Blogging Over Coffee

Ocho Stinco

Michael — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:13:17 +0000

Reported by The Associated Press

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Broward County, Fla., a switch that became official this week.

“It’s something I don’t think anyone has ever done before,” he told the team’s Web site. “Have I ever had a reason for why I do what I do? I’m having fun.”

Two years ago, Johnson gave himself the moniker — a reference in Spanish to his No. 85 — and put it on the back of his uniform before a game. Quarterback Carson Palmer ripped it off before the kickoff. After the season, coach Marvin Lewis — who dislikes Johnson’s attention-getting stunts — referred to the receiver as “Ocho Psycho.”

Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan said the Bengals had no comment on the matter.

Johnson has been a concern for the Bengals this season. He unsuccessfully lobbied for a trade in the offseason, threatening to sit out if he didn’t get his way. When the Bengals refused, he relented and showed up for minicamp, but complained that his right ankle was bothering him.

He had bone spurs removed from the ankle and was limited at the start of training camp. In the second preseason game, he landed awkwardly and temporarily dislocated his left shoulder. Johnson is wearing a harness and expects to play in the season opener against Baltimore.

Seems that some players on team sports are too often wanting to promote themselves over their teams anymore. Get personal attention anyway you can, regardless of what the team thinks, or how it affects the team or other players. Great tactic. Worked for Terrell Owens, huh?

I believe this is the same Johnson that, just recently, stated that Michael Phelps wasn’t such a hot deal, and that he ( Johnson ) could thoroughly beat Phelps in the pool. Yeah, sure thing. I’ll take that bet anyday, and I’m not a gambler.

It’s one thing for a player, as part of a team, to stand out as a leader and a motivator. It’s quite another to just have the “Look at me, I want the spotlight” attitude. Some people may like it, and that’s fine, but personally I think it’s selfish and idiotic for one player to try to overshadow his whole team through ridiculous attempts to be remembered.

I wonder how long it’ll be before the novelty wears off and he, or someone else, will need to find another way to outdo this little joke of a publicity stunt.

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NFL #1’s; were they ready for some football?

Michael — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:45:25 +0000

Being the #1 pick in the NFL draft offers pretty good bragging rights. Not to mention a huge paycheck. Teams spend endless hours, weeks, months in their war rooms, trying to figure out who to take, and wondering if it’ll be worth it.

One wrong pick can make or break a team. Think of where Indianapolis would be if they had picked Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning. Even with all of the planning, some #1’s just aren’t all they are expected to be.

With the start of the NFL season coming up, here is a short breakdown of past picks, and whether they lived up to their #1 status or not.

1988 Atlanta - Aundray Bruce, LB, Auburn. Fell short of the #1 expectations.

1989 Dallas - Troy Aikman, QB, UCLA. 3 Super Bowl rings in 4 years.

1990 Indianapolis - Jeff George, QB, Illinois. Talented but disappointing.

1991 Dallas - Russell Maryland, DT, Miami-FL. Good #1 choice.

1992 Indianapolis - Steve Emtman, DT, Washington. Very good in a very short career.

1993 New England - Drew Bledsoe, QB, Washington State. Almost lived up to the hype.

1994 Cincinnati - Dan Wilkinson, DT, Ohio State. Didn’t live up to potential.

1995 Cincinnati - Ki-Jana Carter, RB, Penn State. Barely a career due to injury.

1996 NY Jets - Keyshawn Johnson, WR, USC. A good pick, for awhile anyway.

1997 St. Louis - Orlando Pace, OT, Ohio State. Lived up to his pick.

1998 Indianapolis - Peyton Manning, QB, Tennessee. Obviously worth it, a future Hall of Famer.

1999 Cleveland - Tim Couch, QB, Kentucky. Under the radar lately.

2000 Cleveland - Courtney Brown, DE, Penn State. Another one flying low.

2001 Atlanta - Michael Vick, QB, Virginia Tech. Talented, exciting, and in prison.

2002 Houston - David Carr, QB, Fresno State. High expectations and a start up team didn’t help.

2003 Cincinnati - Carson Palmer, QB, USC. Probably worth it, in time.

2004 San Diego - Eli Manning, QB, Mississippi. Screw San Diego, hello New York. Looks promising with a Super Bowl ring and MVP.

