.)