2005 San Francisco - Alex Smith, QB Utah. Give him a team to work with, then decide.

2006 Houston - Mario Williams, DE North Carolina State. Maybe overshadowed by the Reggie Bush thing.

2007 Oakland - JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU. Too soon to tell.

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J-Lo vs. “the swimmer”

Michael — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:06:44 +0000

Lopez appeared on “Good Morning America” Aug. 18 talking about the Malibu Triathlon she’s training for, and was overheard saying she “couldn’t understand why everyone is talking about that swimmer”.

She couldn’t even remember Phelps’ name, but had no problem going on about how she was the one training for a triathlon just six months after giving birth, and how that was the big story right now, not ‘the swimmer.’ ”

Some people just don’t get that they really aren’t the center of the universe, and that when your ego has a mouth you often become a fool. Actions can speak louder than words, which apparently she doesn’t understand. I would give her credit for what she’s doing if she didn’t have the attitude of “Look at meeee!!! Me! Me!” But no, typical celebrity “I need attention” garbage.

I don’t hear Michael Phelps bragging on himself, and he has every right to do so right now.

J-low …. just shut up.

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The Rabbit Hole & a Newborn Tenant

Michael — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:32:18 +0000

There is the huge trunk of a tree about 12 feet from my back door. Usually there is a lot of activity in the back yard with a dog and kids around. Not what you would call a quiet spot to raise newborns. However, this is the second year in a row that rabbits have made a nest in the dirt/mulch area around this trunk.

I’m not sure how long it’s been there since I just noticed it today, but it already has it’s first tenant, and maybe a few more tucked away in there somewhere.

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A cool internet clock

Michael — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:33:34 +0000

OK, there are millions of clocks already, and thousands of them online. This one is just pretty cool, in my opinion. Watch it live here.

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The Smart Car … you gotta be kidding

Michael — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:48:33 +0000

OK, let me get this out first off, since it’s the first thought I had today when I saw this for the first time.

Who in the Hell wants to drive a dishwasher on wheels?

I was driving my delivery truck in Michigan this morning on a 4 lane interstate, and in my mirror I see a black dot. OK, bigger than a dot, more like a small square. It took a few seconds to realize that I was seeing the front of a car. No, I said, it’s too small to be a car. But it is a car, look again. No, it looks like a car but it can’t be because it’s freakin’ tiny. Yeah, it’s a tiny freakin’ car. No, it’s too tiny to be even a tiny freakin’ car.

And so on until it came up next to me.

The damn thing is no bigger than the dishwasher in my kitchen, and probably has less interior room. There were 2 guys in it, I think; there were 2 people in it that were so scrunched up it was hard to tell. The passenger has his knees right under his chin. Yeah, sure looks comfy. In the back, or the area behind the seats I should say for lack of a better term, was a guitar case. The end of the case was sticking out of the little mouse hole of a sunroof, or moon roof, or whatever it was.

You gotta be kidding. This is a car?

Sorry, but not to me. I looked at the website for it and read about it. Safety this and design that and blah blah blah. I just cannot see myself ever getting into one of these things and actually feeling good about it. Just getting in and out could cause hernias.

I won’t knock the manufacturer, or anyone that owns one, but I think I’d go back to horses before trying to drive this thing. Imagine a horse and a Smart Car going head on at each other; at least the horse would have a chance to survive the accident by jumping over the car.

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AOL .. why bother?

Michael — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:11:45 +0000

I’ve had an AOL account for years, but seldom use it anymore, other than using the AIM service now and then. When I bought my new PC with Vista a few months back, I didn’t add AOL since I didn’t plan on using it. Last night, mostly for shits and giggles, I decided to install the AOL 10.1 Desktop program, mostly just to see what AOL was like lately.

The install went fairly quick with no problems, and it signed me on right away. Although I didn’t explore it too much, it seems they’ve added quite a bit since the last version I used, which I think was 9.0.

This morning, I wanted to open it and check it out a little more. I clicked the desktop icon, and nothing. Again, still nothing. Start - Programs - AOL = nothing.

Son of a bitch. AOL was refusing to do a thing. It wouldn’t even think about opening for me. No matter how I tried to open it, it just brain farted.

Glad I’m not paying for the service, and apparently that’s what I need to do to get any technical help from them.

Oh well. You get what you pay for.

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Domain names can make you rich

Michael — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:22:40 +0000

After posting a few days ago about domain name values from online programs, I wanted to check out what have been the highest prices paid for domain names.

Seems that it can be quite lucrative if you have the right domain name and the right buyer. It’s no wonder that domain flipping is becoming a rather large industry these days. The downside of it is that the highest valued names are one word domains, and you can pretty much bet that nearly any common single word has been registered by now.

By the way, the word “million” after each one is not a typo.

1. Sex.com, $12.5 million.
2. Porn.com, $9.5 million.
3. Diamond.com, $7.5 million.
4. Business.com, $7.5 million.
5. Casino.com, $5.5 million
6. Asseenontv.com, $5 million
7. Korea.com, $5 million
8. Wine.com, $3.3 million
9. Creditcheck.com, $3 million
10. Vodka.com, $3 million

Although I don’t see any of my names ever coming anywhere close to these, I guess you never know what could happen. One mans domain name is another mans treasure.

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Things I hate.

Michael — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:33:24 +0000

The terms “social networking”, “social bookmarking”, etc. I can’t go more than 3 minutes browsing the net or a website anymore without seeing this. I’d like to shove Facebook and Digg up Myspace’s ass anymore.

Stupid people. They used to be barely tolerable, now I’m just sick of them. The really bad thing is that they can breed.

Reality TV. It’s just stupid. Sometimes I’d like to do an Elvis and shoot the damn TV when the commercials come on.

Loud, idiotic TV commercial announcers. Remember years ago when used auto dealers did their 200 decible sales pitches through your black & white set, and broke the good china in your cabinet in less than 30 seconds? There are 2 local companies that have reverted to this type of TV ad, and they’ve both driven up Tylenol sales in this area by 1300%. Bastards.

800 numbers on the caller ID. I guess that no-call list just gets ignored anymore. They’re bastards, too.

Beer that might as well be warthog piss. I like Sam Adams, cold, in a bottle. A few days ago someone gave me an MGD. In a can. Lukewarm. It’s like going from a Hummer to a stripped out Yugo. No offense intended to you piss …. I mean, MGD drinkers out there.

The word Yugo. That should go up Myspace’s ass, also.

Elections. Enough already. I’m sick of both of them. Maybe I’ll spend election day blowing up Yugos and warthogs. You know, something that would actually be beneficial to society.

Those idiots that still wear their pants so that they hang too low, showing off their undies and ass cracks. It wasn’t cool when it was fashionable, and it’s even more moronic now. If I wanted to see your BVD’s, I’d ask, and I guarantee that isn’t gonna happen.

Hannah Montana. I could puke.

OK, I feel better now.

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The Olympics …. big deal?

Michael — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:35:35 +0000

Pretty soon, thousands of athletes from around the world will be gathering in Beijing for the summer Olympics. As in previous Olympics, the goal is simple; to be the best in the world. Years of training, work, dedication, effort, blood, sweat and tears are put out there for the world to see, in the hopes of earning a gold medal.

I used to watch the Olympics regularly, always looked for the medal counts of countries, and marveled at how athletes who were barely into their teens had become among the best of the best. The accomplishments at such young ages still amazes me. To me, this is what always made the Olympics special; the young amateurs that defined what the Olympic spirit is about. It’s not just the competition of the events, it was the people that made the competition what it is.

To me, that ideal was pretty much ruined some time back. When the U.S. decided to start using pro players from the NBA in Olympic basketball, I pretty much lost interest. In April 1989, the sport’s international governing organization and the U.S. committed to a team drawn primarily from the NBA. A couple of token college players thrown in, but more or less, it was a sham to get a gold medal.

So, if you were a college basketball player with hopes of getting to the Olympics, too bad. They basically got the message of, “We have our pros and a guarantee of gold, so long, sucks to be you, have a nice day.” It wasn’t enough that the pro players could have tried out for the Olympics when they were younger ( a few did play in them ), or that they already had their fame and fortune in the NBA, or that by doing this they were pretty much closing the door on the dreams of all future players with the same Olympics goals. Nope, just screw the overall spirit of the thing when big names can steamroll their way to the gold. Yeah, nice concept.

So, maybe it’s shallow of me, but that one decision pretty much ruined my whole concept of the Games, and I’ve barely watched them since. It’s nothing against the true amateurs that manage to make it, the other sports, other countries or the tradition of the Games, but I just see the whole thing as being tarnished by big names and bigger egos looking for even more fame and decorations for their trophy rooms.

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